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NO. 100648 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY <strong>14</strong>, 2018 PRICE: GH¢2.00<br />

DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

•Mr Martin<br />

Alamisi Amidu,<br />

Special Prosecutor<br />

nominee<br />

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

GA-027-0054


02<br />

CONTENT<br />

DAILY HERITAGE. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY <strong>14</strong>, 2018.<br />

DAILY QUOTE<br />

Your problem isn't the<br />

problem. Your<br />

reaction is the problem<br />

--Anonymous<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 />

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ISSN: 0855-52307<br />

VOL 7<br />

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Road. Box AD 676,<br />

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www.dailyheritage.com.gh<br />

WORLD<br />

South Africa: ANC<br />

decides Zuma<br />

must go ‘urgently'<br />

POLITICS<br />

Africa needs<br />

dynamic<br />

leaders – CPP<br />

PG.04<br />

PG.12<br />

VIEW<br />

My letter of<br />

condolence<br />

to father of Ebony<br />

Reigns<br />

PG.06<br />

HEALTH<br />

GHS dispels<br />

Lassa Fever<br />

outbreak<br />

scare<br />

PG.07<br />

Kas Estate caught up<br />

in sand winning brawl<br />

BY DAILY HERITAGE REPORTER<br />

REAL ESTATE developer, Kas Estate<br />

Ghana Limited has been accused<br />

of winning sand on plots of<br />

land they’ve sold to individuals<br />

and companies in the country.<br />

Some customers, who trooped to the office<br />

of the DAILY HERITAGE last Thursday,<br />

threatened to take legal action against the<br />

company for allegedly invading their private<br />

property without informing them.<br />

The company has, however, rubbished the<br />

allegations. As source at the company said illegal<br />

sand winners were responsible for the sand<br />

wining.<br />

The leader of the group, who did not want<br />

to be named, said he bought four acres of land<br />

in 2013 and was ready to commence his projects<br />

on the land only to find excavators on the<br />

land winning sand after destroying his pillars.<br />

He told the DAILY HERITAGE that<br />

the most annoying part was that the perpetrators<br />

use the sand for concrete blocks and sell<br />

to customers.<br />

“Why should the company go behind our<br />

backs to do that without our permission? Even<br />

if they want to do that they should leave our<br />

pillars alone and not destroy them without<br />

leaving a trace.<br />

“You visit the place, what you see is huge<br />

sand has been piled up on the land. You dare<br />

not use the sand for your projects. The pillars<br />

have the plot numbers on them,” he said.<br />

The complainants said they had reported<br />

the incident at the head office at Tesano for<br />

the broken pillars to be re-fixed, but the officials<br />

there rather blamed the land owners for<br />

not attending to the land.<br />

According to the company, before they<br />

could mount the pillars for the affected persons<br />

each ought to pay GH¢ 1,000.00.<br />

“Without the pillars with the plot numbers<br />

on them, they will not hand over the land documents<br />

to you as they say the surveying machines<br />

could not pick the plot number,” he<br />

said.<br />

When the DAILY HERITAGE visited<br />

the affected parts in Golden City Communities<br />

Two and Three, Great City Communities One,<br />

Two, Three and Four in the Ga South Municipality<br />

in the Greater Accra Region on Friday<br />

and Saturday there was evidence of sand winning<br />

activities in the communities.<br />

On Saturday when the reporter visited<br />

Great City Communities One, Two, Three and<br />

Four, 10 trucks were seen loading sand to be<br />

taken to another place.<br />

A caretaker, who had been given the right<br />

by the new land owners to cultivate the land<br />

for farming till they were ready to start their<br />

building projects, said his produce had been<br />

destroyed by the sand winners.<br />

According to the caretaker, he woke up in<br />

the morning and saw them winning the sand.<br />

He said at Golden City Community Two at<br />

Horbor, it took Ghana Police Service personnel<br />

to stop them from winning sand on a<br />

seven-acre land. “When you are lucky they will<br />

give you GH¢ 1,000.00 as compensation if you<br />

are not they give nothing at all,” he said.<br />

•Sand winning at Golden City Community Two, Horbor<br />

Land expert’s position<br />

A land expert at the Lands Commission in<br />

Accra told the DAILY HERITAGE in an<br />

interview that no real estate company had the<br />

right to win sand whether they have the permit<br />

or not.<br />

“This is a serious matter and I will urge the<br />

clients to take them on,” the officer said.<br />

Kas Estate Ghana Limited<br />

A source at Kas Estate Ghana Limited,<br />

when called, rubbished the allegations of being<br />

involved in sand winning activities. The source<br />

said the sand winning was being carried out by<br />

illegal sand miners and not from the company.<br />

According to him, the land belonged to the<br />

buyer so there was no way they could win sand<br />

after selling it out.<br />

He noted that the company had communication<br />

channels where affected persons could<br />

channel their grievances through for redress.<br />

“We have asked them to erect corner fence<br />

wall which is stronger than the pillars.<br />

“It is not compulsory for each affected<br />

person to pay GH¢ 1,000.00. You can decide<br />

not to pay if you have the time do it yourself,”<br />

he explained.<br />

2 jailed<br />

120<br />

months,<br />

10 caged<br />

• Over Kwabenya<br />

cell break<br />

BY MUNTALLA INUSAH<br />

muntalla.inusah@dailyheritage.com.gh<br />

TWO OUT of 10 accused persons, who are<br />

standing trial for the cell break at the<br />

Kwabenya Police Station which led to the<br />

death of one police officer, have been<br />

handed 120 months custodial sentence to<br />

share.<br />

The two-Prince Osei and Atta Kwadwo<br />

were convicted on their own plea by the Circuit<br />

Court after pleading guilty to two<br />

charges of abetment to escape lawful custody<br />

and escape from lawful custody.<br />

They are to serve 30 months each on<br />

count one and another 30 months each on<br />

count two, meaning each serves 60 months<br />

on both counts and 120 in total. But, they<br />

will only serve the first 30 months as the<br />

sentenc es run concurrently.<br />

The Circuit Court judge, His Honour Mr<br />

Aboagye Tandoh in handing them the sentence<br />

said, the maximum punishment for<br />

the offense of misdemeanor is three years<br />

and it took into consideration, the fact that<br />

the accused persons pleaded guilty and<br />

never wasted the time of the court.<br />

According to him, given the modus<br />

oparandi, heavy sentence would have been<br />

expected but it also took into consideration<br />

their plea for mitigation. The two, together<br />

• CONTINUE ON PAGE 3


WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH DAILY HERITAGE. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY <strong>14</strong>, 2018. 03<br />

2 jailed 120 months, 10 caged<br />

• READ FROM PAGE 2<br />

with a third person Kofi Darko, who pleaded<br />

not guilty, were those who escaped from cells.<br />

Master Osei, a 25-year-old scrap dealer lives<br />

at Dansoman while Kwadwo, a 20-year-old<br />

driver's mate lives at Tema, pleaded guilty to<br />

charges of abetment to escape lawful custody<br />

and escaping lawful custody.<br />

The third accused person, master Darko<br />

pleaded not guilty to the charges. The three,<br />

together with others escaped when some<br />

armed men attacked the Kwabenya Police station<br />

killing a police officer.<br />

The remaining nine others including one<br />

woman Nancy Denteh, a bread seller who<br />

were charged for abetting the escape of the accused<br />

persons in connection with the<br />

attack have been charged with abetment to escape<br />

from lawful custody. They all pleaded not<br />

guilty.<br />

• Over Kwabenya cell break<br />

Bail deferred<br />

Counsel for the remaining accused persons<br />

took turns to apply for bail for their clients and<br />

the first to do so was Lawyer Bernard<br />

Owiredu, for Nancy Dentah, the only female<br />

and the bread seller among them.<br />

He told the court that, his client is a single<br />

mother and an entrepreneur in her own right,<br />

adding that, she has a six-year-old son who always<br />

needs her mother. Counsel said his client<br />

has relatives ready to stand sureties for her and<br />

she would submit herself anytime the court<br />

needed her.<br />

Counsel for Prince Kofi Acheampong and<br />

Edward Lartey, said his clients have sureties to<br />

stand in for them and that Lartey is a young<br />

man of 20 years and per the facts from the police<br />

he was not mentioned anywhere in it.<br />

Lawyer for George Yeboah told the court<br />

that, his client is a family man and has a wife<br />

and that he has competent people to stand<br />

sureties including members of his church,<br />

Jesus Action International Ministry.<br />

Elvis Owusu and Theophilus Bandah<br />

through their lawyer said the two are gainfully<br />

employed and while Owusu works with Le<br />

Maxx Restaurant at Accra Mall, Bandah also<br />

had his employee in court, Madam Theresa<br />

Gaise to attest to that.<br />

Superintendant Kweku Bempah, the prosecutor<br />

in the case objected to the application<br />

for bail and argued that it would be for their<br />

own safety to remain in custody, especially<br />

with the public attention it has received.<br />

He added that, if granted bail, they may not<br />

avail themselves to stand trial and the court<br />

should therefore refuse their application for<br />

bail. The court subsequently deferred ruling on<br />

the bail application to <strong>February</strong> 26, 2018.<br />

Plea not taken<br />

The accused persons, whose plea in respect<br />

of possessing of firearms without authority<br />

and abetment to possessing firearm without<br />

lawful authority were not taken, will reappear<br />

in court on <strong>February</strong> 13.<br />

The court directed that, the prosecution<br />

take necessary steps to get the necessary information<br />

by consulting the Attorney General before<br />

the next adjourned date. According to the<br />

court, investigations must be completed and all<br />

those needed to be consulted in respect of the<br />

matter ought to be done with immediacy.<br />

12 accused persons<br />

The accused persons who were arraigned<br />

are Prince Odeon, Atta Kwadwo, Kofi Darko,<br />

Nancy Dentah, and George Yeboah. The rest<br />

are Prince Kofi Acheampong, Edward Lartey,<br />

Kofi Seshie, George Sarbah, Elvis Owusu,<br />

George Asante and Theophilus Bandah.<br />

The attack on the Police station led to the<br />

escape of seven suspects. A police officer on<br />

duty was also killed in the attack.<br />

Amidu shows<br />

resilience<br />

BY STEPHEN ODOI LARBI<br />

THE NOMINEE for<br />

the Office of the Special<br />

Prosecutor, Mr<br />

Martin Alamisi Burns<br />

Kaiser Amidu yesterday<br />

told the Appointments Committee<br />

of Parliament that in him as<br />

an investigator and public prosecutor,<br />

President Nana Addo Dankwa<br />

Akufo-Addo has made the best<br />

choice for Ghana.<br />

Should Parliament disagree and<br />

rather opt for a different person, he<br />

wants the legislature to disapprove<br />

his nomination.<br />

He told the Committee during<br />

his over eight hours grilling that he<br />

is non-comparable for the Office<br />

of the Special Prosecutor job in<br />

terms of investigations and prosecution.<br />

Giving an account of a contract<br />

he once abrogated during the<br />

PNDC regime to buttress his argument,<br />

Mr Amidu said “SIC decided<br />

to enter into a contract with Elcom<br />

• Grilled for 8hrs<br />

• Says I’m best choice for<br />

Special Prosecutor job<br />

6 for building of accommodation<br />

in Accra. We disapproved it. It was<br />

in Kumasi when I was coming<br />

from the North that I heard it in<br />

the air that the Ministers for Works<br />

and Housing and the Chairman,<br />

Committee of Secretaries, had inaugurated<br />

the Board. When I came,<br />

I wrote to the Chairman of the<br />

PNDC and told him we hadn’t approved<br />

it.<br />

“A PNDC meeting was called,<br />

right? I was able to get the background<br />

of the company from the<br />

United Kingdom and it showed<br />

that the company which was coming<br />

to partner the most viable financial<br />

institution in Ghana had<br />

only £200.00 as stated capital with<br />

all the PNDC Secretaries, Committee<br />

of Chairman making this thing.<br />

That is the job I did,” he noted.<br />

He said as then Chairman, Public<br />

Agreements Board, he was the<br />

gatekeeper against people, ministers<br />

and others trying to push<br />

through contracts agreements<br />

which were not in the national interest.<br />

He further told the Committee<br />

that he distinguished himself so<br />

creditably that unlike his predecessor<br />

who lasted for six months on<br />

the job, he was able to hold on to<br />

his position until the country once<br />

again entered into constitutional<br />

regime.<br />

With his experience in investigations<br />

and public prosecution, he<br />

said he is the best person for the<br />

job, daring the Committee to disapprove<br />

his nomination if it prefers a<br />

different person to that position.<br />

“If you want anybody who will<br />

be meticulous with investigations<br />

•Martin Amidu during the<br />

Special Prosecutor vetting<br />

and prosecutions, the President has<br />

made the best choice. But if you<br />

want somebody who will look the<br />

other way, just disapprove me,” he<br />

stressed.


Inside <strong>February</strong> <strong>14</strong>, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 2/13/18 8:41 PM Page 3<br />

•Spinal fluid is obtained by inserting a needle<br />

into the spinal canal<br />

Pakistan gang 'stole spinal fluid from women’<br />

PAKISTANI POLICE have arrested<br />

four people accused of<br />

stealing spinal fluid from<br />

women.<br />

The suspects told women<br />

they had to provide blood samples<br />

to qualify for financial assistance<br />

from the Punjab<br />

government, police told BBC<br />

Urdu.<br />

However, they extracted<br />

spinal fluid instead, and attempted<br />

to sell it on the black<br />

market, police added.<br />

The gang is thought to have<br />

stolen spinal fluid from over 12<br />

women, including a teenager.<br />

"It appears the gang has been<br />

active in the Hafizabad area for<br />

some time," regional police officer<br />

Ashfaq Ahmed Khan told<br />

BBC Urdu's Shahzad Malik.<br />

One member "went around<br />

posing as an employee of the<br />

District Headquarters Hospital,<br />

telling his victims they would<br />

need to provide blood samples<br />

in order to qualify for the Punjab<br />

government's dowry fund".<br />

"But instead of taking them<br />

to the hospital to obtain their<br />

'blood samples', he would take<br />

them to the house of a female<br />

member of the gang to perform<br />

the procedure," Mr Khan added.<br />

BBC<br />

DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY <strong>14</strong>, 2018<br />

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

World news in 4 stories<br />

Uzbek man pleads guilty in Stockholm terror trial<br />

South Africa: ANC decides<br />

Zuma must go ‘urgently'<br />

SOUTH AFRICA'S ruling<br />

African National Congress<br />

(ANC) has formally<br />

asked President Jacob<br />

Zuma to resign "for the<br />

sake of the country".<br />

But despite the ANC's top leadership<br />

deciding to "recall" him "urgently",<br />

the scandal-hit Mr Zuma<br />

was still in power on Tuesday.<br />

He is expected to respond to the<br />

request on Wednesday, an official<br />

said.<br />

He had already told them he was<br />

•Jacob Zuma has been president of South Africa since 2009<br />

AN UZBEK man on trial in<br />

Sweden has pleaded guilty to<br />

carrying out a lorry attack<br />

which killed five people in<br />

Stockholm last April.<br />

Rakhmat Akilov, 39, admitted<br />

driving at high speed<br />

down a pedestrian street, the<br />

country's worst terrorist attack.<br />

His asylum claim had been<br />

rejected in 2016. He had expressed<br />

sympathy for the Islamic<br />

State (IS) group.<br />

He appeared in an underground<br />

Stockholm court, in<br />

handcuffs and clad in a green<br />

prison uniform.<br />

Survivors and relatives of<br />

victims can watch a live<br />

stream screened next door.<br />

Rakhmat Akilov fled the<br />

scene after crashing the stolen<br />

beer lorry and was arrested<br />

several hours later on the<br />

edge of Stockholm. He confessed<br />

during police interrogation<br />

Under Swedish laws on terrorism,<br />

prosecutors must<br />

prove that he intended to<br />

harm the state. IS did not say<br />

it was behind the attack.<br />

Jihadists had used vehicles<br />

in previous attacks - in the<br />

French city of Nice and in<br />

Berlin in 2016 and on Westminster<br />

Bridge in London in<br />

2017. BBC<br />

willing to stand down in the next<br />

three to six months, the official<br />

added.<br />

Mr Zuma, who has been in<br />

power since 2009, has been dogged<br />

by corruption allegations.<br />

But he has so far resisted increasing<br />

pressure to quit since December,<br />

when Cyril<br />

Ramaphosa replaced him as<br />

leader of the ANC.<br />

Ace Magashule, the ANC's<br />

secretary-general, told reporters<br />

the party's National<br />

Executive Committee (NEC)<br />

decided the removal should be<br />

"treated with urgency".<br />

"The NEC has noted South<br />

Africa is going through a period<br />

of uncertainty and anxiety<br />

as a result of unresolved matter<br />

of transition," he said.<br />

Mr Magashule said the<br />

country needed to build on the<br />

feeling of "renewed hope" felt<br />

after the election of Mr<br />

Ramaphosa as ANC leader.<br />

"It is obvious we want<br />

Comrade Ramaphosa to come<br />

in as the president of South<br />

Africa," he added.<br />

He said the president was<br />

expected to respond to the<br />

NEC's decision on Wednesday,<br />

although they had given him<br />

no deadline. BBC<br />

• Police took this photo of Rakhmat Akilov when he was arrested<br />

•Swedish investigations revealed that some of the<br />

children were homeless<br />

Unicef 'admits it failed<br />

children raped in CAR’<br />

THE UNITED Nations children's<br />

agency, Unicef, has admitted<br />

it failed to support<br />

children who alleged they<br />

were raped by French peacekeepers<br />

in the Central<br />

African Republic, the<br />

Guardian reports.<br />

The United Kingdom<br />

newspaper points out that the<br />

statement, which was issued<br />

by Unicef Netherlands, is the<br />

first public acknowledgement<br />

of Unicef's shortcomings.<br />

Unicef was put in charge<br />

of looking after the children<br />

who alleged they'd been sexually<br />

abused.<br />

But, the Guardian says, in<br />

March 2017, a Swedish investigative<br />

revealed that some of<br />

the children were homeless,<br />

and not being cared for by<br />

Unicef.<br />

The newspaper goes on to<br />

say that at the time, the<br />

agency said it didn't realise<br />

the children were on the<br />

streets, but later said it was<br />

trying to find them and offer<br />

support. BBC


WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

DAILY HERITAGE. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY <strong>14</strong>, 2018.<br />

05<br />

Editorial<br />

Accra floods again!<br />

IN SPITE of all the efforts<br />

by successive governments<br />

aimed at avoiding floods in<br />

the nation’s capital, Accra<br />

particularly at a major market<br />

centre like the Kwame<br />

Nkrumah Circle, the city witnessed<br />

flooding again after a<br />

few hours of downpour yesterday<br />

morning.<br />

The rains yet again exposed<br />

the poor drainage system in<br />

parts of the city, mostly the<br />

business centres.<br />

A drive through some parts<br />

of the capital revealed disappointing<br />

spectacle of garbage<br />

scattered on various roads.<br />

The uncultured behaviour<br />

of people dumping garbage<br />

into gutters led to scattering<br />

of refuse on roads due to the<br />

overflow of many gutters.<br />

Reports indicate that the<br />

over two-hour downpour created<br />

great discomfort for motorists<br />

and commuters.<br />

A visit by the DAILY<br />

HERITAGE to some parts<br />

of the capital revealed that<br />

there was a halt in business<br />

activities since most traders<br />

and workers struggled to find<br />

their way around the city.<br />

At the Kaneshie market,<br />

the paper observed that people<br />

had taken advantage of<br />

the floods in the area to make<br />

some money for themselves.<br />

“When we woke up this<br />

morning, we saw that the<br />

place had flooded and people<br />

were finding it difficult to go<br />

to their workplaces.<br />

“As citizens we thought of<br />

helping so we decided to<br />

carry them at our backs and<br />

help them cross, but we take<br />

GH¢ 2.00 from them for our<br />

efforts,” one of the human<br />

carriers told the paper.<br />

We think that minimising<br />

the impact of floods is a<br />

shared responsibility. The<br />

DAILY HERITAGE<br />

therefore urges all to play a<br />

role in this quest by desilting<br />

our choked gutters, avoiding<br />

discharge of garbage into<br />

drains and above all, being<br />

each other’s keeper by reproaching<br />

nation wreckers<br />

who litter indiscriminately.<br />

Accra floods again!<br />

BY JULIET OPPONG<br />

THE POOR drainage system<br />

in some parts of Accra was<br />

again exposed after a heavy<br />

downpour yesterday causing<br />

floods in some parts of the<br />

city, mostly the business centres.<br />

The over two-hour downpour, which<br />

started in the early hours of Tuesday, <strong>February</strong><br />

13, created a lot of discomfort for<br />

motorists and commuters who tried to go<br />

about their normal activities.<br />

A visit by the DAILY HERITAGE<br />

to some parts of the capital revealed that<br />

there was a halt in business activities since<br />

most traders and workers were finding<br />

their way to their places of work, while<br />

others tried to reorganise their property.<br />

At the Kaneshie market, the paper observed<br />

that people had taken advantage of<br />

the floods in the area to make some<br />

money for themselves.<br />

While some provided structures to help<br />

people cross over the floods, others, who<br />

were referred to as ‘human carriers’, took<br />

the risk of carrying people at their back<br />

for GH¢ 2.00.<br />

Explaining the situation to the DAILY<br />

HERITAGE, Kwame Frimpong, a<br />

human carrier, said they were disturbed by<br />

the development, hence their decision to<br />

help them cross over.<br />

“When we woke up this morning, we<br />

saw that the place had flooded and people<br />

were finding it difficult to go to their<br />

workplaces.<br />

“As citizens we thought of helping so<br />

we decided to carry them at our backs and<br />

help them cross, but we take GH¢ 2.00<br />

from them for our efforts,” he told the<br />

paper.<br />

On their safety, Mr Frimpong<br />

said, “we are young men and most<br />

of us live around, so we know<br />

where there’s a gutter, hole, or a<br />

ditch. We are not totally safe but<br />

we have decided to take the risk.<br />

“This is not the first time.<br />

Every time it rains, this place gets<br />

flooded so when we see people<br />

struggling, we come in to help<br />

them at a fee and they are willing<br />

to pay any amount because the<br />

water is very dirty and as such,<br />

they don’t want to step in it,” he<br />

added.<br />

As at the time of leaving the<br />

scene, there was no member of<br />

the National Disaster Management<br />

Organisation, or personnel from<br />

any of the security service to provide<br />

assistance.<br />

At the Obetsebi Lamptey<br />

roundabout, the paper observed<br />

• Commuters struggle<br />

to find their way around<br />

that there was heavy traffic which was as a<br />

result of some portions of the street<br />

which were flooded.<br />

Vehicles were limited to one lane while<br />

the rain flood took over the other lane,<br />

thereby making it impossible for vehicles<br />

to move freely.<br />

A driver, who expressed his frustration<br />

to the paper, pleaded with the government<br />

to put measures in place as the<br />

rains set in.<br />

“If care is not taken we might lose<br />

lives anytime it rains. We go through this<br />

thing anytime it rains, it is bad for a country<br />

like Ghana,” he told the paper.


Inside <strong>February</strong> <strong>14</strong>, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 2/13/18 8:41 PM Page 5<br />

06<br />

View DAILY<br />

HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY <strong>14</strong>, 2018<br />

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

My letter of condolence<br />

to father of Ebony Reigns<br />

•Late Ebony and father<br />

Dear Sir,<br />

Please accept my<br />

deepest condolence<br />

to you on<br />

this collective<br />

loss of ours that<br />

is very personal<br />

to you. I have taken time to<br />

write to you for the following<br />

four reasons.<br />

Firstly, a bosom friend<br />

once advised me, as a man, to<br />

pray against some experiences<br />

in my life. One of<br />

them, he said, was never to<br />

have the experience of burying<br />

my own child. It is a truly<br />

painful experience and I cannot<br />

even begin to imagine the<br />

pain that this has caused you.<br />

It is for this reason that I<br />

write to console you.<br />

Also, another friend of<br />

mine (and I have many such<br />

wise friends) said to me that a<br />

father’s love for the son<br />

comes from the mind; but his<br />

love for a daughter proceeds<br />

from the heart.<br />

I have heard about the<br />

close relationship you kept<br />

with your daughter, and how<br />

much you loved and defended<br />

her. I can only imagine<br />

how much your heart is<br />

aching. This is the reason why<br />

I sympathize with you.<br />

The other reason you have<br />

my sympathies is the nature<br />

of the death. While it may be<br />

true that every death is a<br />

death, some are more distressing<br />

than others. When I<br />

saw an image of the vehicle<br />

your daughter was travelling<br />

in after the accident, I was<br />

trembling. A lot of questions<br />

ran through my mind.<br />

I do not have the courage<br />

and the strength to repeat<br />

those questions here. No one<br />

wishes a painful death for another<br />

person. How much<br />

more his own child who is<br />

also a daughter that he loves?<br />

Finally, there is no question<br />

about how talented your<br />

Ebony was. Even in this very<br />

short career, she still<br />

remains one of the best<br />

Ghana music has seen and<br />

will be remembered for a<br />

long time. It was one hit song<br />

after the other and I can say<br />

•Ebony<br />

without<br />

any fear of contradiction<br />

that she died at<br />

a time when she was<br />

reigning over Ghana<br />

music.<br />

Every father feels<br />

proud about their children<br />

who have such<br />

great talents and much<br />

more when it is a female<br />

child. I feel that<br />

we had not seen her<br />

best yet, because she<br />

was still largely a raw<br />

talent. That is why I say<br />

your loss is our collective<br />

loss and we all<br />

mourn with you.<br />

Sir, I pray that God<br />

gives you the strength<br />

to pull through this<br />

tragedy together with<br />

her mother and siblings.<br />

Yours in Mourning,<br />

A. A. JONGTEY<br />

jongtey@yahoo.com


Inside <strong>February</strong> <strong>14</strong>, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 2/13/18 8:41 PM Page 6<br />

Diseases smoking cause<br />

Lung cancer<br />

More people die from lung cancer<br />

than any other type of cancer. Cigarette<br />

smoking is the number one risk<br />

factor for lung cancer; it's responsible<br />

for 87% of lung cancer deaths. Your<br />

chance of still being alive five years<br />

after being diagnosed is less than one<br />

in five.<br />

Heart disease<br />

Smoking harms nearly every organ<br />

in your body, including your heart.<br />

Smoking can cause blockages and narrowing<br />

in your arteries, which means<br />

less blood and oxygen flow to your<br />

heart.<br />

Asthma<br />

Asthma is a chronic lung disease<br />

that makes it harder to move air in<br />

and out of your lungs otherwise<br />

known as ‘breathing.’ Because cigarette<br />

smoke irritates air passages, it<br />

can trigger sudden and severe asthma<br />

attacks. Smoking only makes it worse.<br />

Premature, low birth-weight<br />

babies<br />

The effects of smoking not only<br />

impact on mom's health but also that<br />

of her baby. Smoking while pregnant<br />

can cause babies to be born prematurely<br />

or with a low birth-weight. Babies<br />

born too early or too small have<br />

increased risk of health complications<br />

and even death.<br />

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY <strong>14</strong>, 2018<br />

&Env.<br />

GHS dispels Lassa Fever outbreak scare<br />

BY CHRISTABEL ADDO<br />

THE GHANA<br />

Health Service<br />

(GHS) has allayed<br />

fears of the public<br />

on the outbreak of<br />

Lassa fever, saying<br />

its alert was to create the needed<br />

awareness so that precautionary<br />

measures would be strictly adhered<br />

to.<br />

The GHS Head of the Disease<br />

Surveillance Unit, Dr Franklin<br />

Asiedu Bekoe, in a media interview<br />

on Monday, said the alertness<br />

issued earlier, followed<br />

reports of the outbreak of Lassa<br />

fever in some neighbouring countries,<br />

including Nigeria, Guinea<br />

and Sierra Leone.<br />

Lassa fever, he explained is an<br />

Acute Viral Haemorrhagic Fever<br />

(VHF) illness, which was endemic<br />

in West Africa, with an incubation<br />

period of between six to 21 days.<br />

Dr Bekoe said although the<br />

onset of the disease has non-specific<br />

signs and symptoms, it was<br />

characterised by fever, general<br />

weakness and malaise at its early<br />

stages.<br />

This, he said, is followed by<br />

headaches, sore throat, muscle,<br />

chest and abdominal pains, vomiting<br />

and diarrhoea, adding that, severe<br />

cases may progress to show<br />

facial swelling, and bleeding, while<br />

shock, seizures, disorientation, as<br />

well as coma may be seen in the<br />

late stages.<br />

“About 80% of Lassa Fever infections<br />

are mild or asymptomatic,”<br />

he said and that rodents<br />

such as rats served as reservoirs<br />

of the virus.<br />

He advised the public to maintain<br />

good home, and community<br />

hygiene to prevent the breeding of<br />

rodents that may infect their food<br />

and water with the virus, stay free<br />

from rats and block all their hideouts.<br />

“We must ensure proper<br />

storage of grains and foodstuffs,<br />

dispose proper disposal<br />

of garbage, cook<br />

all foods thoroughly,<br />

keep cats to deter<br />

rats and avoid contacts<br />

with blood<br />

and body fluids<br />

whilst caring for<br />

sick persons,” he<br />

said.<br />

Dr Bekoe also<br />

called for regular<br />

hand washing with<br />

soap under running<br />

water, report all forms of<br />

fevers immediately to the closest<br />

•Rodents such as rats are<br />

served as reservoirs of the<br />

virus<br />

health<br />

facilities<br />

for diagnoses,<br />

and<br />

undergo<br />

treatment<br />

with the<br />

appropriate<br />

medication.<br />

He said<br />

although<br />

Ghana has<br />

not yet<br />

recorded<br />

any case, it<br />

was important<br />

to<br />

ensure<br />

alertness<br />

of the disease<br />

and<br />

all Acute<br />

Haemorrhagic<br />

Fevers in general, enhance<br />

surveillance at all ports of entry,<br />

and encourage all Regional, District<br />

and Teaching Hospitals, including<br />

the Mission and Private<br />

Facilities, to alert their staff, and<br />

further initiate processes to create<br />

public awareness.<br />

Presently the Ministry of<br />

Health of Nigeria, has confirmed<br />

and subsequently declared Lassa<br />

fever outbreak which, has affected<br />

about 18 States with over 300<br />

recorded cases and 31 deaths.<br />

•Dr Franklin Asiedu Bekoe<br />

The outbreak, he explained,<br />

has been on-going for the past six<br />

weeks and has necessitated urgent<br />

spontaneous national response actions<br />

among all neighbouring<br />

countries, adding that, Lassa fever<br />

outbreak has been recurrent in<br />

Nigeria and the current outbreak<br />

has affected health workers in<br />

some states, he said.<br />

Among other recommendations<br />

by the GHS, he said, suspected<br />

cases must be treated in<br />

isolation, and advised health<br />

workers to strictly adhere to regular<br />

Infection Prevention and Control<br />

measures to prevent and<br />

protect persons against possible<br />

nosocomial transmission.<br />

He urged all health workers to<br />

enhance surveillance, manage suspected<br />

cases in specific isolation<br />

conditions, and send safely packaged<br />

blood samples from suspected<br />

cases to the Noguchi<br />

Memorial Institute for Medical<br />

Research for further laboratory<br />

investigations.<br />

He urged all national, regional<br />

and district facilities to update<br />

their preparedness and response<br />

plans for Lassa fever and VHF in<br />

general, sensitize the respective<br />

staff and create the necessary<br />

public awareness.<br />

Ghana, Cuba join forces to fight malaria, other diseases<br />

THE VICE President Dr Mahamudu<br />

Bawumia has reiterated government’s<br />

desire to eradicate malaria and other<br />

mosquito-transmitted diseases.<br />

According to him, the<br />

government will, therefore, renew discussions<br />

with the Cuba government<br />

for the establishment of a Biolarvicide<br />

factory at Savelugu in the Northern<br />

Region.<br />

This is for the control of pests<br />

and mosquito-transmitted diseases to<br />

serve the country and the West<br />

African sub-region.<br />

Dr Bawumia made the pledge<br />

when he met a high powered Cuban<br />

delegation, led Mercedes Lopez Acea,<br />

Vice President of the Council of<br />

State of Cuba and Ana Teresita Gonzalez,<br />

Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister<br />

of Cuba at the Flagstaff House,<br />

Monday.<br />

In Africa, malaria kills more people<br />

on the continent with a child<br />

dying every 30 seconds from the<br />

scourge. Furthermore, the disease accounts<br />

for around 40% of public<br />

health expenditure in endemic countries.<br />

It accounts for a significant number<br />

of deaths in Ghana and costs<br />

Africa billions of dollars in lost productivity.<br />

“The malaria programme in Savelugu<br />

in Northern Ghana is an area that<br />

Ghana wants to see the proposals<br />

come to fruition for the malaria control<br />

programme.<br />

"Deaths from malaria are avoidable,<br />

and we want this facility to help<br />

eradicate it not just in Ghana but the<br />

whole of West Africa, if not the entire<br />

continent,” Dr Bawumia stated.<br />

Recalling the longstanding relations<br />

between the two countries,<br />

which began in 1959, the Vice President<br />

underscored Ghana’s appreciation<br />

of Cuba’s support for various<br />

sectors of Ghanaian society.<br />

This includes the efforts of the<br />

Cuban Medical Brigade Assistance<br />

Programme, which has doctors and<br />

other health personnel working in<br />

very remote areas in Ghana.<br />

Over 3,000 Ghanaian students<br />

have also benefitted from training in<br />

Cuba, many of whom have since<br />

been contributing their quota to national<br />

development.<br />

The Dr Bawumia who is also<br />

Head of Ghana’s Economic Management<br />

team welcomed interest expressed<br />

by the Cuban business<br />

community in adding value to<br />

Ghana’s cocoa.<br />

“We know that the Cuban business<br />

community has expressed an interest<br />

in Ghana’s cocoa beans. We<br />

believe that if Ghana and Cuba cooperate,<br />

we can add value to Ghana’s<br />

cocoa sector.”<br />

Mrs Mercedes Lopez Acea commended<br />

Ghana’s leading role in ensuring<br />

peace and stability in the West<br />

Africa subregion and called on officials<br />

of the two countries to expand<br />

and deepen areas of cooperation for<br />

mutual benefit.<br />

“We are proud that we have<br />

trained over 3000 Ghanaian students,<br />

who are now playing key roles in<br />

Ghana’s development.<br />

"We are also very proud of the<br />

achievements of the Cuban Medical<br />

Brigade, some of who have been in<br />

Ghana for over 15 years. I believe we<br />

can explore other areas of mutual<br />

benefit,” Mrs Lopez Acea indicated.<br />

The delegation was accompanied<br />

by the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister,<br />

Mohammad Habibu Tijani and<br />

Ambassador to Cuba, Napoleon Abdulai.


spread_Feb <strong>14</strong> 2018.qxp_SHOWBIZ TEMP 2/13/18 8:42 PM Page 1<br />

News<br />

DAILY HERITAGE, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY <strong>14</strong>, 2018<br />

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

I’ll be sensible, but<br />

will deal with looters<br />

– Amidu<br />

177 teachers posted to<br />

Asuogyaman undergo orientation<br />

BY KENT MENSAH<br />

THE SPECIAL Prosecutor nominee<br />

Mr Martin Amidu has served notice<br />

he will discharge his responsibilities<br />

“reasonably” devoid of witchhunting.<br />

Appearing before the<br />

Appointments Committee of<br />

Parliament on Tuesday, <strong>February</strong> 13,<br />

2018, Mr Amidu emphasised he will<br />

pursue cases in the nation’s interest<br />

and will create room for those who<br />

are willing to return looted funds if<br />

they satisfy certain conditions.<br />

“The office will be reasonable and<br />

act in the nation’s interests. If a<br />

person agrees to get the money back,<br />

ensuring they do that is better than<br />

imprisoning them and feeding them<br />

with state funds until they grow old<br />

and are pardoned,” the former<br />

Deputy Attorney general said.<br />

He repeated: “If a person agrees<br />

to pay back the money they have<br />

misappropriated, ensuring they do<br />

that is better than imprisoning them<br />

and feeding them with state funds<br />

until they grow old and are pardoned.<br />

“Those who think they’ve hidden<br />

some [funds] abroad shouldn’t<br />

approve me because if they do, I will<br />

find it. I have done it before and<br />

under my office, it will be done<br />

again.”<br />

•Martin Amidu<br />

Mr Amidu promised to be<br />

apolitical in executing his duties.<br />

“Prosecutors would not allow<br />

others to play politics with them. The<br />

duty of the prosecutor is to serve the<br />

people by making sure crime is<br />

reduced.<br />

“I can assure everybody that<br />

politics will not influence my job,<br />

people who fall foul will be dealt with<br />

no matter where they come from,”<br />

the Citizen Vigilante served notice.<br />

About Martin Amidu<br />

Martin A. B. K. Amidu was the<br />

Attorney-General and Minister for<br />

Justice from January 2011 till January<br />

2012 under the late President John<br />

Evans Atta-Mills.<br />

Amidu, a member of the NDC,<br />

served as the Deputy Attorney-<br />

General for about the last four years<br />

of the Provisional National Defence<br />

Council military government.<br />

After civilian rule was established<br />

in the Fourth Republic in January<br />

1993, he continued to serve in the<br />

government of Jerry Rawlings as<br />

Deputy Attorney-General. This he<br />

did for both terms lasting eight years<br />

until January 2001.<br />

In the December 2000 presidential<br />

elections, he stood as the running<br />

mate of John Atta Mills. They both,<br />

however, lost to President John<br />

Kufuor that year.<br />

BY BARBARA AKUFFO ASANTE, GNA<br />

THE GHANA Education<br />

Service has organised a<br />

day’s orientation session<br />

for 177 fresh teachers<br />

posted to the<br />

Asuogyaman District at<br />

Akrade, with a call to them to work<br />

hard and to show total commitment to<br />

the job.<br />

Ms. Mavis Yirenkyi, the District<br />

Education Director, reminded them to<br />

make effective use of the contact<br />

hours and warned against absenteeism<br />

and laziness.<br />

She underlined the need to make<br />

their teaching lively - classroom<br />

become less intimidating to the school<br />

children.<br />

They were taken through teaching<br />

methods, the use of teaching<br />

materials, code of conduct of the<br />

BECE candidates to be served a hot meal daily<br />

BY KOJO ANSAH<br />

THE BASIC Education Certificate<br />

Examination (BECE) candidates in<br />

the Asuogyaman constituency of the<br />

Eastern Region will be served one<br />

hot meal daily throughout the<br />

examination period.<br />

A total of 1,765 candidates are<br />

expected to write this year.<br />

It is reported that many<br />

candidates often write the<br />

examination on empty stomachs due<br />

to the inability of parents to provide<br />

money for food.<br />

Performances of BECE<br />

candidates in the Asuogyaman<br />

District over the years have not been<br />

encouraging.<br />

For instance, in the 2015/2016<br />

academic year, out of the 1,583<br />

candidates who sat for the<br />

examination, 863 passed<br />

mathematics while 123 passed<br />

English. Also, 994 out of the total<br />

candidates passed science.<br />

The assist the candidates,<br />

the Member of Parliament for<br />

Asuogyaman, Mr Thomas Ampem<br />

Nyarko, as part of several initiatives<br />

to improve performance of BECE<br />

candidates in the District, announced<br />

that he would provide free lunch for<br />

all 1,765 BECE candidates this year<br />

during the exams aside the provision<br />

of supportive educational materials<br />

such as mathematical sets donated to<br />

the candidates annually.<br />

“We want the BECE candidates<br />

to prepare very well so we are going<br />

•Cross-section of the teachers at the orientation<br />

to organise one mock exams dubbed<br />

‘MP's Mock Exams’ for all our<br />

BECE candidates, I want the BECE<br />

this year to have best record in<br />

Asuogyaman. Additionally, I have<br />

also committed that every BECE<br />

candidate be provided with one hot<br />

meal each of the five days that they<br />

would be writing their exams.”<br />

The MP said this when he<br />

commissioned a four-unit<br />

kindergarten classroom block with<br />

office, storeroom and a toilet facility<br />

for the EP kindergarten school at<br />

South Senchi in the Asuogyaman<br />

District.<br />

teaching profession and the qualities<br />

of a teacher.<br />

Ms. Yirenkyi advised that they<br />

carried themselves with dignity to<br />

serve as good example not only to the<br />

children they were teaching but other<br />

people in the communities.<br />

She spoke of incentive packages<br />

for those, who had accepted to teach<br />

in hard-to-reach rural schools in the<br />

area including study leave with pay<br />

after serving for three years.<br />

Mr. Danial Afadu, the Eastern<br />

Regional Secretary of the Ghana<br />

National Association of Teachers<br />

urged them to plan their lives well and<br />

to take interest in investment and<br />

other supportive programmes of the<br />

association.<br />

He mentioned among these the<br />

habitat loan - meant to help teachers<br />

to have their own residential<br />

accommodation and the teachers’ fund<br />

to assist them to start businesses.<br />

•The MP for Asuogyaman, Mr Thomas Ampem Nyarko has pledged to provide food for 1,765 BECE candidates this year<br />

The project was jointly funded by<br />

the MP for Asuogyaman and Pencils<br />

of Promise, a Non- Governmental<br />

International Organisation. The<br />

project is expected to increase<br />

enrolment at the early childhood<br />

education.<br />

Parl summons<br />

VIP over fatal<br />

accidents<br />

BY KOBINA WELSING<br />

THE PARLIAMENTARY<br />

Select Committee on Roads<br />

and Transport is expected to<br />

meet Management of Private<br />

Transport Operator VIP over<br />

the recent involvement of their<br />

fleet in several road crashes.<br />

Over 10 people died and 30<br />

people were injured after a VIP<br />

bus crashed at Nsawam in the<br />

Eastern Region on Thursday<br />

January 25.<br />

The most recent incident is<br />

the one that claimed the life of<br />

dancehall sensation Ebony<br />

Reigns and two others on the<br />

Sunyani-Kumasi road last<br />

Friday.<br />

Starr News has gathered<br />

that the Committee is<br />

demanding a brief of safety<br />

precautions and measures taken<br />

by the transport company.<br />

VIP is a private transport<br />

operator in the country with<br />

branches across the country.<br />

Over 10 people<br />

died and 30<br />

people were<br />

injured after a<br />

VIP bus crashed<br />

at Nsawam in<br />

the Eastern<br />

Region on<br />

Thursday<br />

January 25.


Inside <strong>February</strong> <strong>14</strong>, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 2/13/18 8:42 PM Page 7<br />

13TH<br />

FEBRUARY<br />

2018<br />

TUESDAY<br />

CURRENCY PARIS CODE BUYING SELLING<br />

US Dollar USDGHS 4.3600 4.5000<br />

RATES Pound Sterling GBPGHS<br />

6.0500<br />

6.2000<br />

Euro<br />

GBPGHS<br />

5.3800<br />

5.5500<br />

10<br />

DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY <strong>14</strong>, 2018<br />

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

TEGLU threatens demo over influx of pirated textiles<br />

BY MOHAMMED AWAL<br />

THE TEXTILE, Garment and<br />

Leather Employees Union<br />

(TEGLU) is demanding that the<br />

cost of utilities be slashed by 50<br />

percent.<br />

It is also demanding the removal<br />

of VAT on locally produced<br />

textile prints to save local<br />

textile manufacturing companies<br />

from collapse.<br />

According to TEGLU, local<br />

textile manufacturing companies<br />

have sent home about 90 percent<br />

of their workers due to the influx<br />

of pirated wax prints, high taxes<br />

and statutory levies as well as high<br />

cost of raw materials and utilities.<br />

General Secretary of TEGLU,<br />

Abraham Koomson, told Starr<br />

Business that textile workers will<br />

soon hit the streets if government<br />

does not reconstitute a taskforce<br />

to enable it visit point of sales<br />

and make arrests.<br />

“As we speak the taskforce is<br />

only restricting itself to the entry<br />

points. And that is not working.<br />

The pirated wax prints are all over<br />

and the industry is collapsing.<br />

Some of the companies have not<br />

paid their workers for November,<br />

December and January. The situation<br />

is terrible. So we are preparing<br />

to hit the streets in the next<br />

few weeks if nothing changes,” he<br />

said.<br />

Mr Koomson also predicted<br />

that the tax stamps being introduced<br />

by the Ghana Revenue Authority<br />

to check the dumping of<br />

products in the markets will fail<br />

unless the implementation is devoid<br />

of experimentation.<br />

With a workforce of about<br />

27,000 in the 1970s the local textile<br />

industry is now employing<br />

about 3,000 people due to several<br />

debilitating factors.<br />

“As we speak the taskforce is only<br />

restricting itself to the entry points.<br />

And that is not working. The pirated<br />

wax prints are all over and the industry<br />

is collapsing. Some of the<br />

companies have not paid their workers<br />

for November, December and<br />

January. The situation is terrible. So<br />

we are preparing to hit the streets in<br />

the next few weeks if nothing<br />

changes,” he said.<br />

Utility service providers demand<br />

200% increase in tariffs<br />

UTILITY SERV-<br />

ICE providers in<br />

the country are<br />

demanding an upward<br />

adjustment<br />

in their tariff, despite<br />

assurances given by the President<br />

to reduce electricity tariff.<br />

The utility companies, who are<br />

currently meeting the Public Utility<br />

Regulatory Commission (PURC) in<br />

a Joint Consultative forum in<br />

Accra, want tariffs increased by<br />

about 200 percent.<br />

Speaking to Citi Business News,<br />

the Chairman of the Technical<br />

Committee of the PURC, Ishmael<br />

Egyekumhene, said the situation<br />

needs careful assessment as government<br />

has already promised a reduction<br />

in electricity tariff.<br />

“All of them are asking for significant<br />

increases in the tariffs.<br />

That even makes our work more<br />

difficult because already the Executive<br />

[President] has actually gone<br />

ahead to announce some tariff reduction.<br />

I’m sure you just listened<br />

to the NEDCo presentation; the<br />

figure they are asking for translates<br />

to about 200% increases in<br />

what was approved for them in<br />

2015.<br />

“So all of them are pointing<br />

upwards, they are asking for<br />

more money, but it’s our responsibility<br />

to start interrogating all<br />

the cost centres because at the<br />

end of the day, they have what<br />

they call, revenue requirements<br />

which goes into how much<br />

money they need to be able to<br />

run the systems.”<br />

Mr Egyekumhene said cost is<br />

a major factor in considering the<br />

total revenue requirements.<br />

“We are looking critically at<br />

the cost right from generation<br />

to transmission and distribution.<br />

If we are only to base the analysis<br />

on exchange rate and inflation,<br />

there is every justification<br />

for the tariffs to go up,” he<br />

added.<br />

Gov’t reduces electricity tariff<br />

by <strong>14</strong>% for non-residential<br />

users<br />

President Nana Addo<br />

“So all of them are<br />

pointing upwards, they<br />

are asking for more<br />

money, but it’s our responsibility<br />

to start interrogating<br />

all the cost<br />

centres because at the<br />

end of the day, they<br />

have what they call,<br />

revenue requirements<br />

which goes into how<br />

much money they<br />

need to be able to run<br />

the systems.”<br />

Dankwa Akufo-Addo had on<br />

January 15, 2018, announced<br />

an average of <strong>14</strong>% reduction<br />

in electricity tariffs for nonresidential<br />

users in the country<br />

with effect from January<br />

2018.<br />

“From January this year,<br />

the non-residential tariff<br />

rate, which is the rate which<br />

includes all of you here, is<br />

being reduced by an average<br />

of <strong>14</strong>%. For barbers, it is<br />

being reduced by 18%; for<br />

hairdressers and beauticians,<br />

15.7%, and for tailors, 9.8%,”<br />

he added.<br />

Government had earlier<br />

recommended to the Public<br />

Utilities Regulatory Commission<br />

(PURC) to reduce electricity<br />

tariffs in the country.<br />

It promised to reduce<br />

electricity tariffs by between<br />

13 and 21 percent for residential<br />

consumers and industry<br />

respectively.<br />

The PURC’s meeting with<br />

stakeholders in the sector<br />

was to among other things negotiate<br />

and determine a reduction in<br />

tariffs for businesses.<br />

Govt can’t recommend<br />

reduction in power tariffs<br />

-Wereko-Brobby<br />

Former Chief Executive Officer<br />

of the Volta River Authority<br />

(VRA), Dr Charles Wereko-<br />

Brobby, was one of the people<br />

who accused government of trying<br />

to usurp the mandate of the Public<br />

Utilities Regulatory Commission,<br />

by announcing a reduction in electricity<br />

tariffs.<br />

According to him, government<br />

could make proposals to the regulatory<br />

body about a possible reduction<br />

in the tariffs, citing possible<br />

changes in the cost of production.<br />

He added however that, the<br />

final say on any adjustment of the<br />

tariffs should come from the<br />

PURC devoid of any pressure<br />

from the government.


Inside <strong>February</strong> <strong>14</strong>, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 2/13/18 8:42 PM Page 8<br />

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY <strong>14</strong>, 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 />

How to prevent the President's<br />

sanitation wish list from<br />

becoming slogans - IMANI<br />

THE PRESIDENT<br />

made two compelling<br />

statements<br />

on sanitation in<br />

his State of the<br />

Nation Address<br />

last week. These were;<br />

1. “Urgent attention will be<br />

given to clearing of rubbish all<br />

around the country. Apart from<br />

the systematic efforts being<br />

made to resolve the legacy of inherited<br />

debts in the sector, government<br />

will spend an amount of<br />

GH¢ 200 million to address the<br />

issue of sanitation.”<br />

2. “Government is working<br />

with various private sector authorities<br />

to tackle this major challenge<br />

with strategies that are<br />

intended to effect a change in<br />

our attitudes towards waste and<br />

filth as well as improve dramatically<br />

our methods of waste management.<br />

This will be<br />

complemented by the strict enforcement<br />

of sanitation rules<br />

and regulations.”<br />

Clearly, at the core of the sanitation<br />

problem is a drive to understand<br />

the most basic problem,<br />

which is refuse disposal. Domestic<br />

and commercial entities in<br />

Ghana’s main urban enclaves do<br />

not have enough repositories to<br />

dispose refuse, leaving a huge<br />

problem in the hands of the associated<br />

municipal and district<br />

authorities. Tackling the ability to<br />

dispose of rubbish easily is very<br />

key to ensuring at the last mile,<br />

assured proactive sanitation activity,<br />

making it easier to enforce<br />

bye-laws created to ensure clean<br />

cities and towns.<br />

It is interesting to note that an<br />

amendment of the Customs and<br />

Excise Act in 2013 passed by<br />

Parliament determined that an<br />

excise duty of 10% of the exfactory<br />

price on imported plastic<br />

and plastic products should be<br />

levied. The same law indicates<br />

that “not less than 50% of the<br />

revenue accruing under this tariff<br />

should be paid into a fund designated<br />

as the “Plastic Waste Recycling<br />

Fund”. By our records, an<br />

estimated amount of GH¢ 265m<br />

has been realised since the introduction<br />

of the excise duty and<br />

had the potential of providing us<br />

950,000 waste bins, which would<br />

have reached every household<br />

had previous Politicians not entertained<br />

funny ideas with the<br />

money.<br />

The issue that the Ghanaian<br />

public and all stakeholders<br />

should interrogate, as part of<br />

solving the sanitation problem is,<br />

why this ‘Plastic Waste Recycling<br />

Fund (PWRF)’ has not been accounted<br />

for in the 4 years since<br />

the passing of this law, and why<br />

it has not been utilized for activities<br />

such as last mile domestic<br />

and commercial refuse disposal,<br />

while the most glaring problems<br />

have been the inability to control<br />

and regulate effectively that aspect<br />

of activity to any level of<br />

It is interesting to note that an amendment of the Customs<br />

and Excise Act in 2013 passed by Parliament determined that<br />

an excise duty of 10% of the ex-factory price on imported<br />

plastic and plastic products should be levied. The same law<br />

indicates that “not less than 50% of the revenue accruing<br />

under this tariff should be paid into a fund designated as the<br />

“Plastic Waste Recycling Fund”.<br />

satisfaction?<br />

Stakeholders should be able to<br />

identify this last mile problem of<br />

municipal waste disposal to determine<br />

whether the fund can be<br />

used to help resolve this last mile<br />

problem, which the President<br />

clearly identified as one of the<br />

prime sanitation challenges.<br />

The right equipment and solutions<br />

that will justify the utilization<br />

of these funds should be the<br />

focal point of stakeholder discussion<br />

as well as a call to the<br />

government to release funds<br />

from the PWRF to effectively<br />

provide the necessary infrastructure<br />

for refuse collection will go<br />

a long way to create the environment<br />

that shifts people to the<br />

right attitudinal approach to refuse<br />

collection and disposal with<br />

the help of enforceable statutes<br />

and bye-laws.<br />

Several successive initiatives<br />

by previous governments, like<br />

Sanitation Saturdays, have not<br />

had the right level of success due<br />

to these basic limitations and the<br />

fact that they do not proactively<br />

attack the problems.<br />

It is good news that the President<br />

has voted GH¢ 200 million<br />

for sanitation related activity,<br />

possibly partially funded from<br />

the Plastic Waste Recycling<br />

Fund. However, this amount is<br />

not enough as private players will<br />

also need to chip and be allowed<br />

to responsibly manage waste at<br />

the last mile else we are at risk of<br />

not achieving the right objectives<br />

with the President's wish list.<br />

In support of the President's<br />

sanitation resolve, IMANI is<br />

contributing to shaping the discussion<br />

on last mile sanitation in<br />

mid-March. We will be showcasing<br />

the problem and outlining<br />

solutions with open floor for<br />

stakeholders to participate in.<br />

This will be preceded by an inaugural<br />

fellowship lecture by our<br />

new fellow, Mr Ato Coleman, on<br />

the topic ‘Has Ghana’s Sanitation<br />

Policy and Strategy Failed?<br />

Whither forward?’<br />

The discussion will be moderated<br />

by IMANI's Senior Vice-<br />

President, Kofi Bentil.<br />

Mr. Ato Coleman has held<br />

senior leadership roles including<br />

Country Director, Plan International<br />

Sierra Leone; Senior Director<br />

of Operations for World<br />

Vision International for West<br />

and Central Africa where as<br />

deputy to the Regional Vice<br />

President. In 2016, he was<br />

awarded the International Non<br />

Governmental Organisation<br />

leader of the year by the Sierra<br />

Leone Council of Chief Executive<br />

Os for the leadership and excellence<br />

he displayed during the<br />

Ebola crisis in that country.<br />

Source: IMANI Ghana<br />

It is good news that<br />

the President has<br />

voted GH¢ 200 million<br />

for sanitation<br />

related activity,<br />

possibly partially<br />

funded from the<br />

Plastic Waste Recycling<br />

Fund. However,<br />

this amount is<br />

not enough as private<br />

players will<br />

also need to chip<br />

and be allowed to<br />

responsibly manage<br />

waste at the<br />

last mile else we<br />

are at risk of not<br />

achieving the right<br />

objectives with the<br />

President's wish<br />

list.


Inside <strong>February</strong> <strong>14</strong>, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 2/13/18 8:42 PM Page 9<br />

12<br />

DAILY<br />

Politics<br />

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY <strong>14</strong>, 2018<br />

Africa needs dynamic leaders – CPP<br />

BY KENT MENSAH<br />

THE CONVEN-<br />

TION People’s<br />

Party (CPP) has said<br />

Africa needs dynamic<br />

and not<br />

speech-making leaders.<br />

The chairman of the CPP,<br />

Prof. Edmund Delle has, therefore,<br />

called on African governments<br />

to roll their sleeves, get<br />

down to business, for which they<br />

were voted into power.<br />

“Most African governments<br />

have transformed leadership into<br />

speech-making platforms, organising<br />

and attending conferences<br />

while the real work for the socialeconomic<br />

development remains<br />

undone.<br />

“We need a paradigm shift in<br />

the African governance architecture,<br />

where leadership rolls up<br />

their sleeves and descend from<br />

their ivory towers and join the<br />

masses for rapid transformation,”<br />

Prof. Delle told the Ghana News<br />

Agency.<br />

Prof Delle, who is also the<br />

leader of the CPP, noted that<br />

most African governments have<br />

reduced governance into euphoria<br />

and ceremonial mechanism with<br />

show of opulence and political<br />

authority to the disadvantage of<br />

the ordinary citizen.<br />

The CPP Chairman therefore<br />

•Prof Edmund Delle, CPP national chairman<br />

called on civil society actors, traditional<br />

and religious leaders, think<br />

tanks, the media as well as political<br />

parties, especially opposition party<br />

establishment to constantly play<br />

active watchdog roles in the interest<br />

of the people.<br />

He said there was the urgent<br />

need for African leadership to engage<br />

in strategic thinking and<br />

planning to prepare the population<br />

for emerging and future challenges.<br />

The CPP Chairman said in<br />

contemporary complex societies,<br />

institutions that made the population<br />

survive and flourish needed<br />

proper leadership for their effective<br />

maintenance and urged<br />

African leaders to be creative and<br />

visionary as the growth and development<br />

of a nation depended on<br />

the quality of the leaders at any<br />

particular point in time.<br />

“Without the right kind of<br />

leadership, there exist only chaos,<br />

confusion and frustration”.<br />

The CPP Chairman noted that<br />

the current political and economic<br />

problems besetting the African<br />

continent stemmed from the leadership<br />

crisis experienced over the<br />

past decades.<br />

“Signs of leadership crisis are<br />

alarming and pervasive. There is a<br />

widespread loss of faith in our<br />

major institutions such as the judiciary<br />

and law enforcement agencies<br />

generally.<br />

“There is an alarming breakdown<br />

of traditional values and<br />

discipline; corruption is more or<br />

less institutionalised and no serious<br />

attempts are being made to<br />

fight it, we need an urgent paradigm<br />

shift to save the continent,”<br />

Prof Delle noted.<br />

Prof Delle called on current<br />

African Governments to rise up<br />

to the changing trend in global<br />

governance, offer pragmatic solutions<br />

to numerous problems facing<br />

the continent with homegrown<br />

solutions.<br />

On the CPP’s strategy for reorganisation,<br />

Prof Delle said the<br />

party would rollout grass-root reengineering<br />

process through the<br />

constituencies to the regional and<br />

national levels to consolidate,<br />

deepen and project the party as a<br />

force in Ghanaian political sphere.<br />

Prof Delle noted that CPP<br />

would also create a platform to<br />

co-operate with other political<br />

parties and movements, which<br />

commit themselves to similar<br />

ideals, and strengthen Ghana’s<br />

democratic governance through<br />

active participation in governance<br />

as a prudent opposition party.<br />

“There is an alarming<br />

breakdown of<br />

traditional values<br />

and discipline; corruption<br />

is more or<br />

less institutionalised<br />

and no serious attempts<br />

are being<br />

made to fight it, we<br />

need an urgent paradigm<br />

shift to save<br />

the continent,” Prof<br />

Delle noted.<br />

Martin Amidu: I want to stop leakages and corruption<br />

BY KOBINA WELSING<br />

THE SPECIAL Prosecutor nominee,<br />

Mr Martin A. B. K Amidu<br />

has stated that he accepted the<br />

President’s offer because he wants<br />

to stop the leakages and corruption<br />

that had bedeviled the country<br />

since constitutional rule.<br />

Addressing Parliament’s Appointment’s<br />

Committee yesterday,<br />

the anti-corruption campaigner<br />

stated that the country must be<br />

stabilised by protecting the national<br />

purse and ensuring that the<br />

citizens benefit immensely from<br />

the nation’s natural resources.<br />

“It’s important that this country<br />

is stabilised to make sure that<br />

no one gets the excuse to stage a<br />

coup. This can be done when we<br />

protect the national purse,” Mr<br />

Amidu said.<br />

The vetting of Mr Amidu was<br />

in limbo after a former deputy Attorney<br />

General, Dr Ayine filed a<br />

suit at the Supreme Court on<br />

Monday arguing that the nominee<br />

is too old to hold the position.<br />

He wants the apex court of the<br />

land to annul the appointment because<br />

“…by reason of his age, (66<br />

years), Mr Martin Alamisi Burns<br />

Kaiser Amidu is not qualified or<br />

eligible to be approved by Parliament<br />

as the Special Prosecutor<br />

under Section 13(3) of the Office<br />

of the Special Prosecutor Act,<br />

2018 (Act 959).”<br />

Meanwhile, the First Deputy<br />

Speaker of Parliament, Mr Joe<br />

Osei Owusu has stated that the<br />

age of Amidu cannot disqualify<br />

him from becoming the Special<br />

Prosecutor.<br />

About Martin Amidu<br />

Mr Amidu was the Attorney-<br />

General and Minister for Justice<br />

from January 2011 till January<br />

2012 under the late President John<br />

Evans Atta-Mills.<br />

Amidu, a member of the National<br />

Democratic Congress,<br />

•Martin Amidu, Special Prosecutor nominee<br />

served as the Deputy Attorney-<br />

General for about the last four<br />

years of the Provisional National<br />

Defence Council military government.<br />

After civilian rule was established<br />

in the Fourth Republic in<br />

January 1993, he continued to<br />

serve in the government of Jerry<br />

John Rawlings as Deputy Attorney-General.<br />

This he did for both<br />

terms lasting eight years until January<br />

2001.<br />

In the December 2000 presidential<br />

elections, he stood as the<br />

running mate of John Atta Mills.<br />

They both, however, lost to President<br />

John Kufuor that year.


13<br />

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY <strong>14</strong>, 2018<br />

BY ABIGAIL ASARE<br />

Ebony was never<br />

a lesbian – Bullet<br />

•Vanessa Gyan<br />

Vanessa is only Ghanaian for<br />

Women4Africa Awards 2018<br />

BY ERICA ARTHUR<br />

RADIO AND TV<br />

presenter Vanessa<br />

Gyan is the only<br />

Ghanaian nominated<br />

in this year’s<br />

Women4Africa<br />

Awards in the United Kingdom.<br />

The presenter, who is the<br />

only daughter of the late Kiki<br />

Gyan of Osibisa fame and the<br />

host of Live from the Capital on<br />

Live 91.9FM, was nominated in<br />

the ‘Woman in Media’ category.The<br />

7th edition of the annual<br />

awards themed ‘The Royal<br />

Edition’ is scheduled for Saturday<br />

May 19, 2018 in Kensington,<br />

London.<br />

Speaking to the DAILY<br />

HERITAGE, Ms Gyan said<br />

she was nominated due to her<br />

hard work in the media industry<br />

in both Ghana and the international<br />

scene. She also expressed<br />

her excitement about the nomination<br />

and especially being the<br />

only Ghanaian given the recognition.<br />

“I am really excited because<br />

due to the global recognition,<br />

not just of Vanessa Gyan but<br />

my efforts in the Industry with<br />

‘The Sincerely Vee Show’ and<br />

‘The Sincerely Vee Foundation.’<br />

With each I continue to raise<br />

awareness to greater causes such<br />

as maternal health, while giving<br />

individuals the platform to inspire<br />

through their own journey.”<br />

Ms Gyan also encouraged the<br />

younger generation to always be<br />

themselves, she said “Aspire to<br />

only be you, you can be inspired<br />

by others. Be inspired by<br />

Vanessa Gyan but don’t aspire to<br />

be the next Vanessa. Be confident,<br />

bold and above all be authentic<br />

as you can.Always use<br />

the voice you have and work<br />

hard.”<br />

Sincerely Vee Foundation is<br />

an extension of ‘The Sincerely,<br />

Vee’ show and founded by<br />

Radio and TV Host, Vanessa<br />

Gyan. It aims to raise awareness<br />

and make a difference/impact<br />

by dedicating their time on one<br />

specific need that the organisation<br />

feels lacks attention.<br />

Women4africa is a United<br />

Kingdom registered organisation<br />

focused on celebrating and empowering<br />

Africa and its women<br />

by supporting and celebrating<br />

their role in their communities<br />

via conferences, supporting education<br />

and Awarding prestigious<br />

awards, recognitions and special<br />

honours on such women identified<br />

and nominated by the public.<br />

It was birthed from a 20-year<br />

desire and passion to see women<br />

honoured and appreciated in a<br />

celebratory way. Overtime,<br />

African women have often been<br />

portrayed as victims of poverty,<br />

violence, and conflict, amongst<br />

other disasters.<br />

Beyond advocating and engaging<br />

them to fight against<br />

these negativities, it is equally<br />

important to highlight that<br />

African women are also ‘agents<br />

of positive change’ in their communities.<br />

Africa has over 53 countries<br />

and a large number of women<br />

who are unique and different in<br />

their own individual ways.<br />

Women of all walks of life tend<br />

to face a lot of challenges in<br />

today’s society.<br />

However, many African<br />

women have been great examples<br />

of success worldwide promoting<br />

peace in<br />

conflict-inflicted areas and contributing<br />

to the increased resources<br />

in their nations.<br />

MANAGER OF the late Ebony, Bullet, on Okay<br />

FM disclosed that late dancehall artiste Ebony<br />

Reigns was never a lesbian.<br />

According to Bullet, the controversy surrounding<br />

the death of the late dancehall artiste<br />

Ebony Reigns has taken another twist with attention<br />

now being focused on her alleged Personal<br />

Assistant, Franklina Kuri.<br />

Reacting to the claim that Franklina Kuri’s intimacy<br />

with Ebony suggests they were lesbians,<br />

the manager of the talented artiste strongly debunked<br />

the rumours saying it must be treated<br />

with the contempt that it deserves.<br />

The Chief Executive Officer of Ruff Town<br />

Records told Okay FM that contrary to widely<br />

held view that Ebony Reigns was bad girl the latter<br />

was rather very spiritual and generous person.<br />

“People don’t know how kind-hearted Ebony<br />

was. If you don’t know someone don’t judge the<br />

person. Ebony wasn’t a lesbian. When someone<br />

becomes popular, he or she is labelled with practices<br />

that are fictitious.”<br />

Bullet further cautioned that people should<br />

think about themselves and what will happen to<br />

them and stop talking ill of his artiste and himself.<br />

Priscilla Opoku-Kwarteng known in showbiz<br />

died in a car accident on 8th <strong>February</strong>, 2018<br />

when she was returning from Sunyani in the<br />

Brong Ahafo Region.<br />

According to the police report the Jeep she<br />

was travelling in crashed into a VIP bus on<br />

Thursday evening.<br />

Ebony was travelling with three other people,<br />

and two of them have also been confirmed dead.<br />

The two include a young lady, Ebony’s friend,<br />

and a military man.<br />

She produced hits songs like ‘Dancefloor,’<br />

‘Kupe,’ ‘Hustle,’ ‘Maame Hwe,’ ‘Date Ur Fada’<br />

and ‘Poison’<br />

•O.D.<br />

Super O. D. dead<br />

VETERAN<br />

GHANAIAN actor,<br />

Asonaba Kweku<br />

Darko, known in<br />

showbiz as Super<br />

O.D. is dead.<br />

According to the<br />

source, the actor,<br />

died early Tuesday<br />

morning at his Swedru<br />

residence in the<br />

Central Region.<br />

The actor, who<br />

has been off the<br />

screens for some<br />

years, had a frail<br />

health until his demise.<br />

Super OD, who<br />

had a blissful acting<br />

career spanning from<br />

the 1970s to the 90’s,<br />

was very popular for<br />

his roles in local<br />

Ghanaian series,<br />

Akan Drama on<br />

GTV.<br />

Acting with the<br />

Oppong Drama<br />

Group which later<br />

became known as<br />

Osofo Dadzie Group,<br />

Super O. D. gained<br />

nationwide popularity<br />

for his impeccable<br />

acting and rib cracking<br />

jokes.<br />

He died at age 84.<br />

•Ebony Reigns


WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY <strong>14</strong>, 2018<br />

Giovani nominated<br />

for Event MC of<br />

The Year Award<br />

Davido drops ‘Flora my flawa’<br />

MULTIPLE AWARDwinning<br />

Nigerian superstar,<br />

Davido has launched<br />

his personal 2018 account<br />

with this new love<br />

song titled ‘Flora My<br />

Flawa.’<br />

The track was produced<br />

by DMW’s inhouse<br />

hitmaker Fresh,<br />

and it comes short after<br />

DMW shared their first<br />

collaborative single for<br />

the year 2018 titled<br />

‘Mind’ featuring Davido,<br />

Mayorkun, Dremo and<br />

Peruzzi.<br />

CO-HOST<br />

OF Starr<br />

Drive<br />

Giovani<br />

Caleb has<br />

been<br />

nominated for event MC<br />

for 2017 in the Shine<br />

Awards for 2018.<br />

The versatile broadcaster<br />

made the cut for<br />

his dexterity when he emceed<br />

the Praises Reloaded<br />

2016.<br />

The nomination is a<br />

further endorsement for<br />

the father of one who<br />

has brought smiles and<br />

excitement to the city<br />

over the last two years on<br />

the Starr Drive.<br />

Other emcees competing<br />

for the top award are<br />

Kwamena Idann of<br />

Adom FM, Jeremie of<br />

Live and Timothy Bentum.<br />

Giovani and his cohost<br />

Berla Mundi take<br />

over the capital with the<br />

best radio drive between<br />

2pm and 5pm from Monday<br />

to Friday on Starr<br />

103.5FM.<br />

•Davido<br />

I was born<br />

broke —Wizkid<br />

NIGERIAN SINGER, Wizkid has revealed<br />

that he was born broke but will die<br />

very “wealthy”.<br />

The singer, who was listed as 7th Richest<br />

Artiste in Africa, made the statement<br />

via his Twitter account today. He wrote;<br />

“Born Broke, Die wealthy”.<br />

The talented singer, who is the last of<br />

six children, started singing at age 11; he<br />

sang in his church’s choir and released a<br />

seven track album entitled ‘Lil Prinz’.<br />

Wizkid’s first song featured one of<br />

Nigeria’s celebrated musical icon, OJB<br />

Jezreel. In 2006, Wizkid collaborated with<br />

Naeto C and Ikechukwu prior to rising to<br />

stardom.<br />

In 2009, Wizkid became a household<br />

name within Nigeria’s musical landscape;<br />

he was featured on M.I’s ‘Fast Money,<br />

Fast Cars’, and Kel’s “Turn by Turn’.<br />

Wizkid was featured on Banky W’s<br />

album, The W Experience, after getting<br />

signed to Empire Mates Entertainment.<br />

Wizkid began recording songs for his<br />

debut album, Superstar, several months<br />

prior to the June 9, 2011 release.<br />

Wizkid has won seven awards, including<br />

Ghana Music Awards (African Artist<br />

of the Year) in 2013, BET Awards 2012<br />

(Best International Act Africa) in 2012,<br />

Hip Hop World Awards 2012 (The Headies)<br />

in two nominations, Nigerian Entertainment<br />

Awards 2012, in two<br />

nominations, Mobo Awards (Best African<br />

Act) in 2011.<br />

Photo Of<br />

The Day<br />

DESCRIBED AS the 21st most<br />

influential young Ghanaian in the<br />

year 2016 by Avance Media Ghana<br />

and a leader of the new school by one<br />

of the biggest magazines in Africa,<br />

Berla Mundi, real name, Berlinda<br />

Addardey is a TV/Radio presenter/<br />

actress and event host.<br />

Berla Mundi’s beauty and elegance<br />

when she modeled in some stunning<br />

wedding gowns by celebrity<br />

designer/stylist, Sima Brew won her<br />

the Photo of the Day in our today’s<br />

edition of the DAILY HERITAGE.<br />

She looked overly gorgeous in<br />

different designs of wedding dresses<br />

made by same designer who is wellknown<br />

for styling a plethora of<br />

Ghanaian celebrities on the red<br />

carpet of various events and other<br />

engagements.<br />

•Wizkid


DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

Sports<br />

DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY <strong>14</strong>, 2018<br />

GFA, Great<br />

Olympics case<br />

adjourned to Feb. 21<br />

BY ANNETTE S. YEBOAH<br />

GHANA FOOT-<br />

BALL is set for<br />

some interesting<br />

times ahead after<br />

an Accra High<br />

Court adjourned<br />

to Wednesday, <strong>February</strong> 21, 2018 a<br />

case in which Accra Great<br />

Olympics have filed a suit against<br />

the Ghana Football Association regarding<br />

their demotion to the<br />

country's second-tier league.<br />

The two parties were represented<br />

by their lawyers yesterday.<br />

Great Olympics are challenging<br />

their relegation from the country's<br />

elite division claiming Bechem<br />

United fielded an unqualified<br />

player during their league match<br />

against Elmina Sharks last season.<br />

The club secured an injunction<br />

on the league originally billed to<br />

start last weekend.<br />

The latest standoff means the<br />

delay start of the league will continue<br />

unabated until a resolution is<br />

reached between the two parties.<br />

•Felix Annan<br />

Supporters should<br />

remain hopeful— Annan<br />

•Some players of Accra<br />

Great Olympics<br />

ASANTE KOTOKO’S<br />

safest pair of hands, Felix<br />

Annan has given the<br />

teeming supporters of the<br />

club some words of hope<br />

that Kotoko will still qualify<br />

to the next stage of<br />

the CAF Confederation<br />

Cup in spite of recording<br />

a slim victory at home<br />

against CARA Brazzaville.<br />

The former West<br />

Africa Football Academy<br />

goalkeeper believed that<br />

all is not lost yet, therefore<br />

supporters of the<br />

club should not give up<br />

but rather rally behind the<br />

team.<br />

The 2017 MTN FA<br />

Cup champions won 1-0<br />

against CARA Brazzaville<br />

in the first leg of the preliminary<br />

stage of CAF<br />

Confederation Cup at the<br />

Baba Yara Sports Stadium.<br />

Commenting on the<br />

possibility of qualifying at<br />

the expense of CARA<br />

Brazzaville in an interview,<br />

Annan said, “The<br />

supporters should not be<br />

discouraged by the results.<br />

We really played our<br />

hearts out but what was<br />

destined to occur happened.<br />

All is not lost yet,<br />

we have the men to battle<br />

for qualifications in the<br />

second leg.”<br />

The Porcupine Warriors<br />

is expected to leave<br />

for Congo on Wednesday<br />

to honour the second leg.<br />

Kotoko resumes training today<br />

ASANTE KOTOKO Sporting<br />

Club will commence their<br />

frantic preparations ahead of<br />

the intriguing second leg encounter<br />

with nine-times Congolese<br />

Champions Club<br />

Athletique Renaissance Aiglon<br />

(CARA) at Brazzaville in the<br />

preliminary round of CAF<br />

Confederation Cup at the<br />

Adako Jachie training complex<br />

this morning.<br />

Kotoko on Sunday pipped<br />

CARA by a lone goal at the<br />

Baba Yara Sports Stadium in<br />

the first leg of the Confederation<br />

Cup.<br />

Former AshantiGold<br />

striker Yakubu Mohammed<br />

came off the bench to convert<br />

a late penalty to hand his<br />

side a much-needed victory<br />

after three penalties have been<br />

unfathomably squandered by<br />

Sadick Adams, Amos Frimpong<br />

and Baba Mahama.<br />

The second leg fixture<br />

which is expected to be played<br />

on Wednesday, <strong>February</strong> 22,<br />

2018 will be a herculean hurdle<br />

for Kotoko to climb.<br />

Last Sunday, put up one of<br />

the breathtaking performance<br />

in recent times but failed to<br />

realise more goals to make the<br />

second leg a mere formality<br />

but English trainer, Steve Polack<br />

believes that, with the<br />

brilliant performance put up<br />

by his lads in the first leg,<br />

there is still hope that they<br />

will secure qualification<br />

against CARA Brazzaville in<br />

their own backyard if they are<br />

able to repeat that and even<br />

more.<br />

Today's recovery training<br />

session is expected to last for<br />

an hour after the players were<br />

given two-days off duty.<br />

•Kotoko line-up


Sports<br />

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />

<strong>14</strong>/02/2018<br />

WEDNESDAY. DAILY HERITAGE<br />

Email: info@dailyheritage.com.gh<br />

Facebook: facebook.com/dailyheritagegh<br />

Twitter:#heritage_daily<br />

Chelsea<br />

can't<br />

stop<br />

Messi<br />

• Alvaro Morata admits<br />

• Phil Jones<br />

Mourinho ready to<br />

sell Jones, Smalling<br />

JOSE MOURINHO is<br />

preparing to overhaul<br />

his Manchester United defence<br />

this summer with Phil Jones<br />

and Chris Smalling facing the<br />

axe at Old Trafford.<br />

The pair have failed to<br />

impress throughout the season<br />

for United, with Smalling<br />

particularly coming in for<br />

criticism following the 1-0<br />

defeat by Newcastle on Sunday.<br />

The 28-year-old was booked<br />

for a dive and the resulting<br />

free-kick led to Matt Ritchie's<br />

goal which consigned United to<br />

defeat.<br />

Jones produced an<br />

underwhelming display in<br />

United's 2-0 loss to Tottenham<br />

at Wembley earlier this month.<br />

He netted an own goal for<br />

Tottenham's second, with<br />

Mourinho's description of the<br />

finish as 'an amazing goal<br />

• Chris Smalling<br />

Harry Kane would love to<br />

score' far from supportive.<br />

Yet while Mourinho has<br />

decided his defence needs<br />

strengthening, United actually<br />

have the best goals-against<br />

record in the Premier League<br />

this season.<br />

Real Madrid defender<br />

Raphael Varane and Leicester<br />

centre-half Harry Maguire are<br />

names that feature on a<br />

shortlist of replacements.<br />

Mourinho worked with<br />

France international Varane for<br />

the final two seasons of his<br />

three-year tenure at Madrid,<br />

from 2011 until 2013.<br />

Maguire has been in<br />

impressive form throughout<br />

the season at Leicester and won<br />

his first England cap, against<br />

Lithuania in World Cup<br />

qualifying last October.b<br />

Dailymail<br />

ALVARO<br />

MORATA ha<br />

s warned his<br />

Chelsea<br />

team-mates<br />

that<br />

Barcelona star Lionel Messi<br />

will be unstoppable when the<br />

two sides meet in<br />

the Champions League.<br />

The giants collide at the<br />

last-16 stage in the latest<br />

instalment of their longrunning<br />

European rivalry.<br />

Messi has faced Chelsea<br />

eight times without scoring a<br />

single goal from 29 shots –<br />

his worst record against any<br />

club during his career.<br />

But Ernesto Valverde's<br />

side head into the tie flying<br />

high and Morata believes it<br />

will take an outstanding<br />

rearguard action for<br />

his side to progress.<br />

'Messi can't be<br />

stopped,' the Spain<br />

striker told Movistar+.<br />

'If we can get a<br />

good result here, we<br />

have to play a<br />

defensive game with<br />

spaces and try to<br />

bother them as<br />

much as possible.'<br />

The first leg of<br />

the last-16 tie<br />

takes place at<br />

Stamford Bridge<br />

on <strong>February</strong> 20,<br />

with the return leg<br />

at the Nou Camp<br />

scheduled for March <strong>14</strong>.<br />

Dailymail<br />

‘We must keep Courtois, Eden Hazard’<br />

•Eden Hazard and<br />

Thibaut Courtois have<br />

won a host of trophies<br />

for Chelsea<br />

HAZARD AND<br />

Courtois have yet to<br />

sign new contracts<br />

with the Blues amid<br />

speculation Real<br />

Madrid could make<br />

a move for the pair.<br />

But Giroud, who<br />

hit it off with<br />

Hazard on his full<br />

debut in Monday<br />

night’s 3-0 win over<br />

West Brom, says<br />

Chelsea must keep<br />

hold of them.<br />

He said: “They<br />

are very special<br />

players. They have<br />

been here a few<br />

• Lionel Messi<br />

years now and done<br />

a great job at the<br />

club.<br />

“They are very<br />

good on the pitch<br />

but they are good<br />

guys as well. It’s<br />

very important to<br />

keep that kind of<br />

player for their<br />

leadership.<br />

“I don’t have to<br />

say too much about<br />

their qualities<br />

because they show<br />

it again in this<br />

game. Obviously we<br />

need to keep them.”<br />

Dailystar<br />

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