The appeal by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to world leaders to capitalise on opportunities created by the COVID-19 crisis to work towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Tuesday.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged other world leaders to capitalise on opportunities created by the COVID-19 crisis to work towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“As the world strives to deal with the challenges posed by the pandemic, we have to turn the crisis into an opportunity and ramp up actions necessary to achieve the SDGs,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo, who is also the co-Chair of the Group of Eminent Advocates of the 2030 SDGs, was speaking at the 2021 SDGs moment on the “Decade of Action” at the UN Headquarters in New York yesterday.
He recounted the 2019 Declaration in which world leaders declared the period 2020 to 2030 as the decade of action and called on all member states of the UN to step up and scale up significant actions to give the world a fighting chance of achieving the SDGs by 2030.
The President said a few months after the historic declaration, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, with a devastating effect on lives and livelihoods.
“Available estimates indicate that in 2020 alone, some 124 million people were pushed back into extreme poverty, with some 132 million people experiencing hunger as a result of the pandemic.
“The net effect of these adverse developments is that our world is unlikely to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by 2030,” he said.
He described the quest to achieve the SDGs in the wake of the pandemic as more daunting and urged world leaders “to think big, act big and act smartly”.
The newspaper says that the Ghana’s High Commissioner to Malta, Ms. Barbara Akuokor Benisa, has expressed the commitment of the government and people of Ghana to a continued cooperation and collaboration with Malta on issues of mutual concern and benefit.
She said Ghana and Malta, which shared long-standing historical ties, had signed Permanent Joint Commission for Co-operation (PJCC) agreement and other memoranda of understanding (MoUs) which governed their relationship and pursuits.
Speaking ahead of the 57th Independence Day of Malta tomorrow, which also coincides with the Kwame Nkrumah Day, Ms. Benisa also expressed the hope that the Bilateral Air Agreement between the two countries would come into fruition during her tour of duty.
“I wish to assure you of the commitment of the government and people of Ghana to a continued co-operation and collaboration on issues of mutual concern and benefit to both states,” she stated.
Describing the occasion as a great day for both nations, the High Commissioner said it was on September 21, 1909, that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President, Prime Minister, Pan Africanist, and the leader at independence from British rule in 1957, was born for which the day had been set aside to remember him.
Similarly on September 21, 1964, the Republic of Malta, gained independence from British colonial rule, hence today marks 57 years of peace, stability and continuous economic growth.
“Therefore, we join each other today, in celebration of this momentous day in the history of both our countries,” Ms. Benisa said.
Ghana and Malta have enjoyed years of cordial relations, which have further been enhanced in recent years.
The Graphic also reports that the Convention People’s Party (CPP) has called on Ghanaians to rise above partisan politics and seek the development of the nation as the country marks Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day today.
According to the party, entrenched partisanship in the governance architecture was leading Ghana nowhere and so it was time the ‘nation first’ attitude was adopted to spur development.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday on the significance of the day, the General Secretary of the CPP, Nana Yaa Jantuah, said Dr Nkrumah stood for development in unity, something the current generation of politicians and Ghanaians at large must learn from.
Nana Jantuah said the first President had a big dream to fully industrialise the nation, but “the forces of destruction” truncated his administration.
She further indicated that it would be impossible for anybody to change the history of the nation, especially how it was founded.
The Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day is a day set aside to remember and honour the country’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
Today is a big day for the CPP, the party Dr Nkrumah founded in 1949.
A symposium to mark the day will be held at the University for Development Studies (UDS) Guest House in Accra on the theme: “Relevance of Nkrumaism in addressing the socio-economic challenges of Ghana today”.
The Ghanaian Times says that Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has asked the managers of the Minerals Income Investment Fund, MIIF, to be more transparent as they make strides in achieving the objectives for which it was established.
According to the Asantehene they should put in place effective plans towards increasing local investments in the management of the country’s gold assets to maximise value.
The Minerals Income Investment Act was passed in 2018 to, among other things, monetise the country’s mineral resources for the government’s infrastructural development.
The meeting gave the opportunity for the CEO to explain the differences of the Agyapa and Obatanpa policies of the government with the former being controlled by the MIIF and the latter by the Finance Ministry.
Otumfuo told the MIIF to provide clarity in their operations saying “it is critical that you let Ghanaians know that the mineral revenues will no more be put into the consolidated fund but that MIIF will invest with it for the benefit of the country”.
When you begin the investment, “we should know how much is going into this project, what the nation is getting out of the mineral revenues that have been invested.” he advised.
The Asantehene courted support for the Agyapa deal, saying “there are several opportunities in Agyapa. Agyapa is fine but how do you do it to generate trust in our own people so that they believe you are doing the right thing, should be your concern”.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu stressed the importance for them to encourage Ghanaians and indigenous companies to understand that they could invest in the MIIF’s operation.
Mr Baah said MIIF was poised toward achieving the objectives envisaged under the Act establishing it.
Ghana, he said, “is now the leading producer of gold. We have passed South Africa and other African countries which is great, and there should be a prove of this, we are therefore, poised to do that as we invest with the royalties”.
GIK/APA