Don't Cheat Cocoa Farmers - JAK

President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday condemned the recent case in which cocoa farmers were paid with fake cedi notes in the Birim North District of the Eastern Region describing it as "tragic news."

The President said it was cruel on anybody's part to want to pay cocoa farmers with counterfeit notes and noted that it went to reinforce the urgent need to woo farmers and other rural dwellers into using banks for their monetary transactions.

President Kufuor was speaking at the 50th Anniversary Celebrations of the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), the first commercial bank in the country. Cocoa farmers are paid through the Akuafo Cheque system, introduced in 1982, to guarantee payment for cocoa beans purchased by Cocobod. But some purchasing clerks abused the system while some banks failed to en-cash the cheques promptly.

President Kufuor urged the banks, especially GCB to take on the responsibility to win back the confidence of farmers into the banking system. "The nation cannot hope to make a success of growing the economy without a thriving banking sector spreading into the rural areas," President Kufuor stressed.

He asked the Bank to intensify its efforts at diversifying its products and introduce Venture Capital and Agricultural Departments.

President Kufuor said the trauma induced in people in the past by bank account seizures, the flouting of confidentiality rules and the disregarding of professional considerations in banking would take some time to disappear.

President Kufuor said he was sure that with the resilience of the Bank over the years, " this should not be beyond the capacity of GCB." He said the challenges of the Bank must be to confront and include the provision of appropriate and diverse credit delivery mechanisms to the society and business communities, especially young farmers and entrepreneurs, who were struggling to establish and nurture their enterprises and create new jobs.

President Kufuor, who was himself a staff of GCB in 1964 in London, for three months when he was a young lawyer, paid tribute to the founding fathers of the Bank and said government had no ideological hang-ups in the matter, "it only seeks to bring GCB into the modern age and empower it to compete favourably on the market.

"In so doing, government hopes to enable the Ghana Commercial Bank realise in the 21st century, the reasons why it was established 50 years ago; that is to support indigenous businesses to grow."

GCB, the President said, ought to build on the widespread goodwill it have among the population to become an internationally competitive and successful Bank. He congratulated the Bank, which he said, had not only confounded sceptics and survived but it had also become part of the fabric of Ghanaian nationhood.

President Kufuor acknowledged GCB's role in assisting government in expanding and opening up the country for development sometimes without dwelling too much on profit considerations. He expressed regret that apart from GCB, most banks in the country "dread" sustaining branches in many parts of the country. "The Bank is certainly matured and should be encouraged to constantly review and rationalise its operations to face the challenges posed by the times."

Mrs. Matilda Obeng Ansong, Managing Director of GCB, said the Bank had come a long way and was proud to say that it was performing creditably. She said GCB had established and maintained long-term relationships with many firms ranging from those engaged in construction, mining and crude oil import and with small and medium enterprises.

"Our contribution to these sectors is reflected in the improvement of these sectors, especially in construction, which has seen extension of communication links to all parts of the country especially to the rural areas."

Mrs. Obeng-Ansong said GCB was well represented through out the country for a purpose. "Aside of inculcating banking habits to a sizeable proportion of the population, it is to enable the Bank play a leading role in the development of indigenous enterprises in the country."

She noted that GCB had tried to develop through various means, indigenous enterprises in commerce and other fields to facilitate the economic development of the country.