April 25

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Inside April 25, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 4/24/18 6:44 PM Page 3 Malawi's exiled ex-president to return after ‘cashgate' • Joyce Banda, pictured in 2014, wants to rebuild her party ahead of next year's elections THE FORMER president of Malawi, Joyce Banda, is expected to return home this week after nearly four years of self-imposed exile in the wake of the biggest financial scandal in the country's history. Her spokesman Nowa Chimpeni said Mrs Banda planned to rebuild and "reorganise" her People's Party, ahead of elections in 2019. Many members abandoned her party, AFP new agency reports. Mrs Banda has lived in the US, South Africa and the UK since fleeing Malawi in 2014. Last year, police issued an arrest warrant for her in connection with the scandal, known as "cashgate", in which senior government officials siphoned off millions of dollars from state coffers. Mrs Banda has denied claims of abuse of office and money laundering. A police spokesperson declined say to whether she would be detained on arrival. BBC DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2018 WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH World news in 4 stories 'Bin Laden bodyguard' on German welfare •After 9/11 Bin Laden was public enemy number one for the US A TUNISIAN man who once allegedly protected Osama Bin Laden has lived in Germany since 1997 and gets €1,168 (£1,022) a month in welfare payments. The figure was revealed by a regional government, after the farright Alternative for Germany (AfD) asked about the man, known as Sami A. German media have not reported the man's full name for privacy reasons. He denies jihadist links. Deportation to Tunisia was ruled out because of fears that he could be tortured there. Bin Laden ran the al-Qaeda jihadist network and approved the devastating 9/11 terror attacks on the US in 2001. He was shot dead by US special forces in Pakistan in 2011. At least three of the 9/11 suicide pilots were members of an al- Qaeda cell based in Hamburg, northern Germany. According to witness testimony from a German anti-terror trial in 2005, Sami A served for several months in 2000 as one of Bin Laden's bodyguards in Afghanistan. He denies that, but judges in Düsseldorf believed the witness. Sami A was investigated for alleged al-Qaeda links in 2006, but he was not charged. Sami A lives with a German wife and four children in the city of Bochum, in western Germany. After obtaining a temporary residence permit in Germany in 1999 he took several technology courses and moved to the city in 2005. His asylum application was rejected in 2007 because the authorities had listed him as a security risk. He has to report daily at a police station. BBC Saudi Arabia 'could block Nigerians from Hajj’ SAUDI AUTHORITIES are threatening to bar Nigerians from attending this year's pilgrimage to Mecca over fears they could spread Lassa fever, Nigeria's National Hajj Commission has said. Since the start of the year the disease has killed at least 90 people in Nigeria and more than 1,000 cases have been reported across the country. Symptoms of Lassa fever can include fever, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, headaches, abdominal pains, sore throat and facial swelling. The virus is passed to people who eat infected rats, or if food is contaminated by rat droppings or urine. It can also be transmitted through contact with body fluids of an infected person. A spokesman for Nigeria's Hajj commission, Mousa Ubandawaki, says they are responding to the threat by holding "an expanded meeting" on Wednesday "of all officials from the 36 states, the commission and officials of the federal Government to discuss the matter". The Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia will take place in August this year. BBC •Former anti-corruption chief, Hisham Geneina Egypt anti-corruption chief jailed •More than 90,000 Nigerian Muslims reportedly went on the pilgrimage last year AN EGYPTIAN military court has sentenced a former anti-corruption chief, Hisham Geneina, to five years in jail, charged with spreading news that harms the army. The military detained Geneina in February following an interview he gave to Huffpost Arabi, the Arabic version of the US news site. In the interview he said former armed forces chief General Sami Anan possessed documents that were damning of senior Egyptian officials. He gave no details. Geneina, a qualified judge, was sacked by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as head of the Central Auditing Authority in 2016 after he was accused of exaggerating the cost of corruption in Egypt. His lawyers told news agencies that he is filing an appeal. BBC
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH DAILY HERITAGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2018 05 Editorial All must get involved in the fight against tramadol abuse TRAMADOL, AN opioid pain medication used to treat moderate to moderately severe pain, has become an albatross on the neck of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) because some dimwits have decided to dangerously abuse the drug. According to medics, when tramadol is taken by mouth in an immediate-release formulation, the onset of pain relief usually occurs within an hour. Tramadol is noted for relieving severe pain in cases such as gory accidents, frozen shoulder and sickle cell. In spite of the usefulness of the drug, its abuse can be extremely dangerous. A report published by the Drug Abuse Warning Network suggested that “over 12,000 acute toxicity cases reported in emergency centres from 1995 to 2002 involved tramadol.” Taking more than the recommended dosage may present acute side effects such as agitation, drowsiness or altered level of consciousness, nausea and vomiting that may be followed by dizziness and vertigo, death, epileptic seizure, constipation and other gastrointestinal symptoms. Sadly, in spite of these dangers, some Ghanaians have decided to use the drug for the wrong reasons. The youth have taken to it to get ‘high’ so they could engage in activities they ordinarily would not have been able to engage in. Many are falling victim and being torn apart because of the senseless abuse. The police, not long ago, said some armed robbers abuse the drug to be courageous to engage in their criminal activities. The situation has, indeed, got out of hand and requires drastic measures by the FDA and all Ghanaians to stem the tide. So far, the FDA, in collaborating with other security agencies, is doing its best to fight the worrying canker. The DAILY HERITAGE fully supports the FDA in its quest and urges the authority to rein in parents who send their children to buy tramadol for them. It exposes the kids to the craze of using the drug to get intoxicated and ‘high.’ We also urge all to support the police and FDA to put this baloney under control because it is destroying the youth. Double salary scandal… CJA to petition Martin Amidu BY BENJAMIN TANDOH CITIZENS FOR Justice and Accountability (CJA), a pressure group, has called on the Office of the Special Prosecutor to act on the alleged double salary received by some government officials under the John Mahama-led government. According to the group, there has been a “growing sense of impunity in respect of corruption in this country,” hence the need for the office of the Special Prosecutor to help fight corruption in the country. In an interview with the DAILY HERITAGE yesterday, Mr Ato Sam- Ghartey, Convener, CJA, reiterated the need for the government officials to consider the plight of the ordinary citizens in the country. He added that it was time for public institutions to step up their efforts in the fight against corruption in the country. “They should handle the issue like how they will deal with a public sector worker who is found to have committed any wrongdoing. The investigations should be swift,” he told the paper. When asked why they were petitioning the Special Prosecutor when the Criminal Investigations Department of the Police Service had started their investigation, Mr Sam-Ghartey said bringing the Special Prosecutor in would not stop other institutions from conducting their investigations. “The law that was used to set up the • Martin Amidu — Special Prosecutor Office of the Special Prosecutor has clothed it to investigate any act of corruption,” he added. He further disclosed to the paper that the group is expected to submit the petition latest by May 2, 2018 to allow them more time to deal with the issue. In a release copied to the DAILY HER- ITAGE earlier, the group urged Ghanaians to resort to the law in order to fight the corruption menace. “If it was a case of an accountant in the public or civil service, he/she would have been dealt with according to the criminal laws of Ghana,” they stated. The group continued that, “If it was a hawker on the streets of Accra, he would have been arrested immediately, denied bail and prosecuted with the speed of light and convicted harshly.” The petition, the group explained, would call on the Special Prosecutor, Mr Martin Amidu, to investigate and prosecute the culprits, if found guilty. They added that the petition would demand that the “Special Prosecutor shall take steps to cause the refund of all salaries received unlawfully by some minority Members of Parliament (MPs).” Background It was reported that some 22 ministers under the previous administration were taking double salaries as ministers and Members of Parliament (MP). According to the constitution, MPs who are appointed ministers may either choose to receive their salaries as ministers or take what their colleague MPs are taking – although other benefits are attached. Some names mentioned to have allegedly received double salaries included Alban Bagbin, MP for Nadowli West in the Upper West Region; E. T. Mensah, former MP for Ningo Prampram; Haruna Iddrisu, former Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, and MP for Tamale South. The rest are Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, former Petroleum Minister and MP for Ellembelle in the Western Region and
Page 1 and 2: NO. 100685 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 201
Page 3: WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH DAILY HERI
Page 7 and 8: Inside April 25, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1
Page 14 and 15: WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH 14 DAILY H

April 25

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?