The report that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is in the United States (US) to attend the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit scheduled to take place from today, December 13, to Thursday, December 15, 2022 dominates the headlines of Ghanaian press on Tuesday,
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is in the United States (US) to attend the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit scheduled to take place from today, December 13, to Thursday, December 15, 2022.
The summit, being hosted by US President, Joe Biden, is expected to be attended by 49 heads of state and governments, a host of other sector ministers and officials of the African Union (AU) and other dignitaries from Africa.
Also expected to be in attendance are leaders and trade experts from Africa who will, among other things, review the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the bilateral non-reciprocal trade agreement that expires in 2025.
This summit is a further demonstration of America’s commitment to Africa and will underscore the importance of US-Africa relations and increased cooperation on shared global priorities.
It will also consider the best next step for AGOA, which allows eligible African nations to export about 1,800 items to the US without quota or duties being slapped on them.
Under AGOA, American firms were not expected to export back as an equalisation principle often espoused in international trade.
The US-Africa Leaders’ Summit is thus expected to also build on shared values to better foster new economic engagement, advance peace, security,and good governance; reinforce commitment to democracy, human rights and civil society, and work collaboratively to strengthen regional and global health security.
It is also aimed at promoting food security, respond to the climate crisis, amplify diaspora ties and also promote education and youth leadership.
President Akufo-Addo was accompanied by the First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey; the Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen; the Minister of Works and Housing, Francis Asenso Boakye; the Minister of Environment, Science Technology and Innovation, Dr Kwaku Afriyie, and officials from the Presidency and Foreign Ministry.
The newspaper says that the launch of the Economic Enclave Project (EEP) to cultivate 110,000 acres of land in seven regions sets the tone for a new journey of youth engagement in commercial agriculture.
Under the programme, government will provide support such as clearing and development of land and facilitate access to credit, including the recently approved GH₵500 million from the Development Bank Ghana (DBG).
Speaking at the launch of EEP, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta the key objective is to convert lands into fields that will limit imports and transforms Ghana into a net exporter within five years.
Driven almost entirely by private enterprise and finance, he said government will take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The EEP is open to agricultural land owners with at least 1,000 acres of land, private value chain actors of priority commodities namely rice, tomato, maize, soya, vegetables and poultry.
Individuals, private sector actors, organized groups, churches, traditional leaders, financial institutions are being invited on this new journey of commercial agriculture.
The objective is to remarkably expand Ghana’s productive capacity in rice, tomato, maize, soya, vegetables and poultry.
It has been dubbed a massive programme of change to how the country organizes production and promotes productivity.
The novel EEP targets to create 195,000 jobs for the youth comprising 105,000 direct and 90,000 indirect jobs.
The current EEP model is starting on a 10,000-acre stretch of land around the Kasunya-Nyaphienya area in the Greater Accra Region.
A pilot phase of the current model has commenced with cultivation of 1,000-acres of rice.
EEP is projected to generate over GH₵500 million per annum for private sector actors participating in the project.
Ofori-Atta noted that the Partnership Framework envisages direct market linkages with ongoing Government interventions such as Buffer Stock Company, School Feeding Programme and Government procurement such as supply of food to Prisons, Hospitals and the Security Services.
The Ghanaian Times reports that one out of every five Ghanaian children representing about 20 per cent is likely to suffer from dyslexia, a common learning disorder associated with children with normal vision and intelligence.
Dyslexia, is a learning disability characterised by difficulty in processing, producing and using language. Thus, it is a language-based learning disorder that makes it extremely hard for its sufferers to express their language skills as others easily do.
This condition tends to run in families and appears to be linked to certain genes that affect how the brain processes reading and language. Some of the most common problems dyslexics experience is the inability to read, write, spell and speak.
Founder of Africa Dyslexia Organisation (ADO), Madam Rosalin Abigail Kyere-Nartey, disclosed that many Ghanaians, including parents and teachers were not aware of this learning condition or disability hence were unable to offer any form of support to dyslexics where necessary.
She added that, dyslexic children of school going age become faced with the challenge of not receiving the needed attention and assistance to do well in their learning. They therefore often go through emotional and mental health challenges in class, as they are labelled by teachers and classmates as dumb and lazy learners.
Madam Rosalin Kyere-Nartey was speaking to some stakeholders at the ‘Dyslexia Education Stakeholders’ forum held in Accra, yesterday.
She emphasised that persons with dyslexia are not synonymous to being unintelligent, however their condition predisposes them to see and hear things differently. Dyslexics therefore only process information and learn things differently.
“When dyslexics are taught by teachers using the appropriate learning methods, they will enjoy and experience learning successfully. We have wonderful people who are dyslexics like Archbishop Nicholas Duncan Williams, Okyeame Kwame and many others,” she explained.
Madam Rosalin Kyere-Nartey therefore called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to make it mandatory for teacher training colleges to incorporate dyslexia training in their curriculum, which would empower teachers to help pupils with dyslexia and any other forms of learning disabilities.
“Every teacher needs to have some basic knowledge and training on how to handle children with various forms of learning disabilities. Such training will go a long way to support dyslexic students whilst boosting the confidence of teachers in their various classrooms,” she said.
The newspaper says that Ghana’s once vibrant and flourishing fishing industry dating back to the days of the famous State Fishing Corporation, is today a pale shadow of its former glory.
Fisheries, undoubtedly plays important role in food supply, create income generation for millions and nutrition needs of people respectively.
Statistics from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) indicate that approximately 43.5 million people work directly in the sector, with 10 million people benefiting from employment in the sector.
Locally, Ghana’s fisheries sector is one of the key sectors supporting the country’s economic development, food security and supporting local livelihoods.
It is further stated that Ghana’s fisheries create jobs for nearly 10 per cent of the active labour force translated into 2.6 million people.
In 2020, fishing in Ghana contributed close to GH¢1.6 billion or about $ 263.2 million to Ghana’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP) where artisanal fishing is the most critical subsector in terms of its contribution to production and local fish supply as well as contributing to approximately 70 to 80 per cent of the total annual marine fish landings according the FAO 2022 report.
Today unfortunately, the country’s fish stocks continue to decline by the day due to a multiplicity of factors ranging from Illegal Unregulated Unreported (IUU) activities to Climate Change to the extent that fishermen who sometimes spent as much as 72 hours on perilous fishing expedition on the seas anticipating a healthy bumper catch have their high expectation dashed due to the small quantity of fish they would return home which only allow them to feed their families and not to make sales and gain some income.
One major factor responsible for the unfortunate situation is attributable to high temperatures at sea due to climate change.
To find out how the fishers are operating under the harsh conditions, this special coverage of climate change and fisheries supported by Gower Street focused on Elmina, one of the traditional fishing communities in the Central Region and Ghana’s oldest historical towns playing host to the Elmina Castle where climate change -a sudden weather phenomenal is having a negative impact on the fishing industry.
GIK/APA