The Ghana Tourism Federation (GHATOF), has asked government to urgently disburse the stimulus package set aside to support Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) affected by the COVID-19 pandemic particularly in the hospitality sector.
The pandemic has ravaged numerous businesses but the aviation sector, tourism and hospitality industry are among the worst hit globally with Ghanaian businesses not spared at all.
The sector has exceptionally suffered because, with the borders closed, restrictions on public gatherings and the closure of tourist sites, and drinking spots (which the President ordered to be opened recently) hotels, pubs, night clubs and cinemas have not been able to operate the least bit or operate at full capacity.
As a result of this, many workers in the sector have lost their jobs, with owners of these facilities left frustrated. Government, acting to ameliorate this menace, announced a support scheme of ¢600 million to cushion businesses in the country which have been impacted by the pandemic.
Specifically for the Tourism sector, Government has also launched a $9 million grant from the International Development Agency of the World Bank under the Ghana Tourism Development Project, solely for SMEs and registered individual enterprises in the tourism and hospitality industry.
But in an interview, the Executive Secretary of GHATOF Emmanuel Frimpong, indicated that, although members of the Association which includes Night clubs, pubs, and hotels have applied for the government’s ¢600 million loan support, they are still waiting to receive the money.
“Owners of Pubs, Cinemas and Night clubs don’t know when they will be given the opportunity to open their businesses. The drinks that they bought have expiry dates before they were closed down; they haven’t been used all this while, then it means they cannot do anything with them now.”
He then asked why their businesses are yet to benefit from the scheme since they are among the worst hit sectors.
“As far as we are concerned, our members have not received the loans that government has promised, and we want to find out why, because we are going through difficult times. Businesses are going down, people have lost their lives, all sorts of things are happening in the industry, and we need that support from government now more than ever.”
Two days ago, on Monday, July 27, 2020, some disgruntled employees of the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra, after a two hour meeting between executives of the Industrial Workers Union of the Trades Union Congress, members of the hotel’s local union and a rep from the Hotel’s management board, agreed to resume work after protesting against management over poor conditions of service and unpaid salaries.
Numbering about 100, the staff stopped working on Monday morning to demand payment of their salaries and better working conditions.
However, the state agency in charge of the disbursement of these funds, the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) has indicated that, it has commenced the second phase of the disbursal.
The Executive Director of the NBSSI, Ms. Kosi Yankey-Ayeh in an interaction with the media earlier this week said that, about ¢30 million has been set aside for medium-sized businesses who will benefit from the Anidasuo fund. ¢57 million out of the ¢600 million has already been disbursed to small businesses across the country, according to the Finance Minister.
The amount disbursed so far is less than 10 percent of the GH¢600m scheme designed to support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) under government’s GH¢1.2b Coronavirus Alleviation Programme.
