By A.B. Kafui Kanyi
Accra, Feb. 28, GNA – Guinness Ghana, the leading total beverage business in Ghana, has engaged some 14,000 students on underage drinking since October last year.
The campaign has so far reached students in the Volta, Greater Accra, and Eastern regions.
The legal age for alcohol consumption in Ghana is 18 under the Liquor Licensing Act of 1970 (Act 331).
According to a research on “Underage Alcohol Consumption in Ghana: A Threat to Child Welfare and Development” by Sylvester Kyei-Gyamfi, more than six in ten children in the country have ever been drunk after consuming alcohol, and more than half the children, who reported ever taking alcohol were first initiated into consumption by friends.
He said the results showed that despite the existence of law, policy, and national institutional mechanisms in place, efforts made to regulate sale and consumption of alcohol among children had been a challenge.
Ms Sylvia Owusu-Ankomah, Corporate Relations Director, Guinness Ghana, said the underage drinking campaign, aimed at promoting positive drinking under the Company’s “Society 2030” agenda, would reach 20,000 young adults by December this year.
She said this in an engagement with editors in Accra on Tuesday.
Ms Owusu-Ankomah said the campaign was employing drama and role play to drive home the message on drug abuse and consequences of alcohol use on the underage.
She said another major strategy under the Company’s “Society 2030” agenda was the preservation of water and that Guinness Ghana would replenish over 80,000 metric tonnes of water by June this year.
Ms Owusu-Ankomah said since 2020, the Company had, in collaboration with Water Aid, sited Water, Sanitation and Hygiene projects and facilities at markets and clinics in sorghum growing communities in parts of the northern region.
She said under the Company’s sustainability campaign, it had established community plastic collection centres and that it was going to schools, institutions, and communities to create a circular economy around plastics to safeguard the environment.
The Company is also championing inclusivity with a STEM programme aimed at attracting young female graduates, whose capacities are built to work in the manufacturing sector.
Madam Felicite Nson, Managing Director, Guinness Ghana, said the Company, with 33 brands and 30 key distributors sourced about 70 per cent of its raw materials locally, emphasising that “our first priority is our people”.
She said the double-digit growth recorded on all strategic priorities was because of “portfolio expansion and commercial execution”.
Mr Justin Mollel, Finance Director, Guinness Ghana, said despite headwinds over the past year, the Company delivered very strong performance with over 383 per cent profit after tax.
GNA