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Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas – Diplomat extraordinaire …champions AU’s agenda to ‘Silencing the Guns’
● Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas
Number of Ghanaians have excelled and continue to excel on the diplomatic missions and other international assignments. Some notable names would readily come to mind and that of Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas is no exception.
His portfolio has grown over the years with the most recent being his appointment as High Representative for Silencing the Guns by African Union (AU) Chairperson H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Dr.
Chambas in discussions on
peace and security in Africa
The chairperson, making the announcement, was thrilled that Dr. Chambas’ outstanding credentials and commitment to Pan-Africanism and Agenda 2063 would help him succeed in his new position.
Silencing the Guns is an initiative of the AU promulgated in 2016 to ultimately end all forms of conflicts on the African Continent by the year 2020. However, due to many setbacks the initiative could not be achieved as a result the AU extended the initiative to 2030.
In order to implement the AU Master Roadmap on Practical Steps to Silence the Guns, the release states that the High Representative will prioritise promoting and energising advocacy, mediation, and preventive diplomacy as directed by the Chairperson of the Commission.
Portfolio
Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas is a politician, attorney, diplomat, and scholar from Ghana.
From 2014 to 2021, he held the positions of Head of the UN Office for West Africa (UNOWAS) and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for West Africa.
Between 2013 and 2014, Dr. Chambas served as the Joint Chief Mediator (JCM) and Joint Special Representative (JSR) of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), respectively.
He held the position of Secretary General of the African Caribbean and Pacific Group (ACP) from 2010 until 2013. .
Dr. Chambas presided over the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) from 2006 to 2009 before taking the helm of the ACP.
Beginning in February 2002, while ECOWAS established a Secretariat, he again served as the organisation’s Executive Secretary.
Dr. Chambas, a former member of the Ghanaian parliament, worked as the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister in 1987 and the deputy minister of education in-charge of tertiary education from 1997 to 2000.
He played a key role in the ECOWAS mediation efforts in Liberia between 1991 and 1996 and actively took part in the negotiations that resulted in the agreements that ended the Liberian civil war.
Advocate
As the Head of United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Dr
Mohamed Ibn Chambas, urged government and stakeholders to provide more support for women leaders and groups so they could continue their “transformative works” towards ensuring peace and security on the African continent and beyond.
He noted that women, over the years, had played leading roles in the mitigation of conflict but their impact was still limited due to inadequate resource allocation, hence the need to scale up institutional support.
The Special Representative of the Secretary General was speaking at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in West Africa and the Sahel.
Held under the theme: “Beyond 2020: Building Local Capacity to Advance the WPS Agenda in West Africa and the Sahel”, the symposium brought together experts from the sub-region to discuss progress made as well as areas to improve upon.
Call for gender parity
Dr Chambas indicated that immense achievement had been made in the implementation of the resolution for the past 20 years but there was still more to be done, especially for women in peace and security.
While acknowledging the role of African women leaders in peace processes on the continent, he noted that women represented only two per cent of mediators in peace processes. That, he emphasised was woefully inadequate hence the need for gender parity to remain the core of peace and stability discussions on the continent and beyond.
“We have to back our actions with the requisite financial and political support and give more opportunities for women and the youth to advance sustainable development and peace”.
“We need to work and invest in gender parity and women empowerment to achieve the goal of preventing conflict and ensuring peace and prosperity in the region,” he said.
However, he said the inclusion of women in peace process should not only be about “increasing the numbers” but should as well focus on the protection of women’s rights and interest and seeking justice for the vulnerable
By Portia Hutton-Mills
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GEXIM deepens relations with US EXIM Bank
A management team of the Ghana Export – Import Bank (GEXIM) led by the Acting Chief Executive, Sylvester Mensah met with the leadership of the Export–Import Bank of the United States (US EXIM) on Wednesday April 23, 2025 in Washington DC, United States of America.
The Acting President and Chairman of US EXIM, Mr. James C. Cruse and Vice President, International Relations, Ms. Isabel Galdiz received the GEXIM delegation, which included Deputy CEO for Banking, Mr. Moses Klu Mensah and Head of International Cooperation, Mr. Jonathan Christopher Koney at the headquarters of US EXIM.
The meeting offered the GEXIM team the opportunity to share the strategic direction of the Bank in line with the resetting agenda of the President of the Republic, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama for the repositioning of the Ghanaian economy into an export-led one by providing the requisite investment to Ghanaian businesses.
Mr. James C. Cruse expressed US EXIM’s eagerness to deepen its existing relations with GEXIM and proposed the signing of a new Cooperative Framework Agreement following the expiration of a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2019 to utilize US EXIM’s medium term loan guarantees to procure machinery by GEXIM for qualified Ghanaian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).
Mr.Sylvester Mensah thanked the Acting President and Chairman of US EXIM for hosting the GEXIM delegation and reaffirmed the Ghanaian government’s commitment to strengthening trade and investment between Ghana and its global partners for economic transformation of Ghana with GEXIM playing a pivotal role.
The two teams will be meeting on the sidelines of the 2025 US EXIM Annual Conference on 29th and April 30, 2025 to explore possible areas of collaboration and matching Ghanaian businesses to American companies. The meeting ended with an exchange of gifts.
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Many SOEs have been used as mere instruments for personal wealth accumulation –Pres.Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama has expressed concern over the misuse of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) for personal financial gain by individuals in leadership positions.
Speaking during a meeting with Chief Executives of specified entities under the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) on Thursday, March 13, the President directly attributed the dire state of SOEs to their leadership, accusing chief executives, management teams, and governing boards of prioritising personal enrichment over organisational efficiency.
He pointed to bloated budgets, unjustified allowances, and unnecessary expenditures as factors draining public funds while SOEs continue to rely on government bailouts.
“Many SOEs have been used as mere instruments for personal wealth accumulation by appointees. The chief executives, management, and boards of these enterprises are responsible for this situation. Some SOEs have become perennial loss-makers, draining public funds with bloated budgets, unjustified allowances, and unnecessary expenditures while relying on government bailouts as if entitled to them. Many of these entities are at their lowest point in the entire history of the Fourth Republic,” he said.
President Mahama further noted that many SOEs have been plagued by inefficiencies, corruption, and mismanagement, leading to consistent financial losses. He cited the 2023 State Ownership Report by the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), which highlighted systemic inefficiencies and wasteful expenditures within these entities.
He therefore reaffirmed his commitment to reforming under-performing SOEs and ensuring they serve national interests.
He warned that loss-making SOEs will no longer be tolerated and will either be merged, privatised, or closed.
“I will assess you based on your performance. If you do not align with the pace of the reset agenda, you may be asked to step aside. If that adds to the horror movie, so be it,” he added.
Source: Myjoyonline.com
