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Inside Jan 19, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 1/18/18 8:06 PM Page 3 •The Kazakh authorities said five people had escaped the blaze including the two drivers Kazakhstan bus fire kills 52 with few survivors A BUS has caught fire in north-western Kazakhstan, killing 52 people, the interior ministry has said. Five people managed to get out and were treated by rescue workers on the spot, reports said. The accident happened at 10:30 local time on Thursday (04:30 GMT) in the Irgiz district of Aktobe region. The bus is thought to have been carrying Uzbek citizens to or from Russia along the Samara-Shymkent route, said local media. The route, which is about 2,200km (1,300 miles) long, is frequently used by Uzbek migrant labourers travelling to construction sites in Russia, observers say. The emergency services ministry told AFP news agency that 55 passengers and two drivers had been aboard the bus. BBC DAILY HERITAGE FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2018 WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH World news in 4 stories 'Code red' storm causes Dutch, German transport chaos DUTCH AUTHORITIES have suspended all flights to and from Amsterdam Schiphol airport as a severe storm causes transport chaos in the Netherlands. Most rail traffic has also stopped as winds gust at up to 140km/h (90mph). Schiphol, one of Europe's busiest airports, says flights will gradually resume and passengers can still check in. But two departure halls are closed. The storm is now causing damage and disruption in Germany. Rail traffic has stopped in the densely populated Ruhr. Dutch Twitter users have posted photos of trucks and trees blown over by the gales. Many trees have come down on railway lines. Police have closed the centre of Almere, a city with about 200,000 residents lying just east of Amsterdam. They tweeted an alert warning people to stay at home because of risk from the storm. BBC •The fierce wind blew this lorry trailer over in the Netherlands Police have closed the centre of Almere, a city with about 200,000 residents lying just east of Amsterdam. Zimbabwe elections ‘within five months’ •President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said peaceful elections are critical to reposition Zimbabwe as a democratic country ZIMBABWE WILL hold elections in four to five months, President Emmerson Mnangagwa is reported in the stateowned Herald as saying. It will be the first vote since independence in 1980 that Robert Mugabe does not participate in, after he was forced to resign as president last November after a military takeover. President Mnangagwa – who had served as Mr Mugabe’s deputy – replaced the longtime leader as head of the governing Zanu-PF. Speaking during an official trip to Mozambique, President Mnangagwa is quoted as saying: We will ensure that Zimbabwe delivers free, credible, fair and indisputable elections to ensure Zimbabwe engages the world as a qualified democratic state.” Mr Mnangagwa also said "we need to have peace, peace, peace". Since independence, Zimbabwean elections have been marred by vote rigging, intimidation and violent suppression of the opposition. According to the constitution, Zimbabwe "should hold elections between July 22 and August 22 but parliament can elect to dissolve itself, triggering an early vote", Reuters news agency reports. The governing Zanu-PF party currently has a two-thirds majority in parliament. Analysts say the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, has been weakened and divided by the ill health of its leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who is receiving treatment for colon cancer. BBC US plans open-ended military presence in Syria THE US will maintain an open-ended military presence in Syria to ensure the enduring defeat of the jihadist group Islamic State, counter Iranian influence, and help end the civil war. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said President Donald Trump did not want to "make the same mistakes" that were made in 2011, when US forces left Iraq. Mr Tillerson also denied the US was training a Kurdish-led border security force, saying officials had misspoken. There was a furious response to reports of the force's creation from Turkey, whose president accused the US of creating a "terror army" and warned of imminent assaults on the Kurdishcontrolled border areas of Afrin and Manbij. The Turkish army opened gaps in the border fence west of Afrin on Thursday, as the state-run Anadolu news agency reported that troops had been put on high alert. In a speech at Stanford University on Wednesday, Mr Tillerson said decisive action taken by President Trump had accelerated the progress made against IS. But he noted that IS was "not completely defeated" and that the government of President Bashar al-Assad - who the US opposes and has said should step down from power - controlled about half of Syria's territory and population. BBC •The US special forces and military advisers are deployed in northern and eastern Syria
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH DAILY HERITAGE MONDAY, JANUARY <strong>29</strong>, 2018 Let’s intensify war against water pollution FROM TIME immemorial, pollution of water bodies has remained a big challenge to public health and supply of potable water. Some water bodies in the country that serve as sources of water for treatment by the Ghana Water Company Limited are being destroyed due to reckless human activities. The Densu River in the Eastern Region, for example, is in a sorry state due to deliberate and irresponsible human activities. It also is estimated that about 5,000 tonnes of suspended sediments are deposited into the Weija Lake annually. According to one authority, “by 2030, drinking water sources/supply would be a big issue because there would be little or no good sources of water to treat for drinking.” (Ampofo, 2016). Indiscriminate disposal of domestic, commercial, industrial and agricultural waste into water bodies are some of the activities responsible for killing water bodies in the country. Another area of concern is the deliberate destruction of the environment through illegal mining known variously as ‘galamsey’ operations. Natural vegetation and farmlands are being destroyed. Courses of some water bodies have also been diverted due to ‘galamsey’ operations. According to the Ghana Public Health Association, research has revealed that there is a direct discharge of mercury, arsenic and other compounds into sources of drinking water, as well as indirect pollution of water bodies with chemical run-off from tailings and other deposits during rainfall, and leaching of surface contaminants into the aquifer and farmlands. What is more troubling is that though there are laws and regulations to address the canker, enforcement by the approporiate authorities has been very poor. As has been predicted by researchers, if care is not taken, access to potable drinking water will be a big challenge in the near future because of the rate at which water bodies are being destroyed. The DAILY HERITAGE, therefore, calls for more aggressive ways of curbing the menace, including strict enforcemnet of the laws, adeqaute resourcing of the supervising agencies by the government and arresting perpetrators to face the full rigours of the law. F/Minister dragged to S/Court BY MUNTALLA INUSAH muntalla.inusah@dailyheritage.com.gh APRESSURE Group, Dynamic Youth Movement of Ghana (DYMOG), has dragged the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori, the Commission on Human Right and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Attorney General to the Supreme Court over the ‘infamous’ GH¢ 2.25-billion Eurobond. Last year, the minister announced the successful issuance of 15 and seven years’ bond with the coupon rate of 19.5%, raising a total of $1.13 billion. The group stated that the bond raised the cedi equivalent of $1.12 billion in five years and 10 years bonds via a tap in arrangement meaning the total amount raised through the bonds as of April 3, 2017 was $2.25 billion. On April 25, last year, a citizen, Yaw Brogya Genfi, petitioned CHRAJ to investigate the bond transaction because he suspects that the Finance Minister was involved in what he described as “conflict of interest.” CHRAJ, after five months of investigation, cleared the minister with directives in relation to the • Over $2.25-billion Bond clearance bond issuance in order to ensure transparency and clarity. “On the basis of the evidence available to the commission, it has come to the conclusion and therefore holds that the allegations by the complainant that the respondent has contravened Articles 284 of the 1992 constitution by putting himself in a conflict of interest situation in relation to the issuance of the 5 years, 7 years, 10 years and 15 years, have not been substantiated,” CHRAJ concluded in its report. But DYMOG led by Edward Tuttor, the covenor of the group has taken a swipe at the clearance of the minister by CHRAJ and has therefore filed a suit at the Supreme Court dragging CHRAJ and two others in the action premised on Article 130(1)(a)of the 1992 Constitution. Reliefs The group is seeking, “A declaration that by going beyond investigations to make a pronouncement (of guilt or otherwise) on the 1st •Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister Defendant (Minister) in respect of the allegations of breach of con flict of interest, the 2nd Defendant (CHRAJ) has contravened article 287 of the 1992 constitution. It said, “By interpretation of Article 284 of the 1992 Constitution (as disclosed in paragraph 3 on page 127 and paragraph 3 on page 133 of the report). The second defendant has contravened Article 130 (1) (a) of the 1992 Constitution. “A consequential order that the context of the report as specified in reliefs (a) and (b) above be expunged from the report; “A declaration of the failure of the 1st Defendant to declare his shareholding interest in Data Bank Financial Services Limited, Data Bank Brokerage Limited and Data Bank Financial Holdings Limited to the Auditor General before talking office as Minister of Finance , as found by the 2nd Defendant on page 120 of the report, contravenes article 286(1)(a) of the 1992 Constitution; It is also asking for “A declaration that the occupation by the 1st Defendant of the office of a director in Ventures and Acquisition Limited, a private company, while in office as the minister responsible for finance without the due permission of the Right Honorable Speaker of Parliament on the grounds stated by the law, contravenes Articles 78(3) of the 1992 Constitution; and “A declaration that by issuing or overseeing the issuance of the said bonds to Templeton without disclosing his relational interest with a director at Templeton, One Trevor G. Trefgarne, the 1st Defendant has acted in contravention of Article 284 of the 1992 Constitution and any other reliefs that this Honorable court deems fit under the circumstances.” CHRAJ findings CHRAJ established that, “the Bank of Ghana, in 2015, set out guidelines dubbed guidelines for the government securities market for primary dealers’ purposely to regulate the issuance of government securities.” However, after the findings, “the Ministry of Finance, under the aegis of Ken Ofori Atta, breached these same guidelines.” CHRAJ also established that, “bonds, whether domestic or informational, are forms of government borrowing and therefore in accordance with article 181 of the 1992 Constitution and Article 56 of the Public Financial Management Act, the bond should have been brought to Parliament. However, the Finance Minister breached these laws once again.” CHRAJ furthermore strongly established that, “the Finance Minister has interest in Databank and Enterprise Group Limited whose objects are linked to the securities industry. Thus the potency for the finance minister to find himself in conflict of interest scenario once he has to issue securities is very high.”
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