The improved ranking of Ghana to 38th in the 15th edition of the Global Peace Index, a jump of two places from the previous year’s ranking and the activities outlined by Jerry John Rawlings Foundation to mark the his remembrance are some of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Tuesday.
The Graphic reports that Ghana has been ranked 38th in the 15th edition of the Global Peace Index, a jump of two places from the previous year’s ranking.
The country scored 1.715 points to secure the second spot in Africa, while Mauritius, with 1.592 points, was 28th in the world and first in Africa.
The two are the only African countries that made it to the top 40, although Mauritius dropped three positions from its earlier ranking.
Ghana is also one of the 44 countries that ranked as having a high state of peace, behind the batch of 14 countries described as those having ‘very high state of peace’, with Iceland scoring 1.1 points as the most peaceful nation in the world.
The State of Peace rankings are categorised from Very High, High, Medium, Low, Very Low to Not Included.
The first 14 countries with ‘very high state of peace’ include Iceland, 1.1; New Zealand, 1.253; Denmark, 1.256; Portugal, 1.267, and Slovenia, 1.315.
Those with the ‘least state of peace’ are Afghanistan, Venezuela, Yemen, South Sudan and Iraq.
The five countries immediately ahead of Ghana are the United Kingdom, 1.658; Taiwan, 1.662; Latvia, 1.686; Kuwait, 1.688, and Lithuania, 1.689.
The newspaper says that starting from this year, the government of Hungary will be awarding scholarships to 100 young Ghanaian students to study in that country.
The initiative, which will be spearheaded by the Scholarship Secretariat, is not limited to any field of study but across all disciplines.
Since the re-establishment of its embassy in Accra in 2016, the Government of Hungary has been awarding scholarships to 50 Ghanaian students annually to pursue various programmes in that country as part of the Stipendum Hungaricum Programme.
As part of efforts to deepen Hungary’s bilateral relations with Ghana in the field of education, the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE) has also established an agency known as the Hungarian Education Agency in Ghana to facilitate and support interested Ghanaians to study in Hungary.
Addressing a news conference in Accra last Thursday, the Ambassador of Hungary to Ghana, Mr Andras Szabo, said the decision to double the number of beneficiaries for its scholarship programme was informed by its focus on human development as part of Hungary’s relations with Ghana.
He said the Hungarian government faced a tough challenge re-establishing its embassy in Ghana as it lost all of its contacts after 30 years of departing from the country.
He expressed confidence that investments in education and human development would help boost Hungary’s bilateral ties and cooperation with Ghana.
The Graphic also reports that the Jerry John Rawlings (J.J. Rawlings) Foundation has outlined activities to mark the remembrance and what would have been the 74th birthday of the late former President Rawlings, who passed away on Thursday, November 12, 2020.
As part of activities to celebrate and remember him, the foundation, in partnership with his alma mater, Achimota School, and the Forestry Commission will embark on a tree planting exercise at the school on Saturday, June 26, 2021.
The tree planting exercise was aimed at reminding the people of the need to protect the environment, in line with the Green Ghana project by the government, a press release from the foundation said.
“The tree-planting exercise will occur at President Rawlings’s alma mater to raise awareness of our individual and collective responsibility to protect and preserve our environment — ideals that were very dear to the heart of J.J. Rawlings.
“The exercise also aims to empower students to take ownership of the campaign to preserve and protect our environment — one tree at a time,” it added.
The statement said the exercise was also to preserve the ideologies of the late former President and expressed appreciation to Achimota School and the Forestry Commission for the support rendered the foundation as it prepared to celebrate its role model for the impact he made in his attempt to preserve the environment while alive.
The Times says that the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation is developing a National Digital Economy Policy (NDEP) to guide the sector and accelerate the development of the country.
The Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, who announced this in a speech read on her behalf by the Chief Director of the Ministry, Mrs Magdalene Ewuraesi Appenteng, at the Graphic Business Stanbic Bank breakfast meeting in Accra, said the NDEP had become necessary on view of the country’s increasing adoption of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the delivery of services.
The policy, which among others, would guide the operations of players in the ICT sector and how the government wants to develop the economy, she said currently being developed by some consultants.
The day’s programme attended by captains of industry and players from the ICT sector was on the theme “Digitalisation: The Key to Unlocking the Ghanaian Dream.”
The Minister, who was the keynote speaker said the key objective of the government was to formalise the economy through digital technology and digitalisation to promote efficiency and innovation.
“Digital technology, applications, processes and services provide the key and we recognised that very early in this administration,” saying it was therefore incumbent on government to provide the necessary infrastructure and enabling framework for economic transformation.
GIK/APA