President Akufo-Addo will today (August 31, 2021) cut the sod for construction work to begin on sporting facilities for the 13th edition of the African Games scheduled for 2023.
He would perform the ceremony at Borteyman near Accra for the construction of the 50,000 capacity Olympic Standard stadium to kick start Ghana’s preparation to host the games.
Director of Communications at the Presidency, disclosed this at the Jubilee House press briefing in Accra.
The stadium will host facilities for the about 25 sporting disciplines for the game. It will have multi-purpose sports halls for all indoor sports, aquatic centres for swimming and tennis courts.
Mr Arhin, who gave highlights of the President’s itinerary for the week, said he would on Friday, September 3, 2021, embark on a working visit to the Western and Western North Regions as part of his annual routine of visiting every region to appraise what was going on with respect to the execution of government’s agenda
He said President Akufo-Addo would pay courtesy calls on traditional leaders, inspect works on ongoing projects and commission completed projects.
The President, after the tour of the Western and Western North Regions, would proceed to the Volta and Oti Regions on a later date.
The Black Stars arrived in Cape Coast Tuesday afternoon for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifier against Ethiopia.
The team held light training in Accra on Monday but will move their preparation into full gear on Tuesday afternoon as the technical team put the players in shape for the test.
In all, Thirty two players made the trip to Cape Coast for the match. Coach Charles Akonnor has made a few more additions to the squad following the inability of Tariq Fosu, Benson Annan, Kelvin Yeboah, Thomas Teye Partey and Mohammed Kudus to turn up for the games.
The team will train at the Cape Coast stadium at 5pm on Tuesday afternoon.
Full squad in Camp:
Goalkeepers: Richard Ofori, Richard Atta, Manaf Nurudeen, Lawrence Ati-Zigi
Defenders: Andy Yiadom, Philemon Baffuor, Baba Abdul Rahman, Gideon Mensah, Daniel Amartey, Ismail Ganiyu, Alexander Djiku, Jonathan Mensah, Samuel Ashie Quaye, Joseph Aidoo, Fatawu Mohammed
Midfielders: Mubarak Wakaso, Baba Iddrisu, Emmanuel Lomotey, Majeed Ashimeru, Fatawu Issahaku, Samuel Owusu, Kamal Deen Suleyman, Jeffery Schlupp, Yaw Yeboah
Forwards: Andre Ayew, Jordan Ayew, Daniel Afriyie Barnieh, Joel Fameyeh, Daniel Kofi Kyereh, Braydon Manu, Kwame Opoku, Emmanuel Gyasi.
Ghana are scheduled to host Group G opponents Ethiopia on Friday, September 3 in Cape Coast, before playing South Africa on Monday, September 6, 2021 in Johannesburg respectively.
The German Government is giving Ghana some 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines to aid in the national vaccination campaign against the pandemic.
The donation is part of the pledge made by Germany to make up to 70 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine available to African countries this year to help the continent’s bid to vaccinate its 1.3 billion population.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel made the pledged last Friday after a summit with African leaders on the G20’s Compact with Africa Initiative held last week.
“As we speak, President Akufo-Addo has dispatched a plane to Germany to take delivery of the 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines,” said Eugene Arhin, Director of Communications at the Presidency, when he briefed the Presidential Press Corps at the Jubilee House, Monday, in Accra.
The briefing was on the President’s seven-day working visit to Germany, from Sunday, August 22, at the invitation of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The contribution of Germany is in addition to 1.5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine that the American Government has given Ghana towards the fulfilment of the Government’s quest to have at least 20 million of the adult population vaccinated by the end of the year.
“At this particular stage, I think it is a good initiative that has been undertaken by the Government of President Akufo-Addo….Slowly but surely – I believe, we are on course towards fulfilling that pledge. So, 1.5 million vaccine doses from Germany are on its way to Ghana,” Mr Arhin said.
He said President Akufo-Addo held bilateral talks with his German counterpart on strengthening relations, vaccines, acquisition of naval patrol boats for the Ghana Navy, among other issues.
The President also participated in the G20 Compact for Africa, initiated under the German Presidency to promote private investment in Africa, including in infrastructure, where he made it clear that the Compact initiative had had a tremendous impact on Ghana’s ambition to become an investment hub in Africa, with auto and industry giants pitching camp in the country.
He delivered a speech in Dusseldorf, Germany, on Monday, August 23, as part at the 75th Anniversary celebration of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s number one industrial region and most populous state.
Addressing the gathering, which included Chancellor Merkel and the Minister-President for North Rhine-Westphalia, Armin Laschet, President Akufo-Addo said Ghana was determined to participate fully in the global marketplace as an exporter of manufactured goods, not raw materials.
President Akufo-Addo added that the country was drawing inspiration from the success stories of North Rhine-Westphalia and Germany because, “likewise, we want to build a progressive and prosperous country”.
He said with Germany being a major exporter of industrial products and technology, led by North Rhine-Westphalia, Ghana’s relationship with Germany was of utmost importance and must be hinged on that.
“The recent establishment of a Volkswagen assembling plant in Accra is a welcome development, and we are encouraged by the fact that more and more German companies have expressed their willingness to set up shop in Ghana,” he said
A total of 687 girls in the Upper West Region returned to school pregnant as of May 2021 when schools reopened after the government announced a shutdown in March 2020 due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
Out of the number, 50 of them were in Primary Four, 105 in Primary Five, 261 in Primary Six, 48 in JHS1, 91 in JHS2, and 139 in JHS3.
Madam Janet Kpan, the Upper West Region Girls’ Education Officer, disclosed this in a presentation at the “Back-To-School Campaign” Review Workshop in Wa.
She said a total of 85 of the pregnant girls returned to school after childbirth as of May 2021.
She said out of the 85, three were in Primary Four, five each in Primary Five and Primary Six, 13 in JHS1, 24 in JHS2, and 39 in JHS3.
On school enrollment, Madam Kpan noted that enrollment at the Kindergarten (KG) decreased from 62,803 children as of March 2020 to 58,386 as of May 2021.
At the Primary level, the figures decline from 120,089 pupils as of March 2020 to 111,692 as of May 2021.
At the JHS level, a total of 44,764 pupils were enrolled as at March 2020, but this fell to 35,059 by May 2021.
Madam Kpan noted that but for the “Back-To-School Campaign” initiative by the Ghana Education Service (GES), the case of students, including pregnant girls failing to return to school would have been worst.
She said the campaign adopted strategies, including community sensitization durbars; radio discussions; training of teachers on how to provide adequate health and emotional support for children in school; and provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) across all schools to enable students to observe the COVID-19 protocols.
Others are the use of successful females as role models, regular visits and interaction by officers with pupils, guidance and counselling on further education and other career pathways and provision of the necessary support to students as and when needed.
On key issues that affected the return of children to school across the region, Madam Kpan identified stigmatization, lack of cooperation from parents, illegal small scale mining, popularly known as galamsey, pregnancy, some students getting married and others abandoning school to engage in driving the commercial motor taxi cabs.
The rest are stigmatization from colleagues, lack of parental support and in the case of those pregnant, who to take care of the child for the mother to return to school.
The Regional Girls’ Education Officer noted that some measures, including ensuring punctuality among teachers, teaching children healthy lifestyles, observing the protocols, listening to children’s concerns both at school and home were also taken to ensure that children already in school continued their education devoid of absenteeism or dropout.
National Communications Officer for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) should accept responsibility for the “rising economic hardships” in the country.
He said the Party’s “denial of the rising economic hardships” showed that it was detached from the “dire living conditions” of the citizenry.
The NDC Communications Officer said this when he addressed the media in Accra on Monday on remarks made by NPP’s Director of Communications, Yaw Buaben Asamoah, and other NPP functionaries on Former President John Dramani Mahama’s alleged comments on hardships in the country.
Mr Gyamfi said the Former President echoed the sentiments of the majority of Ghanaians who felt worried by the effects of “economic mismanagement and corruption.”
“The economic hardships Ghanaians from all walks of life are experiencing are the direct effects of the mismanagement of the economy through reckless squandering of scarce resources to secure re-election in 2020 which has left our finances in shambles,” he said.
He said the government was not motivated to fight corruption and that, “It has become obvious in the circumstance that the only way to exact any measure of accountability is to vote out the NPP after their eight-year tenure in 2024, which will be in keeping with the established electoral trend since 1992.”
The National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Sammy Gyamfi has said that Ghana will face severe problems if the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) is not voted out in the 2024 general elections.
The public purse, he said, will be dissipated beyond imagination if the mandate of the NPP is renewed again by Ghanaians in 2024.
He said these while addressing a press conference in Accra on Monday, August 30, in response to a press conference held by the General Secretary of the NPP, John Boadu on the thank you tour of former President John Dramani Mahama.
NPP’s General Secretary had addressed journalists on Thursday, August 26, responding to some of the allegations made by former President Mahama on his Thank You tour.
He had described most of them as twisting of the facts.
“We are really not worried about his distraction because our president is focused on delivering his mandate,” he said.
“He has turned his so-called Thank you tour into election campaign. Yes, he has the right to campaign but he should play by the rules of engagement.
“He has no right to deceive the people of this country by twisting facts.”
He also made a riveting revelation that Mr Mahama had advised his friend, Roland Agambire, to go into hiding following his loss of the 2016 elections, alleging that all the “dubious” deals between 2012 and 2015 were undertaken by the Executive Chairman of Agams Holdings.
“Is it not more worrying that, all dubious deals under Mahama were carried by the RLG man? Mahama advised Agambire to go into hiding after the elections.”
Responding to these claims, Sammy Gyamfi said among other things that “Former President Mahama echoed the sentiments of the vast majority of Ghanaians who feel scandalized by the unbridled corruption and plain thievery that has become the hallmark of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government.
“The alarming case of corruption under this government is such that Ghanaians cannot wait to exact act accountability by voting out the NPP after their eight year tenure in 2024.
“Anything short if that will spell doom for the public c purse which will be subjected to further abuse should their mandates e renewed beyond 2024.”
Mr Kennedy Agyapong, Member of Parliament (MP) for the Assin Central Constituency, says he will not seek re-election when the current parliamentary tenure elapses in 2024.null
Mr Agyapong, who served the constituents for 24 years, said he was taking a bow out of Parliament to allow others to explore their political chances to bring more development to the area.
Mr Agyapong announced his intention while addressing a gathering of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) faithful at its annual Delegates Conference held in Assin-Fosu over the weekend.
“I’m doing a lot for my people but a whopping 42 per cent of the electorates in the 2020 polls think I’m not doing well, so I’m leaving but would wait patiently to see if any MP can do what I did.”
“Even if I’m given 1,000 cows, I will not go back because I want the people to know that I am fighting for their wellbeing and not myself as an MP,” he stated.
He expressed gratitude to the founding fathers of the Party and the teeming grassroots supporters who had rendered years of unflinching support to the party.
Mr Agyapong was optimistic that the Party leadership will emerge from the challenges associated with internal elections and be more united and focused to steer the affairs of the country for the good of all.
He told party supporters not to be swayed by monetary considerations and flirt with other political parties but remain solidly with the NPP as the only political party that had the competence and able leadership to save Ghanaians from years of economic doldrums and despondency.
The NPP supporters must stand solidly behind the Party to enable it to win the 2024 general election, he said, and expressed his happiness of seeing many young people joining the party.
“I entreat you to stand firm and defend the government as measures are being put in place to improve the economy to bring relief to ordinary Ghanaians,” he stated.
Nevertheless, Mr Agyapong regretted the non-appreciation for his relentless efforts to improve the wellbeing of the people and accelerate the area’s development.null
He said: “political detractors had downplayed all my efforts and defamed me in an effort to end my political career due to what they claimed as bad road network and my commitment to the fight against illegal mining.”
He said his contribution to development could be seen in every corner of the Constituency, saying he had facilitated the employment of over 1,387 youth into various sectors, paid health bills, school fees and granted scholarships to many students, among others.
On infrastructure, he mentioned his role in securing the on-going dual carriage N8 road from Assin-Fosu to Assin-Praso, Fosu town roads, and educational support structures at Assin-Akropong, Nyankomasi, Assinman Nursing School and relocation of Obiri Yeboah Senior High School.
According to him, the governed are fed up with what he claims is the high rate of corruption in the country.
Hence, he said, they have resolved in their mind to vote against the governing party.
Sammy Gyamfi said these when he was addressing a press conference in Accra on Monday August 30 in response to a press conference held by the General Secretary of the NPP, John Buadu on the thank you tour of former President John Dramani Mahama.
The NPP’s General Secretary had addressed journalists on Thursday, August 26, responding to some of the allegations made by former President Mahama on his Thank You tour.
He had described most of them as twisting of the facts.null
“We are really not worried about his distraction because our president is focused on delivering his mandate,” he said.
“He has turned his so-called Thank you tour into election campaign. Yes, he has the right to campaign but he should play by the rules of engagement.
“He has no right to deceive the people of this country by twisting facts.”
He also made a riveting revelation that Mr Mahama had advised his friend, Roland Agambire, to go into hiding following his loss of the 2016 elections, alleging that all the “dubious” deals between 2012 and 2015 were undertaken by the Executive Chairman of Agams Holdings.
“Is it not more worrying that, all dubious deals under Mahama were carried by the RLG man? Mahama advised Agambire to go into hiding after the elections.”null
Responding to these claims, Sammy Gyamfi said among other things that the failure to vote against the NPP will lead to further dissipation of the public purse.
“Former President Mahama echoed the sentiments of the vast majority of Ghanaians who feel scandalized by the unbridled corruption and plain thievery that has become the hallmark of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government.
“The alarming case of corruption under this government is such that Ghanaians cannot wait to exact act accountability by voting out the NPP after their eight year tenure in 2024.
“Anything short if that will spell doom for the public purse which will be subjected to further abuse should their mandates be renewed beyond 2024.”
A suspected thief has returned stolen money to Borkor Bullet Hanson shrine after he had denied stealing the money.
A sum of Gh¢10,000 was allegedly stolen by five suspected thieves and after they denied committing the offence they were sent to the shrine for divination.
The accused persons denied the act so a ritual was performed to cause the thief to return the money.
Few hours after leaving the shrine, one of the accused came crying begging for his life with the bag of the stolen money.
He returned GH¢9700, and confessed he spent GH¢300
The main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has said the only motivation for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Vice-president Mahamudu Bawumia and the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to want to “Break the Eight”, is to help them perpetuate a regime of corruption, naked thievery, ostentation and impunity.
According to the NDC, the government’s wish is that in 2024, Ghanaians will give them another opportunity to “cover up their bad deeds and continue to dim the torch of accountability while further enriching themselves and impoverishing the Ghanaian people.”
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Monday, 30 August 2021, the National Communications Officer of the NDC, Mr Sammy Gyamfi, said the NDC is confident that come 2024, all well-meaning Ghanaians who wish to see the progress of the nation, will join forces with the party to “break the eight years of stealing, break the eight years of nepotism, break the eight years of lawlessness and impunity, break the eight years of deception and broken promises and break the eight years of injustice and intolerance.”
He said former President John Dramani Mahama will continue to express his gratitude to the people of Ghana for their support and would provide a voice for the voiceless to ensure good governance and accountability.
“No amount of misrepresentations and verbal attacks would dissuade him [Mahama] from doing and saying what he deems to be right and in the interest of the nation,” Mr Gyamfi stated.
Mr Gyamfi encouraged the media and anti-corruption civil society organisations who, he said are being abused by the president not to give up their fight against corruption under President Akufo-Addo’s government.
“We salute your courage and patriotism. Please, don’t give up or give in to the abuses and threats of this intolerant and despotic regime”.
“Let’s kick [them] out in 2024 so we can hold them accountable for their thievery”.
“And let’s work together to rescue this country from the hands of this corrupt NPP government and build the prosperous and better Ghana we all yearn for,” he stated
• Barima Sydney said he does not regret campaigning for the NPP
• He was captured on various NPP campaign platforms during the 2020 elections
• Sydney is known for composing controversial songs mostly centered on politics
Ghanaian singer, Barima Sydney has stated that he absolutely has no regrets campaigning for the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
It can be recalled that the ‘Ghana Money’ hitmaker was captured on series of campaign platforms actively throwing his weight behind the then NPP flagbearer Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo.
He also released a campaign song titled ‘Gye wo 4’ for the then NPP presidential candidate.
But analysing all of such, the controversial musician in an interview with Kastle FM said he does regret indulging in politics.
He said the only problem he has with the current government is that some officials tried to stop protestors from embarking on the #FixTheCountry campaign.
“To tell you the truth I don’t have any regret so far for throwing my weight behind President Akufo-Addo. My only regret or problem with the government and I don’t know if it had to do with the government was when people wanted to do fix the country campaign and some people tried to prevent them from doing it,” he stated.
“That was the time at a point where I felt so disappointed I think when police tried to stop them though they have their own reasons for stopping them, but it’s beautiful that at the end of the day they were allowed to go ahead with it,” he continued.
One can recall that Barima Sidney was slapped with a lawsuit over his ‘Papa No’ which was released prior to the 2020 general elections.
The term found its way into the Ghanaian dictionary after it was first used by Tracey Boakye during a social media banter with Mzbel over an alleged NDC top official.
The NPP then decided to adopt the song, obviously for political reasons, as many of them were identified sharing the song on social media with various commentaries.
Dr. Bawumia says the NDC has deliberate plans to foil government’s development agenda.
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia says the opposition NDC has developed a deliberate plan to frustrate government programmes and policies with the sole aim of disrupting the development agenda.
He said the NDC will only succeed if government fails to tell its success stories.
“The propaganda machinery of the NDC will be oiled using their representation in Parliament. Every conceivable government intervention or intention will be seriously attacked. They will question the government’s promises, they will question the government’s achievement and they will question the government’s intention, they will unleash these attacks both on the floor of Parliament and outside the floor.
“There is no better group to respond to these attacks to set the record straight and to match them boot for ‘chalewote’ than the Majority Caucus of Parliament. So we need to tell our story in terms of what we have been able to accomplish,” he said.
Addressing a workshop for the NPP Majority Caucus and members of the Executive in the Eastern regional town of Mpraeso, Dr. Bawumia urged for the strengthening of the bonds between Parliament and the Executive to help fulfil the promises made to Ghanaians and further earn their trust to continue governing the nation.
According to him, before the NPP assumed office in 2017, there were hardships in the country, adding that the NPP government has reduced the level of hardships.
“We need to let Ghanaians know how we have been able to reduce, not completely eliminate, but to reduce the hardships. The hardships were there before we came into government in 2017 and we have done so much and this is an area we should not shy away from. In the area of social interventions, our government has been just marvelous,” he emphasised.
Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin said, despite the numerous interventions by the Akufo-Addo government, majority of Ghanaians continue to live in pain and hardship.
He advised the NPP party to take some of these concerns of the populace seriously.
“While these concerns are sometimes unfounded, unpalatable and unjust, there are times that they are the plain truth. By this I mean that they are realities facing many of the people who voted us to power to serve them and our country. Therefore, I urge every one of us to see such comments, the good or bad, as reminders. While we have done a lot at various levels to transform our country and the economy for the better, there is still much work to be done,” he said.
Alexander Afenyo-Markin reiterated the need for the Party’s communicators to tell the populace about the numerous achievements of the government.
26-year-old Dovi Tsidi has been arrested by the Battor-Aveyime Police Command for beheading his 12-year-old relative.
The Battor-Aveyime Police Command has confirmed the arrest of a man suspected to have beheaded his 12-year-old relative at Mafi Dove in the Central Tongu District of the Volta Region.
The suspect, Dovi Tsidi, 26, allegedly beheaded 12-year-old Kofi Kuzagbe Tsidi on Sunday around 9:00 pm.
A self-acclaimed prophetess has also been linked to the gruesome killing.
The victim, according to the Assembly Member for the Mafi Dove Electoral Area, Moses Awukuvi “was drowned to ensure that he became weak before he was killed.”
“They both stay in the same house. He took the deceased from Mafi Dove and crossed the creek at Mlagoe to Aflokofe after the drumming, where the crime was committed.”
The community was left in a state of shock after a drumming competition by the residents following the burial of a relative of the victim and the suspect.
Speaking to Citi News, the Assembly Member, Moses Awukuvi, said, “the suspect after noticing the community was after him, hid the body of the deceased under the creeks and bolted with the head to a maize farm where he hid the head under some leafs”.
The suspect according to the Assembly Member “went into hiding at a prayer camp where he was with a prophetess, Flora Ekpe, who is believed to be associated with the crime”.
The suspect is currently in the grips of the Battor Aveyime Police Command, who are currently at the crime scene to begin their investigations into the incident.
What was supposed to be a ritual at the Awutu Awubia festival has claimed the life of a 9-year-old boy and injured two others.
A nine-year-old boy has been shot dead during a festival ritual at Awutu Bereku in the Central Region.
According to Citi News’ Central Regional Correspondent, Calvis Tetteh, the boy was killed during the performance of some rituals in the community ahead of the Awutu Awubia festival.
Two persons who were also injured in the process have been sent to the Winneba Trauma and Specialist Hospital for treatment.
“Early this morning, a nine-year-old boy was shot dead by some persons who were following the traditional priest of the town. They were following the traditional priest and firing gunshots as a form of recognition of the traditional priest. The guns held by one of the men suddenly went off and killed the nine-year-old boy,” Calvis explained.
The suspect has been arrested, according to the Awutu Bereku District Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Joshua Semanyo.
Calvis reported that residents were upset about the incident as it has marred the festival.
There is currently heavy police presence at the durbar grounds of the festival.
Scribe of the NPP, Sammy Gyamfi has said the New Patriotic Party is attacking the former president for the naked truth he told during his thank you tour.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has said the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) is dazed by remarks made by former President John Dramani Mahama during his recent ‘Thank You Tour’.
According to the NDC, officials of the NPP are attacking the former president because of what the opposition party claimed was ‘naked truth’ uttered by Mr. Mahama during the tour.
Mr. Mahama last week began what he says was a tour to thank Ghanaians for keeping faith with him and voting for the NDC in the 2020 elections.
The NPP has since issued a number of responses criticizing the former President for some of the remarks he made during the tour.
The NPP among other things accused Mahama of attempting to paint a narrative of hardships on Ghanaians and levelling misleading corruption allegations at the government.
Particularly, the NPP was not pleased by a call from Mr. Mahama for the NPP to be voted out in 2024 as the only way of holding President Nana Akufo-Addo’s appointees to account for their stewardship.
Responding to these claims at a press conference in Accra on Monday, August 30, 2021, National Communications Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi, said the NPP had panicked over Mr. Mahama’s call for accountability because its officers are neck-deep in “systematic corruption”.
“Clearly, these factual statements made by President Mahama have hit the bulls-eye. Our detractors in the NPP are dazed and agitated by the factual statements by H.E John Mahama because they know he spoke the naked truth,” he said.
He recounted a series of corruption allegations which he says the government had refused to investigate and punish perpetrators.
These included the PDS and Movinpina oil scandals, as well as the Sputnik V scandal.
He said Ghanaians “have not forgotten about the infamous PDS scam, through which Ghana lost over a billion dollars of a grant from the United States of America. You would recall how in the year 2019, PDS a company made up of an appointee and cronies of President Akufo-Addo, used a fraudulent Insurance Guarantee to take over the GHS20 billion assets of the Electricity Company of Ghana.”
“This scam was occasioned and facilitated by the Vice President of the Republic, Dr. Bawumia to amend the requirement of a bank guarantee that has to be provided by the concessionaire (PDS) into an insurance guarantee, the validity of which the government deliberately refused to authenticate, so they could capture that important state asset, ECG for the family and friends of President Akufo-Addo. Even more bizarre and sad is the fact that to date, PDS has refused to refund to the State the electricity bills worth over GHS1.2 billion which they collected from ECG customers during the pendency of the ECG-PDS concession Agreement,” he insisted.
Mr. Gyamfi accused the government of a grand scheme to empty the public purse for personal gain and said the former President’s call was timely.
He urged Ghanaians to disregard the NPP’s claims and remain focused on voting them out in 2024.
The Planting for Food and Job initiative of the Akufo-Addo government has so far created 2million jobs, the Minister of Food and Agriculture Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto has said.
He said the jobs are across all the five modules under the programme.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Sunday August 29, he said “when we came on import of maize have virtually vanished. it went down from 80,000 to 40,000 in 2017 to 20,000 in 2018 and then 2019, 2020 special maize needed for poultry production.
“We are exporting to neighbouring countries huge volumes of maize.”
“With the number of jobs created he said “I don’t have the figures for each module now but I know that estimate as of 2020 we had created over 2million jobs from the fine modules that we have been operating most of them in the crop subsector , livestock and all that.”
Planting for Food and Jobs is a flagship agricultural Campaign of the Government, with five (5) implementation modules.
The first module PFJ (Crops) aims to promote food security and immediate availability of selected food crops on the market and also provide jobs.
This module was officially launched by H. E. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo at Goaso on April 19, 2017 in the then Brong Ahafo Region.
The five Modules are: Food Crops (PFJ), Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD), Greenhouse Technology Villages (3 Villages), Rearing for Food and Jobs (RFJ), Agricultural Mechanization Services (AMSECs).
In Ghana, the food crops subsector is dominated by smallholder farmers whose cropping practices are characterized by: inadequate use of productivity – enhancing technologies, low use of quality seeds and fertilizers; weak market linkages.
These collectively hinder growths in farm productivity. In response, the Government through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) initiated the first flagship module– Planting for Food and Jobs(PFJ) campaign in 2017
The Office of HE John Dramani Mahama has received with utter shock, news of an attack on yet another passenger vehicle on the Tamale- Buipe road by armed robbers, leading to the murder of an international journalist, Syed Taaley Ahmed.
According to news reports, the slain journalist, working with a crew from the London-based Muslim TV (MTA International), was in the country to work on a documentary assessing Ghana’s peace and security, when he met his untimely death. We wish to extend our deepest condolences to his family and MTA International, following the profound loss of their loved one.
It is truly ironic that a journalist working on a documentary on peace and security should die from an incident of highway robbery, which has become symptomatic of the violent crime currently consuming our country.
The now rampant criminal activity of armed robbers in the northern parts of the country is a cause for great concern, as they are fast becoming a daily occurrence. In recent times, these armed robbers have become so emboldened that they not only terrorize road users in the night, but in the daytime as well.
Indeed, just days after this tragic incident, armed robbers, according to news reports, in broad daylight, attacked motorists travelling on the Bolgatanga-Walewale highway robbing them of all their valuables.
During President Mahama’s recent tour of the five regions in the north of the country to thank the people for their support in the 2020 elections, he met with chiefs, stakeholders, opinion leaders and religious leaders who mentioned insecurity on the highways as one of the key matters of concern.
President Mahama wishes to further reecho his call on the government to urgently address the worrying development. No one could have imagined that the tragic death of this journalist would follow so soon.
We note also that despite the low morale of many of our police personnel due to the lack of adequate crime fighting logistics, the Ghana Police Service remains one of the best in Africa and when given all the support, can secure our highways and ensure security for all our people.
We therefore call on the Akufo-Addo/ Bawumia government to take urgent steps to address the deteriorating security situation in the country so that our people can feel safe to go about their daily activities.
Our hearts and prayers are with the family and loved ones of the dead. And may God heal all who have been wounded in these attacks.
ISSUED BY: Joyce Bawah MOGTARI Special Aide to HE John Dramani Mahama Cantonment- Accra Sunday August 29, 2021
A joint exercise between personnel of the recently formed anti-armed robbery task force and the Donkorkrom police has led to the arrest of 17 persons who unlawfully had weapons in their possessions.
These suspects were arrested upon a tip-off in front of a fuel station at Donkorkrom.
Seventeen machetes, a handgun, three locally manufactured pistols, four shotguns, 66 live AAA and BB cartridges and 410 cartridges, 10 7.65 MM ammunition and 19 mobile phones were retrieved in the operation.
According to the police, these suspects are part of a syndicate operating and terrorising traders and residents in and around Afram Plains.
The Eastern Regional Police PRO, DSP Ebenezer Tetteh, who confirmed the arrest to Citi News said the suspects are being held for the possession of firearms without lawful authority and they will be arraigned after investigations
Former President John Dramani Mahama has urged Ghanaians to vote out the ruling New Patriotic Party(NPP) government in 2024, for them to be audited to prevent them walking away with “all the money they have stolen”.
“The NPP have no intention of fighting corruption, and so the only way they can be made to account to the people of Ghana is for them to leave office so that the new government will come and audit them and show where they have gone wrong.
“Otherwise, all the money they have stolen, they will just walk away with it. If you participate in politics or are a participant in public service, one of the first things you must be willing to do is to be accountable to the people,” the 2020 presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) said in the Upper West Region during his ‘Thank you’ tour.
Reacting to this during a panel discussion on Peace FM’s morning show ‘Kokrokoo’, former Deputy Health Minister, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye criticized the former President for his comments.
“Would it have been right if the NPP had told him the same in 2012? Please let’s stop this and focus on what we can do for the nation instead of accusing others,” he cautioned.
The Vice-president, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has charged the majority caucus of parliament to continually arm themselves with the “great success stories and achievements” chalked by the Akufo-Addo administration to dismantle any propaganda and lies churned out by the opposition.
The majority caucus has also been urged to strengthen the bonds between parliament and the executive as the two work hand-in-hand to help fulfil the promises made to Ghanaians and further earn their trust to continue governing the nation.
Dr Bawumia issued the rallying cry at a workshop for the majority caucus and members of the Executive on Saturday, August 28, 2021, at Mpraeso in the Eastern Region.
Reminding the MPs that they are an integral part of the success or failure of the Executive and by extension the NPP administration, Vice President Bawumia urged them to always remember the key communications role they play and work extra hard to respond appropriately to any attempt to downplay the achievements of the Akufo-Addo administration.
“The propaganda machinery of the NDC will be oiled using their representation in parliament. Every conceivable government policy or intervention will be furiously attacked”.
“They will question the government’s promises, they will question the government’s achievements and they will question government’s intentions.
“They will unleash these attacks both on the floor of parliament and outside the floor”.
“There is no better group to respond to these attacks, to set the records straight and to match them ‘boot-for-chalewote’ than the majority caucus of Parliament”, Dr Bawumia said.
“Fortunately”, he added, “we have enthusiastic leaders and members of the majority caucus and what is needed is the requisite cooperation and exchanges between you and the Executive”.
Reducing Suffering
Listing over 50 policies, programmes and social interventions introduced over the past four and half years designed to reduce the suffering of the citizenry, Vice-president Bawumia emphasized that the NPP government continues to do a sterling job with the limited resources at hand, and urged the MPs and all party communicators to arm themselves with the facts to enable the telling of the good stories.
“We need to tell our story. We need to let Ghanaians know how we have been able to reduce, not completely eliminated, but reduced the hardships. The hardships were there before we came into office in 2017, but we have done so much. This is an area we should not shy away from.
“In the area of social interventions, our government has been just marvellous. I can list at least 50 policies and interventions that we have made to reduce suffering of our people. NABCO for the graduate unemployed, 50% of all operators at the toll booths are persons with disability, Ghs2m each for the Presidential Empowerment of Women and Men with Disability, clearance of goods at the port through the paperless system has been made much easier and reduced so much suffering of importers.
“We have managed the exchange rate to an extent that it is the lowest depreciation for the first term of any government in the Fourth Republic. Today drivers who want to get licenses find it very easy. You can easily renew your NHIS on your phone, easily get a passport, students are no longer paying utility bills, no more guarantors for student loans, scholarships have increased by 70%. We have reduced and abolished 15 separate taxes. Even Kayayei have benefited; we have eliminated the daily Ghs1 toll they used to pay.
“We have restored Teacher and Nursing Trainee allowances, and currently there is no backlog of nurses who have finished and are sitting at home, but before they were sitting at home for four years. Today there is no backlog.
“Today if you are pensioner, 10 days after you go on pension, you can start receiving your pension benefits.
“In addition to all of this, you have Free SHS, and Free TVET. These are all policies that we can sit down and enumerate and show how we as a government have reduced suffering. We have not eliminated suffering, it is continuously going to be a work in progress, but we can say with all confidence that we have done the best with the resources at hand, to reduce the suffering.
Facts
“In your discourses in Parliament and outside of Parliament, you should not only be interested in having your way. Your way should be based on facts. The minority is entitled to their opinion but they are not and cannot be entitled to their own facts.
“With the right set of facts, you are expected to challenge the NDC’s propaganda and educate Ghanaians on NPP’s sterling economic performance to an end of establishing, as a matter of fact, that the NPP administration has managed the economy better.” It is important, Dr Bawumia emphasised, to delineate the clear difference between the NPP and the opposition in the area of governance and the management of the economy.
“We have carved a niche and reputation as a political tradition with ideas for the development of the country. The expectations of objective Ghanaians of the NPP are totally different from their expectations of the NDC. It falls back on the Majority Caucus and the Executive to carry Ghanaians along,” he stressed
Director of Elections for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and a former Minister, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah has slammed president Nana Akufo-Addo over the hardship Ghanaians are going through under his watch.
He said on #tonTonSansan on TV XYZ that President Akufo-Addo is “acting as though he’s living in a fool’s paradise” for disputing that there is no hardship in the country.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has accused former president John Mahama of fueling a perception of hardship in the country with his ‘thank you’ tour.
Director of Communication for the NPP, Yaw Buaben Asamoa, made the assertion at a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Accra on Friday, August 20, 2021, adding that the country is in a good state.
The former Adentan MP noted that President Akufo-Addo was working hard to increase productivity and improve livelihoods.
“We are not frightened of John Mahama, we know he cannot manage the economy, so we can’t let him poison your minds because if you’re sitting your somewhere and they keep telling you ‘oh it is bad, Ghana is hard, there is corruption, Ghana is hard’. Then sometimes, you think it’s true,” Asamoa stated.
However, Afriyie Ankrah who said he is being bombarded with requests for financial assistance disagreed with the NPP, saying the defenders of the government get “free money and fuel” so they don’t feel “the heat” like the average Ghanaian.
“The majority of Ghanaians cannot buy petrol. Look, we politicians who are well known and like to help people get requests every day. The requests have gone up a thousand folds; sometimes someone calls you and begs for 20 cedis to be able to cater for his wife and children. People are really suffering,” he told host Prince Minkah.
He continued, “People cannot pay for their wards’ fees, their rent, people are suffering only for the president to speak like this. It is unfortunate because he has free money to enjoy with his family.”
Afriyie Ankrah said, unlike the numerous promises the NPP-led Akufo-Addo made to Ghanaians, life has become unbearable for most Ghanaians as joblessness heightens while the president and his cohorts controlling affairs of the country live lavish lives.
Agitations
Agitations are soaring among labour unions as president Nana Akufo-Addo comes under fire for the low base pay increments for public sector workers for 2021 and 2022.
The 4% increment of the National Daily Minimum Wage to ¢12.53, which is a 6% increment on the 2020 figure of ¢11.82.
President Nana Akufo-Addo won a second term with only a small majority in parliament. His government has since been under pressure as the country struggles with economic troubles and heightening the cost of living worsened by the coronavirus pandemic.
Barely a month after he was sworn in, the government slapped Ghanaians with new taxes that have affected the cost of basic services and food, triggering youth agitations in the relatively peaceful country.
Several thousands of youth rallying behind an online protest, the #FixTheCountry campaign, hit the streets of Accra to embark on their much-talked-about protest.
The protesters, who had started piling pressure on the government over what they describe as bad governance, finally had the opportunity to march and express their dissatisfaction after the police that was blocking the march gave them permission to protest.
The group says the protest was staged to put pressure on the government to address the country’s numerous challenges, including youth unemployment and the rising cost of living in the country.
Recently, the group held a press conference calling for one million signatures to cast a vote of no confidence in the country’s 1992 constitution
The Central regional police command has, througha Special Police Operation carried out by the Formed Police Unit (FPU) together with personnel from the Central East Regional Command on Friday, 27 August 2021,arrested 14 herdsmen suspected to have been involved in the alleged gang-raping of a 13-year-old girl atGomoa Adzintem.
The police said in a statement on Saturday, 28 August 2021 that arrests form part of “a manhunt for suspected herdsmen alleged to have defiled a 13-year-old girl at Gomoa Adzintem in the Central Region.”
Two single-barreled and two pump-action guns, as well as 49 AA ammunition, were also retrieved from the suspects, the police noted, adding that an “identification parade will be conducted in the community to identify the real suspects in the dastardly act on the teenager to face justice.”
The girl also suffered cutlass wounds for resisting the rape.
The father of the girl also suffered cutlass wounds and is currently on admission at the Winneba Trauma and Specialist Hospital.
The incident has sparked outrage among some youth of the town who have threatened to avenge the teenage victim.
They have planned reprisal attacks on the herdsmen and their cattle the next time they come grazing.
The chief of Gomoa Adzintem, Nana Obrempong Essel Andoh, is rallying the chiefs in Gomoa to wage a war against Fulani herdsmen who he says are causing harm to innocent farmers
At least two persons sustained injuries during clashes between two rival groups of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Suhum Constituency of the Eastern Region.
Bernard Kwasi Amoani, 51, sustained a deep cutlass injury in the head in the melee. He is on admission at the Suhum Government Hospital while Alexander Odei who suffered a minor injury on the upper lip has been treated and discharged.
The chaos was triggered when Frank Asiedu Bekoe, popularly known as Protozoa eyeing to unseat the incumbent Member of Parliament Boafo Kwadwo Asante, and some party communicators and Serial Callers attended the funeral of the late father of one of the communicators identified as Opare on Saturday, August 28, 2021. While at the funeral, the Member of Parliament and his entourage led by the Constituency chairman Frederick Ofosu also arrived.
Tension began to build up when followers of the MP allegedly started casting aspersions on Protozoa and his group and even blocked them from greeting the MP.
Mr Odei popularly known as Big Deal took the microphone to announce that they were leaving for other engagements but wanted to place on record that they have been prevented from greeting the MP.Video Player00:0000:00
This did not sit well with supporters of the MP who attacked him sparking the free for all fight. The driver of the MP Jamalo allegedly pulled a cutlass and inflicted a wound on the head of his victim.
“When we went the MP and his entourage came and met us the serial callers and Protozoa at the funeral so the MP thought it is Protozoa who brought us there so he blocked us from greeting him. So one guy by the name Big Deal went to take the microphone to announce that we are leaving for another engagement but placing on record that the spokesperson for the MP says the MP doesn’t recognize us so if the mourners did no see us greeting the MP it wasn’t deliberate. So Hannah went to forcibly take the Mic from him subsequently Nana Obo went to slap him which the Communication officer from Asamankese attempted to separate them and bring calm but was he hacked,” an eyewitness said.
Later in the day, Charles Gyasi, Suhum Constituency Youth Organizer accompanied by Martin Odei and Ernest Lartey, all executive members of Suhum Constituency New Patriotic Party went to the Suhum Police station to report the incident.
Police together with complainants proceeded to Suhum Government Hospital where victim Kwasi Amoani was seen at the Emergency ward under stable condition responding to treatment.
Police medical forms were prepared and issued to victims to be endorsed.
The Public Relations Officer of the Eastern Regional Police Command DSP Ebenezer Tetteh confirmed the incident when contacted.
He said Suhum Police command is Investigating it to bring the culprits to book
• #FixTheCountry Convener, Efia Odo has revealed that her life was threatened on several occasions
• She said that the threats caused her to give up on the protest
• #FixTheCountry street protest came off on August 4, 2021
Actress Efia Odo after weeks has broken her silence on why she failed to turn up for the much-anticipated #FixTheCountry protest which came off on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, in Accra.
Efia who was a Convenor of the #FixTheCountry campaign which demanded accountability and better management of the country from the ruling New Patriotic Party under the leadership of President Nana Ado Dankwa Akufo-Addo played a key role in spreading the needs of the people and also mobilizing citizens to join the protest which started online with the use of the hashtag “FixTheCountry”.
However, most people were disappointed when the actress announced a break from social media ahead of the street protest with the explanation that she was prioritizing her mental health.null
“I will like to this time to let you know that I am going on a hiatus. My mental health is at stake at the moment,” she wrote in a tweet back in July.
She has finally revealed reasons for her failure to continue the worthy course. Efia Odo has alleged that she was “threatened on numerous occasions” to stop the campaign.
In a tweet sighted by GhanaWeb on August 27, she wrote: “My life was threatened on numerous occasions and my mother begged and cried for me to not go.”
Efia Odo failed to represent at the street protest which faced stiff opposition from the Ghana Police Service who placed an injunction on the demonstration using COVID-19 induced restrictions to halt the street protest which was initially slated for June 14.
The FixTheCountry Convenor further added that her mother who was afraid that persons behind those threats could harm her daughter begged her to give up on the fight.null
“She told me Ghana was not worth dying for but I can in my own way make a change,” Efia Odo added.
She however did not name the persons behind those threats.
Police in the Central Region have through a Special Police Operation by its Formed Police Unit arrested 14 herdsmen in connection with an alleged defilement of a 13-year-old girl at Gomoa Adzintem.
Police have arrested 14 herdsmen in connection with the alleged defilement of a 13-year-old girl at Gomoa Adzintem in the Central Region.
They were arrested in a Special Police Operation carried out by the Formed Police Unit (FPU) together with personnel from the Central East Regional Command on Friday, August 27, 2021.
The police made this known in a press statement issued today, Saturday, August 28, 2021.
“14 herdsmen have been arrested in a Special Police Operation carried out by the Formed Police Unit (FPU) together with personnel from Central East Regional Command in a manhunt for suspected herdsmen alleged to have defiled a 13-year-old girl at Gomoa Adzintem in the Central Region.”
Some weapons including 2 single barrel and 2 pump action guns and 49 AA ammunition were also retrieved in the operation.
Police in the statement said an “identification parade will be conducted in the community to identify the real suspects in the dastardly act on the teenager to face justice.”
About the rape
The 13-year-old was allegedly gang raped on Friday by persons believed to be herdsmen.
She suffered cutlass wounds after she initially resisted her attackers.
The father of the girl who also suffered cutlass wounds is currently on admission at the Winneba Trauma and Specialist Hospital.
Residents say they suspect some herdsmen may have committed the crime.
The incident has sparked rage among some youth of the town who have threatened to fight back if the herdsmen visit the area with their cattle to graze.
The Presidential Vaccine Manufacturing Committee established by President Akufo-Addo to spearhead the local production of COVID-19 vaccines in Ghana says it is targeting the local production of COVID-19 vaccines in Ghana within the next two years.
Addressing a meeting with the press as part of stakeholder consultation towards the production of COVID-19 vaccines in Ghana on Friday the 27th of August 2021, Dr Anarfi Asamoah Baah, co-ordinator of Ghana’s Coronavirus Response Programme and member of the Presidential Committee for Vaccine Manufacturing, said the Committee’s work so far indicates that the target is achievable.
Dr. Asamoah Baah explained further that there are two major issues that the state is aiming to resolve in terms of vaccine production in the country. The first is the ability to produce existing COVID-19 vaccines that are already in use in the world and secondly, investing into research to be able to develop vaccines for future pandemics and diseases.
“There are already known vaccines like Astra Zeneca, like Pfizer, the testing has been done, the research has been done, the vaccine is in use and we want to be able to copy it in Ghana. In order to do that, you need government intervention to facilitate discussion between the original owners so that the private sector can be allowed to copy”.
“The second problem we are trying to address is more for the future… how do we develop the capacity to do our own research, discover our own vaccines for future diseases. Those are two different situations and that is what the research institutions need to be supported on a sustained basis for a number of years,” Dr Asamoah Baah said.
Presidential Adviser on Health
Corroborating the assertions of Dr Asamoah Baah, the Presidential Adviser on Health and also a member of the Presidential Committee for Vaccine Manufacturing, Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare noted that the next two years, the target is to build capacity to enable the production of already existing vaccines on the market.
He explained further that thus far, three private pharmaceutical organizations, Ernest Chemist, Dan Adams and Kinapharma (DEK) have initiated processes towards the procurement of COVID-19 vaccine production equipment and the government is offering them all the support necessary for same.
National Vaccine Institute
Professor William Ampofo, Head of Virology Department of Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research and secretary to the Presidential Committee on Vaccine Production in Ghana, on his part, said that due to the complex nature of vaccine production, a National Vaccine Institute would be the country’s best bet to support the plan to achieve local COVID-19 production within the next two years.
“The permanent secretariat will enable the coordinating with various existing ministries, departments and agencies in harmonizing what we already have to enable us to have a better system to establish vaccine manufacturing,” Professor Ampofo said.
The Committee
President Akufo-Addo, in his 24th COVID-19 address to the nation on Sunday, February 28, 2021, announced the formation of the Vaccine Production Committee. In the address, the President stated his vision of ensuring that we produce COVID-19 vaccines locally in Ghana.
“I want to reiterate my determination that we should manufacture vaccines here in Ghana. To this end, a committee has been established under the chairmanship of the former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, the world-renowned scientist, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, which is formulating a concrete plan of action towards vaccine development and manufacturing,” the President said in his speech
A reporter with Muslim TV (MTA International) Taalay Ahmed has been killed by suspected robbers on the Tamale-Buipe road.
A Police statement said the reporter and another victim were traveling in a Toyota Hiace vehicle with registration number GT 7405- 16 when they were attacked between Mpaha Junction and Sarikyekura on the Buipe-Tamale Highway on Monday.
“On reaching a section of the road at Sarikyekura, a number of armed men suddenly emerged from the bush and opened fire at the vehicle, deflating some of the vehicle’s tyres in the process and forcing the vehicle to stop. Some of the bullets penetrated the vehicle and hit the two, who sustained gunshot wounds in the process. The armed men then robbed them of their mobile phones and unspecified amount of money and fled,” the police said.
The reporter and the other victim Omaru Abdul Hakim were rushed to the Buipe polyclinic but were rushed to the Tamale Teaching Hospital where he was confirmed dead.
The Police say petrol team has been dispatched to the area while investigations continue.
MTA International paid tribute to the journalist saying “most devoted and sincere member of our MTA News team…. lost his life whilst travelling abroad in Ghana on duty in the service of Islam.”
MTA International (or MTA), formerly known as Ahmadiyya Muslim Presentation, is a globally-broadcasting, nonprofitsatellitetelevision network and a division of Al-Shirkatul Islamiyyah[1] which was established in 1992 and launched the world’s first Islamic TV channel to broadcasting globally. It consists of nine international channels that are run and funded entirely from donations by the members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
The two persons who were arrested by the police for operating an eatery on the pavement of the newly constructed Pokuase Interchange have been fined by a court in Accra.
The two, 60-year-old Kwame Addo, and his daughter, Comfort Dartey, 32, were fined GH¢300 and GH¢120 respectively.
Public Relations Officer of the Accra Regional Police Command, DSP Juliana Obeng, confirmed the development.
“Comfort Dartey and the father Kwame Addo were taken to court yesterday [Thursday] and the court has fined them. The father faces a fine of GH¢300 and the daughter paid an amount of GH¢120 and signed a bond of good behaviour,” she said.
• The ruling NPP is getting away with lots of corrupt deals, says Sammy Gyamfi
• That is the more reason why former president John Dramani Mahama will return in 2024 to probe such deals
• Mahama has himself alluded to the NPP wanting to stay in office to escape accountability
Communications Director of the main opposition National Democratic Congress, NDC, has stressed why it is important for former president John Dramani Mahama to win the presidency when next polls are held.
According to Gyamfi, a core reason will be to hold the ruling New Patriotic Party, NPP, to account for acts of corruption under president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
“If president Mahama doesn’t come, how are we going to get our monies back? These are millions of monies that could have been used to create jobs, build schools, provide potable water and roads.
“The reason why you are not getting your roads fixed is because the money is being spent on corrupt deals. So president Mahama wants us to hold these people accountable. He wants us to be able to make sure refunds are made to the state,” Gyamfi submitted on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme on Friday, August 27.
He listed a number of cases which prove that the fight against corruptiuon had all but been lost under Akufo-Addo.
Among others, the PDS deal, Agyapa deal, the BOST fuel scandal, disappearance of 500 excavators seized from galamsey sites and Ameri renegotiation.
“President Akufo-Addo has demonstrated that he can’t fight corruption…this is not a president who can fight corruption, the corruption fight has been lost,” he stressed.
He also challenged the NPP to prove any of the allegations of corruption they leveled against John Dramani Mahama in the lead up to the 2016 elections.
Sammy Gyamfi said the government had failed five years on to prove even one of the numerous corruption claims their threw at Mahama and or any frontline NDC politician.
Mahama during his ‘Thank You’ tour of the northern regions has made similar pronouncements that when he return he will probe corrupt deals appealing for Ghanaians not to fall for the NPP’s push to stay beyond 2024.
Without any evidence backing his claim, Adorye bragged on Net2 TV that he has information to the effect that now President Akufo-Addo offered John Mahama financial assistance in the past.
According to him, former President Kufuor is aware of this and was shocked when he first spoke about it.
Adorye was reacting to corruption allegations levelled against President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo by some members of the National Democratic Congress.null
He said President Akufo-Addo is a ‘self-made’ politician who would not siphon public funds for personal use.
“They should ask John Mahama about the person who funded his masters in Russia. You have no idea. When former President Mahama was going to undertake a masters course in Russia, Akufo-Addo gave him money. First time I said this, former President Kufuor was surprised and asked where I got the information. I told him, we know everything. He was shocked. They should ask him.
“The man (Akufo-Addo) is self-made. This is someone who had three family members in the ‘Big Six’ so what can you show him? They are the ones who contributed to bring Nkrumah to serve as General Secretary of the UGCC,” he said.
These allegations were however rubbished by Edudzi Tamakloe, who is an aide to former president John Mahama.
In a Facebook post, Edudzi called out Adorye for spreading falsehood on national television. “Hopeson Adorye stop the lies. In the 1980s that JM studied, Akufo Addo was not in position to pay the fees of JM. You are growing, stop it,”.
But Adoryea kept on insisting that Mahama indeed benefitted from Akufo-Addo generosity with a call on Edudzi to ‘ask JM.’
• The EC is has received electoral reform proposals of the NDC
• Asiedu Nketia says the first to receive the report was the Commission
• He dismissed reports that the EC had directed the NDC to submit their proposals to IPAC
Johnson Asiedu Nketia, General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has expressed surprise at media reports that the Electoral Commission had directed them to submit electoral reform proposals to the Interparty Advisory Comittee, IPAC.
According to him, the EC was the first body the NDC presented its reform proposals to and that their communication was duly acknowleged.
Reports have emerged recently that the Jean Mensa-led body had directed the NDC to deal with IPAC relative to reform proposals it arrived at after a review of the 2020 elections.null
“They (EC) are the first people we sent the reforms to. All the others are copies we are giving to other stakeholders. So, we have given it to EC and they have responded.
“I get surprised at times about some responses I am hearing in the media which are different from the response we received from the EC.
“Either the media is creating responses for the Commission or the Commission is writing to us, saying one thing and granting interviews saying a different thing,” Asiedu Nketia said on Joy FM.
He added: “They (EC) wrote to us. They acknowledged receipt of our reforms and thanked us and assured us they will be looking at those proposals. Then later we heard the media saying that the EC says NDC should send the reforms to IPAC,” he wondered.
He explained further that there was technically no difference between the EC and IPAC, even though the NDC has refused to deal with the latter.
“If you want to differentiate the Electoral Commission from IPAC, what are you talking about? IPAC is a meeting that is called by Electoral Commission and they set the agenda.
“So it is a document that they are in possession of and having read it and determined that it is worthy of some discussion, then they will call a meeting and put it on the agenda.
“So there is no difference between sending proposals to IPAC and sending proposals to Electoral Commission,” Mr Nketia explained.
The NDC’s flagbearer in the 2020 elections, John Dramani Mahama in commenting on the issue during his recent ‘Thank You’ tour in the northern regions, said reports of EC directing NDC to IPAC, was ‘very absurd.’
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, one of the two members of Parliament who have petitioned the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) over the 2020 general elections has described the event as the ‘bloodiest’ in the history of Ghana.
Okudzeto Ablakwa observed that as far as elections are concerned in the country, the 2020 elections claimed the most lives and left several others injured.
Ablakwa revealed the reason for the petition which he filed along with the Member of Parliament for Ellembele Constituency, Emmanuel Kofi Armah Buah.
The North Tongu MP emphasized that it is important the perpetrators of deadly violence across the country are made to face punishment for their actions.
In a Citi FM interview on Thursday, August 26, 2021, Okudzeto said: “the 2020 elections is the bloodiest we’ve had and we believe people must be punished for their actions.”
On Okay FM a day later, Okudzeto Ablakwa made the same argument and gave further details about some of the victims.
“What happened in the 2020 elections has never happened before.. Never in our election has as many as seven people been killed. As we speak there are dozen others who have suffered life changing injuries. In other words, some of the people who were shot but didn’t die have gone through life threatening injuries. Just last week I spoke to one of them, his left arm does not function anymore. A lot of these people are people whose life have been altered permanently by the shooting,” he said.
The petition by Ablakwa and Armah Buah is restricted to the Techiman South, Odododiodio, Ablekuma Central, and Savelugu constituencies in the Bono East, Greater Accra, and Northern Regions respectively.
“The complainants herein bring this matter before the Commission based on the Commission’s legal mandate to investigate the conduct of the security officers complained about in the instant petition in a timeous manner for justice to prevail for the victims and their families,” parts of the petition read.
They are seeking three reliefs which are: “investigations into the matters complained about, compensation to victims or families of victims and disciplinary action and prosecution.”
The youth wing of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has declared a day of reckoning for offending public officials under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.
The National Youth Organizer of the NDC, George Opare Addo (Pablo) says these public officials cannot escape punishment forever for their various crimes committed against Ghanaians.
His pledge to these public officials under the NPP, comes on the back of an interview granted by the Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture and MP for Awutu Senya East, Mavis Hawa Koomson.
In the said interview, Hawa Koomson who was under investigation for firing shots at a voter registration centre in her constituency on Monday (July 20, 2020) “to protect herself” claimed the police had dropped investigations into the matter because they (police) had inadequate evidence.
Pablo reacting to the Minister’s revelation was surprised at the outcome of events, and alleged that the government of the day had developed the habit of offering absolution to party members who commit crime. “And now every member of the NPP commits crime with impunity.”
He believes Ghana has 2 different set of laws applicable to 2 different groups of people. “When you are an NPP member, you have a different set of laws applicable to you than the ordinary Ghanaian.” To her, Hawa Koomson’s recent revelation proves the above.
According to him, Hawa Koomson’s case became a ‘foolish case’ after the CID officer in charge of the investigations was transferred. To him, Hawa Koomson’s charges have been dropped not because she is not guilty but because she is a member of the NPP. “She admitted to the media she fired the shots so I don’t know the evidence the police wanted again.”
He indicated that a lot of unruly things have gone on under the NPP administration, including the Ayawaso Wuogon violence, which the government issued a white paper on. “The white paper claimed no offence was committed during the by-election when recommendations from the Commission of enquiry said otherwise.
The politician warning members of the ruling party to behave with decorum stated, “A day will come where there will be a new sheriff in town and he will investigate these issues. A day of reckoning will come and we will make sure people who feel insulated under the NPP administration will answer for their crimes. This is not a case of an eye for an eye but justice.”
Political aide for the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Nana Kofi Ntiamoah refuted the position of Pablo saying, “Hawa Koomson never said she has been exonerated. She said she has not heard from the CID headquarters for a while now and thinks the case must’ve been discontinued.”
He insisted that the police has not made any such notification of the case being dropped to the Minister. She is a citizen of Ghana and she will respect the police’s investigation if requested. Until such a time, she will keep serving Ghana.”
Former NDC Central Regional Chairman, Bernard Allotey Jacobs, has complimented Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah following his vindication from a bribery scandal.
The Chief Justice was accused by a private legal practitioner, Kwasi Afrifa of demanding a $5 million bribe to deliver a favourable judgment in a case involving his client.
Due to this allegation, a Civil Soceity Organization, Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo to remove the Chief Justice from office but the President, after studying a report on the case, resolved that the petition is ”unmeritorious and unwarranted”.
It is “devoid of any basis warranting the setting up of a committee under Article 146 (6) to undertake the very serious business of removing a Chief Justice from office”.
“. . the Supreme Court in interpreting article 146 (6) had in mind unmeritorious and unwarranted petitions such as the instant one. The petition is dismissed accordingly,” the President said in an official statement dated August 20, 2021.null
Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah has also denied the allegation and called on the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service to investigate the matter.
It is also reported that Lawyer Kwasi Afrifa’s client (a Chief) has refuted the lawyer’s claims saying he (the client) never accused the Chief Justice of asking for money to deliver a judgement in his favour.
Making his submissions on the matter, Allotey Jacobs described the Chief Justice as a ”Deputy Christ”.
He believed for the Chief Justice ”to be risen to a certain level in society, especially leadership in a country” means he is ”anointed by God. God then has declared how your destiny should be, so a person like this is a Deputy Christ. The law is vested in him”.
• Bernard Okoe-Boye says government did not pay $6million to Sir David Adjaye
• He said the amount indicated on the budget review represents a number of payments made to different contractors
• He listed some of the processes and institutions that worked on the design
Bernard Okoe-Boye, the former deputy minister of Health has clarified processes that led to the issuance of the $6 million contracts for design works on the Agenda 111 project.
Bright Simons, the honorary Vice President of IMANI Africa alleged in a social media post that government paid Adjaye Associates, $6 million to design all the 111 hospitals.
“Following the protest by some Ghanaian architects about the hiring of David Adjaye to design 111 clinics for Ghana Govt, I took a quick look. The $6 million for the designs came from COVID funds. I also learnt that masks; sanitisers for students 2 stay in sch cost the Govt $100m,” he tweeted on August 26, 2021.
Explaining what he believes led to the above-quoted figure, Bernard Okoe-Boye highlighted the various processes that resulted in the final design.null
He disclosed that these processes at every stage required payment as the contractors were offered certain amount of monies for work done.
In a detailed explanation on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana on Thursday, August 26, 2021, Okoe-Boye who was armed with a document from the Ministry of Health mentioned some of the stages the project went through which contributed to the final figure.
“If a cheque was written, not all the money went to David Adjaye for the design. There are quite a number of activities that went into it. We have the project consultant, the topographical survey and geotechnical investigations. This is part of the pre-contract services.
“There were visits to 88 sites across Ghana, preliminary designs completed and approved by the Ministry of Health, detailed design and specifications. Price bill of quantities, conditions of contract, project implementation manual, among others,” he said.
Okoe-Boye appealed to the institutions which were engaged by government on the project to come out and clear the mischief around it.
“We have people who want to do propaganda so all those who have been engaged in these duties must come and speak to the public,” he said.
Paramount Chief of the New Juaben Traditional Area, Daasebre Oti Boateng has passed on at 83.
The New Juaben Traditional Area in the Eastern Region is in a state of mourning after reports of the death of its paramount chief, Daasebre Professor Emeritus Oti Boateng, hit the township.
The 83-year-old revered traditional ruler, according to the Daily Graphic, died about two weeks ago after a short illness.
Although we cannot independently confirm, the state newspaper said multiple sources in the palace and also the family, who confirmed the sad news, said the New Juaben Traditional Council was expected to officially announce the death today.
“A visit to the palace yesterday showed the place was very quiet, with no activity at all. Although some traditional leaders were sighted within the palace, visitors were, however, not allowed to enter,” the newspaper reported.
Internationally acclaimed
The late Daasebre Oti Boateng was not only a distinguished traditional ruler but also an academician and internationally recognised statistician who worked at various times with the United Nations and other international organisations.
One of the key crusades he launched in recent times was the Root-Based Model (RBM), an innovative development model to reduce poverty and inequality in Ghana and on the African continent.
He wrote a book to support his internationally acclaimed and award-winning development model.
Also, he offered key support to the Graphic-Zoomlion National Sanitation Project when it was launched in the Eastern Regional capital, Koforidua, last July.
The Omanhene was the chairman during the Sanitation Dialogue, at which he underscored the need for inclusiveness in the national bid to make the country clean.
At the event, Daasebre called for a change in attitude towards environmental sanitation by stressing the need for people to always keep their surroundings tidy.
“Also, there is the need for a continuous campaign on proper sanitation practices to drum home the consequences of filth on the health of the people. There must be a sustainable social intervention on sanitation by the government as well,” he emphasised.
Traditional rule
Daasebre Oti Boateng acceded the New Juaben Stool in 1992, succeeding his elder brother, the late Daasebre Nana Kwaku Boateng II.
There were plans to launch the celebration of his 30th anniversary on the stool next year.
He was a member of the Yiadom-Hwedie Royal Family of Juaben, Ashanti, and New Juaben. His mother was the queenmother of Juaben in Ashanti.
As a traditional ruler, Daasebre Oti Boateng strengthened the New Juaben Traditional Council as a local institution for the prosperity of the people.
He institutionalised the first traditional festival in post-independence Ghana – the Akwantukese or the Great Migration – which brings into contemporary prominence a missing but critical and major event of Asante history in Ghana.
He was also a former president of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs.
Career
Known in private life as Professor Emeritus Emmanuel Oti Boateng, he was acknowledged as a global authority in statistics and was the recipient of many national and international awards, including a recognition as one of the greatest minds of the 21st century by the American Biographical Institute.
In 1982, he was appointed to the high office of Government Statistician and served with distinction for a record period of nearly 18 years until 2000.
As Government Statistician, he successfully conducted the 1984 population census, amid great challenges of an entire country under military curfew.
In March 1987, he was elected the first African Chairman of the United Nations Statistical Commission and was again elected the first African Chairman of the International Conference of Labour Statisticians at its 15th Session in Geneva in 1993.
From 2003 to 2018, Daasebre served as a United Nations Commissioner on the International Civil Service Commission, representing Africa south of the Sahara.
Academia
As a true academician, Daasebre Prof. Emeritus Oti Boateng authored six books, including Barack Obama- Africa’s Gift to the World and Akwantuse Festival 2017.
His three-volume series: “Development In Unity Volumes I, II, & III”, completed in January 2019, is a compendium of his research works and exploits spanning over four decades written to revolutionise development thoughts and inspire a new generational philosophy of development.
His latest book, Implementing the Root-Based Development, presents a practical implementation plan for his award-winning RBD of development and the results of the first baseline survey conducted under the model in 2020 to ensure sustainable community development.
He has over 100 technical publications to his credit in the areas of population and health, statistics, governance, disaster management, economics and policy issues.
He holds a Bachelor of Science with honours degree in Economics from the University of Ghana, a Master of Science in Statistics from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Before his tertiary education, he attended the Konongo/Odumasi Senior High School for his secondary education
Until his death, he was the Chancellor of the All Nations University in Koforidua.
General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) John Boadu has said that his party has a much better record than the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
He said they do not even compare themselves with the NDC because in his view, the largest opposition party does not have any credible record to compare with.
“The 4th Republic is more mature than mere slogans. The good voters of Ghana expect concrete actions from politicians. That is what the NPP is showing with consistency.
“The 2024 shall be fought and won on records, and not who can insult his opponent the most. No amount of political mudslinging and fact twisting can change the fact of the incompetence of John Mahama and his cohorts.
“We are focused on building a Ghana of opportunities and prosperity for all, and Isha Allahu, we shall get there,” he said at a press conference in Accra on Thursday August 26.
Mr Buadu cautioned the Presidential Candidate of the NDC in last year’s election John Mahama against deceiving the people of this country.null
He accused Mr Mahama of twisting facts in his comments against the Akufo-Addo administration.
Mr Mahama had called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to address the developmental needs of the newly created North East region.
He said this while speaking at a gathering of party executives and supporters at Nalerigu, during his thank you tour.
He explained that infrastructural projects are what makes a region and not just boundaries demarcating regions.
“You cannot just create regions in the name. The regions must be worthy of being called regions. And it is the infrastructure that makes a region a region.”null
“If you go to Tamale you will know that this is the Northern Region, if you go to Bolga you know that this is the Upper East Region. If you come to Nalerigu it is a shadow of a region”, adding “we don’t only need the regional boundaries to be re-drawn; we need regional infrastructure so that when you come you will say yes, this is the North East Region.”
But Mr Boadu said “We are really not worried about his distraction because our president is focused on delivering his mandate.
“He has turned his so-called thank you tour into election campaign. Yes he has the right to campaign but he should play by the rules of engagement.
“He has no right to deceive the people of this country by twisting facts.
• Hawa Koomson says the charges against her and some of her ‘boys’ have been dropped
• He says the state could find evidence against her
• She is however yet to retrieve the gun from the police
Mavis Hawa Koomson, the Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture has disclosed that neither herself nor any member of her team is facing punishment for shooting incidents that marred the voter registration exercise in her consitutency.
The MP for Awutu Senya East disclosed on Asempa FM on Wednesday, August 25, 2021 that all the suspects involved in the case have been discharged.
She explained that the police could not adduce evidence to back their charges when the issue went to court hence the decision to drop the case.null
She however explained that the gun that was fired during the altercation is still with the Ghana Police Service.
Hawa Koomson explained that despite the clearance, she is yet to go for the gun due to some formalities which her lawyers are working on.
“I no longer go to the police. Some of my boys used to go to the police but there was no evidence, so they have been discharged. They have not given me my gun yet but my lawyer will go for it. It’s a registered gun and I renew it. The police informed me that the discharge was for lack of evidence. They took me to court but couldn’t show any evidence.”
The youth wing of the National Democratic Congress reacted to this disclosure by Hawa Koomson and warned that a future NDC government will reopen the case.
A statement signed by the National Youth Organizer of the NDC expressed disappointment over the situation.null
“The Youth Wing of the National Democratic Congress has become aware of a media interview on Accra based Asempa Fm on Tuesday, August 24, 2021 by Member of Parliament for Awutu Senya East and Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Hon Mavis Hawa Koomson, of which the Minister boisterously and gleefully revealed that the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service have had to discontinue its case against her for unjustifiably firing gunshots at Steps to Christ Voters Registration Centre on July 20, 2020, for want of evidence.
“The NDC is appalled and scandalized by this brazen abuse of State power by the Akufo Addo/Bawumia government and the Police CID to free a self-confessed trigger happy marauding gangster and her hoodlums.
“It is more worrying when the Minister confessed that after she was invited by the Central Regional CID in July 2020 for questioning, and a supposed docket on the case was forwarded to CID Headquarters in Accra, she never heard of the Police CID until it became clear to her that the Police had no evidence to prosecute her and her brigands,” the statement read in parts.
The introduction of the app forms part of measures being made to make tax compliance and enforcement easier, and increase the contribution of domestic revenue to the nation’s GDP
Ghana will soon have a mobile application for the filing of taxes, the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has revealed.
It is part of measures being made to make tax compliance and enforcement easier, and increase the contribution of domestic revenue to the nation’s GDP.
“I am happy to announce that the mobile application for the simplified filing of taxes should be ready by end of October this year. The idea is to have a mobile app where an individual or enterprise will have to input just a few pieces of information and tax due will be automatically calculated for you and you can pay on your phone and receive a receipt immediately,” Bawumia said at the launch of the Revenue Assurance and Compliance Enforcement (RACE) Initiative.
RACE is designed to increase domestic revenue mobilisation in order to address the economic challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and make Ghana more fiscally independent.
A recent study by the World Bank (November 2020) has shed more light on the startling gap between what is due the public purse and what is actually collected, with the total corporate tax gap equivalent to between 9.4 percent and 12.6 percent of GDP (approximately between GHC35.7billion – GHC47.88billion); VAT compliance gap of 39.3 percent of total VAT revenue; Import duty tax gap of 32.5 percent of tax revenue; and potential tax revenues from sole proprietors, who usually operate in the informal sector, amounting to 12.6% of GDP.
“We need to remind ourselves that government’s ability to extend much-needed support to Ghanaians during this pandemic owes a lot to the prudent management of the economy in the three years leading to the pandemic. And government’s ability to continue with some of the social interventions and much needed support to the private sector depends on our ability to accelerate our domestic revenue mobilisation.
“The unfortunate reality is that our progress in domestic revenue mobilization could be better than what we have now. The reasons: the commitment to paying taxes is low. Some tax laws are complex and do not encourage compliance. There is also a school of thought that those who must enforce compliance are not without blame. Our challenges are in enforcement and compliance.”
Government, he stressed, will continue to take proactive measures to broaden the tax base and make it easier for individuals and businesses to fulfil their obligations without major stress.
“We have addressed the issue of the narrow tax base by making the Ghanacard number the TIN. This has increased the percentage of the adult population with a TIN from 4% in 2016 to 86% today. The question that we have is how to convert this 86% into actual tax payers.
“A simplified flat tax payment system will provide the basis of data building at the ground level as the first step to formalizing the large segment of the informal economy. It will surely increase compliance and reduce the perception of heavy handedness in enforcement,” Bawumia said
A 25 years old man has been convicted for 10 years for defiling a 10 years old boy.
The Yendi Circuit Court has sentenced a 25-year-old man, Neindow Sulemana, a farmer to 10 years imprisonment for defiling a 10-year-old girl.
The accused is a farmer at Kpisinga in the Gushegu District.
According to the facts of the case, on the 19th of August, 2021, the victim, who is a primary four pupil staying with the complainant Alhassan Abdul Rashid, a businessman in Kpisinga, decided to visit her parents in the same village.
When she got to the parent’s house, she met their absence and the suspect came in and requested for water to take medicine.
That the victim offered him the water, after drinking, he held the hand of the victim and dragged her into the bathroom where he defiled her.
The victim later reported the incident to the complainant who reported to the police.
The suspect was subsequently arrested and during interrogations by the police, he admitted the act and pleaded for mercy.
The Presiding Judge after hearing the case, demanded to see the victim.
Today, Wednesday, August 25, 2021, the victim was brought and in-camera with the judge, she narrated the incident which confirmed the facts.
The Judge, His highness William Appiah Twumasi, sentenced the accused to 10 years imprisonment.
He said the sentencing would serve as a deterrent to others.
A senior lecturer at the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, Dr. Seidu Alidu says the practice of changing the Chair of the Electoral Commissioner whenever there is a change in government is unhealthy for Ghana’s democracy.
Dr. Alidu who adds to the increasing voices of people calling for a review of entrenched provisions of the constitution says best practices indicate that some countries subject the EC appointment to voting or parliamentary approval.
His comment follows calls by the opposition National Democratic Congress, (NDC) that the appointment of the EC Chair should be subjected to prior parliamentary approval.
This proposal was part of a litany of proposals the NDC made to the Election Management Body. The party said the current mode of appointment makes the EC appear partisan.
According to Dr. Alidu, although there is the tendency for individuals appointed by the president to shift loyalty to the appointing authority, deepening the mistrust by the other political parties but at the same time some appointed individuals have proven to be a tough nut to crack.
Citing examples to buttress why the changing of the EC Chair amid a change in government may not be necessary, Dr. Alidu said “I think we are all rational human beings so it stands to reason that and is not saying the heads of EMB are not intelligent or can’t reason.
We know people who were appointed by the government and they defied the government like Martin Amidu but there is also the tendency that you may have people who don’t have the strong will to wear the shoes of Martin Amidu so human beings come in different packages.”
He told the host of the Sunrise morning show, Alfred Ocansey on 3FM 92.7 on Wednesday.
In his view, there must be a third way to guarantee the independence and neutrality of these officeholders so that the president is not directly involved in the appointment of the EC chair.
He is also said the opposition parties make brilliant recommendations once in opposition but when they are in power they sing a different chorus.
“Once he is in opposition he sees that most of the provisions do not inure to his benefit and he calls for reforms once he gets to power he keeps quiet over it and the one who was in power and kept quiet over it he starts to make quiet in opposition.
He said the development points to the fact that the political parties have their own personal interest and not the citizens.
The General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party(NPP), John Boadu, has appealed to members of the party and the general public to exercise patience as the list of MMDCEs will soon be released.
In a one-on-one interview with Omanhene Kwabena Asante on Adom TV’s Badwam show, the General Secretary assured Ghanaians who have been asking about the list of MMDCEs to expect it after the return of the President from his Germany trip.
“The list of MMDCEs will be released within a week after President Akufo-Addo’s return from his Germany trip. I can tell you that it will not take more than a week for the list to be released after his return on August 28, 2021,” Mr. Boadu indicated.
He also intimidated that but for him, MMDCEs should have been elected by the electorate as the President had wanted but for the last-minute betrayal of the opposition NDC.
Many Ghanaians have been asking questions about the delay in the release of the MMDCEs by the President.
Mr. John Boadu, by this statement, puts the anxieties of the general public to rest with this assurance that the President, within a week after his return home, will have the list announced.
Political pundit Ben Ephson has wondered whether the vetting and prior approval of the Electoral Commission Chair by parliament, as proposed by the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), as one of its plethora of electoral reform recommendations, will be the thing that ensures the EC Chair is not biased or partisan.
The proposals were compiled by a team of experts in the NDC, led by former Chief of Staff Nana Ato Dadzie and Local Government expert Professor Kwamena Ahwoi.
The recommendations were presented at a stakeholder forum held by the party.
The proposed electoral reforms, according to the party, require action by the executive, legislature and bodies other than the EC. Arguing for the prior parliamentary approval of EC Chair, the NDC said the EC’s critical requirements include independence, neutrality, credibility, transparency and competence and the perception of these requirements, and, therefore, the current mode of appointment “makes the EC appear partisan”, adding: “Representatives of the people must have a hand in their appointment”.
Justifying the proposal, the NDC argued that if the appointment of Supreme Court Justices with similar critical requirements involve prior parliamentary approval, then the appointment of EC Commissioners must not be any different.
The NDC said the Constitution Review Commission (CRC), of which the current EC Chairperson was a member, recommended prior parliamentary approval for the appointment of EC commissioners.
The government White Paper on the CRC Report, the NDC recalled, accepted the recommendation of prior parliamentary approval. Speaking to Kwame Appiah Kubi on Accra100.5FM’s morning show about the proposal, however, the Managing Editor of the Daily Dispatch said: “If it’s not broken, you don’t fix it”.
“How would you know whether or not a person would perform if two-thirds of parliament approves that person?” he asked, adding: “Since 1992, one of the NPP’s major electoral victories was in 2000”, pointing out: “The Electoral Commission Chair at the time was appointed by the NDC”.
Again, he observed: “In 2016, when the NPP won, the Electoral Commission Chair was appointed by the NDC”.
“So, appointing somebody will not necessarily mean that he/she won’t deliver”,e Mr Ephson argued.
In his view, “if the party [NDC] thinks that vetting the EC Chair will satisfy its concerns, well, that is them but I don’t think that parliamentary approval will necessarily ensure the person is a good person”.
Buttressing his argument further, Mr Ephson illustrated: “With the Supreme Court appointments, they do vet them, parliament agrees but we still have people labelling them as Party A or Party B”.
“My problem is that what will the endorsement by parliament [do?]. The endorsement by parliament, is it proof that the EC Chair won’t be biased? I don’t understand the proposal properly”, he told Kwame Appiah Kubi.
The Ghana Police Service has discovered a spot where the suspect in the Abesim murder case buried the intestines of his victims.
A statement to update the public from the police said that they had discovered where Richard Appiah buried parts of the bodies of his victims.
“The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters team investigating the Abesim murder case has yesterday, Tuesday, August 24, 2021, discovered a place where suspect Richard Appiah buried the intestines of one of the murder victims,” the statement read in part.
The statement, signed by ACP Kwesi Ofori, the acting Director-General, Public Affairs, explained further how they had found a sharp cutlass used in the murder, as well as where the body parts were buried.
“The intestines were buried in a cocoa farm at Abesim, which the police have since exhumed for pathological analysis and forensic examination in Accra. The investigation team has also worked around a septic tank and other places of concern for further examinations. Two sharp cutlasses with bloodstains used by the suspect to commit the crime were retrieved from the case,” it continued.
Also, the police say that they are providing psychological support to the families of the affected even as they assure all that the case would be investigated thoroughly.
New Release: Update on Abesim Murder Case
The CID, Headquarters team investigating the Abesim murder case has yesterday, Tuesday, August 24 2021, discovered a place where suspect Richard Appiah buried the intestines of one of the murder victims.
Kindly read more from the attached pic.twitter.com/tH9OSCpRio
— Ghana Police Service (@GhPoliceService) August 25, 2021
Blessed Godsbrain Captain Smart, the host of the Onua TV breakfast show is urging the Minister of Roads, Kwesi Amoako-Atta to reach out to him over some documents in his possession.
On the Tuesday, August 24, 2021 edition of his show, Captain Smart as he is popularly called said that he has found documents belonging to the ministry and urged them to come to the premises of his media house for it.
He also said that he is aware of the Minister’s move about him and encouraged him (Kwesi Amoako-Atta) to call him.
“I hear the Minister of Roads is looking for me, he should call me so that I bring him this. He is looking for me and this is their document so he should call me. This is what is important not irrelevant things,” he said.
Captain Smart then went on to deliver what could be a response to the allegations of fraud levelled against him by one woman which has compelled the Kwesi Amoako Atta to file a petition at the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service pleading an investigation into the claims by the said woman. Captain Smart believes it is an attempt to cow him into silence and warned that the architects will be unsuccessful.
He swore that the no amount of intimidation will silence him and that he’ll continue to speak out on issues which are off public interest.
“Nobody should think that I will ever stop talking. I swear to God, nobody should think that you can ever stop me. I’m scared of myself. It’s my right side which is human but my left I don’t even know what it is. Nobody should think that you’ll be able to stop this man filled with the spirit of Kwame Nkrumah.
“I’ve said it before that I died and resurrected thrice. I know myself better than anyone. Don’t dare joke with me. They’ve tried me spiritually but it never worked and they are now doing it physically but it will never work. No matter what they do, we will put this country on the right path ,“ he said.
Lawyers for the Roads Minister on Monday, August 23, 2021 announced that following the publication of the said audio by Net2 TV, they have written to the CID to probe the issue.
“Our instructions are that about a week or so ago, it was brought to the attention of our Client that his name had been mentioned in connection with an allegation of corruption aired on one FM radio station. Our Client says that he eventually listened to the clip and found that one Captain Smart, a popular radio presenter, is deemed to have collected some money from a woman for the benefit of our Client,” the letter signed by lawyer Francis K. Yeboah read in part.
It added “our client says that he is appalled by the allegation therein which apart from its criminal connotations is also defamatory to the integrity of our Client, a matter that we may deal with at the Civil Court. At this stage, we have been instructed to formally bring to your attention the clip and respectfully pray that you cause a full investigation to be conducted into the allegation contained in the clip not only for the name and the long-standing integrity of our Client to be cleared but also any perpetrator to be dealt with in accordance with law.”
A video making rounds on social media show how some food vendors have invaded parts of the newly constructed Pokuase Interchange.
Concerned citizens on social media have described the scene where a food vendor who sells along the pavement was captured pounding fufu (pounded cassava and plantain) along the Interchange very worrying.
At night, the stretch which was designed to be a walkway is transformed into a food joint where traders come out in their numbers to sell food including fufu.
Ghanaian Journalist, Afia Pokua who expressed disappointment with the development shared the video on her Instagram page with the caption: “Fufu on Pokuase Interchange? A nation that wants Ghana to be fixed but pounds fufu on an interchange. Is there hope for this country?”
In reaction to the post, some concerned Ghanaians have called on city authorities to as a matter of urgency drive away traders who transact business along the Pokuase Interchange.
“Honestly it’s cos all the laws are weak that’s why ……. there should surely be someone or an outfit to arrest and prosecute such people but what do we see? The center cannot hold so all things have fallen apart……, it’s not that in the western world people don’t misbehave…. probably they worse than us but their laws do not spare you in any way if you fall victim that’s why it seems they’re better off in behaviour than us……. if the system isn’t working you should surely see citizens misbehaving…… omg it’s a pity,” Saint Azimarito on Instagram wrote.
Another, Kwame Amoako added: “How can it be fixed, when people will queue and buy, we have a long way to go.”
A third person identified as Mr Tandoh added: “This is what gives them the right to say fix yourself…. Our problem is the fact that we are too subsistent in our thinking so we don’t see the need for order… anything goes. This one it is a common-sense problem… even the people passing by should be able to sack her…. But because we won’t think, we have to criminalise common sense issues.”
A Tribunal constituted under the auspices of the London International Court of Arbitration (LCIA) has issued an award in favour of the Bank of Ghana, dismissing all claims brought by Sibton Switch Systems Limited (“Sibton Switch”) in relation to the termination by the Bank of the Master Agreement for the Ghana Retail Payment Systems Infrastructure in 2017.
The Tribunal also ordered Sibton Switch to make a substantial payment to the Bank in respect of its legal fees and costs of the arbitration.
Facts of the case
On 9 April 2018, Sibton Switch filed a Request for Arbitration with the LCIA against the Bank of Ghana for breaching the master agreement for Ghana Retail Payment Systems Infrastructure entered into by the two parties.
Following the 2016 elections and on the appointment of a new Management of the Bank of Ghana, it became necessary to review the terms of the contract entered into by the previous administration. In reviewing the contract, the new Management of the Bank reached the conclusion that Sibton had neither acquired the licence nor fulfilled the condition precedent for the effectiveness of the rights and obligations of the parties.
The agreement, which dealt with the grant of exclusive rights to Sibton Switch to build, operate and own the Ghana Retail Payment Systems Infrastructure was therefore terminated on the basis that it never came into effect.
The Claimant, Sibton Switch, went to the LCIA seeking relief in the sum of USD478 million from the respondent, Bank of Ghana.
The contract awarded to Sibton Switch, according to the central bank, was one-sided in favour of Sibton Switch and was severely detrimental to the interests of Bank of Ghana.
For example, it noted, the Public Procurement Authority approval for the project provided that the Bank of Ghana’s maximum liability was to be GH¢300,000.
Contrary to this approval, the contract with Sibton Switch provided that the Bank of Ghana had a huge potential liability of USD478 million (GH¢2.6 billion).
In addition, the tender price of Sibton Switch was more than 33 times more expensive than the next most expensive bid.
Following the termination of the contract with Sibton Switch in 2017, the Bank of Ghana’s subsidiary, GhIPSS, was able to deliver mobile payment systems interoperability at a small fraction of the cost, saving the Ghanaian taxpayers billions of cedis.
Arbitration Award issued in favour of the Bank
On 28 July 2021, a panel of three distinguished arbitrators issued an award in favour of the Bank of Ghana in the LCIA arbitration, dismissing all the claims brought by Sibton Switch Systems Limited.
The claims were dismissed due to the failure by Sibton Switch Systems Limited to comply with the orders of the Tribunal including an earlier interim award made by the Tribunal on 25 June 2019 in favour of the Bank of Ghana, which required Sibton Switch to make an interim award payment for the security of costs.
The final award also orders Sibton Switch Systems Limited to pay to the Bank of Ghana in full, its costs of the arbitration, in respect of the Bank of Ghana’s legal fees.
The Bank’s current Governor, Dr Ernest Addison, said that he was pleased with the favourable outcome for the Bank in these proceedings, and for the billions of Ghana cedis saved by the Ghanaian taxpayer as a result
A Zimbabwean lecturer has declined a senior lecturer post at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in the Department of Physiotherapy and Sport Sciences over poor salary.
In a letter declining the offer by the university, Dr Matthew Chiwaridzo stated that the annual salary of Ghc55, 104.05 (USD 760.00 per month) is not comparable to a monthly basic salary of a Lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe (ZWL 1, 293, 708.00 per annum: USD 1.283 per month).
“Please note that I am currently in the Senior Lecturer grade (ZWL 1, 561 248.00 per annum; USD 1.500 per month) at the University of Zimbabwe by virtue of having a doctorate degree specialising in Physiotherapy, 35 publications, 2 awarded grant projects and 7 years of satisfactory teaching, industrialisation, innovation and research experience. It is for this economical reason a.e that I decline the offer of employment at KNUST and will want to explore other opportunities.”
The decision by the Zimbabwean lecturer comes days after the University Teachers Association of Ghana called off their two-week strike over poor conditions of service and the failure of the government to resolve long-standing grievances.
The 2012 conditions of service pegged the Basic plus Market Premium of a lecturer at $2,084.42 but the government has since failed to implement that condition of service for lecturers in the country.
According to the President of UTAG, Professor Charles Marfo, the current arrangement has reduced its members’ basic premiums to $997.84.
He added that the entry-level salary of a lecturer is less than Ghc 2000 while a professor earns less than Ghc 5000 monthly
A woman and her two children have been found dead in a room at Cashland, a suburb of Akyem Ntronang in the Eastern region.
The deceased; Patience Kpezle,38, Mother, Belinda Nyarko,13, and Isaac Nyarko Gafa,11, both children.
The Assemblymember for the Mentukwa Electoral area where the incident occurred Samuel Dodzi reported to the police that, a stench was emitting from a room which they suspected foul play. Police proceeded to the said room which was locked from outside and forced it open.
The woman and her two children were found dead. They are believed to have been allegedly killed on Sunday.
Preliminary Investigation indicates that her husband Emmanuel Kofi Gafa who was with them disappeared from the house on August 22, 2021 and has since not returned.
The Public Relations Officer of the Eastern Regional Police Command, DSP Ebenezer Tetteh confirmed the incident to Starr News.
He said the bodies have been conveyed to the Mamanso Community mortuary while investigation continues.
Ghana is recording worrying cases of uxoricide and grisly murders across the Country.
Kwaku Bonsam has said president Akufo-Addo will not make heaven for lying to the people of Akomadan over the construction of a tomato factory for the indigenes.
Notorious traditionalist and fetish priest, Nana Kwaku Bonsam, has revealed Ghanaian leaders who will go to heaven and those who wouldn’t, aside those there already.
He revealed to Captain Smart on Onua Maakye Wednesday, August 25, 2021, that President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will go to hell, whilst former presidents Kufuor and Mahama will go to heaven, with late John Evans Atta Mills already there.
Quoting from the Bible, Kwaku Bonsam said Akufo-Addo will go to hell because he is a liar. He promised to establish a Tomato Factory for the people of Akomadan and its environs, where he is a resident and contested for the parliamentary seat, but failed to do so.
Reiterating his stance that the Bible says a liar will account for his deeds before God, he noted the promise the president made and refused to honour is what will take him to hell.
During the 2016 electioneering campaign, then candidate Akufo-Addo promised the people of Akomadan a Tomato Factory, as their share of his flagship One District One Factory programme.
But in his first year of his second term in government, the factory they were promised has not seen the light of day, making the fetish priest accord the president as a liar who cannot go to heaven as inscribed in the Bible.
Meanwhile, former president Kufuor, according to the notorious fetish, performed wonderfully as president, which has earned him a place in heaven as well as John Mahama, who also established a lot of infrastructure and did well during his tenure.
On why President Mills is already in heaven, he explained the late “Asomdwe Hene” abhorred corruption, and can’t link him with any promise he made and failed.
When asked if his assertions are stemming from his probable affiliation with the NDC, Kwaku Bonsam said “if I am an NDC, I wouldn’t have erected a huge billboard with Akufo-Addo’s picture and his Free SHS and other achievements on it.”
“I did that to promote him but the MP and MCE came to tell me to pull it down. They threatened me with a suit if I failed to pull the billboard down and I had to oblige because I was afraid,” he added.
General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia has said that the 2020 presidential and parliament elections were the worse elections ever in the history of the fourth republic.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday August 24, Mr Asiedu Nketia said “It is trite knowledge that all is not well with our elections in Ghana.
“It all begun as far back as in 1992, some have got solutions along the way from each passing elections since 1992.
“We thought we were making progress because each election represented an improvement on the previous elections until 2020 came and you will bear with me that 2020 elections has been one of the worse elections we have had in the 4th republic.
“We did our part as a country to resolve some of the problems. We made it known to the whole world that we are accepting to work with the outcomes of the court processes not because we think there has been justice.
“But we think we have to save the democracy and improve upon what we have.”
The NDC has proposed a number of electoral reforms for Ghana’s elections.
Mr Asiedu Nketia said the reform proposals, together with the supplementary reform proposals that may be submitted, are intended to be used to undertake a dispassionate and open discussion and review of the Electoral Commission’s operations.
“They are aimed at contributing to a national conversation on electoral reforms against the background of critical and lingering cross-party dissatisfaction with the electoral process (NB: all previous and current EC’s have been subject to intense attack from the Political Parties over the period).
“We hope that the Government will initiate the necessary steps to operationalize especially the 3 flagship reform recommendations in Part A of our Proposals as well as the recommendations of the Constitutional Reform Commission.
“We also hope that you, the media, will disseminate these reform proposals as widely as possible to enable as many of our country men and women to participate in the national conversation.”
Among the reform proposals are;
• The silence of the reform proposals on the issue of the increasing “monetization” of electoral politics in Ghana is deafening.
• The proposed Office of the Regulator of Political Parties (ORPP) should be re-designated “Multi-Party Democracy Commission (MPDC) with an expanded mandate to address the pathologies of the political system and to monitor the health of Ghana’s democracy, especially in periods in between elections.
• The proposed name of the ORPP should be changed to “Political Parties Regulatory Commission” (PPRC).
• There should be a cap on political party funding for electoral campaigns.null
• The NDC’s engagement with stakeholders should be broadened into a “National Consultation on Electoral Reforms”.
• The membership of the EC should be technocratic rather than political with the membership positions being advertised, candidates interviewed and the most suitable persons appointed.
• There should be criteria to sieve out registered but inactive and moribund political parties and political parties that do not appear to be serious from the electoral process and from membership of the IPAC.
• The proposed Election Adjudication Committees (EACs) should be given a time frame within which to finish their work.
• The NDC should keep faith with Ghanaians and implement its reform proposals when it finds itself in government and the proposals have not been implemented at that time.null
• The NDC may wish to secure the buy-in of other political parties before the proposals are tabled at a meeting of either the EC or the IPAC.
• The military must not be deployed in civilian elections under any circumstances whatsoever.
• The Legal and Technical Sub-Committees of the IPAC should be revived when the IPAC is restructured and becomes fully functional.
• If official legislative backing for the IPAC proves difficult, an MP or MPs should sponsor a Private Member’s Bill to that effect.
• There should be a mechanism to reduce the incidence of “spoilt ballots” during elections.
The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Johnson Asiedu Nketia has said that the party accepted the verdict of the election petition hearing at the Supreme Court not because they thought justice had been done.
Rather, he said, it was to save the democracy of the country.
Dissatisfied with the results of last year’s polls, the NDC’s presidential candidate John Dramani Mahama filed a petition at the apex court to order a rerun of the presidential elections.
Mr Mahama rejected the results announced by the chair of the Electoral Commission Jean Mensa that declared the candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo winner.
Mr Mahama believed that no candidate polled the number of votes to win the presidential elections.
After four months of hearing the petition, the seven-member panel of the Supreme Court by a unanimous decision dismissed the petition on the grounds that it was without merit.
Mr Mahama accepted the court’s pronouncement although he disagreed.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday August 24, Mr Asiedu Nketia said “It is trite knowledge that all is not well with our elections in Ghana.
“It all begun as far back as in 1992, some have got solutions along the way from each passing elections since 1992.
“We thought we were making progress because each election represented an improvement on the previous elections until 2020 came and you will bear with me that 2020 elections has been one of the worse elections we have had in the 4th republic.
“We did our part as a country to resolve some of the problems. We made it known to the whole world that we are accepting to work with the outcomes of the court processes not because we think there has been justice.
“But we think we have to save the democracy and improve upon what we have.”
• Mr Mahama has stated that the nation is in hardship under the NPP
• He added that citizens are suffering despite claims by the NPP that times are good
• The former president has charged government to fix the situation instead of blaming him for the difficulties
The 2020 flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama in his “Thank You Tour” in the Upper West Region, has stated that he does not have a hand in the current hardship in Ghana as being purported by the ruling government.
The former president noted that despite propaganda by the Akufo-Addo government which claims to have improved the living standards in the country, citizens say that times are hard.
He added that the NPP, despite taking office in 2016 still find a way to blame him for the misfortunes of the nation. He has therefore charged the government to rather focus on delivering their campaign promises to Ghanaians.
“Times are hard even though the New Patriotic Party, NPP, says that times are not hard but it is me who is giving Ghanaians the impression that times are hard. It makes me wonder what kind of logic they have that Ghanaians cannot feel hardship unless John Mahama comes and tell them,” said Mr Mahama who denied the NPP’s claim of him fuelling perceptions of hardship in the country.
According to the former president, the NPP has tried to downplay his achievements and continue to spread lies all in an attempt to dint his legacy.
Speaking at a meeting with leaders of churches in Wa as part of his tour, Mr Mahama noted that the poor management of the economy has led to the hardship being experienced in the country.
Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has charged the media to be partners in Ghana’s efforts to rebound the economy from the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to him, the media in this post-crisis recovery era should be partners in highlighting the opportunities and amplifying successes of government and businesses in order to complement efforts being made to revive the economy from the economic downturn.
“We are at the most critical time in the recent economic history of our continent. Therefore, this is the time to rally around the flag and indeed rally around the continent-wide effort to recover. This requires common purpose from policymakers, private sector players, and from the media. It is the only way to guarantee our common success.
“On the part of the government, we will continue to provide support for the industry through fair regulation, capacity enhancement programs, and support to the general economy which should, in turn, help the industry. However, in return, the media should also help in projecting the country to the outside world,” he added.
He was giving the keynote address at the Graphic Business and Stanbic Bank Breakfast Meeting on Tuesday, August 24, 2021, under the theme: “Media and Marketing Communication post-COVID: A catalyst for Africa’s Socio-Economic Resurgence.”
The Minister said the role of the media particularly in these times is to eschew all forms of sensational and misleading publications that will deter investors, both foreign and local from investing in critical sectors of the economy.
Organized by the Graphic Business and Stanbic Bank Ghana, the main speakers for the Breakfast Meeting were the Chief Executive Officer of ABN Holdings, Mr. George Twumasi, Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr. Ato Afful, and Digital Marketing Communication expert, Mr. Stephen Naasei Boadi.
Media’s role in economic recovery
Touching on the media’s role in recovering the economy, Mr. Nkrumah said the media plays a critical role in helping to recover the economy from the shocks of the COVID-19. He said for any set of interventions to be successful, the media needs to trumpet it for these interventions to gain the goodwill and support of the Ghanaian people.
He said, while the media is encouraged to report infractions in the public and private sector, the media should see itself more as a role player is also highlighting the opportunities and the good in these sectors to fire up the country’s recovery efforts.
On his part, Mr, Afful called on the media to use innovative means in producing attractive content that will give a mileage to businesses to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). He said the media must always make it a point to sell the numerous businesses opportunities available in the country to make it attractive to foreign investors.
Mr. Twumasi underscored the relevance of the media and marketing communication industry in the country. However, he said the post-COVID-19 recovery efforts mean the media must assume a more central role in promoting trade, commerce, and investment in a way that will help set the Ghanaian economy back in motion.
Marketing and Communications expert, Mr. Boadi also challenged the media to embrace new ideas as a means of advancing their interests while remaining relevant in the marketplace. He charged them to be proactive in responding to the global crisis
Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has charged the media to be partners in Ghana’s efforts to rebound the economy from the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to him, the media in this post-crisis recovery era should be partners in highlighting the opportunities and amplifying successes of government and businesses in order to complement efforts being made to revive the economy from the economic downturn.
“We are at the most critical time in the recent economic history of our continent. Therefore, this is the time to rally around the flag and indeed rally around the continent-wide effort to recover. This requires common purpose from policymakers, private sector players, and from the media. It is the only way to guarantee our common success.
“On the part of the government, we will continue to provide support for the industry through fair regulation, capacity enhancement programs, and support to the general economy which should, in turn, help the industry. However, in return, the media should also help in projecting the country to the outside world,” he added.
The Minister said the role of the media particularly in these times is to eschew all forms of sensational and misleading publications that will deter investors, both foreign and local from investing in critical sectors of the economy.
Organized by the Graphic Business and Stanbic Bank Ghana, the main speakers for the Breakfast Meeting were the Chief Executive Officer of ABN Holdings, Mr. George Twumasi, Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr. Ato Afful, and Digital Marketing Communication expert, Mr. Stephen Naasei Boadi.
Media’s role in economic recovery
Touching on the media’s role in recovering the economy, Mr. Nkrumah said the media plays a critical role in helping to recover the economy from the shocks of the COVID-19. He said for any set of interventions to be successful, the media needs to trumpet it for these interventions to gain the goodwill and support of the Ghanaian people.
On his part, Mr, Afful called on the media to use innovative means in producing attractive content that will give a mileage to businesses to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). He said the media must always make it a point to sell the numerous businesses opportunities available in the country to make it attractive to foreign investors.
Mr. Twumasi underscored the relevance of the media and marketing communication industry in the country. However, he said the post-COVID-19 recovery efforts mean the media must assume a more central role in promoting trade, commerce, and investment in a way that will help set the Ghanaian economy back in motion.
Marketing and Communications expert, Mr. Boadi also challenged the media to embrace new ideas as a means of advancing their interests while remaining relevant in the marketplace. He charged them to be proactive in responding to the global crisis
• Koku Anyidoho says he turned down an approach to contest Asiedu Nketia as General Secretary
• He says Asiedu Nketia knelt before him to show appreciation
• Koku says Asiedu Nketia will not win the chairmanship race
Koku Anyidoho, former deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress has said that there is no way Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the General Secretary of the party will pull victory over Samuel Ofosu Ampofo in the party’s chairmanship race.
It has been reported widely that Asiedu Nketia is set to abandon his General Secretary role for the chairmanship position in the party’s upcoming National Executives election.
But speaking on Wontumi FM, Anyidoho said Asiedu Nketia’s political career ended the day he chose to betray him (this then deputy General Secretary).
He said that General Mosquito buried his political ambitions when decided to have issues with him.null
“He has poked the eye of a royal and he will not do politics in Ghana again. Asiedu Nketia cannot do politics again. He says he wants to be a national chairman and remove Ofosu Ampofo, apuutorr. It will not happen. For Asiedu Nketia to be National Chairman, Ofosu Ampofo should be on for 100 years.”
Anyidoho also narrated how Asiedu Nketia knelt before him to show gratitude over his decision not to contest him for the General Secretary post in the party’s 2014 executive election.
Anyidoho claims that he was being sponsored by certain persons to wrestle power from Asiedu Nketia but he turned down the opportunity.
“People were ready to sponsor me to oust him but I didn’t. He came to my office to kneel and thank me for not contesting him. He said all kinds of things that he wasn’t going to contest but changed his mind. He didn’t have the respect to even tell me that he will contest again. He came to my office to thank me for not contesting him. I’m not a bad person because God created me in a unique way. His mother had died then so he came to my office with my photographer to plead with me,” he said.
Anyidoho has been expelled by the party but he is adamant that he is a member of the party as no letter has been sent to him.
He has threatened to sue Asiedu Nketia for the making certain allegations against him and contest his dismissal from the party.
Former President John Dramani Mahama has thanked the people of the Bole-Bamboi constituency in the Savannah Region for their continuous support for him since 1996 when he contested to become the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area.
Speaking in Bole on Sunday 22nd August, 2021 during the final funeral rites of the mother of his personal bodyguard DSP James Mahama, former President expressed his appreciation to the people of the Bole-Bamboi constituency for the massive votes he gathered and securing over 80% of the total votes in the Constituency.
Joined by his running mate for the 2020 elections Professor Jane Nana Opoku- Agyemang, minority leader Haruna Iddrisu, party chairman Ofosu Ampofo, some national and regional executives of the NDC, Former President Mahama assured his constituents that there is light at the end of the tunnel and asked them to continue to pray for him.#
Also present at the funeral in Bole was the former National Chairman of the Peoples Bernard Mornah Mornah and the 2020 Presidential candidate for the United Front Party Dr. Nana Agyenim Boateng Gyataba.
Meanwhile former President Mahama will be in the Upper West Region on Monday for a Thank You tour of the region after visiting the Upper East, North East, Northern and Savannah Regions
Felix Kwakye Ofosu, a deputy Minister of Information under the John Dramani Mahama administration has issued a sharp rebuttal to a post by Gabby Asare Otchere Darko in which he trashes the corruption record of the Akufo-Addo government.
Kwakye Ofosu in the epistle presents what he considers to be the facts as far as corruption under the Akufo-Addo and Mahama regimes are concerned.
Expectedly, the issue of Domelevo’s removal and Martin Amidu’s controversial exit as Special Prosecutor featured in the write up which is a critique of an earlier one made against the John Mahama and the NDC by Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko.
According to Kwakye Ofosu, never has there been a more corrupt government in the country than the one being supervised by ‘Gabby Otchere-Darko’s cousin’ – President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
“While Gabby’s misplaced angst is amusing, it is the delusional bubble he has ensconced himself in, that is most perplexing. The widespread belief among Ghanaians that his cousin, Akufo-Addo, helms the most corrupt government under the fourth republic is hardly the doing of President Mahama or anyone else for that matter. It is a direct product of the graft and governmental putrefaction that has been orchestrated and executed by the clannish cabal that runs the country at the moment.
“He expresses bewilderment that the NPP is unable to fend off charges of corruption emanating from the NDC, yet evidence of his cousin’s affinity for and endorsement of corruption is legion. Only weeks ago, he laughed off the serious matter of the violation and vandalization of all relevant laws governing public procurement in Ghana by his Health Minister in the Sputnik V vaccine corruption scandal.
“For more nuanced anti-corruption watchers,it is the outright war of attrition and retribution waged by President Akufo-Addo against Daniel Domelovo, whom he removed for daring to surcharge his Senior Minister over the Kroll corruption scandal and the deliberate interference in the work of Martin Amidu which led to his resignation as Special Prosecutor,that cement his legacy as the leader of Ghana’s most corrupt government ever,” parts of the statement read.
Kwakye Ofosu further alleges that Gabby Otchere-Darko is neck-deep in all corruption related issues in the Akufo-Addo government and will likely be charged in the event that NDC regains power.
“Despite the facade of being an outsider, Gabby’s centrality in the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government is the worst kept secret this side of the Sahara. It is also widely known that any accounting to be done by his cousin at the end of his tenure may involve him given that he is front and center of many of the things that have brought this government into public opprobrium.
“There will be an accounting after the torrid Akufo-Addo years end in a little over three years from now and it is understandable that Gabby would have jitters at the prospect of he and his phalanx of cousins no longer ruling the roost as they do now.”
Gabby Otchere Darko in his post questioned why the NPP would allow the NDC to accuse it of corruption.
He enumerated a number of instances where he reckons corrupt activities ensued under watch of John Dramani Mahama as President.
“It bothers me how NPP can allow the NDC to attack it on corruption when the NPP evidently does more for the people with taxpayers’ money than the NDC did under Mahama. Clearly, corruption is such an easy cane with which to whip a government whether it is supported by facts or propaganda.
“Corruption effectively means resources meant for public expenditures are going into private pockets. Surely if a government is doing more than any previous one in spending public funds on the people and their communities and also getting more in return than the previous government, then why should that ruling party allow that opponent to confidently feel that corruption is rather the ruling party’s Achilles heel?” he added.
A former minister for gender, children and social protection, Otiko Afisa Djaba, who also served as a national women’s organizer for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has chronicled her journey into politics with a revelation that the predicaments of her family strengthened her to forge ahead instead of living a miserable life.
Born to the late Henry Kojo Djaba from Somanya, and Madam Shieta Bawa from Bole in the Northern Region, Otiko Djaba, in an interview on ‘Restoration With Stacy’, said life was rosy until her father went into exile in the 1970s following a coup in the country.
“I grew up with a mother who was a teacher and my father was a polygamist. He had 22 children and 10 wives. I lived with my mother in the north but he was always sending for us to come and be with him,” the product of Tamale Secondary School said.
“I schooled in Tamale and because my father had to live in exile, I had to go and live with him in England. It was the beginning of the definition of who I am because my father was very rich and then with the coup, he was no longer able to get his monies coming in from Ghana so we became debt poor,” Otiko Djaba added,
stressing that “that is what defines me because it made me understand poverty and how to overcome challenges – from being driven to school in limousines, now you have to take the bus and even to get a bus pass, I had to work as a waitress, cinema usher, cleaner”.
Their woes compounded, making life unbearable for them.
“It happened so fast,” she said. “You’ll be in school and you’d be called to go home because dad couldn’t pay our fees. It was that bad. The light would go off because we could no longer pay the bills. So, he had a stroke with all the stress and he lived with stroke for 30 years. He became impoverished.”
According to Otiko Djaba, the experience rather toughened her. She was determined to elevate her family; that determination, she said, soared and was able to sail through. This was courtesy of some persons divinely connected to her destiny.
She said: “By grace, I was able to develop myself and move out of childhood poverty to be who I am today. It hasn’t been an easy journey; it’s been very difficult.
“I always had destiny helpers throughout my life and that is also part of who I am. It makes me feel that I need to contribute my quota to support other people who are also in need. Over 30 years in my life, I’ve been doing social work to say to God, ‘Thank You’ for His blessings.
“When I turned 21, my mother asked me to come back home and get married. My 22nd birthday was spent in Ghana, got married when I was 25.”
After marriage, she secured a job at Bank for Housing in Tamale but had to relocate to the UK because her medical doctor husband wanted to specialize. She became a housewife as a result of her resolve to not have anyone raise her children. She eventually returned to Ghana.
“We came back to Ghana, I developed a programme called ‘Kokrokoo’ on GTV. I wrote another programme to make a difference in the lives of vulnerable children and that took me to Tumu,” she said.
Former President John Dramani Mahama has said that his party, the National Democracy Congress (NDC) is prepared to sit around the same table with the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to deliberate on job creation for the teeming youth of the country.
He explained that the issue of unemployment is not a problem only for the current government but all governments that have come and the ones yet to come.
For this reason, he said, there is the need for a high-level summit for the NDC and the NPP as well as other parties on job creation.
Addressing a gathering as part of his thank-you tour, Mr. Mahama who was the NDC’s presidential candidate in last year’s elections said the youth of this country will lose faith in the democracy of the country if that is not done immediately.
“Unemployment is a serious problem that we have to confront and it is not only this government that is confronting the problem, past governments had the same problem. I have been president before, our economy is not creating jobs as fast as we are churning out people from our educational institutions and so the solution does not lie in one person’s head.
“That is why I have always suggested that we are willing as a party to join the ruling party and let us have a high-level summit on job creation to see how we can come out with a communique on what succeeding governments will do to make sure that our young people can get jobs to do.
“And that we can grow our economy faster and make sure that our people live in decency and dignity.
“The danger we face is not helping and that is why our young people continue to lose faith in our democracy because the point they make is that democracy doesn’t work for us.”
The 2020 Presidential Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama has assured the people of Dagbon that the NDC, when voted into power, will support all relevant stakeholders within the Dagbon Peace Project impartially in order to consolidate the peace of the area.
According to him, the current administration lacks the will power to address the impunity prevailing in Dagbon which has far reaching implications on the relative peace in the Dagbon Traditional Area.
The former President was speaking at two separate events at the Gbewaa Palace in Yendi and the Nanton-Naa Mahamadu V’s Palace at Nanton Zuo at the weekend, during his two day Thank-You Tour of the Northern region.
Speaking at the instance of the Ya-Na, the former President spoke philosophically by indicating that his government will not give the Ya-Na a cow in front of the whole world and go back to hold its tale on the other end.
He therefore assured the overlord of Dagbon that the future NDC government will lend the entire people of Dagbon its full and impartial support to ensure genuine peace and rapid development of the area.
The former President, while addressing the Chiefs and people of Nanton at the Nanton-Naa Mahamadu V’s Palace at Nanton-Zuo, consoled the Nanton-Naa for his predicaments, describing him as a political victim.
According to him, the Nanton-Naa is not supported by the government to assume his rightful traditional role in Nanton town because of his perceived membership of the NDC.
He bemoaned the practice where governments excessively interfere in chieftaincy matters and encourage people who lack the requisite qualification to hold themselves up as Chiefs, without being appointed by the rightful appointing authority.
“You are being treated this way because of NDC, but the fact is that the truth will always triumph over falsehood,” he said. The former President predicted that God would intervene at the right time, for Nanton-Naa Mahamadu V to get home peacefully to Nanton township to continue his reign.
Nanton-Naa Mahamadu V thanked the former President and his entourage for making the time to visit him.
He assured the former President that as law-abiding people he and his chiefs will continue to respect the relative peace of Dagbon irrespective of provocations by his detractors.
Nanton-Naa Mahamadu V expressed surprise at the level of impunity by some people in Dagbon despite government assurances to unite them.
Nanton-Naa Mahamadu V, a former Council of State member under the NDC was enskinned as the Chief of Nanton by Ya-Na Abukari II, King and Overload of Dagbon, in March 2019.
But one former Northern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, who was also enskinned by the Ya-Na as the Chief of Zoosali, Alhaji Haruna Tia Sulemana, hurriedly went and occupied the Nanton Skin.
This created serious security threats to the fragile Dagbon Peace Project and many analysts familiar with the matter cited the former role of Nanton-Naa Mahamadu V as member of the Council of State under the previous NDC regime as the reason the current government is lackadaisical in addressing the issue, despite the impunity and blatant infraction of the law and the chieftaincy act by the NPP’s former Chairman, Alhaji Haruna Tia Sulemana.
According to analysts, the Nanton issue will reverse the gains in Dagbon as the impunity is encouraging other areas to join that bandwagon. Karaga is another town being usurped by one Sumani Mahama a.k.a Alizini as the Chief, while the legitimately enskinned Chief is also residing out of residence.
These acts of lawlessness by both the Zoosali-Lana and Alizini which are subtly eating into the Dagbon Peace Project with far reaching consequences in the future are alleged to have strong political backing at the Presidency.
Whiles the Member of Parliament (MP) for Karaga, Honourable Dr. Amin Adam Anta is alleged to be protecting Sumani Mahama (a.k.a Alizini) against arrest and prosecution for breaching the Chieftaincy Act and Public Order Act, its alleged that the younger sister of Zoosali-Lana, one Clara Napaga Tia who is the Co-ordinator of Special Projects Initiative at the Presidency is shielding his elder brother from facing the law.
For how long will these acts of impunity continue by some members of President Akufo-Addo’s government in Dagbon? Meanwhile, spin doctors of the government are trumpeting the rooftop of the Dagbon Peace Project as their achievement
The father of the 15-year-old boy, Stephen Sarpong, who was allegedly killed and his body cut into pieces and stored in a double-door fridge, has described the suspect, Richard Appiah as a friend and business partner.
The 28-year-old suspect is in police custody in Sunyani after he butchered the JHS 2 student and two others.
The lifeless body of the suspect’s 12-year-old stepbrother, Louis Agyemang, and a yet-to-be-identified body was also found in his apartment.
This follows the Inspector-General of Police’s (IGP) visit to Abesim to ascertain the murder of the three people, two of them identified.
Stephen Sarpong who couldn’t hide his pains said he could never have suspected his friend of committing such an atrocious act against him and his family.
Narrating the incident, the man said, “It was a Sunday when my son told me that he was going to the canteen we operate about 300 meters from our home. But, unfortunately, that was the last time we saw him.
He explained that “We had waited for him the entire night to return, but he didn’t. So the next morning, we reported the incident to the Police. We heard nothing concerning the police investigation until this morning when we heard that our neighbour had killed Stephen’’, the distraught father said on Sunday.
“When we went to look, he [the suspect] had butchered Stephen’s hands, his feet, and head and stored it in his fridge’’, adding that the suspect, Richard Appiah, was a friend he worked with within the construction business. The suspect was a surveyor.
He said “The young man, truth be told, is my friend. It was only four days ago that he came to my house that – I also work with him, he’s a surveyor – he came to tell me that the land he was planning to develope had sand and blocks on it and he wanted me to sell it for him, so I did’’.
“Just yesterday, the young man came to my house to tell me that if he did not get the money by evening time, he would sell it to another person. And I told him I had already sold it and that the buyer would bring the money within the day’’ he added.
“So that evening, a friend of mine and I took the money from the sales to his house and gave it to him. ¢150 million in total, and he gave us a receipt. And he came to escort us home. Never, never, never – I have heard of no such thing before, and I would have never suspected him. He used to cook and eat with my children. They were also friends,” he added.
Chief Encounter
The chief of Abesim, Barima Kumi Acheaw, also stated that the suspect Richard Appiah involved in the Abesim murder case is not mentally sound.
The chief said they are convinced due to the behaviour he exhibited in recent times, as some of the residents have also disagreed with anyone who will say the suspect is mentally challenged.
The Police on Sunday announced the arrest of a second suspect. But the chief is appealing to the IGP and the investigators to subject the suspect to psychiatric scrutiny.
Meanwhile, the IGP has directed the CID to provide technical support to the police team in the Bono Region in the investigation
President Nana Akufo-Addo has assured that Ghana will continue to protect protect legitimate investments, and preserve the atmosphere of peace that has been an important contributor to the increasing presence of German businesses in Ghana.
“We will continue to create and maintain the conducive investment environment that not only guarantees the safety of investments, but good returns as well. We will continue to protect legitimate investments, and preserve the atmosphere of peace, stability and security that has been an important contributor to the increasing presence of German businesses in Ghana”.
The President said on Tuesday, 24th August 2021, when he addressed the Ghana-Germany Business Forum, in Dusseldorf, as part of his working visit to the Federal Republic of Germany.
Addressing the Forum, President Akufo-Addo indicated that Ghana is a country where the principles of democratic accountability and respect for the rule of law, individual liberties and human rights are now firmly entrenched in our body politic, and where the separation of powers is real in promoting accountable governance.
Since assuming office in January 2017, he explained that his government has put in place measures needed to reduce the cost of doing business, improve the business environment, and made the Ghanaian economy not only one of the most business-friendly economies in Africa, but also one of the fastest growing economies in the world between 2017 and 2020, averaging annual GDP growth rates of 7% for those years, up from the 3.4% GDP growth rate inherited from the Mahama government in 2016.
“Indeed, with the economies of many countries around the world in recession, having recorded negative growth in 2020, largely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ghana’s economy was one of the very few that still managed to record a positive GDP growth, albeit a very modest 0.9%,” he said.
The President continued, “In spite of the ravages of the pandemic, we are working to grow the economy at a much faster rate this year, our target being a five percent (5%) GDP growth rate, which will enhance the prospects of a win-win environment for both private sector and country; an environment where companies do not just survive, but actually thrive. In the first quarter of this year, the GDP of the economy grew at 3.1%; in the second, at 8.9%.”
He was, thus, encouraged by the fact that more German companies than ever are looking to invest in Ghana, symbolised by the opening of representations of German industry giant, ThyssenKrupp, and the German logistics global player, Kühne & Nagel, in the country, and the establishment of the Volkswagen Assembly Plant in Ghana.
“It continues to be an exciting time to be in Ghana, and to do business in the country. Already, other global car manufacturing giants, Toyota and Nissan of Japan, Sinotruk of China, have also established assembly plants in the country. Twitter is establishing its African Headquarters in Ghana, Google’s first African Artificial Intelligence Centre is located in Ghana, and the well-known Norwegian energy company, Aker, is very much established in Ghana,” the President said.
He told the Forum further that Ghana is further privileged to play host to the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area, which represents, currently, a market of some 1.2 billion people, spread over fifty-four (54) countries, with a combined GDP of $3 trillion.
With records from the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre indicating that there has been a total of one hundred and ninety-two (192) projects, with an FDI value of US$83.92 million, registered from Germany within the last decade, he urged the business community in Germany to take advantage of the business-friendly climate in the country to invest in Ghana.
He recommended government’s flagship policies such as “One District, One Factory”, “One Village, One Dam”, and the programme for “Planting for Food and Jobs”, as well as in areas in the water, health, housing, road and rail infrastructure, transport, industry, manufacturing, agriculture, petroleum and gas, the exploitation of our mineral wealth of bauxite, iron ore and gold, renewable energy and ICT growth sectors.
“We are hopeful that, with solid private sector participation, we can develop a modern railway network with strong production centre linkages and with the potential to connect us to our neighbours. Indeed, Ralf Blankenbach and Havellandische Eisenbahn of Germany are part of a European consortium engaged in the $1.8 billion rehabilitation of the existing Eastern Railway line from Accra to Kumasi,” he added
A Deputy Minister of Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, has urged the public to make a conscious effort to learn and become conversant with the French language.
He said learning French especially for Ghanaians was not an issue of luxury but rather was a crucial way to tap into the numerous opportunities available in French-speaking countries.
At the launch of a bilingual school (French and English), Ecole Therese Internationale, at Otinshie –East Legon in the Adentan Municipality last Friday, Rev. Fordjour said: “With French, lawyers, teachers, engineers, architects, doctors, business men and women from Ghana can easily sell their services and goods to French–speaking countries,” he said.
Inauguration
Ecole Therese Internationale is an international bilingual school that uses French and English language for teaching and learning.
Students can opt to learn in French, and they will be exposed to the English language as well, or vice versa.
Ghana, Rev Fordjour said, was surrounded by French-speaking countries, and therefore, French was the key to help the country better integrate with such countries.
“The three closest neighbouring countries all speak French, and one way of deepening our cooperation and integration with them is by learning French,’ he said.
Apart from Rev. Fordjour, another Deputy Minister of Education, Ms Gifty Twum Ampofo, also attended the inauguration of the school.
Representatives of foreign missions, especially from French-speaking countries, National School Inspectorate Authority (NaSIA) and other educational bodies were also in attendance.
Commitment
Rev. Fordjour said the government was committed to promoting the learning of French in the country, explaining that the government was implementing a policy that would position the country’s education system in a manner that would promote the learning of French.
In view of that, he said the government had signed a bilateral cooperation agreement with the French government for the promotion of French education.
“At the multilateral level, Ghana has deepened its commitment and as a result signed a linguistic pact with La Francophone in an effort to promote the education, learning and the speaking of French,” he said.
He said the promotion of French was also at the core of the country’s foreign policy as Ghana shared borders with French-speaking countries.
According to him, French-speaking countries had excelled in making many of their citizens conversant with the English language.
However, he said it was unfortunate that English-speaking countries had not been able to achieve such a feat by promoting French in their countries.
“The possibility of our Francophone brothers and sisters speaking and writing English is higher than Anglophone people speaking French,” he said.
French is key
The Principal of Ecole Therese Internationale, Mrs Theodora Wood, quoting President Akufo-Addo, described Ghana as an English island in a French sea.
She said the country was surrounded by French-speaking countries, a situation which ignited her passion to set up the institution to educate people in French.
“Recent developments, including the African Intercontinental Free Trade Area (AfCTA), are also a factor. This is seeking to create one African market. It is, therefore, important to educate the next generation in French to enable them to take advantage of this opportunity,” she said.
The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has urged the Ghanaian media to eschew the publication of misleading reports that affect the country’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery.
He noted that throughout global economic history, the media had integral roles in economic recovery by either providing positive judgements or by providing negative explicit judgements about economic situations.
“When we instil fear and negativity as our primary content, the consumer confidence required to aid our collective recovery and the advertising revenues that makes us survive as businesses are challenged,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah said.
“Such negative publicity arises partly due to the unhealthy competition between media outlets. To beat the competition, some media outlets select stories which play on the emotions of the consuming public which could potentially interfere with the effort to rally all of us to rise together”.
Commendation
Commending the media for the vital role it played after Ghana recorded its first COVID-19 case last year, Mr Oppong Nkrumah called for similar support for the country’s economic recovery.
He said the media was a vital partner of the state in averting that health crisis and can do the same by becoming a catalyst for Ghana’s economic recovery from the pandemic.
“It is clear that when the media stepped-up to the plate and played a vital role in influencing society, when the media focused heavily on reporting facts, heavily on getting properly accredited experts to do analysis of the facts, heavily on amplifying the robust marketing communications efforts from governments and health practitioners, the evidence is that together we have made laudable gains in this fight and this is exactly what we will need in the second crisis, the economic crisis,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah said.
Former President John Dramani Mahama has said that even though the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is not happy with the conduct of the 2020 elections, it still maintained a level head because the peace of Ghana is more important than anyone in the country.
He said there were many countries, where disputed elections led to civil wars, but for the grace of God Ghana continue to remain peaceful after elections since 1992 because the country cherished peace.
Former President Mahama said this at the palace of Wa Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo IV, during his visit to the Upper West Region as part of his nationwide ‘thank you’ tour.
He thanked both Traditional and Religious Leaders in the country for their contribution to peace in the country, adding that anytime they were heading into an election, they continued to counsel them to maintain the peace.
He said this had yielded results and that it was his prayer that Ghana would continue to remain peaceful.
He said the PNDC led to the creation of the Upper West Region and that both the PNDC and the NDC had since been principally responsible for most of the infrastructure in the region.
“So I’m not surprised that in the last elections, if you take all the five regions of the north, the Upper West Region had the highest percentage of votes for the NDC in the Presidential elections with 67 per cent.
“We won the Presidential elections in all the 11 constituencies in the region and increased the number of our Parliamentary seats from six to eight seats”, he said.
Former President Mahama said this contributed to the party’s vote rise nationally from a little above four million in the 2016 elections to almost 6.3 million in the 2020 elections.
He said the party also increased the number of Parliamentary seats from 106 in 2016 to137 in the 2020 elections.
According to the Former President, “but for the arm twisting by the military” in some constituencies against the NDC, they would have had a clear majority in Parliament.
On the recent floods that destroyed some major roads and cutting off six districts and several communities in the Upper West Region, Mr Mahama called on government to deploy the 48 Engineer Regiment with some emergency action to allow free flow of vehicular traffic.
On the deplorable nature of the Sawla-Wa road, the former President expressed disappointment in the failure of government to maintain the road, adding that when the NDC was in government every year they used to maintain the bad road.
If we don’t do anything about it, that road will completely be destroyed and we will have to spend money to construct it again.
Former President Mahama also raised concerns about the failure of government to give the Upper West Regional Hospital seed money to enable it operate at full capacity, and called on government to do so for the hospital operate to full capacity.
“Whilst we think about building new hospitals, the capacities of existing ones must be fully utilized”, he said.
Wa Naa Pelpuo on his part commended former President Mahama for maintaining statesmanship after the December 2020 elections, noting that his peaceful nature contributed to the peace the country was enjoying.
The Most Reverend Richard Kuuia Baawobr, the Bishop of the Wa Catholic Diocese, thanked Mr Mahama for his contribution to peace in Ghana and indicated their willingness to work with political parties that demonstrated the fear of God and the love for humanity.
The former President was accompanied by his running mate in the 2020 elections, Prof. Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang, Ofosu Ampofo, National Chairman of the NDC, Peter Boamah Ottukono, NDC Deputy General Secretary, some Members of Parliament (MPs) from the region and regional and constituency executives among others.
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has revealed that government will withdraw the almost $1billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support the economy.
According to the Minister, this is needed to aid the ongoing economic recovery.
Mr. Ofori-Atta added that, government will target some critical areas that will help in fast-tracking the recovery of the economy.
According to him, government is considering directing the funds to sectors that will aid in job creation as well some areas under the Ghana Cares Programme.
At the same time, areas such as improving revenue mobilization and digitalization of the economy is being prioritised.
Ghana and the Special Drawing Rights
The IMF Board earlier this month, approved $650billion to support member-countries in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Member-countries are expected to have their accounts credited with their share of the $650billion from August 23, 2021.
According to the IMF, this move would ensure that its members, including Ghana, have a strong external position to voluntarily channel part of their SDRs to scale up lending for low-income countries through the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT).
There were initial reports that Ghana may not be able to withdraw the funds because of some debt obligations to the IMF. But Government explained that the challenge has been dealt with. Hence, there is no need for the concerns.
Some analysts have argued that the funds hitting Bank of Ghana’s accounts, may also help in improving Ghana’s reserves a move that will help stabilize the Ghana cedis.
Establishment of the Ghana Development Bank
The Finance Minister has also disclosed to JOYBUSINESS that he is optimistic that the Development Bank of Ghana will fully start operations from October this year.
“We have sent the final list of all the Board Members and waiting for Bank of Ghana’s approval” he added.
The Minister also revealed that they have appointed the Chief Executive of the Bank and government is expecting them to fully takeoff once the necessary approvals from Bank of Ghana are secured.
Ken Ofori-Atta on Revenue mobilization
The Minister has also disclosed that he is optimistic about Ghana’s Revenue situation improving in the coming months. This is based on ongoing reforms and some projects being undertaken by the Ghana Revenue Authority.
He added that, “we are looking forward to the Ghana.gov portal also helping improve Ghana’s revenue mobilization going forward. So far, more than $20billion has passed through this platform since last year, and we believe that things will get better.”
Mr. Ofori-Atta added that with the application of technology in revenue mobilization, the expected turn around should happen soon.
“Ghana is currently doing about a tax to GDP ratio of 13 percent that is far lower than the regional average of 19 percent. But we are optimistic of things getting better going forward,” he said.
Banking Sector clean up and impact on economy
On the recent Banking Sector clean up, the Finance Minister noted that, the exercise has gone a long way to help stabilize the banking sector and the economy as a whole.
“You can see it yourself, the impact on the Ghana cedi, inflation and the strengthening of banks in the country. We believe that Ghana has a more sanitized system that we all can be happy about,” Ken Ofori-Atta added.
Private legal practitioner and member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Gordon Edudzi Tameklo has said that a call by former President John Dramani for a job creation summit to be organized is a step in the right direction.
He said on the New Day show with host Johnnie Hughes on TV3 Tuesday August 24, that the issue of unemployment remains a threat to national security hence, there is the need for all stakeholders to come around to contribute ideas on how to minimise this challenge.
Mr Mahama had said that NDC is prepared to sit around the same table with the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) to deliberate on job creation for the teeming youth of the country.
He explained that the issue of unemployment is not a problem only for the current government but all governments that have come and the ones yet to come.
For this reason, he said, there is the need for a high level summit for the NDC and the NPP as well as other parties on job creation.
Addressing a gathering as part of his thank you tour, Mr Mahama who was the NDC’s presidential candidate in last year’s elections said the youth of this country will lose faith in the democracy of the country if that is not done immediately.
“Unemployment is a serious problem that we confront and it is not only this government that is confronting the problem, past governments have the same problem. I have been president before, our economy is not creating jobs as fast as we are churning out people from our educational institutions and so the solution does not lie in one person’s head.
“That is why I have always suggested that we are willing as a party to join the ruling party and let us have a high level summit on job creation to see how we can come out with communique on what succeeding governments will do to make sure that our young people can get jobs to do.
“And that we can grow our economy faster and make sure that our people live in decency and dignity.
“The danger we face in not doing that is that our young people continue to lose faith in our democracy because the point they make is democracy doesn’t work for us.”
Commenting on this, Edudzi said “The question of unemployment is not a static phenomenon, it is dynamic and keeps increasing. Now with the benefit of power he created several opportunities, there is and doubt about that.
“The question of creating employment and decent jobs for our people will continue to be part of our national conversation.
“That is why HE John Dramani Mahama is saying that let us take a nationalistic view of the conversation. The issue of unemployment remains a national security threat.”
The purported imminent retirement of the Commissioner-General of Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Rev. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, is heightening lobbying for the top position.
Whilst some want Rev. Owusu-Amoah, who took over from Kofi Nti, to be given an extended appointment, others are urging President Akufo-Addo not to extend his stay.
There are unconfirmed reports that Rev. Owusu-Amoah is due for retirement in October and there is already intense lobbying for him to stay on contract for another two years.
Some bigwigs within the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are also kicking against the plans to extend the Commissioner-General’s stay in office, insisting that the role could better be played by another person.
They are claiming that the current Commissioner-General spearheaded the implementation of certain tax policies, especially at the ports, that have brought uneasy calm among the business community.
They said, for instance, that the supposed unpopular policies are giving the government a bad name and even said if the trend continues, the NPP will find it tough in 2024, which the ruling party is working hard to make the ‘Breaking the 8’ agenda happen.
The agitators are saying that some of the tax policies are stifling small businesses instead of making them grow as envisaged by the government, and claimed further that the Commissioner-General and his team are not attaching human face to the policies being pursued.
They claimed also that the tax policies and certain initiatives of the GRA, particularly at the ports, almost caused the NPP to be defeated in the 2020 general election, saying “it was so unbelievable that this was made to pass without concern even under a Covid economy with its attendant repercussions on the election. Any wonder the NPP recorded the outcome they had?”
They also said that the GRA has been unable to maximise revenue generation and have been doing the same old things expecting new results, saying “it will not be prudent politically for the President and the NPP to continue to keep the GRA top guru and a number of them there
Former Deputy Minister for Information, Pius Hadzide, has been given a fresh appointment under the Akufo-Addo administration.
Mr Hadzide moves to head the National Youth Authority as Chief Executive Officer.
Asaaseradio reports that he will replace the former CEO of the Authority, Mr. Sylvester Matthew Tetteh, who is currently serving as Member of Parliament Bortianor-Ngleshie Amanfro Constituency, in Greater Accra Region.
Together with two deputies Pius Hadzide and the leadership of the National Youth Authority will be expected to “advocate, facilitate and ensure the mainstream of youth development issues into national development frameworks, plans and programmes in all sectors, garner relevant stakeholder interest and commitment to provide the youth with opportunities for skills training, employment, and market information and design appropriate collaboration and partnerships to strengthen the link between education and diversified productivity labour markets.”null
They are also to “coordinate promotion of youth participation and acquisition of universal ethics in electoral democracy and governance as well as partner and collaborate in reduction of violence and crime among young people,” the report adds.
This will be the third appointment Mr Hadzide is serving under the leadership of President Akufo-Addo, having previously worked in the capacity of deputy minister.
In 2017, he was appointed as Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports but was reassigned as Deputy Minister of Information in November 2018.
The Acting Inspector-General of Police, Dr George Akuffo Dampare, and his entourage from the National Police Headquarters and Bono Regional Police Command, on Sunday, 22 August 2021, visited four police personnel who, in line of duty, suffered various degrees of injury and are now incapacitated.
The personnel visited were Corporal Issaka Akurugu of Bono RDF, Lance Corporal Bernard Sefa of Bono Regional Operation, Sunyani, Lance Corporal Anane Bosoka, of Regional MTTD Sunyani and Lance Corporal Collins Baah of Bono East Regional Visibility, Techiman.
The Acting IGP further assured them of the police administration’s commitment to supporting them in any way possible for them to get back on their feet.
Other members of the entourage were the Director-General (D-G), Research and Planning, COP Mr. Paul Awini; D-G Services, DCOP Mr. Adutwum Bediako; D-G Welfare, DCOP Mrs. Habiba Twumasi Sarpong; Regional Commander, Bono, DCOP Mr. Godfred Owusu Boateng and other senior officers from the region took turns to share words of encouragement and reiterated the assurance of the police administration’s support to the affected families
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has described Ghana’s relations with Germany as being “of utmost importance”, as Ghana is determined to participate fully in the global market place not on the basis of the exports of raw materials, but on the basis of the exports of things the country makes.
According to President Akufo-Addo, “we, in Ghana, are drawing inspiration from the success stories of North Rhine-Westphalia and Germany, because, likewise, we want to build a progressive and prosperous country.”
Citing from the oft-cited African proverb, which says, and I quote, ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together’, he stated “We have resolved to walk hand-in-hand with North Rhine-Westphalia and Germany because we desire to walk far, especially as we share attachments to common values of respect for individual liberties and human rights, of respect for the rule of law, and of respect for the principles of democratic accountability.”
Addressing the gathering in the presence of German Chancellor, Dr. Angela Merkel, and the Minister-President for North Rhine-Westphalia, Armin Laschet, with Germany being a major exporter of industrial products and technology, with North Rhine-Westphalia being in the lead, Ghana’s relations with Germany are of utmost importance, and must be hinged on this.
“The recent establishment of a Volkswagen assembly plant in Accra is a welcome development, and we are encouraged by the fact that more and more German companies have expressed their willingness to set up shop in Ghana,” he said.
Ghana’s second priority, President Akufo-Addo said, is to increase trade and investment co-operation, because it is one of the ways the country can develop healthy, economic relations with North Rhine-Westphalia and Germany, and, indeed, with the rest of the world, thereby helping put Ghanaian products at the high end of the global value chain, and create jobs for the teeming masses of Ghanaian youths.
“Thirdly, Ghana and Germany must co-operate in ensuring the promotion of transparent and inclusive policy and decision-making processes at local, national, regional, continental and global levels. This would include, recognising as key stakeholders, the State to help provide direction and facilitation; the private sector to drive the creation and management of markets, agriculture, industry and decent jobs; and civil society to help ensure accountability within the body politic,” he said.
The President reiterated his commitment to renewing and deepening relations “with Germany, with North Rhine-Westphalia at her centre, to our mutual advantage. We do want to, and we shall work, to take Ghana to where she deserves to be, a prosperous and dynamic member of the world community, which is neither victim nor pawn of the world order.”
NRW@75
Extending the best wishes of the governments and peoples of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to the people of North Rhine-Westphalia, President Akufo-Addo conveyed his deep sympathies on the recent flooding tragedy that befell them.
Recounting the events that led to the formation of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1946, the President noted that there are many residents who would have seen for themselves the destruction of their homes and business because of World War 2.
“I am certain many moved on in search of greener pastures elsewhere, and I am equally certain that many more stayed to help in the rebuilding efforts that followed on from 1946. The ‘founding residents’ of this State will be proud of the transformation that has taken place here since those difficult, dramatic days,” he added.
With North Rhine-Westphalia being Germany’s greatest industrial region, and consistently, for several decades, being one of Europe’s most important economic centres, President added that “these laudable accolades did not happen by chance. It took creativity, determination, enterprise, hard work and innovation, and credit for this goes to successive generations of North Rhine-Westphalians and their leaders
The American microblogging and social networking service Twitter announced on Monday 12 April that it has settled on Ghana to establish its Africa headquarters
The microblogging site Twitter is set to roll out operations in Ghana in September, officials have confirmed.
The social networking service on 12 April 2021 announced that it has settled on the West African country to establish its Africa headquarters.
Speaking in an interview with Asaase Business, Dr Nadia Adongo Musah, the Deputy director for the Diaspora Affairs, Office of the President said the company is currently interviewing its first batch of employees.
“Twitter is here because of what we did in 2018. A Nigerian who was part of the team that attended the full circle event we organised in 2018 helped us to get this tech giant. He is currently in the country helping to conduct interviews for the first batch of employees Twitter will be working with. If things go as scheduled, they will be opening their office here in Ghana next month [September],” she said.
The choice of Ghana for its operations came as a surprise for many, triggering heated debate about the business environment for technology start-ups across the continent.
However, for the social media giant, its decision was based on Ghana’s support for free speech.
“As a champion for democracy, Ghana is a supporter of free speech, online freedom, and the Open Internet, of which Twitter is also an advocate. Furthermore, Ghana’s recent appointment to host the secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area aligns with our overarching goal to establish a presence in the region that will support our efforts to improve and tailor our service across Africa,” Twitter said in a statement in April
Former President John Mahama has donated GHS50,000 to Real Tamale United (RTU) to help them get ready for the Premier League.
During his ‘Thank You’ tour of the Northern Region, the 2020 flag bearer of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), said: “I want to take this opportunity to congratulate RTU on qualifying to the Premier League and to say that we are all supporters of RTU”.
“And, as the Regional Minister said, let us all come together to support the pride of the north”, adding: “That’s our team”.
“And, so, between me and the NDC group in parliament led by leader Haruna [Iddrisu], we are going to make a donation of GHS50,000 to RTU to prepare for the Premier League”, Mr Mahama said.
Mr Mahama said they will continue to support the team to become great again.
“And that’s not all; we’ll be following all of you guys who are managing the team and we’ll help you so that RTU reclaims its former glory
• John Mahama accused government of not investing in the new regions
• Dan Botwe says 96 projects are being undertaken in the six new regions
• He says John Mahama is not being candid with Ghanaians
Dan Botwe, the Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development has expressed shock at a statement made by former President John Dramani Mahama over the creation of new regions.
Dan Botwe speaking on Okay FM on Monday, August 23 said that he was taken aback by John Mahama’s comment that creating a new region was a mere formality.
He criticized Mahama for not being objective on the issue and questioned why successive NDC governments did not undertake such a project despite petitions for them to do so.
He called on the former President to act and speak like someone who once held the highest office of the land and not let partisan politics blind him from the obvious.
“I couldn’t believe President Mahama will touch on the creation of new regions. If it was about creating pen and drawing new regions, why couldn’t he do it? His own people wrote to him, if it was about using pencil, why couldn’t he draw it for them?
“He run away from it. You need some courage and tact to do it because it’s a very delicate issue. We made reference to Oti Region. They went to Britain to ask for a new region even before independence. For him to say that as a former president is really disappointing. In his case, without being personal, he couldn’t even do it for Gonja land where he comes from because he lacked the courage to do it.
“You have to go through a whole process, so why would he describe it as drawing on a mere paper. There should be some sincerity and honesty in politics. He should accept that ‘I couldn’t do it but they have done it.’ During the referendum, he went to his place to vote, if it was mere drawing, would he do that?” he quizzed.
Dan Botwe noted that contrary to John Mahama claims of no development projects ongoing in the new regions, the government is undertaking various projects including the building of offices for regional coordinating councils, security installations, among others.null
He revealed that nearly 100 projects are ongoing and that government is determined to bring development to the new regions.
John Mahama during an address of chiefs and people at Nalerigu last week bemoaned the lack of development at the place.
“You cannot just create regions in the name. The regions must be worthy of being called regions. And it is the infrastructure that makes a region a region.”
“If you go to Tamale you will know that this is the Northern Region, if you go to Bolga you know that this is the Upper East Region. If you come to Nalerigu it is a shadow of a region,” adding “we don’t only need the regional boundaries to be re-drawn; we need regional infrastructure so that when you come you will say yes, this is the North East Region.”
Former President John Dramani Mahama has stated that Ghanaians can hold the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) accountable only if the party is voted out of office in the 2024 general election.
He alleged during his “Thank you Tour” of the Upper West Region that the incumbent government has stolen from the Ghanaian taxpayer, hence a change in government; a vote for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will help expose such acts.
Mr John Mahama made the statement in Wa whilst addressing regional, constituency, branch executives and supporters of the opposition party.
‘‘The NPP have no intention of fighting corruption and so the only way they can be made to account to the people of Ghana is for them to leave office so that the new government will come and audit them and show where they have gone wrong. Otherwise, all the money they have stolen, they will just walk away with it.
“If you participate in politics or are a participant in public service, one of the first things you must be willing to do is to be accountable to the people. The only way they could be accountable is for them to leave office so that the people of Ghana can ask them questions and audit them to make sure they account for the period they were in office,’’ he stated.
He commended the media in the Upper West Region for putting up their best despite working under difficult conditions stating that “We know jobs are not easy but you have continued to be true to your profession,”
‘‘This is a President and government that like praise-singing and they cannot tolerate criticisms. If you criticize them, they come after you,” he added.
The 2020 NDC Presidential Candidate also used the platform to thank supporters of the party for the warm welcome given him and his team upon their arrival in Wa on Sunday night.
For Mr John Mahama, the rousing welcome exhibited shows the strength of the NDC in the region.
NPP can only be held accountable if voted out in 2024 – Mahama He pledged that the opposition party in the next general elections will work assiduously to win all 11 parliamentary seats in the region.
This is after he noted that the NDC increased its parliamentary seats from six to eight and had 67 per cent of the presidential votes in the 2020 general elections.
A leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Otchere Darko has said the currently Akufo-Addo administration has done better in protecting the public purse than what the Mahama administration did.
To that end, he said, it bothers him how the NPP can allow the NDC to attack it on corruption.
His comments come after Mr Mahama had said during his thank you tour that the NPP wants to break the 8 in order to protect itself from corruption.
“You have been in government for 8 years so a new government must come and hold you to account. Why did you do that? Why did you do this? People are happy to run away with the loot that they have made,” Mr Mahama told Radio Tamale in an interview as part of his thank you tour.
In a statement published on his Facebook post, Mr Otchere Darko who is also a former Executive Director of the Danquah Institute said “John Manama was pretty good at awarding contracts he had no clue how to pay for them! This Government has been good at settling the billions in arrears it inherited and still manages to go about the business of implementing its own flagship programmes.
“This Government has managed to reduce the percentage of contracts that are either sole-sourced or done by restrictive tender and, by that, saving hundreds of millions every year through the PPA by reducing the costs of such contracts to the taxpayer. NDC, under Mahama, made ZERO savings in such situations. This is a fact.
“It bothers me how NPP can allow the NDC to attack it on corruption when the NPP evidently does more for the people with taxpayers’ money than the NDC did under Mahama. Clearly, corruption is such an easy cane with which to whip a government whether it is supported by facts or propaganda.
“Corruption effectively means resources meant for public expenditures are going into private pockets. Surely if a government is doing more than any previous one in spending public funds on the people and their communities and also getting more in return than the previous government, then why should that ruling party allow that opponent to confidently feel that corruption is rather the ruling party’s Achilles heel?”
Below is his full statement…
MAHAMA AND AKUFO-ADDO, WHO DOES MORE WITH TAXPAYERS’ MONEY?I read John Mahama saying on his belated “thank you tour” that NPP wants to break the 8 in order to protect itself from corruption. The simple response to that must be that the NPP wants to break the 8 in order to protect Ghana and the gains being made for Ghanaians from the likes of “Mahama the Disaster”. The evidence is still fresh in our minds why John Mahama was a disaster and I shudder to think how he would have handled the COVID-19 crisis and its disastrous impact on the economy today.
Our problems are, of course, many and varied. Our struggle is historic, deep, real and naked. So, it is easy to be convinced by an acerbic and sweet tongue that can hit hard and promise paradise. But, we must be guided by what such a tongue does with its mind, heart and hands when given the opportunity.
My simple response to John Mahama on why NPP must break the 8 is because it is clear to Ghanaians that the NDC doesn’t seem to see any alternative to present to Ghanaians in 2024 but him, John Mahama, and it is obvious from what he did to what he inherited from his own boss, President John Atta Mills, that he would destroy what NPP was fixing if returned in future. Mahama destroyed what he inherited from Mills in July 2012 and handed over the running of Ghana’s oil-rich economy to the IMF when there was no crisis. Simply put, he himself was the crisis! He home-grew a crisis and outsourced the solution.
That is the record of “Mahama the Disaster”. It should be more than clear to Ghanaian voters that in 2024, the National Democratic Congress intends to bring back John Dramani Mahama. Yes. It is what it is. Why else is he embarking on a “thank you tour” nearly a year after being rejected for the second comprehensive time by Ghanaians? Unless, of course, his mission is to thank Ghanaians for rejecting him. So it appears that the choice for 2024 is between the NPP and John Mahama’s NDC. We are less than a year in Akufo-Addo’s second and final term.
I am confident that once the next leadership dye is cast, the NPP will go knocking on doors to break the 8 with confidence that they have delivered largely on the mandate given and there is the need to protect and build on what has been delivered they deserve to be maintained (under a new leader) who can be trusted to protect the gains made and add onto that his or her own new ideas, style, competence, vision and leadership to take Ghana up to the next level. The record shows that NPP builds for NDC to destroy. You don’t need to look further than to compare 2008 to 2016, and 2016 to now. I will say this with all the evidence available and will dare any analyst to challenge and, please, do do so with facts and not propaganda. Since the First Republic, no government has done more to put or keep money in people’s pockets than the NPP.
If in doubt over how and where your money is being spent look no further beyond the evidence around you. Things are clearly not where we all want them to be, but, I dare say in all modesty that even with all the social and economic struggles that the country and the people are battling under this pandemic, this Government has performed at least creditably better than John Mahama’s record shows he would have been able to manage. And, I say this with all humility. Bills left by the NDC, including GHS20 billion a year in interest rates and growing because of new commitments are being paid and being honoured without fail, as the NDC prays without success for the NPP to run into the arms of the IMF!Free SHS, the most significant social intervention since NHIS, is being funded without fail and by taxpayers’ money.
That is cash being left in the pockets of parents. We have a strong and vibrant banking sector today because this Government spent GHS21 billion of taxpayers’ money to save the financial sector and help solidify it to grow. Two of the untold success stories of the last few years are the remarkable way and manner the CBG and the GCB have both gone about the responsibility of building on the legacy crisis of the collapsed banks. CBG was created from scratch from the ashes of some of those banks and the success story should be now a major course taught in business schools. Simply fascinating.
It took a leadership of courage and foresight to make it all happen. Just imagine how Ghana would have handled the COVID-19 pandemic if our financial sector was left in its weakened and collapsing form before 2020. The banks would have collapsed and there would have been no money to protect depositors! We have a lot to be grateful for and to thank ourselves for voting wisely. You voted for a government in 2016 and 2020 that has taken off more taxes than any other government in our history and it has abolished more taxes than it has itself imposed.
When in our history did that ever happen? This is a fact. Until Akufo-Addo, when in our history did any government reduce electricity prices in both real and nominal terms? This Government has ensured that electricity prices are cheaper today than they were in 2016. Protecting better the cash in your pocket. This is a fact. Water prices today are cheaper in real terms than they were in 2016. Another fact. This means that the Akufo-Addo Government has collected less in water and electricity revenues than the Mahama Govt in the nearly four and a half years that the latter was in power. It is money in your pocket. Comparatively, in terms of burdening consumers, this Government has collected less and done more in delivering and replacing decrepit infrastructure in the utilities sector. This Government has never once failed to pay wages and salaries.
Even when in 2020 more public sector workers had to stay home or work less because of Covid-19, none was sacked and all got paid and in full. That is where your money goes as a taxpayer. This Government has spent more on educating our children (in terms of GDP share and in real and nominal numbers) than any other government in our nation’s history. This Government also feeds more school children, both boarders and day students, than Ghana had ever managed previously. It is all funded with your taxes. Still on social interventions, this Government has spent more money and reached more people with LEAP (Ghana’s version of social welfare handouts) than any other government since President Kufuor introduced it.
It is taxpayers’ cash. As if like a socialist party, this NPP Government has even created NABCO which has given employment opportunity to some 100,000 young people. That is where your taxes go. On top of that, the GHS100 billion GhanaCares programme is designed to put more money into enterprises of young people than any previous government managed to do. That will be done with your taxes to grow and expand the economy and create jobs.
This Government has employed more people in the public sector, including doctors, nurses, teachers, police officers, immigration officers, armed forces personnel, etc, in four and a half years than John Mahama managed to accomplish. It is a fact that Akufo-Addo has created more jobs than John Mahama did when the latter had no global coronavirus pandemic to deal with, except the crisis he himself created through his incompetent and disastrous handling of public funds in particular and the economy in general. He even allowed a foreign body to ban him from employing Ghanaians!
This Government within five years, has built more roads than any previous government under a similar period. The only other leader who can also beat his chest is President Kufuor. The NPP has fixed more roads than any other party. That is where your taxes go. Whether on roads or on flyovers, this Government has done more public thoroughfares with your money than Mahama, who is now boldly talking about corruption, ever did. This Government has given communities up and down the country value for their money, whether through the provision of roads, irrigation systems, water systems, school facilities, agric extension workers, ambulances, etc than John Mahama could ever dream possible.
This Government has facilitated the setting up, expansion and rehabilitation of more factories than any other government since Independence, including the revered Kwame Nkrumah. This is a fact supported by verifiable evidence. Again, no other government since Independence has invested more in rebuilding and expanding the railway sector than this Government. This is a fact. The evidence is there. Obviously, no other government has invested more in e-infrastructure to digitise Ghana than the Akufo-Addo administration.
This is taxpayers money being used to enhance efficiency and also create more job opportunities for young Ghanaian entrepreneurs. Digitization is opening up the economy to a new, wide range of job opportunities than ever before. The response of the NDC government under Mahama to the dumsor crisis was to go on a spree to impose on taxpayers billions of dollars worth of contracted excess take-or-pay power purchase agreements. Even as this Government perseveres to terminate some and renegotiate others, hundreds of millions of dollars (taxpayers’ money) are spent annually to pay for power we don’t use by this Government. John Manama was pretty good at awarding contracts he had no clue how to pay for them!
This Government has been good at settling the billions in arrears it inherited and still manages to go about the business of implementing its own flagship programmes. This Government has managed to reduce the percentage of contracts that are either sole-sourced or done by restrictive tender and, by that, saving hundreds of millions every year through the PPA by reducing the costs of such contracts to the taxpayer. NDC, under Mahama, made ZERO savings in such situations. This is a fact. It bothers me how NPP can allow the NDC to attack it on corruption when the NPP evidently does more for the people with taxpayers’ money than the NDC did under Mahama. Clearly, corruption is such an easy cane with which to whip a government whether it is supported by facts or propaganda.
Corruption effectively means resources meant for public expenditures are going into private pockets. Surely if a government is doing more than any previous one in spending public funds on the people and their communities and also getting more in return than the previous government, then why should that ruling party allow that opponent to confidently feel that corruption is rather the ruling party’s Achilles heel? Last but by no means the least, Mahama built a district hospital for over $35 million. Akufo-Addo is building 101 district hospitals for less than $17 million. As for civil society groups, their standard is understandably higher, and so must it be. But not the NDC!
The leader for the Risk Communication for COVID-19 Response, Dr Dacosta Aboagye, has said that the Ghana Health Service has adopted a peer-to-peer strategy as part of measures in enforcing the safety protocols among the populace.
Individuals are therefore being admonished to insist that their peers as well as persons they interact with or transact business with wear their nose masks before any engagement.
Currently, in Ghana, the wearing of a nose mask is mandatory in all public places.
According to a Daily Graphic report, Mr Aboagye stated the need for Ghanaians to adhere to the safety protocols as part of efforts in curbing the spread of the deadly virus.
He added that the Delta Variant is fast spreading in various communities in the country. The Greater Accra Region has recorded the highest number of Coronavirus cases among the sixteen regions.
“Don’t board any commercial vehicle if the driver and his assistant are not wearing face masks; the driver and his assistant must also demand same from passengers before they board the vehicle,” Daily Graphic quoted him.null
Reports indicate that there is low adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols like the wearing of a nose mask, social distancing, regular handwashing among Ghanaians despite the increasing death toll.
Mr Aboagye further added that “Although Ghana has in the past seen widespread adherence to the wearing of nose masks, washing of hands and social distancing and compliance of restrictions to keep people safe, there are worrying signs of people growing weary of the pandemic and relaxing adherence to the protocols.
“Hence the need for the peer-to-peer enforcement initiative to make the people know their responsibility in enhancing compliance.”
Following the outbreak of Coronavirus in Ghana on March 12, 2020, a total of 968 lives have been lost to the deadly virus.
The Founder and President of the Angel Group of Companies, Kwaku Oteng, has said that he does not believe in the idea of mentorship.
According to him, he believes in creating his own path rather than looking up to, or being coached by someone.
The business mogul made this known in an interview with The Vaultz Magazine.
He said “Honestly, I had no one like that. One thing I don’t do is to look up to anyone in life. The truth is I don’t like to repeat what others have done or are doing. I always want to do something unique so I can be recognized for my ingenuity.”
On what makes the businessman happy, he said he loves to see women driving and people dancing.
“What makes me happy the most is seeing someone dance, and I also admire seeing a lady drive,” he said.
President Nana Akufo-Addo has said his government has been able to reduce inflation to 7.9 per cent from the 15 per cent he inherited from the Mahama administration in 2017.
Justifying the banking and financial sector clean-up exercise after swearing in the new board of directors of the Bank of Ghana at the Jubilee House on Friday, 20 August 2021, the president remarked: “Probably the most difficult problem my government met when coming into office, was the state of the banking and financial sector”.
According to him, “many of our banks were in distress and have been kept on unsustainable and artificial life support by the central bank”.
“The supervisory agencies, were, unfortunately, not performing their duties which allowed weak governance and management structures of many banks, to fester”, he observed.
In the president’s estimation, “we were in a desperate situation and urgent, radical measures had to be taken to prevent the collapse of the entire financial and banking sector with consequences too dire to contemplate”.
“The Bank of Ghana, under a new leadership, intervened and restored sanity to the sector and in the process, saved the banks involved and the funds of some 4.6 million depositors”, President Akufo-Addo said.
Also, he said the government found some GHS21 billion to fund the clean-up exercise, “which has enabled a more robust financial and banking services sector to emerge the better to finance the rapid development of our nation”.
Adducing further evidence to back his assertion that the clean-up exercise has been helpful to the economy, the president quoted a comment made on the subject by the World Bank’s Country Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Mr Pierre Laporte, in a one-on-one interview granted to the Class Morning Show on Class91.3 FM by saying: “A few days ago, the World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, had this to say about the banking sector clean-up: ‘It was important that this clean-up happened. Maybe the details could have been done differently. I won’t get into that but under direction and what happened, it was important because you cannot have a financial sector that is plagued by non-performing banks, non-performing loans, institutions that have poor governance, institutions that cannot honour people’s desire to have their funds back’”.
The president said stressed that his predecessor left him a broken economy which he has been able to salvage.
“As I intimated earlier, my government inherited, in 2017, an economy riddled with macroeconomic imbalances and a financial sector that was at the tipping point of collapse but dressed up in camouflage by unsustainable daily support from the central bank”, he noted.
“We had to introduce, immediately, reforms and corrective measures to address the imbalances and restore stability”, the president said.
He pointed out: “Very quickly, with the support of the Bank of Ghana, macroeconomic stability was restored, which provided a sound environment to underpin the government’s economic diversification and transformation process”.
Today, he noted, “there’s clear evidence that inflation has been well-contained”.
The previous board of the Bank of Ghana, the president recalled, was inaugurated in August 2017, “at a time when inflation was some 12 per cent down from the 15 per cent inherited from the Mahama era”.
“And four years down the line, inflation has been well-managed and has dropped to as low as 8 per cent at the end of the second quarter of the year”, the president observed.
He said, “inflation is currently at 7.9 per cent at the end of July 2021 within the target band of the Bank of Ghana”.
He continued: “I’m very encouraged by the many corporate governance measures that have been put in place by the Bank of Ghana to mitigate future bank failures and ensure that we have a strong banking sector that can drive the transformation agenda of the government”.
“Indeed, recent policy measures introduced by the Bank, are commendable and align with the overall objective of moving Ghana to a situation beyond aid”.
Members of the #FixTheCountry Coalition have begun processes to pass a vote of no confidence against the 1992 Constitution by targeting one million signatures.
At a press conference organised today, Monday, 23 August 2021 at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Accra, the group lamented that the Constitution has not lived up to the core principles of equality before the law.
Additionally, the group argued that the document has not ensured that the majority of state resources are owned by Ghanaians, among other things.
Addressing the press, the leader of the Economic Fighters League, Mr Ernesto Yeboah, urged Ghanaians to support their call and vote for a new Constitution.
For his part, the lead convenor of the #FixTheCountry movement, Mr Oliver Vomarwo, expressed their resolve to seek justice for murdered social media activist Ibrahim Kaaka.
Kaaka, a member of the Economic Fighters League, was attacked in the early hours of Saturday, 26 June 2021, which resulted in his unconsciousness and hospitalisation.
He died while on admission on Sunday, 28 June 2021.
The coalition is expected to meet the new IGP and National Chief Imam tomorrow, Tuesday, 24 August 2021, to table their concerns before them for redress.
Captain Smart has chastised Ghanaian leaders for their poor maintenance culture that has led to the collpase of many enterprises.
Broadcast Journalist Blessed Godsbrain Smart better known in the media landscape as ‘Captain Smart’ has descended heavily on policy makers of the country over their reasoning abilities.
According to him, leaders of Ghana lack sense of rationality, particularly, on maintenance culture to enable them keep the already existing projects set up by predecessors for the benefit of all.
Speaking on the campaign dubbed #BringBackOurAbondonedProjects# on Onua Maakye Thursday, August 19, 2021, the fearless broadcaster blasted Ghanaian leaders, saying they are only good in looting from the nation’s coffers, but fail woefully to maintain projects to the benefit of the citizenry.
Wading deep into the 55-year-old dilapidated Abosso Glass factory situated in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality, –that has been left to rot – Captain Smart chastised current crop of leadership for their lack of foresightedness, blinded by selfishness.
Rather, he opines decision makers are infatuated with corruption, that has eaten deep into the fibre of every sphere of their senses.
“…A project he (Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah) commissioned as the ‘Abooso Glass factory’, on February 5, 1966, at Tarkwa for producing hard and soft drinks for the country, and to also manufacture glasses for our neighbouring countries to our own benefit has been left unattended and left to rot”
“But today look at the nature of the facility…so do these crop of our leaders think at all? So can’t you people maintain these projects since you are not building some? I pity your thinking abilities,” he fumed.
He added that the establishment of those factories by Nkrumah clearly shows how visionary he was, compared to the current people wielding power.
He further expressed shocked over how the leaders travel abroad without learning anything positive to reflect on their thinking and actions to the development of the country.
“Our leaders do not have the idea of renovation but only ideas of stealing from the Nation’s coffers. They only travel abroad with blind eyes without learning anything,” he said.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as part of measures to mitigate the impact of the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, will today, Tuesday, August 17, 2021, break grounds for the commencement of the construction of hospitals under the government’s Agenda 111 initiative according to the Minister of Information, Mr. Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah.
The project is part of a grand plan for Ghana’s healthcare sector by the Nana Akufo-Addo / Bawumia led administration, the realization of which will ensure that 101 outstanding districts will be provided with hospitals in addition to 10 selected regional and specialized hospitals.
Reacting to the news, the National Vice- Chairman of the National Democratic Congress, Alhaji Said Sinare has accused the president of embarking on empty sloganeering.
The former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia in an August 16, 2021 Facebook post to back his claims said the President’s recent promise is a complete scam and an insult to the Ghanaian people.
The country’s Information Minister has been reported to have said the agenda 111 is programmed to take 12 months to complete from the commencement of each unit with a funding of $100 million from the government through the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF).
The Minister said the construction of the 111 hospitals will lead to Ghana becoming a Centre of Medical Excellence and a destination for medical tourism in the West African sub-region.
Commenting on the news, the NDC bigwig questioned: “Can we still trust a man who wasn’t able to build a single polyclinic throughout his five years as president to build 111 district hospitals, six regional hospitals in the newly created regions, two specialized hospitals in the middle and northern belts, as well as a regional hospital in the Western Region and renovate the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital, all within the 3 years he is left with?”
He referred to how the President made numerous promises and has failed woefully in fulfilling them and cuts countless sods without commissioning one.
READ HIS FULL STATEMENT BELOW:
AKUFFO ADDO’S AGENDA 111: EMPTY SLOGANEERING, A COMPLETE SCAM, AND AN INSULT TO THE GHANAIAN PEOPLE. The president and his ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) have risen again with another mischievous means to scam the Good people of this country and empty sloganeering named #Agenda111 to fool the Ghanaian people.
Can we still trust a man who wasn’t able to build a single polyclinic throughout his five years as president to build 111 district hospitals, six regional hospitals in the newly created regions, two specialized hospitals in the middle and northern belts, as well as a regional hospital in the Western Region and renovate the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital, all within the 3 years he is left with.
The public purse is set to be attacked again by macho men in suits.
Former President John Dramani Mahama will arrive in Wa on Sunday, August 22, 2021, to thank the people of the Upper West Region for their support during the 2020 General Elections.
The Former President and Leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2020 General Elections will be welcomed into the region by the regional party executives, party supporters and sympathizers between 1700hrs and 1930hrs GMT.
The Former President is expected to pay a courtesy call on the Wa Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo IV, the Overlord of the Wala Traditional Area and his sub-chiefs, elders and faith leaders on Monday.
He will also meet with the Catholic Bishop and Priests as well as the Local Council of Churches before a media engagement.
Former President Mahama will also hold a session with party stakeholders, including the Members of Parliament from the Upper West Region, Regional and Constituency Executives, Council of Elders and former government appointees.
The rest are Election 2020 Parliamentary Aspirants, Regional Cadres Front, Regional Communication Team, TEIN Members and Patrons, professional unions, artisans and market women.
Former President Mahama has been touring the regions to thank the people for their support during the last elections.
The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has appealed to the general public to voluntarily support the construction of the National Cathedral.
Speaking at the Adabraka Presbyterian Church on Sunday as a special guest for the 30th Anniversary Celebration of Rev. Kwadwo Owusu Sarpong into Ordained Ministry, Bawumia said, is a voluntary exercise, which when completed, will be for the country Ghana.
“As we all know, there are efforts to build a national cathedral. It is very important that we build that cathedral. It is a voluntary exercise and anybody who wants to contribute can contribute,” Dr Bawumia said.
Rallying support for the construction, the vice president said he has already contributed towards the construction and urged Ghanaians to voluntary contribute towards the construction, to the “glory of God.”
“I have contributed and I will contribute some more. And I encourage everybody to think about it and let’s build it. It is not for anybody, it is for Ghana and the glory of God.”
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has said it has suspended its probe of the $5-million bribery allegation made against Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah by a lawyer, for which the ombudsman had been petitioned by civil society group Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA).
According to CHRAJ, it would be superfluous probing the matter as the same organisation has also petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo over the same matter.
“Since the matter is pending in the appropriate constitutional forum, the commission, in the exercise of its discretion under Section 13 of Act 456, hereby ceases to investigate the complaint any further as the invocation of the Article 456 proceedings has effectively taken the matter out of the forum of the commission,” CHRAJ said in a letter to ASEPA.
ASEPA filed the CHRAJ petition on 12 July 2021 under Article 218(a) and (e) of the 1992 Constitution.
CHRAJ said while it was conducting preliminary investigations into the instant complaint, “it was brought to its attention that the complainant has also petitioned the President of the Republic under Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution for the removal of the Respondent as Chief Justice, grounding the petition on the same allegations of bribery and corruption”.
“The said petition was submitted to the office of the president on the 13th of July 2021, a day after the instant complaint was lodged with the commission”, CHRAJ observed in the letter signed by its Commissioner, Joseph Whittal.
“While it may be conceded that the complainant in the instant matter before the commission did not claim, as a specific relief, the removal of the respondent, it is discernible from its invocation of Article 146 that, that is the ultimate destination of the complainant”, CHRAJ said.
It added: “The procedure for the removal of a Chief Justice having been specifically provided for in Article 146, it is our considered view that the provisions of the said article take precedence over the general provisions of Article 218”.
It said: “Section 13(1) gives discretion to the Commission when confronted with a situation such as this, where there is provision of law, as set out in Article 146 to deal with matters of this nature, and the complainant has taken advantage of it as evidenced by its petition to the President under the said Article, to refuse to investigate the matter.”
Meanwhile, the Council of State, on Friday, 20 August 2021,presented its report to the president.
The president said: “I will apprise you [Council of State] of my own findings on the matter”, adding: “I am hoping that my consultation will establish that there is unanimity between you and me on this matter before we can go on
Former President of Ghana John Dramani Mahama has stated that the governing New Patriotic Party is fighting to stay in power to avoid accountability after eight years of creating, looting and sharing.
The New Patriotic Party(NPP) government has repeatedly stated that it is working hard at ensuring that it is the political party to break the eight years jinx on political parties in power.
The party believes that its policies, programmes and move to transform Ghana’s fortunes will help them achieve the vision of staying in power for a very long time.
But the former President of Ghana who was also the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2020 election John Dramani Mahama believes the NPP does not have the country and its citizens at heart but rather want to shield their corrupt practices.
Speaking in an interview with Radio Tamale’s Robicon Mornahson the former President said: “They say politicians are liars. Politicians don’t tell the truth. We hear a lot of them among the youth. But it’s lesser among the electorates.
“A government comes and says I will build 350 new secondary schools. And on the basis of that, you vote for them. Or a government comes and says when I come I am going to create jobs and put money into your pockets.
“And 5 years on, you feel poorer even before they came. Or 5 years on, more young people are unemployed more than before. These things, the net effect or impact is that it changes the faith of the people in the democratic system that we have”.null
Adding that: “And that is why today you can find more young people come out to say just fix the country. Fix the country. It demands our collective efforts as leaders. We should not say it is only they who are in government. We should look at it beyond NPP.
“And when NDC comes, they will ask you to fix it. So I am saying that this is the time to engage our youth. We need an agenda that will force, and it is more radical that will change the fortunes of our country. And I think that it is not at the head of one president. Or in the bossom of one political party. It will take a lot of collaboration. It will take a lot of consensus building. It will take a lot of accountability. Holding people accountable”.
But John Dramani Mahama dismissed the dreams of the NPP indicating that Ghana’s constitution gave every government eight years after which another comes in to scrutinize the work done.
“They say, ‘break the 8,’ so sweep every useless thing we have done under the carpet, but (elect) someone who is amenable to us so that we don’t account for our 8 years. No, accountability must take place.
“You have been in government for 8 years, so a new government must come and hold you to account. Why did you do that? Why did you do this? People are happy to run away with the loot that they have made,” he stated.
• Assin Central MP says he has been defrauded to the tune of US$7 million
• He is however hell bent on retrieving every pesewa he has lost this far
• Agyapong says such losses are part of challenges that business people have to learn from
Assin Central Member of Parliament, Kennedy Agyapong, has disclosed that he has landed in a botched business that has seen him swindled to the tune of US$7 million by a young man.
According to him, in the line of business, no matter how shrewd a person is; losses and other challenges can pop up but that it was how a person handles it that determines how good a businessperson they are.
GhanaWeb monitored comments Agyapong made on Net2 TV’s ‘The Attitude’ show on August 20 where he revealed that the ‘fraudsters’ who are messing with him will soon know who they are up against.
“Even for me, things are not so smooth for me as you think. I told you last week that I have bought machines worth 7 million dollars for some young boys, they have swindled me, they are still on it, they haven’t changed.
“Their time will come, my message is that when I was advancing them the money to buy the canon machines, if that was all I had, I wouldn’t have given them that money. So I will eat, what pains me is that a 39-year-old boy will swindle me, a 61-year-old man.”
According to him, now that he is plotting to hit back at the fraudsters, “people are begging, people are still begging. People I respect are begging, you see why Ghana is not progressing?” he quizzed.
He vowed to go after the boys and to collapse their business, a fightback that he said he had started by cutting their sources of supply and business.null
Agyapong, however, remains undaunted by the incident, stressing that he will continue to run his businesses and to make investments because that was a sign of a businessman who understands the ups and downs that come with the trade.
“I will not let them demoralize me…. I’m still investing. I am business-wise already but I have grown wiser. If you see a Ghanaian dying, let him die…. Nana Boadu (he gave the names of one of the boys) will not know what is coming upon him.
“But I will not let those boys collapse me, they are very evil, I know of two but I am told they are three… I will retrieve every pesewa of mine from those small boys, they will never swindle me this badly.
“I will take action and I don’t care, because I will not let him take me for granted ever. I usually pass my hand over my head. My head is boiling because I am so pained that the boys have been able to swindle me that bad,” he lamented.
Former Member of Parliament for Chiana/Paga Constituency Abuga Pele has revealed that he was a head coach of a football team in the prison after he was jailed for causing financial loss to the state.
While in prison, he said, he also served as a headmaster of a school.
He also believes that he was sent there to learn and not to be punished.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo granted him a presidential pardon after being taken ill at the Nsawam Maximum Security Prison, from where he was transferred to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital and admitted to the High Dependency Unit (HDU) of the hospital.
He has since been discharged.
The former National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP was sentenced to six-year imprisonment by an Accra High Court in 2018 for causing financial loss to the state while National Coordinator of the defunct Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA).
He was said to have acted in a manner that resulted in the loss of GH¢4.1 million by the government after businessman Phillip Akpeena Assibit had made false claims that he had secured a $65-million World Bank funding for the creation of one million jobs for the youth.null
Abuga Pele was found guilty on two counts of abetment of fraud and five counts of willfully causing financial loss to the state.
He received six years for abetment of fraud and four years for willfully causing financial loss to the state, both to be served concurrently.
Speaking for the first time after his pardon, he said on Saturday August 21 that: “If I have not said anything concerning my incarceration or what led to it or what the outcome has being, it is because the truth as I have said often will surely come out one day.
“Finally I want to add that I was not incarcerated, I was not put in prison, you are only put in prison if your mind accept or allows it. I was taken there to learn.
“People in prisons are my younger brothers, my sisters and my fathers, some of them needed help maybe God sent me there to help them . I became the headmaster of the school that produced graduates.
Two organizers of the annual street art festival, ‘Chale Wote’, and an artist have been arrested.
The Accra Central Police arrested organisers, Mantse Ayikwei, Nii Ayitie, and Kwaku Ananse, the artist outside the Ussher Fort at Jamestown, whiles the Chale Wote virtual event was taking place inside the Fort.
Nicholas Tetteh Wayo, one of the artists who witnessed the incident said the police officers who carried out the arrest outside the Usher fort, caused damage to some machines, and scattered items arranged by food vendors who were getting ready to cash in on the event.
He said the police did not explain the reason for the arrest of the three persons.
“I was inside the Ussher Fort, and then one of the guys rushed in to inform me that the police were arresting some people outside, and by the time I got outside, they had already gone to the Police station, so we were at the police station to do everything we could, but they’re still keeping the three people.”
“This is something we do every year, and it brings a lot of benefits to the nation and especially the people of Jamestown. People make some small money from it, but it seems now they are preventing the people from making some money without any reason. The police carried out some breakages; some guys were doing performances, and food vendors were trying to sell, and they destroyed everything,” he said.
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), announced that the 2021 edition of ‘Chale Wote’ will be a virtual event due to the upsurge in Covid-19 cases.
This year’s event started on Friday, 13th August, and is expected to end today Sunday 22nd August 2021.
It is, however, unclear whether the arrest of the two organisers and the artist is in any way linked to the breach of Covid-19 protocols since a virtual event will still require a venue that will stream the event live.
“We were observing everything; we were in masks. If it [the arrest] is about covid, go to Makola and see what’s happening in Makola.
It’s not about the Covid, there’s something fishy. They have their selfish interest, this is what I know, it’s not about the Covid” Tetteh stated.
“There were a lot of people around when the arrest happened. You know, people enjoy coming to this festival; it is fun. It was supposed to be virtual, but people want to come around, and they were coming. We were doing things inside the Ussher Fort, and not everyone got in, but some people were around doing some performances just to have fun,” he added.
‘Chale Wote’ Street Art Festival is a Ghanaian-originated platform that brings together art, music, dance, and performance unto the streets.
This year’s edition of the festival marks ten (10) years of its existence since it was first launched in 2011 to promote the appreciation of diverse forms of art in Ghana
The 45-year-old man says the devil influenced him to kill his wife whom he has 9 children with.
Yaw Muntom, a 45-year-old farmer at Lele, a suburb of Prang in the Pru West District of the Bono East Region, on Saturday 21st August 2021, allegedly shot his wife in the left shoulder after a quarrel.
According to the Prang Police, the suspect reported himself and was arrested.
The police immediately led him to the crime scene to assist with further investigations.
Upon reaching the crime scene, the body of Muntom’s deceased wife was seen lying in a prone position in a pool of blood, while the single barrel gun allegedly used to kill her was found beside her body.
Pru East Police Commander, DSP Eric Awiadem narrating the incident to Citi News said the suspect claimed the devil made him do it.
“The man and the wife have been having some misunderstandings for quite sometime now. There was a funeral yesterday which the deceased wanted to attend. She asked the husband for money but he refused. She later prepared a meal for the household and refused to serve the husband’s portion. This infuriated the husband who started another quarrel. Later in the day, the woman was cooking when the man shot at her.”
“He told us it was the devil that entered him and influenced his action.”
The deceased, Abena Jayon, aged 30, had nine children with her alleged killer and had been married to him for the past decade.
Her body has since been deposited at the Yeji Mathias Catholic Hospital for autopsy and preservation.
Ten persons have died with others injured after two buses crashed at Gomoa Mampong in the Central Region.
Ten people have been confirmed dead after two buses collided at Gomoa Mampong on the Kasoa-Winneba Highway in the Central Region.
The incident, which occurred on Sunday, August 22, has also left several others in severe conditions after sustaining various injuries.
The injured have been taken to the Winneba Trauma Hospital for treatment.
The deceased are said to be made up of six men and four women.
The two buses is said to be making wrongful overtaking that resulted in the gory incident.
The Boss bus with registration number GN 4741-10 is said to have been coming from Takoradi to Accra while the Deploma Bus with registration number GS 6262-19 was from Accra to Ivory Coast.
One of the survivors, Emmanuel Quaicoo who was on board the Boss bus narrated the unfortunate incident to JoyNews.
According to him, “It all started when our driver had an overtaken and was about heading to his lane but unfortunately, we realised the other bus had also made an overtaken. Our driver then tried to prevent the two buses from colliding but before we realised it, the other bus had hit us from behind.”
He alleged that the Deploma bus was at top speed adding that about six persons died on the spot.
According to reports, two persons including Emmanuel Quaicoo survived the incident.
The Winneba Municipal Fire Officer, Henry Asiedu who also confirmed the incident noted when his officers reached the scene, they immediately worked to free persons who had been trapped in the buses.
“My men were able to bring out about five people who were trapped. Two of them died but in all, we have about 10 casualties,” he said.
Meanwhile, the 10 remains have been deposited at the Winneba Trauma mortuary.
President Akufo-Addo is expected to leave Ghana for Germany tomorrow, Sunday, August 22.
It forms part of an official visit to that country at the invitation of the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, with the aim of the visit being to deepen the ties of co-operation and the bonds of friendship amongst the two countries.
At a briefing at the Jubilee House (presidency) Director of Communications, Eugene Arhin, indicated that as part of his itinerary, President Akufo-Addo and the German Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia and doubles as the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (political party) of Germany, Armin Laschet, will deliver a speech at the 75th Anniversary of the formation of North Rhine-Westphalia, the country’s most populous state and her number one industrial region.
He will also deliver a speech in Bonn at the opening of the North Rhine-Westphalia Academy of International Politics.
The President also expected to hold meetings with the manufacturers of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine for Covid-19, with areas of discussion focussing on the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines for the country, and the establishment of a National Vaccine Institute in Ghana.
President Akufo-Addo will later address a meeting of the German Investor Community; before going to Berlin to participate in the G20 Compact Initiative programme, whose aim is to promote private investment in Africa, including in infrastructure.
He is expected back home in Ghana on Saturday, 28th August
Former President and the 2020 Presidential Candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress, (NDC), has slammed Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia on the country’s economic situation.
According to the former leader, the Vice President is only deceiving Ghanaians on the economy, adding “the dishonesty is so glaring that sometimes it is laughable.”The Vice President on the occasion of the International Youth Day in Ghana recently said the governing NPP has eased the suffering of the average Ghanaian as promised.
“The NPP promised to reduce the suffering Ghanaians were going through under the economic mismanagement of the NDC. After four years in office, what is clear is that even though many Ghanaians are facing challenging times especially as a result of the economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government of the NPP under the leadership of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has, through policies implemented, delivered largely on its promise of reducing the suffering of Ghanaians even though we have a lot more to do in that direction.”
But Mr. Mahama contends the Vice President who is the head of the Economic Management Team is only making propaganda out of the country’s economic issues.
“The point is, you can do so much propaganda with the economy, but the inflation will expose you. The same economist who said we should look at the real situation on the grounds and not the statistics is now telling us to look at the statistics and not the real issues on the ground.”
“You can do all the propaganda about the economy, but the reality of people’s lives will expose you.”
Mr. Mahama spoke on NTV Ghana on Thursday, August 19, 2021, as part of his ‘Thank you tour’.
The Minority in Parliament has accused the government of hiding the truth about the GH¢600 million expenditure advanced for the Agenda 111 project.
The Minority’s position follows the Finance Ministry’s claim that the GH¢600 million is yet to be disbursed.
In a statement responding to concerns raised by the Minority, the ministry said the amount had been released into the project account at the Bank of Ghana.
But the Minority are back again and say they are alarmed and even more concerned about the chain of custody of the GHS600 million allocated for AGENDA 111 projects.
They have, therefore, asking the following questions:
Did the government release GH₵600 million for Agenda 111 in 2020 as per the Ministry of Finance’s statement and when did this happen? Why was this not captured in the 2021 Budget?
Which agency of government is implementing Agenda 111 and is that agency different from the agency holding custody of funds for the same project? Why?
Are funds purported to be lodged at the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund meant for investment management or they are lodged there to be made available to the implementing agency on demand?
Assuming that funds have been released for Agenda 111 projects, what has been the chain of custody of the funds since they left the Consolidated Accounts at the BoG?
Can the government, without releasing funds from the Bank of Ghana to the implementing agency admit to having released same and present same to parliament and the people of Ghana?
The Minority is calling on the Auditor General to immediately constitute an audit team involving the services of a reputable international Audit Firm such as Price Waterhouse coopers (PWC), to immediately Audit the processes leading to the supposed transfer and the expenditure of the GHS600 million between the ministry of finance, the Controller and Accountant General’s Department, the Bank of Ghana, the Ministry of Health and the Office of the Chief of Staff to ascertain the veracity of the claims of the Ministry of Finance.
Bernard Allotey Jacobs, the former NDC member who recently confessed to embarking on a smear campaign against former President John Agyekum Kufuor has sworn never to apologize to former President John Dramani Mahama, for any reason.
Allotey Jacobs on Wednesday, August 18, 2020 received long sought for pardon of John Agyekum Kufuor who announced that he has forgiven him of the sins he confessed to have committed against him.
This revelation was made by Allotey Jacobs on an Asempa interview and subsequently via Facebook where he announced that the former president has forgiven him after they met in Aburi.
“Yesterday @ Aburi with Prez J.A Kufour when I met him to apologize for the propaganda against him when all that I said there was no iota of truth And as a great statesman he forgave me and had a lunch with me. Thank you President JA Kufour God bless you and keep you safe.”
In one of the comments under his post, a user stated that it was just a matter of time before Allotey will one day apologize to John Mahama for making certain remarks against him.
The user by name Abdallah J Salifu wrote: “you will definitely apologise to Prez Mahama and GS one day.’
Allotey replies “you think am an idiot.”
What happened when Allotey met President Kufuor Before putting up the post, Allotey Jacobs disclosed in the interview exactly what transpired when he visited Kufuor.
‘I’m so happy in my heart. I’m so happy in my soul that at long last someone whose name I destroyed with others has forgiven me. He told me there was no need for me to beg but I told him, if you forgive me, Heaven will forgive me so accept that I wronged you.
“He still insisted that I did what I did due to the nature of our politics, so there was no need for me to beg him. But he later said that he believed I did it because of propaganda and if I have come back to apologize then he has forgiven me. He told me God has forgiven me and that he has nothing to add but I told him to say something so that my soul will rest then he said ‘you are forgiven,’” he said.
The ruling New Patriotic Party says living conditions in the country are not as bad as former President John Mahama appears to be telling Ghanaians.
According to the Communications Director of the party, Yaw Buaben Asamoa, Ghanaians are likely to be poisoned with negativity with they continue listening to the former President on the economy.
“We are not frightened of John Mahama, we know he cannot manage the economy, so we can’t let him poison your minds because if you’re sitting your somewhere and they keep telling you ‘oh it is bad, Ghana is hard, there is corruption, Ghana is hard’. Then sometimes, you think it’s true. So we have to speak back,” he told the media at a press conference on Friday.
He added: “We’re not frightened by John Mahama. We know he cannot give you a good education, we know he cannot give you good health, he will collapse NHIA. We know he cannot manage the economy. Interest rates, inflation will go up, growth will drop and we’ll go back to the IMF”.
He also noted the opposition NDC is criticizing the Agenda 111 projects by government because they fear it will cost them the 2024 elections.null
“For open political purposes founded on the spirit of non-performance and incompetence, the NDC wants an initiative that is set to benefit millions of Ghanaians stopped just because it threatens their assumptions of the 2024 election. The NDC sees Agenda 111 as a game-changer to defeat their archaic model of regime change every eight years. They are afraid we will break the eight. Agenda 111 complements major reforms in the health sector”.
The Agenda 111 project includes 101 district hospitals, six regional hospitals in the newly created regions, two specialised hospitals in the middle and northern belts, as well as a regional hospital in the Western Region and renovation of the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital.
Each unit would have facilities such as Outpatient services, including consultation for medical and surgical cases, Ophthalmology, Dental and Physiotherapy and Imaging services
• Assin North MP Kennedy Agyapong has slammed work ethic of Ghanaians
• According to him, foreigners are generally better managers that locals
• He is calling for general reorientation in how Ghanaians approach work
Assin Central Member of Parliament, Kennedy Agyapong, has submitted that Ghanaians are usually the reason behind the collapse of local business enterprises.
He added that even some foreign-owned businesses have become victims of mismanagement and theft by Ghanaian managers. He cited the case of aTurkish businessman who was reeling under losses engineered by Ghanaian staff.
Speaking on NET2 TV’s The Attitude programme on Friday (August 20, 2021), the lawmaker said it will take a resetting of the mind and total reorientation towards hard work to bring sanity to work places.
“The way they sabotage by stealing is serious, I will continue to say it. Because if not for criminally minded managers, why is it that when Indian, Lebanese and Chinese bring their own to manage businesses, these businesses flourish?null
“Why then is it that when a Ghanaian appoints another as a manager, the business collapses? We are thieves, naturally born thieves, naturally born bad.
“I will continue to say it until we change our horrible attitudes, Ghanaian busineses will not flourish, we will mark time,” he stressed.
He also explained how Ghanaians abroad manage to succeed in life when they are outside of the country as compared to when they are at home.
He put itdown to the realities of being on your own and maintaining self discipline in a system that is in and of itself disciplined.
“There, no one begs for you, there is no intercession over there. Your life becomes structured. They are more studious and discipline than those in Ghana,” he told the programme host.
This is not the first time Agyapong is making such critical comments on work ethic of Ghanaians, he has routinely called out his own employees at the station for lacking initiative and being sloppy in the line of duty.null
Months back, he related how husband of MP Ursual Owusu-Ekuful had opted to employ foreigners to run his eye clinic located at East Legon in Accra.
Agyapong said he had visited and gotten fantastic customer service, adding: “It belongs to husband of Hon Ursula Owusu. It is not only about the equipments but the man’s mindset and the way he is doing the tests is superb. You’d always love to return.
“But I can share one thing that he said that disappointed me. It is still about attitude, he said; Honourable, I am doing this job with Filipinos because Ghanaians will just destroy it.
Ken continued: “It is sad. A beautiful place where you’d be proud to see Ghanaians helping this man to succeed, but he has to use Filipinos. Why? If he doesn’t do that, his work wil collapse. So fellow Ghanaians, let us change our orientation,” he charged.
The New Patriotic Party, NPP, has ridiculed the National Democratic Congress (NDC) saying, the opposition party is threatened by the government’s ambitious ‘Agenda 111’ hospitals initiative.
According to the NPP, the NDC’s criticism and opposition to ‘Agenda 111‘ is borne out of the fear that it [NDC] will suffer another humiliating defeat in the next general elections because it suspects the governing party will ride on the massive health project to gather more votes in the 2024 polls.
Speaking at a media engagement in Accra on Friday, August 20, 2021, Communications Director of the NPP, Yaw Buaben Asamoa, hit hard at the NDC for the deliberate attempts to cast doubts on ‘Agenda 111’ given their “poor leadership and inability to improve the country’s health space”.
“For open political purposes founded on the spirit of non-performance and incompetence, the NDC wants an initiative that is set to benefit millions of Ghanaians stopped just because it threatens their assumptions of the 2024 election. The NDC sees Agenda 111 as a game-changer to defeat their archaic model of regime change every eight years. They are afraid we will break the eight. Agenda 111 complements major reforms in the health sector”.
Agenda 111 is the culmination of a pledge to improve healthcare infrastructure after the country dealt with the pressures of the coronavirus pandemic.
The President cut sod for the commencement of the project on Tuesday at Trede in the Atwima Kwanwoma District of the Ashanti Region.
Each of the hospitals will cost $16.88 million, with $12.88 million being used for the construction of the hospitals and $4 million for medical equipment.
The government said it has already set aside $100 million as commencement funding. However, the Minority in Parliament believes the government is not being honestabout expected expenditure on the Agenda 111 project.
Agenda 111 project is only an afterthought, it’ll increase our debt – Mahama
Former President, John Dramani Mahama, has described the government’s ambitious ‘Agenda 111’ hospital projects as an afterthought.
He maintains the hospital projects will not be completed before the NPP leaves office adding that the government needed to show something for all the borrowings, a reason why it has embarked on this project.
“It is only an afterthought that suddenly they realized that they must be doing some infrastructure and Agenda 111 has been conjured with no transparency as to how the money for the projects are going to be procured.”
“Government should avert its mind and try to finish some of those projects including some of those that they themselves have initiated. Is it going to lead to more borrowing when we already have such a high level [of debt],” he questioned further.
A former Minister of Health under the erstwhile NDC administration, Alex Segbefia, has also said the government’s plan to build 111 hospitals across the country, is just a repackaged plan that may not see the light of day.
But Yaw Buaben Asamoa at the press conference disputed these assertions.
“The NDC has desperate cries for recognition. They are pretending to be alarmed at abandoned projects and the lack of financial resources to complete Agenda 111. Well, let’s tell them today. There are no abandoned projects. Every project has a reason why it is happening or not happening.”
“They describe Agenda 111 as a knee-jerk reaction without reading the NDC’s manifesto of 2016 and 2020. The 2016 manifesto promised to upgrade district hospitals and establish new ones in districts where there were none. The 2020 manifesto specifies 101 district hospitals due for construction. So Agenda 111 is a well-thought-through intervention worthy of study by the NDC”, he added
Rather than resorting to mere rhetorics, immediate past Auditor General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, has charged President Akufo-Addo to put in more action.
The immediate past Auditor-General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, has downplayed President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s commitment to fighting corruption in the country.
President Akufo-Addo in a recent meeting with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) praised Domelevo’s successor, Johnson Akaumoah Asiedu, suggesting that the latter has done better in a short time working on statutory reports in record time.
But speaking at a town hall meeting organised by the Catholic Professionals Guild themed “combating the virus of corruption in our country: my commitment as a Christian professional,” Mr. Domelevo said, Ghanaians expect to see real action against persons caught in corrupt acts.
“A good number of Ghanaians would like to see more action against corruption other than rhetoric. Unfortunately, the leadership of the country is very good at rhetoric. In my humble opinion, public funds are saved only when you have an effective administration with public accounting procurement systems,” he said.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Domelevo commended Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for his role in the digitalization of the economy.
He said such efforts will help combat corruption, especially in the public sector.
“I appreciate the Vice President’s efforts in public sector digitalisation. I commend him, except to say that if we don’t curb the indiscipline, the digitalisation will not bring the desired solution.”
The Audit Service Board appointed Mr. Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu as acting Auditor-General, to succeed Domelevo in August 2020, after the latter was asked by President Akufo-Addo to proceed on his 167-day accumulated leave.
Mr. Domelevo was later ordered by the President to retire because he had reached the retirement age.
President, Akufo-Addo, who was speaking to anti-corruption campaigners who paid a courtesy call on him at the Jubilee House, commended Mr. Asiedu for his work in the fight against corruption.
“The Acting Auditor-General has demonstrated sufficient quality and independence of view. For instance, he is responsible for some things that are unheard of. In our history, the 12 statutory reports that have to be compiled and placed before Parliament in the year of Parliament, this is the first time it has ever been done.”
“Even the most touted Auditor General before him, never managed to do it, and this one has done it. I think on the basis of the work that he has done, the independence with which he has gone around with his work, if today efforts are made to confirm him, I believe it should be done, and that confirmation process will gather more public support,” Akufo-Addo said.
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