Day: December 14, 2022

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I’m mature enough to work with Sam Gyamfi – Pablo

The National Youth Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), George Opare Addo, has said that his disagreement with the National Communications Officer of the party, Sammy Gyamfi, will not affect their working relationship.

Opare Addo, who is popularly known as Pablo, said that even though he and Gyamfi might not like each other, they will work together in the interest of the NDC.

Speaking in a Neat FM interview monitored by GhanaWeb, Pablo added that confusion at the party’s 10th Women and Youth Conference in Cape Coast should serve as a lesson to members of the party.

“Now we have to sit down and work together, and we must work together for the sake of the NDC. Sammy Gyamfi does need to like me and I don’t need to like him, but for the sake of the NDC, we must be able to work together.

“And I am mature enough to be able to work with him. I can assure everybody that I have forgiven what he did because he is my small brother,” he said in Twi.

Pablo also said that he has no issues with Sammy Gyamfi supporting his opponent in the NDC youth election.

He added that he has won the election, and they must now work together to ensure that the NDC wins the 2024 general elections.

The party’s women and youth leadership elections were held on Saturday, December 10, with George Opare Addo, and the National Women’s Organiser, Dr. Hannah Bissiw, retaining their positions.

The election was, however, marred by violence, and the Ghana Police Service has declared 16 people who were involved wanted.

Source: Ghana Web

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NDC Congress: Over 1000 police officers deployed to maintain law and order – Planning Committee

As part of preparations towards its national delegates congress, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has outlined a series of security measures it has put in place towards ensuring the safety of its members who are expected to throng the Accra Sports Stadium on Saturday, December 17, 2022.

Ahead of that, a member of the planning committee of the party, Ludwig Hlodze, has said that over 1000 personnel of the Ghana Police Service have been assigned to ensure that they keep the over 8000 delegates safe at the grounds.

Speaking on Kumasi-based Oyerepa TV, he said that the security for the congress is such that, those without authorized tags will not be allowed into the precincts of the stadium.

“Over 1000 police officers will be on the congress grounds to maintain law and order because we are expecting over 8,000 delegates from across the country.

“If you don’t have an observer tag, delegates tag or a press tag, you can’t enter the stadium. All supporters who are not accredited would be outside the stadium singing their songs,” he said.

Ludwig Hlodze also explained that all the security measures being put in place are aimed at forestalling the recurrence of the violent scenes recorded at the just-ended elections of the youth and women organizers of the NDC.

He therefore urged unauthorised persons to stay away from the venue for the elections or risk getting on the wrong sides of the law.

“If you don’t have the accreditation card with the security features, I advise you sit at home and watch the elections from there,” he added.

He further insisted that the national conference, scheduled for Saturday, December 17, 2022, will be peaceful in spite of the heated campaigns between the two leading candidates for the National Chairman position, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo and Johnson Asiedu Nketiah.

“I assure you that there will not be any violence on the day of elections because of the security measures put in place. What is happening between Asiedu Nketiah and Ampofo is normal because even between Kufour and Nana, who experienced a similar thing in the past, they sailed through. So, with Asiedu Nketiah and Ofosu-Ampofo, they will unite and forge ahead for victory 2024,” he added.

Source: Ghana Web

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2020 Election Petition: Sanction NDC lawyers – NPP to GBA

The Communications Director for the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah, is calling on the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) to take action by sanctioning the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) lawyers for leading an election petition charge built on lies and fabrications.

This call comes on the back of a leaked audio in which the current NDC General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia was heard confessing to some party delegates in the Ashanti Region that the NDC had to contest the 2020 election results in court without the collated results because its IT system crashed.

Mr Ahiagbah made the call in a statement dated Wednesday, December 14, 2022.

He said it was unfortunate and a waste of the court’s time as well as a waste of individual resources.

He believes sanctioning the lawyers will help curb or stop further incidences such as this and bring sanity into the political atmosphere in connection to election disputes in the country.

He also admonished members of all political parties to have their facts right and intact before engaging in legal battles so as not to drag any government backwards.

Source: Ghana Web

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Asiedu Nketiah explains why he didn’t attend NDC Women and Youth Conference

The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has explained why he did not attend the 10th Women and Youth Conference of his party in Cape Coast.

Speaking in an interview on XYZ TV monitored by GhanaWeb, Asiedu Nketiah said that he could have attended the conference to encourage the youth of the party, but he did not have any official function to perform there.

He added that he did not see the need to go there and campaign like others did because he was approaching the delegates in person to ask for their support.

“I didn’t go there (the conference); I was on the field working. I could have gone, but my absence spoils nothing. Because it was the youth who were going to have their elections, I could have gone there to encourage them, but there was no specific responsibility for me to go and discharge there.

“Some people were thinking it was an opportunity to campaign. But I see no need for that. The people who went to the conference I am already been meeting them in their constituencies. So, it is a matter of style that somebody wants to meet them in a jamboree,” he said.

The NDC General Secretary is speaking out for the first time since the leakage of audiovisuals of him saying that the party didn’t have concrete evidence during the 2020 election petition to the Supreme Court.

On the tape recording that has gone viral, Asiedu Nketiah, affectionately called ‘General Mosquito’ who appeared to be talking to some NDC members in a closed-door meeting, could be heard accusing and blaming the chairman of the party, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, for the party’s shoddy work in relation to the election petition.

He stated categorically that he denied having the results when he stood in the dock during cross-examination at the Supreme Court, because the NDC had no evidence to back their claim, and if he hadn’t denied it, he would have been disgraced.

Asiedu Nketiah further revealed that lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata, who defended the party, had earlier refused to stand for the NDC because of the lack of concrete evidence but decided to defend the party after the petition was reviewed.

Source: Ghana Web

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‘Issues on my leaked tape not new’ – Asiedu Nketiah

The national chairman hopeful of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has mounted a spirited counteraction against the leaked tape that has gone viral on social media.

In the said leaked tape, the current NDC General Secretary, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, was heard confessing to some party delegates in the Ashanti Region that the NDC had to contest the 2020 election results in the Supreme Court without the collated results because its Information Technology (IT) system crashed.

According to Mr Asiedu Nketia, what was contained in the leaked tape is no news.

“These are matters I have spoken about from time immemorial as the party’s General Secretary,” he forcefully said.

Mr Nketiah defended the content of the tape while speaking on Accra-based TV XYZ and later played on Accra 100.5 FM’s mid-day news on Wednesday, December 14, 2022.

“This is nothing new except the people want to make a political meal out of it,” he said.

He warned people who intend to take this tape to town to rethink their decision.

He was of the view there was nothing inside that tape saying “I told the Supreme Court the same thing when I mounted the witness box in the 2020 Election Petition.”

“When I was asked about the NDC’s collated results I said I have none, besides, it is not the business of the NDC to collate results,” he argued.

“It is the EC’s job to collate results,” he said, adding that the NDC can only collate results for its internal purposes.

“We compile results for internal consumption not for the EC and the court’s consumption,” he said.

He narrated that it was the NDC’s quest to challenge the EC’s collated results because the EC collated multiple results using the wrong procedures.

“Go and check what happened in Techiman South Constituency,” he challenged, adding that: “The figures are not consistent.”

Source: Ghana Web

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Birim North District gets Vocational and Technical Institute

Adausena (E/R), Dec.14, GNA- The Newmont Africa-Akyem Mine, in partnership with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), has constructed and handed over four-unit classroom block with ancillary facilities and four workshops worth GHS31.000.00 to the Abirem community.

The Akyem Vocational and Technical Institute (AVTI) is an initiative of the traditional authorities and the Newmont Akyem Development Foundation (NAKDeF) that aims to encourage the youth to take up technical related courses to help reduce unemployment in the district.

At a short ceremony to inaugurate the edifice, Mr Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, the Board Chairman of NAKDeF, said the gesture was to foster the employability of the youth through educational and skills development and to support the economic and social development in the Newmont Akyem mine catchment areas.

He said the AVTI had been in operation since February this year and the first cohort of 96 per cent students were on full scholarship from NAkDeF.

He said within the first year of operation, the Institute had been registered and accredited by the Technical and Vocational Educational and Training (TVET) Services under the Ministry of Education.

The Institute has also been registered and currently pursuing accreditation for competency-based training courses from the Commission for Technical and Vocational Educational and Training (CTVET).

He said through partnership with the GIZ, NAKDeF introduced the Akyem Skills, Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (A-SEED) which aimed at directly and indirectly generating employment for roughly 600 youth and other benefits of communities affected by Newmont’s mining operations.

He noted that the programme introduced was in two components that included the establishment of a vocational and technical school and a Cooperative Credit Union, which was currently in full operation as the ‘Pempamsie’ Cooperative Credit Union.

He said the programme had been designed to ensure that at least 35 per cent of the trainees and employment generated therefrom are females.

Mr Gyimah- Boadi said plans were underway for the introduction of new programmes, including fashion and catering and promised of the Foundation’s commitment to support the AVTI and seeing to its successful handover to the Government of Ghana.

He lauded the traditional authorities for availing the land for the construction of the AVTI and entreated them to avail more lands for future projects to promote development in the district.

Mr Daniel Agya Mensah, the General Manager of Newmont Golden Ridge Limited-Akyem Mine, who the spoke on behalf of Mr Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, said technical centers in the country were meant to equip the youth with technical and professional know-how to drive socio- economic and industrial development of the country, and therefore must be taken seriously.

He said technical and vocational education training was a fundamental element in the development equation because it allowed individuals and societies to unlock potential, expand their horizons and adapt to the changes.

Mr. Mensah said by equipping young women and men with the technical and professional skills, NAKDeF had to accelerate socio-economic development and to pave the way for self- reliant youth and entrepreneurs who would be able to identify timeless opportunities.

He said Newmont Africa focused on community skills enhancement, hence the establishment of the AVTI to promote technical education in the catchment areas.

He urged the trainers and the tutors to focus on innovation-driven teaching to equip the students with the mindset for solving problems closest to them and transform these solutions into commercially viable ideas for wealth creation.

Nana Boni Abankro V, the Chief of Adausena, thanked NAKDeF and Nemont Africa for the gesture and encouraged the students, especially the females, to take up male related courses to enable them progress in their businesses.

Present at the occasion were dignitaries from the TVET Services, Chiefs, Assembly members, Staffs of Newmont Africa, the Sustainable and Development Goals (SDGs), teaching and non- teaching staffs and students.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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St John Paul school holds graduation ceremony, Christmas carols

Takoradi, Dec 14, GNA-The Saint John Paul school in Takoradi of the Western Region has organised its graduation ceremony and a festival of nine lessons and carols on the theme: “The birth of a saviour to the modern world.”

The colorful ceremony gave the pupils the opportunity to display talents in poetry recitals, Bible quotations and reading of the nine lesson which was interspersed with melodious carols from the school choir.

They also choreographed beautiful dances with music from the school choir and acted in the nativity play.

Mr Emmanuel Kwamina Salia, Regional Manager of the Catholic Education Unit for Western and Western North Region, who was the guest speaker, said the modern world needed humble, sincere and faithful people, adding that “as children and people imitating Christ humility should be your watch word in order to aspire higher.”

He said, “humility will make you become the head and not the tail in this modern world as Christ humbled himself to become the Saviour of the world.”

Mr Salia underscored the importance of humility, noting that “with humility, everything would be given to you and that if God’s favour was not part of you, you would achieve less in life”

The Manager pointed out that humility before God and others would make God to lift peope higher in their education, workplace and family, as well as bring them wisdom which could lead to higher achievements.

Mr Salia indicated that humility before God and others would also bring about forgiveness, healing of wounds as well as healing from corruption, greed and individualism.

The Manager prayed that the festive period would enable them to humble themselves to witness God’s favour in their lives.

The headmaster of the school, Mr Emmanuel Lewis commended staff, parents and pupils for the efforts put in organising the festival of nine lessons and carols for the coming Christmas.

He said though the school had chalked several successes, it was still confronted with the non-payment of school fees and appealed to parents to endeavour to pay up their fees since it was the fees that were used to pay the teachers and run the school.

Mr Lewis also appealed to philanthropists and institutions to support the school to complete its Junior high school block.

Reverend Father Alex Amponsah, a priest at the Cathedral, in a Christmas message urged all during the yuletide to be prayerful, read the word of God and above all be humble since according to him, humility was the keyword word for every Christian to derive mility was the key word for every Christian to derive favour from God.

In all 46 pupils made up of 23 boys and 23 girls graduated from kindergarten to basic one. They were presented with certificates.

The school, which belongs to Mary our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Cathedral in Takoradi, has a nursery, kindergarten, primary school and a junior high school with more than 36 staff members and a student population of about 500.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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Youth urged to embrace TVET to help create employment for themselves

Achinakrom (Ash), Dec. 14, GNA-Mr Simon Osei Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister has urged the youth to embrace Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to acquire skills that will made them self-employable.

He said TVET had the potential to resolve the country’s unemployment challenges and that was why the government was providing the requisite infrastructure to make TVET education accessible to many young people in the country.

Mr Osei Mensah made the call, during an inauguration of a six-unit classroom block with offices for the headmaster, staff and computer laboratory, for the Achinakrom basic schools in the Ejisu Municipality.

It was constructed by the district assembly to replace an old block which had become a death trap for the pupils.

The Regional Minister said TVET was now the best form of education all over the world, since it provided hands-on skills training required by not only industries but the individual to create his or her own business.

The younger generation therefore needed to embrace it to acquire the skills needed to create jobs for themselves and employ others.

Mr Osei Mensah said the government would continue to create opportunities in the TVET space to get more young people to acquire rightful skills and expertise for their future.

Mr Samuel Oduro Frimpong, Ejisu Municipal Chief Executive, said quality education delivery was one of the topmost priorities of the assembly.

It would therefore work to provide the infrastructure and human resources to promote and enhance efficient classroom delivery to improve the performance of school children in the area.

Ms. Lordina Amankwaa, assembly for Achinakrom electoral area called on the children to take advantage of the project to learn to climb higher on the education ladder.

Source: Ghana News Agency