Takoradi Member of Parliament, Hon. Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, has raised alarms over the financial and regulatory bottlenecks hindering Ghana’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Contributing to a parliamentary debate, he urged the House to prioritise economic growth and revenue generation over spending.
“Mr. Speaker, about ninety percent of the statements that are made here in this House has always been about expenditure. But this is a statement about growth and about revenue,” he said. He described MSMEs as “the backbone of every economy in the world,” calling for urgent intervention to unlock their potential.
The MP noted that banks are increasingly diverting capital to the Bank of Ghana to chase higher interest rates, starving MSMEs of credit.
“So there’s no money in the system. So even when people produce in the villages… the small micro medium enterprises that needs this money to buy from the farm gates just don’t have the capital to go and buy. And in doing so we also slow down the growth of these companies and also slow down the growth of this country,” he explained.
He also criticised multiple regulatory bodies for repeatedly shutting down shops and causing extensive delays in issuing permits, which exhausts business owners. “Today this one locks your shop. They open it. The next person goes locks your shop. So even the energy to do business by the small and micro industry becomes a difficulty,” he stated.
Citing the Food and Drugs Authority, he added: “FDA when people apply sometimes it takes more than a year. for them to get a license just to manufacture.” These delays, he warned, force some businesses to operate illegally. He also highlighted that securing a small-scale mining licence can take up to three years.
To resolve these issues, Hon. Darko-Mensah urged the government to decentralise licensing and regulatory processes to local districts rather than concentrating operations in Accra.
“If somebody needs an FDA license why does it have to come to Accra?… In China economic zones and free zone enclaves are managed by unit committee not even the district assemblies. So you see them always growing but us we continue to use the power of centralization to create bottlenecks for our own people,” he argued.
He called on Parliament to support more initiatives focused on revenue and growth while dismantling the bureaucratic hurdles restricting MSME expansion.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
