Lesotho Wire

Commonwealth Day 2024 will be observed on Monday March 11, under the theme ‘One Resilient Common Future,’ Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland has announced.

A statement issued by the Commonwealth Secretariat indicated the Day would start with many events and activities, such as faith and civic gatherings, debates, school assemblies, flag-raising ceremonies, and cultural events.

Commonwealth Day is celebrated yearly by people across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Americas, the Pacific and Europe in pursuit of sustainability and peace among the over 2.5 billion Commonwealth citizens.

‘Each year, we observe Commonwealth Day to recognise, celebrate and invigorate our 56 member states, all of whom are committed to the Commonwealth Charter. This year’s theme underscores the collective strength that enables us to confront and overcome present challenges, emerging with resilience. This paves the way for a future where wealth is not just widespread but genuinely equitable.

‘We have countries which
are amongst both the smallest and largest in the world. What binds us together is our shared values, and those include a commitment to ensuring stronger and stable governance, a more sustainable environment, robust economies, and societies that empower Commonwealth citizens,’ the Secretary-General said.

On behalf of the Commonwealth, Secretary-General Scotland wished His Majesty King Charles III, Head of the Commonwealth, a complete and fast recovery.

The statement indicated that countries would commemorate the Day by reading the Commonwealth Proclamation, hosting celebratory events, or devoting the week to educating citizens about the Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth Secretariat’s website will serve as a central hub, providing free and accessible resources to support these activities.

According to the statement, a reception would be held in London, the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat, to welcome invited representatives from across the Commonwealth.

‘Additionally, a vibrant multicultural, mult
i-faith service at Westminster Abbey on 11 March will celebrate the rich tapestry of the Commonwealth’s people, history, and culture.

The event promises reflections, performances, and readings by individuals spanning the diverse nations of the Commonwealth. Each year, one of the highlights of Commonwealth Day is the procession of Commonwealth flags at Westminster Abbey, with young flag bearers representing each of the 56 member states,’ the release noted.

This year’s Commonwealth Day events would also include a contingent of Speakers and Presiding Officers from the Commonwealth countries, UK Overseas Territories, Crown Dependencies, and the UK nations, specially invited by Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons in the UK.

During Commonwealth Week in March, world leaders, foreign ministers, young advocates, and other Commonwealth delegates will convene for wide-ranging discussions.

Together, they will deliberate and decide on collective actions to solve shared challenges while suggesting in
itiatives that empower people, encourage growth, and bring transformative change.

One of these initiatives is the declaration of the Commonwealth Year of Youth, which has put a focus on increasing projects to support the 1.5 billion young people of the Commonwealth.

The statement said that this year’s Commonwealth Day theme reflects the focus of the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which will be held in Samoa in October 2024.

On April 26, 2024, the 75th Anniversary of the modern Commonwealth will also be celebrated.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Professor Goski Alabi, President, African Council for Distance Education (ACDE), and other participants of the Second World Digital Education Conference (WDEC) held in Shanghai, China, have stressed the importance of embracing digital technologies to create innovative learning experiences and empowering learners in the digital age.

A statement issued by Laweh University College, copied to the Ghana News Agency said to this end, they had called on countries to formulate national digital education policies that would help endow their citizens with knowledge and skills to meet their needs and challenges.

It said the attendees, which included other educators, industry professionals, and thought leaders around the globe, also encouraged countries to make a conscious effort to build the capacity of their citizens in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its attendant Ethics of application.

It stated that the two-day conference held from 30th to 31st January 2024, offered a platform for attendees to discuss and explo
re the latest developments and trends in digital education, including the sharing of insights, exchanging ideas, and collaborating to shape the future of education in the digital age.

Prof. Alabi, who is also the Consulting President of Laweh University College, Accra, spoke on the Role of Digital Education in Africa’s Educational Agenda as the African Union has declared ‘2024 – Africa’s Year of Education’.

Other notable speakers included Dr Jane Thompson, a renowned educational psychologist, who discussed the Psychological Impact of Digital Education on Learners and Strategies for Ensuring their Well-being; Mr John Chen, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a leading EdTech company, who presented his vision for the Future of EdTech and Highlighting the Importance of Human-centred Technology in Education; and Prof Maria Lopez, an expert in AI-driven learning systems, who introduced a breakthrough AI platform Designed to Enhance Student Engagement and Adaptive Learning.

Other key personalities who addressed the
World confab included Mr Cai Dafeng, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China; Mr Huai Jinpeng, Minister for Education of China; Madam Simona Mirela Miculescu, President of the General Conference of UNESCO; Mr Rahamalla M. Osman, African Union Permanent Representative to China; Mr Chan Chun Sing, Minister of Education Singapore; and several other Ministers and Ambassadors.

The statement said the WDEC also saw the launching of the World Digital Education Alliance (WDEA), where the African Council for Distance Education (ACDE) and Laweh University College were invited to be members.

It emphasised that in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), Digital Education was redefining education at all levels, and countries needed to take steps to plan for and prioritise digital education at these levels to enhance both quality and access.

It said additionally, that the Conference called for the move from the 3Cs of digital education namely, Content, Connection and Cooperation
to the 3Is: Intelligence, Integration, and Internationalization.

Prof Alabi indicated that against the background of Africa’s status, a fourth C, which she termed ‘Capacity,’ needed to be added to the 3Cs.

To put Digital Education on a higher pedestal, UNESCO declared the 19 of March each year as World Digital Education Day, to raise awareness of the importance of the subject.

And China, the host nation, disclosed that she would prioritise Africa for Digital Education.

Participants also called for improvement in key areas such as Digital Transformation in Education; Online, Blended Learning and Mix-Mode; and International Collaborations and Partnerships.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The ECOWAS Court of Justice will hold a sensitisation programme in Guinea-Bissau from 18 to 24 February, 2024 as part of the annual outreach programmes of the Court organised in Member States of ECOWAS.

The sensitisation programme is intended to create awareness about the Court, its mandate and jurisdiction, and its judicial and non-judicial activities.

It is, therefore, an avenue for increasing visibility of the Court among Community citizens who are among the major stakeholders of the Court. This is in line with ECOWAS Vision 2050 – ECOWAS of Peoples: Peace and Prosperity for All.

The week-long programme will be preceded by courtesy visits to high-ranking officials of the government of Guinea-Bissau. This will be followed by presentations and discussion sessions, including a judicial dialogue, lawyers and law students’ forum, and television and radio appearances.

The sensitization will be rounded off with a press conference on Friday, 23 February 2024.

Expected at different sessions are government off
icials, President and Judges of the Supreme Court, ECOWAS officials in Guinea-Bissau and representatives of various government and civil society organizations.

The delegation from the Court will make presentations on topics including the mandate and jurisdiction, filing of cases, practice and procedure before the Court, women’s rights, and execution of judgments of the Court.

The delegation from the ECOWAS Court of Justice comprises President of the Court, Justice Edward Amoako Asante, Vice President, Justice Gberi-Bè Ouattara, and other judges of the Court – Justices Dupe Atoki, Sengu Mohamed Koroma and Ricardo Claúdio Monteiro Gonçalves.

The judges will be accompanied on the mission by key staff from the Registry, Research and Documentation Departments as well as the Communications and Protocol units of the Court.

The ECOWAS Court of Justice was established in 1991 as the principal legal organ of the Community. The status, composition, powers, and other issues concerning the Court are set out in the Pro
tocols relating to the Court.

The Court is presently composed of five (5) independent judges. A 2005 Supplementary Protocol granted direct access to individuals to approach the Court with certain causes of action including human rights violations.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), in collaboration with the Tourism Club of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), commemorated this year’s Valentine and National Chocolate Day on the Greenwich meridian line to promote the area as a tourist destination.

The Greenwich meridian line, latitude 0.0 degrees, located on the premises of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Greenwich Congregation at Tema Community One, was fully packed with patrons taking pictures while savouring the rich taste of chocolate.

The chocolates are proudly produced from Ghana’s cocoa by the Cocoa Processing Company, which sponsored the programme.

Mr George Nkrumah Ansere, the GTA Director, Tema Region, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the club, which he supervised, and the Authority agreed to hold the programme on the Greenwich Line, which made Tema the centre of the world.

He said apart from having almost all the cocoa processing factories in Tema, the production and consumption of cocoa had a lot of linkage to
the promotion of tourism in Ghana, hence the choice of the Greenwich Line to commemorate the day.

Mr John Aseeph, the President of the GPHA Tourism Club, said members often identified tourist sites, where they visited to have fun, and this year’s Valentine’s Day was no exception to show love through the sharing of chocolate with the public.

Unfortunately Tema was developed with little consideration for tourism, otherwise places of historical and geographical importance like the Greenwich Meridian Line would have been preserved and properly promoted to attract both local and foreign tourists, he said.

‘Most people in Tema might have heard that they are residing in the centre of the world but are not even aware of the actual location of the Greenwich, therefore the need to properly develop the place,’ Mr Aseeph said.

Source: Ghana News Agency

AfricaFertilizer, premier source of fertilizer statistics and information in Africa, its donor, and technical partners, have announced the commencement of the 2024 Fertilizer Technical Working Group (FTWG) meetings to be held with key national fertilizer supply chain stakeholders across 18 countries in Africa.

FTWGs are set up primarily for industry players to collate, analyze, and validate country-level fertilizer statistics to support data-driven decisions that promote food systems across Africa.

In each country, fertilizer value chain actors would be brought together to share, collate, analyze, and validate 2023 national fertilizer statistics and other critical information, which will be widely disseminated to guide business and policy decision-making at all levels.

That of Ghana, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Togo is slated for March while Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal will be held in April, a statement from the International Fertilizer Development Center, the host of AfricaFertilizer copied to
the Ghana News Agency has said.

It said, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Zambia would have their turn in May, while Burundi, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda meeting would be held in June with Nigeria’s meeting in November.

The statement said access to high-quality, accurate, reliable, and timely fertilizer statistics and information was required in policy and business decision-making.

‘Many industry actors unfortunately lack adequate fertilizer statistical information in the form, and at the time that meets their needs. This is where AfricaFertilizer’s FTWG activities come in to fill the gap,’ it said.

The statement quoted Mr Sebastian Nduva, the AfricaFertilizer Lead, as saying, ‘Through the FTWG meetings and other platforms and tools, AfricaFertilizer has been working collaboratively with partners, including Development Gateway, the International Fertilizer Association, and the West African Fertilizer Association (WAFA), to illuminate fertilizer markets in several African countries.’

He noted tha
t AfricaFertilizer was poised to cover more geographical areas to provide the tools industry actors need for their strategic planning to drive food systems in Africa.

To arrive at unbiased and acceptable fertilizer datasets on imports, exports, and apparent consumption, AfricaFertilizer convenes public sector stakeholders in the value chain to actively participate in reviewing, and validating the country’s fertilizer data to ensure that AfricaFertilizer could provide high-quality statistics.

With funding support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, AfricaFertilizer has partnered with Development Gateway since 2021, through the Visualizing Insights on Fertilizer for African Agriculture (VIFAA) programme, to develop and deploy dashboards for Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, and Zambia.

The eighth dashboard will be launched this year for Mozambique. These dashboards allow industry players to easily visualize the FTWG-validated statistics at no cost.

Mr Ousmane Kone, VIFAA Program Ma
nager at Development Gateway said, ‘Access to trustworthy, important data will revolutionize the fertilizer industry in sub-Saharan Africa, enhancing the quality of business and policy decision-making and promoting the agricultural industry and the food systems on a large scale.’

Dr Innocent Okuku, Executive Secretary of WAFA commended the valuable and high-quality data that FTWG meetings generate every year and said without such credible data, it would be difficult for businesses to plan and identify opportunities to import enough products for supply in the marketplace.

In 2023, AfricaFertilizer held FTWG meetings for 17 countries across Africa, and successfully validated 2022 fertilizer data with national stakeholders. The results and outcomes were disseminated widely to guide investments, policy direction, and business decision-making.

AfricaFertilizer aims to enhance its services by securing more funding and fostering collaborative partnerships. The objective is to offer comprehensive data and real-tim
e information on the fertilizer sector throughout Africa. This initiative seeks to address existing data gaps hindering industry efforts and unlock the agricultural potential across the continent.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Ghana Health Service (GHS), the Ghana Aids Commission (GAC)) and other partners have called on Ghanaians to support the elimination of HIV in the country.

The partners made the call at the launch of the 20th anniversary celebration of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) in Accra with a year-long programme.

The launch also witnessed the unveiling of the anniversary logo to celebrate the achievements of ART treatment for persons living with HIV in Ghana, which began in December 2003.

Ghana in March 1986 diagnosed its first AIDS case with a total of 26 cases being identified by May 1986.

Since then, the country experienced a generalised HIV epidemic, with a current prevalence of 1.7 per cent of the general population.

Currently, an estimated 354,927 people are living with HIV (PLHIV) in Ghana. Out of this, seven per cent are children aged 0-4, six per cent adolescents aged 10-19, whilst the remaining 87 per cent are adults.

In line with the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets, 254,753 (72 per cent) of the estimated PLHI
V know their status, 222,581 (83 per cent) are on ART and 151,549 (68 per cent) have achieved viral suppression.

The ART is a combination of antiviral drugs that effectively suppresses the replication of HIV in the body, which delays the progression of the disease and allows those living with HIV to live healthier, longer lives.

Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, Director General, GHS, acknowledged the critical importance of the ART in Ghana, which had made remarkable achievements as the number of persons living with HIV were accessing and adhering to the ART.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye said the country had witnessed a decline in HIV related mortality rates, saying: ‘This means that more Ghanaians are living longer and healthier lives with HIV.

‘Moreover, the rate of new HIV infections has been declining due to the combination of ARV with comprehensive prevention strategies,’ he added.

The Director General said the achievements were a testament to the commitment and collaborative efforts of the government, healthcare profess
ionals, civil society organisations and the people of Ghana.

Dr. Kuma- Aboagye, however, said the journey had not ended as there was still much work to be done, despite the achievement.

He called on the need to intensify efforts to educate and sensitise communities and dispel myths and misconceptions surrounding HIV and ARV.

Dr Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, Director of Public Health, GHS, said the launch sought to celebrate the significant achievements of the past and to also renew commitment to eradicate HIV and AIDS once and for all.

Dr Bekoe said as the 20th anniversary was being celebrated, it was important not to lose sight of the challenges that lay ahead.

He said: ‘While tremendous progress has been made, we cannot rest until every person, regardless of their socio-economic status or geographical location, has access to life saving antiretroviral therapy.’

Ms Elsie Ayeh, President of NAP+ Ghana, who shared her story on the ART, said she had been on the treatment for the past 20 years, and described it a
s a life saver.

She said a lot of lessons had been learnt as many lives were saved throughout the period, adding that a lot of lives had been lost for refusal to avail themselves for care and treatment.

Ms Ayeh said stigmatisation and self-confidence were still issues of concern and called on family members to support persons living with HIV to enable them to continue with their treatment.

She also called on Ghanaians to contribute to the HIV Fund by donating to the shortcode ×9898# to help keep PLHIV alive and prevent transmissions.

The launch was on the theme: ’20 years of HIV Antiretroval Treatment in Ghana: Celebrating the progress, ending the epidemic.

Activities to commemorate the yearlong celebration include tour of ART sites and a commemoration project, documentaries down memory lane from 2003 to date and media engagements on ART.

The rest are health walk and soccer competition, quiz competition, national stakeholder dialogue, legacy project, and a climax of events on World AIDS Day Celebration
Durbar, dinner, and awards night, among others.

Source: Ghana News Agency