The launch of the five-year Medium-Term Development Strategy (MTDS) for Northern Ghana to enhance sustainable development and improve the lives of the people by Vice-President is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Wednesday.
The Graphic reports that Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, last Wednesday launched a five-year Medium-Term Development Strategy (MTDS) for Northern Ghana, to enhance sustainable development and improve the lives of the people.
The strategy, which would be implemented between 2022 to 2027, seeks to enhance economic growth through sustainable agricultural production systems, accelerate human development and promote private sector actions capable of delivering broad-based and inclusive economic growth.
It also seeks to sustain livelihoods by promoting capacity development across local communities on land governance, biodiversity conservation and climate justice, as well as enhancing peace and social cohesion in the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone.
The development strategy was developed by the Northern Development Authority (NDA) in consultation with various partners and stakeholders.
Launching the MTDS at the Northern Investment Forum in Tamale, the Vice-President said the strategy was in line with the government’s agenda to bring the needed development to the northern part of the country.
He expressed optimism that the NDA would contribute to the realisation of the national vision and the global commitments that the country had signed onto.
While reiterating the government’s commitment towards the rapid development of the north, he urged all stakeholders to support the NDA to unlock the potentials of the various sectors to accelerate the pace of development.
“Creating opportunities for jobs and wealth can be realised if you anchor the implementation of the strategy on land governance, innovation, technology and digitisation processes that regenerate the environment and use,” Dr Bawumia said.
The newspaper says that a study in Accra has showed that the majority of women traders and women-led micro, small and medium size enterprises (MSMEs) in the country were not aware of the existence of the AfCFTA agreement even after a year of its commencement.
It said the striking lack of awareness of the AfCFTA agreement and understanding of its objectives appears particularly worrying given the role MSMEs play in Ghana’s economic growth and development.
The study was conducted by AYA Institute for Women with support from GIZ on the theme: “Assessing the Potential of Women-Led MSMEs in Ghana to Take Advantage of the AfCFTA.”
Among other objectives, the study seeks to enhance the capacity of women-led MSMEs and cross-border traders to take full advantage of the AfCFTA and advocate for policy reforms that would address any institutional and structural barriers to trade.
It said perhaps this knowledge gap was due to the complex compliance requirements that pointed to an ineffective policy communication strategy that has failed to address structural challenges MSMEs faced in acquiring information.
The study recommended an information dissemination approach that is context specific and targeted specifically for MSME success.
An economist and lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Godfred Bokpin, urged the government to make room for financial support to women-led businesses in any policy package that would be used to stabilise the economy.
He said although the present economic challenges had limited the fiscal space available to the government, support to female-led businesses was critical as it would help ensure equitable growth.
Addressing participants in the second Public Private Dialogue (PPD) on “Making the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) in Accra last Tuesday (November 2), the economist said increased support to businesses would help to make the world better off.
The Ghanaian Times reports that a seven-member delegation from the Energy Regulatory Board of Zambia is in the country to understudy the operations of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) in the regulation of the petroleum downstream industry.
The team seeks to have a better insight into the implementation of price deregulation, fuel marking, electronic cargo tracking and the Unified Petroleum Price Fund (UPPF).
An arrangement has been made to visit the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) Akosombo depot, an oil marketing company, and a fully automated retail outlet to have hands-on experience in their operations.
Welcoming the delegation at the NPA in Accra yesterday, a Deputy Chief Executive of NPA, Mr Perry Okudzeto, said collaboration between countries was critical now, especially for regulators of the energy industry.
For instance, he said, with the crisis in the energy industry, access to forex and petroleum products had become difficult.
Mr Okudzeto therefore, said such collaboration and sharing of experiences were crucial to help member countries to come out of the storm.
He assured the delegation of NPA’s readiness to take it through its operations, including visits to system areas in Accra and Tema “to gain insight into what we do.”
The leader of the delegation, Mr Simweemba Buumba, thanked the NPA for accepting the request to understand Ghana’s downstream industry.
He said his team was ready to learn from NPA, and affirmed the commitment of Zambia to continue its collaboration with Ghana.
“We look forward to learning from you. The collaboration will continue,” he said.
Giving an overview of Ghana’s downstream petroleum industry, the Director of Policy Coordination of NPA, Mrs Sheila Abiemo, said the deregulation regime introduced by the government had brought about price decontrol, transparent pricing and ensured the implementation of the UPPF regime.
She said the NPA regulates the importation of crude oil and refined petroleum products, and indicated that the Authority supplies the products to the power, aviation, and mining industries as well as the retail markets.
For his part, the UPPF Coordinator, Mr Jacob Amuah, said the implementation of the UPPF regime had ensured equal prices of petroleum products across the country, reduced dumping and fraudulent claims.
The newspaper says that the Minority in Parliament has urged the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, to engage the teacher unions and resolve the current strike action.
Three teacher unions, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT) declared a nationwide strike over the appointment of Dr Eric Nkansah as the Director-General (D-G) of the Ghana Education Service.
“It is unacceptable for a banker to be appointed as a Director-General of the Ghana Education Service instead of an educationist at the same time when many teachers who did the same courses and related ones were rejected by GES because it is not related to education,” President of GNAT, Rev. Isaac Owusu said in Accra on Friday as the unions embarked on the strike.
In an interview with journalists, the Minority Spokesperson on Education and MP for Akatsi North, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, said the minister must intervene.
“I call on the minister of education to engage the teacher unions and explain to them the rationale behind the appointment of Dr Nkansah.
“We believe that the Minister can do something about this as quickly as possible because this strike action will not help anybody,” he stated.
Members on the committee, Mr Nortsu-Kotoe, said were not happy with circumstances that surrounded the dismissal of the former D-G, Prof Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa.
“We have worked with him and we know what he could do and what he was doing but unfortunately, we are not the appointing authority.
“We were not happy because this is a man who had some few month to go on retirement so the best the government could have done was to ask him to proceed on leave prior to his retirement but this was not the case and we are not happy about it.”
He said the committee was monitoring the development and would make the necessary calls if the matter was not solved amicably between the teachers and the ministry.
GIK/APA