Set up National Corporate Social Responsibility Framework
Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot

Accra, May 10, Ghanadot - Communications experts in Ghana have vehemently called on the government as a matter of urgency to set up a National Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) Framework to define parameters for CSR in the country.

This would make companies operating in Ghana more responsible to the society as well as contribute greatly to the socio-economic development of the country.

The call was made at a maiden Trade Fair on CRS held in Accra.

The fair was organized by the Junior Chamber International (JCI) Ghana, a worldwide federation of young leaders and entrepreneurs and supported by the Ghana Business Code, Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre and the Canadian High Commission in Ghana.

The communications experts further called for a regulatory body to be set up to regulate corporate social responsibility to meet international standards, adding Listed Companies on the Ghana Stock Exchange should be required to report on their CSR.

Speaking on a topic” Mainstreaming Corporate Social Responsibility in Public Policy in Ghana. Threats and Opportunities”, a Senior Lecturer of the Ghana Institute of Journalism, Mr. Kweku Rockson urged the government to create a public policy framework including legislation for the corporate social responsibility to check the operations of companies in the country.

Instructively, public policy is a description and explanation of the causes and ramifications of government’s actions. They are grounded in the nation’s history, law, traditions and social structure.

They provide a direction on how challenges and issues are defined and constructed and how they are positioned on the policy agenda.

Sometimes, public policy investigates the basis for a government’s pursuit of a course of action and also reacts to a specific situation such as inequality, poverty, human rights and the general obligations of a nation to its citizens.

Mr. Rockson therefore stressed that corporate social responsibility could thrive in an environment where the public and private sectors and civil society work in concert to meet public sector-driven goals.

“The public sector goals can be met if there are well articulated and championed public policy initiatives, while promoting this approach as a normative imperative, there are undercurrents of smaller actors who could easily be submerged in the process,” he added.

The Senior Lecturer identified human rights abuses, community rights, social accountability, corporate governance, quality of service, among others as the core corporate social responsibility issues facing the country.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Ms. Joyce Aryee, reiterated the need for the government to mainstream mining as a catalyst for development, through pragmatic policies and programmes that would integrate the mining sector into the local economy.

She noted that mining companies in Ghana had contributed significantly to the country’s development by their very existence in the rural communities, saying that the sector had social multiplier effects in the areas of education, electricity, potable water, health, information communication technology, banking and infrastructural development.

The Deputy Minster of Trade and Industry, Mr. John Gyetuah indicated that corporate social responsibility was a useful concept to the country where it was impossible for the government alone to provide all the diverse needs of the society.

The National President of the Junior Chamber International Ghana, Mr. Papa Kwesi Inkumsah observed that there was the need for home grown solutions to help consolidate corporate social responsibility culture among companies in the country.

He urged companies to give more to the society that they operate, stressing that “companies and factories derive part of their labour and profits from the communities”.