TIG Post

Tag: people

  • 21 individuals dead after Venice tourist bus fell from a bridge

    Tragedy struck as an electric bus crashed off a flyover near Venice, claiming the lives of at least 21 individuals, including several children, according to officials.

    The bus, which broke through a barrier, plummeted nearly 15 meters (50 feet) close to railway tracks in Mestre, a district linked to Venice by a bridge.

    Among the deceased were five Ukrainians, one German, and the Italian bus driver, as confirmed by city prefect Michele Di Bari.

    Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said a “huge tragedy” had taken place.

    “An apocalyptic scene, there are no words,” he said on social media.

    On Tuesday night, CCTV footage from the flyover showed the vehicle travelling past another bus before collapsing off the carriageway.

    One rescuer spoke of a “tragedy of young people, if not very young people, except for a few adults”.

    Three children, including an infant, were among the casualties, according to reports from emergency services and the interior Minister, Matteo Piantedosi expressed concern that the death toll could potentially increase.

    Fifteen individuals have suffered injuries, with five of them in critical condition, according to reports.

    Authorities in Venice indicated that the injured parties included tourists from various countries, including Ukrainians, Austrians, Spaniards, and others.

    Among the wounded, there were two 16-year-olds and two younger children, as stated by the local governor. In addition, two German siblings, aged seven and 13, were undergoing treatment for broken bones at a hospital in nearby Treviso.

    Tragically, their parents lost their lives in the accident, and the boys were receiving counseling.

    The ill-fated bus, carrying a total of 39 passengers, was involved in the crash at approximately 19:45 (17:45 GMT) on Tuesday.

    It had been rented by a local company, seemingly to transport tourists from Venice’s historic center to a campsite located in the nearby Marghera district.

    The bus company underscored that the 13-ton vehicle operated solely on electricity, refuting prior claims that it was powered by methane gas as well.

    Mauro Longo, the fire brigade commander, informed Il Gazzettino’s website that the bus’s batteries ignited, complicating the process of clearing the bus.

    Eyewitnesses reported hearing people’s screams, but the flames were too intense for them to offer assistance.

  • Volunteers intensifies efforts to rejuvenate Mogadishu’s golden coast

    Volunteers intensifies efforts to rejuvenate Mogadishu’s golden coast

    On Urubo, Liido, and Sugunto Liido beaches, the once pristine sands are now obscured by heaps of debris.

    The pollution has marred the landscape, creating a stark contrast to the image of tranquility that draws people seeking solace from the conflicts between rival armed factions in this historic port city.

    However, the local residents have rallied together, determined to reclaim their beaches. A collective effort is underway to clean up the coastline, with the hopes of reviving local tourism and bolstering the city’s economy.

    At the heart of this endeavor are young volunteers, many of them students or university workers, who have taken the lead in this grassroots movement.

    Week after week, these dedicated youth have been diligently gathering the litter that has defaced the beauty of the coast and posed a threat to marine life. Their hard work is already paying off, as patches of the beach are beginning to shine once more under the warm sun.

    One of the enthusiastic volunteers, Maama Ugaaso, expresses her pride in being a regular participant in the beach clean-up sessions. She highlights how the younger generation is embracing a sense of ownership and responsibility for their city.

    With their earnest efforts, they are sowing the seeds of hope for a brighter future for Mogadishu’s golden coast.

    “It is the 87th week that we have been cleaning the beaches. This is a voluntary activity where young graduates, lecturers, and other ordinary Somalis participate. Among the reasons why these young people are doing such wonderful work is that they understand the fact that this country belongs to no one but themselves,” she says.

    According to the organizers, 2 million kilograms of trash have already been gathered here.

    That contained plastic waste, which is bad for aquatic life.

    Even abandoned vehicles had been thrown on the shore, which had turned into a landfill.

    All of the rubbish is being transported to a government dump outside of Mogadishu.

    Arabow is pleading with the government to support the effort to restore beaches.

    He says: “Currently, we are conducting this clean-up campaign on our beaches and we are hoping to expand it to other beaches across the country. Also, a beach clean-up campaign like the one we’ve done in the Liido should be replicated throughout the country. We also have done some cleaning up work on beaches like Isaley, Jazeera, and other places, but God willing, I hope that this campaign will reach every place in the country in order to live in a rubbish-free country.”

    The primary focus of the beach restoration initiative is to actively engage young people, constituting 75% of the country’s population. For fisherman Hassan Mohamed, this work holds immense significance for the survival of the coastal region.

    Expressing his pride in the dedicated young volunteers, Hassan emphasizes the importance of governmental support for their efforts.

    He stresses that maintaining the health of marine life and promoting tourism go hand in hand, making this endeavor critical for the entire community.

    The volunteers have garnered not only public but also government endorsement for their beach-cleaning endeavors. When the municipality of Mogadishu became aware of their restoration project, they stepped in to provide vehicles to assist in the removal of the accumulated rubbish.

    Yaasir Baafo, an advisor to Somalia’s tourism authority, believes that aligning volunteer efforts with supportive government policies will lead to substantial progress. He emphasizes the vital role of the environment as a valuable resource that can breathe new life into the city and the entire country. With a collaborative approach, the initiative aims to harness the potential of the natural surroundings to foster growth and rejuvenation for Mogadishu.

    Pointing to old photos on his laptop he says: “It’s really a breathtaking time, 1970s, 80s in Mogadishu as it was one of the most clean city in Africa, the most beautiful city in Africa. And when you look back at today what have been in Mogadishu, when we talk about the cleaning and the beach sites, so it’s really totally different and that’s what makes Mogadishu, people are still think about: how can we get back those glory and golden days of Mogadishu.”

    With a bit of work, the beautiful sand beaches can be uncovered once again.

  • Signs of 1948 riots are looming – Nana Oye

    Former Gender Minister, Nana Oye Bampoe Addo (formerly Nana Oye Lithur) says the circumstances that led to the 1948 riots in Accra are currently looming in Ghana.

    According to the past NDC appointee, the triggers that led to the historic protest can be seen across the country.

    On the 24th of February 1948, three unarmed ex-servicemen were shot during a protest. This infuriated other citizens who took to the streets to call out the colonial regime for its bad leadership and mismanagement.

    Speaking in an interview on the AM Show on Thursday, the gender advocate said the same anger that fueled the 1948 protests is lurking, hence the need for government to urgently address the prevailing economic crisis.

    “If you remember the 1948 riots, it seems like we are just seeing it being replayed. Where the traders were up in arms about the high cost of living and shops were closed. Then it led to Sergeant Adjetey and co., marching on to the seat of the colonial government.

    [With] the ramifications of what happened; over a hundred people dying and how the riots [was] all over Ghana because of the economic situation. And you see it playing, right? History is actually repeating itself”, she said.

    She also added that the recent incidents of booing the President at public functions are a worrying development which reflects the displeasure of the populace.

    Madam Oye Addo’s comments add to the repeated calls for the President to invest more efforts in bettering the economy to prevent any untoward events.

    Currently, Ghana is in a dire economic situation with citizens feeling the brunt of the hardship.

    The economic crisis is evident in the constant depreciation of the local currency, in addition to the rising rate of inflation.

    These developments have become very topical, with stakeholders constantly bemoaning the situation.

    Meanwhile, in the wake of the widespread public agitations about the state of the economy, government maintains that it is working tirelessly around the clock to put the smiles back on the faces of Ghanaians.

    According to the government, the economic situation has been exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Mahama explains why NDC could not submit pink sheets in the 2020 election petition

    For the first time, former President John Dramani Mahama has opened up about why he and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) could not provide the needed evidence to make their case in the 2020 election petition.

    On December 30, 2022, the former president dragged the Electoral Commission led by Jean Mensa (1st Respondent) and Akufo-Addo (2nd Respondent) to the apex court over the 2020 presidential elections on an allegation that the results announced by the EC were not the accurate results.

    The petition details “serious violations of the 1992 Constitution by the Electoral Commission and its Chairperson and Returning Officer for the Presidential Election, Mrs. Jean Adukwei Mensa in the conduct of their constitutional and legal responsibility.”

    The petitioner sought, among others, a declaration from the Supreme Court to the effect that “the purported declaration of the results of the 2020 Presidential Election on December 9 2020, is unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect whatsoever.”

    But the seven-member panel of the Supreme Court on March 4, 2021, held that the petition filed by former President John Dramani Mahama was unmeritorious and unanimously dismissed all other applications moved by the petitioner, including two reviews.

    Speaking in a VOA interview monitored by GhanaWeb, John Dramani Mahama intimated that NDC could not make its case because the pink sheets used by the EC to record the election results did not make room for the people to be verified before they could vote.

    “In the last elections, a lot of things went wrong. On the pink sheets that we record the results, they did not make allowance for the number of people biometrically registered.

    “And that is why when we went to court, and they said, why don’t you bring your pink sheet? It would have been useless because you bring the pink sheet, and there is no recording of the number of people verified.

    “It is only when you have that recording which must match up with the number of ballots in the box (that you can make a case). And so, if the Electoral Commission gives you a form that does not make provision for the people verified then what is the need for us to put our figures in the verification machine,” he said.

    The former president further stated that most of the challenges in the 2020 elections have still not been resolved.

    He added that the NDC has taken a cue from what happened in the 2020 election and has decided to go into the next election with its “own referrer”.

     

  • Bawumia cuts sod for $2m astroturf for Tumu

    The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, on Tuesday, cut sod for the construction of a $2 million Astroturf at Tumu in the Upper West Region.

    Measuring 100 by 120 feet respectively, the multi-purpose pitch being sponsored by Ghana Gas will be completed in six months.

    Speaking at the ceremony the Vice President stated that the government was doing its best to bring development to every sector of the country, although it sometimes appeared slower than expected and said the needs of the youth was at the heart of government’s agenda.

    “As a country, one of our biggest challenges is youth unemployment, so government has paid close attention to this area so that even though the problem has not been solved entirely, the New Patriotic Party government has created more jobs than any other government in the 4th Republic and you can bear witness to this,” he said.

    He mentioned that 600,000 people were on government’s payroll at the time the party came to power and said an additional 400,000 people had been recruited in the last five years in the health and education sectors as well as the various security services.

    To ensure that the youth measured up to the human resource needs of the country, the Vice President said the government had dedicated resources to ensuring that every young person in the country attained at least a senior high school certificate hence the introduction of the free senior high school policy.

    “The policy has led to a surge in enrolment into senior high school by 50 per cent and more girls are being enrolled leading to gender parity; government is also paying attention to vocational education by establishing a Technical Education Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training (TEVET) service and also included them in the free SHS policy.

    He mentioned that government was building ultra-modern technical educational institutions across the country and retooling existing ones as in the case of St Claires in Tumu.

    Touching on the Tumu-Wa road, Dr Bawumia promised the people of Tumu that the government would deliberate on how to acquire a dedicated fund to pay road contractors in the area to ensure that they expedite action on the construction of the road.

    “I have been briefly informed that five contractors are supposed to work on the Wa-Tumu road but only one is currently at work due to non-payment of contracts as a result of challenges with disbursement of the internally generated funds (IGF) at the assembly so it is necessary that we have an input as a government to see how these contractors can be paid to make them get back to work”, he stressed.

    The senior manager for Community Relations and Corporate Social Responsibility at the Ghana Gas, Mr Stephen Donkor, said the astroturf pitch was one of the numerous ways the company would want to support the development of northern Ghana and appealed to the Municipal Chief Executive to monitor the project to ensure it was delivered on time.

    In a speech, the Chief of Tumu, Kuoro Richard Babini Kanton IV lauded the project as relevant and said it would provide the youth the opportunity to nurture their talents in sports and enable them to spend their leisure prudently away from social vices.

  • 6 districts, municipalities in Ahafo Region benefit from 1D1F

    The Tano South Municipality is among the six districts and municipalities in the Ahafo Region to benefit from the One District, One Factory (1D1F) project, Mr Collins Offinam Takyi, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) has disclosed.

    The rest are the Tano North Municipality, Asunafo South district, Asutifi South District, Asunafo North Municipality and Asutifi North District.

    Mr Takyi was addressing chiefs and people of Dwomoh in the Ahafo Region on Wednesday during an inspection of progress of work on an oil palm processing factory, under the 1D1F programme.

    The MCE again inaugurated a two-unit classroom block for Dwomoh Roman Catholic Primary, a six-unit classroom block for Achiase M/A Primary, and Police headquarters.

    He cut sod for the construction of a modern classroom block for the Ohianimguase District Assembly (D/A) Junior High School (JHS), and a modern abattoir in Bechem.

    Mr Takyi said the projects were funded by the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF), Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), and District Assembly Common Fund Responsive Factor Grant (DACF -RFF).

    The Ahafo Regional Minister, George Yaw Boakye, who was on a two -day official visit to the Tano South Municipality, commended the MCE for the extension of massive infrastructural projects to the area.

    Mr Boakye inspected progress of work on projects at Bechem Presbyterian Senior High School (SHS) and interacted with the students, especially the final years.

    He also inspected ongoing roads infrastructure projects namely: Bechem Techimantia Akumadan street, Asuoso Derma Techimantia, and the phase two of Bechem town roads.

    The Regional Minister had earlier paid courtesy calls on the Paramount Chiefs of Bechem Traditional Council, Nana Fosu Gyeabour Akoto, and Dwomoh Traditional Council, Nana Akoto Asamoah.

    Nana Adoma Akyerekuaa 1, the Queen Mother of Ohianimguase, thanked the MCE for extending numerous projects and programmes to her community.

    “My community has benefited from electricity supply, bore holes, classroom blocks, toilet facilities, among other projects. All these came under the ruling government,” she noted.

    Source: ghanaiantimes.com.gh