A five- member Committee of Experts of the Business Law Reform Commission established by the Attorney-General has been inaugurated in Accra.

The Committee which is being chaired by Justice Date Baah, a Supreme Court Judge, comprises of Mr. Tony Oteng –Gyasi, President of the Association of Ghana Industries, Mr Felix Addo, of Pricewater House Coopers, Mr Philip Bondzi-Simpson a Private Legal Practitioner and Mr Sal Amegavie, President the Ghana National Chamber of commerce and Industry.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony yesterday, the Attorney –General and Minister for Justice, Hon. Joe Gartey, intimated that the Committee shall consider the Companies’ Bill prepared by Attorney –General’s Office and solicit views on it from the business community, the legal community interested members of the general community in Ghana as well as from reputable Company Law experts, compare the provisions of the bill with countries which meet best practice standards in the Commonwealth

In addition, the Committee, he said, shall also review bankruptcy or insolvency law reform in Ghana and consider the draft legislation currently under preparation and deliberate on legislative measures to combat corruption in the private sector and make recommendations after consultation with stakeholders for appropriate legislation on the matter as well as consider and make recommendation on what modifications, if any, within a targeted period of four mouths from 1st April 2008.

The Attorney General also disclosed that the Committee shall be required to consider suggestions and proposals for law reform from the business and legal communities in Ghana and determine other areas of the law to be reformed as well as propose to the Attorney –General an action plan in relation to those areas.

He urged the Committee to collaborate and cooperate with Law Reform Commission and not to work under pressure adding that the media should mount pressure on the Committee since the Company Code under review is a complicated document.

In a response, the Chairman of the Committee, Justice Date Baah, stated that the Committee’s “first priority will be to assess, consolidate and complete the task ahead.”

He said “we trust our new companies’ legislation, when eventually enacted, will be a successor to our existing Companies’ Code”

Justice Date Baah pointed out that it was the responsibility of government to provide and maintain the legal framework needed by private enterprises to make their decision on investment and other economic matters critical to the economic growth of the country adding that “it is right for government to monitor and assess the adequacy of the legal system’s performance as it relates to business activities.’

The Chairman pledged that members of the Committee “will do their best to advise government on repairing particular aspects of the legal infrastructure affecting business and present to the Attorney General a product of high quality.”

Source: ISD (Gilbert Ankrah)
Posted: 04/04/08