Day: December 14, 2023

Ghanian hip-life singer Romeo Odame, popularly known as 09Scary has released his much-awaited song titled ‘Gtr’.

The song, which was released on Thursday December 1, 2023, talks about how upcoming musicians are critisised in Africa.

The drill song was produced by Nahdz and was mixed by Iamsikapa.

Speaking with the GNA Entertainment, he said that he was motivated by circumstances he faced in life as a young adult seeking success in his musical career.

‘My big brother is my biggest inspiration since day one,’ he added.

When asked about any upcoming projects, he assured his fans to keep their fingers crossed for more jamming bangers, assuring them of more hit songs next year.

He said the Ghana music industry was doing, well but very poor in marketing Ghanaian underground artistes, hence, one must work hard to able to reach the top.

09Scary started manifesting his music career in primary school, doing prefix of Sarkodie’s songs especially.

He started singing professionally this year with his song ‘Wake U
p’ which had generated more fan base across the world.

He advised the youth and upcoming artists was to work hard, adding ‘if you tare trying to do something, do it with force, and don’t be dull because the industry waits for nobody. ‘

‘It’s do or die, so just give yourself time and work on yourself, get things right, and learn from your mistakes to be successful’, he added.

‘Gtr’ is available on all Digital Service Providers (DSPs).
Source: Ghana News Agency

The Supreme Court will on February 28, 2024, deliver judgement on two separate suits challenging the payment of salaries to first and second ladies.

This was after two sitting Members of Parliament (MPs) and another went to the apex court to challenge the payment of emolument to Ghana’s first and second ladies.

Rockson Dafeamekpor, South Dayi MP, Dr Clement Appak, MP for Builsa Constituency and Nii Tackie Commey sued the state through the Attorney General challenging the payments.

Kwame Baffoe alias Abronye, Bono Regional New Patriotic Party (NPP) has filed a similar writ against the Attorney General.

During the Supreme Court proceedings, Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, stated that the suits had previously been adjourned for judgement by the court.

However, the Chief Justice noted that some panel members were on retirement, necessitating a new date for judgment to allow for new judges to be empaneled.

She and other panel members briefly took submissions from lawyers in the two suits.

Mr George Kodzo
Adabadze, the counsel who represented the two MPs and another (Plaintiffs) relied on his case statement and other documents filed.

Mr Adabadze contended that the Prof. Ntiamoah Baidu Committee exceeded its jurisdiction when it recommended the extension of payment of salaries to the first and second ladies.

Essinam Kporku who had been called to the bar two years ago, earned admiration from the judges when she convinced the panel of the reasons why she was in court.

Ms Kporku had represented her senior (lawyer) who was not in court. Her senior represented Abronye.

It is the practice that lawyers with five years standing at the bar could only appear before the apex court and usually lawyers with few years of practice are ‘grilled,’ by the court.

Diana Asonaba Dapaah, deputy Attorney General relied on the statement of case filed on August 6, 2021.

The deputy Attorney General noted the suit filed was an abuse of the court process and no cause for action has been established.

According to her, Parliament was
not always bound to go by Prof Ntiamoah Baidu’s recommendation.

Parliament had adopted the Committee on Emolument’s proposals for Article 71 office holders, which required spouses of the President and Vice President to be paid monthly as Cabinet ministers.

The two MPs and another contended that the decision to pay the first and second ladies was unconstitutional since, according to Article 71 (10 and (2)), the spouses of the President and Vice President did not fall under public office holders.
Source: Ghana News Agency

The ENOUGH! project implemented by Rural Initiatives for Self-Empowerment Ghana (RISE-Ghana), an advocacy organisation is contributing to empowerment of students and communities to help end Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in some districts in the Upper East Region.

The project has not only increased knowledge of students and community members about SGBV and pathways for referrals which has led to increase in reported cases but has also increased students and community leadership involvement in fight against human rights abuses.

It has also strengthened stakeholder and institutional collaborations leading to rescuing of some victims of SGBV including defilement, child marriage as well as seeking justice for some survivors in the Kassena-Nankana Municipal, Kassena-Nankana West and Pusiga Districts.

Ms Jaw-haratu Amadu, Head of Programmes at RISE-Ghana brought these to light during the phase out meeting of the ENOUGH! project, held in Bolgatanga.

The meeting brought together state human rights and c
hild protection institutions, Ghana Education Service, teachers, Ghana Health Service, the Ghana Police Service, and traditional leaders.

The ENOUGH! project started in 2020 and implemented in partnership with Oxfam and Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF) with funding support from the European Union, sought to empower women, girls, men, and boys to take positive action to ending SGBV in Ghana, Libera and Mali.

Ms Amadu indicated that apart from contributing to increasing assertiveness of young children especially girls, the project contributed to increase discussions, advocacy and reporting of SGBV cases in hard-to-reach communities.

‘More queen mothers have become active in informed advocacy, more men now are involved in community level advocacy and there is increase in knowledge of girls, boys, women and men on harmful traditional practices and the right path to seek justice and advice.’

‘The project has also helped to resolve domestic violence issues that would have led to divorce and other
consequences and also strengthened multisectoral collaborations in addressing SGBV,’ she added.

She however noted that delays in the adjudication of cases of SGBV at the court and charges on medical reports for survivors remained major challenges in the fight against SGBV and called on the government to as matter of urgency resource state institutions in that sector to function effectively.

Mr Haruna Alhassan, the Bawku Municipal Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), noted that apart from the 1992 Constitution, Ghana was enjoined by several international conventions and protocols to protect, promote, and enforce the rights of children at all levels.

He commended RISE-Ghana for contributing to the vision of CHRAJ and called for strengthened partnership to ensure that people were enlightened on issues of SGBV, ‘more of these collaborations would go a long way to reduce the rate of SGBV menace in our communities for better Ghana for all’.

Ms Rita Wepia Pwalua, the Kas
sena-Nankana Municipal Girl Child Education Officer of the Ghana Education Service, noted that through the collaboration with RISE-Ghana under the ENOUGH! project many girls had been rescued from child marriages in the area.

She therefore appealed to the traditional authorities to help fight the canker by enforcing traditional rules that punished perpetrators of child abuse particularly child marriage, rape, and defilement.
Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Kwame Pianim, a renowned economist has called for measures to curb Ghana’s rapid population growth to make it correspond with economic growth and development.

He called for a national conversation to mainstream population aspects into national development with a more robust population focused approach to the nation’s socioeconomic development.

Mr Pianim made the call in his keynote address at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) Annual Leadership Lecture Series 2023 in Accra, on the theme

‘Re-Imagining Ghana’s Development Trajectory for a Peaceful and Prosperous Nation By 2057, Our 100th Anniversary.’

He said Ghanaians’ re-imagined trajectory was to yield prosperity that was inclusive and shared through the participation of the people in the production process; saying ‘and peaceful because no one is left behind.’

He said Ghanaians envision a steady and prudent annual growth rate of between five per cent and six per cent to attain a minimum gross domestic product (GDP) of $500 billion
with a modulated population of 45 million by 2057.

Mr Pianim noted that this was feasible and could be willed into reality with leadership at all levels in Ghanaian communities, institutions, and homes.

‘Only Ghanaians can and do have a duty to develop their nation. We are in unprecedented social and economic crises. To get out of this self-inflicted bind, all of us 34 million Ghanaians must pitch in to envision and create a new Ghana. A new growth path is needed.’

Comparing Ghana to the Asians Tigers, Mr Pianim said: ‘We often nostalgically say, either to shame ourselves into action or to lull ourselves into resignation and acceptance of our poor circumstances, that at the time of independence around 1957, Ghana’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was higher than that of South Korea and that of China and slightly lower than that of Malaysia.’

‘From around the same level of gross GDP per capita of some $200, by 2022, South Korea had catapulted to $33,000, China to $11,000 and Malaysia to $5,000; Gha
na dawdles at around $2,000!

‘Our population at 6.6million in 1960, increased over the past 62 years to 33.48 million, a rise of 407 per cent.

‘The population of South Korea over the same period, rose from 25 m to 51.63 m, an increase of 106 per cent. The world average was 162 per cent.’

He said Ghana and South Korea were not too far apart in annual population rate of growth; around 3.27 per cent for Ghana and 3.01 per cent for South Korea in 1960s.

Adding that South Korea managed to bring down its annual growth rate to under one per cent with its ‘two-is-enough’ slogan.

Mr Pianim said Ghana’s current high fertility rate and declining mortality, had kept its annual growth rate at around 2.1 per cent.

He said on this path, Ghana was projected to be 69.2 million by 2057!

‘It may be worth noting that no nation has developed with an annual population growth rate of two per cent and above. To change our current development trajectory, we need to lower our annual rate of population growth from 2.1 per cent a
nd our women cannot continue to average six children.

He said South Korea had been so successful in managing the population/development equation since the 1970s it now faces population decline; adding that it had been recording negative annual changes in the third decade of the 21st Century.

He said child marriage had been made illegal by legislation in Ghana and that there was the need for a reinvigorated district assemblies and traditional authorities to collaborate in implementing the law.

He reiterated that it was critical to put measures in place to help in lowering the growth rate to 1.1 per cent up to 2034 and to 0.7 per cent up to 2057.

‘It modulated population in 2057 to 44.8million! This is how the population drag was toned down. It makes our GDP per capita level attainable to over $10,000 by 2057,’ Mr Pianim stated.

He underscored the need to study the inter-sect issues of population and sustainable development, which led to the National Development Planning Commission being set up.

He called
for the merger of the National Population Council, the Births and Deaths Registry and National Identification Authority with operational presence in all districts.

Professor Abednefo Feehi Okoe Amartey, the Vice Chancellor of the UPSA, said the UPSA Annual Leadership Lecture Series had been a very impactful platform with positive lessons and insights that had been relayed for total reflections.
Source: Ghana News Agency

The implementation of MIHOSO International Foundation/Basic Need Neglected Tropical Skin Diseases (NTDs) project has recorded 22 new cases of the disease in the Dormaa Central Municipality of the Bono Region.

The cases recorded in the 11 project implementation communities comprise 16 Buruli Ulcer, one leprosy, one elephantiasis and two cases of yaws.

Mr Thomas Benarkuu, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer in-charge of Operations, MIHOSO International, a health centered, human rights and social development Non-governmental Organisation disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani.

The suspected cases of the NTDs, according to Mr Benarkuu common at Aboabo Number four, Aboabo Number Two, Aboabo Number Three, Ahyiraso, Masu, Toforo, Babianeha, Kofiasu and Aseskasu farming communities.

The Foundation, he explained, was partnering with the Basic Need Ghana, another NGO, implementing the two-year project aimed at enhancing the quality of life of vulnerable and affected people in the
area and being funded by the Anesvad Foundation.

Titled ‘Building Civil Society Coalition to Advocate an Integrated Approach to Control Skin-NTDs and Enhance the Quality of Life of Vulnerable and Affected People in Ghana,’ the project sought to contribute towards prevention, control, and elimination of the NTD’s infection, ameliorating the mental health and psychosocial impact of debilitating the disease and social stigma.

Mr Benarkuu explained the implementation of the project, being funded by the Anesvad Foundation, had trained 10 community volunteers and 26 health workers who reached out and sensitized the communities on the NTDs. Through their efforts, the project has recorded the new cases, he stated, and commended the volunteers, various community leaders, and the health workers.

The project implementation would contribute to progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and skin health for all. It would enhance health and well-being, eliminate discrimination and exclusion, deepen human rights, an
d improve participation and productivity.

In another interview, Mr Daniel Kwame Owusu-Mensah, the Dormaa Municipal Disease Control Officer told the GNA the suspected cases had been sent to Accra for confirmation. Nonetheless, he said the affected people, with the buruli ulcer patients, had been put on medication, indicating that when the diseases were detected earlier patients could be treated.

Mr Owusu-Mensah observed though the project implementation had in one way or the other helped reduce societal stigma and myth surrounding the NTDs in the area, the project intended to organize video shows in the communities.

That would enable the communities to understand and appreciate the need for people with suspected cases to report to health facilities and Community-based Health Planning Services (CHPS) compounds for medical attention.

Mr Owusu-Mensah reminded that it was untrue the NTDs were linked to witchcraft and family curse, and therefore appealed to the people to desist from the stigmatization, and supp
ort persons with suspected cases to report to health facilities.
Source: Ghana News Agency

Oxfam, a global organisation working to ensure a sustainable, equitable, and just world, has launched a Report on how mining companies seek consent of community members.

The global report is titled: ‘Recharging Community Consent: Mining Companies, Battery Minerals, and the Battle to Break from the Past’.

According to the Report, many companies exploring and producing key battery minerals had public policies that fell short of what was required under international law to respect community consent.

The researchers indicated that the battery mineral sector’s approach to Free, Prior, Informed Consent (FPIC) was not sufficiently ready to support a just energy transition under current company policies.

Speaking at the launch in Accra, Mr Mohammed-Anwar Sadat Adam, Acting Country Director of Oxfam in Ghana, said the study was necessitated by the current climate crises in the world and the need for a just transition.

He said as the world’s attention turned to transition minerals, it was important to ensure that
in the energy transition discourse, issues of community rights were not forgotten or compromised.

Ms Emily Greenspan, Associate Director, Oxfam America, presenting the findings of the Report, said the study examined the publicly available policies of 43 companies across the world engaged in the exploration and production of five minerals used in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

These minerals comprised cobalt, nickel, lithium, graphite and copper.

Underpinning the research, she said, was the principle FPIC.

She explained that, for indigenous peoples, FPIC constituted a right guaranteed under international law to safeguard the protection and realisation of the peoples’ collective autonomy, resilience, and right to self-determination.

Under FPIC, mining companies’ engagement with community members was, therefore, expected to be free from coercion, manipulation, or duress, she said.

The engagement must be prior to each phase of project development, extending across the full life cycle of a project.

Com
munity members must also be well-informed by ensuring full and timely access to all relevant project information in formats that enabled them to understand project risks and impacts.

Community members must also have the power to give or withhold their consent to a project.

Ms Greenspan indicated that the study analysed the selected mining companies to ascertain how their individual policies were consistent with the normative basis of FPIC.

The Report shows that some of the companies have no policy commitment at all to FPIC or any other type of community engagement.

Only two companies have clear public commitments to FPIC.

Majority of the companies did not disclose their operational guidance, including their implementation processes and evidence of agreements, as well as disclosure of independent audits.

The study also shows that mining companies are increasingly recognising in their public policies, their responsibilities to conduct human rights due diligence.

However, far fewer companies have public p
olicy commitments to conduct mine site-level human rights impact assessment.

The study reveals that most company policies still overlook the gendered impacts of their operations on communities, with most companies not taking meaningful action to address gender-based violence and discrimination in their operations.

Few companies also have respect for the rights of human rights and environmental defenders included in their policies.

The research recommends structural reforms in the mining sector, where indigenous peoples would have the power to control whether and how mining is done on their lands.

All companies must also adopt strong FPIC policies that meet international human rights standards and unequivocally commit them not to proceed with a project if they did not receive community consent.

Companies must have appropriate operational guidance, internal systems, and resources in place.

This will ensure human rights due diligence, accessible and effective grievance mechanisms, gender-responsive FPIC, a
nd protection for human rights defenders.

The Report added that policy priority must be given to finding and funding solutions to minimise the need for mining raw materials.

This will ensure sustainable, just, equitable, and rights-respecting mining, the Report said.
Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Moses Baiden, Chief Executive Officer of Margins ID Group, says regulations of the National Identification Authority (NIA) prohibit banks from taking photocopies of national identification cards for transactions.

‘With the NIA system, if you go to the bank you have to present yourself to the bank and put forth your fingerprint for the bank to get an audit code connected to your transaction,’ he said, stressing photocopying of clients’ ID cards was illegal.

Mr Baiden said this during a panel discussion on the sidelines of the Data Protection Africa Summit on the topic: ‘Data protection implementation in the delivery of ID systems in Africa’.

The Summit is a flagship programme of the Africa Digital Rights Hub (ADRH) held annually across Africa.

It focuses on key areas such as

Generative Al, Data Transfers across Africa, Data Protection and ID Systems in Africa as Digital Trade, Data Protection and the African Continental Free Trade Agreements (AfCFTA).

The Margins Group has been a partner of the NIA i
n the development and issuance of the National Identification Cards (Ghana Cards).

Mr Baiden’s remarks were in response to issues of governance, compliance and enforcement of data protection among institutions.

He said the challenge the country faced in its data protection and identification bid was not a data collection or technological problem, but attitudinal and enforcement problems.

‘If we want a clean data collection society where laws are fully enforced, it is beyond data protection and technology, but rather attitudinal,’ he noted.

Mr Baiden urged institutions to be fully abreast of the NIA system to make well-informed decisions and practices.

Ms Teki Akuetteh, Founder and Executive Director of ADRH, observed that the populace lacked awareness of the data collection and protection process.

She said most people were not aware of what their data collected was being used for and they were vulnerable to threats of data manipulation.

She urged stakeholder institutions to increase sensitisation and a
wareness drive on data collection and protection rights of the citizenry to enable them to make informed choices and decisions.

Ms Akuetteh called for the creation of a synchronised and centralised national database system where institutions could collect data for identification purposes.

That, she said, would help the institutions to save money and time in their data collection processes and minimise risks and threats to unauthorised access.

More than 200 delegates across Africa and other parts of the world participated in the Accra Summit.

The three-day international conference was on the broader theme: ‘Building Bridges for Oversight and Accountability’, and brought together policymakers, regulators, researchers, lawmakers as well as key industry players in the digital space, particularly data protection practitioners and privacy experts.
Source: Ghana News Agency

Most companies exploring and producing key battery minerals have public policies that fall short of what is required under international law on respect for community consent, an Oxfam report has revealed.

The report indicated that the battery mineral sector’s approach to Free, Prior, Informed Consent (FPIC) was not sufficiently ready to support a just energy transition under current company policies.

Ms Emily Greenspan, Associate Director of Oxfam America, said this during the launch of the report in Accra.

The study examined the publicly available policies of 43 companies across the globe engaged in the exploration and production of five minerals used in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

These minerals comprised cobalt, nickel, lithium, graphite and copper.

Underpinning the study, Ms Greenspan indicated, was the principle of FPIC, which required that, indigenous peoples and local communities must be adequately informed about projects that affected their land.

That engagement must be done in a timely
manner, free of coercion and manipulation.

Community members should also be given the opportunity to approve or reject a project prior to the commencement of all activities, using a decision-making process they themselves select.

According to the report, some of the companies have no policy commitment at all to FPIC or any other type of community engagement.

Majority of the companies did not disclose their operational guidance, including their implementation processes and evidence of agreements, as well as disclosure of independent audits.

The study shows that far fewer companies have public policy commitments to conduct mine site-level human rights impact assessment.

Among the companies studied, while there was growing recognition of Indigenous peoples’ rights, few companies publicly commit to respect the rights based on FPIC.

Most companies also did not take meaningful action to address gender-based violence and discrimination in their operations.

Few companies included in their policies, the respect
for human rights and environmental defenders.

Relating the report to Ghana, Ms Greenspan said she hoped that Ghanaians could use the report to ask critical questions about mining companies operating in the country and encouraged them to adopt stronger policies that would ensure community engagement and community consent.

In a panel discussion on the report during the launch, Mr Benjamin Boakye, Executive Director, Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), said people must start thinking more broadly about what community entailed to find a more comprehensive approach for engagement.

Ms Nafi Chinery, Africa Director, Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), said for communities to engage meaningfully, they must have good understanding of what the national and international legal regimes on mining entailed.

She urged the Minerals Commission, the District Assemblies, and other decentralised agencies to educate community members on the mining laws to promote meaningful engagements.

Mr Kwabena Barning, Chie
f Technical Officer and Head of Operations, Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF), pointed out that in most cases, indigenes tended to be knowledgeable about where mineral resources were located on their lands.

He said it was, therefore, prudent for explorers not to downplay the knowledge of the indigenes but to engage them properly.

Ms Alaka Lugonzo, Extractives Strategist, Oxfam in Kenya, said to address the gender imbalances in community engagements, policy formulators must be intentional in giving women a voice and the opportunity to participate in the mining sector in an equitable and just manner.

Mr Tomas Langa, Executive Coordinator, Environmental Association (AMA), Mozambique, said community members could leverage their shared vision, interests and experiences to become more united to advance their wellbeing with regard to community engagement.

Mr Joseph Otchere Osei, Project Officer, SEND Ghana, urged the government to make the livelihood, health and rights of community members paramount when br
inging in investors in the mining sector.

Participants at the launch came from Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique, South Africa, Kenya, and the United States of America.

They included representatives from Oxfam, civil society organisations, the media and environmental activists.
Source: Ghana News Agency

Dr. Donald Agumenu, a leadership and governance expert, says the proposed 24-hour economy by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has the potential to revolutionise key sectors of Ghana’s economy.

He said the proposed policy presented opportunity for the country to position itself as the gateway to West Africa and a global economic force and called for support for it.

Dr. Agumenu, who is also a Global Advisor, American Academy of Project Management, said with Ghana hosting the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), such a policy was timely to open the country up for rapid socioeconomic growth.

He said key sectors that could be revolutionised were mining, tourism, and allied services.

The Governance Expert said the use of advanced digital technologies for efficient extraction, processing, and prudent management of mineral resources under the policy, was commendable.

That, he said, would ensure responsible and sustainable mining practices and community development.

Dr. Agumenu said in the touris
m sector, the policy would revive the country’s night life and economy and create jobs for people in the sector.

He said the different components of night-time economies such as night markets, electricity and energy schemes, and the essential security architecture to ensure safety and business continuity, would provide job possibilities in the tourism and hospitality industries.

Dr Agumenu said there would be job opportunities for chefs, servers, bartenders, waiters, and many others.

He said people in the entertainment industry and allied services, especially those who worked outside the 0800 to 1700 hours schedule, would also witness a turnaround in the sector.

According to him, the implementation of the 24-hour economy, powered by digital transformation and innovation, could transform the fortunes of the country and enhance the living condition of the citizenry.

The flagbearer of the NDC, Mr John Dramani Mahama, proposed the 24-hour economy during an engagement at the ninth Ghana Chief Executive Busine
ss Cocktail.
Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr David Kwarteng, Executive Director of the Institute of Nature, and Environmental Conservation (INEC) Ghana, has stressed the need to prioritize the health needs of the people while advocating for climate change actions and other environmental issues.

He said it was important for advocacy groups in climate change to prioritize and tackle the health of the people, especially those in rural communities, while mobilizing to tackle climate change and other related environmental issues.

Interacting with journalists during a free health screening exercise organized by INEC for residents of Kwapanin, near Abofour in the Offinso South District, he said it was important to educate and encourage people in rural communities to undertake regular health screening to help detect and diagnose diseases early for prompt treatment and management.

About 500 residents were screened for sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis ‘B’, malaria, blood pressure, and skin infections, among others and where necessary, medications w
ere provided.

The health professionals also took the opportunity to educate the community members on the need to ensure healthy lifestyles and good eating habits.

Mr. Kwarteng touching on the relevance of the health screening exercise at Kwapanin, said INEC Ghana, had in the last 18 months worked in the community as part of its major environmental and climate change mitigation programmes by planting indigenous trees, whose ecosystems had been broken due to environmental degradation.

It was important to prioritize the well-being of the people – ensuring that they were strong and fit to go about their daily routines and taking issues of the environment seriously.

Mr Kwarteng used the occasion to remind Ghanaians of the alarming rate of environmental degradation, saying climate change was real and the call to action was now.

He called for concerted efforts as citizens, to make positive impacts on the environment which would go a long way to reduce rising health issues posed by climate change effects.

Madam
Felicity Afosaah, a resident of Kwapanin commended the organization for screening the residents.

She said although the community had a community health planning services (CHPS) compound, it was not every ailment that could be reported and rallied for such health screening programmes to be accessible to the locals.
Source: Ghana News Agency