Day: February 23, 2024

The Jirapa Area Youth and Development Association (JAYDA) has called for public assistance for the investigations into the alleged murder of Mr Eric Johnson, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Royal Cozy Hills Hotel.

‘It is our hope that all persons who have information relating to the matter, no matter how remote, will volunteer same to the Investigating Agencies. Indeed, we urge them to do so willingly and promptly,’ the group said in a statement.

The statement was jointly signed by Mr Musah W. Cheyuo and Mr Sebastian Languon, the National President and National Secretary of JAYDA appealed to Police to expedite action to ensure that persons found culpable were prosecuted for justice to take its course.

While condemning the act in no uncertain terms, the statement said it was in order that suspects were taken through the due legal process by arraigning them.

It called on the people of Jirapa and all affected persons to remain calm while investigations continue.

The statement said the activities o
f the late businessman in Jirapa ‘brought the town of Jirapa to the limelight and indeed to the whole world.’

‘Through his establishment of the luxurious Royal Cozy Hills also known as ‘Jirapa Dubai’, he expanded tourism in the area and offered lots of employment to the youth and his philanthropic exploits in supporting numerous programme and projects’, JAYDA said in the statement.

The statement said the alleged murder of the late Johnson, one of the illustrious sons of Jirapa, was regrettable, shocking, and traumatic to the people of the area and a big blow not only the Jirapa Municipality but to the Upper West Region and Ghana as a whole.

The late CEO was gruesomely murdered at his private residence in Jirapa.

Seven suspects have so far been arrested and two of them have been granted Police enquiry bail while five others are in Police custody.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Morocco has highlighted the commitment of HM King Mohammed VI, Chairperson of the Al-Quds Committee, in support of the Palestinian cause during the hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The hearings, as part of the case, requesting an advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.

The Kingdom, represented by the ambassador of HM the King in The Hague, Mohamed Basri, participated in these ICJ hearings taking place from February 19 to 29.

In this context, the Moroccan ambassador attended in support of the oral presentation of Palestine, which took place on February 19, alongside the Palestinian delegation, led by Riyad Al Maliki, Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates.

Morocco’s presence at the oral pleadings in this case is part of the Kingdom’s ongoing active commitment to this issue. In the same case, Morocco submitted a written plea to the ICJ, duly taken into accou
nt by the Court.

In this plea, the Kingdom of Morocco, whose Sovereign is the Chairperson of the Al-Quds Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), reaffirmed its determination to ‘work through all legal means at its disposal to protect the legal, historical, political, and spiritual status of the Holy City and preserve its unique vocation as a city of peace and meeting for the faithful of all monotheistic religions.’

Furthermore, the Kingdom reiterated ‘its active commitment to respect international law and promote peace in the Middle East, which involves implementing a just, comprehensive, and lasting solution based on the principle of two states: an independent Palestinian state based on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Al-Quds/Jerusalem as its capital, living side by side with the State of Israel, in peace and security, in accordance with international legality, United Nations resolutions, and in line with the Arab Peace Initiative.’

Morocco’s plea relied on the principles establ
ished in the Appeal of Al-Quds/Jerusalem, signed on March 30, 2019, between HM King Mohammed VI, Commander of the Faithful, and Pope Francis.

This significant document emphasizes, among other things, the importance of preserving the Holy City of Jerusalem/Al-Quds Asharif as a common heritage of humanity and, above all, for the faithful of the three monotheistic religions, as a place of peaceful coexistence and a symbol of mutual respect and dialogue.

Additionally, Morocco’s plea recalled the ‘international community’s consensus on the legal status of Israeli settlements in certain parts of the occupied Palestinian territory – including East Al-Quds/Jerusalem,’ emphasizing that they ‘constitute an obstacle to peace and threaten to make a two-state solution impossible: an independent and viable Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, living side by side with the State of Israel, in peace and security.’

‘The resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through dialogue and negotiation, in accordance with
the UN negotiation framework, and notably Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, remains the cornerstone for lasting peace and stability in the Middle East,’ emphasizes Morocco’s plea.

‘This objective shapes the action of the Kingdom of Morocco both bilaterally and multilaterally within the United Nations – in the General Assembly and its six main committees, and regional groupings representing the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation – within which His Majesty King Mohammed VI chairs the Al-Quds Committee.’

Finally, Morocco recalled, in its plea, the message from His Majesty the King on the occasion of the celebration in November 2022 of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, in which the Sovereign affirmed: ‘The current deadlock in the political process between the Palestinian and Israeli sides does not promote the peace we are yearning for in the region.

Nevertheless, I encourage the positive signs and commendable initiatives undertaken to rebuil
d confidence and launch meaningful negotiations that help achieve a just, comprehensive and lasting solution to the Palestinian issue, in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions, and the two-State solution, which is a realistic option.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr George Nkrumah Ansere, the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) Director, Tema Region, has said the Authority has identified seven points on the imaginary Greenwich Meridian line for tourism development.?

Mr Ansere, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said even though it was an imaginary line, the GTA found it important to identify those points to be developed into attractive tourist sites.

He said those seven identified places gave the longitude zero degree reading when the compass was used, meaning that the line runs through them to the ocean to meet the equator, giving Tema the title: ‘Centre of the World’.

The seven areas include the premises of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Greenwich Congregation, the Tema Golf Club, Mankoadze, and the defunct Meridian Hotel area.

Mr Ansere disclosed that the Mankoadze area had been officially claimed by the GTA and earmarked as a tourism site, adding that plans were underway to officially have some coconut plantations there, along with other side attraction
s.

He explained that coconut plantations were preferred because it would allow the promotion of the health benefits of coconut.

?Mr Ansere further said plans were also advanced to expand the PCG Greenwich Meridian site to attract local and foreign tourists, which would bring more job opportunities to the community.

The Meridian Tower of the Presbyterian Church on the Greenwich Meridian, Tema, has a plaque with the inscription: ‘To the glory of God’, which was unveiled on Monday, November 8, 1999, by His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Nana Bonya Kofi VI, Chief of Basake and Abusupayin Yemi of Etwe Kpanyinli Royal Stool of Aiyinasi and elders of the Basake community have petitioned the Minerals Commission and the Forestry Commission over the award of contract for mineral resources and forest reserves in the farming area.

‘This decision unanimously agreed upon, is to formally protest and register our displeasure in your operations and actions as a governing and controlling body for and on behalf of the State in the award of a contract without consideration to land ownership acquisitions tenets,’ a petition to the two institutions said.

It said as much as minerals of any sort were vested in the government of the State, lands involved in such were with the chiefs’ and their custodians.

The petition said it was, therefore, necessary to engage the chiefs and their elders in giving away their lands for exploration and forest activities.

‘After all, Nananom are expected to be watch overs of all such operations in and within their relative com
munities. Wherefore then is the essence in justifications where we are left out in this chain regarding the Draw Forest Reserve concession,’ it asked.

The petition said a few days ago a fleet of timber felling equipment supported by tens of Forest Commission trucks-loaded personnel stealthily entered the Draw Forest Reserve to allegedly harvest timbers in the so-called Global Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA) with no notification from any government agency or official.

The petition said since the creation of the GSBA in the Draw Forest Reserve in the 1980s, the landlords had been denied the hitherto approved ‘Alternative Living Allowance’ (ALA) paid by the World Bank or its subsidiary financiers.

It said they had also been denied every effort to be allocated a compartment to harvest for their communities’ development agenda.

The petition said the mistreatment was contrary to the management of similar and adjoining Forest Reserve at Gwira Banso of the same Draw Forest Reserve.

It urged the Government t
hrough the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Forestry Commission, the Administrator of Stool Lands and the Speaker of Parliament to stop the ‘colossal corruption’ in the management of the Draw Forest Reserve and the disrespect and mistreatment meted out to the chiefs and the people of the Aiyinasi-Basake communities in the Ellembelle District.

‘…We wish, therefore, to be given leads in order to ensure peaceful co-existence between us and our supposed and expected guests. Your expeditious respond is anticipated.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Eastern Regional Office of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) has observed its 25th anniversary with stakeholders, including customers and students, at Asiakwa in the Abuakwa South Municipality of the Eastern Region.

The anniversary was on the theme ’25 years of sustaining WASH service: Transforming rural and small towns water services delivery towards national development’.

Mr Sampson Atakora, the Eastern Regional Director of the CWSA, said the agency was established by an Act of Parliament, Act 564, in December 1998 with a mission to guarantee the provision of safe water and sanitation services to rural communities and small towns.

It also?existed?to encourage water-related sanitation and hygiene practices in Ghana.

Mr Atakora, who is an engineer, said CWSA appreciates the external support from agencies that had substantially boosted rural water coverage over the years.

Among these partners were the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNIC
EF), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and Plan International Ghana, he said.

He said under the CWSA policy, the Eastern Regional Office was managing 20 water systems out of the 31 were constructed with public funds.

These include Akwadum and Nankese, Asiakwa, Asuokaw, Donkorkrom, Akroso, Akim Wenchi, and Maame Krobo.

Mr Atakora said CWSA between 2017 and 2023 invested 196 million Ghana cedis of its internal funds on reconstruction, rehabilitation and expansion of dilapidated water supply assets, as well as the setting up of offices for the newly employed Water Systems Management Staff.

He said the agency had also made significant progress under a programme called the Technology and Innovation Learning Platform, which was initiated by the management.

He listed some initiatives being carried out to drive future growth such as the development of a water quality map that delineates or sets boundaries for saltwater intrusion from the sea and fresh groundwater in the Central Region.

Others i
nvolved the development of a process of mapping water infrastructure assets electronically; the development of water pollution risk assessment and safeguards for water safety planning; and the development of software applications (Apps) and innovations to simplify their operations.

Mr Seth Kwame Acheampong, the Eastern Regional Minister, said the government in collaboration with development partners, had over the years pursued and supported programmes aimed at providing potable water supply systems and sanitation-related facilities to the people as a pre-requisite to their survival and sustainable development.

He appealed to the Municipal and District Assemblies and stakeholders to work together to ensure that all water installations at the community level were operated and managed sustainably and provide CWSA with accurate data to avoid duplication of efforts in the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) sector.

Veronica buckets, gallons of liquid soap, towel papers, and dustbins were distributed to the Me
thodist, Salvation Army, and Roman Catholic schools as part of the anniversary celebration.

Source: Ghana News Agency

An American company has made history by becoming the first commercial outfit to put a spacecraft on the Moon.

Houston-based Intuitive Machines landed its Odysseus robot near the lunar south pole.

It took some minutes for controllers to establish that the craft was down, but eventually a signal was received.

‘What we can confirm, without a doubt, is our equipment is on the surface of the Moon and we are transmitting,’ flight director Tim Crain announced.

Staff at the company cheered and clapped at the news.

It was an important moment, not just for the commercial exploitation of space but for the US space programme in general.

Intuitive Machines has broken the United States’ half-century absence from the Moon’s surface. You have to go back to the last Apollo mission in 1972 for an occasion when American hardware nestled down gently in the lunar soil.

The US space agency Nasa had purchased room on Odysseus for six scientific instruments, and its administrator Bill Nelson was quick to add his congratulati
ons to Intuitive Machines for a mission he described as a ‘triumph’.

‘The US has returned to the Moon,’ he said. ‘Today, for the first time in the history of humanity, a commercial company – an American company – launched and led the voyage up there. And today is the day that shows the power and promise of Nasa’s commercial partnerships.’

Controllers had to deal with an almost mission-stopping technical problem even before the descent began.

Odysseus’ ranging lasers, which were supposed to calculate the craft’s altitude and velocity, weren’t working properly.

Fortunately, there were some experimental lasers from Nasa on board, and engineers were able to patch these across to the navigation computers.

Odysseus touched down at 23:23 GMT. At first, there was no signal at all from the robot. There were plenty of nerves as the minutes ticked by, but eventually a communications link was made, albeit a faint one.

This led to some concerns about the status of the lander. Within a couple of hours, however, Intui
tive Machines was reporting that Odysseus was standing upright and sending back data, including pictures.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Bono Regional Directorate of the Department of Gender has appealed to the British High Commission in Accra, and other development partners for financial support to prevent early and forced marriages in the region.

Mrs Joyclen Adii, the Bono Regional Director of the Department of Gender, made the appeal when the British High Commissioner to Ghana Harriet Thompson, paid a courtesy call on Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene, the Bono Regional Minister and interacted with the Heads of Departments and Agencies at a meeting in Sunyani.

Mrs Thompson was accompanied on the visit to the region by Miss Zoe Robson and Cecil Adrian Sampson, officials of the Commission, to explore and get herself acquainted with the economic potential of the region.

Mrs Adii, said early and forced marriages were resurfacing and gaining prominence in the region, as in 2023, the Department rescued five children being forcefully married off.

She said the girls were rescued from local communities in the Sunyani and Jaman South Municipaliti
es and more of such practices were going on in many other communities on the blindside of authorities.

Besides the worst forms of human rights abuses the victims went through, early and forced marriages were contributing to high teenage pregnancies and school dropout among girls in the region, she said.

Mrs Adii said inadequate funding to the Department posed a major constraint towards undertaking and intensifying outreach programmes, to sensitise the populace, to help control the situation.

She said sexual and gender-based violence remained another daunting challenge, which the Department needed more support to tackle, and appealed for increased assistance from all stakeholders to effectively tackle it.

Earlier, Madam Owusu-Banahene had told the High Commissioner that the Bono Region had numerous economic prospects in the tourism, cashew and poultry industries which remained untapped and encouraged the Commission to link the region to United Kingdom investors.

Mrs Thompson said the UK was committed to b
oosting trade in Ghana through value addition and expressed the hope that her visit would expose her to the potentials in the region.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) says the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has given a directive for all persons, including passengers, to remove their shoes at the security screening points with immediate effect.

A statement issued in Accra by the Company said this directive was in accordance with GCAA’s mandate to oversee the implementation of security measures to safeguard air transport, life and property.

It said Section 17.4.5(1) of the Ghana Civil Aviation (Aviation Security) Directives provided thatno

person shall enter a sterile area, or a security restricted area without having his/her person or carry-on baggage, goods or other articles in their possession screened.

It said the GACL wished to solicit the cooperation of the public for a seamless facilitation at all airports.

Source: Ghana News Agency