Day: April 26, 2022

Vodafone Ghana Foundation, through its outreach programme Vodafone Healthfest, has provided free medical care for over 500 inhabitants in and around the Appiatse community.

This follows the devastating explosion along the Tarkwa Bogoso-Ayamfuri road when a truck carrying explosives to a gold mine crashed with a motorcycle on January 20, 2022.

Beneficiaries received free medical consultation, counselling, and medications for specific medical conditions.

Commenting on this initiative, the Head of Vodafone Foundation, Rev. Amaris Nana Perbi, emphasized Vodafone’s commitment to providing quality healthcare delivery to Ghanaians through its charity arm.

“Vodafone Ghana is committed to providing free and fair healthcare for individuals under its many initiatives, of which Vodafone Healthfest is a part. We are confident that our presence in the Appiatse community with medical practitioners from the Ghana Health Service will positively impact the community and improve the health of the residents after the unfortunate incident they have experienced this year.”

On his part, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Prestea Huni Valley Municipal, Hon. Dr. Isaac Dasmani expressed appreciation to the Foundation and encouraged Vodafone to continue reaching out to the Appeatse community with their timely interventions.

“Let me take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to Vodafone Ghana for bringing us this programme through their Foundation. In fact, it is a very important programme and from what I saw, I was highly impressed. Many people were affected by the blast; some had minor injuries, and some had broken legs, among others. Fortunately, we haven’t lost any lives because of the interventions we have put in place. At the moment, we are managing minor illnesses that have occurred as a result of the residents’ stay at the camp.”

“This programme by Vodafone is indeed a timely one as it will help us control diseases, including communicable diseases that are likely to occur because many people are together in such small spaces. So, we are very much happy that Vodafone has intervened, and we hope that they continue coming until we move the residents to a new place.”

Earlier, Municipal Director of Health Services, Prestea Huni Valley Ghana Health Service, Joseph Kwame Sampson, said through the medical screening provided by Vodafone Ghana, a lot of diseases that stemmed from the residents’ stay in the camp have been identified.

While commending Vodafone for this initiative, he urged other organizations to emulate the kind gesture by Vodafone Ghana by extending their support to the people of Appiatse.

Source: Ghana Web

Former England international Anita Asante will retire at the end of the season following a 19-year career at the top of the women’s game.

The Aston Villa defender’s final game is set to be against rivals Birmingham City in the Women’s Super League.

The 36-year-old has had a hugely successful career, winning 71 caps for England and representing Great Britain at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

She began her career at Arsenal before joining Chelsea and then moving abroad.

Asante’s greatest achievement was arguably her role in Arsenal’s quadruple-winning season in 2007, when the club became the only women’s team from England to win the Champions League.

“When I look back, I’m really proud of what I’ve been able to do and what I’ve been able to experience throughout those years,” Asante told BBC Sport.

“It’s been an unbelievable journey. I’m so proud to have been a part of all that and to have shared it with so many amazing players and coaches. I’ve learnt so much from them over the years.

“It was a difficult decision to make, but I feel very lucky that I’ve been able to decide and be in control of what I want to do in this current point in my life.”

Asante also won five league titles and four FA Cups during her time at Arsenal between 2003 and 2008.

She spent three years playing in the United States before leaving Sky Blue FC to join Swedish side Goteborg in 2012, making 41 appearances across two seasons.

Asante later switched to FC Rosengard, also competing in the Swedish Damallsvenskan league, before moving back to Chelsea in 2018.

The respected centre-back made her senior international debut against Iceland in 2004, after captaining the England under-19s, and went on to play in five major tournaments, as well as the Olympic Games.

Source: Modern Ghana

Takoradi, April 26, GNA – The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has been advised as a matter of urgency to replace its treatment machines at Daboase and other Dam sites in the Western Region.

This, according to Mr Sekyere Osei Yaw, Director of Conservation Foundation, had become necessary because the machines were deteriorated to the extent that they could no longer produce quality water for public consumption.

Mr Osei Yaw who made the call in an interview with the media in Takoradi blamed the activities of illegal mining and said they have contributed to the poor condition of the GWCL treatment machines and the water crisis in the Region.

“Unauthorized miners who have taken the law into their own hands and are mining illegally have resulted in such mess”, he stated.

He further admitted that illegal mining activities were adding more cost to the operations of the water company and called on Ghanaians to pay their water bills for the company to get funds for its activities.

Nana Yaw Barnie, Western Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO) of GWCL, confirmed that their treatment machines at Daboase and other treatment plants in the region had deteriorated.

This, he said was affecting the quality of water being produced.

He explained that the turbidity of the raw water required additional treatment, which came at a high cost to the company.

“For instance, our machines often break down, which takes days to fix and extra cost in maintaining it because we have to import technicians from Tema,” he said.

“Sometimes we use 40 bags of Aluminum Oxynitride (alon) instead of ten bags to treat the water to make it safe for consumption due to the level of pollution”, he added.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Absa Bank Ghana has unveiled the winner of its English premier league customer promotion dubbed, the “Card Assist campaign.”

The promotion was launched last December to encourage customers to take advantage of the bank’s contactless cards in managing their transactions seamlessly, with lots of prizes at stake as well.

The “Card Assist” campaign was also in alignment with the bank’s alliance with the English premier league (EPL), for which it is the official banking partner on the African continent.

The winner, Jamil Marwan Maraby, emerged as the customer with the highest number of card transactions in value and volume during the duration of the promotion. He is presently the Marketing Director of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and has been a customer of the bank since he was a teenager.

At an exclusive EPL match viewing event organized for the winner at Kempinski Gold Coast Hotel, Charles Addo, Retail Banking Director at Absa Bank said:

“The promotion was one way of bringing our customers closer to the products and services that make their lives easy and convenient. Jamil has a long history of association with the Bank, dating back to a time when he was literally in his teens. This is a demonstration of our commitment to stand beside our customers every step of their journey and to ensure that we are able to bring their possibilities to life.”

Apart from the match viewing event, Mr. Maraby received a Home Entertainment system, with a big TV screen and signed sports paraphernalia from the English premier league.

Commenting on his prize, Jamil Maraby said:

“I thank the bank for giving me the opportunity to celebrate such a great day with my friends and family. Absa has been a very important part of my personal and professional life and it is always fulfilling to know that I can count on them in any area related to financial empowerment and support.”

Source: Ghana Web

Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has observed with worry the continuous discussion of a portion of the 2018 Auditor General’s report by the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, in the media and subsequent reportage on his commentary.

Even though Parliament as an institution is yet to consider the report, the MP has resorted to discussions on the matter and in some cases making non-existing inferences from the report, only to mislead the listening and the reading public.

We wish to clarify the following:

1. The Board of Directors 2017 upon swearing-in, inherited the Board’s Fees and Allowance regime. This became the basis for the payment of allowances to members of the Board.

2. On the issue of Inconvenience Allowance, members were paid a tax-inclusive amount of GH¢ 1,500 for off-site meetings.

3. The Ministry of Finance later issued a new remuneration regime that did not include Board Fees and Inconvenience Allowances.

4. COCOBOD in compliance with the new regime has since stopped the payment of Board Fees and Inconvenience Allowances.

We shall continue to comply with the Board’s remuneration regime as directed by the Ministry of Finance.

Source: Ghana Web

Accra, April 26, GNA – The Accra East Regional Office of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has disconnected illegal water pipelines built by two water suppliers (sellers) at the Adjiringanor-Madina Nsamanpom area, in the Accra North-East District.

The sellers, who operate opposite the “Intelligent Minds International School,” had illegally connected 12-pipelines and 10-pipelines respectively in addition to their one legally connected pipelines.

Mr Paul Akpanya, the Regional Distribution Manager of the Office, said the suppliers, had by their misconduct denied the residents in the operating community and surrounding communities access to good water flow in their homes.

That, widened the market of the suppliers as they distributed water to the same residents via poly tanks in their homes for sale, he said.

Mr Akpanya explained that the Non-Revenue team of the GWCL two weeks ago, discovered around the A & C Shopping Mall area, East Legon, that a water supplier had illegally connected five pipes.

“We disconnected the pipes, invited him to our office, gave him a bill to settle and when he is not able to, we will take him to court. That’s how we do it, we treat it like we treat all illegal connections and bypasses,” he added.

“So we’ve disconnected all illegal ones and left the legal connection for them, which will have a metre to make them pay for the actual volume of water they consume. From today, we can tell you, everybody in this neighborhood will start getting water,” Mr Akpanya added.

He explained that the GWCL would need to calculate the total diameter of pipelines illegally fixed in order to calculate the volumes and the loss run by the Company.

The Regional Distribution Manager said the exercise was triggered by constant complaints from residents in Ogbojo and Adjiringanor over their poor and/or no water supply to their homes.

“So we made it a point to find out the reason because we are working very well and supply water according to our management plan, so we didn’t understand why water gets to certain places and not certain places.

“So our investigation made us find out they have connected illegal pipelines to tanks underground. And once their tank is down, it means the water drains down into the tanks and the residents whose poly tanks are on their roofs will never get the water,” he explained.

Those involved in the illegal connection chastised the Water Company for not informing them of the disconnection.

One of them said: “The Water Company should have alerted us they were coming here. We work with them and we are not enemies to them. This demolition exercise will deprive many of our customers of water.”

Some residents expressed joy and satisfaction at the disconnection of the illegal pipes in anticipation that water will flow into their homes afterwards.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Ghana’s largest privately-owned indigenous bank, Fidelity Bank, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with six real estate developers to enable customers to access mortgage loans.

The agreement will see Fidelity and the real estate developers –Integral Associates, GHS Housing, Adom City Estates, Priority Homes, Blue Rose Developers, New Oak, collaborate in the mortgage financing sector to make acquiring homes easier.

This follows an earlier agreement signed between the bank and NTHC Properties, Appolonia Development Company, and Trasacco Estate Developers in 2021.

Signing the MoU on behalf of Fidelity Bank, the Divisional Director, Retail Banking, Nana Esi Idun-Arkhurst stated that: “Homeownership is an integral part of the Ghanaian dream but the cost of financing a housing project can be prohibitive. Unfortunately, only a few financial institutions in Ghana offer mortgage financing. As one of the few institutions providing mortgages, this partnership will expand our mortgage financing offering so that we can help more people achieve their dream of owning a home and reducing the housing deficit in the country.”

“The signing of this MOU with our eight (8) real estate partners, is also a firm demonstration of our belief that serving our customers successfully requires collaboration with key stakeholders. Together, we will make mortgage financing more accessible for our customers and potential customers”, Nana Esi added.

Ebo Acquah, CEO of Blue Rose Real Estate developers, who spoke on behalf of all real estate developers present, said they are happy to partner with Fidelity Bank to expand the bank’s mortgage financing proposition.

He said: “We are thrilled to take this step with Fidelity Bank in ensuring that we provide solid financial support for people who wish to own their homes. The obvious fact today is that the price of already constructed houses in Ghana is way above what the average Ghanaian can afford. But with this partnership, we are confident that mortgages will be easily accessible by all and we will contribute to making a significant dent in the challenges facing the housing sector in Ghana.”

Source: Ghana Web

It appears that dancehall artiste Shatta Wale’s bluetooth is connecting GH One’s Serwaa Amihere.

In a recent post on Instagram, the father of two target his shot at the TV Presenter when he posted a picture of her, indicating that she was strong and hard working.

“I wish I had a wife like this, hard-working and strong in my line of business so we grow together @serwaaamihere .. pls are you dating”.

The TV Presenter reacted to the post by dropping laughing emojis.

The self-acclaimed Dancehall King is recalled to have parted ways with his long-term sweetheart, Shatta Michy.

Social media was thrown into a state of shock when the two announced that they were going separate ways in 2019.

Until recently, Shatta Wale introduced one Elfreda as his new girlfriend but that also didn’t go anywhere as the artist in a series of posts announced their fallout.

Source: Modern Ghana