Day: May 8, 2024

Mr Allen Kilavuka, the Chief Executive Officer of Kenya Airways, says there is a need to establish more viable African Carriers to help facilitate trade among the various countries on the Continent.

He said Kenya Airways was collaborating closely with other African Carriers to develop a viable entity to serve the Continent and stand strong against any competition.

Mr Kilavuka was speaking to journalists during his recent visit to Ghana. The visit is a follow-up visit by Kenyan President William Ruto earlier this month and officials from the Kenyan Tourism Board in February.

In partnership with Kenya Airways (KQ), they led a consortium of over 15 travel trade companies for in-market activations to boost intra-Africa trade.

He said the purpose of the visit was also to cement their relationship in the aviation market and identify areas of mutual support and collaboration.

The CEO said, ‘we need to be involved more in the travel market to develop the aviation market, we recommend collaboration and cooperatio
n with other airlines.’

Mr Kilavuka said Ghana was a critical market for the Airline because it was the Company’s Hub in the West Africa Region, adding that they had developed Accra as the hub, simply because of the support from regulatory agencies as part of their operations.

He said last year the Company had for the first time in seven years recorded an operating profit as an airline, adding that they had also recorded the highest revenue number in the history of the company.

‘We have also recorded the highest number of passengers in the history of the company, including being voted the second most efficient airline in Africa,’ he added.

Mr. Kilavuka said was anticipating a 20 per cent growth in revenue this year.

He said the Airline was considering operating some direct flights to the new Kumasi International Airport in Ghana as part of efforts to deepen bilateral trade and tourism between the two friendly countries.

‘We are looking at this marketplace favourably, so in the first place, it [operating
flights to Kumasi Airport] is something to consider,’ he added.

The Kumasi International Airport, located at the heart of Ghana’s second most populated city, Kumasi, has undergone a total makeover within the past half-decade.

The new ultra-modern terminal building, which is capable of handling over 800,000 passengers per year, has modern passenger processing installations in place and is equipped with navigation aids.

Mr. Kilavuka said that flying to Kumasi looks viable and would be favourably considered by its management.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Rainforest Alliance, an international non-profit organisation, has reminded stakeholders that the exploitation of a child to work denies an adult an income, with the future of such children traded for immediate financial gains by perpetrators.

Rainforest Alliance is implementing a project aimed at eliminating forced and child labour in selected cocoa and mining communities.

The organisation has, therefore, called on stakeholders to collectively stand against any practice that could jeopardise the future of children.

Mrs Joyce Poku-Marboah, the Senior Project Manager of Rainforest Alliance, made the observation at a quarterly meeting of stakeholders involved in the project at Nyinahin in the Atwima Mponua District of the Ashanti Region.

With funding from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), Rainforest All Mining’ at Atwima Mponua, Atiwa East, Bibiani-Anwiaso-Bekwai and Wasa Amenfi West districts.

Under the project, stakeholders across the cocoa value chain and gold mining associations
were being engaged on the fulfilment of commitments of government and companies in addressing human rights, gender issues and child labour to create more resilient farming and mining communities.

The project had, over the past three years, provided adequate support for government agencies in social protection and law enforcement, cocoa companies, traders, cooperatives, farmer groups, and gold associations, to implement measures to prevent, identify and address forced and child labour in their operational activities.

Other key state institutions such as the Ghana Education Service, National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), and the District Assembly are also playing diverse roles in protecting vulnerable children and adults under the NORAD-funded project.

Some participants, during the quarterly meeting, called for urgent steps to build a school at Ampenkro to save children in the community from the daily routine of trekking several kilometres to attend school at Nkrumah.

They argued that the situation
put their children at high risk of child labour.

Three mining companies; Golden Mining Company, Taassato Mining Company, and Yiadom Company Limited, were on hand to share their perspectives on the fight against child labour.

They took turns to recount various support they had provided the communities including toilet facilities, community centres and remediation kits for in-school children to reduce child labour.

Mrs Poku-Marboah underlined the need for assemblies to incorporate child labour and child protection issues in their medium-term plans.

They must also make available the commitments captured in their long-term plans to communities at no cost to enable them to monitor the implementation with keen interest.

She encouraged the NCCE and other stakeholders to keep the people informed about opportunities such as scholarships and free apprenticeship trainings available to them in the district.

Madam Aba Oppong, the Executive Director of Rights and Responsibilities Initiative Ghana (RRIG), local partne
rs of the project, said 15 schools in the project communities are to be trained on children’s rights and responsibilities.

She said 30 women had also been selected by their communities to be trained in income generating activities to support economic independence of their communities.

The establishment of a Village Savings and Loans scheme had helped women to mobilise their own funds to support the education of their children, she added.

Source: Ghana News Agency

An Accra High Court has granted GHC 200,000 bail to four persons arrested for their alleged roles in the train accident at Abortia in the Volta Region.

The court presided over by Justice Mrs Lydia Osei Marfo, ordered the accused: Koku Koudjo, a 34-year-old gas welder, Patrick Kwaku Sosu, a 52-year-old labourer, Alaza Prosper, a 28-year-old labourer, and Fiadugbe Emmanuel, a 31-year-old labourer, to provide sureties with justifications.

They must report to the police every Friday.

The court ordered the accused and their sureties to submit copies of their Ghana Cards to the Court’s Registry.

It also warned the accused that if they failed to show up in court, their bail would be revoked, and should they arrive late, a bench warrant would be issued for their arrest.

The matter has been adjourned to June 6, 2024, for prosecution to file their disclosures.

The accused persons have been charged with abetment of unlawful damage.

They are accused of aiding Abel Dzidotor, a jailed truck driver, in causing unlawf
ul damage to the Diesel Multiple Unit Train.

In granting them bail, the court noted that the investigations involving the accused were nearly completed.

According to the court, the damage caused could still be assessed even when the defendants were granted bail.

The prosecution, led by Assistant State Attorney Christabel Selma Anafure, informed the court that the state had requested experts to examine the damage.

As a result, she requested that the case be adjourned, and the accused remain remanded.

The defence counsel, led by Richard Laapo, brought to the court’s attention a bail application made on behalf of the accused.

Mr Laapo noted that the motion for bail had not been served on the Republic.

According to the defence lawyer, the Republic’s request for an adjournment should not prohibit the court from exercising its discretion and granting the accused bail.

‘Per the submission of the Republic, they have invited experts to value the damage caused or suffered by the train.

‘The assessment of the d
amage has no bearing on the grant of bail by the court,’ he said.

The case of the prosecution was that the complainant, Dr Divine Olutey, is an Engineer with the Ghana Railway Corporation.

It said that on April 18, 2024, between 0900 and 1300 hours, the accused were on board a Hyundai Gold Truck with registration number GS 9018-20, driven by one Dzidotor Abel, who is now in jail.

The prosecution told the court that preliminary investigations revealed that Koudjo, the first accused, purchased blocks from a factory in Juapong and transported them to Abortia through the railway underpass.

Dzidotor, the convict, was in the truck with the accused. After discharging the blocks at Koudjo’s site, they chose to cross the railway with the vehicle instead of using the underpass.

The prosecutor claimed that despite knowing the railway lines were inaccessible to motor vehicles, the four accused used it as a ‘shortcut’ to reach Juapong.

The prosecution said that when the accused realized they could not cross the rail
way tracks, they placed stones to create a route for the truck.

However, the truck got stuck on the railway line.

The prosecutor told the court that the accused tilted the truck’s head and left the scene without notifying trains on the tracks.

The prosecution said there was no access route across the railway tracks connecting the Juapong road. It said regardless of whether the truck had crossed, a large gutter on the west side of the tracks would have prevented the accused from connecting to the Akuse-Juapong road.

The court was told that on the same day, the complainant and 28 engineers from Ghana and Poland took a test drive of the new Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) train from Tema to Mpakadan.

The prosecution said that the test run had been announced ahead of time and that when the train got to the Abortia area, it collided with a stationary Hyundai Gold truck on the railway track.

‘Both the train and truck got damaged, the train was sent to Tema for examination while the scrap of the vehicle, which was
damaged beyond repairs, was taken to the Juapong Police Station for further action,’ Prosecution added.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Members of the Trinity Lutheran Congregation in Tema have donated assorted items to the children’s ward of the Tema Polyclinic to aid in the care of patients.

Items donated include bedsheets, Omron thermometers, children’s chairs, drinks, biscuits, T-rolls, and tissue, among others.

Mr. Anthony Preston, the Presiding Elder of Trinity Lutheran Congregation, presenting the items, said the gesture was in fulfilment of their annual ritual and the biblical obligation of the church.

Mr Preston said it was also a testament to the compassion and generosity of the church to be part of a community that supports the health and well-being of its members, especially children.

He added that the church has taken it upon itself to annually donate to health facilities within the community it is in, adding that members were also encouraged to continue to make efforts to impact the lives of those around them through acts of kindness.

Dr. Serwaa Boakye, a physician assistant, and Ms. Lily Asafo Adjei, a senior nurse, receiv
ed the items on behalf of the hospital and commended the church for the gesture.

Source: Ghana News Agency

More than 150 vehicles and travellers on River Oti at Dordoe-Korpe in the Oti Region are stranded as a result of a breakdown of the ferry on Tuesday.

When the Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited the landing site at Dambai, all types of vehicles ranging from saloon cars, buses, articulated trucks, and fuel and gas tankers carrying various goods and foodstuff, numbering over 150, queued to be booked and transported to the overbanks of the River Oti.

Mr Aliu Mumuni, the driver from Accra to Wulensi in the Nanumba North District, who has spent over 48 hours at the riverbank, called on the Ghana Highway Authority to build a bridge on River Oti to aid their movement.

Mr Ibrahim Awudu, a driver, also from Tema, heading towards Bimbilla in the Northern Region, called on the management of the Volta Lake Transport Company and the Government to collaborate effectively to curtail those problems.?

Commander Victor Oppong Fianko, the Operation Manager of the Volta Lake Transport Limited (VLT), in an interview with the GNA,
said the ferry had developed an electronic fault and a team of mechanics had been dispatched from Akosombo to work on the broken ferry.

He emphasised that all stranded vehicles would cross late in the day and hopeful the ferry would start its operation fully tomorrow.

Source: Ghana News Agency