The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyepeng, has expressed doubt about the country’s preparedness to fight corruption.
In a presentation on Newfile, Saturday, full of rhetorical questions, he asked, “are we ready for the fight against corruption?, from where I sit, I don’t think we are.”
“We expect so much from the institutions fighting corruption, but collectively, are we ready?” he quizzed.
Mr. Agyebeng explained that he is compelled to ask this question because many people who witness corruption are afraid to report.
“A good measure of the reason why I say we are not ready yet, is that more than 60% of persons fear retaliation if they report corruption. And it is very dire. Even law enforcement agencies, even the Office of the Special prosecutor, even the Special Prosecutor himself is not spared this specter of retaliation,” he stated.
He noted though that with the right attitude, Ghana will be able to bring the canker to a bearable minimum.
The investments were undertaken in accordance with the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan (NSMP), a 10-year blueprint established in 2012 with the aim of assisting Nigeria in becoming self-sufficient in sugar production.
The investments come from Dangote Sugar, BUA Foods, and Flour Mills of Nigeria, three indigenous companies engaged in sugar crops and processing, according to Zach Adedeji, Executive Secretary of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC).
Earlier this year, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, led by Coumantaros, announced plans to invest N70 billion ($168.3 million) over the next three years to develop its sugar plantation in Nigeria’s northern region.
The investment will also drive the expansion of the group’s Backward Integration Program (BIP) in accordance with the NSMP, as Dangote plans to put in place the necessary infrastructure for the eventual start of full-scale production.
The Federal Government recently extended the implementation phase of the NSMP by an additional ten years, from 2023 to 2033, in order to ensure that the plan’s goals are ultimately reached.
Adedeji stated that the NSMP has “forced indigenous companies to significantly raise investments in the BIP in sugar plantation farming and processing.”
This has boosted the revenue and profit of Dangote Sugar Refinery and the earnings of BUA Sugar Refinery Limited, which operates under the umbrella of BUA Foods, the unified food business segment of BUA Group.
In addition to the three firms that have made the most significant investments in the BIP, Saro Africa Group has also made significant investments after signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nasarawa State government for a 15,000-hectare sugar project.
Ghanaian Amapiano sensation DJ Azonto says there is no artiste in Ghana who has played more shows than him in 2022.
The rising star has become a fan favourite, particularly since debuting with the hit single “Fa No Fom.”
DJ Azonto has headlined many shows in Ghana, including the All Black Party, All White Party, Tidal Rave, Ghana DJ Awards, Kitchen Wars, and School Concerts, just to mention a few.
According to DJ Azonto, he was mesmerised by the love he has received from fans over the past years and would serve them more bangers.
“I have gone to most towns in Ghana to perform. I have played more shows than many artists in Ghana here with my ‘Fa No Fom,” and I still have more to play early next year,” he said in an interview.
DJ Azonto further revealed that his “Fa No Fom” hit song has won him numerous awards, and he is eyeing Artiste of the Year at the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards.
He has won Ghana DJ awards ( best song of the year ), most influential artist of the year, most consistent artist of the year, the richest DJ of the year, students artist of the year, the next most-rated artist of the year ( GABA awards and the last is Africa spotlight artist of the year.
The Amapiano sensation was recently honoured as the Best Artiste of the Year at the High School Students awards before hosting his Azonto A Confirmie concert which saw thousands of people at Kwashieman Park.
The K9 unit of the Ghana Police Service has deployed some personnel with K9 dogs to ensure security and safety of commuters ahead of the New Year season.
The police in a Facebook post said the operation is, “part of our grand security strategy for this festive season and beyond, as we work toward ensuring the safety of all”.
Reigning VGMA Artiste of the year, KiDi, is among artistes to perform at this year’s Di Asa final.
The Multiple award-winning musician is set to headline the grand finale of Atinka TV’s flagship reality show, GTBank Di Asa Season 6.
Other artistes to perform alongside the “Sugar Daddy “ are Rap goddess, Eno Barony, Hiplife duo, Akatakyie and Nii Funny.
The grand finale of the show would be held on Sunday, January 8, 2022, at the Fantasy Dome inside the Ghana International Trade Fair.
This time, 20 plus-size women, out of the 60 that entered the competition will compete for the ultimate prize, a brand new Saloon car and a cash prize.
The names of the finalists are Rasta, Charity Vifa, Martha Otuokunor, Tabitha, Edibless, Vikel, Gladysco, Mawusi, sexy Obolo, and Iris. Others are Baby, Hetty Shepherd, Suzzy, Esi, Mina, Gifty, Popinge, Mikeey, Elorm and Wendy.
Tickets are also selling at the head office of Atinka Media Village, Avenor junction, Dor Events at Kotobaabi and the premises of the Fantasy Dome.
Read Also: GTBank Di Asa 6: Queens arrive in Accra for main show (photos)
GTBANK Di Asa Season Six was launched on July 10, 2022, at the grand finale of the Kel Di Asa Xtra.
The auditions were done in 32 markets across the length and breadth of the country. After the auditions, 60 plus-size women drawn from all regions qualified to be in the Di Asa house for the show.
The 60 queens who qualified during the audition arrived in Accra on Thursday, November 10, 2022, for the main show. For the prizes, the winner will take home a brand new saloon car, the first runner-up will take home a mini truck, and the second runner-up will take home a tricycle, in addition to other prizes.
The public is therefore encouraged to vote for their favourite contestants on shortcode 737215# on all networks to keep them on top.
The management team of Kidi has promised a wonderful show.
Tribaverse, a music, arts and cultural festival that was initially scheduled for January 1, 2023, has been postponed, organisers have said.
The event was supposed to be headlined by Kenya’s Sauti Sol with support from Ghana’s Kwesi Arthur, R2bees, Stonebwoy, Sefa, Gyaki, Camidoh, King Promise, Joey B, Darko Vibes, Kofi Jamar among others.
However, according to a statement shared on the socials of the organisers, “a difficult decision to postpone” the festival has been made.
“This is due to some circumstances beyond our control,” the statement added.
Organisers have expressed concern about the decision but said refunds would be made to persons who bought tickets.
“We are devastated that it will impact the experience we envisioned for you and all our stakeholders. Refunds have been processed for all our ticket holders and details have been sent to your mails,” the statement further said.
Tribaverse adds to the list of events that were postponed or canceled this year. Wildaland Festival and ‘Kizz Daniel Live’ were all canceled due to circumstances beyond control, organisers said.
The year 2022 can be characterized as one that many inhabitants have never experienced before. The economy has been severely affected by corporate failures, a falling currency, fuel price increases, tariff increases, and job losses, to name a few.
Ghana was hailed as a commercial and investment destination due to its stable political environment, among other factors, before it started to face these difficulties.
However, that was only temporary as alarming economic indications eventually forced the government to request a financial bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
Prior to that, the government had and continues to undertake a number of business deal which it believes would rake in revenue for development.
While these may seem to be working in the interest of the state, some business deals announced by the government have raised eyebrows in the eyes of many and caused some political fallouts.
GhanaWeb Business in this article takes a look at some of the controversial business deals which took place in 2022.
E-Levy
The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, in the November 2021 budget statement reading, announced plans to introduce the controversial Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy). The tax measure was intended to generate revenue for the government and widen the country’s tax net.
With an impasse in parliament over the tax measure resulting in political fallouts, the government in March this year imposed a 1.5% charge on all electronic transfers above the GH¢100 threshold.
The charging entities for the E-Levy are telecommunications companies, commercial banks, special deposit-taking institutions and Payment Service Providers (PSPs).
The government hoped to rake in about GH¢7 billion from the collection of the 1.5% levy on Mobile Money and other electronic transactions, but the figure was recently revised downwards to about GH¢4 billion.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in October this year noted that a total of GH¢328 million has been raked in as E-Levy, which was far below its earlier target.
At the 2023 budget presentation, the government reviewed the rate of the levy from 1.5 percent to 1.0 percent. It also removed the GH¢100 daily threshold on transactions.
National Cathedral project
In May this year, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, announced that an amount of US$25 million had been released to enable the project consultants to undertake certain aspects of the construction of the National Cathedral.
The project, since its announcement, has courted widespread controversies, condemnations and backlash from the Ghanaian public, CSOs and lawmakers.
But the finance minister said the amount which was tagged as “seed money” was paid in November 2020, to the project consultants.
Ken Ofori-Atta was subsequently hauled before parliament by the Minority caucus under seven grounds of a censure motion against him.
Under these grounds, the National Cathedral project was key in the motion filed.
Meanwhile, the recently published 2021 Auditor-General’s report discovered that a total of GH¢142,762,500 from the national coffers was spent on the Ghana National Cathedral project in 2021.
This particular expenditure was however captured under the government’s priority programmes and interventions for the year under review.
The move, according to him, seeks to address the persistent depreciation of the cedi and reduce dependence on the dollar for the purchase of oil on the international market.
Since its announcement, many citizens and CSOs raised concerns about the policy.
But the said engagement on gold-for-oil barter deal with Emirates National Oil Company was quickly shot down by the firm.
According to a Bloomberg report, the claim by a senior Ghanaian official is untrue.
Bloomberg said an ENOC person said that the assertion is “totally baseless and incorrect,” adding that “there have been no discussions regarding this subject.”
This comes after an economic adviser to Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, Kabiru Mahama, had earlier said government reached a “tentative” agreement with the Dubai-based oil firm.
But the firm has now outrightly denied the said agreement.
A driver of an Uber car and his two passengers escaped unhurt on Friday, December 30, 2022, after the car they were in somersaulted on the N1 highway.
The incident occurred close to the interchange around the Achimota Forest stretch.
The driver who was moving from the Fiesta Royale traffic light was heading towards Lapaz when he lost control of the steering wheel causing the car to somersault.
Citi FM’s Chantel Anombase reported that fumes immediately emanated from the car after it turned on the passenger side.
Some bystanders rescued the passengers and the driver from the Ash Toyota Vitz.
Some bystanders assisted the driver by quenching the fumes with a fire extinguisher from one of the nearby drivers.
The car was later turned to its normal position. None of the passengers sustained injuries.
The police rushed to the accident scene to ascertain the cause.
This could cause some banks to have significant capital deficits, but we anticipate that regulatory forbearance would lessen the effect and allow banks to continue complying with minimum capital requirements. Despite regulatory forbearance, the two Ghanaian banks that Fitch rates should be able to sustain the LC debt exchange thanks to significant capital buffers.
The LC debt exchange, launched on 5 December, comes alongside Ghana’s efforts to secure IMF support. Fitch views it as a distressed debt exchange and downgraded Ghana’s Long-Term Local-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘C’ from ‘CC’ as a result.
Ghana’s Ministry of Finance has stated that the debt exchange is voluntary but we expect banks to participate, particularly as the risk-weighting for the old bonds will be increased to 100% from 0%, and non-participating banks will not be eligible for liquidity support from Ghana’s newly created financial stability fund. Treasury Bills, which account for about 15% of the banking system’s securities according to Bank of Ghana data, are excluded from the restructuring.
Based on the coupon rates and tenors of the new bonds, and assuming a 20% discount rate, we estimate that banks exchanging old LC government bonds will suffer a net present value loss of about 50%. This would significantly erode banking system capitalisation. However, we expect the authorities to allow flexible accounting treatment to significantly reduce losses, and to ease regulatory capital requirements so that banks can still meet minimum capital ratios.
Holders of LC government bonds were originally given until 19 December to formally respond to the exchange invitation but the deadline has been extended to 30 December. Fitch believes there is much opposition to the terms of the exchange, which raises the prospect of a further extension of the deadline and potentially a relaxation of the terms, reducing the losses imposed on creditors.
On 20 December, the government announced plans to restructure its external sovereign debt, which will add to the pressure on banks’ capital. Details have yet to be announced but payments on selected external debt, including Eurobonds, commercial term loans, and most bilateral debt, have been suspended.
Fitch views this as the beginning of a sovereign default process and downgraded Ghana’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR to ‘C’ from ‘CC’ accordingly.
Fitch rates two Nigerian-owned banks in Ghana: Guaranty Trust Bank (Ghana) Limited and United Bank for Africa (Ghana) Limited, both with a Long-Term IDR of ‘B-’/Stable and a Viability Rating (VR) of ‘ccc’.
Taking account of these banks’ sovereign debt portfolio compositions, ample capital buffers and good headroom on other rating factors, we believe their VRs should be able to withstand both the LC and foreign-currency debt restructure, in addition to impending asset quality deterioration due to the effects of severe currency depreciation, extremely high inflation and large interest rate rises.
The two banks’ Long-Term IDRs are driven by our view that support from the banks’ Nigeria-based parents is likely to be provided, if needed. We do not expect Ghana’s debt restructure to affect the owners’ stance in this respect.
Foreign-owned banks, which account for about half of banking system assets in Ghana, may be better-placed than domestic banks to navigate the highly stressed operating conditions due to parental capital support.
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, says it’s heartbreaking for Ghana to import rice in excess of two billion dollars a year while the country is strategically positioned to grow its rice and become a net exporter.
He made the statement when he received a delegation of investors from Thailand led by the CEO of Jospong Group of Companies, Dr. Joseph Siaw-Agyepong.
Mr. Ofori-Atta noted with concern that “it’s actually quite criminal for the country to continue to import rice while we’re endowed with arable lands, water, and favourable weather conditions for growing crops to mitigate any possible food crisis.”
The Ghana Cares Obatanpa program, according to the minister, is a key initiative by the government as an intervention to the current economic woes.
He expressed optimism about Thailand’s partnership with the private sector to commercialize rice production to cut imports in the next three years.
“Since 2017, we’ve spent over a million dollars importing rice. What’s more embarrassing is that a country like Ukraine exports about 74 million tons of grains despite current conflicts, and you wonder why Ghana and Africa have fallen asleep.”
It’s the vision of the president to use a well-capitalized development bank to push such initiatives he added.
The CEO of Jospong Group asserted that venturing into rice production needs skills and the technical knowledge to increase yields, hence the need to woo investors with the right experience and mechanical assets into Ghana.
The Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, on his part encouraged private investors to bring in more collaboration and establish industries in the country.
According to him, the ministry’s target is to make Ghana self-sufficient in rice production, which has seen some significant gains. He was quick to add that more needs to be done to bridge the deficit.
In furtherance of this, a team from the JGC led by its Executive Chairman, Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, visited Thailand to understudy the Thai rice sector in order to replicate their experiences and strategy in Ghana.
The intention of Jospong Group of Companies was to partner with major rice industry players in Thailand to provide technical and equipment support for the entire rice value chain in Ghana with the aim of producing rice for the local and export market.
The importation of rice into Ghana exceeds 60% annually, with dire economic consequences.
Between 2007 and 2015, the amount spent on imported rice rose from $151 million to $1.2 billion per annum, with domestic consumption supplemented by imports primarily from Thailand, Vietnam and India.
Ghana’s annual rice importation, which currently stands at $1.3 billion continues to increase year after year.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged the Appointments Committee of Parliament to play its patriotic duties by approving his Supreme Court justice nominees; Justice Ernest Yao Gaewu and Justice George Kingsley Koomson.
The two justices were among four justices nominated by the president in July 2022 for elevation to the country’s apex court.
They were nominated alongside Justices Frances Barbara Ackah-Yensu and Samuel Kwame Adibo Asiedu, both previously being Court of Appeal justices who were approved by Parliament’s Appointments Committee before the House went on the Christmas recess, leaving the fate of justices Gaewu and Koomson on the balance.
President Akufo-Addo made the appeal during the swearing-in of Justices Ackah-Yensu and Adibo Asiedu at the Presidency on December 28, 2022.
Addressing the importance and the need for the occasion, the president said, “I perform the most important act of the administration of the third arm of government which is the swearing into Office of two Justices of the Supreme Court and I refer to Justice Frances Barbara Ackah-Yensu and Justice Samuel Kwame Adibo Asiedu who would be appointed to succeed two justices of the Supreme Court; the late Justice Samuel Marful-Sau who passed away on August 10, 2021, and Justice Yaw Apaw who retired on August 2, 2021.”
During the swearing-in which is in accordance with the stringent details of Article 144 Clause 2 of the Constitution of Ghana, the president reiterated his confidence in the remaining two nominees saying they were rigorously selected through the Judicial Council and in consultation with the Council of State and therefore urged Parliament to have them approved.
“I, therefore, await Parliament’s approval of the two remaining nominees; Justice Ernest Yao Gaewu and Justice George Kingsley Koomson to fill the vacancies created as a result of the retirement of Justice Clemence Honyenuga which took place on September 24, 2022, and Justice Agnes Dordzie who retired on October 2, 2022.”
The Afro Nation concert in Accra ended abruptly after organizers cited circumstances beyond their control for the turn of events.
The massively attended concert was in its final day after a buzzing Day One that saw a dozen local and international artistes performing to the teeming crowd.
Day Two started with a similar buzz and expectation until minutes past midnight into Saturday, December 31, 2022 when performances were halted amid reports that there were some crowd control issues at the main entrance.
Organizers later mounted the stage to explain that for security and safety reasons the show needed to end abruptly.
“It was clear that the place was filled out but we had a lot of selfish people who decided to turn up at the door… for whatever reason they wanted to rush the door.
“At this point, it’s gotten too much for security and the police that we’ve got back there. As I mentioned earlier, it doesn’t matter what is going on there. If any of you leave this place in a body bag, that would be on us,” one of the organizers mounted the stage to announce.
“And that is one thing we don’t want to happen. At this point, I want you to understand that the reason why we ending this show is for your own safety… right now I is crazy outside and we want to make sure you guys leave in the safest way possible,” he continued.
On social media, people are angry at the turn of events, blaming the organizers of giving them a raw deal by truncating their experience because of ‘outsiders.’
Shortly after it was reported that Meek Mill’s phone has been found, popular social commentator, Kwame A Plus, took to social media to react to the swift manner in which the police responded to the issue.
Earlier, a frustrated Meek Mill publicly announced that his mobile phone had been stolen prior to his performance as the headline artiste for the 2022 Afro Nation festival, which took place at Marine Drive, Black Stars Square in Accra.
“They pickpocketed me for my phoneeeeee. Bring that jawn back if you got it!,” the American rapper wrote on his Instagram story.
In less than 24 hours, the police recovered Meek Mill’s mobile phone and also announced that they have a suspect in custody.
This was contained in a press statement accompanied by a picture of the suspect which went viral on social media.
But reacting to the swift manner in which the police was able to retrieve Meek Mill’s phone, A Plus said:
“So Ghana police can find phones this fast? They say they find am because the SIM dey inside so tracking be easy. Abe goo, all the phones wey lost for Ghana, e be Eku juice wey dey inside?
“A country where missing excavators cannot be found and the guy who said twea is still at large. But a mobile phone belonging to a foreigner can be found in less than 24 hours.”
Meanwhile, in a latest post to confirm that he had received his phone, Meek Mill admonished the fact that a suspect has been apprehended for it.
“I coulda dropped that phone on a dirt bike I don’t actually know for a fact somebody went in my pocket! I got it back that’s all I needed I don’t need anybody locked up for a phone.., I don’t even know what happened to it,” he wrote on Twitter.
Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has gone on a praising spree of the New Patriotic Party saying the governing party has “implemented transformational ideas” and should be credited for how smoothly the country is being run.
He listed the widely criticized gold for oil policy as one such transformational policy.
“We are a government of ideas, and transformational ideas, and we are thankful to God for the wonderful ideas that this government has been able to implement.
“We have implemented the gold for oil policy and the public and the country will soon see its benefits in the next few months and that is going to reduce the demand at the Bank of Ghana for foreign exchange and bring down the fuel prices, and you have already seen the fuel prices coming down.”
The Vice President first gave a hint of the barter of “sustainably mined gold for oil” at an AGI Awards night organized in Accra in November which he indicated was “key to addressing the economic crisis confronting the country in its energy needs.”
He blamed the hike in fuel prices on the depreciation of the cedi which lost over 50 percent of its value in 2022.
Dr. Bawumia said, in a bid “to address this fundamental challenge that we all face of depreciation and its impact on fuel and utility prices and food and so on, the government has opted to implement a policy of using our gold to buy oil products.”
The Vice President said this at the NPP’s thanksgiving service held on Thursday.
Shatta Wale’s suggestion that Meek Mill should work with Medikal, Kwesi Arthur, and Sarkodie has been duly accepted by the American rapper as he has served indication he would “do three songs with them in one day”.
Following Meek Mill’s tweet on December 30, 2022, in which the rapper expressed interest in signing a Ghanaian artiste to Dream Chasers, the Ghanaian Dancehall giant named the aforementioned three rappers urging all to support the idea.
“I wish Meek Mill works with these 3 artistes for me: MDK, Kwesi Arthur, Sarkodie… Ghana, we need it… Let’s campaign for that and stop arguing,” Shatta Wale’s tweet read.
Responding to Shatta Wale’s tweet, Meek Mill who was one of the artistes to have performed at the 2022 Afro Nation concert held in Accra in December welcomed the idea.
“Let’s find that Afro trap beat we can all walk on!” Meek added.
Meek Mill’s Dream Chasers is a joint venture with Jay Z’s Roc Nation, and is the namesake of his acclaimed mixtape series titled ‘Dreamchasers’.
It is unclear whether Medikal, Kwesi Arthur, and Sarkodie would agree to collaborate with the American artiste and what the deal would look like.
Among the three, only Sarkodie has a collaboration with an American rapper as he featured Ace Hood on ‘New Guy’ in 2015.
I will do 3 songs with them in one day let’s find that Afro trap bear we can all walk onnnn!— MeekMill (@MeekMill) December 30, 2022
As compared to yesterday’s trading of a buying price of 8.3108 and a selling price of 8.3192. At a forex bureau in Accra, the dollar is being bought at a rate of 11.00 and sold at a rate of 12.00.
Against the Pound Sterling, the Cedi is trading at a buying price of 10.3058 and a selling price of 10.3178 as compared to yesterday’s trading of a buying price of 10.0029 and a selling price of 10.0138.
The Euro is trading at a buying price of 9.1412 and a selling price of 9.1502 as compared to yesterday’s trading of a buying price of 8.8514 and a selling price of 8.8602.
At a forex bureau in Accra, Euro is being bought at a rate of 11.20 and sold at a rate of 12.50.
The South African Rand is trading at a buying price of 0.5042 and a selling price of 0.5046 as compared to yesterday’s trading of a buying price of 0.4901 and a selling price of 0.4903.
At a forex bureau in Accra, South African Rand is being bought at a rate of 0.45 and sold at a rate of 0.90.
The Nigerian Naira is trading at a buying price of 55.3638 and a selling price of 55.4756 as compared to yesterday’s trading at a buying price of 55.3638 and a selling price of 55.4756.
At a forex bureau in Accra, Nigerian Naira is being bought at a rate of 12.50 Naira for every 1 Cedi and sold at a rate of 17.50.
The Volta River Authority (VRA) has cautioned the public from engaging the services of unscrupulous persons on a supposed recruitment exercise into the Authority.
According to VRA, these fraudsters have been luring unsuspecting public to buy fake VRA application forms at the cost of GH¢300.
The Authority warned that anyone who transacts businesses with such fraudsters does so at his or her own risk.
The VRA in a statement said, “it has come to the attention of the Management of Volta River Authority (VRA) that some unscrupulous persons are reaching out to members of the public regarding a purported recruitment exercise by the VRA”.
“The management of VRA wishes to caution the general public that the Authority has no knowledge of these persons and their fraudulent activities. The general public is advised not to fall prey to such fraudsters, whether they claim to be employees of VRA or not”.
Experienced Aduana Stars striker, Bright Adjei is set to miss the 2023 CHAN tournament following his inability to join the camp of the Black Galaxies in Egypt.
In addition to the striker, Evans Wusu will also miss the 2023 CHAN tournament scheduled to be staged in Algeria.
In the absence of the two players, Black Galaxies head coach Annor Walker has invited Suraj Seidu and Maxwell Arthur to join the team in Egypt for the pre-tournament training camp.
“Suraj Seidu and Maxwell Arthur have teamed up with the Black Galaxies at their team base in Cairo, Egypt.
“The two players arrived in Cairo at the early hours of Friday, December 30 to join the team’s preparations for the 2022 TotalEnergies African Nations Championship which will be staged in Algeria from January 13-February 4,2023.
“Coach Annor Walker handed call-ups to the two players following the inability of Bright Adjei and Evans Osei Wusu to join the team for the pre-tournament camping in Egypt,” an official statement by the Ghana FA said on Friday.
On Saturday, the Black Galaxies will play their second friendly match in Cairo when the side comes up against Egyptian Premier League giants Al Ahly.
Although it is in a good position to cultivate and manufacture rice for domestic use and export, Ghana imports more than US$2 billion worth of rice yearly, according to him.
While we have access to water, fertile land, and favorable weather for growing crops, it is actually very criminal for the nation to keep importing rice to prevent any potential food crises.
“Since 2017, we’ve spent over a million dollars importing rice. What’s more embarrassing is that a country like Ukraine exports about 74 million tons of grains despite current conflicts, and you wonder why Ghana and Africa have fallen asleep.”
Touching on the implementation of the Ghana Cares ‘Obatanpa’ initiative, the Finance Minister said the programme seeks to offer an alternative to addressing the current economic crisis.
Ken Ofori-Atta was however optimistic that Thailand’s partnership with Ghana’s private sector will lead to the commercialization of rice production geared toward reducing dependency on imports.
Meanwhile, Dr. Joseph Siaw-Agyepong on his part explained that the decision to venture into rice production will require technical knowledge and skills to increase yields.
The Graduate Students’ Association of Ghana (GRASAG) is rejecting the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission’s (GTEC) 15% increment in fees in all public universities for the 2022/23 academic year.
GTEC last week directed tertiary institutions to review fees for the next academic year by a maximum 15 percent increment.
A statement issued by GRASAG said, “GRASAG members all over the country have been hit hard by the economic downturn, and an increase in university fees, we believe will exacerbate the situation”.
According to GRASAG, some tertiary institutions have released provisional fees above the approved 15% increment, adding that some members of the Association are likely to drop out of school over their inability to pay the fees.
GRASAG called on the government and GTEC to engage stakeholders including student unions before implementation of the approved fees.
“Some universities have increased their fees above the 15% approved rate by Parliament. GRASAG is by this release calling on government and GTEC to halt the implementation of this increment indefinitely to allow for further engagements with relevant stakeholders including students unions,” the statement stressed.
It, therefore, threatened to oppose any attempts by any university management to impose the increment fees on students without extensive stakeholder engagements.
The GFL Secretary General, Mr. Abraham Koomson, made the announcement on Friday at the Ghana News Agency Industrial News Hub Platform in Tema. He claimed that the management of institutions by the government and its agencies directly affected whether there was industrial unrest or labor peace.
He stated that in order for Ghana to emerge from its economic crisis the next year, the government needs forge alliances and have open dialogue with labor leaders.
2023 offered the government an opportunity to listen to labour leaders as social partners to create a platform for deliberations and working together to accelerate Ghana’s development and ease economic burdens, he said.
“The government needs to be willing to share ideas and involve social partners in deliberations on economic matters of the country instead of keeping conversations within its domains and seeking for help when issues get worse,” he said.
“Social partners can help the government in analysing key development issues and avoid situations like going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for assistance.”
Mr Koomson explained that social partnerships would accelerate inclusive growth and transform the Ghanaian economy, create opportunities, and create jobs to improve the living standards of the citizenry.
He said labour would continue to fight for what was right for employees, including better working conditions and value addition to the workforce to promote development.
He called for unity within the labour front to collectively fight for the interests of workers, adding: “We must rise up and fight for our fair share of the national cake”.
Mr Koomson said because of disunity among the labour unions successive governments had exploited the divisions and infiltrated into the leadership to pursue their political interests instead of fighting against labour injustice.
It was inappropriate for any labour union to put their political interests above the needs of workers, he said, and called for pragmatic solutions to the disjointed labour front.
He questioned why some workers retired on their full salary with other entitlements while others retired on virtually nothing.
“These are errors and unfair treatment in the labour front, which we must all work together to correct going forward”.
“We all work for the same state, either we all retire on our full salaries and other benefits or we all go home without it. The animal farm policies must give way”.
The Police have arrested one suspect and retrieved a mobile phone that was stolen from Meek Mill, an American hip-hop artist.
The suspect Nuhu Sule alias Ababaawa was arrested today, 30th December 2022 at his hideout in Accra. He is currently in police custody and will be taken through the due process of the law.
The victim, Meek Mill, reported his phone stolen in Accra on 29th December 2022.
After Meek Mill made a tweet disclosing his desire to sign a Ghanaian artiste to his record label, Shatta Wale has named three counterparts he wishes the American rapper would work with.
Born Robert Rihmeek Williams, the rapper in a tweet on December 30, 2022, expressed his interest in signing a Ghanaian artiste to Dream Chasers.
Four hours after the tweet, Ghana’s Dancehall act Shatta Wale started a campaign for Sarkodie, Medikal and Kwesi Arthur.
“I wish Meek Mill works with these 3 artistes for me: MDK, Kwesi Arthur, Sarkodie…. Ghana, we need it… Let’s campaign for that and stop arguing,” Shatta Wale’s tweet sighted by GhanaWeb read.
Meek Mill’s Dream Chasers is a joint venture with Jay Z’s Roc Nation, and is the namesake of his acclaimed mixtape series titled ‘Dreamchasers’.
The American rapper was one of the artistes billed to perform at the 2022 Afro Nation concert held at the Marine Drive, Black Stars Square.
He performed on the first day of the two-day event.
In a related development, the police has arrested a suspect after Meek Mill announced his phone had been stolen.
The suspect Nuhu Sule alias Ababaawa was arrested Friday, December 30, 2022, at his hideout in Accra. He is currently in police custody and will be taken through the due process of the law.
Meek Mill reported his phone had been stolen in Accra on December 29, 2022.
I need a artist from Ghana on dream chasers!!!✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨— MeekMill (@MeekMill) December 30, 2022
I WISH MEEK MILKL WORKS WITH THIS 3 ARTISTE FOR ME MDK , KWESI AUTHUR, SARKODIE ….
American rapper Meek Mill was a guest at the Jubilee House on Friday but it is unclear whether or not he met the president. The rapper posted a series of photos on his instagram status showing him outside and inside the Jubilee House with members of his team.
One of the photos showed him at the main conference hall at the presidency posing for a photo as he pointed at the giant coat of arms on the wall.
Members of his team are seen engrossed in some discussion.
One of the photos also showed him at the main entrance of the facility with another person. There is also a photo shared on Twitter showing him with some persons believed to be presidential staffers on the compound.
The other photo he posted was of himself and Gyamkroma Akufo-Addo, daughter of the president but it was clear that the particular photo was taken elsewhere and also at night.
“The four suspects… appear to have created an organised crime group with the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content meant to be seen on specialised websites for a cost,” DIICOT said in a statement.
Video on social media showed Tate and his brother being led away from a luxury villa.
A spokesperson for Tate told the Daily Mirror that he could not provide details relating to the arrest. “However, Andrew and Tristan Tate have the utmost respect for the Romanian authorities and will always assist and help in any way they can,” he added.
Later, a tweet was sent from Andrew Tate’s Twitter account alluding to the 1999 movie The Matrix, a film he regularly refers to in his posts.
“The Matrix sent their agents,” the post said. The account also retweeted Matrix memes posted by Twitter owner Elon Musk.
Andrew Tate was detained with his brother, Tristan, after having his house raided in the Romanian capital (Reuters)
On Thursday night, Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism issued a statement but did not name the Tate brothers, stating that two British citizens and two Romanian citizens were suspected of being part of a human trafficking group.
The statement said officers had identified six people who were “sexually exploited” by what it called an “organised criminal group”.
Police alleged the victims were “recruited” by the British citizens, who they said had misrepresented their intention to enter into a relationship with the victims – which it called “the loverboy method”.
They were later forced to perform in pornographic content under threat of violence, the statement said.
Police also released a video of the raid, showing guns, knives, and money on display in one room.
Tate moved to Romania five years ago. Rumours swirled online that police were tipped off to Tate’s presence in the country when he posted a video taking aim at the environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
In the footage he posted, he was handed a pizza box from a local restaurant, which some users suggested had inadvertently revealed his location.
However, the pizza box is not thought to be relevant.
The row with the activist began earlier this week when Tate, 36, tagged the 19-year-old in a post boasting about the “enormous emissions” produced by his fleet of cars.
Following the arrest, she tweeted “this is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza boxes,” referring to the online rumour.
Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan led away from a police station (REUTERS/DIGI24)
Prior to his worldwide notoriety, Tate – a British citizen who was born in the US – fought professionally as a kickboxer and won world titles.
In 2016, he entered the Big Brother house but was soon removed after a video appeared to show him hitting a woman with a belt.
At the time of his expulsion, Tate said the video had been edited, calling it “a total lie trying to make me look bad”.
Mr Tate has been banned from social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, with TikTok also removing him, saying “misogyny is a hateful ideology that is not tolerated”.
He had been banned from Twitter but was recently allowed back onto the platform following Elon Musk’s takeover.
She claims that the economy will recover in the upcoming year [2023] despite the fact that the nation recently missed debt payments while also requesting an IMF bailout to, among other things, restore macroeconomic stability.
In a Christmas video message posted by the Presidency, Akosua Osei-Opare said the measures implemented by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo has already begun to yield some results.
She, therefore, called on Ghanaians to work together in supporting the president and government in running the country and addressing its challenges.
She further urged citizens to remain kind and generous to the poor during this festive season.
“A year by this time all things will go well for Ghanaians… the country is already moving in the right direction, thanks to God’s Grace and measures of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Ghanaians should unite as one people and support the president,” the Chief of Staff said.
As 2022 comes to an end with all the difficulties that the country has gone through, the Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum remains the brightest spot in this administration and therefore, is worthy of praise and recognition.
The minister has not only exceeded the expectations of many Ghanaians, especially at the policy level but also distinguished himself as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the people of Bosomtwe.
His elevation as the substantive minister in 2021 has brought a lot of innovative and transformative interventions in the education sector, creating opportunities for thousands of Ghanaian children to climb the academic ladder without difficulties.
Today, Technical and Vocational Education (TVET) which hitherto, was merely considered an option for the academically weak, has become attractive; thanks to the leadership of Dr. Adutwum.
Even more intriguing, is the fact that students who offer technical courses, as well as visual arts in senior high Schools (SHS), have a window of opportunity to pursue engineering courses at the tertiary level.
This intervention which forms part of strategies to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education has been touted as one of the best initiatives ever introduced in the sector.
Prior to his appointment as the substantive minister, Dr. Adutwum was seen as the brain behind the free Senior High School Policy which remains the flagship policy of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Aside being one of the outstanding ministers under this administration, Dr. Adutwum has also been hailed by his constituents for supporting the poor within the constituency to access tertiary education.
Dr. Adutwum recently won the heart of many Ghanaian teachers when it was announced that transfer and car maintenance allowances of Ghana Education Service (GES) that have been in arrears are to be paid to the staff members concerned.
His ambition to produce hundreds of engineers for Bosomtwe in the next few years has impacted many families whose wards would have stayed home but for the intervention of Dr. Adutwum.
In the last two years, Dr. Adutwum has personally paid for tuition, hostel fees and pocket monies of hundreds of students from Bosomtwe studying engineering and science related courses in various public universities.
The minister is also taking steps to build hostels in some of the universities to accommodate students from Bosomtwe.
Beyond his ministerial and parliamentary exploits, he has always represented Ghana on the world stage during international conferences with exquisite delivery.
Early this year, he received international applauds when he bluntly spoke about how Africa’s education system trains children to be timid rather than being assertive and confident.
Even as Ghana grapples with the current economic challenges, Dr. Adutwum is one minister that the country can be proud of.
The writer, Michael Sarfo is a Youth Activist University of Huddersfield, UK.
DISCLAIMER: Independentghana.com will not be liable for any inaccuracies contained in this article. The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author’s, and do not reflect those of The Independent Ghana.
Suraj Seidu and Maxwell Arthur of Dreams FC and a midfielder for Hearts of Oak have joined the Black Galaxies at their base in Cairo, Egypt.
The two players landed in Cairo early on Friday, December 30, and immediately joined their teammates to prepare for their second friendly game.
The 2022 TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN), will be held in Algeria from January 13 to February 4, 2023.
The Black Galaxies brush off Egypt’s U20 team in a friendly game. Kofi Kordzi and Sylvester Simba scored for the Black Galaxies in the 15th and 57th minutes of the match, which was held behind closed doors at the Cairo International Stadium.
The Black Galaxies are set to take on Egyptian giants Al Ahly in a friendly match on Saturday, December 31, 2022.
After competing in the tournament in Cote D’Ivoire, Sudan, and South Africa in 2009, 2011, and 2014, respectively, Ghana will be making a record-breaking fourth CHAN participation.
Group C contains the Black Galaxies along with Madagascar, Sudan, and Morocco. Ghana’s squad for the CHAN tournament is captained by Accra Hearts of Oak midfielder Gladson Awako.
Ghanaian striker Raphael Dwamena has signed for Albanian top-flight side KF Egnatia ahead of the start of the second round of the season.
The 27-year-old who has a documented heart condition has defied the odds to sign for his new club until the end of the 2022/2023 season.
The former FC Zurich striker joined fifth-tier Swiss club BSC Old Boys in August 2022 after departing Austrian side BW Linz after his heart condition flared up.
He signed a one-year contract with his new lower-tier side in an attempt to resuscitate a career troubled by heart issues but played only nine matches scoring seven goals before parting ways.
BW Linz terminated the contract of Raphael Dwamena due to recurring heart trouble that troubled his career in December 2021.
The 26-year-old striker collapsed whiles playing for his then Austrian side BW Linz in a cup game against TSV Hartberg on Tuesday 26th October 2021 and was quickly rushed to the hospital for treatment.
The game was abandoned after the incident when the player fell to the turf without any provocation whatsoever.
Despite recovering from the heart scare his club decided to terminate his contract on medical grounds as they feared the worst
On 21 August 2017, FC Zürich agreed on a fee with Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion for the transfer of Dwamena.
He was set to join Brighton subject to passing a medical, obtaining a work permit, and international clearance, however, the deal fell through after Dwamena failed his medical due to a heart condition and he had a heart monitor fixed.
In the summer of 2018, he transferred to Spain to join Levante.
He left the Frogs to join Real Zaragoza on loan the following season but his deal with the club was truncated after suffering a heart scare.
In October 2019, after new examinations were carried out on his heart condition, the doctors recommended his immediate withdrawal and retirement from football.
He, however, continued after having implemented an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) in January 2020
Dwamena returned to the field by signing for Danish second-tier side Vejle BK after undergoing several medical tests in Barcelona.
Vejle BK withdrew the Ghana striker Raphael Dwamena from team engagements due to a relapse in his heart condition. He left the club with two goals in five appearances to his credit.
But for the third time, Dwamena suffered another relapse when he collapsed on the pitch whiles playing for BW Linz.
The player was expected to reluctantly call time on his brief playing career after a series of heart scares but has resurrected it with his latest move.
He has been capped nine times by Ghana scoring twice.
After five years, Ghanaian music and cultural festival Afrochella will not return, its organisers have said.
The ‘shock’ announcement was made at the very end of the two-day festival, in the early hours of Friday morning.
“This is the last Afrochella,” said co-founder Abdul Abdullah to the thousands of people still in the El-Wak stadium in the capital, Accra.
He did not give any reason.
However, in October California-based music festival Coachella sued the organisers for trademark infringement.
Mr Abdullah made the announcement just after headline act Burna Boy had closed his set, wowing the crowd with hits such as Last Last, Angelina and Dangote.
Although the stadium was still packed with thousands of people, the news that it was the final Afrochella escaped the attention of some, especially given that it was almost 03:00.
One African American woman I spoke to had missed the announcement as she was trying to beat the rush to get home.
Those who did notice were very upset.
“I couldn’t believe it when they said Afrochella is over,” said one woman.
Image caption,Ghana’s Stonebwoy was one of the artists who thrilled the crowds
Afrochella is heavily promoted to African Americans and many of those in the crowd had travelled from the US or UK to celebrate the new year in the continent of their origin.
“I’m shocked – this is what a lot of us in the diaspora look forward to at the end of the year,” said one African American man.
“There was something special about Afrochella that meant so much to African Americans like me – I think it’s gonna be hard to fill the void that they’ll leave,” said another.
And this year’s festival was certainly a huge success.
Stonebwoy, Asake and Gyakie thrilled fans with amazing performances.
Although it wasn’t smooth for everyone.
Nigerian artiste Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe, also known as Ayra Starr, fell on stage while performing her hit song.
She blamed the organisers for the incident. “Afrochella next time y’all should clean your stage after every artist’s performance, that fall was very unnecessary and painful,” she posted.
The event also saw performances from other talented musicians.
“It was amazing, so good to play for my people, making sure that everyone is getting a good time. Everyone has fun,” Jules, a young singer from the Netherlands, told the BBC.
Singer Aerostar was excited about her performance: “The energy was amazing, the crowd was amazing too and the band did so well,” she said.
While the end of Afrochella will certainly leave a gap in the jam-packed calendar of events in Ghana, known as “Detty December”, tourists and visitors alike will still be able to enjoy a wide range of programmes.
Image caption,Ghana still has a lot of festivals on offer even though Afrochella will be missed
For example, the Afro Nation festival wraps up on Friday night with performances by British-Nigerian artist, Skepta, Franco-Congolese singer Dadju and Ghana’s rising star Black Sherif, to name just a few.
And the BHIM concert, Tropical Fiesta, Mozama Disco, Lamajo fest will all be back next year.
But Afrochella will be sorely missed.
It was among events that authorities in Ghana hoped would continue attracting tourists, especially from the African diaspora, to the country as part of its “Beyond Return” initiative.
This is a follow-up to the “Year of Return” launched in 2019 to mark 400 years since the first enslaved Africans arrived in America.
The word ‘borga’ is a local term for middle-aged Ghanaians who return home for Christmas or other festivities.
These men usually adorn very flamboyant outfits, with huge foot wears, plus multiple ornaments- rings and blinging necklaces.
Another trait of ‘borgas’ is strong-scented colognes, which can cause onlookers to turn their necks. In sum, ‘borgas’ look exceptionally affluent and uniquely colourful in their appearance and outlook.
It is worth noting that, another feature of these men is big cars. ‘Borgas’ normally like to drive in vehicles that are huge on the ground. This adds to their grandiose and wealthy outlook.
At the time Bob was planning his Christmas, he had virtually nothing on him. All he could count was the small amount he had saved from his weekly savings as a roadside mechanic.
As for the tokens he had gathered from his street performances as a rapper, he had spent all on his daily expenses.
Bob’s only fortune for Christmas was the 4,000 cedis he had managed to put aside. “How was he going to have a great Christmas with such an amount?”, he thought to himself.
Lying in a makeshift tent in his mechanic shop, an idea finally popped up! After hours of contemplation, Bob eventually hatched a plan to make the best of the situation.
Dr Antwi’s car had been at his shop for close to two months. All efforts to reach him had proven futile. It was a sparkling black vehicle that had all the markings of wealth.
Bob’s plan was therefore to make use of the ride and flaunt it as his private property. After all, nobody would stop him in the middle of the road and question him about the ownership of the vehicle, he presumed.
Early on 24th December, Frank drove the vehicle to his house after pasting a notice at his workshop about his Christmas break.
‘Dear customers, the shop is closed until 1st January. Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year’, the hastily written post read.
In his house, he turned on the speakers of the car in the open, listening to some of his favourite tracks while scrubbing the soles of his sneakers.
Bob’s plan was to step out that night as a ‘borga’ in Dr Antwi’s car and have the time of his life! It was the 24th night; the eve of Christmas.
He had been working all year, and he felt he had to treat himself to some real good time.
Even though the 4,000 cedis was quite a meager amount for his fantasies, he stepped out nonetheless. Arriving at an outdoor partying arena, his eyes were thrilled by a bevy of very pretty young ladies.
The music at the venue was loud, coupled with singing from the excited participants. Food was also on display, amongst a wide variety of drinks.
Quickly, Bob got himself comfortable and grabbed a cup of hard liquor to start with. Leaning by a pole, a young lady approached him with a very warm smile.
Her gestures were very pleasant, and Bob took notice of her dressing immediately. Wearing a bikini with her cleavage visibly exposed, Bob welcomed her pleasantries and the two began a conversation.
Apparently, she was one of the servers at the venue who had been assigned to take orders from guests and ensure their comfort at the venue. Let’s just say a ‘waitress at a party’.
She, therefore, took Bob’s request. Even though he had no immediate craving, he deliberately asked for a bottle of wine, which was brought to him by Cindy, the seductive waitress.
Bob paid for the wine with some fine crispy notes and refused to take the change.
Impressed by the gesture, Cindy promised to return for a much longer conversation. True to her words, she got back to Bob; this time to keep him company.
“Yeah, I just came from Italy and I decided to pass through town”, Bob said by way of introduction.
“Italy? … That’s nice. It’s one of my dream countries”, Cindy replied.
Noting her excitement, Bob proceeded to feed Cindy with lies about his non-existent Italy experience. All he knew about Italy was from some movies he had watched, yet he persuaded Cindy into believing he is a resident there.
The conversation between the two new friends lasted for a while until it started showering. What started as light showers developed into heavy rains which scattered the charged gathering.
Everybody started seeking shelter and those who had cars ran into them. Bob’s car, therefore, became the convenient haven for himself and Cindy.
It had a pleasant smell and the air conditioner in the car created such a warm ambiance.
One thing led to the other and the two got intimate in the end. Bob’s ‘borga’-like looks wooed Cindy, who felt she had come into contact with a rich young dude.
Two weeks later, Cindy discovered she was pregnant.
Now Cindy was a worker at the venue for the party, employed as an attendant.
At work, she felt uneasy and decided to go out to buy some mints. Exiting the door, she saw a car similar to what Bob had brought.
But stepping out of the car was Dr Antwi, her boss. At that point, she became slightly confused; wondering what Dr Antwi was doing in her boyfriend’s car.
“Is everything alright?”, Dr Antwi asked, seeing the disquiet on her face.
“Oh, it’s nothing; I just like your new ride”, she replied in a soft and humbled tone.
“New ride, no dear. It’s actually an old one that has been with the mechanic for some months now. I just decided to go for it today”.
You can imagine Cindy’s look. She was completely distraught! “Bob didn’t own the car? He was just a mechanic??”, she fumed in her head.
The rest is obvious. Her rather painful discovery tore her emotions apart. She had been deceived into giving in to a fake Italian dude.
Sorrow was what engulfed her! And a sad end for that matter.
The moral of this story is for everybody to be careful this Christmas and beyond. Don’t be deceived by an Italian-looking Bob. They’re out there in their numbers!
Source: Myjoyonline| Paa Kwesi Schandorf
The author of this fiction is a writer, a corporate MC and JoyNews journalist by name Paa Kwesi Schandorf. You can reach him on (+233) 273141821 or derrick.ayirebi-acuqah@myjoyonline.com.
The Ghana Revenue Authority has said it is commencing the implementation of a unified common property rate platform from New Year’s Day.
It is doing so in conjunction with the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.
“Effective January 1, 2023, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) will be partnering the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the collection of property rates in the country using a Unified Common Property Rate Platform”, the GRA announced in a statement.
The Unified Common Property Rate Platform, also known as Myassembly.gov.gh, is a complete end-to-end district revenue collection and administration platform designed to enhance the collection and accounting of property rates.
It is also linked to the Ghana.gov.gh payment platform.
The GRA said it comes with a lot of benefits to property owners.
It will help to eliminate cash transactions and payments to the staff of the Assembly.
Also, it helps with the payment of bills using mobile money, electronic cards, and bank payments, among others.
It comes with full automation of bill distribution, notifications and alerts to clients.
It also has a self-service portal for reviewing rateable values, rate bills, and checking balances, among others.
The platform also has access to real-time reporting of receipts and bill status, among others.
The GRA is urging all property owners and property ratepayers “to use this platform for the payment of property rates”.
On Thursday, Alyssa Scott shared that she and Cannon had welcomed their second child together on Dec. 14, a daughter named Halo Marie.
The couple previously welcomed their late son, Zen, back in June 2021.
A few months later, Cannon announced on his since-cancelled eponymous daytime talk show that 5-month-old Zen died of brain cancer and a subsequent tumour.
The new baby news comes just over a month after Cannon welcomed his 11th child — his third with Abby De La Rosa.
Cannon’s growing family all started after he married Mariah Carey in 2008. Though the pair split in 2016, they share 11-year-old twins, Monroe and Moroccan. It was then that Cannon’s “unorthodox” approach to dating and child rearing began, with Cannon going on to welcome 10 more children by five other women.
In the wake of Cannon’s latest baby announcement, ET is giving you a guide to the 42-year-old TV personality’s growing family.
Mariah Carey
Cannon and Carey married in 2008, and in April of 2011, they welcomed twins Monroe and Moroccan. Though the couple divorced in 2016, Cannon has continued to co-parent with Carey and remain a constant part of the twins’ lives.
Brittany Bell
In February 2017, Cannon welcomed son Golden Sagon with Bell. The pair would later welcome a daughter, Powerful Queen, 1, in December 2020, and another son, Rise Messiah, on Sept. 23, 2022.
Abby De La Rosa
In June 2021, Cannon welcomed his next set of twins, fathering Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir with De La Rosa. In November 2022, the pair welcomed their third child together, a daughter named Beautiful Zeppelin.
Alyssa Scott
In June 2021, Cannon welcomed Zen, with Scott. Zen tragically died in December at just 5 months old, after a battle with brain cancer. In December 2022, Cannon and Scott welcomed their second child together, a daughter named Halo Marie.
Bre Tiesi
In January 2022, just a month after Zen’s death, Cannon revealed that he was expecting his eighth child with the model-turned-real estate reality star. They welcomed their son, Legendary, in July.
LaNisha Cole
The Masked Singer host announced that he and photographer LaNisha Cole had welcomed their first child together on Sept. 15, 2022, a daughter named Onyx Ice Cole Cannon.
While it’s been difficult for many to understand how Cannon juggles a busy career and his growing family, he told ET last month that he dedicates his “entire day” to his children.
“It’s not as difficult as people think it would be, but I understand [their concern] because it is a very unorthodox scenario,” Cannon explained.
“I dedicate probably my entire day to my children. Luckily, we are in a world where I’m blessed with the opportunity. I get to spend more time with my children every single day because of my world and my business model.”
Tributes to Dame Vivienne Westwood have poured in following the death of the “undisputed Queen of British fashion”.
She died “peacefully and surrounded by her family” in London, her fashion house said in a statement.
Westwood, 81, made her name with her controversial punk and new wave styles in the 1970s and went on to dress some of the biggest stars in fashion.
Fellow designer Marc Jacobs said he was “heartbroken” and that she “never failed to surprise and to shock”.
Paying tribute to her life and work, he wrote on Instagram: “You did it first. Always… I continue to learn from your words and all of your extraordinary creations.”
Supermodel Naomi Campbell, who famously tripped while walking one of Westwood’s runways in nine-inch platform heels, called the designer a “force of nature”.
In a touching tribute, she recalled her own journey from admiring the designer from afar as a schoolgirl to working with Westwood and calling her a friend.
Fellow model Bella Hadid described the designer as “the sun” of the fashion industry – and said she was grateful to have been in her orbit.
“To the coolest, most fun, incredible, humble, creative, badass, intelligent, EPIC human being that has walked this earth… rest in love and Rest In Peace,” Hadid wrote.
After the announcement, Westwood’s husband and creative partner Andreas Kronthaler said: “I will continue with Vivienne in my heart.
“We have been working until the end and she has given me plenty of things to get on with.”
Westwood came to prominence with her androgynous designs, slogan T-shirts and irreverent attitude towards the establishment.
She was also known as a staunch activist and brought causes she cared about, like climate change, to the catwalk.
The designer was made a dame for services to fashion in 2006.
Describing her outfit on the day – a black cap perched on the back of her bright orange hair, a dress with campaign badges and tiny silver horns on her head – she said she was supposed to look “a bit like Che Guevara, an urban guerrilla”, the prominent figure of the Cuban Revolution in 1950s, who later became a symbol of rebellion.
Image caption,Vivienne Westwood in her studio in 1982
Derbyshire-born Westwood worked as a primary school teacher, before setting up clothing shop Let It Rock on King’s Road in Chelsea with her then partner Malcolm McLaren in the early 1970s.
The business was later renamed Sex and McLaren began managing a punk rock band made up of shop regulars – the Sex Pistols. They shot to fame in 1976 wearing Westwood and McLaren’s designs.
One shop worker was a young American who went on to front the Pretenders. Paying tribute, musician Chrissie Hynde said with Westwood gone, the world was “already a less interesting place”.
British designer Jeff Banks said he recognised the death of his dear friend with great sadness, calling it a “moment in history”.
Banks, who was recently appointed a director at Westwood’s fashion house, said she was a “true originator who will forever stand head and shoulder above her contemporaries and take her place forever in the highest echelons of her craft”.
Artist Tracey Emin said Westwood challenged and criticised her, but loved and cared about her too. They were friends for more than 20 years.
Singer Boy George, who first met Westwood in the early 1980s, called her “great and inspiring” and “without question… the undisputed Queen of British fashion”.
Image caption,People gathered at a tribute at Vivienne Westwood’s flagship store in London on Friday
Music legend Sir Paul McCartney called her “a ballsy lady who rocked the fashion world and stood defiantly for what was right”.
His daughter fashion designer Stella McCartney credited Westwood with inspiring her career “as a designer with bravery” who “invented historic fashion design moments that woke us all up and shook the industry to its core.”
It was a “privilege to have rubbed shoulders” with her in the 70s at the birth of punk, said Sex Pistol bassist Glen Matlock. Describing her motivation, he said: “She wanted to stir things. But everything she did was done really well.”
And fellow fashion designer and Spice Girl Victoria Beckham said she was a “legendary designer and activist”.
Actress Kim Cattrall described her on Instagram as a “true genius who never lost her Northern grit”. She shared a tale of Westwood’s “generosity and kindness” – creating three dresses for the Sex and the City star in three days so she could attend premieres of a film, after others’ designs were unsuitable.
Supermodel Claudia Schiffer wrote that Westwood’s “unique voice will be irreplaceable and will be missed”, while singer Billy Idol – who found fame on the London punk music scene – tweeted: “RIP it will take me a bit to take this in…”.
The Victoria and Albert Museum, which houses some of her works, described Westwood as a “true revolutionary and rebellious force in fashion”.
Image caption,The designer was made a Dame for services to fashion in 2006
Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan wrote on Twitter: “A sad day, Vivienne Westwood was and will remain a towering figure in British fashion.
“Her punk style rewrote the rule book in the 1970s and was widely admired for how she stayed true to her own values throughout her life.”
In 1981, Westwood held her first proper fashion show remembered as the Pirate Collection, and she continued to use British and French history to inspire her.
She married Kronthaler, a former student of hers and 25 years her junior, in 1992. He became creative director of her company and increasingly was responsible for design work in later years.
By the 2000s, Westwood was designing wedding dresses for the likes of model Dita Von Teese, who dressed in her purple gown to marry singer Marilyn Manson, and Princess Eugenie who wore Westwood designs for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine.
Her designs also featured in the 2008 film version of Sex And The City.
Image caption,Flowers were laid outside Westwood’s home in Clapham, south London
Last month, Westwood backed Just Stop Oil protesters who threw tins of soup on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting at the National Portrait Gallery. “Young people are desperate,” she wrote on her website. “They’re doing something.”
As well as climate change, Westwood became a vocal supporter for the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is fighting extradition to the US to face charges under the Espionage Act. In July 2020, she dressed in canary yellow in a giant bird cage warning over an Assange “stitch up”.
Assange’s wife Stella, whose wedding dress was created by Westwood, hailed the designer as a “pillar of the anti-establishment”. Writing on behalf of her husband who is currently in Belmarsh prison, she said Westwood was a “good friend” and “the best of Britain”.
The Vivienne Foundation, founded by Westwood’s sons and granddaughter, will launch in the New Year to “honour, protect and continue the legacy of Vivienne’s life, design and activism”.
Her family said it will aim to raise awareness and create change working with non-governmental organisations on climate change, stopping war, defending human rights and protesting capitalism.
Ghanaian banks could face significant pressure on their capitalisation due to the restructuring of local-currency (LC) sovereign debt, Fitch Ratings says. Fitch believes banks will suffer large economic losses when they exchange their existing debt for new bonds with lower coupons and longer tenors.
This could lead to material capital shortfalls at some banks but we expect regulatory forbearance to mitigate the impact, enabling banks to remain compliant with minimum capital requirements. The two Ghanaian banks rated by Fitch have sizeable capital buffers that should help their ratings withstand the LC debt exchange, even disregarding regulatory forbearance.
The LC debt exchange, launched on 5 December, comes alongside Ghana’s efforts to secure IMF support. Fitch views it as a distressed debt exchange and downgraded Ghana’s Long-Term Local-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘C’ from ‘CC’ as a result.
Ghana’s Ministry of Finance has stated that the debt exchange is voluntary but we expect banks to participate, particularly as the risk-weighting for the old bonds will be increased to 100% from 0%, and non-participating banks will not be eligible for liquidity support from Ghana’s newly created financial stability fund. Treasury Bills, which account for about 15% of the banking system’s securities according to Bank of Ghana data, are excluded from the restructuring.
Based on the coupon rates and tenors of the new bonds, and assuming a 20% discount rate, we estimate that banks exchanging old LC government bonds will suffer a net present value loss of about 50%. This would significantly erode banking system capitalisation. However, we expect the authorities to allow flexible accounting treatment to significantly reduce losses, and to ease regulatory capital requirements so that banks can still meet minimum capital ratios.
Holders of LC government bonds were originally given until 19 December to formally respond to the exchange invitation but the deadline has been extended to 30 December. Fitch believes there is much opposition to the terms of the exchange, which raises the prospect of a further extension of the deadline and potentially a relaxation of the terms, reducing the losses imposed on creditors.
On 20 December, the government announced plans to restructure its external sovereign debt, which will add to the pressure on banks’ capital. Details have yet to be announced but payments on selected external debt, including Eurobonds, commercial term loans, and most bilateral debt, have been suspended.
Fitch views this as the beginning of a sovereign default process and downgraded Ghana’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR to ‘C’ from ‘CC’ accordingly.
Fitch rates two Nigerian-owned banks in Ghana: Guaranty Trust Bank (Ghana) Limited and United Bank for Africa (Ghana) Limited, both with a Long-Term IDR of ‘B-’/Stable and a Viability Rating (VR) of ‘ccc’.
Taking account of these banks’ sovereign debt portfolio compositions, ample capital buffers and good headroom on other rating factors, we believe their VRs should be able to withstand both the LC and foreign-currency debt restructure, in addition to impending asset quality deterioration due to the effects of severe currency depreciation, extremely high inflation and large interest rate rises.
The two banks’ Long-Term IDRs are driven by our view that support from the banks’ Nigeria-based parents is likely to be provided, if needed. We do not expect Ghana’s debt restructure to affect the owners’ stance in this respect.
Foreign-owned banks, which account for about half of banking system assets in Ghana, may be better-placed than domestic banks to navigate the highly stressed operating conditions due to parental capital support.
The Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, has urged Ghanaians to maintain their composure and optimism for better times despite the country’s current economic challenges.
According to her, the coming year [2023] will see an improvement in the economic situation even as the country recently defaulted on its debt payments amid seeking an IMF bailout to restore macroeconomic stability, among others.
In a Christmas video message posted by the Presidency, Akosua Osei-Opare said the measures implemented by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo has already begun to yield some results.
She, therefore, called on Ghanaians to work together in supporting the president and government in running the country and addressing its challenges.
She further urged citizens to remain kind and generous to the poor during this festive season.
“A year by this time all things will go well for Ghanaians… the country is already moving in the right direction, thanks to God’s Grace and measures of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Ghanaians should unite as one people and support the president,” the Chief of Staff said.
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has announced that a minute silence will be observed by clubs before all matches on matchday 10 of the 2022/23 Ghana Premier League season.
According to a statement on the website of the Ghana FA, it said this will be in accordance with a request from FIFA to all member associations to pay tribute to late football great, Pelé.
In addition to the Ghana Premier League, a minute silence will also be observed by clubs in the Division One League and the Women’s Premier League.
“FIFA has called on member associations and football competition organisers to hold a minute of silence ahead of every football match this upcoming weekend and the week thereafter.
“This is in solidarity with the family and friends, the Brazilian Football Association, Brazil and all football fans who are mourning the death of Edson Arantes do Nascimento, PELE,” the GFA statement said on Friday.
It added, “In a letter sent to the Ghana Football Association on December 30, 2022, FIFA also stated that the flags at the World body’s headquarters will be flown at half-mast
“In accordance with the request, the GFA has requested that a minute’s silence is observed ahead of all betPawa Premier League, Access Bank Division One League and Malta Guinness Women’s Premier League matches.”
Isaac Newton’s laws of motion, according to physicists are the basic laws of classical mechanics that describe the relationship between the motion of an object and the forces acting on it.
In the first law of motion, an object will not change its motion unless a force acts on it. The first law, sometimes referred to as the law of inertia describes the influence of a balance of forces upon the subsequent movement of an object. In a simple analysis of this law of motion, it means that, until a body moves from its state of rest, acceleration or velocity is of no relevance. This principle of motion is still applicable to our everyday life. It suggests that movement from our state of comfort is necessary for a mega burst. That is what a progressive life is all about. Until you move, there will be no advancement in life.
No one makes a progressive move in their pursuit without resetting their mindset for a positive change. In fact, no one makes a huge U-turn for excellence without realigning or readjusting their thoughts towards positivity. This is what this article, Reset, Renew and Rerun focuses on – making quick changes to embrace a good life.
Most of the issues confronting man are in the thought pattern. Our thinking determines how far we can go in life. You are what you think. And you are the product of your thinking. In other words, your present state is a result of the years of accumulating imageries formed in your mind. If the images formed are hale and hearty, the actions taken do not only help a person but society in general. On the contrary, if the actions taken are wrong, they are a result of the wrong thoughts formed in one’s mind. This philosophy is also enshrined in the conundrum of king Solomon, the ancient wise king of Israel who ever lived. He said, ‘As a man thinks in his heart so is he (Proverbs 23:7a).’
The question is, what are the attitudes that retract a person’s life and what are the strategies to put in place to cause the momentum or the desired quick drive? There are several of these negative attitudes but for want of space, we discuss two of them; unnecessary complaints and life without a vision. Let’s get started:
Avoid Unnecessary Complaints
People who are going somewhere, have no time for superfluous or needless grumbling. Great minds discuss great ideas for accomplishments. They don’t sit with a group of worrywarts or cynics to talk about other people, all the time. In my personal engagements with people from different persuasions, I have come to know that, people who waste all their time in disproportionate complaints or moans do not make any headway in life. Their lives are static. Life ‘beats them up’ to ground zero as their minds are filled with glumness and destructive comments. Does it mean that issues in your family, office, institution or your community should not be addressed? That is not my point.
Constructive criticisms are hale and hearty as they are needed in the development of every society. However, where your inputs are not highly appreciated, it is better to keep your focus on your dream. Do you know that most skilled complainers age quickly? The reason is the success of others is their worry. They talk about people’s achievement(s) not to honour them but bring them down. They gossip about people’s marriages, cars, and academic success, to the extent of talking about people’s costumes. They are never satisfied with every good idea that brings about a quantum leap in their organisation. They wish everything falls apart so nothing good exists for others to enjoy. Most lives are torn apart for the reason that, there is no sense of direction in their choices. If you waste your time with complainers, you become like them. Remember the adage, ‘birds of a feather, flock together.’
When I move with people, I check the condition of their hearts. Where their emotions are full of hostility, I reshift my attention to optimism. If you have people who always talk about others all the time, you better wise up. It is healthier to move with open-minded people than those who have specialized in disparaging others to their advantage.
At a certain stage in life, complaints MUST CEASE. In my opinion, when a system is lethargic or lacklustre, and everything ceases to function brusquely or abruptly, regardless of your good thoughts, realigning your thoughts on purpose, serves as a better option. It is better to join an optimist company to share ideas of greater relevance than waste your energy on pointless discussions. Your life is precious. In this year, 2023, progress must be achieved instead of a retrogressive lifestyle. The process of changing a car’s gear is a clear way of moving from a static lifestyle to a moveable routine.
Have you ever learnt how to move a car before? If you have, then you would understand the dynamics of a manual transmission car with its stick gears. Apart from several features which cause the movement of a car, the functionality of the lower and the higher gears should not be taken too lightly or undervalued. When climbing a hill, for example, the lower gears are applied whilst the higher gears are spontaneously used on a free progression, especially on a speed lane.
Many years ago, whilst learning how to drive a manual transmission car, I didn’t understand why the car couldn’t move faster, nor could I explain why it was constantly in jerky mode. Eventually, I learnt that you don’t always have to step on the gas to get the car into motion. Rather, depending on the speed at which the engine idles, just releasing the clutch a bit will cause the car to gain more speed. However, to move at a higher speed on a highway, you need to upshift into higher gears. Thus, to enjoy a cruise at a comfortable pace, simply shifting into higher gears is all that is required.
So, higher gears either 4th or 5th depending on the speed rate and the engine capacity of the car sets your vehicle into a speed mode with less friction. But the foundation for its recent speed has been the lower gears (1st and 2nd) on which the higher gears depend to elevate to its current speed. As an analogy, this discussion offers a graphic representation of a consistent progressive lifestyle devoid of unnecessary complaints, grumblings, chin-wag and any unwarranted attitude. The year 2023 is for great achievers with a sense of purpose. It is not for time-wasters who Are visionless and clueless about their life’s pursuits.
Life Without Any Vision
Life is meaningless without a specific focus. Many people lead a life without any sense of direction. It is a tragedy to wake up from bed and walk around without any reason. If you are between the ages of 18 and 50, and you seem to waste your time around the unfruitful venture, you better become serious with your life. Do you know that life without a vision is like walking around without eyes? Of course, you either grope in darkness or fall without any support. It is time you carved an exclusive vision for your life. What is a vision?
Despite the numerous portrayals given separately by diverse authorities in several ways, the fundamental principle of creating something new but built on the foundation of the past and the present, emerging with reality is what vision is all about. Let’s examine the following definitions:
In his book, Strategic Church: A Life-Changing Church in An Ever-Changing Culture, Damazio (2014) defines vision as the art of seeing the invisible. To him, vision is the ability to see something becoming a reality as if it were already there. Damazio continues to accentuate that vision connotes a gaze, a mental perception, and a contemplation with the pleasure of things in the future.
Conceptually, vision is a clear mental picture portrait of a preferred future, communicated by God to His chosen servant-leaders, based upon an accurate understanding of God, self and circumstances. To Barna (1997), a vision clearly suggests that the leader who possesses it knows exactly what he wants to achieve and what the end product will look like. This clarity permits a leader to be confident and decisive. The vision is a mental picture, according to him (Barna), which indicates that the picture exists in the person’s mind’s eye. In 2023, I would like you to build your vision around these four areas aside from what you have already put down. They are health, family life, financial investment and personal development. Today, we shall examine our health and subsequently, look at others in our next publication.
Health
Success does not only have to do with the acquisition of material possessions or the recalling of your divine assignment, but also with learning to stay healthy. It is known that a great mind stays in a healthy body. Your health is of great importance for it aids in lengthening your life span so that you can energetically be of great help to countless people. In other words, your health is your wealth. Once you lose it, it takes years to recover. So, why don’t you pay particular attention to your health now? It is your gain. The other simple reason for this statement is that a person’s health is the physical foundation for his subsistence. You cannot perform better in your sphere of life if you do away with prioritizing your health needs. Here are three important areas you must of necessity focus your attention on:
1. Rest
2. Exercise
3. Proper Eating Habits
Rest
Ask any effective person in any field of endeavour about the secret of his success and you shall be happy to hear them say that after each achievable event, they reward themselves with enough rest in order to rejuvenate their minds. It suggests that if you do not take enough rest, you can easily break down. The power to reset, renew and rerun is all about making time for yourself, irrespective of your close-fitting schedules.
If you are overly anxious to get more money at the expense of relaxing intermittently within the year, then the accumulated fatigue can seriously have a negative toll on your health. It is important to take a rest after a heavy and energy-sapping assignment. Do you even know that after God created everything He rested? Yes, He did! Fleetingly, He paused from His creative works. Examine this text:
“And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made” (Genesis 2:2).
If God rested(paused) after a heavy assignment (creation), it is a suitable principle to follow. There are several forms of rest. It involves having time to sleep, visiting attractive and educative places, having fun with your family, sightseeing, swimming, and all the fun you can think of. Of course, the good fun and not the type that leaves you with a heavy weight of guilt! It is advisable to sleep on a planned routine to help adjust your body so that you would not be sleeping anyhow.
Sleep gives your body a chance to heal and regenerate; having a stable sleep routine will help keep your body under check. The other significant feature of rest is how it reduces the causes of stress and depression in your life. Learn to manage or cope with stress by trying different relaxation techniques. Take deep breaths during most of your stressful moments and learn to free your heart from fear and uncertainties. Remember this: healing comes from God but man has a responsibility to stay strong and healthy.
Exercise
Most people lead busy lives because of the nature of the global economic system but the benefits of exercise usually tone the body to enable it to shoulder the burdens and ruggedness of life. The gradual introduction of exercise leads to longer patterns of fitness as against adopting a harsh workout period, especially at the beginning of each New Year in a gym which does next to nothing for your body.
A simple way to start, according to most health experts, is to walk. Walking programmes can be adapted to suit any age or fitness level, and fortunately, it is less likely to cause injury or wear and tear on the joints. Walking can also seem far less intimidating to the aged than embarking on a strenuous exercise pattern. Brisk walking is the perfect choice for weight loss as its aerobic demands are similar to those of a running programme and yet it is much ‘kinder’ on your body with almost 50 per cent less impact of wear and tear on your joints.
Brisk walking also provides you with a challenging cardiovascular workout that will quickly improve muscle tone in your entire lower body – bottom, thighs, hips, and abdominals – as well as your upper back and shoulders. If you want to live a long and independent life, then it is very important to stay fit and agile. Regular walking has many health benefits and will increase your chances of staying healthy.
Research suggests that it can cut your chances of a heart attack by as much as 50%, reduce the risk of a stroke by up to 40% and make you twice as likely to survive a diagnosis of breast cancer. Walking also helps to maintain the condition of your joints and bones by reducing the risk of crippling conditions such as osteoporosis and arthritis. Studies have shown that walking two miles a day cuts the risk of death! Thirty (30) minutes of walk each day also works because it helps your body sustain a healthy weight due to intense exercise.
Proper eating habit
Most of us grow up without knowing how to eat healthily. But you need to make a difference. You do not have to consume any amount of food without knowing the number of calories, fat or carbohydrates in the food that will be relevant to the body. Working on this particular section of this article, ‘Proper eating habits’, I consulted a lot of health experts and biological scientists whose health tips, having put them into practice, have immensely helped me. In the year 2020, I made a quick change in my eating habit. Today, I’m glad the decision I made to lose weight has helped to improve upon my health. In this year, 2023, you too can follow the following health benefit and make changes in your eating habit. Let us have a look at them:
1. Decide on the amount of calories your body needs on a daily basis
The amount may vary greatly, depending on your metabolism and how physically active you are. If you are the kind of person who puts on 10 pounds or five kilos just smelling a slice of pizza, then your daily caloric intake, according to research, should stay around 2000 calories for men and 1500 calories for women. Your body mass also plays a part in this: More calories are suitable for naturally bigger-sized people and lesser calories for smaller-sized people. If you are the kind of person who can eat without putting on a pound, or you are physically active, you may want to increase your daily caloric intake by 1000 – 2000 calories, a little less for women. Also, consider that the more muscular you are, the more calories you need to function.
The bad fats are saturated and Trans-fat. Someone on a 2000-calorie diet should consume less than 20 grams of saturated fat a day, and Trans-fat should also be avoided altogether. The good fats are plain fat, which you should eat about 30% of your calories from poly- and mono-unsaturated fats.
2. Do not fear fatty foods
You need to consume fat from foods for your body to function correctly. However, it is important to choose the right kind of fat. Most animal fats and some vegetable oils are high in fat which raises your cholesterol level; the bad cholesterol. Contrary to popular belief, eating cholesterol does not necessarily raise the amount of cholesterol in your body. If you give your body the right tools, it will flush excess cholesterol from your body. Those tools are monounsaturated fatty acids, which you should try to consume regularly. These are good fats, and they help lower the bad cholesterol in your body by raising the good cholesterol.
Foods that are high in monounsaturated fatty acids are olive oil, nuts, fish oil and various seed oils. Adding these “good” fats to your weekly diet can lower your level of cholesterol and reduce your risk of heart disease. Consider sautéing vegetables in small amounts of olive oil and grabbing a hand full of mixed nuts for a snack instead of a regular intake of a bar of chocolate or sweets. There are also various supplements that contain these good fats that you can take daily.
3. Carbohydrates are important
You need to eat foods high in carbohydrates since they are your body’s main source of energy. The trick is to choose the right carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates like sugar and processed flour are quickly absorbed by the body’s digestive system. This causes a kind of carbohydrate overload, and your body releases huge amounts of insulin to combat the overload. Not only is the excess insulin bad for your heart, but it encourages weight gain. Insulin is the main hormone in your body responsible for fat storage. Eat plenty of carbohydrates, but eat carbohydrates that are slowly digested by the body like whole grain flour, healthy vegetables, oats, and unprocessed grains like brown rice. This kind of food does not only contain complex carbohydrates that are slowly digested by the body but are usually high in vitamins and other nutrients that are beneficial to the body and they are high in fibre which keeps your digestive system running effortlessly.
4. Eat heavier meals early in the day
Your metabolism slows down towards the end of the evening and it is less efficient at digesting foods. That means more of the energy stored in the food will be stored as fat and your body won’t absorb as many nutrients from the meal. Most families tend to have their big meal at dinnertime. The problem with this is that your day is basically over, and your body’s need for energy is not as great as it is early in the day. This large meal (examples are; fufu with palm nut soup or banku with groundnut soup), late in the night, can also make you feel tired, and, who wants to feel extremely exhausted now that the workday is over? Try eating a medium-sized meal for breakfast, a large meal for lunch, and a small meal for dinner. Better yet, try eating 4-5 small meals over the course of your day. That keeps your body fuelled for the whole day without dumping a large amount of food into your stomach, which your body might have a hard time digesting.
5. Do not skip breakfast!
Many people skip breakfast because they do not feel they need to eat it, or they just do not feel hungry in the morning. Unless you are waiting on the Lord through prayer and fasting for a period of time, it is important to have breakfast before leaving for the office. Research shows that people who skip breakfast are usually fatter than those who eat a well-balanced breakfast. Although you might not feel hungry in the morning, if you skip breakfast, you will feel extra hungry when it’s lunchtime, making you prone to over-eating during your afternoon meal.
In addition, skipping breakfast makes you think that you are starving. After all, by lunchtime maybe at 1 pm., you may not have eaten in almost thirteen hours (that is from 12 midnight to 1300 GMT). For the rest of the day after you skip breakfast, your body will store up most of the energy you get from food, instead of allowing you to burn it, in anticipation of food scarcity. Not only will this cause you to be tired during the day when your body is not using the food that you ate, but the extra energy stored up will result in weight gain. In planning for a great mealtime, consider cereals which are great for breakfast. Combine the following:
banana
sesame or chia seeds
carrot
apple
1/2 cup of skim milk, soya milk or almond milk (you can get any of them to purchase at any nearby supermarket or any shopping mall within your city).
For protein, try substituting beans for higher calorie foods like boneless skinless chicken breasts, or tuna. Not only will you be getting additional photo chemicals from the plant-based protein, but also, it will not have the harmful saturated fat content. Remember that even an orange has more than 5% of its calories from protein!
Non-fat yoghurt can make a great snack, and its healthy bacteria can help with various stomach disorders.
Carry water with you at all times. Try to drink water in place of soft drinks and other flavoured beverages. A good rule of thumb is to drink half your body weight in ounces per day.
Consider eating organic. Organic food isn’t made with the use of a lot of harmful chemicals, or other harmful processes. Not only is organic food good for you, but it is sustainable and good for the environment too!
Read the labels on everything you eat. Do not just buy something because it is marketed as being “healthy.” Lots of companies are actually trying to sell off their food as healthy when in reality; such foods are full of high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, Trans fats, and hidden sugars. I have come to know that reading labels is the best way to learn about a product. It gives you almost all the information about that product you’ll ever need. If you’re trying to lose weight, try to choose foods with low calories. If you want to gain weight for a particular reason, you then choose food with lots of calories. However, too many calories, without enough exercise, and eating too much at one time, can make you fat.
Avoid processed foods. They are unnatural foods and it makes it very difficult for your body to break it down which means they will lie in your gut making you feel bloated and lethargic or lazy. Eat things which are in their unprocessed state such as raw fruits, vegetables, brown rice, whole wheat and so on.
6. Buy non-fat or reduced-fat foods
This is done not to avoid getting fat because eating fat will not make you fat. And it is not about eating fewer calories. You can stay in shape when you know how to control the kind and amount of fat that goes into your body. For instance, olive oil has many health benefits, so buy non-fat or reduced-fat salad dressing and add a tablespoon of olive oil to the jar. You’ll have a salad dressing that tastes great and is also better for your health. So, buy non-fat foods so you can replace the missing fat with “good” fats. Remember, you do need to eat a moderate amount of fat each day. Fat can be very deceiving. For example, if you are trying to lose weight, you have to look for food with low-fat content. However, there are some foods that have good fats; these fats are monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat.
These fats add calories from fat, and so do Trans-fat and saturated fat. It is likely these fats can combine, which can be confusing. It then becomes important to look out for meals that contain saturated and Trans-fat. If you see on a label 20 calories of fat, but no gramme of Trans fat and saturated fat, that means that there is polyunsaturated fat and or monounsaturated fat. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are good for you. They protect your heart and increase ‘good’ cholesterol.
7. Avoid alcohol
You know that heavy drinking is bad for your body, as well as your willpower. In fact, a heavy dose of alcohol has the power of weakening your memory. Again, a heavy night of drinking could send you to the fridge pigging out on all the wrong foods. Do not drink to gain appetite because it has hidden calories. You can have appetizers or prepare the food in a mouth watery way so there would be no need for alcohol.
Conclusion
Sitting down to make a new year resolution without any commitment towards its achievement is a waste of time. Until you are committed to making your life better, the year 2023 will also end without any tangible results. I, therefore, encourage you to realign your mind towards relevant this information of a higher concern to make you enjoy this year with a broad-minded mindset of excellence. As much as possible, do away with unnecessary complaints and craft a vision for your health and other related areas to make you enjoy your life to its fullest.
Happy New Year to you!
References
1. Owusu, P. (2016), The Leading Edge, Kumasi: Streams Publishing House, pp. 277-317.
2. Owusu, P. (2021), Yes, You Can Make It!, Kumasi: Streams Publishing House, p.22.
A portion of this article is an extract from the writer’s book, Yes You Can Make It! Get copies of the writer’s numerous books from the Kingdom Bookshop, KNUST, Kumasi and in Accra.
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The writer is an Academic, Visiting Lecturer, Leadership Consultant and a Reverend Minister with the WordSprings City Church, Kumasi-Ghana.
A south African woman has set the internet ablaze with some nice pictures of her daughter and herself hanging out at a family picnic during Christmas.
The striking resemblance of the two women aside, it is difficult to pinpoint from the picture who is actually the mum and who is the daughter as they all look the same.
According to the woman, her daughter is 14 years old but if you are not told it will be very difficult to different between who is really the mum and daughter.
The pictures which were posted on her Twitter handle have got a lot of followers commenting about their striking resemblance.
The Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL) has called on the government to deepen broad-based engagement with Organised Labour in 2023 to reduce labour agitations, discontent, demonstrations and industrial actions.
Mr Abraham Koomson, the GFL Secretary General, who made the call at the Ghana News Agency Industrial News Hub Platform in Tema on Friday, said the posture of the government and its agencies in managing institutions had a direct correlation on industrial turbulence or peace on the labour front.
He noted that for Ghana to overcome the economic crisis next year, the government must build bridges and engage labour leaders in an open and frank discussion.
2023 offered the government an opportunity to listen to labour leaders as social partners to create a platform for deliberations and working together to accelerate Ghana’s development and ease economic burdens, he said.
Mr Koomson said the rigid posture of some government officials most often triggered unrest.
“The government needs to be willing to share ideas and involve social partners in deliberations on economic matters of the country instead of keeping conversations within its domains and seeking for help when issues get worse,” he said.
“Social partners can help the government in analysing key development issues and avoid situations like going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for assistance.”
Mr Koomson explained that social partnerships would accelerate inclusive growth and transform the Ghanaian economy, create opportunities, and create jobs to improve the living standards of the citizenry.
He said labour would continue to fight for what was right for employees, including better working conditions and value addition to the workforce to promote development.
He called for unity within the labour front to collectively fight for the interests of workers, adding: “We must rise up and fight for our fair share of the national cake”.
Mr Koomson said because of disunity among the labour unions successive governments had exploited the divisions and infiltrated into the leadership to pursue their political interests instead of fighting against labour injustice.
It was inappropriate for any labour union to put their political interests above the needs of workers, he said, and called for pragmatic solutions to the disjointed labour front.
He questioned why some workers retired on their full salary with other entitlements while others retired on virtually nothing.
“These are errors and unfair treatment in the labour front, which we must all work together to correct going forward”.
“We all work for the same state, either we all retire on our full salaries and other benefits or we all go home without it. The animal farm policies must give way”.
Cristiano Ronaldo has joined Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr on a deal that runs until 2025.
The Portugal captain, 37, is a free agent after leaving Manchester United following a controversial interview in which he criticised the club.
Al Nassr – nine-time Saudi Pro League champions – described the signing as “history in the making”.
The club said it would “inspire our league, nation and future generations to be the best version of themselves”.
In the summer, Ronaldo turned down a £305m deal to join another Saudi team – Al Hilal – because he was happy at United.
Earlier in November, the striker spoke out in an interview with Piers Morgan for TalkTV in which he said he felt “betrayed” by United, did not respect manager Erik ten Hag and was being forced out of the club.
Ronaldo, who scored 145 goals in 346 appearances for United, left Juventus to rejoin the Old Trafford club in August 2021 – 11 years after he departed to join Real Madrid.
He had just over seven months remaining on his £500,000-a-week contract with United but his immediate exit was “mutually agreed”.
A day after he left the club, he was banned for two domestic matches for knocking a phone out of an Everton fan’s hand after United’s defeat at Goodison Park in April.
He will serve the ban at domestic level with any new club – in England or abroad – although it does not apply at continental club level, such as the Champions League.
Ronaldo recently returned from playing for Portugal at the World Cup in Qatar, where he made history by becoming the first man to score at five different Fifa World Cups with his strike in his side’s opening win against Ghana.
A Nigerian police officer has been charged with murder over the shooting of a female lawyer in the main city, Lagos, on Christmas Day.
Drambi Vandi is alleged to have shot Bolanle Raheem at close range as she and several family members were driving home from a church service.
Many Nigerians are horrified over the killing of the lawyer, who was pregnant with twins.
The Nigeria Bar Association and human rights groups have demanded justice.
The association’s Lagos branch said it would institute legal action against the police to demand $10m (£8m) in compensation for Ms Raheem’s family.
Mr Vandi was remanded in custody in a magistrates’ court in Lagos on Friday.
He has not commented on the allegations and was not allowed to speak in court.
The Lagos State prosecutor said he should remain in detention to allow the police to continue their investigations – a request accepted by the magistrate.
The officer was suspended from duty on Wednesday.
Her mother was quoted by local media as saying she had worked as a hawker selling oranges so that her daughter could study law.
“She was taken away from me. She was pregnant with twins,” Ms Raheem’s mother said, adding that she had left behind a five-year-old daughter.
Announcing Mr Vandi’s suspension, police chief Usman Alkali Baba said he would not relent in efforts to ensure justice for the lawyer and appealed to the public “to be calm”.
In recent years, there has been increased attention on police brutality in Nigeria.
Nationwide protests, under the banner of the #EndSars movement, led to the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars) being disbanded in 2020.
Government Statistician, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim, has indicated that the fall in exchange rates will not automatically reflect in the prices of goods immediately, rather it will require some time which is known as the “pass-through effect”.
Speaking on the PM Express Business Edition on Joy News, Thursday, he said that aside from the pass-through effect which requires time, there is also the multiple pass-throughs which simply tackle the various commodities that are affected by the drop in exchange rates and their different weights.
According to him, when more than one item is being affected by the drop in exchange rates, then it becomes complicated because you cannot exhaust the pass-through effect on just one item when there are others with greater weights.
“If diesel drops, you don’t expect bus/trotro fares to automatically go down”, he said.
While explaining, he also mentioned that before goods get to their final consumers, they pass through certain stages, these individual stages will be systematically affected by the exchange rates drop depending on how huge their weights are in the “basket”.
“If prices of petrol have gone down by let’s say 30% and prices of bus/trotro fares have gone down by 1 or 2%, the next question is, to what extent are the food items that are going to be put in the buses going to go down and will all of then go down?” he quizzed.
Prof. Annim continued that when major items see marginal changes in their prices and these major items again have other pass-through effects on smaller-weight items, that effect diminishes. Such that the decrease in petrol prices will be higher than that of bus/trotro fares which will subsequently be relatively higher than the prices of goods.
Ghana’s cedi has seen a positive change in the past few months, but it seems this change has still not reflected in the prices of goods and the talk of it gets louder by the day.
Joseph “Jo Mersa” Marley, a reggae singer-songwriter and grandson of Bob Marley, was found dead in Miami-Dade County in the US on Dec. 26, according to reports.
A Marley representative confirmed his death to Rolling Stone on Tuesday. Marley was 31.
Marley’s death was first reported by Jamaican broadcast journalist Abka Fitz-Henley, who said Marley had been found unresponsive inside a vehicle. An official cause of death has not been released.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Jo Mersa Marley, the son of Stephen Marley, was one of many in the family to follow Bob Marley’s path as a musical artist. Growing up, Marley performed with his family’s band, Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, joining them onstage as a toddler. Ziggy Marley is his uncle.
While still a teenager and after having moved to Miami, Jo Mersa Marley released his first single, dancehall track “My Girl,” with his cousin Daniel Bambaata Marley, Ziggy Marley’s son.
His first solo album, “Comfortable,” was released in 2014. In 2019, Jo Mersa Marley, alongside his brother, Yohan Marley, dropped perhaps his most memorable single, political anthem “Burn It Down,” with a rousing, contagious hook.
“I am one of the new generation of Marleys, but I am still experimenting at the same time,” Marley told Rolling Stone in 2014, shortly after the release of his first album. “My plan is to do something new with my roots.”
Ali Campbell, an English musical artist and former lead man of reggae band UB40, spent time with Marley while on a recent U.S. tour. Campbell said he was “absolutely shocked to the core” by the death of Marley, whom he called “a delightful young man” and “a real Marley to the core.”
Jamaican politician Mark Golding, also commented on Marley’s death. “I’ve just learned of the tragic loss of Joseph ‘Jo Mersa’ Marley,” said the opposition leader and president of the People’s National Party. “The loss of a child is a devastating blow no parent should face, my condolences to Stephen & the entire family.”
Olivia Grange, a member of Jamaica’s Parliament and minister of culture, gender, entertainment and sport, said she was “deeply saddened” by the news of Marley’s death, calling it “a huge loss to the music as we look to the next generation.”
She shared a video of Marley performing in May at a 60th-anniversary celebration of Jamaica’s independence in Miramar, Florida.
“As a young individual and still an upcoming and aspiring artist, I want to pay my respects to the legends in our circle,” Marley said to the audience, pointing to other artists who had joined him onstage.
“If you don’t know your past, you don’t know your future,” Marley said, before launching into a cover of “One Love.”
Cristiano Ronaldo has joined Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr on a deal that runs until 2025.
The Portugal captain is a free agent after leaving Manchester United following a controversial interview in which he criticised the club.
Ronaldo is for the first time in decades going to ply his club football outside Europe, specifically for Saudi Arabia topflight side.
The club posted the news of his signing on their social handles late Saturday, Decmeber 30, 2022.
It was accompanied by two photos of Ronaldo and a club official with his number 7 shirt.
The caption read: “History in the making. This is a signing that will not only inspire our club to achieve even greater success but inspire our league, our nation and future generations, boys and girls to be the best version of themselves. Welcome @Cristiano to your new home.”
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>History in the making. This is a signing that will not only inspire our club to achieve even greater success but inspire our league, our nation and future generations, boys and girls to be the best version of themselves. Welcome <a href=”https://twitter.com/Cristiano?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Cristiano</a> to your new home <a href=”https://twitter.com/AlNassrFC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@AlNassrFC</a> <a href=”https://t.co/oan7nu8NWC”>pic.twitter.com/oan7nu8NWC</a></p>— AlNassr FC (@AlNassrFC_EN) <a href=”https://twitter.com/AlNassrFC_EN/status/1608935670520909825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>December 30, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
Police intelligence operations have led to the arrest of three suspects for their involvement in a mobile money robbery at Kasoa, on December 20, 2022.
Police investigations so far indicate that the suspects, armed with a pump-action gun, concealed in a baby diaper sack, attacked and shot a mobile money merchant, at his business centre.
According to the police statement, the suspects were so heartless that as the victim attempted to flee for his life they pursued him, shot him from behind and robbed him of an unspecified amount of money.
Gun retrieved by police
Investigation and intelligence operations led to the retrieval of a pump-action and the arrest of suspects, Michael Otu, alias Rider, Godfred Okine and Asaa Faisal alias Commander, who has been described by the other suspects as the mastermind behind the robbery and provides the gang with weapons.
Suspect Godfred Okine, later complained of ill health and was rushed to the hospital but died while receiving medical attention.
His body has been deposited at the Police Hospital morgue for preservation and autopsy.
An initial investigation into his demise by the Police Professional Standards Bureau (PPSB) established that the deceased suspect was handled professionally by the officers from the time he was arrested until his passing.
The PPSB has also made contact with the family of the deceased suspect as part of its investigation.
The two other suspects, Michael Otu and Asaa Faisal were put before the Ofaakor District Court on December 29, 2022, and were remanded into Police custody to reappear in court on January 12, 2023.
The injured victim is receiving medical treatment and is in stable condition.
Meanwhile, efforts are underway, to arrest the other suspect who is on the run.
Reverend Isaac Owusu Bempah, founder of the Glorious Word Power Ministries International has assured the Christian faithful of prophecies come 2022 31st Watch Night.
He has also tasked all prophets to defy the recent police caution against prophecies that could allegedly create fear and panic stressing that it was an obligation to speak what God has revealed to the clergy, be it good or bad.
“On this issue, we (clergy) disagree with Dampare. On 31st, we will prophesy come what may and, in all humility, unless God doesn’t speak to us. Tomorrow whatever God reveals, I will say it, what requires concealment I will treat as such.
“Every prophet should speak because failure to do so will mean we speak of our own. So Dampare and his team should reconvene another meeting and stop issuing that pre 31st night warning,” he added.
The renowned clergyman, who is also known as the Nation’s Prophet, explained that despite all the efforts Akufo-Addo was putting into governing the country, his achievements appear muted.
Owusu Bempah said it seems as though there is a blanket placed on the country which is obstructing the good works of the president from manifesting.
“Nana Akufo-Addo is doing a lot but it seems concealed because of this directive. It is as though there is a blanket draped over the country. How can a sitting president and his vice be hooted at in public? It is not normal,” he submitted.
Akufo-Addo was hooted at on three occasions over the course of the year, first at the Global Citizen Concert at the Black Star Square then twice during engagements outside Accra.
Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia on the other hand was booed at when he represented the president at the annual Hogbetsotso Za in the Volta Region.
“The president and his people should realise that something is not right. NPP came to power with a prophetic word. What myself and others saw showed that it was God who was bringing Akufo-Addo into office.
“In his first four years, things were very okay. Even as we speak, he is doing a lot but it seems that his efforts are concealed. There is a hand covering something and they must sit up. Any godly nation that rejects God will attract curses,” he added.https://www.youtube.com/embed/n9dBwg1lKxI
Owusu Bempah was very close to Akufo-Addo until they fell out after the clergyman was arrested and put before court over a public disturbance case.
Earlier this year, he announced that he was no longer on good terms with the president and that he had stopped praying for him and the government.
On Christmas day, however, he hosted Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia who appealed to him to remember the government in prayer.
The Afro Nation concert in Accra ended abruptly in the early hours of Saturday, December 31, after organizers cited circumstances beyond their control for the turn of events.
The massively attended concert was in its final day after a buzzing Day One that saw a dozen local and international artistes performing to the teeming crowd.
Day Two started with a similar buzz and expectation until minutes past midnight when performances were halted amid reports that there were some crowd control issues at the main entrance.
A VIP attendee at the event who was also escorted out of the premises gave GhanaWeb an exclusive account of what happened before and immediately after the show was called off.
“The emcees announced there was commotion at the back/entrance so people should stay calm and “stop pushing”.
“Later, they announced that Asake and others were ready to perform but due to the chaotic scene, they cannot compromise on the security of the audience hence, the decision to end the show.”
According to our source, the end was announced “at the latter part of Dadju’s performance. He was left with a song to go but had to end abruptly because they had to kill the sound.
“We (those at the VIP yard) had to use the emergency exit. I can’t tell how the regulars got out; that’s if they did get out.
“At the emergency exit, plenty cars were parked there including one ambulance that had partially blocked the narrow path. Part of the ground was wet/muddy,” he added.
He also disclosed that between the time the announcement of the chaotic scene was made and the time they ended the show was about fifteen minutes.
“Reports say some persons who didn’t have tickets wanted to force their way through; gunshots were reportedly fired. I didn’t hear gunshots though,” he added.
Organizers explain official reason for ending the show
Two of the organizers, in a video clip available to GhanaWeb, later mounted the stage to explain that for security and safety reasons the show needed to end abruptly.
“It was clear that the place was filled out but we had a lot of selfish people who decided to turn up at the door… for whatever reason they wanted to rush the door.
“At this point, it’s gotten too much for security and the police that we’ve got back there. As I mentioned earlier, it doesn’t matter what is going on there. If any of you leave this place in a body bag, that would be on us,” one of the organizers mounted the stage to announce.
“And that is one thing we don’t want to happen. At this point, I want you to understand that the reason why we’re ending this show is for your own safety… right now, it’s crazy outside and we want to make sure you guys leave in the safest way possible,” he continued.
On social media, people are angry at the turn of events, blaming the organizers for giving them a raw deal by truncating their experience because of ‘outsiders.’
As a couples therapist, I work with many couples who want to begin again after a recent betrayal or years of disappointment or distance.
Yes, couples can effectively learn how to start over in a relationship, but it takes a commitment to forgive and to develop new patterns and memories together.
This process is certainly not easy. Pain caused by someone close to you is a huge burden. The guilt can eat you up and make it almost impossible to have room to heal.
The good news is that almost nothing is irreparable. The realistic news is that it takes work. And the bad news is that some couples can’t seem to put that work in to get there.
But there are some couples who can. It’s really up to you and how badly you want to repair the relationship.
Many people probably want to go back to the way things were before there were problems. But you can never do that.
As a couple, you have experienced a lot more and have grown. So, you shouldn’t want the same old couple back, but a new couple that’s ready to take on the world together.
It’s hard to do on your own. Asking for help can be really beneficial, especially if you’re having problems communicating altogether. Asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness, as some people might think.
You’re strong enough to accept every bit of help you can get because you want the relationship to work that much, and you’re willing to work through the emotional steps involved. It’s the best thing you can do.
How to start over in a relationship
1. Identify what you value about the relationship.
When we are hurt, it’s tempting to focus on the difficult and less-than-appealing elements of our partners and our relationship. But couples who work through difficult times keep their eyes on the positives, and can clearly say why they want to stay with this person and what they love about them.
This step can also give you clarity. If the only reason you can think of to stay together is that you dread the task of separating, that may not be enough to get you through.
By clarifying what has worked in your relationship, you can build on those things and stay motivated to do the repair work needed.
2. Get support for the relationship.
If it was easy to just press the reset button and get over the hurt, you would just do that. The truth is, if your friends and family have heard you complain about your partner month after month, they may support you but find it hard to support the relationship.
Also, if you and your partner are trying to be the only support for each other, you may find yourselves in a pattern of constantly having difficult talks about past hurts and how you’re feeling.
Therapy is great because it gives you an unbiased, experienced support person, and it allows you and your partner to focus time together outside of therapy on having fun together again, which is critical.
3. Take steps to make sure the behavior that hurt you won’t repeat.
This step is not about being naïve. This step is about figuring out what you and your partner need to change to convince you that the patterns that happened before are not going to happen again.
Couples that recover from relationship wounds can point to the things they each did to address the problems and make changes. They have a plan to address future problems before they grow. Folk wisdom tells us that we can’t forgive injuries that are still happening to us.
It’s hard to start over when you’re in the same old patterns. Both people have to be willing to change.
4. Make clear promises to yourself.
One of the fears people have is that if they forgive their partner this time, then maybe they will never stand up for themselves again. The big fear is actually not that their partner will take advantage of this; the big fear is that they can no longer trust themselves to set limits and enforce them.
In this step it is important to allow yourself time to reassess your own limits. So, maybe the things your 20-year-old self thought were unforgivable, are forgivable after all. This does not mean you have lost all right to relationship boundaries.
This is a conversation you need to have with yourself. The step to take is to forgive yourself for being someone who can get hurt and then to trust yourself anyway.
5. Re-balance the power.
Couples who create fresh starts for themselves have moved out of the blaming, punishing, reactive dynamics. They recognize that to move forward neither person can be stuck in the role of victim or bad guy.
An ongoing pattern of making amends or being the long-suffering martyr is not sustainable because it feels awful for both people.
You cannot move forward feeling like one person owes the other. You cannot move forward with one person being the vulnerable one.
At some point, the past wounds need to be put in the past, not to be forgotten, but to be taken out of active play, meaning that they will not be brought up in every new argument, they will not be thrown in anyone’s face, and that you feel you have genuinely worked through them and have resolution.
Then, you move forward as equals again.
6. Make a choice to start again.
Beginning again with a partner means making a clear choice to do so, to let the past rest, to take the risk of trusting again, and to love them more because you appreciate the work you have each put in to stay in relationship and you acknowledge the risk.
Will you ever have the starry-eyed “nothing will ever come between us” love again? No. Will you have the same relationship you had before? No.
But couples who give themselves a chance to restart find ways to value the depth of the relationship they have now. Ultimately, you unbreak your own heart by choosing to let it heal
A suspect was taken into custody in connection with the investigation into the murders of four University of Idaho students, two federal law enforcement sources confirmed to CNN on Friday.
The arrest in the fatal stabbing case was made by the FBI in northeastern Pennsylvania, the sources said.
One source described the suspect as a man in his 20s and told CNN the arrest took place Friday morning.
The Moscow Police Department in Idaho said it will hold a news conference Friday at 1 p.m. local time (4 p.m. ET) to announce developments in the investigation.
The news conference comes a day after police said they have received about 20,000 tips through more than 9,025 emails, 4,575 phone calls, and 6,050 digital media submissions, while having conducted over 300 interviews in the case of the four students slain in an off-campus home.
No suspect, motive or weapon has been identified.
The students, Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20; were likely asleep when they were each stabbed multiple times in the early hours of November 13, authorities have said. Some of the victims had defensive wounds, a coroner has said.
The killings shocked the small college town, its first murder in seven years.
“Investigators believe someone has information that adds context to what occurred on the night of the murders and continue requesting additional pictures, video, and social media content. Our focus remains on the investigation, not an individual’s activities displayed in the tip,” the update said.
