President Nana Akufo-Addohas thrown down the gauntlet, urging former President John Mahama to face Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in a public debate ahead of the December elections.
This follows repeated calls from Dr. Bawumia and other members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer to engage in a debate.
However, the NDC has consistently declined, making it clear that Mahama has no intention of debating Bawumia.
Speaking to chiefs in Tamale on Wednesday, October 16, President Akufo-Addo pressed Mahama to stop avoiding a direct engagement with the Vice President.
He emphasised that such a debate would allow for an open discussion of key issues and serve the democratic process.
The President further challenged Mahama to clarify his stance on critical matters by accepting the debate invitation.
President Akufo-Addo noted that “We need somebody who’s reliable, whose work can be trusted, who is consistent, and who is clear-minded, and that is why some of us are saying, in fact, the majority of us in Ghana are saying, we want him and Bawumia to debate the issues in our country.
“Why is John Mahama running away from the debate? Says he’s ready any day for the debate. Why is Mahama running away from the debate?
“The people of Ghana deserve the debate so they can see who is doing what, saying what, and representing what. Mister Mahama, which is which?
What should the Ghanaian people take from you as your position on the free senior high school? Is it safe with you? Are you going to continue it or are you going to review it?
“Are you going to cancel it? None of those do we know from you.Nobody shouldbe allowed to be president who cannot answer these questions straightforwardly. Yes or no?”
President Nana Akufo-Addohas dismissed allegations that the recent arrest and detention of 53 protesters was an effort to suppress dissent in the country.
Speaking in an interview with France 24 on Friday, October 4, he emphasised his support for peaceful protests as a legitimate form of democratic expression.
This statement follows the arrest of 53 individuals who were demonstrating against illegal mining, commonly referred to as galamsey.
“I am not responsible for jailing people in Ghana. The courts in Ghana are independent institutions, and they have been so through the Fourth Republic. People misconduct themselves and are brought before the court; it is for the court; it is for the court to deal with them; it has nothing to do with the executive; and their behaviour is what landed them in trouble with the police and the court.
“How can a president whose political career was aided by leading protests have problems with protests? I don’t have problems with protests, and nothing is done in Ghana to prevent people from airing their views.”
The recent protest aimed to spotlight the environmental destruction caused by galamsey, an illegal mining practice that has devastated Ghana’s rivers and forests.
While President Nana Akufo-Addo acknowledged the seriousness of the issue, he reiterated the importance of peaceful, lawful demonstrations, encouraging protesters to collaborate with authorities to develop lasting solutions.
Shifting his focus to regional matters, Akufo-Addo expressed disappointment with the decisions of military juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger to exit the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) following their coups.
Despite this, he remains hopeful that diplomatic efforts will eventually lead to their reintegration into the regional bloc.
Discussing the broader security challenges in the Sahel, Akufo-Addo noted the worsening instability since French troops withdrew in 2023.
The exit of these forces, previously engaged in the fight against extremist groups, has sparked a rise in militant activity.
The president urged West African nations to strengthen their cooperation to address the growing extremism in the region, calling on ECOWAS to intensify its peacebuilding efforts.
Nana Amampene Boateng Twum II, the Chief of Nyinahin, has praised the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government for its exceptional performance in office.
He commended the administration led by President Nana Akufo-Addo and Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, emphasizing that they have established a strong foundation for future progress.
Using Nyinahin as an example, Nana Boateng Twum II highlighted the significant improvements his community has experienced under the NPP’s leadership.
He noted that prior to the NPP’s governance, many areas in Nyinahin lacked electricity.
Thanks to the government’s efforts, these issues have been addressed, along with the development of crucial infrastructure such as a hospital, stadium, schools, and roads.
The Chief also praised the administration for its policies aimed at mining bauxite in Nyinahin, which he believes will further benefit the community.
He expressed gratitude for the advancements made and urged continued support for the NPP in the upcoming elections.
Nana Boateng Twum II’s remarks came during a grand durbar held to welcome Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Dr. Bawumia’s running mate, to Nyinahin.
He firmly stated that the NPP is on the right track and deserves to remain in power to continue their positive work.
Watch video below:
You've performed excellently in office – Chief of Nyinahin lauds NPP gov't
President Nana Akufo-Addo has called on regulators of the cocoa sector in Ghana and neighbouring Ivory Coast to “devise new strategies” to cope with volatile global prices.
Cocoa prices have seen a major rally this year to all-time highs on supply concerns.
Due to limited supplies, global cocoa grinders are paying up in the cash market to secure cocoa supplies this year, with concerns that West African cocoa suppliers may default on supply contracts, according to Barchart.
Speaking at the inauguration of the permanent headquarters for the Côte d’Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CIGCI) in Accra, President Akufo-Addo said the current peak in cocoa futures “necessitates a revision of the initial approach to sustain or prevent a decline in prices.”
“This underscores the importance of this organisation for the two countries to devise new strategies to address the evolving market dynamics,” the president stated.
The two West African nations, which produce about 65 percent of the world’s cocoa beans, established the CIGCI in 2019 to exert more control over pricing and supply chains long dominated by international traders and processors.
A key early move was the introduction of a Living Income Differential (LID) premium of US$400 per metric tonne paid to local farmers on top of the market price starting in the 2020–2021 crop season. “What was thought of as impossible only two years ago is happening now,” Akufo-Addo said of the LID, which guarantees higher incomes for impoverished cocoa growers.
However, he warned that, with cocoa futures trading at record highs, revisions may be needed “to sustain or prevent a decline in prices.”
Last Thursday, cocoa prices surged once again, fueled by resilient global demand and mounting concerns over potential delivery defaults by West African suppliers grappling with a supply shortage.
According to Bloomberg, the Ghana Cocoa Board is in talks to delay the shipment of 150,000 to 250,000 metric tonnes to the next season due to a scarcity of beans. This supply crunch stems from a production decline in Ivory Coast, the top cocoa grower, where the 2023–2024 harvest is forecast to be 21.5 percent lower than the previous year, hitting an eight-year low of just 1.75 million metric tonnes.
Cocoa prices have experienced a significant rally since the start of the year, driven by the most severe supply shortfall in 40 years. The reduced production in Ivory Coast continues to exert upward pressure on prices.
The cocoa initiative between Ghana and Ivory Coast emerged from the leaders’ strategic partnership launched in 2017, aiming to enhance sustainability and efficiency within the industry.
In his speech, President Akufo-Addo recalled signing that initial deal with his Ivorian counterpart “when I came into office” and hailed the CIGCI headquarters as representing the countries’ “shared aspiration for a prosperous cocoa economy.”
The President said the new building symbolises “what regional unity and cooperation can achieve” and represents “the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the African cocoa industry.”
He expressed confidence that the joint body will “pioneer the way forward” by addressing pricing instability, farmer incomes and supply chain control.
President Akufo-Addo highlighted the need for the CIGCI to establish “unified positions,” especially regarding new European Union regulations governing sustainability and supplies of cocoa entering the crucial export market. “Collaborative efforts between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire are essential to safeguarding the interests of our farmers,” he stated, adding that “it is imperative for this collaboration to proactively address these challenges, reinforcing the need for cohesive action.”
Ghana, in particular, is seeing the economic impacts of its cocoa policy reforms, the president said.
Its installed processing capacity has risen above 50 percent of national output, while the total value of exported secondary products now averages above US$800 million per year.
“We will continue to work with the government of Côte d’Ivoire, united in our quest for sustainable and prosperous cocoa sectors in our two countries,” Mr. Akufo-Addo concluded.
The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference has called on President Nana Akufo-Addo and Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin to work together in ensuring the implementation of the people’s will regarding the contentious Human Sexual Rights and Ghana Family Values Bill, commonly known as the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill.
Currently, a deadlock exists over the transmission of the Bill from Parliament to the Presidency.
The President halted the transmission of the anti-gay bill, while the Speaker of Parliament suspended the approval of new ministerial nominees citing a court case.
This impasse has left many Ghanaians disheartened, questioning why two branches of the government cannot collaborate to protect the country’s values and cultural systems.
In a recent media interview, Reverend Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, stressed the importance of both the Executive and Legislature collaborating in the public interest. He noted that the Bill enjoys majority support among Ghanaians and urged President Akufo-Addo to respect the decision of the people as expressed by their representatives in Parliament.
“We’re surprised that at this time the President has not signed it yet. People can go and make their cases anywhere, anytime, but as to whether the President should listen to Supreme Court orders or individual presentations before he assents or not, we don’t know if the law provides for that,” Reverend Gyamfi stated.
“When this law has come from the people and it has been passed by Parliament, I do not find any basis for the President to stand against it and say he will not assent to the Bill,” he added.
“We call on them to follow what the law and Constitution provide because they are causing concern for all of us. This situation is unprecedented, which is why we are unsure if there’s a provision for it. If there’s no provision, why should the President delay?” Reverend Gyamfi questioned further.
President Nana Akufo-Addo showcased the remarkable achievements of his government, underlining his unwavering dedication to the mandate entrusted to him by the people of Ghana since assuming office in 2017.
President Akufo-Addo expressed confidence in his administration’s performance across various sectors, citing substantial advancements in economic management, education, healthcare, infrastructure, and the ongoing battle against corruption.
“I can say in all good conscience that I have not betrayed the mandate that the good people of Ghana conferred on me,” affirmed President Akufo-Addo during an address to the Diplomatic Corps in Peduase.
The President highlighted the economic strides made under his leadership, emphasising sustainable growth and effective financial management.
He pointed to improvements in the education sector, healthcare accessibility, and the implementation of robust infrastructure projects as key pillars of his government’s success.
Akufo-Addo also reiterated his administration’s commitment to combating corruption, citing tangible progress in the fight against malpractices.
He emphasized the importance of transparent governance and accountability in building a prosperous and equitable nation.
The Diplomatic Corps, present at the gathering, listened attentively as the President outlined the “enormous achievements” that he believes characterize his government’s effective stewardship.
President Nana Akufo-Addo made a strong case for Africa’s economic potential at the opening of the 2024 Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD) by highlighting the continent’s abundant natural resources and stressing the need of value addition and utilizing the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) to its fullest.
President Akufo-Addo passionately encourages African nations to shift from traditional resource extraction practices to investing in processing and manufacturing finished goods.
He asserts that industrialization, coupled with adding value to raw materials and robust infrastructure development, is vital for elevating intra-Africa trade from its current negligible levels.
Africa, contributing only 3.0% to global trade, faces historic challenges rooted in a colonial economic model.
Asserting that “Africa is too rich to be poor,” President Akufo-Addo’s call aligns with the growing momentum for the AfCFTA, recognized as the world’s largest free trade zone by participant count.
The agreement holds the potential to boost intra-African trade by 53%, presenting a promising avenue for economic development and diversification.
Despite these prospects, challenges persist, including infrastructure gaps, complex regulations, and limited access to finance hindering seamless intra-African trade.
President Akufo-Addo calls on African leaders to address these obstacles head-on, advocating for streamlined customs procedures, increased infrastructure investments, and enhanced cooperation to fully harness the AfCFTA’s potential.
The Africa Prosperity Dialogues, an annual forum dedicated to advancing economic cooperation and integration across the continent, serve as a vital platform for discussing challenges and formulating collaborative solutions.
With President Akufo-Addo’s rallying cry echoing across the continent, the 2024 edition of APD aims to be a catalyst for transformative change in Africa’s economic landscape, centered around the theme “Delivering Prosperity in Africa: Produce, Add Value, Trade.”
President Nana Akufo-Addo has commemorated the 30th anniversary of the passing of his former wife in accordance with customary practices, paying tribute to her memory.
Madam Eleanor Akosua Akufo-Addo, formerly known as Saa Nkansah-Gyamenah, sadly departed on July 13, 1993, under undisclosed circumstances.
Her marriage to Mr Akufo-Addo lasted for years and they had a daughter together.
In addition to being a lawyer, late Eleanor Akufo-Addo served as DHL’s first Ashanti Regional Manager.
She was a member of the Asante Mampong Botase Royal Family and is known for her beauty, elegance, gentility, and politeness.
Her 30th anniversary was held at Asante Mampong which is her final resting place.
The ceremony included a wreath laying at her gravesite followed by a short anniversary service.
The highlight of the event is the commissioning of Eleanor Akufo-Addo Memorial Social Centre, in her honour.
The Member of Parliament for La Dade-Kotopon Constituency, Rita Naa Odoley Sowah, has called out President Nana Akufo-Addo and his government for demolishing the La General Hospital and not building a replacement two years down the line.
“I am very angry at the government, NPP, Nana Addo, and his Health Minister”, she chanted during a demonstration by the people of La on Tuesday, April 25 2023.
“They demolished the La General Hospital and promised the people of La Dade-Kotopon that they would reconstruct it in two years”, she said, adding: “As we speak, when you go there, nothing has happened.”
On Tuesday, August 10, 2020, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo cut the sod for the commencement of redevelopment works at the La General Hospital.
At the ceremony, the president indicated that the redevelopment project had been occasioned by a report from the Ghana Health Service, which said that the five-storey structure of the hospital had developed gaping cracks, which made the facility unfit for use.
Furthermore, the report said the unplanned nature of the entire hospital campus required that it be re-organised so that it can function efficiently as a 21st-century hospital, which will serve the needs of the residents of La and its adjoining communities.
“This facility, in so many ways, complements the Greater Accra Regional Hospital at Ridge, and its upgrading will serve most people from Osu through La and Teshie, as well as residents living along the coastal corridor of Accra,” the president said at the time.
He added: “Indeed, with admissions to this hospital arising from maternal health and other related complications increasing from 20.5% in 2008 to 30% in 2017, and with pregnancy and related conditions, for the first time in the history of the life of this hospital, being the number one cause of admission, it requires that we improve, rapidly, the facilities of this hospital”.
The redevelopment project is being financed by a credit facility from Standard Chartered Bank of the United Kingdom, with an export credit guarantee from Sinosure of the People’s Republic of China to the tune of €68 million, with an insurance cover of €3,860,349.18.
The project will be undertaken by the Chinese company Poly Changda, which has wide-ranging experience in China and other parts of Africa in the construction of healthcare facilities.
Upon completion, it will be transformed into a 160-bed facility, and it will be fitted with an outpatient department; inpatient wards; maternity and neonatal services; surgical unit with four theatres; accident and emergency department; public health department; pharmacy unit; laboratory; administration; imaging area, with CT Scan, X-ray room, ultrasound, fluoroscopy, mammography units; physiotherapy unit; and a mortuary.
President Akufo-Addo assured the chiefs of the area that “this project is a sign of greater things to come for La, and, indeed, for the whole nation”, noting that the government was committed to the “total development of Ghana is absolute”, adding: “I expect that all of us gathered here, will be present again, God-willing, for the commissioning of this project, once it is completed.”
President Nana Akufo-Addo has cut the sod for constructing the first phase of a 600 million-unit capacity vaccine manufacturing plant at Medie in Accra.
This move takes the country closer to achieving its target of becoming the hub of healthcare delivery within the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), with focus on the production of pertinent drugs and vaccines which the continent lacks capacity to make.
The project’s first phase, which is estimated at US$122.6million, will be fitted with state-of-the-art technology to produce malaria; human papillomavirus (HPV); pneumonia; rotavirus; and cholera vaccines.
This phase is expected to be completed in late 2024, with production of the first-ever vaccine in the country set for first-quarter 2025. The plan is to make vaccines accessible to every child born in Ghana and the West African sub-region.
The second phase, which is an expansion of phase-one, will eventually incorporate vaccine manufacturing with a plan to construct a total of four fill and finish lines that can fill any type of vaccine – both traditional and messenger Ribonucleic Acid (mRNA). This will be done upon completion of phase-one.
The idea to manufacture vaccines locally was birthed during the COVID-19 pandemic – which reminded the nation that it is not advisable to solely depend on the benevolence and kind gestures of developed countries for vaccines and other critical healthcare requirements; hence the decision by government to support the private sector in developing local vaccine manufacturing capacity.
The initiative is executed by DEK Vaccines Limited, a consortium of three Ghanaian pharmaceutical firms – Danadams, Ernest Chemists and Kinapharma – selected to produce vaccines for Ghana, the ECOWAS region and Africa as a whole, under a broader plan to shore-up the continent’s capability to produce vaccines.
The president said venturing into vaccine manufacturing and development as a nation is part of an objective to be self-sufficient in healthcare delivery in its entirety, as the COVID-19 pandemic left many African countries struggling to get vaccines because the Western world was thinking about saving their people first.
He said the investment, which is the first of many to come in the next five years, will ensure that the country is future-ready for any pandemic and childhood diseases.
“One of the vaccines to be produced in this facility is the malaria vaccine; and as you may know, Ghana became the first country on 21st March 2023 to give access to the newly-developed malaria vaccine by Oxford University and produced by the Serum Institute of India to be used in Ghana.
“I therefore urge all well-meaning Ghanaians, entrepreneurs and corporate bodies to help this initiative with whatever they can to make Ghana a producer of malaria vaccines among others,” he said.
Mr. Akufo-Addo added that local production of vaccines comes with both direct and indirect social economic benefits to the country, and that the adoption and maintenance of reliable health security infrastructure could serve as the foundation for sustainable economic growth.
Irchad Razaaly, European Union (EU) Ambassador to Ghana, on his part mentioned that the EU has provided a €5million grant to support the project – explaining that the EU’s decision to support the initiative is a demonstration of its commitment to support the country in becoming the vaccine manufacturing hub of Africa.
The multi-purpose vaccine manufacturing facility to be established in Ghana will be the second in West Africa after the Yellow Fever vaccine manufacturing plant in Senegal.
The grant, made available by the European Investment Bank, will among others cover project-related expenditures, initial engineering and civil works, equipment down-payments, project development and technical assistance.
Managing Director of DEK Vaccines Limited, Pharm. Dr. Kofi Nsiah-Poku, emphasised the need for Ghana and Africa to be prepared for the next pandemic. He said vaccine manufacturing is a technology-intensive initiative that requires huge capital, and that the partnership with government is very appropriate.
Being elected as President of Ghana can be a daunting task that requires allies, friends, loyalists, and even family members at certain times.
In Ghana’s fourth republic, it has been somewhat accepted for presidents to appoint close family members to key positions in government, although the trend is frowned upon by many.
However, the term “family and friends government” has been coined in certain administrations of the two major political parties, the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress.
GhanaWeb shines a light on the siblings of Ghana’s presidents during the Fourth Republic, who you may not be familiar with.
Jerry John Rawlings and Judy Nkansah Nee John
The late Flight Lieutenant Colonel Jerry John Rawlings was Ghana’s first president in the Fourth Republic. He was born on June 22, 1947, to his mother, Victoria Agbotui, and James Ramsay John, his father.
Although little is known about his siblings, the late former president is known to have a paternal sister by the name Judy Nkansah Nee John, who is his only surviving sister.
Her maiden name was Judy John and she was the youngest daughter of James Ramsay John, their father.
Paying her final respects to a beloved elder brother in her tribute in November 2020, Mrs. Nkansah narrated how she got separated from J.J. Rawlings after they had to change schools because there had been a relocation of their basic school to a different area.
Despite this, however, she added that they continued to be a beautiful pair of siblings as she regularly got ‘constant Sunday afternoon visitations’ during their high school days.
John Agyekum Kufuor – Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor and 8 others
After Jerry John Rawlings left office, the New Patriotic Party, under the leadership of John Agyekum Kufuor, assumed office.
Right by his side were appointees and loyalists who served him through thick and thin.
Key among them was his brother, Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor who served as Minister of Defence in the early 2000s.
Although, J.A. Kufuor faced criticism over the move, the pair’s striking resemblance and speech were almost similar in nature.
In a book authored by Kwame Addo Kufuor, titled “Gold Coast Boy (A Memoir),” the brother of the former president details who his siblings are.
He revealed that in all, they were 10 children born to their mother, Nana Ama Ampomah Dapaah. Their father was Nana Kojo Agyekum III, the Oyokohene of Kumasi.
Their oldest sibling is Nana Akua, Francis was the second sibling, Rebecca comes third in the family while the fourth child, Kofi Boakye died in his infancy.
Marian who was as Chief State Attorney is the fifth child in the family. The sixth sibling is Cecilia who is a lawyer.
J.A. Kufuor was the seventh child who later became Ghana’s president from 2001 to 2008 while Kwame Addo Kufuor was the eighth child.
The ninth sibling who is George passed away in 2011 and the tenth sibling of the family was Josephine, who is also deceased.
John Evans Atta Mills – Dr. Cadman Mills – Samuel Atta Mills
John Evans Atta Mills served as president of the Republic of Ghana from 2009 until his demise in 2012. Prior to this, he was vice president of Ghana from 1997 to 2001 under the leadership of late former president Jerry John Rawlings.
He had two siblings who both served in his administration in different capacities.
Dr. Cadman Atta Mills is the senior brother of Prof J.E.A. Mills. He served as an economic adviser to the president in 2011.
Samuel Atta Mills is the younger brother of the late president. He also served as a Presidential Aide in the Office of the President from 2009 to 2012.
Samuel Atta Mills is the current Member of Parliament for Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem constituency.
John Mahama – Ibrahim Mahama and 2 others
Former president John Mahama assumed office in July 2012 following the demise of Prof. J.E.A. Mills. He was elected president later that year and served until 2017.
He is the second born of four siblings. His elder sibling is Alfred Abdullai Mahama who is a project coordinator and environmental consultant.
Ibrahim Mahama is the third child of the Mahama family. He is the founder of a renowned engineering company and owner of a cement manufacturing company.
President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addohas stated that in order for African nations to gain respect internationally and alter negative perceptions of the continent, they must wean themselves off of “begging” the West.
“If we stop being beggars and spend African money inside the continent, Africa will not need to ask for respect from anyone, we will get the respect we deserve. If we make it prosperous as it should be, respect will follow,” Mr Akufo-Addo said.
He made the remarks during the opening of the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington DC.
Mr Akufo-Addo urged greater solidarity among Africans to address shared aspirations.
“Africans are more resilient outside the continent than inside. We must bear in mind that to the outside world, [there’s] nothing like Nigeria, Ghana or Kenya, we are simply Africans. Our destiny as people depends on each other,” he said.
The president said that the continent had skills and manpower but needed concerted political will to make “Africa work”.
Mr Akufo-Addo’s remarks came on the day that the International Monetary Fund agreed to give Ghana a $3bn (£2.4bn) loan to alleviate an unprecedented economic downturn in the West African country.
Dozens of African leaders are in Washington to discuss cooperation with the US amid growing Chinese and Russian influence on the continent.
Leaders must be innovative and receptive to fresh ideas, according to Rev. Samuel Noi Mensah.
The former President of the Full Gospel Church International made the call during a sermon he delivered at the Church’s headquarters at Community 1, Tema, on Sunday, 20 November 2022.
Expounding on Luke chapter 5, Most Rev. Mensah highlighted on a great lesson that all leaders must learn from the experience of the Apostle Peter.
Frustrated after a fishing fiasco, Peter, a professional fisherman, had to listen to and follow the instruction of Jesus, a carpenter, to get over his frustration in a spectacular manner.
The overwhelming catch he and his company made after heeding the creative counsel of Jesus Christ, is a lesson in leadership worth catching by every leader worth their sort.
From the scripture lesson, he indicated that there are times when one’s expertise and professional know-how may not yield the expected results. He, therefore, provided some four basic principles to leaders (both political and corporate) as a guide in times of crisis.
Firstly, leaders must not display arrogance in times of crisis but rather they must be humble to accept responsibility and be open to new ideas.
Secondly, leaders must eschew the know-it-all attitude which may hinder them from exploring other alternatives.
Thirdly, leaders must be open to options and new ideas; and lastly, leaders should be humble enough to invite ideas from people outside of their inner circles.
Picking some lessons from Luke Chapter 5, Most Rev. Mensah observed that after Peter and his company had toiled all night and caught nothing, his friends abandoned their boats and were washing their nets, which was an indication that they had exhausted all their fishing strategies and had nothing to show for their collective efforts.
They were folding up for the day. Jesus was not part of Peter’s company neither was He an industry player in the fishing field.
However, when Peter’s back was against the wall, he was humble enough to accept the opinion of an outsider to solve his fishing woes.
Relating the lessons learned to the country’s current national economic crisis, Most Rev. Mensah admonished President Nana Akufo-Addo and his team of leaders to invite ideas from people outside their own government (i.e. opposition political parties, religious bodies, TUC, Academia, various professional bodies and other major key stakeholders).
In his view, since all the measures the current government has taken to restore macroeconomic stability will travel beyond their tenure of office, there is the need for broader stakeholder engagements to bring everyone on board towards furthering national cohesion for economic growth and the overall well-being of the citizenry.
According to President Nana Akufo-Addo, “I want to put on record that more building work has taken place in the railway sector over the previous five years of my administration than at any time since independence.”
When he opened the Afienya Road Over Bridge on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, a crucial piece of the new 97.7-kilometer standard gauge railway line from Tema to Mpakadan railway project, he declared: “We have laid a solid foundation, which will receive an even greater impetus by the end of my tenure in 2025.”
I will not waver in my support for the creation of a brand-new, high-quality rail system, he declared.
Describing the project as “a brainchild of the first NPP Government of 2001 – 2009, when the highly respected Christopher Ameyaw Akumfi was Minister for Harbours and Railways”, President Akufo-Addo explained that it was conceived to create a multimodal transportation network, involving road, rail and lake transportation, which will facilitate the haulage of cargo and the movement of people from the southern part of the country to the northern sector, through a mix of intermodal transport systems.
With the current transportation of domestic freight and transit freight between Accra, Tema and northern Ghana, and further to Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, being essentially road-based via Kumasi, Tamale, Bolgatanga, Navrongo and Paga, the President stated that the over-dependency Ghana’s road network, coupled with the lack of other transport alternatives, particularly between Accra and Kumasi, resulted in congestion, rapid deterioration of roads, and increases in road accidents.
“The study was successfully completed in 2009, stressing the economic, financial and operational feasibility of the multi-modal freight corridor. Subsequently, the 6th Parliament, at the 14th Sitting of its Third Meeting, held on Monday, 31st October 2016, approved, by resolution, both the Credit Facility and the Commercial Agreement between the Ministry of Finance and the EXIM Bank of India, with AFCONS Infrastructure Ltd., also of India, as the contractor for the project,” he stated.
The project, the president told the gathering, will address the imbalance between transport modes for long-distance transit and domestic freight movements from Accra/Tema northwards, and vice versa using the Volta Lake Transport System.
“In particular, existing port operations at the Tema Port will be improved, resulting in reduced vessel waiting time, and container dwelling time, which will improve the competitiveness of the Port, as well as lead to a reduction in freight transport costs, and enhance safety,” he added.
Transporting freight and transit cargo, via the Lake Transport System, President Akufo-Addo, reiterated will reduce the cost of the shipment and, by extension, reduce the cost of doing business in Ghana.
“Not only will it increase transit cargo volumes through the Lake, but will also expand domestic shipments to and from the Lake, and will serve as a boost for agricultural enterprises within the environs of the Lake,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo also inspected some of the ongoing works at the Afienya Railway Station, as well as the works on the track, inspected work on the Volta Rail Bridge over the Volta River to assess the status of work.
“I have been assured by the contractor that the few outstanding works remaining on the project will be completed and the project handed over to Government for operations within the first half of next year,” he added.
The purpose of the market, according to Mr. Akufo-Addo, who spoke at this year’s national farmers’ day celebration, is to make food accessible to state officials at a reasonable price.
In fact, he claimed, “Cabinet really established an Inter-Ministerial Committee in July 2022 with the task to intervene directly in the food market, by purchasing food at the farmgate, and transferring it for sale at urban centres.
“The Ministry of Food and Agriculture started a pilot food market in November, by arranging for traders to bring food items, such as plantain, yam and rice, direct to Accra from the production areas for direct sale to civil servants and the general public”, the president noted.
He added: “The market has been so well patronised that it has been extended to four other locations within Greater Accra, and is being rolled out in Kumasi, Koforidua and Takoradi urban centres. This is to enable consumers access to foodstuffs at affordable prices”.
Read the president’s full farmers’ day speech below:
President Akufo-Addo Marks 38th Farmers’ Day Celeberation At Koforidua
ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO, AT THE 38TH FARMERS’ DAY CELEBRATION, AT KOFORIDUA, EASTERN REGION, ON FRIDAY, 2ND DECEMBER 2022, ON THE THEME “ACCELERATING AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH VALUE ADDITION”
I am happy to be back in Koforidua, capital of my home region, the Eastern Region. I am grateful to Almighty God for yet another opportunity to join you honour our farmers, fishers and, indeed, all actors along the agricultural value chain for their invaluable contribution to our sustenance, and for the development of Mother Ghana.
Recent global events, which have led to a food crisis across the world, call for greater appreciation of what our farmers and fishers, here in Ghana, have done and continue to do for us.
On a daily basis, there are news reports of countries struggling under the combined weight of the forces of the COVID -19 pandemic, the climate crisis and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The effects of these forces entail disruption of supply chains, hikes in fuel prices, spiralling inflation and sharp reductions in economic growth. On the agricultural front, the impact is seen in the shortage and high cost of critical inputs for farming such as fertilizers. Significant rises in fuel prices, globally, have contributed to rising prices of foodstuffs across the globe, and Ghana is no exception.
In response to the impact of the challenges to general food security, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, rallied World Leaders to a Food Systems Summit in September 2021 in which I participated, on the sidelines of the meeting of the General Assembly, to strategise on how to mitigate the growing threat to food systems. The emphasis, at the Summit, was to help avert extreme poverty and looming hunger, as specified in the UN Sustainable Development Goals I and II, respectively. It was a call to action by all countries to prioritise agriculture, and recommit to the transformation of food systems to build resilience and ensure sustainable food security.
In this respect, I find the theme for this year’s Farmers’ Day Celebration, “Accelerating Agricultural Development Through Value Addition”, most appropriate and timely. Value addition, as a means of accelerating the development of agriculture, is one of the logical strategies for ensuring food security, and rightly so. I say this because of the perennial problem of post-harvest losses experienced in most countries, including Ghana.
Since 2017, strategic interventions in the agriculture sector have emphasised value addition through the implementation of the One-District-One-Factory flagship programme by Government. It is instructive to note that one hundred and seventy-two (172) of the two hundred and ninety-six (296) factories to be established under the programme are agro-based, processing the rapidly increasing farm output of our farmers.
Clearly, it is evident that Ghana has been put firmly on the track of value addition. Government appreciates fully that value addition is the one of the best ways to unlocking the huge potential of Ghana’s agriculture. Current developments in the country have reinforced the need to direct greater attention to promoting value addition. As a country, it is important to draw on very hard lessons from the impact of external factors on our food systems. Food prices in urban centres are unacceptably high. However, it is equally true that some internal factors are also contributing to the high prices. Government continues to evaluate the situation for appropriate action to be taken.
Indeed, in July 2022, Cabinet set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee with the brief to intervene directly in the foodstuff market, by buying food at the farmgate, and transporting it for sale at urban centres.
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture started a pilot food market in November, by arranging for traders to bring food items, such as plantain, yam and rice, direct to Accra from the production areas for direct sale to civil servants and the general public.
The market has been so well patronised that it has been extended to four other locations within Greater Accra, and is being rolled out in Kumasi, Koforidua and Takoradi urban centres. This is to enable consumers access to foodstuffs at affordable prices.
Chairperson, agriculture will continue to remain a top priority of my government. The massive investments made in the sector attest to this fact.
The positive narrative about Government’s support to the agriculture sector is that, unlike several other countries, Ghana is better prepared, and has demonstrated resilience to the current adversities threatening to destabilise our food systems.
This has been possible because of the sound, pragmatic policies and programmes rolled out at the inception of my stewardship.
Our flagship programme, Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), with its focus on improving farm productivity, through the use of technology on farms, has succeeded in increasing our food security, and opened up new opportunities for diversifying our agricultural exports by promoting six (6) tree crops for future substantial foreign exchange earnings.
In 2016, Government inherited production levels of 1.7 million metric tonnes of maize and six hundred and sixty-five thousand metric tons of rice (665,000). Under the PFJ, maize production reached 3.4 million tonnes by 2021 and rice to 1.2 million metric tonnes.
The credit must go to our gallant farmers, fishers and value chain actors who embraced the PFJ policies, and leveraged the opportunities created by the enabling environment for agricultural development.
By design, PFJ has targeted other sectors under agriculture with promising results. Under its Rearing for Food Jobs module, some one hundred and thirty-four thousand, four hundred (134,400) birds and small ruminants were distributed to one thousand, two hundred and fifty-four (1,254) beneficiaries in 2022 alone.
In addition, nine hundred thousand (900,000) broiler day old chicks (chicken), together with nine hundred metric tons of feed and vaccines, have been contracted out for supply to farmers next year.
Still under the livestock sector, Government has released GH¢15.6 million as payment of compensation to two hundred and eighty (280) farms affected by the highly pathogenic Avian Influenza.
There is also support for disease surveillance, public awareness creation, capacity building and the procurement of motorbikes for operational activities to enhance early detection, prevention and disease management. As part of institutional strengthening for the Veterinary Services Directorate, five hundred and fifty (550) veterinary officers and allied staff have been recruited this year alone.
Chairperson, the achievements of my government include the promotion of selected tree crops to diversify export earnings from the sector. For more than a century, Ghana has relied heavily on cocoa for foreign exchange earnings, whilst the potential for several other tree crops remains untapped.
By an Act of Parliament, the Tree Crop Development Authority was established in 2020, to coordinate and promote the development of six tree crops, namely cashew, rubber, oil palm, coconut, mango and shea.
At maturity, these selected crops will have the combined potential of generating annually an additional twelve billion dollars ($12 billion) to supplement the annual two billion dollars ($2 billion) from cocoa.
Since the launch of the Tree Crop Development programme in 2018, several nurseries have been established with the participation of private sector.
The Ministry, through the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA), facilitated the provision of 2.7 million improved seedlings to some eleven thousand, one hundred (11,100) farmers during 2022 cropping season.
I commend the District Assemblies for their participation in this effort, and I continue to urge our chiefs, land owners and prospective investors to leverage the opportunities created in the tree crop sub-sector.
Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and other partners have facilitated the smooth introduction and enhancement of major interventions such as the National Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme, Hand Pollination Programme, Mass Pruning Exercise, Cocoa Diseases and Pests Control Programme, the Subsidised Fertilizer Distribution Programme, amongst others.
I have been reliably informed that, two years after we re-launched the National Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme in the Western North Region, a total farm area of fifty-six thousand, three hundred and forty-three (56,343) hectares have been fully treated across the cocoa growing regions, as of 30th September 2022.
As a result of the success of the programme, thousands of farmers, who had abandoned their cocoa farms due to the devastating effect of the cocoa swollen shoot virus disease, have returned, and are active again in the cocoa business.
It is important to underscore that these interventions brought back smiles on the faces of our cherished farmers, and also provided employment to some twenty-seven thousand (27,000) youth in scheme areas, that is one thousand, three hundred and sixty-one (1,361) as technical assistants; one thousand, eight hundred and forty-five (1,845) as disease spotters; and twenty-three thousand, nine hundred and thirteen (23,913) as farm hands.
Chairperson, in 2019, Government began the implementation of the Cocoa Management System (CMS) to help establish a credible database on Ghana’s cocoa.
The integrated cocoa farmer database, which includes the development of a software data system, a census of all cocoa farmers in Ghana as well as mapping of all farms, will ensure, for the first time, the availability of accurate information on land size, geographic locations, population and record of cocoa farmers and farms in Ghana.
I am happy to announce, again, that the CMS is ready, setting in motion the processes of rolling out fully the much-anticipated cocoa farmers pension scheme. The mandatory pension scheme, which takes effect in the current 2022/23 crop season, will provide a decent pension for cocoa farmers after a minimum of five (5) years contribution.
It is important to mention that that the Living Income Differential (LID) pricing mechanism, being spearheaded by Cote d’ Ivoire and Ghana, the two biggest global producers of cocoa, through the Cote d’ Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative, is progressing despite seeming obstacles from some of our international trading partners. I want to assure our farmers that everything possible is being done to see to the full implementation of the scheme to cushion them against price volatility, and also guarantee sustainable livelihoods for them.
Fellow Ghanaians, the sustainability of the cocoa sector is contingent also on how effectively we are able to fight the devasting effects of the illegal mining menace. All of us, farmers and citizens, have a collective responsibility to bring this environmental canker to a halt if we do not want to ruin the inheritance our forefathers bequeathed us.
Other interventions implemented by my government, which are critical for accelerated development of the country, include the following:
Greenhouse Training Centres
Three greenhouse training centres, with attached commercial units at Dawhenya, Akumadan and Bawjiase for training youth in high-quality vegetable production, have been constructed. These vegetables are sold to high-end shops such as Palace Mall, Shoprite, Starbite, KFC and Burger King in Tema, Accra and Kumasi. To date some five hundred and thirty-seven (537) youth have been trained, with three hundred and forty (340) of them having received internship training in Israel.
Irrigation
Since 2017, substantial investments have been directed to the construction and rehabilitation of twelve (12) irrigation schemes for which six (6) are ninety percent (90%) complete, five are between forty five percent (45%) to seventy percent (70%) complete, and Pwalugu dam currently at five percent (5%) completion. Together, these irrigation projects will make available thirty-one thousand, four hundred and fifteen (31,415) hectares of land for all year-round crop production when completed.
Warehouses
Measures taken by Government to address other major marketing problems in the agriculture sector include construction of eighty (80) warehouses of one thousand metric ton (1,000MT) capacity each for food storage, and to reduce post-harvest losses. Sixty-five (65) of eighty (80) have been fully completed, handed over and currently in use. The remaining are all at advanced stages of completion, ranging from seventy percent (70%) to ninety percent (90%).
Mechanization
To accelerate the process of agricultural modernization, my government, through various bilateral arrangements, has imported assorted agricultural machinery including tractors, power tillers, planters, threshers, combine harvesters and hand-held equipment for smallholder farmers at a total value of sixty-seven million United States dollars ($67 million). These farm equipment and machinery are being sold at subsidised rates to farmers and other investors. Currently, I am happy to report that processes have been concluded towards the establishment of a Tractor Assembly Plant in Ghana. This will go a long way to reduce cost of tractors, improve access to tractor parts and create jobs.
Agriculture Financing
To promote and increase investment in agriculture, Government established the Ghana Incentive Based Risk Sharing Agricultural Lending Scheme (GIRSAL) in 2018. A little more than three years on, GIRSAL has provided some three hundred and forty-seven million cedis (GH¢347 million) of guarantees, covering loans of some seven hundred and twelve million cedis (GH¢712 million) to some one hundred (100) agribusinesses. These businesses are engaged in sale of agricultural inputs, direct production, aggregation, processing, marketing and exports. The guarantees have contributed to lower interest rates for borrowers. To boost further financing for agribusinesses, Government has established the Development Bank of Ghana, capitalised, initially, at seven hundred and fifty million euros (€750 million), which will prioritise agriculture in its activities.
Ghana Cares
Under the Cares Obaatampa programme, provision has also been made to enhance access to affordable financing for agribusinesses. A fifty percent (50%) interest rate subsidy is provided to agribusinesses in selected value chains, namely rice, maize, soya bean, tomato, and poultry. This complements the Outgrower and Value Chain Fund, which was established eleven (11) years ago to provide medium to long-term financing at significantly reduced interest rates. Under the Savanah Investment Project, two million dollars ($2 million) is also earmarked to provide credit to poultry value chain actors, especially those in processing.
YouStart programme
Government has launched the YouStart programme to provide training, entrepreneurial skills and financial support to entrepreneurial youth within the age bracket of 18 to 40 years, to help them start, build and grow their businesses. The YouStart will be a very important vehicle for equipping the youth to enter into agro-based businesses such as input distribution, marketing and value addition, leveraging on digital technology. I use the opportunity to encourage the District Assemblies and faith-based organizations to support the youth to take advantage of the programme.
Chairperson, the overwhelming evidence points to an impressive performance of Government in pursuit of its agricultural modernisation and transformation agenda.
From an average of 3.8% in the 5-year period from 2012 to 2016, average annual growth nearly doubled to 6.3% in the period 2017 to 2021. In the most recent years, the sector growth increased strongly from 4.7% in 2019 to 7.4% in 2020 and 8.4% in 2021 – the highest annual performance in the Fourth Republic.
This sterling performance compares with the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme’s (CAADP) benchmark target of 6% growth of agriculture for the attainment of national food security.
Ironically, the highest growth rates posted were in 2020 and 2021 when the COVID-19 Pandemic and other negative forces, such as climate change and outbreak of diseases, were impacting the sector.
Going forward, Government will deepen investments in these areas, and build on the achievements so far through additional interventions.
Measures to Promote Import Substitution
As part of measures to ameliorate the current economic difficulties, I have already outlined policy measures to curtail the imports of some food commodities, for which we have comparative advantage. We will use the opportunity of this crisis to accelerate the agriculture modernisation and transformation agenda.
This effort will require strong intersectoral coordination at all levels, and effective engagement and collaboration with the private sector and all other stakeholders in the agriculture ecosystem.
Consequently, institutions such as the TCDA and pipeline strategic institutions, like the Grains Development Authority, will be strengthened and supported to deliver effectively on their strategic mandate. We will also co-ordinate effectively with our foreign partners, leveraging their technical and financial resources to support this effort.
Grains Development Authority
Ghana has an untapped potential for grain production that can be exploited to feed the West Africa Region and beyond. This is evident in the loads of grains, such as maize, rice and soya, exported to neighbouring countries such as Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin and Ivory Coast in the last three years.
To unlock the potential of the grain industry, a Bill is before Parliament requesting for approval to amend the erstwhile Grain Development Authority Act, 1970 (Act 234) to provide for the establishment of a body corporate to regulate, promote and coordinate development of the grain industry. The Authority, with private sector participation, will coordinate actors in the grain industry to achieve higher productivity, gain market access and increase value addition. This effort will also maximize the benefits from the grain sector through effective regulation.
Fisheries
The Fisheries and Aquaculture sector is an essential component of our nation’s economic development, providing employment to some three million people. Promoting value addition in the fisheries sector will not only ensure that Ghanaians have access to different fish products, but will also help protect the investment of actors in the value chain, improving exports, and creating additional job opportunities.
Government will continue to implement sustainable fisheries management measures to help conserve the dwindling marine fisheries resources and sustain the sector for future generations. The development of the aquaculture industry will also continue to receive Government support, as part of efforts to reduce our dependence on our marine fisheries resources.
I am happy to announce that Cabinet has granted three (3) key approvals to the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development for (i) the automation of premix fuel distribution at landing beaches, (ii) the implementation of a new National Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy, and (iii) the preparation of a new Fisheries Act to replace the current Act 625. These approvals are important for the sustainable management of marine fisheries resources and development of aquaculture.
The Ministry is also at an advanced stage with regard to the implementation of Cabinet’s decision for the acquisition of one (1) Research Vessel and four (4) Patrol Boats for the fisheries sector. The Research Vessel would facilitate regular fisheries research and stock assessment that would enhance data availability for science-based fisheries management, whilst the Patrol Boats will enhance the enforcement capacity to curb the pervasive incidence of illegal and unregulated fishing and related activities in our territorial waters.
To our artisanal fishers, I say I am also aware of the challenges regarding the distribution and sale of premix fuel to artisanal fishers. To address this, premix distribution activities at landing beaches will be automated by the close of December 2023. The first three (3) of the pilot phase is almost completed at Elmina, and would be commissioned in January 2023. Government is engaged in discussions with Bulk Distribution Companies to address supply challenges with regards to premix.
Chairperson, it is fairly obvious that a lot has been achieved in the sector, with many more projects and initiatives in the pipeline. At full maturity, these interventions will help consolidate the gains already made, strengthen the resilience of Ghana’s food system, and ensure sustainable food security.
Before I conclude, fellow Ghanaians, I want to point out again that our nation finds itself in considerable economic difficulties. It is important, therefore, that we put in place the relevant measures to address the hydra-headed economic challenges confronting us.
The 2023 Budget presented to Parliament by the Minister for Finance seeks to address these economic challenges through a number of very difficult, but necessary measures. These measures include a debt operation to address our fiscal and debt sustainability concerns. Debt operations alone will not be enough to address the debt sustainability concerns. It is for this reason that we are complementing the debt operations with fiscal adjustments, through improvement in revenue collection and expenditure rationalisation measures, to promote debt and fiscal sustainability. This is why the Minister for Finance outlined a number of revenue and expenditure measures for the consideration and approval of Parliament.
These revenue measures include a proposed increase in VAT rate by 2.5%, the review of the e-Levy rate from 1.5 percent to 1 percent and removal of the one hundred cedi (GH¢100) threshold; removal of selected VAT exemptions; implementation of the VAT e-invoicing system; revision of selected excise taxes; complete removal of discount on benchmark values; implementation of the unified property rate collection; and review of the National Fiscal Stabilisation Levy (NFSL) to include all entities which are critical in supporting the fiscal consolidation process.
The fiscal adjustment envisaged is not only on the revenue side, but also on the expenditure side. Government is proposing significant expenditure rationalization measures, including a lowering of the cap on transfers to earmarked funds from 25 percent to 17.5 percent; review of Government flagship programmes to reflect relevance, promote efficiency, and ensure value for money; continue with the thirty percent (30%) cut in the salaries of the President, Vice President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, MMDCEs, and political office holders including those in state-owned enterprises; manage public sector wage negotiations and hiring within budgetary constraints; and integrate the public procurement approval processes with GIFMIS and budget allocation.
There are other key public expenditure measures which seek to demonstrate government’s burden sharing in addressing the economic challenges facing us. These measures, which range from reducing fuel allocation, the size of convoys, the suspension of the creation of new government agencies, to a ban on the use of V8 vehicles, are expected to reduce spending towards fiscal sustainability.
Fellow Ghanaians, I am optimistic that all these fiscal measures, together with the debt operations and the implementation of key structural reforms to eliminate the structural bottlenecks in the economy outlined in the 2023 Budget, will go a long way to address the economic challenges.
I call on all Ghanaians, in these difficult times, to support these fiscal measures that the Government has proposed for approval by Parliament, to enable us achieve the goal of restoring macroeconomic stability and promoting inclusive growth, whilst protecting the poor. I would like to use this occasion to make a special appeal to Organised Labour, which has proved to be a stalwart, principled ally of my government in our collective efforts, over these last six (6) years, to build a strong Ghanaian economy, to continue its dialogue with its Social Partners to find rapidly an acceptable solution to the ongoing salary negotiations, a solution which is realistic and fair.
Finally, I want to end with a request on each one of us. Our economy suffers from another structural weakness, which we must address with urgency. Ghana has the second largest economy in West Africa, but with the lowest tax-to-GDP ratio of some twelve percent (12%), within the context of an average of eighteen percent (18%) in the ECOWAS Region. It is absolutely essential for our future, if we are to realise our goal of a Ghana Beyond Aid, that we make rapid strides to meet the eighteen percent (18%) and even higher target, in order to strengthen our self-reliance and our capacity to finance our own development. It is in this light that I am calling strongly for support for the measures that the Minister for Finance outlined in the budget proposals, which will enhance significantly revenue mobilisation. It should be obvious to all of us by now that we can only rely on ourselves to build the Ghana we want.
The Bank of Ghana has been urged to offer clear timetables for its new order on releasing foreign exchange for imports, according to the president of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA).
He claimed that because the news was made after traders had already purchased products, the Bank of Ghana’s removal of support could have a disastrous effect on some companies.
“We are requesting timetables from the Bank of Ghana.
How will we pay for items that have already been purchased, if we are to assume that the regulation would apply to fresh imports?
The website citinewsroom.com cites Dr. Obeng.
The same businessmen will invest in the other industries that the government is attempting to develop, he added.
“In accordance with the president’s directive issued at his recent address to the nation on the Ghanaian economy on Sunday, 30 October 2022, the Bank of Ghana will no longer provide FX support for the imports of rice, poultry, vegetable oils, toothpicks, pasta, fruit juice, bottled water, ceramic tiles, and other non-critical goods,” an electronic message to banks read.
The claims brought against the Finance Minister by the Minority in Parliament to have him removed from office, according to Ken Ofori-Atta, are without merit.
The claims made by the proponents do not have “weight for censure,” according to Ken Ofori-Atta, who also went on to refute them. He made this statement to the Adhoc Committee considering the censure petition.
The finance minister denied the claim that economic data had been purposefully misreported to Parliament.
“Since I became president in 2017, I have served the nation with honesty and integrity.
The accurate reporting of public finances has significantly improved under my direction at the Ministry of Finance.
He added that, “Today, under President Nana Akufo-Addo, Ghanaians are enjoying greater accountability and transparency in the management of the public purse than any other period under the Fourth Republic.”
He said since 2017, the government has complied with the reporting provisions in the Public Financial Management Act 2016 (Act 921), including Budget Implementation report, Fiscal Reports, Public Debt Report, Petroleum Revenue Management Reports, ESLA report, etc.
On the issue of not including the financial sector clean-up cost and the energy sector IPP payments in the deficit, the Finance Minister said contrary to the position of others, they were clearly stated.
“I want to emphasize, with the Budget document as evidence, that these payments were reflected in the fiscal framework. Energy sector IPP payments were treated as “amortisation” and the non-cash financial sector clean-up payments were reflected in the “memo item” (Refer to Appendix 2A of the Fiscal Tables in the relevant Annual Budget),” the minister said.
Meanwhile, in May 2020, Dr Albert Touna Mama, the former country representative of the IMF speaking on Joy FM’s News File Programme said there was no misrepresentation of data by the government as was being alleged.
Dr Touna Mama said government was not the one that presented the figures that the IMF published in its statements.
He explained that the difference in figures was as a result of a difference in the methodology of calculation, adding that the figure in fiscal deficit in their statement was a figure they generated themselves from the data government presented to them, having added financial and energy sector payments in line with their methodology, which is different from government’s methodology.
The decision to close down the Ghana and Africa office of Twitter comes after the platform was acquired by billionaire Elon Musk.
Earlier this month, Twitter fired nearly all its staff in Ghana, which was home to its only office in Africa.
The layoffs according to sources close to the business were part of a global staff cull introduced by new boss Elon Musk.
Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, has been laying off staff worldwide. He said he had “no choice” but to slash the company’s workforce as the firm was losing more than $4m (£3.5m) a day.
Last year, Twitter opened its Ghana office amidst some fanfare with the Ghana president Nana Akufo Addo touting its immense benefits.
Twitter in a statement after arriving in Africa said it was motivated by the desire to “be more immersed in the rich and vibrant communities that drive the conversations taking place every day across the African continent.”
News of the closure of the Ghana and Africa office was shocking and saddening to many but Dr Kofi Amoah says while it is a painful reality, he wants the episode to spur young African techies to create their own platform.
In a Twitter post on Thursday, 10 November 2022, Dr Amoah wrote, “Yes, the strength of a continent lies in her people. Can the story of Twitter closing its African office end more beautifully: A group of techie young Africans, Nigeria/Kenya/Ghana, have announced the formation of Twitter-Africa named AKASANOMA, funded by the AfDB.”
Dr Amoah has in recent years been leading a charge for Africa to have its own homegrown solutions to the many problems that bedevil the continent.
According to him, the country could no longer continue to import goods from other countries, indicating that the ministry would continue to work with the relevant regulatory authorities to reverse the trend.
Addressing members of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) at a high-level meeting in Accra recently, the minister noted that the challenges the nation is currently facing are daunting and that “the exigencies of the moment have forced us to turn this crisis into an opportunity to resolve our short-term challenges and the long-term structural problems that have inhibited our economic transformation”.
Mr Ofori-Atta reiterated President Nana Akufo-Addo’s call for a reduction in the dependence on imported goods and enhance the country’s self-reliance, noting: “Clearly, the time has come for us to put in place the foundations that would allow our industry to be the backbone of our resilience and structural transformation”.
Giving statistics to buttress his claim for a shift from importation to local production, he disclosed that between 2017 and 2020, the government spent as much as GHS 6.874 billion on the importation of rice, GHS 3.993 billion on fish, GHS 1.881 billion on chicken (processed), GHS 487 million on meat, GHS 281 million on vegetables and an estimated GHS 184 million on poultry.
He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to assisting local industries in producing more import-substitute products such as rice, poultry, vegetable oil, toothpicks, pasta, fruit juice, bottled water, ceramic tiles, and others.
On the cedi depreciation, the minister underscored the need for all to support the government’s drive for import substitution, as that could lead to stabilisation of the cedi and commended the AGI for the continuous support of policies and initiatives that supported the local industries.
In his state address on the economic crisis on Sunday, 30 October 2022, President Nana Akufo-Addo said an anonymous WhatsApp audio that got circulated widely on social media platforms recently, did a lot of damage to the cedi.
“Fellow Ghanaians, as the French would say, l’argent n’aime pas le bruit, to wit, money does not like noise, sika mpɛ dede. Where there is chaos, where there is noise, where there is unrest, you will not find money. If you talk down your money, it will go down. If you allow some unidentifiable person to talk down your money, it will go down,” he noted.
He explained: “The recent turbulence on the financial markets was caused by low inflows of foreign exchange, and was made worse in the last two to three weeks, in particular, by the activities of speculators and the Black Market.”
“An anonymous two-minute audio message on a WhatsApp platform predicting a so-called haircut on Government bonds sent all of us into banks and forex bureaus to dump our cedis, and, before we knew it, the cedi had depreciated further”, he pointed out, adding: “All of us can play a part in helping to strengthen the cedi by having confidence in the currency, and avoiding speculation”.
The president urged: “Let us keep our cedi as the good store of value it is. To those who make it a habit of publishing falsehoods, which result in panic in the system, I say to them that the relevant state agencies will act against such persons.”
“Indeed, some steps have been taken to restore order in the forex markets and we are already beginning to see some calm returning. We will not relent until order is completely restored.”
He said the following actions have been taken thus far: Enhanced supervisory action by the Bank of Ghana in the forex bureau markets and the black market to flush out illegal operators, as well as ensuring that those permitted to operate legally abide by the market rules.
“Already some forex bureaux have had their licences revoked, and this exercise will continue until complete order is restored in the sector; fresh inflows of dollars are providing liquidity to the foreign exchange market, and addressing the pipeline demand; the Bank of Ghana has given its full commitment to the commercial banks to provide liquidity to ensure the wheels of the economy continue to run in a stabilised manner, till the IMF Programme kicks in and the financing assurances expected from other partners also come in”.
Also, he said: “The government is working with the Bank of Ghana and the oil producing and mining companies to introduce a new legal and regulatory framework to ensure that all foreign exchange earned from operations in Ghana are, initially, paid to banks domiciled in Ghana to help boost the domestic foreign exchange market; and the Bank of Ghana will enhance its gold purchase programme. I am confident that these immediate measures designed to change the structure of our balance of payment flows, sanitise the foreign exchange market to ensure that the banks and forex bureaus operate along international best practices, together with strengthened supervision, will go a long way to sanitize our foreign exchange market, and make it more resilient against external vulnerabilities going forward”.
This year’s just concluded Africa Investment Forum Market Days, the continent’s premier investment platform, has drawn $31 billion in investment interest from African and global investors.
Combined with $32.8 billion from the rescheduled 2021 Africa Investment Forum Market days, which took place as virtual boardrooms in March this year, the forum has mobilized a total of $63.8 billion of investment interest this year.
The three-day event, held in the Ivorian commercial capital, Abidjan, attracted the participation of several African heads of state and government. The leaders chaired boardrooms and led transactions with potential investors. They included Vice President Tiémoko Meyliet Koné of Côte d’Ivoire, who represented President Alassane Ouattara.
Others were President Sahle-Work Zewde of Ethiopia; President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana; President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe; Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor of Liberia; Vice President Philip Mpango of Tanzania; Prime Minister José Ulisses Correia e Silva n of Cabo Verde; and Prime Minister Patrick Achi of Côte d’Ivoire.
This year’s Market Days event—the third since 2018—took place on the theme: ‘Building Economic Resilience through Sustainable Investments.’ It was held amid global economic challenges that have been compounded by the impacts of climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Russia-Ukraine war.
The event showcased the Africa Investment Forum’s founding partners’ joint resolve to help unleash Africa’s investment potential in such critical sectors as infrastructure, agriculture, energy, education, the creative industries, sports, and transactions that champion women entrepreneurs.
The forum’s founding partners are the African Development Bank, Africa50, Afrexim Bank, the Africa Finance Corporation, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the European Investment Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, and the Trade and Development Bank.
The partners said the results this year have exceeded expectations, given that the world is currently grappling with so many unprecedented economic challenges.
He said: “Despite the challenges, we are not afraid, and neither have we despaired nor lost hope. We are excited and committed to a collective goal… accelerating the closure of deals to transform Africa and its investment landscape.”
Adesina said the Africa Investment Forum’s focus is to attract more foreign direct investment to Africa and ensure the private sector remains the driving force of that transformation.
“The private sector is Africa’s growth accelerator. We must mitigate real and perceived risks and persuade the private sector that investing in Africa is safe,” he emphasized.
Islamic Development Bank President Dr. Muhammed Sulaiman Al Jasser said in a message his organization was hopeful that “our commitment and dedication to the AIF will translate into tangible and measurable outcomes for the benefit of our member countries across Africa.”
Al Jasser restated the Islamic Development Bank Group’s commitment to support transformative African projects, especially those promoting resilience, financial, economic, and social sustainability.
Trade and Development Bank Group President and Chief Executive Admassu Tadesse underscored the value of the “AIF spirit” in doing more to advance and close investments.
Tadesse stressed: “Notwithstanding ongoing global crises, we have to keep our eye on the ball. We must continue to encourage and enable investment in agriculture and industry, as well as infrastructure. Growing our own food and manufacturing more will enable us to trade more. It will lead to less overall greenhouse gas emissions linked to imports from far away, in the process also generating more employment and opportunities for our peoples.”
European Investment Bank President Werner Hoyer said while travelling to COP27: “A diversity of ambitious and wide-ranging initiatives” attracted high interest at this year’s Market Days.
“At the European Investment Bank, we are excited to see how the creativity and vision of African innovators are making an impact, particularly in the area of technology which holds such great potential for Africa’s future,” Hoyer said.
Mohan Vivekanandan, Group Executive Origination and Coverage, Development Bank of Southern Africa, noted that a unique feature of this year’s forum was that it focused on transactions.
“It’s about the project sponsors, the project developers and how we as development financiers help them get their vision implemented to improve the quality of life of Africans, and how we promote economic growth, job creation and industrialization,” Vivekanandan said.
Africa Finance Corporation President and CEO Samaila Zubairu said: “The current global economic challenges indicate the critical need to build Africa’s self-sufficiency by investing in resilient infrastructure. Such critical investment is needed to drive Africa’s industrialization and economic prosperity.”
Africa50 CEO Alain Ebobisse said the Africa Investment Forum presented a timely platform to help scale up and speed up investments into Africa, especially as partners strive to build the continent’s resilience to economic shocks and climate change.
Ebobisse said: “Attracting new pools of capital into infrastructure will be critical. More specifically, Africa’s institutional investors, such as pension funds and sovereign wealth funds must play a critical role and will be the game changers for Africa’s infrastructure development.”
Afreximbank President Benedict Oramah said: “This year’s Africa Investment Forum reflects, in the number, attitudes and diversity of its attendees, the interest and optimism of global investors towards the continent and its opportunities. We close, knowing that the AIF, Africa’s largest transactional investment marketplace, continues to be a huge success. Moreover, the event serves as a measure of international confidence in Africa’s economic and political development, and the unmatched investment opportunities this is creating.”
Africa Investment Forum Senior Director Chinelo Anohu said: “A lot of the successes recorded by the Africa Investment Forum are domiciled in the spirit of the partnership. It’s up to us to ensure the continent is what it ought to be.”
Since its inception in 2018, the Africa Investment Forum platform has mobilized over $100 billion in investment interests.
Former finance minister and NDC 2024 Presidential hopeful, Dr Kwabena Duffuor has said the current finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta is in an untenable position, with both the ruling NPP and opposition NDC rejecting him as finance minister.
In an interview with Kasapa FM, the former governor of the bank of Ghana said the finance minister must leave office of his own volition.
“He [finance minister] has been rejected by both sides. His own NPP party has rejected him and we in the NDC don’t want him. If I were him, I would go already”.
NPP MPs last week in a press conference called on President Nana Akufo Addo to dismiss Ken Ofori Atta as finance minister. They threatened to boycott government business in parliament in protest against inaction from the President. They later backtracked after a meeting with the President.
Civil society groups and opposition parties earlier called for the removal of the finance minister as inflation skyrocketed, amidst historic levels of local currency depreciation against the US dollar, with Ghana at the brink of debt default.
Dr Duffuor, who formally announced his 2024 Presidential bid this week said Ken Ofori Atta should not wait to be sacked but should rather do the most honourable thing by resigning from his position to reduce the uncertainty that his continued stay in office creates for the economy in general.
President Akufo Addo has however insisted that the finance minister Ken Ofori Atta, who is also his cousin, is one of his best-performing aides despite admitting that Ghana is in economic crisis.
The Cedi recovered strongly against the dollar, appreciating to 13 from 14.05 at last week’s close after President Nana Akufo-Addo said bondholders won’t suffer losses as part of any IMF bailout.
The recovery was aided by a Bank of Ghana clampdown on illegal FX traders. Dollar demand remains heavy ahead of the Christmas period as importers seek to pay for goods in time for the festive shopping season. We expect the currency’s recovery to be short-lived, with rising inflation and high debt levels driving the Cedi back to the 14 levels in the near term.
Twin priorities for Africa leaders at COP27
With Africa contributing only around 3% of global emissions but devastated by extreme weather, such as recent floods displacing millions and destroying farmland across west Africa, the continent’s leaders have two core objectives at the UN’s COP27 climate conference next week.
The first is that developed nations should pay reparations for the impact that climate change is having on Africa, with the funds used to build infrastructure that will be more resilient against extreme weather and support transition to renewable energy.
The second objective is to strike a balance between calls for a global halt to new fossil fuel projects and the priorities of economic development in Africa and the need for new sources of oil and gas to address energy shortages in Europe. Progress on either of these broad objectives could provide relief for Africa’s economies and currencies.
Naira tumbles to new low as CBN to void high-value notes
The Naira plunged to a new low against the dollar on the unofficial market, trading at 850 from 772 at last week’s close. Nigerians rushed to buy dollars after the central bank said it plans to redesign high value Naira notes by mid-December and void any old notes still in circulation by the end of January next year.
The spread between the official and unofficial rates is now more than 88%, the largest ever gap, according to Bloomberg. The note redesign is intended to mop up excess funds, reduce counterfeit notes and hamper ransom payments from terrorists and kidnappers.
The central bank has expressed concern about the amount of currency in circulation outside of the banking system, reducing the efficacy of its policy levers. With dollar demand continuing to outpace supply, and with no more central bank support in the parallel market, we expect the Naira to lose further ground in the near term.
Rand loses ground on Fed hike
The Rand weakened against the dollar, trading at 18.27 from 18.12 at last week’s close after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by another 75 basis points to its highest level in 14 years.
The Rand had been trading even lower at the start of the week, briefly touching 18.40, before recovering slightly amid renewed optimism about China’s economic outlook. Domestic concerns also continue to pile pressure on the local unit, such as ongoing power cuts and uneven taxation (with about 4% of the population being responsible for 84% of the country’s tax receipts).
We expect the Rand to continue trading in the 18s in the week ahead, though it is unlikely to weaken beyond 18.50.
Egypt Pounds plunges to record on flexible FX move
The Pound depreciated sharply against the dollar, hitting a fresh record low of 24.15 from 19.67 at last week’s close after the country signalled it was moving to a flexible exchange rate as part of the $3bn IMF loan deal agreed last Thursday.
The Pound’s weakening is likely to fuel inflation, which hit a four-year high of 15% in September. Egypt’s economy has been struggling from the twin effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and commodity price shocks caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
That has sparked a foreign investor exodus that is putting more pressure on the Pound, which we expect to sink further in the weeks ahead as the currency floats more freely and adjusts to market based levels.
Kenyan Shilling at new low set for further losses
The Shilling declined to a fresh record low, trading at 121.35/121.55 from 121.15/121.35 at last week’s close amid the familiar trend of elevated dollar demand from energy and manufacturing businesses that is outpacing supply.
The central bank continued to support the currency using its dollar reserves, preventing a larger slide. FX reserves fell to just under $7.3bn from slightly above a week earlier.
We expect the Shilling to weaken further in the week ahead as the US Federal Reserve’s 75 basis point hike this week strengthens the dollar.
Ugandan Shilling to weaken on debt concerns
The Shilling strengthened against the dollar, trading at 3770 from 3808 at last week’s close. Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu said Uganda plans to start pumping its oil reserves in 2025, with the country likely to court Chinese investment to finance the East African pipeline project.
Meanwhile, African health officials said the Ebola outbreak is under control due to successful contact-tracing efforts. The World Health Organization upped its Ebola risk assessment for the country and the wider region as infections reached the capital Kampala. The currency’s stronger showing may be short-lived.
We expect concerns about Ugandan debt levels will cause the Shilling to depreciate in the coming days.
Shilling stable as Tanzania President visits China
The Shilling was broadly unchanged against the dollar, trading at 2332 from 2331 at last week’s close. Petrol prices dropped for a third month in a row at the start of November, supported by the government’s TZS200bn fuel subsidy.
While that handout is protecting Tanzanians from inflationary strains, there are concerns about the sustainability of the subsidy and the potential long-term effects it could have on the economy. President Samia Suluhu Hassan is visiting China this week as Tanzania seeks to drum up investment for the East African oil pipeline that will pump crude from Uganda through to Tanzania’s Tanga port. We expect the Shilling to be more volatile against the dollar in the days ahead following the US Federal Reserve’s latest rate hike.
The Black Stars are participating in the global championship for the first time after being excluded from Russia 2018, where France won.
On behalf of the President of the West African nation, Harold Agyeman, Permanent Representative of Ghana to the UN, handed the jersey to the UN Chief on Friday at the Headquarters.
Guterres’ who is from Portugal will see his side face Ghana in Group H of the tournament on November 24,2022.
“This jersey is a gift from President Akufo-Addo. I’m sure the value will go up when we win the World Cup,” Harold Agyeman told Mr. Guterres amid laughter.
In response, the Secretary-General said “the color of the jersey is just like that of (Portuguese club) Benfica, the team I support.”
Ghana has been housed in Group H at the mundial against Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea.
The Black Stars will open their World Cup account against Portugal on November 24 before taking on Uruguay and South Korea respectively.
The biggest soccer mundial has been scheduled for November and December this year, with 32 countries set to battle it out for the covetous trophy in Qatar.
The Cedi recovered strongly against the dollar, appreciating to 13 from 14.05 at last week’s close after President Nana Akufo-Addo said bondholders won’t suffer losses as part of any IMF bailout.
The recovery was aided by a Bank of Ghana clampdown on illegal FX traders. Dollar demand remains heavy ahead of the Christmas period as importers seek to pay for goods in time for the festive shopping season. We expect the currency’s recovery to be short-lived, with rising inflation and high debt levels driving the Cedi back to the 14 levels in the near term.
Twin priorities for Africa leaders at COP27
With Africa contributing only around 3% of global emissions but devastated by extreme weather, such as recent floods displacing millions and destroying farmland across west Africa, the continent’s leaders have two core objectives at the UN’s COP27 climate conference next week.
The first is that developed nations should pay reparations for the impact that climate change is having on Africa, with the funds used to build infrastructure that will be more resilient against extreme weather and support transition to renewable energy.
The second objective is to strike a balance between calls for a global halt to new fossil fuel projects and the priorities of economic development in Africa and the need for new sources of oil and gas to address energy shortages in Europe. Progress on either of these broad objectives could provide relief for Africa’s economies and currencies.
Naira tumbles to new low as CBN to void high-value notes
The Naira plunged to a new low against the dollar on the unofficial market, trading at 850 from 772 at last week’s close. Nigerians rushed to buy dollars after the central bank said it plans to redesign high value Naira notes by mid-December and void any old notes still in circulation by the end of January next year.
The spread between the official and unofficial rates is now more than 88%, the largest ever gap, according to Bloomberg. The note redesign is intended to mop up excess funds, reduce counterfeit notes and hamper ransom payments from terrorists and kidnappers.
The central bank has expressed concern about the amount of currency in circulation outside of the banking system, reducing the efficacy of its policy levers. With dollar demand continuing to outpace supply, and with no more central bank support in the parallel market, we expect the Naira to lose further ground in the near term.
Rand loses ground on Fed hike
The Rand weakened against the dollar, trading at 18.27 from 18.12 at last week’s close after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by another 75 basis points to its highest level in 14 years.
The Rand had been trading even lower at the start of the week, briefly touching 18.40, before recovering slightly amid renewed optimism about China’s economic outlook. Domestic concerns also continue to pile pressure on the local unit, such as ongoing power cuts and uneven taxation (with about 4% of the population being responsible for 84% of the country’s tax receipts).
We expect the Rand to continue trading in the 18s in the week ahead, though it is unlikely to weaken beyond 18.50.
Egypt Pounds plunges to record on flexible FX move
The Pound depreciated sharply against the dollar, hitting a fresh record low of 24.15 from 19.67 at last week’s close after the country signalled it was moving to a flexible exchange rate as part of the $3bn IMF loan deal agreed last Thursday.
The Pound’s weakening is likely to fuel inflation, which hit a four-year high of 15% in September. Egypt’s economy has been struggling from the twin effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and commodity price shocks caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
That has sparked a foreign investor exodus that is putting more pressure on the Pound, which we expect to sink further in the weeks ahead as the currency floats more freely and adjusts to market based levels.
Kenyan Shilling at new low set for further losses
The Shilling declined to a fresh record low, trading at 121.35/121.55 from 121.15/121.35 at last week’s close amid the familiar trend of elevated dollar demand from energy and manufacturing businesses that is outpacing supply.
The central bank continued to support the currency using its dollar reserves, preventing a larger slide. FX reserves fell to just under $7.3bn from slightly above a week earlier.
We expect the Shilling to weaken further in the week ahead as the US Federal Reserve’s 75 basis point hike this week strengthens the dollar.
Ugandan Shilling to weaken on debt concerns
The Shilling strengthened against the dollar, trading at 3770 from 3808 at last week’s close. Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu said Uganda plans to start pumping its oil reserves in 2025, with the country likely to court Chinese investment to finance the East African pipeline project.
Meanwhile, African health officials said the Ebola outbreak is under control due to successful contact-tracing efforts. The World Health Organization upped its Ebola risk assessment for the country and the wider region as infections reached the capital Kampala. The currency’s stronger showing may be short-lived.
We expect concerns about Ugandan debt levels will cause the Shilling to depreciate in the coming days.
Shilling stable as Tanzania President visits China
The Shilling was broadly unchanged against the dollar, trading at 2332 from 2331 at last week’s close. Petrol prices dropped for a third month in a row at the start of November, supported by the government’s TZS200bn fuel subsidy.
While that handout is protecting Tanzanians from inflationary strains, there are concerns about the sustainability of the subsidy and the potential long-term effects it could have on the economy. President Samia Suluhu Hassan is visiting China this week as Tanzania seeks to drum up investment for the East African oil pipeline that will pump crude from Uganda through to Tanzania’s Tanga port. We expect the Shilling to be more volatile against the dollar in the days ahead following the US Federal Reserve’s latest rate hike.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the NDC’s MP for the North Tongu Constituency, has emphasized that it is dishonorable for President Nana Akufo-Addo to avoid taking responsibility for the nation’s current economic problems in his address to the nation.
The outspoken politician claimed that the President’s economic speech was “wasteful” since he failed to fire some inept administrators from his administration in an interview with NEAT FM’s morning show “Ghana Montie”.
The brother of President Nana Akufo-Addo says he has used the Presidential Jet with President Akufo-Addo “two or three times”.
This was Edward Akufo-Addo’s response to a question posed by Victor Adawudu at an Accra High Court.
Mr Adawudu is the lawyer for the Executive Director of the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), Mensah Thompson.
Mr Thompson and the Class Media Group have been sued for defamation by the President’s brother.
Mr Thompson is accused of falsely claiming on the media network that Mr Akufo-Addo travelled to Abuja via the Presidential Jet for his personal business.
Mr Akufo-Addo says the claim is “utterly false and a product of the defendant’s imagination.” He wants the court to order Mr Thompson to pay ¢10 million as damages.
The President’s brother on October 31 opened his case.
He informed the court of his decision to rely on his six-page witness statement.
He was then cross-examined by Victor Adawudu. Mr Adawudu asked whether Mr Akufo had ever boarded the Presidential jet.
“Question: Have you ever boarded the Presidential Jet?
Answer: Yes My Lord. 2 or 3 times with the President and once with the 1st Lady.
Question: Can you tell this court the destination when you used the Presidential Jet with the President?
Answer: I believe to Kumasi and with the 1st Lady, returning from Kumasi.
Q: Is it your case that the 2 consecutive flights that you had with the President was from Accra to Kumasi and back?
A: Yes, to the best of my recollection.”
The President’s brother explained that he boarded the jet because the President asked him to accompany him.
Q: In other words, you did not go with him as a public official. Not so?
A: That is so, I am not a public official.
Q: And the privilege extended to you by the President was because you are his family. Not so?
A: That is so. I am his brother.”
He was then questioned on how much he paid each time he boarded the Jet. Mr Akufo-Addo replied that he did not pay anything.
“I didn’t pay anything. The President did not ask me to pay.
“Putting it to you that the courtesies that you enjoyed without paying were borne by government machinery from public funds,” Mr Adawudu stated.
“I am sure the flight was paid for from public funds, I do not think my joining the flight incurred any additional costs. My brother was going there in any event”, he answered.
The President on Sunday, October 30, 2022 assured the citizenry that his government is tackling the economic problems and believed they will soon be relieved of the hardships.
Highlighting some measures the government is undertaking to address the plight of the populace, the President said; “We are in a crisis, I do not exaggerate when I say so. I cannot find an example in history when so many malevolent forces have come together at the same time. But, as we have shown in other circumstances, we shall turn this crisis into an opportunity to resolve not just the short-term, urgent problems, but the long-term structural problems that have bedeviled our economy.
“I urge us all to see the decision to go to the International Monetary Fund in this light. We have gone to the Fund to repair, in the short term, our public finances, and restore our balance of payments, whilst we continue to work on the medium to long-term structural changes that are at the heart of our goal of constructing a resilient, robust Ghanaian economy, and building a Ghana Beyond Aid.
“I am able to report to you, my fellow Ghanaians, that the negotiations to secure a strong IMF Programme, which will support the implementation of our Post COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth and additional funding to support the 2023 Budget and development programme, are at advanced stages, and are going well.”
But to Mr. Pratt, the President should have touched on the concerns of the Members of Parliament and Ghanaians about the Finance Minister and the size of his government.
According to him, sacking the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta and reducing his government size is not the solution to the economic problems, however it will give the people hope that he (President Nana Addo) is paying attention to them and is serious about resolving the economic challenges.
Speaking to host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM’s morning show “Kokrokoo”, Mr. Pratt explained that the President should, for aesthetics purposes, heed the calls to dismiss the Finance Minister and minimize the number of his Ministers.
“Sometimes, something is not the real foundation but it helps in terms of public perception and so on. I believe those calling for the dismissal of Ken Ofori-Atta, Charles Adu Boahen and saying the number of Ministers should be reduced are not saying it because that’s the solution to the problem, because it is not the solution to the problem, but it helps with aesthetics. It gives people the confidence that the government is concerned about their grievances and wants to do something about it. That is the context . . .” he stated.
On October 31, 2022, the President gave a speech outlining the steps he is doing to alleviate the recent market volatility.
The President said; “The recent turbulence on the financial markets was caused by low inflows of foreign exchange, and was made worse in the last two to three weeks, in particular, by the activities of speculators and the Black Market. An anonymous two-minute audio message on a WhatsApp platform predicting a so-called haircut on Government bonds sent all of us into banks and forex bureaus to dump our cedis, and, before we knew it, the cedi had depreciated further. All of us can play a part in helping to strengthen the cedi by having confidence in the currency, and avoiding speculation. Let us keep our cedi as the good store of value it is.
“To those who make it a habit of publishing falsehoods, which result in panic in the system, I say to them that the relevant state agencies will act against such persons. Indeed, some steps have been taken to restore order in the forex markets and we are already beginning to see some calm returning. We will not relent until order is completely restored. The following actions have been taken thus far:
2) Fresh inflows of dollars are providing liquidity to the foreign exchange market, and addressing the pipeline demand;
3) the Bank of Ghana has given its full commitment to the commercial banks to provide liquidity to ensure the wheels of the economy continue to run in a stabilized manner, till the IMF Programme kicks in and the financing assurances expected from other partners also come in;
4) Government is working with the Bank of Ghana and the oil producing and mining companies to introduce a new legal and regulatory framework to ensure that all foreign exchange earned from operations in Ghana are, initially, paid to banks domiciled in Ghana to help boost the domestic foreign exchange market; and
5) the Bank of Ghana will enhance its gold purchase programme.”
Speaking in an interview with Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM’s ‘Kokrokoo’ show, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah called on the State authorities not to let the President’s orders be in vain.
“The President cannot go and stand at Airport Police station to arrest those selling money on the black market when he has given this direction and the Governor is there, the IGP and the Police officers are at the Airport Police station this morning. So, action must follow… and you see if we all decide to dump everything on the President as the only source of our interest and our criticisms, people will go scot free… We have to ensure action happens but it is the collective effort and pressure on all the agency Heads to get the action happening,” he stated.
President Nana Akufo-Addo has welcomed concerns raised by religious leaders on the devastating state of river bodies and forest reserves as a result of illegal small-scale mining (galamsey), describing their support in the fight against the menace as apt.
In his interaction with religious leaders drawn from the Christian Council of Ghana, Ghana Pentecostal Council, Ghana Charismatic and Pentecostal Council, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the National Muslim Council, on Tuesday 1 November 2022, at the Jubilee House, President Akufo-Addo said the ongoing discourse on galamsey in the country during his term in office demonstrates that the entire nation is poised to eradicate illegal mining in the country.
The visit of the religious leaders was essentially a follow-up to a press release they issued on 17 October 2022, demanding a total ban on small-scale mining in the country in order to send a strong message to those involved in the menace.
President Akufo-Addo expressed his appreciation to the leaders for their interest in supporting government’s efforts aimed at dealing with the “galamsey” phenomenon.
The delegation of religious leaders was led by Rev Professor J.O.Y Mante, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and chairman of the Christian Council of Ghana.
“We have visited some galamsey sites and we have seen some dangerous things that for us cannot even be expressed in textbooks,” Rev Mante said. “We see that the thing (galamsey) is getting worse. We are here if you like, as your spiritual leaders to find out if there is any problem that we don’t know. We would like to know.
The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, after the closed door meeting told the Jubilee House press corps that he was invited by the President to brief the leaders on their concerns and their call for small-scale mining to be banned in its entirety.
He indicated that after his briefing, the religious leaders expressed satisfaction with the government’s stance on their demands and pledged to support all ongoing efforts of government aimed at stopping illegal mining in the country.
He said that many Ghanaians, who are currently struggling because of rising prices and their meager earnings, were disappointed by the president’s speech.
“While many citizens were expecting expectantly for the president to tell us the measures that the administration is putting in place immediately to curb the hardships, he rather disappointed us and again pressed the blame on Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war,” claims Dr. Iddrisu.
He added: “It’s unfortunate the president hasn’t yet recognised that his government’s mismanagement, reckless borrowing and corruption may be contributing factors to the current hardships Ghanaians are facing.
‘’Available data and analysis done by both local and foreign economists, including the IMF, point to the fact that the country’s rising prices of goods and services can’t be blamed on Covid-19 and Russia-Ukraine war”. “Rather, domestic factors are the major drivers of the current rising inflation in Ghana.”
Dr Iddrisu also believes the president did not offer immediate solutions in his Sunday speech.
“The president, instead of offering solutions to our current hardships, is, unfortunately, proposing new taxes on the Ghanaian people.
“The president mentioned in his speech that, ‘We have decided to review the reforms in the energy sector, capping of statutory funds, implementation of the exemptions Act and a new property rate regime’”.
He further questioned, “how do you introduce new property tax rates on the already suffering Ghanaians in these hard times?
“Why not cuts on your luxury presidential travels and jet rentals, the 50 V8-presidential convoy, the ballooning presidential staffers at the Jubilee House, and the excess ministries and agencies?”
“Again, many Ghanaians were expecting to hear an immediate solution from the president that tonight would lead to a 10 – 20 per cent reduction in the cooking oil price from the current GHS1,000 by tomorrow, or at least something drastic that would drive down prices of goods and services in the coming days.
“Unfortunately, there was no solution of such offered by the President,” Dr Iddrisu bemoaned.
He also gave examples of how some countries have offered immediate solutions to mitigate hardships on their citizens.
“Other leaders around the world have shown concern [about] rising prices in their countries and have implemented immediate solutions to address them.
“For example, in January 2022, Malaysia announced it will set aside 680 million Malaysian ringgit ($162 million) to ensure the price stabilisation for essential goods.
“Hungary also placed a price stabilisation on food items such as milk, sugar, flour, sunflower oil, and chicken in February 2022.
“Panama established food price stabilisation in August 2022.
“In October 2022, the Bahamas outlined the details of temporary price stabilisation measures on 38 key staples, such as eggs, bread and sanitary towels, with the aim of helping families survive rising prices.
“All of these are immediate solutions such countries are putting in place to reduce hardships faced by their citizens, whilst embarking on the needed fiscal and monetary policies to address the problems in the long run,” the economist cited.
To this end, he is “calling on the president to offer the Ghanaian people immediate solutions to address the current rising prices, review his new property tax statement in his speech and also abolish existing nuisance taxes, so as to cushion Ghanaians in these hard times. Any introduction of new taxes on the Ghanaian people at this very excruciating moment may ‘kill’ many in hunger and destitution.”
Dr Sa-ad Iddrisu is a Ghanaian-born economist based in the United States of America.
He has over the years been extremely vocal on the state of the Ghanaian economy and has made several policy recommendations in the past.
In his national address on October 30, 2022, President Nana Akufo-Addo clarified his infamous “sika mp dede” remark. Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah is the minister of information.
The President described the steps his administration is taking to address the devaluation of the cedi and revive the economy.
The President used a metaphorical approach to reassuring the populace of the government’s commitment to addressing the economic difficulties.
“Fellow Ghanaians, as the French would say, l’argent n’aime pas le bruit, to wit, money does not like noise, sika mpɛ dede. Where there is chaos, where there is noise, where there is unrest, you will not find the money. If you talk down your money, it will go down. If you allow some unidentifiable person to talk down your money, it will go down,” he said.
The quote has since gone viral spreading across social media, broadcast and print media.
Explaining the President’s speech, the Information Minister, in an interview with Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM’s ‘Kokrokoo’ discussion programme Monday morning, stated that the President’s ‘sika mpɛ dede’ quote was in reference to speculations on the impact of the cedi depreciation.
He noted that some people are spreading false information that people who have their investments with the banks risk losing them, thus resulting in fear and panic.
So the quote by the President, he added, is to invoke calm.
“I think the President said that in reference to the speculation issue. If we don’t let the real purposes for currency trade work and we create panic in the system with people making social media audio that you should remove your money from the bank or else this will happen result in panic and then you will go to the banks and people are trying to do withdrawals to buy dollar because they have seen something on social media or sometimes, you will see news websites [otherwise well-respected news website] has done a story like it happened on Friday that if you have dollar, the government will seize it and give you cedi and that creates panic; so the point the President was making was all those things don’t help,” he said.
When asked why, of all the President said, this is what has most caught the attention of Ghanaians, the Minister responded; “For every address, there are takeaways.”
The president told reporters at Jubilee House, “I have observed the problems that our currency has been facing.
He said, “I have witnessed the challenges and the huge rise in price levels, significant increase in the cost of living, and challenges generally in the way the economy is rising.”
All parties involved, according to the president, must understand their roles in improving the situation.
In order for us to move forward and, ideally, keep constructing a better economy, “we have to understand that all sectors and actors of the economy, whether on the side of management, labor, or workers, have to find a means of balancing the many considerations.”
The Ghana cedi has lost about 50 per cent of its value since the beginning of the year. A few days ago, one needed as much as GHS15-plus to buy one dollar.
Traders went on a strike for a couple of days over the depreciation of the cedi.
The hardships have culminated in a clamour for the resignation of Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, as well as the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Mr Charles Adu Boahen.
The majority caucus joined the chorus recently by threatening to boycott the 2022 budget reading and all other government businesses on the floor of parliament if the president did not boot out his cousin.
After a meeting with the president at the Jubilee House on Tuesday, 25 October 2022, however, the majority caucus relaxed its stance following a plea by the president for them to allow Mr Ofori-Atta to conclude the ongoing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a $3-billion extended credit facility programme.
The majority caucus in parliament has reversed course and stated that it completely supports Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta in his decision to remain in office until President Nana Akufo-Addo decides to act on the caucus’ prior call for the minister to be fired.
On Thursday, October 27, 2022, Deputy Majority Whip Habib Iddrisu made the following statement to the media: “At the end of the day, we all came to the conclusion that we have agreed to the request of the president” for the caucus to grant Mr. Ofori-Atta permission to complete his talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as well as to present the 2023 budget in November of this year and finally move the motion for the approval of the appropriation bill.
“So, the entire majority caucus agreed to the request of the president to allow the finance minister to continue with the negotiation with the IMF and also the request of the president to make the finance minister present the 2023 budget”, he said.
Mr Iddrisu added: “So, because of that the leadership, led by the majority leader, Hon Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, led a delegation yesterday – I was part of it – and we communicated to the president that his request has been accepted by the majority caucus and that we allow that the finance minister should continue with the negotiations with the IMF, the finance minister should come and present the 2023 economic statement and budget of the president of the Republic of Ghana and also, to move the motion for the appropriation bill”.
“So, at the moment, the entire majority caucus, the 138 of us, are all behind the finance minister to continue with the negotiations with the IMF, to come and read the budget statement to us and also move the motion for the approval of the appropriation bill for the 2023 budget. So, that is the stand now”, he indicated.
“The statement has been made clear that: ‘Yes, we do respect our president, we have heard the request and appeal of the president and the majority caucus is fully behind the finance minister”, he stressed.
The caucus, led by spokesperson Andy Appiah Kubi, MP for Asante Akyem North, issued the ultimatum within the precincts of parliament on Tuesday, 25 October 2022 when the house resumed sitting after a long recess.
He told the parliamentary press corps: “We are members of the majority caucus of the parliament of Ghana and we, here so, present; represent a greater number of the said caucus”.
“My name is Andy Appiah Kubi and I am only here as the spokesperson for the majority group – without more”, he caveated.
Mr Appiah-Kubi continued: “We have had occasions to defend allegations of conflict of interest, lack of confidence [and] trust against the leadership of our finance ministry”, however, “the recent developments within our economy are of great concern to the greater majority of the members of our caucus and our constituents”.
“We have made our grave concerns [known] to the president through the parliamentary leadership and the leadership of the party without any positive response”, he revealed.
“We are, by this medium, communicating our strong desire that the president change the minister of finance and the minister of state at the finance ministry, without further delay, to restore hope to the financial sector and reverse the downward trend in the growth of the economy”, the group demanded.
“The summary of our concerns lead to a plea that the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta and the Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, Mr Charles Adu-Boahen, be removed from office. We pray that this prayer would be carried to the presidency”.
The caucus then threatened: “Meanwhile, we want to serve notice, and notice is hereby served that until such persons, as aforementioned, are made to resign or removed from office, we, members of the majority caucus here in parliament, will not participate in any business of the government by or for the president by any other minister”.
“We hope that those of us at the backbench and members of the majority caucus will abide by this prayer”, the group added.
“We are saying that if our request is not responded to positively, we will not be present for the budget hearing nor will we participate in the debate”, Mr Appiah-Kubi stressed.
Also, the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) had demanded that President Akufo-Addo reassign Mr Ofori-Atta and Mr Adu Boahen if he cannot dismiss them.
The pro-government pressure group said in a press statement that the two ministers are to blame for the poor performance of the Ghana cedi in relation to other international trade currencies.
“The Minister of Finance and the Minister of State at the Ministry, Ken Ofori-Atta and Charles Adu Boahen, must be reassigned,” the group demanded.
AFAG’s demand came a few days after media personality and comic Kwaku Sintim-Misa, alias KSM, asked Mr Ofori-Atta to resign.
He said this in a tweet where he claimed to be giving advice to Mr Ofori-Atta.
The award-winning comic posited that President Nana Akufo-Addo, who is cousins with Ken Ofori-Atta, has no desire to sack him from office for a more competent person to assume it, even though it is the best for Ghana’s ailing economy.
“Advice to Ken Ofori-Atta. Bra [brother] Ken, it is obvious the President cannot and will not fire you,” Mr Sintim-Misa began.
“Please do him and Ghana a favour and respectfully resign for a competent financial manager to take charge,” he advised.
According to the TV show host, the resignation of the Finance Minister will be followed by restored confidence in Ghana’s economic recovery.
“I am sure that the financial markets will react positively to the news,” is how he put it.
Also, another entertainment personality, Lydia Forson, recently said: “It makes absolutely no sense that Ken Ofori-Atta is still the finance minister,” and queried: “How?”
“He’s lost the confidence of the people!” she argued.
The clamour for Mr Ofori-Atta’s head come on the back of the cedi’s very poor performance against the US dollar.
Bloomberg has named the Ghana cedi as the worst-performing currency in the world.
At the time of KSM and Lydia Forson’s tweets, one needed more than 15 cedis to obtain a dollarin Accra, the capital of Ghana.
Recently, the United Kingdom’s Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked and subsequently their Prime Minister, Liz Truss, also resigned.
A section of the Ghanaian public have asked why this is not common in Ghana.
President Nana Akufo-Addo, last week, said Mr Ofori-Atta has been an excellent handler of the Ghanaian economy and, thus, sees no reason to sack him as being clamoured for by his critics.
Speaking to OTEC FM in the Ashanti Region on the first day of his four-day official working tour of that part of Ghana, Mr Akufo-Addo parried criticisms that his cousin is to blame for Ghana’s return to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for help since he mismanaged the economy.
The president said he takes full responsibility for Ghana’s return to the IMF since he took the decision as the head of state.
He argued that the same Ofori-Atta was able to manage an IMF-programmed economy that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) inherited in 2017 to become one of the fastest-growing economies in the world with an average annual growth rate of 7%.
The president, thus, wondered, how he could cut ties with Mr Ofori-Atta as finance minister.
The president said he has a lot of difficulty understanding the clamour for Mr Ofori-Atta’s exit, since, he noted, even the IMF confirmed that the causes of the current economic situation in Ghana are global in nature rather than a result of internal mismanagement.
“It is very easy for people to say we went back to the IMF due to mismanagement of the economy. I do not accept that criticism because the reasons why we got into the situation we find ourselves has very little to do with us. In fact, the IMF confirmed this.”
He claims that the minister has performed his duties admirably and is not to be held responsible for the current economic difficulties caused by outside sources.
“It is obvious that the finance minister did a great job controlling the economy when you look at Ghana’s economic track before 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic’s arrival and the Russia-Ukraine war, however, have reversed the achievements,” Domfe added.
“Cast your mind back to 2017 when he took over as finance minister,” Domfe told Accra-based Peace FM. “He managed to stabilise the dollar for a very long time. The dollar until this year was selling at GHC6. This shows the kind of work he did to stabilise it.”
“Unfortunately, the US decided to hike their prime rates which is forcing our cedi to fall rapidly. So, I don’t understand the call for his dismissal,” he added.
Ofori-Atta has come under immense pressure to resign from his post with the most recent coming from a section of the governing New Patriotic Party MPs. The lawmakers, numbering about 80 called for his dismissal to boost government’s chances of restoring confidence in Ghana’s economy.
However, Domfe dismissed their request insisting that there is no basis for President Nana Akufo-Addo to relieve him of his duties, citing the instrumental role Ofori-Atta played in steering the country towards sound economic footing prior to 2020.
Notably, he said, the minister was able to keep the country’s inflation at a single digit, supervised the implementation of the Fiscal Responsibility Act and managed to achieve a 7% growth in the economy in 2019.
The president mentioned that the action is a part of his government’s anti-galamsey actions in an interview he gave while on a recent three-day tour of the Eastern Region.
Additionally, he added, “We have greatly enhanced the degree of sanctions against those who indulge in galamsey.”
“Today, Ghanaians who get involve will get a 15-year minimum sentence if convicted and foreigners will get as long as a 25-year imprisonment if convicted,” said the president.
Also, he said the anti-galamsey team, ‘Operation Halt’, has been given a boost to undertake its task.
“The problem was that we disengaged too quickly, once the first plot has gone through, this year we have decided to use the whole year to maintain Operation Halt, especially, the fight on our river bodies,” he said.
“Surveyors have taken charge of impactful machines, excavators and chanfang and they are being destroyed because it is our major problem in our mining.”
President Nana Akufo-Addo must immediately stop all plans to sell parcels of prime Giffard Road land to private developers, Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu has said.
According to the minority caucus, the ministry of agriculture and the lands commission intend to sell a portion of the area, which hosts the agriculture mechanisation centre.
“To think that this land will suffer the wanton dissipation of compulsorily-acquired state land breaks my heart and I think that President Akufo-Addo must stop this,” Mr Iddrisu said.
He said the president must call his “good friend” the Minister of Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, “to order” if the latter has plans to sell the property.
“That land must be preserved in our national security interest,” he added.
“The President, if he has doubts as to what I am saying, must commence a full-scale public investigation into the status of this land.”
According to Joyce Bawah Mogtari, a close adviser to former president John Dramani Mahama,President Nana Akufo-Addo may be eying funds from the global climate action fund since he is pretending to reinvigorate the campaign against unlawful small-scale mining (galamsey).
The assistant claimed that President Akufo-Addo has never been interested in the fight against the scourge on the October 10 episode of Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana.
She asserted that more will be done to fight galamsey if the president leaves office while also implying that President Akufo-Addo has shielded party leaders who have been mentioned in numerous reports.
“If he leaves the scene now, I can bet you a lot more will be done to stem galamsey,” Bawah Mogtari said.
The former deputy Transport Minister added that President Akufo-Addo should have resigned over his failed fight after he placed his presidency on the line to combat galamsey.
“President Akufo-Addo has no intention. He never intended. It was never part of his plan. I am almost certain that maybe there is some climate funds available that he wants to collect so he has to make an effort and pretend that he is fighting galamsey. That’s all it is. Oh yes. It is a mere huff and puff.
“He means absolutely nothing. We were supposed to put our jobs on the line…in fact, he should have been resigning by now. At least tell us that I am a very proud man, that I have failed in my fight against galamsey; in any case I have failed in the other things I promised to do so let me go home and rest. But of course his Vice President is the same. Let’s stop paying lip service to the realities on the ground,” she said.
“This is a serious existential threat that we all are grappling with. I think that pretending to fight it is even a lot worse. You should just do nothing then so at least we know you are doing nothing,” Bawah Mogtari added.
Background
President Akufo-Addo met with the National House of Chiefs on October 5 to seek their renewed support in dealing with the galamsey menace.
In an address, the president expressed concerns over galamsey activities which he admitted has been a lost battle over the years.
The president said he paid an electoral price for his fight as he lost votes and, in some cases, NPP MPs in the 7th Parliament lost their reelection bid in mining communities.
He stated that the fight against illegal mining can only be won with the support of chiefs as well as depoliticizing the fight.
“It can only succeed if it is a truly national battle that no one seeks to exploit for political gain, as we saw in the last election. The progress of our country depends on all of us, all citizens of Ghana, all Fellow Ghanaians, pulling together to defeat this existential threat to our future,” President Akufo-Addo said.
Ghana has over the last few years been waging war on the activities of illegal miners, however, it is widely believed that the fight has not yielded the desired results.
The discolored nature of water bodies as well as general environmental degradation has been used as a testament to the failed fight.
The traditional authority supported the president’s remarks at the recent UN general meeting on some of the causes of the current economic downturn during a meeting between the chiefs and President Nana Akufo-Addo on illegal small-scale mining activities (galamsey) on Wednesday, October 5 in Manhyia.
The president while delivering his address touched on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and said: “every bullet, every bomb, every shell that hits a target in Ukraine, hits our pockets and our economies in Africa”.
He further appealed to the government to fulfill payment of all outstanding allowances owed to the traditional authorities.
He added that the traditional authorities should also be paid other allowances to cater for the demands in the current economic circumstances.
“We urgently appeal to your government to pay Nananom’s outstanding quarterly allowances. We also demand economic, sitting and traveling allowances to reflect present-day economic conditions,” Ogyeahohoo Yaw Gyebi II said.
Government has consistently blamed the situation on the ravages of Covid-19 and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war but has assured that it is implementing measures to mitigate the impact such as seeking an IMF programme in the interim.
Amidst the downturn, Ghanaians have lamented the impact the economic situation is having on their cost of living.
Watch the latest episode of The Lowdown below:
The Lowdown: Role of the diaspora in the development of Africa
CEO of the Aaron Manvel Foundation Millie Lorene Tucker and Gary Hope, the CEO of FLCC – Bring Back Hope Foundation underscore the need for the African diaspora to help develop the continent in this episode of The Lowdown on GhanaWeb TV. According to the women trying to make and create a change in Ghana, our forefathers were sold away and made to develop strange lands. Thus, coming back home and developing their home country is the best thing to do especially when resources are available.
The circumstances under which this happened was narrated by deputy Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts minister, Mark Okraku Mantey who was speaking on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana programe.
The 2018 concert took place at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, and was part of the Global Citizen group’s annual concert held in New York Central Park and concurrently in another major African city.
The particular edition was also connected to the Mandela 100 celebration, so it had a number of African leaders in attendance.
“At the time, most of the presidents were tired and so they wanted to find a way asking them to leave, but the host who is the South African president couldn’t leave until they get the other people to accept that they also wanted to leave.
“So, they were unlucky that they spoke to President Akufo-Addo first and in the diplomatic way that is how they operate. ‘O Mr. President, would you want to leave?’
“He says no, ‘I am waiting for Jay-Z and Beyonce.’ They were the headliners. So, the rest of the presidents have to wait, they couldn’t leave, that is the history to president Akufo-Addo’s visit to that event.
“After the event, he showed interest, that he wouldn’t mind seeing this in Ghana,” this was how the organizers slated it for Ghana this year.
The September 24, 2022 concert has, however, become the center of controversy after it emerged that the president was booed by a section of the crowd. It has led to political ‘football’ with the governing and opposition parties in the middle of the fight.
The edition Akufo-Addo attended was held on Dec. 2, 2018, with performances from the likes of Beyoncé, JAY-Z, Sho Madjozi, Cassper Nyovest, Ed Sheeran, and many other incredible acts.
October 1 is designated annually as Cocoa Day. It marks the commencement of the cocoa year which ends in September the following year.
Cocoa Day is dedicated to celebrating the work and contributions of smallholder farmers to cocoa-producing economies and also the world cocoa and chocolate industry.
Among others, it raises awareness about the difficult working and economic conditions of the millions of cocoa growers who account for the cocoa beans used in manufacturing the world’s favourite snack – chocolate.
Firstly, it marks the official opening of the main crop season and sets the tone for internal marketing or cocoa buying activities.
Secondly and most importantly, this is the day the President of Ghana or a representative announces the cocoa producer price or farmgate price for the ensuing cocoa season.
While the announcement is a common yearly ritual, there are quite some reasons to suggest that the yet-to-be-disclosed 2022/23 producer price could either make or break an industry sitting on tenterhooks.
Here are some 5 reasons the Producer Price Review Committee (PPRC) may be considering as it concludes its work.
No cocoa producer price adjustment in 2 years
The prevailing cocoa producer price was first announced by President Nana AKufo-Addo on 24th September 2020 at Sefwi Wiawso, ahead of the 2020/21 Cocoa season.
One metric tonne of cocoa beans was pegged at GHS10,560, which works down to GHS660 per 64kg bag. The same producer price was maintained for the soon-expiring 2021/22 season. In effect, there was no increment.
The 2020 farmgate price represented a 28% increase over the 2019/20 season’s figure of GHS515 per bag or GHS8,240 per tonne.
While announcing the government’s decision to maintain the same price for 2021, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Akoto Afriyie, explained that in spite of the fall in the world market price of cocoa, among other factors, such as the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the global economy, the producer price of Gh¢10,560.00 per tonne, represented 87.15 % of the FOB value demonstrating government’s commitment towards improving the livelihoods of cocoa farmers.”
But for cocoa farmers, a lot has changed in terms of the economic situation in the country since October 2020, which they contend warrants an increment come hell or high water.
Whereas sections of farmers are expecting a modest 30% raise, still others are demanding GHS1500 for a bag of cocoa beans citing obvious reasons.
Whatever the change to be announced, it does seem certain that the 2022/23 cocoa producer price would either pump up some level of hope among farmers or could be the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Loss of value to Cedi depreciation
The 2020 historic hike in the cocoa producer price was the direct result of implementing the $400-per-tonne Living Income Different (LID), a poverty alleviation bonus agreed upon in 2019 between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, on the one side, and cocoa buyers and chocolate companies on the other.
The LID translates to $25 per bag, which in October 2020 converted to GHS145 at an exchange rate of GHS5.8 to the USD. That amount added to the previous year’s producer price of GHS515 summed to GHS660.
The payment of the full sum of the LID to cocoa farmers was in direct fulfilment of a condition underlying the agreement.
It’s interesting that although there have been exchange rate gains in the last 2 years, at least for the $25-LID component, the farmgate price has remained unchanged.
The GHS660 per bag producer price itself as of the time of the first announcement was worth $114, but is presently worth about $69 at today’s BoG USD-GHS exchange rate of 9.54GHS.
Meanwhile, per Ghana Statistical Service data the inflation rate rose from 9.9% at the end of 2020 to 33.9% at the end of August this year impacting the prices of goods and services and taking a toll on cocoa farmers.
Definitely, there needs to be some price adjustment to compensate for the over 55% value lost to the already disadvantaged smallholder cocoa farmer, at least in a similar manner as the Cost of Living Allowance (CoLA) recently paid to civil servants.
Exponential rise in input and production cost
Supply chain disruptions occasioned by the Russia-Ukraine conflict have driven a scarcity in the fertiliser and agrochemicals market with its attendant price increase.
Prices of various types of agro-input products on the Ghanaian market have reportedly seen astronomical increases of between 300 – 400%, if available at all.
In the same vein, fuel, transportation and utilities prices have recorded quite significant upward adjustments since the last cocoa producer price increase aggravating the living condition of cocoa growers.
Meanwhile, the cost of labour for farm maintenance is now said to be out of the reach of poor smallholder farmers.
Cash-strapped youth of cocoa communities are reportedly moving in droves to illegal gold mining centres, where galamsey kingpins are believed to offer very competitive daily wages.
In a nutshell, these circumstances, among others, have consequently shot the cocoa farmer’s cost of production through the roof.
Certainly, there is no gainsaying Ghana’s gallant cocoa farmers require urgent intervention in the compensation paid for their toil in order to sustain their cocoa production efforts.
Galamsey invasion
Information emanating from Ghana Cocoa Board suggests that in a space of 1 year some 19,000 hectares of vibrant cocoa farms were lost to galamsey activities in only two regions.
Some of these farms are said to have been forcibly destroyed by illegal galamsey gold miners, while others were allegedly leased to the miners by land owners, mainly traditional authorities.
However, it is emerging that many frustrated and disillusioned cocoa farmers are now also joining the fray and willingly turning over their farms to galamsey operators in nightmarish cocoa for cash trend, a situation confirmed by the sector regulator – Cocobod.
Recent environmental monitoring and investigative reports indicate that the advancement of galamsey gangs, some of whom are armed to the teeth, is akin to a raging fire devouring water bodies, land and farms alike.
Judging by the sentiments from cocoa communities and farmers, it is palpably clear that the President’s producer price announcement for the upcoming season wields the wand to either make or break the country’s cocoa sector.
Competition from other cash crops
In some areas in the Central and Western cocoa regions, and indeed in other regions as well, it is reported that some cocoa farmers have begun diversifying into other cash crops.
Certain farm owners in cocoa rehabilitation zones are, for instance, said to be resisting the programme opting instead to grow other commercial plants.
Popular among the alternative cash crops are cashew, rubber and oil palm. The actions of these cocoa farmers are premised on the promise of better incomes and livelihood for themselves and their families.
Perhaps now is the time for cocoa buyers and chocolate companies to walk the talk to improve living incomes for cocoa farmers as well as expand their sustainability programming to cover the remaining 80% of Ghana’s 800,000 cocoa farming families.
Such interventions would no doubt contribute immensely to achieving the sustainability goals of the cocoa and chocolate industry.
Make or break
Finally, on the occasion of the 2022 Cocoa Day celebration at Suhum, in the Eastern Region, Ghanaian cocoa farmers have made a clarion call for a price increase that not only offers a glimmer of hope and reason to hold their position against illegal gold mining and but also to cushion them against the harsh economic conditions felt by all and sundry across the nation.
But while the expectation of farmers remains high, and understandably so, it is also worth noting that the international market prices for cocoa have plummeted from a 2020 average of $2500 per tonne to $2200 per tonne in 2022.
Ghana Cocoa Board July this year announced it has had to subsidise the producer price of cocoa to the tune of $400 million yearly as world market prices tumbled amidst the erosion of origin premiums by buyers.
Within that period, Ghana’s neighbour Cote d’Ivoire has reduced its own cocoa producer price by 9% to the current CFA41250 per bag converting to GHS628.31, which is lower than the GHS660 Ghana pays.
However, should Ghana fail to increase the price of cocoa and Cote d’Ivoire goes ahead to announce a price increase higher than that of Ghana fears are that it could spark a wave of cross-border smuggling.
Pressure Group Occupy Ghana believes the main problem with illegal mining in Ghana is the government’s “sheer inability, total unpreparedness, and, or blatant unwillingness to enforce the law.”
Occupy Ghana in an open letter to President Nana Akufo-Addo said it is dumbstruck at the government’s “absolute impotence, in the face of the brazen destruction of our lands and wanton poisoning of our water bodies.”
As far as it is concerned, the government has no excuse to fail in the fight against the menace.
“Every law required to regulate the mining industry exists. Every government agency required in the police, the courts, and even the military) exists. Every district, municipality, and metropolis to enforce the law (namely the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Minerals Commission, in which Galamsey takes place has a fully-paid Chief Executive supported by an Authority and Assembly.”
“What is going on defies reason and only gives support and credence to the popular rumour or belief that the very persons who should be fighting this crime, are rather those involved in and benefit from it.”
“Sir, can you simply ensure that the law, namely the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), as amended, is enforced without fear and favour and irrespective of whose ox is gored?”
The pressure group vowed to pressure the President’s neck till he fulfils his promise to stop galamsey.
“We will send a reminder to you every Monday until we see firm action to stamp this crime out. If that fails, we will shame your government by going to court to compel the government to sit up and do its job. That is not a threat, sir; it is a promise,” it added.
Multiple award winning rapper Sarkodie is not excited that people in authority use the works of creatives yet the sector continues to lack support.
In a series of tweets yesterday, September 28 to lend his support to fellow artiste, Kirani Ayat who called out the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) for using his works to promote domestic tourism without his permission, the Adonai hitmaker said such happenings were forcing creatives to give up their dreams.
“A lot of creatives giving up on their dreams due to the system out here, it’s either you wanna join the mediocre or you quit (if you wanna do something epic) because it’s no joke… we talking serious money…
“We (creatives) do a lot to put our country out there attracting a lot of tourists and investors that translates to money to help nation building yet that’s one sector with no support. I feel my brother and support him especially if he actually reached out and didn’t get help,” he tweeted.
According to him, he reached out to the Ministry of Tourism for support before shooting the said music video but he was turned down.
The video was shot in northern Ghana and features the local culture.
On Tuesday Ayat tweeted: “The President of Ghana has used my video ‘Guda’ in this ad to promote Ghana. I was actively reaching out to the Ministry of Tourism in 2018/19 to use this video to push tourism in the North and got no reply, yet today it’s in an ad and no one reached out to me for permission”.
Responding to the musician’s concerns in a statement yesterday, the GTA said the footage was acquired legitimately from a creative agency in 2019.
However, the GTA said it had contacted the agency to deal with the matter.
“This video has thus been played locally and internationally without any issue. The content was used in accordance with the terms agreed with the agency and not as being alleged,” the GTA said.
Two eminent agronomists have stated that the timing is opportune for African nations to alter their food systems to address hunger as Africa continues its Year of Nutrition, which the African Union designated for 2022.
As the world scrambles to address the current crises, the continent is reminded that only Africans can take responsibility for building climate resilient, nourishing, and inclusive systems that leave no one behind, Josefa Sacko, a leading agronomist and AU Commissioner for Agriculture, and Agnes Kalibata, President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), wrote recently on the Devex website, a global media platform for the development community.
“This is why the African Union declared 2022 as the Year of Nutrition and why we must implement the national food systems pathways agreed upon at the UN Food Systems Summit in 2021.
“Progress made to date will be undone if we fail to lead and fail to act now,’ Sacko and Kalibata argued.
Last week in New York, President Nana Akufo-Addo echoed this call when he addressed the UN General Assembly, urging investors to support the roll-out of Africa’s lucrative agro-industry to guarantee global food security.
In the wake of overlapping food systems shocks, such as climate-induced drought and floods, locust attacks, the Covid-19 pandemic, and conflict, the World Bank has warned that for each one percentage point increase in food prices, 10 million people are thrown into extreme poverty.
If food prices stay this high for a year, global poverty could go up by more than 100 million people, it added.
Sacko and Kalibata highlighted a number of achievements in African agricultural production after decades of stagnation, pointing out that the continent witnessed sustained agricultural growth of 4.73 per cent a year on average between 2000 and 2018.
But, currently, “Africa is struggling to achieve the SDGs”.
“The African Common Position and national food systems pathways will not happen without stakeholders at every stage of the food system taking ownership — governments, the private sector, finance institutions, producers, and civil society,” Sacko and Kalibata wrote.
The IMF, in a recent blog, also picked up on the issue of weak food systems in Africa, pointing out that “climate change is intensifying food insecurity across sub-Saharan Africa, where Russia’s war in Ukraine and the pandemic are also adding to food shortages and high prices”.
“One-third of the world’s droughts occur in sub-Saharan Africa, and Ethiopia and Kenya are enduring one of the worst in at least four decades.
“Countries such as Chad are also being severely impacted by torrential rains and floods,” the IMF said.
The multiple crises that have created rippling effects on Africa’s food systems were brought into sharp focus at this year’s Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Kigali
The AGRF is Africa’s premier platform for discussing the continent’s food systems and agricultural transformation and managing food crisis.
“We have already heard from the governments of Ghana, Malawi and Rwanda at the AGRF on how they are implementing their food systems pathways to inspire other countries,” Sacko and Kalibata said.
In New York, President Akufo-Addo made a direct call for more investors in the continent’s agro-industry: “Africa is ready for business. Africa needs you and you need Africa.”
In Angola, Paramount Energy and Commodities has pumped $500 million into the country’s food sector, as it looks to develop the agro-industry in Africa.
It said that poor processing capacity in Africa was leading to post-harvest losses of fruit and vegetables of between 35-50 per cent or 15-25 per cent for grains.
The company said in a statement that sustainable, long-term, and self-sufficient solutions to the current global commodities crisis must be carried out rapidly, “otherwise even more people will face alarming levels of hunger and poverty”.
Paramount pointed out that by enabling access to affordable energy and food supply the economies of Africa could “flourish, economic activity is stimulated, and local entrepreneurship encouraged, ultimately leading to a more equal distribution of wealth and power”.
Sacko and Kalibata noted optimistically: “Farmers are increasingly using innovative approaches and scientific research combined with traditional knowledge to increase the productivity of their fields, diversify their crops, boost their nutrition, and build climate resilience.”
“…I believe it is time for him to step aside, for Nana Addo to stop working, and to let capable others take over. Since he lost the battle against Galamsey, he need to step down.
At a celebration in Accra on Wednesday, September 21, 2022, honoring Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s 113th birthday, CPP General Secretary Nana Yaa Akyempem Jantuah declared, “We in the Convention Peoples Party are imploring him to keep his promises.
The President declared, “I have said it in the Cabinet, and perhaps this is the first time I am making this public, that I am prepared to put my Presidency on the line on this matter. I am speaking to a two-day workshop on galamsey for traditional leaders drawn from different parts of the country on Monday in Accra.”
But the Government’s fight against illegal mining was dealt a heavy blow following the widespread controversy on the arrest of Chinese galamsey queen, Aisha Huang and her collaborators.
The Criminal Division of the Accra High Court presided over by Justice Lydia Osei Marfo on Monday, September 19, 2022 ruled that Aisha is a flight risk and would not avail herself to stand trial when granted bail and remanded her in custody.
The Justice of the High Court was of the considered view that, remanding the accused person was in the best interest of justice before remanding her into prison custody to re-appear on October 11, 2022.
The president’s claims that his administration has built 1,800 kilometers of roads throughout the nation have been refuted by a road contractor with roots in Kumasi.
Mr Akwasi Yeboah said asphalt overlays are done on already existing roads and not wholly built roads in the country.
“It is the reason many Ghanaians contested they have not seen that number of roads as contained in the president’s State of the Nation Address (SONA),” he noted.
“In Kumasi alone, the Manhyia South Constituency with the Minister for Energy, Mathew Opoku Prempeh as the Member of Parliament (MP), was the largest beneficiary of the asphalt overlays,” Mr Yeboah put forth.
Giving a breaking down of the president’s assertion, Mr Yeboah said going by the president’s figures means that each of the 275 constituencies across the country should have at least 39 kilometres of roads.
“As we speak no such feat exists in many of these constituencies across the country,” he narrated.
“It is the reason many of the residents in Kwabre East, Barikese among others in the Ashanti Region demonstrated for not seeing anything in terms of roads in their respective areas,” he said.
He noted that 39 kilometres of roads can journey from the Kumasi-Suame roundabout to the Techiman area in the Bono Region.
Mr Yeboah made these revelations in an interview with Mr Emmanuel Quarshie (The Hitman), host of Accra 100.5 FM’s Ghana Yensom morning show on Tuesday, September 20, 2022.
“Mr Hitman, let me use your medium this morning to correct this notion that has been lingering all this while in relation to roads constructed by this government,” he said.
He commended the president for his quest in ensuring many of the asphalt overlays were done.
He was quick to add that in less than two years, potholes have begun to emerge on many of the roads thereby blaming his colleague contractors for not being forthright in their work.
He said 90 per cent of contractors in the country are not truthful with their jobs.
He added that the contractors did the same thing during John Mahama’s era by building the same asphalt overlays which have diminished.
He disclosed that many recent contractors are doing shoddy jobs compared to roads built in the days of former president J.J Rawlings.
“Some roads built in Rawlings’ era lasted more than 30 years but what are we seeing today? A road is built and in less than two years you start seeing pot holes.
“Many of these roads built by Nana Akufo-Addo are crying for repair works,” he said.
In response to what he called unjustified verbal attacks on President Nana Akufo Addo during his recent visit to the region, Nana Kwame Aboagye Aseda, the Savannah Regional Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), demanded an immediate apology from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Savannah Region and John Jinapor, the MP for the Yapei-Kusawgu Constituency.
Speaking in Yapei, President Akufo Addo noted that the Yapei-Kusawgu constituency had produced two members of parliament during his lifetime in the form of John Jinapor, the former deputy minister of energy, and Alhaji Amadu Seidu. He added that it is surprising that 17 communities in the constituency are still not connected to the national grid.
The MP for the Yapei-Kusawgu Constituency and former Deputy Minister of Energy in the erstwhile Mahama administration, John Abdulai Jinapor in response said when he was appointed the Deputy Minister of Energy and Petroleum, the Yapei-Kusawgu Constituency had only 4 towns connected to the national grid (i.e. Buipe, Yapei, Sankpala and Kusawgu) and “by dint of hardwork, the constituency currently has about 100 communities connected to the national grid as part of an aggressive national electrification programme under the NDC Governmentâ€.
Commenting on this, Savannah Region NPP Organiser said the NDC in their attacks never denied that the 17 communities are without electricity but took to the lane of propaganda and insults which he sees to be an insult on to the Yapeiwura for pushing for development for his people.
Nana Kwame further said President Akufo-Addo did not conjure the names of the communities without electricity, but was responding to a plea from the Chief of Yapei who sat in for the Kusawguwura.
He stated that the NPP will make sure what is due the people of the Savannah Region will surely be delivered to them as the NDC is scared anytime President Nana Addo is in the region.
He said the Savannah Regional Communication officer of the NDC Malik Basintale is only good in issuing statements from Accra without knowing what is happening in the Savannah Region and therefore advised him to visit the region to see for himself the transformation and development of the Savannah Region under the NPP.
The Savannah Region NPP Organiser added that he is very optimistic that the NPP will connect not only the 17 communities in the Yapei-Kusawgu constituency to the national grid but will go ahead and heed to the call of the chiefs and people of the Constituency to create the district out of the present Yapei- Kusawgu Constituency that they are yearning for and further add more roads to the existing ones provided by the NPP in the Constituency.
He used the opportunity to assure his party faithfuls that the development the NPP has brought to the Savannah Region under the able leadership of the Damongo MP and Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Hon Samuel Abu Jinapor and other leading members of the party in the region, he is very sure the region will reward the NPP with additional two seats in the 2024 general elections since the party has vibrant and hardworking branch, Constituency and regional executives who will leave no stone unturned in their quest to breaking the 8.
Nana Kwame Aboagye advised the people of the Savannah Region to continue to have much confidence in the NPP since that is the only party that develops the Savannah Region and Gonjaland more.
President Nana Akufo-Addo, says sixty (60) district courts, sixty (60) bungalows for judges, and three (3) new high courts for three (3) of the six (6) newly created regions will be commissioned before the start of the legal year in October.
According to President Akufo-Addo, Government has taken note of the inadequate numbers of courts in various parts of the country, resulting in citizens travelling long distances to gain access to courts, and has decided to remedy this situation.
Speaking at the swearing-in of ten (10) new High Court Judges, on Monday, 18th July 2022, at Jubilee House, the President stated that Government, through the Administrator of the District Assembly Common Fund, is constructing one hundred (100) new courts and bungalows for Judges in all sixteen (16) Regions of the country.
They are broken down in the various Regions as follows twenty (20) courts and twenty (20) bungalows in Ashanti; twelve (12) courts and twelve (12) bungalows in Eastern; eight (8) courts and eight (8) bungalows in Greater Accra; eight (8) courts and eight (8) bungalows in Volta; eight (8) courts and eight (8) bungalows in Ahafo; seven (7) courts and seven (7) bungalows in Western; and five (5) courts and five (5) bungalows in Bono East.
The rest are five (5) courts and five (5) bungalows in North East; four (4) courts and four (4) bungalows in Oti; four (4) courts and four (4) bungalows in Western North; four (4) courts and four (4) bungalows in Central; four (4) courts and four (4) bungalows in Bono; three (3) courts and three (3) bungalows in Northern; three (3) courts and three (3) bungalows in Savannah; three (3) courts and three (3) bungalows in Upper East; and two (2) courts and two (2) bungalows in Upper West.
“Sixty percent (60%) of these courts and bungalows have been completed, and will be commissioned before the start of the legal year in October. The remaining forty percent (40%) will be duly completed and commissioned by the end of the first quarter of 2023,†President Akufo-Addo said.
He continued, “Six new Regional High Courts are also being constructed in the newly created regions, i.e., Ahafo, Bono East, North East, Oti, Savannah and Western North. Three of the Courts, that is those in Ahafo, Bono East and Oti Regions, will be completed and ready for commissioning, again, before October. The other three, that is those in North East, Savannah and Western North, which are at eighty percent (80%) completion, will be ready for commissioning by the end of the first quarter of 2023.â€
It will also be recalled in April last year, the President cut the sod for commencement of work on a new, modern Court of Appeal complex in Kumasi, together with twenty (20) townhouses and a guesthouse to serve as permanent residences for Court of Appeal Judges based in Kumasi, who will be mandated to handle appeals from the northern part of the country.
President Akufo-Addo noted that “they will be completed and commissioned in Septemberâ€, adding that “two hundred and ten (210) vehicles were, earlier this year, distributed to all judges in the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High Courts and Lower Courts.â€
These, the President reiterated, are all initiatives being undertaken by Government to strengthen the capacity of the Judiciary.
Swearing the new High Court Judges in, upon the advice of the Judicial Council, given in accordance with the provisions of article 144 clause 3 of the Constitution, he indicated that they are eminently fit and qualified for the position of Justices of the High Court, and have the impartiality of mind and independence of spirit necessary to hold this high office.
They are Her Honour Mercy Adei Kotei, Mrs. Cynthia Martinson, Dr. Bridget Kafui Antonio-Apedzi, Ms. Nabeela Naeema Wahab, His Honour Ebenezer Osei-Darko, His Honour Bernard Bentil, His Honour Alexander Graham, Mr. George Kwame Gyan-Kontoh, Mr. Richard Apietu and Mr. Eric Ansah Ankomah.
With the High Court described as a superior court of record, with original, general jurisdiction as a tribunal of first instance, President Akufo-Addo told the new Judges to exhibit honesty, integrity and a sound knowledge of the law.
“A corrupt or incompetent judge is a danger to the public interest and judicial administration. The situation, where judges proffer judgements on the basis of decisions from lower courts and cite them as law, is not acceptable, and even less so, when judges cite no authority at all for their rulings, and give orders without reasons,†he added.
The President continued, “You must be learned, know your case law and ensure your decisions and judgements are properly motivated. The principle of stare decisis, the ancient common law doctrine of precedent, has been, and continues to be the time-honored foundation for the coherent development of the law, and should not be lightly discarded.â€
Following the launch of the Otumfuo Gold Coin on December 12, 2021, to recognise His Royal Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II for his tremendous role in peacebuilding and national development, the organisers of the event, EON 3 Group, has embarked on special presentations of the Gold Coin to selected personalities.
KGL Group acquired the first of the 24- karat Commemorative Gold Coin for One Million Ghana Cedis (GH¢1,000,000.00).
Otumfuo Osei Osei Tutu II, in whose honour the gold coin was launched, has also been presented with the second of the Gold Coin.
Dates for Presentation
From January 27, 2022 to February 24, 2022, 20 personalities would be presented with the Gold Coin to demonstrate their resolve to support Otumfuo to further build on his peace initiatives.
Top on the list is H.E. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who will be receiving the 3rd coin; the Vice President; H.E. Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is billed to receive the 4th gold coin; Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin is scheduled to receive the 5th gold coin; the Chief Justice, His Lordship Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah, will be receiving the 6th gold coin; former President, John Agyekum Kufuor, will be presented with the 7th gold coin; H.E. John Dramani Mahama, former President will receive the 8th gold coin; Chief of Staff, Hon. Akosua Frema Osei- Opare will be presented with the 9th gold coin; Dr. Ernest Addision, Governor of the Bank of Ghana is scheduled to receive the 10th gold coin,
Majority Leader in Parliament, Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu will be presented with the 11th gold coin; Minority Leader of Parliament, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, will be receiving the 12th gold coin, Ogyeahoho Yaw Gyebi II, President of the National House of Chiefs, will be presented with the 13th gold coin; Rev. Dr. Ernest Adu-Gyamfi will be receiving the 14th gold coin; Executive Chairman of Jonah Capital, Sir Sam Jonah will be presented with the 15th gold coin; His Eminence, Sheikh Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu, the National Chief Imam is scheduled to receive the 16th gold coin; Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Hon. Samuel Abu Jinapor will be presented the 17th gold coins; Rev. Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh, Director General of Securities And Exchange Commission is slated to receive the 18th gold coin; Hon. Godfred Yeboah Dame, Attorney General and Minister of justice will be presented with the 19th gold coin; the Chief of the Defence Staff, Rear Admiral Seth Amoama will be receiving the 20th gold coin; the Inspector General of Police, Dr George Akuffo Dampare will receive the 21st gold coin, while Mr Frank Adu, former Managing Director of Cal Bank receives the 22nd gold coin. Also, to receive the gold coin at a special event is the Ya Na Abukari II.
Other Kingdoms
Other Kingdoms and personalities in Africa, as well as other parts of the world, will also be presented with the gold coin at later dates.
Diplomatic Corps
Also scheduled is a meeting with the Diplomatic Corps to share with them Otumfuo’s upcoming peace initiatives and the purpose for the issuance of the gold coin.
Achievements
Key among Otumfuo’s achievements manifested in the Dagbon Peace Initiative where he led the Committee of Eminent Chiefs to broker peace between the two feuding royal gates after many years of a biting chieftaincy dispute.
His Royal Majesty is also celebrated for calming tension in the buildup to the 2012 General Elections when he got the presidential candidates for the contesting political parties to meet in Kumasi to commit to peace by signing on to the famous Kumasi Declaration.
Otumfuo is also credited for stepping in to amicably resolve the conflict between Techiman and four towns that owe allegiance to the Golden Stool.
When the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) was plunged into crisis in October 2018, Otumfuo was at hand to douse the flames and restore normalcy to the institution.
Within Asanteman, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has ensured that all chieftaincy disputes that disturbed the progress of Asanteman were settled peacefully.
In recognition of his immense accomplishments in peacebuilding, the President of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly invited him to address the UN General Assembly High-Level Forum on Culture of Peace during the 25th anniversary of the Adoption of the Declaration and Programme of Action on Culture of Peace on September 12, 2019.
Key partners
EON 3 Group organised the launch in collaboration with key partners made up of Manhyia Palace, KLG Group, Access Bank, Gold Coast Refinery, Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC), and Coronation Insurance.
Access Bank is the official banking partner of the Gold Coins, Gold Coast Refinery is the official minting company for the Commemorative Gold Coins, Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) is keeping custody of the Gold Coins, while Coronation Insurance is the official insurance company.
Residents of the Krowor Municipality of the Greater Accra, have appealed to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr James Oppong-Boanuah, to take appropriate steps to intensity patrols, beef up security and protect lives and properties, in the area.
The residents, particularly those of Regimauel Gray Estates, have raised the alarm that they were living in a state of insecurity and fear as armed robbers continued to harass and attack them, using sophisticated means.
Some victims, who have fallen prey to the antics of the robbers, told the Ghanaian Times that they were terrorised in the evenings when traffic flow had reduced.
They said the robbers stood by the road well-dressed, armed with guns tucked under their dresses and knives that look like combs concealed in their hair and waited for potential victims.
Once the way was clear, they drew closer in a friendly manner towards victims, who include motorists and other road users, and engaged them in conversation. The residents said that as soon as the conversation begun, they robbed victims at gun point.
One of the victims(name withheld), told the Ghanaian Times that she was walking towards the Nungua Market around 8:00pm when a gentleman neatly dressed engaged her in a conversation as though he knew her.
She said two more men joined them, and one of them pulled a gun, pointed it at her and demanded her to hand over all her belongings.
Another victim (name withheld), said she complied with the request of the gang and handed everything, including her mobile phone to them.
She said that “The most astonishing aspect of the incident is that they warned me not to raise the alarm until they had left the scene or I risk being killed. As if hypnotized, I stood there in awe and watched them escape with my items.â€
Similarly, James Boateng, who also fell victim to the criminals, said he was attacked while walking towards the nearest bus stop from church.
He said “While walking to the nearest bus stop, I realised two guys were walking behind me. One of them overtook me and blocked me from moving any further. The other person behind me came closer with a knife pointed at my side and ordered that I release my belongings to them.â€
Mr Boateng said without any hesitation he released everything in his possession to the criminals and they fled.
But when contacted by Ghanaian Times on the issue, the District Police Commander for Nungua, Superintendent Abraham Apusyine, said the situation was yet to come to the attention of security personnel.
He said stressed that “Interestingly, none of the victims has come to lodge a formal complaint to us.â€
Ghanaian leader, president Akufo-Addo has said he has missed the normal worship at church after placing a ban on places of worship due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In his 14th address to the nation on Sunday, July 26, 2020, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said the restrictions on places of worship have been eased drastically effective August 1.
“I have sorely missed going to Church, as I am sure many others have. I am, therefore, very happy to announce that, in consultation with our Church leaders, from 1st August, 2020, the restrictions on the number of congregants worshiping at a time in Church will be lifted, with the length of worship extended from one (1) to two (2) hours per service.
“Church leaders, who are desirous of implementing this enhanced easing directive, must ensure that congregants wear face masks at all times, and the one (1) metre social distancing rule is scrupulously applied. These same guidelines apply to worship in our Mosques,†the President stated.
He appealed: â€I would, respectfully, ask the religious leaders to pay even greater attention to the fresh air ventilation of their premises, rather than relying on the use of air conditioners.â€
Covid-19 cases in Ghana
Mr. Akufo-Addo noted that: “At first glance, it is alarming to see that thirty-two thousand, nine hundred and sixty-nine (32,969) people have so far contracted the virus. But a closer look at the data will tell you that we are steadily on the path towards limiting and containing the virus, and, ultimately, defeating it. The figure to look out for is the number of active cases.
“When I delivered Update No. 13, the number of active cases in the country, i.e. those who, as at 27th June, 2020, had the virus, stood at four thousand, two hundred and forty-five (4,245). As at midnight of 24th July, nearly a month later, the number of active cases in Ghana stands at three thousand, three hundred and seven (3,307).
“Again, a month ago, the number of recoveries stood at twelve thousand, nine hundred and ninety-four (12,994). Today, it is twenty-nine thousand, four hundred and ninety four (29,494). This means our recovery rate has improved from seventy-five percent (75%) of positives, a month ago, to eighty-nine point five percent (89.5%), all in one month currently.
“Our hospitalisation and death rates have, consistently, been very low, some of the lowest in Africa and in the world. The Ghanaian people, mercifully, are not dying of the virus in the hundreds and thousands that were earlier anticipated and predicted, and that are being seen on a daily basis in some other countries.
“The behaviour of this virus has baffled the experts and defied most predictions, but five months on, we can say that we are witnessing a much milder manifestation of the virus in the country, than was initially feared. The rate of virus-related deaths has remained, persistently, low at 0.5% of confirmed cases.â€
