The TCS London Marathon is a chance for a Ukrainian serviceman who lost a leg while fighting on the front lines against Russian aggression to overcome his “inner no.”
Roman Kashpur, who has a prosthetic limb, is preparing to run the 26.2 miles and cross the finish line on The Mall tomorrow. He has a “big responsibility” to his country and is preparing for the race.
The endeavour to raise money is a component of his continuous effort to “do everything possible and impossible” to pave the way for other badly injured Ukrainian service members.
The 26-year-old’s first marathon attempt follows a path to recovery that began when he stepped on an enemy anti-personnel mine while on a reconnaissance mission in the eastern Donetsk region.
Refusing to sink into depression and inactivity, he ran 50 metres on his prosthesis on the day it was fitted.
Roman is now due to join around 50,000 other runners thronging the streets after he and wife Yulia flew into the UK on Thursday.
He confirmed to Metro.co.uk that he plans to run the entire distance — with a target time of around eight hours.
Roman Kashpur looks ready to hit the start line ahead of the TCS London Marathon (Picture: Roman Kashpur/Citizen/ctzn24.com)
‘From the first minutes of the injury, I knew it would be an amputation, a prosthesis, but I also knew that a new page in life had begun,’ Roman said.
‘It was a new challenge. I did not perceive my amputation as a weakness but as a strength. It has only strengthened my spirit, hardened my character and forced me to fight my laziness, fear and “inner no” to overcome them.
‘It has pushed me toward new heights and victories for Ukraine, my family and all those who are seriously wounded and depressed.
‘I challenge everything Russian aggression has brought on our people. My message is to fight, fight and fight again with my own self and win.’
Roman, from Khmilnyk in the central Vinnytsia region, took part in several major battles after first entering active frontline duty six years ago, aged 19.
The injury came in May 2019 when he was on the mission near the city of Marinka. The father-of-two’s right leg had to be amputated a third of the way up his shin and his left leg received multiple shrapnel injuries.
After rehabilitation in Latvia, he became a CrossFit champion and even returned to the frontline following Russia’s full-scale invasion last February.
In his latest challenge, the marathoner will be cheered on by Yulia while their boys, Ivan, eight, and two-year-old Oleksandr stay in Ukraine.
He told Metro.co.uk that he and his wife are missing their sons but he feels ‘great pride’ representing his homeland.
‘We already miss the screams and the endless calls for mum or dad,’ Roman said. ‘At the same time, I understand my responsibility taking part in the marathon on April 23.
‘I want to be as helpful as possible to my army and the seriously wounded guys through motivational fundraising support. So my mental focus is set on fighting and we will do everything possible and impossible.
‘Having temporarily left Ukraine and coming to London, I already feel great pride that I will participate on behalf of Ukraine. I have been receiving calls and messages from friends, relatives and family and I feel their support.
‘People believe in me, and even though I’ve yet to cross the start line, I feel a big, big responsibility. This motivates me to make maximum efforts to overcome the distance.’
Roman was serving with the 74th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion, with his specialisms including scout machine gunner and scout sapper, when he stepped on the mine.
The amputation took place at a hospital in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv and the blast also affected his left knee, which wouldn’t bend and was left with 20% functionality.
Determined to overcome the devastating injuries, he went on to win two consecutive victories in the ‘Games of Heroes’ CrossFit Competition.
He also set a Ukrainian national record for ‘pulling an An-26 aircraft by a person with a disability’ — hauling the 16-tonne cargo plane via a harness on his back.
At the outset of the full-scale invasion, the combat veteran evacuated his family from Kharkiv and returned to the frontline.
He spent the first month and a half on active combat operations before becoming an instructor.
Roman is now an ambassador for the Citizen Charity Foundation, a Ukrainian organisation supporting injured servicemen with modern prosthetics, education and physical and psychological rehabilitation.
He is still an active serviceman with the 92nd Separate Mechanised Brigade.
Asked about the prospect of reaching the hallowed time clock, he replied: ‘I can only say that 42 kilometers are separating me from the finish line.
‘I will fight with all my might to challenge my “Inner no” and put in maximum effort to cross it.
‘I will do my best because I really feel the support of many people now.
‘I won’t say it’s the whole country but all the closest and dearest people support me so it adds a lot to my state of mind. Psychological support, adjustment and victory over oneself are essential for sportspeople.
‘When I compare pulling the plane to athletics and running, especially in the marathon, it’s about challenging one’s psychology, internal opposition and “internal no”. So it will be a huge challenge.
‘I want to push myself to the limit right here and pass this massive test.’
Roman is due to take his place with around 50,000 other people massing in Greenwich Park tomorrow.
He is aiming to raise a target of £100,000 for British-Ukrainian Aid, which has partnered with Citizen to support servicemen with amputations and severe wounds.
Dr Natalia Tronenko, one of the co-founders of the grassroots charity, praised the fundraiser as she met Metro.co.uk in West London this week.
‘Roman is incredible and we are so grateful for his effort, bravery and perseverance,’ she said.
‘He is running the London Marathon using his prosthesis to raise awareness of injured people who have sadly lost limbs, it’s just such an honourable and brave thing to do.
‘We are very privileged to have people like Roman supporting such an important cause.’
During a drug-fueled argument, two brothers forcibly forced a man to drink a bottle of urine.
On November 14 of last year, Dean Lloyd, 32, and Damon Lloyd, 33, attacked Pietr Pido at his home in Aberdare, Wales and seriously hurt Jonathan Hughes.
Although it ultimately turned out that one of them had relocated the electric bike earlier in the day, the siblings were still upset because they believed it had been stolen.
The pair shouted at Mr Hughes and Mr Pido before they kicked and punched them and hit them with various objects.
A television cable was used to beat and whip Mr Pido, while Damon Lloyd threw the television directly at Mr Hughes.
Damon Lloyd then urinated into a bottle and forced Mr Hughes to drink it.
In a statement Mr Pido said: ‘I didn’t know how bad it was going to get or when the attack would stop.
‘I remember waking up in the living room and saw Jonathan walking around the living room unsteady on his feet before he fell to the floor and I placed him on the sofa.’
Mr Pido and Mr Hughes were taken to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital after emergency services were called.
Mr Hughes suffered a fractured skull and cheek, a bleed on the brain and inflammation to his lung.
He was placed in an induced coma and was required to have a breath tube inserted into his windpipe.
Mr Pido suffered pain to his head, swelling to his arm and chest pain.
The brothers were arrested and gave no comment but later pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The court heard Damon Lloyd had 25 previous convictions including offences of inflicting grievous bodily harm, while Dean Lloyd had nine previous convictions.
Dean Lloyd’s lawyer David Singh said his client had two children who he had contact with and had a good work ethic as a groundworker.
Damon Lloyd was addicted to heroin for many years but had been drug free before relapsing.
He remains drug free and upon release from prison will engage with drug services.
Sentencing, Recorder Andrew Hammond said: ‘This was a prolonged period of subjecting serious violence against these victims which was deeply troubling.’
Damon Lloyd was sentenced to 43 months in prison and Dean Lloyd was sentenced to 37 months in prison.
President Joe Biden of the United States promised to donate $500 million to the Amazon Fund on Thursday, making his nation one of the largest donors in the world to the global initiative to stop deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
The Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate held a virtual meeting, and Biden spoke at it. “Today, I’m pleased to announce that I will request the funds so that we can contribute $500 million to the Amazon Fund and other climate-related activities over the next five years to support Brazil’s renewed effort to end deforestation by 2030,” he said.
The Amazon Fund uses foreign funds for projects that fight deforestation and preserve the environment in the Amazon, and was set up in Brazil during President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s previous term in office. Major donors include Norway and Germany.
During the presidency of former Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro, the fund was left untouched while then-environmental minister Ricardo Salles dissolved committees responsible for managing the resource.
Lula has touted curbing deforestation of the Amazon as a top priority since becoming president earlier this year.
Biden also promised a $1 billion contribution to the Green Climate Fund, which is the main climate financing mechanism of the United Nations.
“We’re at a moment of great peril but also great possibilities, serious possibilities. With the right commitment and follow-through from every nation on the — in this room, in this — on this call, the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees can stay within reach,” Biden added.
View of the Amacayacu river at the Colombian Amazonia in San Martin de Amacayacu, Colombia, on October 15, 2022.Lina Vanegas/AFP/Getty Images
The announcement comes the same day Biden welcomed Colombian President Gustavo Petro to the White House, saying he considers Colombia “the key to the hemisphere,” in efforts to ensure the Western Hemisphere is “united, equal, democratic, and economically prosperous.”
At Thursday’s Oval office meeting with Petro, Biden also spoke to efforts to combat narcotics trafficking in the region, and “to address historic levels of migration in the hemisphere.”
Biden touted the $500 million investment to the Amazon Fund as part of the two nations’ efforts to deal with climate change.”
And he took special care to thank Petro “for the hospitality support Colombia continues to show to Venezuelan refugees.”
“It’s a humanitarian and generous thing that you’re doing,” he added. “You know we’re working closely with regional partners to help Columbia meet this challenge. It’s consequential and costly.”
Petro noted that the United States and Colombia have a shared commitment to democracy, freedom and peace together with a strong push for decarbonizing the economy.
“In the Americas, humanity has the greatest potential for democracy and freedom and the greatest potential for carbon free energy. We have a busy agenda together and work to do,” Petro stated.
Petro is in Washington as part of a five-day trip to the US to celebrate the 200th anniversary of US-Colombia relations. He held talks at the United Nations and the Organization of American States and visited Capitol Hill to meet with congressmen in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Both Sudanese citizens and Western personnel are desperately attempting to leave Khartoum, the country’s capital, where fierce fighting between opposing factions is overrunning hospitals with victims and numerous attempts to bring about a ceasefire have failed.
Six days of violent clashes and confrontations between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have destabilised the streets of Khartoum and other nearby cities.
By Thursday morning, many residents trapped in the middle of the clashes appeared to have lost faith in an immediate resolution. There was an increase in the number of people at bus stops, trying to leave Khartoum and escape the fighting, according to witnesses.
“Yesterday (Wednesday), I decided to leave Khartoum together with my wife and four of my children at any cost,” Muhammad Hammam told CNN in an interview, as he recalled his success in escaping from the Al-Nasr neighborhood, east of the Nile, to the city of Atbara, northern Sudan.
“Death surrounded us from all directions, so I said it would be better for us to die attempting to cling to life while trying to survive instead of dying by a stray bullet at home or maybe dying of hunger or thirst,” he said.
Up to 20,000 refugees from Sudan’s Darfur region have fled to Chad in recent days, according to a statement from the UN Refugee Agency.
But escaping is no simple task. The capital’s international airport remains out of service, according to a source in a Sudanese army, who claims the airport’s control towers were destroyed by RSF bombings. CNN is reaching out to the RSF for comment.
The ongoing fighting and closed airport have hampered efforts to evacuate US diplomatic staff. A senior US official told CNN Thursday that an evacuation was not imminent as the situation on the ground remained too volatile. Americans in the country have been urged to shelter in place.
The US Defense Department said it was deploying “additional capabilities” nearby Sudan to secure the US embassy in the country and assist with a potential evacuation, if the situation calls for it. It includes hundreds of marines who are already in Djibouti, a US defense official told CNN, with aircraft capable of bringing in ground units to secure an embassy.
US President Joe Biden had “authorized the military to move forward with pre-positioning forces and to develop options in case – and I want to stress right now – in case there’s a need for an evacuation,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Thursday.
Hammam said the attempt to flee was interrupted by a street war that broke out in his neighborhood by the warring factions. “My wife, children and I remained lying on the ground until yesterday morning,” he said.
Bus tickets out of the conflict zone were around five times more expensive than before violence broke out, he told CNN. “Praise be to God, we escaped death. However, my children live in real terror. They will never forget the sound of ammunition and exchange,” he said.
The RSF and Sudan’s armed forces have been battling for power for since Saturday, and numerous attempts to pause the violence have proven futile despite expressions of support from each side.
Eyewitnesses said Thursday that reinforcements for the paramilitary RSF were on their way to Khartoum when army forces confronted them with warplanes and ground forces.
The UN has called for a ceasefire for at least three days after recent fighting to mark Eid celebrations, Secretary General António Guterres said during a press conference on Thursday.
“As an immediate priority, I appeal for a ceasefire to take place for at least three days marking the Eid al Fitr celebrations to allow civilians trapped in conflict zones to escape and to seek medical treatment, food and other essential supplies,” Guterres said.
But Sudan’s army leader Abdel Fattah Al Burhan told Al Jazeera that RSF troops need to withdraw from the cities if there is to be any truce, which the RSF pushed back against, saying they “will not withdraw or give up their right” to defend themselves, in a statement to CNN.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says the death toll in Sudan as of Thursday has risen to 331, with another 3180 injured, according to spokesman Tarik Jašarević in a statement to CNN.
A water and electricity crisis has continued in Khartoum, with food shortages in shops and pharmacies closed, eyewitnesses say. Fuel is also in short supply with gas stations shut since Saturday.
Intisar Muhammad Khair told CNN that she and her daughters were stranded for four days in her three-storey house in the center of Khartoum, until they managed to escape during Wednesday’s truce. “(This was) after I lost hope of survival and began prayers and supplications that we die in decent fashion, especially when our stocks of food and water had run out,” she said.
“The most dangerous thing that frightened us was the presence of an armored vehicle of the RSF under our house,” she said, adding that she “saw corpses dumped in the streets and military vehicles burned” as they made their escape.
With gas stations closed, those with fuel in their vehicles have had greater opportunities to flee the danger. “So many people can’t drive out because they don’t have petrol but for us, thank God, we took the car that has petrol,” Hadeel Mohamed, a 28-year-old architect, told CNN after leaving the city.
“We packed our bags and the few necessities and that and we left. We went inside the neighborhood we did not take the main streets,” she said.
“There are very few people now, the whole neighborhood left. Everyone with a family has left.”
She said many in the city have felt unprotected by the armed forces as they engage in combat with the RSF. “The army started a war in a city where citizens are, and didn’t release a statement prior to the citizens saying ‘you need to be aware some clashes will happen,’” she said. “That kind of left us saying: ‘who are you and who are you fighting for really?”
At least nine children have reportedly been killed and more than 50 injured amid the ongoing fighting in Sudan, according to a statement from UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell on Thursday.
“We have received reports of children sheltering in schools and care centers while fighting rages around them, of children’s hospitals forced to evacuate as shelling moves closer, and hospitals, health centres and other critical infrastructure damaged or destroyed, limiting access to essential and lifesaving care and medicine,” Russell said.
Sudan’s Doctor’s Union has meanwhile said that 52 hospitals are out of service in the capital and adjacent areas, equating to about 70% of hospitals in the region.
Nine hospitals were bombed, and 19 were subject to forced evacuation, according to the union.
The union also said that five ambulances had been attacked by military forces, and others were prevented from transporting patients for treatment and delivering aid. Attiyah Abdullah, general secretary of the Preliminary Committee of Sudan’s Doctors Union, said in an interview that there are “very few hospitals still in operation, and those that are, are on the edge of collapse.”
As facilities run low on supplies, the violence is blocking aid from being delivered to hospitals, Save the Children Sudan country director Arshad Malik told CNN on Thursday.
Malik said that while the hospitals were without blood bags used in transfusions and short on diesel to power generators, Save The Children is relatively well stocked in the city but transport and access were the problems.
“We have the supplies, and we have the emergency support staff. They are ready, but they are stuck at home for now. We will see if they can move and give the supplies to different hospitals,” he said.
“Children are seeing bullets and mortars hitting their houses,” Malik added. “There is constant fighting and shelling around them.”
RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, is vying for power against Sudan’s military chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, with forces loyal to each man battling violently for control.
Hemedti is commanding his troops from the city’s Hai Al Matar neighborhood, which is close to the military headquarters, a high-ranking military official and an eyewitness told CNN on Wednesday. The military official chose to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to speak. The eyewitness, who saw Hemedti’s convoy, requested anonymity out of fear for their safety.
A latest attempt to strike a ceasefire for 24 hours was quickly upended late on Wednesday, when clashes erupted north of Khartoum. Each faction previously accused the other of breaking another failed truce on Tuesday.
Former secretary to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Mining (IMCIM), Charles Onuawonto Bissue, has vowed to make some damning revelations about Prof Frimpong-Boateng, following the release of the 2021 Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining report.
The report indicts many prominent personalities including government officials and members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Mr Bissue has called out Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng asking him to come clean with regards to illegal mining in the country.
Mr. Bissue, expressing his disappointment in his former boss, stated that Prof Frimpong-Boateng also had some dent to his name regarding the issue, adding that he’s aware he [Bissue] knows a lot.
Speaking as a guest on TV3’s Ghana Tonight, Bissue said “Prof. himself is not clean and he knows I know a lot. People like him should come out with the truth.”
His statement comes on the back of the former minister’s report on illegal small-scale mining.
The former Minister, while submitting a report on the work of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), not only cited the challenges the committee faced, but also persons he believes contributed to the frustration of his work.
The report, which was addressed to the Chief of Staff and the Ghana Police, implicated some New Patriotic Party (NPP) members, including MPs and top government officials, as having been involved in the galamsey menace.
But Charles Bissue, who was once under fire from a TigerEyePi exposé which cited him for using his office for extortion, claimed that Prof Frimpong-Boateng did not present the entire facts on the menace in the report.
He made it clear that while he is aware of some of the reported facts, he is unaware of others.
Mr. Bissue was surprised that the report has become public after the Committee Chair was invited by the Criminals Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service for investigation in response to some of the contents of a report on the IMCIM submitted to the President and written by then Chairman, Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng.
“…And then you’re made the Chairman of a committee, you only come out to speak when you’ve been actually directed to the CID to be investigated, this is where my problem is.”
He added that “The facts are okay, it is not all of them…Even when the Anas exposé came out, Kweku Baako had the audacity to warn the president to be careful, these are things we have to look at because for me in the spirit of defending this country, I will always speak the truth and there are so many things that one day might come out but not to damage this country but individuals who seem to portray that they are protecting this country and are really not. So Prof, I am disappointed in him because he knew the whole truth about everything but he kept quiet.”
After a week of battle, there is now hope that foreign countries may soon assist in the evacuation of foreign nationals after both of the opposing parties vying for control of Sudan declared they are prepared to do so.
The Sudanese army announced in a statement that it had consented to assist in the evacuation of citizens and diplomats from a number of nations, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and China.
According to the announcement, evacuations are anticipated to start “within the coming hours.”
On Friday, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said they were ready to partially reopen all airports in Sudan to air traffic to allow countries to evacuate their nationals.
Fierce fighting broke out in Sudan last Saturday between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), commanded by Sudan’s military leader General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the paramilitary RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The two are former allies but tensions between them arose during negotiations to integrate the RSF into the country’s military as part of plans to restore civilian rule.
The humanitarian situation on the ground is worsening. Many residents of the capital Khartoum have been stuck inside for a week and up to 20,000 refugees from Sudan’s Darfur region have fled to Chad in recent days, according to a statement from the UN Refugee Agency.
More than 400 people have been killed and 3,550 injured, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The announcements on evacuations came as fresh clashes between the two groups shattered a three-day ceasefire declared for the Muslim holiday of Eid.
Fighting was reported in Khartoum on Saturday, with witnesses telling CNN fierce clashes were taking place in the vicinity of the presidential palace and the sounds of explosions and warplanes flying overhead could be heard.
Saudi Arabia said Saturday its evacuation efforts were under way. The Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement that the government was evacuating its citizens from Sudan alongside “several nationals of brotherly and friendly countries.”
CNN has reach out to the other countries named in the SAF statement.
A spokesperson for the European Union said that estimated 1,500 citizens from various EU countries are currently in Sudan.
“They are facing a very difficult situation and their safety is a priority. We urge both sides (the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces) to stop fighting and allow for safe passage out of the country,” the spokesperson said, adding the EU was working with member states to find solutions and get these people out of the country.
It is unclear how many US citizens are in Sudan. The State Department does not keep official counts of US citizens in foreign countries and Americans are not required to register when they go abroad. US State Department officials told staffers estimated 16,000 American citizens in Sudan, most of whom are dual nationals.
A US State Department spokesperson told CNN that the department remains in close contact with its embassy in Khartoum and have “have full accountability of our personnel.”
“For their safety, I cannot discuss the details of their movements or whereabouts,” the spokesperson added.
The University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Tarkwa, has dismissed reports that it owes the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) GHS1.2 million as the Company alleged.
According to the University Relations Office, the institution currently owes the ECG a total debt of GHS 625,138.14.
It said before the ECG began the nationwide revenue mobilization exercise on March 20, this year, to collect debts owed by its customers, they signed a special agreement with UMaT to help clear its outstanding debt which was then GHS 833, 379.38.
Per the agreement copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), UMaT was expected to settle its debt in four installments, adding that, a total amount of GHS 208, 379.38 was required to be paid each month beginning from April 30 to July 31, 2023.
The task force team from the ECG in Western Region, however, failed to fulfill its part of the agreement and disconnected the University on Tuesday April 18, 2023, from the National Grid.
Although the University had made the first payment of GHS 208, 379.38 as agreed by both parties earlier, it has therefore expressed disappointment with the actions of the ECG.
Meanwhile the ECG has restored power and academic activities are ongoing smoothly.
On Friday, April 21, 2023, the Old Students’ Association of the Presby Boys’ Senior High School (PRESEC-Legon) celebrated the Ɔdadeɛ Torch and Bonfire Night.
The event was graced with celebrities like Eno Barony together with the likes of Sarkodie, King Promise, DWP Academy, Vanilla, and many others.
One of the highlights of PRESEC Legon’s bonfire and Artiste Night event was captured during Eno Barony’s performance on stage.
The Ghanaian female rapper is known for mostly recruiting energetic and thick female back-up dancers for her performances.
The case was no-different as a group of four female dancers including a thick one was seen on stage choreographing to the tunes.
In the heat of the moment, Eno Barony switched things up by allowing one of the students on stage with his body stretched out on the bare floor.
The big dancer amongst her crew suddenly moved from the back, made a split, jumped on the boy, and began to hump him.
Dressed in a short black skirt and bralette which exposed parts of her body, the woman bounced, twerked, and shook her ass on the young man severally while he laid on the floor with no movement.
Since its inception, the Torch and Bonfire Night has served as an occasion not only to reconnect with old school mates but to wind down and meet alumni from other schools.
The event forms part of a weeklong commemorative set of events for the 85th anniversary celebrations of PRESEC.
This year’s event is the first since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Below are some highlights
.@sarkodie hits the stage at Presbyterian Boys Senior High School's 85th Anniversary Torch Bonfire night#sms Ohemaa | Sir John | WhatsApp | Gyakie | Marriage | Kompany | UPSA | Which Ghana pic.twitter.com/SKRw8fPreY
Dr. Ernest Ofori Sarpong lights the official bonfire at Presbyterian Boys Senior High School's 85th Anniversary Torch and Bonfire Night #sms Ohemaa | Sir John | WhatsApp | Gyakie | Marriage | Kompany | UPSA | Which Ghana pic.twitter.com/7rfzgOuaBb
Henry Sarfo Asamani-Yiadom, a parliamentary aspirant of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for Krachi East Constituency, has pledged to create more jobs for the youth in the area if given the nod as MP.
He said he will engage the services of a consultant to prepare an employment creation plan for the Constituency.
He said this master plan would help to profile the large army of unemployed people for easy placement when the opportunity availed itself.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), the aspirant promised to introduce youth mentorship programmes to the area for many young ones could learn to become great men and women in the future.
He again emphasized some key areas including creating decent and sustainable jobs for the youth and investing in young ones to have access to free sponsorship.
The aspirant also promised to tackle healthcare to ensure the observance of good sanitation and environmental hygiene throughout the Constituency to solve the problem of both liquid and solid waste disposal in the area, which posed a health risk for the people.
He mentioned road infrastructure, potable water, sustainable jobs for the constituency, and rural electrification as areas of major concern of the people.
Yiadom told the GNA that he would work hard to justify the mandate given to him after the primaries and lead the NDC to victory in the 2024 general elections.
Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram Constituency, Sam Nartey George wants the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining report as authored by Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng to be referred to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
He raised concerns over the failure of President Akufo-Addo to refer the Chairman of the dissolved Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, report to the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
According to him, the stature of the respected cardio surgeon ought to influence leadership to take the 36-page report more seriously.
“This is something that should have been referred to the Special Prosecutor by now,” he stated.
Sam George was speaking on TV3‘s The Keypoints on Saturday, April 22 as the report came up for discussion.
He also raised concerns over the failure of the Chief of Staff or the President to call any of the persons cited in the report.
The National Resistance Movement (NRM), the ruling party in Uganda, announced on Thursday that President Yoweri Museveni does not oppose a contentious anti-LGBTQ+ bill and intends to finalise it next week.
In a press release posted on its website, NRM stated that President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni had praised the lawmakers for their stance against homosexuality and had decided to sign the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2023, into law.
Museveni has yet to enact the measure into law, and earlier today, following an NRM meeting, he made the decision to bring it back to the legislature for revisions.
The Anti Homosexuality Bill 2023 would criminalize even identifying as LGBTQ+ and also suggests the death penalty for so-called “aggravated homosexuality.”
Scientists and academics this week signed an open letter urging Museveni to veto the bill, which has received widespread condemnation from around the world, including from the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States’ Secretary of State.
NRM chief whip Denis Hamson Obua said on Thursday that the anti-LGBTQ+ bill has “in principle” been supported unanimously by the NRM parliamentary caucus, and that “all the punishment contained therein in regards to promotion of homosexuality, to recruitment of homosexuals, to publicizing homosexuality is upheld.”
According to the NRM press release, Museveni has proposed the bill be amended to offer amnesty “for those who will have come out to be helped not to punish them.”
“Since we have agreed now, I’m going to return that bill, and you quickly deal with those issues and we sign it,” Museveni said according to the NRM’s press release.
Museveni is expected to meet the legal affairs committee of parliament and other parties next week to finalize the bill.
It is already currently illegal to engage in same-sex relations in Uganda under section 145 of the country’s penal code. Same-sex conduct has been deemed “against to the order of nature” in the country and warrants a life sentence in prison.
The bill was passed almost unanimously by lawmakers in Ugandan parliament last month.
The Office of the President has responded to a 37-page report by former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, accusing government employees and some top officials at the Presidency of engaging in galamsey and frustrating his fight against the menace as the former chair of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM).
“Throughout our struggle with illegalities in the small-scale mining sector, what baffled me was the total disregard of the president’s commitment to protect the environment”.
“I can state without any equivocation that many party officials from the national to the unit committee level had their friends, PAs, agents, relatives, financiers or relatives engaged in illegal mining,” parts of Prof Frimpong-Boateng’s report read.
Frimpong Boateng names ‘presidential galamseyers’ in report
Reacting to the allegations in a statement, the Office of the President indicated that the report was not an official report formally delivered to the Office of the President.
It described the 37-page report as a catalogue of personal grievances by Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, intended to respond to some issues he faced as Chairperson of the IMCIM.
Prove I’m a galamseyer or I sue – Lord Commey dares, warns Frimpong Boateng
The statement explained that the document was handed to the Chief of Staff at the Office of the President on March 19th 2021, in an informal meeting, where Prof. Frimpong-Boateng complained about public attacks and criticisms made about his tenure as Chairperson of the IMCIM.
“This was after Prof. Frimpong-Boateng’s tenure as Minister had not been renewed by the President of the Republic in his second term. The document did not have a transmittal or cover letter nor, indeed, an addressee, such as to suggest that it was submitted to the Chief of Staff for action. It is noteworthy that the IMCIM was a creature of Cabinet, and any formal report on its activities would, normally, be submitted to Cabinet through the Cabinet Secretary, or directly to the President of the Republic as Chairperson of Cabinet. Till date, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng has done neither,” the statement said.
It added that whilst Prof. Frimpong-Boateng makes serious allegations against some government appointees, as having been involved in, supporting or interfering with the fight against illegal mining, not a single piece of evidence was adduced or presented to enable the claims to be properly investigated.
The Office of the President described the allegations contained in the document as hearsay.
According to the statement, since Prof. Frimpong-Boateng’s meeting with the Chief of Staff in March, 2021, he has taken no step nor acted in furtherance of the matters contained in his report.
The statement assured the public that the President’s commitment to fighting illegal mining is unassailable, and the Office of the President welcomes any information on illegal mining activities which provides a credible basis for investigations to be conducted by the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service.
GhOne television anchor, Serwaa Amihere is officially off the market!
Serwaa has announced, quite unceremoniously, that she’s married.
Amihere didn’t reveal who she’s married to or when they did the deed, but the important piece of info here is that Serwaa Amihere is no longer on the market.
In recent months, Serwaa has indicated she has a serious partner but never revealed they’re husband and wife – until now!
During a fan QnA on Snapchat, a fan asked Serwaa when she’ll get married,
“Serwaa, how much is the bride price again?” the netizen queried.
Amihere replied with a bombshell: “I’m married though,”
We guess congratulations are in order then – hope it lasts!
The Ghana Police Service (GPS) has apprehended the prime suspect in the viral video of a gang abusing police officers at a galamsey site at Axim in the Western Region.
Kwame Ato Asare Ani, aged 21, was arrested together with two other suspects; Williams Kwofie aged 17 and Emmanuel Kojo Bronie aged 17.
The three suspects were arrested at Boinso, a community near Enchi in the Western North Region.
Kwame Ato Asare Ani was declared wanted after a video of him together with some illegal miners molesting a police officer at a galamsey site to the point where the police officer knelt down to apologise went viral. The police declared him wanted after he went into hiding.
A member of the Boinso community identified the suspects at a drinking spot in the community on Friday morning April 21, 2023 and quickly informed the police who went to the spot to arrest them.
The three suspects were interrogated by the Enchi Divisional commander about the video which was circulating on the social platforms indicating their involvement in molesting the Police on site at Axim and they confirmed that they were the people who attacked the Policemen in the video over some monetary issues.
A search conducted on them revealed the following items; two talisman, one task bar, twenty pieces of rings, two store keys, one power bank, one Alcatel mobile phone, one Samsung mobile phone,a sponge, toilet soap, one phone battery, one phone charger and cash sum of one thousand two hundred and eleven Ghana cedis (GHC1,211.00).
The suspects have been placed in custody awaiting the arrival of the Axim Police for collection and necessary action as they have been informed accordingly through the WNR Commander.
Meanwhile, one of the suspects absconded and he is being pursued by the Police. An ex-convict who was harbouring them has also been arrested.
Nigerian insurance tycoon and multimillionaire businessman Wole Oshin has recorded a significant decline in his net worth, amounting to nearly $2 million, as shares in his Lagos-based investment group, Custodian Investment, slumped on the local bourse.
According to data tracked by Billionaires.Africa, Oshin, who ranks as one of the top players in the Nigerian insurance industry, has seen the market value of his stake in Custodian Investment decline by over $1.8 million in the past three weeks.
Custodian Investment, a Lagos-based investment group founded by Oshin in 1991, has active operations in the Nigerian financial services sector, particularly through its insurance subsidiaries, as well as investments in the country’s real estate sector.
The group, which is 26.81-percent owned by Oshin, manages total assets worth more than $450 million and is dedicated to continuously enhancing its operations while creating and protecting wealth for its stakeholders.
In the past three weeks, its share price on the Nigerian Exchange has declined by more than 8.5 percent, from N6.2 ($0.0135) on March 31 to N5.65 ($0.0418) on April 21, leading to millions of dollars in losses for shareholders, including Wole Oshin, and pushing its market capitalization further below the $75 million mark.
As a result of the recent decline in its share price on the Nigerian Exchange, the market value of Oshin’s stake in the group has declined by N867.16 million ($1.88 million), from N9.77 billion ($21.27 million) on March 31 to N8.91 billion ($19.38 million) on April 21.
The recent decline in the company’s valuation comes despite reporting a 9.7-percent increase in its profit at the end of its 2022 fiscal year, from N10.17 billion ($22.1 million) in 2021 to N11.16 billion ($25.2 million).
This growth was driven by cost optimization strategies, which helped curb the surge in operating costs beyond sustainable levels, as well as strong top-line performance, with revenue increasing from N85.74 billion ($186.3 million) to N103.1 billion ($224 million).
A journalist identified as Maynard Manyowa, has taken to Twitter to share his biggest mistake and regret in life after marrying two wives.
The man, who described himself as a ‘former polygamist’, made this revelation while reacting to a Twitter post that declared that polygamy is the future of marriage.
The polygamist who’s proud of his marriage choice flaunted his beautiful damsels in a series of snaps he shared on the internet which has set tongues wagging.
Reacting to the photos, the tweep explained that he is not in support of polygamy because of his personal experience with his two wives, and urged men to desist from polygamy otherwise they won’t have a peaceful life.
According to Maynard, he loves his first wife and only married his second wife to save her from the shame of being single.
However, over time, he almost lost his first wife whom he loved deeply because he wanted to keep his second wife.
Rapper Medikal has told Eno Baronythe rap goddess not to think highly of herself as far as her craftsmanship is concerned in furtherance of their feud.
Recall that despite their dispute, Medikal shared some good compliments about Eno Barony, who is unarguably the finest female rapper on the continent in a previous interview with Andy Dosty on Hitz FM.
Medikal praised Barony’s talent and rap prowess, saying she was superior to many male rappers in the industry.
“You no sey Eno Barony dey rap? I dey drive wey I dey listen one of her songs on the radio, her verse was dope. For a female rapper, she is very dope. She dey rap pass plenty of the male rappers in Ghana apart from me,” Medikal said in Pidgin English.
He then proceeded to say that he cannot be compared to other rappers because he is in a different league.
“You know sey me I dey my zone. I dey do my things different. You no go fit pair me plus any other rapper. I will be the judge. You for put me then am for one song top I go show sey women empowerment no dey work for my top. I go lash am,” he said
However, Barony presumably misunderstood what he said and responded angrily, which prompted Medikal to respond back with a sarcastic remark. Those were Barony’s exact words;
“I think I heard what he said. He said I rap better than most male rappers except him. I think Medikal is a dope rapper and he raps better than most of the female rappers except me.
People dream. Sometimes it is good to wake people up so that they know that some dreams don’t come true.”
To this end, Medikal told Pulse Ghana that he believes his colleague is confused in relation to how she reacted to his statement.
“I think Eno is confused, she does not want to understand that she is a female and I am a male. What I said about her was a big up to her that she can rap but she took it in a wrong way.
She should never in her subconscious think that she can come up against me in rap, she should stop the cap. She is dope but she should stay in her lane. Some things are for big men only, big man things”, he said.
Former Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister, Joseph Yammin says he longer has trust in the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr. Akuffo Dampare
He stated that he used to be a fan of current IGP Dr. Akuffo Dampare but has now fallen out with him.
He says his kit gloves attitude towards the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and his iron fist approach to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had made him dislike him there more.
Mr Yammin who is now the National Organizer of the NDC suggests he will not sit in any meeting with the IGP if it’s under his behest as he cannot be trusted.
He was speaking to Julius Caesar Anadem of the Ultimate Breakfast Show in Kumasi monitored by MyNewsGh.com.
“I was a fan of him, I know him, the NDC worked with him at the castle under John Atta Mills, may his soul rest in peace. We know him and how professional he is, but now I am disappointed with his performance. I Joseph Yammin with a little security background I am disappointed in him”
“I won’t waste time sitting in any meeting with the IGP, because the IGP is not there to play the game . I don’t trust him. He is bad in my eyes. Is it the IGP who determines which statements are good or bad?”, he wondered.
“He started so well but he will end up being the worse if he continues to play the game according to the dictates of the NPP”, he lamented.
A portfolio company of Nigerian singer Mr Eazi’s venture capital firm, Zagadat Capital,has been sold for $1 billion.
The organization that created the framework for the dissemination of digital music and video was bought by the American business Gamma. Gamma, a music and technology startup, is owned by former Apple Music executive Larry Jackson.
Speaking on the acquisition, Jackson said Vydia epitomises the vision of gamma as an ideas company. Mr Eazi is also the owner of the streaming music business emPawa.
Announcing the acquisition, the official page of Vydia announced thus;
“We’re extremely excited to announce that Vydia has been acquired by gamma. gamma. was founded by Apple Music’s former Global Creative Director Larry Jackson, and veteran music exec Ike Youssef, with financial backing from Eldridge, Apple, and A24. This is just the beginning.”
Meanwhile, singer Joeboy recently revealed in a fresh interview about the working relationship he has with his boss and the man who nurtured his talent, Mr Eazi.
Joeboy signed with Mr Eazi’s Empawa Africa in 2017. He claimed that after dropping off a song and sending the accompanying music video to every musician he could think of, Eazi got in touch with him.
Joeboy explained in an interview with a UK-based broadcaster that a friend had alerted him to a comment made by Eazi on his post.
After hearing his music, the famous singer got in touch with him. He claimed that Mr Eazi gave him two choices after telling him that he enjoyed the music.
QNET, an e-commerce-based direct-selling company, applauds the recent crackdown on 41 foreigners in the Bono East Region by the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
This according to the company represents a significant step forward for the community, and it sends a clear message that scammers will not be allowed to operate with impunity in the country.
QNET is committed to collaborating with the authorities against individuals misusing the company’s name and subjecting them to the laws of the land.
Members of the public and QNET have been suffering reputational damage due to what the company calls scammers perpetrating fraudulent activities such as fake job recruitments and foreign travel scams.
A statement by the company noted that “the company has taken and will continue to take strong punitive internal and legal actions and enhance its training, campaigns, and online support to educate and alert the public against fraudsters. ”
“The public is encouraged to inform QNET and the Police if they come across any individual or entity using the company’s name to offer jobs or other services in exchange.
Deputy Director-General, Management Services, Ministry of Education Mr Stephen Kwaku Owusu, has called on individuals and stakeholders to come together to support the government in improving the basic levels of education in Ghana.
He said the government was performing its duties in that regard, yet, the basic levels of education in Ghana needed a lot of resources to facilitate their development.
Mr Owusu was speaking during the national launch of the 2023 Global Action Week celebration on education by the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) in Accra.
Speaking on the theme, “Domestic Funding: Key to Sustainable Basic Education,” Mr Owusu said, “in spite of all the government is doing, we are also calling on individuals, corporate bodies, and communities to collaborate with government to get all the resources needed for the development.”
He noted that one major challenge facing the basic levels of education in Ghana was the lack of desks, and called on relevant stakeholders to donate desks to the basic schools facing such challenges as the government was working on such issues.
Mr Owusu noted the appeals from the special school and assured them that efforts were being made to get their grants paid as soon as possible.
Mr Joshua Nyumuah, National Vice Chairman of GNECC, said day in and day out, the infrastructure for basic education kept deteriorating, and that, they were going to advocate for the government to respond and provide the resources.
He said the launch would be continued in the various regions through floats, mass education, and other radio discussions for everyone to be part of the education launch.
Mr Nyumuah stated that, despite the increased access to education globally, it remained an inaccessible right for millions of children around the world due to poverty, marginalization, and financial deficit.
He added that, “more than 72 million children of primary education age are not in school, and 759 million adults are illiterate and do not have the awareness necessary to improve both their living conditions and those of their children.
Mr Nyumuah noted the that the Government of Ghana’s 12.9 per cent budgetary allocation to the education sector in the 2023 national budget indicated an increase as compared to the 2022 allocation.
“However, this falls below the target Ghana has set for itself in 2021 during the Education Summit held in the United Kingdom, where the President, Nana Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, who is also the GPE champion for domestic financing for education, pledged to spend at least 23 per cent of the national budget on education the medium term from 2021 to 2025,” he added.
Mr Nyumuah said the pledge was repeated in Ghana’s National Commitment Statement that was presented at the 2022 Transforming Education Summit.
He stressed the need to remind ourselves as a country to fulfil these commitments that signify our collective efforts towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal Four targets.
“In addition, basic education experienced about a 40 per cent decline in budget allocation in 2023 as compared to 2022.,” Mr Nyumuah added.
He also stated that majority of public schools in Ghana still did not have access to textbooks to support teaching and learning in the classrooms.
The Chairman of the dissolved Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM), Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has detailed how an NPP MP took mining concessions from locals and sold them to the Chinese.
The former MP for Manso Nkwanta Constituency in the Ashanti Region, Joseph Albert Quarm, is reported to have acquired several dozens of large-scale concessions in his district which he ended up selling to private individuals.
These Chinese nationals, according to the document titled “Report on the work of the IMCIM and the way forward”, invaded the forest with heavy machinery and mined gold and in the process degraded the forest, and farmlands. It added that cocoa farms were also destroyed without any compensation to traditional landowners.
“The Chief and opinion leader were unhappy with the invasion of the forest and farmland, as people used the forest resources sustainably without any prior information to chiefs and other traditional leaders,” the report noted.
Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng expressed bewilderment at the total disregard for the president’s commitment to protecting the environment as “many party officials from the National to the unit committee level have their friends, agents, relatives, financiers engaged in illegal mining.”
The former MP Joseph Albert Quarm is said to have lost his 2020 primaries due to his actions.
The items donated included 15 bags of rice, boxes of cooking oil, 40 packs of water, 15 packs of drinks, 10 cartons of milk, boxes of Milo, and five bags of sugar, respectively.
Mr Abu Mohammed, a Branch Manager, who led the delegation said the gesture reaffirms the company’s commitment to supporting their customers across all religious backgrounds and cultures.
He said the kind gesture would be replicated across the country, “similar donations are happening across the country in the Western, Takoradi, and Northern Regions.”
Mr Mohammed also revealed that the company intended to establish centers at Eid grounds to provide services to customers as it aims to bring services to their doorstep during the festive period.
“For our customers, MTN will bring our services closer to your doorstep when we celebrate Eid on all Eid grounds. We would have our staff pitch camp to provide digital, Mobile Money services and sim-card registration,” he added.
He advised the youth to be cautious during the festive period and celebrate per the teaching of the Prophet Mohammed to protect lives and properties.
Sheikh Aremeyaw Shuabu, the Spokesperson for the National Chief Imam, on his behalf, expressed appreciation to MTN Ghana for the gesture and prayed that Allah rewards their endeavours.
In the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), city of Pietermaritzburg, gunmen killed ten members of the same family on Friday, including seven women and three men, according to police.
The South African Ministry of Police released a statement on Friday that stated: “According to preliminary police reports, unknown gunmen stormed a Pietermaritzburg homestead and ambushed the family.”
A 13-year-old kid was among those killed by the attackers, according to an amended statement from the police ministry.
The mayor of the area told local media that they needed to bolster capacity of local police stations.
“Two suspects (have been) arrested, one dead, another fled the scene. Police are on a manhunt,” she said, adding that three firearms were recovered from the suspects during a shootout.
South Africa has been rocked by several mass shootings in recent months – some, say police, are related to taxi business violence while others appear to be linked to drug cartels.
There has been no motive yet suggested for Friday’s shooting.
South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world, according to police statistics. The rates have been increasing sharply after the temporary lull during the most severe period of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.
At least 15 people died after a shooting at a bar in the township of Soweto last July. Four other people were killed in a separate shooting incident in a bar in Pietermaritzburg on the same evening.
The country’s Police Minister, Bheki Cele, is visiting the crime scene of the recent shooting Friday with the top management team of the South African Police Service (SAPS) led by National Commissioner, Fannie Masemola, the statement said.
One of the uncles of the deceased lady who was gunned down by her lover has stormed social media with a new set of claims.
According to him, a CCTV in the neighbourhood captured what happened on the day his niece was shot.
The late Maadwoa’s uncle disclosed that the victim’s boyfriend gave her a final kiss before shooting her to death.
Adding that Maadwoa and her boyfriend had a conversation, and kissed, prior to the shooting.
“From the CCTV cameras, he kissed her before shooting her. One of her friends was also present at the scene and it looked like she was trying to settle the scores between them,” one of the deceased’s uncles narrated in an interview with GHPage monitored by GhanaWeb.
Giving an account, another family member, stated that Maadwoa was shot five times in total; once on her forehead, twice in her chest, and twice in her belly.
He added that she pleaded with her boyfriend not to kill her after he pulled out the gun from his pocket.
“Whiles having the conversation, the man pulled out the gun and she screamed out and said, Ah Tycoon don’t kill me! I don’t have anything doing with the man. He fired the first shot at her forehead, then two on her chest, and then two on her belly. After the bullets got finished, he cocked the gun to load more bullets and realized that he was been watched so he entered a tricycle aimed at the driver and moved,” he stated.
He also disclosed that the man in question is a married man with kids.
“You are married with kids. A whole police inspector. Even when you are married to someone, it is unjustifiable to kill your partner because she has cheated. This is even a mere relationship so what right do you have?” he quizzed.
Meanwhile, the police are on a manhunt for the suspect as, friends, family and sympathizers are demanding justice for the 26-year-old deceased.
A report by Kessben TV revealed that the sad incident took place on the evening of Thursday, April 20, 2023, at the forecourt of Dufie Towers in Adum.
According to Managing Partner of Ishmael Yamson and Associates, Michael Harry Yamson, reprioritizing industries where Ghana has a competitive advantage is crucial to generating wealth and prosperity for the majority of its citizens.
If done properly – along with investments in research and development (R&D), innovation and infrastructure, he said it will support the creation of new industries, jobs and real economic value.
He also holds the view that a paradigm-shift is needed in use of the country’s resources if the economy is to transition from import-dependence to production and sustainable economic growth and development.
To him, core national resources such as tax revenue; cash crops like cocoa, shea; and natural resources like gold, bauxite, oil and gas, among others, must be diversified with value addition as an integral base.
He made these remarks in his speech on the topic ‘The case for wealth creation as the 4th horizon of Ghana’s growth’, at a roundtable discussion held by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in Accra.
Furthermore, Mr. Yamson said it is equally imperative to provide support for entrepreneurs in the targetted sectors to create high-value products or services; and focus on building the skills, competencies and capabilities of the workforce to create a pool of talent and expertise that can support the growth of new industries.
“Resilient wealth creation means building a high-value, high-growth and diversified economy that generates sustainable revenue flows to meet the aspirations of citizens for developmental and economic growth, and create reservoirs that will enable future generations to meet their own needs,” he said.
Mr. Yamson also emphasised the need for a shift from short-term thinking to long-term, sustainable development through investment in the growth of new industries, as well as building skills and capabilities of the workforce in sectors which contribute to sustainable development.
Integration of local and global economy
It is the integration of Ghana’s economy with the global economy that will present new opportunities for growth and resilient wealth creation, which is important to ensure that the benefits of global integration are shared broadly and equitably across the economy by using policies to promote inclusive growth – such as investing in education and social safety nets to support the vulnerable in society.
Mr. Yamson emphasised that this integration highly depends on the adoption of ultra-modern productive technology and digitalisation of the economy to fast-track access and eliminate bureaucratic practices caused by human interfaces.
Though the integration of economies presents great opportunities, it brings with it certain risks; including greater exposure to global economic shocks and volatility in external financial markets. Nonetheless, such risk can be handled with concerted policies which promote diversification of the economy and break the millennia-long reliance on a narrow range of export products and markets, he stressed.
Reports coming in indicates that that a police inspector is behind the murder of a lady known as Maadwoa, who was shot to death in Adum, Kumasi.
According to him, information available to him showed that the said inspector worked with the police SWAT unit in the Ashanti region and was promoted to police inspector in December 2022.
Maadwoa was alleged to have been shot five times in Kumasi, which caused outrage among Ghanaians, particularly social media users with many calling for justice for the victim.
“Our investigations have revealed that the person is a police officer, he wears a uniform, let me put it that way and his rank is not just an ordinary policeman but a higher rank.
“He is a uniformed man, so someone might say that he is either a police officer or a soldier, but 99% of the fact is that he is a policeman…my investigation also shows that he has worked at the Kumasi SWAT unit and has been transferred, he also had his promotion this Christmas. In fact, what we have heard is that his rank is police inspector… yes, he is an inspector. He has dated the lady before even though he is married with children,” he said in Twi.
Speaking in an interview with Hello FM on April 21, 2023, Samson Kwame Nyamekye revealed that preliminary information from the police indicates that they had gone into the inspector’s house but he was nowhere to be found. This has led to speculation that the suspect may be on the run.
“As I speak, the police have gone to his house and he is nowhere to be found…I believe that he might be having a visa that can allow him to run away, so if the police can publish his details, I think that will be fine,” he added.
Reports on April 21, 2023, from Adum, Kumasi, stated that the life of a young lady, identified as Maadwoa, was cut short by her boyfriend, who shot her five times.
Maadwoa, 26 years, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The police are on a manhunt for the male suspect who murdered his partner after a misunderstanding.
Friends and sympathizers to social media to mourn the death of Maadwoa and are demanding justice for her bereaved family.
A report by Kessben TV revealed that the sad incident took place on the evening of Thursday, April 20, 2023, at the forecourt of Dufie Towers in Adum.
Gospel musician Brother Sammy has defended Evangelist Diana Asamoah, over accusations that she has backslidden in her anointing due to her recent fashion choices.
Speaking in an interview with Hello FM on April 21, 2023, Brother Sammy dismissed claims that Diana Asamoah’s new fashion sense is an indication of her backsliding in her anointing as a gospel musician.
He noted that Diana Asamoah has only resorted to dressing properly and ignoring her old fashion sense which does not translate in any way to backsliding from her anointing.
Brother Sammy emphasized that her change in appearance has not affected her anointing as a gospel musician, but rather, it has improved it.
He went on to declare his love for Diana Asamoah, calling her his “girlfriend” and “sugar mummy.”
“Let me use my own wife Evangelist Diana Asamoah as an example, initially, she uses to dress locally, by wearing a scarf and long dresses but now that she dresses very well, people think that she has backslid.
“She is just wearing good dresses and has forgotten about her old clothes but because she didn’t start with that, people claim that she has backslid but it is not that, it is even now that her anointing is even becoming more…She is my girlfriend, my sugar mummy,” he said in Twi.
Diana Asamoah is a well-known gospel musician in Ghana, she has been in the music industry for many years. She is widely recognized for her powerful vocals and inspiring music. Over the years, she has won numerous awards for her contribution to gospel music in Ghana and beyond.
A Japanese merchant ship that sank during World War II while carrying over 1,000 prisoners of war in Australia’s largest loss of life at sea has been found.
The Montevideo Maru was discovered off the northwest coast of the Philippines’ Luzon island at a depth of more than 4,000 meters (13,000ft) in the South China Sea, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles confirmed in a video he posted on Saturday from his Twitter account.
The discovery brought to an end to “one of the most tragic chapters in Australia’s maritime history,” he said.
The vessel was transporting approximately 1,060 prisoners from around 16 countries, including 850 Australian service members, from the former Australian territory of New Guinea to what was then the Japanese-occupied island of Hainan when an American submarine torpedoed and sank the ship – which had not been marked as transporting prisoners of war – on July 1, 1942.
“The absence of a location of the Montevideo Maru has represented unfinished business for the families of those who lost their lives,” Marles explained.
Australian authorities commended those who had taken part in the search, including deep-sea survey specialists and members of Australia’s armed forces, thanking them for providing closure to those who lost loved ones 81 years prior.
“I want to thank the Silentworld team and the dedicated researchers, including the Unrecovered War Casualties team at Army, who have never given up hope of finding the final resting place of the Montevideo Maru,” Chief of the Australian Army Lieutenant General Simon Stuart said.
“A loss like this reaches down through the decades and reminds us all of the human cost of conflict. Lest We Forget,” Stuart added.
“The extraordinary effort behind this discovery speaks for the enduring truth of Australia’s solemn national promise to always remember and honor those who served our country. This is the heart and the spirit of Lest We Forget,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wrote.
The Executive Secretary-Ghana International Trade Commission (GITC), Mr. Frank Agyekum, has emphasised the significance of his outfit’s work in safeguarding Ghanaian companies from unfair trade practices on the international stage.
According to him, international trade is akin to war – and all manner of tactics are deployed to undercut competition in the global arena.
One of such common unfair trading practices, he said, is dumping; whereby the price of a product sold in the importing country, in this case Ghana, is less than the price of that product in the originating country’s market.
Mr. Agyemang said this price discrimination strategy is done deliberately to offset competition from local industry, with the ultimate goal of monopolising the local market.
“For instance a product at the country of origin sells at US$100, but despite freight charges and taxes it still sells at US$80 in the importing country. The purpose is to dump onto the market in the receiving country, make sure our industries are disabled, and then eventually those companies from the originating country can monopolise their product in the host country. When that happens, the local companies are unable to make profits and expand as they want to – because market share is reduced or taken over by the foreign entities. When local industries cannot expand, they lay-off workers and are unable to pay the requisite taxes to help develop the nation.”
He said the GITC, Ghana’s trade remedy institution, has since its inception four years ago been correcting some of these practices going against the local economy.
Mr. Agyekum revealed that the GITC has over recent years worked on six cases of dumping, with the ruling in favour of Aluworks – the local manufacturer of aluminium products in Ghana, prominent among them.
According to him, the Aluworks case led to an anti-dumping duty imposed on the foreign perpetrators.
He expressed that it is the wish of GITC to close several other petitions in favour of Ghanaians, but Ghanaian companies often lack the requisite data to back their claims.
He urged that such companies should endeavour to collect and keep data in their business dealings, thus enabling GITC to mediate for them effectively.
He said all the developed countries Ghana and its African counterparts seek to emulate take such contingency measures to promote local industry very seriously, and African countries must pay equal attention to what happens on their turf.
Mr. Agyekum lamented that, sadly, only four other countries in Africa have set up institutions like the GITC to serve the purpose of checking these unfair trade practices.
“I believe there should be more countries, because we compete with countries who know what they are about and do everything to ensure that they get what they want. We have to put measures in place to ensure that we match them boot for boot. If not, we will always be found wanting.”
The Executive Secretary of the Ghana International Trade Commission said it has become more imperative for Ghana and its counterparts on the continent to create such structures in the Free Trade Area era.
“If we are not careful about these things, others more advanced than us in terms of production capacity will come in and swarm the market; and we will end hosting the secretariat and yet not getting the right benefits from AfCFTA,” he articulated.
The senior staff Association of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) who embarked on strike action over poor conditions of service and delay in payment of allowances called off its strike on Friday after a week-long standoff.
The move is in compliance with the directive by the National Labour Commission (NLC) after a meeting on Wednesday to allow for further negotiations with management to resolve the issues.
The management of UCC has subsequently called a meeting with the leadership of the senior staff to find lasting solutions to their concerns and grievances.
Christopher Aggrey, Secretary of the UCC chapter of the Senior Staff Association – Universities of Ghana (SSA-UoG, UCC), who confirmed the development in a media interview said they were expecting a favourable outcome.
“…and if it does not turn out that way, we will see the necessary action to take,” he added.
The senior staff laid down their tools on Thursday, April 13 in protest in what they said was “unfair treatment” by management of the institution.
They said management had refused to honour their request to address a number of grievances including appointments, promotions, non-payment of negotiated allowances and representation on the University Council since May 2022.
They accused management of disregarding numerous reminders on their concerns without any justification.
Sandy Kumi-Sinatra, Chairman of the Association on campus, noted that the University did very little to address their issues even after an intervention by the NLC and the Ministry of Education.
“Regrettably, the only engagement management of the University has had was to request the SSA-UoG, UCC Local to submit proposals for some of the issues contained in a petition to management and the Council,” he said.
In view of that, he vowed that the strike would not be called off until their demands were met but later had to comply with the NLC’s directive after consulting the Association’s national leadership.
The meeting between management and the senior staff was still in session as of the time of filing this report.
A day before Chris Hipkins, the prime minister of New Zealand, visited Australia, the country announced on Saturday that residents of New Zealand living there would have a clear road to citizenship.
Hipkins praised the decision as “the biggest improvement in the rights of New Zealanders living in Australia in a generation” as he prepared to travel to Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, on Sunday.
New Zealanders who have lived in Australia for four years or longer are now eligible to seek for citizenship without first becoming permanent residents, according to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. The reforms took effect in July.
“We know that many New Zealanders are here on a Special Category Visa while raising families, working and building their lives in Australia. So I am proud to offer the benefits that citizenship provides,” Albanese added.
New Zealand has long campaigned for changes since visa rules were altered in 2001, making it tougher for Kiwis in Australia to get citizenship.
The reform would bring New Zealanders’ rights more into line with those of Australian expats living in New Zealand, Australia’s Labor government said.
“Kiwis taking up Australian citizenship will still retain their New Zealand citizenship. These dual citizens are not lost to New Zealand – but draw us closer together,” Hipkins said in a statement.
The changes also meant children born in Australia since July to an Australia-based New Zealand parent would be automatically entitled to Australian citizenship, he said.
“This will make critical services available to them,” he said, adding the changes delivered on an Albanese promise that no New Zealander be left “permanently temporary” in Australia.
Around 670,000 New Zealand citizens live in Australia, while there are around 70,000 Australians in New Zealand, according to Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Ghanaian rapper Kwame Yesu, who is regarded as the voice of the younger generation, has just dropped his brand-new single for the year, titled “ADWUMA.” This song was released in 2022 after Kwame Yesu’s “SuMoMi” and “ISSUES” albums.
Riding on a drill beat produced by Ghanaian-German-based producer, Robin Rozay, Kwame Yesu explores the themes of hard work, courage and resilience, the qualities attributed to a young person hustling in the streets of Accra while being stereotyped by the Police.
Speaking about the ideation behind the record, Kwame Yesu recounts how a random police stop inspired ‘ADWUMA’.
According to him; “We got stopped and harassed by the police, stereotyped as hoodlums due to our looks and dread hairstyle. As a result of this incident, my team and myself kept talking about what had just happened. Before arriving at our destination, I had composed the melody for the hook and few rap lines. I later met up with my new found collaborator Robin Rozay a Ghanaian- German based producer for recording session and completed the record.”
Kwame Yesu, forerunner of the Rebo Tribe collective is one of the fast-rising talents of his generation. The vibrant Ghanaian rapper and singer born Raymond Kyere also known as Astro Nyame or Big Ye is an Afrobeats and Hip hop performing artist who hails from Akweteman (Alpha blondi), Ghana.
A shipment of American beer was destroyed by Belgium after it objected to the claim made by the manufacturer that it was “The Champagne of Beers.”
The 2,352 Miller High Life beer cans were destroyed earlier this week by Belgian customs, who claimed they should have been labelled as Champagne.
The move came after a trade association for the Champagne industry complained that the term should be used only on bottles of sparkling wine, made using a traditional method in Champagne, France.
By convention, true Champagne – as in, the French sparkling wine – can only be made using Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier grapes.
The Comité Champagne, a joint trade association for the Champagne industry, requested the destruction of the American beers, arguing that the label “The Champagne of Beers” infringed on the protected designation of “Champagne”.
Miller High Life was launched in 1903 by a Milwaukee-based based firm. According to its website, it began to use the slogan “The Champagne of Bottle Beer” three years later, shortening it to “The Champagne of Beers” in 1969.
The beers were headed for Germany before they were intercepted at the port of Antwerp in February.
On April 17, the cans were destroyed “with the greatest respect for environmental concerns by ensuring that the entire batch, content and container, is recycled in an eco-responsible way,” the Comité Champagne said.
“Each year we carry out thousands of checks on designations of controlled origin,” said Kristian Vanderwaeren, general administrator of the Belgian General Administration for Customs and Excise.
“If a counterfeit is proven, as is the case here, we also consult each other on the decision to destroy these goods and on the way in which we have them destroyed.”
Charles Goemaere, managing director of the Comité Champagne, said the move is the result of successful collaboration between the Belgian customs authorities and the services of the Champagne Committee.
“It confirms the importance that the European Union attaches to designations of origin and rewards the determination of the inhabitants of Champagne to protect their designation,” he said.
Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram Sam Nartey George has bemoaned the current state of the economy.
He said Ghana’s economy is gone beyond being broke to bankruptcy.
According to him, Ken Ofori-Atta has taken the country to a stage where the government cannot be bailed out and that’s the difference between being broke and bankrupt.
Speaking on Good Morning Ghana show, he reiterated that Ghana could not be called broke but bankrupt. “…we are not even qualified to be called broke to be borrowed money, we are bankrupt. There is a difference between being broke and be bankrupt. If you are bankrupt, we can’t bail you out and that’s is where this delusional person has taken us to with the management of his economy. He still thinks that management of the economy is about wearing white and quoting the bible.”
He said the finance minister should not be taken seriously as anything he says is not exactly what he does which includes his statement that there won’t be a haircut, yet implemented it.
“Whatever Ken Ofori-Atta tells you; he means the opposite. He told Ghanaian people there will be no haircut and IMF. E are not just at the IMF, we are begging China, begging the Paris Club and begging everybody. That’s how messed up we are,” he added.
Ghanaian politician and multimedia executive Baba Sadiq Abdulai Abu has expressed hope that Obrafour suing Drake for using a sample of his music without permission with hypeman Mantse Aryeequaye concurrently contending that he, not Obrafour, is the rightful owner of the said sample, is an important learning curve for the local music industry.
Baba Sadiq was on New Day on Accra-based TV3, Friday, April 21, 2023, speaking on the controversy which has caught the attention of local and international music stakeholders.
The tussle, Baba Sadiq said, “obviously throws a spotlight on some of the structural problems we’ve had as an industry.”
Such issues, he went on, in “the more mature markets” have been handled by “the well structured units of the industry.”
Baba Sadiq entreated artistes to learn from the goings-on instead of approaching industry issues “from the passion and energy” standpoint.
Such ignorance, he said, is often corrected “when they get sucked up into the well structured units of the industry” which “whip them into line.”
When an artiste, “for instance Papi [of 5Five] sitting down here,” Sadiq cited in explanation, “is signed by a particular [record] label, by the time he’ll go through the label’s system,” he, “practically and from an experiential perspective,” would “learn a thing or two” and understand how music business is operated with executives on the A&R, marketing, finance and legal teams.
He underscored that the legal executive on the record label makes sure that before a release is done, “every clearance [of samples et all] is made.”
Obrafour is demanding a compensation of at least US$10 million from Drake and co, crying foul that a material from his 2003 ‘Oye Ohene Remix’ featuring Tinny has been sampled for Drake’s 2022 ‘Calling My Name’ without his permission.
In a twist of events, however, Hiplife hypeman and businessman Mantse Aryeequaye who in fact voiced the portion of the ‘Oye Ohene Remix’ song cited in the suit, has argued that it is he who has suffered a copyright infringement and not Obrafour.
Mantse says he did the voice which captures the words: “Killer cut, blood” for ‘Oye Ohene Remix’ producer Da’Hammer. He added that said producer used the cited sample for other songs also.
Furthermore, Mantse indicated that Obrafour never paid for his service and more importantly, directed Drake, via a series of tweets, Wednesday, April 19, to consult his lawyer Kofi Bentil, instead of engaging Obrafour and co.
In Baba Sadiq’s regard, “going forward, we need a lot more well structered units of industry. That’s one of the ways that we can be able to [remedy] some of these things.”
“This is a major learning [curve],” the parliamentary aspirant for the Okaikoi Central constituency on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) stressed.
“I think that because the thought leadership in [our] industry is zero [or] less, when these [issues] come, it affords us the opportunity to inform industry and create the narratives that will enable industry,” Baba Sadiq said again, his point being that contrary to some opinions, this issue should be richly discussed publicly, “because it provides some major lessons for industry.”
He decried media houses who have or will platform loud and uninformed pundits to discuss the issue, saying that is not healthy to be chasing “the most sensational headlines” and sending their audience into emotional fits instead of “delving into, sometimes, the academic part, the legal part – looking into case studies and everything and informing people.”
“To the talent, to the business manager of the talent, to the manager and everybody, we need to understand that the responsibility to create that well structured unit of industry starts with us,” he stated. “Before everybody else.”
Earlier, Baba Sadiq argued in support of Mantse’s claim that he is the rightful plaintiff in the copyright infringement case regarding the sample “Killer cut, blood.”
To buttress, he cited Sisqo getting into legal hot waters using lyrics “livin’ la vida loca” in his mammoth hit Thong Song without due diligence and clearance from the original writer and composer Desmond Child.
Though, the legal matter was eventually settled out of court, it was not Ricky Martin, the singer of the original song with the said lyrics, who got compensated. It was Desmond Child who, according to Thong Song producer Bob Robinson, who had earlier warned Sisqo, “has more ownership of the song than anyone.”
Japan claims that if necessary, it is ready to shoot down a North Korean spy satellite rocket.
Yasukazu Hamada, Japan’s defence minister, instructed the armed forces on Saturday to “make the necessary arrangements” because he might “order the destruction of ballistic missiles.”
The information comes after North Korea said on Wednesday that it was finalising plans to launch its first military spy satellite.
The Japanese Self Defense Forces have been put on alert for any debris from the rocket falling into Japanese territory.
The Japanese military will deploy ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptor missiles and Aegis-equipped destroyer warships carrying sea-based Standard Missile-3 interceptor projectiles, the statement added.
North Korean state media KCNA reported on Wednesday that its leader Kim Jong Un had ordered officials to prepare to launch the country’s first military reconnaissance satellite.
Kim made the remarks alongside his daughter, believed to be called Ju Ae, who has increasingly accompanied her father on public outings, during a visit to the National Aerospace Development Administration earlier this week.
North Korea claimed as early as last December that it had conducted an “important final stage test” for the development of a spy satellite.
It has previously said the satellite could be ready by as soon as April this year.
A leaked ‘wireless message’ making rounds on social media indicates that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr George Akuffo Dampare instructed its regional commanders to ensure that no official of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is allowed into any police facility under their jurisdiction for inspection of electrical connections or any other activity.
A leaked police wireless message shared on Twitter by Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a convener for the #FixTheCountry Movement, which contained that said order, indicated that the order was from the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare, and must be adhered to religiously.
It was also stated in the wireless message that a letter will be given to the ECG indicating when their officers are to visit police facilities for their inspections and other activities.
“INGPOL DIRECTS ALL REGIONAL COMMANDERS SHOULD NOT ALLOW ANY ECG OFFICIALS INTO POLICE FACILITIES WITHIN YOUR JURISDICTIONS
“A TEMPLATE LETTER OF INVITATION TO FORMALLY INVITE ECG OFFICIALS TO UNDERTAKE INSPECTION, REVIEW OF CONNECTIONS, RECTIFICATION OF IRREGULARITIES AND INSTALLATION OF BULK METRES FOLLOWS.
“DIV./DIS/UNIT COMMANDERS SHOULD ENSURE STRICT COMPLIANCE AND REPORT ANY SUCH CASE TO REGIONAL COMMAND IMMEDIATELY FOR REDRESS. TREAT AS URGENT,” parts of the message read.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Samuel Mahama, has indicated that the next major exercise, after his outfit’s revenue mobilisation drive, is clamping down on illegal connections in the country.
According to him, the company will be going from house to house and business to business to check for illegal connections and any entity found culpable will face the full rigours of the law, asaaseradio.com reports.
“Those who are involved in illegal connections, we’re giving you one month head start to correct it because I’m not charging you with bypass, I’m charging you with theft, you’ve stolen,” Samuel Mahama is quoted to have said on the Asaase Breakfast Show.
The ECG disconnected power to parts of the Osu Police Barracks because of an illegal connection to the national grid this April.
The task force from the ECG discovered the illegal connections on three blocks of the barracks, which had connected power directly without a meter. The illegal connections were discovered on the ECG’s usual rounds to recover monies owed by customers and disconnected.
The manager in charge of external communications at ECG, Laila Abubakarim, who was part of the team that visited the barracks, said that they had to disconnect power to the three blocks because of the illegality.
“Since it’s an illegal connection, we have the first right to disconnect before we deal with issues. The Ghana police would have to come to ECG where a bill will be generated for them covering a period of 12 months.
“The administration block also owes, but due to security implications, we’ve spared that facility while we discuss further the amount involved. We consider the police accommodation facilities (blocks) a general facility hence the disconnection,” she said.
The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) is collaborating with the World Bank to develop an Investor Grievance Mechanism (IGM) for the early detection of challenges and dispute redress.
Mr. Edward Ashong-Lartey, GIPC’s Director of Investor Services disclosed this at the second edition of its Ministries Department Agencies (MDA) – Investor Forum.
The event sought to advance deliberations on how to improve the relationship between state institutions and businesses within the country.
This was in recognition of the impact of MDAs/Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) on the investment infrastructure landscape, particularly the streamlining of permits and licenses, the provision of infrastructure and utilities, and the support of local economic development.
Mr Ashong-Lartey said the MDA would have a vital role to play in the IGM and so must work collectively to eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks to help investors “transform risks into opportunities”.
GIPC’s Head of Aftercare, Ms. Victoria Cobbah said MDAs/MMDAs could bolster the investment landscape by streamlining regulations, simplifying administrative procedures, and addressing business challenges at the local level.
Ms. Diana Afriyie Addo, the Head of Business Regulatory Reforms at the Ministry of Trade and Industries highlighted ongoing business regulatory reforms in Ghana aimed at improving the overall ease of doing business in the country.
She sensitised the gathering on her outfit’s online platform which gives information on all business regulations and bye-laws.
She also urged investors to leverage the platform, which also allows them to contribute to ongoing deliberations on regulatory reforms.
Three male staff of Quick Credit and Micro Credit Investment Limited have allegedly assaulted a 30-year-old woman for defaulting GHS 70 loan payment.
The victim, Emelia, a food vendor and a drinking bar operator at Pokuase Mayera in Greater Accra Region secured GHS1,000 loan to invest in her business.
The loan was supposed to be repaid in installments of GHS 105 per week for 13 weeks.
Emilia, however defaulted payment of GHS 70 when the repayment time was due.
Three(3) male debt collectors from Quick Credit company limited aboard branded company car stormed the workplace of the customer, allegedly physically and sexually assaulted her by pulling her breast.
The incident attracted many passersby and residents in the area to the scene which saved the victim from further assault.
Emilia narrated to Starr News that, “I have been taking loans from them [Quick Credit] and even give them customers. So recently I think before December last year I went for GH¢1000 which I repaid with GHS 105 per week for 13 weeks according to the agreement however defaulted payment of GHS 70 to complete the repayment of the loan” she narrated.
Emelia continued that “When they came. I had just returned from the market so I didn’t have money on me so I requested them to return the next day but they won’t listen. They created a scene and embarrassed me. So a woman intervened to guarantee for me before they left. I gave the GHS 70 to the woman since she became the guarantor but when they(Quick Credit staff] came after a few days the woman was not around. They became furious that I have conspired with the woman. They were forcing me to take someone’s money in my purse for them but I told them the money wasn’t mine. So the three men pounced on me, torn my dress and dragged me.”
She added “One of them even pulled my breast. That breast has since been paining me so I go to the hospital frequently to check. They assaulted and used derogatory words against me, my mother and my husband. A woman who came to the scene out of worry paid the amount to them before I had my freedom”.
Emelia proceeded to Pokuase Police Station to lodge an official complaint at the Police station.
Police issued a medical form to the victim which was endorsed after diagnoses and treatment at 37 Military Hospital.
The medical report cited by Starr FM Stated that she suffered from multiple contusions on the right arm and chest, and had muscle-skeletal pain”.
She also suffered injury in the shin.
However, the police have refused to proceed with the investigation fueling suspicion by the victim that they have been induced.
Quick Credit debt collectors are notorious for using aggressive means to recoup their debts.
Joseph Kofi Acquah, Pokuase Area Manager for Quick Credit and Micro Credit Investment Limited declined to comment when contacted on Phone.
He said “I will get back to you”
A follow-up Whatsapp message for a response also proved futile.
Kumawood actor Kofi Adu who is popularly known as Agya Koo, has come out to deny claims made by a man who recently alleged that the actor is his biological son.
According to the actor, he has no knowledge of the said man and has never met him before.
The news of the supposed father-son relationship came to light after an interview with the man was published online. In the interview, the man claimed to be Agya Koo’s father and revealed that he had been searching for him for a long time.
However, in an exclusive interview with Kwabena Mensah Abrompah on Radio Univers on April 21, 2023, Agya Koo dismissed the claims as false and unfounded, the actor stated that the man and the person who interviewed him had orchestrated the entire situation for their own personal gain.
“Massa, you people should forget about him, he is just lying… I will come and address the public properly, I don’t know him from anywhere, it is just an orchestration by some people…
“I won’t lie brother, I’m telling you the truth…. because I don’t lie, weren’t you here that four years ago someone also said that I’m the son and she is my mother, how did it end? I’m telling you the truth,” he said.
The actor added that Ghanaians should disregard the claims made by the man, stating that they were baseless and had no merit.
In an earlier interview with Ghana News TV, the said man, identified as Kwesi Bediako, said he is seeking reconciliation with his son (Agya Koo), whom he had not seen since birth.
Neville Lawrence occasionally daydreams about strolling through London and admiring the structures his son Stephen may have worked on, had he lived long enough to realise his ambition to become an architect. Building a miniature was the closest he’d ever come to that.
“He made a model of a building down in Deptford for his work experience with an architect. Therefore, every time I pass Deptford and see the building, it makes me think of him’,’ Lawrence said to CNN, referring to a southeast London district. He still gets emotional while talking about Stephen after 30 years.
Stephen Lawrence was murdered when he was just 18 years old in a racially motivated attack on April 22, 1993. His killing and the subsequent failure of the London Metropolitan Police Service to properly investigate the crime sparked a national outcry. It culminated in a landmark official inquiry that concluded the force was institutionally racist.
But despite decades of promises, reviews and reforms, a new government report published last month, just four weeks before the 30th anniversary of Stephen’s murder, reached the same conclusion. The Met is still institutionally racist.
Raju Bhatt, a civil liberties lawyer who has dedicated his career to representing people making claims of wrongful conduct against the police, said nothing in the new report – the Baroness Casey Review – came as a surprise.
“What our clients see is a machinery which just doesn’t want to hear what they have to say and as a result, what happens is a failure to address the cultural problems, that culture of impunity, which arises when police officers know that they won’t be brought to account – when [they] know that whatever they do, their managers will be there to back them up, or, at the very least, their managers will look away,” he said.
The Met Police chief Mark Rowley has acknowledged “systemic” problems in the force but has so far declined to use the word “institutional.”
For Bhatt, the Casey report was just the latest development in a familiar cycle of events that began when he graduated from university in 1981.
That summer, racial tensions in Britain boiled over and sparked violent clashes between mostly Black protesters and the police, in south London’s Brixton neighborhood and elsewhere. Bhatt worked as a community volunteer, helping people who were arrested during the protests.
An official government inquiry into the riots and the police response concluded there was an “urgent need for changes in training and law enforcement and the recruitment of more ethnic minorities into the police force.” It also found that there was “evidence of harassment of minorities by some policemen.”
Stephen Lawrence was murdered 12 years after the Brixton riots. Within days of his killing at a bus stop in southeast London, five White teens were identified as being involved. They were arrested, but none was successfully prosecuted at the time.
It took years of campaigning by the Lawrence family — and public support from the likes of Nelson Mandela and the national press — to get the investigation moving. A 1997 inquest into Lawrence’s death found that he was unlawfully killed in a “completely unprovoked racist attack by five white youths.”
A wave of protests forced the then-government to commission an inquiry into the murder and the Met’s handling of it, which concluded in 1999 that “professional incompetence, institutional racism and failure of leadership by senior officers” was to be blamed for the botched investigation.
The review, known as the Macpherson report, made 70 recommendations on how to improve the police force and increase the public’s trust in the force. They included recruiting more Black and other minority ethnic officers to make sure the force reflects the communities it serves, taking steps to tackle disparities in the use of police powers against people from minority groups and developing specific guidelines on how to investigate and tackle racist crimes.
The Macpherson report was damning, but like the Brixton riots review, it failed to result in lasting and substantive reform of the Met Police.
As a Black man who grew up in 70s and 80s Britain, Leslie Thomas says he knows what it’s like to be on the receiving end of police racism. He recounts how he has been racially profiled and stopped and searched by officers several times in the past, including once when he was driving with his wife and baby in the back of his car and once when he was just 14 years old.
“I was 14, in school uniform, coming home from school and a police van pulls up alongside me. Four officers jump out [and say] ‘you look suspicious’,” he said.
Like Bhatt, Thomas is a lawyer who has spent decades representing people in claims against the police and other public authorities. And, just like Bhatt, he has little faith that the latest report will lead to much change.
“Here’s the thing. You can’t hit a target unless you acknowledge the target itself. The Metropolitan Police have said, ‘oh, we want to be a more inclusive organization,’ but steadfastly, they refuse to acknowledge through their leadership that they’ve got a problem with institutional racism,” Thomas said.
“If it were just a few bad apples, then you wouldn’t expect, as we have seen, repetition after repetition, generation after generation,” he added.
The Met has not yet responded to CNN’s request for comment. But speaking to the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee last month, Rowley refused to label the Met Police “institutionally” racist, saying the word “institutional” is ambiguous and politicized.
In a statement released when the Casey report was published, Rowley said it “must be a catalyst for police reform” and “needs to lead to meaningful change.” He added: “I want us to be anti-racist, anti-misogynist and anti-homophobic. In fact, I want us to be anti-discrimination of all kinds.”
Thomas specializes in representing families of people who have died in police custody – an issue that disproportionately affects people of color.
Black people in the UK are seven times more likely to die from police restraint than White people, according to statistics compiled by Inquest, a charity that focuses on deaths in police and prison custody, immigration detention, mental health settings and other state settings.
The legacy of Stephen Lawrence’s murder, 30 years later
Thomas represented the family of Sean Rigg, who died in 2008 after being pinned down in a police arrest while experiencing a mental health crisis. While an initial investigation by then-police watchdog the Independent Police Complaints Commission cleared the police of any wrongdoing, the Rigg family kept fighting.
In 2012, an inquest jury found that Rigg died of cardiac arrest after being restrained in a prone position for approximately eight minutes and said the level and length of restraint used by the police was “unsuitable” and “unnecessary” and that this “more than minimally” contributed to his death.
In light of the findings, the police watchdog re-examined the case. But a police misconduct panel cleared five officers of gross misconduct in connection to Rigg’s death in 2019. One of those officers had earlier been acquitted of perjury relating to his account of events on the night Rigg died.
Marcia Rigg, Sean’s sister, is still fighting. She and her family have spent years watching CCTV footage of Sean’s last moments, trying to piece together what really happened. The process has been deeply upsetting and it hasn’t, so far, led to the justice she wants for her brother.
“It was four years before we had an inquest. And basically myself and my family, particularly me and my brother Wade, we had to become investigators ourselves … to see your loved one being treated in that way by officers that should be helping us. It’s traumatizing, it makes you angry,” she told CNN.
Rigg said she still dreads the police. “I hate the sound of (the sirens), I hate the sight of the uniform, what it represents.”
The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020 brought back all of the trauma for Rigg. Like Sean, Floyd was held face down by police in a prone position. Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes and was ultimately found guilty of murdering him.
But it also made her even more determined to fight. “When George Floyd died, and everybody witnessed that murder, (British politicians) were on the side of the people, (saying) that this can’t happen. I said, well, they need to look in their own backyard,” she said.
Deborah Coles, Inquest’s executive director, said the struggles of the Lawrences and the Riggs to get justice for their loved ones mirror the experiences of nearly everyone she’s worked with.
She said the “cultures of denial and defensiveness and delay” within official government agencies, as well as victim blaming and the tendency to demonize the victim’s family and community, add to families’ suffering in such cases, as does “this ongoing institutional denial about the fact that institutional racism is a live and enduring issue.”
Successive governments and police chiefs have dismissed the severity of the issue, she told CNN. “We’ve always said that one of the problems is that when it comes to looking at deaths (in custody), they see them as isolated incidents, rather than being evidence of a systemic, enduring issue. This is a systemic issue across police forces.”
The UK’s largest police force commissioned the latest independent inquiry in 2021, after a serving Metropolitan Police officer was convicted of the kidnapping, raping and murdering Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old London woman. The eventual Casey report was damning, finding the Met not just institutionally racist, but also institutionally misogynistic, sexist and homophobic.
According to a separate parliamentary report published last year, Black people are more than nine-and-a-half times more likely to be stopped and searched than White people, even though the vast majority of “stop and search” actions don’t result in any further action.
The Met is still overwhelmingly White, with only 17% of officers identifying themselves as non-White in 2022, despite the city they police being far more diverse.
While that is more than the 3% figure recorded in the early 2000s, it is still well below its own targets and not at all reflective of the communities the police serve.
“We see time and again critical reviews, inquiries, inquest findings, coroner’s recommendations, a whole wealth of potentially lifesaving recommendations, but also very critical recommendations about structural changes needed. And yet there is no enforcement of those recommendations,” Coles said.
Inquest and other organizations are calling for a new oversight mechanism that would follow up and report on whether correct actions have been taken in response to the numerous inquiries, she added.
As the Lawrence family and their supporters mark the 30th anniversary of Stephen’s killing, they are still fighting for his killers to face justice.
It wasn’t until 2012, 19 years after the murder, that two of the five attackers – Gary Dobson and David Norris – were finally convicted and sent to prison. It took a change in law that allowed for a retrial in cases where new evidence is found.
To date, the other three people allegedly involved in the killing have not been brought to justice.
Neville Lawrence remains determined to keep fighting – although he said that the publication of the Casey report has made it clear to him, once again, that the family is on its own in this.
“If you want justice, you have to try and fight for it yourself, you don’t have anybody who is going to be doing it the way they should be doing it,” he said.
After years of being consumed by grief and anger, Lawrence decided to move back to Jamaica, where his son is buried. “I accept the situation where I had to leave this place so I can have some peace,” he told CNN.
“I couldn’t even bury my son here because of the vandalism that would have taken place. The amount of times that they vandalized the (memorial) plaque where he fell, that they had to put a camera on it to stop people going there and desecrating it … so just imagine Stephen, if he was here, what they would have done,” he said.
The Small-Scale Miners Association has called for sanctions against persons mentioned in the leaked report authored by former Environment Minister Prof. Frimpong-Boateng over the involvement of some top government officials in illegal mining.
According to General Secretary Godwin, the leaked report is not surprising because the Association collaborated with the inter-ministerial mining committee, and the allegations contained in the leaked report were made by some people.
“The report is not surprising. The names and people mentioned in the report were known to miners, and their names were mentioned, but there was no evidence to back up the claims at the time. However, if Prof. Frimpong-Biateng has included these allegations in his report, they are serious. He is not your typical person. He was the chairman of the ministerial committee. He has received several international awards, so his report is genuine. We are not surprised as an association.”
Fighting galamsey is a difficult task, according to him, because it is a multifaceted problem.
He claimed that when illegal miners are apprehended, chiefs, government officials, and politicians beg for their release.
“Some highly respected lawyers are also representing these illegal miners. Dome officials, who serve as gatekeepers in our institutions, have a responsibility to be concerned and drag these illegal miners to court, prosecute them, and imprison them for 15 to 20 years as a deterrent.”
He said successive governments have not been firm in dealing with illegal mining and especially when it is an election year, galamsey issues are not tackled by our leaders.
He went on to say that although we are pumping money in fighting galamsey, we have not really made significant impacts.
“We are pretending to be fighting galamsey, but we are not fighting it. People who usually try their best to fight it face opposition.”
Meanwhile, he has demanded that all those named in Prof. Frimpong-Boateng’s report be investigated and punished.
“The names of some people were mentioned. I propose that the government look into the matter. This must occur so that we can be assured that the government remains committed and serious.”
The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) reports that market activity on the Accra bourse was driven by strong increases in the prices of some shares in March of this year.
The GSE Composite Index (GSE-CI), which tracks the performance of all companies trading on the Accra bourse, increased by 14.01 per cent in March, bringing the year-to-date gain to 12.33 per cent, the GSE said in the summary of March 2023 market activities copied to the Ghanaian Times.
“The continued rally of the GSE-CI was underpinned by dividend announcements from some listed companies and investors seeking to diversify their holdings,” GSE stated.
It said the volumes of and values traded on the Accra bourse went up significantly by 2,730 percent and 588 per cent respectively, over the previous month mostly due to block trades in MTN Ghana shares.
The total value of 181,344,788 were traded on the market at a value of GH¢199,048,178.41, while total market capitalisation of the Accra bourse at the end of March stood at GH¢67,846.89.
The report said TOTAL shares went up by 39.82 per cent, MTNGH, 35.87 per cent, UNIL, 33.78 per cent, BOPP, 20.93 per cent, and GGBL, 9.49 per cent, and they made up the top five price gainers in March.
However, the GSE Financial Stock Index, on the other hand, achieved a year-to-date loss of 11.98 per cent in line with investors’ expectations of reduced profitability in 2022 for financial stocks.
On the equities market, the report said, the volume of shares traded in March stood at 173,658,609 valued at GH¢167, 969,700, both down by 19.22 per cent and 29.17 compared to the same period last year.
The volume and value of shares traded in the same period last year were 280,656,909 and GH¢301, 850,157.39.
“The cumulative volume of 181,344,788 valued at GH¢199, 048,171.4, represent a decrease of 35.39 and 34.06 per cent to the same period last year,” the GSE said.
On the Ghana Fixed Income Market (GFIM), the report said the GSE’s fixed income market closed March 2023 with a volume traded of 5.57 billion, a decline of 39.26 per cent and 80.18 per cent respectively, over the previous month’s and same period in 2022 numbers.
“Yields on short-term Government securities came down significantly during the Month, the 91-day Treasury bill ended the month at 19.39 per cent from 35.55 per cent at the beginning of March 2023. The new Government of Ghana bonds witnessed thin trading during its first full month of trading, post the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme,” the report said.
It said the month closed with a total volume trade of GH¢5.57 billion, representing a decline of 39.26 per cent compared to total volume trades in the previous month and a decline of 80.18 per cent compared to the same period last year.
The report said the cumulative volume traded from January to March 2023 of 24.76 billion was a 61.35 per cent dip from the 64.07 billion traded in the same period last year.
Ghanaian UK-based gospel act, Samuel Sey has bagged nominations in the two prestigious 2023 Ghana Music Awards USA and Ghana Music Awards Europe.
He has been nominated for Diaspora Gospel Artiste of the Year, Diaspora Gospel Song of the Year and Diaspora Best Video of the Year for his Agyenkwa Hene music video at the second edition of Ghana Music Awards Europe.
For Ghana Music Awards USA 2023, he earned a nomination in the Best Ghana International Act of the Year category and Samuel Sey faces competition in the respective category as he battles musicians such as Kofi Mante, Rebbel Ashes, King Frenzee, Kofi Nyarko, Emmy Xornam, and Marco Lowkey.
He was also given a second nomination for the Urban Gospel Artiste of the Year in the GMA USA, which he took to Instagram to thank the organisers for their recognition.
Meanwhile, Samuel Sey last year won UK-based Gospel Artiste of the Year at Ghana Music Awards UK 2022 and also the Diaspora Gospel of the Year at Ghana Music Awards France with his Na You song.
He is currently promoting the remix of the NA You song urging Ghanaians and his fans especially to patronise it.
Samuel is a Prempeh College product who was raised under a strict Christian upbringing by his mother, Janet Serwah Mensah of the UK, and his uncle, Rev. Samuel Nana Poku, a Senior Pastor at the Abundant Life Baptist Church in the USA.
Samuel Sey started his ministry through song ministrations at a very young age, singing and leading a group called Precious Jewels and ROPS in Grace Baptist Church at Amakom-Kumasi where he was known as one of the best drummers.
Samuel Sang also played drums for one of Ghana’s finest worship ministers, Rev. Pastor George Owusu Mensah who doubles as his uncle and a senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Kumasi.
Rev. George Owusu is known for his song, Matwen Awurade Anim, a song Samuel believes has inspired him greatly.
Samuel Sey left for the United Kingdom just after he completed his SHS at Prempeh College where he led, sang and played for his church as a drummer at Faith Baptist Church, Seven-Sisters at North London.
He later moved to France where he carried on with his ministry and also hosts a yearly programme called Time With Daddy with Men of God, Worship Ministers and Gospel artists from the USA, Canada, UK and Ghana.
He has travelled extensively to various countries around the world to minister the word of God through song ministrations.
It said the monthly producer inflation in March stood at 1.7 per cent.
Data provided by the GSS said industry recorded the highest rate of inflation in March at 43.3 per cent compared with the 57.9 per cent recorded in February.
The GSS said the construction sector recorded year-on-year inflation rate of 18.8 per cent from 21.1 per cent of the figure recorded in February.
It said the PPI for the services sector rose to 18.0 per cent in March from 13.4 per cent in February.
“For the sub-sectors, transportation and storage recorded the highest year-on-year PPI of 59.3 per cent. Electricity and gas at 57.5 per cent, accommodation and food services recorded 47.0 per cent, with PPI higher than the national average producer inflation of 43.7 per cent,” the GSS said.
The data said the PPI for the mining support service activities rose to 56.9 per cent in March from 52.0 per cent in February, PPI for mining of metal ores fell to 52.5 per cent in March from 70.0 per cent in February, and PPI for the extraction of crude oil and natural gas fell to 15.5 in March from 44.1 per cent in February.
The GSS said the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, medicinal chemical and botanical products drove the PPI rate in the manufacturing sector with a rate of 98.6 per cent in March from 108.7 per cent in February, and the manufacture of coke and refined products at the rate of 94.0 per cent.
For the construction sector, the data said construction of buildings recorded PPI rate of 41.5 per cent in March from 49.7 per cent in February, and civil engineering recorded PPI of 10.6 in March from 11.0 per cent in February, while PPI for specialised construction activities rose to 6.4 in March from 6.0 in February.
The GSS said in the services sector, the PPI for the information service activities rose to 177.6 per cent in March from 111.6 per cent in February.
Persons alleging that the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, has been selling off lands belonging to the state have been issued a stern warning to desist from ‘peddling falsehood’ or face legal action, as the Minister has dismissed the claims.
According to the Minister, he has never engaged in act of that sort, and has further threatened legal action against persons making such claims.
The allegations follow the reclamation of Agbogloshie lands from onion sellers.
Portions of the land, after the reclamation, were earmarked for a hospital project to serve people in the area and beyond, but have still not been constructed.
But the Minister believes some persons are taking advantage of the delay to accuse him of trading it.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with Ga chiefs on Thursday, he denied the claims, vowing to sue for damages of GH₵4 million if the allegations are not withdrawn.
“There is this gentleman who is alleging relocating the people at Agbogbloshie, I have connived with the people belonging to the Ga people by way of selling lands and I want to say here and now that I, Henry Quartey, my person, the Regional Coordinating Council and government as a whole have not sold even 10×10 to anybody and any attempt to suggest that I have sold the lands is damaging my hard-won reputation and making a false allegation against me which I will not accept. So, therefore, I have given the gentleman and that is not a threat.
“I have a right as a citizen to defend myself and also use a court of competent jurisdiction for that matter to seek redress where I feel that my name is being dented. I have given him a week from Monday for him to use the same medium to retract that allegation against my person and failure to do so, I will speak to my lawyers and will institute a court action against him and seek damages a minimum of four million Ghana cedis from him.”
Kumawood actor Kofi Adu who is popularly known as Agya Koo, says he is in no way related to a man who has been claiming to be the biological father of the actor.
According to him, he has no knowledge of the said man and has never met him before.
The news of the supposed father-son relationship came to light after an interview with the man was published online. In the interview, the man claimed to be Agya Koo’s father and revealed that he had been searching for him for a long time.
However, in an exclusive interview with Kwabena Mensah Abrompah on Radio Univers on April 21, 2023, Agya Koo dismissed the claims as false and unfounded, the actor stated that the man and the person who interviewed him had orchestrated the entire situation for their own personal gain.
“Massa, you people should forget about him, he is just lying… I will come and address the public properly, I don’t know him from anywhere, it is just an orchestration by some people…
“I won’t lie brother, I’m telling you the truth…. because I don’t lie, weren’t you here that four years ago someone also said that I’m the son and she is my mother, how did it end? I’m telling you the truth,” he said.
The actor added that Ghanaians should disregard the claims made by the man, stating that they were baseless and had no merit.
In an earlier interview with Ghana News TV, the said man, identified as Kwesi Bediako, said he is seeking reconciliation with his son (Agya Koo), whom he had not seen since birth.
A parliamentary aspirant of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Henry Sarfo Asamani-Yiadom, for Krachi East Constituency, said he will engage the services of a consultant to prepare an employment creation plan for the Constituency.
He said this master plan would help to profile the large army of unemployed people for easy placement when the opportunity availed itself.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), the aspirant promised to introduce youth mentorship programmes to the area for many young ones could learn to become great men and women in the future.
He again emphasized some key areas including creating decent and sustainable jobs for the youth and investing in young ones to have access to free sponsorship.
The aspirant also promised to tackle healthcare to ensure the observance of good sanitation and environmental hygiene throughout the Constituency to solve the problem of both liquid and solid waste disposal in the area, which posed a health risk for the people.
He mentioned road infrastructure, potable water, sustainable jobs for the constituency, and rural electrification as areas of major concern of the people.
Yiadom told the GNA that he would work hard to justify the mandate given to him after the primaries and lead the NDC to victory in the 2024 general elections.
