Day: March 31, 2023

Sheila Wristberg, the Chief Executive Officer of iRisk Management, has been named one of Africa’s 50 Top Women in Management by the Women in Management Awards (WIMA).

The recognition was conferred during the 2023 WIMA Gala Dinner held on Friday 17th March 2023, at the Mlimani City Hall, in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

The WIMA Top 50 Award recognizes and celebrates high achievements within the African diaspora and seeks to amplify the African excellence narrative globally.

Recipients of the award embody consistent and transformational leadership in their field of influence.

One criterion cited by the panel of judges is the positive impact of the honorees’ works and their contributions towards the empowerment and advancement of women across the African diaspora.

The WIMA Awards took place on the sidelines of the WIMA Summit, which aimed to harness, validate, and amplify contributions of African women and their diaspora counterpart in Africa’s growth, security, and prosperity.

Sheila is an insurance and risk management professional with over a decade’s experience in providing professional services to entities across industries in and outside Ghana.

Her areas of expertise include insurance advisory, risk management, audit, and taxation.

Sheila is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in the United Kingdom (ACCA-UK), the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ghana (ICA), and the Chartered Insurance Institute of Ghana (CIIG).

She holds a BSc. in Business Administration from the University of Ghana and a certification in Insurance from the Ghana Insurance College and the Malta International Training Institute.

Prior to joining the insurance business, she worked as an auditor at Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) before focusing on Tax Reporting and Strategy and Mining Tax.

Over the past five years, she has served as CEO of iRisk Management Ltd, expanding the company to become one of the top five insurance brokerage firms in Ghana, specialized in risk management and insurance brokerage services such as general, health, and life insurance.

Sheila’s leadership has been revolutionary, and she has had a huge impact on Ghana’s insurance market. She has experience in both insurance and reinsurance and has been the Executive Director of iRisk Reinsurance Brokers since 2019.

Sheila is currently the Vice Treasurer of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ghana (IBAG) and the Chairperson of the Ghana Insurance Industry Cooperative Credit Union’s Supervisory Committee.

She also serves on several insurance sector groups, including IBAG’s Finance and Digitization Committees, as well as the Local Organizing Committee of the Munich Re Foundation’s World Conference on Inclusive Insurance 2023.

Sheila Wristberg’s dedication to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals prompted her company, iRisk Management Ltd, to sign the Nairobi Declaration for Sustainable Insurance in 2022, making it the first insurance brokerage firm in Ghana to do so.

Her advocacy for gender diversity in insurance leadership led her to establish Women Leadership in Insurance Africa (WLIAfrica), a network and leadership development platform for female professionals in Africa and the diaspora working in insurance, risk management, sustainability, and ESG.

Sheila’s efforts in the insurance sector have not gone unnoticed, as she was named the African Insurance Organisation (AIO) and Association of Young Insurance Professionals (YIPs) Africa’s First Runner-Up for Next-Gen Insurance Award in 2022.

In her words, Sheila Wristberg mentioned that she was grateful to be named as one of Africa’s Top 50 Women in Management. She also expressed her appreciation to God and for the help she received from her family, colleagues, mentors in her leadership journey.

Lastly, she stated that she was highly honored to a part of a global community of women who are breaking down barriers and shattering glass ceilings as they strive for gender equality in the workplace and beyond, and that she had been inspired by all the other many talented and accomplished WIMA awardees who are paving the way for future generations in their various fields.

Source: Ghana Web

Kenyan president William Ruto has spoken out about same-sex relationships, stressing that his country will stick strictly to what their customs, traditions and 2010 Constitution says of marriage and relationships.

Touting the constitution as one of the most progressive documents for its scope in terms of rights of people as enshrined in it, he said Kenyans will respect all rights to the extent that they are legal.

He stressed in an interview with a German broadcaster earlier this week, however, that his country has no issue with how marriage is interpreted or understood in other jurisdictions.

“In Kenya, the only understanding of relationships around marriage is around men marrying women, that is the context of relationship that exist in Kenya and is provided for in our constitution.

“It (same-sex marriage) can happen elsewhere, we have no issue with people celebrating their issues in America and in other countries, that is their choosing,” he stressed when asked about a recent anti-same-sex law promulgated in neighbouring Uganda.

“In Kenya, we have taken a position, the position of the Constitution, the position of the laws as it is today, if that is what they (Ugandans) want to do, we cannot dictate to Germans or French or Americans or Ugandans if that is what they want to do.

“That is theirs to do, for us as a country, we have taken a position that is informed by our culture, our tradition, our Constitution and our laws,” he stressed.

Source: Ghana Web

When history was made on the midnight of January 7, 2021 with the election of Hon Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin as the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana, there were high expectations from the people of Ghana for the Legislative Arm of Government to deliver on its mandate of serving as a check on the Executive and the Judiciary.

Having assumed the enviable role of speaker in the current the venerable Rt Hon Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has not disappointed thus far as he discharges his duties and mandate with a clever, intelligent and clear sense of judgment bringing to bare his legal training and profession as a lawyer as well as his enviable experience of twenty-eight uninterrupted years as a parliamentarian.

As expected of any decision-making process which might draw both agreements and disagreements, the Parliament of Ghana has received its fair share. However, there have been some unique occasions on which the Rt Hon Speaker of Parliament has taken some bold and courageous decisions that have drawn and received the admiration and applause of the masses. Very notable among these instances include but not limited to the following;

Open abhorrence and criticism of LGBTQI+ activities

The strong and critical stance of the Rt Hon Alban Bagbin on the creeping and growing phenomenon of LGBTQI+ is no secret to the public. He has ceased every available opportunity to speak against it and shown an open support for legislation against it. Even at international conferences outside of Ghana, RT

Bagbin canvassed for support to criminalize the trend as it is inhuman and should not be tolerated. His courage and conviction to condemn LGBTQI Activities reached epic levels when he took a swipe at the US Vice President Kamala Harris and our own President Nana Akufo-Addo when their joint press conference suggested that Ghana was going to soften its stance on the call for legislation to curb the growing canker of LGBTQI in the country. This spirited response by

the Speaker of Parliament has earned him enormous admiration by majority of the people.

Directive to general legal council to immediately admit some 499 law school applicants who were denied admission

When the General Legal Council released results of the entrance examination into the Ghana School of Law in 2021, as many as four-hundred and ninety-nine students were unjustifiably denied admission under very strange and curious

circumstances. These students were compelled to seek all manner of avenues including street protests to have their issues addressed all to no avail. It had to take a directive by the Speaker for the General Legal Council to have the famous 499 students admitted immediately without any further delay. This followed the inability of the Attorney-General and the General Legal Council to convince MR SPEAKER and Parliament on the propriety of their decision.

Ditching of the suit and cloak for everyday sittings of Parliament

Soon upon assuming the seat of speaker of parliament, the Rt Hon Alban Bagbin stole the hearts of Ghanaians when he ditched the wearing of the colonial suit and cloak for Ghanaian and Traditional African apparel safe on special occasions or ceremonies in Parliament. This decision by the Speaker apart from the tourism and marketing potential the Ghanaian and African costume offers to the local producers also sheds off the longstanding colonial mentality accompanying the previous dress code inherited from the colonial administration. This decision

by the Speaker has been received with so much applause.

Call for the exemption of pensioner funds from the Domestic Exchange programme

On the raging and heated matter of the ongoing domestic debt exchange programme, the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Finance sought to include the

funds of pensioners in the programme. This was met with a spirited protest by the pensioners who would have been affected by this unpopular decision. The Rt Hon Speaker of Parliament invited the Minister of Finance to Parliament and proceeded to direct him to exclude the vulnerable pensioners from the programme considering their peculiar circumstances having toiled and sacrificed to contribute to building our nation. On this particular occasion, the Speaker of Parliament received commendations from the public.

Source: Ghana Web

Black Meteors head coach, Ibrahim Tanko says Felix Afena-Gyan will only be invited if he is on form and playing well.

The 20-year-old rejected a call-up ahead of the back-to-back games against Algeria in the CAF U-23 Africa Cup of Nations [AFCON] qualifiers despite being named in Ghana’s squad for the games.

Despite his absence, Ghana recorded a 2-1 aggregate win to secure qualification for the tournament that will be hosted in Morocco next year.

Speaking after the game, Tanko confirmed that he named the Cremonese forward in his squad but the agent insisted the forward was not ready to play.

According to him, Afena-Gyanw will only return to the squad if he is on form and playing well.

“We gave him an invitation but he didn’t come”. I think is the Football Association that can speak as to why he decided not to come.

“I spoke with his agent on four occasions but he kept telling us his player was not ready but when it gets to the main tournament and he is playing well, why not? I will call him.”

The U-23 AFCON will serve as qualifiers for the 2024 Olympic Games to be held in France where the top three finishers will book a place in the men’s football competition.

Source: Ghana Web

The case of Dr. Stephen Kwabena Opuni, former Chief Executive of COCOBOD, and two others standing trial on 27 counts of willfully causing financial loss to the state, has been put before a new Judge.

Appearing before one of the Land Courts today, the prosecution led by Chief State Attorney (CSA) Evelyn Keelson entreated the court to adopt the previous court proceedings as starting the trial ‘De Novo’ would amount to an injustice.

The state contended that the matter had travelled to the Supreme Court and various rulings had been delivered.

It noted that it had closed its case two years ago and Dr. Opuni had filed as many as 60 applications, adding that starting the case afresh would be a delay on the part of the accused person.

The defence counsel for Dr. Opuni, Samuel Cudjoe, opposed the prosecution’s prayer.

He contended that the state should file an application in respect of the trial so they could also file their response.

Cudjoe noted that the adoption of proceedings could be done in civil matters but not in criminal matters.

Benson Nutsikpi who represented Seidu Agongo and his company, Agricult Limited, said that the practice should start de novo and the Supreme Court ruling was clear on such cases.

The trial Judge adjourned the matter to give further directions.

Dr. Opuni and Seidu Agongo are standing trial on 27 counts of defrauding by false pretences, willfully causing financial loss to the state, money laundering, and corruption by public officers in contravention of the Public Procurement Act.

Source: Ghana Web

Nigerian superstar, Davido has revealed that he shot a music video for a song on his 2023 album for 100 million naira.

The singer made the revelation when he appeared as a guest on Beat 99.9 FM to promote his latest project titled ‘Timeless’.

He noted that the song was directed by Nigerian video director, TG Omori.

Davido said, “I’m excited about the record. We shot the video with TG and I’m proud to say that’s his first N100 million video.”

TG, a video director and cinematographer has directed music videos for recording artists across various genres.

Source: Ghana Web

It was a moment of two veteran journalists reconnecting on the Kokrooko Show on Peace FM after a long time, only that this time, one of them found a nice way to make what appeared to be a thorny situation much lighter.

This was when the Member of Parliament of the Odododiodio constituency, Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye, made a ‘return’ to the show recently.

The broadcaster had called the MP onto the show to get his views on a subject when the two started their conversation with some informal pleasantries.

Making jokes out of the brief conversation, the MP wittingly jabbed Kwami Sefa Kayi by pretending to want to know if it was indeed the Kokrooko show host who was on the line.

Giggling at the situation, Kwami also jokingly replied that how could he go on retirement when Nii Lante Vanderpuye was still in active service.

The MP for Odododiodio had, hitherto, been a regular panellist on the Kokrooko Show, but in recent years, has not done so.

This was the situation that was presented to the two when Kwami Sefa Kayi sought to ask the MP why that was so, leading up to the brief moment of jest between the two.

This is how their conversation went:

Lante Vanderpuye: “… Am I speaking with Kwami? I thought you have gone on retirement?”

Kwami: “Ei, when you are still in active service, am I supposed to go on retirement?”

The two laughed over the matter and moved on to the substantive issue.

Source: Ghana Web

Dancehall musician Shatta Wale has been in the news following the release of his 2023 album titled MAALI. The award-winning singer has been promoting the project on his social media pages with the help of his die-hard fans.

The 10-track album had a single feature from Jamaican reggae and dancehall musician Vybz Kartel, titled ‘Mansa Musa’.

“Featured a great man in prison. Sang with the highest-paid female artiste in the world…And still you no deh fear this God in this guy. T H E Y W I L L K N O W #MAALI,” he tweeted on March 25.

On Friday, March 31, Shatta Wale took to his Twitter page to take credit for his work and contribution to the success of the MAALI album.

He detailed how he single-handedly produced, mixed and mastered all 10 songs under Damaker Studios, owned by the popular musician.

“Remember I produced the album by myself, mixed and mastered myself. (Damaker Studios ) Kindly clap for me, just small p3 #MAALI I LOVE YOU OK,” he tweeted.

Already, Shatta has topped the charts on streaming platforms, with music lovers sharing their reviews.

The tracklist of MAALI are: ‘Taking It’, ‘Inna Real Life’, ‘They Will Know’, ‘Heartless’, ‘Did My Time’, ‘Afrikan Kylie’, ‘Killa Weapon’, ‘Richer Than Last Year’, ‘Show Mi’, ‘Mansa Musa’ featuring Vybz Kartel.

Source: Ghana Web