APA – Accra (Ghana)
The report that Ghana and Denmark have signed the second phase of the Strategic Sector Cooperation (SSC) aimed at deploying innovative technologies to reduce water losses and improve sanitation is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday.
The Graphic reports that Ghana and Denmark have signed the second phase of the Strategic Sector Cooperation (SSC) aimed at deploying innovative technologies to reduce water losses and improve sanitation.
The signing of the phase two of the SSC followed the successful implementation of the first phase of the agreement from 2019 to 2023.
The cooperation agreement was signed between the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) and the city of Aarhus, Denmark, as well as the Ghana Water Company Ltd (GWCL) and the Aarhus Vand A/S, the Danish water management company.
As part of the agreement, which will be implemented from 2024 to 2026, the partners will work together to implement new technologies that will help to reduce non-revenue water, build local capacity and roll out a climate adaptation plan.
The mayor of Aarhus, Denmark, Jacob Bundsgaard and the Chief Executive of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA), Yohane Amarh Ashitey, signed the pact for their respective cities, while the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Aarhus V and A/S, Karina Topp and the Ghana Water Company Ltd (GWCL), Dr Clifford A. Braimah, initialed for their companies respectively.
Present at the signing ceremony were the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Freda Prempeh; the Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr Henry Kwabena Kokofu, as well as other officials of the cities of Aarhus and Tema.
The Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Tom Nørring, said the signing of the second phase of the SSC was evident that Ghana and Denmark were committed to working together for their mutual benefit.
He said although the over 30 years of development cooperation between the two countries changed focus after Ghana attained the lower middle income country status in 2020, there were more strategic sector cooperations that could be leveraged for sustainable development.
The Ghanaian Times says that the Clerk to Ghana’s Parliament, Cyril Kwabena Oteng Nsiah, has been elected the Chairman for the Society of Clerks -At -The- Table (SoCATT) in Parliaments across the Commonwealth.
Mr Nsiah’s election was by acclamation on Wednesday at the meeting of the Clerks at the ongoing 66th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Conference in Accra.
In his acceptance speech, Mr Nsiah expressed his gratitude to his colleagues for entrusting him with the position and promised to work hard to maintain the high repute of the SoCATT.
Meanwhile, women parliamentarians from across the Commonwealth have met to discuss women representation in their respective parliaments, gender sensitisation and quotas.
Being the first Conference since the CPA introduced new measures aimed at increasing the female to male MPs ratio to 40:60, the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) meeting was used to update members on the caucus’ activities of the previous year and plans for the year ahead.
Chairperson of the CWP, Dr Zainab Gimba, Member of the House of Representatives at the National Assembly of Nigeria, pledged to renew efforts to increase women’s representation and political participation in Parliaments across the Commonwealth pursuant to the new measures.
Delegates debated the time and format of future of the caucus’ business meetings and conferences as well as methods for reporting CWP activities through the Regional Secretariats, with a motion passed by delegates containing further recommendations for the CWP Steering Committee.
The delegates also attended a CWP and UN Women co-hosted event that highlighted the support available to achieve gender-responsive legislation and advance state commitments around global goals pertaining to gender equality.
The newspaper reports that Social Security institutions in West Africa must take advantage of digital technology to expand pension coverage in the sub-region, the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, has stated.
Speaking at a two-day international technical seminar leveraging digitalisation to extend social security coverage in West Africa in Accra on Monday, he said the region’s inability to cover a large percentage of the workforce under social security schemes was partly due to lack of digitalised procedures to ease the registration process.
“This indicates that leveraging digitalisation to extend social security coverage is critical. Therefore, investing in this to extend social security coverage is not an aspiration that can be deferred to the future. I therefore call on social security institutions within West Africa to take advantage of the emergence of digital technologies to bridge the wide coverage gap,” Mr Awuah noted.
The Minister said despite numerous interventions to promote pension, coverage of social protection remained low in Africa.
He said ISSA’s 2023 Report on Social Security Developments and Trends in Africa indicated that only 27.1 per cent of older persons in Africa received old-age benefits, compared to a global average of 77.5 per cent.
The two-day event was hosted by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) under the auspices of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) – an international organisation for social security institutions, and Government of Ghana.
The seminar also saw the transfer of ISSA Liaison Office from Cote d’Ivoire to Ghana.
The Director-General of SSNIT, Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang, in his remarks, charged the partic-ipants to focus on technology that impacts positively on service delivery and access to social security.
The Ghanaian Times also says that former President John Dramani Mahama has assured teachers across the nation of a brighter future under his next administration.
In a statement released in Accra yesterday to commemorate this year’s World Teachers Day, the NDC flagbearer emphasised the importance of enhancing teaching and learning for Ghana’s continued progress towards prosperity.
He underscored the pivotal role that teachers play in the country’s education system and stressed the necessity of providing them with the requisite resources, tools, support, and training to empower them to deliver high-quality education to Ghana’s youth.
“Improving teaching and learning must be a top priority for Ghana as we forge ahead towards a more prosperous future. Teachers are the backbone of our education system, and we must provide them with the resources, tools, support, and training to enable them to de-liver good quality education to our children,” he said.
To this end, he said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) remained committed to investing in teacher education and professional development programmes.”
The former president said the NDC understood that well-trained and motivated teachers were the key to unlocking the full potential of students for which reason they aim to equip teachers with the necessary tools and techniques to adapt to the evolving needs of our education system.
“We also recognise the importance of addressing teachers’ challenges, including the need for better remuneration and improved working conditions. Our pledge to Ghanaian teachers, on page 69 of our People’s Manifesto of 2020, remains true today. Education is a fundamental right, and every child in Ghana deserves equal access to quality education,” he said.
GIK/APA
Ghana: Press spotlights signing of cooperation agreement by Denmark, Ghana, others
