Day: February 10, 2022

Drobonso (Ash),- Mr Hamidu Sulemana, District Chief Executive (DCE), for Sekyere Afram Plains, has urged members of communities in the district to promptly report issues of concern to the assembly.

He said active participation of community members in local governance was crucial in addressing challenges affecting the people.

It was therefore important for the people to always make issues of great concern known to the assembly for discussions to find amicable solutions to them.

Speaking at a town hall meeting at Drobonso, he said the district assembly was created to bring local governance closer to the people and there was the need for the people to express their opinions on all issues freely devoid of political interference and intimidation.

The town hall meeting was organized by Vision for Action Foundation (VFA) an NGO based in the Sekyere Afram Plains, in collaboration with the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD).

It was part of efforts to create opportunities for the people to discuss issues affecting the development of the area and also contribute to the drafting and implementation of the district’s development plan.

It was attended by traditional rulers, religious leaders, assembly members, leaders of various identifiable groups in the area such as the Ghana Private Road Transport Union, dress makers and others.

Mr Sulemana urged the people to rally behind the assembly and the government to initiate and implement policies that would help open up the area and improve on the living conditions of the people.

Mr Justice Owuraku Boafo, Project Coordinator of VFA said the event was to help strengthen local democratic governance through active participation of the local people.

“Governance is all about the people, and that can only be realized when their voice is heard and valued”, Mr Boafo emphasised.

He said, the initiative also had a focus of deepening the cohesion of the local people with their duty bearers within the district.

“The event also had the goal of enabling the ordinary citizens to gain information about both the central and local government policies and programmes implemented as well as solicit their views and concerns for consideration in the long and medium term development plan”, he added.

Nana Afia Owusuaa Opoku, Queen of Anyinofi Traditional Area commended the CDD and the VFA for the event and urged the government to consider the priorities of the people in the development and implementation of their medium and long term plans.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Ghana is now ranked 61st in the world according to February’s rankings released by FIFA on Thursday.

The Black Stars, who had a poor campaign at the just ended 2021 Africa Cup of Nations [AFCON] in Cameroon have missed out of the top ten (10) best male national team on the Africa rankings.

Ghana currently lies 11th position on the Africa rankings.

Senegal after winning their first CAF Africa Cup of Nations title last weekend, Senegal continued their ascent into the upper echelons of world football.

In fact, the Lions of Teranga have climbed to 18th in this February’s edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, their highest ever position.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 31 March 2022.

Source: Modern Ghana

New Edubiase FC president, Abdul Salam Yakubu, has confirmed that he has put up the club on sale at a very low price.

According to him, he has lost his passion for football and claimed he has been sidelined by the system.

In a Facebook post, Abdul Salam Yakubu said he has decided to put the Division One League club up for sale after becoming increasingly frustrated.

”New Edubiase United FC is up for sale at a very low price. All you need is to manage the players’ welfare very well,” he wrote.

“I think I’ve done my best in Ghana football, started with seven united, worked with King Faisal and I was mentored by the late Alhaji Bimbo, who taught me a lot in football. Due to my work, I was privileged to serve under various committees in Ghana football.

He added: ”The passion I have for football is dead. For two seasons now I’ve been particularly sidelined for everything poor in the football system. It’s very sad.

”I have been mute for some time hoping there is a change but it seems there won’t be any and if care is not taken I could harbour a sickness and things might be worse.”

New Edubiase United played in the Ghana Premier League for six seasons before being relegated to the Division One League.

The club once enjoyed a good run in the Ghanaian topflight, even participating in the CAF Confederations Cup after winning the FA Cup.

Last year, the club announced the signing of Kumawood actor Kwadwo Nkansah ‘Lilwin’ to help promote their activities.

Source: Modern Ghana

Former Hearts of Oak captain, Yaw Amankwah Mireku, has said he will be stunned if his former side failed to defend their title in the ongoing 2021/22 Ghana Premier League.

The Phobians after 15 matches played sit on the 7th position on the league log with 23 points with a game at hand against rivals, Asante Kotoko.

In the matchday 16 games, Hearts of Oak suffered a 1-0 defeat against the city rivals, Great Olympics at the Accra Sports Stadium in the Mantse Derby.

According to Amankwah Mireku, Samuel Boadu still has the core of the team that won the league title last season thus the team should be able to defend the title irrespective of its shortcomings.

“Samuel Boadu shouldn’t have struggled this season because he has the core of the team, he should assemble the right players and blend them with the new guys,” Mireku told Accra based Happy FM.

“Last season, when things were not going well in the first round, we (Hearts) bounced back and won the league so, with this squad, I will be surprised if Hearts of Oak fails to win this year’s league,” he added.

Source: Modern Ghana

Mrs Dorothee Dinkelaker, the Head of Cooperation, German Embassy/German Development Cooperation, has launched a three million-Euro project to invest in the human resources of labour offices under the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.

 The “capacity building project for the labour department on migration and employment promotion in the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regions” seeks to implement specific active labour market interventions for the youth and migrant returnees in the three regions.

Titled the “Bono Project”, implementation of the 18-month project would further enhance facilities by providing the requisite equipment for improved functionality of the labour offices and support the operationalisation of the Ghana Labour Market Information System.

 This will be done through the provision of reliable data and storage management training as well as basic logistical support (IT infrastructure), thereby enhancing job placement and implementation of active labour market interventions.

At a ceremony held in Sunyani, the Bono Regional capital, Mrs Dinkelaker said it remained the prime concern of the German Government to help provide decent employment opportunities for the youth in Ghana to create alternatives to irregular migration.

 “The aim of the German-Ghanaian development cooperation is to promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth to consolidate Ghana’s status as a lower middle-income country, hence employment promotion is at the core of our cooperation,” she said.

Mrs Dinkelaker said despite the positive growth rates and several interventions rolled out by Ghana and her partners, youth unemployment and under-employment was still high, while decent employment remained a challenge.

“According to the Ghana Statistical Service, in 2021 the unemployment rate recorded for the youth between ages 15-24 was at 32.8 per cent. This means that every third young person was without a job,” she said.

 “These figures, which are also partly influenced by the economic crisis in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic, should be a warning sign for us not to take progress made so far for

granted. Our continuous efforts are demanded to ensure decent and sustainable employment opportunities created for the youth in Ghana.”

Mrs Dinkelaker explained that with its Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) and skills development programming, the Embassy would contribute to Ghana’s TVET reforms.

    This would further contribute to the setting up of a demand driven and competency-based curriculum and improve the system of TVET institutions and teachers’ capacities in Ghana and provide a plethora of short-term training opportunities for job-seekers.

“With our private sector development initiatives we are supporting entrepreneurs, MSMEs and larger corporations to create jobs that are decent, safe and sustainable,” she said.

She said the Bono project would support the labour department with capacity building to better fulfil its function as a facilitator of employment promotion between labour supply and demand in the country.

  Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, expressed regret over the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions’ remaining hotspots for irregular migration in the country, and commended the German Government for the implementation of the project.

  He explained the project would set up new labour offices in the Bono East and Ahafo regions and rehabilitate the existing ones in the Bono Region and provide vehicles and modern equipment.

 Mr Baffour-Awuah, also the Member of Parliament for the Sunyani West, however, advised potential migrants to avoid risking their lives by embarking on dangerous and hazardous voyages through the Sahara Desert and on the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe.

He asked them to rather secure relevant travelling documents, saying though migration was not a bad idea, it remained dangerous to travel through unconventional means or unapproved routes.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Electrochem Ghana Limited has scaled up the construction of community pans for salt winning by artisanal miners in communities bordering the company’s concession in the Ada West District.

Ten of the community pans that have already been built for Nakomkope within the Agbakpe community are being filled with mature brine (saltwater) which will crystalize into top quality salt for the locals to mine.

Dzigbordi Kwaku Dosoo, Lead Consultant for Electrochem Ghana Ltd. said, “… the creation of pans for the community is a topmost priority for us as a responsible entity. The salt harvesting season is the first half of the year so we are doing everything in our power to ensure that at least some of the pans are ready for the people to get some output before the season is over…”

She further noted that the initiative is the company’s way of ensuring that the livelihood of artisanal miners (Atsiakpor) is not disrupted in any way. Electrochem Ghana has the wellbeing of the citizenry and the overall development of the Ada states at heart and that is why they come first in everything we do.

Naana Adiki Manyeyo Adi I, Queen of the Royal Adibiawe Clan of Ada who doubles as Director of Corporate Social Responsibility of Electrochem Ghana, said the idea to build and designate community pans to the local miners is a well-thought-out one. The people are excited about the fact that the construction is
coming at no cost to them and they will not have to struggle to refill them with brine after harvest.

“Electrochem Ghana is ready to buy the salt harvested from the community pans but they have the option to sell it to any other buyer of their choice; they are not under any obligation to sell to the company at all cost, that is also an arrangement that is gratifying to them,” she added.

A minimum of ten communities along the company’s concession in the Ada West District will each have a set of pans for communal mining but this will be done in a more sustainable fashion in line with international standards. Together, these pans from all the communities are expected to produce a total of 100,000 tons of salt in a year.

Nakomkope already has its pans filled with mature brine while engineering and construction works are fast progressing on the pans to be allocated to the people of Adjumanikope, Agbedrafor, Bornikope, and Kposem. The plan is to complete construction work on these pans by the end of February to pave way for the next phase which will cover other Ada suburbs such as Toflokpo, Matsekope, Salome, Lolonya, and Kportitsekope, all in the Ada West District of the Greater Accra Region.

Source: Ghana Web

The Executive Council of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has appointed Mr. Mark Addo as the Chairman of the Black Stars Management Committee.

The GFA Vice President would be assisted by five other persons to manage the senior national team. 

The are; Kwasi Agyemang – Vice Chairman, Samuel Osei Kuffuor, Kwame Ofosu Bamfo, Colonel Kwadwo Damoah (Rtd.) and bank roller of King Faisal, Alhaji Karim Grusah.

The Management Committee has ultimate responsibility of directing the activities of the team, ensuring it is well run and delivering the outcomes, monitoring the activities of the Technical team, the Medical team and the Playing body to ensure they are keeping with the founding principles, objectives and values of the team.

The previous committee led by George Amoako was dissolved following the Black Stars unimpressive performance at the just ended Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon. 

Source: Ghana News Agency