ASSEMBLIES OF GOD CHURCH DONATES TO AGREDS (PAGE 11, JUNE 24, 2010)

The Women’s Ministry of the Tema Community 4 Assemblies of God Church has presented 10 sewing machines costing GH¢1,200 to the Assemblies of God Relief Development Services (AGREDS) at Agbogbloshie, in Accra.
The presentatiotn of the machines formed part of the church’s effort to help the less privilege in society.
The AGREDS is a church-based non-governmental organisation that works in partnership with communities and other agencies through a lifeline project, to fight hunger, illiteracy, diseases, exploitation and poverty .
AGREDS lifeline operates a residential rehabilitation programme for children affected by worst forms of child labour between the ages of 15 and 18 in Agbogbloshie.
Presenting the machines, the President of the Women’s Ministry, Mrs Agnes Opoku Agyemang, said the ministry believed in the holistic development of children and child empowerment.
She was optimistic that the machines would go a long way to assist the organisation in providing vocational training for the children under its care.
Mrs Agyemang congratulated the organisation for the good work and promised the ministry’s continual support for its activities.
The Executive Director of the organisation, Mr Joseph Wumbee, said the lifeline project since its inception in 2002 had trained about 1,011 girls.
He said the programme included an early childhood centre, vocational skills training centre and a micro credit scheme for its trainees.
Mr Wumbee said the organisation rescued 100 girls every year who were empowered through skills training in hairdressing, dressmaking, catering and batik.
“After the training, girls are reintegrated into communities of their choice. Those who acquire skills in hairdressing and dressmaking are further assisted with some seed money to go into apprenticeship while catering and batik graduates are given capital to start work immediately after graduation”.
He thanked the women’s ministry for the support and appealed to other institutions to support the organisation for a worthy cause.

1,300 DISPLACED BY FLOODS IN GOMOA EAST (SPREAD, JUNE 23, 2010)

ABOUT 1,300 residents in the Gomoa East District in the Central Region have been displaced following last Sunday’s heavy downpour, which destroyed property worth millions of cedis.
The rains, which also caused River Ayensu to overflow its banks, submerged most villages in the district leaving hundreds of travellers stranded on the Accra-Winneba road.
These came to light when a team from the Ministry of Roads and Highways, led by the Minister, Mr Joe Gidisu, and some media men visited the area last Monday.
According to the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Mr Ekow-Panyin Eduamoah, the phenomenon has been an annual problem.
He, however, expressed shock at the state of the devastation, adding that “it has not rained heavily for the past months and I don’t even know where the water is coming from”.
The Okyereko community which serves as the major link between Accra and Winneba was the most devastated.
Mr Eduamoah said information reaching him also showed that other roads at Agona Swedru and the neighbouring communities had also been destroyed by the rains.
Mr Gidisu said the situation was more than a national disaster and appealed to other bodies to support the flood victims.
“Government can do little as at now but I believe we will do our best to support the victims”.
He also appealed to travellers to exercise patience and work with the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to bring some peace to the communities.
Nana Konadu Agyeman reports that the heavy downpour triggered a landslide at Peduase-Water Works road, a stretch of the Pantang-Mamfe dual carriage road.
The landslide occurred close to a two-storey building on the edge of a rocky mountain, blocking a section of the road.
It made travelling from the Akuapem Ridge to Accra impossible, compelling motorists to use the other section of the road along the rocky mountain that saw several blasts during the construction of the 31-kilometre road.
When the Daily Graphic team visited the scene yesterday, a number of construction workers were there waiting for the arrival of an excavator to get the debris off the road.
Henrietta Brocke reports that the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashietey, has underscored the need to sustain national effort to demolish buildings and structures on watercourses in the aftermath of last Sunday’s floods.
That, he said, was to ensure the free flow of water along such routes to prevent flooding.
Mr Ashietey made the remarks when he led a government delegation to tour some flood-affected areas in Accra and Tema yesterday.
Among the delegation were the Deputy Minister of the Interior, Dr Appiah Kubi; the Tema Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Kempis Ofosu-Ware; the Member of Parliament for Kpong Katamanso, Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, and the Member of Parliament for Tema West, Naa Torshie Addo.
Others were the Chief Director of the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC), Mr Fats Nartey, and officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO).
The team first visited Tema where 108 affected victims have been relocated by NADMO to the Tema Naval Base.
At Sakumono, the Sakumono Lagoon was full of debris which affected the flow of water, a situation which adversely affected the construction of the railway line at Sakumono.
During the tour, it was observed that roads in the affected areas had been destroyed while some fuel filling stations had their pumping machines damaged.
The regional minister stated that the construction of drainage would be embarked upon to enable rainwaters to flow through them easily.
For his part, the National Co-ordinator of NADMO, Mr Kofi Portuphy, said a medical team would be sent to where the flood victims had been accommodated, to give them medical care. Additionally, NADMO would provide the victims with relief items.
Some of the resettled victims expressed their gratitude to the government and NADMO for their support.
They also called on non-governmental organisations, public-spirited individuals and the public to assist them.

ezi SAVINGS EXPANDS BRANCH NETWORK (PAGE 55, JUNE 23, 2010)

Ezi Savings and Loans Limited has opened its Newtown branch with the aim of providing micro finances to meet the needs of small-scale businesses within its catchment area.
The branch, which is the eighth since its operations in 1996, is to bring banking solutions to the doorsteps of the people of Newtown and its environs.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Managing Director of the company, Mr Jonathan Sam, said the company saw the need to operate in the area after recognising that members of the community were not active bankers.
He said that most of the businesses in the community were small-scale enterprises and needed financial support from financial institutions to grow.
Mr Sam said “the traditional banks were not offering loans to the small-scale businesses and we saw the need to step in to provide such supports for them”.
He outlined ezi investment plan, ezi build up, ezi susu, ezi kids, ezi current accounts, ezi loan product and ezi save as some of the services the company will be providing.
Giving a brief history of the company, Mr Sam said the company was established in 1996 as a non-bank financial institution under the name Johnson Savings and Loans Company Limited.
He said the company saw the need to restructure and recapitalise to boost their operations to satisfy customers with the best services.
Mr Sam said the company had grown over the years with an increase in staff from 17 to 140.
The Chief Executive Officer of Click Global Communications, Mr Isaac Frimpong Ampofo, said the company sought to bridge the gap between customers and the institution by providing unique and convenient banking services with innovative tailor-made products.
He said the company had the aim of bringing quality customer services to the doorsteps of its customers and therefore advised members of the Newtown community to purchase the services provided by the company.
The Assembly member for the area, Hajia Damata, expressed her profound gratitude to the company for bringing banking services to their doorsteps and hoped it would provide employment opportunities for the youth in the community.
She was also of the hope that women in the community would be supported with loans to finance their businesses.

FEUDING FACTIONS AT WEIJA SMOKE PEACE PIPE (PAGE 18, JUNE 19, 2010)

In its quest to promote peace and stability, the Ga South Municipal Assembly has organised a day’s workshop for the youth and traditional leaders in the community.
The workshop, which was on the theme: The youth as ambassadors of peace and development”, is to help members deliberate on issues that would promote development and progress within the assembly.
At the workshop, the Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Sheriff Nii Dodoo, said the workshop was aimed at healing the rift among the members of the community to ensure peace and stability in the various communities within the assembly.
He said “the workshop hoped to create a suitable environment in which human aims and aspirations can be pursued legitimately and constructively”.
The assembly has been faced with the challenge of resolving the conflict that led to the killing of one person and injured many during the celebration of the 2008 Homowo festival.
The conflict was as a result of chieftancy dispute between the Asharley Blafo and the Atonyame familities of Weija.
Mr Dodoo said the event would provide the opportunity for all to deliberate on issues and collectively work towards the creation of a peaceful and stable environment.
The workshop also brought together the two families for the first time.
“I am full of hope that this event will be of immense benefit to all participants and will help sow the seeds of unity and brotherhood which we all seek for the people”.
Weija, Oblogo, Oshieyie, Tuba, Anyaa and recently, Dankyira are some of the communities affected by the conflict which led to the destruction of properties.
In an interview, the Accra West Divisional Police Commander who is stationed at Kaneshie, Chief Superintendent Michael Kportufe Avadetsi, said for peace to prevail among the two families, there was the need for both families to exercise tolerance and discipline.
He said the issue was in court and was of the hope that justice would be delivered for peace to prevail in the community, “since the issue of seeking justice and peace are the major cause of the instability in the area”.
He said the police would be working together with the municipal security committee to maintain peace before and after this year’s Homowo celebrations.
Supt Avadetsi said the police had put measures in place to intensify patrols in the conflict-prone areas to maintain peace and stability during the festival.

TERTIARY STUDENTS BENEFIT FROM MENTORING PROGRAMME (PAGE 11, JUNE 18, 2010)

SOME tertiary students in the country are benefitting from a training programme aimed at equipping them with the relevant skills needed on the job market.
The programme is being organised by the Progress Intern and Mentor Institute (PIMI), a non-profit human resource development organisation.
The organisation seeks, among other things, to develop the talents and potentials of the students through professional training, internship and mentorship.
The President of the institute, Mr David Dake, said the training aimed at partnering corporate bodies, universities and other relevant institutions for the identification and development of talented students through its programmes.
He said students were taken programmes such as leadership and self-development, organizational behaviour management, as well as introduction to human resource management and financial analysis.
He explained that students were recruited from the universities in the country to take part in those training programmes on weekends to ensure that they (programmes) did not conflict with their academic activities.
Mr Dake said so far, 500 students had benefitted from the programme, through which they had acquired better attitude towards work, communication skills and the ability to work in a team.
The programme, which is mainly sponsored by Newmont Ghana Limited, has given students the opportunity to learn from their mentors and to work in reputable companies.
Giving a talk on the rolel of mentorship in career development, Mr Maurice Nyarko-Mensah said mentorship was a very important factor in developing one’s career.
He said it was important for students to realise the challenges on the job market in order to develop personal skills to add values that would help them move faster in their career.
Another resource person, Ebenezer Adgetor, a staff of Vodafone Ghana Limited said, with determination, perseverance, constant practice and prayer the students would succeed in life.

GATTA INDUCTS NEW EXECUTIVE (SPREAD, JUNE 17, 2010)

The Ghana Association of Travel and Tourist Agents (GATTA) has inducted a six-member newly elected national executive into office with a call on members to make branding the country a major responsibility.
The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Mr Kwabena Acheampong, who made the call at the ceremony, said branding the country would help in attracting more tourists into the country.
This, he said, would boost the yearly tourist visit of 748,000 to the estimated 1 million visit by 2011 with repeated visits.
Mr Acheampong said GATTA had a mandate to identify and market services that would boost the tourism sector of the country.
He noted that proper packaging of the tourism sector had been a major challenge for the country. He, therefore, urged the association to help package the country in a more appealing way.
Mr Acheampong advised the association to also make customer service delivery one of its major responsibilities, as it played a vital role in the tourism sector.
He urged members of the association to work diligently to make the country’s tourism sector one of the best in the sub-region.
In a speech, the Zimbabwean Ambassador to Ghana, Mrs Pavelyn Tendi Musaka, said inadequate information and lack of ignorance had contributed immensely to African countries losing out in the tourism sector.
She, however, believed that proper collaboration between sister countries in the sub-region could boost the sector.
She said the Zimbabwean government was ready to facilitate a joint venture partnership with Ghana to boost the tourism sectors of both countries.
This, she said, would promote intra-African trade and investment between the two countries and other countries within the sub-region.
She congratulated the association on the good work and promised her support to it.
For his part, the newly elected President of GATTA, Mr McCash Hillarius Akpah, urged members of the association to adopt professional, ethical and legitimate profit-making practices to make meaningful impact on the sector.
He said “the executive in consultation with the general council will map out a strategic partnership module that will seek the common interest of both the trade and the specific work ethics such as the airlines and airport authorities”.
He outlined, strategic partnerships, knowledge-based staffing, product re-creativity and branding as part of the structures the executive would put in place to help move the tourism sector forward.
“GATTA as a trade association needs to be a strategic business-oriented platform for its members to make profit through regional alliances and partnerships for incoming and outbound tours and large group arrivals,” he noted.
The executive, he said, would make accountability and growth their hallmarks.
Other members of the executive are: Mr David Gray, Ms Tina Osei, Mrs Vanessa Ayivi, Mr Victor Fiakuna and Mr Ebenezer Noramegbor.

UBA OPENS NEW BRANCH (PAGE 77, JUNE 16, 2010)

THE United Bank for Africa (UBA) has opened its North Industrial Area branch with the promise of bringing quality banking solutions to the doorsteps of customers.
The branch, which is the 26th since its inception in the country, is to provide various banking solutions and an array of the bank’s product to its clients.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Managing Director of UBA, Mr Gabriel Edgal, said the bank was in the process of introducing Africards into the Ghanaian market. This is a prepaid card which allows customers to use their ATM cards in all the 19 countries that UBA operates in across Africa.
He said the strategy was part of the bank’s vision of democratising banking and bringing banking services to the doorsteps of everyone.
Mr Edgal said UBA was firmly grounded in Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Cameroon and Liberia whilst its presence in key global financial centres, like New York and London, provided it with a platform to give financial solutions to African businesses.
He assured customers of the bank’s commitment to offer world class customer-driven banking solutions to its growing customers, and said the bank’s strategy of a rapid branch roll out was an indication of high level of confidence that the bank’s shareholders had in the development of the Ghanaian economy.
Mr Edgal also mentioned other banking services provided by UBA as Wise-Alert, instant notification of transactions on mobile phones classified as UMobile, UDirect and E-statements, among others.
The Board Chairman of the bank, Mr Kwame Pianim, said the bank had been a leader in customer service since its establishment in Ghana in 2005, and that, that quality customer service was one of the primary goals, mission and vision of the bank.
He added that the bank would continue to expand and roll out more branches to bring world class banking to the doorsteps of its customers.
Mr Pianim said the bank was one of the fastest growing banks in the country with 26 branches and over 500 workers.

STREET-NAMING PROGRAMME LAUNCHED (PAGE 38, JUNE 16, 2010)

The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) is expected to complete work on a draft policy framework on street naming, property and addresses by the end of June this year to pave way for the commencement of the exercise countrywide.
Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, the sector minister, announced this when he addressed the opening session at a day's validation workshop in Accra for stakeholders to make inputs into the draft policy and manual.
The draft manual outlines key elements of the exercise, including policy on street-addressing, overview of the system, detailed implementation activities, institutional arrangements for implementation at the national, regional and district levels as well as technical details.
Mr Chireh said the policy when implemented, would help address the inadequate identification system that had affected revenue mobilisation and activities of agencies responsible for public utilities.
" It is common knowledge that in urban areas like Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi, Tamale and other major towns in Ghana, many streets have no names, and buildings are numbered anyhow. There is no estimate of how much this is costing the nation but it could run into millions of Ghana cedis per year".
He said the absence of a national policy framework to guide the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) on the naming of streets and numbering of buildings resulted in the adoption of different approaches which had not been in conformity with accepted international practices.
Mr Chireh explained that the policy was aimed at providing a common understanding of concepts and processes involved in street-naming and building numbering.
Additionally, the policy further provides a guide as to how to carry out street-addressing in a settlement, community, city and district.
Mr Chireh said " the manual presents a good basis to proceed, however, there is the need for a broad based consensus on this policy framework".
He advised all stakeholders to co-ordinate and collaborate for the effective implementation of the policy.

MTN PRESENTS CAR TO WINNERS (PAGE 51, JUNE 14, 2010)

Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) Ghana has presented the second batch of 30 cars to the proud winners of the ongoing ‘90 cars in 90 days’ promotion.
The promotion was to build up excitement among football lovers in Ghana towards the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
The acting Chief Marketing Officer of MTN, Ms Amerley Ampofo, said the promotion was to reward MTN customers for their continuous loyalty to the network.
The company presented 29 Hyundai 10 and one Hyundai ix35 to the winners, including Mr Alfred Adjei, Mr Godfred Odame Asare and Mr Charles Amedego.
She said the presentation of the cars confirmed MTN’s assurance and commitment to give back to its loyal customers and recognise and appreciate their patronage of MTN services.
“As the FIFA World Cup 2010 kicks off, MTN is proud to continue doing what we committed ourselves to do two years ago,” Ms Ampofo.
She said the promotion also demonstrated MTN’s leadership in the industry and its resolve to build stronger relationships.
With 39 more cars to go, she encouraged all MTN subscribers to join the fun and excitement and win the mega prizes at stake, adding that MTN had put in place stringent mechanisms to ensure that those who deserved to win the prizes were appropriately selected.
A short ceremony was also held at the auditorium of the Accra International Conference Centre to officially launch all the viewing centres set up by MTN and other partners for large screen viewing.

BE GUIDED BY RELIGIOUS NORMS (PAGE 51, JUNE 10, 2010)

THE Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, Ghana, the Most Rev. Prof. Emmanuel K. Asante, has called on Christians to be guided by their religious norms in all their doings.
He said it was important that their acts and dealings reflect their religious doctrines for others to follow.
Speaking on the theme, “Return to your first love”, at the sixth biennial delegates conference and Silver Jubilee of the Association of Methodist Men’s Fellowships, the Most Rev. Prof. Asante said,” Believers have lost their zeal for the things of God and have been busy paying attention to worldly possessions.”
“Mankind is becoming lovers of themselves, money boasters, blasphemers and unforgiving. This ungodly attitude poses a lot of challenges to men of God in particularly and the church as a whole,” he said.
He urged Christians to have faith and be committed to the beliefs of the religion to which they belong.
The Most Rev. Prof. Asante called on Christians to be a living testimony to the works of Jesus Christ.
The National Chairman of the association, Mr Richard Stanley Quarshie, said in order to win souls for Christ, the church had allocated GH¢5,000 in the church’s 2010 budget to champion evangelism in the church.
He said the association had also put in place a committee that would put together strategic plans for the fellowship by the end of the third quarter of the year.
He said not much had been done by the fellowship to achieve its goals in 2009 and, therefore, urged the members to be involved in the activities of the association.
For his part, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashietey, said it was the responsibility of the church to seek the spiritual and physical needs of its congregation.
He said it was, therefore, imperative that the church partnered the government to eradicate the negative practices that retarded the growth of the nation.
Nii Ashietey said the Methodist Church had contributed enormously towards national development, especially in the field of education.
He said the Men’s Fellowship had produced and continued to produce members who had brought Christian training and love into the affairs of the state.
He advised the members to participate in social and political matters, as well as provide a useful forum for advocacy and exchange of information.
“The fellowship should re-engineer and broaden its scope to embrace research-based advocacy activities in areas like good governance, justice, human rights, economic and social progress,” he added.
Nii Ashietey donated GH¢1,000 to the association.
The Chairman of I.E. Yamson and Associates, Mr Ishmael Evans Yamson, said most people had failed in their businesses because they veered off the core objectives of those businesses.
He, therefore, advised the fellowship to live up to its objectives in order to keep the fire burning.
Mr Yamson also donated $1,000 to the association to carry out its projects.

LET'S EMBRACE INDIGENOUS CULTURAL HERITAGE (PAGE 18, JUNE 4, 2010)

Professor Emeritus J.H. Kwabena Nketia of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana (UG) has said Ghana cannot maintain its identity as a people and a nation, if the country continues to abandon its indigenous cultural heritage.
He said the country had neglected its cultural heritage over the years to copy an entirely “borrowed heritage” from elsewhere.
Prof. Nketia was speaking on the theme: “Our Creative Heritage” at a lecture series organised by the African University College of Communications in Accra.
He said the government, as the custodian of the nation, should make culture a political priority “as Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah did at Independence”.
“The subsequent cultural policies and programmes that issued from it and processes of recontextualisation of traditional culture in contemporary contexts have gone very far, and now call for deeper knowledge and intellectual understanding of our creative heritage and its complex of values, as well as the selection of innovative applications in such contexts that do not compromise our Ghanaian identity,” he said.
He said making cultural heritage a national priority would help to stimulate interest in the critical study and practical application of the techniques and processes that shaped style and modes of expression.
Prof. Nketia is the longest serving director of the Institute of African Studies, UG and a former Director of the world renowned International Centre for African Music and Dance (ICAMD).
He has also served as a Professor of Music at the University of Pittsburgh and has lectured in many top universities in Europe, Asia, the United States and Africa.
Prof. Nketia said: “While I appreciate the importance of the programmatic implications of this, I am anxious that we should not land ourselves in a situation of over-using some aspects of our accumulated heritage without continually bringing new ideas and materials to it through creativity that explores their potential, as well as contemporary challenges.
It is only then that we can periodically move from the centre stage what has become stale or irrelevant through over-use and perhaps store it for a new generation that will find it exciting,” he said.
Prof. Nketia noted that the history, tradition and qualities that a country or society had had for many years were considered as important part of its character.
“That is why not so long ago UNESCO set up an international committee on which some of us were privileged to serve, to define the nature and potential of the world’s intangible cultural heritage and to set up a proposal and scheme for the visual and literary documentation of such intangible cultural heritage around the world, paying particular attention to those in danger of disappearing because of the ongoing technological and social changes taking place in many parts of the world”.
Prof. Nketia expressed the belief that the creation of cultural centres in the communities would give the youth and upcoming generation access to the indigenous cultural heritage of the country.
He said the youth must also be encouraged to be creative, since creativity played a role in preserving the cultural heritage of the country.
“There is the possibility of creating or promoting intercultural and cross-cultural creativity that builds bridges not only between the past and the present, indigenous and foreign forms but also of Pan African sources of Indigenous Heritage.
Until the post-colonial awakening became entrenched, this approach received scant attention from those trained primarily in the Western tradition,” Prof. Nketia said.
Prof. J.H. Kwabena Nketia is one of the most published and best known authority on African Music and Aesthetics.
He said the country had not fully recovered from the impact of missionary and colonial intervention, which devalued traditional arts and their modes of expression.
“What is of greater concern to me is not this modern concept of preservation in museums or promotion outside the particular contexts that sustain such heritage in daily or community life but ways of ensuring that the nexus between creative legacy and the social process that in the past ensured continuity is maintained by mechanisms that recontextualise the learning process so that acquisition of cultural knowledge is not confined to the institutional mechanisms of the past but extended to form a component of contemporary institutional arrangements”.
He, therefore, called on concerned authorities to ensure continuity and performance in appropriate contexts and to institutionalise the transmission process so that all children could acquire this legacy at appropriate stages in their educational career.

MIDA DEMOLISHES STRUCTURES AT NII BOI TOWN, LAPAZ (PAGE 18, JUNE 4, 2010)

A demolition exercise to pave way for the Tetteh Quarshie Mallam road, has been carried out.
The exercise undertaken by officials of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), affected traders operating between the Nii Boi Town and Lapaz lorry stations.
The unannounced operation took many traders by surprise as their tables, wooden structures, containers and kiosks were destroyed during the exercise.
When the Daily Graphic visited the scene at about 6:25 a.m.,two bulldozers were still at work with dozens of observers on the site to witness the exercise.
A trader, who gave her name as Mama Theresa, told the Daily Graphic that officials did not give them prior notice about the demolition exercise even though they were aware that it would be executed sooner or later.
She alleged that some officials had alerted a few traders of the impending exercise the previous night. “We heard the rumours around 10:30p.m. We all sell here I do not know why officials should tell some people and leave others”.
The exercise also affected some students and workers who depend on public transport to and from their destinations as they did not know where to pick their vehicles.

DELTA LAUNCHES NON-STOP FLIGHT TO ATLANTA (SPREAD, JUNE 4, 2010)

Delta Airlines has launched its first non-stop service between Accra and Atlanta in the United States of America.
The flight will operate four times a week using a 243-seater Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
The new Delta Airlines flight departs Kotoka International Airport in Accra at 1a.m on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and arrive in Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta at 8:45am.
At the launch, the Senior Vice-President of Delta Airlines in charge of Europe, Middle East and Africa, Mr Perry Cantarutti, said the airline was delighted to add a second non-stop service as the leading United States airline in Ghana.
He said the gesture would boost the travel and tourism sector between the two nations and to increase travel choice for Ghanaians.
Mr Cantarutti said the airbus was equipped with ample cargo space to provide significant opportunities for freight forwarders and cargo shippers in Ghana.
He said the airline’s customers were looking forward to getting more travel options with the launch of the Accra-Atlanta service.
Delta Airlines started operating in Ghana in 2006 and serves more than 160 million passengers each year worldwide. With its unsurpassed global network, Delta and Delta connection carriers offer service to 355 destinations in 65 countries on six continents.
Delta employs more than 70,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of nearly 800 aircraft.
The Deputy Minister of Transport, Mrs Dzifa Attivor said the decision of Delta to operate in Ghana was an indication of the increased confidence of international civil aviation in the country.
She said its new service was also a confirmation of the congenial business atmosphere that was currently prevailing in the country, which, she noted, was as the result of the pragmatic economic policies implemented by the government.
"The aviation industry in Ghana has enjoyed steady, if not phenomenal, growth in recent years as the result of the liberalisation of Aviation industry through implementation of the Open Skies policy in Ghana and in particular with the United States".
Mrs Attivor noted that the Kotoka International Airport and some of the country's local airports would continue to undergo systematic facelift through infrastructure rehabilitation and the installation of new communication navigation and surveillance equipment to meet international standards.
She also called on Delta airline to support the development of the aviation industry in the country.