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To appreciate pregnant women: Men made to demonstrate in pregnancy jacket
For them to understand how it feels to carry pregnancy for nine months and engage in domestic chores at the same time, some men at Sankana in the Nadowli-Kaleo District of the Upper West Region have been made to undertake a demonstration in pregnancy jackets.
The men were made to wear jackets stuffed with fabrics to the size of certain months of pregnancy beginning from six months and above.
They were then made to undertake domestic chores such as fetching firewood, washing and fetching water over long distances in the pregnancy jackets to familiarise themselves with the stress women go through in combining pregnancies with house chores.
The demonstration was mounted by the Community Aid for Rural Development (CARD) Ghana, a Wa-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) in a project dubbed “Maternal and Neonatal Health Project”.
The Project which is being implemented in conjunction with the Ghana Health Service is supported by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to enhance maternal and neonatal health.
The men wore the stuffed jackets for close to two hours attested to the fact that women were doing tremendously well by carrying pregnancies for nine months and engaging in various house chores at the same time.
But they were skeptical of offering assistance to pregnant women as they shared some experiences from some of their colleagues who attempted to help their wives or partners at home.
“Even though we have noticed that it is not easy to carry a pregnancy and work at the same time, we are aware that some men who attempted to help their wives at home were disrespected by them in public”, a pregnancy jacket demonstrator, Mr Timothy Yonye, stated.
He explained that when men empathised with women and helped them during pregnancies and child birth, the women got used to the support and relegated those responsibilities to the men as permanent duties which they did not sign up for.
“Sometimes we are able to support until the child is six months old or even to the time of weaning the baby; but some of the women will still want us to fetch water, take care of the child and will have the guts to embarrass us in public when we are with our friends”, he said.
In response, the Executive Director of Card-Ghana, Ms Leenat Abdul-Rahaman encouraged the men to consider the health of their wives at the time of pregnancy and delivery, particularly for women who went through caesarian sessions, and support them regardless the experience they had shared with the gathering at the programme.
“These experiences can be sorted out at the domestic level before the men assume those responsibilities and we are working hard because we want to promote maternal wellbeing and reduce maternal and neonatal deaths”, she stressed.
Ms Abdul-Rahman appealed to the men to get involved in maternal and neonatal issues and support their women whilst advising them to respect the efforts their husbands made.
For his part, Mr John Maakpe, the Health Promotion Officer at the Regional Health Directorate also encouraged his male colleagues to support the nutritional needs of their wives so that they would be strong enough to carry the pregnancies.
“These jackets are external but we have all experienced how tiring it is, you can imagine blending this stress with hormonal imbalance as many women experience during pregnancy, so we can only appeal to men to support their wives during this time”, he added.
From Lydia Darlington Forjdour, Nadowli
The Global Network of Export-Import Banks and Development Finance Institutions (G-NEXID) successfully held its sixth (6th) Exchange Programme, hosted by the Ghana Export – Import Bank (GEXIM) Bank in Accra from March 22 to 23 March.
The event brought together member institutions, partner organisations and Ghanaian public entities to advance dialogue on South-South trade, investment and development finance, while also creating opportunities for knowledge-sharing and institutional cooperation.
Organised as a capacity-building and networking platform, the 2026 edition of the G-NEXID Exchange focused on GEXIM’s experience in developing innovative solutions to promote intra-African and extra-African trade.
It also highlighted trade and investment opportunities in Ghana, particularly in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and broader national development initiatives.
The Exchange Programme forms part of G-NEXID’s mandate to foster cooperation among export-import banks and development finance institutions in support of South-South trade and investment.
This 6th edition follows earlier successful programmes hosted by India Exim Bank (2016), BNDES (2017), Indonesia Eximbank (2018), Afreximbank (2019) and Saudi EXIM Bank (2025).
On the first day, participants were presented with G-NEXID institutional information and received an update on the Network’s 2026 work programme.
There were a series of substantive presentations, including an overview of the Ghanaian economy by the Ministry of Finance, with particular attention to debt-related challenges; a presentation by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), on investment opportunities in the country; and institutional presentations by GEXIM and Development Bank Ghana (DBG) on their respective mandates, initiatives, products and services.
Discussions during the sessions underscored strong interest in sector-focused webinars and business dialogues, particularly in agribusiness value chains such as poultry and rice.
Participants also emphasized the importance of continued information exchange and the sharing of best practices, especially in the area of guarantees.
The second day opened with a presentation on the 24-Hour Economy and Accelerated Export Development Programme, a national economic transformation strategy launched by President John Dramani Mahama in July 2025.
The initiative aims to enhance economic productivity through continuous industrial activity, accelerated export development and strategic import substitution.
As the programme is expected to mobilise both private and development capital, it presents concrete opportunities for G-NEXID members in areas such as co-financing, guarantees, trade finance and technical cooperation.
The programme also featured institutional presentations by guest organisations, namely the African Guarantee and Economic Cooperation Fund (FAGACE) and the West African Development Bank (BOAD), which shared their mandates, initiatives, products and services.
Following these exchanges, the G-NEXID Secretariat held bilateral discussions with both institutions as part of the Network’s ongoing membership drive.
Participants further benefited from a presentation by the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB), as well as a showcase of GEXIM’s key pipeline projects.
On the margins of the Exchange Programme, G-NEXID members also held their 20th Annual General Assembly Meeting to review progress and discuss strategic priorities.
Following the event, participants joined the GEXIM@10 International Conference, held from March 24-25, 2026 under the theme, “A Decade of Enabling Export Trade and Industrial Transformation: Resetting GEXIM for the Next Frontier.”
The conference provided an important platform for exploring how Ghana can strengthen its transition from a primary commodity exporter to a more competitive player in value-added trade and industrial development.
Source – G-NEXID
President John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, signed five bills including three amendment bills passed by Parliament into law.
They are: Security and Intelligence Agencies Bill, 2025; University of Engineering and Agricultural Sciences Bill, 2025; Ghana Deposit Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2025; Growth and Sustainability Levy (Amendment) Bill, 2026; and Education Regulatory Bodies (Amendment) Bill, 2026.
In a brief remark after assenting to the bills, President Mahama explained that the Security and Intelligence Agencies Act, 2026, scraps the Office of Minister of National Security and frees the President’s to appoint any Minister to supervise the security agencies.
He said it also reverses the name of the office of National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), to the original name, Bureau of National Intelligence, (BNI).
This the President said, addresses the confusion between that security agency and a well-known Ghanaian financial institution, the National Investment Bank.
President Mahama also noted that the University of Engineering and Agricultural Sciences Act, 2026, establishes another University in the Eastern Region, at Bonsu, with three campuses – the main campus at Bonsu in the Eastern Region, with the second campus to be cited at Ohawu in the Oti Region.
The third, the Presdient assed will be located at Acherensua in the Ahafo Region.
Touching on the Amendment to the Growth and Sustainability Levy Act, the President said, “As you’re aware, the act was amended to increase it from 1% to 3%, and so this act reduces it again. That is the levy on mining companies. It reduces it again to 1%, because of the introduction of the sliding scale of royalties.”
He also spoke to the passage of the Government Education Regulatory Bodies Amendment Act, emphasising that amends Act 1023 to grant greater flexibility to private tertiary institutions and the option to Charter.
The Ghana Deposit Protection Amendment Act, the President concluded, is an amendment to an original act that was supposed to guarantee deposits held in commercial banks or financial institutions.
It basically expands protection to include mobile money wallets and other digital platforms, ensuring a wider scope of digital financial assets are secured.
The signing ceremony, was witnessed by the Clerk of Parliament, Mr. Ebenezer Ahumah Djietror, Secretary to the President, Dr Callistus Mahama, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Dr Dominic Akrutinga Ayine, Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, Joyce Bawa Mogtari, a Senior Presidential Advisor and a Special Aide to the President, Finance Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, and the Vice President, Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang.
