Addis Ababa: The Government of Ethiopia will continue supporting drought affected areas and saving the lives of citizens at any cost, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said.

Responding to questions by members of the House of People’s Representative today, the PM stated that drought has occurred in some parts of Tigray, Amhara, and Oromia, which is not a new trend for Ethiopia.

Using the drought as a political tool is not, however, appropriate since it is not the government that brought drought, he noted.

Calling for more cooperation to save lives in drought affected areas, the premier recalled that last year’s collaboration to support drought affected people living in Borena was exemplary.

For the premier, cooperation is crucial to avoid any death due to drought, but using the drought as a political tool is damaging.

During the past four months, for example, about 500,000 quintals of grain has been delivered to Tigray region, primarily by the government and some partners, the PM said.

The Interim Administration
of Tigray has to deliver the limited resources to the ones who needier, the PM added.

The government will continue to support the people with all its capability, the premier said, stressing that “we will do our best to help our people to pass such a difficult time.”

Dismissing the baseless accusation against his government for giving less attention to the matter, he revealed that the government allotted 15 billion Birr for drought victims.

Of this, partners contributed only about 4 billion Birr.

According to him, the government is primarily prioritizing saving lives and will continue to support people that have been affected by the drought.

The premier further noted that there has been no death due to drought so far.

PM Abiy also reaffirmed the commitment of his government to continue supporting drought affected areas and save the lives of citizens by giving special priority at any cost.

He emphasized the significance of increasing production and productivity to cope with the recurrent drought.

Accord
ingly, the nation has cultivated 300,000 million hectares of land during the past Ethiopian harvest season and 120,000 million quintals of wheat is expected.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has appealed to the leadership of the New Force Movement, a political movement, to prioritise the welfare of journalists in its policies and programmes.

The GJA mentioned working conditions, remuneration, and safety of journalists as among key issues that should find space in the manifesto of the Movement as it prepared to contest the 2024 presidential election.

Mr Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, President, GJA, made the appeal when Nana Kwame Bediako, leader, New Force Movement and his team paid a courtesy call on the leadership of the GJA in Accra on Tuesday.

The GJA President said low remuneration of journalists was a major concern and called for a national dialogue to discuss measures to improve the working conditions of journalists.

‘Working conditions of Journalists is a collective responsibility. All stakeholders should look at improving the situation to ensure professionalism.

‘Journalists need to be paid well. The media deserve better… journalists deserve good re
muneration,’ he said.

Mr Dwumfour welcomed plans by the New Force Movement to industrialise the country and create jobs, and urged the leadership to stick to the goals and work towards making the country prosperous.

He urged the Movement to support efforts for peaceful elections and maintain positive relationship with the media.

‘We assure you fair, adequate, and unbiased reportage,’ Mr Dwumfour said.

Nana Bediako recently announced his presidential ambition and declared his intention to contest the 2024 presidential election.

During the meeting, Nana Bediako outlined wide ranging measures, focusing on industrialising all regions of the country to create sustainable jobs for the youth.

He promised to introduce what he termed as Industrial Regional Evolution to decentralise industrialisation beyond the Greater Accra Region to cover the 15 other regions.

Nana Bediako said he would create industrial hubs to support the country’s industrialisation agenda and ‘bring speed to the economy’.

He said he would
also invest in railway development to support easy movement of goods and services across the country.

‘We should stop the exploitation of Africa. The youth should gain value from our own resources. As citizens, we are entitled to the usage of our own resources,’ he said.

Touching on his policies for the media, Nana Bediako said he had already established the Ghana Media Fund to support the welfare of journalists.

He said his vision was to see the expansion of Ghana’s media beyond the continent to push the African agenda and promote the interest of the continent.

‘Africa needs to share news among ourselves. The more we do, the more we become successful,’ Nana Bediako said.

Source: Ghana News Agency