Category: General

Seychelles’ President Wavel Ramkalawan and First Lady Linda Ramkalawan have attended a series of events held on the margins of the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, according to a press statement from State House on Saturday.

On Friday, they were present for the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Breakfast event attended by various heads of states, governor generals, prime ministers, other senior government officials from UK and some heads of certain international organisations. The event was an opportunity to discuss SIDS related issues, leading up to the 4th SIDS Conference in Antigua and Barbuda in 2024.

“Following the SIDS event, the President and First Lady also attended the Commonwealth Leaders’ Event hosted by the secretary general of the Commonwealth, Baroness Patricia Scotland, in the presence of King Charles III, at Marlborough House, London. During the Commonwealth event, the President met King Charles and had the opportunity to congratulate him personally,” for his ascension to the throne, said the press statement.

The President and First Lady also attended a reception at the Buckingham Palace on Friday evening in advance of the coronation ceremony on Saturday afternoon at the Westminster Abbey.

Source: Seychelles News Agency

Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço, left London, United Kingdom Sunday, on his way back to Luanda, after having participated in the official coronation ceremony of King Charles III.

In London, where he was accompanied by the First Lady, Ana Dias Lourenço, the Head of State was part of the two thousand foreign dignitaries and other guests of the British Government.

The two-hour ceremony, which took place at Westminster Abbey, in London, was also attended by several Heads of State or their representatives, members of international organisations, the Commonwealth and the British Government.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)

The Arab League on Sunday welcomed back Syria’s government, ending a more than decade-long suspension and securing President Bashar al-Assad’s return to the Arab fold after years of isolation.

In November 2011, the 22-member body suspended Damascus over its crackdown on peaceful protests which began earlier that year and which spiralled into a civil conflict that has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions and battered the country’s infrastructure and industry.

While the front lines have mostly quietened, large parts of the country’s north remain outside government control, and no political solution has yet been reached to the 12-year-old conflict.

“Government delegations from the Syrian Arab Republic will resume their participation in Arab League meetings” starting Sunday, said a unanimous decision by the group’s foreign ministers.

Assad has been politically isolated since the war began, but recent weeks have seen a flurry of diplomatic activity ahead of an Arab League summit in the Saudi city of Jeddah on May 19.

The ministers in a statement emphasised their “keenness to launch a leading Arab role in efforts to resolve” the Syria crisis and its “humanitarian, security and political consequences”, noting that humanitarian aid must reach “all those in need”.

They also agreed to form a ministerial committee to continue “direct dialogue with the Syrian government in order to reach a comprehensive solution”.

Several Arab countries cut ties with Damascus early in the conflict, betting on Assad’s demise, while some including Qatar and Saudi Arabia provided support to the Syrian opposition.

The last Arab League summit Assad attended was in 2010, while the opposition attended the pan-Arab group’s summit in Doha in 2013, sparking a furious reaction from Damascus.

– Diplomatic push –

Regional capitals have gradually been warming to Assad as he has stubbornly held onto power and clawed back territory lost earlier in the conflict with crucial support from Iran and Russia.

The United Arab Emirates, which re-established ties in late 2018, has been leading the recent charge to reintegrate Damascus into the Arab fold.

A February 6 earthquake that wreaked devastation in Turkey and Syria sparked Arab outreach to Assad’s government, while intensified diplomatic activity has been underway in the region since a March decision by rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran to resume ties.

In March, Saudi state media said Riyadh and Damascus were in talks on resuming consular services, and in April, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan made the first visit to Damascus by a official from the kingdom since the start of the war.

That meeting came less than a week after Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad visited Saudi Arabia, also on the first such visit since the conflict began.

Mekdad has visited a string of Arab countries including in recent weeks in a diplomatic push, including to Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt.

On Monday, he attended talks in Amman with foreign ministers from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt to discuss the long-running conflict.

In April, nine Arab countries including Gulf states meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss ending Syria’s long spell in the diplomatic wilderness and its possible return to the Arab League.

Source: Seychelles News Agency

Some residents in the Ketu South Municipality of the Volta Region have complained about alleged harassment by some Togolese border security personnel.

The residents say the security personnel have in recent times deployed measures that make it difficult to freely cross into Lome, the capital of neighboring Togo.

The residents told the Ghana News Agency, at Aflao, that they were very frustrated by development.

‘Togolese border security officers are making life difficult for the people living in the border community, and more especially, the businessmen and women, who use that entry point for their activities daily,’ one of the residents complained.

Ms Cynthia Henyo, a resident and trader, said: ‘These people are not treating us well at all – we used to cross the border each day without any problems, but nowadays they are not cooperating at all.

‘I mean the Togolese side – sometimes you are asked to pay something small and are allowed to cross, but in the last couple of days, you cannot cross at all.

‘This situation is taking a toll on those of us who rely on trading at ‘Asigame’ (the Lome- Big Market) to make ends meet – it is not just those of us living in Aflao and surrounding communities, other people from Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi are all stranded here unable to cross.’

She appealed to the authorities to intervene in finding a solution to the development.

‘As you can see for yourself, everyone seems to be stranded. Nobody is going any further, especially, we, the Ghanaians. The Togolese and other nationals are allowed to cross except Ghanaians and we cannot just understand – our big men must quickly do something about this,’ Ms Henyo said.

Mr Joshua Norsah, a security analyst the GNA spoke to, decried the development, and described it as’ ‘worrying’.

‘What is happening at the border now has nothing to do with the Ghana Immigration Service, but with the Togolese police at the border, who are preventing the free passage of people, especially our Ghanaian brothers and sisters,’ he said.

Mr Norsah added that: ‘The deprivation and repressions at that side of the border, sometimes makes you wonder, what they are looking for – because they do it more than necessary.’

He observed that the Togolese security at the Aflao border no longer recognised Ghanaians and their identify cards.

He questioned the importance of the ECOWAS Treaty legitimising the Free Movement of Persons, Goods and Services across the common borders within ECOWAS member states.

‘How can you pay 2000 CFA, which is GHS 40, before you are allowed to cross the border – When you are returning, you pay the same, that is even when you have the Ghana Card,’ he wondered.

The GNA took walked along the border and saw many people, mostly Ghanaian traders and businesspeople, stranded.

Some were Accra, Takoradi and Kumasi, all expressing their frustration.

Meanwhile, Mr Maxwell Kofi Lugudor, the Municipal Chief Executive of Ketu South, and chairman of the Municipal Security Council (MUSEC), told the GNA that his attention had been drawn to the development and preliminary findings confirmed some of the concerns raised by the residents.

He said he was informed that the situation was not so until a couple of days ago.

It was attributed to an ongoing voter registration exercise in the neighbouring country, which was expected to end on Sunday, May 7.

Mr Lugudor appealed to the residents to remain calm as MUSEC was working to ensure that the issue was resolved amicably in the interest of the peace and security of both countries.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Journalists have been encouraged to intensify conversation and advocacy around issues of access to decent work principles and social protection schemes to promote inclusive development.

Ms Esther Ohenewaa Brown, the Communications Manager of ActionAid Ghana, a Non-Governmental Organisation, who made the call urged journalists to mainstream such issues into their work and engage stakeholders especially duty bearers to account for the implementation of their programmes.

This, she said, would help to ensure the vulnerable, particularly rural smallholder farmers, had access to decent work and social protection schemes to help strengthen their livelihoods and rights and help them to live dignified lives.

Ms Brown was speaking on the sidelines of a two-day media training workshop on decent work principles and social protection schemes, organised for selected journalists from the Upper East Region and held in Bolgatanga.

It was organised by ActionAid Ghana as part of the implementation of the Northern Ghana Integrated Project and funded by the European Union, to improve the journalists’ knowledge on decent work principles and existing social protection schemes in Ghana.

The training was meant to equip the journalists with knowledge and skills to raise awareness and advocate for the expansion of social protection schemes such as the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), the National Health Insurance Scheme and School Feeding Programme among others, to cover more rural communities

It was to also build the capacity of journalists to influence government policies on decent work at the local assembly and national level, to develop a clear roadmap for the enforcement of decent work principles in the agriculture sector.

The Communications Manager noted that series of research conducted by ActionAid Ghana had revealed that many smallholder farmers particularly women did not have decent work and those engaged by agribusinesses did not have contracts and any level of social security.

‘So, if something should happen to them, these people have nothing to fall on, they do not have any proper retirement packages, if they should fall sick, there is no safety net, but these people have dependents,’ she lamented.

She said the emergence of the COVID-19 had further accelerated the vulnerability of people especially smallholder farmers compelling them to accept jobs without any security and underscored the need to address the challenges they faced to ensure decency at work.

Ms Brown observed that some of the existing social protection schemes such as the LEAP, NHIS, school feeding programme and access to financing for women among others were not benefiting the vulnerable in some cases but rather those who were politically connected.

‘Our advocacy is that we need to look for ways and means that the institutions that are mandated to deliver these public services do the targeting right and not give it to people who are not supposed to be given and we need the media who have the platform to support this advocacy,’ she said.

Dr Eliasu Mumuni, the Vice Dean, Faculty of Communication and Media Studies at the University for Development Studies, noted that smallholder farmers particularly women contributed significantly to the economy but faced numerous challenges.

He said it was imperative for journalists to appreciate those challenges and prioritise them in their work in order to ensure that issues affecting vulnerable communities were addressed for sustainable development.

Mr Sulemana Alhassan, the Upper East Regional Manager of ActionAid Ghana reiterated the commitment of ActionAid to contributing to developing rural communities and urged the media to support their efforts.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG) says it will embark on indefinite strike action if President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo does not approve and implement their salaries and arrears from January 2023.

JUSAG, in a letter signed by its General Secretary, Mr Abdulai Yakubu, and addressed to the Executive Secretary of the National Labour Commission, said ‘We have given the President of Ghana up to Friday, 12th of May 2023 to approve and implement reviewed salaries with all the arrears from January 2023.’

Mr Yakubu referred to JUSAG’s letter dated May 5, 2023, and addressed to the President, which sought approval of the recommendation of the Judicial Council on the review of salaries and related allowances for staff of the Judicial Service in accordance with Article 149 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.

The letter indicated that even though the economic situation had deteriorated due to the adverse economic situation in the country, coupled with the withdrawal of the Cost of Living Allowance in December 2022, members had been patient for the past four months.

‘The rank and file of our members are very much aggrieved and agitated,’ the General Secretary said in the letter.

JUSAG reiterated its notice to the National Labour Commission and said if it did not receive approval by the stated date, members would wear red arm bands to work from May 15, 2023, for one week.

It further stated that ‘If no approval is received, by May 19, 2023, ‘we shall embark on indefinite strike.’

Leadership of JUSAG added that, ‘Respectfully, we wish to reiterate our appeal to the President of Ghana to act expeditiously to prevent any adverse consequences to justice delivery.’

At the National May Day parade in Bolgatanga, Mr Yakubu through the Ghana News Agency, called on government to, as a matter of urgency, review their salaries.

He said members of the Judicial Service, the third arm of government which rendered critical services, were not happy as their salaries had not been reviewed for two years, four months.

‘We have exercised enough patience. The month of May is the month of ‘pay us our new salaries now; or we shall advise ourselves. We have gone through a lot, it is just for the President to give us the approval for the new salary,’ he said.

Source: Ghana News Agency