Day: November 29, 2023

The Obuasi East District Assembly has partnered CRISSPAN company, an Obuasi-based construction firm to construct a three-Storey hostel facility for students of the Obuasi campus of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST-Obuasi)

The 1,080 -bed capacity hostel is expected to address accommodation challenges facing students when it is completed within 24 months.

Established in 2019, the KNUST-Obuasi Campus, which is the first public tertiary institution in Obuasi, has been grappling with accommodation challenges as nearly 3,000 students struggle to find decent accommodation.

Currently, students are making do with available hostel facilities provided by the school and private individuals, which are woefully inadequate for the increasing student population.

It is based on this background that the Obuasi East District Assembly is taking steps to salvage the situation by partnering CRISSPAN to construct a new hostel facility under a Public Private Partnership arrangement.

At the sod-cutting
ceremony for the first phase of the project, which would provide accommodation for 432 students, Madam Faustina Ammisah, the District Chief Executive (DCE), said the initiative was aimed at finding a lasting solution for the accommodation challenges confronting the school.

‘We had to look around to see the appropriate remedies out there.

Key to this was the unavailability of land so we decided to pull down some old, dilapidated bungalows which AngloGold Ashanti relinquished to the Assembly some time ago,’ she observed.

She was optimistic that the completion of the project would create room for more students to be admitted.

Prof. Lawrence Darkwa, the Coordinating Dean of KNUST-Obuasi Campus, welcomed the project which he said would address a key challenge facing the university.

He said efforts were ongoing to make the Obuasi Campus a fully-fledged University, hence the need to upgrade facilities in the school.

He also spoke about the need to improve teacher-student ratio in the University and called on t
he government to give financial clearance for more lecturers to be recruited.

Nana Serwaa Bruwaa II, Queen Mother of Akrokerri Traditional Area, commended the Assembly for initiating such a laudable project to sustainably address the accommodation needs of the university.

‘I am particularly excited about this project and see it as step in the right direction because the Assembly has put the land into good use for the benefit of the district,’ she stated.

She was upbeat about the prospects of the University, stressing that it would contribute to improving the local economy of Obuasi and offer the youth of Obuasi and Adansi quality tertiary education.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Christele Codo, a hairstylist and public health student, was crowned the 2023 Miss Health Ghana at the culmination of the annual beauty pageant, which took place at the Labadi Beach Hotel on Sunday.

Dr. Omaima Mohammed Arab placed first runner-up; Lawrencia Bessah Esinu, a physician assistant, was second runner-up.

Dauda Faridatu and Dora Debra placed third and fourth runner-up, respectively.

The 10 finalists had competed in a fashion show and showcased amazing presentation skills, and the five-panel female judges, which included Dr. Grace Buckman, May Meskawi, Anne Coolen, Shallie Abbiusi, and Dr. Hannah Lisa Tetteh, came up with the aforementioned verdict.

This year’s event, hosted by former Queen Ohemaa Achiaa Agyekum, was themed ‘Health for All,’ which was aimed at creating awareness of the need to seek health care, especially for women and children.

Ms. Christele Codo, in her remarks, expressed gratitude for all who supported her on her road to success. ‘I would like to say a big thank you to every
one who supported me from here in Ghana and everyone around the world. Their words of encouragement boosted my morale, and I fought through to the end,’ she said.

Ms. Codo said she was poised to undertake various projects, which include the need for self-care with regard to effective hair therapy among women to prevent the spread of viral, fungal, and bacterial diseases.

She added that empowering women and sensitising the public about the need for health care in various diverse health areas

Madam Gladys Akyere Rockson, Chief Executive Officer of Lamrock Agency, the organisers of the pageant, also congratulated all the finalists for their brilliant displays.

‘I want to, first of all, congratulate the queens for their efforts, and I am hopeful that they will go out there and impact society.

‘Health, as we all know, is of the utmost importance to all, and we decided to create this platform to sensitise the masses about various issues, including the need for health and women’s empowerment,’ she said.

Madam
Gladys also said her outfit intends to give 10,000 menstrual cups for free as part of their campaign to promote healthy living.

This year’s Miss Health Ghana was supported by Sonotech, Gino, Belaqua, Accra City Hotel, Labadi Beach Hotel, and Matrix, among many others.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Centre for National Culture, Tema Metropolitan Office, in collaboration with?Gh?Media Schools, will host a three-day maiden cultural festival dubbed ‘December Fest 2023’ in Tema.?

The festival, which will be held from December 1st to 3rd, has the theme ‘Fostering Unity through Culture and Tourism’.?

Ms Sandra?Boison, the Director of the Centre for National Culture, Tema Metro Office, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview ahead of the festival that the programme had been well planned to whip up interest in culture ahead of the?yuletide.?

Ms?Boison?said on the first day, free skilled training would be organized for community members to learn beading and liquid soap making at T-Havanna, Tema Community Nine, the venue for the festival.?

She said there would be free health screenings for participants courtesy of the Tema General Hospital for the three days of the programme.?

She added that on December 1st, participants would gather at the forecourt of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) at 14:00 ho
urs to embark on a float through the principal streets of Tema, the General Hospital Road, and end at T-Havanna.?

The Tema Metro Cultural Director further stated that on December 2, the Tema?Mankralo?and the Tema Traditional Council would host other chiefs and traditional leaders from the various tribes in Tema,?Kpone, and Ashaiman at a durbar of chiefs, which would be followed by an exhibition and sale of arts and crafts at discounted prices.?

She said to unearth talents, an?artist’s?night would be held on the evening of day two of the festival, adding that artists would represent their neighbourhood in performances.?

Ms? Bosion?said on the last day of ‘December First’ there would be family fun games and cooking competitions among six zones of the Traditional Caterers Association to showcase their culinary skills in Ghanaian cuisines.?

?The six zones to compete are Tema Central, Tema East,?Kpone, Nungua,?Dodowa, and?Oyibi.?

To climax the event, she said the evening of the last day would see the organiza
tion of the ‘Yookpakpa’ fashion show, where fashion designers and those in the garment industry would use Ghanaian fabrics to make dresses fit for both formal and informal functions.?

Source: Ghana News Agency

Developers Net (DN), a Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) in the Volta region, has held a workshop on sexual and reproductive health for girls at Amutsinu in the Ketu South Municipality.

The move was to create a sustainable solution to sexual and reproductive challenges to promote good hygienic menstrual health among girls.

Mr Yonnah Keleku, leader and Founder of the group said the aim was also to bring together development experts and stakeholders to tackle pressing issues in the various deprived communities.

‘We are focused on four thematic areas, which include Sexual and Reproductive Health, Gender Equality, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and Climate change.’

Mr Keleku said the group, which was made up of young entrepreneur nursing students, had the vision of empowering communities where the needs and aspirations of the vulnerable groups were acknowledged, respected, and met.

He said the NGO strived to build a society that upheld equality, inclusiveness, and sustainable development for all manner
of individuals.

‘Our mission is to collaborate with stakeholders, experts and communities to advocate and accelerate community-led changes.’

Mama Hodzige ll, the Ketu South Director of the National Commission for Civil Education (NCCE), who also participated in the one-day workshop commended the group for the effort in educating girls on gender-based violence.

Some beneficiaries who spoke to GNA expressed happiness about the training and thanked the organisers for the opportunity.

Each participating trainee was presented with a box of sanitary pads.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Ghana has been elected to Chair the Network of African Cyber Security Authorities with Morocco being the Vice-Chair.

The Network aims to improve cybersecurity maturity on the continent and kick start efforts to increase African cybersecurity authorities from the current 17 to all African countries.

The election was conducted at the Executive Training On Cybersecurity and the Official launch of Network Of African Cyber Security Authorities (NACSA) by Smart Africa in Accra.

The platform will aim to facilitate close cooperation between the cybersecurity agencies and support ongoing initiatives for a secure cyberspace in Africa and position Africa on the global cybersecurity stage through a well-coordinated, strong, credible, and collective approach.

It will also provide a platform for knowledge exchange, harmonization of policies and regulations and coordination between members.

The training formed part of the Global Conference on Cyber Capacity Building Conference (GC3B) to be hosted by Ghana from Novembe
r 29 to November 30, 2023.

The overall objective is to capacitate high level executives from the African Regulatory authorities on Cybersecurity issues that limit the continent from realizing the core benefits of a Digital Economy.

The training, which is meant for regulators, aims to provide the skills needed to understand the process of developing and implementing topics like Cybersecurity laws, standards, and regulations (international and regional).

Others are investment in cybersecurity capacity development and allocation of funds, Cybersecurity national coordination mechanisms, partnerships, intelligence sharing and Cyber-diplomacy and norms

Dr. Albert Antwi-Boasiako, The Director-General of the Cyber Security Authority’s (CSA), said from October 2019 to October 2023, cybercrime/cybersecurity incident reporting points of contact (PoC) has received a total of 44,316 contacts.

He said 3,845, representing nine per cent, were categorised as actual cyber related incidents and 40,471 were categorised as d
irect advisories.

The Director-General said these direct advisories were issued to citizens that reach out to the CSA to fact check information they come across online and perform due diligence before taking certain actions online.

‘Top reported incident categories during the period include Online Fraud (45 per cent) which includes shopping fraud, investment scams, job recruitment fraud, romance scams among others,’ he added.

He said online Blackmail (13 per cent), unauthorised access (11 per cent), information disclosure (nine per cent), Cyber Bullying (eight per cent) dominated by online loan applications and online impersonation (eight per cent).

‘The analytics from our CERT also indicate a direct financial loss of GHS 57.9 million (approximately US$ 5 million) between January and October 2023,’ he said.

The Director-General said it was encouraging to note that several initiatives were being implemented to mitigate the cyberthreats and strengthen cybersecurity on the continent.

Dr Antwi-Boasiako said
to address the challenges posed by the misuse of digital technology, the African Union’s 23rd Assembly of Heads of State and Government in 2014 adopted the Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection, also known as the Malabo Convention.

He said this had called for a concerted and collaborative effort in building capacity in cybersecurity and this would provide the relevant agencies in each nation with the tools to effectively combat the increasingly transnational nature of cyber threats.

The Director-General commended the leadership of Smart Africa for taking the initiative to establish the Network which would serve as the platform to integrate national efforts into a holistic and formidable action towards securing the digital transformation of the continent.

Mr Didier Nkurikiyimfura, Chief Strategy and Growth Officer, Smart Africa said training was organised under the auspices of the Smart Africa Digital Academy in collaboration with Africa Digital Academy.

He said Cybersecurity was a crit
ical and a transversal component of Africa’s digital transformation agenda and as a result, Smart Africa, together with its key stakeholders developed a continental cybersecurity blueprint that has since been validated and presented to their Steering Committee.

He said one of the recommendations that came from the in-depth consultations during the development of the blueprint was the need to establish an independent network of African

cybersecurity authorities for better collaboration and coordination on cybersecurity development.

‘We analyzed the African cybersecurity landscape and discovered that there are 43 African countries that have cybersecurity legislation but only 17 countries have so far established national cybersecurity authorities,’ he said.

He said there was the need to ensure proper resourcing for domestic cybersecurity frameworks and authorities to support ongoing initiatives for trusted and secure digital transformation in Africa.

Source: Ghana News Agency