The awardees were made of six categories namely kindergarten, primary, junior high school, senior high school, non-teaching and administration.
The awards ceremony was dubbed: “Promoting holistic education in the post-COVID era: The role of the teacher and school administrators”.
Awardees
The Overall Best Teacher award went to Prince Asirifi Nyarko of Begoro Salvation Army Junior High School, who received a 43” television set and a certificate.
Other prizes given out were table top fridges, home theater sound system, rice cookers, table top burners, gas cylinders, blenders and wall clocks.
Appraisal system
A former Director of Basic Education of the GES, Emmanuel Acquaye, said the role of the teacher in holistic education delivery, and the core roles of teachers and school administrators in any category were to contribute to institutional governance, manage for transformation and to institute and implement an appraisal system that led to holistic results-based management.
He explained that for all children to receive the high quality of pre-tertiary education that would prepare them to be productive in a rapidly changing world, instruction and instructional materials would need to be matched to the learner.
“Meeting the challenge of diversity requires decisions about educational policy with special references to parenting and management of schools in general, pedagogy and collegiality at the school level and allocation of resources that will make the difference between stagnation and growth,” Mr Acquaye stressed.
Passion needed
The Member of Parliament for Fanteakwa North Constituency, Kwabena Amankwah Asiamah, who sponsored the programme, entreated teachers to have passion for the teaching profession.
Mr Asiamah said Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education needed to be intensified in the schools in the district, and urged the teachers to put efforts into the teaching and learning of STEM-related subjects.
The District Director of Education, Mrs Gloria Aggrey Kilson, lauded the teachers and the awardees for their dedicated service but stressed that there was room for improvement.
She commended the Fanteakwa North District Assembly for building a new office for the district directorate to promote supervision of quality teaching and learning in the district.
The acting Begorohene and Akyem Benkumhene, Osabarima Bosompem Ayirepe II, who chaired the function, pledged the support of the traditional council to promote quality education in the area.
Stakeholders in the cassava value chain have called for deliberate policies of value addition and financing to industrialise the sector.
They said such a measure would not only lead to job creation and livelihood improvement but also reduce the importation of cassava products, adding that the sector had the potential to contribute to the accelerated development of the country.
The country ranks among the top five cassava producers in Africa, with at least 18 varieties of improved cassava produced in commercial quantities.
The stakeholders, who included farmers, processors, transporters, civil society organisations, buyers, consumers and financial institutions, were speaking at the maiden cassava multi-stakeholder forum in Accra yesterday.
It was organised by the Ghana Incentive-based Risk-sharing System for Agriculture Lending (GIRSAL), in partnership with the Development Bank, Ghana (DBG) and the Ghana Industrial Cassava Stakeholder Platform (GICSP).
Objectives
Among the objectives of the forum was to identify opportunities and key challenges facing the national agenda of industrialising the cassava ecosystem and the key interventions that would support solutions for an effective and efficient value chain pivoted around major, small and medium processors.
The participants also discussed issues of food security, employment creation, reduction in importation and the provision of a channel for consistent financing of specific products.
Potential
The Chairman of the GICSP, Chris Quarshie, said the high starch in cassava root was an important characteristic that made the crop a potential industrial cash crop.
He said ethanol could be derived from cassava starch, while food-grade starch could also be used for industrial purposes.
According to him, the local ethanol consuming industry used imported raw materials for production due to inadequate supply of ethanol from local starch factories because of the lack of cassava varieties that could yield more starch to feed the factories for sustainable production.
“We need to scale up the cultivation of the right variety for export and import substitution,” he said.
Citing data from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Mr Quarshie said the country produced 18 million tonnes of cassava annually, consumed about eight million tonnes and recorded 10 million tonnes of annual surplus which “is un-uprooted and left in the ground to rot”.
“We have cassava but we need to get the variety which is high in starch, high yielding and will be of interest to industries,” he said.
He said cassava had low risk profile and matured between 20 and 24 months, depending on the variety, and called for proactive policies, financing and the building of the capacity of players in the industry.
The Chief Executive Officer of Bankyekrom Limited, Sarpei Kwadey, said “every part of the country can grow cassava”.
According to him, a high percentage of cultivated cassava remained un-uprooted, and that only 0.5 per cent was processed while 70 per cent was produced by smallholder farmers.
“We need huge tracts of land to cultivate cassava on a large scale, as well as skilled labour, mechanisation and planting materials,” he added.
Financing
The Chief Executive Officer of DBG, Kwamena Duker, said the bank was focused on four key sectors – agribusiness, manufacturing, ICT and high value services.
He said cassava was the most important root crop in the country and, therefore, called for joint efforts to address the challenges faced by the cassava sector through collaboration of various stakeholders.
A former worker of the National Trust Holding Company (NTHC), Sampson Danso, has renewed calls for a probe into alleged financial deals at the company by the former Managing Director, Dr Albert Walter Quarcopome Barnor.
In a six-page petition to the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Mr Danso accused Dr Barnor of alleged financial malfeasance in different deals of the company.
Mr Danso, who was a former manager of finance in charge of NTHC securities and projects, accused Dr Barnor of allegedly diverting a $40 million loan from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) meant for the purchase of cocoa beans, into other transactions, including commercial paper loans among others despite management’s insistence to use the loan for its intended purpose.
But the former Managing Director, Dr Barnor has denied the charges saying the accusations are false.
The state-owned investment firm is now distressed has requested an urgent bailout from the government to enable it to meet its indebtedness to rural and community banks (RCBs) across the country.
The GH¢500 million bailout request is also expected to help the trust to settle its numerous retail customers, who have been victims of its liquidity crunch since 2019.
Other allegations against Dr Barnor is a $5.7 million which is unaccounted for by the management of NTHC under Dr Barnor.
Again, funds totalling $3.6 million provided by SSNIT as its share of recapitalisation of NTHC Limited between 2012 and 2013 were allegedly misapplied and misappropriated.
Recaptalisation
The funds, instead of being used for the company’s recapitalisation, were allegedly diverted into the acquisition of a head office land at Osu Danquah – Labone road.
Additionally, the two are said to have acquired a piece of land at Osu in 2011 at a cost of $1.590 million for the construction of the company’s head office, exceeding the board’s approval of $1.5 million by $90,818.57.
Also, Dr Barnor has been accused of inflating the cost of furniture for the company’s head office.
He has been accused of purchasing a table in his office for GH¢43,700.
Again, Dr Barnor is alleged to have withdrawn monies from the company’s foreign accounts without adherence to laid-down procedures making it difficult to make meaningful reconciliations since the accounts were opened.
Dr Barnor responds
But responding through his lawyers, Alliance Law Unlimited, Dr Barnor denied the accusations insisting that there were no misapplication of SSNIT loan.
He said the bank accounts into which the proceeds of the loan was deposited was there for all.
“KPMG and Danso could have gone through the bank statement to determine the use of the funds”, he said while accusing KPMG, an auditing firm, of doing a sloppy work.
He said all collateral securities pledged for loans were registered with the Bank of Ghana’s Collateral Registry in line with the requirements of the Lenders and Borrowers Act 773.
“NTHC carried out its lending activities under the Borrowers and Lenders Act 773. References to the Securities and Exchange Commission guidelines in relation to NTHC lending are misguided”, he wrote through his lawyers.
Credits and assets-backed commercial paper requests were subjected to rigorous due diligence by the Corporate Finance Department to determine viability of proposed projects and businesses, as well as capacity to repay.
Petition
A staff of the NTHC, Sampson Danso, has consequently petitioned the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), over the unlawful termination of his employment with the company.
“Sir, in pursuant of the government efforts to eradicate corruption in Ghana, I, in collaboration with some concerned staff of the NTHC had since 2005 run a long battle with the managing director and some board members over corruption and mismanagement of both public flotation funds, corporate and individual clients’ investment funds.
“This action has led to my victimisation and other senior management staff who out of patriotism had sought to protect the company from total mess.
“The managing director in an effort to cover up his diabolic deals had since November 29, 2013, wrongfully terminated the appointments of myself and seven other colleagues he deemed to be watchdogs/vigilantes on his administration under the guise of staff restructuring without due compensation.
Blaise Ackom said that practice can cause health complications.
He attributed this practice to the current trend of ladies enhancing their bodies, including their private parts, to please men.
Speaking to Roselyn Felli on Prime Morning on Tuesday, Mr Ackom indicated that no vagina is perfect, hence ladies should not try to make it smell good.
“…Now we even have vaginal sprays and deodorants in town and ladies feel that the sprays you use on our bodies can be used down there. People feel that certain things around them are very unpleasant after or during their menstrual period.”
“So, some will just apply the deodorants, or some will just open their legs and spray there. That’s why I’m saying that the vagina is not meant to smell like vanilla, strawberry, and the rest. They want a perfect vagina, and there’s no perfect vagina,” he explained.
It is believed that most women enhance their beauty and other parts of their bodies to please men.
Speaking on the show, the health practitioner admonished women to be content with their natural selves and not do anything to please anybody.
Speaking of the consequences of vaginal enhancement, Mr Ackom stated that complications could occur during child delivery.
“We have vulvar cancer, which you can be predisposed to. The place can even become inflamed. At times, you can even have what we call “dyspareunia,”, pain during sex. Usually, you’ll have consistent pain during sexual activities, and those people, you can have sex with them for like 3 hours, and they won’t have any form of orgasm,” he said.
As part of the effects, he indicated that a scar would form at the clitoris due to the use of creams containing chemicals.
Mr Ackom has also urged mothers to stop bleaching their children because it may harm their health.
Pete Davidson and Emily Ratajkowski are reportedly dating, according to various insiders at a number of outlets.
The speculation comes on the heels of Davidson’s split with Kim Kardashian after nine months of dating. Meanwhile, Ratajkowski in September filed for divorce from her husband, film producer Sebastian Bear-McClard.
“Pete and Emily have been talking for a couple months now,” a source told Us Weekly, adding that the pair are “in the very early stages, but both really like each other.”
Another insider told E! News that Emily finds Pete “charming,” adding that the former SNL star is “a lot of fun to hang out with.” The source noted that the pair have “flirtatious chemistry right now.”
In a Variety interview with Ratajkowski last month, the model revealed she’s “newly single for basically the first time in my life ever.” The 31-year-old went on, “And I just feel like I’m kind of enjoying the freedom of not being super worried about how I’m being perceived.”
Kardashian and Davidson’s relationship came to an end in August. The two sparked dating rumors in late 2021, following the former’s hosting gig on Saturday Night Live. They fueled those whispers with a series of public outings, eventually confirming that they were together.
An insider suggested the split was amicable, as the two have every intention to continue a friendship. The source added that Kardashian, 41, and Davidson, 28, still have “a lot of love and respect for each other,” but determined their busy schedules and long distance “made it really difficult to maintain a relationship.”
The Lawyer for the Finance Minister in the ongoing censure motion hearing, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darkohas pleaded with the 8-member committee to furnish him with documents supporting the allegations against his client.
He revealed that his legal counsel does not have the full particulars of the evidence provided by the minority group in parliament pushing for the dismissal of Ken Ofori-Atta.
He is of the view that the documents provided to the ad-hoc committee by the minority group will enable his client better assess the allegations based on which his removal is being pushed for.
Failure to provide a detailed document, he says will be tantamount to ambushing Ken Ofori-Atta.
“It would not be fair for the Minister of Finance to be ambushed right here without any preparation to start answering questions. All we are asking for in the interest of justice is that we should be furnished with the full particulars of the facts in support of each of the allegations contained in the letter and then the supporting documents,” Mr. Otchere-Darko said.
Background
On October 25, 2022, the Minority in Parliament filed a censure motion against Mr Ken Ofori-Atta.
The minority group, among others, accused the Finance Minister of acting outside the powers of the office and largely blamed him for the country’s current economic woes.
Following a heated debate in Parliament over the vote of censure, Speaker Alban Bagbin instituted an ad hoc committee to be co-chaired by MP for Bolga East, Dominic Ayine and Adansi-Asokwa legislator, Kobina Tahir Hammond to look into the matter.
Other members of the committee include North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Klottey-Korle, the Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, and Okaikoi North MP, Emmanuel Ahiaku, from the Minority side.
Representatives from the majority side are Okaikwei Central MP, Yaw Boamah, Asante-Akim Central legislator, Kwame Anyimadu- Antwi, and Sekondi MP, Egyapa Mercer. The clerk to the committee is Mr Boamah Camilo, the Speaker added.
The Speaker said that following the procedure, a report would be brought before the House for a vote.
The High Court in Accra has dismissed an application by former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr Stephen Opuni, which sought to remove the retired judge from continuing to preside over his case.
Dr Opuni, acting through his lawyers, had argued that the Chief Justice was not clothed with the power to extend retired Justice Clemence Honyenuga’s tenure by six months to continue hearing the case.
Context
Justice Honyenuga, a Supreme Court judge presiding over the case at the High Court judge, was due for retirement in September 2022.
Prior to his statutory retirement at age 70 for Supreme Court Justices, the Chief Justice, Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah, supposedly in accordance with Article 145 of the 1992 Constitution, gave the retired judge six more months to conclude the case, which has been before the court since 2018.
Article 145(4) of the Constitution states: “Notwithstanding that he has attained the age at which he is required by this article to vacate his office, a person holding office as a Justice of a Superior Court or Chairman of a Regional Tribunal may continue in office for a period not exceeding six months after attaining that age, as may be necessary to enable him to deliver judgment or do any other thing in relation to proceedings that were commenced before him previous to his attaining that age”.
According to the lawyers of Dr Opuni, the appointing authority, which is the President, was the only person clothed with the power to extend Justice Honyenuga’s tenure and not the Chief Justice.
Ruling
However, in a ruling last Monday, Justice Honyenuga dismissed the application on grounds that the Chief Justice exercised his administrative power as the head of the judiciary when he extended his (Honyenuga’s) tenure in accordance with Article 145 of the 1992 Constitution.
Dr Opuni together with businessman, Seidu Agongo, are on trial for allegedly causing over GH¢217 million financial loss to the state in the supply and purchase of lithovit liquid fertiliser.
The two are before an Accra High Court slapped with 27 charges, including causing financial loss to the state, defrauding by false pretences, conspiracy to commit crime, abetment of crime, money laundering, and corruption by public officer and contravention of the Public Procurement Authority Act.
Application
Moving the motion counsel for Dr Opuni, Samuel Codjoe submitted that the Chief Justice engaged in an “unconstitutional act” when he extended the tenure of Justice Honyenuga.
Counsel added that the power to extend the tenure of a Supreme Court could not be exercised by the Chief Justice who was not the appointing authority.
“The only person who can grant an extension to the tenure of your lordship as contained in Article 145(4) is the President and not the Chief Justice,” he said.
Counsel added that although the Chief Justice was the administrative head of the judiciary, he could not grant an extension to the tenure of a judge who had attained the mandatory constitutional retirement age, hence the Chief Justice usurped the powers of the President.
Opposition
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa, opposed the application.
“The appointment and removal from office of a justice of the superior court is different from an extension to a judge previously hearing a case to continue with the matter for a limited period of time, and the Constitution handles them differently,” she said.
She added that in Articles 144 and 146 of the 1992 Constitution, the drafters of the Constitution said it was the President who appointed and removed Justices of the superior court.
“Nowhere in Article 139 or 145(4) is the President mentioned, and if the drafters intended for the President to give an extension, they would have stated so,” she added.
The presiding judge in dismissing the application indicated that the Chief Justice as the administrative head of the Judiciary had the power under the Constitution to extend the service of a retiring judge for the six-month period.
The case has been adjourned to November 16, 2022, for the trial to continue.
Donald Trump announced his 2024 presidential campaign on Tuesday night.
“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” he told supporters at Mar-a-Lago, as seen in the video above. Trump tapped into all too familiar language with proclamations that the U.S. is “being destroyed before your eyes” and has become “a failing nation for millions of Americans” in his absence.
The 76-year-old one-term, twice-impeached POTUS also filed official forms with the Federal Election Commission. President Joe Biden, who will turn 80 on Nov. 20, has recently indicated he intends to run for reelection.
Donald Trump was elected in 2016 and left office in 2021, two weeks after his conspiracies fueled the Jan. 6 capitol riot that caused multiple fatalities. Axios notes the former Apprentice host’s third run for the presidency “comes as Republicans are reevaluating his role as the face of the party following midterm failures and ongoing controversies.”
NPR points out that since the GOP “underachieved” in last week’s midterms, “fingers are being pointed in Trump’s direction, even from within his own party.” The outlet adds that he’s making “an effort to freeze out the GOP presidential field and force Republican elected officials to get off the sidelines and endorse him.”
“This campaign will be about issues, vision and success, and we will not stop, we will not quit, until we’ve achieved the highest goals and made our country greater than it has ever been before,” Trump said on Tuesday night.
The ex-leader’s current legal issues are plentiful. The Department of Justice is looking into his use of classified materials recovered at Mar-a-Lago, as well as his attempts to invalidate the 2020 election results.
His alleged pressure to tamper with Georgia election results has prosecutors performing a criminal investigation, and New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a $250 million lawsuit against Trump and three of his kids for purported business fraud. The failed steak salesman is himself suing CNN for defamation, seeking $475 million.
A five-year national action plan for health security is being implemented by the Ministry of Health to strengthen health system capacity to prevent, detect and respond to emergencies in the country.
Seventy per cent of the $96m initiative is being invested in priority areas such as surveillance, national laboratory network, workforce development and anti-microbial resistance.
The WHO Country Representative in Ghana, Dr Francis Chisaka Kasolo, who announced this in Accra last Monday, said: “I am happy to note that the country has developed the National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS).”
He described the plan as comprehensive enough to prepare the nation against future health emergencies.
Dr Kasolo was speaking at the maiden edition of a quarterly seminar series on the state of the nation’s health organised by the School of Public Health (SPH) of the University of Ghana (UG).
It was on the theme: “Financing of public health emergencies in Ghana”.
Participants included experts and policy makers from research institutions, governmental and non-governmental agencies who explored the opportunities the COVID-19 pandemic had provided and also discussed sustainable approaches to financing public health emergencies in the country.
It was an initiative of the SPH, with the support of the Ministry of Health, the WHO and the Duke Global Health Institute in the US.
Expenditure on health
According to Dr Kasolo, African countries currently spent between $8 and $129 per capita on health, compared to over $4,000 by high-income countries.
He said 36 of the 52 AU member states spent less than the recommended $90 required to deliver a package of essential health services.
He said to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) and financial risk protection, government expenditure needed to be in the region of 70 per cent of total health expenditure or more.
He said on the average, Ghana’s total health spending was lower than that of sub-Saharan Africa and lower-middle income countries.
Dr Kasolo, however, said the country had a relatively higher share of health spending derived from public sources, compared to out-of-pocket sources.
“The predominance of public financing for health is viewed as an important factor in the country’s improved health system performance.
“The UHC service coverage index improved from 41.6 in 2010 to 49.1 in 2019, with an average annual increase of 1.8 per cent between 2015 and 2019,” he added.
Collaboration
The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, said the government was deploying the required strategy to mobilise more resources to prepare against future health emergencies.
In line with that, he said, it had started engaging various stakeholders on the need to help fund the country’s health sector against future disease outbreaks.
This was contained in a speech read on behalf of the minister by the Director of Infrastructure at the MoH, Dr Ben Ampomah Nkansah.
The minister also said the inadequacy of health infrastructure, such as reference laboratories, identifiable infectious disease centres and other sporadic distribution standardised primary health facilities to handle emergencies was one of the challenges that needed to be addressed.
Mr Agyeman-Manu added that the increased patient turnover and the number of prognoses of the COVID-19 pandemic deepened the financial strain on the entire health system, which he said required the government to review its appropriation to achieve its objectives.
Significance
The Dean of the SPH, Professor Kwasi Torpey, said the seminar series sought to discuss and find solutions to key public healthcare issues of national concern.
“They will discuss topics such as public health emergency, which is defined as the occurrence or eminent threat of a health condition or illness caused by an epidemic or a pandemic disease, or an infectious agent that poses a substantial risk to the population which leads to death or disability,” he said.
The global population has now reached 8 billion people.
CNN reports that the world grew by 1 billion people in 12 years. “This unprecedented growth is due to the gradual increase in human lifespan owing to improvements in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene, and medicine. It is also the result of high and persistent levels of fertility in some countries,” a United Nations statement read, adding that this moment represents a “milestone in human development.”
CNN Philippines tweeted that newborn girl Vinice Mabansag, born in Manila, was counted as the 8 billionth resident of Earth.
Asian countries saw the most growth, with an increase of around 700 million people since 2011. India is also set to have the biggest population, ballooning by around 180 million people, eclipsing China as the most populous country in the world.
Following the 8 billion mark, birth rates will start to slow down. Even now, the growth rate has dropped to less than 1 percent annually. The next billion isn’t projected to be reached until 2037, and beyond that, the world is predicted to grow to 10.4 billion people in the 2080s. A majority of that growth will come from sub-Saharan Africa, with the global population hovering at that number till 2100.
According to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, arriving at 8 billion people “is an occasion to celebrate diversity and advancements while considering humanity’s shared responsibility for the planet.”
While that’s the positive side to our world population growth, the negative side is that more people means more competition for resources like water, food, and space. Experts say growth can also have an impact on climate change, leading to migration and conflict in the years to come.
Black Stars. who are the lowest-ranked team at the tournament have been drawn in Group H alongside Portugal, South Korea and Uruguay.
Ghana will take on Portugal in their first game on November 24 before playing South Korea and Uruguay on November 28 and December 2 respectively.
“We are here to compete at the highest level of football, we are here not to make up the numbers,” Kurt Okraku said.
“We have been at the mundial before and what that means is that, we have equal capacity to equal what we have done before or perhaps go much further.
“This is possible but this will be possible if all of us behave in a certain way. This will be possible if when I come and stand in front of you you pay attention and to listen to what I have to say.”
He added, “This is part of we being detailed in our thought process, in our thinking process in our preparations towards being competitive.”
“We are not here to joke and that includes paying attention to details, staying together and doing exactly what your technical team asks you to do.”
Ghana secured a 4th FIFA World Cup tournament having participated in 2006, 2010, and 2014 in Germany, South Africa, and Brazil after drawing 1-1 against Nigeria in the return leg of the final play-offs at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja to seal qualification on the away goals rule.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup takes place between November 20 and December 18, 2022.
Only three sides from the continent have ever progressed to the quarter-finals; Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002, and Ghana in 2010.
Ghana will be hoping to progress from the group stage at this year’s tournament.
For the first time since the 2008 death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, Casey Anthony will give an on-camera interview about the controversial case in Peacock’s upcoming three-part series Casey Anthony: Where the Truth Lies.
Directed by Alexandra Dean (This Is Paris), thethree-part limited series begins streaming Nov. 29, promising “Casey’s account of the infamous investigation, trial and aftermath, speaking to the speculation surrounding her actions at the time, her demeanor in the courtroom and her time spent in prison.”
Anthony, who in 2011 was cleared of murdering her daughter, said she “still [doesn’t] know what happened to Caylee.”
“I wasn’t feeling that great, and I wanted to lay down,” Anthony said about June 16, 2008, the day she last saw her child. “I had her lay in bed with me.”
“I was awoken by [my father] shaking me and asking me where Caylee was,” she continued. “That didn’t make sense. She would never even leave my room without telling me. I immediately started looking around the house. I go outside and I’m looking to see where she could be.”
Per People magazine, Casey explained her recollection of the events which led up to her daughter’s murder, which she blames on her father. “He was standing there with her,” she said. “She was soaking wet. He handed her to me. Said it was my fault. That I caused it. But he didn’t rush to call 911 and he wasn’t trying to resuscitate her. I collapsed with her in my arms. She was heavy, and she was cold. He takes her from me and he immediately softens his tone and says, ‘It’s going to be ok.’ I wanted to believe him. He took her from me and he went away.”
Anthony claims she didn’t tell anyone what happened, but also wasn’t under the impression that her daughter had died.
“During the 31 days, I genuinely believed that Caylee was still alive,” she shared. “My father kept telling me she was ok. I had to keep following his instructions. He told me what to do. I tried to act as normal as I could.”
Watch the trailer for Casey Anthony: Where the Truth Lies up top.
The Ad hoc Committee tasked to investigate the various allegations to justify the removal of the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta,from office commenced hearing yesterday, with the proponents of the censure motion outlining seven grounds to substantiate their call to push out the minister to save the Ghanaian economy from further deterioration.
The lead proponent, Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Leader, assisted by the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, supported the seven grounds with figures from official documents, such as budgets and fiscal data series from the Ministry of Finance website, to firm up their motion for Parliament to impeach Mr Ofori-Atta.
They mentioned the grounds as conflict of interest, unconstitutional withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund, illegal payment of oil revenues into offshore accounts, deliberate and dishonest misreporting of economic data to Parliament, fiscal recklessness, leading to the crash of the Ghana cedi, incompetence and frightening ineptitude and gross mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy.
Supporting documents
To make their case, Mr Iddrisu tendered documents on which they are relying, including the Hansard on parliamentary debate on November 10, 2022, the Public Financial Management Act, the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2018 (Act 982) and the Bank of Ghana Act, 2022 (Act 612).
Other documents on which they will rely are Article 82 of the 1992 Constitution, the Public Interest and Accountability Committee reports from 2018 to mid-2022, Staff Reports of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the rapid credit facility from 2018 to 2021, fiscal data from the Ministry of Finance website, the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2018 (Act 982), the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011 (Act 815), budget statements from 2019 to 2022 and mid-year budget statements presented to Parliament from 2019 to 2022.
They are also relying on the Auditor-General’s report from 2018 to 2020, as well as information they have compiled from internationally recognised analyst websites, such as Goldman Sachs and Bloomberg.
Minister’s appearance
Originally, Mr Ofori-Atta was not due to appear before the committee, but he showed up at yesterday’s hearing in the company of his lawyer, Gabby Asare Otchere Darko, and his two deputies at the Finance Ministry, Dr John Kumah and Abena Osei-Asare, to apprise himself of the arguments being put up by the proponents of the censure motion to allow him to defend himself properly tomorrow.
Mr Ofori-Atta, dressed in his signature white ‘khaftan’ attire, was later joined by the Minister of National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah.
Demand by minister
The documents tendered were in response to a letter which the committee received from the Finance Minister, dated November 14, this year, which a co-chairman of the committee, Mr K.T. Hammond, had read out.
The letter, he said, had requested for specifics of the seven grounds (allegations) made against the minister by the motion proponents, as well as relevant evidential documents to enable him to properly defend himself.
Subsequently, both co-chairmen of the committee asked the proponents if there were any documents that they would be relying on for the purpose of making their case against the minister.
Furnish us with all documents
Unhappy with the list of documents being tendered by the proponents of the motion, counsel for Mr Ofori-Atta intervened and said per Article 23 of the 1992 Constitution, since the hearing was a quasi-judicial process, his client deserved a fair hearing.
Mr Otchere Darko said in the event matters did not go well at the hearing, the minister faced potentially the severest punishment a minister could get — removal from office.
He, therefore, requested for the full particulars of facts in respect of each of the allegations contained in their letter in order not to cause the minister to be ambushed right before the committee, “without any preparation to start answering questions”.
“Before we start this procedure, all we are asking for, in the interest of justice, is that we should be furnished with the full particulars of fact in support of each allegation contained in the letter.
“The documents are fine; before we look into the documents, we want the charges to be complete with the particulars,” Mr Otchere Darko said.
Why hearing?
On November 10, this year, the Minority Leader moved a motion on a vote of censure on the floor of Parliament to compel the House to impeach the Finance Minister.
However, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, referred the matter to the eight-member committee, co-chaired by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Adansi Asokwa, K. T. Hammond, and the MP for Bolgatanga East, Dr Dominic Ayine, to probe the allegations for prima facie evidence and report to the House in seven working days.
Based on the outcome of the hearing and the recommendations of the committee, the House will consider whether there are enough grounds to impeach and stop Mr Ofori-Atta from holding himself as the Finance Minister.
Minister not competent
Leading evidence in each of the allegations contained in the motion, the Minority Leader dwelt on the ground of unconstitutional withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund.
Starting with the construction of the National Cathedral, Mr Iddrisu said nobody was against the President promising and honouring God with a cathedral.
He, however, said public resources for such project should be approved by Parliament.
Contrary to that, he cited how a warrant signed by the Finance Minister on October 29, this year, led to the expenditure of GH¢142.76 million being allocated for the construction of the cathedral and asked if such an allocation was approved by Parliament.
Fiscal recklessness
On the deliberate and dishonest misreporting of economic data to Parliament, the Minority Leader referred to the Auditor-General’s report and said per reports by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ghana’s national debt stock exceeded GH¢450 billion.
“As it was inherited in 2017, it was GH¢120 billion and the amount of money we now spend to service debt as of the end of 2021 was GH¢37 billion, ballooning to GH¢45 billion estimated by the close of this year.
“This can only be as a result of irresponsible borrowing,” Mr Iddrisu said.
He also reflected on the escalating inflation in the country to buttress his point.
He also cited the President’s broadcast to the nation on Sunday, October 30, this year about how high inflation had contributed to unacceptable hardship facing Ghanaians today, saying “we are holding the Minister of Finance wholly responsible for that”.
Mr Iddrisu said in 2017, $1 was equivalent to GH¢4.2, but today $1 was GH¢15 and highlighted how the cost of doing business had become unacceptably high.
“The pharmaceutical industry is complaining because it affects their imports and they are made to pay more,” he said, adding that the depreciation of the cedi had even affected Makola women because they could not trade effectively, as they made loses due to the consequence of borrowing.
Quoting from the Auditor-General’s report of December 31, last year, he said the annual budget funding amount reported by the Ministry of Finance was GH¢2.06 billion, whereas the Controller and Accountant General reported GH¢3.3 billion, a variance GH¢1.3 billion.
He said the Minority was dissatisfied with the performance of the Finance Minister and considered him not competent to continue to hold office as Finance Minister.
Unsustainable debt
Dr Forson also told the committee that the government had since been misreporting economic data to Parliament with the aim of misleading the House and the investor community.
That was mainly to create the false impression to Parliament that the Finance Minister had complied with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2018 (Act 982), when that was not the case, he said.
Quoting Act 982, he said in spite of a set of rigid rules on fiscal responsibility, Ghana’s debt had become unsustainable.
“What we have seen over the years, even though the Finance Minister has been presenting some economic data to Parliament, is that in 2018, our minister and the government had said to Parliament that the fiscal deficit was 3.9 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“The reason they said it was 3.9 per cent of GDP was that a key expenditure worth GH¢9.8 billion was excluded from the fiscal account, as they treated it below the line and that had to do with financial sector payment.
“The law says that anytime you reach six per cent, the vote of censure must happen and this law was assented by the President on December 28, 2018,” Dr Forson stated.
He added that if the GH¢9.8 billion was to be accounted for to include what was excluded and treated below the line, “the actual fiscal deficit for 2018 was 7.1 per cent of GDP, which clearly means that the censure motion in line with Section 4 of Act 982 triggers,” he said.
He added that in 2019, Mr Ofori-Atta informed Parliament that the fiscal deficit was 4.8 per cent of GDP, while excluding the financial sector payment of GH¢3.1 billion and energy payment of GH¢5.1 billion from the fiscal accounting.
“So if you are to factor in all of that, the fiscal deficit is actually 7.1 per cent of GDP, at a time when the fiscal rules had not been suspended, breaching sections 2 and 4 of Act 982,” he said.
On conflict of interest, he recalled what the minister told Parliament in answer to a question that his company, Databank Financial Services Limited, made GH¢159.3 million as book runners for bonds between 2017 and 2021.
An Accra Circuit Courthas granted a GH₵70,000.00 bail with two sureties to a self-employed man who allegedly took GH₵70,000.00 from a woman under the pretext of helping her make her ex-lover impotent.
Prudence Osabutey, the complainant, who said she could not share her ex-lover with other women, sought help from Modesto Seddoh, the accused person, to put a spell on her ex-lover’s manhood.
The Court ordered that one of the sureties should be justified with a land title deed.
Seddoh denied the charge of defrauding by false pretense.
He is to return to the Court on December 8, 2022.
The Police told the court presided over Mrs Patricia Amponsah that Prudence is a pensioner and lived at Teshie-Nungua Estates, where Seddoh also resides.
The prosecution said in March this year, the complainant’s boyfriend introduced Seddoh to her as a friend.
The court heard that later, a misunderstanding ensued between the lovers and the complainant confided in Seddoh.
The prosecution said Seddoh took advantage of the complainant’s domestic conflict and collected GH₵70,000.00 via MTN momo under the pretext of giving it to a spiritual father in Kumasi to cleanse her and make her boyfriend impotent, but failed.
It said a report was made to the Police for investigation, which led to the arrest of Seddoh.
The prosecution said investigations revealed that Seddoh had tried to use the money to buy vehicles from Togo but he was swindled.
The Electoral Commission has urged stakeholders, particularly the political parties, to support its proposal to close the 2024 polls at 3 p.m. instead of 5 p.m.
A Deputy Chairman of the Commission, Dr Eric Bossman Asare, said the proposal to close the 2024 polls at 3 p.m. was to prevent electoral violence and ensure that results were declared on time before darkness set in.
Speaking at a multi-stakeholder session to strengthen partnership for the prevention of conflict and violence in elections in Ghana yesterday, Dr Asare said most cases of violence that occurred in previous elections happened in the dark after 5 p.m, hence the proposal to change the closing time to 3 p.m. which had been captured in its new constitutional instrument yet to be laid before Parliament.
“Apart from preventing violence, it will encourage counting to be done early and we will be able to announce and declare the results much earlier.
“The Commission has also said that once you are in the queue at 3 p.m., you will be allowed to exercise your franchise,” he said.
He further urged legislators to approve the new constitutional instrument when it got to Parliament.
Stakeholder engagement
Jointly organised by the National Centre for the Coordination of Early Warning and Response Mechanism (NCCRM), the National Peace Council (NPC) and West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), the stakeholder engagement seeks to support stakeholders to identify key challenges within the democratic space and proffer solutions to ensure peaceful electioneering processes in Ghana.
The engagement, which was funded by the European Union and the German Development Cooperation (GIZ), is also to strengthen collaboration and partnership among the stakeholders to contribute to peaceful elections and democratic transition in the country.
Representatives from the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, National Election Response Group, National Commission for Civic Education, National Media Commission, National Security, Ghana Centre for Democratic Development, Institute For Democratic Governance, Youth Bridge Foundation, among other stakeholders were present.
The Director of NCCRM, Col. Joseph Kelvin Merdiema, explained that it had become necessary for all stakeholders to collaborate on how best to approach the 2024 elections.
He added that the implementation of early warning and response systems was crucial to prevent conflict and violence in elections.
The implementation of the early warning and response systems will help to identify risks and vulnerabilities that impact human security in the country and disseminate warnings timely through standardised and reliable communication systems to reach decision-makers and those at risk.
Legacy issues
The National Coordinator of WANEP, Albert Yelyang, underscored the need to address the legacy issues of the 2020 elections such as the pockets of violence recorded in some constituencies to be addressed ahead of the next election.
All stakeholders, he said, must take strategic measures to avoid violence.
He further urged the National Peace Council to build rapport with the political parties and other key stakeholders ahead of the 2024 elections.
Media
The Executive Secretary of the National Media Commission, Yaw Sarpong Boateng, called on all stakeholders who formulate public policy, particularly in relation to public safety, to mainstream media in the discussion, analysis and in their communication.
“Too often, people see the media as an instrument they need to use; what they do not notice is that the same degree of intellectual analysis resides with the media.
“You will fail if you exclude the media from the analysis and think that you can use them when you are done with all the analysis to project your analysis of the situation,” he added.
It is expected that soon, Parliament will also commence its engagements on the Bill to culminate in its successful enactment.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye, made this known at a press briefing in Accra last Sunday.
The briefing was to update the media on recent developments in the housing sector.
He said the Bill sought to ensure that a landlord who demands the payment of rent “in advance for more than one month in a monthly tenancy, or a tenancy which is shorter than one month, or more than one year in a tenancy which exceeds one year, commits an offence” clearly identified in the Bill.
The Bill, the minister said, would also ensure that the rights of “vulnerable tenants” who have been out-priced by the uncontrollable hikes in the cost of renting accommodation were safeguarded.
Outdated
Mr Asenso-Boakye said the existing Rent Act, 1963(Act 220) of 1963 and the Rent Control Law 1986 (PNDC Law138) had outlived their relevance due to the current population growth, urbanisation, housing availability, rental rates, housing redistribution and eviction controls, among other several attendant difficulties that have engulfed the housing sector.
“One subject area that has dominated the housing space for decades is the regulation of the rental housing market in Ghana; the existing law was passed by Parliament 59 years ago,” he observed.
The Bill, the minister noted, would, therefore, ultimately remove inherent constraints and offer incentives, which would stimulate private sector investment in the rental-housing sector.
This, he said, would ensure that property developers were not discouraged from investing in the housing industry by rigid rent control mechanisms.
Participate
The minister implored well-meaning Ghanaians to take particular interest in these engagements to ensure the passage of the Bill into law.
This, he explained, could be done by sending their respective views and expectations to their Members of Parliament for the House to consider for its passage into law.
The acting Head of the secretariat, Sena Owusu-Gibson, in a statement, said human trafficking was considered a highly organised crime and was one of the global blights which affected all races. The action of the court was, therefore, well timed and well judged.
The two were convicted by an Accra Circuit Court for conspiracy to commit crime, to wit defrauding by false pretences contrary to Sections 23 (1) and 131 of the Criminal Code 1960 (Act 29).
They were sentenced to three years in hard labour, in addition to a fine of 1,000 penalty units (GH¢12,000) or serve additional two years in default.
The two offenders were arrested and prosecuted by the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service, with support from the HTS of the MoGCSP.
Complaint
Per the facts of the case, Ms Adjei and Mr Asiedu acted together with a common purpose to commit crime, that is defrauding by false pretence.
Both culprits succeeded in collecting money from a couple with the promise of transporting them and their one-and-half-year-old son to Canada for a job opportunity.
The complainants were asked to pay an amount of GH¢5,000 to be used to procure passports and other travel documents, out of which GH¢4,000 was paid.
Ms Adjei later informed the complainant that the documents were all ready but the complainant’s wife could not travel because she had become pregnant, so she could only travel after delivery.
They also told the complainant that he could not travel after three days because there was a problem with his passport which must be worked on, but their son could travel because there was nothing wrong with his document, and that the white man to take them to Canada would go ahead with the boy.
After months of persistence, the complainant was given a document which he gave to a friend, and after reading the document, the complainant was made to understand that his child had been adopted.
The complainant reported the case to the Devtraco Police Station, after which the perpetrators were arrested, prosecuted and convicted for their crimes.
Human trafficking
Ms Owusu-Gibson said trafficking in persons was a global crime in International Law and Article 3(a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children defined trafficking in persons as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation”.
She said Ghana was known to be a country of origin, transit and destination for people, especially women and children, subjected to trafficking in persons.
A study conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Ghanahas revealed that most farmers in the country sell a large proportion of their produce, including food they reserve to eat for the rest of the year.
Those who produce food crops such as maize, rice, yam and sorghum also sell their produce because they need cash.
A researcher at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, Dr Fred Dzanku, said “they [farmers] have children who go to school, and since they do not have any other source of income, they sell [the food] to take care of their needs”.
Unfortunately, he said, after engaging in such commercialisation, those farmers did not have food to depend on in the latter part of the year.
He said most of them also devoted their resources to the production of non-food cash crops, even in highly commercialised regions.
According to the study, those practices could lead to food insecurity in the country.
Dr Dzanku, who was among the nine-member team that conducted the research, made the disclosure at the presentation of findings and observations of the research in Accra yesterday.
The research, which was on land commercialisation, gendered agrarian transformation and the right to food, is a Demeter Project conducted from 2015 to 2022.
Demeter Project
The overall objective of the Demeter Project is to strengthen knowledge on the relationship among food security, the right to food and gender equality to enable the people to claim their rights and also encourage governments to facilitate the realisation of the objective.
Ghana and Cambodia were used for the research, but the presentation in Accra focused on the findings and observations in Ghana.
In Ghana, the study was done in four districts in four regions.
The seven-year Demeter Project is funded by the Research for Development Project of the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
On how to deal with the over-commercialisation of farm produce, Dr Dzanku suggested that in the short term, farmers should be educated to devote a certain proportion of their land to food production, while the state must invest in roads, infrastructure and storage facilities, in the long term.
Cassava production
Presenting her work on the political economy of food insecurity in Ghana, a member of the research team, Dr Gertrude Dzifa Torvikey, said industrial cassava production was an important policy imperative.
“The state and policy makers should map out what cassava means in the development of the nation and its position in the future development agenda,” she said.
Earlier, the principal investigator of the team, Prof. Dzodzi Tsikata, had said during the demeter study in 2015, there were 800 million chronically food insecure people, with 50 per cent living on small farms, 20 per cent landless, while 70 per cent were women and girls.
Thirty selected media practitioners have undergone a day’s sensitisation training in Accra on child labour and forced labour issues.
The training, which included the use of International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) indicators on forced labour to address the problem in Ghana, seeks to expose journalists to laws that will help define child labour and forced labour.
Organised by the Global March Africa on Child Labour, with technical and financial support from Forced Labour Indicators Project (FLIP) Veritè and the United States Department of Labour, the programme brought together Social Mobilisation Partners on Child Labour (SOMOPAC), to empower them in their field of work.
The social mobilisation partners on child labour, are Ghanaian journalists who are being trained to focus on reporting on child labour and forced labour in Ghana.
The training, under FLIP, will also enable journalists to be equipped for enhanced advocacy, and to sharpen their skills for accurate reporting to reduce child labour.
In a presentation, the Deputy General Secretary for the General Agricultural Workers’ Union (GAWU), Andrews Addoquaye Tagoe, who is also the Regional Co-ordinator for the Global March Africa on Child Labour, said the basic factor had to do with the definitions of child labour and forced labour.
He said child labour or forced labour could not be defined by using emotions or just by looking at the people involved in it.
The definitions, according to him, are by laws, routed in international and national conventions.
Mr Tagoe noted that parental consent was key in terms of the definition of child labour.
That, according to him, would consider the type of work that the child was doing, whether on the farm, washing, or household chores.
Mr Tagoe, who was a co-facilitator, said the age under consideration for a child was, if the child is under 17 years, the consideration was whether or not the work affected the child’s education, his or her personal development, time, basic human rights, and or mortality.
On forced labour, he indicated that key among the considerations for the definitions was freedom of the individual to leave the work voluntarily.
“If one cannot work and freely leave the work voluntarily, then that can be considered as forced labour,” Mr Tagoe reiterated.
Deep insights
The Global Programme Director of FLIP Veritè’s, Josephine Dadzie, who was a facilitator, urged the media to be armed with deep insights into forced labour and to use the plethora of resources available, especially on the FLIP website, to enhance their knowledge.
She indicated that the worst form of child labour was often practised on the farms, in the fishing industry, quarry sites, trading centres, and homes, adding that media reports, to a very large extent, informed policy direction.
Therefore, if issues of forced labour were not well investigated before being put out in the public domain, chances were that the problem would not be addressed.
Ms Dadzie noted that journalists needed to have a fair knowledge of indicators of forced labour.
Some of which include intimidation and threats, excessive working overtime, restriction of movement, withholding of wages, retention of identification documents, physical and sexual violence, poor living condition, abuse of vulnerability, debt bondage, deception and management system failure.
That, Ms Dadzie said, would help journalists handling a forced labour case not to just report on the matter, but probe further and farther above the surface.
An aspiring General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, has called on the party’s delegates to give him the mandate to enable him restore hope in the party in order to win the 2024 general elections.
According to him, the younger generation was beginning to believe that both the NDC and the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) were full of people who only sought their selfish interests.
“The fact that the NPP over the past six years has not only collapsed the economy, but has also decayed the very morals of leadership does not mean the NDC is the same”, he explained.
Mr Kwetey, a former Minister of State said that at a press conference held at the NDC national headquarters in Accra yesterday after successfully being vetted to contest for the position of General Secretary.
Mr Kwetey, who also went through the balloting process, would be number two on the ballot paper for the General Secretary position on the voting day at the party’s national elections on December 17, 2022 at the Trade Fair Site in Accra.
The former Member of Parliament for Ketu South stated that the only means to win power and restore the economy of the country to its former glory was to first restore hope in the people through the party.
“We want to restore the faith of our supporters, party workers at all levels and give inspiration to the millions of people who support us from every nook and cranny of the country”, he said.
Track record
Mr Kwetey said unlike the NPP, the NDC had a proven track record of leading the country out of economic turbulence on several occasions.
“In 1982, when this country was on the brink of collapse, our predecessor that was our PNDC, brought us from our point of disaster and set us on a path of stability that brought the stable democracy we have today.
“We did it again when we came to power in both 1993 and again when we came to power in 2009,” he explained.
The youth
Mr Kwetey also pledged, if given the mandate, to establish a strong youth wing to bring out the creativity of the younger generation.
That, he said, was because during his tenure as communications director, some of the best ideas and interventions he put in place that made him successful in his role came from people younger than him.
He, therefore, pledged to institute measures that would celebrate the youth in a manner that their creativity would become a competition for the NPP.
According to him, as part of the policy, every child would receive a monthly allowance of GH¢300, which would be paid either to their parents or guardians to support their upkeep.
“The allowance will be paid based upon the number of children a parent is having and if a parent is having, for instance, four children, each child will receive GH¢300 every month in line with the policy,” he said.
Conference
Mr Akpaloo said this in an interview with a section of the media during the party’s regional conference in Bolgatanga.
Before the conference, Mr Akpaloo, who was accompanied by some leaders of the party, toured some of the constituencies to interact with party members and energised the party’s base as part of preparations for the 2024 general election.
As part of the conference, new constituency executives for the 15 constituencies in the region and new regional executives were sworn into office.
Only 7.2 million children
Asked how a government he leads would find the money to implement the ambitious child benefit policy, he said, “The government will stimulate the economy to generate demand activities out of which taxes will be generated to implement the policy.”
He stated that paying monthly allowance to about 7.2 million children in the country was not a difficult thing to do, stressing “the total number of children is not overwhelming and that the LPG-led government will find the money to support their proper care”.
He stated that the policy was not difficult to implement and that the required policy framework will be put in place to ensure its smooth implementation and added “just as children in other advanced countries are paid monthly, we will learn from that system and do the same thing here”.
New factories
He said a new LPG government would put in place a comprehensive plan towards revamping the defunct Pwalugu Tomato Factory and meat factory in the region to provide thousands of direct and indirect jobs to the youth.
Additionally, he disclosed that five new factories would be built in the region to improve its local economy for the benefit of the people, saying “at least $100 million will be needed to build each factory and that the government will find the money to build the factories”.
He explained that the establishment of the factories in the region would be a game changer, as it would provide decent jobs to the people, thereby preventing the youth in particular from migrating to the south in search of non-existent white-collar jobs.
Change voting pattern
He appealed to Ghanaians to change their voting pattern of alternating between the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) since both political parties had taken them for granted for a long time.
He indicated that the NPP and the NDC continue to deceive citizens when they win power and that it was time for Ghanaians to change their voting pattern to allow the LPG to steer the affairs of the country.
They include policies that will facilitate trade and investment, regulate, yet make the flow of labour within Commonwealth countries easier and lead to greater investment in education, skills training, innovation and entrepreneurship for young people.
Ms Botchwey was speaking on the theme: “The Commonwealth in a Changing World” at the British foreign relations think tank, Chatham House in London, last week.
Measures
She also listed the other measures needed to revitalise the Commonwealth as climate adaptation, paying particular attention to small states and boosting the human and financial resources of the Commonwealth institution itself.
“Our citizens watch as we struggle with policies to raise growth in isolation through austerity and high taxes.
“The pie is simply not capable of feeding everyone, unless consumer-based market expansion considers the potential of our 2.5 billion population, 60 per cent of whom are 30 years or younger,” she said.
The Commonwealth comprises 56 countries from five regions, including some of the world’s largest and wealthiest, such as Australia and Canada, and the smallest, among them Tonga and St Kitts and Nevis.
Ms Botchwey said considering the size of its population, demographic and political profiles, as well as wealth and economic potential, the Commonwealth should be the second most consequential organisation of states globally.
“But the question we must ask ourselves is whether it is,” she said.
Industrialisation
The Foreign Affairs Minister further proposed an industrialisation and economic diversification strategy linked to regional integration agreements and economic partnership agreements within and beyond the Commonwealth.
That, she said, would be “a guarantee against the stagnation that is widespread across our countries”.
She advocated a Commonwealth-wide mobility agreement to help redress labour and skills demand through “safe, orderly and regulated migration”.
Again, Ms Botchwey said what she termed as “a common Commonwealth market” would allow work and services to be exchanged without relocation of workers across borders, as well as have young people trained wherever they lived in the Commonwealth.
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has signed a framework agreement with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to strengthen healthcare delivery under a Community-Based Primary Healthcare project.
Known as the Record of Discussion (RoD), the $12 million agreement signed in Accra last Monday will enable the parties to build Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds in 15 districts in the Upper East Region and seven districts in the North East Region under the agreement dubbed “CHPS+ Phase II”.
The project to be implemented by the GHS will span five years from 2022 to 2027 as a continuation of the government of Korea’s commitment to helping the country attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
The CHPS+ Phase I, which was a $9-million project implemented in the Upper East Region from 2016 to 2021 resulted in the reduction of institutional maternal mortality ratio and a more than 50 per cent reduction in under-five mortality ratio in the region.
Project scope
The project will equip CHPS zones, health centres, district and regional hospitals with various medical equipment while funding the training of doctors and midwives to improve their capacity in delivering the required services for maternal and newborn care and other medical practices.
It is also to enhance and widen the coverage of the community tricycle ambulances which enable community members to transport critical cases such as emergency delivery from their community to the next point of referral using the emergency transport system.
Similarly, the project will support the day-to-day operation of community health officers (CHOs) by providing them with motorbikes for more effective and efficient outreach services.
Ultimately, the project is to improve the delivery of primary health service at the community level through capacity-building of CHOs and nurses.
Expanding project
The Country Director of KOICA Ghana, Mooheon Kong, said following the success of the CHPS+ Project Phase I, it was only appropriate for the two partners to keep the momentum and further scale up their work beyond the Upper East Region.
“We deliberated on various engagements and eventually designed the second phase of the CHPS+ project with a bigger volume, wider geographical coverage and greater scope,” he explained.
He, therefore, reiterated the agency’s commitment to continue supporting the core strategies of the GHS in its primary healthcare delivery through CHPS and the Network of Practice (NoP) system.
“For this is the only way we can save lives and see results,” he added.
Gratitude
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, expressed his profound gratitude to KOICA for contributing to the country’s vision of attaining UHC.
He said that the project would not only boost healthcare delivery in that part of the country, but will also address and speak to the direct needs of the people living in the two regions.
“We promise to continue working with you and to be more efficient in the use of these resources to ensure the project achieves its desired results,” Dr Kuma-Aboagye said.
A Community-Based Health Planning and Services(CHPS) compound has been constructed for the people of Kafaba and its surrounding communities in the East Gonja Municipality in the Savannah Region.
The facility consists of an outpatient department (OPD), child welfare unit, consulting, delivery, store and sluice rooms as well as a semi-detached residential facility for the staff.
Constructed by the Northern Development Authority (NDA), the facility is to help bring healthcare delivery to the door steps of the people in the community and its environs.
Hitherto, residents in the area had to travel about 21 kilometres to Salaga, the municipal capital, to access health care.
The facility would, therefore, help boost the local economy of the Kafaba catchment area, since time spent in visiting the Salaga Government Hospital would be used for farming and other economic activities.
Inauguration
Inaugurating the facility, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of NDA in-charge of Projects and Programmes, Stephen Yir-eru Engmen, said the facility formed part of the authority’s commitment to provide quality healthcare delivery to the door steps of the people in its operational areas.
He indicated that the “NDA has procured 120 tricycle ambulances to be distributed all over the Northern Development Authority zone. Of the two that were allocated to the East Gonja Municipality, one has been given to the Kafaba health post to make healthcare service easy and accessible”.
While charging management of the facility to take good care of it, he commended the assembly for supporting the NDA to ensure the speedy completion of the of the CHPS compound.
For his part, the Municipal Chief Executive for East Gonja, Richard Broni, thanked the NDA for the initiative and said it would go a long way to address the healthcare needs of the people.
The Chief of Kafaba, Kafabawura Seidu Yahaya, appealed for the expansion of the facility to meet the demands of the entire community.
This will be Rocky Dawuni’sthird Grammy nomination having been nominated in 2015 and 2021.
According to ghanaweekend.com, Dawuni’s new jam ‘Neva Bow Down’ featuring Blvk H3ro has been nominated in the Best Global Music Performance category of the 65th Grammy Awards.
The report indicated that ‘Neva Bow Down’ was released on September 22, 2022.
Rocky Dawuni will be competing for the award with “Udhero Na,” by Arooj Aftab and Anoushka Shankar, and “Gimme Love,” by Matt B and Eddy Kenzo.
The other songs nominated for the awards are “Last Last,” by Burna Boy; as well as “Bayethe,” by Wouter Kellerman, Zakes Bantwini and Nomcebo Zikode.
In 2021, Dawuni’s ‘Voice of Bunbon Vol. 1’ album earned a nomination in the Best Global Music Album category.
This comes after his sixth studio album, ‘Branches of The Same Tree’ was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in December 2015.
It has been announced that the West African music superstar Damini ‘Burna Boy’ Ebunoluwa Ogulu MFR has been nominated for a Grammy award, the third time in a row.
The American Recording Academy made the announcement today Tuesday, 15 November 2022.
A Nigerian, Burna was initially nominated for a Grammy in the year 2020. He competed with his ‘African Giant’ album in the Global Music Album category but lost the accolade to West African fellow Angelique Kidjo of Benin.
The following year, 2021, the artiste who prides himself as the African Giant was nominated for his ‘Twice As Tall’ project in the Global Music Album category and this time, bagged the trophy.
His easy-going ‘Love, Damini’ long play (LP), which is a pause from the crusading sounds and messages of his projects before it, was nominated in the Best Global Music Album category.
The singer was also nominated for Best Global Music Performance for his international smash hit “Last Last.”
The artistes with the most nominations for next year’s Grammys, in order, are Beyonce (9), Kendrick Lamar (8) and Adele (7) who ties with country star Brandi Carli.
The 2023 Grammy Awards ceremony is slated for Sunday, 5 February.
Meanwhile, Burna Boy has just won the award for the Best African Act at the 2022 MTV Europe Music Awards.
She said this on Twitter today, Tuesday 15 November 2022.
“…and I still can’t get a man. Smh [shaking my head],” she exclaimed in a caption atop a picture depicting the record 8 billion population of the world.
In response, award-winning disk jockey, DJ Mic Smith, said: “Be like your spec node;” to wit, “Seems your type of man is super rare.”
Ms Ankobiahsighed in acknowledgement: “Hmm. Asem ooo.”
It is not clear if Sandra said the above in jest.
In the past, however, the media personality and founder of the Women’s Institute, has been rumoured to be dating rapper Omar Sterling, alias Paedae.
Earlier this year, Moesha Budoung, another socialite, insinuated Ms Ankobiah was seeing her uncle and hoped they would officially tie the knot.
A projection from the United Nations (UN) today informed the world that earth’s human population has grown by 1 billion in the last 12 years.
“This unprecedented growth is due to the gradual increase in human lifespan owing to improvements in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medicine. It is also the result of high and persistent levels of fertility in some countries,” the UN statement read.
Otto Addo, head coach of the Black Stars has given explained how he selected players for Ghana’s final squad for the World Cup.
Otto Addo sitting alongside Ghana Football Association officials announced Ghana’s final squad for the tournament yesterday.
Qatar will host the World Cup from November 20 until December 18, 2022. After the tournament in South Korea and Japan in 2002, this will be the second World Cup completely hosted in Asia and the first World Cup to ever be held in the Arab world. Furthermore, the tournament is planned to be the last with a 32-team field; for the tournament in the United States, Mexico, and Canada in 2026, the field is planned to grow to 48 teams.
Charlton Athletic goalkeeper Jojo Wollacott, Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Richard Ofori, and Real Mallorca midfielder Baba Iddrisu are all out of the squad due to injuries.
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace midfielder Jeffrey Schlupp and Genk attacker Joseph Paintsil have been left out for various reasons.
Addressing journalists after announcing his squad for the World Cup, Addo said: “I see them every weekend this is the first thing the second thing was the whole process it is not like…it even done before our president was very hardworking to get all these players for Ghana. At the end its my decision it is a little complicated because surely I have to look at every player I have to look at players from the local league I have to look at players from Europe,”
“It is difficult to satisfy all I know that I will disappoint some players for sure but everybody tried to get the best squad possible. It is not about local players or non players it is all about performance, training some will say this is 3 or 4 days of training,”
“You can impress me within 1,2,3 days if I see that you adapt to show that what I want to see then also putting in your own style you are brilliant. So a player like Osman Bukari when we played against Nigeria he was on standby due to injuries he came inside and in training I was like ok he convince me and I put him in the game against Nigeria he did well,”
The Black Stars of Ghana is in Group H alongside Uruguay, Portugal, and South Korea. Ghana will play Portugal on 24th November at the Stadium 974, South Korea on 28th November at the Education City Stadium, and play their final group game against Uruguay on 2nd December at the Al Janoub Stadium.
Below is Ghana’s full squad:
Goalkeepers: Lawrence Ati Zigi, Abdul Nurudeen, Ibrahim Danlad
Defenders: Denis Odoi, Tariq Lamptey, Alidu Seidu, Daniel Amartey, Joseph Aidoo, Alexander Djiku, Mohammed Salisu, Abdul-Rahman Baba, Gideon Mensah
Midfielders: André Ayew, Thomas Partey, Elisha Owusu, Salis Abdul Samed, Mohammed Kudus, Daniel-Kofi Kyereh
Forwards Daniel Barnieh Afriyie, Kamal Sowah, Issahaku Abdul Fatawu, Osman Bukari, Inaki Williams, Antoine Semenyo, Jordan Ayew, Kamaldeen Sulemana
Ranking Member on Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, has criticised the manner in which the banking sector clean-up exercise was conducted and its subsequent ramifications on the economy.
The 2019 exercise saw the Bank of Ghana revoke the licenses of some 347 Microfinance Companies and 23 Savings and Loans and Finance House Companies.
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, said the move was necessary because of mismanagement at these financial institutions which led to depositors’ funds being locked up with no hope of such funds ever being accessed.
The development is said to have cost the state about ¢21 billion of taxpayers’ funds.
This concern was, once again, brought to the fore during proceedings of the Committee hearing the censure motion against the Finance Minister.
Addressing the Parliamentary Committee, Cassiel Ato Forson indicated that best practices were not applied by government which led to what the Minority believes is fiscal recklessness.
The situation he said later led to unplanned debt which was subsequently borne by the taxpayer.
“Ghana decided to go on a route where the burden of the banking sector clean up was transferred to the taxpayer. I think that was wrong. I think that Ghana could have decided to go for other ways in dealing with the banking sector issues,” he said in response to a question posed by North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
MP for Akatsi South, Bernard Ahiafor asked for more clarity on his point.
Dr Forson retorted on Tuesday that; “If I’m the Minister of Finance, there is no way I was going to borrow money to collapse a bank.”
Defending his side’s position at the hearing, Dr Ato Forson said the process was not well managed by government.
The Finance Minister’s fate currently lies in the hands of an 8-member committee investigating allegations leveled by the Minority as adequate grounds for his removal.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin on Thursday, November 10, constituted the Committee, which has seven days to submit its report.
It comprises Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, Bernard Ahiafor on the Minority side and Patrick Yaw Boamah, Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi and Andrew Agyapa Mercer from the Majority side.
Otto Addo, head coach of the Black Stars, has said that his squad will exploit his opponents’ weaknesses in the 2022 World Cup group stage in Qatar.
Qatar will host the World Cup from November 20 until December 18, 2022. After the tournament in South Korea and Japan in 2002, this will be the second World Cup completely hosted in Asia and the first World Cup to ever be held in the Arab world. Furthermore, the tournament is planned to be the last with a 32-team field; for the tournament in the United States, Mexico, and Canada in 2026, the field is planned to grow to 48 teams.
The Black Stars of Ghana is in Group H alongside Uruguay, Portugal, and South Korea. Ghana will play Portugal on 24th November at the Stadium 974, South Korea on 28th November at the Education City Stadium, and play their final group game against Uruguay on 2nd December at the Al Janoub Stadium.
Speaking after the official announcement of Ghana’s final squad Otto Addo said:
“It’s up to us and how we adapt to their playing style, how we stop them, how we work together as a team. We need to play intelligent football, exploit our opponents’ weaknesses and bring our own strengths to the fore,”
According to reports, Ghana will train at the famous Aspire Academy in Doha, Qatar.
The Black Stars of Ghana will take on Switzerland in an international friendly on November 17th in UAE.
Below is Ghana’s full squad:
Goalkeepers: Lawrence Ati Zigi, Abdul Nurudeen, Ibrahim Danlad
Defenders: Denis Odoi, Tariq Lamptey, Alidu Seidu, Daniel Amartey, Joseph Aidoo, Alexander Djiku, Mohammed Salisu, Abdul-Rahman Baba, Gideon Mensah
Midfielders: André Ayew, Thomas Partey, Elisha Owusu, Salis Abdul Samed, Mohammed Kudus, Daniel-Kofi Kyereh
Forwards Daniel Barnieh Afriyie, Kamal Sowah, Issahaku Abdul Fatawu, Osman Bukari, Inaki Williams, Antoine Semenyo, Jordan Ayew, Kamaldeen Sulema
Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu says Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta must be blamed for the current high cost of living in the country.
Prices of goods and services have been on the rise recently while transportation fares have also increased more than four times due to the increase in fuel prices.
The country’s inflation rate currently stands at 40.4%, a level not witnessed ever in the country.
According to Mr. Iddrisu the government, amidst all these developments, has failed to take measures to abate the current hardship. Thus, the Finance Minister should be held responsible.
The Tamale South MP said this when he appeared as a witness before the 8-member Adhoc Committee hearing the censure motion against the Finance Minister on Tuesday.
“There is a cost of living crisis in Ghana, exacerbated by uncontrolled inflation and we think that the Honourable Minister for Finance must be held responsible for that. We are saying that someone must accept responsibility.
“Chairman, when we say the cost of living and hardship, we are also concerned about the investments of persons associated with pensions and even the financial viability of Ghana’s banking sector and the attempt to deal with it and we think that Ken Ofori-Atta must be held responsible for that,” he noted.
Meanwhile, the Legal representative for Ken Ofori-Atta, Gabby Otchere-Darko has demanded evidence to back the Minority’s allegations against the Minister.
The lawyer wants the Minority legislators to provide particulars to support their specific claims.
This, he says, will enable his client better assess the allegations based on which his removal is being pushed for.
For Mr Otchere-Darko, if this is not done, it will give room to the petitioners ambushing the embattled Minister with questions that may be outside the scope of the probe.
“If we are not careful, there will be surprises at every turn of the proceedings,” he added.
Fat Joe has shed light on a tense moment at the 2005 MTV VMA’s involving 50 Cent, who he had been feuding with.
In an excerpt from Joe’s new memoir The Book of Jose, which was shared by GQ, Joe wrote about a tense exchange he had with 50 Cent while both rappers were scheduled to appear at the Miami awards show. Joe noted G-Unit was “extra thick that year” and that aside from the group’s seminal rappers Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo and Young Buck, 50 Cent had also just signed Mobb Deep. Ma$e was also in tow along with “some extra muscle.”
“Halfway through the show, I went out on the stage to give Missy Elliott an award,” Joe recalled. “What the audience at home didn’t see was that during the commercial break beforehand, 50 Cent got out of his seat and started walking the house. He went up to the audience in the cheap seats and started waving to me. It was like he was dar-ing me to get off the stage and physically confront him. Then he went down to the floor and started slapping fives with Jay-Z and Diddy.”
Then 50 Cent wandered on stage, and for a few moments was just feet away from Joe as the commercials wrapped up.
“I was saying to myself, Okay, we’re about to fight. We’re about to get it on right here at the VMAs,” Joe explained. “When the show came back on—this is live TV, mind you—he went back to his seat. The G-Unit started yelling at me while I’m reading off the teleprompter. The Terror Squad, offstage in the wings, started barking back. That’s when I dropped my jab: ‘I feel safe with all the police protection courtesy of G-Unit.’”
This dig inevitably did not sit well with 50 Cent, and after Joe and his Terror Squad left the event, the Queens legend took the stage to perform a medley of his current hits, including Tony Yayo’s “So Seductive,” which he closed out by saying, “Fat Joe is pussy, man. Pussy boy. Fuck boy.”
While tensions had hit a boiling point between the pair, Joe had a meeting with the Jordan brand a few days later, as he was set to be the face of a new shoe called the Fat Joe Jordan. But the NBA legend rang Joe himself and said the deal couldn’t proceed because of his beef with the G-Unit leader.
“’You know I love you, Big Joe, but you’re too hot right now,’ he told me on a phone call. ‘I wanted to do it, but I’m not into all that rap beef. With all this controversy, we can’t do the sneaker anymore,’” Joe added. “Lost about $20 million by not getting that deal. I lost out on other endorsements too. Promoters definitely didn’t book me and 50 Cent on the same shows. Everybody had to keep us separated. But as fate would have it, after the VMAs, we didn’t see each other again in person for almost a decade.”
In a separate interview with Talib Kweli on his People’s Party podcast, Joe said at the time he was prepared to take his feud with 50 to the grave, but that the 2012 death of their mutual friend Chris Lighty changed everything.
“When I show up to the BET Awards, we on point. We super focused,” Joe said. “That’s the only way I can explain it legally. They say rehearsal. I perform ‘Lean Back’ and then 50 Cent comes out. He ends up right by where I’m at. And when the music stops, he puts his hands out, and says ‘Peace for Chris Lighty.’ Chris Lighty wanted peace.”
The Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, Charles Adu Boahen, has been accused of accepting sizable sums of money from a business tycoon in the United Arab Emirates to assist him in establishing a business in Ghana, according to a report published by Tiger Eye PI ahead of its Galamsey Economy exposé, which will air on November 14 and 15.
Charles Adu Boahen reportedly received large sums of money to help a businessman start a company in Ghana. This is according to Tiger Eye PI.
“We’re going to shop a lot,”
Charles Adu Boahen, a minister of state in the ministry of finance, remarked as he placed the main trading currency in a dark plastic bag.
The Tiger Eye PI team also noted that Mr Adu Boahen promised to rope in President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his Vice, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia into this business deal for there to be a smooth running of operations, as well as, make the tycoons influential persons in the country.
“Adu Boahen, after having bundles of US dollars spread on a table in front of him and told to use it for shopping by the supposed business tycoon, promised to introduce the tycoon to the powers that be; the President, HE Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and the Vice President, in Ghana. This, according to Adu Boahen, will make them, the supposed entity and tycoon, influential when they are in the country to establish their businesses,” part of Tiger Eye PI’s release read.
“After all is said and done, the excited Minister of State in charge of Finance at the Office of the President, at the sight of bundles of US Dollars on the table for his shopping started spewing a lot of ‘thank you and we will do a lot of shopping’ in appreciation,” he added.
The premiere of the Galamsey Economy exposé will take place at the Accra International Conference Centre on Monday and Tuesday, November 14 and 15, 2022.
Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has sacked Charles Adu Boahen, Minister of State at the Finance Ministry.
Sports scientists and mathematicians have spent years studying the best and fairest ways to organise tournaments.
With five billion people expected to tune in to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the pressure to get it right is on.
The most frequent criticism of FIFA’s draws for World Cup groups is that they tend to produce groups of unequal strength.
Some may get a comparatively easy ride through the group stage while others could find themselves in a “group of death”.
Organisers need to make sure strong teams aren’t penalised for their strength, while avoiding the emergence of any weak groups, to maintain fairness and keep TV audiences riveted.
How does it work?
FIFA’s seeding system assigns the host nation and the seven strongest teams to each of the eight groups. To guarantee a geographical spread, it defines six qualifying zones: Africa, Asia, Europe, North and Central America, with the Caribbean, Oceania and South America in the final pot.
No two teams from the same zone – except Europe – can be in the same group, while no more than two European teams can be in the same group.
At first glance, this year’s draw seems pretty even-handed. Group E, with Spain and Germany, looks sewn up from the start, as does Group F, with Belgium and Croatia. But anything could happen in the other groups.
Ordering the groups at Qatar 2022 according to their average FIFA world rankings reveals each one’s overall strength.
We can also determine the spread of rankings within a group to judge which is the most competitive.
8. Group A: Netherlands, Senegal, Ecuador, Qatar
With an average world ranking of 30, and a spread of 48 ranking places between strongest and weakest, Group A seems the weakest. The Netherlands (8th), should sail through. Senegal (18th) should see off Ecuador (44th). Qatar (50th) have a home advantage – and when players have experience playing in the Middle East’s conditions, this could count for a lot.
7: Group H: Portugal, Uruguay, South Korea, Ghana
Weighing in with an average world ranking of 28 and a spread of 52 rankings, Group H is the second weakest. Portugal (9th), Uruguay (14th) and South Korea (28th) will be pushing hard for the knockout spots. Ghana (61) will be lucky to progress.
6. Group C: Argentina, Mexico, Poland, Saudi Arabia
The group has an average world ranking of 23.25 and a spread of 48 places. Argentina (9th) will be among the tournament favourites but to get there, they’ll need to see off Mexico (13th), as well as Poland (26th) and Saudi Arabia (51st).
5. Group D: France, Denmark, Tunisia, Australia
The next toughest pool has an average world ranking of 20.5 and a spread of 34 positions. France (4th) and Denmark (10th) will likely see off Tunisia (30th) and Australia (38th) but the European teams will need to ensure their consistency through the early stages of the tournament.
4. Group G: Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia, Cameroon
This group has an average world ranking of 20 and a spread of 42 ranking positions. Brazil (1st) are legends of the game and the most successful national team in the history of the World Cup with five titles. Switzerland (15th), Serbia (21st) and Cameroon (43rd) do not ensure this group’s destiny is written yet, with the Serbians’ dogged tenacity and the flair of Cameroon being crucial to their chances.
3. Group F: Belgium, Croatia, Morocco, Canada
The Belgians may not spring to mind as one of the world’s top footballing nations, but they are currently ranked second in the world. And in a group with an average world ranking of 19.25 and a spread of 39 places, the Red Devils should face no problem getting through. Croatia (12th) will be in hot pursuit, while Morocco (22nd) and Canada (41st) may struggle to get to the later stages of the competition.
2. Group E: Spain, Germany, Japan, Costa Rica
This group has an average world ranking of 18.25 and a spread of 24 ranking places. Spain (7th) and Germany (11th) will likely be favourites to top Group E, but Japan (24th), semi-finalists in 2002, can’t be written off. With Costa Rica (31st), expect a strong challenge from all in this group.
1. Group A: England, USA, Iran, Wales
The toughest group of all due to the average world ranking of 15 and a spread of just 15 places. It is also the tightest and most competitive.
England (5th) must be considered a serious challenger for the trophy. But there could be fireworks, as England take on their neighbours, Wales (19th), and USA (16th) face off against geopolitical rival Iran (20th).
Yet, mere statistics don’t equal results on the pitch.
Which teams can find it within themselves to become more than the sum of their parts? Who can defy the odds within 90 minutes? This is, after all, why we all watch the beautiful game.
Simu Liu may be a certified star after leading Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, but he recalled his humble beginnings after donating $100,00 to Feeding America, a nonprofit organization with over 200 food banks across the United States.
According to Variety, when Liu announced his plans to donate the money, he explained “I feel a very personal connection to their mission. The pandemic has adversely affected many communities of colour and families. I saw and felt that within circles of people that my parents knew, my extended family knew, and witnessed just how difficult things have been over the last couple of years.”
Poverty and the inability to purchase food resonated with Liu who said that he grew up “the definition of poor.” Liu lived off of his parents’ scholarship funds when his family has freshly immigrated to Canada.
“We were discount-aisle shoppers at the supermarket, getting all the stuff that was about to go bad. We didn’t really have any savings to our name, no support system to back us up,” Liu recounted.
“You turn the clock back six years ago, I was in credit card debt wondering when I was ever going to be able to break free of minimum payments and interest and the struggling artist’s lifestyle,” Liu said. “The privilege that I’ve experienced, just how fortunate my life has been, how amazingly blessed I’ve been in these last few years, that’s not lost on me.”
He talked about growing in the Erin Mills district of Mississauga, Ontario in an interview with Complex Canada.
“Like, I’m driving up my street, the same street that my parents and I lived on for like 23 years, or we’re passing by the Erin Mills Town Center where I used to hang out with my friends for countless, countless hours. And those moments are very grounding. And they make you feel like a human being. And then, of course, inevitably, you step into a restaurant and people start recognizing you and then you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, that life is not there anymore.’ But at least within my home, the home that we shared, I’m still my parents’ son and we can still just sit around a table and just kind of be, which is nice,” he said.
Liu has kept himself busy after his 2021 Marvel film and is set to appear in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, as well starring in the forthcoming Netflix movie Atlas alongside Jennifer Lopez.
The TDC has already paid an interim dividend of GHC1.2 million.
Mr Kofi Brako, Board Chairman of the company, announced the dividend at the second annual general meeting of TDC held in Tema.
“Matching the company’s desire to complete its projects on time with the shareholder’s expectations, the Board has resolved to pay an additional GHC1.2 million in dividends to bring the total dividend payment for the year to GH2C.4 million,” Mr Brako said.
Touching on TDC’s financial performance for 2021, the TDC Board Chairman said the company generated an income of GHC116.59 million in 2021, representing a growth of 20 per cent over GHC97.1 million in 2020.
The board chairman said TDC assets grew by 22.3 per cent from GHC 380.72 million in 2020 to GHC465.50 million in 2021, adding that shareholder’s fund also increased by 19.84 per cent from GHC270.96 million in 2020 to GHC325.11 million in 2021.
Mr Brako said TDC currently had several ongoing projects being funded from its internally generated funds, adding that in that regard it was important to plough back most of its profit to fund and complete them.
Mr Joseph Cudjoe, Minister of Public Enterprises, commended the TDC for its outstanding performance during the year under review and for winning the overall best-performing state-owned enterprise, as well as the overall best-performing specified entity for the year 2020 in the public enterprises league table.
Mr Cudjoe said TDC was working in line with the government’s vision of seeing State Owned Enterprises operating profitably and professionally to support the economy while obeying all laws regarding their operations.
Mr Abdulai Abanga, the Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, on his part, charged the TDC to consider expanding its operations outside the Tema acquisition areas to other parts of the country which need affordable houses.
Ms Alice Abena Ofori-Atta, the TDC Managing Director, in a report said long-term construction finance in Ghana remained one of the major constraints to real estate development for property developers and prospective homeowners.
Ms. Ofori-Atta added, however, that funding from private entities, Real Estate Investment Trusts, banks, and other financial institutions, among others, continued to lessen the funding gap though in a modest way.
She expressed optimism that as the real estate sector was expected to bounce back after the COVID-19 pandemic, TDC would continue to explore and take advantage of any opportunity that would emerge.
She said to enhance their performance and effectiveness amidst the new dynamics of competition within the sector, TDC was using some strategic initiatives and policy interventions such as the electronic rent collection system, the GCB Bank collection project, enterprise risk management, balanced scorecard, and staff training and development.
Some of the resolutions taken at the AGM were the receiving and adopting of the report of the Directors, Auditors, and Financial Statements for the year ending December 31, 2021.
Declaration of dividends for the year under review, as well as authorising the Directors to determine the remuneration of the Auditors, and to transfer GHC100 million from Retained Earnings Account to Stated Capital.
A bloody clash between the youth of Kenyasi in the Ahafo Region and the police in the area has led to the death of one person.
The incident is said to have happened after the police officers reportedly stationed at Newmont Mining Limited clashed with the youth at Kenyasi Number 2 in the Ahafo Region.
According to sources, a personnel from the Formed Police Unit and Counter-Terrorism Unit stationed with the Newmont company had an argument with a motor rider, an occurrence which led to the shooting of one person.
His death precipitated an uprising which led to the shooting of four additional persons.
Following the incident, the indignant youth besieged a bridge between Kenyasi No.2 and Ntotroso road in protest.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Police Service is yet to officially comment on the matter.
In order to stabilize and develop the economy, Ghana, according to Professor Ernest Aryeetey, a former vice chancellor of the University of Ghana, must look beyond the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He pointed out that Ghana had always been able to overcome economic difficulties with the help of the IMF, but for political reasons, the country had refused to implement the necessary reforms.
At the 26th GJA Awards in Accra, which had as its topic, “Walking the path towards Ghana’s Economic Recovery – The Role of the Media,” Prof. Aryeetey made this statement.
“Today, we are where we are because we failed to develop the right type of politics that will support economic transformation… (We need to) think about the political economy. How we (can) use our institutions to develop the right type of policies,” Prof. Aryeetey said, adding that the country needed to welcome more analysis and debates on the economy.
Prof. Aryeetey asked the media to create space for discussions on the economy towards finding solutions to the challenges, saying without that, it would only be the ideas of a small political group, friends and families.
“Let’s encourage debates on the economy. Let’s create a Ghana where ideas flourish and stop tagging people who share their thoughts on the economy..,” Prof. Aryeetey, who chaired the awards event said.
Madam Florence Oboshie Sai-Coffie, Special Advisor to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Media and Strategic Communications, said government was doing its best to bring the economy back on track and tasked the media to amplify voices that could help find solutions to the economic challenges.
She said the media would be prioritised in the search for the solution and said Government was happy journalists were responding positively to the call for all hands to be on deck for economic recovery.
Mr Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo, Chairman of National Media Commission, asked the media to sustain national interest in discussions on the economy and not partisan ones.
November 13 will now be recognized as “Dominique ‘Lil Baby’ Jones Day” in the city of Atlanta.
Baby received a proclamation from the Atlanta City Council on Sunday in celebration of “his successful career and his generous philanthropy.”
The rapper shared a series of photos from the ceremony and expressed his gratitude:
Lil Baby received the Quincy Jones Humanitarian Award at Black Music Action Coalition’s second annual Music in Action Awards Gala in October in honor of his contributions to racial and social justice. He previously donated $1.5 million of the proceeds from his 2020 hit “The Bigger Picture” to help underserved communities, and established a $150,000 “My Turn” scholarship program at his alma mater, Booker T. Washington High School.
Earlier this year, Baby hosted the third annual Back to School Fest in Atlanta, which provides backpacks, school supplies, haircuts, and other essentials to over 3,000 local children. He also partnered with friend and restaurateur Lemont Bradley to create an initiative aimed at employing 100 people, especially those under the age of 21, at one of three restaurants in the Atlanta area.
On the music side, Lil Baby earned his third consecutive No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with It’s Only Me. He was also named the ASCAP Songwriter of the Year for the second straight year.
The team will stay in the capital of the United Arab Emirates for four days where they will play an International friendly against Switzerland at the Baniyas club stadium on Thursday, November 17, 2022.
Twenty-three players have reported to camp with the rest expected to arrive Tuesday afternoon.
They include Andre Ayew, Jordan Ayew, Danlad Ibrahim, Lawrence Ati-Zigi, Nurudeen Abdul Manaf, Mohammed Salisu, Daniel Amartey, Denis Odoi, Baba Abdul Rahman, Gideon Mensah, Alidu Seidu, Salis Abdul Samed, Elisha Owusu, Kamal Sowah, Antoine Semenyo, Tariq Lamptey, Osman Bukari, Thomas Partey, Inaki Williams, Abdul Fatawu Issahaku, Daniel Barnieh Afriyie, Mohammed Kudus, and Daniel Kofi Kyereh.
Joseph Aidoo, Alexander Djiku and Kamal Deen Sulemana are expected to team up with the rest of the squad on Tuesday.
The Black Stars will train on Tuesday evening in preparation for the friendly against Switzerland on Thursday, November 17, 2022, at the Baniyas club stadium.
Ghana will compete with Portugal, South Korea and Uruguay in the Group stage of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 which kicks off on Sunday, November 20, 2022.
Food is available in Ghana, but conditions are poor when people are tied up at the farm gate, according to Mr. Edward Kareweh, general secretary of the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU).
“Things are not done properly,” he stated.
Food is cheap at the farm but expensive for the customer as a result of the improper application of admirable policies.
Poorly constructed relationships were “fostering a high degree of predatory behavior between participants, adversely harming the sector along most Agricultural value chains in the country,” he claimed.
This predatory, Mr. Kareweh explained, also worsened, and weakened the reinforcing system that limited investments and decreased efficiency and resiliency, preventing competitiveness which overall affected the incomes and willingness of the ordinary farmer to purchase inputs.
Mr. Kareweh was speaking on the theme: “Ghana’s Agricultural Value Chain,” at the 17th Monthly Stakeholders Engagement and Workers’ appreciation day seminar organized by the Ghana News Agency’s Tema Regional Office, which aimed at providing a platform for both state and non-state organizations to address national issues to enhance development.
The event also served as a motivational mechanism to recognize the editorial contribution of reporters toward national development in general, growth, and promotion of the Tema GNA as the industrial news hub.
“So we must not blow our own trumpets that we are working. Let those we are serving judge. We must not praise a project because of its beautiful features, we must do that after seeing results,” he said.
Mr. Kareweh stated that the financial sector was weak and poorly structured to take on capacity-building investments needed to effectively support the agricultural sector in general, specifically the equipment sector, which was hindering the value chain from its massive potential.
He noted that wholesalers had limited interest in building branded retail channels, which passed through to the farmer making it less important as a leverage point for improving broader and more appropriate access for smallholders.
He added that there were larger retailers with multiple outlets that were keenly interested in expanding their distribution networks but were concerned by the risks and cost of setting up new stores because of a failed economic system adding that the country needs a structural bailout.
He stressed that the country currently lacks effective structural policies to optimize the competitiveness of the agricultural value chain.
“Enhancing the competitiveness of the agricultural value chains demands improvement in productivity along the specific value chains for an effective and efficient input supply system,” has stated.
Mr. Kareweh explained that formulating the right policies and allowing them to be championed by competent leaders would improve crop productivity and product quality along the agricultural value chains.
He said there was a need for the government to create an enabling environment to help facilitate linkages between core value chain actors and support services including financial services, technical advisers, and mechanization services to producers.
Mr. Francis Ameyibor, Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Manager explained that “we recognize the excellence in stakeholder engagement, which we believe will assist us GNA and our stakeholders to deliver and ensure that society plays an active watchdog role so that institutions perform.”
He said the Agency was strategically placed as a credible news organization that needed to deepen its relations with its stakeholders for mutual benefit and to advance the prospects of the agency and the country.
Rockstar Games turned down the chance to launch a Grand Theft Auto movie starring Eminem, a new podcast claims.
Games industry veteran Kirk Ewing, a friend of Rockstar founders Sam and Dan Houser, says a Hollywood agent came to him with the deal.
He says the brothers were offered $5m for rights to a movie starring the rapper by Top Gun director Tony Scott.
But, Kirk tells BBC podcast Bugzy Malone’s Grandest Game, Sam Houser told the agent they were “not interested”.
Kirk, whose game State of Emergency was released by Rockstar, says the Housers had been talking about a movie tie-in around the time GTA 3 took the world by storm.
Released in 2001 on Playstation 2, the pioneering title laid the groundwork for the rest of the series and the imitators that would follow.
In the same year, Eminem was flying high off the back of his record-breaking Marshall Mathers LP.
He had also just wrapped shooting on his starring role in 8 Mile – a semi-biographical film loosely based on his early steps into rap.
‘Are you interested?’
Kirk tells the podcast he tracked Sam Houser to a hotel, where the two stayed up late to discuss the possibility of making a GTA movie.
“I think at that point it was still in Sam’s mind that it might be something that he wanted to do,” Kirk says.
He says he was phoned at 04:00 by an LA producer with an offer.
Kirk recalls: “He said ‘Kirk we’ve got Eminem to star, and it’s a Tony Scott film – $5m on the nose. Are you interested?’
“And I phoned up Sam and I said ‘Listen to this. They want Eminem in the Grand Theft Auto movie and Tony Scott to direct’.
“And he said: ‘Not interested’.”
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, GTA 3 follow-up Vice City was in such demand that people queued at midnight to be the first to buy it
And that is the last time, as far as Kirk is aware, that either brother discussed GTA coming to the silver screen.
“They realised that the media franchise that they had was bigger than any movie that was going on at the time,” Kirk says.
GTA has gone on to become a cultural juggernaut and in 2018 was declared the most profitable entertainment product of all time.
That includes record-breaking movies like Avatar.
The studio finally confirmed this year that GTA VI was in development – and Rockstar’s suggested gamers could be playing it by 2024 or 2025.
It’s insisted a leak of early footage from the game in September won’t affect the long-term plans for the title.
Rockstar and its parent company Take Two Interactive haven’t responded to Newsbeat’s request for comment.
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Samuel L Jackson – who won an award for his performance – appeared in sequel GTA: San Andreas
Although the world never saw a Grand Theft Auto movie, A-list stars have queued up to join the expansive voice cast of GTA3’s sequels.
Actors Samuel L Jackson and Ray Liotta and comedians Ricky Gervais and Frankie Boyle have appeared in different instalments of the series.
And Eminem has popped up on the game’s celebrated soundtrack – as a guest star on a Dr Dre track recorded for a GTA Online expansion pack.
Bugzy Malone’s Grandest Game, fronted by the UK rapper and GTA fan, charts the history and controversies of the smash hit open-world series.
Samuel Dentu, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), has stated that it is the goal of his organization to get Ghanaians to eat chocolate at least once each day.
He mentioned that the exercise will start the next year.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a program to help Micro, Small & Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) strengthen their capacity, Mr. Dentu said GEPA will also see to it that chocolate makers’ goods are promoted on both the domestic and international markets.
The Deputy CEO of GEPA told the media, “From next year, we are going to introduce chocolate consumption in Ghana since I’m sure many people haven’t tried chocolate in Ghana and when we go out, we’ll promote Ghanaian chocolate.
He added that, “We’ll go on to build capabilities of the chocolatiers to ensure they build acceptable products that can sit in any shelves in Europe, America, and everywhere and that’s the essence of this engagement.”
Mr Dentu stressed that many of the youth will be roped into this sector to help cut back the exportation of raw beans.
Black Stars held their first training session in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, with 25 players taking part as they prepare for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
According to 3Sports’ Yaw Ofosu Larbi, the only player yet to report to the Black Stars camp is Celta Vigo defender Joseph Aidoo. He is expected later on Tuesday.
Freiburg midfielder Daniel-Kofi Kyereh trained normally with the group, confirming his recovery from a fever that forced him to miss the German club’s last three games before the World Cup break.
The training took place at the Abu Dhabi Cricket Complex under the supervision of head coach Otto Addo, who was assisted by other members of the Black Stars technical team.
Ghana Football Association officials, including president Kurt Okraku and Black Stars management committee member Sammy Kuffour, were spotted at the training session.
Black Stars will train again on Wednesday before facing Switzerland in an international friendly on Thursday.
Ghana’s first World Cup match will be against Portugal on November 24, followed by other group games against South Korea and Uruguay.
The project, which will now be in the hands of a private developer, was started in 2012 to help Ghana’s housing shortage.
Francis Asenso-Boakye, Minister for Works and Housing, said during a meet-the-press event in Accra that a technical working team comprised of professionals and experts has been established to facilitate the procedures and oversee and lead all engagements necessary for the project’s completion.
Speaking to this, the Deputy Minister said looking at the amount of money invested into the project, it cannot be affordable.
According to her, one unit can “cost in excess of $205,000”.
“The truth is that it will be deceptive on my part to say this project will be affordable because already government has invested $160m and we need an additional $114m . . . one apartment of a two-bedroom house will cost in excess of $205,000 per unit,” she said on Peace FM’s morning show ‘Kokrokoo’.
“The work at Saglemi is not yet completed. Government needs about $68m to invest in onsite infrastructural work. and additional $46m for offsite projects like water, electricity storm drains and so on. In all, we have a total of $114m; government will do all it can to complete the project”.
According to her, “monies accrued from the sales of this project will be invested into other affordable housing projects”.
The Killing Me Softly with His Song performer is also having difficulty speaking, her manager said on Monday.
Flack, 85, has won four Grammy awards and received 14 nominations.
A documentary about her life is set to have its premiere next week in New York. She also has plans to publish a children’s book in January.
In addition to Killing Me Softly – which was later covered by the Fugees – Flack is known for songs including The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, which launched her to stardom after it was used in Clint Eastwood film Play Misty for Me, and Feel Like Makin’ Love.
Her condition – Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease – “has made it impossible to sing and not easy to speak,” her management said in a statement.
“But it will take a lot more than ALS to silence this icon,” they said, adding that she “plans to stay active in her musical and creative pursuits”.
There is no known cure for ALS, which is caused by the death of the nerves that carry messages from the brain to people’s muscles. It affects their ability to move, talk and even breathe.
The timing of Flack’s film and book release next year coincide with the 50th anniversary of her fourth album Killing Me Softly With His Song, which was released in 1973.
After the singer suffered a stroke in 2016, she told the Associated Press news agency that wants her songs to be remembered as “classics” and and not just an “old hit”.
“I could sing any number of songs that I’ve recorded through the years, easily, I could sing them, but I’m going to pick those songs that move me,” Flack said.
“Now that’s hard to do. To be moved, to be moved constantly by your own songs.”
Steve Jobs’ used 1970s Birkenstocks have been sold for a whopping amount of money.
The Birks worn religiously by the Apple founder were auctioned off as part of Julien’s Auction House in Culver City, California, and were expected to go for around $60,000 before the price skyrocketed during bidding.
The auction house, which described the Birkenstocks as “well used” but “intact,” noted the sandals were a fashion staple of the tech giant in the 1970s and ‘80s.
“The cork and jute footbed retains the imprint of Steve Jobs’ feet, which had been shaped after years of use,” the auction house wrote on its website. “Steve Jobs wore these sandals during many pivotal moments in Apple’s history. In 1976, he hatched the beginnings of Apple computer in a Los Altos garage with Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak while occasionally wearing these sandals.”
The description added that Jobs’ love of Birkenstocks ran deep. Margot Fraser, the woman who popularized the sandal in the U.S., told the auction house that Jobs was fascinated with the footwear’s design.
“He was interested in where the form comes from,” Fraser added in a statement. “He wanted to know everything about the materials and he was also interested in the technical side.”
The sandals had previously been part of several different auctions and were finally sold for $218,750, the highest price ever paid for sandals. Similarly, the first-generation iPhone from 2007 sold for nearly $40,000 at an auction in October. Last October, a pair of Nike air Ships donned by basketball legend Michael Jordan sold for $1.47 million, the highest price paid for sneakers at auction.
In an old interview with Vogue cited by the auction house, the mother of Jobs’ first child Chrisann Brennan spoke fondly of her ex-partner’s footwear, and said they represented his “uniform.”
“The sandals were part of his simple side,” Brennan told the outlet.
“They were his uniform. The great thing about a uniform is that you don’t have to worry about what to wear in the morning. He would never have done or bought anything just to stand out from others. He was simply convinced of the intelligence and practicality of the design and the comfort of wearing it. And in Birkenstocks he didn’t feel like a businessman, so he had the freedom to think creatively.”
Ghanaian insurance brokers have urged the government to include measures protecting people’s investments in the insurance business in the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy.
The request comes as Ghana gets ready to launch a domestic economic plan under an IMF loan support program to boost macroeconomic confidence and decrease the suffering Ghanaians are now experiencing.
Mr Shaibu Ali, the President of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ghana (IBAG), who underscored the contribution of the insurance sector to economic growth and the support it gave to people in times of disasters, asked the Government to make sure that any restructuring did not affect the sector.
He said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at a media soirée, which was to deepen the relationship between IBAG and the media fraternity and formed part of activities for this year’s Broker Awareness Month.
Mr Ali said: “We appreciate that there’s a problem and that problem must be fixed heads on, but our investments must be protected by the Government.”
He noted IBAG had started educating students in various Senior High Schools across the country to clarify the myth about insurance and said: “We need to demystify insurance, and we believe we can do this by getting closer to the younger ones still in school”.
“Because we cannot pay for the cost of borrowing, if there is any restructuring, the insurance sector should be isolated, otherwise it’s going to be a disaster for the nation,” Mr Yeboah said.
He added that: “When it comes to the insurance, it is very delicate and the day that people lose hope in the insurance company we are dead, and because we’re already having problems with trust in the public, insurance is our last hope when everything is gone.”
Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assured that talks with the IMF would not lead to any investor losing money through a reduction in the face value of government bonds (haircut).
Some market vendors have disregarded the efforts made by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) in connection with the opening of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) pilot market on the ministry’s forecourt to provide Ghanaians with access to affordable food items to protect them from rising food prices in the nation.
The market women claim that sales at the PFJ market are not unusual.
The women claimed that the costs at PFJ marketplaces are generally comparable to those in local traditional markets across the nation.
Discussing the PFJ market selling at affordable prices while the traditional markets sell at exorbitant prices, Madam Christiana Ayisi, the secretary to the Dome New Market Women’s Association in the Greater Accra Region, contested that prices of food items such as yam and plantain are low in the traditional markets.
She said this while speaking in an interview with Nana Otu Darko, the sit-in host of the Ghana Yensom morning show on Accra 100.5 FM on Tuesday, November 15, 2022.
According to her, there are food items sold for GHS5 and GHS10 among others in the traditional markets.
She argued that the prices at the PFJ market are not novel.
She said what would be novel is if a bunch of plantain is sold for as low as GHS5.
“But on the same platform, some items are sold for GHS25 which is also on the high side.”
“As stakeholders in the food supply chain, we are concerned with seeing the ministry breaking even after selling the food items at the prices the items are being offered to the members of the public.”
“We want the ministry to come out boldly and tell us they made some profits in the face of the rising cost of fuel in the country,” she challenged.
“As women, we just don’t get up and increase prices,” she stressed and added that prices are determined by the cost of fuel.
She explained that many of these rural areas have bad roads so the middlemen have to hire the services of people to carry the items to the next available area where the roads are fairly good before they can be transported to the nearest market areas.
The food items are transported from the rural areas to the urban areas for the consuming public at the cost of the middlemen in the food supply chain in the country, she elaborated.
She dared the minister to sack all the market women if he was able to make some profits on the sale of the food items sold at the PFJ market.
According to her, the PFJ market is a ploy to antagonise the public against market women but asserted it will be fruitless.
At first glance, this year’s draw seems pretty even-handed. Group E, with Spain and Germany, looks sewn up from the start, as does Group F, with Belgium and Croatia. But anything could happen in the other groups.
4. Group G: Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia, Cameroon
