Day: July 7, 2023

A distressing plea was made by one member of the Food Suppliers Association, who revealed the dire consequences she could face if she returned home without receiving the money owed to her by the National Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO).

The woman who is believed to be in her mid-40s while in an interview with Accra-based UTV, pleaded with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo to urgently attend to the NAFCO, who will intend pay them, the food suppliers.

“Mama, all I will say is that Nana should turn his attention to us. He should give the buffer company money so they can also give us our share to allow us to go home. Where we are sleeping is not good,” she lamented.

With anguish evident in her voice, the woman disclosed that she could lose her life as the individual she owed, has threatened to kill her on seeing her face.

“For me, if I should go home, someone will kill me, in fact, he will shoot me to death. The way the man has threatened me. I have worked with him for a long time and because of me, he had to come to Koforidua. Even on the phone, I don’t get my peace of mind let alone see my face,” the woman emphasised.

With the situation taking a toll on the food supplier, both mentally and physically, she disclosed that she now carries medicine everywhere she goes due to the mounting pressure and stress she has endured.

“Everywhere I go I carry packs of medicine because that is all I take. There is pressure on us, Nana should turn his attention to us,” she said as sighed in sorrow.

The members of the Food Suppliers Association under the Free Senior High School program have been picketing at the National Buffer Stock Company’s office in recent days in protest of the company’s failure to pay them two years’ arrears.

Source: Ghana Web

Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has revealed that Communications minister Ursula Owusu-Ekuful awarded a multi-million dollar contract without necessary approval.

In a July 6, 2023 post on his social media handles, the MP provided correspondence between himself and the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) to back his claims.

“In my latest exposé, I reveal how Communications Minister Ursula Owusu-Ekuful shockingly awarded a US$48million contract without PPA approval,” portions of his caption for the post read.

“The contract was dubiously awarded to the same Nigerian cabal which has hijacked the Communications and Digitalization sector,” he added.

Ablakwa’s request dated 8th June was titled “REQUEST FOR INFORMATION,” and read in part: “Respectfully, can you confirm if the Public Procurement Authority has granted procurement approval as required per the Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) as amended with (Act 914) to Ascend Digital Solutions under a US$48 million Rural Telephony Project contract purportedly for Engineering, Design, Build, Rollout and Managed Services which is being executed by the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization since the year 2020.”

The PPA in its response dated 30th June, 2023 and signed by Deputy Chief Executive Kwame Prempeh read: “We wish to inform you that our records do not reflect any information of the above-mentioned project.”

Source: Ghana Web

The Minority group in Parliament has blasted the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, for his statement cautioning the public about commenting on high-profile legal cases.

In the statement, the Attorney-General warned that comments like Dormaahene’s go beyond the bounds of permissible free expression, interfere with the work of State Prosecutors, and place undue strain on the courts.

However, the Minority has slammed the minister, claiming that he lacks the jurisdiction to put restrictions on citizens’ free speech.

The Attorney-General cannot silence their voices, according to a statement issued by the Member of Parliament for Adaklu Governs Agbodza, who is also the Minority Chief Whip.

“The Attorney-General does not possess such overreaching powers to impose fetters on free expression as he seeks to arrogate to himself. We wish to remind him that justice emanates from the people of Ghana and is administered for and on their behalf. Therefore, while it may displease him, the Ghanaian people cannot be stifled from having their say,” Governs Agbodza pointed out.

“We wish to serve notice, however, that our resilience cannot be broken, neither are we deterred by deliberate harassment and persecution laced with rabid political fanaticism by the Attorney-General to please this failed administration.

“This Attorney-General can do his worse and continue with his persecution, but that will not break the resolve of the Minority to keep holding the feet of the government to the fire of accountability,” he said.

Source: Ghana Web

Paris Saint Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe’s arrival at the Cameroonian International Airport brought things to a halt as airport staff abandoned their job to join a massive crowd to welcome the French International on Thursday, July 06, 2023.

The 24-year-old is on his first visit to his father’s homeland and plans to remain for three days.

In videos that surfaced online, the World Cup winner was given a rousing welcome where traditional dancers performed for him.

According to the itinerary of his visit, Mbappé is set to tour a school for the deaf and hearing impaired.

The school has undergone massive renovation through funds provided by Kylian Mbappé’s charity ‘Inspired By KM’.

Mbappe will play a football match with a second-division team and also engage in a basketball match, a sport he has much admiration for.

The player, together with his father Wilfried Mbappé, will visit the latter’s village on Saturday, O8, 2023.

Kylian Mbappe was born in Paris and raised there. His father is a Cameroonian football coach, while his mother, Fayza Lamari, is an Algerian and a former handball player.

Source: Ghana Web

The Secretary General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), Dr. Anthony Yaw Baah, has voiced his disappointment with the management of Sunon Asogli Power (Ghana) Limited for backtracking on their stance during negotiations.

Despite previous signs of progress, the power company’s management has returned to their original position, leaving organized labor disheartened.

Dr. Yaw Baah expressed his disappointment, saying, “I should say we are very disappointed. When we left here on [Wednesday], we were hopeful that [on Thursday] we would reach a deal. We were ready to provide everything that management had requested,” 3news.com quoted

Dr. Yaw Baah continued, stating that they had reported their progress to the National Labour Commission, believing that they were close to a resolution. However, their hopes were dashed when the meeting did not progress as expected.

As a result, Dr. Yaw Baah announced, “What that means is that our notice holds that on Monday, July 10, all workers under Organised Labour will stay at home.”

Despite the setback, Dr. Yaw Baah mentioned that labour leadership remains open to amicable resolution attempts by the management of Sunon Asogli Power until Sunday.

Organized Labour firmly supports three union leaders who were dismissed by the management of Sunon Asogli Power for joining a union within the company.

Dr. Yaw Baah emphasized that it is every worker’s right to join a union and called for the reinstatement of the three affected individuals.

Source: Ghana Web

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on Wednesday July 6, 2023, kicked of his campaign tour for the upcoming New Patriotic Party presidential primaries in the Ashanti Region.

Ahead of the tour, the vice president on Wednesday arrived in Kumasi at the Kumasi Airport via an Africaworld flight.

Amidst appellations and assurances of victory from some supporters who were at the airport to receive the vice president, Dr Bawumia in a video was heard responding “amen.”

Dr Bawumia who was accompanied by members of his campaign team was received by the Ashanti regional minister and party officials.

Meanwhile, the vice president on Thursday commenced his campaign in the region with the launch of a secretariat in the Asokwa Constituency.

The office will coordinate his campaign activities in the region ahead of the November 4 internal contest.

Source: Ghana Web

On the first day of the announced boycott of all parliamentary proceedings on days that their colleagues: Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson and James Gyakye Quayson, have appearances in court, the presiding judge was forced to remind attending MPs that where they were was not the Chamber of Parliament.

This was prompted by an unusual moment in the Economic and Financial High Court presided over by Justice Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe, who also doubles as Justice of the Appeal Court, when the two lawyers in the case decided to address the court at the same time.

According to a report by The Chronicle newspaper, while it is against the Bar practice for two lawyers to address the court at the same time, the Attorney General, Godfred Dame; and the counsel for Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, Dr. Aziz Bamba, went against the norm.

The two lawyers were attempting to catch the attention of the judge, who was about to adjourn sitting again for the third time, following the ailment of Richard Jakpa, third accused in the trial of the 2.37 million Euros ambulance case.

The report added that Alex Mould, the first defence witness for Dr. Ato Forson was also not going to be around for three weeks to be able to testify in the case.

As the moment unfolded in the courtroom, influenced by the fact that the room was packed by Members of Parliament from the Minority, Justice Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe called the room to order, reminding the lawyers that they should know that they were not in parliament where they could heckle each other.

That response got the courtroom even more charged up as the MPs were heard cheering loudly, the report added.

Why Dame and Dr Bamba had a heated moment:

The Chronicle newspaper further reported that the reason the two lawyers – Godfred Dame on the part of the state, and Dr. Aziz Bamba for Ato Forson, were racing to get the attention of the presiding judge at the same time was because one of them disagreed with the argument of the others.

It stated that Dr. Aziz had rejected the claims by the Attorney General that all the adjournments in the case so far have been at the instance of Dr. Alex Mould, the first witness for Dr. Ato Forson.

In support of the rebuttal by Dr Bamba, the court reminded Godfred Dame that there had been two instances where the case had to be adjourned on the failure of the prosecution witness to appear before it.

The case was effectively adjourned to July 13, 2023, with an unsuccessful attempt by the court to discourage the MPs to no longer accompany their colleague to court, even as they shouted ‘No, No.’

Source: Ghana Web

Correspondence from Eastern Region

A scrap dealer who was scavenging for electronic waste products discovered something unusual – a newborn baby girl.

The baby was found by the unidentified scrap dealer just before sunset on Thursday, July 06, 2023, while combing through the rubbish in search of valuables for his trade.

Residents of the Koforidua suburb of Anlo Town in the Eastern Region were thrown into a state of shock following the bizarre discovery in the popular refuse container next to a public toilet.

Assemblyman for the Anlo Town Electoral Area, Abu Amadu speaking in an interview said the scrap dealer narrated to him that he saw a young lady throwing a black polythene bag into the refuse container but did not suspect any foul play.

He continued that about an hour later, he stepped into the container in search of scraps only to notice a black polythene bag.

Upon opening it and to his shock, he found a newborn baby girl wrapped in the bag dead.

The shocked dealer then raised an alarm which drew the attention of nearby residents to the scene who subsequently reported the issue to him.

According to the Assemblyman, the scrap dealer could not identify the suspect since he did not reside in the area.

Mr. Amadu subsequently reported the discovery to the police at the Koforidua Central police station who arrived to inspect the dump site, finding inside the dead baby wrapped.

The remains of the deceased infant have since been conveyed to and deposited at the morgue of the Eastern Regional Hospital for preservation and autopsy as police commence investigations into the incident to arrest the perpetrator of the heinous crime.

Source: Ghana Web