Press spotlights call to address growing insecurity in Gulf of Guinea maritime space, others

APA – Accra (Ghana)
President Akufo-Addo’s call on countries bordering the Gulf of Guinea to ensure enhanced cooperation in addressing the growing insecurity in the region’s maritime space is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Wednesday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on countries bordering the Gulf of Guinea to ensure enhanced cooperation in addressing the growing insecurity in the region’s maritime space.
He said criminality in the maritime domain of the Gulf of Guinea was a threat to the security and economic development of the region, as such countries in the geo-political space of the region must unite in their efforts to curtail and eradicate the menace.
President Akufo-Addo made the call at the opening of the Third Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC) in Accra yesterday.
The high-level meeting, convened by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who is also the Chairman of the Assembly was to discuss strategies for strengthening peace and security in the fight against maritime-related crimes in the GGC region.
The session was also arranged for the swearing-in of the members of the new Executive Secretariat of the Commission.
President Akufo-Addo stressed that the collaboration and cooperation amongst the states of the Gulf of Guinea region was “crucial” because of the interconnectivity of maritime activities.
“For us to have an effective and well-organised defence of the Gulf of Guinea Region, the countries in the Gulf of Guinea must be encouraged so that collectively, we can make a significant difference in maintaining maritime peace and security in the Gulf of Guinea region.
“Through well-coordinated collaboration and cooperation on matters of common interest among the members of the region, illegal activities at sea could be greatly reduced…Working together will enable us to build a safe, secure and prosperous Gulf of Guinea region for sustainable development,” he said.
The Gulf of Guinea region has become a global hotspot for incidents of piracy, oil bunkering, robbery at sea, hostage-taking, human and drug trafficking, terrorism and corruption, illegal unregulated and unreported fishing, arms trafficking, pollution of the environment and smuggling.
The newspaper says that the Minister of Trade and Industry, K.T. Hammond, has called for enhanced capacity for Ghana and other developing countries, to enable them participate effectively in World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations, and improve benefit from international trade.
According to the minister, due to capacity deficit, Ghana and other developing countries were unable to engage in effective negotiations on international trade agreements, thus, inhibiting them from gaining associated benefits.
To this end, Mr Hammond reiterated the need for additional aid for trade from bilateral, regional and multilateral donors, to support trade-related capacity building from beneficiary countries.
The minister was speaking in Accra, yesterday, when the Director-General of WTO, Dr Ngozi Nkonjo-Iweala, visited Ghana, as part of a three-nation tour of Africa.
Mr Hammond noted that building the capacity of Ghana and developing countries in the area of agreement negotiations was one of the reforms needed to be undertaken by the WTO to serve its purpose.
He urged for the restoration of a fully functional two-tier dispute settlement mechanism at the WTO, which included the panels and the appellate bodies, to give the international trading system the needed predictability and certainty.
Additionally, the minister asked for improvement in the transparency of governments’ trade measures, especially, on export prohibitions and restrictions as witnessed during the height of the COVID crisis.
Mr Hammond also called for “special treatment” for developing countries and ensuring that existing flexibilities in agreement on agriculture, were preserved to help confront the challenges of food insecurity and reinvigorate the WTO’s negotiating function.
He said, Ghana would table a proposal for reforms of the WTO at the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13), in Abu Dhabi, in February 2024.
The minister encouraged Dr Nkonjo-Iweala to continue being a role model for Africa, adding that Ghana was ready to support efforts to reform the WTO.
Dr Okonja-Iweala called on Ghana to ratify the agreement on fisheries subsidies by June, this year.
As one of the key stakeholders in the advancement of Africa’s development, she said, it was critical that Ghana urgently ratify the agreement to encourage other African nations to follow suit.
Dr Okonja Iweala noted that, Ghana could benefit from a US$20 million fund, established to support countries that implement obligations under the agreement.
The Graphic reports that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinates safe evacuation of Ghanaian nationals from conflict-ridden Sudan
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has successfully overseen the evacuation of 82 Ghanaian nationals from the Republic of Sudan, amid deadly conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Many countries have been forced to evacuate their citizens due to avoidable casualties in the past week.
In a statement released on Sunday, April 23, the Ministry revealed it was collaborating with its Missions in Cairo, Addis Ababa, and the Honorary Consul in Khartoum to ensure a safe passage out of the conflict-ridden Sudan.
A follow-up statement released on April 25 stated that Ghanaian nationals in the troubled country had been transported to safety in Gedaref, Sudan, and were now awaiting transportation to the Ethiopian border town of Metema for onward repatriation.
The newspaper says that Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) has disclosed that preliminary monitoring report on 58 institutions has estimated that about 22 per cent of their wage bill is unearned salaries.
This development emerged from an ongoing nationwide payroll monitoring exercise to expunge existing anomalies and fraud in the public sector payroll.
The exercise is to save the country an estimated GH¢10 billion annually from unearned salaries.
The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) disclosed this at a consultative meeting with chief directors, coordinating directors and human resource officers at the various outfits under the civil and local government services on the exercise.
The Chief Executive Officer of the FWSC, Benjamin Arthur, said if the figure represented the entire public sector, it would mean that 22 per cent of the wage bill was going into unearned salaries.
“What it means is that the 2022 wage bill was GH¢42.9 billion, so 22 per cent of it is nearly GH¢10 billion. That is huge as we are paying a quarter of wage bill as unearned salaries, knowing very well that we need resources for other sectors of the economy,” he said.
The monitoring exercise forms part of the mandate of FWSC as a government agency per FWSC Act, 2007 (Act 737), to develop and monitor allowances and benefits, as well as co-ordinate, manage and monitor collective bargaining processes in which government is the direct or indirect employer.
GIK/APA