Business News of Friday, 21 May 2004

Source: Chronicle

Dakmak back to invest

THE Government?s pursuit of sound macro-economic policies, coupled with its commitment to the rule of law and due process, seems to be yielding good results in the realm of business.

Its determination to make the private sector the engine of Ghana?s economic growth has made an impact on international investment circles and convinced many that President John Agyekum Kufuor means serious business.

All these factors have given confidence to Mr. Wassef S. Dakmak, the multi-millionaire Lebanese industrialist and business tycoon, to decide to return to Ghana and invest massively in the country?s economy.

It will be recalled that Wassef Dakmak had been a leading industrialist in this country for many years until he lost almost all his fortune during the short rule of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) in 1979.

His numerous businesses and assets, including the flagship Dakmak House, were unaccountably seized and confiscated to the state without due process, nor compensation.

According to Mr. Kwame Johnson, a business consultant and personal assistant to Mr. Dakmak, the 74-year-old business tycoon has been convinced by the NPP government?s sound policies to come back to Ghana.

He told The Chronicle that Mr. Dakmak has got so much confidence in the country?s future that he has put together a group of Middle Eastern business moguls who are ready to sink serious money into various sectors of the economy.

Mr. Johnson said because of Dakmak?s advanced age, his well-educated children would be in the forefront while he remained in the background to co-ordinate affairs.