Ben Abdallah Banda
Parliament has passed the Companies Bill, 2018 to make it easier to do business or establish a company in the country.
The bill was passed when parliament was recalled for an emergency one-week sitting last week.
According to the bill, the new age of registering or starting up a business has now been pegged at 18 instead of the previous 21.
According to the bill, multinationals or external companies, who flout any of the obligations imposed on it by sections [313 to 320] of the Companies Bill, 2018, are liable to pay to the Registrar-General, an administrative penalty of two hundred and fifty penalty units, equivalent to GH?3,000.
Chairman of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs of Parliament, Ben Abdallah Banda, explained that an external company is one incorporated outside Ghana but has an established place of business in Ghana.
According to the chairman of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliament Affairs committee, the law states that one does not have to keep the information or record of only legal owners of shares of a company, but will need to get information about beneficial owners since the law has made provisions for beneficial ownership.
Another novelty that has been introduced in the Companies Bill, 2018 is the major transaction.
“That type of transaction is defined in the law once shareholders, by majority decision, decide that this is what we want to do, the decision of the majority is binding on the minority that is the position of the law,” the chairman of the committee said.
But now the law is states that anybody, who dissents, can apply to have his shares bought out or apply to court if the company is dilly-dallying.