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Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharabutu, the National Chief Imam, has reiterated the need for increased peace and unity among inter-faith religions across nations.

Sheikh Sharabutu noted that fostering peace and unity would ensure progress and desirable development.

The Chief Imam made this pronouncement when the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, paid a courtesy call on him at his residence at Fadama in Accra.

The visit was to appreciate the effort of the National Chief Imam as a model of peace and hope to the people as well as seek knowledge, and blessings and strengthen relationships with him and the Muslim community.

The courtesy call was also to discuss and provide assistance to the Chief Imam in his developmental and humanitarian agenda.

The National Chief Imam said it was necessary to be at peace with each other, the ideal way of ensuring total development and progress among nations.

He said: ‘Muslims and Christians are from the same creator as one family. We all came from Adam and Eve as one people. Coming from different tribes and nations is to help us appreciate each other.

‘We also need to make progress in empowering the youth and address unemployment challenges to enable them to contribute to the development of the country through peace, unity and knowledge sharing.’

Elder Gerrit Walter Gong, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, expressed gratitude to the Chief Imam for the opportunity and affirmed the importance of unity among all to foster the needed development.

He said: ‘We share facts about common feelings for all of us being one family, going back to Adam and Eve and the need to help other people, particularly the rising generation and to give our youth hope, knowledge and discipline for their future.’

Elder Gong, described the Chief Imam as a remarkable and wise man who had spent his life in service to humanity, adding ‘This is my first visit, but we felt very close to him, we share in his vision in propelling development and progress.’

Elder Stanley Gifford Nielsen, President, Africa West Area, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said the meeting between the two religions had demonstrated a sense of togetherness, key in promoting a common agenda to bring light, happiness and joy to the people, specifically the younger generation.

He said the church was looking forward to collaborating and assisting the Chief Imam in his developmental agenda for the benefit of the Muslim community.

A meeting between the two is expected to convene after the Eid-Ul-Adha celebrations.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Jonathan Djan Gyau, the Western Regional Director for the Department of Social Welfare, has urged the public to stop giving alms to beggars, especially children living on Ghana’s city streets.

He said begging was an indictment offence against the giver and the taker according to the laws of the country, and warned Ghanaians shun such acts of indiscipline.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Gyau, said the Criminal Code of Ghana also criminalizes begging, and was unenthused about the fact that foreigners had taken over major streets and traffic intersections to engage in the act in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis.

He said, ‘I am particularly disappointed at the Ghanaian disabled who after collecting the Common Fund’s three percentage, still go onto the streets to beg.

We know that disability does not mean the affected persons cannot work to make something better out of themselves,’ he said.

Mr Gyau called for inter-agency collaboration to deal with foreign nationals from Niger, Burkina Faso among others, who had taken to the street of Ghana purposely to beg, to change the growing phenomenon.

He narrated scenarios where young children, particularly girls, who had to be in school, were seen on streets always begging, saying ‘we can only handle this through effective engagement with immigration, embassies concerned and the Refugee Board.’

The Director also advised individuals who had taken begging as a business to desist from the practice as the law of the land frowned on the act.

He said a person who was found begging, wandering, on any premises or place to beg arrested by the police without a warrant, and would be liable for conviction to a fine not exceeding GHS1,800.00 or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding three months or both.

Sometime ago, the Vice Chairperson of the Gender Committee of Parliament, Ms Abena Durowaa Mensah, called for the enforcement of the Beggars and Destitute Act, 1969 (NLCD 392), which criminalizes the act of begging and giving to beggars.

She also called for the formulation of a policy to protect children from being used as street beggars, warning that begging was illegal in the country and could lead to prosecution of both the beggar and the giver.

Begging, also in some jurisdictions, is a recordable offence under section 3 of the Vagrancy Act 1824 (as amended) and anyone found sleeping in a public place or begging for money could be arrested.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Cameroonian renowned comedian Cabrel Nanjip Nyamton died in a ghastly car accident on June 15, 2023, in Boumnyebel, a locality between the Pouma and Edea road along the Douala-Yaoundé highway. His car was brutally hit by a truck which ended up in a valley.

According to reports, he had an appointment at the Canadian High Commission in Yaoundé to collect his visa.

Early that morning, he set off in his Lexus car for Yaoundé. About 30km from Edea at the Boumnyebel village, Cabrel had just come out of a bend when he was surprised by a truck that was trying to overtake another tractor.

Eyewitnesses say “Cabrel was driving at high speed and faced with the obstacle, he chose not to drive straight into the truck, but instead to swerve to the left in the hope of finding a way out but unfortunately, he got hit by the truck,”

Residents are said to have rushed to the scene and succeeded in pulling him out of the vehicle. He was immediately rushed to the Edea regional hospital, where he succumbed to the injuries and died an hour and a half later.

The corpse of Cabrel Nanjip left Douala last night for Bangangte. He has been deposited at the Bangangte District Hospital mortuary.

Cabrel Nanjip Nyamton, 33 was known for his innate talent for making people laugh through his humorous videos and skits, he was also an actor and influencer.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Reports from the National Institute of Statistics as of 2021 revealed that 30 percent of children under the age of 5 are not registered at birth and more than 1.6 million children attended school without a birth certificate. An undesirable situation the convention between the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family and the 21 selected councils seeks to address.

The signing ceremony of the terms of the agreement between the two parties took place on Friday, June 15, 2023, at the Yaounde town hall.

About 26000 children in Cameroon living without birth certificates will soon have the identification document thanks to government support of over 667 million FCFA to the 21 councils in seven regions, to facilitate their enrolment in the civil registry.

Birth certificates in Cameroon are legal proof of identity that helps protect children from violence, abuse, and exploitation.

This government support will help speed up the process of registering ghost children in their respective constituencies free of charge.

The Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Marie-Thérèse Abena Ondoa in the presence of other members of government instructed the mayors present to ensure that these documents be produced before the start of the new school year.

“It is extremely important to sensitize the parents to do the birth certificates of their children before it becomes financially heavy. We have a lot of children without birth certificates. As the Ministry of Woman Empowerment and the Family, we have to make sure that every child born within a family has legal existence and we want to support those councils because without a birth certificate, a child cannot take an official exam,” Minister Marie-Thérèse stated.

The agreement is part of the commemoration of the 33rd day of the African Child on June 16, 2023

Source: Cameroon News Agency

The outstanding performance Ethiopian Airlines Group has laid the foundation for achieving Vision 2035 strategy, Ethiopian Airlines Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mesfin Tasew said.

Ethiopian Airlines Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mesfin Tasew announced on Thursday that the group has earned 6.1 billion USD in the current Ethiopian fiscal year.

According to the CEO, the revenue has shown a 20 percent increase to same period last year amidst the global economic shocks.

The CEO also said Ethiopian for the first time in the history has graduated over 170 pilots over the year. He added the airline has plans to produce 200 pilots effective from next year.

In this regard, the pilot training school recently inaugurated in Hawassa will play greater role, he said.

Despite tremendous difficulties resulted from internal and domestic challenges, Mesfin underlined that the Ethiopian Airlines Group has ensured its competitiveness in the fiscal year.

Moreover, the outstanding performance of the airlines has laid the foundation for achieving its Vision 2035 strategy, he said.

To this end, Ethiopian Airlines Group aims to double its fleet and destination network in line with its ambitious ‘Vision 2035’ strategy. The airline already operates the largest fleet and destination network in Africa.

The airline is evaluating new aircraft models that suit its future operation needs, it was learned.

Although the global economic slowdown, the Russia-Ukrainian war and the increase in oil and gas prices are posing challenges to the aviation sector, the CEO said adding it was a good opportunity for Ethiopian for some countries including China have allowed flights which had closed their doors due to COVID-19 pandemic.

While most airlines this year are focusing on resuming flight routes that have been suspended due to COVID-19, Ethiopian Airlines Group has achieved better results by opening seven new international flight destinations including to Copenhagen, Atlanta and Karachi, he indicated.

The airline has also transported 13.7 million passengers and 723,000 tons of cargo, in the fiscal year.

The growth of passenger has shown a 20 percent increase compared to same period last year, according to Mesfin.

He added the airlines received 11 new passenger planes in the fiscal year, thus bringing the total number of passenger planes to more than 140.

Mesfin indicated that the Airlines is also working hard not only to make further milestones by opening new destinations, but also to support other African airlines, through working in partnerships, among others, Sky Airlines in Togo, Malawian and Zambia Airways, the CEO said.

Speaking on human resource development of the airlines, some 170 airline captains have graduated from the Ethiopian Airlines University, and it plans to graduate 200 aviation captains annually.

Therefore, Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO reaffirmed the airlines will continue committing to Africa’s pride by increasing its international competitiveness and expanding destinations.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Safaricom Ethiopia has expressed appreciation to the Government of Ethiopia for its support in undertaking telecom and financial services in the country.

Safaricom Ethiopia Chief Enterprise Business Officer, Chris Lazarus told ENA that “the first message we continue to give to the outside investment is the support that we are receiving from the government, first for the launch of the telecommunication services, and now for this investment in the area of financial services.”

It is to be recalled that the state-owned ethio telecom has been operating as a sole telecommunication services operator in Ethiopia since 1894, until the government allowed the private company Safaricom Ethiopia to start telecom operations last year.

It’s almost a year since we launched the core telecommunications services in the country, the chief business officer said, adding that the company will continue to invest in building infrastructures and rolling out the services for customers, businesses, and the government.

The National Bank of Ethiopia has also recently issued a license for Safaricom to start its Mpesa mobile payment instrument.

He further assured: “We are proud now to bring Mpesa very shortly. We’ll be launching that particular service here in Ethiopia to help the country drive the topics like financial inclusion and digital inclusion; and that’s what we are currently busy with and we will continue to invest in.”

The company is confident that they can build an even better product than what was previously offered in Kenya.

“In fact, inside the company, we say that we’re going to build a product that’s even better than what our colleagues first started to have in places like Kenya, which is where this was born.”

According to him, the company plans to create a complete ecosystem by connecting people through telecommunication and combining distribution, branding, and the new ecosystem.

“Our aim is to make sure that we put our connectivity in all parts of the country, including rural areas. Obviously, we had to start in the cities first, but our plan now is to expand that to cover all. So yes, our plan is to not leave anybody behind. And that’s why we talk about being purpose-led; that this is a digital society not for people only living in cities, but this is a digital society for people living with a digital inclusive strategy for people living in all areas of the country.”

The engagement of Safaricom in addition to ethio telecom and the expected third telecom operator is going to stir further competition and benefit their customers from affordable and meaningful connectivity which also aligns with the United Nations ITU target.

The chief enterprise business officer commented that Ethiopia is already experiencing the benefits of competition, with many changes taking place in the country.

“Ethiopia has already started to experience the benefit of what competition is. There are many changes that have happened already in the country.”

Although he didn’t want to pinpoint specific examples, he believed that further competition would arise when a third operator arrives. He thinks that it will happen and is already starting to happen in many regards.

Yet, Lazarus pointed out that our partner, the incumbent ethio telecom, is not seen as competitor but rather an ally. “With our investments and efforts, we have already made a positive change and created an ecosystem that goes beyond what it was before.”

The chief enterprise business officer finally stated that “if you think about digital Ethiopia, that’s what Digital Ethiopia 2025 is. It’s not one person or one company driving it. This is a country with 120 million people and growing. So, we need many areas of the economy to think in this way. Partnership, and ecosystem for a better Ethiopian.”

Source: Ethiopian News Agency