President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has extended the free water policy dubbed, “Free Water for All Ghanaians” for another three months from October 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020.
A statement signed by Madam Cecilia Dapaah, the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday, explained that the step was to enable Ghanaians to continue adhering to the protocols, especially the washing of hands with soap under running water, to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ministry appealed to consumers to use water judiciously in the observance of the protocols.
“The Ministry further wishes to urge all landlords and tanker service providers to refrain from charging or selling water to consumers as Government is paying for the water,” the statement said.
The President introduced the free water policy from April 2020 as part of measures to alleviate the hardships of COVID-19 and to enhance the observation of the COVID-19 hygiene protocols.
It was initially to cover three months but has since been extended.
All polling stations with more than 700 names on the voters register will be split into two — A and B — for the December 7 general election, the Electoral Commission (EC) has said.
The decision, it explained, was to ensure that long queues were reduced at those polling stations, which number 6,000.
A Deputy Commissioner of the EC, Dr Bossman Eric Asare, who made this known at the 2020 Star Ghana Foundation 2020 Call Learning Event in Accra yesterday, added that the decision was in line with the COVID-19 safety protocols.
The event was on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on election programming in the country.
Dr Asare said each polling station would have a COVID-19 ambassador, whose duty would be to ensure that all the COVID-19 safety measures were in place and observed.
He said the voters registration exercise passed without anybody contracting the COVID-19.
Ballot papers
Regarding the printing of ballot papers, the deputy EC chair said the political parties would be involved in the process, as their representatives would be invited to observe the printing process.
The move, he said, was to ensure greater transparency for the elections, as well as prevent rigging.
“This is what the commission does and this year we are not going to depart from tradition and best practices. When it comes to the printing of ballot papers, we go to the printing houses with representatives of the political parties. For instance, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will have their agents at each of the printing houses,” he said.
Security measures
Ahead of the elections proper, Dr Asare said, the EC would go to the regions to meet various stakeholders, including youth groups, to educate them on the electoral process.
“We are doing whatever it is to deliver credible elections,” he said.
On the transfer of votes, he said only students and members of the security agencies would be allowed to transfer their votes.
Final register
Asked when the final register would be ready, he said hopefully as soon as the transfer of votes was done by October 25, 2020, the EC would begin the process for the finalisation of the register.
“We are looking at the second week in November and so we are looking around November 10. The C.I. is very clear on how we make the register available to the parties.
“It says the commission should give the register to the political parties in the form that will be determined by the commission; that is in the C.I.,” he said.
Threats
An Assistant Director at the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Dr Imurana Mahammed, indicated that threats by some communities not to vote because of the failure of the government to provide them with certain amenities were a disincentive to the elections.
According to him, that could give rise to vigilantism, since community members might think that electing people into office could not address their problems.
The Executive Secretary of the National Peace Council, Mr George Amoah, said the council had a series of activities to undertake as part of its programme to ensure peaceful elections.
Civil society
The Executive Director of the Star Ghana Foundation, Alhaji Ibrahim Tanko, said the COVID-19 had impacted negatively on civil society’s resource mobilisation for election activities.
The Director of Operations of the Ghana Police Service, DCOP (Dr) Sayibu Pabi Gariba, said all election security taskforces that had been set up from the national to the district levels were currently operational.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has advised the military in Mali to return to civilian rule in the coming days.
The chairman, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, stated that the meeting with Mali’s new military junta headed by Col. Assimi Goita was progressive.
Col. Assimi Goita was reported to have left the shores of Ghana for Bamako after he disagreed with ECOWAS leaders over a handover by close of September 15.
But President Akufo-Addo after a closed-door meeting told journalists that the military leader had agreed that upon his arrival in Mali, he would engage the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP) further as part of measures to implement the commitments agreed to at the ECOWAS meeting.
“I am hoping that by the time he [Col. Goita] gets there, these things [will] have been completed so that the sanctions will be lifted. We’re talking, hopefully in days, not in weeks,” he said.
Akufo-Addo further said that Col. Assimi Goita “participated in the discussion but we insisted that he goes back and do the consultation with those who are responsible for the decisions and get their buy-in.”
The West Africa Heads of State/ Heads of Government also cautioned further sanctions if the military leaders failed to observe the conclusions reached at the meeting.
These sanctions, ECOWAS noted, will range from the closure of Member States’ borders to Mali, restriction of financial inflows and sidelining from decisions concerning the Member States.
This development follows calls on ECOWAS to ensure former president Keïta’s reinstatement.
The West African Heads of State were in Ghana to deliberate on possible solutions to the political crisis in Mali following a coup that ousted President Bubakar Keïta in August.
Biblica, a non-profit international Christian organisation, in collaboration with the Kumasi Council of Christian Churches (KCCC), on Friday launched a new Twi Bible.
Known as Nkwa Asem, the new Asante Twi Bible provides an alternative to Twere Kronkron, which was published by the Bible Society of Ghana.
The Nkwa Asem, which was published by Biblica, formerly known as the International Bible Society, is to provide a much simpler and easy to read Twi Bible and also serve as a secondary source of scripture just as the English Bible also has so many versions.
The journey
Speaking at the launch, Rev. Walter Aboagye Frimpong said Biblica had a rich history that spanned over 200 years and had worked across the globe translating the Bible into the various languages to make it easier for the people to understand the Word of God.
He said, so far, the organisation had translated the full Bible into 64 languages and the New Testament into 16 local languages.
According to him, it took Biblica 24 years to complete the Nkwa Asem Bible and paid glorious tribute to all those who helped in the translation and the review.
He said the mission of the organisation was to provide the Bible to the people in accurate, contemporary translations and formats to enable people around the world to have the opportunity to be transformed by Jesus Christ.
Chairman
The chairman of the occasion, the Primate of the West Africa Province of the Anglican Church, Most Rev. Prof. Daniel Yinkah Sarfo, stressed the need to have different versions of the Twi Bible just as there were in English to provide the people with varied meanings of the Word.
He said currently, the Twere Kronkron provided only one meaning to the Bible in Asante and the people did not have any other alternative, when they failed to grasp the meaning of what they read.
However, he said, with the launch of Nkwa Asem, people would now be in a position to compare the meanings and be able to arrive at a decision when confused.
Nkwa Asem
Explaining the name Nkwa Asem, one of the translators, Rev. Dr Ebenezer Boafo, explained that the word of God is a living word and unlike the texts in novels and story books which are descriptive and communicate, the words in the Bible go beyond just communication and are transformative and give life.
He said it was based on this that they decided to call the new Asante Twi Bible Nkwa Asem: The Living Word.
He said the organisation was ready to support other minority language speakers such as Larte and Efutu to translate the Bible into their languages.
He said they could adopt the Twi version to help them to do the translation and said Biblica was ready to provide the technical support to achieve that.
According to him, the objective of the organisation was to get everybody to read the Bible in their own native language for better understanding.
Otumfuo
Baffour Agyei Ofosu Twitwiakwa II, who represented the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, also commended Biblica for the feat and explained that the new Asante Twi would also help in the spread of the Twi language as more children would learn how to read in Twi and thereby become fluent in the language.
He said the new Twi Bible would also help in the promotion of the Twi language in the country.
The Ghana Education Service (GES) has urged the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates to eschew all forms of malpractices and adhere to the rules to ensure an incident free examination.
The 2020 BECE will start from Monday, September 14, to Friday September 18, 2020 at all the designated examination centres throughout the country.
The GES, in collaboration with the West African Examination Council (WAEC), assured the public of the sanctity of examination adding that any case of reported malpractices would be swiftly investigated and dealt with decisively.
A statement signed by Mrs Cassandra Twum Ampofoh, Head of Public Relations, GES, and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, said the Service had worked closely with the WAEC to ensure the smooth conduct of the examination and the strict adherence to the COVID-19 protocols.
“Unauthorised persons are to stay away from the examination centres. We encourage the security agencies to help deal decisively with any attempt to undermine the integrity of the exercise and jeopardise the future of the candidates,” it said.
The statement extended the Service’s best wishes to all candidates, whiles acknowledging their hard work and fortitude.
“Management of GES also expresses its profound gratitude to all teachers, heads of basic schools, directors of education, parents and all stakeholders for the crucial roles they have played so far at preparing the candidates for the examination,” it said.
The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has reiterated Government’s commitment to ending the perennial flooding in the Upper East and North East regions.
Many communities in these regions have over the years suffered from devastating flood, as a result of the annual spillage of the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso, and President Akufo-Addo promised to build a dam in Pwalugu to contain the situation.
This year’s havoc, which hit the regions this week, has been more devastating as a result of combined factors of the Bagre Dam spillage in Burkina Faso and days of heavy downpour in northern Ghana, resulting in 10 people losing their lives and farmers losing their crops and animals.
Addressing the press during an assessment visit to the Kubore Zebila-Bawku road, which has seen parts washed away by the heavy flood on Thursday, [September 10, 2020], Dr Bawumia said the flood has been devastating communities for years and there has to be a permanent solution to it, hence the Akufo-Addo’s government’s decision to invest massively in the Pwalugu Dam to help address the problem.
“At the end of the day, this is a problem that we have kept experiencing year after year and the question I am sure is in the minds of every Ghanaian is what are we doing about it?,” Dr. Bawumia said.
“We have basically understood that to deal with this problem fundamentally, we have to have a flood control in the context of the Pwalugu Dam.”
“That is the most important antidote to all of these. That is why we have moved to secure the Pwalugu Dam project, and this project is the biggest dam project we have in the northern region.”
“It is the single biggest investment in northern Ghana since independence; it is about $1 billion dollars and the contractors are on site.”
The Vice President said prior to the flooding, the contractors had already commenced work by clearing the site up to the river.
He added that with the flooding, the contractors would have to wait for the flood to subside and then they will divert the water for work to continue.
“On the washing away of the portions of the Kubore road making it inaccessible, the Vice President said the Ghana Highway Authority is waiting for the water to subside before contractors move on site to fix the bridge and reconnect the road.”
Dr. Bawumia expressed the government’s condolences to families of the ten people who perished, and farmers who lost their livestock and crops.
“It is a disaster and a very sad situation. We have unfortunately lost lives, about ten people, I am told, have lost their lives. On behalf of the President, I express the government’s commiseration to families of the victims,” said the Vice President.
Dr. Bawumia added: “Many farmers have lost their livestock and crops. They have lost a lot of their crops and for farmers when you lose your crop, that is a year’s income so we have to find a way of cushioning these farmers. We have to find a way to provide relief for the farmers to help them.”
Dr. Bawumia is on a working tour of the northern regions of Ghana and he has halted his original programme for his first day in the Upper East Region on Thursday September 10, 2020, to tour affected areas and people for first-hand knowledge on the extent of the disaster.
The Vice President was accompanied by the Upper East Regional Minister, Patience Tangoba Abayege, Minister for Interior Ambrose Derry, Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways Anthony Karbo as well as National and Regional Directors for NADMO.
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has been elected Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), at the 57th ECOWAS Summit held in Niamey, Niger, on Monday, 7th September 2020.
The President, who was elected unanimously by his peers, takes over the mantle of leadership from the President of Niger, His Excellency Mahamadou Issoufou, for a period of one year.
Following in the footsteps of his predecessors, their Excellencies Jerry John Rawlings, John Agyekum Kufuor, and John Dramani Mahama, who have enjoyed, in times past, a similar privilege, President Akufo-Addo thanked the Assembly for the honour, and assured that he will do his utmost not to let the side down, and discharge his duties to the best of his abilities.
“Excellencies, I am fully aware of the challenges which confront West Africa. Past leaders of ECOWAS have demonstrated their collective will and determination to drive the agenda of regional integration, opening up our economic frontiers, encouraging healthy competition amongst Member States, and ensuring that we adhere to our formative principles,” he said.
The President continued, “As much as considerable progress has been made since the establishment of ECOWAS, some forty-five (45) years ago, we are all agreed that there is much more to be done to consolidate the socio-economic and political gains made over the years.”
In his remarks, President Akufo-Addo noted that five immediate challenges face the regional organization of ECOWAS, for which Member States must address.
These, he said, are the continuing activities of terrorists in the Region concentrated, for the time being, in the Sahelian area, involving Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and the northern parts of Nigeria; the COVID-19 pandemic, which has attacked the populations and economies of each Member States; the imminent coming into force of the African Continental Free Trade Area on 1st January 2021; the 2020 decision on monetary union within the ECOWAS space; and the consolidation of democratic governance in the turbulent conditions of the Community.
“The challenges, in these critical regional spheres, such as security, economy, trade, currency and health, must be addressed in a spirit of genuine co-operation and solidarity, if we are to succeed in overcoming them, which we can. In so doing, we must protect, at all costs, our freedom and independence of action, so that the development of our Community responds to the needs and aspirations of our peoples, and not to the goals of external agencies and forces. I am confident that, by the grace of God, I can count on the unstinting support of each one of Your Excellencies in navigating the immediate future of our Community,” he added.
The President urged his fellow Heads of State to recognise that the way forward is to implement regional decisions, such as the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme, recognising that, ultimately, the benefits are in everyone’s interest.
“Those of us who believe strongly in integration can do no better than to give our full support to regional decisions. Through this, we will build institutional confidence and integrity in the structural organs of ECOWAS,” he said.
To this end, he admonished Members of the ECOWAS Community to “collaborate to ensure that we adhere to and maintain common values of governance, i.e. the principles of democratic accountability, respect for individual liberties and human rights, and the rule of law. Such commonality will facilitate immeasurably the process of bonding amongst the peoples of our Community.”
In conclusion, he urged all in ECOWAS to “give enthusiastic support to Community decisions, and build rapidly our Community. Our peoples deserve no less, and the objectives of peace, progress and prosperity will, thus, be within our reach, realising the historic purposes of ECOWAS.”
The Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) have jointly issued a guideline for the exit of students who have just completed the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and are returning home Friday, September 4, 2020 after a successful examination.
Under the guidelines, any school where no positive case of COVID-19 has been recorded, the students can vacate and go home.
Additionally, any school that recorded a positive case but has not reported any new positive case within the last two weeks, the students can vacate and go home.
This is contained in a statement jointly signed by the Director-General of the GES, Prof Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa and the Director-General of the GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye and issued in Accra Thursday, September 3, 2020.
After months of uncertainty and apprehension arising out of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, Senior High Schools (SHSs) reopened to final-year students on June 22 for them to undergo six weeks of academic work up to July 31, 2020.
That enabled them to prepare to write their final examination between August 3 and September 4, this year.
In all, 375,737 candidates from 976 schools took part in the examination at 796 centres throughout the country.
Out of the figure, about 188,163 were females, while the remaining 187,573 were males.
The Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has led a high-powered Nigerian delegation for a two-day visit to the Parliament of Ghana.
He and his delegation were met at the airport by his Ghanaian counterpart, Prof Aaron Michael Oquaye.
The two are expected to hold talks on matters pertaining to relations between the two countries following the implementation of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre Act 2013, Act 865.
Setting the tone for the visit when he welcomed the Nigerian delegation, Prof. Oquaye said Ghana and Nigeria are like tongue and teeth, and although they may offend each other, they also derive great pleasure from the benefits of coexistence.
He reiterated how important it was for good relations between the two countries to be maintained at all times.
Prof. Oquaye expressed hope that the next two days will be mutually beneficial to both countries and further strengthen the already strong bond between Ghana and Nigeria.
The Nigerian Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila agreed with his Ghanaian counterpart on good relations and hoped that at the end of his visit, a good resolution will be found to the issues confronting the two countries, bearing in mind, the national interests of the individual countries.
Ghana-Nigeria trade tussle
Nigerian Union of Traders Association in Ghana (NUTAG) had earlier complained that its members had over time endured a series of “progressive acts of hostility” allegedly meted out to them by Ghanaian authorities and traders, which include the closure of their shops.
Their Ghanaian counterparts, the Ghana Union of Traders’ Association (GUTA) has accused members of NUTAG of feeding the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari with false information concerning retail trade in Ghana.
This compelled the Government of Nigeria to issue a strong warning to the Government of Ghana, stating that it will no longer tolerate any form of alleged harassment of its citizens residing in Ghana.
President of GUTA, Joseph Obeng, has however insisted that some Nigerian traders have instead been making false accusations against the Government of Ghana anytime retail laws are being enforced.
He thus asked President Muhammadu Buhari to call the Nigerian retailers to order in a bid not to “strain the already existing cordial relations between our two sister countries and adversely affect the integration of the sub-regional bloc.”
“However, GUTA has noticed with much concern the behaviour of a section of Nigerian traders in Ghana by the name NUTAG, who anytime the authorities in Ghana want to enforce our sovereign laws, resort to weird allegations and other highly dubious tactics of disinformation. The attitude of these Nigerians, if not checked and handled well, will strain the already existing cordial relations between our two sister countries and adversely affect the integration of the sub-regional bloc. They need to be called to order.”
