The report that the Director-General of the West African Health Organisation (WAHO), Professor Stanley Okolo, has said members of ECOWAS are collaborating to commence the manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines by September, 2022 is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Wednesday.
The Graphic reports that the Director-General of the West African Health Organisation (WAHO), Professor Stanley Okolo, has said members of ECOWAS are collaborating to commence the manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines by September, 2022.
Five manufacturers in Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal have been selected to lead in the production of the about 370 million vaccines which are needed in the sub-region.
The project will be carried out at a cost of $122 million within a five-year period.
In view of this WAHO, in collaboration with the Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC), is holding a high-level meeting with vaccine manufacturers in the sub-region in Accra to develop a framework for the producers to support each other to build the regional hub.
The two-day meeting will discuss issues such as how individual manufacturers can identify particular vaccines of interest in order to produce and build the scientific capacity of relevance on vaccine development and other related activities such as strengthening the supply and distribution channels and cold chain systems in the region.
Among participants in the meeting are the Chairman,Vaccine Manufacturing Committee, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, and the Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare.
Prof. Okolo said West Africa had continuously seen an increase in cases of COVID-19 in the past two years, recording 837,442 cases and 11,348 deaths as of May 1, 2022.
The newspaper says that the government has cut its revenue target from the partial reversal of the reduction in the benchmark values (discount policy) to GH¢2.5 billion from the initial estimated GH¢3 billion.
The revised target followed delays in the review of the discount policy occasioned by some initial disagreements between the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) over the implementation of the policy.
While the AGI has called for a total review of the policy because it is rendering its members (manufacturers) uncompetitive, the GUTA has said the discount serves as a lifeline to the survival of traders and needs to be maintained after two months of engagements.
The Commissioner of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Col Kwadwo Damoah (retd), said to resolve the disagreement, the government decided to phase out the discount policy gradually after engaging with stakeholders in the trading and manufacturing industry.
He made this known in an interview shortly after a sensitisation workshop organised by the AGI and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in Accra on May 6.
He said the first phase which was announced in the 2022 budget saw a review of the policy from 50 per cent to 30 per cent for general goods and 30 per cent to 10 per cent for vehicles.
Col Damoah said the second phase of the discount reversals would be made in the 2023 budget, of which engagement regarding its preparation had already started.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the government has avowed its commitment to reviving the infamous Komenda sugar factory in tandem with its industrialisation drive.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr John Alan Kojo Kyerematen, made the assurance when he paid working visit to the Komenda Sugar Factory to assess the progress of work towards reviving the factory.
The $35-million factory, built from an Indian Exim Bank facility, has not worked since its commissioning in 2016 by the National Democratic Congress -government.
However, in March 2022, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo gave a strong indication that the factory would become functional in April 2022, when he received a delegation from the Komenda Traditional Authority at the Jubilee House.
He assured the delegation that civil works being undertaken by the Indian investors would be completed in March to pave the way for the production of sugar.
In tandem with government’s vision, Mr Kyerematen and Mrs Justina Marigold Assan, the Central Regional Minister, among other dignitaries, inspected the civil works being undertaken by the Indian investors.
Mr Kyerematen said he was impressed with the progress of work and expressed optimism about the revival of the defunct factory to create jobs for sugar cane growers and the youth to revive the local economy.
In Cape Coast, he led the team to visit the defunct Ameen Sangari Industries Limited, which had been captured under the One District, One Factory industrialisation initiative, to be revamped by the government.
Being the oldest manufacturing company in the region aside the soap and palm kernel oil production, the industry also processed teak trees into electricity poles.
The company, which had operated in the metropolis for close to 10 decades, had more than 600 workers, but had to downsize the workforce to 280 due to high cost of power, pilfering and administrative challenges.
Mr Kyerematen said the company had received a 6.1-million-cedi loan facility covering the procurement of equipment and machinery as well as working capital.
The newspaper says that a 13-member committee has been set up to come out with guidelines to help absorb Ghanaian students from Ukraine to continue their studies in Ghanaian universities.
The committee chaired by Dr Nsiah Asare, Special Advisor to the President on Health issues, has four weeks to submit its report to the Education Minister.
The committee has representation from the Students Representative Council (SRC), Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ministry of Health, Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), Medical and Dental Council, Ghana Scholarship Secretariat, Vice Chancellors of Medical Schools, the Rector of College of Physicians and Surgeons among others.
The agenda for the meeting was to update and explain the essential problem at stake, and to discuss plans for the immediate integration of the Ghanaian medical students from Ukraine into the Ghana medical education system.
Speaking at a stakeholder’s consultative meeting on the displaced Ghanaian medical students from Ukraine, in Accra on Friday, Dr Adutwum urged the team to work hard to ensure that the students were placed in schools where they would fit well to continue their education.
He reminded the committee to be innovative in their findings and also consider creating a pathway for some of the students who might have some weaknesses in some areas of their studies so they could cope with the Ghanaian education system.
The Education Minister urged the committee to work hard and make sure all the students were placed in one institution or the other so they could continue their education.
Dr Adutwum who is the Member of Parliament for Bosomtwe in the Ashanti Region assured all parents to exercise patience and have confidence in the government as it worked very hard to get schools for the students.
He stated that everything possible was being done to ensure that the government’s dream of hitting the 40 per cent Gross Tertiary Enrolment Ratio (GTER) mark was attained by 2030.
Dr Nsiah Asare, on behalf of the committee, pledged to work hard to ensure that the students would be placed in the institutions required so they could continue their education.
The Russian-Ukraine war which started a couple of months ago has affected many people in diverse ways. One of such people is Ghanaian students studying in Ukraine who have to run for their lives and now seeking support to go back to the classroom to continue their studies.
GIK/APA