Thomas Silberhorn
Mr Thomas Silberhorn, the Deputy Minister in the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, has reaffirmed Germany’s commitment to support measures to ensure transparency in Ghana payroll system and other development activities.
He said Germany financed the country’s biometric payment mechanism with the introduction of E-Zwich under the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems Limited to detect and correct the anomalies in the data of employees.
“Digitalisation brings about great chances for African countries. Such an innovative payment mechanism does not only give many people access to the banking system but relevant tool to fight fraud and corruption,” he explained.
Mr Silberhorn said this in Accra at a media briefing on his two-day visit to Ghana to congratulate Ghana on her 60 years of independence.
He had held talks with high-powered government dignitaries to chart the way forward to for the long-standing and constructive cooperation between Germany and Ghana.
Germany has earmarked €20 million to support the country to set up an electronic waste recycling facility, as one of the interventions to control hazardous and electronic waste.
Mr Silberhorn emphasised that domestic revenue mobilisation was crucial in the developmental of any country, and, therefore, urged the authorities to intensify measures to improve upon revenue generation.
Mr Silberhorn urged the Government to involve the private sector in the country’s development agenda, saying: “Development needs the initiatives of the private actors to create the right environment for job creation”.
He explained that the German dual system of integrating industry in the vocational training was in high demand.
Consequently, Germany had been successfully active in supporting Ghana’s Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training over the years.
“I was impressed by the training in consumer electronics for girls when I visited the Accra Girl’s Vocational Training Institute at Tesano, Accra,” he added.
Mr Silberhorn said Germany, in its role as the current Group of Twenty (G-20) chair, had put Africa on top of their agenda, stressing that the European Union-Africa Summit scheduled to take place in November 2017 demonstrated that the interest in Africa was rising.
He explained that the G-20 was an international forum established in 1999 for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies with the aim of studying, reviewing, and promoting high-level discussion of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability.
Mr Christoph Retzlaff, the German Ambassador to Ghana, commenting on the assistance for managing e-waste, commended Ghana for ratifying the Paris Convention on Climate Change.
He said the passage of the Hazardous and Electronic Waste law by Ghana’s Parliament would serve as the framework for Ghana-Germany engagement.
Source: GNA
