Day: June 27, 2024

Franklin Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has insisted that the 2024 presidential election should not be reduced to tribal affiliations.

His comments come after recent discussions suggesting that the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) selection of Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh as their vice-presidential candidate was heavily influenced by his Ashanti Region roots.

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the NPP’s flagbearer, officially introduced Energy Minister and Manhyia South lawmaker, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, as his running mate on June 26.

This decision followed Bawumia’s request for additional time to consult before making his choice, amidst increasing demands for the vice-presidential candidate to come from the NPP stronghold of the Ashanti Region.

In response to these developments, Kwetey stressed that the challenges faced by Ghanaians, including those in the Ashanti Region, go beyond tribal boundaries.

He pointed out that the people of the Ashanti Region are enduri
ng the same economic hardships as the rest of the country.

‘It’s not about tribe,’ Kwetey declared. ‘Do you really believe that the people in the Ashanti Region are not feeling the significant suffering happening in this country? Are their businesses not collapsing? Hasn’t their suffering worsened? We must acknowledge the people of the Ashanti Region, just as we acknowledge everyone in this country, that they fully understand what is happening in Ghana.’

Kwetey argued that choosing a running mate from Ashanti does not diminish the challenges and suffering experienced by the people over the past eight years.

‘Just because you have selected someone from Ashanti does not erase what they have been through in the last eight years – the immense suffering, disappointment, breakdown of law and order. They are also feeling it. They are going to the market like everyone else.

“If it were that simple, then President Kufuor would not have lost an election because he was Ashanti. He was a flagbearer but he lost an ele
ction in Ghana,’ he said in an interview with TV3.

Source: Ghana Web

The Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation, and Rural Development (MLGRD) has clarified that a recent report misrepresenting Deputy Minister Ekow Vincent Assafuah’s comments on poverty levels in Ghana compared to the United States is incorrect.

The ministry stated that the publication by TV3 misreported the Deputy Minister’s comments made during an interview. He aimed to highlight the government’s achievements amidst global challenges, which Ghana, like any other country, is not immune to.

“The Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation, and Rural Development wishes to address a recent news item published by TV3, which misrepresented the comments made by the Deputy Minister, Hon. Vincent Ekow Assafuah, during an interview. The article inaccurately suggested that the Deputy Minister claimed poverty levels in Ghana are far better than those in the United States.

“During the interview, Hon. Assafuah primarily focused on discussing the achievements of the Ministry. When questioned about the economi
c hardships faced by Ghanaians and their ability to afford basic needs, the Deputy Minister acknowledged these as challenging times. He emphasized that Ghana, like many other nations, is not immune to the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war,” the ministry said in a statement dated June 26, 2024.

“The Deputy Minister further elaborated that economic hardship is a global issue, not unique to Ghana. To provide context, he mentioned that 37.5 million people in the United States are living in poverty. This was intended to illustrate that even highly developed countries are experiencing significant economic challenges,” the statement continued.

While urging the media to maintain accuracy and context in reporting, the MLGRD reaffirmed its commitment to improving the living conditions and addressing the economic challenges faced by the nation.

Source: Ghana Web

Communicator for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Joe Apenteng has torn into the Great Transformational Plan (GTP) of the Movement for Change describing its leader and presidential hopeful Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen as a personification of hypocrisy.

Mr. Apenteng argues that Mr. Kyerematen cannot claim to have a plan to transform the country when he cannot show tangible achievements in a ministry he headed for six years until he resigned to pursue his failed attempt at contesting for the flagbearership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Mr. Kyerematen who broke away to form the MFC represented by the butterfly, launched what he calls the blueprint for the transformation of Ghana on Monday 24th June, 2024; promising among other things to harmonize taxes, slash public expenditure, and reduce the number of ministers to forty.

The Great Transformational Plan (GTP) further promises to scrap the Council of State, halt the dollarization of the economy, curb borrowing, pursue enterprising economic growth, a
nd increase presidential terms from four to five years.

Discussing its content on Ultimate FM’s Cup of Tea, Joe Apenteng questioned the moral right of Mr. Kyerematen to be making such proposals when he had ample time and opportunity to make such inputs to better the lots of the country while he served in President Akufo Addo’s government.

‘Mr. Kyerematen’s hypocrisy stinks. He is a leading member of the NPP who campaigned for President Nana Akufo-Addo in both 2016 and 2020. President Akufo-Addo appointed him as minister of trade just as was predicted and we can assess him on the six years he spent in that ministry.’

He told host Julius Caesar Anadem, ‘If he has now formed a renegade of the NPP in the form of the Movement for Change, it will be better if he tells us what he achieved in the trade ministry for Ghanaians to consider whether to vote for him.

You were an integral and very senior member of this government and the political party that birthed this government,’ he retorted.

NDC, NPP failures

Joe
Apenteng expressed his reservation with the manner Mr. Kyerematen lumps together NDC and the NPP, with arguments that the two have disappointed Ghana in their three decades of governing Ghana.

At the launch of his GTP document, Mr. Kyerematen asked Ghanaians neither to retain nor restore the two dominant political parties blaming them for the country’s bad breaks in governance and economic management.

Joe Appenteng contended that the leader of the butterfly movement was being dishonestly crafty with such assertions particularly when he endorsed all the assertions of massive economic transformation touted by Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

‘They keep telling us they have made this economy better. When Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia mentioned his fantastic economic management team, Allan Kyerematen was there. He was sitting on the dais laughing.’

‘Alhaji Bawumia mentioned Alan Kyerematen as a distinguished economist. If he is now saying the party is corrupt, insensitive, and knows nothing about governance, he sho
uld attack them. He should stop lumping the NDC and NPP together,’ he cautioned.

Bitter Alan

He insisted that Mr. Kyerematen’s comments only betrayed deep bitterness about issues of political and electoral machinations that drove him (Mr. Kyerematen) to break away from the governing New Patriotic Party.

‘He thought he was entitled to be the flag bearer of the party. He now feels beleaguered about the candidate who paid money to get people to vote against him,’ Apenteng asserted.

Public debt reduction

Addressing the promise of the presidential hopeful to halt the unbridled culture of unrestrained borrowing that has landed the government into high debt distress, Joe Apenteng wondered how Ghanaians could trust Mr. Kyerematen who was a key adviser to the same government he is campaigning to unseat.

‘We were told that you were the vice chair of the cabinet’s subcommittee on the economy. These unbridled and unrestrained borrowings. You knew it and you had a hand in it. What did you tell them?’

‘When the tech
nocrats and the experts were advising the government against this unbridled borrowing, what did you say? You kept mute. Because today you want to become president you want to lump the NDC and the NPP together?’ he questioned.

Joe Apenteng mocked how a former trades minister would exit office to tell Ghanaians about his plans to halt the dollarization of the economy.

Launching his transformational agenda, Mr. Kyerematen made references to countries where transacting in foreign currencies was barred and gave assurances he would enforce the same in Ghana.

Joe chuckled, ‘What did I hear him say? That when he comes to power he will stop the dollarization of the economy. For the six years while he was minister of trade, why didn’t he stop it?’

Reducing government size

Mr. Alan Kyerematen’s promise to scrap the council of state, reduce the size of ministers, merge analogous ministries, and consolidate departments and agencies to cut down costs; also appears not to have gone down well with the opposition NDC.

J
oe Apenteng advised the former presidential hopeful to refrain from his attempt to detach himself from the same ills he partook in and benefitted from. If he says he would scrap the council of state, he should have advised Akufo Addo then.’

When President Akufo Addo appointed 125 ministers, he was a cabinet minister. Why didn’t he advise the president against this colossal and gargantuan number of ministers,’ Apenteng queried.

He asked that instead of clawing in the NDC into his criticisms, Mr Kyerematen should address the New Patriotic Party which has been in power for the last seven years.

Source: Ghana Web

The Asante Students’ Union (ASU) marked a historic moment on June 17, 2024, with the official commissioning of their brand-new, ultramodern office in Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region.

Solely funded and built by Dr. Kwame Bawuah-Edusei and his family, this momentous occasion served as a celebration of ASU’s legacy and an opportunity to chart a path for a progressive future for members.

The ceremony, held at the new office in Asokwa, a suburb of Kumasi, brought together distinguished guests, including Dr. Richard Anane, Nana Baffour Opoku Agyemang, Dr. Kwame Bawuah-Edusei, and other notable personalities.

The Asante Students’ Union (ASU) was formed in 1979 at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) by a group of resilient and determined Asante students at a rather difficult time when the ‘culture of silence’ dominated in Ghana and the voices of intellectuals and opinion leaders were suppressed into complete oblivion.

The spirited students who defied the odds at the time to form ASU inclu
de the former Ghanaian diplomat and physician, Dr. Kwame Bawuah-Edusei; the late former Vice President of Hewlett Packard California, Osei Prempeh; the former Health Minister, Dr. Richard Anane; and former NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman Frederick Fredua Antoh (FF Antoh).

The formation of the Asante Students’ Union (ASU) became the keystone organization for Asante students and Asantemen during that difficult period of Ghana’s political history.

ASU executives and members have resolved to go beyond academics by actively promoting the cultural and social well-being of their members through a series of workshops to strategically propel members into greatness.

Speaking at the ceremony, Dr. Bawuah-Edusei passionately expressed his pride in the achievements of the group.

He emphasized the inclusive nature of the organization, revealing that “ASU is an all-encompassing society that discusses all aspects of Asante development. An organization for indigenes of Asanteman.”

He further charged the visibly excited gath
ering to consciously assume the role of advocates for its members, society, and Asanteman.

“This building is more than just bricks and mortar. It represents our unwavering commitment to the growth, unity, and empowerment of Asante students,” Dr. Bawuah-Edusei said.

Re-echoing Dr. Bawuah-Edusei’s sentiments, Otumfuo Twafuohene, the patron of the association, expressed gratitude to the founding members for their dedication to ASU and Asanteman.

He further extended his appreciation to Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene, for his leadership and support.

The National President of ASU, Nana Konadu Yiadom, shared his enthusiasm for the new office.

“We have the power to make a positive impact on Asanteman in all aspects. This new office will be our central hub, fostering collaboration, learning, and the development of initiatives that benefit both our members and the wider community,” he declared.

Frederick Fredua Antoh and Dr. Richard Anane have, over the years, made significant contributions to ensure the gr
oup remains vibrant at all times.

With the inauguration of the new national secretariat, the Asante Students’ Union (ASU) embarks on a new chapter, empowered to continue its legacy of service and build an even more formidable future for its members and the entire Asanteman.

Source: Ghana Web