Encourage Ghanaians abroad to invest back home

The government has been urged to embark on a more vigorous program to encourage Ghanaians abroad, to invest in the country to help revamp the economy.

A group of Ghanaians based in the United States of America, who made the call in Kumasi, at the weekend, expressed reservation about what they view as "too much concentration on attracting foreigners to invest in the country".

They noted that there are several Ghanaians, "who have made it big and control huge resources outside and could make significant contribution towards efforts at putting the economy on a real path of growth".

The group was sharing ideas with Mr. Maxwell Kofi Jumah, the new Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive at a forum to explore ways of "bringing Kumasi back to its designation as "Garden City".

Mr. Jumah assured the group that he would ensure the creation of a desk responsible for economic development in the metropolis. He said the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), should be able to stand on its own without the assemblies common fund, adding, "some hard decisions would have to be taken" to correct distortion and indiscipline, in the assembly.

Mr. Jumah said "we would not bend the rules and would never give second-rate service to the people". The Metropolitan Chief Executive called on the people to do away with partisan politics and work collectively to make Kumasi comparable to metropolitan cities in other parts of the world.