Posts in category: Other News

The Majority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has given an assurance that Parliament will not disappoint Ghanaians in the consideration and passage of the bill that seeks to criminalise lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, etc (LGBTQI+) activities in the country.

He said Members of Parliament (MPs) were representatives of the people, for which reason the citizenry should rest assured that Parliament would not turn its back on them.

Speaking to the press in Parliament House yesterday to address the confusion surrounding the stance of Parliament on the bill, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who is also the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, expressed doubt that any lawmaker would be against the principles of the bill.

“We represent their interests and we will do what is needful and what is right for the people of this country. Be rest assured that Parliament will not disappoint,” he said.

Careful balance

While giving the assurance that Parliament would do the right thing with regard to the bill, the Majority Leader, however, said there was the need for a “careful balance” in assessing it.

He stressed that while democracy was about majority rule, “it doesn’t also mean we should trample on the rights of others”, emphasising that “we are a democratic country and Parliament should ensure that the rights of citizens are protected”.

“If we recognise that there are statutes and there are gaps or the statutes are not strong enough and need tightening, it means that we accept the principle that this whole thing is something that will not sit well with public morality in this country.

“I think it is about the smithing of the bill and how we attain the results that we all want. I guess when we come to the bridge, we will certainly be able to cross it. Where there is a will, there is always a way, so whatever happens, we should be able to deal with it,” he said.

“I am really impressed by the popular participation exhibited by the people of this country. I only plead that we should not, after the passage of this bill, go to sleep because there are many other bills that are outstanding and we have not been able to deal with, including in particular the imperatives of Article 22, which is on property rights of spouses,” he added.

‘We have our own set of values’

Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu noted that the first provision of Article 125 of the Constitution was emphatic that justice emanated from the people, who had their own set of values and concept of what was right and wrong.

He said regardless of the region the people came from, it was their unique set of values “that guards us in life and it is the reason the Constitution provides that justice emanates from the people”.

“As a Christian, who belong to the Assemblies of God, I cannot say that my upbringing has not been impacted by my Christian values; equally so for the Honourable Habib Iddrisu, the Second Deputy Majority Whip, who is a Muslim and is here with me and whose upbringing is also impacted by his religion.

“But we have our own set of values and I really do not know of any ethnic group in Ghana which will applaud the issues about LGBTQI+,” he said.

Cut off emotions

The MP for Suame indicated that MPs had listened to the concerns expressed by Ghanaians and the House would do the needful.

“My plea is that those who are making contributions and calling into radio and television programmes should cut the emotions and sentiments because they cloud the rationality of the issues,” said.

With the bill having gone through the first reading and referred to the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to handle it, he said, the citizenry had the right to exercise popular participation by discussing the issues.

He, however, entreated the organised groups, including churches, mosques and civil society organisations, to submit memoranda on the bill to the committee.

He noted that Article 106 of the Standing Orders provided that the report of the committee, together with the explanatory memoranda to the bill, shall form the basis for a full debate of the bill for its passage, with or without amendment, or its rejection by Parliament.

“So the bases of the debate that we are going to have in Parliament are the memoranda to the bill and the hearings that the committee will submit itself to, which will in turn form the basis of the report that they will send to the House,” he said.

Committee’s consideration of bill

The Majority Leader pointed out that while the debate on the bill by Parliament would be public, just like any other bill before the House, the decision on whether or not the consideration of the bill by the committee should be made public or be behind closed-door lay with the committee itself.

Asked if at the committee level consideration would be made for public hearing of the bill, the Majority Leader said it was for the committee to decide.

“We have nothing to hide because the issues are out there in the public space. If the committee decides to have a public hearing, I am not sure leadership will stand in their way because we want what is best for this country,” he said.

He, however, acknowledged the fact that per the Standing Orders, House committee sittings should be held in camera unless the chairman otherwise decided.

Source: Graphic.com.gh

The National Service Secretariat (NSS) has released postings for the 2021/2022 service year.

In all, 81,081 graduates have been posted to enrol in various agencies across the country and begin their one-year mandatory national service from Monday, October 11, 2021.

Prospective service personnel have been asked to visit the scheme’s website http://www.portal.nss.gov.gh for confirmation of their place of posting and have their letters of appointment endorsed.

The Secretariat has however directed that all posting registration processes should be completed by Friday, November 5, 2021.

“The Management of National Service Scheme (NSS) has today, October 6, 2021, deployed a total of 81,081 graduates from accredited tertiary institutions who enrolled for the 2021/2022 national service to various user agencies across the country,” the National Service Secretariat added in a statement.

The Secretariat further announced that it has put on hold the placement of some prospective service personnel following discrepancies detected in their online registration details.

“Management wishes to inform the general public that, some prospective service personnel have been placed on hold for further verification due to discrepancies detected in their online registration details.”

“Notifications have already been sent to the affected personnel, and they are hereby directed to visit any regional office of the scheme with a copy of the enrollment forms, student ID, any national ID and a soft copy of their passport picture saved with their NSS number as file name to clear them for posting,” the statement added.

Registration amid COVID-19

As part of measures to minimize large crowds at the registration centres, all posted national service personnel are required to schedule an appointment online and visit the registration centres on the scheduled date and time for validation with strict adherence to the COVID-19 protocol guidelines.

“This is a special provision implemented to facilitate service registration following the delay in the release of the postings in the wake of COVID-19,” the NSS said.

Meanwhile, all deployed national service personnel have been entreated to accept their postings as part of their civic obligations to contribute meaningfully to national development.

Source: Citinewsroom.com

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has said that it is working to phase out the one Ghana cedi and the two Ghana cedi notes from circulation.

The Governor of BoG, Dr Ernest Addison, said on Monday (September 27) that the notes will ultimately be replaced by their coin versions, which were currently co-circulating.

He said the decision was needed to improve the bank’s cost of currency management.

Dr Addison told journalists on Monday that the central bank had realised that it was not cost effective to keep the two sets of notes in circulation, as they mostly returned dirty and worn out, requiring frequent replacements.

He was responding to a question on why the two cedi note was in short supply in some parts of the country during the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee press conference.

“In the long run, the plan is that the one and two cedi notes should be phased out. They are not cost-effective.”

“They mostly return torn, soiled and dirty. We’ve bails and bails of those two and so the view is to get them out and use the coins,” he said.

The BOG, which is the bank to the government, regulates the printing and circulation of currency in the country.

The current two cedi note was introduced in April 2010 as a commemorative note to mark the centenary celebration of the birth of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the country’s first President.

SOURCE: GRAPHIC.COM.GH

The Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Ghana has kept its Policy rate – the rate at which it lends to commercial banks – at 13.5%.

This is due to threats to growth and inflation.

Prior to this announcement, some research institutions including the Institute of Economic Affairs have projected an unchanged policy rate for at least the next two and half months.

Addressing the press, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison, said it was necessary to keep the policy rate unchanged due to developments in both the local and global economies.

“The Committee noted that the recovery in global economic activity has continued, although unevenly spread across regions and countries. But, uncertainties regarding the continued spread of the Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus, variations in policy stimulus programmes, and low access to vaccines in emerging market and frontier economies may weaken near-term growth prospects.”

Again, “global inflationary pressures are expected to be strong in the near term. However, the factors driving headline inflation are judged to be temporary. The still sizeable spare capacity in the global economy and the slackness in labour market conditions would restrain wage growth and prevent a significant and sustained pick-up in underlying inflation. Inflation is expected to return to their target over the medium-term as the spare capacity is eroded”, Dr. Addison said.

On the domestic front, the Governor stated that the Committee was of the view that growth continues to recover from the impact of the pandemic as high frequency economic indicators point to continued recovery in economic activity, even though below pre-pandemic levels.

“Although consumer confidence picked up, weakening business sentiments, stemming from supply disruptions, is adversely impacting input costs, driving down short-term company prospects. While credit to the private sector saw a marginal pickup, the trends remain below expectations largely on account of pandemic-related risk aversion. The COVID-19 related macro-prudential measures, put in place by the Bank of Ghana, will be maintained for the time being to support full recovery in economic activity”, he stressed.

Though the banking sector balance sheet performance remains strong with sustained growth in total assets, investments and deposits, the MPC also took note of the fact that the trend of increased domestic financing of the deficit, driven by high-yielding government paper held largely by banks, was crowding out credit to the private sector.

Again, the Governor said “the latest data suggests that fiscal consolidation efforts appear to be on track, but with some inherent risks associated with wage settlements and energy sector payments, amid low revenue mobilization.”

Also, inflation has risen sharply over the last two readings, driven mainly by sustained food price increases.

But the Governor said a close monitoring of the inflation situation is however warranted to respond swiftly to prevent potential second round effects on headline inflation from the rising food inflation, adding, the Committee stands ready to respond appropriately as needed if this particular risk materialises.

“Given these considerations, and the fairly balanced risks to inflation and growth in the outlook, the Committee decided to keep the policy rate at 13.5%”, the Governor mentioned.

Money market rates trend downwards

Money market interest rates continued on the downward path across the yield curve.

The 91-day and 182-day Treasury bill rates declined to 12.5% percent and 13.3 percent respectively, in August 2021, from 14.0% and 14.1% respectively, in August 2020.

Similarly, the rate on the 364-day instrument decreased marginally to 16.2%, from 16.9% over the same comparative period.

Except for rates on the 15-year and 20-year bond which remained unchanged at 19.8% and 20.2%, respectively, rates on all other medium- to long-term instruments generally declined.

The weighted average inter-bank rate also declined to 12.6%, from 13.6%, largely reflecting improved liquidity conditions on the inter-bank market, which had transmitted to lending rates.

Consequently, average lending rates of banks declined marginally to 20.5% in August 2021, from 21.4% recorded in the same period of 2020, consistent with developments in the inter-bank market.

SOURCE: JOY BUSINESS

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has indicated that it will from today [Friday, September 24], continue its immunization exercise in the Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate for Ghanaian citizens who have not been vaccinated against the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the GHS in its press statement, individuals who have received the first jab of AstraZeneca vaccines can also participate in the 5-day exercise scheduled to end on September 29.

“As part of the rollout plan, the Service is continuing the vaccination exercise starting from Friday, 24 September 2021. This phase of the exercise is open to the general public. Persons 18 years or older who have never received a vaccine or have received only one dose of AstraZeneca are to participate in this exercise,” parts of the release read.

This comes after the government procured additional vaccines to enable it to attain herd immunity.

Members of the general public above the age of 17 years are advised to take along a valid Photo ID card when visiting any of the designated centres within their respective regions for vaccination.

Also, persons due for the “2nd dose of AstraZeneca should preferably send the ID card presented for the 1st dose as well as their Covid-19 vaccination card.”

Despite these initiatives, the Ghana Health Service is calling for strict adherence to the safety protocols.

In March this year, the country started the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines beginning with AstraZeneca.

Since then, the GHS noted that over 1million persons have received at least one dose of AstraZeneca, Sputnik-V or Johnson & Johnson vaccine with nearly 800,000 of them being fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, the Health Service has reiterated that it will not relent in its efforts at acquiring additional vaccines to control the coronavirus disease.

SOURCE: Myjoyonline.com

Thirty-Eight women have been nominated as chief executives for the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).

The 38 represents 14.6 pre cent out of a list of 260.

Some women advocates had expected the female nominees to hit 30 per cent.

In the first term of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, 36 out of the nominees for the position of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives were women.

Breakdown

Out of the 16 regions, the Ahafo and Western North regions did not get any female representation.

In the Greater Accra Region, Mrs Elizabeth Sackey led the pack of eight females nominated for the various MMDCEs.

Mrs Sackey is the nominee for the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to replace Mr Mohammed Adjei Sowah.

The other assemblies in the Greater Accra Region with women nominees are  Ablekuma Central, Ada East, Ayawaso East, Ayawaso West, Ga East, La Nkwantanan Madina and Tema West.

In the Ashanti Region, four females were nominated for Obuasi East, Sekyere South, Atwima Nwabiagya, Ahafo Ano North and Sekyere South.

In the North East, two females, Zuwera Nasiru and Rashida Mahama were nominated for the Chereponi and East Mamprugu.

However, the nomination of Madam Nasiru has led to some supporters of the New Patriotic Party vandalising the party’s office, reports Mohammed Fugu.

The angry supporters stormed the party’s constituency office,  broke into it and vandalised everything.

They also set some party property including structures and paraphernalia on fire. The youth are said to be registering their displeasure with the nomination of the Madam Zuweira Mada Nashiru who they said was not their preferred candidate.

Concerns

According to them, the nominee was a staunch member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the constituency and the daughter of Hajia Mary Nakobu, a former DCE for the area in the erstwhile John Mahama regime.

One of the aggrieved supporters, Adam Munkaila, told the Daily Graphic that “we cannot trust the loyalty of Madam Zuweira because she is a well-known NDC member.”

Other regions

In the Eastern Region, five females got the presidential nod for positions with Madam Margaret Darko as candidate for the Suhum Municipal Assembly.

The Central Region got three females while the Bono and Bono East had one female each for the Tain and Nkoranza South districts.

The Western Region had two females while the Volta Region got one female nominee and Upper West getting three.

In the Upper East Region, three females got lucky with their nominations while the Savannah, Oti and Northern regions had three, two and one female nominations, respectively.

Source: Graphic.com.gh

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral, Apostle Prof. Opoku Onyinah, has expressed reservations about the criticisms against the construction of the edifice.

According to him, he always prays for God to forgive the critics.

This is because he believes they do not know what they are doing and do not have adequate understanding of the citadel for God.

“We don’t have to speak against our leaders or insult them because we don’t agree with them on something. So I always pray that God forgives the critics of the National Cathedral,” he said.

He made these remarks on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen, stating that some people have politicised the construction though it is not supposed to be so.

“We must eschew politics in the discussion of the National Cathedral. We are too partisan in our lives as a people,” he cautioned.

Apostle Prof Onyinah expressed optimism the naysayers and critics will admit their fault and even apologise once the construction is done.

Meanwhile, he has urged Ghanaians and the Christian fraternity to be supportive in every way they can to ensure the success of the Cathedral.

“One million Christians or Ghanaians can help us build the National Cathedral and we would do monthly accounts of all our activities, so we should be patient for what the outcome will be,” he appealed.

Source: Myjoyonline.com

The German Government is giving Ghana 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines to aid in the country’s vaccination campaign against the pandemic.

The donation is part of the pledge made by Germany to make up to 70 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine available to African countries this year to help the continent’s bid to vaccinate its 1.3 billion population.

German Chancellor, Angela Merkel pledged last Friday after a summit with African leaders on the G20’s Compact with Africa Initiative held last week.

“As we speak, President Akufo-Addo has dispatched a plane to Germany to take delivery of the 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines,” said the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin whilst addressing the Presidential Press Corp at the Jubilee House, Accra.

The contribution from Germany is in addition to 1.5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine that the American Government has given Ghana to aid the Government’s quest to have at least 20 million of the adult population of the country vaccinated by the end of the year.

“At this particular stage, I think it is a good initiative that has been undertaken by the Government of President Akufo-Addo towards helping to rid our country of COVID-19, and, hopefully, his pledge of ensuring 20 million Ghanaians by the end of this year are vaccinated. Slowly but surely, I believe we are on course to realizing that particular pledge of ensuring that the entire adult population of Ghana is vaccinated.

“So, 1.5 million vaccine doses from Germany is on its way to Ghana,” Mr Arhin said.

The Communications Director who was briefing the Press Corp on the President’s seven-day working visit to Germany said President Akufo-Addo held bilateral talks with his German counterpart on vaccines, acquisition of naval patrol boats for the Ghana Navy, and strengthening the bonds of cooperation between the two nations.

The President also participated in the G20 Compact for Africa, initiated under the German Presidency to promote private investment in Africa, including infrastructure, where he made clear that the Compact initiative had had a tremendous impact on Ghana’s ambition to become an investment hub in Africa, with auto and industry giants pitching camp in the country.

Source: GNA

Ghana has set a new cocoa production record with 1.033 million tonnes of beans for the 2020/2021 season.

This comes six weeks before the 2020/2021 cocoa season gets to a close, which means that the figure can still go up before the harvest period ends.

The previous record was 1.024 million tonnes which was recorded in the 2010/2011 season.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo, announced this at a press conference in Accra yesterday.

Aside from announcing the new production figures, the press conference was also to introduce new electric weighing scales which have been procured by COCOBOD for the Licence Cocoa Buying Companies (LBCs).

He commended the hardworking cocoa farmers for the feat and said the achievement was also as a result of the support of the government and the determination of the management and staff of COCOBOD.

“Thanks to all stakeholders in the industry, we have been able to achieve this,” he stated.

Productivity enhancement

The chief executive also noted that the milestone was achieved due to the Productivity Enhancement Programme (PEP) which was introduced by the board.

Interventions under the PEP include rehabilitation of cocoa farms, mechanised pruning, fertiliser subsidy, mass spraying, artificial hand pollination, irrigation, distribution of cocoa seeds and continuous farmer education on good agronomic practices.

Through the PEP programme, Mr Aidoo said cocoa extension service was extended to all the regions.

“We also provided high quality and high yielding cocoa seeds to the farmers.

“Our research institute in Tafo also stepped up their activities and the quality control unit also did very well,” he stated.

Way forward

Mr Aidoo pointed out that looking at the trends, COCOBOD was confident that the prospects for the coming season would also be good.

He encouraged the farmers to continue to avail themselves of the various educational and sensitisation extended to them.

They should also continue implementing all the intervention programmes introduced by COCOBOD.

“If they do so, their farm productivity is going to change and they will continue to see improvements in their yields and better days will come,” the COCOBOD CEO stated.

Mr Aidoo said the achievement also placed a huge task and responsibility on COCOBOD to do better in coming seasons, assuring that “we want to sustain the achievements.”

New weighing scales

The new weighing scales will be used by the LBCs from Wednesday, September 1, this year when the new cocoa season begins.

The introduction of the new scale is to check illegal adjustments, which the CEO described as a pertinent issue in the industry.

Mr Aidoo said COCOBOD had already procured over 44,000 of the electronic weighing scales which would soon be distributed to the LBCs.

“We have worked on this together with the LBCs in total agreement to change the weighing scales from the manual to the electronic system. “We wanted the kind that can be used everywhere in the country. So we have procured both electronic and solar scales,” he said.

Mr Aidoo added that it would end the days when cocoa farmers felt cheated by LBCs whom they claimed adjusted their weighing scales.

He noted that the new electronic scales were recommended by the Ghana Standards Authority following a survey of the manual scales presently being used across the country.

“We take the issue of weighing scale tampering very seriously as we believe it has a negative impact on interventions that COCOBOD has put in place to improve the earnings and livelihoods of cocoa farmers,” Mr Aidoo said.

Ghana is the second largest producer of cocoa in the world, just behind Cote d‘Ivoire. Production in both countries accounts for more than 60 per cent of the volume of cocoa beans in the world.

Apart from the 2010/2011 cocoa season which saw the country produce one million tonnes of beans, the country’s production has ranged between 650,000 and 900,000 tonnes.

Cote d’Ivoire, the world’s leading cocoa producer, currently produces about two million tonnes.

Source: Graphic.com.gh

The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has agreed to suspend its strike, following an emergency meeting with the National Labour Commission (NLC) and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.

This is contained in a Memorandum of Agreement between the government and the UTAG, copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Minister of Education, signed for the government while Professor Charles Ofosu Marfo, National President of UTAG, signed on behalf of the Association.

UTAG and the government in the Memorandum agreed to begin negotiations on the matter from Monday, August 23, 2021.

It also agreed that the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, in conjunction with the National Labour Commission, would take steps to discontinue all legal processes against UTAG while UTAG would also take steps to suspend the ongoing strike action.

The statement said the government acknowledged the need to improve the working conditions of University teachers and would treat the agreement with all the seriousness it deserved.

NLC secured the court injunction against UTAG’ s strike on August 2, arguing that the law barred UTAG from proceeding on the industrial action when negotiations were underway.

UTAG is demanding the implementation of a 2012 Single Spine package, which put entry-level lecturers on a salary of $2,084.

Source: GNA