Ghanaian press spotlights President’s call for payment of reparations for slave trade, others

APA – Accra (Ghana)
President Akufo-Addo’s demand for the payment of reparations for the countries affected by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade at the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly dominates the headlines of the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has demanded for the payment of reparations for the countries affected by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
According to President Akufo-Addo, “No amount of money will ever make up for the horrors, but it would make the point that evil was perpetrated, that millions of productive Africans were snatched from the embrace of our continent, and put to work in the Americas and the Caribbean without compensation for their labour.”
Taking his turn to deliver Ghana’s national statement at the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, the President noted that the time has come Europe and the United States of America to acknowledge that the vast wealth they enjoy was harvested from the sweat, tears, blood and horrors of the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the centuries of colonial exploitation.
“Maybe we should also admit that it cannot be easy to build confident and prosperous societies from nations that, for centuries, had their natural resources looted and their peoples traded as commodities,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo stressed that the world has been unwilling and unable to confront the realities of the consequences of the slave trade.
He, however, indicated that, this is changing gradually, and it is time to bring the subject of reparations firmly to the fore.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has also called on fellow Heads of States and Governments to insist on immediate reforms at the Security Council to conform with growing trends of today.
Akufo-Addo stated that it is long overdue to correct the longstanding injustice that the current structure and composition of the UN Security Council represent for the nations of Africa.
According to him, “after serving on the Council at this difficult time in the world, our views on the need for reform have been even more strongly re-asserted.”
The newspaper says that a business consortium, made up of a foreign investor and a local partner, has committed to roll out a $10 million lithium drilling programme before the end of the year.
This follows the ramping up of exploratory activities by the mining entity on a 646-square kilometre (KM2) concession on the lithium corridor along Awutu-Bereku and Mankessim in the Central Region.
The consortium, Lithium Resources Ghana Limited (LRGL), is a joint venture of UK-based CAA Mining Limited and local entity Empire Rare Earth and Metal Group Limited.
After signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Minerals Commission in January this year, the joint venture company has invested $2 million in exploratory activities.
They include 8,000 metres of auger drilling, collection of over 6,000 soil samples and over 500 pegmatite rocks: the setting up of laboratories, creation of access routes in the host community and accommodation facilities.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CAA Mining Limited, Douglas D. Chikohora, who made this known to the Daily Graphic, said the rollout of the programme, which formed part of an integrated strategy of exploration, mining and refining lithium in the country, was subject to the acquisition of a prospecting licence from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.
“We have done a lot of work after signing the Memorandum of Understanding with the government earlier this year.
Our $2 million investment in exploration and other preparatory activities shows that we are committed to invest in the lithium value chain; so as soon as we get the prospecting licence, we will begin to drill,” he said.
The Ghanaian Times reports that Access Bank Ghana has premiered its award-winning online TV series, ‘All Walks of Life’, a captivating film at the Silverbird cinema in Accra.
This is in line with the bank’s strategic intent of changing the narrative about Africa through the promotion of Ghanaian creative talents across Africa and beyond.
The premiere brought together distinguished personalities, including Nana Osafo Adjei, the Special Adviser and Project Coordinator at the Ghana Tourism Development Project, who represented the Minister of Tourism Dr Ibrahim Muhammed Awal, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Film Industry, Juliet Asante, Adjetey-Anang, cherished customers, management, and staff of the Bank.
Speaking on the bank’s commitment to nurturing local talents to compete on the international market, Managing Director of Access Bank Ghana, Olumide Olatunji, said the nation’s tourism industry would flourish when the creative arts industry in Ghana is financially supported to project the remarkable talents of Ghanaians and Africa as a whole.
“‘All Walks of Life’ vividly portrayed how Access Bank’s financial inclusion strategy embraces individuals from all backgrounds, and urged everyone to join the Access Bank family,” he said.
Nana Osafo Adjei and Juliet Asante commended Access Bank for taking a pioneering role in supporting the creative arts industry from the corporate perspective. They called on other corporates to follow in Access Bank’s footsteps, highlighting that such initiatives provide an invaluable platform to showcase their products and achieve the coveted top-of-mind awareness in the corporate world.
The newspaper says that the Lands Commission is in the process of securing US$85 million investments from a private firm to enable the roll out of technology and capacity building project for improved land administration services.
The five-year project is expected to commence next year following completion of all agreement and arrangement with PDB Ghana Limited, a Ghanaian-owned land administration firm.
It is expected to focus on digitally mapping the country, resulting in the establishment of a National Spatial Data Infrastructure, digital records processing and keeping, training of land administration staff and provision of new tools and equipment for the operations of the commission.
Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Benito Owusu-Bio, interacting with the media during a working visit to the Client Service Unit of the Lands Commission in Accra yesterday, said, the private investment was necessary to enable the commission carry out its operational transformation for enhanced service delivery.
He noted that, the agreement had gone through the legally required procurement process as well as extensive auditing to ensure the government was not shortchanged
The drafting of the agreement, he stated, followed engagement with PDB Ghana Limited which had been ongoing for more than two years to ensure all areas of partnership were covered.
Mr Owusu-Bio said that, in the absence of the private partnership, the commission would have been compelled to rely on its internally generated funds, which was likely to extend the project completion date by about 10 years.
GIK/APA