Streamline licensing requirement for businesses — PEF urges govt

The Private Enterprises Federation (PEF) has advocated the need for the government to streamline the requirements for licensing businesses to operate. 

It said such a move would reduce the strenuous processes businesses usually went through to secure licences, certificates and permits to operate locally.

A study in 2009 on the regime for business registration in Ghana facilitated by PEF, with funding support from the USAID,  established that 145 business licence and permit requirements were in force in Ghana.

Another study later found that the requirements could be collapsed into seven, which are applicable to all businesses, regardless of the sector where they operate. 

The agencies with cross-sectoral licensing requirements include the Registrar General’s Department, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), the Department of Factories Inspectorate and the Town and Country Planning Department (TCPD). 

Findings 

Speaking at a media briefing in Accra, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PEF, Nana Osei Bonsu, said the current system, which was associated with delays, was adding to the cost of doing business in Ghana.

That, he said, had necessitated the need to streamline the approval processes of the various agencies involved.

He said PEF, with support from the Business Advocacy Fund (BUSAC), had embarked on a project for the past three years in which it had been working with six of the agencies involved with the issuing of the licences and permits, leaving the Registrar General’s Departments. 

It said in the course of the project, it identified that some of the laws of a number of the agencies were outdated, citing the Factories, Offices and Shops Act,1970 as not being reflective of current trends and needed to be amended .

Additionally, it was also found that inspection carried out by the agencies was uncoordinated and disjointed.

It was also identified that most of the agencies were under-staffed, which is affecting the effectiveness of issuing permits, licences and certificates. 

Nana Bonsu said it was also observed that the inability of the agencies to retain part of their internally generated funds, as all application fees charged were paid into the Consolidated Fund, was also affecting their operations.

Among some of the recommendations which had been put into a draft Cabinet memo and draft legislation, PEF called for a reform of the procedures and processes for  acquiring licences and permits.

It also recommended the establishment of a one-stop shop where businesses could apply for licences and permits and  decentralising the procedures, since most of the data required by the various agencies were the same.

Representatives 

In separate remarks, representatives of the EPA, the GNFS, TCPD and the Department of Factories Inspectorate hinted that they had initiated processes to reduce the burden and bureaucratic procedures in the administration of permits, licences and certificates.

The acting Director of the Environmental Assessment and Audit Unit of the EPA, Mr Kwabena Badu Yeboah, said the agency had reduced the number of days for acquiring a permit for the operation of an industry with low environmental impact from 25 to seven days, while companies categorised as high environmental impacts could obtain their permits in 60 days, instead of 90.

The Director of Fire Safety at the GNFS, Deputy Chief Fire Officer Mr Michael Yarquah, said the service was working on the bureaucratic procedures associated with the issuance of fire certificates to business operators and would soon come up with a flexible system.

 Human right 

The Accra Metropolitan Director of Factories, Dr Stephen Ankamah-Lomotey, said permit requirement took between two weeks but depended on the ability of the applicant to meet all the requirements.

He said Ghana did not have a national policy on occupational safety and health, as it was yet to ratify the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO’s) convention.

Occupational health and safety, he said, was a human rights issue, since the 1992 Constitution requires that employers put in place measures to safeguard the health of employees.

Later in an interview, a principal town and country planning officer, Mr Mohammed Alhassan, said although the agency required more than 1,500 personnel for its optimal operation, it currently had only 125.

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Environment, Mr Edem Asimah, who is the Member of Parliament for South Dayi, assured the business community of the willingness of Parliament to ensure that the private sector become the beneficiary of efficient systems.

Writer’s email: emelia.ennin@graphic.com.gh