Category: General

Eighteen youth, who have undergone training in plumbing, tailoring/seamstress, tiling, motor electrician, smock weaving amongst others, have been supported with start-up equipment to assist them as they embark on their journey to self-reliance.

The start-up equipment, provided by the SOS Children’s Villages in Ghana, included industrial sewing machines, drilling machines, equipment for weaving, plumbing amongst others, and the beneficiaries were from Cheshe, a suburb of Tamale.

Mr Alexander Mar Kekula, National Director, SOS Children’s Villages in Ghana, who handed over the equipment to the beneficiaries at Cheshe, said it formed part of the SOS Children’s Villages in Ghana’s Family Strengthening project to empower them to be economically stable.

The ceremony was also to inaugurate an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Learning Centre for the Cheshe R/C Basic School in Tamale to help ensure quality education and prepare the schoolchildren for the challenges of the digital age.

Mr Mar Kekula sa
id, ‘In relation to self-reliance, we have in addition provided grants to 70 caregivers to start their own businesses, earn income and care for their children. Our interventions in this regard are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals; No Poverty and Decent Work and Economic Growth, respectively.’

He said for the past one year, ‘SOS Children’s Villages has invested over GHc600,000.00 to empower families through grants, youth start-up tool kits, school support and community empowerment in our participating communities including Adubiliyili, Fooshegu, Chanshegu, Gbulahibila and Cheshe in the Tamale Metropolis.’

He announced that as the SOS Children’s Villages in Ghana marked its 50th anniversary this year, a project dubbed: ‘PUNBO’, which was mainly an agricultural intervention to invest over GHc4 million in the lives of caregivers in those communities, would be implemented for the next three years.

He expressed hope that, ‘The caregivers, traditional leaders and other stakeholders of these communit
ies will cooperate with my staff in Tamale to make this project a success.’

Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Member of Parliament for Tamale South Constituency commended SOS Children’s Villages in Ghana for its interventions to improve on the living conditions of the people in the area.

Napari Mahama, one of the beneficiaries, who is a seamstress, lauded the support extended to them, saying without such support, it would have been difficult for some of them to acquire such equipment to establish their businesses.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWL) will, from Monday, April 15, embark on an exercise to collect all arrears owed by its customers in the Tema Region.

The Tema Area Management of the Company stated this in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency on Saturday.

The task force would be dispatched for the exercise to retrieve all arrears.

It, therefore, advised customers to promptly settle all outstanding bills by visiting the nearest pay points.

Customers, the statement said, could also use the Momo short code, *170# for MTN users, and *110#* for Telecel and AT users, as well as download the company’s customer app for convenient payment.

‘Please pay your water bill now to avoid any disconnection and embarrassment,’ the communication added.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Yaw Korankye, a 64-year-old retired engineer based in the United States, has been installed the Odikro of Abura Dunkwa in the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese District of the Central Region at a colourful ceremony on Saturday.

The Odikro, with the stool name Nana Owusu Koku II, was carried in a palanquin amid drumming and dancing through the principal streets of the town.

The coronation was graced by traditional authorities, clergymen, politicians and people from all social classes.

Speaking to the gathering later, Nana Koku expressed gratitude to God and to his family for the honour done him and promised to deliver on his mandate.

He called for peace and cooperation from all and sundry to lead the good people of Abura Dunkwa and strategise to help solve the numerous challenges confronting the community.

The Odikro assured the people of his continuous support towards an educational fund to assist brilliant but needy students and charged parents to ensure their children went to school for a better future.

Sour
ce: Ghana News Agency

The Reverend Mrs Alice Blunya Ankutse, the Ho Fiave Parish Pastor, Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana, Saturday said customary marriage is the bedrock of all marriages and must be revered.

‘Customary marriage is not engagement as we are made to believe but the real marriage,’ she said, and advised all to respect it.

Rev. Mrs. Ankutse said this in a paper she presented on marriage at a three-day retreat of the Ho East Presbytery Catechists Union at Awudome Tsito in the Ho West District of the Volta Region.

She stated that though the law had no hand in it, without it ordinance marriage could not be celebrated.

She entreated her colleagues not to officiate any ordinance marriage if the traditional marriage was not performed.

Rev. Mrs. Ankutse reminded the Catechists that an ordinance marriage celebrated by a Minister of the gospel, who was not gazetted, would not be recognized under the law.

Similarly, an ordinance marriage could not be celebrated in chapels not registered under the law.

‘Ordinance ma
rriages contracted at all places rather than those licensed by the state are invalid,’ she stated.

‘According to the Act, ordinance marriages are not permitted to be celebrated on Sundays and public holidays.’

She said Pastors who were not gazetted or celebrated marriages in unregistered premises could be jailed for not less than seven years.

Rev. Mrs. Ankutse advised would-be couples to follow due process in their ordinance marriages so as to avoid any legal embarrassment after the marriage.

She entreated the Catechists as administrators of their chapels to liaise with the leadership of their various congregations to register the chapels to qualify for the celebration of marriages.

The retreat was on the theme: ‘Care for God’s Creation, The Role of the Church.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

Dr Ernest Addison, the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, has expressed confidence about Ghana’s foreign currency reserves becoming stronger with the disbursement of a third tranche of US$360 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Ghana is expected to get an approval of its third tranche US$360m when the Executive Board of the IMF meet in June, having reached a staff-level agreement on the second review of the loan-support programme.

At a press briefing in Accra following the conclusion of a staff-level agreement on Ghana’s second review of the three-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement, Dr Addison said he was optimistic about the Board’s approval in June.

The said money, the Central Bank Governor said would help to further boost the country’s foreign reserve, which stood at US$6.2bn as of April 5, 2024, and support the attainment of the objectives of the US$3bn loan-support programme.

According to the World Economic Forum, foreign currency reserves, comprising cash and other assets li
ke gold, and held by central banks are crucial in maintaining stability in domestic currency, liquidity during economic crisis.

He stated that the two-weeks of engagement between Ghanaian Authorities and the IMF Staff Mission ‘has not been in vain,’ as it culminated in reaching a staff level agreement.

The Governor said the government’s hopeful that the feat chalked would, ‘translate into a Management and Executive Board approval with the release of another tranche of IMF’s support.’

‘After the June Board meeting, hopefully, we’ll get another disbursement of US$360m, which will come to us at the Bank of Ghana and help strengthen our reserves further,’ Dr Addison said.

He indicated that despite delays in the disbursement of some donor support, the country’s foreign exchange reserves had remained steady at US$6.2bn as of April 5, 2024.

‘We will continue to implement the policies that have helped sustain that progress, including the innovative Gold for reserves programme, which has acted as a game changer i
n our foreign exchange management strategies,’ he said.

On the progress made since the implementation of the loan-support programme, Dr Addison indicated that there had been some substantial macroeconomic dividends.

That, he said included a drop-in inflation from the 54 per cent at the end of 2022 to 23 per cent in 2023, saying, ‘during the first quarter of this year [2024], this progress has continued although we’ve witnessed some slowdown in the pace of disinflation.’

With the coming of the US$360m, Ghana’s total disbursement would reach US$1.560 billion, having already received the sum of US$1.2 bn in the first two tranches since the implementation of the programme.

The three-year ECF arrangement is backed by the country’s Post-COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth (PC-PEG).

It is aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability, build resilience, and lay the foundation for stronger and more inclusive growth.

Dr Addison stated that since the implementation of the loan-support progr
amme, Ghana had shown steadfast commitment to a set of policies, and even under difficult circumstances, had reached a stage of progress.

Mr Stéphane Roudet, the Chief of Mission for Ghana, also noted that Ghana’s ‘external sector had improved significantly, with international reserve accumulation ahead of programme objectives.’

He, however, said that: ‘Given Ghana’s strong progress under the IMF-supported programme, the next key step for the country is to reach an agreement with its official bilateral creditors on an MoU consistent with the terms agreed in January 2024.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

Professor Dr Ossei Sampene, Head of Forensic and Histopathology Department of Pathology, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, has urged government to enhance its commitment in the fight against galamsey.

He said Government should commit more resources and deepen enforcement of responsible mining of minerals, especially gold.

The Professor gave the advice on Saturday during a television discussion in Accra.

The discussion was held on the back of a report on April 10, 2024, which alleged that over 150 hectares (375 acres) of rehabilitated cocoa farms at Brahabebome, Apuoyem, Brosanko, Nkontomire, and Ouagadougou in the Atwima Nwabiagya South Municipality, were under siege.

The report said a foreign mining company, MIGOP Mining Limited, had allegedly taken over the farms for its mining activities.

The Company, which claimed to have acquired a license from the Minerals Commission for prospecting was reported to be destroying vast portions of the rehabilitated farms, despite resistance from the farmers.

Following
distress calls from the farmers for the intervention of COCOBOD, a team of officials from COCOBOD led by Professor Michael Kwarteng, the Head of Anti-illegal Mining Unit, visited the area to ascertain the level of destruction of the farms.

Professor Dr Sampene said the use of heavy metals such as mercury, uranium and lead, and harmful chemicals such as cyanide, sulfuric acid, amongst others rendered the environment toxic and negatively impacting human health.

He said such chemicals could lead to health complications such as kidney failure, lung problems and reduce life expectancy.

The Professor said it could also increase maternal and child mortality rates as pregnant women who lived in such hazardous environments were likely to face complications during labour.

‘I found that many children who died at birth had various forms of deformities. Some had their legs stuck together, others had more than five fingers on one hand, some had their hearts positioned on the right instead of the left, some had one eye,
others were born as hermaphrodites, and many other deformities not compatible with life,’ he explained.

He, therefore, urged the citizenry to protect the environment against such illegal mining activities and advised miners to carry out their work responsibly.

Mr Gabriel Korang Ababio, Bono Regional Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party, said despite Government’s effort to address illegal mining activities, some recalcitrant miners still managed to outwit the system.

He, therefore, urged security agencies to up their efforts to fish out such miscreants and prosecute them.

Mr Seth Ofori Twumasi, Financial and Economic Analyst, said Government had failed in the fight against illegal mining because many of those miners had protection from people in authority.

He said Government’s poor management of cocoa had also encouraged many farmers to consider ‘galamsey’ as an alternative means of livelihood.

Illegal mining is locally referred to as ‘Galamsey’, derived from the phrase ‘gather them and sel
l’.

The impact of ‘Galamsey’ on Ghana’s environment has been severe.

The miners often use dangerous chemicals such as mercury to extract gold from the soil, which pollutes the waterways and soils, leading to the death of aquatic life and rendering the soil infertile.

Mr Benjamin Nsiah, Executive Director, Centre for Environmental Management and Sustainable Energy, said the failure of authorities to punish offenders had led to the increased participation in the illegal act.

He said ‘galamsey’ was a national security matter, which needed to be given utmost attention.

Mr Nsiah said until Ghana reformed its national security architecture, it would not succeed in the fight against ‘galamsey’.

Source: Ghana News Agency