The pledge by the Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority to ensure that the petroleum downstream sector is strong and financially viable and the resolution of the long-standing land boundary dispute between Ghana and Togo are some of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Graphic reports that the Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, says that one of his major priorities will be to ensure that the petroleum downstream sector is strong and financially viable.
At a management retreat at Ada in the Greater Accra Region, Dr. Abdul-Hamid said the downstream sector was an important component of the nation’s economic success, but, if the right things were not done to ensure efficiency and robustness, the industry might struggle to contribute to the expected revenue targets for national development.
Learning from the lessons of the banking reforms, Dr. Abdul-Hamid said the same approach should be adopted by the downstream sector. He said licences for the establishment of petroleum retail outlets should be given to those who were willing and prepared to do business, contribute the right amount of taxes into state coffers and ensure the nation benefits.
He added that third party activities in the industry should not be encouraged, because it undermined the integrity of the sector and the operations of those doing the right things.
Dr. Abdul-Hamid also affirmed his commitment to improving efficiency of the NPA’s operations, improving staff morale as well as building the capacity of staff to deliver on its mandate.
According to him, a united front and team work among staff would ensure the objectives are achieved.
The newspaper says that Ghana and Togo have resolved a long-standing land boundary dispute between the two countries at the Pulmakom border in the Pusiga District in the Upper East Region.
At a meeting between the Ghana Boundary Commission and the Togo Lands Commission at Cinkassé in Togo last Thursday, it was agreed that per the legal and national demarcation documents of 1927, the Kolpelig River, a tributary of the White Volta, was the official boundary separating the two countries.
Over the years, there had been disagreements between the two countries regarding a pillar and landmark boundary along the Kolpelig River situated between the towns of Konugu in Togo, and Gariki and Beliting in Ghana.
While the local and traditional authorities at Cinkassé claimed that the boundary was beyond the river towards Gariki, their counterparts at Pusiga also maintained that the Kolpelig River was the accurate demarcation separating the two countries.
The situation led to the Togolese authorities preventing their counterparts in Ghana from constructing a bridge at Gariki and extending electricity to Beliting.
The meeting at Cinkassé, therefore, was meant to chart a new path towards ending the long-standing boundary dispute between the two countries.
The National Coordinator of the Ghana Boundary Commission, Major General Emmanuel Kotia, said following the joint discussions and a visit to the places of contention, the two countries clearly understood the issues and subsequently resolved the matter.
He explained that there was a map produced in 1927 that had the Kolpelig River as the internationally accepted boundary separating the two countries, but which was misunderstood by some Togolese.
The Graphic also reports that a subsidiary of The Good Roll Holding of the Netherlands, Good Roll Factory Ghana LTD (TGR), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Innohub Limited of Ghana to establish its first fair trade factory on the continent to make sustainable toilet paper from bamboo.
By the agreement, The Good Roll will also invest in training programmes for farmers to produce bamboo sustainably and efficiently while providing capital, raising support and management support services.
The CEO of TGR, Mr Faisal Ahmed, signed on behalf of his company while the CEO of Innohub, Mr Nelson Madiba Amo, appended his signature to the MoU on behalf of his company.
Good Roll Factory, through the support, aims at producing local toilet paper that will solely contain bamboo and will be the first company to make bamboo toilet paper in Africa and that falls within the vision of Innohub.
Again, the CEO noted that a unique packing line for packing the toilet paper would also offer employment opportunities targeted at women over 40 who cannot find jobs in the current labour market.
He added that Good Roll, through the factory, will help decrease the importation of toilet paper into Ghana as the toilet paper brands being used in the county was import
The CEO of Innohub, Mr Amo, expressed his excitement to work with TGR since the company’s solution touched on the three cardinal points of impact which included, planet, people and shared prosperity, also the vision of his company
Innohub is a business accelerator, and impact investment platform that helps small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with high growth and impact potential to become investment-ready, sustainable and scalable in order to achieve profitability and social impact.
The Times says that Ghana’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation update as of July 13, 2021 indicates that four more people have succumbed to the virus putting the death toll at 810 from 806.
Also, a total of 156 new cases were reported on the day sending the country’s active cases to 2,601.
According to the Ghana Health Service (GHS), 27 persons are currently in severe conditions with 12 others in critical conditions, battling for their lives.
The Greater Accra Region continues to be the epicenter for the spread of the virus accounting for 110 of the new cases reported.
It came from 13 districts, with Ayawaso West (41) and Korle Klottey (40) driving the new infections in the region.
The Ashanti Region reported 37 new cases, Oti, three, Bono two and four new cases recorded at the Kotoka International Airport.
Aside these regions, all others have no new case of the disease.
The newspaper reports that Accra Hearts of Oak were crowned Ghana Premier League (GPL) champions on Saturday despite falling 1-0 to WAFA at Sogakope in the final round of matches of the competition.
Hearts sealed the feat with a game to spare after drawing 1-1 with Liberty Professionals in the penultimate match in Accra with their closest followers, Asante Kotoko dropping the three points at Bechem.
Saturday’s game meant more for WAFA than the Phobians, who were set to collect the giant trophy and cheque for GH¢250, 000 as prize money, despite the outcome.
GIK/APA