By Juliet Korkor
The Namibian High Commissioner to Ghana, Selma Ashipala-Musayvi as part of a two-day working visit in the Eastern Region paid a courtesy call on the Eastern Regional Minister, Seth Kwame Acheampong.
The visit among other objectives is aimed at helping to promote industrialisation between the Namibian government and Ghana which will help provide employment opportunities for the youth and women in the country.
In an interaction with the Minister, Mrs. Ashipala-Musayvi observed that other continents might rather benefit from the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, AFCTA than the African Continent itself especially when they meet all necessary requirements of the AFCTA.
Hence, the African Continent must put its house in order by educating the youth and women in the rural areas, especially on the need to take advantage of the AFCTA to develop and expand their businesses.
According to the Namibian High Commissioner, agriculture forms twenty-five percent of the total GDP of the Namibian economy through the wide export of meat to other countries. Mrs. Ashipala-Musayvi mentioned some mechanism adopted by the Namibian government on cattle rearing.
“We, fortunately, do not have such challenges because every cattle in Namibia is tagged and every farmer has a code which can be used to trace the cattle when something goes wrong with the cattles,” she added.
The Eastern Regional Minister, Seth Kwame Acheampong, however, observed that some people engage in extracting the ore illegally by not acquiring the necessary licenses that will enable them to transact a legitimate business due to the endowment of natural resources in the country. Mr. Acheampong also expressed worry about how cattle rearing in the country especially the Eastern Region is posing threats to residents.
“Each and every time we have conflicts to handle between crop farmers and cattle owners which is degenerating causing loss of lives and properties in the region,” he noted.
The Eastern Regional Minister is therefore hopeful that the Namibian High Commissioner’s visit to the region will help establish the necessary collaborations in improving the country’s agriculture sector by adopting the best practices of the Namibians.
The Namibian High Commissioner to Ghana who was in the company of the Eastern Regional Manager of AGI, earlier visited the Akwamufie, Akosombo Textile Limited, Goodwill Toilet Company and the Omanhene of the New Juaben Traditional Area among others.
