China supports fishing port complex with $50m- University of Health and Allied Sciences, others get $16m, April 7, 2018

The Chinese government has offered Ghana a grant of $66 million for the construction of the Jamestown Fishing Port Complex and other projects.

The package comprises $50 million for the fishing port complex and $16 million for other projects, including the second phase of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS).
A signing ceremony and exchange of notes on the Jamestown Fishing Port Complex was held in Accra yesterday.
The Chinese Ambassador, Ms Sun Baohong, signed for her country, with the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, and the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Mrs Elizabeth Afoley Quaye, initialling on behalf of Ghana.
Both countries also signed a bilateral agreement on the Economic and Technical Cooperation between Ghana and China, under which the $16 million grant for the development of UHAS and other projects fall.

 The ceremony was also used to bid farewell to Ms Baohong whose duty tour in Ghana ends on April 16, 2018.

Projects
Mr Ofori-Atta explained that the Jamestown Fishing Port Complex project was expected to enhance productivity in fishing and also create about 100 job opportunities for the youth in the community.
The project comes in three parts: dredging the harbour basin and shipping channels, construction of hydraulic structures, and the construction of administration, production and supporting facilities such as office building, kindergarten, trading market and processing area.
The finance minister said the signing marked an important milestone in the bilateral relations between Ghana and China as it affirmed the commitment and determination of the two countries to broaden and deepen cooperation between them.
He noted that the government was working assiduously to ensure the macroeconomic stability necessary for creating the enabling environment for accelerated economic growth to position the country beyond aid.
Mr Ofori-Atta thanked the Chinese government for its continued support, saying “there is the need for a critical mass of resources to push the economy beyond aid.”
Enhancing bilateral cooperation
For her part, Ms Baohong said the bilateral agreement was expected to lead to more fruitful cooperation between the two countries.
The economic and trade cooperation between the two countries reached $6.67 billion, ranking sixth among 54 African countries.
While Ghana’s export to China was more than $1.5 billion, an increase of over 41 per cent in the previous year, China’s exports to Ghana reached about $5.17 billion, with its investments in Ghana totalling $123 million within the period.
She stated that China’s support to upgrade polytechnic universities was aimed at preparing the country towards industrialisation.
The Chinese government would also establish a cocoa processing company in Sefwi Wiawso in the Western Region to support the country’s industrialisation drive, she added.
“China’s aid to Ghana does not have any political strings; it is for development and we fully support the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda. We hope it will be realised with the help of foreign partners,” she stated.
Ms Baohong commended the government for the various policies and programmes it had implemented since it took over in 2017.

ECG retrieves monies from illegal power consumers in Accra, October 22, 2018, Daily Graphic

The Accra West Region of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), has retrieved GH¢4,032,855.00 from illegal power consumers.

The money was recovered from 777 customers whose illegal activities included meter by-pass, direct connections, meter tampering and unauthorised service connections.

The total amount of money retrieved translated into 3,801.726 kilowatts hour (kwh) of electricity.

Campaigns

The Accra West Regional General Manager, Mr George Appiah-Kubi who made this known, said the exercise formed part of a massive revenue protection campaign launched earlier this year to rid the system of power theft.

Illegal power connection remains one of the biggest challenges facing the ECG in the country.

System losses by the company is currently at 23.5 per cent thus causing the power distributor to lose huge amounts of revenue.

A special court has been designated to  prosecute those who steal power or engaged in such illegal connections.

Special taskforce

As part of its efforts to reduce the incidents, Mr Appiah-Kubi said a special revenue protection taskforce had been formed by the Accra West Region of the ECG to monitor the situation and retrieve all monies due the company.

“We have formed a special revenue protection task force whose duty is to inspect meters installed in the region and audit the authenticity of the electricity connections in those facilities.

 The result of the consistent monitoring by the task force is the retrieval of the money, which the company would otherwise have lost,” he explained.

The manager condemned power theft activities saying it had negative effects on the company’s operations.

Aside impeding prompt payment to power producers, he said it also constrained the company from regularly undertaking system improvement and expansion projects.

The manager, therefore, urged the public to desist from such acts and rather endeavour to pay their bills promptly.

Volunteer information

For his part, the Accra West Revenue Protection Manager of ECG, Ebenezer Yao Fiador, entreated the public to volunteer information on illegal activities.

He said identity of persons who provided credible information would be protected and paid a percentage of any amount recovered from such connections.

Mr Fiador gave an assurance that the revenue protection exercise would be intensified and institutionalised to achieve zero-per cent power theft in the region.

“We are collaborating with the security agencies and constantly revising our revenue protection tactics to stay ahead of the criminals,” he said.

The Accra West Region of the ECG has seven operational districts. They are Kaneshie, Korle Bu, Dansoman, Ablekuma, Nsawam, Bortianor and Achimota District.

First Ladies up against child marriage November 24, 2018, Daily Graphic

Four African First Ladies are holding a meeting in Accra to take a strong stand against early child marriages and other socio-cultural practices targeted at girls in Africa.

The meeting dubbed: “The 2nd Girls Summit on Ending Child Marriage”, featured First Ladies from Ghana, Liberia, Niger and Sierra Leone.

 Also present were gender ministers, civil society groups and technical advisors from parts of the continent including Mozambique, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The two-day summit on the theme: “Enough of the silence”, is being organised by the African Union (AU) and hosted by the Office of the First Lady of Ghana,  and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection in partnership with Plan Ghana,  the United Nations Children’s Fund  (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund ( UNFPA).
The commitment

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the First Lady of Ghana, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, said the high-level  gathering was a clear indication of the importance attached to issues that affected girls, and the commitment to make a difference in the lives of girls and young people.

She said girls who were married off at an early age did not only suffer emotionally but were also affected psychologically and physically.

According to her, four out of 10 girls were married off before the ages of 18 years in Africa while in Ghana, the national average of girls in this category was 21 per cent.

“We all know the challenges, sometimes tragic that comes as a result of child marriage and female genital mutilation. Child brides and girls, who have been circumcised, have a higher mortality rate from complications of child birth and are at an extremely high risk of developing obstetric fistula,” she stated.

It was for this reason, she said, that Ghana had committed to fully implementing its 10-year strategic plan framework on Ending Child Marriage, which was launched in 2016 with a two-year operational plan to ensure youthful livelihood and socio-economic transformation by 2030.

By empowering girls, Mrs Akufo-Addo said, they became better positioned to contribute to national development.

She, therefore, called on all African First Ladies, civil society, the AU  and all other stakeholders to work assiduously to end child marriage.

“Let’s protect the children”

In an address, the First Lady of Sierra Leone, Mrs Fatima Maada Bio, urged parents and the general society to protect children and allow them to enjoy their childhood, and enjoy marriage at the right age.

While condemning the act of hiding behind religion, culture and power to encourage the act of child marriage, she said, children needed to be educated and empowered to become responsible future leaders and contribute their quota to the development of the continent.

Child marriage, she said, did not only affect the child involved but the mother as well.

Allocate more resources

For her part, the Commissioner of Social Affairs of the African Union Commission (AUC), Ms Amira El Fadil, said ending child marriage was a priority of the AU, which recognises it as a development, cultural, health, political and religious issue which needed to be addressed.

She said the AU launched a campaign in 2014 to end child marriage which was adopted by 24 member states.

Madam Fadi further disclosed that out of the number of member states who adopted the campaign,  30 per cent enforced and enacted laws that protected girls, while 41 per cent developed a national strategic plan.

‘Bacterial infection killed tilapia at Fujian farm’ January 10, 2019, Daily Graphic

An investigation conducted into the death of thousands of tilapia at the Fujian Fish Farm at Asutuare in the Shai Osudoku District in the Greater Accra Region at the behest of the Fisheries Commission has established that bacterial infection, coupled with environmental factors, killed the fish.

According to the commission, the bacterial infection, which weakened the immune system of the fish, and environmental factors such as high temperature and salinity of the water could have led to the death of the fish.

The Head of the Fish Health Unit of the Fisheries Commission, Dr Peter Akpe Ziddah, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic, said the fish with weak immune system could have easily been stressed by the environmental factors.
Background
In October last year, there was a scare among fish consumers when news broke that more than six tonnes of dead fish (tilapia) had been discovered on the Fujian Fish Farm, owned by a Chinese firm.

Another incident was noticed at the end of the year along the Volta Lake.
The Fisheries Commission and the Veterinary Services initiated an investigation process to find the cause of the kills.
The findings
Following the incident and preliminary observation, Dr Ziddah said there was an initial suspicion that the emerging new viral disease, Tilapia Lake Virus (TiLV), was the probable cause of those deaths or a toxin introduced in the water body.
Therefore, he said, samples of the water and the fish were taken to various specialised laboratories in Ghana, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Norway to confirm the fears of a viral infection.
However, results from the samples sent to the Ghana Standards Authority and the various laboratories outside Ghana proved that there was neither toxin in the water nor the flesh of fish.
The investigation also indicated that the fish was negative for the viral infection (TiLV).
“We knew of the presence of some bacterial infections that were causing  heavy mortalities since 2014 and prominent was the strain streptococcus agalactiae 1b.
“This bacteria was contained by the use of an autogenous vaccine that was developed with the strain from the Volta Lake,” he explained.
Most of the results from laboratories abroad, he said, proved that there was a new bacterial introduction of the streptococcus agalactiae 1a.
He said the streptococcus agalactiae 1a was a very virulent (harmful) bacteria to fish.
Recommendations
Furthermore, he said, the investigations showed that the DNA of the bacteria found in the fish was of Asian origin.
He said the streptococcus agalactiae Ia might have been introduced into Ghana after someone brought in a new fish, saying “someone might have smuggled it into the country”.
“Most of the fish farmers believe that the local fish did not grow fast and so some of them smuggle some fish into the country through which some of these diseases appear,” he explained.
Additionally, he mentioned that the use of agro-chemicals along the banks of the Volta Lake was dangerous to the health of the fish and urged the public to desist from doing so.
Going forward, Dr Ziddah recommended that the biosecurity measures on fish farms and at the country’s entry points should be improved.
He further recommended the use of autogenous (local) vaccine from the strain found in Ghana to avoid recurrences.

Australian High Commission supports construction of safe home January 11, 2019, Daily Graphic

The Australia High Commission has presented an amount of GH¢197,366 to Pearl Safe Haven, a charity organisation, for the construction of a safe home for female survivors of gender-based violence in the country.

The project, which is to be established in the Greater Accra Region by the middle of this year, is an initiative of the charity organisation and will provide emergency and temporary housing for survivors of domestic violence and abuses.

Construction and operational costs of the refuge centre is estimated at $400,000.
The charity organisation will offer a three-month safe recovery environment for young victims of domestic violence and equip them with skills training for their economic independence.
Inadequate safe homes

At a ceremony in Accra yesterday, the Australian High Commissioner, Mr Andrew Barnes, who presented the cheque covering the amount, said the current support system for survivors of gender-based violence in Ghana was inadequate and underfunded.
He said a project like the one initiated by Pearl Safe Haven would help create a refuge “where women and children who have suffered domestic violence will feel safe to rebuild constructive lives for themselves.”
It is for that reason, he said, that the Commission was pleased to donate the amount which was raised during the 2018 annual Melbourne Cup Charity Gala organised by the Australia High Commission in Accra.
He said the fund was realised through the generosity of sponsors including mining companies in Australia, local corporate bodies, hotels, restaurants and other businesses.
Global problem
According to him, the campaign on violence against women was an important component of the Australia High Commission’s work both locally and internationally and for which reason the government of Australia had implemented policies around the world to address the scourge.
Mr Barnes acknowledged that domestic violence was a global problem and that violence against women was perhaps the most widespread and socially tolerated form of human rights violation.
He added that violence against women was a major obstacle to the fulfilment of women and girls rights and achieving the agenda 2030 of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Collaboration
The Project Director of Pearl Safe Haven, Ms Isobel Acquah, thanked the Australia High Commission and all corporate organisations that contributed to raising the fund.
Giving a background to the project, she said the safe home idea grew out of ‘The Lady Organisation’, a non-profit project aimed at empowering young girls aged 18 to 25 years to speak up against rape, sexual assault and gender-based violence, as well as make them confident to appreciate their value as women.
She said the project was also informed by the fact that there were a number of women who did not find their homes a safe place to live due to violence perpetrated against them by either their families or friends.
She said the charity organisation was working closely with public institutions such as the Social Welfare Department and the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service to ensure that the safe home project was a success.
Ms Acquah explained that when the shelter was completed, DOVVSU would help bring in the victims while the Social Welfare Department would assist in integrating them back into society after their three-month stay.
While in the home, she said, the victims would have access to medical, psychological and legal assistance and counselling and would also receive vocational training to prepare them for successful integration into society.

When do men consider women as marriageable material? February 5, 2019, Daily Graphic

Women often wait for “Mr Right” and men look out for the “bone of their bone” when it comes to settling down with a life partner. But at the bottom of all these fantasies, both sexes look out for different traits.

According to psychologists, some of the traits that men look out for in their future wives are that she should be an independent thinker, she should not be pretentious, she should be focussed and a dreamer, she should be able to spend time alone and most of all she should not be a gold digger.

Generally, men also look out for women who will help them plan their lives, pick them up when they are down and also be willing to deliver and mother their children.
The gender page set out to interview a section of men and these are some of their views.
Famous Kwesi Atitsogbe, Media and Communications Strategist

I believe it takes a matured man to see a woman who is marriage material.
That is because woman might be very good and have very good qualities termed as marriage material but the man might still be a ‘boy’ and so will not appreciate the effort of the woman.
There are very good women out there but some of the men they are dating are boys and so their efforts are not appreciated.
Nonetheless, when a man gets to a certain stage and wants to settle down, he definitely looks out for certain qualities in the woman he wants to settle down with and build a home.
Those qualities go beyond the sex, parties, beauty and others they look out for when they are in their hay days.

The man looks for someone who will support his goals and visions and is versatile. A woman who is well oriented to take care of the home and is ready to transit from being a girl to becoming a woman.
She should be someone who is poised to become a career woman, has a sense of independency, direction and is ready to partner the man to build a home and a legacy. Through conversations and dating, the man is able to detect and weigh if the woman has some of these qualities that he wants.
A woman must give a man the reason to stay, and if he really wants to say, he will.
Mr Ransford Magnusen, Teacher

Every woman qualifies to be marriage material. However, possessing certain qualities puts some women ahead of others when it comes to choosing a woman to be your wife.
For me a woman who is marriage material basically should exude most of what the Bible says in Proverbs 31.
Proverbs 31 details the attributes of a virtuous wife or ideal woman and also directs women to be industrious and to fear the Lord.
Apart from what the Bible says, I think a woman who is marriage material should know how to perform the basic household chores, should be supportive, must be religiously strong (be prayerful), must be respectful and obedient as well as eschew indecent exposure of her body.
That is not to say she should not be fashionable, but her ways which includes the way she even dresses must glorify God.
To make a good home, I believe that physical looks does not matter because beauty fades but a woman who has good training is more dependable.
Mr David Acquah, Media Consultant

In my personal opinion, I think every woman is marriage material.
I believe every woman has the potential to be groomed to respect and manage the home.
Nonetheless, if there are women who are supposed to be marriage material then there equally has to be men who are marriage material.
This is because marriage is a union between two people and one is not supposed to enjoy more than the other.
In the Ghanaian context, I believe that when they say a woman is marriage material, they mean that she should be a virtuous woman, who is understanding, hardworking, hospitable, fertile and God fearing. She is also believed to be matured and is prepared to face the good and bad sides of marriage.
Personally, I believe that a woman who fears God is the one that qualifies to be marriage material.
All other things can be managed with time, patience and proper nurturing.
Mr Mickel Ofori Ntiamoah, Photographer
Although the woman I would want to marry must be presentable, I am not really focusing on the physical qualities of the woman because there is more to marriage than the physical qualities.
For me, one thing that I will consider in choosing a wife is how respectful, matured and humble the woman is.
I believe that a woman must respect her husband as much as he will also respect her.
I want to avoid that scene where I will be talking to my wife and she will be talking back at me and try to exchange words with me.

Although some men are also particular about a woman who can cook, I am not really bothered about that because I can help with that.
Also, I believe that in taking good care of your wife, she will become the beautiful wife that you want her to be.

Ken Agyepong must stop speaking ill of our murdered son — Suale’s Family , February 5, 2019 Daily Graphic

 

The family of the murdered investigative journalist with Tiger Eye PI, Divela Hussein Ahmed Suale, has asked the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Mr Kennedy Agyapong, to stop speaking ill of the deceased.

According to the family, Mr Agyapong’s recent actions and utterances on Suale’s death were provoking many family members and the public to respond to him in equal manner.

The family described Mr Agyapong’s decision to place a GH¢100,000 bounty on Suale’s killers as not only deceptive but also a ploy to divert the attention of the public and change the face of ongoing investigations by the security agencies.
Press briefing
At a press conference to address some assertions reported in the media on Suale’s death in Accra yesterday, a spokesperson for the family, Mr Mustapha Iddrisu, said they were offended by Mr Agyapong’s decision to offer a bounty on their son’s killers.
“It is an insult to the conscience of the family that a man who called for harm to be visited on our son will turn around a few months down the line, after that call for harm had been overly subscribed, to say he is placing a bounty on the head of those who may have acted on his call or got leads thereby to carry out the act,” he added.
Denial
He also debunked Mr Agyapong’s assertion that he had assisted in paying Suale’s school fees, saying: “At no point in the entire education journey of our son was he assisted by Kennedy Agyapong.
Our family has always had the wherewithal to fund the education of its members and Suale was not an exception.”
Mr Iddrisu further refuted claims by the MP that Suale had resigned from Tiger Eye PI and was not on talking terms with Anas, adding: “On the day of his unfortunate assassination, he was with Anas throughout and had informed some family members about the collaboration between Tiger Eye and the Attorney-General's Office to prosecute those implicated in the Number 12 exposé.
“How could individuals at loggerheads jointly secure visas to travel out of the Ghanaian jurisdiction for an assignment which was due in the first week of the month of February 2019?
“We are appealing to Mr Agyapong to allow the innocent soul of our son, father and brother to rest in eternal peace. We are confident and hopeful that the thunder spirit worldwide and the innocent soul of our son will soon haunt out those whose hands are dripping with his blood,” he added.
Mr Iddrisu further claimed that the deceased felt insecure after Mr Agyapong had splashed his photographs in the media, with the accompanying incitement of violence against him.
Background
The 31-year-old Suale was gunned down by unknown gunmen on a motorbike in the vicinity of his Madina family house at night on January 16, 2019.
Some neighbours claimed to have sighted the killers in the area a number of times before they eventually struck.
No arrest has been made yet.
In shock and disbelief, some civil society organisations and individuals accused Mr Agyapong of compromising Suale’s safety after he had displayed his pictures on his TV network, NET 2.
Last year, Mr Agyapong revealed Suale's name and the neighbourhood where he lived in, shared his pictures and exposed the journalist's most closely guarded secret – his face.

Reduce high trade cost in West Africa — GEA, Daily Graphic February 23, 2019

The Vice-President of the Ghana Employers Association (GEA), Mr Emmanuel Adu-Sarkodie, has called on ECOWAS member states to work at reducing the high trade cost in the subregion.

He said the development had negatively affected trade volumes, with trade among member countries at just about 10 per cent of all the trade activities that were undertaken in the subregion.

Addressing a meeting between the ECOWAS Commission and the Federation of West African Employer Associations (FWAEA) in Accra yesterday, Mr Adu-Sarkodie said: “The volume of trade between member countries is still not encouraging. Our propensity to import from and export to third party countries and the advanced world has dominated our trade statistics”.
The meeting discussed issues about intra-trade protocols in the subregion.
Mr Adu-Sarkodie said the trade pattern among countries in the subregion weakened the regional integration that ECOWAS was seeking to build.
He stated that the uncertainties characterising the exit of Britain from the European Union (EU) and the ongoing trade war between the USA and China was making the global economic space volatile by the day, hence the need for the formulation of and implementation of incentives to motivate and augment intra-regional trade.

Industrialisation

For latest news in Ghana, visit Graphic Online news headlines page Ghana news page
Mr Adu-Sarkodie also said the subregion could realise effective industrialisation by ensuring macroeconomic stability, sustainable energy production, skills development and regional security if internal trade was boosted.
For employers and businesses to stay competitive in the sub-region, he suggested that electricity must be affordable, reliable and consumed efficiently, while focusing on renewable energy policies for sustainable energy production.
Touching on regional security, the GEA Vice-President said it was necessary for ECOWAS and other regional blocs to secure and maintain regional peace for businesses to thrive.
Trade barriers
The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Carlos Ahenkorah, who also addressed the meeting, said the government recognised the challenges private sector players faced in transacting business in West Africa.
“We painfully take cognisance of the fact that the business environment explains why you [private sector players] are struggling to grow and failing to generate good jobs. We are well aware that the formal activities are deterred by an unfriendly business environment with high unit costs and a heavy-handed, often corrupt bureaucracy,” he said.
He, therefore, underscored the need for member states to reduce trade barriers, especially in the agricultural and manufacturing industries.
He said West Africa’s unfavourable environment was the main cause of the formal private sector “atrophying and the informal sector booming.”
Mr Ahenkorah stated that costs due to Customs, financing, lack of transparency in tax collection and inadequate public infrastructure for transport and energy reduced companies competitiveness.

Ghana
He said the government of Ghana, for its part, was determined to work hand in hand with the private sector to develop the business environment.
The deputy minister said the children of today were demanding from leaders of the country, an economy that was owned and controlled by the indigenous people.
“We stretch a working hand to you the private sector to support us in our endeavour to bring hope to our young people. We believe and count on your ingenuity and creativity to support government in improving the livelihoods of the teeming youth who are out there looking for jobs,” he said.
Mr Ahenkorah said the government would support companies to institute mentorship programmes, skills development projects, reduce overtime hours and create more jobs for the youth.
At his turn, the President of the FWAEA, Mr Jean-Marie Ackah, said it was important for ECOWAS to focus on programmes for the private sector since it was creating jobs and generating resources necessary for the member states to succeed in achieving their social and economic development policies.

Tourism, creative arts receive $40 million World Bank support February 25, 2019, Daily Graphic

The World Bank has approved a US$40 million grant to support the country’s tourism and creative arts sector.

Delivering the State of the Nation Address to Parliament last Thursday, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said the grant was to help improve Ghana’s tourism to make it attractive to patrons across the globe.
The grant is to be used, among other things, to upgrade tourist facilities in the country.
Already, the President said, tourist sites, including the Elmina Heritage Bay, Axim Fort St Antonio, Assin Manso Slave River, Tetteh Quarshie Cocoa Farm, Bunso Arboretum, and the Kintampo Water Falls, were being upgraded to meet world class standards.
A draft policy to ensure that world-class standards were set and maintained at all tourist sites and attractions was in the pipeline, he added.
He expressed concern about how Ghana was always in the news for the good reasons yet had not taken advantage of that to attract visitors.
The President recalled that the tourism ministry had rolled out a campaign called "See Ghana, Eat Ghana, Wear Ghana and Feel Ghana" to promote made-in-Ghana products.
Under the programme, he said the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) had recorded a 20 per cent growth in visits to various tourist sites.
Creative Arts sector
Touching on the Creative Arts sector, the President said a bill to regulate the sector had been passed, leading to the setting up of the Creative Arts Fund, while the Hospitality Training Institute had been renovated, and re-opened in July 2018 to provide needed training in the hospitality and tourism sectors.
He said the Eastern Regional Arts Theatre had been completed and work on the construction of the Kumasi Arts Theatre was ongoing.
He touched on the proclamation of the 2019 "Year of Return” commemorating the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first 20 West African slaves in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in what was to become the United States of America, saying “in response to this proclamation, 70 African-American Hollywood celebrities visited Ghana in December 2018.”
President Akufo–Addo pointed out that while the country had many tourists sites, the greatest attraction was its people.
“Yes, we have castles and forts, we have waterfalls and dramatic mountain ranges, we have breath-taking beaches and historical sites that reduce visitors to strong emotions, but it is the people of Ghana and our welcoming attitude that are the strongest attraction to visitors,” he stated.
Sanitation
He was, however, quick to add that bad sanitation habits would continue to put tourists off from visiting the country.
He reiterated his pledge to improve sanitation in the country and make Accra the cleanest city in Africa by the end of his term.
As a result, he said the ministries of Justice and Sanitation were working together to try sanitation offences.
He also touched on open defecation and emphasized that the practice could not be a characteristic of a country that was working to be transformed economically.

‘Give attention to preventative health’ March 14, 2019

 

The Executive Director of Health Concern, Mrs Mary Aboagye, is calling on the health sector to focus on preventative health, to reduce non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and stroke.

She said lives would not only be saved but the resources pumped into curative health would be saved for other developmental needs when that was done.

Health Concern is a health training institution.

Mrs Aboagye, who is also a public health practitioner, was speaking at a health conference organised for the Muslim community by Health Concern, in collaboration with the Ministry for Inner Cities and Zongo Development in Accra yesterday.

The conference was held on the theme: “Promoting a healthy lifestyle in the perspective of the Holy Quran,”. It brought together students and members of the Muslim community.

The conference, which saw participants being educated on adolescent reproductive health, nutrition and mental health issues, formed part of a health project launched in 2017 by Health Concern, to educate the public on healthy living.

Mrs Aboagye said with periodic checkups, health conditions could be detected early and managed to prevent further damage to the individual.

Target-oriented era

Mrs Aboagye indicated that the current target-oriented era where people had to meet targets, irrespective of their health status, was causing the onset of diseases.

“As a result of these targets that people have to meet, they are sleeping late, eating irregularly, living without recreation and not going for medical checkups.

 We cannot go on like this”, she cautioned.

Without a healthy population, Mrs Aboagye pointed out that national development gains would not be well appreciated because the health of the people is the wealth of the nation.

Health consciousness

She urged members of the public to be conscious of their health and adopt healthy lifestyles that would make them live healthy, happier and longer.

The Minister of Inner Cities and Zongo Development, Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, in his address said, such health conferences were important to help educate the public on ways to improve on their health.

He said one needed to be healthy and strong to worship Allah or God well and urged the Muslim communities to take their health seriously.

While reiterating the need for regular check-ups, Dr Abdul-Hamid, also called for stress free lives.

He said the programme would be replicated across the country in the various Zongo communities to educate the residents on good health and healthy living.

Eating right

The Deputy Chief Dietician at the 37 Military Hospital, Hajia Hamdaratu D. Wumbei, in a presentation on nutrition, said in Islam, health was second in importance to faith and, therefore, health was a crucial element of the faith.  

She called for attention to food, which, she said, was abused by some people, with regard to the time it was eaten and its nutrient content.

She also called for regular exercising to keep the body healthy, as well as the eating of fruits and vegetables. 

Southern Ghana to record more rains this year — GMET, March 21, 2019, Daily Graphic

THE Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMET) says the southern parts of the country will register more rains than what was recorded within the same period last year.

According to the Agency, “The distribution of March-April-May seasonal cumulative rainfall, both in time and space, is expected to be mostly normal to below normal for most parts of the southern part of the country, while the April-May-June season is expected to be above normal 2019.”

For the northern part, rainfall is expected to start in April, which would be a normal pattern, the GMET added.

Strong winds and lightning
At a press conference in Accra yesterday to outline the seasonal forecast for this year’s major rainy season, the Deputy Director and Head of Research and Applied Meteorology, Mrs Francisca Martey, said at the peak of the rainfall season, there was a high probability of heavy rains accompanied by strong winds and lightning which could lead to localised floods.
The media encounter formed part of activities for the celebration of World Meteorological Day that is observed on March 23 every year. The theme for this year’s celebration is: “The Sun, the Earth and the weather.”
Mrs Martey, therefore, urged the public to regularly monitor daily weather forecasts before leaving home and that when it became necessary, people living in flood-prone areas should move to higher grounds.
 “Citizens should move to safer places in case of a storm or strong winds,” she added.

Cessation
On the cessation of the rainfall season, Mrs Martey explained that early to normal cessation of the rainfall season was likely to occur over most places in southern Ghana.
“The cessation dates for the forest areas as well as the South Eastern Coast will be mostly normal. It is expected that Kumasi, Atebubu, Dunkwa and its surrounding areas will have a prolonged season before the rains stop”, she said.
For the northern part of the country, she said, the onset of the rainy season would be in April and May and was expected to end in October and they would also experience between 200 and 400mm rainfall.
She further explained that rainfall expected for March-April-May was about 300-400 millimetres for the East Coast (including Aflao to Winneba), 305-620mm for the West Coast (Winneba to Axim), 300-350mm for the forest areas and 400-450mm for the Transition zone (parts of the Ashanti, Bono and Oti regions).
She explained that there would be early to normal onset dates and that was expected all over the southern part of the country. However, places such as Kpando, Ho and Atebubu and their environs would experience late onset of the rains.
Also, she said, at the beginning of the season, normal dry spells were expected while towards the end of the season, longer to normal dry spells were expected over the southern regions of Ghana.
“Atebubu and Prang will, however, have longer dry spells during the beginning of the Season. Kade, Kpando and Dunkwa will also have normal to longer dry spell occasions during the early part of the season.
It is forecasted that Sunyani and Half-Assini will experience shorter dry spells towards the end of the season,” she noted.

We cannot draw load shedding timetable — PDS April 4, 2019, Daily Graphic

 

Power Distribution Service (PDS), electricity service provider, has stated that it cannot draw a load shedding timetable as was being requested by a section of the public.

This is in spite of power outages in parts of the country over the past few weeks.
There has been a demand from the public for a load shedding timetable following intermittent power outages in the country but according to the service providers, since the current deficit in power generation was not fixed it could not draw a loadshedding time-table.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Public Relations Manager of PDS, Mr William Boateng, said “shortfalls in the quantum of power being generated are not fixed but fluctuates. However, we need a fixed quantum of power to shed to enable us to plan and come out with a timetable.”

Public demand for timetable

The Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Mr Benjamin Boakye, for instance had called for a load shedding time-table to be published, saying it would help the public plan their lives.
Also, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) had urged the government to admit that the days of power outages were back and therefore must publish a timetable to guide consumers.
But Mr Boateng explained that sometimes the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) which tranmitted power to the PDS for distribution was compelled to step down some of the PDS bulk supply points in order to save the whole system from total collapse.
“When it happens like that a greater part of the country goes off at once and while it is not the best, in a crisis situation it is the only way to save the whole power system,” he said.
Additionally, he said, sometimes the amount of power that was shed either went up or down at any time as required.
“For instance, in a six-hour period in say Accra, power could peak and about 200 megawatts shed within the same time period and when that happens we cannot plan,” Mr Boateng said.

The challenge
At a press conference held by the Ministry of Energy last Monday, it said the power outages being experienced in some parts of the country was due to the total shutdown of the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant in the Western Region.
According to the ministry, the power outages were not the result of lack of funds to purchase fuel to power electricity generating plants but were due to a total shutdown of the Atuabo Plant to make way for Ghana Gas to interlink its systems with the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo).
Also at the press conference, the Deputy Minister of Energy in charge of Power, Mr William Owuraku Aidoo, apologised to the public for the erratic power supply to some parts of the country.
He said the power challenges would last for a period of 12 days when it was expected that all processes to bring about a stable power supply would have been successfully completed.

He said alternative arrangements had been made for the supply of adequate fuel to make up for the shortfall in the supply of gas within the period of the shutdown.

Value chain
According to Mr Boateng, the power industry operated a value chain system where the Volta River Authority (VRA) generated power that was transmitted by GRIDCo and distributed by PDS.
Therefore, he said, whatever happened upstream affected operations downstream. In effect, the PDS distributed what they got from GRIDCo.
“PDS has never shied away from informing its customers anytime there was a challenge with the distribution system, including making announcements,” he said.
He apologised for the inconveniences caused by the power outages, saying that, “immediately the problem upstream is resolved PDS will offer quality and reliable power to its customers.”

Background
Last Saturday, GRIDCo requested for a total power load reduction of 300 megawatts (MW) beginning from 8a.m. to 6p.m.
The move followed the reported shutdown of the Atuabo Plant located in the Western Region for mandatory maintenance after a valve in the facility was closed at 9.25 a.m. on March 30 for a 12-day shutdown to complete the final tie-in works under the Takoradi-Tema interconnection project.
The resultant termination of gas flow from the west compelled GRIDCo to request a reduction in the load in Accra and Tema and the Ashanti, Central, Western, Eastern and Volta regions, totalling 300MW.
Early last week, the PDS announced an 8a.m. to 5p.m. power outage in some parts of the Volta Region and the Tema municipality for maintenance works to be carried out by the company.

‘Domestic violence affects qualitative lives of victims’ April 24 Daily Graphic

 

Domestic violence adversely affects the qualitative lives of victims daily in terms of the victims’ ability to work, school or engage in domestic work, concentrate on daily activities and diminishes one’s confidence.

According to statistics from the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service, in 2016, 10,460 women were abused as against 1,830 men.

Again in 2017, she said, 12,103 women were abused as against 2,599 men.
 
A study by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) has established that households in Ghana spend $19 million as economic cost of violence against women and girls annually.

The study, which highlights the social and economic cost of violence against women and girls, indicated that $246 million is lost annually in income for women due to missed days of work as a result of violence perpetrated against them.

It showed that women who survived violence, accessed services and reported such cases, incurred a cost of $53 annually on the average, an equivalent to 10 per cent of their annual per capita expenditure.

Cost of violence

The research was undertaken by the ISSER, in collaboration with the University of Ireland, Galway, Ipsos MORI and funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), as part of its ‘What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls’ programme.

The research underscored the need to understand the economic impacts of violence against women and its serious consequences for the wider economy.

A ceremony to launch and disseminate the key findings of the report was held in Accra last Wednesday.

Making a presentation on the key findings of the research, the Director ISSER, Prof. Felix Asante, said families were burdened by the direct cost from violence against women and girls, while survivors may lose their positions in society and their work compromised.

He said Ghanaian women and children who suffered abuse and had to access services and report such cases, spent $53 annually on the average, while the national estimated cost of accessing services was about $19 million.

Prof. Asante said children were also deeply affected by violence against their mothers, including missing school as a result, which implied reduced capabilities in the long term, as well as the potential for families to lose the return on their investment in children’s education.

Recommendations

On the recommendations, Dr Nata Duvvury of the University of Ireland, said the result of the study highlighted the urgent need for comprehensive prevention efforts by a wide range of actors from local authorities and community leaders to business leaders and national government.

She advocated revisions of regulations to address the additional burden that violence placed on women.

She further called for the strengthening of existing support services and challenged the norms that limited women's help-seeking behaviour after experiences of violence by partners and others.

“There is the need to scale up current efforts to prevent violence against women and girls including mainstreaming evidence-based violence prevention approaches into education, health and social protection and other sectors,” she stated.

The Executive Director of the Domestic Violence Secretariat of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ms Malonin Asibi, said: “It is important to have good social interventions in place but if we fail to tackle abuses that affect women and girls, they will be left out.”

Malaria deaths on decline April 25, 2019, Daily Graphic

 By Salomey Appiah-Adjei

Malaria deaths on decline

Statistics made available to the National Malaria Control Programme by the Ghana Health Service indicate that there has been significant progress made in efforts to control malaria.

According to the data, malaria-related deaths of all ages in the country reduced by more than a quarter in 2018 compared to the previous year, 2017.
In 2018, 428 malaria deaths were recorded, indicating a 29 per cent reduction in malaria deaths compared to 2017 when 599 deaths were recorded.

Progress
The Programmes Manager of the National Malaria Control Programme, Dr Keziah Malm, made the revelation in her presentation at a media briefing ahead of ceremonies to commemorate Malaria Day which falls on April 25 each year.

This year’s Malaria Day is on the theme: “Zero malaria starts with me”, and seeks to highlight the need for political commitment and sustained investment in malaria prevention, control and elimination.
Presenting a progress report on malaria control in the country, Dr Malm said out of the total number of deaths as a result of malaria that was reported in 2018, there were 251 deaths among children under-five years compared to 327 in 2017.
 In addition, she said confirmed cases of malaria reported reduced from 593,959 in 2017 to 510,210 in 2018, while the number of malaria admissions marginally increased to 351,163 in 2018 from 344,213 in 2017 representing an increase of two per cent.
Meanwhile, about 11 million suspected cases of malaria were recorded at various Outpatient Departments (OPD) in 2018 while about 10 million suspected cases of the disease were reported in 2017.
She said since the year 2000, the death rate through malaria in the under-five year group had reduced by 93.1 per cent with figures dropping from 6,198 cases in the year 2000 to 428 in 2018.
To draw the point home vividly, she said, “In 2012, we recorded eight people dying from malaria every day while one person died from malaria every day in 2018”. 

Challenges and way forward
Dr Malm attributed the strides made to the various control interventions implemented across the country including intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy, indoor residual spraying in selected districts, nationwide distribution of insecticide treated bednets and larviciding on limited scale.
Dr Malm touched on the challenges the Malaria Control Programme was facing and mentioned some as the non-adherence to diagnosis protocol, non-compliance to treatment and gaps in funding for control and elimination of malaria.
Going forward, Dr Malm said Ghana would be among three countries selected for a pilot programme on malaria vaccine and was envisioned to be a complementary malaria control tool in Ghana.
The pilot programme, which is expected to cover a period of three years, would begin next month.
She said about 120,000 to 150,000 children would be vaccinated with the MosquirixTM vaccine which acts against Plasmodium falciparum which is reputed globally to be the most deadly malaria parasite and the most prevalent in Africa.

More support needed
In his remarks, the Director of Public Health Division of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Badu Sarkodie, said malaria continued to be one of the major health problems in the country and many other parts of the world.
He said it was for that reason that the World Malaria Day was established to project the efforts, progress and challenges encountered in the implementation of malaria control interventions and to also unify diverse initiatives in the changing global context.
Touching on funding for the control of the disease, Dr Sarkodie said sustainable funds were needed by the Malaria Control Programme in the fight against malaria, since donor funding, which largely supported the programme, was dwindling.
He urged donor organisations and private institutions to come to the aid of the programme by supporting it.
Dr Sarkodie said collective efforts were needed to control malaria and eventually eliminate the disease from the country and called on the media to support the fight through information dissemination.

 

CSIR researches and declares plastic waste is good for construction April 29, 2019, Daily Graphic

By Salomey Appiah-Adjei 

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) says its research has shown that some waste plastic materials can be recycled to replace coarse aggregate in concrete and block moulding for the construction industry.

Coarse aggregate refers to the portion of the concrete which is made up of the larger stones contained in the mix.
The discovery followed a research into the possible use of recycled plastic waste for building and construction works as part of the efforts to put plastic waste to good use.
And the discovery by the research centre could prove a long term solution to the plastic waste menace in the country.
According to the Head of the Advanced Materials Science Division of the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) of the CSIR, Dr Ama Tagbor, the research also proved the effective and efficient use of some waste plastic in bituminous mixes for construction of roads, waste as walling materials in construction and rubber tyre as stabilisation for soil.

Objectives of GRIPE
Dr Tagbor who was speaking at a workshop on sustainable plastic management in Accra yesterday said polyethylene terephthalate (PET) which comprised plastic water bottles and high density polyethylene (HDPE) were the two main plastics that were suitable for the construction and building works.
The workshop was organised by the Ghana Recycling Initiative by Private Enterprises (GRIPE), a coalition of some prominent manufacturing companies in Ghana, with the aim of working with other stakeholders to integrate sustainable solutions to manage waste, particulary plastics, in the country.
The companies include Fan Milk Limited, Dow Chemical West Africa Limited, Guinness Ghana, Nestlé Ghana Limited, PZ Cussons, The Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Ghana, Unilever Ghana Limited and Voltic (GH) Limited, Finepack Industries Limited and KGM Industries Limited.
GRIPE, an industry-led coalition, was formed in 2017 under the auspices of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI).
The research by the CSIR was sponsored by GRIPE, and it formed part of the objective of the initiative which seeks to focus on research, advocacy, innovation and multi-stakeholder collaboration.

Benefits
Dr Tagbor, who is also a Senior Scientist, explained that the use of polymeric materials in the construction of roads enhanced road performance by making it stronger, more durable and cost effective.
She further noted that the use of plastic waste for concrete also helped to save some cost of raw materials, minimised the quantity of plastics in landfills/plastic pollution of the environment, created strong, durable, decorative and attractive landscaping products.
Dr Tagbor, therefore, recommended further investigations and research to assess the effect of the environment on the performance of waste plastic concrete.

Embrace recycling
The Manager for Africa Sustainability and Advocacy, Ms Adwoa M. Coleman, said the aim of the GRIPE initiative was to create a more holistic approach that addressed plastic waste management by enabling recycling efforts in Ghana.
She said waste management was a shared responsibility, hence the initiative to support the efforts of the government and others stakeholders.
Ms Coleman further underscored the need for Ghanaians to embrace recycling by starting with the simple action of segregating and sorting their waste - separating their organic material (food waste) from recyclables such as plastic, paper, aluminium, cans and caps.
On the objective of the initiative, Ms Coleman said it sought to advocate improved waste management practices, connect various organisations working to create an improved waste management system and contribute to increased collection and recycling rates countrywide.
She noted that since the inception of GRIPE more than 60 plastic collection points had been created and 360 waste pickers capacity had been built.

200 African Americans to get Ghanaian citizenship 28/May/2019, Daily Graphic (Accra)

By Salomey Appiah-Adjei
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, will grant Ghanaian citizenship to more than 200 members of the African-American-Caribbean Diaspora community residing in the country.
The conferment of citizenship will take place next month.
The Director of Diasporan Affairs at the Office of the President, Mr Akwesi Awua-Ababio, who is also the Chairman of the Year of Return Steering Committee, made this known in an interview with the Daily Graphic when the leadership of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) paid a courtesy call on the Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr Ato Afful, and other management members of the company.
A similar conferment took place in 2016 when 34 Diasporans were given Ghanaian citizenship under the then President John Dramani Mahama.
Mr Awua-Ababio explained that it was the prerogative of the President to confer citizenship on persons who were not citizens by birth, as enshrined in the Constitution.
According to him, the decision to grant citizenship to the African-American-Caribbean community formed part of the celebration of the Year of Return.
He said the celebration was very dear to the President because it had the potential to place Ghana high on the international map.

Placing Ghana high
The meeting was to dialogue and deliberate on how to strengthen the partnership between the two bodies to promote the Year of Return and sensitise Ghanaians to the celebration.
President Nana Akufo-Addo, in September 2018, declared 2019 ‘The Year of Return’, a celebration of African resilience and to commemorate 400 years since the first Black slave reached the shores of the new world, United States of America.
The celebration is also to reach out to the descendants of those Africans who were forcibly removed from their homeland and taken into slavery.
Low publicity
At the meeting, the Chief Executive Officer of the GTA, Mr Akwasi Agyeman, indicated that the celebration had been well publicised on the international front, attracting a number of Diasporans.
However, he said, the same could not be said about the publicity of the celebration in the country, as there had been little publicity to educate the local populace to be abreast of the celebration.
While the celebration would attract more foreigners into the country, he said, more publicity on it would convince the business community to align itself with the activities planned for the celebration.
Mr Agyeman further indicated that as part of the celebration a number of activities, including PANAFEST, had been outlined to take place from next month until the end of the year to climax the celebration.
To promote the activities and position Ghana well on the international front, he said, the GTA needed to collaborate with the media to broadcast the event to the public.
He, therefore, called on the GCGL to support the GTA to make the celebration of the Year of Return a success, as well as promote the tourism industry in general.
While expressing gratitude to the GCGL for its immense support to the tourism industry, Mr Agyeman said more needed to be done to enhance the country’s tourism sector.            

We are ready to support
Mr Ato Afful, for his part, said tourism was very critical to the economic development of the country, considering the revenue it would generate when given the needed attention.
He expressed the GCGL’s readiness and commitment to support the celebration to make it a success but urged the management of GTA to “leave their doors open” to allow free flow of information for publication.
“Give us the needed information when we come knocking at your door, so that we can work together to drive the audience,” he said.
The Director of News at the GCGL, Mrs Mavis Kitcher, said the role of the company was to support the developmental agenda of the government and so such programmes fell within that mandate.
She also underscored the need for information to be forthcoming to ensure that the objective of the cooperation was achieved.

Look at hotel prices
Mrs Kitcher, however, expressed concern about the high prices of hotels in the country, especially the four and five-Star hotels, saying: “You are asking people to visit the country but the prices of these hotels are very expensive and need to be looked at.”
The Director of Marketing of the GCGL, Mr Franklin Sowa, recalled how the company was already working to promote tourism in the country.
He said its platforms had the potential to draw the audiences needed to participate in the various activities, saying both Graphic Showbiz and The Mirror were already promoting the sector in their publications.
He said domestic tourism had a lot of potential that could be promoted to generate high returns for the government and added that the GCGL was using its Junior Graphic platform to introduce vacation tours for students to visit the various tourist sites.
Reacting to the high hotel prices, Mr Agyeman said the management of the various hotels were paying about 22 different taxes at a go, hence the high prices.
However, he said, the authority was working with Parliament to see how to reduce the tax incidence on hotels to drive down prices.

Strategy document on AGOA in the offing Daily Graphic July 2017

A strategy document aimed at helping local companies to take advantage of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is being developed.
AGOA is a trade preference which allows countries in Sub-Saharan Africa liberal access to the United States (US) market.
The strategy, which builds on Ghana’s National Export Strategy, aims to enable Ghana to make maximum use of opportunities under the AGOA, with emphasis on intensifying export development and diversification.
A workshop to validate the strategy as well as discuss the implementation plan was organised at the weekend, bringing together producers, processors and exporters together with government officials.

The objective
At the validation workshop in Accra, the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, said since the introduction of the AGOA trade preference in 2000, Ghana had underutilised it and thus could not record any significant gains.
 That, he said, informed the designing of an integrated strategic utilisation document that would enable Ghana to benefit immensely from the preferential market access to the US.
The document, which is being developed in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), seeks to provide tailor-made solutions to production capacity constraints in key sectors as well as complementary policies and programmes to support development and diversification.
Mr Ahomka-Lindsay added that the strategy was also in line with the government’s vision of pursuing pragmatic policies and programmes aimed at ensuring adequate infrastructure to support the development of the private sector.
As a country, he said, there was the need to concentrate on exportation to boost the economy and so the government was targeting $500 million from the AGOA trades.
Successful implementation of the strategy, he said, would require collaboration between the Ministry of Trade and Industry and its agencies, notably the Ghana Export Promotion Authority, Free Zones Board and Ghana Standards Authority.

Ghana’s progress
 The US Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Robert Jackson, bemoaned the low participation of Ghana in the trade preference.
“AGOA is an opportunity for Ghana to access the US marketplace and increase exposure of made-in-Ghana goods. However, Ghana has not taken as much advantage of AGOA as I had hoped,” he said.
Although Ghana’s export to the US increased from $9 million worth of goods in 2015 to $29 million worth of goods in 2016, Mr Jackson said Ghana needed to increase its export substantially to enable it to fully integrate into the global economy.

About AGOA
The AGOA is the cornerstone of US commercial relationship in trade and investment with Africa and it allows for exportation of about 7,000 qualifying products to the US without paying duties. It was first signed in May 18, 2000, and has now been extended through 2025 by the US Congress.
The acts accorded duty free treatment to virtually all products exported by beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries to the US, and the major export items for exportation included apparel, footwear, luggage, handbags and watches.
AGOA also has provisions such as the third waiver, which allow countries eligible for the textile visa to purchase fabric from anywhere in the world, then cut, sew, package and export to the US.

Toyota to establish centre at UG for training of engineering students November 18, 2018, Daily Graphic Backpage

Toyota Ghana, an automobile firm, is to set up an Engineering Centre to provide hands-on training to students of the School of Engineering of the University of Ghana, Legon.

So far, the company has committed more than $2 million to building and equipping the centre.

According to the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, as part of the partnership agreement between the company and the university, Toyota Ghana would also provide a dedicated bus to be conveying students to the centre and a scholarship package worth $10,000 per year to brilliant needy students in the school.
He was speaking at the congregation of undergraduates of the College of Humanities at the university in Accra yesterday.
A total of 4,908 students are expected to graduate at various levels from the four Colleges of the university in six sessions within a period of three days.

The graduates are made up of 31 PhDs, 1,774 Masters, 3,060 undergraduates and 51 diplomates.

Partnerships 
Prof. Owusu said the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) had also set up a $1 million Research Chair in Petroleum Geoscience.
“The Chair seeks to strengthen Petroleum Geoscience research and education in the University of Ghana to support optimal exploration, delineation and development of Ghana’s hydrocarbon resources,” he said.
The Vice Chancellor explained that such collaborations with external stakeholders in various fields of specialisation provided unique platforms for knowledge and skills sharing that were mutually beneficial.

On the university’s Endowment Fund, which was recently launched as part of its 70th anniversary, Prof. Owusu said three organisations had so far donated GH¢220,000 into the fund.
According to him, the university had also saved about GH¢2.12 million during the first semester of the 2018/2019 academic year, following the introduction of financial reforms.

Admission
On admission, Prof. Owusu said the university registered 11,216 students for programmes on all campuses of the university for the 2018/2019 academic year.
The Academic Board of the university, he said, had also approved new courses and programmes that included Executive Master of Science in Fisheries Administration and Management that were awaiting assent by the National Accreditation Board.

Advice
Prof. Owusu advised the students to be disciplined, honest and modest in their endeavours while striving for excellence in their academic work.
“Remember that in life there are no shorts-cuts. Therefore, eschew greed, quick fixes and the craving for money which are the roots of many evils in our society today,” he admonished.
The Chief Executive Officer of MUSTARD Architecture, Ms Alice Asafu-Adjaye, urged the graduates to prepare themselves for opportunities that might come their way.
She also entreated them to improve on themselves in their respective fields of work, adding that “you should develop a strategy for your progress and give your best in whatever you do.”

 

‘Make Labour Law beneficial to workers in informal sector’

Speakers at a workshop organised to sensitise workers of the informal sector to the Labour Law, have emphasised the need to make the law beneficial to workers in that sector.

According to them, many people, especially, women in the informal sector, worked under very abusive and unfair conditions and were also ignorant of their rights.

The speakers were the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MOGCSP), Mrs Cynthia Morrison, a Labour Consultant, Mr Seth Abloso and the Programme Officer at the Gender Centre for Empowering Development (GenCED), Ms Elorm Atakil.
The workshop, organised by GenCED, in collaboration with the MOGCSP, formed part of the celebration of this year’s International Women’s Day, which is marked on March 8, every year.
The workshop was held to educate workers in the informal sector such as hairdressers, beauticians, seamstresses and artisans on the Labour Law and to help deepen their knowledge and understanding of the Labour Act 2003, as well as women’s rights at the workplace.

What the law says
Mr Abloso said the informal sector covered more than 80 per cent of the workforce, yet the labour laws were silent on them.
Nonetheless, he indicated that the labour laws made provisions for the rights of workers which included those in the informal sector, which was the main employer in Ghana, providing income for many people.
Therefore, he said the workforce in the sector needed to be educated on their rights to enable them access them through the operations of associations and organisations.
Mr Abloso stated that, the lack of regulation for the informal sector, had led to the violation of rights, including overtime duties which were not paid by employers.
Educating the participants on some of the provisions of the Labour Law, Mr Abloso said, workers of the informal sector were to work for eight hours, like those in the formal sector, were entitled to a minimum annual leave of two weeks, and social security.
In the case of pregnant women in the informal sector, he said, workers and apprentices had the right to work till their time was due for maternity leave, and were not to be transferred if the pregnancy was four months old.
In addition, Mr Abloso said these provisions applied to domestic workers, and urged them to demand for their rights.
He further explained that since the market place served as workplace for people, mostly women, they had the right to a safe and healthy environment at the market.
For instance, he said, there should be space and access for ambulance and fire tenders to move in and out of the market.

Treat workers right
Mrs Morrison urged the owners of small and medium scale businesses including hairdressers, seamstress and artisans, to treat their workers and apprentices well and follow the labour laws in that respect.
She expressed concern about how some owners of these small and medium scale businesses abused their workers by making them work for longer hours, saying “you have to treat your apprentices and workers right so that they can be good to you”.
She said similar training would be held across the country to educate workers, business owners and apprentices on their labour rights.

The purpose
For her part, Ms Atakil said education and sensitisation to the labour law, was very low and a number of people were not aware of the existence of the National Labour Commission created by the Labour Act to address violations at the workplace, both in the formal and in the informal sector.
Due to the fact that the informal sector was largely not supervised and sometimes untaxed, she said they were often not included or regarded “in the labour conversation”, saying, it was for this reason that the GenCED was collaborating with the MOGCSP to embark on sensitisation and education on the Labour Law for some workers in the informal sector.