Day: March 9, 2022

Accra- The Supreme Court in a 3-2 decision has dismissed James Gyekye Quayson’s stay of proceedings at the Court of Appeal in Cape Coast.

The court in a 3-2 decision also dismissed an application for certiorari filed by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North.

“In a 3-2 decision of this court, application for stay of proceedings at the Court of Appeal, Cape Coast in relation to referral of Article 94 (2) (a) is dismissed.

Application for certiorari dated December 13, 2021 is unanimously dismissed,” the Court presided over by Justice Gabriel Pwamang, declared.

The application for stay of proceedings and referral of the MP, was seeking the Supreme Court to stay the appeal at the Cape Coast Court of Appeal and order the Court to refer Article 94(2a) to the Supreme Court for interpretation.

The Certiorari application was seeking to quash the ruling of the Court of Appeal ruling which dismissed the MP’s application for referral of Article 94 (2a) for interpretation.

In July 2021, a Cape Coast High Court declared that Quayson was holding a Canadian citizenship.

The MP proceeded to the Court of Appeal to seek refuge and subsequently to the highest court of the land.

Source: Ghana News Agency

A book titled; Transformation of Prison systems in Africa, is due to launch in Accra. The book which will be launched at the Mikkado Conference Centre on the 15th March 2022 will set the agenda for discussions on Prison reforms across the African Continent.

The 430 paged book is written by Richard Kuuire, a former Director-General of Ghana Prison Service and a UN Advisor of Prison Systems in Africa. The book discusses the poor conditions in most African prisons, strategies towards prisoner reformation and rehabilitation, and how stakeholders in the criminal justice system can work together to enhance better and good qualitative standards in prison in the continent’s prison delivery.

The book reminds Governments of their responsibility in providing humane prison systems so as not to abuse the human rights of prisoners which currently prevails in most of the continent’s prisons.

The book, which is the first of its kind on Africa’s prison reforms, discusses, in particular, the situation of prisons in Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia while highlighting best prison practices across various prisons in Africa.

According to the author of the book Mr. Richard Kuuire, ‘the prisons are often regarded as places for bad people and until this notion is changed, our prisons will continue to be in deplorable conditions since our society regards it to be the same. Anybody, irrespective of his or her stature could land in prison and therefore behooves us to collectively and consistently help make the place good for human habitation.’ he emphasized.

He further charged African leaders to thrive to make the standards better than what they came to meet.

The launch event which is vintage will draw high-level personalities in attendance. Personalities from the Judiciary, the prison service, human rights, police, business community, media, civil society, UN system, and social welfare will be in attendance.

Source: Ghana Web

Paul Amaning, the Eastern Region New Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairman hopeful has expressed worry over the performance of the NPP Parliamentary Candidates in the 2020 election.

He further expressed deep concern about the party’s narrow escape in the 2020 parliamentary election and has therefore pointed fallouts that need to be addressed with the swiftness it deserves to avoid similar calamity.

Paul Amaning said after dissecting the NPP’s performance in the parliamentary election, he identified that imposition of candidates in some constituencies, failure to effectively separate party operations from government and lack of respect and appreciation for grassroot supporters by government appointees and parliamentary candidates were the cause of the party’s abysmal performance in the 2020 elections.

He noted also that hoarding and diversion of campaign resources by some parliamentary candidates and party executives, over-concentration on wooing supporters of NDC to the neglect of NPP grassroot supporters, poor job done by communication officers and people who were trusted to propagate the works of government, battle for supremacy between party executives and parliamentary candidates, lost of vigilance amongst others were the cause of NPP’s performance.

He recommended that the party leadership immediately put in place a succession plan to identify and groom people as potential party executives in preparation for election 2024.

“These people must be given the requisite training on campaigning, election monitoring systems and the management of party and government relationship,” he said.

The party, he said must also put in place innovative systems to ensure sustainable funding for future campaigns.

“An approach for mobilising resources to fund both the presidential and Parliamentary elections in all constituencies must be established. Particular attention must be paid to maximising our revenue mobilisation, and fund allocation as well as monitoring how candidate utilize allocation resources to advance the party’s campaign agenda,” Paul Amaning told Accra-based Original FM 91.9

Source: Modern Ghana

British billionaire Nick Candy is “actively exploring a number of options for a potential bid” to buy Chelsea.

Candy, a boyhood Chelsea fan, is trying to form a consortium with a number of international investors.

Roman Abramovich put the club up for sale last week amid the ongoing crisis in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion.

Candy, 49, believes his background as a property developer could give him an advantage with any plans to rebuild Stamford Bridge.

There are now 20 credible interested parties being handled by the US-based Raine Group, with a deadline of 15 March before assessing a handful of final bidders.

“Nick Candy is actively exploring a number of options for a potential bid for Chelsea,” his spokesperson said in a statement.

“Any bid would be made in conjunction with another party, or consortium, and we have serious interest from several international partners.

“Mr Candy has a huge affinity with Chelsea. His father was asked to play for the club and he has been watching matches at Stamford Bridge since the age of four.”

Chelsea announced plans for a new 60,000-seater stadium on the Stamford Bridge site in 2015 but the project was put on hold indefinitely three years later.

“The club deserves a world-class stadium and infrastructure and Mr Candy’s unique expertise and background in real estate would be a hugely valuable asset to delivering this vision,” added the statement.

Abramovich initially said he intended to give “stewardship and care” of Chelsea to its foundation trustees, but then decided to sell the club completely with the threat of sanctions hanging over him following the invasion of Ukraine. Abramovich has denied having close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss and US businessman Todd Boehly have formed part of a consortium to try to take over Chelsea.

Wyss told Swiss newspaper Blick last week that he had been offered the chance to buy the club.

The 86-year-old, worth an estimated £3.9bn, added that Abramovich wanted “to get rid of Chelsea quickly” after the threat of sanctions was raised in Parliament.

Boehly, who is a part-owner of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers, was previously linked with a takeover of Chelsea in 2019.

Muhsin Bayrak

Turkish billionaire Muhsin Bayrak says he is one of those to have launched a bid to buy the club, adding “we will fly the Turkish flag in London soon”.

Bayrak is chairman of AB Grup Holding, which he founded in 1999, and has investments in cryptocurrency, construction, tourism and energy sectors.

Sources close to Bayrak told BBC Sport he is determined to buy Chelsea and his lawyer will be in London for talks on Thursday.

Others

Other parties reported to be interested include New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and a Saudi Arabia-based consortium.

British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, who owns Ineos and bought French club Nice in 2019, has previously shown interest, but will not seek to purchase Chelsea because he does not see it as good value.

Source: Modern Ghana

Midfielder Sulley Muntari has said he is solely focused on Hearts of Oak despite the calls for his return to the Black Stars.

The 37-year-old following his return to the Ghana Premier League has been linked with a return to the Black Stars following his impressive performance ahead of the 2022 Fifa World Cup playoff game against Nigeria later this month.

Muntari has been a livewire for Hearts of Oak after playing a key role in their 2-1 win over Asante Kotoko in the 2022 President’s Cup over the weekend.

The former AC Milan and Inter Milan ace again propelled his side to a 2-1 win over WAFA in the matchday 19 game at the Accra Sports Stadium on Wednesday.

Kwadwo Obeng Jnr broke the deadlock but Henry Owari levelled the Academy Boys on terms.

However, Muntari, who signed a short term deal with the Rainbow club in February scored from a spot-kick to seal the win for Samuel Boadu’s side.

Reacting to the calls for his inclusion to the Black Stars, the former Sunderland and Portsmouth midfielder admitted that he is elated with the calls but he is focused on Hearts of Oak now.

“I’m pleased to hear the fans call for my inclusion into the Ghana team for the upcoming FIFA World Cup playoffs against Nigeria but for now it’s all about Hearts of Oak,” he told StarTimes.

Hearts of Oak have moved to the 5th position on the league log with 29 points.

Source: Modern Ghana

Several weeks after news went round that she had been evicted from her East Legon apartment, the mother of Dancehall artiste Shatta Wale has been reportedly rushed to the hospital.

In a recent video posted by Virgin Blogger, Mama Elsie popularly known as Shatta Mama is seen looking sick in an undisclosed hospital receiving medical treatment.

She reached out to the general populace to come to her aid as she has been neglected by her son.

This will be the second time Mama Elsie will direct some media attention on herself as she first made so about three weeks ago when she reached out to Ghanaians to help her get accommodation after she was evicted from her East Legon apartment which came as a shock because her son, Shatta Wale had said the property was a bought by him.

She revealed that several attempts to reach her son have all proven futile.

Meanwhile during the weekend, in an interview on Adom FM, Mama Elsie disclosed that she lives in an uncompleted building somewhere in Kasoa.

She added that what to eat is sometimes a problem adding that it is difficult to reach out for help because she is been referred to as the mother of the richest artist in Ghana.

Source: Modern Ghana

A former Member of Parliament for Berekum Constituency in the Bono Region Nkrabea Effah Dartey has singled out the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as the party that comes to destroy all the gains the New Patriotic Party has made in terms of the management of the economy.

According to him, after eight years of the Constitutional rule of late president Jerry John Rawlings coupled with his years of military rule, Ghana was left in a sorry state riddled with all manner of corruption.

He alleged that what the NDC led by the late president Jerry John Rawlings was concerned with was to cook figures for the Bretton Woods institutions to look good in their books when the government was virtually doing nothing for Ghanaians.

This, he argued, can be seen in the first sessional address of former President John Agyekum Kufuor to Parliament in 2001, adding that, the NDC left Ghana in a dire state.

“This country was in a sorry state as of that time because the NDC is a party made up of insincere leaders who come into government to engage in “chop, chop””, he stated.

“After all those years, when the former president John Agyekum Kufour built the economy and a cedi was to a dollar, the NDC came back with late president Prof. John Evans Atta-Mills to loot the state with judgement debt,” he added.

He continued that atrocious amounts of monies were paid as judgement debts to cronies of the NDC.

Speaking in an interview on the Ghana Yensom morning show hosted by Kwame Obeng Sarkodie on Accra 100.5 on Wednesday, March 9, 2022 on the 65th anniversary of Ghana’s Independence, the former Deputy Minister for Interior under former John Agyekum Kufour alleged that anytime the NDC comes to power, they inflate contract sums to finance their party activities.

The lawyer by profession mentioned the Pokuase interchange, Ridge Hospital project, Circle-Dubai, Kasoa interchanges as clear examples of the NDC inflated projects.

Talking about his own party, he observed that the NPP always bring on board social intervention programmes like Metro Mass Transit, health Insurance, School Feeding, Free SHS, among others.

These, according to him, are the hallmark of the NPP and as a party “we will continue to lead as a tradition that cares about the well-being of the people we serve.”

He noted that the NPP is not as insincere as the NDC in government.

Source: Modern Ghana

The Member of Parliament for the Damongo Constituency who doubles as the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Lawyer Samuel Abu Jinapor has maintained that he is a legislator for all in the constituency irrespective of one’s political affiliation.

He said his ultimate priority is to see to the total development of the constituency that will benefit all, praying that subsequent MPs who may come after him will continue in the same spirit of rallying the people together for the common goal of development.

The Lands and Natural Resources Minister made these remarks at the forecourt of the office of the Member of Parliament in Damongo during a dinner night he held with all heads of departments, clergy, security services, civil society groups, the media, leadership of the various political parties and Assembly Members as part of activities marking the 65th Independence Day Celebration.

Abu Jinapor explained that the key to the development of the infant Savannah Region is unity, adding that, ”united we stand, divided we fall.”

“For the development of the infant savannah region. Let us all ensure our political colours, tribal and religious differences are secondary to the ultimate goal of remaining united for the development of the constituency and the region at large,” he stated.

The Savannah Regional Minister,Saeed Muhazu Jibreal urged the people to continue to appreciate the development effort of the Damongo MP and pray for him.

He added that the MP’s enviable track record of benevolence remains a blessing to many in the region and Ghana at large.

He thanked the Member of Parliament for the immense support to the Regional Coordinating Council that ensured the successful celebration of the 65th Independence Day in the region.

The minister called on religious leaders to continue to pray for the progress of the infant region and its people.

Source: Modern Ghana