First Independent Mena Newspaper
Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama has appointed two serving ministers to take on additional roles following the deaths of Defense Minister Edward Kofi Omane Boamah and Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed in a helicopter crash, in the Ashanti Region last Wednesday. Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson will serve concurrently as acting Minister of Defense, while […]
A surge in cocoa smuggling across West Africa is undermining the economies of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, the world’s top cocoa producers, amid record global prices exceeding $10,000 per ton. The illicit trade, driven by price disparities and weak enforcement, is costing both countries hundreds of millions in lost revenue and threatening the stability of […]
Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has raised the red flag following revelations of $2.1 billion in suspicious cryptocurrency transactions across West Africa in 2024, according to a study by the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA). SEC Director-General, Emomotimi Agama, speaking at the recent West Africa Compliance Summit in Cape […]
The ambitious Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic Gas Pipeline project has reached critical milestones following high-level meetings in Rabat, positioning the 6,000-kilometer infrastructure initiative for imminent implementation. In December 2024, West African leaders approved the Intergovernmental Agreement during the 66th CEDEAO Summit, spelling out each country’s rights and responsibilities for the project. Morocco’s Minister of Energy Transition Leïla […]
Morocco secured on Tuesday, July 22, a historic place in the 2025 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) final after a tense 1-1 draw against Ghana ended in a 4-2 penalty shootout triumph. The breakthrough came when Stella Nyamekye scored for Ghana in the 26th minute, capitalising on a rebound from Josephine Bonsu’s header. Morocco […]
Morocco has secured the top position in North Africa for economic freedom, ranking 101st globally out of 196 countries in the 2025 Nomad Capitalist Freedom Index, though structural obstacles continue to limit its full economic potential. The tax and migration advisory firm’s index evaluated countries across five pillars: financial freedom (30 percent), asset protection (25 […]
Ukraine has pledged to support Ghana’s border security efforts with advanced drone technology and combat-tested expertise, following a recent high-level conversation between President John Dramani Mahama and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. With extremist violence spreading southward from the Sahel, Ghana’s northern border with Burkina Faso has become increasingly vulnerable. Over 250 unapproved border routes have […]
https://x.com/DCP_Haddadi/status/1944424998443053178/photo/1 https://x.com/_AfricanUnion/status/1944696253532582081/photo/3 On Monday, July 14, 2024, Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama has renewed calls for reparations from nations historically responsible for the trans-Atlantic slave trade and colonisation of Africa, underscoring the urgent need to restore the continent’s full human dignity. Speaking in his capacity as the African Union’s Champion for Reparatory Justice, Mahama delivered […]
Rising costs of road freight across West Africa are threatening to derail the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), exporters and trade experts warn, as unofficial fees and bureaucratic bottlenecks mount along key trade corridors. A recent case study by the West African Association for Cross-Border Trade (WACTAF) reveals that transporting a truckload of goods […]
The Trump administration is considering a dramatic expansion of its travel ban, potentially targeting 36 additional countries — 25 of them in Africa — with full or partial visa restrictions, according to a leaked State Department cable. Signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the memo cites a 60-day deadline for affected nations to meet […]