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Government to establish mental health fund

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Close up of model brain on mental health headlines

Government is working towards the establishment of a mental health fund to be financed from the mental health levy, Mr Kwaku Agyemang Manu, the Minister of Health, has said.

He said the fund, when established, would help in the successful implementation of the new mental health policy.

Mr Agyemang Manu, was speaking at the launch of a 12-year mental health policy by the Mental Health Authority, in Accra.

He said the launch of the policy was historic not only because it was the first of its kind under the newly created Authority, but also because the COVID-19 pandemic had brought on board heightened issues of mental health and well-being of Ghanaians.

The Minister said although progress had been made in the delivery of mental services, there were still some challenges including underfunding of mental health issues, underfinancing, discrimination and stigmatisation against staff and patients.

Mr Agyemang-Manu said the launch of the policy should see Ghanaians on the path to improving how they viewed and delivered mental health services in the county, and help provide the framework to address the challenges.

He said the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals had widened health beyond physical health to mental and social wellbeing, thus the attainment of the health related SDG goals could not be eliminated from mental and social wellbeing and that any effort by government and stakeholders would go a long way to ensure that the vision of ensuring a mentally healthy population was achieved.

“The realisation of this vision calls for the reorientation of Ghanaians about mental health and the ability to invest into the sector, thus much as government has improved upon the budgetary allocation to the Authority, it is still not enough.”

He commended the MHA for upholding its mission of promoting mental health, preventing mental illnesses and providing accessible community oriented, integrated, quality and appropriate mental health care to people with mental health and carrying out its mandate diligently.

Professor Akwesi Osei, Chief Executive, MHA, said the policy was the third to be developed for mental health service, but represented the first policy of the Ministry of Health led by the MHA and initiated by the governing body, the Mental Health Board.

He said the policy was to provide a framework for supporting achievement of good mental health for people living in Ghana, while being sensitive to culture, resources and geography, amongst other considerations.

The policy covers promotion of mental health, prevention and management of mental health conditions for all persons, both in the public and private sectors as well as substance use disorders, including alcohol abuse.

It does not include conditions that are purely neurological without mental health conditions, like epilepsy.

Prof Osei said the policy sought to ensure that mental health care was decentralised, stigmatisation and discrimination reduced, with persons with mental health illnesses given full human rights recognition and psychotropic medications made available at all times.

He said the policy had been circulated to some parts of the country and being implemented and commended government for efforts at establishing mental health fund.

Dr Caroline Amissah, Deputy Chief Executive, MHA said “as a country, our mental health statistics is an important indicator for us to determine whether we are healthy or not”.

She said the current focus of mental health in Ghana was community oriented and thus the new policy gave mental health practitioners a new dimension on how to improve mental health services outside their facilities.

Dr Amissah implored all to embrace the policy as it provided details of what was to be done and who was involved, saying all Ghanaians must become ambassadors of mental health and support the new direction for Ghana to become a wealthy nation.

NDC delegation calls on the family of late Dr Sulley Gariba

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Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Minority Leader in Parliament, has led a delegation of National Democratic Congress (NDC), to the family of the late Dr Sulley Gariba, a former Policy Advisor to former President John Dramani Mahama.

The visit was to sympathize with the family on the loss of their beloved.

Mr Iddrisu who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale South Constituency, during the visit, eulogized the late Dr Gariba, and said Ghana had lost an intellectual pillar in the country’s governance space.

“No historian can write about the Fourth Republican Ghanaian Constitution and democratic governance and their evolution and policies without mentioning Dr Sulley Gariba”.

“He is known to have worked with every political administration in our country, be it the People’s National Convention (PNC), New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the NDC, and that means he simply had faith in Ghana and its capabilities to address its own challenges and create opportunity for prosperity for citizens,” the Minority Leader said.

He expressed former President Mahama’s condolences to the bereaved family for their loss, and encouraged them to be strong in this difficult time.

Otunba Moses Oladele, a family member, who spoke on behalf of the bereaved family, expressed gratitude to the Tamale South MP and his entourage for coming to console them as they mourn their beloved.

The Minority Leader was accompanied by some MPs, Alhaji Ibrahim Mobila, Northern Regional Chairman of the NDC and some party executives.

Kpone Paramount Chief commends NMC over media clean-up

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Nii Tetteh Otu II, Paramount Chief of the Kpone Traditional Area, on Thursday commended the National Media Commission on its action against ‘illegal and nuisance’ media organizations in the country.

Nii Tetteh Otu was reacting to the NMC’s recent action to sanitize the media landscape, which led to the closing down of about 49 nuisance and illegal media operators and the arrest of some individuals behind the emerging “Juju and Lotto TV and Radio stations” in the country.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency, Nii Tetteh Otu II, noted that though the action of the NMC was commendable it was long overdue.

He added that the proliferation of sophisticated gadget had also enhance the activities of media practitioners who were hitherto not been regulated by the NMC.

According to the Paramount Chief, closing down the media houses was not the only means to solve the challenges the country was faced with, adding that the Commission must put in measures to ensure innocent workers at these media houses were not rendered jobless due to the shutdown.

Nii Tetteh Otu II, again explained that people would still find ways to manipulate the system saying stringent measures must be deployed to cater for such situations citing the social media platforms.

The Kpone Paramount Chief called on all stakeholders to help sanitize the media space to ensure good content were disseminated for the general public.

The traditional ruler made an appeal through the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office on April 14th, 2021 to the NMC to deal with some media organizations in the country over what he termed as unhealthy media content.

Cocoa farmers in Wassa-Fiase call for halt to destruction of farmlands

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Cocoa farmers from 17 communities in the Wassa-Fiase Divisional Area have appealed to Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) and the government to stop soldiers from terrorizing innocent farmers and the wanton destruction of their cocoa farms and other arable crops.

Clad in black and red bands, the irate farmers told a news conference at Sekyere-Hemang that the Chief of Komenda, a town with which they share a border, had encroached on 613.147 acres of land and sold it to the Western Naval Commander and some of his men for rubber plantations.

The spokesperson of the group, Mr Stephen Kuma Angu, who is the Assembly Member for Sekyere-Hemang, said the presence of the soldiers on their farmlands was posing a threat to cocoa production.

He said the farmers were in the house for about three months without working on their cocoa farms.

Mr Angu noted that the bullying tactics by the Western Naval Command had adversely affected cocoa production in the District.

He implored Cocobod to step in to save farmers from the hardships they were going through.

Another cocoa farmer and Women’s representative in the area, Madam Esi Asiedu, who shared similar sentiments, said the presence of armed military men parading their farms, had brought the cocoa business to a standstill reeling untold hardships on them.

She said for the past three months, farming activities had come to a halt, threatening livelihoods.

A Youth Representative of Sekyere-Hemang, Mr Kwaku Aboagye said but for the timely intervention of the Divisional Chief who in conjunction with the cocoa farmers organized the news conference, the youth in the communities would have faced the soldiers boot for boot on their farmlands.

The Divisional Chief of Wassa-Fiase Traditional Area, Nana Dasebre Kwado Kyerefo III, urged the Chief of Komenda to move the soldiers away from his land and stop trespassing the boundary to sell his land to the military command.

He also entreated President Nana Akufo-Addo, the Chief of Defence Staff and the Minister for the Interior and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to step in to resolve the border dispute in a bid to avoid imminent bloodshed between his subjects and the soldiers.

Techiman South constituents express confidence in MP

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IMAGE COPYRIGHT/ AFP/

A cross-section of constituents in the Techiman South Constituency have expressed confidence in Mr Martin Agyei Mensah-Korsah, the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, describing him as resourceful and highly committed to accelerated national development.

According to them, Mr Mensah-Korsah, also a Deputy Minister designate for Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD), is capable and dedicated to work selflessly with other Ministers to realise President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo’s vision for the country.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Techiman in the Bono East Region, the voters expressed gratitude to President Akufo-Addo, describing Mr. Mensah-Korsah as hardworking person who have been discharging his duties with diligence for the development of Ghanaians and particularly residents in the Techiman South Constituency.

Mr Richard Asamoah, the Techiman South Constituency Secretary of the New Patriotic Party(NPP), said Mr Mensah-Korsah’s devotion to duty underpinned his success as the Deputy Minister of the former Ministry of Regional Reorganisation and Development.

He said Mr. Mensah-Korsah “is a development-oriented person” committed to improving the human capital for national development.

He cited the improved road network in the Constituency through the construction of a bridge at the Konimasi electoral area and the on-going rehabilitation of other road networks to facilitate the free movement of goods and services for the socio-economic development of the area.

Mr Asamoah attested to the MP’s humanitarian nature, saying that he was assisting the poor, the needy and vulnerable, including about 5,000 widows and widowers in the Constituency in diverse ways, particularly for socio-economic empowerment to improve their livelihoods.

He, therefore, appealed to residents in the Constituency to support the MP through prayers for divine grace and mercy to enable him to fulfil his task as Parliamentarian and a Deputy Minister.

Tema Regional Police Command team-up with GNA-Tema

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The Tema Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office on Thursday set-in-motion mechanism to work together towards the promotion of security within Tema and its environs.

This came to light when a team from the GNA-Tema office led by Mr Francis Ameyibor, Regional Manager paid a working visit to the Tema Regional Police Headquarters to hold discussion with the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Barima Tweneboah Sasraku II.

Other Senior Officers who participated in the discussion include DCOP Mr Anderson Fosu-Ackah, Deputy Regional Police Commander; Superintendent Otuo Acheampong, Regional Police Crime Officer; and Superintendent George Effah, Tema Regional Operations Commander.

Mr Ameyibor indicated that while the Police was mandated to maintain law and order as well as to prevent and detect crime, to apprehend offenders and to maintain public order and safety of persons and properties, GNA as a state media apparatus plays critical role towards enforcing national security.

He said GNA had the strength to handle the communication part of national security and serve as a platform for security to educate residents on the new trend in crimes and how to stay protected in the Region.

Mr Ameyibor said as key state institutions, it was important that the two organizations collaborated to reach the common goal of protecting the citizenry; “GNA will assist the police to defuse fake news circulation through publication of truthful and unbiased information.

“We are determined to fulfil our mandate as a state media whose major task is to maintain national interest, contribute to ensure peace and security, build cohesion and joined forces with other state entities to protect the state”.

Mr Ameyibor said the GNA-Tema office therefore seeks to open a new door for consistent and proactive engagement with the Tema Regional Police Command.

DCOP Barima Sasraku II who is the Jukwaa-Mfuom Hene and Denkyira Abuakwa Adontenhene, on his part expressed joy at the collaboration, saying it was welcoming news as the increase in fake news was worrying.

He added that news in this era had become swift with some media personnel using the power of the media to defame and ridicule people, thereby making it difficult for some institutions to embark on such collaborations with the media.

The Tema Regional Police Commander said in their quest to scoop others, some ended up publishing wrong information and later expected the police to comment on the issue.

“Our ethics and morality will not allow us to talk on policy issues without clearance, but sometimes media personnel want us to talk about it…media must also understand the police chain of communication,” he said.

DCOP Barima Sasraku explained that the Police Service, was a very compact but flexible organization, with the aim to protect life and property; prevent and detect crime; apprehend and prosecute offenders; preserve peace and good order.

“We are also mandated to enforce all laws, Acts, Decrees, and other regulations with which it is directly charged, so the media must understand that for the sake of public safety and national security we cannot divulge every information,” he said.

The Tema Regional Police Commander however commended the Tema Regional media for a cordial relationship with the Police in promoting peace in the Region.

NCCE/GNA launches 2021 National Constitution Week commemoration

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The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in partnership with the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office, have jointly launched the 2021 National Constitution Week commemoration, which starts from April 28th to May 4.

The 2021 celebration on the general theme: “We are One, Ghana First,” seeks to emphasise the need for every Ghanaian to put Ghana First, rally round the Constitution and defend it at all times.

The national launch set in motion series of nationwide activities to ensure that Ghanaians are imbued with the faith and culture of constitutionalism as the bastion of democracy.

Mrs Joyce Afutu, NCCE Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs together with Mr Francis Ameyibor, GNA-Tema Regional Manager flanked by Dr Stephen Ayisi Addo, Programme Manager, National HIV and AIDS Control Programme, Mrs Felicia McEwan Anamoah, Head of News GBC, Obonu FM and Mrs Dzifa Azumah, a Chief Editor of GNA-Accra, officially launched the event.

Speaking at the second, “GNA-Tema Stakeholder Engagement and Workers Appreciation Day,” seminar which also served as the platform to launch the NCCE National Constitution Week celebration, Mrs Afutu said the event essentially fulfils one of its mandates to create and sustain awareness on the principles and objectives of the Constitution.

The GNA-Tema Stakeholder Engagement and Workers Appreciation Day seminar is a platform rolled-out for state and non-state actors to address national issues.

Mrs Afutu said since 2001 the NCCE had created the annual platform to engage citizens on Ghana’s Constitution and raise awareness about the need for everyone to be abreast with the Supreme Law of the land.

The Commission through this celebration, will interact with the general public, display civic messages on the duties of a citizen, intensify public education on constitutionalism and distribute copies of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana to the general public to emphasize the importance of the Constitution as a living document in every facet of our lives.

Mr Ameyibor appealed to the media to adopt pragmatic programmes, aimed at sensitizing and educating the general public on the Constitution and how it affected them to project the celebration.

The GNA-Tema Regional Manager urged the media to be interested in the Constitutional Week and the promotion of constitutional awareness as they did the presidential and parliamentary elections; “this is because democracy if not only based on the conduct of elections”.

Mr Ameyibor also called on Political Parties, Civic Society Organisations, Religious and Opinion Leaders, the security services and the general public to participate in the Constitution week celebration, “it should not be seen as NCCE programme of event, the steady stability of the country’s 1992 Democratic dispensation is partly attributed to the works of the NCCE”.

Ms Josephine Nkrumah, NCCE Chairperson in an interview with the GNA explained that Article 3 of the 1992 Constitution encourages citizens to defend the Constitution against all forms of violation and abuse.

She said in line with that, the Commission will engage security services reminding them of their legitimate duty to protect and uphold the tenets of the 1992 Constitution in their line of work.

Ms Nkrumah said the NCCE holds the firm conviction that every citizen must know their rights, understand the principles and objectives laid down in the Constitution to promote nation building for a better Ghana.

The NCCE Chairperson said the Commission was convinced that it was only Ghanaians who could give room for the Constitution to breath and function effectively.

“In our pursuit for liberty, equality of opportunity and prosperity, we must make it our duty to understand these aspirations to further consolidate Ghana’s democracy,” she said.

As part of the commemoration, the NCCE presented copies of the 1992 Constitution to the GNA -Tema office, the National HIV and AIDS Control Programme and GBC Obonu FM.

We will make science and technology part of the Ghanaian – Minister

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Dr Kwaku Afriyie, the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, says the Ministry was embarking on an agenda to make science and technology part of the everyday life of the Ghanaian.

“Our agenda is simple. We want to use science and technology to develop so the plan is to make our society science and technology minded,” he said.

Dr Afriyie said the Ministry was, therefore, initiating reforms of existing policies and collaborating with relevant bodies to make the average Ghanaian a “scientific person” capable to innovate and grow using science.

The Minister, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the science and technology agenda would be a revolution to drive development in all spheres of the country’s economy.

“When people are knowledgeable in science and technology, they are able to innovate, apply them to address common problems. Succeeding in this endeavour means Ghanaian innovations will be inching close to that of Koreans and Japanese,” he said.

“In the short to medium term the vision would reflect in school enrolment where we will see most students at all senior high level studying science related programmes,” he said.

The Minister said discussions were already ongoing with relevant stakeholders like the Ministry of Education and other industry players to push the science and technology agenda.

Dr Afriyie said the agenda would focus more on females because they formed majority of the country’s population and was important to make them part of all strata of governance.

He said side-lining women meant wasting majority of the country’s important human resource and reiterated the need for the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill.

Women dominated the scientific and technology workforce of countries including Iran and Israel, he said, adding: “It is possible to replicate same in Ghana.”

He said the Ministry, with support from the World Bank funded Public Sector Reform for Results Project (PSRRP), was working on the establishment of an innovation challenge framework.The Framework would serve as the blue print for mainstreaming and implementing issues of innovation in the environment, science and technology sector.

Dr Afriyie stated that the procurement processes for the selection of a consultant to facilitate the process was ongoing.

As part of the implementation of the framework, the MESTI would pilot an innovation challenge where innovators would have the opportunity to showcase their work.

“Successful innovators will receive some funds to roll out the innovation. The aim of the Ministry is to stimulate a critical mass of innovators who will address the daily challenges that face our society through innovations,” he said.

“The maiden innovation challenge will be launched once the procurement processes are completed.”

Saglemi Housing Project: Government assures completion

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IMAGE COPYRIGHT/ AFP/ Additional US$32million required to complete Saglemi Housing project

Mr Francis Asenso-Boakye, Minister of Works and Housing, has pledged government’s commitment to complete the abandoned Saglemi Housing Project.

In a press engagement in Accra on April 27, to reacted to a video circulating on social media on the Project, the Minister said the video was one purportedly shot with accompanying commentary by a person identifying himself as Dr Hassan Ayariga, decrying the state of affairs on the site and canvassing for mass occupation without recourse to due procedure.

He said the Ministry believed that if the “aim of the video was altruistic as the voice over narrator attempted to communicate, the thrust of the message would have gone beyond the appeal to populism, from what was clearly, a superficial dab at the challenges confronting the project”.

He said the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Government, “Upon assumption of office in January 2017, recognized the urgent need for the rapid resolution of these challenges, thorny as they may be, in order for these properties that have been developed at great cost to the state, to be completed and made available to the citizenry.

“ Not counting the actions taken in private, the records show that there have been not less than twenty public engagements by the Ministry of Works and Housing, including (a) periodic updates at the Meet-the-Press series since 2017, (b) joint press tours of the site, (c) statements and responses to urgent questions on the floor of Parliament, (d) in-person interviews at various media houses among others.”

Additionally, Ministry had not shied away from outlining the ills of the project and the remedial actions the government has been undertaking towards the goal of completing and availing its occupation.

According to the Minister, “By 2017 the original output target of the project of 5,000 units at a total cost of US$200million as stipulated in the financing agreement presented to, and approved by Parliament had surreptitiously, and drastically, reduced to 1,502, of which 1,389 units had been completed without a commensurate reduction in the overall loan financing.

“Currently, an amount of approximately, US$197million representing 98 percent has been expended on 1,502 units as against the planned 5,000 units.“
He said although the funds for the project had largely been exhausted, an initial technical audit by the Ministry revealed the lack of primary infrastructure to the Saglemi project site thus limiting the utility of the development.

He said the key primary infrastructure outstanding included water supply and electricity.

Additionally he said the Ministry tasked the Ghana Institution of Surveyors to conduct a cost and technical audit of the contract executed by the contractors in the context of the variety of agreements and commitments made by the parties to the project.
” Upon completion, the estimated cost was an approximate amount of US$32million to complete the project.  

He said to see the project completed he directed the Architectural and Engineering Services Limited, an agency under the Ministry, to validate the report of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors and advice accordingly.  

He said on March 18, 2021, “I have personally visited the project site and have acknowledged the urgent need to complete the project, notwithstanding the complexities the project presents.

He said several ideas and scenarios, including dedicating a section of the housing units to the Armed Forces of Ghana, have been mooted and were being analysed and cursory inspection of the current state of development belied the fundamental challenge of the absence of the primary infrastructure the site suffers, for which reason a further investment was required.

He said the country faced the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic hence public finances were severely constrained, adding that the Ministry acknowledged that completing the development was not an easy or straight forward task.
“These facts are not information exclusive to the Ministry and could easily be found in the public domain due to the extensive news coverage the issue has garnered over the past four years.

For this reason, the Ministry finds this video to be a grandstanding gesture laden with diabolical intent, to say the least,” he said.    

He called on the general public not to be wooed by the populist appeal by the producers of the video in question to indulge in recklessness in the name of forced occupation since, in the absence of the primary infrastructure, it had consequences for health and safety.

He assured that the Ministry was committed to the completion of the Saglemi Housing project, regardless of the outcome of the ongoing criminal investigations.

The Saglemi Housing Project is located along the Tema-Aflao road in the Greater Accra Region.

Businesses urged to adopt flexible operational strategy in crisis

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Directors and managements of businesses must adopt a flexible operational strategy to remain competitive and thrive in unforeseen circumstances, Nana Dwemoh Benneh, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Universal Merchant Bank (UMB), has advised.

He said such a strategy would enable businesses to quickly change their operations to meet the trends and needs of a particular time to remain relevant, competitive and achieve profit.

Speaking with the media on the sidelines of Ghana’s Most Respected CEOs Breakfast Series in Accra, Mr Benneh noted that even though all businesses felt the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic, some businesses were able to stay relevant, competitive and made gains due to their ability to quickly adjust to the changing business environment.

The CEO opined that although it was not out of place for businesses to hold on to the core of their operations, adopting flexible operational strategies would allow them to thrive even in a crisis.

He said: “We have businesses that hitherto had a different business line, people who were doing alcoholic beverages are now doing sanitisers so they’ve had to look at what they have as their core and adapt it to the needs and requirements of the environment that has come.”

Mr Benneh added that: “The winners and losers of this crisis will be the people who will be able to do a proper assessment of what the business module is, what is it that you are offering, vis a vis, the current changes that we have all witnessed as a result of the crisis and taking advantage of it.”

The Breakfast Series was organised by the Business and Financial Times and UMB, under the theme; Business Adaptability and Sustainability in 2021: The Role and Impact of Finance and Technology.”

It aimed at proffering strategies on how firms can overcome the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic to their operations to enable them to be competitive and profitable.

Mr Benneh said as a bank, UMB was committed to partnering with businesses to evolve and to remain competitive.

He, therefore, urged businesses, especially start-ups and Small and Medium Enterprises, to create credibility to allow them to obtain investments from the banks.

“Our clients must create credibility so that when they come with financing proposals we are able to finance them and this includes creating business modules that can be profitable, one that is commercial and can make money and also demonstrate the necessary discipline it takes to grow the business,” he said.

He added: “Anyone who finances looks to a client who can demonstrate a clear value proposition and one that is very disciplined and committed to seeing the business to a successful end.”

Ms Leticia Browne, CEO, Intelligent Capital Group, said even though businesses had realised the importance of technology as a result of the pandemic, more collaboration was needed between them and Fintech companies to enable them to stay relevant and become more competitive globally.

Meanwhile, data from the COVID-19 Business Tracker Survey conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), in 2020 showed that during the lockdown, about 244,000 firms started adjusting their business models by relying more on digital solutions, such as mobile money and the internet for sales.

Other speakers at the event are Mr Daniel Kwadwo Owusu, Country Managing Partner, Deloitte Ghana, Mr Daniel Addo, CEO of Consolidated Bank Ghana, Mr Dominic Adu, CEO of FNB Ghana and Madam Ethel Coffie, CEO of Edel Technologies and Founder, Women in Technology.

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