A retired Senior Partner at Slaughter and May, Hon Sir Nigel Boardman, is urging government of to consider making laws for the future that would deal with the ever-changing issues as climate change, Artificial Intelligence (AI), driverless cars and, drones.
Delivering the 2nd Kojo Bentsi-Enchill Annual Memorial lecture under the theme; “Investment in African Natural and Other Resources: What Should Governments and Investors Do to Ensure Success?” yesterday, at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra, Hon. Sir Nigel Boardman said, “we are living in a very changing environment, where climate change, Artificial Intelligence (AI), driverless cars, drones capable of delivering medicines and drugs are becoming the order of the day and driving businesses and how investments are shaped, and that for a nation like Ghana to stand and benefit from multi-national investments, there is the need for government to do more in the areas of legislations for the future.
He suggested that government needed to put a specialist team in place which would look at legislation for the future and be able to produce an environment to match the legislations that deal with drones, driverless cars, the future, and make Ghana more attractive country than others.
Hon Sir Nigel Boardman also averred that, legislations convening power and influence, procurement and ease of doing business and how their legislations are geared towards the success of businesses are critical because it all of this need legislative framework that is “effective and fit for purpose.”
He said “…if you are not ahead in legislation you give yourself to a great disadvantage.”
Hon Sir Nigel Boardman also touched on the procurement power of governments, saying that if the country wants to go far with AI then it can just insist on legislations that ensure that tenders are used to solve solutions since that is a crucial element for companies.
A government, he noted, reduces its risk rating by being consistent, stable, reliable, trustworthy and living up to its promises.
In doing so, he said, government gets a great reputation in this respect.
“An investment by multinational in a country is the creation of a joint venture between that multinational. And the local community and the government. And again, it needs to be negotiated today, which builds trust and builds for the future success of the business, but the manner of negotiation. Government is really powerful.”
For multi-nationals, he urged them not to accept ambiguous agreement at the start, saying that driving unfair bargains is not a sensible thing to do.
