The efforts being made by the Ghanaian government to generate power from nuclear technology have reached an advanced stage, with the initial engagement of vendor countries through their respective embassies in Ghana is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphics reports that Ghana’s efforts to generate power from nuclear technology has reached an advanced stage, with the initial engagement of vendor countries through their respective embassies in Ghana.
The selected vendor will work with Ghana’s proposed owner-operator for the construction of the power plant, in accordance with the country’s specifications and other technical considerations.
The search for a vendor, which is being done with support from the Ministry of Energy, is one of the critical milestones in phase two of Ghana’s Nuclear Power Project, as activities of the first phase have been completed and a comprehensive report delivered to the government.
This came to light when high-level officials from Nuclear Power Ghana (NPG), the proposed owner-operator, accompanied by the Director-General of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) and Vice-Chair of the Ghana Nuclear Power Programme Organisation (GNPPO), Professor Benjamin Jabez Botwe Nyarko, held a meeting with the Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Kobby Asmah.
Present at the meeting were the Deputy Director of the Nuclear Power Institute of GAEC, Dr Archibold Buah-Kwofie; the General Manager of the GNA, Mr Albert Kofi Owusu; the Director, Editorial at the GNA, Mrs Beatrice Asamani Savage, and Norbert Asenso, also from GNA..
The Executive Director of the NPG, Dr Stephen Yamoah, throwing light on the project, said a comprehensive assessment had been conducted across the country for the most suitable place to site the first nuclear power plant, saying the assessment had been narrowed down to four candidate sites.
The newspaper says that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said that the government is working hard to find a lasting solution to the power cuts being experienced in parts of the country.
He explained that the recent power outages were as a result of ongoing maintenance works on some of the power systems to ensure stable power supply, and not that “Ghana has gone back to the days of dumsor”.
President Akufo-Addo gave the assurance at a durbar of the chiefs and the people of the Mamprugu/Moaduri District in the North East Region held at Yagba yesterday as part of activities of his two-day tour of the region.
“Most of the equipment of our electricity system is very old and weak and so we are replacing all of them now, so that we can have a very robust electricity system,” he said.
The President told the gathering that in his second term, it was his intention to consolidate all the policies he implemented in the first term, so that they become a permanent feature of the governance of the country.
He said it was evident that all the policies were transforming lives, hence the need to consolidate them to ensure utmost benefits for all.
“I am happy with the testimonies the people are giving about policies such as the Planting for Food and Jobs and the free senior high school and I will do everything possible to safeguard them,” he noted.
The Graphic also reports that Ghana’s top athletes are to converge on the Coppin State University in Baltimore beginning this week for their preparation for the summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.
According to the CEO of Ghana Athletics Association (GAA), Bawah Fuseini, an agreement has been reached for the Ghanaian team to pitch camp in the USA, where majority of the athletes are based, for a three-week pre-games dress rehearsal.
So far sprinters Joseph Paul Amoah and Benjamin Azamati have qualified to compete in the 100 metres and 200 metres sprints, as well as the men’s 4×100 metres.
Nadia Eke is the only female track and field star to represent Ghana in Tokyo where she will compete in the triple jump event at the Jul 23 — August 8 Games.
The GAA chief disclosed to the Graphic Sports that former Olympian, Dr Andrew Owusu, will supervise Nadia’s training ahead of her maiden Olympic campaign.
Early this month, the Ghana Olympic Committee granted the athletics team an exemption for pre-games camping in Japan. While in the USA, the sprinters will be trained by Coppin University head coach, Carl Hicks, and also compete in a few meets before flying into Japan by July 16.
The choice of Coppin State University as camping centre was largely influenced by the presence of two members of Ghana’s sprints quartet — Amoah and Joseph Manu — who together with Azamati and Sean Safo-Antwi qualified for the 4x100m at the Olympics during the World Relay Championship in Silesia, Poland.
This time, the GAA hopes that longer camping together under the guidance of Hicks and some pre-games competition will help improve the team’s chances in the in Tokyo.
The Times says that Parliament has by consensus approved more deputy ministers–designate after the House adopted the seventh report of the Appointments Committee, submitted to the House.
They included Gifty Twum-Ampofo, Deputy Minister for Education-designate, whose approval was put on ice last Thursday.
Minority caucus earlier shot down the Appointments Committee of Parliament report, arguing that it (report) did not represent the voting pattern of members of the committee.
The nominees, who were approved, include Bright Wereko-Brobby, Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations-designate, Michael Okyere Baafi and Herbert Krapah, Trade and Industry-designate and Mohammed Amin Adam, Deputy Minister of Energy-designate.
Others are Thomas Mbomba, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration-designate, Abdulai Abanga, Deputy Minister of Works and Housing-designate, Stephen Pambiin Jalula, Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways-designate and Fatimah Abubakar, Deputy Minister of Information-designate.
The rest are Mark Okraku-Mantey, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture-designate, Mahama Asei Seini, Deputy Minister of Health-designate and Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, Deputy Minister-designate for Attorney-General and Justice.
Presenting the seventh report of the Appointments Committee, the Chairman, Joseph Osei-Owusu, said the differences that resulted in the upholding of Ms Twum-Ampofo’s approval had been ironed out.
According to Mr Osei-Owusu, MP, Bekwai, the nominees meet the eligibility criteria, exhibited knowledge about the areas they are being taken to help in the execution of government programmes and policies.
GIK/APA