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Exhibitors at third ECREEE forum impress with opportunity

 

Exhibitors at the third ECOWAS Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) have expressed satisfaction at the opportunity afforded them to be part of the forum as it has opened them up for new customers.

Interviews conducted by Ghanamps.com at the final and third day of the forum witnessed a lot of participants at the forum visiting the various stands.

Most of the exhibitors who have their headquarters in Europe and Asia indicated their intention of expanding their reach to the West African sub-region as most of them are already based in Nigeria, Togo and Ivory Coast.

The third and final day witnessed a lot of networking and question asking at the exhibition centre as most of the participation and owners of businesses who were interested in renewable energy took advantage of the opportunity.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Alliance for Rural Electrification ready to tap into West African market

Communications and Marketing Manager for Alliance for Rural Electrification, Ling Ng, said the company is ready to tap into the West African market in the energy sector.

Alliance for Rural Electrification is a Belgium based business that works mainly in Francophone West Africa in the energy.

According to the communications and marketing officer this year the company has been active in Togo and Ivory Coast and they are happy to be in Ghana for the just ended third ECOWAS sustainable energy forum.

“Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) is a viable partner to help us tap into the West African region.

In an interview Ling Ng noted that Alliance for Rural Electrification is a business platform that brings together members, as they have over one hundred and thirty members, and work in Asia and Latin America.

One of the reasons why people come to such conferences is to mobilize the private sector in the energy sector, we have seen a good network of people from Europe and around the world, again we have worked with EU funded programmes”.

She also expressed her company’s readiness to meet with the local business in the sector, meet potential investors and address challenges they face in the sector.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

 

Tradeworks company ready to work with Assembly in solar energy sector

Tradeworks Company, an organization in the solar energy business and specialized in distributing high quality electrical appliances for homes and business base in the Ga East Municipality says it is ready to provide Assemblies with solar energy to address their energy needs.

The company exhibited in the just ended ECOWAS Sustainable Energy forum held in Accra Ghana, a third of its kind since the establishment of ECOWAS Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE).

Managing Director of Tradeworks, Randy Sey in an interview said his company is creating employment for the youth in the Ga East Municipality.

“The youth are employed and work with us directly whiles we have people who work with us indirectly through outsourcing of projects, being in the Municipality has helped us educate people on solar energy”.

He revealed that solar energy is not an extra ordinary technology or foreign but something that has come to stay with us in Ghana.

He also encouraged more people to be interested in solar power going forward to help deal with energy challenges in the country.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Appointment committee questions why Ghanaians were not told of acting information Minister

Information Minister designate, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has revealed to the Appointment Committee that Minister for Regional Reorganization and Development Dan Kwaku Botwe is the acting Minister for Information.

This came to light when the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu sought to know if he held himself as the acting Information Minister. But the nominee before the Appointment Committee said no, and made the revelation.

Chairman of the committee, Joseph Osei Owusu questioned why this information had not been communicated to Ghanaians, as Kojo Oppong Nkrumah indicated that as a Deputy Minister in the absence of a substantive Minister, he is assigned to supervise, the nominee told the committee.

Mr. Joseph Osei-Owusu cautioned that it is very critical for Ghanaians to be informed about this.

The nominee before the committee indicated to the committee that the advice is well taken, adding the mistake would not be repeated in future.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

ECOWAS might miss SDG seven if… Dr. Bawumia

Vice President of Ghana Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has said there are strong indications that, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) might not be able to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) seven by 2030.

According to Dr. Bawumia it is against this background that ECOWAS member states continue to improve enabling environment for investment in sustainable energy as a community.

SDG seven touches on affordable and clean energy, with the aim of having clean energy production, energy from waste, renewable fuels, energy distribution, management and energy storage.

He made this remarks at the opening of the third ECOWAS Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE).

“We are doing a lot to better the condition of our people however, our efforts are not good enough as poverty and other socio economic indicators continue to paint a gloomy picture of the region. The good news is that as leaders we have what it takes to change this unfortunate narrative, hence the need to have an in-depth understanding of the urgency of our collaboration to remove the regional impediments to lift out people out of poverty by providing them with the right infrastructure and system meant for their development”.

He further pointed out that the sub-region owes it a duty to make the right decisions particularly in electricity sector with the focus on the rural population urgently as possible.

“To meet   our ECOWAS target on SDD seven we need to take a stock and see why progress has been slow, we may need to revise our strategic plan, here in Ghana the sector ministry is committed to ensuring that our energy is reliable and high quality”.

Ghana has a robust power pool to support the ECOWAS regional effort to ensure that sustainable renewable energy is achieved as a comprehensive national renewable master plan is in place, he added.

He thanked ECREEE for its leadership and commitment to ensure that the region achieve regional energy integration on sustainable basis.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

UAE gives indication to invest in energy sector in W/A —ECREEE

The Ministry of Economy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has given the green light that, it is prepared to invest in the energy sector in West Africa.

Executive Director for the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) Mahama Kappiah, revealed this in Accra at the third ECOWAS Sustainable Energy forum in Accra.

In an interview, he pointed out that UAE has taken a step further by inviting the West African sub-region for a forum to identify projects to sponsor and if Heads of states agree to it, in March of next year every member of the fifteen states if possible need to be carried along.

“When we were coming for this forum we made our objectives clear that, we were not coming her to talk, we needed partnership to improve the energy situation which would contribute to the social economic development. Here comes a partner who can invite all the great investment houses, they say present your projects in the energy sector along the value chain.

They have said we should meet, put everything on the table for discussion, how they can fund it, they are serious ready to invest, this is an opportunity for us since we are so much behind, it would help us move forward in the sector”.

As to whether the whole partnership with the UAE would be on renewable energy, he noted that it is the entire chain, exploration, extraction, refining, power generation, distribution and LPG supply.

“To organize a West African energy supply, they are ready for us, we have never received this type of offer, and this is the first time”.

Mr. Mahama Kappiah emphasized the need for improvement in the living situation of the West African sub-region and become more productive, “we need energy to do that, without energy we are not going anywhere”

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

ESEF third forum enters day two in Accra Ghana

The third forum of ECOWAS Sustainable Energy forum has entered its third day in Accra on the theme, Achieving sustainable energy targets in ECOWAS”, bring delegates across the West African sub-region for this forum.

Delegates were in various committee discussing topics on how to move forward the renewable energy agenda in the sub-region.

Some of the topics being discussed are, standalone solar systems investment in West Africa and Sahel, capitalizing on the region’s renewable energy potentials, the role of IPP and financing methods and African continental free trade agreement opportunities and prospects for the ECOWAS Region electricity sector.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

 

NDC put on hold primaries in five constituencies

The functional Executive Committee of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has put on hold parliamentary primaries in five constituencies until further notice.

The affected constituencies are Yilo Krobo, Mpohoe, Ellembelle, Asawase and Fanteakwa.
This was contained in a press release signed by the General Secretary of the party Johnson Aseidu Nketiah.

In a related development the party would hold a press conference this afternoon to be address by Mr. Johnson Aseidu Nketiah to outline preparations towards the Parliamentary elections on Saturday 24th of August 2019.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Only one proxy qualify for NDC’s 2019 Parliamentary primaries—Aseidu Nketia

General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Aseidu Nketia has revealed that only one person qualifies with his proxy application for this weekend’s Parliamentary primaries of the party.

According to the General Secretary of the NDC, with numerous applications for proxy received fourteen days clearly before the elections, only one application from Afadzato South passed the stringent process of authentication.

He further pointed out that all other applicants had be declared invalid because of one problem or the other. This, he revealed when he addressed the media on Wednesday 21st of August 2019 on preparation ahead of Saturday 24th August 2019 parliamentary primaries.

“Mr. Emmanuel Quarshie of Afadzato South has provided a scan copy of his voters ID and his NDC card with his pictures, where he had delegated someone to vote for him because he would not be available”, he said.

Mr. Johnson Aseidu Nketia when questioned by journalists as to what led to declaring other proxy invalid noted that, the other proxies were written in the same hand writing “obviously something is wrong”.

Again others had proxy letter written the same day from one constituency and there was no way of authenticating, and for that reason they could not meet the proxy mark.

He noted that, the law provides that they attach the list of successful proxy to the voters register, so that officials of the Electoral Commission who come to the polling station with the register can attach the proxy to the list.

“Fortunately or unfortunately it is only one person whose proxy would be attached and he is from Afadzato South in all the other list there would be no proxy attached”, he told the media.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

NPP fix April 25 for Parliamentary primaries

The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has fix next year April 25, to hold parliamentary primaries in 169 constituencies where it has sitting Members of Parliament for the 2020 parliamentary elections.

In a statement signed by its General Secretary, John Boadu has cautioned prospective aspirants to desist from all forms of campaign activities, “until nominations are duly opened else they risk being disqualified for flouting party directives”.

The party would equally hold primaries same day for its presidential primaries.

The decision was reached at a joint National Executive Committee (NEC) and National Council meeting held on Monday October 21, 2019 in Accra. NEC would at the appropriate time come out with detailed guidelines and modalities for the conduct of the primaries the statement said.

However, primaries would be held on Saturday Octobers 26, 2019 for the remaining orphan constituencies that were excluded from the party’s nationwide primaries on September this year due to some outstanding matters, which have since been resolved,

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com