POEM: A call to Daddy from a year-old son

Hello Daddy

Today is my first birthday

Thank you for the reproduction

I know you wanted me to come on the 21^st

But well dodged; I rather chose 22^nd

‘Cos I come to be greater than you

Mum says I’m her Little Prince
but I know I’m Daddy's Big King

Dad, from the day I arrived, your eyes glee daily

I see you run around to cater for my needs

I see you awake deep in the night; staring at me sleep

You worry when I refuse to eat

You worry about mum when I refuse to let her sleep

You worry the more when I get fixated to her breast

You say the contract was for six months; but I’ve extended to two years

Please allow, Grandma says you did the worse

Scattering your room in the past 12months has been fun

I wonder why you’ve kept most of your valuables from my reach

Forget you not that I’m your heir apparent

Dad, I intentionally refuse to sleep in my cot

Sharing the bed with you and mum is my pastime

I see you vexed when the weather is cozy for you two

But I know my days are numbered in that position

You both will soon kick me out of your bed

Of late, mum gets jealous when I leap from her arms to welcome you

I love to place my head on your chest in passionate embrace

Your strong cuddle gives me confidence to face this life

But please don’t cry when I get sick

The sad sight of your heart makes me recover too soon

Daddy, I hear your daily conversation with the Most High

To bless me, to live in the fear of the Almighty

I promise to stay in the House of the Lord forever

I feel your love for mum

That makes me love you the more

Tell mum I love her very much too

Like you, I want to live to love

Dad, it’s now time to call mum

You know my chat with her will last all day long

So, I’ll be waiting for you to send me more airtime

God bless you daddy!

Bye…

©Kofi Adu Domfeh

(A poem to celebrate the first birthday of my son, Kwaku Gyeabour Domfeh)

Forest Reserves in Ghana under siege of mining operations

Investigations by a group of environmentalists in Ghana have revealed the Tano-Offin Forest Reserve in the Atwima Mponua District of the Ashanti Region is under threat of mining.

According to the Forest Watch Ghana, Wacam, National Forest Forum Ghana and Kasa Initiative, the development would be a concern to all Ghanaians due to the negative impact on the environment and livelihoods.

The Exton Cubic Group, a company with close relations to the seat of power, is said to have been granted a permit to mine in the Tano Offin forest reserve.

The Offin River passes through this forest reserve which has a total area of 41,392ha and the 4^th largest Globally Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA) in Ghana.

The forest has been classified as a protected area because of its significant biological importance to human existence.

But this biologically significant forest reserve is to undergo mining and the environmentalists want this action stopped.

The company had already mobilized equipment – a loader and a bulldozer – to the site at Kyeriaso even before the issuance of a permit by the Forestry Commission on June 10, 2016.

The records available mention one Michael Mahama as a 50% shareholder in Exton Cubic Group, a company which is said to be backed by a very powerful politician in the country whose might technocrats cannot stand, thus granting it the impunity to mine in the forest reserve.

The company is also reported to have already targeted the Fure River forest reserve in the Western region.

In the last two decades, mining companies have targeted forest reserves and the number of requests for exploration permits to mine in forest reserves has increased.

Mining in forest reserves has been met with resistance not only from civil society organizations but also from regulators including the Forestry Commission.

Considering the increasing degradation of forest reserves, dwindling forest cover and the havoc that surface mining has caused to the State even in the off reserves, the resistance is justifiable.

A research by International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO, 2011) indicates that Togo, Nigeria and Ghana have the highest rate of deforestation in the world. Ghana has a deforestation rate of 2.19 percent and a deforestation rate above one percent is alarming.

Mining in forest reserves will aggravate the already alarming rate of forest degradation in the country and wreak havoc on freshwater systems and watersheds, which are already globally scarce commodities, as well as the entire ecosystem and biodiversity.

Apart from mining in forest reserves contravening the principles underlining the establishment of forest reserves in Ghana, the Forestry Commission has had course to be worried about mining operations in even off forest reserve areas.

The Commission presented its comments on mining in forest reserves with a report titled, “Mining in Forest Reserves, Concern of the Forestry Commission” (2002) that: “Mining companies have often been required to rehabilitate even off-reserve areas they have mined. Although Off-reserve mining has gone on in Ghana for some time, we are yet to see a demonstration from industry any best practice rehabilitation suitable to tropical forests. The Commission is thus hesitant about destroying more areas with the hope of rehabilitating them. We believe we should get the rehabilitation methods right in off-reserve forests before venturing into Forest Reserves.”

Ghana and the world have been experiencing catastrophic weather conditions due among others to bad regulation and misuse of natural resources.

It will therefore be suicidal for anyone to think of further destroying the little pristine environment that is left after the massive extractive activities that has characterized governments of developing countries including Ghana.

The environmental groups are calling on and supporting regulators to live up to the task that the citizens and the Constitution of Ghana has entrusted them with.

“We also wish to call on the President of the Republic Ghana and Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the custodian of the Reserve, to help save our forest reserves, at least for our children,” they said in a statement.

Bamboo as a potent climate mitigation resource

Bamboo could play a very important role in mitigating that the impacts of climate change, says Kwabena Danso, Founder and CEO of Boomers International, a leading manufacturer of bamboo bicycles.

He says it’s about time developing countries like Ghana looked at bamboo development as a resource for environmental protection and for income and foreign exchange generation.

“We planting the bamboo is also re-growing the forest in the rural area; some people are being employed at the bamboo plantation as well,” he said. “It’s also having environmental benefits to the community because bamboo absorbs a lot of carbon than a lot of the other plants”.

Bamboo is the fastest growing canopy for re-greening of degraded lands. Plantation of bamboo also provides nutrition for humans and animals and helps improve air and water quality, which leads to environmental sustainability.

According to the International Network on Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), although bamboo is botanically a woody grass and not a tree, bamboo forests have comparable features to other types of forest regarding their role in the carbon cycle.

Kwabena Danso’s Boomers International, for instance, is focused on developing the value chain for the bamboo plant – from the roots to the leaves.

The enterprise is currently growing a 20 acre bamboo plantation in the Ashanti region to support the sustainable supply of raw materials for the production of bamboo bikes and to support rural community development.

Mr. Danso, however, says a national drive in bamboo development will be beneficial.

“If Ghana wants to mitigate some of our climate change issues, the ultimate solution is bamboo development because bamboo takes such a short period to mature so you can use it and it regenerates by itself; you don’t have to replant,” he stated.

Ghana’s bamboo is twice stronger than other species found in the world, according to research by Columbia University.

The country can therefore take advantage of this by learning from the Chinese example, where bamboo development is a huge industry for job creation and environmental protection.

 

The bamboo bikes from Mr. Danso’s workshop are recognized globally to be environmentally friendly because the bikes require less electricity and need no hazardous chemicals, compared to the production of traditional steel bicycles.

An upscale of such projects will position Ghana to generate a billion dollar revenue annually from the export of value added bamboo and rattan products.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Early entry into force of Paris Agreement seen as critical for boosting climate action

United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has invited leaders from all countries to attend a special event on 21 September to deposit their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession to the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The event will also provide an opportunity to other countries to publicly commit to joining or ratifying the agreement before the end of 2016.

The agreement will enter into force 30 days after at least 55 countries, accounting for 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, deposit their instruments of ratification or acceptance with the Secretary-General.

It is expected that the September event will help efforts to secure early entry into force of the agreement.

In an extraordinary show of support for the Paris climate agreement, 175 countries signed the Paris Agreement at a ceremony in New York on 22 April, far exceeding the historical record for first-day signatures to an international agreement. Signing is the first step toward joining the Agreement, and must be followed by the deposit of the instrument of ratification or acceptance. So far, 19 countries have ratified the Agreement. Many others, including the United States and China, have publicly committed to joining the Paris Agreement this year.

In his invitation letter to world leaders, the Secretary-General said, “The next step in our collective journey to a low-carbon, climate-resilient future is to ensure the rapid entry into force of the Paris Agreement.  Doing so will create incentives for early implementation of nationally determined contributions and build support within markets and societies for increased climate ambition.”

He added, “I urge you to accelerate your country’s domestic process for ratification of the Agreement this year.”

The Paris Climate Agreement, adopted by 195 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) last December in Paris, calls on countries to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future.

Patricia Espinosa, the incoming Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said: “Paris was a landmark and a milestone in our common pursuit of a safe and sustainable world.  But many more milestones need to be added over the months, years and decades to come in order to implement and to realize the full potential of the Paris agreement.

“I would therefore like to congratulate the UN Secretary-General for his leadership in organizing this special event in September for ratification. It will provide a focus and an opportunity for many more nations to step forward so that early entry into force of the agreement can occur sooner rather than later,” she said.

The Paris Agreement marked a watershed moment in taking action on climate change.  After years of negotiation, countries agreed to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, while pursuing efforts to keep temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.

Even as the agreement was adopted, countries recognized that present pledges to reduce emissions were still insufficient to reach these goals.  The Paris Agreement mandates regular meetings every five years, starting in 2018, to review progress and to consider whether it is necessary to increase ambition.

Red Cross trains 500 teachers to respond to election-related emergencies

The Ghana Red Cross Society says it is making progress in the training of educational workers to adequately respond to health emergencies in this electioneering.

The training involves basic techniques in administering First Aid, especially to voters who may need immediate medical attention on polling day.

Ashanti Regional Manager of the Society, Michael Kwame Asante, says about 500 teachers and other educational workers in six districts – Jacobu, Agogo, Mampong, Nsuta, Konongo and Tepa – have been trained in the ongoing exercise.

“We believe that all things being equal, they are the people that the electoral commission will be using for their activities; so when they get the training, in case of any emergency, they are there to help them,” he said.

The teachers are among groups of professionals targeted to be trained by the Red Cross Society, who will also be deploying volunteers across the country to be on stand-by to provide first aid services at polling stations.

Mr. Asante has asked the Electoral Commission to see the Society as an integral part of the whole electoral process.

“As they deploy police or the security personnel to the polling stations, if we have one first aider also there, it will give confidence to the staff working and also people that come around,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the Society, with the support of other volunteers from California University, has been training some lifeguards in communities around the Lake Bosomtwe on CPR techniques to save drowning victims.

The Lake Bosomtwe attracts a good number of revelers in the Ashanti region and beyond, especially on festive occasions. But most of the life-guards at the lakeside lack the skills to keep drowning victims alive.

“It’s very important that any hotel, guest house or event centre that has pool ensures that the pool guard also has training in First Aid because it’s not just bringing the person out of the water but the first five minutes or the golden period is critical to save lives,” Mr. Asante observed.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Citizens energy manifesto to engage political attention in Ghana

Political parties going into Ghana’s 2016 General Election will need to prioritize issues of energy if they are to get the mandate of the electorates to govern.

That is the consensus of a forum on the ‘Citizen Agenda for Energy Sector Development’ held in Kumasi, which attracted industry players, civil society groups, students and the media.

Ghana’s power crisis has over the past five years damaged the country’s economic growth prospects – businesses have collapsed, jobs lost and livelihoods negatively impacted.

Meanwhile, petroleum exploration in the past three-and-half years has generated some Gh3.5billion in revenue, and more revenue is expected with the coming of stream of the TEN and Sankofa projects.

Yet there have been concerns about the prudent management and investment of revenue from the oil and gas sector.

As electioneering 2016 heats up, energy will be an important area of interest, observed Seji Saji of the African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP).

“The petroleum sector of our country has become so intertwined with our national lives that the wishes of our people will be unfulfilled if we do not make energy an important issue in this year’s election,” he stated.

ACEP, with support from the Ghana Oil and Gas for Inclusive Growth (GOGIG), has therefore set forth a process to engage the public on priority areas in the power and petroleum sectors to inform political parties’ manifestoes in Election 2016.

The discussions to collate public inputs, taking place in the Northern, Ashanti and Western regions, will form the basis of the Citizen’s Energy Manifesto.

Some participants of the citizens’ forum in Kumasi said they will be interested in knowing the management and investments of oil revenue as well as plans of the various political parties to deal with the power crisis.

President of the Ghana Association of Energy Economics, Joshua Sarpong Kumankumah, is interested in seeing some of the energy levies removed on petroleum products as soon as possible.

“I also think our political parties must be bold enough and have in their manifestoes to protect the interest of the energy sector by ensuring that it is not privatized; as it happened to SIC and as it happened to GOIL, I think government can float shares for Ghanaians to own ECG,” he said.

Acting Ashanti Regional Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Eric Amoadu-Boateng, said the Union continues to oppose the privatization of state-owned enterprises, including the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

He said recent past experience in the water sector demands caution in the government’s move for private sector involvement in the distribution of power.

“We must be guided by history,” said Mr. Amoadu-Boateng. “It appears that the Millennium Development Authority (MIDA) is unduly influencing the debate; it’s about time that issues of national sovereignty are decided by the people and not Washington-influenced technocrats”.

Head of Policy Unit at ACEP, Dr. Ishmael Ackah, said the ‘Citizen Agenda for Energy Sector Development’ project will serve as an instrument for building political consensus of policies in the energy sector.

The “Citizens Energy Manifesto” will be presented to presidential candidates of political parties, who will be expected to declare their commitments to the citizens’ energy agenda.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

SERVIR West Africa announced to help climate mitigation and food security

A program to promote the use of satellite imagery to help improve resilience in the West African region has been announced by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The five-year program, dubbed ‘SERVIR West Africa’, will help lessen negative impacts of climate change; ensure that land use management is sustainable; and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The program will help governments and other key decision-makers take advantage of publicly available satellite imagery, geospatial data and maps to make more informed decisions in four areas: food security and agriculture; water and disasters; weather and climate; and land use, coastal zones and forest management.

With this program, West Africa becomes part of the Global SERVIR network, which includes Eastern and Southern Africa, the Hindu-Kush Himalaya region, and the Mekong River Basin.

SERVIR West Africa will be funded by USAID and NASA and implemented by the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) subsidiary, the Agriculture, Hydrology and Meteorology (AGRHYMET) Regional Center.

AGHRYMET will implement this program together with a consortium of West African partners serving the region with support from Tetra Tech, Inc.

“Via the use of SERVIR, the Sahel and West Africa regions are poised to improve reliability and timeliness of data sources. Producers, technicians, and policy-makers thank the U.S. Government for its continued support both financially and technically,” stated Dr. Djimé Adoum, Executive Director of CILSS.

In the initial phase, the program focuses on four countries: Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger and Senegal. The program will work with decision-makers to provide user-tailored information services.

SERVIR has already demonstrated its usefulness in countries where it has been operating. For example, in East Africa, where climate change has altered rainfall patterns and flood cycles, SERVIR is assisting the Kenyan Department of Water Resources to improve flood forecasting.

A near real-time satellite data system has been co-developed that allows government authorities to alert communities so they can prevent loss of life, property, and livelihoods caused by floods. 

“There is an immediate demand to connect available science and technology to development solutions in West Africa,” said Alex Deprez, Director of USAID’s West Africa regional office. “SERVIR West Africa will engage scientists across the region to partner with each other to address the greatest challenges in the region. What we seek in the long term are African solutions to African problems.”

Operating as a regional hub, SERVIR West Africa will promote collaboration among technical institutions in the region, leveraging their respective strengths. It will also work across the region to increase awareness, and improve access to and the capacity to use geospatial information.

"NASA is deeply committed to Earth science and the value it provides people around the globe. I’m proud to say SERVIR is now serving more than 40 countries," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, who took part in the facility’s official opening Thursday. "Together with USAID, we are continuing the effort to bring space-based science down to Earth for real time, real world uses that are changing people’s lives where they live."

Globally, SERVIR connects USAID’s network of development partners in countries with data gaps with NASA’s science, technology, research activities, and extensive satellite data assets. Together with leading regional organizations and local partners, SERVIR has developed 70 information products and tools and provided training to people in more than 41 countries.

ACEP wants transparency in managing Ghana's Energy Sector Levy

The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), an independent think-tank, has welcomed government’s move to pay debt owed by the Volta River Authority (VRA) to banks and supplies.

VRA is a strategic institution in the country’s power sector, producing about 2,400megawatts of the total 4,000 capacity power generation.

However, the debt burden of the Authority has increased over the past several years due to a combination of operational and financial difficulties.

The indebtedness makes it difficult for the company to pay millions of dollars owed Ghana Gas, the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) and the several independent power producers in the country.

Government has indicated the VRA legacy debts of Gh2.2 billion will be paid from a special account opened to receive the proceeds of the Energy Sector Levy.

Speaking in an interview with 3news.com, Head of Policy Unit at ACEP, Dr. Ishmael Ackah, said government’s intervention to settle the VRA debt is a step in the right direction.

“It is good that the government has come in to help; VRA’s debt as at now is about Gh6 billion and paying about Gh2.2billion is quite good,” he said.

Fifty per cent of the funds accruing under the Power Generation and Infrastructure Support sub-account under the Energy Sector Levies Act (ESLA, 2015) will be used to retire the legacy debts.

Dr. Ackah however says transparency in the management of the Energy Sector Levies will inure to the benefit of Ghanaians.

“Energy Sector levies are paid by citizens so we’d want to know how much we’re receiving, so if there could be semi-annual accounts to citizens that this is how much we received from last year, and this is how much we paid and this is the balance, at least it will promote transparency,” he suggested.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh