Government announces principal amounts for new bonds Senegalese President Macky Sall changes narratives on development priorities for Africa

By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh

As Rotating Chairman of the African Union and the President of Senegal, Macky Sall, has excelled in speaking up on many development priorities for Africa. His complete understanding began during his childhood as he grew up in a family of politicians and ultimately continues pursuing political career.

Without doubts, he made “The Path of Real Development” political slogan during his campaign for presidency. He campaigned across the country, without cutting o ties with the “23 Juin” (M23) opposition movement, rather telling them the importance of achieving development through unity. President Sall was awarded the 2020 Sunhak Peace Prize for successfully shortening the presidential term from seven to ve years and reviving the economy through transparent policies.

Dr. Emmanuel Owusu-Sekyere joins ACET as Director of Research

Acting Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Antonio Pedro, has urged African nations to accelerate implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in order to become more resilient and globally competitive.

Since his appointment as Chairman of the African Union, Macky Sall has a wider platform to drum home “unity in diversity” across the Africa and beyond. On international platforms, he fearlessly tells the African story including the key priorities, the challenges and the future. His message for African leaders is “with one collective voice” rally for the continent’s sustainable development, sharpen external partners’ un- derstanding Africa’s priorities and also its role in the emerging multipolar world.

As African Union Chairman, Macky Sall was invited to the United Nations General Assembly last September. During his address to the gathering, Macky Sall was not shy about speaking up for Africa. The gist of his message? There is absolutely no excuse for failing to ensure consistent African rep-

By Eugene Davies

The chairman of Environment, Science and Technology Committee, Dr. Emmanuel Marfo has stated that the country is developing its climate prosperity plans (CPP) aimed at emboldening growth despite an increasingly climate insecure world.

He also disclosed that the CPPs are a roadmap to attract foreign investment in Ghana’s economy to boost economic growth and employment, while also accelerating climate adaptation and bringing down the country’s greenhouse gas emissions as it transitions towards net negative emissions.

According to Dr.Marfo, the plans are expected to be ready by next year, sometime in May, which will ensure faster economic recovery and achieve net-negative carbon emissions.

The Climate Prosperity Plans Pro-

GRA’s petroleum downstream unit, SML Ghana collaboration helping GRA in revenue assurance

“Only through an accelerated and effective implementation of the AfCFTA can Africa build su cient shock absorbers to build resilience,” said Mr Pedro in his remarks at the 42nd Ordinary Session of the African Union Executive Council meeting in Addis Ababa on February 15, 2023.

The Global Chamber of Business Leaders (GCBL) is proud to announce that Hazel Herrington has been awarded the presti- gious Chairman's Award in recognition of her exceptional contributions to the world of business and leadership. 4

The collaboration between the downstream petroleum unit of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Customs Division and Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML), a revenue and assurance audit rm, is helping the GRA meet and exceed its annual targets. This came to light when SML Ghana recently held a stakeholder engagement with the leadership of the downstream petroleum unit of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Customs Division in Tema to discuss new initiatives and solicit opinions on how both sides can improve the successes chalked and further improve the country’s revenues. This meeting forms part of regular stakeholder engagements. The GRA, last year, mobilised GH¢75.5 billion domestic revenue, which is GH¢3.60 billion more than it was tasked to collect. The collection was a ve percent increase over last year’s target of GH¢71.94 billion. The feat also meant the domestic revenue the GRA mobilised was 31.5 percent more than what was collected in 2021. The Customs Division, which includes the petroleum downstream sector, collected GH¢22.26 billion, as against a target of GH¢20.20 billion, also exceeding the target by GH¢2.06 billion.

The stakeholder engagement brought together the various Customs heads in charge of downstream petroleum depots across the country's 16 regions. SML Ghana took the Customs o cials through the latest technologies such as scanning of way