Category: General

World football governing body, FIFA is currently hosting an event in Qatar for the draw of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The draw being watched across the globe is being held at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center.

Ghana after qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup has been placed in Pot 4 for today’s draw.

Stream the draw for the group stage of this year’s FIFA World Cup to be staged in Qatar below:

This year’s highly-anticipated mundial is scheduled to take place in Qatar from November 21 to December 18, 2022.

Source: Modern Ghana

Tamale, April 01, GNA – Dr Michael Ayamga-Adongo, Head of Department for Applied Economics at the University for Development Studies (UDS), has revealed that there were signs the country’s economy had taken a downturn driven by excessive borrowing long before the emergence of the COVID-19.

     He said although COVID-19 had impacted on the economy, considering the lockdown, border closures, reduced trade among others, the economy was already bedeviled by excessive borrowing, high government expenditure, that exposed it to economic shocks.

     Dr Ayanga-Adongo, an Economist, emphasised that “rising debt owed to power producers in the energy sector, estimated at over US$ 3billion, and another US$ 3billion in bonds to pay customers of insolvent banks in the financial sector clean-up, were early signs of a cracking economy.”

     He was speaking to the Ghana News Agency in reaction to the State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered by President Nana Akufo-Addo on Wednesday, March 30.

     Dr Ayamga-Adongo said the President needed to paint a true picture of the situation for the citizenry to appreciate challenges confronting the country.

     He reiterated that the President could have seized the opportunity to tell the citizens the reality about the economy to build consensus to rally them behind the core objectives of saving the economy.

     He described the country as bankrupt and said it could not do any meaningful project without borrowing, adding “No one wants to lend to us, and no one is interested in what we offer on the capital market.”

     Dr Ayamga-Adongo recommended the urgent need for government to raise revenue to finance its agenda, stating that it could only be done by unifying the citizens.

     He bemoaned the posture of the President in addressing matters of national concerns and said the President must avoid campaign talks in times like these emphasising “The President behaves as if he is on a campaign trail and that is not helping matters.”

President Akufo-Addo presented the SONA on Wednesday, where he touched on the general performance of the country, and looked deep into economic, political and social position for the year under review

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Jonathan Osei-Wusu, the Assemblyman of Assin Nsuta Electoral Area, who picked forms to contest as a Presiding Member of Assin South District Assembly, was on Thursday disqualified to context.

Mr Osei-Wusu’s nomination forms were not endorsed, and the District Electoral Officer of the Electoral Commission (EC) called off the election because he went unopposed and needed two-thirds of the Assembly members present to endorse him.

Mr Daniel Dela, the District Officer, therefore, opened the floor for fresh nomination and educated the members on what constituted two-thirds of the total votes cast to elect a Presiding Member.

The EC said the next election would be conducted in the next ten days.

Mr Emmanuel K. Boadi, the former Presiding Member of the District, failed to context.

Mrs Felicia Ntrikwa Amissah, the District Chief Executive (DCE), appealed to the Assembly Members to bury their differences and strive to project the Assembly to foster development.

She pleaded with members to look beyond the interest of the district and the people of Assinman.

The DCE urged the Assembly Members to employ dialogue and consensus in resolving their differences and disagreements to ensure continuity in development.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Interim Black Stars assistant coach, George Boateng says the decision to remain as a member of the technical team solely lies in the hands of his club Aston Villa.

Boateng, who is Villa’s U-23 was named alongside former Asante Kotoko coach, Mas-ud Didi Dramani as the first team assistant coaches with Chris Hughton as the technical advisor.

Boateng says while he will like to stay on with the national team, the decision is not solely his to make despite steering the Black Stars to secure a place in the 2022 World Cup.

“It’s Aston Villa that will decide whether I am allowed to be part of the technical team or not,” he told Citi Sports.

“I think by now everybody knows that the willingness to help my nation is there and I am open to help if I am asked to,

“But it’s now up to me since I am in a full time employment and my contract has not ended.”

The draw for the 2022 Qatar World Cup will take place on Friday, April 1, 2022, in Doha Qatar and Ghana have been drawn in Pot 4.

The draw will take place at 16:00GMT.

Source: Modern Ghana

Accra, April 1, GNA – Nana Yamfoah Amua-Sekyi, Director, Public Education, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), has cautioned Queen Mothers to desist from helping to solve domestic and sexual harassment and abuses at home.

Such cases, she said were criminal in nature and had to be reported only to appropriate authorities especially the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service, and not to be settled among family members or opinion leaders.

She gave the caution at an engagement organised by Inerela Ghana, a nongovernmental organisation with Queen Mothers within the Ayawaso Central, North and East constituencies in Accra.

Mrs Amua-Sekyi said no compensation in such cases was to be accepted, bearing in mind the need to allow a Court of competent jurisdiction to serve justice.

She said treating such cases lightly had much psychological effects on the victims and made them feel as if they were reduced to nothing or without dignity.

The Director said domestic violence often occurred in relationships where both partners stayed together without being married, where the two but did not stay together and among married couples living together.

She introduced participants to the various forms of abuse including physical (physical attack and infliction of pain), sexual (sexual harassment, defilement or rape) and economic abuse (where a partner ceased the other from engaging in a business of his or her choice or controlled his or purse without an approval).

“When you report to the Police, please leave them to work on the cases, don’t interfere. And don’t take any compensation to set the perpetrator free. Think about the victim and seek justice for him or her. This will deter culprits from making other vulnerable people fall prey to their criminal acts,” she advised.

Mrs Amua-Sekyi told participants that the law protected spouses who were being forced out of rented apartments because their spouses whom they had grudges with had vacated the apartments already even when the advance payment was not due.

Mrs Paulina L. Essel, Deputy Chief Investigator and License Counselor, CHRAJ, advised the Queen Mothers, who served as intermediaries between families, the Police and perpetrators, to desist from judging victims of defilement or rape whenever such cases were brought before them.

She also cautioned fathers to refrain from subjecting their children to verbal or physical abuses as a result of having had a conflict with their wives who are the mothers of the children.

Mrs Linda Asante Agyei, the Vice President, Ghana Journalists Association, asked the Queen Mothers to establish a cordial relationship with DOVVSU and Social Welfare officials within their communities to enable them to work smoothly and quickly to support victims.

“You can even invite them to your programmes to witness your engagements with members in your communities. That will make it easier for them to understand your issues and support your interventions,” she said.

Mrs Mercy Acquah-Hayford, the Country Coordinator of Inerela Ghana, directed the Queen Mothers to assist victims of such abuses to report the cases to DOVVSU, and the Department of Social Welfare for intervention and not to traditional cancels to prevent the cases from being given insignificant attention.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mrs Acquah-Hayford explained that the engagement was a follow up of a previous meeting with the community leadership to find a lasting solution to the high rate domestic violence in the community.

It was also to encourage and empower the women to report abuse cases to the Police.

Victims of abuse were discouraged and frightened from reporting cases of domestic and sexual violence to the Police due to reverence given to their men, somehow due to suppression.

Inerela Ghana is a non-governmental organisation that works with a network of religious leaders living with HIV that empowers themselves and others to live positively and openly as agents of hope and change in and beyond their faith communities.

Source: Ghana News Agency

More than 250 institutions are likely to face prosecution for defaulting in the registration and payment of prescribed fees to the Data Protection Commission.

The institutions owed the Commission GH¢ 1.5 million after collecting and personally processing information of individuals as data controllers over the years.

Madam Patricia Adusei-Poku, the Executive Director of the Commission, said her outfit had taken the decision to haul the defaulters before court with the aid of the Attorney-General’s office after the grace period given them had expired.

Madam Adusei-Poku made this known when the Commission paid a visit to the Attorney General to hand over a compiled list of 251 defaulting Data Controllers for punitive action.

The Commission is a statutory body established under the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843) to protect the privacy of the individual and personal data by regulating the processing of personal data, choices of technologies and integrity of people with access to personal data.

“Since October 2020, we gave them an amnesty period of six months to allow those defaulting to come and register themselves as required under Section 46(3) of the Act to comply with the obligation,” the Executive Director said.

She said all institutions that had collected and processed data even before the promulgation of the Act needed to register and pay since the law takes retrospective effect.

The Act provides for the establishment of a data Protection register which is to be maintained by the Commission and to which data controllers must compulsorily register under Section 46.

She said the Commission provided for the process to obtain, hold, use, or disclose personal information and for other related issues bordering on the protection of personal data.

The Executive Director said since Ghana’s digital transformation agenda kicked off, the Commission had been very keen in making public the mandates under the act for both Data Controllers and rights of Data subjects.

The Act also regulates how personal information is acquired, kept, used, or disclosed by data controllers and data processors in compliance with the Act.

She said entering the enforcement phase of compliance with the Act, the DPC issued notice letters to various companies cautioning them to register with the Commission or risk facing the law.

“While some Data Controllers stepped up to comply with the Act others remained adamant to the cautions,” she added.

Mrs Yvonne Atakora – Obuobisa, the Director of Public Prosecution, who received the list on behalf of the Attorney General, advised the Commission to give an additional 14-day period to the defaulters and after which action could be taken to prosecute them.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Ho, April 01, GNA – The Volta Regional Command of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has honoured two female personnel of the Service for their impressive work.

The duo: GOI Adisa Musah and ADOII Mary Afesi, were awarded with a citation for their outstanding performance and high level of professionalism in executing their duties.

The Command said the awardees have shown great resilience in practical fire fighting which was a daunting task and male dominated, hence the recognition.

“In this male dominated bastion, things are very macho, yet, you have never shown weakness in your resolve to rub shoulders with males if not surpass them.

“Indeed, you are one of the very few ladies in the Service who are at the fore front of fire fighting and rescue operations,” the citation read.

The awardees in an interview with the Ghana News Agency thanked the Command for the recognition and the honour done them.

They said little did they know their commitment and dedication to duty would result in such recognition and pledged to continue to give of their best to protect lives and properties.

Source: Ghana News Agency

ImpactHER has partnered with So Fraîche Media and Société Générale to train female entrepreneurs through the bank’s innovation hub initiative.

ImpactHER, a non-profit organization, has teamed up with So Fraîche Media and Société Générale, to train female entrepreneurs on how to build scalable businesses and access institutional investors. The partnership was announced at a recent women’s event on the theme ‘Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow’ held on the premises of Société Générale, which was oversubscribed.

ImpactHER decided to collaborate with SG Bank in order to help the women get the needed financial assistance from the bank as funding is a major challenge for most of these women entrepreneurs’ event is aimed at bringing women who are under the organization.

The founder of ImpactHER, Efe Ukala, stated that she is highly encouraged by this partnership as it leverages the expertise of ImpactHER, SG Bank and So Fraîche Media to change the status quo of many Ghanaian women-led businesses.

“This partnership would help provide financial and market access to Ghanaian formal and informal female-led businesses, thereby helping to increase the economic output and improving the standard of living of thousands of Ghanaian women”.

In her remarks, the Country Director for ImpactHER Ghana, Maame Konadu Mintah, said the organization which has its headquarters in New York has branches all over Africa and has the ultimate goal to engage, train and position women entrepreneurs.

ImpactHER has trained over 35,949 women in 53 African countries

“Every woman is within the target group, both formal and informal. We want to encourage more women to be entrepreneurial and develop products that can enter the African market and also help them meet partners.”

She further added that her organization creates the platform for these women to exhibit their products as well getting technical training to help them package their products in order to meet international standards.

Société Générale is expected to launch the SG Woman Solution for entrepreneurs and corporate women across the country through the Innovation hub initiative to cater to the start-up needs of young innovative women. The bank hopes that the SG Woman Solution will be every woman’s preferred go-to service now and in the future.

In his address, the Managing Director for Société Générale, Ouzzani Hakim, said the bank is intentional about ensuring that there is equal representation of gender in the various areas of the organization. Mr. Hakim stated that currently, women constitute 44% of the company’s board and executive committee, a feat that they are very proud of.

“As part of the bank’s deliberate efforts to help the entrepreneurial journey of women, SG Ghana apart from the normal financial services it provides, such as loans, leasing, factoring amongst others, is developing a product specifically designed with the entrepreneurial woman in mind. Secondly, our SG Ghana Home of Business has been set up to assist women-led businesses to be bankable and investor-ready. Thirdly, the SG Ghana INNOV8 has also been tasked to find new and innovative ways to help with the adoption of technology in start-ups owned by women.”

According to the MD, “we want to see women grow and continue to be the beacon of hope that they are to their families and society, so SG Ghana is here to help that entrepreneurial woman succeed.”

The collaboration, spearheaded by the Managing Director of So Fraîche Media, Cyril Ofori Nelson, aims to synchronize ideas and resources to help female entrepreneurs source funding and grow their businesses to become pacesetters and market leaders in the country and beyond. Mr. Ofori Nelson intimated: “We are committed to using our network to bring organizations together as a way of constantly adding value and opening new synergies for development and societal impact.”

Source: Ghana Web