The report that four new fighter vessels have been acquired for the Ghana Navy to enhance their capacity to protect the country’s maritime domain, including offshore oil and gas installations is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Wednesday.
The Graphic reports that four new fighter vessels have been acquired for the Ghana Navy to enhance their capacity to protect the country’s maritime domain, including offshore oil and gas installations.
Known as Flex-fighter Boats, the security vessels, which are expected to arrive in the country on Saturday, will boost efforts at making Ghana’s maritime space safer and unattractive to pirates and other illegal activities.
The vessels, which will be manned by Naval captains with international ratings, are equipped with the needed logistics to protect national installations and deter and make the country’s adjoining coast safer.
The Chief Executive of the Petroleum Commission, Mr Egbert Faibille, who announced this during the commission’s interaction with the Western Regional House of Chiefs in Sekondi, explained that the acquisition of the vessels was part of the agenda of the government to equip the Ghana Navy to provide security for offshore petroleum installations and other national assets.
The meeting, which is an annual affair, was used to update members of the house on happenings in the petroleum industry.
Mr Faibille briefed the chiefs on Ghana’s upstream sector, offshore petroleum security issues, community relations and social investment, health, safety and environment, as well as the government’s skills development programmes being facilitated by the commission.
The chiefs were also sensitised to the review of relevant laws and the development of new ones to deal with emerging challenges, among other matters.
The newspaper says that former President John Dramani Mahama has urged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to accept responsibility over what he described as the poor governance in the country.
“Leadership is about responsibility. If you are elected a leader, you take responsibility. It is a poor leader who says it is not my fault. You are not elected to shift blame and refuse responsibility,” he said.
Speaking at the 40th anniversary of the 31st December coup d’etat, he accused President Akufo-Addo of shifting blame to others for the myriad of problems bedeviling the country.
According to former President Mahama, as President, he inherited a power crisis which he attributed to lack of investment over many years in power generation, but he did not put the blame on his predecessors.
“I did not say that it is not my fault. I went to Parliament and said I take responsibility for it and that we will fix, and indeed we fixed it.
“Today, somebody is saying I inherited a weak economy. Five years on, you cannot take responsibility and it is still about Mahama and the NDC. If you cannot do the job, just give way and let the NDC come and do it for you,” he added.
The 31st December, 1981 coup d’etat, which was led by former President Jerry John Rawlings, led to the formation of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), a military junta that ruled the country for about 11 years and later metamorphosed into the National Democratic Congress (NDC) when Ghana returned to democracy in 1993.
The 40th anniversary celebrations attracted top personalities of the NDC such as former President Mahama and his running mate in the 2020 general election, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, the National Chairman of the NDC, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, the General Secretary of the party, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, and the NDC MP for Klottey Korle, Dr Zanetor Agyeman–Rawlings.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the Cocoa Processing Company Plc is in discussion with Afreximbank and BADEA, an international financial institution based in Sudan, to raise $86.7 million, Managing Director, Nana AgyenimBoateng I, has said.
He said part of the loan would be used as working capital, while the remaining would be used to retool the company.
Speaking at the company’ annual general meeting for the 2019/2020 financial year, Nana AgyenimBoateng I, said the company in the period under review had serious setback in profitability and growth as a result of inconsistent bean supply and challenges in the performance of the company’s plant and machinery.
“It is hoped that our efforts at securing the much-needed injection of funds will crystalized in the 2021/2022 financial year. The future of your company looks bright because we believe that the funding support being pursued would be realised and thus commence the expansion and retooling of machinery to optimise production and set us on our track to commence payment of our debts,” he said.
Nana Boateng I, said the loan facility would position the company to procure its own cocoa beans without buying it on credit from COCOBOD.
He said notwithstanding, the poor performance of the company, the Board of Directors and Management would continue to initiate strategies to turn around the company into a profitable venture.
The Managing Director said the company made a loss of $18.6 million and attributed it to the revaluation of the assets of the company and the effect of the corona virus pandemic on the economy.
“Cocoa Processing Company, your company, was heavily affected as huge volumes of its semi-finished cocoa products worth about $20.8 million earmarked for export got locked up in our warehouse. The buyers literally exited the market or cancelled their orders,” Nana Boateng I, said.
The newspaper says that Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have begun increasing fuel prices slightly at the pump stations.
According to energy think tank, Institute for Energy Security, fuel prices would go up by ¢0.18 per litre, representing a 2.8 percentage points surge, beginning over the weekend.
It attributed the depreciation of the cedi, among others, as the reasons behind the slight upward adjustment in prices of petroleum products.
“For the January First Pricing-Window, the 8.18 per cent increase in the price of the International Benchmark- Brent crude, the 3.25 per cent increase in the price of Gasoline, the 2.09 per cent increase in Gasoil price, the 0.5 per cent depreciation of the cedi against the US Dollar and the reintroduction of the PSRL; the Institute for Energy Security (IES) projects for the price of fuel on the domestic market at the various pumps to increase by at least 18 pesewas, representing a 2.8 per cent increase.”
Already, Total Petroleum has taken the lead by increasing fuel prices at the pumps.
It’s now selling a litre of diesel and petrol at GH¢6.85 and GH¢6.80 respectively, representing more than a three per cent hike from the previous price.
The price of fuel on the local Ghanaian market experienced a marginal decrease within the window under assessment.
GIK/APA