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NO. 100643 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018 PRICE: GH¢2.00<br />

DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

•Prof. Newman K. Kusi,<br />

Executive Director, IFS<br />

•Mrs Eyram<br />

Bashan, Group<br />

Managing News<br />

Editor of EIB<br />

Network giving the<br />

survey document to<br />

Muhammed Abdul<br />

Samed-Gunu, MP for<br />

Savelugu<br />

visit us: @dailyheritagegh dailyheritage facebook.com/dailyheritage.com.gh<br />

GA-027-0054


02<br />

CONTENT<br />

DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018<br />

DAILY QUOTE<br />

What would you do<br />

if you weren't afraid<br />

--Spencer Johnson<br />

ANNIVERSARIES<br />

06 March, Independence Day<br />

30 March, Good Friday<br />

02 April, Easter Monday<br />

Published by: EIB<br />

Network / Heritage<br />

Communications Ltd.<br />

Managing Editor:<br />

William Asiedu:<br />

0208156974<br />

Editor:<br />

Kofi Enchill:<br />

0265653335<br />

ISSN: 0855-52307<br />

VOL 7<br />

Location: Meridian<br />

House (Starr FM) Ring<br />

Road. Box AD 676,<br />

Adabraka, Accra,Ghana.<br />

Telephone: +233-0302-<br />

236051, 020-8156974<br />

026-5653335<br />

Adverts/Mktg:<br />

Paul Ampong-Mensah<br />

024-4360782<br />

Fax: +233-0302-237156<br />

Email:<br />

news@dailyheritagegh.com.gh<br />

heritagenewspaper@yahoo.co.uk<br />

www.dailyheritage.com.gh<br />

WORLD<br />

SA postpones Zuma<br />

State of Nation<br />

speech<br />

POLITICS<br />

Minority can’t hold<br />

Parliament<br />

to ransom – Mensah-<br />

Bonsu<br />

BUSINESS<br />

PG.04<br />

Ghana Beyond Aid<br />

achieved yet?<br />

SPORTS<br />

PG.11<br />

Elite Bodybuilding<br />

Open set for March<br />

PG.10<br />

PG.15<br />

Reckless driving is<br />

weapon of mass destruction<br />

BY KOJO ANSAH<br />

NATIONAL ROAD<br />

Safety Ambassador, Mr<br />

Gabby Adu Gyamfi is<br />

calling for strict enforcement<br />

of the road<br />

traffic laws to ensure<br />

that reckless drivers face the required<br />

punishment.<br />

He said reckless driving is a weapon of<br />

mass destruction due to its tendency of<br />

killing many law abiding motorists.<br />

According to him, reckless driving is<br />

used by even terrorists to kill many people<br />

on the road hence a critical attention<br />

must be paid to the canker by the law enforcement<br />

agencies.<br />

Mr Gyamfi said this when he visited<br />

the scene of the fatal accident which<br />

killed 15 people at Anyinam in the Eastern<br />

Region.<br />

Grieved by the horrifying accident,<br />

Mr Gyamfi also called for construction of<br />

speed ramps at accident prone areas<br />

along the Accra to Kumasi Highway as a<br />

mitigation measure. He also suggested<br />

tougher punishment for drivers who<br />

drive recklessly.<br />

The death toll of the fatal accident<br />

that occurred last Thursday night at Anyinam<br />

in the Eastern Region rose from 14<br />

to 15. One of the injured recently died at<br />

the hospital.<br />

Reports suggested that the death toll<br />

may rise considering the fact that some of<br />

• Says Road Safety Ambassador<br />

•Gabby Adu Gyamfi, Road Safety Ambassador and<br />

Supt. Eric Asiedu, the Anyinam Police Commander<br />

the critically injured are still battling for<br />

their lives.<br />

Meanwhile, one person was knocked<br />

down to death at the accident area on Friday.<br />

Preliminary investigations by the Eastern<br />

Regional Police Command into the<br />

fatal accident that claimed 15 lives on the<br />

spot revealed that the sprinter driver was<br />

recklessly overtaking.<br />

Confirming the accident to DAILY<br />

HERITAGE, the Public Relations Officer<br />

(PRO) of the Eastern Regional Police<br />

Command, ASP Ebenezer Tetteh said the<br />

accident which occurred at about 11:30pm<br />

on Thursday at a spot opposite WAPCO<br />

Filling Station near Anyinam, involved<br />

three vehicles - a Mercedes Benz Sprinter<br />

Bus, a Diesel Cargo Truck and a Mercedes<br />

Benz.<br />

He said the Mercedes Benz with registration<br />

number GN 3699-14 loaded with<br />

about 25 pieces of 2/4 woods and 25 passengers<br />

from Nkawkaw towards Accra<br />

overtook several ongoing vehicles and in<br />

the process collided head on with the<br />

Diesel Truck with registration number WR<br />

5783-C also fully loaded from the opposite<br />

direction.<br />

The driver of the Cargo lost control of<br />

the steering wheel and also collided with<br />

another Mercedes Benz with registration<br />

number GT 546-U loaded with passengers<br />

and foodstuff.<br />

According to the PRO, the 14 people<br />

who died on the spot included five children<br />

and nine adults, all occupants of the<br />

Sprinter Bus.<br />

Other occupants of the Cargo Truck<br />

and the Sprinter Bus sustained serious injuries<br />

hence were rushed to the Engresi<br />

Government and Kibi Government hospitals<br />

for treatment.<br />

The bodies have been sent to the Holy Family<br />

Hospital at Nkawkaw.<br />

The Eastern Region has recorded many fatal<br />

accidents along the Accra to Kumasi Highway<br />

this year of which about 20 lives were lost in<br />

January.<br />

Statistics from the Motor Transport and<br />

Traffic Department in the region indicate that a<br />

total of 1,233 accident cases were recorded in<br />

2017 in the Eastern Region with 1,732 vehicles<br />

involved out of which 374 people perished and<br />

2,254 were injured during the year.


WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018<br />

Whenever you find yourself on the<br />

side of the majority, it is time to<br />

pause and reflect.<br />

—Mark Twain<br />

IFS commends govt<br />

NEWS DESK REPORT<br />

THE INSTITUTE for Fiscal<br />

Studies (IFS), a renowned economic<br />

think-tank, has welcomed<br />

plans by the government<br />

to hedge the country’s oil imports.<br />

The Institute has since 2015 urged the<br />

government to consider hedging Ghana’s oil<br />

imports because it is the best strategy to mitigate<br />

the adverse impact of oil price volatility.<br />

Addressing a press conference at the Institute’s<br />

head office in Accra yesterday, the<br />

Executive Director of the IFS, Prof. Newman<br />

Kusi noted that the IFS was “pleased to<br />

note recent reports in the media about plans<br />

by government to hedge the country’s oil imports.<br />

The IFS welcomes this development as<br />

a step in the right direction, given that hedging<br />

provides an insurance to mitigate the adverse<br />

impact of oil price volatility.”<br />

Ghana’s oil capacity<br />

He explained that “currently, Ghana produces<br />

nearly 200,000 barrels of oil per day.<br />

Ghana’s share has risen to nearly 20% of this<br />

total output, which it sells on the international<br />

market. Ghana is however a net oil importer,<br />

except last year when oil exports<br />

exceeded imports.<br />

“Without an oil hedging programme the<br />

country stands to lose foreign exchange earnings<br />

from exports when oil price drops on<br />

the world market. Likewise when oil price increases,<br />

the country suffers through increases<br />

in its oil import bill. Both scenarios are undesirable<br />

and can be mitigated by an effective<br />

hedging programme to ensure stability in fiscal<br />

management.”<br />

He said hedging is not entirely new to<br />

Ghana’s fiscal management and is an insurance<br />

instrument used to buy protection<br />

against risks and not a gamble for futuristic<br />

• Over plans to hedge oil imports<br />

gain.<br />

•Prof. Newman K. Kusi, Executive Director, IFS<br />

Success story<br />

It would be recalled that in March 2010,<br />

after the country had built capacity in commodity<br />

risk management in collaboration<br />

with one of the world’s reputable banks,<br />

Goldman Sachs, the government implemented<br />

a Commodity Risk Management Policy<br />

to help protect the economy from the<br />

volatilities in commodity prices.<br />

In line with the policy, a National Risk<br />

Management Committee was established and<br />

charged with the responsibility of hedging<br />

Ghana’s oil imports and exports through<br />

“call” and “put” options, respectively. Initially,<br />

the government hedged at a strike price<br />

of US$ 82.50 per barrel on monthly imports<br />

of 1,000,000 barrels.<br />

In July 2011, this was increased to<br />

2,000,000 barrels of imports per month at an<br />

average strike price of US$ 115.00 per barrel.<br />

The programme proved immensely successful,<br />

and by end-2011, the scope of the hedging<br />

programme had been expanded to<br />

provide a 100% cover for Ghana’s oil imports.<br />

The commencement of oil production<br />

from the Jubilee Field created a new price<br />

risk exposure for the country. To protect the<br />

oil revenue to enable it support fiscal stability,<br />

the scope of the hedging programme was expanded<br />

to include revenues from oil exports<br />

through the “put” option.<br />

Up to the end of 2011 fiscal year, 100%<br />

of the anticipated receipts from crude oil exports<br />

were also fully hedged. The government<br />

was also in the process of implementing<br />

Interest Rate Hedging programme which<br />

was to begin in 2012 to help stabilise interest<br />

costs arising from the external credit it had<br />

secured, including the China Development<br />

Bank US$ 3.0 billion loan.<br />

No hedging programme<br />

As of today, Ghana has no hedging programme<br />

in place. The country’s hedging programme<br />

was abandoned in 2013, exposing its<br />

foreign exchange resources to the vagaries of<br />

an unpredictable and often harsh international<br />

commodities market.<br />

Meanwhile, Ghana’s Jubilee Partners –<br />

Kosmos, Anadarko and Tullow Oil – have insulated<br />

themselves from oil price volatilities<br />

through active hedging.<br />

So, while Ghana’s crude oil sold for an average<br />

price of US$ 46.13 per barrel on the<br />

world market in 2016, Kosmos and Tullow<br />

raked in US$ 73.60 and US$ 61.70 per barrel,<br />

respectively.<br />

Way forward<br />

Due to the above statistical analysis, the<br />

IFS is of the conviction that “Ghana’s previous<br />

experience with hedging points to one<br />

key lesson: with a well-designed hedging programme,<br />

it is possible to protect the country<br />

against volatilities in commodity prices<br />

through the ‘call’ and ‘put’ options.<br />

“Since 2015, the IFS has strongly advocated<br />

the need for Ghana to re-introduce the<br />

petroleum hedging programme to cover both<br />

imports and exports to save the country from<br />

losing millions of foreign exchange earnings<br />

and also provide stability to the national<br />

budget.<br />

“The IFS therefore commends the government<br />

for its plans in this direction. We<br />

urge government to consider a comprehensive<br />

hedging programme that covers oil imports<br />

and exports, as well as interest rates on<br />

public debt.”<br />

Starr Woman team visits Parliament, Ghana Fed. for Disability<br />

STARR WOMAN Dream Edition<br />

project seeks to empower women entrepreneurs<br />

with disability to defy the<br />

odds and become successful at running<br />

business. The aim is to promote<br />

awareness of the systemic issues facing<br />

women entrepreneurs and to call<br />

on duty bearers to roll out policies to<br />

suit them.<br />

This year, the project will focus on<br />

Savelugu and Yendi Municipalities.<br />

For this reason the Starr Woman<br />

Dream Edition team led by Project<br />

Lead, Mrs Eyram Bashan paid a courtesy<br />

call on the Member of Parliament<br />

(MP) for Savelugu to brief him on the<br />

project and officially invite him to our<br />

stakeholders' forum to be held in<br />

Savelugu on <strong>February</strong> 15, 2018.<br />

The team also presented a copy of<br />

the survey report conducted in the<br />

two districts, which puts spotlight on<br />

the challenges of persons with disability<br />

in the Northern Region.<br />

The MP for Savelugu, Muhammed<br />

Abdul Samed-Gunu expressed excitement<br />

over the initiative, accepted the<br />

survey report and pledged his total<br />

support for the project.<br />

A similar visit was paid to the<br />

Ghana Federation of Disability organisation<br />

to officially seek for their support<br />

and involvement in the project.<br />

The project coordinator of the organisation,<br />

Akua Beatrice congratulated<br />

the team on taking up such<br />

initiative. She expressed great worry<br />

over the situation of Persons with<br />

Disability.<br />

“It is time we move out of the<br />

charitable approach and support<br />

them to become independent,” she<br />

stated.<br />

She further pledged their support<br />

towards the project in order to<br />

make it a success since the organisation<br />

which is the umbrella body for<br />

Persons with Disability will benefit<br />

a lot from the project.<br />

The Group Managing News Editor<br />

of EIB Network and Project<br />

lead, Mrs Eyram Bashan expressed<br />

gratitude over their unflinching support.<br />

•Mrs Eyram Bashan, Group Managing News Editor of EIB Network<br />

giving the survey document to Muhammed Abdul<br />

Samed-Gunu, MP for Savelugu


Inside <strong>February</strong> 7, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 2/6/18 7:57 PM Page 3<br />

•The Palestinian child is held by his mother in Dora<br />

hospital in Gaza City<br />

Gaza health facilities face closure due to fuel shortage - U.N<br />

FUEL FOR emergency<br />

generators that keep Gaza’s<br />

hospitals and sanitation<br />

services operating will run<br />

out within 10 days, the<br />

United Nations said on<br />

Tuesday in an appeal for<br />

immediate donor support.<br />

The shortage stems<br />

from a dispute between<br />

Gaza’s dominant Hamas Islamist<br />

group and the West<br />

Bank-based Palestinian Authority<br />

(PA). Both signed a<br />

unity deal in October but<br />

have failed to finalize the<br />

details of political powersharing.<br />

So far generators have<br />

stopped at three of Gaza’s<br />

13 hospitals and 14 of its<br />

54 medical centers, said<br />

Ashraf Al-Qidra, the<br />

Hamas-appointed<br />

spokesman for the impoverished<br />

territory’s Health<br />

Ministry. Officials at the affected<br />

facilities said they<br />

were directing seriously ill<br />

patients to other health facilities<br />

and operating at limited<br />

capacity. Reuters<br />

DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018<br />

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

World news in 4 stories<br />

SA postpones Zuma<br />

State of Nation speech<br />

SOUTH AFRICAN President<br />

Jacob Zuma's state<br />

of the nation speech in<br />

parliament has been postponed,<br />

as pressure grows<br />

on him to resign.<br />

Parliament speaker Baleka Mbete<br />

made the announcement, without<br />

giving a new date for the address<br />

that had been scheduled for Thursday.<br />

The ruling ANC earlier called a<br />

meeting of the party's top body for<br />

Wednesday to decide the president's<br />

future.<br />

Mr Zuma, 75, has resisted calls to<br />

quit over corruption allegations.<br />

He was replaced as party leader<br />

by his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, 65,<br />

in December. He is now the front<br />

runner to succeed him as president.<br />

Earlier on Tuesday, the Nelson<br />

Mandela Foundation urged Mr<br />

Zuma to step down.<br />

South Africa had seen "systematic<br />

looting" under Mr Zuma's rule,<br />

and he "must go sooner rather than<br />

later", the foundation said in a statement.<br />

In a statement, Ms Mbete said recent<br />

"calls for disruption" of a parliament<br />

meeting on Thursday<br />

"caused us great concern".<br />

Therefore the decision had been<br />

taken, she said, to "create room for<br />

establishing a much more conducive<br />

political atmosphere in parliament".<br />

•President Jacob Zuma has been resisting calls to leave office<br />

She said that "with this in mind",<br />

Mr Zuma was approached about<br />

postponing the address, but "when<br />

we met the president, we then learnt<br />

that he was already writing to parliament<br />

to ask for the postponement".<br />

Mr Zuma's office later said in a<br />

statement that "the president has requested<br />

the postponement due to<br />

certain developments".<br />

South Africa's main opposition<br />

parties, the Democratic Alliance<br />

(DA) and the Economic Freedom<br />

Fighters (EFF), had been pushing<br />

for the postponement of Mr Zuma's<br />

speech. BBC<br />

Poland President<br />

Duda 'will sign' controversial<br />

Holocaust bill<br />

POLAND'S PRESIDENT<br />

says he will sign a controversial<br />

Holocaust bill, despite<br />

angry protests from Israel<br />

and the United States.<br />

Andrzej Duda defended<br />

the legislation, which will<br />

make it illegal to accuse<br />

Poland of complicity in such<br />

Nazi crimes committed<br />

under occupation.<br />

The Polish government<br />

says it aims to stop the Polish<br />

nation or state being blamed<br />

for the atrocities.<br />

But Israel has raised concerns<br />

it could stifle the truth<br />

about the involvement of<br />

some Poles.<br />

There are also fears Holocaust<br />

survivors could face<br />

criminal charges for giving<br />

testimony that incriminates<br />

Poles.<br />

In a speech on Tuesday,<br />

Mr Duda said the bill "protects<br />

the Polish interests...<br />

protects our dignity, the historical<br />

truth, so that we could<br />

be judged fairly in the world,<br />

so that we would not be slandered<br />

as a state and as a nation".<br />

But he said the Polish<br />

state bore no responsibility<br />

because it ceased to exist following<br />

the invasion by Nazi<br />

Germany and the Soviet<br />

Union. He said there had<br />

been no systematic collaboration<br />

of Polish institutions.<br />

BBC<br />

•President Andrzej Duda says Poland has the right<br />

"to defend historical truth"<br />

Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai 'critically ill’<br />

ZIMBABWE'S MAIN opposition<br />

leader Morgan Tsvangirai is critically<br />

ill in a South African hospital,<br />

reports say.<br />

Local media quoted family<br />

sources as saying the 65-year-old<br />

former prime minister - who is<br />

being treated for colon cancer - is<br />

suffering from weight loss, exhaustion<br />

and muscle thinning.<br />

During his political struggle<br />

against ex-President Robert Mugabe,<br />

he has been beaten and imprisoned<br />

numerous times.<br />

Mr Tsvangirai heads Zimbabwe's<br />

Movement for Democratic<br />

Change (MDC) party.<br />

He has been in and out of<br />

hospital since June, receiving<br />

treatment in a Johannesburg hospital<br />

for cancer. He returned to<br />

the hospital early last month.<br />

Mr Tsvangirai's health deteriorated<br />

rapidly on Monday, family<br />

sources told Zimbabwe's Bulawayo24<br />

news website on Tuesday.<br />

He had lost appetite and had<br />

difficulty eating or swallowing fluids,<br />

the sources said. Mr Tsvangirai<br />

also reportedly had breathing<br />

problems.<br />

Meanwhile, an MDC party<br />

source was quoted by Reuters<br />

news agency as saying that Mr<br />

Tsvangirai "is critically ill and we<br />

should brace for the worst".<br />

Mr Tsvangirai's spokesman,<br />

Luke Tamborinyoka, said the<br />

MDC leader was "stable but the<br />

nation should keep on praying".<br />

BBC<br />

•Mr Morgan Tsvangirai founded the opposition MDC party in 2000


WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018<br />

Time for the unemployed to<br />

think outside the box<br />

IT IS a known fact that most successful<br />

entrepreneurs dared to be<br />

different from the onset and took<br />

hard decisions by thinking outside<br />

the box.<br />

Born on October 28, 1955,<br />

William Henry Gates III, popularly<br />

known as Bill Gates showed extreme<br />

interest in computer programming<br />

at age 13 and by thinking<br />

outside the box as he grew older<br />

built the world's largest software<br />

business, Microsoft with his friend<br />

and later business partner, Paul<br />

Allen.<br />

As far back as 1970, Gates at age<br />

15 with his friend developed “Trafo-Data,”<br />

a computer programme<br />

that monitored traffic patterns in<br />

Seattle and netted $20,000 for their<br />

efforts. He eventually became the<br />

richest man in the world.<br />

Not long ago, the DAILY<br />

HERITAGE carried the inspiring<br />

story of three University of Ghana<br />

students who are into bread baking<br />

business to avoid joining the teeming<br />

graduates languishing at home<br />

after four years of university education.<br />

Kingsley Darkey, then in level<br />

300-Business Administration; Kumi<br />

Richard, a level 300 Political Science<br />

and Adult Education and Kofi<br />

Tenkorang, a graduate are the bakers<br />

of delicious PBM Bread.<br />

According to the three, who are<br />

best of friends; their passion to<br />

cook drove them to go into bread<br />

baking though they were still in<br />

school.<br />

The three were currently the<br />

laughing stock on campus, but<br />

chances are that they would be very<br />

successful in life because they have<br />

begun thinking outside the box.<br />

The point is, merely following the<br />

crowd is a recipe for mediocrity. We<br />

need to think beyond the ordinary<br />

for success.<br />

We, therefore, wish to urge our<br />

youth to challenge the status quo<br />

to avoid being part of the crowd<br />

looking for jobs after university<br />

education.<br />

Ghanaians march<br />

against fuel prices today<br />

BY ROSEMOND B. ADDAI<br />

rosemond.adjetey@yahoo.com<br />

OVER<br />

EIGHT<br />

worker<br />

unions<br />

across the<br />

country<br />

will today demonstrate against<br />

government over hike in fuel<br />

prices.<br />

According to the unions,<br />

government’s failure to reduce<br />

taxes on petroleum products<br />

is responsible for the recent<br />

secret rampant increases in<br />

fuel prices in the country.<br />

Mr Duncan Amoah, executive<br />

member of Chamber of<br />

Petroleum Consumers<br />

(COPEC), in an interview<br />

with the DAILY HER-<br />

ITAGE complained bitterly<br />

about the high prices of fuel<br />

and urged the government to<br />

do something about it.<br />

To achieve their aim, the<br />

unions will today hit the<br />

streets by converging at the<br />

Obra Spot at the Kwame<br />

Nkrumah Circle through<br />

some principal streets of<br />

Accra to the Arts Centre after<br />

which another petition would<br />

be submitted to the Ministries<br />

of Energy and Finance, Parliament<br />

and Office of the<br />

President.<br />

He said killer taxes on petroleum<br />

products and attendant<br />

hikes in prices of fuel<br />

were affecting many businesses<br />

in the country.<br />

“Individual pockets are<br />

also being affected,” he stated.<br />

He said “we need to draw<br />

government’s attention to the<br />

rising cost of fuel in the<br />

country. We have on several<br />

occasions indicated to the<br />

government our position on<br />

taxes. We still insist that the<br />

Special Petroleum Taxes<br />

(SPT) at this point has overstayed<br />

its course and must be<br />

scrapped to bring some relief<br />

to all of us.”<br />

Mr Amoah lamented that<br />

The government<br />

should<br />

scrap the<br />

SPT immediately<br />

because<br />

fuel<br />

prices are at<br />

all time high.<br />

anytime oil prices go up, fuel<br />

prices also go up and is compounded<br />

by the SPT.<br />

“For a developing country<br />

with income not paid in dollars,<br />

a litre of fuel is above<br />

one dollar. We think that<br />

something must be wrong<br />

with the pricing template and<br />

we think that it should be reviewed<br />

immediately.<br />

“On Wednesday (today) we<br />

will express our civil rights<br />

against specific government<br />

policies and taxes that continue<br />

to lead to difficulties. We<br />

will do one for Accra then in<br />

Kumasi and Brong Ahafo;<br />

drivers are very eager to<br />

demonstrate, they do not<br />

want to be left out,” he stated.<br />

He lamented that though<br />

Ghana and Nigeria trade from<br />

the same international oil<br />

market, the price of petrol in<br />

Nigeria is the GH¢ 10.00<br />

equivalent of the Naira, but is<br />

GH¢ 20.00 in Ghana.<br />

He attributed this to taxes<br />

such as the SPT imposed on<br />

petroleum products.<br />

“The government should<br />

scrap the SPT immediately<br />

because fuel prices are at all<br />

time high, he stated.”<br />

According to Mr Amoah,<br />

the expectations of Ghanaians<br />

were that the SPT would<br />

have been scrapped by now<br />

because the price is around<br />

$70 on the international market.<br />

The unions expected to<br />

demonstrate are True Drivers<br />

Union, COPEC Ghana, Concerned<br />

Drivers Union, Ghana<br />

Importers and Exporters<br />

Union, General Petroleum<br />

and Chemical Workers Union,<br />

Committed Drivers Association<br />

and Industrial and Commercial<br />

Workers Union.


Inside <strong>February</strong> 7, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 2/6/18 7:57 PM Page 5<br />

06<br />

View DAILY<br />

HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018<br />

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

African leaders must learn<br />

to solve their own problems<br />

BY DENIS ANDABAN<br />

•Raila Odinga has declared himself the 'people’s president'<br />

SINCE WE choose the<br />

path of democracy, we<br />

have no justifiable reason<br />

to tread on that of<br />

lawlessness. This attempt<br />

to confuse our<br />

well defined governance system<br />

has the potential of ruining the<br />

sociopolitical and economic fortunes<br />

of the continent.<br />

It is incontestable that most<br />

African countries deliberately and<br />

in some rare cases unconsciously<br />

emulated democracy from the<br />

West. It is also apparent that these<br />

consummated democratic traits<br />

are virtually incongruous to the<br />

African customs and traditions.<br />

The adoption of democracy<br />

has proven not to be a curse at all<br />

because most African States are<br />

able to modify the system into an<br />

appreciably suitable convergence<br />

with long existing tradition and<br />

customs. As long as we practice<br />

democracy, we will continue to<br />

strengthen it by improving the<br />

identifiable weaknesses. That is<br />

how every system is developed.<br />

No matter how it is, we can no<br />

longer be thinking of the negatives<br />

in adamant aloofness.<br />

As young as some of us are,<br />

we have heard, read and sometimes<br />

witnessed the strives being<br />

made by African leaders in having<br />

a well cherished democratic dispensation<br />

in an even expanded<br />

form as in the quest to having a<br />

United Africa. In which ever stage<br />

the struggle has reached, we must<br />

see ourselves as brothers and sisters<br />

with a common destiny. This<br />

is why I think the loud silence of<br />

continental leaders in the happening<br />

of Kenya is in bad faith.<br />

Now let me succinctly and narrowly,<br />

if I may say, walk you<br />

through the ugly happenings in<br />

Kenya.<br />

In August 2017, Uhuru Kenyatta<br />

won convincingly, the presidential<br />

elections fiercely contested<br />

with opposition leader Raila<br />

Odinga. The opposition challenged<br />

the election results basing<br />

their argument on electoral irregularities<br />

and malpractices. Indeed<br />

the court nullified the results and<br />

ordered the Electoral body to<br />

conduct fresh elections in November<br />

2017.<br />

Some of us thought that<br />

Odinga was going into the election<br />

strongly to get the mandate<br />

of the people, having proven that<br />

indeed he is the best alternative to<br />

the incumbent but something peculiar<br />

happened and I was extremely<br />

amused.<br />

The opposition leader boycotted<br />

the electoral processes few<br />

days to the Election Day. When<br />

Raila Odinga pulled out of the<br />

race, some of us rightly speculated<br />

that he was having something diabolic.<br />

Many political pundits were<br />

in tenterhooks as tension continues<br />

to sour in the country and beyond.<br />

For whatever reason the<br />

opposition had, they could have<br />

still dealt with it legitimately without<br />

necessarily boycotting the<br />

elections, if indeed they were out<br />

for power following due process.<br />

In my view, the boycott was a<br />

political blunder because such a<br />

"defeatist approach" only favours<br />

your political opponents. Kenyatta<br />

therefore won the election hands<br />

down without any legal objection.<br />

Odinga and his surrogates however<br />

took to the street, crying over<br />

spilt milk. That needles protest led<br />

to a dreadful clash with state security,<br />

leaving a many people dead<br />

and many others injured. The opposition<br />

led by Odinga boycotted<br />

the inauguration of Uhuru Kenyatta.<br />

In the midst of all these needless<br />

lawlessness by desperate political<br />

actors, African Leaders sat<br />

aloof and did virtually nothing to<br />

call Odinga to order. Probably,<br />

some of the African leaders have<br />

some interest or may some alliance<br />

with the opposition in<br />

Kenya to breed turmoil in such an<br />

unpatriotic manner.<br />

Or is it the case that everybody<br />

for himself, God for us all?<br />

What astonished the whole<br />

world and made Africa a laughing<br />

stock was when Raila Odinga the<br />

one that boycotted national elections<br />

declared himself president.<br />

He went ahead and organized an<br />

inauguration ceremony where he<br />

was publicly sworn in. If this is<br />

not jeopardy to societal progress<br />

and prosperity, what else could it<br />

be? Such wickedness, greed,<br />

parochial interest and incivility<br />

must not be tolerated. Such "second<br />

Gods" only take opportunity<br />

As young as some of us are, we have heard, read and sometimes witnessed<br />

the strives being made by African leaders in having a well cherished democratic<br />

dispensation in an even expanded form as in the quest to having a<br />

United Africa. In which ever stage the struggle has reached, we must see ourselves<br />

as brothers and sisters with a common destiny. This is why I think the<br />

loud silence of continental leaders in the happening of Kenya is in bad faith.<br />

of the level of hypocrisy and self<br />

seeking attitude by majority of our<br />

African political actors.<br />

In recent past, we saw how<br />

African leaders approached Gambia<br />

political crisis with alacrity.<br />

They sent troops to ensure that<br />

Yahaya Jammeh was shown his<br />

smoothness level. Do you remember<br />

that incident? Why are we<br />

mute over this turmoil in Kenya<br />

today? What is our interest? Ideally,<br />

our interest must be that the<br />

people of Kenya live in harmony,<br />

peace and tranquility.<br />

How can people gamble with<br />

the lives of a country just to satisfy<br />

their own political desperation?<br />

It pains that this is<br />

happening in Africa. Let's sit<br />

down, and let him destroy Kenya<br />

if that is what we want after all,<br />

similar acts benefitted him power<br />

sharing in the past!!!<br />

Sometimes I wonder what our<br />

leaders discuss in AU summit.<br />

Don't you think that they only go<br />

there to waste our resources by<br />

dining, wining and coming home<br />

with nothing either than bloated<br />

stomachs stocked in by the toils of<br />

the ordinary citizen? Posterity<br />

awaits us.<br />

I think that religious groups,<br />

civil society groups and all stakeholders<br />

must dialogue and salvage<br />

the situation in Kenya. Let's not<br />

allow too much partisanship, extreme<br />

self interest, cupidity and<br />

dangerous alliances to put the<br />

lives of our people in danger.<br />

That is not the essence of belongingness.<br />

Africa cannot develop<br />

should some of these barbaric<br />

happenings continue.<br />

Raila Odinga must think of the<br />

general good of the people and<br />

not just himself and few surrogates.<br />

SHALL BE BACK...........<br />

A proud African.


Inside <strong>February</strong> 7, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 2/6/18 7:58 PM Page 6<br />

Immediate first aid for burns<br />

• Heat burns<br />

Smother any flames by covering<br />

them with a blanket or water. If<br />

your clothing catches fire, do not<br />

run: stop, drop, and roll on the<br />

ground to smother the flames.<br />

• Cold temperature burns<br />

Try first aid measures to warm<br />

the areas. Small areas of your body<br />

(ears, face, nose, fingers, toes) that<br />

are really cold or frozen can be<br />

warmed by blowing warm air on<br />

them, tucking them inside your<br />

clothing or putting them in warm<br />

water.<br />

• Liquid scald burns<br />

Run cool tap water over the<br />

burn for 10 to 20 minutes. Do not<br />

use ice.<br />

• Electrical burns<br />

After the person has been separated<br />

from the electrical source,<br />

check for breathing and a heartbeat.<br />

If the person is not breathing or<br />

does not have a heartbeat, call.<br />

• Chemical burns<br />

Natural foods such as chili peppers,<br />

which contain a substance irritating<br />

to the skin, can cause a<br />

burning sensation. When a chemical<br />

burn occurs, find out what chemical<br />

caused the burn.<br />

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018<br />

&Env.<br />

Ghana Cancer Society outlines<br />

plans to support patients<br />

HEALTH & ENVIRONMENT DESK<br />

THE CANCER Society<br />

of Ghana has pledged<br />

its preparedness to<br />

work with other partners<br />

in the sector to improve<br />

quality of cancer<br />

data for public health use, increase access<br />

to early detection and accurate<br />

cancer diagnosis.<br />

It is also ready to partner others to<br />

increase access to timely and quality<br />

treatment and support palliative care<br />

services to people living with cancer.<br />

This was in a statement issued and<br />

signed by Professor Edwin K.<br />

Wiredu, Chairman of the Trustees of<br />

the Society and copied to the DAILY<br />

HERITAGE. This year’s World<br />

Cancer Day celebration falls on Sunday,<br />

<strong>February</strong> 4.<br />

The day was set aside by the international<br />

community to increase<br />

awareness and education on cancer<br />

with the slogan ‘We can. I can.’<br />

This year’s campaign calls for joint<br />

efforts between governments, nongovernmental<br />

organisations and civil<br />

society organisations to promote action<br />

and investments in areas including<br />

tobacco control, promotion of<br />

healthy lifestyles, cancer screening and<br />

early detection, and improved cancer<br />

treatment services, as well as palliative<br />

care.<br />

The statement said a study conducted<br />

by the Society indicated that<br />

there were about 12,700 reported cancer<br />

deaths in 2008.<br />

According to the Society breast,<br />

cervix, haematopoietic organs, liver,<br />

stomach and colorectal cancers are<br />

the leading cancer deaths in females in<br />

Ghana.<br />

Top cancer deaths<br />

“The top cancers deaths in men<br />

are liver, prostate, haematopoietic organs,<br />

stomach, pancreas and bladder.<br />

The leading causes of cancers deaths<br />

in children are malignancies of the<br />

haematopoietic system, followed by<br />

brain, kidney, eyes, and liver and bone<br />

tumours,” it added.<br />

It said studies by Union for International<br />

Cancer Control (UICC) indicated<br />

that in 2012, worldwide, there<br />

were 14.1 million new cancer cases,<br />

8.2 million cancer deaths (with 50%<br />

of these being premature deaths), and<br />

32.6 million people living with cancer<br />

within five years of diagnosis.<br />

About 8 million<br />

“About 8 million (57%) of the<br />

new cancer cases, 5.3 million (65%) of<br />

the cancer deaths, and 15.6 million<br />

(48%) of the five-year prevalent cancer<br />

cases occurred in the less developed<br />

regions.<br />

“It is important to stress that the<br />

number of cancer deaths is projected<br />

to rise to over 14 million per year over<br />

the next 10 years.<br />

“The global target is a 25% reduction<br />

in premature deaths from cancer<br />

and non-communicable diseases<br />

(NCDs) by 2025. This was a target set<br />

in 2011 by the World Health Organisation<br />

(WHO) to cut premature NCD<br />

deaths by 25% within 14 years.<br />

“It is almost seven years since this<br />

target was set by the WHO. To meet<br />

this target requires more action than<br />

ever to close the inequality in access<br />

to prevention, diagnosis, treatment<br />

and care,” it said.<br />

The statement said the focus of<br />

the UICC in this year’s campaign is to<br />

raise awareness about the millions of<br />

people world-wide facing unequal access<br />

to cancer detection, treatment,<br />

and care services.<br />

Global access gap<br />

“An acute example of a global access<br />

gap particularly affecting the underserved<br />

and underprivileged is<br />

access to radiotherapy. As one of the<br />

major methods of treatment for cancer,<br />

radiotherapy is recommended for<br />

52% of cancer patients.<br />

The gap between need and availability<br />

is highest in low- to middle income<br />

countries; 90% of low- to middle-income<br />

country cancer patients lack access<br />

to radiotherapy.<br />

“There is an urgent need for support<br />

for some forms of chemotherapy.<br />

The cost outlay in some cases is<br />

close to a death sentence because of<br />

huge barriers to access.<br />

“Cancer is recognised as the leading<br />

cause of global morbidity. Today,<br />

there are an estimated 8.8 million<br />

deaths from cancer every year with<br />

about 70% of cancer deaths occurring<br />

in developing countries which are the<br />

most ill-equipped to cope with the<br />

cancer burden.<br />

“The starkest area of inequity relates<br />

to childhood cancers – a specific<br />

group that the WHO underscored in<br />

its landmark 2017 Cancer Resolution<br />

– with survival rates over 80% in high<br />

income countries and as low as 20%<br />

in low income countries,” it added.<br />

N/R runs out of essential food supplement for children<br />

THERE IS an acute shortage of<br />

ready-to-use therapeutic food also<br />

known as plumpy nuts, a critical food<br />

supplement for children suffering severe<br />

malnutrition in the Northern<br />

Region.<br />

Information available indicates<br />

that the Ghana Health Service has<br />

not supplied the nuts to the region<br />

for the past three months.<br />

This development is putting the<br />

lives of hundreds of malnourished<br />

children at risk.<br />

In a district where women have<br />

little or no knowledge of family planning,<br />

childbirth is rampant and some<br />

women get pregnant just about three<br />

months after giving birth.<br />

This makes it impossible for the<br />

mother to breastfeed her newborn<br />

child, resulting in malnutrition. The<br />

children have to rely on the food<br />

supplement for essential<br />

nutritional needs.<br />

But for the past three months, the<br />

United Nations Children’s Fund<br />

(UNICEF) which had been<br />

supplying Ghana with the food supplement<br />

has cut supplies. This has<br />

left many mothers and health facilities<br />

in the district in a fix and with no<br />

alternatives for babies.<br />

At Lipaasly, one of the towns<br />

with the highest number of malnourished<br />

children, Mr Daniel Alhassan, a<br />

health worker in the Community-<br />

Base Health Planning Services compound<br />

regretted the development but<br />

said there was little they could do.<br />

Mr Alhassan said time was running<br />

out for the children and “when<br />

they are malnourished, their immune<br />

system suppresses so any little infection<br />

takes the child away such as<br />

common malaria can lead to death.”<br />

The Bimbilla District Health Director,<br />

Mr Stephen Dadia said the<br />

district records about 40 cases of<br />

•Essential food supplements are<br />

important for malnurished children<br />

child malnutrition<br />

every<br />

month.<br />

Mr Dadia said the situation was<br />

quite dire and there was the need to<br />

supply the supplements to prevent<br />

deaths.<br />

He also suggested that<br />

government finds a way<br />

to wean itself off the<br />

UNICEF support because<br />

“we cannot<br />

continue to depend<br />

on international<br />

donors.<br />

“If we want to<br />

continue to depend<br />

on<br />

UNICEF, I don’t<br />

think we can survive,”<br />

he added.<br />

The Director General<br />

of the Ghana<br />

Health Service, Dr Anthony<br />

Nsiah-Asare said the<br />

Service was aware of the development<br />

and said measures were<br />

being put in place to address the situation.<br />

He explained that the situation<br />

had come about because “we are a<br />

lower middle-income economy and<br />

we are being weaned off a lot of the<br />

aid we get from our development<br />

partners.<br />

“A local food manufacturing<br />

company in the Brong Ahafo Region<br />

has been contracted to produce the<br />

supplement moving forward,” Dr<br />

Nsiah-Asare disclosed.<br />

“We want to reach a stage where<br />

we will do it ourselves to solve the<br />

problem once and for all, so that we<br />

don’t depend on UNICEF,” he said,<br />

adding that “because if they cut<br />

down their aid to Ghana then we<br />

have a problem.”<br />

In the interim, Dr Nsiah-Asare<br />

said an urgent meeting will be held<br />

and by Wednesday, <strong>February</strong> 14,<br />

2018, the health facilities would receive<br />

supplies of the food supplement.<br />

credit: myjoyonline


spread_Feb 7 2018.qxp_SHOWBIZ TEMP 2/6/18 7:59 PM Page 1<br />

News<br />

DAILY HERITAGE, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018<br />

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

60 adolescent girls to<br />

receive training to<br />

prevent school drop-out<br />

MORE THAN 60 adolescent girls<br />

and parent peer counselors within the<br />

Kochem, Ngogu and Bogunaayili<br />

communities in the Northern region,<br />

will receive training on community<br />

response and accountability strategies<br />

to reduce the school drop-out rate<br />

among adolescent girls.<br />

This is part of a series of trainings<br />

and support seminars being organised<br />

to empower the girls, parents and<br />

community leaders.<br />

The programme, ‘Investing in<br />

Adolescent Girls Strengthens our<br />

Community,’ will also equip at least 30<br />

local leaders from these communities<br />

(religious and traditional leaders,<br />

school administration, and business<br />

leaders) with similar strategies.<br />

The project is being led by<br />

Danielle Taylor, the founder and<br />

Executive Director of a non-profit<br />

organisation, Òman Baako. It is being<br />

carried out in collaboration with two<br />

local development organizations.<br />

The communities requested the<br />

project be carried out there to reduce<br />

the number of adolescent girls who<br />

drop out of school shortly after<br />

entering Junior High School.<br />

This worrying development is<br />

common in many rural villages of<br />

northern Ghana where girls desert<br />

their communities to hawk along the<br />

streets of Accra.<br />

Speaking at the launch of the<br />

project, Ms Taylor described the<br />

impact of the abandonment of their<br />

education and homes as “immediate<br />

and profound”.<br />

“It reduces their critical thinking<br />

skills, their future earning potential<br />

and their capacity to contribute to<br />

their community’s well-being,” she<br />

lamented.<br />

She further explained that<br />

members of these communities felt<br />

“existing social norms contribute to<br />

gross gender inequity that leaves girls<br />

ill-equipped to seek and take<br />

advantage of opportunities that would<br />

increase their physical, social, and<br />

economic security and welfare”.<br />

The approach being used by Òman<br />

Baako is to work collaboratively with<br />

and through diverse segments of<br />

communities’ members and leaders, to<br />

build a more equitable community<br />

that celebrates and elevates the<br />

contributions and inherent human<br />

rights of its young girls.<br />

By doing so, the community is<br />

better positioned to tackle a variety of<br />

interconnected Sustainable<br />

Development Goals.<br />

Òman Baako translates into “One<br />

Community” in Twi. The name<br />

reflects the organisation’s belief that<br />

in levelling the playing field for<br />

women and girls, all of society<br />

benefits as one.<br />

We’ll start carrying<br />

guns – Apaak<br />

BY MOHAMMED AWAL<br />

THE MEMBER of<br />

Parliament (MP) for<br />

Builsa South, Dr<br />

Clement Apaak, has<br />

served notice that<br />

Minority members of<br />

the House will arm themselves as a<br />

protective measure henceforth.<br />

His comment followed reports that<br />

Parliament recruited a private firm<br />

whose members were alleged to be<br />

drawn from the dreaded vigilante<br />

groups affiliated to the governing<br />

New Patriotic Party (NPP) such as the<br />

Invisible Forces, Delta Forces among<br />

others to provide MPs protection.<br />

“You go and bring Invisible Forces<br />

and when we are saying it, you say<br />

people are talking about rumours. We<br />

shall see. We are all here. We will all<br />

start carrying guns. When we hear gun<br />

fight here we will come,” Dr Apaak,<br />

who is a former presidential staffer,<br />

said.<br />

The acting Public Affairs Director<br />

of Parliament, Kate Addo confirmed<br />

to Starr News last month that<br />

Parliament recruited new security<br />

personnel and were undergoing<br />

training to familiarise with how<br />

Parliament works.<br />

“It is true that Parliament before<br />

we went on recess had augmented the<br />

number of Policemen in Parliament.<br />

But it’s also true that it had employed<br />

new security men who are being<br />

trained about how Parliament works<br />

and who are being familiarized with<br />

the various surroundings of<br />

Parliament,” she stated on Starr Today<br />

on January 29, 2018.<br />

She added: “In the past few weeks<br />

over the weekend these young men<br />

have been coming for various<br />

orientations and physical training<br />

programme in Parliament…now the<br />

Saturday’s training coincided with the<br />

special sitting of the House where the<br />

Rt. Honourable Speaker was sworn in<br />

as acting president of the Republic of<br />

Ghana following the absence from the<br />

jurisdiction of president Akufo-Addo.<br />

“That explained why they were<br />

there [but] as to whether they belong<br />

to a particular political party or not I’d<br />

not be able to speak to that but I do<br />

not know that. But, what I can tell<br />

you is that they have been employed<br />

by parliament.”<br />

•Member of Parliament (MP) for Builsa South, Dr Clement Apaak<br />

You don’t need prosecutorial powers<br />

– Financial analyst to AG<br />

Anyaa M/A<br />

Basic School<br />

appeals for<br />

support<br />

MRS JULIANA Opokua<br />

Dapaah, the Head teacher of<br />

Anyaa M/A ‘1’ Basic School<br />

in the Ga Central Municipality<br />

has appealed to<br />

philanthropists and corporate<br />

organisations to support the<br />

school.<br />

She appealed for ceiling<br />

fans, tables and chairs for<br />

teachers and pupils as well as<br />

the construction of a fence<br />

wall around the school.<br />

Mrs Dapaah, who made<br />

the appeal during a Parent-<br />

Teacher Association (PTA)<br />

meeting last Friday, said the<br />

school building also need to<br />

be rehabilitated.<br />

She said although the<br />

members of the PTA had<br />

made efforts in improving the<br />

conditions of the school, it<br />

needed the assistance of<br />

other corporate organisations<br />

to uplift its image and boost<br />

the morale of teachers and<br />

students.<br />

She advised parents to<br />

ensure that children did their<br />

homework, instead of<br />

watching television, since that<br />

affects their performance in<br />

examination.<br />

The Head teacher<br />

encouraged parents to pay<br />

regular visits to the school<br />

and interact with teachers on<br />

their children’s academic<br />

performance and also to<br />

discipline their wards.<br />

Mrs Dapaah urged the<br />

parents to ensure that their<br />

children are properly dressed<br />

before leaving for school,<br />

adding that, “this speaks well<br />

of parents as their children<br />

appear neat in public.”<br />

The parents were<br />

unanimous in the decision to<br />

repeat students in ‘Form 3’<br />

with poor academic<br />

performance.<br />

The parents also agreed<br />

that though canning in<br />

schools had been banned, the<br />

school authorities should not<br />

hesitate to discipline pupils,<br />

who would go wayward.<br />

GNA<br />

•Sixty girls are expected to benefit from the training<br />

•Daniel Domelevo, Auditor-General<br />

BY KWAME ACHEAMPONG<br />

A FINANCIAL analyst, Mr Benedict<br />

Gibson has challenged claims by the<br />

Auditor General (AG), Mr Daniel<br />

Domelevo that he needs prosecutorial<br />

powers to be able to effectively fight<br />

financial abuse in the public sector.<br />

Mr Domelevo at a press briefing<br />

Monday listed various actions the<br />

Auditor General’s Department is<br />

taking to deal with persons who<br />

continue to abuse the public purse.<br />

“We are not going to finish our<br />

audit and wait for the TV show at<br />

Public Accounts [Committee]<br />

anymore. When we finish our audit,<br />

we raise observations against you and<br />

you decide to ignore it we will disallow<br />

the expenditure and surcharge you and<br />

I told my colleagues that beginning<br />

this year we must have to apply the<br />

law.<br />

“Under the section 29 subsection 2<br />

it says that ‘anyone who does not even<br />

meet the 30 days deadline…we should<br />

stop his salary’. It is in the law that<br />

once we have raised an observation<br />

after 30 days you decide not to<br />

respond, you should not be paid and<br />

we have to start that now. We have to<br />

block people’s salaries. And even after<br />

blocking your salaries if you don’t<br />

come we will now disallow the<br />

expenditure and surcharge you,” he<br />

said.<br />

Commenting on the claims by the<br />

AG, Mr Gibson told Francis Abban on<br />

the Morning Starr Tuesday that the<br />

status quo where the Attorney General<br />

does the prosecution of defaulting<br />

public servants on behalf of the<br />

department must remain.<br />

“The Auditor General should<br />

follow the due process. Whatever<br />

recommendation he comes up with<br />

should be given to the right institution<br />

to take it up from there. If the Auditor<br />

General is given the power to<br />

prosecute institutions, what then is<br />

going to be the role of the Attorney<br />

General and the Special Prosecutor?<br />

Auditors are supposed to give an<br />

opinion about a particular situation or<br />

event within a certain period of time.<br />

When this is done, their work is<br />

almost done,” he said.<br />

“We are not going to<br />

finish our audit and wait<br />

for the TV show at Public<br />

Accounts [Committee]<br />

anymore. When we<br />

finish our audit, we raise<br />

observations against<br />

you and you decide to<br />

ignore it we will disallow<br />

the expenditure and<br />

surcharge you and I told<br />

my colleagues that<br />

beginning this year we<br />

must have to apply the<br />

law.<br />

•Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, Minister of Education


Inside <strong>February</strong> 7, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 2/6/18 7:58 PM Page 7<br />

6TH<br />

FEBRUARY<br />

2018<br />

TUESDAY<br />

CURRENCY PARIS CODE BUYING SELLING<br />

US Dollar USDGHS 4.4000 4.5600<br />

RATES Pound Sterling GBPGHS<br />

6.2200<br />

6.4000<br />

Euro<br />

GBPGHS<br />

5.4000<br />

5.5700<br />

10<br />

DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018<br />

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

ECG staff assured of job security<br />

BY ROSEMOND BOATENG ADDAI<br />

Rosemond.adjetey@yahoo.com<br />

MR SAMUEL<br />

Boakye -Appiah,<br />

Managing<br />

Director (MD)<br />

of the Electricity<br />

Company of<br />

Ghana (ECG) has assured its<br />

workers and stakeholders that<br />

ECG has not been sold contrary<br />

to what others believe.<br />

The MD, speaking at the company's<br />

Golden Jubilee celebration<br />

in Accra, emphasised that with<br />

the introduction of a concessionaire<br />

to invest in, manage and operate<br />

its distribution assets, ECG<br />

will continue to exist albeit with a<br />

different focus.<br />

"The new ECG will be an active<br />

and responsible asset owner,<br />

will engage in bulk energy trading,<br />

provide knowledge and skills to<br />

support other utilities through<br />

consultancy services and upgrade<br />

the training school," he said.<br />

He added that the new ECG<br />

will also embrace the introduction<br />

of renewable energy into Ghana's<br />

energy mix to improve reliability<br />

of supply to its customers.<br />

Challenges and<br />

achievements<br />

Mr Boakye- Appiah, who highlighted<br />

on the theme ‘50 Years Of<br />

Powering The Socio-Economic<br />

Growth and Development of<br />

Ghana,’ said the company though<br />

had chalked major successes also<br />

had some various challenges.<br />

He said “by far, the worst challenge<br />

in recent memory is the<br />

protracted power crisis of 2012-<br />

2016. During the crisis, ECG's<br />

image fell to an all -time low and<br />

our distribution network was<br />

weakened as a result of frequent<br />

switching for load shedding.<br />

“Our finances suffered because<br />

customers reacted to the<br />

crisis by not paying their bills.<br />

With the necessary political, financial<br />

and technical interventions<br />

the crisis was resolved last<br />

year and ECG is back on its feet.”<br />

He said.<br />

According to the MD, ECG is<br />

yet to receive the Regulatory<br />

Benchmarks for system losses and<br />

network reliability.<br />

He explained that achieving<br />

cost reflective tariffs that are affordable<br />

for its customers remains<br />

a major challenge.<br />

“A significant achievement is<br />

the fact that we are concerned<br />

and have survived all the turbulence<br />

that had plagued many<br />

state-owned enterprises in the history<br />

of our country.<br />

We have achieved significant<br />

laurels locally and internationally.<br />

We have brought smiles to many<br />

homes and communities who turn<br />

the lights on for the first time in<br />

their lifetime,” he added.<br />

Modernisation<br />

Mr Boakye –Appiah hinted<br />

that ECG is automating and digitising<br />

its networks and business<br />

processes using the latest technologies<br />

in the industry.<br />

He explained that the company’s<br />

networks operations are<br />

partially automated at the medium<br />

voltage level; at the primary level,<br />

the Supervisory Control and Data<br />

Acquisition System (SCADA)<br />

covers four out of the six administrative<br />

regions and the secondary<br />

SCADA has been extended to<br />

17 district control centres<br />

throughout its operational regions.<br />

Mr William Owuraku Aidoo,<br />

Deputy Minister of Energy said<br />

the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu<br />

Bawumia went to Washington to<br />

meet with the World Bank and<br />

managed to renegotiate the key<br />

aspects of the contract namely<br />

the non-loss of jobs by ECG<br />

workers, and 20% participation<br />

of Ghanaians.<br />

He explained that Ghanaians<br />

should be confident in what the<br />

government says, that no staff in<br />

ECG will lose his/her job and<br />

that is exactly what is pertaining.<br />

Ghana Beyond Aid achieved yet?<br />

ONE OF the key priorities of the<br />

New Patriotic Party administration<br />

is to move ‘Ghana beyond Aid’.<br />

The government has been<br />

tough on working to reduce the<br />

over-dependency on donor support<br />

for development.<br />

In the build up to President<br />

Nana Akufo-Addo’s State of the<br />

Nation Address on Thursday, <strong>February</strong><br />

8, 2018, Citi Business<br />

News has taken a look at how far<br />

government has come in reaching<br />

this goal.<br />

Indications, however, suggest<br />

that more needs to be done to attain<br />

this feat.<br />

Prez Akufo-Addo<br />

leads agenda<br />

President Akufo-Addo has<br />

been leading the charge of building<br />

a ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ and is<br />

convinced that the abundant mineral<br />

resources shouldn’t permit<br />

Ghana to seek support from<br />

donors to implement key policies.<br />

Speaking in an address with the<br />

French President Emmanuel<br />

Macron in Ivory Coast as<br />

well as delivering a speech<br />

as part of the Royal<br />

African Society’s leadership<br />

series in London, the President<br />

stressed the need to<br />

add value to traditional exports.<br />

“This is not right; we<br />

need to change the statistics.<br />

If we simply grind and<br />

sell the cocoa in paste<br />

form, instead of selling the<br />

cocoa beans, we double<br />

our earnings. In much the<br />

same way we will double<br />

our earnings from gold if<br />

sold refined than in the<br />

raw state. We are determined<br />

to process these<br />

products,” he stated.<br />

These thoughts have<br />

been reiterated across several platforms<br />

by the Vice President, Dr<br />

Mahamudu Bawumia.<br />

Govt works to grow<br />

Ghana Beyond Aid<br />

The recent one constituted the<br />

•President Nana Akufo-Addo<br />

theme for the third Aliu Mahama<br />

Memorial Lectures presented by<br />

Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-<br />

Atta.<br />

For Mr Ofori-Atta, working to<br />

improve critical sectors like the financial,<br />

oil and gas, rail and road<br />

infrastructure,<br />

among others<br />

should propel the<br />

plans to attain a<br />

Ghana Beyond<br />

Aid.<br />

For instance,<br />

the Minister highlighted<br />

the need<br />

to attract investors<br />

to revamp operations<br />

at the Tema<br />

Oil Refinery<br />

(TOR).<br />

But this might<br />

have to be triggered<br />

as TOR has<br />

been compelled to<br />

suspend its operations<br />

few weeks<br />

into this year due<br />

to operational<br />

challenges.<br />

Also, the estimated 21 billion<br />

dollar investments into the railway<br />

sector is yet to be completed to<br />

fast track the carting of agricultural<br />

goods such as cocoa from<br />

producing centers to market centers.<br />

The European Union Ambassador<br />

to Ghana, William Hanna<br />

admits that donor support has reduced<br />

hence the need for Ghana<br />

to improve her trade with other<br />

countries.<br />

Although government is saddled<br />

with huge records of revenue<br />

leakages estimated at 10 billion<br />

Cedis, Mr Ofori-Atta is confident<br />

of reversing the trend.<br />

Economist at the University of<br />

Ghana, Dr Ebo Turkson however<br />

suggests that the government<br />

would need to be tough on addressing<br />

corruption if it is to<br />

reach this goal as expected.<br />

“If we fight corruption, we can<br />

do a lot of public sector savings<br />

because a huge amount of public<br />

sector resources get fizzled out<br />

due to corruption. If we are able<br />

to fight corruption, these are huge<br />

amounts of monies that we can<br />

save and that would be an alternative<br />

to aid and those monies can<br />

be channeled into other productive<br />

sectors.”


Inside <strong>February</strong> 7, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 2/6/18 7:58 PM Page 8<br />

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018 11<br />

Politics<br />

Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced,<br />

where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is<br />

made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to<br />

oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor<br />

property will be safe — Frederick Douglass<br />

Minority can’t hold Parliament<br />

to ransom – Mensah-Bonsu<br />

BY KOBINA WELSING<br />

THE MAJORITY<br />

Leader in Parliament,<br />

Mr Osei Kyei<br />

Mensah-Bonsu has<br />

slammed the Minority<br />

for attempting to<br />

scuttle the cash-for-seat report before<br />

Parliament.<br />

According to him, some Minority<br />

members are still hallucinating<br />

and yet to recover from the<br />

2016 election defeat.<br />

The Minority in Parliament on<br />

Tuesday stormed out of Parliament<br />

to avoid being part of the<br />

debate to approve and adopt the<br />

report of the committee which<br />

probed extortion claims against<br />

the Ministry of Trade and Industry.<br />

The five-member ad hoc committee<br />

of Parliament in its report<br />

cleared the Trade Minister Minister<br />

Alan Kyerematen of any<br />

wrongdoing over claims that they<br />

charged expatriates $100, 000 to<br />

secure seats close to President<br />

Akufo-Addo at an awards ceremony.<br />

Ahead of the boycott, the Minority<br />

Leader Haruna Iddrisu told<br />

the House there was no need to<br />

rush the report since Members of<br />

Parliament (MPs) are yet to study<br />

it.<br />

“I got a copy of my report<br />

only this morning and it’s only fair<br />

and proper…why the rush and<br />

why are you in a hurry? 146-page<br />

report in the interest of transparency<br />

and accountability, this<br />

matter cannot be railroaded<br />

through Parliament.<br />

“I need to read like any other<br />

member to satisfy myself…You<br />

can proceed but the Minority is<br />

unable to participate in the debate,”<br />

the Tamale South lawmaker<br />

declared before marching his<br />

members out of the Chamber.<br />

But, addressing Parliament, the<br />

Majority Leader and Minister of<br />

Parliamentary Affairs said the debate<br />

on the report will proceed<br />

with or without the minority.<br />

According to him, National<br />

Democratic Congress MPs have<br />

been pampered for too long and<br />

continue to be dishonest to the<br />

House.<br />

“This House will not be held<br />

to ransom by a single individual<br />

who decides to be very dishonest.<br />

Mr. Speaker this House will not<br />

pander to pedestrianism…clearly<br />

they want to hold this House to<br />

ransom.<br />

“People are still hallucinating<br />

and people are still yet to come<br />

out of where they found themselves<br />

after the elections,” the<br />

Suame MP said.<br />

•Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, Majority Leader in Parliament<br />

Statement: NPP’s silence on attacks on journalists dangerous<br />

•Jonh Boadu, acting general secetary, NPP and Freddie Blay, acting<br />

chairman, NPP<br />

WITHIN THE last two months,<br />

some five journalists have been attacked<br />

or threatened by activists<br />

of the ruling New Patriotic Party<br />

(NPP). As if these acts are endorsed<br />

or supported by the NPP,<br />

the leadership of the party has remained<br />

silent on the attacks despite<br />

calls for the party to<br />

condemn such acts to deter further<br />

perpetration of similar acts<br />

by party activists.<br />

The first incident, which took<br />

place at the party’s national headquarters<br />

involved four journalists;<br />

Godfred Tanam, Prince Afum,<br />

Ebenezer Ackah and Marie-Franz<br />

Fordjoe of TV3, Ghanaweb and<br />

Citi FM respectively. In the said<br />

incident that took place on December<br />

21, 2017, the journalists,<br />

who were covering a protest at the<br />

premises of the NPP headquarters,<br />

were brutalized by heavilybuilt<br />

security officials.<br />

The security persons slapped<br />

and kicked the journalists just for<br />

covering a protest at the premises<br />

of the headquarters.<br />

Following the incident, several<br />

public figures and organisations<br />

called on the leadership of the<br />

NPP to address the issue by condemning<br />

the assault and punishing<br />

the perpetrators.<br />

On January 23, 2018, the<br />

MFWA followed earlier appeals<br />

with a petition to the Acting<br />

Chairman of the party, Mr Freddie<br />

Blay. Till date, the NPP has<br />

neither acknowledged receipt of<br />

the petition nor acted on it.<br />

This complicit attitude of the<br />

NPP leadership has the potential<br />

of fostering a culture of impunity<br />

among party foot soldiers and activists<br />

with journalists bearing the<br />

brunt of their wanton aggression.<br />

Indeed, the recent death threat<br />

issued against journalist Kwakye<br />

Afreh-Nuamah of TV3 by known<br />

party activists and the silence of<br />

the party leadership can only be<br />

seen as evidence of the consequence<br />

of the culture of impunity<br />

that is being nurtured by the party.<br />

As if to call the bluff of the journalist,<br />

another known member of<br />

the party called the journalist and<br />

also threatened him for reporting<br />

the matter to the police.<br />

It is regrettable that the NPP,<br />

which prides itself as a tolerant,<br />

law-abiding and media-friendly<br />

party, has failed to publicly condemn<br />

these acts by its activists.<br />

Instead, some leaders of the party<br />

and government officials have reportedly<br />

rather appealed to the<br />

threatened journalist to withdraw<br />

the case from the police.<br />

The MFWA finds the NPP<br />

leadership’s silence over its supporters’<br />

attacks on journalists<br />

rather baffling. This is because the<br />

party’s general secretary recently<br />

condemned a similar vigilante attack<br />

on Kwame Baffoe, popularly<br />

known as Abronye DC, a member<br />

of the party. It therefore appears<br />

that attacks on journalists do not<br />

really matter to the leadership of<br />

the party.<br />

Failure to punish perpetrators<br />

of violence against journalists<br />

only goes to encourage others to<br />

abuse journalists. An entrenched<br />

impunity constitutes a major<br />

threat to the safety of journalists.<br />

In 2016, Ghana’s press freedom<br />

rankings dropped from “Free” to<br />

“Partly Free” following a number<br />

of similar press freedom violations,<br />

which were not addressed.<br />

The MFWA is concerned<br />

about the continued silence of the<br />

leadership of the NPP on recent<br />

attacks by its activists on journalists<br />

and is therefore urging the<br />

leadership of the NPP to, as a<br />

matter of urgency, act to address<br />

the growing culture of impunity<br />

for crimes against journalists.<br />

We urge the party to call its<br />

members to order and punish perpetrators<br />

of violations against<br />

journalists to serve as deterrent to<br />

others. The party cannot look on<br />

as journalists are abused.<br />

The safety of Ghanaian journalists<br />

is at stake and an urgent action<br />

by the party will help assure<br />

journalists that press freedom will<br />

be promoted and protected under<br />

the government of the New Patriotic<br />

Party.


Inside <strong>February</strong> 7, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 2/6/18 7:58 PM Page 9<br />

12<br />

DAILY<br />

Politics<br />

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018<br />

Use appropriate quarters for<br />

redress— Chair aspirant begs<br />

BY EDWARD ADETI<br />

AREGIONAL<br />

chairman aspirant<br />

of the New<br />

Patriotic Party<br />

(NPP) in the<br />

Upper East Region,<br />

Mr Filson Awankua, has<br />

consoled NPP candidates who<br />

were let down in the recent race<br />

for executive positions at the<br />

polling station level and entreated<br />

them to use “the appropriate<br />

quarters” to make amends.<br />

The electoral exercise, held<br />

nationwide in the last week of<br />

January, this year, at polling stations<br />

and electoral areas, saw<br />

sour turn of events as clashes<br />

erupted in the Upper West and<br />

Eastern Regions over alleged<br />

sidestepping of electoral rules by<br />

some big shots.<br />

Although complaints<br />

emerged strongly in the Upper<br />

East Region after the conduct of<br />

the elections, with some fallen<br />

old executives claiming they were<br />

“unfairly” and “illegally” toppled<br />

to favour new entrants, that outbreak<br />

of anger did not sink into<br />

chaos.<br />

Mr Awankua, who likewise is<br />

in a tough race for the regional<br />

chairmanship title with four<br />

other titans of the party, appealed<br />

for calm in a statement he<br />

issued to the press.<br />

“I would like to congratulate<br />

all those who emerged victorious<br />

out of the contest and to appeal<br />

to the unsuccessful contestants<br />

to continue to support the party<br />

in diverse ways as the party<br />

needs them now more than before.<br />

I was not surprised the entire<br />

process was peaceful with<br />

much co-operation and understanding<br />

because I know my<br />

people very well and they do not<br />

disappoint when it comes to issues<br />

like this,” he said.<br />

He added: “However, I would<br />

like to plead with those who in<br />

one way or the other are not satisfied<br />

with the conduct of the<br />

elections to use the appropriate<br />

quarters as prescribed by the<br />

party for redress. Let us remember<br />

that we belong to a political<br />

party with very high credentials<br />

when it comes to democracy.<br />

Therefore, we should not engage<br />

in acts that will bring the name<br />

of the party into disrepute.”<br />

Thousands of candidates<br />

took part in the elections at<br />

1,227 polling stations and 353<br />

electoral areas in the region. The<br />

constituency, regional and national<br />

executive elections are<br />

slated for the last weeks in <strong>February</strong>,<br />

April and June, this year,<br />

respectively.<br />

• Filson Awankua<br />

Mr Awankua, according to his<br />

communications team, intends<br />

to reorganise the NPP in the region,<br />

from the polling station<br />

level to the regional office, into a<br />

party that “adheres to a disciplined<br />

chain of command”.<br />

“Every regional office of the<br />

NPP is to have a Finance Committee<br />

chaired by the Financial<br />

Secretary. This is, unfortunately,<br />

not the case in the Upper East<br />

Region. The effect is that financial<br />

checks and balances are<br />

compromised. Awankua is determined<br />

to ensure cohesive party<br />

structures from the polling to<br />

the regional office that adheres<br />

to a disciplined chain of command,”<br />

the communication team<br />

said in a statement made available<br />

to the media.<br />

“I would like to congratulate all those who emerged victorious out<br />

of the contest and to appeal to the unsuccessful contestants to<br />

continue to support the party in diverse ways as the party needs<br />

them now more than before. I was not surprised the entire<br />

process was peaceful with much co-operation and understanding<br />

because I know my people very well and they do not disappoint<br />

when it comes to issues like this,” he said.<br />

The team also paints a picture<br />

of an NPP critically divided in<br />

the region over personal interests—<br />

a worrying tide members<br />

of the team say would take only<br />

a “unifier and messiah” in the<br />

person of Awankua to turn in<br />

the interest of the party ahead of<br />

the 2020 general elections.<br />

“It does appear that the party<br />

hierarchy is not driven by a unity<br />

of purpose. In some constituencies<br />

and at the regional level,<br />

party leadership is at loggerheads<br />

with appointees and among<br />

themselves. The leadership,<br />

rather than solve issues of disunity,<br />

appear to be interested in<br />

personal goals and aggrandizement.<br />

“A few conflict situations are<br />

illustrative: Bongo, factionalism<br />

within the constituency executive<br />

since 2004; Chiana-Paga, DCE<br />

versus Constituency Chairman;<br />

Regional Minister versus Regional<br />

Executive/Chairman; Regional<br />

Executive, Chairman<br />

versus Financial Secretary. Mr.<br />

Awankua is an engineer. Call him<br />

constructor. The engineering<br />

profession requires that the professional<br />

builds from scratch or<br />

repairs what is broken. He intends<br />

to do just that as leader of<br />

the party in the region— construct<br />

bridges of unity where<br />

these are absent and repair broken<br />

bridges of unity,” the statement<br />

said.<br />

Hopeful Awankua targets<br />

more seats for NPP<br />

Mr. Awankua, a native of<br />

Zuarungu in the Bolgatanga East<br />

Constituency and product of<br />

Takoradi Technical University<br />

and Cape Coast Technical University,<br />

says he intends to win<br />

more parliamentary seats than<br />

the three the party captured in<br />

the Upper East region— a<br />

stronghold of the opposition<br />

National Democratic Congress<br />

(NDC)— at the 2016 general<br />

polls.<br />

The aspirant, who holds a<br />

B.Sc. Degree in Engineering<br />

from KAAF University, Cape<br />

Coast— an affiliate of the Engineering<br />

College of Birmingham,<br />

United Kingdom— seeks to<br />

elbow out incumbent Mohammed<br />

Murtala Ibrahim at the<br />

April showdown. The other<br />

heavyweights said to be rigorously<br />

pulling up their socks to<br />

occupy that position include<br />

Lawyer Anthony Namoo, Joseph<br />

Agongo and Abdalla Otito<br />

Werseh Achuliwor.<br />

“I am also very hopeful and<br />

optimistic that the peace, co-operation<br />

and understanding that<br />

characterised the entire process<br />

of these elections will be replicated<br />

in the upcoming constituency<br />

and regional executive<br />

elections.<br />

Let us conduct ourselves before,<br />

during and after the constituency<br />

and regional executive<br />

elections as we did during the<br />

just-ended polling stations and<br />

electoral area elections.<br />

“We need to remain united<br />

after all this process to form a<br />

formidable force to win more<br />

seats for our party. I believe in<br />

unity in diversity. I believe you<br />

will agree with me that we deserve<br />

more seats than the only<br />

three we have in the region and<br />

it will be tedious if not impossible<br />

to win more with a divided<br />

front. Finally, let’s ensure there is<br />

peace and unity among us after<br />

the entire processes to make the<br />

NPP attractive for 2020,” Mr<br />

Awankua stressed in his press release.<br />

“It does appear<br />

that the party hierarchy<br />

is not driven<br />

by a unity of purpose.<br />

In some constituencies<br />

and at<br />

the regional level,<br />

party leadership is<br />

at loggerheads<br />

with appointees<br />

and among themselves.<br />

The leadership,<br />

rather than<br />

solve issues of disunity,<br />

appear to be<br />

interested in personal<br />

goals and<br />

aggrandisement.”


13<br />

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018<br />

BY ABIGAIL ASARE<br />

De Danzin<br />

Proph3t drops<br />

‘JahJah Dey’<br />

•Shatta Wale on set<br />

BY ERICA ARTHUR<br />

EMMANUEL ELI Agbemor,<br />

known in the music<br />

circle as De Danzin<br />

Proph3t, has released his<br />

second single dubbed<br />

‘JahJah Dey’ featuring<br />

LilZig.<br />

According to the young Urban<br />

Gospel Minister who is from Central<br />

Assemblies of God Church<br />

Ashaiman, he started as a Dance<br />

Minister/ evangelist and also Chief<br />

Servant of Christ Crew Inc (a Dance<br />

Poetry and Drama Ministry), and has<br />

grown to develop another gift inspired<br />

by the Holy Spirit, which is<br />

music.<br />

Speaking to The DAILY HER-<br />

ITAGE, Eli said “after successfully<br />

premiering my debut single, ‘DABB<br />

(Dance And Be Blessed)’ which I<br />

featured Clemento Suarez and was<br />

supported by Rev. Azigiza Jnr, Fifi<br />

Forson of Sunny FM and Footprint<br />

TV among other Great Ministers of<br />

God, I have come out with another<br />

single title ‘JahJah Dey’ unlike<br />

‘DABB’ which was a Francophone<br />

Gospel, ‘JahJah Dey’ is an Afro Pop<br />

song and seeks to motivate and inspire<br />

the youth going through the<br />

struggles of life and feeling like giving<br />

up.”<br />

The singer said ‘JahJah Dey’ talks<br />

about the need to hold on to faith in<br />

‘Jah’ and not give up. On why he<br />

chose ‘Jah’, he said it was due to his<br />

target audience of the song. Jah or<br />

Yah (Hebrew: Yah) is a short form<br />

of Yahweh.<br />

He said the song would be a<br />

blessing to mostly the lost, that they<br />

may understand there's hope in God.<br />

•De Danzin<br />

Proph3t, artiste<br />

Shatta Wale<br />

stars in Kejetia<br />

Vs Makola movie<br />

DANCEHALL ARTISTE, Shatta<br />

Wale will feature in a new movie titled<br />

‘Trial of Shatta Wale’.<br />

The movie scheduled for release<br />

later this year sees the the Zylofon<br />

Music artiste act alongside known<br />

faces of the Liezer Legacy production:<br />

Lawyer Ntim (Richmond<br />

Xavier Amoakoh) and Judge Louis<br />

Lamis among others.<br />

‘Kejetia Vs Makola – The Trial<br />

of Shatta Wale’ is a movie produced<br />

by Liezer-Legacy Productions, producers<br />

of award winning TV series<br />

Kejetia Vs Makola.<br />

I am not a celebrity— Medikal<br />

BY ERICA ARTHUR<br />

RAPPER, MEDIKAL has said he is<br />

not a celebrity but an entertainer who is<br />

being himself with his music.<br />

The rapper told Jason El-A the host<br />

of ‘Young, Wild and Free’ on Live FM<br />

last week Saturday, <strong>February</strong> 3, 2018<br />

that the trolling and hatred from some<br />

followers on social media and some<br />

bloggers inspires him, “am not bothered<br />

at all am not a celebrity but an entertainer<br />

and a normal guy, if<br />

you throw jabs at me on<br />

social media, I will<br />

come back for<br />

you. I don’t feel<br />

comfortable<br />

when I don’t<br />

see people<br />

jabbing on<br />

me on Social<br />

media.”<br />

According<br />

to the Sowutuom<br />

based<br />

Rapper, he was<br />

disappointed for<br />

•Medikal<br />

not winning an award at the 2017<br />

Vodafone Ghana Music Awards in spite<br />

of the nominations he got.<br />

He said “I am human and I got disappointed,<br />

it is life and it is normal. It<br />

hasn’t affected my music am still producing<br />

new songs.”<br />

Medikal also said, he does not brag<br />

or insult anyone in his songs but only<br />

talk about his real life experiences.Asking<br />

about his top five artistes he said<br />

“big ups to myself I’m currently the<br />

only artiste singing and rapping since a<br />

lot have switched to singing. My top<br />

five artistes is myself.”<br />

The Rapper has currently<br />

released a new single<br />

which he featured Bisa<br />

K ’Dei titled‘For You.’<br />

Young, Wild and<br />

Free is Live 91.9 FM‘s<br />

Campus-themed<br />

show. It is hosted by<br />

Jason El-A with support<br />

from DJ Mingle<br />

and produced by Salty<br />

Nation on Saturday and<br />

Sundays between 2 and 5<br />

pm.


WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018<br />

My mum is my<br />

role model<br />

– Joselyn Dumas<br />

ACTRESS AND TV host<br />

Joselyn Dumas has said her<br />

mother is her inspiration<br />

and she is lucky to have her.<br />

According to Joselyn,<br />

her mum stood by her<br />

through everything and that<br />

has left a strong impression<br />

on her and built her into the<br />

accomplished woman she is<br />

today.<br />

Speaking on her weekly<br />

episodic chat show ‘Keeping<br />

it Real with Joselyn<br />

Dumas’, the TV show host<br />

revealed that her mum is<br />

her role model, her ‘rock’,<br />

and that she tries to emulate<br />

her in her relationships with<br />

friends and family.<br />

Joselyn who was chatting<br />

with Stephanie Benson and<br />

Claudia Lumor on the latest<br />

aired edition of the show,<br />

speaking about role models,<br />

said Oprah was one she admired<br />

from afar but her real<br />

one is her mum.<br />

She said “Someone like<br />

Oprah Winfrey she sort of<br />

inspires me…I also gather<br />

my inspiration from different<br />

people but I’ve always<br />

admired my mum for her<br />

strength… we’ve come a<br />

long way, my mum and I. So<br />

through it all, this woman is<br />

still like a rock and she’s my<br />

rock and that is what I want<br />

to be for my daughter and<br />

for my friends.<br />

“I think that sometimes<br />

we use the word role model<br />

loosely without even realizing<br />

the work we have to put<br />

in.” she added.<br />

Singer Stephanie Benson<br />

also revealed that her mum<br />

has been her role model<br />

throughout her life, especially<br />

after she was diagnosed<br />

with cancer.<br />

“My role model would<br />

be my mum too, because<br />

my mum was amazing. She<br />

died at 48 of cancer…and it<br />

was really hard but I see her<br />

strength and for that reason<br />

I wanted to be her,” she<br />

said.<br />

The trio also delved into<br />

other issues on the topic<br />

‘The Extended Woman’,<br />

and each had unique life<br />

stories to share, with Benson<br />

revealing why she<br />

started wearing heels at the<br />

age of three.<br />

Dumas and a host of<br />

panelists sit down every<br />

weekend on GhOne TV to<br />

discuss such issues which<br />

are critical to women.<br />

•Joselyn Dumas<br />

Agya Koo is more<br />

popular than<br />

Dumelo – Creative<br />

Arts Minister<br />

CATHERINE<br />

AFEKU, Minister<br />

for<br />

Tourism, Culture<br />

and Creative<br />

Arts claims Agya Koo<br />

is more popular than John<br />

Dumelo.<br />

Her statement comes<br />

after she was severely criticised<br />

by stakeholders in the<br />

entertainment industry regarding<br />

her decision to start<br />

Agya Koo and Daddy<br />

Lumba TV.<br />

“Agya Koo is more popular,<br />

when you go to my<br />

constituency, the people in<br />

the rural areas know Agya<br />

Koo but when you mention<br />

John Dumelo, they don’t<br />

know him.” explained Afeku<br />

during the launch of Agya<br />

Koo TV at the Accra Mall<br />

on Sunday, <strong>February</strong> 4,<br />

2018.<br />

She also added that online<br />

and sampling in a research<br />

methodology verifies<br />

that Agya Koo is more popular<br />

than Dumelo.<br />

She told the press at the<br />

launch that there are apps in<br />

the works for the likes of<br />

Daddy Lumba, Kojo Antwi,<br />

Jackie Appiah, Lil Win and<br />

• Agya Koo<br />

others. The decision to start<br />

with Agya Koo is because<br />

he has the biggest brand<br />

content wise.<br />

Earlier report about<br />

Agya Koo and Daddy<br />

Lumba TV<br />

As a way of resourcing<br />

Ghanaian artistes towards<br />

their upkeep, a mobile application<br />

has been developed<br />

to air programmes of the<br />

various artistes that would<br />

be enrolled onto the project,<br />

the Minister<br />

revealed.<br />

The first of the project,<br />

which is titled ‘Agya Koo<br />

TV, will be premiered at the<br />

Accra Shopping Mall on<br />

Sunday, <strong>February</strong> 4, 2018.<br />

The next in line of the<br />

TV series titled ‘Daddy<br />

Lumba TV,’ she noted, will<br />

be ready in a month’s time.<br />

This will be followed by<br />

other artists who will sign<br />

onto the project, she added.<br />

“This is an initiative that is<br />

going to put a lot of money<br />

• Catherine Afeku,<br />

Minister of Tourism<br />

•John Dumelo<br />

in the pickets of our artists.<br />

They need our support and<br />

we must help them by patronising<br />

the app,” she noted.<br />

Hon. Afeku revealed this<br />

when she took her turn at<br />

the Meet the Press series,<br />

Monday, to brief journalists<br />

about the achievements of<br />

her ministry in 2017 and<br />

what it intends doing in<br />

2018.<br />

The project is a publicprivate<br />

partnership aimed at<br />

supporting the upkeep of<br />

Ghanaian artists.


DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

Sports<br />

DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018<br />

• L-R-Victor Baiden, President of WABBA,<br />

Michael Ahorlu, Vice President of WABBA<br />

and a body builder<br />

Elite Bodybuilding<br />

Open set for March<br />

BY ANNETTE S. YEBOAH<br />

THE WORLD Amateur<br />

Bodybuilding Association<br />

(WABBA),<br />

Ghana Chapter will<br />

from Friday, March<br />

23, 2018 through to<br />

Sunday, March 25, 2018 organise<br />

Elite Bodybuilding Championship<br />

at Oyarifa, a suburb in Accra.<br />

The three-day event will see<br />

both female and male bodybuilders<br />

from the various weight categories<br />

in the country compete for a spot in<br />

the national event set for later in the<br />

year.<br />

The event will open with a seminar<br />

on weight training, judging and<br />

fitness awareness for bodybuilding<br />

athletes, gymnasium and climaxed<br />

with the Elite Bodybuilding Championship.<br />

The president of WABBA, Mr<br />

Victor Baiden told the DAILY<br />

HERITAGE in Accra yesterday<br />

that the competition is opened to all<br />

bodybuilders in the country and it<br />

would serve as a qualification platform<br />

for the athletes to participate<br />

in the national competition later in<br />

the year.<br />

“The head of judging at<br />

WABBA, Mr Prevor Chang from<br />

the United Kingdom will be the one<br />

to take the potential judges in<br />

Ghana through tutorials of the<br />

game and would also score the athletes,”<br />

he said.<br />

He said registration form could<br />

be acquired at their offices or on<br />

www.facebook.com/wabbagh.<br />

In a related development, Mr<br />

Michael Ahorlu who is the vice<br />

president of the association and<br />

also the head of branding and<br />

strategic marketing for WABBA,<br />

Ghana chapter said on Saturday,<br />

<strong>February</strong> 17, 2018 that the executives<br />

of the association would engage<br />

the bodybuilders to know and<br />

understand their grievances in the<br />

sport.<br />

He said the meeting would take<br />

place at Bond Gymnasium at Adentan<br />

Barrier in Accra where they<br />

would also reveal their progressive<br />

plans to the athletes who would be<br />

attending.<br />

“We want to understand their<br />

grievances, listen to them and also<br />

tell them of our expectations and<br />

the plans we have for them.<br />

“We want the bodybuilders in<br />

Ghana to grow from one level to<br />

another internationally. They should<br />

not only compete in Ghana but<br />

transcend their art to other parts of<br />

the world,” he said.<br />

He added that the executives<br />

would soon organise a community<br />

audition in the Greater Accra,<br />

Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and Western<br />

Regions in the coming months.<br />

Mr Ahorlu called for corporate<br />

bodies and individuals in the country<br />

to support WABBA Ghana Federation<br />

by donating monies to<br />

MTN mobile money number<br />

0240760124.<br />

He also said corporate bodies<br />

could advertise their products and<br />

services and individuals in the<br />

country to take advantage of bodybuilding.<br />

Aduana Stars<br />

Announce<br />

Squad for CAF<br />

Champions League<br />

GHANA PREMIER<br />

League champions,<br />

2016/17, Aduana Stars have<br />

named an 18-man squad for<br />

their forthcoming CAF<br />

Champions League match<br />

against Libyan side Al<br />

Tahadi in the first leg of<br />

the preliminary round in<br />

Egypt due to the unstable<br />

political situation in Libya.<br />

The Fire Boys will commence<br />

their CAF Champions<br />

League campaign this<br />

weekend as they set to lock<br />

horns with their Libyan<br />

counterparts.<br />

Head coach of Aduana<br />

Stars, Yusif Abubakar has<br />

named a strong squad for<br />

their trip as they poised to<br />

achieve positive results in<br />

the first leg.<br />

Aduana Stars will face<br />

the winner of the tie between<br />

ES Setif of Algeria<br />

and Olympique de Bangui<br />

of Central African Republic<br />

if they beat Tahaddy.<br />

Below are the<br />

names of players:<br />

Tijani Ahmed<br />

Joseph Addo<br />

Akuoko Emma.<br />

Farouk Adams<br />

Caleb Amankwaa<br />

Paul Aidoo<br />

Justice A<br />

Abdul Rashid<br />

Anokye Badu<br />

Emmanuel Boateng<br />

Sam Adams<br />

Gockel Ahortoh<br />

Elvis Opoku<br />

Noah Martey<br />

Zakaria Mumuni<br />

Nat. Asamoah<br />

Bright Agyei<br />

Derick Sasraku.<br />

Black Bombers B in Hungary for boxing tournament<br />

SPORTS DESK<br />

SIX BOXERS and four officials<br />

of the junior national boxing<br />

team, Black Bombers B, are in<br />

Debrecen, Hungary to participate<br />

in the Bocskai Istvan Memorial<br />

International Boxing tournament.<br />

The Ghanaian team, which includes<br />

Shakul Samed, kid brother<br />

of the Samir brothers, joins the<br />

tournament which began on<br />

Tuesday, <strong>February</strong> 6, 2018 and<br />

will end on Sunday, <strong>February</strong> 11,<br />

2018. It is under the auspices of<br />

the Hungary Boxing Association.<br />

The junior Black Bombers<br />

were led by Abdul Samadu Mohammed,<br />

Vice-President of the<br />

Ghana Boxing Federation (GBF)<br />

and Coach Charles Quartey.<br />

The competition intends to enable<br />

the young boxers get the<br />

needed exposure to help hone<br />

their budding skills to take over<br />

from the regular Black Bombers<br />

team who are currently camping<br />

in Cape Coast ahead of the 2018<br />

Commonwealth Games in Australia<br />

in April this year.<br />

The GBF Vice-President said<br />

the tournament had come at the<br />

right time for the young boxers to<br />

gain the needed international exposure,<br />

to train and also fight<br />

with better facilities.<br />

“We know how good they are,<br />

we believe they will win gold<br />

medals to make Ghana proud and<br />

also get us invited to more such<br />

competitions in future,” he said.<br />

He thanked the Hungarian<br />

Embassy in Ghana for their assistance.<br />

• The Black Bombers B team

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