President Akufo-Addo’s directive to the Ministry of Youth and Sports to come up with plans and policies that will help bridge the funding gap for sporting disciplines in the country within the next six months is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Wednesday.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has charged the Ministry of Youth and Sports to come up with plans and policies that will help bridge the funding gap for sporting disciplines in Ghana within the next six months.
He suggested that businesses and corporate organisations that supported sporting activities could be given some incentives such as tax reliefs since the government alone could not shoulder the burden of funding sports in the country.
According to the President, that was the surest way to garner support from the private sector since it dominated the country’s economy.
“While I will encourage parastatals to help with the development of our sports, the biggest support could come from the private sector since they dominate the economy.
“But we as a government and as administrators need to entice them and also change their mindset about the returns they can get from their investment in sports,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo was speaking during a courtesy call on him by the newly elected executive of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) at the Jubilee House.
The GOC also introduced its new executive to the President and discussed issues pertaining to the committee’s plan for sports.
The newspaper says that operations of Susu collectors in Ghana are increasingly becoming digitised following a partnership between the Ghana Co-operative Susu Collectors Association (GCSCA) and Savings at the Frontier.
Operators of the financial scheme say with proper data build up and management, they can now easily access the information of clients for speedy service and transparency.
Savings at the Frontier (SatF) is a joint programme by Mastercard Foundation and Oxford Policy Management (OPM) Limited, aimed at improving the financial inclusion of low-income individuals and communities in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The partnership thus aims at equipping the GCSCA – the apex body of susu operators and unions – with the technical infrastructure required to digitise reporting and operations.
It is also ensuring that the necessary capacity is in place within the Association to manage the processes.
It would also create a framework to link up digital platform providers with Susu operators; organise stakeholder events involving practitioners, software developers and local and regional coordinators, to promote GCSCA’s digitisation agenda and create networking opportunities.
An official statement issued to the Ghana News Agency, on Tuesday, said this would complement the initial efforts by the German Development Cooperation (GiZ) to help the GCSCA transition from manual to digital record keeping.
It thus supported financial institutions and software developers to build and deploy technologies that enabled GCSCA members to digitise their business operations.
The Graphic also reports that the European Union (EU) Ambassador to Ghana, Ms Diana Acconcia, has paid a working visit to the Bunge Loders Croklaan facility in Tema to get a better understanding of the shea business and learn more about the company’s operations in the West-African sub-region.
Ms Acconcia who was accompanied by some officials from the EU office in Ghana, was given a tour of the company’s laboratory and control room to help them understand the day-to-day operational activities of the plant.
Ms Acconcia and her team had the opportunity to learn about the sourcing and crushing process of the shea nuts and subsequent processing of the shea butter into different fractions.
The team was also introduced to Bunge Loders Croklaan’s sustainability program, “Where Life Grows,” which focuses on empowering women and future generations, creating socio-economic value at origin and conserving and protecting shea landscapes.
The facility which is located in Tema started operations in 2019, and is the company’s first shea processing plant in Africa. The facility is a fully automated solvent fractionation plant that processes raw shea butter made from locally collected and crushed shea nuts.
Currently, the facility provides employment to 73 people, most from the local community. It plays a critical role in strengthening Bunge Loders Croklaan’s infrastructure for processing and supplying high-quality shea products to its customers around the world.
Its strategic location not only allows for a more efficient production process, it also delivers on Bunge Loders Croklaan’s commitment to building a more sustainable supply chain for shea as it allows the company to meaningfully support and empower the local shea communities through the transfer of knowledge of value adding processes and by investing in local skills development.
The Times says that the government has initiated engagements with various countries as part of efforts to ensure that Ghanaian migrants are treated with dignity and respect during their repatriation.
This follows persistent reports of inhumane treatment meted out to both regular and irregular Ghanaian migrants when they were either forcefully or willingly deported for various reasons.
The Director-General of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Eric Nana AgyemanPrempeh, who disclosed these on the sidelines of a workshop in Accra yesterday, said although the government did not endorse irregular migration, Ghanaian citizens were to be handled with respect.
The workshop, which was to train about 70 NADMO staff on how to provide psycho-social counseling to returnees and disaster victims, was organised by NADMO in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and German Development Corporation (GIZ).
It is part of training being organised by the IOM and its partners to ensure smooth integration of returnees into society after their harrowing experiences abroad.
GIK/APA