Day: June 2, 2024

Mr. John Allotey, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Forestry Commission (FC), has called on Ghanaians to actively participate in the 2024 edition of the Green Ghana Day on Friday, June 7 to ensure its success.?

He said the Commission had made available enough tree seedlings of different kinds at all their Regional and District offices, ‘… so we expect all Ghanaians to go out and plant them to help advance the initiative.’

He said this when he paid a courtesy call on the Western Regional Minister, Mr. Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, at Sekondi, during a tour of the Region to inspect progress of trees planted in the previous editions of the Green Ghana Day.?

Mr. Allotey appealed to traditional and religious leaders, opinion leaders and other key community stakeholders to mobilise their people to take keen interest in participating in the exercise to help achieve its set targets.?

He said: ‘The seedlings are free so we will need the support of everyone to ensure the success of the initiative on that day.
‘

He cautioned those engaged in illegal felling of trees, saying, ‘It is imperative for us as citizens to help protect the country’s forest reserves from destruction by illegal lumbering activities so that we do not suffer its consequences in the long run.’

Mr. Darko-Mensah said the Western Regional Co-ordinating Council (WRCC) was ready to lead the charge to plant trees to replenish lost vegetative cover in the Region.?

‘For us in the Western Region, we deliver about 60 per cent of the country’s forest products, so we are ready to plant enough trees to even exceed our targets in this year’s Green Ghana Day initiative,’ he stated.?

He reiterated the need for everyone to embrace the culture of tree planting to help mitigate the devastating impact of climate change on the environment and livelihoods.?

Source: Ghana News Agency

A report by the Public Interest Accountability Committee(PIAC) reveals a 36 percent shortfall in the Electricity Company of Ghana’s payments in accordance with the cash waterfall mechanism (CWM) for gas in 2023.

In the 2023 edition of the report, PIAC disclosed that ECG paid an approximate amount of GHS 250 million as against an expected payment of GHS 385 million.?

The report showed that the outstanding debts to be paid by ECG for gas used for the year 2023 were GHS 140 million.?

The Cash Waterfall Mechanism (CWM) and Natural Gas Clearinghouse (NGCH) set out the principles, methodology, and processes for determining and disbursing tariff revenue collected by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to various beneficiaries along the electricity value chain.

Accordingly, Ghana National Gas Company Limited (GNGLC),? Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC), and other stakeholders in the value chain are paid directly by CWM as a percentage of the invoice amount submitted for each month.

The report said that a
lthough allocations were made in the months of July and August, ECG did not make payments for those allocations.?

The report said PIAC observed that GNGLC’s indebtedness to GNPC continued to rise despite the use of the Cash Waterfall Mechanism to address the legacy debts.

The report noted that this trend, if not mitigated, could impair the operational viability of GNGLC.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Hunger Project-Ghana (THP) has inaugurated a Vocational Training Centre at the Supriso epicentre, near Suhum in the Eastern Region, to train and empower school dropout girls.

The three-year project funded by THP-Switzerland is to improve the livelihoods of 10 school dropout girls in the area through the Vocational Training skills.

Dr Kofi Essien, who spoke on behalf of the Country Director of THP-GHANA, said the objective was to ensure that the lives of the beneficiaries were enhanced to be able to contribute to community and national development.

He admonished them to embrace the training as a game changer in their lives and take the training seriously to improving on their living standards.

Mr Dennis Kumi, Head of Business Resource Centre at the Suhum Municipal Assembly, indicated that similar government project to empower the youth especially drop out school girls was ongoing and commended THP for complementing governments efforts in that direction.

He said the Assembly would collaborate with the
Hunger Project to enrol the beneficiaries on the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) examinations for certification as part of the training to enhance their skills acquisition.

Mrs Patricia Osei Amponsah, Focal Person for Gender and Child Protection of The Hunger Project-Ghana (THP) said the training was fully sponsored to ensure beneficiaries had a successful training.

The sponsorship includes provision of equipment such as sewing and knitting machines, all materials for practicals including sewing threads, needles, and daily stipend for each of the 10 beneficiaries.

These provisions have been made to remove all impediments on the way of these young girls reaching the goals of this project which sought to change the living conditions of rural communities.

The Hunger Project-Ghana is a not-for-profit organisation focused on women and children’s welfare by empowering rural communities through the Epicentre strategy.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Ghana, through the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and national stakeholders in the food value chain, has adopted a Food Safety Master Plan to address food safety challenges and improve food control systems in the country.

The five-year Master Plan was developed by the FDA together with a constituted national food safety stakeholder committee with support from the African Union Commission to address gaps in the country’s food safety control systems.

This was developed based on a self-assessment of the food control system of the country to identify gaps and develop home-grown recommendations to improve the nation’s food sector.

Mr Roderick Daddey-Adjei, Deputy CEO of FDA in charge of Food Registration, said the plan showed the direction in which food safety and control systems should be pursued in the next five years with specific objectives and expected results.

‘It is also a practical document that would guide stakeholders on how to translate the plan into action with sections on implementation, including
details on activities to address strategic priorities, cost estimates, and roles of key players,’ he said.

Mr Daddey-Adjei said the plan would serve as a blueprint to guide stakeholders from time to time to ensure that foods produced and consumed were safe.

He added that they would be constituting a steering committee that would be championing the implementation and rollout of the plan in collaboration with all other relevant stakeholders.

Mr Daddey-Adjei said the major challenges with food safety identified were the lack of education and knowledge on the proper handling and safekeeping of foods.

He added that the FDA would be engaging in a routine sensitisation with food handlers, especially food vendors, on the right ways to keep and handle food.

Dr Rose Omari, National Consultant in the development of the plan, said there were weak legal and institutional frameworks challenges to food safety and control systems that needed to be addressed.

She said there were overlaps in institutional mandates and a
poorly coordinated institutional framework

Dr Omari, who is also Deputy Director, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (CSIR-STEPRI), therefore proposed that institutional mandates should be clearly defined and their coordination strengthened.

She said the plan had proposed a review of the Public Health Act to make room for the inclusion of a rapid alert system to bind institutions to respond quickly to food safety concerns.

‘The Public Health Act does not make provision for a rapid alert system and emergency preparedness and response. So we are proposing a revision of the Act to incorporate a rapid alert system and emergency preparedness and response,’ she said.

Dr Omari said food safety was everyone’s responsibility, adding that it was everyone’s role to ensure that food produced and consumed was safe and free from contamination.

Madam Winta Sintayehu, Senior Programme Officer, Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa, African Union Commissi
on, said Ghana’s master plan formed part of a continental African Food Safety Agenda they were enrolling in 12 African countries.

He said every year, millions of dollars were lost to food safety challenges, saying, this had become necessary for the Commission to support countries to build regulatory and infrastructural frameworks to address food challenges.

‘This would go a long way to achieve food safety and trade safe food across the continent and ensure the availability of safe and improved food for the citizenry,’ she added.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The contractor working on the dualisation of the 22km Adentan-Dodowa road has given November this year for the completion of the first two-lane carriageway.

That will ease traffic on the stretch.

Work on the US$ 114,673,200 project officially commenced in April this year.

Briefing Mr Francis Asenso-Boakye, Minister of Roads and Highways, during an inspection tour , Mr Rosby Kobby Mensah, Project Director for Oswald Investments Limited, the contractor working on the project, said a substantial work on the first phase of the project was almost complete.

He said the clearing, removal and demolition of temporary structures and trees on the right-of-way had been concluded.

Additionally, excavation and replacement of bad soils, expansion of culverts and replacements, construction of roadside drains and earthworks, he said, had either been completed or ongoing

Mr Mensah said considering the level of work done within the past seven weeks, he was optimistic that by November this year the first carriageway would
be ready and opened to traffic.

‘We are showing commitment and I can assure you that by November one carriageway is done, asphalted. We can do it, it’s achievable, we work day and night so we can achieve it,’ he said.

The inspection formed part of the Minister’s nationwide tour, to obtain first-hand information on the conditions of roads in the country, as well as progress of work on some ongoing projects.

He was accompanied by Mr Titus Glover, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Abass Awolu, Chief Director of the Ministry of Roads and Highways, Madam Adwoa Duku, Regional Director, Urban Roads, as well as directors and engineers of the Ghana Highway Authority and the Ministry, among others.

Funded by the Government of Ghana (GoG), the project when completed would provide adequate linkages between Adentan, Dodowa and Kpong and to neighbouring regional capitals such as Koforidua and Ho.

The scope of the project is the design and construction of the 22km Adenta Dodowa road section of the R40 that starts
from the junction at Adentan on the National Route 4 (N4) to the town of Dodowa.

It includes two-lane service roads of about 14km on both sides of the road; pedestrian bridges or underpasses; provision of streetlights; and toll booths.

Mr Mensah added that 7km of road had, so far, been done while seven out of 39 culverts are expected to be constructed had also been completed.

Mr Asenso-Boakye said the project was critical to government as its competition would bring relief to many Ghanaians who plied the road.

He expressed satisfaction over the progress of work and commended the contractor for the work it had accomplished with the past seven weeks.

‘So far he’s done about 7km and he’s done seven major culverts with the view to improving the drainage challenges in the area. I’m very satisfied with the work and I have been assured that by November, a substantial part of the work will be completed and it will be opened to traffic,’ he added.

The Minister also inspected Three Junction to Kojo Ashong road, t
he dilapidated Kojo Ashong bridge in Amasaman in the Ga West Municipality, the partial reconstruction of the Abokobi-Teiman road, rehabilitation of the Kwabenya roundabout-Taifa roads and the School Junction-Motorway project at Borteyman, in the Ga East Municipality, and the Dome-Kitase road.

On the Three Junction to Kojo Ashong road, Mr Asenso-Boakye, said the stretch was awarded on contract sometime ago but due to unforeseen challenges, it was abandoned.

He said the ministry would take an immediate step to terminate the initial contract and re-award it for work to begin.

‘We will terminate that contract, repackage it and re-scope the project and give it to a new contractor,’ he emphasised.

Regarding the dilapidated Kojo Ashong bridge, the Minister said he had instructed the Bridge Maintenance Unit of the Ghana Highway Authority to assess the extent of damage for the necessary intervention to be made.

The bridge serves as a linkage between Amansaman, Domeabra and Kasoa.

On the 23km Dome-Kitase road pro
ject, Mr Asenso-Boakye said work on the project had not been affected despite government’s debt exchange programme.

However, he explained that with government about to conclude negotiations with the Paris Club and the International Monetary Fund, all resources would be mobilised to ensure timely completion of the project.

Source: Ghana News Agency