Ghana: President Mahama calls on army to fortify efforts against Boko Haram

President asks the army to work on its strategy to counter attacks by Nigeria’s Boko Haram militant Islamist sect.

In a major address to the rank and file of the Ghana Armed Forces, President John Mahama urged them to work with officers to counter any possible terrorist attack on the country.

Mahama said at Burma Camp in Accra on 27 May that the activities of Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in the sub-region threaten a broad swathe of peoples across West Africa. Two days earlier, he had returned from South Africa where he met Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan and other regional leaders for discussions on a new regional security compact.

Mahama, whose relations with former military leader Jerry John Rawlings have improved in recent months, assured the soldiers that the government was seriously addressing the country's current financial and energy challenges.

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.
© 2014 Menas Associates

Ghana to ration electricity

Ghana may need to ration electricity over the next 10 months because it does not have the capacity to replace plants that have been closed for repair.

Electric power continues to be a major issue on the domestic agenda. Despite downplayed power supply shortages earlier this year, the state-owned electricity producer has said that the company has no reserves, though demand and supply are all the same.

Ghana is currently only able to supply 2,000 MW of power, out of an installed capacity of 2,800 MW, because some thermal plants are down for maintenance and upgrades.
While that shortfall should end in May, the Volta River Authority (VRA) said, “we will ration power any time a plant has to shut down for maintenance or repairs” until early 2015 when the supply will increase by 330 MW due to newly refurbished plants.

The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GridCo) transmission company issued a statement in March claiming that an increase in annual peak demand from around 1,730 MW to just over 1,940 MW between 2012 and 2013, with current demand at approximately 1,980 MW, is the key driver of power shortages rather than reduced power generation, transmission and distribution. GridCo is under pressure from energy and petroleum minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah to increase its efficiency.
For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2014 Menas Associates

Ghana: Road workers' unions call on government to pay arrears

Two road workers’ unions have called on the government to pay arrears or face job losses and construction delays.

The Association of Road Contractors (ASROC) and the Progressive Road Contractors Association (PROCA) say the government should have settled its GH¢180 million (US$62 million) bill 16 months ago, and that the failure to do so has left 68,000km of the country’s roads in a poor state of maintenance, posing a threat to road users and vehicles transporting both goods and passengers.

Speaking at an Accra press conference, ASROC’s national chairman  Joseph Ebo Hewton, who made the appeal, raised the concern that  delayed payment was not only affecting the industry, but other  sectors such as agriculture too. Poor roads mean that farmers are unable to transport their produce to market centres and, as a result, lose revenue.

Also contributing to the discussion, the general secretary of the Contractors and Building Materials Workers' Union of Ghana, Pius Quainoo, said that 10,000 building and road construction workers had been laid off because of delayed payment by the government.  “The soaring unemployment has economic and social negative consequences on the country, and it doesn’t give good image publicity to the building and construction sector in Ghana,” he said. 

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2014 Menas Associates

Ghana: Mahama cancels visit to WEF in Abuja

Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has ordered a three-day lockdown of Abuja during the upcoming World Economic Forum.

This week, President John Mahama wrote a letter, in his capacity as ECOWAS chairman, to his Nigerian counterpart expressing deep sadness at the recent bomb attacks in Abuja as well as the abduction by Boko Haram of around 300 schoolgirls from Borno State. We have heard, however, that Mahama has cancelled his planned visit to the WEF in Abuja citing pressure of work in Accra.  A government spokesperson told Ghana Politics & Security that the country will instead be represented at the meeting by a range of officials and leading local business people.

The meeting in Abuja, themed Forging Inclusive Growth, Creating Jobs, is scheduled to take place from 7-9 May and will be attended by world leaders and business executives around the world, including President Mahama, the presidents of Rwanda, Senegal and Kenya, and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

Jonathan has ordered officers and equipment to be deployed all over the city and its outskirts, and security has been increased at all strategic locations, entry and exit points, airports and highways. This is the result of Boko Haram’s recent attacks in Abuja. Last week, a car bomb exploded in the suburb of Nyanya, killing at least 19 people. In mid-April, there was an attack at a busy bus station in the same location which killed at least 75 people.

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2014 Menas Associates

Ghana: Mahama says he will support ongoing negotiations between ECOWAS and EU

President John Mahama says he will support the ongoing negotiations between ECOWAS and the EU on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

Welcoming an ECOWAS delegation to Accra for a summit in his capacity as its new group chairman, Mahama said that it would be “disastrous” for Ghana to unilaterally pursue any agreement with the EU. “Ghana will continue to play a facilitative role, especially now that we have assumed the Chairmanship of ECOWAS,” he said. “It is our intention to call a meeting of a technical grouping to narrow down the issues that are outstanding, so that we can move ahead and complete the negotiations of the EPA with the European Union.”

Also crucial to the region’s economic development is intra-regional trade, Mahama said, as he called on heads of government across West Africa to take measures to remove trade barriers. Turning to security matters, he pledged to encourage collective action to deal with terrorist group Boko Haram in the wake of several high profile incidents in Nigeria in recent weeks.

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.
© 2014 Menas Associates

Growing concerns in Ghana about a regional security rebound

The escalation of the bombing campaign by the Nigeria-based Boko Haram militia with attacks on Abuja and threats against mass population centres is ringing alarm bells in Ghana, Nigeria's closest regional ally. On several occasions, President John Mahama has warned about such regional threats after being briefed by the national intelligence service.

The other big threat pinpointed by Accra-based security analysts is insecurity in neighbouring Burkina Faso where incumbent President Blaise Compaoré looks determined to retain power at all costs. He is currently financing a bogus movement calling for a change to the constitution to allow him to stand for yet another term after holding power for almost 30 years. Three years ago, Compaoré narrowly escaped being overthrown by an army mutiny. This time, he may not be so fortunate.

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.
© 2014 Menas Associates

Central Bank governor downplays Fitch's recent downgrade of Ghana’s outlook

Central Bank governor downplays Fitch's recent downgrade of Ghana’s outlook from stable to negative while maintaining the key policy interest rate at 18%.

Bank of Ghana (BoG) governor, Dr Henry Kofi Wampah, told reporters in Accra that Fitch's assessment is shallow and too narrowly focused on long-term prospects and that it ignores the more positive outlook for the short and medium term. Answering questions from journalists following Fitch’s latest decision he said he also disagreed with its prediction of a 20% depreciation of the cedi in 2014.

 Last week, the BoG maintained its policy interest rate at 18% following a 200 basis point adjustment in a bid to halt the decline of the local currency, on the grounds that the government's recent monetary policies had yet to make their impact felt.

Analysts argue that, given current investor concerns about the fiscal outlook, it is unlikely that further raising interest rates will do much to attract new inflows and an increase in the policy rate would negatively affect the government’s debt-servicing costs and GDP growth.

The Central Bank has also raised bank reserve requirement to 11 per cent from 9 per cent in a bid to stem the cedi’s fall and rein in inflation, a move which, according to some, would not prevent the local currency from further depreciating but would only increase short-term interest rates.

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2014 Menas Associates

Ghana: Fitch Ratings optimistic on Sub-Saharan Africa's growth

 

Fitch Ratings remains optimistic on Sub-Saharan Africa's growth, despite the risks that may occur from any tapering of quantitative easing by the US Federal Reserve.

 

Although the international ratings agencies have been pessimistic about Ghana – because of debt and deficit concerns – which have led to downgrades and/or Ghana's debt being placed on negative outlook, the most recent Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) release from the Fitch ratings agency, which downgraded Ghana's debt rating in October, is generally positive.

 

Among other things, Fitch expects overall SSA's GDP growth to increase during 2014 to around 5.1% for the year. Fitch, rather than touting the usual commodities story, notes the progress on Africa's public infrastructure and infrastructure spending and successful use of dollar Eurobond financing. On the downside, Fitch sees the tapering by the US Federal Reserve of its “quantitative easing” programme as presenting the biggest risk to Africa's economies.

 

On the ratings front, Fitch maintains a “stable” overall rating outlook for 2014, with more SSA countries (compared to one year ago) having (i) a positive ratings outlook and (ii) a stable ratings outlook, and fewer having (iii) a negative ratings outlook.

 

Ghana, according to Fitch, was one of the three out of 16 SSA countries that was downgraded; the others being South Africa and Zambia while only one country was upgraded. Unfortunately, Fitch highlights Ghana as the 2013-downgraded country in which fiscal deterioration is “most evident” because of its “double digit twin deficits”, increasing debts, and unlikely-to-be-attained “fiscal consolidation” targets. Ghana, according to some, not only faces high deficits and debt but is also rapidly becoming a worst-in-class performer on key economic metrics; a sobering thought for the new year.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates

World Bank still rates Ghana as top West African country

 

World Bank still rates Ghana as top West African country for “doing business”, as Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur confirms that GDP growth should still exceed 7% this year. There has been no follow on after recent rumours that Minister of Finance Seth Terkper is set to be replaced by President Mahama because of his performance at the helm of the economy and the monetary policy-focused Bank of Ghana has escaped the opprobrium for the deteriorating fiscal position.

 

Ghana's Vice President and former Bank of Ghana governor, Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, has confirmed that Ghana's economic growth will still exceed 7% this year as Finance Ministry officials have recently indicated. According to Amissah-Arthur, GDP growth should reach 7.2% for 2013 even if over 0.5% lower than the predicted 7.9% - with this shortfall unfortunately one of the reasons that the deficit will be reduced more slowly than expected. The 7.2% figure is slightly less than the 7.5% figure presented by Terkper late last month when complaining about the Fitch ratings agency's decision to downgrade.

 

At least the World Bank is more optimistic, on a relative basis compared to Fitch, on the business environment. In its latest “Doing Business” report for 2014 it confirmed Ghana as the highest ranking West African or ECOWAS country. This is despite Ghana's global ranking fell slightly to 67th out of 189 countries because of increasing the administrative requirements on those starting businesses.

 

Ghana was, however, not on the World Bank list of countries that had most improving their business regulations since 2009 which was when John Kufuor handed over the presidency to John Atta Mills. One may interpret this in more than one way including that Ghana has provided a relatively business-friendly environment over a longer period of time. Indeed, Ghana is one of the twenty most improved countries since 2005 - with twelve significant regulatory reforms – and was highlighted as having made major strides in improving domestic access to credit over the past five years.

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

 

© 2013 Menas Associates

Ghana: Electoral Commission accepts need for reforms and calls for recommendations

 

The Supreme Court verdict - although in theory bolstering the Electoral Commission's (EC) position given its dismissal of the six petitioner counts by varying margins against Mahama, the NDC and the EC - has not been seen as a ringing endorsement of the EC's competence or conduct or of Afari Gyan's leadership. Anticipating the inevitable it is therefore unsurprising that the EC has indeed issued a call to political parties and other observers and stakeholders for recommendations for electoral reforms (to be submitted by November), which it will consider along with criticisms made by Supreme Court justices. Notably, these recommendations are to made - according to the EC - within the existing framework and laws although it is unclear what these boundaries mean in practice.

 

Publicly, at least, the various parties including the NDC , NPP, People's National Convention (PNC), Convention People's Party (CPP) and the Progressive People's Party (PPP) - among the multitude of officially registered political parties of which only seven fielded candidates in 2012 - have generally welcomed the EC's suggestion but not without criticism.

 

For example, the NDC's deputy secretary general George Lawson observed that the EC has a tendency to "rubbish what we say" and not listen to suggestions from the Inter-party Advisory Committee (IPAC, whose influence and power has been relatively insignificant so far. He went on to say that the NDC will meet to decide on any reform suggestions. The NPP's communications director Nana Akomea questioning the date of the elections and the resultant time for second round run-offs should they be needed as well as the need for simplification of the controversial "pink sheets". Other parties cited a need for additional technology to reduce errors and even a more general "overhaul" of the electoral system.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates

Ghana: Supreme Court conducts cross-examination of leading NDC and NPP counsel

 

Although the previously stated Supreme Court date of electoral judgement (29 August) is still expected to be met, the Court has subsequently cross-examined the leading counsel for both the NDC (Tsatsu Tsikata) and NPP (Philip Addison), as well as President Mahama's counsel (Tony Lithur) and counsel for the beleaguered Electoral Commission (James Quashi-Idun). This round of cross-examination was scheduled by the Court upon receipt of final written submissions from the respective electoral case parties, as described in the last issue of Ghana Politics & Security.

As may be expected, the Court reports indicate that all parties have maintained their final positions presented in their respective final submissions, with no major surprises or indications (as yet) of further delays. Indeed, the major Court event of the week appears to be the contempt judgement noted above for the NPP's general secretary which has no bearing on the major matter at hand.

 

The Court's conduct will, of course, come under further scrutiny once the result is announced, although the commendation of the Court last week by Ghana's "anti-corruption" organisation the Bureau for Internal Affairs, headed by Mohammed Frimpong, for the respective Justices' "estimable character" adds another voice to those who believe that the Court - despite the extensive length of proceedings in comparison with similar electoral cases elsewhere, including Kenya - has so far demonstrated competence and fairness in its proceedings.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates

Ghana: IFC plans to issue as much as US$1 billion in Naira bonds

 

The IFC plans to issue as much as US$1 billion in Naira bonds, and indicates future plans for its further issuance of local currency bonds including one for Ghana In the months following major dollar Eurobond issuances from Ghana (at a higher interest rate cost or coupon) and Nigeria (at a lower coupon), the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) subsidiary is set to issue a series of local currency bonds to assist local infrastructure projects and small and medium sized businesses with little access to funding - having earlier this year (February) issued a relatively small (equivalent to US$75 million) Naira bond at around 10% yield for such purposes.

 

For example the IFC plans to issue up to the equivalent of US$1 billion of Naira bonds to assist, among other things, Nigeria's power industry which, relative to Ghana for all its energy problems, continues to be in disarray with an significant adverse impact on what should be a Nigerian locomotive for growth in West Africa…

 

It should be noted that, in a continent of legion investment opportunities, Nigeria accounts for almost one third of the IFC's 2013 investment commitments of around US$5.3 billion. This is a several-fold increase (for Nigeria and for Africa) over the past decade or so and is a trend also reflected in growing intra-African investment and remittances to the continent. While any planned Ghana issuance would be much smaller the IFC is indeed contemplating a Ghana local currency bond among others.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates

Ghana: Industrial action

 

University teachers declared a strike on 1 August after a meeting between the leaders of UTAG and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to discuss arrears ended inconclusively.

The UTAG embarked on industrial action earlier this year, along with teachers, doctors and pharmacists, demanding, among other things, that a 2010 wage policy be implemented in full, but they suspended action after government promises to resolve the teachers' grievances. The risks for the government are that this action could spread across the country's education system at the secondary and primary tiers as well.

Deputy Information and Media Relations Minister Murtala Muhammed told journalists that he was surprised the lecturers had declared a strike because the government has released GH¢25 million and the lecturers would start receiving their payment from the end of this week.

An online statement issued on 2 August from the office of President John Mahama said, “I wish to take the opportunity to appeal to university teachers who, I am told, have just commenced a strike based on some issues that I believe have been resolved.

“I will appeal to them not to continue with the strike, we have to ensure that the system goes on undisturbed.''

The lecturers are demanding full payment of their market premium arrears and allowances which have been outstanding for a year following Ghana's migration to the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).

UTAG president, Dr Anthony Simmons, said on Friday 2 August that the strike would continue until the government has dealt with all its concerns.

“If the money hits the accounts, definitely we will take a decision, but until that is done, we still stand by the strike,'' he said.

The Federation of University Senior Staff Association of Ghana (FUSSAG) has also announced its intention to withdraw services over the government's failure to settle their annual base pay.

The Deputy Education Minister said that FUSSAG members should expect to be reimbursed within the next couple of weeks.

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates

GIPC expecting high volumes of FDI from Singapore

The Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) is expecting high volumes of FDI from Singapore in the coming months.

 

Singapore is expected to invest in light manufacturing, ports and logistics and agriculture, as well as in the country's ailing power sector.

 

“There are a number of business-to-business discussions currently on-going between Ghanaian businesses and their counterparts from Singapore. We expect those discussions to lead to increased investments in the coming days,” Mawuena Trebarh, GIPC's CEO said at a 23 July press briefing announcing a memorandum of understanding between GIPC and International Enterprise (IE) Singapore.

 

IE Singapore's CEO Teo Eng Cheong told the press briefing, “A lot of Singaporean companies have expressed interest in investing in Ghana and they are looking almost at all sectors, especially the oil and gas, agriculture and infrastructure, among others … Singapore has a lot of interest in Africa and we think that setting up in Ghana and in South Africa is the best way to send that signal,” he said.

 

Trade between Ghana and Singapore currently stands at around US$1 billion, and FDI inflows amounted to US$250 million in 2012, according to data. “Our desire now is to build on this success by creating the right atmosphere for businesses from Singapore to invest in the country,” Mrs Trebarh said.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates

Ivorian authorities are calling for talks with Ghana's political administration

The Ivorian authorities are calling for talks with Ghana's political administration over the possible environmental and social impact on Côte d'Ivoire of the Bui HEP dam project.

 

In a letter dated 17 June and reported locally, the Ivorian government claims that Ghana?s failure to consult them on plans for the dam is, “in total violation of the international regulations in force, as regards cross-border projects”. The letter also indicates that the Ivorians received no communications from the Ghana government regarding the dam's construction despite numerous invitations sent for discussions on the project.

 

Speaking on local radio on 8 July, Deputy Minister for Energy and Petroleum, John Jinapor, said that although government had not received any correspondence from the Ivorians, he was sure that it would be open to discussions concerning the dam's potential impact. The Bui Hydro-electric Dam is located 50km from the Ghana-Côte d'Ivoire border, on the Black Volta River at Bui Village. It is expected to provide some 400 MW of power to Ghana when it is fully operational.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates

Ghana: Government is not doing enough to eliminate human trafficking

 

A 2013 US State Department report says that the government is not doing enough to eliminate human trafficking. While the government is making significant efforts to comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, for example by drafting a new five-year action plan and initiating new prosecutions and convictions, it has not provided enough funding to properly run and maintain government-operated shelters and has not provided any specialized anti-trafficking training to law enforcement officials.

 

Instead, the anti-human trafficking unit of the Ghana Police Service has decreased efforts to protect victims in 2012. For example it identified 262 victims but only referred 33 on an ad hoc basis to government and NGO-run facilities offering protective care. The report recommends that Ghana increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offences, improve related data collection and ensure the maintenance of government-operated shelters.

 

Ghanaian boys and girls are subjected to conditions of forced labour in fishing, domestic service, street hawking, begging, artisanal gold mining, and agriculture. The Volta Region has the highest proportion of child prostitution, and possibly child sex tourism, but both are growing in the oil-producing Western regions. During the reporting period, a number of fraudulent recruitment agencies emerged, advertising jobs abroad in the domestic and retail service sectors. This encourages more and more Ghanaian women to migrate to the Middle East, some of whom are forced into prostitution upon their arrival, it said.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates

Ghana: Three people arrested in connection with recent fire outbreaks

Three people have been arrested in connection with some of the recent fire outbreaks at markets across the country, according to local news reports.

 

Deputy Minister for Information and Media Relations Murtala Mohammed told local reporters on 20 June that the arrests had been made after a group of people attempted to burn another market, although he declined to provide further details of where and when the attempted arson attack took place.

 

Leading NPP member Owusu Afriyie-Akoto has told reporters that the three suspects currently in police custody at the Criminal Investigations Department Headquarters are members of the NPP local chapter in Bawku, and that he suspects “foul play” by the government in the matter. The three suspects, Yakubu Tahiru, Fatau Ibrahim and Mustafa Adamu, have yet to be formally charged.

 

Almost ten major fires have occurred at Ghana's markets in just under three months, including at the Kantamanto Market, Makola Number Two Market, the Makola Shopping Mall and the Agbogbloshie Market, all in Accra, and at Kumasi Central Market.

 

The government has already stated that it will not rule out arson as the cause of the recent fires and has brought in a team of foreign experts to help the country's national security agency with investigations.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates

Ghana's Central Bank raises benchmark interest rate

Ghana's Central Bank has unexpectedly raised its benchmark interest rate by one percentage point to stabilise the weakening cedi as inflation reached a three-year high.

 

Bank of Ghana Governor Kofi Wampah told reporters in Accra last week that the policy rate had been lifted to 16%. Most economists had predicted that the rate would remain unchanged at 15%.

 

Risks to Ghana's inflation rate, which grew from 10.4% in March to 10.6% in April, include an increase in fuel costs, fiscal spending and exchange rate fluctuations, Wampah said. The trade deficit has increased as export revenue fell, due for the most part to declining commodity prices, he said.

 

“The combination of these factors has resulted in heightened exchange rate pressures,” Wampah said. “The inflation profile is therefore currently dislodged from trends over the recent past.”

The central bank increased its key rate by 2.5% in 2012 and boosted Treasury-bill sales to help stabilise the cedi, which fell 14% against the dollar last year.

 

The cedi has continued to perform badly in 2013, depreciating 4.7% against the dollar as companies increased their demand for foreign exchange to pay import bills and send profits home. The local currency came under even more pressure after the government announced a budget deficit of 12.1% of GDP last year, nearly twice the 6.7% target.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates

Ghana: Supreme Court calls in KPMG to audit the pink sheets

 

The Supreme Court has called in KPMG to audit the pink sheets tendered as evidence of the alleged irregularities in the December 2012 presidential elections.

 

The court, presided over by Justice William Atuguba, took the decision after a disagreement between the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) petitioners and the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) respondents over the number of pink sheets submitted as exhibits in the case (see Comment and Analysis).

 

The court also decided that two representatives from each of the two parties to the suit should assist in the counting of the pink sheets, while the parties are also required to pay KPMG's bill.

Last week, NDC lead counsel Tsatsu Tsikata insisted on a physical count of pink sheet exhibits sworn in affidavits by the NPP.

 

Continuing his cross-examination of NPP witness and former vice presidential candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Tsikata insisted that the petitioners had initially submitted 8,621 pink sheets displaying alleged irregularities, omissions and malpractices, and not the 11,842 stated in the affidavit filed by the petitioners, nor the 11,916 pink sheets declared in the second amended petition.

He also said that an examination of pink sheet exhibits served his clients by the petitioners revealed that 115 of the 8,621 contained no relevant data, and a further 373 pink sheets were duplicated.

 

Support for the audit came from the respondents in the case: President John Mahama's lead counsel Tony Lithur; lead counsel for the petitioners Philip Addison; and James Quarshie-Idun who is lead counsel for the Electoral Commission.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

 

© 2013 Menas Associates

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on official visit to Ghana

 

Information Minister Mahama Ayariga said in a statement, “President Ahmadinejad will arrive on Tuesday 16 April to hold discussions with President John Mahama on strengthening the NAM and also co-chair a bilateral meeting between the two countries.”

The visit is part of a three-nation tour of West Africa during which the Iranian premier is also visiting Benin and Niger, one of Africa's biggest uranium producers.

Former minister of trade and industry Alan Kyeremanteng has lost out in his bid to lead the WTO after failing to make it through the first round of the selection process.

Kenya's Amina Mohamed, the other African candidate, has also left the race. Jordan's Ahmed Hindawi, the first candidate from an Arab nation in the WTO's 18-year history was the third candidate not to make it through to the second round.

Five candidates remain in the running: Mexico's Herminio Blanco, Brazil's Roberto Azevedo, New Zealand's Tim Groser, South Korea's Taeho Bark and Indonesia's Mari Pangestu, the only woman still under consideration.

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates