APA – Accra (Ghana)
The call by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on the international community to send a stronger message and deterrent actions against coup makers in Africa is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on the international community to send a stronger message and deterrent actions against coup makers in Africa.
Stating that coups were not the solutions to Africa’s problems, the President called for adequate preventive measures to stop them, and when they occurred, they must be met with collective and effective deterrence and bold actions.
President Akufo-Addo made the call when he delivered the keynote address at a side-event organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, last Friday.
He stated that there were those who still hankered after authoritarian, personal rule because they claimed Africa was underdeveloped, and democracy cumbersome, and as such they needed to get things done in a hurry.
Referring to the 2019 Annual Risk of Coup Report, he indicated that Africa had experienced more coup d’états than any other continent, describing it as “an unsavoury statistic”.
President Akufo-Addo noted that political instability dominated much of the early decades of Ghana’s life as an independent nation, with the country becoming notorious for sampling every and any type of political experiment.
Taking a deeper look at Ghana, the President said, “The one-party-state of the First Republic was overthrown in our first military coup, and the Second and Third Republics, which were practising democratic governance, were also overthrown by coup d’états.
“My father, President of the Second Republic, was overthrown some 51 years ago, on 13th January, 1972. Kutu Acheampong’s coup brought his stay in office to an end,” he said.
The newspaper says that Christian Astu may not have realised how much he was loved and just how much he touched people’s lives during his playing career.
From the moment it was announced he had gone missing in the aftermath of the massive earthquake that hit Turkey and until his lifeless body was pulled out of the rubble last Saturday, it became clear the Ghana international and Hatayspor forward had a special place in the hearts of the football world.
There was an outpouring of emotional tributes by the football world and other leading personalities such as President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his predecessor, John Dramani Mahama. From a minute’s silence observed before last English Premier League and the domestic matches in Ghana last weekend, the late star was eulogised not just for his immense football talents but also as a great personality who used his star power and resources to touch many lives, especially the underprivileged.
Last Saturday, President Akufo-Addo extended his condolences to Atsu’s widow, children, his family and said Ghana football had lost “one of its finest personnel and ambassadors, one who will be difficult to replace”. He will be sorely missed.
Former President Mahama described Atsu as “such a great personality who excelled in all stages of his football career, raising the flag of Ghana high on the world map”.
Jordan Ayew, while warming up for Crystal Palace’s clash with Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium, wore an inner vest emblazoned with ‘RIP Atsu’ in memory of his former Black Stars teammate.
Ghana’s poster boy, Mohammed Kudus, celebrated his goal for Ajax in their 4-0 victory over Sparta Rotterdam in Amsterdam yesterday, removing his jersey to expose an inner vest with the inscription ‘RIP Atsu’.
Atsu, 31, may have left his Turkish side heartbroken and teary, but his last moments as a footballer was heroic as he scored a brilliant, match-winning free-kick for Hatayspor against their opponents, Kasimpasa, in the battle against relegation.
In a tribute, Atsu’s club called him “a beautiful person”, saying there were “no words to describe our sadness.”
The Ghanaian Times reports that a Collaboration between the downstream petroleum unit of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Customs Division, and Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML), a revenue and assurance audit firm, has saved the country GH¢ 3 billion in petroleum revenue from June 2020 to June 2022.
Since the introduction of the technology, the average volume per month recorded by SML metres for the white product is 400 million litres, which has resulted in extra revenue for the government.
Mr Christian Tetteh Sottie, Managing Director for SML Ghana, who disclosed this, said the collaboration was helping the GRA to meet and exceed its annual targets.
He was speaking at a stakeholder engagement held in Tema last week with the leadership of the downstream petroleum unit of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Customs Division to discuss new initiatives and solicit opinions on how both sides can improve the successes chalked and further improve the country’s revenues. This meeting forms part of regular stakeholder engagements.
The GRA, last year, mobilised GH¢75.5 billion domestic revenue, which is GH¢3.60 billion more than it was tasked to collect. The collection was a five per cent increase over last year’s target of GH¢71.94 billion.
The feat also meant the domestic revenue the GRA mobilised was 31.5 per cent more than what was collected in 2021. The Customs Division, which includes the petroleum downstream sector, collected GH¢22.26 billion as against a target of GH¢20.20 billion, also exceeding the target by GH¢2.06 billion.
The stakeholder engagement brought together the various Customs heads in charge of downstream petroleum depots across the country’s 16 regions.
SML Ghana took the Customs officials through the latest technologies such as scanning of way bills and purchase orders, and reconciling them with metre volumes at the depots in real time and introduction of level sensors to monitor, manage, and measure the petroleum stocks.
The newspaper says that Ghana and the United Kingdom (UK) have renewed their commitment to biodiversity protection and preservation.
This was the outcome at the Nature Action – Private Sector Mobilisation Event, organised by the government of the United Kingdom in London last Friday, to catalyse and demonstrate delivery of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is a landmark international agreement adopted at the 15th session of the Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15.2), held in Montreal, Canada.
The Framework seeks to galvanise urgent and transformative action by governments, subnational and local governments, and with the involvement of all of society, to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, and contribute to the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Protocols.
Despite its importance to human well-being and a healthy planet, the world’s biodiversity is deteriorating at unprecedented rates, posing serious threat to survival people worldwide.
The event, therefore, brought together governments, indigenous peoples, private sector and civil society to support delivery of the Framework’s 10-point Plan for financing biodiversity and shift towards a nature and climate positive economy.
Speaking at the event, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel A. Jinapor, said the government of Ghana was fully committed to biodiversity protection and preservation for a healthy planet.
He said biodiversity provided the country with so many benefits, including food, medicine, energy, clean air and water, security from natural disasters as well as recreation and cultural inspiration.
Mr Jinapor said biodiversity loss was synonymous to forest and wildlife loss, which constitutes a huge ecosystem of varying fauna and flora, and Ghana’s commitment to halt forest and wildlife loss includes a commitment to protect the world’s biodiversity.
According to the Minister, the Global Biodiversity Framework aligns with the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forest and Land Use, which Ghana signed at COP26 in 2021.
He said Ghana endorses the 10-point Plan of the Global Biodiversity Framework, and was committed to work with other governments and partners to protect and conserve biodiversity.
He called on the developed countries to work with developing countries to protect the world’s forests and biodiversity.
Using the cocoa value chain as an example, Mr Jinapor said although the value of the chocolate industry was over $130 billion, Ghana and Ivory Coast, which produced over 60 per cent of the cocoa used in the chocolate industry, got less than five per cent of the value of the chocolate market.
GIK/APA