There was excitement especially among Majority MPs in Parliament on Monday when the now popular Ekumfi Fruit Juice product known as “Eku Juice” popped up in Parliament during the 2020 budget debate.

The Minister for Information and MP for Ofoase Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, displayed the well packaged juice while contributing to the budget debate, focusing on the benefits of flagship programs introduced by President Akufo-Addo.

The Pineapple Juice from the Ekumfi Juice Factory is under the government’s One District One factory program.

Mr. Nkrumah told the House many of the flagship programs of the Government, including the factories under the 1D1F were yielding results.

“When we rolled out the 1D1F Program, there was a lot of mockery but that flagship program in addition to the stimulus package that was provided is beginning to bear fruit. I hold in my hands here Eku Juice from the Ekumfi Juice Factory soon to be rolled out onto the market. Another project of the Akufo-Addo administration in the Central Region which was subjected to so much ridicule, but today that flagship program is beginning to bear fruit” he said.

The $8 million project which officially commenced in March 2018 now has 400 workers including out-growers.

It is estimated that the Ekumfi Juice Factory would create 5,000 direct out-grower jobs within the community and its environs.

The factory can process about 300,000,000 packs of juice annually for the local and export markets and would generate close to GH¢530 million in revenue.

Government has announced its intention to embark on a massive road construction project in 2020, describing the coming year as “The Year of Roads.”

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, made the announcement in Parliament on Wednesday, November 13, 2019, as he presented the 2020 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Akufo-Addo’s administration.

The announcement comes after days of violent protests in some parts of Ghana over poor road networks.

“Today the cry everywhere in Ghana is about the poor state of our roads. It is an unprecedented cry and it makes you wonder where all the roads in the NDC’s Green Book are,” he bemoaned.

“Mr. Speaker, this is why we are going to focus more on fixing our roads across the country in 2020 and beyond. To get the road sector moving and contractors back to work, government will pay 80% of all contractors,” according to him.

“Mr. Speaker, Ghanaians want action on our roads, not words or plans or Green Book claims about what has been done. We intend to swing into action and let our work do the talking for us,” he added.

He said Government has identified critical roads across each of the 16 regions and construction would begin on all these critical roads soon.

He added that “Cocobod has also secured funds to continue with ongoing and new cocoa roads.”

According to him, work on these roads will also commence soon.

“As part of our new initiative to complement the traditional execution of road projects, we have launched the Accelerated Community Road Improvement Initiative,” he said.

Just this month, he said, the Ministry of Finance released funds to the 48 Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces, who are busy working on some roads in communities in Greater Accra.

The first phase of the Sinohydro arrangement, he announced, is finally taking off.

“We have also been able to mobilize the financing for over 150 roads nation-wide,” he said.

Africa’s leading pay-TV service operator StarTimes, in collaboration with the German Bundesliga, has rolled out a project targeted at developing young football talents and coaches in Ghana.

Dubbed ‘Bundesliga Football School’, the event is a partnership project between Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL) and StarTimes, the official broadcaster of the German Bundesliga in all sub-Saharan Africa.

The Bundesliga Experience is a unique event which would give football fans in Ghana a taste of ‘football as it’s meant to be’.

The event allows local fans to experience a physical connection to Germany’s top-tier league through a number of fun and inclusive activities.

The Bundesliga Football School, which has been slated for December 14-18, 2019, is a new partnership model targeted at developing and promoting young talents worldwide. The approach is to join with national soccer associations, soccer leagues and professional clubs to encourage talented young soccer players at the local level.

Over the course of one week, soccer players (boys and girls) between the ages of 13 and 17 would receive targeted assistance in a series of compact training sessions and workshops, enabling them to showcase their talents.

The sessions would be run by experts and licensed coaches from the youth training centres of Bundesliga clubs with assistance from selected Ghanaian coaches.

Former German international Renate Lingor— together with other UEFA license A coaches such as Tobias Süveges of SV Werder Bremen, Arne Stratmann of TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, Bjoern Nass of Bayer 04 Leverkusen and head coach of the Bundesliga Football school, Birger J. Nass— would lead the course.

Ghanaian coaches would also benefit from the project which seeks to expose them to new methods of developing young talents and build a new working corporation as they work together with the German coaches.

Former German captain and a 1990 FIFA World Cup winner, Lothar Herbert Matthäus, would also be in Accra during the period in a tour campaign to encourage the young talents and share his footballing experience.

The German Bundesliga is a role model for youth development, with future talent emerging in the league every season.

In 2002, it became mandatory for all Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 clubs to have youth academies and since then, €1.6 billion has been invested by clubs in youth development.

The Bundesliga is, therefore, the perfect partner for this football school.

To participate in the Bundesliga Football School, Ghanaian football talents (boys and girls) between the ages of 13 to 17 who can confidently exhibit their skills should download the StarTimes ON APP from Google Play Store and follow the process on the homepage to register from now until December 1, 2019.

In a press launch held at Tang Palace Hotel today, Head of Marketing at StarTimes Ghana, Mrs. Akofa Banson, revealed the need to invest in the development of Ghana football.

“StarTimes, the brand that introduced affordable pay-TV to Ghanaians three years ago is seeking to give back to Ghanaians with this football school project through our partnership with Bundesliga. We will continue to improve our brand, offer more value to our customers and contribute our quota to the growth of Ghana football,” she added.

StarTimes is serving nearly two million users with a signal covering the whole continent and a massive distribution network of 170 brand halls, 12,500 convenience stores and 11,500 distributors in more than 30 countries.

From The Sports Desk