Diana Afriyie Addo, Head of the Trade and Investment Section at the Ghana High Commission, UK and Former Director of the Ghana Business Regulatory Reforms Programme (GBRRP), has indicated that the GBRRP is preparing to embark on a publicity campaign to introduce the Ghana business community and public to their services.

Speaking during a UK-Ghana Chamber of Commerce (UKGCC) and WTS Nobisfields webinar on “The Role of the Ghana Business Regulatory Reforms Programme for Businesses”, Madam Addo remarked that, “We are done with a campaign schedule, and we have started the first phase – a social media campaign.

From next year, we are going to carry out a massive campaign, with the goal of sensitising the public on how to access the Business Regulatory Reforms Portal and the services of the GBRRP”.

Kwaku Nsiah Mensuoh, an Information Technology Consultant with the Business Regulatory Reforms Unit, added that while publicity is ongoing, the GBRRP is also seeking the collaboration and support of relevant stakeholders to ensure the success of the GBRRP. This is because the portal was developed to make information available to Ghanaians and foreign investors.

What is the Ghana Business Regulatory Reforms Programme?

The GBRRP is an integral component of Government’s Economic & Industrial Transformation Agenda. It was established in 2017 to improve the quality, predictability, and transparency of regulatory services. The vision is to make Ghana the most business friendly environment of doing business in Africa.

Its objectives include cleaning up or simplifying existing business regulations that are inefficient or not business friendly. The Programme also seeks to improve how business regulations are produced by ensuring that new regulations meet agreed minimum criteria.

Components of the GBRRP

The GBRRP comprises seven key components.

According to Raphael Awiagah, Research and Process Analyst at the GBRRP, the first component – Targeted Business Environment Reforms Initiative, is made up of 10 Technical Working Groups (TWGs).  These TWGs coordinate the design and implementation of business regulatory reforms for improving Ghana’s business environment.

Other key components of the GBRRP are Online Registry of Business Laws & Regulations, Online Consultations Portal, Regulatory Impact Assessment, Rolling Review of Business Regulations, Targeted Regulatory Relief for SMEs, and Permanent Public-Private Dialogue Mechanism.

The Business Consultation Portal

The Business Consultation Portal falls under the Online Registry of Business Laws & Regulations, and Online Consultations Portal components of the GBRRP and is one of the GBRRP’s key success stories.

Mr. Mensuoh explained during the webinar that the portal was developed to enable the public engage in rule making, thus expanding the scope of draft policy consultations.

“We identified that oftentimes, two critical issues would emerge during the draft policy stage – either the responsible institution would engage their usual stakeholders, or invited stakeholders would be unable to honour invitations to participate in public consultations.

Since we launched the Portal, it has seen a number of publications on the platform, with a good number of current bills having been advertised,” he said.

The Portal has also since enabled the GBRRP to track views and forward feedback to responsible institutions, in addition to providing the Ghanaian public and investors the opportunity to access business regulations enforced in the country. Other wins include enabling the Ghanaian public to provide feedback on any public service, as well as facilitating access to the automated platforms of various institutions.

A mobile app version of the Portal, called BRR, is available for download on Android and IOS, while the GBRRP is working on developing an offline version of the web platform to improve accessibility to users.

Other Key Reforms

The GBRRP has also been instrumental in implementing other key reforms.

Mr. Awiagah commented that the GBRRP developed a Fire Permit & Certification Management System for Ghana National Fire Services.

“We did this as part of the reform interventions within the development permitting administration, where you can directly apply for your fire permit electronically. Hopefully, the system will be launched on 10^th October 2024 so it can be fully operationalised nationwide.”

Other key reforms include supporting the Lands Commission to develop and operationalise the digitised land transaction portal, and providing IT equipment to support the Electricity Company of Ghana to monitor and improve power distribution to businesses.

Theophilus Tawiah, Managing Partner, WTS Nobisfields and webinar moderator, lauded the work of the GBRRP, especially the Business Consultation Portal.

According to him, the Portal “is a very excellent initiative which should be encouraged and used”.  He, however, called for increased publicity on the Portal, considering the public’s limited awareness of it, in addition to making the Portal more foreign-investor friendly.

Madam Addo, for her part, said the GBRRP is ready to organise demonstrations on using its Business Consultation Portal.

“We’ve done a lot of demonstrations for institutions, business associations, and foreign partners so we will be glad to organise one for such who invite us,” she remarked.

The panel, part of the UKGCC’s Mandatory Regulatory Compliance for Businesses in Ghana webinar series, discussed in depth related topics including the membership and function of the TWGs, Sub National Business Assessment Framework, the Business Regulatory Reforms Bill, and the Inter-Ministerial Facilitation Committee.