Category: Business

Emirates Airlines has been recognized as “Global Quality Airline Brand of The Year” and “Overall Best Quality Service Brand of The Year” at the 2023 Global Business Quality Awards, held on 24 March 2023, at the Labadi Beach Hotel.

The airline was awarded for its global standard of quality for decades and the most valuable airline brand in Ghana.

This recognition is a demonstration of Emirates’ unwavering commitment to delivering the highest standard of service and quality to its customers in Ghana.

The Global Business Quality Awards is an initiative of the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Ghana (EFG), to recognize esteemed global brands and quality leaders operating in Ghana.

Currently, in its seventh edition, the award program is considered a prestigious recognition for businesses, organizations, and personalities in Ghana.

Source: Ghana Web

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris pledged a new era of partnership between the U.S. and Africa, touting women’s empowerment, developing the digital economy and supporting democracy to 8,000 young Ghanaians who gathered under the punishing midday sun to hear her speak in Accra.

Harris, the first Black female U.S. vice president, took the stage under the arch of Black Star gate, a sweeping seaside monument to Ghana’s 1957 independence from British colonial rule.

“We are all in because there are longstanding ties between our people,” Harris said. “We have an intertwined history, some of which is painful and some of which is prideful and all of which we must acknowledge, teach and never forget.”

Her schedule Tuesday includes a visit to Cape Coast Castle, a place where enslaved Africans were once crowded onto overloaded, unsanitary ships headed on the long, dangerous ocean journey to the Americas.

But Harris stressed that her three-nation visit is forward-looking, and on Monday pledged $139 million in U.S. assistance to West Africa, most of which will support conflict prevention in the Sahel region, where Islamist extremists have expanded their footprint.

“I am more optimistic than I have ever been about the future and the future of the continent of Africa and, by extension, the world, not only because of the work we undertake in government, not only because of the investments in the private sector,” Harris said. “I am optimistic about the future of the world because of you, the woman who will shatter every glass ceiling.”

A young woman who identified herself as a student told VOA after the speech, “I thought she was great.” But, she added: “I hoped she would talk about LGBTQ” issues.

On Monday, Harris said she had raised human rights issues in her bilateral discussions with Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo. All three nations on her tour—which includes Tanzania and Zambia—have laws that criminalize homosexuality to some degree.

“Let me be clear about where we stand,” Harris said. ”First of all, for the American press who are here, you know that a great deal of work in my career has been to address human rights issues, equality issues across the board, including as it relates to the LGBT community.

“And I feel very strongly about the importance of supporting the freedom and supporting and fighting for equality among all people, and that all people should be treated equally,” she added. “I would also say that this is an issue that we consider and I consider to be a human rights issue, and that will not change.”

Beyond China competition

Speaking alongside Akufo-Addo on Monday at Jubilee House, the seat of Ghana’s presidency, Harris stressed that U.S. interests in African nations extend beyond competing with China.

“To help address the threats of violent extremism and instability, today I am pleased to announce $100 million in support of Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire and Togo,” she said. “Last week, President Joe Biden announced a strategic plan for coastal West Africa as part of the United States Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability. Today, funding and the announcement that I’ve just made will help implement that plan and will address security, governance and development issues in the region.”

Harris is the fifth top U.S. official to visit the continent this year, and she deflected criticism that the U.S. sees African nations through the lens of its own competition with China, which has built massive infrastructure projects and loaned billions of dollars to African nations in what many see as a fight for influence and access.

“The president and I had a conversation on this very topic, but the conversation was not about China as much as it is about the enduring and important direct relationship that the United States has with Ghana and with African nations,” she said. “I will tell you that we are very clear—and I will speak for myself and on behalf of the Biden-Harris administration—that the relationship between the United States and this continent and African leaders is an important one. There’s a historical basis for the relationship, not to mention as we look forward, as all governments should, and recognize the unachieved—as of yet—opportunities that exist going forward.”

Akufo-Addo agreed.

“There may be an obsession in America about the Chinese activities on the continent, but there’s no such obsession here,” he said. “China is one of the many countries with whom Ghana is engaged in the world. Your country is one of them. Virtually all the countries of the world are friends of Ghana, and we have relations in varying degrees of intensity with all of them. Our relationship with America is a relationship that has been forged over several decades, right from the time of independence up till now.”

Harris travels on from Ghana to Tanzania, and then to Zambia.

Source: Voice of America

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Ghana is set to announce a new policy rate on March 27, 2023 which will influence the interest rate on loans.

The policy rate determines the benchmark at which the central bank lends to commercial banks.

From March 22 to 24, 2023, the Committee held its second meeting of the year to review economic developments in the country.

At the meeting, the MPC deliberated on the initiation of proposals for the formulation of the central banks’ policies, provision of statistical data, and economic advice.

Chairman of the Committee and BoG Governor, Dr. Ernest Addison will subsequently announce the decision and interventions taken particularly on the monetary policy rate which will impact the cost of credit for the next three months of the year.

At its first meeting for this year, the BoG hiked the monetary policy rate by 100 basis pointing from 27 to 28 percent to stem inflationary pressures.

Source: Ghana Web

The Crops Research Institute (CRI) under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has introduced a water-saving irrigation technology called alternate wetting and drying to rice farmers at Weta in the Ketu North district of the Volta Region.

The gesture organized in collaboration with Lancaster University in the United Kingdom (UK) was a funded project led by Prof Ian Dodd of the Lancaster University, UK, and Dr Patricia Amankwaa-Yeboah, the African Lead Partner at CSIR-Crops Research Institute.

The project is implemented with a private company to facilitate the commercialization of the product of the research and is aimed at promoting irrigation practices for rice production in hard-to-reach areas, where water is a challenge, especially during the harmattan season.

Speaking at a field day organized for rice farmers at Weta, Dr Patricia Amankwaa- Yeboah, a Senior Research Scientist with the CSIR-CRI explained that previous research had shown that the AWD technology could improve the level of micronutrients in rice grains if adopted by farmers.

She said a team of researchers were therefore investigating this assertion by evaluating different rice genotypes under AWD in field trials on several farmers’ fields across the country.

She continued that, this claim if found true could improve rice utilization in Ghana which would help to eliminate ‘hidden hunger’ in the country since rice was fast replacing several staples and indigenous foods in Africa.

Dr Amankwaa- Yeboah said the research done was to access and build on the advances and successes made by a previous GCRF-funded project called Recirculate to boost rice micronutrient levels in Ghana using improved rice genotypes, hence the introduction of the technology.

She said the research on AWD by CSIR-CRI and its partners in the UK over the past six years had brought out the numerous benefits associated with the new technology.

She said the group had plans to also investigate the feasibility of introducing a “technology package” comprising improved rice genotypes with alternate wetting and drying irrigation management as well as nutrient management initiatives to commercial and subsistence farmers across the country.

Dr Amankwaa- Yeboah was hopeful the initiative would improve the resilience of rice production by minimizing water and nutrient use, and enhance food and nutrition security to promote locally grown nutrient-enriched rice.

Dr Stephen Yeboah, a Senior Research Scientist and Co-Principal Investigator of the project also mentioned that inadequate water and nutrient supplies limit crop yields and there was a need for farmers to manage their resources efficiently to ensure long-term agricultural sustainability and local food security.

He stated that research on AWD by CSIR-CRI and its partners in the UK over the past years had brought out the numerous benefits associated with the technology, mentioning some as the environmental and cost savings in water and nutrients, improved yields that could result in increased income for the farmer as well as savings in labour and fuel used in pumping water for irrigation.

The Director of the CSIR- CRI Prof. M. B. Mochiah, urged farmers to adopt the alternate wetting and drying irrigation technology to help them increase the resilience of their rice production systems to the changing climate where water is envisaged to become an increasingly limiting factor for sustainable rice production.

Mr Atsu Vincent, who spoke on behalf of the farmer group, expressed their appreciation to the researchers and encouraged them to engage farmers in the scheme in their research.

He said farmers understand research better when they were engaged directly in the process and are more likely to embrace the technology when they see instant gains associated with it and was of the view that AWD technology would go a long way to help farmers save water and get good yields.

Some of the project team members who participated in the programme were Dr Ophelia Asirifi Amoako from the CSIR- Savanna Agricultural Research Institute, (CSIR-SARI) and Mr Eugene Zori from New Age Agric Solutions.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Parts of the Kejetia Market, one of the monumental projects in the Asanti Regional capital, Kumasi, was on Wednesday engulfed in fire which destroyed wares estimated at millions of Ghana Cedis.

The cause of the fire is not yet officially known. However, reports so far indicate that it was due to a trader cooking with gas.

Meanwhile, documents provided by the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr indicates that the Kejetia market failed to meet some requirement.

“A year ago, infact eleven months ago, that report I think was written in April . . . we are in March so eleven months ago we were warned,” he told Kwami Sefa Kayi.

The document cited structural defects, the facility not meeting the fire precaution measures and many others.

“All washing rooms need to undergo preventive maintenance to correct damages on the materials and equipment installed. All the washrooms have problems with faucets, toilets and plumbing. Preventive maintenance must also be carried out so that the system remains in constant and correct operation.

“It was identified that the ice machine has and continues to present substantial leaks of both hydraulic oil and gas. Nevertheless, the equipment is still in operation, increasing the existing damage that will further compromise the equipment.

“Currently, the occupation of the market is not in line with the originally defined plans and in case of an emergency, the evacuation routes are not cleared of obstructions.

“The most worrisome are the issues related to the fire fighting and fire suppression system that are not working as designed. In the case of fire, severe consequences can arise that might cause loss of life,” portions of the document read.

Source: Ghana Web

LaLiga is set to roll out LaLiga grassroot in Ghana, a programme which will offer football opportunities for talents in Ghana and beyond.

This was revealed during an engagement held by LaLiga Ghana and Nigeria representatives with the Ghanaian media in Accra on Wednesday, March 15, 2023.

The programme is to support, promote and strengthen grassroots football worldwide.

The Communication and Project Coordinator for LaLiga Global Initiative, Ayodeji Adegbenro said they have thought of the initiative in some other parts of the African countries namely Nigeria, South Africa, among others but want to kick start the programme in Ghana.

“We thought of this stuff in Nigeria and some other parts of Africa but we are keen to actually start with Ghana because Ghana is a very important country to LaLiga and the LaLiga projects”, he explained.

“We’ve had the project in South Africa, Zambia, Nigeria and Cameroon. We don’t have Ghana yet but hopefully, very soon Ghana will show up. An example of one of our projects is LaLiga egalite in Cameroon. It is basically a youth league for girls that started about two years ago. We train grassroots female coaches to train these girls”, he added.

They’ve had talks with the GFA and Sports Ministry and expect to pilot the project in Ghana to help with the development of grassroot football.

“We’ve had meetings with the GFA and the Sports Ministry and we are hoping to replicate some of these projects in Ghana to aid the development of football at grassroots level,” he said.

Source: Ghana Web

Charles Nii Teiko Tagoe, a presidential staffer, has tasked Anas Aremeyaw Anas to fully digest a recent ruling by an Accra High Court that made scathing findings against him.

The journalist had sued Assin Central Member of Parliament Kennedy Agyapong for defamation but the court dismissed the case and slapped him with a 50,000 cedis fine by way of costs to the MP.

In a March 17, 2023 Facebook post, Tagoe shared excerpts of the court ruling with a caption that read: “The trial Judge did not use the following words,” a blackmailer, corrupt, an extortionist, and evil” in isolation. Instead of you to take your time and read the full Judgment, you are on social media expressing emotions.”

Anas vs. Ken Agyapong defamation case

An Accra High Court on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, struck out a defamation suit brought by investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas against Assin Central Member of Parliament, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong.

The plaintiff, filed the case in 2018, seeking among other reliefs monetary damages to the tune of GH¢25 million.

However, the court presided by Justice Eric Baah despite finding various claims made by the defendant against the plaintiff as potentially defamatory, ruled that the comments were factual and fair.

The court subsequently dismissed the suit and awarded the defendant a sum of 50,000 Ghana cedis to cover his legal costs.

The MP has subsequently referred to the ruling as a victory for straight talk over investigative terrorism.

The journalist also expressed grave misgivings about the ruling describing it in part as a travesty of justice. He, has also confirmed that his legal team will file an appeal, stressing that his fight against corruption will continue unabated.

Source: Ghana Web

The U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, Madam Virginia Palmer, has described Ghana as an exporter of peace and a leader in the African Region. She commended the country for being a top contributor of uniformed peacekeepers to UN peace operations. Madam Palmer was speaking at the U.S. Special Operations Command – Africa Exercise Flintlock 2023 closing ceremony jointly held in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire in Accra. Flintlock is U.S. Africa Command’s premier and largest annual special operations exercise, which aims to strengthen key partner nation forces throughout Africa alongside the U.S. and international special operations force communities to counter violent extremist organisations collaborating across borders. The two-week field training exercise is now a multinational exercise comprised of 30 African and international partners, operating across five sites, spanning two countries (Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire) and conducting command post exercises, field training exercises, and now, for the first time, maritime training exercises with 1400 participants. The exercise kicked off on March 1, 2023, with a week of academic training before transitioning to the command posts and tactical training exercises on March 7. The training ended with a capstone on March 14, 2023. The Ambassador said Ghana’s steadfast commitment to peace and regional security was demonstrated by deploying nearly 2,800 military and police peacekeepers to eight UN peacekeeping operations on the continent. ‘I am proud of the security cooperation partnership the United States enjoys with Ghana and our longstanding partnership is based on shared democratic values and a shared history, ‘ she stated. The Ambassador said through the Flintlock exercise, the United States government had demonstrated the strength of its relationship with Ghana. She said they had focused on supporting Ghana as a leader in West Africa, working together on regional security, investing in people through long-term development relationship, protecting democratic institutions, and advancing mutual prosperity. Madam Palmer said in the past two weeks, the Ghana Armed Forces had also demonstrated that in addition to its robust peacekeeping efforts, it was a capable leader in highly specialised operational command and control. ‘This is one of many reasons the United States is committed to supporting the Ghana Armed Forces through training and technical support,’ she added. The Ambassador said this year, the U.S. government would exceed $48million dollars in security cooperation support to Ghana. She said Ghana’s commitment to freedom of assembly, religious tolerance, and respect for human rights was foundational to its status as a successful democracy. ‘We know that building a strong, inclusive economy is also one of the best ways to support the stability in, which democracies flourish,’ she said. Madam Palmer said through multi-year implementation of the U.S. Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability, the U.S. Government would work across Coastal West Africa to promote inclusive economic growth and accountable governance to prevent conflict. The Ambassador said they were implementing programmes in Ghana that would support local communities as they sought to provide economic opportunities to vulnerable populations. The programmes would also strengthen the military-to-military relationship, and bolster the capacity of the Ghanaian security services to ensure that Ghana remained resilient in the face of an increasing threat from violent extremist organisations. Vice Admiral Seth Amoama, the Chief of the Defence Staff, said cooperation and partnership in the fight against terror and violent extremism had generated not just interest, but also enthusiasm among the participants. He said: ‘The skills developed in Flintlock exercise, particularly the skill of planning and conducting joint, multinational operations are of vital importance for ensuring peace in the sub-region at this critical time.’ Vice Admiral Amoama said the ‘recent activities of these terrorist groups in the West African sub-region reflect how these groups operate across border, therefore, highlighting the importance of joint security exercise such as Flintlock, which is designed to neutralise these threats’.

Source: Ghana News Agency