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Gadayi wins GNPC Ghana Fastest Kumasi Open

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            Edwin Gadayi, a member of the Speedsters Club in the Ashanti Region, proved his worth as an international events medal prospect, when he won the seniors event of the Ghana National Pretroleum Company (GNPC) Ghana’s Fastest  Kumasi Open Meet, with a time with 10.43secs.

             Richmond Opoku of Osei Kyerekyie Senior High School (OKESS), was second in 10.83secs with Ronald Kumi Yeboah from Brong Ahafo Region placing third in 10.85secs.

          In the female division, Obour Grace also of the Speedsters Club, Ashanti Region, won the female seniors in 11.96secs with Mariam P. Domfe of Ashanti making in 12.39secs. whilst Janet Mensah made 12.50 secs to place second and third respectively.

         Gadayi ran a personal best of 10.37 in the heats, the fastest local time in Ghana this year and won the Brong Ahafo and Ashanti Region GNPC Ghana’s Fastest Human event with a final time of 10.43 seconds.

        Obuor also won the 400 meters in 53.27 seconds then won the seniors 100 with a personal best of 11.96 seconds.

GNA

Ministry of Finance approves commencement of fourteen road projects

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Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Finance, on Friday June 28, 2019, conditionally, approved a multi-year funding commitment of GH¢ 1,560,551,812.33, for the commencement of fourteen(14) road projects over the medium term.

The move to approve the projects, would see reconstruction, rehabilitation and upgrading of road networks, spanning 381.3 Kilometres (km) across the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Eastern and Northern Regions of Ghana.

A release issued by the Public Relations Unit of the Ministry of Finance and copied to the Ghana news Agency said the approval of the funding commitment for the 14 projects, was subject to section 33(1) of Ghana’s Public Financial Management (PFM), (Act 921), which required a yearly breakdown of each project, and detailed information on all on-going road projects.

It said the PFM Act 921 also required a complete assessment of all projects for efficiency.

The multi-year commitment for the Ministry of Roads and High Ways, would be funded through the medium term budgetary allocation 2019 and 2023, the release said, adding, “according to the Office of the Minister of Finance, the concerned Ministry is expected to provide required information, as stipulated by the PFM Act, by 15 July, 2019”.

It said apart from insisting on strict adherence to procurement processes, as enshrined in the Public Procurement (Amendment) Act 2016(Act 914), the Ministry of Finance had also requested the Ministry of Roads and Highways, to submit all projects contracts for inclusion, in the medium term Expenditure Framework.

The release mentioned the projects as the reconstruction of the Osiem-Begoro road – 24.80 kilometers(km), Kwabeng-Abomosu-Asuom road, 41.40km, the up-grading of the Anwiankwanta-Obuasi road-30km and the Mampong Kofiase road-14km.

The rest are the reconstruction of the Kwabeng Akropong road and the Akropong Town roads-23.3km, upgrading of the Nsuta-Beposo road-7km, upgrading of Kwadaso-Trabuom road-30km, rehabilitation of Adankrono-Kade-New Abremm road (Lot1)-21km, and the rehabilitation of Adankrono-Kade-New Abremm road (Lot2)-22.4km.

Others are the upgrading of the Atronie-Mim road-17km, the reconstruction of the Asuom-Subi-Kade road-22km, and the reconstruction of the Akropong-Pramkese-Adankrono road-27.2km, as well as the upgrading of the Odumasi-Adenta-Badu road-30.2km.

GNA

Operation Vanguard arrests 85 suspected illegal miners in the Eastern Region

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Operation Vanguard Personnel in the Eastern Region in an operation conducted between 3:00am and 6:00am on Saturday has resulted in the arrest of 85 suspected illegal miners.

This was contained in a statement issued to the Ghana News Agency by Captain Andy Sowatey, Public Relations Officer of Operation Vanguard.

The statement said, the galamseyers, who were operating within the general area of Abomosu in the Atiwa West District were made up of 83 locals, a Nigerien and an Ivorian.

It added that the suspects were currently in the custody of civil police.

The statement said in other operations conducted within the past week, the Taskforce arrested two locals suspected of galamsey in the Amansie West District.

“Additionally, five excavators, two motorbikes and four Water pumping machines were also seized and some 22 Changfans were also destroyed”, the statement added.

GNA

Peasant farmers advocate productive farmlands for women

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Mr Suraj J. Borsutie, Upper West Regional President of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana.

Mr Suraj J. Borsutie, Upper West Regional President of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) has advocated the need for women to be given productive farmlands for cultivation to improve their economic status.

“Women are seen as very productive and could transform the economy of families, ensure food security and support the education of their children when given access to productive farmlands”.

Speaking with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Tumu, Mr Borsutie, said the culture of some societies did not favour women as they were expected to help husbands on the farm rather than owning farms.
“It is a cultural belief that women should not farm but should support their husbands to farm”. 

Though government has taken initiatives to improve Ghana’s agricultural sector through the introduction of programmes such as Planting for Food and Jobs, women’s inability to have access to farmlands could stall the success of the programmes. 

This fear had triggered multiple campaigns by individuals and NGOs including the BUSAC Fund to ensure that women had access to productive lands for agricultural activities.

Mr Borsutie expressed regret that in most cases, men only released unproductive land to women for farming, which adversely affect their output.

He called on landlords and men to give out productive lands to women for farm activities towards improving their economic status.

Some of the women farmers told the GNA that lack of access to mechanisation services and market for farm produce were some of the challenges they faced.

Madam Zinabu Samari, a farmer at Kupulima in the Sissala West District, noted that though women were benefiting from the PFJ programme, access to credit facilities could help improve their farming activities.

Zinabut who engages in soybeans, maize, and beans farming, said women were willing to farm but access to market remained a key impediment to them. 

Another farmer at Nankpawie in the Sissala East District, Madam Laura Ibrahim, said she harvested five bags of soybeans last year but could not get market for them. 

The women farmers therefore called on government and organisations to come to their aid in accessing ready market and credit facilities as well as mechanisation services.

GNA

Government working to employ private nurses

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Mr Alexander K. K. Abban, Deputy Minister of Health said government has activated a programme to offer employment to all qualified nurses from private institutions who completed between 2012 to 2016.

     He said an electronic platform had been launched to facilitate that from July 01, 2019.

     Mr Abban said this at the first Volta Regional Town Hall meeting organized by the Ministry of Information under the auspices of the Volta Regional Coordinating Council (VRCC).

    He said financial clearance for 54,892 nurses, who graduated had been done from 2017, many of whom were from public nursing training institutions.

    The Deputy Minister said “It is true government has restored Nurses Training Allowance,” and that a total of 57,000 trainees were beneficiaries, attracting GH¢20.4 million a month.

     Mr Abban, also Member of Parliament for Gomoa East said government remained committed to the health sector with a total of GH¢ 201.8 million paid for the 2017/2018 academic year.

    He added that the first seven months of the 2018/2019 academic year had been honoured and that GH¢ 57.8 million warrant had also been released to clear the remaining months.

    The Deputy Minister said MOH was undertaking supply-chain reforms to improve health commodity management in the sector including logistic management information systems to ensure data visibility; last-mile distribution of health commodities; framework contracting and warehousing.

     On Malaria, he said over 15.5 million long lasting insecticide treated nets (LLITN) were distributed for population at risk through mass campaign in 2018.

    Mr Abban said the National Health Insurance Authority was embarking on a strategy to attain financial access and efficiency to position the Scheme to increase service tariffs by 20 per cent, this year, stating the new tariff regime came into effect in April, 2019.

     He said by close of June, 2019, sub district facilities and below would have been paid to enhance achievement of Universal Health Coverage.

     Mr Abban said an amount of GH¢ 1.03 billion had been paid with an accruing debt of GH¢ 1.2 04 billion and outstanding debt of GH¢ 200 million.

    On health infrastructure, the Deputy Minister said Tamale Teaching Hospital was undergoing major rehabilitation works in addition to the completion of works on five district hospitals it inherited, namely, Weta, Sawla, Somanya, Buipe and Bamboi.

     He said works were continuing in five polyclinics under Ghana Eight Hospital Project, in Shai Osudoku, Dodowa, Abetifi, Kumasi, Takoradi, Sekondi, Garu and Fomena, which are at various levels of completion.

      Mr Abban said MOH was working to ensure timely access to high quality healthcare irrespective of ability to pay at a point in fulfilment of Sustainable Development Goal three.

By Maxwell Awumah, GNA

President mobilizes support for women refugees in Africa

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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has embarked on a continental advocacy to mobilise political and social support for women refugees in Africa.

The President, who is the Chair of the African Union’s Committee on Gender and Development, has begun this action through the Gender and Development Initiative Africa (GIDA), a flagship agenda of the President. 

Last Friday evening, President Akufo-Addo, held a forum in Accra to deliberate on how the continent would approach the subject of providing adequate care for displaced women and children. 

Participants of the forum, attended by technocrats and technical groups with relevant knowledge on the issue, are to produce a comprehensive and informative report on the status of women refugees in Africa which would be presented at the next African Union Summit by President Akufo-Addo.

The President, in an address at the forum, was confident that the outcome of the deliberations would help provide a blueprint to enhance the livelihoods and conditions of women refugees on the continent.

According to him, the continent had done both past and present generations disservice in not taking care of women displaced due to conflicts.

“We have the duty to extend the blanket of protection to all women and to ensure that upholding their rights is the bedrock for equality and social justice.”

“The specter of tens of millions of young female refugees, growing up without the needed skills to create meaningful lives for themselves is a dangerous one.” 

“What do we expect them to do? What opportunities are available to them? How competitive can they be in this global economy? These are questions that must elicit a concerted response from all of us on the continent,” the President said. 

He said even though the continent was largely at peace now, conflicts for several decades had left many people displaced, with women being the majority.

The President said the dream of a wealthy and prosperous Africa would be realised if every female child got the opportunity to better herself and contribute to the development of her community.

He stressed the need for countries on the continent to make peace the priority and take advantage of the dynamism and youthful population to build an orderly and prosperous society that promoted peace.

Additionally, he said it was imperative to ensure political stability in all parts of the continent, respect for individual rights and the rule of law.

Aside conflict, he said poverty had become one of the major reasons for people to migrate from one location to another and stressed the need for political leaders to work to address extreme poverty on the continent. 

He said the countries could build wealth and prosperity for their citizens when they moved away from the current raw material-dependent economies to adding value to their raw materials. 

“The only way to ensuring prosperity in Africa is through value addition activities and transforming and diversifying modern economies so we can generate thousands of good paying jobs for our men and women,” he said.

BY YAW KYEI

No job losses at Ghana’s ports – Pres assures

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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has pledged to ensure that there are no job losses at the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), as a result of the Meridian Ports (MPS) concession agreement.

The assurance follows the President’s consideration of issues raised by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) workers, led by the Maritime and Dock Workers Union (MDU) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

A statement issued by the Mr Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, the Minister of Transport on Friday said this was in line with the President’s commitment to promote economic prosperity, whilst maintaining socio-industrial harmony in Ghana’s port industry.

It said the President further held a meeting with the shareholders of MPS, and obtained their commitment to engage GPHA to ensure adequate revenue generation and job retention on the part of GPHA. 

“Whilst pursuing the desired solution, operations in Terminal 3 shall commence with the existing tariffs, whilst the GPHA goes through due process with the relevant stakeholders for any tariff increase, ” it said.

In view of the above, the statement said all parties were committed to the successful opening and smooth operations of Terminal 3. 

The Terminal 3, is part of the Tema Port Expansion project, a public-private partnership between the GPHA and MPS to provide efficient port services for importers and exporters across the West African coastline and boost revenue generation.

The fully-automated terminal estimated at US$1.5 billion has the capacity to accommodate two million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEUs) containers, up from the previous 820,000 TEUs.

It will operate a twenty-four seven customer service and would be one of the largest container terminals in Africa, capable of providing 16 different port services.

The project sparked agitation from workers over fears of retrenchment that could affect about 1,784 workforce from both Tema and Takoradi Ports.

BY TIMES REPORTER

Newspaper Headlines Monday 1st July 2019

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Barclays engages SMEs in Tamale to mark 2019 World SME Day

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Barclays Bank Ghana, part of the Absa family, marked this year’s World SME Day in Tamale with a commitment of increasing its support for small and medium enterprises in the country.

Barclays, a leading bank in providing financing for SMEs in Ghana, marked the day with a special SME clinic for businesses in Northern Ghana. This was to help them benefit from the Bank’s tailor-made capacity building programme aimed at educating and supporting SMEs in running a  sound and sustainable business.

The World SME Day is a United Nations recognized day to raise public awareness about the contribution of small medium enterprises to sustainable development.

The UN General Assembly, recognizing the importance of SMEs, decided to declare June 27th  the Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day. The Day was first celebrated in 2017.

Speaking to participants, the Business Banking Director at Barclays Bank Ghana, Mrs. Grace Anim-Yeboah said SMEs form a core part of the Bank’s business and these capacity-building engagements are to help SME clients improve their business processes, implement good corporate governance structures, improve customer service, instil excellent human resource management practices and have better access to credit.

“We are committed to helping SMEs to grow and achieve their business goals. This is why we continue to provide the necessary support and financing to enable them to succeed,” Mrs Anim-Yeboah said.

“As we move into a highly digitized banking environment, we will lead and help you to make the right digital choices that will impact positively on your growth. We are your trusted financial partner you can always rely on for the best solutions designed to serve your best interest,” she added.

Ms Nana Essilfuah Boison, Marketing and Corporate Relations Director used the occasion to update participants on the bank’s transition to Absa, and the opportunities the change presented to customers and all other stakeholders of the bank.

The Tamale SME clinic is the sixth to have been organized by the Bank and close to 400 SMEs have benefitted.

Beneficiary SMEs were also taken through a series of sessions including Group Imports, Credit Sanctioning, Fraud Alerts and Forex Trading among others.  They were also introduced to the bank’s various products and services developed for their benefit. 

Among the new products and services for businesses are  Digital Banking, Mobile Money Collection Solution and Barclays Business Club.

Last year, the Barclays SME clinics supported more than 750 clients with various capacity building programmes and this year many more are expected to benefit from it.

AC Milan banned from Europe for financial fair play violations

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AC Milan were banned from European football for next season on Friday over breaches of financial fair play rules, CAS, the top court for sport, announced.

European football’s governing body UEFA had accused the club of violating financial fair play (FFP) regulations over the past three seasons and the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in their favour.

“AC Milan is excluded from participating in UEFA club competitions of the sporting season 2019/2020 as a consequence of the breach of its FFP break-even obligations” for the past three seasons, the court ruled.

UEFA initially found the Italian giants, who had qualified for the Europa League next season, guilty in June last year of violating financial rules which broadly limit club expenditure to club income in any given year.

However, CAS referred the matter back to UEFA judging that an European ban was disproportionate.

Ultimately UEFA action against the club was suspended pending the outcome of arbitration, resulting in Friday’s decision following agreement between UEFA, the club and CAS.

The announcement follows the club’s adoption of spending curbs in recent months designed to return its finances to a better state and which saw the departure of coach Gennaro Gattuso.

The Serie A giants, who missed out on a Champions League spot by one point to city rivals Inter, are one of several clubs, including Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City, to have been investigated for breaching UEFA’s rules, whereby clubs cannot spend more than they generate by their own means.

AC Milan have fallen foul of UEFA’s financial rules since they spent 200 million euros ($225 million) on transfers in the summer of 2017.

The club insist however that their finances should improve under American hedge fund Elliott Management Corporation, who took control last summer when former Chinese owner Li Yonghong defaulted on the loan he had taken to buy the club in 2017 from former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

AFP

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