By Isabella Gyau Orhin
Ghanaians pay more for water than their United States and United Kingdom counterparts, according to the 2006 Human Development Report launched in Accra on Tuesday.
The report says while Ghanaians in the capital city, Accra, pay US $3.20 for a cubic metre or 1000 litres of water, their counterparts in New York, USA pay US$ 0.70 per cubic metre of water with residents of London in the UK paying about US$ 1.80 per cubic metre of water.
“Across the world, the poor are forced to pay much more than their affluent neighbors,” says a summary of the report.
Further analysis show that Ghanaians pay approximately US$0.003 US per litre which is about 29 cedis which adds up to 600 cedis for a bucket of water which is 21 litres.
This is against that of the US residents who pay 0.70 per 1000 litres or cubic metre. This means that for one litre US residents pay US$ 0.0007 which works up to approximately six cedis per litre or 126 cedis per bucket of 21 litres.
The UK also pay about US$ 0.002 per litre which is about approximately 18 cedis per litre or 378 cedis per bucket of 21 litres.
The report has therefore called on governments and world leaders to put water at the centre of poverty reduction strategies and budget planning.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) number seven is to ensure environmental sustainability with emphasis on water and sanitation.
However, the report says if the current trend continues, poor countries will miss the MDG 7, of halving the number of people without access to water by 235 million people.
Also 800 million people in total will still lack access to potable water while the sanitation target will be missed by 431 million people with 2.1 billion people still without decent sanitation.
According to the report, a bold coherent national water plan grounded in strategies for reducing poverty and extreme inequality backed by predictable finance is a first step in the right direction. It also said a new, more strategic approach that puts the poor at the centre of the solution is essential to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The report dubbed Beyond Scarcity: Power and Politics and the Global Water Crisis further says that people living in the slums of Nairobi in Kenya pay five times more than the rich living in the same city, while the poor households in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Jamaica spend an average of over 10 percent of their income on water.
The report said even in the United Kingdom spending more than three percent of family income on water is considered an economic hardship.
The biggest financing gaps are in rural areas and in informal urban settlements, the report said adding, closing those gaps require increased financing and a reorientation of public spending to rural communities through the provision of wells and boreholes and to urban slum areas through the provision of standpipes.
The report points out that the long standing “Public versus Private” debate on water will not bring prices down. Recent debates on water delivery policy in developing countries have been dominated by a polarizing discussion on privatization as against public ownership.
However, the authors of the report argue that this is a wrong choice since it diverts attention from the ultimate aim of finding a lasting solution of getting potable water to the poor in society.
“The debate over the relative merits of public- private sector performance has been a distraction from the inadequate performance of both public and private water providers in overcoming the global water deficit, the report said.
The report argues strongly that lifeline tariffs would allow poor households to access a minimum amount of water for very low prices or no charge.
Presenting the key findings of the report at the launch in Accra, the Chief Executive Officer of Wastecare Associate, an advocacy organization, Mr. Lukman Y. Salif said there is the need for Ghana to place water and sanitation at the centre of the development agenda.
Ghana aims to achieve 85percent coverage for both water supply and sanitation by 2015, which is a higher coverage ratio than what is recommended by the MDGs which is 73 percent. To reach the 85 percent target, Ghana will need a capacity increase of 4.8 times for water supply and five times for sanitation.
The total cost involved according to Mr. Salif is estimated at 1.5 billion dollars with an annual estimate of 68 million dollars for the rural and small towns and 81 million for urban water supply.
In total, 12 million and 15 million more people will need to be provided with potable water and improved sanitation respectively, leaving an unserved population of 4.1 million and 4.8 million for waste and sanitation respectively.
Mr. Salif called for the allocation of one percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for water and sanitation through public spending. He also said if Ghanaians are able to send piped water to various homes, it will reduce diarrheoal disease by 70percent, while homes with flash toilets can reduce diarrheoa by 50 percent.
Such acts will also reduce the burden on the National health Insurance Scheme and free resources for the development of critical areas of the economy.
“In short improvement in water and sanitation means the lives of the poor will improve, since they will spend less on health,” Mr. Salif said.
The Minister for Works and Housing Hackman Owusu Agyeman said in spite of the obstacles; the water sector will meet the MDG target by 2015.
He said sanitation which is a bigger challenge is being tackled by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), adding that plans are advanced to build a treatment plant at Kpone and Weija to improve water supply in Accra.
He said unlike in the past when water was drawn from the rural areas without supplying the surrounding villages, the various water projects going on in places like Cape Coast, Koforidua, Assin among others are all taking supplying the towns and villages along the route of the pipes
Sometimes urban poverty can be more stressful than rural poverty and it comes with the stress of not having water and sanitation,” he said.
The Country Director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Mr. Dauoda Toure said without water, life becomes more endangered and precarious.
He said at least every person should get 20 litres of water per day in all parts of the world.
The report further said almost two million children die each year for want of a glass of clean water and adequate sanitation. Millions of women and young girls are forced to spend hours collecting and carrying water, restricting their opportunities and their choices. And water-borne infectious diseases are holding back poverty reduction and economic growth in some of the world’s poorest countries.
Beyond the household, competition for water as a productive resource is intensifying. Symptoms of that competition include the collapse of water-based ecological systems, declining river flows and large-scale groundwater depletion. Conflicts over water are intensifying within countries, with the rural poor losing out. The potential for tensions between countries is also growing, though there are large potential human development gains from increased cooperation.
The Human Development Report continues to frame debates on some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity.
Dauoda Toure said the Human Development Report 2006 investigates the underlying causes and consequences of a crisis that leaves 1.2 billion people without access to safe water and 2.6 billion without access to sanitationThe report also argues for a concerted drive to achieve water and sanitation for all through national strategies and a global plan of action.it also examines the social and economic forces that are driving water shortages and marginalizing the poor in agriculture while looking at the scope for international cooperation to resolve cross-border tensions in water management
The HDR is prepared annually and is launched in over 100 countries world wide This years report Mr.Toure said include special contributions from Gordon Brown and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, President Lula Da Silva of Brazil , Former US President Jimmy Carter, and the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Ghana is not interested in IMF Money anymore
By Isabella Gyau Orhin
Ghana will no longer need financial support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning Mr. Kwadwo Baah Wiredu announced this last Thursday when he presented the 2007 budget to Parliament.
Our disciplined management of the economy and the use of IMF resources have resulted in unprecedented economic stability and economic performance that has positioned the country for accelerated growth, Baah-Wiredu told the House.
He explained that the latest Poverty Reduction Growth Facility (PGRF) expired on October 31, 2006. “We are happy to announce today that with the completion of the latest arrangement on October 31, 2006, Government has decided to exit the PRGF and the use of the Funds financial resources while continuing to pursue our development agenda in line with our aspirations,” the Minister said.
Government he said will now enter the international capital markets by 2007 taking advantage of stable macroeconomic conditions as well as the confidence of the markets in the economy which is reflected in the B+ sovereign rating.
In addition, government will seek more funding by requesting access to the non-concessionary loan window of the World Bank and African Development Bank.
“Government sees this as a major turning point in the economic history of Ghana and will be approaching it with all the necessary precautions,” he said.
The Minister further promised that the size of borrowing will be well within the debt sustainability of Ghana.
Ghana he said has had a long and fruitful relationship with the IMF which has supported economic programmes of Ghana with annual disbursements in 20 of the last 23 years.
In spite of the announcement, Baah-Wiredu said Ghana will continue to meet its Fund obligation as an active member adding that Ghana will also take advantage of the Fund’s Policy Support Instrument.
This he said will enable the country to seek ongoing IMF advice and endorsement of economic policies in order to provide positive signals to the nation’s development partners as well as the global economy.
“While reliance on donor-provided grants and concessional loans has served well, there is, however, the need to expand the scope and structure of financing if government is to meet its goal o f scaling up investments for accelerated growth from the current six percent to eight percent annually.
In this regard, the Minister said the government will establish a high powered project evaluation unit to access and monitor projects benefiting from these resources to ensure that they can be justified in terms of economic returns.
On policy initiatives towards economic independence, the Minister said the government has built a strong political, social and economic foundation from which it is now ready to launch a new and intensified thrust for accelerated growth.
“As we shift to a new development paradigm, numerous challenges will confront us,” the Minster said adding, “This year’s policy initiatives are geared towards confronting these challenges.”
Some of the initiatives include promotion of home ownership, diversification of sources of funding, enhancement of revenue, tax relief and incentives as well as improvement in the business environment.
Elaborating on the progress Ghana has made in the business environment, the Minister said Ghana’s ranking in the 2007 World Bank Doing Business Report was 94th compared to last year’s rank of 102nd.
Again Ghana was rated among the top 10 reformers on the ease of doing business despite the fact that some of the scores reflected the misinterpretation of local requirements.
For instance he said the report adds the procurement of a corporate seal and environmental permit as requirements for starting Business in Ghana which in reality is not true.
The Minister explained that only environmental permits are required for a limited list of businesses and not corporate seals.
Mr. Baah-Wiredu moreover said government is developing national index that tracks the costs of doing business in the country while improving the process of reform itself by opening up the process of design and implementation to more stakeholders in order to obtain useful inputs and to build consensus and ownership.
Furthermore, the Minister said government is strengthening the implementation of the Financial Administration Act of 2003, the Public Procurement Act 2003 and the Internal Audit Act also of 2003, to further ensure transparency and reduction of corruption in the delivery of government services.
Ghana’s decision to wean itself from IMF financial support is a step in the right direction for some third world civil society activists.
This is because the IMF came under heavy criticism in the last Social Watch report which was launched in Singapore in September during the World Bank and IMF annual spring meetings.
Commenting on the activities, especially governance of the Fund and the Bank and on aid in general, the report said only a fraction of aid money actually goes to help the poor in developing countries. This is because administrative costs, technical assistance, accounting for debt relief and tying aid to purchases in donor countries are some of the reasons why about 60 percent of aid money is not available as money that can be spent on real and urgent development needs.
The report also said since 1991, net transfers and net disbursements from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) of the World Bank have been negative.
According to the report, “The financial viability of the IMF has come to depend on the financial instability and crisis in emerging markets.”
Since there are no crises to solve, the IMF is finding it difficult to maintain itself and pay its staff.
“All major emerging market economies, except turkey have now paid off what they owed and exited from IMF Supervision leaving only the poor countries as its sole regular clientele,” said the Social Watch Report which is prepared annually by a coalition of international NGOs.
The IMF lends from its PGRF a very small proportion of the financing made available to developing countries.
At the end of 2004, outstanding PGRF credits were less than 9,900 billion US dollars or 10 percent of outstanding total IMF credits.
In 2005, total PRGF lending approved was less than 500 million US dollars.
The International Monetary Fund was created in 1945 to promote the health of the world economy. Headquartered in Washington DC, it is governed by and accountable to the governments of the 184 countries that make up its near-global membership.
It was conceived at a United Nations conference convened in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, U.S. in July 1944. The 45 governments represented at that conference sought to build a framework for economic cooperation that would avoid a repetition of the disastrous economic policies that had contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Ghana will no longer need financial support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning Mr. Kwadwo Baah Wiredu announced this last Thursday when he presented the 2007 budget to Parliament.
Our disciplined management of the economy and the use of IMF resources have resulted in unprecedented economic stability and economic performance that has positioned the country for accelerated growth, Baah-Wiredu told the House.
He explained that the latest Poverty Reduction Growth Facility (PGRF) expired on October 31, 2006. “We are happy to announce today that with the completion of the latest arrangement on October 31, 2006, Government has decided to exit the PRGF and the use of the Funds financial resources while continuing to pursue our development agenda in line with our aspirations,” the Minister said.
Government he said will now enter the international capital markets by 2007 taking advantage of stable macroeconomic conditions as well as the confidence of the markets in the economy which is reflected in the B+ sovereign rating.
In addition, government will seek more funding by requesting access to the non-concessionary loan window of the World Bank and African Development Bank.
“Government sees this as a major turning point in the economic history of Ghana and will be approaching it with all the necessary precautions,” he said.
The Minister further promised that the size of borrowing will be well within the debt sustainability of Ghana.
Ghana he said has had a long and fruitful relationship with the IMF which has supported economic programmes of Ghana with annual disbursements in 20 of the last 23 years.
In spite of the announcement, Baah-Wiredu said Ghana will continue to meet its Fund obligation as an active member adding that Ghana will also take advantage of the Fund’s Policy Support Instrument.
This he said will enable the country to seek ongoing IMF advice and endorsement of economic policies in order to provide positive signals to the nation’s development partners as well as the global economy.
“While reliance on donor-provided grants and concessional loans has served well, there is, however, the need to expand the scope and structure of financing if government is to meet its goal o f scaling up investments for accelerated growth from the current six percent to eight percent annually.
In this regard, the Minister said the government will establish a high powered project evaluation unit to access and monitor projects benefiting from these resources to ensure that they can be justified in terms of economic returns.
On policy initiatives towards economic independence, the Minister said the government has built a strong political, social and economic foundation from which it is now ready to launch a new and intensified thrust for accelerated growth.
“As we shift to a new development paradigm, numerous challenges will confront us,” the Minster said adding, “This year’s policy initiatives are geared towards confronting these challenges.”
Some of the initiatives include promotion of home ownership, diversification of sources of funding, enhancement of revenue, tax relief and incentives as well as improvement in the business environment.
Elaborating on the progress Ghana has made in the business environment, the Minister said Ghana’s ranking in the 2007 World Bank Doing Business Report was 94th compared to last year’s rank of 102nd.
Again Ghana was rated among the top 10 reformers on the ease of doing business despite the fact that some of the scores reflected the misinterpretation of local requirements.
For instance he said the report adds the procurement of a corporate seal and environmental permit as requirements for starting Business in Ghana which in reality is not true.
The Minister explained that only environmental permits are required for a limited list of businesses and not corporate seals.
Mr. Baah-Wiredu moreover said government is developing national index that tracks the costs of doing business in the country while improving the process of reform itself by opening up the process of design and implementation to more stakeholders in order to obtain useful inputs and to build consensus and ownership.
Furthermore, the Minister said government is strengthening the implementation of the Financial Administration Act of 2003, the Public Procurement Act 2003 and the Internal Audit Act also of 2003, to further ensure transparency and reduction of corruption in the delivery of government services.
Ghana’s decision to wean itself from IMF financial support is a step in the right direction for some third world civil society activists.
This is because the IMF came under heavy criticism in the last Social Watch report which was launched in Singapore in September during the World Bank and IMF annual spring meetings.
Commenting on the activities, especially governance of the Fund and the Bank and on aid in general, the report said only a fraction of aid money actually goes to help the poor in developing countries. This is because administrative costs, technical assistance, accounting for debt relief and tying aid to purchases in donor countries are some of the reasons why about 60 percent of aid money is not available as money that can be spent on real and urgent development needs.
The report also said since 1991, net transfers and net disbursements from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) of the World Bank have been negative.
According to the report, “The financial viability of the IMF has come to depend on the financial instability and crisis in emerging markets.”
Since there are no crises to solve, the IMF is finding it difficult to maintain itself and pay its staff.
“All major emerging market economies, except turkey have now paid off what they owed and exited from IMF Supervision leaving only the poor countries as its sole regular clientele,” said the Social Watch Report which is prepared annually by a coalition of international NGOs.
The IMF lends from its PGRF a very small proportion of the financing made available to developing countries.
At the end of 2004, outstanding PGRF credits were less than 9,900 billion US dollars or 10 percent of outstanding total IMF credits.
In 2005, total PRGF lending approved was less than 500 million US dollars.
The International Monetary Fund was created in 1945 to promote the health of the world economy. Headquartered in Washington DC, it is governed by and accountable to the governments of the 184 countries that make up its near-global membership.
It was conceived at a United Nations conference convened in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, U.S. in July 1944. The 45 governments represented at that conference sought to build a framework for economic cooperation that would avoid a repetition of the disastrous economic policies that had contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Africa too is at risk of WMD
By Isabella Gyau Orhin
The United Nations Under Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Mr. Nobuaki Tanaka has said that no country however small or remote can consider itself totally immune from the threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) or from having its territory exploited by terrorists.
He said although some have said that WMD is not a problem in Africa but small arms,
there lies the real risk of proliferation of WMD even in the African continent.
Speaking at the opening of a two day workshop on “Implementing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 in Africa which is on Disarmament in Accra last Thursday, Mr. Tanaka said while the UN will do its utmost to help Africa overcome the problem of small and light arms, it is also vital for countries to meet the requirements set out in the UNSC 1540 consisting of putting in place national legal and regulatory measures and commitment to international cooperation on non-proliferation.
He said the meeting was significant in that it was designed specifically to increase awareness about obligations and requirements of the UNSC resolution 1540 and to assist the member states in implementing the resolution at the national and regional level.
“As a region, the African continent has thus far experienced more challenges than other regions with the implementation of resolution 1540,” he said adding, “For instance with regard to reporting the total number of first reports received globally by the 1540 Committee, to date 132 with 85 having submitted additional information.”
He said so far 18 African states have submitted reports with only six submitting additional information.
“It is clear that some of the first steps in implementation of there solution are already difficult for some states and those other aspects of implementation will also present similar challenges.
He said states lacking the necessary legal and regulatory infrastructure, implementation experience or resources may require assistance in implementing the provisions of resolution 1540.
“For that reason, states in a position to do so are strongly encouraged to offer assistance in response to specific requests.
The Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr. Akwasi Osei Adjei on his part said the government of Ghana supports all international efforts at promoting a more peaceful and safer world.
“The Workshop takes place at a period of grave uncertainties,” he said adding, “The most urgent concerns of terrorism and the proliferation of WMD constitute the pre-eminent threat to global collective security,” he said.
He explained that recurring acts of terrorism continue to pose a security challenge to humanity as terrorist groups choose their targets without discrimination, evolve their modes of operation and devise more complex ways to carry out their heinous acts with even deadlier consequences.
He said it is against this background that the Security Councils adoption of resolution 1540 in 2004 and 1673 of 2006 has been widely hailed as landmark decisions.
“These resolutions demonstrate the determination of the Un to pursue comprehensive efforts to address the nexus between WMDs and terrorism and close the gap in international law regarding non-state actors and WMDs.”
The Security Council Resolution 1540 affirms that proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons as well as their means of delivery constitutes a threat to international peace and security.
It also affirms to take appropriate and effective action against any threat to international peace and security caused by the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and their means of delivery in conformity with its primary responsibilities as provided for in the United nations Charter.
The resolution also affirms its support for the multilateral treaties whose aim is to eliminate or prevent the proliferation of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and the importance for all states parties to these treaties to implement them fully in order to promote international stability.
The resolution further said it recognizes that most states have undertaken binding legal obligations under treaties to which they are parties or have made other commitments aimed at preventing the proliferation of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and have taken effective measures to account for, secure and physically protect sensitive materials.
Also acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the resolution decides hat all states shall refrain from providing any form o support to non-state actors that attempt to develop, acquire, manufacture, possess, transport, transfer or use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
The United Nations Under Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Mr. Nobuaki Tanaka has said that no country however small or remote can consider itself totally immune from the threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) or from having its territory exploited by terrorists.
He said although some have said that WMD is not a problem in Africa but small arms,
there lies the real risk of proliferation of WMD even in the African continent.
Speaking at the opening of a two day workshop on “Implementing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 in Africa which is on Disarmament in Accra last Thursday, Mr. Tanaka said while the UN will do its utmost to help Africa overcome the problem of small and light arms, it is also vital for countries to meet the requirements set out in the UNSC 1540 consisting of putting in place national legal and regulatory measures and commitment to international cooperation on non-proliferation.
He said the meeting was significant in that it was designed specifically to increase awareness about obligations and requirements of the UNSC resolution 1540 and to assist the member states in implementing the resolution at the national and regional level.
“As a region, the African continent has thus far experienced more challenges than other regions with the implementation of resolution 1540,” he said adding, “For instance with regard to reporting the total number of first reports received globally by the 1540 Committee, to date 132 with 85 having submitted additional information.”
He said so far 18 African states have submitted reports with only six submitting additional information.
“It is clear that some of the first steps in implementation of there solution are already difficult for some states and those other aspects of implementation will also present similar challenges.
He said states lacking the necessary legal and regulatory infrastructure, implementation experience or resources may require assistance in implementing the provisions of resolution 1540.
“For that reason, states in a position to do so are strongly encouraged to offer assistance in response to specific requests.
The Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr. Akwasi Osei Adjei on his part said the government of Ghana supports all international efforts at promoting a more peaceful and safer world.
“The Workshop takes place at a period of grave uncertainties,” he said adding, “The most urgent concerns of terrorism and the proliferation of WMD constitute the pre-eminent threat to global collective security,” he said.
He explained that recurring acts of terrorism continue to pose a security challenge to humanity as terrorist groups choose their targets without discrimination, evolve their modes of operation and devise more complex ways to carry out their heinous acts with even deadlier consequences.
He said it is against this background that the Security Councils adoption of resolution 1540 in 2004 and 1673 of 2006 has been widely hailed as landmark decisions.
“These resolutions demonstrate the determination of the Un to pursue comprehensive efforts to address the nexus between WMDs and terrorism and close the gap in international law regarding non-state actors and WMDs.”
The Security Council Resolution 1540 affirms that proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons as well as their means of delivery constitutes a threat to international peace and security.
It also affirms to take appropriate and effective action against any threat to international peace and security caused by the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and their means of delivery in conformity with its primary responsibilities as provided for in the United nations Charter.
The resolution also affirms its support for the multilateral treaties whose aim is to eliminate or prevent the proliferation of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and the importance for all states parties to these treaties to implement them fully in order to promote international stability.
The resolution further said it recognizes that most states have undertaken binding legal obligations under treaties to which they are parties or have made other commitments aimed at preventing the proliferation of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and have taken effective measures to account for, secure and physically protect sensitive materials.
Also acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the resolution decides hat all states shall refrain from providing any form o support to non-state actors that attempt to develop, acquire, manufacture, possess, transport, transfer or use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
Hole In Heart Patients:Finding help for a Desperate Mother
By Isabella Gyau Orhin
It was the Editor Mr. Amos Safo who introduced her to me around midday. The Mother of one of the children suffering from a heart defect. She looked worried and anxious, sweating with her blown off by the wind. It was obvious she had been walking briskly towards our office; probably from the roadside where a taxi might have dropped her. She had come to see if the publication we carried about his son and others asking for people to donate has yielded the money required for the operation.
That was not the first time I had seen that woman come to our office. The first time I saw her climb the staircase to the Editor’s Office, She was accompanied by another lady believed to be her sister, a friend or probably a confidant. Where are they going in such haste? I asked my self
Her son is eight year old Samuel Mantey who looks younger than his age as a result of the defect.
In case you are not aware of this issue, let me give you an update.
The 27th October 2006 edition of the public Agenda, reported that an eight year old boy who is suffering from ‘hole-in-heart’, popularly called Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) has just two months to live, unless he undergoes an operation to correct the defect. The National Cardiothoracic Center also diagnosed the boy with ‘mitral valve incompetence’, which is affecting his health and in order for him to be well, he needs an open-heart operation to correct these birth defects, says a letter from the center.
The boy’s mother Vida Ofori is therefore appealing to philanthropists to help her raise the amount for the operation in order to save her son. According to the Cardio Center the cost of the surgery is 7,000 Euros. The Ghana Heart Foundation will assist by picking up 50 percent of the cost ( E3,500), leaving the boy’s family with the remaining E3,500. ‘My family and I are financially handicapped to foot this bill”, Vida said in her petition to the public. Also in need of public support for hole-in-heart operations are three and half year old Grace Tetteh and three-year-old Samuel Danquah
“How is he now?” I mustered courage to ask after shaking hands with her.
Hmm, she replied, He is okay, just that he cannot urinate.
Why don’t you take her back to the hospital,” I quickly added,
I did and they gave him some medicine but even with that he has to ‘push’ for a long time before he is able to urinate a little.
The doctor says the operation must be carried out latest by December else ………Hmmm.
Mr. Safo encouraged her to take heart, not necessarily assuring her that all the money will all be collected within the stipulated time.
“We are doing our best,” he reassured her. I sensed she wanted to hear something more positive than what the editor offered. Well, not much has been collected so she left.
I saw her again the next day, My Editor was handing over to her some copies of the publication.
I could see the desperation in the face of the editor; it has become his problem too.
“I wish we had money to solve this problem,” he confided in me when I went to his office to drop a filename for a story. He has therefore asked all Public Agenda staff to contribute some amount to this cause.
A philanthropist who wants to remain anonymous dropped a cheque for 500, 000 cedis at Citi FM for the boy and the Ark Foundation has also responded.
Probably as a father, the Editor feels the pinch and I feel it too.
I love being a parent but I cannot stand to see my children fall sick; that aspect of parenting I hate to the core.
My mother has often advised, “You need to be courageous if you want to be a parent.”
But let us pause and ask how much courage does one need to take care of a heart patient?
Last July, while accompanying a group of European Journalists who toured the country on a World Bank sponsored project we visited the Cardiothoracic Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital where this little boy and others are receiving treatment.
Two young beautiful girls touched my heart. A beautiful dark plump girl, about eight years old was lying on her bed with a worried grandmother beside her.
She looked alright, except that her breathing was difficult as her chest heaped up and down. Adjacent to her bed was another beautiful girl, slightly fair and slim, about five or six years old.
The Nursing sister taking us round the wards said her money had been realized and her surgery would take place soon.
There were others whose surgery had delayed not because of money but religious reasons, they do not want blood transfusion which is a requirement for their surgery.
One Pretty lady about 30 years old had insisted she would rather die than take blood transfusion.
Dr. Lawrence Siriboe, a leading surgeon at the centre briefed us about the state of affairs at the clinic, the new equipments that is able to diagnose all heart problems and the movement from a small place to the centre. Our European guests were impressed with the efforts of Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng.
The fact that he left the comforts of Europe and all it offers, to come home and help establish a heart centre.
They also felt the pain the doctors have to go through on daily basis, seeing the suffering of patients and not being able to do much about the monies. The frequency of visits of patients to the centre has turned the place into a home for all their patients.
They come there any time and any day, whether in pain or not.
Some young ladies who received treatment at the centre have given birth some even twins and pay regular visits to the centre, to visit the nurses and also ask for financial assistance if need be.
The Policy at the Centre is that patients who need to under go heart surgery will have to raise half of the cost of the operation while the rest is taken from the Ghana Heart Foundation set up some years back.
According to Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, if every Ghanaian contributes a little money to the fund, there will be no need for parents to raise part of the money as happens elsewhere in the world.
“It appears a lot of Ghanaians have their priorities wrong. Large sums of monies are churned out to support so called beauty pageants, model contests for both male and female and countless fashion shows,” a colleague in the office complained.
Of course, he is right, it appears, appeals for funds for such problems do not attract the attention at all the motor companies and the beauty shops that support these shows.
Well our friends from Europe did not leave without donating money to the heart foundation.
One man from Holland I saw inserted some cash into the donation Box and others followed suit, at least, they have done their part
What about us?
In June 2005, the Director of the Ghana Health Service Professor, Agyeman Badu Akosa made it clear that heart surgeries, removal of huge tumours and some brain surgeries and other special cases that require huge expenditures are not covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme. “Health care is expensive and we cannot load everything on health Insurance, he said.He explained that it is important for the entire country to support a national health Foundation on the lines of the Ghana heart foundation which would be used to treat such cases.Speaking on a radio interview with Kwaku Sakyi-Addo in Accra, Dr. Akosa also said there are several ways of raising monies to treat such cases.He said import duties on tobacco could be raised; taxes could be put on alcoholic beverages as well as an environmental sanitation levy.According to him, some churches should also make monthly contributions out of their huge earnings towards health care in the country.“Churches make huge monies and that would be their social obligation to their flock,” he said. Adding, “If People pay a tenth of their earnings in tithes; there is nothing wrong if the church pays a tenth of its earnings to the provision of health service in the country.“Throughout the world that is what is practiced, there are various foundations which support various diseases and it is about time we picked it up,” Prof. Akosah said.
It was the Editor Mr. Amos Safo who introduced her to me around midday. The Mother of one of the children suffering from a heart defect. She looked worried and anxious, sweating with her blown off by the wind. It was obvious she had been walking briskly towards our office; probably from the roadside where a taxi might have dropped her. She had come to see if the publication we carried about his son and others asking for people to donate has yielded the money required for the operation.
That was not the first time I had seen that woman come to our office. The first time I saw her climb the staircase to the Editor’s Office, She was accompanied by another lady believed to be her sister, a friend or probably a confidant. Where are they going in such haste? I asked my self
Her son is eight year old Samuel Mantey who looks younger than his age as a result of the defect.
In case you are not aware of this issue, let me give you an update.
The 27th October 2006 edition of the public Agenda, reported that an eight year old boy who is suffering from ‘hole-in-heart’, popularly called Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) has just two months to live, unless he undergoes an operation to correct the defect. The National Cardiothoracic Center also diagnosed the boy with ‘mitral valve incompetence’, which is affecting his health and in order for him to be well, he needs an open-heart operation to correct these birth defects, says a letter from the center.
The boy’s mother Vida Ofori is therefore appealing to philanthropists to help her raise the amount for the operation in order to save her son. According to the Cardio Center the cost of the surgery is 7,000 Euros. The Ghana Heart Foundation will assist by picking up 50 percent of the cost ( E3,500), leaving the boy’s family with the remaining E3,500. ‘My family and I are financially handicapped to foot this bill”, Vida said in her petition to the public. Also in need of public support for hole-in-heart operations are three and half year old Grace Tetteh and three-year-old Samuel Danquah
“How is he now?” I mustered courage to ask after shaking hands with her.
Hmm, she replied, He is okay, just that he cannot urinate.
Why don’t you take her back to the hospital,” I quickly added,
I did and they gave him some medicine but even with that he has to ‘push’ for a long time before he is able to urinate a little.
The doctor says the operation must be carried out latest by December else ………Hmmm.
Mr. Safo encouraged her to take heart, not necessarily assuring her that all the money will all be collected within the stipulated time.
“We are doing our best,” he reassured her. I sensed she wanted to hear something more positive than what the editor offered. Well, not much has been collected so she left.
I saw her again the next day, My Editor was handing over to her some copies of the publication.
I could see the desperation in the face of the editor; it has become his problem too.
“I wish we had money to solve this problem,” he confided in me when I went to his office to drop a filename for a story. He has therefore asked all Public Agenda staff to contribute some amount to this cause.
A philanthropist who wants to remain anonymous dropped a cheque for 500, 000 cedis at Citi FM for the boy and the Ark Foundation has also responded.
Probably as a father, the Editor feels the pinch and I feel it too.
I love being a parent but I cannot stand to see my children fall sick; that aspect of parenting I hate to the core.
My mother has often advised, “You need to be courageous if you want to be a parent.”
But let us pause and ask how much courage does one need to take care of a heart patient?
Last July, while accompanying a group of European Journalists who toured the country on a World Bank sponsored project we visited the Cardiothoracic Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital where this little boy and others are receiving treatment.
Two young beautiful girls touched my heart. A beautiful dark plump girl, about eight years old was lying on her bed with a worried grandmother beside her.
She looked alright, except that her breathing was difficult as her chest heaped up and down. Adjacent to her bed was another beautiful girl, slightly fair and slim, about five or six years old.
The Nursing sister taking us round the wards said her money had been realized and her surgery would take place soon.
There were others whose surgery had delayed not because of money but religious reasons, they do not want blood transfusion which is a requirement for their surgery.
One Pretty lady about 30 years old had insisted she would rather die than take blood transfusion.
Dr. Lawrence Siriboe, a leading surgeon at the centre briefed us about the state of affairs at the clinic, the new equipments that is able to diagnose all heart problems and the movement from a small place to the centre. Our European guests were impressed with the efforts of Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng.
The fact that he left the comforts of Europe and all it offers, to come home and help establish a heart centre.
They also felt the pain the doctors have to go through on daily basis, seeing the suffering of patients and not being able to do much about the monies. The frequency of visits of patients to the centre has turned the place into a home for all their patients.
They come there any time and any day, whether in pain or not.
Some young ladies who received treatment at the centre have given birth some even twins and pay regular visits to the centre, to visit the nurses and also ask for financial assistance if need be.
The Policy at the Centre is that patients who need to under go heart surgery will have to raise half of the cost of the operation while the rest is taken from the Ghana Heart Foundation set up some years back.
According to Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, if every Ghanaian contributes a little money to the fund, there will be no need for parents to raise part of the money as happens elsewhere in the world.
“It appears a lot of Ghanaians have their priorities wrong. Large sums of monies are churned out to support so called beauty pageants, model contests for both male and female and countless fashion shows,” a colleague in the office complained.
Of course, he is right, it appears, appeals for funds for such problems do not attract the attention at all the motor companies and the beauty shops that support these shows.
Well our friends from Europe did not leave without donating money to the heart foundation.
One man from Holland I saw inserted some cash into the donation Box and others followed suit, at least, they have done their part
What about us?
In June 2005, the Director of the Ghana Health Service Professor, Agyeman Badu Akosa made it clear that heart surgeries, removal of huge tumours and some brain surgeries and other special cases that require huge expenditures are not covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme. “Health care is expensive and we cannot load everything on health Insurance, he said.He explained that it is important for the entire country to support a national health Foundation on the lines of the Ghana heart foundation which would be used to treat such cases.Speaking on a radio interview with Kwaku Sakyi-Addo in Accra, Dr. Akosa also said there are several ways of raising monies to treat such cases.He said import duties on tobacco could be raised; taxes could be put on alcoholic beverages as well as an environmental sanitation levy.According to him, some churches should also make monthly contributions out of their huge earnings towards health care in the country.“Churches make huge monies and that would be their social obligation to their flock,” he said. Adding, “If People pay a tenth of their earnings in tithes; there is nothing wrong if the church pays a tenth of its earnings to the provision of health service in the country.“Throughout the world that is what is practiced, there are various foundations which support various diseases and it is about time we picked it up,” Prof. Akosah said.
Report calls for separation of multilateral and Bilateral aid
By Isabella Gyau Orhin
The 2006 Social Watch report has called for a separation of bilateral and multilateral arrangement for development as a first step towards reforms for financial independence for poor countries.
The 262 page report prepared annually by a coalition of international Non-Governmental Organisations which was first launched this year in September, in Singapore and relaunched recently in Ghana said “it is up to sovereign nations to enter into bilateral agreements on debt financing but these should be kept outside the multilateral system.”
The report dubbed Impossible Architecture also suggested that consideration should be given to pooling and allocating aid through a development fund placed under the United Nations and run by a competent secretariat without day-to day interference from its contributors.
This according to the report means taking the International Development Association IDA from the World Bank and the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PGRF) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Though the amount involved is quite small, the report says the impact on the governance of these institutions could be important.
Already the European Union has announced its intention to create a trust fund to disburse European aid to Africa without depending on the World Bank. Their argument is that European money should be spent according to European policies and since their influence in the World Bank is not that much, they would like to disburse their own funds.
“This demonstrates once again the predominance of political considerations in the provision of aid,” the report said however adding, “It is a welcome initiative in so far as it helps separates bilateral from multilateral lending.”
However the Social Watch report said such initiative should also accompany steps aimed at making the World Bank an independent multilateral development finance institution.
The report further said any serious reforms of the global arrangements for provision of finance to developing countries should also include mandate, operational modalities and governance of Bretton Woods’ institutions. “There is no justification for the IMF to be involved in Poverty alleviation,” the report said adding, “The Fund should focus on the provision of short term liquidity to countries experiencing temporary payments shortages.”
This, the report said should include poorer countries that are vulnerable or susceptible to trade shocks.
“It should revive the Compensatory Financing Facility, as a concessionary facility and there should be greater automaticity in access to the Fund,” it stated.
Limits to the fund according to the report should also be based on the level of a country’s need.
“The Fund should stay away from structural conditionality and focus on macroeconomics,” the report further noted.
The report moreover said the Fund should not be allowed to engage in financial bail-out operations but develop orderly debt workout mechanisms and focus on crisis prevention by helping manage unsustainable capital inflows to developing countries and through effective surveillance over policies in industrial countries.
Again an appropriate source of funding for the Fund is the Special Drawing Rights (SDR).
According to the report the case for creating SDRs to provide funds for current account financing is much stronger than the case for using them to back up financial bail-out operations.
“Current arrangement would need to be changed to allow the SDR to replace quotas and General Arrangements to Borrow (GAB) and New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) as the source of funding for the IMF.
On the World Bank, the report said many of the problems encountered in multilateral development finance and policy advice could also be addressed if the World Bank went back to its original operational modalities where it is expected to facilitate capital investment through project financing rather than trying to fix all kinds of policy and institutional shortcomings in developing countries through structural adjustment and development policy loans.
On the UN’s role in aid disbursement, the report said a secretariat in charge of disbursing aid should report to the General Assembly and audited regularly by an independent body.
“Such a course of action will be desirable not only because of increased involvement of the UN in development goals and social issues closely linked to world peace but also because of its democratic nature.” The report affirmed
It said poverty reduction has been declared a global public good in several UN summits and conferences. This it said means there is a strong case for establishing global sources finance which could be achieved through agreements on international taxes including environmental taxes and various taxes such as those on arms trade.
In spite of all these suggestions, for the Bank and the Fund it is business as usual.
Only last week, the World Bank which is “working for a world free of poverty” launched its 2006 African Development Indicators (ADI) where it praised some poor countries for working hard to overcome its difficulties.
According to the Bank, many African countries, including Senegal, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Uganda, Ghana and Cape Verde, have lifted significant percentages of their citizens above the poverty line and might well be on course to meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving poverty by 2010.
“Africa is today a continent on the move, making tangible progress on delivering better health, education, growth, trade and poverty-reduction outcomes,” Gobind Nankani, the World Bank Vice President for the Africa Region is quoted as saying.
The annual World Bank publication, ADI 2006, depicts a diverse continent, with several countries making remarkable progress, some stagnating and others lagging seriously behind. The full spectrum of achievers and laggards stretches from Zimbabwe, which recorded a negative growth rate of 2.4 percent – the only country with a negative growth rate in 2004 on the continent - to Equatorial Guinea, which recorded a 20.9 percent growth rate.
“While economic outcomes are increasingly diverse, Africa has made near uniform progress in social outcomes, notably education and health,” explained John Page, the World Bank’s Chief Economist for the Africa Region, adding that Africa’s per capita income is now increasing in tandem with other developing countries.
.
The 2006 Social Watch report has called for a separation of bilateral and multilateral arrangement for development as a first step towards reforms for financial independence for poor countries.
The 262 page report prepared annually by a coalition of international Non-Governmental Organisations which was first launched this year in September, in Singapore and relaunched recently in Ghana said “it is up to sovereign nations to enter into bilateral agreements on debt financing but these should be kept outside the multilateral system.”
The report dubbed Impossible Architecture also suggested that consideration should be given to pooling and allocating aid through a development fund placed under the United Nations and run by a competent secretariat without day-to day interference from its contributors.
This according to the report means taking the International Development Association IDA from the World Bank and the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PGRF) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Though the amount involved is quite small, the report says the impact on the governance of these institutions could be important.
Already the European Union has announced its intention to create a trust fund to disburse European aid to Africa without depending on the World Bank. Their argument is that European money should be spent according to European policies and since their influence in the World Bank is not that much, they would like to disburse their own funds.
“This demonstrates once again the predominance of political considerations in the provision of aid,” the report said however adding, “It is a welcome initiative in so far as it helps separates bilateral from multilateral lending.”
However the Social Watch report said such initiative should also accompany steps aimed at making the World Bank an independent multilateral development finance institution.
The report further said any serious reforms of the global arrangements for provision of finance to developing countries should also include mandate, operational modalities and governance of Bretton Woods’ institutions. “There is no justification for the IMF to be involved in Poverty alleviation,” the report said adding, “The Fund should focus on the provision of short term liquidity to countries experiencing temporary payments shortages.”
This, the report said should include poorer countries that are vulnerable or susceptible to trade shocks.
“It should revive the Compensatory Financing Facility, as a concessionary facility and there should be greater automaticity in access to the Fund,” it stated.
Limits to the fund according to the report should also be based on the level of a country’s need.
“The Fund should stay away from structural conditionality and focus on macroeconomics,” the report further noted.
The report moreover said the Fund should not be allowed to engage in financial bail-out operations but develop orderly debt workout mechanisms and focus on crisis prevention by helping manage unsustainable capital inflows to developing countries and through effective surveillance over policies in industrial countries.
Again an appropriate source of funding for the Fund is the Special Drawing Rights (SDR).
According to the report the case for creating SDRs to provide funds for current account financing is much stronger than the case for using them to back up financial bail-out operations.
“Current arrangement would need to be changed to allow the SDR to replace quotas and General Arrangements to Borrow (GAB) and New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) as the source of funding for the IMF.
On the World Bank, the report said many of the problems encountered in multilateral development finance and policy advice could also be addressed if the World Bank went back to its original operational modalities where it is expected to facilitate capital investment through project financing rather than trying to fix all kinds of policy and institutional shortcomings in developing countries through structural adjustment and development policy loans.
On the UN’s role in aid disbursement, the report said a secretariat in charge of disbursing aid should report to the General Assembly and audited regularly by an independent body.
“Such a course of action will be desirable not only because of increased involvement of the UN in development goals and social issues closely linked to world peace but also because of its democratic nature.” The report affirmed
It said poverty reduction has been declared a global public good in several UN summits and conferences. This it said means there is a strong case for establishing global sources finance which could be achieved through agreements on international taxes including environmental taxes and various taxes such as those on arms trade.
In spite of all these suggestions, for the Bank and the Fund it is business as usual.
Only last week, the World Bank which is “working for a world free of poverty” launched its 2006 African Development Indicators (ADI) where it praised some poor countries for working hard to overcome its difficulties.
According to the Bank, many African countries, including Senegal, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Uganda, Ghana and Cape Verde, have lifted significant percentages of their citizens above the poverty line and might well be on course to meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving poverty by 2010.
“Africa is today a continent on the move, making tangible progress on delivering better health, education, growth, trade and poverty-reduction outcomes,” Gobind Nankani, the World Bank Vice President for the Africa Region is quoted as saying.
The annual World Bank publication, ADI 2006, depicts a diverse continent, with several countries making remarkable progress, some stagnating and others lagging seriously behind. The full spectrum of achievers and laggards stretches from Zimbabwe, which recorded a negative growth rate of 2.4 percent – the only country with a negative growth rate in 2004 on the continent - to Equatorial Guinea, which recorded a 20.9 percent growth rate.
“While economic outcomes are increasingly diverse, Africa has made near uniform progress in social outcomes, notably education and health,” explained John Page, the World Bank’s Chief Economist for the Africa Region, adding that Africa’s per capita income is now increasing in tandem with other developing countries.
.
Ghana making progress with fight against FGM
By Isabella Gyau Orhin
Aminata had long reached puberty, but was not menstruating. So out of frustration, her parents took her to the hospital to find out what was wrong.
To her parents surprise, Aminata has been menstruating but the blood has been retained within her reproductive tract as a result of the mutilation of her genitals when she was young as part of the culture of her people.
The World Health Organization in 1997 defined female genital mutilation (FGM) as all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural or other non-therapeutic reasons.
According to the Executive Director of Rural Help Integrated, a non-for profit advocacy organization based in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, Dr. Kwasi Odoi-Agyarko, this story is just one of the many side effects of the practice which was prevalent in northern Ghana.
However, he said Ghana has achieved a lot of successes in the fight against the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), especially in the northern part of Ghana.
According to Dr. Kwasi Odoi-Agyarko, the practice for instance in the Bolga area in the Upper East Region, has reduced from 29 percent to two percent over a period of 10 years.
He explained that ten years ago all women who delivered at the Bolga regional hospital were examined and it was discovered that 29 out of 100 women who delivered had undergone FGM.
But at the end of the year 2005 only two women out of a hundred at the same place had undergone FGM. He also said 10 years ago, Navrongo had 77 percent, but as at now the figure is around 15 or 16 percent.
Dr. Odoi-Agyarko told Public Agenda in an interview that looking at the figures from specific places, the national prevalence rate of about 8-9 percent 10 years ago, may come down to about two to three percent.
“ It is likely that it is much lower, we are still computing the figures,” he said.
But Female Genital Mutilation FGM is not perculiar to Sub Sahara Africa. According to Martin Donohoe in an article titled “Female Genital Cutting: Epidemiology, Consequences, and Female Empowerment as a Means of Cultural Change,”FGM was practiced as early as 450 BCE and was widely performed throughout ancient Egypt and in many other societies and cultures.
He said Clitoridectomy , as well as hysterectomy and oophorectomy, were used in the United States and Great Britain from the early 1800s to the mid-1950s as treatments for such diverse "disorders" as masturbation, lesbianism, falling of the womb, floating womb, hysteria, emaciation, debility, nymphomania, melancholia, insanity, and seizures.
The father of modern gynaecology, J. Marion Sims, advocated the procedure. Sigmund Freud, a philosopher once opined that "elimination of clitoral sexuality is a necessary precondition for the development of femininity.
The last known medical female "circumcision" in the United States took place in Kentucky in 1952, although some cultures within the United States continue the practice today outside of the medical system.
Giving a background to the fight against the practice, Dr. Odoi-Agyarko said after the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994, the World Health Organisation tasked all nations to make laws against the practice of FGM. In the same year, the World Assembly of WHO also tasked countries to make efforts aimed at curbing the practice.
It is in the same spirit that the WHO in collaboration with six African countries initiated a study on female genital mutilation and obstetric outcome.
About 28, 393 women who went to hospital to deliver single babies were studied at 28 health centres between November 2001 and March 2032 in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan.
The women were examined before delivery to ascertain whether or not they had undergone FGM and were classified according to the WHO system.
According to the WHO, FGM I is the removal of the prepuce or clitoris, while FGM II is the removal of the Clitoris and the labia minora. Also FGM III is the removal of part or all the external genitalia with stitching or narrowing of the vaginal opening.
Findings of this study indicate that compared with women without FGM, the risks of certain obstetric complications were in women with FGM I, II and III respectively. These include caesarean section, post partum Hemorrhage or bleeding after delivery, extended maternal hospital stay, still birth or early neonatal birth, infant resuscitation and low birth weight.
The research also indicated that FGM leads to extra one or two perinatal deaths per 100 deliveries.
Three Ghanaian health centres were part of the study.
In Ghana Dr. Odoi-Agyarko said the study was based at the maternity units and obstetric departments of the Bolgatanga, Bawku and Navrongo Hospitals. Based on a pilot study, it was estimated that approximately 6,000 women would be required in order to detect a two-fold increase in the risk of outcomes such as stillbirth and early neonatal death, in women with each type of FGM, compared to women without FGM.
A total of 6,413 consenting women with singleton pregnancies presenting for delivery were consecutively recruited into the study from December 2001 to June 2003. They were followed through labour and delivery, and obstetric outcome, including duration of labour, instrumental delivery, episiotomies, perineal tears, post-partum haemorrhage and maternal deaths were recorded. The newborn infant was examined and vital status, birth weight, and other data were also recorded. They were also followed up at the two-week and at the six-week post-partum period to ascertain the presence of complications such as genital wound infections and fistulas.
The FGM prevalence rate in those specific hospitals was 38 percent made up of 7 percent of FGM type I, 30 percent of FGM type II and 1 percent of FGM type III.
Bawku had the highest FGM prevalence of 82 percent and accounted for 84 percent of all the cases of FGM Type III that were seen. FGM was significantly associated with prolonged labour and had a direct relationship with post-delivery fistulas.
Also, the association between FGM type I and FGM type II was however not significant but FGM type III was strongly associated with post delivery fistulas.
FGM type II and type III were also significantly associated with post-delivery genital wound infection while FGM Type III was strongly associated with third degree tears.
According to Dr. Odoi-Agyarko, location of residence, age, and number of births, level of education and household wealth all interact. The increased risk of adverse obstetric outcomes with FGM observed in the study occurs against the background of increased maternal morbidity and mortality. This means that FGM is likely to be responsible for substantial numbers of additional causes of adverse obstetric outcomes. Adverse obstetric and perinatal outcomes can therefore be added to the known harmful immediate and long-term effects of FGM.
Aminata had long reached puberty, but was not menstruating. So out of frustration, her parents took her to the hospital to find out what was wrong.
To her parents surprise, Aminata has been menstruating but the blood has been retained within her reproductive tract as a result of the mutilation of her genitals when she was young as part of the culture of her people.
The World Health Organization in 1997 defined female genital mutilation (FGM) as all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural or other non-therapeutic reasons.
According to the Executive Director of Rural Help Integrated, a non-for profit advocacy organization based in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, Dr. Kwasi Odoi-Agyarko, this story is just one of the many side effects of the practice which was prevalent in northern Ghana.
However, he said Ghana has achieved a lot of successes in the fight against the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), especially in the northern part of Ghana.
According to Dr. Kwasi Odoi-Agyarko, the practice for instance in the Bolga area in the Upper East Region, has reduced from 29 percent to two percent over a period of 10 years.
He explained that ten years ago all women who delivered at the Bolga regional hospital were examined and it was discovered that 29 out of 100 women who delivered had undergone FGM.
But at the end of the year 2005 only two women out of a hundred at the same place had undergone FGM. He also said 10 years ago, Navrongo had 77 percent, but as at now the figure is around 15 or 16 percent.
Dr. Odoi-Agyarko told Public Agenda in an interview that looking at the figures from specific places, the national prevalence rate of about 8-9 percent 10 years ago, may come down to about two to three percent.
“ It is likely that it is much lower, we are still computing the figures,” he said.
But Female Genital Mutilation FGM is not perculiar to Sub Sahara Africa. According to Martin Donohoe in an article titled “Female Genital Cutting: Epidemiology, Consequences, and Female Empowerment as a Means of Cultural Change,”FGM was practiced as early as 450 BCE and was widely performed throughout ancient Egypt and in many other societies and cultures.
He said Clitoridectomy , as well as hysterectomy and oophorectomy, were used in the United States and Great Britain from the early 1800s to the mid-1950s as treatments for such diverse "disorders" as masturbation, lesbianism, falling of the womb, floating womb, hysteria, emaciation, debility, nymphomania, melancholia, insanity, and seizures.
The father of modern gynaecology, J. Marion Sims, advocated the procedure. Sigmund Freud, a philosopher once opined that "elimination of clitoral sexuality is a necessary precondition for the development of femininity.
The last known medical female "circumcision" in the United States took place in Kentucky in 1952, although some cultures within the United States continue the practice today outside of the medical system.
Giving a background to the fight against the practice, Dr. Odoi-Agyarko said after the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994, the World Health Organisation tasked all nations to make laws against the practice of FGM. In the same year, the World Assembly of WHO also tasked countries to make efforts aimed at curbing the practice.
It is in the same spirit that the WHO in collaboration with six African countries initiated a study on female genital mutilation and obstetric outcome.
About 28, 393 women who went to hospital to deliver single babies were studied at 28 health centres between November 2001 and March 2032 in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan.
The women were examined before delivery to ascertain whether or not they had undergone FGM and were classified according to the WHO system.
According to the WHO, FGM I is the removal of the prepuce or clitoris, while FGM II is the removal of the Clitoris and the labia minora. Also FGM III is the removal of part or all the external genitalia with stitching or narrowing of the vaginal opening.
Findings of this study indicate that compared with women without FGM, the risks of certain obstetric complications were in women with FGM I, II and III respectively. These include caesarean section, post partum Hemorrhage or bleeding after delivery, extended maternal hospital stay, still birth or early neonatal birth, infant resuscitation and low birth weight.
The research also indicated that FGM leads to extra one or two perinatal deaths per 100 deliveries.
Three Ghanaian health centres were part of the study.
In Ghana Dr. Odoi-Agyarko said the study was based at the maternity units and obstetric departments of the Bolgatanga, Bawku and Navrongo Hospitals. Based on a pilot study, it was estimated that approximately 6,000 women would be required in order to detect a two-fold increase in the risk of outcomes such as stillbirth and early neonatal death, in women with each type of FGM, compared to women without FGM.
A total of 6,413 consenting women with singleton pregnancies presenting for delivery were consecutively recruited into the study from December 2001 to June 2003. They were followed through labour and delivery, and obstetric outcome, including duration of labour, instrumental delivery, episiotomies, perineal tears, post-partum haemorrhage and maternal deaths were recorded. The newborn infant was examined and vital status, birth weight, and other data were also recorded. They were also followed up at the two-week and at the six-week post-partum period to ascertain the presence of complications such as genital wound infections and fistulas.
The FGM prevalence rate in those specific hospitals was 38 percent made up of 7 percent of FGM type I, 30 percent of FGM type II and 1 percent of FGM type III.
Bawku had the highest FGM prevalence of 82 percent and accounted for 84 percent of all the cases of FGM Type III that were seen. FGM was significantly associated with prolonged labour and had a direct relationship with post-delivery fistulas.
Also, the association between FGM type I and FGM type II was however not significant but FGM type III was strongly associated with post delivery fistulas.
FGM type II and type III were also significantly associated with post-delivery genital wound infection while FGM Type III was strongly associated with third degree tears.
According to Dr. Odoi-Agyarko, location of residence, age, and number of births, level of education and household wealth all interact. The increased risk of adverse obstetric outcomes with FGM observed in the study occurs against the background of increased maternal morbidity and mortality. This means that FGM is likely to be responsible for substantial numbers of additional causes of adverse obstetric outcomes. Adverse obstetric and perinatal outcomes can therefore be added to the known harmful immediate and long-term effects of FGM.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Migration to reduce poverty in Africa
By Isabella gyau Orhin
A Research Fellow of the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER) Dr. Peter Quartey has said migration of skilled labour can result in poverty reduction in a country like Ghana.
He said although migration is seen as evil in terms of brain drain it also enhances human capital as sending countries benefit from brain gain.
“The challenge therefore is to develop mechanisms to mitigate as much as possible the negative effects of brain drain and to encourage the return o qualified nationals resulting in brain gain.”
This conclusion according to him was arrived at after a study of wage differentials between Ghanaian and UK nurses.
Speaking at the ISSER-Merchant Bank development seminar series on the topic International Migration and Poverty reduction, Dr. Quartey said the total net benefit was calculated using 76 out of the 100 Ghanaian nurses now working in the UK. “This amounted to 33.3 million pounds,” he said.
While 2.9 percent of the nurses sampled migrated to the UK between 1970 and 1979 another 2.9 percent also migrated to the UK between 19890 and 1989.
Twenty five percent of the nurses migrated over the period 190 to 1999 while a majority o f 52.9 percent migrated over the period 2000 to 2005.
“These migrations affect the economy positively and negatively,” Dr. Quartey said.
According to the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council, 1326 Ghanaian nurses and Midwives registered between 1998 and August 2005.
“The net benefit will therefore be equal to 580.9 million pounds,” Dr. Quartey explained.
He said remittances affects livelihoods in Ghana through investments in housing and also the spin-off effects on a large number of businesses that are involved in funeral ceremonies and other social functions.
Dr. Quartey also revealed that another survey of 166 recipients of migrant remittances in Accra found that 51.8 percent of the sample mentioned that remittances received are for consumption purposes. These include living expenses, funerals and other social activities while 44 percent of the sample indicated that the funds are for investment purposes.
According to Quartey, the survey also reveals that remittances form quite a significant proportion of recipients’ income. “Whereas 40 percent of the sample stated that migrant remittances are the main source of income 60 percent stated that they have other main sources of income.
Also about 20 percent of the samples live solely on migrant remittances. He said on the average, migrant remittances formed 57.4 percent of recipients’ total income.
The impact of remittances of welfare was also analyzed according to Dr. Quartey using the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS) 3 and 4 which reports that remittances significantly improve household welfare. He said a one percent increase in remittances will increase household welfare by 0.26 percent.
He also said that in Ghana voluntary return migration has been ongoing and has taken the form of short visits to families back home and permanent return with the aim of settling down to establish business enterprises after along period aboard.
“Depending on how the return migration takes place it could be an asset or liability,” he said.
Dr. Quartey said since 1992, the transformation of Ghana from Military to democratic rule has seen the return of most political emigrants. He said for skilled migrants, the motivation could be due to the completion of a course of study and therefore see the need to return and help mother Ghana.
He said some people have been motivated to return home because they could not process the necessary documents to perpetuate their stay abroad.
He said Ghana needs to provide investment opportunities to attract migrant remittances.
He said it is also vital to promote and strengthen the impact of migration both for countries of origin and transit.
He also said there is the need to train more doctors and other skilled personnel based on bonding or pay-as- you go systems.
However the director of ISSER Prof. Ernest Aryeetey did not agree with certain portion of the findings. He said measurements of remittances are exaggerated and these include monies kept in having accounts by Ghanaians who chose to save in foreign banks among others.
“If a rich doctor, highly paid sends his mother money and the mother goes to the hospital and there is no doctor there, what happens? Prof. Aryeetey queried.
Meanwhile at a recent meeting with journalists in Accra, the authorities of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital revealed that of problem of doctors and nursing migrating abroad for greener pastures have gone down considerably.
This is believed to be as a result of the Additional Duty Allowance and new incentive packages government has put in place to retain health workers.
He director of Nursing of the Hospital Grace Barnes said the hospital lost about 50 percent of its staff between 2002 to 2004. “But from 2005 to 2006, it has virtually gone down to zero with only about one or two leaving,” she said.
The President of the Ghana Medical association Dr. Francis Adu-Ababio said the issues of doctors have also declined considerably over the past two years.
“Five or six years ago it was frightening, let’s hope we will be able to keep it as it is,” he said.
A Research Fellow of the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER) Dr. Peter Quartey has said migration of skilled labour can result in poverty reduction in a country like Ghana.
He said although migration is seen as evil in terms of brain drain it also enhances human capital as sending countries benefit from brain gain.
“The challenge therefore is to develop mechanisms to mitigate as much as possible the negative effects of brain drain and to encourage the return o qualified nationals resulting in brain gain.”
This conclusion according to him was arrived at after a study of wage differentials between Ghanaian and UK nurses.
Speaking at the ISSER-Merchant Bank development seminar series on the topic International Migration and Poverty reduction, Dr. Quartey said the total net benefit was calculated using 76 out of the 100 Ghanaian nurses now working in the UK. “This amounted to 33.3 million pounds,” he said.
While 2.9 percent of the nurses sampled migrated to the UK between 1970 and 1979 another 2.9 percent also migrated to the UK between 19890 and 1989.
Twenty five percent of the nurses migrated over the period 190 to 1999 while a majority o f 52.9 percent migrated over the period 2000 to 2005.
“These migrations affect the economy positively and negatively,” Dr. Quartey said.
According to the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council, 1326 Ghanaian nurses and Midwives registered between 1998 and August 2005.
“The net benefit will therefore be equal to 580.9 million pounds,” Dr. Quartey explained.
He said remittances affects livelihoods in Ghana through investments in housing and also the spin-off effects on a large number of businesses that are involved in funeral ceremonies and other social functions.
Dr. Quartey also revealed that another survey of 166 recipients of migrant remittances in Accra found that 51.8 percent of the sample mentioned that remittances received are for consumption purposes. These include living expenses, funerals and other social activities while 44 percent of the sample indicated that the funds are for investment purposes.
According to Quartey, the survey also reveals that remittances form quite a significant proportion of recipients’ income. “Whereas 40 percent of the sample stated that migrant remittances are the main source of income 60 percent stated that they have other main sources of income.
Also about 20 percent of the samples live solely on migrant remittances. He said on the average, migrant remittances formed 57.4 percent of recipients’ total income.
The impact of remittances of welfare was also analyzed according to Dr. Quartey using the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS) 3 and 4 which reports that remittances significantly improve household welfare. He said a one percent increase in remittances will increase household welfare by 0.26 percent.
He also said that in Ghana voluntary return migration has been ongoing and has taken the form of short visits to families back home and permanent return with the aim of settling down to establish business enterprises after along period aboard.
“Depending on how the return migration takes place it could be an asset or liability,” he said.
Dr. Quartey said since 1992, the transformation of Ghana from Military to democratic rule has seen the return of most political emigrants. He said for skilled migrants, the motivation could be due to the completion of a course of study and therefore see the need to return and help mother Ghana.
He said some people have been motivated to return home because they could not process the necessary documents to perpetuate their stay abroad.
He said Ghana needs to provide investment opportunities to attract migrant remittances.
He said it is also vital to promote and strengthen the impact of migration both for countries of origin and transit.
He also said there is the need to train more doctors and other skilled personnel based on bonding or pay-as- you go systems.
However the director of ISSER Prof. Ernest Aryeetey did not agree with certain portion of the findings. He said measurements of remittances are exaggerated and these include monies kept in having accounts by Ghanaians who chose to save in foreign banks among others.
“If a rich doctor, highly paid sends his mother money and the mother goes to the hospital and there is no doctor there, what happens? Prof. Aryeetey queried.
Meanwhile at a recent meeting with journalists in Accra, the authorities of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital revealed that of problem of doctors and nursing migrating abroad for greener pastures have gone down considerably.
This is believed to be as a result of the Additional Duty Allowance and new incentive packages government has put in place to retain health workers.
He director of Nursing of the Hospital Grace Barnes said the hospital lost about 50 percent of its staff between 2002 to 2004. “But from 2005 to 2006, it has virtually gone down to zero with only about one or two leaving,” she said.
The President of the Ghana Medical association Dr. Francis Adu-Ababio said the issues of doctors have also declined considerably over the past two years.
“Five or six years ago it was frightening, let’s hope we will be able to keep it as it is,” he said.
State of the World's population 2006: Protecting the rights of female migrants
State of the World’s population 2006
Protecting the rights of female migrants
By Isabella Gyau Orhin
The movement of people from one place to the other has been part of human history for thousands of years. According to Historians, it has been an important part of human and economic development.
Migration in Ghana and Africa at large is not a new phenomenon. It dates as far back as the beginning of existence of the continent, from the days when war precipitated migration from one part of Africa to the other and before colonial boundaries were drawn.
Today, millions of Africans, particularly women working overseas according the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) send hundreds of millions of dollars as remittances to their homes and communities.
“These funds go to feed and educate children, provide healthcare, build homes, foster small businesses and generally improve living standards of loved ones left behind,” says the State of the World’s Population,” 2006 prepared by the UNFPA.
Migrant women toil in the households of working families, soothe the sick and comfort the elderly, the report released in September 6, said adding, they contribute their technical and professional expertise, pay taxes and quietly support a quality of life many take for granted.
According to the Chairperson of the National Population Council, Virginia Ofosu –Amaah, it should not be forgotten, that many developed countries could not have achieved their present levels of development without migrant labour from all parts of the world.
“There is a growing awareness of the large number of women migrants and their problems and special needs as well as difficulties they encounter on their outward journeys to seek better opportunities,” she said.
It is estimated that, the number of people living out side their country of birth has doubled in the last 50 years increasing to 191 million in 2005 with women accounting for 50 percent.
The UN Resident Coordinator Mr. Daouda Toure said some countries need migrants and must guarantee their human rights.
“Immigration comes with frustrations and African migrants suffer most,” he said.
He announced that the UN Development Programme is working with national and international partners on a migration for development programme which focuses on the development of a national policy on migration to support the effective management of migration in and outside Ghana among others.
The Minister for Interior Mr. Albert Kan Dapaah said total remittances from Ghanaians abroad have hit the one billion dollar mark and it expected to hit two billion dollars by the year 2007.
“While we celebrate the gains, the question we need to answer is, who are those sending the money and under what conditions are they working?” “What dangers do our women and youth face as they make the monies they transfer back home?.”
According to Mr. Dapaah the cost involved in the loss of trained health personnel cannot be compensated for by the gains.
He said efforts therefore need to be put in place to arrest the push factors in the health sector which include, low salaries, poor working environment, shortage of health inputs and lack of professional opportunities among others.
According to an African scholar, Aderanti Adepoju, Chief Executive of Human Resources Development Centre, Lagos, Nigeria, the traditional pattern of migration within and from Africa — male-dominated, long-term, and long-distance — is increasingly becoming feminized. Anecdotal evidence reveals a striking increase in migration by women, who had traditionally remained at home while men moved around in search of paid work. A significant share of these women is made up of migrants who move independently to fulfil their own economic needs; they are not simply joining a husband or other family members. According to Adepoju whose background is in Economics and Demography, the increase in independent female migration is not confined by national borders: professional women from Nigeria and Ghana now engage in international migration, often leaving their spouses at home to care for the children.
Female nurses and doctors have been recruited from Nigeria to work in Saudi Arabia, while their counterparts in Ghana are taking advantage of the better pay packages in the UK and United States to accumulate enough savings to survive harsh economic conditions at home. He explains that the relatively new phenomenon of female migration constitutes an important change in gender roles for Africa, creating new challenges for public policy.
According to the international Office of Migration (IOM), estimates indicate that since 1960, thus for more than 40 years, female migrants have been nearly as numerous as male migrants. Already in 1960 women nearly comprised 47% of people living outside their country of origin. Since then, the proportion of female migrants has grown consistently, reaching 48% in 1990 and nearly 49% in 2000.
The countries hosting the greatest number of immigrants are: United States, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, France, India, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Pakistan. The countries with the greatest proportion of migrants in their total population are: United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan, Israel, Singapore, Oman, Estonia, Saudi Arabia, Latvia and Switzerland
African men, along with women, increasingly participate in migration as a family survival strategy. At the same time, an increasing scarcity of traditional male labor has also promoted new roles for the women they leave behind. As the job market in destination countries became tighter during the 1980s and 1990s, and remittances thinned out, many families came to rely on women and their farming activities for day-to-day support.
These women became the de facto resource managers and decision makers, particularly within the agricultural sector. The gendered division of family labor has also been upset by the loss of male employment through urban job retrenchment and structural adjustment, forcing women to seek additional income-generating activities to support the family. Migration also involve human trafficking. Africa's human trafficking and smuggling map is complicated, involving diverse origins within and outside the region. Little was known until recently about the dynamics of this trafficking. Today, analysts are looking into trafficking in children (mainly for farm labor and domestic work within and across countries); trafficking in women and young persons for sexual exploitation mainly outside the region; and trafficking in women from outside the region for the sex industry of South Africa. African policy makers face the urgent task of resolving the unemployment crisis in order to productively engage their teeming educated but unemployed young people, who fall easy prey to trafficking scams. They are also confronting the challenge of leaders enhancing the economic, political, and social environments of their respective countries in order to retain and lure home the skilled professionals required for national development. Another looming task is halting the spread of HIV/AIDS, which is taking a huge toll on the region's prime human resources fuelled by migration especially among females. All of these factors will help determine the course of migration in Africa in the years ahead.
“We need to look at the migration phenomenon as something which is here to stay,” says Daouda Toure adding, “It should be managed such that the rights of all parties are protected.”
Protecting the rights of female migrants
By Isabella Gyau Orhin
The movement of people from one place to the other has been part of human history for thousands of years. According to Historians, it has been an important part of human and economic development.
Migration in Ghana and Africa at large is not a new phenomenon. It dates as far back as the beginning of existence of the continent, from the days when war precipitated migration from one part of Africa to the other and before colonial boundaries were drawn.
Today, millions of Africans, particularly women working overseas according the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) send hundreds of millions of dollars as remittances to their homes and communities.
“These funds go to feed and educate children, provide healthcare, build homes, foster small businesses and generally improve living standards of loved ones left behind,” says the State of the World’s Population,” 2006 prepared by the UNFPA.
Migrant women toil in the households of working families, soothe the sick and comfort the elderly, the report released in September 6, said adding, they contribute their technical and professional expertise, pay taxes and quietly support a quality of life many take for granted.
According to the Chairperson of the National Population Council, Virginia Ofosu –Amaah, it should not be forgotten, that many developed countries could not have achieved their present levels of development without migrant labour from all parts of the world.
“There is a growing awareness of the large number of women migrants and their problems and special needs as well as difficulties they encounter on their outward journeys to seek better opportunities,” she said.
It is estimated that, the number of people living out side their country of birth has doubled in the last 50 years increasing to 191 million in 2005 with women accounting for 50 percent.
The UN Resident Coordinator Mr. Daouda Toure said some countries need migrants and must guarantee their human rights.
“Immigration comes with frustrations and African migrants suffer most,” he said.
He announced that the UN Development Programme is working with national and international partners on a migration for development programme which focuses on the development of a national policy on migration to support the effective management of migration in and outside Ghana among others.
The Minister for Interior Mr. Albert Kan Dapaah said total remittances from Ghanaians abroad have hit the one billion dollar mark and it expected to hit two billion dollars by the year 2007.
“While we celebrate the gains, the question we need to answer is, who are those sending the money and under what conditions are they working?” “What dangers do our women and youth face as they make the monies they transfer back home?.”
According to Mr. Dapaah the cost involved in the loss of trained health personnel cannot be compensated for by the gains.
He said efforts therefore need to be put in place to arrest the push factors in the health sector which include, low salaries, poor working environment, shortage of health inputs and lack of professional opportunities among others.
According to an African scholar, Aderanti Adepoju, Chief Executive of Human Resources Development Centre, Lagos, Nigeria, the traditional pattern of migration within and from Africa — male-dominated, long-term, and long-distance — is increasingly becoming feminized. Anecdotal evidence reveals a striking increase in migration by women, who had traditionally remained at home while men moved around in search of paid work. A significant share of these women is made up of migrants who move independently to fulfil their own economic needs; they are not simply joining a husband or other family members. According to Adepoju whose background is in Economics and Demography, the increase in independent female migration is not confined by national borders: professional women from Nigeria and Ghana now engage in international migration, often leaving their spouses at home to care for the children.
Female nurses and doctors have been recruited from Nigeria to work in Saudi Arabia, while their counterparts in Ghana are taking advantage of the better pay packages in the UK and United States to accumulate enough savings to survive harsh economic conditions at home. He explains that the relatively new phenomenon of female migration constitutes an important change in gender roles for Africa, creating new challenges for public policy.
According to the international Office of Migration (IOM), estimates indicate that since 1960, thus for more than 40 years, female migrants have been nearly as numerous as male migrants. Already in 1960 women nearly comprised 47% of people living outside their country of origin. Since then, the proportion of female migrants has grown consistently, reaching 48% in 1990 and nearly 49% in 2000.
The countries hosting the greatest number of immigrants are: United States, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, France, India, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Pakistan. The countries with the greatest proportion of migrants in their total population are: United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan, Israel, Singapore, Oman, Estonia, Saudi Arabia, Latvia and Switzerland
African men, along with women, increasingly participate in migration as a family survival strategy. At the same time, an increasing scarcity of traditional male labor has also promoted new roles for the women they leave behind. As the job market in destination countries became tighter during the 1980s and 1990s, and remittances thinned out, many families came to rely on women and their farming activities for day-to-day support.
These women became the de facto resource managers and decision makers, particularly within the agricultural sector. The gendered division of family labor has also been upset by the loss of male employment through urban job retrenchment and structural adjustment, forcing women to seek additional income-generating activities to support the family. Migration also involve human trafficking. Africa's human trafficking and smuggling map is complicated, involving diverse origins within and outside the region. Little was known until recently about the dynamics of this trafficking. Today, analysts are looking into trafficking in children (mainly for farm labor and domestic work within and across countries); trafficking in women and young persons for sexual exploitation mainly outside the region; and trafficking in women from outside the region for the sex industry of South Africa. African policy makers face the urgent task of resolving the unemployment crisis in order to productively engage their teeming educated but unemployed young people, who fall easy prey to trafficking scams. They are also confronting the challenge of leaders enhancing the economic, political, and social environments of their respective countries in order to retain and lure home the skilled professionals required for national development. Another looming task is halting the spread of HIV/AIDS, which is taking a huge toll on the region's prime human resources fuelled by migration especially among females. All of these factors will help determine the course of migration in Africa in the years ahead.
“We need to look at the migration phenomenon as something which is here to stay,” says Daouda Toure adding, “It should be managed such that the rights of all parties are protected.”
Doubling of aid vital to Africa's growth
By Isabella Gyau Orhin
An Official in the office of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva, Dr. Samuel Gayi has said doubling of aid to Africa can help the continent out of its economic problems.
Speaking at the launch of this year’s UNCTAD report with the theme “Doubling aid: Making the Big push work,” released in Accra last Thursday, Dr. Gayi said aid works better depending on its quality and the policies of the recipient countries.
“Large mounts of well targeted aid has made effective impacts,” he said, adding, “The Marshall Plan helped construct the economies of Western Europe after World War II.”
Aid to Africa according to him should not only be doubled as already agreed by donors but also should be distributed multilaterally, perhaps by a UN Fund independent of political pressures.
The UNCTAD report also suggests that aid money should be released in predictable tranches over a long term period and should be more focused than currently on enabling African countries to produce a broader range of goods and to create more jobs.
The report further noted that resources should be channeled to African countries’ general budgets so that their legislatures can best decide how to spend them.
Donor agencies have been accused of running chaotic system in which too many bilateral and multilateral agencies are pushing projects abroad sometimes confusing recipient countries.
According to the report a new “aid architecture” is needed, drawing in part on the Marshall Plan, paid by the US government that helped revitalize European economies in the post war years.
“That Plan recognized that shock therapy and piecemeal projects had not helped in getting Western Europe back on its feet and offered instead a generous, multi-year and coordinated funding approach,” where each state drew up long term recovery plans with no outside interference.
The US is said to have released aid in predictable tranches predominantly though grants under the Marshall Plan.
Intermediate targets were used to measure progress and rules as well as conditions of aid were flexible.
The report said, given, the basic challenges across the region of Africa, much of this initial push will be frontloaded on the public sector where the preferred modality of support from the international community should be in the form of grants to the national budget.
“Donors should abide by their commitments to significantly raise the share of direct budget support, currently just 20 percent of bilateral flows to sub-Saharan Africa (SSA),” the report said.
Although the international Community has turned its attention to the quality of aid given to Africa, the UNCTAD report is worried about the fact that the right balance has still not been struck.
It says while aid flows have on the average risen sharply since their low point in the late 1990s, much of this rise has been accounted for by debt relief and with a handful of what some people call “aid darlings,”
Also the report said since the early 1990s, the focus of aid has shifted to Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean countries, while security issues have in recent years become a principal concern for some donors.
Other shortcomings in the current aid regime in Africa include the fact that the yare based on short term results, with too high technical assistance components and are increasingly targeted at social sectors, which though important do not address the needs of African countries to build the productive infrastructure and capacities that will enable them diversify and upgrade their economies.
These changes the report said require long-term attention with the advantage of offering a way out of the poverty cycle and for donor nations, an end to the ever increasing requests for aid.
According to the report, Africa has received some 500 billion in aid since 1980. However the report said East Asia in the 1950s and 60s and Ireland from the 1970s enjoyed larger aid flows than most African countries.
This, the report said indicates that increased aid can give the big push to the region sparking a virtuous circle of higher rates of savings, investment and economic growth.
After almost a decade of aid apathy, a series of international conferences have been held which has revived the aid debate. These include the Millennium Summit of the UN in 2000, the Monterrey Summit on Financing for Development in Mexico in March 2002, and the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland in 2005 among others.
Dr. Gayi said there is a consensus of doubling aid to Africa among donors, what is left is the action to push it.
Speaking at the launch of the report in Accra organized by the Third World Network (TWN), the Regional Programme Manager for Abantu for Development Rose Mensah Kutin said although the aid regime is changing, its implication for women in terms of access and control are not being discussed thoroughly.
This she said must be considered if the world could be able to create an environment where women will be able to impact positively on economies.
The Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs Hajia Alima Mahama who launched the report said too much of donor aid goes into technical assistance leaving the actual projects with very little money.
She said although African countries have experienced growth, these are not enough to propel African economies forward hence the need for more aid.
She said aid should be properly targeted to achieve the desired impact as happened in the case of child and maternal mortality projects in the Upper East region where significant progress has been achieved.
“What flows out of Africa is even more than what flows into Africa, she said adding "We have the right to ask for more aid and if the UN is helping us through UNCTAD, we are most grateful,” she said.
An Official in the office of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva, Dr. Samuel Gayi has said doubling of aid to Africa can help the continent out of its economic problems.
Speaking at the launch of this year’s UNCTAD report with the theme “Doubling aid: Making the Big push work,” released in Accra last Thursday, Dr. Gayi said aid works better depending on its quality and the policies of the recipient countries.
“Large mounts of well targeted aid has made effective impacts,” he said, adding, “The Marshall Plan helped construct the economies of Western Europe after World War II.”
Aid to Africa according to him should not only be doubled as already agreed by donors but also should be distributed multilaterally, perhaps by a UN Fund independent of political pressures.
The UNCTAD report also suggests that aid money should be released in predictable tranches over a long term period and should be more focused than currently on enabling African countries to produce a broader range of goods and to create more jobs.
The report further noted that resources should be channeled to African countries’ general budgets so that their legislatures can best decide how to spend them.
Donor agencies have been accused of running chaotic system in which too many bilateral and multilateral agencies are pushing projects abroad sometimes confusing recipient countries.
According to the report a new “aid architecture” is needed, drawing in part on the Marshall Plan, paid by the US government that helped revitalize European economies in the post war years.
“That Plan recognized that shock therapy and piecemeal projects had not helped in getting Western Europe back on its feet and offered instead a generous, multi-year and coordinated funding approach,” where each state drew up long term recovery plans with no outside interference.
The US is said to have released aid in predictable tranches predominantly though grants under the Marshall Plan.
Intermediate targets were used to measure progress and rules as well as conditions of aid were flexible.
The report said, given, the basic challenges across the region of Africa, much of this initial push will be frontloaded on the public sector where the preferred modality of support from the international community should be in the form of grants to the national budget.
“Donors should abide by their commitments to significantly raise the share of direct budget support, currently just 20 percent of bilateral flows to sub-Saharan Africa (SSA),” the report said.
Although the international Community has turned its attention to the quality of aid given to Africa, the UNCTAD report is worried about the fact that the right balance has still not been struck.
It says while aid flows have on the average risen sharply since their low point in the late 1990s, much of this rise has been accounted for by debt relief and with a handful of what some people call “aid darlings,”
Also the report said since the early 1990s, the focus of aid has shifted to Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean countries, while security issues have in recent years become a principal concern for some donors.
Other shortcomings in the current aid regime in Africa include the fact that the yare based on short term results, with too high technical assistance components and are increasingly targeted at social sectors, which though important do not address the needs of African countries to build the productive infrastructure and capacities that will enable them diversify and upgrade their economies.
These changes the report said require long-term attention with the advantage of offering a way out of the poverty cycle and for donor nations, an end to the ever increasing requests for aid.
According to the report, Africa has received some 500 billion in aid since 1980. However the report said East Asia in the 1950s and 60s and Ireland from the 1970s enjoyed larger aid flows than most African countries.
This, the report said indicates that increased aid can give the big push to the region sparking a virtuous circle of higher rates of savings, investment and economic growth.
After almost a decade of aid apathy, a series of international conferences have been held which has revived the aid debate. These include the Millennium Summit of the UN in 2000, the Monterrey Summit on Financing for Development in Mexico in March 2002, and the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland in 2005 among others.
Dr. Gayi said there is a consensus of doubling aid to Africa among donors, what is left is the action to push it.
Speaking at the launch of the report in Accra organized by the Third World Network (TWN), the Regional Programme Manager for Abantu for Development Rose Mensah Kutin said although the aid regime is changing, its implication for women in terms of access and control are not being discussed thoroughly.
This she said must be considered if the world could be able to create an environment where women will be able to impact positively on economies.
The Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs Hajia Alima Mahama who launched the report said too much of donor aid goes into technical assistance leaving the actual projects with very little money.
She said although African countries have experienced growth, these are not enough to propel African economies forward hence the need for more aid.
She said aid should be properly targeted to achieve the desired impact as happened in the case of child and maternal mortality projects in the Upper East region where significant progress has been achieved.
“What flows out of Africa is even more than what flows into Africa, she said adding "We have the right to ask for more aid and if the UN is helping us through UNCTAD, we are most grateful,” she said.
Natural Gas and safety issues
By Isabella Gyau Orhin
On July 11, 2000, a pipeline explosion in the Niger Delta killed an estimated 250 villagers near the southern Nigerian town of Warri. This explosion occurred just miles from the Niger Delta town of Jesse, where about 1,000 people died in a similar explosion in 1998. Media reports at the time indicated that the Delta is crisscrossed with more than 3,000 pipelines. Many of these are old and leaky and allegedly go unfixed by multinational oil companies that use them to extract their wealth from Africa's most populous country.
The reports according to Democracy Now, a US based advocacy radio and online news service added that when such these explosions happen, the corporate media, the government and the oil corporations accuse thieves and vandals of being responsible. “The press accounts almost always leave out the fact that many of the Delta's pipelines are rusty and corroded and go unrepaired by oil companies like Shell, Chevron and Mobil,.” said Democracy Now on its website of 12 January 2000.
Apart from the deaths that occur, there are other problems associated with such incidents, as depicted by the Friends of the Earth International’s website.
“When oil spills here, those of us who go to the mangrove forest to harvest periwinkle and other sea foods suffer. The crude oil affects the growth and development of the mangrove forest resources such as periwinkles, oysters and crabs. When the river is polluted they all die,” says Ikuroma Samipe, fisherwoman and mother of five children.
As Ghana nears the completion of the West African Gas pipeline project, images of the above narrated incidents among others happenings in the Niger Delta are getting closer to the people.
This became evident at a Stakeholders meeting in Accra last Tuesday which partly discussed safety, health and environmental measures associated with the over 500 kilometre pipeline from a terminal near Lagos to Takoradi in Ghana with supplies to Cotonou in Benin, Lome in Togo and Tema in Ghana.
Owned by Societe Beninoise de Gaz (BENGAZ) from Benin, Societe Togolaise de Gaz (SoToGaz) of Togo, Takoradi Power Company Limited (TAPCo), Nigerian national petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of Nigeria, Chevron, Nigeria and Shell Overseas holdings Limited, WAPCo is to build, own, operate and transport natural gas to help solve the energy needs of the countries mentioned.
Stakeholders were particularly concerned about the preparedness of WAPCo to deal with emergencies.
“Everything looks perfect but I know a project of this magnitude has risks,” said the Member of Parliament for South Dayi Dr. Kwame Ampofo who is also a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy. He was also concerned about the energy security.
A representative of the Ministry of Finance was also concerned about the risks the pipeline poses to the people living around the eight communities comprising, Tema Manhean, and Kpone in the Tema area as well as Aboadze, Nchaban, Abuesi, Dwomo and Shama, all in the Western Region.
The Director of Petroleum of the Ministry of Energy and Mines Dr.Appiagyei Gyamfi asked a question about whether the gas in the pipelines will be compressed or free flowing.
The Deputy Director of Tema branch of the Environmental Protection Agency Lambert Faabeluon was concerned about arrangements for secondary suppliers who will transport the gas from the Tema Port to other industries that might need the gas.
“I don’t expect any leaks at all, ” says the Managing Director of WAPCo Jack Derickson.
“Although we have emergency response in place we should ensure we never have to use them,” he added.
Michelle Cowherd, an advisor on Health and Safety from Chevron said the company is following the guidelines from the Environmental Protection Agency on safety measures.
However, the Health Environment and Safety (HES) Manager of the West African Gas Pipeline Project (WAPCo) Mr. Patrick Akwasi Yeboah appealed to opinion leaders, particularly Members of Parliament who hail from the gas pipeline area to assist in educating the people on safety measures.
Speaking at the Stakeholders meeting, Mr. Akwasi Yeboah said
“We are interested in protecting people, the environment, assets and our reputation.”
This is why we are asking for help in educating the people on how to protect themselves from gas leakage and report such issues,” he said.
He said it is dangerous for individuals to attempt to put out a fire outbreak from the pipeline since they cannot do so.
“This is natural gas under pressure,” he said.
Additionally, no one should attempt to insert a plug in any part of the pipeline to stop a leakage or excavate or disturb the topsoil covering the pipeline.
He said any emergency resulting from a leakage or fire from the Gas pipeline will require prompt action to protect life and property.
Further he said continuous action is required until conditions are no longer hazardous.
Emergency he said is in phases and comprises the “Incident phase” where emergency arises, flowed by the “Emergency Phase” where there is movement from chaos to control as well as the “Management phase” when control is acquired and allows typical project management procedures to be used.
According to Yeboah, in case of a gas leakage of the pipes, residents should immediately leave the leak area and move against the direction of the wind while they warn others about the leakage.
Again they have to inform the local fire department immediately adding, “One should not make contact with the leaking gas.”
Yeboah also warned, residents along the pipe not to create sparks or sources of heat that could cause the gas to ignite.
“If you come upon a leak, while in an automobile do not drive into that area.”
He explained that what makes the situation more difficult is that natural gas is colourless and odourless. “You cannot rely on your sense of smell to detect the natural gas that contains methane,” he said.
One could recognize it as fire burns from the ground or continuous bubbles if it is in water or a swampy area.
“You may also hear a blowing or a hissing sound from the ground.”
Sabotage, leak or rapture alongside, fire and community unrest could result in an emergency along the pipeline route.
He explained further that occasionally, a plow, post-hole, or other excavation strikes a pipeline. While the impact may not seem significant, damage to the pipelines and coating initiates corrosion on that part of the pipeline, which must be reported promptly.
Yeboah said it is the goal of the company to minimize environmental impacts, protect he pipelines, equipment and other facilities.
The Company has therefore drawn a an Emergency Response Plan which is a guide for all employees on items such as reporting emergencies, responding to emergencies and the training needed to properly respond to emergencies.
According to the Managing Director of WAPCo, the Project is near completion and the first gas could be expected in March 2007 although there are hurdles to clear.
According to the Community Relations Manager Emmanuel Anyim, there has been so much education about safety in the communities so much that the people have developed what he termed “engagement fatigue.”
Not satisfied with the safety measures, the MP for Jomoro and Member of the Parliamentary select Committee on Environment, Science and Technology Lee Ocran has this to say, “It is when the work starts that we will know the likely impacts and deal with them accordingly.”
On July 11, 2000, a pipeline explosion in the Niger Delta killed an estimated 250 villagers near the southern Nigerian town of Warri. This explosion occurred just miles from the Niger Delta town of Jesse, where about 1,000 people died in a similar explosion in 1998. Media reports at the time indicated that the Delta is crisscrossed with more than 3,000 pipelines. Many of these are old and leaky and allegedly go unfixed by multinational oil companies that use them to extract their wealth from Africa's most populous country.
The reports according to Democracy Now, a US based advocacy radio and online news service added that when such these explosions happen, the corporate media, the government and the oil corporations accuse thieves and vandals of being responsible. “The press accounts almost always leave out the fact that many of the Delta's pipelines are rusty and corroded and go unrepaired by oil companies like Shell, Chevron and Mobil,.” said Democracy Now on its website of 12 January 2000.
Apart from the deaths that occur, there are other problems associated with such incidents, as depicted by the Friends of the Earth International’s website.
“When oil spills here, those of us who go to the mangrove forest to harvest periwinkle and other sea foods suffer. The crude oil affects the growth and development of the mangrove forest resources such as periwinkles, oysters and crabs. When the river is polluted they all die,” says Ikuroma Samipe, fisherwoman and mother of five children.
As Ghana nears the completion of the West African Gas pipeline project, images of the above narrated incidents among others happenings in the Niger Delta are getting closer to the people.
This became evident at a Stakeholders meeting in Accra last Tuesday which partly discussed safety, health and environmental measures associated with the over 500 kilometre pipeline from a terminal near Lagos to Takoradi in Ghana with supplies to Cotonou in Benin, Lome in Togo and Tema in Ghana.
Owned by Societe Beninoise de Gaz (BENGAZ) from Benin, Societe Togolaise de Gaz (SoToGaz) of Togo, Takoradi Power Company Limited (TAPCo), Nigerian national petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of Nigeria, Chevron, Nigeria and Shell Overseas holdings Limited, WAPCo is to build, own, operate and transport natural gas to help solve the energy needs of the countries mentioned.
Stakeholders were particularly concerned about the preparedness of WAPCo to deal with emergencies.
“Everything looks perfect but I know a project of this magnitude has risks,” said the Member of Parliament for South Dayi Dr. Kwame Ampofo who is also a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy. He was also concerned about the energy security.
A representative of the Ministry of Finance was also concerned about the risks the pipeline poses to the people living around the eight communities comprising, Tema Manhean, and Kpone in the Tema area as well as Aboadze, Nchaban, Abuesi, Dwomo and Shama, all in the Western Region.
The Director of Petroleum of the Ministry of Energy and Mines Dr.Appiagyei Gyamfi asked a question about whether the gas in the pipelines will be compressed or free flowing.
The Deputy Director of Tema branch of the Environmental Protection Agency Lambert Faabeluon was concerned about arrangements for secondary suppliers who will transport the gas from the Tema Port to other industries that might need the gas.
“I don’t expect any leaks at all, ” says the Managing Director of WAPCo Jack Derickson.
“Although we have emergency response in place we should ensure we never have to use them,” he added.
Michelle Cowherd, an advisor on Health and Safety from Chevron said the company is following the guidelines from the Environmental Protection Agency on safety measures.
However, the Health Environment and Safety (HES) Manager of the West African Gas Pipeline Project (WAPCo) Mr. Patrick Akwasi Yeboah appealed to opinion leaders, particularly Members of Parliament who hail from the gas pipeline area to assist in educating the people on safety measures.
Speaking at the Stakeholders meeting, Mr. Akwasi Yeboah said
“We are interested in protecting people, the environment, assets and our reputation.”
This is why we are asking for help in educating the people on how to protect themselves from gas leakage and report such issues,” he said.
He said it is dangerous for individuals to attempt to put out a fire outbreak from the pipeline since they cannot do so.
“This is natural gas under pressure,” he said.
Additionally, no one should attempt to insert a plug in any part of the pipeline to stop a leakage or excavate or disturb the topsoil covering the pipeline.
He said any emergency resulting from a leakage or fire from the Gas pipeline will require prompt action to protect life and property.
Further he said continuous action is required until conditions are no longer hazardous.
Emergency he said is in phases and comprises the “Incident phase” where emergency arises, flowed by the “Emergency Phase” where there is movement from chaos to control as well as the “Management phase” when control is acquired and allows typical project management procedures to be used.
According to Yeboah, in case of a gas leakage of the pipes, residents should immediately leave the leak area and move against the direction of the wind while they warn others about the leakage.
Again they have to inform the local fire department immediately adding, “One should not make contact with the leaking gas.”
Yeboah also warned, residents along the pipe not to create sparks or sources of heat that could cause the gas to ignite.
“If you come upon a leak, while in an automobile do not drive into that area.”
He explained that what makes the situation more difficult is that natural gas is colourless and odourless. “You cannot rely on your sense of smell to detect the natural gas that contains methane,” he said.
One could recognize it as fire burns from the ground or continuous bubbles if it is in water or a swampy area.
“You may also hear a blowing or a hissing sound from the ground.”
Sabotage, leak or rapture alongside, fire and community unrest could result in an emergency along the pipeline route.
He explained further that occasionally, a plow, post-hole, or other excavation strikes a pipeline. While the impact may not seem significant, damage to the pipelines and coating initiates corrosion on that part of the pipeline, which must be reported promptly.
Yeboah said it is the goal of the company to minimize environmental impacts, protect he pipelines, equipment and other facilities.
The Company has therefore drawn a an Emergency Response Plan which is a guide for all employees on items such as reporting emergencies, responding to emergencies and the training needed to properly respond to emergencies.
According to the Managing Director of WAPCo, the Project is near completion and the first gas could be expected in March 2007 although there are hurdles to clear.
According to the Community Relations Manager Emmanuel Anyim, there has been so much education about safety in the communities so much that the people have developed what he termed “engagement fatigue.”
Not satisfied with the safety measures, the MP for Jomoro and Member of the Parliamentary select Committee on Environment, Science and Technology Lee Ocran has this to say, “It is when the work starts that we will know the likely impacts and deal with them accordingly.”
The Beef of Rural Women
By Isabella Gyau Orhin
In rural Ghana, women are the main pillars around whom life revolves. Apart from playing their traditional and cultural roles of fending for the family and keeping the house, women in rural Ghana also play no small role in farming or agriculture which is the mainstay of the country’s economy.
Those in the hinterland are active farmers in cocoa, Ghana’s major cash crop as well as palm and coconut plantations among other food crops.
Their counterparts in the coastal areas also work hand in hand with their men, smoking the fish from the sea and carrying them to the market to sell.
In the mining communities, women are actively engaged in surgface mining, both legal and illegal.
Thus women spur rural economic activity in Ghana on.
In 2003, the then minister for Women and Children’s Affairs Gladys Asmah disclosed that rural women held 50 billion cedis in savings at various rural banks across the country.
These she said represent the savings of just a fraction of rural women in the country.
“ The economic prowess of rural women should therefore not be played down,” she said in reaction to foreign banks that had closed their branches in rural areas due to low economic activities in the country.
According to the 1987/88 Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS), women’s time burden is about 20-25 percent higher than that of men. Rural women supply 80 percent of the labour force for harvesting, storing, processing and marketing of staple crops. In addition, women are expected to provide the vegetables and ingredients that go with the staple, collect fuel wood and engage in income-generating activities during the dry season.
Their domestic responsibilities are often very time-consuming because of the time needed to travel to water sources, fields, stores, schools and health posts, and the lack of time-saving technology.
Also, the recent Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS), says 41% of women in Ghana have never been to school, while some have obtained secondary education fewer women have attained tertiary education
Illiteracy is a problem more prevalent to rural women. 49.5% of rural women in Ghana have not been to school
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations says in the Northern part of Ghana, women work both on the family farm, where the main staples of millet and sorghum are grown, and on their own plots, to cultivate groundnuts, cowpea, bambara beans, rice, millet and vegetables. When women received irrigated land under an IFAD-supported project, they took up commercial vegetable growing.
Women in this part of the country also manage small ruminants and poultry. Other activities include beer brewing and basket weaving.
As formal credit became available under the IFAD-supported project, and demand was promoted among women’s groups, many women applied for small production loans. Often this meant an even greater increase in workload as the women faced the responsibilities of loan repayment, with limited support from husbands or family.
IFAD also say rural women, mainly farmers, are at least 1.6 billion and represent more than a quarter of the total world population.
Also, women produce on average more than half of all the food that is grown: up to 80 percent in Africa, 60 percent in Asia, between 30 and 40 per cent in Latin America and Western countries.
Meanwhile women own only two per cent of the land, and receive only one per cent of all agricultural credit while only five per cent of all agricultural extension resources are directed at women.
Again Women represent two third of all illiterate people while the number of rural women living in poverty has doubled since 1970.
It is against this background that October 15 has been set aside by the United Nations as “ World Rural Women’s Day and is being celebrated all over the world this October. The theme for this year’s celebration day is “Rural Women; Leaders of Tomorrow”.
In Ghana, The Foundation for Female Photojournalists (FFP) in commemoration of the day has called on government, Civil Society groups and individuals to prioritize issues confronting rural women.
“Rural women have suffered a lot of discrimination in many areas of endeavor; they are subjected to severe abuse and violation of their constitutional rights,” The Foundation’s President Mardey Ohui Ofoe said.
According to her, in rural areas women remain subjects of burdensome labour conditions and traditional male dominance. They lack access to amenities such as schools, hospitals, good roads, and good drinking water and suffer many difficult conditions.
Education she said is a fundamental right of every citizen and it is an essential tool to develop critical interest among people and improve their capacity for decision making on a more solid base.
“With education, the rural girl-child will have a better knowledge of her rights. Through education, the human resource of rural women will be maximized for the development of Ghana,” she said.
“ Rural women are the movers and shakers of the agricultural world, and they are engaged in the rearing of animals, growing of food crops, processing of shear butter, rice and other food crops for consumption.”
In order for rural women to become leaders they must be given the opportunity to fulfill their potentials,” Ofoe said adding “We are calling on Government to respond swiftly to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s call to protect local industries through legislation.”
In the area of micro finance, she said it has become common for government institutions and some donors as well as Civil Society Organizations to hold several activities purporting to be helping women groups to economically expand their businesses.
“It is very impractical for women’s groups to expand their business merely by bank loans,” she said.
“Government must acknowledge that some of its trade liberalization policies jeopardizes the economic activities of rural women and makes valueless the small loans rural women receive,” she added.
The bad roads in rural setting make transportation difficult for rural dwellers especially women. The bad roads also put the lives of rural women in labour at risk since they can lose their lives if they do not get to the hospital on time.
Due to the lack of access to basic livelihood for rural women rural girls tend to migrate to the cities in search for greener pastures where they face exploitation.
“We call on individuals, civil society groups and governmental agencies to make life bearable for rural women.
In rural Ghana, women are the main pillars around whom life revolves. Apart from playing their traditional and cultural roles of fending for the family and keeping the house, women in rural Ghana also play no small role in farming or agriculture which is the mainstay of the country’s economy.
Those in the hinterland are active farmers in cocoa, Ghana’s major cash crop as well as palm and coconut plantations among other food crops.
Their counterparts in the coastal areas also work hand in hand with their men, smoking the fish from the sea and carrying them to the market to sell.
In the mining communities, women are actively engaged in surgface mining, both legal and illegal.
Thus women spur rural economic activity in Ghana on.
In 2003, the then minister for Women and Children’s Affairs Gladys Asmah disclosed that rural women held 50 billion cedis in savings at various rural banks across the country.
These she said represent the savings of just a fraction of rural women in the country.
“ The economic prowess of rural women should therefore not be played down,” she said in reaction to foreign banks that had closed their branches in rural areas due to low economic activities in the country.
According to the 1987/88 Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS), women’s time burden is about 20-25 percent higher than that of men. Rural women supply 80 percent of the labour force for harvesting, storing, processing and marketing of staple crops. In addition, women are expected to provide the vegetables and ingredients that go with the staple, collect fuel wood and engage in income-generating activities during the dry season.
Their domestic responsibilities are often very time-consuming because of the time needed to travel to water sources, fields, stores, schools and health posts, and the lack of time-saving technology.
Also, the recent Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS), says 41% of women in Ghana have never been to school, while some have obtained secondary education fewer women have attained tertiary education
Illiteracy is a problem more prevalent to rural women. 49.5% of rural women in Ghana have not been to school
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations says in the Northern part of Ghana, women work both on the family farm, where the main staples of millet and sorghum are grown, and on their own plots, to cultivate groundnuts, cowpea, bambara beans, rice, millet and vegetables. When women received irrigated land under an IFAD-supported project, they took up commercial vegetable growing.
Women in this part of the country also manage small ruminants and poultry. Other activities include beer brewing and basket weaving.
As formal credit became available under the IFAD-supported project, and demand was promoted among women’s groups, many women applied for small production loans. Often this meant an even greater increase in workload as the women faced the responsibilities of loan repayment, with limited support from husbands or family.
IFAD also say rural women, mainly farmers, are at least 1.6 billion and represent more than a quarter of the total world population.
Also, women produce on average more than half of all the food that is grown: up to 80 percent in Africa, 60 percent in Asia, between 30 and 40 per cent in Latin America and Western countries.
Meanwhile women own only two per cent of the land, and receive only one per cent of all agricultural credit while only five per cent of all agricultural extension resources are directed at women.
Again Women represent two third of all illiterate people while the number of rural women living in poverty has doubled since 1970.
It is against this background that October 15 has been set aside by the United Nations as “ World Rural Women’s Day and is being celebrated all over the world this October. The theme for this year’s celebration day is “Rural Women; Leaders of Tomorrow”.
In Ghana, The Foundation for Female Photojournalists (FFP) in commemoration of the day has called on government, Civil Society groups and individuals to prioritize issues confronting rural women.
“Rural women have suffered a lot of discrimination in many areas of endeavor; they are subjected to severe abuse and violation of their constitutional rights,” The Foundation’s President Mardey Ohui Ofoe said.
According to her, in rural areas women remain subjects of burdensome labour conditions and traditional male dominance. They lack access to amenities such as schools, hospitals, good roads, and good drinking water and suffer many difficult conditions.
Education she said is a fundamental right of every citizen and it is an essential tool to develop critical interest among people and improve their capacity for decision making on a more solid base.
“With education, the rural girl-child will have a better knowledge of her rights. Through education, the human resource of rural women will be maximized for the development of Ghana,” she said.
“ Rural women are the movers and shakers of the agricultural world, and they are engaged in the rearing of animals, growing of food crops, processing of shear butter, rice and other food crops for consumption.”
In order for rural women to become leaders they must be given the opportunity to fulfill their potentials,” Ofoe said adding “We are calling on Government to respond swiftly to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s call to protect local industries through legislation.”
In the area of micro finance, she said it has become common for government institutions and some donors as well as Civil Society Organizations to hold several activities purporting to be helping women groups to economically expand their businesses.
“It is very impractical for women’s groups to expand their business merely by bank loans,” she said.
“Government must acknowledge that some of its trade liberalization policies jeopardizes the economic activities of rural women and makes valueless the small loans rural women receive,” she added.
The bad roads in rural setting make transportation difficult for rural dwellers especially women. The bad roads also put the lives of rural women in labour at risk since they can lose their lives if they do not get to the hospital on time.
Due to the lack of access to basic livelihood for rural women rural girls tend to migrate to the cities in search for greener pastures where they face exploitation.
“We call on individuals, civil society groups and governmental agencies to make life bearable for rural women.
African women and politics
By Isabella Gyau Orhin
After joining Africa's colonial-era movements to struggle for freedom for their country and themselves, African women were marginalized after independence. Many went into the nonprofit or civil-society sector - or ended up just singing and dancing at airports as part of arrival ceremonies for male politicians. However, the trend has changed now and African women are no longer spreading out their cloth on the floor for their male counterparts.
Instead they are rubbing shoulders with them on political platforms.
This was more evidently when Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was sworn in as the first female President of Liberia: something even the United States of America which is touted as the doyen of democracy is yet to experience.
This week in Accra, a Network of African Women Ministers and Parliamentarians are meeting to build their capacity in order to increase their numbers and make more positive impact on the lives of their people.
From Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Ghana and Kenya, the women Parliamentarians say they have been marginalized for far too long, and are now on the warpath to claim what is rightfully theirs.
“This training is to equip women leaders with tools to fight the sexual inequalities and iniquities which limit our central role in development,” says Theresah Amerley Tagoe a Member of Parliament in Ghana and the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Caucus on Population and Development.
The Minister for women and Children’s Affairs Hajia Alima Mahama said Ghanaian women have suffered political exclusion over the years.
She cited the case of Ghana’s Local elections where women formed only 7percent of the 70 percent elected assembly people.
She said the meeting was timely, coming at a time when Ghana is preparing for the local government elections in September where the participation of women is expected to improve.
“For us in Ghana, we believe keeping girls in school is the beginning of finding a lasting solution to the problem,” Hajia Alima Mahama told her audience.
The drive to promote women in decision-making positions worldwide gained momentum during the 1980s and early 1990s through a series of international conferences. Further impetus came from the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, China, in 1995, which called for at least 30 per cent representation by women in national governments. In September 2000 at the UN Millennium Summit in New York, world leaders pledged to "promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate development that is truly sustainable." At that meeting, world leaders adopted the goal of gender equality and seven others, known collectively as the Millennium Development Goals. Since then, the number of women in leadership positions has been rising.
"Study after study has shown that there is no effective development strategy in which women do not play a central role," says UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. When women are fully involved, he notes, the benefits are immediate - families are healthier and better fed and their income, savings and investments go up. "And what is true of families is also true of communities and, in the long run, of whole countries."
According the African Renewal magazine of the United Nations, women's representation in national parliaments across sub-Saharan Africa equals the world average of about 15 per cent.
Despite being one of the poorest regions in the world, the level of women's representation in parliament in sub-Saharan Africa is higher than in many wealthier countries, observes UNIFEM in its Progress of the World's Women 2002 report. In the US, France and Japan for instance, women hold slightly more than 10 per cent of parliamentary seats.
The African Renewal magazine also says between 2000 and 2002, elections were held in 23 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with increases in women parliamentarians in 14 of them.
Most of the countries that have achieved significant increases in women's participation have done so through the use of quotas - a form of affirmative action in favour of women. Worldwide, about 30 of the world's more than 190 countries apply some form of female quotas in politics.
In South Africa too, women played a key role in the national liberation struggle and today are benefiting from a quota system adopted by the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
The World Bank concluded in 2001 that "women can be an effective force for the rule of law and good governance" - and has increased its support of women-oriented programs.
“Gender equality and women’s empowerment are key to all population and development programmes,” says Virginia Ofosu-Armaah formerly of the UN Office in New York.
“We cannot effectively implement programmes without gender equality.”
Not satisfied with progress so far, Mrs. Ofosu Armaah believes there is hope for the future. “We have not reached there yet,” she says “there is a major task ahead of us, to bridge the gap.”
The Resident Coordinator of the UN systems in Ghana Daouda Toure said the challenges of fighting poverty, disease and discrimination require more coordinated effective organization to achieve success.
“There is therefore the need to involve all stakeholders, government, development partners civil society organizations and leaders at all levels of society to improve the quality of life of our people,” he said.
Formed about 12 years ago, the Network of African Women Ministers and Parliamentarians has remained an informal structure bringing together national associations and networks of women ministers and Parliamentarians currently in office or those who were formerly in office in their countries and are willing to participate on a voluntary basis in the promotion and attainment of the priority objective of the International Conference of Population and Development (ICPD) held in 1994, in Cairo and the Beijing Platform of Action of 1995.
It is in this light that UNFPA accepted to strengthen the network, within the framework of its regional work by funding eight capacity building meetings over 10 months across the continent together with the Centre for African Family Studies.
“It is my hope that the Accra Capacity building Workshop will further sharpen your skills and leadership qualities in he area of advocacy for gender equity,” Toure said.
After joining Africa's colonial-era movements to struggle for freedom for their country and themselves, African women were marginalized after independence. Many went into the nonprofit or civil-society sector - or ended up just singing and dancing at airports as part of arrival ceremonies for male politicians. However, the trend has changed now and African women are no longer spreading out their cloth on the floor for their male counterparts.
Instead they are rubbing shoulders with them on political platforms.
This was more evidently when Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was sworn in as the first female President of Liberia: something even the United States of America which is touted as the doyen of democracy is yet to experience.
This week in Accra, a Network of African Women Ministers and Parliamentarians are meeting to build their capacity in order to increase their numbers and make more positive impact on the lives of their people.
From Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Ghana and Kenya, the women Parliamentarians say they have been marginalized for far too long, and are now on the warpath to claim what is rightfully theirs.
“This training is to equip women leaders with tools to fight the sexual inequalities and iniquities which limit our central role in development,” says Theresah Amerley Tagoe a Member of Parliament in Ghana and the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Caucus on Population and Development.
The Minister for women and Children’s Affairs Hajia Alima Mahama said Ghanaian women have suffered political exclusion over the years.
She cited the case of Ghana’s Local elections where women formed only 7percent of the 70 percent elected assembly people.
She said the meeting was timely, coming at a time when Ghana is preparing for the local government elections in September where the participation of women is expected to improve.
“For us in Ghana, we believe keeping girls in school is the beginning of finding a lasting solution to the problem,” Hajia Alima Mahama told her audience.
The drive to promote women in decision-making positions worldwide gained momentum during the 1980s and early 1990s through a series of international conferences. Further impetus came from the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, China, in 1995, which called for at least 30 per cent representation by women in national governments. In September 2000 at the UN Millennium Summit in New York, world leaders pledged to "promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate development that is truly sustainable." At that meeting, world leaders adopted the goal of gender equality and seven others, known collectively as the Millennium Development Goals. Since then, the number of women in leadership positions has been rising.
"Study after study has shown that there is no effective development strategy in which women do not play a central role," says UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. When women are fully involved, he notes, the benefits are immediate - families are healthier and better fed and their income, savings and investments go up. "And what is true of families is also true of communities and, in the long run, of whole countries."
According the African Renewal magazine of the United Nations, women's representation in national parliaments across sub-Saharan Africa equals the world average of about 15 per cent.
Despite being one of the poorest regions in the world, the level of women's representation in parliament in sub-Saharan Africa is higher than in many wealthier countries, observes UNIFEM in its Progress of the World's Women 2002 report. In the US, France and Japan for instance, women hold slightly more than 10 per cent of parliamentary seats.
The African Renewal magazine also says between 2000 and 2002, elections were held in 23 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with increases in women parliamentarians in 14 of them.
Most of the countries that have achieved significant increases in women's participation have done so through the use of quotas - a form of affirmative action in favour of women. Worldwide, about 30 of the world's more than 190 countries apply some form of female quotas in politics.
In South Africa too, women played a key role in the national liberation struggle and today are benefiting from a quota system adopted by the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
The World Bank concluded in 2001 that "women can be an effective force for the rule of law and good governance" - and has increased its support of women-oriented programs.
“Gender equality and women’s empowerment are key to all population and development programmes,” says Virginia Ofosu-Armaah formerly of the UN Office in New York.
“We cannot effectively implement programmes without gender equality.”
Not satisfied with progress so far, Mrs. Ofosu Armaah believes there is hope for the future. “We have not reached there yet,” she says “there is a major task ahead of us, to bridge the gap.”
The Resident Coordinator of the UN systems in Ghana Daouda Toure said the challenges of fighting poverty, disease and discrimination require more coordinated effective organization to achieve success.
“There is therefore the need to involve all stakeholders, government, development partners civil society organizations and leaders at all levels of society to improve the quality of life of our people,” he said.
Formed about 12 years ago, the Network of African Women Ministers and Parliamentarians has remained an informal structure bringing together national associations and networks of women ministers and Parliamentarians currently in office or those who were formerly in office in their countries and are willing to participate on a voluntary basis in the promotion and attainment of the priority objective of the International Conference of Population and Development (ICPD) held in 1994, in Cairo and the Beijing Platform of Action of 1995.
It is in this light that UNFPA accepted to strengthen the network, within the framework of its regional work by funding eight capacity building meetings over 10 months across the continent together with the Centre for African Family Studies.
“It is my hope that the Accra Capacity building Workshop will further sharpen your skills and leadership qualities in he area of advocacy for gender equity,” Toure said.
The Saga of biofuel in Ghana
By Isabella Gyau Orhin
When Ghana’s Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama visited Thailand at the beginning of September this year, he was fascinated by that country’s level of technological advancement in biofuel generation.
According to media reports including that of the Ghana News Agency, the Deputy Director of the Royal "Chitralada" Projects, Ms Rosarin Smitabhim told the Vice President from Ghana that Thailand would be switching to the use of bio-diesel and gasoline next year.
She said currently the official vehicles of the King were being powered solely by bio-fuel. The Royal projects include a solar energy system that could serve a large area of Bangkok, the use of rice chaff for charcoal production, recycling of used household oil for soap and the manufacturing of candles from bee wax.
Alhaji Mahama on his part said Ghana would tap the expertise of Thailand in the large scale production of bio-fuel for national consumption
He said although Ghana had set in progress the development of bio-diesel, the stride Thailand had made by way of research would illuminate the path of Ghanaian researchers.
Although Ghana has made strides in the production of bio-fuel since the last few years, lack of financial investment has delayed the dreams of Ghanaian experts in biofuel such as Onua Amoah, who intends to cultivate Jatropha on commercial basis.
Last Thursday the Energy Commission held a stakeholders forum to discuss, way of improving the production of bio-fuel in the country in the wake of the dwindling energy resources in the country as well as escalating world oil prices.
Ato Simpson another Bio-fuel expert who works with Onua Amoah told Public Agenda in an interview at the meeting that only six thousand hectares of Jatropha has been planted by their company.
He said there is the need to plant about 270,000 hectare to market the fuel in commercial quantities.
Experts say though fossil fuels or petroleum products will slowly be replaced by other forms of energy the oil industry will continue to play a central role in its substitution.
Natural gas, hydrogen, bio fuels, biomass liquid fuels and liquid gas. have all been identified as alternatives to fossil fuels.In a speech read for him at the Stakeholders meeting, Ghana’s Minister for Energy and Mines Mr. Kofi Adda said the falling prices of crude oil in the world market should not stop Ghanaians for looking out for other alternative sources of fuel in the country such as bio-fuel for vehicles, cooking and lighting.
Mr. Adda said extreme dependence on petroleum products involves both risks from the energy security and environmental points of view.
Crude oil prices have fallen from about 76 dollars a barrel some weeks back to around 62 dollars in recent times.
“Modern biofuel technology will make us cultivate fuel to grow our economy, protect our available energy source and environment, as well as reduce dependency on imported fuel,” he said.
The main resource required for the production of biofuel is land and that is available in Ghana compared to other African countries.
“We have abundant arable land and a stable climate good for growing energy crops and food.”
According to him, if the right technological know- how are used, Ghanaian farmers will be proud to say, “We are energy producers.”
Ghana he said is blessed with plant resources such as oil palm, maize, sugar cane cassava and Jatropha which can be processed into ethanol and biodiesel.
The Minister further said recent developments of the biofuel technology through institutional linkages has come up with a National Bio-fuel Policy Recommendations document and licensing requirements for bio-fuel producers. These documents have been developed as a guideline to encourage entrepreneurs and business developers to transfer some of their laboratory trials to large industrial production and for business, which have already started production to increase their production capacities to usher in the bio-fuel era in Ghana.
Mr. Adda suggested institutional training, research and human resource development, science and technology to ensure the smooth running of the bio-fuel projects in Ghana.
“It is only drastic implementation decisions and commitment that can bring bio-fuel at parity with fossil fuel in terms of availability, cost effectiveness, technology, quality of service and marketing,” he said.
Supporting Adda, the Managing Director of Biodisel 1 Company Mr. Christian Kofi Marfo said he had developed biofuel from soybeans which cost 22,000 cedis per gallon.
While demonstrating the potency of his soybean fuel by putting several litres in a four wheel drive vehicle and moving the car, he said bio-fuel from soybeans are more expensive than fuel from Jatropha which will cost about 15,000 cedis per gallon as against petrol which costs about 36,000 cedis.
Dr. Gorge Afranie of the Koforidua Polytechnic on his part said there is an urgent need to develop bio-fuel since petroleum products have come under threat from escalation of prices and disruption of flow.
However Third World Advocacy organizations are worried about the bio-fuel projects in Ghana and other third world countries.
Their beef is that, these projects will benefit advanced countries to the detriment of the developing countries.
According to one of such organizations, the Institute of Science in Society, a London based in London various European countries have established goals to increase their use of biofuels as a substitute to gasoline and diesel.
For instance the European Union has established that by the year 2010, six percent of fuels will be biofuels and hopes that by 2020 the percentage will increase to eight percent. Critics say it is unlikely that Europe will dedicate its soils to the growth of these types of crops and as such third world countries will provide the land and cheap labour and the environmental effects caused by large plantations from which the biofuels are grown and refining. According to the Institute, companies dedicated to the business of biodiesel have placed their sights on Latin American, African, Asian and Pacific countries, since they consider that these countries can obtain raw material at competitive prices.
According to declarations made by the CEO of the DI Oils, a renewable Energy company in he UK, they are working with plantations of crops known as Jatropha for the production of biodiesel from Ghana to the Philippines, passing through India, Madagascar and South Africa. Up till now they have established 267.000 hectare and have the intention of expanding to nine million Hectares in the future.
UK-based DI Oils predicted in 2004 that the world market for biodiesel would grow by 14.5 percent annually to 2.79 million tonnes by 2010.
Currently, Brazil is said to be the largest supplier o bio-fuel to the UK.
Countries such as Thailand, India, Guatemala, Mali, Cambodia Tanzania, Argentina, Malawi and Madagascar are all doing studies or are benefiting from biofuel projects.
When Ghana’s Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama visited Thailand at the beginning of September this year, he was fascinated by that country’s level of technological advancement in biofuel generation.
According to media reports including that of the Ghana News Agency, the Deputy Director of the Royal "Chitralada" Projects, Ms Rosarin Smitabhim told the Vice President from Ghana that Thailand would be switching to the use of bio-diesel and gasoline next year.
She said currently the official vehicles of the King were being powered solely by bio-fuel. The Royal projects include a solar energy system that could serve a large area of Bangkok, the use of rice chaff for charcoal production, recycling of used household oil for soap and the manufacturing of candles from bee wax.
Alhaji Mahama on his part said Ghana would tap the expertise of Thailand in the large scale production of bio-fuel for national consumption
He said although Ghana had set in progress the development of bio-diesel, the stride Thailand had made by way of research would illuminate the path of Ghanaian researchers.
Although Ghana has made strides in the production of bio-fuel since the last few years, lack of financial investment has delayed the dreams of Ghanaian experts in biofuel such as Onua Amoah, who intends to cultivate Jatropha on commercial basis.
Last Thursday the Energy Commission held a stakeholders forum to discuss, way of improving the production of bio-fuel in the country in the wake of the dwindling energy resources in the country as well as escalating world oil prices.
Ato Simpson another Bio-fuel expert who works with Onua Amoah told Public Agenda in an interview at the meeting that only six thousand hectares of Jatropha has been planted by their company.
He said there is the need to plant about 270,000 hectare to market the fuel in commercial quantities.
Experts say though fossil fuels or petroleum products will slowly be replaced by other forms of energy the oil industry will continue to play a central role in its substitution.
Natural gas, hydrogen, bio fuels, biomass liquid fuels and liquid gas. have all been identified as alternatives to fossil fuels.In a speech read for him at the Stakeholders meeting, Ghana’s Minister for Energy and Mines Mr. Kofi Adda said the falling prices of crude oil in the world market should not stop Ghanaians for looking out for other alternative sources of fuel in the country such as bio-fuel for vehicles, cooking and lighting.
Mr. Adda said extreme dependence on petroleum products involves both risks from the energy security and environmental points of view.
Crude oil prices have fallen from about 76 dollars a barrel some weeks back to around 62 dollars in recent times.
“Modern biofuel technology will make us cultivate fuel to grow our economy, protect our available energy source and environment, as well as reduce dependency on imported fuel,” he said.
The main resource required for the production of biofuel is land and that is available in Ghana compared to other African countries.
“We have abundant arable land and a stable climate good for growing energy crops and food.”
According to him, if the right technological know- how are used, Ghanaian farmers will be proud to say, “We are energy producers.”
Ghana he said is blessed with plant resources such as oil palm, maize, sugar cane cassava and Jatropha which can be processed into ethanol and biodiesel.
The Minister further said recent developments of the biofuel technology through institutional linkages has come up with a National Bio-fuel Policy Recommendations document and licensing requirements for bio-fuel producers. These documents have been developed as a guideline to encourage entrepreneurs and business developers to transfer some of their laboratory trials to large industrial production and for business, which have already started production to increase their production capacities to usher in the bio-fuel era in Ghana.
Mr. Adda suggested institutional training, research and human resource development, science and technology to ensure the smooth running of the bio-fuel projects in Ghana.
“It is only drastic implementation decisions and commitment that can bring bio-fuel at parity with fossil fuel in terms of availability, cost effectiveness, technology, quality of service and marketing,” he said.
Supporting Adda, the Managing Director of Biodisel 1 Company Mr. Christian Kofi Marfo said he had developed biofuel from soybeans which cost 22,000 cedis per gallon.
While demonstrating the potency of his soybean fuel by putting several litres in a four wheel drive vehicle and moving the car, he said bio-fuel from soybeans are more expensive than fuel from Jatropha which will cost about 15,000 cedis per gallon as against petrol which costs about 36,000 cedis.
Dr. Gorge Afranie of the Koforidua Polytechnic on his part said there is an urgent need to develop bio-fuel since petroleum products have come under threat from escalation of prices and disruption of flow.
However Third World Advocacy organizations are worried about the bio-fuel projects in Ghana and other third world countries.
Their beef is that, these projects will benefit advanced countries to the detriment of the developing countries.
According to one of such organizations, the Institute of Science in Society, a London based in London various European countries have established goals to increase their use of biofuels as a substitute to gasoline and diesel.
For instance the European Union has established that by the year 2010, six percent of fuels will be biofuels and hopes that by 2020 the percentage will increase to eight percent. Critics say it is unlikely that Europe will dedicate its soils to the growth of these types of crops and as such third world countries will provide the land and cheap labour and the environmental effects caused by large plantations from which the biofuels are grown and refining. According to the Institute, companies dedicated to the business of biodiesel have placed their sights on Latin American, African, Asian and Pacific countries, since they consider that these countries can obtain raw material at competitive prices.
According to declarations made by the CEO of the DI Oils, a renewable Energy company in he UK, they are working with plantations of crops known as Jatropha for the production of biodiesel from Ghana to the Philippines, passing through India, Madagascar and South Africa. Up till now they have established 267.000 hectare and have the intention of expanding to nine million Hectares in the future.
UK-based DI Oils predicted in 2004 that the world market for biodiesel would grow by 14.5 percent annually to 2.79 million tonnes by 2010.
Currently, Brazil is said to be the largest supplier o bio-fuel to the UK.
Countries such as Thailand, India, Guatemala, Mali, Cambodia Tanzania, Argentina, Malawi and Madagascar are all doing studies or are benefiting from biofuel projects.
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