The appeal by President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to the Aburihene, Nana Otubour Gyan Kwasi II, to help resolve the lingering chieftaincy disputes in the Okuapeman Traditional Area and the report that 227,920 Ghanaians are blind are some of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged the Aburihene, Nana Otubour Gyan Kwasi II, to help resolve the lingering chieftaincy disputes in the Okuapeman Traditional Area.
“One of my greatest heart desires is that the chieftaincy disputes in Okuapeman will end. This is my hometown and my greatest appeal is that we solve this. However in my view, I think much will depend on the Aburihene to solve this chieftaincy issue,” he said.
President made this passionate appeal to the Aburihene, Nana Otubour Gyan Kwasi II and the Okuapemhene, Oseadeyo Kwasi Akuffo III when he paid courtesy call on each of them during his three-day tour of the region.
He stated that the several chieftaincy issues in the country were hampering the peaceful coexistence of communities in which it was found, coupling with the associated violence that erupted as a result of the disputes.
The President stated it was necessary to solve them and mentioned that of the Ga, Dagbon Traditional Areas as those that had been successfully solved.
The newspaper says a total of 227,920 Ghanaians are blind, a survey conducted this year by Ghana Health Service (GHS) has disclosed.
According to the statistics, 54.8per cent of the blindness was caused by cataract, while 19.4 percent was due to Glaucoma with 12.3 percent caused by post segment diseases like diabetes and 11.2 percent from Cornea- related diseases.
Speaking at the pre-launch of the World Sight Day 2021 Press briefing in Accra yesterday, the Head of Eye Care Unit of GHS, Dr James Addy explained that out of the 30,800,000 population 329,560 Ghanaians had severe visual impairment while 579,040 had moderate impairment.
He indicated that the cause of low vision like refractive error was 44.4percent, cataract related problems 42.2 percent, while 13.4 percent low vision was caused by other related issues.
Dr Addy noted that some of the causes of blindness were avoidable, and called on Ghanaians to do regular screening to detect eye problems at their early stage.
He stated that global statistics revealed that 1.1billion people globally were living with vision loss.
“That includes 91million children-our future-who live with vision loss. 90 million children around the world have vision loss as they don’t have access to eye care services. 165 children need glasses,” Dr Addy added.
The Ghanaian Times also reports that the partner for the execution of the Ghana-Burkina Faso Railway Interconnectivity Project from Tema Harbour to Ouagadougou, will be selected before the end of the year, says the Minister of Railway Development, John Peter Amewu.
He added that the selection of the partner before the end of the year, would pave way for the project to take off by the first quarter of next year.
Mr Amewu disclosed during a bid opening session for the technical proposals from prospective bidders for the project, indicated that of the three partners which qualified among 26 companies for the initial bidding process, only two participated in the final bidding process.
At the end of the deadline for the submission of bids yesterday, two companies were able to submit technical proposals for the project.
The companies are African Global Development and Frontline Consortium.
Bidding for the project was opened on April, 22, 2021 and was supposed to elapse on July 21, 2021, but had to be postponed to October 7, 2021 due to request by the bidders for extension of time due to travel restriction as a result of the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The multi-billion dollar project is expected to be Build and Operate and Transfer approach.
Mr Amewu said both countries had reached a significant milestone in the procurement processes for the project, adding that the two countries are both using a common Transaction Advisor, Messrs Team Engineering S.P.A and Vision Consult Limited, who are assisting in carrying out detailed feasibility studies including the front-end engineering design for the project.
“Transaction Advisors are also playing a lead role in the second phase of the project development, including the procurement process for the private sector partner,” he said.
GIK/APA