Category: Legal-Judicial

Tema- Tema Community Centre District Court has fined the Manager of Avor Plus Pub a sum of GH?1,200, or in default serve six-month imprisonment in hard labour for display and offer for sale of expired drinks to the public.

The court presided over by Mr Festus Fovi Nukunu, a Circuit Court Judge sitting as an additional judge at the District Court, sentenced the manager after he pleaded guilty to both charges.

The prosecution, led by Mr Issah Al-Hassan, told the court that the accused operated a drinking pub at Adjei Kojo near Tema in the Greater Accra Region.

He said on August 18, 2021, a team of Environmental Health Officers inspected the accused person’s trade premises, and it was detected that he had displayed and offered for sale expired drinks at the time of inspection.

The prosecution explained that the expired products displayed were; star beer drinks with the expiry date of August 12, 2021; and Aloe Vero drinks with the expiry date of June 1, 2021.

The Environmental Health Officers detected that some of the drinks were in the fridge at the time of inspection.

The prosecution said the accused was in breach of the law for preparing and offering adulterated drinks for sale to the public and failure to obtain a medical health certificate and sanitation permit at the time of inspection.

The accused admitted the offence and that statutory notice was served on him, but he failed to comply.

The court summons was applied for and served on the accused to appear before the court, leading to a subsequent trial, and conviction.

Source: Ghana News Agency

One person lost his life in a clash between two communities in the Yonyo District in the North East Region on Friday, June 24.

Although the cause of the clash is unknown, reports indicate that fifteen persons who sustained different degrees of injuries as a result of the dispute are under hospital admission.

A local reporter in the community who spoke to Citi News indicated that police deployed to the area have restored calm to the affected communities.

“The conflict began yesterday. So many people have been injured, and they have been admitted at the Tamale Teaching Hospital. Calm has been restored in the communities.”

A month ago, a violent incident similarly occurred when some youth of Karimenga set a police checkpoint ablaze over the alleged shooting of a pillion rider.

The youth vandalized the checkpoint after police at the Karimenga checkpoint shot a female pillion rider in an attempt to arrest a cyclist who crashed into its barricade and sped off.

Source: Modern Ghana

The lawyers of gospel musician, Joyce Blessing, have started investigations into how a video of the artiste visibly drunken was released onto the internet.

On Wednesday, a video surfaced on the internet, in which Joyce was seen drinking from a bottle. She is heard saying she is intoxicated because of “red wine.”

In the video, she is heard professing her love for someone, who, according to her, is the reason she was in that state.

Although it is unclear who she was referring to, the statement by her management states that, “This video is first of all an old video of a loving wife expressing private feelings to her husband and the content was not meant to be circulated publicly.”

Her handlers believe the video was shared by certain people to tarnish the reputation of the gospel musician.

“It is rather unfortunate that certain persons are doing everything to destroy the hard won reputation of a talented and inspirational musician. It is obvious that the intent of the circulation is to target and destroy this reputation.”

As a result of this, Joyce Blessing and her team have decided to find out those behind the release of the video.

“Management and her legal team have initiated investigations into this matter and the culprit (s) shall certainly be held responsible.”

Joyce Blessing, about two years ago, had issues with her husband/manager, Dave Joy. The couple split because of those issues.

She recently had a rekindled beef with traditional priest turned evangelist Nana Agradaa. She threw shades at the priest after the former had announced that she had a rift with her husband.

Source: Modern Ghana

One person is feared dead while three others sustained injuries after Newmont Ghana security guards shot at them at Ntotroso in the Asutifi North District of the Ahafo Region.

They are reported to have entered a mining concession site at Kampisigo, owned by the Newmont, a gold mining firm, at Ntotroso on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, in the evening to undertake illegal mining.

The four, according to the report, hail from Hwediem in the Asutifi North District of the Ahafo Region.

The name of the missing person was given as Emmanuel Kwabena Atikum.

Ibrahim Godfather, resident of Hwediem in an interview with Otec News on Friday, June 12, 2022, said during the shooting, two managed to escape to the town but two left behind.

“The four persons entered the camp to do ‘galamsey’ in that night, course of their activities they were shot by the guards and they all fled. During the pursuit, two escaped and two were trapped,” he said.

“One of the two persons who were left behind came home with bruises on his body came home on Wednesday, saying he suspected that the other person has been shot dead,” he added.

The youth at Hwediem upon hearing the news stormed the Ntotroso Police Station on Thursday to seek their help to find their folk, but the police declined.

The disappointed youth also had their petition to the District Chief Executive for the area to assist them turned down, a situation that has incensed them to face the management of Newmont Ghana to rescue the other one; dead or alive.

It took the timely intervention of the Omanhene of Hwediem Traditional Area, Osuodumgya Barima Appia-DwaBoafo II to calm them down, with the promise of assisting them.

Source: Modern Ghana

Hohoe (V/R), Mr Robert Tettey Nomo Jnr, Programmes Officer, Legal Resources Centre (LRC), says effective delivery of justice in the country is not only the responsibility of the mandated institutions, but also that of the citizenry.

He said often when the criminal justice system is being talked about, only key institutions such as the Police, Attorney General, Judiciary were looked at while overlooking the roles that citizens also must play as enshrined in the constitution.

Mr Nomo speaking during a USAID Justice Sector Support Activity public education workshop on access to justice with partners from the NCCE and CHRAJ in Hohoe, said citizens were required to report wrongdoers or ensure that the right was done rather than sitting unconcerned.

He said there was the need to equip people with information regarding access to justice through public education and supply of information, education and communication materials distributed to enable people know that they had rights and responsibilities.

Mr Nomo noted that within the rights of people, they would interface with the justice institutions and as they did, they needed to know what they had their rights to do and what not to do.

He said often people had their rights violated because mostly they do not know their rights, or they are in fear.

Mr Nomo said it was the expectation that the information on access to justice could be spread to empower others to be knowledgeable, which could prevent them from being abused and their rights not infringed upon.

Inter-regional Bridge Group (IBG), Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and Crime Check Foundation are partnering the Activity being undertaken in 40 districts nationwide.

Mr Ernest Amedior, Hohoe Municipal Director, National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), speaking on the Commission’s mandate and its access to justice, noted that the Commission was mandated to educate and encourage the public to defend the Constitution, against all forms of abuse and violation.

He said the Commission was also mandated to create and sustain within society, the awareness of the principles and objectives of the Constitution as the fundamental law of people of Ghana.

Mr Amedior noted that the NCCE was also mandated to formulate, implement and oversee programmes intended to inculcate in the citizens of Ghana awareness of their civic responsibilities and an appreciation of their rights and obligations as free people.

Mr Daniel Mensah, Hohoe Municipal Director, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), noted that the Commission carried out human rights, administrative justice and anti-corruption mandates.

He said the commission, under the human rights mandate, promotes, protects and enforces the human rights of all persons living in the country.

Mr Mensah said interventions by the CHRAJ to ensure access to justice includes the ‘Justice for all’ programme, visits to prisons to see the state of prisoners and hold public education on where individuals could also seek help.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Gospel singer and songwriter Hermon Cyrus Kwesi Nhyira Oteng known in showbiz as Cwesi Oteng has revealed it is possible he could switch to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) if the party is able to present better policies than the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2024 general elections.

Cwesi Oteng is widely known as an NPP supporter who in 2016 publicly supported and campaigned for then-candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

However few years down the line, the musician indicated he is disappointed in President Nana Akufo-Addo and therefore has withdrawn his support

According to him, he is only going to support the political party that would present better policies.

In an interview on Power FM monitored by MyNewsGh.com when asked directly who he would wish wins the 2024 polls he answered “they should all bring me their policies. After going through it and I get to realize the NDC has better than what the NPP has why not, we will look in the interest of Ghana”.

“I’m a citizen, and I have said that severally and the NPP people respect me for that. That is how I want the young people to think”, he added.

Source: Modern Ghana

Seven suspected robbers have been arrested in two separate anti-robbery operations in the Western Region.

Four of the suspects – Shadrack Nyame, Wofa Yaw Boadi, Sampson Attobra and Kweku Koduah – were arrested at their hideout at Wassa Powuako.

The arrest was after they had robbed their victims of GH?42,360.00 and some mobile phones at a section of the road between Wassa Powuako and Wassa Abenabena.

A news brief from the Police said the other three suspects – Samuel Amuzu, Francis Acheampong and William Kwifie – were arrested for attacking and robbing their victims of various sums of money and some gold ore at Yayaso village near Samreboi.

It said items retrieved so far from the suspects include a cash amount of GH? 1480, a quantity of gold ore, one pump action gun, 7 AAA live ammunition and one spent cartridge.

The brief said the suspects were in Police custody and would be taken through the due process of the law.

It commended the Western Regional Police Command for conducting a successful operation and thanked the victims and community members who assisted in the operation.

The brief urged the public to support the police to maintain a safe and secure environment for all.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Tamale, June 02, GNA – The Evidence for Development (E4D) project has helped to build capacities of local government policy actors as well as created awareness around the need for evidence in policy and planning to facilitate development.

The E4D has also led to improvement in terms of the processes of decision-making where all stakeholders, including civil society organisations (CSOs), were engaged in planning processes at the district level to help to facilitate an informed decision-making process.

This came to light at a multi-stakeholder workshop in Tamale on the theme: “Using Data and Evidence in Policy Planning and Programme Implementation at the District Level in Ghana: Reflections from Practice”.

The workshop brought together local government policy actors, CSOs, development practitioners and researchers to reflect on the current state of evidence use in policy and practice, and to identify lessons learned to advance the institutionalisation of evidence-informed decision-making practices at the district level.

CDD-Ghana, with support from Hewlett Foundation, implemented the E4D project in three districts from 2019 to 2021 to strengthen the capacity of government policy actors in evidence-informed policy making to improve social development outcomes.

It was also to motivate government policy actors to access and use the best available data and evidence to inform policies and programme implementation at the subnational and district levels of the country.

The districts are Sagnarigu, Bolgatanga East and Dormaa East.

Mr Toyiba Abdul Hamid, the Municipal Development Planning Officer, Sagnarigu Municipal Assembly, who shared the experience of the Assembly during the workshop, said the project brought on board CSOs, who were key partners in development, and the need to seek data from academia to aid planning.

He said the inputs from the CSOs helped to fill some of the data gaps the Assembly had been battling with and their programmes and projects were incorporated into the document.

“So, we hope that as we plan together, we will implement together because we have been doing things advariance with each other though with a common goal, which leads to duplication, waste of resources….”

“If we implement together, it will help address some of the resource challenges that we face during the implementation, which will make judicious use of the available resources and hence make a higher impact on our development agenda.”

Mr Mohammed Awal, E4D Project Team Leader at CDD-Ghana, lauded the districts for their attempts to institutionalise the E4D in their decision-making processes and urged them to find some internal resources and mechanisms to integrate some aspects of the project to sustain the gains made.

Source: Ghana News Agency