The Association explains that the interference from political cohorts within government in the running of the Civil Service is one of the major contributory factors to the worrying situation.
Speaking at the 5th Nathan Annang Quao Lectures on the theme “Abuse of political power in the Ghanaian Civil Service: the bane of National Development,” the Executive Secretary of the Association, Dr. Isaac Bampoe Addo called on the government to wean itself from the activities of the service.
“Our evidence reveals that the so-called ghost names that cannot be identified in the civil service payroll have turned out to be personal assistants of politicians,” Dr. Bampoe said.
He complained further that “permanent consultancies for key functions of the services have been outsourced to party apparatchiks and consultants.”
“This has compromised the quality of services provided by most civil servant organisations,” Dr. Bampoe said.
He also noted that capacity building opportunities have also been “hijacked by politicians”.
“The ones they are not able to hijack are sabotaged to the disadvantage of the nation.”
Failed New Patriotic Parliamentary aspirant for Kpone Katamanso, Hopeson Adorye has accused three leading members of the opposition National Democratic Congress of orchestrating the public booing of President Akufo-Addo.
President Akufo-Addo while presenting an address at the Global Citizen Festival held in Ghana on Saturday, September 24, 2022, was booed by some patrons of the event.
While trumpeting the accusation by the ruling New Patriotic Party that the incident was orchestrated by the NDC, Hopeson Adorye has gone on to name three officials of the party as the brains behind the booing.
In an interview with Okay FM, Hopeson Adorye alleged that the Editor of the Herald Newspaper, Larry Dogbey, Member of Parliament for Tamale North, Alhassan Suhuyini and NDC Communication Team Member on Creative Arts, Baba Sadiq were the masterminds behind the booing incident.
According to him, the three recruited seventy-five boys from Fadama and paid them GH¢120 to boo at the president.
He noted that the plot was masterminded after Baba Sadiq being an entertainment industry player picked up information that the president will be at the festival.
“Because Sadiq of 3 Music Awards is an industry player and has a connection with the lead organizers, when he heard it, he and Larry Dogbe and Suhuyini met at a particular place to plan.”
“They contracted 75 boys from Fadama and paid each one of them GH¢120. The videos trending is a testament to it. It was from one particular shot,” Hopeson Adorye alleged.
However, Baba Sadiq and Larry Dogbe who were both named by Hopeson Adorye as accomplices to the plot have both denied the allegation.
“Obviously, this can come from somebody who is not well in the brain. For a person to actually say this is what Sadiq will engage in; I am above that. I am above these things. I will never engage in such things. It’s a lie,” Baba Sadiq in a reaction on Okay FM said.
He noted that the allegation was a deliberate attempt to run him down.
“We have people who practice very bad politics and they will stop at nothing to destroy people they think are hardworking, people that are above them, people that have shown and proven that the things they do, they cannot do the littlest of it,” the CEO of 3Music said.
Hopeson Adorye who was adamant about Baba Sadiq’s response alluded that he has voice recordings of a meeting between the plotters of the hooting.
However, Baba Sadiq emphasised that he is yet to meet Alhassan Suhuyini in the entire year and has never met Larry Dogbey before.
He dared Hopeson Adorye to produce the supposed voice recording noting that he is waiting on the advice of his lawyers to decide on his next line of action.
19-year-old, Mercy Amoah has given an account of how she became a drug addict at an early age, the regret she felt after her pregnancy, and a plea for help to quit drugs.
In an interview on Ghetto Life Story on SVTV Africa, Mercy revealed that her friends influenced her into a life of drugs. She mentioned that she dropped out of school while in Junior High. She noted that her father wanted her to attend a catering school, but that dream was shattered.
“I couldn’t tell him I was pregnant till after he bought the admission forms. He was disappointed but still asked me whether I would like to go back to school after giving birth. I couldn’t respond. All I did was cry,” Mercy explained tearfully.
According to Mercy, she followed her friends to do drugs mainly while they worked as prostitutes. Speaking on the drugs she took, Mercy mentioned “Estacion, Rohypnol, lean, hashish, amnesia. My friends taught me all these while in school. We often went out after school.”
Mercy indicated no advantages came with the drug life she chose. Instead, it took a lot from her, physically and socially.
The single mother is jobless and depends on her boyfriend to survive, while the two-year-old baby lives with her grandparent.
Nicknamed Araba Tupac, Mercy told host DJ Nyaami that she wishes to quit the lifestyle, but she has nowhere else apart from home, Ashaiman.
“If only I could find someplace to stay for a few months because our family house is located inside the ghetto. If I could live in a place where these drugs are inaccessible. I know I would change so my father would see a new Mercy,” she added.
A Ghanaian machine operator, Isaac Boateng, has reportedly suffered deep knife wounds after his throat was slashed by his Chinese employer at Kweikuma in the Sekondi-Takoradi Municipality.
According to a report by 3news.com sighted by GhanaWeb, the Chinese national is a senior in a company contracted to erect structures close to the apartments of the Ghana Navy flats.
An eyewitness account disclosed the incident occurred while workers of the company were demanding the payment of their salaries.
“We have worked for the whole month and our salaries had not been paid so we had a meeting and asked our Chinese employer why we have not been paid. One of our colleagues went to the Chinese boss to find out what was wrong with the salaries because we have families and we are also owing some people.
“In the heat of the argument, the Chinese boss pulled a flick knife and slashed the throat of our colleague. He has incurred deep wounds, blood traces could be seen everywhere. He has been rushed to the Effiankwanta Hospital and we pray he will survive,” Boat who is also a Ghanaian employee of the company alleged.
He disclosed that the local workers numbering about 80 were protesting in demand of their GH¢18 accumulated daily wage.
“Some military [officers] intervened and calm was restored later but the foreigner who committed the crime is still walking around. We are in pain and demand justice for our brother. We are about eighty workers here and they pay each of us GH¢18 a day for the tedious construction work are doing here,” he added.
Meanwhile, the working of the company is said to have been taken over by the presence of strong state security while the company has since commenced the payment of the outstanding salaries.
A case about the incident has also been filed with the Adiembro Police station for further action.
“The Police have taken my statement and I’m still under treatment,” the victim, Isaac Boateng is reported to have said.
The Comptroller General of the Ghana Immigration Service, Kwame Asuah Takyi has sued the managers of TV3, Media General over some alleged incidents of defamation.
The suit which makes GH¢20 million demand in damages also named the host of the morning show on the television network, Johnnie Hughes as a co-respondent.
According to details of the suit published by Dailyguidenetwork.com, the host on the Johnnies Bite, a segment on the show, made statements that were defamatory to the person of the Immigration Service boss.
“Comptroller General, you were interdicted in 2013. That is what your officers are saying for the same visa fraud and permit malpractices. As of your 2019/2020 since your directive came, you are bringing all those pets to you. The people are begging to ask questions again. What are you up to? Are you doing something again?
“They say they don’t understand why you have tried to centralise everything when you have made guilty in the past and went on interdiction. Until 2017, you were interdicted five (5) years.
“The corruption must stop, Takyi must go” the suit repeated some statements said to have been made by the journalist between August 24 and September 23, 2022, on the programme.
According to the plaintiff, the journalist by his statements described him as a corrupt official who treats his officers unfairly and poorly and as well uses his office to settle personal issues with other officers.
Kwame Asuah Takyi also averred that the publication by the journalist has caused right thinking persons to believe he has a questionable character and is unfit to fulfil his mandate as Comptroller General. The plaintiff added that the defendant caused right thinking persons to see him as using his office to enrich himself.
The allegations by the journalist, according to Mr Kwame Asuah Takyi, are false and calculated to dent his image and lower his reputation in the eyes and minds of right thinking members of the public.
The plaintiff deems the statement by the journalist to be defamatory and has asked as part of his demands that the defendants are ordered by a court to retract and delete the publication from its various media platforms, websites, archives or records.
He is also demanding an unqualified apology through the same medium where the statements and publications were made against him.
In addition, the Immigration Service boss is asking for a reward of GHC20 million in damages as well as an order restraining the defendants or assignees from further publication or causing to be published the said words or any other words.
Watch the latest episode of The Lowdown below:
The Lowdown: Role of the diaspora in the development of Africa
CEO of the Aaron Manvel Foundation Millie Lorene Tucker and Gary Hope, the CEO of FLCC – Bring Back Hope Foundation underscore the need for the African diaspora to help develop the continent in this episode of The Lowdown on GhanaWeb TV. According to the women trying to make and create a change in Ghana, our forefathers were sold away and made to develop strange lands. Thus, coming back home and developing their home country is the best thing to do especially when resources are available.
The second Vice Chairman of the New Patriotic Party in the Fanteakwa south constituency, Nana Kofi Akomea Jnr has waded into the booing at President Akufo-Addo with a call to the youth.
The experienced NPP Communicator believed the youth could have addressed their supposed displeasure in a different way instead of on such a global stage.
President Akufo-Addo was booed ‘Away, Away, Away’ at the Global Citizen Festival in Accra over the weekend when he was invited on stage to address the many participants present at the event.
Nana Kofi Akomea Jnr in an interview with the reporter described the incident as unfortunate and disgracing to hoot at the first gentleman of the land to the world.
Even though he did not apportion blame on any individual or group, he found it difficult to understand why some people can plan and hoot at the President, knowing well that the world was watching.
According to Nana Kofi Akomea Jnr, he does not believe the cation of the participants has to do with the state of the economy but may come with reasons unknown to Ghanaians.
He stressed that the Akufo-Addo-led government has been touted as one of the many Presidents who has handled the economy amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war and rather needs commendations from Ghanaians and not the other way round.
“I will urge Ghanaians, especially the youth to trust in the Akufo-Addo-led NPP government as a lot is being done to redeem the image of the current global economic crisis,” he said.
12 persons believed to be land guards including a private developer have been arrested by the military led by the North East Regional Minister over a land dispute between a private developer and the youth of Gambaga.
The private developer, Tanko Fatau Alias Balewa allegedly encroached on several plot lands in the Gambaga community belonging to the District Assembly.
The victims were subsequently handed over to the East Mamprusi Municipal police command in Gambaga for further interrogation.
Tanko Fatau in 2021 had challenged by the youth of the community in order not to put up the structure but he went ahead to develop the land which was later demolished by the angry youth.
The case was sent to court hence, the private developer was supposed to reappear in court next month, 13 October 2022, before he was arrested with the land guards by the military.
Following the agitations from the youth to prevent the private developer from developing the land, he (Tanko Fatau alias Balewa) brought some land guards from Tamale in the Northern Region to guard the land.
It is said that two persons from the community received some gun wounds after they exchanged gunshots with the land guards yesterday, 27 September 2022.
After the arrest, two AK 47 rifles, two Pump action guns, one pistol, and 1001 live ammunition were retrieved from the victims by the military.
Meanwhile, the North East Regional Minister and the Regional police command have declined to comment on the issue.
However, they have both assured that they will address the media at the appropriate time.
The tourism industry of the Upper West Region has been described as a virgin entity due to the untapped potential of its tourist attractions and hospitality industry, a renowned industry player has said.
Abdul-Aziz Pelpuo, a seasoned tour guide with many years of accolades and experience in tourism lamented why industry players in the region continued to falter in the promotion of tourism the region has failed to use technology to their advantage in that regard.
He disclosed that only 3 out of the numerous tourist sites have been documented for easy accessibility to tourists far and near, despite the unique tourist products that the region can boast of.
“I’ll describe tourism in the region as a virgin entity. A virgin entity because the tourism industry in the region remains untapped. If you look from all angles, these tourist products, the tourist attraction themselves, the hospitality industry, that’s, the hotels, guest houses, among others, restaurants, chop bars (eateries), in the U/W/R remains untapped.
“And now, what will bring people to our region? – the tourist attraction. Before people come to sleep in our hotels or eat from chop bars, there must be something that would lead them to Upper West Region and these are our tourist attractions.
“And that’s why I say we have very unique tourists attractions that you can’t find anywhere in the world but in the U/W/R but most of these tourists attractions that I’m about to mention, you can’t even find them on Google, you can’t find them on even a simple tourism brochure, you can’t read it from any tourism book.”
“That’s why I describe it as untapped potential. I can mention an endless number of tourist attractions in the region but you can’t find more than 3 on record.
Mostly, you could find Wechau Hippo Sanctuary and then you could also find Gbollu Slave Defence Wall and you could also find the Gbelle Game Reserve,” he lamented.
He attributed the development to the ignorance of the locals of host communities over their inability to appreciate the worth of their tourist products as well as the ineptitude of the institutions mandated to promote such facilities that are under their watch, bemoaning how some of these tourists have been left to rot.
He made these comments in an interview with GhanaWeb Tuesday, September 27, 2022, to assess the tourism potential in the Upper West Region.
The seven-time award-winning best regional tour guide and two-time national best added that it takes the provision of tourism infrastructures such as good roads and health facilities, functioning telecommunication network, and potable drinking water, among other social amenities, to get a thriving tourism industry.
He indicated it is only when those facilities are in place that private investors would be attracted to invest their resources in tourism products to attract tourists to the region knowing they can recoup their resources.
“We have tourism products and we have tourism infrastructure. If government mandated to provide the infrastructure is able to do so, then the private sector can come in to develop the product. Bad road networks – all the roads, as in all the roads leading to the tourist sites (in the Upper West Region) I know, are in a deplorable state. Even the famous Hippo Sanctuary at Wechau you know, there is no good road linking Wechau to the angles, the Mashroom Rock (road too) the same thing, Nanvile Termite Hills, …
Just last two weeks, I had to return a group of 12 (people) just because the road to the Termite Hills was not accessible. So 12 people came from the USA, all the way to Wa. We had to turn back after Sankana halfway, we had to turn back because it had rained and the road was not just accessible.
“Telecommunication network is another thing. Imagine how we use our phones now. So imagine somebody going to an area where there is no telecommunication network, I can’t make a call, I can’t access the internet. You don’t expect people to go there. Those are part of the tourist infrastructure. Now good healthcare: we have the Gbelle Reserve where we have lots of wild animals – bufalloes, elephants, antelopes, and so on, but there is no clinic in and around that area.
So people would not go there. There is no good road there, no telecommunication there, no potable water, and no healthcare facility. So why would people go there? So those are part of the infrastructure. So if government is able to put these infrastructures in place, then individuals or private investors can now come in to develop the products,” Abdul-Aziz Pelpuo stated.
The National Executive member of the Tour Guides Association of Ghana enumerated a few of the available tourist sites in the region as follows:
“Mystery Bleeding Rock (Busa – Wa municipal); Baobab Tree House with a natural door and a window carving with the capacity of the inside able to accommodate about 10 average humans (Busa – Wa municipal); Tomb of a colonial British agent who was instrumental in the demarcation of the northern territories of Ghana that helped to sign treaties with the natives to get them out of the British protectorates (Wa municipal);
Mushroom Rocks (Wuling – Jirapa municipal); and Nanvile Termite Hills (Nadawli-Kaleo). Others are: Mystery Footprints on a Baobab Tree (Ulo – Jirapa municipal); Museum of President of the Third Republic, Dr. Hilla Liman (Gbollu); Gbollu Slave Defence Wall (Gbollu); Gbele Game Reserve (Daffiema-Bussie-Issa district); Crocodile Pond (Sombo – Wa municipal); and Sacred Grove Water Spring (Babile-Brefu: Lawra) and so on.
Ras Bob as he is affectionately called, said the Ghana Tourism Federation includes all the industry players from the private sector – the Hoteliers Association, the Tour Union, the Tour Guides Association, and the Car Rental Association.
According to him, all members of the aforementioned associations are from the private sector and could only discover or identify the tourist sites and then inform the regulators to certify and licence them and then do the promotion of those products.
World Tourism Day
The United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) World Tourism Day is observed on September 27 every year with the aim of fostering awareness among the International community about the importance of Tourism and its social, economic, political, and cultural values.
This year’s event was with the theme: Rethinking Tourism. This year’s official World Tourism Day celebration was held in Bali, Indonesia to highlight the shift towards tourism as a crucial pillar of development.
As part of the celebration, Ghana developed a sub-theme dubbed: Promoting Domestic Tourism for Wealth Creation in Communities to grow the interest of Ghanaians in tourism with the Upper West Region hosting the event in Wa municipal under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.
The Ranking Member of Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, John Jinapor, has refuted claims by the government that the Russia-Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic are the cause of the challenges in Ghana.
According to him, data from the Ministry of Finance shows that these two events have been a blessing to the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government.
John Jinapor, who made these remarks in an XYY interview monitored by GhanaWeb, explained that because of the Russia-Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic, the government had exceeded most of its revenue projections.
“If you look at the summary of the financial data of the country from January to June this year, which was published by the Ministry of Finance, you will notice that the government has benefited from these two things, particularly because of the rise in the prices of petroleum prices.
“The Summary of Central Government Operation, which was published by the ministry, shows that the country at the end of the 2nd quarter collected 127 percent of its projected tax revenue from oil products. When it comes to royalties from oil production, we have gotten 133 percent of projected revenue. For the financial sector levy, we have gotten 133 percent of projected revenue.
“For the COVID-19 levy, we have gotten 170 percent of what we budgeted for. We have gotten 150 percent of the oil revenue we budgeted for. So, one can observe that Ghana is rather benefiting from the Russia-Ukraine war in terms of revenue when it comes to the government side,” he said in Twi.
Jinapor, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Yapei-Kusawgu, further stated that Ghanaians are going through a lot of hardship because the government has refused to use the windfall in revenues to bring some reprieve to the citizenry.
Meanwhile, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, during his speech at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, said that the Russia-Ukraine War was having a devastating impact on Ghana and other African countries.
“As we grappled with these economic challenges, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine burst upon us, aggravating an already difficult situation. It is not just the dismay that we feel at seeing such deliberate devastation of cities and towns in Europe in the year 2022; we are feeling this war directly in our lives in Africa.
“Every bullet, every bomb, every shell that hits a target in Ukraine, hits our pockets and our economies in Africa. The economic turmoil is global with inflation as the number one enemy this year,” the president said.
The founder and leader of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), Percival Kofi Akpaloo, has doubted the ability of Agriculture Minister Owusu Afriyie Akoto to manage the government’s flagship Planting for Food and Jobs programme.
He argued the sector minister has run out of ideas to add any progress to the development of the agricultural sector.
“There was a major problem with the prices of the raw materials, especially maize and soybean. Maize, for instance, went up by 100%, and then wheat and soybean all went up,” he said.
“Why must we import frozen chicken and maize while we can grow some in Ghana? President Akufo-Addo has to relieve him of his post, “Kofi Akpaloo exclusively told Accra-based Angel FM.
He further revealed that the Minister for Agriculture had disobeyed the president’s directives to save the local poultry industry.
President Akufo-Addo has often touted the progress of the planting for food and jobs programme, alluding to the feat it has achieved.
This, he said, is a complete misapplication of the subsidies.
He believes it would only be proper if the sector minister is relieved of his position.
Leading member of the ruling New Patriotic Party, Dr Amoako Baah, has claimed that President Akufo-Addo pleaded with Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, to rescind a decision to resign from office.
In an interview with Joy FM, Dr Amoako Baah argued that President Akufo-Addo is insisting on the finance minister keeping his job because he is his relative.
“If the finance minister was not a relative of the president, he himself would have resigned. I hear he tried to resign actually; the president begged him not to. All because the president needs him. Whatever it is he was doing, he is the one who understood what he was doing. He was the one who made it work, and so the president needs him no matter what. This situation we are in is not like other times. This is a peculiar situation of family and friends,” he stated.
There are calls for Mr Ofori-Atta to be relieved of his position, with some critics citing the current economic challenges facing the country.
The decision by the government to enter an International Monetary Fund programme despite its earlier position against the IMF has also been cited by several critics of the finance minister.
Dr Amoako Baah, in the interview, described Mr Ofori-Atta leading Ghana’s IMF negotiations as counterfeit logic.
“How is it possible that the very person that is trumpeting the idea that we are not going to the IMF, we have the means to make it work, we don’t need to go to the IMF, we are a proud nation and all of that. Then we end up at the IMF and suddenly this same person is the one who has become the champion of dealing with the IMF. How is that possible?” he questioned.
Dr Amoako Baah, who is a senior political science lecturer, called the minister’s integrity into question, saying, “This is what is called counterfeit logic; it has no integrity nor whatsoever.”
The National Democratic Congress (NDC)Tema East Constituency Treasurer hopeful, Charles Amoako-Brobbey, has submitted his nomination forms to contest in the upcoming National Democratic Congress (NDC) Constituency elections.
Speaking shortly after the filing, Freshers Charles Amoako-Brobbey promised to abide by the roadmap and guidelines given by the party to ensure a peaceful and successful contest, adding that he will commit to helping roll out programmes and policies that will promote the welfare of his constituents.
“This marks the birth of a new dawn in my long-time ambition of serving the welfare and interest of my fellow constituents at a higher level. As a party member, I have faithfully served my party to the best of my individual ability and learned a lot of valuable lessons which I carry along into mainstream politics,” he said. “It’s my determination, most of all, to help promote monetary discipline and policies that will promote the general welfare of my fellow Tema East constituents,” he added.
The NDC will hold its Constituency elections on October 22, 2022.
This follows a successful branch election of party executives across all branches of the party some weeks ago.
The party subsequently opened nominations for the Constituency elections on September 20, 2022, and closed the process on September 24, 2022.
A member of Amoako-Brobbey’s team, Jonathan Darah Mandela, branch Secretary, also urged all NDC members in Tema East to take conscious notice of Mr Amoako-Brobbey’s industriousness as a private businessman, his generosity as a renowned philanthropist, especially to party members, and his commitment in keeping faith with the NDC both at the national level and at the Constituency level over the years.
He said, “no matter where one’s allegiances lie, these are the most crucial things that any well-meaning party member should look out for in a leader, especially one who seeks to hold the sensitive office of a party Treasurer.”
In a goodwill message, Mr. Amoako-Brobbey wished his fellow aspirants well in the upcoming contest.
“I wish all aspirants the very best as we keenly contest each other in a healthy manner that will inure to our collective benefit,” he noted.
A statement from Laud Anoo Konadu, popularly known as ‘Dancegodlloyd’, has been interpreted by some persons as a confirmation of rumors that he has parted ways with the ‘DWP’ Academy.
In the last couple of days, rumors have been rife that Dancegod, who is a co-founder of the ‘Dance With a Purpose’ (DWP) Academy wasn’t on good terms with his other partners.
It was said that the ‘dance god’ had parted ways with the Academy following a misunderstanding he had with one of the managers of the group, Quables.
The rumors intensified when he was absent on stage while the team played their role as backup dancers for American singer, Usher, at the Global Citizen Concert.
This happens to be the Academy’s second international recognition after featuring in Beyoncé’s ‘King Already’ music video and Dancegodlloyd who has been touted as the team’s ‘poster boy’ wasn’t present to relish the moment.
In the quest to calm waters after the event, Nicholas Botchway popularly known as ‘Afrobeast’, one of the founders of the Academy, tried to convince the public that Dancegodlloyd was absent because he had to attend to another equally important assignment in Nigeria.
“Dancegod Lloyd happened to be in Nigeria during the rehearsals. He missed 90% of the entire rehearsal sessions and even though he was through with his project before the final rehearsal kicked off, he couldn’t join the crew to perform because the list of dancers had already been submitted to the Global Citizen Festival event organizers.
“The thing is, they wanted a certain amount of number and Dancegod Lloyd wasn’t available at the time,” Afrobeast earlier said in an interview with Hitz FM.
But in a twist of events, Dancegodlloyd in a TikTok live session has dispelled the narrative.
This was when a fan asked why he was absent on stage during the group’s performance with Usher.
The worried fan also quizzed whether the rumors flying out there concerning his fallout with the team were really true and he said:
“Don’t let anyone lie to you. Don’t let them lie to you. I have done what I can do and the rest is up to them. People are ungrateful and they will always be ungrateful. Remember that.”
“I do things for people from the deepest part of my heart and I don’t want anything in return,” the dancer added.
Ghana’s Highlife and Afrobeats singer KiDi has been in hot waters in the last 24 hours after Twitter users dug up old tweets including one where he described media personality, Deloris Frimpong Manso aka Delay as an ill start.
The 10-year-old tweet which reads: “I think Delay is an illiterate *shruggs*” has attracted a response from the victim who has schooled the famous singer.
Delay who interviewed KiDi in 2018 has explained that being tagged as an illiterate doesn’t stop one from achieving their goals in life.
“Illiteracy is not a crime. I guess the end justifies the means after all. I made it in life so that’s what matters!” she exclaimed.
Delay, an old Aburi Senior High School student, also obtained a degree from Methodist University College.
She is best known for her control over the Twi language and her ability to host top personalities in the country on her show.
Meanwhile, some have expressed concern over why netizens continue to dig up past tweets of KiDi when the singer apologised in 2020.
The Lynx Entertainment signee in a statement at the time rendered an unqualified apology to the general public and explained that his old tweets were made without considering the ‘negative impact’ on the victims.
“I’ve posted some things on social media when I was too young to understand how it would negatively affect those I talked about. But life has taught me to always appreciate people’s hustle, and never speak ill about someone else. Let’s take me as an example so we are more supportive of each other on social media.
“I apologise to those I offended with these actions from my past. I hope we can focus our energy on putting Ghana music on the map together. Love,” read KiDi‘s statement in 2020.
Check out the tweet below:
— The Delay Show Is Back On TV3 ????????☀️ (@delayghana) September 28, 2022
Member of Parliament for Adansi Asokwa in the Ashanti Region, Kobina Tahir Hammond, has revealed that as an up-and-coming politician, he used to stay in his lane.
His comment followed a harsh critique he delivered on the youth following an incident where President Akufo-Addo was booed.
A section of the crowd at the Global Citizen Festival at the Black Star Square on September 24, clapped and chanted ‘away, away’ when Akufo-Addo mounted the stage to deliver an address.
KT Hammond is among public officials who chastised the youth for engaging in insulting attitude. He described them as empty heads and people who cannot govern even if given the opportunity.
Challenged that he also started off as a young politician, he retorted: “When I started off as a young man, was that how I was doing it? When I was a young man like you, I stayed in my lane. I stuck to my lane.
Asked whether the president had to attend the event at all, he replied: “I don’t know about that, about the movement of the president, about whether he was advised to go or not. It is not the issue. What we are talking about in the end we saw the President there.
“Whatever was going on there, I did not know, I hadn’t heard of it before, we are hot, we don’t know about everything going on. The President owns the nation and so he goes there. But that does mean you should hurl abuse?”
The booing incident: Exactly what happened?
Thousands of patrons were at the Black Star Square to witness the concert that had a number of local and international artistes performing.
As host of the event, the president was called upon to give his remarks, which happened to be a prepared speech that lasted over six minutes.
The booing happened when he started his speech saying: “The whole world is in Ghana today.”
What started initially as people showing their disapproval of his presence on the stage, turned into loud clapping and chanting of the words: “away, away…,” the president, however, stayed the course and delivered his full speech.
As if that was not enough, people on social media latched on to the development to mock the president.
Global Citizen is the world’s largest movement of action takers and impact makers dedicated to ending extreme poverty NOW.
The voices of millions of Global Citizens around the world are driving lasting change towards sustainability, equality, and humanity by taking action every day.
The Global Citizen Festival started as a music festival where fans take actions to end extreme poverty in order to earn free tickets to attend.
Former New Patriotic Party parliamentary candidate for Kpone Katamanso, Hopeson Adorye, has alleged that people who booed President Akufo-Addo at the recently held Global Citizen Festival were paid an amount of GH₵120 by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Speaking in an interview with Accra-based Okay FM on September 28, Adorye alleged that the NDC through the Chief Executive Officer of 3 Music Awards, Baba Sadiq, Larry Dogbe and one Suhuyini organized seventy-five Fadama boys to stage the incident.
He opined that the booing was orchestrated by the NDC as a result of the one-sided video from the incident even though ‘all the bloggers in Ghana were present and streamed live’.
He mentioned that the president was not originally billed to be at the event but was able to make it because he had arrived a day earlier from the 77th United Nations General Assembly.
Baba Sadiq, he alleged was the mastermind having picked up information from organizers of the event that the president was going to be present.
“Per the information I had, it was the Trade or the Tourism Minister who was supposed to be at the festival to address the attendees.
“But the fact that the president attended one in South Africa and requested that if it comes to Ghana, he will be happy. It was going to Nigeria.
“One of the two ministers was supposed to come because of President Akufo-Addo’s UN engagement. But fortunately, the president was able to arrive before the day of the event.
“They had conversations with him and it was agreed that he will come. Because Sadiq of 3 Music Awards is an industry player and has a connection with the lead organizers, when he heard it, he and Larry Dogbe and Suhuyini met at a particular place to plan.
“They contracted 75 boys from Fadama and paid each one of them GH¢120. The videos trending is testament to it. It was from one particular shot,” Hopeson Adorye said.
President Akufo-Addo was among high-profile dignitaries who graced the Global Citizen Festival which took place at the Black Star Square in Accra on September 24.
When it was his turn to deliver a short presentation, a section of the crowd began to chant and clap ‘away, away….’.
The president remained calm and delivered his speech. Deputy Communications Officer of the New Patriotic Party Ernest Owusu Bempah has in a statement accused the opposition National Democratic Congress as orchestrating the plot to embarrass the president.
However, the NDC has rejected the accusation insisting that the booing was only an indication of the frustrations of Ghanaians.
US rapper Coolio, known for the iconic hit Gangsta’s Paradise, has died at the age of 59.
His longtime manager Jarez Posey told US media the artist was found unresponsive on the bathroom floor of a friend’s house in Los Angeles.
Coolio started making music in the 1980s, but he cemented his place in hip hop history when he recorded Gangsta’s Paradise in 1995.
The exact cause of his death on Wednesday has not yet been revealed.
However Mr Posey told TMZ, which first reported the news, that paramedics believed he may have had a cardiac arrest.
Coolio, whose real name was Artis Leon Ivey Jr, won a Grammy for Gangsta’s Paradise, which was part of the soundtrack for the movie Dangerous Minds starring Michelle Pfeiffer.
The haunting track continues to be widely listened to and has just passed a billion streams on Spotify, according to his official website.
Over a career spanning four decades he recorded eight studio albums and won an American Music Award and three MTV Video Music Awards.
His other hits included Fantastic Voyage, Rollin’ With My Homies, 1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New), and Too Hot.
He was active right up until his death – Coolio was in the middle of a tour with other 90s stars including Vanilla Ice and Young MC, and they performed in Texas just a few days ago.
“I’m freaking out I just heard my good friend Coolio passed away,” Vanilla Ice wrote on Twitter.
Snoop Dogg referenced Coolio’s world-famous track in his own tribute, writing: “Gangstas paradise. R I P.”
He also shared a picture of the two posing on the set of the music video for Gangsta Walk, a track they collaborated on in 2006.
“This is sad news. I witness first hand this man’s grind to the top of the industry,” fellow rapper and actor Ice Cube said.
MC Hammer described Coolio as “one of the nicest dudes I’ve known”.
“Good people. RIP Coolio,” he wrote, sharing a black and white picture of the rapper, and later posting a second picture of the pair together, along with Tupac and Snoop Dogg.
Reggae Dancehall artiste, Addi Self, will tour the United States of America for the first time to promote Slum To Hills Mixtape which was released on his birthday on September 19, 2022.
Powered by Blibo Entertainment Inc., a US-based events company that has hosted Davido, Kwesi Arthur, Medikal, Shatta Wale and Bisa Kdei among others, Addi Self will touch base with fans in multiple states in the last quarter of the year and early 2023.
24 hours after the release of the 7-track Slum To Hills Mixtape, it moved from number 44 to 22 and then number 1 on the Ghana iTunes Top Albums Chart which features Sarkodie’s Highest album at number 2 and Adele’s 25 at number 3.
The mixtape features the single “We Did It” featuring X-Zone, Don Cash, Gariba and Yaronzamani on track 7. The video for “We Did It” was released two months ago and has over 45,000 views on YouTube.
The tracklist starts with Mama on track 1; Camela featuring Joint 77 and Natty Lee on track 2; Loyalty on track 3; Different Breed on track 4; Letter to Bigger Heads on track 5; Dash Way on track 6 and then We Did It on track 7.
Tracks 1,2,4,5 and 7 were produced by Bisik Beat; track 3 was produced by Beat Boy and mastered by Bisik Beat and then track 6 was produced by Beat Boy.
For bookings on the Slum To Hills USA Tour, call 419 944 9903.
Singer Worlasi has announced the impending release of a new song titled ‘Caveman’.
Stating that the song will be out on streaming platforms on Saturday, October 1, 2022, he also indicated featuring Highlife star Kwabena Kwabena on it.
Worlasi made the announcement on Twitter with a snippet of the song attached in a visualizer which spans 17 seconds.
American R&B and Pop star, Usher Raymond IV, has shared three (3) key lessons fast rising artistes can adopt for a flourishing career.
The musician who has been in the industry for almost three decades has still remained relevant, producing hit albums throughout his time.
Usher who was in Ghana for the Global Citizens Festival told Y107.9FM’s Jonny Stone on the ‘Y Campus Express’ show, “number one on my three biggest lessons in music is that you need to decide on what you want to do and be unwavering about it no matter how complicated it gets. As long as you are connected to that dream and there is the passion, you will not give up.”
The vocalist believes every musician must have a voice of their own, especially in the midst of many voices trying to influence their path. He charged musicians to find their own way and tell their own stories with their own energy.
Taking a cue from the popular saying; “To whom much is given, much more is required”, Usher posited that young artistes must be ready and willing to put in the work. “Who you hang around is important, they can stop or aid you in achieving your goal so you must be well aware of your surroundings.”
Former First Lady and Political, Women and Children Activist, Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings, has disclosed what inspired her decision to adopt the chic African look.
Witnessing the imminent death of Ghana’s textile industry, she took it upon herself to bear the touch of reviving and promoting the industry.
Recognized as a local fabric fashion in Ghana and beyond, she made it a point to represent Ghana and Africa by wearing clothes sewn from African print always.
Speaking to Eunice Tornyi on e.tv Ghana’s ‘African Women’s Voices’ show, she said, “I was asked to go have a look at Ghana Textiles Printing (GTP). I met a guy who was about two years ahead of me in (KNUST) there looking so morose. So, I asked him why he was sad and he said, well I don’t know why they brought you here because there was nothing going on.”
According to the young man she spoke to, they were not working because they had no ink, fabric or nothing they could work with. Hence,they were just there with nothing to do because the factory had collapsed.
“He said all other factories had also collapsed due to the same challenges. So, I decided to go round and I met two other ladies who took me round and explained to me what was happening and that, hardly is anyone buying fabric anyway. Also, because almost all the educated people preferred designer names over the African print, collapsing the market.”
She emphasized that these informed her decision to choose to wear African prints to help revive the textile industry.
“Now, it meant that I should own the cloth before I can wear it so, I spoke to my mum about my decision to be wearing only African prints to functions which she agreed and supported me,” she stated.
The agency at the center of Kirani Ayat and the Ghana Tourism Authority, GTA, feud, Samsal, has denied ever granting permission to the Authority to use the promotional video it produced with some part of the musician’s video.
In a September 28, 2022 statement, the agency explained that it entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GTA to promote Digital Wrist Band – a wrist band that granted access to highly sought after events slated for the Christmas season – to tourists and foreigners.
Per the MoU, the agency said GTA was to give it the needed support in terms of finances and logistics in order to produce video content to market Ghana to the world in that regard.
Consequently, Samsal said it put together a video reel (mood board) for the GTA that included parts of Ayat’s ‘GUDA’ video to demonstrate the vision it had for videos it intended to subsequently create for the campaign.
It stated emphatically that it did grant GTA the permission to share the mood board whiles also categorically denying that the video put out by the Authority and president was not the very one it had created.
“We put together a video reel (“mood board”) which we showed to the GTA as inspiration and creative direction for the videos we intended to produce during the campaign. The mood board was a mash up of scenes from different videos, including the video for Ayat’s “GUDA”, and other videos shot by David Nicol-Sey, a fellow creative who we have worked on several campaigns with (and who directed the campaign video for Discovery Bands).
“For the avoidance of doubt, the video which the President and the GTA have put in circulation is not the mood board we created. It contains snippets from the mood board. However, we never authorized the GTA to publish the mood board or sense from it. The signed MoU was explicit that our delivery obligations related to new content which would be financed by the GTA,” part of the statement read.
The Agency further revealed that following the failure of GTA to deliver on its financial obligation as agreed upon under the MoU, it used it own funds to create a video to promote Discovery Bands.
It stated that even though it submitted it to GTA, the Authority is yet to publish its works which it said contained ‘lovely scenes from Ghana’.
The agency maintained that it was therefore taken aback when it sighted the ‘repurposed’ publication of the earlier mood board it created on various platforms.
“Unfortunately, the GTA did not finance the creation of any work as agreed. Using our own funds, we created our own video (see enclosed) to promote Discovery Bands and submitted same to GTA. The GTA has not posted the Discovery Bands video (which also depicts lovely scenes from Ghana and which we worked with David Nicol-Sey to shoot) nor has it fulfilled any of its content financing obligations under our MoU.
“It, therefore, came as a surprise to us when we noticed that content from the mood board has been repurposed and put into circulation instead of the GTA fulling its obligations under the MoU by providing us with logistics and budgetary support for the creation of similar content to market Ghana,” the statement said.
The revelation by Samsal contradicts the stance of the Ghana Tourism Authority which claimed earlier during the brewing copyright saga that it legitimately acquired permission from an agency [later named Samsal] for the use of the promotional video which featured portions of Ayat’s ‘GUDA’ video.
It will be recalled that Kirani Ayat took to Twitter to express his displeasure at the use of his works without permission.
He was reacting to a tourism promotion video that was posted on President Akufo-Addo’s Twitter handle.
“The president of Ghana has used my video “GUDA” in this ad to promote Ghana. I was actively reaching out to the Ministry of Tourism in 2018/19 to use this video to push tourism in the North and got NO reply, yet today it’s in an ad and no one reached out to me for permission,” Kirani Ayat tweeted.
The government is currently battling a case of intellectual property breach arising from the use of video content in a ‘Visit Ghana’ campaign promo.
But it is not the first time the Akufo-Addo government has found itself in such an unpleasant situation.
On its first day in office, the president had egg on his face when it emerged that portions of his speech had been plagiarized. There has been one other blunder in between the January 2017 incident and the recent one.
Particulars of the three incidents are;
Ghana Tourism Authority vs. Kirani Ayat
Musician Kirani Ayat had reason to call out the government after it emerged that a ‘Visit Ghana’ video posted on the social media handle of the President earlier this week had footage that belonged to him.
Whereas he insists that no government agency had sought his permission to use the material, the Ghana Tourism Authority, GTA, which produced the video said it had received authorization from an agency, Samsal, to use the material dismissing reports of intellectual property breach.
In a September 28, 2022 statement, the agency explained that it entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GTA to promote Digital Wrist Band – a product that granted access to highly sought after events slated for the Christmas season – to tourists and foreigners.
Per the MoU, the agency said GTA was to give it the needed support in terms of finances and logistics in order to produce video content to market Ghana to the world in that regard.
Consequently, Samsal said it put together a video reel (mood board) for the GTA that included parts of Ayat’s ‘GUDA’ video to demonstrate the vision it had for videos it intended to subsequently create for the campaign.
“We put together a video reel (“mood board”) which we showed to the GTA as inspiration and creative direction for the videos we intended to produce during the campaign.
“The mood board was a mash up of scenes from different videos, including the video for Ayat’s “GUDA”, and other videos shot by David Nicol-Sey, a fellow creative who we have worked on several campaigns with (and who directed the campaign video for Discovery Bands).
“For the avoidance of doubt, the video which the President and the GTA have put in circulation is not the mood board we created. It contains snippets from the mood board. However, we never authorized the GTA to publish the mood board or sense from it. The signed MoU was explicit that our delivery obligations related to new content which would be financed by the GTA,” part of the statement read.
Ghana Beyond Aid document ‘steals’ photo of Kenya skyline
In 2019, it emerged that the Ghana Beyond Aid office had used a photo of Nairobi skyline for the cover page of its official document.
The document was put together by a committee headed by the then senior minister and was launched by President Akufo-Addo on May Day.
It depicted high rise buildings over a green landscape. One of the buildings in the image, however, turned out to be the headquarters of Dawit Insurance in Nairobi.
The Ghana Beyond Aid Charter and Strategy Document was 61 paged and had seven chapters spelling out the role of government and citizens to wean the country off dependence of donors.
An apology was subsequently rendered for the gaffe.
2017 inauguration speech and Bush’s plagiarized paragraphs
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo came under fire on Sunday when it emerged that his inaugural address plagiarized quotes from speeches by U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, this is how a Reuters report of January 8 started off.
The two sentences that had become center of the pliagiarism row that had taken over social media were:
“I ask you to be citizens, citizens not spectators, citizens not subjects, responsible citizens building your communities and our nation,” and.
“Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. Ghanaians have ever been a restless, questing, hopeful people and we must bring to our task today the vision and will of those who came before us.”
The Reuters report observed that, the first sentence almost matched one from George Bush’s inaugural address in 2001, while the second mirrors Bill Clinton’s inaugural speech in 1993 with only the country name changed.
The Director of Communication at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin explained that the issued were “complete oversight and never deliberate,” noting that the speech contained four correctly attributed quotations.
Joyce Bawah Mogtari, an aide to former President John Dramani Mahama, has urged Adansi Asokwa Member of Parliament, Kobina Tahir Hammond, to wake up to the dawn of a new dispensation for the youth.
Her comments come on the back of the MP’s viral video in which he is seen interacting with journalists and making critical comments about the youth for booing President Akufo-Addo at the Global Citizen Festival over the weekend.
In a Twitter post on September 28, the aide said the youth were now more at the center stage of affairs and had a huge voice – a deviation from the past status quo of silence.
She mentioned that as a result, they have become influential and cannot be overlooked the world all over.
“Hon K.T Hammond should please wake up and smell the roses! All over the World, young people have taken center stage! They have a huge voice, are a huge constituency and should not be overlooked or described in such disparaging terms,” Bawah Mogtari tweeted.
What K. T Hammond said
In an interview with journalists earlier this week, the legislator expressed his disgust at the booing of President Akufo-Addo while arguing that it was not right for the youth to disrespect the president and by extension elders in the society, especially for political reasons.
He urged the youth to at all times remain humble and accord the necessary respect to people who are advanced in age.
K. T Hammond added that the platform on which the president spoke was not a political one to warrant the reaction he had from some patrons of the event.
“We don’t live in a country and do that. Let’s be humble. Whatever we do, the president is the executive head of this country. When he came, he didn’t say anything. It wasn’t even a political platform,” he stated.
Built on mutual trust for development, bilateral trade volume between Ghana and China peaked at US$9.57billion in 2021 from US$6.67billion in 2017, the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Lu Kun has disclosed.
Representing a 12 per cent year-on-year increase, China’s direct investment also increased by US$15 million, making Ghana, China’s largest trading partner in Africa.
The Chinese Ambassador disclosed this at a durbar to commission a 22-km Cape Coast inner city road infrastructure funded by the Chinese government through the Sinohydro agreement.
He attributed the steady rise in trade and investments to the strong demand for Chinese products by Ghanaians as well as measures put in place by both countries to leverage the long-standing relations.
The Vice-President, Dr Mohamudu Bawumia, together with Mr Kwasi Amoako Atta, Roads and Highways Minister joined the chiefs of the Area to commission the road project aimed at expanding access to ease traffic and accelerate development.
Elated by the increasing trade volumes between China and Ghana, the Ambassador said: “These are not just numbers, but a symbol of China-Ghana friendship we value and cherish.”
“The China-Ghana ties have been kept on a sound momentum of high-level bilateral exchanges and ever-increasing trust built on mutual strong conviction for development.
“The decades of solid relations remain a springboard for a win-win China-Ghana cooperation hinged on consolidating bilateral traditional friendship, deepening pragmatic cooperation, and broad consensus building on issues of mutual concern,” he stated.
The Chinese Ambassador indicated that China and Ghana have always supported each other on issues concerning their core and major interests, keeping close cooperation in the international and regional arena and thus safeguarding the relationship.
Through that, Mr Kun said the Chinese government had financed, partnered, and executed several critical national projects relating to the economic growth and the livelihood of people in Ghana.
Key among them are the National Theatre, office complexes of the Foreign Ministry and Defence Ministry, the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho and the Cape Coast Sports Stadium.
Others are the Atuabo Gas Processing Project, Bui Dam, and Kpong Water Supply Expansion Project, Asogli Power Plant, and Africa World Airline (AWA) which have played a key role in resolving the power shortage and promoting the interconnection of the sub-region.
Lately, the Chinese equipment and technologies have accelerated the pace of integration with local enterprises and capital, bringing into being several local star enterprises and adding fuel to the enthusiasm for Ghana’s cooperation with China.
On people-to-people exchanges, he said cultural exchanges were close and ever-increasing on mutual understanding, as wood sculpture, music, and dance, among other forms of tourists, enjoyed high popularity among Chinese tourists.
Mrs Justina Marigold Assan said the completion of roads was key to the region’s investment drive to become the preferred investment destination in the country.
She said the Region remained the most preferred destination in Ghana’s quest to continuously attract investment from the Diaspora.
The Co-Chair of the Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, Dr. Steve Manteaw says the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation’s payment of revenues accrued from 7% interest in the Jubilee and TEN petroleum fields to Ghana Offshore Holding Company is a breach of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA).
Dr. Manteaw who is a former Chairman of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) told Citi News, GNPC must return the over $100 million revenues from crude lifting as a result of the 7% which was acquired by GNPC on behalf of the state back into the Petroleum Holding Fund in accordance with PRMA.
“Anadarko was a partner to the Jubilee and the TEN project Production Agreements. Anadarko’s interest was subsequently acquired at the international level by another oil company called Occidental. Occidental later decided to offload its operations in Africa and therefore took a decision to sell their interest in Jubilee and TEN previously acquired from Anadarko. GNPC was assigned 7% of the stake and we (state) had to pay for 7%. A company in an offshore jurisdiction was therefore incorporated, Ghana Offshore Holding Company, to hold the 7%.”
“The Petroleum Revenue Management Act stipulates that all petroleum revenues howsoever derived are to be first deposited into the Petroleum Holding Fund. There is a good reason for that, which is to enable us track the revenue flows and demand accountability in terms of how they are disbursed and utilized.
Contrary to this provision in the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, my information is that Ghana has lifted some oil in respect of that 7% and GNPC has deposited the proceeds from that transaction in an offshore account in the name of the Offshore account”, he explained.
“My view is that, this is a departure or a complete contravention of the provisions of the petroleum revenue management acts and GNPC has no legal basis for keeping a portion of petroleum revenues outside the petroleum revenue management framework. We’ve had some discussions and GNPC has proffered some explanations but I remain to be convinced that, that action sits well within the legal framework“ he added.
Dr. Steve Manteaw moreover said the public can test the issue at the court to get GNPC to return the proceeds to the Petroleum Holding Funds.
“We (GHEITI) are doing further consultation and reviewing their (GNPC) explanations in the context of the law. If we think that we are still in disagreement with the position of GNPC, we will let GNPC know and if GNPC is still refusing to do the needful, then of course every citizen of this country has the right to go to court to seek a mandamus to comply GNPC to do what the law says it must do which is to bring it back into the Petroleum Holding Fund.“
Built on mutual trust for development, bilateral trade volume between Ghana and China peaked at US$9.57billion in 2021 from US$6.67billion in 2017, the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Lu Kun has disclosed.
Representing a 12 per cent year-on-year increase, China’s direct investment also increased by US$15 million, making Ghana, China’s largest trading partner in Africa.
The Chinese Ambassador disclosed this at a durbar to commission a 22-km Cape Coast inner city road infrastructure funded by the Chinese government through the Sinohydro agreement.
He attributed the steady rise in trade and investments to the strong demand for Chinese products by Ghanaians as well as measures put in place by both countries to leverage the long-standing relations.
The Vice-President, Dr Mohamudu Bawumia, together with Mr Kwasi Amoako Atta, Roads and Highways Minister joined the chiefs of the Area to commission the road project aimed at expanding access to ease traffic and accelerate development.
Elated by the increasing trade volumes between China and Ghana, the Ambassador said: “These are not just numbers, but a symbol of China-Ghana friendship we value and cherish.”
“The China-Ghana ties have been kept on a sound momentum of high-level bilateral exchanges and ever-increasing trust built on mutual strong conviction for development.
“The decades of solid relations remain a springboard for a win-win China-Ghana cooperation hinged on consolidating bilateral traditional friendship, deepening pragmatic cooperation, and broad consensus building on issues of mutual concern,” he stated.
The Chinese Ambassador indicated that China and Ghana have always supported each other on issues concerning their core and major interests, keeping close cooperation in the international and regional arena and thus safeguarding the relationship.
Through that, Mr Kun said the Chinese government had financed, partnered, and executed several critical national projects relating to the economic growth and the livelihood of people in Ghana.
Key among them are the National Theatre, office complexes of the Foreign Ministry and Defence Ministry, the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho and the Cape Coast Sports Stadium.
Others are the Atuabo Gas Processing Project, Bui Dam, and Kpong Water Supply Expansion Project, Asogli Power Plant, and Africa World Airline (AWA) which have played a key role in resolving the power shortage and promoting the interconnection of the sub-region.
Lately, the Chinese equipment and technologies have accelerated the pace of integration with local enterprises and capital, bringing into being several local star enterprises and adding fuel to the enthusiasm for Ghana’s cooperation with China.
On people-to-people exchanges, he said cultural exchanges were close and ever-increasing on mutual understanding, as wood sculpture, music, and dance, among other forms of tourists, enjoyed high popularity among Chinese tourists.
Mrs Justina Marigold Assan said the completion of roads was key to the region’s investment drive to become the preferred investment destination in the country.
She said the Region remained the most preferred destination in Ghana’s quest to continuously attract investment from the Diaspora.
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta says government will fast-track negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to ensure key aspects of the programme are reflected in the 2023 budget statement.
The Finance Minister at a press briefing on Wednesday said negotiations have been smooth so far.
“In line with the President’s dialogue with the IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, negotiations will be fast-tracked to ensure that key aspects of the programme are reflected in the 2023 Annual Budget Statement in November 2022,” he added.
He said government is committed to ensuring that a comprehensive package is negotiated with the International Monetary Fund with the aim of restoring and sustaining macroeconomic stability, ensuring durable and inclusive growth, and promoting social protection.”
“In addition, the IMF and Government Team are working to update the medium-term macro-fiscal framework to inform IMF programme design.”
The Finance Minister said no agreement has been reached with the fund on the parameters of debt operations, as government is still in the process of completing the debt sustainability analysis.
Mr. Ofori-Atta stressed that everything will be done, to protect the financial sector; and there must be room for a win-win conversation through extensive stakeholder engagement with both the domestic and external investors.
He also indicated that the Development Bank Ghana (DBG), is supporting the private sector to invest in areas that will stabilize the economy over the medium to long-term, with positive knock-on effects on job creation and economic growth.
“I am extremely confident about where we will land on this journey. We have survived a 142 percent inflation, yellow-corn hysteria, mass exodus from our country, and more recently a successful exit from the 2015 Extended Credit Facility. So let us go for the spirit of courage for the LORD is with this Nation. Let us not fear, for He who is with us is greater than all.”
The Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah is urging judges and magistrates not to be influenced by public criticisms in discharging their duty.
“Yours is to dispense justice and to uphold the rule of law irrespective of public clamour,” the Chief Justice said.
The judiciary has come under criticism in recent times, with President Akufo-Addo describing it as unwarranted attacks which must be condemned.
At the 2022 General Meeting of the Association of Magistrates and Judges, Justice Anin-Yeboah also said criticism of the judiciary must be constructive.
“As the saying goes, you will not value what you have unless you lose it. On this line, the consequence of losing what you have, in terms of our justice system, will be unthinkable.”
Deputy Attorney General, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah who attended the event attributed the recent attacks on the Judiciary to what he describes as a distorted coverage of court proceedings by some media firms.
He thus urged the media to collaborate with the judiciary to ensure fair reportage.
“This collaboration will undoubtedly ensure that accurate and fair information is made available to the consuming public.”
“Public perceptions of the judiciary are often coloured by misunderstandings of decisions and judgments of the court,” Mr. Tuah-Yeboah said.
Ten customers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in the Ashanti Region have been arrested for reconnecting themselves after they were disconnected.
The ten were arrested at Abuakwa, Makro, Manhyia, Tanoso, and other communities in the Abuakwa district during a night exercise.
The power distributing company arrested the ten as part of its special exercise to improve revenue mobilisation.
The ten were among 150 customers who were disconnected for failing to pay their bills and who were involved in illegal connections in the region.
Some of the arrested customers settled their bills and were reconnected.
The ECG TaskForce Manager, Ing Fred Kwabena Bediako, told the media that the exercise forms part of efforts to reduce losses and improve the company’s revenue generation drive.
He indicated that a similar exercise would take place nationwide continuously to ensure a stop to customers reconnecting themselves.
“We thought that with last experience people would have stopped doing the self-reconnection but going out today has proved that we need to intensify this monitoring to be able to deter electricity consumers from self-reconnecting.”
He added that: “We don’t take delight in doing such things because it is tiresome and increases cost, but we are forced under the circumstance to do this exercise.”
The Lawyer for Chinese illegal small-scale mining (galamsey) kingpin, Aisha Huang, Nkrabea Effah Dartey, has berated the Accra Circuit Court 9 judge, Samuel Bright Acquah, for his decision not to grant his client bail.
Speaking in a TV3 interview monitored by GhanaWeb, on Tuesday, the lawyer said that he was disappointed by the decision made by the judge because the judge is someone, he knows to be fair-minded.
According to Effah Dartey, the Acquah was prejudicial with some of the comments he made about the effects of illegal mining before denying Aisha Huang and the three other Chinese nationals bail.
“I was in large measure disappointed today. I was disappointed because I know the judge, he is very fair all the time. In all cases that I have appeared before him, I have not had cause to complain about his decision.
“But today, I was not happy. I was not happy because a case has been called and the issue before you was bail application… With the greatest respect, all that My Lord needed to do was to write his ruling and deliver it.
“But My Lord went extempore, talking about river bodies, about Ghana Water being under pressure to supply water. My Lord was talking about fishes in the rivers. And with the greatest respect what has this got to do with the issue of whether or not the accused persons are entitled to bail,” he said.
“My view was that my lord was betraying his view on the whole case and he is in danger of opening himself up for criticism that he has prejudged the issue,” he added.
Lawyer Effah Dartey reiterated that until the accused persons are found guilty, they remain innocent.
The Accra Circuit Court 9 judge, Samuel Bright Acquah on Tuesday, September 27, 2022, while refusing bail application for Aisha Huang and three other Chinese nationals who have been accused of engaging in illegal mining and the sale of minerals without a license, called on all Ghanaians to get on board in fighting illegal mining.
He specifically made a fervent appeal to his fellow judges to take a strong position against illegal mining which he noted poses a threat to the nation.
A bodyguard of President Akufo-Addo by name Jibril, is reported to have built an ultra-modern hospital for the Muslim community in Ghana’s capital, Accra.
According to Kessben TV, the name of the hospital, which is situated at Accra Newtown, is the Islamic Hospital and it was built by the bodyguard’s foundation, the Jibril Foundation.
The purpose of the hospital is to provide quality health care to Muslims in Zongo communities who cannot afford some health care services at other health facilities in the country.
The report indicated that though the initiative was a good one many are questioning the source of Jibril’s wealth.
“The allegation is that the president’s bodyguard built this ultra-modern hospital. People are asking how a bodyguard of the president is able to build such an edifice when the Regional Minister, who is the Member of Parliament for the area, Henry Quartey, has failed.
“Where did the bodyguard get the money to put out such an edifice? This is the question most people are asking,” a Kessben TV journalist said in Twi.
There is heavy traffic on the Tema-bound section of the Accra-Tema Motorway due to a car crash which occurred close to the tollbooth.
The accident, as sighted in a video from the scene, involved a long bus with its front side mangled from the impact of the incident.
“If you are heading towards Tema from Accra this morning reconsider your decision. There is an accident close to the tollbooth,” a Twitter user, @GeniusKojo who shared the video cautioned.
The bus, as seen in the video, sits across the middle of the road whiles other vehicles struggle to meander their way out through a space behind the long bus.
Communication Team Member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Kofi Ntiamoah, has urged Ghanaians to have confidence in the Akufo-Addo administration to navigate the nation positively through the present economic storms because, fundamentally, the NPP has a track record of doing so.
Nana Kofi Ntiamoah reminded Ghanaians that although times may be hard now, the Akufo-Addo administration inherited an even more dire situation and successfully moved the country onto a path of growth until the whole world was blindsided by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and locally, the banking sector clean-up.
He assured that despite the present difficulties, the government is working assiduously to restore the country on the path of growth and accelerated development shifted off course by the three almost concurrent challenges.
“Not long ago, we had felt similar despair. The fear of losing our lives to a pandemic and the near halt to our economy as we battled to survive each day. Some years ago also we had been confronted by very dire economic circumstances.
The joblessness of our youth, years of lights out that impacted adversely on businesses and jobs, the disappointment of dealing with a collapsed national health insurance system and inability to access health care, the bane of the cash and carry system, a nearly collapsed national ambulance system, freeze on public sector employment, an almost collapsed banking sector and so on,” Nana Kofi Ntiamoah told Accra-based Wontumi TV.
“The government of President Akufo-Addo put in much effort to turn things around and elevate the standards of living of the Ghanaian people above what the situation used to be at the time this government was formed in 2017. Taking over from then meant we had to do our best also to make things work and better.
“Together as a country, we proceeded to fix the economy. We made great gains and the records attest to this. Prior to the Coronavirus pandemic which has impacted all economies in the world, we stabilized the economy and achieved great strides,” he added.
“In the midst of the current economic challenges we face, we are putting in place the key pillars for the economic transformation of Ghana. We may not yet be where we want to be, and we may be buffeted by the winds of the pandemic and the war for yet a little while, but we have made a great start and, together, we shall finish what we started.”
The Greater Accra Regional Minster, Henry Quartey, has issued a stern warning against individuals engaged in the sale of government land, especially at the Ramsar site.
According to him, the Regional Security Council will deal with individuals engaged in the lawless act of selling government’s land.
“I caution those engaged in selling government lands and deploying land guards to desist from it, as the Regional Security Council will deal swiftly with any acts of lawlessness from such groups”, citinewsroom quoted the Minister.
He added occupants of the Ramsar sites will also be removed especially those who have structures on the waterway.
“I am being told by some people; I will not be going after [those occupying Ramsar sites]. Tell them, I am coming. Very soon, we will beat the Ramsar sites and if we find that, a church is sitting on a waterway, mark my words, we will pull it down,” he added.
Henry Quartey in June this year, led some members of the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) to demolish illegal structures at Frafraha in Accra.
The exercise was part of efforts by the Minister to reclaim some encroached acres of fenced land belonging to the State under the care of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
At the announcement of Kwasi Kwarteng as the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom (Minister of Finance), many celebrated him because true to their predictions, he was handed over the job.
For many others, including Ghanaians across the world, it was another feather in the cup of its people breaking barriers in other parts of the globe.
And while the job of the Chancellor of the Exchequer is not expected to be any easier on the British-born Ghanaian, many did not quite anticipate that so early into his reign, there would be some major, negative happenings.
Kwasi Kwarteng under fire for smiling during Queen’s funeral
On Monday, September 19, 2022, people from all walks of life attended the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at the Westminster Abbey in London.
Per GhanaWeb’s checks, four Ghanaians were formally invited to the event for different reasons. Ghana’s First Couple were in London for the event as were two other personalities with Ghanaian parentage who are British.
Nana Kofi Twumasi-Ankrah, a one-time equerry of the Queen was in attendance, escorting the cortege on its last journey from the Westminster Abbey to the Royal Vault. The fourth Ghanaian was Kwasi Kwarteng.
Kwarteng, who is British-born but of Ghanaian ancestry, and the current UK Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister), was also in attendance.
He, however, courted controversy on social media after he was captured in a viral video smiling at a point during the ceremony – specifically when a two-minute silence had been declared for the memory of the queen.
Angry social media users – especially on Twitter – called for his head for desecrating what was a solemn occasion for the nation.
Others also alleged that Kwarteng was smiling at himself because he was most likely picking a personal call and had been told something that gave him cause to smile at a rather off time.
Kwarteng, as a senior member of Prime Minister Liz Truss’ government, had a prominent seat at the venue of the service.
When Kwasi Kwarteng delivers his mini budget on Friday all opposition MP’s should coke up, wipe their brows, sway uncontrollably, and laugh like the laughing policeman. pic.twitter.com/mxPRaQ3aNG
British MP suspended for calling Kwasi Kwarteng ‘superficially’ black
In the most recent instance, a British Member of Parliament (MP) from the Labour Party, Rupa Huq, has been suspended by her party for alleged racist comments she made against British-born Ghanaian MP, Kwasi Kwarteng.
According to news.sky.com, the party suspended Rupa Huq for describing Kwasi Kwarteng as a “superficially” black man, pending investigations.
The report indicated that the suspended MP made racist comments against the chancellor in an audio recording posted online by the Guido Fawkes website.
“Superficially he is a black man. He went to Eton, I think, he went to a very expensive prep school, all the way through, the top schools in the country.
“If you hear him on the Today programme, you wouldn’t know he is black,” Rupa Huq was quoted to have said by news.sky.com.
The Labour Party condemned the remarks by the MP and urged her to apologise.
Rupa Huq in a post on social media indicated that she had contacted the UK finance minister to apologise to him in person for the comments she made.
“I have today contacted Kwasi Kwarteng to offer my sincere and heartfelt apologies for the comments I made at yesterday’s Labour conference fringe meeting.
“My comments were ill-judged and I wholeheartedly apologise to anyone affected,” the post she shared read.
Background on Kwesi Kwarteng:
Kwasi Kwarteng became the first black person to become UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) following his appointment by UK Prime Minister, Liz Truss, on September 6, 2022.
Kwarteng was born Akwasi Addo Alfred Kwarteng in Waltham Forest, East London, in May 1975 to Ghanaian parents, Alfred and Charlotte, who had both immigrated to the United Kingdom a decade earlier as students.
His parents, who went on to become an international economist and a barrister respectively, sent him to an expensive private prep school that produced numerous Cabinet-level politicians. He then attended the famous Eton college — a production line for British leaders including Boris Johnson and David Cameron.
The former Tema East Member of Parliament, Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus Glover, has berated the Medical and Dental Council of Ghana for its decision not to recognise degree certificates of Ghanaian doctors trained in Ukraine.
According to him, the decision of the council is not only unfair but also illogical because the nation badly needs the services of doctors.
The council said that it will no longer recognise degree certificates issued by Medical and Dental Schools from Ukraine, as some schools have resorted to studying online.
According to citinewsroom.com, the council said that the training of these students online is not in accordance with the required process and will not be accepted as it threatens the quality and credence of the profession.
“Training to be a doctor must be in accordance with established strategies. Will potential patients be happy to be treated by a doctor who was trained online? We have to take our public interest responsibility seriously. The point is what is the kind of training that is acceptable in the world? If it is not standard, then, I am afraid, this regulator will not give any stamp of approval,” citinewsroom.com quoted the Council’s Registrar, Dr. Divine Ndonbi Banyubala.
He, therefore, urged students to take advantage of the government’s intervention to continue their training in Ghana rather than taking online lessons.
But speaking in a Multimedia interview monitored by GhanaWeb, Titus Glover, who is also a former deputy minister of transport, intimated that there is nothing wrong with students studying online given the advancement in technology.
He added that the students not being able to complete their education through in-person tutoring was no fault of theirs.
“Parents paid money for their wards to have some education in Ukraine and because of the Russian invasion, they had to come back home.
“During the COVID-19 era were the universities not running online programmes? The online courses are still going on in the country.
“We plead with the Medical and Dental Council to reverse their decision. Lawyers who train abroad are given the chance to take the professional exam when they come back home. Why are we not giving the doctors from Ukraine the chance to write the medical examination because we need more doctors? For them to tell them that we don’t recognise doctors from Ukraine is unfair,” he said in Twi.
Ex-District Chief Executive for Atwima Nwabiagya, Nana Asare Bediako, has alleged that the Electoral Commission’s insistence on using only the Ghana Card for a limited registration exercise it wants to hold for the 2024 Elections, forms part of a ploy to disenfranchise members of opposition parties.
According to him, because the government had foreknowledge of what it was going to do, it intentionally made the National Identification Authority (NIA) spend more time in New Patriotic Party strongholds to issue more Ghana Cards to its members.
Asare Bediako, who made these remarks in a Hello FM interview monitored by GhanaWeb, on Tuesday, added that if the proposal of the EC to use only the Ghana Card for voters’ registration stands a lot of National Democratic Congress members will be disenfranchised.
“We know that the Ashanti Region and the Eastern Region are the strongholds of the NPP. If you would recall during the mass Ghana Card registration exercise, the NIA spent more time in these two regions. They were there for several days after the deadline for registration in these regions had passed.
“We complained bitterly about it but they did not listen, not knowing that they had an agenda. Even in the Eastern Region, the registration in the Akan-dominated areas continued for serval weeks after the deadline,” he said in Twi.
He, however, urged the EC to resend its decision because it will have a negative impact on Ghana’s democratic tenets.
The EC has stated that the guarantor system will no longer be used for the registration of voters in Ghana because it has a lot of issues that affect the quality of the electoral register, citinewsroom.com reports.
Deputy Chairman of the commission in charge of operations, Samuel Tettey, who disclosed this, said that his outfit would only be using the Ghana Card for the next voters’ registration.
He added that no Ghanaian would be disenfranchised because persons who do not have the voter’s card can go to the district offices of the commission to get registered anytime they get the Ghana Card.
The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has welcomed the decision of the Electoral Commission of Ghana to abolish the guarantor system and the use of only the Ghana Card for the upcoming continuous voters’ registration for the 2024 election.
The current state of an 85-year-old man who served as a bodyguard to Ghana’s first president is sadly one that speaks of neglect by the state he served.
Christian Blukoo was a bodyguard of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah but now in his retirement, the old man who is now visually impaired is finding life difficult.
Amidst the current economic hardship, Mr Blekuu lives on a meagre GHC47 monthly pension allowance despite his history of dedication and service to the state and the first president of the land.
More sadly, the 85-year-old visually impaired old man who resides at Mafi-Adidome in the Volta Region’s Central Tongu District, does not receive the ¢47 monthly pension allowance on time.
“Because the money is small, I go to the bank every three months. Even that does not come regularly,” he lamented in Joy Prime documentary dubbed ‘The Last Guard.’
He indicates that various attempts aimed at getting the government to effect an upward adjustment to his pension allowance have proved futile.
The efforts include an appeal letter written on his behalf by the Ghana Government Pensioners Association in 2014 to the Controller and Accountant General.
Further attempts to alleviate Mr Blukoo’s plight by seeking support from the government’s Disability Fund which was introduced to empower persons living with disabilities have also failed.
“Up to now…Ghana! They took my pictures and particulars but I haven’t gotten anything. They said they will send it to my phone but up to now [nothing has come]. So, I don’t want anybody to suffer for me,” the pensioner shared his frustration in seeking support from the Fund.
Despite his predicament and disappointment over his neglect by the state, Mr Blukoo finds a bit of comfort in listening to his three radio sets, and is hopeful of living to celebrate his 100th birthday.
A former bodyguard of Ghana’s first president, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, has recalled the days when he would accompany his boss to the beach in the dead of the night.
During those outings, Christian Blukoo said the former president would engage in some spiritual acts.
Always preoccupied with how to keep the president safe, the former bodyguard explained that he and other reliable guards at the Christiansborg Castle (Osu Castle) – the seat of government at the time- would be dutied to follow him.
“After I was successful, I was sent to Castle and then they confirmed me as a bodyguard to Nkrumah, and then they put me in protection because Nkrumah at times went out at night. When he was going, those who were smart at the Castle had to follow him because bodyguards will not be in the house at night,” he said.
Christian Blukoo explained further in an interview with JoyNews that although he could never speak about these things in the past due to the oath of secrecy, he feels safer now to talk about them. He described how on some of those days, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah would spend time on the beach behind the Independence Square, praying and engaging in other spiritual activities.
“They used it call it secrecy but now, I’m free to speak. At times, he used to go to the seaside at the Black Star Square to consult the spiritual (sic) and like we do here by praying, he also used to do that: he’ll go to the seaside and pray. There were certain other things that he would do,” he narrated.
The former bodyguard of the president also shared some deep details of some of the security operations he and others undertook for Kwame Nkrumah.
A young man based in Ashaiman, Wisdom, has stated that the government of Ghana must provide jobs for the youths of Ashaiman, otherwise, the government must legalise the sale of weeds.
According to Wisdom, he has been jobless for a long while and depended on weed to cater for himself and his family.
Speaking on Ghetto Life Story on SVTV Africa, Wisdom revealed that he has been arrested severally for selling weed and remanded to two years in prison. He noted that the authorities sometimes arrest them without reason because they “know this area is a ghetto.”
“I started selling because my family had nothing, and my work collapsed after my boss travelled. So I decided to get into that business to support my family.
There are no jobs here, and we must ask the government why there are no jobs here. Imagine you have no food to eat in the morning, won’t you find ways to get money? I’ve done a lot of bad things.”
Moreover, Wisdom pleaded with the government to provide jobs for the youths here because “companies do not even employ us when we mention Ashaiman. If they allow us to sell the weed, there will be no criminals.”
Wisdom shared some of the effects weed has had on his life. According to him, he smokes for the calming effects because he is quick-tempered.
“Cocaine is not good, but the youths mix it with weed these days. For me, I don’t do cocaine, but weed makes me think well,” Wisdom told DJ Nyaami.
Four passengers including a pregnant woman have died in a gory accident at Kronum in the Suame Municipality of the Ashanti Region.
The victims, a pregnant woman, her husband, and her two children reportedly died on Tuesday, September 26, 2022, when a sprinter bus with registration number AS 8293-21 crashed into a Techiman bound Ssangyong bus with registration number AS 9700-22 At Kronum New York Junction.
The impact according to witnesses caused the sprinter bus to sit on the roof of Ssangyong’s vehicle, killing the pregnant woman and her two children on the spot.
Her husband was however pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital
Some residents who eye witnessed the unfortunate incident told OTEC News that, the driver of the sprinter bus suffered severe injuries and is currently receiving treatment at the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.
The identities of the victims who died remain sketchy.
The four were said to have boarded the Ssangyong bus from Kumasi to Techiman.
When contacted the Ashanti Regional Police Command said they were not aware of any such accident.
The Public Relations officer for police in the region, ASP Godwin Ahianyo said they had not received any report of the accident and so could not speak to it.
This was after Motor Transport and Traffic Directorate (MTTD) at the Saume Divisional Headquarters who were reported to have gone to the scene denied giving information on the accident to OTEC News with an excuse that only the regional police command has the information.
Labour Analyst, Austin Gammey says the Akufo-Addo administration will suffer should it accept to increase the salary of public sector workers by 20 percent.
Workers in the public sector want a 20 percent salary increment in replacement of the 15 percent Cost of Living Allowance agreed by the government which will end in December 2022.
According to the workers, the skyrocketing level of inflation in the country is a huge blow to them hence their current demand.
However, speaking on Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey, Mr. Gammey stated that there is a possibility that the government will resist the demand from the workers.
“The obvious thing for anybody to do is to pay based on productivity but in Ghana, we don’t pay based on productivity. So once we are paying people based on inflation and political consideration this is what they will demand,” the analyst stated.
He said paying workers based on inflation has some dire consequences on the government’s purse due to the huge numbers of public sector workers.
“I don’t think that if you speak directly to the IMF for this to be part of the approval of our budget for the year 2023, they will never accept that if the government itself as an employer cannot afford to accept that. Because you want 20 percent and if inflation is about 32 percent and we have to suffer a 12 percent shortfall in our income then they are bearing with you. This is not based on productivity,” Mr. Gammey explained.
The Labour analyst further said if there is a disagreement on the demand by the workers then both sides will end up at the National Labour Commission for the issue to be addressed.
“Because the government as an employer cannot afford to pay 20 percent increase on the base pay, it will be suicidal and so they will not be able to do it and they can’t do it. It will be extremely sad and surprising if they are able to do it because the consequences are very obvious,” he added.
A 55-year-old Kenkey Seller is in critical condition after an overspeeding driver crushed her at Mankessim in the Mfantseman Municipality of the Central Region.
An eye witness, Derick Barnes, a teacher, narrating how the incident happened in an interview with Kasapa News Yaw Boagyan said the victim was crossing the road at a time when several vehicles had stopped for school pupils to cross the road and from nowhere, the speeding vehicle overtook all the stationary vehicles and crushed her in the middle of the road.
The victim was rushed to the Mankessim Roman Catholic Hospital but transferred to Kolerbu Teaching due to the severity of her injury.
The Assemblyman for the Nkusukum Electoral Area, Mohammed Ekow Arthur attributed the frequent knocking down of pedestrians, notably school children to the lack of speed ramps on the road.
According to him, all attempts to get speed ramps erected on the road after several demonstrations and also petitioning the Mfantseman Municipal Assembly and the Ministry of Highways have proved futile.
Mohammed Ekow Arthur appealed to the Mfantseman Chief Executive Officer, Hon. Ike Lord Enu, the Member of Parliament for Mfantseman Hon. Ophelia Mensah Heyford, the Ministry of Roads and Highways to assist them to get speed ramps to curb the rampant knockdowns.
The National Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Stephen Ntim has commissioned the party’s Regional Directors of Communications to lead their respective regions in propagating the good works of the government.
According to him, the Regional Directors of Communications have a crucial role to play in ensuring that the NPP “breaks the eight” in the upcoming 2024 general election which promises to be keenly contested.
He was speaking at a meeting with all the Regional Directors of Communications of the party at an event held on Tuesday in Accra.
Present at the meeting were the National Director of Communications, his deputies, and the party’s Director of Finance and Administration.
At least 76 protesters have been killed by Iranian security forces during 11 days of unrest sparked by the death of a woman in custody, activists say.
Iran Human Rights (IHR), a Norway-based organisation, accused authorities of using disproportionate force and live ammunition to suppress the dissent.
State media have put the number of dead at 41, including several security personnel, and blamed “rioters”. Hundreds of people have also been arrested, 20 of them journalists. “The risk of torture and ill-treatment of protesters is serious and the use of live ammunition against protesters is an international crime,” said.
IHR’s director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam. “The world must defend the Iranian people’s demands for their fundamental rights.” The UN human rights office also said it was very concerned by the authorities’ violent response and urged them to respect the right to protest peacefully.
How Mahsa Amini became a symbol of defiance in Iran The anti-government demonstrations have spread to more than 80 cities and towns across Iran since the funeral of Mahsa Amini on 17 September.
The 22-year-old Kurdish woman from the north-western city of Saqez had been visiting the capital, Tehran, on 13 September when she was arrested by morality police officers for allegedly violating the strict law requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab, or headscarf.
She collapsed after being taken to a detention centre to be “educated” and died in hospital following three days in a coma. The police said Ms Amini died after suffering sudden heart failure, but her family have dismissed that and
alleged that she was beaten by officers.
Iranian morality officer: Why we tell women what to wear the protests against the morality police and hijab law triggered by her death quickly evolved into the most serious challenge that Iran’s Shia Muslim clerical establishment has faced in years.
Videos posted on social media have shown women defiantly burning their headscarves on bonfires and cutting their hair in public to cheers and chants of “Women, life, freedom” and “Death to the dictator” – a reference to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
On Monday, protests were reported in Tehran and a number of other cities, including Yazd, in the centre of the country, and
Tabriz and Sanandaj, in the north- west. Students and teachers at more than 20 universities also staged a strike and walked out of their classrooms.
1px transparent line Iran Human Rights said it had recorded the deaths of 76 protesters across 14 provinces as of Monday, including six women and four children, although it warned that restrictions on the internet were causing delays in reporting.
Thirty-five of the deaths were reported in Mazandaran and Gilan provinces, north of Tehran, and 24 in the Kurdish-populated, north-western provinces of West Azerbaijan, Kermanshah, Kurdistan and Ilam, it added.
IHR said that videos and death certificates it had obtained confirmed that live ammunition was being fired directly by security forces at protesters – something Iranian authorities have denied.
Iranian officials have also announced the arrests of more than 1,200 people. The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists demanded the release of at least 20 reporters and bloggers who had been detained, as well as human rights defenders, lawyers and civil society activists.
“Iranian security forces must drop their repressive measures against the journalists telling this critical story and restore the internet access that is vital to keep the public informed,” the CPJ said.
The BBC’s Kasra Naji says there are reports that the unrest has stretched the security forces to the limit, with the head of the judiciary seen in one video saying that riot police had been deployed “24 hours a day” and that “they did not sleep last night and the nights before”.
There are also claims of serious doubts among security personnel about engaging with the protesters, our correspondent adds.
The commander of the riot police in the capital was filmed telling his men not to hesitate and to fight the protesters, just as Iranians fought invading Iraqi forces in the 1980s.
President Ebrahim Raisi has meanwhile spoken of the need
to “take decisive action against opponents of the security and peace of the country”.
Japan bid farewell to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in an elaborate state funeral Tuesday, despite public opposition to the cost of the event as the
country grapples with their late leader’s legacy.
Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, was shot dead during a campaign speech in Nara in July, stunning a nation where gun violence is extremely rare.
More than 4,300 guests attended the service at the Nippon Budokan Arena in Tokyo, including foreign dignitaries such as US Vice President Kamala Harris, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Abe’s ashes were carried into the venue, where the government played a video tribute honoring his life and career. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida then delivered a memorial address, praising Abe’s “courage” and dedication.
Other government figures including former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga – who was Abe’s right hand man for many years – also gave remarks, before attendees laid flower offerings and bowed in turn.
Other ceremonial rites on the program include an honor guard, gun salute, and musical performances, before a government reception for visiting foreign dignitaries.
Police ramped up security for the event, with public broadcaster NHK reporting that about 20,000 police officers were deployed to keep the peace. But altercations broke out anyway between police and demonstrators outside the funeral venue.
Divisions over legacy
On Tuesday morning, crowds of people lined up outside designated memorial sites to leave flowers and pay their final respects to Abe, who dominated Japanese politics for a generation. But as they mourned, thousands of others took to the streets in anti-funeral protests across Tokyo, illustrating a deep public divide over the occasion, Japan’s first state funeral for a Japanese leader since 1967.
Some crowds chanted slogans as they marched near the funeral venue, waving banners that urged a stop to the proceedings. Protest leaders rallied the crowd through loudspeakers, and a van rolled past with music blasting from a boom box.
The protests grew tense at times, with several loud confrontations and scuffles between demonstrators and police. Abe’s death sent shock waves
through Japan and the international community, with thousands of mourners gathering in Tokyo in July as his private funeral took place.
But in the months since his assassination, the outpouring of grief has given way to a growing discontent. Abe’s state funeral comes as the country grapples with rising inflation and anger stemming from revelations that half of Japan’s ruling party members had ties with the controversial Unification Church, which has faced backlash over fundraising practises.
Some critics have also pointed to Abe’s more unpopular policies while in office as a reason for the shift in mood, and questioned why so much taxpayer money is going to the state funeral – which will cost some $12 million (1.66 billion yen) – at a time of acute economic strain.
“It was a tragedy that Abe was gunned down and lost his life, but we shouldn’t make him a hero out of this tragedy,” one protester, Shinsaku Nohira, told CNN at a recent anti-state funeral demonstration outside Japan’s parliament.
“At least half of Japan’s population is against this state funeral, so I don’t want the government’s messaging to get out there, I want people out there to know that there are citizens in Japan who are opposing this event.”
An opinion poll by NHK earlier in September showed that 57% of respondents opposed the state funeral, compared to 32% who
supported it – and the rest said they didn’t know, or declined to answer.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has tried to appease the public, saying a state funeral for Abe was “fitting” given his achievements as former
leader. The ceremony is not meant to “force people to mourn” or to become a “political issue,” he said in August. Abe’s tenure and assassination
Abe held office for two separate terms, during which he transformed Japan’s security posture, raising questions over the country’s status as a pacifist
nation, and passed a major security legislation in 2015 that expanded what Japan could do militarily to support the US.
He also was a prominent figure on the world stage, cultivating strong ties with Washington and seeking better relations with Beijing – while also trying to counter Chinese expansion in the region by uniting Pacific allies. One of his final successes in office was securing the 2020 Tokyo Olympics – though the Covid-19 pandemic forced the competition to be postponed to 2021.
After stepping down in 2020, citing health reasons, Abe remained active in politics, often campaigning for his party – which is what he was doing at the time of
his assassination.
NHK reported in July that thesuspected shooter, Tetsuya Yamagami, had targeted the former Prime Minister because he believed Abe’s grandfather –
another former Japanese leader– had helped the expansion of a religious group he held a grudge against.
CNN has not been able to independently confirm what group Yamagami was referring to, or links between Abe and any group the suspect harbored
hatred towards.
Controversial church under the microscope after assassination
But the assassination saw a backlash against the Unification
Church, which said Yamagami’s mother had been a member who attended church events, though Yamagami himself was never a
member. It also said that the church had received a message of support from Abe at an event it organized,
but that the former prime minister was not a registered church member, nor did he sit on its advisory board.
The Ministry of Finance has confirmed that its officials and that of the Bank of Ghana have commenced a comprehensive debt sustainability analysis with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $3 billion support programme.
A statement from the ministry said: “the Government of Ghana is putting together a comprehensive post-Covid-19 economic programme, which will form the basis for the IMF negotiations.”
“The programme seeks to establish a macro-fiscal path that ensures debt sustainability and macroeconomic stability, underpinned by key structural reforms and social protection.”
The ministry added that it is “optimistic about making progress in our discussions.” “Government remains
committed, and shall continue to actively engage all stakeholders, both public and private, in a clear and transparent manner as we seek to fast-track this process.”
An IMF team is in Ghana until October 7 to continue discussions with the government on policies and reforms that could be supported by a lending arrangement. The meeting with the IMF comes amid concerns that Ghana is about to start talks with domestic bondholders on a restructuring of its local-
currency debt.
Reports indicate that major local investors, including local banks and pension funds, are preparing to engage in discussion on debt
reorganization. This could entail the extension of maturities and haircuts on principal and interest payments.
Ghana’s debt-service costs in the first half amounted to GH¢20.5 billion, equivalent to 68 percent of tax revenue.
A report by the Bank of Ghana has revealed that Ghana’s pension industry has not been negatively impacted by the economic challenges facing the country.
The latest Financial Stability Review by the central bank shows that private pension fund assets rose from GH¢28 billion in 2021 during the fourth quarter to
GH¢31.4 billion by the end of June 2022. Pension funds’ assets are assets bought with contributions to a pension plan for the exclusive purpose of financing pension plan benefits.
The report attributed the success to the “increased contribution mobilization through effective prosecution of defaulters and favourable investment
outcomes.” However, the Bank of Ghana says “preserving the value of private pension funds and achieving a positive real rate of return on the investment of contributors’ funds, given the upsurge in the inflation rate, is becoming increasingly difficult.”
The country’s inflation has been on a consistent rise since May (27.6%). In June, the inflation rate stood at 29.8%, increasing by 1.9% to 31.7% in July. It has so far risen to 33.9% as of August. Still on the downside of matters, assets available for benefits of the SSNIT-managed Basic National Social Security Scheme (BNSSS)
dropped marginally by 2.3% to GH¢11.28 billion in March 2022.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, the assets available for benefits were worth GH¢11.54 billion. “The benefits paid under the BNSSS continued to outstrip
contributions received. The scheme also continued to post a negative real rate of return, recording -12.6 per cent at the end of the first quarter of 2022,”
the central bank also noted in its report.
The central bank, headed by Dr Ernest Addison, is optimistic about an improvement, which is dependent on public indebtedness being redeemed. Also, “it is expected that macroeconomic conditions will improve in the 2nd half of the year to enable the private pensions industry to achieve a positive real rate of return on investments of pension assets.”
Meanwhile, the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) as intensified its outreach to the informal sector to improve pension coverage.
Outlook of pension funds in 2021 Total pension funds of the Three-Tier Pensions Scheme, which is fully-funded and privately managed, increased to GH¢39.6
billion at the end of December 2021.
There has been an increase of 18% in pension funds (savings accumulated during the working life of an employee) as 2020s figure stood at GH¢33.5 billion. However, last year’s percentage increase was less compared to the growth witnessed from 2019 to 2020; 27 percent. According to the central bank’s
report based on figures provided by the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), the decreased growth rate can be attributed to “the ongoing lump sum payments under the private pension schemes and the marginal growth of the Basic National Social Security Scheme (BNSSS).”
The Social Security and National Insurance Trust, a statutory public trust, is charged under the National Pensions Act, 2008 Act 766 with the administration
of Ghana’s Basic National Social Security Scheme. SSNIT’s mandate is to cater for the First Tier of the Three-Tier Pension Scheme.
Private pension funds, on the other hand, continued on a positive growth track in 2021, as it recorded GH¢28.02 billion from the GHc22.02 billion computed in 2020. “The sustained growth in private pension funds could be linked to better returns on investments and also the prosecution of defaulting Tier 2 employers, which increased contribution inflows,” the central bank explained.
Tier 2 is a mandatory, fully- funded and privately managed occupational scheme. As part of its mandate, the
NPRA prosecuted all employers who defaulted on their Tier 2 contributions in 2021. A total of 10 employers who defaulted in paying their Tier 2 contributions
were prosecuted. In carrying out its mandate, the authority retrieved a total amount of GH¢7.8 million, the central bank added.
