Category: General

Mr Moses Baiden, Chief Executive Officer of Margins ID Group, says regulations of the National Identification Authority (NIA) prohibit banks from taking photocopies of national identification cards for transactions. 'With the NIA system, if you go to the bank you have to present yourself to the bank and put forth your fingerprint for the bank to get an audit code connected to your transaction,' he said, stressing photocopying of clients' ID cards was illegal. Mr Baiden said this during a panel discussion on the sidelines of the Data Protection Africa Summit on the topic: 'Data protection implementation in the delivery of ID systems in Africa'. The Summit is a flagship programme of the Africa Digital Rights Hub (ADRH) held annually across Africa. It focuses on key areas such as Generative Al, Data Transfers across Africa, Data Protection and ID Systems in Africa as Digital Trade, Data Protection and the African Continental Free Trade Agreements (AfCFTA). The Margins Group has been a partner of the NIA i n the development and issuance of the National Identification Cards (Ghana Cards). Mr Baiden's remarks were in response to issues of governance, compliance and enforcement of data protection among institutions. He said the challenge the country faced in its data protection and identification bid was not a data collection or technological problem, but attitudinal and enforcement problems. 'If we want a clean data collection society where laws are fully enforced, it is beyond data protection and technology, but rather attitudinal,' he noted. Mr Baiden urged institutions to be fully abreast of the NIA system to make well-informed decisions and practices. Ms Teki Akuetteh, Founder and Executive Director of ADRH, observed that the populace lacked awareness of the data collection and protection process. She said most people were not aware of what their data collected was being used for and they were vulnerable to threats of data manipulation. She urged stakeholder institutions to increase sensitisation and a wareness drive on data collection and protection rights of the citizenry to enable them to make informed choices and decisions. Ms Akuetteh called for the creation of a synchronised and centralised national database system where institutions could collect data for identification purposes. That, she said, would help the institutions to save money and time in their data collection processes and minimise risks and threats to unauthorised access. More than 200 delegates across Africa and other parts of the world participated in the Accra Summit. The three-day international conference was on the broader theme: 'Building Bridges for Oversight and Accountability', and brought together policymakers, regulators, researchers, lawmakers as well as key industry players in the digital space, particularly data protection practitioners and privacy experts. Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Abdul Mumin-Issah, the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), has commended the outgoing Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) Members for their unwavering support in ensuring the development of the Metropolis. He expressed appreciation and gratitude to them for their maximum support and cooperation in executing programmes and activities across the key sectors of the Assembly's governance structure. He gave the commendation when he delivered the sessional address at the opening of the third ordinary meeting of the fourth session of the eighth Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly in Sekondi. Giving an overview of some of the key interventions implemented within the last four years, Mr Mumin-Issah said the STMA with the support from Assembly Members and other stakeholders had ensured that the Metropolis remained calm and peaceful devoid of violence and robbery. He, however, said there had been some reported incidents of petty thefts within the Metropolis, and urged residents to b e vigilant and not hesitate to report suspicious characters or acts in their communities to the security agencies for swift response, especially as the yuletide season approached. On sanitation, he indicated that as a step towards the realization of the Assembly's vision of becoming the cleanest Metropolis in Ghana and beyond, management introduced a new clean-up model which focused primarily on Electoral Areas as a supplement to the National Sanitation Day Policy. 'This initiative, which has already taken off is focused on electoral areas within the Metropolis, the intention is to make cleaning of our communities an integral part of our day-to-day activities and a culture to ensure cleaner surroundings,' the MCE said. Mr Mumin-Issah added that the STMA and its partners had also launched the 'Operation Clean Your Surroundings' campaign which sought to enforce the Assembly's environmental sanitation by-laws, raise awareness of cleanliness, hygiene, waste management, and environmental preservation through me dia coverage and the deployment of a task force. On health, he noted that the Assembly had always prioritized health issues as a major concern and, as such the National Diabetes Awareness month was observed where the Metro Health Directorate organized health screening exercises and programmes aimed at creating awareness about the disease. Touching on revenue mobilization, he said: 'it is gratifying to note that Government had reverted property rate collection for 2023 back to the MMDAs and the Metro Coordinating Director has put together a three-member team comprising the Metropolitan Finance Officer, Internal Auditor and Budget Analyst to work at preparing and distributing bills for 2023. 'It is our fervent hope that we rake in revenue as much as we can before the Christmas break.' On some of the STMA's public-private partnerships, the MCE stated that the Assembly in collaboration with the Palermo Municipality in Italy and other partners implemented a three-year pound 3 million Twin-Cities in Sustainabl e Partnership Project (TCSPP), an initiative funded by the European Union. He said as part of the TCSPP's implementation, a six-member delegation from Palermo visited Sekondi-Takoradi where a series of engagements were held including, plans to formalize the local economy at European Town near Sekondi to position it as a tourist hub in the Metropolis. Mr Mumin-Issah said: 'It is worth mentioning that after a successful signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan Africa (CoM SSA), the Assembly, with support from the CoM SSA Programme has initiated steps to prepare a five-year Sustainable Energy Access and Climate Action Plan (SEACAP) for the Assembly and an Urban Sustainable Energy Use Plan (USEUP)'. To this effect, he indicated that a nine-member team had been inaugurated to steer the implementation of the plan to a successful end, saying 'We are hopeful, that once the plan is prepared, CoM SSA will lead the Assembly to access various funding sources for impleme ntation of the plan.' On the upcoming District Level Elections (DLEs), he expressed worry over the low level of women's participation in the exercise and called on stakeholders to take concrete steps to whip up women's interest in taking up decision-making positions in their various communities for sustainable growth. Mr John Buckman, the Presiding Member (PM) of the STMA, also expressed gratitude to the Assembly Members for their support in ensuring a smooth administration of the eighth Assembly. He acknowledged the support from partners saying, 'Let me tie in the positive activities of the Private Partnership Project (PPP) Team, TCSPP Team and the Public Investment Unit (PIU) for their gargantuan contributions towards ensuring that this Assembly gets financial and technical support for projects.' He gave the assurance that leadership of the Assembly would continue to work tirelessly to secure more partnerships to undertake development projects within the Metropolis to help benefit the people. Mr Buckma n urged Assembly Members seeking re-election to undertake their campaigns devoid of attacks and insults on their opponents to help maintain peace and unity in their communities. Source: Ghana News Agency

The Council of the Observatory for Financial Inclusion (French: OIF) recommended on Thursday that the National Financial Education Programme (NFEP) be submitted to the government for approval. The NFEP is a document that "defines the public policy on financial education, which requires the intervention of various public and private entities", according to a press release issued by the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT). Marouane Abassi, Governor of the BCT, who chaired the third meeting of the OIF Council, stressed the need to develop financial education as a channel for the dissemination of "simple and understandable financial information" in order to facilitate access to financial services for the entire population. In this context, he underlined the crucial importance of financial inclusion for inclusive and sustainable economic development to improve the living conditions of vulnerable groups. In this context, he highlighted the role that the OIF must play in promoting financial inclusion, given its legal mandate from the legislature. Furthermore, the Governor noted that the regular assessment of the state of financial inclusion requires the establishment of a measurement system based on the collection of data and the development of indicators that reflect the reality of financial inclusion. To this end, the OIF has entered into data exchange agreements with various partners who are members of its Board of Directors. These agreements focus on feeding the database that the OIF is currently setting up in accordance with its legal obligations. At the end of the meeting, the members of the OIF Council reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate and harmonise their actions in support of the projects developed in the framework of the various strategies to promote financial inclusion. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

The two candidates for the next local elections (December 24), Fethi Maher and Bassem Ben Dhiab, in the Jammal Jawfiya constituency (Monastir Governorate) are continuing their electoral campaign and meeting citizens. Candidate Fethi Al Maher promised his voters to help with the creation of an irrigated area and an artificial lake for rainwater collection, make the region an agricultural hub, find solutions to environmental problems caused mainly and boost local investments. Candidate Bassem Ben Dhiab pledged to provide all necessary conditions conducive to investment, promote intelligent industry, exploit the industrial zone optimally and strengthen professional training centers so as to meet the labor market's needs. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

The National Committee in charge of negotiating and monitoring the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) held its first meeting on Thursday to prepare the national strategy for the implementation of this agreement, in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). UNECA will present the first draft of the study commissioned by the Tunisian authorities on the supply of Tunisian products and services for export to the African market. At this meeting, the members of the Committee agreed to set up five working teams. They will work on priority sectors such as textiles and clothing and automotive equipment. One team will also be responsible for monitoring the implementation of the project to rehabilitate the Ras Jedir border crossing to make it a gateway for Africa. Lamia Abroug, Chief of Staff of the Minister of Trade and Export Development, underlined the important role of the "AfCFTA" agreement, which will enable Tunisia to diversify its partnerships, capture new markets in sub-Saharan Africa and increase its trade. Tunisia was one of the first countries to sign the "AfCFTA" and one of the first eight member states to implement the agreement. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse