Ghana’s Deputy Head of Party at the ‘COP 28’ conference, Hon. Dr. Henry Kwabena Kokofu, who doubles as Special Envoy of CVF and Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has clarified that not all candidates attending the Conference of Parties have been sponsored by the Government of Ghana.
In an exclusive interview with Pure FM’s Kwame Adinkrah in Dubai, UAE, the Deputy Head of Party explained that majority of the Ghanaian delegation at the conference were privately funded by some independent international organizations and some by themselves contrary to media reports of government financing the trip expenses of the over 600 Ghanaian delegates.
Hon. Kwabena Kokofu urged Ghanaians to treat with disdain, the purported propaganda concerning the Ghanaian delegation at the ‘COP 28’ conference being held in Dubai by the United Arab Emirates.
“Some of the delegations here are negotiators. These persons have been sponsored by the United Nations Convention Framework on Climate Change.
Some are also party overflows. These are persons who have been advancing environmental courses and engaged in environmental activities, like local government institutions, district assemblies, Zoomlion etc. These persons are sponsored by Bloomberg and other international organizations and even by their own institutions.”
“Other agencies within the government like Ministry of Health, Energy, Education, Finance, are largely sponsored by their development partners like UNDP, UNEP, UENR, World Bank etc.
So it remains untrue that the state have sponsored these persons’ engagements here in Dubai. Our role has been to advertised and work assiduously to create overwhelming awareness for the program, hence the large participation by our countrymen.
This is a huge commendation for us that we ought to celebrate.”
“Besides the organizers of the COP conference only deal with the state. This dealing is facilitated by the EPA. So anybody who wants to participate in the program has to register under the State’s name. This is what has contributed to the numbers but it must be said that, most of the registered individuals didn’t physically appear here in Dubai but participated online.
So I urge us all to treat with contempt, the misconception that the participants have been sponsored by government.” Hon. Kwabena Kokofu intimated to Kwame Adinkrah, host of Kumasi-based Pure FM’s ‘Pure Morning Drive’, in Dubai.
Source: Purefmonline.com || Evans Osei-Bonsu || 2023
