Month: May 2023

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Hit two million tourism arrivals by 2025- President tasks Ministry

Peduase, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has tasked the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture to ramp up promotional activities to achieve the target of two million international arrivals by 2025.

That, he noted, would result in corresponding earnings of some $4 billion to the national economy, in addition to the hundreds of thousands of jobs that would be created in the tourism value chain.

Speaking at the opening of the Presidential Summit on Tourism at the Peduase Lodge in the Eastern Region on Tuesday, President Akufo-Addo said that the government had placed tourism at the forefront of national development.

He said the tourism sector is a major driver of economic growth, enterprise development and job creation, thus players must pull efforts and resources to develop ‘sustainable tourism to ensure that benefits reach every corner of the country.’

The two-day summit is on the theme, ‘Rethinking Tourism for Economic Growth and Job Creation.’ It is being organised by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and the Ghana Tourism Authority.

Some 400 participants are taking part in the event. The summit aims to encourage critical thinking about tourism’s future and its impact on national development.

The gathering also seeks to create a platform to explore novel approaches to tourism and prioritise sustainability, and community involvement, and facilitate dialogue and collaboration among stakeholders in the industry.

With the tourism sector demanding partnerships in all approaches, the President called on all stakeholders to unite efforts, share knowledge and pull resources to create a comprehensive framework that facilitates dialogue.

He suggested that players in the industry must adopt a four-fold approach- Preservation, Promotion, Policy Leadership and Partnership- to make the tourism sector a driving force for national development.

President Akufo-Addo indicated that the government and all stakeholders in the tourism sector ‘must preserve what we have as a country…We are the guardians of Ghana’s natural wonders, and it is our responsibility to safeguard them for future generations.’

‘We must amplify Ghana’s unique tourism appeal on the global stage through strategic marketing campaigns, enhanced digital presence, and targeted investments in infrastructure,’ he said, adding, ‘Through this effort, we can showcase the diverse attractions the nation has to offer.’

The President urged the private sector to show policy leadership in creating the right climate and platform for investments to grow in the tourism sector.

He stressed the need for a collaborative approach involving all stakeholders to unlock the economic potential of the tourism industry.

‘Let us unite our efforts, share knowledge, and pull resources. Let us create a comprehensive framework that facilitates dialogue, cooperation, and innovation.

‘Together, we can develop sustainable tourism models, empower domestic entrepreneurs, and ensure that the benefits of tourism reach every corner of our beloved country.

‘We are building a thriving tourism economy with many tourism sites currently undergoing improvements. We are determined to build a tourism economy where hospitality, arts and culture are used as tools to spur economic development,’ President Akufo-Addo said.

Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, the Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture noted that the tourism industry has started showing signs of recovery and growth after the devastating impact the COVID-19 pandemic exacted on the sector.

He called on sector players to support the efforts the government was making to position Ghana as the tourism destination on the African continent.

‘The first quarter of this year (2023) tourism numbers grew 47 per cent from 170,000 last year at this time to 247,000 arrivals. If each tourist spends $3,000.00 dollars, you can imagine how much that is.

‘Our destination Ghana project is on course, and I want to assure all stakeholders that we are not resting. We want you to give us your support, partner us and we will make Ghana the choice for tourists,’ he said.

Dr Awal disclosed that Ghana had overtaken the Gambia and Senegal as the most desired tourism destination in West Africa.

‘Ghana is now the most attractive tourism destination in West Africa. Just two years ago, it was Gambia and Senegal, today we are number one. It was projected that this achievement will be done in 2026, however, under President Akufo-Addo’s leadership, today, Ghana is the most sought-after place for tourists. We will continue to do our best,’ he said.

Data shows that tourism is gaining ground again following the lull caused by COVID-19.

International arrivals saw an 81 per cent growth in 2022, whilst domestic tourism also grew from 600,000 in 2021 to almost a million in 2022.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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CHRAJ holds stakeholder institutions consultation workshop on NAP for BHRs

Sunyani, The Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has held a day’s stakeholder institutions consultation workshop for inputs into the Commission’s National Action Plan (NAP) on Business and Human Rights (BHRs) in Sunyani.

The participants were drawn from the public sector in the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regions.

Organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General, the essence was to deliberate and collect inputs to shape the NAP to allow for the implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles (UNGPs) on BHRs in Ghana.

Consequently, the NAP would provide a blueprint and guidance to state actors (public sector) to work within the confines of the laws that established them to ensure accountability to the people to protect their human rights.

Against this background, the Commission with support from Oxfam and Frederick Ebert Stiftung, Ghana earlier in July 2020 launched the National Baseline Assessment (NBA) and an 18-Member Steering Committee was therefore inaugurated to draft the NAP on BHRs.

Addressing the participants, Mrs Mary Adjeley Nartey, the Co-Chair of the NAP Committee and Director (human rights), CHRAJ said Ghana had ratified most of the United Nations human rights instruments or treaties and was primarily under obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the fundamental human rights and freedoms of all persons living in Ghana.

She said to ensure compliance with those international human rights standards and principles, the United Nations Human Rights Council therefore adopted the UNGPs on BHRs in June 2011 because the realisation of human rights required a complementary approach.

Mrs Nartey explained the UNGP was a global framework to ensure states performed their obligations to protect the fundamental human rights of all persons and ensure businesses complied with all existing human rights laws or regimes both internationally and nationally.

The UNGPs, she said would thus address human rights abuses arising out of the negative impacts of their business operations such as air pollution, oil spillages, pollution of water bodies, environmental degradation, destruction of farmlands affecting livelihoods, child labour, gender discrimination and inequalities.

It would also provide remedies to any person within their value chain like employees, indigenes, service providers, children, women, persons with disabilities (PWDs) who might suffer human rights abuses, Mrs. Nartey added.

She said the UNGPs entreated businesses to conduct human rights’ due diligence and develop human rights policies among others aimed at addressing the negative impacts of their operations

Alhaji Gawusu Abdul-Wadood, the acting Bono Regional Director of CHRAJ in a welcoming address said Ghana had a lot of coup d’états before the fourth Republic, saying the underlying reasons were corruption and the violation of human rights.

He noted there was still that perception and widespread corruption, yet the country in the past three decades had operated uninterrupted constitutional democracy.

‘A nation that has so much respect for human rights, or reciprocal respect for each other’s rights is less prone to conflict, the more human rights the fewer conflicts, the less human rights the more conflicts’, Alhaji Abdul-Wadood stated.

He stressed the need for citizens to appreciate human rights and entrench a culture of respect for human rights in the system, by respecting human rights and observing human rights values and norms.

Alhaji Abdul-Wadood hoped in that regard ‘we would be able to reduce corruption to the barest minimum in the country.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

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Minerals Commission engages Eastern Region communities on mineral right obligations

Bueryonye (E/R) The Inspectorate Division of the Minerals Commission in the Eastern Region has organised a workshop to educate communities in quarry mining enclaves of their responsibilities regarding land ownership and environmental impact mitigation.

The workshop was themed, ‘Obligation of Mineral Right Holder on Land Ownership and Environmental Impact Mitigation: What Landowners and Lawful Occupiers Need to Know.’

During the event, several community members voiced their displeasure over mining companies that shirk their corporate social responsibilities as well as unannounced blasting by some companies in violation of environmental regulations.

It was held at Bueryonye in the Yilo Krobo Municipality, and it brought together several community members from both Yilo and Lower Manya Krobo municipalities where quarry mining takes place.

Participants were taken through many topics that included conflict resolution approach; the rights of the mineral right holder; procedures for acquiring mineral right; and landowners of host communities knowing their rights.

Mr Desmond Boahen, Eastern Regional Head of the Minerals Commission, explained that minerals were substances in solid or liquid form occurring naturally in or on the earth, or in or beneath the seabed, formed by or subject to geological processes, including industrial minerals, but excluding petroleum.

He said mineral rights and surface rights were governed by separate legal regimes, and when they are held by different parties, the owner of mineral rights must negotiate access to the property with the holder of surface rights.

He indicated that the surface rights holder was entitled to compensation for any disturbance or damage to the land’s surface, while the holder of mineral rights is required to restore the land after mineral extraction activities were concluded.

He further explained that the laws and regulations governing mineral rights were intended to ensure that mineral resources in Ghana are exploited in a responsible, sustainable, and transparent manner, while providing benefits to the Ghanaian people and fostering local development.

Dademantse Abraham Narh of the Okper/Oduglase community expressed concern regarding the reluctance of quarry companies to provide development initiatives as part of their social corporate responsibility.

He stated that quarry companies were expected to provide safe drinking water, rehabilitate poor roads in mining operational communities, and renovate homes damaged by quarry blasts, but that such responsibilities had been neglected over the years.

The Mineral Commission assured the communities actions would be taken on their concerns in their next meeting with the quarry companies.

Mr Isaac Asirifi Arago, Eastern Regional Programmes Officer for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), urged miners to engage in responsible extraction of minerals to protect public health and safety, as well as for future generations.

The EPA ordered quarry companies in the Yilo and Lower Manya Krobo municipalities to provide it with quarterly and annual environmental reports.

These reports should cover updates on the quality of air, water, and noise in their operational areas.

Mr Arago explained that to maintain the quality of noise, air, and water, all quarry activities should take place during the day, untarred roads should be watered regularly, and machines and equipment should be serviced frequently to prevent the emission of exhaust gas.

Again, quarry companies should also keep a minimum distance of 100 metres from any nearby water body to prevent contamination. They should also construct toilet facilities on the site to ensure good sanitation.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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Genome editing technology to protect crops from dry spells

Accra, A Scientist is recommending the utilisation of the potentials of Genome Editing (GEd), a scientific technology, to develop drought tolerance seed varieties to protect crops from dry spells.

With the observed widespread dry spell of 50 days likely to occur after the starts of the rains in middle belt and northern regions, GEd, technology could be used to alter for example rice seed variety to withstand the dry spell.

GEd could be described as a technology similar to conventional breeding and usually conducted by agriculturists to take out an undesired trait in a crop and replace it with a desired one from the same crop family.

Dr Francis Djankpa, Molecular and Cellular Biologist, and Department Head of Physiology School of Medical Sciences, University of Cape Coast, who made the recommendation in an interview with the Ghana News Agency said climate change had contributed greatly to the increased dry spell period.

‘In both natural ecosystems and agricultural settings, plants and animals are being forced to contend with novel conditions that change more quickly than their pace of adaptation,’ he said studies had shown.

‘Rising temperatures and shifting precipitation regimes are drastically altering the biological landscape, resulting in species migration, invasion, and extinction.’

Dr Djankpa said GEd could aid in the adaptation of organisms to climate change or help mitigate the effects of climate change on agriculture.

Dr Charles Nyaaba, Head of Programmes and Advocacy of Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana told GNA that preseason assessments pointed to a decrease in production because of a number of issues especially dry spells.

He said, ‘Farmers lost nearly half of the cereals they cultivated.’ Statistics from the Food and Agriculture Ministry show that Ghana’s maize and soybean productivity for the 2020, 2021 and 2022 cropping season dipped from the 2019 farming season due to prolonged-dry spell.

Mr Kwamena Quaison, the Director of Science and Technology at the Ministry of Environment Science, Technology and Innovation said the country’s science policy’s aim is to ensure that science drives all sectors of the economy.

‘The positive role of Science Technology and Innovations (STI) like GEd technology is better felt in the Agricultural Sector. For this reason, STI will ever remain a critical enabler of agricultural transformation and sustainable development.’

He said STI would continue to play a critical role towards improving agricultural production and productivity, fostering resilience in agricultural food systems, and improving farmers’ health and wealth.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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Government approves self-construction project

Angolan government approved Tuesday the construction-oriented project during the 4th Ordinary Session of the Economic Commission of the Cabinet Council chaired by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço.

In its press note, released at the end of the Session, the Commission states that this is a five-year project – 2023-2027 – designed for the national citizens.

The documents adds that the project represents a mechanism for the execution of public policies in the field of land management and housing construction, aimed to ensure people’s decent living standards.

The Executive intends to promote the distribution of four (4) million of plot of lands by 2050, with the view to reducing the housing deficit.

The measure will help create conditions for construction of a housing model of a social nature, with easy, quick and low-cost implementation and application.

The intention is also to appeal to commercial banks to consider the use of legal land tenure titles to obtain financing and stop the proliferation of informal settlements.

The 4th Session also approved the Employment Fund of Angola (FUNEA), aimed to guarantee the financial resources necessary for the promotion of public and private initiatives that will allow the insertion of newly trained and

unemployed people into the labour market.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)

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Defence minister highlights political, social stability

Angolan minister of National Defence, Former Combatants and Homeland Veterans João Ernesto dos Santos said Tuesday in Luanda that Angola enjoys an effective and irreversible peace, having as challenges the deepening of democracy and the economic and social development of the country.

Speaking at the opening session of the 22th Meeting of Defence of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), the official added that Angola is experiencing an environment of perfect reconciliation and reconstruction of its main infrastructures.

He stated that Angola has been creating the necessary conditions to attract foreign investment that might contribute to development of the all sectors of the society.

João Ernesto dos Santos spoke of the investments in the energetic field, such as Laúca and Caculo-Cabaça dams, due to end in 2026, the largest in the country and the third in Africa, behind Nigeria and Egypt.

Military cooperation in CPLP

The Angolan minister praised the progressive, common and advantaged cooperation with counterparts that contributed to the strengthening of the action and consolidation of the community project.

He said that the creation of the CPLP on 17 July, 1996 and the strengthening of military cooperation allowed the exchange of different experiences through military training in several military fields.

The minister stressed Angola’s role in supporting the reform of the military sector for Angolan military mission in Guinea Bissau (MISSANG) and in Mozambique, when it was ravaged by the cyclone IDAI and the contribution to peace process of Cabo Delgado (Mozambique).

He asserted that the issues of defence aim to promote world peace and security which must serve as a standard for the present and the future.

He expressed satisfaction at the decoration Aparecido de Oliveira of the CPLP, awarded to the Angolan President of the Republic and Commander-in-Chief of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA), João Lourenço, in recognition of his role in the community, with emphasis on the promotion of the mobility agreement.

The minister added, among the contributions of the Angolan statesman, the creation of new general objectives of the CPLP for economic cooperation and the integration of the principles of representativeness and gender equality in the statutes of the organisation.

The ambassadors of the member countries witnessed the opening ceremony of the meeting of defence ministers of the Community.

Created in July 1996, the institution comprises Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe, and East Timor are the members of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)

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