My Ghana Electronic Desk

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE The Forest Governance Learning Group (FGLG) teams in Ghana, Indonesia, Mozambique, Tanzania and Vietnam have warned that national plans for REDD+ in their countries could do more harm than good. They maintain that unless such national plans to protect forests are reverted to focus on benefitting the forest-dependent communities, biodiversity and climate, the strategies will be headed for irreversible disaster. Commenting on a report on national forest protection plans, the five FGLG teams said in many countries top-down, government-led plans for REDD+ have been rushed through and focus more on how to count carbon stored in trees than on how to actually implement a system that brings real benefits for communities, biodiversity and the climate. According to the report released last week by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), “tropical countries that seek a share of billions of dollars of climate finance in return for protecting their

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE The General Secretary of GJA, Mr. Bright Blewu receiving the cheque Waste management company, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, has presented a cheque for GH¢3,000 to the National Executive Committee of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), towards the 16th Edition of the GJA Awards. Presenting the cheque on behalf of the company last week Thursday, Miss Patricia Ofori Atta, Communications Officer of Zoomlion Ghana Limited , said Zoomlion Ghana Limited was happy to partner GJA in rewarding excellence in journalism and appealed to the media to continue to support the company in its aggressive drive towards waste management and environmental sanitation. She also added that since the foundation of Zoomlion Ghana Limited five years ago, the company has embarked on countless programmes towards the eradication of filth in the country. According to Miss Ofori Atta, the company remains committed towards fighting waste in the country, since one of the ma

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE The Public Procurement Authority (PPA), has cautioned the public that there are some imposters operating under the guise of state agencies such as the Tender Board, Office of the Presidency, Republic of Ghana and operating websites such as www.tenderboard-gh.org, and Ghana Procurement Service with its website at www.ghanaprocurementservices.com. The fraudsters, the PPA warns, are purporting to have been set up by the Government of Ghana, to provide offsite procurement outsourcing solutions, and awarding contracts on behalf of the Government of Ghana. “We are by this notice alerting you of their dealings and advising that no purported contract awards from such organisations should be entertained. Please be advised that Contracts in Ghana are awarded only after an exhaustive tendering process in which the awardees are expected to have participated. Such Tender notices are also put out by the individual Entities and not a Central Agency on behalf of

Mr. Ludovic Falcuo BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE In line with its vision to always lead in new innovations in telecommunications devices and accessories, Nokia has officially launched three dual SIM handsets onto the Ghanaian market. The X1-01, C2-00 and Nokia C2-03, were outdoored at a media launch in Accra today, July 18, 2011. The Nokia X1-01 and C2-00, are presently on the Ghanaian market at very competitive prices of GH¢ 65 and GH¢ 110 respectively, while the third, the Nokia C2-03 is expected to be made available in the next few weeks, says Country Manager of Nokia in Ghana, Ludovic Falcou. The new handsets come with a lot of new exciting features such as loud music speaker for the X1-01, which can play for 36 hours continuously and designed with the youth in mind and an easy swap of SIM on the C2-00, which means a second SIM can be changed while the phone is still on. According to Product Manager of  Nokia, West Africa, Olumide Balogun who took the media through the

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), an organisation working to promote an effectual media in the region, will on August 9, 2011 celebrate a decade of its work of promoting free expression and press freedom in West Africa. The twin event, which is aimed at celebrating the gains of freedom of expression/press freedom in West Africa, will take stock of the organisation’s activities and highlight among other things the challenges of promoting free expression and press freedom in the region. As part of the activities to mark the day, the MFWA will be holding a series of events such as the launch of its anniversary publication, a publication of the record of its work in promoting freedom of expression and press freedom in West Africa. MFWA will also hold a Strategy Planning Conference on Decriminalisation of Media and Speech Legislation, which will bring together key and influential people in the area of free expression and media freedom from