Business24 Newspaper - August 31, 2020

THEBUSINESS24ONLINE.COM

MONDAY AUGUST 31, 2020

FDA to strengthen compliance of local businesses …encourages msmes to register with authority

By Eugene Davis eugenedavis@gmail.com

Kotoka Int. Airport opens for international flights Sept 1

By Dominick Andoh kofi.prah@gmail.com

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resident Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced the opening of the country’s airspace for scheduled international travel effective Tuesday, September 1, 2020.

In his 16th address to the nation on measures taken against the spread of coronavirus, President Akufo-Addo said in-bound passengers must, however,

subject themselves to a COVID-19 test upon arrival before being admitted by immigration into the country.

The latest protocols released by the Ghana Health Service, require that arriving passengers must present a negative PCR test result from an accredited laboratory in the country of origin. The test should have been done not more than 72 hours before the scheduled departure from the country of origin.

Passengers will then undergo a COVID-19 test at the upper level of the arrival hall. The test results

Ghana Export-Import Bank Launches Made-In-Ghana 4P Campaign

are expected to be ready within 30mins.

On the part of departing passengers, they are required to adhere to COVID-19 testing requirements for destination countries. They will, however, have to undergo temperature screening at the entrance of Terminal 3 departures before being allowed into the terminal.

Airport laboratory & cost of COVID-19 test One outstanding issue is the cost of the mandatory COVID-19 test to be taken by arriving

LPG pump attendants schooled on international best practices

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*EXCHANGE RATE (INT. RATE)

INTERNATIONAL MARKET USD$1 =GHC 5.6734*

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:

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Free JHS school meals to cost GH¢51.1m

By Benson Afful bensonafful@gmail.com

The free lunch meals for final year Junior High School ( JHS) students and school staff across both public and private schools will cost the state approximately GH¢51.1m, Business24 estimates.

This is based on a cost per meal per day of GH¢3.5, which the National Coordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme, Dr. Gertrude Quashigah, revealed last week.

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ECONOMIC INDICATORS

NO. B24 / 92

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Micro small to medium enterprises ability to transition to big businesses will require meeting acceptable and international standards in order stay in competition, the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has said.

In view of this, the authority is urging local manufacturers of cosmetic as well as household chemical substances to register with the authority especially with the onset of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) –which is headquartered in Ghana.

0.9% GHc 5.13*

CORN $/BUSHEL

43.22 1.79 1,842.40 329.50

COCOA $/METRIC TON

1,562.00

COFFEE $/POUND:

$109.65

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NEWS/EDITORIAL

MONDAY AUGUST 31, 2020

EDITORIAL

It’s time to fly again

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Wash your hands 2

Cover your cough 3

Wear a mask Brought to you by

The opening of the country’s airspace for international travel after more than five months, is another huge step in returning the country back to normalcy since the outbreak of COVID-19 forced government to roll out a raft of measures to contain the spread of the respiratory disease.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, speaking to the nation on Sunday, announced the opening of the country’s airspace but insisted that, to avoid importing more cases, all passengers arriving at the Kotoka International airport will have to undergo COVID-19 test.

The latest protocols released by the Ghana Health Service, require that arriving passengers must present a negative PCR test result from an accredited laboratory in the country of origin.

The test should have been done not more than 72 hours before the scheduled departure from the country of origin.

Passengers will then undergo a COVID-19 test at the upper level of the arrival hall. The test results are expected to be ready within 30mins.

One outstanding issue is the cost of the mandatory COVID-19 test to be taken by arriving passengers. Business24 sources say the cost will be made known at a press conference to be held at the entrance of the arrival hall of the Kotoka

International Airport today.

A state-of-the-art laboratory, has been set-up at the upper level of the Arrival Hall to process the samples. The laboratory will transmit the results electronically to the port health stations in the main arrival hall before a passenger gets there.

All passengers with negative Antigen tests will then be cleared by Port Health to Proceed to the immigration counter and admitted into Ghana.

Passengers with positive Antigen tests will be handed over by port health authorities to health professionals stationed at the facility to be transported to treatment or isolation centres.

Contrary to earlier suggestion that a PCR is a mandatory requirement to travel through the KIA, departing passengers are required to adhere to COVID-19 testing requirements for destination countries.

They will, however, have to undergo temperature screening at the entrance of Terminal 3 departures before being allowed into the terminal.

Business24 urge all stakeholders to work together to ensure that the protocols in place work well for the benefit of all.

Kotoka Int. Airport opens for international flights Sept 1 CONTINUED FROM COVER

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passengers. Business24 sources say the cost will be made known at a press conference to be held at the entrance of the arrival hall of the Kotoka International Airport today.

A state-of-the-art laboratory, has been set-up at the upper level of the Arrival Hall to process the samples.

The laboratory will transmit the results electronically to the port health stations in the main arrival hall before a passenger gets there.

All passengers with negative Antigen tests will then be cleared

by Port Health to Proceed to the

immigration counter and admitted into Ghana.

Passengers with positive Antigen tests will be handed over by port health authorities to health professionals stationed at the facility to be transported to treatment or isolation centres.

By this arrangement, all arriving passengers who test negative will not bear the additional burden of an expensive 14-day quarantine, as has been the case with the many repatriation flights undertaken within the past few months.

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News

MONDAY AUGUST 31, 2020

FDA to strengthen compliance of local businesses

By Eugene Davis eugenedavis@gmail.com

The Head of Cosmetics at the authority, Emmanuel Nkrumah, says he is expecting between 30 to 45percent of small businesses mainly local manufacturers to come on board to register with their products with the authority.

According to Mr.Nkrumah household chemical substances including pesticides, antiseptics, and detergents all remain regulated products by the FDA which has to be approved by the authority before they are put on the Ghanaian market.

“What we have realized is that a couple of local manufacturers produce the products and put them on the market which is against the public health act [Act 851) and is not permitted.

Once it is an FDA regulated product it has to be registered before it comes on the market” he told Business24 in an interview.

Government has set out a plan

to promote local businesses in line with the ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ campaign and with the expected implementation of AfCFTA, the FDA aims to support these businesses to scale up their products and reduce the importation of products.

“AfCFTA is going to open up Ghana, a lot of products are going to come into the country; so what are we also sending out –if we don’t strategically position ourselves well, we will be overwhelmed by foreign products; so what will become of local companies , he asked” This he said is also intended to help prevent substandard or counterfeit products on the markets and to regulate the sector for the consuming public.

The FDA has outlined a number of measures to address the various industry growth-enabling provisions available to small and medium scale enterprises in Ghana.

Without compromising on public safety, the FDA has instituted a number of activities aimed at easing

this problem for regulated small businesses.

The FDA identifies business within the framework of small and medium scale enterprises and aims to facilitate both their access to the market and growth.

Food and Drug Authority is mandated by the Public Health

Act, 2012 (Act 851) to regulate food, drugs, food supplements, herbal and homeopathic medicines, veterinary medicines, cosmetics, medical devices, household chemical substances, tobacco and tobacco products as well as clinical trials.

Free JHS school meals to cost GH¢51.1m

By Benson Afful bensonafful@gmail.com

About 584,000 students who returned to school on June 29 to prepare for the Basic Education Certification Examination (BECE) are benefitting from the intervention, in addition to 146,000 school staff, for a period of 20 school days, starting from August 24 to September 18. In all, there are about 730,000 beneficiaries of the intervention.

The intervention has brought relief to caterers who provide school meals for public basic schools under the Ghana School Feeding Programme, since their work was suspended following the closure of all schools in March due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The School Feeding Programme was introduced by the government in 2005 to improve basic school enrolment and contribute to reducing poverty in the country.

Foodstuffs for preparing the meals are procured locally with the view to supporting local agriculture and farmers’ incomes.

Prior to the closure of schools, 2.98m children were being provided

one hot meal per day through the programme, a 78 percent increase over the 1.67m beneficiaries in 2016.

However, the current daily feeding grant per child of GH¢1 has been criticised as “woefully inadequate” by campaign groups in the education sector.

In January, the Ghana Civil Society Platform on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

petitioned government to increase the grant to GH¢2.5 in order to enhance the quality of food served.

According to the group, the current amount fails to provide an adequate and healthy diet for child development and to ensure the attainment of the SDG on food and inequality.

In several parts of the world, school meals and school feeding

have been used as an effective mechanism for addressing child nutrition, educational enrolment and retention, and hygiene issues.

They have also effectively provided income-generation, employment creation and economic integration benefits to communities in which they have been implemented.

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News

MONDAY AUGUST 31, 2020

Ghana Export-Import Bank Launches MadeIn-Ghana 4P Campaign GEXIM has begun a nationwide Campaign dubbed MadeIn-Ghana4P to encourage Ghanaians to support the growth and development of indigenous businesses.

The bank’s mission is to facilitate the transformation of Ghana’s economy into an export-led one by supporting and developing trade between Ghana and other countries and also building Ghana’s capacity and competitiveness in the international marketplace.

For the past three and half years, GEXIM has been the main financial institution driving the realization of the 1D1F Special Initiative aimed at the socio-economic development of the country.

Why Made-in-Ghana campaign?

Part of the GEXIM’s mandate is to assist in the promotion of locally produced goods and services to enhance export revenue generation, improve import-substitution, add value, and create employment in the country. It is against this backdrop that this campaign was launched.

The aim is to encourage Ghanaians to support our own products and make local industries competitive. Hence, the campaign will focus on four thematic areas to make up the 4Ps: PRODUCE –

PROMOTE – PURCHASE - PROSPER PRODUCE: To encourage entrepreneurship amongst the citizenry by investing in the production of local goods and services.

PROMOTE: To encourage businesses in local production to promote their products and services for both local and foreign consumption.

PURCHASE: To encourage Ghanaians to choose local over foreign goods, help local businesses grow, provide opportunities, and reduce the dependency on imported goods. The more Ghanaians patronize locally produced goods and services, the more businesses will grow and provide opportunities for others, which in effect will put the country on track to becoming self-sufficient and relying less on imports.

PROSPER: To sensitize Ghanaians that as a nation, if we invest in local production, promote our products and purchase our own goods and services, the economy will grow, which ultimately make the nation Prosper.

Partnership with Brand Ambassadors As part of the campaign and in tandem with GEXIM’s support for

the Creative Industry, the Bank has contracted Brand Ambassadors and Influencers who have shown prowess in their respective fields and have interest in this campaign to help push the Made in Ghana agenda.

We also welcome and encourage others who can help in pushing this agenda to join in the campaign and drive our message even further.

Collaboration with PRINPAG As a forward looking brand, we seek to involve key stakeholders in this national campaign; thus, we have begun a collaboration with the Executives and Editors of the Private Newspapers Publishers Association (PRINPAG) which culminated in a media encounter with the Owners and Editors of leading media houses to establish a reliable cooperation and collaboration. Subsequent to

this encounter and in our bid to deepen the campaign, PRINPAG, as our lead stakeholder, undertook a first in a series of a country tour of GEXIM’s financed Projects in the Central Region to visit Ekumfi Fruits and Juice Factory and Casa DeRopa on August 7, 2020.

GEXIM Support Sectors that have received financial support from Ghana Export-Import Bank include the Pharmaceutical, Poultry, Shea, Creative Arts, Garments, Pineapple, Cassava, Avocado, Orange fresh sweet potatoes, Mango, Cocoa products, and Oil Palm.

Some of the factories that have been completed include Amanti Cassava Starch Processing Factory, Casa de Ropa, Akro Poultry Farm, Juaben Oil Mills, Green Houses in KNUST, CUC, amongst many others.

LPG pump attendants schooled on international best practices To protect lives and property at Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) stations, pump attendants have been sensitised on international best practices, which makes it an offence to employ unskilled persons to work at the pumps.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeks to train all LPG pump attendants across the country to enable them to understand all regulatory requirements.

Mr John Alexis Pwamang, the EPA Executive Director, at the end of the fourth batch of training in the Greater Accra Region, said some of the requirements were the positioning of facilities, car parks, maintaining the right distance between the station and the gas container, and adhering to temperature gauges and safety measures within the vending premises.

“The EPA will not tolerate any company that will go contrary to conditions specified in their licences. Any company that falls short will be shut down until the

required provisions are put in place,” he said.

“We will also certify those we train and have them display their certificates to indicate their participation in our training programmes. After the training it will be a requirement for the renewal of operational licenses.”

Mr Pwamang said the Agency was collaborating with the National Petroleum Authority, the Ghana National Fire Service and the operators in the industry through their national and regional associations to ensure that human errors associated with gas explosions were eliminated.

Mr William Hayfron-Acquah, the EPA Acting Director in charge of Field Operations, said the Agency had scaled up efforts to license pump attendants as part of a national process to inject professionalism into the sector.

He explained that the regime where LPG dealers employed unskilled personnel to operate the gas was over, adding; “attendants

must go through Environmental Safety and Best Practices Training (ESBPT)”.

The ESBPT syllabus is divided into phases, which involves theoretical classroom and practical field training leading to the award of an initial certificate of participation, after which the attendants would be monitored for adherence to best practices.

He said they would again go through another theoretical classroom and practical field training at the end of which they would be licensed to operate as certified professional LPG pump attendants.

He said the training would also target owners, dealers, and station supervisors to ensure that “we adhere to international best

practices in our operations in the country.”

Mr Hayfron-Acquah said EPA was not only interested in the training but had set up mechanisms to monitor compliance to ensure stakeholders understood the industry functionalities in order to operate efficiently.

He, therefore, called on all actors including regulators, investors, dealers, attendants, and consumers to work together to reduce the hazards associated with the usage of LPG. The EPA was collaborating with other technical partners such as the Ghana National Fire Service, Ghana LPG Operators Association, Department of Factories Inspectorate and National Petroleum Authority to build a team to help with the training, Mr Hayfron-Acquah said.

He called on the LPG Marketing Companies Association and other stakeholders to ensure full participation in the programme to help protect their investments. GNA

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News

MONDAY AUGUST 31, 2020

Women’s empowerment and franchising – a winning combination

BY BUSINESS FOR BREAKFAST (BFORB)

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here are no doubts that women have come a long way globally to gain equal rights to their male counterparts in different facets of society. Women have had to struggle a lot more to break glass ceilings and to push society as a whole out of their old ways of thinking, to realise the crucial roles women can and do play in helping to build businesses and sustainable economies.

So, are women just wired to succeed in business? Well according to research, women naturally excel in 3 key skill areas that propel them in the business environment. They are communication, initiative and emotional intelligence. Women are also better at multi-tasking, a vital tool for running any efficient business and they also seem to be more intuitive than men, or at least more willing to listen to their inner voices. This makes them more sensitive to nuance, picking up those subtle signals, which can be an important information resource in business dealings.

Women also tend to be more patient and open to sharing their knowledge with work colleagues, thus expanding and reinforcing their networking system. In some cases, a woman’s more compassionate nature better motivates employees and helps attract customers.

Women are steadily closing

the gaps in business and no more so than in the franchising world.

Whether they are breaking into existing industries or franchising their own companies, many of them are paving the way for others to do the same.

Franchising by general definition is a method of starting business where a party (franchisee) acquires a license to allow them to have access to a business’s (franchisor) proprietary knowledge, processes, and trademarks in order to allow the party to sell a product or provide a service under the business’s name.

This method of starting your own business has advantages which far outweighs starting everything by yourself.

Women are amazing executers and also amazing collaborators.

When done correctly, franchising is an amazing community of collaboration – you’re essentially coming into a family. That’s really attractive to women, who always want to be a part of something bigger. For many of these women, the franchising community has proven to be one that breeds openness and mentorship. The openness is in many ways built into the structure of franchising.

While most small-business owners function primarily alone, franchisees are provided with the “built-in” community of the wider franchising industry as well as other franchisees. You’re in business for yourself, but not by yourself.

Franchisees have the unique

opportunity to start a business with access to the experiences of a network of individuals going through remarkably similar processes. In the case of emerging franchises, relationships between franchisees are especially critical to success. Because women in general are collaborative and want to create win-win relationships, they make wonderful franchisors.

The franchise model is also appealing to women who are in search of the financial security and flexibility that is becoming increasingly difficult to attain in the corporate world. At BforB we also offer franchising opportunities to both men and women and almost all of our franchisees say that spending more time with their families and finding a more rewarding career were the driving factors for them investing in their BforB franchise.

While running a franchise can be hard work, it allows entrepreneurs to structure their time to fit in with their needs. Furthermore, franchising allows female entrepreneurs to pursue their passions. Women in franchising report being first drawn to their product, so find something you are passionate about, and that’s a good start! At BforB we are passionate about connecting people.

“Networking is not about just connecting people. It’s about connecting people with people, people with ideas, and people with opportunities”. Michele Jennae More than anything, women in

franchising advise other women not to be limited by stereotypes.

You want to look at all the different options and don’t limit yourself because you think “that’s something men do”. Women know just as much about “male” orientated businesses as men do.

Women have the ability to be empathetic and understanding… and they’re less likely to be trying to do everything on their own.

So, ladies, what are you waiting for, why not contact BforB to find out more about us and start your networking and franchising journey with us today.

Authored by: Business for Breakfast Business for Breakfast (BforB) is internationally recognized for creating successful networking meetings, events and training for referral marketing. We create an environment where you can build quality relationships within your group, backed up by an ongoing member support programme. BforB is committed to helping small to medium scale businesses expand. In our professional network, members meet regularly in business networks to develop relationships, support each other and to share and record referral business.

We are here to help you get new business from quality business introductions and referrals made through our meetings.

Contact us: 059 4 016 432 |info@ bforbgh.com| Facebook & LinkedIn: @ bforbghana||www.bforb.com

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MONDAY AUGUST 31, 2020

Africa’s local currency debt capital markets are seeing a surge in activity

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s a result of the economic downturn brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, global primary debt capital market activity for sub-Saharan Africa has been subdued. In contrast, the local currency debt capital markets for certain African countries have proven resilient, with a notable surge in activity over the first half of 2020 due in part to the low interest rate environments in these key markets.

Many corporates and governments have taken note and are capitalising on this shift.

While it is too early to draw conclusions, we believe this surge in activity could help Africa’s local currency debt capital markets build scale and ultimately attain a level of maturity needed for issuers to reliably depend on these markets to meet their funding needs.

Also, with murmurs about African governments seeking a reprieve on hard currency debt obligations – debt denominated in US Dollars and Euro – mainly to ease capacity for COVID-19related initiatives, we believe hard currency bond issuers will remain largely opportunistic, targeting the most ideal issuance windows to access the market as observers await clarity on debtrelief negotiations.

As a result, in 2020, West Africa has led the way, with a local currency debt capital market that has grown in stature and provided a clear and compelling funding alternative for market participants.

Particularly in Nigeria, corporate issuers and the Sovereign are taking advantage of unprecedented low interest rates to issue both short- and longdated instruments. Stanbic IBTC Bank’s debt capital markets team has arranged Naira-denominated issuances for eleven corporates and financial institutions since February – a significant jump compared to the same period last year. Signals from the monetary authorities indicate that market conditions could remain unchanged in the near term, with the most recent monetary policy rate adjusted by 100 basis points, from 13.5% to 12.5%.

In Ghana, where the policy rate was reduced by 150 basis points earlier in the year, Stanbic Bank has arranged nine longerdated Cedi-denominated bond transactions for the Sovereign this year. Additionally, there

is a healthy pipeline of nongovernment issuers, particularly in the financial sector, seeking to capitalise on the increase in liquidity and growing interest in bonds and commercial paper.

Meanwhile, in East Africa, there has been an uptick in interest in local-currency issuances following a relatively quiet three years.

Green bonds are in focus after property developer Acorn Group issued green bonds in late 2019 and in April 2020. Stanbic Bank Kenya served as sole arranger for both transactions. In Tanzania and Rwanda, Standard Bank has been occupied with arranging ground-breaking transactions which we aim to complete during the second half of this year.

There is renewed activity in Southern Africa as well, including in Botswana, where Stanbic Bank will assist two issuers in accessing the Pula markets this year. Meanwhile, eSwatini has an uncharacteristic healthy pipeline, and there has been a milestone

achievement in Mozambique, where Standard Bank arranged the only listed non-government Meticais transaction in 2020 so far.

The increased interest in local currency debt capital markets is not one-sided – in other words, not only issuer-driven. Pension fund reforms in certain countries have enhanced pension fund activity, with local pension funds and real money managers compelled to seek quality opportunities to park liquidity. There is also international investor appetite for certain local currency bonds, particularly in markets with more amenable exchange controls, although local institutions are leading demand at this point.

With all these advantages, challenges remain. For instance, though green bonds have been a clear success story in East Africa, East African investors remain skittish as certain investors continue to struggle to convince stakeholders about the reliability

of the debt capital markets, following defaults by several corporate issuers over the past three years.

According to the Institute of International Finance, over the 10-year period ending 2019, debt levels in sub-Saharan countries – excluding South Africa – rose 23 percentage points to about 50% of the region’s GDP. This was largely fomented by an increase in hard currency denominated bond issuances. But with local currency markets having now proved that they are adaptable to scale, a less expensive source of funding for addressing local business needs, and easier to access, we believe local-currency bonds and commercial paper will be a significant component of the region’s debt profile over the next 10 years.

Standard Bank Group is the largest African bank by assets, operating in 20 African countries and 5 global financial centres.

Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, we are listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with share code SBK, and the Namibian Stock Exchange, share code SNB. Standard Bank has a 157-year history in South Africa and started building a franchise outside southern Africa in the early 1990s.

Our strategic position, which enables us to connect Africa to other select emerging markets as well as pools of capital in developed markets, and our balanced portfolio of businesses, provide significant opportunities for growth.

The group has over 50 000 employees, more than 1 100 branches and 9 000 ATMs on the African continent, which enable it to deliver a complete range of services across personal and business banking, corporate and investment banking and wealth management.

Headline earnings for 2019 were R28.2 billion (about USD2 billion) and total assets were R2.3 trillion (about USD163 billion). Standard Bank’s market capitalisation at 31 December 2019 was R277 billion (USD20 billion).

The group’s largest shareholder is the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest bank, with a 20.1% shareholding. In addition, Standard Bank Group and ICBC share a strategic partnership that facilitates trade and deal flow between Africa, China and select emerging markets.

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MONDAY AUGUST 31, 2020

Reaping the rewards of sustainable land use

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thriving forest holds value that communities, companies, and other stakeholders around the world are realizing with every tree that is saved. In Niger, 29 rural communities, home to some 100,000 people, have reaped multiple benefits from their forests..

In February 2020, they became the first in Niger to earn carbon credit payments—$450,000—for greenhouse gases sequestered by 7,200 hectares of Acacia Senegal trees planted and raised on onceabandoned land. The communities are using this money to maintain and expand their plantations, purchase agricultural equipment and inputs, rehabilitate water points, supply schools and health posts with materials, and lend to women and youth, among other initiatives..

The forests were planted through an afforestation agro-forestry project under the World Bank’s Community Action Program.

While it has taken 14 years for the trees to mature enough to pursue carbon revenue, they have yielded many other important benefits that have sustained and motivated communities along the way.

Acacia Senegal trees were chosen for their soil restoration properties, but they also produce Arabic gum, which is used as a stabilizer in the food industry. The gum is a source of income for the communities who collect and sell it for export. The trees have also rehabilitated the soil, allowing communities to grow much-needed

food crops and animal fodder, further boosting incomes and food security. Consistent training and on-the-ground support were key to supporting communities throughout and keeping the project on track.

Upfront planning for long-term benefit sharing Niger’s experience offers important lessons on benefit sharing: the distribution of results-based finance and nonmonetary benefits to participating stakeholder groups. In addition to regular training, agricultural inputs and support received throughout the project, communities had also bought in and remained committed to the process – all of which was key to unlocking carbon credit payments. The right incentives in the right hands can boost success and sustainability of results-based programs, such as REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) or Payment for Environmental Services (PES).

Achieving this winning combination requires careful consideration, especially as programs grow in complexity and scale.

More than 20 countries are developing jurisdictional-scale emission reductions and land use programs under the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and the BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (BioCF ISFL). Part of that process is designing benefit sharing arrangements that ensure all participating stakeholders, including Indigenous Peoples and other vulnerable communities, are fairly rewarded for their role in

program activities.

Ghana, for example, is preparing an ambitious initiative—and a global first in the cocoa sector—that aims to produce sustainable, climatesmart cocoa beans while reducing emissions from deforestation and land degradation.

“The entire supply chain is involved, from cocoa famers and local communities to private companies to various government agencies,” explains Neeta Hooda, who is one of the leads for the World Bank team supporting the program.

“We aim to support a shift to more sustainable cocoa production in Ghana, so we must ensure that stakeholders benefit from their efforts and have the incentive to keep going over the lifetime of this program and beyond.”

The program’s benefit sharing plan elaborates how this will be done. It describes the various beneficiaries, their eligibility, roles, and responsibilities, and the types of benefits to be transferred, including the scale, timing, and modalities for distribution. It details the conditions to be satisfied for the payment of the benefits, as well as appropriate indicators for monitoring, measuring, and verifying compliance. The plan is the result of extensive field study, broad stakeholder consultations at the local and national levels, and multiple expert reviews involving men and women from communities, the private sector, civil society, and government. This focus on inclusion and accountability will be a key part of this program’s success.

New resources and guidance

Ghana made use of FCPF and BioCF ISFL guidance on designing benefit sharing arrangements. This guidance is now available on an online platform, Designing Benefit Sharing Arrangements: A Resource for Countries. It walks users through a step-by-step process that breaks benefit sharing down into core elements. It also includes key findings from the FCPF and BioCF ISFL report Benefit Sharing at Scale: Good Practices for Results-Based Land Use Programs, authored by Conservation International.

“The time and resources required to develop benefit sharing arrangements are often under budgeted,” explains Katie O’Gara, a Natural Resources Management Specialist with the World Bank. “This easy-to-use platform gives countries and development partners a clear road map for creating plans that consider and align the various needs, expectations, and goals of beneficiaries and the program.”

REDD+ and sustainable land use programs demand a high degree of stakeholder participation and cooperation to make them work.

So too must the programs work for stakeholders. By sharing practical experiences and guidance, these resources on benefit sharing arrangements can help ensure everyone wins—people, program, and planet.

As other countries look ahead to what’s next, the lessons learned from these kinds of results-based climate finance programs show how they can help support a better, more resilient and more sustainable future. (Worldbank.org)

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MONDAY AUGUST 31, 2020

Banking in the next decade: Four ways Banks can thrive with Social Media

BY EBENEZER ASUMANG (CGIA) Technological innovations will be the heart and blood of the banking industry for many years to come and if big banks do not make the most of it, the new players from FinTech and large technology companies surely will.

----David Brear.

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he new normal is here with us and banks are expected to navigate and get accustomed to it with deployment of technologies and digitized data in different ways in order to stay in competition.

Consumers’ desire for digital banking services will most likely increase, forcing many traditional financial institutions to fast-track digital innovation efforts. The negative effects of COVID-19 has indirectly forced banks to double efforts in leveraging digitalization in their operations and eventually impacting the bottom-line.

Social media for banks offers financial institutions the chance to connect with target market, attract new customers, and build customer loyalty. Growth and brand image improvements would require crucial investment in social media in many ways outlined below: Leveraging Infographics: These are segmented content that displays data or information in a visual format. Users tend to interact and share infographics more than written content because they are engaging and fun to look at. Some analytics show that infographics are amongst the most widely shared content on social media. Banks can create infographics in-house or hire a freelancer to carry that out and this should always include only the most important information.

The purpose of an infographic is to allow users to peruse it swiftly and get the information they need, alongside some fun and engaging graphics. For example, you could create an infographic on the step-bystep process of opening a a current or savings account, along with tips on how to keep it healthy. It’s also possible that if users find your infographic extremely helpful or unique, they could share it with their friends spreading word of the bank even further across social media.

Providing Customer Service: Social media for banks shouldn’t be the only part of the bank’s customer service strategy but it’s definitely great to have. Many times, social media is the firstplace

dissatisfied customers will go with their thoughts and feelings about a business. If you see that your bank is tagged in a negative comment, use it as an opportunity to do some reputation management and customer service. You should try your hardest to respond to every complaint you’re tagged in to ensure that users know your bank is paying attention to their needs.

Respond nicely to negative comments, and encourage customers to contact you via messenger or to call your office to resolve the issue. You should also respond to positive comments to thank users for their feedback and answer any questions that you might be tagged in. Additionally, if you get a query via messenger, you should always respond in a polite, timely manner. Remember, however, to keep these conversations secure.

If someone needs help getting into their account, initiate contact on social media, but then refer them to more secure channels to resolve the issue.

Creation of links to Bank`s website: Facebook and Twitter are great places to share links to the bank`s website. Both networks make it convenient for friends to simply click, and end up on the bank`s blog, informational pages, and more. If your bank has a blog, you can share links to your latest posts to keep current and potential customers coming to your site. You can also share links to pages that give more information about the different

kinds of loans and advances on offer, your FAQs, and other popular pages on your website.

For a social media network like Instagram, you’ll need to get creative with linking to your website.

Instagram doesn’t allow links within posts, though profiles may feature one link.Tools like Linktree can help you share more than one link with users. With Linktree, you create a link hub.

Users click your Linktree link and then see a list of other links, like to a recently mentioned blog post.For the best results with social media banking, use a tool like Linktree to get the most traction from your social media marketing efforts.

Sharing Informative posts: The easiest way to use social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter as a bank is to simply create posts that will increase engagement. As far as what kind of content to post, there many different options.

First, you should always make posts when something new is happening at your bank. For example, if you’re promoting a special interest rate on personal loans for the next two months, Facebook and Twitter are the perfect platforms to share that information with your followers. You can also use a social media network like Instagram to advertise an offer like this, though you’ll need to create an eye-catching graphic or video. No matter where you post your offer, sharing it helps your

current members be aware of the promotion, and can show potential customers what they stand to gain.

You can also create posts with more general information, like banking or money-saving tips.

Sharing information that can help your customers is a sure way to increase their trust in your bank because they know you’re willing to help and offer valuable advice.

So true. Remember: talent is given, greatness is the reward of hard work, and lots of it. Take the advice of the best ever in world sport, and make it work for your business!

Ebenezer ASUMANG (CGIA) worked extensively in mainstream Banking & NBFIs. He is a Chartered member of the CGIA Institute, USA, a Google Certified Digital Marketer and an Author.

www.ebenezerasumang.com info@ebenezerasumang.com 0242339145

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Feature

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COVID-19: Without Help, Low-Income Developing Countries Risk a Lost Decade

BY Y DANIEL GURARA, STEFANIA FABRIZIO, AND JOHANNES WIEGAND

W

hile the COVID-19 crisis is sending shockwaves around the globe, low-income developing countries (LIDCs) are in a particularly difficult position to respond. LIDCs have both been hit hard by external shocks and are suffering severe domestic contractions from the spread of the virus and the lockdown measures to contain it. At the same time, limited resources and weak institutions constrain the capacity of many LIDC governments to support their economies.

Growth in LIDCs is likely to come to a standstill this year, compared to growth of 5 percent in 2019. Further, absent a sustained international effort to support them, permanent scars are likely to harm development prospects, exacerbate inequality, and threaten to wipe out a decade of progress reducing poverty.

Multiple shocks take a heavy toll LIDCs entered the COVID-19 crisis in an already vulnerable position— for example, half of them suffered high public debt levels. Since March, LIDCs have been hit by an exceptional confluence of external shocks: a sharp contraction in real exports, lower export prices, especially for oil, less capital and remittances inflows, and reduced tourism receipts.

Take remittances, for example, that exceeded 5 percent of GDP in 30 (out of 59) LIDCs in 2019.

Between April and May, they fell by 18 percent in Bangladesh, and by 39 percent in the Kyrgyz Republic, compared to the previous year. The repercussions are likely to be felt widely where remittances are the main source of income for many poor families.

As for the domestic impact, while the pandemic has evolved more slowly in LIDCs than in other parts of the world, it is now inflicting a sizeable toll on economic activity.

Many LIDCs acted swiftly to contain the spread. From mid-March, when reported infections were still low, they put in place containment measures including international travel controls, school closures, the cancelation of public events and gathering restrictions.

Mobility—a proxy for domestic economic activity—also declined sharply, and continued to retreat as measures were broadened to include workplace closures, stayat-home orders, and internal movement restrictions.

From late April/early May, containment

measures have gradually loosened and mobility has recovered, but has yet to return to pre-crisis levels.

Managing difficult trade-offs with scarce resources Most LIDCs cannot sustain strict containment measures for long as large segments of the population live at near subsistence levels. Large informal sectors, weak institutional capacity, and incomplete registries of the poor make it difficult to reach the needy. Further, governments have only limited fiscal resources to support them.

Recent surveys conducted across 20 African countries reveal that more than 70 percent of respondents risk running out of food during a lockdown that lasts more than two weeks.

Faced with such constraints, the short but sharp front-loading of containment fulfilled a critical purpose: it flattened the infection curve, while granting time to build up capacity in the health sector.

Many LIDCs have followed this path: while they expended less fiscal support to their economies than advanced or emerging market economies, the share of additional spending dedicated to health has been higher.

As broad-based containment becomes difficult to sustain, LIDCs should transition to more targeted measures, including social distancing and contact tracing— Vietnam and Cambodia are good examples. Policy support should focus on supporting the most vulnerable, including the elderly, and on limiting the health crisis’s long-term fallout.

For example, protecting

education is critical to ensure that the pandemic does not—as highlighted in a recent Letter to the International Community by a group of eminent persons—“create a COVID generation who loses out on schooling and whose opportunities are permanently damaged.”

Where the necessary infrastructure exists, technology can sometimes be leveraged in innovative ways. For example, to limit the spread of the virus, Rwanda is leveraging its digital finance infrastructure to discourage the use of cash. Togo employs the voter registration database to channel assistance to vulnerable groups. A decade of progress under threat Despite the best efforts of LIDC governments, lasting damage seems unavoidable in the absence of more international support. Longterm “scarring”—the permanent loss of productive capacity—is a particularly worrisome prospect.

Scarring has been the legacy of past pandemics: mortality; worse health and education outcomes that depress future earnings; the depletion of savings and assets that force firm closures—especially of small enterprises that lack access to credit—and cause irrecoverable production disruptions; and debt overhangs that depress lending to the private sector. For example, in the aftermath of the 2013 Ebola pandemic, Sierra Leone’s economy never recovered to its pre-crisis growth path.

Scarring would trigger severe setbacks to LIDCs’ development efforts, including undoing the gains in reducing poverty over the last 7 to 10 years, and exacerbating inequality, including gender

inequality.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will thus be even more difficult to achieve.

LIDCs cannot make it alone The support of the international community is key to enable LIDCs to tackle the pandemic and recover strongly. Priorities include: (1) guaranteeing essential health supplies, including cures and vaccines when they are discovered; (2) protecting critical supply chains, especially for food and medicines; (3) avoiding protectionist measures; (4) ensuring that developing economies can finance critical spending through grants and concessional financing; (5) ensuring that LIDCs’ international liquidity needs are met, which requires International Financial Institutions to be resourced adequately; (6) reprofiling and restructuring debt to restore sustainability where needed, which, in many cases, may require relief beyond the G20/ Debt Service Suspension Initiative; and (7) keeping sight of the United Nations’ SDGs, including by reassessing needs when the crisis subsides.

The COVID-19 pandemic will be defeated only when it and its socioeconomic consequences are overcome everywhere. Urgent action by the international community can save lives and livelihoods in LIDCs. The International Monetary Fund is doing its share: among other things, the IMF has provided emergency financing to 42 LIDCs since April.

It stands ready to provide more support and help design longerterm economic programs for a sustainable recovery.

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Feature

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Poverty as injustice EDMUND S. PHELPS

Across Western advanced economies, a widespread sense of malaise has given rise to a debate about what the state can and should do to ensure economic justice, particularly for those at the bottom of the income ladder. As always, the fundamental question is whether public policies would help or hamper growth and dynamism.

I

n much of the world, there is concern over abysmal wages for the less advantaged and the many victims of racial and gender discrimination. Though tax credits for low-income single mothers provide support and contribute to the development of their children, there are still signs of poverty among working people: malnourishment, poor health, and substance abuse.

Less appreciated is that many low-wage workers often must pass up meaningful work because it pays too little. And without a “good job,” these workers cannot have “the good life.” Such outcomes, particularly in advanced economies, are grim signs that something is wrong: the problem is not “inequality,” but a high degree of injustice.

Wide swaths of society are deeply frustrated with the downward trend in the rewards of work and enterprise. Since the 1970s, there has been a general decline in job satisfaction and a virtual cessation of real-wage growth in the United States, and later in the United Kingdom, France, and perhaps parts of Germany and some other countries. Moreover, real interest rates have sunk nearly to the vanishing point. Underlying this is a decline in innovation. Clearly, some fault in the mechanism of human satisfaction has not been adequately addressed.

While Western societies work to ensure economic justice, it is essential that they restore and preserve a widespread experience of the good life. That means providing for meaningful work such as that in enterprise capitalism, in which participants allocate their accumulated wealth and developed abilities to establish various industries and invest in various projects. To do this, countries have raised and educated people who can exercise their creativity by conceiving new commercial methods and products – and also people who are wise and brave enough to take a chance on backing innovation.

At the same time, a debate about economic justice is emerging.

Voices in the Democratic Party, including presidential nominee Joe Biden, have raised expectations that, if elected, they will address

the injustices decried at their recent convention. In contrast, Republicans – as far back as Ronald Reagan and, on occasion, Donald Trump – have argued that measures aimed at reducing inequality come at the price of economic growth.

They have in mind the largescale US programs to raise incomes among the working poor over the past several decades, beginning with the “Great Society,” launched

by Lyndon Johnson’s administration in the 1960s, and the Earned Income Tax Credit in the 1970s.

Also, as recently noted, Democrats legislated “Medicare, food stamps, Head Start, and a host of other programs that helped whites and minorities alike.” Has all this slowed growth?

It does appear that productivity growth – more precisely, total factor productivity, and ultimately labor productivity – slowed just after this legislation was enacted, and, apart from the peak years of the Internet revolution, remained subdued. Yet, as the old saying goes, “correlation is not causation.”

My contrary thesis, which has been argued at length and now tested extensively, is that the great productivity slowdown was really caused by a major loss of people still keen on devising new commercial products and methods, and not by the Great Society.

Certainly, it is implausible that those helped by the Great Society are to blame. In any case, there do not appear to be any econometric studies showing that countries that aid the disadvantaged more have less growth.

There is also a worry on another score: call it the “fiscal capacity charge.” Some economists and businesspeople fear that boosting already high tax rates in the hope of raising the money needed for substantial poverty reduction would fail to collect much more revenue. Revenue might even be lost as taxpayers cut back their supply of labor and companies lose interest in increasing their efficiency. Yet there is not a shred of academic evidence showing that Western economies – and certainly not the low-tax US economy – have reached the limits of their fiscal capacity.

The US (and other Western governments to varying degrees) therefore has enough room to attack economic injustice. To bring low-paid workers’ wages to an acceptable level, the state will want to institute a schedule of subsidies to pull up most strongly the wage rates of those at the bottom. The schedule would then set progressively lower subsidies for each ascending wage bracket.

Much of the attention now paid

to economic injustice derives from A Theory of Justice, philosopher John Rawls’s landmark work of nearly 50 years ago. Remarkably, Rawls argued that justice requires pulling up the pay of the lowest paid to the maximum – which would entail taxing to capacity. (I soon thereafter built a model of Rawlsian taxation in a 1974 paper.) Of course, a theory abstracts from much, and Rawls focused on poverty from all sources.

My hope today is to work for an economy that is both inclusive and just.

While it is important to know the way out of poverty, it is equally important to know the way not to go. We must oppose a universal basic income – a lamentable use of public revenue that would be better directed toward increasing low-wage workers’ income to a level enabling them to support themselves, which is essential for self-esteem. But a UBI would also draw (or keep) people and their children away from work, which is for many the only available avenue to personal fulfillment and to satisfying involvement in the world.

Edmund S. Phelps, the 2006 Nobel laureate in economics and Director of the Center on Capitalism and Society at Columbia University, is author of Mass Flourishing and co-author of Dynamism.

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Banking

MONDAY AUGUST 31, 2020

FBN Bank Ghana posts impressive performance results FBNBank Ghana has posted an impressive half year 2020 growth across all major performance indices over the corresponding prior period in 2019.

The profitability of the bank witnessed an industry leading growth of 77percent reflecting the capacity and ability of the leadership in effectively translating revenue to profit notwithstanding the challenging economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Similarly, there is improved customer patronage of the brand during the year. This is reflected in the significant growth of 58percent in both customer deposit and total assets of the bank.

By strengthening the risk management framework of the Institution, the bank was able to curtail incidences of impairments on its risk asset as the impairment charged was reduced significantly by 36percent over the prior period in 2019.

Reflecting on this performance, Managing Director of FBNBank

Ghana, Victor Yaw Asante, attributed this to the pursuit of the bank’s vision to be a clear leader and Ghana’s bank of first choice, a quest, which influenced the deployment of the bank’s resources towards the larger interest of our customers and other stakeholders The bank’s Chief Financial Officer, Semiu Lamidi, stated that the spectacular half-year performance was a reflection of the huge investment the bank had made in the provision of information technology infrastructure, the improved workforce environment and disciplined execution of cost efficiency strategies.

FBNBank Ghana has been on a quest to endear the brand to its stakeholders in the Ghanaian market and using all available means to make the brand a mark of excellence.

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Aviation

MONDAY AUGUST 31, 2020

New Addis Ababa Bole International Airport blends modernity with bio safety

Boeing to increase black employment by 20%

Ethiopian Airlines Group, the Largest Aviation Group in Africa, has successfully completed a new passenger terminal at its hub Addis Ababa Bole International Airport with emphasis on bio security and bio safety measures.

The new terminal has check-in hall with sixty check-in counters, thirty self-check-in kiosks, ten self-bag drop/SBD/, sixteen immigration counters with more e-gate provisions, sixteen central security screening areas for departing passengers are the new faces of the airport. In addition, it has three contact gates for wide body aircraft along with ten remote contact gates with people mover - travellator, escalator, and panoramic lifts.

It will house thirty-two arrival immigration counters with eight e-gate provisions at the mezzanine floor level. Regarding the expanded infrastructure, Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam, Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines

Boeing Co is seeking to increase Black U.S. employees throughout the company by 20% and mandate benchmarks for hiring people of color, Chief Executive Dave Calhoun told employees in a memo on Friday reviewed by Reuters.

U.S. corporations have become more responsive to complaints related to racial equality following a summer of sweeping anti-racism protests over the slaying of Black people by police.

The changes at Boeing, a stalwart defense contractor with its corporate headquarters in Chicago and largest factories in Washington state and South Carolina, appeared to mark the first concrete steps by the planemaker to address the issue.

“We understand we have work to do,” Calhoun said in the memo, which was released on the 57th anniversary of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech and included

remarked, “I am very pleased to witness the realization of a brandnew terminal at our Hub. While Addis Ababa Bole International Airport has overtaken Dubai to become the largest gateway to Africa last year, the new terminal will play a key role in cementing that position.

What makes the new terminal unique is that it’s the first terminal in the world to be completed after COVID-19. It was designed, not re-purposed, with Bio safety and Bio security in mind. I’m sure our esteemed customers will highly appreciate that.”

Aviation infrastructure expansion is one of the core pillars of Ethiopian’s Vision 2025.

Ethiopian is continuously working on expanding airport facilities.

The features of the new airport play a key role in protecting passengers’ and employees’ safety as airport experience becomes contactless.

references to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin on Sunday.

Boeing declined to provide its current number of Black employees or a timeline for the new target.

The planemaker separately has had to lay off thousands of workers as it grapples with the financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and the 17-month-old grounding of the 737 MAX after two fatal crashes.

In the memo, Calhoun said the company would establish an internal Racial Justice think-tank to guide its policies.

On June 23, a manager at Boeing’s Everett factory found “racist symbols” at his work station, according to an email from Commercial Airplanes Chief Executive Stan Deal to employees seen by Reuters. The manager is Black, a person familiar with the incident said. (Source: Reuters)

Lufthansa to appoint new supervisory board It has been agreed, among other things, within the stabilization package of the Economic Stabilisation Fund (WSF) of the Federal Republic of Germany for Deutsche Lufthansa AG, that the Federal Government may appoint two members to the Supervisory Board of the Company in its role as shareholder. This part of the agreement has now been completed with the appointment of Angela Titzrath and Michael Kerkloh.

Angela Titzrath and Michael Kerkloh will soon be appointed as new members of the Supervisory Board by court order. As agreed, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Karl-Ludwig Kley, had the right to propose new members and the German goverment confirmed the nominations. In order to enable the appointment of two new members, the current Supervisory Board

members Monika Ribar and Martin Koehler are resigning from their positions with immediate effect.

Monika Ribar has been a member of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG since 2014. Martin Koehler is the longest-serving member of the Supervisory Board, which he joined in 2010. His term would have ended in 2023 without him being eligible for re-election.

Karl-Ludwig Kley says: “With this change we are fulfilling a core condition of the stabilization package. I would like to thank Monika Ribar and Martin Koehler for their many years of dedicated work on the Supervisory Board. With them we are losing two proven experts who have always contributed their extensive management experience and airline expertise in the interests of the company. At the same time, with Angela Titzrath we are gaining an experienced manager who will

enrich the Supervisory Board with her broad expertise from various industries and companies. Her experience in logistics and her knowledge of personnel policy issues will be of great value to our Supervisory Board. Michael Kerkloh has successfully managed

the airports in Hamburg and Munich for many years. He will bring his many years of experience and his deep understanding of the aviation industry to the Supervisory Board”. (Source: Lufthansa)

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Feature

MONDAY AUGUST 31, 2020

Ministry of Health/Ghana Health Service - Guidelines for international flight operations on Covid-19 safety at the Kotoka International Airport INTRODUCTION Following the declaration of the novel Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a global Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30th January 2020, several States instituted measures to curb the spread of the disease.

In Ghana, similar measures were instituted in addition to Executive Instrument (EI) 61 requiring some practices to be enforced.

As part of plans to reopen the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) on the 1st September 2020, the Ghana Health Service/Ministry of Health has instituted measures to prevent and control the spread of COVID 19 in Ghana related to international travel. The outlined measures below are applicable to flight crew and passengers arriving and/or departing KIA within the period of reopening the airport to international travel until further advised.

GENERAL The Ghana Health Service in collaboration with other partners will provide Port Health Services to ensure safety of flight crew, passengers and users of the airport. Port Health Services at the airport includes all healthrelated activities within the terminal including laboratory testing, inspection of relevant health documents, screening and triaging of passengers and the management of ill persons including transfer to appropriate health facilities; environmental inspections, supervision of cleaning and disinfection of aircraft and the entire airport terminal among others.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS OBSERVATION FOR AIRCRAFT OPERATORS AND FLIGHT CREW Airline crew arriving or departing on international flights at the KIA including those from the ECOWAS region will be required to meet the health requirements outlined below prior to admission into Ghana by the Ghana Immigration Service.

1.Crew Members on Departing Flights All crew members on international flights departing KIA must adhere to COVID-19 testing requirements for the destination countries. In addition, they must always wear a face mask appropriately (extending from the middle of the nasal bridge to

halfway between the chin and the neck) and adhere to social distancing and hygiene protocols.

All crew members will undergo mandatory COVID-19 screening including the checking of temperature prior to departure.

2.Crew Members on Arriving Flights Crew members must not have any symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 including body temperature >38°C. All persons must be wearing face mask appropriately upon arrival (extending from the middle of the nasal bridge to halfway between the chin and the neck).

In addition, they must adhere to social distancing and hygiene protocols. All crew members will undergo mandatory COVID-19 screening including the checking of temperature upon arrival.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS FOR DEPARTING AND ARRIVING PASSENGERS All passengers departing or arriving on international flights at KIA including those from the ECOWAS region will be required to meet the health requirements outlined below prior to admission into Ghana by the Ghana Immigration Service.

3.Departing Passengers All passengers on international flights departing KIA will be required to adhere to COVID-19 testing requirements for the destination countries. All persons must be wearing a face mask appropriately (extending from

the middle of the nasal bridge to halfway between the chin and the neck) and adhere to social distancing and hygiene protocols.

Departing passengers will undergo COVID-19 screening including the checking of temperature.

4.Arriving Passengers All arriving passengers must not have any symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 including body temperature >38°C. They must be in possession of a COVID-19 negative PCR test result from an accredited laboratory in the country of origin. The test should have been done not more than 72 hours before the scheduled departure time from the country of origin. For passengers who transit through other countries before arriving in Ghana, the first country of departure will be the reference point. For passengers who depart Ghana and return within one (1) week, the passengers will not be required to present a COVID-19 test result from the country of departure. A negative COVID-19 test from Ghana used on departure will serve as evidence of meeting the COVID-19 test criteria for arriving in Ghana. In addition, all persons must be wearing face mask appropriately upon arrival (extending from the middle of the nasal bridge to halfway between the chin and the neck).

All passengers will be subjected to a mandatory COVID-19 test at the airport terminal at the cost to the passenger. All persons testing

positive will receive further clinical assessment and treatment.

All persons testing negative will be advised to continue to observe COVID-19 safety precautions following arrival in Ghana.

5.Exemptions The following categories of passengers and crew are exempt from COVID-19 PCR test Testing i)Children under-5 years of age will not be required to undergo testing at the airport. ii)Persons who arrive under emergency circumstances such as diverted flights will not be required to undergo testing if they do not leave the airport or if they remain in transit such that they do not leave the hotel. iii)Airline crew are exempt from the pre-departure and arrival testing and should follow airline policy for testing.

Management of Confirmed Cases of COVID-19 All persons testing positive will receive further clinical assessment and treatment.

Confirmed COVID-19 positive will be handled by the Port Health Unit for the remainder of their arrival processes. Following completion of the arrival procedures, they will be sent to the Ga East Municipal Hospital for further clinical assessment and management. All persons testing negative will be advised to continue to observe COVID-19 safety precautions following arrival in Ghana.

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Feature

MONDAY AUGUST 31, 2020

Of Manifestoes and the silence on the plight of PWDs

BY SETH DANQUAH

It is disappointing that fourteen (14) years after the passage of the Disability Act, very little has been done to actualise it as successive governments failed to fully implement key provisions in the Persons With Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715).

Even though the Act was meant to mainstream persons with disability into the national economy, and ensure they live very normal lives, this objective has unfortunately not been met.

The Disability Act The Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715) is aimed at ensuring that Persons With Disability (PWDs) enjoy the rights enshrined in Article 29 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, with a vision to improve on their quality of life and mainstreaming PWDs activities.

However, the plight of persons with disability now is worse than it was some 14 years ago as public structures continue to be inaccessible to persons with mobility impairment, while educational institutions continue to construct more than one storey structures without elevators, making access to these structures almost impossible for students with disability.

The Act, passed in response to concerns by persons with disability that their peculiar circumstances had not been sufficiently addressed by existing laws, policies and

programmes, had wide ranging provisions to address these concerns, and more importantly, assert their constitutional rights as Ghanaians.

Nevertheless, it is noted with sadness that authorities in tertiary institutions are especially guilty of this despicable practice and most hospitals in the country, particularly in the Districts still do not have sign language interpreters to help brothers and sisters with hearing and speech impairment.

Public Transport System Our public transport system does not have room for persons with disabilities. It was a pity to have recently witnessed a case where a wheelchair-bound woman was prevented from boarding a Sprinter bus because according to the driver, there was no room for her wheelchair.

Generally, the Ghanaian economy which has been touted as one of the best in Africa, has no room for persons with disability which in other words, even in our economic miracle, we have left persons with disability on the fringes.

Fundamental Rights Meeting the needs of persons with disability is not a favour the state is doing for them, but an obligation that ought to be conscientiously met. We cannot claim to be fully developed as a country if a significant percentage of our population is left behind.

Recommendations As political parties put finishing touches to their various

manifestoes with some launching or about to launch theirs, there should be a wakeup call on them to incorporate these concerns into the programmes they plan to implement if they win power.

The parties should move away from the tokenism that has characterized past responses to the concerns of the disability community.

For instance, where one or two persons with disability employed by the state are projected as an example of the state’s commitment to addressing disability issues.

This time, there should be a systemic shift to an era, where

disability issues are addressed holistically across the socioeconomic spectrum.

It is said that how well a country is developed is measured by how well it treats its population who are underprivileged.

This is the same standard we will be holding our governments, both present and future.

To this instance, all political parties must commit to mainstreaming persons with disability into the wider economy by fully implementing the Persons With Disability Act, 2006 to ensure they live in dignity as Ghanaians.

GNA

Adhere to COVID-19 protocols or face severe sanctions President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Sunday, reminded Ghanaians that those who flout COVID-19 protocols will be punished.

The President said the high compliance rate with mask-wearing of persons recorded in survey by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) had fallen according to a new survey by the Service.

This, he said, was not acceptable, as the enhanced hygiene, maskwearing and social distancing protocols must now be “central features of our lives, and they must continue to remain so for some time to come, until we see to the elimination of the virus from the country.”

President Akufo-Addo, who, gave the reminder in his 16th update on Ghana’s enhanced response to the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore warned that persons who continued to disregard the COVID-19 safety and preventive protocols, and endanger the rest of the population through their actions and negligence, would have to face severe sanctions.

He said the law enforcement

agencies would, where necessary, apply these measures without fear or favour, ill-will or malice, and without recourse to a person’s ethnicity, gender or religion.

He, however, noted that since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, countries including Ghana had day-in-and-out, instituted measures to try to limit and contain the spread of the virus, and return lives to normalcy.

He said while some measures had been successful, others had not worked, with some countries now experiencing hikes in infection rates, and the emergence of what was referred to as a ‘second wave’ of the virus.

The President said with the effectiveness of Government policies, the co-operation of Ghanaians, and by the grace of God, the nation had been relatively spared these unwelcomed developments.

He stated that Ghana had continued to witness low hospitalization and low death rates since May 31, 2020, when Government decided to embark on

a strategic, controlled, progressive, and safe easing of restrictions, to get lives and the economy back to normal in safety.

He noted that the number of active cases continued to decline, and at the time of his last address two weeks ago, the total number of active cases of COVID-19 stood at 1,847 persons, but as at Friday, August 28, 2020, the number had reduced to 1, 059 persons.

Currently, a total of 42,963 persons had so far recovered from the virus, but 276 others had unfortunately died after being infected, with a great majority of them with underlying illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes and chronic liver diseases, he explained.

President Akufo-Addo, stated that as much as these statistics were encouraging, in contrast to what pertained in several countries globally, “We cannot afford to let our guard down. We have to maintain, in a state of constant readiness, the enhanced infrastructure and expertise we have built during the period of the virus to cope with it.”

He said the difficulties imposed

on the everyday lives of Ghanaians and the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had had on livelihoods, it must serve as sufficient motivation for all, to continue to adhere to the enhanced hygiene, mask-wearing and social distancing protocols that must characterize the daily routines of Ghanaians.

He said “the more we adhere, the sooner we defeat the virus, and return to our normal way of life,” expressing confidence that this could soon be over “if we put our hearts and minds to it,” and as whilst at it, he urged that Ghanaians prayed the Almighty God to keep a benevolent eye on the nation and keep it from harm.GNA

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Feature

MONDAY AUGUST 31, 2020

The Japan Shinzo Abe HasLeft Behind BY: BILL EMMOTT

B

y leaving office now, as modern Japan’s longestserving prime minister, Shinzo Abe will set the terms of his departure instead of allowing dagger-wielding rivals to do it for him. He will leave behind a country still struggling with fundamental economic problems, but also more prepared to go its own way in the world.

Shinzo Abe’s sudden resignation (on health grounds) ends the tenure of Japan’s longest-serving prime minister. The country’s most internationally recognized statesman since 1945, Abe has been, among other things, the world leader most keen on playing golf with US President Donald Trump.

Though he leaves with a stillweak economy, Abe has made Japan stronger and more autonomous in matters of defense and foreign policy. Whoever succeeds him will likely continue on that path, which is good news for proponents of peace in East Asia and of the rulesbased international order more generally.

Abe’s current term was set to end in September 2021, but his approval ratings had fallen to historic lows, making another run for the premiership a non-starter.

The manner of his departure, after nearly eight continuous years in office, thus reflects an old principle of political life. For a long-serving party leader who knows the end of his political career is nigh, it is better to set the terms of one’s own departure than be pushed out by dagger-wielding rivals.

Since his youth, Abe has suffered from ulcerative colitis, a debilitating condition that forced him to resign once before, in 2007, after serving one year as prime minister. That previous departure also coincided with serious political difficulties, making his return to power in 2012 all the more remarkable.

Given two recent well-publicized hospital visits, Abe’s renewed health problems are likely genuine.

And yet, with the Tokyo Olympics having been postponed to next summer, it is hard to believe that he would choose to step down now unless he also felt serious political pressure.

From an international perspective, Abe’s loss of popularity may seem surprising, given that his country has suffered fewer than 1,300 COVID-19 deaths and a smaller economic downturn than in the United States or most European countries. But Abe’s government has drawn criticism for erratic communication and a seemingly uncaring economic-policy response to the pandemic. And, after so many years in office, accumulated

scandals and a general weariness with the country’s unchanging leadership have caught up with him.

Moreover, there has been growing disappointment about the state of the economy and living standards. Abe’s ballyhooed economic program, “Abenomics,” has consisted of faster monetary expansion, some fiscal stimulus, and talk of pro-growth structural reforms. But the results have been meager, especially from a leader who has won three general elections and long enjoyed strong parliamentary majorities.

Abenomics was billed as a program to overcome deflation, accelerate economic growth, and – in a second phase – boost Japan’s birth rate. While prices have stopped falling, hopes of restoring mild inflation and wage growth have been dashed. While economic growth between 2012 and the current pandemic was slightly better than in the previous decade, that was largely owing to the absence of major shocks on the scale of the 2008 financial crisis or the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The birth rate remains flat.

To be sure, the Abe government has enacted some small, useful reforms, including a new corporate-governance code, better disclosure rules for companies, higher child-care spending, and tighter limits on dangerously long overtime. But plans for deeper reforms to increase competition have either not materialized or been blocked by vested business interests. Nearly 40% of the

workforce remains on short-term, precarious contracts, and although more women work, very few have broken through to leadership positions.

Abe has also failed to achieve his greatest ambition of all: revising Japan’s 1947 constitution to normalize the status of the country’s armed forces and remove the document’s famous pacifism clause (Article 9). The Japanese public remains opposed to such a change, and Abe’s Liberal Democrats (LDP) have commanded their strong parliamentary majorities in coalition with the centrist Buddhist group Komeito, which has pacifist roots. Because a constitutional revision requires a two-thirds majority in each house of parliament and a simple majority in a national referendum, Abe has never been able to realize his dream.

As for his legacy, Abe will be remembered as a traditionalist (in Japanese terms). Within the LDP, he leads a group of “new conservatives” who advocate a strong state, central leadership, established values, and – most of all – a more robust and autonomous foreign and defense policy. On these priorities, he has delivered.

At times, he has pursued a slavishly close relationship with Trump. But he has also sought to carve out a more autonomous role for Japan on issues like trade. In 2017, he led the effort to salvage the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership following the Trump administration’s withdrawal from that deal. Japan has also negotiated

a bilateral free-trade arrangement with the European Union, and will shortly complete a parallel deal with the United Kingdom.

Abe has also strengthened Japan’s defense relationship with India. By emphasizing a revisionist view of Japan’s wartime history, however, he has brought relations with South Korea – Japan’s closest neighbor and a fellow US security ally – to a new low following that country’s leftward turn.

The race among potential successors within the LDP has been covertly underway for several months. But it is already clear that none of the leading contenders – defense minister Taro Kono, former foreign minister Fumio Kishida, the cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga, nor even Abe’s old rival, Shigeru Ishiba – will want to soften the country’s foreignpolicy stance. If anything, they may compete to appear even stronger on security issues, advocating more military spending, pre-emptive strike capabilities against North Korean missile threats, or tougher action against Chinese maritime incursions in the East China Sea. No Japanese prime minister since the end of the American occupation in 1952 has been able to contemplate seriously any kind of rupture with the US. But, recognizing that America has become a less reliable and cooperative ally, especially under Trump, Abe has prepared the ground for Japan to develop a more independent voice as it builds its own network of partners around the world. That strategy is here to stay.

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MONDAY AUGUST 31, 2020

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Risk and Insurance

MONDAY AUGUST 31, 2020

Enterprise Risk Management is about measuring what matters

BY: BILL EMMOTT

Enterprise risk management can be defined in a number of ways.

Most will however define it from the perspective of addressing possible deviations from organizational goals. Goals are an important part of any business’ growth, and many organizations unfortunately have poorly constructed goals. This will naturally lead to inadequate risk management practices. It will be no coincidence such firms will not reap the full benefits of risk management and may tag it as an unnecessary expense. The bottom line is that good risk management will require understanding of what it is intended to deliver. One critical objective of risk management is to protect what is most important for an organization — protect their plans, their reason for being, and their values. This ensures they also maximize the possible opportunities that will be derived from their existence.

Risk management delivers this is in a number of ways. First, by putting close-protection practices in place around organizational goals. These will normally form

part of an early warning system that monitors and anticipates changes.

It aids firms to get in front of undesired outcomes and leverage opportunities as they come. It is mission-critical, therefore, for an organization ought to set goals and targets that deliver what is truly needed. Organizations mostly set goals or metrics that are too blunt and can easily be misconstrued or overlap across departments and portfolios.

For instance, in the health care industry, hospitals may want to reduce patient interaction time for cost-efficiency. When blunt goals are set to reduce interaction time, more often than not the patient may feel they were rushed through an assembly line, left with a deeply compromised experience, and possibly misdiagnosed by their doctor.

Metrics do drive outcomes, but they also drive behaviors.

This law of human nature was expressed by social scientist Donald Thomas Campbell. In simple terms, Campbell’s Law states that measuring the wrong things can drive immoral or corrupt behavior, leading sometimes to unintentional negative effects that can make a problem worse. The late Steve Jobs saw this: “Incentive

structures work, but you have to be very careful of what you incentivize people to do, because various incentive structures create all sorts of consequences that you can’t anticipate.” From goal setting, incentivizing staff and measurement of performance, a blunt one size fit all approach is most likely to end in a poorly implemented enterprise risk management plan.

Key questions to ask ourselves: Are these indicators a sufficient or fair way to measure performance?

Are these metrics fostering unwanted behavior? Are the goals, ambitions and values well understood? Are these goals and incentives attracting suitable employees?

The behavioural concepts surrounding risk management point many to issues surrounding misconduct of sales reps in misselling, and recent discussions of police duties, not just in America, but around the world. Certain behaviors in the line of duty will drive one to ask some rudimentary questions. What metrics drive their behavior? What incentivizes the employee? What are their current performance goals? Each organization should ask itself first; What are my goals, metrics and incentives for your organization?

This should be no different even on a departmental or individual employee level Answering these questions in the light of minimizing variations that may affect a firm achieving its goals will lead to maximizing available opportunities as well. Instead of setting a blunt goal of example, 20% increase of last year’s revenue, think of the strategy or plans in place to achieve this, how performance will be measured, the incentives put in place and how this affects behavior.

Samuel Kofi Ohene is a professional risk analyst in the Insurance Industry, both General and Life Insurance. His specialties currently focus on actuarial and statistical techniques in financial and enterprise risk management.

He has a background in insurance underwriting and claims management as well. For comments, contact him via email, sohene15@gmail.com

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