The Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) spent GH¢ 128,366 on decorations at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) over the course of the 2021 holiday season, according to confirmation from Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, the Minister of Transportation.
Appearing before parliament on Thursday, February 23, 2023, the minister also confirmed that the decoration including some Christmas trees and chandeliers were rented and not bought as earlier speculated.
“The Christmas decoration at the Kotoka International Airport for 2021 was rented from a company and the total cost of the decoration was GH¢128,366, out of which GH¢50,000 was paid by DDP in terms of sponsorship,” the minister informed the House in response to some questions filed by some members.
In 2022, there was massive public furore in reaction to reports that GACL had spent a colossal amount on Christmas decorations.
The Ministry of Transport in response to a Right To Information Request in June 2022, confirmed the procurement of the decorations adding that the transaction did not go through required procurement process due to its nature.
“Please be informed that the Christmas decorations for 2021 were rented and not procured for by the GACL. Hence, there was no procurement nor bidding process for the award of contract,” the ministry said.
Some critics of the transaction had raised concerns of procurement breaches about the entire process and indicted the Board Chairman of GACL, Paul Adom-Otchere who was cited for contracting the suppliers.
But the board chairman in his own defence maintained that the transaction did not fall within the ambits of the procurement law.
“There is no procurement breach. There can be no procurement breaches; in fact, no procurement breaches have been found. They hit a cul-de-sac,” he stated in reaction to some media publications.
Ghanaian rapper, singer and songwriter Feli Nuna, has advised men to marry only one wife.
Talking from her experience as one coming from a polygamous home, she stated that it can bring about disagreements amongst the family members.
Talking about her experience to Akua Sika on Happy 98.9FM’s Happy Evening Drive, she said “My dad gave birth to 12 children including 9 girls 3 boys with 4 different women and I would say it’s been a learning curve, and for us we’ve had a nice unit as a family.”
She noted that although growing up there was some sort of tension between she and her siblings, things are now better as they’ve grown and they have gotten past all the issues.
“I wouldn’t want a polygamous family because of my experience. I would rather want to have a nuclear family just me, my husband and children,” she emphasized.
She advised the youth against polygamy because it brings about a lot of issues for the family.
“And it’s not every family that is able to learn from it and grow. Some people still have issues which is not good and the unfortunate part is the man won’t feel the pain rather, the woman and children will. But I’m very fortunate to have my siblings and my family,” she asserted.
On the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China has reaffirmed its support for a peaceful resolution to the conflict as Beijing comes under increasing criticism from Washington and its allies over its expanding ties with Moscow.
Friday saw the issuance of a position paper from China’s Foreign Ministry, which reiterated the country’s opposition to the use of nuclear weapons and calls for the restart of peace negotiations and the lifting of unilateral sanctions.
The 12-point plan is a part of Beijing’s most recent attempts to position itself as a neutral peace broker as it juggles its deteriorating relations with the West and its “no-limits” relationship with Moscow as the war grinds on.
“Conflict and war benefit no one. All parties must stay rational and exercise restraint, avoid fanning the flames and aggravating tensions, and prevent the crisis from deteriorating further or even spiraling out of control,” the paper said.
Beijing’s claim to neutrality has been severely undermined by its refusal to acknowledge the nature of the conflict – it has so far avoided calling it an “invasion” – and its diplomatic and economic support for Moscow.
Western officials have also raised concerns that China may be considering providing Russia with lethal military assistance, an accusation denied by Beijing.
The paper reiterated many of China’s existing policy positions, which includes urging both sides to resume peace talks. “Dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solution to the Ukraine crisis,” it said, adding that China will play a “constructive role,” without offering details.
Despite claiming the “sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries must be effectively upheld,” the document failed to acknowledge Russia’s violation of Ukrainian sovereignty.
And in a thinly veiled criticism of the US, the paper said “Cold War mentality” should be abandoned.
“The security of a region should not be achieved by strengthening or expanding military blocs. The legitimate security interests and concerns of all countries must be taken seriously and addressed properly,” it said, apparently echoing Moscow’s view that blames the West for provoking the war through the expansion of NATO.
It also appeared to criticize the wide-ranging economic sanctions imposed by the US and other Western countries on Russia. “Unilateral sanctions and maximum pressure cannot solve the issue; they only create new problems,” it said. “Relevant countries should stop abusing unilateral sanctions and ‘long-arm jurisdiction’ against other countries, so as to do their share in deescalating the Ukraine crisis.”
The paper was swiftly criticized by American officials, with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan saying the war “could end tomorrow if Russia stopped attacking Ukraine and withdrew its forces.”
“My first reaction to it is that it could stop at point one, which is to respect the sovereignty of all nations,” Sullivan told CNN. “Ukraine wasn’t attacking Russia. NATO wasn’t attacking Russia. The United States wasn’t attacking Russia. This was a war of choice waged by Putin.”
In Beijing, the ambassador of the European Union to China, Jorge Toledo, told reporters at a briefing that China’s position paper was not a peace proposal, adding that the EU is “studying the paper closely,” according to Reuters.
Ukraine, meanwhile, called the position paper “a good sign” but urged China to do more.
“China should do everything in its power to stop the war and restore peace in Ukraine and urge Russia to withdraw its troops,” Ukraine’s Chargé d’Affaires to China Zhanna Leshchynska said at the same briefing in Beijing.
“In neutrality, China should talk to both sides: Russia and Ukraine, and now we can see China is not talking to Ukraine,” she said, noting that Kyiv was not consulted before the release of the paper.
The position paper was first discussed last week by top diplomat Wang Yi at a security conference in Munich, as he attempted to cast Beijing as a responsible negotiator for peace during a diplomatic charm offensive in Europe.
Wang visited Moscow as the final stop of his European tour, and met with Putin on Wednesday.
Putin, who welcomed Wang with outstretched arms as the Chinese diplomat entered the meeting room, said relations between Russia and China are “reaching new milestones.”
“Russian-Chinese relations are developing as we planned in previous years. Everything is moving forward and developing,” Putin told reporters as he sat beside Wang. “Cooperation in the international arena between the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China, as we have repeatedly said, is very important for stabilizing the international situation.”
Wang said the two countries “often face crisis and chaos, but there are always opportunities in a crisis.”
“This requires us to identify changes more voluntarily and respond to the changes more actively to further strengthen our comprehensive strategic partnership,” Wang said.
Popular Youtuber Wode Maya, till the evening of February 23, 2023 had a booming YouTube channel with over 1.2 million followers and over 900 uploads.
He is reputed as one of the continent’s biggest YouTubers sharing cross-continental content aimed at putting out a positive aspect of Africa and Africans within the continent.
Then the hackers alleged to be cryptocurrency hackers struck and took over the page.
His page first went blank and the name changed from “Wode Maya” to “Microstrategy.”
Before long, it was confirmed with the unusual activity on the channel that it had actually been hacked.
The new owners started multiple live streaming with the aim of soliciting for funds in a crypto currency scheme. At GhanaWeb’s last check, there were five such streams running concurrently.
Meanwhile, all of Wode Maya’s videos had gone off the page even though the page information remained intact – page created in 2013 with over 193 million views.
A robust social media campaign started almost immediately with people especially on Twitter tagging YouTube and YouTube Support to help Wode Maya to reclaim his account.
After some hours, it turned out that the channel had been taken down entirely. All previous links when clicked return a message: “Video Unavailable. This video is private.”
Also, the page when searched on YouTube also returns zero result.
The vlogger, real name Berthold Winkler, has yet to publicly comment on the development.
The only sound in the night sky is the low hum of a pick-up truck with its headlights off. From the exhaust, fumes gurgle into the chilly air. Only the vehicle’s rear lights are visible; any other light source may be disastrous this close to the frontlines.
Russian drones hover above, scanning the skies for any indication of life.
The goal of Thursday’s early-morning mission is to reach one of the most devastated and shattered sections of the 1,500-mile frontline in eastern Ukraine, the crucial town of Vuhledar, which Russian forces have been attempting to conquer for months.
“Ready!” barks an American voice. A British soldier, balaclava covering his face, perhaps in anticipation of a minus 5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) journey on the back of the truck, replies “yep,” and leaps onto the vehicle.
On the eve of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine, CNN was given exclusive access for two days with Ukraine’s International Legion – a band of foreign fighters who have bolstered the Ukrainian armed forces in the fight for their homeland.
One of them hails from North Carolina, via New York. The American voice belongs to Jason Mann, who goes by ‘Doc.’ A bearded, six-foot former United States Marine with tours in Afghanistan and Iraq under his belt, Mann leads a unit called ‘Phalanx.’
Recent arrivals to his unit include two Canadians and a Brit, who go by calls signs like ‘Scrappy’ and ‘Terminator’ (the latter of whom got his name after taking a brick to the eye on a mission, leaving it bloodshot).
The aim of this early morning mission into Vuhledar is to familiarize ‘Scrappy’ — newly arrived from the UK a matter of weeks ago — with the terrain in this strategically critical town, known as the “gift of coal.”
“A lot of activity is going to be happening (in Vuhledar) over the next week,” predicts Mann. “We need to get him a little bit familiar with the area just in case we run out fast.”
Moscow has piled ammunition and troops into capturing Vuhledar in recent months. It has reduced the city to a shell of itself. Ferocious fighting has left the town, once of 15,000 people, largely void of any life.
A Russian victory here would help it keep Donetsk connected with Russian-occupied Crimea and allow the Russians to begin a northern “hook” as part of their anticipated spring offensive.
But Russian troops have suffered painful and bloody failures around Vuhledar, causing a near mutiny among troops in November. Drone video from Ukrainian units stationed around the town have shown Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers rolling over mines, dumping their troops and then running them over, as Ukrainian artillery targets them.
Now Mann and his unit expect a renewed Russian effort to take the city and finally declare victory here as the war’s February 24 anniversary draws closer.
The previous days mud has turned rock hard, and the pick-up rattles over it. Speed is essential to accessing Vuhledar, as the convoy crosses huge, exposed fields. Small leafless tree lines offer scant protection from Russian artillery.
On arriving to the tiny strategic town, it becomes clear that the months of fighting have left an apocalyptic level of destruction. Tall Soviet apartment blocks offer some cover from the near constant Russian shelling.
But at this early hour, the city is eerily calm. “This isn’t an early morning war,” Mann quips.
The previous day, a near constant barrage of artillery had hammered the city.
To venture safely further into Vuhledar, you pass through the apartment buildings.
We step through a squeaky swinging door, into almost ghostly silent courtyard. A rust swing set hangs limp, every building show the scars of a pounding. Windows are blown out, chunks of walls are missing, bricks and debris litter the ground, pock-marked with craters.
“Now you can see why I don’t like being on this side,” Mann says.
A couple are wandering the streets with shopping bags. The appearance of life seemed incongruous to the surrounding. To our guides though, it was suspicious.
The risk of shelling grows as the sun rises; it looks like a beautiful day – perfect for artillery, and time for us to leave.
Back in a small village a small distance back from Vulhedar, a family house has been transformed into a military billet and small arsenal. Towns like these have sprung up across Ukraine, tiny military eco-systems.
Roving battery units fire vibrating shells at regular intervals across the village towards Russian positions without warning. A tiny litter of newly born puppies barely flinch.
Mann says his experience in Iraq and Afghanistan hardly prepared him for the kind of warfare seen in Ukraine.
“You know, fighting in a trench that’s not something that someone’s done in a long time. Like even World War Two is not really fought in trenches to this degree. Artillery is something we didn’t have to deal with in Iraq and Afghanistan apart from just a random rocket or grenade coming in. And that’s something you can’t fight against. You just have to hunker down and get lucky.”
While the exact number of foreign fighters in Ukraine is unclear and has fluctuated since the start of the war, Mann estimates that the current figure is in the low thousands.
He has seen most of the war. Mann arrived in early March 2022, and shows no sign of losing his commitment to the Ukrainian war effort.
“I’m 100% solid. There’s nothing wrong with my resolve, there’s nothing wrong with how I feel about the situation, I’m definitely in the right place,” Mann told CNN, from a bunker-come-arsenal underneath the unit’s sleeping quarters.
He is a Columbia university alumnus and former software engineer at Google. Before that chapter of his life, he was a Marine, serving tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. The world of big tech was there for the taking, but Mann says he felt called to fight for freedom.
“This is redefining the global order as we speak. This is democracy versus autocracy. Do we want to let autocracy control more people’s lives in the future or prevent it from doing that ever again?” he says.
The Legion is attached to the Ukrainian 72nd brigade and work regularly with Ukrainian regulars, with the help of interpreters. Just days before CNN’s arrival, the Legion lost a Ukrainian reconnaissance man on a mission. He was caught up in a mortar attack, and buried on Friday.
Mann’s boss, a New Zealander who goes by the name ‘Turtle,’ says their fallen comrade’s courage needed no translation.
“He was such a nice guy. But didn’t speak a lick of English. Most of the time, he did his talking via Google Translate. But there’s a few really good things I remember about him. He was also very good with wife and his kids, always talking to them every night,” the New Zealander says.
“There were a lot of times we would go out and fight in the trenches, but no matter how scared he was, he never said no,” he says.
Time travel or not, death lurks at every corner in war, and for this unit, this isn’t their war; their families are safe thousands of miles away, and they could choose to rip up their rolling Ukrainian army contracts and go home at anytime.
But the men we meet are committed to Ukraine’s fight, none more so than Mann.
He sees his decision to join up as a moral imperative — he says that the start of Russia’s invasion on February 24 was just “one of those moments in your life when you don’t really have a choice.”
Asked if he had any regrets – his curt reply had a hint of the assured former Marine.
The Member of Parliament for Karaga Constituency in the Northern Region, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam is curious to know if there is a recommended number of ministers for a government in Ghana.
The Minister of State-designate for the Finance Ministry gave the retort when he asked on Tuesday if he thought the government needs a substantive Minister of Finance in this current economic crisis.
According to Dr Adam, no concrete number has been proposed as the ideal to guide the government in the appointment of ministers.
He explained that people have for years complained and asked government to reduce the number of its ministers but have never suggested the actual number government should appoint.
“Mr Chairman, I have heard over the last 20 years, people complain about the size of government and therefore, under every party in government, people have complained about the numbers.
“They complained about this under President Kufour, under President Mills, under President Mahama and today. What I haven’t heard is what the appropriate size of government should be”, he said.
Speaking before the Appointments Committee of Parliament for vetting on Tuesday, the Karaga MP said downsizing of government is not that easy and explained that reducing the size of government is a subject that needs proper deliberation before actions can be taken.
“And so that is a subject we can debate. Even as they are calling for downsizing of government, we need to ask ourselves what is government. Government includes Parliament and I have heard other people say that the size of Parliament is huge.
“So we need to debate as to what the appropriate size should be. Should it be benched-marked to the size of our budget, or should it be benched-marked to the size of our population? So this is a subject we can continue to discuss to determine the appropriate size”, Dr Adam stressed.
Dr Adam said that ministers are appointed by the President in the best interest of the country.
He said until the nation comes to an agreement as to the ideal size of government “every President will take a decision that reflects what he thinks is best to be able to carry out the functions of the State.
Commenting on whether it was apt to have replication of ministers in the same sector, the Karaga MP said “I think we need to put this in proper perspective. Downsizing is relative. For example, the number of ministers President Akufo-Addo had in his First-term is not the same as today. So to that extent, there has been downsizing.
“……….. And so if we have to debate and agree as a country that let’s bench-mark the number of ministers we have in any government to the size of the budget or let’s bench-mark it to the size of the population of our country, that in my view will be more scientific and (an) appropriate means of determining what the size of government should be”.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has clarified why Ghana took a stance against Russia in a United Nations General Assembly resolution in October 2022.
The vote was to condemn Russia’s annexation of three Ukrainian regions months after Moscow launched an onslaught on Kiev.
“This is something I need to put on record,” President Akufo-Addo stated whiles speaking with a German delegation led by Svenja Schulze, German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Akufo-Addo added that Ghana, for good reason led the independence fight in Africa, because of a historic position of being against great power domination of the affairs of the world.
That was the basis on which Ghana joined over 140 other nations to vote against Russia, “and it is a position we will continue to hold. Great powers trampling on small nations is not something that we welcome. Within our modest means we will register our disapproval of that.”
The war on Ukraine clocks a year today (February 24) with allies of Ukraine especially the United States promising to stand by them in the fight to resist Russia.
Ghana votes against Russia
Ghana voted in favour of a United Nations General Assembly resolution condemning Russian aggression on Ukraine by way of the recent annexation of four regions after a controversial referendum.
Ghana was one of 143 nations that voted ‘YES’ with 35 ‘ABSTENTIONS’ and five ‘NO’ votes.
A UN statement on the vote read: “The results were 143 Member States in favour, with five voting against, and 35 abstentions. The countries who voted against were Belarus, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Russia and Syria.
“A majority of those countries abstaining were African nations, alongside China and India.
“The resolution “defending the principles” of the UN Charter, notes that the regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia are temporarily occupied by Russia as a result of aggression, violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence,” it added.
The YES vote is consistent with Ghana’s position that Russia must end the war it started on February 24, 2022 and to respect all territorial arrangements that existed prior to the commencement of hostilities.
It was the second pro-Ukraine resolution Ghana has backed. The earlier one was in March, weeks after the war started, with Ghana voting to condemn Russian aggression on Ukraine.
The level to which the West has been reminded of its principles and purpose may be the biggest surprise in where we find ourselves now, especially if you remember the Europe of a year ago with clarity.
The unintentional cure to six years of awkward populism and the devastating economic and psychological effects of the pandemic was Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Also, it helped dispel the notion that morality and values were becoming less important in the face of the numerous difficulties brought on by global problems.
It shouldn’t have taken the deaths of thousands of innocent Ukrainians, the threat of nuclear attack, and the leveling of so much of a country, to make this point. But it’s perhaps the revulsion to Putin’s brutal and inept war that helped Europe and the rest of the West rediscover a collective sense of purpose.
The eyes of three old men thrust into our van in Posad Pokhrovka, in the early days of the war, desperate to flee shelling that had torn their world apart, still haunt me: Not even the Nazis beat them like that, they said, sobbing. They never thought they’d live long enough to see worse than the 1940s.
Wars can intensify scrutiny of both sides’ conduct to the point where each can be accused of some degree of wrongdoing. So, it’s important to pause at this point and consider the ugliness of the way Russia has waged this war.
Firstly, Moscow won’t even admit that it’s at war – a sign of the fictional landscape in which it wishes to fight.
Secondly, Moscow has burned through its professional army so fast, it is press-ganging students to the front, and resorting to unleashing human waves of Russian prisoners at Ukrainian trenches. Some return in coffins, the injured are sent back to fight.
Thirdly, the lack of sophistication – or even basic self-awareness – is striking. The Russian high command doesn’t even seem to want to address how bad it is. In the background, the threat of nuclear force has been brandished so ineptly – in chest-pounding signals from a weak Kremlin which is losing the most conventional of fights – it appears to have had the almost opposite effect, galvanizing the West into concerted action in the face of what amounts to nuclear blackmail.
Ukraine’s response has been further fuel to Western unity. Ingenuity has bolstered the Ukrainians’ defense. A territorial defense fighter, known as “Graf,” could talk in Kramatorsk for hours about the complexities of syncing drone surveillance to artillery, then switch to the role of Western private contractors in the war, and end with a blistering critique on the role alcoholism and corruption would have on the bones of Russia’s nuclear program.
Ukraine is sending its best and brightest to fight, and adapting to warfare faster than imaginable, while Russia is forcing convicts to run straight into the hail of bullets from Kyiv’s machine guns.
In the past year, fear of Moscow has begun to evaporate. The Cold War foe that could vaporize our world – whose warheads were the menace behind so many childhood animations and movies in the 80s – has not recovered and lost the internal blindness and shoddiness that led to the Soviet collapse. It’s as bad as it was, only more desperate – its elite twice-humiliated, first in the 90s, and now.
The Russian dead I witnessed, sprawled all over the roadside as Ukraine advanced in Kherson this summer, were scruffy, with a sleeping mat and workout gloves for comfort, and only rusting armor at their backs.
There is something tragic about how fast Russia has fallen. Deservedly so, perhaps, but pause also to remember that the first Putin years contained, despite their massacres in Chechnya and slow strangulation of dissent, a kernel of economic reform and progress for ordinary Russians. Putin was creating the middle class that would ultimately risk his downfall.
Now all that is gone, and a shrinking population will rasp on the edges of Europe for years to come. Whether Russia requires a harsh reprimand or not, the impact of its demise will be another problem Europe has to endure up close.
What’s most startling about the choice Moscow has imposed on the West – to seek its strategic defeat in Ukraine rather than its limited appeasement – is that Europe was heading in the other direction a year ago.
Defense budgets were growing in recognition of Russian malice, but the broad hope was that Putin would be a benign, grumpy neighbor arguing over the border fence, rather than a savage marauder bent on restoring an empire so aged in concept not even he was old enough to have seen it in full.
The West is engaged in an act of full-throated support of Ukraine that it’s fair to say most of its officials would have deemed far too provocative a year ago. Sending tanks, thinking of F16s, training troops… It’s hard to argue this isn’t already NATO’s war too, fought by proxy.
Is that a bad thing? For Ukraine, yes, whose sacrifice should never have had to happen. So much loss remains hidden: I recall being inside and shivering outside the administration building of Mykolaiv at the start of the war. Now all I can think of is how many must have been inside it when a missile tore it in two in March.
But this is a more limited scenario for Russia’s defeat than NATO war planners could have gamed. The Great Power was never meant to falter so explicitly, or so ineptly inspire unity in the foes it had worked so hard to divide.
A pattern of miscalculation and misstep by Moscow is not entirely comforting. It leaves the use of its nuclear arsenal as something of a wild card still. We know the consequences of nuclear weapons use for their victims and ordinary Russians. But that’s not stopped Putin up to now.
The possibility Russia’s nastiest toys also fail in their most destructive use – that the nuclear button just smokes and whirrs when struck – is perhaps what is holding Putin back, or the same streak of self-preservation that has guided his every move.
It is perhaps the innate selfishness and myopia of Russia’s system that reduces this threat and has enabled such a meaty Western response. The year ahead will likely see the non-conventional menace of a desperate Russia grow, and the slow tiring of Western support, as elections churn and budgets are strained.
But a wider victory has already been achieved in a year – in that unity of purpose and substance of support have prevailed, where Moscow sought to seek selfishness and division. That moment of clarity can’t be erased, no matter how long it endures.
American rapper and actor, Rotimi and his Ghanaian counterpart Kuami Eugene received a rousing welcome from fans when they rode through the streets of Kokomlemle in Accra on Thursday.
The duo met up after Rotimi arrived in Ghana earlier today. His arrival follows the release of their much-anticipated collaboration ‘Cryptocurrency’.
Many fans, some on foot and others on motorcycles, surrounded Kuami Eugene and Rotimi’s vehicles when they were spotted at Kokomlemle, in front of Joy FM.
“Rockstar, Rockstar, Rotimi,” the excited fans shouted. Kuami Eugene later sprayed some money on them.
Meanwhile, their collaboration comes nearly two weeks after Rotimi expressed interest in working with Lynx Entertainment signee Kuami Eugene.
The request comes after Kuami Eugene posted a video of himself on Instagram dancing to his unreleased song.
“Should I drop this next? #cryptocurrency,” the Lynx Entertainment signee had captioned his post.
Upon seeing the post, Rotimi took to the comment section to applaud Kuami Eugene. His comment included some fire emojis showing how much he loved the song.
“Bro this is mad. Send me this with an open verse!!! ASAP!!!” the American singer wrote.
The song was released at midnight, Thursday. The two artistes are expected to shoot a video for the song, according to sources.
The government of the Federal Republic of Germany says it is willing to assist Ghana push through its proposal with its external creditors, especially China, but first some conditions must be met.
The reaction follows President Akufo-Addo’s call on German Finance Minister, Christian Lindner, to “encourage” China to accept Ghana’s proposal for debt relief with its largest external creditor, China.
The Asian country claims about 1.7 billion of the entire external debt portfolio of 5.7 billion United States dollars which Ghana is seeking to restructure.
German Ambassador to Ghana, Daniel Krull in a yet to be aired interview on Foreign Affairs on the Joy News Chanel told host, Blessed Sogah, that his country is willing to help only if certain conditions are met.
“First of all, we insist that those measures that can be taken here in this country have to be taken. The second condition is that, yes, we are willing to take our share of responsibility as one of the major bilateral donors to Ghana.
“But only if all the others also join in this effort. And there is a multilateral framework that was set up exactly for these kind of crisis and we urge and try to convince all stakeholders in this process to stick to this agreed framework. It’s the G 20 framework,” he said.
When asked to lay out the terms of the domestic conditions to be met by Ghana, Daniel Krull indicated that “Let me let me point to three elements. The biggest loss maker in Ghana is the energy sector. This in this sector alone, each year, 1.5 billion new debt is piled up. So if that is not solved and you can ask the IMF for $10 Billion, you still will not solve the problem in the medium term.
“So there has to be an answer in Ghana to the 50% technical and non-technical losses in the energy sector. If that is not resolved, I don’t see how we can make find a sustainable solution for the financial problems of the country”.
He added “the second part is on the other side of the budget and that is the the revenues. Ghana has the lowest one of the lowest tax to GDP ratios, not even 13%. So we have been cooperating with the local authorities and setting up a very smart system of property tax collection. So I think that is an important way forward and this has to be done and processes and decision making has to faster to meet the goals, to be able to meet the targets that have been agreed with the IMF.”
The Ambassador also noted that he’s “still amazed on the procedures for how the budget is set up and how difficult it is to get an understanding of how this all works. And I think that is something that has to be (Improved) approved. He is however confident that with the necessary political will new opportunities will be created to enhance economic growth.”
Former Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu has bemoaned failure of the Electoral Commission (EC) to hold a limited registration exercise since 2021.
He says the EC has sinned against the Constitution by not holding any exercise in that regard.
According to him, this has disallowed some citizens who have come of age, the opportunity to enroll as voters.
He asked to be challenged on his assertion with facts and figures.
“Mr Speaker, for the record – 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, Ghanaians who have attained the age of 18 years have been denied the opportunity to be captured as registered voters. This is a constitutional wrong,” he said.
This situation, he noted, is unacceptable to a country committed to multiparty constitutional democracy.
“Mr Speaker, the right to vote and to be voted for is so sacred. Even for you elected Members of Parliament – one of the minimum qualifications for you to get voted as MPs is to show that you are a registered voter, that is the Constitution imposes in Article 94,” he added.
For this reason, he stated that the “Electoral Commission by virtue of their existing CI have no reason to tell anybody and this August House why they have still failed to capture Ghanaians who have attained 18 years.”
For this reason, the Tamale South MP said the EC must not be allowed to lay its new Constitutional Instrument (CI) in Parliament.
The ECs new CI makes the Ghana Card the only identification document to be used to guarantee citizenship.
The Minority is also opposed to a regulation in the CI which requires persons who want to register to do so at an EC district office.
According to Haruna Iddrisu, these regulations will disenfranchise Ghanaians, thus must not be allowed to go through.
“The Electoral Commission was now informing the Ghanaian public through Parliament that only the national ID card issued by the National Identification Authority (NIA) will be a sole reference document for the purpose of registration. Mr Speaker, that is the intendment of what is referred to as a draft CI,” he said.
“Again, Mr. Speaker, our committee found problems with that designation where it says a district office of the EC or any other place that the Commission considers appropriate. Mr Speaker, throughout history in 1993, since the establishment of the Electoral Commission, voter registration exercise is done at polling stations, not district offices,” he added.
But speaking in defence of the EC’s proposed Constitutional Instrument, MP for Akuapem South, O.B Amoah said the EC is justified in seeking to use the Ghana Card as the sole identity document.
He contended that the guarantor system has been abused, “in the sense that people override, detain guarantee contractors where they join the queue, get registered, they stand by and say that they are waiting for 10 or five people.”
Mr Amoah described the abuse of the guarantor system as a worry and must be taken into consideration.
“… If you look at this report, he seems to acknowledge that the guarantor system has been abused. Even as practitioners, the thought behind the guarantor system was to acknowledge that where a prospective registrant did not have any means of identification, they could fall on their parents, spouses, children to guarantee and sign a form that really I know this person,” he explained.
The government of the Federal Republic of Germany says it is willing to assist Ghana push through its proposal with its external creditors, especially China, but first some conditions must be met.
The reaction follows President Akufo-Addo’s call on German Finance Minister, Christian Lindner, to “encourage” China to accept Ghana’s proposal for debt relief with its largest external creditor, China.
The Asian country claims about 1.7 billion of the entire external debt portfolio of 5.7 billion United States dollars which Ghana is seeking to restructure.
German Ambassador to Ghana, Daniel Krull in a yet to be aired interview on Foreign Affairs on the Joy News Chanel told host, Blessed Sogah, that his country is willing to help only if certain conditions are met.
“First of all, we insist that those measures that can be taken here in this country have to be taken. The second condition is that, yes, we are willing to take our share of responsibility as one of the major bilateral donors to Ghana.
“But only if all the others also join in this effort. And there is a multilateral framework that was set up exactly for these kind of crisis and we urge and try to convince all stakeholders in this process to stick to this agreed framework. It’s the G 20 framework,” he said.
When asked to lay out the terms of the domestic conditions to be met by Ghana, Daniel Krull indicated that “Let me let me point to three elements. The biggest loss maker in Ghana is the energy sector. This in this sector alone, each year, 1.5 billion new debt is piled up. So if that is not solved and you can ask the IMF for $10 Billion, you still will not solve the problem in the medium term.
“So there has to be an answer in Ghana to the 50% technical and non-technical losses in the energy sector. If that is not resolved, I don’t see how we can make find a sustainable solution for the financial problems of the country”.
He added “the second part is on the other side of the budget and that is the the revenues. Ghana has the lowest one of the lowest tax to GDP ratios, not even 13%. So we have been cooperating with the local authorities and setting up a very smart system of property tax collection. So I think that is an important way forward and this has to be done and processes and decision making has to faster to meet the goals, to be able to meet the targets that have been agreed with the IMF”.
The Ambassador also noted that he’s “still amazed on the procedures for how the budget is set up and how difficult it is to get an understanding of how this all works. And I think that is something that has to be (Improved) approved. He is however confident that with the necessary political will new opportunities will be created to enhance economic growth.”
An Aide to former President John Mahama, Felix Kwakye Ofosu has ridiculed former Finance Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffuor over his decision to contest in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearership race.
This follows the picking of nomination forms on Thursday on his behalf by the Ashanti Regional Women’s Organiser, Gloria Huze, who led a delegation to the party headquarters.
Commenting on the development in an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story on Thursday, Mr Felix Kwakye Ofosu said although the John Mahama campaign team has enormous respect for Dr Duffour, “the truth is that Dr Duffuor flagbearership is such a wild fantasy.”
For this reason, the former Deputy Information Minister expressed his astonishment that “it is being tabled as a serious opposition” to ex president Mahama.
Explaining the reason for his statement, Mr. Kwakye Ofosu asserted that Dr Duffuor does not stand the chance of becoming the NDC flagbearer.
“Not that he is not quality material, he is by every stretch of the imagination, but there is a much better candidate in the shape of former President Mahama who can guarantee the NDC victory in 2024,” he added.
He went on to say that the general election in 2024 is not one to be trifled with, therefore the need for the party to put their best foot forward, adding that “President Mahama as far as the NDC is concerned, is the best candidate we can present for that election for many reasons.”
Former Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu says the Electoral Commission has sinned against the Constitution by not holding limited registration exercises since 2021.
According to him, this has disallowed some citizens who have come of age, the opportunity to enroll as voters.
He asked to be challenged on his assertion with facts and figures.
“Mr Speaker, for the record – 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, Ghanaians who have attained the age of 18 years have been denied the opportunity to be captured as registered voters. This is a constitutional wrong,” he said.
This situation, he noted, is unacceptable to a country committed to multiparty constitutional democracy.
“Mr Speaker, the right to vote and to be voted for is so sacred. Even for you elected Members of Parliament – one of the minimum qualifications for you to get voted as MPs is to show that you are a registered voter, that is the Constitution imposes in Article 94,” he added.
For this reason, he stated that the “Electoral Commission by virtue of their existing CI have no reason to tell anybody and this August House why they have still failed to capture Ghanaians who have attained 18 years.”
For this reason, the Tamale South MP said the EC must not be allowed to lay its new Constitutional Instrument (CI) in Parliament.
The ECs new CI makes the Ghana Card the only identification document to be used to guarantee citizenship.
The Minority is also opposed to a regulation in the CI which requires persons who want to register to do so at an EC district office.
According to Haruna Iddrisu, these regulations will disenfranchise Ghanaians, thus must not be allowed to go through.
“The Electoral Commission was now informing the Ghanaian public through Parliament that only the national ID card issued by the National Identification Authority (NIA) will be a sole reference document for the purpose of registration. Mr Speaker, that is the intendment of what is referred to as a draft CI,” he said.
“Again, Mr. Speaker, our committee found problems with that designation where it says a district office of the EC or any other place that the Commission considers appropriate. Mr Speaker, throughout history in 1993, since the establishment of the Electoral Commission, voter registration exercise is done at polling stations, not district offices,” he added.
But speaking in defence of the EC’s proposed Constitutional Instrument, MP for Akuapem South, O.B Amoah said the EC is justified in seeking to use the Ghana Card as the sole identity document.
He contended that the guarantor system has been abused, “in the sense that people override, detain guarantee contractors where they join the queue, get registered, they stand by and say that they are waiting for 10 or five people.”
Mr Amoah described the abuse of the guarantor system as a worry and must be taken into consideration.
“… If you look at this report, he seems to acknowledge that the guarantor system has been abused. Even as practitioners, the thought behind the guarantor system was to acknowledge that where a prospective registrant did not have any means of identification, they could fall on their parents, spouses, children to guarantee and sign a form that really I know this person,” he explained.
Janam Joachim Satekla, the second child and only son of dancehall artsite Stonebwoy and dentist Dr Louisa Satekla, turned four years old on February 23, 2023.
He had different themes for his birthday photoshoot to mark his special day.
One of them was a candy house set up with fake candies on a stick as Jaja, as he is affectionately called, made funny faces.
In another set of photos, he was in a bedroom setup as he leaned and sat comfortably on a giant teddy bear.
Janam truly enjoyed capturing these unforgettable moments as he beamed with smiles in the Captain America pictures.
Writing a touching message to her dear son, she wrote,
“Happy Birthday, my darling Janam. My big 4-year-old man . I love you so much. On this day, as you celebrate this milestone, I pray for long life filled with great health and fulfillment of all of your heart’s desires. God bless you abundantly, Janam ❤️”
Birthday wishes pour in for Janam
More birthday wishes are pouring in from Ghanaian celebrities and fans of Stonebwoy for little Janam as he turned four years old.
chichi.yakubu:
Happy birthday handsome, I pray you to grow in grace and stature. God shield and protect you all the days of your life. We love you from the internet side of things ❤️
viviesdance_factory said:
Happy birthday Janam!!! Grow in wisdom and stature, and may you gain favour before God and men. You will do greater things in your generation than the great ones are doing today. You cannot fail, dear, because you have a whole community rooting for you.❤️
Ghanaian singer Essi has finally touched on reports that record label, Lynx Entertainment, sampled her ‘Low’ song in their latest ‘Vibrate’ tune.
According to her, she was approached by some of her colleagues in class who showed her Lynx’s latest Vibrate song, which features DSL and Maya Blue.
After examining the rhythms, Essi said she was sure the inspiration behind the song stemmed from her Low hit song.
“I was in class, and people started showing me videos. So when I listened to it, I knew it was my melody, and I knew it was their hallmark. They do that a lot by taking hooks and sampling old songs.”
On the contrary, Essi said she didn’t mind since it equally portrayed that she was climbing up the ladder.
“But I think it also means I am doing the right thing. Sampling is not a big deal, but I think giving credit is okay,” she expressed.
Meanwhile, born Maame Esi Awotwe, Essi has released her debut 14-track album, dubbed G.O.O.D. tape Vol. 1.
The musician, who cemented her musical prowess by winning the 2011 TV3 Talented Kids show, says she is set to break the norm in the music industry.
Essi’s G.O.O.D. tape Vol. 1 album has most of the songs projecting Ghana’s indigenous highlife genre and championing Afrobeats.
The maiden album was recorded live with her new band called Pacs Band thus, keeping the melodies and rhythmic tones fresh to the listener regardless of the moment.
Meanwhile, the album features The Pacs Band (for the live recordings), Kelvyn Boy, Frenzy Offixial, Trap Boi Flame, and Prince Bright of Buk Bak fame.
Speaking on how poised she is to carve a niche for herself, Essi said she is willing to stretch her career beyond talent.
“Talent is not enough. But if you build yourself well, you go far. It’s not about going to school to learn music; you will have to understand your environment, the notes, and other elements,” she advised.
Nigerian Comedian Sabinus has linked up with famous Ghanaian comedian Senior Man Layla and has their fans drooling over the yet-to-be-seen skit.
The two skit makers have wowed their fans with their intelligent and rib-cracking skits over the past years and have decided to take it to another level.
On their way to an unknown location, the two skit-makers cruised and had lots of fun. Sabinus looked excited and cracked some jokes. Seated in the front were Sabinus and Senior Man Layla. Sabinus tried to squeeze his voice into the tiny sound that senior man Layla makes in his videos.
Sabinus and Senior Man Layla have both thrived and done tremendously well. They have taken comedy to another level and have thrown more light on its importance and why people should pay attention to this sector.
A video of a plus-size lady (@the_real_liso) dancing on TikTok has got both men and women asking her if her body type is natural. Before starting her performance, the lady turned her back towards the camera. With a smiling face, she made cool hand moves to an amapiano sound.
Before starting her performance, the lady turned her back towards the camera. With a smiling face, she made cool hand moves to an amapiano sound.
Curvy lady’s dance video trends
People who saw how wide her hips were wondered how she went about her activities with such a physique.
Ladies in her comment section were also surprised. Some said she had enough curviness to go round many women.
Ghanaian dancehall musician, Shatta Wale has revealed why he has not yet recorded a song in memory of late Black Stars winger, Christian Atsu despite the friendship they shared.
According to Shatta Wale, he has been hit deeply by the loss of Christian Atsu and that has affected his ability to write and compose a song to honour his memory.
He acknowledged that through his friendship with the deceased footballer was not extremely close like that of him and Asamoah Gyan, he was always proud of Christian Atsu’s hard work to make it in life.
“I have heard people ask why I haven’t done a song for Christian Atsu as I have done in the past. I know I have done songs to honour some personalities in the past including the late Major Mahama.”
“I haven’t been able to do it for Atsu because his death has hit me so sad and it has affected my ability to write a song for him,” Shatta Wale said.
He also criticized the media for waiting for Christian Atsu to die before publicizing his good deeds and the charity works he was doing while he was alive.
“God will punish you media people for waiting for him to die before making Ghanaians known the good deeds that he was doing. All the charity works he did, you couldn’t talk about it but now doing it because he is dead,” Shatta Wale ended.
Background
Christian Atsu was found dead on the morning of Saturday, February 18, 2022, at the site of his collapsed apartment twelve days after a devastating earthquake hit parts of Turkey and Syria.
The one-week observation of Christian Atsu has been scheduled for Saturday, March 4, 2023, in Accra.
Christian Atsu played in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and four other African Cup of Nations tournaments.
In all, Christian Atsu made 65 appearances and scored 9 goals for the Black Stars from 2012-2019.
Liberian delegation sings emotional song at Christian Atsu’s home during visit
In light of some forecasters’ concerns that a second storm may hit the nation, the Met Office advised citizens to prepare for the impending frigid weather.
‘Freezing fog’ earlier this month disrupted early morning commuters’ travel plans, and some airports had to cancel flights because of the chilly weather.
Because of the icy conditions, The Met even issued a weather alert.
Arctic winds are set to bring colder temperatures which are more usual for this time of year, which could result in snow and ice.
Met Office forecasters say a ‘sudden stratospheric warming’ (SSW), in which high pressure forces warmer air to the North of the UK allowing colder air to flow down from the Arctic, has a 31 per cent chance of bringing icy temperatures across Britain.
A spokesperson said it was a ‘clear and cold’ forecast for much of England and Wales, though ‘clouding up from the north.’
They added: ‘Cloud and rain pushes south across Scotland. Clearer, colder weather follows to the far north.’
Tonight temperatures could fall to as low as -4C in some areas of the country.
Ice cold temperatures are set to hit the UK overnightLow clouds have meant freezing fog blanketed the UK in the last few weeksThe overnight cold snap could bring snow and ice to parts of the UK. Last month St Michael’s Tower at the top of Glastonbury Tor was covered in the white stuff (Picture: PA)
Met Office forecaster Aidan McGivern said there has been less than 20 per cent of the UK’s average rainfall in February so far in large parts of England and Wales.
He said: ‘We’re going to have a frosty but bright start in the North and then cloud increases through the day. By the afternoon, there will be spells of rain into the North and North West of Scotland accompanied by a strengthening wind.
‘Some showers to begin things in the South, but these will soon clear away. Sunny spells will arrive into much of England and Wales by the end of the afternoon.’
Windsor was looking frosty this morning as Brits have been warned to brace themselves for freezing temperatures Freezing fog has hit the capital in recent weeks
He said temperatures could reach 10C (50F) in the South but that strong winds will hit the Northern Isles, ‘potentially reaching gale force’.
He added the cold pressure front bringing rain in Scotland today will continue pushing south overnight and throughout Friday.
Forecasters are warning the front could cause sleet, ice and snow in parts of the North today due to its lower temperatures.
Britain may have to get used to such conditions as the end of the month approaches with more northern winds bringing a longer Arctic blast.
Ghanaian actor and skit maker Dr Likee and his crew have paid tribute to the Late Ghanaian footballer Christian Atsu.
In an emotional video circulating on social media, Dr Likee told his crew to observe 5 minutes of silence in memory to remember the late Christian Atsu, who lost his life in a tragic earthquake that shook Turkey and Syria on February 6, 2023.
“Ride on brother to Heaven where you belong and you will forever be in our hearts” says songwriter Akwaboah jnr, as he pays a glowing tribute to the late Christian Atsu.
Many Ghanaian celebrities have reacted to the death of Christian Atsu with posts on their respective social media pages since the footballer was confirmed dead on Saturday, February 18, 2023.
However, Akwaboah has taken it to another level by composing a song in memory of the 2015 AFCON Player of the Tournament titled “Christian Atsu Tribute – Ride On“.
The two minutes low tempo-song had Akwaboah talking about the good memories Christian Atsu gave to Ghanaians while playing for the Black Stars from 2012-2019.
Akwaboah through his words in the song believes that Christian Atsu by virtue of his good deeds will ride on to heaven to rest in the bosom of the Lord.
The video of the song featured clips of Christian Atsu in the Premier League.
Police in California have issued a warning to the public to “not approach” a man who is skulking around a beachfront area dressed as Cookie Monster.
After reportedly intimidating parents to have their kids pose for photos with him and pay him for the “service,” the person attracted attention in Santa Cruz.
Additionally, he is alleged to have taunted onlookers while pacing the promenade along the shore.
According to a local employee named Mark who was questioned by broadcaster KSBW, the man started appearing last month on the same day Sesame Street creator Lloyd Morrissett passed away.
Mark said: ‘He was sad about that. He kept showing up and people started complaining about him.’
Michelle Roberts, a visitor to the pier, added: ‘At first glance, it just seemed like maybe it would be fun to do a selfie with him but we were away from him and then we went to the back of the wharf by the deadlines, and that’s when we saw him coming out making a commotion and getting in people’s faces.’
To make matters more mysterious, the man behind the mask may have previously had a stint terrorising people in New York and San Francisco in the 2010s while dressed in an Elmo costume.
Local police say his name is Adam Sandler, 59, of no relation to the Hollywood film star.
He was dubbed ‘Evil Elmo’ and arrested after shouting anti-Semitic rants and yelling at tourists who didn’t tip when they took a photo with him.
He was named as Dan Sandler, also known as Adam Sandler, in proceedings which led to him being sentenced to two days’ community service for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in 2012, the New York Post reports.
LA police detective Jeana Franco said in 2016: ‘This guy is like a national nuisance.’
Sheryl Lee Ralph Says Kissing Denzel Washington Was “Better Than You Think”
It’s the theory that certainly raised eyebrows.
If you’ve been MIA from social media over the past 48 hours, allow us to get into the hair-raising details: In a Feb. 21 TikTok video, Selena Gomez said she “accidentally laminated” her eyebrows too much. A few hours later, Kylie Jenner posted a selfie on Instagram Stories, writing, “this was an accident???” over her brows.
Additionally, Kylie also a screenshot of her and her friend Hailey Bieber seemingly on FaceTime—with the shot being a close up of their brows.
Needless to say, social media users theorized Kylie’s posts were a direct jab at Selena. However, the Kardashians star entered the chat to address the claim head-on.
“This is reaching,” Kylie commented on a Feb. 22 TikTok that explored the claim. “No shade towards selena ever and I didn’t see her eyebrow posts! u guys are making something out of nothing. this is silly.”
But it didn’t end there, as Selena also hopped in the comment section to respond, writing, “Agreed @kyliejenner It’s all unnecessary. I’m a fan of Kylie!”
TikTok
This isn’t the first time the “Same Old Love” singer addressed online commentary directly. In fact, Selena’s TikTok comment comes just days after she shared a self-love message in response to discourse about her appearance.
“I just want people to know that you’re beautiful and you’re wonderful,” Selena said in a Feb. 16 TikTok Live video. “And yeah, we have days where maybe we feel like s–t but I would much rather be healthy and take care of myself.”
As the actress—who has been open about her health struggles over the years—noted, “My medications are important and I believe they are what helps me. So, yeah, not a model, never will be. And I think they’re awesome, mind you, I just, I’m definitely not that.”
In July 2020, two motorists in Ashton-under-Lyme, Manchester—Kevin Jones, 36, and Thomas McGrath, 24—were going more than double the legal speed limit on a highway.
Safiullah Asif, a young boy playing with his brother and cousin, crossed the street and was struck by Jones’ black BMW.
Within two days, Safiullah passed away in the hospital.
Jones’ automobile had stopped following the crash, but McGrath’s
A Forensic Collision Reconstruction Report later showed Jones was speeding at around 50mph in the 20mph zone, while McGrath was travelling at an average speed of between 42 and 48mph.
The Manchester Evening News reported that prosecutor Neil Fryman said: “Mr Jones could not have driven at the speed he did when he killed Safiullah without Mr McGrath doing the same speed just in front.
‘Had McGrath been driving sensibly then Mr Jones could not have reached the speed that he did behind McGrath.’
The two men were sentenced at Bolton Crown Court (Picture: MEN Media)
Both men were was jailed for four years eight months for causing death by dangerous driving.
In an appearance Bolton Crown Court today, they were told they will also be disqualified from driving for five years upon their release from prison.
The Sun quoted Safiullah’s father as saying: ‘Myself, my wife and our whole family are very grateful to the police and the Prosecution Service, who have worked hard to get this case to court, and for all the support we have received from our Family Liaison Officer.
‘I want to thank the witnesses who came forward and the community for being a great support.
‘I am content with the sentencing today. We have lost Safiullah and he will never come back but I am pleased that we have finally got some justice.
‘Please can we ask that our privacy is respected so we can grieve for the loss of our son.’
PC Adam Scott of the Specialist Operations Roads Policing Serious Collision Investigation Unit said: ‘First of all, our thoughts remain with the family of Safiullah Latif Asif, who grieve and miss their son every single day.
‘We are pleased with today’s result, and we hope that this goes some way to help Safiullah’s family, knowing that both Jones and McGrath are off the streets and cannot hurt anyone else.
‘This was an extremely serious road traffic collision, and we would urge everyone to adhere to speed limits and behave in a responsible way on the roads.
‘As this case has shown, standards of driving like this result in the loss of lives and in this case, a young boy’s life.’
Academy president Janet Yang said its response to the Will Smith slap was “inadequate”
A “crisis team” will be introduced at this year’s Oscars, to handle any real-time incidents as a response to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock during the 2022 ceremony.
Academy chief executive Bill Kramer told Time magazine the new unit had “run many scenarios” in the hope they will be “prepared for anything”.
“Because of last year, we’ve opened our minds to the many things that can happen at the Oscars,” he said.
They are now quicker to react, he said.
Academy president Janet Yang previously said the response to Smith’s altercation with Rock was not swift enough.
Smith slapped the comedian after he made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head, which she shaved following an alopecia diagnosis. After returning to his seat, the actor repeatedly shouted, “Keep my wife’s name out your [expletive] mouth” at Rock.
Despite the incident, he remained at the ceremony and later collected the best actor Oscar for his performance in King Richard.
Although Smith later resigned from the Academy, it took several more days for the organisation to make a decision on his membership. He was ultimately banned from the Oscars gala and other Academy events for 10 years.
Kramer said the new team would be able to gather “very quickly” to issue a response on the night of the show itself.
“Let’s hope something doesn’t happen and we never have to use these [plans], but we already have frameworks in place that we can modify.”
Image caption, Andrea Riseborough was a surprise nominee for best actress for her performance in To Leslie
The crisis team has already been deployed, following the surprise best actress nomination for British actress Andrea Riseborough last month.
The star’s little-seen indie film To Leslie was an outsider in the Oscars race, but she secured a nomination after being championed by stars like Gwyneth Paltrow, Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston and Edward Norton.
Questions were raised over whether their endorsements contravened the Oscars’ rules on campaigning.
The Academy quickly responded that the issues did “not rise to the level that the film’s nomination should be rescinded”.
“You know, that happened on a Tuesday and, six days later, we were able to issue our formal statement from the board that really carved out a plan for us,” Kramer told Time.
Image caption, Bill Kramer: “Because of last year, we’ve opened our minds to the many things that can happen at the Oscars”
Asked about the ability to respond to “potential surprises” at this year’s ceremony, which will take place on 12 March, Kramer said having TV presenter Jimmy Kimmel as host was an asset.
“You want someone like Jimmy on stage who is used to dealing with live TV,” he said. “Things don’t always go as planned, so you have a host in place who can really pivot and manage those moments.”
He said he felt audiences “feel very safe and engaged with his energy”.
In 2017, Kimmel steered the Oscars back on track after La La Land was mistakenly announced as the winner of best picture.
“It hit me that I was the only one wearing a microphone, and I should probably go up there to sort it out,” said the chat show host in the aftermath of the incident.
Image caption, Jimmy Kimmel was Oscars host when La La Land was mistakenly given the best film Oscar in 2017 instead of MoonlightImage caption, Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall hosted last year’s awards
Last year’s awards were hosted by US comics Wanda Sykes, Regina Hall, and Amy Schumer.
“It’s so important to have a host who knows how to handle live television and a live audience,” Kramer added, saying he hoped it was “the beginning of a lovely, long new relationship” with Kimmel.
Kramer, aware of dwindling TV audience figures, added that this year’s show would be “much more immersive, much more nominee-focused, and much more focused on all of the disciplines of filmmaking”.
After it was discovered that Craig Melville, 41, was driving at 137 mph right before the collision, he was given a six-year prison sentence.
Craig Junior, his “adored” son, was flung from the car and found in a field some 40 metres away.
Following the crash on the B9176 near Alness in the Scottish Highlands, a 15-year-old girl also sustained injuries that would change her life.
The death of Craig junior ‘is something which will stay with Melville for the rest of his life’, the court was told during sentencing at the High Court in Glasgow.
Tragedy ensued on March 27, 2021, after Melville offered to take his son, the teenage girl and a woman for a drive after a birthday party.
After clocking his car on Ballachraggan Straight, officers ‘formed the view that he was travelling very significantly over the speed limit’, prosecutor Richard Goddard KC said.
He said: ‘Their detection device indicated the car was being driven at 137mph.’
Craig Junior was thrown from the vehicle and discovered in a field around 40 metres away (Picture: PA)Melville ‘adored’ his son, the court heard (Picture: Police Scotland)
Melville initially slowed on approach after signals for him to do so from officers – but a police chase was started when he then accelerated past them.
A woman who was a passenger in Melville’s car described feeling ‘uncomfortable and scared’ as he was ‘definitely driving too fast’.
Police tried to keep up but lost sight of the Audi before Melville lost control at a right-hand bend with fatal consequences.
The Audi went off the road and hit a stone wall before splitting in two.
The teenage girl suffered burns, multiple fractures and internal injuries after she was trapped under the vehicle.
The woman in the car was left with cuts and bruises, while Melville spent a week in hospital but scans were unable to detect any injuries.
He pleaded guilty in Edinburgh to causing the death of his son and serious injury to the girl by dangerous driving.
Craig Junior often spent time with his father working on cars and had an apprenticeship to train as a mechanic at the time, the court heard.
Neil Wilson, defending, said the tragedy could have ‘ripped the family apart’, but Melville’s family, including his wife, remain ‘entirely supportive’ of him.
He added: ‘He knows what happened is because he was driving too fast.’
Melville’s jail term was cut from nine years to six due to the guilty plea. The dad, from Alness, will also be banned from the road for 13 years.
During sentencing Lord Fairley told Melville, the ‘tragedy was almost unimaginable’, but the only sentence ‘appropriate was one of imprisonment’.
‘Aggravating factors are your earlier conviction for speeding in 2020, the very serious injuries suffered by (the girl) and the reasonable inference that, at the time of the crash, you were trying to outrun a police vehicle’, he said.
‘A substantial mitigating factor is that the person killed was a much-loved family member – your only child.’
The 33-year-old is described as white, 5’8 tall, medium build, with ash blond hair short hair, ginger/blond stubble, blue eyes.
He speaks with a West Yorkshire accent.
Police in Lochaber are appealing for assistance to help find Kyle Sambrook and his beagle Bane (Picture: Highland & Islands Police Division)
Kyle was believed to be wearing khaki and black Merrel hiking boots, khaiki and black Revolution Wraith outdoor trousers, a dark and light blue hooded Peter Storm waterproof jacket, grey North Face beanie hat.
He was carrying a grey and yellow Merrel backpack.
His dog is a medium sized beagle, which is white with brown markings on its back, and it is called Bane.
Kyle also had a green two-person tent which he was planning to use.
Kyle was intending to climb Buchaille Etive Mor (Picture: Highland & Islands Police Division)
Buachaille Etive Mòr, also known as The Buachaille, is a mountain at the head of Glen Etive in the Highlands of Scotland.
It is one of the best known of all the country’s Munro peaks.
If you believe you may have seen Kyle and/or his dog whilst walking in the hills, or in the area since Saturday 18th, please contact police on 101, quoting reference number MPR7394840223.
Police in Scotland have also urged anyone with dashcam footage from the area to make contact.
On February 24, one year has passed since Russian forces invaded.
When asked if we could expect the battle to continue in another 12 months, Ben Wallace responded, “I think we will.”
“I believe that Russia has completely disregarded the lives of both its own military and the people of Ukraine.
‘We are sitting here 12 months in and 188,000, actually more now, Russian soldiers are dead or injured as a result of this catastrophic miscalculation and aggression by President Putin.
‘When someone has crossed the line and thinks it is OK to do that to your own people, running effectively a meat grinder for an army, I think he is not going to stop.’
Mr Wallace added that planes currently held by Nato countries could be given to Ukraine as the conflict continues.
The Defence Secretary stressed the battle in Ukraine was ‘not a Nato conflict’.
Ukraine has begged for more tanks and weapons to aid their forces (Picture: Getty / REX)Ben Wallace said Putin ‘will not stop’ (Picture: UK MOD Crown copyright)
But, asked on LBC whether Nato-supplied fighter jets could be sent to Kyiv, he said: ‘Supplied by Nato, yes.
‘There is already talk, I think, of an eastern European country supplying MiG-29s.
‘We’re not going to see Nato, we’re going to see countries that are members of Nato potentially put in air force equipment or MiG-29.’
He claimed he ‘didn’t start the war’ in a rambling address that lasted near to two hours.
A selection of cabinet minsters, deputies and senators were all in attendance as the address is broadcast across the world.
Putin referred to the war as a ‘special military operation’ and referred to the situation in Ukraine as a ‘military coup’.
He claimed Ukrainians have been waiting for his troops to ‘come to their help’ and that the West released a ‘genie in a bottle.’
Vladimir Putin attends a patriotic concertin Moscow on February 22, 2023. (Picture: Maksim Blinov/ SPUTNIK/AFP)Medical personnel from Ukraine’s 72nd Mechanized Brigade treat soldiers at a stabilization hospital near the frontline on February 22, 2023 (Picture: John Moore/Getty Images)
Putin said: ‘They started the war and we used the force to stop it.”
‘They spent $150bn to support militarily Kyiv’s regime.’
He went on to tell the audience each Russian has a ‘great responsibility’ to ‘protect our people on our historic land.’
Former Deputy Interior Minister and MP for Builsa North, James Agalga, says the government had failed to anticipate the dire security consequences that was bound to arise in the face of attempts to arrest the Nayiri.
Armed soldiers deployed to Nalerigu to arrest the Nayiri clashed with the town’s youth on the night of February 19.
The attempt by the soldiers followed a warrant issued by a High Court in Bolgatanga for the arrest of the two traditional leaders for their involvement in the enskinment of a chief.
According to JoyNews correspondent, Eliasu Tanko, the military forces upon their arrival on Sunday night, however, could not carry out the arrest as they were met by the angry youth of the town.
However, following the incident the youth set up road blocks to prevent further incursions by the military.
Speaking on PM Express, James Agalga, says it appears the state was confused on how to handle the sensitive issue.
“Government was a little bit confused about how to proceed in the face of the enskinment that took place in Walewale. First of all, they failed to anticipate the very dire security consequences that were bound to arise in the face of any attempts to arrest the Nayiri in Nalerigu.
“I thought that as the managers of the country’s security they ought to have anticipated that an attempt to arrest the two in Nalerigu would create very serious problems for them,” he said.
He added that the state should have gathered intelligence on the ground before deciding whether to embark on such a risky undertaking or not.
According to him, following the incident, tempers in Nalerigu have flared, and there is a need to cool down the situation before it gets out of hand.
“My worry is that I don’t know what intelligence they got from Nalerigu and even in the North East region, because I had somebody who gave me firsthand account of what happened when the person tried to ply the highway between Bolga to Tamale, and he tells me the scene was very nasty and something very terrible could have happened.
“I don’t want to mention names, but this informant tells me that when the youth of the area mounted road blockades and intercepted him, some initially thought he was some other person. But when they realized that he wasn’t the person they were looking for, they told him in the face that he was very lucky. I am just wondering what would have happened if the youth had managed to intercept the very person they said they were looking for.
“And so I think that next time we need to be guided, some of these decisions we take must be informed by the intelligence we gather from the ground before we make such a move,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Mamprugu Traditional Council has demanded an unqualified apology from the government for “disrespecting their Kingdom.”
Prior to tomorrow’s commemoration of the Russian invasion’s first anniversary, the demonstration was organised by the activist group Leading By Donkeys.
They stated in a tweet that tomorrow marks the first anniversary of Putin’s imperialist invasion of Ukraine, a sovereign nation with unalienable rights.
He will be reminded of that by the presence of a sizable Ukrainian flag outside his embassy in London.
The Met Police confirmed three men and one woman were arrested this morning on suspicion of criminal damage and obstructing the highway.
One truck driver was not so impressed (Picture: Reuters)Led By Donkeys members got to work this morning (Picture: REUTERS)
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Ukraine flag painted on road outside Russian embassy in London
Officers attended Kensington Palace Gardens around 8.45am, where paint had been thrown on the highway.
The protest group were met with support for the stunt on Twitter, with one writing: ‘No idea how you arranged that, but I’m most impressed.’
The road soon was full of yellow and blue (Picture: Reuters)A cyclist rides on a painted road (Picture: Reuters)Luckily, the paint is washable (Picture: Handout/Led By Donkeys via Getty Images)
They’ve previously protested the former Metropolitan Police commissioner, Dame Cressida Dick, who resigned in February 2022.
In a statement at the time, she said the London mayor Sadiq Khan ‘no longer has sufficient confidence in my leadership to continue.’
She added: ‘He has left me no choice but to step aside as commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service.’
Dame Cressida was later replaced by Sir Mark Rowley.
An Aide to former President John Mahama says the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) do not stand a chance in winning the 2024 elections it criminally destroyed the national economy.
According to Felix Kwakye Ofosu, his boss comes with a vision that will make reckless borrowing and mismanagement of the economy a thing of the past.
Former President John Mahama announced his comeback bid after picking forms on Wednesday to contest the flagbearership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
“Former President Mahama wants to restore this nation’s economy to health. The reckless borrowing, deliberate mismanagement and criminal ways of public resources will be a thing of the past.
“NDC government will carry out far-reaching governance, political and economic reforms for it to be impossible for a government to destroy the country ever again at the extent the NPP has done,” he said.
He added that former President Mahama will in the coming days engage Ghanaians on public platforms to spell out his new vision and his reason for a comeback.
“But even before he does that, even a toddler knows that this NPP government, is simply not an option in this election and that the criminal destruction of our economy that Bawumia has supervised is sufficient reason to boot them out at the earliest opportunity come 2024.”
Meanwhile, the Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah says the former President is indecisive and has nothing new to offer.
“We’ve defeated the person twice so we are not afraid of Mahama. Those visions he had vanquished the economy. We won’t allow him to come and repeat it because he has nothing new,” he said.
Son of Ghanaian billionaire and business mogul Osei Kwame Despite has posted some photos on Instagram.
In the photos, he sat on a comfortable couch with colleagues from the bar. They wore black and white robes and a peruke, the wig-like hat worn by lawyers.’
Also in the photos were some famous faces who had featured in some of his pictures. The post made by Kennedy Osei on Instagram had no caption but spoke volumes.
A flagbearer hopeful of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Alan John Kyerematen has pledged to resuscitate Ghana’s ailing economy if given the nod as President.
According to the former Trade Minister, the economic crisis the country is facing will be a thing of the past if the Ghanaina populace rallies their support behind him.
“The current challenges that confront our economy will hopefully be a thing of the past. I want to assure you that if through your blessings and prayers, your own son becomes the leader of our party and subsequently the President of this country, I will bring the economy back to life. It will not be through my effort but by the grace and mercy of Allah”, he said.
Speaking during his tour of the Northern Region, Mr Kyerematen said NPP initiated a lot of social intervention programmes but fears a non-NPP government will discontinue all of them if they win the 2024 general elections.
He said it is the reason why it is crucial for the NPP to break the eight.
“The President has introduced many important interventions in this country. We have introduced the Free SHS policy, the One District, One Factory Policy (1D1F), Planting for Food and Jobs and many others. Your Majesty, it will be a tragedy of history if the NPP is unable to continue in government. All these important initiatives will be discontinued if another government takes over”, he stressed.
The flagbearer hopeful continued to say “it’s therefore, our wish that for the first time in the history of our country that the NPP can continue after eight years in office so that all of these laudable programmes will be sustained”.
In France, a young teenager who is accused of fatally stabbing his teacher in front of frightened students said he was “possessed.”
Soon after the incident in a private Catholic high school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a seaside town near the border with Spain, the 52-year-old female Spanish instructor passed away from a single stab wound caused by a “big knife.”
Police sources told French television station TF1 that the 16-year-old suspect claimed to have heard voices urging him to kill her after being apprehended.
A classmate, Inès, 16, said the attacker seemed ‘very calm’ as he approached the teacher and plunged the knife into her chest ‘without saying a thing’.
‘There had never been any problems between him and the teacher in class’, Inès added.
Another pupil said the attacker had got up from his seat in the middle of the lesson holding a wad of papers inside which he had concealed the weapon.
The suspect’s classmates were ‘aware that [he] had psychological problems’ and at least one believed he had been on medication for stress.
Pupils arrived at the school gates on Thursday to lay floral tributes to the well-liked teacher
The teacher was said to have worked at the school for many years and was well-liked by colleagues and pupils.
France’s education minister, Pap Ndyiae, described the school of 1,000 pupils as a ‘peaceful establishment’ where ‘no one could have foreseen such a terrible tragedy’.
Announcing he was on his way to Saint-Jean-de-Luz to support the community, he tweeted: ‘Immense emotion following the death today of a teacher at Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin high school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz.
‘My thoughts go to their family, colleagues and students.’
Pupils, parents and teachers gathered to mourn the teacher, who has not been named
Investigators say terrorism is not being considered as a motive, with a potential psychiatric disorder currently thought the most likely factor.
The beheading of French history and geography teacher Samuel Paty, 47, by a student in 2020 received worldwide attention after authorities described it as an ‘Islamist terrorist attack’.
Abdoullakh Abouyezidovich Anzorov, 18, who attended another school, travelled to Mr Paty’s town and murdered him in the street after seeing a video falsely claiming the teacher had asked pupils to leave before showing them a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.
It later emerged the video was made by the father of one of Mr Paty’s pupils and was based on lies she which she told him to deflect from her bad behaviour.
The General Secretary of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Nana Yaa Jantuah has hit hard at the NPP government for keeping Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, in office months after the country’s economy deteriorated.
The former Public Affairs Director for the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) who was speaking on Power FM’s Inside Politics programme wondered why the minister was still in office after Ghana borrowed so hugely in a debt distress level.
“Ken Ofori-Atta abon [Ken Ofori-Atta is incompetent],” she said in Akan while explaining that the finance minister is highly incompetent and unintelligent for allowing the economy to slowly grind to a halt amid warnings from experts.
“When I call them F9 (unintelligent) ministers people want to come after me but that is who they are: non-performing ministers,” she argued.
Yaa Jantuah said times are hard that the working class and the ordinary people cannot afford a 3 square meal which was possible before the NPP took over power in 2017.
The hardship, she explained, was as a result of the inflationary spiral fuelled by a steep depreciation of the cedi which was not managed for a long time.
To her, President Akufo-Addo should have sacked Ofori-Atta long before the economy got crushed to a point that the country cannot pay for its domestic and external debts.
Experts and rating agents have described Ghana’s economy as one that is in a huge debt crisis.
Finding a way to handle the government’s debts internationally, Finance Minister Ofori-Atta recently disclosed that the government has initiated talks with China over Ghana’s debt following a successful Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
He told Citi News that negotiations with China are important because China holds the majority of the external bonds, stressing that he was to lead a delegation to China to plead for debt cancellation.
“The big elephant in the room is China, we will be visiting China by the end of the week to really discuss how they come into the envelope as quickly as possible. So we are looking at that support from them. China represents about a third of the $5.7 billion loan and so it is important that we engage them,” he said.
Nana Yaa Jantuah believes Ghana should not have degraded to a level that a team that mocked the previous government for going for an IMF bailout will now be drowned in debt borne out of mismanagement.
He partly blamed the nepotistic nature of President Akufo-Addo who is related to Ofori-Atta for the economic mess which she said had plunged the country into hunger.
A man who wasn’t able to read or write until he was 18 is going to become the youngest-ever black professor at Cambridge University.
After being diagnosed with autism and being rendered silent until the age of 11, Professor Jason Arday was informed that he would likely spend the most of his adult life in assisted living.
The 37-year-old Londoner from Clapham spent years being “violently rejected” when he initially began writing for academic purposes.
Professor Jason Arday was told he would likely spend his adult life in assisted living after being diagnosed with autism and remaining speechless until he was 11.
The 37-year-old, from Clapham in London, spent years getting ‘violently rejected’ when he first started writing academically.
He will be one of just five black professors at the institution and one of 155 black university professors in the UK from a total of 23,000.
‘My work focuses primarily on how we can open doors to more people from disadvantaged backgrounds and truly democratise higher education’, he has said.
‘Hopefully being in a place like Cambridge will provide me with the leverage to lead that agenda nationally and globally.’
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Professor Arday was diagnosed with global developmental delay when he was a child, but says that didn’t make him question the world around him any less.
He is hoping to inspire people from under-represented backgrounds into higher education (Picture: University of Cambridge Faculty/ SWNS)
He says he remembers thinking ‘Why are some people homeless? Why is there war?’ as a youngster.
‘I remember thinking if I don’t make it as a football player or a professional snooker player, then I want to save the world’, he added.
After learning to read and write as a teenager, he became a PE teacher, which gave him an insight into the systemic inequalities that children can face in education.
He knew he wanted to study further, but felt lost as he had no guidance on how to create his own path.
Aged 27, he wrote on his bedroom wall at his parents’ house: ‘One day I will work at Oxford or Cambridge.’
He remembers his college mentor, Sandro Sandi, telling him, ‘I think you can do this – I think we can take on the world and win’.
This was the first time he ‘really believed in himself’ and he became ‘determined and focused’ after this talk.
Still working as a PE teacher during the day, he wrote papers and studied by night.
‘When I started writing academic papers, I had no idea what I was doing’, he said.
‘I did not have a mentor and no one ever showed me how to write. Everything I submitted got violently rejected.
‘The peer review process was so cruel, it was almost funny, but I treated it as a learning experience and, perversely, began to enjoy it.’
After years of relentless hard work, Professor Arday has two master’s degrees and a PhD in educational studies.
He has had roles at the University of Glasgow and the University of Durham, and is an adjunct professor at the Nelson Mandela University.
Looking back at his inspiring story, he says he knows ‘this is what I meant to do’.
He will start at the University of Cambridge on March 6 as Professor of Sociology of Education in the Faculty of Education.
Tarkoradi-based Ghanaian rapper, Kofi Kinaata, has flaunted his lavish lifestyle in new photos.
Taking to his verified Instagram page to share the pictures, he looked stylish in his bell-bottom trousers and a white shirt which he topped with a white winter jacket.
He rocked a golden mini-Cuban necklace and a white-framed pair of glasses that gave him a fantastic look.
While leaning on the blue sports car, he beamed with smiles as he looked dapper in the pictures.
Unfortunately, the crown of the sports car did not show in the pictures, making it difficult to tell which company it was manufactured from.
Below are gorgeous pictures of Kofi Kinaata posing with a luxury sports car.
Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. has taken a swipe at African leaders, especially the Akufo-Addo-led government for their persistent attribution of the ongoing economic hardships to the Russia/Ukraine war.
The leaders have been talking about how the war between the two countries has negatively impacted Ghana’s economy in various sectors including the agricultural sector.
Government communicators try on daily basis to make Ghanaians understand why the Russia/Ukraine conflict is a major contributory cause of their woes.
But to Mr. Pratt, it is shameful to blame Ukraine.
Settling on the challenges in the agriculture sector, Mr. Pratt disclosed that there are some leaders who till date keep blaming Ukraine saying there is food crises in Ghana because of the war.
This, to him, is preposterous as he explained that Ghana has arable lands to produce food.
” . . If you have 40 percent of the arable lands of the world and you have to go to Ukraine for food, are you not ashamed? . . . Why are our leaders crying that we can’t find food because of Ukraine war? What a shame? What an admission of failure; crass incompetence?”, he wondered how the nation is expected to develop.
Kwesi Pratt spoke on Peace FM’s flagship programme “Kokrokoo.
Chief Executive officer of Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF), Nana Kwaku Agyei Yeboah, has said that the organisation was transforming to meet the demands of tertiary education financing in Ghana.
He said that with the introduction of the Free Senior High School (FSHS) policy, there had been an increase in the number of students who were qualified for funding from the SLTF.
“This means that we have to dismantle barriers to accessing our loans for the poorest in society, while exploring new sources of financing and increasing our loan recovery efforts,” he said.
Mr Yeboah said that in addition to removing the guarantor requirement to allow more students to access the loans, several measures had also been instituted to ensure that recovery of due loans met targets to ensure the sustainability of the Fund.
He made the remarks as he welcomed a delegation from the Higher Education Students Loan Board (HESLB) of Tanzania, which is in Accra to understudy the government’s “No Guarantor” Policy being implemented by the Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF).
The 11-member delegation will be looking at key areas of student loan administration in Ghana.
The areas of interest for the delegation include the operationalisation and efficiency of the SLTF’s funding sources, customer experience management and the digitalisation of the SLTF’s operations.
Members of the delegation comprise the Heads of key departments at HESLB, including finance and administration, planning and ICT, loan recovery, loan disbursement and corporate partnerships.
During their visit, they will also hold meetings with the GETFund, the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems and the Tanzanian Students Union of Ghana.
The leader of the delegation, Dr Kennedy Hosea, Director for Higher Education at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, traced the historic links between the two countries and thanked the SLTF for the opportunity to understand its operations.
Nana Kwaku Agyei Yeboah said that the SLTF had hosted a number of tertiary loan agencies on the continent in recent times, adding that the SLTF was always ready to share its experience with other agencies and also to learn from them.
The No Guarantor Policy was launched in June 2022, and its implementation in Ghana is being keenly monitored by member states of the Association of Africa Higher Education Financing Agencies (AAHEFA).
Ghanaian actress Jackie Appiah has caused a stir on social media with her new looks while enjoying her first vacation in 2023 in London.
Ghanaian actress Jackie Appiah goes on a solo date wearing ripped jeans
The style influencer inspired fashion lovers and enthusiasts with her street vibes. She donned a white top and pink blazers paired with blue ripped jeans.
Jackie Appiah wore mild makeup with bold eyebrows and glossy lips. She wore pointed clear glass shoes to complete her edgy look.
Ghanaian actress Jackie Appiah shows off her new hairstyle
The globetrotter and style influencer looked classy in a long bone straight hairstyle. She slayed in a skintight tee shirt and leggings styled with a fur jacket.
Jackie Appiah rocked a purple Yves Saint Laurent cross bag and wore the famous Adidas Yeezy sneakers to complete her look.
The General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr Titus Beyuo has resigned from post.
According to close sources, his resignation is to pave way for him to contest the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary primaries in the Lambussie Constituency of the Upper West Region.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the medical practitioner said his decision to venture into politics has been influenced by his desire to better the lot of locals in the Lambussie Constituency.
According to him, the Constituency is pregnant with a lot of prospects and therefore the need for a ‘stronger representation on the national stage’.
He however, noted that the decision to transit from his professional practice into partisan politics was not an easy one.
Nonetheless, Dr Beyuo said the support of his family, close associates and other prominent people helped him to finally decide on his political ambitions.
“Arriving at this decision was an uphill task, but the support and encouragement received from my family, traditional leaders in the Lambussie Traditional Council, party leadership at the national, regional, constituency and branch levels, and friends during the consultative process, made this less difficult”, the doctor said.
An appeal for funds from the former GMA Secretary to help his campaign
He added that he believes in the ideologies of the National Democratic Congress, while touting the prospects of the Lambussie Constituency.
“I am fully persuaded that the social democratic governance of the NDC holds the key to the alleviation of extreme poverty, provision of healthcare to all, restoration of the economy and above all ensuring fairness and equity in the distribution of the national cake.
At the Lambussie Constituency level, an endowed border district to Burkina Faso with rich cultural heritage, with hardworking and peaceful people, rich human resource, needed for developments, is lagging.
“We remain a district without an inch of tarred roads (other than the transnational road connecting to Burkina Faso) and worse performance in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in the Upper West Region.
“The district needs stronger representation on the national stage and a stronger advocate to act as a catalyst to speed up developmental initiatives and this is what I seek to offer”, portions of the statement read.
While apolgosing to those who may have been disappointed in his decision, he indicated that he has picked his nomination forms to contest the Lambussie seat, after submitting his resignation to the Ghana Medical Association.
“I count on the support of all to guarantee victory in the upcoming elections.
“It is my firm belief that the grace of God will abound to me as I make this switch from a professional and academic career into frontline politics. I need your prayers and continuous support. God bless us all!”, the statement concluded.
Dr Beyuo is a consultant obstetrician, gynaecologist and an epidemiologist. He is also a senior lecturer at the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS).
In a related development, the Acting Volta Regional Director of Health, Dr Senanu Kwesi Djokoto, has also set his sail to contest the NDC parliamentary primaries in the Keta Constituency.
Meanwhile, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will hold its presidential and parliamentary primaries on Saturday, May 13, 2023, to elect a new flagbearer as well as its parliamentary candidates for the 2024 elections.
Per the schedule announced by the party on January 18, aspirants are expected to pick their nomination forms at the party’s headquarters at Adabraka or access them via the party’s official website.
Parliamentary aspirants will be picking their forms from Monday, 20th February to 24th February at a fee of GH¢5,000; and later submit them at a fee of GH¢40,000 between March 20 to March 22.
This will be followed by the vetting of aspirants from 27th March to 29th March, 2023.
China has categorically denied the US’s suggestion that it is considering giving Russia arms and ammunition for the Ukraine conflict.
According to last week’s remarks by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, American information indicates Chinese companies may provide ‘lethal support’ to the Kremlin.
Beijing quickly brushed aside the suggestion as false and accused Washington of ‘finger-pointing’.
Antony Blinken and China’s top foreign diplomat, Wang Yi (Picture: AP)
But whether this will happen is not clear-cut, Bill Browder, once the largest foreign investor in Russia and now an outspoken Kremlin critic, told Sky News.
‘Russia used to be a big arms exporter but they’re in such bad shape they’ve had to go to the only two countries that are so sanctioned they don’t care – North Korea and Iran.
‘If China were to enter the game and give them weapons, that would be a game-changer for Russia. That would be terrible for Ukraine and it could lead to a third world war.’
But Browder raised his eyebrow at the likelihood of China actually flogging military supplies to Russia, stressing the nation ‘survives off of selling stuff’.
‘To us and many other people, if they all of a sudden were doing this nasty killing of Ukrainians – if we see an unexploded Chinese missile on the ground of Ukraine – that’s gonna lead to many people’s call for sanctions, economic counter-measures,’ he said.
Western officials have become increasingly concerned over China siding with Russia and arming the nation (Picture: AP)Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Wang Yi this week
‘And does China really want that, when that’s their economy? What’s in it for them, other than poking NATO, America and the UK in the eye.’
Browder said he isn’t surprised ‘at all’ the war is still dragging nearly a year on, with the one-year anniversary of the invasion tomorrow.
Now a brutal, bloody slog, the chief executive of Hermitage Capital Management said: ‘Neither side has any incentive to compromise in any way – Putin can’t.
‘For him, compromise or negotiation is a sign of weakness and weakness would mean putting him at risk of losing his power.
‘He’s committed so many gross atrocities, murders, rape, destruction of territory, that the Ukranians have no willingness to negotiate either.
‘So both sides are going to fight on.’
China has said it is an ‘impartial position’ over the Russia-Ukraine war
With neither side having a ‘military advantage’ over the other, Browder said he expects the war to keep ‘grinding on and on and on’.
‘It will go on until one side collapses or the other side collapses,’ Browder said, adding that Ukrainian soldiers could ‘physically’ push Russia out of the country to end the conflict.
That is why support for Ukraine from world leaders is both powerful and fragile, he said, noting that a simple change of government in the US could completely upend the playing field.
‘I can imagine we’ll be sitting here a year from now having the same conversation,’ Browder added.
Putin warmly welcomed China’s top foreign policy official, Wang Yi, to Moscow yesterday in a clear sign the Kremlin is keen to keep Beijing in its corner.
‘Our relations have never been directed against third countries,’ Wang told Putin, per reports. ‘Our relations have withstood pressure from the international community and are developing very stably.’
The Russian president earlier said he was looking forward to meeting with his ‘friend’ Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, in Russia soon.
Bill Browder said he is not surprised that Putin’s war has stretched out for nearly a year (Picture: Getty Images)
Though, Wang met with Putin after a week-long tour of western Europe in which he insisted to European leaders China is not supporting the president’s invasion.
The office of French President Emmanuel Macron said the two discussed the war, agreeing they had ‘the same objective of contributing to peace in line with international law.’
Amid fears of the war escalating, Blinken told Mega TV on Tuesday: ‘Well, we are certainly not talking about World War III.
‘And what we want to do is not to broaden this war in any way but hopefully, bring it to an end.
The first Vice-Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies Prof. Joshua Alabi, has described the former president as the Messiah Ghana badly needs to steer her off the current crisis.
Prof. Joshua Alabi believes Mahama is a gift from God citing his experience as a former president and someone who is willing and available to lead the country again as president.
“With the crisis that we have today, experience counts and not just experience but someone who has done it before.
“We, and the good people of Ghana believe, this is the time that we need a Messiah and the Messiah is His Excellency John Dramani Mahama,” Alabi told press men at the National Democratic Congress (NDC) headquarters in Accra.
Alabi led a delegation that went to the office on February 22 to pick nomination forms for Mahama’s bid to lead the NDC into the 2024 presidential elections.
He said all internal competitors could not match up to the pedigree of Mahama even though he stayed away from mentioning names.
“The country needs a hand who knows almost everything, that is why Ghana needs an experienced leader who has done it before and is available and is willing, then we are lucky, he is a gift from God,” he added.
Mahama declares bid, picks nomination forms
Mahama’s formal intention to run for a third consecutive shot at the presidency was reported when a number of NDC MPs confirmed that he was going to contest.
On February 22, forms were picked on his behalf by Prof. Alabi and regional chairmen amid fanfare. Mahama is expected to address the media in due course to formally announce his bid.
Mahama’s political roots date as far back to the days of Ghana’s independence when his father served in the Nkrumah government.
John Mahama, a political thoroughbred
He is reputed to be one of the most thoroughbred politicians of the Fourth Republic having served from the local level (Assembly) through to becoming a Member of Parliament for Bole Bamboi on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress.
Mahama held deputy minister and ministerial portfolios under the Rawlings government before rising to become vice president under John Mills and president when he took over from Mills then won his first full term in 2012.
He is widely expected to contest for the presidency come 2024 as he seeks a final term in office on the back of two straight defeats to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2016 and 2020.
Scores of National Democratic Congress enthusiasts trooped to the premises of the party headquarters to join their preferred flagbearer candidate, Dr Kwabena Duffour, as he picked up his nomination forms.
Dr. Kwabena Duffour, a former Governor of the Bank of Ghana who has indicated his intentions to contest for the flagbearership position of the party picked up his nomination forms on Thursday, February 23, 2023.
Scores of individuals believed to be in the camp of Dr. Duffour, thronged the NDC headquarters, singing and cheering for him.
Dressed in party colours, with various party paraphernalia and wielding placards with posters of Dr. Duffour, these enthusiasts threw their support behind Dr. Duffour, while one of the party’s theme songs played in the background.
Dr. Duffour however did not pick up the forms personally, he designated the Ashanti Regional Women’s Organiser of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Gloria Huze, and his spokesperson who represented him.
This comes after representatives of Former President, John Dramani Mahama, Former Kumasi Mayor, Kojo Bonsu, and Businessman, Ernest Kwaku Korbeah all picked up their nomination forms on Wednesday, February 22, 2023.
The forms pegged at 30,000 Ghana Cedis will be filled and returned to the party’s Elections Committee. Candidates will then be vetted and when approval is given, they can then begin campaign. This was reiterated by Chairman of the Elections Committee, Kakra Essamuah.
Produce stores have recently been empty due to poor harvests in Africa and Europe, bad weather, and transportation issues.
The number of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and peppers that customers can put in their baskets and carts is capped.
One shopper who attempted to buy 100 cucumbers was turned away by shop staff.
Therese Coffey today warned the Commons that disruption could last for weeks.
She told MPs: ‘I am led to believe by my officials after discussion with industry and retailers, we anticipate the situation will last about another two to four weeks.
‘It is important that we try and make sure that we get alternative sourcing options. That is why the department has already been in discussion with the retailers.
‘It is why there will be further discussions led by ministers as well, so that we can try and get over this and try and avoid similar situations in the future.
‘Even if we cannot control the weather it is important that we try and make sure the supply continues to not be frustrated in quite the way it has been due to these unusual weather incidents.’
Experts have told Metro.co.uk about the multitude of reasons behind the situation supermarkets are facing.
Yesterday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer added that ‘food security is national security’ and that his party would commit to ‘buying, making and selling more in Britain’.
But, in the Commons today, Ms Coffey took aim at the rival party’s stance.
Therese Coffey has warned disruption could last for a month
She warned Labour to ‘be careful about making sure that we continue to have confidence in the food supply chain’ as shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon asked a question on the issue.
Bad weather and transport problems in Africa and Europe have left shelves bare of tomatoes and are hindering the supply of other fresh produce.
Asda has introduced a customer limit of three on tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, salad bags, broccoli, cauliflower and raspberries, and Morrisons said it would be introducing limits of two items per customer across tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, peppers from Wednesday.
The NFU president told delegates yesterday that ‘the clock is ticking’ for the Government to get inflation under control so farmers can produce food more reliably and protect the country’s food security.
Minette Batters said: ‘It’s ticking for Government to start putting meaningful, tangible and effective meat on the bones of the commitments it has made.
‘Commitments to promote domestic food production, to properly incentivise sustainable and climate-friendly farming, to put farmers and growers at the heart of our trade policy, to guarantee our food security and to back British farming and British food.’
A white woman purported to be the wife of former Ghanaian forward, Christian Atsu has sympathised with the actual wife of the late footballer.
The lady, identified as @sofiakasy on TikTok made the remark while refuting earlier reports which suggested that she was Atsu’s wife.
Debunking the reports, she said: “I am getting a lot of comments about me being Atsu’s wife. I am not Atsu’s wife, I do not know even if I am saying the name right, but I feel sorry for his wife.”
She further clarified that the viral video in which she was heard grieving over the loss of her lover was in reference to her fiancé, who also lost his life during the Turkey-Syria earthquake which struck on February 6, 2023.
“I lost my husband, my fiancé, my everything in the Turkey earthquake, and I just wanted to come out here and let everyone know I am not Atsu’s wife,” she said.
Ghanaians are yet to come to terms with the death of Christian Atsu who was involved in the Turkey earthquake. He was found dead 12 days after the incident occurred. He was subsequently returned to Ghana, pending his final funeral rites.
Plans are underway to give Atsu a befitting burial, as promised by the government. After a meeting between his family, the Ghana Football Association and the Sports Ministry, it was announced that his one-week celebration would be commemorated on March 4, 2023.
A beautiful mural has been mounted honouring the late Ghanaian footballer Christian Atsu.
This comes barely a week after he was reported dead in Turkey after he could not survive the tragic earthquake that hit the country.
The mural showed Atsu in his branded Newscastle hoodie as he beamed with a smile. The background of the picture had colours representing the Ghana flag without the black star.
However, Atsu’s picture in the middle could symbolise that the former Black Stars player is the black star.
It can be spotted in the Greater Accra region of Ghana at the Awudu Issaka Park in Tema Community 20.
Some comments from Ghanaians
Meanwhile, some Ghanaians have shared their views on the gesture as they plead with people to celebrate others while they are still alive. Others also shared how heartbroken they were about his death.
mizzy_darling commented:
Whenever I come across a post about him, my heart even breaks more hmmmm
the_abigailyaa stated:
This is a typical example of “you’re only loved when you die” I think this new generation should do better.
The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has stated that the Gold for Oil policy implemented by the government has not met the expectation of the union.
Speaking on JoyNews’ AM Show on Tuesday, the union’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) explained that the manner in which the programme was promoted by the government gave them hope of reducing the high cost of petroleum products.
However, he highlighted that after the policy was implemented, the consumers were not seeing any positives.
“What we are seeing now is not what we are expecting. Because, if you check on the pump right now, the diesel to the petrol prices are still around 14.5, 14.9 thereabout, hitting 15 cedis per litre. Where it is now will not push us, the transporters to also think of reducing our transport fares.”
“But we are not seeing it. As it stands now, our expectations are not being met,” he bemoaned to host, Benjamin Akakpo.
Mr Amoah added that although he acknowledged that there had been some reduction in the prices of petroleum products, it was inadequate.
He explained that considering the explanation and assurances that government gave in regard to the policy, they, the transporters presumed that at present, the prices of fuel would have been reduced to an affordable level.
“We are thinking that by this time, the fuel prices will come down to the level that transporters can also think about reducing their transport fares,” he stated.
Mr. Amoah further stated that the union expected fuel prices to decline to about ¢11.3 before the union could consider reducing fares.
TikTok
