The Chief of Bosomtwe Divisional Area in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality, Nana Kwabena Amponsah IV, has urged the youth to take up farming as business and profitable venture.

He said the increasing demand for food at the local and international levels had made farming a lucrative business and tasked the youth to take advantage of the situation and venture into farming.

Nana Amponsah IV gave the advice at Damang when Abosso Goldfields Limited (AGL) held its fourth quarter community consultative committee meeting with their stakeholders.

“Farming could offer the youth better livelihood instead of sitting at home, complaining and not doing anything. This would help reduce youth unemployment in the mines host communities and the country at large”, the Divisional Chief of Bosomtwe added.

Nana Amponsah IV said the youth needed  to replace the current crop of aged farmers  and must not be discouraged by the many challenges in the agricultural sector.

Mr Abdel-Razak Yakubu, Community Affairs and Stakeholder Engagement (CASE) Manager, made a presentation on the update of Gold Fields Ghana Foundation projects and programmes for the mines catchment communities.

In the area of health, he said, “We have completed external works at Abosso Health centre and almost done with the construction of doctors and nurses’ quarters at Huni-Valley Health centre.

“We had discussions with the Municipal Health Directorate and they advised that when the Abosso Health centre project is completed and we should add some facilities to it, so that authorities could upgrade it to a Polyclinic status and that will improve on health care delivery in our host communities”.

He indicated that work on a 350-bed capacity female dormitory for Huni-Valley Senior High School would be completed this year to ease the accommodation crisis in the school.

“We had the opportunity to visit all the beneficiaries who have received our scholarship awards in their respective institutions. Going forward we are thinking of presenting bulk cheque to the schools rather than paying the fees individually. These are innovations that have come in to help make the work of our scholarship administration successful”.

On employment, Mr Yakubu said from January 2022 to date contractors of the Mine have employed 201 people from their host communities.

“We have even gone a step further with our transparency approach by inviting community members to sit in interviews and observe how things are going just to build more confidence into the process”.

The CASE Manager expressed gratitude to their stakeholders for the loyalty and support which has helped them to succeed.

The Reverend Dr Gordon Kissseih, First Vice President of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC), has called on Ghanaians to take up the fight against illegal mining to save the country’s water bodies and forest reserves from further degradation.

He noted that research had shown that it took 200 years to restore the environment after degradation, adding that the issue of climate change has become the biggest threat to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals to most leaders across the World.

Rt. Rev. Dr Kisseih made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra on Wednesday.

He urged farmers and local communities not to allow illegal logging and mining to continue and charged the security agencies on roads, ports and borders not to look on with a blind eye to allow illegal timber products bypass them without confiscation or indulge in corrupt practices.

The First Vice President, who is also the General overseer of the Life International Church, also tasked the Forest Commission to strengthen its law enforcement measures to curb illegal logging, mining and unsustainable harvesting of forest products.

“Preserving the forest and the environment will not only save the earth but is also a gift   to unborn generations who will suffer the brunt of how bad   the earth is treated today,” Rt Rev. Dr Kisseih said.

He urged the youth to inculcate the habit of tree-planting and conservation, adding “as you do this you begin to build a generation that is more sensitive to the issue of environmental conservation.”

Rt. Rev. Dr Kisseih called for closer collaboration between stakeholders to prosecute persons who degrade the forest and other natural resources.

Dr. Kodjoe Sumney, a pastor, has observed that current challenges facing the African continent is a reawakening for the youth and the next generation to join the crusade for a rebirth of the continent.

He explained that “this is the time for Africans to have leaders who are spirit-filled and willing to sacrifice for the total development of the continent.

“They should be like Nehemia in the Bible, and be leaders who did not receive allowances for twelve years to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

Dr Sumney, who is also the President and Founder of Mission Africa Incorporated, a Christian non –profit organisation based in California, USA and Accra Ghana, made the observation in an interview with journalists, in Accra, ahead of a conference dubbed “Uniting and Igniting for Economic Development Conference” slated for November 19, 2022 in Fontana CA 92335, the USA.

The “Uniting and Igniting for Economic Development Conference” is the first of its kind being organised by Mission Africa Incorporated in collaboration with the Inland Empire Concerned African American Churches (IECAAC).

The theme for the conference is: “Ten Times Better Generation.”

The conference seeks to focus on bridging the gap between the next generation of Africa and the Africa Americans and descendants of Africa worldwide.

It is expected to attract over 5,000 youth and 1000 business people across Pacific Island, Africa to American.

Again, ambassadors from various countries in America and some delegates, including members from the Ghanaian Parliament and Ghana’s Parliamentary Christian Fellowship are among the people to be in attendance.

Dr Sumney reiterated the need for servant leaders who are full of wisdom, visionary leaders with seven eyes and successful in entrepreneurship together with renowned business people and what he called “wisdom kings and queens” to be in governance.

Dr Sumney said further that the rationale behind the conference is to encourage and to wake up the spirit of unity and igniting missions in the Inland Empire in San Bernardino County in California.

According to Dr Sumney, he and his Co-founder wife, Dr. Akosuah Sumney in the last twenty years had taken over 1,000 people mainly African-Americans, Caucasian-Americans, Indians, and Mexican-Americans for missionary work and the African Union parliament prayer conference in Ghana.

“Our friends and partners join us to empower youth in the universities mission work in the remote villages.

“But for the last two and half years, Mission Africa Incorporated has been operating through viral due to the emergence of the Corona Virus (COVID-19) pandemic,” he noted.

He added: “We are going to focus more on uniting diaspora Africans worldwide for economic empowerment in skills and entrepreneurship where they live and return home to assist in developing our continent through the private sector,” he reiterated.