Category: General

This weekend’s Premier League and English Football League fixtures have been postponed as a mark of respect following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Ten top-flight matches were scheduled across Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

In the EFL, games were due to take place on Friday and Saturday.

Also on Friday, play at golf’s PGA Championship was called off, along with all British horse racing and cricket’s Test between England and South Africa.

Queen Elizabeth II, the UK’s longest-serving monarch, died on Thursday aged 96, after reigning for 70 years.

The Premier League took the decision to honour the Queen’s “extraordinary life and contribution to the nation” and said updates on future fixtures during the period of mourning “will be provided in due course”.

The league’s chief executive Richard Masters said: “We and our clubs would like to pay tribute to Her Majesty’s long and unwavering service to our country.

“This is a tremendously sad time for not just the nation but also for the millions of people around the world who admired her, and we join together with all those in mourning her passing.”

The government’s national mourning guidance advised that cancelling fixtures was not obligatory, leaving the decision up to individual sports.

Source: Modern Ghana

As part of his new year eve prophecies for the year 2022, the founder and leader of Prophetic Hill Chapel, Prophet Nigel Gaisie, asked for prayers for the Queen of England, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

According to the prophet, he had seen in his vision that the people of Great Britain would be thrown into a state of mourning.

“Let’s pray for the monarch of England. The lord carried my spirit and I got to Buckingham Palace. Then I saw that there were a lot of flowers and I saw that the great England was crying. Let’s pray for the queen,” he said.

The prophecy by Nigel Gaisie was part of many visions he shared of events likely to unfold in the new year during a watch night service held on December 31, 2021.

Queen Elizabeth who is the longest serving monarch of the Great Britain has died at the age 96.

Her death comes after the BBC earlier announced that the Queen’s doctors had expressed concerns about her health around mid-morning on Thursday, September 8, 2022.

Born on April 21, 1926, the Queen christened Elizabeth Alexandra Mary immediately acceded the British throne on February 6, 1952, when her father, King George VI died.

She served as queen of Britain for about 70 years.

Source: Modern Ghana

Shatta Wale went live on Instagram on Wednesday evening to demonstrate to his over 3.9 million followers how to undergo proper facial treatment for clearer and even skin tone.

According to Shatta, he constantly receives compliments from individuals who have for years wondered how he’s been able to keep a smooth face like a white man.

In a comic demonstration, the celebrated dancehall singer, who has a huge following across all social media platforms, poured a small amount of handwashing soap into his left hand and gently rubbed it on his face.

“So you people are here. I don’t have much time, but I just want to show most of you how to do this facial thing. A whole lot of people have been asking me, Shatta, what have you been using on your face that you look so beautiful like a white man?

“Please, I have some things I have been using that you guys don’t know. People think that to do a facial job is an easy thing but it is not really an easy thing,” the musician stated in the viral video sighted by OdarteyGH TV on September 7.

The said video has generated over 2,000 comments with friends and colleagues describing Shatta Wale as a comedian.

Reacting to the 8-minute and 43-second clip, his fans laughed their hearts out at the video that captured Shatta wrapped in a white towel around his waist and head.

Source: Modern Ghana

FAO promotes the implementation of biosecurity and biological security in RESOLAB member laboratories in a regional workshop

26 August 2022, Accra – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), concluded today a five-day workshop to accelerate the adoption of a regional approach in the implementation of biosafety and biosecurity measures in laboratories, members of the ECOWAS Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Network (RESOLAB). The workshop contributed to the improvement of the application of biosafety measures in these veterinary laboratories to carry out the diagnosis of infectious animal diseases under satisfactory safety conditions for laboratory workers, humans, animals and their environment.

Veterinary diagnostic and research laboratories play a vital role in public health, animal disease diagnosis, surveillance, food safety and animal welfare. Potential hazards of the pathogens they handle or isolate may pose a risk to the environment, animal and public health, or may be misused for malicious purposes. Maximum safety measures should be applied in laboratory work to protect laboratory technicians, animals, as well as the environment. This involves assessing the risk generated by different manipulations using standardised procedures, and then applying appropriate measures to minimise the risks they pose. And yet, in many African countries, the capacity to deal with these threats lags.

Opening the workshop, Mr. Ahmed Garba, on behalf of the FAO’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) Regional Manager, noted that “the implementation of Biosafety measures requires constant efforts from veterinary laboratories. Thus, the importance of implementing the national roadmaps developed two years ago. He added that “FAO/ECTAD will make every effort to support RESOLAB labs to improve their conduction of BSS with the support of partners.”

Accelerating the implementation of biosecurity and biosafety

Veterinary laboratory biosafety and biosecurity and containment of infectious agents are receiving increasing attention, as most diseases caused by zoonotic agents are well known and preventable. Laboratory biosafety and biosecurity are important to ensure the safety of technicians and to protect the public from accidental or intentional exposure to infectious pathogens. To accelerate the implementation of biosecurity and biosafety measures and improve the management of these risks, FAO, with the support USAID through the Global Health Security Agenda is committed to strengthening the veterinary laboratory system capacities in Africa. They are helping countries to identify gaps in the veterinary laboratory systems and supporting the identification and implementation of corrective measures. In particular, to assess biorisk management in veterinary laboratories, FAO has developed the Laboratory Mapping Tool (LMT) comprising the LMT-safety and LMT-Biorisk for the assessment of biorisk management in veterinary laboratories.

Dealing with biosafety at national level

The workshop was an opportunity to explain and discuss the concepts of biosafety and biosecurity in the laboratory. It also provided an opportunity to get an idea of the needs and therefore the gaps to be filled in dealing with biosafety issues in the laboratory and to encourage the adoption of the principles of biosafety and biosecurity at national veterinary laboratories.

At the end of this workshop, participants developed a national roadmap for their laboratory to integrate these points into the daily management of their laboratory and gave their inputs to the regional laboratory safety program.

Despite the challenges faced in terms of implementing programmes that address biosecurity and biosafety, the kind of surveillance in place and how veterinary laboratories play a key role in identifying major outbreaks of animal and transboundary diseases, FAO supports the strengthening of the capacities of laboratory systems in Africa ensuring optimal biorisk management and adequate biosafety and biosecurity measurements to prevent the release of or exposure to infectious material.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

The Bono East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwame Baffoe, a.k.a Abronye DC, has alleged that some NDC parliamentarians have been begging him to drop his double salary suit against some of their colleagues.

According to him, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs tried to influence him by offering to make the vetting process easy for him if he got an appointment from an NPP president.

“Some of the NDC MPs planned and met me in the Ashanti Region to beg me to withdraw my double salary suit. They were saying that if the judge rules on the case, their majority will reduce.

“They tried to convince me by saying that if one day I want to be a minister or someone close to me wants to be a minister, they will make things easier,” he said in Twi in an Nsem Pii TV interview monitored by GhanaWeb.

“I told them that I will go on with my case because I’m not interested in becoming a minister, and even if one day, I want to become a minister, they can throw me out if I appear before them to be vetted. I will not die if I don’t become a minister,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Ghana in April 2022 granted permission for a writ to be served on nine appointees of ex-President John Dramani Mahama via substituted service for a case filed against them alleging that they took double salaries when they were working as MPs and ministers.

Abronye DC filed the suit to get appointees of Mahama who took double salaries to refund the monies to the state after a proper interpretation of Article 98 of the 1992 Constitution, citinewsroom.com reports.

Article 98 bars MPs from holding profiting positions without the authorization of the Speaker of Parliament. The appointees to be served the writs includes Haruna Iddrisu, Alhassan Azong, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, Eric Opoku, Abdul Rashid Hassan Pelpuo, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, Mark Owen Woyongo, Comfort Doyoe Ghanasah, and Aquinas Tawiah Quansah.

Source: Ghana Web

Fans travelling to the 2022 World Cup will not be able to take alcohol for personal consumption into Qatar, with the head of the country’s safety and security committee saying that “specific measures” are in place to take action against anyone attempting to smuggle liquor in their luggage.

Although alcohol is strictly restricted in Qatar — drinking in public can lead to fines of up to 3,000 riyal (£720) or prison sentences up to six months — it can be purchased inside hotels, and the supreme committee in charge of the tournament has agreed to make beer — provided by World Cup sponsor Budweiser — available at stadiums and in fan zones during the World Cup, which begins on Nov. 20.

High consumption of alcohol during the early stages of Russia 2018 led to some bars in Moscow running out of beer as fans from across the world partied in the Russian capital.

But despite football fan culture in many regions of the world involving alcohol consumption before, during and after games, the Qatari authorities have said that alcohol availability will be limited to designated areas only and that fans will not be allowed to bring their own booze.

“There are specific measures,” Col. Jassim Abdulrahim Al Sayed of the safety and security operations committee told ESPN at a news conference in Doha. “I think alcohol will not be allowed through the airport and suitcases.

“There are locations where alcohol will be sold throughout the country.”

The main fanfest at the tournament will not serve alcohol until after 6:30 p.m., despite some games kicking off earlier in the day.

But Qatar 2022 chief executive Nasser Al Khater has urged fans to consume alcohol in the specific areas that have been given permission to serve drinks.

“There is a misconception about alcohol sales in stadiums and designated zones,” Al Khater said. “We are working like any other World Cup, like usual.

“Very simply, we have always stated that the sale of alcohol [will be] available in Qatar and will make it available in specific zones.

“The fanfest will serve from 6:30 p.m., but it will attract a lot of families and children and we want to give them opportunity to be in alcohol-free zone for certain parts of the day. Later, the fans will have alcohol readily available.”

Source: Modern Ghana

The founder and the leader of the Liberal Party of Ghana LPG, Percival Kofi Akpaloo, has promised to restructure the small-scale mining(galamsey) business to make it more effective, environmentally friendly and responsive to the needs of the host communities when he wins the December 2024 general election.

He said the restructuring would also aim at making the activity a job creation avenue for the youth, especially those in mining communities.

“I believe we must regulate small-scale mining to protect the environment and ensure safe mining so that the youth in those communities can have a source of livelihood for themselves and their families,” Kofi Akpaloo exclusively told Neat FM.

He further stressed that he would also institute additional measures to protect the environment while ensuring that small-scale miners operated legitimately without police interference.

Under the next LPG government, he said, graduates and experts in mining would be deployed to mining communities to train and assist small-scale miners on best mining practices to help eliminate accidents and the hazards associated with illegal mining.

Kofi Akpaloo said it was the right of people in mining communities to harness the benefits from the resources bequeathed to them by nature with the help of the government.

He assured the people that the next LPG government would create the opportunity for miners to have their gold refined in the country to help boost the economy.

“To add value to their products, we must, and we shall refine more gold for export. Let me assure you that we will involve the Bank of Ghana in certifying quality refined Ghanaian Gold.

Source: Ghana Web

Electoral Commission (EC) has announced sweeping reforms to voter registration and voting, two years before the next general elections.

These will affect source documents for voter registration and the voter ID system, and will take effect with the maturation of a yet-to-be laid constitutional instrument.

Deputy Commission Chair, Samuel Tettey, told Journalists at the Commission’s “Let the Citizen Know” encounter.

Deputy Chairman of the Commission in charge of operations, Samuel Tettey says the guarantor system is fraught with many challenges and could no longer provide a secure system of voter registration for the country.

On registration of voters, the Commission says it will not be compiling a new voter’s register. It is however running a continuous registration, hoping to capture between 450,000-550,000 potential registrants annually.

“We are not going to compile a new voters register. Rather, we would continuously register voters to update the current voters register to ensure that anyone who wants to register as a voter has the opportunity to do so”.

“This registration exercise unlike the previous registration exercise will be continuous. As such, anyone who has the card can just walk to our offices and register. It is not a periodic or limited registration exercise that could disenfranchise persons who do not have the Ghana Card at the time of the limited exercise. This is an all-year-round process. As such, a person who doesn’t have the Ghana Card today can acquire it tomorrow and simply walk into a district office where he or she intends to vote and register.”

While urging the National Identification Authority (NIA) to accelerate the printing of the Ghana card to ease the process for potential voters “we call on the NIA to accelerate the pace of the printing of the Ghana cards to make it easy for anyone who is interested in registering with us to do so”, it also debunked assertions that the Ghana Card will be used as an identity card for voting in the 2024 elections.

“We have also heard discussions to the effect that citizens will vote with the Ghana Card in 2024; this is not true. The card is only a requirement to register as a voter for those who have not previously registered as voters. Once you present your Ghana Card and successfully register as a voter, you will be issued a voter identification card which bears the features of the EC; namely, the code of your region, district, electoral area, and polling station.”

“We expect all the players in the electoral process including political parties to encourage all those who do not have a Ghana Card to visit the offices of the National Identification Authority and register for the Ghana card, after which they can also register with the Electoral Commission to enable them vote in the 2023 District Assembly Elections and the 2024 General Elections.”

Source: Modern Ghana