Sensitization efforts needed before disbandment of ‘witches’ Camps- NGO

     Southern Sector Youth and Women’s Empowerment Network (SOSYWEM) a non-governmental organization, has suggested that ‘witches’ camps must not be disbanded until sensitisation efforts have proved successful and the accusation and violence against the women have stopped.

     “If this is not done, the same violence will be carried out in secrecy and violence against older and vulnerable women will increase,” Ms Zenabu Lomoteley Sakibu, Project Coordinator for SOSYWEM, has said.

     She said this at a media interaction in Accra at the weekend to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which fell on November 25.

     She said disbanding the camps before sensitisation efforts have proved successful would make the women homeless without even a place to seek some protection and would only exacerbate their plight.

     A ‘Witches’ Camp is a place which serves as a home for alleged witches after their accusation. Witches are believed to be people who have magical powers for causing evil in the society.

     She said the organization believed that such early disbandment of the camps was the wrong response to the problem.  

     She said their research had showed the lack of understanding of how deeply engrained the beliefs in witchcraft are in these communities and how difficult it is to encourage the people to accept accused ‘witches’ back home.

     She said there has been a recent publication in one of the newspapers announcing that the intention of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs that , “Beginning next year, the ‘Witches’ Camps in the Northern Ghana will be disbanded while plans are far to collaborate with local opinion leaders and others to halt the practice…”.

     “SOSYWEM is pleased that attention is being given to the plight of women in the ‘witches’ camps and also to implement a strategy to end witchcraft accusation and the violence meted out to the accused women,” she explained.

     Ms Sakibu said her outfit had worked extensively with the women in the camps for many years and has found that most of the women were very fearful of returning to their communities explaining that, knowing that they would be violently abused, beaten or even killed, they preferred to live in relative security of the camp.

     She also recounted that experience had shown that even in the rare case that an accused woman was accepted back home, it could take about 5-10 years of sensitisation efforts before the community would agree to re-integration.

     Ms Sakibu urged the Government to strengthen the capacity of the Police Service and the Judiciary to deal with these violations of women’s rights swiftly and to effectively deter others from accusing and violently abusing more women.

     She also called for the provision of basic necessities in the ‘witches’ camps including potable water, health insurance and insecticide treated bed nets.

     “Put in place a longer-term strategy to abolish the ‘witches’ camps and ensure that any cultural practice that dehumanizes women have no place in our society,” she added.

     She said her outfit planned to collaborate with the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs to sensitise community members on the practice, while working with close partners, including District Assemblies, the Police Service, Ghana Health Service and the Commission on Human Rights and Administration Justice. 

Allianz Insurance Supports OrphanAid Africa

Allianz Insurance Ghana, an insurance company, has presented a Cheque for GH¢ 7,000 to OrphanAid Africa, an Non Governmental Organisation, to improve on the welfare of children in Dodowa over the weekend.

Presenting the cheque, Mr Lazarus Lamptey, the Finance Director of the company, the donation was part of its corporate social responsibility to the host communities.

He said this was also to support the NGO take care of the orphans and vulnerable children.

He expressed the hope that the donation would mark the beginning of a partnership between the two organisations concerning activities of children.  

Mr Christian Platini Ashiagbor, a counsel of the NGO, receiving the cheque, expressed gratitude to the Company for taking interest in the development of children.

He also took the opportunity to educate the gathering on HIV and AIDS, saying the era of stigmatization was way over and advised them to be confident and check their HIV status.

Ms. Lisa Lovatte-Smith, founder and president of OrphanAid Africa, called on the Government to increase the grant for the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty project (LEAP) to help poor families to cater for their children rather than sending them off to orphanages.

The LEAP project was introduced in 2008 as a social cash transfer programme which provides cash and health insurance to extremely poor households across Ghana to alleviate short-term poverty and encourage long term human capital development.

She said the family was the best place for providing care and comfort for children and that studies indicated that consigning children to orphanages for a long period could be detrimental to their development.

Mr Patrick Prado, Managing Director of the company, said the organisation was committed to the fight of HIV and AIDS, adding, it was their top priority.

He said as a company, they would be holding discussions with various NGOs to support them in their sustainable development efforts.

He also noted that Company decided to enter into the Ghanaian insurance market because of the country’s good governance and democratic status and viable businesses environment.

     The NGO has adopted Ayenyah as a foster village and receives sponsorship from France, Spain and Italy to support orphans and vulnerable children.

Africa Business Confidence Index lower, but shows growth - Report

     The African Business Confidence Index (ABCI), which measures business confidence in the manufacturing and non-manufacturing private sector in Africa, shows growth in both sectors in September.

     Compared to August, the manufacturing and non-manufacturing indices saw a decrease of 1.1 and 2.0 percentage points respectively.

     Mr Bas Vlugt, Chief Executive Officer of Africa Business Communities, whose organization is a co-brain behind the index, in a report to the Ghana News Agency, said the September ABCI results indicated confidence and growth with an index of 51.3 and 53.3 for the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors respectively.

     “A level of 50 and above indicates expansion,” he said.

     Mr Vlugt said that business professionals from almost 30 countries in Africa participated in the survey making the results a reliable gauge and early indicator of the underlying economic activity on the African continent.

     He explained that the Index used a widely accepted international survey methodology for managers working in the private sector in Africa-based companies.

     Mr Vlugt stated that these managers were asked to assess their businesses’ performance based on a comparison of the current month to the previous month.

     “The survey centres around the following indicators: new orders, production employment, supplier deliveries for the manufacturing sector and similar indicators for the non-manufacturing sector, he added.

     He called on business professionals based in Africa to join the Africa Business Panel, since being members would provide them the platform to directly contribute to the Index.

     Mr Vlugt said the Africa Business Panel generated reliable indices on business developments and economic outlook in Africa, so doing it contributed to the continent’s business reputation and produces in-depth market research data for governments, the business community and international organizations.

     Africa Business Panel provides intelligent matches for African business professionals with the rest of the world, which results in promising business opportunities.

     The ABCI follows a similar methodology and logic as the Purchasing Managers Index indices, which set the global standard.

Wiring regulation for electrical contractors developed

     The Energy Commission (EC) has developed a legislation to regulate electric wiring in the country.

     The legislation would address who qualifies to wire a building, what type of materials or cables are appropriate for wiring and how wiring should be done according to standards.

     Mr Solomon Sarpong, Senior Technical Production Officer of the EC said this at the Electricity Stakeholders and Consumers Parliament, a platform where consumers were offered an opportunity to speak about their complaints and expectations of the utilities and the regulatory bodies in Accra on Monday.

    The event organised by the EC in collaboration with the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission brought together stakeholders including the VRA, GRIDCO and ECG.

   In attendance were the Electrical Students Association of Accra Polytechnic, students of Accra Technical Training College, Electrical Contractors Association and the general public.

     Some of the issues raised included, selling of electricity meters to new service users, illegal connections, monopoly of ECG, issuance of pre-paid meters and its importance and the poor performance of ECG.

     Mr Sarpong said the Commission had enacted regulations to direct the operation of the power sector including: Legislative Instrument (LI) (1816) for electricity supply and distribution (Technical and Operation) rules, 2005, LI (1935) for Electricity and Supply (Standards of Performance Regulation 2008 and LI. 1937 for Electricity Regulation, 2008).

     He said consumers required electricity supply to be reliable, quality, safe and affordable, hence the stakeholders and consumers Parliament to address some of the challenges.

     Mr Sarpong said the Commission had in addition, established good standards of performance for service providers engaged in the supply, transmission and distribution of electricity.

    He said the Commission had met electricity contractors in the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Western Regions to provide them with information on the regulation concerning electrical wiring.

    Mr Sarpong announced that the Commission would launch an SMS short code where consumers could send their messages and report incidents of outages in their areas and when power was restored for the commission to monitor the performance of the ECG.

    Alhaji Usaman Seidu, Acting Director of Customer Service of ECG, denied allegations that the ECG was selling electricity meters to new service users.

    He explained that revenue from consumers were service charges for new service meters and urged consumers to contact the appropriate channel for their service.

    Alhaji Seidu said the process in acquisition included written application to the manager, estimation done on the building, installation followed and finally the meter provided to the consumer.

     He said management had developed new service software to monitor the location, applicant’s details and the officer in-charge of the application to address the middlemen syndrome.

     Alhaji Seidu said management had taken measures to address the challenges of illegal connection, adding that they were recruiting more personnel to properly monitor the system. 

     “We have introduced sub-stations to effectively provide electricity supply to the public, “he added.

    Mr Eric Asare, representative from GRIDCO, said management was revamping their capacity by putting some projects in place to ensure provision of better service.

    He urged consumers to patronise the installation of Automatic Capacity Banks (ACB) to reduce high voltage rate in their homes.

    The ACB is a device which ensures that only the required amount of electricity needed to run motors and other high energy consuming machines is loaded.

Project to promote appliance energy efficiency inaugurated

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Government of Ghana is implementing a project with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to promote Appliance Energy Efficiency and Transformation of the Refrigeration Appliance Market.

The GEF-funded project seeks to encourage energy efficiency standards for refrigeration appliance in the country and to demonstrate replicable and scalable equipment and replacement programme that removes inefficient and environmentally damaging appliance from the market.

Mr Kofi Agyarko, Head of Energy Efficiency and Climate Change at Energy Commission, speaking at the inauguration of the project at Akosombo, said the three-year project has eight components.

He said the components include: strengthening of regulatory and institutional framework, design of certification, labeling and enforcement systems, training and public outreach, establishment of refrigerating appliance test facility and used appliance collection and disposal facilities among others.

He said the objective of the project was to reduce Ghana’s energy-related carbon dioxide and ozone depleting substance emissions by mitigating the demand for energy in the country’s refrigeration and air conditioning sector.

Mr Agyarko said the project would work closely with the private sector to ensure that regulatory proposals and technical standards were widely disseminated and adopted throughout the local industries and businesses.

“It seeks to build upon past successes by ensuring a tight integration between government agencies responsible for establishing the proper regulatory framework and private sector operators responsible for implementing energy efficiency regulations,” he added.

Mr Agyarko noted that the project has also been designed to erase some of the significant barriers to allow for a fast transformation process for the refrigeration appliance market in the country.

“The project is to establish an energy labeling system, setting and implementing a minimum Energy Performance Standards and push efficiency levels beyond the mandatory standards through a consumer rebate, turn-in and incentive programme,’’ he noted.

He said with the implementation of the project the country seeks to benefit from the economic value of saving from the efficiency energy use while reducing in the carbon dioxide and ozone depleting substance emissions as an environmental benefit.

Professor Thomas Akabzza, Chief Director at the Ministry of Energy, who represented the Minister of Energy, said the Ministry has approved an initial amount GH¢1 million as part of government’s support to the project.

He said it was expected that the project would reduce energy consumption of refrigerators from a national average of 1,200 kilo watt hour per annum to 600 kilo watt her annum.

Prof Akabzza said government was putting measures in place to make sure the refrigeration appliance market was not flooded with new inefficient refrigerators after the ban on importation of used refrigerators.

       He commended the development partners for their support in the promotion of solar

lighting systems to replace kerosene lanterns and the promotion of Liquid Petroleum Gas in rural areas among others.

Mr Kofi Owusu-Hene, the Executive Director of Consumer Protection Agency, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency appealed to government to be committed to the enforcement of the law on the importation of used refrigerator appliances.

He called on the international community not to also allow these appliances to leave their home country, since it has health implications.