Akwasi Ababio, Director of Diaspora at the Office of the president
• The Homeland Return Act when passed will help define the criteria to follow when an individual plans to return to Ghana
• He said there are other opportunities for people to relate to the country especially the diaspora
• The Ghanaian business environment is strong enough to witness a huge influx of Foreign Direct Investments flows.
The Director of Diaspora at the Office of the president Akwasi Ababio has explained that, the Homeland Return Act when enacted will help streamline the criteria which the members in the diaspora will follow if they decide to stay in Ghana upon their return.
According to Mr Ababio this will help the act also recognize the country’s moral and spiritual obligation as an African nation in facilitating the return of diaspora Africans and would remove impediments in the acquisition of residence or citizenship by descendants of Africans who were enslaved as well as children of Ghanaians living in the diaspora.
“It is an act that we are hoping when it is out will streamline what we have been doing already that is to fully define the criteria for anyone in the diaspora looking forward to come back to Ghana to live with us, to invest with us and of course contributing towards our development,” he said
He also said there are other opportunities for people to relate to the country especially the diaspora.
“We have decided to short service the process for them to make it simple so they can take advantage of which is why the homeland return act is being looked at. We are also looking at the financial obligations that are impose on them will be lessened, hence the reason why the homeland return act will be passed soon,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mr Ababio also said the Ghanaian business environment is strong enough to witness a huge influx of Foreign Direct Investments flows.
“The business community is a very clever community, you may recognize that they turn to go to where it is very reasonable for them to go and the evidence that is so far available that is what they are doing, you have CNN and other organizations saying good things about your country and your organizations like Twitter bringing their headquarters to Ghana, that gives you more confident as a nation and I must this is the place for growth,” he noted.
Meanwhile,, the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) has held the maiden edition of the Diaspora Investment Summit in Accra to deliberate on ways to explore to rope in revenue from the diaspora community to help develop the country.
The theme for the summit was dubbed “The New Normal: leveraging diaspora investments to build back better.”