The political scientist at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo has said most of the charges levelled against the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta by the Minority were propaganda.
Ofori-Atta on Friday (18 November) appeared before the ad hoc committee of Parliament over a motion of censure against him.
Reacting to Ofori-Atta’s response to the grounds for censure by the Minority in Parliament, Gyampo said the Finance Minister rendered the Minority incompetent with his answers.
“They have been at it again in their recent probe of Ken Ofori-Atta. They were simply uninspiring, and it appears many of the charges they chose to level against the man, were more propagandistic,” Gyampo wrote on Facebook.
“The kind of things to say, and the charges to level in censoring a minister, are not like political party rally talk, that are usually not subjected to strict proof. You cannot censor a minister and set the kind of precedent we want to set in our drive towards democratic maturity, without being well grounded, detailed, thorough and water-tight in your charges,” he added.
Below is the full statement of Gyampo:
It appears our minority group has the penchant for hyping public expectations of them, in their dealings in Parliament, and failing to live up to such expectations when it matters most. In their vetting of Ken Ofori Atta, they made all Ghanaians believe they were going to shoot his nomination down, for various reasons. Yet they couldn’t do this when the man appeared before them. Indeed, apart from one or two of them, on the then vetting committee who abstained, the rest voted to sing the praises of Ken Ofori Atta, and approved his nomination as minister.
They have been at it again in their recent probe of Ken Ofori Atta. They were simply uninspiring, and it appears many of the charges they chose to level against the man, were more propagandistic. The kind of things to say, and the charges to level in censoring a minister, are not like political party rally talk, that are usually not subjected to strict proof. You cannot censor a minister and set the kind of precedent we want to set in our drive towards democratic maturity, without being well grounded, detailed, thorough and water-tight in your charges.
Yesterday, Ken Ofori Atta made them look so incompetent, as he nearly extricated himself from the shallow charges levelled against him. He simply knew how to answer questions without incriminating himself, and he also knew how to appeal for public sympathy.
Regardless, Ken must go, at least for the optics of good governance. The law, and using it in the defense of one’s self is only minimum, but conscience is the upper most. He himself admits that things are hard, and of course, harder in Ghana than elsewhere in Africa. His own party people know why they have passed a vote of no confidence against him in their hearts.
There certainly should be better managers of our economy among the echelons of the NPP, and the indubitable truism that, Ghana and the management of our economy would not grind to a halt when Ken is no longer in charge, should point to the dispensability of all human beings, including the minister.
The fresh experience and innovations introduced in managing the STC by Nana Akomea, and in governing Accra, by Henry Quartey, should be a great lesson that must guide anyone who is anti-reshuffle. We cannot run the nation like spiritual churches, whose activities hover around their leadership, and die when their leaders are no more. The impression being insinuated that, there can be no successful management of our economy without the current minister, is unproductive and only serves to dissipate our scarce brains, talents and Human Resources that must be brought on board to help.
A former chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr Mark Assibey Yeboah has stated it will be “suicidal” to remove Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta from office “at this crucial hour.”
He, has, therefore appealed to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament (MPs) demanding his removal and have indicated their readiness not to support the 2023 Budget hearing, debate, approval of the estimates and the passage of the Appropriations Bill to reconsider their posture.
He said time was of essence since the rules surrounding the budget is clear that it ought to be presented to Parliament on or before 15 November every year.
Already, one week has passed as of 21 November, and ideally, about six weeks is needed to do a thorough job on the budget consideration.
He said when it comes to the Budget reading, it is possible anybody at all can read it provided the person was a Minister of State, but the chunk of the thorough work demands that the Minister and his team must lead – debate, approval of estimates and passage of Appropriations Bill.
“It will be suicidal for the minister to be taken off at this crucial hour,” Assibey Yeboah, himself a former MP for New Juaben South said in a radio interview monitored by Graphic Online on Accra-based Oman FM on Monday (21 November).
This is not the time for that, “to what end, what will it profit us. Even if a new minister is nominated today, it will not take this short period to vet and swear that person into office. That person is likely to be sworn into office in 2023. The deputy ministers can also not perform the function of the substantive minister, Parliament can even decide not to hear a deputy minister,” Dr Assibey Yeboah added.
He said the minister will be needed at the committee level to defend the budget and therefore there is no need to create a vacuum.
He said if the budget estimates and the Appropriations Bill is not done by December 22, 2022, it will disturb the entire nation and therefore Ofori-Atta should be supported to carry this through so that when it gets to January 2023 and the President decides to remove him, it will not create any inconveniences for the country.
“As to whether Ken Ofori-Atta should be sacked or not, seriously I don’t have an opinion on that one, I leave it to the President to remove or maintain him,” he added and insisted the stance of the NPP MPs were problematic as some of them were “personalising” the issues.
For now, let us get this out of the way, he said.
Andy Kwame Appiah Kubi, spokesperson for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament from the majority caucus, demanding the removal of Ken Ofori-Atta as Finance Minister, had reiterated their stance not to participate in the 2023 Budget hearing and passage if President Akufo-Addo insists on keeping him in office.
Appiah-Kubi, who is the NPP MP for Asante Akyem North said per their consultation, the majority of their constituents and NPP members were in agreement that, Ofori-Atta should be removed from office.
He said the members disagreed with the suggestion that it is only Ofori-Atta who can present the 2023 Budget.
“If he is not there, can’t others present the budget,” Appiah-Kubi questioned in a radio interview on Oman FM.
“We have lost confidence in him because in the 2022 Budget, he promised that with an E-levy and property rate, there will be no need to go to the IMF for support… As we speak now, that has not happened and the property rate is even yet to take off.”
“We are not convinced that it should be Ken Ofori-Atta and nobody else,” Appiah-Kubi added and insisted it is their “political decision” that Ofori-Atta must go for “the collective interest” of the NPP.
The Coalition of Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) Trainees have joined calls by Members of Parliament (MPs) and a section of Ghanaians for the removal of the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.
The Coalition in a statement claimed that the Finance Minister has been insensitive to the plight of NABCO trainees.
“The Finance Minister who is always seen in his public speeches quoting biblical verses to justify godliness perversely released GH¢25 million for the construction of a mere temple (National Cathedral). As his partial commitment to the service to God when NABCO Trainees were owed 10 solid months arrears and were in shock and starvation to death. This attitude of the Finance Minister is not only a disservice to humanity but a clear unperverted disservice to God, a direct person and distortion of true religious principles.
“The Finance Minister honourable Ken Ofori-Atta in his 2022 mid-year budget presentation, ordered the closure of the NABCO program without specifying reasonable timelines for the payment of all arrears as a means of mitigating inter allia, his abysmal performance of managing the economy,” the Coalition said in a statement.
The coalition among other things also called on the President to pay their arrears to enable them to celebrate the Christmas festivities and plan their lives.
Below is the full statement by the Coalition of NABCO Trainees
Since the release of the undercover investigation documentary by Anas Aremeyaw Anas, many have questioned why the undercover investigative journalist will entice his culprits with money and persuade them to accept the money as a gift.
This modus operandi by Anas Aremeyaw Anas has been described by many as entrapment but the celebrated undercover journalist has been explaining why he exposed Charles Adu Boahen in his latest undercover investigative documentary dubbed ‘Galamsey Economy’.
According to him, his Tiger Eye P.I. decided to investigate people like Charles Adu Boahen, the dismissed Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, who have the power of the state to make deals that are attractive for investors.
He said in an article published on Monday, November 14, 2022, that corruption has been a major factor that is killing investor confidence in the country, therefore, it is appropriate to go undercover and expose all those making Ghana unpopular to investors and also expose those who have decided to cut deals at the expense of the state.
“Tiger Eye investigates the highs and the mighties. This time, our cameras infiltrated the impermeable underworld of the handlers whose seals make the deals that make Ghana attractive for investors or not.
“Many reports have cited corruption as the number one killer of investor confidence in Ghana. The banking sector crisis further exacerbated the already fragile situation of investor confidence.
“Who are those making Ghana unattractive for investment? What’s their modus operandi? Where do they operate from? Tiger Eye penetrates and exposes the handlers who cut deals at the expense of the state,” Anas Aremeyaw Anas explained in a post on his Facebook timeline.
Charles Adu Boahen, Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, was by the president fired for reportedly negotiating an ‘appearance fee’ with ‘investors’ on behalf of Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
In Anas’ documentary, the former minister among other things alleged that Dr. Bawumia will require about USD200,000 as an appearance fee from an investor to get his backing and influence in establishing a business in Ghana.
“You mean, like appearance fees and stuff?” the investigators asked, to which Adu Boahen responded: “I mean he, himself (the Vice President), if you give him some (USD) 200,000 or something as a token, as thank you, appreciation, that’s fine. He’s not really, he’s not really (like) that. All he needs is to worry about his campaign money in 2020,” he said.
But Dr. Bawumia in a statement on Monday, November 14, denied the accusations and called for an investigation into the allegations.
Meanwhile, a statement from the Presidency announcing the dismissal of Adu Boahen as a Minister of State said, “After being made aware of the allegations levelled against the Minister in the exposé, ‘Galamsey Economy’, the President spoke to Mr Adu Boahen, after which he took the decision to terminate his appointment, and also to refer the matter to the Special Prosecutor for further investigations.”
The statement signed by Eugene Arhin, Director of Communications added that the President thanked Mr Adu Boahen for his strong services to his government since his appointment in 2017 and wished him well in his future endeavours.
What Kweku Baako said about Anas’ undercover investigation.
Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, defended the modus operandi his protégé, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, employs in his undercover investigations.
To him, Anas will continue to use the undercover methodology to unearth any and all negatives within society whether it pleases his critics or not.
Addressing the Anas Aremeyaw Anas and Tiger Eye P.I. modus operandi in a Facebook comment, Kweku Baako agreed, however, that it is ok for those who do not agree with Anas and his methodologies to ask questions.
“People are entitled to ask questions of Tiger Eye and its “methodologies”. That’s fair game. No problem. Tiger Eye will continue to unearth any and all “negatives” applying its “methodologies” whether its critics like it or not!” he wrote.
A taxi driver believed to be in his late 20’s has been killed in a bush and his taxi cab taken away by unknown assailants at Komfo Addai, a suburb of Winneba in the Effutu Municipality of the Central Region.
Information gathered by Kasapa News, Yaw Boagyan indicates that the taxi driver was hired by the assailants to Winneba Senior High School, and upon reaching a section of the road leading to the school which is bushy, they tied the driver with a rope and inserted Robb ointment in both of his eyes, and beat him until he died.
They then left him in the bush and took the taxi away.
A report was made to the police who arrived at the scene and conveyed the body to the morgue. The police have commenced an investigation into the matter and are on a manhunt to arrest the assailants.
Reports say that a particular area is a no-go area since armed robbers have been attacking people there.
Not long ago, a girl from school was nearly killed in the same area.
A leading member of the ruling New Patriotic Party, Nana Obiri Boahen is wondering how Ghanaians will be able to enjoy the upcoming Christmas festive season amidst the current economic hardship.
In an interview on Okay FM’s morning show Ade Akye Abia, the former NPP Deputy General Secretary bemoaned the recent spike in prices of goods and services citing the current price of locally distilled gin, Akpeteshie as an example.
“I am not a person who likes to politicise issues but the bottom line is that prices of goods are shooting up and we are compelled to ask ourselves if we will be able to celebrate the Christmas. Do you know akpeteshie which used to be cheap is now selling at GH¢4 per tot? Now a full bottle of akpeteshie is going for GH¢25.
“It shows how prices of every item has shot up and it is very alarming. We need to accept the reality,” he added.
Despite the admission by Mr Obiri Boahen, the NPP stalwart expressed confidence that his party will maintain power in 2024 when Ghana goes to the polls.
Obiri Boahen who has openly endorsed Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to succeed President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo noted that his preferred candidate will by all means win the party’s upcoming flagbearership race and go ahead to win the national elections despite the current state of the economy.
“But that notwithstanding my inner self tells me that Dr Bawumia will win,” he said.
Ghana in recent months has been plunged into harsh economic difficulty with a rise in fuel prices and daily rise in inflation.
Some analysts say the current situation has the potential to affect the chances of the ruling party in the 2024 elections.
However, elements within the NPP believe the party still stands a chance to maintain power.
Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has defended the process he used to withdraw money from the consolidated fund to sponsor the national cathedral project by saying former President John Mahama’s government used the same process to approve funds for Ghana’s participation in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Testifying before the ad hoc parliamentary committee that investigated some seven allegations against him in connection with a censure motion filed by the minority caucus in an attempt to remove him from office, Mr Ofori-Atta said: “Hon. Co-chairs, in preparing the annual budgets, the practice is that provision is made for indicative expenditures that have not been fully costed (sic) at the time of the budget presentation”.
“Provisions are made in the Contingency Vote to cater for such expenditures”, he explained, citing, for example, “in 2014, there was no specific allocation in the 2014 budget for Ghana’s participation in the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. The Cabinet of President John Mahama, in March 2014, at the time, approved some $9.622 million for that tournament, including that amount which was flown to Brazil in a private jet for the players”.
“A more current example is Ghana’s participation in Qatar. The Black Stars qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, way after the 2022 budget, presented on 16 November 2021, was approved by parliament. No specific amount was budgeted for it but through the Contingency Vote, we have been able to provide funds legitimately for the team to participate in the competition”, he noted.
According to him, “expenditures in respect of the National Cathedral were made from the Contingency Vote under the ‘Other Government Obligations’ vote as has been the practice before my tenure (I have copies of several payments from the Contingency Vote dating back to 2015 to share)”.
Mr Ofori-Atta said “as finance minister, I am fully aware of the approval procedures for the use of the Contingency Fund and have not breached its requirement”, adding: “The national cathedral is 100% owned by the state and is not the president’s cathedral as described by the proponents”.
“Indeed, the Attorney General issued an opinion on 6 January 2022, that the national cathedral is a state-owned company limited by guarantee, under the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board”, he added.
The Chief Executive Officer of Bankyekrom Limited, Sarpei Kwadey, has revealed that despite the high volumes of cassava produced in the country, only a fraction of it is processed.
According to him, 10 million metric tonnes of cassava remain un-harvested each year, while annual production amounts to 18 million metric tonnes – thereby ranking the country among the tuber’s top five producers in Africa. However, of this quantity only a measly 0.5 percent is processed.
This, he said, is worrying; given more than 70 percent of farmers in Ghana produce cassava, and the sector contributes about 22 percent of agricultural GDP.
“We need huge tracts of land to cultivate cassava on a large scale, as well as skilled labour, mechanisation and planting materials,” Mr. Kwadey said at the maiden Cassava Multi-Stakeholder Forum held in Accra and organised by the Ghana Incentive-based Risk-sharing System for Agriculture Lending (GIRSAL) in partnership with the Development Bank, Ghana (DBG) and Ghana Industrial Cassava Stakeholder Platform (GICSP).
The forum was held to identify opportunities and key challenges facing the national agenda of industrialising the cassava ecosystem, and the key interventions that would support solutions for an effective and efficient value chain pivoted around major, small and medium processors.
Chairman of the GICSP, Chris Quarshie, noted that the high starch content in cassava root is an important characteristic that makes the crop a potential industrial cash-crop. However, lack of varieties in cassava prevents starch production in large quantities; and, therefore local ethanol-consuming industries use imported raw materials for production due to inadequate supply.
He said: “This country consumes about eight million tonnes of cassava annually, and records 10 million tonnes of annual surplus that is un-harvested and left in the ground to rot. We have cassava, but we need to get the variety that is high in starch, high-yielding, and will be of interest to industries”.
Mr. Quarshie added that cassava has a low risk-profile and matures between 20 and 24 months, depending on the variety. He therefore called for proactive policies, financing and capacity building for players in the industry.
On his part, Mr. Duker of the Development Bank Ghana assured that the bank will collaborate with key stakeholders to help fund and support businesses to grow the cassava value chain.
According to him, this will be done by helping to unlock sectors with transformational potential and providing thought-leadership on policy development to stimulate a conducive environment for agri-businesses.
“This we will do through our holistic approach to combine finance, capacity-building and market development.”
Mr. Duker explained that DBG focuses on four key sectors: agribusiness, manufacturing, ICT and high value services.
“The importance of unlocking value within key agriculture value chains must not be understated. So, that explains why we are here today as a sponsor for this event.”
He added that DBG’s mandate is to grow the private sector, and unlock growth for the economy by working constructively with stakeholders to address the finance gap for long-term capital in a catalytic way – while delivering a beneficial Ghanaian credit market that works for everyone sustainably.
He called for urgent action through a joint effort to address challenges faced in the cassava sector. “We need to do it differently. What does this mean? We need to collaborate on setting new standards together, and this requires that we have authentic conversations. We are here this morning to roll-up our sleeves and work together to come up with solutions which allow us to take the important next steps.”
The eight-member ad-hoc committee probing the censure motion against the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta is expected to present its report to the plenary on Tuesday, November 22, 2022.
This follows its conclusion of public hearing into allegations levelled as the basis for the censure motion against the Finance Minister last Friday.
In his concluding remarks, a Co-Chair of the committee, Dr. Dominic Ayine announced plans to seek an extension of time from the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin to finalize its report.
“We will apply to the Speaker for an extension of time to be able to file our report and the purpose of the report will simply be to continue the debate on the motion for the vote of censure and the report will be laid in Parliament hopefully on Tuesday.”
KT Hammond, another co-chair, announced that the committee would have to present a draft copy of the report to the Finance Minister to ensure that his responses are properly captured before the full report is tabled before Parliament for debate.
Seven allegations have been levelled against the Finance Minister by the Minority in Parliament, calling for his removal from office.
The Minister is accused of conflict of interest, gross mismanagement, recklessness of the economy among others.
The committee was given seven days by the Speaker to probe the censure of motion, which ended today.
The Committee was set up by the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin, chaired by Dominic Ayine and K.T Hammond.
The fate of the Finance Minister will be known after the committee had presented its report to the Speaker, as to whether the censure of vote will go in his favour or otherwise.
The Founder of the African University College of Communications (AUCC), Kojo Yankah, has been explaining the purpose for which the University of Cape Coast was established and its transformation over the years.
The renowned educationist, speaking to Samuel Attah-Mensah on FootPrints on Citi TV said the University of Cape Coast was specifically established in 1962 to train science teachers who would have in turn trained the technicians needed to fuel the country’s industrial drive.
“The University of Cape Coast was founded as a university for science education. The first principal was called Professor Bakum. This story is missing from our history books, and I deeply regret it. This is something we have missed talking about because the idea of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah setting up the university was to train science teachers. He had the vision of industrialization, and he had the vision of Ghana going scientific, so all teachers that the University of Cape Coast was to produce were to be science teachers.”
He revealed that deliberate efforts were made by the first president of the country, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, who paid slightly higher salaries to teachers who graduated from the university, all in hopes of encouraging enrolment.
“The thing about the University of Cape Coast was that if you came out from the University and because you had done science education, your salary range was higher than the one who had gone to the University of Ghana, Legon.”
He also bemoaned the neglect of the exclusive training of science teachers which he said if the authorities of the university had not transitioned from their initial mandate, Ghana would have been competing highly with its peers globally.
“Imagine that if the University of Cape Coast produces even 200 science teachers every year since 1963, this country with the information age, the technology age, we would have gone far because the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology was established to train the technicians, but you needed the teachers to train the technicians which the University of Cape Coast was training.”
He was also deeply concerned about the conversion of the country’s polytechnics into full-fledged universities that do a lot of courses in the humanities.
Former President John Dramani Mahama has said that the current economic hardship in Ghana has taken a toll on offerings to God.
According to him, followers of Christ are unable to give huge offerings in the church due to economic hardship, which has affected the pockets of Ghanaians.
He was speaking at the 175th-anniversary thanksgiving service of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Ho.
“We must always spread Christian love, especially in this time, when money doesn’t like noise. Especially at this time when we all agree that times are hard. This is the time we must show our Christian charity by loving our neighbours as ourselves.
“And so whatever little you have to share, you should share with your neighbour. I mean we could tell the hardship in the system from the appeal for funds.
“When it was ¢2000, madam chair and a few people came and donated, then it came down to ¢1000, then to ¢500, then to ¢200 and ¢100. And when it got to the silver collection, ¢1, ¢2, the place was full, it shows that the pocket was not too good”, he stated.
Mr Mahama, therefore, appealed to Christians to pray for him and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to win the 2024 general elections.
This he said would enable him and his party to rescue Ghana from the current economic hardship, rising inflation and suffering.
“After we pray for Pakistan, Moderator should also say a special prayer for me and for the NDC so that in some year that is just coming, luck will smile on us, God will smile on us and give us the power to come and rescue this country from the suffering we are going through,” he said.
Mr Mahama lauded the efforts of the E.P Church, Ghana, to the development of the country, especially in the education and health sectors.
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana, Rt. Okay Rev Dr Lt. Col. Bliss Divine Agbeko (Rtd), advised Christians to remain righteous followers of Christ and persevere to the very end.
He also implored persons in leadership positions to eschew corruption to earn a place in paradise adding the church would continue to shepherd its congregation for the common good of humanity.
Call it serendipity, as a simple business trip to an island in Southern Europe, paves the way for the birth of a national treasure in Ghana.
A Finance Minister’s fascination with the lottery when he chances on it while on an official visit, culminates in the birth of the Department of National Lotteries (DNL), when he informs the President of the Republic, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of his exciting discovery.
After discussions with the Maltese Government, another visit by Ghanaian envoys to understudy the lottery, the secondment of Maltese officials to help Ghana set up its own lottery body, and the passing of a Lotteries bill in parliament in 1962, DNL is officially instituted.
Sixty years on, DNL now an autonomous body, the National Lottery Authority NLA, reconnects with its mother lottery Authority in Malta.
A team comprising some Board Members and Management including Mr. Philip Anning, Madam Frances Joana Adda, the Director-General, Mr. Samuel Awuku, the Chief Internal Auditor, Mrs. Emmanuella Ephraim, the Head of Corporate Affairs, Ms. Judith Kormle and the Interim Chairman of the Association of Lotto Marketing Companies, Mr. Francis Opoku officially paid a visit to some selected government Offices and the Malta Gaming Authority to invite them to NLA’s 60th Anniversary Celebration.
The NLA Delegation, representing the Board Chairman, His Emminence, Torgbui Francis Nyono, together with Ghana’s High Commissioner to Malta, H.E Barbara Benissa first called on Malta’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr. Ian Borg, who paid glowing tribute to the partnership between Ghana and Malta and called for closer collaboration between these countries.
He wished the NLA well and promised to reciprocate the official visit in January as part of his Official tour to Ghana. He was confident Ghana could still learn from the Maltese experience since Malta had advanced from what Francis Brennan taught Ghana some 60 years ago.
Next, the NLA team led by the Ghana High Commissioner to Malta, H.E Barbara A. Benisa also had the privilege of paying a courtesy call on the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Malta, Hon. Anġlu Farrugia. He warmly welcomed the NLA Team and handed over a copy of the 1962 Registration Certificate of NLA to the Director General, Mr. Samuel Awuku. He also advised the NLA team to change its lottery processes and strategies to achieve greater revenue and growth.
The Director General of NLA, Mr. Samuel Awuku thanked the Speaker of Parliament, for the hospitality and for taking the time to meet with the team even though the Maltese Parliament was in session deliberating on their budget for 2023.
The NLA delegation also visited the Malta Gaming Authority, the regulator of the National Lottery in Malta. They were met by the Chief Officer of Policy and International Affairs, Mr. Kinga Warda who thanked the team for the recognition and gave them an insight into their game.
The CEO of the main operator of the Maltese National Lottery, Mr. Johann Schembri while proposing ways NLA can deal with the activities of illegal lottery operators, expressed concern over the high commission rates paid by NLA and warned that this development could affect the Authority within the next few years if not stopped.
They indicated that Malta, which had one of the highest commission rates of 7% in the world is seeking to guard against future increases, citing countries like the United Kingdom and the United States which currently pay commission rates of around 6%. They indicated their willingness to partner with NLA in developing the game to another level.
The Malta Gaming Authority confirmed its participation at NLA ‘s 60t Anniversary Grand Durbar.
The visit to Malta was facilitated by the Maltese High Commissioner to Ghana, H.E
The Canoe and Fishing Gear Owners Association of Ghana is calling for greater transparency in the threats currently facing fishers in Ghana and the measures taken to resolve them to save the sector.
A statement released by the Association and signed by its president, Nana Kweigyah, among other things, called for broader stakeholder engagements and a lasting solution to the pertinent premix fuel shortages.
The statement forms part of activities to celebrate this year’s International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture, which falls on November 21 each year.
It also underscored the importance of the fishing sector to the Ghanaian economy and the need to ensure it is being run smoothly to cushion and empower the coastal population that largely depends on it.
“In Ghana, it has been a period of reawakening among artisanal fishers of the prospects that small-scale fisheries hold for coastal dwellers; men and women, and youth in particular. IYAFA has offered artisanal fishers in Ghana an important opportunity to highlight the challenges that the sector faces, and to empower stakeholders to take action to build new, and strengthen existing partnerships to sustain the sector.”
The statement went on to laud the strides and measures the Fisheries Commission has made so far.
“Recent interventions by the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture (MoFAD), the Fisheries Commission (FC), and Partners to improve Regulation (e.g. the Legislative Review), Enforcement (e.g., the trawl gear modification, among others), and the planned gear exchange in the artisanal fisheries sector, give hope that with strong collaborations among stakeholders, the current bad situation can be made a good one.”
The Association acknowledged that though some progress has been made with the many challenges facing the sector, much is still needed to be done to ensure the livelihood of its members is protected.
“As an association, CaFGOAG acknowledges the enormous contributions of stakeholders in areas of improving governance and management of Ghana’s fisheries. This, we urge stakeholders to continue exceedingly especially in the face of emerging threats, to small-scale fisheries, associated with Debt Swaps and Blue Economy, which equally hold opportunities but need enough political will and commitment to harness these opportunities, and to avert disastrous consequences on artisanal fisheries.”
It further indicated the premix fuel shortages across the various landing beaches are causing apprehension among its members and demanded an urgent resolution.
“We are also bringing to the attention of the government that the halt in premix fuel supply without readily available alternative affordable fuel for artisanal fishers has caused a lot of apprehension among artisanal fisheries fraternity including fishers, processors, and fish workers, and it is important for MoFAD and the Premix Fuel Secretariat to urgently engage fishers on the way forward.”
President Akufo-Addo has asked Ghanaians to keep with his government to turn the current economic crisis around.
He said his government are determined to change the situation.
According to him, the citizenry will soon witness results from some of the decisions and actions taken to ameliorate the problems.
The President said his engagements with relevant institutions and agencies are part of moves to address the current economic hardship.
“I know times are hard. But whatever we need to do to bring the nation out of the state it is in is being done. We are confident that we will soon come out of it.”
“Just keep faith with us and pray with us. All will be well,” he told congregants at the Presbyterian Church of Ghana Akyem Abuakwa Presbytery on the occasion of the Centenary Thanksgiving Service and Dedication of Centenary Complex in Kyebi on Sunday.
Recently, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, apologised to Ghanaians for the hardship being suffered in recent times.
According to him, the brunt borne by the populace due to the ongoing economic turmoil is unfortunate.
He said this when he appeared before the Ad-hoc Committee that heard the motion of censure against him.
“Let me use this opportunity to say to the Ghanaian people what I believe, with courage, every Finance Minister around the world may wish to say to their people now. I am truly sorry,” he told the Committee.
A former Minister of Trade and Industry, Dan Abodakpi, has described as remarkable the contributions of Former Finance Minister, Professor Kwesi Botchwey.
According to him, the former Finance Minister will always be remembered as the Minister who changed the country’s economic fortunes.
Prof. Botchwey served in the Rawlings government under the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) regime from 1982 to 1991 and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) civilian regime as the Secretary for Finance and Minister of Finance and Economic Planning from 1992 to 1995, making him the longest-serving finance minister.
Commenting after hearing the death of the former statesman, Dan Abodakpi said Ghana has truly lost an illustrious son.
Dan Abodakpi described the news as shocking and doubting because he was with the late Prof. Botchwey about three weeks ago at a Council of Elders meeting.
“The news of his passing has hit me like a big blow because it is just about three weeks ago that we met at the Council of Elders Meeting of the Party. So when I read the information on my WhatsApp, I was very doubtful.”
He added that the late Prof. Botchwey has duly paid his dues to both his party and country and his contributions towards the development of the country were impactful.
“When there was some controversy over the introduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT), Kwesi was a very hardworking individual, a team player, somebody who believes deeply in the values of the revolution and did his best to make sure that the goals and objectives of the 31 December Revolution were realized.”
“When we transitioned into democracy, he was an active participant in that process and, while working at the Ministry of Finance, did whatever he could to help us navigate some of the rough waters. Personally, I have lost a friend, I have lost a great ideological partner and this country has lost a great son.”
Professor Kwesi Botchwey was a member and Chairman of IMF‘s Group of Independent Experts who conducted the first-ever external evaluation of the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility, an advisor to the UNDP’s UN Special Initiative on Africa, and an advisor to the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM).
Chief of Borae Ahenfie, Nana Meebo and two persons have been allegedly shot dead by unknown assailants at Borae Ahenfie, a farming Community, in the Krachi Nchumuru District of the Oti Region.
Some 14 people have been arrested in connection with the shooting incident and are assisting the Police in their investigations.
The District Chief Executive (DCE), Nkrumah Kwasi Ogyile, who is also the Chairman of the District Security Committee (DISEC), confirmed the incident to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) and said the assailants ambushed and shot the chief and the two to death.
He said the late chief had a misunderstanding with some factions in the community over a piece of land; a case he won at the Krachi West District Court.
Mr Ogyile noted that the late chief later presented the judgement from the court to Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), Charles Dormaban, the Oti Regional Police Commander, where the factions were advised to stick to the court order.
The Chairman of the DISEC said that the late chief and two of his subjects were working on the said land, when the trio were allegedly attacked by the assailants.
He said the bodies of the deceased had been deposited at the morgue of the Krachi West District hospital for preservation.
According to him, security had been beefed up and calm restored.
Current data from the United Nations COMTRADE database have indicated that Ghana imported US$151million worth of raw sugar in 2020 alone – with the country being ranked 45th largest importer of the commodity globally.
The commodity is also ranked among the first ten most-imported products into the country, as Ghana’s essential food imports bill continuously rise year by year – currently valued at US$2billion according to the finance ministry.
The data also added that the imports of sugar and sugar confectionery was US$158.3million in 2019, with Mexico, Brazil, USA, Guatemala, France and India being the lead importers.
Data from the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) show that the country consumes about 370,000 tonnes of sugar annually, with domestic production currently at an all-time low.
Industrial and domestic supply prospects
Huge supply opportunities exist for large industrial sugar importers, such as FNJ Investments, Fan Milk, Multi-Pac, Kasapreko, Stallion Industries, Nutrifoods and Blow Chem, among others
The Ministry of Trade and Industry has further projected that domestic consumption of sugar in Ghana could rise to 872,000 metric tonnes in 2030.
Similarly, the West Africa sub-region – which is also forecast to experience rapid growth in sugar consumption – also presents a potential sugar export market for Ghana. Amid these market potentials and existing congenial climatic and lithospheric conditions, production of sugar remains at zero.
The Sugar Industry in Ghana
Ghana’s sugar industry is virtually fully dependent on imports. Local production remains negligible at a mere 150 tonnes in 2013 according to the UN data, and there’s a mere 6,000 hectares of sugar plantation in existence.
With two sugar mills in Asutsuare and Komenda, these facilities have been lying idle since 1983 largely due to inefficient management. However, the Komenda Sugar Factory was revived in 2015 and 2016 – but was shut down shortly after due to lack of raw materials.
Attempts to revive Komenda sugar factory
In 2016, government secured a US$35million loan from the Export-Import (EXIM) Bank of India and invested it in the factory. An additional US$24million was set aside to support out-grower farmers.
The factory, which was inaugurated on May 31, 2016 to produce sugar, became stillborn due to a multiplicity of factors that were touted as technical and operational challenges.
On June 3, 2020, however, Trade and Industry Minister Alan Kyerematen announced in parliament that Cabinet had officially approved Park Agrotech Limited as a new strategic investor to operate the factory.
That notwithstanding, the current status of the investment by Park Agrotech is unknown.
Nevertheless, a number of plans, according to the trade ministry, are also underway to develop sugar-cane plantations for a second revival of the Komenda sugar factory.
Also, plans by multinational trading house Cargill to build a sugar refinery in Tema are a possibility.
GEPA’s NEDS projections
Meanwhile, GEPA through the National Export Development Strategy (NEDS) has designed a blueprint for harnessing the full potential of sugar production to curb the rising imports.
In the NEDS, the Authority has projected revenues from the export of sugar by 2029 to be US$1.2billion.
Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has categorically denied dishonestly misreporting economic data to Parliament.
The allegation of deliberately misreporting economic data to parliament is completely not true, he said, responding to a censure motion filed by the Minority.
Contrary to the position of others that the ministry did not reflect the Finsec payments and the energy sector IPP payments in the fiscal framework, he emphasized – with the Budget document as evidence – that these payments were reflected in the fiscal framework.
The Minority based their accusation of deliberately misreporting economic data to parliament on grounds that the financial sector clean-up and energy sector Independent Power Producers (IPP) payments were excluded from public debt.
According to the Minority, by treating these debts differently the fiscal deficit is reduced to make economic indicators look good.
He said the ministry included the energy sector Independent Power Producers (IPP) payments in the ‘amortisation’ line in the Fiscal Framework during 2018-2021.
Energy Sector Excess Capacity payments of GH¢17billion relate to a legacy of take or pay contracts that saddled the country’s economy with annual excess capacity charges of close to US$1billion.
Government had to pay around US$500million a year in excess capacity charges for power the previous administration negotiated – which the country did not need and does not use.
Similarly, he said the financial sector clean-up costs were included in the fiscal framework annually for the period 2018 to 2021 to reflect the issuance of bonds to cover the non-cash costs.
Government directly spent GH¢25billion to save the banking and SDI sector – preventing a near-collapse of the financial sector; saving close to 5,400 direct jobs and 12,000 indirect jobs; and ensuring that 4.6 million depositors were protected.
Mr. Ofori-Atta explained that these are extra-ordinary payment items which need not be mixed-up with traditional fiscal operations
He explained that these are largely bonds, and capturing them above the line will imply recognising their payments now and again when they fall due in the future – a possible double counting.
The Finance Minister stated that the Energy sector IPP payments were reflected in the fiscal framework as part of the Amortisation line under the Financing part of the fiscal table.
He noted that these are debts of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) that have been assumed by government and are largely contingent liabilities that have crystalised for payment.
Ofori-Atta said the Finsec bailout exercise is largely completed, and therefore ceases to be an extraordinary budget item
On the other hand, he said IPPs payments are expected to be made over the medium-term; and given that they have become explicit contingent liabilities, appropriately budgeting for them “above the line” ensures resources are duly allocated for their settlement
He stated the ministry agreed with the Finance Committee of Parliament in 2021 that going forward from 2022, both the Energy IPP payments and Finsec payments will be treated “above the line” in the fiscal framework for the following reasons.
According to him, the agreed style of reporting to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was to show a deficit including the Finsec clean-up and another one excluding it.
According to him, under this government there have been significant improvements in the accurate reporting of public finances; and Ghanaians are enjoying greater accountability and transparency in management of the public purse than during any other period before.
Ghanaians will recall that in support of data presented by the Ministry of Finance in May 2020, Dr. Albert Touna Mama – the then-country representative of the IMF – came on Joy FM’s News File Programme to state that there was no misrepresentation of data by government as was being alleged. Dr Touna Mama said government was not the one that presented the figures which the IMF published in its statements.
He explained that the difference in figures was as the result of a difference in methodology of calculation, adding that the figure in fiscal deficit in their statement was a figure they generated themselves from the data government presented to them – having added financial and energy sector payments in line with their methodology, which is different from government’s methodology.
Ken Ofori-Atta, the embattled finance minister is optimistic that Ghana will come out strongly from the current economic crisis caused mainly by external factors.
According to him, Ghana, as a nation, is being tested by these current economic challenges and this is the time the country requires a united and concerted response to the crisis.
“I implore our chiefs, elders and churches to take the mantle and speak a common language. Let us all work as one country to support labour negotiations, find a solution to the impasse in Parliament and rise above witch-hunting and entrapment,” Ken Ofori-Atta told the 8-member committee that was investigating the allegations made by the Minority against him, on Friday, November 18.
He added that these are not ennobling and progressive for a society seeking transformation.
“Ghana is a resilient country. Ghana has faced economic challenges since its independence. Ghana has always come through each of them stronger and better than before.
“God willing, we shall come out of these difficult times too. Ghana, will, and must rise again,” Ofori-Atta noted.
Censure Motion
The minority moved a censure motion to get the Finance minister out of office on the following grounds
-Despicable conflict of interest ensuring that he directly benefits from Ghana’s economic woes as his companies receive commissions and other unethical contractual advantages, particularly from Ghana’s debt overhang.
-Unconstitutional withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund in blatant contravention of Article 178 of the 1992 -Constitution, supposedly for the construction of the President’s Cathedral:
-Illegal payment of oil revenues into offshore accounts, in flagrant violation of Article 176 of the 1992 Constitution:
-Deliberate and dishonest misreporting of economic data to Parliament 5. Fiscal recklessness leading to the crash of the Ghana Cedi which is currently the worst-performing currency in the world:
-Alarming incompetence and frightening ineptitude, resulting in the collapse of the Ghanaian economy and an excruciating cost of living crisis;
-Gross mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy which has occasioned untold and unprecedented hardship.
The National Identification Authority has begun the registration and issuance of Refugee Identity Cards to refugees living in Ghana.
The process is expected to enable refugees in the country to get access to some social services they do not currently enjoy as a result of their unregistered status.
Accessing basic services such as opening a bank account, registering SIM cards etc. is often a daunting task for refugees in the country. They have thus been calling on the government to be considered for the Ghana card ever since the exercise began, so they could live a stress-free life while in the country.
Some of the registered refugees Citi News spoke to, expressed joy and said they now feel fully integrated into the Ghanaian society.
Acting Executive Secretary for the Ghana Refugee Board, Padi Tetteh commended the registration process saying it is a step in the right direction and in accordance with international conventions.
“Due to the fact that we are signatories to the UN Refugee Convention and also the fact that we are governed by the Ghana Refugee Law, we are to ensure that refugees have access to social services, and it is important that they do so in order to allow them to earn a living.”
Padi Tetteh also revealed that 7,000 refugees are expected to be issued the card at the end of the exercise.
He was quick to clarify that the card does not grant nationality to the refugees but, it is a means to enable them to get access to decent social services and also to ensure their safety while living in Ghana.
“It is important to note that the card doesn’t grant them nationality, and they don’t have the right to vote. The only thing is that the card gives them the right to social services in order to live in safety and dignity.”
The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol outline the rights of refugees, as well as the legal obligations of States to protect them, including the right to social services.
Emeritus Professor Ivan Addae-Mensah, a Former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, has called for a review of the Free Senior High School Programme, saying the current financing regime is not sustainable.
He said the cost of the Programme should be shared between the Government and “better-endowed members of society” to ensure equity.
Delivering the 2022 “Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Lecture” of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) in Accra, Prof. Addae-Mensah, who is also a Fellow of the Academy, appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to heed to calls for a relook at the policy.
He said a review of the policy “is not the same as abolishment” but would ensure quality education and improve standards.
“I advocate that we rather go the Caribbean and Latin American way where those who can afford to pay for all or part of their education do so; proceeds from, which can then be used to support those who really are needy.
“At least those who can afford it ought to pay for the feeding of their wards in boarding schools. Blanket free-feeding of all children is more likely to result in malnutrition,” Prof. Addae-Mensah said.
The Free SHS policy is Government’s flagship education policy, which commenced in 2017 as a policy intervention to ensure that every Ghanaian irrespective of their background have access to free secondary education.
Under the Programme, beneficiaries are provided with free tuition, accommodation, and feeding.
Prof. Addae-Mensah stressed that the “blanket” provision of Free SHS could lead to large enrolment, adding that if adequate resources and facilities were not provided, standards could drop to the detriment of those who could not afford to enrol their wards in private schools.
He said Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah preferred free education up to the secondary level but “he was pragmatic enough not to introduce it at the time that he was in power.”
“…If there is blanket provision of free education for everybody, and there is resultant increase in enrolment, there is the likelihood of population explosion, which not properly handled can result in significant lowering of standards due to inadequate facilities, teaching, and poor teacher motivation,” Prof. Addae-Mensah said.
Founded in November 1959, the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences is Ghana’s premiere learned society.
Its aim is to bring together the highest level of intellectuals, experts, professionals in the country to constitute a “Think tank” in the Arts and Sciences.
The Academy also advises the Government and other relevant bodies on issues of importance to national development.
Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, the Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide, has been asked to review the enterprise of undercover investigative journalism of his protégé, Anas Aremeyaw Anas.
According to Professor Kwesi Yankah, a former Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, the modus operandi of the undercover journalist, hitherto known to be a classic venture, has for some time now appeared to be limping.
He said the journalist has been accused by his culprits of entrapment, something that is gaining enough grounds lately.
In a long article, Professor Yankah questioned, “Is Ghana losing this great morality tool? Is the project heading towards commodification?”
The former Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, recounting his numerous encounter with the journalist, expressed his disappointment with how the latest undercover investigative documentary of Anas Aremeyaw Anas dubbed ‘Galamsey Economy’ tends to deceive the public.
To him, as the name sounded, ‘Galamsey’, he thought the investigation was about how some nation saboteurs were destroying the environment and the water bodies in their quest to find gold.
“The announcement of his forthcoming project, ‘Galamsey Economy’ thrilled me and got me heading to town to grab a ticket. The theme somehow merged with my own, and I started dreaming sympathies with my little anti-galamsey efforts.
“I called my friend Ace, who disappointed me saying a synopsis of the show in the media, had nothing to do with Galamsey. Ouch! That was a blow below the belt. My day was ruined, and I did a quick u-turn and headed back home chewing roasted corn.
“The deceptive title, Galamsey Economy, gave enough clues that the pet boy probably regressed while I was looking away. Did somebody censor the original story and decide to give the game away, a Freudian slip?
“That didn’t sound like the Anas I had learned to admire,” Professor Yankah said in his article.
He added: “November 2022, a few days ago, and six years after Central, Anas was playing at a theatre near me; but I responded with waned enthusiasm. The once classic venture appeared to be limping, and claims of entrapment by culprits, were gaining ground.
“…Has the pet Anas even decided to shield the true monsters of galamsey?
“Kweku Baako, mentor of Anas, I urge you to pause and review the entire Anas enterprise, or simply call it a day.”
Read Prof Kwesi Yankah’s full article below:
My time with Anas
By Prof. Kwesi Yankah
I was all set, going to see the latest operation by this mystery man, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, who for two decades had gotten Ghana turning on his five fingers.
He had gotten the smartest Ghanaian, big or small, looking over his shoulders in every little move on the wrong side of the law.
A single bat of the eyelid from behind his beaded veil gets men of fame tumbling from high heights and whimpering like day-old babes. Call him a gladiator of national values, but he was also an investigative journalist written in bold.
The announcement of his forthcoming project, ‘Galamsey Economy’ thrilled me, and got me heading to town to grab a ticket. The theme somehow merged with my own, and I started dreaming sympathies with my little anti-galamsey efforts. I called my friend Ace, who disappointed me saying a synopsis of the show in the media, had nothing to do with Galamsey. Ouch! That was a blow below the belt. My day was ruined, and I did a quick U-turn and headed back home chewing roasted corn.
The deceptive title, Galamsey Economy, gave enough clues that the pet boy probably regressed while I was looking away. Did somebody censor the original story and decide to give the game away, a Freudian slip?
That didn’t sound like the Anas I had learned to admire. In truth, I had met him twice. First, the real human Anas Aremeyaw Anas, eyeball to eyeball; and years later Anas as a phantom, a hooded scarecrow. Being a writer myself, I knew his early beginnings as a slim, scrawny journalist working for Kweku Baako’s Crusading Guide in the 1990s. I later met him when he came to do Law at the University of Ghana, and visited my office as Pro-VC for student and academic affairs; that was around 2006. He was a very simple and charming personality, far from a little monster, snooping and tracking executive vices. But I somehow lost track of him, until I started seeing glimpses of the cool gentleman, winning global awards with spellbinding stories.
I was stunned by his early investigations like Ghana’s Mad House, where undercover Anas virtually turned into a crazy man, and entered the asylum in Ghana here, as a patient.
He went on admission, and from day to day ate with inmates and, like them, got injected with daily doses of all relevant medication, depressants and all. And why take this trouble? He had sacrificed his life for the sake of unearthing the story of gross human rights violations in mental institutions. That masterpiece in investigative journalism led to the passage of the 2012 Ghana Mental Health Act. Wow! That was a man after my heart.
Over the years, he had become a household name in the subregion and beyond. Otherwise, how could Anas have attracted the attention of global statesman Barack Obama, then US President? In his speech while in Ghana in 2009, Obama drew attention to “that courageous journalist, Anas, who risked his life to report the truth.” I said wow again, exceedingly proud having met the young man from across my desk in Legon.
In September 2015, I was among the large throng of people who queued up at the Accra International Conference Centre, waiting to see the debut of Anas’ masterpiece on judicial corruption that exposed 34 Ghanaian judges engaged in vices of various kinds. Those judges and over 105 judicial staff had been caught on camera receiving bribes to influence judgment in Ghanaian courts. The public was indeed amazed by a scandalous underworld of sex, bribery, blackmail, corruption, by respected men in wig and their associates, who thereby decide to free rapists and other criminals and conversely throw innocent ones in jail.
Days after I had watched that project, I saw one of the shamed judges, partly disguised in a cap, and pushing a luggage towards the departure lounge of Accra airport. It was weeks later, news spread that one of the named judges had quietly left the country.
In November 2016, a year thereafter; I got a rare opportunity to interact with the man Anas, in full flight and regalia.
9th November that year, here was Anas at my doorstep. I was in full charge of Central University as Vice Chancellor, and had introduced a distinguished lecture series, which had brought to campus the likes of Dr Kwesi Botchway, Dr Mahmoud Bawumia, Professor Adigun Agbaje from Ibadan University. To sustain students’ enthusiasm, why not Anas as the next speaker? The thought alone turned the campus topsy turvy. Anas at Central? Yes. It was a scoop, and I had conspired with the dynamic director of the school of communication studies, Dr Ransford Antwi, for the surprise.
Wednesday morning. The 3000-capacity auditorium of Central University was not big enough. A rare gem was in the house. There was excitement; but also panic, a security nightmare. The question was how to host Anas without putting him in jeopardy; who would escort him; how to interact with him, etc. The campus security was on the alert, but even unsure from what direction he was coming. Did he say which access route he would use; which gate? From which direction: Tema or Aflao? The gentleman had decided to keep us in the dark.
9.45am. Anas was on campus with plain-clothed security, having somehow eluded our campus watch dogs. He had materialized.
The packed auditorium was a mix of students, staff and faculty that were all ears, to seek answers to hearsays and puzzles about the man. How does he get his several spooky stories; what makes him ubiquitous? And is this really journalism? But even before the encounter, I got a sense of his operations speaking to students. I was told Anas had student volunteers all over the country working for him free of charge. These were well-trained and could be reached anytime to assist with secret operations. Some of the students, I was scared to hear, were at Central University!
But who was Anas himself? Before us that day, at Central, were three hooded lookalikes, one of whom was the real Anas. The truth was further compounded when after my introduction of the guest speaker, all three lookalikes stepped up from the high table and stood behind microphone stand. After a moment of suspense, the real Anas took the microphone from me and announced himself, while the other two dummies stood fidgeting throughout the interaction.
The 90-minute dialogue with students was thrilling and educative, giving him the opportunity to narrate his harrowing life experiences: disguises, escapades, close encounters; frustrations, successes and narrow misses. The award-winning experience with mental patients, where he was injected with depressants, was the most audacious; and he explained the safety measures he took to reduce adverse health effects.
All eyes riveted on him, he spoke freely, pacing back and forth the crowded auditorium and bending occasionally to chat with individual students. Vigilant from a distance was his own security, that was alert, and ready to dash and intervene where necessary.
After the encounter, my staff and I returned to my office, waiting for Anas to join us for further interaction and refreshments. But that was a mirage. Anas Aremeyaw Anas had mysteriously disappeared!
November 2022, a few days ago, and six years after Central, Anas was playing at a theatre near me; but I responded with waned enthusiasm. The once classic venture appeared to be limping, and claims of entrapment by culprits were gaining ground. Is Ghana losing this great morality tool? Is the project heading towards commodification? Has the pet Anas even decided to shield the true monsters of galamsey?
Kweku Baako, mentor of Anas, I urge you to pause and review the entire Anas enterprise, or simply call it a day.
Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of National Security, has warned that terrorists may take advantage of the galamsey activities in the country.
This is because the revenue generated from galamsey activities will be able to fund the criminal activities of these terrorists.
According to Kan-Dapaah, terrorists in countries like Burkina Faso and Mali, have been attracted to gold mining areas but he assured that his Ministry has taken cognizance of the development and working hard to avert the consequences.
He noted, the Accra Initiative, which aims to prevent the spillover of terrorism from the Sahel and to address transnational organized crime and violent extremism in ECOWAS member countries’ border areas.
“In Mali, in Burkina Faso, the terrorists have always been attracted to gold mining areas. Clearly, they try to make money from gold mining activities to undertake the criminal activities that they do. The criminals may want to take advantage of galamsey activities in our country to raise money to do what they do in other countries and what they may plan to do in our country.
“We are aware of this. We are studying it. We do know what has to be done in this area, and we work hard to make sure we are not overtaken by events. But clearly, one way that you can make cheap money to go and undertake some of these criminal activities is galamsey, so it’s of interest,” Albert Kan-Dapaah explained at a press briefing in Accra.
The West African sub-region has been confronted with terrorist threats, as Ghana’s neighbours Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso have suffered attacks from terror groups in recent times.
The development has compelled the government to launch the “See Something, Say Something” campaign, which is aimed at encouraging citizens to report any suspicious activity.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Asante Akyem North, Andy Kwame Appiah-Kubi, has said that the stubbornness of Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is what has led to the poor performance of the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy).
According to him, the minister refused to listen to the advice of New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs to reduce the rate of the levy from the proposed 1.75 percent to 1 percent.
In an Oyerepa TV interview monitored by GhanaWeb, Andy Appiah said that should the minister have agreed to reduce the rate to 1 percent, MPs from both the minority and majority caucus would have supported the implementation of the levy and the clashes seen in the House would not have happened.
“The thing is that if you want to evaluate a process you should not be partial with it…we had the E-Levy discussion at Ho, and we (the NPP MPs) were of the view that the 1.75 (percent) rate was too high and it will meet public resistance; so it should be reduced.
He added, “We all agreed that if it was brought to 1 percent both the minority and the majority will agree and approve. And we will be able to collectively market it to the acceptance of the stakeholders. The intransigent at that ministry that exists till date is what brought the fights on the E-Levy.”
“After some time, he (Ofori-Atta) said he had reduced the rate to 1.5 percent but the 1.5 was still not feasible. But he continued to give us hope that we can deliver with the 1.5,” he said in the Twi dialect.
“This guy does not listen to anyone. So, the minority rejected the levy in Parliament because there was no consensus and this is what characterised our debate to the point it got to. Was it necessary,” Andy Appiah, who is one of the NPP MPs calling for Ofori-Atta’s removal, added.
Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, a New Patriotic Party (NPP) Flagbearer hopeful, has ended his tour of the diaspora chapters of the Party reiterating his desire to rejuvenate the Party’s grassroots.
“The grassroot is the livewire of the Party and that’s my focus. I want to cure the disconnect. The Party and government belong to them and they must own and feel part of it.
“My mission is to rejuvenate our political base and inspire hope in the youth of our country,” he said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency after the tour.
He said the Party’s victory at the polls should be a victory for the grassroots and not a select few and said it was time for a “new dawn” where everybody was brought on board in governance for the good of the NPP and the country.
Mr Agyepong said he was working to unite the Party and use the Jehovah Witness’ soul winning strategy to canvas for vote for the NPP in the 2024 general election.
“It is time to do things right. We’ve come very far. Let’s redefine our grassroots. Let’s bring them onboard and they must be onboard during the campaign time, election time and part of governance. The time of use and dump is gone. No more should our people be abandoned at the rendezvous of victory,” he stressed.
Mr Agyepong said he was offering himself to lead the NPP to bring transformation to all sectors of the Ghanaian economy.
“For me, it is not about becoming a President, but the transformation of our dear Nation. Where we are as a country needs a new thinking, new ideas and new direction. In fact, our very understanding of party politics and public service must be looked at again,” he said.
Mr Agyepong said Ghana needed a “compassionate and selfless” leader and that he was that nation builder ready to work with the masses to provide a “new dawn” and transform the country.
Patricia Asiedua, aka Nana Agradaa, Founder of Heaven way Champions International Ministry, has appeared before an Accra Circuit Court over alleged money doubling scam.
This is after she had managed to execute her bail terms offered to her by two different Circuit Courts.
She is appearing before the third Circuit Court in Accra for charlatanic advertisement in newspapers, and six counts of defrauding by false pretences.
Nana Agradaa has denied the various charges.
The Circuit Court Four, presided over by Mrs. Kizita Quashie, admitted Nana Agradaa to bail in the sum of GH¢50,000 with two sureties, one to be public servant earning not less than GH¢3,000.
The matter has been adjourned to January 11, 2023.
The prosecution, led by DSP Sylvester Asare, said on October 10, 2022, that the complainants reported to the Police that the accused had demanded and received huge sums of money from them under the pretext of doubling same for them.
It said upon the receipt of the report, the Police commenced with investigations and later picked up the accused.
The prosecution said investigations had established that on October 5, 2022, the accused had advertised on Today’s TV and other social media platforms that she (accused) was capable of doubling money.
Further investigations also established that the accused through the same charlatanic advertisement on the social media allegedly invited the public to attend all-night service at Heaven way Champion International Ministry, Weija, Accra on October 7, 2022.
It said the complainants and others of the public came from far and near for the all-night service.
The prosecution said the accused during the all-night service allegedly turned off all cameras in the church and subsequently demanded and received huge sums of money from the public, including the complainants.
A new study has revealed that more people died in 2019 from two of the deadliest pathogens, S. aureus and E. coli, than from HIV/AIDS (864,000 deaths) across the world.
The analysis conducted by the Global Burden of Disease & Antimicrobial Resistance Collaborators show that HIV research received $42 billion dollars, while E. coli research received $800 million.
According to the full study, which will be published in The Lancet on Monday, November 21, common bacterial infections were the second leading cause of death in 2019 and responsible for one in every eight deaths worldwide.
The analysis identifies bacterial infections as a global public health priority, ranking second only to ischaemic heart disease as the leading cause of death in 2019.
The latest finding raises concerns about the funding and research gaps on the two deadliest pathogens, but the authors argue that such funding gaps may have arisen due to a lack of data on the global burden of these infections until now.
The new study provides the first global estimates of mortality associated with 33 common bacterial pathogens and 11 major infection types that lead to sepsis death.
Estimates were generated for all ages and genders in 204 countries and territories that have country-level data available.
The authors used 343 million individual records and pathogen isolates from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 and Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) studies to estimate deaths associated with each pathogen and the type of infection responsible. 7.7 million of the estimated 13.7 million infection-related deaths in 2019 were linked to the 33 bacterial pathogens studied.
In 2019, deaths caused by these bacteria accounted for 13.6% of all global deaths and more than half of all sepsis-related deaths. Lower respiratory infections (LRI), bloodstream infections (BSI), and peritoneal and intra-abdominal infections accounted for more than 75% of the 7.7 million bacterial deaths (IAA).
E. coli (950 000 deaths), S. pneumoniae (829,000), K. pneumonia (790,000), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (559,000) were the other pathogens linked to more than 500,000 deaths. The leading bacterial pathogens were linked to a similar number of female and male deaths.
The most lethal pathogens and age-standardised mortality rates varied by location. With 230 deaths per 100,000 people, Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest mortality rate. The high-income super-region, which includes Western Europe, North America, and Australasia, had the lowest mortality rate, with 52 deaths per 100,000 people.
In 135 countries, S. aureus was the leading bacterial cause of death, followed by E. coli (37), S. pneumoniae (24), and K. pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii (4 countries each).
Pathogens linked to the most deaths varied by age. S. aureus was linked to the most deaths in adults over the age of 15 years, accounting for 940,000 deaths. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi was responsible for 49,000 deaths in children aged 5 to 14 years. S. pneumoniae was the most lethal pathogen in children older than newborns but under the age of five, accounting for 225,000 deaths. K. pneumoniae was the pathogen responsible for the most neonatal deaths, accounting for 124,000 deaths.
The authors admit that their study has some limitations, many of which are due to a lack of data for some parts of the world, particularly many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where the estimated disease burden is highest.
According to Authia Gray, study co-author and PostBachelor Fellow at IHME at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine, country-level estimates for parts of the world where people are most affected by bacterial infections have been noticeably absent until now.
“These new data could act as a guide to help address the disproportionately high burden of bacterial infections in low- and middle-income countries and may ultimately help save lives and prevent people losing years of their lives to illness,” he said.
According to the study, building stronger health systems with increased diagnostic laboratory capacity, implementing control measures, and optimising antibiotic use are all critical to reducing the disease burden caused by common bacterial infections.
A plumber could not believe his eyes when he cut a hole in floorboards in an Edinburgh house and found a bottle containing a 135-year-old message.
Peter Allan, 50, discovered the Victorian time capsule when he opened up the floor in the exact spot where the whisky bottle had been left.
He rushed downstairs to tell the owner of the house in the Morningside area.
Eilidh Stimpson had to smash open the bottle to read the note – and said her two children were excited by the find.
Mr Allan told BBC Scotland he could not quite believe his luck in cutting into the floor directly above the bottle.
“The room is 10ft by 15ft and I have cut exactly around the bottle without knowing it was there. I can’t quite believe it,” he said.
“I was moving a radiator and cut a random hole to find pipework and there it was, I don’t know what happened.
“I took it to the woman downstairs and said ‘Look what I’ve found under your floor’.”
Photo Credit: Eilidh Stimpson – The note is signed and dated by two male workers who laid the floor
Mr Allan, owner of WF Wightman Plumbing, said it was discovered under what would have been a maid’s room when the house was first built.
Now mother-of-two Eilidh Stimpson, an Edinburgh GP, lives there with her husband.
She decided to wait until her children aged eight and 10 got home from school before they attempted to retrieve the note from the bottle.
She told BBC Scotland: “When I picked them up I told them I had something really exciting to tell them and they said ‘Is it that we are having hot dogs for tea?’
“They had a few more guesses and then I told them a message in a bottle had been found in our house and they were really excited and thought it was maybe treasure.”
When they got home they desperately tried to get the note out with tweezers and pliers, but it started to rip a little bit.
So she got a hammer and smashed the bottle.
She said: “We were all crowding around and pointing torches at it and trying to read it, it was so exciting.”
The note was signed and dated by two male workers and read: “James Ritchie and John Grieve laid this floor, but they did not drink the whisky. October 6th 1887.
“Who ever finds this bottle may think our dust is blowing along the road.”
Preserve the note
She said: “I feel absolutely terrible breaking a 135-year-old bottle but it was the only way to reach the note. I’ve kept all the pieces in a Tupperware tub.”
Since the find, on Monday a family friend looked on the 1881 census and found the men’s names living just a few miles away in the Newington area of Edinburgh.
A curator at the National Library of Scotland has since recommended to the family that they preserve the note in an acid-free pocket.
Eilidh said: “I’ve ordered some pockets and think ultimately we will frame the note with a piece of the bottle such as the neck because it’s such an exciting and lovely thing to have.”
She said they would put a bottle, with a new note from the family along with a transcription of the note, back into the hole before it is covered over.
“To think it lay there all that time and could have been there forever is just amazing. It’s not from just the 70s or something like that, it’s so much older, it’s very cool.”
The Minister of National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah, has revealed that 346 terrorist attacks were recorded in Africa in the first quarter of 2022, with 49 per cent of them occurring in West Africa alone.
Also, he indicated that between July and September this year, 246 terrorist attacks resulting in 745 fatalities and 239 injuries were recorded in West Africa.
The minister was speaking at the opening of the two-day international conference on the Accra Initiative (AI), held in Accra on the theme ‘Accra Initiative: Towards a credible, preventive and coordinated response to challenges facing the Coastal and Sahelian States’.
The AI aims at preventing spillover of terrorism from the Sahel and to address transnational organised crime and violent extremism in member countries’ border areas.
Participants at the technical conference included representatives of relevant international governmental agencies, civil society organisations (CSOs), academia, think tanks, practitioners in the security sector and other multinational initiatives.
The conference, supported by the European Union (EU), would afford them the opportunity to reflect on measures and strategies deployed towards addressing the threat of terrorism and violent extremism and to come up with innovative approaches toward enhancing regional security.
According to Kan-Dapaah, enhanced collaboration was a key to countering terrorism in the region, adding that the heads of states of West African states in 2017 took pragmatic steps to address their common threats, hence the AI.
Describing the AI conference as timely, he said the deteriorating security situation in the Sahel and West Africa required the active collaboration and participation of all stakeholders including the media, CSOs, political leaders and academics among others, both at the national and regional levels.
The threat landscape he said had consistently changed, resulting in the frequent changes in security requirements among the citizenry.
“The geo-strategic dynamics, with direct influence on state survival keep undergoing mutations without warning. The threat posed by COVID-19 has also taught us that consolidating our efforts at the regional level is the best approach to secure our States.”
“This underscores the relevance of dialogue and multi-stakeholder engagement, not only at the national levels but also at regional levels, towards finding lasting solutions to the common security threats of West African States,” he added.
He mentioned that the prominence given to the threat of terrorism and violent extremism in recent times must not be interpreted as the trivialisation of other prevailing security threats such as cross-border crimes.
Executive secretary of the AI, Benedict Dere, on his part stated that it had become necessary to strengthen collaboration and cooperation between security and intelligent services through exchange of information and operational intelligence.
Throwing more light on the objectives of the AI, he said preventing terrorists and extremists from seeking refuge in a member State, dismantling terrorists networks and preventing the expansion of their cell and combating transnational organised crime were among its top priorities.
To achieve this, the AI he said relied on information and intelligence sharing, capacity building and the conducting of joint multinational operations.
Dere mentioned that the AI currently comprised of seven-member States which are Benin, Togo, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Niger, adding that Nigeria was an observer State waiting to be fully incorporated as a full member of the AI.
Private legal practitioner, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo has described the latest documentary by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas and titled “Galamsey economy” as an entrapment.
President Akufo-Addo terminated the appointment of the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry Charles Adu Boahen in connection with the investigative piece.
“After being made aware of the allegations levelled against the Minister in the exposé, “Galamsey Economy”, the President spoke to Mr. Adu Boahen, after which he took the decision to terminate his appointment, and also to refer the matter to the Special Prosecutor for further investigations,” the statement of his termination said.
Reacting to the development on Asaase 99.5 Accra’s news analysis and current affairs show – The Forum – on Saturday (19 November), Addo said the Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng cannot handle the case.
Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo
“Journalism isn’t about trapping people,” Addo said. “It’s not about setting people up. It’s about filming people in their natural state; that is why I sued the GJA [Ghana Journalists’ Association] for awarding him [Anas] Journalist of the Year. I’m happy that Kennedy Agyapong went out there.”
“Now there are rules, but I think we need to do more. Journalists need to do more. What I see is not journalism, it’s entrapment.
“I don’t think Kissi Agyebeng will be able to handle this thing because he was Anas’s private lawyer and his firm still represents him,” Addo said.
Misleading piece
Speaking on the same programme, the deputy general secretary of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Antoinette Tsiboe-Darko described the investigative piece as misleading.
Dr Antoinette Tsiboe-Darko
“I find something wrong with the legality of the whole exposé. I think that an investigative piece professionally and legally is based on fact. Some of the things being said in the voiceover, where are they from?” she asked.
Chelsea loanee, Abdul Baba Rahman has said that he spoke with Callum Hudson-Odoi on his decision to switch his international eligibility to Ghana ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The Bayer Leverkusen forward has already played three times for England but the new FIFA rules mean that if those appearances happen before a player is 21, he can switch allegiance.
Hudson-Odoi, however, turned 22 on November 7, and is looking unlikely he will represent Ghana in the future.
Speaking to Nizaar Kinsella in an interview, Rahman said, “I spoke with him during the pre-season and it was just a little chant about it but I think at that moment he was still making up his decision.”
“He wasn’t fully sure what’s going on but when I spoke with him, it was a nice and friendly conversation.”
“I hope he can make it because he is a great guy since I’ve known him and his qualities will be a great addition to Ghana.”
Baba Rahman is currently part of the 26 Black Stars players preparing for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Ghana’s president His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says Brazilian legend and world icon Pele was talking about Ghana when he predicted an African country winning the FIFA World Cup.
According to him Akufo-Addo, Ghana was on the mind of the legend when he was making such remarks a long time ago now.
“A long time ago, the greatest footballer that has ever lived, the Brazilian, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Pele, said that very soon an African country is going to win the World Cup and I know that, when he said that, he had in mind Ghana,” Akufo-Addo said when he signed the national flag to rally support for the Black Stars as they head to Qatar.
“All of us know what football means to us in this country and what a very rich history we have in football.
“History that goes right back to the 50s, and 60s and 70s, 80s and 90s, right up till today; and I’m very confident that the players that have been selected, right up to the excellent technical team that we have under the leadership of Otto Addo, that we are going to give a very good account of ourselves,” he added.
Ghana will start their 2022 FIFA World Cup campaign with a game against European giant Portugal on November 24 at Stadium 974 in Doha.
Four days later, the Black Stars return to action with a clash against the Asian powerhouse South Korea at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan.
The Black Stars who are making their fourth FIFA appearance will end their group stage campaign with a clash against Uruguay at Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah.
No Africa country has ever reached the semi-final of the FIFA Mundial but the Ghana president believes this could be Africans year of breakthrough.
Seth Terkper, a former minister of finance, has described the passing of Professor Kwesi Botchwey as another emotional moment.
According to him, the highest point of his relationship with the late former minister of finance was a humble one.
He said the late Prof Botchwey approved his postgraduate studies and never for once dreamt of stepping into his shoes as a finance minister under the government of John Dramani Mahama.
“RIP, Sir. Another emotional moment when a national and global tribute is also so personal. The HIGHEST point in our relationship was a HUMBLE one: approving my post-graduate studies. Never dreamt then that I will ever step in your oversized Minister shoes,” Seth Terkper tweeted.
Kwesi Botchwey died at the age of 78 after a short illness at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra on Saturday, November 19.
As part of his political career, he served in the Rawlings’ Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) – military regime – and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) – civilian regime – as the Secretary for Finance and Minister of Finance and Economic Planning respectively.
He was described as the longest-serving finance minister in Ghana’s history.
Prof Botchwey attended Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary School before proceeding to the University of Ghana to pursue an LLB. He was at Yale Law School for his LLM and graduated from the University of Michigan Law School with his doctorate.
Prof. Kwesi Botchwey served as an advisor to World Bank on the 1997 World Development Report.
He had vast expertise in economic management as he was a member and Chairman of IMF‘s Group of Independent Experts who conducted the first-ever external evaluation of the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility under the Fund.
Meanwhile, tributes continue to pour in for the late scholar, especially from his close associates and sympathizers of the National Democratic Congress.
Professor Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, the Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), says the Authority is poised to clear all backlogs and register new people if the Ghana card will be used for the 2024 general election.
“There’s ample time, there’s solid technology, expertise, leadership and will… If Parliament gives the Electoral Commission the go-ahead, we are ready,” he said.
Prof Attafuah, who said this in an engagement with the media, said: ” It will be a tragedy if we do not use Ghana card for election 2024. There’s no reasonable basis for that not to happen.”
He said because, the NIA had registered 17.3 million out of the 19 million projection with ” a lot of those eligible to vote captured”.
The Executive Secretary said those who had not been registered and above 18 years and those who would turn 18 years could be registered in six months.
“… Ours is continuous registration and we have offices in every district and NIA has shown capacity to open additional registration points. These measures will be introduced when necessary.”
Prof Attafuah also said the Authority would begin the registration of Ghanaians abroad next year February.
He said the registration, a statutory requirement, would be done by Ghana’s missions and at a fee to the registrants.
Prof Attafuah said Ghanaians in the West African sub-region would pay the equivalent of 30 dollars with those in the rest of Africa paying slightly lower than those Euro-American countries.
Ghanaians in Euro-American countries will pay 50 dollars.
He said the payment was part of the revenue model that underpinned the public private engagement on the Identity Management System and reason the Authority was able to give out the cards free to Ghanaians in Ghana.
The Authority will also start registering Ghanaians age six years and above and Ghanaians in detention from February next year.
The Executive Secretary said so far, the NIA had registered 17,316,762 Ghanaians, printed 16,701,636 cards and issued 16,016,464 cards.
He said the Authority had so enrolled 164,405 foreigners, printed and issued 164,405 cards to them.
The Authority has started the registration of refugees in the country.
President of policy think tank, IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe says the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta was given a fair hearing to respond to allegations leveled against him by the Minority.
This comes on the back of a motion of censure filed by the Minority in Parliament to sack the Mr. Ofori-Atta for what they describe as poor management of the economy.
Speaking on Citi FM/TV‘s news analysis programme, The Big Issue, Mr. Cudjoe said the Finance Minister who took his turn at the ad-hoc committee of Parliament on Friday has been able to clear himself with his explanations.
“I think that somehow the Minister acquitted himself with the explanations he gave simply because of the nature of the accusations or the grounds that were made against him. Some of them were on policy, others were on issues around divergence that constituted deliberate breaking of the law.”
“There were however a few explanations that were problematic, especially the ones that have to do with the cathedral. The grounds were a bit narrow, so it afforded him the opportunity to explain himself quite well, so he could have addressed them head-on.”
The 1972-year group of the Accra High School has donated two polytanks at the cost of GH¢70,000 to its alma mater, to provide constant flow of water to the student body as well as the pantry.
The donation forms part of the school’s 2022 homecoming organised by the 1972, 1982, 1997 and 2002 year groups, as a way of creating bonds among old students.
Due to Covid, the homecoming was put on hold for two years, with the old year groups coming together today November 19, 2022, to celebrate it.
Speaking with citinewsroom.com after donating the polytanks to the school, the President of the 1972-year group, Nukpai Francis Cato explained that, “we are the 1972-year group, we exited the school 50 years ago. As part of help to our alma mater, we decided to present 220,000 litres of polytanks to the school to help them in so many ways”.
Nukpai Cato advised the students to study very hard in order for the school to regain its category A status, which was an enviable school to many in the past.
“We are advising the students to study, we used to be a category A school, but now we are a category B school. We are asking that they learn hard so that we revert to the category A school. There are so many benefits that go with category A school, so all that we are pleading from them is to study,” he entreated.
Receiving the polytanks, the Headmistress of Accra High School, Madam Evelyn Sagbil Nabia expressed appreciation to the 1972-year group for the gesture.
“This is the 2nd polytank that the 1972-year group has donated to the school. As a headmistress, I would say I’m very happy. If they didn’t donate the polytanks, I would have had to find a way to get these particular polytanks, because they are critical. Water is critical for the usage of the students and also in the kitchen, so I’m very grateful,” the headmistress asserted.
Accra High School Headmistress
Touching on the homecoming, she said, “for me, it’s very exciting, looking at the calibre of people who will leave the school and still think about the school out of love and come back. I’m just excited about the homecoming. I see the energy the year groups are coming in with. This is how we build old students to support their alma mater”.
Some of the old students
The Main Coordinator of the 2022 homecoming, Nukpai Isaac Glover, explained that Accra High school is the oldest High school in the Greater Accra, Volta and Eastern regions.
He disclosed that the school will be celebrating its centenary anniversary in 2023 and called on the old students to gear up for the celebration.
“We expect the old students to enjoy themselves today, and feel the vibe of being an old student of Accra High School. And with that energy, we move to celebrate our 100 years anniversary. We need their commitment. We are the oldest High school in Greater Accra, Volta and Eastern regions. It’s our time to celebrate. We are expecting them to come together in their numbers to celebrate and prepare for their centenary celebration. Next year August 17, 2023, we will be 100 years, it will be a year-long grand celebration,” Nukpai Glover hinted.
Majority of the old students who participated in the homecoming were old students living in the Diaspora and Ghana.
The excited old students who participated in the homecoming engaged in some sporting activities such as sack race, football, eating and dancing competitions.
The old students, both old and young who were re-living their school days lives, were spotted pounding fufu, sharing food and creating jokes among themselves.
The school has four houses, namely Buckman (Red), Glover-Addo (Yellow), Roberts (Blue) and Nanka Bruce (Green).
A former Eastern Regional Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mark Oliver Kevor has been elected to lead the party as its Chairman in the region for the next four years.
Mark Oliver Kevor beat stiff competition from four other aspirants including the incumbent chairman, John Owusu Amankra, the vice chairman, William Atamudzi, a former Chairman, Bismarck Tawiah Boateng and Basil Ahiable.
For the First Vice Chairmanship position, Ransford Owusu Boakye overcame competition from 4 other aspirants.
Incumbent Eastern Regional Secretary, Cudjoe Adukpo failed in his bid to retain his position after succumbing to Baba Jamal Konneh a former regional director of elections.
The National Communications Director of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi who administered and ushered the new officers into office charged them to work hard and put the interest of the party first in achieving victory in the next elections.
Mark Oliver Kevor addressing the delegates indicated that “the focus of the party now is to unite and wrestle power from the governing New Patriotic Party come December 2024.”
Born on the 3 September 1944, Dr. Kwesi Botchwey was 78 at the time of his death.
Professor Botchwey is the longest-serving Finance Minister.
He served in office alongside Ghana’s longest-serving head of state, the late former President, Jerry John Rawlings.
He served in the military era of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) (1982 to 1991) and the constitutional period of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) (1992 to 1995).
The late economist received his secondary school education at the Presbyterian Boys’ Senior High School in Ghana.
Prof. Botchwey held an LL.B. from the University of Ghana, LL.M from Yale Law School, and a doctorate from the University of Michigan Law School.
He taught at the University of Zambia, the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and the University of Ghana. Other notable previous assignments of Dr Botchwey were advisor to the World Bank on the 1997 World Development Report.
He was among others, a member and Chairman of IMF‘s Group of Independent Experts who conducted the first ever external evaluation of the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility, an advisor to the UNDP’s UN Special Initiative on Africa and an advisor to the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM).
The Member of Parliament for the Tamale North Constituency, Alhassan Suhuyini, has alleged that Ghana made well over $1.3 billion from climate change negotiations in the last six years.
As one of Ghana’s delegates to the Conference of Parties (COP27) negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, he lauded the preparations and organization of the Ghana Negotiation Team.
“In the last six years, we have made about $1.3 billion from climate change negotiations,” he alleged.
He however questioned the viability and evidence of the monies Ghana has earned from such conferences and negotiations in the past years.
“With these monies, shouldn’t we be seeing more projects?”
Speaking on The Big Issue on Citi FM/Citi TV, Mr. Suhuyini called on African countries that receive monies that are meant for climate mitigation to be used for the right courses and be accountable to the donor countries.
He also criticized President Akufo-Addo’s proposal to richer nations to swap African nations’ debts for climate interventions when Ghana and other climate-vulnerable countries do not have major climate adaptative projects to show for the monies received so far.
Speaking as Chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) at the Conference on November 8, President Akufo-Addo said: “as adaptation cost continues to outstrip current international public finance flows, we must, as a matter of urgency, mobilize and scale up adaptation finance inflows to ensure the vulnerable countries are able to meet their adaptation needs. It is critical in this regard that the developed world makes good on their long-delayed pledge to mobilize and make available $100 billion annually to the poorer countries to assist in the fight against climate change and commit as agreed in COP26 in Glasgow to doubling resources for adaptations. Furthermore, it is plain to most to see that a radical restructuring of the global financial architecture as proposed by the African Finance Ministers to accommodate the demands of the developing world is of urgent necessity. I also urge those who owed African debts to commit to debt for climate swap initiatives.”
Alhassan Suhuyini described the call as a good one, but said, “we must also ask ourselves why we are in this debt cycle situation. A few years ago, Africa championed the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative which saw the cancellation of our debt and less than a decade ago, we are asking for debt forgiveness again.”
This year’s Conference was held for the first time in an African country and two main themes or fields; loss and damage added to the negotiated items.
Ghana was also one of the few countries that had a stand at the Conference.
After several hours of engagements with senior party members, regional executives, aspirants, and the Electoral Commission of Ghana, the National Elections Task Force of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has begun procedures to commence the Eastern Regional elections despite a court injunction.
The decision to move ahead with the elections was arrived at following a last-minute meeting with the Electoral Commission at their head office in Koforidua.
Officials of the Electoral Commission after the meeting subsequently arrived at the Koforidua Technical University, where the elections will be taking place.
Interestingly the Eastern Regional Chairman of the party, John Owusu Amankra popularly known as Jowak who issued a statement acknowledging receipt of the injunction and its subsequent suspension of the election was, however, missing during all the engagements.
One person has been confirmed dead with four others injured in an accident involving a Daf truck and five other vehicles at Bogoso in the Western Region on November 19, 2022.
Police investigation has disclosed that the driver of the Daf truck, carrying logs from the Prestea end of the road, upon reaching Bogoso lost control while negotiating a curve. In the process, the logs fell on the five other vehicles.
Personnel of the MTTD are on the grounds and the road has since been opened to traffic.
The Ghana National Fire Service is assisting to rescue the victims believed to be trapped in the accident vehicles.
Augustus Osei, driver of one of the vehicles involved in the accident said the breaking system of the Daf truck failed, which resulted in the accident.
“I was coming from Boadie to Bogoso and we had bypassed the roundabout. The Daf truck had already climbed the hill but suddenly all we could see was the truck reversing by itself so I shouted for all my passengers to exit the vehicle.
“Three of us in the vehicle managed to exit but one person could not exit so he died,” he narrated.
One of the proponents of the Bill Against Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgenders and Queer, LGBTQ+ groups, Sam Nartey George, says he does not agree with the Attorney General’s position on the Anti-Gay Bill.
Mr. George said 80 percent of the issues raised by the A-G on the Anti-gay Bill have already been considered by the Committee working on it.
He welcomed the views of the Attorney General, but added that the Committee differs from his opinion on the Bill.
He said sponsors of the Bill will insist on this to the Committee on the floor and have a debate on it.
The Ningo-Prampram MP also downplayed the possibility of the Bill being passed by Parliament before the end of 2022.
Trade between Ghana and the United Kingdom (U.K.) is targetted to grow to £1.4 billion in value as the two countries commit to a new three-party partnership, including Rwanda, which is expected to boost trade opportunities between local businesses and their foreign counterparts.
According to the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, while increasing trade remains a key priority for both countries, it is expected that products going from the country to the U.K. meet market standards.
She observed that supporting Ghana’s exporters to meet the standards the UK markets require will help to remove one of the barriers currently stopping goods from the country from entering their markets.
The British High Commissioner to Ghana, speaking in an interview at the sidelines of the launching of the ‘Standards Partnership Pilot,’ reiterated that the platform created was fundamental to boosting trade between the country and the rest of the world.
“This programme will help put Ghanaian businesses on the global stage. By adopting and working within international trading standards, this new partnership will build greater capacity in Ghana’s Standard Authority (GSA), and better position companies to export Ghanaian products to the UK.
“The launch of the UK-Ghana Standard Partnership Pilot is timely. With the roll-out of the AfCFTA and the implementation of the U.K. – Ghana Trade Partnership Agreement, quality standardisation will play a critical role in driving further trading opportunities between our two nations and beyond,” she stated.
The programme is the first U.K. Government-backed initiative to use global standards to support trade in Africa. It is led by the British Standards Institution (BSI) in collaboration with and to support GSA.
It will focus on strengthening national quality infrastructure organisations and systems in complying with internationally recommended practices.
Also, the pilot will help deliver secondary benefits by enabling businesses to build resilient, diversified supply chains with high-quality products and services, resulting in greater choice and lower prices of goods for consumers.
The project is the first step toward the Standards Partnership programme – a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office-funded (FCDO) initiative to unlock sustainable economic development by increasing the capacity of developing countries to use and comply with standards and regulatory measures – enabling them to access new markets, and benefit from global supply chains.
The Deputy Minister of Trade & Industry, Michael Okyere Baafi, also speaking at the ceremony, said the project will, among other benefits, strengthen the long-standing relationship between Ghana and the U.K.
He added that it will also ensure that the products are vigorously checked and maintained so that they can be consumed locally and exported, which will enhance the country’s foreign exchange earnings.
On his part, the President of the African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) and Director-General of GSA, Prof. Alex Dodoo, acknowledged that the initiative holds the potential to transform intra-Africa and global trade.
He said the U.K. is one of Ghana’s leading trading partners, and goods from Ghana are always in high demand provided they meet strict international standards and related requirements.
Because of this, he observed that the Standards Partnership Programme provides a timely opportunity for Ghana to improve standards and quality infrastructure to expand trade with the UK and the world.
Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has said the country’s total debt stock currently stands at GH¢450 billion in 2022 from a total of GH¢120 billion in 2017.
This represents about GH¢300 billion in borrowing since the Akufo-Addo government came into office in January 2017.
Ken Ofori-Atta appearing before the ad-hoc committee probing a censure motion filed against him by the Minority in Parliament explained that although the figure is huge and worrisome, it is important to place focus on the loans secured and what the funds have been expended towards.
He said government has invested the GH¢330 billion loan under key initiatives such as the Planting for Food and Jobs, construction of interchanges, and educational infrastructure, among others.
When probed over claims he had mismanaged the Ghanaian economy which is now seeking IMF assistance, Ken Ofori-Atta said “government’s strenuous efforts to protect the public purse is what has helped”.
The vote of censure filed by the Minority in Parliament was based on seven grounds.
Below are the seven points for which the Minority wants KEN Ofori-Atta censured:
a. Despicable conflict of interest ensuring that he directly benefits from Ghana’s economic woes as his companies receive commissions and other unethical contractual advantages, particularly from Ghana’s debt overhang
b. Unconstitutional withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund in blatant contravention of Article 178 of the 1992 Constitution, supposedly for the construction of the President’s Cathedral.
c. Illegal payment of oil revenues into offshore accounts, in flagrant violation of Article 176 of the 1992 Constitution.
d. Deliberate and dishonest misreporting of economic data to Parliament
e. Fiscal recklessness leading to the crash of the Ghana Cedi which is currently the worst-performing currency in the world
f. Alarming incompetence and frightening ineptitude, resulting in the collapse of the Ghanaian economy and an excruciating cost of living crisis
g. Gross mismanagement of the Ghanaian economy which has occasioned untold and unprecedented hardship
National Cathedral project is state-owned, not Akufo-Addo’s property – Ofori-Atta clarifies.
Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, a member of the governing NPP, has paid a glowing tribute to the late Finance Minister, Professor Kwesi Botchwey.
In a tweet, the NPP stalwart indicated the deceased NDC cadre’s leadership and commitment to the structural changes to the country’s economy in the late 80s were remarkable.
He said, Professor Botchwey’s deeds some decades ago, are still having an impact currently.
“Former finance minister Kwesi Botchwey is dead – his leadership and commitment to the structural changes to our economy in the late 80s were critical and the impact still with us today.
“May he rest in perpetual peace”, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko tweeted.
Kwesi Botchwey died at the age of 78 after a short illness at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra on Saturday, November 19.
As part of his political career, he served in the Rawlings’ Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) – military regime – and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) – civilian regime – as the Secretary for Finance and Minister of Finance and Economic Planning respectively.
He was described as the longest-serving finance minister in Ghana’s history.
Prof Botchwey attended Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary School before proceeding to the University of Ghana to pursue an LLB. He was at Yale Law School for his LLM and graduated from the University of Michigan Law School with his doctorate.
Prof. Kwesi Botchwey served as an advisor to World Bank on the 1997 World Development Report.
He had vast expertise in economic management as he was a member and Chairman of IMF‘s Group of Independent Experts who conducted the first-ever external evaluation of the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility under the Fund.
Meanwhile, tributes continue to pour in for the late scholar, especially from his close associates and sympathizers of the National Democratic Congress.
Former finance minister Kwesi Botchwey is dead – his leadership and commitment to the structural changes to our economy in the late 80s were critical and the impact still with us todqy. May he rest in perpetual peace. https://t.co/iRYmXlUfQW
Joe Jackson, a Business Executive and Consultant at Dalex Finance, has eulogised the late former Minister of Finance, Professor Kwesi Botchwey.
According to him, the late Professor will be remembered as Ghana‘s foremost finance minister who changed the country’s economic fortunes.
He noted that the untimely demise of Kwesi Botchwey during the time that the country is going through some economic difficulties and seeking a bailout from the IMF, increases his nostalgia for his record term as Finance Minister.
Joe Jackson tweeted, “Dr. Kwesi Botchwey, Your passing, at this time of an economic crisis, increases my nostalgia for your record term as Finance Minister.
“We will forever remember you as the minister who changed our economic fortunes.
“Rest in peace ‘Uncle Kwesi’.”
Kwesi Botchwey died at the age of 78 after a short illness at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra on Saturday, November 19.
As part of his political career, he served in the Rawlings’ Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) – military regime – and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) – civilian regime – as the Secretary for Finance and Minister of Finance and Economic Planning respectively.
He was described as the longest-serving finance minister in Ghana’s history.
Prof Botchwey attended Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary School before proceeding to the University of Ghana to pursue an LLB. He was at Yale Law School for his LLM and graduated from the University of Michigan Law School with his doctorate.
Prof. Kwesi Botchwey served as an advisor to World Bank on the 1997 World Development Report.
He had vast expertise in economic management as he was a member and Chairman of IMF‘s Group of Independent Experts who conducted the first-ever external evaluation of the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility under the Fund.
Meanwhile, tributes continue to pour in for the late scholar, especially from his close associates and sympathizers of the National Democratic Congress.
In the midst of slanders and backlashes after being made a second wife to popular Nollywood actor, Yul Edochie, Judy Austin is allegedly pregnant with a second child.
According to sources, Judy Austin was spotted at a hospital situated in the Enugu State where she had an antenatal appointment.
The news was shared by Gistlover, a popular Nigerian blog that first shared the news of Yul and Judy’s marriage and son which they hid from the public for over a year.
Earlier, news of Judy Austin’s alleged second pregnancy went rife on social media, and this is because she plays such roles lately in most of her recent movies.
The actress, however, did not confirm or deny the said reports in a post meant to address her critics.
“I understand that a lot of people are jobless… Meaning most people are really really angry and frustrated!! Lord fix them. Amen!!! Have a wonderful my bunnies!!!”
Background
Judy Austin and Yul Edochie made headlines on social media after the latter announced his marriage to the former on social media.
Yul also outdoored their one-year-old baby boy, a situation which further triggered public uproar online.
It can be recalled that, Yul’s first wife, May Edochie, went haywire after chancing on the said post as she took to the comment section to curse her husband and the second wife.
“May God judge you both,” she wrote under Yul’s post.
They were said to have unfollowed each other and it was also reported that Yul’s family disassociated themselves from the development.
Samuel Nartey George, NDC MP, Ningo-Prampram, has stated that Ursula Owusu-Ekuful is unfit to be the Minister of Communications and Digitalisation.
According to him, the Minister unofficially asked Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to curtail some services on SIM cards not completely registered.
He said the Minister’s directive is for the MNOs to block data services for SIMs that have undergone the first stage of the two-staged registration process but are not done with the second stage.
Ursula Owusu’s decision, Sam George said is uninformed and must be reversed.
The Member of the Communications Committee noted the Minister who is also the MP for Ablekuma West does not understand the industry she leads.
Ursula Owusu-Ekuful had earlier hinted at possible sanctions for persons who have deliberately refused to take part in the SIM re-registration exercise.
Speaking to the media after a Technology Breakfast Meeting earlier this month, the Minister said, “we all need to ensure that we protect the systems that we are putting in place. This is one aspect of it, but the SIM re-registration is also another aspect of it. There are some who have genuine concerns, and we are working with the NIA to [address them].
“But there are others who have the Ghana cards but have not completed the process. So clearly, either they do not intend to, or are unwilling to, so we will have some measures to announce in due course soon.”
But in a Facebook post, Sam George wrote, “I have noted with renewed concern your ‘unofficial’, uninformed and retrogressive ‘directive’ to MNOs to deactivate data services on SIMs that have done stage 1 registration but not completed stage 2 registration.”
“I refer to the ‘directive’ as ‘unofficial’ because you have refused to write a letter either from the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation Ghana or the National Communications Authority Ghana to the Telecommunications Companies. You expect them to carry out your uninformed fiat by way of a press statement or Facebook post of yours? Really? Is that what you have reduced the distinguished office of Minister of Communications to? The same office occupied by Edward Salia, Spio-Garbah, John Mahama, Mike Ocquaye, Albert Kan-Dapaah, Haruna Iddrisu and Omane Boamah? Jesus Christ of Nazareth!” he added.
Sam George continued: “This policy position is not just uninformed but shows you are clearly unfit for the office you occupy. What is the basis for your general conclusion on all who have not completed stage 2 registration? That they are recalcitrant? That is the most unintelligent reasoning I have heard in your rather unimpressive stint as Minister.
“There are individuals who have completed stage 1 registration but misplaced their Ghana Cards before being able to complete stage 2 at a Telco Office. These persons have had to go and apply for replacement cards at the NIA. The challenges with that process are not new to any rational mind.
“Another group of persons who have completed the stage 1 but not stage 2 are those whose card have been unreadable when they have gone to the Telco offices. These persons have had to go back to the NIA and apply for replacements. How you as Minister can conclude that these citizens, many of whom have been frustrated by the cumbersome process you have chosen, are recalcitrant and so should be punished beats logical thinking.”
“If you are convinced your directive is grounded in law and can stand scrutiny, why are you refusing to officially write to the MNOs? That has always been how directives have been communicated to them. If the MNOs – MTN Ghana, Vodafone Ghana and AirtelTigo Ghana – proceed with this ‘illegal’ directive without any written documentation, they should be prepared to face us, on behalf of the citizens, in Court as we fight for what is right, proper and just.
The Commercial Division of the Sekondi High Court, presided over by Justice Sedina Agbemava has ruled that the late 53-year-old taxi driver in Fijai, Joseph Entsie, who died in police custody, was killed by police officers.
The late taxi driver at the Fijai Taxi Rank in Sekondi had been arrested on 25th December, 2021 for alleged drunk driving and hitting some policemen at the Effia Nkwanta Nurses Quarters police checkpoint with his car.
He was then sent to the Sekondi Police Station and placed in a cell.
The Western Region Police Command, in a report, had stated that Joseph Entsie was later found dead in his cell with his jeans trousers tied to his neck, suggesting suicide.
But the pathologist who performed an autopsy on him had informed the family he did not die by hanging.
The police then asked for another autopsy from a different pathologist but refused to disclose the results to the family because they [the family] had refused to be present for the second autopsy.
With the help of a lawyer from Legal Aid Commission, Mr. Ebo Donkor, the case was sent to court.
Delivering the ruling, Justice Sedinam Avernogbo directed the Attorney General to prosecute the police officers involved.
An aide to former President John Dramani Mahama, Joyce Bawah Mogtari, has described moves by the Agric Minister to sell foodstuff at its premises to control prices as a disaster.
According to her, it is unbelievable that the “incompetent Minister for Agriculture actually went ahead to sell plantains at the ministry”.
In a Facebook post, she said if this was the standard for measuring the performance of the sector minister, then all farmers would be excellent Agric Ministers.
“I simply can’t believe the obviously failed and incompetent Minister for Agriculture actually went ahead to sell plantains in the ministry. Is plantain the only food item Ghanaians eat and which is expensive to buy today?
“How can the sale of plantains at controlled prices ensure food security for our entire population?
“And should all Ghanaians move to the ministry in Accra to buy the plantain at the controlled prices?”, the former aide added.
As part of efforts to control prices of foodstuff, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture began selling foodstuff within its premises to serve people in Accra.
The products are brought from the farms to the ministry and sold to consumers at a cheaper price.
However, when the project commenced, plantain was the only item at the venue.
Photo Credit: Eilidh Stimpson – The note is signed and dated by two male workers who laid the floor
