The $19 billion integrated petrochemical refinery complex known as the Dangote Oil Refinery, owned by Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote’s international manufacturing company, Dangote Industries Limited, has claimed that it is 97 percent complete.
The industrial company recently provided an update on the multibillion-dollar petrochemical complex’s ongoing construction work in Lagos’ Lekki Free Zone, revealing that contractors are working on electrical units, insulation, and testing to finish construction so that production can start.
The disclosure comes more than a month after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Nigeria’s sole entity licensed to operate in the petroleum industry, announced that the integrated petrochemical refinery complex had been rescheduled to begin operations in mid-2023, as development works at the petrochemical complex progressed.
In the update, Dangote Industries Limited stated that temporary housing for 20,000 employees had been established by the group. This will further solidify the group’s position as the second-largest employer of labor in Nigeria, behind only the Nigerian government.
The refinery project has been long hampered by a number of factors, including a lack of access to foreign currency, an ailing economy, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted supply chains and delayed the shipping of refinery equipment.
Dangote Industries Limited has submitted an application to raise up to N300 billion ($723 million) through a newly established debt issuance program, which consists of a seven-year Tranche-A bond issued at 12.75 percent and a 10-year Tranche-B bond issued at 13.50 percent, in order to finance the group’s integrated petrochemical complex.
This application is part of a move to expedite the construction work at the petrochemical complex.
The refinery will have the largest vertically integrated plant when its pipeline infrastructure is finished, processing up to 650,000 barrels of Nigerian oil per day once the initial 540,000 barrels per day of processing are completed.
The $19-billion refinery is expected to supply 100 percent of Nigeria’s demand for all refined goods while also having a surplus of petroleum products for export, creating a market for $11 billion in Nigerian petroleum products each year.
Ghana and Kayserispor midfielder, Bernard Mensah has encouraged Turkish students to work hard and follow their passion.
Provincial Director of National Education Ayhan Teltik, Kayserispor Vice President Onur Gözbaşı, Kayserispor players Emrah Başsan and Mensah and students attended the event held at Nuh Mehmet Baldöktü Anatolian High School.
Mensah speaking at the event called on the students to stay focused and work hard.
“When I was 13-14 years old, I was both studying and playing football,” he said as reported by fanatik.com.tr.
“It was not really easy, but I was doing a job I loved. That’s why I always worked hard and did my best.
“As you can see, I’m at Kayserispor now. “I worked hard. Whatever you do, do your best and work hard.”
On Thursday night, as the music world was preparing for Lil Baby’s new album to drop, Nicki Minaj was prepping for war.
It always somehow comes back to this. Nicki Minaj was understandably upset yesterday when she learned that her massive single “Super Freaky Girl” will reportedly not be considered for hip-hop categories at the Grammys; it will be in the running for Best Pop Solo Performance instead.
Then she brought Latto into it for some reason—and everything went left after that.
Nicki decided to project her frustration about the possible Grammy nomination snub toward Latto by saying that if “Super Freaky Girl” doesn’t get acknowledged, neither should other pop-adjacent rap songs like her “Genius of Love”-sampled track, “Big Energy.” Nicki asserted that anyone who thinks otherwise is just a “Nicki hater or a troll.”
It goes without saying that a confused Latto logged into Twitter last night; she mentioned she didn’t respond to Minaj publicly until she revealed that she had tried to have a private conversation with her.
That’s when all hell broke loose, with both rappers sending shots on the timeline while many fans were still confused as to why Nicki was upset at Latto in the first place. It turns out, some cited subliminal tweets that Latto made a week prior to that could have been directed at Minaj.
With the timeline finally calm (for the moment) and many of the tweets now deleted, here is a brief timeline of the feud that erupted between Nicki Minaj and Latto.
Cardi B’s attorneys want Tasha K to pay up immediately.
According to legal documents reviewed by Billboard, a Georgia judge has ordered Tasha K—legal name Latasha Kebe—to cough up the $4 million awarded to Cardi in their highly publicized defamation case. The Bronx rapper sued the YouTuber gossip blogger in 2019, claiming Tasha K had launched a “malicious campaign” to harm her reputation. Cardi pointed to a series of videos in which the defendant made “false and defamatory” statements involving drug use, sexual acts, and STDs.
In January, a jury sided with Cardi and found Tasha K liable for defamation, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The 30-year-old rapper was ultimately awarded more than $2.5 million damages and an additional $1.3 million in legal fees. However, Tasha K is now trying to pause the judgement while she appeals the verdict. She argued that the jury trial was “very lopsided” and accused the court of withholding details from the jury.
Judge William M. Ray has since ordered Tasha K to pay Cardi the $4 million, but said he would consider a pause if she was able to a secure a “supersedeas bond” that would cover the full amount.
This type of bond, aka “defendant’s appeal bond,” is typically issued by private lenders; it allows petitioners to delay paying a full judgement during the appeal process. If Tasha K’s efforts are unsuccessful and her appeal is denied, the secured bond will be overturned to Cardi.
“This is more than a hypothetical concern in this case,” Cardi’s attorney legal team wrote Friday. “During the litigation, Kebe bragged publicly that she had taken steps to insulate herself from a judgment. And there have been recent online reports that Kebe has moved from Georgia to avoid enforcement of the judgment.”
In September 2022, consumer inflation had risen to 37.2%, edging ever-closer to the 40 percent level last seen in the early 2000s.
The annual inflation rate increased for the 16th consecutive month, by 3.3 percentage points, from 33.9 percent in August 2022 to 36.8 percent, the highest figure since June 2001. This amounts to a rate that is the highest in 243 months, or 21 years, 3 months.
Over 90% of the assessed commodities showed an increase in price over the period, according to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
More inflation than the national average of 37.2% was seen in five divisions.
The increase in price pressures continues to be fuelled by elevated petroleum and transport costs, as well as higher food costs and a weakening local currency.
The Statistical Services observed a wide disparity across the 13 divisions: with housing, water electricity, gas and other fuels leading with 68.8%, followed by furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance at 51.5 percent; Transport logged 46.8 percent while personal care, social protection and miscellaneous goods and services logged 42.6 percent; and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages 37.8 percent.
On year-on-year basis, the difference between food inflation (37.8%) and non-food (36.8%) was 1.0 percentage points.
Focusing on food inflation, which was 37.8 percent for September 2022, ten sub-classes recorded higher rates. This was distantly led by water (58.9 percent) followed by milk, other dairy products and eggs (49 percent), and sugar, confectionery and desserts (48 percent).
Prices of imported goods accelerated nearly 5 percent faster than domestic items, largely due to a weakening cedi.
The market believes that the ongoing crop harvest season bodes well for food prices. However, the recent bout of cedi weakness and the utility tariff increases – effective September 2022 – will wipe out these gains in the inflation basket. Effectively, this points to higher inflation expectations in the near-term.
The September 2022 numbers also position inflation nearly 3.72x beyond the Bank of Ghana’s upper band policy target of 10 percent, and much outside the long-maintained medium-term policy range.
The Bank of Ghana’s monetary policy committee (MPC) of the has thus far increased the benchmark policy rate by an unprecedented 1,000 basis points (bps) this year to 24.5 percent in response to the ongoing rise in inflation.
“Inflation remains elevated and the balance of risks is on the upside. Although the forecasts are for monthly inflation to slow down, the risks are on the upside – emanating largely from pass-through effects of the currency depreciation, the recent upward adjustment in utility tariffs and rising inflation expectations. The Committee remains committed to re-anchoring inflation expectations and returning to a disinflation path,” Dr. Ernest Addison, Bank of Ghana Governor, said at the press briefing after the 108th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.
Inflation remains very high – still in line with market expectations.
Evangelist Diana Asamoah who is a staunch NPP supporter has been called out by Captain Smart for staying mute over Nana Addo’s incompetency.
Speaking on ONUA TV earlier this morning, Captain Smart fired Nana Addo and his appointees for sitting aloof while the galamsey menace continues to spread like wildfire.
As claimed by Captain Smart, Nana Addo is aware that some of his appointees and NPP bigwigs are galamsey kingpins reason he can’t ban illegal mining once and for all to save our water bodies.
While ranting on live TV, Captain Smart didn’t Evangelist Diana Asamoah’s name out of the list of wicked people who have destroyed the country.
According to Captain Smart, Diana Asamoah now dresses like a slay queen because she’s ‘chopping’ government’s money.
Captain Smart lashed her for allegedly using the government’s money to buy expensive wigs and heels.
He fumed that;
” As for you Diana Asamoah, the least said about you the better. Ever since you pledged your loyalty to this corrupt administration, you’ve been wearing wigs, make-up, and high heels. These were the same things you condemned and even classified as products of the marine world. You have also become corrupt like them”.
Meanwhile, Diana Asamoah has reiterated on several occasions that Nana Addo is Ghana’s best president of all time.
She has vowed to continue supporting Nana Addo until he leaves the office of the presidency.
Authorities are searching for two suspects who allegedly ransacked Megan Thee Stallion’s home.
According TMZ, the burglary took place in Los Angeles on Thursday night, while Megan was in NYC preparing for her Saturday Night Live hosting debut. Law enforcement sources tell the outlet the thieves were seen donning hoodies and gloves as they smashed a glass window in the back of the home. They then allegedly made their way into the Houston rapper’s bedroom, where the swiped between $300,000 to $400,000 in cash, jewelry, and electronics. It’s unclear if anyone was at the home during the break-in.
The Traumazine rapper responded to the incident via Twitter on Friday, writing: “Material things can be replaced but I’m glad everyone is safe 💙🙏🏾.”
She went on to tell fans she would take a hiatus following her SNL gig, as she needed to time for physical and emotional rest.
Sources say police have yet to make any arrests in connection to the burglary, but they’re reviewing surveillance footage in the hopes of identifying the suspects.
A former presidential staffer in the former John Mahama administration says Vice President Dr Mahamadu Bawumia has fallen from an exaggerated platform of perceived competence.
Stan Dogbe said the Vice President is “simply not fit for purpose.”
According to the broadcaster, Dr Bawumiahas failed to live up to expectations.
Stan Dogbe
In a social media post on Friday, October 14, Mr Dogbe insisted that Dr Bawumia’s sole aim for speeches is for “political connections” and not real economics.
“Vice President Dr Mahamadu Bawumia has fallen massively from an exaggerated platform of perceived competence to the low level he actually belongs. The man is simply not fit for purpose.
“In fact, the man exposes what is a clear difference between thoughtful competence, grounded in a mastery of analytical prowess and baseless loudness, that is designed only for quick returns,” he said.
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia
Mr Dogbe’s disappointment in the Vice President has to do with the continuous depreciation of the Ghanaian Cedi and the downtrodden economy.
The Ghanaian cedi passed the ¢12 to the dollar mark on Friday, selling at ¢12.10 at most forex bureaux or the retail market.
This development comes within a week after the cedi earlier depreciated against the dollar.
A visit by Joy Business to some forex bureaus indicates that most of the operators are selling the dollar for more than ¢12. They claim the supply of dollars has reduced significantly.
Again, the cedi is losing ground quickly against the pound and euro. Whilst a pound is going for about ¢12.70, one euro is selling at ¢11.10.
Within a week (from October 10 – October 14), the local currency has lost more than 6% value to the dollar. This means the year-to-date depreciation of the cedi is hovering around 46%.
By this rate of depreciation, the working capital of businesses, particularly manufacturers that depend on raw materials from overseas, has gone down by about 46% since January 1, 2022.
Hassan Tampuli, the deputy minister of transportation, has approved the Ghana Airport Company‘s (GACL) proposal to have its user fees and services increased so they can provide good maintenance service at the numerous airports that are cropping up all over the nation.
Ghana’s government is dedicated to developing the industry so that the nation can become a hub for aviation.
In order to properly maintain and manage the new airports being developed in some of the regions, GACL, one of the crucial organizations in charge of planning, developing, managing, and maintaining all airports and aerodromes in Ghana, is pushing for a review of its Airport Passenger Service Charge (APSC).
Speaking to the press on sidelines of a one-day visit to the Kumasi and Tamale airports by leadership and members of Parliament’s Roads and Transport Select Committee and officials of GACL led by the deputy sector minister, Hassan Tampuli who said: “Now revenue from APSC for Accra is also a subject of a loan facility, so payment more or less goes to amortise those loans; hence, we need excess funds to be able to maintain these facilities. We need a sustained revenue stream – even itemise in the budget that this is the purpose it is going to be used for.
“For us at the ministry, we are excited that leadership and members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Roads and Transport appreciate the fact that the GH¢5 we have in the price build-up of domestic air travel is woefully inadequate. So we appreciate the fact that they recognise it needs to be reviewed.
“They have asked that we come with a justification paper for us to be able to go through the numbers and see whether there is justification; maybe whatever figures that we put across are inadequate as far as they are concerned. They may even give us more than we requested. Seeing what we have here, it tells us that there is a bright future as far as our aviation industry is concerned.”
Expected benefits
“We have not moved into these facilities yet, in order not to get to a point where it will be difficult to maintain the facility; we need to be proactive and get a revenue stream put in the price build-up way before the opening of these airports.
“We need to be ahead of the curve and get a stable revenue stream, and I believe when parliament resumes from recess these are matters that will be considered in the next meeting,” Mr. Tampuli said.
He expressed concern about the paltry amount GACL charges domestic passengers: “Now they charge GH¢5 for every passenger passing through domestic airports.
“I have instructed them to bring back the law so we will be able to amend it; they should not be charging less than GH¢50 to maintain this airport. But we want them to run the numbers with us and justify it.
“I can assure you that if we don’t look for a revenue stream to maintain them, in less than a year all these beautiful edifices will go down the drain,” he said.
The Managing Director of GACL, Pamela Djamson Tettey, indicated that they are resolved to push through with the APSC, and they will work closely with the sector minister to ensure they meet up with parliament when they resume to attain the objective.
Ranking member of the Parliamentary Select Committee, Kwame Governs Agbodza, advised the GACL to be more innovative in raising funds to sustain domestic airports without recourse to government.
Both Kumasi and Tamale airports are nearing completion and are expected to be fully handed over some time next year, according to management of GACL.
Beautiful Ghanaian actress, Joselyn Dumas, has been accused of going under the knife to enhance her body after sharing a video of herself seriously training at the gym.
It has now become an increasing trend for slay queens and female celebrities to artificially enhance their bodies by increasing the size of their butts and curves hence the accusations levelled against Josyely aren’t surprising.
According to these critics, although Joselyn Dumas is naturally endowed but the recent increase in the size of her butts and curves is suspicious.
Some have even alleged that she went under the knife 5 years ago to improve her physical appearance but because liposuction was not very common back then, none of us suspected her to have done such a thing.
However, her die-hard fans also insist otherwise – They are strongly defending her in the comments section of the video.
Her fans claim her body is natural and she hasn’t undergone any kind of liposuction unlike Nana Ama Mcbrown, Kisa Gbekele, Sandra Ankobiah, Salama Mumin and others.
Check out some of the comments left by Ghanaians in the comments section of the video;
jackiekingsford7 – It went down bam an she was sitting sitting nkoaaa den she went fr top up an she is standing standing nkoaaa, ds thing ee is fr d brave an rich nkoaaa, cos u wl always go back fr more, an if u can’t take risk nso dier frget
_naima_nd – Please incase some ppl didn’t know. Dumas too has pass back door.infact one of the first ppl to do it.
doppelganger_africa – She’s culprit number one . They only exercise to maintain
nhanha_aba_animah_ – Dumas was huge but she wasn’t too curvy like this,she also passed back door
The Virginia Beach rapper served as the musical guest on Thursday’s episode of Late Night With Seth Meyers, where he delivered a stellar performance of “Just So You Remember.” Though the setup was relatively simple, it forced fans to place all their attention on Pusha’s expressions as he delivered bars about his come-up and accolades.
“Just so you remember who you dealing with/The number don’t change, I know who the chemist is,” he rapped. “Brick by brick, we kept open dealerships/Mitch by mitch, we built up our villages.”
The song appeared on Pusha’s fourth studio album It’s Almost Dry, which arrived back in April. Executive produced by Kanye West and Pharrell Williams, the project earned Pusha his first No. 1 album, moving 55,000 album-equivalent units in its first week. The rapper spoke about “Just So You Remember” during an interview with Rolling Stone ahead of the album’s release.
“The title says it all. I never want people to ever forget who they dealin’ with,” he said, before confirming there were no features on the track. “Ain’t no guests! Those are all me! Rap-wise, I’m the star of my show, are you kiddin’ me? … People have been watching me post [pictures] of my son for 20 months now and they see me calm. But naw, [the song] is about my mentality and mindset. I can tap back in whenever I’m ready and need to.”
You can watch the Late Night performance in the video above.
Pusha is now working on a “special project” that he teased during a Spotify Q&A session last month.
“It’s just all about music and staying competitive and just showing that there is a space for what it is that I do in hip-hop,” he said, “… and that what I do in hip-hop is the most credible space and takes the most talent…and is just… the realest.”
The World Bank’s Africa Pulse Report estimates Ghana’s debt to be at a frighteningly high percentage.
Ghana’s debt will increase to 104.6 percent of GDP by the end of this year 2022, up from 76.6 percent in the World Bank’s October 2022 estimate.
Speaking about IMF issues on Starr FM’s Weekly Review Segment, Mr. Jantuah predicted that the Fund would be hesitant in part due to things like the World Bank’s disclosures.
“If the World Bank finds in their calculation that our debt is not sustainable, because there are other debts that we are not adding to the national debt and the IMF is working with data. If they add those other international debts and it goes way above this over 400 billion we are not going to get a pesewa from the IMF.
“But remember the IMF is in a dilemma. I don’t think the Finance Minister should have led this negotiation. The Finance Minister tells us that he is hurrying the process so that we will get a result by November. But this cannot be hurried if the IMF does not have the requisite data they are looking for they will not hurry it. So he shouldn’t be telling us that,” Mr. Jantuah advised.
He continued: “He shouldn’t be raising our hopes because some people will go by what he is saying and it doesn’t help. At this point let’s all come down home and take this thing together step by step. It will be egg on the Finance Minister’s face if by November which he is predicting the IMF doesn’t come through.”
The CPP member further advised that the government must give itself some time for a good package for the nation with the IMF.
“Because this is the 18th time we are going to the IMF and look at all the 17 we have been there and look at what happens anytime we come out of the program. We’ve always gone back to get it again,” Mr. Jantuah added.
Scarlett Johansson says the simulated sex scene in 2013’s Her was “bizarre” and “gross,” so much so that her co-star Joaquin Phoenix felt compelled to flee the set.
The Oscar-nominated actress shared the story during a recent appearance on the Armchair Expert podcast hosted by Dax Shepard. Phoenix was cast as the lead character Theodore Twombly, a Los Angeles introvert who falls in love with his A.I. assistant Samantha, voiced by Johansson. The actress recalled going into the studio, along with Phoenix and director Spike Jonze, to record fake orgasms for the aforementioned sex scene. However, the situation was apparently so uncomfortable that Phoenix became upset.
“So our characters have sex in the film. You don’t want to hear your voice ever, obviously,” she said. “You definitely don’t want to hear what you sound like having an orgasm. You definitely don’t want to hear what you sound like having a fake orgasm. It’s so gross, right? I remember we came in that day, I become that actor that’s like, ‘Let’s get dirty.’ I have to, otherwise I’ll be petrified. Joaquin comes in, we tried to get through one take, and he was, like, losing it. He was like ‘I can’t do it.’ He was angry.”
Johansson said Phoenix ultimately “left the studio” because “he needed a break,” which she completely understood. Samantha was originally voiced by English actress Samantha Morton, whom Johansson replaced after the initial production had wrapped.
“He’d already done it,” Johansson said about Phoenix having to record the sex scene. “He’d already done it in person, and now he’s with me in this weird theater, I’m in this box and he’s like staring at me. The lights are low, and Spike was there, it was so bizarre.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Johansson opened up about the struggles she’s faced in Hollywood and being hyper-sexualized at the beginning of her career.
“I kind of became objectified and pigeonholed in this way where I felt like I wasn’t getting offers for work for things that I wanted to do,” she explained, adding there were “situations that were not age appropriate.”
“Now, I see younger actors that are in their 20s. It feels like they’re allowed to be all these different things,” she continued. “It’s another time, too. We’re not even allowed to really pigeonhole other actors anymore, thankfully, right? People are much more dynamic.”
The Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attahhas praised First Sky Construction Limited for its tremendous role in the road sector saying that the company deserves global commendation.
Speaking briefly to the media after the tour, the Minister, who was highly impressed about the progress of work said: “just under two months of work, and with the level of world-class equipment and human resource mobilization I have seen today, First Sky Construction Ltd is comparable to any world-class construction firm in the world”.
He further emphasized that from his quiet briefings with technical engineers from the Ministry up to the level of the Chief Director, the feedback is that the construction is according to specifications.
Although it is expected to complete the 23-kilometer Dome-Kitase Road project in 24 months, First Sky Construction Limited, the construction firm undertaking the project, has assured that the project will be completed within 14 months.
According to Eric Seddy Kutortse, Chairman of the company who gave the assurance, it will work assiduously day and night without compromising the quality and integrity of the project to facilitate human and vehicular movement.
“This project has 24 months duration, we are one and half months into the 24 months. Our assurance is that with the pace at which we are going, we are sure that we will deliver this project within 14 months, within 14 months we will have it done,” Mr. Kutortse told Kwasi Amoako-Attah, Minister of Roads and Highways, during an inspection.
Kwesi Amoako-Attah signed a contract with First Sky Limited, a local construction company in Accra, for the rehabilitation of the 23-km Dome-Kitase Road.
The $35 million project will start from the Dome Roundabout in the Greater Accra Region and end at Kitase, near Peduase in the Eastern Region.
According to a notice shared on the official Facebook page of the ministry on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, the exercise is expected to start in August 2022 and is scheduled for completion in 24 months.
“The project starts from the Dome Roundabout in the Greater Accra Region and ends at Kitase in the Eastern Region. The Project, estimated to cost $35 million, is being funded by the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) and the Government of Ghana,” the ministry announced.
“The Road will serve as an alternative route to Peduase and Akuapem enclave and one of the prestigious Universities in the country, the Ashesi University,” it added.
Barely two months after works began, Kutortse during the tour with the minister said it had completed 97 percent of all land clearing while filling to formation was 15 percent complete, adding that excavation and cut to formation was also 16 percent complete.
He added that scarification and formation were 16 percent complete, three percent of 600*600mm U-drains had been constructed with 41 percent of pipe culverts had also been constructed.
“What we are doing currently is that, we are improving the vertical alignment of the road by cutting to formation, and we have almost 250,000 cutting to be done and if that is completed the project will be almost 30 percent and per our programme, by the end of this month we will cut the entire road to formation,” he said.
He added that: “Currently, we have also started the construction of U-drain, we’ve started also the culvert, we have only about eight culverts, we have constructed two already.”
Other officials who joined in the project tour included Mr. Stephen Jalulah, Deputy Minister of Roads; Dr. Abass Awolu, Chief Director of the Ministry; Mr. Christian Nti, Chief Executive Officer, Ghana Highways Authority (GHA); Mr. Roosevelt Otu, Director, Department of Feeder Roads and other directors of the GHA, and officials of the Urban Roads.
In order to get a bailout in 2015, the former president John Dramani Mahama’s administration turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He claimed that throughout his administration, there had been macroeconomic instability brought on by both domestic and external sources.
In an interview with VOA’s Straight Talk Africa program earlier this week, Mahama went into further detail, noting that the external element was primarily attributable to disruptions in commodities prices.
Regarding the internal component, he stated that an increase in worker compensation was a cause, adding that it “swallowed” up 73% of revenue produced.
The Single Spine Salary Structure was a policy for all public sector workers, no matter their area of specialization and the public organization they belong, to be placed or linked to one common salary structure.
“We are all members of the IMF. It is a body we go to when you have some macroeconomic instability and so at the time I was president, yes we suffered macroeconomic instability due to two factors: Internal and external.
“External…you will get shocked from time to time. We had the commodity price shocks; the slowdown in China. But internally, we overshot our expenditures because we introduced a new wage policy that sought to make the remuneration in the public sector more uniform and it shot the wage bill far above what we had anticipated. Almost 73% of our revenues was going to pay wages and salaries alone and so that forced us to go into the IMF,” Mahama told Hayde Adam in the interview aired on October 12.
Mahama intimated that issues such as the fight against corruption and the strengthening of state-owned institutions ought to be addressed in order for the economy to thrive.
This he said, the NDC will seek to achieve when given the opportunity to steer the affairs of the country.
He mentioned that the current return to the IMF to achieve debt sustainability and policy credibility should mark the start of governments prudently running the economy, stressing that it should be the last resort to the Bretton Woods institution.
“The economy is situated in an environment. It does not exist in isolation and so there are somethings that need to be done to create an environment for the economy to thrive. Some of them are governance issues, strengthening state-owned institutions, the fight against corruption and so many other things that create the environment for the economy to thrive.
“I think that when we go into this programme and we bring debts back to sustainable levels and we are able to get the bridging facility in other to achieve policy credibility so that investors again feel confident that they can bring back their money into Ghana, then we must start from there and maintain that prudence.
“This should be the last time we go to the IMF because going and coming, it creates a certain instability in the whole system and it also reduces the faith that people have in our democracy,” Mahama said.
Ghana initiated contact with the IMF in July after the economy experienced a downturn. The move was occasioned by downgrades of the economy by rating agencies such as Fitch, Standard and Poor and Moody’s which prevented the country from accessing the international capital market.
Ghana with its move is looking for a US$3 billion programme over a 3-year period. The government has expressed confidence that the programme will help return the country onto a path of growth.
To this end, Ghana is seeking some $3 billion from the IMF to support its economic programmes.
The government says the IMF support is to help the country recover from challenges caused by external factors such as the covid pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Bank of Ghana interventions to stabilise the cedi:
1. Once disbursed, the recently approved USD750,000,000 Afriexim loan facility by Parliament is expected to boost Ghana’s forex position.
2. The Cocoa Loan is expected in the last quarter of the year. This facility will also help provide more foreign currency to help address the cedi depreciation.
3. Gold Purchase Programme to increase foreign exchange reserves.
4. Special Foreign Exchange Auction for the Bulk Distribution Companies (BDCs) to help with the importation of petroleum products.
5. Bank of Ghana is entering into a cooperation agreement with the mining companies to provide BOG with the opportunity to buy gold as when it becomes available.
6. The Bank of Ghana is supporting the banking sector with foreign currency liquidity to help meet the demand for external payments.
7. The IMF programme once finalised, will also go a long way to help restore confidence in the economy and drive portfolio flows. These measures will go a long way to increase the foreign exchange reserve position of the Central Bank.
A further EUR 10 million has been pledged by the European Union (EU) to Ghana in order to assist “the most vulnerable communities” who are being affected by the unlawful and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
The Deputy Head of the European Union Mission to Ghana, Mr. Pieter Smidt Van Gelder, announced the new Special Measure in Accra and stated: “These additional monies will enable households to cultivate crops, generate income, and enhance food availability on local markets.
By encouraging sustainable food production and fortifying integration into local and national food value chains, the EU’s assistance will also help Ghanaian farmers become more crisis-resistant.
The allocation will support the sustainable development of a number of agribusiness value chains, including shea, soybean, beekeeping, and vegetables, the two parties announce in a joint statement.
“This will complement efforts by the Ghanaian government to mitigate further increases in poverty, hunger, and malnutrition in vulnerable areas affected by high prices of food, fertiliser, and fuel”.
Ghana’s Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, commented: “With this Special Measure we will strengthen our support to address our food security needs while contributing to sustainable and resilient food systems.”
Also, Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Finance, Abena Osei Asare, intimated: “We as a country have been faced with a number of challenges in recent times. The COVID-19 pandemic and lately Russia – Ukraine war have particularly had worrying effects on Ghana’s economy. The conflict has resulted in a rapid increase in the prices of food, fuel and fertilizer, with its attendant consequences on the country’s foreign exchange reserves used to purchase commodities imported for public consumption as well as inputs for industries. Food inflation continues to contribute highly to overall inflation. Ghana’s inflation for September 2022 stood at 37.2% with food inflation contributing largely at 37.8%”.
The support will focus on the Northern part of Ghana with the following outcomes:
More economically sustainable and inclusive food systems
Reinforced environmental sustainability of food systems Enhanced social sustainability and gender responsiveness of food systems (incl. Food and nutrition security) and
Improved governance and institutional sustainability of food systems
Background
A recent study by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) indicates that the global food, fuel, and fertiliser crisis linked to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has caused GDP and employment in Ghana to contract.
These GDP and employment losses largely originate from Ghana’s agri-food system, both on-farm (primary agriculture) and off-farm (food processing, food trade and transport, and food services).
Employment losses are especially large in the off-farm environment (-2.6%), with losses concentrated in the food processing and food trade and transport sectors.
Considering that Ghana’s food production has traditionally been well integrated with local, regional, and global markets, these losses will severely impact local and regional markets in a highly food-insecure region, also affected by climate change and erratic rainfalls.
For example, nominal maize prices in Accra rose 65% between September 2021 and May 2022.
Overall, these price shocks have resulted in a decline in consumption for all households in Ghana, especially affecting lower-income households.
This is also leading to greater poverty, particularly in rural areas.
This current EUR10m allocation to Ghana represents the commitment of the EU and Member States Team Europe approach to mobilising political, policy and financial means to safeguard food security today while transitioning to more resilient food systems tomorrow.
The Ministry of Finance has refuted claims that about 94% of Tier 2 pension contributions placed in government securities will be affected by debt restructuring moves by the government.
Government as part of processes for securing support from the International Monetary Fund is currently conducting a debt sustainability analysis and there are fears investments in government securities may be affected.
The reports suggested that about GH¢3.7 billion of the GH¢3.9 billion Tier 2 pension contributions placed in government securities may be affected by the Debt Restructuring Programme.
In a statement, the Ministry of Finance said such fears and publications were without merit and do not auger well for the country’s financial sector.
“These publications and “social media advisories” are without merit and are designed to undermine confidence in Ghana’s financial sector,” the Ministry stressed in the statement.
The Ministry assured that the Government’s engagements with the IMF, “both in Accra and in Washington, D.C., on a Programme to restore macroeconomic stability, are progressing steadily.”
“We, therefore, encourage all Ghanaians to disregard these publications, which are in no way reflective of the progress of work being done with the IMF.”
The Ministry further asserted that it had always protected investors’ interests in the financial sector.
Shatta Wale is arguably the most expensive artist to book in Ghana and has spoken about how much he charges for his shows.
In a recent interview, Shatta Wale disclosed that he is the only artist in Ghana who charges $1000,000 for a show.
According to him, he understands the business of making money out of music and thus has capitalized by charging higher than what his peers and competitors charge.
“I am the first artist in Ghana to charge $100,000 for a show,” he told Giovanni Caleb on TV3 when he was pushed to talk about how much he makes.
Shatta Wale also added that sometimes he takes money for shows and never shows up due to a breach of contractual agreements.
The SM president intimated that he took $120,000 for the Wildaland Show and never showed up. He also took $100,000 for the Cardi B show in Ghana and never showed up.
Although Shatta Wale has not been booked for shows like Afronation, Afrochella and even Global Citizen festival, Shatta Wale has maintained that he remains the artist who raised the bar when it came to artists taking ‘good cash” to play at shows.
In Zambia, the abolition of customs tariffs and a combination of stricter fiscal and monetary measures have reduced inflation from 21% over the previous year to 9.9%.
The Kwacha has been Africa’s best performing currency, rallying around 18% year to date, after Zambia secured a $1.3bn bailout package from the IMF. Prospects remain positive given the debt restructuring plans to be concluded this year in addition to improved global consumption for the copper producing country.
Debt restructuring should also help spur recovery for Chad amid a pick-up in oil and agricultural output. In other news from the IMF meetings, the Fund is seeking to include clauses in future debt contracts that will allow borrowers to suspend debt servicing commitments in the event of a climate shock.
Meanwhile, Rwanda is set to become the first African country to benefit from a $40bn Resilience and Sustainability trust fund set up by the IMF to help countries deal with the impact of climate change.
The Rwandan franc has contracted by about 5% in the past year to RWF 1065 per dollar, against a backdrop of inflation soaring to 23.9% this year amid continued dependence on Russian wheat and fertilizer. A combination of the country’s economic reforms and an agreed IMF climate change related support programme could be a long-term boost for the currency.
Naira weakens as Nigeria considers debt restructuring
The Naira continued its slide against the dollar this week, trading at 734 from 722 at last week’s close, as Nigeria’s government said it was considering options to restructure its debt.
Nigeria’s oil output continues to decline amid rising oil theft and vandalism, with the country now Africa’s fourth biggest crude producer behind Angola, Libya and Algeria, having started the year as the continent’s largest.
That is piling further pressure on the Naira given that oil revenues are by far the biggest source of FX for the central bank. We expect further depreciation in the unofficial market in the short term as demand pressures continue to weigh heavily on the local currency.
Cedi touches new low amid record 37% inflation
The Cedi depreciated against the dollar again this week, trading at 10.58 from 10.45 at last week’s close, having briefly touched a record low of 10.63 on Tuesday. Annual inflation hit a record high 37.2% in September, up from 33.9% in August.
Ghana’s interest rate is currently at 24.5%, its highest level since 2017 following last week’s 250 basis point hike. Given that inflation is being driven mainly by the supply side, the bank’s rate hikes are not proving as effective in curbing rising prices.
Fitch Ratings has warned that a sovereign debt default is a real possibility, with any kind of domestic restructuring likely to severely impact the local banking sector. Against that backdrop, we [AZA Finance] expect the Cedi to continue weakening towards the 11 level in the near term.
Watch the latest episode of BizTech below:
BizTech: The student-led group using gaming tournaments to sharpen IQ
BizTech: The student-led group using gaming tournaments to sharpen IQ
0 seconds of 19 minutes, 43 secondsVolume 90%
Risk-off drives Rand lower as planned power cuts ease
The Rand weakened against the dollar, trading at 18.18 from 18.04 at Friday’s close as risk-on sentiment of last week was snuffed out amid concerns about global growth and an escalation of Russia’s war in Ukraine. On the domestic front, planned power cuts are expected to ease this week.
A workers’ strike at freight company Transnet has seen South African coal exports slow to the lowest level in a year, causing coal prices to jump higher.
Europe’s increased dependence on South African coal amid the ongoing energy crisis is likely to provide some support to the Rand in the months ahead. For the near term, we expect the Rand to continue trading in line with global risk sentiment.
Egypt Pound at record low as banks limit FX withdrawals
The Pound edged to a fresh low against the dollar, trading at 19.69 from 19.66 at last week’s close.
Egyptian banks have been taking steps in recent days to limit the withdrawal of foreign currency to protect against a scarcity of dollars in the country. The central bank is also considering allowing non-deliverable forwards so companies and investors can hedge exposure to large swings in the Pound.
Meantime, annual inflation climbed to 15% in September from 14.6% a month earlier, pushed higher by rising food and transportation costs.
We expect the Pound to weaken further in the coming days, although Egypt’s hosting of next month’s UN climate change conference COP 27 could help drive FX inflows with increased visitors.
Shilling slides as Kenya reserves hit 7-year low
The Shilling depreciated against the dollar, trading at 120.80/121.00 from 120.70/120.90 at last week’s close—just shy of a record low—due to increased dollar demand by importers in the oil, energy and manufacturing sectors.
Economic growth slowed for a fourth consecutive quarter, hitting 5.2% in Q2 of the financial year from 6.8% in the previous three-month period as election-related uncertainty and the worst drought in 40 years weighed on activity. To support the Shilling, the central bank sold an unspecified amount of dollars.
Kenya’s FX reserves fell to $7.3bn last week from $7.4bn a week earlier—the lowest level in seven years—amid lower foreign funding, faster import growth and a slowdown in remittances. We expect the Shilling to stabilise in the coming week as the central bank continues to dip into reserves to cushion against volatility.
Ugandan Shilling weakens amid rate hikes
The Shilling weakened against the dollar, slipping to 3831 from 3817 at last week’s close. Uganda said it was working with China, the US and Russia to find potential investors to help develop East Africa’s first nuclear power plant, which the government hopes to have operational by 2031.
Meantime, Uganda’s purchasing manager’s index climbed to 51.6 in September from 50.5 in August, the strongest level in five months. The central bank said more rate rises could be on the cards following last week’s 100 basis point hike.
Uganda’s benchmark interest rate has increased by 350 basis points since June, now at a three-year high of 10%. We expect the Shilling to weaken further in the near term due amid higher import costs.
Tanzania outlook raised at Moody’s as exports soar
The Shilling appreciated marginally against the dollar, trading at 2331 from 2332 at last week’s close.
Moody’s upgraded Tanzania’s credit outlook to positive from stable, affirming its B2 rating, five levels below investment grade, based on lower political risk given the government’s new approach to promoting economic development and engagement with the international community.
Tanzanian exports hit $1.4bn during the 12-months to August, a 75% increase on the previous 12-month period. We expect the Shilling to continue strengthening modestly against the dollar in the week ahead.
Former Ghana coach Charles Kwabla Akonnor has disclosed that his experience during his time as coach of Asante Kotoko was key as he switched to love the Porcupine Warriors despite being Hearts of Oak fan.
Akonnor was appointed as the head coach of Kotoko, replacing Paa Kwesi Fabin in 2018 on a two-year deal.
He served for nine months, helping them to win the 2019 GFA Normalisation Committee Special Competition and qualify for the 2019/20 CAF Champions League. In July 2019, he was sacked by Kotoko and replaced by Kjetil Zachariassen.
“To be honest with you I was Hearts of Oak supporter but I became to love Kotoko because of what I experienced when I went there. My house, my family were all Hearts supporters. My father is Hearts of Oak man,” he told Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana
“I was seen in more professional way. If am with Kotoko I want to beat Hearts and if am with Hearts I want to beat Kotoko. No doubt about it.”
Akonnor added, “So when you went to Hearts of Oak did you feel like you have come home? “I felt like I was working and I had to be professional, give all my best for the team. I don’t look at it on that fan perspective but as a job that has been given they pay me so I have to give my best to the club.”
Ghanaian Musician Esther Smith says she had to relocate from Ghana to Germany because of her son’s heart condition.
She says a machine was placed in her son’s heart in order to enable him to live so she had to relocate so he could get proper medical care.
Relocating she says helped her receive the best medical care and now her son is a footballer who is gradually making a good name for himself.
“I relocated from Ghana because of my son’s heart condition. My son had a battery in his heart and when the battery went off, it meant his life was being cut short. But now, he is safe and plays football.
“My son is doing well now and I’m happy about it,” she said.
Esther Smith said even away from Ghana and her son’s condition, she joined the Church of England Choir and kept on performing and that did not set her back.
Fast-rising Ghanaian musician and BET award nominee, Black Sherif, known in real life as Mohammed Ismail Sharrif has said he fears nobody in the music industry because no one can sabotage him.
According to the award-winning artist and “Kwaku the Traveller” hit maker he has not wronged anyone that would allow himself to be sabotaged by other people.
He is also of the view that even if people try to sabotage him, their evil works won’t get to him.
“Nobody go feel sabotage me. Naaa, I don’t believe somebody go feel sabotage me. I don’t believe, I don’t believe that, they go feel do but it won’t get to me because I no wrong nobody,” Black Sherif told DJ Reuben in an interview on LUV FM in Kumasi.
Black Sherif after gaining fame last year with his song “Second Sermon” has been consistent with his craft.
His recent music titled “SOJA” is wonderfully received much attention from all over the world topping various music chat both online and mainstream media.
One of the most successful Gospel musicians Sonnie Badu has recently described Black Sherif as “Bob Marley of our time.”
Seasoned Ghanaian music producer and sound engineer, Appietus, has touted his achievements, saying, he has more hits than his American counterpart Dr Dre.
Appietus said if he was living on the other part of the globe, like America where the structures work in the music industry, he would have progressed further than he has in Ghana.
Born Appiah Dankwa, the multiple award-winning producer called for better structures in Ghana’s entertainment industry.
Speaking on the Class Morning Show on Class91.3FM on Friday, 14 October 2022, the popular Kwabena Kwabena’s ‘Aso’ beat maker being compared to Dr Dre said: “If I was in America, Dr Dre will be nothing, I’m sure I have more hits than him.”
“On the continent in Africa, I’m one of the guys will large hits but the system in Africa does not help me, the system in Ghana does not help me, the royalty system, the music industry structures and when we were making the hits and having fun we didn’t think it will affect us in the future and its affecting us now,” he said.
Reminiscing how the music structures work abroad, Appiatus recalled “Sometime ago when Michael Jackson died, he made $4million from royalties from people streaming his music, and he was dead,” he said in awe.
With a smile he added “The system is working so if you’re not there, your family will enjoy so I pray that our system will work”.
Touching further on the structures, Appietus advised “we don’t have to reinvent the wheel, people are already doing it, the question is how did they do it? We need the template and we do it, simple! It won’t change anything, it’s still music…”
Appietus has recorded beats for Ghana’s top notch musicians including Daddy Lumba, Samini, Obrafour, Ofori-Ampaonsah, Kwabena Kwabena, Praye, Sarkodie, KK Fosu, Rex Omar, Okyeame Kwame, Kojo Antwi, 4X4 among others.
Leading member of the New Patriotic Party, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, has expressed optimism that Kwasi Kwarteng, the dismissed UK Chancellor of the Exchequer will rise again.
The British-born politician of Ghanaian parentage was on Friday, October 14, relieved from his post by the British Prime Minister, Liz Truss.
The BBC confirmed the news and stated that the decision was taken following fallouts from his mini-budget which sparked financial turmoil in the markets and caused a revolt among Conservative MPs in the UK.
Reacting to the news, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko tweeted: “He made history as UK’s first black finance minister. Little did we know that he was also to make history as the shortest on the job. Iain Macleod who lasted 30 days died on the job as chancellor of the Exchequer on 20 June 1970. Kwasi Kwarteng will rise again because he is able.”
Gabby is a known admirer of Kwarteng, having projected months back that the latter will one day rise to become the Prime Minister of the UK.
Kwarteng’s era as Chancellor of the Exchequer lasted six weeks.
His appointment came at a time the country was facing a high cost of living, and public sector layoffs, among others.
Kwasi Kwarteng after his appointment became the first black person to hold the position.
He has since accepted the dismissal in a letter posted on Twitter. “You have asked me to stand aside as your Chancellor. I have accepted,” the first line of his letter to PM Truss read.
Background
Kwasi Kwarteng, 47, took over as head of the British Treasury in September 2022, after new UK Prime Minister, Liz Truss, took over; with the responsibility of trying to pull the UK out of a serious cost-of-living crisis without plunging the public finances into the abyss.
He took over from Nadhim Zahawi, an Iraqi-born Kurd, who himself succeeded Rishi Sunak, of Indian origin, and Sajid Javid, with Pakistani roots, embodying a more inclusive face of the Conservative party.
His sack makes him the second shortest-serving UK chancellor on record.
The shortest serving chancellor, Iain Macleod, according to the BBC, died of a heart attack 30 days after taking the job in 1970.
Since 2019, the UK has had four chancellors, including Nadhim Zahawi who served the third shortest tenure with 63 days during a short-lived reshuffle under Boris Johnson, and Sajid Javid who served 204 days – the fourth shortest tenure on record.
After being in office for 38 days, Kwasi Kwarteng, the British-born politician of Ghanaian parentage was sacked by Prime Minister Liz Truss as the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The dismissal was after Kwarteng presented a mini-budget which resulted in financial turbulence and revolt from Conservative Party lawmakers.
While presenting the mini-budget on 23 September, an eye-watering £45 billion in tax cuts alongside an energy relief plan projected to cost £60 billion over the next six months was announced by Kwasi Kwarteng.
This, according to various media reportage was a huge departure from the fiscal policy of the Johnson government, which had planned tax rises to pay for health and social care and to manage the post-Covid deficit.
Kwarteng claimed his ambitious plans would drive growth and reduce inflation.
The financial markets disagreed: in the days after his announcement, lenders pulled mortgage packages, the pound hit a record low against the dollar, and the Bank of England started buying bonds at ‘an urgent pace’ to calm the markets and stop pension funds going bust.
In a high-risk strategy designed to revive Britain’s stagnant economy, the British of Ghanaian descent announced more than £400bn of extra borrowing over the coming years to fund the biggest giveaway since Tony Barber’s ill-fated 1972 budget.
The Guardian reported that the Conservative MP said tax cuts worth more than £55,000 annually to someone earning £1m a year were part of a new direction for the economy and were designed to help boost growth to 2.5% a year. Some Labour MPs described them as a “class war”.
The Treasury admitted there were no forecasts for the impact of the measures on growth and the gamble received a hostile reception not just from the markets and opposition politicians, but from economic think tanks and many Tory MPs, some of whom were aghast.
Netflix has found its sweet spot with freaking us all out. “The Watcher” is no exception.
Here’s what you need to know about the new limited series that is streaming now:
Netflix describes it as “the Brannock family moves into what was supposed to be their suburban dream home, it quickly becomes a living hell.”
“Ominous letters from someone calling themself ‘The Watcher’ are just the beginning as the neighborhood’s sinister secrets come spilling out,” according to the show’s description.
New York Magazine in 2018 published an article titled “The Haunting of a Dream House,” written by Reeves Wiedeman, which told the story of the family of Derek and Maria Broaddus.
The coupled purchased a six-bedroom home in Westfield, New Jersey for $1,355,657 and spent about $100,000 on renovations. After finishing up a day of painting, Derek Reeves went to check the mail and found a letter addressed to “The New Owner.”
“657 Boulevard has been the subject of my family for decades now and as it approaches its 110th birthday, I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming,” the letter read in part. “My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched in the 1960s. It is now my time.”
“The Watcher” continued to send letters, some of them focused on the family’s three young children, that became increasingly hostile and threatening.
The family went on high alert, contacted the police and even hired a private detective to try and discover the identity of the letter writer. Neighbors were asked to voluntarily submit DNA to compare to that found on one of the envelopes.
Out of fear and caution, they never moved in to the home.
Eight months after purchasing the house, the Broaddus’ put it up for sale. Despite reducing the price multiple times, they were unable to sell it.
They filed suit against the previous owners for failing to alert them to the fact that they, too, had received letters from “The Watcher.”
After a failed attempt to get zoning permission to sell the house to a developer who would have razed it to divide into two lots, the couple sold the house five years after purchasing it for less than they paid.
Where is the family now?
The family still lives in Westfield, according to New York Magazine, just in a smaller house. Derek Broaddus has a Twitter account where he most recently has been posting stories about the Netflix series.
The show stars Bobby Cannavale as Derek Broaddus, and Naomi Watts as his wife, Maria.
Getting the delicate balance of the story mostly right, “Till” captures how Mamie Till Mobley turned the inconsolable grief over the murder of her son, Emmett, into resolve and activism. Anchored by Danielle Deadwyler’s towering performance, it’s a wrenching portrayal of reluctant heroism under the most horrific of parental circumstances.
“Till” comes less than a year after ABC covered these events in “Women of the Movement,” which devoted six parts to the story and spent considerably more time on the courtroom drama. The movie, almost out of necessity, races through that chapter, an understandable choice given that the trial’s outcome was largely a foregone conclusion.
As constructed by “Clemency” director Chinonye Chukwu (working from a screenplay by Chukwu, Michael Reilly and Keith Beauchamp), Mamie’s apprehension at the thought of her 14-year-old son, Emmett (Jalyn Hill), going to visit his relatives in Mississippi in 1955 borders on premonition. That’s in part because the boy, introduced cheerfully singing and dancing with his mother, seems not to be taking her warnings seriously enough when she cautions him, “Be extra careful. Be small down there.”
Visiting the local store with his cousins, Emmett offhandedly notes that the White female clerk (Haley Bennett) resembles the movie-star photo that came with his new wallet. When he whistles, his relatives immediately fear trouble could follow and rapidly leave the scene.
In what feels like a prudent choice, Chukwu presents the harrowing moment when White men pull the sleeping Emmett from the house, but doesn’t dwell on the murder itself; instead, the visual focus is on the grisly aftermath of what was done to him, an image that Mamie chose to share publicly by having an open casket and inviting the press to photograph the body, wanting “the whole world to see what happened to my son.”
Given the unrelenting grimness of the story, less is indeed more, and “Till” hits its stride during that stretch, as the devastated Mamie exhibits an astute grasp of how to deal with her son’s killing in the court of public opinion. What begins as a fruitless quest for justice evolves into a larger mission to expose systemic injustice and prevent others from sharing his fate.
Although the cast includes Sean Patrick Thomas as Mamie’s caring boyfriend (and later husband) and Frankie Faison and Whoopi Goldberg (the latter doubling as a producer) as her parents, it’s Deadwyler’s show, almost to the exclusion of anyone else. Yet if that somewhat constricts “Till’s” focus, there are enough heart-in-the-throat moments as she first worries about Emmett’s status and then learns of it to pack an emotional wallop that carries through to the end.
More than 65 years after his death, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act was signed into law earlier this year – a sign, as Chukwu notes in a director’s statement, of “present cultural and political realities” that echo through the film.
“Till” clearly felt the weight of that legacy, and there’s a difficult-to-avoid aspect to the production that can’t entirely escape a movie-of-the-week feel. At its core, though, the depiction of Mamie’s strength and resilience captures her as more than just a symbol, but a reluctant flesh-and-blood hero whose determination in the face of an unspeakable tragedy echoed beyond her time into ours.
“Till” premieres October 14 in select US theaters and more widely on October 28. It’s rated PG-13.
Robbie Coltrane, the actor who brought to life the lovable gamekeeper Hagrid in the Harry Potter film franchise, died on Friday, according to his agent, Scott Henderson. He was 72.
The Scottish-born actor’s other credits included the British series “Cracker” and James Bond films “GoldenEye” and “The World Is Not Enough.”
No details on the cause of death were immediately provided.
Before Coltrane shot to international fame playing the bearded Hagrid, he was honed his comedic skills on the theatre stage.
In the ’80s, he appeared in a short-lived sketch series called “Alfresco” alongside powerhouses Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson.
On Friday, Fry honored his former co-star in a statement posted to Twitter.
“I first met Robbie Coltrane almost exactly 40 years ago. I was awe/terror/love struck all at the same time. Such depth, power & talent: funny enough to cause helpless hiccups & honking as we made our first TV show, ‘Alfresco,’” he wrote. “Farewell, old fellow.
Coltrane reunited with Thompson on the six-part drama series “Tutti Frutti,” for which he earned his first best actor British Academy Television Award nomination.
His first win would be for the television series “Cracker” in the ’90s. That series, a crime drama, ran for three seasons from 1993-95, with two subsequent specials.
The role of Hagrid, a half-giant, half-human character, was a natural one for Coltrane. He knew and loved the books because he read them to his children, he recalled in one interview.
“If you’re an actor, you have to do the voices. The children expect it. No monotones allowed,” he joked.
But it was his performance, which brought heart and humanity to the role — a literal gentle half-giant — that stuck with audiences.
Appearing in the HBO Max special “Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts,” Coltrane recalled his time on the films and Hagrid’s impact.
“Everybody in the world would like a really big, huge, strong, good man on their side, simple as that. That’s the attraction of Superman and these things,” he said. “Hagrid was always obviously the good guy, wasn’t he?”
Coltrane is survived by his children, Spencer and Alice; their mother, Rhona Gemmell and his sister Annie Rae, according to a statement from his UK agent, Belinda Wright.
Nicki Minaj has a message for the Recording Academy after they moved her song “Super Freaky Girl” from a rap category to a pop category for award consideration.
“I have no prob being moved out the RAP category as long as we r ALL being treated FAIRLY. If SFG (‘Super Freaky Girl’) has 2B moved out RAP then so does Big Energy!” Minaj wrote in a series of tweets, referring to the Latto song. “ANY1 who says diff is simply a Nicki hater or a troll.”
“If you can’t tell by now that there is a concerted effort to give newer artists things that they really don’t deserve over people who have been deserving for many years, then you’re not paying attention. And by the way, this is not to say any song is bad or any female rapper is bad,” Minaj wrote on Instagram. “I always say this: Any rapper, female or male, that wins a Grammy, you should be f–king proud of yourself. But why is the goalpost only ever moved when it’s Nicki? Well, I’ll tell you why. They don’t want the people that they have in the industry to go up against me.”
Minaj continued her argument in a video post.
I have no prob being moved out the RAP category as long as we r ALL being treated FAIRLY. If SFG has 2B moved out RAP then so does Big Energy! ANY1 who says diff is simply a Nicki hater or a troll. I’d actually LUV 2 c a more street record win- male OR female! IJS rightIsRight 🫡
“If ‘Super Freaky Girl’ is pop, then so is ‘Big Energy.’ If you move ‘Super Freaky Girl’ out of rap and put it in pop, do the same with ‘Big Energy.’ Right? Same producers on both songs, by the way, if you want to talk about it. So let’s keep s— fair.”
The category swap was noticed when the first-round ballot went out to Recording Academy voters this week.
Minaj had faith she would win in the rap category, but says now she doesn’t feel she stands a fair chance, since she’s currently up against Harry Styles and Adele.
The Recording Academy has not publicly stated the reasoning for placing “Super Freaky Girl,” which samples “Super Freak” by Rick James, in the pop category.
A jealous man is currently in the grips of the police for killing the husband of his ex-wife at Edwinase-Munsunkwa, a community in the Wassa East District of the Western Region.
The suspect, whose name has been given as Kojo Arthur AKA Capo, is said to have committed the crime with his friend, Buabeng.
Confirming the incident to the host of Connect FM’s Omanbapa morning show, Nhyiraba Paa Kwesi Simpson, the Assembly member of Edwinase Electoral area, George Arthur, indicated that the suspect has three children with the ex-wife, Edufuwa.
“They were married but because of some personal reasons, they divorced. The lady moved on and met another man in the next community but it seems her ex-husband was still in love with her and decided to fight for her. She has no children with the new husband but they have been living happily until the sad incident happened,” he indicated.
According to him, the suspect in the late hours of Thursday, October 13, out of jealousy, went to the house of his ex-wife with his friend and committed the crime.
”They went there with a machete and other weapons. Immediately they got to the house of his ex-wife, they attacked her new husband and slashed his throat. Since there was no one to help, he died out of excessive bleeding. All efforts to transport him to the nearest hospital proved unsuccessful due to the bad nature of our roads,” he added.
The body of the deceased, Robert Osei, has since been deposited at the Jukwa Hospital whilst the suspect and his friend have been handed over to police for investigation.
“They decided to sneak out from the community after committing the crime but they were apprehended by some youth. They tied them up until the police arrived and handed them over. They are currently in the custody of the Atobiase Police Station in the same district” the Assmebly member indicated.
The Ministry of Finance has refuted claims of government planning to issue a 94 per cent discount of Tier 2 pension investments in government securities.
It has also dissociated itself from widely circulated social media content and traditional media publications encouraging a switch from securities to forex as a store of value.
“These publications and social media advisories are without merit and are designed to undermine confidence in Ghana’s financial sector.
“Indeed, they rather contribute to pressures on the currency and undermine investor confidence, ” the Ministry said in a press statement released on Friday.
The Ministry assured of a steady progress of Government’s engagements with the IMF on a programme both in Accra and in Washington D.C. to restore macro-economic stability.
“The Post- Covid Economic Growth Programme is designed to bring growth, stability, and relief to our country, ” the stressed.
The publication, the Ministry said was in no way reflective of the progress of work being done with the IMF.
“For the avoidance of doubt, it must be recalled that the Government of Ghana since 2017, has always protected investors’ interests in the financial sector.
“Government will continue with this objective and ensure that investors’ best interests are upheld at all times, ” the state assured.
He said some drivers, private and public, had conspicuously disregard designated parking areas and had resorted to parking at the wrong sides of the roads and inconveniencing other road users.
The Roads and Highways Minister was leading a team from the Ministry to conduct a routine inspection on portions of the ongoing construction of the La Beach Road Completion Project.
The First Phase of the project, 16-kilometres, which starts from the Independence Arch of the Black Star Square in Accra through Osu, La and Teshie to Nungua, is being undertaken by China Ganzu International Corporation for Economic and Technical Cooperation (CGICETC).
Currently, the expansion of the single carriageway in a dual carriageway is progressing.
The second phase; Coastal and Meridian roads – Nungua barrier to Tema, a 10.60-kilometre stretch, spans from Nungua barrier to Tema.
The 26.6-km project is estimated at $100 million, with China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group Company Limited (CRMBEGCL) being the other contractor.
The scope of work includes a two-way, four-lane urban road, traffic signal system and related auxiliary works, as well as a three-tier interchange at the Nungua Barrier.
The Roads and Highways Minister, who uses that stretch of road from Tema to Nungua Barrier, had witnessed an unusual gridlock on the newly constructed Tema beach road as a result of a broken-down truck on the inner lane from Tema Community Three.
The broken-down container truck which was still being worked on at the time of the team’s visit, had caused heavy traffic on the stretch despite its recent dualization.
Mr Amoako-Attah, visibly incensed about the situation, questioned why contractors had allowed the vehicle to be repaired on the road, aware that it was a busy stretch and such “indiscipline” would cause congestion on the road and inconvenience the motoring public.
He said in the event that vehicles were broken-down, there must be some urgency to immediately tow them away as such illegal acts hampered the normal flow of traffic, inconvenienced commuters and even caused road accidents.
The Road and Highways Minister said the penchant of some drivers who park haphazardly on highways and caused discomfort to other road users would not be countenanced.
“All of us must help; fixing the country is a good thing and a good call, but if the Government has to fix the country, I have to help in that regard and you must also help to fix the country. It is a collective effort; we must all play our individual roles to fix the country.” Mr Amoako-Attah advised the driver of the truck as he sought pardon for his wrongdoing.
He directed consultants of the project that “any vehicle that breaks down on the road, don’t allow them to repair it on the road because apart from causing inconvenience to the motorist and the danger it poses, the oil spillage from such broken-down vehicles affects the asphalt which is at a great cost to government.”
“Under no circumstance should any truck or vehicle be repaired in the middle of the road,” the Roads Minister stressed, and stayed on the Tema Beach Road until the vehicle moved from the road.
Mr Bonne Acquah, Resident Engineer and Consultant, Lot 2, La Beach Road Completion Project, who was on site at the time of the Minister’s visit, said efforts to get the truck off the road had initially proved futile but had to be immediately repaired.
He, however, expressed satisfaction with the progress of work on the Second Phase of the project.
Ghanaian international, Umar Bashiru is off the mark at Insurance FC less than a week after signing for the club in Ethiopia.
Today, the highly-rated Ghanaian midfielder marked his debut for the new club in a league game against Legetafo Legedadi.
The former Karela United man only joined the Ethiopian top-flight club two days ago on the back of successful negotiations with the club.
After impressing in training, Umar Bashiru today earned a place in the starting eleven of Insurance FC to play in the league match against Legetafo Legedadi.
Just nine minutes into the first half, Habib Kemal scored to shoot the home team into the lead.
Later in the first half, Umar Bashiru was presented with a fine chance and displayed his goal-scoring prowess.
He fired an unstoppable shot that hit the back of the net of Legetafo Legedadi to see Insurance FC take a two-goal lead into the break.
Going on to last 82 minutes of the match, the Ghanaian midfielder helped his team to secure a 4-1 victory to bag the maximum points.
The win today means that Insurance FC moves to fourth on the Ethiopian Premier League table with two wins from the first three matches.
Following the lawsuit filed against Afrochella by America’s Coachella, US A-lister, Chance the Rapper has thrown his support behind the Ghanaian event organizers.
In a tweet on Sunday, he reaffirmed that he and his friends will be attending the festival this year.
“We are still going to Afrochella,” he tweeted.
The tweet has come in the wake of viral reports that organisers of America’s Coachella have sued organisers of Afrochella regarding trademark infringement.
Goldenvoice, the organiser of Coachella, claimed that Afrochella is “intentionally trading on the goodwill” of its 23-year-old festival. The lawsuit was filed in a California court on Wednesday, October 5, 2022.
Nonetheless, Afrochella is coming off as planned. It is currently the biggest festival designed to highlight and elevate thrilling and thriving millennial talent from and within Africa.
It features a festive celebration of especially Ghanaian culture in the form of art & fashion installations, live paintings, the best of African cuisine and live performances.
The festival will take off from December 28 and 29 with live performances from headline acts such as Stonebwoy, Burna Boy, KiDi, Gyakie, Fireboy DML, Medikal, King Promise, Pheelz and Ayra Starr.
The rest include Kuame Eugene, Young Stunna and Daliwonga.
The road to Afrochella is already busy with a series of activities, including the hottest party at Attitude Beach in Johannesburg, South Africa on October 30, 2022.
Ghana’s Stonebwoy and Gyakie as well as South Africa’s Focalistic are among the artistes to headline the party later this month.
Despite viral reports about the legal action, Chance The Rapper has assured his followers of his presence at the festival because nothing will ruin the December excitement.
JY Appiah, a former GHALCA boss has stated that he left the association in good shape financially.
The experienced administrator said when he hears GHALCA is struggling financially and they don’t have any power it saddens him.
GHALCA was set up during the military coup led by General I. K Acheampong between 1972 to 1973.
JY Appiah revealed that GHALCA was giving money to clubs and the Ghana Football Association as loans.
“Roughly I spent 20 years at GHALCA and when we were leaving office we left a fortune there. During my time we built an office and the old one was destroyed so we had to go into agreement with Sports Council so where they are now they will be there for 35 years. The money we left the people that came in took some to the World Cup, African Cup of Nations,” he said on Peace FM as monitored by footballghana.com
“We were the first to buy a car and also gave GFA money as loan about 400,000 dollars. We also gave teams going to Africa loans payment of allowances turned in to a fight. At least not less than 500,000 dollars GHALCA executives per say I wasn’t sure if they received allowance. The late Jordan said if we don’t use the money in the future stupid people will come and spend it,”
“I remember the executive committee of the FA sitting allowance was 10 cedis Acheampong came in and urged us to increase it to 15 cedis. What we were doing they said it was sacrificial, fight for the interest of the clubs sports council was dominating printing of tickets sports council was handling that we had to fight very hard before the FA started printing tickets for the clubs. Sport council then stayed away from selling tickets so we were fighting for the freedom of the clubs,”
The best friend of Hushpuppi, Pachas penned down an open letter to him as the day of his verdict approaches.
Hushpuppihas been in the prison in the United States since 2020 after he was arrested in his mansion in the Arab Emirates. He was then extradited to the US prisons for defrauding institutions and individuals.
Pac has taken to his page to pen down a letter for his friend as he shares a video of their good moment before his arrest
He prayed for his friend to find strength and also prayed for the freedom of Hushpuppi. Pac also reiterated his faithfulness to Hushpuppi and expressed hope for their reunion.
“Dear Rahman,
I write you from a place of hope and pain, the hope that as your verdict draws close and a pronouncement kick starts, our reunion is made possible, and the pain that comes with every day knowing that you are in there. Rahman, it’s your third birthday behind guard bars, I pray that you continue to find strength, and I pray for peace From within, that powers you into greatness. Happy Birthday, Blood.
Nigerian billionaire based in Dubai Hushpuppi born Raymond Igbalode was arrested in 2020 by the Federal Bureau of Intelligence and the International Police based on the account of money laundering after some cases of fraud were linked to them.
He was picked up together with his friend called Woodberry in Dubai.
According to sources, Interpol arrested Hushpuppi for Covid-19 ventilator $35million fraud which was purported to be given to Native Americans during the Corona Virus Pandemic.
Ex-Ghana goalie Fatau Dauda has indicated that he believes Joseph Wollacott has taken over as the number one goalkeeper for the Black Stars.
According to him, the Charlton Athletic goalkeeper will be the one to start for Ghana today if the 2022 FIFA World Cup is starting in Qatar.
“We all know that when Richard Ofori was injured, Wollacott came in and we did well against Nigeria home and away
.
“I think if the tournament starts now, I know he [Wollacott] is our number 1,” former Black Stars shot-stopper Fatau Dauda said while speaking to TV3 in an interview.
Joseph Wollacott marked his Black Stars debut just last year. He has managed to do enough to earn the trust of the current technicals team of the national team.
He was the preferred option for Ghana during the 2022 AFCON in Cameroon and pulled off some fantastic saves during the clash against Nigeria in the final playoff for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The single features Mavin Records Nigerian singer Magixx with production from Ghanaian producer Nektunez. The mid-tempo song establishes Camidoh as one of Ghana’s top male vocalists.
Upon the release of ‘Slow’, many Twitter users hopped on the platform to share their thoughts on the song and appreciate Camidoh’s talent. They were also impressed by Magixx’s lines in Twi.
Magixx, a Mavin signee, is noted for hits like 2021’s ‘Love Don’t Cost A Dime’, ‘All Over’, among others.
Camidoh has described the song to be released today as “one sweet and timeless record.”
Earlier this year, Camidoh indicated, via a tweet, that he would be featuring all the Mavin artists in his music.
The first Nigerian acts Camidoh worked with were singer Mayorkun and rapper Darkoo. They were featured on his hugely successful ‘Sugarcane Remix’.
Former Hearts of Oak NCC organizer Mohammed Alhassan has urged Togbe Afede bankroller for the Phobians to call for a stakeholders meeting.
He wants the current issues surrounding the club to be addressed so that the club will be successful on the pitch and also off it.
The Phobians have started the 2022/23 football campaign poorly which led to the sacking of coach Samuel Boadu.
“The time has come for Accra Hearts of Oak to call for a stakeholders meeting among all the Phobians because the team is not for one person. 100% and we have only sold 20% the 80% is still available so what I am saying is that he (Togbe Afede) should call for a stakeholders meeting,” he said on Peace FM as monitored by footballghana.com
“The NCC are also not working that is the worse NCC I have ever seen on earth why are you allowing the board to do whatever they want to do,”
A man, 40, identified by a search team as Kwesi Alhaji, has been found dead in front of an uncompleted building at Kasoa Opeikuma High-tension in the Awutu Senya East Municipality of the Central Region.
He was in a shirt and boxer shorts.
He was found by a young man who went hunting for game in the bush.
A resident, Mr Okyere Boateng, told the media that a young man informed him about a pungent smell in the area whilst hunting for bush meat.
Mr Okyere said he organised some people and moved to the scene only to discover the almost decomposed body lying near the uncompleted building in the bush.
He said he then informed his landlord, who reported the matter to the police.
The National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) together with Ghana Police have conveyed the decomposed body to the mortuary.
Mr Kwame Amoah, the Awutu Senya East Municipal NADMO Director, in an interview, said a mobile phone and a financial saving book with the name Kwesi Alhaji were found on him.
He said the cause of the death was currently unknown and urged the public to help the Ofaakor Police Command to look for the dead man’s relatives.
The Ashanti Regional Police has gunned down a suspected armed robber during an exchange of fire at Asuofua Asamang, near Barekese in the Ashanti region.
The deceased, identified as Issaka Muniru was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital.
Two other accomplices, identified as Kwaku Boateng, alias ‘Form Noede and Kwadwo Gyamfi, were arrested by the Police, during the operations.
The Police retrieved a Smith and Wesson SD40 VE pistol with 13 live ammunition from the suspect.
A Police statement issued in Kumasi on Friday said the deceased and his accomplices had been on the Police wanted list for committing a series of robberies within the Kumasi metropolis and its environs.
Until his death, Issaka Muniru was standing trial with three other accomplices, Ernest (gangster) Agyei, (Ryder) and Badu (NBY) at the Nkawie circuit court for robbing one Pastor Emmanuel Baffour Awauh, on the 26th of May 2021, and took away two gold wrist watches, mobile phones and an unspecified amount of money.
The statement said the deceased was granted bail by the court but he managed to jump bail and a bench warrant was placed on him.
It said the other accomplices would soon be put before court for trial.
Reacting to Ghanaian clubs poor performance in the Caf Champions League and Caf Confederations Cup the former Hearts of Oak defender said Ghana football lacks quality players.
He added that during his playing days they were national assets already and had experience coaches.
“The quality we have in Ghana football now is very low. Because when you look at our time we were national assets already and we had experience coaches too who were also former players so he knows what he is going to teach you which will help you,” he said on Happy FM as monitored by footballghana.com
“Now, these kids when you are teaching them they pretend as if they know more than you. I also say we should blame the coach have you notice teams will sack a coach but still the same problems you keep on sacking your coaches. You should also look at your players too, some are in the team they are just making up the numbers,”
“What I will tell them is that they are the same players who played in the first leg and saw the mistakes they did. The team too they have seen their loopholes what they will just have to do is psych their mind and one thing too when someone is doing the wrong thing in the team you should be able to discipline the person because Hearts is bigger than everybody in the club,”
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has committed 700,000 dollars in support of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) operations in six assemblies in Ghana.
These are the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Ketu South, Sefwi- Wiawso, and Jomoro municipal assemblies, and the Sagnarigu and Kassena–Nankana West district assemblies.
Mr Stephen Kansuk, the Head of Environment and Climate at UNDP, said the funds would help promote business development, service support, energy and resource efficiency to help businesses to save costs.
“We engaged and audited 15 businesses including, manufacturing MSMEs and hotels across the six assemblies and it showed that businesses employed about 1000 workers, with over 80 per cent youth and about 70 per cent women, he said.
Areas audited included utility consumption (water and electricity), internet and Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), equipment being used, building architecture and maintenance culture.
Mr Kansuk said this at a training workshop on Energy Efficiency for journalists in Takoradi, organised by the Energy Commission with support from the UNDP to strengthen their capacity to ensure good corporate governance.
He said the findings on energy consumption showed that almost all facilities had manually operated compound/outside lights kept on for several hours.
Room appliances such as television sets were mostly on standby mode even when not being used, while air condition facilities had low-efficiency ratings, he said.
The study recommended that all fluorescent lambs should be replaced with Light Emitting Diode, photo sensors should be installed to control compound lights, and energy-efficient air conditioners with a minimum of the three-star rated inverter must be used to save energy.
On the use of water, he said most of the facilities used high water-volume water closet systems with high litres cistern capacities.
He recommended an efficient WC system for example, (a six-litre cistern) and as well as a waste segregation system.
Mr John Adjei, Senior Manager, Energy Efficiency Regulation, Energy Commission, said gadgets like transformers, chargers including phone and laptop chargers, desk printers, electric water heaters, water dispensers, television sets, sound systems and decoders were “agents of power thefts.”
He advised participants to turn off unused office equipment including personal computers, and air conditioners, and also close windows and doors tightly when air conditioners were on.
Mr Kennedy Amankwah, who spoke on Energy Management, suggested the appointment of energy managers, who would coordinate the efficient use of energy resources and ensure cost savings.
The Ghana Statistical Service and World Bank COVID-19 Business Tracker revealed many businesses, including MSMEs, were affected by the pandemic.
Mohammed Alhassan, a former NCC organizer has called for the dismissal of the current Hearts of Oak management.
According to Alhassan they are doing some infrastructure for the club but what goes on the pitch is very important.
The former organizer also said he is not happy with the sacking of coach Samuel Boadu who gave the club a league trophy after 10 years.
“Infrastructure fine but on the field 10 years the club struggled to win the league Boadu came and won the league and got other trophies. The following year he repeated a knockout so what is their problem. What coach is better than him (Samuel Boadu). You go and pick an untried coach the coach they brought what is his pedigree you gave him an assistant role,” he said on Peace FM as monitored by footballghana.com
“How can you send an assistant coach to Africa. He hasn’t had any training session with the team and you took him for the African cup. I hear people saying we will beat them (ASR Bamako) four very well Hearts of Oak spirit can do it but not with this people over there,”
“If they want to win and win big they have to do consultation big consultation with all the stakeholders we will struggle. Akanbi and the first deputy minister who was Hearts of Oak chairman they should remove them he has failed doing his time we forced him to resign I was the national organizer set the pace for him to resign and you go and bring him back,”
The European Union (EU) has pledged an additional 10 million euro to Ghana to support the most vulnerable populations facing escalating global food security crisis exacerbated by Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine.
Mr. Pieter Smidt Van Gelder, the Deputy Head of the European Union Mission to Ghana, announcing the new Special Measure in Accra said, “These new funds will support families to grow crops, generate income and improve food availability on local markets.”
Mr Gelder, who presented the dummy cheque to the Ministries of Finance and Food and Agriculture said the EU support would also make Ghanaian farmers more resilient to crisis by promoting sustainable food production and strengthening integration into national and regional food value chains.
He said the allocation would support the sustainable development of a number of agribusiness value chains, including shea, soybean, beekeeping, and vegetables.
The Deputy Head of the EU Mission said this would complement efforts by the Ghanaian government to mitigate further increases in poverty, hunger, and malnutrition in vulnerable areas affected by high prices of food, fertilizer, and fuel.
He said the current 10 million euro allocation to Ghana represented the commitment of the EU and Member States Team Europe approach to mobilizing political, policy and financial means to safeguard food security, while transitioning to more resilient food systems.
He said the food security situation was a very serious concern and that was why the EU had allocated 600 million euro to countries mainly in Africa to finance humanitarian food aid and food production and to strengthen local food production systems.
He said the support would help 19 countries to cope with the consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, notably the current food security and related economic shock.
“Of this envelope, the EU is allocating the 10 million euro to Ghana,” he added.
He said the new funding comes on top of the EU’s 203 million euro joint programming support already dedicated to Ghana for 2021-2024.
THE Deputy Head of EU Mission said the extra funding announced today would strengthen the ongoing programme as well as the EU’s upcoming support to the agriculture sector in Ghana.
Mrs Abena Osei-Asare, a Deputy Minister for Finance, said “We as a country have been faced with a number of challenges in recent times. The COVID-19 pandemic and lately Russia – Ukraine war have particularly had worrying effects on Ghana’s economy.”
She said the conflict had resulted in rapid increase in the prices of food, fuel and fertilizer, with its attendant consequences on the country’s foreign exchange reserves used to purchase commodities imported for public consumption as well as inputs for industries.
She said food inflation continued to contribute highly to overall inflation with Ghana’s inflation for September 2022 at 37.2 per cent with food inflation contributing largely at 37.8 per cent.
She said the support would focus on the Northern part of Ghana as a more economically sustainable and inclusive food systems, reinforced environmental sustainability of food systems, enhanced social sustainability and gender responsiveness of food systems (incl. Food and nutrition security) and improved governance and institutional sustainability of food systems.
She said the EU had been a strategic partner of Ghana over the years and had supported the country in the areas of infrastructure development, good governance, agriculture, and public financial management.
“The flexibility exhibited in the provision of €86.5 million to Ghana as Emergency Budget Support during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic is one that cannot be forgotten,” she added.
Mrs Osei Asare said the support to food security would complement an action for agribusiness foreseen under the Annual Action Programme for 2023.
He said the action was part of a larger support aimed at mitigating the effects of food crisis in
vulnerable Member States and regions of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), occasioned by the Russia Ukraine war.
“This singular decision by the EU, together with its Member States, to mobilise €600 million from the reserves of the European Development Fund (EDF) to support ACP countries and regions is particularly commendable,” she said.
Mr Mohammed Hardi Tufeiru, a Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, said the EU-Ghana Agriculture programme, sought to modernize agricultural production processes.
This will address binding constraints to agricultural productivity through the development of selected value chains including rice, soybean, groundnut, cashew, mango, and vegetables, building resilience against climate change and investment in infrastructural development such as roads and irrigation facilities.
The programme is consistent with Sector’s flagships- Planting for Food and Jobs and Planting for Export and Rural Development.
He said it would go a long way to improve the livelihoods of communities in the beneficiary regions and the country at large.
He said the 10 million euro pledge by the EU had come at an opportune time to support the most vulnerable populations to cope with the ramifications of the Russia invasion of Ukraine and the resultant impact on food security.
He said the proposed support had been earmarked for the sustainable development of a selected number of agribusiness value chains, including shea, soybean, beekeeping, and vegetables, which are all priority areas for the sector.
Hearts of Oak legend Dan Quaye has said that it is very important for the players to motivate themselves first.
Accra Hearts of Oak are currently preparing to face ASR Bamako in the second leg of their Caf Confederations match.
The first leg ended 3-0 and the performance of the Phobians angered the supporters.
“Motivation is the only thing that we learnt they should be determined that whether rain or shine this match we have to win. This is what they should use to make history because now there is no hope from anywhere,” he said on Happy FM as monitored by footballghana.com
“They played the first leg so they should psych their mind that we are one and they should accept that this match we have to fight and win. If they put this into their mind I also know that the management is also doing what they can to support so if the management does everything and you don’t deliver then the work will go waste,”
Ghana is to commence the use of the ECOWASRegional Network for Transit Trade (SIGMAT) in the first quarter of 2023, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has announced.
Mr Peter Antobre Ofori, Assistant Commissioner in charge of Transit at the Customs Division of GRA, said Ghana’s Customs administration has taken advanced steps to enrol in the SIGMAT system.
Mr Ofori speaking on the new system in Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) forum said ECOWAS required all customs administrations to automate their systems adding that some countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia were yet to automate theirs.
According to him, Ghana and Nigeria have done the automation but changed their systems, which required that they restart their networks.
“Presently, we haven’t been able to roll unto the SIGMAT, but we are in the process; We have established limited communication with Togo and designed a road map with Cote D’Ivoire and we are constantly meeting to ensure we roll on,” he said.
Mr Felix Kwakye, the Principal Programme Officer and Head of the Division of Tariff and Customs Procedures, at the ECOWAS Commission, said the SIGMAT system was an improvement over the Interstate Road Transit System which was a paper-based, manual system used in ECOWAS countries.
Mr Kwakye indicated that for quite a while, ECOWAS had been looking at leveraging information, communication, and technology to reform the transit regime within West Africa, as a measure to improve and make it more efficient.
“It will improve the exchange of messages between customs administrations based on the interconnectivity of the national customs IT systems; ECOWAS wants all 15 member states to roll unto the system.”
He said the transit trade had led to a lot of apprehension and a sense of insecurity for many countries, making them put in place measures to secure revenue and maintain security thereby incurring a lot of cost and delay in the transit trade for which the ordinary consumer at the country of destination bore.
He said to ensure that international conventions for trade were followed, and trade facilitated as efficiently as possible, SIGMAT was one of the interventions introduced to generate confidence in the transit trade and secure revenue.
Mr Kwakye revealed that feedback on revenue generation and trade facilitation has been encouraging from countries that have begun the use of the system.
He disclosed that processes have been undertaken for a “community guarantee mechanism” under the SIGMAT system, explaining that the bonds issued to cover cargoes on transit would have to be valid in every country throughout the entire transit corridor.
He added that the selected guarantor would have to be represented in all of those countries, stating that this measure and others were taken under the new ECOWAS regime were all geared towards checking cargo diversion.
The SIGMAT system according to customs would come at no extra cost to importers and exporters in the sub-region.
The system began pilotage in 2019, and in December 2021, the various heads of state within ECOWAS adopted a supplementary act on ECOWAS Community Transit which binds all member countries to implement the system.
The SIGMAT system which is already being operated in some Francophone countries is expected to enhance custom-to-custom communication, improve data collection, facilitate trade and secure revenue.
Ghana runs a risk of having a sick population in future and a food security challenge due to the increasing rate of harmful chemical residue found on food produce.
This is because of the contamination of soil and water beds with harmful chemicals through illegal mining activities-Galamsey and the wrong use of pesticides.
“If you should do an analysis, either microbial or physiochemical analysis on the produce on our farms, a lot of it is being contaminated,” said Mr Nlaliban Wujangi in an interview with the Ghana News Agency.
The Director for Food and Agriculture at the Chamber of Agribusiness who is also an African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Focal Person, warned that the country’s Cocoa which is a major export earner also risked being rejected on the market if major interventions are not carried out to end the Galamsey menace.
He observed that, even though there was a withdrawal period to take away chemical residue on food stuff especially when fertilizer had been applied, the non-adherence with the period and the heavy concentration of harmful mining chemicals highly contaminated the food produce.
“Even when the rain falls it is not able to take out all the chemicals because of the high concentration of chemicals used for galamsey
He said the ongoing tests had suggested that the contamination of food produce which was thought of to be a problem predominated in mining areas has taken a national character due to the impact of illegal mining on the water bodies.
“It is a national issue as water finds its way, anywhere water originates and goes to, we have a risk there.
“We thought Galamsey was happening down south in the Western and Eastern region however, there is even some part of the Northern regions where there is some form of Galamsey,” he said.
He said the Chamber had made efforts to notify the Government through its representatives on various joint committees with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and participation in donor-funded programmes.
“One other thing we might end up doing very soon is calling an entire press conference purposely to address that issue,” he said.
He advocated a holistic approach to addressing the issue which would require the implementation of sustainable alternative livelihood programmes for persons involved in the practice.
