Day: October 26, 2021

Over 120 individuals and companies have been shortlisted for the fourth Ghana Business Awards which is scheduled for October 29, 2021, at the Kempiski Gold Coast Hotel in Accra.

The nominees were shortlisted out of the 385 companies and individuals that submitted their nominations to be considered for the awards.

The awards are being organized by Globe Productions in partnership with the Institute of Directors (IoD), Nobel International Business School (NiBS), Ipag Business School, Swiss Business School, and the Lincoln University with support from the Graphic Communications Group Limited and Media General seeks to promote business excellence nationally and internationally, as well as provide an unparalleled opportunity for networking among industry players.

The 4th Ghana Business Awards would recognize and reward excellence across all sectors of industry in Ghana and provide the platform for individuals and companies that played significant roles in the growth and development of the business sector.

It will also promote open dialogue between relevant stakeholders in the public and private sectors on adopting the right strategies to stimulate post-COVID-19 economic recovery in Ghana and to ensure a future of hope and shared prosperity for all Ghanaians.

Themed “The Digital Economy, Making More Winners” with a team of technical expertise (Awarding Board) and independent consultants, the award categories are modeled to recognize important commercial and industrial players that contribute significantly to the economy.

Categories

Some of the award categories that promise to be the toast of the night are the Award for Company of the Year, Personality of the Year, CEO of the Year, and Entrepreneur of the Year.

Benchmarks

Mr. Latif Abubakar, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the organizers of the awards, Globe Productions said the awards are a benchmark of excellence.
He explained that the benchmarks for shortlisted nominees’ performance were based on some key performance indicators (KPIs) in the standards of excellence, including information technology and competitive pricing.

Business summit

This year’s awards will be preceded by a business summit and an exhibition at 9:00 am will be climaxed with the awards night and dinner at 6:00 pm.

The special guest of honor will be the Ga Mantse and President of the Ga TraditionalCouncil, His Royal Majesty King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, with support from the Ministers of Energy and Information, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh and Mr. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.

Also in attendance will be the Canadian and Spanish High Commissioners to Ghana, Madam Kathleen Csaba, and Mr. Javier Gutiérrez, the United States Ambassador to Ghana, Madam Stephanie Sullivan, and Ms. Samia Nkrumah, a former Chairperson of the Convention People’s Party.

Source: Ghana Web

Ebusua Dwarfs striker, Jindo Morishita has been spotted training with Sulley Muntari ahead of the 2021/22 Division One League.

The Japanese forward joined the Cape Coast-based club in March this year after signing a deal until the end of that season.

Despite the club relegation to the lower tie, the Japanese striker has extended his stay at the club ahead of the new season.

The 26-year-old will be playing for Dwarfs in the upcoming Division One League and has been training hard ahead of the season.

Source: Modern Ghana

The Electoral Commission (EC) has asked the Ghana Police Service to investigate former President John Dramani Mahama for accusing the elections management body of secretly thumb-printed some ballot papers which were used to pad the results in favour of the governing New Patriotic Party in the 2020 polls.

Deputy Chairman of the EC in charge of Corporate Affairs, Dr Eric Bossman Asare, told journalists at a press conference on Monday, 25 October 2021 that: “The former president has said that the EC thumb-printed one million ballot papers in favour of the President of the Republic. This is untrue”.

“This is not a matter that should be ignored, and we call on the Ghana Police Service to investigate it,” Dr Bossman Asare added.

“This is a great matter that undermines the credibility of the electoral process and should not be ignored. We call on him to provide evidence to support this claim,” he challenged.

According to Dr. Bossman, “the transparency of our process makes it totally impossible for this to happen”, explaining: “The ballots cast are cross-checked against the list of number of voters who were verified and issued with ballot papers”.

Also, he said: “Nationwide, we had no issue of over voting at all the 38,620 polling stations except in Savelugu in the parliamentary election where there was one over voting”.

“The police should investigate this as a matter of urgency due to its potential to derail and undermine our democracy and lead to a lack of confidence in our system and processes,” Dr Bossman Asare noted.

Two weeks ago, Mr Mahama said some one million extra ballot papers which were printed for the 2020 general elections, were thumb-printed in favour of the governing New Patriotic Party and stuffed during last year’s polls.

“More than one million extra ballot papers were printed, which the EC claimed happened by mistake but on the day of the elections, some of the more than one million extra ballot papers had already been secretly thumb-printed in favour of the NPP”, Mr Mahama alleged when he addressed the Divisional Chief of Prestea Himan, Nana Nteboah Prah, recently, as part of his Thank You tour of the Western Region.

“And, so, all these things dented the credibility of the polls and caused an embarrassment”, the 2020 flag bearer of the main opposition National Democratic Congress said.

He noted that it was important that everybody felt satisfied with the results of any election but fudging results stir up a lot of suspicion.

Mr Mahama also complained that the way the Supreme Court dealt with his election petition case was not fair.

Responding to a recent assertion by the Chair of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Jean Mensa, that the 2020 polls were the best-ever for Ghana, Mr Mahama said: “I heard her [Jean Mensa] say ‘it’s the best election Ghana has ever had’ and yet you run away from scrutiny at the Supreme Court”.

“So, how do you boast that ‘it’s the best election has ever had?’”

“If you believed it’s the best election Ghana had, then you should have mounted the witness box to be interrogated for everyone to ascertain that fact”.

Source: Modern Ghana

Accra,– This year’s ‘December in GH’ tourism event is expected to attract about 150,000 visitors into the country, double the number of last year.

Dr Mohammed Ibrahim Awal, the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, said the event, since its inception in 2019, had become key on the country’s tourism calendar, contributing to Ghana’s tourism growth.

It is characterised by interesting and innovative tourism oriented activities that bring thousands of tourists from across the globe to Ghana.

Dr Awal told the media that said 30 million Ghana cedis from the World Bank had been disbursed to support players in the tourism, arts and culture space, and by the middle of next year the Ministry would have distributed 55 million cedis to support the industry.

“The country is on course to attracting about 600,000 tourist arrivals in 2021, being a 100 percent increase for the 300,000 obtained in 2020.” he said.

“Government’s ambitions for the sector is to generate about 250,000 domestic and international jobs by the end of year, leveraging significantly on ‘December in GH.’”

Dr Awal said significant strides had been made by the tourism sector despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As of now, the tourism sector has achieved about 70 percent target in terms of measures to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on tourism businesses. As it stands now Ghana is attracting more tourists in West Africa due to the country’s vaccination drive and we are expecting some 150,000 visitors for ‘December in GH,” he said.

The last quarter of this year was going to be exciting and very critical for the sector in attracting those projected numbers into the country, as against last year, he added.

Mr Akwasi Agyeman, the Chief Executive Officer, Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), said activities for the events, which had been approved amid the covid-19, included Afrochella, Rhythms on the Run Way, Taste of Ghana, Kwanzaa, Diaspora Transition, Takoradi Festival, A centenary of demise of Yaa Asantewaa at Kumasi, and GUBA awards.

He said since 2019, December had become a key month for tourism growth, especially with high profile events drawing thousands from across the globe into the country adding that the GTA was working with the Ministry and the National COVID-19 Task Force to approve some protocols to govern the events.

The events would be observed under strict COVID-19 protocols where vaccination cards would be required before participation and ensure all protocols were observed.

“By November 1, we will have the full calendar of events. The Ministry and GTA are still vetting most of the events, which have been received and by the end of this month, the full list of events will be announced and contactless ticketing would highly be utilised to prevent personal contacts,” he added.

“Participants from the diaspora must have a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours, pre-purchase COVID-19 test from Frontier Health Service before embarkation; make payment on that platform and go through a COVID-19 test upon arrival at the airport in Ghana,” Mr Agyeman said.

He said the GTA was in touch with the Ghana Police Service to ensure all protocols were observed and those that breached them would be arrested and prosecuted.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Sekondi,- The National Pensions Regulatory Authority, (NPRA) has entreated participants in the informal business sector to invest in their old age now to save them from hardships and associated difficulties.

The NPRA noted that a chunk of Ghana’s population was largely found in the informal sector and managing their micro, small and medium enterprises but lacked the knowledge on retirement preparation for a comfortable transition to old age.

Mr Ernest Amartey-Vondee, Director of planning and Research NPRA, therefore, noted the need for the participation of such a huge majority in the various pension schemes to ensure retirement income security.

He was speaking at the National Pensions Awareness week in Sekondi with some trade Associations in the Western Region.

The week would make knowledge available in most local dialects to traders across the length and breadth of the country to enable participants in the informal sector to make informed decisions for a beautiful old age.

The Director of planning reminded the Association members of the very important need to make a bold decision to invest in their old age, adding, “Let’s leave the over-reliance on our children…we need not rest also in poverty…the time is now to change our fortunes”.

Madam Leticia Baidoo, the Branch Manager Axis Pension Trust and one of the Trustees of the new three-tier pension scheme, educated the traders on the benefits of planning for a comfortable retirement with as low as 40 cedis a month.

She added that such insurance and Pensions policies gave hope in the case of an eventuality.

Madam Baidoo urged interested policy undertakers to inform people they would use as trustees on their policies to enable proper follow-ups and transfer of wealth should anything happen.

She said, “often, our partners and relatives don’t know about such investments and if we are no more such funds get stuck without anyone claiming it.”

Mr Daniel Dougan, a Trade Unionist, urged the leadership of the traders Association to follow up on the training acquired and get more of their members to be on the scheme.

Mr Fredrick Agyeman of the Western Regional Coordinating Council said good planning yielded good results and encouraged them to register for a better old age.

Source: Ghana News Agency

RuffTown artiste, Wendy Shay has bragged that her haters have now become her fans after constantly producing hit songs.

Wendy shay has received several internet trolls from colleagues in the music industry and Ghanaians on social media for her style.

Just recently, she released her latest single titled ‘Heat’ doing very well on various music streaming platforms.

Before the song came out, there was a rumour that she was on drugs with regard to her current looks.

The song ‘heat’ has gotten so many people jamming to the point that it has become one of the most used songs in videos and trends on the internet.

With the publicity she is receiving, Wendy shay in a post on her official Twitter page has bragged that her haters have now become her fans.

She posted,’ “Now all my haters turn fans chale. Wodadwene nanka.”

Source: Modern Ghana

Bolgatanga, Oct 26, GNA – Women in the Upper East Region have called on the government to implement pragmatic measures and policies to end Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and protect the rights of women and girls.

They said even though some efforts were made at curbing the phenomenon, it was still prevalent in the region with the vulnerable groups, particularly women and girls being the most affected.

The women made the call at Bolgatanga through their religious, traditional and community leaders at a press conference facilitated by the Widows and Orphans Movement (WOM), a Women’s rights organization in partnership with Oxfam in Ghana and Women in Law and Development (WiLDAF) Ghana with funding support from the European Union (EU).

It was part of the implementation of a four-year project dubbed, “ENOUGH!”, aimed at empowering women, girls, boys and men to take positive action in ending sexual and gender-based violence in Ghana, Liberia and Mali.

The women leaders were selected from six communities in two districts, including Gundork, Logre and Kongo in the Nabdam District and Vea, Balungu and Bongo-Beo in the Bongo District.

Statistics from the Ghana Health Service showed that the Upper East Region recorded 222, 306 and 308 domestic violence cases in 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively while cases of Sexual Violence of 25, 32 and five were reported in 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively.

Data from the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) in the region also showed reported cases of SGBV recorded 609 and 619 in 2019 and 2020 respectively while the region in January and February 2021 alone recorded 38 and 49 cases respectively.

This, the women stated, was adversely affecting their growth, development and wellbeing and was an infringement upon their fundamental human rights and dignity and called for the resourcing of human promotion and protection institutions to work towards ending the canker.

Ms Evelyn Nyaaba, a Legal Literacy Volunteer and one of the women leaders from Bongo-Beo community, said when adequately resourced, institutions such as the Commission on Human Right and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), DOVVSU and other human rights institutions, would be able to intensify education and take legal actions against perpetrators of the act.

“The areas of focus should include property rights, dehumanizing widowhood rites, rape, forced marriages and child marriage, witchcraft accusations, discrimination, Legal Aid among others with an emphasis on the consequences of their violation of the human rights and dignity,” she said.

Ms Nyaaba called for the decentralization of the human rights promotion and institutions to all districts to make them readily accessible to residents and encourage citizens to readily report incidents of violation of their rights to the appropriate authorities.

The women further urged the government to create more economic opportunities for the rural women in the region with special emphasis on market access for farm produce and handicrafts.

They said when the women were economically empowered, they would contribute to the upkeep of their various families it would reduce abuses meted because of their economic vulnerability.

The women also want the National House of Chiefs to formulate policy guidelines to enable traditional rulers to support and encourage timely reportage of criminal cases to the relevant authorities instead of resolving such cases at the community level without providing justice to survivors.

“The Upper East Regional House of Chiefs should impress on traditional authorities to liaise with the local government structures to enact by-laws to regulate the closing time for late evening social events such as funerals, and graduation ceremonies which are often avenues where sexual and gender-based violence is perpetrated on children below the ages of 18,” she stressed.

Source: Ghana News Agency

It’s Showtime as Ghana’s biggest and inarguably the most respected pageant, Miss Malaika Ghana, the 19th edition, climaxes this Saturday 30th October at the Grand Arena (AICC)

Glitz, glamor, and talent will be on display as 10 intelligent ladies battle it out for the car, cash, and crown. As has been the tradition for Miss Malaika Ghana over the years, the ladies have gone through an intensive journey of rediscovery and grooming in preparation for the finals where one will be selected to succeed the reigning queen, Jasmine Djang.

THE TEN FINALISTS

Name: Manuella Floris Lazo
Age: 21
Education: University of Ghana

Name: Bintou Keita
Age: 24
Education: Graduate and Entrepreneur

Name: Asia Musah
Age: 21
Education: Central University

Name: Abena Danquah Okai
Age: 22
Education: Wisconsin International University College.

Name: Ama Tutuwaa Osei-Akoto
Age: 19
Education: Clark University

Name: Precious Yankson
Age: 23
Education: University of Professional Studies

Name: Hillary Tsar
Age: 21
Education: Graduate and Fitness Trainer

Name: Doreen Osei Tutu
Age: 20
Education: University of Ghana

Name: Winifred Bambil
Age: 24
Education: Entrepreneur

Name: Iris Cudjoe
Age: 24
Education: Graduate

Also performing on the night are some of Ghana’s most talented acts; Adina, Mr Drew, Abiana, Sefa, and many more.

Call 0501288520 to book your tickets.

Miss Malaika Ghana is a Charterhouse Production proudly sponsored by Nivea, Frytol, GTP, Kenya Airways, Malta Guinness, Tomreik Hotel, Lux, GHOne, Royal Senchi, and Closeup. With support from Aspire Destinations, Lucozade, and Verna water.

Source: Ghana Web