The report that the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has described the decision by the Ada Traditional Council to ban Radio Ada from providing coverage of the Asafotufiami Festival as an affront is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday.
The Graphic reports that the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has described the decision by the Ada Traditional Council to ban Radio Ada from providing coverage of the Asafotufiami Festival as an affront to press freedom.
It pointed out that the council’s decision undermined Article 21(1)(a) and (f) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana and Article 19 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
“With all due respect, the Ada Traditional Council does not have the right or powers to impose such restrictions on Radio Ada and its staff,” it stressed.
At a press conference in Accra on Thursday, August 11, 2022, the President of the GJA, Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, further said such action by the traditional leaders had the tendency to endanger the lives of the staff of the radio station.
The GJA President entreated the traditional leaders to use laid down channels for redress, instead of the path they had chosen, saying that barring the three hosts of Radio Ada from wearing the paraphernalia of the radio station and particularly mentioning their names were a threat to their lives and those of their families.
The newspaper says that the government has reaffirmed its commitment to support the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) in the Volta Region to become a centre of excellence in the training of healthcare professionals, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said.
“I will personally be an advocate for funds to expand facilities at UHAS, which stands tall among the country’s universities,” he said.
The President was speaking at the investiture of the new Vice-Chancellor of the UHAS, Professor Lydia Aziato, on the university’s main campus at Sokode-Lokoe, near Ho on Thursday.
Also inducted into office was the new Registrar of the university, Ms Yaa Amankwaa Opuni.
Prof Aziato is the first female nurse to attain the status of professor in Ghana/.
She is also the first nurse to be appointed vice-chancellor in Ghana and West Africa and the second nurse vice chancellor in Afria.
Present at the event were traditional rulers, the clergy, academicians and members of the public.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the government could obtain a loan of about $3 billion from the International Monetary Fund as economic assistance.
According to Bloomberg, the funding which will come in the form of balance of payment support will be spread within three years.
A billion dollars is expected to come in immediately after the fund approves an economic programme by the government.
“The amount is double what the country was considering a month ago as it tries to shore up its finances and gain access to the global markets. The funding would be provided over three years, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are still in progress and public announcements have not been made,” it noted.
The government began discussions with the International Monetary Fund in July 2022, following a directive by President Akufo-Addo to the Finance Minister to engage with the institution.
The engagement with the IMF, will seek to provide balance of payment support as part of a broader effort to quicken Ghana’s build back in the face of challenges induced by the COVID-19 pandemic and, recently, the Russia Ukraine crises.
The move comes as Ghana’s economy is facing a number of challenges including a worsening public debt situation which has risen to about GH¢393.4 billion or 78.3 per cent of GDP as at June 2022 , rising inflation which has risen to about 29.8 per cent in June this year, high fuel prices, cedi depreciation among others.
The struggling economy has impacted negatively on the local currency which has almost hit GH¢9 to a dollar.
Also, International Ratings agency, S&P on Friday, August 5, 2022, revised Ghana’s rating from B-/B to CCC+/C.
It also reviewed the country’s economic outlook to negative, reflecting “Ghana’s limited commercial financing options, and constrained external and fiscal buffers.”
The newspaper says that Proof’Ghana would by early 2024 produce its first batch of COVID-19 vaccines in the country, the Director of Allied Health, Minister of Health (MoH), Dr Ignatius Awinibuno, has disclosed.
The 10 years roadmap signed project supported by GIZ and the European Union was estimated at 2.84 million Euros.
Disclosing this during the launch of the Institutional and Technical Strengthening of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) project yesterday in Accra, he said it aimed at making Ghana a Pan-African vaccine manufacturing hub with FDA performing full regulatory oversight of the local vaccine production.
Launching the project, the Minister of Health in a speech read on his behalf by DrAwinibuno said health systems and economies had been ravaged by COVID-19 which affected public health and socio economic lives.
“It is encouraging that, at least the world now has COVID-19 vaccines to effectively fight the pandemic but there has been inadequate deployment in Africa due to limited manufacturing capacity and global supply chain challenges,” he said.
Dr Awinibuno explained that Africa’s rich resource base for potential vaccine development and manufacture had rarely been utilised and it was time for the country to exploit along-term vision of building domestic capacities towards vaccine self-reliance.
Stating that “there is the need for Ghana to venture into the manufacture of vaccines for sufficient national useas well as a manufacturing hub in the sub region”.
Dr Awinibuno further appealed to all stakeholders to collaborate effectively to support the implementation of the National Vaccines Policy in order to achieve our collective broad national health goal.
In a brief remark by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of FDA, Delese Mimi Darko, she underscored that the vaccine manufacturing hub was important in the country.
“We would be the first country to have such a hub and we would be working hand in hand with Rwandans since we have a good regulatory body such as FDA to ensure safety and quality,” she said.
Mrs Darko stressed that, because vaccines would be produced in the country there was the need for FDA to get a higher standards laboratory to be able to test for the first batch of the vaccines.
“The money would help us get more equipment for the lab, train more staff as well as the Rwandans in order to produce good vaccines which could be sold across the country,” she stated.
GIZ-Ghana Country Director, Regina Bauerochse Barbosa, said GIZ’s support to the project aligned with Ghana’s prioritisation of the pharmaceutical industry as a key industry to develop.
“To safeguard Ghana’s goal to become a vaccine manufacturing country, GIZ is furnishing and equipping the office complex of the soon to be established National Vaccine Institute,” she said.
GIK/APA