World Trade Centre Accra commemorates 9/11

World Trade Centre (WTC) Accra is commemorating the12th anniversary of the September 11 bombing of the World Trade Centre twin towers in New York, U.S with a short candle-lit ceremony at the World Trade Centre building in Accra.
 

The  ceremony is scheduled for 12.00pm and will be attended by the Chairman of the board of WTC Accra, Togbe Afede XIV; management and staff of WTC Accra; tenants in the WTC Accra building; and a few other invited guests.

Mr. Emmanuel Doni-Kwame, Managing Director of the World Trade Centre, Accra, explained that members of the World Trade Centre Association identify strongly with events of the September 11 attack in the USA. 

 He revealed that the World Trade Centre Accra will be launched soon and Ghanaian businesses can start enjoying the same quality services they access in other World Trade Centres around the globe.

Ghana is a member of WTCA and plans are nearly complete for launching a fully-fledged World Trade Centre in Accra.

“Today, the WTCA is acknowledged by many people to be among the most relevant international organisations in the world, representing every major trading area in the world and servicing more than 500,000 companies in the field of international commerce,” he said.

World Trade Centre -- How it all began.

In 1959, under the chairmanship of David Rockefeller, the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association initiated a mission to construct a permanent building to serve as the gathering place for all agencies and players of what he saw as a coming explosion in international trade.  

The building was seen as a place ‘The United States, foreign business and financial interest can meet to do business; where representatives of the United States and foreign government are available for consultation and aid; where facilities are available to expedite business transactions’. 

To finance and build such a project, the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association turned to the state agency, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, to review the feasibility of such a project. 

On March10, 1961, the Port Authority issued a report that endorsed the feasibility of the Rockefeller vision and justified it as a viable public project because it would serve as a catalyst for business growth and increase employment and net revenue to the city from augmented economic activity.  

This conclusion was met with fierce opposition from other stakeholders, especially merchants and the public in the proposed area who were to be displaced. 

In 1963, the US Supreme Court reaffirmed the public-purpose nature of the project before construction of the World Trade Centre could eventually begin in downtown New York City. 

In 1973, the dream of David Rockefeller became a reality and his brother, the-then Governor of the state of New York Nelson Rockefeller, dedicated the 120-story iconic dual structure known as the World Trade Centre -- also known as the Twin Towers.

In February 1962, a young engineer with the Port Authority celebrating his 40^th birthday was told by his boss, Mr. Austin Tobin “you’re going to build the trade centre”.  That man was Guy Tozzoli. 

Guy Tozzoli was appointed the Director of the World Trade Department in February 1962, and he was responsible for the planning, construction and rental operation of the World Trade Centre in New York.  Mr. Tozzoli chose Minori Yamasaki as the architect for the project. 

Mr. Tozolli is quoted as telling Mr. Yamasaki: “President Kennedy is going to put a man on the moon. You’re going to figure a way to build me the tallest building in the world”. 

After more than 100 designs, Mr. Tozzoli and the Port Authority signed off the Twin Tower design.  The building and rental project involved 15 million square feet of floor area distributed over seven buildings including the two 110-story towers, the tallest in the world at that time. 

In 1970, Mr. Tozzoli led in founding the World Trade Centre’s Association (WTCA) and was elected the association’s first President. In 1987, after 41 years of service, he retired from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to serve as full-time President and Board Member of WTCA, with an office on the 77^th Floor of the North Tower.

That was where he was headed on September 11, 2001, hoping to make a 9.00am meeting.  As he approached the Holland Tunnel entrance, he saw smoke pouring from a gash in the tower, not far from his office.  Thinking that it was a fault with the building, he said in a grave voice “it is going to take a long time for us to fix that”. The people around him did not answer.  Then the second plane struck!

Today, there are over 330 World Trade Centres across the globe in over 100 countries.  These trade centres come together to form the World Trade Centre’s Association.

World Trade Centre Associations (WTCA)

The vision of David Rockefeller was not just a building but a place where international business services would be provided; communication among related businesses would be facilitated; and a supportive network built, all as a means of bringing value to the city.

To make this happen, the Port Authority arranged a meeting in April 1968 in New Orleans. The purpose was to bring together like-minded cities in other parts of the USA and the world that saw the same benefits of the trade centre concept to consider ways of providing mutual assistance.  The cities were Amsterdam, Antwerp, New Orleans, New York, Paris, Rotterdam and Tokyo. 

The goals of the group were:

·         To promote international business relationships

·         To encourage mutual Assistance

·         To foster increased participation in world trade by developing nations

The result of this vision was creation of the World Trade Centres Association, incorporated in Delaware. In its first formal meeting in Tokyo in 1970, Guy Tozzoli was elected as a volunteer leader until his retirement from the Port Authority in 1987, when he became the Association’s first and current president until his death.

 The essential relationship between a prominent building and support services to promote trade was conceived from the beginning and continues today in the 40-year life of the World Trade Centres Association.

A second look at commodity-export-driven growth

 These are crucial times in the social and economic development of Africa, when dramatic economic growth figures have not translated into any significant improvement in living conditions for the vast majority of people.

Instead, driven primarily by surges in commodity export prices, this economic growth has been harvested mainly by the transnational corporations which dominate the extractive sector.   

And ordinary people continue to experience joblessness, material deprivation and poverty, with mining-related environmental disasters and problems for mining communities hardly abated. 

Above all, as exposed by how even this growth slumped at the onset of the 2008 global financial and economic crisis, this primary commodity- export-driven growth model is fragile and unsustainable.

These sentiments were expressed by representatives of African trade unions, community organisations, non-governmental and other civil society organisations, and networks working on environment, development, and economic justice issues at the 14th Annual Review and Strategy meeting of the African Initiative of Mining, Environment and Society (AIMES) held in Accra.

The meeting discussed the issues, challenges and opportunities arising from recent developments relating to the extractive sector activities in Africa in the evolving global context.

Participant at the meeting reaffirmed their commitment to the fundamental principles that extractive resources are finite and must be managed prudently for the fulfilment of material and social needs and aspirations of present and future generations of Africa’s peoples, rather than for corporate profit. 

They agreed that such management must recognise and reinforce the fundamental rights of all people, as well as limits of the planet.  It must be rooted in democratic, transparent and accountable governance.

“The sector must enable the people of African to take control of their development and place in global relations, rather than being bargaining chips in realising of interests of transnational corporations and their governments in the play of geo-politics.

“We reaffirm our stance that the African Mining Vision (AMV) and its related analytical and policy frameworks as well as implementation plans are important to reorganising the political economy of mining in African countries.” 

Key dimensions

The meeting, among other issues, gave some key dimensions of the AMV package as:

The emphasis on the need to place mining in the structural transformation of African economies and societies;

The primacy given to national democratic sovereignty and control over the exploitation of Africa’s resources, and determining the nature of their use;

The recognition of the rights of constituencies within all countries, and their participation in the formulation of mining and broader development policy; and  

The commitment to building national and continental institutions for effective realisation of these principles.

The AMV package does not constitute a finalised, sacrosanct blue- print, but rather a guiding framework for concrete action at national, regional and continental levels. 

The perspectives, recommendations and actions contained in the package constitute a welcome lever for mobilisation of citizens to ensure that the interests of ordinary people and the equitable development of national economies in Africa prevail in the inevitable contestations generated in the implementation of the AMV package.   

In this regard, some aspects of the AMV should be improved and strengthened.  The specific concerns and interests of key domestic socio-economic constituencies in the vision, policy and practical documents should be deepened, and greater attention paid to raising awareness of the vision among citizens as well as the domestic political mobilisation required to implement the vision.

In addition, there is a need for greater attention to global economic issues, factors and forces which can frustrate the realisation of the AMV package.  

Furthermore, governments at the national, regional and continental level need to show greater resolve and take the steps required for realisation of the AMV package in its total integrity -- and avoid the temptation to cherry-pick aspects thereof.

In particular, urgent and further steps are needed to formulate specific policy with regard to key areas such as:

Optimising revenue generation and utilisation;

Protection and advancement of the interests and rights of communities affected by mining; and workers as well as artisanal and small-scale mining operators;

The development of economic linkages between mining and other sectors of the national economy, as well as the role of mining in industrialisation and economic diversification.

With regard to communities affected by mining, such policies must be aimed at operationising such key principles as prior informed consent of mining communities in relation to the commencement of mining operations; prompt, adequate and fair compensation for loss of means of livelihood; protection from negative environmental impacts, and effective support for communities to participate in mining- related economic activities.

Policies on workers must support unionisation in the mines, improvements in working conditions -- especially health and safety, job security and adequate remuneration -- and also support a more effective participation of organised labour in the defining of mining sector policies.

Artisanal and small -scale mining (ASM) operations require policies that realise and optimise the fact that a substantial proportion of minerals and related revenue in Africa is generated from ASM; that ASM provides a substantial basis for mining-related domestic capital accumulation, and improvements in rural livelihoods.

ASM deserves the same support and attention that is currently given to large-scale mines, tailored to specific needs of the sector.

To promote linkages and diversification, policy must facilitate and support: the sourcing and supply of inputs and services from the national and regional economy by national and regional economic entities; the processing of mineral products as intermediate and final input, as well as participation in core-mining activities by nationals. 

Above all, policy should reflect the recognition that such activities cannot be left to the dictates of the market, but  on the contrary require active intervention of various types by the state to create favourable and differential opportunities for national economic entities, including state enterprises.

The laudable efforts by African governments to revise fiscal terms in laws and contracts with mining Transnational Companies to improve equity between state and investor must be reinforced by other measures.

These include stronger commitment to public accountability for contract renegotiations, involving among others full disclosure of all mining contracts.

Also, steps must be taken to improve states’ capacity to prevent illicit flows from the mining sector through legal and institutional reforms and cooperation with CSOs. 

All these steps are critical in facing up to the danger of capture and distortion of the vision by the same old corporate interests and global, national and local elites -- including international and bilateral financial/aid institutions who are the main beneficiaries of the currently operative extractive sector policies.

Governments must own the AMV package

In furtherance of the above, it is incumbent on African governments to own the AMV package, and take steps to operationise it as an organic policy package;

African governments must take responsibility for financing implementation of the AMV, including financing the Africa Mineral Development Centre (AMDC), rather than adopt the same donor aid-dependent mentality;

Gov’t pledges to ratify global extractives principles

Minister for Lands and Natural Resources Alhaji Inusah Fuseini has pledged government’s readiness to sign onto the Voluntary Principles (VPs) on security and human rights in the extractives sector. 

 

The VPs will provide government and the extractives industry the opportunity to improve on protection of human rights, he said. Signing on will also create goodwill for trade and investment, and improve security for resource communities.

B&FT has gathered that Ghana has advanced in negotiations and discussions toward signing the VPs, and is hoping to be the first to ratify it in Africa ahead of South Africa.

Co-financed and developed by the International Council on Mining and Metals, International Finance Corporation, Global Oil and Gas Industry Association for Environmental and Social Issues, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the VPs aim to assist extractive companies balance security concerns with human rights.

The VPs are also a useful tool for all governments with an interest in operations of the extractives industry, and can help contribute to the protection of human rights and prevention of conflict.

Alhaji Fuseini was speaking at a stakeholder-workshop in Accra aimed at designing a workable model for security and human rights in the extractive industry.

The workshop -- which was organised jointly by Global Rights, Nigeria, and the Livelihood and Environment, Ghana (LEG) -- both NGOs -- was targetted at exploring the role of civil society organisations in the implementation and application of VPs,  and  ensuring that Ghana signs on to the principles.

Alhaji Fuseini explained that government is a key promoter and beneficiary of the mining industry, and therefore has a duty to ensure that mining is done responsibly and in a way that does not promote conflict, human rights abuses and insecurity.

“In Ghana, where mining contributes significantly to government revenues for funding local and national development projects, it is important that we support and contribute to processes that will enable us to maximise returns from our mineral resources while ensuring that it does not engender human rights abuses and poverty,” he said.

Abiodun Baiyewu, Global Rights Director for West Africa, explained that through the VPs companies are better able to align their corporate policies, procedures, and internal assessment with internationally recognised human rights principles in the provision of security for their operations.

She said the VPs help companies develop human rights risk-assessment policies and procedures that better anticipate situations in which human rights abuses are most likely to occur.

“The initiative provides a forum for companies to collaborate and learn from one another when developing internal policies and procedures to minimise the likelihood of human rights harm.

“It provides for regular consultations between companies, host-governments and local communities; deals with issues of proportionality and use of force; ensures improved company engagement for protection of human rights by security contractors; and as well supports regularly monitoring progress of investigations into alleged abuses, among other things,” Baiyewu stated.

Richard Adjei-Poku, Executive Director, LEG, expressed the hope that through the workshop much education and awareness will be created among civil society organisations, local non-governmental organisations and the media to enhance advocacy and move Ghana to quickly sign on to the VPs.

 “It can also support Government policy objectives, including poverty alleviation, investment, and conflict prevention. Signing the VPs will help reduce conflict in the extractives industry and reduce costs related to insecurity, as well as promote greater transparency and accountability that can improve a country’s investment climate.

“It will also promote a better business environment and provide a platform to engage with multinational extractives companies and civil society in mutual learning and joint problem-solving on security and human rights,” Mr. Adjei-Poku remarked.

‘Speedily enact tax administration bills’

Speedy enactment of draft tax administration bills into law will help rationalise and consolidate tax rules and improve tax administration in the country, Dr. Abdul Baasit Aziz Bamba, lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, has said.

 

The bills will facilitate the process of addressing administrative issues arising from the merger of the three revenue collection agencies, he said.

Dr. Bamba was delivering a paper at a tax forum in Accra under the topic “Harmonising Tax Legislation for Effective Tax Compliance; Recipe for Revenue Mobilisation”.

“Some of the gaps, conflicts and ambiguities identified in the taxation of petroleum are likely to be addressed in the Internal Revenue bill, when it is passed into law.”

He said conflicts, gaps and ambiguities in the tax regime for natural resources create numerous opportunities for under-assessment, tax avoidance and plain corruption. 

He added that there are a number of uncertainties in the legislative framework of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703).

Section 25 of the Minerals and Mining Act provides that, “A holder of a mining lease, restricted mining lease or small-scale mining licence shall pay royalty that may be prescribed in respect to minerals obtained from its mining operations to the Republic, except that the rate of royalty shall not be more than six percent or less than three percent of the total revenue of minerals obtained by the holder”.

This, Dr. Bamba said, is a sliding-scale with no specific assessment mechanism -- adding that this can be solved by making regulations pursuant to the Act. 

Again, the Mineral Royalties Regulations, 1987 (L.I 1349), which seek to guide the Ghana Revenue Authority in the computation of royalties due the government under the old Minerals and Mining Act, 1986 (PNDCL 153), has not been revised to be in tune with the new Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703).

Dr. Bamba indicated that there are no regulations to guide revenue officers in the proper computation and administration of royalties from mining activities.

“This raises substantive structural legal problems in the application of Act 703, and by extension poses a challenge to the general utility of the specific legal regime that exists to establish a connection between tax revenue, natural resources and development.”

He said deficiencies in the tax law create situations for the unfair treatment of taxpayers. “Taxes may be imposed on taxpayers when they have not had adequate notice as to what they are required to pay to enable them accordingly plan their tax affairs.

“Uncertainty in tax rules disables taxpayers from determining their true liability with a fair degree of accuracy. The effect of uncertainty is that taxpayers cannot ascertain how much tax is due or owed by them.

“As a result, taxpayers often are at the mercy of tax administrators, who may exercise discretion in the application of tax rules that are unclear or are filled with gaps and inconsistencies,” he remarked.