Association of Alcohol Manufacturers and Importers (AAMI) will hold an Emergency Meeting on Thursday, July 24th, 2009. The time will be from 11:30 AM -12:30PM at the Golden Tulip Hotel.
The Meeting would be held at the Faanaa Hut, near the pool. Please endeavour to attend or send your able representative:

AGENDA:

1. Tackling Government’s 5% levy on alcoholic products
2. Alcohol Policy Update
3. Increased Visibility for AAMI activities to make us public friendly
4. Updates on public activities
5. Revised dues for AAMI
6 AOB

Please let us endeavour to attend this emergency meeting!!!

The Association of Alcohol Manufacturers and Importers (AAMI) has learnt with utter dismay Parliament’s speedy and singlehandness in passing a bill to impose a five percent National Stabilization Levy on selected business entities in the country.

While no government can be faulted for wanting to achieve such objectives as technical progress, incentives, education, healthcare and infrastructural development, such objectives must be approached with all the circumspection needed in order not to throw an otherwise staggering economy overboard.

One would have expected consultations with the relevant business groups the levy was going to affect. At least, that was the approach in many Western countries when financial stimulus packages were being arranged.

While waiting for the global financial difficulties to spit its full venom on Ghana, many of the companies targeted have already frozen employment and are frantically cutting back on their overheads. The intended levy is an additional tax however one looks at it. Taxing net profits is a TAX not a favour.

Taxes are supposed to be ploughed back into operations of a company to expand, employ more people and ultimately help expand the income tax net. A direct tax on net profits will ultimately be transferred to consumers.

This is the exact opposite of what is being planned in Western countries where government is stimulating demand (with much difficulty as people are still not consuming) with financial packages rather than exacting money from identifiable businesses.

However, we can understand the dilemma the government faces; how to finance these objectives in an equitable manner using non-discriminatory revenue mobilisation tools. Since no tax is a good tax unless it leaves individuals or companies in the same relative position as it finds them, the government could do one of four things: reduce its own expenditure by leaving the private sector to provide some of the services government intends to undertake( many of the companies targeted do these through some of their social responsibility projects); reduce the number of taxes and fees on business and entrepreneurship; bring down business regulatory requirements and bureaucratic work or enhance an efficient tax regime by widening the tax net without necessarily increasing tax rates.

While the latter remains a challenging task, it seems that an incentivised private sector could deliver on the creation of more skilled jobs and a handsome corporate social responsibility package in the provision of basic social services. One such incentive is for the President not to sign the 5% National Stabilization Levy bill into law, but make an appeal to these businesses to help without influencing them under duress.

To the government’s fiscal team and members of parliament, we respectfully entreat you to do more next time and you may be guided by the words of J.R. Mc Culloch, one of the founders of economics, who said: “The moment you abandon the cardinal principle of exacting from all individuals the same proportion of their income or their property, you are at sea without rudder or compass and there is no amount of injustice and folly you may not commit.”

The Association of Alcohol Manufacturers and Importers (AAMI) has been established by the major producers of alcohol beverages in Ghana, to co-ordinate and direct activities towards the responsible production and use of alcoholic products in Ghana.
Current members include, Accra Brewery Ltd, Baron Distilleries,Cape Trading Ltd., Guinness Ghana Brewery Ltd, Kasapreko Company Ltd., West Coast Beverages, Diageo.
Website: http://ww.aami.org.gh

Sandra B. Cudjoe
Administrative Assistant
Association of Alcohol Manufaturers and Importers
Website: http://www.aami.org.gh
0284638 178

It was instructive to know that in an hour-long television programmed on Ghana’s State-Owned Television, Mr. Cudjoe of IMANI discussed the issues surrounding alcohol abuse and the need for an alcohol policy for Ghana with two leading Parliamentarians who took part in the debate.

Members will attest to this as Mr. Cudjoe sent out mobile text messages to alert them to watch. The programmed was repeated on Monday 3:00pm on GTV. Our web master is configuring relevant portions of the interview to be posted on AAMI website.

On Wednesday June 24, 2009, Mr. Odarme Darkwah, Deputy CEO of the FDB and Mr. Cudjoe were on Choice FM for an hour to explain why Ghana needed and Alcohol Policy. Our webmaster will work on posting the audio file on AAMI’s website.

Earlier, Mr. Cudjoe and the team had been briefing Mr. Kofi Essel, Ag. Head of Food Section, FDB on the policy.

Mr. Cudjoe also granted an interview to the State-owned Daily Graphic based on their project to review the alcohol laws in Ghana.

Diageo, the parent company of Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (GGBL) has announced the promotion of Mr. Seni Adetu, erstwhile Managing Director of Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited, to Group Managing Director, East African Breweries Limited (EABL) – the group of companies covering countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda etc headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. The appointment takes effect July 1, 2009.

In the Statement, the company noted that Mr. Adetu joined Diageo 3 years ago as Managing Director/ Vice Chairman of Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (after 14 highly successful years in very senior positions in Marketing, Commercial and General Management with Coca-Cola and having worked in several countries including Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya).

Mr. Adetu quickly settled in role at GGBL, stabilizing the business following the merging of Guinness Ghana Limited (GGL) and Ghana Breweries Limited (GBL) engaging external stakeholders to bring closure and ensuring full integration – including the folding up of GBL and transferring its employees to the new company – and creating a one-culture organization.

In his remarks, the Chairman of GGBL, Dr. Nick Blazquez stated, “under Mr. Adetu’s leadership over the last 3 years, GGBL has flourished, growing Net Sales Value and Profits double digits annually, consistently beating the competition, growing share price faster than total market at the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), developing a strong innovation pipeline with the introduction of Quench and Alvaro, strengthening commercial capability, providing access to clean water for nearly 350,000 Ghanaians, transforming GGBL culture with improved safety records and moving employee super engagement scores from 16% to 60%”.

Mr. Adetu and his team have been recognized within and without Diageo for these achievements and more – including Most Celebrated Business in Diageo International (F’08), Best Sales Force in the on-and-off trade within the beverage sector in F’09 (REL CONSULT) and top four placing in the Ghana Most Admired company index consistently in the last 3 years (GIPC/PWC).

Mr. Adetu will be replaced as Managing Director, GGBL by Mr. Ekwunife Okoli, who until recently was the Managing Director of Guinness Cameroon. Mr. Okoli is a highly experienced business executive, who has served with Diageo over 20 years, holding various senior positions including Marketing Director for Guinness Nigeria and Marketing Director for Guinness brand across Africa.

Dr. Nick Blazquez (who doubles as Managing Director, Diageo Africa) stated in the same statement “Mr. Okoli, in his time as Managing Director of Guinness Cameroon, led a transformation of that business; delivering ahead of plan, re-creating the route-to-market, growing market shares, establishing a strong innovation agenda and improved safety records, re-invigorating community programmes and transforming controls and compliance.

Both Mr. Adetu and Mr. Okoli will remain members of the Diageo Africa Executive Team.

The statement closed by thanking Mr. Adetu for his immense contribution to the Ghana business and wishing him well in his new role.

IMANI director, Franklin Cudjoe met with Ghana’s Minister of Health at the United Nations Economic and Social Council Conference in Accra on e-Health held in Accra between June 10-June 11.

Franklin reminded the Minister about the alcohol policy and he said “Yes, it is very important eh?”. Franklin promised to follow up with a reminder to the Minister on an August 2009 deadline for governments to submit preliminary reports on efforts to draft policies on alcohol.

Franklin was speaking at the UN conference on Mobile Pedigree, the latest mobile-phone based drug authentication scheme partly invented by Bright Simons, Franklin’s assistant at IMANI and AfricanLiberty.org

Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) on Friday announced the appointment of Mr Gregory Metcalf as the new Managing Director for SABMiller’s Ghana operations.

Mr. Metcalf’s appointment took effect from June 1, 2009, a statement from the ABL in Accra said.

The statement said Mr. Metcalf, a British, is an experienced Managing Director who had spent the last 10 years as Managing Director in several manufacturing organisations before joining SABMiller in 2008 as the Commercial Director for the Nile Breweries in Uganda.

“Mr. Metcalf’s experience includes product innovation, sales and marketing, administration and distribution management which provides him with a solid foundation to lead the Accra Brewery and Voltic teams”.

He takes over from Grant Liversage who has been appointed the Managing Director of SABMiller’s Mozambican subsidiary, Cervejas de Mozambique, the statement said.

Source: GNA

IMANI director, Franklin Cudjoe, former deputy head of the FDB, Mr. Kwamina Van-Ess and Mr. Andrew Akolaa, Marketing Manager of Kasapreko distilleries formally presented the draft alcohol policy to Hon. Dr. Sipa-Adjah Yankey, Ghana’s new Health Minister. Minister promised to study the draft and said hopefully, there would be no need to re-invent the wheel.

Franklin later joined the Minister of health and his Ghanaian delegation at a luncheon on M-Health projects organized by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and the United States lobby agency, the Whitaker Group in Geneva, Switzerland.

Franklin mentioned the draft Alcohol Policy to Dr. Seth Opuni, the new CEO of Ghana’s Food and Drugs Board, who was hearing about the policy for the first time. Franklin attended the World Health Assembly and spoke on fighting counterfeit medicines.

Last October 2008, IMANI’s CEO facilitated a high-powered Ghanaian delegation to the second regional meeting of ICAP.

Mr. Franklin Cudjoe, whose IMANI facilitated Ghana’s draft policy on alcohol spoke on Partnership & Multi-sectoral Approaches in Alcohol Policy formulation. The former Deputy Minister of Health for Ghana, Hon. Abraham Dwumah Odoom underscored the need to have a good alcohol policy.

He was very glad that Ghana had set the pace for successful draft of the policy and was ready to present to Parliamentary Committed on Health as well as to the Cabinet.

The Ghanaian contingent included:

Mr. Franklin Cudjoe, Chief Executive IMANI Ghana
Email: franklin[at]imanighana.com

Dr. McDamien Dedzo, Deputy Director of Public Health, Ministry of Health
Email: dedzomdk[at]yahoo.com

The Hon. Abraham Dwumah Odoom Deputy Minister of Health, Ministry of Health
Email: dcethld[at]yahoo.com

Mr. John Odame Darkwa Deputy Chief Executive, Food and Drugs Board
Email: fdb[at]ghana.com and jodamedarkwa[at]yahoo.co.uk

Dr. Kwabena Opoku-Adusei Vice-President, Ghana Medical Association
Email: kopa2310[at]hotmail.com

Mr. Sam Poku,Chief Executive Officer West African Business Network
Email: waba[at]africaonline.com.gh

Mr. Kwamina Van-Ess Consultant Food and Drugs Board
Email: kwaminav[at]yahoo.com

The Report of the 2008 ICAP Africa Region Conference can be downloaded here. (PDF)

Mr Cudjoe said this in Accra at one of a series of workshops on national alcohol draft policy consideration organized by the ICPE to consider, approve and agree on its draft national alcohol policy, that would be presented to government and its stakeholders for adoption.

He said the nation needed a coherent framework that would help design effective alcohol directives as to who qualifies to take alcohol and at what age adding, “although people do take alcohol, we do not have data on alcohol”.

Mr. Cudjoe, said policy enactment alone was not enough but there was also the need to develop effective mechanisms towards enforcement.

He said ICPE, together with the public and the private sector had developed a national draft policy which sought to prevent and minimize alcohol related harms to individuals and families in the context of developing safer and healthier patterns of drinking.

According to him, the draft also aimed at developing and implementing a transparent self-regulatory systems by which the alcoholic beverage industry would ensure that production, promotion and marketing of its products were consistent with the requirement and met the international standards.

He said some participants in the previous meeting recommended that for Ghana to reduce the incidence of intoxication, responsible service practices in licensed environment was important, but needed to be accompanied by law enforcement which would lead to reduced serving of intoxicated people on licensed premises.

Keith R. Evans, Chairman of the Australian Intergovernmental Committee on Drugs said placing a ban on advertisement of alcoholic beverages would not change the drinking behaviour of the people.

He called for effective measures must be put in place to check the high rate of alcohol intake.

Franklin Cudjoe is Executive Director of Imani: The Centre for Humane Education, a think-tank based in Accra dedicated to researching economic trends to glean practical public-policy insights for the benefit of government, business and civil society in Ghana.

Source: Joy FM

IMANI’s Executive Director, Franklin Cudjoe and Former Deputy Director of Food and Drugs Board, Mr Kwamina Van Ess, met with Ghana’s Health Minister to discuss health issues.

The discussion focused on Ghana’s position on the WHO’s Inter Governmental Working Group on Intellectual Property as it relates to development of medicines and progression of the National Alcohol Policy work IMANI initiated.

The discussions with the Ghanaian Minister of Health on Ghana’s position, revealed a rare sensible position – that breaking patents have the effect of weakening Africa’s ability to protect its medical breakthroughs in the future.

The Ghanaian Health Minister understands that while differential pricing of medicines will be a good way out for Africa, he knows patents are just a part of the solution- weak healthcare infrastructure, inadequate health insurance schemes, inadequate health professionals, price controls, taxes and tariffs on medicines (almost 30% in the case of Ghana) and corruption are the real barriers to health care in Africa.

Refreshingly, his position was at variance with the African Group position in the IGWG, which is blindly being led by Kenya championing the overly rehearsed chorus that patents put profits before people.

But his is a lone voice.