SOMETHING NEW NOW: 2014

31 August 2014

Stop “joking” & re-strategize – Franklin Cudjoe blasts NPP.

The Executive Director IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe has advised the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to stop joking and re-strategize if they want to win power in 2016.

“If the NPP believes they are a viable opposition, they should stop the joking and try to organize themselves properly,” Franklin Cudjoe said.

Speaking on Citi FM’s News Analysis Programme, The Big Issue, Mr. Cudjoe asked the party to develop sensible and alternate policies that will deliver Ghanaians from the current crisis.

“Even though this is the worst form of governance that we have seen, if they assume that they can get into office by shouting hey corruption, hey corruption, without showing us a plan backed by proper calculations, they will be kidding themselves. We will wait for them when they bring their leaflets they call manifestos we will see.”

A Deputy Minister of Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu has described the 2012 general elections as the fairest in the history of Ghana.

He said history shows that Ghana consistently records various irregularities in its elections, but the 2012 general elections was an exception.

“2012 election was the most fairest, cleanest, safest and violent free election,” Ofosu Kwakye opined.

He said there were no reported cases of snatching of ballot boxes or intimidation of voters by macho men.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP), after Electoral Commissioner Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan declared President John Dramani Mahama as winner of the 2012 presidential election, challenged the authenticity of the results in an eight-month legal battle in the Supreme Court.

Although the NPP believed there were irregularities in the election, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) said it was due to administrative mistakes.

The Member of Parliament for Ablekuma West, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful fears the lack of ‘definitive statement’ by the Supreme Court (SC) in its election petition ruling could scare aggrieved parties from going to court in subsequent elections.

After eight months of sitting, the court’s verdict has rather left many people, including lawyers, confused, she admitted on Joy FM’s flagship programme, Newsfile on Saturday.

In her analysis, the New Patriotic Party MP said the Supreme Court fell short in its declaration on what the laws say about what “constitutes proper election,” as well as the legal framework and legal way for future elections.

In his criticism of the SC ruling, a constitutional lawyer, Prof. Kwasi Prempeh accused the court of failing to give binding recommendations for electoral reforms to the Electoral Commission.

The tears shed by former Sports Minister Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah before the Justice Dzamefe Commission – which is probing the events that conspired to frustrate Ghana’s successful participation in the FIFA 2014 World Cup in Brazil – must not excuse any wrongdoing, Financial Analyst Sydney Casely-Hayford has said.

Afriyie-Ankrah could not hold back his tears during one of the hearings when he appeared as a Witness.

He got emotional when the Chairman of the Commission asked him about how he felt, as Sports Minister, when the senior national team, the Black Stars, threatened not to play their last group match until they had been given their appearance fee of $100,000 apiece.

His tears forced a hiatus during the hearing amidst a good doze of comforting by Justice Dzamefe, who repeatedly told the former Minister not to be “emotional” and “relax”. “We’re helping mother Ghana”, Dzamefe consoled.

President John Mahama, Saturday, personally immersed himself in the filth of the capital, Accra, to help clean the city.

Reminiscent of a similar move by Jerry Rawlings when he was head of state some two decades ago, Mahama descended into filthy drains and garbage-choked corners in James Town, a slummy suburb of Accra, to clean up the area.
Accra Mayor Alfred Vanderpuije and other government officials were also part of the cleanup exercise.

The President used the gesture to encourage residents in the area to also clean up their environment so as to avert cholera and other diseases.

Kan Dapaah: Ghana needs Akuffo-Addo now.

Former Defense and Energy Minister, Albert Kan Dapaah says Nana Akufo-Addo is the only one capable of taking Ghana out of the challenges confronting the nation.

According to him, Nana Akufo-Addo has prepared himself enough to manage this country better.

“I think he is what Ghana needs now," Mr. Kan Dapaah said Wednesday, in a chat with Mark Okraku Mantey, host of the ‘The Profiler’ Show on Hitz 103.9 FM.

Nana Akufo-Addo is one of seven candidates hoping to lead the New Patriotic Party into the 2016 presidential election despite failing to make good that opportunity twice- 2008 and 2012. Other contestants are Alan Kyerematen, Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku, Stephen Asamoah Boateng, Kofi Osei Ameyaw and Francis Adai Nimoh.

A long simmering turf war for control over associated gas from the jubilee fields could be playing out on the eve of the first processing of the commodity from the oil fields.

The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has confirmed to The Chronicle, a media report that the Jubilee partners are 'demanding' a full audit of the gas processing plant before it is connected to the floating vessel, FPSO Kwame Nkrumah, offshore.

State newspaper Daily Graphic, quoting sources close to the project, reported that an initial plan to create a by-pass to carry gas onshore from the FPSO to pipelines leading to the Aboadze Thermal Plant was ignored by Ghana Gas Company, despite huge investments made by the partners in purchasing equipment for that purpose.

This has raised fears of further delays in the country's quest to deliver gas from the fields for cheaper power generation. The Communications Manager at the GNPC, who confirmed the report to The Chronicle, said the audit was only "a common sense approach" to testing the integrity of the facility for safety reasons.

But, Dr. George Sipa Yankey, explained that the by-pass idea could have extended the delivery period of the gas from the field for another nine months.

Field Engineers of the Ghana Armed Forces have been deployed to speed up work on the three designated centers to be set up in the treatment of Ebola in the country in case of an outbreak.

The centers are to be set up in Tema, Kumasi and Tamale as part of measures taken by the Interministerial Team on Ebola to prevent an outbreak of the deadly disease in Ghana.

The disease has so far killed over 1,000 people in West Africa since its outbreak in February.

All suspected cases in Ghana have tested negative, forcing the Interministerial Team headed by the Minister of Health to intensify preventive measures.

Below unedited, is an open letter from Mr. Ato Ahwoi, a leading member of, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to another leading member, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah:

"Hello Spio,

I have read with interest and disbelief, your long article published in the September 18 and 23, 20009 issues of The Daily Graphic. It was deceptively headed, 'HONOURING NKRUMAH'S LEGACY: A CHALLENGE TO THE NDC'. I use the word, deceptively because it was an opportunity for you to launch an unnecessary attack on President John Atta Mills and the NDC government, under the guise of honouring Nkrumah's legacy.

Spio, I get the impression that you are trying to intimidate the President to give you a cabinet appointment. You gave many Ghanaians that impression when you quoted the reason ex-President John Kennedy gave his brother, Robert Kennedy (then Attorney General) for tolerating a difficult man like J. Edgar Hoover as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). You said President Kennedy told his brother, 'Bob, I'd rather have Edgar inside the government pissing out than outside pissing in.'

Former President of Ghana, Jerry John Rawlings, has said he “feels hurt” by the death of PV Obeng, one of Ghana’s most decorated public servants.

The ex-chairman of the National Development Planning Commission died on May 17 this year after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was laid in state on Thursday at the State House in the nation’s capital, Accra.

Rawlings, who is the longest living past president of the young oil-producing country, worked closely with the ex-senior adviser to the late John Evans Atta Mills and continued in a similar role under current leader, John Mahama.

“It hurts me. I feel so bad about it. We have lost a gem,” Rawlings told state-owned Radio Ghana.

NDC keeps Ghanaians poor for its own benefit - Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey.

Former NPP Chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, in an interview with Ghananewsmedia.com, has declared that the NDC has no interest in lifting Ghanaians out of poverty because “it is to the benefit of the NDC to keep people poor.” As long as there is rampant poverty in Ghana, it makes it easier for the NDC to prey on poor Ghanaians with cash and other tokens in return for their votes during elections.

Also Suggesting that educated and discerning Ghanaians are more likely to understand the issues facing the country, and are therefore less likely to be convinced by lies and propaganda by the NDC, Jake indicated that the less educated people are, the more likely they are to be influenced by lies and propaganda. Thus, the NDC has no interest in educating Ghanaians.

“If I am reasonably well off, or I have ambition, and you come and say to me that you want to buy my votes with GHC50, then I would tell you that my vote is worth a heck of a lot more than GHC50.

Interview

The World Health Organisation on Tuesday authorised the use of an experimental serum in the fight against the deadly Ebola virus. The ZMapp treatment is in the early stages of development and has only been tested on monkeys.

However, it has been used to treat two US aid workers and a Spanish priest who were infected in Liberia. The serum is in short supply but the company has said it has sent all available doses to West Africa free of charge following an outcry over its use on foreign aid workers.

RFI spoke to structural molecular biologist Erica Ollmann Saphire from the Scripps Research Institute, who worked on developing the Ebola serum.

Could you explain specifically how this ZMapp serum works?

A vaccine is something that would inspire your immune system to raise its own antibodies. In this antiserum we're providing the antibodies immediately. So you're conferring immediate immunity against the virus. In this serum there are three particular antibodies that work three different ways. Two of them actively neutralise or inactivate the virus.

The largest ever outbreak of Ebola shows no sign of abating, and attempts to contain it have so far met with little success.

People are avoiding medical centres for fear of catching Ebola, and dying of treatable diseases like malaria and diarrhoea as a result.

But how easy is it to catch Ebola? And why has this outbreak affected so many more people than previous outbreaks of the disease?

Thomson Reuters Foundation asked Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Here's a quick summary of what they said:

How easy is it to catch Ebola?

Ebola is one of the deadliest diseases known to humanity with a fatality rate of up to 90 percent and no known cure.

The outbreak of Ebola in West Africa has put the international community on alert. Observers have described one of the scenes as a state of war. The crisis could no longer be handled by line ministries and affected governments have been forced into a state of emergency.

The immediate sources of the crisis are medical. But lasting solutions will have to be sought in the wider economic context in which health care functions. The roots lie in at least two major weaknesses in Africa's current development trends: poor infrastructure and limited investment in public health.

The Ebola strain ravaging West Africa and putting the international community at risk has not changed since the first outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan in 1976. But Africa's rapid urbanisation has by far outstripped the capacity of public infrastructure and health services to stem the spread of disease.

Two of the countries that are most severely affected (Liberia and Sierra Leone) endured long periods of civil war that destroyed or stalled planned infrastructure and public health development. Guinea has an equally long history of low investment in infrastructure.

Ghana’s public tertiary institutions postpone reopening over Ebola.

GHANA has established the country’s historical Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) to curb cybercrime.

The CERT, globally known as Computer Incident Response Team (CIRT) and its portal, scheduled for launch on Friday this week, is hailed as a certain and trusted way of safeguarding the country and its businesses from cyber wars or attacks.

Sector Minister, Dr Edward Omane-Boamah, will launch the CERT, which has been developed by the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), the Ministry of Communications and other agencies.

The Director of Operations at NITA, Eric Akumiah, who disclosed this to CAJ News in Accra, said by Friday, the Minister of Communications would launch the CERT portal and a team to coordinate cyber incidences and assist in resolving future incidences within the public and the private sectors of the country.

Ghana has expressed concern at the alleged misintepration of the performance of the local economy by some international media houses.

It cited British news agency, Reuters, as well as Financial Times, another British publication of misrepresenting the facts to create the impression that the economy was the worst performing in the world, following the country's decision to seek assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Minister of Communications, Edward Omane Boamah, said the government was particularly unenthused by suggestions that the Ghana cedi had fallen by 40 percent this year, insisting the cedi has fallen by 22,9 percent instead.

Ghana Presidential Commission of Inquiry not intimidated by FIFA's letter to GFA..

The Presidential Commission of Inquiry tasked to look into Ghana Black Stars’ Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup campaign has stated its commitment to carry out its mandate.
This is in the wake of threats by the world’s football governing body to apply appropriate sanctions against the move.
FIFA has warned that a Commission to investigate the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and delve into issues bothering on the competence and administration of football in the country is inappropriate.

This, it said, could lead to sanctions if the government goes ahead with the Commission’s terms of reference.

In a letter dated August 7 and signed by Deputy General Secretary of FIFA, Markus Kattner, the body warned the country to stay clear of interfering in the affairs of the GFA and to respect the autonomy of the FA or risk sanctions.

The Editor-In-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako is urging economic analysts and critics to hold their peace on commenting further on Ghana’s move to seeking an IMF rescue package.
According to him, all these discussions are premature, thinking, “we should wait for the package that will come out of the negotiations [sometime in September, this year].”
Discussing the country’s posture for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan to salvage the country from the doldrums on Joy FM’s Newsfile Saturday, Mr. Baako maintained the real discussion would begin after the deal has been reached in a couple of months to come.

Then, the commitments needed from organized labour and other sectors of the economy would come to play while expecting total discipline from the country’s economic managers, he added.

The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has indicated that the current crisis confronting the Ghanaian economy calls for immediate action by Government to avert further deterioration of the present economic situation. This followed a meeting held by the Association in Accra on August 1, 2014, subsequent to the review of the 2nd quarter report of the AGI Business Barometer survey.

AGI’s Business Barometer for Q2, 2014 recorded the worst ever business confidence index of 22.42 down from 90.13 in Q1.

Clear indications are that the economic outlook and business confidence will worsen if steps are not taken immediately to stabilize macro-economic conditions. The AGI barometer captures business sentiments across various sectors of the Ghanaian economy on a quarterly basis.

Businesses continue to incur huge foreign exchange losses while Industry continues to shrink.With the rising cost of doing business, businesses risk shutting down if the trend persists.

With help from Japan, Ghana builds its ‘Koshien’ baseball field.

Ghana has opened its own version of Japan’s fabled Hanshin Koshien Stadium thanks largely to a baseball-loving former Japanese high school player who is spreading the popularity of the sport around Africa.

A ceremony was held April 12 to celebrate the completion of the Koshien Ghana Baseball and Softball Field at a school compound in Accra, the capital of the western African country. After a signboard with the name of the field was unveiled, a friendship game was held between Ghanaians and Japanese living in the country.

It has since been used for baseball games and classes for children.

The new field, the first full-scale baseball field in the country, stretches 120 meters from home plate to the center field boundary, and 105 meters each to right and left field. It does not have outfield fences but is equipped with a backstop and benches for both teams.

Ghanaians hope their new field can generate the same kind of excitement that sweeps Japan when the national high school baseball tournaments are held at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture.

As the federal government battle to save the citizens from the ravaging Ebola virus, following the record of first death amongst the citizens, the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has denied the reports making the rounds that it has banned flights emanating from Nigeria into the Kotoka International Airport, Accra, Ghana.

In a statement yesterday, the Ghanaian civil aviation body said despite the ravaging effects of Ebola, it has not banned any airline from either Nigeria or other African countries operating into Ghana.

According to the statement, “The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority’s attention has been drawn to an online publication on the above subject on Saturday, August 2nd, 2014 and we wish to state emphatically that the publication is erroneous and misleading.

When judged on market size, Ghana is often overlooked by brands looking to expand across Africa. At 26 million people, it is dwarfed by its almost-neighbour and giant of West Africa, Nigeria. But Ghana is an attractive market in which to grow brands.

It was the world's 10th fastest growing economy in 2013. It is politically stable, with a mature and entrenched democracy. It has natural and mineral resources, and a large working population - only about 11% of Ghanaians are unemployed, which is less than half the unemployment rate of South Africa. Ghana ranks highly for ease of doing business, has enjoyed decades of good economic management and is an upper-middle-income market relative to the African average. It has the fastest internet speeds on the continent, although internet penetration remains low. And it provides a spring-board to neighbouring West African markets.

Sammy Awuku condemns sex tapes leaks in Ghana; calls for caution.

National Youth Organizer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Samuel Awuku has condemned in no uncertain terms leaked sex tapes making rounds on various social media websites.

He was particularly worried about how some unscrupulous men share such explicit pictures and videos after having their way with the victims just to prove a point.
“I am incensed by these leaked sex tapes; is this how some want to portray Ghanaian women to the outside world? Would you be happy if it was you sister?”.

Sammy Awuku made the comment on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme on Friday while commenting on the latest sex pictures of some ladies in the Northern regional capital, Tamale.

WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The United States will announce nearly $1 billion in business deals, increase funding for peacekeeping and commit billions of dollars to expanding food and power programs in Africa during a summit this week, U.S. and development officials say.

U.S. officials said the Aug. 4 to 6 summit in Washington of nearly 50 African leaders hopes to showcase U.S. interest in the fast-growing region through a series of government-private partnership deals to boost trade and investment.

The spread of the deadly Ebola virus in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone is also a reminder of the vast development needs that persist in some of the region's poorest countries despite rapid economic growth and investment.

Administration officials have played down questions over whether the summit is in response to China's growing presence in the region. Instead, they have emphasized American interests go beyond Africa's oil and minerals, where China is focused.

President John Mahama has directed that immediate steps should be taken to engage the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other developmental partners to help the country out of the current economic challenges

That is one of the major resolutions reached after he met the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Economy Friday.

The meeting was to reflect on the range of issues affecting the economy, its impact on businesses and work out strategies to restore confidence in the economy.

A statement signed by the Minister of Communications, Dr Edward K. Omane Boamah said the President has also directed that urgent measures be taken to stabilise the fallen cedi.

Jenneh became a nurse in Sierra Leone 15 years ago with the hope of saving lives in one of the world’s poorest countries. Now she fears for her own after three of her colleagues died of Ebola.

Health workers like Jenneh are on the front line of the battle against the world’s worst-ever outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever that has killed 729 people in Sierra Leone, neighboring Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria so far.

With West Africa’s hospitals lacking trained staff, and international aid agencies already overstretched, the rising number of deaths among health care staff is shaking morale and undermining efforts to control the outbreak.

More than 100 health workers have been infected by the viral disease, which has no known cure, including two American medics working for charity Samaritan’s Purse. More than half of those have died, among them Sierra Leone’s leading doctor in the fight against Ebola, Sheik Umar Khan, a national hero.

Approaching his final two years in office, President Barack Obama is seeking to build a legacy in Africa by shifting the U.S. approach on the continent to investment from aid.

The son of a Kenyan and the first black U.S. president is playing host this week to the first U.S.-Africa Leadership Summit, where his administration says it expects more than $900 million in deals to be signed as part of a focus on development driven by private business.

“The importance of this for America needs to be understood,” Obama said at an Aug. 1 news conference. “Africa is growing and you’ve got thriving markets and you’ve got entrepreneurs and extraordinary talent among the people there.”

Trade and business, he said, “that’s the kind of relationship Africa is looking for.”

The village of Busua in south-west Ghana is home to almost every one of the country’s surfers. Will Coldwell takes to the waves with the locals … once he’s finished partying with them
“It’s DJ Shocker!” someone shouts, pointing towards the stage, where a young man is standing behind a rented 1990s desktop computer flanked by two gigantic palm trees. “You gotta listen to this guy,” I’m told. “He’s a local electrician.”
It’s Saturday night in Busua, Ghana, and I’m dancing in the jungle to the high-octane shuffle of west African dancehall. It’s the first evening of my surfing holiday in the small coastal village but with the Easter celebrations in full flow, it’s impossible not to get sucked into what I can only describe as Ghanaian Spring Break. Besides, with most of the village – surfers included – fully preoccupied with the party, it was always going to be a case of dance first, surf later.

President John Dramani Mahama assures speedy Ghana economic recovery.

President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday presided over a two-day Presidential Strategic Advisory Committee to kick-start the implementation of measures that would speed up economic recovery.

The meeting, apart from analysing policies and strategies that were adopted at the Senchi Economic Forum, would also map out strategies that would help in the re- shaping of the economy.
It was also attended by Vice President Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, Ministers of State and Economic Experts who would all be contributing their quota towards reinvigorating the economy in the coming months.

Private legal practitioner, Ace Kojo Anan Ankomah, has asserted that ‘we will collect our money from Woyome’ even if government refuses to retrieve it from the self-styled financier of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).

“We can definitely collect the money…unless government is not willing to collect it; even that we will collect some of it,” he said.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome to refund the Ghc51 million paid him as judgment debt by the state.
This was after the court granted all the reliefs sought by former Attorney General (AG) and Minister for Justice, Martin Amidu who sued Alfred Woyome in his personal capacity.

A renowned economist, Kwame Pianim, says Ghana is facing a major economic crisis since the dark days of the economic recovery efforts of the 1980s. However, he stated that: "Most public pronouncements seem to be in denial of the gravity of the crisis. It is being claimed the challenges are temporary or largely driven by external factors". According to him, the Senchi Consensus was explicit on the fact that what was needed first and foremost was to get a handle on the growing structural imbalance in government finances and to restore policy credibility which has sunk to a historical low.

Mr. Pianim, who chaired a two-day stakeholders' dialogue on boosting Ghana's Foreign Exchange Resources in Accra noted: "Recent demonstrations reinforce the idea that if the mangers of our national economy do not admit publicly that there is a serious fiscal crisis and open our books to the leadership of organized labour, we cannot agree on a social contract which is badly needed to get labour to give us fiscal space to tackle this urgent problem.

When the oil began to gush, Ghana was determined to avoid the 'resource curse.' But the prosperity many had hoped for in the coastal city of Sekondi-Takoradi has so far trickled down to just a tiny minority.

In Sekondi-Takoradi harbor they are waiting for the colorful fishing boats to return home. When the boats arrive, there is a bustle of activity because everybody wants to secure a share of the catch.

Ten years ago the nets were brimful of fish, but those days are over. "The catch has declined drastically," said Emmanuel Nii Botchway from Ghana's Inshore Fisheries Association."Drilling for oil is driving the fish away," he explained.

Ghana's Jubilee oil field was discovered 60 kilometers (37 miles) off the coast in 2007 and is one of the biggest to be found in Africa since the millennium. Ghana has been producing oil in sizable quantities for the last four years.

Press release

The Ministry of Health (Ghana) continues to monitor the progression of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. As of 23rd July, WHO states there have been a total of over 1,200 (1,201) cases of which more than half (56%) have died. More people get infected daily and some more die each day. On the average, in the past week, 50 new cases were diagnosed each day. This means the epidemic is far from slowing down and we must as a nation do all we can to keep it at bay.

Not only have Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone recorded EVD cases but also Nigeria has confirmed a case of Ebola in a traveller from Liberia who unfortunately passed on. Many of us are aware of the recent Ebola scare in our country which have helped strengthen our preparedness and response to possible EVD in Ghana.

Alban Kingsford Sumani Bagbin, Member of Parliament for Nadoli Kaleo and Majority Leader in Parliament, has identified the phenomenon where elected presidents become ‘alien’ to the political party that voted them into power, as a major contributing factor to the Winner-Take-All phenomenon that has crept into the country’s body politic.

Mr. Bagbin made this observation at the sidelines of the final public consultations organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs in Accra on Tuesday, on proposals for rethinking “the Winner-Takes-All” practice in Ghana’s political governance. Winner Take-all is an expression used to describe a situation where the winner of an election receives all the rewards and take absolute control of political and executive powers, to the neglect of other political parties.

An Accra Circuit Court has remanded the Chief Executive Officer of Kessben Group of Companies, Kwabena Kesse, in police custody.
He is to re-appear on August, 7 2014.

Mr Kesse has been charged with two counts of money laundering and forgery of documents to which he has pleaded not guilty.
He is alleged to have illegally transferred $127,931,727.65 out of Ghana to dubious locations within a period of 14 months and also forged documents to the bank to facilitate the act.

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, running mate to Nana Akufo-Addo in the 2012 elections, says Ghana's economy is in crisis and collapsing under the weight of an incompetent economic management.

Speaking to delegates at the Radach Memorial Hall in Tamale, Dr. Bawumia explained that the crisis the economy finds itself in is evident in the fact that the Ghana cedi is now the worst performing currency in the world.
"When the New Patriotic Party left government, the exchange rate was GH¢1.1 to $1. Now you need GH¢4 in order to get $1. Our gross international reserves as it stands now does not even cover two weeks of imports. As an oil economy, we now have the world's worst gross international reserves."

Stop creating needless panic, fear about Ebola - Dr E. Obeng-Apori.

he Medical Director of the Ridge Hospital in Accra, Dr E. Obeng-Apori, has called on health professionals to stop creating unnecessary panic about the Ebola disease.

He said the manner in which some health workers were consistently going public with suspected cases anytime someone reported with viral hemorrhagic fever, without ascertaining whether the symptoms were positive for Ebola or not, was the cause of the needless panic and fear creeping into the country.

Biometric alone cannot address challenges of Ghana electoral system - Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan.

The Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, has stated that the biometric technology alone cannot address the challenges of any electoral system.

According to him, machines could not undertake certain functions during election activities, such as the detection of minors and non-nationals in the registration of voters.

Sharing Ghana’s experience in biometric technology during elections at a conference in Accra yesterday, Dr Afari-Gyan told the participants that the EC had to employ other measures to prevent foreigners and minors from voting, adding that “the machine will not solve all our problems”.

Health financing expert and Chief Executive of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Sylvester A. Mensah, says the “future is bright” for the younger generation of the country. According to him, “this is truly an exciting time to be growing up in Ghana.”

Mr Mensah, who was responding to questions in an interview with California-based International journalist Ambrose Ehirim on his best-selling memoirs, “In the Shadows of Politics – Reflections from my Mirror”, said the “pedigree of our country and its institutions among the nations of Africa and the world at large is respectable and therefore, worthy of building upon.”

Special UN Representative for AU and Darfur, Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas has said that the late President John Evans Atta Mills demonstrated a sterling determination to succeed and appreciated a new way of doing politics to achieve prosperity and dignity for the people.

He pointed out that “President Atta Mills’ style of governance revealed itself long before he ascended to the highest throne of Ghana. His peaceful and inclusive disposition; his academic background” among others had irreversibly shaped his outlook on politics.

More than 5,000 members of the Trades Union Congress will march in Ghana’s largest cities today, including the capital, Accra, TUC Secretary-General Kofi Asamoah said yesterday. The union represents 18 national unions with workers ranging from miners to healthcare workers and maritime personnel.

“People are angry and complaining because petroleum products and utilities prices have been increased significantly without a corresponding increase in wages and salaries,” Asamoah said. “The government has a responsibility to ensure that there are mitigating measures to help cushion the poor and vulnerable.”

Michael Essien and Sulley Muntari

Ghana duo Sulley Muntari and Michael Essien modeled in the new white AC Milan Dolce and Gabbana suits.

President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana has granted amnesty to 1,104 prisoners in commemoration of Ghana's 54th Republic Anniversary which fell on July 1.
A statement issued by Deputy Minister of the Interior James Agalga here Wednesday said the President acted upon the advice of the Council of State and the recommendation of the Ghana Prison Service.

The categories of prisoners benefitting from the amnesty included 1,001 first offenders who had served at least half of their sentences for outright release.

An Idea for new Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries: Private Money for Fosu Lagoon Landing Port.

IDEA
The fishing sector in Ghana has morphed through a series of stages, albeit it has a rather static growth and contribution towards the national purse. It has been considered at least over the last decade or two as one of the sub-sectors in the agricultural industry that has a potential of creating jobs, helping government raise revenue for development, and most importantly, mitigating poverty along our coastal communities.

Plans to develop and establish fishing harbours or landing sites along our coastal communities have been unearthed every now and then but see “no concrete” implementation. One of such plans has necessitated the position of this piece; “conversion of the Fosu Lagoon in Cape coast into a harbour and fish landing site”.It must be acknowledged that such a decision must come against the backdrop of a comprehensive analysis on the environmental viability and economic prosperity that such a project will bring not only to the people of Cape coast, but the country at large.

Ghana’s government plans to use some of its World Bank loans to fund a free sanitary pad program for young girls in poor rural communities to reduce dropout rates.

The initiative is part of a program known as the Ghana secondary school improvement project. Under the plan, $156 million would be used to build community high schools. The rest of the funds would be channeled into a scholarship scheme for students in poor rural communities as well as for free distribution of sanitary pads.

Studies conducted in Ghana show that the provision of free sanitary pads improved school attendance by cutting absenteeism among girls from 21 percent of school days to 9 percent.

Why we do not deserve US Embassy’s apology.

OPINION

Once upon a time in Ohiakrom, there lived a poverty-conscripted man called Kwasi Manu, a middle-aged man with five children and a wife. Kwasi Manu’s children would have starved to death but for the benevolence of a wealthy farmer called Kofi Odoom.

Kwasi Manu was not only poor, but he was also irresponsible to the extent that he misused money given to him by Kofi Odoom to fend for his wife and children. Apart from his numerous concubines, he was a regular visitor to some of the finest palm wine joints in Ohiakrom, where he sponsored any drinker who had a spare stomach to fill.

He lived as though there was no tomorrow. Appeals from his wife and children to tone down on his excessive debauchery fell on rocks that were harder and drier than those on Tongo Hills. Everybody in Ohiakrom knew that his poverty was self-inflicted due to his careless lifestyle.

The World Bank has approved additional financing to support the development of Ghana’s oil and gas reserves, taking total support to date to nearly $58 million.

The bank said the extra finance would help to establish a national data centre within the Petroleum Commission of Ghana, an independent regulator for the oil and gas sector, and help procure laboratory equipment for Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency.
World Bank country director for Ghana Yusupha Crookes said: “The discovery of deep oil and gas reserves has resulted in a rapid expansion of the oil and gas industry in Ghana, which has the potential to bring significant economic development opportunities to the country.”

Africa: Child Brides Abducted, Raped, Married to Appease Gods, Settle Debts.

In Ethiopia, girls are abducted on their way to school, raped and then married to their captors.

In Ghana, they are married to traditional priests and become "slaves to the gods" to pay for their family's sins.

In Cameroon, girls are promised in marriage to settle debts while still in the womb.

"There are different forms of child marriage but all these different forms have one common point, which is the girl doesn't have a voice," Francoise Kpeglo Moudouthe, Africa officer for the advocacy group Girls Not Brides, told Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"Her status in the community is so low that she doesn't even have a right to speak about this issue: if she wants to marry, when she wants to marry and who she wants to marry."

Africa: New Evidence Shows Chronically Poor Countries Are Gathering Pace in Tackling Hunger and Undernutrition.

BLOG

According to latest research published by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), some of the poorest developing countries such as Afghanistan, Burundi and Liberia are making significant progress in their commitment to reducing hunger and undernutrition witnessed through increased action on these issues.
Launched today, Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index (HANCI) findings show that some countries that have long seen little action in dealing with hunger and undernutrition, are now making significant efforts to tackle these issues. They are putting in place laws, suitable policies and increasing public investment to change that. For instance, Burundi has improved access to clean water and sanitation and increased agricultural spending; these are large improvements in a country with an 'extremely alarming' hunger status.

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