ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
I have directed the NCA to suspend the broadcasting license of DStv effective Thursday, 7 th August 2025 if they fail to effect a reduction in their bundle prices.
I cannot as Minister continue to watch what can best be described as plain stealing happen to the Ghanaian people.
The Premium bouquet sells for the equivalent of US$83 here in Ghana whilst the same bouquet in Nigeria sells for US$29.
How can anyone explain this price disparity.
Enough of the mistreatment of the Ghanaian consumer.
Telecom Sector Restructuring: A major realignment in Ghana’s telecom sector is underway with conversations around the planned acquisition of a 60% stake in AT Ghana.
An MOU has been signed, and the Ministry is working closely with all relevant regulatory bodies to ensure full compliance with licensing conditions and to support the shared goal of revitalising AT Ghana’s operations and restoring its competitive strength.
Youth Skills Development Collaborations: Strategic partnerships have been launched to expand training in cloud computing, AI, and software development, particularly under the One Million Coders Programme.
MTN and Telecel-Government MoU on AI and Skills: In Q2, the Ministry signed a landmark MoU with MTN Ghana to co-develop a national Artificial Intelligence Innovation Centre.
This partnership strengthens Ghana’s institutional and workforce readiness for AI adoption.
Ghana-UAE Innovation Hub MoU Signed : The Ministry signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the UAE government to co-develop a $1 billion Ghana-UAE Innovation Hub.
Strategic Partnership with Huawei and Google : We have entered into a formal partnership with technology giants -Huawei and Google - to drive deeper integration between policy, research, and practical innovation.
This partnership will see each of these global technology giants train 100,000 beneficiaries each under the OMCP.
My gratitude to both companies for their belief in the John Mahama vision.
V. Conclusion The Ministry of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation reaffirms its commitment to building a secure, inclusive, and innovation-driven digital economy.
The first half of 2025 has seen tangible results in law reform, digital inclusion, infrastructure rollout, sector regulation, and strategic partnerships.
As we enter the second half of the year, we remain focused on consolidating these gains and delivering a digital Ghana that benefits every citizen, every business, and every region.
In July, I reaffirmed Ghana’s digital leadership at the ITU Council in Geneva , securing alignment with global telecom agendas and strengthening bilateral cooperation on digital infrastructure and governance.
I wish to express my sincere appreciation to all agencies, partners, stakeholders, and Ghanaians who have supported and engaged with our work so far.
Together, we are shaping a digital future that is equitable, resilient, and full of opportunity for all.
The President and Executives of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, members of the society, distinguished invited guests, ladies and gentlemen, it is my honour to be invited as the guest speaker for today's occasion marking the 2023 annual general conference of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSG).
The theme for this year's conference "Pharmacist for national development" is apt, judicious and timely, given the circumstances in which our beloved nation Ghana has found itself in the last three decades under the fourth republic.
There are two parts of today's theme that I would like us to unpack in order to properly understand the role that pharmacists, both as individuals and as a society, should play in national development.
The first is "pharmacist", and the second is "national development".
Standing in front of professional pharmacists, I will not attempt to define who a pharmacist is.
I do know, however, the pharmacist's place in society; the lawful provision of medicines and medical advice to cure present illnesses and to prevent future ones.
You help keep the nation alive and well, helping customers by compounding or dispensing prescription medication, providing information on medicine to healthcare professionals, monitoring customers' drug therapies to avoid interactions with other medications, and providing pharmaceutical expertise to customers on the safe use of medications.
Pharmacists take note of the human anatomy ensuring that the interactions between medication and the body heal us of our afflictions.
Your work is difficult because it deals with various complicated systems of the body, much like the roads and highways, backstreets and alleyways in a city functioning together to allow objects to be moved around with ease.
When we get sick, it is like a roadblock appears on these highways.
The human body might have trouble fighting off germs or fixing things that are breaking or broken.
This is where medication comes in, much like the tools and inputs that workers use to fix the roads.
Medications are designed to interact with different parts of our bodies to help fix these roadblocks but they need to be administered by professionals such as pharmacists to ensure that they perform the role that they are expected to.
The second is the phrase "national development".
From my perspective, national development is the creation and safeguarding of an environment for the achievement of the political, economic, social, philosophical, and cultural well-being of the citizens.
A country is also like the human body.
It is a complex system containing different parts working together to ensure the overall well-being of the citizenry.
These parts also interact with one another in such a way that a lack of wellness in one part of the system can spread and affect the other parts creating a sickness that must be remedied with dispatch.
Ladies and gentlemen, hopefully, my attempt at simplified definitions of rather complex concepts helps us to properly conceptualise and contextualise today's discussion so the outcomes truly lead to national development in which every pharmacist plays their role.
CATCHING UP WITH GLOBAL TRENDS It is important to ask yourselves a very critical question about the future of the pharmaceutical industry in Ghana within the context of the latest global developments.
For example, where do you see yourself as an industry in the next 10 to 20 years?
I ask this question because of the rapid developments we are seeing not only in health but in other sectors as well.
The fourth industrial revolution has come full circle.
Today, artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, and big data have revolutionised research and learning, driving production and service delivery in ways we have never seen before.
In the wake of these developments, predictions are being made that some professions and skills groups risk being replaced in the job market.
We have seen the pilot of a robot lawyer.
- Robot doctors are now supporting surgeons in operating theatres.
- In the malls of China, robots are seen serving products to customers.
Clearly, the predictions are not heresy or unfounded doomsday conspiracy theories.
The question is, will you be victims of this AI revolution, or will you take advantage of the zeitgeist to put your profession on the cutting edge of the next frontier of civilisation?
The answer to this question will certainly depend on your ability to learn, unlearn, relearn and adapt to the rapid changes that research, development and innovation bring.
While doing this, I encourage you to apply the new technologies to indigenous health and knowledge systems, build upon them and produce world-class pharmaceutical output from them.
This will require collaboration with other bodies including state and non-state actors: The Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Food and Drugs Authority, the Plant Research Institute, notable practitioners of Plant Medicine, and Institutions of higher learning among others immediately come to mind.
Information in your sector is vital for the appreciation of the challenges as well as opportunities for the Ghanaian Pharmaceutical Industry: How big is the market you are part of?
The revenue of the global pharmaceutical market in 2001 was $390.2 billion.
Ten years later in 2011, it rose to $963.2 billion.
In 2021 it was 1 trillion, $450 billion.
Last year 2022, the revenue of the global pharma industry was 1 trillion, $482 billion.
Who leads the market?
The United States, with a total of 4.23% of the world population, leads the market for pharmaceuticals, followed by Europe and a group of emerging markets.
Five of the ten leading pharmaceutical companies in the world are US companies with Pfizer being No.
The North American market accounts for the largest production for the global market.
The US companies lead the pack due to heavy investment in, and focus on Innovation, Research and Development, and this has resulted in an influx of revenue and the development of pharmacists and other pharmaceutical industry professionals.
Africa's share of the global pharmaceutical market is comparatively negligible.
The pharmaceutical industry in Africa was valued at $45 billion in fiscal year 2021 and is projected to reach $60 billion by the end of 2023.
With a population of over 1.4 billion currently representing about 17.89% of the global total, Africa accounts for only about 3% of the global pharmaceutical market.
Therein lies the opportunity for growth.
So what is holding you back?
CURRENT PSG CHALLENGES, & A BRIGHTER FUTURE The Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Companies in Ghana, like most others on the African continent, have similar challenges: All active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), excipients and primary packaging materials are imported Plants, machinery and equipment required for drug manufacture are imported.
Meeting World Health Organization (WHO) good manufacturing practice (GMP) requirements are challenging for the African Pharmaceutical Industry Highly skilled and qualified staff to help existing companies meet WHO good manufacturing practice, good laboratory practice, and good clinical practice requirements are hard to find Diverse skill sets in terms of workers in the local market are lacking leading to sourcing from abroad for expatriates at exorbitant cost Due to differences in regulatory regimes and fragmented supply chain systems, local manufacturers face challenges exporting to the regional market right here in Africa, and this is going to be even more difficult in our current economic situation.
The infiltration of fake and sub-standard medicines is causing great harm to citizens, and impeding gross sales for those abiding by rules, regulations and standards.
Indigenous therapies and remedies for the ailments that plague us in Africa are often presented by our own plant medicine practitioners or as they are popularly called herbalists.
The challenge, however, with these are the efficacy levels and correct dosage to ensure wellness, and prevent needless complications and untimely deaths Permit me to offer 5 solutions: A. Joint Ventures: The Pharmacists Society of Ghana must speak up with clarity to engage the general public, local investors and Government.
The entrepreneurial and risk-aggressive among you must move decisively to form partnerships with established foreign companies with the purpose of acquiring much-needed technology and liquidity through foreign direct investment B. Certification: Revamp manufacturing outfits to get WHO certification.
Aggressively pursue capacity-building to enable more members of the PSG to obtain WHO certification.
This is the surest way to first retool and re-establish to meet local demand, and then work to export to the sub-region and beyond C. Curriculum Overhaul: Improve and expand the curriculum at the seven existing schools of pharmacy in Ghana, and use technical experts from industry as resource persons to provide the needed skills and competencies locally D. Liberalisation of Trade Rules & Ratification of Agreements: Your leadership and your African counterparts and respective sector Ministries must work purposefully with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) for liberalization of trade rules and signing and ratification of regional agreements that enhance free trade in Africa.
This will enure to the growth of your sector E. Public Affairs, Concerted Advocacy & Prosecution: Our sub-region currently carries the highest prevalence of dumping of fake and sub-standard medicine.
For every hundred medicines, 18.7 of our people are fake or sub-standard.
PricewaterhouseCoopers found that approximately one million people die annually, with nearly half a million being preventable malaria deaths caused by toxic counterfeit pharmaceuticals.
Who imports and sells these medicines?
Are they pharmacists too?
The World Customs Organisation reported that nearly $200 billion worth of fake and potentially harmful pharmaceuticals are sold yearly around the world.
Hundreds of thousands of children die from the administration of counterfeits or medicines below accepted standards.
Are we sacrificing human life for money?
Are we covering up for murderers?
Where is the outrage?
Do we truly care about the health of our people?
Where are the concerned and courageous Pharmacists among you who will speak up?
In dire situations like this and many others in our homeland Ghana, I entreat you as individuals, and as a society to remember: Silence is not an option.
F. APPLICATION OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCE AND PHARMACOLOGY TO OUR INDIGENOUS PLANT MEDICINE Considerable research and publications on medicinal plants have been done by the late Dr Oko Ampofo and the late Professor Edward Ayensu.
I am proud to say, these Ghanaians are leading lights in the world of plant medicine.
Professor Ayensu's seminal work on Medicinal Plants of West Africa is a bedrock for further work by pharmacists and the pharmaceutical industry to advance indigenous remedies.
A nation that cannot feed and heal its own citizens is left at the mercy of others, so my dear friends and countrymen and women of the PSG, over to you.
Ladies and gentlemen, in challenging times, as we are in, pharmacists cannot be restricted to just your traditional role.
What can you do as individuals and as a collective to help your nation in its time of need?
Whatever it is, silence is not an option.
NATIONAL ECONOMIC CHALLENGES AND CORRUPTION As you all know, this country is going through excruciating times.
It is only fair to be truthful and acknowledge that people are enduring immense hardship.
Livelihoods and standards of living have taken a massive hit during the economic turmoil that Ghana has been grappling with in recent years.
Headline inflation reached 43% in July this year with food inflation reaching 55%.
It goes without saying that the poorest citizens are the worst hit as their meagre incomes are eroded by rapid increases in prices of basic necessities like food, milk and milk products for babies, meats, fruits, vegetables, and even drinking water.
The consequences are that hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians are increasingly unable to afford the necessities of life.
The World Bank recently reported that in 2022 about 850,000 Ghanaians were pushed below the poverty line.
Beyond inflation, we are all aware of the debt albatross, which has led to massive interest payments over the years depriving critical sectors of much-needed investment.
For example, just last year 2022, interest payments alone amounted to over 45 billion Ghana cedis, almost double the capital expenditure for the year, and about 47% of all revenue; meaning for every 1 cedi received as revenue, nearly 50 pesewas was used to pay interest.
This is unsustainable.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are where we are but the health of our nation is not what we want it to be.
Like in a patient, the systems that must work together to ensure wellness are not functioning as expected and, as a result, our values are under siege.
Confidence in key institutions are on the decline.
Checks and balances which are desperately needed for the progress of any nation are seriously compromised.
Corruption and greed have eaten deep into the fabric of our nation.
Young people are fast losing hope and the dignity of labour.
Public services, which are already paid for by taxpayers' money are subject to bribes solicited by public officials in order to speed up processes or to exempt people from necessary procedures.
It is here too.
Lest I forget, how did the entire stores holding pharmaceuticals at Ghana's biggest harbour burn down with no evidence nor records whatsoever of the stocks therein?
According to the Ghana Integrity of Public Services report, almost 60% of bribe payers did so as a response to a direct request by a public official while 24% paid anyway without a request from the official they encountered.
We must do all we can to ensure corruption does not become the norm.
In this regard, leadership must be exemplary in fighting corruption, and holders of political office must lead the way.
Sadly, recent scandals do not help.
Findings and successive Auditor-General's reports make depressing reading, and it behoves every citizen especially politicians and public office¬holders to uproot this canker.
Let me be clear on this: Any society which creates conditions for politics to become the easiest and, by far, the most lucrative means of enrichment and self-aggrandisement, is a society that is doomed.
Civil society and a few concerned and courageous individuals have raised their voices, but it appears it is not enough.
Thankfully I am not the only one befuddled and unsettled by all this.
Just last month, the Senior Presidential Advisor, Yaw Osafo Marfo lamented over the alarming rate of corruption in Ghana stating that it is going from bad to worse.
Within days after Mr Osafo-Marfo's speech, the Minister of roads Mr Kwesi Amoako-Atta was also captured commenting on the pervasiveness of corruption in his ministry.
"There are a lot of corrupt people; there are a lot of thieves in my Ministry.
You sack them… you employ new ones, and when they come, the new ones are even worse than the old ones.
What kind of country are we building for ourselves?"
What a terrible indictment.
Clearly, this is a shared concern, and it is important that the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana is heard on these issues of national importance if pharmacists are to play their part in rebuilding our nation.
Corruption deters domestic and foreign investment, undermines trust in public institutions, reduces economic growth, and sadly makes the lives of the poor even more unbearable.
Specifically for your sector, corruption endangers lives through fake and substandard medication, unqualified personnel and woefully inadequate infrastructure.
I recognize that each of you as individuals, for one reason or another, may not be able to speak up.
If you wonder why I speak my mind, it is because those of us who have benefitted from the kindness of this nation and the long life God has granted us owe a duty to God and our country to speak up not only for what benefits us personally but for what safeguards the entire society.
I don't know about you but I have no other country but Ghana.
And I do not want any country but Ghana.
Every capable citizen blessed with some ability and a voice must speak against the wrongs and help get our motherland Ghana on its right footing.
I am not saying you should be me, however, you have something powerful.
You have a respected professional body, and you need to recognize the power of your voice as a collective.
If you see things going on in any sector of this country that you don't think is right, you have to speak up for the sake of the country, for the sake of the future, for the sake of our children and grandchildren.
In troubling times like these, silence is not an option.
Ten years ago, the following words were spoken by Mr Ken Ofori Atta, the current Finance Minister at a lecture to honour William Ofori Atta.
These words are so true today: "In the face of injustice, apathy is criminality.
To be apathetic toward issues that can destroy our country is to be negligent of the present and inconsiderate towards the future; to be indifferent when your voice can make a difference, or to be silent when those without voices count on you to voice their yearnings, their fears, their aspirations, and their hopes does not amount to being a peaceful person.
On the contrary, to be so is to be a coward".
Recently, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchway stormed the passport office to chase out overstayed officers.
Of an agency under her ministry she asked how passport services of 100 and 200 Ghana cedis were being charged illegally at 2000 and 3 000 Ghana cedis respectively.
"The goro boys are outside the passport office, she said, but they need somebody inside to work with; they cannot do it on their own."
There are many instances of senior public officials in charge of affairs speaking of corruption.
Just yesterday, the Attorney-General Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame bemoaned how public officials responsible for procurement activities in public institutions continue to engage in insider trading, an act he says is having a significant negative impact on the economy, and the development of society.
Today, despite all that is happening, one hardly hears from professional bodies regarding the welfare of the nation.
Most associations will only be heard when it concerns their salaries or businesses.
Teachers' associations, journalists, nurses, doctors, surveyors, lawyers, accountants, architects, planners, social workers, psychologists etc.
are all present in this country.
What is lacking is the ability of these bodies to assert themselves with the requisite patriotic zeal in matters of national concern.
Your civic responsibility enjoins you to be active citizens in the affairs of the nation.
Keeping silent is not the way to do that.
If you see things going on that are not right expect your society to speak up so that your members become active citizens.
Once again I will like to quote what the current Finance Minister said on the power of Truth.
"The power of truth is eternal; the comfort of falsehood and security of complicity are transient and unstable.
As Ghanaians, we must learn to speak truth to power; Truth is liberating; truth sets free the mind burdened by falsehood.
Truth is freedom.
And our national enjoins us to be 'bold to defend forever.
The cause of freedom and of right.'
Truth is just, and it is right.
Ladies and gentlemen, I must.
Say I completely agree with these sentiments.
EROSION OF VALUES, & RISE OF ILLEGAL MINING Ladies and Gentlemen, closely linked to this pervasive corruption is the erosion of values.
Our values of self-respect, compassion towards one another, truthfulness and integrity must remain dear to us, and we must do all we can to safeguard them because a nation without values cannot prosper.
And here Ladies and gentlemen, given my background, it would be remiss of me not to talk about this issue which ought to be of grave concern to all of us.
Illegal Mining.
It is without a doubt the worst onslaught on the public health of our nation.
Let me be clear; I am not against small-scale mining.
I am for wealth creation to lift each impoverished community, not health destruction in the unwise plunder of greed and insanity.
I am for lawful labour for your legal tender.
What I am against is the manner in which the laws of the country are flouted with impunity to destroy water bodies and the environment for the many so that just a few people can make money.
Like corruption, "illegal mining" is not about the lack of laws but the will to enforce the laws.
The law is very clear, you cannot mine within a certain proximity of a water body.
The law is very clear about how you dispose of your waste from your mining activities.
The law is very clear on lawful activities in forest reserves.
The law is also very clear; foreigners cannot engage in small-scale mining.
And for those who are licensed, the law requires regular reporting to the Minerals Commission which is expected to be monitoring activities.
So, in the age of drones, the Minerals Commission should be capable of monitoring all mining activities in real-time.