On April 23, Yin Chengwu, Chinese Ambassador to Liberia attended the handover ceremony of China-Aid Solar Power Project for the Ministry of Posts and Communications of Liberia. Mr. Sekou M. Kromah, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, representatives of the Liberian Cabinet and the management of the Ministry of Post and Communications attended the ceremony.

Kromah thanked the Chinese government for its long-standing support and assistance to the Liberian government, especially for the assistance in infrastructure construction and capacity building cooperation in the field of posts and telecommunications, and hoped that the two sides would further consolidate and strengthen their cooperation in more fields.

Ambassador Yin congratulated on the successful completion and handover of the project, noting that the solar power project is one of the important achievements of China-Liberia practical cooperation, which will provide stable, reliable, clean and green power supply for the headquarters of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and 8 county post offices, and improve the conditions of communication infrastructure. Yin said China will continue pursuing the principles of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith in China-Liberia relations, and help Liberian economic and social development.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Liberia.

The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has charged heads and officials of state-owned enterprises to adhere strictly to the submission timelines instituted by the State Interests and Governance Authority on the preparation and further publication of State Ownership Reports.

“As a follow-up to this directive, I expect the Director General of SIGA to furnish me with the list of all specified entities who have not complied with this directive by 31st May 2024,” President Akufo-Addo has directed.   

Speaking at the launch of two policy documents, namely, the Code of Corporate Governance for Specified Entities and Public Service Organisations in Ghana and on the State Ownership Policy for Specified Entities, during the 2024 Annual Policy and Governance Forum, on Tuesday, 23rd April, 2024, the President said, this important duty is a key part of measures by government to enhance transparency and accountability in the governance and management of our public enterprises, thereby ensuring that they deliver on their mandates, and contribute to the national economy.

With SIGA mandated to prepare the State Ownership Report, which serves amongst others, as an accountability and transparency document, President Akufo-Addo said the reports, give government and the public access to information on public enterprises’ financial and non-financial performances.

Citing non-compliance to the submission of financial statements by public entities as a key constraint to preparation and publication of SORs, the President said with these financial statements becoming central to the preparation of the SOR, board chairs of all specified entities, in the Cabinet approved list of entities, are expected to submit their audited accounts and statements to SIGA by 15th May 2024.

He further urged specified entities who are yet to align themselves with the oversight mechanisms established by SIGA, to heed the call with urgency, adding that their “reluctance to comply, not only erodes the fabric of transparency and accountability, but also undermines the integrity of our nation’s financial framework.”

“It is imperative that we uphold collectively the principles of good cooperate governance, which leads to accountability and transparency, to safeguard the interest of the State, in the running of public enterprises,” he said.

Reminding participants of government’s resolve to ensure that the public enterprises sector, contribute about 30 percent of the country’s GDP, he said considerable strides towards this target has been made as latest reports from the Controller and Accountant General’s Department indicates that the number of specified entities, included in the national accounts, has increased from 19 in 2020 to 62 in 2022.

Additionally, “entities signing performance contracts with SIGA rose from 6 in 2016, to 73 in 2023, thus underscoring how transparent and accountable government has been so far as governance and management of our public enterprises are concerned.”

He singled out for special recognition and praise, the management of entities like, BOST, VRA, TDC Development Company Limited, and Ghana Re-insurance amongst others, for transforming successfully the entities from debt-ridden to profitable public enterprises. 

“TDC Development Company Limited and Ghana Re-insurance holds special significance for me, due to the steadfast commitment, to paying dividends consistently to the government and I take this opportunity to encourage the other SOEs to emulate their laudable feat,” President Akufo-Addo indicated.

He said the policy document as launched provides clearly defined objectives for ownership and articulates the establishment of proper systems for managing and accessing the performance of the state ownership interests in our public enterprises.

In the light of these, “my government has implemented reforms, aimed at enhancing transparency, streamlining operations, and mitigating risks within state-owned enterprises, however, we recognize that there is still more work to be done, hence the need to launch the two new policy documents on, The Code of Corporate Governance for Specified Entities and Public Service Organisations in Ghana, and secondly, The State Ownership Policy for Specified Entities, to enhance even further, transparency, accountability and good governance within our specified entities,” he pointed out. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Presidency, Republic of Ghana.

It is a dark day in the United Kingdom as the Safety of Rwanda Bill will soon become law after passing its final stages in parliament yesterday. This will have a devastating impact on human rights and the rule of law, risking the lives of people who came to the UK seeking safety and setting a dangerous global precedent.

The government’s new law tries to legislate away the facts and declare Rwanda safe to send asylum seekers despite the UK Supreme Court’s November 2023 ruling and abundant evidence to the contrary. The law compels UK courts and civil servants to “conclusively” treat Rwanda as safe, while severely limiting access to appeals and remedies. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that flights will take off in 10 to 12 weeks and reserved 2,200 detention spaces in the UK, amid reports that detaining asylum seekers could start within days.

The government’s blatant disregard for international obligations and the rule of law has already received international condemnation. The United Nations high commissioner for refugees and UN high commissioner for human rights warned of the law’s wide-ranging consequences for global responsibility sharing, human rights, and refugee protection. These sentiments were echoed by the Council of Europe commissioner for human rights who cautioned that the new law raises “major issues about the human rights of asylum seekers and the rule of law.”

This week several UN experts publicly warned airlines and aviation authorities that removing asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda, even if the Safety of Rwanda Bill passed, could make them complicit in violating human rights and court orders. The Ministry of Defence has suggested that Royal Airforce planes may be used as commercial airlines face pressure not to participate.

The UK’s efforts to shirk its asylum responsibilities are undermining global responsibility sharing and have not gone unnoticed by other governments, who have told Human Rights Watch that the UK has lost credibility to call upon other states to uphold their obligations towards refugees.

The fight is not over. Legal challenges are expected against individual removals and the law itself. The UK should urgently adopt humane and fair asylum policies, including ensuring people can have their claims heard in the UK and expanding safe routes so people are not forced into deadly journeys.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Human Rights Watch (HRW).

In an interview on the BBC’s Today Program this week, Deputy Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell sang the praises of Rwanda’s “remarkable regime.” But as the debate over the government’s Safety of Rwanda bill came to a close, he left out some important facts about Rwanda’s human rights record.

When asked about an incident in which Rwandan security forces shot and killed 12 Congolese refugees during a 2018 protest over cuts in food rations in the Kiziba refugee camp, Mitchell claimed the incident was “highly contested.” In its December 2023 policy statement, the UK government also tried to present the killings as “an isolated case [with] no information on similar incidents since 2018.”

There is nothing contested about what happened. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International found that Rwandan police used excessive force during the protest. Dozens of protesters were arrested and prosecuted, with those who signed a letter to the UN pleading for increased food rations receiving the heaviest sentences.

Impunity for security forces, a cover-up report by Rwanda’s National Human Rights Commission, and the jailing of dozens of refugees sent a stark warning against any further attempts to organize protests.

Mitchell also failed to mention Rwanda’s involvement in one of the largest displacement crises on the continent in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, by backing the abusive M23 armed group that has committed widespread atrocities. He omits the fact that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has opposed the UK-Rwanda asylum deal, instead seeming to deliberately mislead the audience into thinking otherwise by comparing the deal to a UNHCR transit mechanism that temporarily hosts asylum seekers and refugees voluntarily evacuated from Libya to Rwanda.

Instead of focusing on how Rwanda’s capital Kigali may be considered safe from petty thievery, Mitchell should examine how those who question the Rwandan government’s right record have been blocked from entering the country, arrested, disappeared, or ended up dead in unexplained circumstances.

The Safety of Rwanda bill was adopted late last night, and efforts by the House of Lords to include oversight mechanisms were batted away by government officials as cumbersome and obstructive. Such scrutiny is now needed more than ever.

The government may have legislated its way around the Supreme Court’s ruling that Rwanda is not a safe country to which to send asylum seekers, but it cannot bend the truth to its will – Rwanda’s dismal human rights record is there for all to see.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Human Rights Watch (HRW).