Day: July 9, 2023

The Zambia President, Hakainde Hichilema has assured the Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies (JGC) of his readiness to unlock all rigidities in Zambia to allow Jospong’s operate to transform the waste and technology sectors up to the speed of Ghana.

He expressed satisfaction about what Ghana has done so far through Jospong to be able to create value from the waste menace.

President Hichilema was addressing leaders of the Jospong Group of Companies at the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant (ACARP) to abreast themselves with its operations in Accra during a working visit to Ghana.

The President is on three-day visit to Ghana.

The Zambian President noted that leaders of Africa have shifted focus on talking politics to how to create opportunities for the African people and that is the new paradigm on the table.

‘We don’t need you to persuade us to give you the opportunity to operate; it is our responsibility to build African businesses that will give jobs to our people,’ he assured.

He assured JGC that, he would immediately set up a committee at the Zambia Presidency to coordinate with the Jospong team to start work as a matter of urgency.

‘We won an election massively, and we are going to walk the talk to improve the lives of the people’ adding that Africans must learn how to choose their leaders so that these leaders can work to the larger benefit of the people.

The Executive Chairman of JGC, Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong who received the entourage with his wife, Mrs Adelaide Araba Agyepong, and key executives of the JGC, said the nature of African waste constituted 61 percent of organic waste, which must be turned into fertilizer.

‘The rest are plastics 14 per cent, leather, glass three percent, textiles two per cent and e-waste five percent, among others is exactly what Jospong is doing in Africa,’ he added.

He assured the Zambian President and his entourage of his immediate action in that regard where several waste recycling plants and mechanisms would be put in place to rid their cities of the waste menace.

The Zambian President was accompanied by his Ministers for Tourism, Rodney Sikumba, Mines and Minerals, Ms Margaret Ekua Prah, Ghana’s Ambassador to Zambia as well as other members of the diplomatic corps.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The change from fossil-based vehicles into electric cars has been touted as one project that can reduce carbon emissions in the country.

This would contribute to the right fight against climate change and other adaptive controls and improve the health of the people particularly from respiratory infections.

The Deputy Minister of Transport, Alhaji Alhassan Tampuri has said during a stakeholders’ consultation in Takoradi on the desire of the country to buy electric Vehicles.

The exercise is being done closely with the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Finance with support from the Public Sector Reform for Results Project (PSRRP).

‘It is undeniable fact that the transport sector played a crucial role in the smooth functioning of the economy and is essential in promoting social cohesion’ Alhaji Tampuri pointed out.

However, just like the global front, Ghana’s transport sector has become a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. This is due to fossil fuel-based vehicles- petrol- and diesel-powered ones.

The Deputy Minister said data by the DVLA, as of 2022, showed that there were about 3.2 million registered vehicles in the country.

Out of these, 72 percent are powered by petrol engines, 27 percent by diesel engines, and less than 1 percent by LPG and other energy sources.

Alhaji Tampuri said the high dependency on fossil fuels, combined with other factors such as traffic congestion, has resulted in the transport sector becoming a net emitter of Greenhouse Gases (GHG).

‘The emissions from vehicles are not only bad for our planet, but they are also bad for our health. Air pollution have been partly blamed for cases of asthma, bronchitis, and premature death.’

The United Nations has warned that if global warming is allowed to rise above 1.5 degrees Celsius, it will have disastrous consequences.

The Deputy Minister said countries around the world were taking action to reduce their carbon footprint in response to the Paris Climate Accord.

The United Kingdom, for instance, has committed to achieving a net-zero emissions by the year 2050, while Europe is working to halt the production and sale of diesel vehicle by 2030.

Norway, which is highly dependent on oil and gas exports, has also committed to ending the sale of vehicles powered by fossil fuels by 2025 according to the sector minister.

The Ministry of Transport with support from the Climate Technology Centre Network and the UNEP Copenhagen Centre on Climate Change based in Denmark had thus developed an Electric Mobility framework in June 2022.

The framework consequently gave impetus to the development of a draft National Electric Vehicle Policy to serve as a key input for a comprehensive implementation plan and investment strategy for smooth transition to electric vehicles.

Mr. Herbert Krapa, the Deputy Minister of Energy said, ‘we can no longer defer, perpetually, the subject of electric vehicles and that is why we have come down here today, to your beautiful Region, to be part of these stakeholder consultations.’

He said the government was determined to achieve net-zero CO2 emission by 2070, and the transport sector remained a top priority for that vision.

The Ministry, He noted was in talk with the Energy Commission on a Drive Electric Initiative to promote alternative and productive use of electricity beyond industrial, commercial, and residential uses to power vehicles on roads.

‘We have an opportunity here in Ghana, to take advantage of such technologies as part of our Energy Transition Framework, to not only reach net-zero by 2070, but also create millions of jobs for our people, provide skills training for our youth, build new industries across Ghana and prevent millions of premature deaths’, he added.

Meanwhile, participants have stressed the need for the government to improve upon existing road networks, to ensure smooth travel with such vehicles.

They also called for more charging points to avoid any inconvenience in the use of such electric Vehicles.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mrs Beauty Emefa Nartey, Executive Director of the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, has encouraged youth participation in the fight against corruption.

Mrs Nartey noted that the youth, particularly adolescents, would be educated on the need of combating this societal scourge through school-based sensitization initiatives as part of activities to mark the 2023 AU Anti-Corruption Day slated for July 11.

The AU Anti-Corruption Day is on the theme: ‘Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Adoption of the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption: Achievements and Challenges’.

She said this in an engagement with the Ghana News Agency as part of the project ‘Is the fight against corruption a mirage or reality,’ and share perspective on GACC project dubbed: ‘Building Evidence for Increased Accountability in Ghana through a Multi-Stakeholder Accountability Initiative’.

It is a commemorate District-Level Africa Union Anti-Corruption Day which is slated for July 11, a day set aside by the AU to recognize the vast progress that has been made and cognizant of the need to continually reflect on approaches to end corruption.

She explained that GACC in collaboration with its Local Accountability Networks with funding support from William and Flora Hewlett Foundation was commemorating the 2023 African Anti-Corruption Day in 31 districts across 14 regions in Ghana.

Mrs Narteh, supported by Ms. Pamela Laourou, Communication Assistant, and Mr Samuel Harrison-Codjoe GACC’s Programmes Manager said fighting corruption was a common obligation, as well as educating the youth on the risks and reasons not to engage in corruption, ”we may assist to alleviate society’s biggest ailment’.

She said GACC would engage the youth in the fight against corruption through anti-corruption groups and existing civic clubs in senior high schools and universities.

She stated that the sensitization and awareness creation would educate students on the need of fighting corruption as well as the bad consequences it had on the country and their future.

Even if corruption cannot be totally eradicated from society, raising awareness and educating people will keep them on their toes in the fight against this huge societal issue.

Mrs Nartey noted that if the youth were sensitised and educated against corruption, which was one of the key goals, it would help them become watchdogs in society and assist limit corruption.

Mr Harrison-Codjoe added that’ these young people would be sensitised and educated about the direct impact of corruption on their daily lives and future.

‘Fighting corruption is a community responsibility, these young people are in one of the important areas where the battle against corruption will help them become advocates of corruption in the environment in which they find themselves’, he said.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Freedom of Russia Legion, a paramilitary volunteer battalion, is planning more operations in the Russian border area, according to a spokesman.

‘There will be a further surprise in the next month or so,’ Maximillian Andronnikov, who goes by the name Caesar, told British Sunday newspaper The Observer in an interview. ‘It will be our third operation,’ he said.

After that, he said, there will be a fourth and a fifth. ‘We have ambitious plans. We want to free all our territory,’ the spokesman added.

The Freedom of Russia Legion consists of Russian nationalists who are currently fighting on the side of Ukraine.

In May and June, fighters from the legion together with the Russian Volunteer Corps were involved in attacks in the Russian border region of Belgorod near Ukraine.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, such operations are intended, among other things, to liberate the area from Russian President Valdimir Putin’s regime. The government in Kiev insists it has nothing to do with the attacks.

Andronnikov sees Putin as weakened after the short-lived uprising by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner group in late June.

According to the Observer, he expects Putin’s government to collapse by the end of 2024. He says there is discontent in the Russian army because many soldiers who joined the military for financial reasons have not been paid: ‘There’s a huge problem with money.’

In Washington, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that the Wagner group and Prigozhin remained a threat to Putin.

Allowing Prigozhin and 25,000 Wagner fighters apparent full freedom of movement in Russia ‘shows that Putin has either remarkable (and unwarranted) confidence in their renewed loyalty, desperation to lure as many as possible to his side, or an inability to take action against them,’ the ISW said.

It noted that the status of the deal between Putin and Prigozhin remained unclear and could be in flux.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s statement last week that Wagner forces were not in Belarus contradicted earlier reports that Wagner fighters were being incorporated into the Russian military, standing down or moving to Belarus, it said.

The implications of the Wagner rebellion remained unclear, ‘but Ukraine has already benefited from the rebellion and may gain further benefits,’ the ISW said.

From London, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that Russian state media ‘were almost certainly initially surprised by the mutiny and were not prepared.’

After Russian television maintained its usual schedule, state outlets had sought to correct claims that the security forces had been passive, it said.

London also noted that the Telegram channels used by the Wagner group ‘have largely gone silent, almost certainly due to state intervention.’

This contrasted with the way Putin was undertaking ‘unusually prominent public engagements, almost certainly aiming to project strength’ it said.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Two rival gates in the Amedzofe traditional area of the Awatime Paramountcy have installed two different Okusie (Chief) to the same position on Saturday.

The two Chiefs were installed under the same stool name Okusie Akyim Foli VI, from the Asamani and Dzokoto gates, who otherwise hold this position on rotational basis, creating uncertainty for the area’s rich tourism potential and notably the highest habitable enclave in the country.

Prior to the installation of the Okusie, one Kingsley Moses Agbesi, District Manager of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) at Nkawkaw for the Dzokoto gate, the other contending gate from the Asamani stock had performed the same exercise on one Kevin Atikpui, a medical doctor.

Mr Mac Bubuame, Chairman of the Amedzofe Development Association and a member of the Dzokoto faction, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the other side’s intended installation defied a court injunction of, Thursday, July 6.

He said going ahead with their action for that installation breached a recent peace bond.

He said their installation was undertaken by the head of the traditional council, and that their contenders ‘illegally’ had appointed and installed a new Mankralo, which defied traditional standing.

Mr Robert Ameh, Assembly member for the area, who is the Royal stool father of the Mankralo for the Dzokoto gate of the Atikpui Family said the inheritance was on rotation affirmed by a 1968 court ruling.

He said the interlocutory injunction by the Police was yet to be heard on Monday, July 10, and therefore had no bearing on the planned installation.

He said the heavy endorsement of Mr. Agbesi made him legitimate, adding that the involvement of the kingmakers in the area and various customary rites performed made him the ‘original’ as opposed to the others who he claimed were elevated by ‘outsiders’.

‘All the chiefs of the traditional area came to pay homage. It means they recognize him as their chief.’

He said both factions treasured the tourism endowment of the area, and therefore sought to address the dispute through peaceful dialogue.

‘Citizens should be assured that we will not breach the peace that we have developed. We will not destroy what has taken us so many years to achieve. The security of tourists is assured, and we are ready to make available our culture and tradition to promote tourism.’

The installation of the two Okusie’s under the same Akyim Foli VI signals the beginning of a suspected long and torturous legal battle.

The installation witnessed the influx of several security agencies and dignitaries from near and far.

Okusie Akyim Foli V, who reigned for 56 years and passed away in 2019 came from the Asamani gate.

Source: Ghana News Agency