Multi-awarded Rapper, Michael Owusu Addo known in music circles as Sarkodie, has lauded President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his decisions to ensure the safety of Ghanaians both at home and abroad.
Although locked down in the United States of America following the closure of borders to curtail transmission of coronavirus in Ghana, Sarkodie strongly believes the travel restriction is in the interest of the entire nation.
Sending a solidarity message from his abode in the States to Ghanaians and his Sark natives, the ‘oofeetso’ hitmaker who has earned the accolade ‘The Highest’ appreciated the efforts undertaken by the Akufo-Addo administration in the fight of this life-threatening Coronavirus pandemic.
Sarkodie doffed his hat to the President and his team “for being on top of their game handling this COVID-19 situation. We all appreciate but I know it’s not going to be an easy fight, especially for a developing country like Ghana. A whole lot of resources will be needed. A whole lot of funds will be needed and I’m pretty sure the government will do their best. But I still feel, as a people, we need to support in our way cos it’s really not just gonna affect us; you know we have relatives that they are also at risk at the same time.”
This notwithstanding, the Rapper who is far away from home is already pining for a return as the mantra ‘home sweet home’ has swiftly caught up with him.
Yes, of course, there is nothing more peaceful and happier than a good, safe and secure home; therefore, Sarkodie is assuring all his music fans that he will be returning ASAP when the borders are finally open.
“I really do miss home but as much as I miss home, I totally understand these measures taken to control the pandemic for everyone’s safety.”
Spokesperson of the Abrewatia of Sakyiabea Royal Gate of Akuapem, Ohene Nana Bennet Smith Opoku, has clarified that installation of the new Okuapehene can proceed without the involvement of the Okuapehemea (the Queen).
The Okuapehemea had unilaterally selected and installed her own preferred candidate to the Akuapem stool contrary to customs.
Unsatisfied with this development, the Abrewatia of the Sakyiabea Royal Gate, of whose turn it is to nominate the next Okuapehene, petitioned the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs to ascertain the capacity of the Queen in nominating a successor to the Paramount stool.
On Thursday, April 30, the Judicial Committee of the Regional House of Chiefs ruled that it is the mandate of the Abrewatia to nominate the successor and not the in the powers of the Queen.
Following this ruling, the people of Akuapem welcomed the outcome, paving way for a majority of the Kingmakers to begin processes to install Odehye Kwadwo Kesse as the next Okuapehene to succeed the late Oseeadeyo Addo Dankwa III who died in 2015.
In an interview, the Spokesperson for the Abrewatia said all the processes of the installation will still go on if the Queen does not get involved.
“Looking at the majority side, I mean the kingmakers’ side, the Queen mother is one of the kingmakers who has something to perform within the installation but we all know what has happened. The Queen mother finds it difficult to join her brothers and sisters, I will say, compatriots, to make sure that they go about the whole process.”
“So, if you don’t see the Queen mother, I don’t think it will make any difference. I don’t think it makes any difference.”
“The Queen mother is one of the 11 and we have eight in number, so, the majority is here. And we can go ahead with the decision that they will make and it can succeed. That is all I can tell you,” he said.
When asked if he was sure of peace in Akuapem, the Spokesperson said, “You were all here. Did you see any problem going on? Everything was calm.
“The security men were on top of their job. They were able to curtail whatever that might have happened. We sailed through without any problem.”
Two persons have been murdered in two separate incidents at Akyem Osiem and Nkawkaw in the Eastern Region.
The body of a young man shot dead was found Friday, May 1, 2020, along the Akyem Osiem to Ettukrom highway in Abuakwa North Municipality.
The unidentified man was found in a pool of blood with fresh gunshot wounds by the roadside.
Crime scene detectives from the Police Service led by ASP Fred Kpetigo, Crime Officer in charge found a luggage bag which had been ransacked at the crime scene.
After taking inventories, the body was deposited at the Akyem Tafo government Hospital Mortuary pending autopsy.
In a related development, a 30-year-old man has also been found dead 30 meters away at the roadside of Nkawkaw stretch of the Accra to Kumasi Highways.
The deceased was in a multi-coloured boxer short over a black T-shirt with a pair of black socks.
The Public Relations Officer of the Eastern Regional Police Command, DSP Ebenezer Tetteh confirmed to Starr News that a cut was found on his left arm and also at the left ribs of the deceased with foam oozing from the mouth when his body was examined.
He said the body has been deposited at the Holy Family Hospital Morgue in Nkawkaw while investigations continue.
A group of people who have been kept in Isolation at the Pentecost Convention Centre at Gomoa Fetteh have bemoaned the poor conditions they have to endure during their stay at the centre.
Complaining about things such as the food served to both persons in isolation and medical officers, the people in a video shared with www.ghanaweb.com, are calling on government to allow them to return to their homes none of them is sick.
They say they are tired of the hard conditions at the centre.
Founding President of policy think tank, IMANI, Franklin Cudjoe has dared President Akufo-Addo to also conduct a Facebook Live session with Questions and Answers from Ghanaians as that is the new “gameâ€, MyNewsGh.com reports.
The IMANI boss, who was apparently impressed by the performance of opposition Leader John Mahama during his most recent Facebook Live session advised that President Akufo-Addo “for look sharp†in the next presidential address which he says must come with a question and answer opportunity as well.
According to Mr. Cudjoe, Mahama has shown “such depth†and did “pretty well†in the Questions and Answer session too, applauding John Mahama for taking advantage of digitization and Covid-19 to get all the online eyeballs.
“Charley, JM is trending oooo. He is doing pretty well in the Q&A too- such depth. Nana Addo, boss, the game is now LIVE interactions with a Q&A opportunity ooo. We for look sharp. Next presidential address for be live with Q&A too.†The IMANI boss tweeted.
Some Ghanaian influencers had criticized President Akufo-Addo for his recorded late-night addresses which was later rescheduled to 8pm following criticisms. It is still recorded and has no question and answer components.
Mahama Facebook Live
Mr. Mahama has been using Facebook live addresses to reach audiences long before Covid-19 hit.
Last Thursday, he held a session at 8:15pm where he promised a potential administration under him would look to expand training for doctors in particular at the University of Health and Allied Sciences and the University of Development Studies.
“We have the possibility and we have the plan, if we get elected, to look at the University of Health and Allied Sciences and expand the training of medical professionals in those institutions.â€
He added that in the University of Development Studies, his administration would “expand the numbers of doctors that we are able to train in that institution.â€
Mr. Mahama also proposed fast-tracked medicine courses from biomedical students.
“We have the biomedical science students who can transition to do a medical degree in four years so if we get some of these biomedical students onto a fast-track medical degree, we can turn out several more doctors than we currently doing.â€
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is dealing with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in Ghana with good and strong measures, a communicator of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Kwame Asafo Adjei has said.
He said these measures outlined by Mr Akufo-Asddo has been hailed by world and African leaders
Speaking on the Ghana Yensom show on Accra 100.5FM Friday, May 1, he said: “All of us are witnesses to the good measures and policies President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has put in place to deal with the pandemic.
“These measures have attracted a lot of commendation from world leaders and also African leaders,†he said.
He added: “Some bold decisions were taken by the president including the closure of borders and other entry points into the country,†he told show host Kwabena Prah Jnr (The Don).
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has said he took robust and drastic measures which included the closure of the borders, as part of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic because, in his view, a weaker response would certainly threaten the lives and livelihood of Ghanaians.
He noted that the impact of COVID-19 cannot be underestimated, hence the tough measures he adopted.
Speaking in the studios of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) on May Day, the President said: “As government and social partners, it is our collective responsibility to chart our own course out of this pandemicâ€.
“It is obvious that a weak response to COVID-19 will jeopardise the gains made to create a buoyant economy and will worsen the lives and livelihood s of all Ghanaians.â€
The President also said he has charged Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to work with the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to draft a policy that will further strengthen the industry and the agriculture sectors of the economy to mitigate and fix the economic damage done by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The President said his administration is determined to deal with the economic impact of the pandemic through innovative ways.
Mr Akufo-Addo said: “Discussions are ongoing with the World Bank to raise more funds which should be completed soonâ€.
“I have charged the Minister of Finance to work with the Bank of Ghana to design innovative policies and find more resources to strengthen the productive sectors of the economy, particularly industry and agriculture. I understand that the process will shortly yield positive results.â€
He added: “The Minister of Finance and his South African counterpart, are leading the efforts of African ministers of finance to take debt reliefs for our economies.
“The World Bank has granted a debt repayment standstill for the next nine months, which will result in our delayed principal interest payments totalling $500 million.â€
Mr Akufo-Addo further said that job creation is a priority for his government.
The Reproductive Health Centre at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital has resumed its cervical cancer screening campaign but by appointments to prevent overcrowding at the facility.
The screening, which started in January as part of the nationwide cervical cancer awareness campaign, was expected to end in June 2020.
However, it was suspended due to the three-week lockdown in Accra to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Ms Rose Eduful, the Principal Nursing Officer, of the Centre, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), therefore, urged clients to schedule appointments to be screened.
“One can walk-in to book an appointment or contact 0243840804 for that to be done on their behalf,” she said.
“The same process of calling would be followed for those coming to get their test results and also a picture of the results could be sent to the client upon request.â€
Ms Eduful said as part of the measures put in place by the Centre to contain the spread of COVID-19, clients were required to wear face masks, wash their hands, and use hand sanitizers.
She advised women to take advantage of the ongoing cervical cancer screening exercise; while observing the new protocols for safety.
The early detection of cervical cancer, she advised, could help in preventing the disease from reaching an advanced stage where it could be detrimental to the patient.
“So for women having the fear of the unknown as their deterrent for not screening, they should know that early detection is key to preventing the scourge of the disease,†she stated.
Cervical cancer, caused by the Humanpapilloma Virus, is the second most frequent occurring cancer in women after breast cancer, and a common cause of cancer related deaths in developing countries.
Current statistics in Ghana indicate that annually, more than 3,000 women are diagnosed with the disease and more than 2,000 die from it.
The disease is common in women and girls who are sexually active.
Deaths due to cervical cancer are projected to rise by almost 25 per cent over the next 10 years, hence the need for the campaign to allow for more screening.
Mrs Eduful said the vaccination against the virus was ongoing, adding that, women could walk in at anytime to take a shot.
The screening exercise is now GH¢ 80.00 saying, but after June it will go back to GH¢ 150.00.
Twenty-three Burkinabes who entered Ghana through unapproved routes at Nandom in the Upper West Region were arrested and repatriated by personnel of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), on Wednesday.
The migrants were arrested at the Babile Checkpoint by the GIS personnel when the buses on which they were travelling were impounded.
In an interview with the Ghanaian Times at Wa, on Wednesday, the Regional Public Relations Officer for the GIS, Immigration Control Officer, ICO Ibn Yussif Duranah Abdul-Mumin Seidu, said the personnel initially arrested three males on Monday in a minibus with registration number AE-3062-13 en route to Techiman in the Bono Region.
He said that the remaining 20 migrants who were aged between 18 and 25, were arrested on Tuesday onboard an OA bus with registration number GR-6499-09.
ICO Seidu said the migrants upon interrogation, revealed that they were travelling to Techiman and Sampa as well as Kumasi in the Bono and Ashanti Regions respectively.
“The migrants were transported to Hamile on Wednesday to enable the sector command at the main Ghana-Burkina Border, conduct the necessary health screening and repatriate them immediately,†he stated.
ICO Seidu asked residents living along the border to collaborate with the service to ensure that the country was protected from needless spread of the Coronavirus.
He said the command was poised for action and would not compromise on its vigilance nor relent in its efforts at protecting the citizenry.
Ghana closed its sea, land and air borders on March 22, 2020 following a directive by the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Mr Prosper Pi-Bansah, Municipal Chief Executive for Ho, Friday said Government was working around the clock for workers to enjoy their contributions to national development, saying, “there are better days ahead for workers.”
He said the decision by Government to absorb water and electricity bills to cushion the citizenry in the wake of COVID 19 signalled Government’s commitment to the welfare of workers.
Mr Pi-Bansah said this in a “Workers’ Day” message through the Ghana News Agency.
He said more was being done behind the scenes for the Ghanaian worker and called for support for Government.
The MCE asked workers to recommit themselves to the service of the nation, work harder and meet targets to grow the local economy.
He said the Ho Municipal Assembly was working towards creating an enabling environment to grow local businesses to create jobs.
Mr Godwin Edudzi Effah, Keta Municipal Chief Executive, also said there were plans to make workers in the Municipality happy after COVID-19.
He said the Assembly had recognised the contributions of workers, especially those in the informal sector to the local economy and said “they will reap their sacrifices after God has taken this COVID-19 away.”
Mr Effah said the Assembly was establishing a special fish market and also working on a fish landing site to attract fishing vessels and reposition Keta as ‘home of fish.’
He said plans were also afoot to engage other players in the informal sector on ways to grow the local economy and create jobs.
The MCE congratulated workers in the Municipality and urged them to work with the Assembly to attract the needed support and investments for mutual benefit.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, lauding Ghanaian workers for their contribution towards national socio-economic advancement over the years, Friday said the impact of COVID-19 on the national economy has been severe.
He has, therefore, directed the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Ghana to work together to design innovative policies to revive the economy.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that 2.7 billion workers would lose their jobs globally due to the lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The growth of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is also expected to tumble from seven per cent averagely to 2.5 per cent in the worst case scenario.
President Akufo-Addo, who was speaking at a virtual May Day celebration, organized by the Organised Labour and Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), nonetheless, expressed, gratitude to workers for their contributions and sacrifices towards the development of the country’s economy.
“The relationship between Government and Organized Labour has been cordial and of mutual respect since I became President,” President Akufo-Addo stated.
May Day, usually celebrated nationwide through parades by worker unions, was held virtually from the studios of the GBC in accordance with the social distancing and safety protocols to prevent the spread of the new Coronavirus.
It is on the theme, “The Impact of COVID-19 on the Economy and Working Conditions”.
President Akufo-Addo mentioned some interventions rolled out by his government to provide relief to Ghanaians following the COVID-19 outbreak.
These include the 1.2 billion Ghana cedi Alleviation Programme, a -600- million Ghana cedi soft loans to small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs), with one-year moratorium and two – year repayment, tax rebates for health workers and 50 per cent top-up of basic salary, for frontline health workers.
Others are free water supply to all Ghanaians, free electricity supply to lifeline consumers and a 50 per cent subsidy for the other residential, commercial and enterprise consumers, for three months from April.
Dr Anthony Yaw Baah, Secretary-General of Trades Union Congress (TUC), in his welcome address, urged the government to implore commercial banks to allow businesses to access loans under flexible terms of payment.
Affluent Ghanaian politician, Kennedy Agyapong has shared what has inspired him to reach for success and it is about women.
Speaking during an interview about his life and success, the Assin Central MP disclosed that one of the driving factors behind his success is women shunning him because of poverty. “Me my success and determination came from women who dawged me,†he said.
In a video seen by pulse.com.gh, the controversial politician added that “it challenged me” and further seized the opportunity to advise the youth to find the silver lining in any situation “I always turn negative to the positive, so the youth turn your negatives to the positiveâ€.
Narrating how a girl shunned him out of poverty, Kennedy Agyapong recounted how he had broken chairs in his house and a girl who visited him then sat on one of those chairs and fell in a way that exposed her. According to him, the girl got angry because she felt it was a deliberate move.
Kennedy Agyapong, who has 22 children now, detailed that he later apologized to the girl but she never listened to him and he said to himself that “one day I will be some manâ€. Watch the video below.
Kennedy Agyapong says his success is from women who rejected him because of poverty. pic.twitter.com/a3BAQvhCxZ
Exactly four years today Andre Dede Ayew bagged a remarkable brace in a man of the match performance as Swansea City defeated Liverpool in the English Premier League.
The Ghana captain, scored first from a powerful header before spinning and firing low for his second and Swansea’s third in the 3-1 win.
The win secured the Swans Premier League status as Andre Ayew made history by recording double figures in his first campaign in the topflight in England.
In our series of letters from African writers, journalist and former Ghana government minister Elizabeth Ohene writes about the new normal – from how to hold a socially distant election to attending online funerals.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19, we have come to accept that our lives have been turned upside down.
We have been learning to cope with things nobody had ever dreamt about – like not hugging or shaking hands. Social distancing, self-isolation and quarantine have all become terms of everyday use.
Schools have been closed, and parents are discovering anew just how much food growing children eat.
There are things we studiously avoid talking about; the mortuaries are full, not from coronavirus deaths (so far in Ghana, there have been 16 from the disease) but the ban on public gatherings, which means we cannot have normal funerals.
Private burials are allowed but with no more than 25 people and that really is an unbearable experience for most Ghanaians.
So, we are keeping the bodies in the morgues in the hope that this dreadful nightmare will soon be over and the dead can be given befitting Ghanaian burials.
BBC
I joined an online funeral last week dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Nobody attends a funeral dressed like that”
Funeral services are going hi-tech to abide by the new restrictions. The service has the prescribed 25 or less people and the proceedings are streamed online. Many people now sit at home by their laptops and log on to join the service.
If this trend continues, it will totally subvert our funeral culture. I joined an online funeral last week dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Nobody attends a funeral dressed like that.
Now that we have gone through seven Sundays, including Easter Sunday, without church services, it is dawning on all of us that coronavirus is rather dramatic.
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionReligious gatherings have been restricted because of Covid-19
We are into the holy month of Ramadan. Muslims have started their fasting, without the congregational prayers in the mosque that mark the breaking of the fast. More and more of us now accept that we are in unsettling times.
The capital Accra and its environs, and the second city Kumasi, were put under lockdown for three weeks and we have emerged from that too with the restriction on the movement of people now lifted.
Frantic activities
At the centre of the entire Covid-19 experience has been President Nana Akufo-Addo. He addressed the nation on the evening of 12 March to tell us of the first two cases of coronavirus in the country.
He announced the ban on social gatherings, the closure of borders, the lockdown in the two metropolitan areas, and he enumerates the tally of confirmed cases of infections.
There is an unstated but awkward fact that runs underneath all the frantic coronavirus activities in the country. We are due to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on 7 December.
Elections are keenly contested here and campaigns are usually loud, chaotic and, of course, crowd-centred. Preparations were on a tight schedule and did not leave much room for anything to go wrong.
Poll plans derailed
Then the virus struck and the first casualty was the National Identification Authority. It has not yet been able to finish giving identity cards to everybody above the age of 16. Without it, people cannot register to vote.
The electoral commission wants to compile a fresh voters register, but the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is having none of that and has sworn loudly that it will do everything it can to make sure it does not happen.
The commission had, in fact, planned to start the registration process more than a week ago, but since all gatherings are banned, it seems to be stuck.
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionThe lockdown in Ghana’s capital Accra brought the city to a standstill
Furthermore, the two main parties are gauging each other as the nature of politicking has changed with the advent of coronavirus.
No-one knows if the people’s judgement is going to be based mostly on how the parties and their candidates fare during this crisis.
The candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), President Nana Akufo-Addo, and the NDC candidate, former President John Mahama, know each other pretty well. This is going to be the third time they will be facing each other.
The NPP should have conducted primaries in about 150 constituencies in which it has sitting MPs last December but postponed them to April – only for them to be derailed by lockdown measures. The candidates cannot campaign, at least not in the manner we know.
Party officials are in a bind, will they be able to hold primaries and how will they manage the tensions that come with internal elections if there is no time to heal wounds?
Getty
We know how to bring the economy back to life. What we do not know is how to bring people back to life”
The NDC has most of its parliamentary candidates but its presidential candidate would have wanted to announce his choice of running mate at a big rowdy event – not at an event dominated by social distancing.
And how do you campaign when a malignant virus loose in the land and there does not seem to be any appetite for partisan arguments?
The president has addressed the country eight times since the outbreak and the whole nation listens to him.
He makes a speech and part of it goes viral: “We know how to bring the economy back to life. What we do not know is how to bring people back to life.”
The president says the virus does not have a political colour, this is not the time for politicking, and right now we must defeat our common enemy. He is having a good pandemic.
The NDC started its Covid-19 politicking on a dodgy note when its general secretary, Asiedu Nketia, expressed doubts about the existence of the virus in the country.
When Mr Nketia announced the first two cases of Covid-19 and placed a ban on social gatherings and political activities, he said the virus was a big hoax, and part of a grand design by the president to rig the elections.
But the NDC soon regained its poise and the party set up its own Covid-19 committee and Mr Mahama started issuing his own daily bulletins on the progress of the virus.
He had a digital conversation the other day, which sounded suspiciously like an address to the nation.
One week into the lockdown, tempers began to fray, small businesses were feeling the pinch, the daily wage earners were in distress and the confirmed cases of Covid-19 were rising.
An NDC MP accused government officials of asking the vulnerable for NPP party membership cards before being given food.
‘Father Christmas’
A video was released of Mr Mahama distributing food parcels in a poor suburb. He was appropriately clad in his face mask and told the recipients he knew they were suffering and could feel their pain.
The president announced a raft of interventions to ease the economic difficulties brought on by the pandemic; the government would pick up 50% of everybody’s electricity bill for the next three months, water would be free during that period, and health workers would not pay taxes.
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionMany people wear masks to prevent infections from spreading
Last Sunday, Mr Akufo-Addo announced the government was about to start a huge hospital building programme. He said the pandemic had exposed just how badly underserved we were with hospitals and he would build and equip 94 new ones within the next year.
We had not seen the president as a Father Christmas before but there he was dishing out goodies. For the NDC, it is difficult when it wants to defeat him in elections.
Since nobody has any idea when we will get rid of this virus and there are no provisions in the constitution to postpone presidential elections, we are having to work around the possibility of holding the polls with Covid-19 around us.
South Korea did it and we might have to do it as well, socially distanced and with our masks.
Disclaimer : “Opinions expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author(s) and do not in any way reflect those of backend.theindependentghana.com. Our outfit will hereby not be liable for any inaccuracies contained in this article.â€
General Captain of the Black Stars Asamoah Gyan has celebrated his bosom friend Castro as he turns 38 today.
Castro disappeared at the ADA Estuary on July 6, 2014, when he and his then-girlfriend, Janet Badu joined Asamoah Gyan and other friends for a holiday outing and fun.
Over the years, there have been Prophets and other clerics who have said that the musician will come back alive but nothing have become of those Prophecies.
According to law, the two are still alive and will be declared dead in 2021 if they do not return to Ghana before the said date.
Castro who was 32 years before he disappeared turned 38 today and a sad Asamoah Gyan who lost his close friend some years back in a tweet celebrated him saying “Happy birthday bro. Hmmmmmm. May God be with you wherever you areâ€.
Ghana forward, Kevin Prince Boateng has described playing against his brother, Jerome Boateng at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa as ‘special’.
Ghana after beating Serbia in their opening game took on Germany in their second group game.
A solitary goal from man-of-the-match Mesut Ozil was enough to ensure that Germany topped Group D.
The game created history as Kevin and Jerome became the first brothers to have play on opposing sides in a full international.
However, the former Barcelona and AC Milan says playing against his junior brother at the world stage is special.
“Of course it was very special. Never before have two brothers played against each other at a World Cup,” the Besiktas forward said in a chat with his brother on Instagram.
“I don’t think I slept at all the night before. The media made it a big story, partly because there were a few misunderstandings at times,” he added.
The brothers also played against each other during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Manchester United striker Odion Ighalo says he will visit Ghana at the end of the season because of his quest to meet Brimah Kamoko a.k.a Bukom Banku.
Bukom Banku, who is a Ghanaian boxer cum comedian has been entertaining people with his funny stuff.
Odion Ighalo who is on loan at Manchester United from Shanghai Greenland Shenhua of the Chinese Super League is one of the persons who have been touched by the hilarious nature of Bukom Banku.
And he has indicated in an Instagram interview with renowned journalist Nana Aba Anamoah that he is yearning to meet Bukom Banku in Ghana.
“ I am very serious. Kindly make provisions so I meet Bukom Banku. I really like him and would like to meet him. He will be the reason I will visit Ghana at the end of the season. It will be a great pleasure to meet himâ€. He told Nana Aba Anamoah.
Odion Ighalo has scored in all three of his starts in all competitions for Manchester United, with the Nigerian netting four goals in total.
The German Bundesliga will not return on May 9 as previously hoped after the German government delayed a decision on the league’s return until next week.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and the heads of the federal states held a video summit on Thursday to discuss the impact of the coronavirus on the country.
The head of chancellery, Helge Braun, and the federal state chancelleries are now set to bring in a draft resolution for the next “Bund and Lander” meeting between Merkel and the leaders of the federal states on May 6, Sportschau said.
Last week, the German Football League (DFL) said it would be ready to return on May 9, adding that it was not in their hands but those of politicians.
With the decision of a possible Bundesliga return now delayed until next week, the restart on May 9 is off the table.
“The DFL of course accepts that today no decision was made on the resumption of Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2,” the German Football League said in a statement on Twitter, adding league and clubs will continue their preparations for restart of the season in May.
Earlier this week, sources told ESPN that clubs are confident the Bundesliga will return in May, regardless of what would be decided at the video summit.
The league, which last played in early March, still has nine match days left to complete the season.
Bundesliga clubs continue to train in small groups but have yet to resume full team training and some coaches have called for at least 10 days of team training before the first match will be played.
The DFL confirmed on Thursday that they have begun testing Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 players for the coronavirus.
Players and staff from each club will be tested up to two times a week, an estimated total of 20,000 tests until the end of June, only taking up less than 0.4% of Germany’s current weekly testing capacity.
German football wants to finish the season by June 30 to avoid running into legal trouble with loan deals and contracts ending that day.
The DFL, which represents the 36 clubs of the upper two tiers, and its CEO Christian Seifert had argued that 56,000 jobs in football were at stake and Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke warned that a return in June might come too late for football.
While the league’s precautions to prevent the coronavirus were approved at the sports ministers’ conference as well as by the ministry of labour, some decision makers felt the time was not right to discuss a Bundesliga return ahead of other measures.
“Playgrounds closed, Kindergartens closed, Bundesliga is back. It just doesn’t fit,” Brandenburg’s minister president Dietmar Woidke said on RBB Radio earlier on Thursday.
Stephan Weil, Woidke’s Lower-Saxony counterpart, explained on ARD TV that he does not believe it’s “justifiable Bundesliga resumes and we have no perspective for kids or mass sports.”
At least three headless bodies have been exhumed in a bush at a village called Sakyikrom, near Adeiso in the Eastern Region.
A police team that carried out the operation hauled the person they suspected to have killed the two men and a woman to the scene to point the very spots where the bodies had been buried.
A special police investigative team deployed mainly from the headquarters led by COP Ken Yeboah, head of Police CID discovered the human parts.
The three human parts discovered were that of two males and a female, all without their heads.
A search conducted by the police also retrieved fresh human head, skulls and other human parts tied in a polythene bag ready to be used for sacrifice.
The police gave the suspects names as Power One, 40, and Famous, 36.
COP Ken Yeboah told Adom TV that the police were sending the suspects to Accra to help in its further investigations.
Assembly man of the area, Eric Abeisy who was at the scene expressed shock after seeing the dead bodies being retrieved.
A Nigerian lady, believed to be the barber of pop star, Davido, has shared beautiful photos while shaving his hair to promote her work on social media.
This was after the barber went for a home service amid the coronavirus lockdown in Nigeria.
Taking to Instagram, she shared a video and photos which featured her while she was doing her work with her tag on.
She goes by the Instagram username @princesscutz1 and she is definitely beautiful.
Afrobeat singer, Kelvyn Boy, says he owes his success in music to the support given to him by Stonebwoy and his Burniton Music.
This is because according to him Stonebwoy was the one who gave him a big platform to excel; something he will always be grateful for all his life.
He said associating himself to the Bhim Nation brand won him several hearts and opened great doors for him, therefore there is no way he will be ungrateful to him.
Expressing his loyalty to the Bhim Nation brand, the “Momo†hitmaker said his loyalty is in his heart and that people may not see it because he is not a “follow back†like others.
He asked the public to eschew the perception that he is ungrateful and will do everything to soil the reputation of Stonebwoy because that is never the case.
“The biggest thing Stonebwoy did for me is to make me associate with his brand. Because of this, people who love Stonebwoy also came to love me and I appreciate that. Even when I become the biggest artiste in the world, I will keep been grateful to Stonebwoy,†he said in an interview on Neat FM.
Funny Face has once again shared a photo of himself with one of his twins to really prove to the world he is such a loving and emotional father.
This comes after Funny Face alleged that his baby mama has absconded with his twins and also claimed that she was the one feeding Lilwin and co with some information about him.
In an earlier post, the comedian stated that all he wants right now is to be with his kids as they are the most important things to him in the world right now.
Curvaceous Ghanaian slay queen Princess Shyngle has revisited her past as she reminisces the way she looked before she started using her waist trainers.
The Gambian born actress shared a throwback photo that dates as far back in 2014 and apparently, it is this photo that launched Princess Shyngle into the world of fame.
Princess Shyngle has never confirmed reports that she has gone under the knife but the photo which she shared on his Instagram page looks extraordinary for us to want to believe she got it from natural procedures.
However, not too long ago, Princess Shyngle disclosed that she has taken out some of her ribs in order to have that tiny waist she loves to flaunt on social media.
Funny Face is really in pain, and has been speaking and writing a lot about Lil Win, Bismark The Joke and his baby mama. In his recent post on Instagram, he detailed how the mother of his twins has betrayed him.
And that comparing her to his ex-wife, Elizabeth Nana Adjoa Ntim, he sees his ex-wife seems like an angel.
Pioneering Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, a co-founder of the Afrobeat musical genre, died in Paris on Thursday aged 79, his manager says.
“We don’t know the exact cause of death,” Eric Trosset told AFP, adding it was not linked to the coronavirus.
Allen was the drummer and musical director of musician Fela Kuti’s famous band Africa ’70 in the 1960-70s.
Kuti, who died in 1997, once said that “without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat”.
Allen has also been described by UK musician Brian Eno as “perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived”.
Allen’s career and life story were documented in his 2013 autobiography Tony Allen: Master Drummer of Afrobeat,
Afrobeat combines elements of West Africa’s fuji music and highlife styles with American funk and jazz.
Allen, who was born in Lagos in 1940, taught himself how to play drums when he was 18.
He said he learnt his technique by mimicking American jazz drummer Max Roach.
Allen first met Fela Kuti in 1964, and they went on to record dozens of albums in Africa ’70, including Gentleman and Zombie.
Allen left the band in 1979, after reported rifts with Kuti over royalties. Kuti needed four separate drummers to fill the void.
Allen emigrated to London in 1984, and later moved to Paris.
He collaborated with a number of artists during his long music career, and was the drummer in The Good, the Bad & the Queen, with Damon Albarn, Paul Simenon and Simon Tong.
Kenyans have rallied to the aid of a widow filmed cooking stones for her eight children to make them believe she was preparing food for them.
Peninah Bahati Kitsao, who lives in Mombasa, hoped they would fall asleep while they waited for their meal.
She used to wash laundry locally but such work is hard to come by now as people have restricted their interactions because of coronavirus.
A shocked neighbour, Prisca Momanyi, alerted the media to her plight.
After being interviewed by Kenya’s NTV, the widow has received money via mobile phone and through a bank account that was opened for her by Ms Momanyi, as the mother of eight does not know how to read and write.
Ms Kitsao, who lives in a two-bedroomed house without running water or electricity, has described the generosity as a “miracle”.
“I didn’t believe that Kenyans can be so loving after I received phone calls from all over the country asking how they might be of help,” she told Tuko news website.
She had told NTV that her hungry children had not been deceived for long by her delaying stone-cooking tactics.
“They started telling me that they knew I was lying to them, but I could do nothing because I had nothing.”
Her neighbour had come around to see if the family was OK after hearing the children crying, NTV reports.
As part of measures to cushion the most vulnerable from the coronavirus crisis, the government has launched a feeding programme.
But it had yet to reach Ms Kitsao, who was widowed last year when her husband was killed by a gang.
Her neighbour has also thanked the county authorities and the Kenya Red Cross, who have also come to help Ms Kitsao.
Many more households in that neighbourhood of the coastal city are now going to benefit from the relief food scheme too, the authorities say.
The Managing Director of Azar Group, Mr. Ghazi Azar made the presentation to the Trust fund in Accra.
Presenting the donation, Mr. Azar stated that this is their way of supporting the efforts of government towards managing the spread of this pandemic in Ghana.
“As a Group with almost 10 decades of experience in Ghana, we deem it necessary to support this worthy campaign, since we all have a responsibility in the development of our dear countryâ€.
The donation was received on behalf of the Trust Fund by Madam Sophia Akuffo. She thanked the leadership of Azar for their donation and support.
Azar Group which includes Azar Chemical Industries limited, producers of quality leading paint brands such as Azar, Shield, Savana, and its allied products for both local and export markets is the foremost producer of paints in Ghana.
In addition, City Paints Supplies Limited distinguishes itself as a long-standing hardware retail outlet in the country with a product range that has served the building and construction development arena in this country since 1921.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin says he has been diagnosed with coronavirus.
His positive test came on the same day that Russia recorded a record 7,099 cases, taking the total number of infections above 100,000.
Mr Mishustin was given the role of prime minister in January and has been actively involved in Russia’s handling of the epidemic.
Russian TV showed him telling President Vladimir Putin of his diagnosis.
“I have just learned that the test on the coronavirus I took was positive,” the prime minister said during the video call.
Mr Mishustin suggested that First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov should take his place and Mr Putin agreed. Mr Mishustin will now go into self-isolation.
Despite the sharp rise in cases, the Moscow-based coronavirus headquarters says 1,073 people in Russia have now died of coronavirus, a relatively low number for Russia’s size.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov says Russia’s reaction to the pandemic has enabled it to avoid an “Italian scenario”.
Los Angeles is offering free coronavirus tests to all residents, regardless of whether they are displaying any symptoms.
Mayor Eric Garcetti made the announcement just hours after Los Angeles County reported its largest daily increase in new Covid-19 cases.
Until now, only essential workers and those displaying symptoms could receive tests due to a scarcity of kits.
It comes as California is expected to close all beaches across the state.
Los Angeles County currently accounts for almost half of California’s confirmed coronavirus cases. The state has so far reported over 48,000 cases and more than 1,900 deaths.
On Thursday, Mr Garcetti urged all of the city’s residents to get swabbed after earlier tweeting that “LA is now the first major city in America to offer free Covid-19 testing”.
Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to sign an executive order to close all beaches and parks in the state after large crowds packed public spaces over the weekend.
While some of California’s beaches have been closed for weeks, others have remained open with social distancing rules in place.
Mr Newsom recently said that he was just weeks away from lifting some restrictions. But the recent images of crowded beaches in the most populous US state led to a warning from the Democratic governor that the behaviour of some Californians threatened to undo weeks of work to restrict the spread of Covid-19.
“We can’t see images like we saw, particularly on Saturday, in Newport Beach,” the governor said on Monday, adding: “The virus doesn’t take the weekend off because it’s a beautiful sunny day around our coasts.”
US President Donald Trump has appeared to undercut his own intelligence agencies by suggesting he has seen evidence coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory.
Earlier the US national intelligence director’s office said it was still investigating how the virus began.
But the office said it had determined Covid-19 “was not manmade or genetically modified”.
China has rejected the lab theory and criticised the US response to Covid-19.
Since emerging in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of last year, the coronavirus is confirmed to have infected 3.2 million people worldwide and killed more than 230,000.
What did President Trump say?
At the White House on Thursday, Mr Trump was asked by a reporter: “Have you seen anything at this point that gives you a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the origin of this virus?”
“Yes, I have. Yes, I have,” said the president, without specifying. “And I think the World Health Organization should be ashamed of themselves because they’re like the public relations agency for China.”
Asked later to clarify his comment, he said: “I can’t tell you that. I’m not allowed to tell you that.”
He also told reporters: “Whether they [China] made a mistake, or whether it started off as a mistake and then they made another one, or did somebody do something on purpose?
“I don’t understand how traffic, how people weren’t allowed into the rest of China, but they were allowed into the rest of the world. That’s a bad, that’s a hard question for them to answer.”
The New York Times reported on Thursday that senior White House officials have asked the US intelligence community to investigate whether the virus came from a Wuhan research laboratory.
Intelligence agencies have also been tasked with determining if China and the WHO withheld information about the virus early on, unnamed officials told NBC News on Wednesday.
Australia’s vast Northern Territory will become the first in the nation to move out of lockdown on Friday with the lifting of major restrictions.
Group limits will be removed for weddings, funerals and sport while parks and pools will also open.
Australia’s least populated territory – which counted 28 cases – says it will ease all lockdown measures by June.
The rest of the nation is also beginning to open up after success in containing the virus.
The most-populous state, New South Wales, which includes Sydney, will allow some socialisation to resume on Friday, with households allowed to have two adult visitors at a time.
There are currently around 6,700 cases nationally, but in recent weeks the daily increase rate has dropped to under 1% compared to more than 25% in mid-March.
Australia had “pretty much crushed” its virus curve, said deputy chief medical officer Paul Kelly on Friday.
However, both federal and state authorities say they will be cautious in lifting restrictions. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged citizens to download a contact-tracing app to make the process safer.
What are the changes in the NT?
The territory has reported zero new infections for more than three weeks now.
“Because we are the safest place in Australia, we can do this before the rest of Australia,” said NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner in the state capital, Darwin, on Thursday.
Locals must maintain a 1.5m (5ft) distance from others, but from Friday they can visit parks and swimming holes and play non-contact sport.
In mid-May, restaurants and pubs will be able to open for dining while gyms, nail salons and libraries will also resume service. All other restrictions will be removed in early June.
Summarising the changes, Mr Gunner described it as: “May 15 date night, June 5 Sunday sesh [pub drinking session]”.
However he said opening state borders would happen “dead last” to prevent any chance of a second wave. Officials will also keep an existing travel ban to the dozens of vulnerable Aboriginal communities in the outback.
What’s happening in the other states?
Victoria, the second most-populous state, says it will stick with its restrictions until 11 May, saying the situation remained “very fragile” despite low numbers.
However NSW – the state with the highest number of reported cases – began allowing household visits on Friday and has already re-opened beaches.
Movement restrictions have also eased in several states – including Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia – which have all reported no community transmission and zero new cases on several days this week.
On Thursday, the Australian Capital Territory – which holds the nation’s capital Canberra – also announced it had no more known active cases.
Gun-toting protesters against Michigan’s coronavirus lockdown have rallied in the state capitol building.
Hundreds of demonstrators, a few of them armed, gathered in Lansing and many did not wear masks or socially distance.
Police checked their temperatures before some were allowed into the capitol, where lawmakers were debating.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, extended her stay-at-home mandate earlier this month until 15 May.
Michigan has been hard hit by the coronavirus, with 3,788 deaths.
More than 41,000 infections have been recorded across the Midwestern state, mostly in the Detroit metro area.
Thursday’s protest, dubbed the “American Patriot Rally”, was organised by Michigan United for Liberty. It called for state businesses to reopen on 1 May in violation of state orders.
It is legal to bear firearms inside the statehouse, and several demonstrators were openly carrying guns in the Senate gallery.
But some armed protesters reportedly tried to enter the floor of the chamber, and were blocked by state police and sergeants-at-arms.
One state senator said several of her colleagues wore bulletproof vests.
Footage of protesters outside the building showed them chanting “Let us in!”, “Let us work” and “This is the people’s house, you cannot lock us out”.
“The virus is here,” one demonstrator, Joni George, told the Associated Press. “It’s going to be here… It’s time to let people go back to work. That’s all there is to it.”
The rally is believed to have been the largest of its type since one on 15 April when Michigan protesters sat in their cars in order to create traffic around the statehouse.
President Donald Trump threw his support behind demonstrators at the time, tweeting “LIBERATE MICHIGAN”. Some critics said his tweets were an attempt to foment insurrection.
On Thursday, the Republican-controlled legislature refused Governor Whitmer’s request to extend her emergency orders.
They also cleared the way for her to be sued over her handling of the pandemic. She hit back that she does not need legislative authorisation for the extension.
On Wednesday, the governor accused Republicans of treating the virus like a “political problem”, rather than “a public health crisis”.
Many US states – including Georgia, Oklahoma and South Carolina – have taken steps to loosen virus mitigation restrictions.
On Wednesday, a Michigan court ruled that the governor’s lockdown orders were not unconstitutional, as five state residents had claimed in a lawsuit against the governor.
“Although the Court is painfully aware of the difficulties of living under the restrictions of these executive orders, those difficulties are temporary, while to those who contract the virus and cannot recover (and to their family members and friends), it is all too permanent,” Michigan Court of Claims Judge Christopher M Murray wrote in a ruling.
Directly above me, men with rifles yelling at us. Some of my colleagues who own bullet proof vests are wearing them. I have never appreciated our Sergeants-at-Arms more than today. #milegpic.twitter.com/voOZpPYWOs
— Senator Dayna Polehanki (@SenPolehanki) April 30, 2020
More than seven million children in Afghanistan are at risk of hunger as food prices soar due to the coronavirus pandemic, a report warns.
A Save the Children spokesman said the country faced a “perfect storm of hunger, disease and death” unless the international community took action.
The charity said a third of the population, which includes 7.3 million children, was facing food shortages.
The UN recently included Afghanistan in a list of countries at risk of famine.
The organisation’s World Food Programme (WFP) warned the world was facing a “hunger pandemic”.
Afghanistan has suffered almost two decades of war since US-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001, leaving it with a fractured and impoverished healthcare system.
As cases of coronavirus spread, the government imposed a lockdown in the capital, Kabul, at the end of March and other provinces quickly followed. Movement other than shopping for basic necessities is severely restricted and travelling between cities is banned.
What does the report say?
Save the Children said the price of food was rising just at the time when children needed adequate daily nutrition to help strengthen their immune systems.
Even before the pandemic it was estimated that more than five million Afghan children needed some form of humanitarian support. Latest UN surveys indicate that about two million children aged under five face extreme hunger.
Citing figures from the WFP, the report said the price of wheat flour and cooking oil in Afghanistan’s main city markets had risen by up to 23% in the past month as demand outstripped supply. The cost of rice, sugar and pulses had increased by between 7%-12%.
Coupled with rising prices, the wages of daily labourers are falling as the lockdown caused work to dry up.
“A large portion of the Afghan workforce relies on the informal sector, with no safety nets when work is scarce,” the report says.
With just 0.3 doctors per 1,000 people, Afghanistan’s sick and malnourished children are less likely to receive the life-saving treatment they need to survive, Save the Children warned.
Timothy Bishop, the charity’s country director in Afghanistan, said that for many Afghans the biggest impact of the pandemic would not be the virus itself, but the hunger caused by lockdown measures and a breakdown in supply lines.
“We are deeply concerned that this pandemic will lead to a perfect storm of hunger, disease and death in Afghanistan unless the world takes action now,” he said.
“We are facing the very real risk that children could die from starvation. What we need is for the international community to urgently fly in food supplies to be distributed to some of the most vulnerable communities in the country. We also urge the Afghan government to facilitate the rapid distribution of food, despite the nationwide lockdown.”
He added: “Afghan children have suffered enough. Most have known nothing but conflict in their lives. We cannot allow Covid-19 to further rob them of their futures.”
Mobile Money transfers across different networks, also known as Mobile Money Interoperability (MMI), have shot up by 358 per cent in the first three months of this year, compared to the same period last year.
The volume went up to over 5.12 million transactions from 1.11million in the first quarter of last year, according to figures from the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), a subsidiary of the Bank of Ghana.
Sending money from a wallet to another of a different telecommunications network was only possible through the token system, which was complicated until the MMI, was introduced in May 2018.
Since its introduction, it has become easier to transfer funds across wallets of different networks. This possibility has also led many organizations to set up their systems to accept mobile money payments.
Mr. Archie Hesse, the Chief Executive of GhIPSS, said in an interview that the MMI had made payments through mobile money one of the most efficient and easy to access.
He, therefore, urged all businesses to accept payments from mobile money wallets as one of the default modes of payment or risk losing out on potential income.
When MMI started, the volume of transactions hovered around 100,000 per month but monthly transactions have since crossed the one million mark with the month of March 2020 recording close to two million transactions.
MMI transactions include transfers from wallets to bank accounts as well as from wallets to e-Zwich cards.
However, these two account for less than three per cent of the volume of transactions, implying that an overwhelming majority of the transactions involve wallet to wallet transfers.
Mobile money, in general, has witnessed phenomenal success in Ghana but this is being negated by the frequent cash-back transactions, which means that ultimately cash is being used to make payments.
In recent times, however, the introduction of merchant IDs has encouraged customers to pay directly from their wallets.
Another effort likely to result in a further drop in cash-back transactions is the launch of the universal QR code for payment.
This payment service will enable customers to scan the codes of merchants to pay directly from their wallets. The QR code payment is also available for feature phone users who will be required to dial a specific code to effect payment.
Payment using QR code in Ghana can be made using mobile money wallets or bank accounts as well as any other payment apps that fintechs may develop. This payment service was launched in March this year.
Executive member of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders, Kwaku Okyere Darko has called on the government to extend the one-month transition period for GCNET to hand over operations to UNIPASS.
The Ghana Community Service Network Limited (GCNET), an information technology firm that transformed port clearing in the country for about 17 years, is expected to shut down operations in May this year.
The shutdown also goes for West Blue Consulting and it is to give way for a full rollout of the new customs clearing system, UNIPASS.
According to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the UNIPASS would centralise the processing and handling of all import and export documentation, a system known as a single-window clearing system.
But in sharp riposte to the government, Mr. Okyere Darko stated that instructing GCNET to cease operations in May will create further problems and interrupt the paperless system at the port.
He explained that the government is dealing with users of GCNET comprising importers, exporters, logistics companies and clearing agents among other stakeholders at the port; hence the implementation of UNIPASS should be a gradual process.
”We’re not building the system for Angels. We’re building the system for humans…If importers become bankrupt, clearing agents will also go bankrupt”, he stressed.
He disclosed that with the GCNET system, importers are given the option to appeal in an instance where an error is made during the clearing process; an opportunity that the UNIPASS does not offer to users because it gives only two options which are to either accept or object validation of import and export documents.
This, he believed, could create major issues between the service provider and its users.
”In the unlikely event of objecting and you make a mistake to accept, how do you revert?” he questioned.
Speaking on Thursday’s ”Kokrokoo” on ”Peace FM”, Dr. Okyere Darko advised the government to give GCNET more time to prepare for the shutdown to address challenges that may arise in the future.
”The one-month transition period for GCNET is short…If it must be done, it must be done right…Make sure the terminal operators are hooked on. DVLA are hooked on in respect of clearance of vehicles…Freight Forwarders must be well trained and all other fundamentals should be set right before termination of their contract,” he pleaded.
The Upper West Regional branch of the Ghana National Association of Poultry Farmers (GNAPFs) has donated 82 crates of eggs worth GHC1, 500.00 to support the recovery of COVID-19 patients in the region.
The Association believed that egg as an important source of protein will help boost the immune system of the COVID-19 patients and help them recover from the attack of the disease early.
Mr Tornia Abu Sidiki, the Acting Chairman of the Upper West branch of the GNAPFs who presented it to the Regional Minister, Dr Hafiz Bin Salih, said the health of COVID-19 patients in the region were important to the Association, hence the gesture.
He said COVID-19 largely had a devastative effect on people with compromised immune systems and appealed to the public to eat eggs on a daily basis to build stronger immune systems against the disease.
Mr Sidiki appealed to the public to endeavour to follow the recommended safety protocols to avoid contracting the deadly disease.
Dr Bin Salih thanked the Association for supporting the region, adding that the eggs would help in their quest to provide nutritious meals to the COVID-19 patients.
The Regional Minister expressed gratitude to all who donated so far, stressing that their support was important and timely in the fight against the disease.
Dr Bin Salih appealed to the public to still come with more donations to support the government in the fight to contain the virus in the region and the country at large.
Mrs Josephine Nkrumah, Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has said civic education in the wake of COVID-19 is important to fighting the pandemic.
She said the NCCE was committed to educating the public on best practices and safety measures to avoid the spread of the disease.
Mrs Nkrumah made these remarks when the CAMFED Association of Ghana, a non-governmental organization, donated items to the commission to aid in their civic education of the citizenry.
The donation included 144 pieces of hand sanitizers, 480 bottles liquid soaps, 180 paper towels, and 300 pieces of nose masks, as well as a cash donation.
The NCCE Chairperson said the donation would augment the inadequate stock of protective equipment the commission has in discharging its duty.
“This will help us in discharging our duties and ensure that our staff are adequately well-prepared when they go on the field to educate the public,†she said.
She said education was a shared responsibility and called on civil society groups and other institutions to assist the NCCE in this regard.
She said the donation was also an assurance of the confidence citizens had in them as a commission, adding that they would continue to do their best and put the items donated to good use.
Ms Angela Menyah, Executive Member of CAMFED Association of Ghana, said they donated the commission after it had requested donations of such items for its staff.
“The NCCE made a call to institutions and organisations to support it to discharge its civic duty in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, so we decided to donate to help them deliver on their mandate,†she said.
She called on the public to practice safety protocols to curb the rise in infection of the disease and adhere to all decisions and directives from the government.
CAMFED International is an international non-governmental organization that supports young and needy but brilliant ladies through their education.
Mr Frank Ofori of River Restoration Limited has stated that residents deliberately untied ropes anchoring the floating bridge on Chemu Lagoon at Chorkor.
He said preliminary assessment done indicated that, “Some persons deliberately went and loosened the end rope anchoring the concrete cast, which made the bridge shift from its original location. The bridge is not broken,†he said.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, on Thursday, Mr Ofori said the bridge was built to withstand strong pressure due to the use of empty barrels, which made it float at all times.
He recalled that on Sunday, April 26, he received a call from one of the residents that the bridge had collapsed which his team followed up to the site.
Mr Ofori narrated that, when the team got there, they observed that parts of the bridge were dismantled and the barrels taken away.
“I have the pictures and videos showing some residents were jubilating when the bridge was washed to another side. It is sad and surprising that people will sit and hatch such a plan because of reason best known to them. This is unpatriotic and must stop,†he said.
“Prior to the building of the floating bridge some youth earlier built a makeshift one and charged 20 pesewas per crossing. Those behind that activity raised objection in the initial stage and I do not want to believe they are behind this.â€
Mr Ofori said acts such as that impeded development and that such indiscipline behaviours would not propel progress adding that the bridge was blocking plastic waste from entering the sea allowing only water to enter.
He stated that similar bridges were built to facilitate the movement of persons on Rivers Offin, Ankobra, and Pra, which were still in good shape serving their purpose.
“The one on Chemu is the fourth and last one and I was surprised when I got the news that it was broken and washed away. The first one, which was built on River Offin is more than a year now and it is able to withstand high-water currents. It is the same thing we built here,†he said.
Mr Ofori explained that the bridge was constructed by joining rectangular wood strips, strapped to one another in a sequence, over a number of empty barrels fitted together firmly with steel round pipe rails to prevent it from falling over.
The empty barrels, he added provided the bridge with a floating ability to ensure that any time the lagoon overflowed its banks, the bridge automatically rose or floated and returned to its current position when the floods subsided.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has told the world extra efforts put into testing and contact tracing of those found positive of COVID-19 saved Ghana from a time bomb.
About 110,000 people have been tested so far in Ghana as the West African country confirms 1,671 cases with 16 deaths.
“We are not seeing this relatively large explosion that was feared for our country at the beginning, and therefore the ability to manage those who are identified is much more within our means,†Akufo-Addo said at a conference via video from the capital, Accra.
He stressed: “The emphasis has been to go out and look for those who are infected and deal with it.â€
Ghana was the first country in Africa to lift a partial 21-day lockdown on two main cities, Accra and Kumasi, last week.
“After three weeks, we were satisfied that we had a good understanding of the movement of the virus and removed the restrictions, but continued with the strategy of tracing, testing and treating,†Akufo-Addo said.
“We are in a better position to identify its geographic footprint,†he said. “It has enabled us to see what we needed to do to prevent it from going elsewhere.â€
Cocoa- and gold-producing Ghana has cut its 2020 GDP growth forecast from 6.8% to 1.5% due to the coronavirus pandemic, a rate that would represent its worst performance in nearly four decades, according to Reuters.
Restrictions on public gatherings and border closures remain in place for now, Akufo-Addo said.
“We are investing a lot … in seeing to it that people wear the masks. We see it as a direct and manageable way of getting as many people as possible protected from the disease. It is an easier solution than the strict enforcement of social distancing.â€
Daboya-Mankarigu MP, Mahama Shaibu, has petitioned the Attorney General Gloria Akuffo over State Institutions donating to the COVID-19 Trust Fund.
The NDC MP argues that public institutions have no standing to donate the monies to the COVID-19 Trust Fund.
In a letter to the AG, he requested that monies donated to the COVID-19 Trust Fund by state bodies be refunded to them.
He said when the fund was set up, the law that backed its establishment said the donations should come from individuals or corporate bodies.
Portions of a letter petitioning the AG read: “In order to play its complementary role, the fund was to receive donations, grants and voluntary contributions from individuals, groups and corporate bodies. It was made manifestly and abundantly clear that the fund as established was not to receive public funds or resourcesâ€. It, therefore, came to me with deep shock and concern when I read in the media that public/state institutions are making donations or voluntary contribution into the Novel Coronavirus.â€
The last bit of the letter said I am of the candid opinion that all such contributions should be returned to the public/state Institutions lest the principal officers and the governing boards of the contributing public/state institutions stand the risk of being dangerous, exposed and potentially liable to be surcharged by the Auditor-General for making illegal or wrongful payments.â€
A nine-member committee has been inaugurated in the Hohoe Municipal Assembly in the Volta region to help the fight against COVID19 in the Municipality.
The Committee tasked to solicit funds and other support from benevolent individuals, organisations and groups had Togbe Awalie III representing the Gbi Traditional Council as Chairman, Mama Dzawoe II, Gbi Traditional Council, Dr. Mark Cofie Nutsukpui, Hohoe Municipal Hospital and Mr. Philip Nani Tome representing the Municipal Health Directorate as members.
Other members are Ms. Rejoice Amuzu, Hohoe Municipal Hospital, Mr. Kodjo Mawugbe, Hohoe Municipal Assembly, Mr Yawlui Emmanuel, Hohoe Municipal Assembly with Mr. Anthony G. Tsra and Mr. Alex Abordzi representing Lorlornyo and Heritage Radio Stations, respectively.
Mr. Andrews Teddy Ofori, Hohoe Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) who inaugurated the Committee said the initiative was to ease the pressure on the Health Directorate in raising support, propagating, coordinating and ensuring proper use of resources in fighting the disease.
He said the Committee was to start its work immediately to ensure adequate coordination and distribution of donations made towards the fight in the Municipality, and ensure the effective use of the items distributed as well as acknowledge individuals, organisations and groups that contributed to the pandemic fight.
The MCE said the Committee would also launch a special appeal to individuals, organisations and groups to provide the needed items such as hand sanitizers, soaps, tissue papers and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) since most of them were disposable and needed to be restocked.
Togbe Awalie on behalf of the Committee pledged commitment and dedication to fighting COVID19 in the Municipality.
In a related development, the MCE and the Municipal Director of Health Services toured the Case Management Centre, which is near completion as well as some police border posts and health facilities in the Municipality.
Dr Pius Mensah, Hohoe Municipal Director of Health Services said the Centre when completed would have four wards with washrooms and room for nurses.
The Western North Region has recorded its first case of the deadly coronavirus case.
The case was disclosed by the Deputy Minister, Mr. Alex Tetteh in an interview on Nyankonton Mu Nsem on Rainbow Radio 87.5fm.
The Deputy Minister who is also acting as the DCE for Bia East disclosed the COVID-19 team are working around the clock to prevent the virus from spreading.
He said the measures adopted by the government including the social distancing rule is strictly being enforced.
He stated that surveillance has been intensified in the region especially along the borders to prevent illegal entry into the region.
He advised residents to strictly adhere to the safety measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
The wearing of face masks he added has also been made mandatory.
Ghana has currently recorded 2,074 cases of coronavirus.
The number of deaths is now 17 with 212 recoveries.
Greater Accra still has the highest cases of the disease with 1,795 infections. Ashanti has 99, Eastern 70, Central 21, Oti, 19 and Upper East 19.
Volta region has 16 cases, Northern 13, Upper West, 10, Western 9, and North East 2.
Allotey Jacobs, former Central Regional Chairman of the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has backed President Nana Akufo-Addo’s decision to lift restrictions on movements in the country.
President Akufo-Addo enforced a partial lockdown on Ghanaians following the outbreak of Coronavirus and also introduced restrictions on public gatherings resulting in the closure of schools and all religious gatherings.
The President’s lockdown directives were in line with his goals to ensure the Coronavirus pandemic is well managed and to safeguard Ghanaians.
The President found it prudent to lift the lockdown which lasted for three weeks to give the citizenry freedom of movement and also provide relief to traders in the country but his decision was met with agitations from some Ghanaians and particularly the leadership and members of the opposition National Democratic Congress.
According to the National Democratic Congress, the lifting of restrictions on movement was premature looking at the rise in the case count of COVID-19 in the country.
Addressing the issue on Peace FM’s flagship programme, ‘Kokrokoo’, Allotey Jacobs believes the President took the right decision by lifting the lockdown.
In his candid opinion, “if the President had not lifted the ban, Ghana’s economy would grind to a halt. I believe so too, very seriously”.
Ghana has since recorded 1,671Â COVID-19Â cases from over 100,000 samples tested and 188 recoveries with 16 deaths.
Though the numbers seem overwhelming, the positivity rate of the virus infection is below 2 percent and this is seen as one of the lowest worldwide.
Despite no longer being with her rich boyfriend, musician Shatta Wale, it appears Michelle Diamond, popularly known as Shatta Michy, is really enjoying her life.
Michy, who has a child with the controversial artiste, revealed she has received the best birthday gift one could wish for, a brand new Jeep Wrangler a week to her birthday. She will turn 26 on May 6.
The beautiful singer and actress confirmed receiving the expensive car from a special person but kept his or her identity secret.
California Governor Gavin Newsom will order all beaches and state parks closed starting from Friday after people thronged to the seashore during a sweltering weekend despite his social distancing order, according to a memo sent to police chiefs around the state.
Eric Nunez, president of the California Police Chiefs Association, said it was sent to the group’s members on Wednesday evening so they have time to plan before Newsom’s expected announcement on Thursday.
A message to the governor’s office seeking comment was not immediately returned.
While most state parks and many local beaches, trails and parks have been closed for weeks, Newsom’s order is sure to ignite furore from communities who say they can safely provide some relief to residents who are starved of fresh air.
Pressure is building to ease state and local restrictions that have throttled the state’s economy, closing most businesses and adding nearly four million people to unemployment rolls.
On Wednesday, six San Francisco Bay Area counties that imposed the first broad stay-at-home orders in California loosened them slightly to allow for landscaping, construction and other outdoor businesses, such as flea markets and nurseries, so long as social distancing is maintained.
And in what could be a critical addition for many parents, it specifies that summer camps are allowed, but only if kids stay in small groups and their parents are considered to hold essential jobs, such as healthcare workers.
Some recreational bans also were eased, but not all in the same way. For instance, tennis will be OK in Sacramento starting from Friday, but not in San Francisco.
Compounding the confusion: Some elements of the revised orders will not take effect because they conflict with the statewide stay-at-home order, which is still in place.
In Riverside County, authorities said its local order will end on Thursday and be replaced by less-restrictive measures. Trails and parks will be open for hiking, biking and horse riding as long as visitors wear masks.
Health officials, however, warn that more mingling brings the potential for more infection and the government should tread gingerly when easing restrictions so as not to ignite another surge in coronavirus cases.
Newsom’s beach order follows a weekend in which some 80,000 people flocked to Newport Beach in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, with thousands more gathering at beaches in Ventura County, north of LA.
An Orange County supervisor, Donald P. Wagner, issued a statement saying he believes Newsom has the power to close local beaches but “it is not wise to do so”.
“Orange County citizens have been cooperative with state and county restrictions thus far. I fear that this overreaction from the state will undermine that cooperative attitude and our collective efforts to fight the disease,” he said.
Beaches in Los Angeles County remain closed.
Lifeguards said most people appeared to be heeding social distance safety rules such as limiting groups and not lingering on the sand. But the crowds irked Newsom, who has said California’s 40 million residents should try to stay home as much as possible.
“This virus doesn’t take the weekends off. This virus doesn’t go home because it’s a beautiful sunny day around our coasts,” he said on Monday.
The same day, beaches across San Diego County reopened. A day later, Newport Beach officials rejected a plan to close city beaches for three consecutive weekends.
California is approaching 50,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and nearly 2,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, although the number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested.
However, virus hospitalisations have been virtually flat for several weeks in California and the state has dodged the dreaded massive surge of patients seen in New York and several other states.
Newsom has praised Californians for helping flatten the curve of the outbreak through social distancing and is reluctant to follow the examples of Georgia, Florida and several other states that are moving more rapidly to reopen.
Newsom reiterated on Wednesday it would be weeks before he makes the first significant modification to the state order, urging people to remain at home to prevent unintended outbreaks among the state’s most high-risk populations, including nursing homes.
“It won’t be on the basis of pressure, it won’t be on the basis of what we want, but what we need to do,” Newsom said. “And what we need to do from my humble perspective is listen to the public health experts.”
But each of the state’s 58 counties have their own public health experts, and many are starting to ask Newsom to open up the state. This week, seven rural Northern California counties with low numbers of COVID-19 cases have asked Newsom to let them reopen.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Clara County Health Director Dr Sara Cody said local officials have come up with their own metrics to measure infection rates, hospitalisations and testing to ensure that infections do not start rising again. If that happens, she said, stricter rules will return.
“I wish I could give you a set timeline for when this was going to end. My family asks me, my friends ask me – we don’t have a date,” she said, noting that there still is no vaccine, so “we are going to need to have protections in place for a very, very long time.”
Mr. Logic has declared Keche as the most relevant music group in Ghana Music Industry.
Speaking with Andy Dosty on Hitz FM, Mr. Logic based his assertion on the fact that the music group has been relevant and consistent over the years.
They have released hit songs back to back and have been able to stay on together in the game with no issues separating them.
The group has undoubtedly worked hard and stayed together to treat Ghanaians with good highlife and azonto tunes. The group recently released their latest song titled #Exciting which is enjoying massive airplay both on radio and Tv.
Keche is undoubtedly one of the best music group in the music scene but are they really the most relevant music group in Ghana?
Coronavirus cases in Russia surged past 100,000 on Thursday as the country recorded its largest daily increase, after officials warned infections had not yet peaked and extended lockdown measures.
A spike of 7,099 confirmed infections in the last 24 hours brought Russia’s total to 106,498 cases and 1,073 deaths from the virus, the government’s coronavirus information site said in a daily update.
With the number of cases increasing by several thousand each day, Russia is now leading European countries in registering new infections.
President Vladimir Putin said the country’s coronavirus response had shown that “we are together, we are a united country”.
“Battling the threat of the coronavirus is a real test of our humanity,” he said in a teleconference with volunteers and charity workers from various regions.
Russia’s coronavirus death rate remains relatively low and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the country’s actions had helped it avoid the catastrophic “Italian scenario”.
Russia’s success was down to “tough self-isolation decisions” and government measures “which convinced people to stay at home,” Peskov told the RTVI television channel.
He also said Russia had quickly and efficiently increased the number of available hospital beds.
The virus has spread to all 85 regions of the country, with Moscow the epicentre with around half the total cases.
Russia recently surpassed Iran and China in the number of confirmed infections and is now eighth in the world in virus cases, according to an AFP tally.
The country has carried out nearly 3.5 million virus tests, health officials said, and is ranked 19th in the world for the number of coronavirus deaths.
Situation ‘very difficult’
Putin warned this week that the situation remained “very difficult”, saying Russia had managed to slow the spread of the epidemic but cautioning that “this should not reassure us”.
Medics in Russia have complained of shortages of protective equipment and testing kits and hospital staff are becoming increasingly concerned with deaths in the medical community.
Medics and trade union representatives have told AFP that the problem is particularly severe outside of Moscow where staff are at an even greater risk of infection.
The Kremlin this week extended until May 11 a “non-working” period when Russians would stay at home but still receive their salaries as part of sweeping efforts to contain the virus.
Yet the measure has brought uncertainty to the economy and business owners struggling to pay full salaries to employees while shutting their doors to customers.
The government has been phasing in anti-crisis measures, such as loan payment deferrals or cheap loans, but there is concern that Russians are unable to access the support.
Despite the steady increase in cases, Putin said that Russia may begin to gradually lift different quarantine regimes throughout the country from mid-May.
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Wednesday extended a ban on entry for foreigners into the country, which was due to expire Thursday, until “the fight against the infection is over and the epidemic situation has improved.”
The pandemic has thwarted several major political events for the Kremlin this year, with Putin postponing a massive military parade on May 9 commemorating the 75th anniversary of victory in World War II. Many world leaders had been due to attend.
The Kremlin also postponed an April 22 vote on landmark constitutional reforms, which would have paved the way for Putin, 67, to potentially stay in power until 2036.
The Managing Director (MD) for Accra Hearts of Oak, Frederick Moore has emphasized that there is no need for football authorities in Ghana to cancel the Ghana Premier League season at this point in time.
The 2019/2020 football season in Ghana was suspended in March by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) in line with a directive from the government that indicated that all public gatherings including sporting activities had been banned as a precautionary measure against the spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) disease.
Several weeks later, the situation of the disease has far worsened with no clear indication of when it will get better. In line with that, there have been mixed reactions on what should happen to the football season.
Givin his take, Hearts of Oak MD Frederick Moore says it will be premature to think about totally cancel the league now.
“It will be premature to cancel the league season. Our season has to coincide with the other countries. We have to know when the pandemic will end before making any decisions. Should in case we terminate our league season and the other countries continue, then what will we doâ€, he told TV3.
The Ghana FA continues to engage major stakeholders this week and will make an announcement on the fate of the football season next week.
A former Ghana Premier League Board chairman, Ashford Tetteh-Oku has advised clubs to make sure they have a document to back any decision they make with players in relation to a pay cut.
Some top-flight clubs in the country are in talks with their players to take some percentage of their monthly salary to help the club to survive the financial challenges they are facing.
According to Ashford Tetteh-Oku, clubs must not force the pay cut on players but should reach an amicable agreement.
While he elaborates on how the imposition can have a blowback, he is advising the clubs to ensure that they do a paperwork should a decision be taken.
Ashford Tetteh-Oku told Kumasi FM, “It is up to both parties to reach a compromise but even with that there should be a document to back itâ€.
He further shared that because the players are not the cause of the Coronavirus, they are not obliged to necessarily accept the pay cut.
“It is for the management and administrators of our clubs to learn. When contracts are signed, you must look at force majeure situations. If you do not and something happens why should the player suffer?â€, he added as he rhetorically asked.
 
