In a landmark achievement, the Advisory Board of the African Sustainability Awards in partnership with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has selected the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) as the winner of the Financial Institution of the Year – Africa category at the Africa Sustainability Awards. The award will be presented during an event slated for 30th December 2024 at the Accra International Conference, Accra, Ghana.

This award recognizes EBID’s outstanding dedication to sustainable practices across Africa and its commitment in advancing Africa’s environmental, social and economic progress in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In line with its mission of improving access to sustainable financial resources in West Africa, the Bank has to-date committed over USD1 billion to sustainability-driven projects, guided by its Strategy for 2021-25.

The Bank’s attention to sustainable initiatives has gained international recognition such that the European Investment Bank (EIB) recently extended a line of credit in the amount of EUR 100 million to support climate-friendly and sustainable projects in the ECOWAS sub-region.

It will be recalled that in February 2023, EBID published its first Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Finance Framework, formalizing its commitment to green financing and sustainability initiatives. This was followed by the maiden edition of the Bank’s informative series dubbed “The President’s Round Table” on the theme “Greening West Africa” in October 2023. The program, which gathered environmental and sustainability experts from across the continent, focused on the effects of climate change in West Africa and made proposals for climate-conscious economic development.

Additionally, EBID recently made history as the first Development Finance Institution (DFI) to issue a Green, Social and Sustainable (GSS) Bond on the UEMOA regional financial market, the Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM) which was oversubscribed within a space of 48 hours. The Bank is also in the process of finalizing its accreditation to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and in that regard, recently received a high-level delegation from GCF, South Korea, for discussions on measures aimed at positioning the Bank to better support the sub-region in this area.

The African Sustainability Awards (ASA) is a platform that honours individuals, organisations, businesses, NGOs and government bodies that demonstrate a high commitment to sustainable practices.

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About EBID
ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) is the development finance institution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) comprising fifteen (15) Member States namely, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. Based in Lomé, Togolese Republic, the Bank is committed to financing developmental projects and programmes covering diverse initiatives from infrastructure and basic amenities, rural development and environment, industry, and social services sectors, through its private and public sector windows. EBID intervenes through long, medium, and short-term loans, equity participation, lines of credit, refinancing, financial engineering operations, and related services.

The women in the Gambaga ‘witches’ camp have lauded Mrs Lordina Dramani Mahama and her Lordina Foundation for being a reliable support system for the camp over the years.

In addition to regular donations, Mrs Mahama has also in the past facilitated the presentation of a vehicle and started work on an accommodation and skills training facility for the camp.

On Friday, the Foundation visited the camp and presented food and essential items to beneficiaries of the Go Home Project. After the presentation, Board Secretary Priscilla Santuo-Ocrah extended warm greetings from the Foundation’s president.

“Mama Lordina loves you all and is always ready to support you to ensure your comfort,” she added.

Madam Santuo-Ocrah emphasised that the Foundation’s motto, “The more we share, the more we have,” is its guiding principle. The foundation believes in sharing its resources to bring smiles to as many faces as possible.

“I know these items will not solve all your problems, but I believe they will make a significant difference,” she noted.

The items presented included bags of rice, cartons of cooking oil, canned tomatoes, malt drink, fruit juice, milo beverage, bottled water, Tom Brown, Gari mix, spaghetti, tissue paper, and detergents. Each beneficiary also received a piece of cloth and a bar of chocolate.

The coordinator for the Go Home Project, Reverend Gladys Lariba, expressed excitement and thanked Mrs Mahama for the donation and support. She acknowledged that Mrs Mahama and her foundation have played a critical role in running the camp over the years, with regular donations occurring two or three times a year.

She mentioned that an accommodation facility started before the last National Democratic Congress left office had been abandoned. She expressed hope that work would resume soon to provide the women with decent and dignified housing while they waited to reintegrate with their families.

Reverend Lariba also thanked the Foundation for providing a vehicle that assisted them with their sensitisation programmes and transporting beneficiaries to access healthcare and other needs.

She also called for the implementation of the Anti-Witchcraft Bill, which was passed a few years ago, to sensitise Ghanaians and prevent further instances of elderly women being expelled from their homes due to witchcraft accusations.

The “Go Home Project” is an initiative of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana aimed at correcting the stigmatisation of elderly women in the “Gambaga witches camp.”

Social media is awash with allegations that the Akufo-Addo government is harassing and threatening to remove IGP Dampare for one reason or the other. While I respect the writers and their opinions, I wish to state as follows:

1. I don’t believe that Akufo-Addo has any intention to remove Dr Dampare. That’ll be too suicidal. Dampare has his own issues which has caused the NPP government police votes in the just ended elections. Some of us cautioned the government but they didn’t taj us serious. This same Akufo-Addo Addo has protected Dampare despite the unprecedented internal wranglings against Dampare in the GPS. So, I cannot believe that they would even dream about that now.

2. Rather, I believe that this is one of the usual “tricks” of Dr. Dampare and his supporters to get the attention of the President-elect to keep him in office.

3. Interestingly, the supporters of Dampare are quick to point out that since there is a suit in the SC against the removal of security chiefs, the President-elect cannot change Dampare. So it’s no longer the issue of NPP harassing Dampare, but the fact that Dampare supporters would do anything to keep Dampare in office, right?

4. Were we not in this country when Akufo-Addo signed e-levy despite a SC suit pending? What did we do? Have we not been paying e-levy since?

5. Nothing can stop the removal of Dr Dampare, unless the President-elect decides not to remove him. The pendency of that suit at the SC, in my respectful opinion, cannot in anyway prevent the president from removing Dampare.

6. In any case, why should a president-elect trust an IGP whose alleged private conversation with an outgoing president is allegedly leaked to the public?

7. Dampare has so many questions to answer ranging from alleged extrajudicial killings, misapplication of funds, high-handedness and bastardisation of police processes and procedures in favour of his cronies. These and many other issues in the GPS have pitched greater majority of GPS personnel gainst any government that supports Dampare, which was exhibited in the recents special voting.

8. Should this agenda setting by Dampare supporters succeed, the President-elect would be losing the police constituency right from the day of assuming office. In my respectful opinion, this won’t help the President-elect.