The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the Ghanaian government with the government of Spain to create about 1 million jobs in the tourism industry value chain in the next three years is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government of Spain to create about 1 million jobs in the tourism industry value chain in the next three years.
The MoU, which forms part of the strategies adopted by the government through the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture,is targeting about $5 billion annually as proceeds from the industry and two million tourists as well.
The Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr. Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, yesterday signed the MoU on behalf of the government in Accra, while MarCassanovaLlorene,in charge of International Affairs for Incyde Foundation, signed for the people of Spain.
Present at the signing were a delegation from the Spanish Embassy in Ghana, led by the Ambassador, Mr Javier Gutierrez; the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Mr Mark Okraku Mantey, and directors at the Ministry.
Dr Awal said tourism was a dynamic economic sector which had the potential to create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth in the country.
He noted that Spain has a population of 40 million with about 80 million tourists visiting the country yearly, adding, “Ghana is committed to learning from their experiences to boost our tourism industry.”
The newspaper says that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo has heaped praises on the Member of Parliament for the Bantama Constituency, Francis Asenso Boakye and Wembley Sports Construction Company Limited for providing a recreational facility for the benefit of youth the area.
The President as part of a four-day tour of the Ashanti Region, inaugurated an astro turf facility at the Bantama Cocoase Basic School which was built through the efforts of the Works and Housing Minister and constructed by Wembley Sports.
“Your efforts are exemplary and I urged others to take a cue from you”, the President said as he patted Wembley Sports CEO Robert Coleman on the back and encouraged him to continue the social impact project
President Akufo-Addo expressed the confidence that many global icons would be unearthed with the provision of the ultra-modern facilities.
As part of the ceremony, the President was presented with an autographed Tottenham Hotspur jersey by Mr. Coleman and in a reciprocal gesture, he also autographed a football for Wembley Sports CEO.
The project financed by the National Lotteries Authority and constructed by Wembley Sports Construction Company Limited comes with a full sized pitch, flood lights, changing rooms, offices and a 500 capacity spectator stand.
The Ghanaian Times also reports that the National Service Secretariat (NSS) has deployed 81,081 graduates to various institutions across the country to begin their one-year mandatory national service from Monday, October 11, 2021.
It has, however, put on hold the placement of some prospective service personnel for the 2021/2022 service year,following discrepancies detected intheir online registration details.
A statement issued by Osei Assibey Antwi, NSS Acting Executive Director, in Accra yesterday asked the prospective personnelto visit the NSS website for confirmation of their placement and have their letters of appointment endorsed.
It directed that all posting registration processes should be completed by Friday, November 5, 2021.
On those whose posting had been withheld, it said notifications had already been sent to the affected personnel, and they were to visit any regional office of the scheme with a copy ofthe enrollment forms, student ID, any national ID and a soft copy of their passport picture saved with their NSS number as file name to clear them for posting.
As part of measures to minimise large crowds at the registration centres, the statement, said all posted national service personnel were required to schedule an appointment online and visit the registration centres on the scheduled date and time for validation with strict adherence to the COVID-19 protocol guidelines.
“This is a special provision implemented to facilitate service registration following the delay in the release of the postings in the wake of COVID-19”, the statement said.
The newspaper says that the Mental Health Authority (MHA) is set to institute a review tribunal to uphold the rights of persons suffering mental health disorders in the country.
The establishment of the tribunal, in line with the Mental Health Act 2012 (Act 846), is expected to improve general mental healthcare in the country and reduce the incidence of abuse, discrimination and inequalities against the mentally-challenged persons in the society.
The Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the MHA, Dr. Caroline Amissah, said: “Our Act mandates us to institute visiting committees all over the country to visit mental health facilities to assess the kind of care given to mentally-challenged persons but in cases where they find persons being subjected to abuse, what are the avenues for redress? So, these are some of the issues we hope the tribunal will address.
“The review tribunal is sort of a mini-court that will deal with cases bordering on mental health. So far, we have a technical working group in place to oversee and guide the work of investment in mental health. What we are waiting for now is to have our board in place so that members of the tribunal can be inaugurated to handle these cases with the exigency they need.”
Dr Amissah made this known in Accra yesterday at a media launch of this year’s Mental Health Week to be marked on the theme: ‘Mental Health in an unequal world’.
The week-long celebration marked in October every year raises awareness of mental health issues around the world for the purposes of mobilizing efforts in supporting mental health delivery.
The MHA has outlined activities, including community sensitization, youth engagement and seminars countrywide, to mark the week.
GIK/APA