President Akufo-Addo has tasked the newly inaugurated Board of the National Vaccine Institute to help prioritize Ghana’s self-sufficiency and reducing the nation’s dependency on external sources for critical vaccinations.
The esteemed Board, chaired by the highly regarded Dr. Anarfi Asamoah Baah, Head of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, was sworn in during a ceremony held in Accra.
In his address, the President emphasized the need for the Institute to accelerate the country’s capacity to manufacture its own vaccines.
President Akufo-Addo acknowledged the critical need for vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine, and stressed that the nation’s over-reliance on foreign entities for vaccine procurement is not a sustainable long-term solution.
He urged the Board to collaborate with other vaccine-producing institutions to ensure the delivery of vaccines with impeccable quality and efficacy.
“Develop a roadmap for vaccine development and manufacturing in Ghana. Support the upgrade of laboratory facility for theFood and Drugs Authority (FDA) to achieve World Health Organisation (WHO) maturity level. Collaborate with international institutions in Senegal, Rwanda,” he noted.
79-year-old Hollywood star, Robert De Niro, has welcomed his seventh child.
He broke the news in an interview with ET Canada about his forthcoming, suitably-titled film About My Father.
When asked about being a dad of six, the Oscar-winning US actor replied: “Seven, actually… I just had a baby.”
De Niro, who has six other children from previous relationships with three women, did not reveal the identity of the mother of his seventh.
The Hollywood veteran has won two Oscars, for his roles in The Godfather, Part II and Raging Bull.
He stars alongside Sebastian Maniscalco in the new film, about a man who takes his slightly embarrassing father on holiday with his fiancée and her wealthy, eccentric family.
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“I don’t think I’ve ever been a cool father,” said De Niro, when quizzed further about his own experiences of fatherhood. “I’m OK. My kids disagree with me at times, they’re respectful.
“My daughter is 11 and she gives me grief sometimes and I argue with her and adore her.”
He added: “With my youngest now there will be more to come but that’s, you know – that’s what it is.”
The star, who has been married twice and is also a grandfather, went on to say that he sometimes has to be “stern about stuff” with his children but admitted that he’d rather not be.
“I mean, there’s no way around it with kids. I don’t like to have to lay down the law and stuff like that. But you just have no choice,” he said.
“And any parent, I think, would say the same thing. You always want to do the right thing by the children and give them the benefit of the doubt but sometimes you can’t.”
Recent reports have linked him to Tiffany Chen, who, according to US publication People, is a martial arts instructor, but neither have publicly addressed their relationship.
De Niro’s six other children include two with the actress and singer Diahnne Abbott – a son, and a daughter from her previous relationship whom the actor adopted.
He also has twin sons with another actress Toukie Smith, and a son and daughter with socialite and philanthropist Grace Hightower.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor(OSP) has received the United States’ Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Todd D. Robinson.
He arrived in Ghana on Tuesday, May 9.
He had a series of discussions with Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebengat the office of the Special Prosecutor in Accra.
The discussions centred on cooperation and shared commitment on detecting and deterring corruption.
Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the US, Todd D. Robinson, has paid a working visit to the OSP.
Discussions with the SP, Kissi Agyebeng, centred on cooperation and shared commitment on detecting and deterring corruption. pic.twitter.com/hZdgOYevYS
— Office of the Special Prosecutor-Ghana (@ospghana) May 9, 2023
Police in Sekondi-Takoradi, Western Region have apprehended a man impersonating as a military officer under the service title WOII Samuel Owusu Dartey.
The suspect, who according to victims always had a pistol and handcuff on him, is said to have been tormenting unsuspecting residents, sometimes even in military uniform.
What blew the lid off was through an encounter with one Clifford Pablo Yakah, a private surveyor at Ntankoful in the Sekondi Takoradi metropolis.
The military imposter had been hired by a family to use his position to intimidate the surveyor who was working for a family head on a land issue.
“I’m a private surveyor working on some documents for a family. I was there one day when the family introduced the suspect to me that he was a military officer (WOII Samuel Owusu Dartey) and also works with the Intelligence Unit of the National Security. They said he will be working with me on the land document,” the victim indicated.
He adds that the suspect started tormenting him to release the land documents to him or face his anger.
“He came to my house one early morning dressed in military uniform with a pistol and handcuff asking me to dress up and follow him. I obeyed and followed him to the Lands Commission but I was suspicious of his behavior so I called my in-law who is in the military. He was trailed and later arrested. Checks indicate he is not a military officer so he is currently at theKwesimintsim Police Stationassisting investigations,” he added.
The victim was speaking in an interview with Nhyiraba Paa Kwesi Simpson, the host of Connect FM‘s Omanbapa morning show.
A pistol, military uniform, and a list containing names of people he had reportedly extorted money from to be recruited in the military were retrieved from him after a search.
Sources indicate an identification parade will be arranged for other victims to identify him.
Meanwhile, many victims are popping up day after day since his arrest to share their ordeal in his hands.
A federal jury inNew Yorkhas ruled that former President Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll, a journalist and former advice columnist who accused him of raping her in a department store in the mid-1990s.
The jury of six men and three women awarded Carroll $5 million in damages on Monday, after deliberating for less than three hours.
They found that Trump committed battery against Carroll by forcibly kissing and groping her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury store in Manhattan. They also found that Trump defamed Carroll by calling her a liar and implying that she fabricated the story to sell her book.
Carroll, who wrote the popular “Ask E. Jean” column for Elle magazine for 26, first made the allegations against Trump in her 2019 memoir, What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal. She said that Trump attacked her in late 1995 or early 1996, when they ran into each other at the store and he asked her to help him pick out a gift for a woman. She said she tried to fight him off, but he overpowered her and penetrated her.
Trump, who was not present at the trial and did not testify, has denied the allegations. He said he never met Carroll, even though there is a photo of them together at a party in 1987. He also said she was not his type, and suggested she made up the story to boost sales of her. In October 2022, he posted a statement on his website accusing Carroll of being part of a “radical left” conspiracy to smear him.
Carroll sued Trump for defamation and battery in November 2022, under the New York State Adult Survivors Act, which allows victims of sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits even if the statute of limitations has expired. She did not specify an amount in her lawsuit, but asked for monetary damages and a retraction of Trump’s statement.
Carroll celebrated the verdict on Monday, saying she was “overjoyed” and “grateful” to the jury. She also thanked her lawyers and supporters for standing by her.
“This is for every woman who has ever been harassed, assaulted, silenced or spoken up,” she said outside the courthouse. “This is for you.”
Trump’s lawyers said they would appeal the verdict, calling it “a travesty of justice” and “a politically motivated attack” on the former president. They also claimed that Carroll had no evidence to support her claims, and that Trump had a right to express his opinion about her allegations.
A flagbearer candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto has said that majority of farmers want him to become Ghana’s next president.
Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto said majority of NPP delegates who are farmers benefited from the policies and programmes he initiated during his tenure as the Food and Agric Minister.
Speaking to journalists in Accra, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto says his track record makes him the clear favourite.
“Most of these farmers I met in Upper East, Upper West, Savannah regions are also delegates and party constituencies executives. The one million farmers are the ones who will bear witness to me. Just go to any farmer and ask about the impact I have had on their lives when I was Minister for Food and Agriculture. And they will confess to you, they will tell you. They will vote for me to win,” Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto said.
Dr. Akoto officially resigned to focus on his Presidential ambition as he wants to lead the New Patriotic Party into the 2024 general elections.
He served as a Member of Parliament for the Kwadaso Constituency in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region for two terms.
In Parliament, he held the position of Deputy Ranking Member and subsequently the substantive Ranking Member for the Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs until 2017 when he was appointed the Minister for Food and Agriculture.
The former Food and Agriculture Minister is in fierce competition with Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong, and Francis Addai Nimo who have declared their intention to contest in the party’s flagbearership race.
The others include former MP for Essikado-Ketan, Joe Ghartey, former General Secretary of the NPP, Kwabena Agyapong, Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, and former Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko.
The NPP has set November 4, 2023, for its presidential primaries to select a flagbearer for the general elections in 2024.
However, if more than five candidates file to run in the primaries, the party will call a Special Congress on August 26.
The nomination period for the presidential primaries will begin on May 26 and end on June 24, 2023.
The National Council of Private School Teachers has revealed that, some public basic schools are flouting the Ghana Education Service’s (GES) rules by registering final year private students for 2023 BECE.
The National Council of Private School Teachers, led by its Executive Director, Mr. Ackon James, visited some public schools that have been identified by private JHS heads as schools that have poached their final year students for the upcoming BECE in August.
The Ghana Education Service has indicated that it would deal with any school or head teacher found guilty of the offense.
The efforts of thePrivate Schools Teachers Association Councilled by the Executive Director of the association went to some public schools where students who had left prior to the completion of the BECE registration were found in JHS3 of the visited public schools.
Audio recordings of the interactions that ensued on the public premises of public schools and available to GhanaEducation.org proved that the students were in these schools. Some of the said learners were seen in the classrooms in the public schools visited and probably illegally registered for the BECE by the public schools visited.
The National Council of Private School Teachers leadership has directed that the students be released to go back to their mother schools to be registered for the 2023 BECE.
The Council has also taken steps to inform the GES and WAEC of the needed punitive measures to be taken against the public schools and their head teachers caught in the act.
The council will not hesitate to put out the names of the public schools and audio recordings of the conversations that confirmed the illegal practice should the said public schools and their head fail to comply with the directive
Registration of Private School Students for BECE by Heads of Public Schools is illegal yet, head teachers in public basic schools have continued to disregard the GES directive on the illegal act. Headteachers of public basic schools registering private school candidates may have been emboldened by the fact that the GES directive and the associated sanctions have become a yearly ritual by “a dog that barks but can’t bite”.
The registration of private school students by public schools goes a long way to negatively affect private schools that have toiled many years to prepare their candidates for the examination. When such students are registered by public schools and they excel, the public schools take the praise for no work done.
This illegal act must be criminalized and offending schools and leaders dealt with to put a stop to it instead of the lip service of the GES and WAEC in the matter.
The practice of Public JHS poaching and registering Private JHS final-year students has increased in the last few years due to strange failure rates suffered by private schools at the end of each BECE examination. Again, the government’s policy of school placement which places students in public schools ahead of their colleagues from private schools can be cited as being a contributing factor.
Multiple award winning food entrepreneur, Mrs. Chichi Yakubuhas been appointed as the brand ambassador for The WIT School, the first and only Finland Model School in Ghana and West Africa offering the best and world renowned Finnish curriculum.
The school, which has been operating for half a decade since June 2018, chose Mrs. Yakubu for the role due to her dedication and immense contribution to the development of the school over the years, in addition to being the parent of two gifted students.
As the school’s ambassador, Mrs. Yakubu will lead projects aimed at impacting the school and society, such as leading fundraising efforts through the newly launched WIT Endowment Fund (WEF) to support needy but brilliant students in deprived communities across the nation.
WEF aims to bridge the financial gap for enthusiastic, brilliant, but needy students to enable them to attain higher academic laurels. Spearheaded by Mrs. Yakubu, WEF will have its source of funds from a donor group, fundraising, and a percentage from WIT students’ school fees.
The initiative will support beneficiaries through four key categories, including the Genius Scholarship program, which will fully fund or fund a percentage of a brilliant child at WIT School; the Edufund, which will cater to needy students in other schools; TKN weekend community projects; and the Rural Stem Project, which will impact children outside the capital.
Ms Precious K. Bonsu, the founder and director of The WIT School, expressed her heartfelt gratitude to Finance in Motion, a German company, for their generous donation that served as the seed fund for the WEF.
She also thanked Mr. Gabriel Addai, a proud donor and member of the advisory board at the school, for presenting the donation and Mrs. Yakubu for accepting the role of brand ambassador and her eagerness to contribute to WEF and the school’s development. Ms. Bonsu is confident that the endowment fund will enable brilliant but needy students across the country to access world-class education.
The event, which was held on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, at the forecourt of The WIT School in East Legon, was attended by a variety of notable guests, including media personalities, Miss Denise Addo (rep from UNESCO) TwinsDontBeg (renowned bloggers) Chukwuthepainter (artist), Mr. Farouk Yakubu (husband of the ambassador), PTA President, Mrs. Safoa Graham, Pastor Agnes Hagan (C3 Hope City Church), Rev Steve (School chaplain, Action Chapel Int.), Mrs. Lesley Mensah (Founder and President, Afra K Fashion & WiAfrica), and Mrs. Kesewaa Dotse (proud genius parent of TWS).
Management of the school expressed its warm appreciation to the donors and encouraged others to extend a hand to give educational financial aid to underprivileged children.
Currently, the school has four students who are beneficiaries of WEF and hopes to increase this number to a minimum of 10 pupils each year. For more information on how to support the school and the WIT Endowment fund, please visit www.thewitschool.com.
Ghana has shown its respect and admiration for Britain‘s new monarch, King Charles III, by presenting him with a special gift from one of its talented artists.
Anthony Jefferson Hanson, also known as Ashenso, has created a stunning portrait of the King in his royal robes, framed in gold.
The painting was handed over to Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who attended the coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, May 6, 2023, along with the Asante King, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and his wife Lady Julia.
The painting will be delivered to Buckingham Palace through the Ghana High Commission as a gift from Ghana to the King.
Ashenso, whose work has been recognised both in Ghana and abroad, has also painted many Ghanaian heads of state and other prominent figures.
He wrote in an instagram post:
“Always an honor… Presentation of The King Charles III painting to the President, my President His Excellency @nakufoaddo the President of Ghana. The painting will be delivered to the Buckingham Palace through the Ghana High commission as a gift from Ghana to the King of The United Kingdom His Royal Highness King Charles III.”
King Charles III was crowned on Saturday in a magnificent and deeply religious ceremony that was attended by dignitaries from around the world. He succeeded his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September 2022 at the age of 96. She was the longest-reigning monarch in British history. His wife, Camilla, was also crowned as Queen Camilla during the same ceremony.
The reason behind why the Asanteman’s flag was featured on King Charles III’s coronation flyer has been explained by an historian.
Professor Sarfo Kantanka in an interview with the media explained that the Asantehene was invited in his capacity as leader of Asanteman and not as a representative of the Ghana government.
He explained that officially, Ghana was represented by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo “while the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II was invited as the King of the Asante Kingdom, making it impossible to use the Ghana flag to represent the kingdom,” an Opemsuo Radio report noted.
Social media chatter ensued over the weekend when an unofficial coronation flyer posted on Twitter showed the Otumfuo and his wife Lady Julia as part of royals invited to the event at Westminster Abbey.
Whiles all the other monarchs have respective flags of their countries under their portraits, Otumfuo and Lady Julia had the Asanteman flag under their photos.
So, what was the disagreement about?
At the heart of the back and forth that has since ensued is why the Ghana flag was not used with those demanding so, insisting that Asanteman is within Ghana and the Otumfuo is Ghanaian.
Those against the move are of the view that the Asantehene was invited in his capacity as leader of the Ashanti Kingdom which has strong relations with the British monarchy.
What you need to know: The Asanteman flag
The Asantes (Asante Region/Asante Kingdom) are the only people in Ghana with an official national flag, a symbol of authority which they call the Asanteman Flag.
The flag of the Ashanti Region was adopted by the Ashanti kingdom’s Emperor Asantehene Prempeh II in 1935.
It is based on the Ashanti absolute monarchy throne, the Golden Stool, which has been Ashanti’s symbol of unity and soul since 1701, the early-eighteenth century AD, upon the foundation of the Ashanti Empire.
Yellow, black, and green are the colours that signify the Ashanti flag.
All the elements in the Flag have a meaning, and they have been explained below:
1. The yellow part of the flag represents the riches/wealth of Asanteman.
2. The Black part of the flag represents the symbolic image of the Blackman concerning the Asante Nation and the courage of the Asante Nation in facing the challenges of warfare.
3. The Green colour, represents the refreshingly greener vegetation cover in the forest areas of Asanteman.
4. The symbol in the Black at the centre of the flag is called “Gyemirekutu KYƐ” (Hat) which is made up of animal parts coated with gold-coloured paintings: Elephant Tail, Ɔwam ti (Hornbill Head), The Skin Covering the Elephant Kneebone, The Feathers of the Hornbill, Adwera (PortulacaOleracea Leafs).
Also, the flag is beautifully positioned on the hood emblem on the bonnet of the 80-year-old Rolls Royce of the Asantehene.
As the National Democratic Congress(NDC) prepares for its presidential and parliamentary primaries on May 13, 2023, several candidates face little to no competition.
These are candidates whose win is most certainly guaranteed as they are either running unopposed, there are however expected to be declared winners in lieu of being sole aspirants.
Haruna Iddrisu
Former Minority Leader of the current parliament of Ghana, Haruna Iddrisu is set for a for a sixth consecutive term in parliament having joined the contest for the NDC’s parliamentary ticket for the Tamale South Constituency ahead of the 2024 general election.
With a rich history and political influence acquired as a result of his long years in the NDC and parliament, Haruna is expected to shake off competition from his only contender, Bawa Abdul Fatawu on Saturday.
For the MP who has spent almost 19 years in parliament, he is one of only few incumbent MPs whose win is guaranteed beyond their party’s parliamentary primaries.
Clement Apaak
Dr Clement Apaak is currently in his second term as member of parliament for Builsa South in the Upper East Region.
His contesting the NDC primaries with no opposition.
Lydia Lamisi Akanvariba
Lydia Akanvariba is one of few female candidates guaranteed a win the NDC’s upcoming primaries.
She is a first-time MP representing the people of Tempane in the Upper East Region and is running unopposed.
Isaac Adongo
Incumbent MP for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo has no opponent in Saturday’s primaries.
He is MP for a second term and is seeking a third term to represent the constituency.
Murtala Mohammed Ibrahim
Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed is seeking a third term as MP for Tamale Central after making a come back to the house in 2020 having lost the seat after his first term.
He is unopposed in the upcoming primaries.
Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini
Tamale North MP, Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini goes into Saturday’s internal party polls as unopposed.
He is currently serving his second consecutive term as MP for the area.
Daniel Nsala Wakpal
Daniel Wakpal is the incumbent MP for Kpandai Constituency.
The first term MP is seeking to extend his stay in parliament and is guaranteed the NDC’s parliamentary ticket going into the contest unopposed.
Gizella Akushika Tetteh-Agbotui
She will have to worry about the 2024 election because she is contesting the NDC’s upcoming primaries unopposed.
She first won the Awutu West Constituency seat in 2020 and is seeking a second term.
Cassiel Ato Forson
Former Deputy Minister for Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson is currently a major force in the NDC.
The current minority leader is in his fourth term and is running unopposed in the primaries for the NDC ticket in the Ejumako Enyan Esiam Constituency.
Daniel Ohene Darko
Daniel Ohene Darko is the incumbent MP for Denkyira West Constituency.
The first term MP is contesting the NDC primaries unopposed.
Emilia Ankomah
Former Municipal Chief Executive for Denkyira East, Emilia Ankomah is once again making an attempt at entering parliament having previously failed on more than one occasion.
The former MCE was the NDC’s parliamentary candidate for Upper Denkyira East in 2016 and 2020 and will go in the party’s race unopposed.
Nurien Shaibu Migyimah
Shaibu Nurien is getting a free pass to contest the 2024 parliamentary election on the ticket of the NDC in one of the constituencies held by the ruling New Patriotic Party.
The Assin Central seat has been under the belt of Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, who is now moving on to contest for the NPP’s presidential primaries, for five consecutive parliamentary terms.
Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah
Member of Parliament for Ellembelle Constituency, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah is going into the NDC’s primaries unopposed.
The current deputy minority leader is doing his fourth term in parliament and is hoping to extend it to a fifth.
Robert Wisdom Cudjoe
Robert Wisdom Cudjoe is a first term Member of Parliament for Prestea Huni Valley Constituency.
He gets a free pass in the upcoming NDC contest with no opponent to contend with.
Isaac Adjei Mensah
Isaac Adjei Mensah has been elected MP for Wassa East Constituency three consecutive times on the ticket of the NDC.
He will be unopposed on Saturday.
Eric Afful
Eric Afful has been in parliament on the NDC’s ticket since 2012 and is seeking to extend his stay in 2024.
He will be running unopposed for the NDC’s Amenfi West parliamentary ticket.
Dr Emmanuel Okumi Andoh
Dr Emmanuel Okumi Andoh run for the Ahanta West parliamentary seat on the ticket of the NDC in 2020.
He is making another attempt again after suffering a defeat in the 2020 general election. His bid to become the NDC parliamentary candidate is without contest.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa was one of the youngest people to enter the parliament of Ghana in 2012.
After three consecutive terms, the now matured MP is going into the 2023 parliamentary primaries of the NDC in the North Tongu Constituency unopposed.
Charles Agbeve
Charles Agebve is a second-term MP for Agotime-Ziope Constituency in the Volta Region
He is likely to achieve his third term in parliament with his bid to represent the NDC receiving no contest.
Ashanti Region
In the Ashanti Region which, a stronghold of the ruling New Patriotic Party, a number of candidates will be running unopposed in Saturday’s parliamentary primaries.
Their constituencies are mostly safe seats of the NPP thereby limiting their chances in the general elections.
The candidates going unopposed are Samuel Aboagye who will run for the Obuasi East Constituency, Joseph Azumah for Akrofuom and Samuel Prempeh Jnr for Bekwai.
The rest are Kwasi Amankwah who will contest the Kumawu by-election, Shamudeen Mohammed Kamil for Old Tafo and Hamzah Swallah in Manhyia North.
Former President, John Dramani Mahama has slammed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government for borrowing excessively.
Mr Mahama said when he was leaving office in 2016, the debt of Ghana was GHS120 billion with projects to show for it.
However, he said, at the moment, the debt is almost GHS600 billion with no projects to show.
Interacting with delegates of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Sissala West as part of his campaign to be elected flagbearer of the party, on Tuesday, May 9, Mr Mahama said ” When we were leaving office the debt was GHS120billion. Today, it is almost GHS 600 billion but with no infrastructure projects to show for.
“At least we should have clean drinking water, a hospital built, and infrastructure but unfortunately, that is not the case.”
He further said Ghanaians are calling for the NDC to return to office.
“Ghanaians are asking the NDC to come back because they have realized that what they were told about the NDC, they were all lies,” Mr Mahama said.
A man unintentionally drove by an accident scene that involved his wife.
Bolaji Onifade had been heading to his work inSalford, Greater Manchester, when he noticed emergency services at the scene of a horrific smash.
A pedestrian had been mowed down by a wealthy businessman’s son driving a £200,000 Mercedes G-Wagon at speeds of up to 91mph on October 25, 2021.
The 43-year-old thought little more of it as he drove to work, but just 20 minutes later his whole world was flipped upside down as he learned his wife Ibizugbe Onifade had been the victim.
He had offered her to pick her up from work but she had refused as she was working overtime.
The 38-year-old receptionist had been crossing the road at the time and died from impact of the car, driven by Mohammed Chowdbury.
Chowdbury had been on his mobile phone moments before he ploughed into her, and prior to that had been racing down a busy dual carriageway at 80mph, overtaking and undertaking drivers recklessly.
The speed of his driving was so great that it caused a fellow road users’ car to “shake as he drove past”.
The young man had previous convictions for driving without insurance and having a non-compliant number plate, and in both instances he provided the police with his brother’s details.
Similarly, only three years after he passed his driving test, Chowdbury had to attend a speed awareness course.
In a statement Bolaji Onifade, known as BJ, said: “That day changed my life forever. When I heard the news, I felt like I had come to the end of the world. What will I do without my wife?
“She was a lively and friendly person. We met each other at Salford University and got married later on.
“We had been trying for a baby and were considering IVF before COVID set us back. She would have been a wonderful mother. People should not be able to drive such high-powered cars when they are so young. If he had been driving sensibly, I would still have my wife.”
He added: “We went shopping in the morning and took our little nephew out with us. Then I took her to work, but before leaving I told her, “you haven’t said goodbye to the little one’.
“I offered to pick her up from work later but she said she would take a bus home as she was doing overtime.
“I was on night shift so went to work later. When I was driving along Ashton New Road, I noticed flashing police lights from across the road and thought there must have been an incident.
“Something told me to call my wife, but she didn’t pick up. I got my cousin to try and call her, but she also didn’t pick up.
”When I eventually got to work 20 minutes later, I got a call from my wife’s employer to say that there had been an incident and that police were going to attend my address.
“I thought the police don’t attend your address when it isn’t serious. I left work and came home, where they told me the news.
“We had been together for 10 years. She had studied quantitative business at Salford University and got her masters at a university in Nigeria.
“We enjoyed each other’s company, dong normal things all couples like to do. Going to church and socialising with friends. She also loved watching films. She has four sisters, two brothers and a mother back in Nigeria. I just pray that they are ok.”
At Manchester Crown Court, Chowdhury, of Chadderton near Oldham, whose family run a successful textile company, was jailed for five years and six months imprisonment after he admitted causing death by dangerous driving.
He was also banned from driving for eight years and nine months.
Prosecuting Brian Berlyne, said, “At approximately 8:55pm on Monday, October 25, 2021, Stuart Booth was driving in the Eastlands area of Manchester. Although it was dark, the street was well lit and a 30 mph speed limit was in place.
“The weather was fine, and the road was dry.
“As he drove along the road, a blue 4×4 Mercedes-Benz overtook him from the offside lane. The vehicle was going at such speed that his own vehicle shook as it was being overtaken. The defendant was the driver in question.
“At 9pm, PC Clark, an off duty police officer, noticed the same Mercedes speeding on the road near him. He noted that the car was travelling at excessive speed and over and undertook cars from the inside lanes of the dual carriageway.
“He also saw him doing a number of sharp breaks. He tried to follow the car, but the defendant sped through a red light. From there, PC Clark lost sight of him.
“At around the same time, the victim had just finished her work as a receptionist and made her way towards Alan Turing Way to catch a bus home.
“She crossed the road near the interchange with Ashton Old road and managed to reach the central reservation. She then looked around and believing the second half of the road was clear, she stepped out. She was then almost immediately struck by the defendant’s vehicle.
“Chowdhury immediately stopped and phoned the ambulance, which arrived a short time after. The victim died later in the night from the multiple injuries sustained from the collision.
“Although it was never fully confirmed the speed at which he was driving at the time, a police reconstruction of the incident measured his speed before the collision to be between 79 and 91 mph.
“He did immediately slow down when he saw the victim and was estimated to have been at between 40-50mph at that point.
“The victim was wearing dark clothing, but would have been seen regardless due to the bright road lighting. After being arrested at the scene, the defendant’s phone was seized.
“Analysis found that he had received no less than six calls between 8:51 and 8:57. The last call was taken at 8:57 and lasted for two minutes. At 9am he also used his phone to call the police.
“In interview, he denied driving dangerously and gave no account of his actions.”
In mitigation, Mohammed Nawaz, said, “He acquired an interest in cars at a young age, and by 14 he was spending more time fixing up cars than he was spending at school.
A 22-year-old woman, Grace Arthur, has successfully foiled an attack against her life by some unknown individuals at Lomnava in Twifo Praso.
According to reports, the lady who was training to be a seamstress was given out by her madam to a group of men believed to be family members for rituals.
Per the narrative, the lady was told to join the brother of her madam to drop off some clothes for a client. She however ended up in the house of one pastor who was apparently supposed to spearhead the rituals.
“She was learning how to sew and worked with a woman called Delali Fegah popularly known as Mama. This Mama told her that her brother – Nicholas was in town so she should join him on a motorbike and send some clothes to one of her clients.
“When they got to the place, however, the man went past the client’s house and she began to ask questions but she was scolded by him and told to keep quiet. He later started asking her questions about whether or not she was menstruating and whether she was pregnant till they got to a place close to the nursing training and then she was sent to the house of a pastor there called Emmanuel Awhoi whose church was around the area – Israel House Chapel.
“She saw 5 men waiting for her, all allegedly her madam’s brothers and they took her to a room where they started performing some rites,” the UTV report said.
The incessant loud screams of Grace however saved her. After narrating the incident to her madam upon her return, however, she discovered the woman – Mama was the brain behind her capture.
The case was later reported to the police who referred it to the traditional authorities for judgement.
“Her madam told her that some gold had been lost in the family and they needed her for some rituals to retrieve that gold.
“The family members said after she came back and told Mama and she didn’t say anything, they took it to the police station but were told it was a spiritual matter so they should send it to the traditional rulers for judgment,” the reporter said.
“The case was taken to the Twifo Kaireku palace where theChief, Nana Kofi Nsiako IV who listened and asked for some items to appease the gods and undo the effect of the rituals,” the report further added.
Meanwhile, the final cleansing is expected to take place today; 9th May 2023.
A Professor at theUniversity of Ghana Business School, Goddfred Bokpin, has asked the public not to be concerned about the losses suffered by several Ghanaian banks in 2022.
He explained that the banks have indicated the measures that have been put in place to prevent the losses from recurring.
Major banks in Ghana posted losses in 2022. The county’s move to restructure its local currency and overseas debt resulted in the first loss on record for two of the West African nation’s top banks.
GCB Bank Plc, the country’s largest lender by assets, posted a 593.4 million cedis ($50.5 million) net loss for the year to end-December, its first since 1993 when Bloomberg started maintaining data.
Banks operating in West Africa’s second-largest economy have taken a hit of about $1.4 billion, according to Bloomberg, as Ghana restructures most of its public debt, estimated at 576 billion cedis.
The impairments prompted Guaranty Trust Holding Co., Nigeria’s largest bank by market value, to vow to slow lending and bond trading in Ghana.
GCB Bank took a charge of 1.83 billion cedis after impairing its debt securities, while for Standard Chartered Bank Ghana the amount was 173 million cedis.
Ghana’s lenders were allowed a month’s extension to release full-year earnings.
Speaking to the media on Monday, May 8, Prof Bokpin said “To a large extent, people will be concerned but I want to believe that the worst moment is over.
“If you look at the first quarter results for some of them, even though some of us have a little bit of an issue with the treatment of Treasury Bills in terms of the payment as compared to the medium term because it is the same borrower, but with the foreign banks, they have a very strong balance sheet from the group bank. In the case of Stanbic and the others, you will see the assurance of the group that they are going to recapitalise their banks, so there is no cause for fear, there should be no reason why we should have a run on those banks.
“But when it comes to the domestic banks, if you look at those that have been impacted heavily, GCB and the rest of them, actually that is also on the strength of the government balance sheet, you will see that some of them have capital adequacy ratio that is very low even though Bank of Ghana decided to remove the 3 percent capital conservation buffer in order to accommodate the effect of the DDEP.
“I believe that in consultation with the central bank, there will be a grace period they can adequately recapitalize. I am sure that almost all the banks will be going through the capital planning process to ensure that all their banks are adequately capitalized.
“But I think if you are looking at the effect in the immediate that is where the issue is whether banks are robust enough to be able to support growth and employment generation, that is where the issue is because some have expressly indicated that they will cut back on their lending.”
Former Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Koku Anyidoho, has stated that the party’s National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, cannot prevent him from casting his vote in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary primaries.
According to the founder of Atta Mills Institute: “6th of May technically we were supposed to be voting a week from today to elect flagbearer and our parliamentarians. I will vote in my capacity as a former national officer and a former appointee. I have a new voter’s ID card and let Asiedu Nketia come and remove my vote from the ballot box.”
He said this when he spoke to journalists at the sidelines of the 10th Eastern Presbytery Synod 2023 at Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana Amenuveve Congregation held in Koforidua, the Eastern Regional capital.
The NDC former deputy General Secretary said the party Chairman has failed to produce any evidence that he has been sacked and that he is still a bonafide member of the party, hence he will take part in the upcoming primaries scheduled to take place on May 13, 2023.
He explained that “Secondary on that score I am supporting Dr Kwabena Duffuor in the Presidential primaries. I am not supporting John Mahama and that is one of the reasons why they said they have sacked me from the party because I have said I won’t support John Mahama, I am not a slave to John Mahama and I refuse to be a slave to him.”
Mr Anyidoho emphasised that Dr Duffuor’s competency in managing the economy far outweighs that of former President John Dramani Mahama.
“Dr Duffuor was the Finance Minister under John Evans Atta Mills so he worked with President Mills. I worked with him and I know what Dr Duffuor stands for in terms of building the economy that President Mills built.
He said: “32, 34 months single digit inflation, the introduction of the single spine, clearing of the arrears, Infrastructure expansion, three public Universities in three and half years, health facilities all over, I believe that Dr. Duffuor has the potential by training, by competence, by experience both in public and private life.”
The Founder of Atta Mills Institute further urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to take a keen interest in the letter which was written by Dr Duffuor’s campaign team concerning a fraudulent register for the upcoming primaries.
According to him, if the concerns raised by the Dr Duffuor campaign team are not immediately addressed before Saturday, May 13, it will have dire consequences and discredit the EC Chairperson as a bad person or a fraudster.
He said though it is the NDC Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, who is perpetrating the ‘fraudulent’ register, he will turn around to blame the EC when the issue comes up and it is exposed.
Mr Anyidoho threatened that if the concerns raised are not ironed out before next week, he will proceed to the court and put an injunction on the election.
Rescue activities are in full swing to retrieve individuals feared trapped in a rubble after a three-storey building collapsed at Bortianor, Greater Accra Region.
The building which collapsed on Tuesday, May 9 is said to serve as an edifice where Christians gather to worship.
It is reported that some church members were in the building when the disaster struck.
Personnel from the Ghana Police Service have been spotted at the scene. Reinforcement has been called from the Ghana National Fire Service and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO).
Two foreign nationals and a sub-chief have been arrested by the Akim Oda Divisional Police Command for allegedly engaging in unlawful mining at Akyem Oda in the Birim Central Municipality.
The 3, a Ghanaian sub-chief and two Yemenites who were picked up by the police at the mining site were sent to the Akim Oda Police station before being granted police inquiry bail.
The Akim Oda community mining project Coordinator Nana Owusu Agyekum, who dispelled claims they were engaging in galamsey said the two Yemenites only came to install components of a recycling machine and train his workers on the use of the machines which will be used for the community mining.
He addressed the media at Asamankese shortly after he was released on bail.
“They are Yemenites, we are in a global world and as a businessman if you are able to write a good business proposal, you can lure any investor to your side. That is how we were able to partner them. We have been using so many mechanisms, and it’s not helping. So we decided to team up and buy this machine so that we can get good results in which our water bodies and lands will not be destroyed. No one is using this machine as of now in Ghana. The two Yemenites only came to install components of the recycling machine,” he explained.
On the issue of the galamsey fight, Nana Owusu Agyemang called on the government to permanently ban the importation of chanfans.
“The equipment and everything that they use is very cheap, so anybody at all can go into mining provided they can get a land. Illegal mining is the cheapest way of doing mining. If we want to check the menace of galamsey, government has to stop people from importing chanfan machines, the cheapest machine they use to do galamsey. If you stop them, they will not get machines to do galamsey,” he opined.
On Monday, May 8, some youth in theKaraga District of the Northern Region demolished properties owned by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the area.
The reason for the destruction is suspected to be a result of the arrest of some youth of the town over their alleged involvement in the murder of a sub-chief of Karaga, Issahaku Adam.
The chief who is one of the sub-chiefs under the new Karaga Naa, Kar Naa Natogmah Abdulai was attacked and murdered on April 6.
In total, three persons were arrested to assist with investigations.
A sub-chief believed to be in his late 50s, Issahaku Adam, was on Thursday night, April 6, shot dead by some unknown assailants in Karaga in the Northern Region.
According to the police who confirmed the incident to Citi News, the killing is in connection with the Karaga chieftaincy dispute.
The sub-chief reportedly went to the Karaga Palace to pay homage and on his return, was shot by some unknown persons.
Former Education Minister, Professor Dominic Fobih, has denied claims that he has recently married for the ninth time.
Videos of the colourful marriage ceremony of the 80-year old former Member of Parliament for Assin South went viral on social media over the weekend.
What got tongues wagging was the claim that the young and beautiful wife of the Octogenarian was 27-year-old and the fact that it was the politician’s 9th union.
A video clip from the occasion captured the good old Professor in a kente cloth excited and dancing with his new wife who wore a white and gold beaded-laced corset gown.
The two danced to Dada KD’s love song ‘Fatia Fata Nkrumah’ amid cheers from the audience as the old man was holding his wife’s waist, while the woman had her hands on his shoulders.
But reacting to the claims about his marriage in an exclusive interview on Morning Starr on Starr FM Tuesday, Prof. Fobih stated that the report about his latest marriage is borne out of ignorance as it contains lies which has misled the public.
“I don’t have nine wives, I have one wife, I just got married. I didn’t have a wife before so I’ve just got married. Who inGhana has nine wives. If anybody is commenting on nine wives the person has been misled. Those who are commenting are commenting on what they’ve read and that is borne out of ignorance.”
The former Cabinet Minister also dismissed claims that his young wife is 27-years-old and disclosed that “She’s 31 years now and a Medical Personnel.”
He described himself as a strong-willed person who knows what is best for him.
“I’m a very strong willed person and I’m always convinced about what I decide to do and is best for me. I know why I’m doing this and so they can tell all sort of things. I didn’t marry for anybody, I married for myself,” Prof. Fobih added.
Born on July 16, 1942, Dominic Fobih was a legislator from January 2001 to January 2017 on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party. He was also the Minister of Lands, Forestry. and Mines during Ex-President John Agyekum Kufour’s administration.
TheNational Labour Commission(NLC) has summoned the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghan (JUSAG) to discuss the latter’s decision to strike.
They are to appear before the Commission on Wednesday, May 10 at 11:30 AM for a hearing of their issues.
“With this intervention, the union is directed to stay any and/or intended actions and appear as scheduled,” the NLC said.
JUSAG had given the government up to Friday, May 12, within which to “approve and pay our new salaries with all arrears from January to May 2023 failing which we shall resort to industrial action”.
According to JUSAG, no word was heard from President Akufo-Addo on members’ new salaries as of close of Friday, May 5.
“At this moment, we had to say, ‘enough is enough’,” a notice to members on Friday said.
“We can’t bear it any longer. Our industrial action plans have been activated.”
According to the notice, the National Labour Commission (NLC) has been duly notified on the intention to proceed on strike in accordance with Sections 159-161 of the Ghana Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651).
If the government does not respond favourably by Friday, May 12, all staff of the Judicial Service will wear red armbands from Monday, May 15 “and that shall continue for one week”.
The notice issued by JUSAG General Secretary, Abdulai Yakubu said a full-blow strike will be declared from Monday, May 22 if within the preceding week government does not address their grievances.
“Our indefinite strike shall remain in force, until we have the approval and payment of the new salaries with all the arrears from January to May 2023.”
Former National Chairman of the People’s National Convention (PNC) Bernard Mornah, has said that the pensioner bondholders are partly to be blame for their current state.
He said he warned them about the Finance Minister but the pensioners ignored his warning and rather heeded to a meeting with Ken Ofori-Atta.
“[They] put a hold at that time when we were telling them Ken Ofori-Atta should not be believed.”
Mr Mornah said this on Tuesday, May 9, when sharing his thoughts on the recent picketting by the pensioner bondholders.
The retirees who decided not to subscribe to the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) returned to the Ministry on Monday, May 8 to demand payment of their mature coupons and principals.
According to them, government and, for that matter, the Finance Ministry has failed in payment on almost all the timelines given.
Convenor Dr Adu Anana Atwi on Monday told journalists that until they are paid they will continue to hang around the premises of the Ministry
Speaking about the action and plight of the pensioner bondholders, Mr Mornah said when they staged the first picketting in February, Arise Ghana Movement, the group he is Convenor for, joined forces with #FixTheGhana Movement to back the pensioner bondholders.
But he said the pensioner bondholders ignored their advice to speak with Mr Ofori-Atta when the minister called for a meeting with the protesting retirees.
Mr Ofori-Atta, according to the former National Chairman of the PNC, wanted the pensioners out of his premises in order to make a good case to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“Because Ken Ofori-Atta needed their absence at the Ministry to go and say my people have accepted.”
He expressed sympathies with the pensioner bondholders but said Mr Ofori-Atta cannot be trusted to pay their mature coupons and principals.
A former Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, has urged the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) delegates to nominate John Dramani Mahama as the party’s flagbearer for the 2024 elections.
The NDC, will on Saturday, May 13, hold its presidential and parliamentary primaries across the country to elect a flagbearer and parliamentary candidates for next year’s elections.
In a statement, Dr. Spio-Garbrah described formerPresident Mahama as the best person to lead the country out of its current economic mess.
According to Dr. Spio-Garbrah, Mr. Mahama’s political experience places him ahead of other flagbearer hopefuls to rescue the country from the current economic crisis and bring relief to Ghanaians.
Dr. Spio-Garbrah also admonished the NDC leadership to adopt new and radical economic measures that would help to dramatically change the current sad global narrative of Ghana.
“The current worsening economic circumstances of our country under the failed Akufo-Addo-Bawumia administration demands that individuals and groups such as the NDC adopt new and radical economic measures that would help to dramatically change the current sad global narrative of Ghana. Among many other elements of change, Ghana needs urgent and speedy rebranding, along with an IMF bailout.
“The hope in the message of a “Ghana Beyond Aid” has been swallowed up by the dark and brackish waters of our Galamsey Waterloo, the monumental tourist attraction of a National Cathedral, “Large Hole in the Ground”, and the flights of luxurious fancy and expensive Imperial-style jetting at the Presidency.”
In solidarity with the Ghana Mine Workers’ Union, the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) will stage a protest today, May 9, against what it claims a violation of workers’ rights by a Chinese corporation, Sunon Asogli Power Ghana.
This follows the expiry of an ultimatum given by various unions for the company to reinstate contract workers whose appointments were terminated for allegedly joining the Ghana Mine Workers’ Union.
Secretary General of TUC, Dr. Yaw Baah said the Police in Tema have been notified of the protest.
Dr. Yaw Baah, addressing journalists said, “We need to show that we are a union, and we have to do what unions do. What unions do is very clear in the actions we take. The minister came in but there was no success. This last Friday, May 5, we were in a meeting with Togbe Afede XIV, Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, for two hours plus, and we also met the leaders and management for four hours and nothing came out of it”.
Dr. Yaw Baah said TUC and sector unions under it will continue to fight until their demands are met.
“Our demand is very simple, our three brothers should be reinstated now. They have done nothing wrong, they only exercised their rights. People want to join the union, and they are losing their jobs? We should never allow this to happen. Eat well and reserve your energy because today we will take action, we are prepared. We are going to fight and fight until we win, so get ready. You [Sunon Asogli Ghana Limited] cannot deny workers of Ghana the right to unionise. Labour is not a commodity you can buy from the shelf, use it and throw it away,” Dr. Yaw Baah stated.
Meanwhile, the General Secretary of the Ghana Mine Workers’ Union of TUC Abdul-Moomin Gbana says a series of protests and industrial actions will also be held if their demands are not met.
“TUC has resolved to use every means including protest marches, picketing, demonstrations, strike actions across the industry and the country to demand the reinstatement of the three dismissed local union leaders of Sunon Asogli Ghana Limited. We will also work with TUC Ghana and all organised groups and those abroad to demand the reinstatement of the leaders, and halt the notorious acts of intimidation and victimisation by Sunon Asogli Ghana Limited without further delay,” Abdul-Moomin Gbana stated.
TheNational Petroleum Authority(NPA) has warned inhabitants of the Volta and Oti Regions against indulging in fuel smuggling to Togo.
The authority has emphasised the dangers of this illegal activity and urged citizens to avoid participating in it.
Fuel smuggling has become a significant issue in the region, with many people transporting fuel across the border to Togo, where they sell it for a higher price.
However, the NPA has warned that this practice is not only illegal but also poses serious risk to the smugglers and the general public.
The Volta Regional Director of NPA, Godwin Konu, gave the warning during a media engagement organised by the NPA in the Volta Regional capital Ho.
According to Godwin Konu, the fuel being smuggled may be of inferior quality and may contain harmful substances that could damage engines and lead to accidents.
Furthermore, smuggling fuel through illegal channels also contributes to the loss of revenue for the government, which could be used to fund various development projects in the region.
Mr. Konu has reiterated the NPA’s commitment to working with other relevant agencies to clamp down on fuel smuggling and to ensure that the public is adequately informed about the risks associated with such illegal activities.
He has therefore called on residents to report any suspicious activity related to fuel smuggling to the appropriate authorities.
He has also urged the general public to use legal channels to purchase fuel and to ensure that they are buying from licensed fuel stations.
The journalists expressed their readiness in helping the NPA achieve its aim of clamping down smuggling of fuel to and fro Togo andGhana.
In response to the warning, some residents have expressed their support for the NPA’s efforts and have pledged to cooperate with the authorities to put an end to fuel smuggling in the region.
Others have called for stricter penalties for those caught engaging in the illegal trade.
The NPA’s caution comes as part of its ongoing efforts to promote the safe and legal use of petroleum products in the country.
A former Manchester United defender, Gary Neville, has laudedArsenal’s manager, Mikel Arteta, for benching Thomas Partey in the Gunners’ 2-0 victory over Newcastle United at St James’ Park.
For the second game in a row, the Spanish manager benched the former Atletico Madrid man in favour of Jorginho, having already omitted him from the starting lineup against Chelsea in their previous game, which raised worries among some fans.
Partey was however introduced in the 80th minute to replace Martin Odegaard, the first goalscorer of the game.
Neville believes that the decision was crucial in the win over Newcastle and helped put pressure on Manchester City by reducing their lead at the top to just one point.
“I thought they might get eaten alive [on Sunday vs Newcastle]. The atmosphere was ferocious. Arsenal grew up here a lot,” he told Sky Sports.
“Mikel Arteta deserves a lot of credit for picking Jorginho. Many would have said get Thomas Partey back in there. The class Martin Odegaard showed in the first 30 minutes was outstanding.
“Jorginho composed his teammates and guided them. (Gabriel) Martinelli and (Bukayo) Saka are still not at their best but the composure from Odegaard and Jorginho was there for all to see.
“The reason why Manchester United players and Pep Guardiola have said Paul Scholes is their favourite player was because in moments in the hardest atmosphere in a difficult away game, those players are unique.
“They have the composure, the balance to get the team playing. That’s what Jorginho reminded me of – he was fantastic.”
Thomas Partey has played a huge role in getting Arsenal back to play in the UEFAchampions league with a series of top-notch performances scoring three in 30 matches.
Despite the low number of COVID-19infections, the World Health Organization (WHO) has, however, encouraged individuals to protect themselves against the disease.
WHO on May 5, announced that COVID-19 no longer represents a global health emergency which is a major step towards the end of the pandemic that has killed more than 6.9 million people, disrupted the global economy, and ravaged communities.
The World Health Organisation’s Emergency Committee met on Thursday, May 4, and recommended that the UN agency to declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern, which has been in place for over three years.
However, the Director-General of WHO, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus says countries should still maintain their COVID-19 strategies.
“This virus is here to stay and still killing, and still changing. The risk remains of a new variant emerging. The worse any country could do now is to use this news as a reason to let its guards down to dismantle the system it already built. Or to send a message to its people that COVID-19 is nothing to worry about. What this news means is that, it’s time for countries to transition from emergency mood to managing COVID-19 along side other infectious diseases,” Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus warned.
The Government of Ghana says the country will not let its guard down despite the World Health Organization’s declaration of an end to the COVID-19 global health emergency.
Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare said government will continue to prioritize the health and safety of citizens in the management of the virus.
“We will manage it like any other disease. All that the WHO is saying is that, not that COVID-19 is completely gone, so we should be able to manage it as a country. For some months now we have not seen any COVID-19-related deaths and our ICUs have not been over-stressed with hospitalization. But we have to continue with the sensitization so that we don’t lose sight of what is happening. It should become part and parcel of us”, he said on Eyewitness News.
The Presidential Advisor on Health says government will continue with its routine surveillance until the pandemic is eradicated.
“We are trying to return life to normal as if there is no COVID-19. So we will sustain the national capacity so that we do not have to fight any major pandemic in the country. There will be more vaccines for the unvaccinated and continue with surveillance. So we will not lose sight of it and make sure the system in Ghana continues. So we are not going to stop with COVID-19 but put all these measures in place until the pandemic is formally declared over. We will be on the lookout.”
TheUniversity of Ghana‘s (UG) administration has defended its decision to provide some of its students a 2% reduction on the 15% fee increase for the 2022/2023 academic year.
Professor Ransford Gyampo who is a member of the University’s Communication Team said the criticisms of the public regarding the discount are unfair because the University approved the discount based on humanitarian grounds and not an obligation.
There was an impasse between UG Management, student leaders, the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), and the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) over the 15% increase in fees.
The approved discount covers fee-paying programmes, programmes at the Accra City Campus and distance education programmes.
Giving details on why the discount was approved on Eyewitness News, Prof. Gyampo said: “We were taken to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education and the Committee convened a meeting comprising the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), GTEC, and UG Management and the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education agreed that we had not charged any illegal fees but also appealed that we reduce the fees for the students especially fee-paying students. So this is purely a kind gesture by the University and not an obligation.”
“This was just a kind gesture purely on humanitarian grounds and not an obligation at all and so the University had the liberty and discretion to use this gesture in the best way it thinks will help students and as I said, these are cohorts of students that are paying higher fees compared to the regular students and so Management and Council decided to give the discount to the fee-paying students,” Prof Gyampo added.
The General Legal Council (GLC) has dismissed suggestions that lawyers will be obliged to take examinations before their licenses may be renewed.
The Chief Justice,Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah is purported to have said lawyers will write exams before their licenses are renewed.
But the General Legal Council in a statement on May 8, clarified that, “The attention of the General Legal Council has been drawn to the erroneous reportage on some media platforms of His Lordship the Chief Justice’s speech given at the enrolment ceremony of 196 Lawyers called to theBaron Friday, 5th May 2023. There was no mention of lawyers being required to write examinations at all before a renewal of licence and indeed no such amendment to the Law is about to be made”.
According to GLC, the requirement for lawyers to complete “Continuing Professional Development before the renewal of a practising licence, is a standard requirement in some jurisdictions around the world. This practice is aimed at sharpening the skills of lawyers and keeping them abreast with recent developments in the Law for the benefit of the clients they serve”.
GLC further called on lawyers and the general public to disregard the said reports.
“The General Public and Lawyers are hereby informed of the misrepresented reportage and the correction thereof accordingly,” General Legal Council in its statement said.
A lifeless body of a 6-month-old baby has been retrieved in a water-filled polytank at a building site in Nkurakan, Yilo Krobo Municipality, in theEastern region.
The baby got missing on Saturday May 6, 2023 but found drowned in polytank erected about 8 feet tall above ground level next day Sunday afternoon.
The mother is said to have left the now deceased baby in the custody of other children to fetch water. But upon return, the children told her a man came around and picked the baby.
Frantic search for the baby proved futile on the fateful Saturday.
Continuous search on Sunday found the baby drowned in a Polytank at a construction site near the house.
A ladder was used to climb the Polytank to get inside to retrieve the body of the baby.
The body has been deposited at the morgue of Eastern Regional hospital by Police to aide investigation.
A private legal practitioner, Kofi Bentil, has said that it is illegal for police to confiscate a vehicle over the driver’s inability to provide the original driving license at the time.
Speaking to the media he said “carrying a photocopy of a drivers license is entirely lawful as a prima facie proof of the existence of that license. The Police can request that the original be produced in 24hours without impounding the car”.
“The law in Ghana does not allow you to impound cars because the driver doesn’t have his or her license with them. the car is not evidence in that context!! there is no probable cause or justification for impounding the vehicle,” he added.
Mr Bentil indicated that the law in Ghana allows the driver to produce the license in 24 hours.
“You don’t have any right to amend that on your whims,” he told the Police.
Some police officers have been reported to have impounded vehicles that the drivers did not have the original copies of the lives on them.
But Mr Bentil who is also Vice President of Imani Africa said in a Facebook post that “If you continue infringing peoples rights like these, one of these days someone will sue the Ghana Police for impounding their vehicle without probable cause and take damages for distress and loss of use from the Police (Not DVLA).”
Beos is his full statement…
Dear GHANA POLICE / DVLA
The LAW in Ghana DOES NOT ALLOW YOU TO IMPOUND CARS BECAUSE THE DRIVER DOES NOT HAVE A LICENSE ON HIM!! the car is NOT Evidence in that context!! there is no probable cause or justification for impounding the vehicle.
The law in Ghana allows the driver to produce their license in 24 hours. You dont have any right to amend that on your whims.
Carrying a photocopy of a drivers license is entirely lawful as a prima facie proof of the existence of that license. The Police can request that the original be produced in 24hours WITHOUT IMPOUNDING THE CAR.
If you continue infringing peoples rights like these, one of these days someone will sue the Ghana Police for impounding their vehicle without probable cause and take damages for distress and loss of use from the Police (Not DVLA).
YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE SYSTEM (AND I BELIEVE YOU DO) TO TAKE THE PERSONS PARTICULARS AND REQUEST THEM TO REPORT AT A POLICE STATION WITH THE NECESSARY PAPERS FAILING WHICH YOU CAN CAUSE THEIR ARREST.
A male and a female, have been lynched in Zakpalsi, an agricultural village in the Mion Districtin the Northern Region over witchcraft accusations.
The woman, Imoro Safura, in her early 40s and a mother of seven, was chased to the chief’s palace, where she was subsequently lynched.
The man was killed at his residence.
According to sources in the community, the two were accused of ‘buying’ sickness for a woman in the community after a soothsayer who was consulted by the woman’s family was called in.
The youth of the community mobilized to the man’s houseand murdered him.
The mob then trooped to Safura’s house but sensing danger, she ran to seek refuge at the chief’s house.
However, she was overpowered by the youth and lynched at the chief’s palace.
Executive Director at Songtaba Hajia Lamnatu Saaka has since condemned the incident.
While applauding the police for visiting the community and commencing investigations into the matter, she appealed to them to swiftly investigate the incident.
Meanwhile, the Northern Regional Reintegration Committee on Witchcraft Accusation and Disbandment of Camps is working with the police to get the perpetrators arrested.
The Ada Traditional Councilissued severe warning to political party activists, to keep off the Songor salt mine site.
According to the Ada chiefs, some political party actors have over the years used influence peddling, and their actions are instigating some indigenes of Ada against private salt mining firm, Electrochem Ghana Limited.
At a press conference addressed by the Mankraloof the Ada Traditional Council, Nene Obichere Agudey III, said a series of stakeholder consultations have taken place, and at the tale end of the consensus, some individuals break ranks with agitations.
Traditional leaders believe their acts are derailing the progress of the communities that are expected to benefit from the natural resources of the land.
“We want to warn all political parties, especially the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to stay clear of the Ada-Songor lagoon development. We believe the security services are able to speak to issues of breaches if any and maintain law and order and also able to determine whether there have been excesses in their operations.”
Nene Obichere Agudey III, assured that “our doors are always opened to continue engagement with all well-meaning Ada youth.”
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service(GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, has announced that the country’s neonatal and institutional maternal mortality rates have seen a decrease.
He explained that while the former decreased from 7.1 per 10,000 births to 6.5 per 10,000 births last year, institutional maternal mortality ratio (IMMR), also reduced marginally from 111 per 100,000 live births to 102 per 100,000 over the period.
According to him, although the figures seemed marginal, they were remarkable gains.
He, therefore, commended midwives and other health personnel for their tireless efforts in achieving this feat, adding that there had also been significant improvement in maternal and newborn health outcomes over the last decade.
The Director-General was addressing delegates at the 32nd International Day of the Midwife in Cape Coast in the Central Region, on the theme: “Together again, from evidence to reality.”
Awards were also given to 22 midwives, one each from the 16 regions and five from Teaching Hospitals in the country for their dedication to duty.
Dr Kuma-Aboagye further disclosed that total maternal deaths decreased by some 70 maternal lives saved, moving from 875 deaths in 2021 to 805 deaths at the close of 2022.
He added that the midwife to women in fertility age (WIFA) ratio had also been improving, moving from one midwife to 720 women in fertility age in 2017, to one midwife to 387 women in fertility age in 2021.
According to Dr Kuma-Aboagye, haemoglobin checks at registration and the incidence of anaemia in late pregnancy (36 weeks) had also been on a decline over the past couple of years, while skilled delivery coverage and antenatal care (ANC) clients making fourth visits had been on an increasing trajectory over the years.
He said the absolute number of midwives in the country had now surpassed the World Health Organisation’s standard of six to seven midwives per 1,000 institutional deliveries by almost two folds.
The nation currently has 13 midwives per 1,000 institutional deliveries. Restructuring
Dr Kuma-Aboagye, however, said that there was an urgent need to restructure the health system to promote midwifery leadership at all levels.
“We, as a matter of urgency, need to restructure our health system to promote midwifery leadership at all levels, embrace midwifery innovation, encourage evidence-based practice and institute the character of empathy in our midwives, allowing for the practice to be guided by the sensitivities of our clients.
“Midwives continue to work under harsh conditions, oftentimes at the peril of their own progress and cost to their families.
“If we intend to attain the maternal and newborn health outcomes we desire, we would need to come together once more and move from the glaring evidence that midwives indeed save lives to addressing the challenges that confront midwives in reality,” he said.
A deputy Minister of Health, Tina Mensah, commended the midwives for working to save lives and supporting policies aimed at enhancing health service delivery despite their challenges. Condition of service
The President of the Ghana Registered Midwives Association, Netta Forson Ackon, called for better conditions of service to empower members to give of their best.
The UNFPA Country Representative, Dr David Wilfred Ochan, described midwives as frontline heroes and urged stakeholder agencies to work to scale up best practices to help achieve zero preventable deaths.
An educational consultant and think organization, Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), has tasked government to distribute desks to public basic schools in the country.
According toEduwatch one million desks are needed in these schools to enable successful teaching and learning.
That, it said, was because 2,330,893 basic school pupils did not have writing or seating places as of 2021.
Out of that number, it said, 596,949 were in Kindergarten, 1,308,479 were in Primary and 425,465 were in the Junior High School (JHS) and because the country operated a dual desk policy at the basic school level, over a million desks were needed to salvage the situation.
A Senior Programme Officer at Eduwatch, Divine Kpe, made this known during a presentation at the launch of the Global Action Week for Education (GAWE) by the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) held in Accra.
It was chaired by the Executive Director of Ghana Blind Union (GBU), Dr Peter Obeng Asamoah.
The primary goal of the celebration was the promotion of the global Sustainable Development Goal four (SDG 4) which is to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”
According to Mr Kpe, the furniture deficit situation had occurred because of increased funding for secondary infrastructure compared to that of the basic level.
He also said available data had indicated that the huge desk deficit was one of the major factors that discouraged some parents from sending their children to school.
“The lack of desks in schools affects children’s academic performance and may cause children not to find the school environment friendly to remain in school putting them at the risk of droping out of school,” he added.
Way forward
Mr Kpe urged the media and civil society organisations (CSOs) to let the public and the government know the implications of the desk situation in basic schools for the attainment of SDG 4 so as to empower the citizens in the communities to demand action from local government to address the problem.
He called for increased funding for basic education infrastructure development by uncapping the GETFund and reviewing the formula for the allocation of the Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) to reflect the needs of basic education infrastructure. Call on government
The vice chairman of GNECC, Joshua Nyumuah, said even though government was doing the best it could, more resources were needed to be channelled into the sub-sector to avoid an “educational accident.”
Education is not a privilege but rather a human right which has been enshrined in the SDG 4 for which GNECC is fighting then we have to use all the tools to lobby and advocate Ghana to do the needful,” Mr Nyumuah stressed.
There were solidarity messages from stakeholders in the education sector and partners of GNECC.
They were ActionAid, Oxfam, CAMFED, National Association of Graduate Teachers, Ghana National Association of Teachers, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, Ghana Education Service and the Complementary Education Agency.
Under the Ghana Tourism Development Project(GTDP), the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture has provided four technical universities with hospitality training equipment in order to combine the necessary skill training that will prepare students for the current sector.
Funded by the World Bank, the beneficiaries were Cape Coast Technical University, Accra Technical University (ATU), Kumasi Technical University and Tamale Technical University.
Some of the items presented to the schools last Thursday (May 4) at a ceremony in Accra included computers, laptops, projectors, air conditioners, fans, fridges, refrigerators, chairs, tables and ovens.
Others were cake mixers, blenders, frying pans, microwaves, kitchen sinks, bed and mattresses, television sets, printers and washing machines, among others.
The exercise also coincided with the launch of the Lower Management Training Programme aimed at providing students with teachings that will make them employable, enhance their livelihoods and create wealth. Demands
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Consciental Limited and Project Consultant, Dr James Antwi, said that to ensure students were equipped with the skills and knowledge they needed to meet the demands of both domestic and international tourists.
“As consultants, we conducted stakeholder engagement, training and equipment needs assessment, resulting in the development of training modules and the procurement of equipment. The training would be hands-on and would be delivered over the next four weeks,” he said.
Also, he commended the stakeholders for being the backbone of the project.
“The achievement of this project is the result of the leadership and support of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture and the Project Coordinating Unit. I would also like to recognise the role that hospitality skills training institutions have played in this project. The success of this project will depend on their commitment to providing high-quality training to our students,” he said.
For his part, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of ATU, Amevi Acakpovi, PhD, also thanked the tourism ministry for the gesture, which would no doubt make practical training more effective.
The Technical Advisor of GTDP, Professor Gabriel Eshun, noted that tourism of which hospitality was a part was the key and road to development and so it should not be taken for granted.
He added that the pieces of equipment given to the schools were seeds expected to grow and make impacts; therefore, they should be put to good use and used for the purpose for which they were presented.
TheEnvironmental Protection Agency(EPA) has announced that it will close churches in the Volta Region that operate without a permit.
In an interview with the media, the Director of EPA in the Volta Region, Hope Smith Lomotey, said the move by EPA was necessitated after some churches in the region failed to comply with the required standards of operating a church under the EPA’s regulations.
Mr. Lomotey also noted that, although some churches have acquired permits to operate in authorized areas, they are yet to renew their permits and may also be affected by the Agency’s enforcement.
According to him, churches must apply for a permit before establishing their churches.
He added that the move is also to address complaints of excessive noise caused by churches in unauthorized locations causing nuisance to residents, especially at night.
“Some [Churches] have applied for permits, others have not, so we are regularising those who have not. The challenge we have is that most of these churches, they establish before they apply for regularisation.
“But you are supposed to apply, after the application, we check and see if the place is conducive enough for such a facility.”
The interim Programme Manager of the Ghana Health Service’s (GHS) Non-Communicable Diseases, Dr Efua Commeh, has disclosed that the country is seeing an increase in stroke cases among young individuals under age 40.
Thestroke cases, she said, were triggered by uncontrolled hypertension that had become common in young people in the country recently.
Dr. Commeh said although stroke cases were previously recorded mainly in people between 80 and 90 years old, local hospitals were now recording them in people as young as 35 years and 40-year-olds, most of them resulting from uncontrolled hypertension.
“These strokes that originally we used to see in very aged people are now occurring in the productive work group; people who are actively working,” she said.
“They bring them to the hospital and they say nothing happened and the person collapsed. You check them and they have hypertension. It is this hypertension that gives them complications like stroke, heart attacks, andkidney diseases, among others,” she added.
Describing hypertension as a very serious health problem in the country now, Dr. Commeh said the hospitals kept seeing more young people, sometimes in their 20s, reporting to health facilities with hypertension, adding, however, that those numbers were not as huge as the older age groups.
She said averagely, the country recorded around 600,000 cases of hospital visits every year by people with hypertension.
She was speaking in an interview ahead of World Hypertension Day which will be observed on May 17, on the theme: “Measure Your Blood Pressure Accurately, Control It, Live Longer”.
Stroke causes
Dr. Commeh said stress was chiefly responsible for the recent stroke cases among young people in the country, adding that most young people in Ghana were stressed out.
“(For) Some of them, it is pressure from school, pressure from work, pressure from the home and pressure everywhere; and on top of these stresses, closing quite late from work and getting home late before eating in the night.
At that time of the night, you are not going to get any appropriate food to eat.
You end up taking fast foods, and these, among others, contribute to making us unhealthy, and they are the things that can give us hypertension,” she explained.
She said unhealthy diets, cigarette smoking, alcohol use, and physical inactivity, or the lack of exercise were other causes of stroke among young people, pointing out that such conditions were contributory factors that raised blood pressure which could develop into hypertension.
“Hypertension is said to be a silent killer.
It is called silent because when it starts rising, you don’t notice anything.
The first thing you know is you have a severe headache and then the person collapses, and by that time, it would have gotten a bit too late,” she said.
Unfortunately, she said, most people in the country, including young people, hardly checked their blood pressure, adding that for most people, the first time their blood pressure was checked was after they had collapsed and had been rushed to hospital.
Preventing hypertension
Dr Commeh advised young people to have enough rest, pay attention to their diet and reduce fried foods, fats, and oils, as well as salts and sugars to avoid getting hypertension.
She also recommended that they should take small walks in and around their offices after sitting behind their desks for two hours, climb office stairs once or twice a day, and eat more fruits and vegetables.
She urged corporate organizations to undertake proper medical screening for their staff at least once a year.
“Test for fats, blood sugar, urine function, and blood pressure.
That routine screening will help us so that if there is something going wrong, it can easily be picked up and managed,” she said.
She advised young people already diagnosed with diabetes and hypertension to take their medication, explaining that hypertension and diabetes could result in problems, including erectile dysfunction and reproductive problems when left uncontrolled.
Dr. Commeh advised the public to walk to a pharmacy or any clinic to regularly have their blood pressure checked, at least once a month, and to get conditions controlled if they were diagnosed with any, in order that they might live healthier and longer.
The Pensioner Bondholders Forum has asked government to borrow from the Treasury Bills market to cover all outstanding coupons and principle on their bonds.
The government has failed to pay 19 coupons and three principals since February after exempting the pensioners from the Domestic Debt Exchange programme.
Convenor of the group, Dr Adu Anane Antwi in an interview with the media said the government must find the money to pay the pensioners whose livelihoods have been adversely affected.
“The government can borrow from the Treasury Bills market to pay us. If you borrow from the Treasury Bills market, it will raise your debt level, but you are faced with a situation where you have to do that for people who need their money for medication.
“The president once said that they cannot bring the dead back to life, but you can bring the economy back. So we are talking about pensioners who need their money for medication, if you don’t do that they die, you can’t bring them back so borrow from the Treasury Bills market and pay them, so they can live.”
The government has defaulted on payments for coupons on matured bonds for pensioner bondholders who were exempted from theDomestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) and to individual bondholders who did not participate in the scheme.
The Forum explains that the government has failed to pay their matured coupons and principals for more than two months.
The chief of Agric Nzemaa inKumasi, Nana Nkansah Boadu Ayeboafo, has expressed disbelief at which some individuals do not recognise and appreciate the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.
According to him, individuals who “do not cherish such beauty and recognition only exhibits an attitude of a person who is possessed by witchcraft”.
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has recently been accorded by foreign dignitaries since his arrival at the Buckingham Palace.
According to Nana Nkansah Boadu Ayeboafo, foreign dignitaries are inspired with awe by the beauty and value of Ghanaian culture and tradition.
“They are even surprised that as a country we have such rich culture and tradition but we do not celebrate it enough” He noted, stressing that the time has come forGhanaians to eschew bitterness and rally behind things that bring progress and development.
Nana Nkansah Boadu further urged Ghanaians to rather focus on more things that unite us and bring development to the country.
“The Asantehene is always thinking about the interest of the development of the country; he has always used opportunities accorded him not only for his subjects but also for the entire country, why should such a person be hated instead of being celebrated ” He questioned.
Judy Austin, the second wife Nigerian actor Yul Edochie, has described how the Holy Spirit constantly fights her battles, by thwarting individuals who plot evil against her.
Judy testified to being a major beneficiary of God’s unlimited blessings while declaring herself special and His number one.
She narrated how she has continued to enjoy God’s goodness from her tender age till this moment because she placed absolute faith in Him.
The actress,in a video titled: “IJELE. Judy Austin breaks silence. Shares her story”, posted on her hubby’s Facebook page,asked people to thank God on her behalf.
She said: “I really don’t know where to start from; God loves me so much. I know it might sound strange to a lot of people but God loves me so much.
“I don’t know if he loves people like he loves me. He loves me so much, you will not understand. They says it he that wears the shoes that knows exactly where it pinches. It’s only me that knows, just me.
“But God loves me so much. He has continued to fight my battles. I want the entire world, the whole universe to worship God with me because He has been awesome to me.
“I am a special child, I’m so special. From the time I was born, from my childhood, my youth, till I gave birth to all my kids even till this last baby; oh God! I have experience.
“I’ve experienced a lot of things in this life. I actually started experiencing it from a very tender age. But you know, one thing is consistent in my life, and that thing is God’s love.
“He has loved me all the way. Even when it seems like I won’t make it. Even when it seem like the trouble around me will swallow me whole, somehow, I pull through. Somehow, I’ll still be at the top. I don’t know how that happens but I don’t have to know because God works in mysterious ways.
“He has truly shown me that I am His number one. If I want to talk about what I’ve been through in my very tender life, like how old am I? If I really want to talk about my blessings, I don’t think we will go today.
“God has truly been awesome in my life. Anybody around me will tell you. Every prayer point, I’ve ever written down,Godhas answered every single one of them. And you know what, He can do it for you.
“If your faith is not one hundred percent in God, you won’t experience what I’m experiencing. I’m here today because I have one hundred percent faith in God Almighty, in Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He’s my one and only. I brag with my God.
“I brag with the Holy Spirit because He has done so much for me. He fights my battles as if I’m a princess, like I’m a queen. Like I don’t have to ever stress, I just sit down. Let them come, I’m with you.
“Anybody that tries with me, the Holy Spirit scatters them. How special can you be? This is the height of being special in God’s arm. I’m His number one, I am God’s number one. God I thank you.
“See just have one hundred percent faith in God and forget the rest, no matter what’s happening against you, it means nothing. They say one with God is majority. You don’t have to be with the world, people are wicked. They want you to die.
“So you don’t need people’s validation. Once you have God’s validation in your life, you’re good. If you’re with God, you’re with the majority. There’s nothing that you’ll lack.
“I put to bed when it seems as if it won’t happen. That is God! He came through for me, He made sure that I am fine. Jesus Christ of Nazarethmade sure that I, Judy am fine.
“And then I came home with my baby. I came out and my baby came out. Go and ask around, so many people have died from this. But I go through this and I’m still bouncing, enjoying, laughing, and dancing every day. God loves me!!!”
The former Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Koku Anyidoho, has stated that he will serve as a representative for Dr Kwabena Duffuor in the incoming presidential primaries.
Mr Anyidoho was expelled from the party in 2021 after the disciplinary committee of the NDC found him guilty of misconduct and anti-party behaviour.
However, speaking to the media inKoforidua at the sidelines of an event which he was guest speaker, Mr Anyidoho described his dismissal from the party as mere persecution which is not grounded in law, therefore, is null and void.
He believes he is still a bonafide member of the NDC, hence he will take part in the upcoming primaries.
“Today is 6th of May technically we were supposed to be voting a week from today to elect Flag-bearer and our parliamentarians. I will vote in my capacity as a former national officer and a former appointee. I have a new a new card and let Asiedu Nketia come and remove my vote from the register.”
Mr Anyidoho declared support for Dr Duffuor, adding that he will serve as agent for him in the primaries.
“Secondary on that score, I am supporting Dr Kwabena Duffuor in the Presidential primary. I am not supporting John Mahama and that is one of the reasons why they said they have sacked me from the party because I have said I won’t support John Mahama, I am not a slave to John Mahama and I refuse to be a slave to him.”
Mr Anyidoho emphasised that Dr Duffuor’s competency in managing the economy far outweighs former President Mahama.
“Dr Duffuor was the Finance Minister under John Evans Atta Mills so he worked with President Mills I worked with him I know what Dr Duffuor stands for in terms of building the economy that President Mills built: 32, 34 months single digit inflation, introduction of single spine, clearing of the arrears , Infrastructure expansion, three public Universities in three and half years, health facilities all over, I believe that Dr Duffuor has the potential by training, by competence, by experience both in public and private life,” he said.
Mr Anyidoho further urged the Electoral Commission to address concerns raised by the campaign team of Dr Duffuor on delayed release of voters register.
According to him, if the concerns raised by the Duffuor campaign team are not immediately addressed before Saturday 12th May, 2023 there will be legal consequences.
Meanwhile, Dr Duffuor says the May 13 presidential primary must be free, fair and transparent to ensure unity after the elections.
A Ghanaian afrobeat artist, Gregory Bortey Newman, also known as King Promise, has revealed that perseverance and hard work garnered him Album of the Year at the 24th Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA).
King Promise’s “5 Star” did the trick for him at the music fiesta held at the Grand Arena, Accra International Conference Center.
Nominees in the category included; Black Sherif (The Villain I Never Was), Sarkodie (Jamz), Gyakie (My Diary), Kwesi Arthur (Son of Jacob), and Joe Mettle’s (The Kadosh).
Speaking to Kwaku Nhyira-Addo on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Monday (8 May), King Promise said: “We made amazing music for the rest of the world and Ghana. We put Ghanaian music on the map, and I’m just glad that we could do that.”
“I just kept pushing and trusting that God will work it out just how it’s supposed to be, and He did just that.
“It takes a lot of hard work, persistence and dedication. I had to sacrifice – times where I could’ve been sleeping like any regular student, I just went harder in the studio. It’s all hard work and persistence,” King Promise said.
Listen to King Promise in the attached audio clip below:
The ultimate prize
Mohammed Ismail Sharrif, better known by his stage name, Black Sherif, won the Artiste of the Year award. Black Sherif beats contenders such as Sarkodie, Camidoh, King Promise and Piesie Esther to win the ultimate prize.
The “Kwaku the Traveller” hitmaker also won the Best Music Video award, Most Popular Song of the Year and Best Hiplife Song of the Year.
His closest rival, Piesie Esther, grabbed two awards – Best Gospel Song with “Wayɛ me yie” and the Best Gospel Artiste of the Year.
Okuneye Idris Olarenwaje, also known asBobrisky, has stated that his meals are prepared with bottled water only.
Taking to his Snapchat account, the controversial crossdresser said that he does not use tap water or sachet water to cook his meals.
According to him, he uses only table water. Sharing a video of himself cooking a pot of meat with bottled water, he said;
“I use table water to cook, I don’t use tap water and I don’t use pure water, I use table water to cook”.
Bobrisky recently caused a stir on Instagram when he shared photos of a man tying a white towel on his waist and hugging him while promoting an aphrodisiacs.
The video has since generated over a million views on Instagram and over 20,000 comments on the video alone.
Ghanaian musician, Ameradohas given credit to his close confidant, Deloris Frimpong Manso, better known as Delay, for supporting his art and pushing his 2022 single, ‘Obiaa Boa’.
“You know one thing, one woman who supported ‘Obiaa Boa’ so much is Deloris Frimpong Manso, God bless you. Thank you all so much,” he shouted.
The rapper revealed this when he gave a speech at 24th edition of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) after he emerged winner for the ‘Best Rap Performance’ category.
Amerado won the title on his third nomination after losing it out to his colleagues in the previous years. When he took to the stage to deliver his acceptance speech, he named some legendary Ghanaian rappers for paving the way for him.
“Third time lucky, I have truly suffered for this title. This is for every rapper out there, your dreams are valid.
“Shout out to Okyeame Kwame for paving the way. Shout out to Sarkodie, Reggie Rockstone, Obrafour, Strongman, this is for you, Frimpong, King Palutta, every Kumasi rapper out there, I love you so much,” he said.
Verifiable literature indicates that Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has proven revolutionary leadership on how to structurally alter Ghana’s economy ahead of his challengers in the 2024 presidential race.
In his 2010 bestseller, ‘Monetary Policy and Financial Sector Reform in Africa – Ghana’s Experience’, Dr. Bawumia comprehensively examined the monetary policy on the African continent and the need for reforms to ensure economic transformation through digitalisation.
It is therefore not surprising that the Vice President is a firm believer of putting in place digital structures to drive the economic transformation of Ghana.
In the review of the seminal book, Dr. Bawumia recommended reforms, after critically touching on all inhibiting issues, focused on digitalisation of African economies, which he said will be achieved on three main pillars.
He mentioned the three pillars as unique and verifiable national identification numbers, digital address systems and financial inclusion, which he pointed out, would bring on board the unbanked members of the informal sector.
All these are currently being implemented in Ghana by Government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo under incisive supervision of Vice Bawumia.
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia Unique national ID numbers
According to Dr. Bawumia, a key component which underpins financial transaction in any society is trust.
However, his book revealed that trust was very low in Ghana’s financial transactions due to lack of database to properly identify people.
This is contrary to developed countries where every individual is identified with a unique national identification number.
Dr. Bawumia therefore suggested that the only way to curb this is to have a unique national identification number for the people, which can be easily authenticated both “online and offline.” Address system
Writing about the importance of a system of property addresses, Dr. Bawumia noted that it “is probably one of the most underestimated requirements for the development of an economy and its financial sector.”
Reiterating the importance of the system in an economy, Dr Bawumia stated, “one can imagine what would happen if for example, the address system in the United States, United Kingdom, South Korea or Japan disappeared overnight. These economies would basically grind to a halt because so much depends on residential or business addresses.”
Dr. Bawumia also argued that the absence of address system also “increases the risk premium bankers attach to a loan.”
He accordingly recommended that countries like Ghana, should, as a matter of priority, put in place a comprehensive address system. Financial inclusion
In the 2010 bestseller, Dr Bawumia called financial inclusion, “banking the unbanked”.
He noted that “the financial system cannot develop to its potential and monetary policy cannot be effective if the majority of the population continues to be excluded from access to financial services.”
Acknowledging the role the Bank of Ghana[AM1] ’s e-switch platform was playing in bridging the financial gap as far as banking was concerned, Dr Bawumia recommended the use of mobile phones to deliver mobile banking service within Bank of Ghana’s regulatory framework. Unwritten rules
In the concluding parts of the book, Dr Bawumia wrote that the recommendations he outlined were some of the unwritten rules for effective fiscal policy and financial management, as well as for general development.
“A unique identification number, an address system and financial inclusion (banking the unbanked) are basically some of the key unwritten rules for effective monetary policy and financial sector development in particular and over all development.
“Without these systems and institutions in place, no monetary policy framework will be sufficient in the long run to engender the type of financial sector that will be critical in the growth process. No donors have thus far required that countries put in place address systems, unique IDs, etc. in place as conditions for aid for example.” Walking the talk as Vice President
Just as he recommended in his highly revered book, Dr Bawumia, as vice president and head of Ghana’s Economic Management Team, has followed to the letter the principles he preached, leading to the massive digital transformation of the Ghanaian economy.
Within four years of the NPP administration between 2017 and 2021, Ghana has a unique and verifiable national identification card, a digital property address system and financial inclusion of the unbanked through mobile money interoperability.
Through these pillars, just as Bawumia predicted in his book 11 years ago, there has been a digital transformation with many government services going online.
This is bringing relief to people in accessing services, and also helping in the fight against corruption.
On Saturday, May 6, 2023 a fuel tanker exploded at Mamfe in the Eastern region, while descending the mountains.
According to an eyewitness, the situation is serious as the tanker continues to explode multiple times.
He said the entire stretch of road has been engulfed in flames hence vehicles plying the road are unable to cross creating gridlock.
Many passengers are therefore stranded.
No casualty confirmed so far.
Motorists are to use Koforiduato Adukrom road to join Mamfe, Aburi and continue to Accra as fire fighters were yet to arrive to extinguish the fire.
Multiple crashes have recently been recorded on that stretch of the road.
Scores of passengers were reportedly injured after a Toyota Fish with registration number GX 8555-20 and a Toyota Hiace with registration number GW 6185-16 were involved in a crash on Akuapem Mamfe mountains in the Eastern region.
The Toyota Fish vehicle somersaulted severally before landing on the side of the road.
Occupants of the Toyota Fish suffered critical injuries but those in the Toyota Hiace survived with minor injuries.
They were rushed to Tetteh Quarshie Memorial Hospital.
The crash occured less than 24 hours after a driver of Xugong Mobile Crane vehicle died in a fatal crash on same stretch of Mamfe to Koforidua road.
The driver was descending the mountain when he lost control of the steering wheel leading to the crash.
Personnel of the Ghana Police Service and Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) who went to the scene observed that the Xugong mobile crane with registration number GS 8400-11 was partially in the bush on the shoulder of the road with the occupant (driver or operator) nowhere to be found.
The driver was later found lying motionless in the nearby bush during a search .
He was rushed to Tetteh Quarshie Memorial Hospital by the Police but pronounced dead on arrival.
The National Democratic Congress’ aspiring flag bearer,Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, has stated that he endured hardships under the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
This comes on the back of a skewed campaign by his opponents that he has received some form of sponsorship for his bid to lead the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
However, the former Governor of the Bank of Ghana(BoG) has flatly denied the allegation.
According to him, he has not received any sponsorship from the NPP to destroy the NDC which he contributed to building.
He disclosed this when addressing the party’s delegates in Adansi Asokwa Constituency in the Ashanti region as part of his four days campaign in the Ashanti region.
Dr. Duffuor however urged the party supporters particularly the delegates to disregard the destructive campaign his opponents are sharing to party members.
“I funded the NDC so I’m NDC and nothing can change my love for NDC. The NPP destroyed my banks and tried to collapse every business under my control. I want to tell you that the NPP has hurt me more than any other member of the party. The NPP can never use me to destroy the NDC. My main aim is to return NDC to power to make Ghana better,” Dr. Duffuor reiterated.
He pleaded with the party supporters to vote for him to lead the party into election 2024 on Saturday 13th May 2023 in the presidential election by thumb printing #3 on the ballot paper.
Investigations have been launched bypolicein the Ashanti Region over the alleged slaughtering of an infant by a landlord’s son.
Reports indicate that the suspect killed the toddler after he had an altercation with the child’s father, who is a tenant in their house.
The incident happened at Adankwame within the Atwima Nwabiagya North District of the Ashanti Region on Friday, 5th May 2023.
The suspect, who has only been identified as Emmanuel, also inflicted machete wounds on the deceased’s father and sister who are battling for their lives at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.
“My husband left for work in the morning and returned home in the evening between 4pm and 5pm. My son ran to hug his father to welcome him. It was around that time that our landlord’s son who was wielding a machete confronted my husband. He butchered my son and my husband. He also attacked my daughter who attempted to save my son. We then had to run away. All three persons have been sent to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. The toddler who is one year and four months old has however died,” Janet Owusuwaa, mother of the toddler said.
The Rotational Nurses and Midwives Association is charging the Nurses and Midwifery Council to take a great interest and guarantee the payment of their 10-month unpaid allowance.
According to the association if government does not heed to their demands it has no other option than to put down their tools.
The group has in recent times been engaging various stakeholders including the Health and Finance Ministries to give them clearance for payments to be made however that has not yielded any positive results.
Speaking to Citi News, President of the Rotational Nurses and Midwives Association, Jasper Dzorkah lamented the impact this is having on members of the association while hinting at the group’s plan to withdraw their services or embark on a demonstration exercise on May 15 if government fails to pay them this week.
He however wants their professional body, the Nurses and Midwifery Council, to intervene in the matter.
“I think that everybody must have interest in what is going on. It is not fair to look at your younger ones working on an empty stomach for 10-11 solid months, and nothing has been said about it. We admit that the economy is in crisis and that we are not in normal times. But as we speak today, all MPs and Ministers are being paid. The government has ways of paying these people, so why not sort us out? It is really not necessary that every year Rotational Nurses and Midwives have to be on the streets before they are paid. It does not bring honour to the profession.
“I will call on the Nurses and Midwifery Council that they should have interest in our payments. If government fails to pay us we might be forced to strike on May 15,” Jasper Dzorkah, President of the Rotational Nurses and Midwives Association said.
