Posts in category: Other News

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

A large blast in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, has killed at least 70 people and injured more than 4,000 others, the health minister says.

Videos show smoke billowing from a fire, then a mushroom cloud following the blast at the city’s port.

Officials are blaming highly explosive materials stored in a warehouse for six years.

President Michel Aoun tweeted it was “unacceptable” that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was stored unsafely.

An investigation is under way to find the exact trigger for the explosion. Lebanon’s Supreme Defence Council said those responsible would face the “maximum punishment” possible.

Hospitals are said to be overwhelmed and many buildings have been destroyed.

President Aoun declared a three-day mourning period and said the government would release 100 billion lira (£50.5m; $66m) of emergency funds.

A BBC journalist at the scene reported dead bodies and severe damage, enough to put the port of Beirut out of action.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab called it a catastrophe and said those responsible must be held to account.

He spoke of a “dangerous warehouse” which had been there since 2014 but said he would not pre-empt the investigation.

Local media showed people trapped beneath rubble. A witness described the first explosion as deafening, and video footage showed wrecked cars and blast-damaged buildings.

“All the buildings around here have collapsed. I’m walking through glass and debris everywhere, in the dark,” one witness near the port told AFP news agency.

The blast was heard 240km (150 miles) away on the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean.

SOURCE: BBC

The Ministry of the Interior has declared Tuesday, August 4, as a statutory public holiday to commemorate Founders Day.

A statement signed by the sector Minister, Ambrose Dery on Tuesday, July 28, urged the public to observe the day as such throughout the country.

It called on all to observe the safety protocols associated with the Covid-19, especially in relation to social events at public places.

One of the key suspects in the torturing to death of 90-year-old Akua Denteh at Kafaba will be arraigned today, August 3, 2020.

Latifah Bumaye was arrested last week at Kejewu Bator, a fishing community along the Volta lake.

She was seen in a viral video continuously hitting the deceased with an object.

The deceased, Akua Denteh a fortnight ago was tortured after she was accused of being a witch.

The Savannah Regional Police earlier arrested five persons who are also linked to the incident.

They have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and have been remanded in police custody to reappear before the court on August 20, 2020.

Speaking to Citi News, Savannah Regional Police Commander, DCOP Enoch Adutwum Bediako said investigations are still ongoing.

“She was arrested on Monday at Kejewu, a small community along the Volta lake. All she keeps saying is that she doesn’t know what was happening to her. Our investigations are still ongoing but we will put her before court today to seek remand as investigations continue. She has not been able to tell us where the priestess (another suspect) is.”

Five Suspects Charged With Conspiracy To Commit Murder

Earlier, five suspects arrested by the Police in connection with the lynching of Akua Denteh, a 90-year-old woman at Kafaba have been formally charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

They are however currently on remand in police custody after making their first appearance in court on Thursday, July 30, 2020.

Kafaba Chief Granted Bail

Meanwhile, the Kafaba chief, Zackaria Yahaya who was earlier arrested has been granted bail.

According to the police, the five other suspects in their statements indicated that the chief did not play any role in the development as he even asked them to send the priestess away when they went to introduce her to him before the lynching incident.

“The youth did not agree with the chief and went on to do what they did and this unfortunate thing happened… All the five said the chief didn’t agree with what they were doing and therefore he was not part of what they were doing. Based on that, we have to grant the chief bail pending further investigations…He spent the night there because we got the suspects the following day,” DCOP Bediako said.

Source: CitiNewsroom.com

Ghanaians will enjoy another three months of free water and electricity supply as government further reduces the burden of the Covid-19 pandemic on the citizenry.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta who announced this during his Mid-year Budget review said it is because government puts the concerns and aspirations of the ordinary Ghanaian first.

“That is also why we further reduced electricity prices by half and completely provided potable water for free for everybody since March this year. And we will extend it for another three months,” he told Parliament, Thursday.

In April this year, the president announced three months of free electricity for consumers of a particular category, to make up for lost income following a lockdown in Accra and Kumasi due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He also announced government’s decision to absorb water bills for all Ghanaians for April, May and June following complaints of lack of portable drinking water in many communities affected by the lockdown.

President Nana Akufo-Addo said the decision is part of additional measures being taken by government to mitigate the impact the outbreak of the virus is having on the public.

Announcing yet another package for the citizenry, Mr Ofori-Atta said it is meant to ease the burden of the virus that has wreak havoc the world over.

According to the Minister, the free water initiative would be for all water consumers while the electricity supply would be limited to only lifeline consumers.

“It takes a caring government of the people, and with that, I mean, a Government of all the people, to offer cost-free water to all across the country: representing all domestic and commercial customers in Ghana for three months.

“It takes a caring government to be for the people and for business, large and small, to choose to subsidise electricity consumption by 50 per cent to 4,086,286 households and 686,522 businesses at a cost of ¢1.02 billion in three months. And we will extend the coverage for lifeline customers for another three months,” he said.

Source: Myjoyonline.com

The President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has commended The Church of Pentecost for making available the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC) as an isolation and treatment centre for persons infected with the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

In a speech delivered during the Virtual May Day (Workers’ Day) Celebration on Friday, May 1, 2020, the President of Ghana said that “The nation is profoundly grateful to The Church of Pentecost for the generous, Christian gesture of making available its multipurpose Convention Centre, at Gomoa Fetteh, as an isolation centre which can house over one thousand (1,000) persons and three hundred (300) medical staff.”

Following a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on Thursday, April 23, 2020, between the church and the Government of Ghana, the multi-purpose Convention facility was released to the Government to be used as an isolation and treatment centre for persons infected with the viral disease.

The move was part of the church’s efforts in assisting the government to contain, curb the spread and eradicate the Coronavirus as well as promote the recovery of persons who have tested positive for the viral disease.

Consequently, the Chairman of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Eric Nyamekye, on Monday, April 27, visited the health workers and COVID-19 patients who were being treated at the Convention Centre.

Ministering to the patients, paramedics and other attendants at the facility via an on-site Public Address (PA) system, the Chairman assured them to keep trusting in God for total healing from the disease. He indicated that another name for the Convention Centre is “Yesu Krom” (The City of Christ), therefore they should expect a miraculous touch of God during their time at the facility.

As at the last count, the total number of confirmed cases in Ghana was 2,074, out of which 212 recoveries and 17 deaths have been recorded. The 1,845 infected persons, on the other hand, are currently receiving treatment at various isolation centres including the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC).

Parties on the National Tripartite Committee (NTC) have made a commitment to work together to deal with the economic impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on businesses and labour in the country.

To that end, the NTC, comprising the government, employers and labour yesterday signed a 10-point communiqué detailing pragmatic steps that had been agreed on to protect businesses while ensuring that workers do not unduly suffer the consequences of COVID-19 on the economy.

The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR), Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, who is also the chairman of the NTC, signed the agreement on behalf of the government while the President of the Ghana Employers Association (GEA), Mr Daniel Acheampong, and the Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Dr Yaw Baah, initialled for employers and labour respectively.

Agreement

Mr Baffour-Awuah who read out the communiqué accompanying the agreement said the guidelines were arrived at an emergency meeting held by the NTC on April 21, this year.

In that agreement, the parties committed to use social dialogue to address the concerns that had emerged from the negative impact of COVID-19 in a manner that would ensure a mutual resolution of those challenges.

They also agreed on workplace safety protocols and guidelines that employers needed to put in place and the role labour must also play to protect lives.

Mr Baffour-Awuah said the NTC had agreed that all the parties must jointly ensure that the government’s policy on wearing of face masks at all public places, especially on the premises of businesses was strictly enforced.

Collaboration

As part of the agreement, the NTC stressed that employers and unions must collaborate and cooperate at the enterprise level through social dialogue to deal with the economic impact of the pandemic on their enterprises.

Additionally, the NTC urged employers to provide the requisite personal protective equipment (PPE) and related facilities for the health and safety of workers in compliance with the World Health Organisation (WHO) protocols and Ministry of Health guidelines.

Providing further details of the NTC’s communiqué, Mr Baffour-Awuah asked employers to set up safety committees to deal with COVID-19 related matters at the workplace.

Also, he said employers were required to appoint focal persons to facilitate education on COVID-19 and also liaise with health professionals to handle any cases of the disease at the workplace.

“Employers should create an enabling environment for social distancing at the workplace and encourage their staff who can work from home to do so,” he added.

On the part of labour, the NTC asked unions to collaborate with employers to ensure that the WHO and MoH protocols were religiously followed.

“Local unions should educate workers on the shared responsibility of promoting personal safety to avoid spread of COVID-19 at the workplace by wearing face masks and ensuring personal and workplace hygiene,” the minister stressed.

Stimulus package

Responding to a question on the stimulus package for businesses, Dr Baah called for the stimulus package the government announced to cushion small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to be extended to large companies.

“Already, the government has announced GH¢600 million as stimulus package for SMEs but in addition to that we want to join the GEA in recommending that we still need stimulus package for big businesses and not only SMEs.

“The big businesses have been paying taxes to the state for all these years and today if they are in trouble, we expect the government to come in strongly and support them,” he stressed.

He noted that as the NTC continued its engagement, it was important for the proposal that the GEA had put forward to the Ministry of Finance on stimulus package to be put on the table for discussion.

“We say this because the GH¢600 million set aside as stimulus package is not enough to bring the economy to where it was before the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

COVID-19 fight

Touching on the COVID-19 fight, Dr Baah commended the government for the bold steps it had taken to contain the pandemic and gave an assurance that labour unions would play their role in the fight against the disease.

For his part, Mr Acheampong eulogised frontline health workers for putting their lives on the line to save lives in the era of the pandemic.

“We want to also commend the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for the great balancing act of protecting lives and keeping hope of the Ghanaian economy alive,” he said.

He reiterated that employers were ready to cooperate with other stakeholders to find workable solutions to the nagging economic challenges posed by the pandemic.

“As employers, we are committed to do our part and we will not let this country down,” he stressed.

The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Samuel Atta Akyea, says the government is ready to consider bailout for people who are threatened with eviction from their homes over their inability to honour their rent obligations due to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

He said his office would interrogate any report it received for such request and investigate to determine the level of support that could be offered.

“If someone should push that people who have no place to live as a direct result of the COVID-19 challenges should have their rent paid, we should be able to absorb it. We have the financial space,” Mr Atta Akyea indicated when he took his turn at the regular minister’s media briefing on Ghana’s COVID-19 management.

Social intervention

Should the payment of rent become a reality, it will be the third social intervention from government to alleviate the situation of Ghanaians feeling the impact of the pandemic.

Already, government has absorbed the bill for water consumption for the months of April, May and June for all Ghanaians, also, low consumers have had their electricity bills taken up while 50 per cent of the bills for businesses and other consumers will be borne for three months, starting from April to June.

Numbers

Mr Atta Akyea, however, said his office was yet “to hear of the wholesale eviction of tenants,” but gave an assurance that if any report came to his attention, “we will get the feedback and handle it.”

“Let’s see if there are numbers. We shouldn’t just wave our hands and say we should pay the rent of people who are suffering as a result of the COVID-19 numbers, but if we see the numbers, we will see what we can do,” he added.

Landlords

Mr Atta Akyea appealed to landlords and landladies to show empathy towards their tenants to mitigate the impact of the situation on those who had been hard hit by economic challenges due to the pandemic.

He said though they might be on the side of the law on rent, landlords should be sympathetic to the plight of their tenants, just as government had shown concern and provided some reliefs which were being enjoyed by all.

The law, for example, allows for tenants to be evicted for not paying rent within one month after the rent is due.

However, the minister said strictly applying the law in these times would be “unGhanaian.”

“How is it going to work in this COVID-19 environment, if landlords with commercial appetites start evicting tenants from their premises? That would be very unGhanaian,” Mr Atta Akyea said.

41-year-old Richard Akpali from Ziavi-Adukofe in the Volta Region had been battling an addiction to alcohol for the past 20 years. As a result of his alcoholism, he lost his job and marriage. He was also rejected by his family and prevented from having any contact with his two children.

Under the influence of alcohol, he walked on foot from Ziavi-Adukofe to Ho, covering a distance of 39.5 kilometres.

Two days later, he was found lying in a gutter by Deaconess Olivia Azidoku of Hopedo District, who was returning home from the 2019 Christmas Convention with her daughter.

According to Deaconess Azidoku, when they first saw Richard, they thought he had died. However, when they drew closer, they found him breathing, although unconscious. “He was motionless and could not open his eyes. We did not know him or where he was from, but we were moved with compassion and decided to carry him home,” she recounted.

That very morning, the Hopedo District Minister, Overseer Mark Kofi Adom-Nyankey, had a strong urge to visit the Azidoku family. Unfortunately, at that time, there was no one around to drive him to the place. So, the minister, who hitherto had never ridden a motorbike, decided to go on his own. Being led by the Holy Spirit, he found his way to Deaconess Azidoku’s house to meet the distressed family looking on hopelessly and confused as to what to do with the man.

Overseer Adom-Nyankey prayed for the man, and instantly Richard regained consciousness with no sign of intoxication, but for the strong smell of alcohol on him (an odour that lasted for days).

Richard Akpali later confessed that while the minister was praying for him, he saw two angels lifting him from the gutter and sending him to a convention ground. He accepted Christ as his Lord and personal Saviour on the same day. He has since been baptised in water and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. To God, be the glory!

Report by Overseer Felix Brakatu