Category: General

The MTN Ghana, as part of its ’21 Days of Y’ello Care’ programme, has trained young people on social media marketing as well as customer services relations. The training is to enable the young people to be able to market their goods and products on social media and build proper customer relationships with their clients. They were given skills training in soap making, bead making, bleach making, and shower gel making, among others to reduce youth unemployment in the country. The programme, which commenced on June 5, 2023, aimed at empowering the youth, was on the theme: ‘Empowering entrepreneurs to unlock growth and job creation for communities.’ As part of the programme, MTN Ghana sought to train over 3000 people. Mr Emmanuel Afutu, Senior Manager, Radio and Core Network Implementation of MTN, said there was the need to mentor and train young people on digitalizing their businesses to yield better results. ‘That is why MTN is partnering with Engage Now Africa (ENA) to train the youth,’ he said. He encouraged the youth to assume ownership of the projects and for those who learnt various skills, he urged them to continue to enhance their skills to be the best in their chosen vocations. Madam Cecilia Amankwah, Country Director, ENA, explained that the programme was an entrepreneur programme that would help the youth and women in business. She said, ‘On June 6, 2023, MTN Ghana came to mentor the beneficiaries on how to do proper business, how to use social media to market their products and how to treat customers.’ They were also taught digital literacy,’ she added. Madam Amankwah reiterated the need for the youth to be very efficient in their skills and businesses, hence, the need for ENA to give the youth skills training. She urged the youth to participate in the MTN Y’ello care programme to be able to take care of themselves, their families as well as the society. The 21-day of Y’ello Care campaign is a staff volunteerism programme in which employees across MTN’s operations across the world are encouraged to take time off to physically get involved in activities that would uplift the communities they operate in. It helps to raise awareness about the issues affecting the society and demonstrates the Company’s readiness to do something about them. The programme has been running for the past 16 years from 1st to 21st June each year and in all these years, the Company has maintained a steady commitment, enthusiasm and a sense of purpose in the activities they engaged in.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Ga East Municipal Assembly (GEMA) and the Ghana Statistical Service, in partnership with GIZ, have outdoored two mobile Apps to help address the sanitation challenges, and serve as a medium for reporting on Gender-based violence. The Apps, namely, the ‘CleanApp Ghana’ developed by CERSGIS and ‘Let’s Talk’ developed on OA Holdings were designed to use Citizen-Generated Data (CGD), with GIZ providing the financial and technical support in collaboration with the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS). AO Holdings is the developer of the ‘Let’s Talk App’ while the ‘CleanApp Ghana App’ was developed by CERSGIS. The project was first piloted in the Ga East Municipality and three others namely Ho, Techiman and West Gonja Municipalities, in 2020 and it is now being scaled up nationwide. The move is aimed at leveraging technology and innovation to collect Citizen-Generated Data on Waste and Gender-based violence to be used for effective waste management in the country. The objective of the Project is to explore the potential of CGD as a complementary data source for official statistics through pilot projects by exploring the use of CGD methodologies to collect data on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and solid waste management for SDGs 5.2.2; 11.7.2; 16.1.3; 11.6.1. It is also to augment statistics production for evidence-based decision-making at the sub-national level and document and share learning with National Statistical Systems and evidence community. Mrs Elizabeth Kaakie Mann, Municipal Chief Executive, GEMA launching the project Apps, said prior to the launch a two-day training workshop was organized for the District Technical Team on how to use them and to be able to transfer the knowledge acquired to the community members during the sensitization activities. She appealed to the residents to embrace the Apps, share it on their various WhatsApp group platforms, and educate their members to effectively use the Apps to report their complaints and challenges pertaining to sanitation and gender-based violence within their community as it serves as a faster and more accurate means to address their grievances. She said both Apps could be accessed by downloading and installing it from the Google Play Store on an android phone or through the short codes: *902*58#, for the CleanApp and *800*818# for the ‘Let’s Talk’ App.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the European Court of Human Rights, and the American Court of Human Rights have re-affirmed their commitment to the principles and objectives contained in their respective regional human rights instruments. The instruments are the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the European Convention on Fundamental Rights and Freedoms and the American Convention on Human Rights; and in other relevant international human rights instruments. The three continental human rights courts made the re-affirmation tagged as ‘Declaration of San Jose,’ at the end of a meeting in San José, Costa Rica, from May 25 to 26, 2023 on the occasion of the Dialogue among Regional Human Rights Courts. The continental human rights court in a communique made available to the Ghana News Agency committed to consider the historical context of institutional and jurisprudential dialogue. The three Courts agreed that States of the three regions under their respective jurisdictions must ensure the effective protection of democracy, human rights, and sustainable development as they are essential to preserving peace and respect of the dignity of the human being. Democracy, good governance and effective access to justice, and independence of the judiciary are essential for the protection and realization of human rights and effective democracy underpinned by the rule of law. They also emphasized the need to promote and safeguard the independence and impartiality of their judicial systems and ensure the integrity of judges in their respective regions. This includes strengthening mechanisms for the selection and appointment of judges, guaranteeing the security and protection of judges against pressure or undue direct or indirect interference, and promoting an impartial and transparent administration of justice. To recognize the importance of strengthening coordination and collaboration among regional courts, they reaffirm their commitment to contribute to permanent dialogue and consultation mechanisms to exchange experiences, knowledge, and best practices in the interpretation and application of their respective regional human rights instruments. The three human rights courts reaffirmed the need to consolidate joint efforts to promote and disseminate regional human rights standards in the respective regions which includes the organization of collaborative workshops, seminars, and conferences as well as the production of informational and educational material to raise awareness of human rights and their protection. The three Courts will continue with the publication of the joint annual case law reports, each Court will, as far as possible, organize an annual seminar (virtual or on-site) on relevant topics addressed to the general public in which it will disseminate their case law developments.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Turbine 3 of the Luachimo hydroelectric project, located in the eastern Lunda Norte province, has restarted production after the replacement of parts that were damaged in May of this year.

The turbine, with capacity to produce 8.5 megawatts of electricity, was out of service for almost a month due to a technical fault during tests.

The recovery of turbine 3 allowed the infrastructure to start producing 17 of the 34 planned, providing power to Dundo city and its surroundings, the director of GAMEK project, Joaquim Garcia, has announced.

He added that the two of the four planned turbines, with 8.5 megawatts each, were currently in experimental production.

The assembly of the last two turbines with the same production capacities (8.5) is in the final stages and should start production in the next few days.

He said that the dam will start producing the planned 34 megawatts by November of this year.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)

The National Police seized a total of 70 diamond stones of various carats during a micro-operation carried out early in the weekend, the spokesman of the Police in eastern Lunda Norte Province, Domingos Muanafumo, said Tuesday.

During the operation, which was coordinated with the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC), 16 gravel washing nets, 14 shovels, 13 machetes, six motor pumps and a dredge were seized, amongst other materials used for illegal mining.

The diamonds and equipment seized were handed over to the “Operation Transparency” collection commission, the spokesperson said.

Without revealing the number of people detained in the operation, Muanafumo said they have been sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office for illegal possession, illegal mining and trafficking.

The police chief added that the operation will continue, since the aim is to eliminate illegal mining exploitation areas in Lunda Norte Province.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)

The Draft Labour Procedure Code, under debate at National Assembly’s Specialised Commissions, is intended to bring together and systematising the separated rules in this branch.

The intention is to provide greater legal certainty and security, the Secretary of State for Justice, Evaristo Solano, said on Tuesday in Luanda.

As for the debate on the Bill in the Specialised Commissions, Evaristo Solano stated that the proposal comes up with norms that support the new General Labour Law.

Angolan National Assembly recently approved the Draft Labour Act in order to protect the rights and duties of the employee.

“We want to clarify the procedures, starting from the time required to file the actions, writing a request, the witnesses, waiting for the ruling and how to act in the face of this situation,” the official clarified.

So far, four chapters, of the 203-article Bill, have already been discussed and approved.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)