A motorcyclist, Yaw David, 30, has lost his life in an accident on the Juaboso Afere road.
Information indicates that David was riding his motorcycle from Juaboso to Afere with a friend.
According to reports, the rider attempted to overtake a car in front of them on a sharp curve and crashed into a Kia with the registration number GW 39 46 Z.
The deceased’s body has since been deposited at the Juaboso government mortuary.
The other person is being treated at Juaboso government hospital.
Prince William and Prince Harry enjoy a skiing trip with their father and cousin, Zara Phillips. Their annual trip to Switzerland was a time for fun and family bonding. CHARRIAU//Getty Images
A young Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie carry their gear in matching ski suits. The sisters were on vacation in Verbier, Switzerland—the same place where Eugenie met her husband over a decade later. Julian Parker//Getty Images
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
In one of her final outings before her passing, Princess Diana embarks on a cruise through St. Tropez with Prince William and her boyfriend, Dodi Al Fayed.Michel Dufour//Getty Images
Princess Diana looks radiant in a bright orange swimsuit during a holiday on the island of Nevis.Thierry Orban//Getty Images
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
With her sons by her side, Princess Diana rides the ski lift in Lech, Austria.Princess Diana Archive//Getty Images
Anwar Hussein//Getty Images
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
Princess Diana plays with her sons on the playground at Highgrove House. The boys are dressed in their uniforms for the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment, the group for which their father served as Colonel-in-Chief. Tim Graham//Getty Images
Kids drive Prince Charles and Princess Diana around at the Careful Cobber children’s driving program, during a trip to Australia.
Princess Diana Archive//Getty Images
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
At the Windsor Horse Show, it’s clear Princess Anne has passed her love for denim (and undying passion for all things equestrian) down to her daughter, Zara Phillips.
Tim Graham//Getty Images
Even with her busy schedule, Princess Diana always made time for her sons. Here, she completes a puzzle with a 3-year-old Prince William. Tim Graham//Getty Images
A young Prince Harry plays the piano, while Prince William has a case of the giggles during a private photoshoot in Kensington Palace.Tim Graham//Getty Images
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
At a costume barbecue in Canada, Charles and Diana give people an idea of what they might have looked like in another era.
Tim Graham//Getty Images
The Princess of Wales gets a ride in a cherry picker alongside the archeological director of the Mary Rose Trust. PA Images//Getty Images
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
Lady Diana Spencer laughs while posing with Soufflé, her Shetland pony, at her mother’s home in Scotland.PA Images//Getty Images
Prince Charles looks over the shoulder of his mother during a trip to Sandringham Estate. The family was spending time together in the Drawing Room.
Today in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, more than eight million people require food assistance and around 332,000 “urgently need food, otherwise their lives are at risk”, said UNHCR spokesperson Olga Sarrado.
A full eight in 10 of the displaced are women and children, the UNHCR official continued, while UN migration agency, IOM, warned that failed rains and conflict in Somalia, “could force tens of thousands of people” to seek refuge in major cities and towns, particularly in Baidoa and Mogadishu where IOM projects that approximately 300,000 people could be newly displaced by July 2023”.
In an appeal for $137 million to maintain vital humanitarian programmes this year, UNHCR’s Ms. Sarrado said that well over three million refugees and internally displaced people have already been forced to leave their homes in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.
Survival is a struggle for these uprooted communities, amid scarce water sources, hunger, insecurity and conflict. They need safety and assistance, just as much as host communities do too, the UN agency insisted.
“While famine has so far been averted in Somalia, mostly due to a stepped-up humanitarian response, people continue to battle life-threatening food and water shortages resulting from massive losses of harvests, livestock, and income,” Ms. Sarrado explained.
The UNHCR spokesperson warned however that prices of essential foodstuffs and other commodities “remain at an all-time high, out of reach for many. The dangerous confluence of climate and conflict in the region is worsening an already dire humanitarian situation.”
In Somalia alone, since the start of the year, 288,000 people have become internally displaced, because of conflict and drought, UNHCR data shows.
More than 180,000 refugees from Somalia and South Sudan have also crossed into drought-affected areas of Kenya and Ethiopia, the UN agency noted.
In Ethiopia’s Somali region – itself already suffering deeply from drought – nearly 100,000 people have arrived in Doolo in recent weeks, after fleeing conflict in the Somalia’s Laascaanood area.
In Kenya’s Dadaab camps, UNHCR also reported the testimony of a 60-year-old woman from Somalia who said that she had endured three decades of conflict in southern Somalia, but that it was extreme hunger that forced her to flee for her life.
“Most of the newly displaced might never go back to their places of origin because the land can no longer provide, and insecurity will only increase as competition for the already scarce resources grow,” IOM said in an alert for the record 3.8 million people now displaced in Somalia. “As a result, entire families will be born and raised in informal settlements amid unsuitable living conditions.”
As part of its response, UNHCR plans to provide more basic relief items including emergency shelter and household items for new refugee arrivals and displaced people in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.
Water trucking supplies will be increased, while additional boreholes will be drilled and existing water and sanitation systems refurbished.
Cash assistance will be prioritized for the most vulnerable to help them supplement their own food needs, while also encouraging traders to make food and other necessities available.
Health facilities will also be supported to step up nutritional assistance for women and children through high-nutrient feeding and medical treatment for related diseases.
“This additional assistance and protection is required urgently…to save millions of lives,” said UNHCR’s Ms. Sarrado, who noted that last year’s appeal garnered less than half of the required amount needed to respond to the drought.
I thank you, sincerely, for answering my invitation to attend this campaign launch. I am delighted by this opportunity to engage with you, the good people of Ghana, once again.
I am greatly humbled to be addressing all of you present here, the millions glued to your television and radio sets, and those tuning in via the internet in Ghana and across the world. Thank you for sharing your morning with me. I do not take this for granted. Thank you.
As I drove onto the campus of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, built during the tenure of our Great Party, I could not help but feel a sense of fulfilment that the dream and vision of our late President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, has been actualized in a most beautiful way.
The Volta Region retains a towering significance in the history of our great party the NDC. Our founder and former President Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings of blessed memory, whose courage and vision inspired the formation of the NDC, hailed from this region.
Other stalwarts, dead and living, like Security Chief, Captain Kojo Tsikata, Literature Icon and former Chairman of the Council of State Professor Kofi Nyidevu Awoonor, Former Speaker Edward Doe Adjaho, Ambassador Dan Abodakpi, former Transport Minister, the late Dzifa Aku Attivor, and many others too numerous to mention, are all natives of this region, and have toiled tirelessly to build our great party the NDC and our beloved nation, Ghana. It is no coincidence that we are holding this launch here as a tribute to the many illustrious sons and daughters of the Volta Region who have toiled and continue to work tirelessly for our great party.
The English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1817 wrote a famous poem titled “Ozymandias”. This was a cautionary tale about a ruler who was so full of pomp, arrogance, and a deluded sense of self-importance. One is struck by the poet’s description of the clueless ruler as he goes on to boast: “My name is Ozymandias; King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!” Tragically, according to the poem, when one looked around for these so-called works, one saw nothing except the decay. This poem mirrors our present national circumstance in a most uncanny way.
Fellow country men and women; my brothers and sisters, I thank Professor Joshua Alabi, the Convenor of my Campaign Committee, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies, Accra, and an aspirant in the 2019 Presidential primaries for picking my nomination forms last week. I also wish to thank the hundreds of party supporters who accompanied Professor Alabi to perform that task on my behalf. By that action, I have officially joined the race to contest for the flagbearer slot of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2024 elections, which I consider to be the most important and defining poll of our time. I have not taken this step lightly.
It has been the product of months of prayer, broad consultations, and sober reflection. I have searched my soul and paid close attention to your voices, to your daily struggles, to our present predicament. At this stage, Ghana demands experience, not experiments! 4 Ghana demands togetherness, not divisiveness! Now is the time for bravery of heart and clarity of purpose. Six years ago, despite our best efforts, the people of Ghana entrusted the management and administration of this country into the hands of the NPP.
They did so in the hope that the many mouth-watering promises made to them would translate into meaningful action that would mark an improvement in their living conditions and the general wellbeing of our country. Six years on, those hopes have been dashed. Instead of the prosperity and progress that was promised, the last six years have been, perhaps, the most difficult and challenging period in our history. This government has been clueless and, in many cases, callous. The unthinkable has happened and our country is broken on all fronts.
Ghana is bankrupt. We are saddled with debt we simply cannot pay, and we have suffered the global humiliation of defaulting on our debts and being downgraded by credit rating agencies to the lowest levels in our history. Our economy is in its worst ever shape, with suffering and pain on an unprecedented scale. Hyperinflation and an ever-increasing price of basic items including food have all combined to inflict unbearable pain on millions of Ghanaian households. Parents are being forced to make hard choices between seeking prompt health care for their sick children and providing meals with their meagre resources for families. 5 Our middle class stands the real risk of being wiped out on the back of an obnoxious debt restructuring programme.
The poor who depend on the middle class for employment and sustenance are on their own and uncertain of their fate. Our aged pensioners have not been spared either. In the past few weeks they have been compelled to stage public manifestations in defense of their livelihoods even in their elderly state.
Who would have thought that Ghana would come to a juncture where a government would mete out such shabby treatment to our senior citizens whose only crime is that they put their life savings in what is considered the safest financial instruments in the world – Government Bonds. We are at this most depressing phase in our history where our economy has been destroyed because of the systematic mismanagement, misguided and clueless policy choices, and incompetence of President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Bawumia.
While our people struggle to keep their heads above water, government officials continue to exhibit high levels of greed, corruption, arrogance of power, dishonesty, blatant state capture and conflict of interest. Unsurprisingly, no one in this NPP government wants to take responsibility for anything, including their flagbearer hopefuls, most of whom were part of their Economic Management Team. They continue to lay blame for their economic disaster on external factors whose relationship with our present sorry circumstances are at most tenuous.
We all know that this economic collapse has been years in the making just as we know it was entirely avoidable. Amid all the suffering, the government remains obstinate and refuses to back down from the costly missteps that led us here in the first place.
They continue to waste the precious little we have on dodgy and misguided projects, programmes and on a bloated government. As they tighten the noose on the helpless citizenry by piling on more taxes and expropriating our money through measures like the domestic debt exchange, government offers no semblance of genuine sacrifice on its part. The national decay of the last six years has not been limited to the economy. It extends to all aspects of our lives. Our hitherto trusted state institutions today stand as pale shadows of themselves, undermined, and politicized to the point that they consider themselves an extension of the governing New Patriotic Party.
The youth see no future in their country of birth. They see no silver lining at the edge of the clouds, which often appears dark and gloomy, with no ray of sunshine seeping through. Who is to blame them when after years of struggling to earn an education, they are condemned to unemployment and acute lack of opportunities? 7 If not remedied, through my agenda to Build The Ghana We Want Together from 2025, some graduates and post-graduate degree holders may hit the pension age and never employed in their entire lives, save for national service. It should worry us deeply that the average young Ghanaian would grasp any opportunity to flee the despondent climate under which they live in favour of even the most menial jobs in other countries.
We have always had our people going in search of greener pastures abroad, but the current mass exodus of active workers and professionals is profoundly worrying. The loss of all hope that anything good can come out of this country or that any available opportunities will be equitably shared among our people has accounted for this. For some sections of our population, the unravelling of our national fabric and the collapse of our economy under this government forms sufficient basis to dismiss all public office holders and politicians, both in government and out of government, as the same.
Some have lost all hope in the democratic experiment and believe it is no better than other forms of governance. These are the predictable effects of the betrayal of the people’s trust by the President, his Vice and crop of officials. I wish I could say this in a more pleasant way, but you are the better judges. Our present state and its effects on our people trouble me a lot. 8 This is why, as you have observed, at every significant wrong turn taken by government, I have, with the benefit of experience, provided alternative solutions and even offered the expertise and knowledge of some of my party’s members to help get us out of the challenges.
This is because there is an increasing gap right now between the Ghanaian society and Ghana’s political system. And it is one of the reasons why a change has become absolutely necessary. Off course, I know how to deliver that badly needed change because, during the last three to four years, I have studied our problems, I have continued to listen to each and every one of you, and to a variety of scholars and experts – I can say with full confidence that I learned a lot during the period and I am ready to be the President Ghanaians are looking for.
In our present state, it is no longer sufficient to sit on the sidelines and offer suggestions, which are most likely to be ignored. I am therefore coming before you, in all humility, and in response to calls from my party and the generality of the people of Ghana, to offer myself, to serve this country and its people that I love so dearly, by first putting myself up for election in the NDC Presidential Primaries.
There are many who say that my words, just before leaving office in 2016, that posterity will be my judge, have proven prophetic in the face of the disastrous performance of the NPP government and their harrowing dismantling of our country’s prospects. I am not the kind of leader who derives pleasure from or who can smile at our failings — even the failings of my political opponents. 9 As noted by Otto Von Bismarck, a wise man learns from the mistakes of others.
As far as I am concerned, there is no vindication to be derived from the sufferings of the Ghanaian people. I am offering myself for public office at this time because I appreciate the enormity of the task ahead owing to the level of damage done to our country by this government.
And I also know that such a mountainous task requires a steady, unifying, and experienced hand to build the Ghana we want together. This is no time for experimentation. Ghana at this time does not need a “try me too” leader. Our country urgently needs a leader with an unwavering desire to get things done in a no-frills, no thrills, business-like manner. Not one enamored with sloganeering, excessive partisanship, personal comfort, and shallow populism. Ghana’s next leader should exercise sound judgement and be able to make the right calls and at the right time. A leader who accepts responsibility and works to fix the problem and not shift blame onto others.
The leader should be one whose heart is filled with compassion for the people and who has the humility to connect with and understand the needs of the people he serves. Our country requires a visionary leader who would build a prosperous and progressive Ghana for all Ghanaians and not a few. We, in the NDC, will not run a government of slogans; instead, we will run a government of action. 10 A leader should be held accountable for his promises to the people. Your word should always be your bond. Ghana’s next leader should exercise sound judgement and be able to make the right calls and at the right time.
Such a leader must have the humility and presence of mind to take responsibility for what has gone wrong and be willing to act timeously to get the numerous problems resolved. He should be a leader whose heart is filled with compassion for the people and who has the humility to connect with and understand the needs of the people he serves.
He should not be a leader who views the public purse as a family heirloom or even the mandate given him to govern as the manifestation of a birthright. A leader who has his sights on leaving a legacy for posterity. With all the humility I can muster, I believe I possess these qualities and that I am uniquely placed, having sat back the past few years to take stock of our country’s path. I am aware of the extent of work that awaits the next government.
There is so much to fix; there is so much to repair; and there is so much to heal. But I am set and ready! Very ready, to Build The Ghana We Want Together with you. Our mission is to get out of the current nightmare. And to get out of it together, reaching to one another, listening to one another, providing hope for all.
Working with a pool of experienced, talented, and passionate men and women, and with many others from non-political backgrounds including the private sector and civil society who simply want the best for Ghana and who desire to transform our country and its people, it can and will be done. The first order of business will be to reset our country to its default settings as envisioned by the founders of the 4th Republic.
A nation of peace and prosperity, built on the principle of integrity, justice and equity, respect for human rights and personal freedoms, a leadership of modesty and humility that forges consensus and carries the people along in the implementation of its policies and programmes. At the top of our priorities as the new government in 2025, God willing (Insha Allah), is to restore stability and inclusive growth to the economy.
This we will do by bringing the various indicators under control to relieve Ghanaians of their suffering. We will strictly enforce prudence and responsibility in the management of public finances by cutting out waste and ostentation, which have become common place under this administration. Together, we will build the Ghana we want. We shall restore faith in our almost collapsed financial system and embark on sweeping reforms at the Bank of Ghana. We shall actively pursue policies to ensure robust local participation in our banking, financial, telecommunications, mining, agriculture, agribusiness and manufacturing sectors. 12 This will be anchored on our plan to grow the economy and create sustainable employment for our youth.
We will make investments in productive sectors of the economy like agriculture, industry, technology, digitilisation and tourism to spur growth and generate jobs for the teeming youth who continue to lose hope by the day. With the limited fiscal space, we are likely to inherit because of the mismanagement of the economy under NPP, a new NDC Government will give priority to continuing and completing abandoned and ongoing projects rather than rushing to commence new ones. I shall assemble and operate the leanest but most efficient government under our fourth republic. We will reduce, significantly, the size of government.
As I announced in my Ghana We Want address at UPSA late last year, I will form a government of less than sixty (60) ministers and deputy ministers of state. I will initiate and undertake the most far-reaching constitutional, political and governance reforms under the fourth republic aimed at restoring confidence in our democracy and governance systems while making life easier and better for our people. In response to the concerns and calls from many of you, I will initiate and undertake the most far-reaching constitutional, political and governance reforms aimed at restoring confidence in our democracy.
We will continue and bring to conclusion the constitution review process began by President Atta Mills including a review of the controversial article 71 to reduce the number of office holders, and remove the disparities in privileges and emoluments vis a vis the public and civil service. The payment of ex-gratia to members of the executive under Article 71 will be scrapped.
The necessary constitutional steps to abolish that payment will start in earnest in 2025. I will also begin the process to persuade other arms of government to accept same. Issues pertaining to the excessive powers of the President, proper separation of powers, strengthening of parliament, restoring true independence to the judiciary, independent and quasi-independent state institutions and depoliticizing them will take centre stage.
With renewed vigor, we will work to restore confidence in all institutions of state, so that our people will see their institutions working for them as they should with utmost professionalism and non-interference from political actors. We must, for instance, end the chaos that now characterizes the Computerized School Selection and Placement System for BECE graduates. As a first step, we should allow students to only complete their applications for SHS after they receive their BECE results.
They will be in a better position to know their actual grades and match them with the cut-off grades and raw scores of the senior high schools they wish to be admitted to. 14 This will moderate expectation, ensure effective demand based on real results and address uninformed demand. It will also root out corruption and blatant discrimination from the process.
Fellow country men and women, the time has come for Ghanaians to receive proper accountability from those they elect to political office. This accountability can only be achieved by a new party in government. I promise Ghanaians, that I shall investigate how public funds were expended and this includes the Covid-19 Audit and the findings from the Auditor-General’s reports over years.
We must clean the Augean stables and rid them of the filth and corruption. The anti-corruption will be given unfettered space to do their work. The days of the infamous ‘clearing agent’ will be well and truly over. But to ensure efficiency and professionalism at this endeavor, institutions of state would be empowered to be independent in their work. State owned enterprises will not be a gravy train for political apparatchiki. We shall re-introduce the hallmark of my previous administration – tolerance for criticism and the creation of a conducive atmosphere for the media to do its work without the fear of threats, harassment, and possible assassination. I have heard many of my party supporters say that the next NDC government must also exact its pound of flesh. My brothers and sisters, I daresay, there is no use fighting for political power, if it is only to come and repeat the same mistakes of the NPP administration that have brought our dear nation to this sorry state.
We must therefore engage our grassroots to work together with us to build the Ghana we want. To be able to achieve all the above, we must see different personalities and backgrounds. We must not see NDC and NPP. We must not see Ga, or Ewe or Akan or Dagomba. We must not look to religious differences. We must look to ourselves. We must look to Ghana. One united people.
You and I, hand in hand and working together. In Building The Ghana We Want Together, it will take grit. It will take determination. But we have what we did not have before – the benefit of hindsight and reflection from afar, and the benefit of experience – to improve upon our successes and avoid our mistakes. As I roll out my campaign for the flagbearer slot of the NDC and subsequently during the national elections, I will engage as many of you in the public as possible and interface with various interest groups to tap into your views on how to fashion the Ghana we want. As observed by Aldous Huxley “experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you.” In the coming days, we will be having conversations about our country.
But more important, we must put into action the plans that we would conceive together. It will not be easy. It will take grit. It will take determination. It will take tears. It will take sacrifice. I promise you I will share that pain and sacrifice with you. And above all I promise you hard work. I want to assure you, my fellow Akatamansonians that I have heard your concerns on how to further strengthen our party. I will certainly make you proud by addressing your needs, as we work to position the party to be more responsive to your needs. We shall build the most formidable political party that every Ghanaian will be happy and proud to associate with. Remember it was the NDC that provided the most road and water projects, educational, health and telecommunications infrastructure for you, across the country. Remember it was the NDC that considered it prudent to build an airport in the Volta Region when the naysayers opposed and ridiculed it. Too much has happened to us as a people. But we have a duty to ourselves to learn from history and chart a path accordingly.
“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things” are the wise words of Ronald Reagan that I subscribe to. The next government would not be about me. It would not be about forming a cadre of family and friends to enrich themselves at the expense of our people. It would be about you. In all humility, with a rekindled spirit, renewed energy, and sharpened vision to help save our dear country, Ghana, I formally announce my candidacy and launch my campaign. I am proud and honoured that our NDC family, young and old, men and women, from all over the country is supporting me.
I am humbled by your love, and I hope you know I love you all! I must also thank the diverse group of individuals who continue to voluntarily donate towards my campaign. Some of you – students, professionals, traders, okada riders among others – voluntarily set up platforms to mobilise funds to support my campaign. Thank you very much.
I am John Dramani Mahama, your proven servant leader. I ask you to bless me massively with your trust, and your votes on May 13 and subsequently on 7th December 2024 and I will return your generosity with hard work.
Ghana needs experience, not experiments! Ghana used to be the shining light on the continent. I am of the strongest conviction that we can attain those heights again. I believe it. We will lead by example. As I conclude, I wish to thank my wife, Lordina, who has been my dependable partner on my political journey. Thank you all. Akpe ka ka ka!! Let’s win this together!!!
President Akufo-Addo has congratulated Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the newly elected president of Nigeria, on his victory in the just ended elections.
Bola Tinubu who was the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), won the fiercely contested elections held on February 25, 2023.
“On behalf of the Ghanaian people and their Government, I extend warm congratulations to the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on his victory in the Nigerian presidential election of Saturday, 25th February,” President Akufo-Addo posted on his social media handles.
He expressed hope that the Nigerian President-elect would deepen the strong friendship that exists between Nigeria and Ghana.
“It is my expectation that the President-elect would continue in the stead of past Nigerian leaders, and deepen even further the strong friendship that exists between Nigeria and Ghana, which has been based on a shared agenda of freedom, development, security, progress and prosperity,” he said.
Tinubu won the election ahead of other contenders — the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Atiku Abubakar; the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi; and the New Nigeria Peoples Party candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
The three leading presidential candidates won in 12 states each, while Kwankwaso claimed only Kano State.
Tinubu edged Atiku, a former vice president and his closest challenger, with no fewer than 1.8 million votes.
Read below President Akufo-Addo’s full statement
On behalf of the Ghanaian people and their Government, I extend warm congratulations to the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on his victory in the Nigerian presidential election of Saturday, 25th February.
President-elect Bola Tinubu’s victory has ensured that the ruling APC Government has been given four (4) more years to continue in office, which, I am hopeful, will go a long way to enhancing the quality of governance, the rule of law and the performance of the Nigerian economy.
The presidential candidates of the Peoples’ Democratic Party and the Labour Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, respectively, are to be commended for their vigorous, well-fought campaigns, and I am confident that their reactions to the results of the election will reinforce the boundaries of Nigerian democracy, and consolidate the peace and stability of Nigeria, Africa’s giant.
It is my expectation that the President-elect would continue in the stead of past Nigerian leaders, and deepen even further the strong friendship that exists between Nigeria and Ghana, which has been based on a shared agenda of freedom, development, security, progress and prosperity.
Warm congratulations, once again, to President-elect Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu, and to the people of Nigeria. Best wishes for his and Nigeria’s success.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Adansi Asokwa, Kobina Tahir Hammond, has lamented the enmity between MPs from the Majority Caucus and the Minority Caucus.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, March 2, 2023, K.T. Hammond said that deliberations in Parliament now always end in fights, with both sides of the House failing to compromise their stands in the nation’s interest.
He used himself as an example, saying that two weeks after his vetting to become the Minister for Trade and Industry, members of the Minority Caucus were still insisting they would not approve him.
“…This House, Mr Speaker, is disintegrating! It is. Mr. Speaker, there is so much shouting; there is so much animosity, no room for tolerance in this House. We have not been used to this.
“People get upset because these tantrums are thrown all over the place, and Mr. Speaker, the whole place breaks down into insanity; it isn’t right, Mr. Speaker.
“…Let us try and introduce some sanity in the House; Sometimes I sit here, and I get completely distressed… and now, Mr. Speaker, I have been vetted; almost two weeks, I am sitting here. They say they won’t approve me, so I am sitting here. Look at all of this; can you imagine?” he said.
The Trade and Industry Minister-designate made these remarks while reacting to a clash between the Deputy Majority Leader of Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin and the Deputy Minority Leader of the House, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, over the former’s description of the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.
He urged the Deputy Minority Leader to withdraw his comment about Afenyo-Markin rising to fame by twisting peoples’ words.
The new Constitutional Instrument (CI) proposed by the Electoral Commission (EC) won’t deprive Ghanaians of their right to vote in the general elections of 2024, according to the majority in parliament.
The EC with its new C.I is seeking to use the Ghana Card as the source document for registration onto the voters register.
Addressing the media, the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu stated that the new policy aims at sanitising the electoral process.
“This is a system that has come to sanitise and purify our system. There are various institutions which recognise the integrity of the National Identification Authority and indeed the Ghana Cards and have resorted to the use of the Ghana Cards,” he said.
The EC is proposing a new constitutional instrument through which it intends to make the Ghana card the sole identification document for voter registration.
The Minority, which is rejecting this move by the EC, is also casting doubts on the capacity of the NIA to issue Ghana cards to all applicants who have registered for the cards.
A non-governmental organization, Rise-Ghana, which is based in the Northern region, has protested the government’s decision to build hostel facilities for head-porters, popularly known as “Kayayei,” in Accra.
According to the NGO, the issue of constructing hostels will rather encourage rural-urban migration.
This comes on the back of the sod-cutting ceremony to begin construction of a four-storey hostel facility at Adjen Kotoku and other parts of Accra to accommodate 300 head porters.
Speaking on the Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tetteh Thursday, the Executive Director of Rise Ghana, Awal Ahmed Kariama admonished the government to rather solve the problem at source where these head porters are from.
“We need to have a system down here in the North where we will be able to place children who have completed Junior High School in the public sector and government places so they can earn some money. At the end of the day, people are doing this because they want to put food on the table. They want to be able to acquire the necessary tools that they need to go to school. If you interview some of them, they will tell you they want to become an apprentice but they cannot afford their apprenticeship fees.
“So what the government needs to do is identify the challenges of the people which is the source of the problem. The government should put things in place so these people can have the opportunity to feed themselves and earn the income that they need. So that they won’t find it attractive to travel to these places,” Mr. Karima stated.
He further added that building these hostels will create another problem of rural-urban migration as many of them will love to come due to the hostels.
“Today if we have 100 people coming from the North to engage in a Kayayei job. And if you build a hostel that has the capacity to accommodate 100 people, that hostel will attract another set of 100 or 200 people. What we tell these ladies is that most of their sisters sleep on the street and they are exposed to all forms of risk. There have been instances where some of them have been abused sexually, some of them have been killed and others.
So, we use that as a basis to create awareness for people not to go. So, the situation that now we have a shelter, that argument alone will not stand. It is going to open up the floodgate for more people who want to travel to engage in that business,” Mr. Kariama explained.
According to former president, John Dramani, the Ghana needs an experienced administration to lead it out of its current economic woes.
According to him, he can no longer sit on the sidelines and proffer solutions but get involved in the governance of the country owing to the level of damage prevailing in the system.
“At this stage, Ghana demands experience not experiment,” he noted, stressing “Ghana does not need a try me too leader.”
He told an NDC gathering at the launch of his presidential campaign that he’s sat back and taken stock of the extent of work ahead and assured: “I’m ready and able to be the kind of president that Ghanaians are looking for.”
Former president John Dramani Mahama has hit the ground running in a bid to lead the main opposition NDC in the 2024 general elections.
The former leader is currently launching his campaign for the Flagbearer slot at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) in Sokode near Ho.
Dr. Kwabena Duffour, a former Finance Minister, Kojo Bonsu, a former Mayor of Kumasi, and Ernest Kobeah, a 43-year-old businessman based in the United Kingdom, are all jostling for that slot in the opposition party.
The party is billed to conduct its presidential primaries on May 13, 2023.
In order to aid in the fight against malaria in the nation, the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health visited certain mosquito breeding grounds in the Bono Region and urged Zoomlion Ghana Limited (ZGL) to intensify its larval management operation focused at immature mosquitoes.
“Despite the gradual reduction of malaria cases from 19,000 to 21,000 and 16,000 in 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively in the Berekum Municipal, we believe a lot of work needed to be done as well,” the chair of the Health Committee of Parliament, Dr Nana Ayew Afriyie, made the call during an inspection tour of some breeding sites in the Berekum Municipal, Bono Region, Wednesday, March 1, 2023.
The tour enabled the committee to get firsthand information about the larval control spraying operation of the Vector Control Services of ZGL which targets immature mosquitoes that may be developing in stagnant water.
The visit was also necessary because it will inform members of the committee in their deliberations to approve or otherwise of the budget for the project.
Addressing journalists after an inspection tour of some breeding sites in the Berekum Municipal, the chair of the Health Committee of Parliament, Dr Ayew Afriyie, said the committee decided to embark on the regional tour to ascertain the level of progress of work.
“As the people’s representatives, we are here to provide oversight, and see how the funds of the taxpayer is being applied when it gets to larvicidal control of malaria,” he said.
“We have a budget to approve. Normally, we will say the formula for the National Health Insurance Authority: it will be in the next two or three weeks. Before we approve the budget, we needed to see a few things and that include this larvicidal or vector control of malaria. We often, than not, in the year will make approval and that approval goes to a private company which is good. It is a PPP that is a modern trend of financing health practice which we all agree,” he went on to explain.
Furthermore, Dr Afriyie, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Effiduase Asokoroe, charged Zoomlion to involve more the staff of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP).
He underscored that NMCP was a part of the larval control operation of Zoomlion, adding that though the NMCP was to monitor the activities of Zoomlion, “it looks like there is a disengagement between the NMCP and the company.”
He stressed that it was the committee’s responsibility to ensure value for money in the award of these contracts to private entities.
“So we may be having results, but scientifically we need to put a lot of things on paper so that when we come in here we can look at it as a matrix and checklist it. …but in all we need the community to have value for money,” he insisted.
However, Dr Ayew Afriyie pointed out that there were issues with the project that needed to be addressed.
These, he mentioned, included some of the mapped out breeding sites not receiving continuous and effective spraying, and also the need for Zoomlion to have a schedule for the exercise.
The Ranking Member on the Committee and MP for Juaboso, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, asked Zoomlion to critically look at the strength of its spraying workforce and their welfare, indicating that this can have an adverse impact on the output of the project.
For his part, the Malaria Focal Person in Berekum Municipal, Joseph Gyebi-Buaben, revealed that there had been a gradual reduction of malaria cases in the municipal in the last three years (2020, 2021 and 2022).
Giving the breakdown, he disclosed that in 2020, the Berekum Municipal recorded malaria of 19,000 which slightly went up to 21,000 in 2021 and then reduced to 16,000 in 2022.
The General Manager (GM) of Vector Control Services of ZGL, Reverend Ebenezer Kwame Addae, said they work in collaboration with Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) and NMCP, who is the supervising agency.
“What we do includes mapping of mosquito breeding sites after which we move in to do larviciding which is the application of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) to kill all the larvae that we see in the stagnant water so that they will not grow to become adult mosquitoes,” he elucidated.
According to him, the Bti they use has 28 residual period, but added that in the event of a heavy rain “we go back and apply the larvicide.”
“We operate with a minimum of 20 sprayers in most of the districts, albeit there are some districts that have between 30 and 40 sprayers depending on the size of the district or the municipal, adding that even some have 50,” he revealed.
Rev Addae, who is also in charge of the National Mosquito Programme (NMP), contended that reducing mosquito populations required a collective strategy.
“In controlling mosquitoes, it takes a collective strategy. It is not only one strategy that we use but what we do is to try and control the larvae. And you know there are so many sources which serve as breeding grounds for mosquitoes,” he noted.
He said his outfit undertakes its operations in the districts with Malaria Focal Persons (MFPs), health and environmental officers as well.
“We do it in a scientific manner by first mapping the areas to know that yes it is feasible to apply the larvicide. If we map and we don’t see any larvae, we don’t work there. So we move from breeding site to breeding to site, that is, where there are stagnant water and when we get there we involve the community too in the exercise,” he stated.
He said the programme has been quite successful though he admitted that other interventions had also played a part.
“And this is evident in the statistics of reduced malaria cases in the Berekum Municipal as provided by the Malaria Focal Person in the Berekum Municipal,” he buttressed.
Rev Addae used the opportunity to advise Ghanaians to get involved in reducing the mosquito population in the country by ensuring that “we keep our environs clean and avoid the creation of stagnant water.”
A former president, John Dramani Mahama, has for the umpteenth time blamed the Akufo-Addo-led administration for the country’s economic woes.
Mr Mahama indicated that despite the hard work of his administration, Ghanaians decided to vote for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2016 general elections due to the “lofty” promises by the then opposition party in hope that their problems will be resolved.
However, they have been disappointed by the Akufo-Addo government, he said.
Speaking during his campaign launch to contest in the presidential primary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) ahead of the 2024 general elections, in Ho on Thursday, March 2, Mr Mahama said “This government has been clueless and in many ways callous the unthinkable has happened and our country today is broken on all fronts, Ghana is bankrupt.
“We are saddled with debts we simply can’t pay, we have suffered the global humiliation of defaulting on our debts and being downgraded by all credit rating agencies to the lowest level ever seen in our history”
He added “Our economy is in the worst ever shape with suffering and pain on an unprecedented level.”
He further said he does not take his decision to contest in the flagbearer elections of the NDC lightly.
In his view, the 2020 general election is the most important and defining poll in the Fourth Republic hence his decision to contest.
Speaking at his campaign launch in Ho on Thursday, March 2, he said “For the 2024 elections which I consider to be the most important and defining poll of our time, I have not taken this step lightly, it has been the product of months of prayer, broad consultations and sober reflections.
“I have searched my sole and paid close attention to your voices, to your daily struggles and to your present national predicament.”
He added “At this stage, Ghana demands experience not experiment, Ghana demands togetherness and not divisiveness, now is the time for the bravery of heart and clarity of purpose.”
A prospective New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Francis Addai-Nimoh, has questioned whether any Akufo-Addo cabinet minister can successfully steer the NPP to victory in the 2024 general election.
He claims that the party requires a “new face” in order to win the general election.
He made this statement after visiting the Manhyia Palace to declare his intention to run in the NPP presidential primaries.
There, the Asantehene advised the party to carefully select a candidate who is likely to win power.
“The mantra of the party now is, we need to break the eight. For the first time, we are ready to set this record in the political discourse of our country. I believe it is possible, it can be achieved. One of the conditions I have outlined about the possibility of this is that the party needs a new face. A new face that is unblemished, a new face that will come with a fresh appeal,” Addai-Nimoh said.
“A new face that has a natural appeal to unify people, not any anyone with an artificial ability but one that the people resonate with, and a new face that is not part of the current administration. That is what the records show, that if you have a candidate who is part of the outgoing government, you are not likely to win,” the flagbearer hopeful added.
Addai-Nimoh is on his second attempt, seeking to become the NPP’s presidential candidate for the 2024 general elections.
“So, I think we need a new face so that is what I have been championing to the grassroots and rank and file of the party that if we are determined, we can set this record by getting a new face and that new face is no other person than Addai-Nimoh.
Amina Mohammed was visiting the École Pays-Bas, which burned down less than two years earlier in a suburb of the capital Niamey due to a suspected electrical wiring failure and sweltering heat caused by the straw from which it was constructed.
“The trees we see planted in the schoolyard honor the memory of these young children”, said the Deputy Secretary-General.
The newly rebuilt school was repaired by the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF, with 21 new classrooms provided. Five classrooms were also renovated in the nearby school, École Gamkalé.
“In response, we worked together, Government, the community, the UN and other partners to renovate the school block at École Pay-Bas, build additional classrooms here at the École Gamkalé, provide essential furniture and learning materials, and ensure psychosocial support for affected teachers, families and students”, said Ms. Mohammed.
The rebuilt school of Pays-Bas reopened for 1,800 students, easing congestion at the neighbouring site.
She said that thanks to the “One UN” approach, and galvanized by ambitious Government thinking in the wake of the disaster, innovative solutions were embraced in the form of a hotspot digital community centre, providing “a safe space for students and the community to gain relevant knowledge of digital skills.
“This includes office automation, computer graphics, social media management, cybersecurity, computer maintenance and 3D printing”, she added.
The centre was fitted out last year by the UN development agency UNDP, and Children’s Fund, UNICEF, in partnership with the National Agency for the Information Society (ANSI).
Now, she said, “the Government aims to gradually install such innovative solutions in all schools of Niger, an inspiring vision that will require resources and unfailing partners’ support.”
She praised Nigerien authorities for taking “significant decisions that shows its commitment to improving children’s learning”, by committing 20 per cent of the overall national budget to education.
Students at the Pays-Bas school in Niamey, Niger meet the UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed.
“While straw classrooms are used to accommodate the 500,000 new students who begin primary school each year, they are neither a safe space, nor a conducive environment for developing the skills needed in today’s world”, Ms. Mohammed said.
There are around 36,000 straw classrooms remaining across the country, and the challenge of replacing them cannot be addressed by one partner alone, the deputy UN chief stressed.
“École Pays-Bas serves as a model for what can be achieved when key actors come together to support the Government in promoting creative and bold approaches to ensure all children have access to a safe learning environment which prepare them for the future.”
The UN not only helped with classroom rebuilding at the two schools. Some 900 school benches were provided, tables for students, more than 50 desks for teachers, and 30 blackboards.
She added that a holistic approach that goes beyond just providing infrastructure and equipment, is essential, to reach education targets.
“It requires enhanced curricula, sufficient teachers with enhanced skills, school health and nutrition in schools including school meals”, she said at the site visit, attended by top government and UN officials in Niger, as well as international representatives.
“It requires also to take integrated and efficient resilience and poverty reduction programmes to scale. It also requires ensuring that generation of students are not left out of education in fragile areas.”
Ms. Mohammed also took part in discussion with a group of students during the visit, to talk about their challenges, the opportunities that are open to them, and their hopes for the future.
Under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC), everyone has access to the complete spectrum of high-quality medical treatments they require whenever and wherever they need them, without having to struggle financially to do so.
It covers the full continuum of essential health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care. According to the latest UHC index Zimbabwe stands at 55% above the Sub-Saharan Africa average of 46%.
To make health for all (UHC) a reality for all in Zimbabwe, His Excellency Honorable Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care (MoHCC), Dr C.D.G.N Chiwenga recently launched the Health Resilience Fund (HRF), a pooled donor funding mechanism which seeks to accelerate progress towards achieving UHC. The fund was launched together with the National Health Strategy (NHS) 2021-2025, the NHS Investment Case and the National Health Sector Coordination Framework (HSCF). The priority interventions to be funded under the HRF will be informed by the NHS and the HSCF will enable stronger collaborations and coordinated response to the health issues in Zimbabwe.
Three UN Agencies (UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO) together with the MoHCC will take leadership in the implementation of the HRF. The donors who have pooled the funding into the HRF include the European Union, the Government of Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
Speaking during the launch of HRF and strategies, Dr Chiwenga emphasized on the importance of collaboration in the achievement of UHC. “As the name suggest the HRF is designed to ensure resilient and sustainable health system. The challenges and lessons learnt were critically analyzed to come up with health interventions which consider scarcity of resources and the need for improved efficiency in our programming,” he said.
“The government remains focused on achieving the highest standard of health care and quality of life possible for all its citizens,” he added.
The HRF is aligned with Zimbabwe’s National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) and the National Health Strategy (NHS) 2021-2025. The HRF will contribute improving health care for vulnerable mothers, new-born, children, and adolescents in Zimbabwe under the coordination of the MoHCC with support from WHO, UNFPA, and UNICEF. The Fund with a budget of approximately USD 90 million will focus on three health pillars: ending preventable maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent deaths; global health security; and health systems strengthening. WHO will provide technical and operational support to MoHCC in strengthening public health emergency surveillance and response at all levels of the health system including community level under the HRF.
The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Zimbabwe Mr Edward Kallon noted,“the HRF and the result of partnerships among partners, will also impact positively on other sectors, Education, WASH, gender equality and equity, job creation, thus enabling the achievement of other SDGs, including strengthening the resilience of the people of Zimbabwe,” he said.
Speaking during the HRF and strategies launch, European Union Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Jobst von Kirchman, highlighted “the EU committed $USD45 million towards the HRF. A healthy population is the engine of a country’s economy,” he said.
The MoHCC developed NHS (2021–2025) to guide the implementation of programs to improve the health and wellness of the population. The NHS (2021-2025) focuses on building on a resilient and sustainable health system premised on UHC policies approach. Given the considerable gap between the costs of the proposed set interventions and strategies of NHS 2021-2025 and resources available, the MoHCC developed the Investment Case to the National Health Strategy (2021–2025) to ensure mobilize required resources that will be directed towards prioritized high impact interventions. The need for collaboration and coordination remains key in accelerating the implementation of the NHS 2021-2025 as Zimbabwe progresses towards UHC.
In addition, to strengthen the intra-ministerial and multi sectoral coordination MoHCC developed the Health Sector Coordination Framework (HSCF). The latter’s main objective is to coordinate shared effort by the MoHCC and all key stakeholders with a stake in financing, planning, and implementing health related interventions to maximize health outcomes and ultimately attaining UHC.
Speaking on behalf of WHO Zimbabwe Country Representative a.i Professor Jean-Marie Dangou, Dr Lincoln Charimari (Emergencies Incident Manager) noted, “WHO remains committed to support Zimbabwe to achieve UHC. The HRF and new strategies are timely interventions that will significantly contribute towards building sustainable and resilient health systems which can adequately respond to public health emergencies and ensure health security.”
A policy research and advocacy non-governmental organisation, SEND Ghana, has cautioned the public about a potential breakout of children diseases in the nation, if authorities do not take swift action to solve the current lack of vaccines for children.
In a statement signed by its Deputy Country Director, Emmanuel Ayifah, the organization stated that the current situation is “hindering the country’s goal of attaining Universal Health Coverage and Sustainable Development Goals more broadly.”
It has, therefore, called for urgent steps to be taken to ensure that this situation is redressed so as to take away the tag over Ghana as a ‘stubborn child’ among global immunization bodies.
“For about a month now, health authorities have been paying lip service to resolving the shortage. It is reported that 10 out of the 16 administrative regions in Ghana are currently battling shortages of vaccines and are now turning nursing mothers away. This is hindering the country’s goal of attaining Universal Health Coverage and Sustainable Development Goals more broadly.
“The government of Ghana over the years have not fulfilled its co-financing obligation with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). Ghana is now considered a ‘stubborn child’ among global immunization bodies. While we recognize the current economic crisis in the country, important needs such as vaccination for children cannot be compromised,” the statement said.
The SEND Ghana boss further suggested that the government uses funds from the management of COVID-19 to remedy this situation, while urging that this is done urgently.
They also commended parliament for taking bold steps at ensuring that the government pays attention to this.
“We recommend that government retrieves monies used to purchase Covid19 vaccines that were not delivered as cited in the Auditor General’s 2022 report to purchase vaccines for children.
“We commend the Health Committee of Parliament for inviting the sector minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, to respond to questions regarding the shortage of the vaccine. We further appeal to parliament to use its powers to continue to sustain the pressure on the government until the vaccines are made available to all health centres across Ghana.
“We hope the government will speed up processes leading to the acquisition of vaccines to protect and guarantee the safety and well-being of children,” the statement added.
Earlier, the Ghana Health Service said a shortage of routine vaccines for children blamed for a measles outbreak that infected 120 would be resolved within weeks.
The authorities added that the shortage of vaccines against polio, hepatitis B, and measles, was caused by the depreciation of Ghana’s currency, with nursing mothers complaining for months of the shortage of vaccines meant for babies from birth to at least 18 months.
The situation became worse in February after major health facilities in 10 out of the 16 administrative regions of Ghana kept turning nursing mothers away due to erratic supply.
John Mensah Sarbah is recognized as being the first African and Ghanaian to achieve the rank of barrister.
He was born on June 3, 1864, in Anomabo to John Sarbah, a merchant and member of the Legislative Council of Gold Coast, and his mother, Sarah Sarbah.
Mr Sarbah schooled at the Cape Coast Wesleyan school which he later renamed Mfantsipim School before proceeding to the Queen’s College in Tauriton, Somerset in the United Kingdom.
He then continued to study law at the Lincoln’s Inn in London and was called to the English bar in 1887.
He was the first ever Ghanaian and African to have achieved that feat in the Gold Coast.
In 1901, he was appointed a member of the legislative council like his father and was re-appointed in 1906.
The Mensah Sarbah Hall; one of the traditional halls at the University of Ghana, was named after John Mensah Sarbah to honour his contribution to education in the country.
The Mensah Sarbah Hall is close to the Central Cafeteria and the Union House – the office of the Student Representative Council (SRC).
Members of this Hall are called Vikings.
The hall consists of a main hall built around a quadrangle and a number of annexes standing to the north and east. The last two south annexes are attached to the Hall.
John Mensah Sarbah is known for his famous educational quote; “When you educate a man, you educate a single individual, but when you educate a woman, you educate a whole nation”.
Mensah Sarbah died on November 1910.
Family Life:
In 1904, John Mensah Sarbah married Marion Wood from Accra and they had three children.
Contribution to education:
John Mensah Sarbah is known for his promotion of secondary education through various initiatives. He founded the Dutton scholarship at Queen’s College Taunton in memory of his younger brother, Joseph Dutton Sarbah who died there in 1892.
He joined his colleague William Edward Sam to promote Fanti Public Schools Limited and the Fanti National Educational Fund to improve educational facilities in the country and award scholarships.
He also started a scholarship scheme called Dutton Sarbah Scholarship at Mfantsipim School.
Even though Jerry John Rawlings is no longer with us, his significance and the tales surrounding him still fascinate and intrigue a large number of people.
One of such stories is how he came to be known, famously, as ‘Junior Jesus.’
For those who are unaware, many Ghanaians started calling the man by this name after he successfully completed his first coup d’état in the year 1979.
For quite a number of people at the time, Jerry John Rawlings had saved the country from a time of many wrongs, including corruption.
As has been explained by one of the mentees of the man touted as the father of the fourth republic of Ghana, the name was to signify two major aspects of the life of Rawlings.
According to Dela Coffie, the ‘Junior Jesus’ tag was principally a reflection of the JJ acronym of Rawlings’ name.
In effect, ‘Junior Jesus’ only stood for the same name as JJ, although that acronym actually stands for Jerry John.
But more significantly, the alias ‘Junior Jesus’ was to mirror the life of what many thought were attributes of Jesus Christ, the son of God.
Dela Coffie explained in a 2021 interview that Rawlings’ coming in at the time was to help get the people of Ghana out of what was an unjustifiable economic crisis in the country.
He added that this was because incidents like “tax evasion, bribery and corruption, nepotism, social injustice and the entrenchment of the few in government, had been the order of the day, thereby crippling the economy and creating hardships and sufferings for the ordinary man.
“At the time, Ghana was in the throes of food shortages and a dire economic situation that had led to rampant inflation. People had to walk hundreds of miles away to seek medical care, and essentials like key soap, sugar and whatnot which was not available.”
According to a report by online news ports, Opera News, Dela Coffie was of the view that Jerry John Rawlings’ 1979 coup redeemed Ghanaians from such hardships, bringing them relief.
He also explained that because of this, the people put their trust in his leadership and forthrightness, adding that it was for such a milestone in the country’s restoration that he was nicknamed the ‘Junior Jesus,’ while others simply called him the ‘savior.’
“Chairman Rawlings was touched by the cries, hunger and the suffering of the people, especially the ordinary people who could not afford a ball of kenkey. His emergence after the 1979 coup sent a spontaneous jubilation to the people throughout the country. He was hailed and received by Ghanaians for his boldness and forthrightness. Some even called him Junior Jesus and the Saviour,” he is reported to have said.
Jerry John Rawlings went on to become Ghana’s first elected democratic leader in the fourth republic, before he handed over power to John Agyekum Kufuor in 2001.
On November 12, 2020, JJ Rawlings died after a short illness.
As the nation takes up control efforts against an epidemic that has so far resulted in 5260 illnesses and 37 fatalities since September 2022, Mozambique today launched a cholera vaccine campaign that would reach around 720 000 people in eight districts.
People aged one year and older will be vaccinated in the five-day campaign, which started just 10 days after the country took delivery of vaccine doses. Alongside the vaccination campaign, health authorities are also reinforcing disease surveillance, prevention and control measures, treatment as well as raising public awareness to curb the spread of the disease and end the outbreak.
“The vaccination campaign will be crucial in stemming the spread of cholera and help save lives,” said Dr Severin von Xylander, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in Mozambique. “We are also working with the health authorities to bolster key outbreak response measures and have deployed staff in the three most affected provinces to support the provincial health authorities to detect, prevent and halt cholera this outbreak.”
WHO has also disbursed US$ 856 000 to support the response in Mozambique and provided medical supplies and medicines. Mozambique recorded a sharp increase in cases since mid-December 2022. Cholera has so far been reported in five of the country’s 11 provinces. The northern Niassa, Sofala and Tete provinces are the worst affected.
During the vaccination campaign vaccinators will use a mixed approach of vaccinating patients in health centres, through mobile teams and by door-to-door visits. Oral cholera vaccines will be used in conjunction with improvements in water and sanitation to control cholera outbreaks and for prevention in areas known to be high risk for the disease.
“We celebrate the launch of this vital immunization campaign alongside the Government of Mozambique and our Alliance partners.” said Thabani Maphosa, Managing Director, Country Programmes Delivery at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. “The recent rise in disease outbreaks and the risks they present demonstrate the importance of our work in funding the Global Oral Cholera Vaccine Stockpile, cholera response campaigns and access to outbreak response vaccines for diseases such as cholera, measles, yellow fever and polio.”
Despite a global shortage of cholera vaccines and increased demand due to a rise in outbreaks globally, WHO and its partners, including Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and have been able to supply vaccines to countries most affected by cholera in the southern Africa. Mozambique received around 720 000 doses of the oral cholera vaccine.
The strain on the availability of vaccines prompted the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision to temporarily suspend the standard two-dose vaccination regimen in cholera outbreak response campaigns, using instead a single-dose approach. The ICG is an initiative which aims to manage emergency supplies of vaccines and is a partnership of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Médecins sans Frontières United Nations Children’s Fund and WHO.
Cholera is an acute, extremely virulent infection that can spread rapidly and cause dehydration resulting in high morbidity and mortality. However, the disease is easily treatable. Most people can be treated successfully through prompt administration of oral rehydration solution or intravenous fluids.
The disease is endemic in Mozambique and, together with other diarrhoeal diseases, is a major cause of infant death. There are yearly outbreaks in the country’s northern provinces.
Cholera transmission is closely linked with poor sanitation and inadequate access to safe drinking water. Extreme climatic events such as droughts and floods are worsening the cholera risks. In Mozambique, floods due to the current rainy season have affected over 39 000 people, claimed nine lives and caused extensive damage to infrastructure, including roads, bridges, health centres and 76 000 homes.
Rapid diagnostic testing for everyone residing within 100 meters of newly confirmed cases helped break transmission chains and greatly increased the uptake of COVID-19 vaccinations through reactive immunization as Liberia battled escalating COVID-19 cases in 2022.
The community-based testing strategy to decentralize COVID-19 response allowed health workers to conduct door-to-door community sensitization to tackle COVID-19 misinformation, including myths about vaccination. The approach helped the country reach 81% vaccination coverage of the population by the end of 2022.
With financial and technical support from World Health Organization (WHO), mobile health teams administered tens of thousands of rapid tests in Nimba, Margibi and Montserrado counties, which are home to nearly half of Liberia’s total population.
With polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests mostly no longer mandatory for cross-border travellers, the community-based response initiative enabled surveillance and monitoring of epidemiological trends to augment virus control measures.
The initiative, which uses rapid tests to counter the challenge of identifying COVID-19 cases outside health facilities, was launched in Liberia in July 2022. By the end of last year, 74 000 rapid tests had been administered.
“Expanding testing in communities using the antigen tests is helping provide a better way for the country to respond to the pandemic,” says Chea Sanford Wesseh, Assistant Minister for Vital Statistics in Liberia’s Ministry of Health, adding that there are plans to broaden their use beyond the three counties.
In practice, the mobile teams target everyone living within a 100-metre radius of new confirmed COVID-19 cases, administering rapid tests to identify other potential cases. The technology is simple, making it suitable for use in all settings.
Anyone who tests positive and requires treatment is linked to their nearest health facility. In cases where patients are either experiencing mild symptoms or asymptomatic, they are managed under home- based isolation and care, receiving infection prevention and control materials, including information on COVID-19 risk factors and prevention measures such as vaccination and handwashing.
“With testing in communities, we are reaching both the asymptomatic and symptomatic cases. That way we are undertaking timely isolation of confirmed cases leading to a break in the chain of transmission,” explains Dr Monday Julius, the WHO team lead for health emergencies in Liberia.
The positive impact on vaccination uptake saw Liberia join Mauritius, Rwanda and Seychelles as the only four African countries to achieve the 70% global vaccination coverage target by December 2022.
Victoria Dekpah, a student at Nimba University in Liberia, was among those convinced to get vaccinated against COVID-19 when health workers visited her community.
“I didn’t think it was important to test. Many people were afraid of knowing their status and what would happen to them. But after listening to the health worker, I volunteered to take the test and it turned out positive. I isolated myself at home and the health worker visited me regularly until I tested negative again. I also got vaccinated thereafter,” she says.
Isaac Cole, County Surveillance Officer in Nimba, blames rampant misinformation surrounding COVID-19 for the reluctance among Liberians to accept testing and vaccination. But working with local leaders who are trusted by their communities, he says, is changing attitudes.
“The people now know that once they are tested and found to be positive, they will be taken care of either at the health facility or through the home-based care approach. When we go to communities, health workers also lead by example by being vaccinated first, as one of the ways of dispelling myths about vaccination and its effect on the body,” he adds.
WHO is supporting 18 other African countries to implement community-based COVID-19 response, with more than 400 000 rapid tests carried out to date. Across these countries, rapid testing currently accounts for at least 60% of all COVID-19 testing.
The National Chief Imam, His Eminence Usmanu Nuhu Sharubutu, paid a visit to Manhyia palace to express sympathy to the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II over the death of the Ashanti Regional Zango Chief, Sultan Umar Farouk.
The late Sultan, who was a close ally of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, died on Thursday, February 23 at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital after a protracted illness.
A Muslim delegation led by the National Chief Imam, the President of Tijaniyya Movement in Ghana, Sheikh Abdul Wadud Haroun Ciessey, and Alhaji Abdullah Ali Barry, Zango Development Chief (Nkosuohene) paid a courtesy call on the Asantehene at the Manhyia Palace.
“I know the strong ties between you (Asantehene) and the late regional Zango Chief. His death will obviously come as a big blow to you,” the National Chief Imam said through his spokesperson, Sheikh Armeyaw Shuaib.
“Allah is the one who gives and takes so we just have to thank Allah for a life well lived by the late Sultan Umar Farouk. It is important I come here, in person, to console you. The Muslim community in general has lost a good man.”
His Eminence Dr Sharubutu prayed for the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, and the entire the Asanteman for good health and sustainable peace.
The late Ashanti Regional Sarkin Zango, Sultan Umar Farouk, has since been buried in accordance with Islamic rites.
Twelve people have been detained for their involvement in illegal cyber crimes, according to the Ghana Police Service.
According to a statement issued by the Ghana Police Service on Thursday, March 2, 2023, the suspects engaged in the impersonation of prominent persons on social media to defraud unsuspecting victims.
“The Police through a sustained cyber-intelligence operation have arrested twelve (12) suspects and are pursuing over 25 others for their involvement in cyber-related crimes.
“Investigation has established that the modus of the criminal syndicate is to impersonate or hack into the social media accounts of prominent persons including Ministers of State, Members of Parliament (MPs), Heads of government institutions and corporate entities to defraud unsuspecting victims of various sums of money by promising them jobs, scholarships, publication of fake promotional advertisements and sale of products among others,” the police said.
The names of the 12 suspects were listed as Gideon Kove alias Billions, Felicia Nanewortor, Carl Kristal, Safari Zatey, Eric Acquah alias Cent Mona, Richard Agbadzi, Isaac Dortsue alias Barajah, Samuel Gadre, Moses Otchie alias Razak, Yonnah Boso, Sterling Kwame Doe and Wisdom Tornyie.
The police added that the operation to crackdown on cybercrimes has also led to the deletion of over 900 fake social media accounts created by the suspects.
“As part of the operation, nine hundred and seventy-three (973) fake social media accounts created by the suspects in the names of these prominent persons and corporate entities have been pulled down. 785 of the fake accounts were in the names of MPs, 62 in the names of security officials,136 for Ministers of State, Ambassadors and some heads of institutions.
“The Police have also recovered thirty-two (32) mobile phones, three (3) laptops and fifty-four (54) SIM cards used by the suspects to commit their crimes,” the statement added.
The police further tasked members of the public who have fallen victims to the arrested suspects to call the number 0249850601 which has been dedicated solely for the operation for further action.
The suspects according to the police are assisting in investigations and will be put before court to face justice.
Frances Awurabena Essiam, dismissed managing director of the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company (GCML), has apologized to President Akufo-Addo over her inappropriate remarks.
The vociferous immediate past MD of the Cylinder Company was dismissed from her position by President Akufo-Addo over undisclosed reasons and replaced with a new MD.
Interestingly, after her dismissal, Frances Essiam clandestinely tendered her resignation letter from her post last Friday.
She then went on media attack and accused the Minister for Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, of interference in her role as the Managing Director of the company.
She lambasted the Executive Secretary to President Akufo-Addo, Nana Bediatuo Asante over his conduct in the whole saga.
Frances Essiam claimed to have resigned on Friday February 24, 2023 but a letter from the Presidency signed by Nana Bediatuo Asante on February 21, 2023, went ahead and announced the appointment of Madam Genevieve Sackey as the new MD.
This upon realisarion did not go down well with Frances who vowed never to accept any appointment from the President again saying she is a woman of integrity.
“I’m a woman of substance. I don’t need any appointment from Nana Akufo-Addo. Loyalty, which is not respected, is not worth following and a party and nation that doesn’t reward its heroes and heroines is not worth dying for,” she said on UTV.
Shockingly, Frances Essiam has issued a statement Monday, begging President Akufo-Addo after her pompous and attacks in media.
She said “Your Excellency,
“I have reflected on the incidents following my permanent resignation as Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company Limited. Concerning your esteemed personality and ‘Office’ as The President and Primus Inter Pa-res of The Republic of Ghana and an elderly citizen, I render my sincere apologies to you.
“Your Excellency, I remain a committed member of the New Patriotic Party. Accept my highest assurance and warm regards. I wish the Government the best in all its endeavours.”
A bomb explosion incident has reportedly claimed the life of a serving soldier at the Bundase military training camp.
According to a report by Dailyguidenetwork.com the incident happened on February 28, 2023, at the camp in the Ningo Prampram District close to Saglemi.
The deceased was reportedly assigned to the camp at the beginning of this year after graduating from the Army Recruit Training School.
Prior to being posted to Bundase, the officer, only identified as Biney was residing at the Teshie Barracks in Accra.
The report said there has not been any immediate claim of responsibility for the incident which has since left residents of the Teshie Barracks in a sorrowful state.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Armed Forces is yet to issue a statement on the reported incident.
On Friday, March 3, Vice President Alhaji Dr. Mahmud Bawumia will unveil the renovated Kumasi Central Mosque in the Ashanti region.
The renovation and refurbishment of the Mosque, which is now one of the most modern edifices in Kumasi, was solely financed by the Vice President in fulfilment of a promise he made to the Muslim community in the Ashanti region.
The Kumasi Central Mosque is now the biggest and most spacious Mosque in the whole of the Ashanti region with a seating capacity of 7,000 congregants with 30 underground washrooms.
It is fully air-conditioned with 100 capacity ablution centre and 11 furnished offices.
Additionally, it has a 500-capacity conference hall, and a two-bedroom apartment, among other electrical fittings.
Ahead of the grand commissioning, groups of women from some Zongo communities have embarked on a clean-up exercise on the compound of the Mosque.
The clean-up exercise, involving Muslim women from the various political divide in the region, according to the organizers, demonstrated the unity among the women to undertake a just course in spite of their political differences.
It was also to sensitize the people in the Zongo communities to be sensitive to their environment and undertake regular clean-up exercises and imbibe in them the culture of maintenance in their communities.
Executive Director of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Professor Kenneth Attafuah, has reaffirmed that his organization is ready to issue two million Ghana cards in six months without holding a mass registration process.
The Electoral Commission (EC) is proposing a new constitutional instrument through which it intends to make the Ghana card the sole identification document for voter registration.
The Minority which is rejecting this move by the EC, is also casting doubts on the capacity of the NIA to issue Ghana cards to all applicants who have registered for the cards.
But speaking on the Point of View hosted by Bernard Avle, the NIA boss assured that without pressure on the necks of NIA staff, his team can print two million cards within six months to applicants.
“We can do two million cards easily in six months just operating normally. Last year, when we were not doing any mass registration, when we were not doing anything special, just operating normally, we registered over 1.5 million. So if we put our minds to it, knowing what’s at stake, knowing some of the concerns of Ghanaians, and wanting to serve, this is something we can easily design a model to address”.
He added, “within six months we can meet the expectations of Ghanaians, six months without pressure or massive mobilisation, we are doing our work at our own pace, we can deliver the 2 million cards”.
Professor Attafuah further stressed that his outfit has the capacity to print “500,000 cards in 11 days. The printers are there, and the staff are available”.
In an effort to represent the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as the party’s nominee in the general elections of 2024, the former president John Dramani Mahama will launch his campaign today, March 2, 2023.
‘Building the Ghana we want together’ will be the theme for launching his campaign which will take place in the Cedi Auditorium at the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho, in the Volta Region.
Aside from the former president, Dr. Kwabena Duffour, a former Finance Minister, Kojo Bonsu, a former Mayor of Kumasi, and Ernest Kobeah, a 43-year-old businessman based in the United Kingdom, are all running for the job.
The party is anticipated to conduct its presidential primaries on May 13, 2023.
After losing the previous two elections in 2016 and 2020, John Mahama intends to run for president again in the 2024 polls.
The former President, however, is confident that he has what it takes to assist the nation out of its current economic crisis.
Mahama’s former campaign manager, Joshua Alabi, and some Regional Chairmen of the National Democratic Congress picked up presidential nomination forms on his behalf.
Observers are backing calls for Mr. Mahama to go unopposed in the NDC’s upcoming presidential election.
Although the rules of the NDC permit an open contest for all qualified members of the party, allowing Mahama to go unopposed they believe will save the party both resources and time.
A political scientist and lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr. Abdul Jalilu Ateku, says he does not foresee any significant threat to the victory of Mahama in the NDC’s primaries.
Dr. Ateku anticipated that the former President will win by a landslide victory in the internal polls.
He said none of the presidential hopefuls who have declared their intentions to contest on the ticket of the opposition NDC comes out stronger than Mr. Mahama.
But the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said it is not perturbed about the decision of John Dramani Mahama to run for president.
Director of Communications for the NPP, Richard Ahiagbah said the party is not worried about a man who has no track record to show when he was president.
“We have beaten him twice, so you just conclude for yourself if we are afraid of him. It is all mathematical, and we have defeated him twice. He is even afraid to plainly declare whether he is going to contest or not. We are ready for him.”
In the coming two weeks, the country will assess some measles vaccines provided by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), according to Frank Annoh-Dompreh, the majority chief whip in parliament.
Several parts of the country have been hit with a shortage of vaccines in the last few months despite claims by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) that over GH¢70 million has been released for the procurement of the vaccines.
Frank Annoh-Dompreh was reacting to a statement by the MP for Tamale North, Alhassan Suhuyini on the outbreak of measles in the Northern Region, due to the shortage of vaccines in the country.
He said government is committed to addressing the challenge.
“It is a fact that it’s now three vaccines that are in shortage. The BCG, measles-rubella and oral polio. For all the other 10, we have enough in stock. I am also told that the Ministry has made some commitments. Some good monies have been paid to UNICEF and the vaccines relative to measles are delivered through air freight per the arrangements with UNICEF, the vaccines should arrive in a fortnight”.
Alhassan Suhuyini has expressed fear over the possible closure of schools in his constituency following the outbreak of Measles.
The lawmaker says schools in his constituency are likely to be closed down as a result of the shortage of vaccines in parts of the country.
“It’s beyond my area, and it’s alarming because it’s a very contagious disease, if care is not taken, very soon many schools will have to close down. It’s shameful that we should be talking about the outbreak of Measles given how far we have come. I’m greatly worried, it’s so disturbing that we couldn’t store the necessary vaccines for some of these preventable diseases.”
The Paediatric Society of Ghana last week disclosed that 120 cases of measles were recorded in the Northern Region by end of December 2022 due to the shortage of essential vaccines.
The shortage of vaccines has the potential to increase the vulnerability of children to the diseases the vaccines seek to protect them against.
The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has criticized the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for resisting the new Constitutional Instrument (CI) proposed by the Election Commission (EC).
The NDC is kicking against the EC’s proposed CI through which it intends to make the Ghana card the sole identification document for voter registration.
They have argued that the new CI if passed will disenfranchise majority of Ghanaians from registering for voter cards.
In an interview with Bernard Avle on the Point of View, the Director of Research and Elections of the NPP, Evans Nimako expressed concerns over the NDC’s penchant for challenging measures aimed at sanitising the country’s electoral system.
Mr. Nimako said he cannot fathom the fears of the NDC if the CI is passed by Parliament.
“My little worry about the NDC is that anytime there are any arrangements that seek to sanitise the registration exercise of the EC, they tend to disagree. We saw this when the new EC decided to put in place the new voter registration management system. They disagreed to the extent that they went to court and they failed.
“I’m not saying they shouldn’t challenge or bring alternatives. We have on a number of occasions disagreed with the EC. I don’t see their fears, but the question is, what does the NDC stands to lose if the EC at this point decides that we want to have a CI that will take away this whole issue about the guarantor system that gives us so much trouble,” he said on the Point of View.
The NPP’s Director of Research and Elections advised the NDC to return to the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) in order to have extensive discussions with the other political parties on the way forward.
“The NDC should eat their humble pie and come to IPAC so that we can have a discussion there so that we will not take this whole long time to discuss this issue,” he encouraged.
Mr. Nimako called on Ghanaians especially politicians to support the EC to deliver on its mandate.
“I think that the EC’s arrangements to have a CI that will allow only those who will want to have their names onto the register to use the Ghana cards must be supported by all,” he urged.
The president of the IMANI Institute for Policy and Education, Franklin Cudjoe, believes that granting the NIA control over Ghana’s 2024 elections will save the state money rather than the EC.
According to Mr. Cudjoe, the Electoral Commission’s insistence on the Ghana card as the sole document to add eligible voters to the electoral role due to NIA’s fool-proof authentication system as the EC claims should relieve the state of some financial burden especially in these hard times.
In a Facebook post made by the IMANI boss, he said the initiative will save Ghana about GH₵700 million.
“The Electoral Commission (EC) believes the National Identification Authourity’s ( NIA) Card is the only fool-proof card every Ghanaian needs to be registered on the voter roll. In fact, in the last election 10 million out of 13.2 million voters registered with the NIA card. So why not allow the NIA to manage the elections without the need of the EC?
“NIA’s officers can be deployed with their verification machines. Afterall the NIA card has every holder’s biometric details and needed profile such as age, sex, occupation etc. The system will accept only card holders aged 18 and above.
“We will be saving at least GHS 700m out of a potential GHS 1.5bn that may be budgeted for the EC to manage the elections. We also stand to save millions of dollars that the EC might suggest may be needed to upgrade their biometric verification systems,” he wrote.
The EC Chair during a briefing to Parliament Tuesday, February 28, 2023 told the House the use of the Ghana Card as the sole identification document for continuous voters’ registration will guarantee the credibility and integrity of the country’s voter register and aid elections as a whole.
Mrs. Mensa told the MPs the Ghana card will prune the register of any excesses that may compromise the document’s integrity.
While eliminating the guarantor system which was prone to abuse and promote conflicts and violence, she said it would also prevent costly, time-consuming and tedious follow-up exercises by the district registration review committee established nationwide.
Whilst some MPs raised concerns about the possibility of the new C.I disenfranchising eligible voters, Mrs. Adukwei Mensa said that will not be the case.
“The continuous registration process on the contrary will be inclusive as it will make it possible to capture all those who would otherwise have been excluded in a limited registration process.
“The exercise is not a periodic or limited one that could lead to disenfranchising persons who do not possess the Ghana Card.
“More especially it will prevent unqualified persons from influencing our elections and having a say as to who should govern our country. This is an issue that borders on the sovereignty of our nation. Simply put, only eligible Ghanaians must be entitled to vote,” she stated.
Meanwhile, Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Professor Ken Attafuah, insisted that his outfit was ready to issue Ghana cards to eligible citizens voters to aid the EC in the registration process.
READ ALSO: Bright Simons questions Energy Ministry’s request to Parliament to borrow $1.65bn
The PTC Interchange alongside other ongoing projects would be completed, the Western Regional Minister Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah has assured the chiefs and residents of the region.
This follows speculation that the Takoradi PTC Interchange, currently under construction in the twin-city of Sekondi-Takoradi, may not be completed because the contractor – Power China Sino-hydro Construction for some months now has abandoned work.
The 30-month interchange project, which is three-tier, is intended to receive and redirect access to the central business district, a hitherto congestion area.
The interchange is also expected to improve traffic flow in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis and provide seamless connection to towns, districts and other parts of the region.
The unannounced halt of work became a source of worry to many residents, but the regional minister said all government projects started by President Akufo-Addo would be completed.
“As we wait for the return of the contractor, everything is being done to ensure that the construction site, which is still receiving and distributing traffic in and out of the metropolis, is kept safe,” he said.
Rains, safety of site
Mr Darko-Mensah said the regional office, through the metropolitan and municipal assemblies, had taken note of the approaching rainy season to ensure that areas cordoned off did not fall on the street or inflict injuries on pedestrians, the motoring public or obstruct traffic.
The twin-city and the region, he said, had become economically vibrant with many activities, including banking, oil and gas, port, logistics bays, insurance and other financial services, hence the need to ensure improved infrastructure to contain the demands.
He said there were other interchanges to be constructed in Sekondi-Takoradi, including one at the Paa-Grant Roundabout, and that the Chinese contractor would return to complete the project.
Market Circle
Meanwhile, the contractor working on the redevelopment of the Takoradi Central Market has also slowed down work amidst heightened fear of redundancy due to financial issues.
The vigour with which the contractor started redevelopment works on the 100-year-old Takoradi Market Circle project has gone down.
There is currently a skeletal staff doing minimal works.
The redevelopment of the Takoradi Market Circle being undertaken by Messrs.
Contracta Costruzioni Italy SLR, is expected to be completed this year but it is not certain if that will happen.
The more than €48 million project is being financed by the Deutsche Bank S.p.A Italy.
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, cut the sod for the project in 2020.
Markets
“For the ease of doing business within the local communities and to improve trading activities in the region, 10 new markets are set for construction in the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies across the region aside from the Takoradi Central Market.
“With this, we expect that our traders and foodstuffs from the farms to the market will benefit with the creation of the perfect ambiance for business,” he said.
Work on the ongoing redevelopment of the Takoradi Central Market, popularly known as Market Circle, he said would come with more enhanced features expected of modern places designated for trading activities.
The first phase of the new market, he said, was almost done and that the facility promised to be the best and “a facility that adds up to our quest to position Sekondi-Takoradi and the region as the perfect place for doing business and I can assure the people that it will be completed”.
Water projects
The region, he said, had also been given 160 boreholes, “which are currently being constructed to help hard-to-reach areas have access to water, in line with SDG Goal 6”, adding, “Access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene is the most basic human need for health and well-being”.
The government, he said, would continue to touch and improve the quality of life of the people “we aside from all the challenges triggered by global issues will ensure that our people do not lack the basic needs to make life comfortable for the people.
“With our annual Christmas in the city, which goes beyond usual festivities of masquerades – provides the perfect platform for business to business discussions during the celebration, already there are great results and we will continue to create the ambiance and lingering business linkages,” he said.
For fire and other safety issues, he said 14 fire stations would be built and dedicated to all districts in the region.
The fire stations, Mr Darko-Mensah said had become more important owing to the increase in social and economic activities, movement of goods and services.
The fire stations are not just for extinguishing fires in the districts but also for protecting lives and property in the event of fires in their area and rescuing people in the event of a road traffic collision.
Other facilities
He said the fire station would also enable personnel to take proactive steps to identify and assess the full range of forseeable fire and rescue-related risks their areas faced, make provision for prevention and protection activities and respond to incidents appropriately.
The region, aside having social infrastructure development, is developing sports and other facilities.
“Aside from other completed sports facilities, 10 more AstroTurf are set to be constructed to cover every district in the region”.
The construction of these AstroTurf comes with sustainable features for other social engagements.
The Western Region, which continually maintains its place in the Ghana Premier League, would see development of more talents through the provision of these sports facilities.
An aspiring flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, launched his campaign by paying a visit to the party’s Greater Accra Regional caucus.
The visit was aimed at seeking the permission of the regional executives to embark on a regional tour to share his vision and aspirations with the delegates of the party in the region.
Dr Duffuor and his entourage were received by the Regional Chairman, Emmanuel Nii Ashie Moore; the Regional Secretary of the party, Theophilus Tetteh Chaie, and other top officials of the party in the region.
Ahotor, pension scheme
The former minister of finance and former governor of the Bank of Ghana stated that over the years, the party’s grassroots had been neglected despite continually pushing the agenda of the party.
He, therefore, pledged to enhance the grassroots through his Ahotor project, an economic empowerment programme that would offer employment opportunities to the youth and the grassroots in order to win the 2024 general election.
In a similar vein, Dr Duffuor pledged to institute a pension scheme for the party aged who had served the NDC loyally over years.
That, he believed, would motivate their children to join the party and take up the mantle of championing the interests and aspirations of Ghanaians.
Dr Duffuor pledged to put up appropriate regional and constituency offices in areas that lacked proper party structures.
“When I went round the country, I was saddened because we were having our meetings in classrooms and churches while the other party had offices; we are bigger than them so that should not be the case,” he said.
He noted that during the 2016 and 2020 general elections, the party had some challenges in the collation of results which partly contributed to their loss and vowed to establish a secured real-time electoral mechanism that would monitor the elections.
Maximise votes, itinerary
Mr Moore stated that the party’s goal was to maximise votes in the Greater Accra because it was a decisive region and as such would lay down foundations for fair competition between aspirants.
He, therefore, urged all aspirants to run a clean campaign devoid of insults and badmouthing because, at the end of the internal elections, it could be used against the party in the general election.
Mr Chaie noted that the visit was a sign that the Duffuor campaign understood the structures and hierarchy of the party at the regional level.
He, therefore, advised them to create and submit a comprehensive itinerary that would outline how they intended to visit the various constituencies and branches in the region.
According to Samuel Abu Jinapor, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, government has adjusted its goal for the Green Ghana Initiative this year in order to focus on catering for the trees that have already been planted throughout the country.
The Minister revealed this when he announced government’s intention to plant 10 million more trees this year.
Government, despite its target to plant 20 million trees in 2022, planted some 22,671,696 million trees across the 16 regions of the country instead.
According to the Lands Minister, this year, the target was reviewed downwards as government wants to give more attention to nurturing the already over 30 million planted trees over the two years.
This is to ensure the tress reach maturity.
Speaking to journalists, on Tuesday, 28 February 2023, the lands Minister urged Ghanaians to own the initiative by government.
“This year the president of the republic has decided that we lower the target to 10 million trees,” Mr Jinapor stated.
“This is to enable us devote much attention to nurturing over 30 million trees already planted to ensure that all of them reach maturity,” the Minister added.
The Minister further disclosed that his Ministry is partnering with the departments of parks and gardens and the urban roads to implement a Green Street Project.
Under the Green Street Project, trees are being planted in the medians of streets and avenues of major roads in the various cities across the country to beautify the cities at the same time fight climate change.
President Akufo-Addo announced the Green Ghana Initiative to rally Ghanaians for a nationwide tree-planting exercise.
The Minister for Lands in March 2021, launched the maiden greening project as part of activities to mark the International Day of Forests on 21 March.
According to Samuel Abu Jinapor, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, tracking excavators has been found to be one of the most successful strategies to combat the menace of unlawful small-scale mining (galamsey).
He said it also repositions the small-scale mining sector as a sustainable source of livelihood for local people.
Mr Jinapor said these when speaking at a meet-the-press series in Accra on Tuesday, February 28.
The Damongo lawmaker said the Minerals Commission will install tracking devices on 4,000 excavators and earthmoving equipment as the government scales up the fight against galamsey.
After successfully tracking 75 excavators for the past three months, the commission was better placed to bring on board 4,000 excavators and earthmoving equipment before the end of the year.
The minister said it was in line with that that the government reduced withholding tax on unprocessed gold by small-scale miners, which was introduced in 2015, from three per cent to 1.5 per cent.
“This has resulted in a massive increment in gold exports from small-scale mining from 3,429.91 kilogrammes (Kg) in 2021, to 22,158.25kg in 2022.
The Coalition of Aggrieved Customers of Menzgold Ghana is not backing down in its efforts to retrieve locked-up funds.
They have appealed to President Akufo-Addo to urgently address the issue in the upcoming State of the Nation’s Address (SONA).The President is expected to present the SONA to Parliament on March 8, 2023.
In a statement, the Coalition stated that the President’s decision on how the government will pay the locked-up investment in Menzgold will help customers retrieve their funds. The Coalition’s leadership first presented a petition to the President on September 12, 2022, requesting his intervention in their quest to retrieve their monies.
They have since been appealing to the President to intervene in their plight and help resolve the issue to save lives since nearly 200 customers have already died.
Meanwhile, the Director of Operations at the Office of the President has asked aggrieved customers of the embattled gold dealership company, Menzgold, to exercise patience with the government.
Mr. Lord Commey, who received the petition on behalf of President Akufo-Addo, assured the aggrieved customers that the government would not neglect them.
In 2018, Menzgold was asked to suspend its gold trading operations with the public by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The SEC said this was in contravention of “section 109 of Act 929 with consequences under section 2016 (I) of the same Act.”
According to the SEC, Menzgold had been dealing in the purchase and deposit of gold collectibles from the public and issuing contracts with guaranteed returns with clients without a valid license. Since then, some aggrieved customers have protested on different occasions for their locked-up money to be released. Despite these protests, customers have yet to receive their money.
But Mr. Commey stresses that the Akufo-Addo government is committed to reimbursing aggrieved customers.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) prices are set to increase by approximately 4.36%, from their current average of GHS 13.86 per kilogramme to GHS 14.46 per kilogramme, according to a statement issued by the Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC).
The price increase is due to a rise in the commodity’s price on the international market.
The statement explains that “with the international price increasing from US$699.45/MT to US$702.50/MT (4.94%), the projected retail price of LPG is expected to increase by about 4.36% from the current average of 13.86/kg to GHC14.46/kg.”
The statement also notes that LPG consumption has decreased due to the country’s recent high retail prices.
“The current high retail prices of LPG have contributed to consumption generally dropping by 12% year over year in 2022,” it adds.
Last year, the price of LPG was increased more than three times, which was attributed to the fall of the cedi and the rapid increase in price hikes on the international market.
In other news, the COPEC predicts that fuel prices will decrease by an average of four cents per litre, beginning Wednesday, March 1, 2023.
The Chamber indicates that the expected drop in fuel prices would not be influenced by the government’s “gold for oil” programme.
The National Identification Authority (NIA) has been assured by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta that the GHC20 million budget allocation will be released so that the authority may carry out its functions and issue Ghana Cards to the public.
Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, February 28, he assured that the government was ready to support the electoral process.
“We agreed on a hundred million cedi transfer and 80 million has been put into the accounts and 20 million will be done by the close of business today.
“We are very comfortable about the situation to ensure the needed cash will be given to the NIA to do its work,”Mr Ofori-Atta said.
He added “The government has been extremely good about funding elections and once the NIA’s job is liked to the elections, we can assure the House that the resources needed will always be provided.”
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has assured the National Identification Authority that the GHC20 million budget allocation will be released to enable it go ahead with its operations.#3NewsGH pic.twitter.com/LWC4IpxnXn
— #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) March 1, 2023
Officials of the NIA and the Electoral Commission (EC) were in Parliament on Tuesday to brief the House on the proposed Constitutional Instrument (CI) that is seeking to make the Ghana Card the sole identification document for voter registration.
The Chair of the EC Jean Mensa told Parliament that the use of the Ghana Card as the sole identification document for voter registration will ensure a credible voter roll.
She said it will also prevent minors and foreigners from getting onto the electoral register to vote.
Madam Jean Mensa said “The use of only Ghana Card will ensure and guarantee the credibility of the register and elections, prevent enrolment of minors, prevent foreigners from voting, eliminate the guarantor system which is prone to abuse.”
“The Ghana Card will not be used for voting in 2024, it will be used to register,” she said.
Regarding a revelation by Tamale South Member of Parliament Haruna Iddrisu that there were about 3.5million people without Ghana Crad, she said the National Identification Authority (NIA) has told the commission that ” there are 3.5 blank cards in the warehouse, money have been released and funds are being released.”
The Minority have been raising issues against the proposed CI.
The University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) has appointed Dr. Ibn Kailan Abdul-Hamid as the new head for the Department of Marketing.
His appointment took effect from January 1, 2023. He takes over at a time when the Department of Marketing is undergoing major transformation and expansion in areas such as new programme development, faculty growth and an increased student population.
Dr Abdul-Hamid, holds a PhD in Marketing from the University of Ghana. He has Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from the Institute of Professional Studies (IPS) and a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Marketing.
He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)—UK, the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG), and the Association of International Business.
Dr Kailan Abdul-Hamid, an alumnus of UPSA, revealed in an interview with UPSA Media that he plans to collaborate closely with other faculty members to develop marketable programs to increase overall student enrollment.
“I am also looking forward to improving student services at the department while developing mentorship programmes and activities to enhance student performance,” he said.
He also intends to make an impact in areas of staff welfare and faculty capacity building, where he plans to encourage collaboration, mentorship and team spirit with other faculty to help with the promotion of faculty members.
About Dr Ibn Kailan Abdul-Hamid
Dr Abdul-Hamid joined the University of Professional Studies, Accra, as an Assistant Lecturer in 2016. After two years of exceptional service, he was promoted to the rank of lecturer in 2018 by the Management of the University.
In 2019, he was appointed the first Coordinator of the MABC programme where he was instrumental in increasing the number of course enrolments from 18 students in 2019 to 76 in 2020, 120 in 2021, and 150 in 2022.
He is an astute lecturer and has published in many reputable journals. He has also demonstrated sufficient capacity to build strong relationships with students, faculty, and alumni – a skill many believe will make him successful in his new role.
Minister of Lands and Natural Resource, Samuel Abu Jinapor, is optimistic that the state will be victorious in its case against galamsey kingpin, Aisha Huang, whose alleged unlawful activities have destroyed the environment.
For Mr Jinapor, it is imperative the state addresses the case with all the seriousness it deserves so it serves as a signal to other culprits of illegal mining that the government would no longer be dormant in the enforcement of the law.
Speaking to the media, he said “We will prosecute this case with the vigour that it requires so that it will serve as a clear signal in the country that Ghanaian law will be applied and applied to the letter.”
“So let me assure you that prosecution is being waged relentlessly and when it is all said and done we will secure a conviction,” he added.
Aisha Huang (En Huang) is standing trial for her alleged involvement in illegal mining activities after it was found out that she returned to the country despite being repatriated.
Per reports, upon her arrival, she resumed her galamsey activities.
The Attorney-General, Godfred Dame, following reports on her arrival, called for the docket on Aisha Huang from the police to enable his office to prepare a complete docket covering offences from 2018 to the present.
In 2018, the Chinese illegal mining ‘queen’ faced three counts of undertaking small-scale mining operations, contrary to Section 99 (1) of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703); providing mining support services without valid registration from the Minerals Commission, contrary to the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703) and illegal employment of foreigners, contrary to the Immigration Act, 2000 (Act 573).
An Accra Circuit Court hearing the case has since September 2022 allowed five witnesses to mount the witness box to testify.
Timothy Teye Ali, a farmer at Sukuumu, Bepotenten, in the Amansie Central District of the Ashanti Region, who was the fifth to appear before the court said Aisha Huang’s activities led to the destruction of River Offin and other water bodies in the Ashanti Region.
Timothy Teye Ali told the court that in 2017, he was contacted by one James Ogbey over his interest in purchasing land to mine gold.
He added that after an assessment of what he had to offer, they came to an agreement on GH¢28,000 as the final charge.
He continued that he was then informed by Ogbey that the accused, Aisha Huang, was on that day elsewhere and for which reason she could not be present with them.
On Tuesday, February, 28, 2023, the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu and other agency heads failed to honor an invitation from parliament to respond to issues regarding the shortage of vaccines for children.
For the past few months, certain vaccines needed for the routine immunization of infants from 12 to at least 18 months have been scarce without a readily available solution.
The measles-rubella vaccination, the BCG vaccine, and the poliovirus vaccine, according to Ghana Health Service (GHS), are the vaccines that are out of stock.
The vaccines were planned for purchase in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Speaking to the media, the Director General of GHS, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, indicated that the service was unable to purchase the aforementioned vaccines due to the depreciation of the Ghana Cedi.
The Ghana Health Service, the Finance Minister, and other agency heads were subsequently invited by the Parliament’s Health Committee to an urgent meeting on Tuesday, February 28 in response to the troubling situation.
With the exception of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), The Minister of Health and the other heads of agencies, however, did not show up for the meeting.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, February, 28, Chairman of the Health Committee, Nana Ayew Afriyie stated that with the exception of the Health Ministry’s Chief Director, who said the Ministry had written to the Committee to request an extension, the other agencies had not provided specific justifications for not honouring the invitation.
“Unfortunately for us this morning, the Minister of Health is not here and the Ghana Health Service is not here, the Vaccine Control Programme is not here, but we have the National Health Insurance Authority and business will however go on.
“I am not aware of the reasons why the state agencies are not here, but I have just been on the phone with the Ministry of Health’s Chief Director, and she told me that she has sent a letter to the Committee asking for a rescheduling of the date to March 7 because of the unavoidable absence of the Minister, but I am yet to see a letter to that effect,” he added.
An officer from the Reproductive and Child Health Unit Ms Aboagye-Mensah has disclosed a total number of 23 maternal mortalities in 2022 which is a reduction from the 2021 figure of 25 at the Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate.
In a presentation at the annual performance review of the Directorate in Tema, she indicated that the metro in 2018 recorded 31 deaths, which dropped to 18 in 2019 but rose to 25 in 2020.
She further indicated that the maternal mortality ratio for the period was 286 per every 100,000 live births compared to 294 for 2021.
Ms Aboagye however stated that the figure was very high to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 70 Standard.
According to her, Tema Regional Hospital (General) documented 19 of the instances reported in 2022, while Raphal Medical Centre, Bethel Hospital, J. H. Restoration Medical Center, and Narh Bita Hospital each reported one case.
She offered a breakdown of some of the contributing reasons, including logistical issues, personal and family issues, issues with the transportation and communication systems, and issues with the health care workers themselves.
As additional contributing causes, she also included antenatal non-attendance, referral delays, medication, a lack of ambulances at referral facilities, blood, hypertension, ventilators, diabetes, subpar examinations, and a dearth of critical care units.
According to Ms. Aboagye-Mensah, suggestions being considered to lower maternal mortality in the metro area include increasing capacity, closely monitoring patients after surgery, intensifying client education, outfitting the ICU, holding blood donation exercises, using appropriate clinical management, and making referrals quickly and effectively, among other things.
She explained that the number of stillbirths represented 25.8 rates per 1,000 live births.
She said even though 213 stillbirths were recorded it showed a decrease over the 220 recorded in 2021, the rate was still high and needed to be reduced.
A teenage schoolgirl who lived off of a diet mainly consisting of croissants for around a decade has finally been able to start to recover from her eating disorder.
Ciarra Franco, 13, became terrified of trying new foods after almost choking as a toddler, with her mum Angela spending years struggling to get her to eat a variety of things.
Franco, from Gravesend, Kent, refused to eat school dinners when starting reception, only feeling comfortable with a packed lunch of croissants, and occasionally another French pastry.
She did this every day since starting school.
But thankfully, she has now been able to broaden what she eats after her family reached out to a hypnotherapist specialising in treating children with selective eating disorders.
The support she received ended up changing Franco’s life, and, for the first time, Franco has been able to enjoy a croissant with a variety of fillings such as chocolate, and has tried new foods including a Chinese takeaway, and fruits including pineapple.
Franco’s story is being shared to mark Eating Disorders Awareness Week, which this year runs from 27 February-5 March, and raise awareness of Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (AFRID).
According to the eating disorders charity Beat, AFRID is a condition where someone avoids certain foods or types of food, restricts their intake in terms of overall amount eaten, or does both,
They may do this for different reasons, including being hyper-sensitive to taste, texture, smell or appearance of certain foods, or can only eat things at a specific temperature. They might also have had a distressing experience with food, like choking (similar to Franco), vomiting, or bad abdominal pain.
This can lead to people eating only what they consider ‘safe’ foods, with them fearful of what might happen after eating.
“When she was born, Ciarra spent a lot of time in the hospital for bronchitis and other lung-related issues for the first two years of her life,” her mother explains.
“Then at two, she choked on a sweet.
“So, I do think that there was always a subconscious element to why she struggled with trying new foods so much.”
Her limited eating has always been a worry for her family, something they were desperate to understand and help with.
“Ciarra has always tried so hard to try new foods, but it’s like there’s a mental block from her putting the fork in her mouth,” explains Angela.
“We’ve never forced her to try new things, and when she gets stressed out or upset about it, we always let her know that it’s ok, and that she doesn’t have to force it.”
There were some other foods Franco was okay with, but croissants were the main one.
“Since she was two, one of the only things she has eaten constantly is croissants for lunch and plain pasta for her dinner,” her mum continues.
“She’d occasionally try plain cereal, like cornflakes, and ready salted crisps, but she’s had a croissant every day for lunch for as long as I can remember.
“She’d occasionally tried a pain au chocolate or a brioche too, but she really preferred croissants.
Angela always sensed her daughter’s eating issues were quite deep-rooted.
“We always knew that she wasn’t just a fussy eater, but it was always quite upsetting for her when we’d go for meals out or get a takeaway that she wouldn’t eat what we were having,” she says.
Franco was labelled as a “fussy eater” by medical professionals who claimed “she will eat when she wants to.”
“They would all say she’s just being fussy, or she’s having tummy troubles,” Angela adds.
“As a parent, all you want is for your child to eat and for them to be comfortable with what they are eating.
“People really don’t understand that it is an illness, not just fussiness.”
Angela eventually decided to contact hypnotherapist David Kilmurry, after spotting an article in a local paper about a similar case he’d helped with.
After just six weeks with him, where Franco listened to relaxation MP4s before meals, used an achievement chart, and expressed her food fears, she can now enjoy a takeaway with her family.
Kilmurry explains: “ARFID had caused Ciarra social exclusion and her love of gymnastics was on the knife’s edge thanks to the tiring effects of the low-grade, sugar-rich food intake which restricted her to just a few beige foods.”
“After the first hypnotism, Ciarra ate an array of colourful fruits, vegetables and salad foods without hesitation and rated them all very highly,” Kilmurry adds..
“This continued and mum Angela jokingly complained that Ciarra was eating her out of house and home, with Chinese food becoming a new favourite.
Franco’s improvement mean that for the first time in 10 years the whole family can sit down together and enjoy a meal.
“She’s tried so many new foods since her hypnotherapy, and whilst she’s still got a long way to go, her palate has changed massively,” says Angela.
“Some of her favourite things to eat now include sweet and sour chicken, roast potatoes with seasoning, and even pineapple.
“She’s still trying new things every day, it’s an amazing achievement!”
While she’s still making daily progress with her recovery, for now, she still feels most comfortable with croissants for her packed lunch.
Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has claimed that government is deliberately sabotaging the work of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) by withholding funds.
In a Facebook post on February 28, 2023, Mr Ablakwa reported that government has chosen to pay salary to a Special Assistant at the OSP classified as a Political Appointee at the Presidency and ignore Mr Kissi Agyebeng who heads the Office.
“Why is this Special Assistant being paid from the Presidency, particularly when Parliament discovered last December that his boss, the OSP has not been paid for an incredible 16 months?” the legislator quizzed.
He also raised eyebrows over the said “independence” of the OSP since a member of the Office has been tagged as a political appointee at the Presidency.
“Why is a Special Assistant at the Office of the Special Prosecutor classified as a Political Appointee at the Presidency? How does this development help protect the independence of the Office of Special Prosecutor?” Mr Ablakwa further stated.
The North Tongu MP has therefore called on the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, to reach out to the public and clarify the issues being raised.
The OSP is mandated to investigate and prosecute cases of alleged or suspected corruption and corruption-related offenses in the public and private sectors, recovering the proceeds of such by disgorging illicit and unexplained wealth and taking steps to prevent corruption.
With regards to the performance of its functions, the Office is not subject to the direction or control of any person or authority, except as provided in the Constitution.
This is not the first time Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa has raised concerns over the kind of portfolios as well as the number, set up by the Presidency.
Some of the positions Mr Ablakwa has a hard time appreciating include; Youth Ambassador for Diaspora Affairs, Chief Executive of Public Sector Reforms, Overseer
of the National Cathedral, Church Relations Manager, Diaspora Church Mobilization Officer, Director of Special Projects, Technical Director to the Presidential Advisor on Media,
just to name a few.
He noted that “considering Ghana’s current unprecedented economic catastrophe, it is extremely difficult to understand why the numerous strange portfolios President Akufo-Addo created at the presidency years ago under the rather convenient category of political appointees continue to exist as a reckless drain on scarce taxes.”
According to Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, government has been excellent about funding Ghana’s elections and will continue in that stead.
He said these in Parliament when he joined officials from the Electoral Commission (EC) and the National Identification Authority (NIA) to brief the House on the proposed Constitutional Instrument that is seeking to make Ghana Card the sole identification document for voter registration.
“The government has been extremely good about funding elections and once the NIA’s job is liked to the elections, we can assure the House that the resources needed will always be provided.”
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has assured the National Identification Authority that the GHC20 million budget allocation will be released to enable it go ahead with its operations.#3NewsGH pic.twitter.com/LWC4IpxnXn
— #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) March 1, 2023
The Chair of the EC Jean Mensa for her part said among other things that the Ghana Card will not be used to vote in the 2024 general elections.
She said the Commission is seeking to use the card for the voter registration exercise.
Madam Jean Mensa said “It is important to rehash that the use of the Ghana Card as the sole document of identification will ensure and guarantee the credibility and integrity of our register and elections, it will prevent the enrolment of minors to register, it will prevent foreigners from being registered to vote and it will eliminate the guarantor system which is prone to abuse and which promotes conflicts and violence.”
“The Ghana Card will not be used for voting in 2024, it will be used to register,” she added.
Former Deputy Minister for Works and Housing, Eugene Boakye Antwi has questioned why Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has remained in that position despite prior calls for his resignation or removal.
Mr. Boakye Antwi, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Subin constituency in the Ashanti Region, cannot fathom why Mr. Ofori-Atta is still leading negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $3 billion bailout package, although there are competent persons within the party to handle such duties.
Speaking on Face to Face on Citi TV, the Subin MP who has in the past mounted a campaign to get Mr. Ofori-Atta kicked out asked: “what is so special about Ken Ofori-Atta that the ordinary NPP member doesn’t have?”
The Subin Member of Parliament said running a bank cannot be equated to successfully running an economy of a country such as Ghana.
“We cannot all run banks but some of us have common sense, that is why we are Members of Parliament.”
“When I go to subin, I see poverty, I see hardship, and I see people suffering and all these are due to the economy and the person running the economy,” he told Umaru Sanda Amadu on Face to Face.
On Saturday, February 25, 2023 some residents of Mankessim nearly lynched a woman in her fifties who attempted to covertly bury her deceased spouse in a bush.
The woman had failed to locate relatives of Aggrey Coffie, her late husband who was a popular Lotto Agent whom she has had been staying for over 20 years.
Information from sources indicate the late husband contracted an undisclosed illness which she tried to get him healed after failing to locate any of his relatives but all efforts proved futile leading to his death.
With the help of some men she hired, they put the late deceased’s remains in a sack and tried burying him in the bush around 7:30 pm Saturday night.
But, some neighbours who had a tip-off busted the woman and nearly assaulted her.
Meanwhile, Kasapa FM’s Yaw Boagyan gathered from some neighbours that the deceased always got angry whenever he was asked of his roots, making it difficult for the poor wife to know any relations of his.
According to them, the deceased never talked to them anytime he came back from work for over 15 years of staying with him, as some believe he was a ghost living among them.
An official of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Mr Kwesi Kyei, at the weekend cut the sod for the construction of a state-of-the-art E-learning centre for the Kojina/Subri Nkwanta communities in the Western North Region.
Mr Kyei said the project, funded by the GNPC, was in fulfilment of a request made by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai, Mr Alfred Obeng Boateng.
A needs assessment was made with the beneficiary communities, and it came to light that there was a dire need for the facility, hence the decision to construct it.
He said though the GNPC used to sponsor the activities of the Ghana Black Stars, the sponsorship had been extended to cover important projects like scholarships, educational infrastructure, toilet facilities, mechanised boreholes as well as training programmes for artisans.
Mr Kyei urged the youth to develop interest in science courses at the tertiary level so as to benefit from the scholarship programme.
He assured the community members that funds were available for the full completion of the project on schedule.
Mr Paul Andoh, the constituency’s first vice chairman of the New Patriotic Party, who represented the MP, expressed his heartfelt gratitude to GNPC for the gesture.
He pleaded with the community members to support and cooperate with the contractor for the smooth execution of the project.
The contractor, Mr Abraham Ayensu Ntim of WNC Mining/Engineering Limited, reiterated his readiness to employ the local people, work according to schedule and deliver quality work.
Nana Kofi Affi III, Chief of Subri Nkwanta, and Nana Nkuah Kudom II, Nifahene of Sefwi Anhwiaso Traditional Area, praised the GNPC for its immense contribution towards the development of the Municipality.
They, however, requested additional facilities such as potable drinking water, CHPS compound, teachers’ bungalows and toilet facilities to ensure the well-being of the people.
The Department of Forensic Sciences at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) has denied reports that exam questions for its police promotion exam were leaked before its conduction.
According to a statement from the school dated February, 27, the exams were written under the watchful supervision of the University’s skilled invigilators.
“The attention of Management of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) has been drawn to a news item aired on ADOM TV, Badwam show, on Wednesday 22nd February 2023, purporting that the questions for the Police Promotional Examination organised by the Department of Forensic Sciences of the University, leaked before the Exams were written.
“No part of the Ghana Police Promotional examination questions written on the 13th of February 2023, were leaked to any candidate,” parts of the statement read.
Additionally, the University denied claims that certain senior police officers acted as exam supervisors during the exams. The institution argued that it is unacceptable that there are reports circulating that some candidates are demanding their scripts be remarked, when the scripts have not yet been marked.
“The Examinations were written under the strict supervision of the University’s experienced Invigilators. The allegation that the exams were invigilated by some Senior Officers from the Police Service is false and should be treated with the contempt it deserves.
“The claim by the Host of the show that some candidates were calling for remarking of their scripts is not tenable because the results have not been released. The allegation of the supposed leakage, therefore, begs the question,” it said.
The Authorities further urged stakeholders and the general public to ignore the malicious publication as it could ruin the school’s reputation.
“The University of Cape Coast is an internationally acclaimed university with competent and credible professionals who have been in the business of conducting examinations since time immemorial.
“Management wishes to assure its cherished stakeholders and the general public that the University holds dear to its acclaimed brand as an excellent academic institution and for that matter, would not do anything untoward to tarnish it hard-won reputation,” it added.
The Police promotional exam measures one’s potential aptitudes for police related jobs. Individuals who pass the exams demonstrate that they are well-equipped to handle their new
positions.
Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Authority (NYA), Pius Enam Hadzide, has condemned recent comments made by the German Ambassador, Daniel Krull, regarding the need for President Akufo-Addo to downsize his government.
Hadzide believes that such comments indicate that Ghana’s development partners, including Germany, do not have the country’s best interests at heart.
During a press conference, Ambassador Krull had questioned why Ghana was pleading for assistance from the international community while still maintaining a government that is larger than Germany’s.
He suggested that there were certain expenditures that could be lowered substantially without hurting economic development, and called on the government to take action in this regard.
Responding to Krull’s comments, Hadzide noted that the government was already committed to finding the right balance between public expenditure and revenue. He also questioned which areas of expenditure should be cut, asking whether it should be in the road sector, education, or health.
Hadzide went on to say that Ghana’s development partners should appreciate the severity of the country’s problems and the need to jump-start development if it is to compete on equal terms.
He argued that if these partners had their way, Africa would be a production force for them to be feeding their economies, and suggested that Ghana should take its own decisions based on its own context.
President Akufo-Addo had appointed a total of 123 Ministers and Deputies during his first administration, but he subsequently reduced the number of Ministers to not more than 85, as promised to Ghanaians.
However, there have been calls for further reductions in light of the current economic situation.
Electoral Commissioner, Jean Mensa, has confirmed that the Ghana Card will not be used as a voter ID in the upcoming December 2024 election.
Her statement comes in response to speculation, particularly from the National Democratic Congress (NDC), that the Commission planned to use the Ghana Card for the elections.
“The Ghana Card will not be used for voting in 2024; it will be used to register,” she emphasised.
Mensa made the assertion while responding to questions on the floor of Parliament on February 28, 2023. She had been summoned by the Speaker to appear before the House to discuss the proposed Constitutional Instrument (C.I) that seeks to make the Ghana Card the sole document for registration in the Continuous Voters Registration exercise.
Justifying the draft CI, Mensa said it aims to “promote the continuous registration of voters and advocate for an all-year-round registration of eligible voters at the district offices of the Electoral Commission.”
She further explained that this is a departure from the previous system, where the Voters Registration was done for a limited period.
“Under [the old system], registration of new voters was only conducted for a limited period and not all year round.
As such, persons who turned 18 years old after the registration period, as well as persons who had not previously registered to vote, could not do so when the time set aside for registration elapsed,” she argued.
She noted that under the new C.I, anyone who is eligible to vote can simply walk into any of the EC district offices and register. “Potential voters can register at any time of the year once the exercise begins,” she stressed.
Another significant feature of this draft constitutional instrument, according to the EC, is the proposal to adopt the Ghana Card as the sole source of identification for any person who wishes to register to vote.
Mensa clarified that the guarantor system, which is fraught with various challenges, will no longer be used in the registration exercise.
“The use of only Ghana Card will ensure and guarantee the credibility of the register and elections, prevent enrolment of minors, prevent foreigners from voting, and eliminate the
guarantor system, which is prone to abuse,” she emphasized.
“This will reduce the usual pressure at registration centers, thereby reducing the likelihood of conflicts whatsoever. It will prevent minors and foreigners from voting and will take away the guarantor system,” she added.
The draft constitutional instrument, entitled Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2021, has received mixed reactions.
While some, particularly the Minority in Parliament, have vehemently contested it, the EC stands by it as the best option for the country, particularly the part that intends to make the Ghana Card the only form of identification for eligible voters who want to register to vote on the national register.
Also, with the assurance given by the National Identification Authority to the effect that all outstanding Ghana cards will be cleared by August, she is optimistic that there will be no or less challenges with the exercise.
About eight million Ghanaians are likely to have their SIM cards disconnected by March 10, 2023, if they have not completed their SIM card registration, accordingto a statement by the National Communications Authority (NCA) issued on Monday, February 27, 2023.
The disconnection will be in line with a directive issued by the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu Ekuful, on November 30, 2022.
“The National Communications Authority (NCA) wishes to remind subscribers who have completed stage one (1) but not stage two (2) of their SIM registration, as part of the ongoing SIM registration exercise, to immediately do so or risk having their SIMs disconnected after 10th March 2023,” said the NCA statement.
On February 9, 2023, the Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu Ekuful, revealed in Parliament that the total number of people who had completed stage 1 of the registration, i.e., linking their Ghana Card to their SIMs, was 33,793,132, representing 79.60% of the total number of SIM cards in Ghana.
The number of unregistered SIM cards, i.e., those who had not attempted to link their Ghana Card to their SIMs, was 8,658,164, representing 20.40%.
The number of people who had completed the process of SIM registration, i.e., stage 2 (Biometric Capture), was 25,150,522, representing 59.25%, and the number of unregistered SIM cards under stage 2 was 17,300,774, representing 40.75%.
According to the NCA, there have been additional subscribers who have completed stage one of the registration process but are yet to conclude with the final stage.
The statement also noted that subscribers who begin the registration process (stage 1) and fail to complete their registration within a period of 2 weeks will have their SIM cards deactivated from their networks.
The NCA urged subscribers who are in the stage 2 process to complete registration by March 10, 2023.
The Communications Authority also highlighted the importance of the SIM card registration exercise, stating that it is aimed at developing and building a SIM database with integrity, which will assist in curbing fraudulent activities.
“To reiterate, the importance of the SIM card registration exercise is to develop and build a SIM database with integrity, which will assist in curbing fraudulent activities.
The NCA continues to urge all subscribers to complete their SIM card registrations with their Ghana Cards to avoid deactivation,” the statement added.
The NCA began the re-registration of SIM cards in October 2021 across the country to develop and build a SIM database with integrity, which will assist in curbing fraudulent activities.