Not all 618 COP 28 delegates were funded by government - EPA clarifies

Ghana's Deputy Head of Party of COP 28, Dr. Henry Kwabena Kokofu, has said the government did not fund all 618 delegates who are currently attending the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 28).

According to him, those funded by the government are those that are representing the country, which includes government officials and negotiators.

Dr. Kokofu who doubles as Special Envoy of CVF and Executive Director of EPA, said Ghanaians must be enthused about the high number of delegates as it means more people will get to learn about climate change.

"The government does not have any hand in the number of delegates who came for the conference. We explained this even before we left Ghana. We made sure to make announcements and people who showed interest registered for the conference," he said in an audio interview sighted by GhanaWeb.

Data provided by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 28) has shown that Ghana registered 618 delegates for the 28th Conference of Parties.

The number of delegates is almost more than 100% increase in the number of delegates the government sent in 2022 and 2021.

At COP 27 in Egypt, Ghana presented a delegation of 350 and 337 delegates at COP 26 comprising state and non-state actors.

It has also been noted that some of the delegates were funded by development partners.

The list consists of 95 persons on the official "parties" list and 523 on the "party overflow" list.

Ghanaians on social media have marveled at the number of delegates who are being sent to the conference despite the current financial status of the country.

SSD/NOQ