Former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has advised West African nations to reconsider their pursuit of introducing the single currency, known as the ECO, for the region.
Initially slated for introduction in 2021, the outbreak of COVID-19 compelled ECOWAS to postpone the currency’s launch to 2027.
The ECO was envisioned to stimulate economic growth in West Africa and facilitate cross-border trade. Furthermore, it was anticipated to eventually merge with the Euro-pegged CFA franc, predominantly used by French-speaking West African countries within the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).
However, Mr. Ofori-Atta believes that many countries in the region lack the commitment necessary for the single currency initiative.
In an interview with Joy Business’ George Wiafe at the AFREXIM Annual Meetings in Nassua, Bahamas, Mr. Ofori-Atta expressed skepticism about most ECOWAS member countries’ ability to meet the convergence criteria required for the introduction of the currency.
“ECO has been difficult and the capacity of us, the 16 countries in ECOWAS to come to a convergence point where we all will fulfill the criteria seems very lucid, he said.
As per the requirements, ECOWAS member countries must fulfill four key criteria: maintaining a single-digit inflation rate by year-end, sustaining a fiscal deficit below 4% of the GDP, limiting central bank deficit-financing to less than 10% of the previous year’s tax revenues, and ensuring gross external reserves adequate for a minimum of three months’ import cover.
Mr. Ofori-Atta believes that these criteria may pose challenges for the economies required to introduce the currency.
He suggests that ECOWAS can glean valuable lessons from other regional blocs by enhancing payment systems and eliminating trade barriers.
“If you look at East Asia, they didn’t really end up having one currency but they really increased trade and also got their payment systems in an effective way. That’s a model that has worked and maybe we could under the leadership of Afriexim bank facilitate all of these fintechs being sandboxed into the central banks. I think we will come out with apps that will be more efficient for us”, he suggested.
Additionally, Mr. Ofori-Atta suggests that ECOWAS could utilize the African Continental Free Trade Area to eliminate obstacles and foster trade harmonization within the region.
“I think the issue of payment systems and the issue of digitalization being efficient and therefore supporting AfCFTA maybe will lead to the type of results we require”.
Cocoa prices in New York dipped as promising rains were anticipated for West African agricultural regions, while Rabobank suggested that the extraordinary surge in prices has likely reached its peak for this year.
Futures tumbled by up to 2.5% to $8,482 per ton. Despite lingering volatility, recent trading activity has shown a relative calm compared to the significant fluctuations witnessed in recent weeks.
Cocoa reached an all-time high above $11,000 in mid-April due to severe shortages before experiencing a partial retracement.
Although a swift return to pre-surge price levels is improbable, Rabobank analyst Paul Joules indicated in a report that the zenith of the rally has likely passed, with prices expected to trend downwards.
Joules explained, “A blend of diminishing global demand and increased production, particularly from regions lacking fixed farmgate pricing, is anticipated to ease the substantial uncertainty embedded in current futures valuations.”
Nevertheless, he added, “Elevated cocoa prices are anticipated to persist for the foreseeable future.”
Market participants are closely monitoring crop conditions in West Africa, the primary cocoa-producing region, following poor harvests that resulted in a third consecutive annual deficit.
Forecaster Maxar Technologies Inc. predicts some precipitation for West African countries such as Ivory Coast and Ghana within the next five days.
Maxar Technologies Inc. noted, “The potential rainfall could support crop growth and marginally enhance soil moisture in certain areas.”
Cocoa futures surged by up to 2.7% to reach a new intraday high of $10,760 per ton in New York, signaling continued pressure on global supplies.
New York prices have climbed for seven consecutive sessions, marking the longest upward trend since early February. Adverse weather conditions and crop diseases have severely impacted harvests in the key West African growing region.
Bloomberg reported on Monday that cocoa arrivals at ports in the top producer, Ivory Coast, have dropped by 30% compared to the previous year, totaling 1.31 million tons so far this season.
The cocoa market’s volatility has been exacerbated by increasing margin calls and declining open interest, resulting in more pronounced market fluctuations.
Analysts from Citi Research suggested in a note on Friday that New York futures could potentially reach $12,500 per ton within the next three months. However, they also cautioned that elevated prices pose a risk of bankruptcies over the next six to 12 months.
Cliff Shelton, an economist at AgAmerica, a lender to the agriculture industry, mentioned that while processing plants being priced out of the market might alleviate some demand-related issues, uncertainties persist regarding the supply outlook. Weather-related challenges and crop diseases continue to hinder production.
“There’s undoubtedly room for futures prices to push even higher, especially for near-expiring contracts,” Shelton said. “Traders are jumping at opportunities to purchase at spot rates or near-term futures to have more accessibility to supply in hopes of fulfilling commitments to chocolate firms. With early reports of production being lower than expected, the upward price movement will likely continue.”
Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani, the leader of the coup in Niger, has issued an order permitting the military governments of Mali and Burkina Faso to send troops into his nation to assist in defending against an invasion.
Following their Thursday visits to Gen. Tchiani in Niamey, the foreign ministers of Burkina Faso, Olivia Rouamba, and Mali, Abdoulaye Diop, made the statement.
In order to restore Mohamed Bazoum, the democratically elected president of Niger, who was ousted by a handful of army officers last month, the West African regional grouping Ecowas has vowed to use force.
It has been attempting to negotiate with the coup leaders but has warned that if talks break down, it is prepared to send troops.
Numerous airlines have experienced longer and more fuel-intensive flights as a result of the shutdown of Niger‘s airspace since Sunday.
For most trips from Europe to the south of the continent, it adds at least two hours to the travel time or up to 1,000 kilometres (600 miles).
Following a threat of military action from the West African regional bloc, Ecowas, if President Mohamed Bazoum was not restored, Niger’s junta shut down the airspace.
While some flights were already in the air and required rerouting, others had to fly back to their departure points as a result of the announcement.
“We had retired to bed… The captain awakened us up about four hours later and informed us that we had to return since Niger had closed its airspace. Simply put, there wasn’t enough fuel for everyone. Therefore, we were forced to return, which was a pretty awful sensation, she stated.
Airspace over Libya and the Sudan had previously been avoided by aircraft.
Flights were prohibited from Sudan after the country’s turmoil.
In addition to the US and Canada, other European nations, notably Germany, France, and the UK, forbid their civilian planes from flying in Libyan airspace.
Airlines will now need to modify their procedures to account for the additional miles added to their flights. which will result in each flight requiring more fuel, leading to the cost.
The former colonial power France is being accused of attempting to undermine Niger by the country’s military dictatorship.
It claimed that a French aircraft had violated the country’s closed airspace.
Additionally, it claimed that in order to assault military targets, French soldiers had released detained jihadists.
The French government has not yet responded.
Mohamed Bazoum, the legitimately elected president of Niger, was deposed at the end of last month, and since then, the coup leaders have resisted diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had claimed to have spoken with Mr. Bazoum and given him assurances of continued support.
On Thursday, the regional bloc Ecowas, which has threatened military involvement, is expected to convene to discuss its next course of action.
Bola Tinubu, the president of Nigeria, is under intense domestic pressure because he threatened to use military force to put an end to the coup in neighbouring Niger.
Despite the Senate being under the authority of Mr. Tinubu’s party, local media reports that there was substantial opposition to military action at a session on Saturday.
However, there has also been widespread national opposition of the threat of war. This was especially true among MPs from states near the more than 1,500km (930 mile) long border with Niger.
The West African regional bloc Ecowas gave the junta until Sunday to relinquish power or face potential military action.
Since Mr. Tinubu currently serves as Ecowas’ chairman and Nigeria is its most powerful member, the choice was widely regarded as being his.
Despite the fact that the junta disregarded the ultimatum, Ecowas did not send troops right away in response. Many Nigerians, who seek a diplomatic solution to the problem, were relieved to hear this.
Given that Nigeria and other nations must obtain parliamentary approval before sending the military, some people dispute whether a seven-day timetable was reasonable.
Many people are also horrified that President Tinubu‘s instructions to cut off electricity to Niger resulted in blackouts in Niger’s capital city of Niamey and other areas.
Critics assert that this violates a deal that allowed Nigeria to construct a dam on the River Niger, while Mr. Tinubu’s supporters assert that the power outages are intended to put pressure on the junta to restore ousted President Mohamed Bazoum’s rule without resorting to force.
Strong linkages exist between Nigeria and Niger on the racial, economic, and cultural levels, and any military action against Niger would have an impact on northern Nigeria, which already faces significant security issues.
Mr. Tinubu should not “rush into an avoidable conflict with a neighbour at the behest of global politics,” according to a powerful group of Muslim clerics in northern Nigeria.
Mr. Bazoum was a crucial friend of the West and permitted the US and former colonial powers France to maintain military bases there to aid in the war against militant Islamists wreaking havoc throughout much of West Africa.
If Ecowas does deploy force, the military juntas in Mali and Burkina Faso have threatened to support the coup leaders in Niger, perhaps igniting a huge regional confrontation.
Currently, Mr. Tinubu is the centre of attention. He has been the most outspoken in denouncing military coups in West Africa and claimed last month that Ecowas cannot consist of “toothless bulldogs.”
“We must be adamantly pro-democracy. Without democracy, there can be no government, freedom, or rule of law. Soon after assuming control of the regional organisation, Mr. Tinubu remarked, “We won’t accept coup after coup in West Africa again.
According to the constitution of Nigeria, the National Assembly, which is made up of both the upper and lower chambers of parliament, must provide its consent before the president can send out troops.
Given the opposition Mr. Tinubu is up against, it is uncertain whether he will win their support.
Prof. Khalifa Dikwa, a professor at the University of Maiduguri and a prominent elder in northern Nigeria, declared, “Ecowas wentof, the Nigerian president also wentof.”
The Senate’s leader, Godswill Akpabio, challenged the Ecowas parliament to offer “solutions to resolve this logjam as soon as possible” in a cautious statement following Saturday’s closed-door meeting.
President Tinubu’s stern stance against coups may have its roots in his personal history. Early in the 1990s, he served as an MP for just over a year until elections were thrown out, parliament was dissolved, and Gen. Sani Abacha took over.
He became a part of the pro-democracy movement, which fought for the restoration of civilian authority, putting him in the sights of the military, which ultimately drove him into exile. After the passing of Gen. Abacha, one of Nigeria’s most ruthless and corrupt military leaders, he returned in 1998.
However, many Nigerians believe that President Tinubu did not consider the internal repercussions of deploying force, and that Ecowas was hasty in delivering an ultimatum to the junta.
“Up until the Berlin Conference [in 1884–1885], when foreign powers established Africa’s current borders, Niger was a continuation of the northern half of Nigeria. You anticipate that the North will start a war with itself?
President Tinubu, like his predecessor Muhammadu Buhari, and his national security adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, a former policeman, neither have military backgrounds.
Last week, Ecowas army chiefs released a statement of their own, stating that they saw military involvement as a “last resort” in most cases.
Critics accuse Mr. Tinubu of rushing through important choices in the past, citing the fact that he abruptly ended a decades-long gasoline subsidy in May during his first speech as president, causing pandemonium.
On Thursday, Ecowas leaders will meet in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, to choose their course of action.
It is difficult to imagine other West African nations joining any military involvement without Nigeria, even though some have pledged to do so. If the National Assembly does not support them, it is unlikely that they will.
Mr. Tinubu is both the president of Nigeria and the chairman of Ecowas. Acting in the regional interest and in defence of democracy is necessary for the one, but it could be highly expensive for the other party.
The head of a major nursing organization has expressed concern about the recruitment of nurses from poorer nations by high-income countries.
The comments come as the BBC finds evidence of how Ghana’s health system is struggling due to the “brain drain”.
Many specialist nurses have left the West African country for better-paid jobs overseas.
In 2022 more than 1,200 Ghanaian nurses joined the UK’s nursing register.
This comes as the National Health Service (NHS) increasingly relies on staff from non-EU countries to fill vacancies.
Although the UK says active recruitment in Ghana is not allowed, social media means nurses can easily see the vacancies available in NHS trusts. They can then apply for those jobs directly. Ghana’s dire economic situation acts as a big push factor.
Howard Catton from theInternational Council of Nurses (ICN) is concerned about the scale of the numbers leaving countries like Ghana.
“My sense is that the situation currently is out of control,” he told the BBC.
“We have intense recruitment taking place mainly driven by six or seven high-income countries but with recruitment from countries which are some of the weakest and most vulnerable which can ill-afford to lose their nurses.”
The head of nursing at Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Gifty Aryee, told the BBC her Intensive Care Unit alone had lost 20 nurses to the UK and US in the last six months – with grave implications.
“Care is affected as we are not able to take any more patients. There are delays, and it costs more in mortality – patients die,” she said.
She added that seriously ill patients often had to be held for longer in the emergency department due to the nursing shortages.
One nurse in the hospital estimated that half of those she had graduated with had left the country – and she wanted to join them.
‘All our experienced nurses gone’
The BBC found a similar situation at Cape Coast Municipal Hospital.
The hospital’s deputy head of nursing services, Caroline Agbodza, said she had seen 22 nurses leave for the UK in the last year.
“All our critical care nurses, our experienced nurses, have gone. So we end up having nothing – no experienced staff to work with. Even if the government recruits, we have to go through the pain of training nurses again.”
Smaller clinics are also affected by staff migration because even one nurse leaving a small health centre can have a large knock-on effect.
At Ewim Health Clinic in Cape Coast, one nurse has left their small emergency department and another has left the outpatient unit. Both nurses were experienced and had found jobs in the UK.
The chief doctor there, Dr Justice Arthur, said the effects were enormous.
“Let’s take services like immunisation of children. If we lose public health nurses, then the babies that have to be immunised will not get their immunisation, and we are going to have babies die,” he told the BBC.
He said adult patients would also die if there were not enough nurses to look after them after surgery.
Most of the nurses that the BBC team spoke to wanted to leave Ghana due to the fact they could earn more elsewhere.
At Kwaso healthcare centre near the city of Kumasi, Mercy Asare Afriyie explained that she was hoping to find a job in the UK soon.
“The exodus of nurses is not going to stop because of our poor conditions of service. Our salary is nothing to write home about and in two weeks you spend it. It’s from hand to mouth.”
Ghanaian nurses told the BBC that in the UK they could get more than seven times what they are receiving in Ghana.
Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo from Ghana’s Nurses and Midwives Association said her country’s healthcare system needed more help.
“If you look at the numbers, then it is not ethical for the UK to recruit from Ghana because the number of professional nurses compared to trainee or auxiliary nurses is a problem for us,” she said.
But she added that it was not possible to stop nurses from leaving as migration was a right and that the Ghanaian government needed to do more to persuade them to stay. The health ministry in the capital, Accra, declined to comment.
Fewer nurses in Ghana means that critical care for patients there is being affected, medics say
Ghana is on the World Health Organization’s list of 55 vulnerable countries, which have low numbers of nurses per head of population. The list – dubbed by some as the “red list” – is designed to discourage systematic recruitment in these countries.
The UK government recently gave £15m ($18.6m) to Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya to help boost their healthcare workforces.
But the country is known to be looking at brokering a formal deal with Ghana whereby it might be able to recruit more proactively in return for giving the government there a sum of money per nurse.
It already has a similar agreement with Nepal.
But the ICN’s Mr Catton questioned whether it was enough.
He told the BBC that he believed such deals were “trying to create a veneer of ethical respectability rather than a proper reflection of the true costs to the countries which are losing their nurses”.
The WHO’s Director of Health Workforce, Jim Campbell, explained to the BBC that Brexit had been a factor in the UK turning to African countries for nurses to fill NHS vacancies.
“The labour market is extremely competitive around the world and, having closed off the potential labour market from European freedom of movement, what we’re seeing is the consequences of that in terms of attracting people from the Commonwealth and other jurisdictions.”
There are many inspirational tales, but few are as amazing as this one. George Asiamah’s entire world fell apart in 2003. His results from the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination, if he had any, would not even make his opponents proud.
Mathematics F, Integrated Science E, Social Studies E, English Language F, Economics F, Geography F, and Government E are the grades he received.
According to George himself, there were two reasons for these terrible outcomes. His truancy was the first, and possibly a self-inflicted one.
In a post he made in 2018 detailing his experience in Secondary School (now High School), George Asiamah, who was a student of the Atwimaman Secondary School, identified a disinterest in the General Art course he was ‘forced’ to pursue and truancy as the two issues that stood between him and academic excellence.
“Now, getting to the end of the first year, we were told that the school did not have the capacity for the business program, so it would be abolished in the following year. To that effect, all business students were to search for schools during the vacation for us to be transferred in the following academic year.
“The next academic year began, and here I come, the only business student who didn’t get a new school. I actually didn’t get the communication proper, I thought my school was to look for the new school for us. So coming to second year, I was forced to join the General Arts class. Oh boy! I didn’t take delight in that development. That was when my old (truant) character re-manifested.
“Here, it was an advanced stage of truancy – I no longer stay home for weeks, but in months. One could practically count the number of days I will be in school in a term. Funnily, any day my friends see me coming to class, they will be shouting “Ebon! Ebon!!” (teasing me with the name of my village). Others will ask jokingly, “enti school no wo ka ho?” (Are you part of the School?),” he said in the post.
But like as has been said, life is not how many times you fall down but how many times you get up, so, faced with this academic adversity, George Asiamah picked himself up and set out to right the many wrongs in his life.
With renewed mindset and verve, George navigated the academically demanding job of being a student at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Technology.
He then furthered at Queen’s University, Belfast before moving on to The University of Sheffield where he pursued PhD.
As published by a Facebook user, Shadrack Dare, George earlier in the week successfully defended his thesis which was on Brexit, Scientific Evidence and Agri-food Regulatory governance.
With his thesis defense out of the way, George Asiamah has gone from a ‘tiwuii’ in 2003 to a PhD holder who will now respond to the title ‘Doc Doc’.
Twenty African nations, along with European partners and the United States, are participating in the Grand African Navy Exercise for Maritime Operations (NEMO) in the Gulf of Guinea.
The exercise, led by French forces, is designed to support cooperative security efforts in West African waters. Along with coastal and island nations, including Sao-Tome and Principe and Nigeria, NEMO 2022 also includes military personnel from Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
While piracy is a common threat along the coastline for Nigeria and its neighbors, the security scenarios for NEMO 2022 include enforcement on drug trafficking, pollution, and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Sea rescue scenarios are another feature, and increasingly relevant as migrantsjourney by boat along the coastal route.
“We look forward to another opportunity to train and operate with our partners and allies as we work through challenging scenarios that will improve how we operate and communicate together,” said Capt. Michael Concannon, commanding officer of the USS Hershel “Woody” Williams, a U.S. vessel participating in the exercise.
“This Gulf of Guinea training opportunity further emphasizes our resolve, and the commitment and resolve of our partners and allies, to work together to improve the stability and security of coastal Africa.”
Since 2013, France’s Navy has held three or four regional naval exercises each year as part of the African NEMO series. They lead up to the annual Grand African NEMO, which will continue through this week.
Executive Director for Jatikay Centre for Human Security and Peace Building, Adib Saani, has urged Ghana’s security apparatus to look into possibilities of terrorist and jihadist groups in the West African sub-region raising funds in Ghana.
According to him, there is a high possibility that the terrorist groups are already engaging in illegal mining activities (galamsey) as well as the sale of cattle in the northern parts of Ghana to raise funds to finance their activities.
In an interview with GhanaWeb, Adib, a security analyst, added that the re-arrest of a prominent Fulani Imam, Sheikh Dukere, who was reported to be the emergency contact of five terrorists killed in Burkina Faso, indicates that there might be terrorists who have passed through Ghana or are currently living in the country.
“His (Sheikh Dukere’s) arrest is significant because it tells us a lot about the presence of alleged militants in Ghana. The probability that they are in Ghana is extremely high.
“The possibility that there is a sleeper cell in Ghana recruiting Ghanaians is also very high. And the possibility that they are organizing or planning something against our interest in Ghana is very high.
“And we also need to look at the sale of cattle. It is a potentially huge source of income for militants. The terrorists bring in cattle which they steal from neighbouring countries and export to Ghana to be sold by their agents, who then send back the monies realised to these militants.
“We also need to look at the gold mines, especially in the north. It is a source of revenue for these terrorist groups. The possibility that terrorists have infiltrated the mining sites is very high,” he said.
According to a Joy News report, Sheikh Osman Dukere was arrested for the second time in Ghana by National Security, together with 12 of his followers on Saturday, October 1, 2022.
Although the reason for his arrest has not been disclosed, the Imam was arrested in 2019 with 20 of his disciples when he was accused of having links with a jihadist group in Burkina Faso.
The first arrest was made after the security operatives in Burkina Faso informed the National Security of Ghana that Imam Dukuri was the emergency contact of 5 jihadists it had killed in a gunfight.
Residents of Wuru, a community in the Sissala East Municipality of the Upper West Region, have reportedly avoided using the Ghana cedi as a legal tender for trading following its continuous depreciation.
The Wuru residents have resorted to using the West African CFA franc, which is used by a number of West African countries such as Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, and Togo in their trade with people from neighbouring countries. Upper West Region: Wuru community residents refuse to trade in Ghana cedis prefer CFA
“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.
The area’s head, Wurupio Mahama Bataachia Dawuri IV, who spoke to the media, argued that residents’ decision to not trade in the Ghana cedi is not far-fetched as they are yet to see a major development in the area by the government.
According to him, members of the town no longer regard themselves
as Ghanaians and, therefore, are on the lookout for themselves. ”We think of ourselves as being in a neutral zone. Nobody cares about us, so we don’t know if we
belong to Ghana or Burkina Faso,”he said.
The lack of good roads is one of the major challenges facing the community, with a population of over 3,000 that engage in animal
and crop farming. Also, there is no network service available in the area, so residents have been unable to register for their Ghana cards.
To ensure the use of the Ghana cedi during commerce, the people of Wuru have called on the government to see to it that the Sissala East Municipality sees an
uplift.
The turnaround of Tullow has gained momentum in the first half of 2022, with solid production from our West African portfolio driving stronger financial performance, Rahul Dhir, Chief Executive Officer, Tullow Oil plc, has reported.
Commenting on a half year report,Mr Dhir forecasted “Our drilling programme has been very efficient and at current performance levels, we will be able to deliver our planned programme of wells through next year with just one rig.”
Dhir again said “We added material, un-hedged production in Ghana through the pre-emption of the Kosmos-Oxy deal and took over the Operations & Maintenance (O&M) of the Jubilee Floating, Production, Storage (FPSO) facility, to ensure that we can sustain the good operating performance and deliver further operating cost improvements.
He said, gross production from the Jubilee field averaged 82,000 barrels of oil per day(kbopd) in the first half of the year, representing an increase of more than 15 percent, compared to the first half of 2021.
This, he explained was due to good well and operational performance, which included the successful completion of the planned, biennial maintenance shutdown of the Jubilee FPSO in May.
Dhir said “Full year net production guidance for Jubilee is 32 kbopd. Gross production from the TEN field averaged 24.3 kbopd in the first half of the year, in line with expectations.
“Full year net production guidance for TEN is 13kbopd, with the expectation of an increase in production rates when the En21-P well comes on stream in the fourth quarter.”
Giving details of the 2022 first half results summary, the Tullow Chief said, group working interest production for the first half of 2022 averaged 69,000 barrels of oil entitlement (kboepd), and that, Ghanaian drilling programme was ahead of schedule, having completed two previously drilled wells and drilled and completed another three wells.
A further six wells are expected to be drilled and two of these completed by year-end, he added.
Dhir said, operational delivery continued strong according FPSO uptime (Jubilee 95 percent and TEN 99 percent), gas export (averaging 90 million standard cubic feet per day ( mmscfd), and water injection (Jubilee about 170,000 barrels of water per day, (kbwpd) and TEN about 65 kbwpd).
Reserves of 242 million barrels as of 30 June, was valued at $4.7 billion after hedging while revenue of $846 million was made with realised oil price of $87 per barrel after hedging and gross profit of $620 million, he said, indicating that, profit after tax declared was $264 million, with underlying operating cash flow of $165 million.
He reported that “Capital investment in the first half of 2022 was c.$156 million plus decommissioning costs of $29 million while net debt as of 30 June 2022 was $2.3 billion.
“I will remember Ghana as a place that I spent the best four years of my life. A country with amazingly talented people and while I am leaving, I still have a property here.
“There is not a single way to achieve development, but the more Ghanaians understand that tourism is a business that they can benefit from… the better it will place them for national development,†she said.
The outgoing French ambassador wants Ghanaians to be proud of telling the Ghanaian story.
“When you are proud of your country and your heritage then you will broadcast it,†she said. “You will want to push it there and it is important that Ghanaians have pride in their heritage inculcated in them.â€