Day: August 12, 2018

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Friday began a five-day tour of the Ashanti Region, giving an assurance that one of the legacies he will want to bequeath to posterity is the maternity block of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) whose construction has stalled for more than 40 years.

He called on the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu ll, to work in concert with the government to secure the necessary funds to complete the maternity block project.

The President gave the assurance when he paid a courtesy call on the Asantehene at the Manhyia Palace at the beginning of his five-day tour of the region.

Mother and Baby Unit

Last year, the First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, raised more than GH¢10 million to put up a new Mother and Baby Unit to ease congestion at the old ward of the KATH.

According to conservative estimates, about U$100 million is required to complete the maternity block.

As part of the five-day tour, President Akufo-Addo will visit the Manhyia South, Asokwa, Nhyiaeso, Bosomtwe, Bantama, Sekyere Central, Nsuta-Kwamang-Beposo, Mampong, Subin, Ahafo-Ano South, Kwadaso, Atwima Kwanwoma and Oforikrom constituencies.

Yesterday, he cut the sod for a facelift of major roads in Kumasi to ease traffic, promote business and reduce flooding.

The works include the asphaltic overlay of 150 km, resealing of 145 km of roads and the rehabilitation and reconstruction of 180 km of roads within Kumasi and its environs.

The works will also cover the reconstruction and rehabilitation of 100km of roads and safety works, including improvement of roundabouts, pedestrian footbridges and walkways.

Vester Oil

At Aputuagya in the Bosomtwi District in the Ashanti Region, the President visited Vester Oil, a private oil-producing company.

He also visited the new site of the factory at Aputuagya to inspect the facility and find out how the government could lend its support to the company.

Interacting with the management of the company, the President said the government was currently studying a proposal from the company to access the equivalent of $5 million to expand its operations.

If successful, Vester is expected to increase its workforce from 100 to 200 and introduce new products.

The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr Kwasi Nyamekye, told President Akufo-Addo that the company could help reduce the number of unemployed youth if given the necessary support by the government.

Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire have agreed to develop a document that will show the plotted maritime boundary for both countries.

The document will be developed at the third meeting of the joint committee on the implementation of the decision of the Special Chamber of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), scheduled for October 2018 in Cote d’Ivoire.

The agreement was arrived at during the joint committee’s second meeting in Accra to deliberate on outstanding issues holding up the implementation of the ruling by the Special Chamber of the ITLOS on the maritime boundary dispute and the delimitation of the maritime boundary between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.

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Communiqué

In a communiqué signed by the Senior Minister, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, on behalf of Ghana and the State Mediator for Cote d’Ivoire, Mr Adama Toungara, and issued in Accra after the two-day meeting, Ghana indicated that it had reviewed the chart with the plotted coordinates of the maritime boundary as provided by ITLOS and found them to be acceptable in principle.

The chart was submitted by Cote d’Ivoire at the joint committee’s May 2018 meeting in Abidjan.

The three-point communique also indicated that, “The parties subsequently jointly plotted the seven coordinates and azimuth in accordance with the ITLOS decision and have agreed to execute a document evidencing the plotted maritime boundary at the next meeting scheduled for October 2018 in Cote d’Ivoire.”

Coordinates are a group of numbers used to indicate the position of a point, line or plane, while an azimuth is a horizontal angle or direction of a compass bearing.

According to the communiqué “the parties have also agreed to discuss the draft framework agreement on cooperation in the areas of maritime boundary, hydrocarbons and other natural resources between the two countries at the next meeting.”

In 2014, Ghana instituted arbitration proceedings at the ITLOS to ensure the resolution of its maritime boundary dispute with Cote d’Ivoire.

On Saturday, September 23, 2017, the Special Chamber of the ITLOS, constituted to hear the dispute, unanimously declared that Ghana had not violated Cote d’Ivoire’s sovereign rights with its oil exploration activities.