APA – Accra (Ghana)
The report that Ghana has regained its status as the largest gold producer on the African continent, surpassing South Africa, according to the President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Graphic reports that Ghana has regained its status as the largest gold producer on the African continent, surpassing South Africa, according to the President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines.
The country experienced a remarkable 32% surge in gold production last year, marking a significant rebound after a notable decline in output.
In 2021, Ghana yielded its leading position to South Africa due to a sharp drop in production levels.
However, the tables have turned, with Ghana’s gold output soaring to 3.7 million ounces in 2022, up from 2.8 million ounces the previous year.
This remarkable growth can be attributed to increased production in both the large-scale and small-scale sectors.
During the annual general meeting, Joshua Mortoti, the President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, highlighted the extraordinary achievement: “The large-scale gold sub-sector achieved its highest output in the country’s history in 2022.”
He further explained that a combination of heightened production and the expansion of existing mines contributed to a 13% rise in the large-scale sector’s contribution to the national gold output, reaching 3.1 million ounces last year compared to 2.7 million ounces in 2021.
The newspaper says that in a recent announcement, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has revealed that starting in July 2023, newborn babies will be issued Ghana Card numbers at hospitals across Ghana.
This move comes after the successful integration of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Ghana Health Service (GHS), and Births and Deaths Registry databases.
During his address at the New Patriotic Party (NPP) International Women’s Conference in London on June 10, 2022, the Vice President assured attendees that measures have been taken to combat issues such as fake birth certificates, bureaucracy, and corruption at the Births and Deaths Registry.
By digitalizing the processes and linking the systems of the Births and Deaths Registry, Ghana Health Service, and NIA, the Vice President aims to streamline the issuance of Ghana Cards from birth.
Dr. Bawumia stated, “I have not yet announced in Ghana, I’m happy to announce that the integration of the database of the NIA, GHS, and the Births and Deaths Registry is complete. So from next month, when a child is born in Ghana, we will issue the Ghana Card number right from birth.”
It is important to note that the National Identification Authority has already registered over 17 million Ghanaians in its system, demonstrating the progress made in this area.
The plan as earlier mentioned by the Vice President is that, the child grows up, the biometrics would be taken and linked to the Ghana Card number issued at birth.
The Ghanaian Times reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Friday called on Ghanaians to take up active roles in preserving the country’s forest cover to promote healthy and sustainable environment.
He explained that, recent threats to Ghana’s forest including illegal mining, wildfires and deforestation, required the conscious efforts of all the citizenry in protecting what was left and planting and nurturing new trees.
Speaking at this year’s Green Ghana Day in Accra on Friday, he said, the government had taken a lead role by implementing specific initiatives such as Green Ghana Day to mobilise all Ghanaians towards restoring Ghana’s lost forest cover.
This year’s event, which is on the theme “Our Forest, Our Health,” is targeting to plant 10 million trees across the country.
“The Green Ghana Day is a clarion call on us all to preserve our forest for our survival by planting and nurturing trees. We have to do this with a sense of urgency and renewed purpose
We plant and nurture the trees in the spirit of nationalism, solidarity and love for all in a healthy environment,” President Akufo-Addo added.
He said, the importance of forest in good health emphasises the need for Ghana to deal with the drivers of climate change and promote sustainable environmental practices.
He noted that climate change was responsible for current environmental and agricultural challenges including droughts, crop failures, loss of water sources and diseases, which if not curtailed, could push many Ghanaians into poverty.
Despite Ghana’s limited contribution to the causes of climate change, he said, the country was vulnerable to the impact of climate change adding that the development impacts negatively on livelihoods and impede developmental efforts.
As part of initiatives, President Akufo-Addo said Ghana had updated its nationally determined contribution under the Paris Agreement from 2020 to 2030, considering its unique circumstances to affirm the country’s resolve to address the impacts of climate change on the economy and its vulnerable people.
He noted that, the country had designed 47 adaptation and mitigation programmes of action to help cut carbon emissions by 64 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) by 2030.
The newspaper says that a flagbearer hopeful of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has told world leaders and captains of industry to divert a chunk of their investments into Ghana and Africa’s agricultural sector for good returns.
Ghana and Africa, he noted, were the world’s biggest hope for global food security by 2050, hence an investment in the continent’s agricultural sector was the surest bet one could ever make on investment.
He, therefore, assured them of Ghana and for that matter the rest of Africa’s readiness to provide them with the conducive and enabling environment for their investment.
“Ghana and Africa are ready to receive your investment in this era of our agricultural transformation,” he noted.
Delivering a keynote address as the special guest of honour at the African Investors Council Forum in Turkey on Tuesday, under the theme ‘Agricultural Development and Investment Opportunities in Africa (Ghana as a case study)’, Dr Akoto said Ghana and Africa possessed the greatest potentials to feeding 9.7 billion people globally by 2050.
According to Dr Akoto, despite the impacts of COVID-19 and climate change on agricultural production as well as political unrest across the continent, macroeconomic instability, and the raging debt crisis that many African governments face, the agricultural sector offered immense and significant opportunities for transforming Africa’s economy from a net importer of food to the provider of food to the rest of the world.
According to analysis by McKsiney, if agricultural development gets the necessary financial investment, smallholders across Africa could produce two to three times more cereals and gains. In turn, this would add 20 per cent more cereals and grains to the current worldwide annual output of 2.6 billion tonnes.
Zeroing in on Ghana as the best destination of choice for investors, the former Food and Agricultural Minister highlighted the strong foundation he has laid for the West African nation’s agricultural sector, combining policies with regulations to achieve sustained rapid economic growth.
GIK/APA
Press zooms in on report that Ghana reclaims Africa’s top gold producer position, others
