President Akufo-Addo has expressed his dissatisfaction with the spate at which Africans, particularly the youth are illegally travelling out of the continent to Europe.
In his speech, the president said, “Africans taking distressing risks across the Sahara and around the Mediterranean trying to reach a better life in Europe, whilst we strive to provide the youth with the right environment in Africa, which will enable them enhance their skills, receive appropriate training and have access to digital technology and enhance economic opportunities.”
He said this during the visit of the Austrian Chancellor to Ghana, Karl Nehammer which is also the first visit of the Austrian Chancellor since bilateral ties began between the two countries at the Jubilee House in Accra.
He also revealed the Austrian Chancellor and his delegation’s determination to champion the need for humane treatment of illegal migrants as well as the protection of their human rights in accordance with international law both in Austria and in the European space.
According to a report by the International Organization for Migration, more than 29,000 migrants have died trying to reach Europe since 2014.
The report notes that the deadliest migration route continues to be the Central Mediterranean, where 2,836 people have died since January 2021 attempting to reach Italy or Malta, mainly from Libya and Tunisia.
Some illegal miners in a viral video have pledged to unleash more damage on the environment should government keep up its fight against galamsey.
According to the illegal miners, the land belongs to them and the presidentcannot determine how they should use their lands.
In a video shared widely on the internet, a group of young men were working on a galamsey site while one of the workers bragged about how they would destroy the land in search of gold because it is theirs.
Directing the camera to the guys working, he said, “ Have you seen all this land, it is money and for the lands, we would continue to destroy it. We own the lands and we have decided to degrade it, and Akufo-Addo who resides in the city says he would end gala, you lie bad.”
He was not alone in thought, his co-workers reechoed his words saying, “For the lands, we shall continue to degrade it.”
The President was not the only person mocked by the galamseyers, unemployed youth in the country were not left out, according to these men captured in the video, it is only lazy people that would complain of lack of jobs and job opportunities and take to robbery.
The land is for us, we will continue to spoil it. Nana Addo cannot do anything – Galamsey operators
“Stay home and complain of lack of job opportunities. Stay home and steal from others. As for us, we are working very hard to make money to become popular. Yes, a man must work very hard,” one of the galamseyers said.
The president has over the years assured Ghanaians of his commitment to end illegal mining and even legal mining that degrades the environment. He has also called on all Ghanaians irrespective of social status and authority to join in the fight against galamsey.
The campaign team for Alan Kyerematen who is contesting for the flagbearer slot of the ruling New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) has stated that the former trade minister’s goal is to give unemployed youth who benefited from Akufo-Addo’s free Senior High School Program jobs.
The ‘Alan for President 2024’ campaign team noted that former President John Agyekum Kufuor gave Ghanaians a free maternal health programme, President Nana Akufo-Addo continued the tradition with free senior high school and Mr Kyerematen would crown those policies with jobs.
Speaking at a health walk in Accra on Saturday, 29 April 2023, dubbed ‘Aduro Wo So’, to wit, ‘it’s your turn’ that was used to kick-start Mr Kyerematen’s campaign in the Greater Accra Region, spokesperson Buaben Asamoa, said the babies who were born as a result of former President Kufuor’s free maternity healthcare programme are the beneficiaries of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s free senior high school programme (Free SHS).
“The vast majority of the beneficiaries of theFree SHSwere babies born in 2007 to 2008,” he stressed.
‘’So, it’s the turn of Alan Kyetematen to create jobs with his Ghana Transformation Agenda (GTA),” he declared.
It is the expectation of Mr Asamoa that some one million jobs will be created pursuing through Mr Kyerematen’s GTA for the beneficiaries of the Free SHS.
He said the GTA is key for the development of Ghana’s economy.
Mr Kyerematen, addressing the crowd at Mantse Agbonaa, after walking through some principal streets in the commercial business district, said his quest to lead the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is to create a financially sound political party, where party executives could be paid salaries at end of the month.
According to him, this is the only way to create a political party that is sound to sustain the country’s democracy.
He bemoaned the divisive tendencies in Ghana’s political terrain and pledged to offer a change
Former Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, has claimed that the government will need to raise about $10.5 billion by the end of the year to save the economy from collapsing.
Giving a breakdown, he explained that the government plans to receive $3 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and bilateral or multilateral donors each.
However, he noted that the government is currently unable to determine where exactly it would raise the remaining $4.5 billion to ensure full recovery.
“The expectation is that 3 billion (dollars) will come from the IMF. Another 3 billion (dollars) from bilateral and multilateral donors. The other 4.6bn (4.5bn) sic. Government has no clue where that will come from. We are in distress, major economic distress. We have gone beyond an economic crisis,” he told JoyNews.
With respect to receiving support from the IMF, the Member of Parliament for Tamale South, asserted that Ghana would only be able to access the money in July of this year.
He did not provide reasons for this assertion, however, he said “I do not foresee an IMF closing until July 2023.”
Government has failed to meet the deadlines it has provided to receive assistance from the Fund. Government had predicted March but failed to see to it.
The Fund is currently unable to release the funds to Ghana due to the country’s inability to receive financial assurance from creditors who are to provide assurances they will restructure its debt as a condition of signing off on the loan.
According to the IMF, until this is done, it would not be able to provide the credit facility.
In view of this, economic experts are projecting that Ghana would receive assistance from the IMF by May this year.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has said a memorandum of understanding with official creditors and an agreement in principle on Eurobond restructuring are expected by July, with a 2030 Eurobond partially guaranteed by the World Bank included in the restructuring.
Ghana began formal engagements with the IMF in July 2022 and reached a staff agreement in December of that year.
On March 20, 1980, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was found guilty in a civil case by an Accra High Court, and a 45,000 [old Ghanaian cedi] fine was imposed.
This came about following a case of reckless driving in which the politician and the plaintiff, one Mr. Woledzi, spent 13 years moving through the magistrate courts before reaching the High Court.
Mr. Woledzi filed a lawsuit against Mr. Akufo-Addo seeking damages for the harm and loss he suffered as a result of an accident involving the plaintiff’s car and his own.
The plaintiff was seriously injured in the accident. He demanded to be awarded ¢100,000 for personal injuries and loss sustained by him as a result of the defendant’s negligence and breach of statutory duties.
In both his pleadings and evidence during the trial, the plaintiff maintained that his car was stationary and parked on a flower bed in the middle of a dual-carriage road when he was hit by the first defendant.
The first defendant however, denied that the plaintiff’s vehicle was stationary at the time of the accident and contended that the collision was due to the Woledzi suddenly and without due care and attention driving across his path.
Mr Woledzi was represented by Michael Atidika while Nana Akufo-Addo’s lawyer was Amoako-Glover.
The case was presided by Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addow one of the three High Court judges who were abducted and murdered on June 30, 1982.
At the time of delivering her judgement, Justice Koranteng-Addow observed the state of the plaintiff who was 41 years at the time of the accident as “different.”
“His appearance is terrible; his mouth is twisted to one side and it droops. This was caused by the loss of sensitivity on the right [p.440] side of the face. His eyes are so pronounced with the squint and he walks gingerly without co-ordinating his limbs. He moves as if he is going to trip at any moment. He still continues to take treatment for the after effects of his injury. He was in a coma for three weeks after the accident, but he remained in hospital for six months for his treatment. The broken arm was set in P.O.P,” the judge wrote.
“He had a fracture which would not unite with P.O.P. so a plate was inserted in the left-upper arm; and this would cause pain,” she further observed
The judge also noted that the plaintiff “still carries the plate in his arm. He still complains of pain in the right blind eye.”
Among other effects, Mr Woledzi was also assessed to have suffered brain damage, total blindness in his right eye and a loss of hearing in his right eye.
In a total summation of GH¢45,000.00, the judge awarded the plaintiff damages made of up of pain and suffering, loss of amenities, disfigurement and disability as well as cost.
“The plaintiff is deformed; the squint and the twisted mouth have deformed him. He is a man who has lost his self-confidence due to his present appearance. In his present condition there is little he can enjoy; a man who is so affected and afflicted with pain can hardly be said to enjoy full amenities of life. He has also lost his pension rights.
“Lastly, his inability to make a living to support himself and family – he is 54 years old; he was only 41 at the time of the accident. Considering the heights he would have attained in his job if he had not been disabled by this accident, he should be compensated for that loss. His damages should take seriously into account his pension rights which he lost and his total incapacity. I assess his damages at ¢45,000,” the judge ruled.
The host of Good Evening Ghana on Metro TV, Paul Adom-Otchere has said that President Akufo-Addo is the first to eschew from the purportedly predetermined spiritual route put forth by Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the country’s first leader.
Speaking on the Tuesday, April 25, 2023, edition of his program, the journalist explained that during the era of Kwame Nkrumah, he laid down some spiritual processes that all presidents after him were supposed to follow, and the failure to do so meant that they would never get to the end of their tenures.
He explained that it is this path that the likes of Edward Akufo-Addo, Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia, and Dr. Hilla Limann did not follow in, that led to their overthrow as political leaders of Ghana.
“You may not believe it, but it is true. This is Osagyefo the president. Now, since Osagyefo the president left, and when he died, it is believed that he determined how every other person should become president of Ghana. It’s a spiritual matter so you’d have to believe it or not; it’s not verifiable.
“Osagyefo had determined that for you to become president of Ghana, he had determined a certain spiritual path. This story I am telling you has quite a bit to do with our good friend who died, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey… for the presidents that came after him… Edward Akufo-Addo and Prime Minister Busia, together they formed the executive of the second republic, both of them determined that they would not follow the path, or they probably didn’t even know that Nkrumah had determined some path.
“For those who didn’t know that Nkrumah had determined a path for you to become a president of Ghana, they were overthrown. Edward Akufo-Addo and Prime Minister Busia were overthrown because they didn’t know, or didn’t use the path that Nkrumah had determined…
“Then comes Dr. Limann who either did not know or didn’t go along the path to be president of Ghana, so he was overthrown. Then comes the famous JJ. JJ started by a coup d’état and later transferred to a constitutional rule. When he was about to transfer to constitutional rule, he was told that, ‘chief, for you to be president of Ghana, like Nkrumah was elected, you have to go through a certain spiritual path, and also do certain things,’” he explained.
Paul Adom-Otchere continued his narration by saying that while Jerry John Rawlings started as a military ruler, he also agreed to follow in this strange, mysterious route before he was able to fully complete his democratic two-term political tenure.
He stated some of the things that, for instance, JJ Rawlings had to do that are evidences of this mystery.
He added that the coming of John Agyekum Kufuor as president was also through the same path.
“Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings agreed. That is the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum at the old Polo Grounds; that was his creation. It’s related to this story I’m telling you… JJ putting up the Nkrumah Mausoleum to honour Dr. Kwame Nkrumah at the old Polo Grounds, bringing his body from Nkroful to Accra, is related to this story. So, JJ did that for two terms. Then comes John Agyekum Kufuor; he was told that if he did not go through this path to be president of Ghana, ‘you will never be president of Ghana.’ Well, he obeyed.
“So, during Ghana at 50, billboards were put up of Nkrumah and Kufuor sitting in a chair… laughing… and then the renaming of the Kwame Nkrumah University… President Kufuor restored the Nkrumah name into that university… because if you don’t do something to enhance the Nkrumah name, forget it, if you win the election, they will overthrow you,” he added.
According to Paul, when President John Evans Atta-Mills also came into office, he did the same things, just as John Dramani Mahama.
He explained, for instance, that John Mahama restored the Kwame Nkrumah Circle with the statue of Nkrumah, as a way of enhancing the name of the country’s first president, as proof of this spiritual mystery.
However, the veteran journalist stated that during Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s time, for the first two times he tried to become president (in 2008, 2012), he vehemently fought this spiritual path and paid the price for it.
“Fast-forward, Nana Addo, as he was then called, was told that to become president of Ghana, you have to pass here, and you have to do something, and he said no. he said he would never do it, and it’s not because ‘I am a Christian or religious; I won’t do it.’ And that’s why I said Obetsebi-Lamptey is in the mix.
“So, in 2008, when he lost the election, he was told that, ‘Chief, you see why you lost the election? You lost this election because you didn’t do the thing.’ He must have given it a thought, I think. Then comes 2012 and he said he won’t do it, but they said if you don’t do it, you can’t become president of Ghana, but he still insisted. 2012 came and he lost.
“So, after the election, they went back to him… so, he gave it a thought and so he called some spiritual people. And this story I’m telling you, Ken Ofori-Atta is very involved in this story, because he went to South Africa, met some guy who was talking to him about why it is difficult for his cousin to be president, and this South African person said there is something you people need to do. And Ken said I know; we’ve been told, but it’s difficult for us – that’s not our faith; that’s not our worship, we can’t.,” he explained.
Paul Adom-Otchere further stated that eventually, it had to take the intervention of some religious leaders in Ghana to break this spiritual aura around the country before Akufo-Addo could rule without any challenges.
He also claimed that the confusion around the change of date for the national elections from December 7 to November 7 in 2016 forms part of this.
He added that until that spiritual bondage was broken, Akufo-Addo would not have been able to successfully run a two-term presidency in Ghana.
The journalist added that it is for this reason that he supports the government of Nana Akufo-Addo.
“So, Ken came back and organised spiritual people… and said can we go and overturn this thing? Well, about 12 or 16 of them listened and said ok, Mr President, where is the thing? Eh said the thing here; I’ve been there before… they organised cars and went to look at it… They said what we need to do is a prayer chain – a very serious prayer chain… and we have to start now. They start and discover a lot more in the narrative, so they need to move from that spot to other parts of the country.
“They came and told the president that they were on it and that they could release Ghana from these shackles, however, we need more time. However, we have been told that you and your party want the election on November 7 – this 2016…
“So, Akufo-Addo is the only president who has ascended the throne not going through that and that is why I stand with him. He’s the only one president who is going to do a two-term, who has not gone through the path, that is why you see the things that are happening happening.
“The furore against his candidature at the beginning, it came out of the noise of evil; it’s out of the noise of evil… because the spirits knew that he would not obey that path,” he said.
Ghanaian politician, Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor in his book, Gold Coast Boy (A Memoir), praised the country’s current president, Nana Akufo-Addo.
He referred to Akufo-Addo as a ‘seasoned appointee’ with regards to his works during the John Agyekum-Kufuor’s administration.
Dr Addo-Kufuor recalled the position the president held and the impact he made.
He was given the portfolio of the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General. He had been educated at Lancing College, Sussex, England; the University of Ghana; and the Inns of Court School of Law, London. Called to the Ghana Bar in July 1975, he co-founded the Akufo-Addo, Prempeh and Co. law firm and was its senior partner.
“This reputable Chamber had trained many of the country’s contemporary lawyers, a number of whom had become justices of the court, attorney-generals, and more. A past President of the Greater Accra Branch of the Ghana Bar Association, Nana Akufo-Addo was the Director of the Human Rights Commission in Ghana, which last defended many journalists in court,” he wrote.
To some, most daring was the fact that Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor at a point suggested Nana Akufo-Addo was the back bone of the party as “he had no equal.”
According to him, the president’s gift to wow the crowd completely with his speech was reason for the decision. The setting for his statement was the 2016 general election.
“Nana Akufo-Addo had been elected leader and flagbearer of the party for the 2016 elections. Having sat next to each other in the cabinet for seven years, a few words about him would be in order. In parliament, our seats were never too far from each other. When he emerged the leader of the party in his first contest in the primaries in 2007, I as a contestant, was not completely surprised.
“Unlike many of us in the contest, he had been deeply involved in political activity from many years before entering parliament in 1997. He, therefore, had had great exposure. His campaign machine was elaborate and well-resourced and had many experienced and loyal supporters.
“So far as his oratorical skills are concerned, he had no equal in the party. He, obviously, had taken a long time to prepare himself for political leadership, and he reaped the harvest with the time came,” he added.
Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor also described the first cabinet of John Agyekum Kufuor as one with a high calibre of persons, whom he said the people of Ghana were lucky to have had.
Some of these appointees were Alhaji Aliu Mahama as vice president, J H Mensah as Senior Minister, Nana Akufo-Addo as Minister of Justice and Attorney General, and later Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yaw Osafo-Maafo as Minister of Finance, Albert Kan-Dapaah as energy minister; and Hackman Owusu-Agyeman.
Others were Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Dr. Richard Anane, Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, Pro. Christopher Ameyaw Akumfi and Kwadwo Baah Wiredu.
Kyebi Traditional Council has called on former minister of environment, science, and technology, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, to provide evidence that galamsey took place in the President’s House in Kyebi in the Eastern Region.
Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng in his Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) report alleged that galamsey activities close to the President’s Kyebi residence affected parts of his garden which had to be quickly put back in shape by the Inter-ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM).
But the statements in Prof. Frimpong-Boateng’s report, in the opinion of the Traditional Council, are untrue and need to be treated with disdain.
The Council has therefore asked Prof. Frimpong-Boateng to testify before it in order to support his galamsey report.
Chief of Kyebi, Osabarima Marfo Kwabrane said: “he should come and show us where he saw galamsey happening. He should come here and prove to us and the whole world. My nephew [President] is not part of that thing [galamsey]. We need Prof. Frimpong-Boateng himself to come and show us where President Akufo-Addo was doing galamsey and correct our statement that all that we have said is wrong.”
Also, neighbours of the president also denied the allegations, indicating that they have never seen illegal mining activities close to the president’s garden.
“There is nothing like that here and that is why I am here with the Kyebi executives, and we are to ensure that we clear the president’s name. The reports of the president engaging in galamsey activities are not true.”
Claims by former Minister for Environment, Professor Frimpong-Boateng, about President Akufo-Addo’s residence being hit by illegal mining activities have been refused by persons with first-hand information.
The former minister in his Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining report said a team had to be dispatched with excavators to restore the vegetation when he learned that the President’s garden had been invaded by illegal miners.
But media engagements with caretakers of the president’s home have revealed that findings in the report are inaccurate.
A caretaker for seven years noted that since he started working, he is yet to sight any illegal mining activity happening at the compound.
“Not at all. Security is here 24/7 so how can security be here and then we allow people to come in that we are coming to do galamsey? What is the purpose of the security being in the house?” he quizzed.
He further questioned how the excavators can be moved into the premises due to the size of the gate.
Security agents stationed at the premises, according to Elton Brobbey, noted that since President Akufo-Addo’s inauguration in 2017, there have always been police, military, and immigration officials on the premises at all times, making it difficult for anyone to gain access without clearance.
As a result, he asserted that the claim that illegal mining took place in the garden is untrue.
“I wonder why people with high positions can bring themselves so low to that extent of telling lies…I don’t see the point because there is a house here with trees in it up to this point, and I’m not sure how we were able to dig the gold, remove the trees, and replace them. So the trees speak for us, and I don’t believe we need to. The trees and the environment speak for themselves,” he added.
Chairman of Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Dr. Steve Manteaw, is disappointed in President Nana Addo DankwaAkufo-Addo’s handling of illegal small-scale mining activities popularly known as galamsey.
According to Dr. Steve Manteaw, the president’s reluctance in carrying out an investigation with regards to the 2021 report authored by Professor Frimpong Boateng, former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation and ex-chair of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining’s (IMCIM).
“…a president who has sworn to fight against galamsey…a former cabinet minister has given you a hint on what is happening for you to take a step…but it seems that this president doesn’t care about anything. And this is my greatest worry because, all that is going on under his government is a written history, which would not affect only him but the entire generation to come, and gradually this president is going down in history as the worse president we have ever had.” he saidsSpeaking in an interview with Neat FM on April 26, 2023
“When it comes to corruption, then he will say if you want to lay an allegation bring evidence, my brother we have state agencies that are in charge of investigations but as a citizen, if I give you thumps up about an issue, then you tell me to go and investigate and bring evidence, how? If you are somebody who is serious, the moment you hear something you will let the security agencies take charge, you won’t demand evidence because you have people that we have paid to do that job,” he said.
Dr. Manteaw added that the President appears not to care about the negative impact of the galamsey activity on the environment and the nation’s sustainability. He added that the President’s inaction may go down in history as one of the worst leadership failures in Ghana. He also lamented the President’s response to corruption allegations.
“…when you look at the things that Frimpong Boateng said in his report, a lot of it bothers on time and national security, it bothers on the sustainability on the national environment, the environment in which our lives is sustained, my brother just look at our water bodies, and you claim that someone has brought a report and alleging some of your appointees are involved in galamsey, then you will ignore in the name of the person not passing through the due process, then you the president I believe you don’t know your work,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo and the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Austria, Karl Nehammer have agreed on key areas of cooperation primary on strengthening existing bilateral ties between the two countries.
The two parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding ( MOU) on Political and Economic Consultations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of the Republic of Ghana and the Federal Ministry of European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria which was signed by Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Ghana, and Amb. Peter Launsky-Tieffentha, Secretary General of the Federal Ministry of European and International Affairs of Austria.
The other was an Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Ghana and the Government of the Federal Republic of Austria on Defence Cooperation which was initialed by Hon. Dominic Nitiwul (the Minister for Defence) for Ghana and Amb. Peter Launsky- Tieffentha for Austria.
This was upon the visit of the Austrian Chancellor to Ghana, the first of an Austrian Chancellor since bilateral ties begun between the two countries, today Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at the Jubilee House in Accra.
In his brief remarks after the bilateral talks, President Akufo-Addo disclosed that, “a major outcome of our meeting today, is the affirmation of our commitment to collaborate further on tackling emerging security threats within the region, particularly on issues of terrorism, border security and maritime barriers. We also have resolved to work together to promote democracy in the region, and reiterate and affirm our mutual stance against unconstitutional changes in government.”
Austrian Chancellor Nehammer and President Akufo-Addo
He stated that, “Ghana has also called on Austria to lend it’s support to the African Continent Free Trade Area, whose Secretariat is located in Accra. The AfCFTA intends to link fifty-four (54) markets, covering 1.3 billion people with the combined GDP of some 3 trillion United States Dollars.”
He added that, “by 2050, it will cover an estimated 2.5 billion people, and have over a quarter of the world’s working age population. Investment and business opportunities offered to the Austrian private sector, by the infrastructure, required to link these markets more effectively, are enormous.”
President Akufo-Addo stated further that, due to the fact that vulnerable countries suffer the most devastating effects of climate change, the two countries have also agreed to cooperate on increasing efforts to limit global emissions towards achieving the 1.5 degree Celsius goal whilst working together to push for the expeditious implementation of the process of UN Reforms, based on the Ezulwini Consensus and ensure that the matter of UN reform, be restored as a priority item to the global agenda.
“It is time to correct the longstanding injustice that the current structure and composition of the UN Security Council represent for the nations of Africa,” he added.
On the issue of migration, President Akufo-Addo bemoaned the high numbers of young people and added that, “Africans taking distressing risks across the Sahara and around the Mediterranean trying to reach a better life in Europe. Whilst we strive to provide the youth with the right environment in Africa, which will enable them enhance their skills, receive appropriate training and have access to digital technology and enhance economic opportunities.”
He revealed that, he Austrian Chancellor and his delegation have reiterated their determination to champion the need for humane treatment of illegal migrants as well as the protection of both their human rights in accordance with international law both in Austria and in the European space. Our discussions also centered on the threats of Russian invasion of Ukraine, coupled with the effects the COVID 19 pandemic are having across the world.
On the situation in Ukraine President Akufo-Addo, explained that, “the reason why Ghana led the fight for the liberation of the African continent from colonialism and imperialism and became of the five initiators of the historic Non-Aligned Movement is because of our history which has always been against great power domination of the affairs of the world.”
Therefore, he continued, “It is this same principle, that led us to vote in the United Nations General Assembly in favour of the motion condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and this is a position that we continue to hold. Great powers of whatever make, including friendly ones trampling on small nations is not something we will welcome and within our modest means, we will register our disapproval of that. “
According to Chancellor Nehammer, Austria will work towards setting up an embassy in Ghana to assist and further deepen and bi-lateral engagements.
Chairperson of the Gulf of Guinea Commission, Ghana’s President, Nana Akufo-Addo has called on sister countries of the Commission to strengthen their efforts in tackling activities of pirates in the Gulf of Guinea.
For over a decade, container ships, fishing vessels, and oil tankers have been attacked by pirates.
Out of the 90 global piracy and armed robbery incidents reported between January and September 2022, 13 occurred in the Gulf of Guinea region. In the same period in 2021, 27 cases were recorded.
Despite the decline, President Akufo-Addo has noted that the Commission cannot rest on its oars but ensure it totally eradicates the activities of pirates.
“It is important that we have some serious discussion on these items in order to come up with strategies geared towards strengthening peace and security in winning the fight against maritime-related crimes in the region, such as piracy, illegal unreported and, unregulated fishing, arms trafficking, pollution of the environment, smuggling, fuel and crude oil theft.”
The president made the plea while addressing the 3rd Extraordinary session of the Assembly of heads of state in government of the Gulf of Guinea Commission on Tuesday, April 25, 2023.
This was the first in-person summit of the Commission since. The COVID-19 pandemic resorted to the use of virtual channels to communicate.
As part of measures to safeguard the Gulf of Guinea, President Akufo-Addo proposed a possible expansion of the membership of the Commission to include all 19 coastal states of the geopolitical Gulf of Guinea.
This, he said, was “for effective collaboration of our navies, Coast Guards, and other relevant maritime security agencies in the geopolitical space of the Gulf of Guinea.”
Data from the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) shows that at the beginning of 2023, the number of pirate attacks on the world’s oceans reached a 30-year low.
Between January and March, there were 27 pirate attacks and armed robbery on ships, compared to 37 instances during the same time period last year.
Executives of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Eastern Region’s Abuakwa South constituency have refuted allegations made in the contentious report of the former Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining (IMCIM) that galamsey was taking place directly in the garden of President Akufo-Addo’s home in Kyebi.
Contrary to claims made in the report written by Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, former Minister of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation and chairman of the IMCIM, no anonymous youth organizer of the NPP in Kyebi had engaged in illegal mining in a region close to the president’s home, according to a statement released on Tuesday and signed by Felix Nyarko Acheampong, the party’s constituency communications officer, and Julius Okyere, the constituency secretary.
“In the first place, to state that “the Youth Organizer of the NPP in Kyebi” is involved in any kind of illegality, is only vague, as such allegation falls short of indicating what level of the party structure the said Youth Organizer occupied at the time of the supposed incident. Was he/she a Polling Station, Constituency, Regional or National Youth Organizer? There is nothing like a local Youth Organizer anywhere in the NPP Constitution.
“Indeed, if his reference to Kyebi is meant to indicate that the supposed wrongdoing is attributable to a certain Constituency Youth Organizer, then the Constituency executives wish to emphatically state, that the then Constituency Youth Organizer has never been associated whatsoever, with galamsey operation; hence, rendering this allegation short of substance.
“Secondly, the very location of the President’s Kyebi residence in itself, makes it impossible for any illegal mining operation to take place even close to it. Except those who do not know the house, everyone would attest to the fact that the President’s house is not obscured, as it is closely surrounded by many other houses. For that matter, to suggest that an illegal mining operation has taken place near the walled house, to the extend that it affected parts of a supposed garden in the house, only lives much to be desired about what method at all was used for such operation.
“To add to the above, the President does not even have a garden, so to speak, in his Kyebi residence; therefore, to state that a section of his garden was affected, is nothing but palpable falsehood. The Learned Professor would have, perhaps, been forgiven if he had only maintained that such report got to him through a phone call placed to him by Mr. Eric Antwi of the office of the President; but to have continued to say that he personally followed up to see with his very eyes, the supposed incident, simply casts a huge slur on the integrity of both the Former Minister and his work as Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee. We entreat well meaning media houses to come to the President’s residence in Kyebi to check and double check the facts on the ground, and compare same with the allegations contained in that section of Professor Frimpong-Boateng’s report.
The MP for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak, has called on government to halt all mining activities in the country.
This comes on the back of a series of press statements and interviews by persons accused in the galamsey report by the former Minister for Environment, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng who is a former Chairman of the now defunct Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, in his report, accused some bigwigs of the Akufo-Addo government of interfering in his fight against illegal small-scale mining locally known as galamsey or being engaged in galamsey.
However, the Presidency in reacting said claims in the report are a catalogue of grievances of Prof. Frimpong-Boateng and could best be described as hearsay.
The Presidency also stated that the document was not an official report before Cabinet as it was submitted in an informal way.
Commenting on the development, the Builsa South lawmaker has suggested that at least two years or more ban on mining will help in resolving mining challenges in the country.
“We must demand a total ban on all forms of mining immediately, at least for 2 or more years. In the meantime a national forum led by CSOs should be initiated to determine the wayforward. This is the only reasonable option available given the levels of official complicity,” Dr. Apaak stated.
Meanwhile, the Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson says Prof. Frimpong-Boateng’s report to the President on the failed work of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, which was set up by President Akufo-Addo to fight the illegal mining menace, confirms that the whole “fight” was a fraudulent one.
According to him, it was shrouded in a well-calculated ruse to enable key government officials and functionaries at the Presidency to dabble in the very illicit business of ‘galamsey.’
“Despite the President placing a moratorium on April 1, 2017, suspending all artisanal and small-scale mining in the country for a total period of one year and three months, we are told that in 2018, the government, acting through the Forestry Commission and Ministry of Lands, somehow contrived to give out all forest reserves in Ghana for mining activities.
“To confirm the grand collusion, despite a Cabinet directive in 2019 to suspend the issuance of new licenses and permits, more illegal miners, including Chinese gangs, entered Ghana’s forest reserves with the help of government officials, and the destruction of Ghana’s forests and environment continued unabated,” Dr. Ato Forson who’s MP for Ajumako Enyan Essiam said in a Facebook post.
Obenfo Addo Agyekum (I), the regent of Amanase, a town close to Suhum in the Eastern region, has issued a clarification stating that Okyenhene had no involvement in the selling of the local royal cemetery.
He claims that Okyenhene only arbitrated a case that included the cemetery’s sale to an investor eleven years prior.
On Thursday, April 21, 2023, Suhum District Police Command seized the unearthed human remains kept at Amanase Chiefs Palace in order to collect their skeletons.
The community’s royal cemetery apparently sold to an investor for the purpose of building a gasoline station, which prompted the exhumation of the graves from there.
The bodies exhumed include late chiefs and royals. Two of the exhumed bodies were freshly buried.
While one of the fresh corpses have been reburied, the other has been kept at the Suhum Government Hospital morgue.
However, the Gyaasehene of Amanase Obenfo Addo Agyekum who doubles as Acting Chief of the community decided to keep the exhumed skeletons of late chiefs of the in a room at the palace.
This created uproar in recent times among some royal family members and residents.
Obenfo Addo Agyekum earlier told Starr News, “the cemetery has been sold to an investor as a result we have to exhume the bodies. So Okyenhene Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin himself ordered that the bodies be exhumed to enable the investor develop the land so we held a community durbar, invited everybody including pastors, opinion leaders to discuss the matter”.
He continued that “So after exhuming the bodies we realized we have to create a new royal cemetery to rebury skeletons of the late Chiefs .We tried several times to get earmarked land for that purpose but were unsuccessful so we decide to keep the skeletons in a room here at the palace until we get cemetery to rebury them. We had two fresh bodies which we sent to Suhum government hospital but we managed to bury one, the other body is still at the
Addressing the media subsequently on Friday April 21, 2022 Obenfo Addo Agyekum however explained that the cemetery was rather sold to an investor by late chief Nana Asamoah Darkwaa under the witness of Osabarima Asamoah Asare Ampofo, Abena Asamabea and one teacher Offei in 2012.
However there was a push back which the investor petitioned the Judicial Committee of Akyem Abuakwa traditional council chaired by Okyenhene Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori who ruled in favour of the investor with consequential order for exhumation.
“Base on this evidence, I want to categorically state that Okyenhene Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin has no hand in the sale of the old Amanase cemetery which was sold by our predecessors(Nananom) so it is not true what is circulating in the media that Okyenhene is behind the sale of Amanase old cemetery land”.
He added “because of the ruling, we decided to exhume the bodies especially those who are royals to rebury them. We sent the fresh bodies to Suhum government mortuary and we did mass burial for others.
“There was an issue at Suhum government mortuary so we kept some of the skeletal parts of our late royals and chiefs in the palace so that we immediately acquire a land which will solely be for the burial of the skeletal remains of our royal chiefs and elders but delay in acquiring the land accounted to the keeping of the skeletal remains in the palace but now that we have acquired the land we will perform the necessary rite and burry them and have a good rest,” he said.
Former President John Dramani Mahama has said the Akufo-Addo government is now on a taxation spree after promising to move the country from taxation to production.
The president recently assented to three newly passed tax bills passed by parliament on Friday, 31 March 2023.
The Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2022, the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill, 2022; the Ghana Revenue Authority Bill 2022 and the Income TaxAmendment Bill 2022 are meant to rake in GHS4 billion for the country annually.
Their passage was critical to getting the IMF board’s approval to access the Fund’s US$3 billion extended credit facility to bailout the economy.
Speaking to delegates in the Trobu constituency, as part of his tour in the Greater Accra Region, the former president said taxation has become commonplace for this government which promised to produce more and tax less.
“Prices at the various supermarkets have skyrocketed; the government has reneged on its promise of moving away from taxation to production, to the extent that even betting is taxed”, the former president observed.
“Almost everything is taxed now,” he bemoaned.
He blamed the economic crisis on the Akufo-Addo government’s voracious appetite for borrowing.
“The country wouldn’t have been in this economic mess if the government had not engaged in excessive borrowing”.
“We are now seeking for debt forgiveness from external creditors,” Mr Mahama said.
As part of efforts to address accommodation challenges faced by public sector workers, the government is constructing fifteen-bedroom self-contained flats.
According to President Akufo-Addo, the edifice will be occupied by employees of the Ghana Meteorological Agency, the Ghana Airport Company Limited, and the Greater Accra Regional Office of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA).
Speaking at the commissioning of the Kwabenya Police Barracks Project on Wednesday, April 19, the president noted that works are far advanced to ensure the implementation of the Aviation City Project.
“I have been briefed that work is also far advanced on the construction of fifteen-bedroom self-contained flats for the Ghana Meteorological Agency, the Ghana Airport Company Limited, and the Greater Accra Regional Office of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA). The completion of these projects is crucial to the implementation of the Aviation City Project,” President Akufo-Addo said.
Since assuming office in 2017, the government has launched several initiatives aimed at addressing Ghana’s housing deficit, which currently stands at some two million units.
On Thursday, the Ghana Police Service received five hundred and fourteen (514) one- and two-bedroom self-contained flats, of which three hundred and twenty-two (322) have been completed and ready to be occupied.
Aside from residential purposes, the Kwabenya Police Barracks Project also provides a school with modern facilities, a clinic, an astroturf football field, a tennis court, a standby generator, a police station, a fuel filling station, a workshop enclave and other essential amenities.
This, the President said, “is further testimony of our unwavering commitment to provide decent accommodation and other facilities for our security personnel. Not only will this facility improve the welfare of our police officers, it will also enhance their capacity to serve our nation even more effectively.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, and the developer the Lands Commission and Unique Development Company have been entreated to work in earnest and complete the remaining one hundred and ninety-two (192) housing units, and other facilities that make-up the second phase of the project.
Ayoung man who has been actively involved in the sports betting industry for more than 7 years has shared how fulfilling the business has been for him.
He explained that while it is not a tough game of chances; one that requires a great dose of luck, he cannot deny how profitable it has been for him.
Francis, as he is known, told GhanaWeb TV that through the earnings he has had over the years, he has been able to put up a two-bedroom house for his mother.
Also, he owns two barbering shops at Dome Pillar 2, in Accra, where he currently has 14 employees.
“Through this bet, I have a land that I built a two-bedroom house and my mom is staying inside now – all because of betting,” he told GhanaWeb TV’s Etsey Atisu.
Francis and some friends of his, who have formed the Concerned Bettors of Ghana(CBOG), were interacting with the journalist concerning the new 10% sports betting tax that has been introduced by the Akufo-Addo-led government.
For these young men, while they admit they are making some good profits from betting, they find it a lazy approach by the government in expanding its tax base, or in making money.
John Dramani Mahama, a prospective 2024 presidential contender for the opposition National Democratic Congress(NDC), claims that party agents who will be taken to the National Collation Center, often known as the “strongroom” of the Electoral Commission (EC), will bring their own tea and purchase their own biscuits.
In the 2020 Presidential election petition filed by NDC’s Presidential candidate John Dramani Mahama at the Supreme Court, Rojo Mettle- Nunoo and Dr. Kpessah Whyte who were representatives of the party at the collation Center were blamed for dereliction of duty.
This was after the duo accused the Electoral Commission boss Jane Mensah of ‘tricking’ them to leave the premises to go and see Mr Mahama after which she announced the results on their blind side.
In one of the instances of cross-examination by Justin Amenuvor, the lead counsel of the Electoral Commission (EC), the former Deputy Health Minister Rojo Mettle- Nunoo said “I was offered tea, I wasn’t offered any biscuit” while he waited for the Electoral Commissioner for clarity on some anomaly observed in some of the results.
The Supreme Court stated in its verdict that Rojo Mettle -Nuno and Dr. Kpessah Whyte both second and third witnesses respectively for the petitioner John Mahama should rather blame themselves for leaving the National Collation Centre, that, they did not do their job of strict observation of the collation process therefore must accept the consequences.
Addressing delegates of the NDC at Ashaley Botwe in Greater Accra Region, on Tuesday as part of nationwide campaign tour ahead of the NDC’s Presidential Primaries, John Mahama said the party is going to be extra vigilant in 2024 election adding [on lighter note ] that, the party’s representatives at the strongroom will be provided their own tea and biscuits.
“We are not going to sleep. We are going to match them at the collation centers. We will be in the collation centers until the last ballot is accounted for. e are going to Match them in the EC’s strongroom. This time we don’t want tea we don’t want biscuit. Those we select to go to the strongroom we will give them our own tea and we will buy them digestive Biscuits to go to the strongroom”.
Mr. Mahama strongly stated that packing EC with activists of the ruling New Patriotic Party will not deter the NDC’s resolve to police the election results.
“Because they are afraid of losing the 2024 election they have started putting NPP activists as members of the Electoral Commission so that they can control the referee but when I say it is a Do or Die affair it means that it is a critical election whether they put NPP chairman on the electoral commission we shall match them boot for boot. We are going to match them at the polling stations we don’t Wana cheat anybody, but we don’t want anybody to cheat us. So we are going to mark them at the polling station and make sure that no extra ballot papers come from somewhere into that ballot box”.
Mr. Mahama charged branch and constituency executives of the NDC to actively get involved in the electoral processes in their respective polling stations and be very vigilant .
“Elections are won or lost at the polling stations..and in all your branches you have polling station. Vigilance at the polling stations is going to be in your custody. Campaigning in the polling station is going to be in your care and so we are going to rely on you to make sure that the election in your polling station is going to be free, fair and transparent. And we are putting in a robust system to be able to transmit out results and you the branch and constituency executives are going to be involved. It is a new system we will come and explain it to you”
The Senior Advisor to the President, Yaw Osafo Maafo, has been cited in some passages of a supposedly comprehensive report on illicit small-scale mining (galamsey) in Ghana by the former Minister for Environment, Science, and Technology, Prof. Frimpong Boateng.
Page 26 of the said report, which has been sighted by GhanaWeb, indicated that Yaw Osafo Maafo, who was the senior minister in 2019, vowed to protect Ekow Ewusi, a former first vice-chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who was implicated in the ‘missing 500 galamsey excavators’ scandal and was arrested by the police.
The report indicated that Osafo Maafo sent for copies of the police statements and evidence Prof Frimpong had on the case and vowed to protect Ekow Ewusi.
The former science and technology minister also wrote in the report that Osafo Maafo said he (Frimpong Boateng) was a bad person and encouraged people to fight him.
“In the course of the investigations (into the missing excavators), Mr. Mantey (a journalist) confessed that he was contracted by Mr John Ofori-Anis, then national security coordinator for the Central Region and Mr. Ekow Ewusi to use his bank account at the National Investment Bank for what effectively was money laundering.
“Effectively, the proceeds from the excavator sales were lodged in Seth Mantey’s bank account. The moneys lodged were later cashed and given to Mr. John Ofori Atta, who in turn gave some of the money to Ekow Ewusi,” parts of the report read.
“The Senior Minister sent someone to me for a copy of Seth Mantey’s statement as well as a copy of the bank transactions as recorded in Mantey’s bank statement… After going through the documents, the senior minister is reported to have remarked that Ekow Ewusi is his boy … he encouraged his friends to organise themselves, gang up and fight Frimpong Boateng,” it added.
The report indicated that Prof Frimpong told Akufo-Addo about what had transpired but the president, after promising to handle the situation, has not done anything about it till date.
Member of parliament for Bortianor-Ngleshie-Amanfro, Sylvester Matthew Tetteh, has criticized member of parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam Nartey George, for chastising the Akufo-Addo-led administration over the current state of the economy.
Speaking on a panel discussion on TV3’s ‘The Big Issue’ programme, on Monday, Sam George said that the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government are full of thieves, whose only aim is to steal from the people of Ghana.
He said that after stealing all the country’s resources, the government is now going into the pockets of Ghanaians to also steal them through its domestic exchange programme,
“The recklessness and callousness of these bunch of kleptocrats that we have running this country are…,” Sam George was saying before he was interjected by Sylvester Tetteh.
The MP for Bortianor-Ngleshie-Amanfro described Sam George’s comments as uncivilised and urged the host of the programme to check him.
“The words being used are not the best… We should have a very civil conversation… you come to a programmeand all you get is insults,” he said.
Sam George rebutted; “there can be no civility when you are stealing from me, you are stealing from my parent, you are stealing from our grandparents and you say I should be civil”.
Sylvester Tetteh, who was getting frustrated, berated Sam George for his comments saying, “a lot of people are watching including our kids. You don’t come on TV and come and insult people.
“We come and sit on national television and all we heap on the good people of this country is full of insults. Why are you not discussing issues, the content of the subject matter you are not discussing it and you come here and insult people? What kind of attitude is this.”
According toErnest Owusu Bempah, the NPP’s deputy communications director, President Akufo-Addo’s initiatives have already placed the party in a strong position to govern the country come 2024.
According to him, Akufo-Addo’s sterling performance has given the NPP a message that it can use to convince the people of Ghana to help the NPP ‘break the 8’.
Speaking in an interview on Onua TV, on Monday, monitored by GhanaWeb, Owusu Bempah added that one of the policies that Ghanaians will be forever grateful to Akufo-Addo for is the “almighty” Free Senior High School (Free SHS).
“Akufo-Addo has laid a foundation for us to take a very critical message to the people of Ghana (for the 2024 elections).“He (Akufo-Addo) has done a lot of things. First of all, you can speak of the social intervention policies including the almighty Free SHS policy.
“This policy will have a sterling impact on the ordinary Ghanaian.Today people who could not dream of having secondary education are in school,” he said in Twi.
He also said that the major opposition political party, which is the National Democratic Congress (NDC), said the implementation of the Free SHS policy was impossible, but today it has been rolled out and ordinary Ghanaiansare benefiting from it.
“Free SHS policy is very important, it is a key fundamental … forget about the problems we are facing including the shortage of food and infrastructure issues. The most important thing is that the policy has been implemented,” he added.
Report coming in is that Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude Torkornoo has been shortlisted to take over the position of Chief Justice after Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah retires.
These are unconfirmed reports as President Akufo-Addo is yet to officially communicate his appointment.
Chief Justice Anin-Yeboah is expected to retire from office as he turns 70. A new Chief Justice will be appointed by President Akufo-Addo to steer the helm of affairs from May 24, 2023.
Should the new Chief Justice be Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude Torkornoo as reported, she will become the third female Chief Justice in the history of Ghana, following the footsteps of Justices Georgina Theodora Wood and Sophia Akuffo.
Profile ofHer Ladyship Justice Gertrude Torkornoo
Justice Gertrude Torkornoo who turns 62 in September this year completed her Professional course in law at the Ghana School of Law in 1986.
After law school in 1986, Justice Gertrude Torkornoo did her national service with the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Legal Aid Center in Accra.
Her pupillage was with Fugar & Co, where she went on to become an Associate and later, a Director of the firm. In January 1997, she set up Sozo Law Consult and became the Managing Partner.
After 18 years of law practice, Justice Torkornoo was invited to join the judiciary in 2004 as a Justice of the High Court of Ghana.
In October 2012, she was promoted to the Court of Appeal and rose to become a Justice of the Supreme Court, the apex court, in 2019 after her appointment by President Akufo-Addo.
She is well known for being one of the Supreme Court judges who presided over the 2020 presidential petition case between John Dramani Mahama and the Electoral Commission and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
She holds an LLM in Intellectual Property Law from Golden Gate University, San Francisco, USA and a Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) in International Law and Organizations from the then International Institute of Social Studies, the Hague, Netherlands.
It appears that President Akufo-Addo has suffered a direct hit from the activities of illegal miners in the country.
A report that has surfaced on online platform suggests that the president’s residence at Kyebi has been affected by illegal mining also known as “galamsey”.
The report, said to be authored by former Minister of Environment and Technology, Prof. Frimpong Boateng, at the end of his tenure as leader of the government’s galamsey taskforce indicated that the president’s garden is beyond recognition.
The issue about galamsey having affected the president’s Kyebi residence was contained on page 29, where the dismissed minister stated:
“The impunity in the Eastern Region is exemplified by near unbelievable activity in Kyebi.
“I had a telephone call from Mr. Eric Antwi of the Office of the President and he narrated that the youth organizer of the NPP in Kyebi was excavating for gold in a field close to the house of H.E. the President of the Republic. When we checked it was true.
“Indeed part of the garden of the President had been affected. Apparently, the President did not know about this.”
According to him, “We quickly dispatched a bulldozer and an excavator to the area to reclaim the land and vegetate it.”
“I need not say that nothing happened to the local youth organizer who caused the damage,” he added.
Al Jazeera in its documentary dubbed “Gold Mafia – Episode 4 – Have The King With You” revealed that alleged gold smuggler, Alistair Mathias, refuted claims of having any dealings with Ghana’s President, Nana Akufo-Addo.
This is after he alleged that Ghana’s president is his friend and was his lawyer too.
“Ghana’s president is a good friend of mine. In fact, he was my lawyer,” Mathias was recorded saying.
According to Al Jazeera, “Mr Mathias denied ever being awarded any tender by the Ghanaian government or entering into any government contacts in any African country.”
Reacting to the matter, President Akufo-Addo is said to have told the Arabic media house that “he had no recollection of acting as a lawyer for Alistair Mathias or his company.”
Alistair had earlier revealed that he has been smuggling $40 million worth of gold from Ghana monthly, which is $480 million worth of gold annually.
This too, he also dismissed. “Alistair Mathias denied that he designed mechanisms to launder money and said that he had never laundered money or gold or offered to do such things,” Al Jazeera stated.
Alistair Mathias is said to have also refuted claims of having any working relationship with Emerson Mnangagwa, Ewan MacMillan or any of the African politicians.
Veteran journalist Kwesi Pratt Jnr is heartbroken over the sluggish level of development of Ghana’s industrialisation sector despite seven years of the introduction of the Akufo-Addo government’s flagship One District, One Factory programme (1D1F).
Speaking in an interview on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana on Friday, Kwesi Pratt said that even though he takes no delight in criticising the government, the 1D1F after seven years of implementation has had a meaningful impact on Ghana’s economy.
He explained that the programme was not targeted and has not fundamentally impacted Ghana’s economy, with the country still importing meagre things like toothpicks.
The veteran journalist, who is the managing editor of the Insight Newspaper, added that if proper steps are not taken to transfer Ghana’s economy, the country will continue running to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for help.
“Look, what we need to do is to industrialise in a way which changes the order of things now.
“All of these One District, One Factory factories, how have they been able to alter our import dependence? As we sit here, when you go to every supper market… you find drinking water being imported.
“Toothpicks are still being imported; this is after 7 years of One District, One Factory, seven years! Where are we going,” he asked.
He added that the factories under the programme should be able to have an impact on Ghana’s economy like the Atuabo Gas Plant, which significantly affected the country’s dependence on gas imports.
“The Atuabo project is one project, and yet it had a fundamental impact on the economy,” he said.
The three new tax bills passed by parliament late last month have now been signed into law by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
This was confirmed by information minister Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah in an interview on April 16, 2023 with Accra-based Joy News.
He told Emefa Apau on The Probe programme that the president’s lawyer Kow Essuman confirmed the assent and said the document has since been deposited with the Clerk of Parliament for other processes.
Oppong-Nkrumah is currently part of the government delegation attending Spring Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary fund in Washington DC.
The three new taxes are: Excise Duty Amendment Bill 2022, the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill, 2022, the Ghana Revenue Authority Bill 2022 and the Income Tax Amendment Bill 2022.
The bills were presented to Parliament as part of government’s plans to raise about 4 billion Ghana Cedis annually in domestic revenue mobilisation.
They are also crucial to help secure Board Approval for the US$3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) Programme after a staff-level agreement was reached late last year.
According to the results of a recent nationwide poll conducted in April 2023 by Global InfoAnalytics, 71% of respondents believeAkufo-Addo is leading Ghana in the wrong direction.
The poll said 65 percent of voters disapprove of his performance, up from 59 percent in January, while 29 percent approve of his performance, down from 32 percent.
While 58 percent of NPP supporters approve of the president’s performance, 38 percent disapprove.
For supporters of the National Democratic Congress(NDC) engaged, the poll uncovered that 11 percent approved his job performance whilst 86 percent disapproved his performance.
Meanwhile, 15 percent of floating voters approved of President Akufo-Addo’s performance compared to 77 percent who disapproved of his performance.
“71 percent of voters believed Ghana is headed in the wrong direction, unchanged from January 2023 poll. 19 percent believed it is headed in the right direction and a further 10 percent did not have opinion,” parts of the survey by Global InfoAnalytics revealed.
For the NPP primaries, the poll shows Hon. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong (KOA) surging among general voters but not enough to overtake Hon Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanten (AKK) and H.E. Mahamudu Bawumia (DMB) in the race to lead the NPP into the 2024 elections.
While for the NDC polls, John Dramani Mahama has a big gap over other flagbearer aspirants.
Only after employing ultraviolet photography inside Matthew’s Gospel were researchers able to find the ancient Syriac text.
When Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, his followers became hungry and started to gather the grain’s heads to eat, according to Matthew, a disciple of Jesus.
The newly found version, however, reads as follows: “At that time, Jesus proceeded through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and his disciples became hungry and began to ask him for food.
But the newly discovered translation reads: ‘At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath and his disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain, rub them in their hands, and eat them.’
A scribe apparently erased the chapter whilst it was being written.
Only one segment of the recovered text has been released to the public so far.
Only one segment has been released to the public so far (Picture: Getty Images)
Grigory Kessel, who made the discovery, told DailyMail.com: ‘The Gospel text found in this reused manuscript contains the so-called Old Syriac translations of the Gospels.
‘This Old Syriac translation quite often attests the Gospel text that is different from the standard Gospel text as we know it today.’
The Gospel of Matthew forms the core of the 27 books of the New Testament.
Matthew’s section begins describing the birth of Jesus and also includes early correspondence between Church leaders and Christians.
The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, and the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, have received praises from Apostle Dr. Stephen Kwame Ntow Amoani, a former chairman of the Apostolic Church International, for their contributions to preserving peaceful relations between Muslims and Christians in Ghana.
Apostle Ntow Amoaning was among Christians who, who joined their Muslim counterparts at the Jubilee House for the National Iftar – the traditional dinner to break Ramadan fast.
Delivering a sermon at the event, Apostle Ntow Amoaning reflected on the level of religious tolerance in the country and applauded Sheikh Sharubutu and Vice President Bawumia for providing leadership, which has greatly inspired and strengthened the harmonious relationship between Muslims and Christians in Ghana.
The national Jubilee House Iftar was introduced by theAkufo-Addo Government in 2017, and it has since been held every year, except in 2020 due to covid-19 restrictions.
Speaking at the ceremony, Vice President Bawumia said the institution of the Iftar, has enabled the government to broaden its engagements with religious groups for harmony.
“The historic institution of the Jubilee House Iftar, after we assumed office in 2017, reflects its importance, and the significance our government attaches to our engagements with religious groups, in our quest to promote harmony among our people,” Dr. Bawumia said.
Dr. Bawumia added: “The month of Ramadan is a period of devotion, sacrifice and togetherness, and the Iftar, as we all know, is a time during Ramadan, which defines the essence of unity, as we have all gathered here from diverse backgrounds, including our Christian brothers, for a meal to break the day’s fast and also pray for our nation Ghana.”
The Vice President also praised the presence and active participation of Christian leaders in the Iftar and called for the strengthening of ties between Muslims and Christians for the peace and unity of the country.
“Listening to the brief sermon of Apostle Dr. Stephen Kwame Ntow Amoani, a renowned Christian leader, at a Muslim Iftar, signifies how special our country is. It is rare to see such beautiful co-existence in many countries, and we must all be proud of our country’s enviable status as a religious-tolerant nation,” Dr. Bawumia said.
“It is important for all of us to continue to play a role to preserve this harmony, and not allow it to be destroyed by those who hate to see such tolerance and togetherness,” he urged.
Present at the Iftar included Ministers, Members of the Council of State, MPs, Members of the Diplomatic community, Muslim leaders and some members of the clergy.
Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has as a matter of urgency, called on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to finalise its investigations into the 2020 electoral violence and sanction the respective offenders.
According to Mr Ablakwa in a Facebook post on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, addressing past electoral violence would prevent a recurrence, particularly when tension is building up ahead of the 2024 elections.
“When CHRAJ and other institutions show patriotic courage by eventually taking action on the 2020 gruesome killings, they will be helping to prevent an escalation in 2024,” he wrote.
He noted that “the international community is deeply worried particularly about unresolved killings and alarming levels of corruption in Ghana” as captured in the 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices published by the U.S. Department of State.
The report highlights the 2020 election killings and how none of the investigations officials announced have been completed, and no perpetrator has been brought to justice.
For Mr Ablakwa, this is significantly troubling as Ghana prepares for another round of presidential and parliamentary elections next year.
Venting his spleen, the North Tongu MP also chastised President Akufo-Addo for his inability to publicly condemn the loss of lives during the previous elections, as well as commiserate with the bereaved families – arguing that his silence has emboldened several others to make statements that derail Ghana’s democracy.
“President Akufo-Addo has heartlessly refused to make any public comment on the killings or commiserate with grieving families even though it occurred under his watch as Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and even though he was the greatest beneficiary of that bloody election” he said.
Mr Ablakwa also took a swipe at the Member of Parliament for Abetifi, Bryan Acheampong, for his recent comment over the weekend that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will hold on to power at all cost.
“The likes of BraggadociosBryan Acheampong to (have) lawlessly promise(d) more violence and mayhem during the 2024 election. And as was predicted, the security services have been toothless, helpless and hapless following the now infamous incendiary war mongering statements from the Cabinet Minister,” he bemoaned.
Mr Acheampong’s comments have brought divided opinions from the NPP and opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and compelled the National Peace Council to hold a meeting with the political parties over comments inciting violence.
It is in view of this that Mr Ablakwa has charged CHRAJ to expedite investigations into electoral violence that ensued in areas such as Tamale, Techiman, Odorkor, Ablekuma, Savelugu, last two years – leaving about eight people dead.
In 2021, Mr Ablakwa and MP for Ellembelle, Emmanuel Armah Buah, petitioned CHRAJ to look into the unfortunate incident.
It has been two years and the Commission is yet to provide their findings to the general public.
A petition filed by the coalition of Individual Bondholders Forum has urged President Nana Akufo-Addo to keep his promise to pay bondholders’ coupons when their bonds mature.
The coalition, made up of the Ghana Individual Bondholders Forum and the Individual Bondholders Association of Ghana, said they are owed GHS1,051,548,001.
“We are saddened to have to resort to petitioning you [president] for a resolution to the continuous non-payment of old bonds due”, the petition read, adding: “Your Excellency, you have been categorical in your assurances of payment to individuals who opted to trust your government and invest in its bonds”.
“At your recent state of the nation address, you reaffirmed your honourable position saying: ‘I know it has been said over and over again in the past few weeks, but the voluntary nature of the DDE Programme bears repeating, as is the fact that the government is committed to honouring all coupon payments and maturities in respect of both old bonds and the new bonds in line with government fiscal commitments’”.
“Unfortunately, contrary to your professed honourable position, the government has since the completion of the Domestic Debt Exchange programme (DDEP) failed to honour five out of eight payments due under the old bonds totalling about GHS1bn for individual bondholders. The following payments remain outstanding”, the group said.
It noted: “Your Excellency, we have endeavoured to nurture a very cooperative and healthy relationship with the Ministry of Finance to effectively manage expectations of our membership and sustain a stable social environment relative to the tensions that marked the beginning of the DDEP”.
Unfortunately, the bondholders noted, “our cooperation has been taken for granted”.
“We have, on four occasions, requested the Minister of Finance to advise a payment schedule to provide guidance to investors”, the coalition said.
It noted: “We are disappointed to bring to your notice that none of these requests has been responded to. Neither has our request to meet been honoured”.
“Needless to say, amidst the current economic challenges, savings have become a major source of income for many families to self-sustain”.
“The continuous delay or disregard for these payments is creating undue distress for your fellow Ghanaians”, the group complained.
“Our members depend on these funds to meet pertinent needs like medication, children’s education and the general welfare of their families and include pensioners whose sustenance, health, dignity of independence and honour of responsibility in taking care of their young wards and families are contingent on these savings”.
“We do recognise the fiscal challenges government faces and for which reason we have expressed willingness to cooperate over a mutually viable payment schedule and structure”.
“Respectfully, the non-responsive conduct of the Finance Ministry leaves much to be desired and represents a gross breach of trust not just with us, as creditors, but between the government and the governed”.
“Your Excellency, your fellow Ghanaians are suffering unduly”.
“We urge you to take urgent and necessary steps to rationalise this situation and honour your word to effect payments due to individual old bondholders”.
Dormaahene, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyemang Badu II, has cautioned President Akufo-Addo against his recent indifferent statements on the subject of LGBTQ criminalisation in Ghana.
According to the Dormaahene, Ghana’s current leaders have failed to explicitly make known the stance of majority of Ghana with regards to same-sex relations.
He noted that Ghanaian tradition abhors homosexuality and would not accept such acts. He insisted that the leaders must be “bold” and inform the Western world of the country’s decision.
“We want the West to know that there is no way we are going to accept LGBTQIA+. We support all African countries including Uganda who are enacting laws against these activities.
“Our custom is that if a man sees a woman he likes, he goes with his family to engage the family of the woman and they marry and this is what the Bible also supports. We will never accept marriage between a man and a man or a woman and a woman.
“I plead with our current leaders, anytime they speak about this issue of LGBT, they fail to go straight to the point. They are warm and cold on it. If you’re speaking on this issue, be bold and speak directly that the customs of the people of Ghana do not support them,” he said in Twi.
He made the statement at a gathering in Dormaa, in a video shared by Abranpredease TV on Wednesday.
The Dormaahene, who is also a High Court judge in his private life, also said that if the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout and other assistance pledged by the Western countries are preconditioned with Ghana accepting LGBT activities, then the government should reject these offers.
He also criticised the Vice President of the United States of America, Kamala Harris, for saying that LGBTQ is a human rights issue during her three-day visit to Ghana, saying “when she was coming to Ghana did she come with a female as her husband or a man”.
What Akufo-Addo said:
At the joint press conference, both President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Kamala Harris were confronted with the issue of the criminalization of LGBTQ+ activities in Ghana.
Responding to the question at Jubilee House, in Accra, on Monday, March 27, President Akufo-Addo refuted the suggestion that Ghana already had an anti-LGBT law.
He said that the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021 (Anti-LGBTQI bill), which was championed by “only a hand full of MPs”, is currently being considered by Parliament.
Akufo-Addo added that even if the bill is passed, it will still have to be ratified by him. He also said that the anti-LGBT bill has been modified.
“The legislation was a private members bill; it is not an official legislation of the government but it is one that is being muted by a hand full of private members.
“My understanding from the recent discussion I had with the chairman of the committee is that the substantial elements of the bill have already been modified as a result of the intervention of the Attorney General,” he said.
The prospectiveNational Democratic Congress(NDC) flagbearer, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, has stated that only a serious-minded person with the required skills and credentials could handle the nation’s economic situation.
He noted that state resources have been wasted by the NPP which has led to the country’s economic downturn.
Addressing the NDC party executives in Tamale, the flagbearer hopeful told party faithful that the race to salvage Ghanaians from the current economic hardship must be devoid of attacks on personalities.
He added that the party needs peace and unity in order to get the needed win from the NPP.
Dr Duffuor further urged party executives to vote for him on May 13th to save the country from the NPP.
The northern regional chairman of the NDC, Ali Adolf who received the campaign team at the party secretariat urged Dr. Duffuor to still support the party rank and file even if it does not go in his favour during the party’s primaries.
Dr. Duffuor and his team moved to the Tamale South constituency where a huge crowd met him.
He lashed out at the Akufo-Addo led government for mismanaging Ghana’s economy.
The team also moved to Mion, Saboba, Tatali, and Bimbilla constituencies where party delegates and party executives welcomed Dr Kwabena Duffuor and his team.
He noted that state resources have been wasted by the NPP which has led to the country’s economic downturn.
Addressing the NDC party executives in Tamale, the flagbearer hopeful told party faithful that the race to salvage Ghanaians from the current economic hardship must be devoid of attacks on personalities.
He added that the party needs peace and unity in order to get the needed win from the NPP.
Dr Duffuor further urged party executivesto vote for him on May 13th to save the country from the NPP.
The northern regional chairman of the NDC, Ali Adolf who received the campaign team at the party secretariat urged Dr. Duffuor to still support the party rank and file even if it does not go in his favour during the party’s primaries.
Dr. Duffuor and his team moved to the Tamale South constituency where a huge crowd met him.
He lashed out at the Akufo-Addo led government for mismanaging Ghana’s economy.
The team also moved to Mion, Saboba, Tatali, and Bimbilla constituencies where party delegates and party executives welcomed Dr Kwabena Duffuor and his team.
It has emerged that one of the three newly appointed Electoral Commissioners(EC) in the person Dr Appiahene is a devout card-bearing member of the New Patriotic Party.
Dr Appiahene reportedly held over 13 different positions in the NPP and its youth wing organisation before his recent appointment at the EC. List of all the positions Dr Appiahene has held in the NPP from his supposed CV.
“This is the CV prepared by the man himself (Dr Appiahene), I’m just reading aspects of it. ‘Political position held and service to the NPP’, that is how he titles it.”
1. Member of the 2022 Bono Regional Election Committee 2. Bono Regional IT Director for Election 2020 3. Bono Regional D-day Coordinator for Elections 2020 4. Member of the National Research and Data Analysis Team for Election 2020. 5. Regional Collation Officer representing NPP at the Bono EC office 6. Regional Collation Officer for NPP Internal Collation for Election 2020 7. Member of the Bono Regional Communications Team 8. Member of Let My Vote Count Alliance. 9. Organised training for all Bono Constituency D-Day Coordinators and Parliamentary Candidates, Chairmen and Secretaries for the 2020 Elections. 10. Organised training for all Bono Constituency IT coordinators and Polling Station Executives for Elections 2020. 11. Funding Member of UENR (University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani)TESCON 12. Patron of UENR TESCON 13. TESCON Member of the University of Education, Winneba
Background:
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Monday, March 20, 2023, swore-in three new members of the Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) at the Jubilee House.
The three new members of the EC, Dr. Peter Appiahene, Hajia Salima Ahmed Tijani, and Reverend Akua Ofori Boateng, are expected to serve in their new roles until the end of the 2024 elections and are replacements for members of the commission who recently retired.
Akufo-Addo has been heavily criticized for the appointment because some of the appointees are said to be known members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The president is being particularly berated for the appointment of Dr. Peter Appiahene, who is said to be a patron of TESCON, the tertiary education branch of the NPP and Salima Ahmed Tijani, whose family relations are leading members of the NPP.
A new ultra-modern brick police station at Obo Kwahu in the Eastern Region has been commissioned by President Akufo-Addo.
The President was assisted by the Inspector-General of Police, Dr George Akufo-Addo Dampare, and some members of the Police Management Board during the commissioning on April 8, 2023.
The facility was funded by Mr. Alex Tenkorang, a native of Obo Kwahu.
Per the Police, the security edifice is the first of its kind in the country.
Present at the commissioning were Chiefs and Queen Mothers of Obo and Obomeng, as well as some members of the Obo Kwahu community.
Obo Kwahu community and its environs in the Kwahu South District can now benefit from enhanced security.
A new set of delays at the Port of Dover have already ruined Easter vacations.
Ferry operators warned travelers that the bank holiday check-in and border crossing processes could take two to three hours.
Despite organized efforts to prevent the pandemonium that occurred last weekend, when thousands of people were delayed by up to 14 hours, long lines had already started to form early on Good Friday.
Port officials insisted they had carried out an ‘urgent review’ with ferry operators and French officials, whose ‘lengthy border processes’ were blamed for failing to cope with the Easter rush.
Coach companies were urged to ‘spread’ services booked for Friday over to Thursday and Saturday, but few are thought to have made amendments.
Whereas last weekend’s delays mainly affected coaches, cars are now taking much longer than usual to process as well.
Irish Ferries, one of three main operators sailing out of Dover, warned passengers check-in could take up to three hours on Friday morning.
The other two, DFDS and P&O Ferries, said the wait to board their vessels was two hours and one hour respectively.
P&O said the roads in and around Dover are ‘extremely busy’ but insisted all of its departures in the first half of the day are set to leave on time.
People travelling within France are set to face further disruption over the weekend due to protests and strikes over plans to raise the national retirement age from 62 to 64.
Several major motorways in and around Paris, other major cities and the French Alps were blocked or closed, while a number of regional TER and cross-country TGV train lines have been suspended.
Flights to other European destinations have also been severely affected due to French air traffic controllers walking out.
At least 20 BA services due to fly on Thursday were axed as they needed to use French airspace.
Protesters also blocked a road from Terminal 1 of Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, forcing travellers to make part of their journey on foot.
Motorists making trips within central and southwest England are also likely to experience severe congestion on Friday, according to the RAC.
Traffic is expected to crawl at just 12mph during the busiest times on the A303 westbound, the M5 south from Bristol and the M25 anticlockwise between Hertfordshire and Surrey.
Some two million people are set to travel from Britain overseas during the long weekend, according to The Travel Association, with other popular destinations including Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Greece.
The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has proposed an amendment to Standing Orders (Order 174) to allow the opposition in parliament to head the government assurance committee.
The MP wonders why the government’s guarantee that the IMF deal will be completed by the end of March 2023 fell through.
He is also demanding that the government apologise to the people and explain why the assurance failed.
To end this, he has proposed for the assurance committee of parliament to be chaired by an opposition MP to provide for strict consequences for grand governmental deception.
He wrote “What should happen when a President and his top officials assure Parliament and the entire nation on multiple occasions that Ghana will secure an IMF bailout deal by March this year?
Should the citizenry, like their government functionaries pretend that March didn’t end five days ago?
Don’t Ghanaians deserve an apology and an explanation at the very least?
Is that the superior competence the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/Ofori-Atta government proclaims?
Why did so many experts, civil society, and the opposition foresee that a March deal was ridiculously impossible, and yet President Akufo-Addo kept issuing firmer assurances including when he delivered his Message on the State of the Nation in Parliament?
Moving forward, there’s an urgent need to amend Parliament’s Standing Orders (Order 174) to expressly make an opposition MP the Chair of the Committee on Government Assurances and to provide for strict consequences for grand governmental deception. Leadership must respect the Ghanaian people.”
Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has taken a swipe at President Akufo-Addo for raising the hopes of Ghanaians with regards to the period in which the country would obtain a credit facility worth $3billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Addressing members of the Diplomatic Corps at the Peduase Lodge in February, the president gave the assurance that the two parties will broker a deal by the end of March to ensure Ghana’s economy sees a recovery.
“I am confident that with the cooperation we have received from the members of the Paris Club and the People’s Republic of China, which sent a delegation from China’s EXIM Bank to Accra over the weekend to meet with officials of the Ministry of Finance, we shall be able to go to the Board of the Fund to conclude finally the agreement by the end of March,” he said.
However, it has been seven days since the deadline provided by the government elapsed and the government is yet to make a statement about the matter – a situation that has left the North Tongu MP dissatisfied.
In a social media post on April 5, 2023, Mr Ablakwa vented his spleen, arguing that the President Akufo-Addo-led government must answer to Ghanaians and provide reasons why Ghana is yet to conclude its engagement with the Fund.
“What should happen when a President and his top officials assure Parliament and the entire nation on multiple occasions that Ghana will secure an IMF bailout deal by March this year?
Should the citizenry, like their government functionaries, pretend that March didn’t end five days ago? Don’t Ghanaians deserve an apology and an explanation at the very least?” he quizzed.
“Leadership must respect the Ghanaian people,” the legislator added.
He insisted that the government must bear the brunt of its actions as it was cautioned by relevant stakeholders in the economy to be measured in its expectation of an IMF-credit facility in the shortest possible time.
“Why did so many experts, civil society and the opposition foresee that a March deal was ridiculously impossible, and yet President Akufo-Addo kept issuing firmer assurances including when he delivered his Message on the State of the Nation in Parliament,” Mr Ablakwa wrote.
To prevent such an incident from recurring, Mr Ablakwa has called for the amendment of Parliament’s Standing Orders (Order 174) to “expressly make an opposition MP the Chair of the Committee on Government Assurances and to provide for strict consequences for grand governmental deception.”
Background
The IMF staff and the Ghanaian authorities in December 2022, reached a staff-level agreement on economic policies and reforms to be supported by a new three-year arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) of about US$3 billion.
This was six months after Ghana officially commenced engagement with the Fund.
Current challenge
Ghana has not been able to secure financing assurances from its partners and creditors. For this reason, it has been unable to present its programme request to the Executive Board for approval.
China, Germany are among the countries yet to give Ghana the green light. Per reports, China is Ghana’s single biggest bilateral creditor with $1.7 billion of debt. Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is however optimistic that China would come on board.
What has been said about March deadline
The Finance Minister has warned that the economy would collapse should Ghana fail to secure an agreement with the IMF by March.
Currently, it cannot be said that the economy has collapsed, but the country is facing an economic crisis.
Meanwhile, Former Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, who stated that a March deadline was not achievable, is predicting the end of May 2023 as the likely date for which the Board of the International Monetary Fund will approve a programme for Ghana.
The Alajo community has been advised by President Akufo-Addo to take advantage of the recently installed artificial turf in their neighborhood.
To commission the project, the President visited the neighborhood on Tuesday.
The government is working to encourage sports throughout the nation by installing the artificial turf, according to the president.
The President underlined the importance of the community using the facility to improve their sporting abilities, plan sporting activities, and keep the facilities in excellent condition.
Hon. Mustapha Ussif, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Henry Quartey, the Regional Minister for Greater Accra, Alajo Mantse, the Director of the Coastal Development Authority, and others joined the President to officially dedicate the artificial grass.
“I urge residents of this constituency and those in other constituencies that are beneficiaries of these astro turfs to put them to effective use. The various committees set up to manage these assets must also pay critical attention to the maintenance to help enhance their life span,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo says the parliamentary approval of his ministers despite the drama demonstrates their competence for the job.
The nominees which include Kobina Tahir Hammond, Bryan Acheampong and others were subjected to a secret ballot before their approval was sealed.
At the swearing-in ceremony at the Jubilee House on Tuesday, President Akufo-Addo called on them to exhibit a high sense of duty and professionalism to help the government address the current difficulties facing the economy.
“Even at the stage of voting in the House, the majority of the members from both sides of the divide believed in your competence and went ahead to give you the nod.
“You have joined the government at the last line of its mandate with about 19 months to go, but I’m confident that there is enough time to make a difference and significant contributions. Your various competencies, experiences and talents make it distinctly possible,” he said
Two new Supreme Court judges, Justice George Kingsley Koomson and Justice Ernest Yao Gaewu were also sworn in with a call on them to be fair and just in the delivery of justice.
Justice George Kingsley Koomson says they will not sacrifice their neutrality on the bench.
“We will continue to serve in dignity, respect, and in honesty. That we shall always protect the fundamental human rights of our people. We are committed to serving with professionalism and impartiality.
“We recognise the enormous nature of the work and the responsibility that comes with it, however, promise to give decisions that are just, fair and in accordance with the law,” he stated.
President Akufo-Addo has sworn into office his five ministerial appointees recently approved by Parliament.
The swearing-in ceremony which took place at the Jubilee House in Accra, was held on Tuesday, April 4, 2023.
Kobina Tahir Hammond, Minister for Trade and Industry; Mr Bryan Acheampong, Minister of Food and Agriculture; Stephen Asamoah Boateng, Minister for Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs; Dr Mohammed Amin Adams, Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, Osei Bonsu Amoah, Minister of State at the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development; and Dr Stephen Amoah, Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, were sworn into office.
The President congratulated them on their appointments and urged them to uphold the interest of the Ghanaian people.
He said their appointments had come at a critical time in Ghana’s history and they must dedicate themselves to the promotion of the general well-being of the people.
President Akufo-Addo pointed out that though they had joined the last lap of the mandate of his administration, he was confident that “there is enough time to make a difference and significant contribution to the development of our nation.”
“Your various competencies, experience and talents make this distinctly possible,” he said and urged them to help ensure that the country got back to the years of high economic growth, which characterized the period before the outbreak of COVID-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“To this end, I remind you that the quality of integrity that would permeate your work is extremely important.
“You have to remember at all times the solemn commitment that we in the New Patriotic Party have made collectively and individually to serve the Ghanaian people honestly and competently,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, officially opened the Alajo Astroturf after cutting the sod for the project, which is scheduled to start in 2020.
Mustapha Ussif, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Henry Quartey, the Regional Minister for Greater Accra, Alajo Mantse, the Director of the Coastal Development Authority, and others joined the President to officially commission the turf.
Speaking at the official opening Sports Minister Hon. Ussif said: ” The Alajo community has today joined the privilege list of communities with astro turf in the country. And without doubt this facility will go a long way to provide sports within the community and also offer a perfect platform for other recreational activities,”
Greater Accra Regional Minister Hon. Quartey also spoke: “The Sports Minister is here and can testify that the national team most of the players come from Zongo communities. So we want to play football here so that we can also get Partey from here.
“And get other professionals from here. I went to beg the President and Vice President that my community needs an astro turf. I was successful and the long and short of the matter is that today the astro turf has come to existence.”
President Akufo Addo lauded all those involved in completing the project.
“The facility lobbied by Hon. Henry Quartey was constructed by the infrastructure for eradication of poverty program under the Coastal Development Authority (CODA) which is headed by youthful chief executive one of your own Jerry Ahmed Shaibu. Ladies and Gentlemen as you all know football is a great passion for our people Ghanaians are not only obsessed about our domestic league and the fortunes of our national teams. Thanks to satellite tv they are also avid watchers of the great leagues of Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
According to him, the Ayawaso Central alone has unearthed several footballing geniuses “in our nation such as Anas Seidu, Mohammed Klutse, Abedi Pele, Osei Kuffour, Yaw Preko, and Mohammed Kudus.”
“We want to see more Mohammed Kudus, Abedi Peles been discovered that is why the development of sporting infrastructure around the country is crucial to this end,” he said.
Alajo XI took on a select XI which included Stephen Appiah, Jerry Akaminko, Charles Taylor, John Paintsil, Prince Tagoe, Fatua Dauda, Godwin Attram, Dan Quaye, Haminu Dramani, Emmanuel Agyeman Badu, among others.
Claims that the Akufo-Addo-led administration disregarded requests to shrink its size have been disputed by Stephen Ntim, national chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
According to him, Akufo-Addo has been listening to Ghanaians about how to manage expenditures while maintaining a dynamic team of ministers and appointees to deliver its mandate.
Speaking at a press conference, he said, “Therefore, it is not true that the government has ignored calls to reduce its size. Instead, the government has been listening to Ghanaians, establishing a more robust control mechanism to manage expenditure while maintaining a dynamic team of ministers and appointees to deliver on its mandate.”
He also dismissed claims that the government has appointed people to needless positions, adding that the NDC government employed more presidential staffers.
“The NDC has been promoting the view that this government has appointed people to needless positions and is paying them for doing nothing. It must be stated on record that many of the workers at the Presidency are public sector employees. Today, out of the 995 workers at the Presidency, 658 (66%) are public sector employees.
“The NDC government had more presidential staffers than this administration. While we have 44 presidential staffers and 1 Minister of State at the Presidency, the Mahama-NDC Administration had 61 presidential staffers, 6 Ministers of State, and the 3 “wise men,” he added.
As Ghanaians celebrated President Akufo-Addo’s birthday on March 29, his name was trending on Twitter.
On that day, “Addo Show Boy,” as he is lovingly known by many Ghanaians, became 79 years old.
Ghanaians praised him for his leadership and sent him their best wishes.
They hoped for his long life and excellent health so he could keep up his good leadership.
However, new recordings showing him celebrating the milestone by cutting a cake have surfaced, and these films have once again sparked a social media frenzy.
The scene where he sought to blow out the sparkler candles on the cake is what triggered many reactions on social media.
The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has slated November 2023 for its congress to elect a flagbearer who will lead it into the 2024 polls
This decision was arrived at after a crunched closed-door meeting of the National Council of the party Monday evening at Alisa Hotel in Accra, MyNewsGh.com has confirmed.
The decision is in line with Article 12 of the party’s election guidelines on electing a presidential candidate.
It states that “The election of the Party’s Presidential Candidate shall be held not later than twenty-four (24) months from the date of the national election. The date and venue for the election shall be decided by the National Council, provided, however, that the National Council may, on an appropriate occasion, vary the date…”
Clause 2 of the article further indicates that “Not later than six (6) months prior to the holding of the election, the General Secretary shall give notice inviting applications from Members for nomination as the Party’s candidate to contest for the office of the President of the Republic.
The Notice shall be displayed in a conspicuous place in the Party’s Constituency, Regional and National Offices and shall specify the closing date for application, which shall not be more than five (5) months to the holding of the election…”
Meanwhile, there will be a special Congress that will be held in August ahead of the flagbearer elections.
Former Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, has reiterated his advice to the government not to engage in what appears to be another “fiscal offset” in the 2023 budget, similar to what occurred in the government’s 2017 budget.
In this context Mr. Terkper has called on the government to disclose its plan for dealing with a large GHS 77bn pipeline of arrears and contracts in the 2021 Budget Performance Report. He noted that a similar plan was used to deal with the “single spine” wage arrears in 2020.
He has argued that, given that the budget overruns are at the core of most debt challenges, transparency and accountability in government finances are crucial for securing an IMF programme. Moreover, they are also needed for sustainable economic growth and development.
Mr. Terkper has argued that the treatment of the banking and energy sector bailout costs as memoranda items, rather than adding them to the country’s deficit and public debt stock, creates a false impression of fiscal consolidation.
The former minister has pointed out that this practice by Government resulted in the rapid financial market rating downgrades of the country’s sovereign bonds and eventual debt default, with the deficit revised upwards to 7% and 7.2% for 2018 and 2019 respectively, when the IMF and ratings agencies adjusted Ghana’s fiscal deficit and public debt figures.
Mr. Terkper recalled that in 2017, the incoming Akufo-Addo administration accused the John Mahama administration of overlooking arrears of about GHS 7bn. However, only about GHS 2bn was carried forward to the 2017 fiscal year after an apparent offset of GHS 5bn against total expenditures. At the time, Mr. Terkper opposed the move in various articles and interviews.
In a similar move, Mr. Terkper notes that the 2023 budget shows another apparent offset of GHS 22bn that also appears to reduce the deficit from about GHS 60bn to approximately GHS 38bn. As with the 2.3% reduction in the budget or fiscal deficit in 2017, the repetition of the fiscal move results in a “paper” reduction by 3.7% of GDP.
The former minister has warned that this practice by government creates a false impression of fiscal prudence, which is unsustainable in the long term. He has argued that such moves lead to a lack of transparency and accountability in government finances, which can lead to financial instability and economic turmoil.
Mr. Terkper’s concerns reflect a broader need for transparency and accountability in government finances in Ghana. The government must address these concerns to build trust with its citizens, investors, and international partners. Failure to do so could lead to further economic instability and harm the country’s long-term economic prospects.
The Member of Parliament for Cape Coast South, Kweku Ricketts-Hagan has asserted that rather than concentrating on passing revenue laws, thegovernment should reduce excessive expenditure.
The government is seeking approval for some revenue bills which are currently before Parliament to rake in about 4 billion Ghana Cedis annually.
The bills are the Income Tax Amendment Act, the Excise Duty Amendment Act, and the Growth and Sustainability Act.
Ahead of the consideration of the financial bills, the lawmaker spoke to journalists in Parliament.
“There are serious expenditure items that need to be looked at. One of them remains obviously to reduce government ministers and other wasteful expenditures like the National Cathedral and other things they intend to spend money on. I don’t want anybody to be telling us that without those things we cannot survive.
The lawmaker added, “we don’t need that together with anIMF programme. We have got countries that went to IMF without going through debt restructuring and these kinds of tax reviews, before they got the programme. They got the programme and worked through these things to achieve whatever the IMF wanted us to achieve”.
The government fears failing to pass the new tax bills on Friday, March 31, will jeopardize the country’s chances of a quick economic recovery and Board approval for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Information Minister, is concerned that if these bills are not passed, plans to raise money to supplement domestic revenue will be thwarted.
“If we don’t do what we have to do for the country, we will have major challenges. So, this is a set of measures we must ensure is worth passing. This is a major bridge we have to cross in closing this revenue gap and ensure that there is more liquidity”, he stressed.
He thus appealed to the Minority in Parliament to support the passage of the revenue bills currently before the house in order to help the government secure the $3 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Parliament on Friday paid tribute to the late Kumawu Member of Parliament, Philip Atta Basoah.
The MPs took turns to recount fond memories of the 54-year-old as well as make some recommendations to the House on how to ensure the safety of Parliamentarians.
Mr Basoah was confirmed dead on Tuesday morning, March 28, 2023, while receiving treatment at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
Under the Office of the President, a total number of 1,048 public officers and presidential staff have been employed.
This information was made public by the Presidency on its website after submitting to Parliament the Annual Report on the staffing position for the period 1 st January to 31st December, 2022, pursuant to section 11 of the Presidential Office Act, 1993 (Act 463).
The report covered three key areas, namely the number of Presidential Staff employed at the Office of the President during the period, the ranks and grades of these staff, and employees of other Public Services assigned to the Office of the President.
There were two (2) Ministers of State and forty-four (44) Senior Presidential Staffers at post during the reporting period.
At the Office of the President, other political appointees stood at 315, bringing the number of political appointees to 361.
These political appointees include Special Assistants, Executive Assistants, Personal Assistants to Ministers of State and Regional Ministers, employees in the Office of the Vice President, Aides and Assistants assigned to the First Lady and Second Lady.
The remaining are employees assigned to Government agencies under the Office of the President, such as NEIP, Free SHS Secretariat, MASLOC, Special Development Initiatives Secretariat, Monitoring and Evaluation Secretariat, Zongo and Inner Cities Development Secretariat, amongst others.
“It is important to note that out of the 361 persons who are political appointees at the Office of the President, only 163 work physically at the Jubilee House. The others work in the offices to which they have been assigned,” a portion of the report read.
With regards to employees of Public Sector Organizations assigned to the Office, a total of 687 employees were appointed.
These categories of staff were from different classes, including Administrative, Executive/Clerical, Records, Secretarial, Budget, Procurement and Supply Chain Management, Presidential Household, and staff from the Department of Parks and Gardens, Ghana Health Service, Controller and Accountant General’s Department, Ghana Audit Service, Ghana National Fire Service, Public Works Department (Prestige), and Ghana Postal Company.
According to the Presidency, this has been the practice of the Office of the President during previous governments.
For the Office of the President, the submission of this report is a clear indication of the President’s commitment to “transparency and accountability.”
