The report that the Ministry of Youth and Sports has summoned the leadership of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to an emergency meeting on Friday, 21st January, 2022 to urgently discuss and take decisions aimed at salvaging the performance of the Black Stars is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that the Ministry of Youth and Sports says it has summoned the leadership of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to an emergency meeting on Friday, 21st January, 2022 “to urgently discuss and take decisions aimed at salvaging the performance of the Black Stars especially in the next set of games.”
A statement issued by the Ministry, signed by the Sports Minister Mustapha Ussif on Wednesday, a day after the humiliating exit of the Black Stars from the ongoing African Cup of Nations in Cameroom and that the entire country is extremely disappointed by the abysmal performance and early exit of the Black Stars from the tournament, and that the Ministry shares in the nation’s sentiment.
“With the government providing the team all the needed logistical and financial support, including resources for preparation and participation in the qualifier stage to the tournament and eventually a pre-tournament camping in Qatar, the Ministry is particularly disappointed with the team’s performance.”
The Ministry said it was committed to taking urgent steps to ensure that the Black Stars is restored to its status as a symbol of national pride for all Ghanaians and a powerhouse of African football.
The newspaper says that banks have expressed their readiness to comply with a Bank of Ghana (BoG) directive that mandates them to use only the Ghana Card in identifying their customers before transacting business with them.
The Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB) said the July 1 deadline was favourable and they would take the necessary steps to enable them to comply.
The Chief Executive Officer of the GAB, Mr John Awuah, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that banks had been working with the National Identification Authority (NIA) and its private partner to link their systems to the National Identity Register for the purposes of verification.
Consequently, he expressed the confidence that the processes would be completed by June to allow for its take off in July.
He was reacting to a public notice from the central bank to banks and other deposit-taking institutions to accept only the Ghana Card as a form of identification in undertaking transactions from July 1, this year.
The central bank also directed the affected institutions to take steps to update their customer records using the Ghana card details as the only form of identification.
The directive issued yesterday and signed by the bank’s Secretary, Ms Sandra Thompson, said the move was to ensure the safety of the financial system.
“The public is to note that no other form of identification will be accepted for financial transactions in all BoG-regulated financial institutions after the effective date stated above,” the notice stressed.
The Graphic also reports that the Ghana Health Service (GHS) will begin the administration of booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines from today.
The move forms part of the revision made to the national COVID-19 vaccination policy by the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with stakeholders.
The policy has also been revised to include the vaccination of pregnant women, who will receive either Moderna or Pfizer vaccines.
The Minister of Health, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, announced the review at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday.
He said the implementation of the booster policy would be in phases, with the initial phase targeting the three arms of government, health workers, people with underlying health conditions, people 60 years or above and all frontline security personnel.
The minister said the boosters were supposed to be taken between three and six months after being fully vaccinated.
“We have reviewed the national vaccination policy to include booster doses and the vaccination of pregnant women.
The National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) proposed the update made today, which has been accepted for implementation. We will continue to ensure the safety and health of all Ghanaians,” he said.
The Ghanaian Times says that the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, has called on Ghanaians to support the government’s afforestation programme to restore the country’s lost forest cover.
He said government’s efforts to plant at least 20 million trees this year, under the Green Ghana Project, would not be successful without the input of Ghanaians.
In an interview on GTV which was monitored by the Ghanaian Times, in Accra, yesterday, Mr Jinapor bemoaned the continuous depletion of Ghana’s forests without corresponding effort to restore the forest.
The Green Ghana Project, the ban on harvesting and export of Rosewood, and the ban on commercial production of charcoal in parts of the country, he said, were policies by government aimed at restoring the forest cover.
Describing illegal mining as a major contributor to the loss of forest, he said government would not relent in its efforts to sanitise land and natural resource sector through appropriate policies and regulations.
In the meantime, the designation of water bodies and forest reserves as Red Zones for mining, the ban on reconnaissance, prospecting or exploration for minerals in Forest Reserves, the introduction of Operation Halt II, the tracking of earthmoving equipment and machines for mining have helped in tackling illegal mining, the minister said.
He said that the Regional, Municipal and District Security Councils have been tasked to lead the fight against illegal mining.
Mr Jinapor said the government was investing in technology at the Lands Commission, to promote proper land administration.
GIK/APA