Business24 Newspaper 7th May, 2021 by Business24 Online

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021

BUSINESS24.COM.GH

NO. B24 / 192 | NEWS FOR BUSINESS LEADERS

MONDAY FRIDAYMAY MAY3,7,2021 2021

Fin. Min. has not paid US$50m debt to GNPC—PIAC

These ambulances were procured and distributed to each of the 275 constituencies by the defunct Ministry for Special Development Initiatives, which hitherto supervised the development authorities.

Select Committee wants dev’t authorities put under local gov’t ministry By Eugene Davis ugendavis@gmail.com

overnment has been urged to hand over the control and supervision of the development authorities for the coastal, middle, and Cont’d on page 3

‘Green bonds will advance SDG agenda’ By Joshua Worlasi Amlanu macjosh1922@gmail.com

The amount was used in the construction of selected roads in the Western region

By Benson Afful affulbenson@gmail.com

he Ministry of Finance has still not repaid a US$50m loan it took

from the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) in 2013 for the construction of the Western corridor roads. The money, which was originally expected to be repaid

ECONOMIC INDICATORS EXCHANGE RATE (INT. RATE)

POLICY RATE

14.5% 14.77%

OVERALL FISCAL DEFICIT

11.4% OF GDP

AVERAGE PETROL & DIESEL PRICE:

4.2% GHC 5.13

Cont’d on page 2 INTERNATIONAL MARKET

US$1 = GHC 5.7606

GHANA REFERENCE RATE PROJECTED GDP GROWTH RATE

in three months, had still not been paid as at December 2020, according to the Public Interest and Accountability

BRENT CRUDE $/BARREL NATURAL GAS $/MILLION BTUS GOLD $/TROY OUNCE

Cont’d on page 3 Follow us online:

$57.79 $2.6801,922.57 $1,836.62

CORN $/BUSHEL

$543.75

COCOA $/METRIC TON

$123.55

COFFEE $/POUND:

evelopment of the green bonds market in Ghana will advance the country’s effort towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Courage Kingsley Martey,

facebook.com/business24gh twitter.com/business24gh linkedin.com/pg/business24gh instagram.com/business24gh

Editorial / News

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021

Editorial

ECOWAS’ power plans laudable

COWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA) is supervising the construction of a regional ECOWAS electricity market to spur the productivity and growth of the sub-region. Energy production is very vital to the viability of the market and the move from the regional body is tipped to make investments in the energy sector highly conducive. This plausible investment is aligned to the regional body’s focus on attracting investments in the production of electricity, ensuring transmission and distribution lines for cross-

border power exchange and access to the local population, as well as having a good legal environment for the commodity. Access to cheap and reliable power is a key to the region’s growth aspirations as the success of its member countries’ participation in the continental trade hinges largely on a robust productive or manufacturing sector that will produce goods for the single market. The first phase of the Regional Electricity Market was launched in June 2018 in Cotonou, Benin Republic whilst the second would introduce a day-ahead, competitive market and help

promote productivity. It is trite knowledge that a vibrant electricity market would ensure an increase in investment on the back of the now existent free trade area for persons, goods and services on the continent. While we applaud ECOWAS for this giant step towards the realisation of this noble project, we further urge the body to remain dedicated and stay committed to this cause as many such bold initiatives have taken off and later stalled. There is no doubt that given the right attention, will be of immense benefit to the inhabitants of the sub-region.

Fin. Min. has not paid US$50m debt to GNPC—PIAC Continued from cover

Your subscription -- along with the support of businesses that advertise in Business24 -- makes an investment in journalism that is essential to keep the business community in Ghana well-informed. We value your support and loyalty. Contact Email: hello@thebusiness24online.net Newsroom: 030 296 5315 Advertising / Sales: +233 24 212 2742

Committee’s (PIAC) 2020 annual report. The oil revenue watchdog said in December 2018, the Ministry directed GNPC to expunge the amount from its books on the grounds that per the Earmarked Funds Capping and Realignment Act 2017 (Act 947), the Minister for Finance is empowered to cap the total allocation to all earmarked funds at 25 percent of tax revenues. The committee said the ministry indicated that it had not retained GNPC’s flows since the law was passed with the view to offsetting the US$50m loan. “However, according to the Corporation, its Level A allocations are a pass-through intended to meet equity-finance obligations in the producing fields, while the 30 percent share of the net proceeds (Level B) is consistent with the PRMA Act 815 as amended, and has been below the amounts allocated to GNPC in the national budget of 2018,” PIAC said. PIAC added that GNPC plans to engage its sector ministry, the Ministry of Finance, and Parliament to discuss the issue

further. The Technical Director of PIAC, Mark Agyemang, told the Business24 in an earlier interview that in order to prevent government from interfering in the affairs of GNPC, the Corporation should be listed on the stock exchange (GSE) to cede control and ownership

Mark Agyemang, PIAC

of the national oil company to Ghanaians. The move, according to him, will stop government interference in the affairs of the national oil company. “The government’s consistent control of the corporation and, for that matter, its use of the corporation to finance quasifiscal expenditures is a worry,” Mr. Agyemang said.

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021

Select Committee wants dev’t authorities put under local gov’t ministry Continued from cover northern belts of the country to the Ministry for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development. According to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Local Government and Rural Development, which made the recommendation, since the main goal of the authorities is local development, the best entity to supervise them is the local government ministry. “Given [that] the principal objects of the development authorities are local development, it would be ideal and appropriate if the[y] are placed under the policy directions of the minister responsible for local government and rural development,” said the committee in its report on the 2021 budget estimates of the ministry. This would ensure sufficient ministerial supervision and effective parliamentary oversight of the authorities, it added. The committee’s recommendation was in response to the placement of the development authorities under the direct control and supervision of the Office of the President, a decision that was

taken after the Ministry for Special Development Initiatives, which previously oversaw the authorities, was scrapped by the President this year. The development authorities are responsible for the implementation of the government’s Infrastructure

for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP), under which each constituency in Ghana is allocated US$1m annually to fund priority infrastructure projects. In 2021, an amount of GH₵858.9m has been allocated to the three authorities. However, the Parliamentary

Select Committee’s report said adequate provisions were not made for capital expenditure to avoid the abandoning of projects being executed by the authorities. The committee thus recommended that an adequate allocation be made in the midyear budget to enable the authorities complete projects and pay contractors.

Dan Botwe, Minister for Local Government and Rural Development

‘Green bonds will advance SDG agenda’ Continued from cover senior economist with Databank Research, has said. This week, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a partnership to facilitate investments in projects that address climate and environmental issues through green bonds. Under the agreement, IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, will help the SEC develop guidelines for issuers and investors in green bonds in Ghana. In an interview with Business24, Mr. Martey said, “The COVID-induced shock to public finances in most countries has weakened the chances of developing countries achieving all their SDGs by the target date of 2030. So, these green financing instruments are key to helping

the country move towards that target.” Green bonds are debt securities issued by financial, non-financial, or public entities, whose proceeds are used to finance 100 percent environmentallyfriendly projects. The overall market size of green bonds is estimated at US$100tn.

The introduction of green bonds will give investors opportunities to finance green buildings, clean transportation, renewable energy, sustainable water management, and other climate-friendly projects. Some experts have said that the market, when developed, will support Ghana’s transition

to a lower-carbon future, as specified in the country’s agreed contributions under the Paris Climate Agreement. According to Ghana’s intended nationally determined contribution (INDC) document, over a 10-year period, the country needs about US$22.6bn in investments from domestic and international public and private sources to finance its climate actions, starting from 2020. Out of the total, US$9.81bn, representing 45 percent, is needed for mitigation, whereas the remaining US$12.79bn will be required for adaptation. Mr. Martey said the green bond market should provide diversity in investment securities and the investor base in the Ghanaian fixed income market, giving pension funds and other fund managers an extra class of securities in their portfolios to reduce risk.

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021

News

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021

Enterprise Group sees 25% profit boost in 2020 By Patrick Paintsil p_paintsil@hotmail.com

nterprise Group Plc, which comprises businesses in insurance, pensions, funeral services, and real estate development, has braved the coronavirus pandemic to post an impressive 25 percent growth in profit after tax for the 2020 financial year. The group, whose subsidiaries include Enterprise Life, Enterprise Insurance, and Enterprise Trustees, registered a post-tax profit of GH¢146.7m, up from GH¢117.2m in 2019. Net income, which includes investment income and net insurance premium revenue, went up by 18.7 percent to

GH¢847.7m, whilst net expenses rose from GH¢578.3m to GH¢672.2m, representing a 16.2 percent growth. The insurance businesses of the group paid or set aside a total of GH¢374.6m in claims and benefits for the year, which was a 15 percent increase over the GH¢325.3m that was recorded in 2019. There were also increases to the company’s assets and total equity, with assets growing by 16.4 percent to GH¢1.74bn and equity by 14.6 percent to GH¢764.4m. Earnings per share was GH¢0.476, a 2.1 percent increase over the GH¢0.466 that was posted for the previous year. The company has proposed a dividend per share of

Enterprise Group CEO Keli Gadzekpo

GH¢0.062, 14.8 percent more than the previous year’s figure of GH¢0.054.

The Group’s 2020 performance is consistent with its sustained growth over the last five years.

Eni raises €2bn in perpetual hybrid bonds By Benson Afful affulbenson@gmail.com

talian energy group Eni S.p.A, the parent company of Eni Ghana, operator of the Sankofa Gye Nyame (SGN) field, says it has successfully raised €2bn through two perpetual hybrid bond issues. Eni Ghana has a 44.44 percent share in the SGN project, with other partners as Ghana National Petroleum Corporation with 20 percent and Vitol with 35.56 percent. The hybrid bonds, according to a statement by the global energy giant, were placed in the international Eurobond market, mainly in United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy, with total orders of more than €7bn. The bonds were issued in two parts: a €1bn perpetual 6-year subordinated non-call hybrid notes issue and a €1bn perpetual 9-year subordinated non-call hybrid notes issue. The 6-year note has a re-offer price of 100 percent and an annual fixed coupon of 2 percent until the first reset date of May 11, 2027. The 9-year note has a reoffer price of 99.607 percent and an annual fixed coupon of 2.75 percent until the first reset date of May 11, 2030. Eni’s SGN field produces the highest volume of combined

associated and non-associated gas among Ghana’s three oil fields. In 2020 output increased by 60 percent, according to the Public

Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), Ghana’s oil revenue watchdog. This was mainly because gas

consumption from the SGN field was domestic, and therefore less affected by the global price fluctuations, PIAC said.

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021

News

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021

ECOWAS regional electricity market is crucial to sub-region’s development – Brou

ean-Claude Kassi Brou, President, ECOWAS Commission, says the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Market, under construction, is “fundamental” and “critical” to the development of West Africa. A statement issued by the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA), said energy production was vital to the viability of the market, and ECOWAS was formulating policies that would be conducive to investments in the energy sector. He said ECOWAS’ focus was on attracting investments in the production of electricity, ensuring transmission and distribution lines for cross-border power exchange and access to the local population, as well as having a good legal environment, “so that private investors can know exactly, in a very predictable and transparent way, what the rules are and so can invest in the

sector”. The first phase of the Regional Electricity Market was launched in June 2018 in Cotonou, Benin Republic. The second phase will introduce a day-ahead, competitive market

and help promote efficiency. President Kassi Brou said the electricity market would ensure an increase in investment, considering the existence of a free trade area and the free circulation of persons, goods and services in

the region. “We are trying to make energy available at a competitive cost to every country, and at the lowest cost possible for Community citizens,” he added. Earlier while addressing staff of ERERA, President Kassi Brou said ECOWAS was preoccupied with achieving the objective that had been set for energy, including increasing the availability of energy to the people, ensure quality energy as well as costeffectiveness and efficiency in energy production, “and gradually transform the whole mix to renewable energy”. “They say water is life but energy is development. Without energy you cannot have quality of life, you cannot have growth, you cannot have development and you cannot have progress,” the ECOWAS President said. GNA

U.S. Ambassador launches US$19m activity to boost agric finance in Ghana

.S. Ambassador to Ghana Stephanie S. Sullivan joined Vice President of Ghana Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia on May 6, 2021, to outdoor a new U.S. government food security strategy. The first activity is expected to attract US$261 million in private sector financing to boost Ghanaian agribusiness. The Minister of Food and Agriculture Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto also attended the virtual launch along with representatives

of financial, agricultural, government, and private sector stakeholders. The U.S. Global Food Security Strategy for Ghana (GFSS) is a five-year, interagency effort that aims to increase agricultural productivity, improve nutrition, and raise household incomes for millions of Ghana’s agricultural workers. Under the GFSS, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is committing $19 million to support

the initial activity, known as Feed the Future Ghana “Mobilizing Finance in Agriculture” (MFA). The MFA activity, which will run for four years, seeks to increase access to agricultural finance in select staple and commodity value chains such as maize, groundnuts, shea, soy, mango, cashew, and other highvalue export commodities. The initiative will focus on facilitating transactions among buyers and sellers of the commodity crops and promoting exports. Ambassador Sullivan described

this new program within the framework of the United States and Ghana’s long-standing partnership to improve food security, increase trade and investment flows, and support resilient and inclusive economic growth. In her remarks, Ambassador Sullivan noted that, “The U.S. Government reaffirms its commitment to assist Ghanaians to achieve self-reliance by helping businesses reap higher revenues and by strengthening trade between Ghana and the United States. With the ability to access loans at lower affordable rates, micro, small, and medium agricultural enterprises, including women- and youthowned businesses, will be able to grow their businesses, expand into new markets, create good jobs, and export their goods.” The MFA activity will mobilise investment for Ghana’s agricultural sector to become an engine of sustainable growth, selfreliance, and shared prosperity. It will work to connect financial institutions, business advisory service providers, and agricultural enterprises, providing access to strategic partnerships, technical support, and smart incentives to help financing flow to where it is most needed and help more Ghanaians thrive.

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021

Companies

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021

DStv Business introduces simplified packages to suit businesses needs

t DStv Business we understand that every business has unique needs and we have made it our business to ensure that your entertainment needs are taken care of. We have tailored our DStv Business packages to suit the needs of hotels, lodges, Airbnb, pubs, clubs, restaurants, hospitals, dental clinics, laboratories and offices. MultiChoice Ghana operators of DStv in Ghana at a virtual launch today relaunched the DStv Business offer for commercial entities in Ghana. The revamped offers will make it even easier to choose a package that suits your commercial needs and budget. The current DStv Business offerings namely: Accommodation, Pubs & Clubs and Office packages from 27th April, 2021 not only got a name change but also had the content offering reorganised and tiered to suit the different kinds of budget. The old DStv Accommodation package changed to DStv Stay; DStv Pubs & Clubs changed to DStv Play; while DStv Offices is now known as DStv Work. “Whether you are in the business of helping people to relax and get away from it all or you simply want to keep your employees and patrons informed and entertained, we have created the new DStv Business packages with your clientele’s needs

in mind,” Cecil Sunkwa Mill, Managing Director, MultiChoice Ghana. Speaking during the virtual launch of the revamped DStv Business package, CEO of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) said, “the GTA in partnership with the Ministries of Communication and Information have started the Stay Safe, Know Ghana initiative to drive local tourism and already we have seen many organisations promoting staycations within the country as government continues to open up the country.” He urged hospitality operators to make guest experience a priority as more travelers look to seamless connectivity and pleasurable in-room experiences which include a good variety of satellite television channels which DStv delivers. Also speaking during the launch was Chief Customer Officer, MultiChoice Ghana, Alex Okyere who added that the new

DStv Business packages have been boosted with a great deal of local and international entertainment content across all the different packages to ensure that employees, patrons and guests of establishment who subscribe to these packages benefit from having more choice. • DStv Work packages offer the latest news headlines from around the world. We have expanded the offering into two distinct categories: DStv Work Essential and DStv Work Ultra • DStv Play packages will keep your restaurant, bar and club patrons entertained for hours with their favourite sports content and more. This package gives you a choice between DStv Play Basic, DStv Play Essential and DStv Play Ultra • DStv Stay packages allow you to give each of your guests a memorable in-room experience. With this package, you can choose between DStv Stay Basic,

DStv Stay Essential and DStv Stay Ultra The President of the Ghana Hotels Association, Dr. Edward Ackah-Nyamike thanked government for the covid-19 reliefs around water, power and stimulus packages for the badly hit hospitality sector. He however added “In spite of the good intention some of these reliefs they were not enough and called for deeper stakeholder consultation to tailor solutions for his industry.” In conclusion, Cecil Sunkwa Mills reiterated “At DStv Business we want to give you more choice while also ensuring that your customers keep coming back to have more memorable experiences with you. These revamped packages are just another way for us to keep giving you more options and more added value.” To learn more visit dstvafrica.com or get in touch with our sales agents.

Harith launches $200m Top-Up Fund

arith General Partners, one of the largest investors in African Infrastructure, has announced a $200 million capital raise in a follow-up fund to its Pan African Infrastructure Development Fund (PAIDF) 2, which is open to existing and new investors. The PAIDF 2 Infrastructure Top-Up Fund is a shorter-term vehicle (five-to-six years) that is being established to take advantage of very near-term expansion opportunities in some of the best performing PAIDF 2 portfolio companies and realise a mature pipeline of high-quality infrastructure opportunities for investors. Harith’s PAIDF 1 & PAIDF 2 portfolio companies include Aldwych Holdings Limited, one of the largest Independent Power Provider’s

on the continent; leading South African telecommunications infrastructure group CIVH; MainOne, an undersea cable company and leading provider of innovative telecom services and network solutions for businesses in West; Lanseria International Airport, South Africa’s only privately owned international airport; the busiest border post in Southern Africa, Beitbridge Border Post, among others. The capital raised will be invested in existing PAIDF portfolio company expansion opportunities as well as in selected key new pipeline deals and strategic infrastructure investment opportunities. These opportunities are both predetermined and existing. Since 2007, PAIDF 1 has recorded a 36% increase in the USD amount invested. The fund

Sipho Makhubela

had a Portfolio Valuation of $742,9 million at 31 December 2020. PAIDF 2 has recorded an 84% increase in the USD amount invested and had a portfolio valuation of $471,8 million on December 31, 2020. Sipho Makhubela, CEO Harith General Partners said, “Rather than just investing in potential future projects, our PAIDF 2

Top-Up Fund provides investors with immediate exposure to established, world-class assets that are generating returns today and an experienced management team that has been together for more than a decade, making investments in some of the most difficult environments on the continent.

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021

International

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021

Second wave ‘could hurt Indian government revenues and damage credit rating’

ndia’s second wave of Covid-19 could derail its previously strong economic recovery and damage its credit profile, ratings agency S&P Global has said. The total number of recorded cases of the virus passed 20 million at the start of this week, with the country reporting more than 350,000 new cases in one 24-hour period. Although the national government has ruled out countrywide lockdown measures, local restrictions also threaten the recovery after a slow 2020, S&P said in a note. “The depth of the Indian economy’s deceleration will determine the impact on its sovereign credit profile,” the agency warned. “The Indian government’s fiscal position is already stretched. We estimate the general government’s fiscal deficit to have been about 14% of GDP in fiscal 2021, driving its net debt stock to just over 90% of GDP.” S&P has forecast the deficit will

be 11.4% of GDP this year, but if the economy performs worse than expected there is a risk it could be higher still. Government revenues were “solidifying” through March, S&P said, but the health crisis

“could derail this progress” as restrictions curtail economic activity. The agency considered two scenarios: one in which cases peak in late May and then decline at 2% per day, and one in which

they peak in late June and decline at 1% per day. “Our downside scenarios suggest a less robust recovery in government revenues, and the severe downside scenario may entail additional fiscal spending,” the note said. “Amid the second wave, officials have [so far] shown a preference for support measures from the central bank rather than additional fiscal interventions.” S&P said its forecast of 11% of GDP growth this fiscal year (April 2021 to March 2022) now has to be reconsidered. Growth in the first scenario would be hit by 1.2 percentage points, while in the second the hit would be 2.8 percentage points. Although the resulting growth of near-10% would seem high, S&P said, “this is not a good outcome” because the economy would be well below its pre-pandemic trend. Publicfinancefocus.org

Thailand plans further cash transfers to poorest as new virus wave bites

he 225bn baht (£5.2bn) stimulus package includes electronic vouchers for

food, drink and “general goods”, as well as cash handouts to welfare recipients and other vulnerable

groups. Given in-principle approval by the country’s cabinet, the package also involves the extension of two existing programmes by one

Thailand is planning a new round of measures to help low-income groups through its biggest wave of Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began.

month. In January the government announced 210bn baht (£4.9bn) would be distributed to around 30 million people, primarily agricultural and informal workers, with recipients being given 3,500 baht (about £80) per month. Thailand reported 2,112 new cases on Wednesday, bringing its cumulative total to 74,900. The third wave of the virus, which began on 1 April, accounts for more than 46,000 of the total cases. Thailand’s economy shrank by 6.1% in 2020 amid strict lockdown measures, according to the International Monetary Fund. In a recent report into the country’s economic prospects, the IMF said recovery is expected to be “sluggish” this year, with growth projected to be just 2.6%. A team of fund economists held consultations with the government in March, and recommended it should concentrate on protecting vulnerable groups from the worst impacts of the crisis. Thailand’s relative economic reliance on tourism makes speedy recovery unlikely, the economists said, but a swift rollout of vaccine doses would help.

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021

Feature

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021

SCRUM in Africa

SCRUM is an agile project management framework. In two earlier articles, we explained the advantages of using SCRUM over traditional project management methods, in the ICT sector. We also shared our experience with SCRUM in virtual teams and why it helps managers to control their production while working from home during the pandemic. In this final article, we will focus on Africa. We will explain why we believe that SCRUM can work well in this part of the world.

CRUM was originally developed in the USA as a response to how project management was failing in western culture. While in general, the African work culture is different from that of the USA, SCRUM can and has successfully been integrated into African companies, so there is, experience with the application of SCRUM in the African context, though not yet on a large scale. We have also been training people in SCRUM here in Ghana, experiencing that participants to our programs are generally quick to get an understanding of Agile and SCRUM; they prove to be fast learners in the application of the framework. What can be the reason for this seemingly easy match? We have a few theories, which we are currently discussing on various African SCRUM platforms to see if SCRUM trainers and practitioners outside all over Africa have similar experiences. 1. In Africa, we are used to working in an environment with a lot of uncertainties. Things may change every day, and we need to be resilient or “AGILE” and always have a plan b, c, and d. In SCRUM, the illusion of control to achieve long-term plans is replaced by an acknowledgment that during a project a lot may happen. SCRUM is dealing with that uncertainty in an appropriate way, making the success factor of projects a lot higher. 2. Africans have a culture that values the group or (extended) family over individualism so team building with Agile, and SCRUM seems easily done. African Agile coaches and SCRUM masters have a great connection with the rest of the team, and this enhances

high productivity. The basic value of working on a product together and share responsibilities for the result resonates. 3. The short timelines of SCRUM match well with the African culture. Inspection events like daily standups and retrospectives have a natural way of happening. Imagine waking up at dawn in an African village and decide what to do that morning. This brings us to the point that it is generally said that time management is a problem in Africa. The mentality of having “Ghana man time” is what must be in check to have a team that is delivering on time and that is doable in the African settings. SCRUM addresses that problem in a very practical way with its daily checks in the morning, live transparency, and short feedback loops. It visualizes everyone’s production in real-time. Most challenges with Africa when it comes to SCRUM have to do with managers or those in charge of an organization. Traditionally, African organizations can be quite hierarchical and bureaucratic. This makes accepting change and changing the status quo difficult. Many will argue that without a “real boss” a team will not be accountable. The new way of working may just cause laziness and low productivity. Currently, Agile SCRUM is not yet popular in Africa and it sounds like a new thing to a lot of people. In this series of articles, we have tried to give you the right reasons to decide for SCRUM after all. We invite Agile coaches and SCRUM masters to propagate and evangelize Agile to Africans, so they know what Agile is, the benefits it has, and how to use it effectively in their professional

and personal lives. However, with a young and vibrant professional population, in IT, Agile can be a good way to engage them in your company, giving them freedom and responsibilities without losing control by the management. We foresee a big future for Agile in Africa! Scrum Africa: Can we help scrum to become better by adding African strengths? According to a survey and response from African Agile coaches, SCRUM may be finetuned to suit Africa. Our culture and ways of doing things differ from other parts of the world and Agile was designed for the American (and European) culture. What can SCRUM learn from the Africa experience? Team members share their social lives: In Africa, we believe that to do business together, you first become friends and build a level of trust. Strong relationships help to solve problems and create an awareness that we are all taking care of each other. We advise that social relations in the developers’ team should get a place in the framework. This can be done by extending daily standups with some personal quotes or engage in a social activity together at the end of the week. Pray together: Africans are most of the time religious and spiritual and we usually start work with a prayer and end it with a prayer too. Our SCRUM teams have a short morning devotion or short prayer irrespective of the religions the group is made of a short prayer is said before any other thing begins, asking God’s help and acknowledging his reign over our lives. This helps start

the day well and praying together brings in the social bond and connection of the team. Laugh and joke together: Icebreakers are known to be used to ease tension and release stress before the start of most events or activities. Having everyone laughing or smiling before the daily standup makes things easy for everyone to share their progress on the work being done. This also enhances team build and makes team members feel like they belong and creates a safe and friendly environment for working. While all these add-on suggestions may seem a waste of time for some, we believe that they prove to be a blessing for the culture of your teams and the whole organization. All in all, Agile is good and very suitable for Africa but to get the most of it we propose to “Africanize” the framework. Changes that may also turn out to be for the good of organizations in other cultures, as in every part of the world, people want to feel valued, taken seriously but also feel that they are loved and belong to a community. Author: Diana van der Stelt is a social entrepreneur outsourcing SCRUM teams to the Netherlands at Trinity Software Center in Kumasi and the Co-founder of Maxim Nyansa IT solutions, an IT training center in Accra | Member, Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana. Elvin Assiam, agile SCRUM trainer and consultant with Maxim Nyansa IT solutions. For comments, contact dianavanderstelt@ trinitysoftwarecenter.com

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021

Feature

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021

The lurid orientalism of western media

By Brahma Chellaney

hen reporting on any mass tragedy, a basic rule of journalism is to be sensitive to the victims and those who are grieving. Western media, which double as the international media, usually observe this rule at home but discard it when reporting on disasters in non-Western societies. The coverage of India’s devastating second wave of COVID-19 is a case in point. Western media have been filled with images of dead bodies and other graphic scenes that generally would not be shown following a similar disaster in a Western country. About half of global COVID-19 deaths have occurred in Europe and the United States alone, yet Western media have avoided presenting harrowing images from those settings. Even at the height of the pandemic in the US and Europe, it was unthinkable that television crews would barge into emergency rooms to show how overwhelmed the doctors and nurses were. Yet such scenes have been broadcast internationally from inside Indian hospitals, with little concern for how the intrusion could affect life-ordeath decisions. Television journalists have also swarmed Indian families who lost loved ones, turning their private grief into a public spectacle for Western consumption. When covering grief in their own countries, the same media organizations are far more careful. For example, coverage

of mass graves being dug to accommodate New York City’s early surge of COVID-19 fatalities featured sanitized images of misty tree-lined fields. By contrast, India’s pandemic experience will be remembered for the haunting images of bodies burning on pyres – images that the Western media beamed around the world. The funerary fire is a classic trope in Western novels, travelogues, and paintings about India. By directing their cameras to the burning pyres, Western media outlets are satisfying their audience’s morbid fascination with the Hindu tradition of cremating the dead (even though this environmentally friendly practice is increasingly catching on in the West). Utterly ignored in this coverage is the fact that showing ghastly images of burning pyres is a grotesque and deeply disrespectful invasion of what is a very private affair in India. This is hardly the first time Western media outlets have been insensitive in covering disasters abroad. In the coverage of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, the victims were treated as a secondary issue to the more lurid story of radiation leaks. Western reporting was also rife with cultural and racial stereotypes: the workers who stayed behind to deal with the accident-hit nuclear reactors were dubbed “nuclear samurai,” “human sacrifices,” and “nuclear ninjas on a suicide mission.” In reality, no radiation casualties occurred at Fukushima, owing to the preventive evacuation of the area’s 100,000 residents. But that didn’t stop Western media

outlets from feeding the hysteria with false and inflammatory comparisons to Chernobyl. As a result of this sensational coverage, cargo ships started avoiding Japanese ports – even those far from Fukushima – and several countries evacuated their citizens from Tokyo and elsewhere. Western media bring a similar approach to Africa, portraying it as a continent of heathen hordes, unending disasters, and very few happy, smiling faces. The 2014-16 Ebola epidemic that swept across Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone ultimately killed 11,325 people, meaning that the death toll over two years was roughly the same as the two-day COVID-19 death toll in the US just three months ago. Nonetheless, the Western media’s coverage of the Ebola story was all about body bags, traditional mourning practices, and West African burial rituals. The 2015 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography was awarded to a freelance photojournalist who had followed body collectors and documented West Africans’ suffering, death, and despair for The New York Times. Meanwhile, coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic – the greatest global health calamity of our time – did not feature in any of the 2020 Pulitzer Prizes or nominations. And when the 2021 prizes are announced in June, it would come as quite a surprise if any were to be awarded to journalists who documented the deaths from the pandemic in the West. The Western media’s unvarnished coverage of suffering, grief, desperation,

and ineptitude is much more likely to come from distant lands. While images of dead American soldiers are rarely published, photographs of dead Afghans, Iraqis, and others are all too common. True, Western media should not be regarded as monolithic – indeed, Anglo-American outlets dominate. Nor are Western media averse to offering sensational coverage of bad news when it happens at home. But the overall pattern is clear: Western media coverage of tragedies elsewhere tends to traffic in cultural stereotypes and violations of privacy and dignity that would not be accepted at home. This double standard has important implications. International perceptions are shaped by how the dominant Western media organizations present the news. As the Ebola epidemic showed, sensational images and stories make us think that a dreadful tragedy is even worse or more widespread than it actually is. The Ebola cases and deaths were almost all confined to three West African countries, yet the virus became associated with Africa as a whole. A journalist’s duty is to inform, not to exploit human suffering with intrusive, voyeuristic, ratings-driven coverage of tragedies in faraway lands. Good journalism rises above clichéd coverage and reliance on shock value. With the coronavirus rapidly mutating and spawning dangerous new strains, we urgently need more responsible, sensitive reporting of these issues.

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021

Markets

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021

CONTINUED ON PAGE 1820 CONTINUED ON PAGE CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

CONTINUED ON PAGE 20 CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

FRIDAY MAY 7, 2021