The report that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo left Accra for Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, last night to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the President-elect of that country, Mr Jose Maria Neves is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Tuesday.The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo left Accra for Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, last night to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the President-elect of that country, Mr Jose Maria Neves.

President Akufo-Addo will grace the occasion in his capacity as the Chairman of ECOWAS.

The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who saw the President off at the Kotoka International Airport last night, will act in the President’s stead.

Before leaving for Cape Verde, the President received a delegation from the Vice-President’s family, which was in the Jubilee House to show appreciation to the President and the government for supporting the chiefs and the people of the Mamprugu area during the final funeral rites of the Vice-President’s mother.

A Senior Elder of the Overlord of the Mamprugu Traditional Area, Mba Tarana John Gumah, led the delegation to the seat of government to show appreciation on behalf of the Mamprugu Overlord or the Nayiri.

On behalf of the Overlord, Naa Bohagu Mahami Abdulai Sheriga, Mba Gumah said President Akufo-Addo’s presence at the funeral made it unique and proved that he had great concern and was committed to Mamprugu and Vice-President Bawumia.

The newspaper says that Ghana will join other international scientists in a search for a vaccine against Lassa fever virus with a phase one vaccine trial in 2022.

This is when all the relevant bodies and institutions in the country mandated to oversee vaccine trials are satisfied with the data on safety of the vaccine for human trials and all relevant stakeholders have been engaged.

This study will be conducted by the Navrongo Health Research Centre (NHRC) and Kintampo Health Research Centre (KHRC), both of the Research and Development Directorate of the Ghana Health Service, in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality in the Upper East Region and Kintampo North Municipality of the Bono East Region.

A total of 100 people would be enrolled for the exercise which would simultaneously take place at NHRC and KHRC.

The acting Director of the NHRC, Dr Patrick Odum Ansah, disclosed this to the Daily Graphic after the centre had conducted a team of health journalists from the African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN) on its premises.

He said the centre was working with all the relevant bodies to get the needed approvals in order to commence the in-human trials of the vaccine.

He explained that whereas the NHRC would administer doses of the vaccine to about 50 people in its catchment areas, the Kintampo Health Research Centre (KHRC), would also do same.

He said the NHRC and KHRC were ready and had the capacity to conduct the exercise.

Touching on why Ghana had been chosen for the first in-human trials of the vaccine, he explained that the vaccine had to be tried in a country that had not recorded any case of Lassa fever.

The Ghanaian Times reports that the government has reiterated its commitment to fulfill all obligations to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and other partners, to promote aviation safety and security within the West African sub-region.

Deputy Minister of Transport, Frederick Obeng Adom, stated that, the establishment of the Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation and Prevention Bureau (AIB-Ghana), was in line with Ghana’s commitment to building the necessary institutions and enhance its capacity to ensure compliance with regional and international standards.

As a critical sector in moving goods and services, he said, the country would ensure that the required frameworks were in place to ensure effective, efficient and safe airline operations.

Mr Adomwas speaking at the opening of a five-day Technical Committee Meeting of the Banjul Accord Group Accident Investigation Agency (BAGAIA), in Accra, yesterday.

The meeting is aimed at harmonising policy and procedure manuals on investigating aircrafts accident for countries in the West African sub-region.

Mr Tampuli said the government would ensure that the AIB Ghana was given the necessary support and policy direction, to make it well capacitated, strengthened and strategically positioned to perform its functions effectively.

As one of the countries with the safest and secured air space, as confirmed by the ICAO Coordinated Validated Mission, which Ghana achieved the highest effective implementation score of 89.9 per cent, he noted that the government was working to maintain the standard.

According to Mr Tampuli, the government has reiterated its commitment to fulfill all obligations to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and other partners to promote aviation safety and security within the West African sub-region.

He said the country would work with BAGAIA and other regional bodies in the areas of technical support and guidance to enhance the safety and security of the airspace.

Charles IrikefeErhueh, Commissioner of BAGAIA, said the association was focused on strengthening the alliance in the sub-region and work toward ensuring safer skies bereft of accidents and incidents reduced to the barest minimum.

The newspaper says that the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Jinapor, has stated that the Forestry Commission (FC) is developing a comprehensive National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS) to serve as a forest landscape safeguard tool.

He said the system, which would have both a human and remote sensing component, would monitor timber or wood products and other commodity extraction and transactions in Ghana.

Mr Jinapor revealed this when he took his turn at the Forest, Agriculture, and Commodity Trade (FACT) Dialogue, held as part of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26).

The dialogue, hosted by the COP26 Presidency, aims to agree on collaborative action and a shared roadmap on sustainable land use and international trade, to protect forests while promoting development and trade.

Mr Jinapor said the NFMS would be linked to the Cocoa Management System being developed by the Ghana Cocoa Board, to have a full database of farm locations and farmers, to channel the needed support appropriately.

According to Mr Jinapor, who is also Member of Parliament of Damongo, it would help collate the right numbers in making provision for farmer resource allocation such as the Living Income Differential.

“These systems when fully functional will be useful tools for industry and government and be vehicles for accountability for different initiatives such as the REDD+ mechanism and the Cocoa and Forests Initiative,” he said.