Day: December 29, 2022

To relieve the hospital and put smiles on the faces of the inmates’ during this festive season, the Valley View University Students’ Representative Council has contributed and donated items worth thousands of cedis to aid the patients of Pantang Psychiatric Hospital on the 24th December, 2022.

The items which include clothing, bags, shoes, food, toiletries, clothing, among other things were presented to the officials of the hospital by Mr. Mordecai Nsiah Dwomoh, President of the VVU SRC, and Madam Hannah Amoh, Faculty Advisor of the VVU SRC in the company of other executives.

The SRC president says the students and the staff have the responsibility to cater for the vulnerable in society as part of its social responsibility and bring love to the people.

“We at Valley View University believe in the welfare of people and also know that inmates at this facility are humans who deserve to receive love and kindness, and as part of our corporate social responsibility, we felt compelled to make this donation”, he said.

The Officials at the facility expressed their gratitude to the VVU SRC for the donation and requested that it be the first of many nice deeds come. They extended a call to philanthropists and other well-meaning Ghanaians to offer them a helping hand in difficult times.

The VVU SRC Executives, the SRC Faculty Advisor and students who were present took a tour of the facility and spoke with some of the patients and employees.

Source: Modern Ghana

Ghana Premier League side, Medeama SC have mutually parted ways with head coach, David Duncan.

The former Black Stars assistant was named as the new boss for the Yellow and Mauve on a one-year deal on September 2, 2022, before the start of the ongoing season.

However, Duncan has struggled to improve the side.

After nine matches played, Medeama SC sit on the 13th position with 11 points. However, Duncan only supervised five games.

A club statement read, “Medeama Sporting Club and Head Coach David Duncan today parted company on mutual ground.

“On behalf of everyone at Medeama SC, the Club would like to place on record its gratitude to David Duncan for his efforts during his time with the club and wish him well in his future endeavour.”

Duncan’s return to the Ghana Premier League was his first job after he was sacked by Asante Kotoko in 2016.

Duncan is a former coach AshantiGold SC, Great Olympics, and Hearts of Oak as well as outside the country with South African side, Free State Stars.

Meanwhile, assistant coach, Umar Rabi is expected to take charge of upcoming games before a new coach is appointed.

Rabi took over the leadership role at the club after Ignatius Osei-Fosu was sacked last year.

Source: Modern Ghana

The Ketu South Municipal Security Council (MUSEC) in the Volta Region has placed a temporary ban on all economic activities, including fishing and other human activities, in the Denu -Torkor Lagoon (Adafienu Concession) until further notice.

The decision was taken at an emergency Municipal Security Council meeting held on Tuesday, December 27 after the drowning of a 77-year-old woman.

Preliminary investigations from MUSEC showed that the woman got drowned in the lagoon near Laklevikope, a community within Ketu South.

This was contained in a statement signed by Mr Maxwell Lugudor, the Municipal Chief Executive for the area and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Wednesday, December 28.

The statement revealed that the woman in question had an underlying medical condition that caused her to leave home unannounced until a search was mounted for her, according to family sources.

“This situation continued until her lifeless body was found on December 26 in the lagoon near Laklevikope, which lies outside the zone where the dikes were created by the Seven Sea Salt Limited,” the statement said.

The statement further cautioned members of the public to stay away from conducting any fishing or human activity in the lagoon “until such is sanctioned by the Municipal Security Council of the Ketu South Municipal Assembly.”

The GNA further gathered, a joint security force would be on the hunt for any individual or group who would be caught violating the latest order.

“We also want to use the opportunity to apologise to the public for any inconvenience that the ban might cause. However, the general public must note that this decision has been taken to maintain public peace and security in the Municipality.”

In September this year, hundreds of residents of Ketu South took to the streets to demonstrate against the operations of Seven Seas Company Limited, a salt-mining company in the area, due to the death of a middle-aged woman and her three children.

Source: Modern Ghana

Koforidua, Dec 29, GNA-The Christ Congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) at Mile 50, a suburb of Koforidua, has launched its golden jubilee celebration.

The year-long celebration is on the theme: “Maintaining a Peaceful Society as a way of manifesting God’s glory” and the climax is scheduled for August, next year.

Preaching the sermon at a special church service, also dubbed as traditional wear day and homecoming, Reverend Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, former General secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, said traditions were not a fetish.

Our traditions of respect, language, dressing and fellow feeling are not fetishes but God-given stars to guide us to our destination and every Christian must be concerned about how we are losing touch with our culture and traditions.

Referring to the shepherds, who were led by a star to the destination of Christ, the Saviour, on Christmas day, he said God gave stars in different forms to direct his people to their destinations and one of such stars was our traditions and culture.

He said Christians should not relegate culture and traditions to the background all in the name of Christianity and modernity because if we missed our star of direction, we would miss our destinations as well.

“Speaking your language, dancing to the traditional drums and songs, paying homage to your family and clan elders are all part of our cherished traditions, which must not be seen as a fetish but must be seen as our identity through which we worship God in fullness.”

“The star of God directing us to our destinations may not be unique or mystical as the one which led the shepherds at the time, but God can use people around us to lead us to our safe destinations and we must be humble enough to appreciate whatever roles people play in our lives,” he said

The Church service was spiced up as congregants, including the clergy dressed in different traditional wears and danced to the tunes of traditional drums and songs to the glory of God.

Reverend Opuni-Frimpong, also leader of the Alliance for Christian Advocacy Africa (ACAA) and a Presbyterian Minister, expressed the hope that Christians will not disregard traditions because ‘they are forms of stars directing us to our destinations.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

Accra, December 29, GNA – The Reverend Dr Lawrence Tetteh, an International Evangelist and Founder, Worldwide Miracle Outreach, says the Police cannot stop the Church from making prophetic statements on December 31.

“In every community, we have the good, the bad, and the ugly. The Police should not use the attitude of a few bad ones against the hard-earned reputation of the majority of the Clergymen. The work of the Church should not be taken for granted,” he said.

Contributing to discussions on the ban on pastors making panic prophecies on December 31, Rev Tetteh disagreed with the directives of the Police, saying: “We have to be very careful not to throw the baby with the water away”.

“I am the first to agree that some of my colleagues have been irresponsible with their statements during December 31, by pronouncing death and horrifying things, but that should not undermine the fact that prophecies are real, and it is not in the place for the police to determine what prophecy should be given at the end of the year.

“I believe that should be considered an insult to the Church, and I personally take a strong objection to the police assuming that authority,” he said.

The Clergyman said Ghana was a very religious community and that Ghanaians took December 31 very seriously because there were many people who did not get the opportunity to go to Church, except on that day to reaffirm their faith in God.

“Whether we like it or not, in the Bible, prophecies are real and are of God, and the fact that somebody has given a scary prophecy does not mean that the Police should give such a ‘blanket’ statement that gags the Church.

“It is very dangerous and undermines freedom of expression, freedom of views, and freedom of worship, and I think it is wrong for the Police to make such a pronouncement,” he stated.

Rev Tetteh urged the Police to engage such Pastors and talk to them instead of making a general statement, stressing that the organs of government should be very mindful not to forget that, but for the religious community, everything would have been doomed.

“We should also consider the Bible because there were prophecies that Nathan had to give to David. There are prophesies that are for the nation and those that are for individuals.”

He said the Police should be thinking about a variety of issues on December 31, such as armed robbery and not what the Church was doing, stressing “a nation without a prophetic word is lost”.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Over time, the cedi was competitive against major trading currencies, particularly the US dollar, though it became quite volatile at times.

At the beginning of January 2022, the cedi was trading at a rate of GH¢5.9 to the US dollar, according to data from the Bank of Ghana.

But on March 15, 2022, the cedi passed the GH¢8 mark to sell at GH¢8.12 pesewas.

The Euro was also selling at GH¢8.33 pesewas and buying at GH¢8.53 pesewas.

Shortly after the aforementioned rate, the cedi depreciated to GH¢6.02 at the interbank level, indicating a depreciation of nearly 12%.

Cedi hits GH¢10 mark in September

In September, the government tried putting in some measures to stabilize the free fall of the local currency, as it was selling at GH¢10 to $1.

In the same month, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta disclosed that the cedi had lost its value by 31.7 percent to the US dollar.

Cedi reaches GH¢11 mark in October

The cedi took a climb to GH¢11 to $1 in October. This came as a shock to many as Ghanaians were expecting an appreciation from the local currency against the trading currencies.

As part of measures to avert the depreciation of the cedi, the government run to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial bailout.

The IMF bailout would help rescue the cedi, as well as, stabilize the economy that has taken a nose dive.

While Ghana awaits the money from IMF, international credit rating agencies; Moody’s, Fitch, Standard and Poors’, remarked that Ghana’s economy looked gloomy.

This led to a hike in the monetary policy rate by the Bank of Ghana to 24. 5%. The hike in the policy rate was to stem the soaring inflation which has subsequently led to an increase in goods and services.

Cedi depreciates further, highest decline in 22 years – Report

Bloomberg has on Thursday, October 20, 2022, reported that Ghana’s local currency – the cedi – has diminished in value by 9.6%.

This, the news portal said, makes the total loss of the cedi in 2022 almost 52%, the highest recorded in 22 years.

The free fall of the cedi now places the currency at the 148 position of worst performing currencies in the world.

Cedi appreciates

The Ghana cedi regained more than 61 per cent of its value against some of the country’s major foreign trading currencies in recent times.

The currency had lost up to 54 per cent of its value at the end of November, making it one of the worst performing currencies in the world.

Meanwhile, Government of Ghana is targeting an amount of $3 billion over a three-year period from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) once an agreement on a programme is reached.

The new amount requested as a loan is double the government’s initial target of $1.5 billion.

The IMF programme is aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability and safeguarding debt sustainability among many others.

UK based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has however predicted doom for the cedi.

It said the cedi will depreciate about 22% against the dollar in 2023.

This, EIU said will rank the local currency as the third weakest performing currency on the African continent.

Source: Ghana Web

Tamale, Dec 29, GNA – Norsaac, a civil society organisation (CSO), has climaxed its 20th anniversary celebration with a dinner and awards in Tamale.

     The ceremony was attended by people from all walks of life, including CSOs and institutions where awards, in the form of citations, were given to individuals and organisations for their commitment to improving society.

     Mr Alhassan Mohammed Awal, Executive Director of Norsaac, speaking on the 20-year journey of Norsaac, said it began in 2002 as Northern Schools AIDS Action Clubs, a school-based club and had grown to a national organisation that had contributed immensely to the country’s progress in diverse fields.

     Mr Awal expressed gratitude to BasicNeeds-Ghana, IBIS, ActionAid and Children Believe, who were the pioneer donors to Norsaac, adding the organisation had worked in over 6,000 communities in the northern part of the country and had 35 donors within the two decades of service.

     He noted that the organisation operated without a strategic plan for the first four years but developed the Norsaac Strategic Papers in subsequent years on sexual and reproductive health rights, women’s rights and governance, education, livelihood and entrepreneurial development as well as the movement for active citizenship.

    Mr Awal, highlighting some successes chalked by Norsaac, said the organisation launched the Northern Region Assembly Women Caucus on Good Governance in 2008, which contributed to women representation and participation in decision-making as it was recognised as leading actors on women, children and youth in the country.

    He said, “Norsaac has reached out to over 100,000 young people and women directly on reproductive health issues, sexual and gender-based violence and the participation of women in decision-making processes.

We partnered the Ghana Education Service to pilot and scale up gender friendly leadership structure that made most schools to introduce structures that allowed all sexes to compete for positions in Seniors High Schools.”

     Alhaji Shani Alhassan Saibu, Northern Regional Minister, who was the guest of honour, said Norsaac had played its collaborative role with government very well over the years in pursuing the development agenda of the north by collaborating with relevant actors including Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Regional Coordinating Councils, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies and like-minded organisations to deliver programmes that positively affected the lives of the marginalised and vulnerable in society.  

     He said Norsaac, in the past 20 years, played critical roles, which included empowering and building the capacity of women groups, youth networks, and school children by giving them requisite training and skills, adding the organisation had worked closely with different education sector stakeholders at both regional and district levels to carry out programmes.

     He said, “It is a known fact that there are many harmful social and cultural practices that impede development in Northern Ghana, especially in the area of education including child marriages but Norsaac in the last two decades has worked with multiple stakeholders to eliminate these inimical practices.”

      Alhaji Saibu lauded Norsaac for its contribution to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the organisation supported government’s efforts in a number of ways, including the provision of personal protective equipment to schools and vulnerable groups in communities in the region, and sensitised people on the outbreak and how to protect themselves against the virus.  

      He said, “The attainment of peace in Dagbon is another major achievement we all take pride in. The journey and the processes were long and frustrating but due to the dedication and commitment of several actors and stakeholders, including Norsaac, success was attained.”

Source: Ghana News Agency

Note that these rates may be different at a forex bureau near you.

Our forex bureau rates are provided by Afriswap Bureau De Change in Osu, Accra.

The Interbank forex rates from the Bank of Ghana today, December 29, 2022, have shown that the Ghana Cedi is trading against the dollar at a buying price of 8.3008 and a selling price of 8.3092.

As compared to yesterday’s trading of a buying price of 8.2988 and a selling price of 8.3072. At a forex bureau in Accra, the dollar is being bought at a rate of 10.50 and sold at a rate of 11.80.

Against the Pound Sterling, the Cedi is trading at a buying price of 9.9992 and a selling price of 10.0109 as compared to Friday’s trading of a buying price of 10.0200 and a selling price of 10.0325.

At a forex bureau in Accra, the pound sterling is being bought at a rate of 12.00 and sold at a rate of 14.50.

The Euro is trading at a buying price of 8.8184 and a selling price of 8.8271 as compared to yesterday’s trading of a buying price of 8.8173 and a selling price of 8.8276.

At a forex bureau in Accra, Euro is being bought at a rate of 10.70 and sold at a rate of 12.00.

The South African Rand is trading at a buying price of 0.4846 and a selling price of 0.4851 as compared to Friday’s trading of a buying price of 0.4889 and a selling price of 0.4893.

At a forex bureau in Accra, South African Rand is being bought at a rate of 0.45 and sold at a rate of 0.90.

The Nigerian Naira is trading at a buying price of 54.9934 and a selling price of 55.1078 as compared to Friday’s trading at a buying price of 54.6501 and a selling price of 54.7332.

At a forex bureau in Accra, Nigerian Naira is being bought at a rate of 14.00 Naira for every 1 Cedi and sold at a rate of 19.00.

Source: Ghana Web