Business24 Newspaper 20 April 2022

Zeepay MD, Andrew Takyi-Appiah, is Africa Fintech Leader of the 03 Year

Plan to succeed as Selorm 04

NEWS FOR BUSINESS LEADERS

BUSINESS24.COM.G H | WEDNESDAY, AP RIL 20, 202 2

AfDB earmarks €10m equity investment to drive technologies amidst Covid-19 05

Alan tips export strategy to reposition sector for AfCFTA market

By Patrick Paintsil

Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremanten, says that the successful implementation of the National Export Development Strategy (NEDS) will quicken the pace of development of the exports sector.

In a speech read on his behalf at the inauguration and maiden meeting of NEDS sector group committees in Accra, he also indicated that the state’s export policy document will further give impetus to the government’s efforts aimed at leveraging the huge opportunities that are offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

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41 Countries in Africa face maximum exposure in ‘three-dimensional crisis’ as a result of war in Ukraine 07

NHIA targets GHc2m in provider fees for 2022

By Eugene Davis

The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) is seeking to raise GHc2m from verifying the credentials of healthcare providers aimed at ensuring they have the required licenses, certifications, and skills to properly care for patients, a parliamentary report has revealed.

A Report of the Committee of the Whole on the Proposed Formula for the Disbursement of the National Health Insurance Fund for 2022, says that amount is comprised of provider credentialing fees (GHc1.17m), sale of tender documents (GHc0.01m), NAVIS Application fees (GHc0.45m), and

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THEBUSINESS24ONLINE.COM

News/Editorial

Practical steps to shore up exports plausible The Ghana Export Promotion Authority launched the National Export Development Strategy (NEDS) which is an initiative of the Ministry of Trade and Industry in the last quarter of 2020.

The strategy is being mainly implemented

by GEPA to develop the potential of the nontraditional export (NTE) sector through industrialization and intense collaboration between the private sector and government.

The strategy has selected 17 priority products for Ghana to invest resources towards the achievement of the desired outcome. The 10year structural transformation embedded in the NEDS is targeted to earn the country $25.3 billion in 2029 from Non-Traditional Exports if NEDS is fully funded and implemented.

To ensure the successful implementation of the NEDS, the sector groups and committees will be tasked with developing the selected priority products for maximum gains under the single market.

The target sector groups and committee of

the NEDS are based on the priority product groupings and will include; the following; NonAgro Products, Trade and Investment Facilitation, Agro-Products, Technology and Innovation, Services Export, Transport and Logistics, Creative and Industrial Arts, Local Government, Infrastructure and Utilities and Finance.

This is a practical strategy that will greatly impact the growth of the nation’s export business amid the implementation of the continental trade agreement.

The NEDS is a key policy enabler for ensuring that Ghanaian traders and enterprises are equipped to compete on the gobal market and meet its 25.3 billion dollar target. The NEDS can only be implemented effectively if it has a well-defined framework that includes policy, technical, and input from both the government and the business sector. The inclusion of the NEDS Secretariat will enable Ghana to take a consistent approach to achieve the 10-year goal of increasing the Non-Traditional Exports from the current 2.8 billion dollars to 25.3 billion dollars.

NHIA targets GHc2m in provider fees for 2022 starts from page 1

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donations (GHc0.37m) Other sources of revenue NHIL & SSNIT contribution includes GHc2,694.09m, Premium(informal) 111.51, processing fees GHc85.36, Commission-mobile renewal 8.06, income on investment GHc12.30, road accident fund GHc0.29, Other income 2.00. total NHIS funding amount GHc2,919.67, total NHIS expenditure GHc2,919.67.

The summary of the proposed formula for disbursement of the fund for 2022 comprises: Claims for the year GHc1.6bn, NHIA Operational Expenses GHc390m, Support to District Offices GHc45m, Support to MOH GHc291m, Support for District Health Projects & M&E GHc49m, Claims Processing Centers GHc53m, Biometric ID Cards and Authentication System GHc62m, Management Information System GHc205m, Office Buildings GHc63m, Call Center Ghc 67,000, Archival System GHc20m.

Parliament before it went on recess earlier this month, approved the Formula worth GHc2bn. In approving the NHIF, parliament’s committee was informed of government’s policy to cut expenditure of the NHIF by 30% from GHc3.6bn to 2.6bn.

However, during its deliberation on the Formula, the Health Committee objected to the 30% cut as it was not in line with the general 20% expenditure cut announced by government.

The allocation was reviewed and the 30% cut was eventually reviewed to 20% as requested by the committee.

The Committee also bemoaned the undue delays in the transfer of funds (NHIL and SSNIT component) from the Ministry of Finance to NHIA. The Committee urged the Ministry of Finance to desist from the practice as it is negatively affecting effective service delivery especially to the poor and also undermines the NHIA Act. The report further revealed that an amount of GHc85m has been allocated for Malaria Control Programmes in 2022.

The committee was of the view that the malaria control programme is very essential to the health of Ghanaians as Malaria still remains the highest killer disease in the country.

The committee recommends that the Authority and the Ministry of Health should invest more in malaria control by allocating more resources to the programme. It further recommended that the NHIA undertake a pilot on the IRS programme in at least two districts in Ghana this year to enable donor partners assist in the scaling up of the programme.

The committee also noted with concern, the delay in accrediting newly commissioned health facilities which is creating a challenge among citizens trying to access affordable healthcare.

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022

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Alan tips export strategy to reposition sector for AfCFTA market starts from page 1 “A strong collaboration between key implementing partners and all players within the non-traditional exports sector is vital in ensuring an effective implementation of the interventions for the 17 priority products identified in the NEDS,” he added.

According to the minister, the formation of the the specific sector groups will create a platform for knowledge sharing and experience on the priority products as well as encourage

concerted efforts towards the development of the respective products.

Mr. Kyeremanten further assured of his ministry’s continuous supervision to ensure that the NEDS is fully implemented and urged all stakeholders to support the initiative.

The NEDS is an initiative of the Ministry of Trade and Industry that is being implemented by GEPA to develop the potential of non-traditional exports

through industrialization and intense collaboration between government and the private sector.

To ensure the successful implementation of the NEDS, the strategy document proposed a governance structure comprising an inter-ministerial oversight committee, the steering committee, the NEDS Secretariat and sector group committees to provide the needed guidance and supervision for the strategy.

Sector groups and the various committees will be based on the priority product groupings including non-agro products, trade and investment facilitation, agro-products, tech and innovation, services export, transport and logistics, finance, infrastructure and utilities, local government and creative and industrial arts.

Formation of sector groups/committees The Ghana Export Promotion Authority

(GEPA) has engaged stakeholders in the exports sector towards the formation of specific sectors groups/committees to supervise the development of key products that have been identified in the National Export Development Strategy (NEDS) to hold huge potential for boosting the country’s exports.

In a speech read on her behalf, Chief Executive Officer of GEPA, Dr. Afua Asabea Asare, the setting up of the sector groups and committees to serve as the fulcrum around which the strategy would be implemented is in fulfillment of one key recommendation of the NEDS. She assured that GEPA remains committed to performing its expected role of coordinating the development and facilitation of exports in general and the implementation of the National Export Development Strategy in particular.

“It is my expectation that we will all be committed to the tasks ahead of us so that working together, we can achieve the desired results,” she said.

Zeepay MD, Andrew Takyi-Appiah, is Africa Fintech Leader of the Year The Managing Director (MD) of Zeepay, a leading mobile financial services company, Mr. Andrew Takyi-Appiah has been named Africa’s Fintech Leader of the Year

by Business Insider Africa.

Mr. Takyi-Appiah is one of a number of business leaders across Sub-Saharan Africa who have been recognised by Business Insider for playing instrumental roles to the growth and advancement of the region’s economic landscape.

As a consumer choice award with significant market leaders, Mr. Takyi-Appiah beat stiff competition from the likes of Tayo Oviosu of Paga Pay Nigeria; Olugbenga Agboola, CEO and CoFounder of Flutterwave; and Dare Okoudjou, founder and CEO of MFS Africa.

“As a consumer choice award, I am highly honoured to be recipient of this prestigious honour. This speaks to the number of impressed users we have. I do dedicate this honour to the users of our platforms and our

hardworking team at Zeepay,” he said.

Prior to co-founding Zeepay in 2016, Mr. Takyi-Appiah worked at UT Bank Ghana as a General Manager. In the past he served in top roles at other outfits including PwC Ghana, PwC UK, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, and GTBank.

Today, Zeepay is the largest cross border remittance aggregator on the African continent with an annual turnover of US$900million circa 2021. This award, he noted, is also a testament to how as a nation the fintech regulations and legal systems are strong enough to produce giants such has Zeepay.

“We are a young and fast growing company and we can only get stronger from here. This year, we plan to do more in terms of remittances and our mobile money service which is now in the top three in Ghana. Thank you to all who have supported us all these years.”

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022

Plan to succeed as Selorm

By Kwadwo Acheampong Success is a wish for us all.

No one sets out, usually, to fail.

Failure can be hard to avoid but can be avoided still. Careful implementation of well-thoughtout plans helps to give us a good chance to avoid failure.

Is Life Hard?

Many years ago, when everyone commonly said (even then), “Life is hard”, young men and women looked forward to ‘payday’ just as we do today. For a few days at least, the parlance, “Life is hard” would be lost. That was when the queues at check-out in discount shops would be long and winding.

The restaurants would be full of guys with their girls, desirous of showing the ladies they were willing and able. That was when credit sales done a few weeks earlier would be settled. The lady who sold clothing would frequently be seen going from one office to the other, collecting cash for earlier sales and showing new wares. Somehow, she would get more credit sales done, with the promise of payment on the next payday.

Selorm had started work after school in a small consulting firm. She was employed as a research assistant and she did a lot of primary data collection and collation. Her boss then, a ‘continuing student of life’ (as she referred to herself ), had advised her to figure out a way to prepare for the future every day.

Her needs were not that much, though she had so many wants that she still looked forward to receiving her salary each month like it was a ‘life-and-death’ issue.

She had gone through three months of work already and it felt like she would continually be ‘broke’. She knew she couldn’t go on that way. She needed a plan that would work.

The Decision She lived with her parents but she supported them by buying and preparing food for the household and paying for utilities. She didn’t have a rent expense but she had feeding and utilities expenses which were significant. There were other expenses she had to grapple with each month and many times, she had to forgo getting something she wanted very badly for something she needed to do.

Taking a cue from what her boss always advised her to do, she resolved to succeed. She would use each day to prepare for her future. She told herself she was going to make sure of that.

Today, some fifty plus years after, as a mother and a widow,

she has no regrets. She only hopes all her children would emulate her examples of planning for a life of financial security. There had been challenges. However, because she had focus, objectives and determination, she had been able to meet many needs without getting into trouble financially.

Back then, she had read about how she could plan her finances.

She learned what assets are: things she owned that she could use to make more money. She learned about her liabilities: things that she had to spend money on, which thereby, reduced her money. She decided to be cautious about acquiring things, to constantly ask how what she was going to own would help cut expenses or make her money. Making money wasn’t her sole object but it helped put things in perspective for her. She also decided to be very careful what commitments she made.

Many commitments entered into could be a drain without being very beneficial.

A Working Plan Every month, before she would get paid, she would draw a budget, listing her necessary expenses for the month. Her salary was never enough to cover all these expenses. The only way out was to sacrifice and forgo some. When that happened, she would end up being late on the payment of some bills and would have to depend on an irregular, unexpected inflow, usually a remittance from her brother in the United States of America.

She knew her expenses would go up, probably faster than her salary would so she had to do something fast.

First, she cut down her expense list; the number of items was reduced. Also, she did an assessment of her use of utilities. She introduced better efficiency of use, asking at home for lights and other electrical devices in empty rooms to go off.

The two TVs she had bought on credit (it was costing her both the prices and the electricity cost) would usually stay on for such a long time, even when no one was watching them. The house could do with just one TV. She sold one of the new ones, in addition to an older one, and used the sale proceeds to pay off the outstanding debt for the TVs. She also made sure that the security lights outside would be switched on only when it was dark, not at dusk, when there was still a bit of sunlight, and most of them would go off well before the

sun’s light first appeared at dawn.

A plumber was brought in to check and repair all leakages. She also began to advise the whole household to use the telephone judiciously. After three months, she realized all her utility bills had gone done by a third, on the average. That was money she set aside in her savings account each month, building her savings gradually. Same salary, reduced expenses, a little bit of savings generated. Good start!

What’s Next?

Selorm had to earn extra money, if she were to succeed.

Sadly, the sewing skills she had learned from her mother were employed only when someone asked her for a sewn dress.

That had to change. She bought a sewing machine out of her savings and began to speak with a number of companies and schools. Soon, she had orders and was sewing uniforms for companies and schools. After work, she would come home and sit behind the sewing machine to finish a dress on time.

On Saturdays, she would invite a friend to come help. A decent and steady inflow of additional cash began for her.

This new stream of earnings was added to her savings to grow it.

Selorm remembers how, one day, her boss had introduced a young man to her. He was an investment adviser. He was given the chance to speak with the whole company, where she worked, about investments. She was intrigued that her money could work for her and potentially earn her more money. After asking many probing questions, she set up an investment account with money from her sewing business and watched her investment grow with additions and from interests, dividend and price changes.

At that point, she could say she had done the following to get to where she was: • Have an intention or strong desire for financial security • Examine carefully your income and expenses • Determine what items are most important and are better done without delay • Determine what items can be

delayed till when there are enough funds available • Evaluate spending items with the view to stopping or cutting down the expenses • Don’t make commitments that could impoverish you • Accumulate savings • Consider additional vocations and use accumulated savings to acquire assets that will help you generate more cash • Also, consider investments to make your money work for you.

Selorm’s Steps Towards Personal Financial Security At the time of her marriage, to the young investment adviser, she had begun to build a small fortune for herself. Twins and a ‘Tawiah’ in four years meant quick planning, not just for herself now but for the entire family, was required. The couple

had big dreams: a new home, good education for the children and a family car. With each, she applied the same principles she had taught herself. She would, every month, list all the income and expense items and discuss with her husband. Each of the large expense items required extra careful consideration and planning. Her situation was quite different, though from the young single woman she used to be after school. Her needs were bigger, and intertwined with her family’s and her own wants were even bigger!

For instance, her husband mooted the idea of a number of funds they could set up to meet different needs. They had a savings fund each for the children’s future educational expenses, rent, parents’ upkeep and their future home. They maintained an emergency fund and a medicals fund.

Continued on page 7

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022

AfDB earmarks €10m equity investment to drive technologies amidst Covid-19

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank has approved an equity investment of €9.8 million to support venture capital investments in African start-ups, from seed to growth stages.

Of the equity investment, €7 million will be sourced from the African Development Bank’s own resources; the additional €2.8 million represents funds provided by the European Union (EU) through a partnership with the Organisation of African Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS).

The investment will help Cathay-AfricInvest Innovation Fund meet its target of securing €110m to invest in over 20 earlystage ventures across sub-Saharan

Africa. The Innovation Fund focuses on financial inclusion (financial tech and insurance tech), retail and logistics platforms targeting online and mobile consumers, healthcare technologies, and pay as you go, off-grid energy technologies.

More recently, the Innovation Fund has expanded its focus to include start-ups that are harnessing new digital opportunities created as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, or with high potential to help fight the coronavirus. The Mauritius-based Fund is jointly sponsored by AfricInvest Capital Partners and Cathay Innovation SAS. Stefan Nalletamby, the African Development Bank’s Director for

financial sector development, said: “The Bank’s approval is another milestone in the implementation of the Boost Africa Program and its partnership with the EU, OACPS and the European Investment Bank. It signals the importance given to tech-enabled high growth entrepreneurs on the continent and the key role of AfricInvest and Cathay Innovation in supporting this key business segment in Africa to achieve Africa’s growth, transformation and integration objectives.”

In its current pipeline, over 40% of projects cover more than one African region. Roughly another third of start-ups it invests in are in West Africa. A quarter of investee start-ups are in the health care sector.

Other investors include German KfW/Allianz GI’s AfricaGrow, public investment bank BPI and development finance institution Proparco, both of France, and Swiss impact investor Obviam.

The Bank’s investment is expected to accelerate the creation of a new class of successful African entrepreneurs that will serve as a model to younger innovators. It will also support youth and women-led

start-ups and increase access and inclusion to financial and ‘real sector’ services and goods through appropriate technology and innovation.

Although venture capital firms invested $2 billion in African tech in 2019, a 73% increase over the previous year, funding from this source for innovative start-ups remains very low in Africa. In addition very few venture capital funds focusing on early-stage tech start-ups have successfully closed rounds.

The African Development Bank’s investment aligns with the Boost Africa program goals to enhance entrepreneurship and innovation across Africa, create new and quality jobs for young Africans, and contribute to developing an efficient entrepreneurial ecosystem in Africa.

Boost Africa, a collaboration between the African Development Bank, the European Union, the Organisation of African Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), provides financial support to investment funds that target early-stage innovative enterprises across sub-Saharan Africa.

2021.”

“On behalf of the Board, Management and Staff, we wish to thank the National Chief Imam and his team of Imams for the special prayers and like the proverbial Oliver Twist “we ask for more” prayers for a better 2022 and beyond”, the Deputy

MD added.

For his part, the Chief Imam, Dr. Sheikh Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu, expressed gratitude to ADB for its support, praying for more success for the bank.

The Deputy Managing Director also donated to the Police Mosque in Cantonment, Accra.

ADB donates food items to Chief Imam, others The Agricultural Development Bank PLC (ADB) has donated foodstuffs including bags of rice and sugar to the National Chief Imam, Dr. Sheikh Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu, and his team of Imams as part of this year’s Ramadan celebration.

Making the donation, the Deputy Managing Director, Alhaji Alhassan Yakubu-Tali indicated that the Bank was making similar donations nationwide as part of the Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility and to deepen the already cordial business relationship that exist between the Bank and the Muslim Community.

“We have branches in Muslim dominated areas nationwide,

such as Nima, Newtown, Madina, Tema East, Techiman , Nkoranza etc and these branches are well patronized by our brothers and sisters,” he said.

Alhaji Yakubu-Tali called on Muslims to recognize the Bank as their own and patronize the numerous products and services available for both individual and business entities.

“Last year, we came on a similar visit and called for special prayers from His Eminence, The National Chief Imam, for the bank and I am glad to report that in 2021 we made a profit of about 25% higher than the previous year and also grew our asset base from ¢5.7 billion in 2020 to ¢6.4 billion in

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022

41 Countries in Africa face maximum exposure in ‘three-dimensional crisis’ as a result of war in Ukraine

A United Nations report(link is external) has found that more than 70% of Africa’s economies are at severe risk from Russia’s war in Ukraine. The African Development Bank is one of several international organizations, including UN specialized agencies and development lenders that are considering a plan to boost food production in Africa and avert a heavy toll on the African continent.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the establishment of the 32-member UN Global Crisis Response Group(link is external)—which he chairs—in March. Its members are the heads of the various organizations. Its first brief, released on Wednesday in New York, found that 41 African

countries face maximum exposure to at least one emergency caused by the war.

“The war is supercharging a three-dimensional crisis – food, energy and finance – that is pummeling some of the world’s most vulnerable people, countries and economies,” Guterres warned at a virtual press conference.

The Global Crisis Response Group will help decision-makers around the world mobilize solutions and develop strategies and recommendations to help all countries—including the most vulnerable—weather the interlinked crises. Preliminary analysis suggests that as many as 1.7 billion people in 107 economies are exposed to at least one of the three risks highlighted by the Global Crisis Response Group.

The UN report calls for immediate and efficient use of all existing mechanisms to help countries directly suffering from the war and its consequences.

Guterres said action plans recommended by Global Crisis Response Group target Africa particularly. African countries are among the most vulnerable to the looming crisis.

African Development Bank Group President Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina said the emergency food plan would build on the success of existing programs, such as the African Development Bank’s Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) initiative. TAAT has provided 11 million farmers across 29 African countries with such technologies as drought-resistant maize, heat-resistant wheat, and higher-yielding seed varieties.

Adesina said the African Development Bank’s plan could help 40 million farmers increase their harvests of heat-tolerant wheat varieties, rice, soybean and other crops to feed about 200 million people.

“If ever there was a time to drastically raise food production in Africa, it is now,” the Bank Group president said.

During Wednesday’s briefing, Guterres announced the

appointment of six heads of state as global champions to drive global advocacy and foster the needed political will to spur action. They are President Macky Sall of Senegal, who currently chairs the African Union; Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen; President Joko Widodo of Indonesia; German Chancellor Olaf Scholz; Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados; and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh.

Prices of food, energy, and fertilizer have risen sharply, with increasing risks of global instability, given that Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s breadbaskets.

“We need really to have a sense of urgency – restrictions need to be abolished, there should be no hoarding of any of these products and most importantly, we need to use immediately the financial instruments available,” Guterres said.

Russia and Ukraine provide around 30% of the world’s wheat and barley, one-fifth of its maize, and over half of its sunflower oil.

At the same time, Russia is the world’s top natural gas exporter, and second-largest oil exporter.

Russia and its neighbor Belarus export around one-fifth of the world’s fertilizers.

Plan to succeed as Selorm starts from page 4

these funds but there were times when their income was clearly not enough. They decided contributions to both emergency and medicals funds would be suspended in such times.

Otherwise, all these funds grew.

To ensure their monies worked for them, they set limits which would cause them to move funds from savings to investments. With time, their investments outgrew their savings; they purchased holdings in mutual funds, unit trusts, shares and government treasuries.

Not Always as Planned There were many times their careful planning received jolts.

For one of such, the dent created was significant. Her husband had taken ill and had to undergo surgery. Their medical fund, built and maintained over almost twenty years, got depleted in no time and they fell on investments for their future home. After years

of hospital visits, medication and specialized care, he succumbed to death. Though grief-stricken, she and her almost adult children could rely on the fruits of financial planning and investments they had made for their education, housing and livelihood. She had restarted a new home fund and quit her day-time job to concentrate on her blossoming sewing business and other interests. When a good opportunity came to buy land, she found the money to buy for herself and her children. She expanded her business and co-opted one of the children to manage it while she pursued other business ventures. The funds, which had begun as tiny savings, were what they lived off. As the children got ready to leave home and start out on their own, she had parting gifts for each to help them start: two small funds for them to maintain and build.

Fifty years ago, Selorm had been just a young woman who

decided to have a plan to help her achieve financial security. It had been tough. She had made many unpleasant choices out of several options. Some had not been good but most had justified her choices.

Looking back, she smiled with contentment and heaved a sign.

This is Selorm’s story. What is your story? What is our story going to be like?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Head of OctaneDC Research, Kwadwo Acheampong, has over years garnered experience in fund management and administration, portfolio management, management consulting, operations management and process improvement. For the love of wealth creation and financial freedom for his readers, he writes.

Through his writings Kwadwo has discovered his love and knack to simplify complex theories spicing them with everyday life experiences for the benefit of all. He was recently the resource person of Metro TV’s business show Bottomline, where he shared thoughts on Goal Setting for 2022 from the perspective of financial planning. Feel free to send him your feedback on his article. Kwadwo at kwadwo. acheampong@octanedc.com or call him on +233 244 563 530

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022

Ghana’s political stability to endure for next 5 years – EIU The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has said, despite the “highly acrimonious party-political landscape” of the country, it expects the sector to be stable.

The London-based analysts made these projections on Ghana’s political landscape in its five-year forecast for Ghana released on April 13.

“The fierce rivalry between the two major parties—the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC)—will remain the core feature of the political scene,” the EIU report stated.

The EIU further observed that reaching a consensus on certain policies, particularly, taxes and reforms will be very tumultuous for the governing party.

Using the controversial Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy) as an example, EIU recounted, “in November 2021 the minority government rejected the proposed 2022 budget bill over the introduction of an electronictransaction levy (e-levy); this was later reversed, and the 2022 budget bill was passed by an NPPled majority, albeit without the e-levy clause.”

E-Levy Parliament on Tuesday, March 29, passed the Electronic Transfer Levy, E-Levy, bill.

This was after nearly three months of back and forth, fisticuffs among the Parliamentarians.

Before the bill was passed, the levy was reduced to a 1.5% levy from the initial 1.75% amid a

Minority walkout.

E-levy was first mentioned by the Finance Minister, Ken OforiAtta, when he was presenting the 2022 budget in November 2021.

He explained that the “innovative” tax will broaden the government’s revenue generation basket.

Mama Love Foundation calls for conjugal visits in prisons Sex plays a vital role in the social life of man. Good sex life is believed to bring to the individual benefits such as lower blood pressure, reduce stress, improve mood, enhance immune function and improve general fitness.

This however has prompted an Obuasi based Non-Governmental Organisation Mama Love Foundation to advocate for the provision of facilities to promote conjugal visits in the Nation prisons.

The President of the Foundation Rev. Dr. Love Konadu made this call when she led her organisation and London based Obuasi Sikakrom Association to donate food items, cooked food, soft drinks and bottled water to in-mates of the Obuasi Prisons.

Mama Love Foundation also partnered Achievers Medical Services to conduct health screening exercise for more than 100 in-mates.

In Ghana, prison rules abhor all forms of sexual acts whiles prison regulations make no provision for conjugal visits which permit spouses of incarcerated persons to spend intimate moments with their partners. Some prisoners, in their quest to satisfy their sexual cravings, resort to same-sex relationships.

Dr. Love Konadu, however, mentioned that NGOs like hers are prepared to partner government in setting up facilities to accommodate spouses for such periodic visits. “ though the country has taken

steps to alleviate the plight of inmates, we are ready to partner government to put up facilities in our country’s prisons to allow inmates satisfy their sexual drives.

We believe this will put an end to all forms of homosexuality as reported in our prisons”.

On the healthcare needs of Convicts, Rev Dr. Konadu again, called on Government to set up proper Clinics at the prisons, improve the conditions of existing ones to take care of the health needs of the prisoners.

Commenting on the rationale behind the donation and the health screening exercise, the leader of the Foundation said, it is a follow up to their previous donation to the Obuasi Prisons after they provided standing fans, water closet facilities and showers for the in-mates.

She said the gesture is intended to bring joy unto the faces of the Prisoners this Easter. She again revealed that the group together with market women in Obuasi has also planned to donate food items to the Prisoners in the latter part of this year.

Receiving the items on behalf of the in-mates, Chief Supt Diabor Adam Mahama thanked the NGO for their benevolence insisting that the food items will supplement what they have in stock.

On issues of allowing conjugal visits, the second in command of the Obuasi Prisons said though the idea is laudable, the Prisons do not have facilities for such

visits.

He promised that the Obuasi Prison is committed in fulfilling their mandate of keeping in-

mates in safe custody, upholding their welfare and reforming and rehabilitating them to be acceptable in the society.

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| FEATURE

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022

Why do we obey the law?

By Antara Haldar

Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation as a justice of the US Supreme Court has been hailed as a breakthrough for Black Americans and other minority communities, for women and mothers, for public defenders, and even for those who went to public school. But the biggest winner is the Supreme Court itself.

According to Gallup, more Americans now disapprove of the Supreme Court than approve of it. With public confidence in the institution having fallen from 62% in 2000 to 40% in 2021, legal scholars and political scientists warn of a crisis of legitimacy. Yet support for Jackson’s confirmation was 66%, the highest for any nominee in over a decade.

not through the power of law.

Legal positivists concede that their explanation requires an “internal point of view.”

Hence, whatever theory of law one subscribes to, there is always a psychological element underpinning the functioning of any legal system. Without acceptance by enough individuals, the institution cannot persist.

Public confidence – or popularity – thus turns out to be at the very core of the rule of law.

In theory, the positivists’ “internal point of view” could be sustained by morality (believing that there is a moral obligation to obey the law), coercion (obeying the law for fear of the consequences of not doing so), or plain old habit (unthinkingly complying

American populace.

To this extent, Jackson’s confirmation could bolster the Court’s waning affective appeal. Research has established that Black representation on the bench leads to a greater perception of legitimacy among Black Americans.

The philosopher Martha C. Nussbaum has argued that “political emotions” are crucial to the coherence of political communities.

Likewise, the rule of law depends on “legal emotions,” such as a sense among those bound by a legal system that both its letter and spirit are fit for purpose.

The transformation of an apparently demure Rutgers University legal academic into

Although the Court is not supposed to be a “popular” institution, public perceptions still matter, because they bear on a question – and a mystery – with which legal philosophers have been grappling for millennia: Why do people obey the law? Or, put another way: What gives the law – and legal institutions – authority?

In the natural law tradition of Thomas Aquinas, law was conflated with religion and thus derived its authority from the same source as religious diktats: God. But the question becomes trickier in a secular context.

According to legal positivists (the most widely accepted account), the “pedigree” – or the institutional origin – of law is what gives it force and sets it above a rule or norm. But this argument creates a chicken-or-egg problem, because one is left with the question of how an institution becomes legally authoritative if

with the law because that is the norm). But as Tom R. Tyler of Yale Law School argues, respect for the law and its institutions is a much stronger motivation than fear of punishment. Tyler’s work shows how we can get from an equilibrium of mere compliance (where people reluctantly abide by the minimum of what the law asks of them) to a culture of cooperation (where people are intrinsically motivated to participate eagerly in society and its legal institutions).

For a rule-of-law institution to succeed, it must account for both the context in which it operates and the cognitive priors of its participants. Or, more to the point, the Supreme Court must adapt to the changing social, political, and demographic realities of the country it serves; and it must contend with the ever-evolving mosaic of experiences and worldviews represented in the

the “Notorious RBG” was a case in point. Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s widespread appeal injected the US judicial system with a surge of legitimizing energy, appealing to many who might otherwise have been impervious to the binding force of law.

The purpose of law is not to terrorize us into obedience; rather, it is to inspire us to become engaged and active citizens. To the extent that she has captured the public imagination, Jackson’s addition to the Supreme Court could be a boon to the broadbased public support upon which the law ultimately depends.

Institutions are inherently fragile. The ransacking of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, was a sobering reminder of how quickly institutions and norms can unravel. On the other side of the Atlantic, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s flippancy toward – and flagrant violation of – COVID

regulations that stifled the lives of ordinary Britons has exposed 10 Downing Street, the seat of the British government, to attack.

So far, public outrage has been directed at Johnson – but the anger could easily mutate into disenchantment with the law itself.

When it comes to the Supreme Court, the institution’s standing has been undermined not just by the political theater that has come to define the confirmation process but also by the increasingly regressive, partisan decisions that it has handed down in recent years. American conservatives frequently profess their love for the “rule of law.” But with only three Republicans supporting Jackson’s confirmation, despite her overwhelming popularity, conservatives are undermining the very institution that they claim to hold sacred.

As Jackson put it after her confirmation, “It has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a Black woman to be selected to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States, but we’ve made it.” I would argue that the “we” in that sentence can apply to the entire judicial system. Jackson’s appointment is not simply an overdue victory for minority communities. It also represents the start of a paradigm shift for the majority. Jackson is not just a Black woman hero. She is an allAmerican one who should have been treated accordingly from the start.

We have not fully solved the mystery of why we obey the law.

But Jackson’s confirmation gives us a powerful additional reason for doing so.

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| NEWS

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022

Tech deployment and police visibility key to reducing road crashes – NRSA Boss The deployment of technology coupled with police visibility at some vantage points along the Accra-Nkawkaw-Atibie highway to ensure road safety compliance, has contributed immensely towards a reduction in road crashes during the Easter holidays, Acting Director-General, National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Mr. David Adonteng, has revealed.

According to him, even though his outfit together with the Ghana Police Service and some other stakeholders are still analyzing the data with regards to road crashes during the Easter holidays, preliminary findings are so positive to the extent that they are completely overwhelmed by “what we are seeing”, attributing their success to the Stay Alive Campaign which was launched in 2021 and scaled-up this year with the deployment of more technological devices to ensure compliance.

For instance, the police led by the IGP, George Akufo Dampare together with the DirectorGeneral of the MTTD of the Ghana Police Service, COP Aboagye Nyarko, Chief Superintendent Stephen Sasu-Mensah, Superintendent Alexander Kwaku Obeng, and the Eastern Regional Police Commander of the MTTD, installed cameras in commercial buses and other vehicles plying the Accra-Nkawkaw highway to check misbehaviors of drivers in real time and deal with offenders.

Those found culpable were arrested and placed behind bars while some vehicles were also impounded.

That notwithstanding, the IGP also deplored so many police personnel from the Police Visibility Unit at some vantage points along the Accra-Nkawkaw highway to ensure compliance of safety on the road.

The NRSA in collaboration with UCL, a private company with headquarters in Accra, also conducted electronicpassenger manifest to collate data of passengers. This was to determine who was in the bus should there be any crash along the road so as to get in touch their family members by informing them what has happened to their relative.

UCL also deplored tracking devices in commercial vehicles to monitor their movements on the highways and report

any suspecting vehicle involved in over speeding, wrongful overtaking among others to the Police for quick action.

Interacting with journalists on Monday, April 18, 2022 at Nkwakaw, Mr. Adonteng said the deployment of these technological devices coupled with Police visibility ensured safety compliance on the road to a great deal, believing that that is the way to go as far as road safety management is concerned.

“This Easter collaboration exercise between the NRSA and the Ghana Police Service and other stakeholders has really motivated me to perhaps advocate for a change in the dynamics as regards our approach to road safety management. I think that we should do more with enforcement by deploying technology because the people out there are such that the normal don’t drink and drive, don’t overtake wrongly and don’t drive tired and so on have been heard so many times but it is not changing the figures.

What will change the figures is enforcement. Deployment of technology coupled with visibility of the police for enforcement will do that for us. The visibility policy clearly suggest that the police have taken some policy dimension to change things and this is very commendable”, he noted.

He added “UCL’s support to the

NRSA and Transport Operators by conducting free electronicpassenger manifest is also very commendable and we are going to promote it. That is the way we must go this time so that we can identify misbehavior on the highways in real and deal with them before they become a problem for us”.

The outcome of the exercise, Mr. Adonteng further noted, is a manifestation of their vigorous Stay Alive Campaign which has helped the country to see some level of reduction in road crashes this year compared to previous years.

“I am convinced that we have done a good job and the numbers will not be the same.

My expectation is that we will keep this relationship with the police and all our stakeholders to scale up education and scale up enforcement in the manner that the profile that we have already established this Easter, we will continue to give hope, especially, to travelers. Otherwise, the figures were not looking good before this year. From January to March 2022, we have recorded crashes that if you compare to last year, we have made some gains because in the number of cases or crashes, we made a reduction of 1.92% compared to last year, in terms of injuries, we made 4.17% reduction compared to last years, and then

4.8% reduction in fatalities or deaths compared to last year. So, you could see that all the three indicators have shown some positive signs. Clearly, our Stay Alive Campaign has contributed immensely to this. The efforts of the Ghana Police Service have also contributed immensely to this and I believe other efforts, especially from the media have also contributed immensely to this”, he noted.

The Acting NRSA boss also spoke highly of the Ghana COVID-19 Trust Fund for their financial support to beef up education during the Easter holidays on the need to get vaccinated against the novel Corona Virus which has wreaked havoc to so many nations.

This year’s Stay Alive Campaign for the Easter was dubbed “Stay Alive for Easter 2022” and kickedstarted at the Neoplan Station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra on Friday, April 12, 2022, through to Bunso, Abossay Okai chop bar to Nkawkaw and finally Atibie with the deputy Minister of Transport and MP for Gushegu, Mr. Hassan Tampuli urging commercial drivers and passengers to ensure compliance of road safety rules in order to stay alive before, during and after the Easter festivities.

11

| NEWS

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022

UN Under-Secretary General to convene high-level forum in Ghana As part of measures to enhance the rights of people of African Descent, the United Nations (UN) will on Friday hold a highlevel forum in Ghana to promote dialogue and advocacy.

Convened by the Dr Natalia Kanem, UN Under-Secretary General, and Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the meeting is aimed at promoting dialogue and advocacy on thematic areas that will enhance inclusion and the wellbeing of People of African Descent.

It is on the theme: “People of African Descent: Accelerating the Commitment for Recognition, Advancement of Rights, Justice and Development.”

A news brief issued by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Ghana, and shared with the Ghana News Agency, said the forum preceded this year’s International Day for People of African Descent, which will be observed on 31st August 2022.

“The inaugural celebration of International Day for People of African Descent was hosted by the Government of Costa Rica in San Jose in August 2021. This followed

a resolution adopted by the United Nations based on a proposal by Costa Rica to observe the Day in recognition of the history, legacy and contributions of the African diaspora worldwide,” it said.

The UNFPA said the forum in Accra would be attended by the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, as the Special Guest of Honour and Vice-President of Costa Rica, Madam Epsy Campbell Barr, who would be delivering the keynote address.

The UNFPA said Ghana shared a significant historic relationship with the African diaspora, considering the country’s central involvement in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

“This history, coupled with the recent ‘Year of Return’ and ‘Beyond the Return’ initiative by the Government of Ghana has positioned Ghana as a vital entrypoint for Africans in the diaspora,” it said.

Dr Natalia Kanem and Madam Epsy Campbell Barr are expected to touch down in Accra on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 ahead of Friday’s forum.

Whiles in Ghana, Dr Kanem will lead a delegation to visit the

Elmina Castle, Assin Manso Slave Market and Slave River Park.

The UNFPA said the tour was intended to provide an experience of touristic sites that were indispensable to the history of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

It said Dr Kanem would also pay a courtesy call on the President and the Vice-President of the Republic of Ghana and visit the Nana Afrakuma II’s Vocational Institute for Adolescent Mothers in Akwamu.

She is also expected to engage with traditional leaders by paying a courtesy call to the King of Akwamu, His Royal Majesty Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III. Dr Natalia Kanem was appointed as the new Executive

Director of the (UNFPA) on 3rd October 2017.

She succeeded the late Dr Babatunde Osotimehin of Nigeria, who was globally celebrated for his immense advocacy for the world’s women and girls.

Prior to her appointment, Dr Kanem was Acting Executive Director of UNFPA, prior to, which she was Deputy Executive Director (Programme), and earlier UNFPA Representative in the United Republic of Tanzania from 2014 to 2016.

Before joining the United Nations, Dr Kanem was Senior Associate at the Lloyd Best Institute of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago from 2012 to 2013.

Biosafety Authority to closely supervise the safe breeding of GM crops

By Patrick Paintsil

Chief Executive Officer of the National Biosafety Authority (NBA), Eric Okoree, says the outfit will be working closely with growers of genetically modified crops to ensure strict adherence to breeding procedures and rules as it seeks to protect the integrity of conventional crops.

“When the permit is given, conditions are also given because we want to maintain the integrity of conventional crops as much as possible. We have documented the conditions relating to the breeding of GM crops and we will apply them as part of the terms granting the permit,” he told Business24 at a sensitization workshop for staff of the National Development Planning Committee (NDPC) in Accra.

He added: “As biosafety experts, we know the biology of the cowpea which is self-pollinating and also how far the maruka and other insects that feed on them will travel. So, for instance, we

recommend how far the next conventional farm will have to be so that there will not be any crossfertilisation or pollination.”

The NBA is yet to endorse the commercialization of Ghana’s PBR Cowpea, the first geneticallyproduced crop in the country after series of stakeholder engagements with huge interest from farmers and other agric value chain actors.

But in line with laid down procedures, the authority says it has already placed an advertisement in the newspapers soliciting feedback from the general public towards the approval of the PBR cowpea.

“The rule is that for anyone that wants to release GMOs into the environment, we have to invite the public to give their comments as part of the input into the decision-making process. The intention is to get the public to contribute to the decision-making on the introduction of GMOs onto

the domestic market,” he said.

Mr. Okoree said that the authority’s Technical Advisory Committee will conduct risk assessment the feedback from the public and consider the likely risks and their manageability.

He said the committee will be looking at likely exposures of the components of the GM cowpeas to that of the conventional cowpeas, make the comparisons and proffer some recommendations to the board for subsequent action.

The one-day workshop was organised by the Open Forum

on Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB) as part of stakeholder engagements to boost awareness about the safety, profitability and sustainability of GMOs to food and nutrition security.

Participants were taken through the processes of crop breeding using agro technology, the rules and legislations guiding the production of GMOs and the impact of agricultural biotechnology on Ghana’s food value chain.

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| FEATURE

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022

War in a world that stands for nothing

By Slavoj Žižek The so-called oligarchs in Russia and other ex-communist countries are a bourgeois counterpart to what Marx called the lumpen-proletariat: an unthinking cohort susceptible to political manipulation because its members have no class consciousness or revolutionary potential of their own. Unlike the proletariat, however, the lumpenbourgeoisie who emerged in these countries from the late 1980s onward control capital – lots of it – thanks to wild “privatization” of state-owned assets.

An exemplary case is Rok Snežič, a collaborator and friend of Slovenia’s right-wing prime minister, Janez Janša.

An “independent tax adviser,” Snežič helps Slovene companies redomicile in the lower-tax jurisdiction of Republika Srpska (the Serb part of Bosnia and Herzegovina). He apparently has no private possessions, and he has erased his own past tax bills by declaring bankruptcy.

Yet Snežič also cruises around in new luxury cars and has the means to pay for jumbo billboard ads. He is officially employed by a company owned by his wife, where he receives a monthly salary of €37,362 ($40,346) in cash.

But “normal” capitalism also generates a lumpen-bourgeoisie.

Snežič is not so different from Donald Trump, who similarly thrives precisely because he stands for nothing, motivated solely by money and the trappings of material wealth.

Market values have also determined the contours of Russia’s war in Ukraine, whose president, Volodymyr Zelensky, appears to have had a crash course in how global capitalism and democracy really work. Since the start of the war, Europe has sent Russia almost $40 billion in payments for oil and gas, prompting his observation that Western countries are more concerned about rising energy prices than Ukrainian lives. The capitalist market – the one that has been fueling the Russian war engine – has forsaken Ukraine.

Ending this bloody trade would require governments to abandon their reliance on market mechanisms and start organizing energy supply directly, as would addressing the global food crises that Russia’s war is generating.

(In addition to being two of the world’s biggest wheat exporters, Russia and Ukraine are also major sources of chemical fertilizers for Europe.) Paradoxically, only measures recalling the newborn

Soviet Union’s “war communism” can save Ukraine and preserve Western power. After all, Russia is coordinating with China not only to challenge the West geopolitically but also to depose the US dollar and the euro as global currencies.

Given that Western solidarity is limited by economic interests, the Ukrainians will have to accept that “defending Europe” is not enough. Ukraine is also defending the Russian people from the selfdestructiveness of their president, Vladimir Putin, and his lumpenbourgeoisie.

In a recent commentary published by the Russian stateowned news agency RIA News, Timofey Sergeytsev presents the full scope of the Kremlin’s genocidal project in Ukraine.

The basic premise is that Ukraine needs to be “denazified,” and thus de-Europeanized, because “a significant part of the people – most likely the majority – has been mastered and drawn into the Nazi regime in its politics. As such, the hypothesis, ‘the people are good, and the government is bad’ does not work.”

Sergeytsev not only equates Ukrainian politics with Nazism.

He also claims that “ukronazism” poses an even greater threat to the world and Russia than Hitlerite Nazism did. Even the name “Ukraine” must be eliminated.

So, Russia plans to do with Ukraine what Bertolt Brecht describes in his 1953 poem “The Solution”: dissolve the people and elect another. By reading Sergeytsev’s mad ravings alongside Putin’s claim that Lenin invented Ukraine, we can discern the current Russian position.

Ukraine has two fathers: Lenin, who invented it, and Hitler, who inspired today’s “ukronazis” to actualize Lenin’s invention.

What, then, does this imply for Russia’s geopolitical situation?

According to Sergeytsev:

“Russia has a high potential for partnerships and allies with countries that the West has oppressed for centuries, and which are not going to put on its yoke again. Without Russian sacrifice and struggle, these countries would not have been liberated. The denazification of Ukraine is at the same time its decolonization, which the population of Ukraine will have to understand as it begins to free itself from the intoxication, temptation, and dependence of the so-called European choice.”

In other words, Russia must radically reorient, breaking its links with the West to forge new ties with all those countries that were brutally exploited

by Western colonial powers. It is Russia that will lead a global process of decolonization.

Western imperial powers’ brutal exploitation of the Global South is a truth that must never be forgotten. But it is strange to hear such talk from Russia, with its long history of such behavior. In the eighteenth century, Catherine the Great conquered southeastern Ukraine and territory from Siberia to Alaska to Northern California.

Now, we are told that Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Ukraine will be “decolonized” by way of…

Russian colonization. Territories will be liberated against the will of their people (who will have to be re-educated or otherwise dissolved).

If a new world war is to be avoided, it will be through a “hot peace,” with massive military investments sustaining a fragile new balance of power. The fragility of the situation stems not just from conflicting economic interests but also from conflicting interpretations of reality, which is not just about settling facts.

But simply trying to prove that Russian claims are false misses the point made by Aleksandr Dugin, Putin’s court philosopher:

“Post-modernity shows that every so-called truth is a matter of believing. So we believe in what we do, we believe in what we say.

And that is the only way to define the truth. So we have our special Russian truth that you need to accept.”

Faith, it seems, overrides knowledge. According to the “special Russian truth,” Russia’s soldiers left behind no corpses of brutalized civilians in Bucha and other Ukrainian cities and towns; Western propagandists supposedly staged those atrocities.

Given these circumstances, Westerners must stop proposing that Zelensky meet with Putin to negotiate a peace settlement.

That is a fool’s errand. Any eventual negotiations will have to be conducted by lower-level bureaucrats. Putin and his inner circle are criminals who must be ignored as much as possible.

Ultimately, a significant share of the Russian population must see this.

In the former Yugoslavia, corrupt policemen were the butt of many jokes. In one of them, a policeman returns home unexpectedly and finds his wife alone in bed, half-naked and aroused. Suspecting that her lover is hiding under the bed, he bends down and looks. A few seconds later, he pops back up, mumbles, “Everything’s okay, nobody is there,” and quickly shoves a wad of banknotes into his pocket.

In a way, all of us are that policeman, accepting misery and humiliation as the price of some form of surplus enjoyment. In Russia, the suffering population is compensated not with banknotes but with cheap patriotic pride.

And in the West, we allow the market to dictate the strength of our commitment to human rights in Ukraine and elsewhere.

| AVIATION

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022

13

‘Coffee, Tea, or Me’—Airlines Sold Employees to Sell Flights

By Nell McShane Wulfhart In the early 1970s, as the women’s movement was in full swing, its impact was being felt everywhere… but nowhere more than the airplane cabin.

Stewardesses, though they might be feeling the thrill of women’s liberation in their everyday lives, entered a sort of time warp when they went to work.

Bundled into uniforms of tiny miniskirts or hotpants, portrayed in airline ads as Playboy bunnies in the sky, and talked down to (not to mention groped) by passengers, supervisors, and pilots alike, they finally had enough. In 1972 they formed a new organization that would push back on all of this.

They called it Stewardesses for Women’s Rights.

times than she could remember.

“The air¬lines gear you into being a sex object,” she said. “They brainwash you into accepting it and expecting it. You lose your self-respect. You become cynical.

And you begin to hate people— while you’re smil¬ing at them— because you know they don’t respect you. People don’t consider you a professional, so you don’t think of yourself as one.”

Sometimes the attention was the wrong kind. Joan Rivers made stewardesses the butt of joke after joke, referring to them as prosti¬tutes, and calling them “tramps” on Hollywood Squares.

She drove both Bobbi and Cindy [stewardesses at American Airlines] crazy, constantly

be replaced with soft and fluffy new ones.”

SFWR went wild, blitzing ABC with letters and telegrams tell¬ing Reasoner in no uncertain terms where to get off. Dana, by this time the Northeast regional coordinator at SFWR, sat down and typed out a letter that she sent directly to Reasoner, telling him, “I certainly do not appreciate being referred to as non-human, nonthinking, soft, fluffy thing, which can and should be replaced, and I imagine anyone would be offended by such a reference.

Such a statement is as ridiculous as suggesting that you are becoming too old for television broadcasting and should be terminated to make room for the younger, more

Stewardesses fighting for women’s rights? It was a com¬pelling a news hook, and the media loved it. The Stewardesses For Women’s Rights’ safety campaign was covered by the Chicago Daily News and by CBS. The officeopening party made it into the New York Times. Columnists waded into the debate, opining on the nature of the stewardess job: who should do it, how they should look. SFWR’s campaign against sexist airline advertis¬ing earned column inches in the Chicago Tribune, the Christian Sci¬ence Monitor, and the New York Daily News. One of the first stories about SFWR appeared in the L.A. Times, where Sandra [the organization’s founder] told the reporter she’d been “pinched, fondled, leered at, asked out on dates and propositioned” more

promoting the very image of the stewardess that SFWR was trying to combat. They joined a massive letter-writing campaign to get her to apologize, which she eventually did. Harry Reasoner, host of the ABC News program The Reasoner Report, and one of the best-known anchors in America, mentioned SFWR on his show. “I don’t want a sex object in a narrow aisle,” he said. “But I don’t want a surly union member either. I want someone youthful and illusory who looks like she thought flying was fun even if she knows more about emergency evacuation of airplanes than I’d like to think about.” He quoted “another male chauvinist” on stewardesses: “They should remain patches of color in the busi¬ness of flying. They should be there for a few years and then, like the clouds outside windows,

attractive and virile looking men in your industry.” That was a trick she’d learned from Gloria Steinem and Florynce Kennedy, that when a sexist remark was made they should turn it around and fling it back at the offender.

It worked—Reasoner went on the air and retracted his statement, mentioning Dana’s let¬ter specifically and even conceding that she might have a point.

Celebrities denigrating their profession was bad enough, but soon Tommie, Dana, Bobbi, and the other SFWR members were watch¬ing in dismay as new, ever more outrageous ad campaigns were launched. “Fly Me,” it turned out, had only been the beginning. Air¬lines, which had previously been happy to portray the stewardesses as endlessly accommodating, always smiling wives-in-training, now went all in

on the Playboy-bunnies-in-thesky hard sell.

Pacific Southwest Airlines, Tommie decided, was one of the worst offenders, its ads making the most of the uniform: bright pink and orange dresses that barely covered the women’s bottoms.

One ad read, “Pssst, Stewardess Watchers: P.S.A.’s new Lockheed 1011 Tri¬Star jetliners will each carry 8 lovely stewardesses (and up to 300 happy passengers).”

It noted, farther down, “And 2 wide aisles for watching the most beautiful girls in the sky go by.” A TV spot didn’t even pretend that beauty wasn’t the most important quality in a stewardess. The commercial showed nine women parading past an announcer, each wearing a pageant-style sash that identified her not by name, but by one of Pacific Southwest’s destinations: “Miss Long Beach,” “Miss Los Angeles,” “Miss San Diego.”

Domestic airlines didn’t have a monopoly on this new strategy.

Air Jamaica debuted an ad in 1974 that illustrated its slogan, “We make you feel good all over,” with photos of stewardesses in bikinis and resort wear (along with copy that advertised “free Rum Bam¬boozles”). Air France asked with a wink, “Have You Ever Done It the French Way?” Finnair created print ads featuring a topless woman with the airline’s route map printed on her back; she looked over her shoulder at the camera with a smile on her face. The copy read, “Take a good look at Finnair’s summer routes (they’re not hard to take).”

Southwest was particularly egregious when it came to turning flying into flirting. The airline aired a commercial that was simple but effective: just three long-legged women, dressed in the uniform of hot pants and knee-high white boots, striding across the tarmac to board the plane. One turned just slightly toward the camera to ask, “Remember what it was like before Southwest Airlines? You didn’t have hostesses in hot pants.

Remember?” That was the entire ad.

14

| NEWS

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022

A future with Binance Series – Why Binance P2P expanded its risk management roadmap to protect users Peer-to-Peer trading, also known as P2P, has always been the cornerstone of the cryptocurrency landscape.

Much like the barter system that predated fiat currencies, P2P transactions allow traders to directly exchange crypto with one another without involving a third party or intermediary.

P2P trading has grown in popularity and adoption as a result of some of its features for both casual and professional users, such as the ability to chat with one’s trading counterparty before completing a transaction, or the potentiality of traders personalizing their offerings based on their preferred price, payment methods, and local currency. It also offers benefits such as - zero trading fees and flexible payment methods.

However, while P2P trading is quite convenient, trading with other users may be risky if no third party exists to organize the transaction on the users’ behalf.

Essentially, to safeguard one’s funds, P2P trading should be conducted on safe and secure marketplaces such as Binance P2P to prevent instances of fraud or theft by unscrupulous actors.

With recent advances in P2P marketplaces, crypto exchanges

like Binance consistently aim to accelerate the P2P experience by implementing and improving strategies to ensure the ease and security of trading on their platform. One of such strategies is the P2P escrow which guarantees both buyers and sellers are protected from falling victims to fraud or theft.

The escrow does this in two ways - it helps buyers open an appeal if the counterparty defaults in releasing the cryptocurrency after payment; while on the other hand, sellers are also protected by holding the crypto in a temporary deposit within the escrow service until after payment from the counterparty has been verified. The cryptocurrency is only returned to the seller if the payment is not verified within a specified timeframe.

In the first half of 2021, Binance took additional steps to double its efforts in ensuring a safe and optimal trading environment because of the rapid growth of its users. Initially, P2P trading on the Binance exchange was only limited to verified merchants, but to ensure inclusivity and make good its commitment to providing freedom in trading for all its users, Binance opened up the platform to all users, but with meticulous

rules and guidelines to protect and prevent people from losing their funds.

Recently, the platform has also expanded and implemented newer features and rules to further boost user protection.

Below are a few of the many standout measures Binance has undertaken to provide a safer environment for all: • P2P Trading Requirements: By adding new trading requirements, users will have to complete robust identity verification steps such as specifying the quantity of completed P2P orders, SMS authentication processes, and the number of unique trading counterparties. This way, fraudulent and unreliable offerings or advertisements can be mitigated.

• Order-Matching Upgrade: According to the definition by Investopedia, Order-matching is a process where exchanges such as Binance pair one or more unsolicited buy orders to one or more sell orders to make trades. By improving the matching algorithm, the Binance team can ensure that its users can trade with trusted traders and verified merchants.

• Risk Management Optimization:

Optimizing its risk management algorithms has actively facilitated the monitoring of suspicious activities on the Binance P2P platform, thereby limiting the trading activities of potential bad actors.

• User Education Initiatives: While cryptocurrency companies have to create a safe and secure environment for their customers, users also have a part to play in safeguarding their investments.

Based on this, Binance has provided access to an extensive resource on P2P best practices hosted P2P webinars across the globe and equipped customers with security tips for trading on its platform. With access to this information, users can be guarded against potential theft and encouraged to trade cautiously.

While there is no risk-proof investment strategy, investors and P2P traders can trade more freely with the measures that Binance has put in place to ensure the safety of users in its marketplace.

These measures remain a clear indication of the brand’s mission to protect its users’ funds and deliver quality service while propelling innovation and growth in the crypto space.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022

| ADVERT

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| FEATURE

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022

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| FEATURE

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022

AZA Finance joins B&FT’s The Money Summit (TMS) 2022 as key partner AZA Finance, Africa’s largest non-bank institution specialising in cross-border international payments, forex and treasury services, has joined the Business and Financial Times’ (B&FT) organised The Money Summit (TMS) 2022 as a key sponsoring partner.

The Money Summit (TMS) 2022 is scheduled to come off at the Marriott Hotel on Tuesday, April 26, 2022, at 9am. The invitationonly event seeks to bring together players in the financial sector including banking, payment, insurance, investment banking, fintechs and others, to discuss pertinent financial issues and proffer solutions for the industry.

The 2022 edition, under the theme Africa’s Economic Growth Facilitating Investment, Payments and Settlement Systems will focus on payments as a gateway to developing Africa’s financial systems on the back of the recently launched Pan African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS).

AZA Finance’s Country Manager, Nana Yaw Owusu Banahene, in an interview ahead of the summit, at which he will join experts as part of the first plenary session, explained that The Money Summit 2022 is a

key platform to help discuss the growing conversations around payments and financial inclusion on the continent with the recently launched PAPSS and the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

“The AfCFTA was launched a little over a year ago and a couple of months ago the PAPSS has been launched. The continent is on the

cusp of something great and AZA Finance is here to help play its role in driving more and more financial inclusion and cross border transactions,” he said.

He added that AZA Finance would continue to work on ways to develop partnerships to grow and enhance cross-border international Payments, FX and Treasury with Licensed entities.

Touching on the company’s product offering, Mr. Owusu Banahene added that by leveraging cutting edge technology with our proprietary technology in our flagship products, AZA Finance is able to significantly lower the cost and increase the speed of business payments to, from and across African markets in partnership with licensed local players.

“Our partners utilise our hybrid financial infrastructure and deep local knowledge to manage liquidity and send payments to dozens of bank networks, mobile money operators and payments aggregators across Africa,” he added.

The Money Summit 2022 comes with two plenary sessions and presentations from the Bank of Ghana (BoG); Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems Limited (GhIPSS); PAPSS, and the Ghana Investment Promotion

Centre (GIPC).

The first plenary session will see Dr. Settor Amediku, Head of Payment Systems at BoG; Afua Adubea Koranteng, Managing Partner at Koranteng & Koranteng Legal Advisors; Nana Yaw OwusuBanahene, Country Manager at AZA Finance; Ato Okyir, Group Head, New Ventures (Technology Innovation) at Letshego Group; and Attah Yeboah Gyan, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Fidelity Bank discuss the topic Africa’s payment and settlement system; Opportunities, Challenges and the Way Forward. This session would be moderated by Prince Moses, General Manager at Asaase Radio.

The second session on the topic Enhancing Investors’ Confidence: Critical Vehicle to Driving Economic Growth, will have Deborah Agyemfra, Deputy Director General at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); Ekow Afedzie, Managing Director at the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE); Victor Asante, Managing Director at FBN Bank Ghana; Professor Mahmoud Abdulai Mahmoud, Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS). The session would be moderated by Josephine A Offei, a Business Consultant.

Nana Yaw Owusu-Banahene, Country Manager at AZA Finance

Why GSA said Empire Cement was not complying with national standards The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) has been explaining why it said Empire Cement Ghana Limited was not complying with the applicable legislation and national standards.

In a letter dated March 31, 2022, signed by the Director-General of the GSA, Prof Alex Dodoo and addressed to the Managing Director of Empire, the GSA said market surveillance activities in the Greater Accra Region picked up samples of Empire Cement product(s) in the market.

It said the products were procured for laboratory analysis in accordance with applicable legislation and national standards and preliminary checks on the samples indicated that Empire Cement have been using the Certification Mark provided for in LI 662 (as amended by LI 664) without a licence and certificate

from the GSA. This, the GSA said constituted an offence and was in blatant contravention of the applicable legislation.

It said that misleads consumers and the public that the product has been certified as conforming to the applicable national standards and is both fit for purpose and safe to use; when it has, in fact, not been certified at all.

“Products that are certified are issued a specific license number which appears under the Certification Mark as approved,” it said

Empire Cement says it is cooperating for permit

Meanwhile in an earlier response, to Graphic Online, Empire Cement denounced and discredited the accusations, saying it has not started producing cement at the factory for the open market.

It said it had permit to produce cement papers and was still working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a permit to commence cement production.

The company insisted that its cement packaging unit had all the permits for the production of cement packaging products.

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| MARKET REVIEW

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022

WEEKLY MARKET REVIEW FOR WEEK ENDING - APRIL 8, 2022 MACROECONOMIC INDICATORS Q3, 2021 GDP Growth

6.6%

Average GDP Growth for 2021

5.3%

2022 Projected GDP Growth

5.8%

BoG Policy Rate

17.0%

Weekly Interbank Interest Rate

16.38%

Inflation for February, 2022

15.7%

End Period Inflation Target – 2022

8.0%

Budget Deficit (% GDP) – Dec, 2021

9.7%

2022 Budget Deficit Target (%GDP)

7.4%

Public Debt (billion GH¢) – Dec, 2021

351.8

Debt to GDP Ratio – Dec, 2021

80.1%

STOCK MARKET REVIEW The Ghana Stock Exchange weakened for the week on the back of price declines by 3 counters. The GSE Composite Index (GSE CI) lost 49.20 points (-1.79%) to close at 2,693.65 points, reflecting year-to-date (YTD) loss of 3.43%. The GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE FI) however, gained 39.22 points (+1.80%) to close at 2,214.18 points, reflecting year-to-date (YTD) gain of 2.90%.

Market capitalization declined marginally by 0.03% to close the week at GH¢64,011.45 million, from GH¢64,029.79 million at the close of the previous week.

This reflects YTD decrease of 0.75%.

Trading activity recorded a total of 3,626,127 shares valued at GH¢3,602,157 changing hands, compared with 83,028,224 shares, valued at GH¢88,889,722.36 in the preceding week.

MTN dominated both volume and value of trades for the week, accounting for 57.84% and 58.50% of volume and value of shares traded respectively .

The market ended the week with 3 advancers and 3 decliners as indicated on the table below.

THE CURRENCY MARKET The Cedi recorded no change against the USD for the week. It remained flat at GH¢7.1120/$ reflecting w/w and YTD depreciations of 0.00% and 15.55% respectively.

This compares with YTD appreciation of 0.54% a year ago.

The Cedi however advanced against the GBP for the week. It traded at GH¢9.2663/£, compared with GH¢9.3278/£ at week open, reflecting w/w appreciation and YTD depreciation of 0.66% and 12.29% respectively.

This compares with YTD depreciation of 0.10% a year ago.

The Cedi also strengthened against the Euro for the week. It traded at GH¢7.7338/€, compared with GH¢7.8217/€ at week open, reflecting w/w appreciation and YTD depreciation of 1.14% and 11.71% respectively.

This compares with YTD appreciation of 3.74% a year ago.

The Cedi again appreciated against the Canadian Dollar for the week. It opened at GH¢5.7019/C$ but closed at GH¢5.6526/C$, reflecting w/w appreciation and YTD depreciation of 0.87% and 16.12% respectively. This compares with YTD depreciation of 0.75% a year ago.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022

GOVERNMENT SECURITIES MARKET Government raised a sum of GH¢1,155.11 million for the week across the 91-Day, 182-Day , 364 Day Treasury bills as well as the 3 Year Bond. This compared with GH¢463.65 million raised in the previous week.

The 91-Day Bill settled at 15.74% p.a., from 14.85% p.a. last week whilst the 182-Day Bill settled at 15.93% p.a., from 15.46% p.a. last week. The 364-Day Treasury Bill on the other hand settled at 18.28% p.a., from 17.11% p.a. recorded previously. The 3-Year Bond meanwhile settled at 20.85% p.a., up from 20.50% previously.

The table and graph below highlight primary market yields at close of the week.

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| MARKET REVIEW

COMMODITY MARKET

BUSINESS TERM OF THE WEEK

Crude Oil prices settled lower on Friday after consuming countries agreed to release a total of 240 million barrels of oil from emergency stocks. Brent futures traded at US$102.78 a barrel on Friday, compared to US$107.53 at week open. This reflects w/w loss and YTD gain of 4.42% and 34.14% respectively.

Gold prices rose as concerns over rising costs and the Ukraine crisis bolstered its appeal as an inflation hedge and a safe haven, but the U.S. Federal Reserve’s aggressive policy stance limited gains. Gold settled at US$1,945.60 from US$1,929.20 last week, reflecting w/w and YTD appreciations of 0.85% and 6.40% respectively.

Prices of Cocoa advanced for the week. The commodity traded at US$2,620.00 per tonne on Friday, from US$2,562.00 last week, reflecting w/w and YTD appreciations of 2.26% and 3.97% respectively.

Foreign Exchange Reserves: Foreign exchange reserves are assets held on reserve by a central bank in foreign currencies. These reserves are used to back liabilities and influence monetary policy. It includes any foreign money held by a central bank, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank.

INTERNTIONAL COMMODITIES PRICES

Source: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/ foreign-exchange-reserves.asp

ABOUT CIDAN CIDAN Investments Limited is an investment and fund management company licensed by the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA).

RESEARCH TEAM Name: Ernest Tannor Email:etannor@cidaninvestments.com Tel:+233 (0) 20 881 8957 Name: Audrey Asiedua Wiafe Email:aaudrey@cidaninvestments.com Tel:+233 (0) 57 840 2700 Name: Moses Nana Osei-Yeboah Email:moyeboah@cidaninvestments.com Tel:+233 (0) 24 499 0069

CORPORATE INFORMATION CIDAN Investments Limited CIDAN House Plot No. 169 Block 6 Haatso, North Legon – Accra Tel: +233 (0) 26171 7001/ 26 300 3917 Fax: +233 (0)30 254 4351 Email: info@cidaninvestmens.com Website: www.cidaninvestments.com Disclaimer The contents of this report have been prepared to provide you with general information only. Information provided on and available from this report does not constitute any investment recommendation.

The information contained herein has been obtained from sources that we believe to be reliable, but its accuracy and completeness are not guaranteed.

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NO. B24/317 | NEWS FOR BUSINESS LEADERS

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022

Automotive motors market expects to reach US$ 49.4bn by 2027 IMARC Group’s latest research report, titled “Automotive Motors Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity, and Forecast 2022-2027,” the market reached a value of US$ 35.7 Billion in 2021.

Looking forward, IMARC Group expects the global automotive motors market to reach a value of US$ 49.4 Billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 5.20% during 2022-2027. Automotive motors represent machines used in vehicles that convert electrical energy into mechanical energy.

They generally include a stator, rotator, encoder, conducting wire,

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amplifier, frame, etc. Some of the commonly available automotive motors are brushless direct current (DC), traction, stepper, DC brushed, etc.

They are extensively utilized in battery electric vehicles (BEVs), passenger cars, twowheelers, heavy commercial vehicles (HCVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) for enhancing performance, comfort, security, etc.

Automotive motors have higher thermal efficiency and generate more power. Consequently, they are incorporated in seat cooling

fans, power window motors, alternators, wiper systems, power steering motors, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), anti-lock brake systems, etc.

The escalating demand for safety and convenience features in vehicles is primarily driving the automotive motors market.

In line with this, the inflating product adoption in advanced infotainment systems, heads-up displays, central controllers, antilock braking systems, gesture control systems, etc., is further catalyzing the market growth.

Additionally, the increasing utilization of brushed DC motors,

EDITOR: BENSON AFFUL editor@business24.com.gh | +233 545 516 133.

owing to their numerous benefits, such as easy speed control, costeffectiveness, high power, etc., is acting as another significant growth-inducing factor. Besides this, the growing need for electric vehicles (EVs), on account of the rising consumer environmental consciousness, is also positively influencing the global market.

Moreover, the introduction of compact and high-efficiency product variants that aid in simplifying production processes and minimizing waste is anticipated to fuel the automotive motors market over the forecasted period.