APA – Accra (Ghana)
The warning by the Minister of Information that the phenomenon of attacks and intimidation of journalists is gaining notoriety in the country as data available to his outfit suggests that the trend of abuse on journalist was on the ascendency is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has admitted that the phenomenon of attacks and intimidation of journalists is gaining notoriety in the country as data available to his outfit suggests that the trend of abuse on journalist was on the ascendency.
This is despite measures put in place by government to protect journalists in line with the UN’s 2012 Plan of Action on the safety of journalists which requires a multi-stakeholder approach, involving all the actors at the global and country level, to comprehensively prevent violence against journalists, protect them from danger, and prosecute the perpetrators.
Consequently, a Coordinated Mechanism on the Safety of Journalists was birthed and an office established to among other things train key actors to uphold the safety of journalists, investigate and validate reports of attacks on journalists and media, hold the security agencies and the judiciary to be accountable, and publish an annual report on the safety of journalists and efforts to punish attacks on them.
In a statement on the floor to update it on efforts to improve on the safety of journalists in Accra yesterday, Mr Oppong Nkrumah said the mechanism has not fared any better.
“The Coordinated Mechanism on the Safety of Journalists has chalked minimal success since its inception,” he said.
Under its advocacy function, Mr Oppong Nkrumah, MP, Ofoase/Ayirebi, said the office, having conducted a training sessions in 2019 for journalists in the Northern Region, the ministry has also been engaging the Judicial Service, advocating for severe punishment by the judiciary of persons who attack journalists and media houses.
The newspaper says that Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) recorded strong financial performance in October with a year-to-date return of 27.89 per cent.
However, the GSE Composite Index (CI) recorded a 1.47 per cent dip compared to the previous month.
The GSE-CI is a major stock market index which tracks the performance of all companies traded in the Ghana Stock Exchange.
A press statement on the summary of October 2023 market activities of the GSE, copied to the Ghanaian Times in Accra on Monday, said the GSE Financial Stock Index continued to improve, climbing 89.3 points in the month to record a year-to-date loss of 3.56 per cent.
The GSE-FSI is an index that measures the performance of a stock on the Accra bourse and helps investors to compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market performance.
The statement said both volume and value traded fell by 79.42 per cent and 77.98 per cent respectively compared to the previous month.
It said the top price gainers for the month were EGH (37.21 per cent), ACCESS (9.68 per cent), BOPP (6.98 per cent), and ASG (0.11 per cent).
On the Ghana Fixed Income Market (GFIM), the statement said the market saw trading volumes hit GH¢9.67 billion, up by 29.68 per cent on the previous month’s volumes.
“Trades in long-term government securities accounted for 41.43 per cent of market activity, double the 20 per cent achieved in the previous month, and a likely indication of growing investor interest in long-term government securities,” the GSE stated.
The Graphic reports that the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) has signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Danish private limited company, Byteblocs International, to explore the opportunity of assembling electric vehicles in Ghana.
The agreement includes the investment and development of an Aluminium Recycling and Components Manufacturing Plant, which will include lithium batteries and LED Lighting.
The signing ceremony took place when Ghana’s Ambassador to Denmark, Sylvia Annoh, led a Danish business delegation to pay a courtesy call on the Minister of Trade and Industry, Kobina Tahir Hammond.
Mr Hammond signed on behalf of the ministry while Jakob Munkgaard Andersen signed on behalf of Byteblocs.
Both parties agreed that the implementation of the project contemplated by the agreement would be subject to the receipt of all applicable governmental, regulatory and other approvals that might be required as per the laws and regulations of the respective countries of each party and each party’s internal regulations, including but not limited to standards and certification.
Under the MoU, the Byteblocs will take into consideration sustainable and environmentally friendly production systems, skills development and the transfer of technology to Ghanaians, including partnerships with local suppliers and distributors and training for employees and agents.
The project will also include the setting up of aftersales stations or centres across the country.
For its part, the Ministry of Trade and Industry and its agencies, as well as relevant authorities, will assist the project in identifying suitable land for acquisition, as well as offer relevant incentives and regulatory support to the project in line with the relevant policies and laws of Ghana.
The newspaper says that Ghana’s Cocobod has borrowed between $150 million and $200 million from cocoa traders to finance bean purchases since the 2023/24 season opened due to a delay in securing a bank loan.
The regulator’s public affairs manager, Fiifi Boafo, informed Reuters that the challenges in obtaining loans from banks led Cocobod to explore alternative sources, such as loans from cocoa traders.
Each September, the industry regulator of the world’s second-largest cocoa producer secures an international syndicated loan to finance licensed buyers who purchase cocoa from smallholder farmers for export.
Cocobod plans to borrow $1.2 billion for this season, of which $800 million will come from a syndicate of lenders and $400 million from other sources, it previously said.
“But as the syndication process dragged on, it turned to traders to plug the funding gap. The funds will be repaid with the season’s harvest.
“We engaged with some of the buyers to give us capital for some of the purchase so that the capital is taken care of when we supply them the beans,” Mr Boafo said, without giving a specific amount accessed so far.
He said parliament would start approval processes for the agreements on the $800 million syndicated loan this week, after which Cocobod will reach out to partner banks for signing.
GIK/APA
Ghanaian press focuses on worsening attacks on journalists, others
