Posts in category: Other News

The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has explained that the nationwide power shutdown that occurred on Sunday [March 7, 2021] was due to a challenge in the power system.

The company in a statement said its Technical team is currently working to restore power supply to all Bulk supply Points (BSPs) in the country.

It also explained that the company “is also working to ascertain the reasons behind the total system shutdown and will update the relevant stakeholders in due course.”

There was a nationwide power shutdown on Sunday afternoon at about 2:10. Many people took to the social media to react to the unannounced power shutdown. Power has since been restored in many parts of the country following GRIDCo’s statement.

Source: Graphic.com.gh

The Supreme Court per a unanimous decision delivered on Thursday has affirmed Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as a validly elected President of Ghana.

The court said the petitioner, Mr John Dramani Mahama did not demonstrate in any way how the alleged errors made by the Electoral Commission (EC) in the declaration of the presidential election results by the chairperson of the EC, Mrs Jean Adukwei Mensa affected the outcome of the election.

“The petitioner has not produced any evidence to re-butt the presumption created by the publication of the C.I. 135”,  for which the court said the petitioner wanted a re-run to be made.

In effect, the Supreme Court said there is no reason to order a re-run, as one of the reliefs by the petitioner and dismissed the petition as having no merit.   

The Supreme Court therefore dismissed the petition filed by former President John Dramani Mahama which challenged the declaration of President Akufo-Addo as the winner of the 2020 presidential poll organised by the Electoral Commission.

Graphic Online’s court reporter, Emmanuel Ebo Hawkson who was in the courtroom said the Supreme Court in its seven-member unanimous decision dismissed the petition as being without merit.

The court held that the figures as contained in the declaration made by the EC clearly showed that President Akufo-Addo obtained more than 50 percent of the total valid votes cast to be the validly elected President of Ghana.

Such a fact, the court held, was even admitted by the petitioner in the petition, and in the testimony of Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, a principal witness for the petitioner and General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), on whose ticket Mr Mahama contested the presidential race.

According to the court, the petitioner based his case on an error made by the Chairperson of the EC during the declaration, but that error could not void the will of the people in electing a President.

Furthermore, the court held that the error made by the EC in using the total votes cast as the total valid votes during the declaration was corrected, with the correction in accordance with the law.

Source: Graphic.com.gh

COVID-19 vaccination begins today in 43 districts in three regions of the country. The regions are: Greater Accra-25 districts, Ashanti-16 districts and Central-two districts.

This will mark the beginning of a nationwide exercise expected to vaccinate 20 million Ghanaians against the virus.

Front line health workers, adults aged 60 years and above, people with underlining health conditions such as diabetes, kidney diseases, hypertention, cancer, frontline security personnel, frontline government officials, and all front-line workers in the formal sector are in the first group of people for the mass vaccination.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, together with their spouses, showed leadership by being the first to take shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday, March 1, 2021, ahead of the mass immunisation.

The vaccination is expected to run from March to October, 2021.

A total of 12,500 vaccinators, 2,000 supervisors and 37,413 volunteers will facilitate the vaccination exercise across all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the country.

Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses that are common among animals.

In rare cases, they are what scientists call zoonotic, meaning they can be transmitted from animals to humans, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It has incubation period between 4-6 days and fatal, especially for those with weakened immune system – the elderly and the very young.

It could also result in pneumonia and bronchitis.

Ghana has since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, recorded over 84, 023 cases, 77,972 recoveries and 607 deaths.

On Wednesday, February 24, Ghana became the first country in the world to receive the COVAX COVID-19 facility when it received about 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines produced by the Serum Institute of India.

Source: GNA

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will receive the first dose of the first consignment of COVID-19 vaccines which arrived in Ghana on Wednesday, February 24, 2021.

“President Akufo-Addo will be the first to be vaccinated,” Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, Presidential Advisor on Health, disclosed.

According to Dr. Nsiah-Asare, the move to have the President take the first jab of the vaccines “is to assure Ghanaians that the vaccines are safe and any other reactions like headache, dizziness, or pains are all usual with every vaccination.”

With Ghana recording more than 80,000 cases and over 580 deaths on account of the virus, the Presidential Advisor on Health noted that, it would be in the interest of the country, for Ghanaians to avail themselves to be vaccinated when that opportunity came.

“We encourage everyone to avail him or herself of the opportunity to be vaccinated. It is safe, and we want other Ghanaians abroad to also put out their videos to encourage others in Ghana.”

Ghana received its first batch of COVID-19 vaccines through a UN-backed global vaccine-sharing scheme, COVAX, as part of efforts to enable equitable access to the jabs by low and middle-income countries.

The consignment, which arrived at the Kotoka International Airport, consisted of 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines, which are expected to be administered first to frontline health workers, and high-risk persons and people over 60 years, to slow the progression of the disease.

The vaccines were produced by the Serum Institute of India.

Source: GNA

Ghana on Thursday morning took delivery of 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India (Covishield).

The 600,000 doses is the first consignment of vaccines acquired through the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX) which Ghana, among 92 countries, has signed unto.

Ghana is the first country in the world to receive COVID-19 vaccines as part of the COVAX initiative to ensure equitable access for everyone.

The vaccines arrived at the Kotoka International Airport on an Emirates Airlines cargo, EK787, and were received by a delegation led by the Minister of Health designate, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu.

The COVID-19 vaccination will begin on March 2 and will be conducted in phases among segmented populations.

The first segment of the population that will receive from the doses will be health workers, adults 60 years and over, people with underlying health conditions, frontline executive, legislature, judiciary and their related staff, frontline security personnel, some religious leaders, essential workers, teachers and other personalities in Greater Accra Metro including Awutu Senya and Awutu Senya East in the Central Region.

A similar segmented population in the Greater Kumasi Metro and Obuasi municipality will also be covered.

A statement from the Ministry of Information said, “the Government of Ghana remains resolute at ensuring the welfare of all Ghanaians and is making frantic efforts to acquire adequate vaccines to cover the entire population through bilateral and multi-lateral agencies. We urge you to do your part by ensuring that you get vaccinated when the vaccine gets to you.”

It also acknowledges the hard work of the technical teams from the Ghana Health Service, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Information, the COVID-19 Task Force and all those who have assisted in getting us this far.

Our Development Partners are also acknowledged for their tremendous financial and technical support. It is our hope that they will continue to support us in our sustained efforts in combating this virus and putting COVID-19 behind us, the statement added.

Momentous occasion

A joint statement by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said the delivery of the vaccines to Ghana was a “momentous occasion.”

“The arrival of the Covid-19 vaccines into Ghana is critical in bringing the pandemic to an end,” they said.

The WHO and Unicef said the shipment represented “part of the first wave of Covid vaccines headed to several low and middle-income countries”.

Case count

As at February 20, Ghana had recorded 81,245 cases of the Coronavirus disease, out of which 6,614 were active.

Data from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) also indicated that two more persons had died, bringing the total number of deaths to 584.

It said 95 persons were in severe condition, while 29 were critical.

Source: Graphic.com.gh

Ghana has donated 100,000 units of election thumbprint pads to the Niger Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) towards the conduct of the second round of presidential election in that country.

Ghana’s Ambassador to Niger, Mr Jonathan R. Magnusen, presented the items to the CENI in the Nigerien capital, Niamey, yesterday.

The donation was made on behalf of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who is also the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS, and the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana.

It was in response to a request CENI made to Ghana for assistance due to pressure to meet constitutional time limits for the organisation of the second-round presidential election, as well as delays in the global supply chain as a result of the COVID-19 which made it impossible to receive replenishment in time for the election.

The second-round election, scheduled for next Sunday, is between a former Head of Niger’s Interior and Foreign ministries, Mr Mohamed Bazoum, who secured 39.3 per cent of the votes in the first round, and former President Mahamane Ousmane, who garnered 16.9 per cent of the 5.1 million valid ballots cast.

The run-off became necessary when none of the 28 candidates in the December 27, 2020 presidential election secured majority votes.

Satisfactory democratic path

Mr Magnusen noted the satisfaction of the government and the people of Ghana with the democratic path Niger had embarked on, which resulted in the election of December 2020, the outcome of which had been hailed by stakeholder civil society groups, election observers and the international community to be generally free, fair and credible.

He further underscored the high turnout in the election, particularly the participation of women, as a demonstration of the will of the people of Niger to reinforce and consolidate democracy, good governance, stronger democratic institutions, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law in the country.

Friendly ties

The Ambassador described the donation as another milestone in the long history of brotherliness, friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance that had characterised relations between the two countries for more than a century.

Mr Magnusen recalled the pioneering efforts of the first Presidents of both countries, Dr Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and Mr Hamani Diori of Niger, to unite the African continent with the common purpose of African emancipation, human, social and economic development.

Both leaders also pursued a vision to let all Africans come to the realisation that they were one people with a common destiny, regardless of the cultural and linguistic differences, as well as the artificial borders that separated them as a result of the colonial experience, he said.

Ambassador Magnusen underscored the role of CENI in the democratic process and expressed the admiration and commendation of the government and the EC to the President and the staff of CENI for their outstanding efforts to ensure a successful election in December 2020, in spite of the security, infrastructural, logistic and other challenges.

Beacon of democracy

While noting that Ghana was often described as a beacon of democracy in sub-Saharan Africa, he said democratic credentials and experience had taught Ghana that democracy could not thrive and be consolidated without respect for the will of the people.

He paid tribute to Nigerien President, Mr Mahamadou Issoufou, for his decision not to seek an extension of his constitutional two-term mandate, a decision that had earned him the respect and admiration of the international community.

That had also placed him in the record books as the first President of Niger to supervise the handing over of political power from a democratically elected President to another democratically elected President,” the envoy said.

Ambassador Magnusen expressed the hope that the donation would complement the efforts of the Nigerien government to ensure a successful, free, fair and credible second-round presidential election to usher in a constitutional successor to the current government.

Thanks

The President of CENI, Mr Issaka Souna, expressed profound gratitude to President Akufo-Addo, the EC and the people of Ghana for the prompt assistance to facilitate the second round of the presidential election.

He thanked Ghana for the speed with which it responded to the request, as well as the spirit of generosity, fraternity, solidarity and cooperation that characterised the entire process of arranging and delivering the consignment to Niger.

He noted that ECOWAS had put in place a system for the common management of electoral processes, mutual assistance and the provision of goods and services by member states.

While recognising the donation from Ghana both as a national show of solidarity and support and a gesture within the ECOWAS framework, he expressed the hope that the ECOWAS framework of mutual assistance towards elections would be strengthened, and called on the authorities and institutions of other member states of ECOWAS to make the necessary efforts to work together in the management of election materials.

Mr Souna also emphasised that the donation would assist CENI to organise a transparent election, and gave an assurance that the people of Niger “will exercise their sovereign franchise on 21st February in a manner characterised by transparency and freedom of choice”.

Source: Graphic.com.gh

Barring any last-minute hitches, this year’s schools placement will be out on Sunday, February 21, the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, has hinted.

The placement will cover candidates, both school and private, who wrote the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in 2020, as well as other re-entrants.

In all, about 525,000 qualified BECE candidates will be seeking placement into 721 senior high, technical and vocational schools of their choices which have declared about 535,000 vacancies.

Enough places

Prof. Opoku-Amankwa told the Daily Graphic that the GES had worked closely with the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to release the results of the majority of the candidates whose results had been withheld, adding that there were currently less than 100 candidates whose results had still been withheld.

He added that there were enough vacancies for the candidates, for which reason there was no need for any candidate or parent to panic.

The director-general explained that the challenge with the CSSPS had always been an issue of choice and not the availability of spaces.

Oversubscribed schools

Prof. Opoku-Amankwa said over the years, the number of candidates who qualified to be placed was always far below the vacancies available, “and every year when we do our placement, just as we get oversubscribed schools, we also get under-subscribed schools”.

He said only about 100 schools, out of the 721 were usually oversubscribed.

Arrangement

On the arrangements being put in place to address overcrowding of candidates and parents, he explained that unlike the previous years when the management of the GES had to set up solution centres where those with genuine issues could go for help, “this year, because of the COVID-19, we want to avoid the situation where people will rush to the Black Star Square and other places to gather”.

“So we are setting up call centres to receive and work on issues people may be coming up with,” he explained.

Prof. Opoku-Amankwa explained that at such centres they could address genuine technical issues and also the issue of a day student placed in a distant school.

Asked whether or not the double-track system for school attendance should be stopped, he said discussions needed to go on as to whether or not it should remain or be completely scrapped as advocated by a section of society.

Self-placement

He also explained that based on an analysis of issues by the service, “the major issue that creates a problem for us is the self-placement”.

“In the past, when you did the self-placement, chose a school and for any reason you wanted to change it, the system did not allow you to do so. You needed to come back to us, and that was why we got people massing up at the Black Star Square to do those changes,” Prof. Opoku-Amankwa explained.

This year, however, he added, the candidates would be allowed some level of flexibility to effect changes on their own.

“For this year, candidates will be allowed to change schools a couple of times until finally they enrol in them. So until you enrol in a school, you can continue to do changes up till the enrolment deadline, and once you have the opportunity to change, you do not need to come over here to seek any assistance or for someone to do that for you,” he told the Daily Graphic.

He was of the belief that the self-placement issue formed more than 70 per cent of the challenges the GES had concerning the placement and was optimistic that with this new module, the system would work smoothly.

Delays

He explained that the placement of candidates under the CSSPS had, over the years, been done three weeks to the reopening of schools, and “this year’s is no different”.

“Usually we give them some three weeks to prepare to go to school and we wanted to keep to that,” he said.

Prof. Opoku-Amankwa also explained that there had been no delay in the placement, as some people were speculating, saying the same format that was used during the pre-COVID-19 era was what the GES had stuck to this year.

He said the period of waiting after the results were released afforded the GES to engage with the WAEC to ensure that majority of the candidates whose results were withheld had them released.

On December 16, last year when WAEC released the results, 977 candidates had their subject results withheld, pending the outcome of investigations.

Source: Graphic.com.gh

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been re-elected Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

A statement issued following its extraordinary session held on Wednesday, 3 February 2021, said: “… The Authority calls on His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of Republic of Ghana with the support of the Ministerial Ad hoc Committee on institutional reforms to lead a reflection on the issues and a report on this point be submitted to the ordinary session of the Authority to be held in June 2021”.

“To that effect, a consensus emerged from the heads of state and governments that His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo continues for a second term as Chair of the ECOWAS Authority to oversee the implementation of the reforms.”

“The heads of state and governments expressed sincere appreciation to His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana and Chair of ECOWAS Authority of heads of state and governments for his leadership in steering the affairs of the community.”

Mr Akufo-Addo, who won a second term of office as President following Ghana’s 2020 polls, was first elected to chair the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at the 57th ECOWAS Summit held in September 2020.

The Summit was held in Niamey, capital of Niger at the time.

Source: Class FM

The Ghana Heath Service (GHS) says it has identified a wide community spread of the mutated United Kingdom (UK) variant of the COVID-19 that can take over the traditional one if the public continues to defy the safety protocols.

It said that was a cause for worry because the UK variant had a higher and faster rate of spread, results in severer sickness, with high numbers of people exposed to it falling sick, unlike the traditional form of the virus.

National briefing

Addressing the media at the Minister’s Briefing, a national platform for providing updates on the national COVID-19 situation and response, in Accra on Tuesday, the Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, reiterated the need for the public to enhance adherence to the safety protocols.

He said although the service had put in place measures to contain the spread of the new variant, the desired result of breaking the transmission could not be achieved if members of the public refused to wear their face masks and strictly adhere to all the other safety protocols.

He mentioned some of the measures as enhanced contact tracing, testing and treatment.

“We must continue to adhere to hand and respiratory hygiene. Always cough into a face mask, flexed elbow or a tissue and dispose of it immediately into a closed bin and wash or sanitise your hands immediately. We must also observe between one and two metres of social distancing protocols at all times,” he said.

More fall sick

The director-general reiterated the fact that during the last two surge incidences last year, 21 per cent of recorded cases were falling sick, with majority being asymptomatic, but currently the situation was different, with 32 per cent falling sick.

He said the widely spreading new variant was identified when the service intensified its community surveillance to ascertain whether the new COVID-19 variant was spreading within communities.

That was after recording a case each of the new UK and South African variants among travellers at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

At a similar briefing a week ago, Dr Kuma-Aboagye had said the service suspected that the new variants picked at the airport could be the reason a high number of people exposed to the virus were falling sick, compared to previous situations.

He disclosed that the GHS was enhancing the national response measures, such as contact tracing, testing, treatment and the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE).

He said the GHS was also intensifying public education and had scheduled sensitisation sessions with key stakeholders, such as market women, driver unions and cooperatives.

“To decrease community spread, all who test positive will be put into isolation or treatment centres to help break the chain of community spread.

“The Pentecost Convention Centre, which was previously used and handed back to the church when cases began to decline, has become operational from February 1, 2021,” he said.

He said all contacts or cases would have to mandatorily self-quarantine for 14 days and monitored.

National update/face mask wearing

Providing an update on the national situation, Dr Kuma-Aboagye said Ghana had, as of January 30, 2021, 5,515 active cases.

He said 67,782 cases had been identified out of the 783,432 suspected cases tested.

He said 61,843 people who tested positive for the virus had recovered and been discharged, with 424 infected people dying.

The director-general said a research conducted by the service had established that the wearing of face masks, which was at 44 per cent last year, had dropped to as low as seven per cent and over time risen to 42 per cent as of last month.

He said non-compliance with proper face mask wearing and other safety protocols had been a major cause of case surges in the country.

Penalty

People who fail to wear face masks in public commit an offence that carries a prison sentence of four to 10 years or a fine ranging from GH¢12,000 to GH¢60,000, or both, as contained in Executive Instrument (E.I. 164).

President Akufo-Addo signed E.I. 164 on June 15, 2020 as part of measures to curb the spread of the COVID-19.

Paragraph 4 (1) of E.I. 164 states that the police have the authority to make random checks to “ensure enforcement and compliance.”

According to Paragraph 4(2) of E.I. 164, any person who fails to comply with the mandatory wearing of face masks shall be punished in accordance with Section 6 of Act 1,012.

Work places

Dr Kuma-Aboagye said the GHS was also focusing on the promotion of decongestion at workplaces because there had been a number of workplace outbreaks.

He said the nature of workplace spread was such that every single case was a potential outbreak due to the level of interaction, common touch surfaces and the enclosed nature of most workplaces.

He cited nine workplace incidences which resulted in over 700 cases.

“We must, therefore, ensure that workplaces are adhering to the mandatory presidential directive to operate shift systems and employ virtual working platforms,” he said.

He appealed to institutions to desist from managing any case or suspected cases in isolation because that could result in the system at the national level missing a number of cases that could aggravate the national burden.

“We encourage virtual meetings and working from home policies,” Dr Kuma-Aboagye said.

Source: Graphic.com.gh