Development Agenda

The practice of child marriage has continued to decline globally, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a new report published on Wednesday, warning that a ‘polycrisis’ including war, climate shocks, and the continuing COVID pandemic, is putting the fragile gains made towards ending the scourge, under threat. Currently, one in five young women aged 20 to 24, were married as ...

The Forestry Commission has revealed that 34 out of 288 forest reserves in the country are currently under threat due to illegal mining activities known as ‘galamsey’. This comes at a time government’s fight against the menace has been questioned following a report put together by the former chairman of the defunct Inter-Ministerial Committee on illegal mining, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, ...

The Liaison Group for Mining in Forest Reserves has successfully completed the conversion of the Environmental Guidelines for Mining in Forest Reserves into Legislative Instrument (L.I)to provide legal backing for the regulation of mining operations in Forest reserves in Ghana. The L.I, labeled, ’Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves Regulations, 2022, L.I 2462) was passed and came into force in ...

Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Samuel Abu Jinapor says the government is launching an aggressive campaign to conserve the country’s forest reserve. Mr. Jinapor claims that all attacks against the country’s forests will be met with resistance. His comment comes after Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng’s damming report on galamsey in Ghana. Samuel Abu Jinapor says the Forestry Commission is up to ...

The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has started a nationwide revenue mobilization exercise to collect all arrears owed by customers. The company is out to collect about GH₵800 million in debts as of January this year, up from GH₵684 million in debts that stood on the company’s books as of January 2022. This was when in September 2022, the Public ...

The UN General Assembly will seek the opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on countries’ obligations to address climate change, following the adoption by consensus of a resolution on Wednesday.  The resolution was put forward by the cyclone-battered Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu, supported by a “core group” of 17 countries from various regions, and is focused on the adverse ...

The Conference of Heads of Basic Schools is lamenting the non-payment of the capitation grant meant for the operationalization of basic schools for the past two years. The association explains that the situation is crippling the progress of teaching and learning in schools. Speaking to Citi News, the General Secretary of the Conference of Heads of Basic Schools, Justice Adu Darko, ...

High-ranking U.S. officials have been trooping to Africa recently, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken next up with a visit to Ethiopia and Niger this week. A core part of their mission is to chip away at some African governments’ reluctance to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by persuading them that the conflict is deepening the continent’s severe hunger problem. ...

A “new philosophy” and broader approaches can transform services for persons with disabilities, a UN-appointed independent expert told the Human Rights Council on Monday. In his latest report to the Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Gerard Quinn, outlined how more inclusive policy approaches and innovative private sector involvement can spur progress. “States and societies at large ...

Mr Speaker, I am glad to be here in this august House to perform, once again, one of the most pleasant duties on the calendar of the President of the Republic, that is, to give Honourable Members and the Ghanaian people a Message on the State of the Nation, in fulfilment of article 67 of the Constitution. In accordance with ...