Ayew believes the new additions to the Black Stars team will help the country at the World Cup.
The Al Sadd forward praised the decision of the Europe-born players to switch allegiance and play for Ghana, but adds they have to be determined and ready to give their all.
According to him, no one is guaranteed a place in the Black Stars and is of the view players must fight to earn a place.
Some of the new players, including Inaki Williams, Tariq Lamptey and Mohammed Salisu made their Black Stars debut against Brazil last Friday.
“The players are good, and qualifying for the World Cup makes you very attractive. Why not let the boys come? The door is open for any Ghanaian who wants to play for and help the country, but you must come with the same determination you put into your club, the same desire, and you cannot expect everything in your European club to be the same in the national team because there is a time for the team to adapt,” he told Al Jazeera.
“I fully support them and wish them the best of luck, especially when you come with a strong desire to succeed. When you have the right attitude and desire to sweat for the Ghana jersey, I am more than willing to welcome you, even though I am not the coach but a longtime member of the team.
“The newcomers are talented, but we already have a strong team that qualified for the World Cup, so every position is competitive. Apart from senior players who may have an advantage, I believe no one is guaranteed a place in the squad just yet. Everyone must prove their quality on the field and everyone has a chance, giving the coach more options and solutions, formations, and I believe it is beneficial to have new players with the right mentality.”
Tyson Fury has declared he will not be fighting Anthony Joshua because “no contract has been signed” after his self-imposed 5pm deadline on Monday.
Joshua said on Sunday he will sign the contract to fight Fury after the WBC champion issued an ultimatum if they are to put together their all-British heavyweight battle this year.
Fury, who initially called for Joshua to sign the contract by Monday, returned to Instagram to state that Joshua had until 5pm otherwise he will walk away from the deal.
But Fury later went on Instagram to say: “It’s official. D Day has come and gone. It’s gone past 5pm Monday, no contract has been signed. It’s officially over for Joshua. He’s now out in the cold with the wolfpack. Forget about it. Idiot. Coward!”
He goes on to say: “I always knew you didn’t have the minerals to fight the Gypsy King. Good luck with your career, and your life.”
The former Member of Parliament (MP) for the Agona East Constituency recorded several astonishing feats in his days as a journalist.
He was the Editor of the Daily Graphic, the Rector of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), Member of the National Media Commission, the Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Ghana Association of Writers (GAW) and at a point a Deputy Minister of Information.
However, in an interview with Rev Erskine on the Y Leaderboard Series aired on Y107.9 FM’s “Myd Morning Radio Show” Mr. Yankah said that listening to his career achievements over the years on several occasions made him want to find another job.
“I don’t really feel good when these things are being said about me. It’s been said so many times and makes me want to change jobs. I think I should look for a new job,” he said.
He furthered, “For me if there’s any job I would take, I’ll go back to broadcasting. Yes, broadcasting was my first love. I love it because you’ll share information. You’ll also get people to bring out the best in them and then you educate, that is the most important thing. You educate people who need a lot of education. “If I get to come back to broadcasting, I wouldn’t want to be found behind the scenes, directing and the rest. I would want to host a show.
Mr Yankah admonished fellow journalists and broadcasters in Ghana to use their positions to not only share trendy news but to educate the public on significant information to foster growth.
The people of Wuru, a deprived community in the Sissala East Municipality of the Upper West Region are not using the Ghana Cedis, the official currency of Ghana as its medium of exchange due to depreciation of the Ghana Cedi and other compelling factors.
The only way they accept the cedi as medium of exchange or legal tender is to receive the money in CFA equivalent when selling their products.
The community, with a population of more than 3,000, transacts business with neighbouring Burkina-Faso and accepts the CFA as the legal tender for convenience.
They trade in livestock, cereals and sheanut as well as fowls.
Maize, millet, and sesame are the major crops produced in the area.
Wurupio Mahama Bataachia Dawuri IV, the chief of the area speaking to the GNA, said there was nothing wrong with spending a foreign currency in the area since they do not recognize themselves as Ghanaians because they have been neglected, and do not benefit from government projects.
He attributed the problem to among other things, poor road infrastructure, depreciation of the Ghana cedi and increases in prices of petroleum products as well as Burkinabes being their only business partners.
Some people making payment with the CFA in the Wuru market.
The community, about 70 kilometres from Tumu borders Burkina-Faso and speaks only Kassem, the language of Navrongo and other Kassena Nankana communities of the Upper East Region.
It took the GNA more than three hours on a motorbike from Tumu to the community due to the deplorable nature of the road, which a vehicle cannot access.
The GNA visited the Sissala East Municipality to see problems facing the people and to report on them for assistance by state actors.
Wurupio Dawuri explained that the Ghana Cedi and the CFA were spent concurrently, but that the people stopped accepting the Ghanaian currency due to depreciation and high fuel prices.
The chief said the Wuru community is only remembered during elections, where politicians come to “deceive” them for their votes.
He said: “We consider ourselves as being in a neutral zone. We do not know whether we belong to Ghana or Burkina-Faso because nobody cares about us,” and that they appealed for support over the years that were ignored.
He explained that they have been compelled by circumstances to ignore the Ghana Cedi since they could not convey their produce to any of the Ghanaian communities for sale because of lack of roads and transportation.
“People come here to tell us that it is illegal for us to spend the CFA other than the cedis. We also tell them it is not our fault because the only way for us to survive is to accept the CFA since all the goods come from Burkina-Faso,” he said.
He expressed concern about the inability of the National Identification Authority (NIA) to register and get the Ghana Card for them due to lack of network service in the area for registration.
Wurupio Dawuri said it was important for the government to ensure that the Wuru community gets good roads to be linked to the rest of Ghana to ensure the people belong to Ghana and to enjoy the national cake.
He also appealed for water, communication network and security in the area since they cannot defend themselves from terrorists’ attacks.
Mr. Yakubu Fuseini Batong, the Sissala East Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) said the Tumu-Kunchokor-Wuru road had been awarded and that construction would soon start.
He said efforts were being made to construct and repair broken bridges on the Wuru road.
Last Friday, Inaki Williams realized a long-held ambition. The Athletic Bilbao striker made his Ghana debut against the Samba boys after publicly expressing his desire to be called up by a country in which his family has deep roots.
The debut was not the desired one, but that hasn’t stopped Inaki from reflecting on how proud he is of this special moment.
Brazil beat Ghana 3-0 in an international friendly played in Le Havre, France. Marquinhos, and a Richarlison brace sealed the win for the South American side.
Iñaki took to his official Twitter page to share his thought on the debut.
“For my grandparents. For my parents. For my brother. For my friends. For my girlfriend. for my people to WIN. I’m already a Blackstar”. He tweeted
For my grandpas.
For my parents.
For my brother.
For my friends.
For my girlfriend.
For my people.
For GHANA.
I’m already a Blackstar. 🖤🇬🇭 pic.twitter.com/zSd6qapwcR
Medical interns at Uganda’s Mubende hospital have gone on strike, accusing the government of not providing them with appropriate safety kit, risk allowances and health insurance.
The hospital, located some 150 km (95 miles) from the capital, Kampala, is hosting the main isolation centre for Ebola patients as the outbreak continues to spread in the central region.
All 34 interns, including doctors, pharmacists and nurses said in a statement that they would not return to work and want to be evacuated to a facility with safer working conditions.
Six intern medical workers are said to have been exposed to the virus and are currently in isolation awaiting laboratory results.
Authorities say there have been at least 36 suspected Ebola cases, although not all have been confirmed.
At least 23 deaths are suspected to have been caused by the virus.
An outbreak of the Sudan strain of Ebola was declared in the country last week.
The first confirmed death was a 24-year-old-man, who lost six members of his family in the first two weeks of September.
Available vaccines against the haemorrhage-inducing virus can’t be used in Uganda because they are only effective in dealing with the Zaire strain which was behind the 2013 – 2016 outbreak in West Africa.
As Africa continues with its Year of Nutrition, which was declared for 2022 by the African Union, two leading agronomists have said that the time is right for African countries to transform their food systems to tackle hunger.
Writing recently on the Devex website, a global media platform for the development community, Josefa Sacko, a leading agronomist and AU Commissioner for Agriculture, and Agnes Kalibata, President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), noted: “As the world scrambles to address the current crises, the continent is reminded that only Africans can take responsibility for building climate resilient, nutritious, and inclusive systems that leave no one behind — as envisioned by the Sustainable Development Goals.
“This is why the African Union declared 2022 as the Year of Nutrition and why we must implement the national food systems pathways agreed upon at the UN Food Systems Summit in 2021.
“Progress made to date will be undone if we fail to lead and fail to act now,’ Sacko and Kalibata argued.
Last week in New York, President Nana Akufo-Addo echoed this call when he addressed the UN General Assembly, urging investors to support the roll-out of Africa’s lucrative agro-industry to guarantee global food security.
In the wake of overlapping food systems shocks, such as climate-induced drought and floods, locust attacks, the Covid-19 pandemic, and conflict, the World Bank has warned that for each one percentage point increase in food prices, 10 million people are thrown into extreme poverty.
If food prices stay this high for a year, global poverty could go up by more than 100 million people, it added.
Sacko and Kalibata highlighted a number of achievements in African agricultural production after decades of stagnation, pointing out that the continent witnessed sustained agricultural growth of 4.73 per cent a year on average between 2000 and 2018.
But, currently, “Africa is struggling to achieve the SDGs”.
“The African Common Position and national food systems pathways will not happen without stakeholders at every stage of the food system taking ownership — governments, the private sector, finance institutions, producers, and civil society,” Sacko and Kalibata wrote.
The IMF, in a recent blog, also picked up on the issue of weak food systems in Africa, pointing out that “climate change is intensifying food insecurity across sub-Saharan Africa, where Russia’s war in Ukraine and the pandemic are also adding to food shortages and high prices”.
“One-third of the world’s droughts occur in sub-Saharan Africa, and Ethiopia and Kenya are enduring one of the worst in at least four decades.
“Countries such as Chad are also being severely impacted by torrential rains and floods,” the IMF said.
The multiple crises that have created rippling effects on Africa’s food systems were brought into sharp focus at this year’s Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Kigali
The AGRF is Africa’s premier platform for discussing the continent’s food systems and agricultural transformation and managing food crisis.
“We have already heard from the governments of Ghana, Malawi and Rwanda at the AGRF on how they are implementing their food systems pathways to inspire other countries,” Sacko and Kalibata said.
In New York, President Akufo-Addo made a direct call for more investors in the continent’s agro-industry: “Africa is ready for business. Africa needs you and you need Africa.”
In Angola, Paramount Energy and Commodities has pumped $500 million into the country’s food sector, as it looks to develop the agro-industry in Africa.
It said that poor processing capacity in Africa was leading to post-harvest losses of fruit and vegetables of between 35-50 per cent or 15-25 per cent for grains.
The company said in a statement that sustainable, long-term, and self-sufficient solutions to the current global commodities crisis must be carried out rapidly, “otherwise even more people will face alarming levels of hunger and poverty”.
Paramount pointed out that by enabling access to affordable energy and food supply the economies of Africa could “flourish, economic activity is stimulated, and local entrepreneurship encouraged, ultimately leading to a more equal distribution of wealth and power”.
Sacko and Kalibata noted optimistically: “Farmers are increasingly using innovative approaches and scientific research combined with traditional knowledge to increase the productivity of their fields, diversify their crops, boost their nutrition, and build climate resilience.”
Ghana has moved from 100 per cent hydro capacity to a mix that is currently dominated by thermal sources of 63 per cent, Mr Abdul Noor Wahab, Manager of Generations and Systems Planning, Volta River Authority has stated.
He said Ghana’s generation at the end of 2021 was dominated by natural gas followed by hydro, liquid fuel, and others adding that the country’s major cost driver remained natural gas.
Speaking on the topic: “Ghana’s Energy Generation Mix and the Future Outlook,” at the Gas Accountants Business Summit organized by Energy Sector Recovery Programme (ESRP), Mr Wahab said the potential of hydro was limited.
He explained that after Pwalugu’s 60 megawatts, Juale-90MW, and Western River’s about 340MW, available hydro potential in the country was limited.
He said there was potential for solar in almost every part of the country adding that its potential on average was at 15 to 18 per cent capacity factor without battery storage.
Mr Wahab however noted that the cost of generation would increase significantly when four to six hours of battery storage was added.
He said wind potential was limited as the best wind speeds were along the coast, noting that the cost of generation from wind could be 10 US cents/kWh if funding at five per cent or lower were available.
Mr Wahab said thermal had the highest prospect, easy to deploy, had combined cycles that required water for cooling and could now be cooled by air, in addition to having competitive cost.
He said nuclear also had the potential to play an important role but has a high capital cost which was likely to affect its quantity in the future generation mix and thermal generation would dominate by 2040 with a component of about 88 per cent of the mix.
The Gas Accountants’ Business Summit was organised to discuss the natural gas business in Ghana and its related issues to achieve a financially sustainable energy sector.
The summit was on the theme; “The Role of Natural Gas on Ghana’s Sustainable Future,” which brought together accountants, lawyers, commercial experts, and other professionals within the energy sector.
Other presentations during the summit covered the Cash Waterfall Mechanism’s concept, accounting and implementation, Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC), natural gas prospects for economic transformation, the future of Africa Gas in the global economy, and the outlook of ECG’s billing processes, and many others.
A week ago, the global “great and good” were gathered in London for the state funeral of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
Now many of them are heading to the other side of the world for another state funeral – for Japan’s slain former prime minister Shinzo Abe.
But the Japanese, it appears, are not thrilled about it – not least because it’s estimated to cost $11.4m (1.65bn yen; £10.1m).
In the last few weeks opposition to the state funeral has been growing. Polls suggest more than half of the country’s population is now against holding it.
Earlier this week, a man set himself on fire near the prime minister’s office in Tokyo. And on Monday around 10,000 protestors marched through the streets of the capital demanding the funeral be called off.
But, on the other hand, the event is drawing Japan’s allies from across the globe. US President Joe Biden will not attend, but his vice-president Kamala Harris will. Singapore’s prime minister Lee Hsien Loong is coming.
So is Australian PM Anthony Albanese, along with three of his predecessors. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi skipped the Queen’s funeral but is flying to Tokyo to pay his respects to Abe.
What does it say about Abe that – even as world leaders gather for his funeral – many in his own country are opposed to it?
First off, this is not a normal event. In Japan, state funerals are reserved for members of the Imperial Family. Only once, since World War Two, has a politician been given this honour, and that was all the way back in 1967. So, the fact that Abe is being given a state funeral is a big deal.
In part it’s because of the way he died – he was gunned down at an election rally in July. And Japan mourned for him. He had never been hugely popular, according to opinion polls, but few would deny that he brought the country stability and security.
So the decision to hold a state funeral for him is also a reflection of his stature. No-one served longer in the prime minister’s office and, arguably, no other post-war politician had such an impact on Japan’s position in the world.
Abe’s shocking death drew thousands mourners
“He was ahead of his time,” says Professor Kazuto Suzuki, a political scientist and former Abe advisor.
“He understood the changing balance of power. That a rising China will, of course, distort the balance of power and reshape the order in the region. So, he wanted to take leadership.”
Professor Suzuki points to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), President Barack Obama’s big plan to bring all of America’s allies in the Asia Pacific together in one giant free trade zone.
In 2016, when Donald Trump pulled the US out of the TPP, everyone expected it to collapse. But it didn’t.
Abe took over leadership and created the even more confusingly named Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific partnership or CPTPP.
It’s a terrible name but it signalled a new willingness for Japan to take the lead in Asia. He also played a key role in the creation of Quad, an alliance between the US, Japan, India and Australia.
Even more significant are the changes Abe made to Japan’s military.
In 2014 the then prime minister forced through legislation that “re-interpreted” Japan’s pacifist post war constitution.
It allowed Japan to exercise “collective self-defence”. That means for the first time since World War two, Japan is able to join its US ally in military action beyond its own borders.
The legislation was hugely controversial, and the ripples are still being felt today. The thousands who marched in Tokyo against the state funeral accuse Abe of leading Japan towards war.
“Abe passed the collective self-defense bill,” protestor Machiko Takumi said. “It means Japan will fight with the Americans, which means he made Japan able to go to war again, that’s why I oppose a state funeral.”
Japan is a country traumatised by war. But it’s not just memories of atom bombs that make people angry about Abe.
Those opposing the state funeral say Abe was a warmonger
Japan’s post-war constitution clearly states that the country “renounces the right to wage war”. If he wanted to change that Abe should have called a referendum. But he knew he would lose. Instead, his law “re-interpreted” the meaning of the constitution.
“Abe is seen as somebody who was not accountable to the people,” says Professor Koichi Nakano, of Tokyo’s Sophia University. “Whatever he did, he did it against the constitutional principles. He did it against the principles of democracy.”
But to his supporters all of this misses the point. Before any other world leader, Abe saw the rising threat from China, and decided Japan had to become a fully paid-up member of the US-Japan alliance.
“Abe had a very futuristic vision,” says his former advisor Mr Suzuki. “He saw that China will rise, and the United States will retreat from the region. In order to keep the United States involved in this region, he realised we need to have the power to defend ourselves.”
A rearmed and capable Japan is certainly welcomed by Washington, and by many other countries in Asia, who are equally worried about China.
Abe found willing partners in Canberra and Delhi. When he was killed, Mr Modi declared a national day of mourning in India.
But there is one place where Abe is not being mourned – where he was repeatedly condemned as a warmonger and revisionist.
That place is China. It may explain why Beijing sent vice president Wang Qishan to London but is sending a former science and technology minister no-one outside of China has ever heard of to Tokyo.
Asante Kotoko head coach, Seydou Zerbo has criticized the performance of striker, Steven Mukwala following their 1-1 draw against Hearts of Oak.
The Porcupine Warriors were held by their bitterest rivals to a 1-1 drawn game at the Baba Yara Stadium in the week three fixtures of the 2022/23 Ghana Premier League.
Caleb Amankwah scored late with a brave header to cancel out Mubarik Yussif’s early lead to share the points among the two clubs.
Speaking after the game, the Burkinabe gaffer has admitted his side played to perfection but is disappointed they couldn’t snatch all three points.
He added that he hasn’t been impressed with his Ugandan forward Steven Mukwala’s performance so far and is expecting more from him in their subsequent matches.
“We were all disappointed with our performance last week. We went to right our wrongs and played well but not happy for not getting all three points,” he said.
“With Mukwala, I wouldn’t say I’m ok. He is our leading scorer and his duty is to score. I will not say I’m ok but we will go back to figure out what went wrong and work towards it.
“We are building a new team with new signings, so I’m edging the supporters to be calm and I hope with time, they will adapt to the Kotoko philosophy and playing in front of the huge crowd, and will get back on track,” he added.
Asante Kotoko will host Nsoatreman FC in one of their outstanding fixtures on Wednesday, September 28, 2022.
The Parliamentary Committee on Local Government and Rural Development has pledged its support for the Decriminalising Vagrancy Laws and Advocacy (DVLA) Project, a Crime Check Foundation (CCF) initiative geared towards reforming Ghana’s justice system.
As a result, the committee’s leadership promised to support advocacy and reform efforts targeted at stopping the incarceration of impoverished people who broke the by-laws of Ghana’s Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs).
The committee’s leaders made these comments at a meeting with a CCF team led by Mr Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng, the Executive Director and a prison journalist.
The discussion focused on the findings and recommendations provided as part of the implementation of the CCF-OSIWA (Open Society Initiative for West Africa) DVLA Project.
The project, which strives to stop abuses and jailing of vagrants and other vulnerable individuals who break MMDA by-laws, directly contributes to poverty reduction and access to justice for the poor, in line with the SDGs.
The committee agreed that jailing vagrants and other poor people for minor offences under local government by-laws could be reduced through nationwide awareness of MMDA by-laws to reduce violations, advocacy for the passage of the Non-Custodial Sentencing Bill into law, and rapid socio-economic development.
Mr Cosmos Kwame Akorli, the Project Officer, who presented the findings and recommendations to the Committee, stated that CCF was obliged to account to Parliament and the people of Ghana through timely input that fostered appropriate responses from the government and other stakeholders.
He emphasised that the Committee’s findings and recommendations would allow it to take appropriate steps to prevent harassment, arrests, fines, and incarceration of vagrants and other voiceless people under municipal by-laws, as these laws disproportionately harm the poor.
The key results provided were a lack of conscious mobilisation and education of residents on MMDA by-laws, as well as a lack of access to the laws by individuals.
Others included a lack of adequate social amenities such as restroom facilities, proper market centres, and parking terminals, which led to the harassment, arrest, fining, and imprisonment of impoverished people.
According to the findings, it exacerbated poverty for the impoverished people, their families, and the nation.
Mr Akorli mentioned, among other findings, the deliberate targeting and confiscation of ‘goods’ from poor people who sold them in “unauthorised places,’ which remained an alleged major source of extortion by MMDA Taskforces, and unjustified police swoop on homeless and unemployed youth.
He also listed the findings as physical abuses MMDA Taskforces subjected poor people to, thereby affecting human dignity and their socio-economic conditions.
“The lack of the Legal Aid Commission’s offices to provide legal support for poor and voiceless citizens facing prosecution for violating by-laws affects justice delivery,” he said.
Mr Kwarteng, the Executive Director, CCF, recommended increased knowledge of local government by-laws through adequate mobilisation and sensitisation to reduce violations of the laws resulting in harassment, abuse, arrests, fines, and imprisonment of poor people.
He added that under the current system, impoverished criminals who were unable to pay the penalties levied on them were detained, which exacerbated the already dreadful prison conditions and perpetuated poverty and urged the government to expedite the steps leading to the adoption of the Non-Custodial Sentencing Bill into law to provide for alternative sentencing regimes for minor offenders if enacted.
“For the time being, impoverished individuals who break local assembly by-laws are imprisoned and fed with government money, although they could be employed to clean the streets and choked gutters to improve sanitation in major cities and towns,” he said.
As a result, he urged the government to provide the MMDAs with enough logistical assistance to prevent abuses against the weak in society.
Mr Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, Ranking Member of the Committee and Member of Parliament for Odododiodo, stated that the issues identified by CCF affected his constituents and that it “presents a wonderful opportunity to collaborate to have the issues addressed because once your constituents have a headache, you have a fever.”
While admitting that certain abuses and arrests happened, he recognised that “application of the by-laws is a difficulty, because poor people are regarded as if they are not human beings.”
Mr Emmanuel Akwasi Gyamfi, Chairman of the Committee, praised CCF for creating a good agenda to enhance sensitization on by-laws and lobbying for changes, noting that many had not considered the consequences of local assembly by-laws.
He bemoaned the fact that impoverished people were imprisoned for small offences, even though MMDAs did not educate their citizenry on their by-laws.
“I further call for nationwide implementation of the project since increased awareness of the by-laws alone cannot prevent 50 per cent of offences,” he said.
He asked the Parliamentary Committee, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, and CCF to work together to identify and remove unnecessary by-laws.
Mr Vanderpuye said pressure should be put on Parliament to play its role in getting the Non-Custodial Sentencing Bill enacted because “if the bill is not passed by the current Parliament, it will become stillborn.”
The Committee on Local Government and Rural Development has the authority to investigate and report to Parliament on local government and rural development problems in Ghana.
Mr Emmanuel Akwasi Gyamfi, Chairman of the Committee; Mr Suleman Adamu Sanid, Vice Chairman; Mr Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, Ranking Member and Mr Benjamin Komla Kpodo, Deputy Ranking Member, were present at the meeting.
Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Nana Ama Dokua Asiamah Adjei, says government is relentless on its quest to industrialize the country leveraging the nation’s abundant natural resources to create sustainable jobs and wealth.
Addressing local manufacturers and producers at the ninth Made in Ghana Awards last Friday in Accra, she said that government will continue to partner with local manufacturers on the path to industrialization.
“Government will continue to work with the private sector to ensure that we expand our production base and produce quality Made in Ghana products and I entreat local producers to play their part in our quest to make this country the manufacturing hub of West Africa,” she said.
She added: “This approach is to whip up local production and consumption whilst internally optimizing the needed domestic investments to complement the inflow of foreign direct investments to grow the Ghanaian economy.”
The deputy minister further made a strong call for increased patronage and consumption of locally-made products and services in the interest of job creation and retention.
“Patronizing Made in Ghana products and services is considered the best way to support national development and the transformation of local industries as it helps to create and retain valuable jobs,” she emphasized.
According to her, government recognizes the varying difficulties that are facing local producers for which reason it is working assiduously on bridging the logistical gaps which will ensure that manufacturers are able to ship their products freely onto the single African market.
Ms. Asiamah Adjei said local producers have been able to overcome previous challenges with finishing and packaging of their products and were now producing well-packaged products that meet international standards.
“This is a positive development and hopefully, we can do more to enhance the output of locally-made products. With the provision of packaging and logistical support, local producers will be able to take full advantage of the benefits of the AfCFTA,” she further indicated.
The awards event was held on the theme “Ghana beyond imports” to emphasize the need for Ghanaians to prioritize the consumption and patronage of locally-made products and services to underpin economic growth.
This year’s edition unveiled some top-25 locally-made and celebrated iconic products and services across all sectors of the economy—which is a campaign to highlight and expose Ghanaian brands that have exhibited excellence in manufacturing practices and standards in the country.
Premier Health Insurance was awarded Iconic Health Insurance Brand of the year. Other winners were: JRA Cosmetics Ltd., Iconic Cosmetics Brand; Central Furniture Works, Iconic Wood Furniture Brand; Taabea Herbal Mixture, Iconic Herbal Mixture Brand; and Polyfer Blood Syrup, Iconic Pharmaceutical Product of the Decade.
Chief Executive Officer of JRA Cosmetics, Jane Reason Ahadzie was adjudged the Female Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 whilst the Managing Director of GCB Bank Plc., John Kofi Adomakoh was named Outstanding MD of the Year 2021. The Omanhene of Assin Owirenkyi Traditional Area, Ehunabobrim Prah Agyensaim VI was honoured with the Outstanding Personality of the Decade award.
Sir Stuart Rose, chairman of Asda and former chief executive of Marks and Spencer, has told the BBC the government is gambling with the UK’s economic future, likening the government’s mini-budget to a bet on a horse race.
“They have put the entire UK economy on the 3:30 at Epsom,” he said. “If it comes in people will cheer but if it doesn’t people will be in a very difficult position indeed.”
He cast doubt on the UK economy’s ability to grow, as he pointed to Asda’s closely followed income tracker which shows that the poorest 20% of households are already spending £60 more than they are earning every month.
“That household budget deficit means people are having to rein in spending and move away from premium brands.”
Companies are not only facing a vicious squeeze on customer budgets, their own borrowing costs have rocketed in the last year making it very difficult for firms to borrow to invest and grow their own business and – in turn – the economy as a whole.
The S&P Investment Grade Corporate Bond index shows that in October last year, UK companies that are considered to have strong finances – deemed investment grade – could borrow for 10 years at 1.76%. That same debt is now costing 6.1%.
Well-known names that are slightly below investment grade (e.g. Marks and Spencer) would face interest rates of more than 10% for a five-year loan if they needed to borrow right now.
Companies that use the bond market to raise money will have lots of loans with fixed and different end dates so will not necessarily be paying more right now. But bankers say for those with loans maturing, and hoping to roll them over into new loans, the corporate lending market is expensive to the point of practically being shut.
As one senior banker told the BBC: “No one knows the value of anything right now, which means no one will be doing anything until this massive uncertainty clears.”
While it is early days, in the current environment few firms will be looking at ways to pour money into new projects – which is the outcome the chancellor desperately wants.
A naval contingent of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) took over guard duties at the Jubilee House, the seat of government, on Monday.
At a colourful 34th ceremonial military parade at the forecourts of the Presidency in Accra, an Army detachment that had been guarding the facility over the past three months handed that responsibility to a smartly decked line of naval officers who would perform the task for the next quarter.
The ceremony, traditionally reviewed by the President and Commander in Chief of the GAF, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was appraised by Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, who stood in for him.
The ceremony was also witnessed by Chief of Staff, Madam Frema Akosua Osei Opare, the Minister of Defense, Mr Dominic Nitiwul, Interior Minister, Mr Ambrose Dery and Service Chiefs.
The ceremonial parade is a long-standing tradition inherited from the British and has remained the foundation of discipline in all armies. Performed quarterly, the event is aimed at ensuring alertness and readiness by the military and assessing the strength of the soldiers on duty to provide maximum security at the duty point.
Pupils and teachers from the Diamond Kids Inclusive School, the Ace School, Christ Ambassadors School, as well as Librarians from the Korle Gonno Community Library also witnessed the ceremony.
From the United States of America came Usher Raymond, SZA, and H.E.R. British act of Ghanaian descent, Stomzy and Nigeria’s Tems who also performed at the programme.
Stormzy brought on stage two of Ghana’s enterprising musicians, Yaw Tog and Kwesi Arthur who did the remix of Yaw Tog’s ‘Sore’ which features all the three acts.
Usher during his performance also brought on stage three Nigerian acts: Oxlade, Tiwa Savage, and Pheelz.
Ghana’s DWP Academy, with choreographed dances by Afrobeast, put up spectacular performances for the artistes.
Hype MCs Kojo Manuel, OGee and DJ Mic Smith were also in their element at the concert.
Uncle Waffles joined the lineup of performers in Accra with Berla Mundi, Joselyn Dumas, Michaela Coel, Nomzamo Mbatha, and Sabrina Dhowrie Elba as presenters.
The event in Accra was hosted by award-winning actor, playwright, and activist Danai Gurira.
The Global Citizen Festival is the world’s longest-running global campaign calling for an end to extreme poverty. Through the Festival, the organization brings together millions of people to amplify the message to #EndPovertyNow, and this year, in celebrating 10 Years of impacting change, the event will be split into two locations: Accra and New York.
The 2022 Global Citizen Festival campaign is supported by governments and world leaders across the world.
Since its inception in 2012, the Global Citizen Festival has become the world’s longest-running global campaign, calling for an end to extreme poverty, gender inequality, and environmental degradation.
According to the founder of Global Citizen, Hugh Evans, SDRs (a type of reserve asset mostly sitting unused by the world’s wealthiest countries) can immediately provide new and affordable financing relief for countries at high risk of financial and debt distress.
Global Citizen is calling for world leaders, major corporations, and philanthropic foundations to take to the Global Citizen Festival stages and announce new commitments to End Extreme Poverty NOW, by deploying funds to meet the total goal of reallocating $100 billion in IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), by making up the $40B shortfall.
The Interim Executives of the Law Society of Ghana (LSG) paid a courtesy call on the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Kingsford Bagbin at his office on Tuesday, September 20, 2022.
The purpose of the visit was to congratulate him on his elevation as President of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) of the world and also to introduce the new Lawyers Society of Ghana to him.
It must be placed on record that nowhere in the Speaker’s welcoming remarks during our visit, did he ever state that he has resigned from the Ghana Bar Association (GBA).
In his remarks, he expressed in strong words, his revulsion about the state of the GBA and wishes to see a change for a better Bar Association committed to the aims, objectives and ethics as captured and practiced globally.
The Speaker welcomed the formation of the Law Society of Ghana (LSG) and pledged his unflinching support to the Interim Executives and the Society to establish and develop a better professional group.
He was very excited to learn from the Interim President, the novelty of roping on board not only lawyers but paralegals, law Students at the Ghana School of Law and the Law Teaching Faculties at the Universities.
His interest and excitement of LSG also stems from the fact that he together with learned senior Ward Brew, Esq had actually earlier sponsored the formation of the Bar Association of Ghana (BAG) when the frustration from the GBA became unbearable until some impediments came their way, which impediments rendered the forward march of BAG impossible or near impracticable.
He charged the LSG to seek to shape national discourse and fight against injustice in all forms in Ghana.
According to the Speaker, the GBA has now become too elitist, stressing that he used to pay his dues religiously until it came to his attention that any lawyer that had close association with the then Public Tribunal Court was not recognized and paid their last respects by the GBA, upon death.
He cited instances. As a result, his interest in the GBA has diminished and with it the non-payment of his membership dues.
He advised LSG to come up with reasoned legal opinions and constructive criticisms of Court judgements so as to enrich our law reports and publish same in Journals. He finally pledged his overwhelming support to the LSG.
The delegation was led by the Interim LSG President, Hon. Rockson Dafeamekpor, Esq. (MP), who congratulated the Speaker on his new position as the President of the CPA. The Acting President bemoaned the GBA deviation from its core values and mandate in terms of fairness, inclusiveness, defending lawyers and promoting lawyers’ welfare.
The Acting President was accompanied by the Vice President Biadela Mortey Akpadzi Esq, General Secretary Atukwei Quaye Esq, Treasurer, Enoch Deegbe Esq, Women Commissioner Anatu Anne Seidu Bogobiri, Dep. General Secretary David Worwui-Brown, Esq and Deputy Director of Communications, Mercy Dankwa, Esq all in interim capacities. On the side of Speaker, he was in the company of his chief legal and political advisors.
The Courtesy visit was part of a rolled-out plan to introduce and interface LSG with prominent men, women and relevant academic & state institutions in Ghana by the end of the year.
The nation has been reassured by the Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD) that there are enough supplies of all petroleum products to meet domestic demand far into the New Year.
Concerns about a probable fuel scarcity are false, according to a message from the CEO of CBOD that was forwarded to GhanaWeb.
“At the depots and in the ports, we have more than enough petroleum products available for discharge.
These goods, which range from gasoline and diesel to kerosene, premix, and aviation fuel, are offered in enough quantities to satisfy the country’s need after the Christmas holidays.
Dr. Patrick Ofori noted that the nation’s strategic fuel stocks have been maintained and replenished through policy intervention by the Bank of Ghana (BOG) and nationalistic “sacrifices” by the bulk oil distribution companies.
He explained further that the BOG has allocated 120 million US dollars every month until the end of the year for the importation of all essential petroleum products into the country.
“For this we are very grateful to the Central Bank, which has been working with us to assist our members, the bulk distribution companies, to secure foreign exchange forwards to meet the nation’s petroleum import bill,” Dr. Ofori said. “With the BOG’s intervention, the forex challenges we faced around the middle of the year have been stabilized to some extent and there is little, if any, cause for alarm.”
What the BOG is providing, however, is just a fraction of what the BDCs need to meet their medium- to long-term foreign exchange liquidity demands and CBOD is hoping that more will be done soon to shore up foreign exchange liquidity in the country.
Dr. Ofori also commended the bulk distribution companies for placing the national interest above their commercial interests to help ensure adequate petroleum supplies in the country.
He pledged the continuous support and co-operation of CBOD with all the relevant national agencies to ensure adequate supplies of petroleum products to keep the engines of the Ghanaian economy running.
Rock and roll fans should prepare their bank accounts for a new auction featuring guitars previously owned or played by Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, and Kurt Cobain.
TMZ reports that Kruse GWS Auctions is launching its online Legends of Rock and Roll auction next month, where pieces like Hendrix’s Japanese sunburst electric guitar will be for sale—and is expected to sell at around $250,000. The instrument was gifted to Hendrix by his father.
Elvis’ guitar will also be up for grabs: a 1975 Martin D-28, complete with the case—and Cobain’s acoustic guitar will be available with an estate receipt. Included in the auction block are more modest instruments, like guitars from Paul Stanley of Kiss, Tom DeLonge of Blink-182, and Robert Smith of The Cure.
Assorted collector items will also be available like James Brown’s monogrammed dressing room robe and slippers, Johnny Cash’s 14K bracelet and ring set, and Rick James’ snake jumpsuit, which was made just for him. The Legends of Rock and Roll auction is currently accepting bids, with live bidding launching at 10 a.m. PT on Oct. 15.
Back in 2020, Hendrix’s Japanese sunburst electric guitar was sold for $216,000. The instrument was played by Hendrix after he returned home from the U.S. Army in 1962 and toured the Chitlin’ Circuit. A couple of years later, he move to Harlem, New York where he continued to play, eventually leaving the guitar in NYC with his friend Mike Quashi before heading to the U.K. It’s unclear if it’s the same one as the guitar that Kruse GWS Auctions will sell.
The Executive Director of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), Mrs. Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Dankwa has said her office has been working to retrieve misappropriated money captured in the Auditor General’s report.
The EOCO director was speaking at the office of the Savannah regional coordinating council as part of her working visit to the region.
Mrs. Tiwaa said it was part of their mandate to investigate and where possible retrieve monies lost as reported by the Auditor General.
“When you look at the Auditor General’s report, every year when it comes out, we don’t let it go like that. We take it district by district, item by item, and we look at how we can recover some of the issues raised in the Auditor General’s report.”
COP Tiwaa said her outfit also investigates and prosecutes, on behalf of the Attorney General, people identified by the Auditor General to have committed offences.
“Where we need to investigate further, we will. Those we can recover for government, we will. These are ways we can work together for our mutual benefit.”
COP Tiwaa also a former director of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service told female police to give out their best to justify more females to be taken into the service.
She said females currently make up 29% of the Ghana Police Service and said, if the females work hard enough, the service will have a reason to take more to meet the United Nations ratio of 40%.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo‘s handling of the economy, according to the ranking member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, has inspired him to desire to write a book about the president called “How not to run an Economy.”
The politician Ajumako Enyan Essiam claims that President Akufo-Addo has cemented his legacy as the first person to manage the economy in a negative manner since Ghana gained independence in 1957.
He stated that had his plea for IMF support been heeded sooner, Ghana might have been in a better economic position. He listed wasteful spending and borrowing as some of the reasons the government has failed in its management of the economy.
“The kind of mismanagement faced by the Ghanaian today is unprecedented. What we are seeing from Nana Addo since he became president, I have to write a book about him -how not to run an economy because the mismanagement has been legendary and he has set all the negative records in managing an economy,” he explained.
Speaking with Kwesi Parker-Wilson on Kumasi-based Oyerepa FM’s Ghana Te Sen, the former Deputy Minister of Finance charged Ghanaians to rise up and speak against the bad policy choices of the government.
He added that the policies are scary and that it will take the country about 20 years for it to recover from the economic mess supervised by the current administration.
“The way Akufo- Addo is managing the economy, it will take us 20 years to repair it. We must all rise and speak up against the mismanagement. The government must admit that they will crash the country so they must live above politics and ask for help to solve the economic problems. NPP has shown clearly that they can’t solve the problem but rather have aggravated the problem,” he stressed.
Rihanna will headline the Super Bowl LVII halftime show on Feb. 12 in Glendale, Arizona, per the Hollywood Reporter.
Shortly after the report came out, Rihanna took to Instagram to confirm the news, posting a picture of herself holding up an NFL football.
Roc Nation later released a statement regarding the news.
“Rihanna is a generational talent, a woman of humble beginnings who has surpassed expectations at every turn. A person born on the small island of Barbados who became one of the most prominent artists ever. Self-made in business and entertainment,” Jay-Z said.
Seth Dudowsky, NFL Head of Music, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Rihanna to the Apple music Super Bowl Halftime Show stage. Rihanna is a once in a generation artist who has been a cultural force throughout her career. We look forward to collaborating with Rihanna Roc Nation, and Apple Music to bring fans another historic Halftime Show performance.”
The news arrives a few days after Taylor Swift was approached to headline the Super Bowl but turned it down, according to TMZ. Sources close to the artist say that the singer doesn’t want to perform until she re-records her first 6 albums.
Sources close to Swift told both People and TMZ that she won’t headline the show, despite speculation among her fans and a report from Variety that delved into the possibility. Rumors first started to circulate earlier last week, with many highlighting the upcoming release of her new album Midnights and the NFL’s Apple Music partnership as potential evidence.
The Bambara Groundnut is a traditional food crop largely cultivated by farmers in the northern parts of Ghana.
It is a leguminous crop sometimes called Bambara Bean and is similar to regular beans or cowpea.
Bambara groundnut is highly rich in protein.
Bambara Groundnut plants
In the Upper East Region, Bambara Groundnut seeds are commonly called Suma and are very important in the traditional settings, mainly because they are used to prepare many foods during the performance of funerals.
They are also used for making pastries like the popular Koose which is consumed with Hausa Koko for breakfast by many Ghanaians.
Bambara Groundnut seeds without the shells
Koose made from Bambara Groundnut
Bambara Groundnuts can also be cooked fresh or after they have been dried.
Despite the importance of this food crop, farmers in the Upper East Region have over the years, reduced the quantity of Bambara groundnut they cultivate during the farming season.
According to some of the farmers, pest infestations and low yields account for their lack of interest in growing Bambara groundnuts.
CSRI-PGRRI officials engaging farmers in Upper East
“We do not have any chemicals for killing the insects that attack the crops”, said Sule Baalik, a Bambara Groundnut farmer in Binduri.
“Also, when there are torrential rains during the farming season, you are likely to lose your harvest because Bambara Groundnuts do grow well in waterlogged fields”, he explained further.
The Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research [CSIR – PGRRI] has therefore, introduced some farmer varieties of Bambara Groundnut to farmers in the Binduri and Tempane districts of the Upper East Region for trials on their farms.
CSIR-PGRRI officials on Bambara Groundnut trail field
The Institute hopes that the move will enable farmers to identify Bambara groundnut types that are suited to their specific farming conditions and encourage more farmers to grow the food crop, as it could contribute significantly to improving Ghana’s food security.
Some of the farmer varieties introduced to the farmers are tolerant to drought and can withstand pest and disease infestation.
Bambara Groundnut field
They are also high-yielding and have an early maturity period, unlike the traditional varieties previously grown by the farmers.
Acting Director for the Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr. Daniel Ashie Kotey said; “The participatory field trials that are being conducted with farmers would lead to farmers selecting Bambara Groundnut genotypes that are suited to their farming contexts”.
“And once they do that, seed producers who are part of the germplasm user groups would come onboard, pick up these seeds and multiply them”, Dr. Kotey added.
Dr. Daniel Ashie Kotey, Ag. Director, CSIR-PGRRI
He said prior to multiplying the seeds, the Seed Producers will be given training on how to produce quality seed.
The farmer varieties of the Bambara groundnut are being distributed under the Seeds for Resilience [SfR] Project which is being implemented in Ghana and four other African countries under the auspices of the Global Crop Diversity Trust based in Germany.
Patrick Attamah, a plant breeder at the Manga station of the Savannah Agriculture Research Institute of the CSIR, which is the local collaborator for the PGRRI in the Upper East Region explained that one of their core duties is “to select the varieties of Bambara Groundnut that have promise before giving them out to farmers to try on their fields”.
The farmers have welcomed the CSIR – PGRRI farmer varieties of Bambara groundnuts, with high hopes of getting improved yields that could motivate them to go into commercial production of this very important traditional food crop.
“After planting the CSIR – PGRRI varieties on my field, I see a vast difference between those and my own old varieties. Theirs are greener and growing very quickly than mine so I expect an early harvest”, said Barikisu Tahiru, a woman farmer from Tempane.
In order to reap the rewards of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, insurance regulators and companies in Africa have been urged to persuade their individual governments for a change in insurance policy.
According to Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the action aims to make sure that the insurance industry benefits from the free trade agreement, which has the potential to support Africa’s efforts to increase trade, investment, and job creation.
On September 25, Ibn Chambas spoke to attendees at the opening ceremony of the AISADC/AIRDC educational conference in Accra. He argued in favor of laws and regulations that would safeguard the interests of companies and policyholders.
“The primary mandate of all members of the Association of Insurance Supervisory Authorities for Developing Countries (AISADC) being to set rules and regulations for the proper functioning of the respective insurance industries and to protect the interests of policyholders, I would urge AISADC to lobby their governments to change their policies in favor of the AfCFTA agreement,” he stated.
Touching further on the importance of the free trade pact, Mr. Ibn Chambas said the insurance sector has helped address certain aspects of economic hardships and offered financial protection in Africa.
“Several global macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges, such as rising inflation, ongoing cross-border disruptions in some regions, and continuing COVID-19 concerns, threaten to decrease growth and profitability.
“The difficulties associated with embargoes on some economies and the disruptions to supply chains and maritime transport have threatened our efforts to establish a global economy based on the principle of the free flow of goods and services,” the renowned diplomat said.
He continued, “Yet, in my opinion, things would have been much worse if we hadn’t had insurance to play a critical role in promoting disaster resilience by providing financial protection and preventing negative economic hardships after the disasters.”
He however charged insurance regulators and insurance firms to center engagements that will propel the sectors growth, regulation, technological advancement, insurance expansion and equity.
The value of debt and equity security holdings held by foreign investors increased significantly in 2021.
According to the 2022 Financial Stability Review, foreign investors’ debt holdings increased to ₵31.7 billion at the end of December 2021, as compared to ₵28.8 billion at end-December 2020.
The value of foreign investors’ equity holdings also increased to ₵6.32 billion at end-December 2021, from GH₵4.82 billion at end-December 2020.
The significant increase in the debt holdings of foreign investors put excessive pressure on the cedi anytime there is a shock to the economy.
The increase, the report said, was attributable to the rise in prices of equities on the domestic market, partially owing to the stock market recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Total value of government debt securities hit ₵152.72bn
The total value of Government of Ghana (GoG) and corporate debt securities outstanding increased in 2021, as compared to the previous year.
The total value of GoG and corporate debt securities outstanding as of the end of 2021 were ₵152.72 billion and ₵31.36 billion respectively, compared to ₵120.69 billion GoG and ₵ 27.07 billion corporate bonds outstanding in the previous year.
This represents an increase of 26.5% and 15.9% for GoG and corporate bonds, respectively.
The market share of outstanding securities for GoG and corporates was 83.0% and 17.3% respectively in 2021. This is compared to 81.7% and 18.3% respectively in the previous year.
Kendall Jenner has partnered with the luxury resort SLS Baha Mar to brand her tequila on an international level. On Saturday, she hosted the opening on the grounds of Baha Bay, the resort’s adult water park.
Jenner says she’s excited about the launch. This is the first time the model and influencer has brought her brand to an international location. “818 Tequila is perfect in refreshing cocktails after a swim or a day at the beach,” she said.
The water park covers over 15 acres, but overlooks the island’s cable beach with an impossibly blue shade of water that looks like moving cinema and feels like a tropical sea massage each time a wave hits the body.
Kendall wore baggy shorts with a tapered white tank pushing her effortless luxury aesthetic in person, alongside the flamingoes she posed with on the small pier, before coming to the party.
The event included influencers from the island who brought their Bahamian style to the 818 activation, along with Graeme Davis, the President of Baha Mar who also made an appearance.
Davis says through the collaboration, he expects to bring an elevated cocktail experience to the Baha Mar guest.
SLS Baha Mar has 299 guest rooms with three different pools each with their own vibe. The property’s GM says that the 818 partnership will give guests a one-of-a-kind experience, which has become what they’re known for.
818 Tequila is named for the area code of Calabasas, California where the second-youngest Jenner grew up. Furthering the notion of family business, the tequila is made in Jalisco, Mexico at a family owned and operated distillery.
In order to ensure ways to survive and compete effectively in the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), including the growth of non-traditional exports, the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) has brought together some commercial banks and Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) who are into export in the Ashanti Region at a forum.
Even while the nation’s non-traditional exports have consistently grown, it has not been able to satisfy global supply and demand.
In light of this, there have been rising worries that if precautions are not taken, the country may not benefit fully from the AfCFTA because of its incapacity to meet demand.
Speaking to journalists in an interview on sidelines of the forum, which was under the theme ‘Financial Resource Mobilisation: A Key Factor in SME Growth’, Deputy Chief Executive Officer for GEPA in charge of operations and finance, Samuel Dentu, noted that the forum is meant to help bridge the gap between banks and exporters.
Hence, this will give the exporters access to enough finances to expand their work in order to meet demand – and by extension be competitive in the AfCFTA.
“The financial institutions need to help us grow our business. The Ghana Export-Import (GEXIM) Bank needs to work with us and the commercial banks to improve our export capacity. If we do not push our stakeholders in our export ecosystem harder, we are going to lose out on AfCFTA,” Mr. Dentu said.
He further cautioned that if the country does not put in more efforts to cushion SMEs and exporters, it might not reap the full potential benefits of AfCFTA.
“If we do not put practical steps in place for our businesses to also play in the big market that has been created, 10 years down the line we will be blaming government because other African countries’ penetration is going to be more since we are now going to have one market; so we need to prepare our exporters and make sure they have the capacity,” he said
Mr. Samuel Dentu noted that, usually, individuals are afraid to go to banks due to costs, requirements, collateral among other things. However, GEPA through this forum is mediating to flatten the surface for these exporters to have conversations that will be beneficial for banks and the exporters, and the country as well.
“We realised that in the last few years our exports were growing; however, we feel that more can be done, especially when the market is there. Normally, when we go out to try and sell Ghana’s products and services there is huge interest; but we realised that we lack the production capacity.
“So, one of the ways we can improve our capacity is to engage the exporters as well as commercial banks which have the wherewithal to help these exporters improve their production capacity. And also, to let them understand the business of these exporters and find ways of addressing the deficiencies we have; so that we can increase the supply capacity for the demand we have. This is our single-most important problem that GEPA wants to solve,” he said.
The amount involved in the full bailout scheme of Liquidated Fund Management Companies increased to ₵3.65 billion, from ₵1.38 billion, the 2022 Financial Stability Review of the Bank of Ghana has revealed.
Out of this, payout to investors increased to ₵1.56 billion in 2021 from ₵622.66 million in 2020.
The number of claims paid was 8,955 out of the 11,915 sign ups, representing 75.16% of total claims. The payments made were in respect of Tier 1.
The Tier 2 component of the sign-up, which amounted to G₵1.725 billion (out of the total sign-up value of ₵3,658), was invested in the Amalgamated Mutual Fund Limited to be redeemed over a five-year period, starting from the first anniversary.
Tier 2 redemptions paid on the first anniversary, effective October 2021, was ₵64.73 million, representing 20.0% of amount in the Fund.
Number of claims for partial bailout hit 76,667 in 2021
The number of claims sign-up for partial bailout was however 76,667 at the end of 2021.
This is compared to 62,235 in the previous year.
The value of claims was ₵1.379 billion, out of which ₵1.341 billion was paid in 2021.
In comparison, the value of claims was ₵1,169 in 2020, of which ₵744 million was paid.
The number of clients whose claims were ₵50,000 or less, were 60,840, representing 79.0% of the total claims.
The partial bailout was initiated in November 2020, and commenced in December 2020, to pay a flat amount of ₵50,000 as government relief to investors who had not been able to sign up for the bailout scheme.
Some investors were also not able to sign up due to delays the Official Liquidator encountered in obtaining liquidation orders for their Fund Managers.
SEC CMMP to serve as blueprint for developing capital market
The Securities and Exchange Commission launched the maiden Capital Market Master Plan (CMMP) in May 2021, which would serve as the blueprint for developing the capital market in Ghana over the next 10 years.
The CMMP was developed by a working group drawn from stakeholders in the financial sector.
At the launch, the Minister of Finance reiterated government’s support to developing the capital market as it would improve access to long term capital for businesses.
The vision of the CMMP is to have a deep, efficient, diversified and well-regulated capital market with a full range of products attractive to domestic and international market.
Aaron Carter got a welfare check from police this week after it appeared the singer was doing drugs during an Instagram Live session, TMZ reports.
Police told the outlet they received a call Tuesday evening about Carter “possibly overdosing on social media.” Earlier that night, Carter hopped on Instagram Live to chat with followers. At one point, the screen went black and fans thought it sounded like Aaron was huffing air duster, as they could hear spraying and inhaling in the background.
Law enforcement responded to Aaron’s home, and said the singer was asleep when they arrived. There were no drugs at the scene, and police confirmed there was no type of suicide attempt either.
Aaron subsequently claimed it was all in good fun, referring to himself “the troll hunter” while spraying what appeared to be an air freshener. “I’m tired of people coming after me so I trolled everybody,” he told TMZ.
Carter, who’s never shied away from opening up about his past drug addiction, claims to be five years sober.
Earlier this week, Carter announced plans to sue his on-off girlfriend Melanie Martin for defamation in response to claims that he broke her ribs, which he says is not true. While speaking with TMZ reporters, Aaron said his forthcoming lawsuit will look like “Johnny Depp/Amber Heard 2.0”
Member of Parliament of Tamale Central has called out the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) for saying it is unaware of Frontiers’ proceeds from Covid-19 testing.
The company was tasked by government to undertake an assessment of travellers at the airport as part of measures to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus.
This GACL in responding to a request made by JoyNews’ Research Desk indicated that “it is unable to confirm the amount of money derived from the covid-19 testing.”
In a September 19 letter justifying this position, GACL Managing Director Pamela Djamson-Tettey explained that this was “because passengers paid directly to Frontiers Healthcare, providers of the service.”
But the Tamale Central legislator will have none of that.
“That is absolute nonsense,” he told Emefa Apawu.
Speaking on Joy FM‘s Midday News, Murtala Mohammed explained that the GACL was entitled to a percentage of each test conducted for which reason it is untenable to feign ignorance.
For him, the GACL is hiding something and withholding information for that matter.
“Simply, they are unwilling to provide that information.”
The application also contained a request for a copy of the agreement between government and the healthcare service provider.
In that regard, the MD said she cannot disclose that in accordance with Section 10 of the Right to Information Act, 2019, Act 989.
The desk also sought the modalities that led to Frontiers’ selection action for the activity.
But the GACL says it “is not in possession of the chronology of the processes that led to the selection and award to Frontiers Health Services to provide the COVID-19 testing at the Airport.”
The Frontiers deal came under intense scrutiny following allegations of corruption levelled by some civil society organisations and opposition MPs.
Transport Minister Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, however, explained to Parliament that the Ghana Airports Company complied fully with the procurement laws.
A group calling itself the Concerned Drivers Association and the Floating Drivers Association have given the government and its officials a week to respond to their request to raise transportation costs by 30%.
The organization claims that the leaders have been “silent” over their demand to raise transportation costs by September 21, 2022.
“We floating Drivers Association together with the Concerned drivers Association, and regional Chairmen wish to express our sincere disappointment in our association and Union leaders for keeping silent on the recently agreed 30% fare increment,” the group’s leaders wrote in a statement on September 26, 2022.
They also noted that “this half-hearted attitude of the government and the leadership of our drivers’ Unions does not promote the welfare and income of persons in the commercial transport business.”
The Union stated that the hike in spare parts prices, lubricants, and fuel has made it necessary to increase transport fares.
“We are by this release giving our leaders a week ultimatum to implement the fare increment else we will do that ourselves,” parts of the release read.
Due to the depreciation of the Ghana Cedi and other compelling considerations, the residents of Wuru, a poor hamlet in the Sissala East Municipality of the Upper West Region, do not use the Ghana Cedi, the country’s official currency, as their primary form of commerce.
They can only take the cedi as legal cash or a medium of exchange if they are paid in CFA equivalent while selling their goods.
The town, which has a population of over 3,000, conducts business with the neighboring country of Burkina Faso and uses the CFA as its legal cash.
They trade in livestock, cereals, and shea nut as well as fowls.
Maize, millet, and sesame are the major crops produced in the area.
Wurupio Mahama Bataachia Dawuri IV, the chief of the area speaking to the GNA, said there was nothing wrong with spending a foreign currency in the area since they do not recognize themselves as Ghanaians because they have been neglected, and do not benefit from government projects.
He attributed the problem to among other things, poor road infrastructure, depreciation of the Ghana cedi, and increases in prices of petroleum products as well as Burkinabes being their only business partners.
The community, about 70 kilometres from Tumu borders Burkina-Faso and speaks only Kassem, the language of Navrongo and other Kassena Nankana communities of the Upper East Region.
It took the GNA more than three hours on a motorbike from Tumu to the community due to the deplorable nature of the road, which a vehicle cannot access.
The GNA visited the Sissala East Municipality to see the problems facing the people and to report on them for assistance from state actors.
Wurupio Dawuri explained that the Ghana Cedi and the CFA were spent concurrently, but that the people stopped accepting the Ghanaian currency due to depreciation and high fuel prices.
The chief said the Wuru community is only remembered during elections, where politicians come to “deceive” them for their votes.
He said: “We consider ourselves as being in a neutral zone. We do not know whether we belong to Ghana or Burkina-Faso because nobody cares about us,” and that they appealed for the support over the years that were ignored.
He explained that they have been compelled by circumstances to ignore the Ghana Cedi since they could not convey their products to any of the Ghanaian communities for sale because of a lack of roads and transportation.
“People come here to tell us that it is illegal for us to spend the CFA other than the cedis. We also tell them it is not our fault because the only way for us to survive is to accept the CFA since all the goods come from Burkina-Faso,” he said.
He expressed concern about the inability of the National Identification Authority (NIA) to register and get the Ghana Card for them due to the lack of network service in the area for registration.
Wurupio Dawuri said it was important for the government to ensure that the Wuru community gets good roads to be linked to the rest of Ghana to ensure the people belong to Ghana and enjoy the national cake.
He also appealed for water, communication networks, and security in the area since they cannot defend themselves from terrorists’ attacks.
Mr. Yakubu Fuseini Batong, the Sissala East Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) said the Tumu-Kunchokor-Wuru road had been awarded and that construction would soon start.
He said efforts were being made to construct and repair broken bridges on the Wuru road.
An Indiana woman with epilepsy credits her dog’s natural instincts with regularly protecting her from danger when she has seizures.
“When I went to fall, he gets underneath of my arms to lower me down,” says Tina Stikeleather, 44. “He did that himself the first time he ever did that. I didn’t teach him that.”
Stikeleather caught a startling moment on camera where her dog did just that. She had set up her phone to record what was supposed to be a TikTok training exercise for her German Shepherd, Max. Instead, she captured the minutes right before having an actual seizure in her kitchen and how Max tries to warn her by climbing up onto the sink where she’s standing.
“When I told him to get down, he didn’t take my cue to get down. He went to the other side, got back up and then I was thinking, ‘OK, there’s something,’” said Stikeleather.
Watch how Max not only warns his owner about an impending seizure in the video above, but protects her from injury when she falls.
She says Max can often sense a seizure coming on even before she can and guards against potential hazards she faces because of her condition. He’ll watch over her when she takes a bath, for example, and stays by her side when she gets migraines or isn’t feeling well.
“He watches so closely that he picks up on if I’m sitting and I start rubbing my head because my head’s really hurting or I bend over,” she said. “He’s already up and over to me.”
Ever since he was a puppy, she says Max has been extremely intuitive. He has not received professional service dog training but has learned how to support her through various basic commands.
According to the Epilepsy Foundation, seizure dogs can be trained to alert family members, offer comfort, and lie next to a person having a seizure as a form of protection.
Amazing Tails, a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit that’s been training different breeds of dogs for more than 20 years to detect seizures, says some dogs just have the right personality for it.
“It’s typically dogs that are busy,” said Leslie Wheeler, a trainer at Amazing Tails with more than ten years of experience. “They’re constantly on the lookout. They’re constantly on the alert. They’re hyper-vigilant dogs.”
The organization says more people are starting to realize how valuable canine sensibilities can be to health care. Seizure alert dogs, for example, can sense an oncoming seizure up to 15 minutes prior to when it happens. Executive Director Joan Bussard says more research still needs to be done, but it’s possible dogs can latch onto a scent that humans can’t smell.
“Before the seizure manifests for a person, there will be a change in the brain,” said Bussard. “That electrical change will emit a hormone that will emit an odor. Dogs smell it. Their sense of smell is 200 times greater than ours.”
Stikeleather says Max definitely fits the description of an attentive and observant dog. The popularity of the video, which now has more than 16 million views and counting, has helped connect her with others who have epilepsy and are also struggling with health issues.
“If it can bring awareness or help even one person, you know, it’s worth it,” said Stikeleather.
Two eminent agronomists have stated that the timing is opportune for African nations to alter their food systems to address hunger as Africa continues its Year of Nutrition, which the African Union designated for 2022.
As the world scrambles to address the current crises, the continent is reminded that only Africans can take responsibility for building climate resilient, nourishing, and inclusive systems that leave no one behind, Josefa Sacko, a leading agronomist and AU Commissioner for Agriculture, and Agnes Kalibata, President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), wrote recently on the Devex website, a global media platform for the development community.
“This is why the African Union declared 2022 as the Year of Nutrition and why we must implement the national food systems pathways agreed upon at the UN Food Systems Summit in 2021.
“Progress made to date will be undone if we fail to lead and fail to act now,’ Sacko and Kalibata argued.
Last week in New York, President Nana Akufo-Addo echoed this call when he addressed the UN General Assembly, urging investors to support the roll-out of Africa’s lucrative agro-industry to guarantee global food security.
In the wake of overlapping food systems shocks, such as climate-induced drought and floods, locust attacks, the Covid-19 pandemic, and conflict, the World Bank has warned that for each one percentage point increase in food prices, 10 million people are thrown into extreme poverty.
If food prices stay this high for a year, global poverty could go up by more than 100 million people, it added.
Sacko and Kalibata highlighted a number of achievements in African agricultural production after decades of stagnation, pointing out that the continent witnessed sustained agricultural growth of 4.73 per cent a year on average between 2000 and 2018.
But, currently, “Africa is struggling to achieve the SDGs”.
“The African Common Position and national food systems pathways will not happen without stakeholders at every stage of the food system taking ownership — governments, the private sector, finance institutions, producers, and civil society,” Sacko and Kalibata wrote.
The IMF, in a recent blog, also picked up on the issue of weak food systems in Africa, pointing out that “climate change is intensifying food insecurity across sub-Saharan Africa, where Russia’s war in Ukraine and the pandemic are also adding to food shortages and high prices”.
“One-third of the world’s droughts occur in sub-Saharan Africa, and Ethiopia and Kenya are enduring one of the worst in at least four decades.
“Countries such as Chad are also being severely impacted by torrential rains and floods,” the IMF said.
The multiple crises that have created rippling effects on Africa’s food systems were brought into sharp focus at this year’s Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Kigali
The AGRF is Africa’s premier platform for discussing the continent’s food systems and agricultural transformation and managing food crisis.
“We have already heard from the governments of Ghana, Malawi and Rwanda at the AGRF on how they are implementing their food systems pathways to inspire other countries,” Sacko and Kalibata said.
In New York, President Akufo-Addo made a direct call for more investors in the continent’s agro-industry: “Africa is ready for business. Africa needs you and you need Africa.”
In Angola, Paramount Energy and Commodities has pumped $500 million into the country’s food sector, as it looks to develop the agro-industry in Africa.
It said that poor processing capacity in Africa was leading to post-harvest losses of fruit and vegetables of between 35-50 per cent or 15-25 per cent for grains.
The company said in a statement that sustainable, long-term, and self-sufficient solutions to the current global commodities crisis must be carried out rapidly, “otherwise even more people will face alarming levels of hunger and poverty”.
Paramount pointed out that by enabling access to affordable energy and food supply the economies of Africa could “flourish, economic activity is stimulated, and local entrepreneurship encouraged, ultimately leading to a more equal distribution of wealth and power”.
Sacko and Kalibata noted optimistically: “Farmers are increasingly using innovative approaches and scientific research combined with traditional knowledge to increase the productivity of their fields, diversify their crops, boost their nutrition, and build climate resilience.”
Asante Kotoko head coach, Seydou Zerbo has criticized the performance of striker, Steven Mukwala following their 1-1 draw against Hearts of Oak.
The Porcupine Warriors were held by their bitterest rivals to a 1-1 drawn game at the Baba Yara Stadium in the week three fixtures of the 2022/23 Ghana Premier League.
Caleb Amankwah scored late with a brave header to cancel out Mubarik Yussif’s early lead to share the points among the two clubs.
Speaking after the game, the Burkinabe gaffer has admitted his side played to perfection but is disappointed they couldn’t snatch all three points.
He added that he hasn’t been impressed with his Ugandan forward Steven Mukwala’s performance so far and is expecting more from him in their subsequent matches.
“We were all disappointed with our performance last week. We went to right our wrongs and played well but not happy for not getting all three points,” he said.
“With Mukwala, I wouldn’t say I’m ok. He is our leading scorer and his duty is to score. I will not say I’m ok but we will go back to figure out what went wrong and work towards it.
“We are building a new team with new signings, so I’m edging the supporters to be calm and I hope with time, they will adapt to the Kotoko philosophy and playing in front of the huge crowd, and will get back on track,” he added.
Asante Kotoko will host Nsoatreman FC in one of their outstanding fixtures on Wednesday, September 28, 2022.
In order to enlist Ukrainians in the Russian military, according to Ukrainian officials, Russia is employing so-called secession referendums in four regions of Ukraine that are now under occupation.
Ivan Fedorov, the Ukrainian mayor-in-exile of Russian-occupied Melitopol, stated on Telegram that the main goal of the bogus referendum was to organize the local population and utilize them as cannon fodder.
Ukrainian officials also say that travel for young men out of occupied Ukraine has become much more difficult since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization. Such travel in Ukraine’s south has been difficult but possible, through arranged corridors.
In recent days, however, CNN understands from Ukrainian government sources that travel to Ukrainian-held territory has become much more difficult, and that those official corridors have now been effectively closed.
Ukraine’s National Resistance Center, a division of the defense ministry, said last week that the Russian military plans to enforce mobilization as soon as the “referendums” on joining the Russian Federation are approved, as is widely expected.
It is clear that after the referendum the enemy will announce mobilization on the occupied lands as well because it needs human resources,” the Resistance Center said in a statement.
The Ukrainian government says that Russian occupying administrations, together with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), are drawing up lists of thousands of people to be mobilized in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
In Ukraine’s Luhansk region, which is almost entirely occupied by Russia and Russian-backed forces, Ukrainian officials say that the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic is already implementing widespread conscription.
“Unlike in the Russian Federation where mobilization is partial, in the so-called LPR everyone is taken,” Serhii Hayday, the Ukrainian head of the Luhansk region military administration, said on Telegram.
“In Svatove, for example, call-up orders are handed out to every male aged 18 and over,” Hayday said. “Some individuals, such as lorry drivers, are dispatched to military units immediately, without training, because there are no reinforcements left to send to the front line.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said over the weekend that in occupied Crimea, which was annexed in 2014, Russia is specifically targeting ethnic Tatars, forcing them to flee the peninsula.
“Russia is trying to destroy the gene pool of the Crimean Tatars,” he said. “Males are taken from the age of 18.”
“They’re forcing people to fight, people from the temporarily occupied territories,” Zelensky told CBS in an interview broadcast on Sunday. “A lot of people will be forced to do this.”
Crimean Tatars – who were deported en masse from the peninsula by Soviet ruler Josef Stalin in 1944 – have faced severe discrimination following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, rights groups say.
Fedorov, the mayor of Melitopol urged people in his occupied city to leave for Crimea. He said that travel has been only sporadically possible between Russian-occupied southern Ukraine and Crimea, which has been occupied by Russia since it was annexed in 2014.
“They are now being let through, but before departure they provide all personal data, the place of residence of all relatives,” Fedorov said. “We urge our residents to leave through the temporarily occupied Crimea to Georgia or the European Union. We clearly understand that very soon a full-fledged hunt for our men will begin, in order to use them as cannon fodder.”
The former FA Cup chairman was elected as the country’s football governing body in 2019.
Under his administration, the Black Stars have made a return to the World Cup after missing out in 2018.
Kurt Okraku however came under intense criticism following Black Stars’ poor performance at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations [AFCON] in Cameroon.
Takyi Arhin affectionately known as Thunder in the football circle says Kurt Okraku deserves to be re-elected as the Football Association’s capo due to his achievement so far in office.
“You don’t need to be told. Kurt Okraku should be handed a second term based on his work. If there is even a third term, he should continue, there are no two ways about that,” he told Kessben FM/TV.
“He has done an excellent job. Take a look at the coaching courses he’s implemented, the catch-them-young programs he’s set up for aspiring refs, and the partnerships he’s secured. My impression is that Kurt’s administration is doing well,” he concluded.
The Black Satellites have also won the WAFU Zone B Championship under the administration of Kurt Okraku.
Meanwhile, Kurt Okraku’s fate will be decided when they go to the polls next year
Last year, the government avoided giving utilities in the energy industry $300 million in credit.
The credit arose from agreements made by the government to distribute tariff income to participants in the energy value chain on a weekly basis in order to increase sector liquidity as part of the Energy Sector Recovery Program (ESRP).
The Natural Gas Clearinghouse (NGC), created under the ESRP, makes sure that companies in the electrical value chain, such as natural gas suppliers, transmitters, offtakers, and distributors, made up of public and private sector entities, share weekly tariff income.
“In 2021 alone, we reconciled over $300 million, which will go back to the government as credit,” the Lead Accountant of the NGC, Leonard Akuffo-Kwapong, said at a workshop on energy sector efficiency in Ada last Friday.
Mr Akuffo-Kwapong said the NGC arrangement also ensured the equitable and smooth distribution of gas sector revenues to all sector players.
He added that through the intervention, the ESRP had been able to reduce the legacy debt significantly without any extra payments by the government.
If you spend a lot of time online, you may have noticed that parts of the internet have caught fasting fever. Online message boards are awash in posts touting the benefits of time-restricted eating and other intermittent-fasting approaches that involve going without caloric foods or drinks for an extended period of time—anywhere from 12 hours to several days. These online testimonials have helped popularize intermittent fasting, and they often feature two common-sense rationalizations: One, that human beings evolved in environments where food was scarce and meals occurred sporadically; and two, that the relatively recent shift to near round-the-clock eating has been disastrous for our intestinal and metabolic health.
Mining the internet for accurate information, especially when it comes to dieting, can feel like panning for gold. You’ve got to sift through a lot of junk to find anything valuable. But this is one case where nuggets may be easy to find. A lot of the published peer-reviewed research on intermittent fasting makes the same claims you’ll find on those Reddit message boards. “Until recently, food availability has been unpredictable for humans,” wrote the authors of a 2021 review paper in the American Journal of Physiology. “Knowledge of early human evolution and data from recent studies of hunter-gatherer societies suggest humans evolved in environments with intermittent periods of food scarcity.” They say that fasting regimens may provide a period of “gut rest” that could lead to several meaningful health benefits, including improved gut microbe diversity, gut barrier function, and immune function.
The past decade has witnessed an explosion in fasting-relatedid research. (According to Google Scholar, the last five years alone contain almost 150,000 articles that examine or mention fasting.) While that work has helped established links between intermittent fasting and weight loss, as well as other benefits, it’s not yet clear when (or if) fasting can help fix a sick gut. “I would still consider the evidence moderate,” says Dr. Emeran Mayer, a professor of medicine and founding director of the Goodman Luskin Microbiome Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. “[Fasting] looks like a prudent way to maintain metabolic health or reestablish metabolic health, but it’s not a miracle cure.”
When it comes to gut conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), he says the research is either absent or inconclusive. To his point, researchers have found that Ramadan fasting—a month-long religious period when people don’t eat or drink between sunrise and sunset—can substantially “remodel” the gut’s bacteria communities in helpful and healthy ways. However, among people with IBD, studies on Ramadan fasting have also found that a person’s gut symptoms may grow worse.
While it’s too early to tout fasting plans as a panacea for gut-related disorders, experts say there’s still reason to hope these approaches may emerge as a form of treatment. It’s clear that some radical, and perhaps radically beneficial, things happen when you give your body breaks from food.
How fasting could repair the gut
For a series of recent studies, a team of researchers based in the Netherlands and China examined the effects of Ramadan-style intermittent fasting on the gut microbiome—the billions of bacteria that reside in the human gastrointestinal tract. (Ramadan comes up a lot in published research because it provides a real-world opportunity for experts to examine the effects of 12- or 16-hour fasts, which is what many popular intermittent fasting diets espouse.) “We really wanted to know what intermittent fasting does to the body,” says Dr. Maikel Peppelenbosch, a member of that research team and a professor of gastroenterology at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands. “Generally, we’ve seen that intermittent fasting changes the microbiome very clearly, and we view some of the changes as beneficial. If you look at fasting in general, not only Ramadan, you see certain types of bacteria increasing.”
For example, he says that intermittent fasting pumps up the gut’s population of a family of bacteria called Lachnospiraceae. “In the intestines, bacteria are constantly battling for ecological space,” he explains. Unlike some other gut microorganisms, Lachnospiraceae can survive happily in an empty GI tract. “They can live off the slime the gut makes itself, so they can outcompete other bacteria in a fasting state.” Lachnospiraceae produces a short-chain fatty acid called butyrate, which seems to be critically important for gut health. Butyrate sends anti-inflammatory signals to the immune system, which could help reduce pain and other symptoms of gut dysfunction. Butyrate also improves the barrier function of the intestines, Peppelenbosch says. This is, potentially, a very big deal. Poor barrier function (sometimes referred to as “leaky gut”) is a hallmark of common GI conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease. If intermittent fasting can turn down inflammation and also help normalize the walls of the GI tract, those changes may have major therapeutic implications.
Lachnospiraceae is only one of several types of helpful bacteria that research has linked to fasting plans. But at this point, there are still a lot of gaps in the science. Peppelenbosch says the guts of people with bowel disorders don’t seem to respond to fasting in exactly the same way as the guts of people without these health issues. “In ill people, we see the same changes to the microbiome, but it’s not as clear cut as in healthy volunteers,” he says. “So we are now actually trying to figure out what’s going on there.”
Healthy microbiome shifts aren’t the only possible benefits that researchers have linked to intermittent fasting. UCLA’s Mayer mentions a phenomenon called the migrating motor complex. “This is rarely mentioned in fasting articles today, but when I was a junior faculty it was one of the hottest discoveries in gastroenterology research,” he says. The migrating motor complex refers to recurrent cycles of powerful contractions that sweep the contents of the gut, including its bacteria, down into the colon. “It’s this 90-minute recurring contractile wave that swoops down the intestine, and its strength is comparable to a nutcracker,” he says. Essentially, this motor complex behaves like a street-cleaning crew tidying up after a parade. It ensures the gut is cleared out and cleaned up in between meals, via 90-minute repeating cycles that fasting allows to be become more frequent. It also helps rebalance the gut’s microbial populations so that more of them are residing in the colon and lower regions of the GI tract. “But it’s stopped the minute you take a bite—it turns off immediately,” he says.
Mayer says that modern eating habits—so-called “grazing,” or eating steadily throughout the day—leave little time for the migrating motor complex to do its thing. “This function has been relegated to the time when we sleep, but even this has been disrupted because a lot of people wake up in the middle of the night and snack on something,” he says. “So those longer periods of time when we re-cleanse and rebalance our gut so that we have normal distributions of bacteria and normal population densities—that has been severely disturbed by these lifestyle changes.”
Ideally, Mayer says people could (for the most part) adhere to the kind of time-restricted eating program that allows a full 12-to-14 hours each day for the motor complex to work. “If you don’t snack, this motor complex would happen between meals, and you’d also get this 12- to 14-hour window at night where the digestive system was empty,” he explains. In other words, sticking to three meals a day and avoiding between-meal bites (or nighttime snacks) could be sufficient. But again, it’s not clear whether this sort of eating schedule can undo gut damage or treat existing dysfunction.
Another possible perk of fasting involves a biological process called “autophagy.” During autophagy, old or damaged cells die and are cleared away by the body. Some researchers have called it a helpful housekeeping mechanism, and it occurs naturally when the body goes without energy (calories) for an extended period of time. There’s been some expert speculation, based mostly on evidence in lab and animal studies, that autophagy could help strengthen the gut or counteract the types of barrier problems seen in people with IBD. But these improvements have not yet been demonstrated in real-world clinical trials involving people.
Meanwhile, some experts have found that fasting may help recalibrate the gut’s metabolic rhythms in helpful ways. “By changing the timing of the diet, this will indeed change activity of the
microbiome, and that may have downstream impacts on health,” says Dr. Eran Elinav, principal investigator of the Host-Microbiome Interaction Research Group at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
Some of Elinav’s work, including an influential 2016 paper in the journal Cell, has shown that the gut microbiome undergoes day-night shifts that are influenced by a person’s eating schedule, and that lead to changing patterns of metabolite production, gene expression, and other significant elements of gut health. “If you change the timing of diet, you can flip the circadian activity of the microbiome,” he says. This is likely to have health implications, though what those are, precisely, remains murky.
It’s clear that when you eat, including how often you eat, matters to the health of your gut. But the devil’s in the details. At this point, it’s not clear how intermittent fasting can be used to help people with gut-related disorders or metabolic diseases.
“For a condition like IBD, it’s important to differentiate between what you do during a flare and what you do to prevent the next flare,” Mayer points out. The research on people observing Ramadan suggests that, at least during a flare, fasting may make a person’s IBD symptoms worse. Figuring out whether fasting could also lead to longer-term improvements is just one of many questions that needs to be answered.
While plenty of unknowns remain, experts say that common approaches to fasting appear to be safe for most people. Time-restricted eating, for example, involves cramming all your day’s calories into a single six-to-eight-hour eating window. Even among people with metabolic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, research suggests that this form of fasting is safe, provided a person is not taking blood-glucose medications.
That said, there simply isn’t much work on intermittent fasting as a treatment for gut problems. Also, there is very little research on more extreme forms of fasting, such as plans that involve going without calories for several days at a stretch. These diets may turn out to be therapeutic, but they could also turn out to be dangerous. If you’re considering any of these approaches, talk with your health care provider first.
“We really need much better studies to compare all the different fasting protocols,” says Peppelenbosch. “But generally speaking, increasing the space between calorie consumption is a good thing for you. The body is not made to be eating all day.”
The Manya Krobo Rural Bank has received praise from the managing director of the ARB Apex Bank, Alex Kwasi Awuah, for the incredible progress it has achieved despite the difficult circumstances.
There was no doubt, he said, that the bank was on the right course given that profit before tax increased from GH622,486 in 2020 to GH3.86 million in 2021, a 520 percent increase, total assets increased from GH104.54 million to GH122 million, a 17 percent increase, and loans and advances increased from GH22.61 million to GH27.44 million, all within the same period.
In a speech read on his behalf by the Head of Legal Department of the ARB Apex Bank, Curtis William Brentuo, at the 41st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Manya Krobo Rural Bank at Odumase-Krobo in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality in the Eastern Region, Mr Awuah said, ‘‘We have also observed that your investments in property, plants and equipment also reduced by 2.69 per cent from GH¢5.95 million in 2020 to GH¢5.79 million in 2021.
“What is even more refreshing is that as the Manya Krobo Rural Bank’s fortunes continue to improve, it has been dedicating a good proportion of profits towards the provision of social interventions in the communities in which it operates as investments in corporate social responsibility (CSR) grew by a whopping 75 per cent from GH¢90,344 in 2020 to GH¢157,934 in 2021.’’
He congratulated the directors and managers as well as shareholders and customers for ensuring that the bank continued to grow throughout the turbulent COVID-19 pandemic era.
‘‘ARB Apex Bank will continue to support Manya Krobo Rural Bank in every way possible to ensure it remains one of the most profitable in the banking industry,’’ he assured.
Mr Awuah said the implementation of a new four-year strategic plan for Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) had been approved by the Board of Directors of the Apex Bank.
He said the plan was meant to bring fresh impetus and renewed vigour to the operations of the banks to enable them to serve their customers better.
Commitment
The chairperson of Board of Directors of the Manya Krobo Rural Bank, Mercy Mamle Tetteh, said the bank’s commitment to society was reinforced by their willingness towards meeting the expectations of the communities in which the bank operated.
She said in 2021, the bank made several donations to organisations and institutions as part of its corporate social responsibility.
The Konor of Manya Krobo, Nene Sakite II, praised the management and shareholders for sustaining fail interest in the bank which was benefiting the entire Krobo community.
Asante Kotoko have reportedly lodged complaint with the Ghana Football Association over what they believe was poor officiating when they faced Hearts of Oak in matchday 3 of the Ghana Premier League.
The Super Clash ended in a 1-1 draw at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium on match day three of the 2022/23 Ghana Premier League.
The Porcupine Warriors scored first through Yusif Mubarik before a controversial goal from Caleb Amankwah late in the game helped Hearts of Oak to avoid a defeat.
It is said the Porcupine Warriors who seems not to be happy with the performance of the referee wants the Ghana FA to look into his performance of Referee Selorm Yao Bless.
The complaint is made on two counts, that is, denying the team an obvious penalty in the second half following tackle on Steven Mukwala and also second half push on Eric Serge Zeze by Hearts of Oak jersey number 35.
Kotoko will take on Nsoatreman FC in an outstanding Ghana Premier League game on Wednesday at the Baba Yara Stadium.
From September 26 to October 7, a staff delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), led by Stéphane Roudet, Mission Chief for Ghana, will be in Accra to continue negotiations with the Ghanaian government about policies and reforms that might be backed by an IMF funding arrangement.
The IMF stated in a statement that throughout the tour, staff members will continue to interact with other stakeholders.
Deal
Ghana is before the IMF for US$3 billion to help the country navigate through the hostile economic crisis in which it finds itself as a result of the adverse effects of the deadly coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Already, a delegation from the IMF, led by the Mission Chief for Ghana, Carlo Sdralevich, has visited Ghana and held initial discussions with the Ministry of Finance on a possible IMF-supported programme.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says a deal with Ghana should be reached and finalised before the end of the year.
The Managing Director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, gave the assurance in a closed-door meeting with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on September 5, 2022, on the sidelines of the Africa Adaptation Summit, a conference on climate change, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
“We understand the urgency and we will move as quickly as possible,” she told President Akufo-Addo.
Describing Ghana as a “superb country”, Ms Georgieva said the country’s current economic challenges were not locally generated but were as a result of external shocks.
She said contrary to some narratives that Ghana found itself in the current situation due to the bad policies of the Akufo-Addo administration, the factors were exogenous.
“Like everybody on this planet, you have been hurt by exogenous shocks. First the pandemic, then Russia’s war in Ukraine. We need to realise that it is not because of bad policies in the country but because of this combination of shocks and, therefore, we have to support Ghana,” the IMF boss said.
She further indicated that Ghana, a member of the IMF, “is a strong country with fantastic people”, and as such it was incumbent on the fund to lend the country support.
“We have to support Ghana because your strength contributes to the strength of your neighbours; it contributes to a stronger world,” Ms Georgieva intimated.
Ghana ready
At that meeting, President Akufo-Addo said a lot of work had been done by his Cabinet and the Ministry of Finance, and that the document to be presented by Ghana “is ready for the scrutiny of the IMF”.
He explained that Ghana was turning to the IMF for support to repair its public finances as a short-term solution.
“We have decided to seek the collaboration of the IMF to repair, in the short term, our public finances, which have taken a severe hit in very recent times, while we continue to work on the medium to long-term structural changes that are at the heart of our goal of creating a Ghana Beyond Aid; that is, building a resilient, robust Ghanaian economy,” he said.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common hormonal condition in women during their reproductive years. Yet no one knows precisely what causes it, and it has no cure.
PCOS is a common reason why women have difficulty getting pregnant or have complications during pregnancy. This condition is also tied to several health problems, such as insulin resistance, obesity, depression and problems with metabolism.
Although you may be familiar with the term PCOS, you might not be sure what this condition is and what it does to the body. Here’s what you need to know about PCOS.
What is polycystic ovary syndrome?
According to the U.S. Office on Women’s Health, PCOS is a health problem caused by an imbalance of reproductive hormones, which affects how the ovaries (organs that make eggs and hormones that regulate the menstrual cycle) work.
PCOS is characterized by ovulatory dysfunction, polycystic ovaries and elevated androgen levels, Dr. Shefali Shastri, clinical director and managing partner at Reproductive Medicine Associates and clinical associate professor for the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, tells Yahoo Life.
In other words, people with PCOS have ovaries that may release eggs infrequently, become enlarged with many fluid-filled sacs containing immature eggs (called follicles) or make too many androgens (a type of hormone)
What causes PCOS?
Beyond reproductive hormone imbalances, what exactly causes PCOS is unknown, says Dr. Mokerrum Fatima Malik, an ob-gyn with the University of Maryland Medical Center and assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive services with the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
However, high androgen hormone and insulin levels may contribute to this condition, according to the U.S. Office on Women’s Health.
If a person’s mother has PCOS, that person might have it, too. Some research suggests that PCOS tends to run in families — children whose parents have PCOS are five times more likely to have it.
What are the signs of PCOS?
People with PCOS may have signs of high androgen levels, such as male-pattern hair growth — namely, hair growing on their chin, chest, stomach or thighs — hair loss on the head and increased acne, Malik notes.
“They may have increased weight gain, specifically in their abdomen, experience abnormal periods or have difficulty getting pregnant,” she adds.
Dark, thickened skin patches at the back of the neck, on knuckles or elbows and in skinfolds
Increased muscle size
Tiredness
Sleep problems
Headaches
Mood swings
Depression
Anxiety
What are other ways that PCOS affects your physical health?
PCOS does more to the body than you might imagine. People with PCOS are at increased risk of metabolic syndrome — a group of conditions that includes elevated blood pressure, increased waist circumference, high blood-sugar levels, reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (aka “good cholesterol”) and elevated triglyceride levels, explains Malik.
Because of this PCOS effect, metabolic syndrome increases a person’s risk of health problems, including heart disease, diabetes and stroke. “As such, women with PCOS are at increased risk of insulin resistance and diabetes, as well as heart disease,” Malik adds.
She advises that “women with PCOS should be routinely screened for these health conditions in addition to their regular maintenance health exams.”
The condition also affects fertility. According to the Office on Women’s Health, PCOS is one of the most common causes of infertility in women. That’s because the hormonal imbalance affects ovulation by interfering with the growth and release of eggs from the ovaries.
Does PCOS affect mental health?
Yes, say experts. Generally, PCOS is a complex condition that affects how the ovaries function, resulting in a wide range of reproductive, metabolic and psychological symptoms that affect women differently, explains Dr. Nitu Bajekal, a London-based ob-gyn and author of Living PCOS Free.
Shastri explains that PCOS can cause bodily changes, such as excess facial and body hair, acne and obesity, which can be a tremendous psychological burden, affecting body image, self-esteem and confidence.
Malik agrees, adding that PCOS symptoms such as weight gain and infertility are significant sources of psychological distress and can lead to serious conditions such as anxiety and depression.
There’s also the societal stigma often associated with PCOS symptoms, such as weight gain, scalp hair loss, acne and excess hair growth. Because of the stigma, many women aren’t able to talk about the condition openly or seek the help they deserve, says Bajekal.
Getting a proper PCOS diagnosis is another hurdle that people with PCOS often face. Because PCOS shows up in many ways, people with PCOS symptoms may end up seeing health care professionals from different specialties for the most well-known symptoms, such as irregular menstrual cycles, acne and excess hair growth, to the lesser-known ones, such as disordered eating or sleep disturbances, Bajekal explains. “The dots may never connect to make a proper diagnosis of PCOS, leading to fragmented and disjointed medical advice and treatment,” she says.
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with PCOS, Malik says, it’s “important to talk with your doctor about how you are feeling and your thoughts regarding your symptoms or diagnosis so that you can be properly assessed and treated.”
How is PCOS diagnosed?
To diagnose PCOS in adults, says Bajekal, any two out of three of the criteria below have to be met:
Ovulatory dysfunction: Your body doesn’t release eggs regularly, resulting in missed or irregular periods
Clinical or lab evidence of hyperandrogenism or high androgen levels. A doctor may look at symptoms such as acne, scalp hair loss and darker, thicker body hair, or do blood tests.
Evidence of cysts on one or both ovaries. A doctor might find this evidence during a pelvic ultrasound scan.
It’s also worth noting that PCOS causes symptoms that are similar to other hormonal disorders, including thyroid disease, Cushing’s syndrome and higher-than-normal prolactin hormone levels (aka hyperprolactinemia). A doctor may also do tests to rule out the potential that your symptoms might be from other causes.
Malik advises that “women who have PCOS, or think they may have it, undergo a complete physical exam, including a pelvic exam, ultrasound and lab work to check for any other metabolic or endocrine conditions — such as thyroid disease, Cushing’s syndrome or androgen-secreting tumors — that may mimic PCOS.”
How is PCOS treated?
Because doctors are unclear about what triggers PCOS, available treatment options are mostly about controlling the symptoms associated with the syndrome, Malik explains. Hence, treatment will depend on a person’s symptoms, Shastri adds.
Lifestyle habits, such as how we eat, sleep, exercise and handle stress, heavily influence PCOS symptoms, according to Bajekal. Although there is no cure for PCOS, making healthy lifestyle changes — which is the first treatment option a doctor may recommend — can go a long way toward managing PCOS, she says.
She adds that adopting these lifestyle changes is particularly critical for people with PCOS who have a higher risk of chronic conditions such as endometrial cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Bajekal recommends these lifestyle changes for people with PCOS:
Eat a plant-predominant diet. A fiber-rich, plant-based diet that includes whole grains, beans, fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds, herbs and spices promotes healthy gut bacteria and helps to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress, Bajekal explains. “It also normalizes blood sugars and lowers insulin resistance,” she says, benefiting people with PCOS.
Move often. Aerobic exercises and resistance training can help improve insulin sensitivity in women with PCOS, according to Bajekal. She recommends “aiming for 300 minutes of exercise per week — about an hour every weekday — and exercising outdoors in natural light.” She adds that “any amount of movement is beneficial — even 15 minutes a day has been shown to reduce mortality risk.”
Take sleep health seriously. Bajekal recommends maintaining a regular sleep routine with seven to nine hours of restorative sleep each night.
Manage stress levels. Activities such as exercise, meditation, mindfulness, community work, talk therapy and yoga can help to manage stress and lower cortisol (stress hormone) levels, Bajekal says.
Make positive social connections. Bajekal advises having a supportive network or a friend you can trust. “Surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you,” she says. Being lonely can be a source of chronic stress and is tied to an increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes, she notes.
To help treat symptoms, some women may need insulin-sensitizing medications such as metformin (Glucophage) to control blood-sugar levels. Others may require statins — medicines that lower cholesterol levels — for heart health benefits, Malik explains.
Women who’d like to regulate their menstrual cycle may benefit from hormonal birth control, Malik says. But for those with PCOS who would like to get pregnant but are having trouble with it, Shastri recommends speaking with a fertility specialist about treatment options.
Those with excessive hair growth or acne may also benefit from taking oral contraceptives, which can decrease androgen production; spironolactone, which blocks the effects of androgen on the skin; or prescription Eflornithine cream, which can slow facial hair growth, Shastri suggests.
There are also hair-removal treatments, such as electrolysis and laser hair removal, to help manage excess body hair, if desired, she adds.
The West African powerhouse is returning to the global showpiece after missing out in Russia 2018.
Ghana has been paired in Group H against Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea at the World Cup.
Ahead of the tournament in the Asian country, Andre Ayew, who plies his trade for Al Sadd has disclosed things are in place for the Black Stars to have a successful World Cup.
“Everything is in place for us to have a successful World Cup. We must have the best preparation possible but, most importantly, all of your players must be fit at that time. We played Brazil, we’ll play Nicaragua and Switzerland before the World Cup. They are all big games that will be tough even though they are friendlies.
These matches are beneficial because we put ourselves to the test and come back as a team to maintain bonding and unity. Normally, we have two to three weeks before the World Cup, but this time we only have about nine days. It’s not ideal but we have to adapt” he told Al Jazeera.
The Black Stars are preparing for the World Cup and will face Nicaragua on Tuesday after last Friday’s defeat to Brazil.
As a result of the markets’ response to the UK’s largest tax cuts in 50 years, the pound has reached a record low against the dollar.
Sterling dropped nearly to $1.03 in early Asian trade before reclaiming some ground to reach roughly $1.06 on Monday morning, UK time.
In anticipation of a rise in borrowing, Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has promised additional tax cuts on top of the £45 billion plan he announced on Friday.
The rise of the dollar has put pressure on the pound as well.
The euro also touched a fresh 20-year-low against the dollar in morning Asia trade amid investor concerns about the risk of recession as winter approaches with no sign of an end to the energy crisis or the war in Ukraine.
If the pound stays at this low level against the dollar, imports of commodities priced in dollars, including oil and gas, will be more costly.
Other goods from the US could also be considerably more expensive and British tourists visiting America will find that their holiday money does not go as far as before sterling’s slide.
There are also concerns that the tax cuts and a surge in government borrowing will stoke high inflation and force the Bank of England to raise interest rates even further. This would raise monthly mortgage costs for millions of homeowners.
Last week, the Bank raised interest rates by half a percentage point to 2.25% to try to calm inflation which is at a 40-year high of 9.9%. The rate increase was the seventh in a row and took rates to the highest for 14 years.
However, some economists have speculated that the Bank may call an emergency meeting as soon as this week to hike interest rates again ahead.
Under the plans, which he hailed a “new era” for the economy, income tax and the stamp duty on home purchases will be cut and planned rises in corporation taxes have been scrapped.
Mr Kwarteng said a major change of direction was needed to kick-start the UK economy.
But Labour said it would not solve the cost-of-living crisis and was a “plan to reward the already wealthy”. Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell told the BBC’s Today programme: “Internationally people have lost confidence in this government. The mini-budget came as a shock to everyone.”
Why the falling pound matters
Investors all around the world trade huge amounts of foreign currency every day. The rate at which investors swap currencies also determines what rate people get at the bank, post office or foreign exchanges.
Many people don’t think about exchange rates until it’s time to swap money for a foreign holiday. When you travel abroad, things will be more expensive if the pound buys less of the local currency.
However, a fall in the pound affects household finances too.
If the pound is worth less, the cost of importing goods from overseas goes up.
For example, as oil is priced in dollars a weak pound can make filling up your car with petrol more expensive. Gas is also priced in dollars.
Technology goods, like iPhones, that are made abroad, may get more expensive in UK shops. Even things that are made in the UK but from parts that are bought abroad can get much more expensive.
Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, Mr Kwarteng said he wants to keep cutting taxes.
Peter Escho, co-founder of investment firm Wealthi, said: “All currencies are getting sold off against the US dollar, so there is a large element of US dollar strength.”
Trading volumes in Asia have also been low which can make movements in currency trading appear more pronounced.
But Mr Escho said: “But with the pound, it has really been exacerbated by news that the new government will be cutting taxes, which is inflationary.
“Add to that recent energy subsidies and news that the Bank of England might need to have an emergency rate-hike meeting, this all results in a sense of panic,” he added.
Some investors think the Bank of England will be forced to take emergency action to halt the pound’s slide.
“To stop the bleeding even temporarily, the Bank of England may well enter ‘whatever it takes’ territory to bring inflation down. An emergency meeting rate hike could happen as soon as this week to regain credibility in the market. We could even see a hike today,” Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management told the BBC.
Financial Economist, Professor Godfred Bopkinis warming that the Ghanaian economy will take almost five to six years before it fully recovers from its present predicament.
Ghana’s economy has been hit by an unsustainable debt, which has now reached alarming levels, increasing inflation and weakening the cedi. This has culminated in the high cost of living and doing business.
It has subsequently led to the downgrade of the country’s credit rating to deeper junk status by rating agency, Fitch,
Speaking to Joy Business, Professor Bopkinwho is an Associate Professor at the University of Ghana Business School said scaling up the challenges facing the economy now is a very difficult one.
“When you get to a junk status like this, it will take you probably not less than five to six years before you recover because scaling up is very difficult, is very difficult. I wish the country well”.
“Now beyond the economic programme to be presented to the Fund, I think government will also have to look at some governance reforms and productivity reform that should be pursued concurrently with an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme which also will entail some kind of revision to our constitution. Certainly, we couldn’t get to this level without the support of the constitution”, he explained.
He again called for the downsizing of the government since it will send a positive signal to investors about the commitment of the managers of the economy in addressing the imbalances within the economy.
“Again, we also have to look at the size of the government. It is not a good news going into any negotiation table with that size of government. We have said that right from the beginning of the year”.
“It is not as though downsizing the government will save huge billions of dollars, but the signal and the confidence that it will generate. When it happens that way, whatever you put on the table, it will be harder for people to infer genuine commitment and that you yourself will appreciate the situation; and you are taking steps to internalize the austerity before you ask others to come on board”, he added.
Ghana captain Andre Ayew has said the Black Stars will fight to make impact at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The West African powerhouse is returning to the global showpiece after missing out in Russia 2018.
Ghana has been paired in Group H against Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea at the World Cup.
Asked about Ghana’s chances of progressing from the group, the Al Sadd star said, “We have a chance. Nobody sees us as favourites, which is expected. So we know we’re not going into any of the matches as favourites but we’re there to fight and make an impact. No doubt it will be a very difficult group for every team and all we have to do is be ready, focused, determined, full squad and have a bit of luck.
If we have our full squad, we can seriously disrupt a lot of teams. I am not concerned because I know what Ghana is capable of” he told Al Jazeera.
The Black Stars are preparing for the World Cup and will face Nicaragua on Tuesday after last Friday’s defeat to Brazil.
A former presidential staffer in the former John Mahama administration says the booing of President Akufo-Addo at the just-ended Global Citizen Festival is an organic expression of how Ghanaians feel about the President’s leadership.
Stan Dogbe is bemused by the New Patriotic Party (NPP)’s allegation that the booing was orchestrated by the opposition National Democratic Congress.
According to him, Ghanaians are feeling the pinch of the hardship imposed on them by the “incompetence” of the Akufo-Addo-Bawmua government.
“Stop the foolhardiness, mates. The hardship is real, and it can only increase. Nana Akufo-Addo, Bawumia and their government have absolutely no clue.
“The resounding reaction of ordinary Ghanaians – not the fake and real middle class – who are feeling the brunt of the hopelessness being forced on us by a completely clueless, useless and incompetent administration, is just what it is!”
Stan Dogbe has thus advised the government and the NPP to take a cue from the incident and act swiftly to address the concerns of Ghanaians.
“The booing of the President off the stage, a global stage, is just a tip of the iceberg of the frustration and disappointment of the people of Ghana,” he added.
During the just-ended Global Citizen Festival, the president had been introduced to tout the government’s moves in prioritising women empowerment among other causes in line with the organisers’ mission for social justice.
President Akufo-Addo at the Global Citizen Festival
But even before the president could make his point, the crowd of youthful revellers chanted against his presence.
But the NPP in a press release issued on Monday, September 26, blamed the opposition NDC for the embarrassment.
Deputy Director of Communications, Ernest Owusu Bempah who signed the release said the NDC intentionally sponsored the heckling for political scores.
“Truly, politicians don’t expect to be popular all the time. Getting on with running the country is a job where you have to take difficult decisions a lot of the time. There’s nothing wrong if President Akufo-Addo goes to an event and receives cold reception. That’s a normal occurrence.
“But then, to allow politics to take centre stage at such an event and single out the President unfairly for political point scoring raises serious concerns. To put it more bluntly, it is pure evil and utter disgrace for the NDC to organise its supporters to go and shout down the President the manner it happened,” he said.
Ghana captain Andre Ayew is not bent on avenging their painful defeat to Uruguay in 2010 when they face off in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The Black Stars has been paired against Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea in Group H.
The biggest soccer mundial will be staged in Qatar between November and December with 32 countries set to battle it out for the ultimate.
The Black Stars will tackle Portugal in the opening game of the Group before facing Asian and South American giants South Korea and Uruguay respectively.
Ghana were denied a semifinal berth at the World Cup courtesy of a Luis Suarez handball incident in the quarterfinals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The former Liverpool and Barcelona forward prevent a goal-bound header from Ghana’s Dominic Adiyiah in the final minute of extra time at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg.
Suarez essentially produced a save on the line worthy of a goalkeeper and he was shown a straight red card as a result.
Ghana was also awarded a penalty, but Asamoah Gyan’s attempt from 12 yards crashed into the crossbar, which resulted in Suarez going mental on the touchline and sent the game to a shootout.
Uruguay won the penalty shoot-out to progress to the semifinals with Luis Suarez celebrated for his demonic act.
Asked if Ghana game against Uruguay a revenge will be, Ayew said, “As team leader, I don’t believe we should view this game as revenge. Instead, we must be smart enough to recognise that it is a match we need points from. We can’t ignore history, but what Luis Suarez [Uruguay footballer] did is something I could have done in the same situation [used his hand to stop a goal-bound shot in 2010]. It hurt us all. But that’s part of football and it happened years ago”
“We just want to win against Uruguay after everything that has been said in the media. As a player, if you go into a game with the intent of retaliation, you can make a lot of mistakes and be hyper. We just need to stay calm, follow the plan and try to win the game, or do whatever we can to advance to the next stage” he told Al Jazeera.
Before COVID-19, the tourism industry in Ghana was one of the most prosperous.
After COVID-19, however, the industry appears to be recovering.
Ghana’s entire gross domestic product (GDP) for 2021 was 459,131 million cedis, according to the Ghana Statistical Service.
With 210,882 million Cedis, or about 49% of the country’s overall GDP, the services sector will continue to contribute the most to Ghana’s GDP.
One sub-section of the services sector is accommodation and food services. This sector saw a sharp decline in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Bank of Ghana’s updated Composite Index of Economic Activity (CIEA) recorded an annual growth of 15.8 per cent in March 2022, compared to 26.3 per cent in the corresponding period in 2021 due largely to increased industry products, increased production, increased credit to the private sector, exports and higher tourist arrivals (Mid-year budget 2022).
The 2022 quarterly GDP estimates show that the sector is rebounding and commercially viable.
Tourism enterprise
The schedule to the Tourism Act, 2011 Act (817) lists tourism enterprises to include;
• Tourist Accommodations
• Places where food, beverages and entertainment services are provided.
• Night Clubs and theatres
• Travel Trade Enterprises
• Banquet Facilities
• Conference Facilities
• A Spa
• A Tourist Site
• A Resort and
• Any other tourist-related enterprise.
Ghanaians who want to do business in this sector must first register their business with the Registrar of Companies (ROC), the Ghana Tourism Authority and their local authority, to be issued a Business Operating Permit.
Meanwhile, operators of food businesses are required to undertake mandatory health screening.
There are authorities and agencies like the Food and Drugs Authority, Environmental Protection Agency, Ghana National Fire Service, etc. that operators must seek permits from.
Taxation
Business Profit in the tourism sector is taxed at 25 per cent, except for hotels, which are taxed at 22 per cent. Businesses in this enterprise are required to withhold taxes on goods and services they purchase from suppliers. If a business fails to withhold the taxes, the Ghana Revenue Authority will recover the money from it with penalties.
Business enterprises are also required to charge Value Added Tax (VAT) at the standard rate, as their activities constitute the provision of service and a one per cent tourism levy to patrons of their services.
Investors are also taxed on gains on their investments in the businesses. These often take the form of dividend tax and capital gains tax.
Monday marked the official start of negotiations between Ghana and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an economic program that is required to prevent a debt default and stabilize the economy in the short- to medium-term.
It came after an IMF mission, led by Stéphane Roudet, the Mission Chief to Ghana, arrived in Accra over the weekend.
According to an IMF release, the team will remain in the nation from now and October 7, 2022.
The negotiatons with the government team are meant to determine the form that an economic stabilisation programme, which will be Ghana’s 17th with the fund since 1957, should take and when it can kick off.
It would also explore the nature of the policies, reforms and programmes that the loan support should entail.
Challenges
The negotiations come at a time when the economy is facing one of its worse challenges in recent times.
On Friday, Fitch Ratings downgraded the economy to CC from CCC, which is the country’s worst rating ever.
Read also: Fitch downgrades Ghana to CC from CCC
The agency said the downgrade followed “increased likelihood that Ghana will pursue a debt restructuring given mounting financing stress.”
Request
The government approached the fund for support in July this year after mounting debts in the midst of weak revenues fueled large fiscal deficit, rising inflation, a weakening currency and a general hike in cost of living.
Following the approach, a fact-finding team from the IMF arrived in July 2022 for discussions with the government after which it called for a debt sustainability analysis (DSA).
Although the results of the analysis are yet to be known, Graphic Online understands that the fund has asked the government to consider a debt restructuring with its creditors to help bring the debt to sustainable levels, necessary for a fund programme to begin.
The results of the negotiations will form the basis for a staff decision on Ghana’s request, which will then be submitted to the IMF executive Board for consideration.
According to the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo wants a deal concluded by December 2022 to allow for a quicken recovery of the economy.
Duration
Discussions and negotiations for the country’s most recent programme in 2015 took around seven months to conclude.
Meanwhile, Graphic Online was earlier informed that the country could get up to $3 billion to stabilise its reserves and also open up access to the international capital market for lending.
The country was shut out of the market this year over the high debts.
Stormzy brought on stage two of Ghana’s enterprising musicians, Yaw Tog and Kwesi Arthur who did the remix of Yaw Tog’s ‘Sore’ which features all the three acts.
Hype MCs Kojo Manuel, OGee and DJ Mic Smith were also in their element at the concert.
The 2022 Global Citizen Festival campaign is supported by governments and world leaders across the world.
