APA – Accra (Ghana)
The appeal to the management of Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) by the Minister of Public Enterprises, Joseph Cudjoe, to scale up the use of creativity and digitalisation to keep up with the market trend and shift in the paradigm of accessing news is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Tuesday.
The Graphic reports that the Minister of Public Enterprises, Joseph Cudjoe, has advised the management of Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) to scale up the use of creativity and digitalisation to keep up with the market trend and shift in the paradigm of accessing news.
He said people could now access information through technology-based devices such as smartphones and laptops, and that tapping into technology would increase the possibilities of reaching diverse audiences for improved incomes.
“The demand for news has not gone down; in fact, it is on the rise. People always want to read or know what is next. The channel to access it is what has shifted; it is now in the digital space, which is in the palm through devices such as mobile phones.
“The question is how do we drive the physical products that we have to fit into the new demand trend? The constraints are real, and I am happy you are aware of it; it is the content that attracts readership and this drives the money,” the minister said.
He gave the advice when he visited the premises of GCGL yesterday to deepen relations with the company.
Mr Cudjoe further urged the company to pursue debtors, who owed the company large sums of money without fear or favour, adding that the mindset should now be more business-oriented.
The newspaper says that former President John Dramani Mahama has said that when given the nod, the next National Democratic Congress (NDC) government will amend the constitution to enable dual citizens to be able to go to Parliament.
“When NDC comes to power, we are going to clarify that constitutional provision that compels them dual citizens] to give up their foreign citizenship before they contest elections.”
“A country’s human resource is its best resource, and we [Ghana] happen to have about three million of our citizens abroad, they have acquired experience, they have acquired different talents. And why should we have a law that says that if you going to be an MP [Member of Parliament] in Ghana, you must give up your dual citizenship, meanwhile we have a dual citizenship law.
The former president, said the injunction placed on the Member of Parliament for Assin North, Gyekye Quayson, from carrying out himself as a Member of Parliament amounts to “injustice and an affront to Ghana’s democracy which has deprived the constituents of representation in Parliament.”
He made these statements in Tamale where he addressed NDC members as part of his campaign tour in the Northern Region.
“We have seen the cardinal sin of the 4th Republic which is the disenfranchisement of the people of SALL. For one whole term, they have not had a member of parliament. Let’s put that aside, the people of Assin North elected a person to represent them in Parliament. This government has manipulated the judiciary in such a way that they have injuncted the MP for Assin North. So even though he is the elected member, he cannot perform the duties of an MP. That is a gross injustice and an affront to our democracy.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the government has targeted the creation of one million jobs within the next three years through entrepreneurial initiatives to advance the country’s development, Minister of Trade and Industry, K.T Hammond, has stated.
To this end, he said, the government was focused on providing the requisite training to build the entrepreneurial capacity of Ghanaians to enable them to seize income generating opportunities and help address unemployment.
He was speaking in Accra yesterday during a working visit to three training centres providing skills training to entrepreneurs under the Ghana Jobs and Skills Project.
Being implemented by the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), the project formed part of the Youstart Programme introduced last year by the government to build an entrepreneurial population by providing some of the key enablers that make entrepreneurship a success.
The enablers include access to finance and markets, mentorship, strategic partnership and digital linkages, technical assistance and business advisory support service.
About 7,420 participants are being trained in 212 training centres across the country.
In all, the project is expected to train 5,000 Ghanaians in various entrepreneurship levels in 188 districts.
Mr Hammond explained that, Ghana’s unemployment situation had been exacerbated by a growing population, hence the need for entrepreneurial initiatives to create jobs.
He said the government considered the training as necessary to upgrade the skills of the country’s population, to create more and better-quality jobs, and improve job outcomes for the youth.
The newspaper says that the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) posted positive gains in April in spite of the difficult macroeconomic conditions driven by the surge in shares prices of some companies.
The gains made by Benso Oil Palm Plantation (BOPP), with its shares rising by 20.91 per cent, Unilever Ghana Limited (UNIL) by 20.00 per cent, GCB, 1.59 per cent, MTNGH, 0.80 per cent, and GOIL, 0.61 per cent, drove the performance of the Accra bourse, the GSE said in the summary of April’s market activities copied to the Ghanaian Times.
“The GSE posted a year-to-date return of 12.18 per cent despite the fact that the GSE Composite Index, which tracks the performance of all companies on the market, lost 3.87 points during the month of April,” the statement said.
It said the GSE Financial Stock Index lost 48.39 points to extend the year-to-date loss to 14.34 per cent, in response to the latest round of audited full-year 2022 results and unaudited first quarter of 2023 figures released by major banks.
On the equities market, cumulative volume of 186,888,644 shares were traded on the GSE in April valued at GH₵206, 364,155.69, and represents a decrease of 51.55 per cent and 49.55 per cent of shares traded in the same period last year.
In April last year, a total of 385,720,542 shares were traded and valued at GH₵409, 022,611.04.
“The volume and value of shares traded in April were 5,543,856 and GH₵7, 315,977.28 respectively, both down by 94.72 per cent and 93.17 per cent compared to the same period last year,” the GSE stated.
In March 2023, a total of 173,658.609 were traded and valued at GH₵167, 969,700.48.
Highlighting the performance of the Ghana Fixed Income Market, the GSE said the month closed with a total volume trade of GH₵ 5.71 billion, representing an increase of 2.51 per cent compared to the total volume trade in the previous month, and a decline of 67.88 per cent compared to the same period last year.
“The cumulative volume traded from January to April 2023 of 30.47 billion was a 62.77 per cent dip from the GH₵ 81.85 billion traded in the same period last year,” the GSE noted.
GIK/APA
Press spotlights Minister’s appeal to media to scale up operations with creative minds, others
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