The Minister for Trade and Industry, K. T. Hammond, has directed the Cement Manufacturing Development Committee (CMDC) to instruct cement manufacturing companies in Ghana to immediately reverse the recent increase in cement prices. The Minister, recalling his directive to the CMDC at its inauguration on 8th March 2024, further requested the publication of the retail prices of cement by all ...

A Swiss court on Wednesday convicted a former government minister from Gambia of crimes against humanity under ex-dictator Yahya Jammeh and jailed him for 20 years, in a historic verdict using universal jurisdiction in Europe. The Federal Criminal Court found Ousman Sonko guilty on several counts of intentional homicide, torture and false imprisonment. Sonko, who was dismissed as Gambia’s interior ...

 A Tunisian judge on Wednesday ordered the imprisonment of two prominent journalists pending trial, their families and lawyers said, reinforcing fears of a widespread campaign aimed at silencing dissent and curbing free speech. IFM radio journalists Mourad Zghidi and Borhen Bsaiss were detained on Saturday over political comments made on the radio, their lawyers said. Public Prosecution spokesman Mohamed Zaitouna ...

In the heart of Ghana’s economic landscape lies the cocoa industry, a cornerstone of the nation’s agricultural heritage and a vital source of livelihood for thousands of farmers. However, recent revelations and happenings in the cocoa subsector have cast a pale shadow over the sector, sparking market rigidities and increased smuggling to neighboring markets. Once celebrated as the land of ...

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday signed a controversial National Health Insurance bill into law, just two weeks ahead of a highly-contested general election. His ruling African National Congress is widely expected to lose its majority in parliament in the vote, for the first time since the end of apartheid. The new law aims to provide quality universal health ...

The fall of the Cedi against the major trading currencies especially the Dollar has resulted in increasing costs of doing business in Ghana, the President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Dr Joseph Obeng, has said. Dr Obeng said that businesses are unable to service their debts with the banks because of the exchange rate issues. “We’re unable ...

The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, has revealed that approximately 60% to 70% of Ghanaian media houses are owned by politicians. He raised concerns about the majority of media ownership being held by politicians, expressing unease over the secrecy surrounding media financiers. According to the GJA President, unchecked political ownership in the media could potentially ...

Despite two decades of worldwide efforts, more than 4,000 precious wildlife species still fall prey to trafficking every year, a new report by the UN crime and drugs prevention office, UNODC, showed on Monday.  “Wildlife crime inflicts untold harm upon nature and it also jeopardizes livelihoods, public health, good governance and our planet’s ability to fight climate change,” said Ghada ...

The Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) has held a day’s consultative meeting with diverse stakeholders in Northern Ghana to help shape its focus, provide input to enable the organization address its institutional and financial sustainability whilst repositioning itself to respond to the priorities of its constituents. The meeting was part of STAR Ghana Foundation’s eight-year Civil Society Strengthening Fund – ...

Most recently the World Meteorological Organisation and the EU’s climate agency Copernicus have reported that Europe is the fastest-warming continent and its temperatures are rising at roughly twice the global average. Today’s Lancet Countdown report led by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center in Spain is looking at what this has meant for health. It says the greatest burden of poor health ...