The report of the end of the tenure of President Akufo-Addo, has ended his tenure as Chairman of ECOWAS and the optimism expressed by government that the resort to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will help stabilise the economy and restore buffers to make it stronger dominate the headlines of the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Graphic reports that President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has ended his tenure as Chairman of ECOWAS.
The President delivered his last address as Chairman of the regional body at the 61st Ordinary Session of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government in Accra yesterday.
The Authority of Heads of State, in a closed-door session after the opening ceremony of the summit, elected the President of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Mokhtar Sissoco Embaló, as ECOWAS Chairman to succeed President Akufo-Addo.
The 49-year-old political scientist who retired at the rank of Brigadier-General before joining politics, has been President of Guinea-Bissau since February 27, 2020.
He served as prime minister between November 2016 and January 2018.
Delivering his last address as the Chairman of ECOWAS, President Akufo-Addo called on ECOWAS countries to work to enhance their production in agriculture to reach self-sufficiency in the area of food needs.
He said it was the surest way to deal with the sharp increases in global prices, particularly of food and petroleum products.
“We are all victims of global inflationary pressures, which have exacerbated the food crisis in many parts of our region, instigated by the decline in production due to the impact of climate change,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo said the summit was taking place in a very challenging global context, characterised by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the difficult security and political situation in the region and in the world.
He added that the challenges had been compounded by the adverse impact of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine on the various economies and social sectors.
The newspaper says that the government is optimistic that the resort to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will help stabilise the economy and restore buffers to make it stronger.
It said it had been compelled to approach the IMF because the COVID-19 pandemic had depleted the buffers, throwing the economy into an 11 per cent deficit, against the regulated five per cent deficit level.
The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, gave the explanation in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday to throw more light on why the country has approached the IMF to support the government’s economic programme.
He said the Russia-Ukraine war had also added a cost of living crisis of rising fuel and food prices.
“The COVID-19 cost us an unprecedented 11 per cent deficit to fight — when we had legislated not to do more than five per cent. It eroded our buffers and even added more debt,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah said.
“The war has added a cost of living crisis of fuel prices, high food prices and high finance costs at a time when we haven’t recovered from the economic impact of the COVID-19.
“That is why half of the world’s countries (including Ghana) are asking for support from the IMF,” the minister said.
A team from the head office of the IMF in Washington, DC, USA, will be in Ghana this week to start preliminary discussions with the Ghanaian authorities.
Last week, the country indicated to the IMF its intention to seek balance of payment (BoP) support.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the construction of the Tema Motorway Roundabout Phase Two is expected to commence in September this year following the signing of a 3.359 billion yen grant facility between the government and Japan, acting through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The Phase II of the project will see the construction of a third-tier flyover, which will be a composite bridge structure, from Harbour Road to Ashaiman on the N2.
This will bring to completion the construction of a 3-tier interchange at the Tema Motorway Roundabout.
The project is expected to be completed in November 2024.
The works to be undertaken by Messrs JFE Engineering Corporation will involve the construction of a composite bridge and ramps and ancillary road works of a total length of 1.75km between the Harbour Road–Ashaiman.
Other works include the construction of drainage and safety facilities such as crash barriers and road signs and the installation of streetlights.
Speaking at a signing ceremony in Japan last Thursday, the Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah expressed the government’s gratitude to Japan for their generous contribution to Ghana’s infrastructure development.
The Minister, who is leading a team of officials from the Ministry of Roads and Highways, the Ghana Highway Authority including Ms Genevieve Edna Apaloo, Ghana’s Ambassador to Japan and officials from the Ghana Embassy in Japan also witnessed the bidding and negotiation process before the signing of the grant agreement.
The newspaper says that Mr Ousmane Diagana, Vice President, World Bank Western and Central Africa Region, has expressed his satisfaction on the ongoing World Bank project of providing household toilets to low income beneficiary households in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Assembly(GAMA) and Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly(GKMA) in the country.
The World Bank-funded project, which started in 2015, is aimed at increasing access to improved sanitation and improved water supply in the GAMA and GKMA with emphasis on low income communities and to strengthen management of environmental sanitation in the GAMA and the GKMA.
The parent GAMA Sanitation and Water Project was successfully implemented from August 2014 – December 2020 with about 240,212 people having access to improved household toilets.
In Kumasi (GKMA), the project is being implemented in eight Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies including Asokwa, Oforikrom, old Tafo, Suame, Kwadaso, and the AsokoreMampong.
So far, more than 19,500 low-income beneficiaries with access to about 2,417 improved household toilets, out of which 55 per cent of the project beneficiaries are females and the remaining 45 per cent are males.
Under the project, about 30,000 household toilet facilities would be provided for people with low income in the GKMA, while about 5,000 households would also get connected to water supply support.
It is part of Government’s determination to providing pragmatic measures to find a lasting solution to the water and sanitation problems in the Greater Kumasi.
The bio-digester toilet system is the main containment technology provided under the Project for beneficiary households, and it works by rapidly breaking down faecal matter with the assistance of micro and macro-organisms and bulking materials such as coconut coir and wood chips.
Mr Diagana, accompanied by the World Bank Country Director to Ghana, Pierre Laporte, led the World Bank team to visit two low-income communities, Adiebeba and Ahinsan in the Kumasi Metropolitan (KMA) and Asokwa Municipal Assemblies respectively, where there is a high uptake of household toilets.
GIK/APA