The declaration by the Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Mr. Tom Norring, that Ghana is an undisputed beacon of democracy on the African continent is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Wednesday.
The Graphic reports that the Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Tom Norring, has stated that Ghana is an undisputed beacon of democracy on the African continent.
The envoy commended Ghana for the important milestone it had attained following three decades of stability through multi-party democracy and good governance.
According to him, Ghana had made a lot of progress in the last 30 years, making it an envy of many countries.
Mr. Norring stated this when he paid a courtesy call on the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban S. K Bagbin.
He was in Parliament to invite Mr. Bagbin to deliver the keynote lecture to mark 60 years of diplomatic relations between Ghana and Denmark.
The high-level virtual event, scheduled for June 16, would also be used to celebrate this year’s Constitution Day of Denmark.
Aside from his lecture, the Speaker would explore new ways of strengthening inclusiveness in governance, with a special focus on improving political party structures.
The newspaper says that a new study by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) says the country is not immune to violent extremism, in spite of the appreciable level of peace among citizens.
“High unemployment rate, particularly among the youth, was found to have implications for Ghana’s risk and threat of violent extremism,” it said.
According to the study, unemployed youth were the segment of the population highly susceptible to be recruited to perpetrate acts of violence, while political actors were perceived to be the main sponsors of violent extremism.
This was contained in the 2021 NCCE report on the risk and threat analysis of violent extremism in 10 border regions of the country.
The study is a novel micro-level study on risk and threat analysis of violent extremism in the country by the NCCE and was commissioned to investigate the prevalence and knowledge of violent extremism and determine the vulnerabilities and risk factors associated with it.
It was also to help examine existing institutional responses to the threat of violent extremism and explore the expected role of the NCCE in collaborating with communities and local partners to prevent violent extremism in the country.
The Chairperson of the NCCE, Ms. Josephine Nkrumah, told the Daily Graphic that the government must respond to the findings of the report with urgency and accelerate the various interventions that would uplift the youth economically to help prevent the unfortunate situation of a mass recruitment of unemployed youth into violent groups.
The Graphic also reports that the quest to enhance sanitation services in the country and thereby improve the health of the people received a tremendous push yesterday when Zoomlion Ghana Limited unveiled 101 waste management trucks and 25 disinfection trucks for deployment in the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs).
The trucks will be used to cart waste from business districts and other communities to landfill sites and waste management facilities.
In addition, the vehicles will help the ongoing disinfection exercise of spaces and institutions which was rolled out following the outbreak of the COVID-19.
According to the Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies, Mr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, Zoomlion had secured funding from its partner, SCANIA, and other financial institutions (ABSA, Ecobank, Zenith and Stanchart) for the procurement of 500 new waste trucks at a cost of 40 million Euros, in addition to 5,000 units of multi-purpose tricycles, at a cost $10 million.
The trucks, which were unveiled yesterday by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, constituted the first batch of the entire package, which is meant to augment the company’s existing fleet of vehicles to improve waste collection and transportation in the country.
The Times says that the Minister for Transport, Mr Kweku Ofori Asiamah, has appealed to stakeholders to intensify education on road safety to reduce accidents.
According to him, the rising rate of preventable road accidents was very alarming and called for increased sensitisation to road safety by the various stakeholders to complement efforts of the National Road Safety Authority and other regulatory bodies.
The minister made the appeal when he paid a courtesy call on the Waala Traditional Council at Wa as part of a day’s working visit to the Upper West Region last week.
He explained that several hundreds of people lost their lives in the first four months of the year and that over 70 percent of the accidents were as a result of human error.
“I am appealing to traditional leaders, authorities at the various Regional Coordinating Councils as well as metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies across the country to join forces with the media in order to educate road users, especially drivers, on the need to avoid speeding on the road,” he said.
Mr. Asiamah added that some of the accidents that occurred because drivers paid less attention to road safety rules and regulations.
“Road safety is a shared responsibility; people must begin to take up those personal responsibilities for their own safety and ensure that they obey and observe road regulations to avoid crashes that can cost them their lives and those of other road users,” he stated.
GIK/APA