Month: November 2023

Dr Henry Kwabena Kokofu, the Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has cautioned cement manufacturing industries to stick to the use of paper bags for packaging rather than polypropylene.

The use of polypropylene (plastic) could degrade the environment, hence slowing down the Agency’s fight against plastic wastes, he said.

Dr Kokofu said this during a press briefing at the EPA in Accra on Wednesday.

Data by the World Economic Forum indicates that Ghana generates approximately 840,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year and 9.5 per cent of that is collected for recycling.

The production of one tone of polypropylene produces about 3.7 to 7.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which supercharged the natural greenhouse effect, hence causing global temperatures to rise.

Dr Kokofu said burning of those polypropylene bags as a form of disposing them off would lead to the discharge of harmful chemicals into the atmosphere, inimical to human health.

‘The control of industry use of plastic product
s, particularly polypropylene bags, are more critical and crucial than ever,’ he said.

‘The cement manufacturing industry had been known for the usage of paper bags, which are degradable and environmentally friendly.’

He said the EPA would do its best to prevent the use of polypropylene through the means of law and regulations.

Dr Kokofu urged the public, industry players and other stakeholders to ensure that the permitted means of bagging cement was strictly adhered to.

The Agency would collaborate with the Ghana Standard Authority and Ghana Customs Division to ensure that those polypropylenes would be out of the system, he said.

It would also engage industry players in the coming days to make them understand that polypropylene use was against the Agency’s regulations.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Madam Marcella Samba-Sesay, the Chairperson, National Election Watch, has blamed the backsliding of Africa’s democracy on the failure of elected leaders to deliver.

‘Have we ever thought of why democracy is failing in the region? The truth is that elected leaders have failed to deliver,’ she said.

Madam Samba-Sesay said this in her keynote address at the opening of the West Africa Democracy Solidarity Network (WADEMOS) 2023 Annual Convening of the Network Members in Accra.

The two-day meeting, on ‘Amplifying CSOs’ Response to Democratic Recession in West Africa’, is being attended by stakeholders from across the West African sub-region.

The Chairperson said evidence abounds where citizens had danced in the region to welcome military leaders.

‘When and where did we go wrong? Did we not promise each other that the only way to leadership should be an expressed and transparent will of the people through the ballot?’ she asked.

‘We have long agreed that power in Africa should never be through the barrels of
loaded guns. But this is not the case for five countries in West Africa.’

Irrespective of how benevolent a military dictator was or could be, the expressed will of the great people of Wet Africa should be through free and credible elections, she said.

However, authoritarians had come to power through façade elections and democracy promoters had faced fierce attacks in their line of duties, with the resultant effect being West African States degenerating into various democratic sub-types.

‘Now we have counterfeit democracies run by democratic dictators and self-styled leaders attempting to manipulate constitutions and in others the resurgence of military coups.’

Madam Samba-Sesay said the future of democracy, and by extension development, lay in stable societies in the region.

‘The good news is that amidst the challenges some decency still exists. Last year in this beautiful city of Accra and in an auspicious event, we launched a solidarity network- WADEMOS as a response to the signs of democratic backsli
ding and authoritarianism West Africa.’

The aim was to mobilise, coordinate and leverage the collective power of pro-democracy actors and to also engage regional bodies and instruments to push back democratic erosion, defend and reinvigorate democratic norms.

She said that was exactly what they needed a networked society to achieve and WADEMOS must, therefore, be strengthened to a reliable platform for civil society to push back against democratic decline.

Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh, the Executive Director, Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), in his welcome remarks, lauded Liberians for their commitment to a successful election, which was a plus for democracy.

He commended the outgoing President, Mr George Weah, for his commitment to a peaceful democratic transition.

‘I think we should congratulate our brothers and sisters in Liberia for a very peaceful election and President George Weah for his extraordinary reconciliatory and progressive concession speech’.

That could earn him a No
ble Peace Prize, he said.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Some women smallholder farmers in the Northern Region have expressed worry over post-harvest losses and the adverse implications on their livelihoods.

These concerns come at a time when the country has almost completed preparations to honour its farmers for their contribution to sustaining food security.

They mentioned the non-availability of post-harvest management interventions, which was adversely affecting their active participation in agriculture.

Madam Alhassan Nimatu, a smallholder farmer, who cultivates pepper at Nabela in the Yendi Municipality, told the Ghana News Agency that she had reduced her production size because of the impact of the losses she incurred last year.

‘I have personally reduced my six-acre pepper farm to only two acres because I don’t know how to store them for the right market,’ she said.

Sanatu Jeremiah, another farmer at Gomdakura in the Mion District, said last year, she harvested 50 bags (100 kilogrammes) but by the time she sold it in March, barely three months after h
arvesting, she had lost five bags.

‘I nearly accused my rival of stealing my maize because of the losses within the period of three months,’ she lamented.

Post-harvest losses have been one of the constraints to improving food and nutritional security in Ghana.

Women farmers annually grappled with most of the factors that farmers in northern Ghana encounter, high among them being access to land.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Alhaji Ahmed Isshahaku, the Bawku West District Chief Executive, has reiterated the importance of the SOCO Project to improving livelihoods, saying it is a holistic approach to making people live happily in rural communities.

He said it would improve productivity at the local level, raise incomes and enhance livelihoods as the project ensured that roads linking the farming communities were motorable.

Alhaji Ahmed Issahaku said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at the handing-over of sites to contractors under the Gulf of Gunea Northern Regions Social Cohesion (SOCO) Project in 13 communities at Zebilla in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region.

The projects include the construction of double 2.5 meters by 2.5 reinforced box culverts on the Dagunga-Mokpal two kilometre feeder road, construction of two 1.8 diameter culverts and one 1.2 dimeter culvert among other works on the Kare to Abugla feeder road.

Others include the building of one CHPS compound with four-unit nurses accommoda
tion, provision, supply and installation of solar energy at the CHPS centre at Komaka, Toende and Biringu, and drilling of mechanised boreholes at Weari, Yibonde and Apondabogo communities with hand pumps.

The Bullinga and Komaka communities are getting a three-unit classroom block each with writing desks, office with store, four- seater KVIP, two -unit urinal and changing room among other things.

Alhaji Amed Issahaku expressed excitement at the fully financed projects, which would improve the local economy and the wellbeing of the people.

‘It is a holistic approach to letting people live a happy life,’ he said, adding that they would create job opportunities, build capacity of the youth and improve productivity.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Chief of the Defence (CDS) of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) Thursday inaugurated the National College of Defence Studies (NCDS) of the GAF.

The College is intended to prepare selected senior military officers and civilians for strategic-level command and staff positions.

The college will offer Master’s and Doctoral programmes to officers and civilians working with national security, defence establishment, ministries departments and agencies in Ghana and allied African countries.

At a short ceremony at the Signal Training School at Burma Camp in Accra, Vice Admiral Amoama told a gathering of Senior officers that the establishment of the NCDS was consistent with current efforts to boost the country’s military capabilities and readiness.

He said the NCDS aimed to equip personnel with the knowledge and skills needed to safeguard the nation’s peace, security, and prosperity.

‘The programme of this college aims to produce graduates imbued with leadership, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, requi
red to address Ghana and Africa’s complex security challenges,’ he said.

The CDS said the college was a testament to the military’s ‘unwavering commitment’ to providing professional military education at the strategic level – an urgently needed intervention to assist in offering possible solutions to contemporary security challenges at the strategic level.’

He said the courses to be offered at the school would help build the capacities of selected senior officers and boost their ability to conduct scientific research in military science, defence studies, strategic studies, international relations, and related subjects.

The NCDS is set to commence its academic year on January 9, 2024.

It would train the first batch of 19 senior officers: 12 of whom are army officers, and two each from the Air Force and the Navy.

The maiden training would be done under the theme: ‘Environment, Security and Development’ to reflect the fundamental principles of ameliorating the country’s security challenges.

Major-General I
rvine Aryeetey, the Commandant of NCDS said, the setting up of the college signified a new era in the country’s defence education and training.

The college would produce strategic future leaders for the Armed Forces and empower other senior employees from the civilian circles.

‘The NCDS will not be merely a place of learning but a symbol of our commitment to safeguarding our nation’s sovereignty and ensuring the safety and security of our people.

‘It is here, that, the future leaders of our armed forces and civil servants from our ministries, departments and agencies would be nurtured and equipped with the knowledge, skills and values necessary to protect and serve Ghana,’ he said.

Currently, the NCDS has its programmes accredited by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC).

Its establishment was a partial fulfilment of Section 19(1 and 2) of the Education Regulatory Bodies Act 1023 of 2020.

The NCDS forms part of a greater vision to establish a National Defence University (NDU) earlier announced
by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo during the West African Soldiers Social Activity (WASSA) held in February 2023.

The NCDS is presently mentored by the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration and would become a branch college of the yet-to-be-established NDU, which is awaiting a presidential charter.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Ghana Health Service in partnership with United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and Global Affairs Canada, has launched a project seeking to promote reproductive, maternal and child health in the Ashanti Region.

The five-year project dubbed, ‘Health Systems Innovation Project’, which will be implemented in 20 districts, also targets quality improvement in service delivery in beneficiary districts.

Dr. Rita Larsen-Reindorf, Deputy Regional Director of Health Services in charge of Clinical Care, said the region would identify resource training centres in all 20 districts to serve as hub for training of other staff and aid lower facilities in the district.

She said as part of the project activities of the maternal and perinatal task force teams, infection prevention and control teams and quality improvement teams in the region would be strengthened to improve service outcomes.

According to the Deputy Director, obstetricians, gynaecologists and paediatricians in the district hospitals shall be trained and
the goal is for those districts to serve as the hub in the network of practice.

‘District and sub-district staff and community members will be trained in the implementation of the Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) scorecard to provide opportunity for community members to provide feedback to health service providers,’ she indicated.

Dr. Reindorf-Larsen disclosed that the directorate, as part of the project’s implementation, strengthened gender responsive community engagement and capacity building for underserved communities.

Also, a comprehensive and integrated package of clinical and public health interventions has been provided.

Dr. Felix Osei-Sarpong, Health Specialist, UNICEF Ghana, said the Ashanti Region was considered well-endowed in terms of support, but a closer look at the data suggested that there was the need to support the region.

He said the project also sought to build on the achievements from various interventions implemented to contain the spread of COV
ID-19 in the region,

There are still system challenges that need to be addressed especially when the Ashanti Region has one of the largest number of districts, he argued.

‘There is the need to look at innovations that would be able to help address the challenges of the region,’ Dr. Osei-Sarpong stated.

Ms. Dragica Stanivuk, a Representative of the Canadian High Commission, said Canada was committed to supporting Ghana to tackle maternal and newborn deaths.

She reiterated the need to build on previous interventions and applauded all stakeholders for their efforts towards the project’s implementation.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The United States Aid for International Development (USAID) Care Continuum Project, being implemented by the John Snow Inc. (JSI) as part of the fight against HIV/AIDS scourge, has donated 58 Motorbikes to the Ghana Health Services in three Regions.

The beneficiary regions, Western received 28 Motorbikes, Western-North 18 and Ahafo 12 for onward distribution to the various health facilities in the districts and sub-districts to ease the transportation needs of HIV viral load samples from the health facilities Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) sites to the reference laboratories.

This brings 116 Motorbikes donated by the USAID Care Continuum Project to the Western, Western-North and Ahafo Regions.

Motorbikes would among others enhance transportation from the sites to the hubs where these samples are batched to the Regional Reference Laboratory for testing and other health purposes.

The move is expected to improve the health of People Living with HIV (PLWH) and help them know their viral load situation.

Chief
of Party of USAID Care Continuum Project representative in Ghana Dr. Henry Ajewi-Narh Nagai who presented the keys for the 28 Motorbikes donated to the Western Regional Health Directorate in Takoradi, said the transportation of viral load blood samples would afford the Ghana Health Services the opportunity to know whether the medicines they were taking to treat HIV were efficacious or not by testing to know their viral load.

He said the Motorbikes could also transport pregnant women and other health services such as the supply of vaccines from one point to another, especially where the road network was bad to navigate their way through the difficult terrain to get to some of the sub-districts service delivery points.

Dr Nagai said the Project would optimize the collaboration between service agents such as the Ghana Health Services, Ghana AIDS Commission, Christian Health Association of Ghana, PLWH and their clients to assist HIV patients to know their status and put them on life-saving Anti-Retroviral Thera
py.

Receiving keys to the Motorbikes, the Western Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Yaw Ofori Yeboah acknowledged the immense contributions of the USAID Care Continuum Project to the fight against the HIV scourge in the Western Region.

He said the prevalence rate had dwindled with the collaboration, self-test, the access to medicines and medical facilities to ensure clinical results.

Dr Yeboah appealed to the public to volunteer for testing and treatment.

He said each of the 14 Districts in the Western Region has so far benefitted from four Motorbikes and commended USAID for the life-saving intervention.

Source: Ghana News Agency

AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mine, has donated items worth GHC 400,000 to eight districts in the Ashanti Region to support this year’s National Farmers Day celebrations.

The beneficiary districts are Obuasi Municipal, Obuasi East, Adansi Asokwa, Adansi North, Adansi South, Adansi Akrofuom, Amansie Central and Bekwai Municipal Assemblies.

Items donated to the assemblies included eight 40 -inches LED TV, eight motorised tricycle (Aboboyaa), 24 pairs of Wellington Boots, 96 pieces of GTP wax print, eight boxes of Key soap, 32 Knapsack sprayer, 120 machetes and eight boxes of Sunphosate Glyphosate Weedicide.

The items were specifically to support the overall best farmers and the best female farmers in the beneficiary districts.

Mr. Edmund Oduro Agyei, Head of Stakeholder Engagement and Land Management of AngloGold Ashanti who presented the items on behalf of the company, said AGAG had consistently sponsored farmers’ day as part of their commitment towards the development of agriculture which was a key component
in their 10-year Socio-Economic Development Plan.

He said the company appreciated the tremendous contributions of farmers to the development of the country hence the need for the company to step in to contribute to motivate them to make agriculture attractive especially to the youth of the country.

‘As a company that is much concerned about making communities we operate in better, such donations are made with a firm conviction that agriculture is the mainstay of our people.

We believe this will go a long way to encourage our farmers to do more,’ he noted.

Dr. Maurice Jonas Woode, Chief Executive for the Akrofuom, lauded AngloGold Ashanti for the annual gesture of supporting the districts to successfully organise the farmers’ day awards.

He said the donation would go a long way to relieving the Assemblies of some of the financial burdens involved in organising such programme.

The Akrofuom DCE praised the government for rolling out phase two of the Planting for Food and Jobs Programme (PFJ).

Targeted at
building on the successes of the initial programme, the second phase of the PFJ is a five-year master plan for the transformation of agriculture in Ghana through modernisation by the development of selected commodity value chains and active private sector participation.

This, Dr. Woode explained, would further boost agriculture, and make it attractive especially for the youth.

Mr. David Mensah, the Adansi South District Director of Agriculture also commended AngloGold Ashanti for the support, adding that the company had demonstrated its resolve to support agriculture in its operational areas.

He said farmers’ contribution called for the support of all stakeholders to encourage them to produce more for the country’s development.

On challenges facing agriculture, Mr. Mensah said the activities of illegal miners continued to destroy arable lands and called on traditional leaders of communities to help protect lands for agricultural purposes.

This year’s Farmers Day celebration, which is the 39th edition, wi
ll be held on the theme ‘Delivering Smart Solutions for Sustainable Food Security and Resilience.’

Source: Ghana News Agency