Kofi Ahovi

by Solace DORNO The National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) has successfully launched a new programme, known as the Youth-in-Mining module. The new programme would focus on creating jobs, mostly in the small-scale ventures, for the youth in the mining communities. It would also train the beneficiaries in best mining practices and environmental conservation, as well as the necessary equipment in mining. Launching the programme at Akwatia in the Eastern Region, the National Coordinator of the NYEP, Abuga Pele, said the new programme would elevate small-scale mining, give skills training in mining, impart managerial know-how and promote modern agriculture. They would also be encouraged to undertake environmental conservation. He said a NYEP Bill would soon be passed by Parliament and the programme would be given sufficient funding to operate without the present challenges facing it. The Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Nii Nortey Dua, appealed to all Ghanaians, especially the youth...

By Solace AMANKWA Government has constituted a high level committee of security and legal experts to draft a policy document, aimed at safeguarding operations in the oil and gas sector. The policy will protect the petroleum industry against acts of terrorism, sabotage, piracy and vandalism. This would create a safe, secure and enabling environment to facilitate the exploration, exploitation and distribution of oil and gas. Besides, it would prevent the diversion and stealing of petroleum products, and further prevent other users of the sea from interfering with operations. According to the Minister of Energy, Dr. Joe Oteng-Adjei, government is putting up measures to give a timely response to emergencies in the oil and gas sector. He said efforts should be made to ensure that transparency goes beyond the monitoring of the flow of oil revenues to all contracts signed between the extractive companies and the government. Ghana signed up to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiati...

By Solace AMANKWA Tullow Oil, one of Europe's largest independent oil exploration and production companies, has upgraded its estimate of reserves at its Tweneboa field in Ghana by 60%. The field, according to Tullow, could prove to be much bigger with the tendency to be upgraded further. According to the company, the successful drilling in the past year showed potential resources of 4.5 billion barrels across all its prospects and fields in Ghana. BusinessWeek gathered that the company plans to develop the Jubilee field well gradually, starting at a rate of about 60,000 barrels a day, at which point the cash will start to flow, helping to finance future investment to raise production between 250,000 to 300,000 barrels per day. It had also agreed on a framework deal to bring in China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and French oil company, Total, as equal partners in its Ugandan assets, which would involve Tullow selling more of its share than earlier planned. Exploration d...

Renewable Energy Bill goes to Cabinet By Solace AMANKWA A bill seeking to promote the use of hydropower, as well as biological and solar energy in Ghana, will be presented to the Cabinet for scrutiny and approval this week, and thereafter forwarded to Parliament for consideration and approval. The bill, when passed into law, will speed up the development of solar energy and also integrate renewable energy into the energy supply mix of the country. It would provide a holistic framework for renewable energy development in the country, which would further help the recognition of the different sources of energy. It would also reduce inferior solar systems in the country since the standards that have been developed for photovotaic systems would be strictly enforced. BusinessWeek gathered that the passage of the Renewable Energy Bill by the end of this year is one of the main targets of the Ministry of Energy Currently, the Energy Commission is collaborating with all stakeholders with the vi...

By Solace AMANKWA The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWCS) has announced its preparedness towards the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) by July, this year. To this end, the process of migrating salary data onto the SSSS has begun and the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) has already started work to off-load salary data from the various public service institutions onto the SSSS. In addition, a joint technical committee on the FWCS and CAGD has been established and is currently working to ensure smooth migration of all public institutions’ payrolls onto the SSSS. The committee is using the current payroll data as reference point to map out existing payrolls of the various institutions onto the SSSS. Government has however issued a white paper on the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP), stating its position on the policy and all the arrangements for its implementation by the set date. The white paper indicated that the new pay policy would be ...

Govt. plans to provide 1,500 houses By Kofi AHOVI & Solace AMANKWA The government has drawn up a plan to provide 1,500 housing units to its workers nationwide from the third quarter of this year. The housing units would be put up across the country to ensure equal distribution, Businessweek has gathered. It also includes the construction of 10,000 safe, decent and low income affordable housing units on 74 acres of land at Nsakina, near Amasaman in the Ga East District, which has been awarded to Messrs Agu Resources. The plan is different from the 200,000 housing-unit project secured by the Vice President, John Mahama, in South Korea recently. The housing units would be offered for mortgage to workers by the Home Finance Company Bank (HFC). The provision of the housing units is to curtail and eventually bridge the housing gap, which is currently estimated to be in a deficit of one million. The plan is multi-pronged, addressing issues of financing, land acquisition, the use of altern...

Gov’t urged to support cocoa farmers By Solace AMANKWA The Africa Cocoa Coalition, a group of non- governmental organizations promoting quality cocoa production in Africa, has urged the government and all stakeholders in the cocoa industry to ensure cocoa farmers benefited from their labour. The group observed that farmers in cocoa producing countries, particularly Ghana and Cote d' Ivoire, appear to be the most vulnerable to the inequity in the distribution of the returns along the cocoa value chain. At a roundtable discussion on the theme: "Sustainable Cocoa Economy in Ghana," the national coordinator of Africa Cocoa Coalition, David Kpelle, said farmers were ageing as well as their cocoa farms and noted that incentives to encourage the youth to take over from the ageing farmers were not enough. He noted that there is the need to define a sustainable cocoa economy as one in which each person investing time or money into the cocoa supply chain would earn a decent income....