Day: June 4, 2024

The implementation of the Landscapes and Environmental Agility across the Nation (LEAN) project is contributing to conserving biodiversity and improving livelihoods of some local communities in the Savannah, Transition and Forest belts.

The European Union (EU) sponsored project is helping smallholder farmers and communities to restore vegetative cover, forest reserves and degraded landscapes while offering alternatives livelihoods to residents.

This came to light when the implementing partners namely the Rainforest Alliance, World Vision Ghana, Tropenbos Ghana and EcoCare Ghana and other stakeholders paid a verification visit to the project communities in the Kassena-Nankana West of the Upper East Region.

The visit was part of efforts to allow the stakeholders have first-hand information about the impact of the project on the beneficiaries, confirm or otherwise report on the project, learn successes and the challenges to inform future planning and implementation.

The EU LEAN project is a four-year initiat
ive aimed at supporting national and local efforts to conserve biodiversity, improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, building climate resilience, and reducing emissions from land-use changes across Ghana’s high forest, savannah, and transition zones.

The beneficiaries explained that the project was restoring their degraded lands, increasing food production, and impacting their lives positively.

Mr Frederick Wugaa Awovire, a beneficiary from the Navio community said apart from the project helping them to restore degraded landscapes through the Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) and adopt sustainable agriculture practices through organic farming, it had also provided them with economic independence through the introduction of the alternative livelihood’s interventions.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the visit, Madam Abena Dufie Woode, the Consortium Lead and Senior Project Manager for the EU LEAN project, Rainforest Alliance, expressed satisfaction that the project which was expe
cted to end by the end of 2024, was contributing to environmental and natural resources management and building rural communities’ resilience against climate change.

She said through the project, two landscape management boards had been established in the Savannah landscape alone and their capacity built to ensure that they led landscape restoration and natural resources management and protection.

‘We have been able to set up eight nurseries that have minimum capacity of about 10,000 seedlings and together on the project we have raised and distributed over 700,000 of seedlings of both native and exotic species some of which have been shared for restoration purposes,’ she added.

Apart from the restoration component, she said the project had diversified and provided economic empowerment to smallholder farmers through alternative livelihoods initiatives and over 500 rural farmers have been trained and majority established in beekeeping, aquaculture, vegetables, and small ruminant farming.

Through World Visio
n Ghana, the project has also introduced smallholder farmers to the Village Savings and Loans Scheme, which was encouraging savings culture among the rural folks and providing them with financial assistance.

Mr Joseph Edwin Yelkabong, the EU LEAN Project Officer, World Vision Ghana, said apart from the fact that the project had helped to establish governance structures which were helping to protect the environment, it had contributed to restore several hectares of land through the FMNR concept.

‘At World Vision, we seek to ensure that children experience life to its fullest and so the different project areas and the interventions including the livelihoods ones are supporting vulnerable families, and that will transcend to supporting the children in the families,’ he added.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Tamale Archdiocesan Development Organisation (TADO) has held a workshop for stakeholders of the archdiocese to review the organisation’s five-year strategic plan and solicit participants’ perspectives to aid in its re-strategising.

The two-day meeting in Tamale brought together stakeholders from the various districts of the archdiocese to deliberate on thematic areas of the plan.

Activities pertaining to the strategic planning were funded by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Misereor, a Catholic funding agency based in Germany.

The current interventions of TADO covered seven districts in the Northern and Savanna regions, with interventions including governance, justice and peace, education, health and livelihoods.

The Very Reverend Hilary Pogbeyir, the Vicar General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Tamale, speaking during the workshop, said the strategic planning workshop, which was held by TADO as the development wing of the archdiocese, was an essential step in ensuring that the archdiocese was w
ell-prepared to meet challenges and seize available opportunities for growth.

‘Our agenda for this strategic plan workshop is ambitious, reflecting the urgency and importance of our mission, expressing the hope that the developed strategies will sustain the church,’ he said.

The Rev. Father Sebastian Zaato, Coordinator for TADO, said the strategic plan was to recommit to the Church’s God-given mission to assess the progress towards creating sustainable structures to shape and support the mission.

TADO, he said, would build on the assessment to ensure that subsequent implementation under the plan would identify strategies that were sustainable, innovative and accessible.

‘We will distinguish between those constituents that need short-term assistance to come through a troubled time from those where intractable poverty demands a permanent commitment from the Archdiocese through TADO, and we will create and shape new structures for support for the poor and vulnerable,’ he said.

Mr Chals Wontewe, a Developmen
t Practitioner, consulting for TADO, urged funding agencies to invest in the organisation to enable it to contribute more to development.

He called on well-resourced agencies to consider investing in the organisation as it was capable of delivering outstanding results in diverse areas of development.

Mr Wontewe said: ‘One of the key successes of TADO is that the results of Catholic schools are quite impressive although the Northern Region has constantly been at the bottom.’

Mr Timothy Akanpabadai, Head of Office, CRS, Tamale Sub-office, said the Service could not relent in providing support for institutions of the Catholic Church, which would better position them in their functions to serve the people.

He urged development institutions of the Church to commit to their mandate to receive adequate benefits from local capacity initiatives of the CRS as it was poised to provide the necessary assistance to all dioceses.

Source: Ghana News Agency

CAB International, (CABI), a centre for agriculture and biosciences, with funding from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) held a five-day training workshop for officers from National Plant Protection Organisations in West and Central Africa.

They were taken through a Horizon Scanning process and exposed to a decision-support tool that helped them to identify and prioritise potential pests that can threaten the two sub-regions through agricultural commodity trade and cross-border movement of planting materials.

Dr Koku Agboyi, a Senior Scientist in Invasive Species Management at CABI, said the workshop was to help strengthen the capacity of officers from West and Central Africa in early warning and response systems for invasive species that threaten agriculture.

The participants were from the National Plant Protection Organization from 21 different countries within the West and Central Africa sub-regions.

All 15 countries of West Africa sent representatives to the training. For Central Africa, par
ticipants were from Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Dr Agboyi said the key objective of the workshop was to develop a priority invasive pest list for the two sub-regions.

‘Invasive species are causing so many problems, economic and social, to the two sub-regions. They are affecting trade and even crop yields. And now, instead of always managing invasive species, it’s good to prevent new ones from entering the sub-regions.

‘Most of the time, the countries’ response systems are weak. And we want to help them to develop a priority invasive pest list so that they can conduct different activities or actions like surveillance to detect pests entering the country,’ Dr Agboyi added.

‘Once they have their priority pest list, they can develop a contingency plan and thus, will be prepared before new invasive species come in.’

He said the training conducted together with his colleagues, Dr Joseph Mulema, Patrick Beseh and Dr Hettie Boafo, would al
so allow the countries to beef up inspections at entry points to prevent the pest from entering the sub-regions.

He also noted that the impact of early detection of pests on food security is great as it would help the countries to avoid spending huge sums of money to buy products that are distributed to farmers to control the pests.

‘This way, the millions of dollars that would have been spent on pest management could be invested in other national priorities like roads, schools, other development projects,’ he said.

‘The Invasive species problem also comes with trade concerns. Once you have the pest in your country, you cannot sell or trade with some countries because of the fear of introducing that invasive pest to their country through the traded produce .’

The identification of pest threats and application of appropriate measures to prevent the introduction of invasive species to West and Central Africa and other sub-regions is critical for protecting domestic crop production.

It also facilitates the
safe import of plant commodities into the sub-regions and trade between the member states.

Dr. Kazeem Adewale, a participant from Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service, said the training was very important in the face of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, which is seeking to boost trade among countries on the continent.

‘This training is relevant for us because at the moment, you know, plant materials have been traded across the regions and with the coming in force of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, sooner or later these materials will move without much restriction,’ he said.

He said there was the need to harmonize regulations and identify particularly invasive species that may cause problems for all of us in the West and Central Africa regions.

‘So, this particular training is very important that once we identify these invasive species that are not present in the region, we can come in to bring in properly harmonised regulation to assist us in ensuring that this particular
pest, invasive species do not come into our region and then affect our people,’ he said.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Emerita Professor Elizabeth Schandorf, the Chairperson of Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has indicated that their findings in the 2023 annual report on the management and use of Petroleum Revenue reported a decline for the fourth consecutive year.

She said production of the commodity dropped from 71.44 million barrels in 2019 to 48.25 million barrels in 2023 representing an annual average decline of 9.2 percent.

The total proceeds from the JOHL lifting received in 2023 amounting to 70, 456.93 dollars were not paid into the Heritage Fund for the second consecutive year while, Surface Rentals owed by International Oil Companies remained high at 2,738,365.29 at the end of 2023.

Emerita Professor Schandorf made this known at a media engagement for journalists drawn from the Western and Central regions in Takoradi.

On allocations and utilisation of Petroleum Revenues, PIAC observed that since 2011, the annual budget funding had been guided by a medium-term plan as against a long-term natio
nal development plan.

The 2023 report said, the retention of the current cap of 100 dollars on the Ghana Stabilisation Fund for the year 2023 did not follow the stipulated formula in the Legislative Instrument 2381 since a proper application should have returned a cap of 581.05 dollars instead.

The PIAC report, indicated the need for the Ghana Revenue Authority and the Petroleum Commission to intensify audit of development and production costs in the TEN and other producing fields.

Meanwhile, Media practitioners from the Western and Central Regions queried PIAC on the implementation status of recommendations made since its inception.

The journalists also wondered how the Committee still lacked the power to bite ‘offending’ entities, individuals, and Assemblies in the management of allotted Petroleum revenues for projects.

Mrs Mildred Siabi-Mensah, a journalist with Ghana News Agency called for stronger alliance between PIAC and the state investigative bodies like Office of the Special Prosecutor, CHRAJ a
nd Economic and Organised Crime Office to have PIAC’s recommendations duly investigated, and actions taken.

According to her, though 62 recommendations had been projected since PIAC’s inception, only 37 had been implemented by relevant agencies.

Other journalists expressed concern about how the Committee’s mandate could be reviewed to make them more biting, the factors militating against the smooth decommissioning of the Saltpond oil fields and how the Ministry of Finance seemed to be a problem child of the state as most of the recommendations captured one infraction or another against it.

The PIAC entreated the media, which is part of the committee to ensure exert its role to ensure that duty bearers were accountable to the people Ghana.

Source: Ghana News Agency

A total of 60 youth in the northern part of the country have undergone training in plumbing works, and organic vegetable production to equip and empower them with self-employable skills to improve their livelihoods.

The six month-long training involved six weeks of intensive training, four weeks of apprenticeship where the trainees were attached to master craftsmen, one week of entrepreneurship training and a period of other support training packages.

It formed part of the Project to strengthen social cohesion in strategic cross-border areas (PARCS), which was funded by the French Development Agency, and implemented by Acting for Life, a French organisation, and its partners in Ghana, Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA), and Changing Lives in Innovative Partnerships.

PARCS is a three-year project, which began in December 2022, with the objective to strengthen social cohesion in strategic cross-border territories and to support an inclusive socio-economic development of the territories.

Dr Osma
n Al-Hassan, Board Chairman of GDCA, speaking during the graduation of the trainees at Dalun in the Kumbungu District of the Northern Region, underscored the importance of technical and vocational education, saying it promoted industrialisation and development of countries.

The trainees, who constituted the second cohort of the beneficiaries under the project, received certificates of completion from Ghana TVET Service as well as starter kits to help them in their work.

The first cohort of 60 beneficiaries underwent training in domestic electrical installation, and beekeeping, and graduated in November, last year.

A total of 240 youth would be trained in organic poultry production, agro-processing, organic vegetable production, tiling, plaster paneling, and plumbing as part of the project.

Dr Al-Hassan said acquiring technical and vocational skills would empower young people to become relevant to industry as well as create their own jobs, which was important in promoting social cohesion in the strategic c
ross-border areas of northern Ghana.

He said, ‘We are optimistic that the skills acquired will help safeguard the youth from being influenced by various terrorists’ groups or to risk their lives in making dangerous trips to reach Europe.’

‘In our efforts to reach more young people, especially at Dalun and its surrounding communities, we have modeled some interventions such as fish farming under the European Union Volunteer Programme, where the youth will be trained in the coming months,’ he announced

Mr Issah Musah, Northern Regional Director, Ghana TVET Service, lauded the project and said it was important in addressing youth unemployment in the country.

Mr Robert Yaja Dawuni, Gushegu Municipal Chief Executive, commended GDCA and partners for complementing government’s efforts at reducing unemployment as well as efforts to prevent violent extremists’ activities in the country.

He promised to support the beneficiaries of the project, who were from the Gushegu Municipality, to scale up their enterprises.

D
alun-Lana Tapha Mahamadu (II), Chief of Dalun, advised the beneficiaries to put the skills they acquired to work, and also work progressively to improve their livelihoods.

Miss Charity Nyaaba, a beneficiary, who received training under the organic vegetables production, expressed gratitude to GDCA and partners for the support and gave assurance that she would put the newly acquired skills to work and train other young people in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region, where she resides.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Government has been tasked to expedite the formulation of a coastal management policy to guide the implementation of activities along Ghana’s coastlines in the face of climate change and natural disasters.

Mr Jonathan Gokah, the Coordinator, Kasa Initiative Ghana, noted that the absence of a coastal management policy in the country was hindering efforts towards mitigating climate change and natural disasters.

Mr Gokah was speaking at the Mangrove Project Closure Workshop held by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Accra.

IUCN has been implementing a project dubbed: ‘Management of Mangroves Forest from Senegal’ spanning 2019 to 2024, which sought to achieve integrated protection of the diverse and fragile mangrove ecosystems in West Africa.

IUCN carried out activities in the Mono-Volta landscape including the Keta Lagoon in Ghana, Roy Mouth in Benin, and Mono Delta Biosphere Reserve in Benin and Togo.

The project has achieved a lot of successes, including restoration of degraded m
angrove sites, developing capacities of communities to enhance livelihoods of six communities in the Keta Lagoon Complex Ramsar Site Management.

The project closure workshop was to share lessons, challenges, experiences for upscaling and policy integration.

Mangroves are vital ecosystems, which provide numerous benefits including costal protection, nurseries for marine life and carbon sequestration.

Mr Gokah said: ‘We are supposed to build resilience on our coastlines in order to ensure community resilience and sustainability.’

‘We are dragging our feet because of resources issues. The Ministry needs some level of resources to engage stakeholders to pick information that would go into this document.’

‘Currently there is a lot of collaboration that ought to be done between MESTI and other ministries who have activities across the coastline of Ghana to achieve this. Resources are not available immediately.’

Mr Gokah noted that building of sea defence for example along the coast had mitigated challenges of
Ghana’s Coastlines, adding that it was important that more nature-based approaches such as planting of more trees along coastlines were done.

Ms Dorcas Owusuaa Agyei, the National Coordinator, IUCN- Ghana Project Office, said the project aimed at achieving an integrated protection of diversity and fragile ecosystems of mangrove in West Africa to enhance resilience in the face of climate change.

Despite the enormous benefits of mangroves, they constantly faced alarming degradation globally, with devastating impacts on biodiversity, livelihood and climate change.

Annually, there was one to two per cent loss of Mangrove Forest globally, with an estimated 30 to 50 per cent decline in cover over the past 50 years.

Ms Agyei said in Ghana, there had been a 1.4 per cent loss of Mangrove Forest annually from 2010 to 2020, with an estimated 25 per cent loss of cover over the past 20 years.

She was elated that the Mangrove project, which was implemented in nine West African countries, including Senegal Ghana, Guine
a Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Benin had made some significant strides.

She said in Ghana, the project had led to the restoration of 55.5 hectares of degraded mangrove areas in six communities.

Additionally, over 300 households have benefitted from diverse livelihood opportunities and a review of management plan of the Keta Lagoon Complex Ramsar Site.

She said about 75 community fire volunteers were equipped with tools in the event of a fire outbreak to fight it.

Mr Anthony Mba, the Project Officer, IUCN Ghana Project Office, said under the project, the capacity of 300 children have been built on mangroves, adding: ‘This is to boost their interest in mangroves in the area of research and its sustainability.’

He cited the outbreak and management of community expectations as some of the challenges the project faced.

However, he said, IUCN would continue to champion the development policy briefs on the promotion of nature-based approaches in coastal activities.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Ghana Police Service has arrested one Imarana Abdulai Gomda, a suspect at Tamale in the Northern Region, over alleged possession of firearms and ammunition without lawful authority.

The suspect was arrested at Datoyili barrier in Tamale on Wednesday May 29, 2024.

Anews brief from the Police said two SMG rifles with six (6) rounds of 9MM ammunition and two empty magazines were retrieved from him.

The suspect is currently in custody assisting the Police with investigations, the brief added.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Anthony Kwaku Boahen, a former Deputy Director of Communications, National Democratic Congress (NDC), has dared the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to counter the NDC’s audio evidence on the Ato Forson trial with theirs.

He said the NPP should back their claims that the NDC’s audio was doctored by making their own audio evidence available to prove to Ghanaians that indeed the NDC was telling lies.

‘If you think our audio is doctored, the right thing to do is to bring your audio so that all Ghanaians will know that we the NDC are lying, but even though you are disputing our audio, you have failed to counter it,’ he said.

Mr Boahen threw the challenge during a discussion on an Accra-based television programme.

Dr Casiel Ato Forson, a Former Deputy Minister of Finance and Mr Richard Jakpa, a businessman, have been accused of causing financial loss of pound 2.37 million to the State in a deal to purchase 200 ambulances for the country between 2014 and 2016.

They have pleaded not guilty.

Mr Jakpa, on Thursday,
May 23, 2024, alleged that Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, had approached him at odd hours to ‘implicate’ the former

Deputy Finance Minister, a claim the A-G subsequently denied.

The NDC, during a press conference, claimed that evidence available to them – both in audio and WhatsApp messages – showed that the A-G had engaged in ‘professional misconduct’ and demanded his immediate dismissal.

However, the A-G in a media statement rejected the claims and denied the allegations and insinuations of the NDC.

Addressing a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, Mr Frank Davies, Chairman, Legal and Constitutional Committee, NPP, described the said audio evidence published by the NDC as doctored and urged the public to disregard the content.

Mr Boahen questioned why the A-G did not raise objections when Mr Jakpa accused him in Court but rather issued a statement later.

‘It is surprising that the A-G raised an objection that Mr Jakpa’s statements in court were favouring Dr For
son but was not able to raise an objection when Mr Jakpa leveled accusations against him,’ he said.

He described the trial as a witch-hunt of Dr Forson.

However, Mr Manasseh Atta Boahene, Government spokesperson on the economy, debunked the allegation that Government was witch-hunting Dr Forson.

‘It is not in the interest of Government to witch-hunt anyone. If there were no illegalities involved, we wouldn’t have taken it to court. The mere fact that there have been requests for a plea bargain shows that something untoward happened,’ he said.

He said the Court should be allowed to carry out its investigations to establish the truth of the matter.

Mr Boahene said the A-G did nothing wrong by issuing a statement on Mr Jakpa’s allegations and not reacting in court because the A-G would also get his opportunity for a cross examination.

Source: Ghana News Agency

General Sergeant Bismark Frempah, 38, an outrider attached to former President John Agyekum Kuffour, has died in a fatal accident on the Bolgatanga-Tamale Road.

The deceased, who was in charge of Police Service Motorbike with the registration number AS 8297 22, was riding on that stretch of road and on reaching the outskirts of Gbimsi Village near Savelugu, he crashed into a Toyota Sienta vehicle with the registration number AS 5979 21.

Police brief said Francis Baba, 34, the suspect, was the driver in charge with five passengers on board.

‘On 30 May 2024 at about 1645 hours, No 46007 G/Sgt. Frempah Bismark aged, 38, an outrider attached to former president JA Kufour, was on charge of S/M No AS-8297-22 riding from Bolgatanga towards Tamale direction . That on reaching a section of the road at the outskirts of Gbimsi village near Savelugu, he crashed with Toyota Sienta vehicle No. AS 5979-21, then being driven by suspect driver Baba Francis aged 34 loaded with five passengers from Tamale towards Bolgatanga
direction.’

It said the outrider died instantly while the suspect driver and the occupants escaped unhurt.

The brief said ‘a team of police led by ASP/Mr. W Fuseini proceeded to the scene and conveyed the body of the deceased outrider to the Tamale Teaching Hospital, where he was confirmed dead by Dr. Mohammed Wumpini, the medical doctor on duty.’

It said the body was subsequently deposited at the same hospital’s morgue for preservation and autopsy.

The suspect driver is detained to assist with investigations whereas the accident vehicles have been impounded for investigation.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Reproductive Health Experts and gynaecologists have urged couples and individuals on the journey of childbirth to exercise patience.

This is because conceiving babies is a process that varies depending on the couples.

They said though infertility affected millions of people and both male and female could have infertility issues, some couples did not just pay attention to their ovulation period and were unaware of their fertility window.

Speaking at the Fertility Conference 2024 organised by Xoese Initiative, Dr Samuel Gyesu Owusu, Medical Officer, St Anthony Catholic Hospital, said knowing when a wife ovulates could help plan for sex at the right time and improve chance of getting pregnant.

He said during the average woman’s menstrual cycle, there were six days when intercourse could result in pregnancy and that ‘fertility window’ comprised the five days before ovulation and the day of ovulation itself.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that approximately one in every six people of reproducti
ve age worldwide experience infertility in their lifetime.

Dr Gyesu Owusu said infertility was not associated with only women and that more males experienced infertility, with about 45 per cent chances of becoming infertile.

He said there were primary and secondary infertility.

With primary infertility, a couple had no medical issues and had continuous unprotected sex for 12 months without getting pregnant.

Secondary infertility comes when a couple has medical challenges with their reproductive system and needs medical intervention.

‘The cause can be broad, it can be a problem with the uterus, ovaries and the tubes. It can be hormonal problems, it can be ejaculation disorders, alcohol and sexually transmitted infection (STI) among others,’ Dr Gyesu Owusu said.

He said managing infertility had been overly broad especially with females due to many causes, adding that any couple below 35 years, who had engaged in unprotected sex for 12 months without getting pregnant must visit the hospital for evaluation.

‘The message is that the fertility journey takes patience and perseverance, everyone will get what he or she deserves. After 12 months of no pregnancy and you are below 35 years you have to go for evaluation. If you are above 35 years, visit the hospital after 6 months of unprotected sex,’ he said.

Dr Joseph Homiah, Fertility Specialist, said suggestions that In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) babies were abnormal, IVF was the last resort, IVF was only for women and IVF could be done at any age were myths.

Miss Emelia Naa Ayeley Aryee, Director Xoese Ghana, told the Ghana News Agency that the Conference was geared towards ending infertility stigma by helping to liberate women from societal and psychological trauma.

‘With the help of our partners and with this arrangement, over 47 women reached out to us and 20 have been treated. I urge all women to seek medical care for any slightest abdominal pain,’ she said.

Source: Ghana News Agency