Category: General

Mr. Silver Ojakol, the Chief of Staff of the AfCFTA Secretariat, has called on producers on the African continent to consider the prospects of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA). He said the vast resources of the Continent alongside its large human population should encourage producers to come onboard the single market being offered by the AfCFTA, Africa's most ambitious continent-wide trade consolidation initiative in modern times. Mr. Ojakol, who was delivering the keynote address at the opening of the 6th Volta Trade and Investment Fair in Ho said the AfCFTA was to drive the development of the continent and that its seven protocols covered all areas of trade facilitation. 'The single market means local producers should up their game. They must scale up their trading game if they want to take advantage. 'Producers should look at a wider single market with a predictable trade regime,' he said. Mr. Ojakol said the free trade area had the opportunity of the estimated 1.5 billion p opulation with a GDP of US$3.4 billion and expected to hit 7 trillion by 2035. Presently, only about 274 million hectares of its 874 million hectares of arable lands are being utilised and the Chief of Staff counted 'large sums of strategic minerals.' He said the strength of human resource adding to the other natural resources on the continent should drive a sustainable development agenda for Africa, noting that 80 per cent of the continent's entrepreneurs were SMEs, which contributed a 40 per cent of cross border trade. Mr. Ojakol added that the AfCFTA remained a catalyst for infrastructure development and had the efficiency to attract investors with resources in Africa to 'drive the continental agenda.' He said trade facilitation infrastructures such as the ambitious Abidjan-Lagos Highway project was a priority and that other initiatives, including harmonising standards and the conformity of local products to help facilitate cross border trade, were being undertaken. The top official said programmes su ch as the Pan African Payment system being implemented would eventually eliminate dependence on foreign currencies for international trade, and that the AfCFTA Secretariat was working to get banks to support financial programmes curated for SMEs. He said the AfCFTA focused on developing four industrial sectors, which include the automobile, pharmaceutical, transport and logistics, and agro processing, and that SMEs should consider that the 'ideal value chain and tap into it.' He commended the Volta Regional Coordinating Council and the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) together with their partners for organising the fair and said SMEs should use the opportunity to create business linkages. 'The AfCFTA has been a major development of our time, and we must together harness the opportunities that it creates. 'We might not get such an opportunity again. We must implement the agreement as it will contribute to lifting more than 100 million people out of poverty,' the Chief of Staff stated. This year's Vol ta Fair is on the theme 'Leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area for Economic Development,' and more than 400 exhibitors and about 20,000 visitors are expected. Dr. Archibald Yao Letsa, Volta Regional Minister, who had revived the fair in recent times, said, 'these are times to showcase the strong investment potentials in Volta,' and that stakeholders were looking forward to providing export routes for businesses in Volta. He said Volta was promoting a 'one district one export product' initiative under the AfCFTA, and that all must work together to promote investments that would protect the ecosystem of a richly endowed Region. 'Sustainable industrialisation must be the next stage of our industrialisation. The vision is to become a production and exporting economy and we can turn our economic potential in Volta around.' Present at the opening ceremony were high level dignitaries such as the national leadership of the Association of Ghana Industries, several envoys from various African continent s, and Africa's youngest MP and Minister from Namibia. Ms. Emma Theofulus, the Namibian top official, who is Deputy Minister for Information, Communication and Technology, and was a special guest, said Africa should be able to leverage its resources to develop, and called for structures to drive trade and integration across the continent. Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Brian Acheampong, the Minister for Food and Agriculture, says the country must stop importing basic food items, including vegetables like tomatoes and onions, describing it as embarrassing. He said this after visiting the exhibition stands of farmers and stakeholders in the agricultural value chain in the 2023 Agrifest as part of the 2023 National Farmers Week celebration. The Minister said Government was not happy about the situation and that strategic plans had been put in place to change the narrative and called for support of all stakeholders. Mr Acheampong said with government's funding of the planting season in the Northern Region, a bag of maize had reduced at the farm gate from 315 to 160 Cedis. He, therefore, called on traders to let the price reflect in what they sold directly to consumers. With poultry products importation, Mr Acheampong said Ghana produced only 15,000 metric tonnes, but consumed 325,000, a situation which made it difficult for the local poultry business to develop. Gover nment, he said, was going to support the industry with 18 million Cedis next year to revive the sector. He said government's food security plan would also increase metric tonnes of poultry and food crops production from 15,000 to over 75,000 and to 150,000 by 2028. Mr Ken Ofori Atta, the Finance Minister, said government was also allotting one billion Cedis to support the initiative, including planting for food and jobs. He said about 10 billion would be invested in the sector to stop importation and as well create jobs. '2024 will see a deliberate approach for agriculture to make it attractive for people to venture into,' he added. Mr Ofori-Atta condemned the over -pricing by some traders, who charged high prices after buying foodstuff cheap at farm gates, saying 'that has to change'. Source: Ghana News Agency

The Sunyani West Municipal branch of the Ghana Blind Union (GBU) has appealed for 'white canes' to aid the movements of members. According to the Union, they required 70 'white canes', costing about GHC9,000, for some of the members, as Ghana joins the rest of the World to mark the 2023 commemoration of the White Cane Safety Day. White Cane Safety Day, celebrated October 15, was established in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson to raise awareness of people who carry a white cane. In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani, Mr George Addai, the President of the Sunyani West branch of the GBU, regretted majority of the members did not have the canes because they could not afford to buy, and thereby making it difficult for them walk. 'In fact, this has prevented them from attaining the level of independence they desire,' he stated, adding the branch union intended to hold an event on December 15 to commemorate the Day. 'We need the canes for our members so that they can attend and make th e commemoration of the Day a success,' Mr Addai stated. Source: Ghana News Agency

In Windhoek, National Youth Security Services (NYSS) guards staged a peaceful protest on Wednesday, demanding an increase in hourly wages. Currently earning N.dollars 7.75 per hour, they seek a raise to the minimum wage of N.dollars 10.00, as per government regulation, effective from 15 December 2023. Rachel Stefanus, representing the NYSS guards, emphasized their refusal to endure further exploitation by NYSS management. According to Namibia Press Agency (NAMPA), She pointed out that a 2016 collective agreement for the security industry's minimum wage, signed by the Security Association of Namibia and related trade unions, has been ignored by NYSS, leading to a lack of salary improvements and contravention of the agreement designed to enhance security officers' living standards. Stefanus also highlighted NYSS's non-compliance with a non-compliance order issued in 2018 after the matter was taken up by trade unions. Ben Biwa, NYSS business development manager, received the petition from the protesters, promising to convey their demands to the Minister of Sport, Youth and National Service, Agnes Tjongarero, and the NYSS Commissioner, Felix Musukubili.

Justice Professor Henrietta Mensa- Bonsu, a Justice of the Supreme Court, has urged external peace initiators to stop setting peace priorities and foisting them on host nations and the local population. She observed that sustainable peace building initiatives that lacked inclusive participation and sense of ownership only worked in short term, lacking needed commitment in the long term. Such initiatives, she said, could also be abandoned as soon as proponents withdrew funding or focused attention on other theatres of conflict. 'The requirements of donors among other interest groups have to be respected but must not be so represented as to operate to obscure the requirement for national ownership,' she said at a conference on Sustainable Regional Peacebuilding in Africa: Practices and Disconnects. The conference was organised by the Meridian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) 9th Interdisciplinary Fellow Group 9, which is made up of five scholars who have conducted collaborative research ove r a four-month period. Speaking on the topic, 'Sustainable Regional Peace Building: Reflections of an academic-practitioner', Justice Prof Mensa- Bonsu said an approach to a sustainable peace building that had national ownership must respect the wisdom of the host community. The Professor of law also advised that the dignity of the host community be kept in mind as international actors took the role of facilitators who provided support and observed the direction of the initiative's progress. She noted that in instances where the national ownership may require timeframes for programme execution that may not be in tandem with that of international institutions and /or international actors, it was important not to evoke an aggressive adherence to set timetables. 'The least important consideration to international actors should be the desire to showcase their achievements in the field and fill required reports of progress made in periods predetermined elsewhere than in the host country,' she added. Justice P rof Mensa- Bonsu also said that while the concept of national ownership was important in sustainable peace building initiatives, it should not be taken to mean that the international actors could not suggest and initiate programmes they might consider as urgent. 'For instance, a host community that has endured a long-drawn-out conflict may be so broken that peace education may be a priority to help them mend their broken societies and avoid a relapse into conflict. 'It might also serve the ends of conflict prevention where peace education, particularly of the youth, is undertaken in earnest,' she said. Source: Ghana News Agency