MMDAs urged to help SMEs to solve problems.

Saltpond, Sept. 1, GNA - An International Labour Organisation (ILO) consultant has appealed to Metropolitan, Municipal and District assemblies to identify problems facing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and help them to solve them.

Mr Emmanuel Baisie, an ILO Decent Work Project consultant, said by so doing the SMEs would be in a position to contribute to the development of the assemblies.

He said this at a workshop on Local Economic Development for members of the Mfantseman Municipal Assembly at Saltpond.

Local Economic Development (LED) is the identification of local economic resources for development to facilitate growth of the assemblies.

Mr Baisie appealed to the assemblies to involve their members in resource identification to enable them to contribute to their development.

He urged the SPGEs to mobilise all small Business Groups into associations to make it easier for the assemblies to collect taxes from their members.

Mr George Acquah, the Chairman of Effutu Municipal SPGE, said skills training must be linked to marketing.

He said a number of skills training interventions could not help the beneficiaries because they did not get markets for their products, making their conditions worse than before.

Mr Henry Kweku Hayfron, the Mfantseman Municipal chief Executive, said the government attached importance to the private sector as the engine of growth and was making every effort to promote it.

He said the private sector would be enhanced for it to play a leading role in reducing unemployment in the country.

Mr John Etuah, the Municipal Budget Analyst and Focal Person for the Decent Work Project, commended the ILO for its interest in promoting small business associations.

The ILO Decent Work Project is being implemented in eight Municipal and District Assemblies in the Central Region.

These are Mfantseman, Effutu, and Agona East and Agona West Municipal Assembly, Gomoa East and Gomoa West Municipal Assemblies, Ajumako Enyan-Essiam, Twifu-Heman-Lower Denkyira and Awutu-Senya District assemblies.