Due to the rise of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) sensitivity, some institutional investors are also selling off assets that can potentially lose value over time, such as fossil fuel assets.
They are looking for investments that will actually combat climate change, promote inclusive growth, and lessen social disparities.
Through their Employee Volunteering Program, banks like Access Bank have a long history of involvement in the communities they serve.
Every year, employees are mandated to align with the bank’s programme to undertake community engagements that align with its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of influence. Last year, Access Bank undertook initiatives aligned with SDG4, aimed at inculcating the habit of reading in children across 12 communities in Ghana.
Banks need to take the preferences of institutional investors seriously because investments into ESG funds have been increasing steadily. The millennial generation is in line to receive a historic and the most valuable transfer of inheritable wealth estimated at US$68 trillion by 2030. Millennials are generally known to be environmentally and socially driven and will typically endorse institutions with demonstrable environmental and social considerations.
Millennials are generally twice likely to invest in a fund or stock with clear social responsibility criteria. Banks who embed ESG criteria in their fund allocation, investment portfolios and corporate practices will be better positioned in attracting not only an important client base, but a dynamic workforce more interested in purpose driven institutions.
Investors are becoming concerned about the effects of climate change, extreme weather and regulatory compliance. Investors are also becoming concerned about social contracts and relationship of organisations to their communities, and are obviously paying heed to the dramatic increase in ethical consumerism which is driving how consumers choose products in the market. Above all, diversity, inclusivity and stakeholder activism are informing values attributed to organisations by ESG investors. To stay relevant and competitive, integrating ESG has become essential and critical to the long-term survival of banks, because of the competing imperatives of ESG aligned funding.
The essentials of ESG aligned investments
Proponents seeking investments in ESG funds will typically seek information about ESG performance. The ESG performance is an integral part of corporate disclosures, which are made through sustainability/ESG reports. The corporate ESG Report provides an understanding of an organisation’s ESG performance. The report outlines progression in ESG initiatives over time, benchmarked against local, national and/or global standards.
It also outlines measures where compliance has been met, are yet to be met and where they fall short of compliance. Generally, organisations will highlight partnerships with environmental and social causes, as well as internal or third-party assessments on employee satisfaction, development and employer turnover. The best reports will appeal to a wide range of stakeholders in non-technical language, including company vision, mission and letter from CEO or Governance Board.
To attract ESG investment, banks in Ghana, especially, will need to highlight how they meet the Sustainable Banking Principles (SBP), especially, and their ESG performance into their Annual Reports and how they are fully compliant with reporting to Bank of Ghana’s Sustainable Banking Reporting requirements. To enhance credibility, ESG reports can also be independently assured to verify disclosures and win confidence of stakeholders.
How can banks integrate ESG into their operations?
1- Develop a plan: Identify material ESG issues that are critical to the bank, stakeholders and broader public. Establish ambition and buy-in of leadership, which is imperative to driving tangible change. Commitment to ESG issues which are aligned with a bank’s bottom line generally unlocks more tangible results as compared to prioritising unrelated issues. Develop a plan which focuses on closing the gaps identified with SMART actions and defined goals that are delivered over a set timeframe with due consideration to materiality and impact of the action plan.
2- Establish a dedicated ESG desk: It is important to dedicate resources towards implementing ESG and not consider implementation as extra work for existing staff as some banks, including Access Bank, have done already. Realignment of existing job descriptions could also yield tangible results, and it is worth noting that the scope of ESG implementation may be potentially too large to realise without a dedicated desk.
3- Drive visibility through corporate reporting: ESG reporting is critical in attracting ESG aligned investment as investors and stakeholders will appreciate a Bank’s ESG performance. It is important to avoid greenwashing and commit to disclosures that are verifiable. The ESG reports can be a stand-alone document or integrated into the Annual Financial Report and can be combined with consistent marketing informed by a requisite communications strategy and strategic PR initiatives to improve on visibility and branding to appeal to wider stakeholders.
4- Commit to continuous improvement: ESG investors are likely to track your ESG performance over time. It is therefore important to integrate a culture of growth, continuous improvement and education of key stakeholders including leadership, employees, customers and key collaborators, especially supply chain, about your ESG initiatives and commitments.
Some leading banks like Access Bank have proven credibility in good Governance through their history of crafting internal sustainability initiatives that encourage employees to act as responsible citizens. They have long established a Sustainability Policy which enshrines the organisation of a Sustainability Week every year to celebrate the bank’s commitment towards good governance and environmental safeguards, refresh employees on current trends in ESG and operations, and most importantly, reposition the bank’s trajectory towards sustainability.
Asante Kotoko head coach, Seydou Zerbo has named a 20-man squad for their outstanding 2022/23 Ghana Premier League game against newcomers Nsoatreman FC.
The Porcupine Warriors will take on the Nsoatre-based side at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
Kick-off is scheduled at 15:30GMT.
The match was postponed due to Kotoko’s involvement in Caf Champions League.
Kotoko will be hoping to secure their first win of the season following their 1-1 draw with rivals Hearts of Oak last Sunday in the matchday 3 fixtures.
Below is the Asante Kotoko 20-man squad list for the Nsoatreman FC game.
Colombian music star Shakirawill stand trial in a Spanish court for allegations of tax fraud amounting to €14.5m (£12.9m).
A Barcelona court has ordered the singer to stand trial for six alleged tax crimes, although a date has not yet been set.
Spanish prosecutors want to jail the superstar for eight years and fine her €23.8m if she is found guilty.
The 45-year-old has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
“I am confident that I have enough proof to support my case and that justice will prevail in my favour”, she said recently in an interview with the Spanish edition of Elle magazine.
Shakira’s legal team said in a statement that they would do their job “by presenting [the] arguments at the appropriate time”.
She had previously rejected a deal offered by prosecutors, instead opting to go to trial.
Under Spanish law, people who spend more than six months in the country are considered residents for tax purposes. But Shakira says Spain was not where she was mainly living at the time.
In July, prosecutors issued a document which claimed that she bought a house in Barcelona in 2012, which became a family home for her and her then-partner, Barcelona footballer Gerard Piqué.
Her lawyers have said that up until 2014 most of her income came from international tours and she spent long chunks of time outside of Spain.
“The Spanish tax authorities saw that I was dating a Spanish citizen and started to salivate. It’s clear they wanted to go after that money no matter what”, she told Elle magazine.
Shakira declared Spain to be her place of residence for tax purposes in 2015. She said she has paid €17.2m in tax and has no outstanding debts.
In a separate case in 2019, Mr Piqué was fined €2.1m by the Spanish national court for evading tax between 2008 and 2010.
The couple announced in early June that they had split up after 11 years. They have two sons together, aged seven and nine.
Her interview with Elle was the first time she spoke publicly about their separation, telling the magazine that she is going through “probably one of the most difficult, darkest hours of my life”.
The IAA Africa Rising Leadership Conference has consistently featured prominent and very skilled speakers from Africa and across the globe, to share their knowledge and expertise with existing and growing brands.
For over four years, great minds have converged to educate thousands of people and institutions on how to build and sustain resilient brands.
It is that time of the year again and IAA and its partners are set to hold another edition of the conference, scheduled to take place at the Labadi beach hotel in Accra on October 5 and 6.
Just like previous conferences, a host of successful and prominent speakers will grace the occasion to speak on the theme:“Brands for Purpose, Brands for People.”
Below is the list of speakers expected to mount the stage;
Joel Edmund Nettey
Joel Edmund Nettey is the World President and Chairman of the International Advertising Association (IAA), having previously served as Senior Vice President and Vice President in charge of Communications.
Joel is a savvy and well-acclaimed Management, Marketing and Marketing Communications expert and the Founder and Chief Executive of The Ninani Group, a group of Marketing Communications Specialist Companies that include Innova DDB Ghana, ReZultz Advertising, Touchpoint Magna Carta (Africa and Ghana’s PR Consultancy of the Year 2019), Interactive Digital and Brand Alert in Ghana as well as Innova Liberia.
World President and Chairman of the International Advertising Association (IAA), Joel Edmund Nettey.
A thoroughbred marketing communications professional, he has also been Chief Executive of various multinational marketing communications agency affiliates in Ghana including Saatchi & Saatchi and Publicis and is a 2-term Past President of the Advertising Association of Ghana and the IAA Ghana Chapter.
In November 2010 the Network Journal USA recognised his sterling qualities when it named Joel as one of the inaugural 20 honorees from across Africa in its “TNJ 40 under Forty Africa” Awards.
He holds a Master in Business Administration (Marketing) and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Economics and Psychology degrees from the University of Ghana. Joel and his wife Rachel, are blessed with 3 children – Nichole, Natasha and Nigel.
Sasan Saedi
Sasan Saedi is the Global Client Partner – The Coca-Cola Company – Wunderman Thompson Global.
He has lived advertising for over two decades, across brands, business sectors and multiple regions of the world.
Starting and building his career in North America, he is a strategic planner by trait and has spent most of his career focused on international markets and building global brands.
Today, Sasan leads the Global Coca-Cola relationship and business for Wunderman Thompson Global. Sasan and his worldwide team manage the business of the Atlanta based client worldwide working hand in hand with the WPP Open X team.
The offering ranges from creative and comms, to high level marketing operations consultancy, data optimization and personalization, commerce solutions, tech and innovation support across a range of Global brands and categories.
Susan Saeidi is the Global Client partner, The Coca Cola Company Wunderman Thompson
Prior to this assignment, Sasan successfully led the Global Nestlé relationship for Wunderman Thompson for 3 years, working with Nestle SBU’s and Markets across the Globe on brand building and marketing communication for some of the most iconic brands in the world.
Some of his previous roles also include Regional CEO- Gulf for J. Walter Thompson, Group Managing Director at McCann FP7 and other management and strategy roles at BBDO; Saatchi & Saatchi- Canada & FCB-Canada. Sasan is an international industry speaker and academic lecturer and enjoys sharing his love and knowledge of the communication and creative industry regularly.
He has been with the IAA since 2014 and is currently the Global Senior Vice President at the IAA. Currently Studying for a management degree in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for business at the Saïd Business School- University of Oxford. He is an avid listener and reader of everything; a big fan of world cultures & fashion. He loves his two sons, Sammy and Alexander, and Basketball.
Chief Brand Officer, Moderna, Kate Cronin
As Chief Brand Officer, Kate Cronin is responsible for amplifying Moderna’s story and the promise of mRNA science for patients. Ms. Cronin joined Moderna from Ogilvy Health, part of WPP plc., where she served as Global CEO.
In this role, she led the full spectrum of Ogilvy Health’s core capabilities including public relations and influence, brand strategy, advertising, medical education, market access, and patient and consumer engagement.
Additionally, Ms. Cronin grew Ogilvy’s business in the health and wellness arena, encompassing a broad portfolio including pharmaceuticals, consumer health, insurance, hospitals, health technology and medical devices.
Kate Cronin
Ms. Cronin led integrated campaigns involving social, digital, brand and public relations for Ogilvy’s largest, long-term health clients including BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck and Pfizer. Prior to her role as CEO, Ms. Cronin held numerous leadership roles within Ogilvy including Global Managing Director, Managing Director of Ogilvy Public Relations’ New York office, and most recently Co-President of Ogilvy Health in the United States.
Before her 17-year tenure at Ogilvy, Ms. Cronin was a Partner at Porter Novelli. Before starting her career in communications, Ms. Cronin conducted research in the field of neurobiology at Cornell University Medical College.
She co-authored several research articles focused on learning and memory and published in peer-reviewed publications. Ms. Cronin received a Bachelor of Arts in biology from Smith College.
Global Creative Strategy Director, Islam Eldessoukay
Islam’s conviction is storytelling is the way, it builds a long-lasting experience and relationship with people. He has been the driving force behind some of Coca-Cola’s most successful, awarded, and impactful campaigns whether globally or regionally.
His obsession with creating genuinely clutter-breaking work has seen him rise through the ranks at the Coca-Cola Company, from Brand Manager on Sprite for the Middle East to Integrated Marketing Communications Manager to now leading globally the Creative Strategy of leading brands like smartwater, Powerade, fuzetea, Vitamin Water, and Costa together with many others.
He is driven by ideas that achieve results, an approach that has seen his work awarded both creatively and strategically, in the region and across the world. And, he is a firm believer that Storytelling is a Super Power, once harnessed authentically and consistently it drives Brands to penetrate culture and become part of people’s lives. He is Egyptian, a lover of history, BBQ, and a passionate fan of Basketball, Sneakers, and Hip- Hop music.
Chairman of Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance, Jeffrey A. Greenbaum
Managing Partner of Frankfurt Kurnit since 2010, Jeffrey A. Greenbaum is one of the country’s leading advertising lawyers.
He is a partner in the firm’s Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations Group and has extensive experience representing advertisers, advertising agencies, and media companies on advertising, branded entertainment, and intellectual property matters.
He is also the Chairman of the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance. Best Lawyers in America has twice named him “Advertising Lawyer of the Year” for the New York metro area. Mr. Greenbaum advises clients on a wide variety of advertising-related matters, including advertising regulation, rights clearance, social media, sweepstakes and contests, union issues, network clearance, and global clearance issues.
He helps clients negotiate virtually any type of advertising-related agreement, including advertising agency agreements, media buys, talent contracts, production agreements, intellectual property licences, and sponsorships.
He also regularly represents advertisers in connection with advertising litigation, including federal, state, and local regulatory investigations and National Advertising Division and other self-regulatory proceedings. In addition to being Chairman of the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance, Mr. Greenbaum is a member of the Board of the International Advertising Association and the Chair of the IAA’s Public Policy Council.
He has previously served as Chairman of the Committee on Consumer Affairs of the New York City Bar. He currently chairs the City Bar’s annual “Hot Topics in Advertising Law” program. He has also served as a Director and Secretary of the Brand Activation Association and has served as Co-Chairman of the Brand Activation Association’s law conference. Mr. Greenbaum has been recognized for many years as a leading advertising lawyer by Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA Leading Lawyers for Business, The Legal 500, and Super Lawyers.
In addition, Best Lawyers in America named him “Advertising Lawyer of the Year” for the New York Metro area (2015, 2017) and “Copyright Lawyer of the Year” for the New York metro area (2019). The Legal 500 also gave him special recognition as a “Leading Lawyer” (2017-2021). Who’s Who Legal – Data also recognized him as a leading lawyer in Telecoms & Media (2019).
Jeffrey A. Greenbaum
He was also twice the recipient of the Brand Activation Association’s Beacon Award. Mr. Greenbaum is a frequent speaker on advertising issues in the United States and around the world. He has spoken at the Federal Trade Commission’s “Protecting Kids’ Privacy Online” workshop, the “FTC at 100” workshop, the FTC’s “Rebate Debate” workshop, and at the FTC’s “Green Lights and Red Flags: FTC/BBB Rules of the Road for Advertisers” program.
He has also spoken at conferences and programs sponsored by the National Advertising Division, the Association of National Advertisers, the Brand Activation Association, the National Advertising Review Council, the Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation Program, the Electronic Retailing Association, the Intellectual Property Owners Association, the Association of Independent Commercial Producers, the Society of Digital Agencies, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, ASIPI, ALI/ABA, the Association of Corporate Counsel, the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance, the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the New York City Bar, the New York County Lawyers Association, and many others.
Mr. Greenbaum has been quoted in publications such as, The New York Times, The New York Post, The Washington Post, Advertising Age, Adweek, The Hollywood Reporter, CNBC, Mashable, FTC Watch, Law360, and many others. He has appeared on the CBS “Early Show” and Bloomberg Law.
He participated in the symposium, “New Impressions on Advertising Law,” which was published in the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal (2016). He is also the author of “Specific Corporate Compliance Challenges by Practice Area: Advertising” in Corporate Compliance Practice Guide: The Next Generation of Compliance (LexisNexis, 2009). He has also served as the “Legalease” columnist for Shoot magazine for many years.
Mr. Greenbaum is a graduate of Brandeis University and Columbia University School of Law. He is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council at the University of Michigan Law School. He has also served as an adjunct faculty member at Parsons School of Design. He is admitted to practice in New York.
Fatima Alimohamed
Fatima Alimohamed the CEO of African Brand Warrior is an African and Kenyan of Indian ancestral heritage. She is an advocator for Africa and African brands with a solid track record across African markets that lead her to change from boots to heels where needed. Fatima is a thought leader in Strategy, Brand Development, Consumer Relationships, NPD, Marketing and Communication.
Prior to Founding and becoming the CEO of African Brand Warrior, she was the GM for Wilmar Africa in both the Palm and Shea Industry in West Africa and has been representing the industries in various positions and boards. Fatima’s passion is to create brands that make an impact on the end consumers and are tied to the social development of a Nation. Her belief is that every contact she makes through her various African markets visit must educate, inspire and help transform the lives of people.
She believes that lifting the people up through brands is the one way to grow both people and businesses. One of the great traits Fatima has is that she humbly shakes hands with Presidents of Nations and the Common man and woman in the market places with the sole understanding that all are sons and daughters of the same soil. None is greater or inferior than the other.
Fatima is known for creating from scratch to re-creating and rebranding various brands across Africa in various categories in Rice, Edible Oil, Soaps & Detergents, Milk, Tyres, Cement. Personal Care, Beverages, Food, Telecom amongst others. In Ghana, she is known for taking the Frytol brand that was bought over from Unilever by Wilmar to become Ghana’s Number 1 brand and in Uganda she was part of the team that developed Oil Palm Uganda and thereafter, the Bidco Uganda Palm Oil refinery in jInja, later created and built the Fortune brand to take the leading brand position in a short span.
Her current and past clients in the palm sector range from Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, Malawi, Zambia amongst others. Known not to be one to sit behind desks but rather walk markets in places where many dare not to, Fatima is in touch with the pulse of the market.
Her knack of getting her hands and feet into the soil to deeply understand African consumer needs and wants is unmatched. It can be said that Fatima only creates brands that vie for the number one position and nothing less. Various Universities draw and tap into her skills, where she mentors young African marketers and entrepreneurs on being uniquely different. She has represented the Marketing Fraternity as a Governor on the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), been the Chair of the Marketing Society of Kenya, Founder Marketing Society of Tanzania and Uganda, The Vice President Chartered Institute of Marketing- Kenya, Chair of the Advertising Standards Committee, Vice President Junior Chamber International (JCI) plus a Member of various Marketing and Advertising Boards.
Fatima was pulled in by the Founders of Brand Kenya who reported to the President on various occasions on how to market the Country. She was with Bidco Oil Refineries Kenya and Bidco Uganda overseeing Marketing and Sales of leading brands in East Africa and was prior to that, the Regional Director for very powerful brands of MNC’s whist at Ayton Young & Rubicam a part of the International WPP Group. She was selected to represent Young & Rubicam amongst the best of Africa’s teams to join the Young & Rubicam global participants at the ASAS intensive training in Prague, Czech Republic.
Fatima was honoured with the TOP 50 CMO’s Global award in Singapore and the TOP 100 Most Talented Marketers Global Award in India and was recently handed a Citation for Leadership Excellence by the African Women Leaders CMO Asia. She was also honoured with the Mother of Ghana award for a social development brand cause and was also honoured and Stooled as the Queen Mother (Nkosohemaa) in Memia, Western Ghana for her role in social development in the area of women and children.
This has earned her the title of a Queen Mother and a Local name ‘Nana Nyanzu’. She was yet again stooled as the Queen Mother in Hohoe in the Volta Region as Mama Dzomi Dor I. In both the regions she has lived to her titles of social development having built modern school classrooms and done boreholes in Memia and brought a consortium of Singapore Agri Investors to Hohoe to create an agri based value chain program to uplift the community through modern farming.
Early in May 2018, she was awarded in London, United Kingdom at two separate events the ‘Inspirational Woman of the year’ By Women4Africa and also won the award of Marketing Woman of the year by WinTrade London. In April 2019, the Women Economic Forum awarded Fatima with the award of ‘Iconic Woman Building a better World’. In March 2020 Fatima was yet again awarded in Egypt at the WEF for being an inspiration in her field. She also drives the agenda for building Africa from the soil across the value chain and sits on the committee of International trade relations at the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and is the current Chairperson of the Agriculture Sector in Ghana at the AGI advocating for Africa to work on the full value chain and not be an importer and exporter of raw materials. She sits in on the team working on the Continental free trade agreement at the AGI.
Fatima is also the regional director Africa for NOW (Nations of Women) and the Chapter Chair for Ghana for All Ladies League an international organization. She was appointed in 2019 as the Global Ambassador Africa for Empowering a Billion by 2020 and was recently appointed on the Board of the African Diaspora Chamber of Commerce based in London as the CMO. She is also supporting the African Fintech Startups project (AFS) to drive scale ups in Africa. In March 2022, she was awarded in Mumbai, India at the Global Women Achievers conference as Global Woman Achiever. Fatima is an avid writer on marketing in various media publications and an astute speaker at International Conferences, schools and Universities.
She focuses on her new passion Agriculture, Women & Youth Empowerment, Entrepreneurship and of course Brands and Marketing. Fatima is referenced in various books by International University Professors when writing on Marketing in Africa. She supports the Strands of Pearls project in Ghana on mentoring young African girls on a project titled ‘Path of Hope’, and is known to be involved in many charity and scale up rural projects without talking about it publicly as she believes when the right hand gives, the left hand should never know.
Fatima is the essence of a true daughter of the African Soil. Her story is of an African woman who has stood against all odds and continued to defy all challenges thrown at her with her crown firmly in place.
Kwabena Akuamoah Agyekum
Kwabena Akuamoah Agyekum is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Chartered Institute of Marketing – Ghana (CIMG).
He holds an MBA in Project Management from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and has a Graduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in UK. He is a Chartered Marketer, with over twenty (20) years’ experience in Marketing and Administration in tactical, Managerial and strategic levels. He has been involved in policy formulation, advisory and planning in the business arena.
Kwabena was a consultant to the Association of Small-Scale Industries and a lecturer at the Academy of Business Administration and the Graduate School of Management. He is an Adjunct lecturer at the University of Cape Coast and the Simon page Business school and very much involved in research work.
Kwabena Akuamoah Agyekum
As a marketing consultant he has organized training sessions for leading private firms such as PZ, Astek Ltd, Golden Tulip; reputable banks and insurance companies including: Barclays, GCB Bank, SIC Insurance Company, SG-SSB now Societe Generale Ghana,the media and telecommunication giants such as TV3, MTN, Joy FM and Milicom Ghana on marketing information systems, buyer behavior, marketing culture, gaining and retaining customers, marketing intelligence and strategic marketing planning.
Kwabena serves on some of Boards and committees both public and private (i.e., Global Advisory Council of the Africa brand Summit, Koforidua Polytechnic, West Africa Examination Council and The Blessed Aged Fund-2010, Kasapreko Company Limited, Lapaz Community Hospital and Berock Group of Companies). He also acts as the Executive Secretary of the Ghana Advertisers Board (GAB) and Ag. Co-ordinator for Ghana Advertising and Media Research Foundation (GAMERF).
Dr Terence Sibiya
Qualifications: BSc (Information and Decision Systems) (Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA), MEd, EdD (Instructional Systems Design and Information Technology) (University of Pittsburgh, USA), AMP (Duke University) Terence was appointed to the Nedbank Group Exco in April 2020.
Dr Terence Sibiya
Before starting his current role in 2018, Terence was the Managing Executive of Client Coverage in Nedbank CIB. Before joining Nedbank in 2011 he was the Executive and Head of Power, Infrastructure, Construction, Oil, Gas and Renewable Energy in the Corporate and Investment Banking Division of the Standard Bank Group.
Lara Kayode
Ms Lara Kayode is the founder of the law firm of O. Kayode & Co based in Lagos, Nigeria. An IP boutique firm, her practice covers both corporate and commercial matters, with a particular emphasis on industrial and intellectual property law, and alternative dispute resolution with a special interest in mediation.
Lara studied law at the University of Buckingham, England, and at the QMW University of London, where she obtained an LLM in intellectual property law in 1994. She was admitted as a solicitor and barrister of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1992. She began her career as a practising lawyer in 1992 with one of the leading intellectual property law firms in Nigeria, and is today recognised as one of Nigeria’s leading trademark practitioners.
A CEDR-accredited mediator since 2005, Lara is a member of a number of associations including the Section of Business Law of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), PTMG, ITMA and AIPPI where she is the Vice President of the Nigerian National Group. Lara also practices Advertising Law and is a member of GALA.
Lara Kayode
Lara is an active and former Board member of INTA. She is the current subcommittee Chair of the SME Building Bridges Committee, and was previously the subchair of the Unreal Campaign Committee. She heads the Legal commission on the Management committee at the Lycee Francais Louis Pasteur in Lagos Nigeria.
As an active practitioner in the field of IP and an international speaker, Lara is currently ranked by Chambers and Partners, MIP IP Stars and she is a WTR Global Leader. In 2019, she received the prestigious INTA President’s Award. She is a published author of articles in global trademark Journals such as The Trademark Lawyer (CTC Legal Media) and the INTA Bulletin. Lara has authored a number of articles on trademarks including “IP Management in Nigeria: Trademarks & Designs” (World IP Review); “The growing necessity for the protection for service marks in Nigeria”; and “The legal remedies plaintiffs have in Nigeria to protect their products and trademarks” (World IP Review).
Gillian Hammah
Gillian has over 25 years’ experience in financial services. She leads a Marketing team comprised of project managers, copywriters, and graphic designers, plus a sales team of over 120 staff across 19 branches.
Prior to joining Databank, Gillian worked for Invesco Canada – a leading asset management firm in North America, with branches in over 20 countries. She has proven success creating and executing award-winning marketing campaigns, both in Canada – where she lived for 19 years – and in Ghana. Gillian is recognized for her strong management and strategic planning capabilities.
Gillian Hammah
She is inspiring and decisive and is motivated by excellence and results. She was recognized as one of the 50 most influential CMOs in Ghana for 2019. Gillian holds a Bachelor in Business Administration from York University (Canada) and a Masters in Marketing Strategy from the University of Ghana Business School. She is currently a Doctoral Candidate, pursuing a PhD in Business Administration at Nobel International Business School. She has been married for 24 years and has three children.
Natalia Vega-Berry
Natalia is the Founder of the Global Brain , a social impact not for profit creative incubator. A creative and visionary executive with a unique combined experience spanning over 25 years in the field of Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility, Marketing and Advertising. Natalia’s expertise is to focus on the integration of Climate and Sustainability Communications to promote and catalyze systemic change with a strong focus on Global Campaigns and advocacy.
During the past 8 years, Natalia has been widely recognized for her work creating innovative strategies, campaigns, films and experiential events in support of the United Nations, working with The Office of the UN Secretary General, The Office of the President of the UN General Assembly and the UN Global Compact. Natalia was named one of the “Top 10 Most influential Media and Communications Executives of 2015″ by the Media for Social Impact Summit, as she put her skills to work for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Climate Change.
Natalia Vega-Berry
She has experience collaborating internationally with partners in all fields of business from progressive Corporations to Humanitarian NGO’s, Government Agencies and Entrepreneurs to translate complex messages and stories that transform culture and inspires change. Natalia has a solid International experience in the Advertising and Media industry and as Executive Producer across multiple platforms: Films, Experiential, Interactive, Digital and Events.
She is part of the D&AD Impact Council, and has been a UN Strategic Advisor working in the field of advocacy for climate, the environment and our goals to reach 1.5 by 2030. Committed about innovating with purpose and creating disruptive solutions, she is currently developing The New Zero World, a multiyear action-oriented initiative born in response to the urgent need to shift the narrative on climate change to the “everything change” and reimagining the visions of the future, to elevate future-focused solutions and new emergence technologies to catalyze mainstream action for society and the planet.
The government is sure that by the end of the year, the country will have reached an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that will assist stabilize the economy and alleviate citizens of their current financial burdens.
Last Tuesday in Accra, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, stated that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo expected to meet the December deadline and that his administration was working to make that happen.
Addressing some bank executives and the media at an event to sign an agreement between selected financial institutions and the government for the YouStart programme, Mr Ofori-Atta said the President wanted the negotiations to be concluded and a deal secured before the 2023 Budget was laid before Parliament.
He said the timeline was to enable the government to incorporate the expected IMF programmes into the 2023 Budget for onward implementation from next year.
Next year’s budget is due to be presented by November 15.
Crunch time
Speaking about the government’s commitment to revive the economy, Mr Ofori-Atta said now was a crunch time for the government as it raced against time to secure a deal from the IMF.
“As you know, the President wants this thing to be done before the budget and the budget should be done by November 15. So, it is really a crunch time now,” the Finance Minister.
He said a team from the fund was expected in the country from September 26 to 27 for the second round of negotiations after which the discussions will continue in Washington D.C. during this year’s Annual General Meeting of the World Bank and the IMF from October 10 to 16.
The minister said although Zambia took three years to conclude negotiations for its programme, which was announced this September, Ghana was optimistic that it could seal a deal by December.
Ghana opened discussions with the IMF for a programme in July.
No murmurings
Mr Ofori-Atta said, “I think we are determined to do that (secure a deal by December) and we need, as a nation, to move beyond the murmurings and to understand that we can do that.
“It is quite encouraging but also shameful when you hear the IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, saying after meeting the President that we are determined to reach an agreement by the end of the year yet when you listen to our radio, you wonder whether we are friends or enemies of our own country,” he said.
He, however, said that enthusiasm was needed to pull the country out of the current challenges to build a stronger economy that can meet the growing needs of individuals and businesses.
Entrepreneurial instincts
Turning his attention to the YouStart, the Finance Minister said the initiative was the outcome of lessons learned from the covid-19 pandemic.
“Fundamentally, we had to adopt this approach because the pandemic taught us we must re-orient our approach towards structural transformation and react with a clear plan to ‘reap the benefits of our population dividend by building an entrepreneurial state,” he said
“This focus on building our young people’s skills and entrepreneurial ‘instincts’ is an informed one,” Mr Ofori-Atta said.
Joblessness
Mr Ofori-Atta said data showed that about 50 per cent of local employers reported misalignment of or inadequacy of skills in the market, with Mckinsey also reporting that at least 50 per cent of new tertiary institution entrants enrolled in programmes in sectors with little or no growth in the labour market.
He said the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) also suggested that the unemployment rate for those aged 15 to 35 was 19.7 per cent.
“Even for those who are perceived to be working, 50 per cent of them are classified as under-employed.
“These statistics underscore the dire need to resolve this spectre of youth unemployment across our communities.
“Inevitably, this leads us to today’s event, where the Government of Ghana, represented by the Ministry of Finance, will sign an agreement with the Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB) and 13 leading banks for the YouStart Commercial Programme.
“Never in our history has there been a commitment of this size and scale,” he said.
Benefits
Mr Ofori-Atta was optimistic that the programme would help to strengthen the links between education and job market stakeholders, provide access to finance, skills and markets for young entrepreneurs and grow the capacity of the private sector to create jobs.
“Undoubtedly, we all are responsible for ensuring that YouStart becomes the primary vehicle for creating a million jobs over the next three years,” the minister said.
Turning point
The Chief Executive Officer of the GAB, Mr John Awuah, said the signing ceremony marked a turning point for the YouStart financing model.
He said the banks and the government had worked tirelessly to put the programme together and expressed the hope that the implementation would be smooth.
Ghana coach Otto Addo has expressed his displeasure after his players showed lack of composure into of goal and always wanted to hammer the ball into the net against Nicaragua on Tuesday night
Sporting Lisbon winger Abdul Fatawu Issahaku scored the only goal of the match in the 35th minute of the encounter as the Black Stars bounced back to winning ways in Lorca, having lost 3-0 to Brazil last Friday.
Ghana wasted a plethora of chances in an unconvincing performance against the central American nation, who are 79 places behind them in the FIFA rankings.
Speaking after the game, coach Addo admitted his side should have scored more had they been clinical in front of goal.
“It is just like we have to be a little bit more composed, a little bit also more cool on the ball and sometimes we have to take some time and make another cut, maybe lay it off to a player who is in a position to score,” the 47-year-old said.
“We were also unlucky at some point not to score more goals and there goalkeeper did very well, and we have to be a little bit precise instead of always wanting to hammer the ball into the net, we have a young squad, a a lot of young players today, and a squad of new players, and this is quite normal.”
Ghana will play Switzerland in another preparatory game on November 17, seven days before their opening game at the World Cup against Portugal.
For extractive businesses and metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies, Ghana Extractives Industry Transparency International (GhEITI) has advocated the creation of a disaster and epidemic preparedness and response plan (MMDAs).
This will serve as a guide for developing future disaster response plans.
It recommended expanding the number of medical facilities nationwide in order to effectively handle upcoming pandemics.
The recommendation was contained in a study by GhEITI after it assessed the “Effects of COVID- 19 on the Petroleum and Mining Sector in Ghana.”
The study findings are intended to be used by stakeholders, both to support their recovery from the pandemic and prepare for future uncertainties.
Some findings
It emerged that due to the pandemic, extractive sector governance and statutory obligations (companies): governance mechanisms including routine engagement with community members, local authorities and stakeholders, were all suspended to reduce the risk of contracting the virus.
“For instance, application for permits and follow-up verification visits were hindered as a result of COVID-19 measures, including movement restrictions and closure of regulatory agencies’ offices.”
“At the sub-national level, local-level engagement between MMDAs and communities, which provided the platform for addressing mining communities’ grievances, were irregular,” it said.
According to the study, the slowdown of economic activities by the pandemic affected revenue mobilisation efforts of sub-national governments and hindered the delivery of public goods.
District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) releases to MMDAs were also severely constrained by the impact of the pandemic on central government revenue mobilisation and expenditure.
The study, however, revealed that mineral royalties were the most consistent government revenue stream for MMDAs during the pandemic.
Extractive sector
The study states that the extractive sector is a significant contributor to Ghana’s economy, and contributes about 14 per cent of the gross domestic product with more than 67 per cent of the economy’s incomes from export emerging from the sector.
Additionally, about 50 per cent of externally sourced investments into the economy come from the sector. Regarding tax revenue, the sector contributes the most. It accounts for about 18 per cent of government revenues, while contributing about two per cent to the country’s employment.
COVID-19 on production
Crude oil production in Ghana is sourced from the Jubilee, Tweneboa Enyenra, Ntomme (TEN) and Sankofa Gye Nyame fields.
According to the study, in 2020, a total of 66,926,806 bbls was produced from the three producing fields, representing about six per cent decline compared to the 2019 production figure of 71,439,585 bbls. This was as a result of production decline on the Jubilee and TEN fields.
As price of crude oil tumbled on the global market, petroleum revenue shortfall was inevitable. Crude oil benchmark price was reset to US$39 instead of its projected US$62.90 at the start of 2020.
“Overall, petroleum receipts declined to US$666.4 million (GHȻ3,838 million) in 2020, compared to the receipts of US$937.6 million (GHȻ4,899.91 million) in the same period in 2019.
“Declining petroleum revenues also affected transfers to the Ghana Heritage Fund (GHF) and the Ghana Stabilisation Fund (GSF). The GSF lost about US$1.9m of possible revenue, while the GHF and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) lost between US$78m and US$110m respectively in transfers.
The organisers of the annual Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) have released the nominations list for the 2022 event.
The Africa Movie Academy Awards nominations were unveiled at a media event in Lagos, Nigeria.
Speaking on behalf of the president of the AMAA Shaibu Husseini revealed that the Jury sat for over ten days for selection in Documentary films, animations, features and short stories.
The Ghanaian feature film ‘Borga’ leads the nominations list with 15 nods. South Africa’s ‘Surviving Gaza’ follows closely with 14 nominations.
The feature film, Borga, which is a collaboration of Ghanaian and German creatives, was nominated for some major awards including the overall Best Film, Best Film in an African Language, Best Director, Achievement in Screenplay, Cinematography, Visual Effects, Screenplay and Production Design.
Eugene Boateng who also doubles as the Associate Producer was nominated for the Best Actor in Leading Role.
The actor has already won the German Screen Actors Award for best actor in a leading role with the film.
Adjetey Anang scored a nomination in the Best Actor in Supporting Role category while actress Lydia Forson landed a nomination in the Best Actress in Supporting Role category.
Emmanuel Affadzi was nominated for the Best Young/Promising Actor award. Director York Fabian Raabe was nominated for the Best Director Award and the First Feature by a Director award.
Meanwhile, the Ghanaian film ‘Road To My Father’s Compound’ was nominated in five categories.
Aaron Adatsi was nominated for the Best Actor in Lead Role while his co-star Bless Fortune scored a nomination for Best Actress in Lead Role.
The director Benedict Yeboah was nominated for the First Feature by a Director award.
‘Road To My Father’s Compound’ also landed a spot in the Best Achievement in Cinematography and Best Achievement in Screenplay categories respectively.
The Africa Movie Academy Awards will come off on October 30 in Lagos.
JUBRIL MALAIFIA AMAA 2022 AWARD FOR BEST ANIMATION
On the Surface – Iceland
Opal – Martinique
Kenda – Cote D’Ivoire
No Way Out – Uganda
Skin Like Mine –USA
PTD – Nigeria
AMAA 2022 AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY
Taamaden – Mali
No Simple Way Home -Sudan
The Last Shelter – Mali
No U Turn – Nigeria
Transaction – Zimbabwe
Lobola, a Bride’s True Price?- South Africa
Africa Moot – South Africa
When a Farm Goes Aflame- Nigeria/Germany
AMAA 2022 OUSMANE SEMBENE AWARD FOR BEST FILM IN AN AFRICAN LANGUAGE
Borga – Ghana
Tug of War – Tanzania
Tembele – Uganda
Surviving Gaza – South Africa
Alaise – Nigeria
Medicine Man – Kenya
AMAA 2022 MICHAEL ANYIAM OSIGWE AWARD FOR BEST FILM BY AN AFRICAN-BORN DIRECTOR LIVING ABROAD
Tope Oshin – Here Love Lies
Obi Emelonye – Money Miss Road
York Fabian Raabe- Borga
Ogo Okpue – A song From the Dark
Robert Peters – The Scar
AMAA 2022 AWARD FOR BEST DIASPORA SHORT FILM
Contraband – USA
Slow Pulse – USA
Skin Like Mine – USA
AMAA 2022 AWARD FOR BEST DIASPORA DOCUMENTARY
The Rumba King – Peru
Wade in the Water – USA
The Sun Rises in the East – USA
AMAA 2022 AWARD FOR BEST DIASPORA NARRATIVE FEATURE
Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story – USA
The Sleeping Negro – USA
Not To Forget – USA
AMAA 2022 AWARD FOR BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION DESIGN
Tug Of War
Underbelly
Surviving Gaza
Borga
Swallow
AMAA 2022 AWARD FOR BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
Swallow
Underbelly
Tug of War
Tembele
Man of God
AMAA 2022 AWARD FOR BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKE-UP
Jolly Roger
A Song From The Dark
Surviving Gaza
Underbelly
Angeliena
AMAA 2022 BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUNDTRACK
Tembele
Ayaanle
Man of God
Surviving Gaza
Tug of War
Almajiri
AMAA 2022 BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
Koi-Koi: the Myth
Tug of War
Borga
Tinka’s Story
Surviving Gaza
Alaise
AMAA 2022 BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND
The Wave
Surviving Gaza
Swallow
Tug of War
Borga
Tembele
AMAA 2022 BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Tug of War
Tembele
Ayaanle
Surviving Gaza
Borga
Road To My Father’s Compound
AMAA 2022 AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING
Jolly Roger
Angeliena
Tug of War
Borga
Almajiri
Man of God
AMAA 2022 AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SCREENPLAY
Road to My Father’s Compound
Surviving Gaza
Jolly Roger
Tug of War
Borga
Tembele
AMAA 2022 NATIONAL FILM AND VIDEO CENSORS BOARD(NFVB) AWARD FOR BEST NIGERIAN FILM
Man of God
Alaise
Swallow
Jolly Roger
Almajiri
Money Miss Road
AMAA 2022 AWARD FOR BEST YOUNG/PROMISING ACTOR
Emmanuel Afffadzi – Borga
Kebirungi Agnes Knight – Tinka’s Story
Amina Mohammed – Ayaanle
Maryam Waziri Salihu – Almajiri
Samke Makhaba – Surviving Gaza
Emmanuel Kuye – Ba Ni (Mud Clan)
AMAA 2022 AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Aphiwe Mkefe – Surviving Gaza
Wale Ojo – A Song from the dark
Adjetey Annag – Borga
Tshamano Sebe – Angeliene
Toyin Osinaike – Jolly Roger
Segun Arinze – Almajiri
Josh2Funny – Money Miss Road
AMAA 2022 AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Lydia Forson – Borga
Samke Makhoba Surviving Gaza
Ijeoma Grace Agu – Swallow
Siti Amina -Tug of War
Maryam S Wazari – Ba Ni (Mud Clan)
Dorcas Shola Fapson – Man of God
Nse Ikpe Etim – A Song From The Dark
AMAA 2022 AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Patrick Nkakalukanyi -Tembele
Daniel Etim Effiong – Jolly Roger
Gudrun Colombus Mwanyika – Tug of War
Botlhale Mahlangu – Surviving Gaza
Eugene Boateng – Borga
Deyemi Okanlanwo – Swallow
Akah Nnani- Man of God
Aaron Adatsi – Road to My Father’s Compound
AMAA 2022 AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Euodia Samson – Angeliena
Bless Fortune – Road to My Fathers Compound
Osas Ighodaro – Man of God
Ronah Ninsiima – Tembele
Ikhlas Gafur Vora – Tug of War
Vanessa Vanderpuye – A song from the dark
Nanfuna Sharon – The Wave
Eniola Akinbo – Swallow
AMAA 2022 AWARD FOR FIRST FEATURE BY A DIRECTOR
Uga Carlini – Angeliena
York Fabian Raabe – Borga
Ogo Okpue – A Song From The Dark
Benedict Yeboah – Road to My Father’s Compound
AMAA 2022 AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR
Amil Sivji –Tug of War
York-Fabian Raabe – Borga
Bolanle Austen- Peters – Man of God
Vusi’Africa Sindane – Surviving Gaza
Uga Carlini – Angeliena
Walter Banger – Jolly Roger
Ahmed Farah – Ayaanle
Morris Mugisha – Tembele
AMAA 2022 AWARD FOR BEST FILM
Ayaanle – Somalia
Jolly Roger – Nigeria
Borga – Ghana
Angeliena – South Africa
Tug of War – Tanzania
Man of God – Nigeria
Surviving Gaza – South Africa
Tembele – Uganda
Ghanaian supporters are unhappy with the performance coach Otto Addo and have urged the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to sack him before the 2022 FIFA World Cup despite the 1-0 victory against Nicaragua.
The Black Stars bounced back to winning ways in Lorca on Tuesday, having lost 3-0 to Brazil last Friday.
Sporting Lisbon winger Abdul Fatawu Issahaku scored the only goal of the match in the 35th minute. Ghana wasted a plethora of chances in an unconvincing performance against the central American nation, who are 79 places behind them in the FIFA rankings.
Despite the victory, fans took to social media to call for the sacking of the 47-year-old.
“We need a coach with immediate effect,” Frank Nyame wrote on Facebook adding: “I initially had belief in Addo but his behaviour has demonstrated he has nothing in him.”
Owusu Rossel wrote: “Addo can’t help Ghana 🇬🇭 at the World Cup… it seems everyone is playing his own game… without teamwork,” while Seth Barimah Koranteng opined: “This coach with this great squad will gradually take us into a ditch 🥲🤣😂 he’s even confused.”
Conrad Donny Atakora voiced his concerns: “He’s not serious. We can’t be managing the Black Stars on part time. This man must go!,” while Citizen Immanuel-Best said: “Otto Addo is a scout. Appoint a coach for the Black Stars!”
Fiavi Elawoe wrote: “Anything called Addo leading Ghana is always a disaster,” while Francis Cudjoe explained: “We beg you Otto Addo, kindly step down for us to appoint a new coach before the World Cup, please.”
Ghana will play Switzerland in another preparatory game on November 17, seven days before their opening game at the World Cup against Portugal.
Ghanaian forward Kwame Peprah is reportedly close to leaving Orlando Pirates after just one season due to lack of playing time ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The 21-year-old, who joined Pirates from Ghana Premier League club King Faisal ahead of the start of the 2021/22 season scored nine goals last term for the Buccaneers – seven in the league, two in the CAF Confederation Cup.
Despite an impressive debut campaign, he has found himself slipping down the pecking order.
This season, Peprah has featured in only four matches for the Sea Robbers and is yet to find the back of the net.
With Gabadinho Mhango sold to AmaZulu and Tshegofatso Mabasa loaned out to Sekhukhune United, many would have expected Peprah to be leading the line for Pirates this season.
Instead though, the Sea Robbers have gone out and signed forwards Bienevu Eva Nga and Kermit Erasmus.
Now to add salt to Peprah’s wounds, the Soweto side are reportedly set to acquire the services of another over-30 striker to their ranks in ex-Bucs forward Ndumiso Mabena.
Peprah alongside Black Stars goalkeeper Richard Ofori played an instrumental role in Orlando Pirates’ 2021/22 CAF Confederation Cup campaign.
He won a silver medal after RS Berkane defeated Orlando Pirates in the final of the CAF Confederation Cup which was held in Oyo, Nigeria.
The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) have called for collaboration between the government and industries to chart a competitive path towards building a stronger economy for jobs and shared prosperity.
The AGI believed that the spill over from the Ukraine and Russia War, coupled with the adverse effects of COVID-19 could be mitigated through greater collaboration between the private and the public sectors for the industrial development of the country.
Mr Joseph Garbrah, the Chairman of the AGI, at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the Western and Central branches of the Association, said the private sector was a key engine in the country’s growth agenda and must be given the needed attention through well tailored policies and programmes.
The meeting hinged on: “Levering Public Private Collaboration to accelerate Sustainable Industrial Development,” sponsored by the EU Investment Promotion and Business Linkages Project.
Mr Garbrah said the much talked about sustainable industrial development should revolve around leveraging the private public sectors, finance and investment by companies and corporations.
“More largely it should be about leveraging resources, skills and knowledge that the private sector can bring to the table to support and implement sustainable industrial development,” he said.
Mr Francis Osei Kusi, a Business Development Linkages Expert, urged members of the AGI, particularly Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to be investment, export and Linkages ready through the right governance and best business practices.
He said the country could boast of many entrepreneurs but lacked well thought out business sustainable plans into the future.
“Most businesses have the wife and husband as the board with no proper structure…I remember my days with the Commercial Bank and the many businesses we helped in this region but, today, looking back, I can count only a few surviving,” Mr Kusi said.
He, therefore, encouraged them to develop their businesses to transcend generations.
Mr Seth Twum Akwaboah, the Chief Executive Officer of the AGI, encouraged the SMEs to develop the “eyes and nose” for investment opportunities and fully take advantage of them.
The AGI would continue to work to meet the needs of the business community through effective national and international engagements, he noted.
Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, the Western Regional Minister, reiterated the need for effective collaboration to develop innovative solutions for challenges facing companies.
He said the Government was working hard to deploy appropriate technologies and innovations in favour of businesses.
Some participants at the AGM said the revival of the Tema Oil Refinery must be a matter of concern to the government to reduce fuel cost on businesses.
They called for tax exemptions to encourage subnational start ups to create employment.
17 Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) failed to pay duties and taxes on 219,995,530 liters of petroleum products hauled for the period of January 2020 to December 2021, amounting to GH249,800,802.28.
The difference from the Integrated Customs Management System was detected in the Auditor General’s report on the audit of ministries, departments, and agencies (ICUMS).
28 Oil OMCs with rescheduled obligations totaling GH402,049,571.70 failed to pay them.
The law provides that a taxpayer may apply in writing to the Commissioner-General for an extension of time to pay tax under the tax law.
“A taxpayer may re-apply to the Commissioner–General before the end of the extension period but an extension of time to pay tax shall not exceed 12 months in aggregate. Where an extension is granted, and the taxpayer is permitted to pay by instalments and the taxpayer defaults in paying any of the instalments, the whole balance of the tax outstanding becomes payable immediately.”
The Auditor General in its report recommended that the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority should use legal means to recover the outstanding amount of GH¢402,049,571.70 from the OMCs involved.
Recover amount
It also directed the Commissioner, GRA Customs Division, to fully recover the amount of GH¢249,800,802.28 from the 17 OMCs without further delay.
On domestic tax revenue, the report revealed that 6,856 companies, business entities and individuals owed GH¢111,652,263.00 in corporate and individual income taxes from 2019 to 2021.
Also, Pay As You Earn (PAYE) totalling GH¢32,071,516.00, deducted on behalf of 3,121 employees, including 346 directors was not remitted to the Commissioner General for the 2019, 2020 and 2021 years of assessment, the report said.
“Our audit showed that 811 companies who filed their tax returns for 2019, 2020 and 2021 years of assessment failed to withhold taxes on goods and services procured amounting to GH¢43,471,511.50,” it added.
Retrieval of monies
Media reports, however, indicate that the Revenue Assurance, Compliance and Enforcement (RACE) of the Ministry of Finance has retrieved GH¢24.2 million as tax under recovery from some OMCs and a commercial bank.
This follows validation of tax payments for the lifting of refined petroleum products.
According to the Ministry, the RACE team concluded the first phase of engagements with 99 out of 117 OMCs to validate tax payments for the lifting of refined petroleum products.
The engagements involved GRA, the National Petroleum Authority, the Association of Oil Marketing Companies and some commercial banks.
Under the RACE initiative, the government has established a tax liability of GH¢62 million against a commercial bank out of which ¢14.3 million has been recovered. Furthermore, about ¢9.9 million has been recovered from some OMCs.
Ghana deputy captain Richard Ofori has pleaded with Ghanaians to have faith in the Black Stars despite uninspiring performance during the international break.
The Black Stars engaged in two international friendlies against Brazil and Nicaragua during the break.
Ghana lost 3-0 to Brazil and recovered to beat Nicaragua 1-0 on Tuesday in Spain through a strike from Abdul Fatawu Issahaku.
A chunk of Ghanaian fans were unhappy about the performances of the Black Stars in the two friendlies played.
But the Orlando Pirates goalkeeper in an interview pleaded with Ghanaians to have faith in the team.
“We won 1-0 and the positive thing about this game is that we created a lot of chances. We beg Ghanaians to have faith in this team and support us.”, he told Peace FM.
Ghana will play one final preparatory game in November against Switzerland before jetting off to the Mundial where they face Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea in Group H of the 2022 World Cup.
Spain international, Nico Williams has said he wished his senior brother, Inaki Williams the best of success playing for Ghana.
Inaki made his debut for Ghana against Brazil in an international friendly in France last weekend.
The Athletic Bilbao forward was in action as the Black Stars secured a narrow win over Nicaragua in their second friendly game on Tuesday evening in Spain.
Nico, on the other hand, earned his debut Spain call-up last week and came on in the second half as La Roja fell to a 2-1 defeat to Switzerland.
However, the youngster provided an assist as the 2010 world champions defeated Portugal to book a place in the semifinals of the UEFA Nations League.
Nico speaking in an interview said they both made the right decisions, insisting he wishes his senior brother excels with Ghana.
“It was a natural decision, each one took their path and made their decision in a thoughtful way,” Nico said, as quoted by Joy Sports.
“I am very happy that my brother is in Ghana, I wish him things to go well, that he can have a great World Cup and achieve the highest goals.”
Meanwhile, Spain boss Enrique says his decision to hand Nico a call-up is not a ploy to prevent the youngster from playing for Ghana.
“I’m not doing this to stop him from going with Ghana; he’s young and a very interesting player,” Enrique is quoted as saying by The Guardian.
“He’s playing more often with Athletic now. He’s progressing wonderfully. I like him enormously. We’ve had him in the junior squad and have been following him for a long time.
“I reckon the family will be delighted: imagine the party if they both go to the World Cup. And they reach the final, well, that would be the absolute business,” he added.
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research – Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR-SARI) has showcased improved groundnut varieties to farmers to help improve productivity.
It was undertaken during a field day trip to the Tingoli community in the Northern Region, which was in partnership with the Ministry of Food Agriculture (MoFA) with resource support from the WOTRO Organization.
Mr Abdul Rashid Issah, Seed Technologist at CSIR-SARI, speaking during the field demonstration, said it sought to educate and showcase to farmers the need to adopt improved seed varieties for higher yields.
He mentioned the improved seed varieties, which included SARI NUT two and CHINESE NUT introduced by CSIR-SARI to the Farmers in 2018 to enhance groundnut production in six districts in the northern sector, which included Tolon, Kumbungu, Binduri, Nadowli-Kaleo, Central Gonja and East Gonja.
He said the varieties grew well and early compared to other groundnut varieties which took longer days to mature.
Mr Issah said, “SARI NUT two has 45 per cent oil and 36 per cent protein, high yield with 11.3 per cent CP, suitable for use as confectionery.”
He encouraged farmers to adopt the new varieties to secure and improve their farms to enable them to harvest more yields.
He stated that the varieties were adaptable to climate change and high in protein and oil, better drought tolerance and long storage span, especially the SARI Nut two variety.
A farmer from Tolon District, who planted the improved groundnut varieties, said he harvested 16 bags from an acre of land from the SARI Nut two variety compared to the available variety, which produced three to five bags on the same land size.
Sports Minister, Mustapha Ussif was left to rue missed chances in the Black Stars narrow win over Nicaragua on Tuesday night.
The Black Stars engaged in two international friendlies against Brazil and Nicaragua during the break.
Ghana lost 3-0 to Brazil but recovered to beat Nicaragua 1-0 on Tuesday in Spain through a strike from Abdul Fatawu Issahaku.
Speaking after the game, the Minister for Sports lamented the Black Stars’ missed chances in the game.
“We were expecting more goals in the game but at the end of the day we created a lot of chances but couldn’t convert them into goals,” Mustapha Ussif said in an interview with Max TV.
He added that the Black Stars would continue to strive to build a formidable team for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
“This is a process, we are building a team and I know that by the time we get to Abu Dhabi where we are going to have our final game, the team would have been so good and Ghanaians would see the difference,” he stated.
The War Memorial Hospital in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality of the Upper East Region is in dire need of an autoclave to ensure effective infection control and prevention, to achieve quality healthcare.
The District Hospital, which is a major referral facility in the Municipality and other adjoining districts, has only one autoclave which has become obsolete, posing threat to efforts to deal with emergency cases.
Management of the Hospital told the Ghana News Agency in Navrongo, that the old autoclave could no longer perform quality sterilisation and needed to be replaced.
It, therefore, appealed to the government, Non-Governmental Organisations, institutions, and individuals to assist the hospital with an autoclave to deliver quality healthcare to clients.
An Autoclave is a machine used before surgical procedures to perform sterilisation to kill harmful bacteria, viruses, fungi and spores on items to be used for surgical operations.
Dr Eric Wedam, the Medical Superintendent of the Hospital, said during multiple cases of deliveries and surgeries, health staff were always compelled to use other alternative means of sterilisation which was not the best.
“Currently, we have a special need for an autoclave, it is a machine which is used to sterilise instruments to make sure that we do clean surgeries.
So, if you have an autoclave which is not working well, it means the level at which you sterilise your instruments may be doubtful because the one we have currently is old and will need to be replaced,” he lamented.
The Medical Superintendent expressed the fear that the lives of patients particularly pregnant women and people who needed surgeries could be at risk should the current autoclave break down.
“The issue is that what we have is obsolete and once it breaks down operations have to stop, so you can imagine where you need to take care of a woman who is struggling to deliver and no woman is allowed to die at childbirth and the issue you have to deal with is that you could not sterilise your instruments because you do not have the machine,” he lamented.
He said the hospital needed at least two autoclaves, “so that when one breaks down the other one takes over but, in this case, we have only one which is too old.”
The Medical Superintendent said management had been able to acquire Blood Pressure checking equipment but was still struggling to pay, adding “the autoclave is so much more expensive, and we cannot actually get someone to give it to us and we pay in instalments.”
He further mentioned the issue of congestion in the wards impeding quality healthcare delivery and appealed for support to renovate an old ward which was in a deplorable state.
In order to prepare future members of the national service for deployment to user agencies, the National Service Secretariat (NSS) and the Kosmos Innovation Centre (KIC) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU).
Under the terms of the agreement, which will be carried out through the Kosmos Innovation Centre Incubation Hub, graduates from universities all over the nation will be groomed by businesses through the KIC programs by providing them with knowledge and resources that will adequately prepare them for opportunities in the future.
It would also enable service persons deployed to the KIC programme to acquire career development skills and empower them to start high-potential ventures in the agriculture sector in the country.
A joint press release issued in Accra by NSS and KIC on September 18 said “the initiative will also help imbibe the essence of entrepreneurship in these graduates and potentially recruit them into the very prospective field.”
Mentees under the programme eligible for national service who successfully start businesses will be registered onto the scheme to undertake their service within their startups.
It will provide placement opportunities for upcoming service personnel through ventures created from the partnership between the NSS and KIC.
Unemployment rate
The Executive Director of KIC, Benjamin Gyan-Kesse, in the press release, expressed concern about the increasing rate of unemployment in the country.
He said it was essential for a structured programme involving public-private partnership to bridge the knowledge and skills gap among graduates.
He stated that apart from enabling the startups under the mentorship of KIC to scale up by providing them labour, the initiative was also KIC’s module to add value to graduates.
He commended NSS for its commitment to the project.
“I applaud the National Service Secretariat for considering this a viable venture to partner. Their support to post National Service Personnel to use their service period to develop and grow businesses within the KIC landscape is highly plausible.
This partnership brings heightened optimism and excitement that we hope to channel into breaking the chain of graduate unemployment by providing unparalleled technical opportunities to graduates while supporting small businesses to thrive,” the Executive Director of KIC said in the release.
Collaboration
The Executive Director of the National Service Secretariat, Osei Assibey Antwi, also stated in the release that his organisation was committed to collaborating with key public and private agencies to provide employment opportunities for NSS personnel after their service period.
“The deficit we are facing in the employment scene in Ghana could be curbed when we adequately equip the youth to venture into entrepreneurship, even better when it is agripreneurship.
We are very thrilled to be on board this project,” he said in the release.
Ghanaian international Francis Amuzu has expressed his excitement after signing a new contract at RSC Anderlecht.
Today, Tuesday, September 28, the Belgian club officially announced that the player has inked a contract extension deal to stay at the club for the next three years.
“Francis Amuzu signed a contract extension until 2025, the deal including an option for an extra year.
“Despite the interest of several foreign clubs, Cis decided to renew his contract with his childhood club,” RSC Anderlecht announced today.
Speaking after inking the new deal, Francis Amuzu noted that he is happy with the decision. According to him, he is going to focus on doing more to give back to the club and the fans.
“I can truly feel that both the club and the coach are counting on me. I am very happy with the trust they place in me. It makes me proud to be able to renew my contract here. I hope I can give back even more to the fans,” Francis Amuzu said as quoted on the official website of RSC Anderlecht.
Volta Regional Director, Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Alexander Nketia, says data from eight out of 10 tourist sites as of August 2022, generated a revenue of about GHC 315,410,000 in terms of revenue to the various tourist sites and communities.
He said during the same period, there were about 22,181 domestic and 4,921 foreign or international tourists.
Mr Nketia, during this year’s United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) World Tourism Day held in Wa, said the Volta region was a microcosm of Ghana that had everything that tourists would want to experience in Ghana and had not been performing badly of late.
He said tourism was impacting the communities, which would help a lot of people in the communities and was growing since the rollout of the “Visit Volta and Experience Ghana” campaign with the help of all stakeholders.
He said the number of visits recorded by the end of last year was about 27,000 while in terms of revenue, the sites generated about GHC290,000 which showed that there had been a remarkable improvement in 2022.
Mr Nketia said road network, lack of telecommunication network and internet connectivity were challenges for sites in the regions, as most tourist sites did not have the requisite level of development or infrastructure to improve the experience of guests.
Mr Nketia said the government through the Tourism Ministry and Ghana Tourism Authority with support from the World Bank were trying their best to improve some tourist sites including the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary and Cultural Village and Afadjato in Liati Wote and Gbledi.
He said there was also development taking place at Wli, where they were trying to work on bridges leading to the falls, install CCTV cameras and train staff to enhance the expectations of guests.
Mr Nketia said there was also work on the improvement of the information centre facility and some enhancement of the waterfront to make it more experiential for guests.
He said some more sites in the regions would also benefit from the improvement and there would be the provision of customer or guest receptive facilities at sites to improve or ease the comfort of guests as well as interpretation of languages of guests.
He called on the public, especially those in the regions, to participate in local tourism by making domestic tourism a thing for all and at least visit a site around them once every week.
The 2022 celebration is themed, “Rethinking Tourism” which focuses on how tourism recovery could be accelerated through a collaborative engagement of all stakeholders around a shared vision to build a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient sector.
As part of the celebration, Ghana has developed a sub-theme dubbed; “Promoting Domestic Tourism for Wealth Creation in Communities to grow the interest of Ghanaians in tourism.”
Ghana deputy captain Richard Ofori has pointed out some positives from the Black Stars narrow win over Nicaragua on Tuesday night.
The Black Stars engaged in two international friendlies against Brazil and Nicaragua during the break.
Ghana lost 3-0 to Brazil and recovered to beat Nicaragua 1-0 on Tuesday in Spain through a strike from Abdul Fatawu Issahaku.
A chunk of Ghanaian fans were unhappy about the performances of the Black Stars in the two friendlies played.
But the Orlando Pirates goalkeeper in an interview said the good thing about the team is that they were able to create a lot of chances
national team ahead of the mundial.
“We won 1-0 and the positive thing about this game is that we created a lot of chances. We beg Ghanaians to have faith in this team and support us.”, he told Peace FM.
Ghana will play one final preparatory game in November against Switzerland before jetting off to the Mundial where they face Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea in Group H of the 2022 World Cup.
Built on mutual trust for development, bilateral trade volume between Ghana and China peaked at US$9.57billion in 2021 from US$6.67billion in 2017, the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Lu Kun has disclosed.
Representing a 12 per cent year-on-year increase, China’s direct investment also increased by US$15 million, making Ghana, China’s largest trading partner in Africa.
The Chinese Ambassador disclosed this at a durbar to commission a 22-km Cape Coast inner city road infrastructure funded by the Chinese government through the Sinohydro agreement.
He attributed the steady rise in trade and investments to the strong demand for Chinese products by Ghanaians as well as measures put in place by both countries to leverage the long-standing relations.
The Vice-President, Dr Mohamudu Bawumia, together with Mr Kwasi Amoako Atta, Roads and Highways Minister joined the chiefs of the Area to commission the road project aimed at expanding access to ease traffic and accelerate development.
Elated by the increasing trade volumes between China and Ghana, the Ambassador said: “These are not just numbers, but a symbol of China-Ghana friendship we value and cherish.”
“The China-Ghana ties have been kept on a sound momentum of high-level bilateral exchanges and ever-increasing trust built on mutual strong conviction for development.
“The decades of solid relations remain a springboard for a win-win China-Ghana cooperation hinged on consolidating bilateral traditional friendship, deepening pragmatic cooperation, and broad consensus building on issues of mutual concern,” he stated.
The Chinese Ambassador indicated that China and Ghana have always supported each other on issues concerning their core and major interests, keeping close cooperation in the international and regional arena and thus safeguarding the relationship.
Through that, Mr Kun said the Chinese government had financed, partnered, and executed several critical national projects relating to the economic growth and the livelihood of people in Ghana.
Key among them are the National Theatre, office complexes of the Foreign Ministry and Defence Ministry, the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho and the Cape Coast Sports Stadium.
Others are the Atuabo Gas Processing Project, Bui Dam, and Kpong Water Supply Expansion Project, Asogli Power Plant, and Africa World Airline (AWA) which have played a key role in resolving the power shortage and promoting the interconnection of the sub-region.
Lately, the Chinese equipment and technologies have accelerated the pace of integration with local enterprises and capital, bringing into being several local star enterprises and adding fuel to the enthusiasm for Ghana’s cooperation with China.
On people-to-people exchanges, he said cultural exchanges were close and ever-increasing on mutual understanding, as wood sculpture, music, and dance, among other forms of tourists, enjoyed high popularity among Chinese tourists.
Mrs Justina Marigold Assan said the completion of roads was key to the region’s investment drive to become the preferred investment destination in the country.
She said the Region remained the most preferred destination in Ghana’s quest to continuously attract investment from the Diaspora.
Jobberman Ghana, a recruiting and human resources company, has declared its tenth anniversary in the nation to assess its role to enhancing and digitizing the HR process there.
The event will also highlight how the company matched businesses with the top candidates so they could recruit the appropriate fit more quickly by combining improved versions of human and automated solutions.
With a database of over 800,000 job seekers, Jobberman for the past decade has connected over 180,162 qualified candidates to employers in the country.
It will be held on the theme “10 years of supporting businesses’ growth with excellent human resources”.
Discount
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the firm, Hilda Nimo – Tieku, in an interview with the media in Accra, expressed utmost joy as the company marks a decade of success in the recruitment space in Ghana.
She said the company was offering a 10 per cent discount on all its recruitment and HR solutions for employers, as well as a 10 free professional CV rewrite for job seekers from September 20th to 30th.
“For the past 10 years, Jobberman has literally changed the lives of over 180,162 job seekers in Ghana by connecting and placing them in their dream jobs.
“As a business, we have impacted an average of 25, 390 businesses, including government agencies, non-governmental agencies, and the formal and the informal sector in Ghana by offering recruitment solutions that allow them to hire the best and brightest talents to grow their business,” she said.
Profound gratitude
Ms Tieku also expressed her profound gratitude to all clients of Jobberman for believing in the brand and patronising its recruitment and HR solutions for the past 10 years.
“As we commemorate this August day of our 10th, on behalf of the Jobberman Ghana team, I say thank you to all our clients trusting us with your recruitment and needs, and also to our partners, thank you for believing in our brand.
“The Jobberman brand has come this far through the collaborative efforts of both past and present employees. Especially to the present employees, a hearty appreciation to you all,” she added.
About Jobberman
Jobberman Ghana was established in the country in 2012 and seeks to transform productivity in West Africa.
It used a bespoke mix of human and automated solutions to match employers with the best candidates, so they can hire the right fit, faster.
Jobberman Ghana is currently a part of the African Talent Company (TATC).
Just a few months after Kenan Thompson filed for divorce from Christina Evangeline, the latter is dating Thompson’s former Saturday Night Live co-star Chris Redd.
According to TMZ, Redd and Evangeline “became official within the past year, and there was no overlap or cheating when it happened.” Although Thompson filed for Evangeline, his wife of 11 years, in May, the couple had been separated for a few years.
“We’re told Kenan’s aware of his ex’s romance with Chris and has no hard feelings – he’s apparently moved on and is happily dating other people,” TMZ noted.
The news arrives several months after the couple’s separation was announced. Back in May, it was reported that Thompson and his estranged wife have agreed to joint custody of their two daughters, 3-year-old Gianna and 7-year-old Georgia.
Sources told TMZ in May that the couple had been separated “over a year now,” and had been successfully co-parenting their children as they worked on separate coasts. Insiders didn’t provide details on the couple’s split, stating they “simply grew apart, but are able to remain great friends.”
Thompson, 44, reportedly met Evangeline, 33, while she was working as an interior designer. They tied the knot in November 2011 in an Atlanta ceremony. The SNL star spoke about his family during a 2020 interview with People magazine, while promoting his Apple+ documentary film, Dads.
Thompson joined SNL 2003, and is now the longest-running cast member. Meanwhile, Redd revealed last week that he’s leaving SNL after five seasons on the show.
A one-day training program was held in Accra to help 60 small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) develop the skills necessary to defend their brands from theft.
The Accra Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), in collaboration with the Ghana Industrial Property Office, is holding the workshop in an effort to raise awareness of intellectual property as a tool for enhancing creativity and innovations.
Discussions on ways to advance and defend intellectual property rights in the nation and at the regional level, particularly in the framework of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, were made available to participants (AfCFTA).
Running a business
The Chairperson of the chamber, Nana Agyenim Boateng, at a meeting in Accra on September 14, observed that running a business in the country keeps getting tougher and harder by the day.
“For this reason, I cherish every opportunity to network and engage with great minds like you here because by this, we learn off each other to grow our businesses.
“Today we get to tackle a very important topic critical to the future of our businesses, thus intellectual property,” he said.
He said the focus of the meeting would primarily be on industrial property rights which borders on the protection of investments in product development, brand or design and the exclusive rights to prevent others from using protected design or invention.
He said a lot of businesses have lost huge sums of money through unending legal tussles in a bid to protect what’s rightfully theirs.
“And now with the commencement of AfCFTA and subsequent opening of our markets to the whole continent, there could not have been a better time than now to train on intellectual property rights.
“For this reason, the chamber has invited personnel from the Ghana Industrial Property Office to lead us in this important discussion.
“Also, in the spirit of networking and doing business among ourselves, we have arranged a mini-exhibition to display member products and services outside. We encourage all of us here to take a stroll to their tables and patronise the items on display,” he said.
Building competencies
The Accra Regional Manager of the chamber, Daniel Osei Torgbor, in an interview with the Graphic Business after the meeting, stated that the programme offered opportunity for businesses to build up competitiveness and capacity to protect their products and services against theft with the advent of the single market.
He said the programme was part of the chamber’s monthly engagement with its members and as such were treated to topics of interest on how they could scale up their businesses and navigate through challenges.
“For this month, we are focusing on intellectual property to help members understand what intellectual property was all about,” he said.
Mr Torgbor said this would enable businesses to protect their products and services from being pirated.
“With the advent of AfCFTA, we thought that as our market is going to open, we need to secure our products against pirates,” the Regional Manager said.
Converse has added Baby Keem to its endorsement roster, with the Grammy-winning rapper confirming the partnership on Instagram today.
According to Converse, this is the first time Keem has collaborated with any brand. To kick off their partnership, Keem has produced a short film with the brand. The video shared by the rapper highlights Keem holding up two significant items to him, including a cassette tape marked with the text “LP #2” and a black pair of Chuck Taylor All Stars.
Baby Keem joins a deep roster of Converse endorsers that includes Alexis Sablone, Draymond Green, Kendrick Lamar’s pgLang, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Natasha Cloud, and Tyler, The Creator.
While the terms of Baby Keem’s Converse deal weren’t disclosed, fans can expect him to be featured in various brand campaigns moving forward.
The Chinese yuan has fallen to new record lows in relation to the rising US dollar.
The yuan, which is traded worldwide, dropped to its lowest level since statistics started to be made accessible in 2011.
The value of the local currency in China fell to its lowest level since the world financial crisis of 2008.
After the US central bank raised interest rates once more earlier this month, the dollar has been strengthening versus a number of other major currencies.
Major stock market indices across Asia experienced a steep decline on Wednesday.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index closed 1.5% lower, while the Kospi in South Korea ended the day China’s central bank has been trying to slow the yuan’s slide by making it more expensive to bet against the currency. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) also cut how much foreign currency banks have to hold.
Many investors see the dollar as a safe place to put their money in times of trouble.
That has helped to drive up its value against other currencies, including the British pound – which hit an all-time low against the dollar on Monday.
Also on Wednesday, the dollar reached a fresh 20-year high against a closely-watched group of leading global currencies.
The yuan’s slide is yet another example of a currency weakening as a result of the strong dollar.
It is also about the very different paths China and the United States are taking in response to economic issues at home.
The PBOC has been easing interest rates to revive growth in an economy ravaged by Covid lockdowns, while the US Federal Reserve is moving aggressively in the opposite direction as it tries to control inflation.
Such a divergence is not wholly problematic, Joseph Capurso, head of international and sustainable economics at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia told the BBC.
The fall in the currency’s value can actually be helpful for exporters within China, he said, because it would make their goods cheaper and so could increase demand.
That said, exports only make up 20% of the Chinese economy these days, so a weak yuan will not turn around fundamental weakness domestically largely caused by Beijing’s zero-Covid strategy and a property crisis, said Mr Capurso.
A weaker currency can also lead to investors pulling their money out of the country and uncertainty in financial markets – something Chinese officials will want to avoid with the Communist Party Congress coming up next month, when its president Xi Jinping is expected to secure an unprecedented third term in office.
The yuan’s fall has caused weakness in other currencies of developed economies in the region, including the Australian and Singapore dollar as well as the South Korean won.
Last week, the Bank of Japan intervened to support the yen for the first time since 1998, after the currency weakened against the dollar.
Asia’s emerging markets are vulnerable too – as they sell raw materials and components to China’s factories and so have increasingly become dependent on the yuan.
Washington has in the past accused China of intentionally devaluing its currency to keep exports cheap and imports from the US expensive.
While the strong dollar has rattled world markets, it is unlikely to deter the Fed from continuing to raise rates.
“The strong dollar is working for the US market,” Dimitri Zabelin at the London School of Economics’ foreign policy think-tank said.
“It will be a consideration but it will not weigh as heavy as domestic concern about inflation.”
An arrest is reported to have been made in connection with the ongoing investigation into the murder of PnB Rock.
Per a regional NBC report, the Los Angeles Police Department has “made at least one arrest” in the case. A second individual alleged to have been involved in the murder, identified as Freddie Lee Trone, is said to still be at large.
TMZ also reported on the identification of Trone, adding that police have described him as “armed and dangerous.”
Complex has reached out to an LAPD rep for additional comment.
PnB Rock, 30, was fatally shot during a robbery at a restaurant in Los Angeles on Sept. 12. “The victim was sitting at a table eating with a female witness when he was approached by the suspect,” LAPD Captain Kelly Muniz said at the time, adding that the suspect ultimately “brandished a firearm and demanded his property.”
Drake, Nicki Minaj, Trippie Redd, Meek Mill, Yg, and more later paid tribute to Rock. In a since-removed IG post, Trippie remembered Rock’s early words of encouragement and proposed that record labels should take on the responsibility of hiring guards for artists.
“That’s one thing I used to tell [XXXTentacion] is let’s stop riding around in the i8 just me and u,” Trippie said.
Former captain of Hearts of Oak, Yaw Amankwah Mireku is unhappy about the sacking of coach Samuel Boadu.
The leadership of the Phobians on Tuesday announced the sacking of the former Medeama SC gaffer and his backroom staff after failing to win a game in the new season.
But according to Amankwah Mireku, the club should have been patient with the coach who won five trophies in his two years with the team.
“For me, I wasn’t happy with the news. I don’t think he (Boadu) should’ve been sacked because he won 5 trophies in 2 seasons. This is a club that had won nothing in a decade,” said Amankwah Mireku on Peace FM.
Boadu’s last game was against Asante Kotoko, with the Phobians earning a late draw in Kumasi.
Meanwhile, the club have named U20 coach Nii Noi to be in charge of the club ahead of the game against Gold Stars on Sunday.
Hearts of Oak will face Real Bamako in the CAF Confederation Cup on October 8, 2022.
An agreement with the IMF is anticipated to increase investor confidence as Ghana’s fiscal and debt vulnerabilities intensify in the face of a challenging external environment.
According to a recent announcement made by the Ghana Statistical Service, July saw an increase in Ghana’s inflation rate to 31.6%, the highest level in 20 years.
The country’s already fragile economy has recently been significantly damaged by increases in food and gasoline prices as well as supply-chain shocks brought on by the conflict in Ukraine, forcing discussions with the IMF about a seventeenth bailout.
The price of diesel has more than doubled in one year, while petrol has increased by 83.2 per cent, provoking a hike in transport costs, with a rollover effect on the price of basic commodities.
Households in Ghana now deal with higher prices of imported and local food items: grapes, cooking oils, wheat flour, millet, Bambara beans, and watermelon are at least 50 per cent more expensive than last year. The prices of solid fuels such as firewood or charcoal increased by more than 80 per cent between 2021 and 2022.
The current energy crisis has a twofold effect on Ghana. As oil is the second most exported product in Ghana – $2.71bn in 2020 – after gold ($5.93bn) and before cocoa beans ($1.28bn), the country’s petroleum industry is benefiting from the global surge in oil prices.
In the first half of 2022, the only revenue which exceeded the government’s budgetary assumptions was oil revenue, while cocoa production declined sharply compared to last year.
Paradoxically, however, Ghana relies heavily on refined oil imports for its domestic consumption. The only refinery in the country, Tema Oil Refinery, has a limited capacity of 30,000 barrels per day (bpd), whereas the country produces approximately 170,000 bpd of crude oil designated for exports.
Existing challenges exacerbated
This reliance on imports is exacerbating a precarious economic situation fuelled by high state spending prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although inflation is a global phenomenon – the US inflation rate has almost quadrupled in the past two years – it has disproportionally affected Ghana since the start of the Ukraine war.
Apart from Nigeria, in which inflation rate rose by 18.6 per cent in June, other West African countries have experienced a much lower rise in the prices of goods. The inflation rates of Togo and Côte d’Ivoire, two of Ghana’s neighbouring countries, rose by only 5.4 per cent and 6.8 per cent respectively during the month of June.
“Even though countries are subject to similar economic shocks, they are experiencing different effects because of the pre-existing condition of the state of the economy before the shock hit,” the assistant professor of economics at Niagara University in Toronto, Dennis Nsafoah, explained.
In the case of Ghana, the country’s fiscal position was already a challenge before the COVID-19 crisis hit, with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 64 per cent in 2019, the reason being that, at the time, the government entered a phase of substantial public spending.
Two major fiscal policy measures have weighed on the government’s budget deficit: the clean-up of the banking sector, which saw a reduction in the number of banks, and the abolition of fees for senior high school, meaning that costs for education were assumed by the government for students between 15 and 18.
“The government’s strategy was to push the economy to reach certain objectives, which were to benefit the population in the long run, but they could not have anticipated the successive economic shocks that were to come,” says Mr Nsafoah.
“These programmes have eliminated Ghana’s fiscal space, and the country was thus severely hit by the economic downturn resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.”
According to the IMF, Ghana’s public debt increased from 65 per cent to 80 per cent of GDP during the global pandemic.
“The government’s fiscal efforts to preserve debt sustainability were not seen as sufficient by investors, leading to credit rating downgrades, non-resident investors exit from the domestic bond market and loss of access to international capital markets,” says the Washington-based institution.
In addition, Ghana’s currency, the Cedi, has lost 47.1 per cent against the dollar since the beginning of the year, making it the worst-performing currency in Africa after Zimbabwe’s dollar, and contributing to the inflation of imported products.
How to counter rising inflation?
In response to an ever-increasing budget deficit, the Central Bank of Ghana has sold foreign assets to support the economy.
As a consequence, Ghana’s net foreign assets went from $3bn in May 2021 to a negative value of $126m in May 2022, according to the Bank of Ghana’s last monthly monetary survey.
Traditionally, Ghana’s balance of payments has experienced a current account deficit. In recent years its financial and capital account has remained relatively high as a result of foreign portfolio investment and foreign direct investment, mainly in the country’s cocoa, gold, and petroleum industries. However, about three months ago, Ghana’s capital account figures went negative as a result of the sales of all of its international reserves by the Bank of Ghana.
“This is not sustainable. The Bank of Ghana cannot replicate this model for the next half of 2022, or it will run out of international reserves, which will scare a lot of investors,” Mr Nsafoah argued.
“It is time for the fiscal government, namely the Ministry of Finance, to find a way to go on the international market and borrow on its own, instead of relying on the Bank of Ghana,” Mr Nsafoah said.
But because Ghana has missed its budget target several times in recent years, credit-rating agencies have constantly downgraded the country, making it difficult to attract investors.
On August 10, Fitch Ratings downgraded Ghana to CCC from B-, right after S&P lowered Ghana’s local and foreign currency credit ratings to CCC+/C from B-/B.
In response, the government said credit-rating agencies were preventing the country from accessing global capital markets.
“We are disappointed by S&P’s decision to downgrade Ghana despite the bold policies implemented in 2022 to address macro fiscal challenges and debt sustainability,” Ghana’s Ministry of Finance said at the time. — African Business
It wasn’t quite the asteroid that wiped out humanity in Don’t Look Up, but Canadian Julie Bellerose was at the controls of a NASA space probe that deflected an asteroid during a planetary defence test.
On Sept. 26, a space probe called Dart hit an asteroid moving faster than 22,500 km/h, millions of kilometres away from the planet.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Bellerose said she said she “shed a tear” and was “relieved to see that everything went well.”
The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said the goal of the mission was to hit the Dimorphos asteroid and change its trajectory. While this asteroid caused no immediate danger to Earth, they conducted the test to see how its direction would change in case an asteroid one day threatened to hit the Earth.
Bellerose is from Sainte-Julie, Quebec and developed an interest in space during her teens. She’s also a big Star Wars fan. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at McGill University and got her Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan.
The probe was launched last November. The $325 million USD mission was NASA’s first attempt to move an asteroid in space.
The young gaffer is is expected to lead the club ahead of the start of the 2022/23 Division League campaign.
WAFA suffered relegation at the end of the 2021/22 season and will be looking ward for a quick return to the Ghana Premier League.
However, the club have appointed the young gaffer who holds CAF License B holder certificate to lead the course.
He joins the Academy boys from Division Two side Mountaineers FC, a club based in Kweiman, Accra.
Barnabas Awuni will be assisted by former Akatsi Kickers FC head coach Alex Amezah who’s also a course mate under the supervision of the academy young technical director coach Sadiq Abubakar.
Awuni nearly joined Daboase based club Skyy FC after helping them with recruitment for the season but negotiations fell through later on.
He previously guided Vision FC to secure their qualification to the Ghana Division One in 2014-15 season which they were unbeaten in all 5 matches in their middle league at Tema Sports Stadium
This was after he returned from Thailand with Chonburi FC Academy side and stayed a season with Vision in the second-tier for 2015-16 season.
He later joined Tudu Mighty Jets FC as an assistant coach in the 2016-17 season before heading to Ghana Angles Soccer Academy at Prampram for two years from 2017 to 2019.
He also had few months spell in Benin Division 2 side Olympic Sports de Parakou before joining Mountaineers for three years from 2019 to 2022.
Awuni joins the Zone Two (2) side for the first time and ready for the challenge ahead and have been tasked to lead the academy boys to gain promotion back to the Ghana Premier League.
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has granted permission for Chipper Cash, a cross-border payments app used by over five million individuals in Africa and its diaspora, to offer remittance services from the US to the nation.
After receiving an Enhanced Payment Service Provider License from the BoG to launch its commercial operations in Ghana last August, the fintech received permission shortly after.
In an interview, the Chief Executive Officer of Chipper Cash in Ghana, Mr Dion Jon Taylor Samson said his outfit was delighted to have received the approval.
He added that Chipper Cash would comply with all the regulations associated with providing the inward remittance service which was a major contributor to national income.
He said: “It is important for us fintechs to continuously work with the Central Bank not only to fully comply but also to make them aware of all our activities so that they may share in our vision and also provide advice and guidance”.
Ghana entry
The company’s entry into Ghana was forged in Spring 2019 when its then 27-year-old co-founder Majid Moujaled and 28-year-old Dion Jon Taylor Samson reconnected in Spring 2019 after not seeing each other for close to 13 years since their last day of high school together.
Majid shared what he had begun working on with Dion who was also keen on bringing Chipper Cash’s excellent service to Ghana. He suggested they set up the Ghanaian entity properly and put measures in place for an effective rollout.
The rollout led by the efficient Dion who is the Chief Executive Officer of Chipper Cash in Ghana involved setting up aggregators, getting a partner bank, forming a fully-fledged corporate body – Critical Ideas Ghana Limited to operate Chipper Cash in Ghana and getting licensed by regulators.
Why Ghana?
According to Mr Taylor Samson, the rapid adoption of digital payment platforms in the country falls in line with its goal to accelerate financial inclusion across Africa.
Former Ghana international Augustine Arhinful has expressed worry about the performance of the Black Stars ahead of the World Cup in Qatar.
Ghana is returning to the global showpiece after missing out in Russia 2018.
Prior to the tournament in the Asian country, the West African powerhouse has engaged in two international friendlies against Brazil and Nicaragua during the break.
Ghana lost 3-0 to Brazil and recovered to beat Nicaragua 1-0 on Tuesday in Spain through a strike from Abdul Fatawu Issahaku.
In an interview with Angel FM, the former Ghana forward expressed displeasure about the performance of the team ahead of the mundial.
“I am worried about our performance. What format and system is Otto Addo using ahead of World Cup? he quizzed.
Ghana will play one final preparatory game in November against Switzerland before jetting off to the Mundial where they face Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea in Group H of the 2022 World Cup.
The Black Stars engaged in two international friendlies against Brazil and Nicaragua during the break.
Ghana lost 3-0 to Brazil but recovered to beat Nicaragua 1-0 on Tuesday in Spain through a strike from Abdul Fatawu Issahaku.
A chunk of Ghanaian fans were unhappy about the performances of the Black Stars in the two friendlies played.
But according to the Sports Minister, the Black Stars team will be in a good shape before the commencement of the World Cup.
“This is a process, we are building a team and I know that by the time we get to Abu Dhabi where we are going to have our final game, the team would have been so good and Ghanaians would see the difference,” he told Max TV.
Meanwhile, Mustapha Ussif was left to rue missed chances in the Black Stars narrow win over Nicaragua.
“We were expecting more goals in the game but at the end of the day we created a lot of chances but couldn’t convert them into goals,”
Of the 28 players that represented Ghana in the games against Brazil and Nicaragua, 70% of them will be in the squad for the 2022 World Cup, Black Stars coach Otto Addo has said.
The disclosure by Otto Addo means that some of the players will not be on the Black Stars plane to Qatar.
In our review of the games against Brazil and Nicaragua, we look at five players who are unlikely to make the 26-man squad for the World Cup.
The Celta Vigo defender played no part in both games against Nicaragua and Brazil. In the 3-0 defeat to Brazil, Joseph Aidoo was an unused substitute and was not involved against Nicaragua.
With Otto Addo likely to pick four center-backs, it is unlikely that Joseph Aidoo will make the team for Qatar.
His club form could have things change for him.
Alidu Seidu
Seidu was not involved against Brazil but was outstanding against Nicaragua. The Clermont Foot defender was one of Ghana’s best players in the game.
Offensively, he inspired and helped the wingers and was also great defensively.
Based on performance, Alidu Seidu should be in Qatar but it thus appear that coach Otto Addo has settled on Tariq Lamptey and Denis Odoi as his right backs for the World Cup.
Daniel Afriyie Barnieh
The Hearts of Oak forward played just a minute in the two games and it is unlikely that he would be on the plane to Qatar.
He can however change the coaches’ mind if he hits top form for Hearts of Oak like he did last season.
With the campaign for the inclusion of local players in the Black Stars getting louder, Afriyie Barnieh could find a place in the team if he works very hard.
Antoine Semenyo
The forward played a combined 28 minutes in the two matches against Brazil and Nicaragua.
Against Brazil, he came on in the 70th minute and played 8 minutes against Nicaragua on Tuesday, September 28, 2022.
With reports indicating the likes of Hudson-Odoi and Eddie Nketia could be in the team, Semenyo could be one of the casualties.
Ransford Yeboah
Yeboah was given only 12 minutes in the game against Nicaragua. His movements were okay but not enough to give Ghanaians an indication of what he is about.
The jury is still out for him with regard to his inclusion. His form at club level could however turn things in his favour.
The article is based on the two friendly matches played against Brazil and Nicaragua. Injuries and club performance could change the composition of the final 26-man squad for the World Cup
Brooklyn drill heads north thanks to Toronto native Lil Kizzle and his debut single “Don’t Step,” borrowing from the subgenre’s signature pounding bass and tight flows.
“Don’t step, move correct, please. Too real, give a fuck for the fake,” he raps on the chorus. The message is simple and the beat, produced by Regis Mele, is menacing. Though Kizzle is only 16, he raps with the same vigour that many of his peers developed years into their careers.
The song’s accompanying music video, directed by Lighter Juice, sees Kizzle chaotically dancing around various locations in Toronto. The cuts between shots are sharp and colourful, complementing the animated cadence that Kizzle raps with.
Kizzle lived through a tumultuous childhood that saw him enter foster care at the age of 3 and then live in a group home. He aspired to be a professional athlete during his childhood, before finding his talent in freestyling at age 11.
During the summer of 2022, independent record label Morojele Music Group signed Kizzle despite him not having any songs on streaming nor having performed a show in Toronto.
Before the pandemic, several sub-Saharan African economies saw record-breaking growth.
For instance, over the past 20 years, Ethiopia and Rwanda have experienced among of the fastest growth rates in the world, with annual growth rates averaging over 7.5%.
Due to a lack of income data at the sub-national level, it is less evident if the benefits of economic expansion have been distributed fairly throughout regions within nations.
We used satellite-recorded images of the earth’s evening lights as a stand-in for economic activity to gauge the extent to which sub-Saharan Africa’s excellent growth performance expanded across sub-national regions. The information demonstrates that, at least up to 2010, African nations made great strides toward reducing regional income inequality (differences in output per capita across regions of a country).
When compared to other regions of the world, where inequality either increased or convergence was slower, this stands out sharply.
Taking a closer look at the factors that affect regional inequality, we found that progress was largely due to improvements in basic infrastructure, which helped lagging regions converge faster to national levels. Night lights per capita increased several-fold in the poorest regions, with the biggest gains in oil exporters and frontier markets such as Ghana and Kenya.
However, not all lagging regions saw improvement. Fragile and conflict-affected states made little-to-no progress in reducing regional inequality. And even in countries that experienced decades of growth, progress stalled after 2010, with regional inequalities having likely widened post-pandemic.
Access to clean water, electricity and cellphone services, for example, is two to four times lower in lagging regions compared to leading ones, in part because public expenditure per capita is so much lower. Similarly, the share of residents who have completed primary and secondary education is two to three times lower in lagging regions.
In countries where access to public services is generally low and distribution very unequal, the gap is even larger. In Burkina Faso, for instance, access to electricity is nearly 20 times higher in leading regions.
Key drivers
What are the key drivers that helped reduce regional inequality in the past few decades? We find that there are four major factors that supported this improvement:
• Macroeconomic stability: Inequality tends to increase in countries with high, persistent inflation by eroding the purchasing power of consumers, reducing government spending in real terms and disincentivising private investment.
• Trade openness: Easier access to global markets supports convergence by increasing the value of a country’s resources such as raw materials, which are more abundantly available in lagging regions. It also brings more workers into urban centres, which could in turn lead to a decline in income per capita of more urbanised regions if infrastructure development and the overall increase in economic activity in city centres are unable to keep up.
• Strong institutions and political stability: Weak institutions impede the capacity of governments to provide services and civil wars destroy public infrastructure, raising the likelihood that regions are left behind.
• Well-targeted investments: We used mineral discoveries as a proxy for analysing the impact of investments on regional inequality and found that progress depended on the location. Investments that occur outside of the capital cities are the most likely to have impact by creating jobs and promoting economic activity in lagging regions.
Way forward
What can policy makers do to address these inequalities? Sub-Saharan Africa countries would need to pursue a broad-based policy framework anchored around three main pillars:
• Well-designed redistributive fiscal policy with a clear investment strategy to assist underserved regions,
• Macroeconomic stability to foster inclusive growth, and
• Building institutions to ensure political stability and equitable public service delivery.
Governments also need to invest in building local administrative capacity to collect and analyse data. Only 12 sub-Saharan African countries publish their public budget allocations at the sub-national level. Having this data more readily available would provide a more accurate picture of disparities across regions, helping policy makers better target policies.
The International Advertising Association (IAA) together with its partners; Google, CNN, Nedbank, MTN, Brand Finance, Teads & Women in Marketing is set to hold another impactful edition of the Africa Rising Leadership Conference.
The 5th edition of the conference, which since its inception has immensely contributed to the growth of brands on the continent, will be held at the Labadi beach hotel on October 4 and 5.
This two-day event will assemble the most skilled and influential speakers and panelists from across the globe, including; World President of the IAA, Joel Nettey; Founder/Managing partner, O. Kayode and Co, Lara Kayode; Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah; Group CMO of Databank, Gillian Hammah; Chief Brand Officer for Morderna, Kate Cronin; and a host of other great speakers who have extremely excelled in the Marketing, Communication, Finance and other industries.
It will be held on the theme: “Brands for Purpose, Brands for People.”
About IAA’s Africa Rising Leadership Conference
IAA’s Africa Rising Leadership Conference, is an annual event that offers existing and emerging brands a unique platform to consult and work together with some of the best brains in marketing, communication, media, finance and education.
The conference, over the years, has immensely transformed brands, by providing priceless knowledge and invaluable information to participants.
Highlighting the significance of the conference and the rationale behind this year’s theme, Vice President/Area Director, IAA Africa, Norkor Duah, stated that, “Africa as a continent, though hit by the global pandemic, did not record as many losses of lives and spread of virus as perceived.
“The economic front as in every part of the world has been hit and most businesses have evolved into new strategies and ways of reaching their consumers as well as doing business. The onset of this pandemic also opened the eyes of consumers who believe in brands that are focusing on them and their communities,” she said.
Additionally, she mentioned that “this year’s theme will highlight brands that have not only chalked success in the areas of growth but in their ability to make a difference in their communities and will dissect a vast range of topics from Social Progress and Commercial growth, Digital Transformation, Diversity and Inclusion, Opportunities for Young Professionals, Leadership, and what brands are doing to stay relevant as well as explore insights from local strategies that will serve as a key factor to the continent’s revival.”
Sports Minister, Mustapha Ussif has disclosed that he was expecting the Black Stars to score more goals in their game against Nicaragua on Tuesday, September 2, 2022.
A goal from Abdul Fatawu Issahaku turned out to be the winner against the North American side.
Speaking after the game, the Minister for Sports lamented the Black Stars’ missed chances in the game.
“We were expecting more goals in the game but at the end of the day we created a lot of chances but couldn’t convert them into goals,” Mustapha Ussif said in an interview with Max TV.
He added that the Black Stars would continue to strive to build a formidable team for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
“This is a process, we are building a team and I know that by the time we get to Abu Dhabi where we are going to have our final game, the team would have been so good and Ghanaians would see the difference,” he stated.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has been encouraged by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) to independently look into each case of judgment debt in the Fourth Republic.
It was said that this should be done with the goal of determining the criminal responsibility of individuals holding public office and political office, and then taking the appropriate steps to prosecute violators.
In its most recent report, “A 20-year assessment of Judgement debt payments in Ghana: Impact, causes and solutions,” the CSJ included this as one of its recommendations.
The report noted that judgment debt payments in the country continued to be a recurring issue in an economy currently saddled with rising public debt, persistent fiscal deficits, a high youth unemployment rate, and over 30 per cent of its population living in poverty
It noted that in equivalent 2019 Cedi terms, the total judgment debts paid from 2000 – 2019 amounted to GH¢1.89 billion, equivalent to about 135 per cent of new multilateral loans contracted by the government in 2019, 112 per cent of total central government grants received in 2019, and about 30 per cent of total health expenditures in 2019.
These judgment debts arose from alleged contractual breaches, failure to promptly pay compensations for compulsory land acquisitions by the state/government, and alleged tortuous/statutory breaches committed by public officials in the course of their public duties.
Of the total, judgment debt payments arising from contractual breaches was GH¢1.38 billion (73 per cent), GH¢479.2 million from failure to promptly pay compensation for compulsory land acquisition by the state/government million (25 per cent) and GH¢29.9 million (about 1.5 per cent) from tortuous/statutory breaches by public officials.
Trained lawyers
As part of its recommendations, the CSJ also urged the Attorney General to ensure that only trained or expert lawyers were allowed to prosecute cases.
It said the practice of sending lawyers who were either not aware of the case or ill prepared should cease.
“In the instance of lack of experienced lawyers, the office could outsource some of the work to those who have the competence to address the matter. A medium to long term plan to recruit and train more lawyers to support the Attorney General’s Office should be considered,” it noted.
Reforms of key institutional arrangements
The CSJ also called for reforms of some key institutional arrangements in the execution of government business.
Some of the reforms include the enforcement of strict compliance to the national procurement laws to ensure that unauthorised deviations at all levels carry hefty consequences for the responsible public official(s).
The reforms must also ensure that qualified legal experts who understand the murky nature of contracts involving governments are engaged when committing to contractual obligations.
The CSJ also called for the need to review, enhance, and enforce international best practices in public financial management.
It said key stakeholders must always be engaged before any government enters into a contract with a private party on behalf of the state.
“In particular, ensuring all key stakeholders have oversight and input before execution of contracts.
“We also need to establish an inter-party framework for managing contractual obligations of government during and after political transitions. It is crucial that all stakeholders, regardless of political party affiliations, commit to minimising contractual breaches resulting from political transitions.
“In particular, the framework must ensure that stakeholders act in the collective interest and not in their self-interests,” the report indicated.
Bleeding from
judgment debts
In his foreword, the Chairman of the CSJ council, Dr Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey, noted that six years after Justice Yaw Appau’s sole judgment debt commission’s report, the country continued to bleed and suffocate from what he described as reckless stewardship of the national resources.
He said the most recent award of a judgment debt of US$170 million against the government of Ghana by the Arbitration Tribunal in the GPGC Ltd versus Government of Ghana case, and the spurious reasons adduced by Ghana’s legal counsel for non-compliance with timelines stipulated by the court, were particularly emblematic of how lightly the problem continued to be viewed.
“Clearly, the phenomenon of judgment debts is entrenched only because of negligence, blatant disregard for public procurement laws, illegal abrogation of contracts, and corrupt activities by public officials in their line of duty.
“Judgement debts are thus a tedious combination of weak and corrupt political leadership and bureaucracy and wanton disregard for the scarce resources of the people of Ghana, resources that could have built countless hospitals, affordable housing and schools,” he stated.
Under the Domestic Gold Purchase Program, gold has begun to be sold by Ghanaian gold mining businesses to the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
Between now and December of this year, the businesses that are members of the Ghana Chamber of Mines will sell the BoG around 125,000 ounces of gold.
The central bank declared last year that it will start holding some of its reserves in gold in order to strengthen its international reserves.
The transaction is anticipated to support the cedi and reduce inflation.
Meeting
This was the outcome of a meeting between the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, other members of the Economic Management Team, the Bank of Ghana, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Minerals Commission and the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) on one hand ,and the leadership of the Ghana Chamber of Mines on the other.
“It was agreed that to help shore up the foreign exchange reserves of the Bank of Ghana, starting September 1, the Bank of Ghana will purchase a portion of the output of the gold mining companies on a continuous basis at world market prices but payment will be made in Ghana cedis,” Dr Bawumia said after the meeting.
Mining firms
In all, there are 10 mining companies that will sell gold to the BoG under the deal.
The firms are Newmont Ghana Gold, which operates the Akyem and Ahafo mines, Gold Fields, which operates the Tarkwa and Abosso mines, AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi, AngloGold Ashanti Iduapriem, Perseus, Asanko, Golden Star Wassa and Adamus Gold Resources.
The central bank will buy the gold in cedis at $1,600 per ounce at the Bloomberg exchange rate of GH¢10.3 to the dollar.
According to the central bank it would pay market prices for the precious metal but make the payments in cedis.
Per the plan, the BoG wants to purchase about GH¢2.1 billion worth of gold by December this year.
Ahead of the meeting, Newmont Ghana had already sold 3,500 ounces of gold to the BoG as part of the deal.
Mutual benefits
The President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Joshua Mortoti, said in an interview with the Daily Graphic that the gold purchase programme was mutually beneficial to all the stakeholders.
“As good corporate citizens, the Chamber will support the BOG to ensure that the nation and mining companies benefit from the programme,” he said.
Also commenting on the deal, the Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber, Sulemanu Koney, stated that members of chamber would further engage the central bank to fast-track the implementation of the programme.
Foreign reserves
The BoG is the latest central bank to announce plans to increase its gold reserves.
A survey from the World Gold Council last year showed that out of 57 central banks, more than 20 planned to add more gold to their foreign reserves.
Most of the demand is coming from central banks of emerging markets.
Analysts have stated that the gold purchase deal was a significant boost to the country’s foreign exchange reserves, and would strengthen the country’s balance of payments.
Ghana is Africa’s top gold producer and the world’s sixth largest producer, producing more than 117 tonnes of gold last year.
Dollarisation trend
Market analysts see the central banks’ growing appetite for gold as part of the general de-dollarisation trend that countries are trying to lower their exposure to the US dollar.
Ghana has been struggling to tame galloping inflation, reduce public debt and shore up the local currency.
Its balance-of-payments deficit swelled to nearly $2.5 billion by the end of June, this year, from around $935 million in March.
The government is also putting together a post COVID-19 economic programme that will form the basis for negotiations with the IMF.
The programme seeks to ensure debt and macroeconomic stability through key structural reforms and social protection.
Already in the country is an IMF team that is discussing policies and reforms with government officials and the central bank after the country requested a bailout from the Fund in July.
The BoG has therefore rescheduled its September 26 Monetary Policy Committee meeting to October 7 to coincide with the end of the negotiations between the government and the IMF.
Popular Ghanaian broadcaster, Patrick Osei Agyemang, alias Countryman Songo, has described Black Stars coach Otto Addo as a functionally illiterate after the manager gave his team a rating of 7 after a 1-0 victory over Nicaragua.
According to Songo, the manager on a regular day should be getting more than a ten out of ten rating after a friendly against Nicaragua, who are minnows and unknown in football.
In an interview with Pure FM, Songo stated that he will rate the entire team, including the manager, a 0 out of 10.
“If he gave himself 7 out of 10 against Nicaragua then he is functionally illiterate because he should be giving himself 11/10 after playing against Nicaragua, a country that doesn’t know how to play football. He should be having more than 10 out of 10, like 11 over 10. Against Nicaragua and you are giving yourself 7/10? A country that doesn’t know how to play football? A country that doesn’t have a history in football?” he said.
According to Seth Terkper, a former minister of finance, the government will face difficulties when calculating the various debts accumulated throughout the time period for the debt sustainability analysis with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
On Tuesday, September 27, 2022, Mr. Terkper said on Morning Starr with Francis Abban that the administration must provide a number of debts for examination as part of the bargaining process.
If there is a chance that they won’t be paid, any additional debt that Parliament guaranteed will need to be added.
Therefore, this is where the scanning must be done.
These will all need to be discussed in relation to the framework for debt sustainability.
“That is what the statement that was issued yesterday was talking about the success of the negotiations which is dependent on a stable situation going forward. The debt sustainability framework actually puts in all these debt situations, for example your ability to generate foreign exchange to service the foreign debts. Your ability to raise revenue,” Mr. Terkper stated.
He continued: “Now your trade and other things come in, your growth probability and others are fed in and extended over a long period of ten years plus. So that is how long that analysis goes and it means there is a major problem as we have always discussed the calculation of arrears and the calculation of debts.”
He added that there are issues of arrears arising from nonpayment of domestic and foreign on the purchase of crude during the COVID-19 period and arrears owed contractors among others.
The Ministry of Finance on Monday announced that the IMF delegation is currently undertaking a comprehensive debt sustainability analysis of the country.
“The Government of Ghana is putting together a comprehensive post-Covid-19 economic programme which will form the basis for the IMF negotiations.
“The programme seeks to establish a macro-fiscal path that ensures debt sustainability and macroeconomic stability, underpinned by key structural reforms and social protection.”
Background
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team, led by Stéphane Roudet, Mission Chief for Ghana, is in Accra to continue discussions with the Ghanaian authorities on policies and reforms that could be supported by an IMF lending arrangement.
The IMF staff will also further engage with other stakeholders during the visit.
There was an IMF staff team visit in July that saw the initial discussions with the Ghanaian authorities.
“We characterized that mission as constructive, kickstarted the process, and laid the groundwork for engagement,” Gerry Rice, the Director of Communications for the IMF told a media engagement ahead of this week’s visit.
Ghana is in dire need of a $3 billion package from the fund to shore up its economy.
Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s minister of finance, has revealed that as of September 27, 2022, the Ghana cedi had lost 37.1 percent of its value against the US dollar.
Since the beginning of this year, the local currency has experienced a dramatic decline in value versus the major trading currencies, particularly the US dollar.
A high cost of living has come from the cedi’s poor performance in the retail market and forex bureaus, where it is now trading at roughly GH10.50 to the US dollar.
However, Ken Ofori-Atta told reporters at a news conference that the Bank of Ghana has implemented some improved steps to combat the depreciation of the cedi.
“Some of these measures entail a Special Foreign exchange auction for bulk distribution companies and a Gold Purchase Programme to contain the depreciation of the cedi, which is now slowing down,” the Finance Minister said.
At the start of 2022, demand for forex overtook supplies during a period when high debts and low investor confidence have made it impossible for Ghana to access the international capital market for borrowing.
The situation has resulted in the persistent depreciation of the Cedi against the major trading currencies.
As at July this year, the cedi lost its value by more 20 percent to the US dollar.
In addition, recent economic downgrades by international rating agencies such as Fitch and Standards & Poors’ has also impacted the investor community at large, while Ghana awaits an IMF support programme which is expected to be accessed in 2023.
Percival Kofi Akpaloo, a presidential candidate for the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) in 2020, has denounced the Bank of Ghana’s intention to make the Ghana Card the only document required for bank transactions.
Given that the National Identity Authority (NIA) already has the biometric information of the people who registered for Ghana cards, he thinks that fingerprints should be utilized in cases where a client is unable to physically provide a Ghana card or the identification number.
On July 1, 2022, the Bank of Ghana issued a directive mandating the integration and syncing of all mobile wallets and financial accounts with the nation’s biometric personal identification certificate.
By syncing banking and mobile money platforms into the country’s biometric personal identification document, the reserve bank of Ghana was essentially seeking to ensure that all activities can be verified by the National Identification Authority systems.
BoG noted that the integration of banking, telecom, and mobile money into the Ghana Card will make transaction tracking seamless. This comes as cases of fraud involving mobile money platforms are on the increase in Ghana, with statistics from the cybercrime unit of the Ghana Police Service showing over 300 reported cases in 2019.
But for Kofi Akpaloo, denying an individual from performing transactions at the banking hall without carrying the Ghana Card or identification number is baseless and must be condemned.
He buttressed his point that once the biometric is already synchronised on the NIA data, the transaction must be allowed to take place smoothly even without the Ghana Card on person.
“That is where I have an issue, if the card that contains the biometric information of our hand and eyes… so if you go to the bank and you do not carry the card with you then they must be able to verify your details on their machines.
“The process of using the fingerprint I think it is needless, because if they have already synchronised the system with your information from the NIA then they must record report from the NIA which has no need of fingerprinting again,” he said on Angel FM.
Meanwhile, he has urged the public to commit their identification numbers to memory for easy access to services, should they for any reason not have their cards on them physically.
“We must encourage people to memorize the Ghana Card numbers. And is not in all circumstance you may carry your identification card along. You can just mention your number and you are good to go,” Kofi Akpaloo told Kwamina Sam Biney
Black Stars goalkeeper, Richard Ofori has begged Ghanaians to have faith in the Black Stars squad after their underwhelming performances against Brazil and Nicaragua.
Despite beating Nicaragua on September 27, Ghanaians slammed the team for an uninspiring performance against the Northern Americans, who are ranked 139th by FIFA.
In an interview with Happy FM, Ofori stated that the victory had many positives and pleaded with Ghanaians to have faith in the team as the 2022 FIFA World Cup approaches.
“We won 1-0 and the positive thing about this game is that we created a lot of chances. We beg Ghanaians to have faith in this team and support us.”, he told Accra-based radio station Happy FM.
Ghana beat Nicaragua 1-0 at the Estadio Francisco Artés Carrasco in Spain to end their September international break with a victory after losing to Brazil.
Fatawu Issahaku scored a brilliant curler to hand Ghana the needed over Nicaragua.
A 4-Day Retreat Session for the Executive Management and Senior Officers of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) has been held in response to the release of new and revised modules of that organization in order to strengthen their reflexes for carrying out the subsequent work.
The Retreat was designed to reform the Agency and reposition it as the go-to source for job opportunities for Ghanaian youth in both the public and private sectors.
The Retreat served as a strategic gathering supported by the Agency’s Governing Board to determine the agenda for the forthcoming working year 2023 and to establish a timetable for noticeably lowering Ghana’s unemployment rate.
At the Opening of the Four Day Session, the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kofi Baah Agyepong expressed concern over the need to make the Agency a very formidable entity capable of speedily curtailing the rising spate of unemployment in the country.
He reminded the management team members of the sensitive and strategic position of the Youth Employment Agency at the heart of Government of Ghana’s employment Agenda.
Setting his vision for the upcoming year, Mr. Agyepong emphasized a new drive that will greatly support skills acquisition and development based on market and industry demand considering the economic structure and strata of the country.
“Skill training, acquisition and development is one of the major solutions to our country’s employment issues.The real estate industry today is looking for tilers, plumbers, electricians, gardeners amongst others while the oil industry is searching for local participation in mechanic works, machine handling etc.,
Can we as a youth Agency not take advantage of the government’s visionary One District, One Factory project, provide Labour and even venture into the production of raw materials like sugarcane for the Komenda Sugar Factory?”, he questioned.
Mr. Agyepong hinted that 2023 would also see more traditional modules rolled-out to cater for the teeming youth who are completing Senior High Schools (SHSs) and are waiting to enter the job market.
According to him, the immediate modules earmarked to be run will include Youth in Community Security Services i.e. Community Protection Assistants (CPAs) with the Ghana Police Service, and the Youth in Prisons Service module with the Ghana Prisons Service.
The CEO and the management team also intimated plans to embark on flagship projects in the various Regions and Districts especially in the areas of the Agricultural Value Chain to support the food basket of the country.
One fruitful outcome of the retreat was the resolution of ensuring an effective exit strategy for beneficiaries who enroll onto the Agency’s traditional modules in transitioning from the two-year cycle to permanent employment.
Skill development was one avenue considered for the exit strategy while the other option would require the beneficiary institutions to permanently employ some of the outstanding performers on the modules.
The meeting also set the tone for reorganizing some Directorates and to set short and medium term objectives that fits into the organizational strategy for the next two years.
Usher Raymondis having a good time in Ghana and one of the names that got stuck on his lips and memories is Kojo Manuel.
The American singer’s visit to Ghana was powered by the Global Citizen Festival, a music concert he headlined over the weekend. The show was attended by thousands of Ghanaians and others from different countries.
On the eve of the Global Citizen Festivalin Accra, Kojo Manuel was on his regular Friday night hosting duties at Frontback when international superstar, Usher, passed through during his visit to Ghana for the first time.
While on the microphone, Usher walked up to Manuel and said: “Man, you are dope.” Kojo Manuel was more than excited to hear those words, stating that it was a “surreal moment” and that Usher “came out of nowhere” to personally give him props for a job well done.
The following day, because Usher was so impressedby the multifaceted award-winning hype man’s performance at the Global Citizen Festival with Mic Smith, Manuel received an invitation to the R&B legend’s brunch party, where they had the chance to have another conversation with him.
Kojo Manuel has been rubbing shoulders with celebrities both local and international. His YouTube series, ‘A Mad Culture’ within a short period of its launch, has featured names like Chance The Rapper, Vic Mensa, MI, Ladipoe and Quamina MP.
Kojo Manuel is living his dream as a radio host while paving the way for the next generation of MCs by going the extra mile. In June this year, Kojo Manuel also bagged two awards at the Ghana Entertainment Awards USA.
He was nominated in the “Best Radio Personality” and “Best Hypeman/MC” categories. The YFM presenter has also crossed the borders of Ghana into Côte D’Ivoire as he hosted the AfroBeach Party organised by La Sunday Abidjan & Afrochella.
