Accra, Jan 10, GNA - Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has arrived in the New York to confer with officials of United Nations and the World Bank on his appointment as Special Envoy of the United Nations on Climate Change.President Kufuor and his co-Special Envoy, Jens Stoltenberg, former Prime Minister of Norway, will have two days of meetings with officials of the two world bodies to strategize on the execution of their new roles.This was contained in a statement signed by the former President’s Spokesperson, Mr Frank Agyekum and copied to the Ghana News Agency.The two leaders were appointed last December by UN General-Secretary Ban Ki Moon to sensitize heads of state, governments and key stakeholders to keep their pledges on minimizing the green house effect which among others has increased climate warming across the world resulting in natural disasters in many parts of the globe.Their mandate includes mobilizing political will for a global legal agreement that limits the world to less than a two-degree Celsius rise in global temperatures by 2030.The statement said the meeting will also set the agenda for the World Climate Summit to be held in September 2014 by the UN.Mr Ban will address the second day of the meeting which includes his deputy, Jan Eliasson, Mr. Robert Orr, Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Planning and Mr. Tomas Christensen, Senior Advisor on Partnership.The World Bank is represented by Ms. Rachel Kyte, Vice President for Sustainable Development, Mr. Patrick Verkooijen, Special Representative for Climate Change and Mr. Yuvan Beejadhur, Partnerships Specialist, World Bank Group among others.GNA

(William D. Ezah, GNA Special Correspondent, Lagos Nigeria)Accra, Jan.10, GNA – Ivorian International, Yaya Toure, was crowned the 2013 Africa Footballer of the Year, by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) at its Annual Glo/CAF Awards, held in Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday.Toure, who plies his trade with English Premier League side Manchester City, made it triple, after winning the 2011 and 2012 CAF Awards, and went into history as one of the few players who have won the title for three consecutive times.On a night which saw dominance from Nigerian players, the packed auditorium of the Eko Convention Center, Eko Hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos, was met with disappointment when the Ivorian shrugged off competition from Nigerian John Obi Mikel, and his compatriot Didier Drogba, to make it third in a row.Toure described the award as unbelievable, and dedicated it to his family and friends, who have supported him in his career.“I am proud and happy to win this award, but I also have to congratulate John Obi Mikel for his excellent performance in 2013. I think he equally deserved the award”.In other categories, Mohamed Aboutreika of Egypt was voted the African Player of the Year (based in Africa), beating Nigerian Sunday Mba, Ahmed Fathy of Egypt, TrezorMputu of DR Congo, and Rainford Kalaba of Zambia, whilst Kelechi Iheanacho of Nigeria was declared the Most Promising Talent, beating Ebenezer Assifuah of Ghana and Salem Gomaa of Egypt.Stephen Okechuku Keshi, head coach of the Nigerian national team, the Super Eagles, emerged Coach of the Year, after overcoming opposition from Paul Put of Burkina Faso and Manu Garba of Nigeria.Egyptian giants Al Ahly won the Club of the Year Award, brushing aside challenges from CS Faxien of Tunisia and Orlando Pirates of South Africa, with the Super Eagles of Nigeria winning the National Team of the Year, by beating Burkina Faso and Ethiopia in the category as the National Under-17 team, was also declared the Youth National Team of the Year.Algerian national HaimoudiDjamel was adjudged Referee of the Year, though he had tough competition from AlioumNeant of Cameroon and Papa BakaryGassama of Gambia.Nigerian supporters were presented with the CAF Fair Play Award, the Nigerian government presented with CAF Platinum Award.The CAF finest XI was made up of Vincent Enyeama, Ahmed Fathy, Mehdi Benatia, Kevin Constant, John Obi Mikel, YayaToure, Mohamed Aboutreika, Jonathan Patroipa, Emmanuel Emenike, AsamoahGyan and Pierre-EmerickAubameyang, with Keshi as the head coach.The event was sponsored by Globacom Nigeria, and was the eighth time the Nigerian communication giants were sponsoring it. It also marked the 10th year since the company started operations in Nigeria.GNA

Accra , Jan 10, GNA - Mr Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye , Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, on Thursday urged the private Sector to take the challenge to become more competitive by reducing its inefficiencies.“Government is not going to abandon its responsibility in formulating the right policies to meet the needs of the private sector,” he said.Mr Vanderpuye who was addressing the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) at its 39th annual General Stakeholders' Meeting in Accra, said the private sector plays an important role in the socio-economic development of the country.He said government is committed to create an improved business environment, and also to re-position the state, to proactively deliver support to the private sector.Mr Vanderpuye said government would continue to put in place policies and programmes to ensure that the private sector operates effectively and profitably.He stated that the GCCI, over the years, had served as a watchdog to government policies affecting the private sector, and also helped to re-shape the policies.Dr Seth Adjei -Baah, President of GCCI, said the chamber organizes seminars and training programmes for its women members, in order to empower them to become a force to reckon with in the business sector as part of the contribution towards development in the country.He said “l was elected President of the Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PACCI). This gives the Chamber another chance to put Ghana on the international world stage, and most importantly, get more business opportunities for the private sector in Ghana”.He said the Chamber had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Akara Chamber of Industry (ASO) of Turkey, for the establishment of Industrial zones in Ghana, to serve as a hub for both foreign and local entrepreneurs.He also announced that the GCCI has acquired a land in a prime area in Accra and very soon the Chamber would begin the construction of its Ultra-modern Head Office.He said GCCI had upgraded they website (www.ghanachamber .org) to meet the standard of an advanced web platform.He added that the office would have conference centres, business centres and additional offices for rentals w2hich would enhance the revenue generation of the Chamber.The GCCI is an Association of business operators, firms and industries, set up to promote commercial and industrial interests in Ghana.It also serves as the voice of the business community, promotes and protects the interest of members by fostering ethical practices in commerce, trade and services through advocacy training and education, and ensure adherence to quality.GNA

Accra, JAN 10, GNA – The National Information Technology Agency (NITA), on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ghana Library Authority (GLA), and three local developers to help promote the Ghana Open Data Initiative (GODI).GODI is an initiative being run by NITA, the IT implementing arm of the Ministry of Communication, which has created an information storehouse accessible by citizens and businesses, releasing valuable raw data from real-time education to census data.The MOU was signed between the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Services (CERSGIS), ODEKRO, Cell Afrique and the Ghana Library Authority.Mr William Tevie, Director General of NITA, said the MOU signified the quest to create and achieve a vibrant open data community that would be easily accessible by all citizenry.He explained that with the availability of such raw data and data sets, citizens, particularly, media practitioners could deepen the quality of news reportage by means of accessing information on any kind of issue, without the usual delays associated with accessing information from government agencies and officials.“Open data is a concept that certain data should be freely available to everyone to use and re-publish as they wish, without the restrictions of copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control”, Mr Tevie said.He said the rationale behind the open government data is to make government data available to the public which in the long run, will increase government transparency and accountability.Again, the open data enables third parties to leverage the potential of government data through the development of applications and services that address public and private demands.The GODI project started in 2012, and is expected to end by December 2014 by which period, a user friendly application would be developed for the benefit of citizens by the partners that signed the MOU.“The establishment of GODI is also to facilitate economic growth by means of creating mobile and web applications for the Ghanaian and world market. It also aims to create a sustainable open data ecosystem for Ghana”.Mr Tevie explained that the vision of GODI is to develop an open data community, involving the government of Ghana, civil society organisations, industry, developer communities, academia, media practitioners, and the citizenry, to interact with one another with the aim of developing an open data portal to bring about transparency, accountability and efficiency in government.He said GODI had set up its community section of the portal, and therefore invited government, civil society, media organisations and academic institutions to champion the communities by engaging in vibrant discussion on data sets that will support development of web and mobile applications.Mr. Eric Akumiah, Project Manager, GODI project, said Ghana was the second country in Africa to have a portal after Kenya, but Ghana’s open data was fully developed and operated by Ghanaians, putting the country at a strategic position in the world of IT.He said whereas CERSGIS, Cell Afrique and ODEKRO would develop the user friendly software, the Ghana Library Authority would offer its facilities scattered in the country to serve as centres where citizens who do not have internet facilities could access information and also give their feedbacks.CERSGIS is an authority in developing user-friendly geographic information systems applications, using spatial data for developing user friendly application.Odekro portal seeks to empower communities and marginalized populations to promote transparency, accountability and democratic governance, through citizen's action and engagement with relevant government agencies.Cell Afrique, on the other hand, is an application service provider that offers versatile, interactive mobile technology, web and software solutions to the expanding mobile phone users across the globe.GNA

Accra, Jan 10, GNA - The Management of Universal Concept Mental Arithmetic System (UCMAS), has unveiled Maame Serwaa Akua Nkrumah, who emerged third in the intermediate “B” category at the 19th UCMAS Abacus and Mental International Competition.Miss Nkrumah, an eight-year old class five pupil of Tower Hamlet School in Accra placed third in the competition held in Malaysia in December 2013.Mr Girish Gurbani, Director of UCMAS Ghana Limited, who disclosed this at a press briefing on Thursday in Accra, said Miss Nkrumah in 2012 represented the UCMAS SDA Centre in UCMAS Mental Arithmetic quiz show on GTV.He said her outstanding performance earned her a sponsorship package to represent Ghana in the 19th UCMAS International competition.Mr Gurbani said in 2012, Master Kobena Asamoah an 11-year old student of Crown Prince Academy, emerged the World champion out of 54 countries that competed for the intermediate ‘A’ category of the international competition.The Director explained that UCMAS is an educational group which engages in the holistic training of the right brain of children. UCMAS Ghana Limited is a professional organization established in 1983, and headed by a team of directors dedicated to offering society a novel and path-breaking method of education in mental arithmetic.He said UCMAS started its operations in the country in 2007 in all the regions, operating in 100 learning centres, and are in partnership with over 50 schools running the UCMAS programme as a school curriculum activity.The international competition is an annual event organized by UCMAS Education Group, which brings together over 3,000 children between the ages of five and 14, from all over the world to compete at different levels.Mr Gurbani said all the children do 100 to 200 arithmetic sums within eight minutes, to test the speed, confidence, concentration and their photographic memory.He explained that mental arithmetic is a form of calculation that does not involve the use of physical instruments, but solely done by the human mind using the mind’s power in performing calculations.Mr Gurbani said some of the benefits of the programme include improved photographic memory skills, listening skills, concentration skills, presentation skills, imagination and creativity skills, speed and accuracy, and it removes mathematics phobia and provides an all-round academic proficiency.He urged parents to take advantage of the programme and enrol their children with UCMAS to boost their confidence level and enhance their creativity.Mrs Akua Afriyie Nkrumah, mother of Miss Nkrumah, thanked management of UCMAS for developing her child to unearth her talents, and urged parents to invest in their wards’ education.Management of UCMAS presented a plaque and a microwave to Mr Emmanuel Nii Aryee Aryeetery, the instructor of Miss Nkrumah, for his role in preparing her for the international competition.GNA

Accra, Jan. 10, GNA – Mr Anis Haffar, an educationist, has called on school heads to take advantage of the digital age to improve on effective school management system.He said Information Communication Technology is a platform that school leadership could use in enhancing their leadership capabilities.Mr Haffer made the call at a forum on the topic: “School Leadership-Challenges in the 21ST Century,” as part of the on-going Fourth Quadrennial National Delegates Conference of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) in Accra.School leadership and management has been recognized as an essential element in providing quality delivery, and promoting a conducive school environment which facilitates quality outputs.He encouraged teachers to vary their teaching methods from mere theory to the practical aspect to better equip the students for the global job market.“Our educational system has to focus on aspects that transform the student,” he added.Mrs Naa Addoley Boye-Quaye, an educational strategist, saidheadteachers have to regularly upgrade their knowledge and skills for effective performance of their duties.She said the challenges faced by headteachers were multi-dimensional, including manpower, resources and political will, among others.GNA

Accra, Jan. 10, GNA – Participants at the on-going 65th Annual New Year School and Conference, have called on government to lead the move for integrating Information and Communication Technology (ICT) fully into all sectors of the economy.The call is to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the integration of ICT usage , promote local software development, improve knowledge and education, as well as publicize authentic sources of these facilities for sourcing.The participants insisted that current available ICT facilities such as local software programmes, hardware and internet connectivity, are largely provided by either the private sector or individual entrepreneurs, which makes access very difficult.Again knowledge of the existence of such facilities are limited and unknown to majority of Ghanaians, mostly those living outside the capital and cities, and this has created a gap in the actualization the need for and potentials of ICT in Ghana, they argued.Their submissions were made during an open forum to discuss the topic: " ICT, Entrepreneurship and Business and the Youth", as a sub-theme of the broader topic on "Information and Communication Technology-Driven Education for Sustainable Human Development: Challenges and Prospects," for the School and Conference.The participants noted that when an open education on where, what and how to secure information on available ICT resources, training and services are well structured, people will be encouraged to source for them without difficulty, as it is at the moment.They further urged government to institute stringent measures and policies aimed at speeding up the digitalization processes of its Ministries, Departments and Agencies and also at the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly levels.This, they said, would empower the assemblies to decentralize their systems to also hasten their services and support, to particularly, educational institutions and entrepreneurship training in their catchment areas.Mr Kofi Bentil, Vice President of IMANI Ghana, who was the resource person for the discussions, however, advocated for positive attitudes of Ghanaians towards the use of ICT.He said although the digital age presents very huge challenges to the country's education and businesses, the ability to succumb them would depend largely on the ability to capitalise effectively on the obstacles to bring about change."We can only achieve this through the use of ICT", he said.He indicated that the use of technology had become a must in the present age, assessing it in terms of time, quality, cost effectiveness, efficiency and value.Mr Bentil further explained that technology was seen as an enabling tool that allow people to do things than they used to do better, and has inherent value provided it was properly utilized.According to him, technology has brought about wider opportunities in the areas of which entrepreneurship which may be presented in areas of service provision and skills development programmes.He said at the entrepreneurial level these can manifest in the business of software development, procurement of hardware for clients, servicing of ICT facilities for those who need them and training for teachers and others who may require the service.He stated that the youth have inherent ICT potentials which could enable them to become movers of Ghana's vision to attain a Middle-Income status if they were helped to fully develop through entrepreneurial and skills development to unleash these potentials for such businesses.He indicated that Ghana was far behind in terms of ICT usage, and needed to catch up quickly with the rest of the world by "leap flogging” and using the youth as its major tool to achieve the development required.He, therefore, sided with the view of the participants that although there was abundant infrastructure, the need for strong leadership was critical to ensure a sustainable ICT-Driven economy for a sustainable national development.The 65th Annual New Year School and Conference which was organised by the Institute of Continuing and Distance Education of the University of Ghana, aimed at creating the platform for a dispassionate discussion of how the objectives of the ICT in Education Policy could be achieved.It further sought to look for pragmatic solutions to the challenges inherent in the education sector, and how best to integrate ICT into teaching, learning, and outreach at all levels of the educational system.The occasion, therefore, provided a common platform for stakeholders from diverse backgrounds, including parliamentarians, District Assembly Members and Civil Society organisations to discuss how to create strong institutional collaborations to meet these objectives.GNA

Accra , Jan 10, GNA - The Majority Leader, Dr. Benjamin Kunbuor on Thursday described as contemptuous the Minority's public dissent on the ruling made last Monday by the Speaker Of Parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, dismissing a motion seeking the House to investigate the sale and acquisition of Merchant Bank.He said once the Minority chose not to engage the Speaker under the Standing Orders of the House, but resorted to discuss his ruling in the Media, the issue was a matter for the Privileges Committee, since it amounted to contempt of the Speaker.The Minority held a press conference addressed by its Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu on Thursday, accusing the Speaker of bias, and for pre-determining the outcome of a Private Member's motion, filed by the MP for Bimbilla, Mr Dominci Nitiwul, backed by over 80 other minority law-makers, wanting the House to force an inquest into the Merchant Bank Ghana (MBG) sale to Fortiz Equity Fund Limited.The Minority insisted that the deal lacked transparency, and the there was the need to ensure value for money for those whose pensions the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) managed."What they have done is very contemptuous of the Speaker, because the Standing Orders of the House are very clear on this matters", said Dr Kumbuor, when he spoke to the Ghana News Agency in reaction to the import of the Minority's press conference in Accra."As long as you don't engage the Speaker under the Standing Orders and you choose to do so publicly, it amounts to contempt, and it is a matter for the Privileges Committee."The consequences are that he the (Speaker) will refer you to the Privileges Committee""Well, for them to have used the press conference to mention the Speaker’s name, the consequences are quite clear and I hope when it gets to that point, they are not going to say the speaker is engaged in witch-hunting", he said."If you think the speaker has exercised his discretion in a matter that offends say Article 296, we are all to defend the Constitution, you know what to do. You can go to court on the matter to say that Order 93(1) that gave the speaker the discretion, was abused and you adduce facts to show why the discretion was abused."You can even actually come on a substantive motion to ask that the Speaker re-considers his stand on the matter. At least, in our Standing Orders, these are the positions, it doesn’t include holding a press conference on what the speaker ruled,” the Majority Leader argued.Dr Kunbuor said the Speaker, for political expediency, may decide not to engage the whole caucus on the matter, "but single out the person who read the press statement and cite him for contempt, particularly when improper motives were imputed on the part of the Speaker.He said the likely sanctions could range from the rendering of an apology or suspension from the House for a number of days depending, on the recommendations of the Privileges Committee.The Speaker last Monday in dismissing the motion by the Minority seeking Parliamentary investigation into the sale and acquisition of MBG, reasoned that both the Legislature and the Judiciary could not determine an issue simultaneously and that the House stood prejudicing the outcome of a case that was before a law court, if it admitted the motion that sought to scrutinize the transaction.The House was recalled from recess by the Speaker pursuant to article 112(3) of the Constitution. And the Minority also sought to invite the Governor of the Bank of Ghana and the Board of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to appear before Parliament to answer questions on the sale of Merchant Bank Ghana (MBG).The Speaker rested his decision on Order 93(1) of the Standing Orders of the House that enjoins the legislature not to deliberate on issues in court in such a manner that, that discussion would prejudice the parties to such cases, and guided by previous rulings on such cases by his predecessors and other jurisdictions.But the Minority described the Speaker’s decision to disallow the motion as “just one side of the equation”, imputing bias in his conduct and alleging that his ruling on the issue had been prepared long before Parliament sat last Monday.“It took the Speaker 15 minutes to read a ruling in which he cited many authorities and which he alleges to have researched and written in one hour...A ruling usually take into consideration issues raised or expressed by parties in a matter.The Minority also alleged that the Speaker pretended to encourage both sides of the House to find a common ground on the matter. but later evidence pointed to the fact that there was a well rehearsed conspiracy to prevent the motion from being moved.GNA