The Deputy National Organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Hamilton Nixon Biney, a.k.a Chief Biney, has revealed the identity of the policeman who allegedly infiltrated his “Ghana Must Work” demonstration against Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
Speaking in a UTV TV interview monitored by GhanaWeb on Tuesday (November 1), Chief Biney, who showed pictures of the said police officer to the cameras, mentioned his name as Kwaku Gameli.
He said that the leadership of the Ghana Police Service should take the matter seriously because the policeman wore the attire of the demonstrators, which could have led to him breaching the court order that stated that only 20 people should participate in the demonstration.
The NDC deputy national organizer added that the police should investigate the matter because the alleged infiltrator claimed not to be a police officer, but he had pictures of him in police uniform.
“When I confronted this man (the infiltrator), he said he was not a police officer, and the media has a video of this. And I said to him that you know me, and I know you, Kweku Gameli; you are a police officer.
“This is the gentlemen (holding up a picture) wearing my t-shirt, “Ghana Must Work”. This is a picture of him holding placards. Look at the danger; this gentleman was right behind me. If he had done something wrong, I would have been held responsible for it.
“This is the policeman (holding another picture of the man with police apparel and a gun). This is him (another picture of him on a motorbike).
“Kweku Gameli came into the police and was a visibility officer. He is a rider and has been involved in an accident on more than one occasion. Because of that (the accidents), he is no longer a rider, but he works as an intelligence officer at Tesano (Police Station),” he said in Twi.
He added that if the Inspector General of the Ghana Police Service, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, fails to take action against Kweku Gameli, he will sue the police.
Chief Biney and his cohorts were protesting against Dr. Bawumia’s handling of the country’s economy.
The protest started at Kawukudi Park, through 37 to the Lands Commission junction, and turned right to the DVLA, where the demonstrators presented a petition to the Office of the Vice President.
Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has admitted that the long delay in the construction of the Pwalugu Multipurpose dam project is as a result of financial constraints.
Speaking at the launch of the Northern Development Authority’s five-year strategic plan in Tamale, Dr. Bawumia said government will look for funds to construct the dam.
“Even though the project is facing financial challenges, we are determined to find the resources to complete the construction of the dam.”
Sod was cut for the construction of the Pwalugu Multipurpose dam project in 2020 and was to be funded with a Sydohydro facility of $993 million.
The project awarded to China Power International group was scheduled for completion four years after the sod cutting.
The project was aimed at addressing the perennial flooding associated with the spillage of the Bagre dam from neighbouring Burkina-Faso and also providing 60MW and 50MW of hydro and solar electricity respectively.
But physical construction of the project at Kurugu in the North East Region is yet to commence after two years and ten months into the project execution period.
Last week, peasant farmers in the Northern part of the country demonstrated over the delay in the construction of the dam.
The farmers expressed fears that the project had been abandoned and called for a probe into it.
According to Dr Donkor who disclosed this in Parliament, “the financials don’t speak well of GNPC. He thus has called for stringent measures to be rolled out to forestall the collapse of the institution.
He bemoaned the fact that the GNPC is funding activities unrelated to its mandate, and warned of dire consequences if this development continues.
“We will urge that from a purely financial analysis, without injection of new funds, GNPC is on the brink of bankruptcy,” he said.
The GNPC is the state agency responsible for the exploration, licensing, and distribution of petroleum-related activities in Ghana.
It has been in operation since its establishment in 1983 by the PNDC Law 64, to support the government’s objective of providing adequate and reliable supply of petroleum products and reducing the country’s dependence on crude oil imports, through the development of the country’s own petroleum resources.
It is on record that the company in 2020, made a loss of USD163.392 million.
The company blamed this on the COVID-19 pandemic which wreaked havoc on many economies.
However, commenting on the report of the Committee on Employment Welfare and State Enterprises on the Financial Performance of GNPC for 2019 and 2020, Mr Duffour noted that the corporation’s coffer is in a bad shape.
He, thus, charged Parliament to take a keen interest in the management of the corporation.
“…Mr Speaker, in supporting the motion. I want to call the attention of this house to the need to bring GNPC, even if it is a committee of whole, to bring GNPC before this house for more critical scrutiny,” he said.
Also, Chairman of the Mines and Energy Committee Samuel Atta Akyea, noted that it appears the GNPC has drifted from its core mandate, a development which has accounted for its current woes.
Worried over the current state of the corporation, a ranking member on the Mines and Energy Committee, John Jinapor, bemoaned that the financial position of GNPC is devastating – a situation he said could lead to the collapse of the company.
He further lamented the huge losses recorded over the period in review. “I’m very, very worried about the state of GNPC reading this report. And if you look at Page 4, is tasked with the profitability assessment of the company. If we look at the gross profit margin, which is the gross profit expressed as a percentage of your total sales, it has reduced from 50% in 2018 to 26% in 2019 to 0.3% in 2020.” “If you look at the operating profit… it has moved from 28% to -19.23%, nearing the point that money doesn’t like noise.”
This comes after policy think tank IMANI Africa and the Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP) alleged that GNPC could cost Ghana between US$5 billion and US$6 billion. According to the two companies, the GNPC’s current arrangement with Genser Energy Holdings, a US-based Ghanaian-owned energy company, would lead to financial loss to the state.
GNPC, however, has debunked the assertion, emphasising that the figures quoted by ACEP and Imani to represent programmed losses are in fact budget deficits.
GNPC further stated that what it presents to Parliament in its annual Work Program is what the Corporation intends to spend on its activities and the sources of funding for such projects, and the means of financing the forecasted deficit, if any.
“It is based on these mis-represented figures that ACEP and Imani draw their conclusion that GNPC’s operations raise significant debt concerns, and that cumulatively, the Corporation’s actions could cost Ghana between US$5 billion and US$6 billion. These conclusions cannot be any further from the truth,” a document from GNPC sighted by The Independent Ghana read.
“The two organisations make basic errors, in their inability to distinguish between deficit financing and profit/loss,” the Corporation added.
According to GNPC, it remains a perennial loss-making organisation that has made a loss in only one year, i.e. 2020.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has explained that customs valuation primarily relies on the first (1st) out of the six (6) methods of valuation provided under the WTO valuation methods, which is the Transactional value.
A statement issued by GRA, said, “Goods are benchmarked to the prevailing world prices as a risk management tool, to reflect the true market dynamics of those commodities”.
Below is a statement from GRA:
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) wishes to clarify issues surrounding the application of benchmark values in determining Customs values for duty purposes.
Customs valuation is based on the General Agreement on Trade & Tariff (GATT), Article VII which is adhered to by all member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This has been captured under Section 67 & 68 of the Customs Act 2015, Act (891).
Customs valuation primarily relies on the first (1st) out of the six (6) methods of valuation provided under the WTO valuation methods, which is the Transactional value.
However, where the Customs values cannot be determined under the first method of the WTO methods of valuation, some risk management tools allowed by the laws and procedures are used to determine the value under Methods 2 to 6 of the WTO methods. This includes the use of reference price list otherwise known as the Benchmark Values.
Goods are benchmarked to the prevailing world prices as a risk management tool, to reflect the true market dynamics of those commodities. The Benchmark Values are not meant to replace or substitute transactional values. They are only used when the conditions for the acceptance of the Transactional values are not met.
The GRA therefore wishes to inform the general public that, Customs valuation is based on international best practices, procedures and treaties that Ghana has acceded to and passed into the Customs Act.
We wish to inform members of the trading community that they have a right to appeal to the Commissioner-General for a possible review of any Customs valuation they deem unfair.
Maternal deaths have declined significantly in the Upper East Region within the first 10-months of 2022.
At the end of October 2022, the region recorded 22 deaths, compared to the 39 deaths recorded within the same period in 2021 and 42 deaths in the whole of 2021.
This is attributed to the many interventions being rolled out at the regional, district and community levels by the authorities of the Ghana Health Service(GHS) and partners in the region.
Dr Josephat Nyuzaghl, the Deputy Regional Director, Ghana Health Service in charge of Public Health, announced this in Bolgatanga at the launch of a STAR-Ghana Gender Rights and Empowerment Project (G-REP) organised by the Rural Initiatives for Self-Empowerment (RISE-Ghana), a Non- Governmental Organisation.
The three-year project with funding support from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is aimed at strengthening health committees and citizens groups to champion access to quality maternal health in the Talensi and Nabdam Districts.
Dr Nyuzaghl underscored the need for collective and sustained efforts from all stakeholders to consolidate the gains made in reducing maternal deaths.
He, however, said the Eastern corridor of the region, comprising the Bawku enclave had in recent years recorded high maternal deaths and noted that lack of district hospitals to serve as referral facilities and other critical health professionals contributed to that effect.
He expressed the hope that government’s agenda 111 and the move by the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council to task all the Municipal and Districts in the region to take measures to attract medical doctors to their respective areas would contribute to address the problem and improve upon maternal and child health.
“Last year, more than 50 per cent of the deaths came from Bawku, Pusiga, Tempane, Garu, Binduri and Zebilla enclave but a lot of work has gone on at the community level to try to encourage them to report early for antenatal care and get the minimum package for pregnant women,” he added.
Mr Awal Ahmed Kariama, the Executive Director, RISE-Ghana, said apart from the country’s agenda of achieving Universal Health Coverage by 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals called for the need to prioritise and improve healthcare delivery systems, especially at the health facility level for improved maternal health.
To this end, he said, the project sought to mobilise women, girls and citizen groups, including civil society organisations and the media to champion issues of maternal health financing and policy implementation to ensure that the service provided at the healthcare facilities were quality and accessible.
He said as part of the project, the facility health committees in 14 sub-districts and health facilities in the two districts would be strengthened to use the scorecard to help them develop action plans.
“We want to further use these action plans to influence the budget and plans of the local district assemblies in Talensi and Nabdam as well as engage the private sector actors.
“We want to create an enabling environment and local dialogue around increasing financing for maternal health service delivery,” Mr Kariama added.
When President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo‘s brother appeared before the Accra High Court where he is suing Class Media Group, the Executive Director of the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), Mensah Thompson, and others for defamation, Lawyer Victor Adawudu grilled him under cross-examination.
Lawyer Adawudu was representing the Executive Director of ASEPA, Mensah Thompson.
Thompson is accused of falsely claiming on the Accra-based Class FM that Mr. Akufo-Addo travelled to Abuja for his personal business using the presidential jet.
Edward Akufo-Addo in his answers to some of the questions posed confirmed using the presidential jet ‘two or three times’ only in the presence of the president.
Bumpty, as he is known popularly, had earlier indicated in his suit that the claim by the accused was “utterly false and a product of the defendant’s imagination.” He demanded among other reliefs that the court orders Thompson to pay ¢10 million as damages.
The brother of the president, on October 31 opened his case and informed the court of his decision to rely on his six-page witness statement.
Here is a portion of the transcript of what transpired in court between Lawyer Victor Adawudu and Edward Akufo-Addo:
Question: Have you ever boarded the Presidential Jet?
Answer: Yes My Lord. 2 or 3 times with the President and once with the 1st Lady.
Question: Can you tell this court the destination when you used the Presidential Jet with the President?
Answer: I believe to Kumasi and with the 1st Lady, returning from Kumasi.
Question: Is it your case that the 2 consecutive flights that you had with the President was from Accra to Kumasi and back?
Answer: Yes, to the best of my recollection.
The President’s brother explained that he boarded the jet because the President asked him to accompany him.
Question: Is having the privilege of using the Presidential Jet with your brother, His Excellency, in what capacity did you board the jet?
Answer:He asked me to accompany him.
Question: In other words, you did not go with him as a public official. Not so?
Answer:That is so, I am not a public official.
Question: And the privilege extended to you by the President was because you are his family. Not so?
Answer: That is so. I am his brother.”
He was then questioned on how much he paid each time he boarded the Jet. Mr Akufo-Addo replied that he did not pay anything.
Answer: I didn’t pay anything. The President did not ask me to pay.
Question:: Putting it to you that the courtesies that you enjoyed without paying were borne by government machinery from public funds.
Answer: I am sure the flight was paid for from public funds, I do not think my joining the flight incurred any additional costs. My brother was going there in any event”, he answered.
Background:
The ASEPA Executive Director alleged on the media outlet that Edward Akufo-Addo had used the presidential jet for a private trip to Abuja.
The plaintiff subsequently dragged Thompson and Class Media to court for defamation demanding GH¢10 million as damages.
In his suit, he described the claims as “utterly false and a product of the defendant’s imagination.”
It is not the only time Thompson has made such allegations; he is on record to have claimed that relatives of the president used the jet for a shopping trip to the United Kingdom.
He was arrested for the publication of fake news after the military denied that the jet had been used for the said trip. He later apologized for the claim stating that his source had misled him.
Other reliefs being sought:
Aside from the GHc10 million cedis in damages, Edward is seeking other reliefs from the court, among others:
“An apology and retraction of the words complained of particularly in paragraph 9 of the Statement of Claim with the same prominence as the impugned publication”.
And a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, whether by themselves, their servants, agents or assigns, from repeating the same or other, similar words of and concerning the plaintiff.
Lastly, he is asking for costs inclusive of legal fees.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, has said austerity measures are inevitable in efforts to stabilize the economy.
On the path to full recovery from Ghana’s economic crisis, the people are bound to face either IMF conditionality or home-grown tough decisions that will affect the domestic market, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey observed.
“The road back to robust growth, which Ghana and a number of African countries experienced successively in the years before COVID-19 struck, is currently a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea. We have to either impose IMF-guided austerity, potentially leading to labour retrenchment and accompanying social instability, as witnessed in Argentina and elsewhere, or home-grown yet equally tough decisions to satisfy the markets and, hopefully, pave the way back to a functioning economy.
“The harsh sacrifices required, themselves, have become a source of instability and an invitation to malign actors,” she said in a statement on the sidelines as Ghana assumes Presidency of the United Nations Security Council.
Already, the Minority in Parliament has signaled an imminent debt restructuring billed to happen in the next 14-days that will possibly affect the investor community as part of the IMF negotiations.
President Akufo-Addo in an address on the economy on Sunday assured Ghanaians that no individual or institutional investor, including pension funds, in government treasury bills or instruments will lose their money, as a result of the ongoing IMF negotiations.
However, in reaction to the remarks by the President, the minority leader Haruna Iddrisu maintained that contrary to assurances by the President that there will be ‘No haircuts’, investors in government bonds and other pension funds will be adversely affected by the move.
Below is the Statement by the Foreign Affairs Minister:
We Are Running Out of Time
By Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Republic of Ghana.
I was told many years ago about a common refrain in newsrooms: “If it bleeds, it leads”. In other words, the bloodier an event, the more prominent its place in the newspaper or bulletin. I believe this axiom still holds true today. It explains why the catastrophic sights and sounds – the bleeding – in Ukraine is top of mind for the world. And justifiably so.
However, as Ghana assumes the Presidency of the United Nations Security Council in November, the world cannot afford to focus solely on events in Ukraine, its impact on the living conditions of people everywhere notwithstanding. We cannot forget that before the invasion of Ukraine, COVID-19 had exposed the lack of resilience of the economies in which the majority of the global population live. In fact, the war in Ukraine exacerbated the harsh effects of the downturn many countries were already experiencing, deepening poverty, unemployment and food insecurity.
We cannot forget either that the UN Security Council faced a leadership crisis in finding better ways to respond to threats to international peace and security, as the nature of those threats were, themselves, changing. Africa, for instance, has become the epicentre of terrorism. Meanwhile, in the countries where the UN maintains its signature peacekeeping missions, some of the host countries have chosen, instead, to engage third parties, sometimes in conflict with the operations of UN peacekeepers.
It is clear that the ways in which the Security Council approaches the mandate for international peace and security ought to change, if we are to have sustainable peace, which is a prerequisite for achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030. Right now we are running out of time in transforming the lives of people and saving our planet.
At the UN, Security Council reforms are often seen only in terms of expanding the permanent membership and power of veto to make the council more representative of all of the peoples of the world. Those reforms are important and necessary. But we believe that it is equally important to look at another area of reforms that would enable peace to serve the needs of ordinary people for resilience and a good quality of life.
In this we are inspired by the example of the second Secretary‐General of the UN, Dag Hammarskjold, who had an innovative approach to the possibilities of the UN and its Charter, and is credited with the introduction of peacekeeping. The bold act of adopting a General Assembly Resolution on 7 November, 1956, which launched the first peacekeeping operation in history, the UN Emergency Force in the Middle East (UNEF), at a time when it was urgently needed, should inspire us in our time to act equally boldly because circumstances have changed.
Like Hammarskjold, we must recognize that “the purposes of the Charter (are) fixed and binding, but the working methods of the Organization must be flexible and innovative”.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana and I are calling on the Council to consider that time has come for another departure from the norm as Hammarskjöld did when UNEF was established.
As my country, Ghana, prepares to preside over two high level debates of the Council, we want to focus, like a laser beam, on the security gap and the need for a new and innovative template for success. That template should take into account the factors that make peace keeping operations almost permanent, and why individuals and communities become susceptible to radicalization and recruitment as terrorists, driving the new face of threats to international peace and security.
In the Sahel and coastal West Africa, the countries that were the most successful in reaching striking distance of the SDGs, especially on poverty reduction and education, now find themselves struggling, as poorer countries rather shoulder the worst impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Climate Change and conflict in Europe. High fiscal deficits, escalating debt and downturns in economic activity are pushing us out of the bond markets at a time when inequality soars and unemployment and underemployment of millions is turning frustration into hopelessness. Increasingly, even some among the middle classes in Africa and other developing countries are beginning to lose faith in the democratic systems they fought so hard to establish.
The road back to robust growth, which Ghana and a number of African countries experienced successively in the years before COVID-19 struck, is currently a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea. We have to either impose IMF-guided austerity, potentially leading to labour retrenchment and accompanying social instability, as witnessed in Argentina and elsewhere, or home-grown yet equally tough decisions to satisfy the markets and, hopefully, pave the way back to a functioning economy. The harsh sacrifices required, themselves, have become a source of instability and an invitation to malign actors.
In the Sahel, climate-induced insecurity, poverty, high illiteracy rates and education that neither teaches skills nor a culture of peace and non-violence (SDG Target 4.7), youth unemployment and the absence of the State in large swathes of territory have created the environment in which terrorists thrive and undermine the effectiveness of the kinetic military operations to root them out.
It is clear that the critical need to fill the security gap brought on by economic and other root causes of conflict should be a priority for the promotion and maintenance of international peace and security. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been insistent on the need for funding the entire peace continuum, including increasing resources for programmatic financing, and for a mechanism for fighting terrorism in Africa.
The Council can no longer turn a blind eye to the accumulating evidence before us. That means ensuring that UN Security Council-mandated peace support missions or counter terrorism have a balanced approach to both the military and civil components, with as much resources devoted to building community resilience, access to good quality education and training, and mitigating climate impacts and reclaiming land and water bodies on which communities depend.
It means standing with other organs of the UN to advocate for a new model of development cooperation that reinforces the capacity of developing countries to deepen their development resilience. I know that these may not make for easy headlines but we must bring attention to, and act on, them as a matter of preventive urgency.
It is time for bold thinking and bolder action or we shall simply run out for time, leaving us with neither peace nor development – except bloodier headlines.
The Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, has stated that not all the factors affecting the country’s economy are external.
It will be recalled that on several occasions, government officials, including President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, have blamed the economic crises being experienced in the country on the effects of COVID-19 and the recent Russia-Ukraine War.
But speaking on Thursday, November 3, 2022, edition of Good Morning Ghana and monitored by GhanaWeb, the former Member of Parliament for Ledzokuku explained that admittedly, some of the factors affecting the country are internal.
He cited debt levels as part of the reasons the country is battling with the economy.
“Not all the factors responsible for our situation are external; our debt levels are also not so good. Debt servicing swallows most of the funds we get,” he said.
Not all the factors responsible for our situation are external; our debt levels are also not so good. Debt servicing swallows most of the funds we get – @OkoeBoye#GoodMorningGhana
Workers of VALCO have debunked claims by the management that they have rejected a 22% salary increment.
Speaking on Starr Today with Joshua Kodjo Mensah Wednesday, the Local Union Youth Rep for VALCO, Mr. Courage Nunekpeku said that management’s press release indicating that workers have rejected salary increment is false.
“How will someone you work for instead of him seeking your welfare will rather want to damage you or let you look stupid in the public eye. The issue is not what they put out. We went for negotiation and we agreed in principle that they were going to restore us, which is a policy in VALCO. Which has to do with the dollar to cedi ratio.
“For instance, if my salary was Ghc1,989 which would be $337 dollars. It means that now that the dollar has shot up to Ghc12 our salary should automatically increase. So this has been the norm since 2010 between management and us since the restoration policy was instituted. Then management scrapped it without letting us know,” Mr. Nunekpeku explained.
He continued: “So when we raised the alarm or concerns to the Chief Executive Officer, he promised us that he was going to work on it. That he has instructed the Human Resource Director to work on it. Later we met the Board and they were also of the opinion that that was the best way to go and that it will be addressed in September.”
Mr. Nunekpeku added that mathematically the increase of their salary cannot be 22 percent as management has put out in the public domain.
According to him, what management is demanding per the rate of dollar is Ghc4 to the dollar instead of GHC12 adding that the workers have even reduced it to Ghc10 to the dollar but the management is adamant.
“It is 57% restoration, in fact asking for reduction in the first place is wrong. Because going forward quarterly whenever the dollar appreciates our salary in cedi must also change,” he added.
The Minority Caucus in Parliament has called on the government and President Akufo-Addo to save the suffering masses now as there is a severe economic crisis.
According to John Jinapor, government can do something about the galloping fuel prices because Ghana has exceeded more than fourfolds of the annual projected oil revenue, and Ghanaians are suffering.
“Something can be done. The president said he was going to look for cheaper oil, from where? And he did not even give us timelines. This will not solve the problem, the only thing that can solve the problem is a practical way, and we have enumerated steps we can take to address the challenge we are going through,” he noted.
He is therefore calling on the government to take measures to address the dire needs of Ghanaians.
The Minority also urged government to revamp and operationalize the Tema Oil Refinery to provide Ghanaians with cheaper and sufficient petroleum products and avoid the hikes.
Glencore is facing fines in millions of dollars for a series of corruption offences in which it used a private plane to fly money to bribe officials in different African governments.
In June, a division of the FTSE 100 commodities behemoth admitted to paying many bribes to get access to oil supplies.
Following the filing of a number of charges by the Serious Fraud Office, it was the first time a firm had ever been found guilty of bribery under UK law (SFO).
Glencore may face fines of over £243 million, and the SFO is requesting the highest confiscation order ever against a British business of £93.4 million, as well as £4.5 million in fees.
At today’s sentence hearing at Southwark Crown Court in London, the exact sum will be decided.
Glencore’s attorney stated on Wednesday at a hearing that the company “unconditionally regrets the harm caused.”
However, prosecuting attorney Alexandra Healy asserted that “corruption was pervasive inside the enterprise” and that “offering of bribes was an accepted method of conducting business for the company.”
After a protracted inquiry, it was discovered that Glencore’s London-based oil trading department paid bribes totaling more than £24 million to get privileged access to cargoes in South Sudan, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, and Nigeria.
The investigation discovered that a Glencore agent in Nigeria took over £3.6 million from a slush fund and often used a private plane to fly the money to Cameroon to bribe authorities, among a long list of other offences.
Agents, executives, and dealers for Glencore were so casual that they frequently addressed one another as “senorita” and “bro,” even when talking about bribery.
Another agent received £870,000 in 2011 to pay bribes to Equatorial Guinean authorities in exchange for access to oil cargo, and the company reportedly approved £5,000 in “hotel charges” for the agent during a trip to London.
A top SFO team comprised entirely of women led the Glencore inquiry.
Photo credits: The Guardian
These included, (above) from left to right: Sara Chouraqui, joint head of fraud, bribery and corruption and Victoria Jacobson, the prosecutor for Operation Azoth – codename for the Glencore probe – as well as department director Lisa Osofsky and case controller Liz Collery.
A Glencore official made a request for approximately £700,000 from the business’ Swiss cash desk the same year, purportedly for “establishing an office in South Sudan” soon after the country gained independence.
Results of the Global InfoAnalytics have shown that as much as 54% of Ghanaian respondents to a poll want President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to resign.
According to a report by citinewsroom.com, the respondents to the poll indicated their support for the call for the president to step aside, with 40 percent of respondents disagreeing that he should step down.
The poll also asked respondents whether they want the Economic Management Team (EMT), led by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, to be replaced due to the current economic downturns in the country.
The report indicated that as much as 78% of the 1407 respondents supported that call, with 18% being against it.
The Global InfoAnalytics poll also found out from respondents who they believed would be a better manager of the current economic crisis in the country between John Dramani Mahama, Alan Kyerematen, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Kennedy Agyapong, and Kwabena Agyapong.
The respondents voted as such: 43%, 17%, 14%, 8%, and 1%, respectively.
The news report indicated that there, however, 19% of the respondents said they preferred someone else to manage the economy.
Respondents for the poll were selected randomly from across all 16 regions of the country.
All the interviews for the poll were conducted in the space of two days: October 31 and November 1, 2022.
The Municipal Chief Executive Officer for Jaman South, Andrew Bediako, has called on the Minister of Interior, Ambrose Dery, to revoke a 5-year-old curfew placed on two towns in his area, Japekrom and Brobo.
Giving his reasons, the MCE stated that for a long time now, the region has been at peace and as such, the need for the longstanding curfew is no longer relevant.
According to a news report by asaaseradio.com, Andrew Bediako said that even though the violence that broke out in April 2018 in the communities halted economic activities, such challenges have been long resolved.
“I am in talks with the interior minister… We’ve come to a level where everybody is aware that we are one people. So, we cannot continue to have curfew in Jaman South. So, in our next meeting we will discuss and take it to national so they lift curfew. The president and the interior minister need to look at this curfew again,” he said in an interview.
The Jaman South violence of April 2018 led to the deaths of three persons, with 14 others sustaining various degrees of injuries.
The MCE also explained that the curfew is not affecting development of the area.
In the meantime, he has appealed to the inhabitants of the two towns to continue to show that they are at peace so that they can properly develop their areas.
“What we need in Jaman South is togetherness, so what we have to do is that as people let’s come together. Before we talk about development, the first thing we need to talk about is unity,” he added.
Members of Parliament (MPs) on Wednesday took turns to hail the role of journalists in nation building.
Mr Akwasi Konadu, the MP for Manhyia North, who presented a statement on the floor of the House to mark “International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists”, entreated the House to help in any way possible to ensure that media practitioners go about their duties without fear or favour.
This, he said, could be achieved by ensuring the safety and security of media practitioners and giving them all the necessary support to do their jobs.
He urged the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) not to relent in its pursuit of justice for all journalists who had suffered any form of injustice in their line of duties.
He also appealed to the Police to ensure that the killers of Mr Ahmed Hussein-Suale, an investigative journalist and Mr Samuel Kwanena Ennin, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the GJA, were brought to book.
“Parliament, we also want to assure all media practitioners that we stand shoulder to shoulder with them,” Mr Konadu said.
The United Nations General Assembly in 2013 set aside November 2, as the “International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists” to condemn attacks and violence against journalists.
Contributing to the presentation, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Majority Leader, said the National Media Commission that was charged to regulate the conduct of media practitioners captured under Article 167 of the 1992 Constitution was to promote and ensure the freedom and independence of the media for mass communication or information.
To take all appropriate measures to ensure the establishment and maintenance of the highest journalistic standards in the mass media, including the investigation, mediation and settlement of complaints made against or by the press or other mass media and to insulate the state-owned media from governmental control.
“Mr, Speaker, the Media Commission, regardless of their intention, they are toothless in trying to call media practitioners who to astray to order,” Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said.
“Mr Speaker, we need the media, but the media should not otherwise assume positions that are abhorrent to our society.”
Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Minority Leader, said the Day provided journalists an opportunity to evaluate their own performance and to their contributions to Ghana’s functional democracy.
He lauded the contributions of journalists in their collective efforts for Ghana to attain the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“But Mr Speaker, as reported by the UN Secretary General, some 70 journalists have been killed this year in the course of their work and in the course of their duty of contributing to a more enlightening world,” Mr Iddrisu stated.
He said they were demanding Justice for the killing of Ahmed Husein-Suale and urged nvestigative or prosecutorial body handing the matter to discharge the responsibility with some credibility to give assurance to practicing journalists that they would not just wither away their lives in their services without support or compensation for their family.
“It is important that we celebrate and commend the Ghana Journalists Association and to urge them, what we need is the commitment of Government to continue to respect those freedoms,” he said.
He said Ghana still needed a new broadcasting law to regulate broadcasting generally.
Mr Samuel Atta Akyea, the MP for Abuakwa South, in his submission, said, as a legal practitioner, he had had to represent some people in the courts of law, who were defamed by certain media publications.
He noted that when someone’s hard won reputation was defamed through the publication of the journalist, it was difficult repairing, especially when it was carried on the internet.
“In trying to fly your story to make some money, be careful of the reputation of others, because money cannot buy the reputation of someone,” Mr Atta Akyea said.
Dr Abdul-Rashid Hassan Pelpuo, MP for Wa Central, urged Ghanaians to hold journalists in high esteem and not to look at them with disrespect.
He said Ghana was seen as an oasis of peace in the subregion, and that Ghanaians should ensure to handle journalists with pride; saying that journalists would be comfortable in doing their jobs, and that Ghana could be a source of inspiration for other nations.
An aspiring General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr. Peter Boamah Otokunor, has described the bid of the ruling party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), going into the 2024 elections as a “last kick of a dying horse.”
The current Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, who is seeking the substantive office of the Chief Executive position of the opposition party, explained that he knows for sure that the NPP will not give them an easy race in the impending elections.
He added that it will be a desperate attempt for them to hold onto the power they currently have.
“The power 2024 will not be child’s play. It will not be a joke. The NPP is not going to allow us to take it easy. It is going to be the last kick of a dying horse and you know what the last kicks of a dying horse means: the NPP will do anything to hold onto power,” he said.
Speaking to GhanaWeb TV’s Nimatu Yakubu Atouyese on Election Desk, Dr. Peter Otokunor further stated that while that is the case, there is a need for the NDC to go into the race with a bold and fearless person.
Putting himself forward as that candidate to be able to go head-to-head with the NPP in 2024, the politician said that he is ready to sacrifice it all.
“Now, that would mean you would need somebody who is courageous, who is bold and fearless. Somebody who is ready to sacrifice it all. Somebody who wants to leave a legacy. Somebody who is very hungry for power to lead the party, and that is Dr. Peter Boamah Otokunor for you,” he said.
North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday but it failed mid-flight, say the South Korean military.
The ICBM launch is Pyongyang’s seventh this year, and comes amid concerns that it will soon test a nuclear weapon.
It comes a day after both Koreas fired missiles in an escalation of tensions.
That exchange saw the most number of missiles launched by the North in a single day.
North Korea’s multiple launches comes as the US and South Korea are staging their largest-ever joint air drills, which Pyongyang has strongly criticised as “aggressive and provocative”.
On Thursday North Korea fired a long-range missile at around 07:40 local time (23:40 GMT), according to a statement from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. A source confirmed with the BBC that it was an ICBM.
It flew for about 760km (472 miles) and reached a height of around 1,920 km.
But the launch was “presumed to have ended in failure”, South Korea’s military said.
Pyongyang also fired two short-range ballistic missiles.
The launches led the Japanese government to issue a rare emergency alert on Thursday morning to residents in some of its northern regions, telling them to stay indoors.
Tokyo initially said the missile had flown over Japan, but Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada later said it did “not cross the Japanese archipelago, but disappeared over the Sea of Japan”.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida later condemned North Korea’s “repeated missile launches”, calling them an “outrage”.
The US said the launch demonstrated the threat North Korea’s missile programme poses to neighbours and international peace and security.
“Our commitments to the defence of the Republic of Korea and Japan remain ironclad,” a State Department spokesman said.
Meanwhile South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said the launches were “deplorable, immoral” during a phone call on Thursday, according to South Korea.
It comes just a month after North Korea launched a ballistic missile over Japan – the first time it had done so in five years.
The North has tested a record number of missiles this year as tensions have risen.
Despite crippling sanctions, Pyongyang conducted six nuclear tests between 2006 and 2017 and is believed to be planning a seventh.
It has continued to advance its military capability – in breach of United Nations Security Council resolutions – to threaten its neighbours and potentially even bring the US mainland within striking range.
Wednesday’s launch saw one of Pyongyang’s ballistic missiles cross the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a disputed maritime border between the Koreas.
It landed outside South Korea’s territorial waters but was the closest a North Korean missile got to the border.
Seoul responded with warplanes firing three air-to-ground missiles that also crossed the disputed maritime demarcation line. It fired a total of 23 missiles on Wednesday.
And they were launched from various points across the country, according to Kim Jong-dae, a visiting scholar of Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies.
“South Korea and the US believe that if they find the starting point of the provocation, they can precisely strike it. But there are starting points all over North Korea, and North Korea is posing multi-dimensional, systematic and simultaneous threats that they can fire (missiles) anywhere in their land. This is a situation which I’ve seen for the first time,” he told local news channel YTN.
With accelerated activity from North Korea since late September, “the end of this is likely to be the seventh nuclear test, to prove their nuclear capabilities and determination,” Park Won-gon, North Korean studies professor at Ewha Woman University, told the BBC.
“It’s unrealistic to expect North Korea to denuclearise, as it wants de facto nuclear state status to sit on the negotiation table with the US.”
Days after a group of New Patriotic Party, NPP, Members of Parliament openly demanded the removal of Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Attaand Minister of State at the Ministry, Charles Adu Boahen from office, it has emerged that four major statutory payments have been released.
The payments were confirmed by Charles Adomako-Mensah, NDC-MP for Afigya Kwabre North Constituency in the Ashanti Region.
He was answering a question by the host of Good Morning Ghana on Metro TV, Randy Abbey on developments after their October 25 demand via a press conference at the precincts of Parliament.
The four payments made so far are in respect of Common Fund (Quarters 1 and Two), MPs Moni Monitoring and Evaluation (Second quarter), Q1 and Q2 of District Common Fund as well as the Disability Relief Fund to districts.
After confirming the payments individually, the MP added: “That is true, it is true. The payments were supposed to come and there were delays, and it has been paid. It is true.”
Reacting to a shocked co-panellist in the person of Kwesi Pratt, the MP added: “Uncle Kwasi, these are statutory payments, there were delays fortunately they have been paid, thank God, they have been paid…they’ve been paid because they have to be paid.
“I am not too sure if it was because of the demands …the fact that it was after but I am not too sure if it was because of the demands,” he stressed.
“Oh Randy, delays in Common Fund payments are not something new,” Adomako-Mensah added.
The demand for Ofori-Atta’s removal sent shockwaves in the polity with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo hurriedly arranging a meeting with the disgruntled MPs.
Their demand was premised on the tanking Ghanaian economy headed by the embattled minister but a deal was reached.
Under the deal, Ofori-Atta is allowed to stay in office to conclude initial talks with the International Monetary Fund and also present the 2023 budget and oversee the passage of its appropriation before Akufo-Addo decides on his fate.
Ghana’s Eastern neighbour, Togo spends $20 million every month to ensure the prices of essential goods are stable to protect consumers.
Amid the double whammy of Covid-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Togo has been able to keep single digits with both headline and food inflation rates for September pegged at 7.90% and 8.60%, respectively.
According to Togo’s President, Faure Gnassingbe, who was speaking at the 2022 Qatar Economic Forum in Doha, the government is spending $20 million a month to cap prices of basic goods such as wheat, corn and fuel in their economy valued at $8.5 billion.
The President admitted, “That’s not sustainable for our finances so we are trying to set up a new strategy for the mid-and long-term.”
The West African nation is also taking steps to substitute essential imports and reduce emerging spending to curb inflation. For example, the state plans to urge bakers to mix wheat with locally-grown cassava to cut the import bill. At the same time, drivers of petrol-fueled motorbikes, the most widely used form of transportation, are also expected to switch to electric vehicles gradually.
Elsewhere in West Africa
Although Togo’s headline inflation has gone up by more than tenfold, countries like Cote D’Ivoire have seen inflation move from a negative rate of 1.1% in 2019 to 6.3%. Senegal’s inflation rose from 1.8% in 2019 to the prevailing rate of 11.9%. In Ghana, inflation has skyrocketed from 7.1% [pre-Covid] to 37.2% for September 2022.
In his recent address to the nation, President Akufo-Addo admitted that “the whole world has been taken aback by the speed with which inflation has eaten away people’s incomes. Economies, big and small, have experienced, over this year alone, the highest rise in cost of living over a generation…”.
He emphasised that “between the end of 2019 and now, inflation in Ghana has increased by five-fold, in Togo by sixteen-fold, by eleven-fold in Senegal, and by seven-fold in Cote d’Ivoire.”
Despite President Nana Akufo-Addo’s warnings to his Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executive (MMDCEs) to frown on illegal mining activities or risk being sacked, the youth and opinion leaders of Asaman Tamfoe in the Atewa East Constituency of Eastern Region are accusing the District Chief Executive (DCE), Lawyer Kwabena Payin Nkansah, of dabbling in the illicit activities also known as galamsey in the name of community mining.
The two groups are accusing the DCE of dereliction of duties in the declared fight against galamsey in the area. They accused the DCE of turning a blind eye to galamsey activities in the area.
In September, 16 persons were arrested in connection with a shooting incident at Asaman Tamfoe in the Atewa East District of the Eastern Region.
A statement signed by Police Superintendent Ebenezer Tetteh of the Public Affairs, Eastern Region, said the incident occurred between some persons believed to be illegal miners and a community anti-galamsey taskforce on September 29, 2022, when they clashed in the area.
The DCE vehemently denied this allegation speaking in an interview with Emmanuel Quarshie (The Hitman), the host of Ghana Yensom morning show on Accra 100.5 FM on Wednesday, November 2 2022.
According to the DCE, he is not aware that galamsey activities are ongoing in the Asaman Tamfoe area.
He was categorical to say there were no galamsey activities in the area.
“I don’t know if there are any galamsey activities ongoing in the area.
“My attention has not been drawn to any such activities in the area,” he said.
He maintained that the people who are making the allegations should have called on his office to inform him of any galamsey activities in Asaman Tamfoe rather than coming on the radio.
He expressed his displeasure about the issues of galamsey in the area adding that he is rather aware of community mining which has not even started since it was launched in July in the area.
“I‘m aware the people making the allegations have all been against me in the area.
“What I know is what I’m telling you, I don’t know anything about galamsey in the area,” he stressed.
Wofa Yaw Owusu, an opinion leader at Asaman Tamfoe insists the DCE and the chief of the area, Osabrima Kwame Kuh II, are complicit in the activities of illegal mining in the area.
He alleged that the chief has allocated a stool land for galamsey activities in the area.
According to him, they know what the DCE and the chief are doing concerning galamsey activities so they have refused to answer queries from the media any time they are called upon.
A youth leader, Ernest Butha also told The Hitman that the youth in the area have registered their displeasure about galamsey activities in the area because it had destroyed the main source of water named Tamfoe.
When The Hitman further called up the chief, he flatly denied the activities of galamsey in the area adding that he was rather aware of community mining in the area.
The Executive Director of Crime Check Foundation (CCF), Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng who lost his wife to breast cancer seeks answers to whether a Covid-19 injection his late spouse took triggered the disease.
Mr. Kwarteng in his narration of how his wife, Amina Oppong Kwarteng died, said she complained of a lump in her left breast three weeks after she had gone for a Covid-19 jab.
Whiles speaking in an interview with Radio Ghana, it baffled him how in a few weeks her healthy wife’s condition deteriorated so fast that she did not survive despite her treatment in one of the countries with the experts in curing cancers.
“By the time she went to the hospital for treatment, her lymph nodes which fight against diseases had been damaged,” he indicated.
Mr. Kwarteng wants an investigation into who and what category of persons could go for the injection.
“Could it be that there is a category of people who must be eligible for the Covid jab? I think it is worth digging deeper because I suspect the injection triggered the disease. Let’s investigate further the composition of people who should take the jab,” said.
However, Mr. Kwarteng’s consolation has been his lead in the fight against the disease, which gave him a big blow.
The vision of his wife whiles she was in her sick bed mounting an unending fight against breast cancer, according to him, has cemented his motivation to save the lives of patients who cannot afford treatment.
This birthed the Meena Breast Cancer Foundation (MBCF).
“Cancer is very destructive. It does not matter if you have money when the damage has been caused already. It is not all about the money though we need to support the passion and the drive to create awareness of the deadly disease.
With passion, the support will follow so we are keeping the momentum across the country. Taking up my wife’s dreams and vision to help needy patients consolidates my motivation to go all out,” he said.
The MBCF has begun a sensitization and screening outreach in Senior High Schools across the country.
A founding member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, has criticized President Akufo-Addo for failing to mention the menace of corruption and illegal small-scale mining in his address to Ghanaians on the hardship in the country.
In an XYZ TV interview monitored by GhanaWeb, Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe said that the country was losing a lot of money because of illegal small-scale mining (galamsey) and the president failing to mention it is telling.
He added that corruption, which the president also failed to mention, is the main cause of the hardship Ghanaians are currently facing.
“One thing that was surprising is that the president didn’t talk about galamsey when he was addressing the nation. He should have taken the opportunity to touch on the sensitive areas that have run the economy down.
“Because just as the Asantehene was saying the last time, the gold that comes out of our soil appears to be smuggled out. Our water bodies and forests are just being destroyed for nothing.
“He also failed to touch on corruption which shocked me. Because I can tell you that 70 percent of the problems we have now are because of corruption. And if that is put right, this country will have no problem. There is corruption from top to bottom; that was what I was expecting the president to address,” he said.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, during his address on Sunday, admitted that times are hard economically and that his government is working assiduously to provide relief to the citizenry.
He stressed in an address on the economy that his administration was ready to work towards restoring and resetting the economy on the path of progress and stability.
These views were contained in his October 30, 2022, address to the nation on the state of the economy.
“For us, in Ghana, our reality is that our economy is in great difficulty. The budget drawn for the 2022 fiscal year has been thrown out of gear, disrupting our balance of payments and debt sustainability, and further exposing the structural weaknesses of our economy.
“We are in a crisis; I do not exaggerate when I say so. I cannot find an example in history when so many malevolent forces have come together at the same time,” he added.
“But, as we have shown in other circumstances, we shall turn this crisis into an opportunity to resolve not just the short-term, urgent problems but the long-term structural problems that have bedevilled our economy.
“I urge us all to see the decision to go to the International Monetary Fund in this light,” he stressed.
A former Chief Executive Officer of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby has called for the dissolution of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) if it can’t regulate fuel price hikes to protect consumers.
Dr. Wereko-Brobby in an interview on Eyewitness News on Tuesday, November 1, added that the NPA must control the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to follow the laws on deregulation.
“There is a jungle market going on in fuel pricing. Deregulation works because we have set up windows for which price changes will be announced. There are two windows for every month. The NPA as the regulator is supposed to ensure that it announces what is known as maximum retail prices, so no consumer gets cheated by the Oil Marketing Companies.”
“But NPA has reneged on its duty and given it to COPEC which ironically is supposed to be representing the interest of the consumer… COPEC is now the chief cheerleader for marketing companies who keep announcing prices willy-willy. That is not the way deregulation was set up to go, it just keeps piling the pressure on [consumers],” Dr Wereko-Brobby told host Umaru Sanda Amadu.
Dr. Wereko-Brobby who is also a chief policy analyst at the Ghana Institute of Public Policy Options added that “yes Russia-Ukraine war is causing trouble, it has made oil prices go up, but the problem is that the government passes all the cost onto us consumers, so prices are adjusted to reflect the current global prices but the windfall profits nobody wants to talk about it and then somebody says I feel your pain, you cannot feel the pain of Ghanaians when you ride 60 strong SUVs to travel round the country.”
“NPA is the regulator, why do you call them regulators if you can’t do anything? Then dissolve them. Why do we call them regulators, they are to make sure that the interest of the consumer and the business are both protected, you can’t have it one way.”
Fuel prices shot up again on Tuesday, November 1, with diesel hitting GH¢23.49 per litre, while petrol jumped to GH¢17.99 per litre with Kerosene also selling at GH¢14.70.
The new prices took effect on Tuesday, November 1, 2022.
The State has disclosed it will call 11 witnesses in its criminal case against Chinese galamsey Queen, Aisha Huang.
The first witness is billed to appear before the High Court next Wednesday, November 9, 2022.
The Attorney General brought fresh charges against the acclaimed illegal miner shortly after she was busted in Kumasi by National Security and arraigned in the Accra Circuit Court.
In a virtual arraignment two months ago, the Attorney General’s Department said it was charging Aisha Huang with undertaking a mining operation without a license, facilitating the participation of persons engaged in a mining operation, illegal employment of foreigners, and re-entering Ghana while under prohibition so to do.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Yvonne Atakorah Obuobisa, told the Court on Wednesday that some of the witnesses have audiovisual materials which will be played in the course of their testimonies.
She said all documents the State intends to rely on have also been duly filed and served, and they are ready to proceed to trial.
Lawyer for Aisha Huang, Captain (Rtd.) Nkrabeah Effah Dartey told the court they had indeed received the “voluminous encyclopedic documents they [Prosecution] filed.”
The Court is thus adjourned to November 9, for trial to commence.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, on Monday, October 31, 2022, resumed his regional working tour to the Western, Western North, Central, Volta, and Oti Regions.
The second leg of the working tour comes on the heels of similar successful ones undertaken early this year to other regions in the country.
The visit will largely afford the Minister the chance to interact with farmers, input dealers, directors amongst others.
His first port of call was the Western North Region where Dr. Afriyie Akoto allayed the fears of poultry farmers, stressing that the government was poised to combat the bird flu outbreaks.
According to him, the disease affected farmers in regions including Western, Western North, Central, Volta and Oti Regions.
He disclosed that a total of 280 farms have so far been affected by the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) with 997,743 birds destroyed.
He also stated that the government had paid some GHS15,630,913.33 as compensation to affected poultry farmers.
To control the disease, Dr. Afriyie Akoto said the government had approved an amount of GHS43,984,017.70 out of which twenty million Ghana cedis had already been released.
He further noted that approval has also been given to recruit one thousand one hundred (1,100) veterinary officers, stating that out of the 1,100, 550 have been recruited and posted.
He said the remaining 550 were yet to be recruited and posted within a period of two years.
In this vein, the Minister advised farmers against accepting birds or eggs from other farms onto their farms.
He also admonished the poultry farmers to ensure thorough washing with soap and water immediately after handling birds, urging them to confine their birds from other birds.
He called on the farmers to regularly wash poultry equipment and bury or burn dead birds and keep waste away from the farmhouse.
For his part, the Director of the Veterinary Services Directorate (VSD) at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Patrick Abakeh, cautioned that compensations for bird flu-infested farms will not be paid to farmers who fail to register with the VSD.
He, therefore, called on the farmers to register their farms with the VSD. This, he explained, will give the authorities the knowledge on the number of farmers and quantity of birds affected.
Additionally, he asked the farmers to acquire certification from the VSD to qualify them for compensation following the bird flu outbreaks.
From Western North, the Minister will continue his tour of the Western Region, Central, Oti and Volta.
To guarantee a seamless delivery of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) cash grant to beneficiary households in Ghana, the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection has organized workshops on the LEAP payment process and performance for key stakeholders in Volta and Eastern Regions.
The LEAP programme disburses cash grants to beneficiary households to reduce poverty by smoothening consumption and promoting human capital development.
The workshop ensured stakeholders at the national, regional, and district levels have an enhanced understanding of the Programmes Payment processes, objectives, guiding principles, and goals.
As part of the LEAP payment process, the LEAP Management Secretariat will employ zoning strategies to engage sub-national level structures tasked with implementing LEAP at various levels.
It is expected that stakeholders in the LEAP Payment process will understand payment targets, measure the performance of the payment delivery chain and obtain inputs to renew the payment contract.
Participants from the Greater Accra, Oti, Volta, Western, Central, and Eastern Regions were drawn from the Ministry of Finance, Controller and Accountant Generals Department, and the Department of Social Welfare.
The rests are representatives from Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GHIPSS) and Participating Financial Institutions (PFI).
The World Bank funded the stakeholders’ engagement workshop under the Ghana Productive Safety Net Project (GPSNP).
Ghanaian statesman and politician Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe has alleged that President Akufo-Addo refused to meet two top retired generals, General Brigadier Joseph Nunoo-Mensah and General Napoleon Ashley-Lassen, over a pressing security issue.
According to him, the generals, who have both served the nation as Chief of Defence Staff, wanted to inform the president of a potential security threat to Ghana, but Akufo-Addo did not give them an audience, which is a shame.
“Believe it or not, two retired generals… General Brigadier Nunoo-Mensah and General Ashley Lassen, have both been chief of staff before in this country. They watched carefully about a couple of months ago, and they realised security was at its lowest end.
“They wanted to see the president; the president refused to see them… This happened this year. They (the retired generals) have the experience, and they wanted to see you the president. Where on this planet will any president refuse to see such top people?
“If I’m telling lies, he should come out and say it. The generals know that things were going bad, and they wanted to whisper in his ears or tell him what to do so that there will be calm in this country,” he said.
Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe, a founding member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), previously alleged that, but for the intervention of the NPP MPs, Ghana was on the verge of experiencing a military coup.
According to him, the call for the dismissal of the finance minister wiped away the plot.
He advised the president to learn from this development as the actions of the NPP MPs are unprecedented.
“Those who made this intervention have saved the 4th republic. We were getting close to military intervention, but the MPs’ actions yesterday totally wiped it off, and I think the country should learn from that as well. Akufo-Addo, as I know, will definitely make attempts to change their minds; if they instead allow that, then they will be [the] most hated people in this country or on the political landscape,” he said in an interview with TV3’s Big Issue show.
The Founder of the Shining Grace Chapel International, Prophet Azuka, has said that if the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and former President John Dramani Mahama don’t sit up, they could easily lose the 2024 elections.
He explained that although he once saw that John Mahama and the NDC would win the 2024 election, it didn’t take long for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to reclaim power.
“Recently, I was lying down when I saw that, as I mentioned earlier in 2018, I said that Mahama should wait until 2024 because he will win; he was holding a white angel. However, about a month after, I saw that the NPP had reclaimed it,” he said.
Pushed further by Paula Amma Broni during an interview on GhanaWeb TV’s Talkertainment, the controversial Prophet Azuka stated that the ruling party, the NPP, will win the 2024 elections.
He, however, stressed that if the NDC sits back and does nothing, hoping that the economic hardship will be enough to endear them to voters, the NPP could win back the hearts of Ghanaians.
“I see that the NPP has won the election again, but the reason I am explaining it is because when I consider the current economic hardships we are in, I got surprised that it is the NPP that will win the elections again. That was when I understood the things of the spirit better.
“So, if the NDC sits back and claims that because times are hard, things will automatically work for them, they should know that things can get better in the two years left,” he said.
Workers at the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) have rejected a 22% increment in salary, management of the company has said.
In a statement, VALCO indicated that the staff described the increment as insufficient and staged a demonstration in the early hours of Monday, October 31, 2022, to register their displeasure.
This follows negotiations between management and the workers.
The over 300 workers through their union executives, proposed an initial 62 percent salary increment to the Management of VALCO, and subsequently reduced it to 55 percent.
Management however responded to this with a 22% increment offer with an assurance of further increment in the future as steps are being taken to retrofit the Alluminium Smelter plant which had been recording losses for years until 2021.
“Management of VALCO further indicated to the workers union executives that they will have to invite an independent arbiter in labour/industrial disputes settlement i.e the National Labour Commission (NLC), to take-up the matter after negotiations between Management and the workers ended up in a stalemate,” parts of the statement said.
The workers are therefore calling for better conditions of service and the immediate dismissal of some management members whom they describe as retirees.
They also want their salaries to be pegged to the dollar following the dollar appreciation in recent times.
The family of a man who was allegedly killed by some police personnel at Adomfe, in the Asante Akyem South Municipality of the Ashanti Region, have filed a GH¢10 million suit against the Inspector General of Police, COP Dr. George Akuffo Dampare; the Ghana Police Service, and the Attorney General.
The suit, according to a report by The Chronicle newspaper, is jointly filed with nine others.
Stating the details available to it, the newspaper said that the deceased man, 33-year-old Kofi Ampomah, was allegedly seized by nine police officers on October 15, 2022, just after he had closed from work.
Further details said that upon his seizure, the police officers allegedly assaulted him by using pepper spray on him, after which they butchered him with cutlasses or machetes.
The police are then said to have left the man unattended.
Maxwell Boamah, who is said to be a customary successor of the late Kofi Ampomah, is also reported to have said that the body of the deceased was handled like an animal by the officers from the Konongo Division of the Ghana Police Service.
“The police finally dumped the deceased at Konongo Odumasi Government Hospital and lied that he had been killed by armed robbers,” details of the writ said.
The report added that the family of the deceased is filing a suit for GH¢10 million as compensation that will be used for the education, maintenance, upkeep, and trauma suffered by the dependants of the deceased.
Why Kofi Ampomah was killed?
The Chronicle newspaper explained that Boamah, the relative of the deceased, said that Kofi was mistaken for a young man who had allegedly reported the defendants (the nine policemen) to the Bompata police for apparently releasing a woman.
The woman, it added, was allegedly selling local gin mixed with a substance suspected to be Indian hemp to the public.
“He averred that the police, on two different occasions, arrested and released the woman in question after extorting GH¢3,000 and GH¢4,000 respectively from her,” the report said.
Police officers named in the writ:
According to the writ, the following are the names of the officers alleged to have been involved in the death of Kofi Ampomah:
General Sergeant Suleman Seidu (Sully Seidu), G/CPL Seth Agbango (Seth Agbango), D/L/CPL Salifu Yakubu, G/SGT Samuel Awrjamb, G/SGT Opare Samuel (Opare Samuel Antwi), D/CPL James Astikson Mensah (James Mensah), G/CPL Nyame Hayford, G/CPL Emmanuel Divines Delasi (Delasi Divine), and G/L/CPL Samuel Kwame Gorman (Gorman Samuel).
Additionally, the writ has named the IGP, COP Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, and the AG, Godfred Dame, jointly in the case.
About the late Kofi Ampomah:
Details contained in the writ showed that the deceased was a Sprinter ‘trotro’ driver who plied his trade along the Adomfe to Kumasi Road.
The Minority in Parliament is asking the government to use part of the over GH¢8 billion revenue accrued from petroleum products to cushion petroleum consumers against the current price hikes.
The Minority says the government has received over GH¢8 billion from petroleum resources
in less than 3 months, as against its GH¢6 billion projection for the year.
Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, November 2, 2022, the Ranking Member on the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament, John Jinapor urged the government to act in halting the escalation of fuel prices which he bemoans has seen over 300 percent increase in less than a year.
“In less than three months, the government has received over GH¢8 billion from our petroleum resources. So in three months, the government has received more than it projected for the whole year, so government is making supernormal profits. In fact, even the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy which are supposed to subsidize fuel, government projected that in the first two quarters, it will receive GH¢269 million and as we speak, from the Ministry of Finance’s own record, the Government has received GH¢800 million. And so this notion that Government is not making any money is a fallacy”.
“Government is making so much money from our petroleum resources, I, therefore, call on President Akufo-Addo and the outgoing Minister of Finance that they should do something about this pricing increment. They should sit up and think outside the box and apply these supernormal profits to cushion the ordinary Ghanaians.”
Mr. Jinapor indicated that the economic crisis worsens by the day as he receives calls every day from some of his constituents seeking diverse assistance to enable them to stay afloat.
“I receive calls every day from members in the Constituency from people who cannot even afford one square meal a day, people who cannot even send their kids to school because of the exorbitant fuel prices which are having a cascading effect on food prices, and general cost of living.”
“We hold the view that Government can do something about the fuel price increment, Government must sit up, Government must do something and the Government must cushion the ordinary Ghanaians.”
Ghanaian sensational singer, Cina Soul has criticised songwriter Abiana for ordering a young man off stage during the auditioning for the TV3 Mentor XI show.
As a judge, Abiana shouted at the auditionee to walk out when he started singing KiDi’s ‘Mon Babe’.
According to a section of the public, Abiana was dismissive of the young man who wanted to showcase his talent and to secure a spot in the competition.
Speaking on Asaase 99.5 Radio’s Between Hours show with Naa Ashorkor, the ‘Ojorley’ hit maker said, “I have also been to an audition before, and it was the scariest thing I have done in my entire life.”
“I can imagine the nerves that the boy took to that audition and sincerely that was a little too harsh,” Cina Soul added.
“There is a way to correct people and there is also a nicer way to say something,” she said. “Yes, she [Abiana] was employed to be a judge that you can give a good or bad criticism, but there is always a nice way to say something to just criticise someone.”
Abiana later explained that there was pressure on the judges to see to the over 500 candidates auditioning for the reality show.
Some transport operators in the Kumasi Metropolis have today, Wednesday, 2 November 2022, increased transport fares.
This comes on the back of hikes in fuel again.
A recent 19 per cent hike in transport fares took effect on Saturday, 29 October 2022.
However, on Tuesday, 1 November 2022, fuel prices were increased again.
The transport operators in the Kumasi Metropolis therefore increased fares to reflect the new hike.
Currently, the transport fare from Kumasi to Techiman which used to be GHS40 has been increased to GHS45, while Kumasi to Berekum has been increased from GHS50 to GHS55.
Some of the station masters and drivers spoke to Class 91.3 FM’s Ashanti Regional Correspondent Elisha Adarkwah.
Bright Lamptey, Bereku-Sunyani station master said: “It’s not our fault, we got notified that they had increased fuel. When we went to see, it was true.
“This has affected our business. Now when we get to Berekum, you can spend four to five days before you get passengers back here.”
Meanwhile, some passengers have bemoaned the effect of the increase in transport fare on their pockets saying, “It has had a negative impact on my money and my life, the money we’re spending is too much.”
Another passenger said: “It’s too bad. Everybody is suffering in this country and I can say the president is aware and everybody is crying in this country so it’s too bad.”
The price of diesel has shot up to GHS23.49 per litre, according to the latest prices advertised by TotalEnergies at the pumps.
President Nana Akufo-Addo has welcomed concerns raised by religious leaders on the devastating state of river bodies and forest reserves as a result of illegal small-scale mining (galamsey), describing their support in the fight against the menace as apt.
In his interaction with religious leaders drawn from the Christian Council of Ghana, Ghana Pentecostal Council, Ghana Charismatic and Pentecostal Council, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the National Muslim Council, on Tuesday 1 November 2022, at the Jubilee House, President Akufo-Addo said the ongoing discourse on galamsey in the country during his term in office demonstrates that the entire nation is poised to eradicate illegal mining in the country.
The visit of the religious leaders was essentially a follow-up to a press release they issued on 17 October 2022, demanding a total ban on small-scale mining in the country in order to send a strong message to those involved in the menace.
President Akufo-Addo expressed his appreciation to the leaders for their interest in supporting government’s efforts aimed at dealing with the “galamsey” phenomenon.
The delegation of religious leaders was led by Rev Professor J.O.Y Mante, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and chairman of the Christian Council of Ghana.
“We have visited some galamsey sites and we have seen some dangerous things that for us cannot even be expressed in textbooks,” Rev Mante said. “We see that the thing (galamsey) is getting worse. We are here if you like, as your spiritual leaders to find out if there is any problem that we don’t know. We would like to know.
The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, after the closed door meeting told the Jubilee House press corps that he was invited by the President to brief the leaders on their concerns and their call for small-scale mining to be banned in its entirety.
He indicated that after his briefing, the religious leaders expressed satisfaction with the government’s stance on their demands and pledged to support all ongoing efforts of government aimed at stopping illegal mining in the country.
The Akufo-Addo administration has said it has so far paid an amount of US$3.6 billion in the past seven years for the alleged ENI Sankofa gas pipeline deal signed by the Mahama administration.
The director of public affairs at the Ghana National Gas Company Limited (GNGC), Ernest Owusu Bempah who was briefing journalists in Accra on Tuesday 1 November 2022 said that the contract was the most expensive gas deal globally.
On a monthly basis, he said Ghana is paying US$46 million, making it US$552 million yearly.
He said the contract was also signed for over two decades.
The Akufo-Addo government had no choice but to continue with the contract when it came into office because of the terms and conditions, he said.
“This contract was signed for 20 to 25 years, monopoly for that period and the IMF questioned it,” he said.
“We wouldn’t be going to the IMF but for some of these reckless dubious contracts signed by the Mahama administration,” he said.
Bempah said that the contract is partly to blame for the current economic challenges facing the country. The government is unable to reduce cost of electricity for thermal generation, he added.
Background
Former president Mahama signed the agreement with ENI and Vitol Energy at the Peduase Lodge near Aburi in 2015.
This was, at the time, probably the biggest single largest foreign direct investment in West Africa and indeed Ghana since independence.
The project was situated in the Western Region.
The oil production from the offshore cape three points was estimated at 80,000 barrels per day.
Recently, the World Bank country director, Pierre Frank Laporte identified losses in the energy sector of the economy as one of the challenges that forced Ghana into a situation where it is now seeking support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“The big issue has been on the fiscal side. Before the current crisis happened, we observed certain challenges on the budget side that really has been the area more hit by everything. Also, where actions are required now to deal with them.
“For instance, on the revenue side we have always been saying that this is an area where Ghana should do better. We are encouraged by the fact that this should be one of the areas for potential programme and support from the World Bank. The problem is fiscal, not just revenue.
“The problem is that there are also spillovers from other sectors. For instance, the energy sector. There is about one billion dollars going to the energy sector because of losses. The sector itself is not financially viable and to keep it going you have to subsidise.
“Actions are required. Of course, with COVID, the general business environment is been a bit more difficult,” he said.
Former Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Professor Emeritus Stephen Adei, has intimated that the government’s measures to get the country out of the current economic hardship are insufficient.
According to Prof Adei, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo failed to announce measures that would give hope and take the country out of the current economic situation.
In a TV3 interview monitored by GhanaWeb, the ex-NDPC chairman said that if he were the president, he would immediately review some of the government’s flagship policies, including the Free SHS policy, and cut down the size of the government drastically.
“There is something we call leadership communication… I think that the fact that the president has not reshuffled his government up to now is not good. It is not good for him, for the perception of the government being more of a state capture.
“Even if the minister of finance has to go, it should not be let the minister of finance go and let somebody replace him. There must be clear restructuring. If I were president, I would give Ghanaians a Christmas package. And that will be concluding the IMF one (negotiations) via change in my government, bringing down the numbers of ministers and everything.
“Mahama was talking about 60 or 65 (ministers); I think that Ghana can be ruled by 40 ministers, then you are showing that you are serious about the challenges,” he said.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, during his address on Sunday, admitted that times are hard economically and that his government is working assiduously to provide relief to the citizenry.
He stressed in an address on the economy that his administration was ready to work towards restoring and resetting the economy on the path of progress and stability.
These views were contained in his October 30, 2022, address to the nation on the state of the economy.
“For us, in Ghana, our reality is that our economy is in great difficulty. The budget drawn for the 2022 fiscal year has been thrown out of gear, disrupting our balance of payments and debt sustainability, and further exposing the structural weaknesses of our economy.
“We are in a crisis; I do not exaggerate when I say so. I cannot find an example in history when so many malevolent forces have come together at the same time,” he added.
“But, as we have shown in other circumstances, we shall turn this crisis into an opportunity to resolve not just the short-term, urgent problems but the long-term structural problems that have bedevilled our economy.
“I urge us all to see the decision to go to the International Monetary Fund in this light,” he stressed.
The Adentan Circuit Court has sentenced a corn miller to 11 years imprisonment for defiling an 11-year-old girl at Adenta.
Evans Kweku Agyei, 20, charged with defilement, who had no legal representation, pleaded guilty.
Agyei admitted having sex with the victim, a class five pupil, on four occasions and had been giving her money.
The court, presided over by Mrs. Sedinam Awo Balokah, convicted Agyei, who has a hearing impairment, on his own plea.
Prosecuting, Chief Superintendent of Police Patience Marion, said the complainant was personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service and Agyei resided at Adenta.
Prosecution said that on October 9, this year, at about 5:00 pm, the victim visited her friend (name withheld), who also resided within the same vicinity.
Chief Sup Marion said that on her way home, Agyei met the girl near an abandoned fitting shop, and he covered her mouth with a handkerchief.
The court said the victim felt dizzy, and Agyei carried her into a damaged Hyundai Hiace Commercial vehicle, parked at the fitting shop, and had sex with her.
Chief Sup Marion said when the victim gained consciousness, Agyei asked her not to tell anyone about what happened to her.
The court heard that the convict gave the victim GH¢50.00, but she (victim) rejected the money and reported her ordeal to her friend.
Chief Sup Marion said the mother of the victim’s friend heard about the case and informed the victim’s father.
He said the case was reported to the police leading to the arrest of Agyei, and a medical form was issued to the complainant to seek medical care for the victim.
Four people have been confirmed dead while 19 others received various degrees of injuries in an accident at Esuahyia on the Mankessim-Apam stretch of the Winneba-Cape Coast highway on Monday.
Two died on the spot while the other two died on arrival at the hospital.
A Mercedes Benz Sprinter vehicle with registration number GW 7181-22 from Mankessim direction towards Accra was said to have burst its tyres resulting in the accident.
The Central Regional Public Relations Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service, DOIII Abdul Wasiu Hudu explained to newsmen that the office received a call at 2:42 pm of an accident on the Mankessim-Apam stretch of the Cape Coast Accra highway.
He said, upon arrival at the scene of the accident, personnel from the service were informed that the injured had already been taken to the Mercy Women Roman Hospital.
According to him, the team saw the bodies of two persons suspected to be dead and informed the police about it.
He indicated that no victim was trapped in the vehicle.
DOIII Hudu further said that the personnel deployed to the scene observed the vehicle burst its rear tyres.
He, therefore, said, they suspect the accident may have been caused by the bursting of both rear tyres of the vehicle.
The police, he said, had taken over investigations into the cause of the accident.
While the authority conducts in-house studies that inform outlook, its Director of Communications, Mohammed Abdul Kudus, said it was wary of its influence on the market.
“We are careful in the speculation, predictions or wanting to make any assumptions. We want to work with the data as and when it is needed for the market or consuming public to know,” Mr. Kudus said to Citi News.
This week, the price of diesel has shot up to over GH¢23 per litre while petrol is selling at almost GH¢18 per litre.
On the recent increases and the variables that have informed them, Mr. Kudus said, “it is the Ministry of Energy and Ministry of Finance that can speak to that.”
He noted further that the authority largely acts on instructions given it by the government.
“Anytime you come to us and say do this, we will do that,” he said.
Mr. Kudus did assure that the authority will be “working to ensure there is going to be the product in the market all year round.”
“What we probably would be able to help with is the regularity of the product out there in the market. So we are trying as much as possible to guarantee the supply,” he said.
The Asokore Mampong Municipal Assembly has said action has been taken on officers who have been accused of being involved in the sale of community land to private developers.
The Municipal Chief Executive for Asokore Mampong, Kennedy Kankam, said the accusations and petition on the matter were not new to the assembly.
“Even the petition that they sent to me, I have already dealt with it,” Mr. Kankam said.
“The officers whose names were mentioned in it, I have written a query to them to explain themselves… They have even given me the reply,” he said.
The MCE was speaking after some aggrieved landlords and residents of Buobai in the municipality petitioned the Assembly to investigate the activities of some developers who have erected structures on the land which was initially meant for a hospital.
Mr. Kankam said the landlords could continue to protest the matter if they wished.
“If the people are still not satisfied, the demonstration is their right. If anyone wants to do a demonstration, we cannot prevent anyone from doing it.”
The Chief Policy Analyst at the Ghana Institute of Public Policy Options Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby has lashed out at the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) for doing little or nothing in fighting for petroleum users in the wake of consistent rise in fuel prices.
Dr. Wereko-Brobby accusedof currently being the chief cheerleader for Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) in announcing annoying increases in the prices of petroleum products.
An incensed Dr. Wereko -Brobby in an interview on Eyewitness News wondered why COPEC has refused to fight for the interest of consumers, who are bearing the brunt of price increases and taxes slapped on the products.
The former Chief Executive Officer of the Volta River Authority (VRA) said COPEC is now singing National Petroleum Authority’s songs instead of fighting to ensure that fuel prices are brought down.
Consumers were slapped with fuel prices again on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, with petrol leapfrogging to GH¢17.99 per litre, Kerosene GH¢14.70, while diesel now sells at GH¢23.49 per litre at various pumps.
Speaking in an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Eyewitness News, the former VRA boss asserted, “NPA has reneged on its duty and given it to COPEC which ironically is supposed to be representing the interest of the consumer… COPEC is now the chief cheerleader for oil marketing companies who keep announcing prices willy-willy. That is not the way deregulation was set up to go, it just keeps piling the pressure on [consumers]”.
He blasted the Akufo-Addo-led government for always being seen jolly-joying in 60 strong SUVs to with his entourage around the country when hardships stare in the faces of Ghanaians.
He said the government’s sloganeering of feeling the pains of the ordinary Ghanaians cannot be accepted.
“…So prices are adjusted to reflect the current global prices but the windfall profits nobody wants to talk about it and then somebody says I feel your pain, you cannot feel the pain of Ghanaians when you ride 60 strong SUVs to travel round the country,” Mr Wereko-Brobby fumed.
The Chief Executive Officer of Dalex Finance and Leasing Company Limited, Mr Kenneth Thompson, has dramatically begged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to take decisive actions and save the economy from total collapse.
Speaking on Face to Face on Citi TV, Mr Thompson went down on his knees and called on the President to put in place measures that will ensure that majority of Ghanaians are not plunged into poverty and further suffering.
“His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa, what I can see coming is not good, I can see poverty I can see job losses, I can see business closures, I can see prices of electricity going up, I can see it. I lived through the 70s and I saw it,” Mr Thompson said.
The 61-year-old businessman added, “I can’t do much about the problem now but you can and I am begging you, please take decisive actions because I believe that you are capable of doing something and let’s move this country forward.”
Prices of fuel, goods and services have rapidly soared in the last few months plunging several households into a living crisis.
In October, Ghana’s currency depreciated as much as 3.3%, before paring the loss to 11.2750/$ in the capital, Accra. That took its losses this year to more than 45%, the most among 148 currencies tracked by Bloomberg.
President Akufo-Addo on Sunday admitted to Ghana’s economic crisis, describing it as a ‘historic’ development. Addressing the nation on Sunday evening, the President conceded to the country’s ballooning debt stock, rising inflation, free fall of the local currency, and the depletion of macroeconomic variables.
According to him, the situation is due to many ‘malevolent forces’ which are currently working together. In his speech, he, however, reiterated the commitment of the government to dealing with the present economic decline.
“We are in a crisis, I do not exaggerate when I say so. I cannot find an example in history when so many malevolent forces have come together at the same time. But, as we have shown in other circumstances, we shall turn this crisis into an opportunity to resolve not just the short-term, urgent problems, but the long-term structural problems that have bedevilled our economy”, the President said.
Some religious leaders in the country have suggested to President Akufo-Addo to as a matter of urgency ban illegal small-scale mining (galamsey) in the country.
According to these religious leaders, the country’s water bodies and their accompanying reservoirs have all been depleted by the activities of illegal miners.
In a meeting with the President on November 1, 2022, at the Jubilee House, the religious leaders, who were alarmed by the operations of illegal miners, explained that banning all forms of mining will go a long way in restoring sanity in galamsey enclaves.
Speaking on behalf of the clergy, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Rt. Rev. Professor Joseph Obiri Mante lamented that differentiating between small-scale mining and galamsey has become a herculean task.
“Now we cannot tell whether those who are doing legal mining have turned out to be illegal, we don’t know which one is galamsey and so on and so forth, we are just wondering if it will be possible to place a ban on all small scale mining. Just to make a statement, we know we get money (from galamsey) but at what cost,” he said during the meeting.
Nefarious activities by illegal miners in the country have become a topical issue, with a section of Ghanaians calling on the President to regulate their activities.
Police in Tepa in the Ahafo Ano North district of the Ashanti region has arrested Tepa-Danyame New Patriotic Party(NPP) Polling station Chairman for murder.
Kwaku Seidu alias Kukrudu believed to be in his 50s shot his wife over a disputed family land he attempted to sell to settle his debt and provide money for the family upkeep a week ago.
Kwaku Siedu’s two wives, upon hearing their husband’s decision, reported him to the Danyame Zongo Chief Nana Mazua.
Provoked by the action taken by his wives, the NPP chairman pulled a short gun in front of the Zongo Chief in his Palace and shot one of his wives identified as Sister Adwoa dead right in front of his family members while settling the misunderstanding between them.
Frederick Nyamekye, assembly member for the Danyame electoral area said angry community members provoked by the NPP Chairman’s action, almost lynched him. He was, however, saved by the timely intervention of the police from the Tepa district command.
He is currently under arrest and admitted at the Tepa government hospital for treatment under police surveillance following the assault.
The lifeless body of the deceased mother of three is deposited at the hospital’s morgue for preservation.
Information Minister, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, has said that the president Akufo-Addo cannot single-handedly solve the challenges facing the country.
It is for this reason he believes all Ghanaians must get on board, performing their individual respective roles to ensure that together, the nation’s problems are resolved.
Speaking on Peace FM in an interview, the information minister sought to put the speech of the President to the nation on Sunday, October 30 in perspective.
Although he assured that pragmatic measures including the 12 major ones outlined by the President in his speech are being taken to ensure a turnaround in the economy, he noted that it’ll take a joint effort on the part of the President, government, stakeholders and the entire Ghanaian populace to achieve this.
“The problems we have, not only one person can solve them. If everybody leaves everything to the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to handle, it will not work.
‘If everybody leaves things to government alone to handle, we all need to come on board.
… Whatever we do, if people sell and add a 100% profit to it, it won’t change much. We can’t use police to chase these traders. So we have to find a way to work together to bring some of these things under control,” he said.
According to Oppong-Nkrumah, there are arrangements for meetings between the president and some local producers, to ensure that local production is boosted and exports are reduced.
“The president will engage with local producers within the next week or two to bridge the bottlenecks that exist that are their products from getting on to the market,” he added.
To say ‘times are hard’ in Ghana now will only be stating the obvious, and for President Akufo-Addo to have confirmed the same only reaffirms the fact that the country is faced with very trying times.
From the crumbling Ghana cedi against foreign currencies like the United States dollar to the ever-rising prices of fuel, the soaring food prices and general standards of living, truly, the country is not in normal times.
In his words, President Akufo-Addo has assured Ghanaians that he will turn things around just as, he added, he has done before.
“For us in Ghana, our reality is that our economy is in great difficulty.
“We are in a crisis; I do not exaggerate when I say so. I cannot find an example in history when so many malevolent forces have come together at the same time,” excerpts of his address to the nation on Sunday, October 30, 2022, read.
But while the president sought to indicate that there has never been a time in history where so many forces have come together to affect the country, there actually has been such a time before.
In fact, in that ‘such a time,’ when Ghana experienced one of its toughest economic downturns, it has emerged that there are some spooky similarities between those two years: 1983 and 2022.
It has emerged that the same calendar used in 1983 is the same calendar that is currently being used in the year 2022. For more clarity, if you look at the calendar of 1983 and 2022, it is the same thing.
Even more interesting is the fact that 1983 in Ghana was a time of a great food drought, while in 2022, the country is experiencing harsh economic difficulties.
A mere case of coincidence? Well, let’s look at the striking similarities between these two years that history appears to be repeating.
About the 1983 drought in Ghana:
The following description of what happened in 1983 was written by Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng and first published on GhanaWeb on May 13, 2013.
The year 1983 perhaps was the harshest year in Ghana’s modern history.
The year 1983 did not start well. One of the harshest droughts was in progress. There had been little meaningful rain since 1981; that is, it has either rained little or the rain had come at the wrong place and time. The drought could not have come at the worst possible moment.
To understand the full import of what happened, a bit of history is in order. The most unsettled decade for this country has to be the 1970s, the years during which, for good or ill, the chickens of the Nkrumah overthrow in 1966 came home to roost.
Maybe the Progress Party government of Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia could have succeeded in its policy of rural development, but we have no way of knowing because it lasted only 27 months. In the meantime, it managed to sell off state assets in a manner that foreshadowed other economic controversies, some would say disasters, in the following decades.
In January 1972, Colonel Kutu Acheampong and his close friends staged a military coup and took over the country. They did not appear to have any development strategy, but they managed to infuse a sense of purpose and urgency around their slogan of “Operation Feed Yourself” and a mild form of pan-Africanism and Nkrumaist orientation, later to be described as “domestication” by the late Dan Lartey who was one of their civilian advisers.
In 1975, Acheampong’s closest comrades in their National Redemption Council government were demoted to a second tier of government in a palace coup staged by the most senior officers in all branches of the military. They formed the Supreme Military Council, still with Acheampong as head but without the esprit de corps he enjoyed with his demoted friends, who quietly left the centre stage of government.
The SMC had no policies except staying in power through some of the most disastrous economic crises we have ever known. This article is not the place to go into the details of those policies and their consequences, except to remind us that almost all sections of society rose up against the government.
Trapped and with nowhere to go, the SMC tried one last trick; this was the “Union Government” (UNIGOV), an ill-defined coalition of civilians, soldiers and police officers. A botched referendum was the last straw, and yet another palace coup overthrew Acheampong in 1978 and replaced him with General F.W.K. Akuffo, who was generally acknowledged to be a first-class military officer but untested as a political leader. He is the man who used military discipline and precision to lead Ghana’s switch from driving on the left to the right in 1974 without a single accident on the day of the change.
However, his attempts, first to continue the UNIGOV scam under a different guise and then absolve the military of blame, did not sit well with soldiers and civilians.
On June 4 1979, a fortnight before the first general elections in a decade, a group of young soldiers overthrew the Akuffo government as they successfully released a certain Air force officer from custody at the Special Branch headquarters where he had been held since leading a failed insurrection on May 15 that year.
That young air force officer, of course, was Flt Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, who needs no introduction in this discussion. On the last day of the year 1981, Rawlings, who had retired from the military, led another insurrection to overthrow the Limann-led Peoples National Party government, which had been in office since the Rawlings insurrectionist gave up power three months after their coup.
Flt Lt Rawlings announced at the beginning of his insurrectionary regime that it was a “revolution”, and the revolution’s first year saw the country economically destabilised partly by the revolutionaries’ own activities and by international pressure. Squeezed by international commercial lenders, Ghana’s credit dwindled and disappeared. Our credit was not a lot to start with; Nigeria had to bring in truckloads of gifts, including toilet rolls, to soften our difficulties during Christmas! Understandably, life got very difficult for most citizens of this country.
In the meantime, as the lack of raw materials shut local production of everything, we could make ourselves there was no money to import anything and yet warehouses had been emptied by revolutionaries pursuing social justice.
The revolutionaries had a point, even if it was excessively expressed. Ghana could not continue on the path, whichever it was, that had driven us that far. The nation needed restructuring, and whether a political revolution was the ideal way to perform this all-out change in those circumstances still needs to be debated in this country. There is a Japanese proverb that says, “although the sign reads, do not pluck these flowers from this garden, it is useless against the wind which does not read”. The drought did not read the revolutionary script and deepened as 1982 turned into 1983.
There had been little notice in the Ghanaian media that Nigeria had given a very strict and final ultimatum in 1982 to foreigners there to “regulate” their stay or be kicked out early in 1983. It is difficult not to conclude that Nigeria’s actions were in some way retaliation for Ghana’s own eviction of foreigners, mostly Nigerians, some fourteen years earlier.
More than one million Ghanaians had to pack bags and baggage and head home. They came into an empty country. Food was scarce and disappearing fast, and although our “returnees” came with some nicely painted bags known as “Ghana Must Go” and many stories of atrocities, none brought a morsel of food to add to the national stock.
Ghana at present:
The government of Ghana has routinely explained that recent economic headwinds are attributable largely to the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the banking sector clean-up.
The rippling effect has been an increase in the cost of living, high inflation rates and downgrades of the economy by rating agencies such as S&P and Fitch – a situation which has dealt a heavy blow to government’s ability to access the international capital market.
The Cedi has also been on a free fall compelling the Bank of Ghana to resort to hiking its monetary policy rate to deal with the situation.
The worsening economic situation compelled the government in July to initiate contact with International Monetary Fund for an economic support programme.
Ghana is targeting an amount of US$3 billion over three years from the Fund once an agreement on a programme is reached.
Government hopes to complete negotiations by the end of this year in order to receive the funds in the first quarter of 2023.
The first emergency call about trouble at Itaewon came in the early evening of 29 October.
“It’s so chilling right now,” the woman said, as she described a chaotic scene on the narrow streets of the Seoul nightlife district.
This was the first of 11 calls made to South Korea’s 112 emergency police hotline, begging police them to control the crowds before the fatal crush happened.
As calls for accountability mount, South Korean police have launched an investigation – with officers on Wednesday raiding the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, as well as police stations, fire stations and emergency call sites to look into whether officers taking the calls fulfilled their duty and took proper measures.
Police have also taken the unusual step of releasing transcripts of the calls.
From anxious warnings to screams of terror, the transcripts paint a horrifying picture of how the situation escalated.
The crowd builds up
In the first emergency call at 18:34 local time – hours before the crush happened – an Itaewon shopkeeper named Ms Park described people getting off at the Itaewon subway station coming up the narrow alley and mixing with people leaving the area, as well as others lining up to enter clubs.
“No one is controlling it right now. The police has to stand and control this. You should let people out first and then let people come in. People keep pouring in while they can’t get out,” she said.
In an interview with local radio station CBS on Wednesday, Ms Park said she made the call after she went for a walk with her daughter and husband and got separated from them by the huge crowds. They eventually regrouped and quickly rushed home.
This narrow alleyway was packed with people trying to make their way out in different directions
She described her terror at being caught up in crowds much bigger than what she was used to seeing in the area on a weekend, and her regret that the incident happened despite her early warning.
“On my way to home in the taxi, I thought if the situation would have been different if I waited there until the police came, by forming a [human barrier] with others, and letting young people know that the situation was dangerous. I regret it,” she said.
“Then the police might have taken stronger control like by blocking the roads or controlling the subway if they knew the situation that more people would come. But there was no police who could make such a decision, or take an action.”
Ms Park said that after her call she did not receive the customary text confirmation from the police informing her of their immediate actions – unusual for South Korean police, which prides itself on speedy and attentive follow-ups.
According to police records obtained by the Yonhap news agency, they mobilised officers for that call, but it is not known how many were sent down and what they did.
Falling and stumbling
The next few calls started coming in about two hours later, from 20:09 onwards.
By then, it was clear the situation had clearly deteriorated. The callers described seeing people stumbling after they were pushed, and getting injured.
“People are falling and things are getting out of control because the road here is blocked at the three-way intersection,” said the third caller.
At the end of the hour at 20:53, the fourth caller describes a harrowing situation near the Bronze nightclub.
The caller described the situation outside the Bronze nightclub (pictured)
“I feel like I am going to get crushed… many people are being crushed… it is chaos,” the caller says over a crackling phone line. They repeatedly beg the officer to “please help us”.
The officer assures the caller that they will send policemen to the scene. But police records showed they did not.
In fact, out of the 11 phone calls made to police, they only mobilised officers for four of them.
They did not dispatch anyone for any calls made from 21:07 onwards – the hour leading up to the crush.
Authorities said they had 137 officers on the ground at Itaewon that night. But they were clearly outmatched by the thousands that flocked to the area.
In one viral clip on social media, a lone police officer is seen in a massive crowd desperately shouting and trying to direct people away.
The final hour
On Saturday night, the calls kept streaming in steadily, getting briefer – and more urgent.
“I think there is going to be a real accident soon. Everything is insane,” said the sixth caller.
The eighth phone call at 21:10 was made in front of the Maman-e Kwangjang restaurant about 100 metres from Hamilton Hotel, and described people getting crushed there – illustrating how far the crowds extended to.
There was a lull of about 40 minutes. Then the final calls came in thick and fast, mostly from ground zero – the alley right by Hamilton Hotel.
The tenth caller appeared to be babbling in a panic.
“Yes, however, here, oh my, to come down the alley, I’m afraid, people are pushing and I think I am going to get crushed, please take control, yes,” they said.
In the last call at 22:11 – one of the briefest calls made – the caller dispensed with ceremony. Immediately after the police pick up, the person said urgently: “It feels like people can be stampeded here.”
The officer asked repeatedly where they were exactly, but was unable to get a clear answer. Then, this exchange occurred:
Officer: I am going to trace your location. Yes. Are you near Yongsan station, Itaewon station?
Caller: Ahhh (screaming), ahhh (screaming). The road behind Itaewon.
Officer: Yes. The police will be there.
The call ends abruptly. Four minutes later, the deadly crush began.
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has strongly denied claims of collusion with illegal foreign exchange traders (forex) at the Central Business District in Accra to transfer funds offshore.
The Central Bank in a statement on Tuesday, November 1, described the allegations by the Director of Research at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Dr Kwabena Otoo as “reckless and unfortunate”.
“It has come to the attention of the Bank of Ghana that Dr Kwabena Nyarko Otoo of the Trades Union Congress passed an unfortunate remark about the Central Bank on Newsfile on Joy News TV/Joy FM on Saturday, 29th October 2022.
“Dr. Otoo, on the programme, said there is evidence or growing suspicion that Bank of Ghana is actively collaborating with some operatives at Cowlane in Accra to illegally transfer funds offshore. Bank of Ghana categorically denies the said allegations and also considers them extremely reckless. We would have expected that such strong allegations would have been supported by the requisite evidence, and not left at pure conjecture, mere suspicion or hearsay. This is especially so considering the quarters from which the allegations were made.”
The BoG further advised the general public to completely disregard these comments and be assured that the Central Bank, is focused on price stability, and doing all within its power to reduce the rising general level of prices.
The Minority in Parliament says government will announce a haircut on some investments within the next 14 days as part of its debt restructuring measures.
President Akufo-Addo in his economic recovery speech on Sunday, October 30, 2022, assured that government does not intend to slash the returns made on investments in its negotiations with the International Monetary Fund(IMF).
But addressing the media on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu insisted that there will be some form of cuts in investments in the coming days.
Mr. Iddrisu accused the president of creating the current economic mess the country currently finds itself in.
“As a Minority group, we believe the president failed to accept responsibility [during his address] that he is responsible for the sorry state of the Ghanaian economy, and he is responsible for the wrench economy which has consequences on livelihoods. Poverty has exacerbated, cost of living has gone high, cost of doing business has gone high, many businesses are folding up, and some industries are now re-routing their investments into neighbouring Ivory Coast and other countries because Ghana is no longer the investment haven as it should be.”
He also alleged that considering the happenings and conditions that come with seeking an IMF facility, haircuts on investments are inevitable.
“We are giving you only 14 days from today, and you will hear from them publicly efforts to restructure our unsustainable debt, and those efforts will necessarily include a sika mpɛ dede baba [mallam] for many persons who have investments and savings in some instruments.”
“Those of you who listen to [Kristalina] Georgieva of the IMF, you will recall a few months ago when the World Bank and the IMF, particularly led by its Managing Director, were again categorical that they didn’t see anything wrong with Government policy. We now state that there is everything wrong with Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s government and his economic management team’s policy on borrowing. Borrowing is a policy. You decide to borrow and how much to borrow and where to direct the borrowing. So if you now borrow to the level of debt distress, to the level of unsustainable debt, to the level that you are now talking about ratio of 105% of GDP as your debt level and then he Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the president of the Republic added that he hopes that Ghana’s debt to GDP will improve to 55% by 2028, we ask the question, where will he be?”
Ghana’s Competitive African Rice Platform (CARP) has been launched officially in Accra to boost the country’s rice sector.
The platform seeks to offer a voice and space for national rice stakeholders in Ghana to scale their local impact on sustainability and competitiveness. Overall, the CARP seeks to reduce the overdependence on imported rice and strengthen public-private dialogue.
The platform is supported by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), AGRA (formerly Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa), and the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (The platform seeks to offer a voice and space for national rice stakeholders in Ghana).
Under the initiative, small farmers across West Africa are being supported in boosting their rice harvests, improving product quality, and raising their incomes. Mr. Yaw Adu Poku, Board Chair for CARP Ghana, said: “We are honoured to have been selected to host the CARP, as Ghana’s first national rice chapter, and we see this as a great opportunity to collaborate with the government, international organizations, researchers and farmers to drive a transformation in Ghana’s rice sector.”
Following the launch in Accra on Tuesday, a secretariat to run the CARP will be set up to drive its operationalisation. A statement issued by Rebecca Weaver of AGRA explained that at a previous stakeholders meeting, the CARP’s governance structure was formalized, board members and executives appointed, and technical committees set up.
Based on field research and recommendations from public and private sector partners across ECOWAS member states, a regional “ECOWAS Rice Observatory” (ERO) had been previously created by the ECOWAS Commission and its partners. The ERO aims to coordinate rice sector-related programs, public/private investments, and policy recommendations for key decision-makers.
At the same time, national rice platforms, such as the CARP in Ghana, are being established across West Africa. The platform comprises primarily of private sector stakeholders across the value chain, as well as representation from research, government, and civil society, to coordinate country-specific investments and policies.
“Rice is a very important product for Ghana, accounting for nearly 15% of the country’s GDP. The CARP’s launch is, therefore, very timely as it will help different stakeholders to coordinate their investments in driving the transformation needed to boost the growth of the sub-sector for the benefit of local producers and the country at large,” said the Executive Secretary of ERO, Dr. Boladale Adebowale Abiola.
The minority caucus in parliament has said President Akufo-Addo failed to take responsibility for the economic mess during his national address to the state on Sunday, 30 October 2022.
Even though the president assured Ghanaians that there would be no haircuts on their investments, the minority caucus insists there would.
Addressing the media on Tuesday, 1 November 2022, Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu said: “We are giving you only 14 days from today, and you will hear from them publicly, efforts to restructure our unsustainable debt, and those efforts will necessarily include a sika mpɛ dede baba [mallam] for many persons who have investments and savings in some instruments.”
“Those of you who listen to [Kristalina] Georgieva of the IMF, you will recall a few months ago when the World Bank and the IMF, particularly led by its Managing Director, were again categorical that they didn’t see anything wrong with Government policy. We now state that there is everything wrong with Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s government and his economic management team’s policy on borrowing. Borrowing is a policy. You decide to borrow and how much to borrow and where to direct the borrowing. So, if you now borrow to the level of debt distress, to the level of unsustainable debt, to the level that you are now talking about ratio of 105% of GDP as your debt level and then he, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the president of the Republic, added that he hopes that Ghana’s debt-to-GDP will improve to 55% by 2028, we ask the question, where will he be?” M Iddrisu added.
He noted: “As a minority group, we believe the president failed to accept responsibility that he is responsible for the sorry state of the Ghanaian economy, and he is responsible for the wrench economy which has consequences on livelihoods”.
“Poverty has exacerbated, cost of living has gone high, cost of doing business has gone high, many businesses are folding up, and some industries are now re-routing their investments into neighbouring Ivory Coast and other countries because Ghana is no longer the investment haven as it should be.”
Read the president’s full speech below:
ADDRESS TO THE NATION BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO, ON THE ECONOMY, ON SUNDAY, 30TH OCTOBER 2022.
Fellow Ghanaians, good evening.
Back in 2020, at the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, I started a regular conversation with you that came to be popularly known as Fellow Ghanaians.
It was a time of great fear of the unknown, and the entire world felt at risk. I came into your homes regularly to tell you what the experts were discovering about the virus, and what we should do.
Now that we have seen the worst of the COVID-19, I can tell you that there were moments during those times when I was distraught, there were moments when I was in despair about the apparent inadequacy of our health facilities, and there were moments when I wondered if the dire predictions made about dead bodies on our streets would truly happen.
But I knew that I owed it to all of us that, as your president, I had to hold my nerve, show leadership and take us out of the crisis. With your help and support, and the great mercies of the Almighty, we can say that we emerged from the ravages of the pandemic with one of the lowest mortality rates globally. In fact, Ghana’s handling of the pandemic won universal acclaim.
We could all see in real time the devastation that was being wreaked on economies during the pandemic, but I doubt that anyone imagined the extent of the damage. Our economy, here in Ghana, like many, many others around the globe, was thrown into turmoil.
When I said, at the height of the COVID pandemic, that we knew what to do to bring the economy back to life, but not how to bring people back to life, it was not said in jest. We had done it before, and we were on course to doing it again. Ghana’s economy grew by a remarkable 5.4% in 2021, signifying a strong recovery from the 0.5% growth recorded the previous year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, in the last quarter of 2021, our economy grew at seven percent (7%), only for the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the first quarter of this year to aggravate the effects of COVID-19, and plunge the global economy into even greater turmoil from which it has not yet recovered.
The whole world has been taken aback by the speed with which inflation has eaten away people’s incomes. Economies, big and small, have experienced, over this year alone, the highest rise in cost of living over a generation; the highest rise in government borrowing in over fifty (50) years; the highest rise in inflation for forty (40) years; the steepest depreciation in their currencies to the US dollar over the last thirty (30) years; the fastest peak in interest rates for over twenty (20) years; and the greatest threat of unemployment in peace time; with over a hundred million people being pushed into extreme poverty.
Between the end of 2019 and now, inflation in Ghana has increased by five-fold, in Togo by sixteen-fold, by eleven-fold in Senegal, and by seven-fold in Cote d’Ivoire. In truth, however, the fact that there are petrol queues in France does not make it more tolerable that the trotro price from Kasoa to Circle has doubled in the past one year, nor does it make it any more tolerable that the price of cooking oil goes up every other week.
It is important to state that mentioning the increases in prices worldwide is not meant to belittle the scope of suffering here, but simply to help us put things into some perspective, and, hopefully, learn some useful lessons about how other people are coping.
Fellow Ghanaians, this is why I am back in your homes this evening to ask for your support, as we work together to get our economy back into good shape.
In April, after the Cabinet retreat of the first quarter, and recognising the deteriorating macro economy, my government announced a thirty percent (30%) cut in budgeted discretionary expenditures, and a thirty percent (30%) cut in salaries of the President, Vice President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, MMDCEs and political office holders, amongst other measures.
And, since July, when the Government took the difficult decision to go to the IMF to seek support, I have been speaking publicly at different fora on the subject of the economic difficulties we face, especially during my recent tours, so far, of nine (9) regions, and interacting directly with you, the Ghanaian people. It is also true that many of you have felt the need for me to come back to the Fellow Ghanaians format that brings us all together.
For us, in Ghana, our reality is that our economy is in great difficulty. The budget drawn for the 2022 fiscal year has been thrown out of gear, disrupting our balance of payments and debt sustainability, and further exposing the structural weaknesses of our economy.
We are in a crisis, I do not exaggerate when I say so. I cannot find an example in history when so many malevolent forces have come together at the same time. But, as we have shown in other circumstances, we shall turn this crisis into an opportunity to resolve not just the short-term, urgent problems, but the long-term structural problems that have bedeviled our economy.
I urge us all to see the decision to go to the International Monetary Fund in this light. We have gone to the Fund to repair, in the short term, our public finances, and restore our balance of payments, whilst we continue to work on the medium to long-term structural changes that are at the heart of our goal of constructing a resilient, robust Ghanaian economy, and building a Ghana Beyond Aid.
I am able to report to you, my fellow Ghanaians, that the negotiations to secure a strong IMF Programme, which will support the implementation of our Post COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth and additional funding to support the 2023 Budget and development programme, are at advanced stages, and are going well.
We are determined to secure these arrangements quickly to bring back confidence and relief to Ghanaians. We are working towards reaching a deal with the IMF by the end of the year. This will give further credence to the measures the Government is taking to stabilise and grow the economy, as well as shore up our currency.
I know that the increasing cost of living is the number one concern for all of us. It is driven by fast-escalating fuel prices at the pumps, which is caused by high crude oil prices on the world market and our depreciated currency. I know that this is putting intolerable pressure on families and businesses. I know that people are being driven to make choices they should not have to make, and I know that it has led to the devaluation of capital of traders and painfully accumulated savings. Furthermore, Government is working to secure reliable and regular sources of affordable petroleum products for the Ghanaian market. It is expected that this arrangement, when successful, coupled with a stable currency will halt the escalation of fuel prices and bring relief to us all.
I hear from the market queens also that another factor fueling the high prices is the high margins that some traders are slapping on goods, for fear of future higher costs. I say to our traders, we are all in this together. Please let us be measured in the margins we seek. I have great respect and admiration for the ingenuity and hard work of our traders, especially those that take on the distribution of foodstuffs around the country, and I would hesitate to join in calling them names. I do make a heartfelt appeal that we all keep an eye out for the greater good, and not try to make the utmost profits out of the current difficulties.
In language that every market woman and, indeed, every trader in our country understands, let me say that the basic problem we face is that we are not making as much money as we need to spend, and what little money we do make is going to pay for the debts we have contracted to fund the development projects we must have. Not enough of us are paying our taxes, not enough of us are producing to generate the revenues that we need.
Nevertheless, my ambitions for Ghana remain high. All our children should be educated and trained with skills that will enable us be competitive in the world. We need to close rapidly the infrastructure gap, we need to build a world-class healthcare system, and we need to build confidence in ourselves to make ours the happy and prosperous place it deserves to be.
I believe we can and we will find the means to achieve these goals, even if the immediate measures we have to take are painful.
At the just-ended Cabinet Retreat at Peduase Lodge, my government agreed on the framework for the Post COVID-19 Programme for Economic Growth and the IMF support for its implementation, as well as the work being done by the Ministry of Finance in preparation for the 2023 budget. At the Cabinet Retreat, we took some firm decisions that should put us on the path that will take our nation out of the current economic difficulties. Let me try and give you an outline of the main decisions without getting into the technical language that baffles many of us.
To restore and sustain debt sustainability, we plan to reduce our total public debt to GDP ratio to some fifty-five percent (55%) in present value terms by 2028, with the servicing of our external debt pegged at not more than eighteen percent (18%) of our annual revenue also by 2028.
We are committed to improving the revenue collection effort, from the current tax-revenue to GDP ratio of thirteen (13%) to between eighteen and twenty percent (18-20%), to be competitive with our peers in the West Africa Region. The GRA is rolling out an extensive set of measures to support this enhanced revenue mobilisation. All of us must do our patriotic duty, and support the GRA in this exercise.
We are aiming to restore and sustain macroeconomic stability within the next three (3) to six (6) years, with a focus on ensuring debt sustainability to promote durable and inclusive growth while protecting the poor.
We have decided to review the reforms in the energy sector, capping of statutory funds, implementation of the exemptions Act and a new property rate regime. We have decided also to continue with the policy of thirty percent (30%) cut in the salaries of political office holders including the President, Vice President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, MMDCEs, and SOE appointees in 2023, just as we will continue with the thirty percent (30%) cut in discretionary expenditures of Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
My fellow Ghanaians, the success of our efforts at diversifying the structure of the Ghanaian economy from an import-based one to a value-added exporting one is what will, in the long term, help strengthen our economy. We are making some progress with the 1D1F but our current situation requires that we take some more stringent measures to discourage the importation of goods that we can and do produce here.
To this end, we will review the standards required for imports into the country, prioritise the imports, as well as review the management of our foreign exchange reserves, in relation to imports of products such as rice, poultry, vegetable oil, tooth picks, pasta, fruit juice, bottled water and ceramic tiles, and others which, with intensified government support and that of the banking sector, can be manufactured and produced in sufficient quantities in Ghana. Government will, in May 2023, that is six (6) months from now, review the situation. We must, as a matter of urgent national security, reduce our dependence on imported goods, and enhance our self-reliance, as demanded by our overarching goal of creating a Ghana Beyond Aid.
Much as we believe in free trade, we must work to ensure that the majority of goods in our shops and market places are those we produce and grow here in Ghana. That is why we have to support our farmers and domestic industries, including those created under the 1-District-1-Factory initiative, to help reduce our dependence on imports, and allow us the opportunity to export more and more of our products, and guarantee a stable currency that will present a high level of predictability for citizens and the business community. Exports, not imports, must be our mantra! Accra, after all, hosts the headquarters of the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Fellow Ghanaians, as the French would say, l’argent n’aime pas le bruit, to wit, money does not like noise, sika mpɛ dede. Where there is chaos, where there is noise, where there is unrest, you will not find money. If you talk down your money, it will go down. If you allow some unidentifiable person to talk down your money, it will go down.
The recent turbulence on the financial markets was caused by low inflows of foreign exchange, and was made worse in the last two to three weeks, in particular, by the activities of speculators and the Black Market. An anonymous two-minute audio message on a WhatsApp platform predicting a so-called haircut on Government bonds sent all of us into banks and forex bureaus to dump our cedis, and, before we knew it, the cedi had depreciated further. All of us can play a part in helping to strengthen the cedi by having confidence in the currency, and avoiding speculation. Let us keep our cedi as the good store of value it is. To those who make it a habit of publishing falsehoods, which result in panic in the system, I say to them that the relevant state agencies will act against such persons.
Indeed, some steps have been taken to restore order in the forex markets and we are already beginning to see some calm returning. We will not relent until order is completely restored. The following actions have been taken thus far:
Enhanced supervisory action by the Bank of Ghana in the forex bureau markets and the black market to flush out illegal operators, as well as ensuring that those permitted to operate legally abide by the market rules. Already some forex bureaus have had their licenses revoked, and this exercise will continue until complete order is restored in the sector;
Fresh inflows of dollars are providing liquidity to the foreign exchange market, and addressing the pipeline demand;
the Bank of Ghana has given its full commitment to the commercial banks to provide liquidity to ensure the wheels of the economy continue to run in a stabilized manner, till the IMF Programme kicks in and the financing assurances expected from other partners also come in;
Government is working with the Bank of Ghana and the oil producing and mining companies to introduce a new legal and regulatory framework to ensure that all foreign exchange earned from operations in Ghana are, initially, paid to banks domiciled in Ghana to help boost the domestic foreign exchange market; and the Bank of Ghana will enhance its gold purchase programme.
I am confident that these immediate measures designed to change the structure of our balance of payment flows, sanitise the foreign exchange market to ensure that the banks and forex bureaus operate along international best practices, together with strengthened supervision, will go a long way to sanitize our foreign exchange market, and make it more resilient against external vulnerabilities going forward.
Over the course of this week, I have held several fruitful engagements with the Trades Union Congress and Organised Labour, the Ghana Employers’ Association, the Association of Ghana Industries, the Ghana Association of Banks, the Private Enterprise Federation, the Association of Forex Bureau Operators, the Association of Market Queens and Women, all of whom represent important stakeholders of the Ghanaian economy. They expressed their concerns and proposed solutions on how best to solve our problems. I have been encouraged by the enthusiasm of these interest groups to help Government address these challenges, and I intend to continue these engagements with other groups.
I also want to assure all Ghanaians that no individual or institutional investor, including pension funds, in Government treasury bills or instruments will lose their money, as a result of our ongoing IMF negotiations. There will be no “haircuts”, so I urge all of you to ignore the false rumours, just as, in the banking sector clean-up, Government ensured that the 4.6 million depositors affected by the exercise did not lose their deposits.
Anuanom, menim sɛɛ asetenamu ayɛ din. Nanso, ma obiaa empa aba, monkͻso enya gyidie ɛwͻ mabam mu. Nhyehyɛ yɛ aa ɛtumi maa Free SHS ɛni 1-District-1-Factory ɛbaa mu nu; nhyehyɛ yɛ aa ɛboaa ma yetumi pam corona yariɛ no efri oman ni mu; saa ɛnso na maban ɛ toto niemayie saa mereyi ama ahotͻ aba oman nimu, efri sɛɛ mewͻ gydie sɛɛ ɛko no yɛ Awurade Nyankopͻn ni ko.
Anyɛmimɛi, mile akɛ nibii ewa, shi nyɛ ka shia gbeye. Nyɛ yaanͻ ni nyɛ naa hemͻ kɛ yeli akɛ gbɛjianͻto ni hani free SHS ba min, gbɛjia nͻto ni hani 1-District-1-Factory ba min, gbɛjianͻto ni hani wͻ nyɛ wͻ shwe Corona hela kɛshi wͻ man nɛ min; nakai nͻͻ ni mi amlalo ba to gbɛjianͻ koni hejͻlɛ aba maa min, ejaakɛ, miyɛ hemͻ kɛ yeli ak3, ta, Nyͻnmͻ ta lɛ ni.
My government has always been cognisant of the importance of implementing policies and social interventions to relieve Ghanaians of hardships. It is for this reason that over the first five (5) years in office government reduced electricity tariffs cumulatively by 10.9%, we provided free water and electricity as well as reduced tariffs for the entire population during a whole year of the COVID-19 pandemic; we increased the share of the District Assemblies Common Fund to persons with disabilities by 50%; we exempted Kayayei from market tolls; we expanded the LEAP by one hundred and fifty thousand (150,000) beneficiaries; we expanded School Feeding from 1.6 million children to 2.1 million children; we restored teacher and nursing training allowances; we absorbed the cost of BECE and WASSCE exam registrations for parents; no guarantor is now required to obtain student loans. The Ghanacard is sufficient; and we have implemented free TVET as well as free senior high school education.
It is obvious, fellow Ghanaians, that you have a government that cares. We are determined to restore stability to the economy, and provide relief. We are all in this together, and I am asking for your support to rescue Ghana from the throes of this economic crisis.
I have total confidence in our ability to work our way out of our current difficulties. We are not afraid of hard work. We will triumph, as we have triumphed many times before. Let us unite, and rally around our Republic, its institutions and its democratic values, and insist that, under God, we will emerge victorious from our current difficulties. For this too shall pass, as the Battle is the Lord’s.
I will be coming regularly to keep you updated about the measures your government is making to move our country forward, and tackle our economic challenges.
God bless us all and our homeland Ghana, and make her great and strong.
I thank you for your attention, and have a good evening.
