Day: May 28, 2024

Fidelity Bank, Ghana’s largest privately-owned indigenous bank, says more than 400 exporters and farmers have benefitted from its Export Club initiative.

Mr Julian Opuni, Managing Director, made this known at the launch of the 2024 Ghana Horticulture Expo hosted by the Federation of Associations of Ghana Exporters (FAGE) on Tuesday, May 27, 2024.

Under the theme: ‘Celebrating Ghana’s Horticulture Diversity, Produce Quality, Export More,’ the Expo unveiled a wealth of trade opportunities and economic benefits for Ghanaian and international farmers and buyers.

It also served as a platform for agriculture, technology, finance, youth employment, and innovation converge.

In his address, Julian Opuni, highlighted the strategic partnership formed with FAGE in 2023, leading to the creation of the Export Club.

The initiative targets Ghanaian enterprises in agricultural and non-traditional export sectors, aiming to enhance their export trade capabilities.

These services include a comprehensive export value propos
ition, educational seminars on sustainable practices, and participation in international trade fairs.

Beneficiaries, through the programme, gain valuable insights into global trends, innovations, and best practices in the fruit and vegetable markets.

Mr. Opuni said the horticulture sector contributed significantly to agricultural growth, job creation, and foreign exchange earnings, emphasising the sector’s ‘diversification – driven by the high quality and international standards of its products’.

‘To sustain the momentum and successes in the horticultural sector, initiatives like this Expo are vital,’ Mr Opuni stated. ‘Fidelity Bank views this event as an opportunity to continue our leadership role in supporting the sector. The Expo aligns with our Export Club’s objectives, providing a practical platform to advance our initiatives,’ he added.

Mr Opuni said this would raise awareness of Ghanaian horticultural products and enhance the country’s foreign exchange earnings and create job opportunities for our
youth.

‘We will collaborate with funding partners and other financial institutions to offer specialised financing programmes tailored to the needs of agricultural businesses,’ he assured.

‘Financial support and access to capital are crucial for the sector’s growth.’

He emphasised the importance of compliance with regulations and environmental standards.

‘By working with partners, we aim to provide technical assistance to help businesses obtain and maintain necessary certifications for their products to be accepted in international markets.

‘This Expo should be seen as a platform to embrace these advancements. It offers a valuable platform for Fidelity Bank, exporters, and other stakeholders to share insights and collaborate on solutions to challenges in the horticultural sector,’ he added.

The Ghana Horticulture Expo provides opportunity for Fidelity Bank, exporters, and other stakeholders to collaborate.

The launch was supported by USAID’s Feed the Future program, GIZ, Ghana Export Promotion Authority
(GEPA), and the Ghana Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (GIRSAL). It serves as the pathfinder for the three-day Expo slated for July 9th to 11th, 2024.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Changing Life Through Health (CLITH), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), has engaged some female students in the Keta Municipality of the Volta Region on menstrual hygiene tips.

The exercise was to educate them on how to develop good menstrual hygiene habits that could empower them to take full responsibility for their health as well as feel confident during menstruation.

Mr Eugene Elikem Tornyava, a Co-Founder and Managing Director of the Organisation, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, during an event to mark this year’s World Menstrual Day, said the objective was also to educate girls on how to calculate their menstrual cycles.

‘Our target is to engage and educate over 1,000 girls from more than 15 schools in the Municipality on menstrual hygiene, and how to adopt good hygiene practices to prevent infections such as bacterial vaginosis and urinary tract infections.’

He stated that CLITH was established in 2016 to reach out to several communities with health screenings, health education, an
d other issues of concern, among others.

Mr Tornyava urged the students to avoid too much salty or high-sodium food intake during their menstruation period to avoid water retention, bloating, and oedema.

‘In 2018, we decided to join the rest of Ghanaians to mark International Menstrual Hygiene Day, and support girls with sanitary pads to help mitigate some of their challenges, he added.

The Organisation also donated pads to each student, after taking them through the various ways of fixing them.

Some students, the GNA engaged during the exercise, expressed commendation to the donors for their kind gesture.

In a related development, Madam Aurelia Tudzi, the Keta Municipal Girl Child Education Officer, has said Menstrual Hygiene Day was to ensure that menstruating individuals, especially those in deprived communities could manage their periods safely.

She said no school-going girl child should be left behind due to their inability to afford sanitary pads and that ‘parents, corporate organisations, individ
uals, and philanthropists should also help to solve the challenges.’

This year’s International Menstrual Hygiene Day was on the theme,’ #PeriodFriendlyWorld.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

A total of 198 of the 290 members of parliament voted in favour of the 62-year-old politician on Tuesday, the state news agency IRNA reported.

Ghalibaf’s re-election comes as a surprise. Observers had expected him to run for the presidency following the death of Ebrahim Raisi.

Born in 1961 in the north-eastern city of Mashhad, Ghalibaf was appointed general at a young age and served as commander of a division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War.

Due to his political ambitions, he also studied political geography and received a doctorate from Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran in 2001.

In 2005, Ghalibaf gave up his military duties and devoted himself entirely to politics. In the same year, he took part in the presidential election, but lost to the eventual winner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In 2005, he became mayor of Tehran.

His work in the capital was overshadowed by allegations of corruption.

Ghalibaf failed again in another attempt for the presidency in 2013. He finally w
ithdrew his candidature in 2017.

Critics of the Iranian system and moderate politicians are likely to remember his supportive role in the suppression of the student protests in 1999 in his role as commander at the time.

The parliament is Iran’s legislative institution. However, the real power is concentrated in the state leadership, with religious leader Ali Khamenei at the top in the role of supreme leader.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Mamprugu-Moagduri District Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), under the auspices of the European Union, has held its Inter-party Dialogue Committee (IPDC) meeting on Preventing and Containing Violent Extremism (PCVE).

The meeting was to organise stakeholders to deliberate on peace, tolerance and countering violent extremism before, during and after this year’s elections.

In attendance were representatives of political parties, women and youth groups, the District Assembly, faith-based organisations, traditional rulers, security agencies, people living with disabilities, the Electoral Commission and some heads of department.

Mr Salifu Ibrahim, Mamprugu-Moagduri District Director of NCCE, speaking during the meeting, said violent extremism and terrorism continued to remain a serious challenge for the preservation of democratic governance.

He said terrorism and other forms of violence, including violent extremism, had the potential to derail the democratic gains, especiall
y as the country prepared for this year’s elections.

He said it was imperative that steps were taken to prevent the use of the electioneering activities and platforms to perpetuate violence, either by internal or external forces, hence the meeting.

He called on members of the committee to work assiduously to ensure that the district did not experience any political conflict before, during and after the 2024 elections no matter the outcome of the elections.

Mr Dauda Mohammed Hashim, Mamprugu-Moagduri District Director of the Electoral Commission, who was the facilitator of the engagement, took participants through the electoral processes.

He urged participants to advice the youth to desist from electoral violence, saying their attitude towards elections would ensure free, fair, credible and transparent elections.

He spoke about violent extremism and said although Ghana had never encountered any terrorist attacks, the youth should stay away from involving themselves in violent activities because political
instability would pave way for terrorist attacks.

Inspector Sulemana Mohammed, who represented the Mamprugu-Moagduri District Police Command, called for sensitisation of the youth to eschew violence and rather promote peace, unity and development.

He urged participants to respect the electoral rules and regulations to ensure peace, before, during and after the 2024 elections.

Participants pledged to reject political vigilantes and also called for IPDC meetings to be held regularly for stakeholders to design a roadmap that would discourage violence and insecurity situations in communities.

Source: Ghana News Agency

A Takoradi Circuit Court has remanded two students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) into Police custody for agreeing and acting together with a common purpose to commit crime, to wit ‘ sextortion’.

They are Jerome Enyam, aged 19, resident of Fijai, and Ebenezer Adam, aged 19, also resident of Kojokrom and second year students at KNUST, Kumasi

Their action was in contravention with the Criminal Offenses Act and the Cyber Security Act.

Prosecuting, D/SGT Robert Mensah told the Court presided over by Her Ladyship Harriet Charway that the accused persons, were friends and year mate of the victim; Rhyndolf Owusu

Hammond, aged 20, formerly a student of KUNST, and the son of the complainant, Mr. Stephen Owusu Hammond.

The Prosecutor narrated that during the first quarter of last year 2023, the complainant’s son video-graphed a sexual intimacy with his girlfriend and in turn uploaded same on his laptop.

His close friend, and a key witness in this case, Ekow Wilson, driven by e
cstasy and awe, transferred the video onto his personal phone.

Later, without the knowledge and consent of witness Wilson, one of the accused airdropped the said video onto his phone and further shared the video with his accomplices.

Afterwards, the two, in Takoradi in the Western Circuit and within the jurisdiction of this Court, being in possession of sexually explicit image of one Rhyndolf Owusu Hammond and his girlfriend, harassed, threatened, intimidated, and coerced him to the extent of extorting cash amount of GHS1,800.00 from him or release it to the social media spectrum.

The Prosecuted said on November 7, 2023, they, jointly and by disguise, sent a text message to the victim through an anonymous Vodafone contact number 0203224110 and informed him that they had possessed an amorous video concerning him and his girlfriend, thereby, demanding an amount of GHS2,500 from the victim.

At that point, the victim informed his father, now the complainant who in turn filed the case with the Police Intellige
nce Directorate Takoradi, leading to the arrest of the accused persons.

A cell phone each containing the amorous video was retrieved from them by the Police and after investigation, the accused persons were charged with the requisite offences.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in Central Tongu, Volta Region, has launched its Constitution Week at Mafi-Kumase, in collaboration with the Tailors and Seamstresses Association.

This follows the NCCE’s initiative to promote civic awareness and educate citizens on their rights and responsibilities under the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.

The event featured interactive sessions, discussions, and exhibitions, providing a platform for citizens to engage on the Constitution and its significance in Ghana’s democratic journey.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Madam Doris Elikplim Wagba, the Programmes Officer of the Commission, said Ghana’s remarkable democratic journey and the importance of upholding the principles and objectives of the 1992 Constitution.

She encouraged the residents to actively participate in the democratic process by registering and voting in the upcoming December 7th, 2024, elections.

Madam Wagba urged them to resist vote-buying and instead, allow their con
science to guide them in electing leaders who can drive the nation’s developmental agenda.

She also cautioned against engaging in violent acts that could mar the peaceful nature of the country.

The Members of the Tailors and Seamstresses Association pledged their commitment to continue to promote democracy, peace, and development in the country.

Some of them told the GNA that they would ensure electoral peace and avoid acts of violence before, during and after the upcoming general polls.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Environmental Protection Agency has advised Ghanaians to reduce the practice of tiling or cementing their compounds to enable rainwater to have its natural course of movement.

The Agency said, cementing or tiling one’s compound is contributing to flash flood all around the country while reducing the amount of underground water.

Mr Kwadwo Opoku Mensah told the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of a stakeholder’s education on climate change adaptations measures that there was the need for both soft and hard spaces around any house, which allowed rainwater to either sink underground to increase underground reserve and thereby halting flooding.

He suggested that homeowners must consider paving and green grass as against tiling, a practice that heightens urban floods.

Although the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority’s regulations also prohibited such an act, project owners continued to be adamant to this policy directive.

Source: Ghana News Agency

A cross- section of Ghanaians at a multi-stakeholder forum have reiterated the call on leadership to pay attention to the looming water crisis likely to be caused by illegal mining activities.

At the forum held under the Open Government Partnership programme being run by the Sekondi Takoradi Municipal Assembly, the participants noted that many of the country’s water bodies, particularly in mining regions, were now dead with chemical pollution from unscrupulous individuals who ply their illegal mining activities in and around water bodies.

Mr Gilbert Siaw Afriyie, new Takoradi Assembly Member, in his contribution, recalled with nostalgia when these rivers and water bodies provided food as fish protein and quenched their thirst.

Madam Harriet Addy Woode, a Civic Educator, described the current water crisis as an early warning signal to the social and economic insecurity that lingered and blamed leadership for the mess.

Ms. Christy Yankson, member of the Persons living with Disability Association, said, ‘des
pite the abundance of resources, leadership continues to fail us.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

The National Commission for Civic (NCCE) has urged Ghanaians not to take Terrorists’ threats of insecurity in neighbouring countries lightly as the country prepares for the major election in December.

Ms Alice Ndego, the Bongo District Director of the Commission, reiterated a need to safeguard the peace and security currently being enjoyed in the country to prevent any infiltration of activities of violent extremists.

‘There have been several attacks in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali by extremist groups, even though Ghana has not experienced any extremist attacks yet, the government is fighting hard to prevent such invasion.

‘Terrorism and other forms of violence including violent extremism have the potential to derail the democratic gains Ghana has made as a country and so we should not loose guard and allow misinformation, disinformation, hate speech, provocative utterance, fake news, intemperate language etc. to mislead us to cause tensions to destabilize the peace of the country’ she said.

Ms Ndeg
o made the call during an Inter-Party Dialogue Committee (IPDC) meeting held at Bongo in the Upper East Region to take inputs of stakeholders to prepare for the December 7, 2024, elections.

The meeting, organised by the NCCE was part of the European Union sponsored project dubbed ‘preventing and containing violent extremism’ and was held on the theme ‘Together we can build Ghana, so get involved’.

As a commission, Ms Ndego noted, it would continue to work to influence the conscience of the citizenry aimed at reducing voter apathy, increase citizens participation and rally citizens to make informed choices that will work for collective interest.

‘To sustain peace, promote national cohesion, Ghanaians must unite to consolidate our gains towards progressively implementing the principles and laws enshrined in the Constitution.

‘We are one people, one nation with a common destiny. Our role as citizens of Ghana is to live by the principles and dictates of the 1992 Constitution and contribute meaningfully to the
democratic development of our dear country, Ghana,’ she added.

Dr Imurana Mohammed, NCCE National Director for Programmes, said the youth who formed majority of the country’s population were usually targeted to cause trouble and urged the youth to desist from being recruited to destabilise the country.

He urged political parties to employ a dialogue as a good mechanism to resolving their differences to prevent such issues from escalating to violence to sustain the peace and stability.

Assistant Superintendent Adinkrah Kofi, an Immigration Officer with the Ghana Immigration Service, who took the participants through violent extremism conflicts and ways of resolving them, urged the political parties to train their supporters to tolerate divergent views.

He said respect for one another was a major tool to ensuring peace and as the country geared towards the general elections in December, the country needed to unite and deepen the existing democratic gains.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Rotary Club of Accra-Dzorwulu has presented 206 life jackets to over 1000 students in the Ada East district in the Greater Accra Region.

The beneficiary students were from five island community schools in the district.

The beneficiary schools include Pediatorkope Primary and Junior High School (JHS), Tuaniakope Primary and JHS, Alokpem Primary and JHS, Aflivi Primary School and Azizankpe Primary School.

The gesture is intended to prevent and minimize incidences of river drowning as students commute to school across the lake daily.

It also forms part of activities marking the Club’s 10th anniversary celebration.

Ms. Beatrice Baiden, President of the Rotary Club of Accra-Dzorwulu, who presented the life jackets to the Ada East District Education Service at Pediatorkope D/A Primary School, said the Club was aware of the fear and anxiety that students face every day when they must cross the river to learn without life jackets.

She said that the lack of life jackets has led to the deaths of thousands of
people around the world, including in Ghana.

Ms Baiden said that the club would not sit idly by and wait for such tragedy to befall students in Ada before taking action, which was why the life jackets were donated.

‘We do understand the daunting task you face each day to cross the lake to school and back without the much-needed safety vests. Indeed, the fear, anxiety, and desperation which you young learners endure each day amazes me.

‘There is no need to wait until a life was lost before people intervened or acted to help the students.

‘As Rotarians with our partner sponsors, Escort Security and Klos and Hauls Limited, we believe that these life jackets will go a long way to bring relief and peace of mind to these children, as they focus on their studies,’ she said.

Madam Faustina Blewusi, District Director of the National Commission on Civic Education in Ada East, thanked the Club for the gesture and asked parents to teach their children the importance of wearing the jackets correctly and consistentl
y.

‘Impress upon them the value of safety and the significance of taking care of these life-saving devices. Your guidance at home will reinforce the messages they receive at school, and ensure that safety becomes a habit,’ she said.

Mr. Ferguson Akey, Director of Education, Ghana Education Service, Ada East, expressed appreciation for the gesture.

He noted that the provision of the life jackets was a significant step towards ensuring the safety of the students.

Mr Ebenezer Teye Nartey, Director, National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Ada East, said the issue of life jackets is critical in Ada and its environs.

He therefore pledged that NADMO will help management of the beneficiary schools to ensure that the life jackets are put to proper use.

Source: Ghana News Agency