Posts in category: Other News

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) of Ghana has called on Government to immediately convene a stakeholder forum on pensions in the country.

According to TUC, persons who retired from January 2020 and beyond are worse off as compared to the old pension system.

This, the Union blames on what it says are incredibly low lump-sums and benefits given to the recent retirees.

The TUC had proposed a stakeholder forum on pensions in 2019 but “regrettably, no forum was held and these issues remain unresolved.”

The Social Security and National Security Insurance Trust (SSNIT) announced an 11 percent increment in monthly pensions in the year 2020.

This was made up of 6.6 percent fixed-rate and a flat amount of GHS37.38 added to all pensioners salary which makes up the remaining 4.4 percent.

But in a statement after its General Meeting on August 6, the TUC says the situation is currently “unfair and unjustifiable.”

“Many workers have retired on the three-tier pension scheme with harrowing experience. Pension Payment Statements we have gathered from some of our members who retired in 2020 show that they are worse off because their lump sum benefits are far lower than what they would have received if they had retired under PNDC Law 247.”

“The pension reforms that gave birth to the current pension system was premised on the idea of enhancing retirement income for workers. Therefore, no retiree should be worse-off compared to the old pension system,” the TUC stressed.

It thus called on the government to “once again, convene a Stakeholder Forum to discuss the low lump sum benefits and related issues, without further delay.”

“We would like to reiterate TUC’s full commitment to social dialogue on all labour and related issues. We believe that, together, we can address the concerns of all stakeholders amicably and keep the relative peace at the labour front.”

The TUC further urged the government to institute special measures to protect elderly women in Ghana in the wake of the killing of Akua Denteh, a 90-year-old woman accused of Witchcraft at Kafaba in the Savannah Region.

“Government must implement a special programme that provides basic income, housing and other amenities for the aged including those suffering in the so-called witch camps in some parts of the country,” it said.

Source: Citibusinessnews.com

The low quality of some locally produced charcoal is fuelling the desire of some Ghanaians to use imported ones, which consumers note are processed, efficient, clean and do not produce ash or sparks, Prosper Ahmed Amuquandoh, Inspector in-charge of Renewable Energy at the Energy Commission has said.

“Some of the charcoal that is produced locally produces ash, it burns faster – it is not efficient; and some of them, depending on the kind of tree that was used to produce the charcoal, produce sparks. For instance, if you use a shea nut tree to produce charcoal you are most likely to have sparks.

“But the imported ones have been processed, are efficient and clean, do not produce ash or sparks and are packaged. These and other factors are why people purchase the imported ones,” Mr. Amuquandoh told the B&FT in an interview.

According to him, even though the market for the imported product is not huge it is rising; and its existence is not because locals are not able to meet demand, but because some locals are not assuring the market of the quality needed.

He was however quick to add that some local producers have started producing quality charcoal, not only to satisfy local demand but also for export. These locals are being policed by the Energy Commission to ensure that they follow the laid-down regulations for production and export of the commodity.

Meanwhile, the B&FT has gathered that the Energy Commission is working to develop regulations for the local market to ensure their activities are not only sustainable but also environmentally friendly. The regulation will also deal with transportation, packaging and marketing of charcoal for local use. One of the key points in the regulations is to curtail the indiscriminate felling of trees for production of charcoal, which already exists in the regulations for export.

From available data via the Energy Commission, the majority of imported charcoal is consumed by households – especially middle to upper-class income earners. Also, charcoal constitutes the largest portion of energy usage in Ghana. One of the reasons for this development has been ascribed to cultural beliefs; that some delicacies taste better and are healthier if cooked with charcoal.

According to IndexBox, a leading market research publisher in the world, the global wood charcoal market revenue amounted to US$24.2billion in 2018 – remaining relatively unchanged against the previous year. This figure reflects the total revenues of producers and importers (excluding logistics costs, retail marketing costs, and retailers’ margins, which will be included in the final consumer price).

The market value increased at an average annual rate of +2.6% from 2007 to 2018; the trend pattern indicated some noticeable fluctuations being recorded throughout the analysed period. Global wood charcoal consumption peaked in 2018, and is likely to continue its growth in the immediate term.

The countries with highest volumes of wood charcoal consumption in 2018 were Brazil (5.5m tonnes), Ethiopia (4.4m tonnes) and Nigeria (4.2m tonnes). They together accounted for 28 percent of global consumption. These countries are followed by India, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Tanzania, China, Thailand, Madagascar, Egypt and Zambia, which together accounted for a further 33 percent.

Source: thebftonline.com

Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced around midnight on Tuesday that he is resigning from his post saying that he does not wish blood to be shed following a military mutiny that plunged the country into a political crisis.

“Today, certain parts of the military have decided that intervention was necessary. Do I really have a choice? Because I do not wish blood to be shed,” Keita said in a brief statement broadcast on national television.

Keita said that he has decided “to give up my duty from now on.”

It is unclear if the military is now officially in charge of the country.

Earlier, Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse were detained by soldiers in a dramatic escalation of a months-long crisis in the country.

The development came hours after soldiers took up arms and staged a mutiny at a key base in Kati, a town close to Bamako.

The soldiers were expected to deliver a statement later, while countries in West Africa, along with former colonial power France, the European Union and the African Union, denounced the actions of the soldiers and warned against any unconstitutional change of power.

The events came amid a weeks-long political crisis that has seen opposition protesters taking to the streets to demand the departure of Keita, accusing him of allowing the country’s economy to collapse and mishandling a worsening security situation.

Mali’s years-long conflict, in which ideologically-motivated armed groups have stoked ethnic tensions while jockeying for power, has spilled into the neighbouring countries of Niger and Burkina Faso, destabilising the wider Sahel region and creating a massive humanitarian crisis.

Earlier on Tuesday, opposition protesters gathered at a square in Bamako in a show of support for the soldiers, while foreign embassies advised their citizens to stay indoors.

Source: aljazeera.com

The National Peace Council (NPC) has called on the Ghana Police Service to initiate swift investigations into the various acts of violence that occurred during the just-ended voter registration exercise.

The NPC in a statement said that, “The NPC encourages the Ghana Police Service and particularly, the Inspector-General of Police to expedite action regarding ongoing investigations into all the criminal matters which came up during the registration exercise.”

It further urged the political parties to abide by the roadmap and code of conduct for the eradication of political vigilantism in the 2020 elections.

The NPC also expressed hope that the EC as well as the security agencies will deal swiftly with the unfortunate incidents at some of the registration centres such as in the Sagnerigu municipality in the Northern Region, adding that stringent measures should be taken by the Police to forestall violence in future exercises.

“Besides the Commission should vigorously pursue and resolve the petitions challenging the registration of some persons estimated at 37,762 representing 0.20% of the total register and update the people in their ‘Let the Citizen Know’ Series,” the statement added.

Whilst conducting the mass registration exercise, there were some violent incidents recorded at some registration centres in the country.

A 28-year-old man was allegedly stabbed at Banda in the Bono Region following a disagreement between some New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) supporters.

In Awutu Senya East, Hawa Koomson, the MP and Minister of State for Special Development Initiatives, claimed she shot into the sky during a confrontation between persons believed to be aligned with the NPP and the NDC.

Both sides claimed they were attacked by each other leading to the shooting and subsequent arrest of four persons in connection with the incident.

Source: Ghanaweb.com

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Sunday said final year students and staff will receive one hot meal from 24th August to 18th September, 2020.

All 584,000 final year Junior High School (JHS) students, and 146,000 staff in both in public and private schools, would be given one hot meal a day, as part of efforts to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As a result of reports I have recently received that some final year JHS students were going hungry, in complying with COVID-19 protocols, I have just instructed the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection to begin preparations to ensure that, as from 24th August up to 18th September, all 584,000 final year JHS students, and one hundred and 146,000 staff, both in public and private schools, be given one hot meal a day,” the President disclosed in his 15th broadcast to the nation on Ghana’s enhanced response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the nation’s phased approach towards returning lives to normal, through the strategic, controlled, progressive, and safe easing of restrictions, would, thus, continue.

He noted that most final year university students had already completed their examinations, and, by 18th September, senior high school (SHS 3) and JHS 3 students would have finished their respective West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

The President said through online learning portals, almost all continuing students in the nation’s universities had completed their studies for the academic year; stating that, “The exceptions are the University of Cape Coast, the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Technical Universities, and some other Colleges.”

He said after extensive stakeholder consultations, the decision had been taken for continuing students in these tertiary institutions to return to school, on 24th August, to finish their academic year.

President Akufo-Addo said just as was done for final year students who returned to school, Government, through the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service, would ensure that all these tertiary institutions were disinfected.

He said universities would be equipped with the necessary personal protective equipment, and those with their own hospitals and clinics would have isolation centres to deal with any positive case.

“All other institutions, without their own clinics and hospitals, will be mapped to health facilities,” President Akufo-Addo said.

“There will be no mass gatherings and no sporting activities. Religious activities, under the new protocols, will be permitted. Social distancing and the wearing of face masks must become the norm on campus.”

He intimated that the Ministry of Education continues to engage the Ghana Education Service (GES) and all relevant stakeholders to conclude discussions on the modalities for the reopening of the nation’s pre-tertiary schools.

“I will communicate, in due course, the decisions that will be reached from these consultations,” he said.

“You can be rest assured that I will always take into prime consideration the safety and wellbeing of our children, teachers and non-teaching staff in the decisions that will be taken, because I am determined to ensure that the education of our children is not unduly disturbed by this pandemic.”

SOURCE: GNA

Ghana continues to make significant progress in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic as the country’s active cases on Thursday, August 13, dropped to 1,906 from a previous 2,007 on Wednesday.  

This follows the clinical recovery and discharge of a total of 39,718 persons, the Ghana Health Service announced via a designated website.    

The latest update by the country’s health management body also confirmed 122 new cases of infection, bringing the accumulated cases to 41,847.    

The new infections are from tests conducted on August 11.    

The death toll, however, remains at 223 since the last update.    

The active cases, the update said, were being managed in treatment sites, isolation centers across the country, while some were under home management.    

It said 17 cases were in severe conditions, with six in critical condition, and four on ventilators.    

The new infections were recorded in six regions with the Greater Accra recording the highest infections of 41; Western- 31; Ashanti- 23; Eastern- 22 and Bono East and Volta recorded three and two respectively.    

Out of the total confirmed cases 16,354 were from the General Surveillance; with 25,493 cases from the Enhanced Contact Tracing, the update stated.

A total of 421,588 tests have been conducted so far. Out of this, 153,569 were from Routine Surveillance with 268,019 from Contact Tracing.    

The positivity rate is 9.9.    

The latest infections take Greater Accra’s total cases to 20,865, representing almost 50 per cent of the national total.    

The Ashanti, Western and Eastern Regions have case tally of 10,431; 2,860 and 2,013 respectively.    

The rest are: Central – 1,751

Bono East Region – 703

Volta Region – 628

Western North Region – 580

Ahafo Region – 469

Northern Region – 454

Bono Region- 439

Upper East Region – 282

Oti Region- 213

Upper West Region – 88

Savannah Region – 62

North East Region – 9

SOURCE: GNA 

The Tema-Akosombo Railway Project is progressing steadily with 70 per cent of construction works done.

Out of the 97.625 Kilometer railway line expected to be completed by July 2021, 93 Kilometers of formation just below the subgrade level had been done, 65 kilometers of Skelton Tracks had been laid and 138 out of 156 structure culverts and bridges had been completed.

In addition, 200,000 steel-reinforced concrete sleepers – produced in the country, had been casted with many others being produced.

On the Volta Lake, where a 300-metre rail bridge at Ogoli, near Juapong in the North Tongu District was currently under construction, some 18 out of 30 pile foundations had been completed and a few others were being worked on.

The Railway Project is part of the Tema-Mpakadan railway under the Ghana-Burkina inter connectivity railways project which is being constructed by AFCONS Infrastructure Limited, an Indian construction company.

The Ghana News Agency (GNA) made these observations during a monitoring and verification visit to the railway construction sites with officials of Penplusbytes and the Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA).

The visit, which was a validation of citizens’ reports on government’s assurances under the “Connecting Citizens to Parliament II” project being implemented by Penplusbytes with technical support from OSIWA, afforded the team the opportunity to assess at first hand, the veracity of aggregated claims and feedback sent on digital platforms by citizens.

Mr Jeremiah Sam, Deputy Director, Programmes, Penplusbytes, addressing the media said, the visit was testament of the contribution of new media and digital tools to entrench citizens’ participation in governance and providing an easy and impactful avenue for expanding the democratic space.

“What we seek to do is use technology to assist the Committee on Government Assurances (CGA) to enable citizens to be a part of the legislative process and further play an effective oversight role by engaging them on various government assurances using new digital tools, ” he said.

He observed that the claims by citizens in the construction communities, corroborated what the team had observed as work was ongoing impressively and said “the outcome of the visit would form part of a policy brief to be generated and passed on to the CGA ahead of their own monitoring visits after which a final report would serve as evidence.”

Maame Yaa Agyaa Ayensu, Corporate Affairs Manager, Ghana Railway Development Authority, said the project which was anticipated to be completed by close of August 2020 has had to be delayed as a result of some unexpected challenges including the Covid-19 pandemic which affected some 82 workers of the construction company.

She said the encroachment of Railway Company lands was a major challenge, adding that appropriate compensations had been duly paid to affected land owners.

She said the Railway Redevelopment Projects was 70 per cent freight and 30 per cent passenger mix and would go a long way to accelerate the country’s socio-economic growth.

As part of the 30 per cent of the project to be completed, she said, some stations would be constructed, including a freight terminal at Tema Harbour to facilitate the transportation of goods inland .

Mr Gupta Asim, Head of Legal, AFCONS Infrastructure Limited, told the GNA that with progress of work so far, the project would be completed in March, four months ahead of the originally scheduled date.

SOURCE: GNA

Liberia’s vice president and former first lady, Jewel Howard-Taylor, has been flown to Ghana for medical treatment after developing “respiratory complications,” her office said in a statement.

Howard-Taylor flew out of Liberia on Tuesday following a four-day stay at a private medical facility in Monrovia, her press officer Solomon Ware told The Associated Press.

The Monrovia-based clinic recommended her transfer to a more advanced healthcare facility abroad after she had been stabilized, he said.

Ware rejected a Liberia News Agency statement linking the vice president´s ailment to COVID-19.

Liberia´s health sector has remained weak since the country’s civil war ended 17 years ago. Government officials and those who can afford it routinely travel abroad for medical attention.

Liberians on Wednesday called into radio stations, expressing disappointment and frustration over the poor healthcare system.

Howard-Taylor, 56, is an ex-wife of former jailed Liberian president Charles Taylor.

Since becoming vice president to ex-footballer President George Weah in 2018 under a coalition arrangement, she has often complained she´s not treated like the second in command.

SOURCE: www.dailymail.co.uk

The Electoral Commission (EC) Sunday ended the two-day mop up exercise as a follow-up to the official 37-day voters’ registration to ensure a credible register for the presidential and parliamentary elections.

The exercise started on June 30 and officially ended on August 6, in 33,367 polling stations, which was done in six phases with each phase assigned six days for eligible applicants to register.

This was followed by the two-day mop up exercise on Saturday, August 8 to Sunday, August 9, 2020 at the various district offices of the EC across the country to enable eligible applicants who were unable to register in the mass registration exercise to do so.

The first and second phases of the exercise were characterised by overcrowding, necessitating the Commission to introduce a queue management system and mobile registration to address the situation.

The Commission projected to register a total of 15 million citizens but a little over 16.6 million were registered on the last day of the 37-day exercise.

A visit by the Ghana News Agency on Sunday to some of the EC district offices saw some people trooping in to take advantage of the mop up to register.

At the Klotey Korle office, Ms Afuah Amoah, the Registration Officer, said as at midday the office had registered 12 applicants.

She said the exercise had been smooth with majority of applicants going by the COVID-19 safety protocols – washing of hands with soap under running water, checking of temperature and observing the two-metre distance.

The situation at the Kaneshie District Office was not different as the GNA observed about 20 applicants seated awaiting their turn to register.

Similarly, the Commission’s office at the Ablekuma North also had a significant number of applicants in the queue.

Mr Robert Tetteh, an applicant, told the GNA that he was initially afraid to go and register due to the COVID-19, “but …it was fast and it took five minutes to complete the process. I think this is an improvement over the previous registration exercise. I commend the EC officials for this and hope the Election day will be good and peaceful.”

Dr Bossman Eric Asare, the Deputy Chairman in Charge of Corporate Service at the EC, said its preliminary assessment of the two-day mop-up exercise showed that “everything has worked according to plan.”

“We are yet to receive all the reports and do a full assessment but now we can say that it has been largely successful. Looking at the performance of temporary and permanent staff, materials and kits have been great.”

He said the Commission could not have successfully executed its mandate without the support and participation of the public.

He called for continuous support for the Commission during the exhibition and other processes for a credible, fair, transparent and peaceful elections in December.

Source: GNA

The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) has condemned the acts of lawlessness and destruction of properties on the campuses of some Senior High Schools in the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

“We condemn in no uncertain terms this show of disrespect for authority, even going to the extent of insulting the President of the nation; the attacks on some heads of institutions, teachers, staff of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and journalists, resulting in varied degrees of injuries suffered by the victims. These unfortunate incidents are very disheartening, to say the least,” it stated.

Perpetrators

A statement by the President of the GCBC, Most Rev Philip Naameh, therefore, called all the major stakeholders in education and the law enforcement agencies to bring the perpetrators of those acts to book in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Ghana Education Service (GES) as well as the laws of the land to serve as a deterrent to others.

It equally urged all final year students writing the ongoing WASSCE to remain calm and to concentrate on their studies instead of looking for leaked examination questions to enable them to pass their exams.

“We would like to remind our dear students that there is no shortcut to success but only through hard work and discipline. We also urge them to desist from all forms of lawlessness and disregard for authority,” it stated.

Good examples

The statement called on Ghanaians to show good examples to the youth instead of encouraging them to do things that endanger their lives and those of others.

It said the canker of violence that was gradually creeping into the society should be of great worry to all people of peace and goodwill, stressing that “the earlier we nip this in the bud, the better it will be for us.”

Source: Graphic.com.gh