Media Managers tasked to offer Journalists safety training
Accra- Panellists at a roundtable discussion on ensuring effective safety protocols for journalists at the World Press Freedom Day have underscored the need for media owners and Managers to offer safety tit bits to journalists before assigning them.
He said covering of risky assignments or conflict areas was unique and therefore deserved ample protection for Journalists.
They said the safety training should not be a one-off thing, but a continuous process, adding that where the senior editors lacked knowledge in safety protocols, security experts should be contracted to offer such training to journalists.
They said in situations where junior reporters had been affected and suffered abuses from officialdom or security agencies, the Management of those media houses and journalists associations should assist them to seek justice and adequate compensation.
They said although the journalist may have committed professional breaches in the line of duty, she or she should not be left to his/her fate to suffer and called for solidarity.
The discussion was moderated by Ms Rosiland Jordan, Al Jazeera Correspondent on US State and Defence Departments.
The panel members who took part in the discussion included; Maina Henry, the Regional Director of Article 19 in East Africa, Andrew Heslop, the Director of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, Pauler Slier, Middle East Bureau Chief, Russia Today and EI Hadji Abdoulaye Seye, the Founder of Agence d’Information et de Communication Africaine.
Keeping Power in Check: Media, Justice and the Rule of Law was the theme chosen for this year’s celebration of the World Press Freedom Day, which was jointly organised by the Government of Ghana and UNESCO.
The event attracted hundreds of journalists, media practitioners, academics and government representatives, Non-Governmental Organisations and United Nations agencies across the world.
It afforded a platform for stakeholders to remind governments worldwide on the need to respect freedom of expression and ensuring the sanctity of journalism practice.
Mr Henry Maina, a panellist who is the Regional Director of Article 19 in East Africa, bemoaned that a lot of journalists in Africa and other jurisdictions were physically attacked, intimidated, arrested and detained, while a number of them paid the ultimate price by being killed for performing their work.
This, he said, often occurred because most media houses in Africa did not have safety protocols and ”so journalists are sent on assignment without proper understanding of the risk of that assignment.
Mr Maina noted: If there is an understanding of that assignment, journalists are not given sufficient back-up in terms of body armours or any other necessary equipment that will help them in the event of danger.
He condemned situations where media managers and senior editors failed to offer immediate support to journalists who got caught up in crossfire and maimed in line of duty.
He underlined the need for media managers to always show solidarity to journalists who fall victim to brutalities, noting that, when victims were left to their fate, it exposed journalists to more attacks and emboldened their attackers to constantly attack them.
Mr Maina noted that journalists that investigated corruption cases and followed political events often suffered attacks; therefore, there was the need to offer those journalists safety protocols to safeguard them.
The 2017/2018 Global Report dubbed: ”World Trend of the Freedom of Expression and Media Development” revealed that 530 journalists were killed between 2012 and 2016, and averagely, two journalists killed each week globally.
Source: Ghana News Agency
GHANA BECOMING WEST AFRICAN TRANS-SHIPMENT HUB, SAYS HAPAH-LLOYD COO
ACCRA– Ghana is gradually becoming a trans-shipment hub in West Africa following expansion works carried out at the Tema Port near Accra, says Anthony Firmin, the Chief Operating Officer of Hapag Llyod, the German transportation giant which is one of the world’s biggest shipping lines.
The growth of Tema Port will further reinforce the role of Ghana as a hub for West Africa, he told a media conference here Wednesday to announce the official opening of the shipping line’s new offices located in Tema.
Firmin said Hapag-LLoyd chose to base its West Africa operations in Ghana because the country was not only politically and legally stable, but was business-friendly, making many multinationals in West Africa to set up their regional offices here.
Ghana’s strong regional setting also offered a springboard into Africa and access to market of 350 million inhabitants in the West Africa sub-region.
Noting that Hapag-Lloyd had over the past three years offered expertise and support in the exportation and importation of perishable items such as yam, fruits and fish to Europe and across the globe, he was also pleased that the company’s enhanced presence in West Africa was showing signs of success.
Our West African Express (WAX) service to and from West Africa has been operating with extraordinary success for several years and is very well received by customers. With our new East Africa Service (EAS), connecting all major trades globally via our hub in Saudi Arabia with Kenya and Tanzania, we have entered another new trade,” he added.
As a result, we are tying Africa even more closely to our global network while benefiting at the same time from positive economic development in large parts of Africa.”
He said Ghana was among the fastest growing economies in the region, adding that its growth was primarily driven by the trade in gold and oil and gas products. He also expected Ghana’s ports handling capacity to triple by mid-2019, from one million to three million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK
GHANA BECOMING WEST AFRICAN TRANS-SHIPMENT HUB, SAYS HAPAH-LLOYD COO
ACCRA– Ghana is gradually becoming a trans-shipment hub in West Africa following expansion works carried out at the Tema Port near Accra, says Anthony Firmin, the Chief Operating Officer of Hapag Llyod, the German transportation giant which is one of the world’s biggest shipping lines.
The growth of Tema Port will further reinforce the role of Ghana as a hub for West Africa, he told a media conference here Wednesday to announce the official opening of the shipping line’s new offices located in Tema.
Firmin said Hapag-LLoyd chose to base its West Africa operations in Ghana because the country was not only politically and legally stable, but was business-friendly, making many multinationals in West Africa to set up their regional offices here.
Ghana’s strong regional setting also offered a springboard into Africa and access to market of 350 million inhabitants in the West Africa sub-region.
Noting that Hapag-Lloyd had over the past three years offered expertise and support in the exportation and importation of perishable items such as yam, fruits and fish to Europe and across the globe, he was also pleased that the company’s enhanced presence in West Africa was showing signs of success.
Our West African Express (WAX) service to and from West Africa has been operating with extraordinary success for several years and is very well received by customers. With our new East Africa Service (EAS), connecting all major trades globally via our hub in Saudi Arabia with Kenya and Tanzania, we have entered another new trade,” he added.
As a result, we are tying Africa even more closely to our global network while benefiting at the same time from positive economic development in large parts of Africa.”
He said Ghana was among the fastest growing economies in the region, adding that its growth was primarily driven by the trade in gold and oil and gas products. He also expected Ghana’s ports handling capacity to triple by mid-2019, from one million to three million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK
Ensure proper handling of water to avoid diseases
Effiduase, (Ash) Mr Alexander A. Kissi, a Nutrition specialist has urged community members to ensure proper handling of domestic water in order to avoid contamination and possible outbreak of diseases in their communities.
They should also observe good environmental sanitation and practise simple water treating and safe handling techniques such as boiling, filtration, keeping water in covered containers, regular cleaning of water containers among others, in their homes at all times.
This, according to him was the surest way to prevent waterborne and related communicable diseases, which at times led to fatalities, especially among women and children in communities.
Mr Kissi made the call at the opening of a training of trainer course for community volunteers and health officials from 20 rural communities under the Sekyere East Cluster of the World Vision Ghana (WVG), at Effiduase.
It was aimed at equipping the participants with requisite skills to serve as focal persons in their communities to cause behavioural change towards safe water handling in their communities.
Mrs Georgina Harriet Nyamekeh, the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project officer of the Sekyere East Cluster of WVG said poor handling of water from water pumps and other sources by community members, had been identified as a major cause of diseases.
The water from the water pumps are confidently clean and hygienic but gets contaminated before reaching the homes of the families due to poor handling and this has resulted in most of the water related and other communicable diseases in communities, she stated.
The training therefore, seeks to empower the trainees to educate and cause behaviour change in their communities in terms of safe water usage and handling.
Mrs Nyamekeh said the plan was to cause a total behavioural change in communities to ensure that community members handled their water safely from the sources, such as the water pumps, rain water or streams to their homes by using covered bottles and/or covering the containers used for carriage and storage, while urging them to treat their domestic water well before use.
She said the broader impact of the initiative was to guarantee that all children especially, those in the most vulnerable households in rural communities had increased access to safe potable water for multiple usage.
Mr Emmanuel Arthur, the Community Development Officer of Sekyere East District, said the Assembly would continue to play its rightful role to sustain the initiative to ensure that the people had clean water to guarantee good health and improved productivity in the district.
Source: Ghana News Agency
Trader jailed for stealing
Kade (E/R)- An Accra based trader, Emmanuel Akwasi Dwumor, who stole items from two shops at Kade has been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment with a fine of GH 204.00 by a Kade Magistrate’s Court.
Dwumor, 21, pleaded guilty to the charge of stealing.
Giving the facts of the case at the Court presided over by Madam Felicia Anane-Antwi, Police Detective Inspector Isaac Owusu Achiaw said, the accused, Dwumor, arrived at Kade from Accra at about 9am on March 2, 2018 with a friend, one Otopaye.
They came to the town to hawk some products including insecticides and air fresheners.
The two at about 10am entered the hair dressing saloon of Beatrice Osaebea to introduce their products to her.
The accused, however, managed to steal the complainant’s Nawbin tablet valued at GH 300.00 which he hid in a bag and left the saloon.
The complainant later detected the theft of the tablet and suspected the accused and his friends for stealing.
She informed a friend, a witness in the case and gave description of the two hawkers.
From the hairdressing saloon, the accused who was being sought for stealing entered the barbering shop of Benjamin Abrokwa and found him deeply asleep.
He took the opportunity to steal a Techno mobile phone value at GH50.00 in a chair.
At about 3pm, the accused was arrested by some young men from the description given by the hairdresser.
When searched, the tablet was found in his bag and he was handed over to the police.
At the Police Station, a further search in his bag, led to the discovery of the mobile phone which the owner later identified as his.
Source: Ghana News Agency
