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Ghana considering visa waivers for African countries – Ayorkor Botchwey
The Foreign Affairs Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey has announced that Ghana is considering visa waivers for African countries.
This follows the recent decision by Rwanda, Kenya, and South Africa to allow Africans to travel to their countries visa-free.
In an interview with Citi News, Ms Botchwey said Ghana wants to join the visa-free countries soon. She said that the government is “on the drawing board looking at it” and that it is “something that we are seriously thinking about.”
Ms Botchwey also noted that Ghana has plans to attract people of African descent to the diaspora. She said that Ghana wants to be a “pilgrimage country” for them to touch with the motherland.
The Foreign Affairs Minister said that the government is working on the visa waiver agreement with the Ministries of Interior and Tourism. She said that the government will come out with a decision very soon.
Meanwhile, Ghana and South Africa have signed a visa waiver agreement, which allows citizens of both countries to travel freely for business and tourism, without any visa restrictions. The agreement took effect on November 1, 2023.
The visa waiver applies to holders of ordinary passports, who are allowed to stay in the other country for up to 90 days within a calendar year.
The agreement is expected to boost trade and tourism between the two countries. It is also seen as a sign of the growing relationship between Ghana and South Africa.
Source: Citinewsroom
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
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BY MALIK SULLEMANA
