News
Stakeholders call for deeper consultation on Ghana’s national energy transition framework
Participants in renewable energy and efficiency have called for deeper consultation on Ghana’s national energy transition framework to avoid dire financial consequences on local economies.
For them, energy transition was important as the whole world was moving towards that and Ghana could not be left out, however, there were a lot of implications in the quest to move towards cleaner energy.
In a day’s youth participation in energy transition and domestic resources mobilisation workshop organised by the Strategic Youth Network Development (SYND), they indicated that the energy transition model used by developed countries could not be used for African countries that were still struggling to grow.
Dr Robert Bright Mawuko Sogbadji, leading expert in Nuclear physics and renewable energy explained that Ghana’s National Energy Framework seeks to minimise energy related indoor air pollution and its related illnesses but Ghana was reliant on the oil and gas industry and that if we say we were going to hastily transition, it meant that we were going to lose out on revenue.
For instance, he said Ghana raked in $1.6 billion from petroleum revenue in 2022 and, therefore, any rush in energy transition would create financial loss to the country.
He said it was important for all countries in Africa to strive to achieve energy access because failure to do so would affect sustainable development.
In doing so, he said efforts must be made to put in place improved infrastructure along the value chain from generation to distribution.
Dr Sogbadji also said that even as African countries strived for the right financing for sustainable energy transition, there must be the political will to push through policies that would help to achieve net zero.
“The various governments must also ensure that there is ease of doing business, aside from implementing policies that will attract private capital,” she added.
Denis Gyeyir, Senior Programmes of Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) said the energy sector was one of the high emitting sectors which was key if Ghana was to achieve its net zero ambitions.
This, he said, would have a significant impact on women and children who are the main gatherers of firewood.
However, he said limitations such as challenging investment climate, uncertainty of available resources, limited technology capacity, insufficient experience in renewable energy development, human and socio-economic challenges and information gap were some barriers to renewable energy development in the country.
He called for an information labelling to display information to be available to customers to help encourage energy efficiency in the country.
BY BENEDICTA GYIMAAH FOLLEY
News
Chiefs, Queenmothers not evil
The Queenmother of Agave Traditional Area, Mamaga Anyagadze, has advised Ghanaians not to regard chiefs and queenmothers as evil or idol worshipers.
“They are not evil or idol worshipers. We should rather take the necessary steps to learn more about the custodian role that traditional rulers play in protecting the rich culture and tradition of the people.”
Mamaga Anyagadze gave the advice at the installation and outdooring of Togbe Nornorkuadzi-Tsigbe II and Mama Kumorxe II as chief and queenmother of the Fievie Clan, a division of the Agave Traditional Area.
The stool has been vacant for the past 100 years.
According to Mamaga Anyagadze, there was nothing evil about chiefs and queenmothers, irrespective of the various traditional practices.
“The Holy Bible identified kings and their roles in the affairs of men, therefore, it is important for Ghanaians, particularly the youth, to know much about chiefs and the cultural practices of their respective traditional areas.”
Mamaga Anyagadze observed that it was unfortunate families and friends related well with people but the moment they became chiefs, they distant themselves from them with the mind that the chiefs and queens indulge in evil.
The queenmother of the Agave Traditional Area explained that the fundamental roles of traditional rulers, including leading and providing leadership that would promote peace and unity, were vital to development, and had nothing to do with idol worship and evil spirits.
According to her, the greatest thing citizens could offer traditional rulers was to support them by offering constructive criticism instead of outright condemnation as evil men and women.
This, she said, was a misconception without any basis at all.
A Senior Divisional Chief of the Adaklu Traditional Area and the Chief of Adaklu-Anfoe, Togbe Agbobada, who was the guest speaker, said due to the vital roles chiefs played, it was mostly difficult to get one, a situation that affected the Fievie Clan of Agave traditional area for over 100 years, stressing the need for the people to safeguard jealously against any act that would distract the new traditional rulers.
Togbe Agbobada noted that chiefs were the symbol of hope, peace and unity of every society, and, therefore urged the people of the Fievie Clan to work hard and support the new traditional rulers for the rapid development of the area.
The newly installed chief, Togbe Nornorkuadzi Tsigbe II, lauded the kingmakers for the confidence reposed in him and the queenmother, Mama Kumorxe, and promised to serve the people to the best of their abilities.
Moreover, Togbe Nornorkuadzi urged the people to uphold the rich cultural practices of Agave, to pave the way for meaningful development, saying without upholding the cultural and traditional values of the area, there could be no meaningful development.
Present at the ceremony were Secretary to the Paramount Chief of Agave Traditional Area, Togbega Xedihor Hlitabo, Mr Charles Amenyo, Deputy Secretary, Mr Holy Kofi Ahiabu, the Custodian of the Chieftain of the Agave Paramount Chief, Mr Alfred Woyome, the Head of Fievie Clan of Agave, and Togbe Kpegla Aheto.
From Samuel Agbewode, Dabala
News
Next of kin has no automatic access to bank account
- Journalists that participated in the BoG workshop
It is belief of many that the next of kin of a bank account automatically has access to funds if the account holder dies.
But this is not exactly so, because the next of kin is only a nominee of the account holder who serves as a primary contact in the event where the bank is not able to reach out to the account holder.
This came to light at a training programme organised by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for some selected journalists in Kumasi.
Assistant Director, Financial Stability Department of the BoG, Mr Augustine Amoako Donkor, explained that the next of kin concept in the banking sector or operation is to trace the whereabouts of an account holder and not who inherits the account.
“If you are made the next of kin of a bank account by a friend or relative, then know that you do not have automatic access to the funds in the account should the account holder dies.
The next of kin should know a lot about the account holder and that is why in practice, many people will use their close relatives,” he said.
He explained that a customer of the bank has every right to choose a friend who knows much about him/her to be the next of kin “because the main purpose of choosing a next of kin is to provide information on why the account holder is not reachable.”
Mr Donkor said processes to retrieve funds in an account of a deceased customer was a whole different issue when established that the account holder had died.
The two-day residential programme took participants through microeconomics stability, monetary policy practice in Ghana, inflation dynamics in Ghana, development in foreign exchange markets, concept of next of kin, among others.
It sought to deepen the understanding of participants in the operations of BoG and also build their capacity in financial reporting.
But, the journalists were amazed to learn during a presentation on the main traditional sources of foreign exchange supply to Ghana that remittances are the driving force of the economy.
In the presentation, it was observed that in 2023, Ghana received US$5.1 billion from remittances, and as of June 2024, US$3.5 billion had been received.
Although the year 2024 was yet to end, that figure has been projected to increase as relatives and friends send money to family members ahead of the Christmas celebrations.
From Kingsley E. Hope, Kumasi
