
Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister of Communications and Digitalisation

Government, through the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation, has given clearance for the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) to recruit, train and deploy 250 permanent officers to enhance efficient service delivery.
The sector Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, disclosed this at an event in Accra to climax the GMet meteorological awareness creation month commemorating the World Meteorological Day celebrations.
The awareness month was dubbed “The Future of Weather, Climate and Water Across Generations”. It highlighted the role meteorology plays in the economy, disaster management and early preparedness, and to inform the public of the climate services of the agency.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said the recruitment of these personnel demonstrates government’s commitment to ensuring that GMeT is adequately equipped to deliver on its mandate.
“It is, indeed, an essential service provider per the Labour Act of Ghana, Act 653 and it is imperative we pay critical attention to the operations of the Agency and provide the needed resources and personnel to support its operations,” she noted.
Support
She observed that as policy makers and the supervisory authority, it was necessary to provide the necessary support and guidance to the Agency.
That, she indicated, will help position GMet properly to contribute better to climate and weather services delivery, especially in the period where matters of climate change had become more topical globally.
The Minister, who is also a Member of the African Ministerial Conference on Meteorology (AMCOMET), reaffirmed his commitment to promoting political and national cooperation to streamline policy-making both at the national level and Pan-African level to strengthen climate action.
She revealed that the Ministry had facilitated payments for operational vehicles procured by the Agency, Calibration equipment and Message Switching System.
Others
She added that several other automatic weather stations had been installed with funds from Government’s E -Transform Project to expand GMet’s network of stations across the country since 2018.
“We are all witnesses to the improved accuracy of forecasts and efficiency in their service delivery. GMet is also a beneficiary institution to receive support under the World Bank funded GDAP, which is currently awaiting parliamentary approval,” she indicated.
She congratulated the new employees, and urged them to be diligent in their service to Ghana, adding “it was their own opportunity to contribute to the progress and development of your country”.
She urged the personnel to accept postings, considering the nature of the operations of the Ghana Meteorological Agency and the spread of its offices and stations across various regions and districts of Ghana with several installations across the country.

GIICT
In another development, the Ministry has commenced the Training of Trainers (ToT) component of Girls in ICT (GIICT) flagship project for 100 teachers in the Savannah Region
The ToT is a critical activity that contributes to the sustenance of the knowledge acquired and availability of the knowledge in all schools that the teachers belong.
The training, which began on Tuesday, and scheduled to end on Saturday April 15, 2023, is to equip the teachers with digital skills to enable them to train 1000 selected Girls from 7 districts.
Training will be held in 50 centres across the region. It is being organised by the Ministry and its implementing agencies such as Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (KACE), Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), as well as other partners including GIZ, ATC and MTN.
In a speech read on her behalf by the Head of Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PPME), Mr. Emmanuel Ofori, the Minister said the training programme would enhance the teaching ability of the teachers for the benefit of the 1000 girls to be trained and inure to their benefits.