Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong – The Snow Leopard

Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, nicknamed the Snow Leopard, is on the prowl for a gold in the 2010 Winter Olympic games.  He has drawn a lot of interest as an African skiing in the Olympics after his introduction to snow 5 years ago.  The Alpine Slalom race is scheduled to take place on February 27, 2010.  He will make history as the first Ghanian skiing in the Winter Olympics.

Quite the athlete, he also represented Ghana in the West African Student Games in tennis.  Kwame took ski lessons when he got a job as a receptionist at a ski center.   In an interview with BBC, he stated that , “The only thing we [Africans] have to overcome is the cold.”  He credits his family and his faith in God for his success.

Dedicated to encouraging Ghanian youth to ski, he has set up the Ghanian Winter Olympic Association and is working on building an artificial ski slope in Akuapem Hills, Mamfe, Ghana.

He supports Sabre, a British charity that builds schools in deprived areas of Ghana, and donates his spare money to a charity that is working on help save the snow leopard from extinction.

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Ghana Is Second Highest Donor To Haiti

Ghana has been noted as the second highest donor to Haiti after Guyana based on donor countries’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Details of financial aid and other assistance to the people of Haiti being tracked by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) which was released recently by the Data Blog, which is hosted on the UK Guardian newspapers’ website and sourced to Relief Web has shown that contributions captured as at January 24, 2010 shows Guyana as the ‘most generous’ country in terms of its financial pledges when measured against the country’s GDP. The report indicated that Guyana is the third poorest country in the hemisphere, after Haiti and Nicaragua.
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Ghanaian Students to Access GlobalCampus Website

A Foreign social entrepreneur, Mr Maurizio de Franciscis, has introduced a new online system to help students in Ghana to realize and improve on their talents.

This was done in collaboration with the Association of International Students in Economics, Science and Commerce (AIESEC) Ghana, a student organization that promotes leadership development among the youth.

The website, ‘GlobalCampus’, is an online system that would enable students to get connected to universities and organizations worldwide. It is focused on helping individuals to improve upon their talents in every field.

It will also enable universities and organizations to know more about students during admission processes, as well as connecting the needs of universities to students across the world.

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“Hatians Need Gari and Shito” says a Disaster Management Expert

A DISASTER Management expert has suggested that considering the effect of the Haitian crisis, cash donation is not the best assistance from Ghana, proposing that food items would be more significant. Sharing his opinion with DAILY GUIDE in Ho on Friday, Kenwuud Nuworsu, a former Chief Disaster Control Officer, explained that looking at the extent of damage caused by the earthquake and considering other international organizations that are working in Haiti, Ghana’s $3million is insignificant.

The former Volta Regional boss of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) noted that there is even that probability that the money might not even get to its destination, wondering if the people and government of Haiti will take notice of it at all.

Mr. Nuworsu stated that instead of the cash donation, the money could have been used to buy food items from Ghanaian companies to be relabeled from ‘For Sale’ to ‘Gift from Ghana’.
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Ghana Donate $3million to Haiti

The Government of Ghana has announced a three million United States dollar ($3,000,000) donation to the people of Haiti, following the January 12 devastating earthquake in that country.

Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Deputy Minister for Information, told the Ghanaian Times in Accra Wednesday that the donation was in fulfillment of President John Atta Mills’ pledge in a letter to his Haitian counterpart, Rene Preval that the government and people of Ghana, “will in due course, make our modest contribution to your national efforts.”

The President, on behalf of the people and government of Ghana, expressed heartfelt condolences and sympathies for the incalculable losses suffered.

The Deputy Minister said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was arranging for the prompt transfer of the money to the Haitian government. Meanwhile, the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) is mobilising relief items that will, at the appropriate time, be presented to the people of Haiti.

Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa said individuals and corporate bodies desirous of assisting the people of Haiti could contact the local office of World Vision International, which was engaged in an international relief effort for Haiti.

He noted, however, that government was not associated with and had not been informed by any private organisation or individuals seeking to use text messages and charity concerts to raise funds for the people of Haiti.

Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa advised interested individuals to contact the World Vision Office if they had any doubts about an institution or organisation soliciting for funds on behalf of the people of Haiti.

Rawlings in Morocco for Africities Summit

Former Ghana President, Jerry John Rawlings arrived in Morocco Monday to participate in the Africities Summit taking place in the historical Moroccan market city of Marrakech.

Former President Rawlings is expected to deliver the keynote address at the grand opening ceremony on Wednesday of the Africities Summit being held under the auspices of King Mohammed VI of Morocco.

The five-day summit is under theme “The Response of African Local and Regional Governments to the Global Crises: Promoting Sustainable Local Development and Employment.

Organized every three years with over 5,000 participants drawn from all over Africa and other regions of the world, the Africities summit is the most recognized forum for dialogue on decentralization and local government development on the continent.

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President Obama Defends War As He Picks Up Nobel Peace Prize

President Barack Obama has said the US must uphold moral standards when waging wars that are necessary and justified, as he accepted his Nobel Peace Prize.

In his speech in Oslo, he defended the US role in Afghanistan, arguing the use of force could bring lasting peace.

He also said his accomplishments were slight compared with other laureates.

Mr Obama was given the prize in October for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples”.

Thursday’s ceremony in the Norwegian capital came days after Mr Obama announced he was sending 30,000 extra US soldiers to the war in Afghanistan.

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Sex Ring Uncovered – Ghanaian Women Lured to Russia

A collaborative investigation undertaken by Ghana’s mission in Moscow and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has uncovered a human trafficking and prostitution ring which recruits young Ghanaian women for commercial sex work in Moscow and other cities of the Russian Federation.

A report on the findings of the investigation said Ghana’s mission in Moscow had established that at least 50 Ghanaian women had been lured into the Russian Federation by the syndicate operating in Ghana and the Russian Federation, to practice prostitution.

According to the report, the young women, usually enticed by the guise of further education in Russian universities, “are kept in confinement for the purpose of the said trade and their documents and other personal items seized. Those found to be unwilling or non-cooperative are maltreated”.
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President Mills woos Trinidad & Tobago

President John Evans Atta Mills has met executives of the Trinidad and Tobago National Gas Company who have expressed considerably interest in investing in Ghana’s gas industry.

The interaction centered on areas in which Trinidad and Tobago would be of great benefit to Ghana, especially the transfer of technology and the provision of job opportunities for Ghanaians.

In a media briefing after the meeting with President Mills, the President of the company, Mr Andrew Macintosh, said President Mills had also expressed the preparedness of Ghana to tap into the expertise of Trinidad and Tobago in relation to the gas industry. He said President Mills had said the government will welcome foreign investors, provided that they were prepared to adhere strictly to the country’s laws and regulations.

Mr Macintosh said his country was prepared to invest, as well as share its expertise, in gas exploration, which he said had been the mainstay of Trinidad and Tobago’s economy for several years.

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Queen Elizabeth II Praises Ghana

Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain last Friday held bilateral talks with President John Evans Atta Mills on the wings of the Commonwealth Summit in Trinidad and Tobago and praised Ghana for its commitment to genuine democracy and the rule of law. Ghana’s unfettered freedom of the media and the active participation of civil society organization in governance also won the admiration of the British Monarch.

In view of Ghana’s impressive democratic credentials, Queen Elizabeth impressed on the country to exercise its influence in Africa by encouraging other countries on the continent to boost multi-party democracy in their quest to rebuild their economies and develop their societies.

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