Business24 Newspaper 11th December, 2020

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FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2020

NO. B24 / 138 | NEWS FOR BUSINESS LEADERS

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2020

Akufo-Addo vows to restore growth

Inflation back to single digit

By Joshua Worlasi Amlanu macjosh1922@gmail.com

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or a fourth consecutive month, consumer inflation has slowed, reaching a single digit in November, although still above the pre-COVID-19 level.

November inflation was 9.8 percent, which is 0.3 percentage points (ppts) lower than the October rate of 10.1 percent.

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EC to issue report on procurement processes

By Eugene Davis

President Akufo-Addo

By Nii Annerquaye Abbey annerquaye@gmail.com

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resident Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has vowed to restore economic growth to preCovid-19 levels, after he was declared winner of the closely-

contested December 7 polls.

“My immediate task will be to continue with the process of reversing the effects COVID-19 has had on our economy and on our lives, and put the nation on course for full economic recovery and development,” he said in his victory speech at

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his residence in Accra.

“Before the pandemic struck, Ghana, in recent years, was one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. I give you my word, we will regain this reputation,” he added.

BRENT CRUDE $/BARREL

POLICY RATE

14.5%

NATURAL GAS $/MILLION BTUS

GHANA REFERENCE RATE

15.12%

GOLD $/TROY OUNCE

OVERALL FISCAL DEFICIT

11.4% OF GDP

PROJECTED GDP GROWTH RATE AVERAGE PETROL & DIESEL PRICE:

0.9% GHC 5.13

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he Electoral Commission (EC) boss, Jean Mensa, says the commission will release a report on its procurement processes and savings made to date.

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Editorial / News

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2020

Editorial

A united Ghana is a must!

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his paper will like to extend its heartfelt congratulations to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for being declared the winner of the 2020 presidential elections.

Also, the Electoral Commission deserves some credit for the largely peaceful manner in which the election was conducted.

Notwithstanding the isolated cases of violence in some constituencies, the elections were generally peaceful.

Unlike the results of the 2016 elections, this year’s outcome appears more closely contested.

While on the face of it could signal that the deepening of our democracy, on the other hand, it reveals the inherent polarization of our society.

The President won the elections

with over 6.7 million votes. His close contender, John Mahama, secured about 6.2 million – which is the biggest votes accumulated by a losing candidate and even bigger than Akufo-Addo’s tally in 2016.

The results of the parliamentary elections also indicate a similar sharp division where the two parties – New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) -- are almost neck to neck in terms of seats won.

The President does not only have a tough job of restoring economic growth but he faces the arduous task of uniting the nation. His opponents are already resisting the outcome of the elections. This bears semblance to the President’s own action eight years when he challenged the results of the elections in the

Supreme Court.

There is no doubt that the challenge on the legitimacy of the president would take a toll on his government just as the former President Mahama found out after the election petition dragged for more than eight months.

As the father of the nation, his cardinal responsibility is to govern as a President and unite the millions of Ghanaians who did not vote for him. He must also deliver sustainable economic goodies.

At the end of the day, if the President discharges his duties well, Ghanaians become the ultimate winner and not just his party.

God bless Ghana.

our

homeland

Akufo-Addo vows to restore growth Continued from cover

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In the past three years, economic growth has hovered above six percent, making the country one of the high flyers in the sub-region. Other key macroeconomic indicators were trending in the direction the government wanted, with inflation in single digit at the start of 2020.

But the onset of the pandemic put the economy at a low ebb—the projected growth of 1.9 percent would be the lowest in more than 30 years—with the budget deficit, occasioned by unplanned expenditure and huge revenue shortfalls, expected to reach 11.4 percent of GDP, which would be one of the largest in the country’s history.

President Akufo-Addo, who will be sworn in for his second term on January 7, 2021, will have to first navigate the rising deficit and ballooning public debt to execute a raft of campaign promises.

The President, who came to power four years ago on the

back of ambitious promises to transform the economy, create jobs and deliver his flagship free Senior High School (SHS) policy, faced severe budget constraints throughout his term, owing to revenue underperformance.

Although he succeeded in implementing some of his promises, the small revenue envelope proved difficult to square with the ambitious spending pledges in his first term.

Having won his reelection bid, President Akufo-Addo has to work assiduously to grow the economy to generate sustainable jobs to ameliorate the plight of Ghanaians caught on the wrong side of the pandemic storm.

Disputed election The flagbearer of the largest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress, has disputed the results of the December 7 polls. On Thursday, John Dramani Mahama alleged that the Electoral Commission had rigged the election for the incumbent.

Mr. Mahama vowed to pursue all legitimate steps to have the results declared by the commission overturned.

Under Ghana’s constitution, he has 21 days since the declaration to challenge the results in the Supreme Court, if he decides to do so.

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FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2020

Inflation back to single digit Continued from cover Inflation, which stood at 7.8 percent in March, rose to a peak of 11.4 percent in July because of COVID-related disruptions to supply and panic demand for food items.

Data released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) attributed the fall in inflation to a 0.9-percentage-point fall in food inflation to 11.7 percent. The food group contributed 53 percent to the total inflation and remains the predominant driver of yearon-year inflation.

Non-food inflation remained unchanged at 8.3 percent.

According to Databank Research, the sustained drop in inflation is favourable for the continued dovish stance of monetary policy to support the post-COVID economic recovery.

“With a projected double-digit budget deficit and debt ratio above 70 percent in 2020, we perceive limited scope for additional fiscal stimulus in 2021 to strengthen the economic recovery. In view of the

fiscal constraint, we believe the drop in inflation strengthens the case for extended support from Bank of Ghana, using all available options in the monetary policy tool kit,” it said.

The bank further stated that the quick reversal in inflation to the central bank’s target range of 6 to 10 percent underscores the view that inflation expectations

are well anchored.

“This is underpinned by the steady improvement in monetary policy credibility, restored under the 2015–2019 IMF programme and largely maintained postreforms.”

The investment bank however cautioned that the lagged effect of the sharp growth in money supply during the fourth quarter

could pose an upside risk to inflation from December to the first quarter of 2021.

“We believe the firmly anchored inflation expectations, coupled with the excess capacity in the economy’s supply side, could cap the upside risks. We thus project headline inflation to close 2020 at 9.8 percent in December,” it said.

EC to issue report on procurement processes Continued from cover Speaking at the commission’s headquarters on Wednesday to declare the results of the 2020 presidential elections, she announced that 95 percent of the commission’s procurement for the 2020 election was done through an open, competitive tender process.

“We can be proud of the fact that more than 95 percent of our procurement for the 2020 election was done through an open, competitive tender process as opposed to sole sourcing and restricted tendering, as was the case in the past.

This no doubt ensured value for money in all our processes. At the right time, the commission will share with you a report on its procurement processes and savings made to date,” she said.

Furthermore, she revealed that for the first time in the country’s history, the election was funded without donor assistance, maintaining that “we put our resources to prudent use”.

The technology deployed on Election Day worked effectively and efficiently, she said.

“Voters all over the country have testified to a pleasant and

seamless experience at their respective polling stations. We must be proud that it took, in many instances, 3-5 minutes for the average voter to be verified and to vote.”

Before the election, the EC had revealed that it spent GH₵151m on the procurement of brand new biometric verification devices, which had an initial budget of GH₵161m.

The commission thus realised savings of GH₵10m on the procurement.

Monday’s poll was conducted in 38,622 polling stations across the country and in 275 constituencies.

President Nana Akufo-Addo won with 51.6 percent of the vote, beating John Dramani Mahama, who obtained 47.4 percent.

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Port security agencies hold interoperability drills

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ecurity agencies working within Ghana’s port enclave have undertaken an intensive exercise that was aimed at assessing the level coordination of the nation’s security apparatus as well as identify gaps to improve on towards an impenetrable port.

The interagency security exercise dubbed “dukadaya” was also to satisfy requirements of the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS) which prescribes responsibilities for relevant stakeholders of the various ports across the globe.

The allied participating security institutions including the GPHA Security, Ghana Navy, the army, the Marine Police, and National Security, engaged in some simulation exercises such as stowaway detection and disembarkation and how to nullify improvised explosive devices (IED).

The team also worked on narcotic interceptions during rummaging activities by the K9 Team, diffusion of potential insurgencies in the port space etc.

Tema Port Security Manager, Col. William Kwabiah, explained that such activities are important for his outfit as they seek to identify certain weaknesses

inherent in the security structures so as to give room for corrective measures.

“We have been able to identify some of the inter-agency gaps we need to bridge so I am very satisfied with the exercise,” he said.

He continued by explaining the choice of certain simulation exercises that did enough to mimic realistic scenarios which tested the effectiveness of the

security personnel.

Chairman of the Port Facility Security Coordinating Committee and Harbour Master for the Tema Port, Capt. Francis Kwesi Micah, expressed pleasure at the success of the exercise which enabled the allied security group know their capabilities in containing some of the situations.

He stressed the need for improved communication skills among the agencies.

“We importantly had to try show off our capabilities by containing the situation through our communication skills,” he said.

He said consistency in such exercises would continue to enhance the capabilities of the national security apparatus responsible for the protection of the highly vital national economic assets.

Simbox and international voice call refilling fraudsters busted some of their numbers were being overseeing the illegal activity has in collaborative efforts used to carry out international since been arrested and will be

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he Greater Accra Regional Police Command together with the National Communications Authority (NCA) and Kelni GVG on Thursday, 26th November, 2020 intercepted the operations of an International Voice Call Refilling business, an illegal phenomenon similar to SIM-boxing.

The raid on the site located off Spintex Road in Accra, led to the confiscation of equipment used in terminating international calls as local calls. The equipment included routers, switches, servers, laptops and monitors amongst others.

Earlier, the NCA had received a complaint from AirtelTigo that

call refilling fraud and further investigations by the joint NCA/ Kelni GVG/Ghana Police team confirmed the illegal operations at the said location. This led to a search following which the setup comprising the equipment mentioned earlier was discovered and confiscated.

An individual suspected to be

arraigned before court to assist in investigations. A similar illegal operation (SIM Box) at Anloga in the Kumasi Metropolis was uncovered on 7th November, 2020 by the Ashanti Regional Police Command together with the representatives from the NCA and Kelni GVG. One suspect was arrested and SIM Box equipment, mobile phones, laptops, internet routers, over 200 used and unused SIM cards and a money transfer receipt suspected to be proceeds from the illegal operations were seized.

The suspect has since been granted bail. In January and February this year, arrests were made at the Premier Towers in Accra and Tema Community 11 respectively, following routine SIM Box monitoring by the Antifraud Team. Similarly, SIM Box equipment and hundreds of SIM cards were confiscated. The suspects have been arraigned before the Accra High Court.

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FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2020

Huawei TrustInTech Summit 2020: Shared Prosperity Enabled by Trust in Technology and Open Collaboration

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uawei hosted its second annual TrustInTech Summit, which was attended by ICT industry experts, academia and economists from around the world. Speakers included Huawei’s Executive Director of the Board and President of the Carrier Business Group, Ryan Ding, international investor Jim Rogers, GSMA CMO Stephanie Lynch-Habib, and others. Focusing on the new challenges the world faced in 2020, the Summit highlighted ICT’s critical role as the key digital infrastructure to support societal wellbeing and economic recovery. Given the rising trend of technology decoupling, the Summit emphasized the need to embrace open collaboration, as well as the call to defeat the unnecessary fear of adopting new technologies.

In 2020, ICT played a vital role in resuming work and production during the pandemic. Meanwhile, 2020 has witnessed the exponential growth of 5G business applications. Global consultancy firm STL Partners estimated that 5G-enabled scenarios will raise the global GDP by US$1.4 trillion by 2030.

At the Summit, STL Partners co-founder Chris Barraclough stressed the transformative role of 5G in manufacturing, energy, and healthcare sectors. Huawei Enterprise’s digital transformation expert Edwin Diender also concurred, explaining the role of how 5G, AI, big data, and cloud computing pushed for faster drug screening and diagnosis, intelligent monitoring, and remote working and education during the pandemic.

GSMA CMO Stephanie LynchHabib shared that 5G’s rollout in 2020 brought over 100 5G networks in 47 countries, and some regions are leading in making 5G a mature application.

5G will influence consumeroriented industries such as e-commerce, as well as boosting innovative services like virtual reality and augmented reality.

Standard network slicing models and edge computing will provide high reliability, low latency, high throughput, and service customization. “Our working groups are continually supporting and enhancing global standards,” stressed Lynch-Habib.

During the virtual, live streamed event, Huawei Carrier

Business Group CTO Paul Scanlan called 2020 a ‘Sputnik’ moment.

“Similar to how the first manmade satellite Sputnik was

in the 19th century, as there was fear for automated production, factories were destroyed. As the events in 2020 led to more

Ryan Ding, Executive Director of the Board, President of Carrier BG, Huawei

successfully launched in 1957, bringing humanity into the age of space exploration, as 5G matured in 2020, everything changed,” said Scanlan. “The industry began to accelerate 5G adoption, offering spectrum discounts, innovating business models, and driving industry transformation.

That’s never happened in the last 10 years.”Several guests at

isolation and nationalism, there’s been a rise against transnational cooperation, and more countries are closing their doors and decoupling from each other over technology.

“Anybody taking a unilateral approach to anything, certainly to technology and economics, are going to have problems,” said

world as seen throughout history.

Professor Jin Keyu of the London School of Economics also echoed during the Summit, “[In today’s world], it’s less about competition, rivalry, and substitution, and more about collaboration, complementarity, and cooperation.”

At the end of the summit, Ryan Ding, Huawei’s Executive Director of the Board and President of the Carrier Business Group, emphasized that an open and trusted ecosystem is required for everyone to share the prosperity brought by technology. To do so, the ICT industry needs to continue adopting unified technical and security standards.

Given the current complex geopolitical environment, he stressed, “Politics should stay away from technical issues. We need to remain fair and open to

Jim Rogers, International Investor

Stephanie Lynch-Habib, GSMA Chief Marketing

the event commented on early adoption and major technological breakthroughs by saying there has always been a mistrust and fear of new things. For example, during the Industrial Revolution

international investor Jim Rogers. “Foreign policy should be around opening. We need to avoid protectionism, especially in technology.” He also said that protectionism was bad for the

drive technological cooperation.

Industry cooperation is not a zero-sum game. If an isolated approach is adopted now, while new technology is unlocking social and business value at a faster rate, the victim will not be one company.”

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FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2020

Tony Elumelu Foundation, EU partner to transform economic empowerment of African women

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he Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), Africa’s leading philanthropy committed to empowering young African entrepreneurs, has announced a partnership with the European Union to identify, train, mentor and fund 2,500 young African women entrepreneurs in 2021.

The partnership will disburse €20 million in financial and technical support for womenowned businesses, across all 54 African countries, in addition to providing increased access to market linkages, supply chains and venture capital investments.

The joint initiative will significantly strengthen and deepen the EU-Africa partnership, builds on the platform and experience of the US$100m TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, and forms part of the EU External Investment Plan to support women economic empowerment within the EU Gender Action Plan (GAP III).

Commenting on the landmark partnership, Tony Elumelu, Founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation said “We are delighted to partner with the European Union, sharing our unique ability to identify, train, mentor and fund young entrepreneurs across Africa.

This joint effort will prioritise and provide economic opportunities for African women, whom for too long have endured systemic obstacles to starting,

growing and sustaining their businesses.

Our partnership will alleviate the funding, knowledge and market constraints threatening the livelihoods of women entrepreneurs on the continent, to create more income, jobs, growth and scale for womenowned businesses.”

The EU Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, said “This partnership with the Tony Elumelu Foundation will help women participants in economic development, realise their full potential and accelerate economic inclusion.

Empowering women entrepreneurs is a key driver for sustainable jobs and growth, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and in line with the objectives of our African Strategy. Women and girls represent half of the world’s population and they deserve equal opportunities.”

The Tony Elumelu Foundation, which marks ten years of

impact this year, is empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, catalysing economic growth, driving poverty eradication and ensuring job creation across all 54 African countries. The Foundation has trained, mentored and funded nearly 10,000 young African entrepreneurs from 54 African countries, and continues to provide capacity-building support, advisory and market linkages to over 1 million Africans through its digital networking platform, TEFConnect.

TEF’s female success stories include Joyce Awojoodu, from Nigeria, who launched a luxury botanically based product line and spa clinic in Lagos, in 2015. The brand ORÍKÌ, caters to both men and women, and strictly uses raw materials and natural ingredients from Africa.

Awojoodu’s favourite element of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme was the mentorship, which she described as “phenomenal” and “invaluable” for ORÍKÌ.

In her own words, “each Tef Entrepreneur was assigned a mentor and I could not have asked for a better one. TEF connected us.

Now the mentorship continues, and I know I will always have an ear to share my thoughts about the business with a person who can also offer advice”.

Mavis Mduchwa, an agribusiness entrepreneur from Botswana, founded Chabana Farms, a poultry farm providing training and work for unemployed young people.

Even though agriculture accounts for 32% of Africa’s gross domestic product, landownership and access to land remains a significant challenge for many farmers, especially women.

According to Mduchwa, “in Botswana, about 80% of people survive on agriculture, and many of them are women. But, if as a women you want to turn it into a business, you have a challenge of finding land.” Mduchwa has used the seed capital and training from TEF to significantly expand her operations.

World Bank grants US$60m to help strengthen agricultural Bank’s commitment at the 2019 information about effective sector’s resilience in Africa United Nations Climate Summit response measures, farmers and

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he World Bank Board of Directors today approved a US$60 million International Development Association (IDA)

grant to help African countries strengthen the resilience of their agricultural sectors to the threat posed by climate change.

The grant fulfils the World

to increase its support to the CGIAR, a global partnership that unites international organizations engaged in research about food security, to help advance agricultural research efforts for the benefit of rural households that rely on agriculture as a major livelihood source, and to increase food security.

Through the new operation --Accelerating the Impact of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa project, AICCRA—the World Bank will support research and capacity-building activities carried out by the CGIAR centers and partner organizations, with the goal of enhancing access to climate information services and validated climate-smart agriculture technologies in Africa.

By gaining better access to climate advisories linked to

livestock keepers will be able to better anticipate climate-related events and take preventative actions that can help to safeguard productive activities and avoid catastrophic losses.

Mobilizing science and innovation for the benefit of agricultural development is consistent with the commitments made during the Africa Food Security Leadership Dialogue (AFSLD), a multi-partner initiative formed in 2019 to deal with the problem of hunger and vulnerability to climate change on the African continent.

The new project responds to the AFSLD call for joint action against hunger in the face of climate change, at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has further increased the vulnerability of millions of households.

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FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2020

Ghana looks to investor-friendly reforms and digital transformation to drive post-pandemic recovery

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hana’s plans to overhaul its regulatory system and establish a one-stop shop for investors as part of broader efforts to boost FDI are explored in a new Covid-19 Response Report (CRR), produced by Oxford Business Group (OBG) in partnership with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC).

The CRR charts the steps taken to enhance Ghana’s business environment by promoting transparency and accountability, which include the launch of an online delivery tracker documenting progress of the government’s infrastructure projects.

Other topical issues examined include the national push to improve food security and selfsufficiency, which have taken on added importance since the arrival of the virus and will be driven forward through largescale agricultural modernisation efforts.

The Covid-19 Alleviation and Revitalisation of Enterprises Support (CARES) programme, an expansive, GHS100bn economic response and development plan, is another key focus of

the report. Aspects of this wideranging, two-phased initiative analysed include the country’s plans to bolster the health care system, boost support for businesses, introduce a national unemployment insurance scheme and provide retraining initiatives.

Ghana’s infrastructure projects and the opportunities they present for investment are also given extensive coverage.

Subscribers will find details of the many major initiatives in the pipeline, led by the sixphase Railway Master Plan, road developments, bridges, hospitals and homes.

The CRR includes interviews with high-profile personalities from across the public and private sectors, including Mahamudu Bawumia, VicePresident of Ghana. In the interview, Bawumia shares his thoughts on the economic sectors most in need of investment, the part that digital solutions will play in transforming Ghana and how the country can leverage its location as the headquarters of the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat.

“We believe our country has

the potential to be a hub in many areas such as petrochemicals, financial services, education and digital services,” he told OBG. “We have achieved a lot in recent years regarding digital services in particular. We are now at a stage where we have all infrastructure in place and will be connecting it in 2021 to achieve a fully interconnected system across the country.”

Yofi Grant, the CEO of GIPC, added that “with the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement set to commence in January 2021, our strategy will be geared towards impact investment and targeting investors in sectors that will give Ghana the competitive advantage needed in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

Karine Loehman, OBG’s Managing Director for Africa, said that while fallout from the pandemic had weighed heavily on Ghana, exacerbated by declining oil prices and significant global trade reductions, a survey of C-suite business executives in the country conducted by OBG in September and featured in the CRR suggested companies were resuming their operations and

upbeat about the future.

“With a combined 63% of companies already operating at or above 60% capacity, 79% of business leaders expected their company to be operating above those levels by January 2021,” she said. “Company revenue forecasts for the next 12 months are also encouraging, with 40% of respondents expecting returns to be steady and 25% indicating higher or much higher revenues.”

The CRR forms part of a series of tailored reports which the global research and advisory company is currently producing with its partners, alongside other highly relevant, go-to research tools, including a range of country-specific Covid-19 Economic Impact Assessment articles and interviews.

The CRR is now available to view and download at: https://oxfordbusinessgroup. com/blog/souhir-mzali/focusreports/report-how-has-ghanaresponded-covid-19-pandemic Click here to subscribe to Oxford Business Group’s latest content: http://www.oxfordbusinessgroup. com/country-reports

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FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2020

Digital Education in Ghana

By Richard Kafui Amanfu

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igital literacy as a fourth literacy has become necessary to talk about in education and eLearning.

Although reading, writing, and mathematics are respected as the basis of being literate, literacy in this day is not complete if a person is not capable of accessing and creating digital information.

Education as an important vehicle drives the economic development and human welfare of a nation. It is important to note that the changing educational environment, the diverse educational needs of students, the high expectations from the public, the work environment, and periodic policy reports demand educational change not only at the education system level but also at the school-based level in local and international contexts.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and digital literacy have the potential to transform our economies and systems of education. Therefore, our ICT policy and educational practice must evolve to help bridge the digital divide, and our teacher educators must be positioned to use ICT in their professional practice to help address challenges faced in developing digital literacy.

Digital Literacy and E-learning Digital Literacy is the ability to use ICT to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both intellectual and technical skills. Whereas e-learning refers to the utilization of ICT tools, services, and digital content in education.

E-learning presents enormous opportunities to significantly facilitate the effectiveness of delivering the learning contents and gaining access to a vast pool of educational information if appropriately utilized, and it has also gained global recognition as a method to improve the teaching and learning processes aimed at

creating an economy powered by technology and propelled by information and knowledge.

E-learning in schools is used both by students and staff in the process of exchanging information and gaining knowledge, as well as for communication and easy access to educational information at a cheaper cost.

A digitally literate person possesses a variety of skills (technical and cognitive) required to find, understand, evaluate, create, and communicate digital information in a wide variety of formats. This person is able to use diverse technologies appropriately and effectively to retrieve information, interpret results, and judge the quality of that information; Understands the relationship between technology, life-long learning, personal privacy, and management of information; Uses these skills and the appropriate technology to communicate and collaborate with peers, colleagues, family, and on occasion, the general public.

Such a person uses these skills to actively participate in society and contribute to a vibrant, informed, and engaged community.

The lesson of the last twothree decades, for education just like all other sectors, is that nobody can drive to the future on cruise control. Many schools and educational institutions, businesses, and corporations that fell asleep at the wheel are struggling. For many, the struggle came unexpectedly from competitors, who had appeared to be trivial from afar but raced past the late moments of the 20th century to become the new industry leaders. Others were overtaken by smaller, more entrepreneurial, and innovative players who took advantage of the intersections or entry points that rapidly advancing technology began to create. The educational setups and institutions that positioned themselves properly are championing and still mastering the digital terrain.

For the transformative potential of ICT to be fully realized in Ghana, effort must be made to

understand and integrate local knowledge and local literacy practices into intervention programs. Many communities, both rural and urban, lack the needed educational content. It is proper then that we develop local language and content curriculum in digital formats.

Interventions should not only focus on equipping people with digital skills to access information from around the world, but participants’ generative and productive capabilities should also be developed to contribute local knowledge to the global discourse. Programs must be culturally and ideologically sensitive to local contexts.

The nation will make significant progress if it considers structuring the integration of ICT in education, developing national digital literacy skills, and reducing the digital divide.

For instance, public-accessible e-learning, and educational resource sharing systems, such as digital education resource banks (an online repository of learning objects) relevant to the Ghanaian educational system produced or identified by Ghanaian educators/ teachers, students and supported by corporate organizations.

The learning objects on such education resource bank may include but not limited to lesson plans, multiple-choice questions, simulations, animations, learning activities, website links, photographs, study guides, audio, and video clips, etc.

However, this is met by Internet accessibility and connectivity challenges. To facilitate digital education/learning these challenges cannot be ruled out, and to include the unserved and underserved across the country.

Ultimately, this will go a long way to support the government and private initiatives to bring development and promoting digital inclusion in Ghana and in the process, bridging the digital divide.

During this COVID-19 pandemic, some schools including universities and businesses in Ghana made it possible to develop

e-learning/online platforms for students to access. Schools, libraries, and learning centers of lower and higher levels must be supported to build educational resource platforms where content developed by the teachers and students can be uploaded to be freely shared or accessed by learners and educators in the country and the rest of the global community.

Thus, schools and learning centers can partner with relevant bodies to enrich and roll out e-learning programs to the rest of the country based on the following objectives: • To ensure that quality educational resources reach remote schools and disadvantaged communities.

• To train teachers and students in e-learning and the integration of ICT in the teaching and learning process.

• To improve or enhance the quality of education in schools.

• To promote the spirit of teamwork/partnership between schools within the country.

• To enhance 21st Century skills, innovative teaching/ learning practices in schools and ensure education transformation.

• To narrow or bridge the gap between urban and rural schools.

Conclusion ICT, therefore, provides an array of powerful tools that may help in transforming the present isolated, teacher-centered, and text-bound classrooms into rich, studentfocused, interactive knowledge environments.

Consequently, digital learning is increasingly being suggested as an alternative to or a way to enhance, traditional educational approaches since it can overcome many of the challenges involved in reaching underserved students.

Author: Richard Kafui Amanfu – (Director of Operations, Institute of ICT Professionals, Ghana) For comments, contact author richard.amanfu@iipgh.org or Mobile: +233244357006

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FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2020

Merkel’s last chance

By Jan-Werner Mueller

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his week’s meeting of the European Council has rightly been called a “doomsday summit.” It is overshadowed not just by a ghastly winter wave of COVID-19 infections and the prospect of a chaotic no-deal Brexit, but also by a showdown with the governments of Hungary and Poland, which have taken hundreds of millions of people hostage by threatening to veto the European Union’s 2021-27 budget and the pandemic recovery fund.

Hungary and Poland are trying to block the enactment of a new “rule of law” mechanism that would prevent EU money from being siphoned off for corrupt purposes – a practice for which Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s kleptocratic regime is notorious. As the longest-serving head of government in the EU, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has stepped in to try to break the impasse, calling on “all sides” to prepare “to compromise to some extent.”

But why should the EU compromise on a fundamental value like the rule of law (which is enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty), and why should EU taxpayers consent to having their hard-earned euros enrich authoritarians and their cronies?

Rather than trusting Merkel to broker a deal, Europeans should remind her that this is her last chance to prove that she really cares about democracy and the rule of law.

After all, it was Merkel’s own Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, that enabled Orbán to create his autocracy in the first place. And it is her pick for the European Commission presidency, Ursula von der Leyen, who has failed to protect the independence

of the Polish judiciary from the country’s chauvinistic, populist, and increasingly defiant Law and Justice (PiS) party government.

Europe’s simmering “rule-oflaw crisis” has always seemed more abstract and less urgent than other challenges during Merkel’s long reign, which has spanned the euro crisis, the 2015 refugee crisis, and now COVID-19.

Yet it is the former issue that most threatens the EU’s moral core – and its day-to-day operations.

While the EU is often caricatured as a distant and aloof super-state, it works closely with and through the member states to implement EU policy.

Even more to the point, the EU functions primarily as a legal community in which national courts double as European courts. This arrangement cannot work without mutual trust, because it depends on national courts recognizing the decisions of other member states’ courts. If a judiciary has been captured by an authoritarian government that is targeting politically unreliable judges (as in Poland), other courts cannot be expected to recognize its arbitrary rulings.

The European Commission is supposed to be the “guardian of the treaties” that enshrine fundamental European values.

But their enforcement in the face of member states’ violations has usually amounted to too little, too late. Even after years of bad-faith conduct by Poland and Hungary, the Commission still naively calls for more “dialogue,” which simply allows aspiring autocrats to consolidate their power by coopting the judiciary and creating other facts on the ground.

Given the Commission’s failure to act, member states have taken matters into their own hands. For example, the European Arrest Warrant is becoming a dead letter, because countries are starting to refuse

extraditing anyone to Poland, where fair trials can no longer be guaranteed. Just this month, the Netherlands’ parliament called on the Dutch government to take Poland to court over its rule-of-law violations, potentially precipitating a bilateral confrontation that never would have been plausible had the Commission been doing its job.

Meanwhile, in a recent interview, Orbán charged Germany with “intellectual indifference,” by which he apparently means an inability to see the larger historical picture and insensitivity to the experiences of smaller member states. Orbán has things backwards: Where Germany has been indifferent, it has been with respect to the preservation of democracy and the rule of law in Hungary under his rule.

Germany’s neglect of core European values is best explained

by Orbán’s faithful service to the German auto industry, creating what critics have called an “Audi-ocracy.” To be sure, some members of Merkel’s CDU have long made noises about “red lines” that Orbán must not cross, even occasionally calling for his Fidesz party to be expelled from the supra-national European People’s Party, the umbrella grouping of conservative parties in the European Parliament.

Orbán, however, has never paid a meaningful political or financial price for his behavior.

The result of this appeasement, as astute observers have pointed out, is that he now treats his European “partners” with the same brutality as he does his own country, accusing them of making the EU into something akin to the Soviet Union.

Merkel has deservedly earned praise for her opposition to outgoing US President Donald Trump’s assaults on shared liberal-democratic values and

international institutions, and for her determination in dealing with the pandemic. She has also acted courageously in agreeing to some form of debt mutualization under the new recovery fund, which is putting the EU on a more robust financial footing.

But when Merkel steps down next year, she will have left behind no coherent framework to support either the eurozone or Europe’s aspirations of becoming a global “normative power” capable of promoting democracy and the rule of law. Its advocacy of such values will ring hollow as long as it tolerates member states that no longer meet democratic criteria.

Merkel’s legacy would look different if she were to face down Europe’s self-declared illiberals. If she does not, she will have shown that values are negotiable, and that the EU is easily blackmailed.2 A German-initiated vote on the rule-of-law mechanism in the Council of the EU would likely approve it, because Hungary and Poland cannot block a decision that requires only a qualified majority. After that, it is unlikely that Orbán and the PiS government would persist in holding up €1.8 trillion ($2.2 trillion) in desperately needed funds.

Whatever happens, European taxpayers will remember that these governments would rather inflict pain on everyone than receive funds that must be accounted for properly. Orbán claims that accepting the rule-oflaw mechanism would be political “suicide” for him. Perhaps. But that certainly isn’t Europe’s problem.

About author Jan-Werner Mueller, a fellow at the Berlin Institute of Advanced Study, is the author of the forthcoming Democracy Rules (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2021).

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