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Foreign participation, competition drive Tanzania telecom market, report

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The Tanzania government has actively embraced competition in the telecom market and has encouraged the private sector despite it having retaken control of the incumbent telco TTC (formerly TTCL) in June 2016 according to The “Tanzania – Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband – Statistics and Analyses” report  by ResearchAndMarkets.com

 Foreign participation has also been encouraged to promote economic growth and social development. Policy reforms have led to the telecom sector becoming among the most liberal in Africa.

However, high import tariffs on telecoms equipment and taxes on telephone facilities by various authorities are still placing a burden on investors and operators.

Tanzania has two fixed-line operators (TTC and Zantel) and eight operational mobile networks, with four additional players licensed under a new converged regulatory regime.

With four major operators Vodacom, Bharti Airtel (formerly Zain), Tigo and Zantel mobile penetration has reached 83% by March 2017. In recent years a price war among these players has adversely affected the smaller operators, which have suffered from customer churn.

The converged licensing regime has brought many new players into the market. The liberalization of Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony as well as the introduction of third and fourth generation (3G, LTE) mobile services and wireless broadband networks has boosting the internet sector which has been otherwise hampered by the low level of development of the traditional fixed-line network.

Following the launch of mobile broadband services the mobile network operators have become the leading internet service providers.

 Operators are hoping for revenue growth in the mobile data services market, given that the voice market is almost entirely prepaid and voice ARPU continues to fall. To this end they have invested in network upgrades.

A fast-developing source of revenue is from mobile money transfer and m-banking services.

The landing of the first fibre optic international submarine cables in the country in recent years has revolutionized the market which up to that point entirely depended on expensive satellite connections.

In parallel, the government is working on the later phases of a national fibre backbone network aimed at connecting population centres around the country.

The government has become more determined to manage the telecom sector more effectively.

 It has cracked down on counterfeit smartphones, which were thought to account for up to 30% of devices in circulation at the start of the campaign, while in early 2016 the telecom regulator’s board was dismissed after it had failed to update the Telecommunications Traffic Monitoring System (TTMS).

This system was expected to deliver up to TZS400 billion to the government annually. In late 2016 a new tax collection system was launched to help generate revenue from telecom services.

The government in September 2017 completed a long-term process to reacquire the incumbent, buying out the 35% stake owned by Bharti Airtel.

The company was reformed as the TTC in January 2018, with a mandate to develop telecom services and manage infrastructure.

www.researchandmarkets.com

Iran and US trade barbs ahead of new sanctions

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The United States on Monday was due to tighten sanctions on Iran as the two countries traded barbs in a tense standoff sparked by Washington’s withdrawal from a nuclear deal.

Both nations say they want to avoid going to war, but tensions have spiralled as a series of incidents, including attacks on tankers and the shooting down of a US drone by Iran in the Gulf, raised fears of an unintended slide towards conflict.

On Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said a US-made MQ9 Reaper “spy drone” — also widely used for carrying out military strikes — had encroached his country’s airspace on May 26.

He made the allegation in a tweet that included a map purporting to show the drone had violated Iranian airspace.

It was dismissed as “child-like” by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as he headed to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for Iran talks with the two US allies.

Zarif’s statement came after Iran said it had shot down a US Global Hawk drone on Thursday for violating its airspace near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which the United States denies.

US President Donald Trump called off a planned retaliatory military strike Friday, saying the response would not have been “proportionate”, as Tehran warned any attack would see Washington’s interests across the Middle East go up in flames.

On Sunday US national security adviser John Bolton cautioned Iran against misinterpreting the last-minute cancellation.

“Neither Iran nor any other hostile actor should mistake US prudence and discretion for weakness,” Bolton said in Jerusalem.

With the strike called off, Washington secretly launched cyber-attacks against Iranian missile control systems and a spy network in response to the downed drone, according to US media reports.

US media said the attacks crippled computers used to control missile launchers and a spying group tracking ships in the Gulf.

Iran is yet to officially react to the claim, but Fars news agency called the move a “bluff” and said it was meant to repair the White House’s “lost reputation” following the downing of its drone.

The downing of the US drone came after a series of attacks on tankers in the congested shipping lanes of the Gulf, which Washington has blamed on Tehran.

Meanwhile, the Riyadh-led military coalition in Yemen said Iran-aligned Huthi rebels had attacked a civilian airport in southern Saudi Arabia, killing one civilian and wounding seven others.

Riyadh has repeatedly accused Iran of supplying sophisticated weapons to the Huthis, who have launched cross-border attacks on facilities inside Saudi Arabia.

Iran has denied attacking tankers or supplying the Huthis.

– US ‘cyber attacks’ –

Trump, who spent Saturday huddling with his advisers, said he was ready to reach out to Iran if the country agreed to renounce nuclear weapons.

“When they agree to that, they’re going to have a wealthy country. They’re going to be so happy, and I’m going to be their best friend,” he told reporters.

Iran has denied seeking a nuclear weapon, and says its programme is for civilian purposes.

Map showing Tehran’s and Washington’s differing locations of a US drone when it was downed by Iran

A multinational accord reached by Tehran and world powers in 2015 sought to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief.

But Trump left that agreement more than a year ago and has imposed a robust slate of punitive economic sanctions designed to choke off Iranian oil sales and cripple its economy — which he now plans to expand.

“We are putting major additional Sanctions on Iran on Monday,” tweeted Trump, who has also deployed additional troops to the Middle East.

“I look forward to the day that Sanctions come off Iran, and they become a productive and prosperous nation again – The sooner the better!”

Pompeo added: “When the Iranian regime decides to forgo violence and meet our diplomacy with diplomacy, it knows how to reach us. Until then, our diplomatic isolation and economic pressure campaign against the regime will intensify.”

– ‘Repetitive’ talks –

A minister from Britain’s Foreign Office was in Tehran on Sunday to meet top Iranian diplomats for “urgent de-escalation” of tensions, yet the Iranian party said the talks were “repetitive.”

Minister of State for the Middle East Andrew Murrison had the “usual talking points”, said Kamal Kharazi, the head of the Strategic Council of Foreign Relations at Iran’s foreign ministry.

With the US out of the deal, Iran has said it would reduce some of its nuclear commitments unless the remaining partners — Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia — help it circumvent US sanctions and sell its oil.

Iran has shown what it says is the debris of the US drone it shot down — a Global Hawk reconnaissance aircraft that costs more than $120 million

A top Iranian military official warned Washington against any strikes.

“Firing one bullet towards Iran will set fire to the interests of America and its allies” in the region, armed forces general staff spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi told the Tasnim news agency.

“If the enemy — especially America and its allies in the region — make the military mistake of shooting the powder keg on which America’s interests lie, the region will be set on fire.”

A former top US military adviser warned the tensions with Iran “could spin out of control”.

“My biggest concern is the president is running out of room, running out of options and while rhetoric goes back and forth on how close we came to hitting Iran just the other day, that this thing could spin out of control,” former chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mike Mullen told ABC’s “This Week.”

 

Source: AFP

CDD: Ghana Beyond Aid agenda will remain mirage if…

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The Centre for Democratic Development-Ghana(CDD-Ghana) has observed that the nation needs to develop its human resources in order to achieve the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda.

It cautioned that the realisation of the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda will remain a mirage “if attention is not placed on enhancing the human resource capacity, especially creating jobs for the youth.”

At a CDD-Ghana breakfast meeting on youth unemployment, Professor Kwasi Prempeh, the Executive Director of CDD-Ghana  noted that youth unemployment must be looked at more keenly since the agenda could not be achieved and sustained “if attention is not paid to job creation and conscious investment in country’s human resource base.

Organized on the theme: ‘Creating Jobs & Entrepreneurs for a Self-reliant Ghana’, the event triggered deeper conversation on how government and other stakeholders can harness potential of the youth, while taking critical look at various ongoing youth entrepreneurship initiatives to solve unemployment challenges.

According to Prof Prempeh, “skills building and job creation must be encouraged, innovations, entrepreneurial ideas must be supported and assisted since it is critical for the youth to have stake in economy due to dangers associated with inability to have access to employment opportunities cannot be ignored.”

Dr. Kristen Lord, the Chief Executive Officer of IREX, indicated that although there was no silver bullet solution to youth employment, Ghana, like many African countries, already had structures to help manage the challenge effectively and efficiently.

“The good news is most of ingredients of success are already available, not about creating whole new huge strategy, it’s about better using ingredients are already originally available,” and encouraged managers of  educational system to introduce critical thinking, development of soft skills into educational curriculum to help shape the minds and abilities of students.

Stephanie Sullivan, the US Ambassador to Ghana, reiterated that no country could thrive unless the youth made priority, given tools, support and assisted to create their future.

The Afrobarometer’s survey findings show unemployment most important challenge the citizenry want government to address among United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, (SDG) 8, focused on promoting sustained, inclusive, sustainable economic growth, full, productive employment and decent work for all is highest priority.

-3news.com

Ghana Health Service to ban mobile phone use in hopitals

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The Ghana Health Service (GHS) is considering a ban on the use of mobile phones among health professionals in various health facilities across the country, the Director-General, Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare has hinted.

It comes on the back of complaints of poor customer service among health workers often attached to their phones during working hours, to the detriment of human lives.

“We will soon send letters round on how the system would be run such that when you enter the hospitals or clinics, you will not have access to mobile network and in place of that, we use intercoms or provide other means of communicating if need be.”

The new Polyclinic

Dr Nsiah-Asare made the assertion at the inauguration of three new ultramodern polyclinics on Friday to augment health infrastructure in the Greater Accra Region.

They include the Sege Polyclinic in the Ada West District, the Ashaiman Polyclinic in the Ashaiman Municipality and the Ogbojo Polyclinic in the Adentan Municipality.

Residents seeking healthcare in Oduman and its environs in the Ga West Municipal Assembly can now heave a sigh of relief with the inauguration of an ultra-modern polyclinic.

The 30-bed capacity facility comes with an operation theatre, a laboratory, an x-ray department, a pharmacy, a counselling room, wards, staff bungalows and a cold room.

It forms part of five polyclinics being constructed by the government in the Greater Accra Region to improve access to healthcare services in the region.

It is also to help reduce pressure on the major tertiary and referral hospitals within the capital.

The projects which begun in May 2017 is estimated at a total cost of 13.5 million euros.

 Dr Nsiah-Asare charged workers of the facility to embark on rigorous public health education in the communities to enable residents to lead healthy lifestyles.

“The coming of this polyclinic should help reduce teenage pregnancies, maternal mortality and lifestyle diseases in this community and its environs,” he said.

Dr Nsiah-Asare asked the workers to adopt good customer care towards patients and uphold a high maintenance culture at the facility.

At a handing over ceremony which brought together highly elated community members, traditional rulers, religious leaders and staff of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu pledged that by end of June, all five polyclinics would be accessible to patients.

According to the minister, Ghana was a signatory to international health treaties to provide healthcare in “a different manner and one of such means is to bring healthcare closer to the people.”

He said easy access to healthcare “without barriers” was critical to achieving the country’s vision for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030.

Mr Agyeman-Manu was hopeful the polyclinic would become a centre of excellence in healthcare delivery particularly in the area of reducing maternal and neonatal deaths.

“There should be zero tolerance for maternal deaths here. We should carry out our duties such that we have no or minimal deaths,” he charged workers.

The minister also entreated residents to patronise the health facility and have confidence in the health personnel to address their health needs.

“With this polyclinic, there will be no need rushing to Korle Bu, Ridge and others. We have placed well qualified health professionals here capable of handling cases so let this place be your first point of call,” he urged.

An opinion leader of the community and chairperson for the occasion, Mr Nickson Acquaye, pleaded for an ambulance to be provided to the clinic for emergency purposes, as well as employment opportunities at the facility for residents of the area.

The Municipal Chief Executive for the Ga West Municipal Assembly, Clement Wilkinson, on his part pledged to work on the deplorable road network leading to the health centre.  

By ABIGAIL ANNOH

UDS Navrongo Campus to be named after CK Tedam

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The Navrongo Campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS) in the Upper East Region is to be named after the late Clement Kubindiwo Tedam, for his contribution to national development, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced.

He said the government had already initiated the move to make the University autonomous and that when the various Parliamentary processes were completed, it would be named “C. K Tedam University for Technical and Applied Science.”

The President made the announcement when he paid his last respect to the deceased, who was laid to rest in his hometown at Paga, in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region on Saturday.

The late Tedam, one of the founding members of the New Patriotic Party and former Member of Council of State, died at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital at the age of 94 on April 25, after a short illness.

Paying glowing tribute, President Akufo-Addo stressed that as Member of Parliament, Commissioner for Local Government and Member of the Council of State, the late C.K Tedam served the nation very well by working with others against great odds, to entrench the values of respect for the rule of law, individual liberties and human rights and the principle of democratic accountability in the body politics of the nation.

President Akufo-Addo described the late C.K Tedam as “a legendary of the NPP”, and stated that he became an important activist of the United Party, the Progress Party, the Popular Front Partyand the NPP respectively, and played an integral and vibrant part in the development of the Danquah-Dombo-Busia Political tradition.

“Age did not diminish his commitment to the cause of the NPP. He was very active and influential to the growth of the party and served graciously on several committees of the party and as Chairman of the Council of Elders.

“He played an invaluable and unforgettable role in preserving the stability and unity of the party when it became embroiled in a series of unnecessary disputes that sought deliberately to undermine its coherence,” the President intimated.

The President indicated that the late founding member had left a big void not only in the NPP family and in the Ghanaian nation, but also in his personal life as President as “he was the constant and consistent source of good, invaluable counsel to me. I will miss him dearly.”

Preaching a sermon before the interment of the deceased, the Most Rev. Philip Naameh, the President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, who is also the Archbishop of Tamale, entreated all Ghanaians to emulate the good virtues of peace and unity exhibited by the late C.K Tedam.

He stressed on the need for all citizens to bury their political differences and to support the ruling government to implement its programmes and policies, including the One Village, One Dam Policy to create jobs for the teeming youth.

Among the gathering were the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Ministers of States, Members of Parliament, Municipal and District Chief Executives, party functionaries and traditional rulers.

They filed past the body draped in the national colours and laid at the Paga Sport Park, to pay their last respect, before the interment.

FROM SAMUEL AKAPULE, PAGA

Johnson domestic ‘row’ rocks UK leadership race

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Britain’s leadership contest was rocked on Saturday by reports that police were called to a late-night “row” between frontrunner Boris Johnson and his partner, just hours before campaigning opens to win over grassroots Conservatives.

The Guardian said officers were alerted early on Friday after a neighbour said there had been a loud altercation involving screams, shouts and bangs at the south London property, shortly after Johnson had secured his place in the final run-off to become prime minister.

The paper said late Friday Johnson’s partner Carrie Symonds could be heard telling the former London mayor to “get off me” and “get out of my flat”.

London’s Metropolitan Police said it responded to a call from a local resident but that “all occupants of the address… were all safe and well”.

Johnson is the runaway favourite to beat Jeremy Hunt, but will face questions over the incident on Saturday when he and Hunt kick off a month-long nationwide tour to win over the grassroots Conservatives, who have the final say.

Whoever takes the Tory party leadership in the week beginning July 22 — and therefore becomes prime minister — will then face the looming Brexit deadline of October 31.

Mini-profile of Jeremy Hunt

The battle is likely to feature pledges from both contenders to take Britain out of the European Union safely and in one piece, succeeding where outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May repeatedly failed.

But the race might ultimately turn into a popularity contest between Johnson — pugnacious but affable with a tendency for gaffes — and the more diplomatic, low-key Hunt.

The “row” was splashed across the front pages of most newspapers on Saturday, and while bookmakers were still betting for Johnson, pundits warned the incident could harm his chances.

“Much will depend on the next 24 hours and whether the audio said to have been recorded by a concerned neighbour emerges,” said The Times newspaper.

“At the very least it will ensure a leadership race that had started to look like a formality might in fact be something of more consequence.”

– Fearing Farage –

Mini-profile of Boris Johnson

After the MPs whittled down the original field of 13, it is now up to the 160,000 or so paid-up Conservative members who select the centre-right party’s next leader.

According to Times commentator Matthew Parris, the group comprises “classic shire Tories”, as well as poorer urban workers who are anti-European and more populist in their views.

The winner will need to succeed where May failed in pushing a deal with the EU through parliament, or face the prospect of leaving without a deal, which MPs have warned could collapse the government and trigger a general election.

With arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party ahead in the polls, Johnson is widely viewed as the one Conservative who could compete in the party’s heartlands.

The more diplomatic and low-key Jeremy Hunt will need to score a major upset if he is to win

A poll for The Daily Telegraph — the paper for which Johnson writes a column — showed six out of 10 Brexit Party backers jumping over to the Conservatives should the man known simply as Boris take charge.

Hunt and Johnson will appear Saturday in Birmingham, central England, for the first of 16 “hustings” — occasionally rowdy events where candidates field audience questions — three days before the third anniversary of the Brexit vote.

– ‘Bottler’ –

Foreign minister Hunt launched an early attack on his rival, accusing him of ducking a television debate.

“This is supposed to be his finest hour … but if you’re going to hide away, that’s not democracy,” he wrote in Saturday’s Daily Telegraph.

“Conservative Party members can only make that choice if you have a proper debate and you can’t have that debate if one of the candidates is bottling all opportunities.”

Both Johnson and Hunt have vowed to extract better terms from Brussels — or walk away without any strings attached, but European leaders appear unmoved.

Police were reportedly called to a row between Boris Johnson and his partner Carrie Symonds

“Maybe the process of Brexit will be even more exciting than before because of some personnel decisions in London, but nothing has changed when it comes to our position,” European Council President Donald Tusk said.

 

Source: AFP

Trump says he called off Iran strikes at last minute

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President Donald Trump said Friday the United States was “cocked & loaded” to strike Iran but pulled back at the last minute because it would not have been a “proportionate” response to Tehran shooting down an American drone.

The downing of the drone — which Iran insists violated its airspace, a claim Washington denies — has seen tensions between the countries spike after a series of attacks on tankers the US has blamed on Tehran.

Under pressure to respond to the high-stakes incident near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, Trump said the US was prepared to hit “3 different sites” Thursday night but that he scrapped the strikes “10 minutes” before they were to have been launched.

“I asked, how many will die. 150 people, sir, was the answer from a General,” the president tweeted, saying he concluded it would not have been “proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone.”

According to excerpts of an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” conducted Friday morning at the White House, Trump said he had not given final approval to strikes against Iran, and that no planes were in the air.

“But they would have been pretty soon. And things would have happened to a point where you wouldn’t turn back or couldn’t turn back,” he said, adding that he did not want war with Iran, but if it came to pass, there would be “obliteration like you’ve never seen before.”

President Donald Trump said he had concluded that a strike claiming 150 lives would not been a ‘proportionate’ response to Iran’s downing of an unmanned US drone

The US president had struck a combative tone in initial comments Thursday about Iran shooting down the Global Hawk surveillance aircraft, but as the pre-dawn incident whipped up fears of open conflict, Trump moved to dial back tensions.

Iran vowed Friday to defend its borders after downing the drone, with the commander of the aerospace arm of its elite Revolutionary Guards saying the aircraft was warned twice before it was engaged over the Gulf of Oman.

And it denied a report that Trump had warned it via Oman of an impending attack unless it was willing to negotiate.

Map locating the reported position of a US drone downed by Iran – Tehran and Washington differ on its location

The US special representative on Iran, Brian Hook, accused Tehran of rejecting diplomatic overtures to deescalate regional tensions.

“Iran needs to meet diplomacy with diplomacy, not military force,” Hook told reporters in Saudi Arabia.

Amid the tensions, Trump late Friday nominated Mark Esper to be Secretary of Defense, one of the most powerful posts in the US government and a key advisor to the president as Washington navigates the dispute with Iran.

The US hasn’t had a full defense secretary since the resignation of James Mattis in December last year. Esper, who this week was elevated to acting Pentagon chief, still needs to be confirmed by the Senate.

On the streets of Tehran, anxiety over a potential war was added to residents’ concerns over crippling US sanctions.

“For me, the situation is already worrying because the economic state of the country is bad, and the possibility of war frightens me,” said Amir, a shopkeeper who withheld his last name.

– Flights rerouted –

Iran said Friday it had presented the Swiss ambassador, whose country represents US interests in Iran, with “indisputable” evidence the drone violated Iranian airspace.

Iranian state TV aired footage of what it said was debris from a downed US drone recovered inside its territorial waters

The US Federal Aviation Administration has barred American civilian aircraft from the area “until further notice,” and major non-US airlines including British Airways, KLM, Lufthansa, Qantas, Emirates and Etihad said they too were altering flight paths to avoid the sensitive Strait of Hormuz.

The Pentagon says the Global Hawk drone — one of the most expensive pieces of equipment in the US arsenal, costing over $120 million apiece — was 34 kilometers (21 miles) from Iran when destroyed by a surface-to-air missile in an “unprovoked attack.”

It published a map of the drone’s flight path indicating it avoided Iranian waters, but Tehran provided its own map showing the aircraft inside its territory when it was downed by a domestically-manufactured Khordad 3 air defense battery.

Iran says it downed the US drone using its domestically manufactured Khordad 3 air defence system

The shootdown came with Iran already accused by Washington of carrying out attacks on tankers in the congested shipping lanes heading out of the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran denies any involvement.

Trump has repeatedly said he does not favor war with Iran unless it is to stop the country getting a nuclear weapon — something Iranian leaders insist they are not pursuing.

But critics say his policy of “maximum pressure” — including abandonment of an international deal to regulate Iran’s nuclear activities, economic sanctions and deployment of extra troops to the region — make war ever more likely.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned Friday of “an extremely dangerous and sensitive situation,” but said she was “absolutely” pleased with Trump’s decision not to carry out the strike.

Candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination also expressed concerns, with Senator Bernie Sanders warning war with Iran would “lead to endless conflict in the region,” and Senator Elizabeth Warren urging Washington “to step back from the brink of war.”

 

Source: AFP

GH₵9.6bn swallowed by corruption in 3 years

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Research by the Centre for Democratic Development-Ghana (CDD-Ghana) has shown that GH₵ 9.6 billion has been lost from the public purse as a result of corrupt practices in the country since 2017.

Conducted by the centre’s Corruption Watch Initiative, it discovered that GH₵ 9.6 billion was embezzled from the public purse, which indicated that individuals and organisations has an obligation to act with integrity, expose corrupt practices and help retrieve the embezzled funds.

Speaking at a ceremony to premiere an anti-corruption documentary of the centre’s Corruption Watch Initiative, Professor Henry Prempeh, the Executive Director of CDD, stressed that the citizenry had a shared responsibility to expose corruption saying, “Everyone, every individual and every organisation has an obligation to act with integrity, expose corrupt practices, and more importantly, help retrieve funds that have been embezzled.

 “Weak governance and corruption hurt every nation, the poor are often the hardest hit, over the years, the country has lost a great fortune to corruption, since its inception in November 2017, corruption watch alone has placed a high premium on the need for asset recovery,” he pointed out.

Referencing recent Afrobarometer data, Prof. Prempeh explained that almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of the citizenry wanted corrupt officials prosecuted, if found guilty, jailed, forced to return embezzled funds, which should be used to build public facilities with the culprit’s named, shamed and inscribed on them.

“Another one-fifth (22 per cent) favour the government retrieval of embezzled funds without prosecution only one in 10 (9 per cent) will opt for prosecution without retrieval of embezzled funds and it is our expectation that the new documentary will shed more light on the role of asset recovery and how it tackles corruption.

“Watch out for highlights on the challenges of asset recovery efforts in the country, the gains associated with it, as well as the role of the citizenry in the process, I hope the documentary will prompt discussions among activists in civil society, legislators, policy makers, public officials, and discussions in turn, will spur policy makers, implementers, relevant stakeholders and the public to play their significant roles towards strengthening efforts at asset recovery in Ghana.

“Corruption Watch is CDD-Ghana’s foremost anti-corruption campaign which seeks to promote integrity in public life by demanding, activating the responsiveness, accountability of all actors in the anti-corruption space to ensure corruption cases are investigated, suspects prosecuted and stolen funds recovered,” Prof. Prempeh observed. 

citinewsroom.com

Akufo-Addo Was Right Says Activist

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A US-Based Ghanaian female activist, Dr. Tina Abrefa Gyan, has lauded President Nana Akufo-Addo for his recent bold call on women to push to become more active in partisan politics and to be more influential.

According to her, she is not impressed about the current involvement of women in partisan politics and other public activities, stressing the need for women to adhere to the wise counsel of the president and act accordingly.

Dr. Gyan stated that it was about time that women started to give more energy and also avail themselves for key public positions that would enable them to occupy influential positions and take decisions to benefit them.

“To positively change the trajectory of women and families’ movement, more of our kind would have to be at the decision-making table. In other words, we must prepare the menu or we will be on the menu”, she said.

Dr. Tina Gyan, who is also the first vice Chairperson of the US branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), also added that “we need more women to do politics or politics will do women”.

Speaking in an interview with the DAILY GUIDE, the activist lambasted those who misconstrued the President’s recent gender parity statement in Vancouver, Canada.

She said the President only stated the obvious, saying “I am a woman and I am not satisfied about our involvement in politics and we need to do more.”

According to her, President Akufo-Addo during his almost four-decades in active politics and public life has proven beyond every reasonable doubt that he is interested in the empowerment of women.

Dr. Abrefa said women could better champion the agenda of women and so it was high time they pushed for more and stop depending on men to fight for them.

FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi

Government Commissions 3 New Polyclinics

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Government has commissioned three new ultra-modern polyclinics in the Greater Accra Region.

The 30-bed capacity facilities at Sege, Ashaiman and Ogbojo, each comes with an operating theatre, laboratory, maternity ward, Out Patient Department, X-ray, Ultra Sound Facilities, Obstetric and Pediatric wards, among others.

Two other polyclinics are under construction in Bortianor and Oduman also in the Greater Accra Region.

In all, Government is spending a total of €13.5 million on the three commissioned polyclinics including two other policlinics under construction.

Commissioning the polyclinics, Minister of Health Kwaku Agyeman-Manu explained that the aim of providing the facilities was to bring healthcare to the doorstep of every citizen.

According to him, the new polyclinics would reduce the pressure being put on the tertiary health facilities in the catchment area such as the Ada District Hospital and Tema General Hospital among others.

From Vincent Kubi, Ashaiman

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