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.”

2012 election the fairest in Ghana’s history- Felix Kwakye.

 

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.

One-year after SC verdict; even lawyers are still confused – Ursula Owusu.

 

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.

Casely-Hayford: Elvis Afriyie Ankrah's tears mustn’t excuse any wrongdoing.

 

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 cleans gutters in Accra.

 

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.

Ghana: Power Play Over Ghana Gas - As Ghanaians Wait for Delivery First Gas.

 

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.

Ghana Armed Forces to help in building Ebola isolation centres.

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.