An activist for women’s rights, Margaret Brew-Ward, has revealed that a young student who scored 30 in her Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) was branded a witch.
She added that the girl resided in a rural area where no one had earned the necessary grades to enroll in a Senior High School.
“Recently, there was a case we heard when we visited one of the communities that a girl who got around aggregate 30 in the BECE was [branded a witch]… meanwhile you know in the cities people are striving for aggregate 8, eight 1s and what not.
“Just because in that community, no girl had passed to go to the secondary school, so for a girl to do that, she [must have been a witch]†she explained on JoyNews.
Brew-Ward further mentioned that the scope of persons to become victims of such attacks is very wide. Referencing the girl’s story to underpin her submission, she said the young student was tagged a witch after she surpassed expectations in the BECE.
The manager of the Action Aid campaign finds this discouraging.The activist claims that in order to secure the aid she need, a partnership between her group and a few state agencies was required.
Mrs. Brew-Ward mentioned additional demographic categories that are frequently labeled as such and stressed the importance of developing a roadmap for its eradication.
Kofi Adomah, who doubles as the CEO of KOFI TV, celebrated his birthday on the day and had his wife, Miracle Adomah, pulling a surprise on him in the studio.
Reacting to the surprise from his wife, Kofi Adomah talked about their love life and how she has been exceptionally good to him.
Among many things, the broadcaster revealed that Mrs Adomah has stood by him in their 19-year-old even though he has fathered many children with other women.
While Adomah has always shared photos and videos of his wife without showing her face, a lady has shown the face of his wife. In a video (slideshow) which has surfaced on Instagram, the smitten couple is seen in different poses showing affection for each other. The lady who put together the slideshow was running commentary about Adomah and his wife in the background.
Meanwhile, Kofi and Miracle recently released a loved-up video showing how strong they are going even in the midst of the backlash after his confession.
Their latest video has stirred loads of reactions online with many people encouraging and praising them.
Earlier, Kofi Adomah Nwanwani had shared a lovely photo with his pretty wife, Miracle Adomah.
The photo released on Kofi Adomah’s Facebook had his wife showing off a voluptuous figure in a tight dress.
Adomah’s wife’s shape in the photo has triggered some hilarious reactions, with some people wondering if he can handle her.
AWARD winning Gospel musician, Celestine Donkor, is entreating Gospel music lovers in Ghana to embrace their songs rendered in English with the same enthusiasm they do to those in our local dialects.
Not doing this goes a long way to limit the potential of Gospel artistes to the confines of the country and virtually turn them into local champions hindering their prospects of being accepted on the global scene.
According to the Celestine Donkor, she has observed over the years, through the records and performance of her songs, both in local and English languages, that the former is patronised more, which to her had the tendency to stifle the progress of Ghanaian artistes reaching global market.
Speaking with the Graphic Showbiz in an interview, Celestine Donkor mentioned that she was making public her observations over the years.
This is particularly at a time when her new song, No One (featuring Nigeria’s Steve Crown) is being streamed heavily in other African countries such as Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania while same could not be said with Ghana. Our streaming numbers pale against theirs badly.
“Over the years, I have noticed a trend with my songs. Anytime I release a song that is 100 per cent English, it has low streaming and downloads from Ghana. Interestingly, it is a different story in other African countries.
“It’s quite surprising that when songs are from Nigeria and they are 100 per cent in English, they are sung in churches and are always on people’s playlists.
“They are fully embraced but the moment an English song is coming from a Ghanaian artiste, it doesn’t get the same reception.
“I believe it is something we need to look at seriously because the world is becoming a global village and English is a global language.
“If we want our Ghanaian artistes to go international, then we must patronise their English songs just like their local songs,” Celestine Donkor said.
In 2020, Celestine Donkor’s Agbebolo, which was predominantly in English, shot her status up in the Ghanaian gospel sector. It earned her many awards including Artiste of the Year at the 2021 National Ghana Gospel Music Awards.
When her attention was drawn to Agbebolo, which is rendered in English, as one of her biggest songs in Ghana, she said: “Yes, Agbebolo is in English but it is laced with Ewe, a local language.
“You see, when the song has a touch of our local language, it is appreciated and well patronised. However, the moment it is purely an English song, patronage is low.
“I had quite an unpleasant experience with my song Supernatural in Ghana. So yes, for an artiste like myself, I make sure there are songs in both the local language and English on my album.
“All that I’m saying is that we should push and appreciate the English language ones just like we do with the local ones so that we don’t make our artistes local champions because it’s the direction we are probably unknowingly pushing them.
“If we can celebrate songs in English by foreign acts and make them popular by using them all over the place, we should do so and more for our artistes and the songs they do in English,” she stated.
CEO of Lakeside Village, organizers of the event, Dr Bernard BNA Yartey, said the seasoned artists befits the event considering their pedigree in the terrain.
The duo are poised to deliver some of their hit tracks that dominated the airwaves in recent years and in the past.
So far, organizers of the event, Lakeside Village and Net Village have called on high profile dignitaries to officially invite them to the event.
Lakeside Village boss in an interview said ” We thought through and realized how important the media is, so we decided to come up with this dinner gala.
“It is not an award ceremony, the media all over the world go through a lot of stress, resulting in the death of many. There will be a lot to eat and drink on the evening, we believe it will go a long way to distress them and bring them together to network in a relaxed atmosphere.”
Dignitaries from the traditional, political, Diplomatic Cops, corporate and entertainment fraternities are expected to grace the event.
The annual Ghana media music and dinner night is a yearly celebration of media excellence, dedicated to honoring and acknowledging the achievements of media personalities in Ghana, both past and present.
The event also seeks to discover and invest in the art and act of journalism in Ghana while creating opportunities for knowledge transfer and sharing between the Ghanaian media and their contemporaries from around the world.
The event is being supported by Rosewood Residence, UK, Trap, The Radio Advertising People, Foreword Media Group and Universal Merchant Bank(UMB).
Ghanaian Hiplife legend, Okyeame Kwame, has asserted that having a strong mentality as a musician, defines how successful you will be regardless of your talent.
According to Okyeame Kwame, who is one of the most decorated rappers in Ghana’s music industry, the downfall of many talented artistes was due to the lack of mental toughness to deal with social issues.
In an interview with GNA Entertainment, Okyeame Kwame explained that once you become famous and become a celebrity, your personal life is taken away from you and you would be scrutinized in every endeavor of yours.
“Once you attain fame as a musician, you cannot enjoy your privacy, so you would need to re-evaluate yourself by checking your temperament and how you react to societal issues.
“Social pressures are bound and celebrities are more prone to issues of depression in comparison with other careers, and the inception of social media, so if you don’t have the right temperament, it could lead to depression,” he said.
Okyeame Kwame, who has had an illustrious career in music spanning over two decades, further revealed that it was often very difficult to get a strong mentality at the start of every musician’s career, but psyching yourself was key in such moments.
“You have to develop a strong mental resilience to deal with certain issues so that you don’t cause your own downfall, regardless of how talented you may be. You must learn how you deal with certain issues, especially at the early stages of your music career, ” he said.
Hiplife artiste, Kwaw Kese, has said that he looks younger and more energetic when compared to his friends because of his constant adherence to the advice of his doctors
“Take me and some of my friends or agemates as a case study and you will think that they are way older than me,†he stated in an interview with Okyeame Quophi on Angel TV.
The “Abodam†hitmaker while speaking on the medicinal use of the cannabis said he now uses it for tea and sprinkles it on other foods since it gives him the strength he needs.
Medical doctors in Log Angeles, USA, he claimed advised him to take in herbs; an advice which he said has helped him a lot.
To this end, Kwaw Kese urged critics of the herb to contact their doctors so they can be well-informed and educated on its importance.
He also claimed that the American police have stopped arresting weed smokers because they have realized its benefits and are instead advertising it.
The rapper added that Americans are administering the herbs to the weak and aged because they have realized that it so many medicinal uses.
Former Hasaacas Ladies forward, Evelyn Badu, has written her name in African football history after winning big at the 2022 Confederation of African Football(CAF) Awards in Rabat, Morocco.
The Black Princesses captain won two inaugural awards at the event, which took place on Thursday, July 21, 2022.
The double awards add to Badu’s three previous CAF debut awards, making her the first African female footballer to win five CAF debut awards.
The Alvaldsnes forward won her previous three at the inaugural edition of the CAF Women’s Champions League in 2021.
Here are all five CAF debut awards won by Badu
CAF Interclub Player of the Year Awards (Women)
Badu won the Interclub award at the 2022 CAF Awards.
She beat two Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies players, Andile Dlamini and Bambanani Mbanie, to claim the new category.
CAF Young Player of the Year (Women)
Badu landed her second of the night at the awards gala, winning the Women’s Young Player of the Year award.
She defeated former teammate Doris Boaduwaa (Ghana & Sekondi Hasaacas Ladies) and Yasmine Zouhir (Morocco & AS Saint-Etienne).
 CAF Women’s Champions League Player of the Group Stage
During the 2021 CAFWCL, Evelyn Badu became the first player to win the group stage award.
She netted three goals in three games and won back-to-back woman-of-the-match awards.
Player of the tournament
Badu ended up being named the best player of the tournament after her stellar performance that gained her prominence on the continent.
CAF Women’s Champions League top scorer
Badu won the top scorer of the tournament with five goals, three in the group stage and two in the knockout round.
The Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament has recommended the setting up of a bi-partisan committee to probe the circumstances that led to the clash between the Police and students at the Islamic Senior High School in Kumasi.
The committee as part of its report from the fact-finding mission to the school on the matter also recommends the sanctioning of the Ashanti Regional Director of Urban Roads for failing to take action about the root cause of the riots in the school.
The chairman of the Committee, Kennedy Agyepong, presented the report to the house on the floor.
“The committee requests the Ministry of Roads and Highwaysas a matter of urgency to provide a pedestrian crossing and speed rams.â€
“The committee recommends that Parliament should set up a bi-partisan committee to further investigate the matter. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning is also expected to release the approved budget to the Minister of Interior for the procurement of the necessary tools.â€
About 30 students of the school were rushed to the hospital after police allegedly opened tear gas on them while they were demonstrating over frequent knockdowns in front of the school weeks ago.
The students of the school were said to have blocked the road in front of their school in the course of their protest, prompting authorities to invite the police.
The police were accused of using excessive force to disperse the demonstrating students from the streets.
Three senior officers were subsequently interdicted by the IGP over the incident.
A Nigerian criminal syndicate led by one Sunny Anwamini (Sam), has been busted by the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) for defrauding a Ukrainian businessman to the tune of $6.5 million.
The suspect, Sunny, 52, was apprehended on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, by EOCO in an intelligence-led operation in partnership with the state National Security.
According to sources at EOCO, the suspect met his victim (Mazen Farakh), in December 2018 in Ghana during which the latter expressed interest in purchasing expensive wood pieces known as “Teak.â€
Sam, after receiving the sum of $6.5 million from the Ukrainian businessman, sent photographs of fake pallets of teak stored in custom bonded warehouses to him and promised to get the goods delivered in Ukraine.
However, Mazen Farakh in his statement at the EOCO, disclosed that for over three (3) years, Sunny failed to deliver containers of the products as stated in their agreement.
On March 27, 2022, Sunny was arrested by police personnel from the Ghana Police Headquartersin Accra but was later released after a brief detention.
A case in point was when one Kofi Karikari, a police officer with the Accra Regional Police Command, was seen openly providing escort for Sunny in very suspicious circumstances.
Meanwhile, Mazen Farakh wants to recover his $6.5 million from the Nigerian criminal syndicate and is therefore appealing to the powers that be to ensure that Sunny Anwamini is made to face the full rigors of the law.
The Ukrainian businessman and his partners have expressed worry over the present state of affairs in relation to the country’s justice delivery system, calling on authorities to ensure that Sunny is made to face justice in a manner that will make him recover his money from the Nigerian criminal syndicate.
For this reason, the Ukrainian businessman is currently in the country to ensure that Sunny is brought to book.
The Association is also calling on the government to pay all outstanding allowances of trainees and rotation nurses and midwives.
President of the Association, Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo, made the call on Wednesday at a press briefing in Accra on issues affecting Nurses and Midwives trainees, interns and unemployed personnel.
The issues include delay in the payment of trainee allowances of up to 11 months, delay in the posting of 10,727 Nurse Assistant Clinical (NAC) and Nurse Assistant Preventive (NAP) belonging to the 2019 batch who have been registered on the Ministry of Health’s recruitment portal.
Others are, delay in the issuance of financial clearance for permanent recruitment of the 2019 Diploma and Degree referred group who completed their rotation or national service in September 2021 and delay in financial clearance for the permanent recruitment of the 2020 NAC and NAP.
Mrs Ofori-Ampofo called on the Ministry of Health to investigate all allegations of corrupt practices in the posting of Nurses and Midwives and also refrain from arresting them when they come to the Ministry to demand for their posting.
The Association urged all Nurses and Midwives awaiting employment by the Government to have confidence in their group leaders and accept the periodic updates from them from the engagements with the Ministries of Health and Finance.
“We call on all trainees, rotation Nurses and Midwives and all categories of unemployed personnel to remain calm as the leadership of the Association work with their group leaders and the government to find lasting solutions to their issues,” she said.
Mrs Ofori-Ampofo called on the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Ghana to take disciplinary actions against individuals who resort to social media to dent the image of the profession.
She called on government to immediately resolved the Ministry issues raised before September 2022 to ensure industrial harmony devoid of any labour unrest.
The President said even though the Association recognised the effort of the Government in employing the backlog of unemployed Nurses and Midwives in the past, the authorities had not been able to prevent the creation of new backlogs in the system.
Ms Georgina Kwakye, the Public Relations Officer, 2019 Second Batch of Nurses and Midwives, said they had become a liability to society, adding, ” we are home since November 2021 doing nothing.”
“I am currently at home selling pure water, some of my colleagues have to borrow before they eat, we are depressed, others are working in a private hospitals with meagre salaries while others engage in social vices,” she said.
She said, “Nursing is a practical work but we are home doing nothing, if we do not practice our profession, we will forget our lessons which will be detrimental to the health sector.”
Dr. Prosper Narteh Ogum according to Countryman Songo announced his resignation as Asante Kotoko coach to the Board and Management during a zoom technical meeting on Wednesday, July 20, 2022.
Claiming that Ogum was disrespectful in the said meeting, the Fire for Fire show host said the former WAFA coach after raising his voice severally in the meeting thanked some board and management members while adding that he has resigned despite efforts to get him to retract the statement.
“There was a meeting and we (Management) presented what you gave us to the Board and they called you to also come and have your say. He joined the meeting initially but the Board told him to wait until we are done with our presentation before he can join. He started saying all sorts of things as if he has been told to resign the moment he joined the meeting after our presentation.”
“He just thanked some Board and Management Members and said that he has resigned and he can’t continue with the job. Even the way he resigned was not proper per how he spoke. Nobody sacked him from the job.”
“Just because he was not allowed to get his way during the meeting. Even Man United don’t get all their targets in a transfer window. He wanted everyone to keep quiet for only him to talk”
He added that the club has accepted the resignation of coach Ogum and will move on from him.
“The Management has accepted his resignation and we won’t go back to him. We won’t allow Ogum to intimidate the Board and Management for him to be allowed to do what he wants to do in the club.”
“You can’t disrespect the Board and Management at a meeting and we will come and beg you to come back. He was just afraid to go to Africa and defend the league title that he won,” Countryman Songo.
Highlife legend, Amakye Dede, has disclosed how he managed to keep his band together for years and the reason behind his decision to give a fair share of his gains to members of his band.
The 64-year-old composer, known for his energetic performances, has stated that working with his band is easy because he does well to keep them happy.
His kind gestures include buying them cars and giving out money to hardworking members.
Amakye Dede in an interview on StarrChat with Nana Aba Anamoah on July 19, 2022, recalled his first encounter with his longest-serving band member, Kwame Thomas Woernle, who is a violinist.
Amakye and Thomas first met in Denmark back in the ’90s. The instrumentalist wowed him with his strings. Later, he relocated to Ghana to play with his band.
According to the music legend, Kwame Thomas, a white man from Denmark, travelled all the way to Ghana on a motorbike.
“I have played with my band for a long time. Remember my white guy? He’s been with me for over 30 years…Musicians always want you to do what they like, and if you do that, they won’t leave you.
“I have bought cars for some of my guys. I don’t have to use the money for myself. I spread it and they are happy.
“The white guy, Kwame Thomas, is from Germany…I first met him in Switzerland. I was playing in Denmark and all of a sudden, this guy came on stage and used the violin, and I said this guy can help me. Whatever he played satisfied the music.
“He came to Ghana with a bike from Denmark. He rode here to meet me and he told me that day that he wanted to play in my band and I told him to come. He came to Ghana purposely because of me…I was very surprised to see him. Kwame Thomas loves my music…he is married to a Ghanaian,” said Amakye.
Speaking on his musical journey, Amakye Dede, who has close to 30 albums, advised his colleagues to create a long-lasting bond with their team and also ensure that their needs are met.
“Thomas has been the only guy who has played the band longest. He is always happy to play in the band. Keep your team happy, that’s the only secrete…if you satisfy musicians, they will always be serious with you,” he admonished in the interview monitored by Ghanaweb.
Teachers and lecturers in private schools in Ghana have been identified as the highest recipients of bribes in Ghana.
This is based on a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
According to the report, teachers and lecturers in the private sector scored 9.6% in the bribery analysis by the UNODC.
The next on the list were doctors, nurses and midwives in private hospitals, who were pegged at 7.6%.
Security guards in the private sector followed next with a bribery rating of 7.3%; while employees from insurance companies followed in 4th place with 4.1.
In 5th place was other business employees who were rated at 3.7%; with bank employees at the base of the ratings with 3.6%.
In the public sector, the Ghana Police Services was ranked first amongst ten other top recipients of bribe.
The Leader and Founder of Glorious Word and Power Ministries International, Rev Isaac Owusu Bempah, has said he has stopped praying for President Akufo-Addo, the man he spiritually backed in opposition until he ascended unto the highest office of the Presidency in 2016.
According to him, he used to be close to the president, but today, there has been a gap between them.
He said he has stopped praying for a president, and never will he pray for any regime that emerges on the political scene going forward.
Speaking on Accra-based Okay FM, the man of God advised that the president should, as a matter of urgency, gather some men of God to intercede on his behalf because what is happening in the country is not normal.
“This is not to disrespect the president, but I have stopped praying for the president like I used to do. I (used) pray for the president and that God should protect him and make sure that his tenure is successful; to pray for the president like I used to do some time ago, I have stopped doing that,” Rev Owusu Bempah said.
“Like Saul, Samuel and David in the Holy Bible as instances, Nana Addo has turned away from God. He is no longer the man ruling the country because he has become disobedient like Saul in the Bible,” Owusu Bempah added.
He noted that no political party – whether NDC or NPP – can be able to make it without spiritual backing.
“If you claim to be of God, then let the people of God back you with prayers; if you claim to believe in other gods, then let your magicians intercede for you like King Pharaoh because, without power, you can never succeed in life,” he stressed.
When asked what has brought about the ‘bad’ blood between him and the president to the extent that he has stopped interceding for him, he explained that, as a man of God, he is willing and ready to intercede for anybody who approaches him for spiritual help and direction but “when I see that after praying for you, you do not have any belief in the prayer, I will just withdraw and stay within my lane.
“I am human, and if after fighting to do whatever that you want, you decide not to mind and appreciate whatever I have done for you, therefore, you keep disregarding me, [I won’t mind you again].
“It is very painful to go all out and help someone to achieve some status in life, and later the person behaves like you have been rejected; it makes you feel that you have fought and done all that you needed to do in vain. I am not saying if I do something bad, nobody should confront me or the law so be twisted to favour me, no, but at least the person should be able to remember whatever I have done for him; the person should remember that if not for this individual, I would not have achieved such status.
“I do not want the glory or recognition for myself, no. When President Akufo-Addo mentioned my name during his victory speech, I took that recognition for the Lord; what I mean is that when you start with God, you need to finish with him. The battle is the Lords should be the altar and finisher of your faith…,” Rev Owusu Bempah explained further.
According to the Ghana Police Service, the suspects attacked a company in the area and in the process killed one person while others sustained injuries.
Without giving further details on the incident, the Ghana Police Service in a statement said its men are bent on arresting the suspects for them to face justice.
“The Police are on a manhunt to arrest some robbers who attacked a company at Achiaman in Amasaman, Accra. In the process, one person died, and two others sustained injuries.â€
“We wish to assure the public that we will surely get the robbers arrested to face justice,†the Ghana Police Service added in a statement posted on its Facebook page on Thursday, July 21, 2022.
According to him, Dr Bawumia is loved in the Ashanti region, therefore, he will lead a charge on people who will try to make things unduly difficult for the Vice President’s emergence as NPP flag bearer.
Speaking on Wontumi TV on Wednesday, July 20, Dr Nana Ayew Afriye noted that, some rift between the people of the Ashanti region and the MPs is gradually creating disaffection for the Vice President, who hitherto is loved by the people in the Ashanti region.
“I believe we need to break the eight with Dr Bawumia, and I will stand by Dr Bawumia on any day but if you make things difficult for Dr Bawumia, we are not going to keep quiet and spare you.
“The current happenings in the party will create problems for Dr Bawumia if we don’t speak about it, because the Vice President is loved by the Ashantis. The Ashantis want the Vice President as the flagbearer of NPP but what is happening is creating some hatred for him and we won’t allow it to spoil his chances,” Dr Nana Ayew Afriye explained.
The MP had earlier served a warning that he will speak against all the happenings creating some disaffection between the MPs and the people of Kumasi.
“When I start going hard on the government, nobody should talk to me.”
Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, MP, Suame, was attacked by some angry residents within his constituency over the poor nature of the roads on Monday, July 18.
The MP, who was in his constituency was accosted by the angry residents with some throwing various items in his direction and hooting at him.
It took the timely intervention of the Police to calm tension and shield the MP from harm.
The residents had organised a demonstration and called on authorities to ensure work resumes on the stretch.
After escaping the attack, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu addressed the media, and assured stakeholders that efforts were being put in place to complete work on the road as early as possible.
He also said he understood the anger of his constituents.
“If they are really angry that it has been a while since the scraping of the surface and the dust is killing them, certainly when they see any government official, they will vent their spleen on the person. So I am not worried,†Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said.
Prof. Adei indicated that average Ghanaians are more interested in showing off their wealth by buying excess clothes and having more clothing than millionaires in western countries like the late Steve Jobs who owned only four pairs of jeans, graphic.com.gh reports.
He, therefore, urged Ghanaians to learn to avoid wasting their monies on unnecessary acquisitions including excess clothes.
“… limit the price of financial success… In other words, don’t make certain sacrifices, that is financial discipline, not wasting your money.
“The average Ghanaian has more clothing than a millionaire in America, yes…” Prof. Adei is quoted to have said at the Springboard Your Virtual University show.
Also, Prof. Adei said that it is wrong for people to prioritise wealth over having good relationships.
“Getting rich at the expense of personal integrity, a good marriage, family life, fellowship and friendship only makes you a rich fool,†he added.
The banking sector in the country last year lost GH¢61 million through fraud and other banking malpractice. This represents a surge of 144 per cent losses due to fraud in the banking sector from GH¢25 million in 2020 to GHC61 million in 2021.
In all, 53.46 per cent of the incidents of fraud reported last year involved staff of the financial institutions.
The upsurge in losses recorded for the period was due to the increased use of online payment platforms for fraudulent transactions.
This was contained in the Banking and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs) and Electronic Money Issuers (EMIs) fraud report for 2021 issued by the Bank of Ghana.
Statistics
Statistics indicate that staff involvement in fraud cases increased to 278, as compared to 253 in 2020, representing an increase of 9.88 per cent year-on-year.
Rural and Community Banks recorded the highest rate of staff involvement in fraud with a figure of 46.04 per cent, the Universal Banks accounted for 28.06 per cent, while the Savings and Loans companies accounted for 16.55 per cent.
The report, however, recorded 2,347 attempted fraud cases, which represents a minimal decline of 12.09 per cent or 2,670 in 2020.
Another significant fraud type was impersonation which recorded a loss of GH¢10 million. This loss was attributed to lack of due diligence on the part of bank staff and customers of financial institutions when carrying out transactions.
Weak systems
ATM card/POS related fraud also recorded the highest loss of GH¢22 million. This can be attributed to negligence of some customers and weak systems of some financial institutions.
The significant fraud types that accounted for this figure included ATM card/POS fraud, impersonation, lending and credit fraud, forgery and manipulation of documents, cash suppression and E-money fraud.
The increase in the usage of electronic and digital platforms in the financial sector resulted in an increase in ATM card/POS fraud.
The EMI sector reported a significant number of mobile money (MOMO) fraud incidents and loss values in 2021.
EMIs also recorded 12,350 mobile money-related fraud incidents in 2021. The total value of fraud reported by EMIs for the 2021 amounted to GH¢14.2 million.
Rural banks
Out of 144 licensed Rural and Community Banks, 111 of them, representing 77.08 per cent of the sector submitted fraud reports for the period under review.
The rate of submissions in the Rural and Community Banking sector increased marginally from 105 institutions in 2020 to 111 institutions in 2021, representing an increase of 5.71 per cent in year-on-year terms.
For the Microfinance Institutions, out of 180 licensed institutions, 34 of them submitted fraud reports for the year 2021, representing a submission rate of 18.88 per cent. In 2020, 35 MFI institutions submitted fraud reports for the sector.
Out of the 25 licensed Savings and Loans Companies, 13 institutions submitted fraud reports for the period under review, representing a submission rate of 52 per cent, as compared to a submission rate of 48 per cent recorded in 2020.
Teachers of the Nurses Training College in Damongo on Wednesday morning embarked on a strike, leaving students to loiter on campus.
Though the reason for the strike has not been officially communicated by the tutors to the media, citinewsroom.com understands they are demanding the payment of allowances due them from last semester.
When Citi News visited the campus at 10:00am on July 20, 2022, all offices of the tutors were locked up, with none of them on campus except the academic coordinator.
Some students were seen loitering on campus, while others were idling in the classrooms.
The principal of the school, Hajia Rabiatu Iddrisu who had just arrived from Tamale said she was yet to ascertain the reason for the strike and will communicate same to the media afterwards.
Students who will not speak on record say they hope authorities will resolve the issue as soon as possible for tuition to resume.
The school reopened from break last week and only on Monday 18th July started tuition for the semester.
Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has said Ghanaian medical students in Ukrainian schools who were displaced because of the war will be admitted into Ghanaian universities to complete their programmes.
According to the Minister who was responding to questions in Parliament on Wednesday, a committee chaired by the Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr. Nsiah Asare has been set up and has identified the affected students.
He explained that the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) is conducting an audit of the list after which eligible students will be admitted into Ghanaian medical schools.
“Mr. Speaker regarding what is happening to them now, I have inaugurated a committee chaired by Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare, the Presidential advisor on health to compile the list of all students who were displaced by the Russia-Ukraine war.
“The Committee comprises representatives of all stakeholders including the Deans of all medical schools in Ghana. So far, the Committee has collated information on 300 students. The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) is currently validating their credentials, once the process is completed the eligible students will be admitted into our Ghanaian universities at various levels,†he said.
The Russian-Ukraine war which started a couple of months ago affected many people in diverse ways. One of such people is Ghanaian students studying in Ukraine who have to run for their lives and now seeking support to go back to the classroom to continue their studies.
The Government in May established a 13-member committee to come out with guidelines to help absorb them into Ghanaian universities to continue their studies.
The Committee is constituted as follows: representatives of the Students Representative Council (SRC), Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ministry of Health, Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), Medical and Dental Council, Ghana Scholarship Secretariat, Vice Chancellors of Medical Schools, the Rector of College of Physicians and Surgeons among others.
Rex Omar, the Interim Director of Ghana Music Rights Organization (GHAMRO), has assured members that the outfit remains resolute in the discharge of its duties despite a court ruling on Tuesday, July 19, 2022, that set aside elections organized by the management on March 15, 2022.
In a statement sent to GhanaWeb, Rex Omar mentioned that “GHAMRO is vigorously pursuing its mandate in terms of Licensing music users, collecting the said fees and distributing same. Further to Section 30 of the L.I1962, GHAMRO has duly submitted its report as required under law to the Regulators, the Attorney Generals Department through the Copyright Office.â€
“We, therefore, urge all music users: radio, TV, pubs, nightclubs, restaurants, banks, shopping malls, barbering & hairdressing salons etc. to apply to GHAMRO for a license under section 36 to enable GHAMRO fulfill its mandate to distribute royalties to right owners.â€
Rex Omar in the statement announced to members that the governing board has been asked by the court to step aside “pending the determination of the substantive matter†brought before it by aggrieved members led by Steven Boahene.
Below is the statement.
As you may be aware, the GHAMRO constitution enjoins the organization to organize elections every four years to elect a governing Board to steer the affairs of the society.
We have followed this pattern since the year 2015 till date, recently, however, some aggrieved members took the organization to court over the mandate of the Board and the Election Process.
After one year of the case follow-up, the court in February this year ruled favour of the Organization paving the way for the Board elections on 15th March 2022.
These aggrieved members led by Steven Boahene appealed against the decision which the trail Judge duly set aside on Tuesday 19th July 2022 pending the determination of the substantive matter. Thus, by implication, the Governing Board has been set aside.
I will like to take this opportunity to assure our members and the general public that, GHAMRO is vigorously pursuing its mandate in terms of Licensing music users, collecting the said fees and distributing same.
Further to Section 30 of the L.I1962, GHAMRO has duly submitted its report as required under law to the Regulators, the Attorney Generals Department through the Copyright Office.
We, therefore, urge all music users: radio, TV, pubs, nightclubs, restaurants, banks, shopping malls, barbering & hairdressing salons etc. to apply to GHAMRO for a license under section 36 to enable GHAMRO fulfill its mandate to distribute royalties to Right Owners. GOD BLESS US ALL. THANK YOU.
Ghana has been listed among a dozen developing nations facing a looming debt crisis amid the general economic downturn.
Other countries in the list of 12 nations at risk of debt default included: Ukraine, Nigeria, Kenya, Tunisia, Belarus, El Salvador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Argentina and Ecuador.
According to a Reuters report, factors that occasioned Ghana’s specific crisis rest on among others massive borrowing, rising inflation, a slumping currency and soaring debt to Gross Domestic Product, GDP, ratio.
“Furious borrowing has seen Ghana’s debt-to-GDP ratio soar to almost 85%.
“Its currency, the cedi, has lost nearly a quarter of its value this year and it was already spending over half of the tax revenues on debt interest payments. Inflation is also getting close to 30%,” the report noted.
The report cited Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Russia, Suriname and Zambia as nations already in default, Belarus, it added was “on the brink and at least another dozen are in the danger zone as rising borrowing costs, inflation and debt all stoke fears of economic collapse.”
It stated that countries that are looking to avert an economic collapse were among others looking to the International Monetary Fund, for rescue programmes.
Ghana is currently in talks with the IMF for one such programme after the government.
Entertainment pundit and television presenter, Tilly Akua Nipaa has said that it has become unfavourable for foreign promoters to bill Ghanaian musicians for shows abroad due to the constant disappointment from some artistes.
Tilly in her submission tagged local musicians who always create problems for promoters as ‘stomach direction’ people.
According to her, they only consider their interest and benefit and care less about organizers who put them on shows outside Ghana.
Speaking on Okay FM with Ola Michael on the back of Shatta Wale’s misunderstanding with the CEO of Akwaaba UK, Dennis Tawiah, and the artiste’s decision to call off his performance at this year’s Ghana Party In A Park UK, Tilly outlined the effect Shatta’s move can have on the event next year.
“These are the many reasons promoters outside don’t like to work with our artiste or bet on our artiste. They know that our artistes are ‘stomach direction’ people. They don’t think about the second person.
“Do you know what is going to happen right now? The patrons that paid money just to come see Shatta Wale are disappointed. Their trust in the event has gone down now so the next year if they (organizers) say they are bringing an artiste, it is a 50/50 for them now.
“So the next time, do you think these same people (organizers) will bet on a Ghanaian artiste? When you give them your word and say, let’s do it… You might just be thinking about yourself but how will it affect the businessman who will put you on the next time?” she quizzed.
Meanwhile, Shatta Wale has explained that organizers of the UK music festival failed to honour their earlier agreement with him, the reason he cancelled his performance at the last minute.
Speaking with Hitz FM’s Andy Dosty on Tuesday, July 19, he noted that organizers of the show changed the entire plan of having a ‘GOG experience’ in the UK and also failed to provide visas for four members of his team.
“I told him (Dennis) to do a GOG flyer for me in conjunction with Akwaaba UK. So the whole title was supposed to be Akwaaba UK in conjunction with Shatta Movement GOG Experience and we accepted that.
“Secondly, I told him to try and get visas for my team. You know my team is big but we came to a conclusion that we pick 4, plus myself which makes it 5 and we agreed on that.
“I told him I would perform for him for free but he should just get these two things done for me…later I saw a flyer with a whole lot of artistes…we forgot about that side …for the past three weeks, I was asking when my team was going to get their visas…I told him I can’t leave Ghana without my team,” Shatta explained.
In October 2021, Idris Yusif, better known as Deportee, a close friend and member of Shatta Wale‘s team, landed himself behind bars over the singer’s fake gun attack.
Deportee was named as an accomplice of the popular dancehall musician and was arrested with two others, Nana Dope and Gangee and charged for abetment of crime.
An Accra Circuit court remanded them into prison custody and later granted bail to the tune of GH¢100,000 each for the publication of false information that claimed Shatta had been shot.
Fast forward to July 2022, Deportee has alleged that Shatta Wale only settled his bail, leaving him to his fate.
He added that the Shatta Movement boss currently has issues with him, but in due time he will tell his side of the story and the reasons why their relationship has once again gone sour.
“My relationship with Shatta is out there, people know it… we had our issues back then, but this time around…there is an issue that is the reality. At the right time, the issue will pop up. He has issues with me but I don’t.
“Recently we went to court, you know we went to prison together. He got himself bailed, but without us…these are the things, I don’t want to speak. Maybe with time, we will speak. I know it is a bombshell and it will go out there and it is going to escalate a whole lot of things,” Deportee disclosed in an interview on ‘Time With The Stars’ with Larry Bozzlz.
According to the singer, who doubles as an artiste manager, he doesn’t condones negative energy from his circle of friends.
“Anyone who knows me, when you ask they will tell you that forget who you are, when you go wrong he will tell you. When you are on the right path he will tell you. When you make a mistake, he will tell you and that is the person I am.
“I don’t want to be around you and be faking. I can’t do that, no matter who you are. I will let you know on the low…there are people who don’t like my type. I can’t be faking and cover things that are not right,” he added in the interview monitored by GhanaWeb.
A four-storey block of flats in a Lincolnshire town was evacuated after a blaze engulfed the top floor.
At one point, firefighters had to leave the inside of the building in Boston after it began to collapse.
The blaze, on Charleston Terrace, was believed to have started on Tuesday afternoon in a cavity and spread to the roof, the fire service said.
There were no reports of any injuries and residents who fled their homes were given water by staff at a nearby store.
A total of eight fire crews, including some using aerial platforms, attended the blaze from across the county after being called out at about 13:55 BST.
Incident commander Lee Marsh, from Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service, said firefighters would remain at the scene to ensure the building was safe.
“There was a fire in a flat, but unfortunately it escalated and it has affected the entire block,” he said.
“We are just waiting for building control to come back and help us and give us some advice on how stable that building is.”
The road and a nearby rail line had been closed due to the “significant amount of damage” to the building, he added.
“Our concern is that any further debris falls into the road or falls along the train line that services the port, so we asked for that to be stopped for the time being,” he said.
One eyewitness told the BBC he had never seen anything like it in Boston before.
“I just saw a fire on the roof. It was still going after five hours – just lots of fire and smoke,” he said.
The fire was one of many across Lincolnshire as the county saw record temperatures on Tuesday.
The Met Office said Coningsby in Lincolnshire reached 40.3C (104F) – the highest UK temperature ever recorded.
Emergency services in Lincolnshire declared a major incident as crews battled a number of wildfires and firefighters from neighbouring counties were called in to help.
A number of fire crews tackled a large fire in a fields at Gayton le Marsh, near Alford.
Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service said it had now stood down the major incident, but crews remained at a the scene in a number of locations across the county.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has stepped back from resigning, calling for a new pact to save his unity government from collapse.
Six days after the president rejected his resignation, Mr Draghi said it was impossible to ignore the many Italians calling for the coalition to survive.
He told Italy’s Senate a completely new agreement was “the only way, if we want to stay together”.
“We need a new, sincere and concrete pact: are you ready?”
Mr Draghi, the unelected ex-head of the European Central Bank, has led a unity government for 18 months and was due to step down next year ahead of elections.
But he tendered his resignation last Thursday, when a key member of his broad unity coalition, the populist Five Star movement, pulled out of a confidence vote over policy disagreements and triggered a political crisis. Five Star was a key partner in a broad-based government that included left and right parties.
President Sergio Mattarella rejected his resignation, asking the 74-year-old prime minister to address parliament this week.
Early departure from the job could plunge the EU’s third-biggest economy into early elections, delaying much-needed reforms, as well as Italy’s 2023 budget. Italy is the biggest recipient of grants and loans from the EU’s enormous Covid recovery fund, but its next instalment is dependent on a list of changes.
Now Mr Draghi has decided to face down the Five Star movement and stay. A confidence vote will take place on Wednesday evening, which he is likely to win.
The prime minister said the mobilisation of Italians who wanted the unity government to continue was “impossible to ignore”. He praised the public, unions, universities and industry as well as health workers and the world of sport for their “undeserved” appeals to carry on.
Several protests have taken place calling for Mr Draghi to stay in office and polls show most Italians agree. Some 2,000 mayors, as well as 250 business leaders and unions, have backed him, and ratings agency Fitch has warned that reforms would probably become more challenging without him.
He was appointed to stabilise Italy during Covid, leading the economic recovery from the pandemic and more recently through Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Mr Draghi highlighted the unity government’s achievements, from the Covid vaccination campaign to economic support for businesses and families, and said all its objectives had been achieved.
Italy was now on the path to reforms and investments that were unprecedented in its recent history. Its support for Ukraine and condemnation of Russian atrocities had shown Italy’s leading role in the EU and G7, he added.
Mr Draghi praised the political parties for putting aside their differences to work together in government, but said that cohesion had gradually fallen apart and there was far more to be done. The only way of rebuilding trust was through a “strong, cohesive government”.
While most of the Senate applauded Mr Draghi, MPs from both Five Star and the far-right Leave parties did not. The onus is now on the political parties that make up the government to decide whether they back him. The Senate will debate his speech ahead of the confidence vote, and the lower house will follow suit on Thursday.
The centre left has already given Mr Draghi its support but all the parties have an eye on the coming elections.
Opinion polls suggest Italy’s next prime minister would come from the far right. Giorgia Meloni, leader of Brothers of Italy, has already called for an autumn election, highlighting a recent poll that gave her party 23.8% of the vote. “This explains why the left is so scared of elections,” she said.
Unlike the rest of the right, Ms Meloni is not part of the Draghi government, but the League and Forza Italia would be natural partners with her in any future coalition.
London’s fire service had its busiest day since World War Two dealing with several blazes in record-breaking temperatures on Tuesday, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said.
The city was one of 15 areas around the UK to declare a major incident.
The fires started on a day which saw a record temperature of 40.3C in Coningsby, Lincolnshire.
The forecast is still warm but cooler on Wednesday but there are warnings in place for thunderstorms.
A yellow warning has been issued by the Met Office for heavy showers and thunderstorms which could bring disruption in eastern and south-east England this afternoon.
The weather is also continuing to affect transport. Network Rail said on Wednesday there were no direct trains between London and Scotland, due to damage to overhead electric lines on the West Coast mainline.
Mr Khan said London Fire Brigade (LFB) received 2,600 calls as it dealt with multiple wildfires across the capital.
In Wennington, east London, 100 firefighters tackled a blaze which destroyed several homes.
LFB said two rows of terraced houses, four other homes, 12 stables and five cars were destroyed by the blaze, while one firefighter at the scene described it as “absolute hell”.
Dramatic images from the scene showed smoke billowing from a number of buildings, some with their roofs collapsed, and extensive damage to the surrounding land.
Speaking to the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme, Mr Khan said there were more than a dozen fires at the same time.
He said: “Yesterday was the busiest day for the fire service in London since the Second World War.
“Normally we get 350 calls a day, on a busy day we can get up to 500 calls. Yesterday the fire service had more than 2,600 calls a day.”
The mayor has advised Londoners not to have BBQs in parks or private gardens due to concerns about the risk of grass setting alight.
He added: “The grass is like hay, which means its easier to catch fire, and once it catches fire it spreads incredibly fast like wildfires like you see in movies or like you see in California.”
Elsewhere in the UK, a number of homes were destroyed by fire in Norfolk, while major incidents were also declared in places including Leicestershire, Hertfordshire, Suffolk, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.
‘My house is completely gone’
Tim Stock, who alerted the fire brigade and whose own house was destroyed in the blaze in Wennington, told BBC Radio 5 Live he and his son had spotted the fire in his neighbour’s garden but, despite their best efforts with a hose and watering can, had been unable to stop it spreading.
“I reckon about 15-20 houses might be gone or uninhabitable,” he said.
“My house is completely gone, as is the next door neighbour’s and three or four other houses along that bit.”
Mark Hardingham, chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), described “stretched” fire services across the UK dealing with an “unprecedented level of wildfires”.
He told the BBC: “I’ve been in the fire service for over 30 years now and yesterday was just about the busiest I’ve ever seen the fire and rescue service in that time.
“The images that we saw yesterday remind me of what I’ve seen in California, Australia and southern Europe in recent years, and not so much in the UK.”
Phil Garrigan, who leads the NFCC’s National Resilience group, said the UK must now consider what equipment it had to fight wildfires.
He said: “Most European countries where they have significant wildfires have planes or helicopters which would be utilised to collect or distribute water to areas where the fire is developing.
“The UK relies on third parties to provide that capability, and as we look towards the future its certainly something the UK government and fire rescue services need to consider.”
Heatwaves have become more frequent, more intense, and last longer because of human-induced climate change, and that hot, dry weather is likely to fuel wildfires.
The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.
Met Office chief scientist Prof Stephen Belcher said Tuesday’s temperatures was striking due to the large record-breaking margin and the extensive area of the UK that experience the severe temperatures.
Speaking to the BBC, he said the UK needed to adapt to the high temperatures. But “aggressive emissions cuts” would very sharply reduce the frequency of extreme temperatures.
The high temperatures brought disruption to a number of public services on Tuesday.
Miriam Deakin, interim deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said the heatwave had forced hospitals to scale back planned surgeries, while a spokesperson for the East of England Ambulance Service said the service had seen above-average calls and was expecting to see the impact of heat-related illness into the weekend.
About 8,000 properties in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and north-east England were left without power after the extreme temperatures caused equipment to overheat.
At least nine people are also known to have died since Saturday while swimming in lakes and rivers.
Tory MPs are to vote for the last time to decide which two leadership candidates should go through to the run-off vote among party members.
Only Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt, and Liz Truss remain in the race after Kemi Badenoch was eliminated on Tuesday.
Mr Sunak is still the frontrunner, with Ms Mordaunt and Ms Truss vying for the second spot in the final round.
Conservative Party members will vote over the summer, with a result to be announced on 5 September.
Tuesday’s vote saw Mr Sunak gain the support of three MPs to bring his total to 118.
Ms Mordaunt gained 10 votes to bring her total to 92, while Ms Truss gained 15 to close the gap and bring her total to 86.
Ms Badenoch gained one vote to reach 59 overall, but remained in last place and was knocked out of the contest.
Which of Ms Mordaunt and Ms Truss makes it to the final two is now likely to depend on who can attract the most support from those MPs who supported Ms Badenoch.
One of them, Ben Bradley, said he thought Ms Badenoch’s voters could go “in all directions” and that he had not yet decided who to back on Wednesday.
MPs will vote between 13:00 BST and 15:00 and the result announced at 16:00.
Writing in the Telegraph, Ms Truss said she was the “only person who can deliver the change – in line with true Conservative principles”, while Mr Sunak’s campaign has argued he is the candidate who could beat Labour.
On Wednesday morning, a source from Ms Modaunt’s campaign said: “Penny’s been speaking with colleagues already this morning and so many of Tom and Kemi’s backers are calling out for change. As the only one not in Johnson’s cabinet, Penny is the sole MP left in the race who offers a genuine fresh start.”
The campaigns have also accused one another of transferring votes to their rivals as part of a strategy to improve their own position.
Speaking to LBC Radio, former cabinet minister David Davis, who is backing Ms Mordaunt, said it was the “dirtiest campaign” he had ever seen.
“Rishi [Sunak] just reallocated some… He wants to fight Liz, because she’s the person who will lose the debate with him,” he said.
There has been day after day of smiles and visions, promises and hustings.
But it now boils down to a final vote of Conservative MPs here, between 1pm and 3pm this afternoon, to decide which two of the three remaining candidates get a golden ticket to the run off vote among Tory party members.
Right now, the final realignment is underway.
Votes are fluid. Even if a candidate’s numbers don’t appear to move much between votes, they can still have gained some and lost others.
Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, Mr Sunak announced a policy of making the UK self-sufficient in energy production by 2045.
The ex-chancellor said he would scrap plans to relax a ban on new onshore wind farms, and would instead focus on offshore turbines.
Ms Mordaunt meanwhile has pledged to make it easier for renters to get a mortgage by requiring lenders to take into account rental payments when considering their credit history.
A YouGov survey of 725 party members on Monday and Tuesday suggested Mr Sunak would lose to either Ms Mordaunt or Ms Truss in a head-to-head.
The poll had Ms Mordaunt beating Mr Sunak by 51% to 37% and Ms Truss beating him by 54% to 35%.
The current size of the Tory party membership is not known for certain, but at the last leadership election in 2019 it was around 160,000, and is thought to have grown since.
The Conservative website says members can expect to receive their ballot papers between 1 to 5 August.
The deadline for voting – which can be done by post or online – is 17:00 BST on 2 September.
Members are being sent their ballot papers earlier in the process than in 2019, when voters received their ballot papers two weeks before the deadline.
Russia plans to annex more Ukrainian territory using a similar “playbook” to its takeover of Crimea, the US says.
Citing US intelligence, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Russia is already laying the groundwork for annexation.
Occupied regions of Ukraine could hold “sham” referenda on joining Russia as soon as September, he said.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 after a referendum which was widely viewed as illegitimate.
“We want to make it plain to the American people,” Mr Kirby told reporters. “Nobody is fooled by it. [Russian President Vladimir Putin] is dusting off the playbook from 2014.”
He accused Russia of installing illegitimate pro-Russian officials to run occupied regions of Ukraine, with the aim of organising referenda on becoming part of Russia.
The results of the votes would be used by Russia “to try to claim annexation of sovereign Ukrainian territory”, Mr Kirby said.
Russia has already installed its own regional and local officials in the parts of Ukraine it has occupied.
Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014 after a hastily-organised referendum – viewed as illegal by the international community, in which voters chose to join Russia.
Many supporters of Kyiv boycotted the vote and the campaign was neither free nor fair.
Similar votes held in other parts of Ukraine would almost certainly see a similar situation, with any opposition to joining Russia largely supressed.
Mr Kirby said he was “exposing” the Russian plans “so the world knows that any purported annexation is premeditated, illegal and illegitimate”, and promised there would be a quick response from the US and its allies.
The areas targeted for annexation include Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk, he said.
Heat records tumbled and firefighters faced new blazes as much of Western Europe baked in a gruelling heatwave.
The UK, normally used to milder climates, saw temperatures of more than 40C (104F) for the first time.
Germany saw its hottest day of the year so far while Portugal raised its death toll after days of excess heat.
Deadly wildfires have swept the continent. The UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned there was worse to come.
Heatwaves have become more frequent and more intense, and last longer because of human-induced climate change.
“In the future these kinds of heatwaves are going to be normal, and we will see even stronger extremes,” WMO chief Peterri Taalas said.
In addition to record temperatures in the UK, several fire services declared major incidents after a surge in fires.
A major blaze in Wennington, east London, set homes alight. Residents who had to be evacuated told the BBC that some eight homes and possibly a local church had been destroyed in the fire, while a firefighter at the scene described it as “absolute hell”.
In France, 64 different areas registered record-high temperatures on Monday.
Although the all-time high for mainland France has not been topped, the south-west of the country has experienced its biggest wildfires in more than 30 years. Since 12 July, fires have engulfed more than 20,300 hectares (49,400 acres) of the wine-growing Gironde region.
Nearly 37,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes.
Cooler weather has now returned to the UK and France.
In Belgium, a fire broke out in dunes at the Belgian resort of De Haan, setting several vehicles alight. But following the ferocious heat, the country is now bracing itself for thunderstorms that could lead to 20-30mm of rain in some region, Le Soir newspaper reports.
Weather warnings are still in place in Germany as the heatwave continues to move north and east.
On Tuesday, the country experienced its hottest day of 2022. The national weather service recorded 39.5C in the western city of Duisburg. The Netherlands also reached the same high of 39.5C in Maastricht, forecasters said.
Temperatures in Portugal have decreased significantly. However, more than 1,000 heatwave-related deaths have been recorded since last week.
Wildfires have become a common consequence of these extreme temperatures across Europe.
Central and north-western Spain has also been ravaged by wildfires.
The Copernicus monitoring service – part of the EU’s Earth observation programme – said total carbon emissions from wildfires between June and July are the highest seen in Spain for the period since 2003.
In Belgium, a fire broke out in dunes at the Belgian resort of De Haan, setting several vehicles alight. But following the ferocious heat, the country is now bracing itself for thunderstorms that could lead to 20-30mm of rain in some region, Le Soir newspaper reports.
Weather warnings are still in place in Germany as the heatwave continues to move north and east.
On Tuesday, the country experienced its hottest day of 2022. The national weather service recorded 39.5C in the western city of Duisburg. The Netherlands also reached the same high of 39.5C in Maastricht, forecasters said.
Temperatures in Portugal have decreased significantly. However, more than 1,000 heatwave-related deaths have been recorded since last week.
Wildfires have become a common consequence of these extreme temperatures across Europe.
Central and north-western Spain has also been ravaged by wildfires.
The Copernicus monitoring service – part of the EU’s Earth observation programme – said total carbon emissions from wildfires between June and July are the highest seen in Spain for the period since 2003.
In Greece, a wildfire fuelled by gale-force winds raged on the mountainous region of Penteli, near Athens. It has damaged homes and and prompted local authorities to evacuate at least four areas and a hospital.
Forecasters in Italy are warning of temperatures as high as 40-42C between Wednesday and Friday.
Several wildfires have already been reported in the country, and blazes that broke out on Monday evening in Tuscany were still raging on Tuesday afternoon.
A US judge has ordered that Twitter’s lawsuit against Elon Musk go to trial in October, a blow to the world’s richest man who had asked for a delay.
Mr Musk walked away from his $44bn (£36bn) bid to buy Twitter earlier in July, prompting the company to sue him.
Twitter hopes that the court will order Mr Musk to complete the takeover at the agreed price of $54.20 per share.
The tech billionaire has accused Twitter of withholding information about fake accounts.
His legal team has called for the trial to be held early next year due to its complexities, but Twitter asked for a September date.
On Tuesday, a judge in the state of Delaware agreed with the company and said a delay to the trial would cast a “cloud of uncertainty”.
“Delay threatens irreparable harm,” Chancellor Kathaleen St Jude McCormick said. “The longer the delay, the greater the risk.”
The lawsuit accused Mr Musk of a “long list” of violations ahead of the potential merger and argued that he had “cast a pall” over the company.
At the hearing on Tuesday, Twitter’s lead counsel William Savitt said the ongoing uncertainty about whether the takeover would go forward or not “inflicts harm on Twitter everyday”.
To buy or not to buy?
There is a theory that Musk still wants to buy Twitter, he’s just trying to knock down the price.
If that’s the case, his lawyers are spectacularly good poker players.
Mr Musk’s legal team wanted this trial to happen next year.
They claimed they needed more time to dig through data on spam accounts. Clearly though this is also a stalling strategy.
They repeated Mr Musk’s assertion that Twitter may have more fake accounts than it claims.
That is a hugely damaging accusation – and a strange thing to say if Mr Musk were still interested in purchasing the company at a lower price.
Twitter’s reputation has already taken a huge hit. Twitter’s revenues are almost entirely based on ads. The fewer real people on the platform, the less money it can make. Bots don’t have wallets.
That’s why Twitter wants this process sorted quickly. By far the best case scenario for the company is that Mr Musk buys it for $54.20 a share – and that it happens as soon as possible.
That’s why this judgement is good news for Twitter. The judge sided with Twitter’s lawyers – that a ruling needed to be reached quickly.
It heaps more pressure on Mr Musk, who is faced with the bizarre prospect of having to buy a company he no longer wishes to acquire.
However, in practice this will likely put more pressure on Mr Musk to settle, pay Twitter some money, and move on.
“Musk has been and remains contractually obligated to use his best efforts to close the deal,” Mr Savitt said. “What he’s doing is exactly the opposite. It’s sabotage.”
A lawyer for Mr Musk, Andrew Rossman, argued that he remains one of Twitter’s most significant shareholders. He said the case should go to trial next year on a “sensible” schedule that would give both sides time to prepare.
Since Mr Musk began questioning the number of fake and spam accounts on Twitter’s platform in May, the company has seen its share prices fall from highs of $50 per share.
The company’s shares currently stand at about $39.45 – well below the $54.20 per share at which it hopes to close the merger.
A self-described “free speech absolutist”, Mr Musk has vowed to ease restrictions on content if the company were under his ownership.
He has also called for the company to be more open about how it presents tweets to users and how tweets are promoted to larger audiences.
After enjoying a long reign as the king of streaming,Netflix faces a tough fight to keep its crown.
It lost almost 1m subscribers between April and July, as the number of people quitting the service accelerated.
But that was not as many as the streaming giant had feared.
Asked what may have stopped subscriptions sliding further, the firm’s chief executive, Reed Hastings, said: “If there was a single thing, we might say ‘Stranger Things.’”
The new season of the hit drama has been a phenomenal success, and may have helped stem the exodus of Netflix customers.
The company reported its first subscriber loss since 2011 in April, news that was followed by hundreds of job cuts and a sharp drop in its share price.
Rivals are challenging its dominance, while price hikes have taken a toll.
The subscriber losses reported on Tuesday were the biggest in the firm’s history, with the US and Canada home to the highest number of cancellations in the quarter, followed by Europe.
Guy Bisson, executive director at Ampere Analysis, said it was “inevitable” that Netflix would start to see its grip on the market loosen.
“When you’re the leader, there’s only one direction to go, especially when a large amount of competition launches, which is what Netflix has seen in the last couple of years,” he said.
It is a stark change for Netflix, which enjoyed years of seemingly unstoppable growth, as it revolutionised the way people around the world consumed entertainment.
Its position as a global behemoth was cemented when the pandemic hit in 2020 and people, stuck at home with few other options for entertainment, flocked to monster hits like Squid Game and The Crown.
But as pre-pandemic habits return, Netflix has struggled to attract new sign-ups – and maintain the loyalty of existing members, especially as the cost of living crisis leads to belt tightening.
The company also faces fierce competition from the likes of Apple TV, HBO Max, Amazon Prime and Disney+. Netflix was once the disruptor, making video rental stores like Blockbuster redundant. But the disruptor is fast becoming the disrupted.
Netflix’s move to make its service more expensive has also put off some customers.
Price hikes more ‘risky’
A “standard” plan in the US – which allows people in the same home to watch on two devices simultaneously – now costs $15.49, up from $14 in January and just $11 in 2019.
In the UK, basic and standard plans have both increased since January by £1 a month to £6.99 and £10.99 respectively.
“At some point, yes, they’re going to reach a threshold where a significant number of people say enough is enough,” Mr Bisson said. “Because of the additional choice… price hikes are a more risky strategy.”
For now, surveys suggest that Netflix is managing to lure back a higher share of deserters than its rivals. Many households also continue to identify it as the streaming option they would retain if forced to have only one.
In all, the company had roughly 220 million subscribers at the end of June – still well north of its closest competition.
But the company, long accustomed to posting double digit growth, is grappling with its most serious slowdown in years, with revenue in the April-June quarter of $7.9bn, up just 8.6% year-on-year.
The firm’s share price has dropped more than 60% so far this year, as investors sour on its prospects.
“Netflix’s subscriber loss was expected but it remains a sore point for a company that is wholly dependent on subscription revenue from consumers,” said Insider Intelligence analyst Ross Benes.
“Netflix is still the leader in video streaming but unless it finds more franchises that resonate widely, it will eventually struggle to stay ahead of competitors that are after its crown.”
Shares climbed more than 7% in after-hours trade on relief that the losses were not larger. The firm had warned it could lose as many as two million subscribers.
Netflix has said it will jumpstart growth with a new ads-supported service and by clamping down on password sharing – which one study estimated was costing Netflix $6bn a year.
It is already charging more for sharing accounts in some countries in central and South America. It hopes to replicate this model around the world.
However, the company has known about problems with passwords sharing for years, and has so far failed to find a solution.
In its shareholder update, the company said it was “encouraged by our early learnings and ability to convert consumers to paid sharing in Latin America”.
It said it expected its less expensive, ad-supported option to launch in early 2023, starting in “a handful of markets where advertising spend is significant”.
“Like most of our new initiatives, our intention is to roll it out, listen and learn, and iterate quickly to improve the offering,” the company said.
The ad service has the potential to attract both existing customers inclined to cancel over price hikes, as well as new households hesitant to commit to a subscription, Mr Bisson said.
It should be possible for Netflix to make the same amount of money – or more – per user than it did by relying on subscriptions, he added.
Strong content critical
“Assuming they get it right – and by getting it right I mean the price … and the amount of advertising on it – then it’s potentially a strong strategic move for them,” he said.
But he said Netflix’s most critical task is ensuring it has strong material for people to watch – a job that has grown harder as it pushes to reach an increasingly broad audience.
New sign-ups in the US, for example, are coming from an increasingly older crowd, with different tastes than the younger viewers who were early streaming converts.
“They’re increasingly competing for that generalist audience, so the breadth of content that is needed becomes much wider and that’s why I think people are saying ‘there’s now a lot of stuff I don’t like’,” Mr Bisson said. “It’s a very big challenge.”
Netflix needs “more frequent hits”, said Eric Steinberg of Whip Media, adding that Netflix also has room to experiment staggering its releases to keep a hold on its subscribers.
The company has already taken steps in that direction by releasing episodes of the fourth season of Stranger Things in two batches this year, but the “pressure is on” he said.
“They don’t have the sandpit to themselves anymore,” he said. “In an inflationary environment like the one we’re in and also great programming [at the competition], people are going to re-evaluate how much they’re willing to pay.”
Sri Lankan MPs have elected prime minister Ranil Wickeremesingheas the country’s new president, despite his unpopularity with the public.
Mr Wickremesinghe faces the task of leading the country out of its economic collapse and restoring public order after months of mass protests.
He roundly defeated party rival Dullus Alahapperuma, with 134 votes to 82 in the parliamentary vote on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka’s ex-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country last week.
He bolted to the Maldives and then Singaporeafter thousands of protesters stormed his presidential residences and other government buildings, calling for his resignation.
They had also called for Mr Wickremesinghe’s resignation, who was appointed prime minister in May. Protesters burnt down his private home and also stormed his prime ministerial office in Colombo in demonstrations against his leadership.
Protesters have consistently been calling for the former prime minister, now president to step down.
However Mr Wickremesinghe has defied those calls. He automatically assumed the position of acting president after Mr Rajapaksa fled, and his victory on Wednesday means he will carry out the rest of the presidential term until November 2024.
Sri Lanka is effectively bankrupt and facing acute shortages of food, fuel and other basic supplies.
Mr Wickremesinghe will strive to restore political stability to Sri Lanka so it can resume stalled negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout package.
Mr Wickremesinghe – an ally of the Rajapaksas – had been nominated by their ruling party the SLPP and was seen as the frontunner in the race.
He faced a serious challenge from Mr Alahapperuma, a dissident MP in the SLPP and former education minister who gained the backing of the main opposition.
Vanessa Bryant took daughters Natalia, Capri and Bianka to see where their late father Kobe Bryantgrew up in Italy. See the sweet pictures from their family trip below.
Vanessa Bryant is keeping Kobe Bryant’s memory alive for their family.
On July 18, Vanessa, 40, shared that she took her daughters Natalia, 19, Bianka, 5, and Capri, 3—who she shares with the late athlete—to visit Kobe’s childhood city in Italy.
“Visited Reggio Calabria,” she captioned a carousel of pictures from the trip, “a city my husband lived in when he was about 8 years old.”
In one of the photos, Bianka and Capri posed together in the street while wearing pink and white dresses. Vanessa also shared some scenery in the other pics, including images of the coastal city’s waterfront and buildings.
Over the last few days, Vanessa has been documenting her family’s trip to Italy, which included stops in Panarea, Matera, Amalfi, Capri and Sicily. On July 17, she shared a video of Bianka explaining that she no longer wanted to visit the Blue Grotto—a sea cave in Capri—on their trips to the European country.
Since Kobe and Gianna Bryant—the couple’s second oldest child—were killed in a helicopter crash in January 2020 alongside seven others, Vanessa has been working to keep the former Los Angeles Lakers star’s legacy alive, not only for her family but also for his fans.
In June, she took her three daughters to Kobe’s birthplace in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and posed for photos in front of a new mural at Tustin Playground that was dedicated to the late NBA star and Gianna.
Ghanaian Youtuber and digital content creator, Bernard Kwadwo Amoafo, widely known as Kwadwo Sheldon has narrated the benefits he has acquired from his job so far.
The astute YouTuber claimed that without the invention of Youtube, he wouldn’t have been recognized, hence he is grateful to the inventor.
Speaking about how the money he has acquired from YouTube has changed his life during an interview with Kafui Dey on the Accra-based GTV on Friday, July 15, monitored by Modernghana News, being on the internet has opened a lot of opportunities for him.
“It has changed my life, it has opened doors for me, and it has changed how I see things in this life. And I will always be grateful to whoever invented the internet because it has saved me, and the fact that I’m in a position where I have people working for me is a joy,†he said.
The award-winning content creator went on to say that if it hadn’t been for his work in the digital space, he would have been unemployed and might not have even known what his fate was.
He claims he is astounded by what he has accomplished thus far.
“YouTube or digital media saved me from the claws of unemployment because I don’t know where I would have been if not for it and with what I have been able to do within this short period of time, it’s been crazy,†he stated.
The courtesy call led by Dr Bernard BNA Yartey, the CEO of Lakeside Village, was to officially invite the outspoken political leader and some party executives and also seek their blessings.
The NDC scribe commended the organizers of the event, Lakeside Village and Net Village for the initiative.
He said the media plays a vital role in nation-building, and it was appropriate to set a day aside to dine and network with them.
The Lakeside Village boss said “We thought through and realized how important the media is, so we decided to come up with this dinner gala.
“It is not an award ceremony, the media all over the world go through a lot of stress, resulting in the death of many. There will be a lot to eat and drink on the evening, we believe it will go a long way to destress them and bring them together to network in a relaxed atmosphere.”
The Member of Parliament for Dome-Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo, has reiterated her commitment to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo administration in the face of what she describes as a “political witchhunt” from within the party.
Adwoa Safo, also Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection has come under increasing scrutiny in recent months over her absence from her official duties in Parliament.
She and two other MPS have been investigated for absenting themselves from Parliament without permission for more than the stipulated 15 sitting days during the first meeting of the second session of the 8th Parliament.
In a Facebook post congratulating newly-elected executives of the party, the Gender Minister said she had “become the victim of a sustained political witchhunt by certain elements in the NPP and in Parliament to achieve their own parochial goals”.
“This has left me asking myself if this is happening because I am a woman who for just this one time needed some time off to deal with a few personal issues which were too dear to share with the larger publics. In the face of all these, I have questioned why I have had to be treated differently by not enjoying the famous support of our party leadership both in Parliament and at the party level in my most difficult moments these past few months,” she posted.
“As a member of the party, I have served with utmost diligence (both in opposition and in government) and have at all times put the fortunes of my family at the disposal of the party. At no point in time have myself nor my family withheld anything of ours from our great Party, yet today, I am conveniently being called a traitor and all manner of names with several schemes being put to play and employed to oust me from my position as MP and Minister.
“I conclude by reiterating that, in the face of clear political hounding and vendetta by certain elements within the party and parliament against me, I have never wavered in my commitment to the ideals and creed of the New Patriotic Party and the Government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, to whom, I am eternally grateful”.
The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) has shut down six hotels and other hospitality facilities in the Ahafo Region for operating without licences.
The affected facilities included pubs, and catering services among others at Sankore, Mim, Mehame Nkwanta, Goaso, and Kenyasi.
The Ahafo, Bono and Bono East Regional Director of Authority, Joseph Appiagyei, who led the taskforce including the Ghana Police Service for the exercise, explained that the facilities in question are operating without regulatory permits of the GTA.
He told Adom News that the GTA gave them countless notices to do the needful in accordance with the law.
However, these cautions seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
The GTA, in collaboration with the police, subsequently moved in to close them down to safeguard those who patronise their goods and services.
To him, the said attitude by the owners and managers is not helping the country.
According to Joseph Appiagyei, managers of the closed-down facilities in the Ahafo Region have up to seven working days to come to their office in Sunyani to prove compliance to avoid being processed for court.
He further hinted that persons who breach the closure directive will be dealt with drastically.
Actress Akuapem Poloo is undoubtedly one of the biggest fans of American rapper Cardi B. No wonder she went crazy when they first met in Ghana back in December 2019.
Poloo’s friendly gesture earned her a secure spot in the rapper’s heart.
Akuapem Poloo on Sunday took to her Instagram page to promote Cardi B’s latest single ‘Hot Shit’ which features Kanye West and Lil Durk.
Her post read: “I love Cardi B. Bardi #HOTSH*T.”
In no time, Cardi, who Poloo describes as her ‘Spirit Twin’ reacted to the post with heart emojis.
The two have maintained a friendly relationship on social media, with the American superstar offering her financial support.
Back in 2021, the Ghanaian actress revealed that Cardi sent her $30,000 during her court case involving the publication of obscene material about herself and her son.
“Cardi supported me, she gave me $30,000.00 which I used during my court case and advised me all the time,†she said.
Soon after Cardi’s reaction to her post, Poloo pinned and screenshotted the comment to prove that their friendship is still growing strong.
Some artisans at the Suame Magazine in the SuameMunicipality of the Ashanti region on Monday, July 18, 2022, hooted and pelted their Member of Parliament Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu with sachets of water for allegedly denying them development.
The MP who is also the Majority Leader of Parliament had gone to inspect the abandoned Suame highway which the artisans said had claimed one life due to its deteriorated nature.
It would be recalled that the artisans last Friday blocked the highway and demonstrated against the MP and the government for not ensuring that the road was fixed.
They warned of another demonstration today if the contractor does not return to the road to have it fixed.
The contractor has returned to the road which the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs had gone to inspect today.
The angry artisans upon hearing of the arrival of the MP thronged the highway and started hooting, pelting him with sachets of water, and subsequently chased him away.
The Suame legislator who was accompanied by the Municipality Chief Executive for the area, Mr. Maxwell Ofosu Boakye, and some party members had to run and seek protection on top of a storey building at Suame Tarkwa Makro.
The artisans are still gathered in front of the building and chanting although police have been deployed to the scene to calm down nerves.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, has stated that all the 15 regional chairmen of the party who openly declared their support for John Boadu have been disgraced.
“All of them have been embarrassed. If it were somewhere, all of the chairmen would resign,†he stated.
Speaking an interview with journalists at the Accra Sports Stadium after the declaration of Justin Kodua Frimpong as General Secretary of the NPP, the maverick MP urged the 15 regional chairmen to learn their lesson.
“If you are a party chairman and you stab your people underground there, you cannot change their minds. That is the decision we have taken,†he stated.
The NPP held its national delegates conference on the theme: “Holding together, working together.”
The immediate past General Secretary, Mr Boadu, who was widely tipped to be retained, got 2,524 votes while his main challenger, Mr Frimpong, garnered 2,837 to emerge victorious. The other competitors, Iddrisu Musah had 104; Frederick Opare-Ansah had 50 votes and Ramseyer Agyemang-Prempeh polled eight votes.
Another contender, Charles Bissue, who pulled out of the race a few days to the conference, got 12 votes.
Disunity
Mr Agyapong said the action of the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the party, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, to whip all the regional chairmen to support the candidature of Mr Boadu could cause disunity in the party.
“Wontumi should cool down; he does not own the party,†he stated.
Mr Agyapong said he had learnt his lesson that the disunity in the “party stems from the fact that leaders of the party openly support candidates. This time, I decided that to get unity in the party, I am not going to openly support anybody.â€
Winners
He said delegates would always vote for any candidate they believed was good.
“If you are good and the people believe in your work, they will vote for you. But for the first time in the history of the NPP as a political party, you see 15 regional chairmen raising their hands because they have been whipped. They have been disgraced. That is all I can tell you,†he stated.
He said that action by the 15 regional chairmen, led by Chairman Wontumi, ahead of the party’s national delegates conference smacked of bad faith in the party.
In spite of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy of the government, 22,000 students offered admission to SHS each year are unable to go to school.
This is because their parents are not capable of buying them chop boxes, trunks and other basic needs to take up the admission offered them.
The revelation was made by a Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Anthony Boateng, at the fourth annual consultative meeting on education organised by the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) in Koforidua, the Eastern Regional capital, last Wednesday.
The four-day meeting, which brought together heads of second-cycle and tertiary educational institutions within the PCG and presbytery chairpersons was to discuss effective ways and strategies of managing the church’s educational institutions.
It was also to generally look at the broader perspective of disciplinary practices and infrastructure development in its educational institutions as a partner with government in the delivery of quality education in the country.
The meeting was on the theme: “Promoting academic excellence and moral uprightness in our educational institutions through religious discipline – Reflection on the past, the present and the future: The role of the Presbyterian Church and stakeholders”.
Can’t afford basic things
Mr Boateng said there were many parents whose yearly incomes were meagre for which reason they could not afford the basic things needed by their children offered admission to SHS, although it was free.
He, therefore, asked heads of SHS, to desist from collecting money from students to organise extra classes for them.
Extra classes
If the heads did that, Mr Boateng indicated, they would deny students who could not afford to pay for the extra classes access to quality education because tutors reserved some of the topical issues in subjects for the extra classes.
Apart from that, he said, some tutors also failed students who could not afford to pay for extra classes, and that made those students uncomfortable and also put them at a disadvantageous position.
“There are people in this country whose daily incomes are less than GH¢30, and under the free SHS, there are 22,000 qualified students who always cannot take up their places at SHS because they cannot buy chop boxes, trunks, and other basic needs for them to go to school. This is how serious the situation can be,” he said.
Debts accumulation
On the accumulation of debts in some schools, including Presbyterian institutions, Mr Boateng said heads who were planning to retire or be reposted deliberately accumulated huge sums running into hundreds of thousands of cedis as debt to creditors.
He explained that the heads consciously credited items and took commissions before going away and that became accumulated debts to pay.
He explained that most often the heads requested quantities more than or even double what was needed because the more the quantity, the more commission the suppliers paid to them.
He called on heads to stop that practice.
PTA
With regard to parent-teacher associations (PTAs), he said although the noble aim was to enable parents and teachers to meet and discuss the academic progress of students, it had now become an institution for money collection.
Mr Boateng said parents willing to financially assist schools should do so, but the schools should not levy students.
He told the gathering that the GES would not accept heads of SHSs collecting money from students because they had not been mandated to do so.
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the PCG, Rt Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante, for his part, commended the speakers, as well as the participants, for their contributions.
He encouraged them to continue the discussions to tap into more ideas and innovations to further improve Ghana’s higher education.
This follows threats by the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) in the Eastern Region to recommend to the Ghana Education Service to shut down the schools over food shortage and the erratic release of funds if nothing was done to salvage the situation by last week Friday.
Speaking to Citi News, the Eastern Regional Minister, assured that academic activities would continue today following the intervention.
â€We have issued about 400 bags to schools that were in dire need of food. We realised some were in extreme need and others were struggling to make ends meet from what they had.â€
â€We are working to top up the supply and hopefully, academic activities can go on smoothly following this intervention.â€
The Eastern Region CHASS earlier complained of the food shortages it had suffered for the past two years, as well as struggles with reduced weight of food items supplied.
It also complained about arrears in schools because of the erratic release of funds meant for perishable foods.
Because of these challenges, the group considered the closure of schools if nothing changed by July 15.
It also considered recommendations that parents “either feed their wards or pick them home until all the situations are normalised.â€
Former President, John Dramani Mahama, has charged Members of Parliament in the Minority Group to keep a keen eye on the activities of the Executive arm of government.
Delivering a speech at a closing ceremony of a retreat for Minority Group MPs at the Volta Serene hotel in Ho on Sunday, July 17, 2022, Mahama said the style of this administration has been to subjugate and dominate institutions for parochial and partisan gain, and as such, there is a need for it to be monitored.
“These institutions have thus become pliant tools for the furtherance of the political ends of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and President Akufo-Addo,†he added.
He named the Electoral Commissionas one of such institutions “which instead of making it easy for our citizens to take part in elections, rather takes delight in making it difficult.â€
“They appear determined to ensure the disenfranchisement of sections of our population at all costs through a misguided insistence on the use of the Ghana Card as the only source of identification for a voter card. How do you do this, knowing that the Ghana Card is not available to everyone who should have one?â€
“You [Minority MPs] have become the immediate hope of a people who labour under irresponsible governance and abuse of office. There is the need therefore to meet this expectation by injecting further impetus into your work by keeping an even keener eye on the activities of the Executive.â€
He admitted that the Ghana Card is a relatively new feature of the country and has its merits in the scheme of things.
His contention is that it is being brandished more as a political tool around which all manner of schemes is being fashioned ahead of the elections.
He believes there is the need to allow sufficient time for its full integration “before this kind of unhelpful exclusion of all other legitimately acquired, credible and time-tested forms of identification is implemented.â€
Mr. John Mahama suspects foul play with the “haste on the part of the Electoral Commission to exclude all other means of identification.â€
Even though the Electoral Commission has clarified that it is only demanding the Ghana card for continuous registration and is not in the process of compiling a new one, Mr. Mahama is not convinced.
He is demanding a system that enables all political parties and relevant stakeholders to possess the capacity to monitor same in real-time, to avoid fraud and exploitation to the undue advantage of any party.
This comes on the back of the $1 billion syndicated loan presented to Parliament.
Delivering a speech at a closing ceremony of a retreat for Minority Group MPs at the Volta Serene hotel in Ho on Sunday, July 17, 2022, the former President said Ghana is in an economic hole, and it will not be prudent to continue digging with more loans.
â€We do not believe that the existence of crisis permits even more reckless decision-making. All decisions and policy choices made at this critical juncture could offer relief or exacerbate our problems and make recovery extremely difficult. We are in a massive hole and, and we do not need further digging.â€
The 2022 budget noted an international financing programme to raise at least $750 million, with an option to increase it by a further $750 million for budget support and liability management.
Although the budget captured $750 million, a $1 billion loan agreement is currently before the House.
At a Finance Committee meeting on Thursday, the Minority stalled the approval processes owing to what they call the discrepancies between the loan presented to the house and what has been presented to the committee for consideration.
A Ranking Member on the Committee, Cassiel Ato Forson said “the budget is saying that, in the course of the year, they will be taking a term loan of $750 million. Why do you ask us to approve $1 billion?â€
Reacting to the development, Mr. John Mahama insisted that until the terms of the $250 million loan component are renegotiated to make them “favourable†and same captured in subsequent budgets, the Minority MPs will not support its approval.
“Our position on the $250 million component remains unchanged, as such unfavourable terms as the $40 million insurance payment and total interest of over $80 million make it too expensive and inimical to the economic interest of Ghana. It is also not programmed in the 2022 budget statement.â€
On the $750 million component, Mr. Mahama noted that after he raised concerns, some effort has gone into renegotiating the costs and terms, which now appear more favourable.
He is however unclear on the exact purpose of the loan.
Mr. Mahama said the NDC will only support its approval if â€evidence of its use for specific growth-related projects leading to improvements in the lives of people is presented.â€
Abosso Goldfields Limited (AGL) through the Gold Fields Ghana Foundation (GFGF) is constructing a 360-bed capacity girls’ dormitory for Huni-Valley Senior High School (SHS) in the Western Region.
The project, aimed at improving upon accommodation challenges for girls in the school is about 85 per cent complete and is being executed by Boison Construction Limited, a local contractor, started in September 2020 and is expected to be completed in September this year.
Speaking with the media in Huni-Valley before the project site tour, Mr Roger Adamah, Project Manager, GFGL, said management of Huni-Valley SHS made a request to the Mine and as part of their legacy project they opted to take it up.
The facility, he said, would be furnished with double decker steel bunk beds, LED lights, ceiling fans, rooms for prefects, two-bedroom master’s accommodation for teachers, modern washrooms and concrete pavement would be provided to ensure parents have decent place to pack their vehicles any time they visit their wards.
The project manager hinted that provision had been made for a bore hole and storage tanks so students would just pump and store water for use, adding, “we will also grow grass to beautify the environment”.
Mr Adamah explained that “if you look at the louver blades, we went for those with plastic handles instead of the steel aluminum handles. It is quite expensive but in terms of durability it will stay long and make sure we do not have a lot of breakages”.
“In terms of accessibility of the facility for the physically challenged, we want to make room for ramps at the front. So, all the dormitories on the ground floor will be fully accessible for physically challenged students” he announced.
He pointed out that the GFGF want to make sure that once the dormitory was completed, students would not need to go out searching for water or a place to dry their clothes
“So far we have spent GHï¿ 6.5 million but as l said when we do the commissioning, I am sure there are pretty much other things that will come in which we can pinpoint on our final number, but we have put some quality money in to make sure that all the things we have are of good standard and quality” Mr Adamah stated.
Some students who interacted with the Ghana News Agency, praised the GFGF for helping to enhance the education of the girl-child, pledged to study hard so they become useful to their communities.
Former President, John Dramani Mahama says the Electoral Commission is seeking to use the Ghana Cardas a political tool to frustrate Ghanaians in their quest to secure voters Card for the next elections.
According to him, the Commission is one of many state agencies that have become pliant instruments in the advancement of the parochial interest of the Akufo-Addo administration.
“One such institution is the Electoral Commission, which instead of making it easy for our citizens to take part in elections, rather takes delight in making it difficult. They appear determined to ensure the disenfranchisement of sections of our population at all costs through a misguided insistence on the use of the Ghana Card as the only source of identification for a voter card.
“How do you do this, knowing that the Ghana Card is not available to everyone who should have one? The Ghana Card is a relatively new feature of our national life and has its merits in the scheme of things. At the moment, it is being brandished more as a political tool around which all manner of schemes is being fashioned towards elections. There is the need to allow sufficient time for its full integration into our way of life before this kind of unhelpful exclusion of all other legitimately acquired, credible and time-tested forms of identification are implemented,†Mr Mahama said during a speech at the closing ceremony of a Minority caucus workshop.
He stressed: “The National Identification Authority cannot claim to have covered every Ghanaian who should be registered or distributed all the cards printed to those who have been captured in their system. They have failed to distribute hundreds of thousands of cards to people who have registered. Until full and total coverage is achieved in the roll out of the Ghana Card, room must be made for those who are yet to be served, to exercise their democratic rights of voting. They cannot be excluded from the voter register due to no fault of theirsâ€.
