Day: May 21, 2023

The Northern Development Authority (NDA) has organised a stakeholder engagement on its 2023 -2027 Medium Term Development Strategy (MTDS), which serves as an agenda for the rapid transformation and job creation in the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone (NSEZ).

The five-year development Strategy hinged on five thematic areas, including Healthcare delivery, Education, Agricultural transformation and food security, Environment and sustainability, and Poverty and inequalities.

The strategy would prioritise jobs and livelihoods, tackle issues on gender and social inclusion and embrace actions to enhance climate justice and build resilience, and integrate and address the systemic challenges confronting the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone.

It also fed into many ongoing national policies and programmes including reducing poverty, improving health and educational outcomes, biodiversity conservation, industrialisation, and digitalisation among others.

Its actions also conform with the globally agreed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Mr. Sulley Sambian, the Chief Executive Officer of the NDA, in a statement, said the MTDS were designed to achieve the greatest possible impact for the people and communities in the NSEZ with a special focus on poverty reduction, job creation, and sustainable production systems.

‘The Strategy will lead to actions that will extend the economic agency of women, men and young people, and groups across the frontiers. It is a zone that trails the rest of the country in major development and socio-economic metrics and actions targeting impactful changes should be rapid, robust, and interconnected’, he said.

He said actions that would be pursued in the next five years would be integrated and emanated from the series of consultations with development partners, policymakers, development experts, communities, farmers, and various interest groups.

Mr. Sambian emphasised that the Strategy would adopt a holistic approach, as a more effective response to the systemic challenges confronting Northern Ghana.

‘For instance, a child is unlikely to successfully enroll and complete school in a context of extreme poverty; a farmer’s output, no matter the level of efforts will be challenged by a deteriorating environment and climate; and all gains made in any endeavour including infrastructural development will not be sustained in an atmosphere characterised by conflicts, threats of hostilities and mutual mistrust’, he pointed out.

Mr. Sambian said under the Strategy, the NDA would work around six main objectives, including increasing household incomes, accelerating human development through access to quality social services, and promoting private sector actions capable of delivering board-based and inclusive growth.

Sustaining livelihoods by developing capacity on land governance, biodiversity conservation, and climate change and enhancing social cohesion, peace, and security, which could make enormous contributions to progressive and inclusive change at scale are some of the objectives of the Strategy.

Mr Sambian said the strategy would also recognise coordinating efforts of internal organisations in ensuring that together, they would build a professional, resilient, and accountable organisation with a focus on the socio-economic transformation of Northern Ghana.

Mr. Sam Danse, the Director for Corporate Affairs and International Relations at the NDA responsible for Gender, Social Protection, and Corporate Affairs, in a presentation of the MTDS, noted that under the five years period, the NDA anticipated to increase household incomes in Northern Ghana by 20 percent through sustainable agricultural production systems by 2027.

He explained that agriculture-related activities were the biggest employer and main driver of the NSEZ’s economy and many households in the area were engaged in crop farming, producing cereals, roots, tubers, and legumes, and in terms of rice production, ‘the zone is a major contributor to national Outputs’.

The agriculture sector employs about 74 percent of the zone’s labour force and accounts for about 34 percent of national crop production while 15.6 percent of the NSEZs land size is dedicated to agriculture.

Mr Danse noted that only about 15.4 percent of arable land in the zone was put under cultivation implying over 8 million hectares of agricultural land suitable for the cultivation of different food crops either lay fallow or underutilised, creating enormous opportunities for investors to undertake productive investments in the agriculture sector with the potential to create jobs and promote livelihoods.

He said despite the zone’s agricultural potentials, it was affected by a number of challenges largely driven by over-reliance on primary production methods and a weak market orientation.

Traditional rulers, municipal and district chief executives, civil society and nongovernmental organisations, heads of decentralised departments, farmers, women groups, security agencies, and a cross-section of the public attended the forum.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Japanese Government on Friday handed over a laboratory facility to Ghana at the Kotoka International Airport, Accra.

At a short ceremony, Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye, Director-General Ghana Health Service (GHS), on behalf of the authorities of KIA symbolically received the facility, which is to support the effective management of public health emergencies.

The lab is one of four – three of which are to be commissioned at points of entry into the country, specifically, Paga, Aflao and Elubo.

It forms part of a $2 million project, including the construction of Community Health Planning and Services (CHPS) facilities in some underserved areas to strengthen community health systems and support the continuity of providing essential services to citizens.

The facility has polymerase chain reaction (PCR), sluice and phlebotomy rooms, a main lab for various case testing and management as well as a lab Manager’s office, kitchenette, changing rooms and washrooms to support daily operations.

Speaking at the handing-over ceremony, Dr Aboagye said the facility was timely in helping control public health emergencies at Ghana’s points of entry as it would support existing infrastructure and build people’s capacity to manage cases.

‘In the last few years, we’ve had to respond to COVID, Marburg, laser fever and monkey pox, and Ghana has built capacity to test them. This facility will, therefore, help in our efforts to test for people who need to be tested for any other condition that may pop up,’ he said.

‘When the COVID started, we could only rely on Noguchi and KCCR and that’s not a statusquo that we want to keep. So, these are part of a series of health system strengthening mechanisms going forward,’ the Director General noted.

Sukhrob Khoshmukhamedov, UNDP Deputy Representative, indicated that point of entries played vital roles not only in transport, travel, trade and economic development, but equally important in health emergency response and recovery, as witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He explained that during health emergencies, points of entries served as critical centres of disease surveillance, risk communication, infection prevention and control, cross border coordination and information sharing.

As such, providing infrastructure, together with building the capacities of health practitioners and care providers would necessary to adequately address public health emergencies.

He noted that delivering on the promise to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2023 would be impossible without commensurate investment in pandemic preparedness.

‘UNDP as the UN’s foremost development agency firmly believes that being better prepared for future pandemic is a crucial component of human security,’ hence the support to the project, Mr Khoshmukhamedov said.

He said investing in emergency preparedness was smart, responsible and necessary for a collective security and wellbeing of all people, and was hopeful that the lab would be a ‘vital resource and arsenal’ in addressing emergencies in the future.

‘The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted not only the urgent health risks, but the importance of strengthening health systems to identify and respond to emergencies at all times,’ said, Mochizuki Hisanobu, Japanese Ambassador to Ghana.

He noted that the availability of the labs at various entry points was a huge step forward in disease identification and surveillance management in the country, and contribute to achieving the Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Benjamin Kwaku Kumi, the Ayensuano Constituency Executive Member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Eastern Region, has called for unity among all the aspirants after the May 13 presidential and parliamentary primaries.

The primaries saw former President John Dramani Mahama securing 98.9 per cent of the total votes cast to win the flagbearership race, defeating his only contender, Mr Kojo Bonsu, a former Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, who had 11 per cent.

The other contestant, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, withdrew from the race.

Mr Kumi made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Friday and called for unity among the rank and file to adequately prepare for the 2024 general election.

‘Former President Mahama is a humble and peace-loving person who will ensure unity and peace among the contestants to keep an eye on the bigger picture, which is working together to win the election 2024,’ he said.

‘Now that the primaries are over, there is the need for the aspirants to come together and work as a team to wrest power from the ruling New Patriotic Party.’

Mr Kumi said even though elections came with disappointments, and in most cases bitter rivalry, putting the pain behind them and accepting defeat was the beginning of the healing process.

He congratulated former President Mahama and all winners in the parliamentary and presidential primaries for their hard work and called for unity and peace to win power next year.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Amidu Issahaku Chinnia, the Deputy Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, has identified community mobilisation, and not always contracts, as key to the realisation of community projects.

He said in the event where funds were not readily available, community leaders and politicians could mobilise the people and other resources for such projects, to reduce cost, and avoid undue delays in their execution.

‘Let’s not always award contracts; community mobilisation is key to communal projects,’ Mr Chinnia said, and cited some projects he had accomplished in the Sissala East Constituency through community engagements rather than contracts.

Mr Chinnia, also the Member of Parliament for Sissala East, said it was time communities and leaders acted swiftly on development projects, especially those in relation to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra, he called on the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to play their supervisory roles effectively in the implementation of WASH projects.

The interview followed the second multi-stakeholder dialogue on WASH, dubbed: ‘Executive Breakfast Conversation.’

The conversation was on the theme: ‘Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies and Sustainable WASH Service Delivery,’ with the sub theme ‘Every Child Deserves Clean Water and Improved Sanitation.’

It was organised by the Ghana Chapter of World Vision International, a Christian humanitarian organisation, the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, and the United States Agency for International Development among other partners.

Three billion people worldwide, including hundreds of millions of school-going children, do not have access to handwashing facilities with soap.

People living in rural areas, urban slums, disaster-prone areas, and low-income countries are the most vulnerable and the most affected.

Worldwide, 2.2 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water, and more than half of the global population does not have access to safe sanitation.

The Deputy Minister expressed regret that many schools and healthcare facilities lacked access to basic WASH services.

He stressed a holistic approach to health and well-being by ensuring the availability of safe and sustainable WASH services in critical institutions and among vulnerable groups.

He called for strong leadership and effective collaboration among stakeholders in providing water, hygiene and sanitation facilities in local communities.

‘ Nice houses, no WASH facilities. They collect rent but provide no toilet. Why can’t you punish that one landlord or landlady?’

‘If you talk, they say they’ll vote against you. We must look at the byelaws and how we implement them,’ he said.

‘From now on, any school facility we are developing must have WASH facilities to ensure access to safe and sustainable WASH services in schools.’

He announced that the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources had already consulted with the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service, and the Ghana Education Trust Fund to ensure that all contracts for new school facilities considered the need for safe WASH facilities.

The Government was also holding discussions with the World Bank, the Ministry of Education, and the Ghana Education Service, to develop sustainable management guidelines for the WASH facilities in schools.

‘It’s not just about constructing them because if we construct these WASH facilities and we do not find sustainable ways of managing them, they will collapse within a short period,’ Mr Chinnia said.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Jeju Coffee Farm CEO, Kim Young-han, also Known as “Coffee Virtuoso” of Jeju Island, expressed his strong desire to expand research to Ethiopia’s coffee bean and add value to it by producing beverage like “wine,” and making cosmetics from it.

Ethiopia’s ambassador to South Korea,Dessie Dalkie met with Kim Young-han, Jeju Coffee Farm CEO and explored the possibility of adding value to Ethiopian coffee beans.

Kim Young-han, referred to as the “Coffee Virtuoso” of Jeju Island by CNN, is a former Samsung Electronics executive who went into the coffee business after relocating to the island.

While he had succeeded in producing locally grown coffee & selling it at his cafe that was not the end of his experimentation. He started to use coffee cherry peel to make “wine” with volcanic bedrock water.

His latest endeavor is a line of natural cosmetics imbibed with rich antioxidants derived from coffee beans. “When I drink coffee, I am drinking my own creation” Kim Young-han noted during the discussion with the Ambassador.

He added, “I am very aware of the fact that Coffee from Ethiopia is renowned for its vibrant fruity and flowery characteristics.”

Kim Young-han has also expressed his strong desire to expand his research to Ethiopia’s coffee bean and add value to it by producing beverage like “wine,” and making cosmetics from it.

He requested the embassy to collaborate with him in order to increase the popularity of Ethiopian coffee.

Ambassador Dessie Dalkie said that Ethiopia is the birth place of the coffee bean and describe Ethiopian coffee as sweet like chocolate, fruity flavor and aromatic unlike any other coffee.

“Ethiopian coffee being superior quality, adding additional value could raise global demand for it. Hence, any effort of adding value to our magic bean, Ethiopian coffee is always welcomed,” he added.

The Ambassador affirmed to Kim Young-han that the embassy and the Ethiopian Government are ready to work closely with him in his effort to produce a product like “wine” out of Ethiopian coffee beans and other initiatives he will take to promote Ethiopian coffee and enhance its demand.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Several women were injured as Separatists who identified themselves as Ambazonia forces targeted women in Big Babanki, a village in Mezam , north west region of Cameroon.

CNA learned that the incident took place on the eve to the country’s National Day celebration, a feast that takes place every May 20.

War levy

On Friday May 19, 2023, some women protested the imposed levy of FCFA 10,000 per male and FCFA 5000 per female. Pleading with the separatists to abolish such monthly levies because the effect of the war has also rendered them poor.

Since 2016, Separatists in the north west and south west regions, are fighting thr central government in a move to create a separate state called Ambazonia.

For the past seven years, the war has caused economic hardship to the population of these regions.

But to make more money and fund the war, a group of Ambazonia separatists have resorted to demanding money on impulse.

A group that has supported this initiative is the Ambazonia Governing Council.

But there has been dissenting voices. The reactions were met with bullets and intimidation.

“As I am writing to you now there is tension in my village Big babanki this criminals are moving from one quarter to the other collecting all the names of the people in that quarter and saying that each person will be paying 10000 for the men and 5000 for women,” a source told CNA.

Those who resisted were shot in the legs while others were vandalised.

The women are being treated in nearby hospitals.

Source: Cameroon News Agency