A guy who used a horseshoe to smash a golf greenkeeper to death has been sentenced to 21 years in prison.
Thomas Parker, 24, and Kirkpatrick Virgo, 42, fought over loud music coming from a boombox speaker, and Kirkpatrick Virgo then hit Thomas Parker with the U-shaped iron.
He did on the evening of July 30th, 2013, after they off an Elizabeth Line train at Reading, Berkshire.
Thomas was followed outside the train by Virgo, who used the horseshoe to strike the decisive blow.
Virgo, a Slough resident, was given a term of 21 years and 123 days in prison today at Reading Crown Court.
He admitted manslaughter and carrying an offensive weapon but denied murder
The family of Thomas Parker, 24, weren’t able to hug him as he lay dying on the station platform, the court heard (Picture: PA)
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A jury returned a guilty verdict after deliberating for three hours and 49 minutes on Thursday.
Thomas’ father, Steven Parker, described how ‘everything went black’ when he saw his son lying on the station platform.
‘Tom had a lovely personality and always had a smile on his face,’ he told the court.
‘He was very clever and had lots of friends, Tom did not have a bad bone in his body. I would describe him as a lover not a fighter.
‘I received a phone call from our son Craig. Every parent’s worst nightmare was about to unfold in front of us.
‘Craig told us, “You need to get to Reading station, Tom has been attacked”.’
With a crime scene set up when he arrived, Steven couldn’t even hug his son.
Virgo struck Thomas in the head with a horseshoe (Picture: PA)
‘We approached in fear, hoping in our hearts we would be able to take Tom home with us, or at least take him to hospital where he could receive medical treatment. We could not be more wrong,’ Steven said.
‘We wanted to hug Tom, to take him home, to gently shake him and tell him to wake up. To tell him everything will be OK.’
The Parker family can no longer step foot in Reading as it brings up too many painful memories – Steven fears what will happen to his loved ones any time they leave the house.
The court heard how Craig told one of Virgo’s friends to turn down the music he was playing at around 11pm.
A row erupted between them before off-duty police officers broke them up.
But then they departed the train at Reading, Virgo took out a heavy metallic horseshoe from his rucksack and hit Thomas over the head.
Despite the best efforts by paramedics, Thomas was pronounced dead at 12:40pm.
He died of a subarachnoid haemorrhage, the court was told, a type of stroke caused by blood bursting from a ruptured, fragile blood vessel.
Craig chased down his brother’s killer and tackled him to the ground.
‘I was in a bear hug, grappling, just holding (him),’ Craid told the court.
An “angry bully” who fatally attacked a fragile grandmother who thought his house was her bed and breakfast has been sentenced to prison.
In Barmouth, Wales, Margaret Barnes, a resident of Birmingham, accidentally entered the wrong seafront residence before getting into bed.
According to testimony given at Caernarfon Crown Court, 46-year-old David Redfern found the semi-naked, inebriated elderly inside his enormous five-story townhouse.
Mrs. Barnes had been sleeping in his bed, sipping gin while her bag was on the floor and her artificial teeth were placed on a side table.
Redfern’s house was a few doors down from her B&B but on the same side of the street.
After finding Mrs Barnes in his bed, the 46-year-old dragged the pensioner outside by her ankles and stamped on her. Mrs Barnes died in the street from her injuries.
Redfern, an IT worker, has now been jailed for a minimum of 14 years.
He was found guilty of her murder at Caernarfon Crown Court after a three-week trial – and the jury took 20 hours to reach their verdict.
Redfern was jailed for life for a minimum of 14 years due to the ‘lack of intention to kill’ and the ‘sudden and bizarre circumstances’ of the unpremeditated attack.
A trial heard he dragged her downstairs out of his house while calling her a ‘scrumbag’ and a ‘thieving c***’.
Redfern – who is 6ft 1in tall – denied kicking or stamping on 5ft 5in Mrs Barnes as her turfed her out – but she used her last breath to mouth the word ‘lying.’
The court heard Mrs Barnes loved puzzles, needlework and dancing and had travelled to China and Cape Verde with husband Raymond.
Daughter Natalie Barnes read a victim impact statement to court describing her mum as a person who ‘loved the little things in life.’
She said: ‘When my mum called out for my dad and brother they were unable to save her.
‘As a family we will never get over what has happened. My mum didn’t need to die and we don’t understand why she had to.’
The court heard Mrs Barnes ‘simply mistook’ Redfern’s large seaside home for her hotel after travelling more than 100 miles to a seaside resort for a £95-a-night break.
Prosecutor Michael Jones said: ‘It was a mistake that ultimately cost her her life.
‘The reason Mrs Barnes died is she had the misfortune of coming across a man who was an angry bully.’
Retired Cadbury factory worker Mrs Barnes had booked into the Wavecrest B’n’B several doors away on Marine Parade, Barmouth, when she travelled from Birmingham.
She bought a bottle of gin on a seaside evening stroll before seeking out her B’nB.
But she mistook the home called Belmont House for her intended hotel – and tipsily went into the wrong home, straight up to bed, unpacked and poured a gin nightcap.
Mr Jones said: ‘It would have been unexpected to find the elderly woman asleep in their bed.
‘He pulled her down the stairs by the ankles. He intentionally stamped on her or kicked her.’
Mr Jones said it led to ‘catastrophic’ injuries to her liver, and broke a number of ribs. He compared her injuries to a high-speed car crash.
Mrs Barnes managed to get outside where her case had been thrown by Redfern who then ‘mocked her as she began complaining of chest pains.’ His comments were caught on Hive security camera.
Mrs Barnes fell unconscious, and went into cardiac arrest as neighbours tried to resuscitate her.
A post-mortem examination found she had a traumatic liver injury, and was bleeding extensively internally.
Redfern had earlier drunk six or seven pints and a gin and tonic on an evening out and returned home before falling asleep watching Antiques Roadshow.
But when he headed to bed at around 11pm, he found the bedroom door locked. He found the spare key and unlocked it to see semi-naked Mrs Barnes in his bed.
The large house had formerly been a hotel before being bought for £449,000 to be renovated by Redfern and his partner who moved from the Essex area.
Redfern said in his evidence: ‘There was a lady lying in our bed, drinking and smoking.
‘There was a black travel case open on the floor, clothes hanging up and strewn around the room.’
‘I thought Mrs Barnes was very drunk, I am truly sorry for the comments I made. I lost my temper towards her that evening, and said some appalling things.’
Caernarfon Crown Court heard he was recorded saying: ‘All I have done is eject her from my house.’
In the recording he said: ‘There’s nothing nothing wrong with her and all she is is p*ssed.’
Redfern, of Barmouth, denied both the murder or manslaughter of Mrs Barnes but was found guilty of murder after a trial.
He was jailed for life for a minimum of 14 years due to the ‘lack of intention to kill’ and the ‘sudden and bizarre circumstances’ of the unpremeditated attack.
The External Communications Officer of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), has bemoaned what she says is the high rate of power theft in the country.
Speaking in an interview on Joy FM, Leila Abubakar described the power theft situation as “abysmal, jaw-dropping and blatant.”
According to her, the scale of power theft identified so far in the company’s ongoing debt recovery exercise is huge.
“ECG has its own shortcomings here and there which we are trying to solve. Most of it are engineering problems but it looks like a large number of people intentionally steal power and it is not any reason that can’t be solved by ECG. It is just because they do not want to buy power,” she stated.
Her comments come after several illegalities were discovered by the ECG team on their revenue mobilisation drive to recover GH₵5.7 billion debt.
In the meantime, managers of the popular hotel, Hillburi, located at Aburi in the Eastern Region have been arrested for allegedly stealing electricity.
They are expected to be arraigned before court on April 1.
The company is said to have enjoyed electricity illegally until engineers of the ECG spotted the unauthorised connection during a search on the premises this week.
ECG discovered that Hilburri Hotel had dug the ground and connected wires to the grid, diverting the load from passing through any meters.
Also, three other individuals arrested for power theft in separate incidents are currently in detention at the Legon Police Station and are expected to be processed to appear before a judge later.
According to Madam Abubakar, the results of their investigation indicated that the hotel had a motive and was on a quest to steal power.
“The one that affects me the most is just how much power is being stolen. We’ve been lenient for too long, I think that it’s time that we look at these issues separate from all the other things that we go through, and start prosecuting people seriously.
“Hillburi is just one of the many hotels that we have found out to have bypassed us, and theirs was more shocking because of the intention behind it. Because for someone to be able to dig the ground, wire through and connect directly to source, it means that they were really looking at stealing power.
“When the engineers put the equipment around our meters, they realised there was no current flowing through. It means they had just bypassed and have created their own service line that they were just feeding through,” she said.
She stated that prosecution for power theft is something Ghanaians should expect to see more of, adding that if ECG can prove that you intentionally stole power, you must face the consequences.
A good wardrobe should have a balance of basic and trendy pieces that not only reflect who you are but also vary across different occasions.
Figuring out your style takes time and if you’re not there yet, here are some simple wardrobe essentials for men.
Classic Men’s Briefs
The first step to building a good wardrobe is finding the best underwear. Underwear is the first thing you put on and the last thing you take off. It is also the closest thing to your, erm, prized possession.
The wrong pair can mar your entire fit and make you and you know what uncomfortable. The best briefs to go for are the ones that are comfy and breathable.
The best boxer briefs make you forget you’re wearing them at all. They should be soft and nearly invisible against your skin, with no-pinch seams and just the right amount of elasticity so they don’t sag or stretch out during the day.
Dress shoes
Another basic foundation of any man’s wardrobe is his footwear. And, unless you have an unlimited budget, you should invest in shoes that are versatile and will get the most wear.
So, every man should have a great dress shoe in their closet because it’s gonna tie an outfit together. You want something smart enough to wear with a suit and then cool enough to wear with a dark pair of jeans.
This should include a pair of white sneakers, athletic sneakers, loafers, dress shoes, palm slippers, sandals, and crocs.
Formal Fits
Invest a little extra in classic fits, for people who are working in the corporate or business sector. The list of basic work wardrobe essentials that should be in every stylish man’s wardrobe is short.
A navy blue or charcoal grey suit, flannel pants or chinos, button-down shirts, a statement tie, plain t-shirts, sweaters, blazers, and jackets.
Pair of Jeans
So a man should always have a great pair of dark, trim jeans. These essential Jeans are suitable for almost any occasion, depending on how well they are styled.
It also tends to look dressier and cleaner. And the most important thing that I think men miss is fit. Jeans need to be tight because they stretch out.
There are various types of jeans for men, but what they all have in common is the level of comfort provided by the fit of each. The fit of your jeans describes how they sit on your body from the waist to the thighs. Finding the perfect fit is critical because comfort should be your number one priority.
Essentials jeans for your wardrobe should include at least a pair of slim fit jeans, regular fit jeans, loose fit jeans, relaxed fit jeans, and tapered jeans.
Clean casual fits
Two-piece outfits, or matching sets as they’re more commonly known, have matching top and bottom wear, as the name implies. They’re having a moment, and not just with the ladies.
Men are just as invested in the trend as women are, and why shouldn’t they be? It’s enjoyable, simple comfortable, and it can be styled casually or formally.
Traditional Fits
It is critical to have at least one traditional outfit in your wardrobe. And if you don’t by 2023, your wardrobe will be not only incomplete but incorrect. There are many classic and fashionable Nigerian outfits.
These are not only appropriate for weddings, churches, or mosques. Many Nigerians wear these outfits to the formal environment, especially on Fridays.
Accessories
Men’s accessories are minor additions to an outfit. Accessories can be used to customize your look and make it reflect your personal feelings or attitude.
You should always have some fun, great accessories that complete the look.
They can add warmth to your appearance and bring out the cool guy in you that you’ve always wanted to be. Accessories like pieces of jewelry, sunglasses, wallets, belts, cufflinks, rings, hats, and purses are some of the basic accessories every man shoul
Following the murder of a father and son, a man and a woman who had been detained have been freed.
According to report, the two men’s separate shootings on Wednesday night, a 27-year-old man and 33-year-old woman have been detained in the wee hours of yesterday morning.
The two have now been released without additional incident, however a 66-year-old guy who was detained after being pulled over on a Worcester area highway is still in police custody.
Officers discovered a handgun while checking his car; they are now looking into whether it was legally held.
The victims have been named locally as Josh Dunmore, 32, and his dad Gary, 57.
Police were called to reports of gunshots at a property in Meridian Close, Bluntisham – a village in Cambridgeshire – just after 9pm on Wednesday where they found Josh with a gunshot wound.
Around half an hour later gunshots were also heard in the village of Sutton, near Ely, and Gary’s body was found with gunshot wounds at a home in The Row.
Detective chief superintendent Jon Hutchinson said: ‘Working with local residents and family members we quite quickly established that the two victims were related and they were father and son.’
He said that the ‘primary line of investigation’ was that the incident related to a ‘familial issue’.
‘It’s been widely reported in the media that this may relate to a custody battle,’ he said. ‘I can confirm that is an active line of inquiry for us.’
Tributes have been paid to both men, with one saying Josh ‘shone such a bright light over everyone around you’ and Gary described as ‘friendly, happy, smiley – just the perfect neighbour’.
One of Gary’s neighbours, who only gave his name as Stuart, said: ‘He couldn’t do any more for any person. There was not a malicious bone in his body.
‘What tribute could you pay to somebody who could never meet you without the biggest smile?
‘There is no way that he would have deserved this at all.’
Detective inspector Mark Butler, from the major crime unit, said: ‘These events will be shocking to local people and there will be understandable concerns within local communities, however, we are treating the attacks as targeted and there is no wider risk to the general public.’
Ghanaian fashionista, Richard Brown popularly known as ‘Osebo the Zaraman’, together with controversial spiritual leader, Bishop Abed Kwabena Boakye Asiamah also known as Ajagurajah, thrilled Ghanaians with their fashion beef.
Osebo and Ajagurajah, received immensed attention on social media following their fashion beef and competition. Whereas Osebo is noted for his high sense of fashion, Ajagurajah dared him. He indicated he was ready to wrestle the title from the “fashion messiah”.
After days of showing their fashion prowess on social media, with different photos of their fashion styles, Ajagurajah gave up. On Friday morning, March 24, 2023, he threw in the towel and thanked all his fans for their support thus far.
He said he will concentrate on his spiritual work and leave the fashion territory to Osebo. The god in the field.
In an interview with Sammy Kay on the “Go online show”, Osebo indicated he really enjoyed the beef. It was a great leverage for him.
According to him and his hypeman, the beef served as a platform to show the world the high fashion sense of Osebo. It was however a plot to put out his business out there for people to patronize him. Also, he indicated he made money from his beef with Ajagurajah.
Hacktivists in Ukraine claim to have identified the Russian who gave the order to bomb the drama theater in Mariupol, which resulted in up to 700 fatalities.
Colonel Sergey Atroshchenko, 41, a commander of the assault aviation regiment who was labeled a “war criminal,” was identified as the senior officer.
When the structure was struck on March 16 of last year, about 1,000 people—mostly women and children—were utilizing it as a shelter.
At least four people were killed, 16 were wounded, and at least one stillbirth are believed to have resulted from Atroshchenko’s jets bombing the Mariupol maternity facility.
After the colonel refused to cooperate with the hacktivist’s investigation, they released intimate pictures of him and his wife Liliya, 40.
The report said: ‘The hacktivists noticed that Lilya likes to send “photo surprises” to her husband.’
Believing she was communicating with her husband’s air force colleagues, she also agreed to pose with other wives at her husband’s air base in Primorsko-Akhtarsk, close to the Sea of Azov.
Introducing your circle of friends to others all in the name of networking has been condemned by gospel singer Empress Gifty, who has preached against such a move.
Empress, in a message to her Facebook followers, detailed the disadvantages that come with introducing the “important friends” in your life to people.
She hammered that such connections could dilute the beautiful relationship. She cautioned that care to be taken to avoid regrets.
“I repeat, don’t dilute your important friendships !! Don’t introduce them to just anybody…Infact, Don’t introduce them at all,” the gospel singer admonished.
Netizens who shared their two cents wondered about the motivation behind Empress Gifty’s latest advice to the public.
The gospel singer has for years dedicated her social media platforms to educating others about the adversities of life and also suggested ways her fans can ensure peace in their homes.
It was an emotional moment in Parliament on Friday, March 31, 2023, when Members of Parliament were recounting fond memories of their departed colleague, Kumawu MP, Philip Basoah.
Some MPs took turns to relive moments they spent with the deceased MP and also express their grieve over the incident.
Member of Parliament for Juaben, Ama Pomaa Andoh, was in the House and rose to contribute to the discussions.
The MP was recounting some fond memories of her ‘friend’ in the House and how they were strategising to win their primaries but could not finish her speech as she got choked with emotions and broke down in tears.
“I remember on Thursday we strategised on how the next four years or how the next two years we are going to work so hard and make sure that we win our primaries.
“I’m still in shock. He always mentors me. He always tells me to hold on. He was so hopeful and I still can’t believe that he’s gone but we miss him and we know that God will keep him safe wherever he is,” she said but just before she could land, she broke down in tears.
Realising her devastation, Ayawaso Central MP, Henry Quartey, interjected and asked to continue on her behalf.
“Mr Speaker, I like to continue for her,” he said. But his gesture was greeted with an uproar of laughter as his voice cracked in the process of wanting to help.
Prior to his demise, Philip Basoah was the representative of the people of Kumawu in Parliament.
According to family sources he passed away Tuesday morning, March 28.
He died at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital at the age of 53.
On Friday, March 24, 2023, during a crucial vote to ratify President Akufo-Addo’s ministerial nominees, Philip Atta Basoah was noticeably absent from parliament.
Neither his Personal Assistant nor anyone close to him knew his whereabouts until his room was forcibly opened, only to find him collapsed.
He was rushed to the hospital in comma but passed away while plans were underway to fly him out for further care.
He first came to Parliament in 2017 after winning in the2016 general electionsin the Kumawu constituency.
Prior to sailing to Parliament, Mr. Basoah was a Chief Executive for the Sekyere East District from June 2005 to January 2009 and was also a tutor at the Agogo State College.
In the 2016 Ghana general elections, he won the parliamentary seat with 21,794 votes making 78.2% of the total votes cast on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party.
In the 2020 Ghana general elections, he won the parliamentary seat with 14,960 votes making 51.1% of the total votes cast.
Examples of “very concerning” bullying, discrimination, and harassment in fire and rescue services across England include humiliating new recruits, male personnel acting out the rape of a female colleague, and a senior officer using the N-word for “a laugh.”
A scathing investigation claims that employees frequently hear racist, sexist, and homophobic remarks that have either gone unanswered or have been written off as “banter.”
Roy Wilsher, His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services, expressed shock and outrage over some of his findings, saying they may only be “the top of the iceberg.”
He said a lot of the behaviour was ‘from the dim, distant past’ and draws on the evidence collected through its inspections since 2018.
Inspectors were told about a senior officer referring to a black colleague using the ‘N-word’ and putting it down to ‘having a laugh’, homophobic abuse found written on a firefighter’s locker and men using women’s toilets and women not feeling confident to challenge this.
Another example was an incident involving two male firefighters joking with a female firefighter that they were ‘going to rape her’ and the three of them acting out the attack together.
Report’s main findings
Racism, sexism and homophobia experienced across fire and rescue services in England.
Evidence of ‘deeply troubling’ bullying, discrimination and harassment across England’s fire and rescue services.
His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services Roy Wilsher could not exclude the possibility of predators within services.
Colleagues from ethnic minority backgrounds who have experienced bullying or harassment are less likely to report it than white members of staff.
Perception among staff women are appointed because of their gender, rather than on merit.
Staff talked about a ‘toxic’ culture and behaviour on watches were ‘pack-like’ and staff did not challenge inappropriateness towards race.
New recruits joined the service with a positive attitude and no apparent disposition to certain behaviours, they soon felt the need to assimilate into the prevailing culture to ‘fit in’.
Promotion processes felt ‘corrupt’ in one service, with staff applying for promotions multiple times but never receiving any feedback or support.
The mentality of an ‘old boy’s club’ is rife across many fire and rescue services.
Many staff could get away with bullying, harassment and discrimination, ‘if they know the right people’.
Calls for appropriate background checks on existing and new staff as a bare minimum.
The report referred to a perception among staff that women are appointed due to their gender, rather than on merit.
Several said they were told ‘if you menstruate or have a vagina, you’re more likely to get the job’ and ‘you have to be a woman to get on’.
Inspectors were told about staff not wishing to work in specific areas of the service because of poor behaviours and the humiliation of staff during training sessions if they made mistakes.
They also heard there were fears speaking out would be ‘career suicide’ and lead them to have a ‘negative mark’ against their name.
The report said: ‘The public deserves assurance that the FRS staff they come into contact with have been subject to background checks prior to carrying out these roles.
‘This is particularly important when considering the link between effective background checks and cultures of misogyny and predatory behaviour seen in policing.
‘It is also important in light of the examples of inappropriate behaviour from firefighters towards members of their communities set out in recent allegations.’
After the report’s publication Mr Wilsher said: ‘Our findings shine a light on deeply troubling bullying and harassment in fire and rescue services across the country – and I fear this could be just the tip of the iceberg.
‘Firefighters can be called upon to do an incredibly difficult job. They should be able to trust each other implicitly, just as the public need to be able to trust them.
‘Unfortunately, our findings show this is not always the case. Instead, we found trust and respect is too often replaced with derogatory, bullying behaviour, often excused as banter.
‘Services told us about misconduct cases over the past 12 months. More than half of these concerned inappropriate behaviour, such as bullying and harassment, associated with a protected characteristic.
‘This is shocking enough but I am not confident that this is even the whole picture.’
He added staff should be able to report allegations without fear of reprisals and the sector needs to ‘get a grip’ on how it handles misconduct matters.
‘Despite the fact fire and rescue staff often have contact with the most vulnerable members of society, there is no legal obligation for services to run background checks and we found an inconsistent approach to this across the country,’ he said.
‘The majority of fire and rescue staff act with integrity and we are in no doubt of their dedication to the public.
‘However, the shocking behaviour we uncovered makes it clear the sector cannot wait another day before it acts.’
Specific fire services are not named in the report due to many examples of behaviour being reported to inspectors confidentially by staff.
Friday, March 31, 2023, marks the birthday of Ghanaian music producer, David Kojo Kyei, popularly known as Kaywa.
However, what is supposed to be a day worth celebrating has turned into misery as the popular record producer has taken to social media to announce the death of his mother.
Fans were looking forward to a nice birthday post from the astute sound engineer, instead, he waited till about midday to share a photo of his mother with a caption that announced her death.
He has, however, pleaded with individuals sending him birthday messages to rather dedicate the day to his mother.
“Rest in perfect peace mum. You chose the day you gave birth to me to go. I wish my loved ones will post you instead of me, because you’re the reason for my existence. It is truly you’re day, tonight at church, we will celebrate you. I’m truly grateful …Love you dearly,” the post read.
Meanwhile, tons of celebrities have trooped into the comment section of that particular post to extend their warm condolences.
Sarkodie, Kwabena Kwabena, Beverly Afaglo, Prince David Osei, Mzvee, Guru, Appietus, and many others have commiserated with the ‘Highly Spiritual’ boss over his loss.
The Minority in Parliament have served notice of their intent to oppose the approval of some three revenue bills currently pending before Parliament.
This was disclosed by Tamale Central Member ofParliament, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed during an interview on TV3 on Thursday, March 30, 2023. He emphasised that the bills if approved will further compound the hardship imposed on the people of Ghana by the current government.
“We think that it is unacceptable that they will overburden Ghanaians with such taxes. In any case, there is no reason why the government will want to burden the people of this country with more taxes.
“These taxes have nothing to do with the IMF arrangement and that is the story that has been peddled out there.”
The minority on Friday, March 24, 2023, suffered a woeful defeat after resolving to vote against the approval of six ministers nominated by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The minority had agreed to follow a directive by its party, the National Democratic Congress to reject all the nominees in demand for a reduction in the size of the government.
However, at the end of a secret voting process, all six nominees received the votes of some members of the minority to augment the majority’s votes for approval.
This development has led to accusations of treachery being levelled against the minority with various criticism made against the caucus.
However according to Murtala, the caucus will this time push for an open ballot and vote against all three bills.
“Sometimes one gets extremely worried speaking on it, the good thing is that this vote is not going to be done through a secret ballot, it is going to be an open ballot so we are just hoping that we get our 136 and we are very convinced that the 136 are going to vote against those taxes,” he stated.
He pointed that the upcoming vote will serve as an opportunity for the MPs who betrayed the party to redeem themselves.
“I think that those who unfortunately betrayed the cause, they would have realized that considering the backlash and they need to make amends,” he said.
The three bills currently before parliament are the Income Tax Amendment Bill, Excise Duty Amendment Bill, and Growth and Sustainability Amendment Bill.
The government is seeking to pass these bills to generate approximately GH¢4 billion per year to supplement domestic revenue in an economy that is currently ravaged by serious challenges.
The government is set to miss a March ending timeline for a Board approval by the International Monetary Fund for a $3 billion facility.
£5 million was taken from a cash depot by masked robbers in a spectacular theft.
At around 5 a.m. on Wednesday, the gang snuck into a high-security warehouse at the Slough Trade Estate in Berkshire by hiding behind a truck.
The crew, which was decked out in “bulky attire” and head torches, intimidated and restrained employees with wire ties before breaking into cars to steal millions of dollars in cash.
They then used angle grinders to carve out a hole in a nearby metal fence, crossing a neighbouring property and leaping into two vehicles to make their escape.
Thames Valley Police have not confirmed whether the perpetrators were armed during the robbery.
Detective superintendent Kevin Brown said: ‘While I understand this may be alarming, there is no evidence of any wider threat to the public.
‘Our Serious and Organized Crime Unit has launched an investigation to find those responsible and bring them to justice.
‘There will be an increased police presence in the area while we investigate and anyone with concerns should speak to a uniformed officer.’
The money stolen by the crew, which was due to be dropped at banks and ATMs the following morning, places the heist as the highest-value cash depot robbery since 2006, when thieves made off with £53 million from a site in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
Pictures from the scene show detectives and teams of forensic investigators at the site in Slough yesterday.
Reporters claim to have seen an angle-grinder on the floor, as well as a truck being removed from the site to be taken for forensic testing.
A spokesperson for the Northern Ireland-based Pivotal Cash Management Group, which runs the site, said in a statement to Metro: ‘Our greatest concern is for our employees and whilst none suffered physical injury, we are working to support their wellbeing.
‘Police were immediately notified and we will continue to assist the authorities during the investigation.’
Chinese investors are set to build the largest sugar-producing factory in the country, around the Bui dam enclave in the Banda district of Bono region.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Bui Power Authority (BPA) Samuel Kofi Dzamesi, the managers of the Bui Dam Hydro Power Generation Station (BGS) said the Authority had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chinese investors to build the factory.
Mr Dzamesi said the actual construction work on the factory would begin in June this year and would be completed in 2024.
On completion, the factory would produce about 60,000 tonnes of sugar for export and domestic use.
Accordingly, the Authority had released about 13,000 acres of land to the Bui Sugar Limited, the investors’ company at Fawoman in the district, he explained, saying the company had already planted about 250 hectares of sugarcane to provide raw materials to feed the factory.
“In fact, under the MoU, the BPA is an equity holder,” Mr Dzamesi noted when he conducted Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene, the Bono Regional Minister around the project site at Fawoman, as part of the Minister’s two-day working visit to the Bui Dam site.
Accompanied by some members of the Bono Regional Security Council as well as some Municipal and District Chief Executives in the region, Madam Owusu-Banahene was at the site to get herself abreast with the operations of the 400 megawatts hydro-electric power generation dam.
Mr Dzamesi explained the project had created jobs for about 500 people in the area, saying the factory would create more than 5,000 indirect jobs to the local people.
Describing the project as another great national asset, which would open up the area for rapid economic growth, Mr Dzamesi expressed appreciation to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Banda District Assembly and the local people for their support and cooperation.
He said that paved the way for construction to begin and thanked the traditional authorities in the area for their support and cooperation.
Mr Wet Hua, the Managing Director of the Bui Sugar Limited, said ploughing was still on-going for the company to cultivate more sugarcane to feed the factory.
He said the project had also constructed a dam and was building irrigation facilities to improve water supply and expand the sugarcane plantation.
Mr Hua lauded the relationship between the company and the BPA and the local people and expressed hope it would be strengthened for mutual benefit.
Madam Owusu-Banahene said she was highly impressed about the project, and entreated the company to endeavour to employ more of the locals, saying, that would put a sense of ownership in the minds of the local people.
She said culture and tradition reflected the identity of the people and, urged the Chinese workers to respect the culture and dignity of the locals to make their stay happy and comfortable in the enclave.
Mr Emmanuel Akoneh, the Banda District Chief Executive, said the area was among the poorest revenue generation districts in the country, saying the factory would, help to improve on its revenue mobilization.
He mentioned perennial bushfires and influx of nomadic Fulani herdsmen and their cattle as some of the challenges confronting the district.
Mr Akoneh expressed worry that the unscrupulous activities of the nomads who left their animals to graze and destroyed people’s farms and crops threatened the security of the district, hence, the need to tackle it more proactively.
He also called on the traditional authorities and all stakeholders in the district to support the Assembly to strictly enforce the anti-bushfire bye-laws to stem the recurring fire outbreaks which had become an annual ritual in the area.
The Electricity Company of Ghana’s revenue mobilization exercise has revealed that Kasapreko Company Limited owes GH¢2.1 million in unpaid bills.
Others include Arvia Water which owes GH¢320,000 and Best Western Plus Hotel which owes GH¢335,000 in unpaid power bills.
However, Best Western Plus Hotel, according to the taskforce has paid GH¢160,000 at the time the team arrived at the premises.
Also, Hillburi Hotel at Aburi was caught for an underground illegal connection. The facility has since been disconnected by the revenue protection task force of ECG.
The ECG has also disconnected the Tema Oil Refinery for owing GH¢26 million in unpaid bills.
According to the ECG, the huge sum is an accumulation of unpaid power bills covering several months.
Citinewsroom.com reports noted that although TOR had paid about GH¢5 million of the total debt last week, the management of the refinery failed to settle the outstanding debt as scheduled.
The ECG task force were said to have taken the entire facility off the national power grid and have since served notice it will restore power when the debt is fully cleared.
In addition to the nationwide revenue mobilisation exercise, the ECG has also disconnected the power supply of Adi Steel Company, a steel manufacturing company located in Tema.
The company is said to be owing a debt of GH¢6 million and has defaulted on the bill thereby leaving it without power until the debt is settled.
Around the Nungua area, the Regional Maritime University was affected by the disconnection exercise for owing ECG about GH¢300,000. The entire university was cut off on Thursday, March 30, 2023.
The ECG on March 20, 2023, embarked on a nationwide revenue mobilisation exercise. The company is targeting to collect a debt of about GH¢5.7 billion owed by various ministries, departments and agencies, state-owned enterprises, and postpaid and prepaid customers across the country.
Two adolescent lads have been detained on suspicion of murdering an elderly woman who died after she was robbed in her own house.
Concerned family members discovered Joy Middleditch, 82, on the floor of her end-of-terrace cottage in Pakefield, Suffolk, on Saturday.
A short distance further in Nelson Road, her stolen handbag was found.
She claimed to have heard a commotion at the door before two masked guys barged in and knocked her to the ground while speaking to her relatives and afterwards police officials.
Police said Ms Middleditch is thought to have been attacked between the evening of Friday March 24 and the early hours of Saturday March 25.
The pensioner was found conscious and breathing but was in a serious condition and was taken to the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk.
She died there in the early hours of Monday.
A Suffolk Police spokesman said: ‘Officers have been pursuing numerous lines of inquiry and today, Friday March 31, arrested two males in connection with the incident.
‘A 15-year-old boy and a 14-year-old boy, both from the Lowestoft area, were arrested on suspicion of murder and taken to Martlesham Police Investigation Centre for questioning.’
A Home Office post-mortem examination was carried out on Monday but the cause of death is yet to be confirmed, pending further investigation, the force said.
Ms Middleditch’s family said in an earlier statement released through police: ‘Joy was a strong, determined character who loved life and her dog.
‘She was a loving person who was sadly taken from us too soon.’
Davido has finally released his highly anticipated ‘Timeless’ album to the joy of many fans.
He dropped the album in the early hours of March 31, 2023, and the music star took to social media to announce it.
Taking to his Instagram platform, Davido penned down an emotional note to show gratitude to his wife, Chioma,
According to him, Chioma is the strongest woman he knows.
His caption reads: “At long last – WE are back. The journey from my last album to this album has been a whirlwind to say the least. I recall sitting and staring over the ocean not too long ago, wondering if I could get here again, after all I’ve been through… but with your love and support, we made it. I’m not sure what comes after this but I wanted to give you my heart, soul and energy. Today I present you “TIMELESS”.
“So many people to thank who helped make this happen but first, I must send a special thank you to the strongest woman I know, @thechefchi ! Thank you, thank you, thank you. And to all my supporters – I love you. Now, enjoy! I’ll see you all on road soon!”
Pensioners Bondholders exempted from the government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) have threatened to picket again if government fails to pay coupon rates on matured bonds.
They accused the government of defaulting in paying the yields, and have given the government an ultimatum of two weeks to honour the bonds.
The Finance Ministry in a statement released on the 27th February, 2023 promised to honor coupon rates on matured bondholders who did not sign up for the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
The statement said “in fulfillment of the assurance given by Government to bondholders who did not tender, the Ministry is taking administrative steps to ensure that payments of coupons and principals of the old bonds resume by 13th March, 2023”.
Days after the assurance by government, some bondholders say they are yet to receive payment of coupons and principals on their investments.
Speaking in an interview with Joy Business, Convener of the Pensioner Bondholders Forum and also a former Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dr Adu Anane Antwi said affected persons will resume picketing if the government fails to honor the claim.
“If you exempt any bonds, you have effectively said as for your bonds, I don’t have any problems paying so go and sleep anytime your coupon is due, just go to your bank and it will be there, that is the dictate of the market and government is not doing that we have drawn attention of government to that, is the third time we are doing that,” Dr. Antwi lamented.
“We think that we will not allow it to continue and that’s why we are saying if by 21st all these anomalies are not resolved for us to return to normalcy and get our coupons and principals as and when they are due, then we will resume our picketing” he added.
Popular Nollywood actor, Yul Edochie has reported the death of his son, Kambilichukwu Edochie, to the Lagos State Police Command, according to reports.
The state’s Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the development in the early hours of March 31, 2023.
It was reported that Kambilichukwu died on Thursday morning after developing a seizure and was rushed to the Mother and Child Hospital in Lagos.
However, contrary to earlier reports that the 16-year-old boy died in the presence of his parents, it has been disclosed that he passed on while in school.
According to the police, the matter will be forwarded to the State’s Criminal Investigation Department for investigation.
Meanwhile, condolences are pouring in from sympathizers and the showbiz fraternity in commiseration with Actor, Yul Edochie and his first wife, May.
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has described reports regarding the issuance of GH¢500 coins as false.
According to the Central Bank, there is currently no intention to issue higher denominations in the interim.
The Director for Currency Management at BoG, Dominic Owusu, made the statement in response to claims that the bank was making plans to introduce a GH¢500 coin.
“When there is a currency issuance or change, the Bank of Ghana will come with an appropriate press release to inform the public. We saw on social media that the central bank will issue a GH¢500 note or coin but the bank has not done any such thing. So, it’s not true,” he stated in an interview with JoyNews.
Dominic Owusu also noted that before any currency introduction or withdrawal of a currency, proper consultation and due processes are initiated and followed through.
He used the opportunity to also note that the unpopular one pesewa coin is still a valid legal tender that must be accepted by all.
“That’s why we are here, so help us to circulate the information that those coins are still legal tender and must be used for transactions. The central bank has not demonetized the one pesewa coin,” he maintained.
“We want the education out there for people to learn how to handle the cedi not to worn out. That’s why you journalists are here and I want you to help the central bank in that quest. The bank is also doing its part and will make sure all is done to save the cedi”, he added.
Following last night’s torrential rain and strong gusts, hundreds of households were left without electricity.
The worst of Storm Mathis’s erratic weather, which has been moving through Europe, was experienced in the south of England and Wales.
With winds reaching 93 mph on Gwennap Head near Penzance, more than 400 households in Cornwall lost electricity.
Residents of the seashore county awoke to rainy conditions and blocked roadways caused by trees.
This morning saw terrifyingly huge waves in East Sussex and similar conditions in the village of Rothley, Leicestershire.
Footage shows spray reaching incredible heights before crashing back into the rough sea.
‘It’s not particularly unusual to have unsettled weather in the transition between winter and summer,’ a spokesperson from the Met Office told Metro.co.uk.
Huge waves crash against East Sussex coast during Storm Mathis
The forecaster has issued a yellow weather warning for wind until 12pm today, covering Brighton, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Cardiff and Swansea.
A warning for rain is in place for a smaller part of the country until 6pm tonight, covering Plymouth, parts of Cornwall and areas in Exeter.
It is moving eastwards this morning, bringing spells of strong southerly winds, a lull, and then strong west or north-westerly winds.
Coastal areas can expect to see 50mph to 60mph gusts, with higher ground looking at the potential of 70mph.
English south coast wakes up to Storm Mathis (Fri Mar 31)
Heavy rain is set to accompany these winds in parts of the country tonight, with Devon and Cornwall facing 15mm to 25mm of rainfall.
There is a chance of some flooding today but the meteorologists believe the rain will slowly start to ease tonight.
The Met Office added: ‘The weather will settle down into the weekend and through Monday before further wet and windy weather approach from the west on Monday night into Tuesday.
‘Looking further ahead, there are signs of higher pressure moving in from the North East of the UK which will help settle the weather again, at this stage there is some uncertainty over how far this could spread across the UK.’
The Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has refuted the assertion of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021 (Anti-LGBTQI bill) has been ‘substantially modified’.
According to him, the final draft of the anti-LGBT bill which has now been laid before Parliament, remains essentially the same as the draft submitted to the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament.
Speaking in an interview on JoyNews on Thursday, monitored by GhanaWeb, the MP added that the only variation is the change in the name of the bill and the reduction in the number of years for offenders to 3 years to match the existing sentencing laws.
“That (the claim the bill has been modified) is a big lie, the president has been misadvised. The Attorney General brought an advice in the form of a memo just like the other 150 persons and CSOs who have sent memos.
“The president says there have been substantial changes, we proposed the bill, if we say “Proper Human Values” and it is changed to “Human Sexual Rights and Family Values” is that significant? That is immaterial.
“We proposed five years as penalty but the existing laws say it should be three… and that is not any drastic change because you will still be imprisoned for engaging in conducts like this,” he said.
The MP went on to list some of the clauses in the final draft anti-LBGT bill, which Parliament is expected to debate and pass today, Friday, March 31, 2023.
“If you go to clause 3, a person commits an offence if the person:”
A. Names or purposes to marry a person who is of the same sex as that person.
B. Knowingly marries or purposes to marry anybody who has undergone gender or a sex reassignment except in the case of a person who has undergone a surgical procedure to correct a biological anomaly including intersex.
C. Marries or purposes to marry any animal or an object.
B. Holds out as a lesbian, a gay, transgender, transsexual, a bisexual, an align, a non-binary and all the categories under the LGBTQI+ concept.
Vehicle spare parts importers in Suame Magazine, the Ashanti regional capital of Kumasi, have announced plans to stage a massive street protest against the government, targeting Ghana Revenue Authority Taskforce stations at Anwia-Nkwanta on the Kumasi-Obuasi highways and Pokuase in the Greater Accra region checkpoints.
The angry importers are demanding the government to withdraw the Ghana Revenue Authority Task Force stationed there who they claim are extorting money from them with unjustified threats.
Addressing a news conference at Suame in Kumasi, the importers said they have been paying required tax at the various entry ports before transporting their goods to their respective shops in Kumasi.
The angry vehicle spare parts dealers explained that when goods are imported into the country by their members arrive at the Takoradi and Tema ports, the goods go through thorough checks by various security agencies.
These checks they say are conducted to confirm if the purported imported goods correspond to what has been declared on the bill of lading with the help of technology scans among others.
However, according to Korea Importers Association Kumasi Branch chairman, Kwaku Marfo the GRA official, physical checks are also ordered if there are doubts before it’s released to the importer after all duties and taxes are correctly paid.
But after all these many checks, the importers complain they are again confronted by Customs Taskforce team along highways in the name of extra checks that are only aimed at extorting unlawful money from them which runs in hundreds of cedis.
They contend it is having a great negative impact on their businesses leading to many companies folding up.
The group is therefore pleading with the government to intervene and immediately stop the illegal extortion and commence investigations into the matter.
The group chairman Kwaku Marfo while addressing the media said, they are fed up with the GRA taskforce and threaten to prevent them from conducting such checks on their goods again if the government fails to call them to order.
“When our goods arrive at the port, we pay every clearance tax before moving the goods from the port. When we get to Pokuase or Anwia-Nkwanta, we have to offload all the goods in the container for further check at our own cost of loading and unloading of the goods while we clear documents from the port. The GRA Taskforce first demands ‘do you want us to check your good or not’? If you say yes it means you will pay over GHc.10,000 and if you say no without receipt you will pay about GHc.50,000. We are tired of these illegalities,” he alleged.
The Chairman further gave the government 7 days ultimatum to remove the GRA Task Force personnel from the road will face their wrath.
“The Customs Divisions and GRA Taskforce is not there to check our goods but rather extort money from us for no crime committed’’.
“We are telling the NPP government that if they fail to listen to us we will show them something. One next week we will block the Suame Magazine Ecowas road to traffic and we will beat any security man who will come there. You are all leaving witness to what we did to Minister of parliamentary Affair Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu Suame Constituency Member of Parliament nobody should underestimate us because you know what we can do. We are tired of the Akufo Addo Government that came to Beg for our Votes. We will also make sure the NPP will never campaign in Magazine for the election 2024. This is because you can’t collapse our business and demand for our votes to rule us with,” they warned.
Meanwhile, GHOne News check from Suame Magazine on 29th March 2023 confirmed the leadership of the various importer groups have begun a mobilization drive to whip the artisan in the Suame Magazine to support their plan demonstration stated for next week.
However, Suame Divisional Command and Ashanti Regional Police Command of the Ghana Police Service have both denied receiving formal letters informing the police or requesting the police permission to protest.
Olakunle Alake, the chief executive officer of Dangote Industries Limited, expressed his delight at the listing during the closing-gong ceremony held at the Exchange on Wednesday to commemorate the listing of the bond.
Alake, who was represented by the group’s chief financial officer, Mustapha Ibrahim, stated: “We are pleased to have demonstrated the depth and liquidity of the domestic capital market while reflecting the strong quality of the issuer, despite the realities of the global market.”
Ibrahim added that the listing of the bond attracted a diverse group of investors, including domestic pension funds, asset managers, and insurance companies, demonstrating investors’ faith in Nigeria’s credit reality.
The listing is the biggest issuance of local currency bonds on the capital market so far this year.
Jude Chiemeka, divisional head of Capital Markets at the NGX, applauded the listing of the bond, which provides corporations with the opportunity to raise capital.
The listing of this transaction on our platform facilitates not only a more liquid capital market but also a more robust ecosystem by demonstrating our capacity to facilitate large transactions.
He added that NGX remains committed to fostering similar transactions via digital gateways such as this and a confident market where corporations and investors can realize their respective goals.
The parole application for Oscar Pistorius, a former paralympic champion who was imprisoned in 2016 for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, was rejected.
June Steenkamp, Reeva’s mother, showed up to the hearing on Friday to voice her opposition.
It’s going to be really difficult to be in the same room as him, she told reporters as she was being brought inside Atteridgeville prison. I don’t believe what he’s saying.
June Steenkamp, mother of Reeva Steenkamp, arrives at Atteridgeville Correctional Centre to attend his parole hearing in Pretoria, South Africa (Picture: Reuters)
Pistorius, a double-amputee who made history competing against able-bodied athletes at the 2012 Olympics, was convicted of murder for the Valentine’s Day 2013 shooting of Ms Steenkamp.
He has always claimed he shot his girlfriend in error after mistaking her for a dangerous intruder, saying he didn’t realise that she had got out of bed and went to the bathroom.
But her parents, Barry and June, have said they still believe he killed her intentionally in anger in a late-night argument.
Pistorius shot Ms Steenkamp, a model and reality TV star, several times through the bathroom door with ammunition designed to inflict maximum damage to the human body.
Now 36, he was ultimately sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison for murder in 2017 after a series of appeals in his case.
He was eligible for parole after having served half his sentence.
Tania Koen, the lawyer for Ms Steenkamp’s parents, said time ‘hasn’t healed’ their grief, adding: ‘For them, it’s 10 missed birthdays, 10 Mother’s Days, 10 Father’s Days, 10 Christmases.’
Ghana’s state-owned maritime enterprise, the Black Star Line, was one of many economic ventures that instilled pride in Ghanaians. Yet, like other state-owned enterprises that sprung up after independence, it succumbed to corruption and incompetence and collapsed as a result.
Decades after being out of business, many within the maritime sector believe the Government of Ghana can revive the defunct shipping line, or create a semblance of that.
Speaking on the Eye on Port program, they contended that Ghana is in a good position to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area to offer cost-efficient maritime transport services across Africa’s coastline.
They said as a matter of prime significance, present and subsequent administrations should detail their plans for Ghana’s Blue Economy with “the Black Star Line” in focus.
According to them not only will the resurrection of the Black Star fill the gap for intra-Africa maritime transport, but it will also significantly augment the nation’s revenues and provide employment for many.
“The extractive industry in the western enclave which has our bauxite, manganese, and gold, the Jubilee oil fields, and our agriculture produce among others could all benefit from a national shipping line to cart our goods,” Mr. Asare added.
The industry pundits claim that Ghanaians are qualified to operate and manage vessels, and what is crucial for the government is to foster a climate that will encourage investment from the private sector.
“The former Nautical College which has metamorphosed into the Regional Maritime University was there to train and build the human capacities to man the vessels of the Black Star Line. That institution is still there training different personnel with skills. We have seasoned professionals who are now deployed in other countries,” Mr. Asare indicated.
He urged Ghana to learn from the success stories of the likes of Singapore and Malaysia who have built a buoyant and sustainable maritime industry on the back of targeted policies.
“In Singapore, it is the port that is making that country,” he emphasized. He said the government should enter into private-public partnerships taking inspiration from the investments made by MPS and the Ibistek Group in port development.
Mr. Jacob Agyemang, on the other hand, was keen on Ghana’s private sector to be trusted in this light.
“When it comes to the PPP agreement, I think that is the way to go. My only challenge is where we may involve foreigners. I am not against foreign investment but for the purposes of national pride, we should be able to trust the Ghanaian. We want a Ghanaian PPP arrangement. When it comes to this industry, I do not subscribe to the idea of Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT), because most of those agreements do not favor Ghanaians. The Ghanaians do not acquire the technical skills they were promised before the contract is over.”
He also said the government in this case should only serve as policymakers, and allow professionals and technocrats to run the company to avoid needless interference.
“If you do not run the Black Star Line as an enterprise and we see it as a political cow to milk, it will fail as it did.”
The Convener for the Transport Forum touted the accomplishments of Ethiopia and encouraged Ghana to emulate the Eastern African nation.
“1964 is when Ethiopia started. As we speak today, they have well over 400 vessels of which over 300 are cargo vessels. They did it with transparency, commitment, and government support,” he said.
According to the passionate patriots, the “Black Star Line” if revived and run properly will enable Africa to compete fairly in the Atlantic ridding the continent of the monopoly run by the big multinational firms.
The fall in banks’ capital levels would make the sector do more targeted lending, Fitch Solutions has projected.
“Local banks will be more inclined to lend to industries with low non-performing loans (NPLs) ratios and positive outlook, especially since we expect to see a rise in NPLs in the coming quarters, given the challenging macro backdrop and slowdown in loan growth”, Fitch Solutions said in its latest report.
“We think that the Mining & Quarrying sector stands out as it has a low NPL ratio of 4.0%, and as we forecast a positive outlook for gold mining in Ghana (which accounts for 95% of the country’s mineral revenue)”, it explained.
On the other hand, it said nearly one-third of all construction loans are non-performing, which suggests that banks are unlikely to increase their exposure to this sector amid challenging economic conditions.
DDEP could ‘significantly affect banks’ solvency, stability’ – Fitch Solutions
According to Fitch Solutions, the domestic debt restructuring programme has led to a significant fall in the capital levels of banks in Ghana and could threaten the solvency and stability of the sector.
It said: “Banks are entering this phase with a mixed capital picture, with some banks very close to the minimum regulatory capital level of 13.0%”.
Fitch Solutions also pointed out that capital buffers have fallen considerably in 2022, despite a sudden rise in December.
The fall, it noted, was largely driven by mark-to-market losses on investments and increases in risk-weighted assets of banks, due to the depreciation of the cedi and growth in loans and advances.
However, capital levels narrowly avoided falling below the minimum requirement in December 2023, likely as a result of banks retaining more of their earnings, in preparation for expected losses in profits and capital in 2023.
“The debt restructuring and fall in capital could lead to higher funding costs for banks if they become less creditworthy, and could significantly impact the banking sector’s solvency and stability”, Fitch Solutions warned.
The warning by Fitch Solutions dovetails into similar sentiments expressed by the Bank of Ghana recently.
DDEP: Banks’ capital buffers ‘weakened’, require ‘contingency measures to contain potential financial stability risks’ – BoG warns
The central bank said macroeconomic challenges and the recent domestic debt exchange programme (DDEP) have weakened banks’ capital buffers.
The situation, according to the Governor of the central bank, Dr Ernest Addison, requires urgent measures to forestall financial stability risks.
At the regulator’s recent Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Monday, 27 March 2023, Dr Addison reported: “The macro-prudential risk assessments conducted during the last MPC meeting indicated increased pressure on profitability and solvency of banks prior to the implementation of the DDEP”.
“The preliminary data available at this MPC, show that the pre-pandemic capital buffers in the banking sector have been weakened somewhat by the recent macroeconomic challenges and the DDEP, although banks remain liquid”, he explained.
“These require contingency measures by banks, supported by the regulatory reliefs to contain potential risks to financial stability”, Dr Addison suggested.
He said: “The Bank of Ghana will continue to monitor these developments going forward, and stands ready to act very swiftly to safeguard the stability of the financial sector”.
Read the MPC’s full statement below:
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the media and welcome to the press briefing after the 111th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meetings which took place last week.
The Committee deliberated on recent macroeconomic developments and assessed the current state of the economy and risks to the inflation and growth outlook.
A summary of the assessment and key considerations that informed the Committee’s decision on the stance of monetary policy is provided below:
1. Global growth is projected to decline in 2023 to 2.9 percent, down from the 3.4 percent in 2022 (according to recent IMF projections released in January 2023). The projected slowdown comes on the back of persistent elevated inflation levels, tightened financial conditions, and uncertainty stemming from the lingering effects of the Russia-Ukraine war. The onset of the recent turmoil in the banking sector in the U.S. and Europe is likely to further cloud the outlook. The above notwithstanding, latest Purchasing Managers’ Indices (PMI) pointed to some rebound in economic activity in February 2023, reflecting the moderation in price pressures, improved supply chains, and the re-opening of China’s economy. But it is unclear yet how the recent banking sector crises in the U.S. and Europe would impact this initial rebound.
2. Headline inflation in Advanced Economies appears to have peaked, and currently on a steady decline across advanced and emerging market economies, driven by lower energy and food prices stemming from weakened global demand and easing supply chain constraints. However, underlying inflationary pressures persist mainly from the pass-through effects of high input costs, rising wages especially in advanced economies, and currency depreciation against the U.S. dollar. In the outlook, global headline inflation is expected to ease to 6.6 percent by December 2023, from 8.8 percent in December 2022, reflecting declining fuel and non-fuel commodity prices and the effects of central bank policy actions.
3. Global financial conditions eased somewhat in early 2023 as slower growth and moderating inflation in advanced economies led markets to price in further reduction in the pace of future policy rate hikes. More recently, the U.S. Federal Bank of Ghana Monetary Policy Committee Press Release March 27, 2023 2 Reserve, European Central Bank, and the Bank of England have all increased their respective policy rates, albeit at a slower pace, but with commitment to maintain a tight monetary policy stance until inflation is contained. Meanwhile, concerns that inflation may stay elevated for longer than previously anticipated kept long-term bond yields high, while fears about global growth prospects and the hawkish posture of central banks in advanced economies amid the ongoing turbulence in the banking system, have triggered volatility in the equities market.
4. On the Domestic Scene, recent price developments indicate that the inflation surge in the economy, witnessed since December 2021, has peaked. The latest two readings since the January MPC meeting indicated two consecutive drops in headline inflation from the peak of 54.1 percent in December 2022 to 53.6 percent in January 2023, and to 52.8 percent in February. The latest decline in inflation was attributed to lower food inflation, while non-food inflation remained broadly stable. Food inflation declined to 59.1 percent in February 2023 from 61.0 percent a month earlier, while non-food inflation remained flat at 47.9 percent.
5. Underlying inflationary pressures also eased in the first two months of the year. Excluding energy and utility prices, the Bank’s core inflation measure, declined from 53.2 percent in December 2022 to 52.8 percent in January and to 52.0 percent in February 2023. Also, the weighted inflation expectations of banks, consumers, and businesses, declined.
6. In the real sector, the Bank’s high frequency indicators pointed to further moderation in economic activity in line with the challenging macroeconomic environment. The January 2023 update of the Bank’s Composite Index of Economic Activity (CIEA) indicated a contraction in economic activity by 7.6 percent, compared to a growth rate of 4.2 percent in the same period of 2022. The main indicators that weighed down the Index during the period were port activity, cement sales, imports, and credit to the private sector.
7. While real sector activity showed continued decline, both business and consumer sentiments continued to show further improvement in February 2023. Consumer confidence improved on account of easing inflationary pressures which led to some optimism about future economic conditions. Also, business sentiments improved as companies met short-term targets amid positive company and industry prospects. The survey findings were consistent with observed trends in Ghana’s PMI for February 2023, which rose above the benchmark level of 50 for the first time since January 2022.
8. Development in the monetary aggregates in February 2023 showed strong growth in broad money supply (M2+), an indication of increased liquidity in the banking system, driven mainly by expansion in the Net Domestic Assets. M2+ recorded an annual growth of 44.9 percent in February 2023, compared with 17.7 percent in February 2022, reflected in currency outside banks and deposit liabilities of the 3 banking sector. Reserve money similarly went up by 54.3 percent compared with 21.9 percent, over the same comparative period.
9. Annual nominal growth in private sector credit was up by 29.5 percent in February 2023, compared with 17.1 percent in the corresponding period of 2022. However, in real terms, private sector credit contracted by 15.3 percent compared with 1.2 percent contraction, over the same period a year before, due to the high level of inflation.
10. Developments in the banking sector broadly reflected the challenging operating environment in 2022 on account of macroeconomic conditions, and the recent implementation of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) which all 23 universal banks participated in. Our preliminary assessment of the impact of the DDEP on the banking sector, based on December 2022 data, indicates significant losses on account of impairment of banks’ holdings in GoG bonds. The impact of the DDEP as currently assessed is moderated by the timely introduction of regulatory reliefs by the Bank of Ghana to support the banking sector, similar to the reliefs provided to banks at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the industry is still fairly resilient. Our preliminary assessment will be updated once banks’ external auditors complete their audits of banks’ 2022 financial performance making the necessary adjustments to fully reflect the DDEP impact. Banks are expected to publish their 2022 audited financial statements by end April 2023 following a one-month dispensation granted by the Bank of Ghana on the account of the DDEP.
11. Total assets of the industry stood at GH¢209.4 billion in December 2022, representing a growth of 16.4 percent, reflecting sustained growth in deposits and exchange rate variations on banks’ balance sheets. Total investments declined significantly to GH¢64.8 billion in December 2022 from GH¢83.1 billion in December 2021, indicating a contraction of 22.1 percent, compared with the 29.0 percent growth in the same period a year before. Total credit, on the other hand, increased by 28.5 percent to GH¢69.1 billion in December 2022 from GH¢53.8 billion in December 2021. Of the total liabilities of the banking system, total deposits stood at GH¢157.9 billion, representing an increase of 30.4 percent year-on-year, compared with 16.6 percent recorded during the same period in 2021.
12. Key financial soundness indicators remained broadly sound, supported largely by the regulatory reliefs provided by the Bank. Among others, the minimum Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) required to be maintained by banks was reduced from 13 percent to 10 percent as of 31st December 2022, and losses from the DDEP are to be reflected in the computation of CAR over a period of up to three (3) years. Accordingly, the industry’s average CAR adjusted for the regulatory reliefs was 15.7 percent in December 2022, compared with the CAR of 16.6 percent as of December 2022 without the DDEP. The adjusted CAR reflected valuation losses on GoG bonds, elevated credit risk, and revaluation losses on foreign currency-denominated loans. Asset quality marginally improved, with the industry’s Non- 4 Performing Loans (NPL) ratio at 15.1 percent in December 2022, almost unchanged from 15.2 percent in December 2021, reflecting the higher growth in credit, which outpaced the growth in the NPL stock.
13. Provisional data on budget execution for January – December 2022 indicated a higher overall broad fiscal deficit (cash basis) of GH¢49.7 billion (8.1 percent of GDP), against the revised mid-year 2022 target of GH¢38.9 billion (6.3 percent of GDP). The primary balance (on cash basis) recorded a deficit of GH¢4.0 billion (0.6 percent of GDP), against a primary surplus target of GH¢2.5 billion (0.4 percent of GDP). Total revenue and grants amounted to GH¢96.7 billion (15.7 percent of GDP), marginally short of the revised target of GH¢96.8 billion (15.73 percent of GDP). Total expenditure was GH¢146.3 billion (23.8 percent of GDP) above the revised target of GH¢135.7 billion (22.0 percent of GDP). These developments resulted in a deficit of GH¢49.7 billion, of which GH¢48.2 billion was financed from domestic sources.
14. Prices of Ghana’s major export commodities traded mixed in February 2023 relative to the same period in 2022. Brent crude oil prices, which had been on a downward trend during the later part of 2022, increased in the first two months of 2023 as China gradually relaxed its COVID-19 restrictions. Brent crude oil dipped by 11.0 percent to US$83.9 per barrel in February 2023 from US$94.3 per barrel in February 2022. For the same period, cocoa beans traded at US$2,677.8 per tonne compared to US$2,681.1 per tonne. In contrast, gold prices recorded some marginal gains of 0.1 percent to settle at US$1,858.9 per fine ounce in February 2023, driven largely by weak US dollar and expectation of further interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve Bank.
15. Despite the mixed performance in the prices of Ghana’s major commodities, the trade balance improved in the first two months of 2023 mainly on the back of higher export volumes. In the first two months, total exports expanded by 11.2 percent year-on-year to US$2.8 billion, driven mainly by higher gold, cocoa, and other export receipts. The value of gold exports amounted to US$1.1 billion, representing an increase of 35.8 percent, driven mainly by a 38.5 percent increase in export volumes to 619,373 ounces. Cocoa beans and product exports increased by 15.5 percent and 3.3 percent to US$387.6 million and US$159.3 million respectively, mainly on the back of higher production volumes. Earnings from ‘other’ exports, including non-traditional exports, were estimated at US$538.2 million, representing a 10.8 percent year-on-year growth. In contrast, exports of crude oil declined by 18.3 percent to US$562.6 million, largely due to lower export volumes.
16. The total import bill on the other hand, declined by 11.8 percent year-on-year to US$2.0 billion, driven by compression in non-oil imports. Non-oil imports dipped by 17.6 percent to US$1.4 billion, while oil and gas imports increased marginally by 4.8 percent to US$622.9 million. The combination of exports growth and lower imports resulted in a trade surplus of US$752.8 million for the first two months of 5 2023, higher than the trade surplus of US$205.8 million recorded for the same period in 2022.
17. For the year 2022, the overall balance of payments recorded a deficit of US$3.6 billion. The capital and financial account recorded a net outflow of US$2.1 billion (2.9 percent of GDP), mainly on account of lower FDI flows and significant portfolio reversals. These, together with the current account deficit of US$1.5 billion (2.1 percent of GDP), resulted in the deficit of the overall balance. As a result, Gross International Reserves for 2022 declined by US$3.5 billion to US$6.2 billion. Net International Reserves, which adjusts Gross reserves for the Heritage and Stabilization funds as well as other encumbered funds also declined by US$3.7 billion to settle at US$2.4 billion by December 2022. Gross International Reserves further declined to US$5.9 billion at the end of February 2023, providing cover for 2.8 months of imports of goods and services. However, Net International Reserves improved to US$2.6 billion, reflecting a slight decline in encumbered funds.
18. The local currency has been under pressure since October 2022, reflecting concerns about the DDEP, further sovereign rating downgrades, and seasonal demand pressures. However, the progress made on the DDEP and positive sentiments, thereafter, including the beginning of discussions with external debtors improved sentiments and helped reverse some of the losses. In the year to March 22, 2023, the Ghana cedi cumulatively depreciated by 22.1 percent, 23.5 percent, and 23.1 percent against the US dollar, the Pound, and Euro, respectively.
Summary and Outlook
19. To summarise, the Committee observed that, global growth is projected to moderate further, but with positive prospects of easing price pressures, improved supply chain constraints, and re-opening of China’s economy. However, risks to the growth outlook are still tilted to the downside, reflecting the lagged impact of policy rate hikes, potential slowdown effects from the recent banking sector turmoil in advanced economies, and further ramifications from the lingering geopolitical tensions.
20. Global inflation is easing as food and energy prices moderate due to weakened global demand, improved supply of goods, and continued monetary policy tightening. Despite the emerging risks to global financial stability, central banks in major advanced economies have demonstrated strong commitment to containing underlying inflationary pressures with sustained policy rate hikes, albeit, at lower rates than earlier anticipated. Global financing conditions have eased slightly, reflecting changing market expectations regarding the pace of policy tightening.
21. The US dollar index initially firmed up amid rising demand for safe-haven currencies following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, but so far, swift regulatory action and assurances to contain contagion risks, combined 6 with decisions to boost dollar liquidity somewhat eased market concerns about a wider banking and financial crisis.
22. The Committee was of the view that the ease in price pressures abroad would likely impact positively on Ghana’s domestic inflation profile. On the other hand, the Committee noted that, the domestic economy still faces relatively tight global financing conditions, emerging risks in the global financial system, and heightened uncertainty about the global economic outlook. The effects of these on the domestic economy could be amplified by inherent vulnerabilities, including structural excess liquidity following the DDEP, and the widening negative output gap.
23. The macro-prudential risk assessments conducted during the last MPC meeting indicated increased pressure on profitability and solvency of banks prior to the implementation of the DDEP. The preliminary data available at this MPC, show that the pre-pandemic capital buffers in the banking sector have been weakened somewhat by the recent macroeconomic challenges and the DDEP, although banks remain liquid. These require contingency measures by banks, supported by the regulatory reliefs to contain potential risks to financial stability. The Bank of Ghana will continue to monitor these developments going forward, and stands ready to act very swiftly to safeguard the stability of the financial sector.
24. On fiscal policy, the Committee noted that the budget statement for 2023 has set fiscal policy on a consolidation path which is consistent with key elements agreed with the IMF at the Staff Level in December 2022. The domestic debt exchange, new revenue measures, and structural fiscal reforms will provide significant reduction of debt service and help create fiscal space. The fiscal outlook is contingent on financing of the budget and will require the conclusion of the domestic debt exchange programme as well as securing the requisite financing assurances from bilateral donors. Indications are that these discussions are proceeding well. Based on the above, it is imperative that Parliament prioritizes the passage of the revenue bills currently before it. Under the Staff Level Agreement with the IMF, the Bank of Ghana and the Ministry of Finance have finalised a Memorandum of Understanding on zero financing to the budget, which will be signed shortly. The passage of the relevant revenue bills by Parliament will therefore conclude the required prior actions to advance Ghana’s programme to the IMF Executive Board. This will be critical in resetting the economy on the path of recovery, including putting it firmly on a disinflation path and sustained growth.
25. Headline inflation has declined marginally for two consecutive months, but continues to remain relatively high compared to the medium-term target of 8±2 percent. To place the economy firmly on the path of stability and reinforce the pace of disinflation, it is important that the monetary policy stance be tuned further to re-anchor inflation expectations towards the medium-term target.
Given these considerations, the MPC decided to increase the Monetary Policy Rate by 150 basis points to 29.5 percent.
Additional Measures
26. The Committee also decided to reset the Cash Reserve Ratio on domestic currency deposits for banks from 12 percent to 14 per cent, effective 13th April, 2023.
In addition, the Bank will step up liquidity management operations to address excess liquidity conditions in the market.
The Committee will continue to monitor developments in the banking sector and deploy other macro-prudential tools to ensure financial stability.
Informational Note
The next Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting is scheduled for May 17 – 19, 2023.
The meeting will conclude on Monday, May 22, 2023, with the announcement of the policy decision.
Vladimir Putin‘s global cyberwar strategy against the West has been made public as a result of the leak of a vast number of top-secret documents.
The “Vulkan Files,” which were released on March 30th, describe how a mysterious Russian cybersecurity firm by the name of RTV Vulkan has been covertly engaging in cyberwarfare on the Kremlin’s behalf.
On February 24, 2022, a whistleblower who opposed the conflict in Ukraine allegedly disclosed the records to German media. Since then, they have been examined by a group of more than 50 journalists from eight different nations.
Included in the leak is evidence of tools used to influence social media discussion, manipulate public opinion, interfere in elections, and attack national infrastructure.
The files reveal how a Russian cybersecurity company waged digital warfare around the world on the Kremlin’s behalf (Picture: Shutterstock)
Also revealed is the agency’s links to the notorious hacking organisation Sandworm, who disabled Ukraine’s power grid in 2015 and played a key role in Russia’s brazen attempts to derail the US presidential election the following year.
Two of the group’s operatives were indicted for distributing emails stolen from Hillary Clinton’s Democrats in 2016, and in 2017 Sandworm attempted use the same tactics to influence the outcome of the French presidential vote, the US claims.
Sandworm has also been credited with distributing the most destructive malware ever recorded, known as NotPetya, and targeting the South Korean Oympics.
Codenamed Scan-V, NotPetya scours the internet for vulnerabilities, which are then stored for use in future cyber-attacks.
Another powerful disinformation tool, known as Amezit, was also found to be in use by the group.
Amezit is used to create fake profiles en masse which are then used to disseminate pro-Kremlin content on a large scale via email, SMS, and social media.
Public opinion can be influenced by pushing individual hashtags in a targeted manner, and bot databases provide the basis for these operations.
These tools were used to influence foreign affairs, and to exert even greater control over parts of the internet in Russia’s sphere of influence.
It has been reported that one of the leaked documents includes maps of US energy infrastructure. Another contains the details of a nuclear power station in Switzerland.
John Hultquist, the vice-president of intelligence analysis at the cybersecurity firm Mandiant, said: ‘These documents suggest that Russia sees attacks on civilian critical infrastructure and social media manipulation as one and the same mission, which is essentially an attack on the enemy’s will to fight.’
The firm counts a wide variety of Russian security services as its clients, including the FSB, the foreign intelligence service, SVR, and the military intelligence service GRU, the Guardian reports.
The whistleblower who leaked the explosive documents told a German newspaper that the FSB and GRU ‘hide behind’ Vulkan in the days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year to avoid culpability.
The anonymous source said: ‘People should know the dangers of this.
‘Because of the events in Ukraine, I decided to make this information public.
‘The company is doing bad things and the Russian government is cowardly and wrong.
‘I am angry about the invasion of Ukraine and the terrible things that are happening there.
‘I hope you can use this information to show what is happening behind closed doors.’
The authenticity of the documents has been confirmed by five separate intelligence agencies.
Following the leak, the ‘Vulkan Files’ international research team identified several hundred accounts on Twitter that could be directly or indirectly linked to the documents.
To hide their Russian origins, profiles created by the group created email accounts at Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail, and paid for transactions with cryptocurrency or prepaid credit cards.
However, despite their careful manoeuvring Russia’s attempts to control the online sphere have faltered since the start of their invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier this year, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova confirmed that the Kremlin has ceded centralized control over the Russian information space and that Russian President Vladimir Putin apparently cannot readily fix it.
This is due to the emergence of grassroots anti-disinformation groups who have taken an active role in identifying and countering Russian propaganda online.
In their brief exchange with a German journalist, the leaker said they were aware that giving sensitive information to foreign media was dangerous.
But they had taken life-changing precautions. They had left their previous life behind, they said, and now existed ‘as a ghost’.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has said the GH¢5.5 billion released by the government to pay locked-up investments of victims of the financial sector clean-up exercise was not just for affected clients of Blackshield/Gold Coast but for all investors of the 47 companies that had claims by investors.
In a statement, SEC said all investors with validated claims have, therefore, been contacted by Amalgamated Fund and GCB Capital Ltd., the entities managing the implementation of the bailout.
The government has yet to release the full GH¢5.5 billion to the implementing agencies of the bailout, SEC statement dated Thursday, 30 March 2023, said.
“The update received by the SEC from the implementing agencies of the bailout is that so far, GH¢4.6 billion has been allocated as follows: GH¢3.1 billion to Amalgamated Fund Tier 1 payments and GH¢1.45 billion assigned to Amalgamated Fund Tier 2 payments”, SEC noted.
This disbursement, the Commission explained, “includes the partial bailout programme which entailed the payment of a sum of up to Fifty Thousand Ghana cedis (GH¢50,000) to clients of Blackshield/Gold Coast and other companies who had not received winding-up orders from the court by October 2020 but whose claims had been validated”.
The total amount paid to Blackshield clients in the partial bailout is GHS1.34 billion covering a total of 73,541 investors, it added.
Out of this amount, a total amount of GHS757,539,141 has been used to fully settle 61,734 customers of Blackshield.
Acting in accordance with Section 122 (2) (b) of the Securities Industry Act 2016, (Act 929) (SIA), SEC revoked the licences of 53 Fund Management Companies (FMCs) on 8 November 2019, due to various regulatory breaches including their inability to return clients’ funds estimated at GHS8 billion, and significant breaches of applicable rules that created risks to financial stability.
The licences were revoked in accordance with the mandate of SEC to protect investors and the integrity of the capital market.
Following the revocation of the licences, SEC took the following actions to protect investors:
1. Notified the Registrar of Companies/Registrar General to petition the Court for orders to commence the official liquidation of the fifty-three (53) FMCs under the relevant law.
2. Appointed an agent in line with the relevant provisions of the SIA, to take copies of records and lock up premises to secure the assets of the affected companies.
3. Engaged the Government through the Ministry of Finance on a bailout package for affected clients of the FMCs. The Government agreed to the latter on two conditions: firstly, that liquidation orders must be granted by the courts; secondly, validation of claims of claimants should also be completed. Without these conditions, the full bailout cannot be rolled out. SEC is currently working with these conditions.
4. SEC mandated the agent to receive claims from the clients of the affected companies, acknowledge receipt of same and conduct validation of claims received from affected clients.
Concerns of Clients of Blackshield/Gold Coast
While addressing the concerns of clients of Blackshield/Gold Coast, including a request to SEC to urgently share documents with the defunct company for the progression of the Official Winding-Up order, the Commission said the decision to disburse bailout funds after validation of claims and an official winding-up order by the court was to ensure that all claims are verified, and the assets and liabilities of the companies are transferred to the Registrar of Companies.
SEC said in compliance with the Corporate Insolvency and Restructuring Act, 2020 (Act 1015), as amended by the Corporate Insolvency and Restructuring (Amendment) Act 2020 (Act 1031), an official winding-up order can only be granted by a court, hence the ongoing court process between the Office of the Registrar of Companies and Blackshield/ Gold Coast.
SEC said it has complied fully with Blackshield/Gold Coast request for documents and is not delaying the court process.
The Office of the Registrar of Companies has been granted 44 official winding-up orders by the court and only 2 are outstanding, namely Blackshield Fund Management Company (formerly Gold Coast) and Kron Capital Ltd, SEC reported.
The Commission said it has, therefore, “cooperated with the court process to date and will continue to do so”.
“SEC wishes to inform clients of Blackshield that the firm’s lawyers were granted access to all documents when Blackshield appealed the revocation decision in November 2019. The server with critical information for Blackshield/Gold Coast was in the custody of Blackshield/Gold Coast from the date of revocation 8th November 2019 until SEC sought the help of the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) to retrieve the server in August 2020. It is erroneous to accuse the SEC of delaying a process that it has cooperated with in good faith”.
The Commission also appealed to “all affected clients to remain calm and rely only on information” provided by the Official Liquidator and SEC.
The first prosecution witness in the criminal trial of the former CEO and owner of defunct Beige Bank,Mike Nyinaku, has alleged that the accused person, in addition to the myriad of allegations levelled against him, also approved the physical transfer of US$200,000 from the bank’s vault to himself without due process.
Mr Julius Ayivor, a chartered accountant at audit and advisory firm, KPMG, who is the First Prosecution Witness in the case, told the High Court hearing the case that the said amount was moved from the cash management unit (CMU) of the now defunct bank to Mike Nyinaku’s office, noting that the accused person has till date not accounted for or returned the money to the bank.
This came to light when counsel for Mr Nyinaku, Thaddeus Sory, was cross-examining the witness in court last week.
Mr Sory directed the witness to take a look at a printed copy of an email in which Mr Nyinaku approved an amount of US$200,000 cash to be released to his own office, saying: “Take a look at Exhibit AA1. This is an e-mail dated 17 July 2017 written by a certain Stephen Duah Agyemang at 5:38pm to the accused person.”
In response, the witness answered: “that is so, my lady”.
Mr Sory then asked: “It is clear from Exhibit AA1 that the accused person approved [the US$200,000] as requested. Is that correct” and the witness answered “that is so. Exhibit AA1 shows the accused person’s approval and Exbibit AA shows the actual movement of the US$200,000 to the accused person’s office”.
Mr Sory asserted in his subsequent line of questions that the evidence tendered by the prosecution, which included a memo from the defunct bank’s cash management unit to Nyinaku’s office as well as other documents attached to that memo, only provided information on the name of the person who received the US$200,000 and not where (the location) the amount was received.
The witness, in response to Mr Sory’s assertions explained that from the evidence (ie Exhibit AA and Exhibit AA1), Stephen Duah Agyemang, who was an official of the defunct Beige Bank, sought approval from Mr Nyinaku for the US$200,000 to be released to his (Nyinaku’s) office.
The witness further explained that the same Exhibits also indicated where the US$200,000 was taken from (the bank’s vault) and where it was delivered (Nyinaku’s office).
The witness also explained that the first part of exhibit AA was a memo showing the evacuation of US$200,000 to Nyinaku’s office, while the second part of the same memo showed an acknowledgment by one Raphael Zilevu (an official of Nyinaku’s office) of receipt of the cash.
Mr Sory, who argued that Exhibits AA and AA1 were two separate and distinct documents, as such, could not be said to confirm that Mr Nyinaku’s office received the US$200,000, said “the actual acknowledgment [of the US$200,000] is separate and distinct from the memo which generated the evacuation [of the funds]”.
In response, the witness disagreed. Mr Ayivor explained that although the memo and the acknowledgment were two separate documents, the memo, which had the signature of Raphael Zilevu, an official from Nyinaku’s office as the ‘Receiving Officer,’ was the document used to request for the US$200,000 while the other document was the document signed by Raphael Zilevu to acknowledge receipt of the cash on behalf of the accused person.
Transfer tracing
The cross-examination of the witness also centered on a number of customers of the defunct bank listed on Exhibit AB1 (a list of over 10,000 customers) whose funds formed part of the over GH¢448 million that Mr Nyinaku is alleged to have siphoned to his company, Beige Capital Asset Management.
Mr Sory sought to challenge the veracity of the claim, using the case of one Emmanuel Kpobi, a former customer of the Bank, by asking the witness to trace the said transaction on the account of Beige Capital Asset Management which was tendered in evidence as Exhibit 9.
In response, Mr Ayivor said “that transaction is on the Beige Capital Asset Management Mobilisation account on page four (4) of 86 and the reference number is FT1705272820, dated 21 February 2017 for an amount of GH¢10,741.95”.
The witness also showed Mr Sory where, on the Beige Capital Asset Management Mobilisation account, he could find the remaining transactions.
Mr Sory had tendered a pendrive, containing the statements of account for Beige Capital Asset Management that shows all the funds allegedly siphoned from the account of the over 10,000 affected customers without their knowledge and consent, in evidence.
The case was adjourned to Monday 3 April 2023 for a continuation of the cross-examination of the witness.
Background
On 1 August 2018, the Bank of Ghana revoked the banking license of Beige Bank and placed it in receivership.
Later, Nyinaku was put on trial for on 43 counts of stealing, fraudulent breach of trust and money laundering, involving the siphoning of a total of GH¢1.2 billion from the defunct Beige Bank between 2015 and 2018, in a case presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, a Justice of the Court of Appeal sitting with additional responsibilities as a High Court Judge.
Four bankers have been found guilty of overseeing one of Vladimir Putin‘s pals’ bank accounts.
The unidentified employees, three of Russian descent and one Swiss, worked for Gazprombank Switzerland.
From 2014 through 2016, cellist Sergei Roldugin patronized the bank. Concerns were raised concerning his involvement in the 2016 Panama Papers revelations.
Roldugin, a Putin acquaintance, was accused by prosecutors of contributing to the export of millions, and it was suggested that bank staff members may have concealed these movements.
The US Treasury Department describes him as ‘part of a system that manages president Putin’s offshore wealth’.
His income was listed at the bank as a million Swiss francs a year (£886,000) and his assets at 10 million francs (£8.8 million).
But his occupation was registered as a musician, indicating that the money flows were ‘in no way plausible as Roldugin’s own wealth’, the indictment said.
On top of this, Gazprombank maintained Roldugin’s accounts despite ‘abundant’ media reports about his relationship to Putin, including that he was godfather to one of the president’s daughters.
Roldugin is one of the multiple people who has faced sanctions from western nations for their close ties with Mr Putin’s government.
The four bankers involved in this case charged with failing to adequately check whether Mr Roldugin owned the assets in the accounts and violating Swiss anti-money-laundering law.
They all denied the accusations against them but were convicted after a trial on March 8.
They were sentenced at Zurich district court with seven-month suspended prison sentences.
If these sentences are violated, they could lead collectively to hundreds of thousands of Swiss francs in fines.
Lawyers for all the defendants immediately announced plans to appeal.
In a statement, the Zurich regional prosecutors’ office welcomed the verdicts as ‘an important signal that due diligence obligations under money-laundering law must be observed’.
Gazprombank Switzerland, a Zurich-based channel of the Russian bank which is in the middle of shutting down operations, did not face charges as an organisation.
A former spy has been detained in connection with the shooting death of his stepmother, a baroness and art collector, who was killed in front of her residence.
On March 29, Myriam Ullens de Schooten, 70, was fatally shot in the Belgian village of Ohain, Lasne Municipality, in what appears to have been an inheritance dispute.
She was married to Baron Guy Ullens de Schooten, an 88-year-old wealthy industrialist from one of the wealthiest families in Belgium.
His son, Nicolas Ullens, 58, a former agent of the Belgian State Security, was detained by police after being apprehended in connection with the murder.
He is said to have shot the German-born victim while she was sitting beside his father in a VW Golf.
The baron is in hospital after being struck in the leg by one of the bullets.
According to the Derniere Heure newspaper, Ullens handed himself into police saying he had killed his stepmother in a ‘family conflict’.
Baron Guy Ullens de Schooten was reportedly worth €3 billion back in 2011.
He took over the family business, Raffinerie tirlemontoise, in 1973 before eventually selling it to a German firm, successfully reinvesting in agriculture businesses and taking over Weight Watchers International.
But local media reports suggest his fortunes had taken a downturn in recent years.
Myriam was an entrepreneur and fashion brand founder who, with her family, financed development projects in Nepal.
In 2006, she founded the Mimi Ullens Foundation, which opened wellness centres for cancer patients in five Belgian hospitals.
She once said about having breast cancer: ‘For the first time, you are confronted with your own mortality.
‘You may still have fortunes, but if you die six months later, you have nothing. Dans la vie, on nous donne rien.’
Her high-end fashion company has three stores – in Paris, France, and New York City and Aspen, USA.
When Queen Mathilde of Belgium wore clothing from Maison Ullens during a state visit to China, she described it as ‘a nice compliment’.
The state has charged founder of defunct Unibank Limited, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor and five others in the matter of between the Republic vs. Dr Kwabena Duffour and others concerning the insolvency of the bank has been adjourned to April 20223.
According to a court transcript following sittings held from March 14 to 16, 2023, Dr Duffuor and the five others were charged for willfully causing financial loss to the Republic and conspiracy to commit crime. Other details of the charges include fraudulent breach of trust, money laundering and dishonest appropriation.
The charges come after the 1st Prosecution witness (Nii Amanor Dodoo) who is the Receiver of Unibank, concluded his evidence-in-chief while Counsel for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th accused persons also concluded their cross-examination of the Receiver.
The Receiver discovered that at the time the license of Unibank was revoked, an amount of GH¢5.7 billion had been dishonestly appropriated by the shareholders with the connivance and assistance of some of the accused persons.
At the last court date, Counsel for Elsie Dansoa Kyere, (6th accused), the Executive Head of Corporate Banking of Unibank at the time of the revocation of its license also concluded his cross-examination of the Receiver.,
The Receiver informed the Court that fictitious loans were originated by the 6th accused person and one Benjamin Ofori, a former Executive Head of Credit Risk of Unibank (the 8 th accused).
This was done through memoranda that were channeled through Jeffrey Amon, a former senior Relationship Manager of Corporate Banking (7th accused) for approval from 4th accused (Kwabena Duffour II) and 5th accused (Ekow Nyarko Dadzie-Dennis).
The Receiver stated that these loans in question were neither channeled through the Management Credit Committee, Executive Committee nor the Assets and Liabilities Committee. These loans, according to the Receiver, were fictitious because they were made in the names of persons who did not request that those accounts to be opened.
Nii Amanor Dodoo explained that once when loans are approved, the proceeds go to the customer adding that proceeds of these fictitious loans were rather credited to the Deferred Expenditure Account.
He told the Court that the accounts of the customers listed in the memoranda were all fictitious since they were not the regular account numbers of those customers.
The memoranda also requested for credit facilities to be disbursed into these fictitious accounts, according to the Receiver. The Receiver further explained that the management of the bank in the review of their monthly management accounts were able to determine the actual profit or loss made. This was then compared to the profit indicated in their prepared budget.
On this basis, they then determined how much loans should be generated to create interest. These loans were backdated so the bank’s system would generate and post the interest generated into the interest income account.
The Receiver informed the Court that the shareholders of Unibank siphoned funds from the bank which was charged against the Deferred Expenditure Account.
Since this account did not yield interest, they had to find a way of creating loan accounts that would generate interest.
According to the Receiver, these fictitious accounts were created to generate interest income and to present a situation as though Unibank was operating profitably.
The Receiver added that the fictitious loans were also created to conceal money siphoned from the bank by shareholders. He added that the 6th accused played a significant role in this through the initiation of memoranda together with 7th and 8th accused persons. They did this with the approval of the 4th and 5th accused persons. By this, they significantly misstated the financial statements of Unibank.
The Receiver explained there were meetings during which the plan to create the fictitious loans and generate fictitious interest income was hatched.
At these meetings, the customers in whose names the fictitious loans were to be created were identified and the interest rates to be applied agreed on.
He added that the tabulation of the financial gap that needed to be filled was prepared and based on this, the quantum of loans that needed to be created were determined and signed off on. This formed the basis on which entries were subsequently passed.
The Receiver informed the Court further that his team was informed by officials of the Finance Department of Unibank that this whole plan was arranged by the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th accused persons.
He explained that because of the sensitive nature of these transactions, the originating documents were retrieved from the Finance Department after the entries were passed.
He added that an official of the Finance Department who believed that the entries which were being passed would create problems someday hid one of those documents which he shared with the Receiver’s team.
The Court was informed that the financial statements of Unibank did not show the actual position of the Deferred Expenditure Account. He added that his team was informed that the balances on this account were intentionally excluded from the financial statements and the returns submitted to the Bank of Ghana.
The 4th,5th,6th,7th and 8th accused persons concealed the balances on the Deferred Expenditure Account by creating the fictitious loans.
According to the Receiver, the deliberate attempts to conceal the magnitude of those transactions and failure to report the balances on the financial statements and actually transferring some of these funds to the fictitious accounts was wrong.
The Receiver further informed the Court that the shareholders of Unibank accepted responsibility for the funds siphoned from the bank. He indicated that the shareholders initially offered to hand over assets purchased with those funds.
They later proposed to set up a special purpose vehicle to house those assets and to use the special purpose vehicle to secure loans to reimburse the bank.
The shareholders, according to the Receiver, offered to seek loans directly to pay back the siphoned funds. All these proposals, the Court was informed, were yet to materialize.
Meanwhile, the case was adjourned to April 18 and 19 2023.
The Regional Director in charge of Higher Education Programmes at the British Council in Sub-Sahara Africa, Adetomi Soyinka has said that it is important to engage the government on ways to ensure that innovations by young graduates are scaled up and sustained.
According to her the scale of need versus resourcing continues to remain imbalanced hence, the need to engage the government on how to roll out partnerships that will imbibe the knowledge acquired by a small cohort into the entire education system.
She said Innovation for African Universities (IAU) has begun engagement with the government and would continue to provide data on how possible it would be to achieve such a target.
“We have already started government engagements at the beginning of the project. This was to get them informed on what we would like to do and achieve. Now that we are done, we would take the data, insights, and learnings back to the government, to say it works and therefore this is how partnerships should be done. For the things that did not work also, we share with the government so that they become aware of that without going through the same or similar process,” she said.
Ms. Soyinka added that government must be ready to embed the information provided into the education systems and scale it. This she said would be the way impact and long-term change can happen if the government does that.
She made these comments among others at the British Council’s Innovations for African Universities (IAU) conference that seeks to promote entrepreneurship skills among university students and close the gap between job seekers and job creators for African youth, in Accra.
IAU was created by the British Council in 2021 on the back of the COVID-19 crisis, which represented a critical time for curriculum review and teaching innovation amongst tertiary institutions in the region. Many universities agreed that there was a need to think outside the box to evolve teaching practices that equip students to become self-starters.
By pairing universities in Africa and the UK, IAU sought to catalyze the development of entrepreneurship curriculums customized to each country’s unique situation and economic needs in a bid to leapfrog the creation of generational businesses across the continent in response to its rapidly growing youth population, where many are confronted by high levels of unemployment and underemployment.
The conference focused on several broad issues, challenges, and opportunities facing the Higher Education sector in the area of employment and entrepreneurship and seeks to bring a range of critical ecosystem players into the same room to develop new ideas for new solutions to address youth unemployment challenges.
On his part, the Executive Chairman, Sakfos Holdings, Accra Ghana, Dr. Abu Sakara also indicated that it is important to take a critical look at the policy environment and what could be done to ensure that successful innovations flourish.
“We must know what is it about the policy environment that is stopping people from scaling up successful programmes. Once we identify those areas, and we know where the problems are, we must be willing to respect and restructure the economy to allow them to flourish,” he said.
While some celebrities love to keep a simple but classy look or pop in a fashion statement once in a while, others aren’t afraid to take risks and set their own trends.
These individuals might not always be on your favourite best-dressed list, but their style definitely leaves a memory on the minds of fans across social media.
Popular Ghanaian business mogul, Freedom Jacob Caesar (Cheddar) and Clothing store owner, Osebo the Zaraman, are examples of celebrities who have pushed the boundaries over the years, in churning out daring and exciting fashion statements.
The best part is, their looks are cut out from the best luxurious pieces or even picked from the limited edition of high-end brands.
However, there is an eminent fashion contest between these individuals which is currently being championed by social media users, and before we get to witness it, let’s refresh your memory with a catalogue of their looks on social media.
Police are appealing for assistance in finding a guy who was unintentionally freed from custody.
The Metropolitan Police has issued a search warrant for Rayon Newby, 20, whose whereabouts are unknown after he was given permission to leave HMP Thameside on March 17.
The police have additionally asked the general population to avoid approaching Newby.
Serco, the private company that manages the jail, has been approached by Metro for comment on the specifics of the blunder that resulted in the inmate’s freedom.
Newby was serving time for assault, harassment, and burglary. He has ties to the Tower Hamlets and Ilford neighborhoods.
Police describe him as a black man of heavy build, approximately 5ft 10ins, with a piercing in his left ear. He speaks with a London accent.
It’s not the only time in recent weeks police have appealed to the public for help tracking down former inmates.
Latest London news
Sussex Police posted a wanted poster on Facebook last week for Curtis Harrison, 32, after he violated the terms of his release, only for him to then taunt authorities via social media.
Harrison, who had served time for breaching a restraining order, joked in posts about collecting the £500 reward for information leading to his arrest.
The hunt for Harrison came less than a month after Norfolk Police apprehended Dean Manning, 34, who also mocked efforts to track him down in videos posted to Facebook and TikTok.
A court jailed Manning for 18 months last year for attacking his partner while under the influence. He was wanted for breaching the terms of his licence.
In one clip, Manning walked past a police station, saying: ‘I shouldn’t really be here, should I?’
The document included the whole of government accounts, financial statements on the contingency fund and the Sinking Fund.
It covered over 800 expending units of Ministries Department and Agencies (MDA) of Central government, 261 Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA) and 62 State-Owned Enterprises.
The gesture was in accordance with Public Fund Management (PFM) Act 921 2016 which mandates the Controller and Accountant-General to within three months after the end of each fiscal year, prepare and submit consolidated accounts to the Minister and the Auditor-General.
These included the consolidated annual accounts of the Government that include the accounts of the Contingency Fund, Sinking Fund, and the accounts of Petroleum Funds.
The Controller and Accountant-General are required under the Act to also indicate a defect, shortcoming, or any other factor which in the opinion of the Controller and Accountant General materially affects the responsibility of the Minister under the Act.
Speaking at a signing and presentation ceremony, Mr. Kwasi Kwaning-Bosompem said the institution which hitherto was 10 years in arrears of accounts submission had moved to real-time preparation of accounts due to the dedication of the hardworking staff.
He indicated that the scope for account preparation had also been broadened from the dependence on Consolidated Funds, which provided fewer data, including
contingency, Internally Generated Fund (IGF), Statutory fund, donor fund and any other fund established by the Act of Parliament.
The department, he said was seeking to advance the process of reporting through digitisation, adding that, “there would be a time where a report you see before me will just be two papers.”
The occasion was also used to commission a refurbished National Accounts Directorate to provide a conducive work environment for staff working under that outfit.
For the first time, he said the department had been able to include and capture 15 per cent of Legacy fixed assets of government to the accounts, which it intended to extend to 75 per cent by the close of the year.
“We have also applied fixed asset policy giving us depreciation charge on the income and expenditure,” he said.
Mr Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, Auditor-General commended the CAGD for its consistency in timely submission of reports over the past three years, and “I think this a commendable achievement.”
He urged government entities to accord auditors all the needed assistance and respond to findings when opportunities are presented adding that, “they think that if they don’t respond we can’t issue our report.”
He said his outfit was looking to innovatively separate financial misappropriations from administrative irregularities in the audit reports to create less room for misinterpretation by the public.
“In our audit, we are mindful of the provision of the law that says in reporting to parliament we should draw the attention of parliament to any irregularities and for us.
“And for us irregularity is a broader term encompassing lack of supervision, internal control breakdown, flouting of procurement rules in addition to actual financial misapplication or misappropriation,” he said.
Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia Thursday launched three initiatives of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), including the Electronic Tax Compliance Certificate (E-TCC), to promote tax payment and increase domestic revenue mobilisation.
The other initiatives are the Tax Compliance Short Code *880#, and Online Tax Returns Filing.
These are also aimed at making tax compliance and payments easy and convenient in the comfort of the home or office.
For instance, the E-TCC is documentary evidence issued by the Commissioner-General of GRA to confirm that the taxpayer is up to date with payments and has met all applicable tax obligations at the date of issue.
These electronic systems would enable taxpayers to seamlessly and conveniently use the GRA’s taxpayers’ portal (www.taxpayersportal.com) to file their tax returns, apply for tax compliance certificates, and make payments using their personal computers, mobile phones or tablets.
At the launch of the initiatives in Accra, Vice President Bawumia said it would provide a shift in attitude towards tax payments and enhance compliance in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy.
These will help promote transparency and accountability as well as minimise corruption in the country.
Dr Bawumia said taxes were the lifeblood of any country, which helped to build nations and, thus, lauded the GRA for buying into government’s digitalisation agenda to promote national development and economic growth.
The Vice President expressed confidence that the initiatives would assist in increasing Ghana’s tax to GDP ratio of 13 per cent to 18-20 per cent within the shortest possible time.
“When we faithfully declare our taxes, we’ll be in a position to hold government accountable on what our tax money is being used for.
Let us join hands together to develop our country,” he said.
Dr Bawumia declared April as ‘Tax and Good Governance Month’ and urged the GRA to pay attention to individuals and businesses who did not file their tax returns to widen the country’s tax net.
He highlighted some of the Government’s digitalisation programmes that had made a tremendous impact on revenue collection efforts.
The Ghana.gov portal, digital property addressing system, Ghana-Card, paperless port system, and the mobile money interoperability payment system, which had placed Ghana on top of the financially inclusive nations in Africa, are examples.
Reverend Dr Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, the Commissioner-General, GRA, in his welcome remarks, said the Authority, in 2019, embarked on a transformational agenda, focusing on three key pillars – people, technology and service.
The Authority, for instance, began leveraging on technology to identify and simplify procedures and processes for tax payments.
He, therefore, entreated taxpayers and businesses to embrace the GRA’s digital portals to file tax returns, initiate payments and access other tax-related services.
Mr Theophilus Kwesi Ehun, a Senior Revenue Officer, Domestic Tax Revenue Division, educated the public on the uses and benefits of the three new initiatives.
The Turkish Parliament has formally ratified the country’s membership, bringing Finland one step closer to joining Nato.
Prior to the start of the Ukrainian War, the Nordic country had maintained its “neutral” status on the international stage.
While Russian hostility grew, Finland hurried to join Nato alongside Sweden.
In the past, the Kremlin declared that the proposed action was “absolutely” a threat and would be responded with “retaliatory steps.”
This evening, Turkey’s parliament ratified Finland’s application to join Nato, lifting the last hurdle in the way of the nation’s long-delayed accession into the Western military alliance.
All 276 lawmakers present voted in favour of Finland’s bid, days after Hungary’s parliament also endorsed Helsinki’s accession.
The path is now clear for Finland to join Nato as its 31st member.
Sweden’s bid to join the alliance, meanwhile, has been left hanging, with both Turkey and Hungary holding out on giving it the green light.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attend the funeral of Ukrainian soldier Dmytro Kotsiubaylo (Picture: Getty Images)
Alarmed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago, Finland and neighbouring Sweden had abandoned their decades-long policy of nonalignment and applied to join the alliance.
Full unanimity is required to admit new members into the 30-member alliance, and Turkey and Hungary were the last two Nato members to ratify Finland’s accession.
Turkey’s government accuses Sweden of being too lenient toward groups it deems to be terrorist organizations and security threats, including militant Kurdish groups and people associated with a 2016 coup attempt.
More recently, Turkey was angered by a series of demonstrations in Sweden, including a protest by an anti-Islam activist who burned the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy.
Turkish officials have said that unlike Sweden, Finland fulfilled its obligations under a memorandum signed last year under which the two countries pledged to address Turkey’s security concerns.
Seasoned Nollywood actor Pete Edochie has expressed sorrow over the passing of his grandson, Kambilichukwu Edochie.
Kambilichukwu lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital for treatment, but all attempts by the doctors to revive him proved unsuccessful.
According to reports, the boy had a seizure while playing football with classmates at school and was taken urgently to the Mother and Child Hospital but unfortunately, he didn’t make it.
According to Pete, who spoke with Vanguard, his son Yul called him on Wednesday, March 29, to let him know that Kambilichukwu had a seizure after falling down while playing football with his classmates.
Pete Edochie noted that as soon as Yul notified his family about the tragic event, they immediately began praying for the boy.
The veteran actor stated that it was tragic that his grandson passed away at a time when he had shown so much promise, calling him a bright and gifted young man.
Pete continued, saying he had previously voiced concern about his grandson’s exceptional qualities and noted that such people do not always persist.
He said: “Kambilinachukwu is a very quiet, brilliant, and talented child. He’s not somebody you can ride easily. He doesn’t get angry no matter the situation.
“He may change his composure, but he was definitely a very unusual person in so many respects. He was so accomplished.
“I always tell my son that I don’t like people excelling like this in anything they are involved in. Experience has taught me that such people don’t last long.”
Dubbed the Partial Credit Risk Guarantee, which will come into effect before the end of the year, it will allow the banks and Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) to invest in certain areas such as agribusiness, and allow them to share the risk with DBG.
The Deputy Managing Director of DBG, Michael Mensah Baah, disclosed this at DBG University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) Development Finance Dialogue Series Round Table Meeting held at Legon on Tuesday.
The maiden programme was on the theme “Deepening Development Finance, Knowledge, Innovations and Impact”.
As part of the programme, DBG signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the UGBS to promote research on the programmes of DBG.
Also, under the partnership, DBG would, among others, support students of the UGBS, provide them with internships and provide for MSc students in Development Finance.
Mr Baah said although DBG had access to cheap funding, it did not want to rely only on its funding to intervene in the market.
“DBG wants to encourage the PFIs and the banks to use their own funding to invest, “ Mr Baah said.
By using the funding of the banks and PFIs and that of DBG, he said, “We will be able to make more significant impact and that is the reason we’re coming out with the Partial Credit Risk Guarantee”.
He said one of the ways of derisking the finance space was to share the risks of investment with the banks and PFIs.
Touching on the partnership with the UGBS, Mr Baah said the programme was aligned with DBG’s mission and vision to accelerate an inclusive and sustainable economic transformation by fostering the growth of a competitive private sector.
“We know as DBG that to create economic resilience and accelerate social mobility, we must champion the role of Knowledge, Innovation and be able to measure impact of our interventions, “he said.
A grand jury has decided to indict Donald Trump over hush money payments to a porn star, making him likely to be the first former US president to be charged with a felony.
The precise charges are unknown because indictments often don’t become public until after a suspect makes their initial court appearance.
Nevertheless, they are connected to a $130,000 (£105,000) payment made to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star, on the night of the 2016 presidential election.
Ms. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, asserts that she had an affair with Trump and made an offer to the media to publish her tale.
Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen handed over the money to keep her quiet about the purported sexual encounter said to have taken place after they met at a celebrity golf tournament.
Cohen was later reimbursed more than double that amount by the Trump Organization in the form of bonuses and other payments logged as business expenses.
Earlier that same year, he arranged a second payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also claims to have had an affair with Trump.
The former president denies both affairs and has called the Manhattan investigation a ‘witch hunt’.
Reports suggest he is relishing the prospect of a ‘perp walk’ when he hands himself into authorities in the coming days.
He will have his mugshot and fingerprints taken before being released on bond.
Trump is expected to surrender early next week.
How that happens remains unclear given the unprecedented circumstances, but police sources told ABC News that all NYPD officers have been ordered to show up in full uniform for deployment across the city.
Police chiefs and top safety aides at the mayor’s office have been meeting to discuss how to handle potential protests, amid fears of a repeat of the January 6 rampage.
Trump has already indicated he will not be dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.
He accused District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, of trying to hurt his chances of winning re-election against Democratic President Joe Biden.
In a statement, Trump said: ‘This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.’
It went on: ‘The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to “Get Trump,” but now they’ve done the unthinkable – indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference.’
Shortly after, he appealed to supporters to provide money for a legal defense and has raised over $2 million, according to his campaign.
In the moments after the grand jury’s reported decision, Trump was taking in the development from his Mar-a-Lago home, his aides told the New York Times.
The aides said they were surprised the indictment came on Thursday, a few people close to Trump told the newspaper.
The grand jury’s reported vote comes a day after a report that the jurors would be taking a one-month break and that an indictment would in turn come in late April at the soonest.
A source told Politico that jurors were slated to consider a different case or cases – not Trump’s – on Thursday as well as Monday and Wednesday of next week.
The panelists apparently would then have the Passover holiday off, plus the following two weeks for a hiatus planned since January.
Trump is leading among Republican voters in many polls. His son Eric tweeted: ‘This is third world prosecutorial misconduct.
‘It is the opportunistic targeting of a political opponent in a campaign year.’
Trump first indicated to the public that the case was intensifying on March 18, when he posted on his Truth Social platform that he expected to be arrested.
He wrote at the time that ‘illegal leaks’ from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office indicate that ‘THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK’.
After the announcement of Trump’s indictment, cities across the US braced for possible protests.
An internal New York Police Department memo obtained by The Times issued shortly after 5.30pm stated that all uniformed members were to ‘remain prepared for mobilization at any time during their assigned tour’.
Some legal experts believe Trump would be released at his own recognizance. Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Ambrosio Rodriguez, formerly a senior deputy district attorney in Southern California, stated that ‘an indictment is not a barrier to re-election at all’.
‘Trump’s attorneys could even ask that his trial be delayed until after the election and possibly until after he serves another term in the White House,’ stated Rodriguez.
‘Whether that request would be granted is another matter, and it’s impossible to understate how much such a ruling would complicate the case.’
GIADEC’s Chief Executive Officer, Michael Ansah – speaking to the B&FT at a downstream aluminium industry workshop at Senchi in the Eastern Region, said the policy and incentive framework will support and guide comprehensive development of the downstream industry.
“Key elements and inputs in the downstream policy framework will include tax and tariff regime, and power production (green power) vis-à-vis ethics and best practices in the industry,” Mr. Ansah indicated.
The corporation says the need for a downstream policy framework has become critical, as it has completed work on an upstream master-plan and is ready to leverage the country’s existing bauxite reserves of 900 million metric tonnes to drive full commercial exploitation.
Ghana currently imports significant volumes of aluminium products, but GIADEC says its downstream policy framework will seek to curb these imports and encourage local companies to produce while respecting rules of the African Continental Free Trade Area and those of the ECOWAS protocols.
The downstream industry is expected to drive industrial transformation through the utilisation of primary aluminium produced in the country.
Development of the downstream industry involves retrofitting VALCO, with approximately 300,000 tonnes of aluminium to be available to the integrated aluminium industry annually. This will be an increase from the 40,000 – 50,000 tonnes currently produced yearly.
“It is important that the policy enables Ghanaian companies to thrive and ensure the country does not become a dumping-ground for cheap aluminium from elsewhere, looking at the huge prospects we have in the immediate future,” Mr. Ansah noted.
A Senior Research Officer at the International Economic Development Group (ODI) – formerly Overseas Development Institute, Derrick Abudu, said a road map for a fully-fledged downstream aluminium industry will take up to about 2035 to realise.
“The roadmap spans from now up to 2035, with targets including an energy deal that will subsidise power cost to the aluminium sector for a competitive cost structure (power entails 30 percent of cost of production), attraction of investment by 2030, and much higher targets by 2035,” he disclosed.
The ODI said the downstream could generate up to US$200million revenue annually in smelting, and create about 20,000 jobs along the value chain.
Speaking at the event, Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Samuel Jinapor, said government’s optimism on the contribution of a fully-integrated aluminium industry to the country’s socio-economic development cannot be underestimated.
He tasked GIADEC and key stakeholders including the Ministry of Trade and Industry to ensure that the country’s aluminium resources are fully harnessed to enhance growth and development.
Kumawood actor, Christian Akwasi Asamoah, popularly known as Big Akwes, has barred Nana Ama McBrownfrom associating with people he regards as enemies.
Earlier in a video that went viral, McBrown was seen hyping Frank Naro’s new song ‘Kom’ at an event.
This did not sit well with Big Akwes who stormed social media with tantrums.
Big Akwes, who had always felt Frank Naro’s ‘Kom’ is a diss song to him, warned celebrities to desist from endorsing it.
This was after he slapped Naro at a football gala in Kumasi.
Akwes was invited to McBrown’s Kitchen where the issue was brought up for discussion and he made some bold utterances.
The host, Nana Ama McBrown, asked why Big Akwes has resorted to public attacks instead of resolving his issue with Frank Naro amicably.
“He is your brother, if he does something you don’t like, why don’t you privately confront the issue?” McBrown asked.
Big Akwes: He owes me, if you offer to pay the money he owes, then I’ll kill this issue. If you don’t pay, I won’t end this issue today or tomorrow.
Mcbrown: Frank never mentioned to me that he owes you, so you can’t tell me that. The other day, when I recorded a short video to hype Frank Naro’s song, you came out throwing indirect jabs. Although you didn’t insult me, you created the impression that we cannot help each other in this industry.
Big Akwes: I have seized some people in Ghana from recording videos to promote Frank Naro’s song and you are part of them. If they come out to do that, I will come at them with full force. I have respect for you, that’s why I didn’t come out to insult you the other day. But I’m telling you, this is your first and last warning!
McBrown: You are issuing a first and last warning to me? Me? Are you not all my younger siblings if not my children? So, what is wrong if we are all in the same industry and I decide to help one of us? Even if he owes you money, this isn’t the right way to go about it.
Lori Harvey and Damson Idris’s romance appears to have been short lived, as the pair have reportedly split just three months into their relationship.
The pair have allegedly called it quits without any drama or beef between them, and remain amicable.
However, Lori and Damson are yet to comment on the rumours.
The news comes just a month after Lori and Damson made their red carpet debut, but it appears the relationship may have run its course.
Damson and Lori have reportedly split. . Picture: Getty
One of Lori’s friends allegedly spoke to Media Take Out about her relationship with Damson and said: “They were dating and it was great, but they’re no longer around each other like that.”
It is believed that there is no hard feelings concerning the split, “There’s no beef, no cheating, nothing like that. They’re just doing their own thing right now.”
Damson Idris and Lori seem to be no more. . Picture: Getty
The couple were seen at the premiere of the FX series “Snowfall” looking cosy, and have further fuelled the breakup speculation by not posting anything about each other recently.
“They’re just doing their own thing right now,” the source continued.
Lori and Damson’s dating history started after they were caught stepping out for a dinner date in West Hollywood, California.
Lori Harvey is a 26-year-old model and socialite. . Picture: Instagram
The pair went public in January as Lori celebrated her 26th birthday, where Damson said “Happy Birthday Nunu” and posted a picture featuring them snuggling on a sofa.
Lori previously dated actor Michael B. Jordan for two years before splitting in June 2022. Her other previous partners include rapper Future, singer Trey Songz and footballer Memphis Depay.
Eric Noah King, a radio presenter who rose to his prime in the early 2000s, has mentioned spirituality as the cause of drug addiction.
He told Kwame Dadzie on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z that after many of doing drugs, he could finally break away from the shackles of the addiction through prayers.
According to him, it is very impossible for anyone who is into drugs to quit, if they don’t set their minds to it and do not pray about it.
“It’s a spiritual thing, so if you take spirituality out of cocaine and heroin addiction, you’ve missed the goal, you’ve missed the mark. Trust me,” he said.
Talking about the ordeal he went through in dealing with the drug addiction, he advised that people who are in such situations should first have the will to change before they seek help in a rehab.
Noah King recounted that he got into drugs even before he started his radio career. He said after completing his O’Level education, he went to a club one day when after having a chat with a lady, a friend suggested to him, he could boost his confidence in talking to women by using heroin mixed with weed. After the first experience, he got stuck to it.
The 46-year-old broadcaster further noted that he has been able to stay away from any form of drug for the past 14 months.
“I have quit drugs for good,” he said in the interview.
Recounting his life changing story, he spoke about how he finally decided to give up on drugs.
“I realised that I needed to eat the humble pie, come down low and then see what God would do in my life if I chose a rehab centre. And trust me even since I stepped foot at the Chosen Rebab Centre my life has been transformed for good. I am now indomnitable like the sand, impeccable like the moon and inexplicable like the stars. This is the doing of the Lord and it is marvelous in our eyes,” he noted.
Noah King, who did drugs for 25 years, said his addiction was so strong that at a point in time, he was even pilfering money from the offertory bowl in church so he could get money to buy crack.
Currently receiving treatment at the Chosen Rehab Centre in Accra, he has also been appointed the Communications Director of the centre.
Noah King used to be a drive time presenter in the early 2000s at Peace FM.
