Day: March 1, 2024

OTJIWARONGO: Learners of the Orwetoveni Primary School, Karundu Junior Secondary School and Monica Geingos Junior Secondary School on Friday afternoon gathered at Otjiwarongo's central businesses district to celebrate World Wildlife Day. The 2024 World Wildlife Day at Otjiwarongo was jointly organised by the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism and Otjikoto B2Gold Mine's environmental department. The three institutions each asked learners questions about the general environment, positions of charging carnivores, relaxed herbivores and names of various trees and animals. CCF lead environmental educator, Ignatius Davids at the event said World Wildlife Day is an important annual occasion at CCF as this provides an opportunity for them to celebrate and raise awareness about the world's fauna and flora. 'Therefore, this day is very important as most of the environmentalists across the world and staff members of CCF who look after a total of about 30 wild cheetahs at the farm would come together yearly and celebrate their achievements in conservations,' he said. The school learners then held dancing competitions under the theme 'Connecting People and Planet: Exploring Digital Innovation in Wildlife Conservation.' The three schools also had poster competitions, interactive exhibitions and community engagement initiatives with a purpose to help educate and inspire the local community members here about the importance of preserving and protecting wildlife. Source: Namibia Press Agency

Benjamin Obeng Antwi, Public Relations lead for the Electricity Company of Ghana in the Volta Region, has been honoured by the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA). The honour comes as he exits the Region on transfer to the Ashanti Region, and was extolled for exceptional delivery of his role. Mr. Antwi took charge in the Region in February 2019, and worked to enhance public engagements of the Company. The citation was presented on the behalf of the Association by Mr. Lambert Atsivor the Administrator, and in the presence of Madam Christiana Jatoe-Kaleo, the General Manager of the ECG in charge of Volta and Oti Regions. 'The Volta/Oti Regional Chapter of the Ghana Journalists Association presents to you this citation in recognition of your exemplary and dedicated service as the Public Relations Officer of the ECG in the Volta Region. 'The Association and the entire media fraternity in both Volta and Oti Regions acknowledge and appreciate your professionalism and collaboration, which has significantly enha nced the relationship between the media and the ECG-Volta,' the citation, signed by Emmanuel Agbaxode, the GJA-Volta Chairman, said. Mr Antwi, receiving the honour, greatly appreciated the role of the media in Volta in shaping the growth of the Region. He thanked the journalists association for the spirited support to the Company, especially in promoting its outlook as the hub of excellence. 'When you come to the Volta Region as a PR person, before you excel, you need the media fraternity - the GJA. I've never seen media supporting the ECG like the way you do in the Volta Region, such that there are times that for some of the issues, I even stay back and they go ahead and communicate it for me because they understand the issues. 'And so if we don't face much negative press in the Region, it's because of the support they have offered to me and I am very grateful,' the PRO said. The PRO further attested to extra efforts by the media in the Region to project the company, and commended the General Manager fo r the Region for making 'a conscious effort' to improve media relations further. The General Manager, on her part, was hopeful the relationship would continue, and that the successor would build more upon the relationship and the successes. Ms. Eunice Tweneboah-Kodua takes over as the new PRO. Source: Ghana News Agency RUNDU: The suspected food poisoning incident at Rundu that claimed the lives of two children and left five hospitalised has claimed another life as a 12-year-old boy died at the Rundu State Hospital on Thursday. This was confirmed in an update by Namibian Police Force (NamPol) acting commander for the Kavango East Region, Deputy Commissioner Eino Nambahu, on Friday. 'One of the children from the suspected food poisoning passed on last night as his two siblings remain in critical condition,' stated Nambahu. It is alleged that the family prepared porridge with traditional spinach known as mutete for lunch. After lunch, one of the elder kids reportedly complained of stomach ache. Later around 19h00 that day, seven-year-old Elfriede Nangombe Shinyemba started vomiting, felt weak and died. Nambahu said police from Ndiyona Constituency, where the incident happened, together with medical personnel from the Nyangana District Hospital, departed to the scene and found Shinyemba deceased, while others were vomiting and in a weak state. 'The medical personnel started giving first aid to try and stabilise their condition,' he said. The seven kids were immediately rushed to the Nyangana District Hospital and later transferred to the Rundu State Hospital. While being transferred to the Rundu State Hospital, the youngest of the seven kids, one-year-old Melania Nahambo Likuwa died. Nambahu indicated that a team from NamPol and the Ministry of Health and Social Services in the region departed to the homestead of the eight children in Ndiyona to assess the situation. He said all the necessary samples were collected and taken for laboratory tests. Source: Namibia Press Agency

Benjamin Obeng Antwi, Public Relations lead for the Electricity Company of Ghana in the Volta Region, has been honoured by the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA). The honour comes as he exits the Region on transfer to the Ashanti Region, and was extolled for exceptional delivery of his role. Mr. Antwi took charge in the Region in February 2019, and worked to enhance public engagements of the Company. The citation was presented on the behalf of the Association by Mr. Lambert Atsivor the Administrator, and in the presence of Madam Christiana Jatoe-Kaleo, the General Manager of the ECG in charge of Volta and Oti Regions. 'The Volta/Oti Regional Chapter of the Ghana Journalists Association presents to you this citation in recognition of your exemplary and dedicated service as the Public Relations Officer of the ECG in the Volta Region. 'The Association and the entire media fraternity in both Volta and Oti Regions acknowledge and appreciate your professionalism and collaboration, which has significantly enha nced the relationship between the media and the ECG-Volta,' the citation, signed by Emmanuel Agbaxode, the GJA-Volta Chairman, said. Mr Antwi, receiving the honour, greatly appreciated the role of the media in Volta in shaping the growth of the Region. He thanked the journalists association for the spirited support to the Company, especially in promoting its outlook as the hub of excellence. 'When you come to the Volta Region as a PR person, before you excel, you need the media fraternity - the GJA. I've never seen media supporting the ECG like the way you do in the Volta Region, such that there are times that for some of the issues, I even stay back and they go ahead and communicate it for me because they understand the issues. 'And so if we don't face much negative press in the Region, it's because of the support they have offered to me and I am very grateful,' the PRO said. The PRO further attested to extra efforts by the media in the Region to project the company, and commended the General Manager fo r the Region for making 'a conscious effort' to improve media relations further. The General Manager, on her part, was hopeful the relationship would continue, and that the successor would build more upon the relationship and the successes. Ms. Eunice Tweneboah-Kodua takes over as the new PRO. Source: Ghana News Agency

Tunis: Minister of Health, Ali Mrabet, stressed the importance of learning about modern therapeutic and surgical techniques in the field of ophthalmology, as he attended on Friday evening in the capital, part of the work of the 41st Congress of the Tunisian Society of Ophthalmology, which will be hosted by Tunisia from February 28 to March 2, 2024. The conference, which is attended by specialists and experts from Arab, African and foreign countries, will address a number of topics related to ophthalmology, such as cataract surgery, retinal detachment, corneal surgery and modern therapeutic and surgical techniques, according to a statement from the ministry. In his speech, the Minister of Health noted the richness of the scientific programme of the ophthalmology conference and the opportunity to learn about scientific developments in this field, as well as the success of the Tunisian Ophthalmological Society in strengthening cooperation with its counterparts from different countries to improve the skills of ophthalmologists and surgeons. A number of professors and heads of hospital departments at the Hedi Raies Institute of Ophthalmology were honoured. Prizes were also awarded to the best researchers in the field of ophthalmology. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Professor John Gartchie Gatsi, Dean of the School of Business Studies, University of Cape Coast (UCC), has made a strong case for the adoption of Islamic banking to spur economic growth. He said the introduction of that banking system would diversify financial sources for developmental projects, create new jobs, promote transparency and accountability and ensure proper debt management. Prof Gatsi, a Professor of Finance, was delivering his inaugural lecture at UCC on the theme: 'Islamic banking options: Exploring an inclusive alternative or complement.' The lecture focused on the need to adopt Islamic banking in Ghana to promote financial inclusion and freedom of choice of financial products and services. It discussed the history of Islamic banking and how it differed from the conventional banking. It further highlighted the various options available under Islamic banking and the unique governance structure and also projected Islamic bonds in comparison with conventional bonds. Islamic banking, which i s founded on Islamic principles, provides a system where lending and borrowing take place without interest and the proceeds from engagements are shared based on profit and loss sharing agreements. Professor Gatsi said he was not arguing for conventional banking to be replaced with Islamic banking, but that it was important to complement the former with the latter to help reduce poverty, promote social justice, and mitigate debt burden. He, therefore, called on the Bank of Ghana to create the necessary environment for the adoption of the new banking system and urged government to diversify its sources of funding for infrastructural projects. The lecture was graced by many distinguished personalities including stalwarts of the opposition National Democratic Congress led by Prof Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang, the former running mate to former President John Dramani Mahama, traditional leaders as well as eminent members of the academic community. Professor Gatsi observed that attempts to introduce the system sinc e 2004 had failed and called for renewed efforts to establish it. As a secular state with an enviable religious tolerance, he said he did not foresee any pushbacks like it happened in many African countries where the system had been introduced. Professor Gatsi argued that Islamic banking would significantly reduce the debt burden on government because unlike the conventional financial system, government would not start paying coupons on bonds until the project was completed. He identified debt servicing arrangement under the conventional financial system as expensive and difficult to honour. 'Under Islamic Banking, debt management is such that when capital is acquired, on the other side, you see the asset that is created by the capital. 'But we have found ourselves in a situation where we borrow so much but we cannot account for so much in terms of the assets that have been created by the debts that have been procured,' he said. '…that is the reason why we are seeing so many uncompleted projects we cann ot complete because of the way we manage debt,' he added. He observed that in the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries where Islamic banking operated, there was an average debt to GDP ratio of 40 per cent, stressing the need to adopt the system. Prof Gatsi indicated further that Islamic banking was well aligned with the tenets of joint venture and public-private partnership (PPP) and would encourage the execution of more developmental projects. 'We have laid the foundation by attempting some activities regarding PPP and that will help foster the introduction of Islamic banking, especially Islamic bond to finance infrastructure,' he advised. He added that the adoption of Islamic banking would add its portfolio of financial products and services to conventional banking services to promote inclusion. 'There are many people who do not engage in banking activities; some because of their religion, some because there are no attractive products in the conventional banking system. 'So, when you introdu ce Islamic banking, that will provide alternative for inclusion and promote social justice,' he said. In line with Islamic principles, the banking system prohibited the funding of certain items and activities such as alcoholic beverages and gambling, he said. Professor Gasti argued further that Islamic banking system protected the environment such that its principles did not allow it to finance activities which destroyed the environment. Similarly, he said, it would largely contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Source: Ghana News Agency