Category: General

Cannabis is a drug crop with a long history in Africa. Alongside coca and opium poppy, it has been subjected to international control for nearly a century. The International Opium Convention of 1925 institutionalised the international control system and extended the scope of control to cannabis.

In 1961 a new international convention was adopted to replace the existing multilateral treaties for control of narcotic drugs. The prohibitionist framework it provided for control of cannabis was adopted by post-colonial African states. These official efforts succeeded in driving cannabis production underground and limiting its contribution to citizens’ livelihoods. But they failed to eradicate the crop.

Paradoxically, many African states that persecuted citizens for cannabis related offences for years are now promoting legal cannabis production. Over the past five years 10 countries have passed laws to legalise production for medical and scientific purposes. These include Lesotho, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Ghana, Eswatini, Rwanda and Morocco.

South Africa has also legalised the private growing of cannabis plants by adults for their own personal consumption.

The cannabis policy liberalisation in Africa has been brought about by two main factors. One is the lobbying by local activists. Cannabis use is still criminalised in most African countries. But even in the most conservative ones there are emerging debates ultimately aimed at spurring cannabis policy reforms.

The other factor is the emergence of the global legal cannabis industry projected to grow to nearly US$200 billion by 2028. For state authorities, policy changes are aimed at opening avenues for scarce foreign exchange revenue critically needed to boost stagnating economies.

But there are still policy and practical concerns requiring attention if the cannabis sector reforms are to have a positive impact on the economy and citizens’ livelihoods. These include the need to ensure participation of ordinary producers in the legal cannabis sector. This is because the emerging regulation frameworks seem to favour corporate businesses over smallholder farmers.

Winds of change

The liberalisation of the cannabis policy in Africa is primarily for production for medical and scientific purposes. Production, trade and consumption of cannabis outside of these purposes remain criminalised. The production by many smallholder farmers, who historically were custodians of the cannabis plant and knowledge, is not covered by the new regulations. It means their cannabis related livelihoods are still in contravention of the laws.

Among other conditions, producers must acquire a license from state authorities. There are various types of licenses and fees for cannabis manufacture, distribution and research. These can range from US$5,000 to US$50,000 in Zimbabwe. In South Africa the gazetted fees range from R9 200 (US$579.27) for an export permit to R25 200 (US$1,586.69) for the manufacture permit.

The highest licence fees have been reported in Lesotho and Uganda. Here, they range from hundreds of thousands of dollars to a couple of million dollars.

The average farmer in these countries can’t afford these kinds of fees.

Additional requirements include tax clearance certificates, bank guarantees, compliance with cultivation guidelines and security guarantees. For authorities, these preconditions are designed to secure an end-product that could be easily “abused” if not properly regulated. They seem to be aimed also at ensuring that governments do not lose on tax revenues from the emerging industry.

However, the limited scope of legal production, the high license fees and business set-up costs and other conditions are likely to limit participation of many smallholder producers who lack resources to set up legal cannabis businesses.

The emerging picture

We are involved in a pan-African research project which aims to develop a deeper understanding of cannabis in Africa. We focus not only on its “traditional” uses, but on its contemporary growth as an economic cash crop, and source of livelihoods in a global context where drug policy is in flux.

Run jointly by the universities of Bristol and Cape Town, the project is gathering new empirical data in Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa. This will be used to examine the historical and contemporary place of cannabis in African rural and urban settings.

Our research also involves capturing the experiences of ordinary citizens, beyond the official narrative of medical and scientific production.

Our initial observations show that the risk of corporate capture of the legal cannabis industry, and exclusion of smallholder producers, is serious. Because the license fees are high, many smallholder producers cannot afford them. This leaves corporate businesses as the main holders of licences.

In Uganda, for instance, only one company is currently licensed by the government to produce medical cannabis. The strict regulations include a minimum capital of US$5 million and a bank guarantee. This is clearly a deterrent to most aspiring producers.

In Zimbabwe, the government licensed dozens of new investors for cultivation and processing of medical cannabis in 2021. The beneficiaries are established agribusinesses and large-scale commercial farmers.

Similar concerns in Malawi and South Africa led small farmers to protest against the licensing process in November 2020 and April 2021. Jacob Nyirongo, the chief executive officer for the Farmers Union of Malawi, argued:

The question is, if you buy a license at $10,000 what kind of market price for cannabis (must) a farmer (get) to make a profit?

Other conditions attached to licenses are also obstacles for smallholder producers. For South Africa, applicants need to comply with certification, be registered, and provide police clearance, among other conditions. Police clearance, in particular, may affect those with past criminal records for the illegal production, possession or consumption of cannabis.

Towards an inclusive cannabis future

Early insights from our research show an emerging legal cannabis industry with a limited role for smallholder producers. This limits the industry’s ability to contribute to livelihoods of the poor and the majority more widely.

Further, the limiting of legal cannabis production to medical and scientific purposes excludes production activities of many existing smallholder producers. This perpetuates their criminalisation. It also creates a dual model where established businesses benefit from the reforms while small producers’ activities remain outlawed and suppressed.

Legalising cannabis production for medical purposes is all very well. But ensuring the participation of ordinary citizens and producers in the industry is the big challenge facing African states. The risk of corporate capture of the industry is a real possibility.

Source: The Conversation

Cannabis is a drug crop with a long history in Africa. Alongside coca and opium poppy, it has been subjected to international control for nearly a century. The International Opium Convention of 1925 institutionalised the international control system and extended the scope of control to cannabis.

In 1961 a new international convention was adopted to replace the existing multilateral treaties for control of narcotic drugs. The prohibitionist framework it provided for control of cannabis was adopted by post-colonial African states. These official efforts succeeded in driving cannabis production underground and limiting its contribution to citizens’ livelihoods. But they failed to eradicate the crop.

Paradoxically, many African states that persecuted citizens for cannabis related offences for years are now promoting legal cannabis production. Over the past five years 10 countries have passed laws to legalise production for medical and scientific purposes. These include Lesotho, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Ghana, Eswatini, Rwanda and Morocco.

South Africa has also legalised the private growing of cannabis plants by adults for their own personal consumption.

The cannabis policy liberalisation in Africa has been brought about by two main factors. One is the lobbying by local activists. Cannabis use is still criminalised in most African countries. But even in the most conservative ones there are emerging debates ultimately aimed at spurring cannabis policy reforms.

The other factor is the emergence of the global legal cannabis industry projected to grow to nearly US$200 billion by 2028. For state authorities, policy changes are aimed at opening avenues for scarce foreign exchange revenue critically needed to boost stagnating economies.

But there are still policy and practical concerns requiring attention if the cannabis sector reforms are to have a positive impact on the economy and citizens’ livelihoods. These include the need to ensure participation of ordinary producers in the legal cannabis sector. This is because the emerging regulation frameworks seem to favour corporate businesses over smallholder farmers.

Winds of change

The liberalisation of the cannabis policy in Africa is primarily for production for medical and scientific purposes. Production, trade and consumption of cannabis outside of these purposes remain criminalised. The production by many smallholder farmers, who historically were custodians of the cannabis plant and knowledge, is not covered by the new regulations. It means their cannabis related livelihoods are still in contravention of the laws.

Among other conditions, producers must acquire a license from state authorities. There are various types of licenses and fees for cannabis manufacture, distribution and research. These can range from US$5,000 to US$50,000 in Zimbabwe. In South Africa the gazetted fees range from R9 200 (US$579.27) for an export permit to R25 200 (US$1,586.69) for the manufacture permit.

The highest licence fees have been reported in Lesotho and Uganda. Here, they range from hundreds of thousands of dollars to a couple of million dollars.

The average farmer in these countries can’t afford these kinds of fees.

Additional requirements include tax clearance certificates, bank guarantees, compliance with cultivation guidelines and security guarantees. For authorities, these preconditions are designed to secure an end-product that could be easily “abused” if not properly regulated. They seem to be aimed also at ensuring that governments do not lose on tax revenues from the emerging industry.

However, the limited scope of legal production, the high license fees and business set-up costs and other conditions are likely to limit participation of many smallholder producers who lack resources to set up legal cannabis businesses.

The emerging picture

We are involved in a pan-African research project which aims to develop a deeper understanding of cannabis in Africa. We focus not only on its “traditional” uses, but on its contemporary growth as an economic cash crop, and source of livelihoods in a global context where drug policy is in flux.

Run jointly by the universities of Bristol and Cape Town, the project is gathering new empirical data in Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa. This will be used to examine the historical and contemporary place of cannabis in African rural and urban settings.

Our research also involves capturing the experiences of ordinary citizens, beyond the official narrative of medical and scientific production.

Our initial observations show that the risk of corporate capture of the legal cannabis industry, and exclusion of smallholder producers, is serious. Because the license fees are high, many smallholder producers cannot afford them. This leaves corporate businesses as the main holders of licences.

In Uganda, for instance, only one company is currently licensed by the government to produce medical cannabis. The strict regulations include a minimum capital of US$5 million and a bank guarantee. This is clearly a deterrent to most aspiring producers.

In Zimbabwe, the government licensed dozens of new investors for cultivation and processing of medical cannabis in 2021. The beneficiaries are established agribusinesses and large-scale commercial farmers.

Similar concerns in Malawi and South Africa led small farmers to protest against the licensing process in November 2020 and April 2021. Jacob Nyirongo, the chief executive officer for the Farmers Union of Malawi, argued:

The question is, if you buy a license at $10,000 what kind of market price for cannabis (must) a farmer (get) to make a profit?

Other conditions attached to licenses are also obstacles for smallholder producers. For South Africa, applicants need to comply with certification, be registered, and provide police clearance, among other conditions. Police clearance, in particular, may affect those with past criminal records for the illegal production, possession or consumption of cannabis.

Towards an inclusive cannabis future

Early insights from our research show an emerging legal cannabis industry with a limited role for smallholder producers. This limits the industry’s ability to contribute to livelihoods of the poor and the majority more widely.

Further, the limiting of legal cannabis production to medical and scientific purposes excludes production activities of many existing smallholder producers. This perpetuates their criminalisation. It also creates a dual model where established businesses benefit from the reforms while small producers’ activities remain outlawed and suppressed.

Legalising cannabis production for medical purposes is all very well. But ensuring the participation of ordinary citizens and producers in the industry is the big challenge facing African states. The risk of corporate capture of the industry is a real possibility.

Source: The Conversation

Recurring electricity supply crises in Ghana over an extended period have driven consumers to turn alternative sources of energy. In turn, this resulted in a sharp decline in demand for electricity.

Ghana has had several periods of power shortfalls, particularly in 1984, 1994, 1998, 2007 and 2012-2015. The reasons have been given as losses in the distribution system, a tariff structure that makes it difficult for electricity producers to recover their costs, and the non-payment of electricity bills by consumers.

Demand is always expected to increase due to factors like population growth, economic growth and increasing incomes. But demand can fall too. In Ghana, electricity demand or consumption increased from 10,583 gigawatt hours in 2013 to 10,695 gigawatt hours in 2014 but fell to 9,685 gigawatt hours in 2015 .

Ghana’s electricity supply fell by 12% in the period 2013-2015. In the same period, electricity demand declined by 8.49%. Demand from residential consumers fell the most: by 20.39%.

In our study we looked at the association between power crises and electricity demand in Ghana. We used data from 1980 to 2018 and in particular, the severe power crisis of 2012–2015. We found that power crises are sometimes followed by a fall in demand for electricity from the grid. Consumers appear to reconsider their sources of energy.

Our study results showed that the short term effects were smaller than the long-term effects. This suggests that the adverse impact of the crisis was so severe that economic agents did not respond only in the short term but also in the long term. This indicates that the over reliance on grid electricity was reduced forcing economic agents to resort to other alternatives.

Due to the adverse effects that power crisis has on economic agents, successive experiences of power crisis lead them to find long-term alternatives to reduce the impact of future power crisis. The switch to other alternatives has a potential financial impact on electricity consumers, especially for those switching to renewables such as solar energy whose costs continue to significantly decline.

The insights from our research into the effect of power crises on electricity demand provide planners with precise estimates based on scientific evidence.

The study also provides evidence for the need to pay equal attention to supply side policies. Over the years, Ghana has paid more attention to the demand side of electricity.

Big fall in demand

Our main data sources were the World Bank’s World Development Indicators, the Volta River Authority and Ghana’s Energy Commission.

We first considered the cumulative impact of all the power crises in Ghana (1984, 1997-1998, 2007-2008, 2012-2015) on electricity demand. Then we isolated the effect of the 2012-2015 crisis. Power crises in Ghana from 1984 to 2015 reduced electricity demand by 31.4% overall. The 2012-2015 crisis alone reduced demand by 27.6%, giving an indication of its severity.

Constraints on the power that could be supplied on the grid translated into lower demand for grid electricity. People could meet their potential demand from other sources such as solar and generators.

The demand reductions were huge, considering the key role of electricity in households, firms and industries and the associated spillover impacts on the economy.

The 2012-2015 power crisis was the most intense and protracted in the history of Ghana. It started with inadequate gas supply to power thermal plants and inability to supply electricity from hydro sources due to poor rainfall. At the end of 2011, Ghana’s electricity generation mix stood at 67% hydro sources against 33% thermal.

In 2012, the utility companies announced a power rationing programme which ended in 2015. At the peak of the rationing, customers were provided with an average of 12.5 hours of electricity every three days. Ghana experienced about 159 days of blackout in 2014 alone. To add to that, equipment failures sometimes caused unscheduled power outages.

Power crises in Ghana had several impacts on households, businesses, industries and the country at large. One estimate is that Ghana lost about 1.8% of its gross domestic product due to the 2007-2008 power crisis. Another finding was that the 2012-2015 power crisis reduced labour productivity and total productivity of small and medium manufacturing firms in Ghana.

There have not been any studies to establish exactly what caused households, businesses and industries to search for alternative sources of electricity. But supply crises may have been a factor in reducing demand for grid electricity.

Users took both short-term and long-term decisions to reduce their reliance on electricity in favour of alternative fuels. Our study did not measure the uptake of alternatives. But a decision to use alternatives would insulate users from the adverse effects of future power crises.

Some kinds of alternative fuels used in Ghana, such as kerosene lamps, crop residue and candles, can have serious environment and health implications.

Recommendations

Our study led us to make the following recommendations.

Government should not overemphasise demand side policies, but augment them with supply-side policies. In the past its focus has been on efforts to reduce peak electricity demand. This has included the Energy Commission and the Ministry of Energy rolling out several policies and standards designed to improve energy efficiency. Air conditioners, lighting and refrigeration appliances have all been subjected to regulations and standards.

Efforts should also be made to eliminate power crises, to give households, businesses and industries the confidence to rely on electric power. Policies and incentives for other sustainable sources of power such as renewable energy should be firmed up too.

And finally, it’s important to investigate the alternative sources of electricity that households and firms were switching to. They may have environmental and health implications.

Source: The Conversation

Assin Hasowodze (C/R), May 31, GNA- Assin Hadsowodze, a farming community in the Assin South District, have been provided with a mechanized borehole to enable them access potable water, easing their burden of water scarcity over several decades.

The ultra-modern mechanized borehole is estimated at GH¢54, 250.00 and is sponsored by the Rotary Club in Canada and the USA.

Hitherto, residents of the beneficiary community relied on River Ochi for their daily water needs, which exposed some of them to many water-borne diseases.

Speaking at the ceremony to commission the project, Father Stephen Amoah-Gyasi, Director of Diocesan Caritas of Cape Coast, said water was one of the basic necessities of life, which must be readily available, especially to the rural poor.

He said it was for that effect that he communicated with his partners in Canada and the USA to support the community to get potable water.

Father Amoah-Gyasi, who is also the Chaplain of the Cape Coast Technical University, said the Club was poised toward the provision of potable water to the underprivileged in society.

It was in that direction that the Club had sunk more than 40 mechanized boreholes in various communities within the region.

Father Amoah-Gyasi urged the residents of the beneficiary communities to take good care of the project and ensure its regular maintenance to prolong its lifespan to benefit future generations.

He called on other benevolent organizations and individuals to also contribute their quota in transforming the lives of the rural folks.

Nana Kweku Armah IV, Chief of the town was grateful to Father Amoah-Gyasi for his contribution to the community and pledged his commitment to maintaining the project.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Kofi Annim, a farmer gave a sigh of relief and appealed to the Chief and leader of the town to adopt pay as-you-fetch approach at an affordable price to generate enough venue for maintenance and sustenance of the project.

Joyce Adjei, a basic three pupil, said with the intervention of the project, she would be able to perform her house chores early so that she can go to school on time.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Contemporary Highlife sensation Kwabena Kwabena has indicated that he is currently living his childhood dream of being a popular musician.

The ‘Asor’ singer was full of gratitude in an interview on Accra-based radio station Y FM when he recounted his 17-year journey to stardom.

“Trust me I am living my dream and every time I have a conversation with family, they always remind me that I always said I would be a good musician and here I am. I am glad to God for making it so,” he stated.

During the interview, the musician eulogized his late biological father who impacted his music journey by bringing home several records of various genres.

“I mean God bless my late dad. I owe all this to him as my father was a wide listener. You know he brought every record as far as I can remember. I can tell he had the songs of every artist in Ghana.

“He had everybody’s records. He was just a music lover. Almost every weekend he DJs in the house and I mean from calypso to traditional reggae music to soul to pop to everything,” the singer recalled.

Source: Modern Ghana

Accra, May 31, GNA— A total of 500 trained life guards over the weekend, passed out at the Eastern Naval Base in Tema New Town, in the Greater Accra Region.

The trained life guards, drawn from about nine regions in the country, comprised both males and females.

They are expected to be deployed to save lives on Ghana’s water bodies across the country.

Speaking at the passing out ceremony, Mr. Kwaku Ofori Asiama, Minister of Transport, congratulated the trainees, and urged them to use their acquired skills to save lives on the Volta Lake and other water bodies.

He said as part of the project, the government would provide free life jackets to commuters on the Volta Lake and help educate residents along the lake.

“This project will also provide jobs to the youth in the coastal areas,” he said.

The Basic Water Safety and Life Guard Training Course was made possible was a Public Private Partnership (PPP) between the Ministry of Transport and Ecozoil, a subsidiary of the Jospong Group of Companies (JGC) and fell under the Volta Lake Transport Safety Project (VLTSP).

The course was undertaken in two parts with the first part commencing on February 11, this year, which lasted for six weeks.

The Executive Chairman, JGC, Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, in a short address, urged the life guards to do their best to make water transport safer in the country.

He announced that his outfit will provide three speed boats to the Ghana Navy to help support the security agency in its naval operations.

The VLTSP, he explained, had become necessary because of the challenges bedeviling transportation on the Volta Lake and other water bodies in the country.

“Transportation on the Volta Lake is plagued with challenges including lack of life jackets for commuters, overloading on boats, and lack of safety education on the lake,” he bemoaned.

He said the project would provide employment for the youth from communities along the Volta Lake and equip them with basic skills in water survival and rescue operations to ensure safety of commuters on the lake.

“In addition, it helps to maintain cleanliness at the various landing sites, provide safety education to both boat operators and commuters, provide life jackets to commuters to protect them on the lake,” he added.

Dr Siaw Agyepong disclosed that the project covers 40 municipal district assemblies (MDAs).

He, therefore, thanked the Transport Minister for the confidence he reposed in his company which resulted in the renewal of the project.

“I also want to thank the Chief of the Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Isaah Yakubu, the Flight Officer Commanding the Eastern Naval Command Commodore Emmanuel Ayensu Kwafio, for the training of the life guards.

“To the Ecozoil team, let’s work hard to ensure that the project achieves its objectives so it can become a model for other countries in the world to emulate,” he charged the trainees.

The Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Isaah Yakubu, commended Dr. Siaw Agyepong for his pledge to support the navy with speed boats.

He encouraged the life guards to always have the interest of the country first in the discharge of their duties.

Flight Officer Commanding the Eastern Naval Command (ENC), Commodore Emmanuel Ayensu Kwafo, while commending the leadership of the Leadership Training School, praised the trainees for their endurance.

He said the participants were trained in firefighting tactics, confidence jump and survival at sea, endurance on water to save lives and properties, among others.

The objective of this training, he said, is to help avert accidents on the Volta Lake and other water bodies.

“This is not the first time Ecozoil is embarking on such a project. It happened some 10-11 years ago”, adding that the Ghana Navy has also been supporting in saving lives on Ghana’s water bodies,” he indicated.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Tema, May 30, GNA – Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Paul Bruce Amoah, Prampram Divisional Commander, Motor, Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) has urged Ghanaians to report haulage trucks conveying heavy goods without truck cargo belts to the police.

He said that the belt was not only necessary in large trucks but also in every vehicle transporting large cargoes and it mandated that any track conveying cargo must have tied them with two belts to keep the cargo in place.

DSP Amoah was speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview which formed part of the GNA Tema Regional Office and Tema MTTD road safety campaign platform.

The GNA-Tema and MTTD Road Safety Project sought to actively create consistent and systematic weekly awareness advocacy on the need to be cautious on the road as a user, educate all road users of their respective responsibilities, and sensitise drivers, especially on the tenets of road safety regulations, rules, and laws.

DSP Amoah indicated that, although the cargo and other drivers were aware of the laws and knew the implications of violating the law, they still did not adhere to the rules stated by the road traffic regulations.

“The laws are there and if drivers will abide by these laws, there would be a reduction in road crashes, let us all be good citizens, let us do the right thing at all times, the drivers should not wait for the police to tell them to abide by the laws,” he stated.

DSP Amoah explained that the usage of cargo trucks without the appropriate safety belts was worrying and more dangerous, especially in areas of bad road networks and potholes.

The Prampram Divisional MTTD Commander tasked citizens to play active roles in reducing the carnage by taking pictures of the trailers or trucks or videos of the tracking number, and the track without the belt and reporting to the nearest police station where the police would take it up.

He explained that “People always want to do the wrong thing for the police to be on their neck, we have been arresting them and sending them to court yet they still violate the laws”.

DSP Amoah urged pedestrians to also play their roles in the attempt to reduce road crashes in the country noting that, pedestrians must be attentive on the roads, abide by traffic rules, and reduce the rate at which they listen to music while using the roads or operate other electronic devices while crossing or walking alongside the road.

He cautioned that the use of mobile phones while on the road destructed one’s attention which could easily result in an accident.

‘Pedestrians don’t observe rules and regulations, for instance, there’s a footbridge, but will refuse to use the bridge, and cross where there is no zebra crossing even when it has been provided just some few steps away,” he added.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Sefwi-Wiawso (WNR), May 31, GNA – Mr Awudu Dramani Sam, the Western North Acting Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has said the call for the revisiting of the agenda for the reforms of the 1992 Constitution was in the right direction.

He said despite the democratic gains and decades of stability of the Constitution, there have been loopholes that have impeded its effectiveness in yielding the country’s expected good governance and its attendants development aspirations.

Mr Sam made the remark when addressing participants at the 2022 Constitutional Week Celebration at Kinross Chrano Goldmines at Sefwi-Wiawso organised by the Western North Regional Office of the NCCE.

It was on the theme: “Three Decades of Uninterrupted Constitutional Rule: Revisiting the Agenda for Reforms” and attended by officers from the Police, Fire Service, and Immigration.

The Acting Director said the clause, “Revisiting the Agenda for Reforms” in the theme, was a clear indication that previous attempts have been made at making reforms to the constitution, thus, the call for constitutional reforms is not a new thing.

He indicated that in January 2010, the government led by late President John Evans Atta Mills established a Constitution Review Commission and gave them a three-year mandate.

The mandate was to ascertain from the people of Ghana their views on the operations of the Constitution and in particular, its strengths and weaknesses; and to articulate the concerns of the people as regards the amendments that may be required for a comprehensive review.

The rest was to make recommendations to the government for consideration and provide a draft bill for an amendment to the constitution.

Mr Sam said the former President however gave a caveat that the review process was not expected to result in the replacement of the constitution. Rather, it was meant to suggest amendments which could be made to improve it.

He intimated that the Review Commission completed their work, submitted their findings and recommendations to the President, white paper was issued but the implementation of these findings did not become exposed giving some legal suits that met the report.

He averred those recent commentaries from individuals, civil society organisations and well-meaning Ghanaians have called for the review of the constitution to bring it up to current prevailing realities and factors in the country.

Mr Sam said the discussions were because of the general feeling that some of the provisions in the current state of the constitutions have outlived their relevance or at worst, not fit for purpose, hence, the NCCE’s well-timed theme for this year’s Constitution Week.

Commenting on the loopholes or deficits that have been attributed to the constitution, he outlined five key issues namely persist corruption, inferior quality of leadership, political exclusion, violence and the monetization of politics, and soaring unemployment rate and poverty, which were shared by majority of Ghanaians.

He noted that these deficits have bred cynicism among Ghanaians as regards political parties and multi-party democracy, bred apathy among the citizenry, disengaged the public in major aspects of governance at both the grassroots and national levels, deepened marginalization, promoted excessive power of the executive and fester corruption.

During an open forum some of the concerns submitted by the participants was that the power given to the President to appoint the heads of the security services should be curtailed and should in turn be handed to the leadership of the services.

They also submitted that there should be a National Development Plan, which should be an entrenched provision and binding on all successive governments to promote development and prevent wastage of state resources arising from neglect of uncompleted projects of previous governments.

This plan they feel when instituted will help in prudent and judicious use of state resources.

They recommended that there should be equitable remuneration for all public sector workers thereby putting an end to the preferential treatment of some workers, Article 71 office holders.

In this regard, they proposed that the unjustified ex-gratia should be abolished or if maintained, all public workers should benefit from the ex-gratia to ensure equity.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Accra, May 31, GNA – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Head of the Commonwealth, has recognised Mr Eric Asamoah Awuah, representing Ghana, as the 221st Commonwealth Point of Light.

A statement issued by the British High Commission in Accra, copied to the Ghana News Agency said the award was in honour of Mr Awuah for his exceptional voluntary service engaging thousands of school pupils in debating and critical thinking.

It said Mr Awuah, aged 32, is a debate and communications coach who created ‘Speech Forces’, an organisation which had engaged over 30,000 school pupils in Ghana, Nigeria and other African countries in critical thinking and public speaking programmes.

It said Mr Awuah set up the organisation in 2014 with the aim of empowering young people to better express themselves and to support their personal development alongside their studies at school.

The statement said the initiative hosts major international debate events, such as its flagship Accra Open, and since 2017 has managed the Ghana National Debate Team, training selected high school students from all over Ghana to participate in events including the World Schools Debate Championship.

It said as part of the legacy of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London 2018, The Queen – as Head of the Commonwealth – was thanking inspirational volunteers across the 54 Commonwealth nations for the difference they are making in their communities and beyond, by recognising one volunteer from each Commonwealth country every week.

It said by sharing these stories of service, the Commonwealth Points of Light awards celebrate inspirational acts of volunteering across the Commonwealth and help inspire others to make their own contribution to tackling some of the greatest social challenges of our time.

Mr Awuah said: “I am honoured to be this year’s recipient of the Points of Light Award in Ghana.

“Our work at ‘Speech Forces’ – of which I am privileged to lead – empowers young people of all backgrounds to think critically on issues, appreciate differences in perspectives in the quest to developing thoughtful leaders and active citizens in Africa.

“I receive this recognition on behalf of all the volunteers, sponsors and curious young minds who have kept the mission moving.

“My sincere appreciation to The Queen and the British High Commission of Ghana for recognizing our efforts.”

Madam Harriet Thompson, the British High Commissioner to Ghana, said: “The Points of Light award is given to the truly inspirational working amongst us on projects that impact our communities; so often these people silently do exceptional things and today we have been able to celebrate them properly”.

“It was my honour and delight to award Eric, the founder of Speech Forces, the 221st Commonwealth Point of Light award on behalf of The Queen.

“Their work to support young people across West Africa to feel able really to express themselves has changed lives as these same young people go on to further education, internships and careers feeling empowered and confident.”

The statement said the Commonwealth was a diverse community of 54 nations, that work together to promote prosperity, democracy and peace.

It said the Heads of Government meeting brought together leaders from all the 54 Member countries to reaffirm common values, address shared global challenges and agree how to work to create a better future for all citizens, especially young people.

It said Voluntary service was a vital part of this agenda, which was why The Queen had chosen to recognise outstanding volunteers across the Commonwealth in this special way.

The Points of Light awards recognise outstanding volunteers every day of the week – people whose service is making a difference in their communities and whose story can inspire others to creative innovative solutions to social challenges in their own communities and beyond.

Source: Ghana News Agency