The disbursement of GHȼ1m to micro business owners by the National Board and Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) and the earthquake recorded in parts of Accra on Wednesday night dominate the headlines of Ghanaian newspapers on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that the owners of micro-businesses across the country have begun receiving their share of the special fund set up by the government to cushion micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The National Board and Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) on Wednesday began the disbursement of GHȼ1 million to 1,000 applicants under the first tranche of the GH¢1 billion Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP) business support scheme.
They include food sellers, hairdressers, tailors, among others.
The beneficiaries, who met the rigorous criteria designed by the NBSSI, received up to GHȼ2,000 via mobile money under what is known as the Adom Micro Soft Loans, for micro-enterprises.
The newspaper also reports that parts of Accra were shaken by a fleeting earth tremor on Wednesday night which threw residents into fear and panic.
According to the USGS (United States Geological Survey), it recorded a magnitude of 4.0 with a 10.0-kilometre depth at 10: 53 pm and occurred at 6 km from Gbawe in Accra.
The report said it was felt three times in the space of 10 minutes and shook buildings, creating panic among residents and that many residents reported on social media that they felt the earth shaking on Wednesday night.
Some of the areas the tremor was felt in Ghana as monitored by Graphic Online on social media included Gbawe, McCarthy Hill, Kaneshie, Tesano, Dansoman, Dunkanaa, Lapaz, Achimota, Santa Maria, Adenta, Weija, Madina, Kwabenya, East Legon, Nsawam, Koforidua, Swedru, Dodowa, Tema among others.
The Graphic also says that the Ghanaian government has decided to rebuild the demolished building within the premises of the Nigerian High Commission to its original state, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, has said.
In addition, the government would take immediate steps to engage the Osu Stool and all stakeholders to address the impasse to help calm tensions, the minister said at a press conference in Accra yesterday.
Some properties near the residence of the Nigerian High Commissioner in Accra were destroyed by some unidentified men last Friday at about 11 p.m.
The men, who are said to be armed, broke through the locked gate with a bulldozer and pulled down parts of the one-storey building under construction on the compound.
The Paramount Chief of the Osu Traditional Area, Nii Okwei Kinka Dowuona VI, in a statement released last Sunday, defended the demolition of a structure purported to belong to the Nigerian High Commission.
The Times reports that the Ministry of Education has confirmed that the sector Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has been detained at the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) where he was tested for COVID-19.
Though the result was yet to come out, there are speculations that the minister had contracted the virus.
A statement signed and issued in Accra yesterday by the Press Secretary to the Minister, Mr. Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng, said even though the minister conducted series of test, which proved negative prior to attending the just ended parliamentary primaries of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), he returned to Accra not feeling well.
As a result Dr Prempeh went back to the UGMC for further test and was detained pending the result of the test.
“Following his return to Accra, he still felt unwell and decided to check himself in for further tests, including a second test for COVID-19,” the statement noted.
The newspaper also reports that the government has launched a $9 million grant scheme to support indigenous small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) in the tourism and leisure sector.
Dubbed the ‘Tourism Enterprise Programme’, the scheme is being funded by the World Bank and it is targeted at revitilising the tourism sector for national development.
The facility is targeting at least a 1000 registered companies and individuals for support in upgrade and development of tourism sites and capacity building.
Launching it in Accra yesterday, the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Marfo, said the tourism enterprise programme, the first of a kind in the country, was to support individual and other enterprises in the tourism and hospitality industry.
The grant scheme aims at supporting registered individual enterprises and other enterprises operating in the tourism and hospitality sector.
GIK/APA