Category: General

Chairman of the Opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo has urged all losing aspirants in the August 24, 2019 Parliamentary primaries to support candidates elected ahead of the 2020 primaries.

According to the chairman, as losing candidates in the Presidential primaries throw their weight behind John Mahama and offered their support and loyalty going into the 2020 general elections, “the not-so-lucky aspirants in the Parliamentary primaries should also display their loyalty and commitment in a similar manner for we have only one adversary, the NPP, and we need to focus all our energies on the effort  to get the people of Ghana to elect us to replace the confused and clueless President Akufo-Addo and his government”.

Mr. Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo made this known in an interview when he was commenting on the outcome of the August 24, 2019 primaries of the party.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

The Italian Ambassador to Ghana, His Excellency Giovanni Favilli has said the Italian government is happy and committed to supporting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

According to the Italian Ambassador, this would help SMEs thrive in order to create more jobs for the youth.

He noted that the Italian Government since 2003 has been supporting SMEs in the country with a loan of thirty million Euros and grants of two million Euros for a period of ten to fifteen years in two phases through the private development fund.

His Excellency Giovanni Favilli also stated that Ghana is blessed with a lot of skilled workforce who are willing to work to promote economic growth in Ghana which Italy is happy about.

The private sector provides the biggest opportunity for job creation in Ghana hence government of Italy will continue to do its best to support the sector, he stated.

The Ambassador who was speaking when the Foreign Affairs Committee called on him reiterated that as stated by President Akufo-Addo, it is not the public sector that would create jobs, rather the private sector that can create jobs and opportunities, adding that Ghana has a lot of resources to achieve this.

He recounted how Italy has been through difficult years, recording slow growth; and expressed delight at the figures that Ghana has achieved in terms of growth and added that both countries have a lot to learn from each other.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Senior Minister in the Akufo-Addo led administration; Yaw Osafo Marfo has given indications that if progress is not achieved in the Ghana-Togo maritime boundary negotiation, the country will proceed to the International Court for Arbitration for a lasting solution.

According to the Senior Minister with the little he had witnessed during the negotiation he is not of the opinion that there would be amicable settlement in the Ghana-Togo maritime boundary negotiation.

“We have a red line in the sea where Ghanaian and Togolese fishermen catching fish cannot cross, since 1929, but the Togolese say they would not let the Ghanaians come there, in 2016 the Ghanaian navy intervene which nearly resulted in a clash both Presidents had to intervene and the Ghanaian navy withdrew”.

In an interview, the senior Minister maintained that long ago, the Ghanaian fishermen were fishing to some location in the territorial waters between Ghana and Togo and added that it is not that simple and both parties are thinking about it.

“There is an international law to resolve this issue no single country can take the law into her hands, if reasoning does not prevail today then we would all be heading towards the International Court of Arbitration on the Sea”.

He made this remarks when he opened a two day boundary negotiation between both countries in Accra, Ghana, to draw a permanent boundary on the sea between Ghana and Togo.

And explained that the process commenced on the initiative of Presidents of both countries desiring good neighborliness and peaceful coexistence.

Mr. Osafo Marfo said, during the previous meetings both parties agreed that their survey teams should jointly explore various possibilities to establish the Land Boundary Terminus (LBT) or Border Pillar 1 as a prerequisite for drawing the maritime boundary between the two countries in his remarks.

“Both survey teams presented a report of 1929 Boundary Commission signed by the French and British Commission and the related map, which they both agreed to use the report in their working documents”.

He drew the attention of the two parties to the outstanding issue of provisional arrangements which should be agreed in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), while negotiation for the formal delimitation of the maritime boundary continues.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Ahead of this morning’s mid-year review budget presentation by Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta, radio and television stations in the capital invaded the foyer of Parliament.

As early as 5am in the morning most of the radio and television stations had set up in Parliament and started their morning shows.

On Wednesday evening as at five pm most of the electronic media houses in the capital were fighting over space at the foyer, the entrance leading to the main chamber.

Most of the media house were struggling over Members of Parliament to be interviewed, whiles others were fighting over turf, to show supremacy either they are the most watched television station or most listen to radio station.

Ahead of this, even the Minority had held a roundtable breakfast and predicated that the ruling New Patriotic Party government was going to increase taxes and burden Ghanaians.

By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Secretary General of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, John Azumah, is advocating for a new capital for the Republic of Ghana to aid the sub-region’s integration process.

As long as countries like Burkina Faso and Mali depend on Ghana greatly through its port system at Tema in terms of business, a new capital at Kintampo in the Brong-Ahafo region would be a central point, with vast flat land to take the pressure away from the present capital Accra which is chocked and experiencing flooding with any heavy down pour.

“Despite the fact that it would take time to get a new capital, we would have a new airport, railway network and again the new rail net work fit into President Nana Akufo-Addo’s vision of building a rail network up to Burkina Faso and move up to Mali”.

As to what time frame should be given for the relocation of the new capital for the country, he said, “we can say in the next five years, election is coming up next year, I keep insisting on the President’s vision he put in his manifesto and despite all the criticisms he has to and is going to yield results”.

Mr. John Azumah further noted that, with the upcoming elections, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Peoples National Convention (PNC), Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) and the others should be thinking of getting a new capital and put it in their manifesto.

“Whoever comes to power should endeavor to start something. There are so many ways of starting this things, especially involving the private sector, PPP must come in the infrastructural development”.

He said government should establish an enabling environment for the private sector to come in and take advantage in building the infrastructure.

In addition, we can learn a lot from other countries with new capital if we have in-depth research on how some of these capitals have developed and political parties should be held by their manifesto moving in next year how they would solve some of the problems that Accra is facing.

“The next five to ten years, you would be surprise that we would have a modest start, but we would have a modern capital that would take care of ECOWAS for the integration issues between the Anglophones, Francophone’s and Lusophone  countries in the sub-region”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com

Speaker of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Mustapha Cisse Lo, has lamented over the increasing number of refugees especially Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in West Africa.

Speaking at a five day delocalized meeting of ECOWAS Parliament in Togo, the Speaker called for a more collaborative efforts to tackle the scourge situation and give hope to the victims.

The joint committees on Health and Social Services, Energy, Mines and Industry, Human Rights, Child protection and other vulnerable groups commenced on Tuesday in Togo.

Speaker Cisse Lo described the theme as apt, “contribution of International Organization and Non-Governmental Organizations towards the provision of Health care, Housing, and Food for displaced persons and refugees in West Africa: Parliamentary approach to the adoption of community standards”.

He further pointed out that despite the enormous efforts being made by the regional bloc and international organizations and support groups, the crises have lingered in most West African countries following political conflicts, the activities of jihadist group in Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso and other countries.

Also, the refugees and IDP crises are partly caused by inter-ethnic clashes and the climate change, which the region may not control.

“There are many inter-community clashes in our countries that lead to refugees and displaced people fleeing from one place to another. You also have the negative effect of climate change; you have floods and all that phenomenon that push people. You also have banditry, Jihadism, organized crime and people just have to flee from such places”.

Mr. Mustapha Cisse Lo, however, assured that the ECOWAS Parliament which is the interface between the executive and the national parliament of member countries, is working hard to ensure that model laws can be enacted to respond effectively to the scourge.

“We must coordinate and reflect on a more efficient mechanism to provide succor to the victims of displacements. We must therefore adopt Parliamentary standard and take concerted actions within the capacity of member states and in solidarity with our partners and the international community”.

Speaker of the Togolese Parliament, Yawa Djigbodi Tsegan, said refugees and displaced persons are the most vulnerable people in the World that have been denied basic rights of food and nutrition, education and health.

According to him, in recent times support for displaced persons and refugees are at the lowest ebb adding that it has become incumbent on the region especially the Parliament to have an approach and standard to address the menace.

She said ECOWAS, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and civil society organization are working together to ensure rights of people on the move are guaranteed and met.

“We must agree to have a better mechanism of sharing information and put other our tools together to achieve the purpose of tackling the challenges of vulnerable groups in our community, we must use available resources to tackle this scourge”, she said.

The number of refugees in the world is rising again, according to the June 2018 report of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, with more than sixty-eight (68) million people uprooted in 2017, and for the fifth year in a row, wars, violence and persecution have pushed up forced displacement across the world, and developing countries are the most heavily affected.

According to reports, some 10.9 million Nigerians living in the three most affected states in Northern Nigeria are in need of humanitarian assistance. More than 228,000 refugees fled to Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Refugees who have fled their countries to escape conflict and persecution account for 25.4 million of the 68.5 million uprooted people increase of 2.9 million from 2016 and also the largest increase ever recorded by UNCHR for a single year.

Internally displaced persons number 40 million, slightly less than the 40.3 million internally displaced in 2016.

The situation in Africa in not rosy, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, which is more home to more than 26 percent of refugees worldwide because of the current crises in this region. Thus, all ECOWAS member states are faced with the challenge of refugees and displaced persons.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com