Day: October 7, 2022

 

The Chief Executive Officer of Petrosol Ghana Ltd, Michael Bozumbil, has commended Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, the Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), for the bold steps he has taken to sanitise the downstream petroleum industry by enforcing the industry regulations for a level playing field.

He has, therefore, encouraged him to continue on that path and pledged the support of the leadership of Petrosol.

Mr. Bozumbil said this when he recently led some members of the senior leadership team of Petrosol to pay a courtesy call on Dr. Abdul-Hamid at his office in Accra.

He said the visit was to commend him for the major steps he has taken and the measures he is putting in place to sanitise the industry.

He informed Dr. Abdul-Hamid that Petrosol places a high priority on regulatory compliance and the accurate payment of taxes and levies to the state.

On regulatory compliance, Mr. Bozumbil indicated that not only does Petrosol comply with NPA’s regulations but has also gone a step further to subject its operations to international audit, leading to the company receiving triple-International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) certifications for quality, occupational health and safety and environment.

Regarding the payment of tax obligations, Mr Bozumbil informed Dr. Abdul-Hamid that Petrosol dutifully pays its taxes, indicating that the Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority recently wrote to Petrosol to congratulate them for their tax compliance.

On his part, Dr. Abdul-Hamid was full of praise for PETROSOL for being a compliant company and urged them to maintain that record.

He expressed his appreciation for the visit and the show of support for the measures he and his team are putting in place to ensure a level playing field.

He said he would continue to enforce the rules fairly and hoped operators in the industry would comply.

Petrosol is a leading privately owned Ghanaian oil marketing company operating several fuel stations across the country.

 

Source: Modern Ghana

Vivo Energy Ghana on Thursday, October 6, successfully launched the 2022 edition of the ‘Stop, Think & Drive’ road safety campaign geared towards the prevention of road accidents.

Every year in Ghana, a significant number of people are killed by accidents involving vehicles with many injured.

Provisional statistics from the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) and the Ghana Police MTTD indicate that over 2,924 people were killed in road traffic accidents in 2021.

Recent developments have equally been portraying a worrying trend of frequent accidents claiming many lives and according to the NRSA, between January and August this year, over 1,600 people have died.

It is on the back of these worrisome numbers that Vivo Energy Ghana, the exclusive marketer, and distributor of Shell-branded fuels and lubricants has decided to partner with the National Road Safety Authority again this year to campaign for road safety.

The 2022 edition of the ‘Stop, Think & Drive road safety campaign’ will be carried out with support from relevant stakeholder institutions including the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), the Police MTTD, and the various Transport Unions.

At the launch of the campaign on Thursday, Mr. Kader Maiga, the Managing Director of Vivo Energy Ghana stressed that his outfit is committed to supporting the government and its agencies to curb road accident menace on our roads through the STOP, THINK & DRIVE annual Road Safety Programme.

He explained that this year’s campaign is expected to reach over 1,000 high-risk commercial drivers and motorcyclists across the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Bono East, Northern, Central, and Western Regions of Ghana with refresher training in defensive driving and free eye screening services for drivers.

Following the training, drivers will be monitored and evaluated to assess the impact made over a period with the help of station masters and driver unions.

“I urge all drivers and motorcyclists to make the most out of these refresher training to better equip them in discharging their daily activities and contribute towards making our roads safer.

“Improving safety on our roads is a collective responsibility, let’s get involved,” Mr. Kader Maiga said in his concluding remarks.

Speaking at the launch, Mr. Kwame Koduah Atuahene, the Head of Regulation, Inspection, and Compliance at NRSA was full of praise for Vivo Energy Ghana and applauded the company for consistently supporting the National Road Safety Authority.

“We have to commend Vivo Energy for being a good corporate citizen. They also give back to road safety and that is very commendable,” Mr. Kwame Koduah Atuahene shared.

He further called on the various transport unions and commercial drivers to embrace the Stop, Think & Drive road safety to make Ghanaian roads safer for all.

“You [commercial drivers] have the responsibility of passengers and you need to make their safety your priority. We want drivers to help us reduce road accidents in the country,” Mr. Kwame Koduah Atuahene appealed.

On her part, Madam Catherine Hamilton, the NRSA Greater Accra Regional Director urged commercial drivers to patronize products of Vivo Energy Ghana to sustain their investment in training for commercial drivers, a venture she intimated that is the sure way of promoting responsible driving to curb accidents.

“Vivo energy has been helping us a lot. They have always been helping us to train our drivers and we cannot thank them enough. We are starting this year’s training in Accra. Drivers will be given a certificate after the training in addition to free eye screening.

“Shell is a very good product so I will urge you the drivers to purchase from Shell so that they will continue helping us,” Madam Catherine Hamilton shared.

Thursday’s launch of the Stop, Think & Drive road safety campaign at the Neoplan Station at Circle was attended by officials of Vivo Energy Ghana, distinguished Transporters; S.O Frimpong, J.K. Horgle & J. K. Ahiadome, as well as representatives of MTTD, DVLA, GPRTU, and the leadership of the Neoplan Bus Terminal.

 

 

Source: Modern Ghana

 

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has slammed the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) over its criticism of President Akufo-Addo’s fight against illegal mining, otherwise known as galamsey.

In a release signed by Ernest Kofi Owusu Bempah, Deputy Director of Communications for the NPP, it says the NDC’s criticism of the government’s fight against the galamsey menace is like the pot calling the kettle black.

He lambasts the NDC, saying it appears the opposition party has no brains or conscience.

“The impertinence of Sammy Gyamfi, and the litany of claims by the NDC is expected. Indeed, their conduct is like the pot calling the kettle black because their track record in the galamsey menace is horrible. It is a no brainer situation, but then, the NDC appears to have no brains or conscience – we are talking about a party that shamelessly launched the Youth in Small Scale Mining programme in the Eastern Region, which apparently opened the floodgate for galamsey,” the release signed by Ernest Kofi Owusu Bempah reads.

According to the NPP Deputy Director of Communications, the NDC is fast becoming a model of lazy populism with no real ideas apart from their usual triangulated survival antics.

Find more in the release below:

NDC ought to stop the galamsey politics now

The one consistent principle of the Mahama NDC has been cakeism, their ardent belief that they alone should be able to have their cake and eat it. And so, true to that spirit, National Communications Officer for NDC, Sammy Gyamfi speaking at a press conference at the NDC headquarters earlier today, alleged that some members of the NPP and government are behind galamsey in the country.

He described the measures and strategies put in place by the Akufo-Addo government to fight galamsey as a clear deception, and indicated that the administration has failed woefully in the fight against galamsey.

Hearing the NDC’s Sammy Gyamfi spouting such rhetoric at his press conference makes me wonder if the NDC as a political organisation would ever get serious in this country.

The impertinence of Sammy Gyamfi, and the litany of claims by the NDC is expected. Indeed, their conduct is like the pot calling the kettle black because their track record in the galamsey menace is horrible. It is a no brainer situation, but then, the NDC appears to have no brains or conscience – we are talking about a party that shamelessly launched the Youth in Small Scale Mining programme in the Eastern Region, which apparently opened the floodgate for galamsey.

Yes, the NDC had the opportunity to pull the plug on Galamsay but they rather enabled it and watch it festered badly.

Of course, the galamsey situation got so bad under Mahama in 2015, such that he had to hang his shame on the people of Kyebi, tagging the place as the headquarters of Galamsay in the country.

Weirdly, Mahama ate the humble pie a few days later and rendered an unqualified apology to the people of Kyebi for describing the town as the headquarters of galamsey in the country when he was dared by the Okyenhene to back his spurious claims with incontrovertible evidence.

“I’ve regretted the reaction my statement has generated among the people and chiefs of Okyeman and “I know it worries you,” he said in Twi.

“So, I have retracted it. I know the galamsey problem is a problem for us all.”

This shenanigan not only disgraces him and his party – it indicts them for their role in enabling the infamous Chinese galamsay kingpin, Aisha Huang to thrive in Ghana.

For those that may have missed this; the erstwhile Mahama government issued an infinite resident permit to Aisha Huang.

Precisely on 28th March 2015, Aisha Huang was given an indefinite resident permit to live here in perpetuity and to engage in her illegal activities. This happened under the Mahama administration. Meanwhile, she was unsuccessful in getting the permit during President Kufour’s era.

So you see, any dastardly attempt by the NDC to rationalize the political economy of galamsay must be roundedly condemned. It is beyond dispute that under John Mahama-led government, the national record of the deleterious impact of galamsay left a lot to be desired. It was simply unprecedented.

In essence, attempting to fault bureaucracy or bureaucratic red tape for the pernicious impact of galamsay is at best, a farce and, at the very worst, grossly irresponsible and downright politically repressive.

All that the Akufo-Addo administration has been doing is simply managing a very bad situation as well as it can by the deft and relatively constructive application of the statutory laws of the land.

The NDC is fast becoming a model of lazy populism with no real ideas apart from their usual triangulated survival antics.

An old adage have it that, when you’re trying to breath under water, you will have to think of the consequences and reach for sane fresh air. It might be wiser for them to proceed gently in galamsey conversation.

Ernest Kofi Owusu Bempah, Deputy Director of Communications, NPP

 

Source: Modern Ghana

 

The Ranking Member on the Local Government and Rural Development Select Committee of Parliament Nii Lante Vanderpuije has expressed indignations at the calls by President Nana Akufo-Addo for a new initiative to be adopted in the fight against galamsey in the country.

President Nana Addo Dankwaa Akufo-Addo at the meeting with Chiefs and some Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to find new ways to deal with the galamsey menace at the Manhyia Palace in the Ashanti Region on Wednesday, October 5, 2022, said: “We have tried many initiatives in the fight against galamsey, still we have not won the fight against galamsey in the country.”

According to the Ranking Member, considering the plundering that has occurred, “I don’t think there is something the President can do in the next two years to salvage the galamsey menace.”

The National Democratic Congress’ Member of Parliament for Ododododiodio Constituency in the Greater Accra Region expressed these doubts speaking on the 505 evening news analysis programme on Class 91.3 FM hosted by Korku Lumor.

He noted on Wednesday, October 5, 2022, interview that there are so many laws like the mining regulations and mining acts to deal with the galamsey situation.

He said the President with his cohorts designed many of these initiatives to cause these devastations to the country’s forest cover and water bodies.

He argued that the President’s warning that he was not going to shield anybody in the renewed fight against galamsey was a charade because he had already shielded enough in the fight.

“Hasn’t the President shielded the former Minister for Science and Technology, Prof Frimpong Boateng, under whose watchful eyes some five hundred excavators flew into thin air?” he questioned.

He again asserted that the likes of Charles Bissiw, the former General Secretary of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), and John Boadu are still walking free despite their roles in the galamsey menace.

He maintained that there is a tall list of party people who have been shielded in the fight against galamsey.

According to him, it is too late for the President to turn things around because of the levels of devastation caused by the illegal miners.

He said the failure of the President to sustain the fight against galamsey was a situation of sheer incompetence, complicity, unwillingness and dishonesty.

“This government cannot do anything to compensate for the loss because of galamsey,” he said.

 

 

Source: Modern Ghana

 

Former Deputy Information Minister in the Mahama-led NDC administration, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has blamed the country’s economic failures on Vice President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia.

His comment follows the recent report that Ghana’s debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will hit 104.6% by the end of 2022.

This was contained in World Bank’s October 2022 Africa Pulse Report.

Mr. Kwakye Ofosu said it’s shameful that Bawumia who used to criticise his predecessors for economic incompetence would record such pitiful economic dwindling figures.

“Our debt to GDP ratio will be 104% by the close of this year according to the World Bank. That means we will owe more as a country than our entire GDP. It was 56% in 2016.

“Do not accept any excuses from Bawumia who has bankrupted our nation this way after his arrogant posturing as some economic wizard,” he said in a Facebook post on October 6.

He stressed, “Throw him out in 2024.”

 

Source: Modern Ghana

Organizers of the annual African food festival have revealed that the 2022 edition of the festival will be moving from Africa to Europe and America in November and December respectively.

The first edition of the awards was held in Ghana and subsequently in South Africa and Nigeria.

This year being the 4th edition, the organizers explained that the main idea of the festival is to let the world know that African foods have a place on every healthy eater’s plate.

The PRO of the event Mustapha Nii Okai Inusah, Popularly known as Attractive Mustapha added that African foods are healthy and delicious. He noted that the cuisine is primarily plant-based and vegetables are typically the star of the plate which is worth the attention.

As to what people should expect, he said just like they do every year in other countries, they will offer vendors from different countries the opportunity to teach how to cook natural African food and serve it. There will be side attractions and entertainment.

 

 

Source: Modern Ghana

 

Lynx Entertainment signee KiDi has cautioned the media not to ask him questions about his colleague Kuami Eugene anytime he avails himself for interviews.

Speaking in a one-on-one interview with Angel FM’s Ohemaa Woyeje monitored by Attractive Mustapha, on his new EP titled ‘4Play,’ the interviewer asked a few questions about his label mate Kuami Eugene.

The “touch it” hitmaker answered a few and also rubbished Kuami Eugene’s statement about the fact that winning artiste of the year does not make one an overall champion.

KiDi’s reply to that statement was that it is Kuami Eugene’s opinion and everyone has their own perspective on issues.

“But whatever it is, since majority have decided that you are artiste of the year then no need digesting it,“ he stated.

Ohemaa Woyeje attempted to find out from KiDi if Kuami Eugene is still with Lynx Entertainment. The musician responded that he has heard some rumours but he has no idea about Kuami Eugene’s contract at Lynx and whether he has left or not.

When Ohemaa Woyeje pushed further, KiDi cautioned that he does not want to be answering questions on Kuami Eugene when he is being interviewed.

“We are all different people so I don’t want the media to be asking me questions about him,” KiDi retorted.

 

 

Source: Modern Ghana