Business24 Newspaper 10th September, 2021

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FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

BUSINESS24.COM.GH

Friday September 10, 2021

NO. B24 / 246 | News for Business Leaders

GIPC boss speaks on Africa’s investment prospects in Germany

Absa Bank and Ghana Library Authority to reach 10,000 youth with employability skills

See page 5

See page 5

SOEs’ revenue on upward trend

By Benson Afful affulbenson@gmail.com

S JAPTU is the umbrella body of about 13 different transport unions operating within the Tema Port.

Cargo movers deplore unfair treatment by ‘foreign agents’

By Patrick Paintsil p_paintsil@hotmail.com

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he Joint Association of Port Transport Unions ( JAPTU) has raised concerns about

unfair treatment by foreigners who are engaged in the freight forwarding and customs brokerage business.

Aside operating illegally— since that aspect of the shipping

business is by law given exclusively to Ghanaians—the transporters say the foreigners, operating as agents and freighters, are involved Cont’d on page 2

t a t e - O w n e d Enterprises’ (SOEs) revenue has been trending upwards, increasing from GH¢13.66bn in 2015 to GH¢28.56bn in 2019, the latest State Ownership Report published by the Ministry of Finance has revealed.

The data means that over the five-year period, the revenue of SOEs increased by an average of 21.4 percent per annum. In 2019, the latest year covered by the report, revenue grew by 18.6 percent from GH¢24.08bn Cont’d on page 3

Metro Mass needs expanded fleet to operate optimally—MD

YEA Job Fair attracts thousands

By Eugene Davis ugendavis@gmail.com

M

etro Mass Transit, the public transportation company, expects to

receive 300 buses by the end of the year to augment its current fleet, Managing Director Albert Adu Boahen has said.

See page 3

Job Fair in Accra aimed at bringing employers and job seekers together to explore job he Youth Employment opportunities.

Agency (YEA) has See page 3 organised its maiden

By Eugene Davis

ugendavis@gmail.com

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Cont’d on page 2 Cont’d on page 2

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Editorial / News

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Editorial

Let’s prepare our trade corridors for intra-Africa trade

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espite significant reforms and policy interventions to ensure seamless trade through the nation’s transit corridors, transporters and persons who do business along those routes are still battling a myriad of challenges.

Concerns are still ripe about multiple barriers and checkpoints, the harsh impact of Ghana’s single-laned and the unfavourably ‘snaking’ road networks which is a major cause of accidents on the roads and other systemic challenges.

These challenges are further compounded by demands for illicit payments from truck drivers, worrying incidence of highway robberies and unnecessary delay of transit

cargo with its attendant costs to the consignee.

It must be noted that trade with our neighbouring landlocked countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso has been very helpful to the nation’s ports and maritime transport sector, aside the revenue from the state garners from the transit business.

Our transit corridors will therefore serve as a purposeful channel or route to accessing other markets within the continent with the implementation of the single continental market. It is also obvious, however, that the myriad of trade bottlenecks that are still persistent along our trade routes could impede our potential in the continental market.

It is without a doubt that Ghana is primed and ready for the single market with numerous initiatives and support systems from both public and private actors aimed at pushing this agenda but sad to say that these measures and investments could suffer if the channels of trade are not well sanitized and prepared for convenient and hassle-free movement of cross-border cargo.

We urge the concerned state bodies and civil society organisations in the trade value chain to collective work towards eliminating the bottlenecks that have been exposed by the transporters to ensure our effective participation in the intra-trade agenda.

Cargo movers deplore unfair treatment by ‘foreign agents’ Continued from cover

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in various malpractices.

“They underpay for the volume of cargo that is hauled by local transporters, apply unexplained charges on our revenue, refuse to pay vehicle detention charges and, in most cases, delay payment for work done,” General Secretary of the union, Ibrahim Musah, told members of the Ports Journalists Network (PJN) in Tema.

Section 43 of the Customs Act of 2015 states that a company or partnership shall not engage in the business of custom house agents unless that company or partnership is wholly owned by an indigenous Ghanaian and has been granted a licence by the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

According to JAPTU, the foreign agents’ malpractices are affecting local firms’ profitability and ability to contribute meaningfully to the growth of the maritime business.

“Most of these foreign agents are operating within the port without basic immigration documents such as entry and work permits. Some have set up businesses in apparent breach of the GIPC Act, and they do not pay the required corporate taxes to

Ibrahim Musah (middle) addressing the ports journalists at the meeting

the state,” Mr. Musah added.

The JAPTU boss cited the poor state of Ghana’s road infrastructure, weakness in the enforcement of axle load regulations, and the blatant breach of Custom’s temporary declarations for foreign trucks entering Ghana as other issues stifling their competitiveness.

Other issues he raised were inequality in the payment for loading note and other charges by their landlocked partners and challenges with the manner in which some Customs stations

enforce transit regulations.

JAPTU is the umbrella body of about 13 different transport unions operating within the Tema Port, comprising nine Ghanaian associations and three from the landlocked countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

Mr. Elvis Darko, Team Lead of the PJN, said the network, which consists of specialised maritime and trade journalists, seeks to serve the interest of the industry through factual and thoughtleading reportage on the nation’s buoyant blue economy.

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Metro Mass needs expanded fleet to operate optimally—MD Continued from cover To operate at an optimal level and improve profitability, however, the company needs to increase its current fleet of 200 buses to over 900 buses, he explained.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra to respond to a media report that 200 buses belonging to the transport company have been grounded, Mr. Adu Boahen said the report lacks merit.

According to him, the buses referred to in the report are earmarked for scrapping and have been parked at the company's yard since 2014.

"Metro Mass as a limited liability company has a policy guiding scrapping of buses.

Buses earmarked to be scrapped are taken through technical examinations to determine whether such buses are viable for operations or not. When that is

done, STC will then come in to do valuation to determine the prices for such buses before they are auctioned,” he said.

He explained that 85 percent of the company’s current fleet

is overaged and that buses that were acquired by the previous management did not function as expected.

"Some of these buses, after being taken from the port, could

not work for just a day. These buses were the first version in Africa and didn't even come with spare parts. As a matter of fact, it was under President AkufoAddo's administration that the company has received assistance, including some intercity airconditioned coaches in 2017 and 2018, which gave back life to the company."

On the issue of drivers not working but getting paid, Mr. Adu Boahen denied the allegation.

"We are working with over 3,000 direct employees, and in these COVID times when giant companies, especially those in the transport and hospitality industries, are laying off employees because of the adverse effects on their finances, Metro Mass has not laid off a single employee—and we have been able to pay these staff every month. We don't depend on the government for salaries.”

SOEs’ revenue on upward trend Continued from cover in 2018.

The growth in 2019 reflected improvements in the revenue performance of SOEs in all but one (governance) sector, the report said.

The energy sector, which accounts for 67.4 percent of SOEs’ revenue, increased its revenue from GH¢16.35bn in 2018 to GH¢19.24bn in 2019. This represented an increase of 17.7 percent.

In absolute terms, ECG and VRA made the most significant contribution to the increased revenue performance of the energy sector. They posted increases of GH¢1.29bn (21 percent) and GH¢467.31m (12.7 percent) in revenue from GH¢6.14bn and GH¢3.68bn respectively in 2018 to GH¢7.43bn and GH¢4.15bn in 2019.

The report said the agriculture, financial, and infrastructure sectors, which recorded 38.6 percent (GH¢193.46m), 33.9

percent (GH¢778.76m), and 15.8 percent (GH¢410.97m) increases respectively, made notable contributions to the revenue performance.

The top five SOEs which drove revenue performance in 2019 were ECG with GH¢7.43bn, VRA with GH¢4.15bn, GNPC with GH¢3.48bn, GHA with GH¢1.75bn, and GPHA with GH¢1.36bn.

These five SOEs cumulatively accounted for 63.6 percent of aggregate revenue of SOES in 2019 The preparation and publication of the State Ownership Report was initiated in 2017 as part of the government’s strategy to reform and improve the governance and financial performance of SOEs. The initiative was intended to shed light on the performance of SOEs and improve transparency and accountability in the SOE sector, the potential of which the country is yet to fully leverage to support the national development process.

Stephen Asamoah Boateng is the Director-General of the State Interests and Governance Authority

Scores of prospective job seekers turned out at the maiden YEA Job Fair

YEA Job Fair attracts thousands Continued from cover The fair attracted tens of thousands of prospective job seekers who thronged the Accra International Conference Centre to partake in the event on the first day. The agency says it expects close to 3,000 job opportunities from employers through the fair.

Speaking to Business24 at the opening of the fair, Lydia Atiemo, YEA’s Deputy CEO in Charge of Finance and Administration, said: “Employers are ready to hire 3,000 youth today and also to go on our platform to review further CVs; this is a significant step where you have all stakeholders ready to give their best.”

A Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Bright Wireko Brobbey, commended the initiative by YEA and pledged government’s support while urging the private sector to complement the state’s efforts in reducing youth

unemployment in the country.

The primary objective of the fair is to provide an opportunity for job seekers to go through live interview sessions towards getting employed by the participating companies.

This is the first job fair after the YEA Job Centre was launched in October 2019. The centre is an initiative by the current YEA management to provide prospective job seekers with skills addition towards sustainable job creation and employment opportunities. It has enabled over 3,000 young persons to gain permanent employment in both the public and private sectors.

Since the establishment of the centre, 543 companies have signed up with it, with 120 companies outsourcing jobs through the centre.

The job fair will be replicated in other regions, including the Western, Northern, Volta, Eastern and Ashanti Regions.

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GIPC boss speaks on Africa’s investment prospects in Germany

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he Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Yofi Grant, has joined the Investment Management Exhibition (IME) at FrankfurtGermany to steer conversations on Africa’s investment prospects.

The GIPC boss’ talk encompassed opportunities within key sectors in the region, including; green energy, sustainable agribusiness, and modern manufacturing.

Mr. Yofi Grant also touched on ways Africa’s abundant natural resources can be leveraged to improve infrastructure and attract value added production Last, year the Ghana recorded $2.65 billion worth of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), despite the COVID-19 pandemic that distracted many global

economies.

The $2.65 billion worth of investment, according to Mr.

Yofi Grant, went into various sectors of the economy, including agriculture, manufacturing,

oil and gas and services and estimated to create 27,000 direct jobs for the youth.

Absa Bank and Ghana Library Authority to reach 10,000 youth with employability skills

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bsa Bank Ghana continues to show its commitment to addressing critical skills development as it announces a partnership with Ghana Library Authority (GhLA) to make e-learning resources on skills development accessible to 10,000 young Ghanaians.

Through the partnership, the youth will have the opportunity to undertake skills development courses on the Ghana Library Authority online portal under the four modules of Absa ReadytoWork programme; Entrepreneurial Skills, Money Skills, People Skills and Work Skills.

The ReadytoWork e-learning toolkit is designed to equip participants with soft skills such as critical thinking,

emotional intelligence, excellent communications skills among others, to help transition young people smoothly from academia into the world of work.

This collaboration would also allow the two organisations to groom a cohort of mentees, follow their career path and track their development.

Launching the Absa-GhLA ReadytoWork programme, the Chief Executive of Ghana Library Authority, Mr Hayford Siaw said the partnership initiative seeks to promote life-long learning, acquisition of skills and job opportunities amongst the youth.

According to him, the partnership with Absa Bank will help scale-up ReadytoWork online learning programme to many young Ghanaians. “Our

collaboration with Absa will help empower young Ghanaians with economically desirable and sustainable skills which are vital in helping to address the challenges faced by unemployed youth.”

“The Ghana Library Authority for the past three years has embarked on the journey to connect Ghanaians to online learning resources. Technology has taking over the way we do things and our organisation has been advancing and assisting people in accessing digital learning resources which is in line with the Authority’s objective of promoting literacy,” said Mr. Siaw.

Commenting on the partnership, Nana Essilfuah Tamakloe, Marketing and Corporate Relations Director

at Absa Bank Ghana said: “Embracing foundational soft skills remain critically important as we consider our capabilities to adapt quickly to change. At Absa, our purpose is to bring possibilities to life by helping people to get things done; and we have identified the need to upskill the 21st century youth with relevant skills to transition from learning to earning.”

“The opportunity created by the Ghana Library Authority fits well into Absa’s skills development strategy of empowering young people to contribute meaningfully to national development. The ability for young people to think critically, analytically and creatively with emotional intelligence and excellent communications skills are very vital to the success of any youth entering into the world of work or being an entrepreneur,” Mrs. Tamakloe added.

Over the past five years, Absa Bank has invested about GHs5 million into its Readytowork programme and has impacted more than 40,000 young people.

Young people wishing to be part of the Absa/GhLA Readytowork programme can apply at no fee via www.library. gov.gh/readytowork.

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Gov’t urged to create special financial instruments for women in business

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he Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ghana has organised this year’s edition of the Women in Business Roundtable at La Villa Boutique Hotel in Osu, themed, “Creating Solutions, Rising Above Challenges”.

The event was a follow up to the successful maiden edition of the Women in Business Forum held in February 2020, which discussed challenges women face in business and the corporate world in Ghana.

This year’s event was a roundtable discussion with the objective to identify possible solutions to the numerous challenges women entrepreneurs and executives encounter.

Selected stakeholders attended the event from the public and private sector, including female business influential, young female entrepreneurs, development partners and civil service organisations (CSOs).

The Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ghana, Katja Lasseur, in her welcoming address indicated that the discussion on challenges women in business faces is not only particular to Ghana, rather, a global issue which requires

closer collaboration in discussing possible solutions.

“The issues being discussed are complex and very substantial.

We need to be modest and have tenacity in approaching them. The role of the embassy in convening and offering the platform for these conversations will always be relevant and we are committed to this and other initiatives aimed at finding solutions to challenges that prevent women from achieving success in their business and work”, she added.

The speakers who led the two-set panel discussion included Ambra Yirenkyi, Policy Advisor at the Gender Ministry, Catherine Krobo Adusie of Eden Tree, Emi-Beth Aku Quantson, Kawa Moka, Theresa Ayoade, Execuitve Director of Charter House Productions and Leticia Brown of Intelligence Capital / FEM Start Africa. Other panelists were Florence Ohene, a Transformational Business Development Expert and former Country Manager of IBM, Anna Nabire of Plan Ghana, Akwasi Jonah Snr. Of IDEC, Elsie AppuaKlu of Acreaty and Dr. Bernice Welbeck, Director of Admin and HR at the National Labour Commission.

Some government initiatives

targeted at women highlighted during the discussions included the COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalization of Enterprise Support (CARES) program to address post COVID economic hardships, NBSSI COVID recovery program to provide support to SMEs and preparation for the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill From the audience engagement, the participants advocated for the empowerment of women

financially, making available, special financial instruments specifically for women in business as well as publicizing pay averages to serve as a reference point for women to negotiate.

In addition, there was a call for men to join the conversation regarding finding solutions to challenges women in business face as well as recognizing the integral role women play in raising and influencing the personalities of the men who “set the tone”.

BIMA wins Mobile Insurance Leadership Award for 4th time

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lobal healthcare and insuretech provider, BIMA, has emerged the winner of the Mobile Insurance Leadership Award for the fourth consecutive time at the 2021 Ghana Insurance Awards.

The award was in recognition of the company’s commitment to building a stronger, more accessible insurance sector in

Ghana, to enable all customers to access vital health and insurance services.

The award also recognised BIMA for having the best business practices in the sector.

The Head of Field Sales at BIMA, who received the awards on behalf of the company said “we are extremely honoured to receive such an award. Since we

launched in Ghana 11 years ago, we have served over 2. 4 million families.”

“We have also provided quality medical advice, through our award winning BIMA Doctor service. This has proven even more valuable throughout the pandemic, when customers and their families have needed to stay home or may have been

too scared to visit a hospital.

Our simple services give families peace of mind at difficult times and a financial safety net when they need it,” he stated.

He said the company was committed to protecting Ghanaian families, not just with mobile insurance but also with access to telemedicine.

“We are also excited for the future and establishing innovative partnerships that will enable us to provide more value back to our customers." he said.

He said BIMA just doesn’t sell insurance policies but also sells solutions to their cherished customers.

As part of its customer centricity agenda, he said the company in partnership with GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) has launched 10 customer experience centers in Chorkor, Suame, Ejisu, Madina , Tema , Cape Coast , Sunyani , and Tarkwa.

He said this was to bring customer service and claims to the door step of customers.

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UGBS Innovation and Incubation Hub holds an information session

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he issue of entrepreneurship and innovation is critical to the development of every country.

To contribute its quota, the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) has inaugurated the Innovation and Incubation Hub to raise and support young innovative entrepreneurs.

The UGBS Innovation and Incubation Hub, under the co-ordination of Dr. George Acheampong, a senior lecturer at UGBS, organised an information session for the first cohort of innovators for the hub. The meeting, which was the first offline meeting since the virtual pitching of the incubates, was held at the University of Ghana Guest Centre.

At the session, the incubates were introduced to the various administrators of the hub; Dr. George Acheampong, Mrs. Mammie Hutchful-Nortey, Mr. Oliver Kwabena Aggrey, Ms. Benedicta Asare, Mr. Osei Bonsu and Mr. Frederick Ntim.

The incubates also revealed their teams and their various innovations. Mrs. Hutchful, an administrator of the hub and an industrial liaison officer at the Office of Research, Innovation

and Development (ORID) at University of Ghana, applauded the teams for initiating such brilliant ideas to help solve social issues.

She revealed that the Office of Research, Innovation and Development, as well as an Intellectual Property committee, are on the standby and ready to support the full course of the hub. To encourage the incubates, she disclosed that, to be successful at the pre-incubation stage, incubates must not only

have an idea but also the right environment and attitude.

The Coordinator, Dr. George Acheampong, revealed that, “The overall reason for establishing the hub was to transform entrepreneurship education from theory to practice”.

He exposed the various stages which incubates will go through before emerging as successful businesses. He expressed that the stakeholders of the hub will do their possible best to ensure a successful cohort.

The meeting which was moderated by Mr. Oliver Aggrey ended with group discussions with the administrators and a question-and-answer session.

Currently, the cohort is undergoing a six-month preincubation training, following which successful teams will be admitted into the Hub. This endeavour is proudly sponsored by Mr. Ernest Appiah, an alumnus of the University of Ghana Business School and the CEO of AMG Fertilizer.

Inflation rate for August increase to 9.7%

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he year-on-year inflation rate for August 2021 stood at 9.7 per cent compared to 9.0 per cent in July,

the Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, said on Wednesday.

The month-on month inflation

between July, 2021 and August, 2021 was 0.3 per cent.

Speaking at a press briefing in Accra, Prof Annim said food and

non-alcoholic beverages were the dominant drivers for the higher rate of inflation in August 2021.

He said food contributed more than half to overall inflation, when combined with housing more than two-thirds, and further including transport more than four-fifths.

Mr. Annim said the year-onyear variation between food inflation of 10.9 per cent and nonfood inflation of 8.7 per cent was 2.2 per cent.

The month-on-Month food inflation for the month was less than non-food inflation by 0.1-percentage point.

He said inflation for locally produced items continued to dominate imported items but imported items show a marginal higher increase.

Inflation for locally produced items was 10.3 per cent while inflation for imported items was at 8.1 per cent.

However, inflation rates for Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions continue to soar.

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Leadership of GITFIC holds discussions with Muchanga

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he leadership of Ghana International Trade and Finance Conference (GITFIC) took advantage of the visit of Mr. Albert Muchanga, Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Industry

and Mining of the African Union to discuss pertinent issues of development.

The commissioner was in the country to hold a special meeting with President Nana Akufo-Addo.

Mr. Selassi Koffi Ackom, Chief

Executive Officer of GITFIC said they discussed the economic implications on the current coup in Guinea and the current state of AfCFTA and how Ghanaians and Africans are embracing it.

Mr. Ackom said they also discussed the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System and the role of Afri-exim Bank

and other interest-settings.

"We also touched on our upcoming six sub-Regional Breakfast Dialogues and his participation."

Mr. Ackom expressed his excitement to have met, 'the man tasked to make sure Africa's economy grows by at least 7 per cent within the next 10yrs postpandemic, Dr. Dossina Yeo - Head of Economic Policy and Research Division, Economic Affairs Department, African Union)."

He pledged the support of GITFIC in helping that to become a reality within the time-frame.

He said others at the meeting were Ambassador Rossette Nyirinkindi Katungye (Advisor on Regional Integration - Office of the AU Chairperson) and Mr. Joseph Chinyemba (Special Assistant to Albert Muchanga) "We are gearing up for Banjul, Abidjan, Lome, Freetown, Abuja and Dakar. We will officially be announcing our partners for this project in the coming days," Mr. Ackom added.

Finance Scholars Programme to empower young people in financial skills

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he Young Investors Network has opened registration for the Finance Scholars Programme and is currently enrolling young people pursuing finance and related courses to empower them towards acquiring requisite financial skills.

The deadline for enrolling in this is September 11, 2021.

The network is committed to empowering young people financially and seeks to use this annual Programme to equip students in the various tertiary institutions across the country and make them appreciate financial instruments.

This year’s programme is pivoting around five thematic areas of activity: Certified Investment Analyst course, Investments Foundations programme, corporate experience, Magazine launch, Virtual Business Internship programme.

The mode of training includes studying necessary course materials, virtual presentations in teams, examinations to ascertain that the participants learnt the relevant lessons and issued certificates.

Elaborating the thematic areas, the President of the National

Student Advisory Board under the Young Investor Network, Mr. Sylvester Oduro, said the Certified Young Investment Analyst course would train participants on basic principles of investment. This course would be a precursor for the participants to register and write international exams with the Young Investor Society as a Young Investment Analyst, which would be in November.

Mr. Oduro explained that the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institution, which runs an Investment Foundation Program as a course.

This course has materials that one could sign up and download or study online. During the Programme, facilitators would help discuss the course material, guide and prepare students for the examination organised by the CFA Institution. On the Cooperate Experience, a number of profiles of accomplished business professionals depending on the number of participants will be assigned to a team of participants so they can visit them and interact with them as they find out about their career life. This can also be done online as they take note or write them down, which would later be used for publishing a

magazine called ‘Advices to Young Business Leaders’.

Virtual Business Internship, Mr. Oduro explained that there are companies that provide virtual internships for everybody, adding that the participants would be introduced to some of the virtual internships to those that are not aware so they can undertake them.

“We also guide them on how to go about the virtual internship

programme and give tasks which you work on and they mark. The task mostly involves three stages and once you are qualified they give you a certificate.”

To participate in the Finance Scholars Programme, one must register with GHS 20.00 for the four-month programme and this comes with certificates and all the other relevant materials for a successful programme.

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‘Public-private partnership will deliver equitable and quality digital learning for all’

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irector of Digital Transformation and Commercial Operations at Vodafone Ghana, Angela MensahPoku, has underscored the need for public-private partnerships and collaborations within the EdTech eco-system in order to drive equitable, fair, and quality digital learning for all.

Speaking on the topic "Access to Digital Resources", on the EdTech organised by the MasterCard Foundation on Citi FM, Angela joined other stakeholders to share her thoughts on the challenges with EdTech, the opportunities and some interventions that are helping address the digital divide. ‘’We believe in the power of technology through partnerships.

Our priority has been to collaborate with everyone in the ecosystem in order to create an equitable and quality digital learning experience for all. We look at the challenges in EdTech in totality and that informs our approach to digital learning; whether it is infrastructure, access, content, or even developing the digital skills of students and teachers,’’ She said.

Highlighting Vodafone Ghana’s contribution to eLearning, Ms.

Mensah-Poku said: ‘’Vodafone has donated hundreds of devices to brilliant and needy students. In making sure that we are aware and conscious of the in-built biases in tech and ensuring they are top-of-mind, we have several gender-led unique programmes for girls including our Coding for Girls programme, which has trained over 1000 girls nationwide. In addressing the issue of content, our Instant Schools, a digital education platform offers a wide range of basic to advanced learning materials for FREE with unlimited access to everyone”.

She added “We have also extended our fibre broadband to

over 50 different ICT labs across the country. Our infrastructure has also enabled developers and content providers in the ecosystem to provide content online and offline through the use of channels that don’t require internet’’ Angela Mensah-Poku further lauded the government of Ghana’s "One Teacher, One Laptop" initiative, which is aimed at facilitating lesson planning, teaching and learning outcomes, and called for additional support to ensure teachers and students fully benefit from the package.

She urged the government to build an eco-system for teachers to implement an e-learning

Enterprise Life impact lives

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nterprise Life, a leading life insurance company in Ghana, has launched its 20th anniversary celebration in Accra on the theme, ‘Impacting Lives 20 Years and Beyond.’

The management of the company said the anniversary commemorated the successes and achievements of the company over the past two decades, while preparing it for future challenges.

Speaking on behalf of the

Managing Director of the company, Mrs. Jacqueline Benyi, the General Manager in charge of Distribution, Mr. Francis Akoto Yirenkyi, attributed the success and stability of the company to God, staff, clients and partners who have stood with them over the past two decades.

“The past 20 years has been a journey of dedication, fortitude, foresight and growth. As we celebrate the successes of the

past two decades, we cannot discount the God factor in this journey.

“As we recount these successes and milestones, we are also reminded of the fact that this would not have been possible without the commitment, dedication and loyalty of staff, both past and present and all our partners for the confidence, loyalty and faith they have had and continue to have in us”, she

model that enables every child to have a personal digital learning experience that leaves no one behind.

Vodafone continues to demonstrate profound commitment to introducing sustainable interventions that help the government address key societal challenges. Some of the Telco’s numerous youth-led initiatives include programmes aimed at delivering quality education for all, addressing unemployment, bridging the digital skills gap amongst the youth, and ultimately building the country’s human capital.

Vodafone recently organised a Virtual Skills Fair which hosted over 5,000 young people and seasoned speakers.

Other panel members on Citi FM’s Ed-Tech programme, the Deputy Director who doubles as a Policy Lead for the Alliance for Affordable Internet, Eleanor Sarpong, and a Senior Education Specialist with the World Bank Group, Eunice Yaa Brimfah Ackwerh, challenged the government to come up with sustainable training measures aimed at equipping teachers with the requisite digital skills.

said.

The CEO of the Enterprise Group, Mr Keli Gadzekpo, congratulated Enterprise Life and encouraged them to continue being the market leaders.

“Twenty years is an important milestone. It is a time to reflect on the past and re-strategise for the future. At the Enterprise Group, our vision is that in all our markets, our pedigree will be recognised, our strength respected, our expertise valued and our solutions sought by all who desire an advantage in life.

“And Enterprise Life and what it has grown to become aptly defines our vision and what we stand for,” he said.

The Head, Re-insurance and Anti-Money Laundering of the National Insurance Commission (NIC), Mrs Esther Armah, congratulated Enterprise Life and said, “Enterprise Life was formed at a time when there were only a handful of insurance companies.

Today, our records show that the company is the leading insurance company in Ghana in terms of claims and market share and we congratulate them on that.”

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PRECEVID blazes a trail in hospitality training

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trend has begun in Ghana to streamline hospitality training and practice, as a foundation for the growth of the industry, to ultimately boost domestic tourism, using international best practices.

The new approach to teaching in Ghana links up what is taught in the classroom to the practice in industry setting. The competency-based training (CBT) in hospitality provides hands-on training in a specialized teaching hotel, under the Presbyterian Centre for Vocational Instructors’ Development (PRECEVID) in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital of Ghana.

PRECEVID is a training institution that builds the capacity of professionals in the hospitality industry and contributes to the growth of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Sector.” “It is mainly concerned with the transfer of skills to ensure quality outcomes. PRECEVID places premium on the teachertrainer-instructor quality as a necessary condition to inculcate best standard practices. For far too long, people merely built structures and hired family and friends to operate a hotel.

Those old ways never helped the investor, the staff nor the client The Director of PRECEVID, Madam Linda Agyei says the Competency Based Training (CBT) promotes lifelong learning and ensures the right balance of practice and theory, in small class sizes.

It is a learner-centered approach where trainees develop competencies at their own pace.

Customised training

“As a response to the growing demand for professionals, PRECEVID develops tailor-made programmes for specific needs in different hotels, through upgrading programmes, to strengthen the skills and foundational levels,” says Madam Agyei.

“Since inception in 2014, PRECEVID has trained over 300 school leavers and graduates who occupy various positions in the hospitality industry, with employers testifying to their professionalism. Also, we have trained over 200 TVET teachers in the CBT method. These trainees form a critical mass of hospitality professionals and trainers to drive the national strategy for domestic tourism.”

PRECEVID’s school of hospitality develops professionals for the industry at both the operational and management levels, with unique training modeled on the hotelschool concept where training is done in the practice hotel. “This substantiates the concept of the CBT approach,” says Madam Agyei, who is passionate about proper recognition for Technical and Vocational Education and Training(TVET) as a driver of national development.

The hospitality school offers short courses for different operational areas of the hotel industry, such as Front office operations, House-keeping operations, Food and Beverage Service and Food Production.

PRECEVID is accredited by the Commission on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (C-TVET) as a CBT Centre.

It collaborates with the Kumasi

Technical University to develop joint-programmes for the academic progression of trainees.

The Rosewood Cottage The PRECEVID practice hotel, Rosewood Cottage is a facility helps deliver the CBT hospitality training in a real world as practice is done on real guests and customers. This provides opportunity for in cooperating feedbacks from customers into the training standards and also improve training curriculum.

Rosewood Cottage operates the concept of a boutique hotel where service is personalized. It has a seven acre-sized herbarium for a walk-through-nature to aid meditation and refreshment. For the purposes of giving the learners varied learning opportunities Rosewood cottage hosts events such as conferences, retreats, receptions, parties and other important ceremonies. Through this learners also build their entrepreneurial acumen and prepare themselves adequately for the world of work.

Hurdles to clear The new approach to teaching is capital-intensive, requiring industry-standard facilities and environment for trainees to experience hands-on teaching.

The main challenge faced by students is the training fee which is quite expensive because of the number of practical demonstrations.

As a result of the high cost of training, PRECEVID has had to sometimes go into partnership with other stakeholders interested in building the capacity of new entrants into the hospitality industry and operatives seeking

to sharpen their skills.

The novelty is taking a little while to be appreciated across the country, considering how hard it is for most people to stop the old ways of doing things.

Although CBT gives the candidate more industry standard training, not many proprietors and hospitality workers really appreciate the essence of professional training.

Therefore, more awareness creation is needed to make workers in the sector and their employers invest in international standard hospitality service.

There are modules for those who prefer only the practical training. However, PRECEVID encourages trainees to read more to be able to understand the theory aspect well enough, and combine it with the practice. This will enable them progress on the TVET career pathway.

Looking ahead PRECEVID has plans to expand and have more influence on the quality of hospitality service in the country. It is inspiring more proprietors and customers to demand professional training within the industry.

It wishes to see the day industry standards are strictly enforced in order to discourage unprofessionalism.

Ms. Agyei is inspired by the uniqueness of PRECEVID and hopes it becomes a destination for recreation and promotion of well-being through the delivery of professional hospitality services by its Rosewood Cottage and the herbarium as a recreational park promoting ecotourism.

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Aviation

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

Emirates offers even more reasons to visit Dubai and Expo 2020

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mirates, the premier partner and official airline of Expo 2020 Dubai has launched its latest initiative under a global campaign to promote destination Dubai to people from all walks of life this winter season.

The airline’s Early Bird Expo 2020 Dubai deal, launched this week across its global markets, will enable customers to save up to 20% on fares to Dubai when they book their flights early.

Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer said: “Dubai truly has something for everyone and this winter, as our home city hosts Expo 2020, the excitement and range of attractions for visitors will ratchet up, including various once-in-a-lifetime experiences.”

He added: “As Dubai’s home airline, Emirates is launching a series of initiatives to make it even more compelling for travellers to plan their visit and experience Dubai. Last month, we announced that we’ll give a free Expo Day Pass to every Emirates customer travelling to Dubai during the Expo period, and we introduced an innovative ‘mile a minute’ offer for our Skywards members.

Today we are launching an early booking discount on flights to Dubai across all our markets.

In the coming weeks, we plan to roll out offers tailored for families, a special Expo edition of our popular ‘My Emirates Pass’

product, a celebratory offer for the UAE’s 50th jubilee anniversary and more, so stay tuned.”

Whether exploring Dubai solo, as a family, or reconnecting with family and friends, there has never been a better time to visit Dubai than this winter season. Emirates’ current special promotions include: • Early bird discount: This special offer is valid on any return tickets booked to Dubai as the final destination for travel dates between 28 September 2021 and 31 March 2022. It is applicable to bookings made from 28 September to 12 October 2021 via Emirates.com, through Emirates call centre or retail outlets, or via a travel agent. The offer applies to Emirates Business and Economy base fares; on Saver, Flex, Flex+ fare brands.* • Free Emirates Expo Day Pass: Emirates customers visiting and travelling through Dubai anytime during the muchawaited Expo 2020 mega event, will be eligible to receive a free Emirates Expo Day Pass for every flight ticket booked with the airline. For more information on this promotion, please visit the dedicated offer page.

• Earn a mile a minute in Dubai: Emirates customers can earn 1 Skywards Mile for every 1 minute spent in Dubai between 01 October 2021 and 31 March

2022. Existing and new Emirates Skywards members who sign up for the program before 31 March 2022, can avail the offer on Emirates.com, and will earn up to 5,000 Miles. The offer is applicable on all Emirates flight tickets purchased between 01 August 2021 and 31 March 2022, for travel during Expo 2020 Dubai.

Emirates marketed, flydubai operated flights with an Emirates (EK) flight number are also included in the offer.

As international borders reopen and travel restrictions ease, Emirates has resumed passenger services to over 120 destinations from Dubai.

Explore Dubai with Emirates holidays and Dubai experience Dubai safely re-opened for international business and leisure visitors in July 2020, and it remains one of the world’s most popular holiday destinations.

From sun-soaked beaches and heritage activities to world class hospitality and leisure facilities, Dubai offers a variety of worldclass experiences. It was one of the world's first cities to obtain Safe Travels stamp from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) – which endorses Dubai's comprehensive and effective measures to ensure guest health and safety. Customers can book their holiday to Dubai, including Expo-themed packages through

Emirates Holidays or create their own itinerary with Dubai Experience.

Expo 2020 Dubai Dubai will host the world for Expo 2020 between October 2021 and March 2022. Through the theme of Connecting Minds, Creating the Future, Expo 2020 Dubai aims to inspire people by showcasing the best examples of collaboration, innovation and cooperation from around the world.

Expo 2020 Dubai is the first World Expo ever hosted in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region. Its sixmonth program is packed with experiences to suit all ages and interests, including a rich line-up of themed weeks, entertainment, and edutainment. Art and culture fans as well as food and technology enthusiasts can explore exhibits, workshops, performances, live shows and more. Visitors can also drop by their national pavilion for a taste of home or experience the 190 other country pavilions.

Architecture aficionados can look forward to soaking in the many inspiring designs throughout the Expo 2020 site, while those interested in future innovations that are making a difference in tomorrow’s world can stop by the various thematic and special pavilions.

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Health

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

Zipline expands drone delivery of UK-donated AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines in Ghana

T

he world’s first and only national scale drone delivery service, Zipline, has announced the start of the delivery of a new shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines donated by the UK to selected health facilities from four of its distribution centres across Ghana.

The UK shipment of 249,000 doses AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines from the UK arrived in Accra on Wednesday 18 August.

The vaccines formed part of a broader pledge made by the United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the G7 meeting in June, which will see the UK share 100 million jabs with the rest of the world, of which 80% will be through COVAX. This follows the successful delivery of several shipments of vaccines from the COVAX Facility that Ghana received earlier this year.

The Government of Ghana has been leveraging Zipline’s autonomous medical drone services to ensure rapid and equitable access across the country since the start of the COVID-19 vaccination program in March this year.

Nearly half of Ghana's population lives outside of cities, and those 12 million people are difficult to reach with timelimited, cold chain-dependent vaccines.

Zipline’s network strengthens Ghana’s medical products distribution strategy by ensuring equitable and efficient distribution of medical supplies, even during health emergencies.

The drone deliveries by Zipline is focusing on remote and hard-to-reach areas in Eastern, Western North and five regions in the Northern part of Ghana "It is really exciting news for us to see how the instant logistics service Zipline has perfected over the years is being deployed across the country as a response to managing this global pandemic.

We, at Zipline, agree that no one is safe until everyone is safe, that is why we are honoured to be part of the efforts of the government in making access to the COVID-19 vaccines hassle-free,” the General Manager of Zipline Ghana, Naa Adorkor Yawson, stated.

“Here again, our partnership with Ghana’s Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service has enabled the country to take lead in not only using drones to break the barrier of access to this

critical vaccine but also using our infrastructure to enable equity in healthcare provision”, she added.

Zipline's Sefwi Wiawso distribution centre will be the sole distributor of COVID-19 vaccines in the whole of the country’s Western North Region.

“As part of our agreement with the Government of Ghana, Zipline will be the sole distributor of these vaccines across all dosing centres in the entire Western North Region. With this, we can rest and be assured of safe and on-demand delivery to all the locations mapped out for us by the Ministry of Health through the Ghana Health Service. We have, for almost a year now, been the sole distributor of all the programmed immunization vaccines in the region and this addition rightly proves what we are able to do”, said Kwasi Owusu Antwi, Health Systems Integration and Governmental Affairs Lead for Zipline.

Commenting on Zipline’s innovative and vital work, the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson said: “Zipline’s game-changing technology means that the UKdonated vaccines that arrived in Accra only three weeks ago have already reached front-line health workers, vulnerable people most at risk from infection and those waiting for their vital second jab."

“The UK is very proud to play a key part in the partnership between Ghana and Zipline as we

continue to overcome and build back better from COVID-19.”

Some communities, including Etse in the Afram Plains district, have already taken delivery of the vaccines with about onehundred other vaccination centres expected to receive theirs, on-demand, before the end of this week.

Ghana’s Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service have been key collaborators in the continuous success of the on-demand delivery of medical commodities and the COVID-19 vaccines across the country, especially to the hard-to-reach areas.

Zipline & Ghana Partnership & COVID-19 Response Ghana first partnered with Zipline in 2019, setting up its on-demand logistics service in four strategic locations to cover approximately half of the population and some of the country’s hardest-to-reach areas. Since 2019, Zipline Ghana has completed over 105,000 deliveries, distributing more than 1 million medical commodities and over 3 million vaccine doses (including for covid-19 and childhood diseases).

In April 2020, Zipline began delivering COVID-19 test samples to Accra and Kumasi. This marked the first time in history that autonomous drones had been used to make regular long-range deliveries into densely populated

urban areas. It was also the first time that drones had been used in this way to deliver COVID-19 test samples.

In December 2020, Ghana also deployed Zipline to rapidly distribute personal protective equipment (PPE) to Ghana’s poll workers for the presidential election. In less than 24 hours of receiving the request for assistance from the government, Zipline began delivering PPE, and in under 48 hours delivered PPE across the country, enabling polling locations to open safely and hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians to vote.

How Zipline Works Each week, a single Zipline distribution centre - a combination of medical fulfilment warehouse and drone airport - is capable of the on-demand delivery of more than two tons of temperaturecontrolled medicine to any point across an almost 8,000 square mile service area. Each aircraft can fly 100 miles round trip, in strong winds and rain, day or night, to make on-demand deliveries in 30 to 45 minutes on average. Zipline’s drones have flown more than 12 million autonomous miles to deliver more than 2 million doses of vaccines, units of blood, and critical and life-saving medications to more than a thousand health facilities serving more than 25 million people across three countries.

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FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

15

Feature

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

Gov’ts are increasingly adopting policies on air quality

A

global review of policies and programmes to improve air quality shows that over the past five years more countries have adopted policies on all major polluting sectors. Yet large gaps in implementation, financing, capacity, and monitoring mean that air pollution levels remain high. This data is published today, the International Day of Clean Air for blue skies, in a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

The report, Actions on air quality: a global summary of policies and programmes to reduce air pollution, is based on recent survey data from 195 countries. It assesses policies and programmes in key sectors that contribute to air pollution: transportation, power generation, industrial emissions, solid waste management, household air pollution, and agriculture. It also looks at air quality monitoring, air quality management and air quality standards as key policy instruments to mitigate the impacts of air pollution.

As of 2020, 124 countries (about two-thirds) were found to have national ambient air quality standards, 17 more than reported in 2016. However, only 9% of these adhere to the limits established by the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.

The report finds that although low-income countries suffer more from air pollution, actions to reduce air pollution have multiple development benefits, including climate mitigation, agricultural

productivity, energy security, and economic growth.

Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, said: “When governments act on air quality, they help prevent seven million premature deaths annually. They also improve the overall health and economic well-being of 92% of the world population that lives where air quality levels exceed World Health Organization (WHO) limits. Today, we have more policies in place than ever before, but it is absolutely critical that we focus on implementation, especially where people are disproportionately affected by poor air quality.”

Since 2016, when UNEP began tracking government actions on air quality, there have been improvements from industrial emissions, transportation, solid waste management, and household air pollution. For the first time, the report also reviews current policies and programmes on agriculture, air quality management and standards: Since 2016,18 more countries have added new vehicle emission standards equivalent to Euro 4/IV or higher, bringing the total to 71 countries. Despite most low-income countries still lacking regulations for emission standards of imported used vehicles, a growing number of national regulations are emerging to reduce the maximum age of imported vehicles and incentivize citizens to get rid of old polluting vehicles. For example, Morocco only permits the import of vehicles less than five years old and those

meeting the EURO4 European vehicles emission standard; as a result, it receives only relatively advanced and clean used vehicles from Europe, in line with UNEP’s recommendations; 21 more countries have adopted policies for cleaner production bringing the total number of countries to 108; 95 countries have programmes promoting clean cooking and heating, with 13 new countries compared to 2016. This has led to lower rates of diseases born from household air pollution, mostly in South and East Asia and the Pacific; Though it remains a widespread phenomenon, 26 more countries now strictly regulate burning of solid waste (bringing the total to 38 countries), including landfill gas capture, improved collection, the separation of waste and sound disposal methods; 58 countries have incentives in place to promote sustainable agriculture, and in deploying effective ways to mitigate methane emissions, including alternatives to open burning of agricultural residues, improved livestock manure management, composting to reduce food waste, and using methane capture for energy use; Yet among the 124 countries with air quality standards, only 57 continuously monitor air quality, while 104 countries have no monitoring infrastructure in place. This reflects existing data gaps and capacity issues that hinder global progress on air quality.

Despite new clean air policies in countries worldwide and the steady decline of the burden of disease from household air pollution in some regions, health statistics suggest that ambient and indoor air pollution remain a leading global health risk factor. To improve air quality, there would need to be better enforcement of existing policies and regulations, more substantial financing, and more widespread monitoring and stronger capacities.

UNEP is calling on countries to incorporate investments in air pollution clean-up into their post-COVID-19 recovery plans.

It is also calling for setting benchmarks to assess current and future actions towards cleaner air and to remove barriers in the implementation of policies and programmes, including financing and capacity gaps, and to overcome affordability and maintenance challenges of monitoring equipment.

The Actions on air quality: a global summary of policies and programmes to reduce air pollution report is complemented by regional report summaries (from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America and West Asia) documenting more in-depth actions in key sectors, as well as regional trends and priorities. UNEP will build on the findings of this report and continue using input from member states to track progress on action to improve air quality and inform efforts to address gaps and challenges globally.

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FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

17

Feature

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

The Giving Capsules: Working together to eradicate violence against women & girls will change the narrative on gender based violence. Part 1

By Baptista S. H.Gebu (Mrs.)

N

ever take advantage of people who need your help. It’s never right!

The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women defines violence against women as “any act of genderbased violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life” Violence against women and girls is one of the most rampant human rights violations in the world. It knows no social, economic or national boundaries.

Worldwide, an estimated one in three women will experience physical or sexual abuse in her lifetime according to data put forward by UNICEF. Genderbased violence (GBV) undermines the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victims, yet it remains masked in a culture of silence and denial. Genderbased violence can happen in both the private and public spheres and it affects women disproportionately. Let’s have a conversation about it.

Gender-based violence can be sexual, physical, verbal, psychological (emotional), or socio-economic and it can take many forms, from verbal violence and hate speech on the Internet, to rape or murder. It can be perpetrated by anyone: a current or former spouse/partner, a

family member, a colleague from work, schoolmates, friends, an unknown person, or people who act on behalf of cultural, religious, state, or intra-state institutions, so be agile. Gender-based violence, as with any type of violence, is an issue involving relations of power. It is based on a feeling of superiority, and an intention to assert that superiority in the family, at school, at work, in the community or in society as a whole.

To help change the narrative on Gender Based Violence (GBV), Civil Society Organizations (CSO) and networks have been working globally in several areas to curb the situation. The international hybrid CSO network capacity building workshop on advocacy to end GBV and child marriage ended successfully with a call to end child marriage in Ghana now.

This conference with participants joining from Ghana, Nigeria, Gambia, Senegal and Liberia was implemented by ProHumane Afrique International and the development Research Projects Centers (dRPC) from Nigeria with funding from the Ford Foundations West Africa office under its BUILD project. GBV project implementation tackles the issues in these areas; rape, sexual harassment, domestic violence, child marriage, intimate partner violence, family planning, trafficking in persons, women’s rights issues, girls’ education, violations against displaced women and girls and many more.

We may be aware of issues of rape, sexual harassment,

domestic violence, child trafficking, intimate partner violence but may not be fully aware and well informed about how many children ends up in child marriage. Child marriage situation sees children give birth themselves to other children.

How can a child take care of another child? Child marriage issues are globally affecting the world’s progress to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). Child marriage directly hinders the achievement of at least six of the (SDGs) that is why we must work together to change the narrative and create a world we want. Child marriage looks different from one community to the next, to end it; we must all work together. Solutions must be local, contextual and integrated.

Main reason, you need to be well informed about the subject matter. Once you are aware, you become empowered to provide support.

According to the Ghanaian constitution of 1992, any person under the age of 18 is a child and can therefore not marry or be married off. This is underscored by the 1998 Children’s Act, which sets the legal age of marriage for both boys and girls. Child marriage is any formal marriage or informal union where one or both parties are under 18 years of age.

It is rooted in gender inequality.

Girls, who formally marry or cohabit as if married before the age of 18 are more likely to have early pregnancies, experience dangerous complications in pregnancy and childbirth, acquire

HIV, and experience domestic violence.

Ending child marriage will improve the health of millions of girls, and their children.

According to UNICEF, 12 million girls are married before the age of 18 each year, that is 23 girls every minute and nearly 1 every 3 seconds. Do we want girls or brides? More than 650 million women alive today already suffer the direct consequences of child marriage. Globally, the rates of child marriage are slowly declining but progress isn't happening fast enough until the covid-19 pandemic introduced its own dynamics to the situation. If pre-pandemic trends continue, 150 million more girls will be married by 2030. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this may increase by a further 13 million girls if nothing is done about the issue. That is why you need to understand why we all need to work together to keep our girls in school as girls and not brides.

Ending child marriage is necessary and it must be now, this is because child marriage violates girls’ rights to health, education and opportunity. When girls marry as children, they miss out on developing the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to make informed decisions, negotiate, access paid employment and live independent lives. With little access to education and economic opportunities, girls and their families are more likely to live in poverty. Systems that undervalue

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FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

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Feature

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17 the contribution and participation of girls and women limit their own possibilities for growth, stability and transformation. Ending child marriage and guaranteeing girls’ rights means a fairer, more secure and prosperous future for us all.

The harmful traditional practice of child marriage persists worldwide. In developing countries, more than 30 percent of girls are married before the age of 18, and 14 percent before they are 15. Defined as a customary, religious or legal marriage of anyone under 18, child marriage occurs before the girl is physically and psychologically ready for the responsibilities of marriage and childbearing. It therefore has major consequences for public health, national security, social development, human rights, economic development and gender equality. This is the reason we need to end it now!

According to data released

by UNICEF, 12 million girls worldwide marry before their 18th birthday that is 28 girls getting married every minute and nearly one girl getting married in every 3 seconds. Whilst South Asia records the largest number of child brides, the numbers in sub-Saharan Africa are equally alarming. If nothing is done to stem the worrying trends in this area, it is estimated that the number of child brides in SubSaharan Africa could double by 2050. In effect, sub-Saharan Africa will overtake South Asia to become the region with the largest number of child brides in the world.

The driving factors behind Child Marriage in Ghana are complex and interrelated, the dominant factors identified includes: poor parenting, ignorance, impunity, poor enforcement of the law not lack of nor availability of enacted laws but poor enforcement of

the laws, deeply rooted gender inequalities, teenage pregnancy, economic insecurity, traditional, customary practices and social norms and peer pressure. There is a correlation between teenage pregnancy and increase in gender based violence with focus on ending child marriage cases.

To end child marriage, teenage pregnancy as a driver to child marriage must be addressed.

More than half a million teenagers are on record to have gotten pregnant over the last five years, data from the Ghana Health Service District Health Information Management Health System (DHIMS) reveals. Between 2016 and 2020, about 555,575 teenagers aged 10 to 19 years, are said to have gotten pregnant.

Within the five years, 13,444 teenagers between the ages of 10 and 14 got pregnant, while some 542,131 teenagers aged 15 to 19 years got pregnant. On average, a little over 112,800 teenagers get pregnant annually.

International conventions and treaties combined with national laws and policies provide a powerful normative statement on child marriage as a violation of a child’s rights. At the International level, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) all directly or indirectly address the issue of Child Marriage. For example, the UDHR provides for the right to ‘free and full’ consent to a marriage but notes that consent cannot be ‘free and full’ when one of the parties involved is not sufficiently mature to make an informed decision about a life partner.

Child marriage is illegal in Ghana, why because the 1992 Constitution and the Children’s Act 1998 (Act 560) set the legal

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

age for marriage at 18 for both girls and boys. Section 14 (1) (a) (b) and (c) of the Children’s Act also provides that: “No person ( to include a pastor, a priest, an Imam or opinion leader, etc) shall force a child to be betrothed; to be the subject of a dowry transaction; or to be married… any person who contravenes this provision commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding 5 million cedis or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding one year or both”.

The controversy begins with the same law. According to the Criminal Offences Act 1960 (Act 29), sex with a child under 16 years is defined as an offence which shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than seven years and not more than twentyfive years. If, the minimum age for marriage is 18years as enshrined in the Children’s Act 1998 (Act 560) section 14(2) in Ghana why should another law contradict that stance? By inference, we are offering that a 16-year-old boy or girl is too young to marry and must marry after age 18 years, but is not too young to have sex.

How? These aspects of the law have left a gap between these two child legislations and must be addressed by legislature. That is why a proposed increase of the age of consent to sex from 16 to 18 will support the reproductive justice for both boys and girls. As a good advocacy message, it will be a welcome news to increase the age of sexual consent to match the minimum age for marriage as this will protect adolescents from abuse and from consequences they may not be fully aware of when engaging in sexual activity.

The inconsistency between the age of sexual consent in the Criminal Offences Act and the age of marital consent in the Children’s Act presents a social and legal challenge.

We can change the narrative

on Gender Based Violence. Let’s do that by working together to eradicate violence against women and girls around the world. Become an ambassador your own by knowing the facts and educating your peers. I use this opportunity to call upon all people of goodwill, social clubs, associations, churches and institutions to support the advocacy to ending gender based violence and child marriage in Ghana and in the sub-region now. Civil societies are doing a lot, support their efforts and channel your corporate social responsibility giving’s to creating more awareness on GBV and support to ending child marriage situations in Ghana now.

Baptista is a Hybrid Professional and the Executive Director of ProHumane Afrique International.

ProHumane is a charitable, development & think thank organization working with communities & individuals to create sustainable solutions to transform communities through diverse pro-poor initiatives. Propoor initiatives are initiatives that help to alleviate poverty. Baptista is a realist, affable, simple and humane. You can reach her via e-mail on prohumaneafrique@ gmail.com and follow this conversation on all our social media sites: Linked-In/ Twitter/ Facebook/ Instagram: ProHumane Afrique International. Call or WhatsApp: +233(0)262213313.

Hashtag: #behumane #thegivingcapsules #prohumaneafriqueint #fowc

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BUSINESS24.COM.GH FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

NO. B24 / 246 | NEWS FOR BUSINESS LEADERS

MONDAY MAY 3, 2021

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

Study, watch videos, and get things done with HUAWEI MatePad T 10 series’ eye protection mode

W

e wake up to our digital devices, and it’s also the last thing we look at before going to bed. First thing in the morning, we tap vigorously to snooze our alarms on our bright, vibrating phone screens.

Then, we go about our day replying to messages, reading the news, unlocking our screens intermittently to check the time – we can safely say that our daily routine relies on our glaring attention on illuminated displays.

How do we balance maintaining a good relationship with our online reliance without weakening our vision? Tech companies are rightfully hopping on the bandwagon to incorporate preventative measures to protect our eyes, and Huawei’s tablets have more to offer than the typical standards.

The HUAWEI MatePad T 10 series, which includes the HUAWEI MatePad T 10 and the larger HUAWEI MatePad T 10s, are the perfect tablets for both adults and children alike for work and play, all while ensuring your eyes are protected.

Both the HUAWEI MatePad T 10 and HUAWEI MatePad T 10s come with large displays for an immersive viewing experience, be it for studies, entertainment, or even just to get daily work done.

The HUAWEI MatePad T 10 comes with a 9.7 inch HD display, while the HUAWEI MatePad T 10s comes with a larger 10.1-inch FHD display.

Both tablets are packed with a TÜV Rheinland-certified Eye Comfort mode and can adjust to warmer tones automatically from cooler ones best for the nighttime.

This is important because looking at blue light at night can affect your sleep cycle. But in reality, you’d want your eyes to be protected all day long. Keeping this in mind, the Eye Comfort mode on the HUAWEI MatePad T 10 series can be switched on during the day or night, whenever you start to feel your eyes droop a little.

Thanks to this display paired with its stellar audio systems, the HUAWEI MatePad T 10 series acts as an impressive solution for on the go entertainment.

Meanwhile, the large display can also be used to run two iterations of the same app together with the help of App Multiplier, for a more productive experience, making it ideal for daily tasks or even for students who opt for onlinebased learning.

Thanks to EMUI 10.1, you also get an improved Dark Mode, which displays dark and gentle surfaces across the UI to keep users’ eyes from bright light.

Instead of simply changing colours, everything from background, text to icons, has been adjusted for contrast and colour scale based on massive human factors study to deliver a more comfortable and immersive reading experience.

The HUAWEI MatePad T 10 series also has an eBook mode for all the bookworms out there. With abundant eBook choices now easily accessible to download, you can now carry a handful of different books for your different moods, all within a single device

that is probably lighter than an actual book.

You can also look up for things on the spot. For example, words you may not understand, some historical context or something you want to visualize, which you can easily do on the browser app.

But reading requires utmost concentration, often with our eyes fixed on the display. That’s why the HUAWEI MatePad T10 series has a practical eBook mode that is easy on the eyes so that you can always keep reading. Once the eBook mode is activated, the tablet will adjust the contrast, brightness, sharpness, saturation, temperature to simulate a paperlike effect.

As tablets are often shared round the family, you can also be assured the younger ones also have their eyes protected.

In the children's catered mode Kids Corner, there are alerts to remind them to use the tablet with the correct posture to establish healthy habits.

For example, if the tablet is too close to their eyes, a pop-up reminder will alert your child until an appropriate distance is reached.

Another scenario that prompts reminders would be using the tablet on moving transport, where bumpy movements can really affect eyesight as the small motions make your eyes work harder to focus.

There are a total of six-layer intelligent eye protection features on the HUAWEI MatePad T 10 series including blue light filter, distance alerts, posture alerts, brightness alerts, bumpy road alerts, and the eBook mode that’s got your child’s eye care covered.

Regardless of whether you’re looking for a tablet to do some night-time browsing or some quality reading by yourself, the HUAWEI MatePad T 10 series won’t disappoint and will have your best interest in mind.