Day: July 22, 2022

Ghanaian striker, Dauda Mohammed has indicated that he is eager to get started at his new club CD Tenerife.

As reported by Modernghana Sports on Friday morning, the Spanish Segunda club has sealed a season-long loan move to benefit from the services of the former Asante Kotoko forward.

“The blue and white offensive reinforcement arrives on loan from RSC Anderlecht (Belgium), after spending last season at FC Cartagena, where he made a more than outstanding debut in Spanish football,” part of a club statement from CD Tenerife said on Friday morning.

Speaking in his maiden interview, Dauda Mohammed emphasised that he is elated.

According to him, he cannot wait to get started at the new club and hopes to receive support from the fans.

“Of course I’m happy. That’s why I’m here. If I’m not I wouldn’t be here so of course, I’m happy to be here. I’m really excited and I can’t wait to get started,” the young striker shared.

Dauda Mohammed continued, “I’m here not only for this position or that position. I’m here for the team so whenever the coach wants me to play I’m ready to work hard for the team.

“I want the fans to stay behind the club through good or bad.”

Source: Modern Ghana

The Germany branch of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has appointed the Member of Parliament for Yendi Constituency, Alhaji Farouk Aliu Mahama, as its patron.

In a correspondence communicating the appointment, the executive body indicated that given, the honourable member’s experience, insight and untiring effort, he is the best fit to help NPP Germany in fulfilling its targets and dreams.

Addressing the NPP Germany Branch Executives, Hon. Farouk Aliu Mahama expressed his profound gratitude for the appointment and pledged to continue contributing to the growth and sustainability of the NPP.

“I am going to ensure we work hand in hand towards the goals of this group and the NPP as a party at large. We have a bigger task ahead of us. Which to break the 8 in the next elections, and that is why we must all take it upon ourselves to hold each other together towards that goal”, he told them.

The patron added, “Let me also entreat all and sundry that we extend a hand of friendship towards our brothers and sisters in the other external branches of the party. So that together we shall win.”

The branch indicated that he has been very supportive of the NPP diaspora.

They noted that the branch deemed it appropriate to honour him by appointing him a Patron.

Source: Modern Ghana

The Ghana Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) and the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) have pledged to work together in combating the incidence of fraud, white colour and financial crime.

COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah (seated middle) and Dr Rebecca Atswei Lomo (seated second right)

COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah (seated middle) and Dr Rebecca Atswei Lomo (seated second right)

This came to light when members of ACFE Ghana Chapter paid a courtesy call on Commissioner of Police (COP) Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, Executive Director of EOCO, at her office, in Accra.

The ACFE Ghana Chapter Members include chartered accountants, auditors, lawyers, investigators, law enforcement officers, security professionals, executives’ managers, and anyone whose job involves preventing, detecting or deterring fraud.

The Association seeks to team up with all fraud fighting agencies, especially EOCO, to encourage both public and private institutions to strengthen their governance and control systems in the fight against fraud.

Dr Rebecca Atswei Lomo, the President of ACFE Ghana Chapter, who led the team, said the visit was to assure EOCO of their available skills, having the requisite skills to assist the Office, should they need fraud examiners and investigators to assist in handling fraud related issues.

“We look forward to collaborate with your Organization and other fraud and financial crime agencies during our International Fraud awareness week celebration in November, 22,” she said.

Dr Lomo stated that the celebration seeks to educate the public on fraud prevention and detection and how to report fraudulent and corrupt activities based on the provisions in the Whistleblower Act 2006 (Act 720).

She said ACFE Ghana Chapter would also hold a fraud Conference in 2023 and would be glad to have EOCO team up with ACFE to educate the public to appreciate what constitutes fraud and corruption, its impact on society and how the menace could be tackled to minimize it.

This, she said, would assist the public to understand that fraud and corruption prevention was the responsibility of everyone in society.

Dr Lomo, on behalf of the team, encouraged COP Addo-Danquah to remain dedicated, diligent and trustworthy in order to lead the fight against the incidence of fraud, white color and financial crime in the country.

COP Addo-Danquah, on her part, emphasized the need to build the capacities of investigators in line with contemporary law enforcement practices.

She revealed that currently the Office was engaging qualified chartered accountants to organize tailor-made training programmes for their accountants; put all these resources together and with the support of Institute of Chartered Accountants train them to become forensic accountants.

The Executive Director noted that EOCO would as well encourage them to become members of Certified Fraud Examiners, and anticipated that building their own capacity will enhance their skills.

COP Addo-Danquah mentioned that this would go a long way not for only for EOCO but to also support other law enforcement agencies including Office of the Special Prosecutor, Criminal Investigation Department, and Narcotic Control Commission, who might need the services of forensic accountants.

“When we have investigators who are also certified fraud examiners and forensic accountants, they understand the issues better and it will help us put our evidence together”, she added.

ACFE is the world’s largest anti-fraud organization and supports more than 90,000 members in 180 countries.

Its mission is to reduce the incidence of fraud and white-color crime and to assist the membership in fraud prevention, detection and deterrence.

ACFE Ghana Chapter serves as the international representative for Certified Fraud Examiners to business, government and academic institutions.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Natural Regeneration is cost effective in fighting climate change—FONAR

Nangodi (UE), July 22, GNA-Mr Sumalia Saaka, Executive Director, Forum for Natural Regeneration (FONAR), a Non- Governmental Organisation (NGO) says the concept of Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) is cost effective in fighting land degradation and the challenges of climate change.

He urged the Government, particularly the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to mainstream approaches of FMNR into their Medium-Term Development Plans to re-green the degraded landscapes and forest reserves.

This, he said, would complement government’s re -greening efforts including the Green Ghana concept to fight climate change, improve agriculture productivity, ensure food and nutritional security and improve livelihoods of vulnerable communities.

The Executive Director made the advocacy at Nangodi in the Nabdam District of the Upper East Region at a FMNR scaling up advocacy engagement with the district’s stakeholders.

The engagement was organised by FONAR in collaboration with World Vision Ghana with funding support from Tony Rinaudo, an Australian and founder of FMNR and his brother Peter Rinaudo.

Mr Saaka said farming practices, population growth and indiscriminate bush burning, and tree felling were fast depleting the country’s forest reserves and causing nutrient loss to the soil leading to low agriculture productivity especially in Northern Ghana.

He said it was estimated that about 40 per cent of Ghana’s landscape and forest reserves had been depleted, saying about 80 per cent of the total area in the Upper East Region had suffered from moderate to severe land degradation.

Also, about 16 hectares of tree cover had been lost in the region between 2000 and 2020.

The Executive Director noted that although some of the national re-greening strategies including tree planting were laudable, tree planting was expensive, and the survival rate was low as compared to the FMNR approach.

He said FMNR, which puts the farmer at the centre of the initiative, was less costly as trees and shrubs would be pruned to regenerate naturally without having to plant new trees and care for them.

“Just like we have harmonised our local government policies, government needs to take steps to harmonise our national land restoration strategies to effectively address issues of climate change.

“If our objective is to restore the productivity of degraded croplands with trees, then the foundational step is FMNR, which puts a part of the original perennial biodiversity back into the landscape, then you can add ‘companion tree planting’ when necessary,” he said.

Mr Jonas Dogbilla Bugre, the Development Facilitator, FMNR for Sustainable Economic Empowerment and Development project, World Vision Ghana, noted that apart from restoring degraded landscapes, the approach which involved community engagement helps to build resilient communities.

He stated for instance that between 2009 and 2019 when the concept was introduced in the Talensi District, about 67 communities had benefitted from the project and 750 hectares of degraded farmlands were restored.

Ms Agnes Anamoo, the District Chief Executive for the area, noted that the continuous use of chemicals by farmers and other mining activities in the area over the years had depleted the soil fertility and made it unsuitable for agriculture activities, adding, the FMNR approach would help ensure good farming practices to preserve the farmlands.

FMNR is an easy and low-cost land and forest restoration technique used to increase the number of trees in the field without necessary planting new trees but through the protection and management of existing trees and shrubs regenerated naturally from tree rootstocks, stems and dispersed seeds by animals.

It is used to sustainably combat poverty and hunger among poor subsistence farmers by increasing food and timber production and resilience to climate change.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Accra, July 22, GNA – The National Road Safety Authority’s (NRSA) says after a 12-year investigation, it has found out that road crashes are mostly caused by fatigue driving and speeding.

The investigation was conducted into 19 major crashes on some highways in the country that had claimed 345 deaths.?

This was revealed during a meeting with transport heads of commercial transport operators on compliance audit report and presentation of road crashes investigation findings.?

“47 per cent of the drivers were sleeping momentarily as a result of fatigue driving, 37 per cent were involved in wrongful overtaking and faulty manoeuvres whilst speeding,” the findings revealed.

” 12 per cent of the crashes was due to speeding and loss of control and 4 per cent was due to road environment,” the investigations revealed.

Some of the memorable accidents are the Dawa accident that claimed 20 lives in 2010, the Kintampo Waterfall head-on-collision that claimed 63 lives in 2016 and Kintampo Amoma Nkwanta where two buses collided, and one got burnt, resulting 60 deaths in 2019.

The Dompoase accident in 2020 claiming 34 lives, the Akumadan accident in 2021 with six deaths and Asuboi accident where a bus crashed into a fallen container claiming 11 lives amongst others were investigated.?

Whilst 15 out of 19 crashes (79 per cent) had occurred at night between 2000 hours and 0500 hours, 14 out of 19 crashes (74 per cent) were head-on-collision and partial side swipes.?

Also, 14 out of 19 (74 per cent) of the incidences occured when at-fault-drivers veered off their lane and crossed over onto the other lane led to collision.

The findings also indicated that 14 out of the 38 (37 per cent) drivers involved in the 19 investigated crashes survived.

It was revealed that 42 per cent of the crashes occured on the N10 highway which begins at Kumasi and travels north to Burkina Faso and 26 per cent happened on N6 highway which also starts from Accra through Nkawkaw to Kumasi.

Whereas 21 per cent occured on the Takoradi-Accra section of N1 highway, 11 per cent occured on the Tema-Aflao section of the N1 highway.?

“79 per cent of the investigated crashes occured in the Eastern, Ashanti, Bono and Central Regions whilst the 21 per cent occured in the Savannah, Volta and Great Accra Regions,” the findings revealed.?

The NRSA had therefore called for a national policy on night driving and a national campaign on fatigue driving, wrongful overtaking and speeding.

It also demanded swift action of strictly regulating operations of the transport industry where standards and systems such as co-driving or relay driving system, speeding, driving hours, mandatory stops, journey planning, tracking system and seatbelt usage would be in place.

The Authority also called for the dualisation of highways as a long-term solution with a partial dualisation as a short-term measure.?

Source: Ghana News Agency

Bolgatanga, July 22, GNA-Ghanaian women have been encouraged to be assertive and put themselves forward for leadership roles in the local governance structure to help address challenges confronting their growth and development.

Dr Daniel Appiah, Lecturer, Department of Public Administration and Health Services Management, University of Ghana noted that the move would strengthen efforts towards attaining inclusive national development, gender parity and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Dr Appiah gave the advice when he spoke to some Assembly women in the Upper East Region at a capacity building training programme organised at Bolgatanga by the National Association of Local Authorities (NALAG).

The Lecturer bemoaned the low representation of women particularly in local governance, saying it was worrying and a threat to achieving key development needs and the SDGs especially goal five, which puts emphasis on achieving gender equality by 2030.

Out of the 261 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) appointed to manage the various Assemblies across the country, only 39 representing 15 percent are females.

Similarly, only 246 females representing four per cent out of 6,279 had been elected as Assembly Members while out of the 2,833 appointed Assembly Members, only 591 representing 21 per cent are females.

Dr Appiah noted that the situation was worse on the position of Presiding Member with statistics from the previous Assembly indicating that only four females representing two per cent were elected as Presiding Members.

Dr Appiah explained that women had unique development needs that needed to be addressed and added that the low representation of women in the local governance structure was inimical to their growth and development.

He therefore encouraged them to be bold and put themselves up for elections and lobby for appointments into the governance system.

“For instance, a man cannot better know the challenges in breastfeeding a baby but when there is a woman as part of decision-making process regarding exclusive breastfeeding, accurate policies would be made to encourage women to practice breastfeeding,” he added.

Dr Appiah noted that statistics had proven that women were better managers of the economy especially in times of crisis and called for societal norms impeding women from taking up leadership roles to be addressed.

He said, “to add to that, when countries were ranked based on their better management of the COVID-19 pandemic, all the top seven countries were being governed by either women Presidents or women Prime Ministers.”

In a speech read on his behalf, Mr Eric Nana Agyemang Prempeh, the National President, NALAG, noted that despite women forming more than half of the population of the country, gender norms and discrimination had over the years discouraged and impeded their participation in local governance.

He underscored the need for stakeholders including MMDAs to support to build the capacity of women and create enabling environment for women to improve their performance at the electoral area levels as foundational step to local governance participation.

Mr Joseph Owusu, the Head of Programmes, NALAG, said the training formed part of a nationwide move to build the capacity of Assembly women across the country to maintain their positions and encourage other women to stand for elections at the local government level, especially in 2023 District and Local Government elections.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Accra, July 22, GNA – Mrs Mathilda Ayineboma Ayamga, National Programme Coordinator, Power to You(th), Northern Sector Action on Awareness Centre (NORSAAC), has urged adolescents to set personal moral values for themselves.

‘‘If you have no values, you have no destination, once your head is filled with valuable things, there won’t be space for chaff,’’ she said.

Mrs Ayamga said this on the side-lines of a youth engagement to solicit input to update the National Operational Monitoring and Evaluation Plan to End Child Marriage for 2022-2023.

The engagement was organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Northern Sector Action on Awareness Centre (NORSAAC) and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The participants were drawn from the Northern, Central, Eastern and Greater Accra regions together with some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) involved with issues of children and the youth.

The National Operational, Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (2020 2021) is part of the Ghana National Strategic Framework to End Child Marriage 2017-2026 developed by the Domestic Violence Secretariat of the Gender Ministry in consultation with other Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Government and partners.

The overarching goal of the Operational Plan is to have a society without child marriage by 2030.

The framework seeks to provide an integrated vision and clear direction to all sectors at various levels involved with prevention and response efforts at addressing child marriage.

It sets out clear national goals, objectives, strategies and key interventions across different sectors that will lead to the gradual elimination of the practice.

The Operational plan is a two-year document implemented and reviewed at the end of the two years to meet current trends of child marriage practices.

Mrs Ayamga said the values would prevent social vices, including child delinquency and teenage pregnancy and make them fulfil their ambitions.

She advised adolescents to be take charge of their lives in addressing societal issues affecting them and be responsible for their actions.

‘‘The moment you begin to link your failures, especially, to people, you have not given yourself room to improve or learn. I don’t see parents stay in the prisons with their children, they just visit and go back home, that tells you that you are responsible for your own actions,’’ Mrs Ayamga said.

The National Programme Coordinator called on CSOs to intensify the conscious engagement of beneficiaries of programmes they had rolled out and prioritise of the planning.

She advised parents and guardians to be good role models to their children, support and mentor them.

Mrs Ayamga urged parents to be cautious not to become ‘‘accomplices’’ of their children’s social vices because of their failure to inculcate good values and provide them with good moral upbringing.

‘‘It would be difficult, though not impossible, for your children to sway off easily by peer pressure or social media if you train them well,’’ she added.

Miss Serwaa Agyapong, a pupil of Nsawam M/A Basic School, said they were going to be ambassadors against child marriage by educating other children about its effects on their lives and future.

NORSAAC is a gender-based advocacy organisation working to promote the equality of women in Ghana.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Spanish club, CD Tenerife have announced that a deal has been reached for the signing of Ghanaian striker Dauda Mohammed.

From an official statement from the Spanish side, it notes that it has reached an agreement with RSC Anderlecht for the loan services of the forward for the 2022/23 football season.

“The blue and white offensive reinforcement arrives on loan from RSC Anderlecht (Belgium), after spending last season at FC Cartagena, where he made a more than outstanding debut in Spanish football,” part of a club statement from CD Tenerife said on Friday morning.

The club statement continues, “Mohammed Dauda (02/20/1998, Larabanga; Ghana), known in football as Mo Dauda, will be able to continue his already promising career in Spanish football. CD Tenerife and RSC Anderlecht have reached an agreement for the Ghanaian footballer to join the Blue and Whites for the 22/23 season, once the administrative procedures are completed and he passes the mandatory medical examination.

“Negotiations with Mo Dauda and his home club have been carried out in a highly satisfactory manner. Thus, the sports management headed by Juan Carlos Cordero has managed to materialize such an exciting incorporation, all despite the interest shown by different clubs.”

Dauda Mohammed has been signed with a lot of expectations and will be relied on for goals to help CD Tenerife achieve its targets for the upcoming football season.

Source: Modern Ghana