Emirates starts daily Dubai-Abidjan flights
Emirates Airline has started flying to Cote d’Ivoire daily.
A statement obtained by The Citizen quoted the airline’s vice-president for Africa, West Asia and Indian Ocean, Mr Salem Obaidalla, as saying the flights started this month.
Previously flights to and from Abidjan were served by an Airbus A340-300, which made a quick stop in Accra, Ghana.
Mr Obaidalla hoped that the extra flights would benefit passengers with connections to Gulf Cooperation Council, the wider Middle East and the Far East.
“This represents a new support to business, international trade and passenger travel, while strengthening the country’s overall transport infrastructure,” he said.
The airline has also announced that it will have two flights daily between Dubai and Lagos in February next year.
Nigeria’s neighbours Guinea, Mali and Ghana are major producers cocoa beans, coffee and palm oil.
Abidjan is also a large commercial sea port, forming a gateway for the industrial world to and from Western Africa.
Source: The Citizen
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TOR has not shut down – Management
Management of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) on Tuesday denied rumours that it had closed down its operations.
Speaking to Ghana News Agency at Tema, Mrs Aba Lokko, Public Affairs Manager of TOR said “there is no reason why TOR would close down to the public.”
“We are working and supplying petroleum products to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs),” she said.
Mrs Lokko said management had a shift system and operated 24 hours and some workers were on duty even during public holidays.
She assured the public especially OMCs and users of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to ignore the rumours.
Rumours were rife within Tema Metropolis that managements of TOR and some financial institutions had closed down following the alleged tension on the declaration of the Presidential Election Run-off results.
Source: GNA
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Father and son bring rainwater harvesting technology to Ghana
An American businessman, Glenn Ferrell and his son Isaac Ferrell are travelling all the way from the US with a team of experts to introduce rainwater harvesting technology to Ghana, according to reports from the US.
Ferrell, who is the owner of Living Water Aquascapes Inc., a business that specializes in building ornamental water features such as organic water gardens, waterfalls and streams, is coming to Ghana in January to help install a 15,000-gallon rainwater harvest basin.
The basin would be built at the Kuve Community School in the Volta Region, in an area that is prone to drought every year. When the project is completed, water will be collected during the rainy season.
According to Ferrell, “solar panels will charge batteries that will operate booster pumps to move the water.”
The system will also have an ionizer to make sure the water is safe to drink.
The team will work with the I.N. Network, a nondenominational Christian missions organization that is already doing some work in Ghana.
The system Ferrell uses is able to capture and reuse rainwater to reduce the need for using chemically treated water sources. The business also works with those who need help constructing wetlands around their retention ponds or improving water quality in the ponds.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
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Ghana’s kente dazzles the world at Wrapped in Pride
The cloth called kente, made by the Asante peoples of Ghana and the Ewe peoples of Ghana and Togo, is the best known of all African textiles. Kente’s renown has spread internationally, so that it is now one of the most admired of all fabrics.
This strip-woven cloth began in the former Gold Coast of West Africa as festive dress for special occasions — traditionally worn by men as a kind of toga and by women as an upper and lower wrapper. Besides its well-known use as spectacular apparel, kente also appears in many other important forms of regalia among the Asante and Ewe, including drums, shields, umbrellas, and fans.
Over the past forty years the cloth has been transformed into hats, ties, bags, and many other accessories worn and used on both sides of the Atlantic. Individual kente strips are especially popular in the United States when sewn into liturgical and academic robes or worn as a “stole.” Kente patterns have developed a life of their own, appropriated as surface designs for everything from Band-Aids and balloons to beach balls and Bible covers. Kente, for many, bridges two continents, evoking and celebrating a shared cultural heritage.
Wrapped in Pride explores the history of traditional Ghanaian weaving and its impact on cultures beyond Africa’s shores. A collaboration between the National Museum of African Art and the Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture, the exhibition is installed in two locations–the National Museum of African Art and the Arts & Industries Building (through the garden to the east of African Art).
African Art’s installation focuses on the art and symbolism of kente in the Asante and Ewe cultures of Africa. The Anacostia presentation in the Arts & Industries Building explores kente as meaningful expressions of dress, art and identity in African American communities.
Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity is a collaborative exhibition organized by the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History and The Newark Museum, Newark, N.J.
Source: MAAA
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NHIS urged to intensify education on preventive health care
Mr Kwadwo Affram-Asiedu, the Eastern Regional Minister, on Tuesday called on managements of National Health Insurance Schemes (NHIS), to intensify education and focus more on preventive health care.
“You should embark on outreach programmes with health educators to educate the people on sound environmental and personal hygiene practices to ensure good health and reduction on medical bills, “he added.
Mr Affram-Asiedu made the call in a speech read on his behalf at the third Annual General Meeting of the Akuapem North District Mutual Health Insurance Scheme at Abiriw-Akuapem.
He appealed to health service providers to put “love to God and service to humanity” above their personal considerations and avoid exploiting the vulnerable in society.
Okatakyie Kusi Obuadum Amoyaw V, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Scheme, said since its inception in 2005 with 14,200 clients it had increased to 65,690 clients by the end of November 30, this year and 59,704 of them had been issued with identity cards.
He said management paid GH¢17,300 for claims in 2005 and this increased to GH¢503,057 in 2007.
Okatakyie Amoyaw said some challenges facing the scheme were inadequate funds to pay claims, administrative expenses and staff to operate.
Source: GNA
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Gold Star to cultivate five million acres of land for biofuels in Ghana
Gold Star Biofuels a subsidiary of Gold Star Farms Ltd., is cultivating five million acres of land in Ghana to plant jatropha for the production of biofuels for export.
According to the firm it has secured commitment from farmers to grow the plant in the country.
The company began cultivating jatropha in Ghana in 2005 and it has plans to start biofuels production soon at its farm in Nkawkaw in the Eastern region.
Biofuels production in Ghana gained public attention when Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed an agreement with the Ghanaian government to produce sugarcane for biofuels in Ghana.
The agreement was signed while he was in Ghana for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XII) meeting in April, 2008.
During the signing ceremony, da Silva said, “in Ghana we are developing a project that will result in growing 27,000 hectares (of sugarcane) for the production of 150 million litres of ethanol per year that are destined for the Swedish market.”
And then in November 2008 a Norwegian company ScanFuel Ltd., was reported to start operations outside Kumasi in the Ashanti region to produce biofuel. The reports said ScanFuel will initially cultivate Jatropha seeds, considered high oil-yielding on 10,000 hectares of land.
The company which has a Ghanaian subsidiary, ScanFuel Ghana Ltd said its Ghanaian unit has contracted about 400,000 hectares of land, with up to 60 percent reserved for biofuel production, “not less” than 30 percent for food production and the remainder for biodiversity buffer zones.
The current energy crisis is fueling the interest of many countries into alternative sources of energy, and biofuels appear to be the favourite.
Most of the companies that are cultivating plants, especially, jatropha for the production of biofuels, say it could grow on any type of land, which implies that productive agriculture land would not necessarily be used for that purpose.
The executive director of Gold Star Biofuels, Jack Holden was quoted as saying, “we like to find land where other things don’t grow very well or land that has been fallow.” It is however, yet to be seen if these companies will keep to their word when it comes to the type of land they would utilise for the purpose.
Some of the companies also have long term projections for the industry, mostly in developing countries.
According to Holden, landowners who contract with Gold Star Biofuels to provide jatropha sign 50-year commitments. “When we go out into villages and see the four- and five-year-old children there, we know that a lot of them will be working on our farms and taking the place of their parents working there.”
These companies also believe that the biofuels industry would bolster the economies of countries that engage in it, and alleviate poverty by providing jobs.
Jack Holden reportedly said Gold Star Biofuels shares profits with landowners, pays good wages and supplies medical insurance to workers. Instead of hiring migrant workers, adding that Gold Star employs workers year-round. “It’s all a part of Gold Star’s commitment to be socially responsible,” he said.
He said Gold Star Biofuels is wholly owned by his Ghanaian wife Diana Holden.
Meanwhile, Gold Star has been awarded a contract to build small facilities throughout Chile to produce a combined total capacity of 77 MMgy of biodiesel from Chilean jatropha oil for Energy Partners Chile Ltd.
The biodiesel will be used in a B20 blend to produce electricity at Energy Partners Chile’s 43-megawatt power generation facility in Degan on the island of Chiloe.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
Email: edogbevi@hotmail.com
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Obama rejects Senate replacement
US President-elect - Barack Obama
Barack Obama says Democratic senators should reject the man proposed by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to replace Mr Obama in the US Senate.
Mr Blagojevich is the subject of a criminal inquiry and has been charged with attempting to “sell” Mr Obama’s now-vacant seat to the highest bidder.
The governor defied pressure to pick Roland Burris, the state’s former attorney general, to fill the position.
Democratic senators have vowed to veto anyone appointed by Mr Blagojevich.
The president-elect said he agreed the Senate “cannot accept” a new senator chosen by Mr Blagojevich, adding that Mr Blagojevich himself should resign.
Mr Blagojevich denies wrongdoing and has rejected previous calls for his resignation.
‘Fine public servant’
Mr Burris, 71, became the first African-American to be elected to statewide office in Illinois when he won the 1978 election to be state comptroller.
He was state attorney general from 1991 to 1995 and made unsuccessful bids for the US Senate in 1984 and Illinois governor in 1994.
“Roland Burris is a good man and a fine public servant,” said Mr Obama.
“But the Senate Democrats made it clear weeks ago that they cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat. I agree with their decision.”
Appearing with Mr Burris to announce his choice, Mr Blagojevich said: “Please don’t allow the allegations against me to taint a good and honest man.”
But Harry Reid, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate was not impressed.
“It is truly regrettable that… Governor Blagojevich would take the imprudent step of appointing someone to the United States Senate who would serve under a shadow and be plagued by questions of impropriety,” said Mr Reid.
“Anyone appointed by Governor Blagojevich cannot be an effective representative of the people of Illinois and … will not be seated by the Democratic Caucus.”
‘Pay-to-play’ deals
An internal review conducted by the Obama team concluded last week that neither the president-elect, nor his staff, had had any “inappropriate discussions” with Mr Blagojevich about who should fill the seat.
Mr Blagojevich has vowed to “fight the false accusations” made by what he has termed a “political lynch mob”.
The Illinois state legislature has formed a committee to investigate the possibility of impeaching Mr Blagojevich.
There have been calls from many politicians, including Mr Obama, for the governor to step down.
Mr Blagojevich was charged on 9 December with a number of offences including soliciting a bribe.
The charges relate to a variety of corruption schemes in which the governor was allegedly involved, including so-called “pay to play” deals – the doling out of jobs, contracts and appointments in return for campaign contributions.
On the day of his arrest, investigators released transcripts of conversations between Mr Blagojevich and others intercepted by court-authorised wiretaps.
In the conversations, the Democratic governor allegedly discussed offering Mr Obama’s Senate seat in return for a well-paid position at a non-profit organisation or a group affiliated with trades unions, according to the affidavit.
Source: BBC
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Tain: Where Ghana decides
Prof. Mills and Nana Addo
The battle to replace President J. A. Kufuor as Ghana’s next president is still deadlocked, and a third and final decider has been fixed for January 2, 2009.
The Tain Constituency of the Brong Ahafo Region, with a voter population of 53,880, is the battleground for the final determination of who becomes president of Ghana. Would it be Nana Addo Adankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) or Prof. J. E. A. Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC)?
Two back-to-back races have failed to produce a winner, and even though the coming decider is not exactly a complete race, the Chairman of the Electoral Commission says it holds the key to the ultimate answer.
General Elections on December 7 saw Nana Akufo-Addo lead the race, polling 4,159,439 or 49.13 per cent, while Prof. Mills polled 4,056,634 or 47.92 per cent. On that occasion, the leader failed to win the race because he needed anything above 50 per cent of votes cast.
Then came the run-off, and once again, neither of the contestants has been declared winner yet, pending the outcome of the Tain Constituency election. EC Chairman Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan announced that out of 229 constituencies whose results the Commission collated, Professor Mills has polled 4,501,466 or 50.13 percent of valid votes cast, while Nana Akufo-Addo polled 4,478,411 or 49.87 percent.
Voting in the constituency run-off did not come off because of late arrival of electoral materials, however on December 7, Prof Mills won the constituency votes, once again, marginally. He garnered 16,211 votes against Nana Addo who had 14,935 votes on an occasion turn-out was 61.03 per cent.
Tain was the scene of bitter allegations between the NPP and NDC following the general elections on December 7. The NPP alleged that the constituency result was manipulated to favour the NDC.
Days after the polls, the EC offices in the constituency was razed in what was suspected to be the work of arsonists. A journalist, Kofi Doe Lawson, told Joy FM a security man on duty detected smoke from the building at about 1:00 a.m. before it went up in flames.
Official documents, ballot boxes and the roof of the entire building burnt to ashes.
Credit: Isaac Yeboah
Source: myjoyonline
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Global financial crisis hits Nigeria’s cocoa industry
A fall in commodities prices triggered by the global financial crisis has brought Nigeria’s cocoa trade to a rather slow pace, with farmers refusing to sell at the rates being offered by buyers. Recently, Business Day reported how the global financial crisis has slashed cocoa grinding in Nigeria, and there have barely been any exports to Europe in the last two months.
Nigeria has the capacity to process around 100,000 tonnes of cocoa per year, but most of its eight functional plants are operating at below 40 percent capacity due to poor infrastructure, high costs and multiple taxes.
According to Felix Oladunjoye, Cocoa Processors’ Association of Nigeria (COPAN) secretary general, “the global crisis has crippled business; almost everything is at a standstill.”
The Nigerian cocoa economy has a rich history and the contributions of cocoa to the nation’s economic development are vast. In terms of foreign exchange earnings, no single agricultural export commodity has earned more than cocoa. With respect to employment, the cocoa sub-sector still offers quite a sizeable number of people employment, both directly and indirectly.
In addition, it is an important source of raw material, as well as source of revenue to governments of cocoa producing states.
Because of its importance, the recent Federal Government’s concern of diversifying the export base of the nation has placed cocoa on centre-stage as the most important export tree crop.
Although cocoa is largely produced in developing countries, it is mostly consumed in industrialized nations. For this crop, the buyers in the consuming countries are the processors and chocolate manufacturers. A few multinational companies dominate both processing and chocolate manufacturing.
About 95 percent of cocoa output from Nigeria, the world’s fourth-largest grower, is shipped to chocolate makers in Europe.
According to Oladunjoye most cocoa processors are not producing, the few that are processing are doing so epileptically because there is no demand for processed products in Europe.
“The few shipments of cocoa products from Nigeria (butter, cake, liquor and powder) were based on contracts signed before the crisis. But they were delayed for various reasons. There have been no new contracts since October. Importers are not importing because they can’t get credit from their banks, and factories are closing down; nobody can say he is covered,” Oladunjoye said.
It can be recalled that in 2005, Federal Government launched an ambitious cocoa revival campaign to increase production, local processing and domestic consumption of cocoa products. But incentives from the government are said to be often delayed.
According to Oladunjoye “there had been no significant increase in domestic consumption in the last three years to make up for the lull in exports since October. There is really nothing we here can do about the global crisis but wait until the various bailout programmes initiated by Western countries begin to manifest.” According to him,
Nigerian cocoa grinders will pay nearly $5 million in tariffs this year to export to Europe because government refused to sign a new trade deal with the European Union, the main processors’ group said recently.
“Nigeria’s refusal to sign economic partnership agreement (EPA) has put us at a great disadvantage because we can’t compete with exporters from Ivory Coast, Ghana and Cameroon who don’t pay export duties.
If the government does not do something to cushion the effect of the huge losses we are incurring, most cocoa factories will close shop in the next two years because there is no way they can survive, ”Oladunjoye added.
Cocoa buyers and growers had earlier noted that bean quality had improved greatly recently, with mould levels down to less than 5 percent in some areas in the southwest region, from about 30 percent.
The upcountry price of graded cocoa beans certified fit for export, by government produce inspectors fell 18 percent to 230,000 naira per tonne in the southwest and 200,000 naira in the southeast, in line with the global trend, buyers noted.
The price in the port city of Lagos, Nigeria’s main export route, weakened 17 percent to 250,000 naira per tonne, while the price in the southeast port city of Calabar was 220,000 naira, buyers and exporters also said.
It can be recalled that the European Union (EU) imposed tariffs on cocoa products and other exports from Nigeria in January after Africa’s top oil producer, which is also the world’s No. 5 cocoa grower, declined to sign an economic partnership agreement by a Dec. 31, 2007 deadline. Nigeria held fast in its refusal to sign an EPA, which the EU demanded to make its long- preferential trade with African, Caribbean and Pacific former colonies compliant with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.
Industry experts say that this has badly hit the Nigerian cocoa sector’s ability to compete with regional rivals Ivory Coast, Ghana and Cameroon, all of whom signed interim trade deals with the European trade bloc to maintain preferential access for their products.
“The Common External Tariff (CET) of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which allows duty-free cross-border movement of goods, has erased whatever benefits Nigeria hoped to derive by rejecting the EPA, Oladunjoye said.
Some companies now manufacture in Ghana and bring in finished products to Nigeria duty-free because of the CET, so the local industry is not protected,” he said.
Outside the cocoa sector, Federal Government has echoed arguments expressed by other African states that their weak manufacturing industries are simply not ready to compete on a more equal basis with imported European goods under an EPA.
This is premised on the prediction that signing an EPA could blunt the growth of Nigeria’s non-oil sector, which expanded 45 percent in 2007.
Nigeria has about 35 to 40 percent cost handicap as a result of our poor infrastructure, so if we throw our borders open to all sorts of European goods like the EPA demands, our industry would likely die.
From all indication, the Federal Government’s plan to triple cocoa production with the launch of an ambitious development programme to 600,000 tonnes by this year appears to have been defeated.
Three years ago, Government indicated its intension to pump in N154million naira into subsidies for farming chemicals and seedlings.
No doubt, world cocoa production trend is influenced by a number of domestic policies, which in turn impact on permanent production shares of producing countries.
Overtime, this trend will affect cocoa producing countries foreign earnings capacities.
Two years ago, a group of eight African nations agreed to a plan aimed at establishing a better deal for the continent’s cocoa producers.
These countries include Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda, Gabon, Ghana and Nigeria.
Among the strategies agreed to be put in place are a production management plan that covers issues such as storage and stock control, and a means of ensuring that cocoa farmers are paid competitive prices for their products.
The countries also agreed on strategies for increasing local consumption of cocoa products, and on programmes to meet international quality standards such as those of the EU. Industry analysts say that in order to avoid a glut in the cocoa market as a result of anticipated increased production, there is need for Nigeria, as a major producer to map out strategies on how to maintain the equilibrium”.
Credit: Iheanyi Nwachukwu
Source: Business Day
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Ghana Elections: Tain to decide winner
Ghana’s 2008 elections could be decided by the results of the yet to be held elections in the Tain constituency of the Brong Ahafo region. The elections would be held on January 2, 2009.
Announcing the results of 229 constituencies out of the 230, at a press conference Tuesday December 30, 2008, the Electoral Commissioner (EC), Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan said the results of the election are so close that the results of the Tain constituency could decide who the winner is.
According to the EC, they were unable to hold elections in the Tain constituency “due to circumstances beyond our control.”
Prof. John Evans Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) polled 4,501,466 votes representing 50.13% of valid votes cast and Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) garnered 4,478,411 representing 49.87% of valid votes cast.
Prof. Mills leads with 23,055 votes.
He said “the results are so close that the result of the Tain constituency could affect the eventual winner and so we have decided that the elections for the Tain constituency would be held on Friday January 2, 2008.”
He was hopeful that the results from the constituency would help the EC decide the winner. There are 53,890 voters in the Tain constituency.
The EC, then declared Prof. Mills as the candidate in the lead.
Meanwhile, the EC said the NDC has made complaints about electoral malpractices in the Ashanti region, which it is investigating. The EC indicated also that the NPP has promised to submit evidence of electoral malpractices in the Volta region, which the EC has promised to investigate once they are submitted.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
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Management Tips
Everyone wants to think they are special. You can make your customers feel special if you treat them like your family doctor treats you. For the time you are with them, concentrate on them and what they are telling you. Exclude everything else for that period of time.
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