The directive of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to the Finance Minister to put the economy back on sound footing out of the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic dominates the headlines of Ghanaian press on Wednesday.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has sworn in Mr Ken Ofori-Atta as the Finance Minister and reminded him of Ghanaians’ expectation of him to put the economy back on sound footing, out of the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The President administered the Oaths of Allegiance, Office and Secrecy after which the minister signed the oath book, which was sealed off with the signature of the President..
The President referred to the Finance Minister as the “Last man standing.”
Today’s event means that President Akufo-Addo has completed the constitution of the government of his second term, having earlier sworn into office 29 substantive ministers and 16 regional ministers.
He thanked Parliament for the bipartisan manner they approved the ministers, saying “I’m grateful to the House for giving me a good birthday present with the approval of the Minister designate for Finance on my birthday yesterday”.
President Akufo-Addo assured Mr Ofori-Atta that he was looking forward to working with him over the next four years to protect their progress and transform the country to the benefit of all.
He said in spite of the pandemic, the economy was one of the few in the world that recorded positive growth for last year and that ultimately what the people of Ghana were expecting was a visible improvement in their standard of living.
The newspaper says that Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited has said it will make its expertise in banking and advisory services available to businesses and governments in Africa to enable them to tap into opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The bank, which is a member of the Standard Bank Group, said the decision was in line with its objective to drive growth in Africa.
The Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Kwamina Asomaning, said this at the Graphic Business/Stanbic Bank Breakfast Meeting in Accra yesterday.
He said a key strategic area of focus would be financing cross-border trade by supporting individuals and businesses to trade across borders to make economies sustainable and profitable to make a meaningful impact on people’s lives.
“The alignment between our group’s purpose and AfCFTA’s goals is undeniably strong, necessitating an effective collaboration between the Standard Bank Group and its affiliates and the AfCFTA community to realise our common vision,” Mr Asomaning added.
The event was on the theme: “Leveraging AfCFTA: The critical success factors”.
The Graphic also reports that the Volta River Authority (VRA) and independent power producers (IPPs) have increased their power generation ability from the western power enclave alone to about 1,200 megawatts (MW), after extensive work on the plants.
The 1,200MW is almost double the capacity it was generating from the enclave about four years.
The VRA has, therefore, assured the nation of reliable power generation to meet the national peak demand projection of about 3,171MW, with the system generation of a little above 2,394MW as of yesterday.
The Director of Thermal Generation at the VRA, Mr. Edward Ekow Obeng-Kenzo, gave an assurance in an interview with the Daily Graphic at Aboadze.
A visit to the Western Power Enclave by the Daily Graphic last Sunday to find out the readiness of the country’s power generation capabilities indicated that the VRA was well positioned to ensure dependable and sustainable power generation to meet national demands.
Mr Obeng-Kenzo said the teams at the enclave were on top of their job, saying: “We know what we have to do to make sure we give reliable power by making sure the machines are reliable when needed.”
The Times says that the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) began the spillage of excess water from the Weija Dam at 6:00a.m. yesterday as announced in a statement it issued in Accra on Monday evening.
The spillage, it said, had become necessary because of the sudden rise of the level of the dam from 46.2 feet to 48.1 feet within a 24-hour period.
“Management of GWCL is also informing the general public, as well as institutions and organisations that have properties downstream of the imminent danger and therefore must take the necessary precautionary measures. Affected areas include Tetegu, Oblogo, Pambros Salt, Lower McCarthy Hill, Lower Weija, Bojo Beach, Ada Kopey and surrounding communities,” it said.
Meanwhile the company’s Chief Manager in charge of Public Relations and Communications, Mr Stanley Mantey, has stated the GWCLwill not be held liable for damages caused to life and property resulting from the spillage.
He explained it was the responsibility of the assemblies to ensure that individuals, institutions and organisations that had properties downstream were cleared off in view of imminent dangers.
“GWCL does not have the mandate to stop people from putting up buildings, but the assemblies have that responsibility to stop people from building in unapproved areas,” Mr. Mantey said.
GIK/APA