Day: April 27, 2023

Wesley Girls' High School (WGHS) Old Girls' Association has commended Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo, a Supreme Court Judge, on her nomination by the President as the next Chief Justice.

'Wesley Girls' High School has recorded another feat with the President's nomination of yet another past student of the school as Chief Justice of the Republic.'

The first two females to hold the position - Justice Georgina Wood and Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo are members of the Association.

A statement signed by its National President, Madam Effie Simpson, on Wednesday, said the nomination was thus an addition to the long list of accomplishments, registered by products of the school in several fields locally and internationally.

This was a firm testament to a high educational standardassociated with WGHS since its establishment 186 years ago, it said.

The Association congratulated Justice Gertrude Torkornoo for 'this great achievement'.

The Association said: ' Having been enrolled in the school as Gertrude Sackey, in 1973, and graduating in 1978, the nominated Chief Justice would bring to the position, the rich tradition of academic that WGHS is famous for.'

'No doubt her Ladyship's confirmation will inspire current and past students of the school to strive for greater heights in their studies and in their chosen fields of endeavours,' it said.

'Whilst we look forward to her appointment, the Old Girls Association, staff and students of WGHS are confident that with the help of God Almighty, the nominee, together with other products of this great institution of learning, will continue in humility to serve humanity in diverse positions.'

President Akufo Addo has nominated Justice Torkornoo as the new Chief Justice.

She would be replacing Chief Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboahwho would be retiring on May 24, this year.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Emmanuel Agyemang, the Dormaa Central Municipal Officer, National Identification Authority (NIA), says more than 2,000 backlog of printed Ghana cards are yet to be collected by applicants in the municipality.

He said the cards were for those who registered during the mop- up and mass registration exercises in 2019 and 2020.

Despite the several announcements to draw their attention, many, especially at distant and remote communities, had still not contacted the office for the cards, he said.

Mr Agyemang said this at the first ordinary meeting of the fourth session of the Dormaa Central Municipal Assembly at Dormaa-Ahenkro in the Dormaa Central Municipality of the Bono Region.

It was in response to a concern raised by Mr Atta Twum, a government appointee to the Assembly, about the inability of the Authority to deliver all printed cards to some applicants in his electoral area and thus forcing them to cover long distances from Amasu to the NIA office at Dormaa-Ahenkro to collect their cards.

Mr Agyemang said his office had received confirmation from Accra to visit distant communities to distribute cards to applicants and asked for the assistance of Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene, the Bono Regional Minister, and Mr Drissa Ouatara, the Municipal Chief Executive, to carry out the task.

He said more than 2,600 cards had been printed and were now being sorted for collection.

The meeting was attended by assembly members ans staff, heads of department and security agencies, traditional leaders, the clergy, and representatives of traders' associations.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The average annual availability of water resources per year and per capita in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region will fall below the threshold of "absolute scarcity of 500 cubic meters" by 2030, the World Bank (WB) revealed in a report published Thursday.

The countries of this region, including Tunisia, are exposed to an "unprecedented" water shortage which will become "more acute" as the population increases, according to the report titled "The Economics of Water Scarcity in MENA: Institutional Solutions".

According to the WB, by the end of this decade, the amount of water available per capita annually will fall below the absolute water scarcity threshold of 500 cubic meters per person, per year. It also estimates that by 2050, an additional 25 billion cubic meters of water a year will be needed to meet the region's needs. That is equivalent to building 65 desalination plants the size of Ras Al Khair plant in Saudi Arabia, which is currently the largest in the world.

//Delegate decision-making to representative administrations at the local level

To address water stress, the report recommends that countries in the region no longer rely on a strategy of investment in water infrastructure (dams, desalination plants, etc.) to increase water supply, without adequately addressing the critical issues of efficiency and governance.

The same source states that half of the water utilities reported that more than 30% of the water produced is not billed to customers due to leaky pipes, inefficient water meters and illegal connections.

The report, therefore, highlights the need for institutional reforms to finance and maintain this infrastructure and to regulate demand. They propose that professional water utilities and national technical bodies, on the one hand, and local governments, on the other, be given "greater autonomy and strategic powers" to manage the various aspects of water services and allocation.

Existing institutions that manage resource allocation remain "highly centralised and technocratic", which limits their ability to make trade-offs in water use at the local level.

These reforms are "necessary" to increase autonomy and decentralisation of decisions regarding water management and service delivery, and to strengthen the legitimacy of water pricing and regulation.

To achieve these reforms, the World Bank stresses the importance of better communication with citizens on water scarcity and national water strategies.

In this respect, the WB mentions the example of Brazil and South Africa, which have used an awareness campaign to reduce water consumption. In Cape Town, for example, municipal authorities shared a "water dashboard", which provided weekly information on total water consumption in the city as it approached "day zero" (the point at which water resources should be completely exhausted).

Such transparency by a locally elected representative city government persuaded residents of the urgency and made them more likely to comply with restrictions.

In sum, these institutional reforms could help governments to renegotiate the social contract with the people of MENA, the same source argues.

In sum, these institutional reforms are likely to help governments renegotiate the social contract with the people of the MENA region, the same source argues.

"Rather than setting water tariffs and regulating water use through vertical directives, delegating more authority to technical water resource management agencies, utilities, and local communities could enhance the legitimacy of the state and confidence in its ability to manage water scarcity," the WB concludes.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse