The statement by President Akufo-Addo that Ghana’s participation in the G20 Compact with Africa has enabled the country to tackle the structural challenges that have inhibited its drive towards becoming Africa’s investment hub is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Graphic reports that Ghana’s participation in the G20 Compact with Africa (CwA) has enabled the country to tackle the structural challenges that have inhibited its drive towards becoming Africa’s investment hub, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said.
That, he explained, was done with the implementation of targeted policies, such as establishing macroeconomic stability, enhancing domestic revenue mobilisation, improving fiscal risk management and strengthening the business legal and regulatory frameworks to de-risk private investments.
Addressing the CwA Summit in Berlin, Germany, last Friday, he said the COVID-19 pandemic had exposed deep structural fragilities in Africa that required urgent attention, particularly in relation to green growth, climate-conscious industrialisation and the creation of resilient economies.
The CwA was initiated under the German G20 Presidency to promote private investment in Africa, including infrastructure.
The primary objective of the compact is to increase the attractiveness of private investment through substantial improvement of macro economy, business and financing frameworks.
President Akufo-Addo said as one of the few economies to have recorded positive growth in 2020, Ghana had, so far, had a strong start to 2021, despite the ravages of the pandemic.
“With the economy recording a growth rate of 3.1 and 8.9 per cent in the first and the second quarters of this year, respectively, reflecting the impact of the government’s COVID-19 containment measures and recovery interventions, we believe we are on course to return our nation onto the path of steady economic growth,” he said.
The newspaper says that the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has urged the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament (MPs) to strengthen the bond between Parliament and the Executive to help fulfil the promises made to Ghanaians and further earn their trust to continue governing the nation.
That, he said, would require that the Majority caucus continually armed themselves with the “great success stories and achievements” chalked up by the Akufo-Addo-administration to dismantle any propaganda churned out by the opposition.
Dr Bawumia made the call at a workshop for the Majority Caucus and members of the Executive last Saturday at Mpraeso in the Eastern Region.
Reminding the MPs that they were an integral part of the success or failure of the Executive and by extension the NPP administration, Dr Bawumia urged them to work extra hard to respond appropriately to any attempt to downplay the achievements of the Akufo-Addo-administration.
“The propaganda machinery of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will be oiled using their representation in Parliament. Every conceivable government policy or intervention will be furiously attacked.
“There is no better group to respond to these attacks, to set the record straight and to match them “Boot-for-Chalewote” than the Majority Caucus of Parliament,” he stated.
He said the NPP needed to tell its story and to let Ghanaians know how the party had been able to reduce, though not completely eliminated, the hardships.
The Graphic also reports that more than half of the backlog of people awaiting their second shot of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine are expected to take the jab, starting tomorrow.
The nationwide exercise, expected to be concluded on Saturday, is targeting people above 18 who received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine from March 10 to 29 this year.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, the Manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), Dr Kwame Amponsa-Achiano, said the backlog was a little over 400,000.
He said they were targeting people who took the jab between March 10 and 29 this year because the last consignment of AstraZeneca that was deployed was targeted at those who took their first jab from March 1 to March 9 this year.
He asked the target group to take along a valid national ID card and the COVID-19 vaccination card they received for the first jab.
He said a number of health facilities had been designated vaccination centres, and published in both the traditional and social media for easy access.
The Times says that the Black Stars Head Coach, Charles Akonnor, has decided to expand his squad due to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and injuries to some key members of the team.
Spain based defender Joseph Aidoo has been drafted into the team for the World Cup qualifiers against Ethiopia and South Africa.
The Celta Vigo man who has not been in the team since the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Sudan comes in to shore up options at the back due to the possible absence of defender Daniel Amartey for the clash in Johannesburg.
Ghana is likely to lose five players ahead of the second game in South Africa following the decision of Premier League clubs not to release players for matches in COVID-19 red-list countries during the September International window.
This means Daniel Amartey (Leicester City), Jordan Ayew (Crystal Palace), Tariqe Fosu-Henry (Brentford FC), Baba Abdul Rahman (Reading FC) and Andy Yiadom (Reading FC) will not travel with the team to South Africa for Ghana’s Group G encounter on Monday September 3.
Aside Aidoo, Coach Akonnor has also handed a call up to Yaw Yeboah of Wisła Kraków of Poland.
As part of the continuous assessment of Europe based Ghanaian prospects, two Germany based players Braydon Manu and Daniel Kofi Kyereh have also earned call ups.
Kyereh, a 25-year old forward, plays for FC St. Pauli in the German second tier.
He previously played for Eintracht Braunschweig and VfL Wolfsburg.
GIK/APA