Ghana Hosts Child & Youth Finance summit

By Edmund Mingle

The fourth Child and Youth Finance Regional Meeting for Africa opened in Accra on Tuesday with an objective of mobilizing support to promote the entrepreneurial abilities in young people.

Mrs Sedina Tamakle-Attionu

The meeting, which has brought together a large number of experts in child finance, policy makers, representatives of youth development institutions and youth leaders,aims at defining critical is sues inhibiting the socio-economic empowerment of young people and also identifying innovative practices in addressing youth financial exclusion, unemployment and financial illiteracy.

It is being jointly hosted by the Micro Finance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) and Youth Enterprise Support (YES), both under the Office of the President, in collaboration with the the Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI) based in Amsterdam.

It has the theme, “Advancing youth economic empowerment for inclusive growth,” and attracted participants from Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Algeria, Morocco, India, The Netherlands and Australia.

Opening the meeting on behalf of President Mahama, Gender, Children and Social Protection Minister, Nana Oye Lithur, observed the critical role financial inclusion played in promoting youth economic empowerment.

According to her, the failure to ensure that more young people have access to financial support could indirectly perpetuate poverty, and therefore called for
practical strategies to support young entrepreneurs, to grow their businesses and employ others.

Professor Kwesi Botchwey, Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission, who chaired the opening session, was confident that increased investment in youth development could help to address the unemployment menace facing many African governments.,

According to him, there was still opportunity to reverse the trend, adding that the unemployment situation could worsen if African governments fail to address the financial inclusion challenges facing the youth.

Mrs. Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, Chief Executive Officer of MASLOC and Mrs. Helga Boadi, National Coordinator of YES, in their remarks, both assured the youth of the support of their organizations, in their quest to promote financial inclusion for the young people.

CSTC Launches PPP Course

By Edmund Mingle

The Civil Service Training Centre yesterday launched a training course in basic Public Private Partnership (PPP) with the aim of training a critical mass of Ghanaians with the skills in developing PPPs.
According to the Centre, the course would help Ghanaians to effectively understand the PPP concept, as well as enhance the capacity of civil servants to support for the successful implementation of PPP projects for the various government agencies.
Following government’s adoption of the PPP concept a viable option to leverage public assets and funds with private sector resources from local and international markets to accelerate needed investments in infrastructure and services, the CSTC believes there was a need to run a course to adequately train public officials on the concept.
Nana Agyeman Dwamena, Head of Civil Service, launching the course at the opening of the first training session for representatives of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in Accra, lauded the objective of the course, saying it was in line with the capacity building plans of his office.
He was confident that partnership between the public and private sector would also improve the output of the public sector in terms of service delivery.
But that, he said, could only be achieved when civil servants have been trained and equipped with the skills and capacity to deliver.
He called for attitudinal change among civil servants, indicating that no among of capacity building could yield positive result if the lackadaisical attitude towards work did not change.
Nana Agyemen congratulated the trainees for having the benefit of being the first batch, and reminded them of the need to become change agents after the course.
He assured the CSTC and the Finance Ministry’s Public Investment Division PID, managers of the PPP programme, of his outfit’s continues support and collaboration, and urged the participants to the committed to the training.
Mrs. Dora Dei-Tumi, Principal of the CSTC, welcoming the trainees, said the Centre has a vision of becoming a regional hub for PPP training.
According to her, with the increasing adoption of the concept by Ghana and other African countries, there was a need for a well structured training on PPP development, implementation and management.
The Centre has the objective of contributing to the training and capacity building for public and civil servants to enable to effectively play their roles in the implementation of PPP projects.
Mrs. Magdalene Apenteng, Director of PID, for her part, noted that complexity of the concept required a better understanding by all stakeholders of easy adopting and application by the government agencies.
She lauded the contribution of the CSTC in helping to build local capacity for the development and management of PPPs, adding that the training was in line with the objective of the PID’s stakeholder engagements that aim at creating public awareness about the PPPs.
She announced the government was currently pursuing a number of line-up PPP projects for infrastructure development in the transport, agriculture and other sectors of the economy, adding that some of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies were developing PPP proposals for consideration.

Seated from left,  Mrs. Apenteng, Nana Dwamena and Mrs Dei Tumi in a group picture with the participants

Ghana Mission in Paris Denies Reports

THE EMBASSY OF GHANA IN PARIS DISPELS RUMOURS THAT A GHANAIAN WAS A VICTIM OF THE PARIS TERRORIST ATTACKS

Press Release 

Mrs Johanna Svanikier, Ghana's Ambassador to France

Paris, France - The Ghanaian Embassy in France set out to investigate rumours that a Ghanaian died at the Stade de France in a stampede following the terrorist attacks in Paris last Friday.

The allegation first came to the attention of the Mission in Paris when various individuals called the Embassy claiming that they had the information from credible sources.

 It was also widely circulated on social media and rumoured among members of the Ghanaian community.

Officials of the Embassy immediately consulted the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make enquiries whether there was a record of Otis Nuako the alleged deceased being among the victims of the Paris attacks.

They indicated that they had no record of him or any Ghanaian being victim to the attacks. Further enquiries revealed that there was only one victim killed by the explosions outside the national stadium - a middle-aged white man.

Upon enquiries, the police station at St Denis, the suburb where the young man was alleged to have died, knew nothing of the case. Circumstances leading to the alleged death of the late Otis Nuako, who it is alleged was found lying unconscious in a street in Saint Denis not far from the national stadium, are still unclear.

Following a visit to his home by Embassy officials, Mr. Ahenkan a member of the Ghanaian community in Paris, indicated that he was the father of the alleged deceased.

He informed officials from the Mission that his son was a French born national and had never owned a Ghanaian passport. Further his son did not live at home but with friends they did not know at a location unknown to his parents.

They therefore did not have any knowledge about his movements or whereabouts prior to his demise. Mr. Ahenkan said that on Sunday, 15th November, the local police came to their residence and informed his wife, Adwoa Gyimah, about the critical condition of their son who had been admitted to a hospital in St Denis.

According to him, his wife followed the police to the hospital where she was told that personnel of the French Ambulance Service had rushed her son to the hospital. Mr. Ahenkan then stated that his wife saw their son attached to a life support machine but was told by the doctor that he was dead and therefore the life support needed to be switched of.

He explained that the police then informed his wife that they would get back to her after their investigations. In a later interview posted on a social website he said he had accompanied his wife and the police to the hospital. This contradicted what he had earlier told Embassy officials.

The Mission has carried out the necessary checks and can confirm that there are no reports or records of a stampede at the French national stadium following the terrorist attacks and no records of victims of a stampede in or outside the stadium, Ghanaian or otherwise.

The name Otis Nuako is not on the list of victims of the terror attacks released by the French authorities in Paris and there are no Ghanaians on the list either.

The Mission continues to work with the police and the host authorities to establish the facts of the case.

President gives GHȻ93,000 support to Samuel Nuamah's family

By Edmund Mingle

President John Mahama, has presented a compensation and support package worth GHȻ93,000 to the family of the late Samuel Nuamah who lost his life in the tragic motor accident involving the presidential press corps on August 20.

The package consists of GHȻ50,000 into the endowment fund set up for his little son, 5,000 dollars (GHȻ18,500) for his wife, Lillian, GHȻ20,000 for his mother and father and GHȻ5,000 for his family.

Samuel Nuamah was the Ghanaian Times Presidential Correspondent at the Flagstaff House.

The late Samuel Nuamah

He died on the spot on August 20, this year when a bus conveying him and other presidential reporters from Ho, in the Volta Region to Accra after covering the President's assignment there, bust a tyre and somersaulted before crashing. Other reporters were severely injured.

Presenting the package to the family at a meeting at the Presidential Lounge of the Accra International Conference Centre on Friday, President Mahama described the offer as a token to help alleviate any hardship on the dependants of Nuamah.

The meeting was to create the platform for the family and management of New Times Corporation to thank the President for the assistance towards the funeral on September 17.

President Mahama, said "although the package cannot compensate for the life lost, it would provide some comfort for the bereaved family, particularly the widow and child".

For Nuamah's two-year old son, he said the GHȻ50,000 will be put into the Nuamah Education Fund established by the New Times Corporation to provide his educational and welfare needs.

The fund, he believed, would help to secure a good future for the child.

He described the passing of Nuamah as "a collective loss", and, therefore, assured the family of the Presidency's continued assistance.

President Mahama said he had directed the relevant officials to expedite action on the accident report, indicating that the family would be duly informed about any available insurance payments.

Mr. Julius Debrah, the Chief of Staff, who gave the details of the package, hoped it would help ameliorate the difficulties that the family might encounter due to the absence of its breadwinner.

He also gave assurance that all outstanding issues would be dealt with, and urged the family to accept the Presidency's offer.

Head of Family, Michael Kabu Mensah, thanked the Presidency for the package, and indicated their acceptance of the offer.

He particularly thanked President Mahama for ensuring that the late Nuamah was offered a befitting funeral, saying the family remained highly appreciative.

Board Chairperson of New Times Corporation, Rose-Margaret Kpodo, also expressed appreciation to the President for the support, as well as the assistance offered by the Presidency during the planning of the funeral.

- See more at: http://myjoyonline.com/news/2015/November-9th/mahama-supports-samuel-nuamah-family-with-93000-package.php#sthash.jSrTYcYW.dpuf

Passports Office receives computers from GIFEC to improve services

By Edmund Mingle

The operations of the Passports Office received a major boost yesterday, with the receipt of a large quantity of computers and accessories that would help to eliminate the delays associated with the acquisition of passport.

Mr. Kwabena Acheampong (second left) presenting the equipment to Mr. Alexander Grant Ntrakwa. 

The equipment support package, offered by the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC), is to help the Office to revamp its operations across the country and clear the backlog of hundreds of passport applications.

In addition, it is to assist the Office to successfully roll out its Electronic Passport Application System.

Described by the Office as a “timely intervention,” the support package included 75 desktop computers, 75 UPS and 10 scanners and their accessories, worth GH¢233,626.

Presenting the package to the Office in Accra, Mr. Acheampong, Administrator of GIFEC, said his outfit had been concerned about the cumbersome nature of the country’s passport acquisition process, which has compounded the disturbing role of middlemen and passport contractors.

“This problem must be eliminated as a matter of urgency, in order to restore confidence in the system,” he said.

While believing that the provision of the equipment would help to clear the backlog of unprinted passports, he said “the onus lies on the Passport Office to create a foolproof system that ensures that applicants can be guaranteed dates for the issuance of passports.”

This he said would discourage applicants from seeking for assistance from middlemen and “protocol officers” who end up duping them.

Mr. Acheampong assured the office of further support, indicating that GIFEC was supportive of plans by the office to collaborate with the National Identification Authority in creating a common database that could be used by all relevant institutions so as to resolve the complexity of acquiring various national identification documents.

Alexander Grant Ntrakwa, Director of Passports, who described the donation as a timely intervention said it came at a time the office was scaling up efforts to clear the backlog and also deploy the electronic application system.

He said the equipment would be used to retool the operation unit at the head office and the regional application centres.

He believed that with the right equipment to support the system for application processing, it could take less than two hours to issue passports after the head office receives a processed application from the any of the application centres.

Ghanaian company wins Global Leaders award

Mrs. Johanna Odonkor Svanikier (left), Ghana’s Ambassador

to France presenting the award to Mr. Amoh.

The Global Trade Leaders Club, has adjudged Justmoh Construction Limited, a Takoradi-based Ghanaian company as winner of the Club’s prestigious International Award for Leader-ship in Image and Quality. It is in recognition of the company’s quality leadership in the construction sector in Ghana.

Justice Amoh, CEO and founder of the Justmoh Group, received the award at the club’s awards ceremony in Paris, France last Monday.

In picking up this award, Justmoh Construction joins a selected group of companies, whose managers have received recognition in their respective fields for their achievements and business acumen.

The Global Trade Leaders Club (GTLC) is an association of entrepreneurs made up of 7,000 members in 95 countries.

The International Award for Leadership in Image and Quality was created as a promotional programme offering support for business networking around the world.

Membership of the GTLC is limited to previously awarded companies.