Ghana’s reaffirmation of its commitment to the Ghana-Burkina Faso 1100km railway project and the washing offshore of over 60 dolphin look-alike mammals and large numbers of different species of fish along the coasts of Axim-Bewire in Ghana in the last two days are the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Graphic reports that Ghana has reaffirmed its commitment to the Ghana-Burkina Faso 1100km railway project.
The new Minister of Railway Development in Ghana, Mr. John Peter Amewu was in Ougadougou Burkina this week to reaffirm that commitment.
Mr. Amewu was accompanied by accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Railways Development, Ghana Railway Development Authority, and project Transaction Advisors (Represented by Team Engineering and Vision consult).
They were received in Ougadougou by the Burkinabe Minister for Transport, Urban Mobility, and Road safety, Mr. Vincent Dabilou.
Their discussions also included the conclusion of discussions on the selection of a private partner to build, operate and transfer the Ghana-Burkina 1100km railway line.
In his remarks, Mr. Amewu stressed on the importance of the project to the development of Ghana and Burkina Faso and said that was why President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has shown an unwavering commitment to the successful completion of the project.
He stated that the completion of the project would boost economic trade, help in the transportation of freight and passenger between the two countries and further deepen the ties between Ghana and Burkina Faso.
The newspaper says that the Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Alban S.K. Bagbin has stated categorically that while Ghana will not make any laws that will infringe on people’s rights, the country will be sure to pass laws that will protect Ghana’s values, traditions, culture, religion and principles.
The Speaker made this known when the Australian High Commissioner to Ghana, Gregory Andrews, paid a courtesy call on him on Thursday, April 1, 2021.
Mr. Bagbin described LGBTQI+ as an abomination that will never be accepted in Ghana.
In his remarks, High Commissioner, Gregory Andrews, known for his keen interest in Ghanaian culture and food, spoke about the rich Ghanaian culture he has enjoyed since he came to Ghana, and said it has had a positive image on his family.
“We believe that to protect human rights sometimes our culture needs to adapt and that doesn’t mean being a different culture, it means accepting people for who they are especially when they are not causing harm to anyone else.
“That is why on the LGBTQ+ issues, Australia will really encourage Ghana’s Parliament not to pass legislation that would discriminate the LGBTQ+ community or remove their rights or to make it illegal for people to advocate for their Human Rights,” he said.
In a response, Mr. Alban Bagbin said “Our laws abhors any forms of discrimination. We also have the decision of the European Court on Human Rights to guide us in whatever we do…and so on the issue of LGBTQI+ definitely we already have a legal framework within which to work. We will not legislate to infringe on the Human Rights of people, but we will legislate to ensure that culture and traditions are not violated.
The Graphic also reports that more than 60 dolphin look-alike mammals, and large numbers of different species of fish have washed ashore along the coasts of Axim-Bewire in the Nzema East Municipality of the Western Region, Osu in the Greater Accra Region and Keta in the Volta Region in the last two days.
In Axim-Bewire alone, Graphic Online’s Dotsey Kobla Aklorbortu reported that over 60 dolphin look-alike mammals washed ashore were counted on Sunday, April 4, 2021 by the indigenes.
Some of the large species of fish spotted in Osu in Accra were washed ashore on Friday, April 2, 2021.
In Keta in the Volta Region, plenty dead tuna also washed ashore on Sunday, April 4, 2021.
Environmental officers from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in these areas are having a hectic time preventing members of the public from consuming the fish or have close contacts with them since it is still not clear what is killing them and causing them to wash ashore.
The fears of the Environmental officers are that many of these species of fish and sea mammals did not wash shore alive, but dead and samples have to be taken for laboratory analysis.
At Axim-Bewire, in the Western Region, all 60 mammals, said to be melon-headed whales have gone missing from the shore, reports Graphic Online’s Western Regional correspondent, Dotsey Kobla Aklorbortu.
The Daily Guide says that the Accra Sewerage Systems Ghana Ltd is set to expand and upgrade its liquid waste treatment plant and technologies to treat more liquid waste within Accra and its environs.
The expansion project which is going to be undertaken by EMO, an environmental technology company based in France, will help increase the capacity of the plant to treat its current capacity of 2000 to 3500 cubic meters of liquid waste per day.
An additional technology which will be added will help sieve out other solid waste which are normally found in the liquid waste that are brought to the facility.
At a brief ceremony to sign the agreements to begin works on the expansion, the Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, tasked the contractor to build and install a robust technology as promised to help solve the unique composition of Ghana’s liquid waste.
He said issues of Sanitation were of priority in Ghana, hence the need to frequently expand and upgrade technologies to meet the increasing disposal of liquid waste in Accra.
Dr. Agyepong indicated that work on the Kumasi Liquid waste treatment plant was almost complete and will soon serve the liquid waste treatment needs of the people within the Ashanti region.
He revealed that similar works in Western, Tema and Tamale regions have began and the capacities to be built will help receive all manner of liquid waste and prevent indiscriminate dumping of wastewater which is a health hazard.
He tasked the contractor to roll out a local content capacity building where staff will be train in the design and maintenance of the technology to help transfer knowledge to Ghanaians who will be managing the new plant.
The Chief Executive Officer of EMO, Phillippe Hardouin who co- signed the agreement stated that such a partnership with the Jospong group was the first of its kind that a French technology will be used in Ghana to treat liquid waste.
He emphasized that the plant to be built is robust and specially designed by top notch engineers to help solve the problem of solid waste mixed together with the liquid waste and the increased generation of waste water.
GIK/APA