ENVOY ENDS TOUR (PAGE 16)

THE British High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Nicholas Westcott, has ended a tour of the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis as part of the move to foster closer business links between his country and Ghana, and to assess the political temperature in the region.
Mr Westcott said in the area of democracy, Ghana had advanced and to ensure that the December 7 general election was free, fair and transparent, there was the need to have first hand information of what was going on in other parts of the country.
He said it would enable him to see where Britain could offer more support to ensure the success of Ghana’s democratic process.
Mr Westcott said Britain, no doubt, remained the biggest bilateral donor and investor in the country’s economy.
As part of their contribution towards that, he said, Britain had given Ghana $1.2 million to ensure that the elections were open, free and fair.
He said with the discovery of oil, it was important to find out more about the economy of the region to ensure that an enabling environment was created.
“We have visited the mining areas, and to test the political temperature as we approach the elections in December, I must confess that there is increasing British interest in the region through our engagement in the oil and mining industry,” he said.
He said their determination was to create a favourable business environment where investors and their host would co-exist to ensure industrial and social harmony.
The focus at present, according to the high commissioner, was to support the development of poor areas to ensure that the people benefited and that they did not feel exploited since that would not create the needed environment for business to triumph.
Mr Westcott said British investors would not only focus on what would serve their interest, but would ensure that their social corporate responsibility were taken seriously to ensure that the people were not neglected. “Even before the commencement, the British businesses have already started providing support for some communities.”
The high commissioner also called on the Omanhene of Essikado Traditional Area, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, the regional Police Command, the Regional Coordinating Council, Metropolitan Assembly, Electoral Commission as well as the British community in the region.
At Essikado, Nana Nketsia called for support to train the needed skilled manpower from the region.
The Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Philip Kwesi Nkrumah, said the biggest challenge was how to transform the city to accommodate the visitor, and called for collaboration to ensure the realisation of that dream.
At the Regional Police Command, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Arhmed Alhassan, said at the regional level, the police would do everything possible to ensure that there was peace before, during and after the election.
He said they had taken proactive measures to ensure that nothing was left to chance as they were collaborating with other sister security agencies to ensure the success of the elections, “we are aware that our fellow country men and women are expecting much from us and we will not fail them.