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NO. 100785 THURSDAY, <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019<br />
PRICE: GH¢2.00<br />
DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />
• Brenda Aduna lost one<br />
teeth after suffering severe<br />
beating from her husband<br />
•The deceased<br />
•Gloria Akuffo,<br />
Attorney General<br />
• David Asante<br />
Apeatu, IGP<br />
• Mr Francis Asibi -Abu,<br />
Head of the Inter-<br />
Ministerial taskforce for<br />
small scale mining<br />
visit us: @dailyheritagegh dailyheritage facebook.com/daily.heritage.9
02<br />
DAILY QUOTE<br />
Don’t Let Yesterday<br />
Take Up Too Much Of<br />
Today. – Will Rogers<br />
CONTENT<br />
ANNIVERSARIES<br />
Independence Day —<br />
Wednesday, 6th March.<br />
Good Friday — Friday, 19th April.<br />
Easter Monday — Monday, 22nd<br />
April.<br />
DAILY HERITAGE THURSDAY, <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019<br />
Published by: EIB<br />
Network / Heritage<br />
Communications Ltd.<br />
Managing Editor:<br />
William Asiedu:<br />
0208156974<br />
Editor:<br />
Kofi Enchill:<br />
0265653335<br />
ISSN: 0855-52307<br />
VOL 7<br />
Location: Meridian<br />
House (Starr FM) Ring<br />
Road. Box AD 676,<br />
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www.dailyheritage.com.gh<br />
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Email:<br />
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heritagenewspaper@yahoo.co.uk<br />
• Brenda Aduna lost one teeth after suffering<br />
severe beating from her husband<br />
Man beats<br />
wife to death<br />
BY PHILIP ANTOH<br />
philip.antoh@dailyheritage.com.gh<br />
THE ADENTAN Divisional Police<br />
Command has held a 34-year-old<br />
Mawuli Armah for causing unlawful<br />
harm and murder following an assault<br />
on his 35-year-old wife, Belinda<br />
Aduna, leading to her death.<br />
According to ACP C. Kofie, the Divisional<br />
Commander, the suspect was arrested at Tsito,<br />
his hometown in the Volta Region, where he had<br />
travelled to after he had picked a fight with the<br />
wife.<br />
ACP Kofie said immediately after his arrest,<br />
he was put before Adentan Magistrate Court on<br />
January 31, 2018 and reminded in police custody<br />
to reappear on March 5.<br />
Narrating the incident to the DAILY HER-<br />
ITAGE, the Divisional Crime Officer, DSP<br />
Akowuah, said the wife made complaints to the<br />
Adentan Domestic Violence and Victims Support<br />
Unit (DOVVSU) on January 14 that Mawuli<br />
(suspect) had assaulted her leading to the loss of<br />
one of her teeth, which had caused her to suffer<br />
headache.<br />
DSP Akowuah added that on January 16, the<br />
wife complained of severe headache and was<br />
rushed to the Pentecost Hospital at Madina but<br />
was pronounced dead on arrival.<br />
He said the police took up investigations into<br />
the matter and later collaborated with the police<br />
at Tsito, where the suspect was arrested on January<br />
24, brought to Accra, and put before court<br />
charged with causing unlawful harm and murder.<br />
The police said their initial investigations revealed<br />
that Mawuli had been assaulting his wife<br />
frequently and had many assault cases pending at<br />
the Adentan DOVVSU.<br />
DSP Akowuah said the body of the deceased<br />
was sent to the Police Hospital for autopsy and<br />
•The deceased<br />
the initial report said the cause of death was indeterminate.<br />
The autopsy report has therefore angered the<br />
family of the deceased, who claimed their relative<br />
may have died as a result of the assault<br />
meted out to her by the husband (suspect) few<br />
days before her death.<br />
Speaking to the paper in a tearful mood, the<br />
younger sister of the deceased, Ms Brenda<br />
Aduna, said their relative had two girls by the<br />
suspect before her untimely death, adding that<br />
the suspect started a fight with her wife where<br />
he wanted to use a pistol to hit her but “we intervened.”<br />
“In our quest to separate the fight, the pistol<br />
hit the windscreen of his car so Mawuli went to<br />
DOVVSU to report that I had broken his windscreen<br />
and I was given the option either to buy<br />
the broken windscreen or go to court and I accepted<br />
to pay,” Ms Aduna said..<br />
Ms Adunah said on Thursday, January 18,<br />
2018, after returning from Adentan DOVVSU,<br />
the suspect locked the wife in their room and assaulted<br />
her,, leading to the loss of one of her<br />
teeth after which he travelled to his hometown<br />
the following day.<br />
“I received a call from my sister on Sunday<br />
evening complaining of severe headache but I<br />
couldn’t visit her that evening so I went to the<br />
house on Monday morning to take her to the<br />
hospital. While in the taxi to the hospital we had<br />
an accident on the way.<br />
“My sister’s husband has told me on many<br />
occasions if I don’t come for my sister I will<br />
only come and meet her corpse and truly he has<br />
done that,” she stated.<br />
The family has therefore rejected the autopsy<br />
report and has retrieved the body to the 37 Military<br />
Hospital for fresh autopsy to determine the<br />
cause of death but autopsy report at 37 confirmed<br />
the initial report at the Police Hospital.<br />
Inter-ministerial taskforce<br />
rescues Aminase forest<br />
• 13 Chinese arrested, 24 excavators confiscated<br />
BY PHILIP ANTOH<br />
philip.antoh@dailyheritage.com.gh<br />
THE INTER-MINISTERIAL Taskforce<br />
for Small Scale Mining has rescued<br />
the Aminase Forest Reserve from<br />
total destruction through the activities<br />
of Chinese illegal miners, popularly<br />
known as galamsey, in the Upper<br />
Denkyira West District of the Central<br />
Region.<br />
The Chinese ‘galamseyers’ have<br />
succeeded in destroying more than<br />
24,000 acres of land and water bodies<br />
all in the names of engaging in illegal<br />
mining within a seven-year period and<br />
through the timely intervention of the<br />
taskforce, 13 illegal Chinese miners<br />
and their Ghanaian counterparts have<br />
been apprehended and 24 excavators<br />
consificated.<br />
Speaking to a cross-session of the<br />
media at Diaso in the Upper Denkyira<br />
West District on February 16, Mr<br />
Francis Asibi-Abu, head of the Interministerial<br />
Taskforce for Small Scale<br />
Mining, said the chiefs and people in<br />
the area woke up one day to see a convoy<br />
of excavators moving into to the<br />
reserve which their ancestors had protected<br />
with all their lives.<br />
Mr Asibi-Abu said reliable sources<br />
in the area told them that it was in the<br />
same area that the murder of Major<br />
Mahama took place.<br />
He said the 13 Chinese galamseyers<br />
that were arrested during the operations<br />
had been transported to the Immigration<br />
headquarters in Accra for<br />
deportation processes while the 24 excavators<br />
had been dumped at the operations<br />
headquarters at Obuasi and the<br />
Ghanaians have been granted police<br />
inquiry bail pending investigations.<br />
Mr Asibi-Abu expressed shock at<br />
the extent of devastation to the forest<br />
reserve but gave assurance of his outfit’s<br />
readiness to team up with the National<br />
Security outfit to arrest illegal<br />
gold miners together with government<br />
officials for investigations and possible<br />
prosecution.<br />
According to him, the action to arrest<br />
perpetrators would only serve as a<br />
deterrent to others who were involved<br />
in galamsey activities in other parts of<br />
the country.<br />
Mr Asibi-Abu said mining operation<br />
at the site was illegal because the<br />
owners, who are mainly Chinese,<br />
“have been operating without a licence<br />
but succeeded in destroying the forest<br />
with a prospecting licence the Canada<br />
and Ghana (C&G) Alaska Mining<br />
Company claims to have acquired.”<br />
He revealed that the Chinese illegal<br />
miners had caused great damage to the<br />
ecology of the land, degraded and depleted<br />
the forest reserves which have<br />
become a worry to the government.<br />
Confirming claims that C&G<br />
Alaska Mining Company Limited had<br />
been very instrumental in the illegal<br />
mining activities in the forest reserve,<br />
Mr Asibi-Abu said the company was<br />
behind the illegal activities in the forest<br />
and that of the Apraprama Forest<br />
Reserve.<br />
He said in view of the government’s<br />
determination to ensure an end<br />
to this anomaly, he and his team would<br />
continue to operate in the forest until<br />
every single illegal miner was brought<br />
to book.<br />
He, however, indicated that education<br />
and awareness had been created<br />
to ensure that people do not continue<br />
to settle in the abandoned mined areas<br />
for health reasons.<br />
According to him, the government<br />
has plans to reclaim the destroyed and<br />
abandoned lands, hence the operation<br />
continues to ensure that all such activities<br />
are stopped and perpetrators<br />
brought to book.<br />
Mr Asibi-Abu also revealed that<br />
when the exercise began, there were<br />
lots of restrictions to their operations<br />
and many forest guards were not allowed<br />
to enter some concession areas,<br />
which made it difficult for the team to<br />
clamp down on these illegal miners at<br />
the early stages of their activities.<br />
On whether C&G Alaska was operating<br />
with the requisite licence, Mr<br />
Asibi-Abu said, “What we know is that<br />
they have some licence for prospecting<br />
but it was not licence for mining. But<br />
we can all see for ourselves that this<br />
kind of prospecting is not prospecting.”<br />
A tour to Aminase Forest Reserve<br />
on Saturday, February 16, 2019, organised<br />
by taskforces of the Inter-Ministerial<br />
Committee Against Illegal<br />
Mining and Small Scale Miners Association<br />
revealed that the activities of the<br />
illegal Chinese gold miners had destroyed<br />
vast hectares of the Aminase<br />
forest reserve.<br />
During the tour of the forest, the<br />
taskforce demolished all wooden<br />
structures erected by these Chinese<br />
galamseyers in the forest which served<br />
as their places of abode.
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />
DAILY HERITAGE THURSDAY, <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019<br />
03<br />
Pocket money for prosecution saga<br />
Armed robbers freed<br />
BY MUNTALLA INUSAH<br />
muntalla.inusah@dailyheritage.com.gh<br />
ADISTURBING development<br />
emerging from the corridors<br />
of the Ghana Police Service<br />
is that the peace officers are<br />
losing confidence in their<br />
own work following the continuous release<br />
of suspected criminals by various<br />
courts because “we do not have enough<br />
pocket money” to prosecute cases.<br />
The police prosecutors and investigators<br />
are worried that after working hard<br />
at their peril to arrest and arraign suspects,<br />
they are discharged on the technicality<br />
of want of prosecution.<br />
“We struggle to arrest armed robbers<br />
to the extent that sometimes our colleagues<br />
are killed in line of duty and<br />
when such a person is discharged on that<br />
technicality it demoralises us (police personnel),”<br />
a police prosecutor stated on<br />
condition of anonymity.<br />
“This directive of Disclosure of Documents<br />
introduced by the Chief Justice,<br />
which took effect from November 1, 2018,<br />
seems to have made the law flexible to<br />
the offender and some of the accused<br />
persons, when they are discharged, point<br />
fingers at us and sometimes warn us, because<br />
the person has been freed. Our<br />
pockets are also dry and nobody is giving<br />
us money to prosecute the cases.”<br />
Public confidence in police<br />
diminishing<br />
The prosecutors also lamented that their<br />
effort is being ridiculed by the public, who<br />
are “losing confidence in our system, and<br />
public confidence in the police is diminishing”.<br />
“If the public realises that the police<br />
have made arrests and the people are discharged,<br />
it makes them lose the trust in us.<br />
Some of these criminals are clever people<br />
and when they are discharged they go back<br />
and repeat similar acts and put the police in<br />
a more difficult position.<br />
“Some armed robbers have been discharged<br />
because the prosecution didn’t<br />
have money to file certain processes. We<br />
have evidence of the cases we bring to the<br />
court. At times when we arrest them at the<br />
police station level, they admit. They mention<br />
names of persons they work together<br />
with but when the police take the pain at<br />
their peril and arraign them, they are eventually<br />
discharged.”<br />
‘We’re fed up’<br />
It would be recalled that on Thursday,<br />
February 14, 2019, the DAILY HER-<br />
ITAGE, carried a story on its front page<br />
with the banner headline ‘We’re Fed Up,<br />
Police Prosecutors Cry Out, Warned More<br />
Criminals Would Be Freed’, which highlighted<br />
the facts that prosecutors handling<br />
cases on behalf of the state use<br />
their own pocket money to prepare to<br />
prosecute.<br />
The prosecutors, who are tasked by the<br />
• David Asante Apeatu, IGP<br />
Attorney General’s Department to prosecute<br />
criminal offence on behalf of the<br />
State, said they were “frustrated” and “fed<br />
up” with the continuous use of their<br />
“pocket monies” to provide services to the<br />
State.<br />
It is their case that with the introduction<br />
of Discovery of Documents in November<br />
2018 as per Article 19(2) (e) (g) of the 1992<br />
Constitution, police prosecutors and State<br />
Attorneys are mandated to make available<br />
relevant documents they intend to rely on<br />
to prosecute accused persons.<br />
They said since the introduction of the<br />
procedure on November 1, 2018 they have<br />
made several copies of documents with<br />
their “own pocket monies” and averred<br />
that the instance where they did not have<br />
money, they asked for unnecessary adjournments,<br />
a development that forces the<br />
courts to discharge accused persons “for<br />
want of prosecution.”<br />
The CJ’s directive, the source said, is<br />
that every police prosecutor, the judge or<br />
the magistrate, “before you commence<br />
prosecuting a criminal case, the prosecutors<br />
have to give you all statements of the witnesses.”<br />
Police, AG discussing modalities<br />
The Director-General of Public Affairs<br />
of the Ghana Police Service, ACP David<br />
Eklu, told the DAILY HERITAGE yesterday<br />
in a telephone interview that the<br />
matter had been discussed at management<br />
level and the Legal and Prosecuting Directorate<br />
had been tasked to come up with<br />
modalities for consideration.<br />
“That issue was discussed at management<br />
and the legal and prosecuting directorate<br />
was tasked to come out with various<br />
modalities to make it easier for those prosecutors<br />
to provide those documents to the<br />
other parties as per the Supreme Court decision.<br />
Asked if the modalities would include<br />
refunding the pocket monies to the prosecutors,<br />
ACP Eklu said “the possibilities include<br />
all those, but I don’t want to sound<br />
so certain that is what we are going to do,<br />
so I’m saying that we are looking at other<br />
modalities and all those are part of it (sic).”<br />
High Court affirms Mintah Ackaah<br />
BY MUNTALLA INUSAH<br />
muntalla.inusah@dailyheritage.com.gh<br />
THE PROBIT Division of the<br />
Accra High Court has thrown out<br />
an interlocutory injunction filed<br />
by Adams Addy and one another<br />
seeking a stay of execution of a<br />
High Court judgment declaring<br />
Solomon Mintah Ackaah as the<br />
legitimate Head of the Akwanor<br />
Royal Family of Ashalaja.<br />
The court presided over by<br />
Justice Doris Bempong ruled<br />
that,” upon hearing the arguments<br />
of both counsel on the questions<br />
of stay of execution, the court<br />
• As substantive Head of Nii Akwanor<br />
Royal Family of Ashalaja<br />
• Akwanor Royal Family invites investors<br />
was not convinced that the applicants<br />
have demonstrated any exceptional<br />
circumstances<br />
warranting the grant and have not<br />
shown they would suffer hardship<br />
if the application was not<br />
granted.”<br />
The application for interlocutory<br />
injunction was struck out as<br />
withdrawn and costs of GHc1,<br />
000 awarded in favour of Mintah<br />
Ackaah.<br />
Solomon Mintah Ackaah is legitimate<br />
Head of Akwanor Family<br />
The court, prior to dismissing<br />
the stay of execution, had declared<br />
on December 5, 2018 that<br />
Ackaah is the substantive Head of<br />
the Akwanor Royal Family and<br />
not Adams Addy.<br />
The court also declared that<br />
any acts done by defendants in<br />
their alleged capacity as joint<br />
heads of family are null and void.<br />
Justice Mrs Bempong also ordered<br />
the defendants to relinquish<br />
any assets of the Akwanor Royal<br />
Family that had come to them by<br />
reason of their holding themselves<br />
out as joint family heads.<br />
The defendants, the court said,<br />
are “perpetually restrained from<br />
holding themselves out as heads<br />
of the Akwanor Royal Family.<br />
Costs of GH¢8, 000 was awarded<br />
against the defendants.<br />
Plaintiff ’s claims<br />
In April 2014, Solomon<br />
Mintah Ackaah imitated an action<br />
against the defendants, Adams<br />
Addy and one other, seeking a<br />
declaration that the plaintiff is the<br />
substantive head of the Akwanor<br />
Royal Family.<br />
He also asked the court to declare<br />
that the defendants are not<br />
the heads of the Akwanor Royal<br />
Family and further asked the<br />
court to declare that any act or<br />
acts done by the defendants in the<br />
purported capacity as joint heads<br />
or head of the Akwanor Royal<br />
Family is null and void.<br />
Counter-claims<br />
Defendants, in their counterclaims<br />
filed in February 2017, also<br />
sought a deceleration that the defendants<br />
have always been the<br />
• CONTINUE ON PAGE 5
Inside <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019.qxp_Layout 1 2/20/19 6:37 PM Page 3<br />
•Anil Ambani<br />
Billionaire Ambani risks jail over missed Ericsson payments<br />
INDIAN BILLIONAIRE businessman<br />
Anil Ambani is facing a<br />
prison sentence after a deal between<br />
his cash-strapped firm Reliance<br />
Communications (RCom)<br />
and telecoms giant Ericsson collapsed.<br />
Ericsson is owed 5.5bn rupees<br />
(£59.3m) by RCom under<br />
the terms of an agreement to<br />
manage and operate its network.<br />
RCom failed to comply with<br />
India's Supreme Court's order to<br />
pay the money by 15 December<br />
last year.<br />
Now the court says Mr Ambani<br />
will be jailed for three<br />
months unless he pays.<br />
It found him guilty of contempt,<br />
giving him another four<br />
weeks to pay or else go to prison.<br />
Both sides have said they respect<br />
the ruling.<br />
Ericsson signed the deal in<br />
2014 and began proceedings<br />
against RCom last year.<br />
The court also found Reliance<br />
Telecom chairman Satish Seth<br />
and Reliance Infratel chairperson<br />
Chhaya Virani breached the orders.<br />
BBC<br />
DAILY HERITAGE THURSDAY, <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019<br />
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />
World news in 4 stories<br />
Nigeria election 2019: Who<br />
benefits from poll delay?<br />
Nigeria is to hold<br />
a delayed presidential<br />
election<br />
this Saturday<br />
after the initial<br />
vote was<br />
rescheduled in a dramatic<br />
overnight press conference, five<br />
hours before polls were due to<br />
have opened.<br />
The last-minute cancellation<br />
surprised the country and inconvenienced<br />
thousands of Nigerians<br />
who had travelled a long way to<br />
cast their votes. It has also cost the<br />
economy $1.5bn (£1.15bn), according<br />
to the Lagos Chamber of<br />
Commerce and Industry.<br />
The Independent National<br />
Electoral Commission (Inec) has<br />
given several reasons for the delay,<br />
including attempted sabotage and<br />
logistical issues such as bad<br />
weather and problems with delivering<br />
the ballot papers.<br />
The governing All Progressives<br />
Congress (APC) and its main challenger,<br />
the People's Democratic<br />
Party (PDP), have both condemned<br />
the postponement and accused<br />
each other of trying to<br />
manipulate the vote.<br />
In a statement issued on the<br />
day of the postponement, the<br />
APC alleged the PDP wanted to<br />
halt the momentum of its candidate,<br />
President Muhammadu<br />
Buhari. The PDP, whose presidential<br />
contender is Atiku Abubakar,<br />
on the other hand said Inec had<br />
delayed the election to create "the<br />
space to perfect their rigging<br />
plans".<br />
According to Idayat Hassan,<br />
from Abuja-based think tank, the<br />
Centre for Democracy and Development,<br />
the week-long extension<br />
is too brief to have a significant<br />
influence on the result of the presidential<br />
vote. BBC<br />
• Yang Fenglan's smuggling ring exported $2.5m-worth of tusks<br />
'Ivory Queen' sentenced<br />
to jail in Tanzania<br />
•President Joseph Kabila was supposed to<br />
•Michael Flynn has admitted one count of lying to the<br />
• Liberia<br />
FBI have is rich stepped in mineral down deposits nearly - two and full years of illicit ago mines<br />
• President Muhammadu Buhari (l) is expected to face a strong challenge from Atiku Abubakar (r)<br />
A TANZANIAN court<br />
has sentenced Yang<br />
Fenglan, a prominent<br />
Chinese businesswoman<br />
dubbed the "Ivory<br />
Queen", to 15 years in<br />
jail.<br />
She was accused of<br />
leading one of Africa's<br />
biggest ivory smuggling<br />
rings, illegally exporting<br />
more than $2.5m (£1.7m)<br />
worth of elephant tusks<br />
to East Asia.<br />
Fenglan, 69, denied the<br />
charges.<br />
She was arrested after<br />
a high-speed car chase in<br />
October 2015 and charged<br />
with ivory smuggling between<br />
2000 and 2014.<br />
Investigators say she<br />
was a key link between<br />
poachers in East Africa<br />
and buyers in China for<br />
more than a decade.<br />
The BBC's Humphrey<br />
Mgonja in Dar Es Salaam<br />
reports that the Tanzanian<br />
state is to repossess<br />
Fenglan's property to recover<br />
the proceeds from<br />
her businesses. BBC<br />
Catholic cardinals urge end of 'homosexual agenda’<br />
TWO PROMINENT Roman<br />
Catholic Church cardinals have<br />
urged an end of what they call<br />
"the plague of the homosexual<br />
agenda", telling bishops to break<br />
their complicity over cases of sexual<br />
abuse.<br />
In an open letter, Cardinals<br />
Burke and Brandmüller say the<br />
Church has wrongly blamed the<br />
abuse of power by clergy as the<br />
main cause of the scandals.<br />
Instead, they say the cases involve<br />
priests who have "gone away<br />
from the truth of the Gospel".<br />
They also openly criticise the<br />
Pope.<br />
Stories of sexual abuse of minors<br />
have emerged across the<br />
world and the Church has been accused<br />
of covering up crimes committed<br />
by priests.<br />
Their letter comes on the eve<br />
of an extraordinary summit of<br />
bishops in Rome called by Pope<br />
Francis as an effort to deal with<br />
the scandals rocking the Church.<br />
Cardinals Raymond Burke,<br />
from the US, and Walter Brandmüller,<br />
from Germany, reject that<br />
the cases of abuse are a result of<br />
"clericalism" - a group of men<br />
abusing their power, and protecting<br />
each other.<br />
Their letter comes<br />
on the eve of an<br />
extraordinary<br />
summit of bishops<br />
in Rome<br />
called by Pope<br />
Francis as an effort<br />
to deal with<br />
the scandals rocking<br />
the Church.<br />
• Pope Francis has convened an extraordinary summit to<br />
discuss the scandals
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />
DAILY HERITAGE THURSDAY, <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019<br />
05<br />
Editorial<br />
Let’s stop the discrimination against People Living with Vitiligo<br />
IT HAS become necessary to<br />
drum home yet again the need<br />
for people to desist from<br />
discriminating against Persons<br />
Living with Vitiligo.<br />
Vitiligo is a chronic skin<br />
condition characterised by<br />
portions of the skin losing<br />
their pigment. It occurs when<br />
skin pigment cells die or are<br />
unable to function.<br />
Aside cases of contact with<br />
certain chemicals, the cause of<br />
Vitiligo is unknown. Research<br />
suggests Vitiligo may arise<br />
from autoimmune, genetic,<br />
oxidative stress, neural, or viral<br />
causes.<br />
Vitiligo is typically classified<br />
into two main categories:<br />
segmental and non-segmental<br />
Vitiligo. Half of those affected<br />
show the disorder before age<br />
20, though most develop it<br />
before age 40.<br />
In fact the perception of a<br />
segment of society about<br />
persons with Vitiligo is more<br />
traumatising especially when<br />
the cause of it is not<br />
contagious but heredity. It<br />
causes a lot of emotional and<br />
psychological stress if people<br />
are abused.<br />
For instance, there are<br />
reported cases of some nurses<br />
who are facing verbal abuses<br />
because of their skin condition.<br />
We at the DAILY<br />
HERITAGE are of the view<br />
that as civilised as we are in the<br />
<strong>21</strong>st Century, we should not<br />
make any room for<br />
discrimination against persons<br />
with Vitiligo.<br />
We believe that for society to<br />
improve and develop,<br />
stigmatisation is one thing that<br />
must be eschewed.<br />
We, therefore, urge all to shy<br />
away from stigmatising against<br />
persons with Vitiligo.<br />
If we, as a nation, want to<br />
develop and build a society we<br />
all love, it is imperative to deal<br />
with this issue positively.<br />
High Court affirms Mintah Ackaah<br />
• READ FROM PAGE 3<br />
heads or joint heads of the Nii Akwanor<br />
Royal Family and that the plaintiff should<br />
be restrained from styling or calling himself<br />
as the lawful head.<br />
The defendants also sought a declaration<br />
that the plaintiff, his agents, assigns<br />
and witnesses hail from Moree in the Central<br />
Region and therefore cannot be members<br />
of the Akwanor royal family.<br />
They also asked the court to declare<br />
that any land title document executed by<br />
the plaintiff and privies in relation to<br />
Ashalaja lands without lawful authority is<br />
null and void.<br />
They also asked for an order of perpetual<br />
injunction restraining the plaintiff, his<br />
agents, assigns and witnesses in the suit<br />
from entering, leasing, selling, assigning or<br />
in any way whatsoever dealing with lands.<br />
They sought damages against the plaintiff<br />
for fraudulently self-styling himself as<br />
the lawful head and as such fraudulently<br />
granting interest in Ashalaja to third parties<br />
without authority.<br />
Photo-shopped evidence<br />
The court said even though the first defendant<br />
exhibited photo of the his appointment<br />
as head of family, there was no<br />
such evidence with regard to the second<br />
and the 1st defendant claimed the second<br />
defendant was appointed fews days after<br />
he the first defendant had been appointed.<br />
The judge, however, raised an issue<br />
with the exhibited photo, saying “in any<br />
case even with my untrained eye, the exhibit,<br />
that is photo, has been truly photoshopped.”<br />
The court said “there have been several<br />
• As substantive Head of Nii Akwanor<br />
Royal Family of Ashalaja<br />
• Akwanor Royal Family invites investors<br />
inconsistencies in the evidence of the defendants<br />
and their witness and it is the<br />
court’s view that they have not adduced<br />
sufficient and credible evidence to show<br />
that the plaintiff ’s appointment was fraudulent.<br />
As such the defendants’ counterclaim<br />
must fail.<br />
Akwanor Royal Family invites<br />
investors to Ashalaja<br />
The substantive<br />
head of Akwanor<br />
Royal<br />
Family, Mintah<br />
Ackaah, in an interview<br />
with the<br />
DAILY HER-<br />
ITAGE moments<br />
after the<br />
court decision<br />
appealed to businessmen<br />
who<br />
have purchased<br />
lands in the area<br />
for investments<br />
to feel free to develop<br />
them.<br />
He gave the<br />
assurance that investors<br />
and their<br />
businesses would<br />
be safe since the<br />
area currently<br />
The judge,<br />
however, raised an<br />
issue with the<br />
exhibited photo,<br />
saying “in any<br />
case even with my<br />
untrained eye, the<br />
exhibit, that is<br />
photo, has been<br />
truly photoshopped.<br />
boasts absolute peace and tranquillity.<br />
Mr Mintah Ackaah expressed the willingness<br />
of the family to release more lands<br />
to corporate bodies and individuals to invest<br />
in the area to prevent the youth from<br />
migrating to the urban towns to seek nonexisting<br />
jobs.<br />
He called for unity among all the people<br />
of Ashalaja, both natives and non-native<br />
residents, to facilitate<br />
the development<br />
of the<br />
town, saying “it is<br />
not in the best<br />
interest of anyone<br />
to do anything<br />
untoward<br />
to disturb the<br />
peace in our<br />
community as<br />
that would tarnish<br />
the image of<br />
the community<br />
and discourage<br />
others from coming<br />
to live or do<br />
business with<br />
us”.<br />
“The plaintiff<br />
on the other<br />
hand has discharged<br />
the burden<br />
placed on him to prove his case under<br />
the Evidence Act and has given enough<br />
credible evidence to succeed.”<br />
Akwanor Royal Family invites<br />
investors to Ashalaja<br />
The substantive head of Akwanor<br />
Royal Family Mintah Ackaah in an interview<br />
with the DAILY HERITAGE<br />
moments after the court decision appealed<br />
to businessmen who have purchased lands<br />
in the area for investments to feel free to<br />
develop them.<br />
He gave the assurance that investors<br />
and their businesses would be safe since<br />
the area currently boasts absolute peace<br />
and tranquillity.<br />
Mr Mintah Ackaah expressed the willingness<br />
of the family to release more lands<br />
to corporate bodies and individuals to invest<br />
in the area to prevent the youth from<br />
migrating to the urban towns to seek nonexisting<br />
jobs.<br />
He called for unity among all the people<br />
of Ashalaja, both natives and non-native<br />
residents, to facilitate the development of<br />
the town, saying “it is not in the best interest<br />
of anyone to do anything untoward to<br />
disturb the peace in our community as that<br />
would tarnish the image of the community<br />
and discourage others from coming to live<br />
or do business with us.”
Inside <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019.qxp_Layout 1 2/20/19 6:37 PM Page 5<br />
06<br />
Views<br />
DAILY HERITAGE THURSDAY, <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019<br />
HR Today: Creating meaningful<br />
employee experience<br />
BY BRIGHTAMPADUOKYERE/<br />
SRIDHARGANESH<br />
CONVERSA-<br />
TIONS<br />
OVER the<br />
years suggest<br />
that HR practitioners<br />
have<br />
become copiously clear that<br />
HR processes and practices in<br />
many organisations run rather<br />
independently. And while this<br />
sounds like a good thing, it’s<br />
not! Simply because this ‘independence’<br />
can cause a significant<br />
disconnect.<br />
One classic example is that<br />
while the HR team handles recruitment,<br />
it is likely that they<br />
may not have evolved an effective<br />
on-boarding process that<br />
allows for a long-term connect<br />
on certain touchpoints with the<br />
employee, and the specific role<br />
they have been hired to perform.<br />
Similarly, HR may have an<br />
operational Performance Management<br />
system, however, if<br />
that has not been mapped to<br />
Career Development and<br />
Growth, it will not be effective<br />
or efficient. It may be reduced<br />
to the normal Key Performance<br />
Indicator (KPI) setting<br />
done year after year with no<br />
real value attached to it.<br />
The root cause of the problem<br />
appears to be that the company’s<br />
Mission and Purpose, in<br />
most cases, is not properly articulated.<br />
Even when they are,<br />
there are certain practices that<br />
need to be defined which will<br />
ensure that the Right Action<br />
flows through from the articulation.<br />
This is not always a topdown<br />
disconnect, it may be a<br />
general alignment problem that<br />
must be tackled once and for<br />
all.<br />
Leadership practices also<br />
sometimes reflect this disconnect.<br />
The HR specialisms are,<br />
in many organisations, structured<br />
in a way that the particular<br />
practice does not create<br />
experiences that have a single<br />
theme flowing through them.<br />
They are often, insulated from<br />
each other, with each holding<br />
on to their turf. Unfortunately,<br />
the “Employee Experience”<br />
suffers.<br />
These incongruent practices<br />
and programmes running on<br />
individual, stand-alone basis<br />
have led to employee experiences<br />
which are not in the first<br />
place very positive. And this is<br />
not because the programme is<br />
bad, but simply because they<br />
tend to generate varied experiences<br />
that do not build on each<br />
other.<br />
An employee may also find<br />
it most challenging in terms of<br />
the specific (from a particular<br />
practice) experience and the resultant<br />
meaning without being<br />
able to connect to the larger<br />
picture – a unified thread holding<br />
the ‘recruitment to retirement’<br />
continuum. This leads to<br />
Similarly, HR may have an operational Performance Management<br />
system, however, if that has not been mapped to<br />
Career Development and Growth, it will not be effective or<br />
efficient. It may be reduced to the normal Key Performance<br />
Indicator (KPI) setting done year after year with no real<br />
value attached to it.<br />
• Bright Ampadu Okyere<br />
drop in engagement and productivity<br />
levels.<br />
The good news for all of us<br />
is that with technology, there is<br />
a great opportunity to integrate<br />
the business, technology and<br />
the employee to create a meaningful<br />
and holistic experience.<br />
Obviously, such integration will<br />
create an environment that<br />
aligns employee’s interest with<br />
business objectives. Corporate<br />
culture, values and philosophy<br />
can be smoothly imbedded into<br />
people.<br />
In the first place, technology<br />
has can a whole lot of applications<br />
either as Apps or through<br />
an integrated systems solution<br />
to improve and enhance employee<br />
experiences. They have<br />
the potential to inspire and engage.<br />
However, one must be<br />
wary of doing something with<br />
technology that is in a silo and<br />
not integrated.<br />
For example, often organization<br />
go for one solution, say<br />
PMS but then without an integrated<br />
L&D and Succession &<br />
Career Planning, such a proposition<br />
plays out the same way as<br />
a manual system-disparate and<br />
not connected.<br />
To consciously study and listen<br />
to, and learn what employees<br />
are doing every day and<br />
discover new ways to simplify<br />
work and improve productivity,<br />
performance, and engagement,<br />
are some of the key actions<br />
that we need to undertake to<br />
deliver the right “experiences”.<br />
The space and specialism of<br />
In the first place,<br />
technology has can<br />
a whole lot of applications<br />
either as<br />
Apps or through an<br />
integrated systems<br />
solution to improve<br />
and enhance employee<br />
experiences.<br />
They have the potential<br />
to inspire<br />
and engage. However,<br />
one must be<br />
wary of doing something<br />
with technology<br />
that is in a silo<br />
and not integrated.<br />
developing employee personas<br />
and using them to develop<br />
journey maps is a great first<br />
step! Integrated digital solutions<br />
that deliver on employee<br />
journeys will surely enhance the<br />
employee experience. Employee<br />
experience must be<br />
paramount to the business in<br />
ensuring a meaningful work environment.<br />
Source: BrightAmpaduOkyere/SridharGanesh<br />
Email Address: hrtoday@gmail.com<br />
To consciously study<br />
and listen to, and learn<br />
what employees are<br />
doing every day and<br />
discover new ways to<br />
simplify work and improve<br />
productivity, performance,<br />
and<br />
engagement, are some<br />
of the key actions that<br />
we need to undertake<br />
to deliver the right “experiences”.
Inside <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019.qxp_Layout 1 2/20/19 6:37 PM Page 6<br />
How to clean your nails<br />
• Clean dirt from under your nails<br />
Use the tip of the nail pick on a pair of<br />
clippers, clean underneath your fingernails<br />
to remove dirt and other built-up<br />
grime. Do this in the bathroom, under<br />
good lighting, so you'll be able to see<br />
your nails clearly. In general, it's easier to<br />
clean the dirt from underneath your nails<br />
before you wash your hands instead of<br />
after.<br />
• Wash your hands<br />
Use a mild, natural soap and wash<br />
your hands under warm water. You don't<br />
need to focus on your nails specifically,<br />
just wash your hands. It's generally better<br />
to use mild soap and wash your hands<br />
more regularly.<br />
• Soak your nails in a bowl of<br />
warm, soapy water for about three<br />
minutes<br />
Submerge the very tips of your fingers,<br />
not your whole hands, under the<br />
water and let them soften slightly. Make<br />
sure the water isn't too lukewarm or<br />
scalding hot, but a comfortable temperature<br />
somewhere in between. Soaking<br />
nails help to make them softer and more<br />
pliable, making it much less likely that<br />
you'll chip or break a nail during the<br />
cleaning process.<br />
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />
DAILY HERITAGE THURSDAY, <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019<br />
&Env.<br />
Health and safety requirements in public and<br />
private hospitals: Achimota hosp. in perspective<br />
AN INTERNATIONAL<br />
Labour Organisation<br />
(ILO) global statistical<br />
report says there are<br />
about 270 million occupational<br />
accidents as well<br />
as 160 million occupational diseases<br />
recorded every year, while around two<br />
million deaths occur every year through<br />
occupational accidents and diseases.<br />
It is morally, legally and economically<br />
right for employers to protect their employees,<br />
clients and all other people who<br />
are found in their place of work and/or<br />
are affected by their actions.<br />
It is equally the right and responsibility<br />
of every employee, visitor and all<br />
other people found in any workplace to<br />
co-operate with the employer to enable<br />
them to fulfil their obligations of ensuring<br />
standard workplace practices concerning<br />
health, safety, welfare,<br />
environment and security. This is in accordance<br />
with Article 16 of the ILO<br />
Convention and recommendations,<br />
among other issues of standards.<br />
Hospitals and other minor health institutions<br />
also form part of workplaces,<br />
and so, all persons found in these institutions,<br />
including employees, patients and<br />
their relatives who assist them to these<br />
facilities, visitors and service providers in<br />
these outfits are protected and for that<br />
matter safe in all their dealings.<br />
Health facilities are aimed at providing<br />
total health to all patients who call in<br />
for their services and also protect all persons<br />
found there, since they also form<br />
part of workplaces. However, the story is<br />
different with Ghana health facilities. It<br />
is common practice to count many hazards<br />
and risks in these institutions.<br />
Standard requirements at<br />
workplace<br />
It is good for health institutions to<br />
have trained wellbeing personnel to educate<br />
all health facility staff particularly on<br />
personal safety and security issues since<br />
their services form part of high risk occupations.<br />
Some of their hazards are violence<br />
and assault from patients or dead<br />
persons’ relatives, etc.<br />
They must also receive enough training<br />
on how to protect themselves and<br />
others from abduction since health facilities<br />
always have ” open door” policies. It<br />
is also good practice for permanent<br />
emergency service providers trained on<br />
apparel style, especially regarding foot<br />
wear, to reduce their high exposure to<br />
risks such as slips, trips and injuries due<br />
to the quick actions taken in relation to<br />
the aggressive nature of some emergency<br />
ill-health persons. Better and adequate<br />
patients handling equipment, such<br />
as slid sheets, transfer boards, wheelchairs,<br />
handling belts, and trolleys are<br />
also required for health service delivery.<br />
Emergency, equipment, training, information<br />
and control measures are important<br />
to both staff and other persons.<br />
General health facility conditions<br />
must always be safe enough to protect all<br />
persons and not just its staff. Among<br />
them ill-health persons, their relatives,<br />
visitors and any other persons such as<br />
service providers who come to the outfits.<br />
These persons should be provided<br />
with all the appropriate information required<br />
by them.<br />
•Mr Joshua<br />
Treatments Bortey, KROMA to ill-health<br />
persons MCE (in white) in hospital<br />
Ill-health and others persons should have suitable<br />
ground to walk with ease, access to<br />
hygienic toilets and urinals, the opportunity<br />
to both steps, ramps and escalator, if<br />
need be. They also need to receive every<br />
detailed information about their health<br />
conditions, further implications for their<br />
health, type of treatments required, personal<br />
medicament implications and personal<br />
consent. Since ill-health persons<br />
become vulnerable and fragile irrespective<br />
of one’s stature, it is always appropriate<br />
and obligatory for health facilities<br />
to have reasonably practicable infrastructure<br />
design, as well as easy and safe access<br />
that will meet the requirement of<br />
these clients.<br />
Again ill-health persons in any health<br />
facility have the right to be served with<br />
the food appropriate for their conditions<br />
and not otherwise. They have every right<br />
to ask any questions and must receive<br />
right answers without any intimidation.<br />
Intimidations in our health facilities<br />
nowadays have become common practice,<br />
especially within units such as emergency<br />
centres and maternity and labour<br />
wards. However, without ill-health persons<br />
health workers must stay home or<br />
change their profession, so it is good for<br />
health workers to treat their clients safely.<br />
When one is pregnant, for instance, she<br />
turns to be like a young person, and for<br />
that matter weak; likewise those at the<br />
delivery point who also become traumatized,<br />
so they have to be assisted for safe<br />
delivery without any physical or psychological<br />
injury to them. Also, they have to<br />
be treated well during these stages.<br />
This is very paramount because in<br />
any different workplaces ill-health persons,<br />
pregnant women and nursing<br />
mothers need to receive preferential<br />
treatments, so how much less their own<br />
legal service institutions?<br />
Required treatment of ill-health<br />
persons relatives, visitors and others<br />
It is always safe for anyone who assists<br />
or accompanies any ill-health person<br />
to be given all appropriate information,<br />
instructions and directions about medications<br />
and prescription conditions, and<br />
accept personal private information to<br />
the ill-health person, to help reduce the<br />
risks of post-health service prescriptions<br />
error to save lives.<br />
To help avoid or reduce basic and<br />
complex ill-health infections to ill-health<br />
persons’ relations and visitors via crosscontaminations<br />
of microorganisms, it<br />
will be very prudent for health facilities<br />
to have wellbeing personnel to also educate<br />
and advise these persons during visiting<br />
hours from ward to ward on<br />
potential way of disinfecting their bodies<br />
after providing services to their ill-health<br />
relatives.<br />
Other persons apart from aforementioned<br />
groups<br />
All other persons who visit health facilities<br />
for any other good purposes<br />
should be provided with all necessary<br />
wellbeing control measures to protect<br />
Food, fruits and general provision vendors within the facility’s vehicular<br />
park conduct all their businesses reasonably practicable by average health,<br />
safety and environment standards. Vehicular route to the facility is standard<br />
and the stationed taxi drivers within the facility conduct themselves well.<br />
them from any harm, since it is the duty<br />
of the management to do so.<br />
Assessments<br />
In Ghana, one can attest to the fact<br />
that many of these hazards and risks can<br />
be counted in most of our major and<br />
minor health facilities. However, little has<br />
been done to change or control these<br />
grave situations. However, a sampling<br />
survey conducted in Achimota Hospital<br />
has proven otherwise.<br />
Current health, safety, welfare, environment<br />
and security standards of<br />
Achimota Hosp.<br />
Achimota Hospital has been found<br />
to be providing good services and is<br />
being used as the case study for the discussion<br />
on assessment. A sampling survey<br />
recently conducted in above facility<br />
covered all the business service areas and<br />
findings proved greater improvements<br />
and achievements within workplace<br />
health, safety, welfare, environment and<br />
security matters.<br />
Other good service practices include<br />
better and multiple channels of information<br />
dissemination to patient and their<br />
relations regarding all the needed attention,<br />
consent seeking before any service<br />
provision to a patient, better human relations<br />
by nurses, paramedics, clerical staff,<br />
anesthetists, pharmacists, laboratory<br />
staff, kitchen staff and medical doctors.<br />
The facility has a healthy and attractive<br />
landscaping within its entire area<br />
with reasonable pedestrian walkways well<br />
designed. It also has enough consultation<br />
rooms with serious expert medical doctors<br />
to assist in reducing time spent with<br />
patients. Majority of the staff use safety<br />
belt when driving and the facility can<br />
also boast an emergency assembly point.<br />
General and medical waste management<br />
principles are applied safely in this<br />
facility via waste classification procedure<br />
of segregating hazardous from non-hazardous<br />
waste. Service personnel of Achimota<br />
Hospital mostly adopt the personal<br />
protective equipment donning rules to<br />
protect themselves and others from hazardous<br />
infections. Reasonable noise level<br />
within their proximity is achieved.<br />
Bad practices and challenges<br />
within Achimota Hospital<br />
Among unsafe practices and challenges<br />
in the facility are the absence of<br />
the long-awaited pedestrian footbridge<br />
across the major Achimota-Legon road,<br />
lack of permanent ambulance services to<br />
the hospital, ineffective of pedestrian<br />
gate usage, bad positioning of information<br />
desk to reduce main entrance space<br />
and bad nature of the route to transport<br />
patients on trolleys from the theatre to<br />
the main wards.<br />
Another critical challenge to Achimota<br />
and almost all the health facilities<br />
in Ghana is lack of safety personnel<br />
within these institutions to advise and<br />
guard both clients and employees on<br />
safety matters and also assist the vulnerable<br />
during an emergency.<br />
Conclusions<br />
It is reasonably and practicably good<br />
to always commend any health institution<br />
that promotes good working culture,<br />
especially in the areas mentioned to help<br />
motivate and also encourage others who<br />
fail to work within standards. To this<br />
end, the Medical Director, management,<br />
doctors, nurses and entire employees of<br />
Achimota Hospital need to be commended<br />
for such great achievements.<br />
The writer is a health, safety and environment<br />
expert and consultant
spread_ <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019.qxp_SHOWBIZ TEMP 2/20/19 6:52 PM Page 1<br />
News<br />
DAILY<br />
Supreme Ladies Club donates<br />
items to Korle Bu Children’s ward<br />
BY ROSEMOND BOATENG ADDAI<br />
Rosemond.adjetey@yahoo.com<br />
THE SUPREME Ladies Club has donated items<br />
worth GH¢10,000.00 to the Children’s Ward at the<br />
Korle Bu Teaching Hospital to support the<br />
department give better treatment to the children<br />
hospitalised.<br />
Hajia Muina Buari, president of the non-profit<br />
club, explained to the DAILY HERITAGE that<br />
they came to visit a patient at the ward and the<br />
poor condition of the ward gave them sleepless<br />
night so they decided to help by donating the items.<br />
The club gave wheelchairs, sanitary, hand<br />
sanitizers, toilet rolls, ward screens, trolleys, Blood<br />
Pressure apparatus, monitor, diapers and night<br />
gowns<br />
“Most of us are mothers so we became very<br />
worried since one can never tell when her child will<br />
be admitted to the ward. Therefore with the little<br />
we have we decided to help the ward in order for<br />
the administration to give excellent treatment to the<br />
children,” she added.<br />
She also said the club supports institutions as<br />
and when they are touched and as such was glad the<br />
members did not decline the decision but gave their<br />
AWW enquiry:<br />
full support to meet some of the needs of the<br />
hospital.<br />
The president, while donating the items, called<br />
on other institutions, clubs, churches and nongovernmental<br />
organisations which have the means<br />
to help people in need, especially innocent children<br />
whose parents cannot afford to pay for their<br />
treatment at the various hospitals in the country.<br />
Mrs Joyce Oppong-Ayisi, Head of Nursing at<br />
the Children’s Ward at the Korle Bu Teaching<br />
Hospital, who received the items, expressed<br />
gratitude to the Supreme Ladies Club for coming to<br />
the aid of the ward at a pressing moment.<br />
According to the head, the ladies came for a list<br />
of items needed at the ward so she gave them a list<br />
to choose from but to her surprise, the ladies<br />
bought most of the items.<br />
Mrs Oppong-Ayisi called on other stakeholder<br />
to help furnish the emergency extension room as<br />
the government could not do it alone. •The cleared site<br />
“We need chairs, tables or anything proposed mothers for canthe<br />
use to rest as they wait for their turn to be served.<br />
SHS<br />
A lot of people find it very difficult to pay their<br />
bills. Some people cannot afford to go through<br />
series of examination due to lack of funds so we<br />
need more people to come to their aid by donating<br />
and paying some of the bills for them,” she said.<br />
•Hajia Muina Buari, president of Supreme Ladies Club, presenting the items to<br />
Mrs Joyce Oppong-Ayisi, Head of Nursing, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital<br />
Akufo-Addo petitioned over<br />
Commission’s terms of reference<br />
TWO PRIVATE citizens of Ghana, Eric Nartey<br />
Yeboah and Yussif Ibrahim Bangsua have<br />
petitioned the President Nana Addo Dankwa<br />
Akufo-Addo to extend the terms of reference of<br />
the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-elections<br />
commission of inquiry to include other previous<br />
by-elections in the county.<br />
In an 11 point petition presented to the<br />
President last Friday, the petitioners doubted the<br />
ability of the commission to nib elections violence<br />
in the bud given the terms of reference of the<br />
commission.<br />
The petitioners enumerated, Wulensi, Talensi,<br />
Akwatia and Atiwa by-elections as the foundation<br />
of by-elections violence in Ghana and they need to<br />
be part of the terms of reference of the<br />
commission in order to be able to deal with the<br />
root cause of by-elections violence in Ghana.<br />
The petitioners further stated that, the victims<br />
of the previous by-elections have been gravely<br />
discriminated against much as the perpetrators<br />
have also been endorsed.<br />
It is in the interest of the State, unity and peace<br />
to end all elections related violence and that’s why<br />
•Eric Nartey<br />
Yeboah and Yussif<br />
Ibrahim Bangsua<br />
setting up a commission of inquiry is critical in the<br />
circumstances but the limited nature of the terms<br />
of reference of the commission would leave the<br />
country more injured than healed.<br />
HERITAGE, THURSDAY, <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019 WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />
Court shoots down case against NPA<br />
BY MUNTALLA INUSAH<br />
muntalla.inusah@dailyheritage.com<br />
THE GENERAL<br />
Jurisdiction Division of<br />
the Accra High Court<br />
has shot down an<br />
interlocutory<br />
application filed by T.<br />
Tekpor Energy asking the court to<br />
quash the National Petroleum<br />
Authority’s (NPA) decision to revoke<br />
its licence.<br />
The company was earlier given a<br />
licence to operate a gas filling station<br />
and distribute same but safety<br />
concerns later prompted the NPA to<br />
revoke its licence. Not satisfied with<br />
the decision, T-Tekpor Energy filed<br />
an application in court asking that<br />
their operations be restored by NPA.<br />
But, the court presided over by<br />
Justice Kweku Tawiah Ackaah-Boafo<br />
ruled that a gas filling station situated<br />
between two schools, Tema<br />
International School and Tema Rich<br />
School, cannot be allowed to operate.<br />
The court was of the considered<br />
view that the safety of the over 800<br />
schoolchildren and the residents of<br />
Afariwaa, near Tema, was at risk.<br />
Justice Ackaah-Boafo ruled that NPA,<br />
as the authority body, acted rightfully<br />
since it would be blamed for any<br />
future disasters.<br />
The parties have been directed to<br />
go to the negotiating table and file<br />
their terms of agreement to the court<br />
on March 18.<br />
Applicant’s argument<br />
The company, which is located at<br />
Afariwa, near Tema, in November 27,<br />
2018 filed an interlocutory application<br />
asking the court to quash NPA<br />
suspension of its gas operation at the<br />
present location.<br />
The company, per the court<br />
documents, is located between two<br />
schools; Tema International School<br />
and Tema Rich School at Afariwaa<br />
Junction within the Ashaiman<br />
Municipal Assembly and the location<br />
raises safety concerns about the<br />
people in the area.<br />
The Company (Applicant) is in<br />
Court because the National<br />
Petroleum Authority (NPA) has by a<br />
letter dated November 7, 2018<br />
suspended its operation at the said<br />
location on the grounds that the<br />
Company’s operations pose a risk to<br />
two schools located within the<br />
proximity of its activities and the<br />
residents of the area.<br />
Mr Barfo-Bonney, lawyer for the<br />
applicant also contended that the<br />
decision of the Chief Executive<br />
Officer (CEO) of NPA was a<br />
unilateral and that since the NPA has<br />
a board, such directives ought to have<br />
come from the board and not the<br />
CEO.<br />
It also argued that the CEO’s<br />
letter contained no expert advice and<br />
that the applicant had operated for<br />
over 13 years at the site without any<br />
trouble and so there should not be<br />
any reason to warrant revocation of<br />
licence.<br />
Therefore, the court should quash<br />
the suspension of the licence.<br />
Respondent’s claims<br />
Counsel for NPA, Akoto Ampaw,<br />
in his argument, told the court that<br />
what applicant was seeking from the<br />
court was unknown, because they<br />
ought to have come for a judicial<br />
review instead of an interlocutory<br />
application.<br />
On the merits of the application,<br />
he further argued that the application<br />
was unfounded and misleading and<br />
therefore should not be entertained<br />
by the court since the law gives the<br />
NPA the authority to award and also<br />
revoke licences.<br />
On the argument that the NPA<br />
did not seek expert advice prior to<br />
revoking its licence, the counsel said<br />
NPA had the legal backgrounds to do<br />
what it had done and so do not need<br />
experts to act.<br />
Mr Akoto Ampaw further<br />
submitted that the NPA is vested<br />
with the requisite authority to act and<br />
therefore it does not require any<br />
expert body at all times in order to<br />
do its work or performs its functions.<br />
According to Learned Counsel to<br />
accede to the Applicant’s submission<br />
to appoint “experts” is to ask the<br />
NPA to go on a “wild goose chase”<br />
in the performance of its statutory<br />
functions<br />
He said it would be irresponsible<br />
for the NPA not to act until after<br />
disaster had happened.<br />
Akoto Ampaw also argued that T-<br />
Tekpor Energy had been advised to<br />
go and fill their gas cylinders at a<br />
different location and come and<br />
distribute at the present location but<br />
it refused.<br />
He explained that filling the<br />
cylinders at the present location put<br />
the over 800 school children in the<br />
area as well as residents at the risk<br />
and the damage will be higher than<br />
the economic gains of the applicant.<br />
Counsel, therefore, asked the<br />
court to affirm the suspension of T-<br />
Tekpor’s operations as directed by the<br />
CEO of NPA.<br />
By court<br />
The Court, presided over by<br />
Justice Kweku Ackaah-Boafo, in his<br />
ruling, said the applicant failed to<br />
show there was an irreparable damage<br />
of the operations for which reason<br />
the court ought to protect their<br />
interest and restrict NPA from acting.<br />
The court also ruled that the<br />
applicant could not lead any evidence<br />
to properly contest the affidavit in<br />
opposition and the respondent’s<br />
statement of case.<br />
Justice Ackaah-Boafo’s court also<br />
was of the considered view that the<br />
applicant did not show that the NPA<br />
violated its own mandate when it<br />
stopped applicant’s operations and<br />
that T-Turbo failed to demonstrate<br />
the hardship it would suffer.<br />
The court argued that it was rather<br />
the respondent that demonstrated it<br />
had the right to protect and the<br />
authority to prevent risk. It, therefore<br />
refused the application.<br />
“Based on all of the above and<br />
having regard to the competing<br />
claims of the parties and given the<br />
facts and the background of the case<br />
and on the balance of convenience,<br />
and basing myself on the rule as<br />
stated by the Supreme Court per<br />
Kpegah JSC in EKWAM v PIANIM<br />
SUPRA, having regards to the totality<br />
of the evidence so far filed in this<br />
case, I hold that based on the law on<br />
the grant or refusal of injunction as<br />
stated above that it shall not be just<br />
and/or convenient in terms of Order<br />
25 r 1(1) of CI 47or even if the<br />
Court was to invoke the inherent<br />
jurisdiction of the Court to consider<br />
this instant application.<br />
In the light of the foregoing<br />
reasons above, the application for an<br />
order “lifting suspension on<br />
operation of Gas Filling Station and<br />
Supply of Gas Products” is refused,”<br />
the court ruled<br />
Chief Justice warns lawyers over cut-and-paste documents<br />
BY MUNTALLA INUSAH<br />
muntalla.inusah@dailyheritage.com<br />
THE CHIEF Justice (CJ), Sophia<br />
Akuffo, has issued a stern warning to<br />
lawyers and their clients to be wary of<br />
the cut-and-paste syndrome when<br />
initiating an action at the Supreme<br />
Court.<br />
The CJ said the apex court was being<br />
flooded with cut-and-paste writs, which<br />
is an unacceptable practice in court, a<br />
development she urged all lawyers to<br />
avoid.<br />
Justice Akuffo also cautioned<br />
applicants to read carefully the processes<br />
they are to be deposed to before the<br />
court before pending their signatures to<br />
them.<br />
The CJ sounded this caution when<br />
two Members of Parliament on the<br />
ticket of the National Democratic<br />
•Hassan Tampuli<br />
Congress (NDC), Benjamin Kpodo, MP<br />
for Ho Central, and Richard<br />
Quarshigah, MP for Keta, filed a writ<br />
against the finance minister claiming he<br />
was “manipulating funds set aside for<br />
district assemblies.”<br />
When the case was called, the sevenmember<br />
panel chaired by the CJ<br />
lamented that the processes before the<br />
apex court were poorly filed.<br />
Represented by a former Deputy<br />
Attorney-General, Dominic Ayine, who<br />
is also an NDC MP, the applicants<br />
prayed the court for an adjournment to<br />
correct those anomalies, a prayer which<br />
was granted.<br />
The court directed that they file the<br />
amended writ together with the affidavit<br />
within 48 hours at the court’s registry<br />
and return to court on Feb 28 for<br />
hearing.<br />
Background<br />
The two, through lawyer Dr<br />
Ayine, pointed out in the writ that<br />
there is a “subtler” attempt to<br />
reduce the allocation due to the<br />
District Assemblies.<br />
The writ mentions two laws –<br />
Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act<br />
936) and section 7 of the<br />
Earmarked Funds Capping and<br />
Realignment Act – which redefines<br />
what Article 252 Clause 2 of the<br />
1992 constitution calls the ‘total<br />
revenue of Ghana’.<br />
In Section 126(2) of Act 936,<br />
the term is defined as “the revenues<br />
collected by, accruing to the central<br />
government but other than foreign<br />
loans, foreign grants, non-tax<br />
revenue paid into the<br />
Petroleum Holding Fund….”<br />
The plaintiffs maintain that<br />
Parliament’s definition of the term<br />
•Sophia Akuffo, Chief Justice<br />
is unconstitutional and at variance<br />
with the original intent of the drafters<br />
of the 1992 constitution.<br />
They offered in the writ a<br />
definition of total revenue as provided<br />
by the Black’s Law Dictionary, 6th<br />
edition, paragraph 319.<br />
“… a broad and general term,<br />
including all public monies which the<br />
state collects and receives, from<br />
whatever source and in whatever<br />
manner”.<br />
The NDC MPs argue that this<br />
definition makes petroleum revenues a<br />
part of the total revenue of<br />
Ghana. Ghana realised more than<br />
$191m from petroleum in the first half<br />
of 2017.<br />
The challenge by the NDC MPs is<br />
the second time the allocation of 5%<br />
of total revenue to the District<br />
Assemblies has proved contentious.<br />
•Mr Joshua Bortey,<br />
Municipal Chief Executive of<br />
KROMA supervising the<br />
exercise<br />
15-yr-old death<br />
trap at KROMA<br />
relocated<br />
BY MUNTALLA INUSAH<br />
muntalla.inusah@dailyheritage.com<br />
A 15-YEAR-OLD<br />
Electricity Pole which has<br />
been mounted in the middle<br />
of the road connecting the<br />
Cactus Road to the Roof<br />
Top Chop Bar at Nungua in<br />
the newly-created Krowor<br />
Municipal Assembly<br />
(KROMA) has been<br />
removed to stem accidents<br />
on the road.<br />
The Municipal Chief<br />
Executive of KROMA, Mr<br />
Joshua Bortey, who assumed<br />
leadership of the assembly<br />
barely two months ago, led a<br />
team of engineers to the<br />
Mandela School to relocate<br />
the pole.<br />
It is reported that over 50<br />
cars have crashed into the<br />
pole, making it necessary for<br />
it to be removed to prevent<br />
any future crashes.<br />
Mr Bortey expressed<br />
happiness for the swift<br />
manner in which the pole<br />
was relocated and the fact<br />
that the relocation had<br />
happened within the short<br />
period of his administration<br />
as the MCE of the assembly.<br />
The Municipal<br />
Chief Executive of<br />
KROMA, Mr<br />
Joshua Bortey,<br />
who assumed<br />
leadership of the<br />
assembly barely<br />
two months ago,<br />
led a team of<br />
engineers to the<br />
Mandela School to<br />
relocate the pole.
Inside <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019.qxp_Layout 1 2/20/19 6:37 PM Page 7<br />
20TH<br />
<strong>FEBRUARY</strong>,<br />
2019<br />
WEDNESDAY<br />
CURRENCY PARIS CODE BUYING SELLING<br />
US Dollar USDGHS 4.7871 4.7919<br />
RATES Pound Sterling GBPGHS<br />
6.1380<br />
6.1461<br />
Euro<br />
GBPGHS<br />
5.4483<br />
5.4530<br />
10<br />
DAILY HERITAGE THURSDAY, <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019<br />
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />
Producer Price Index<br />
rise to 3.4% January<br />
BY ROSEMOND BOATENG ADDAI<br />
Rosemond.adjetey@yahoo.com<br />
PRODUCER PRICE Inflation<br />
(PPI) rate for January<br />
2019 was 3.4% PPI is the<br />
system that measures the<br />
average change over time<br />
in the prices received by<br />
domestic producers for the production<br />
of their goods and services over<br />
a period.<br />
Briefing the press on Wednesday<br />
in Accra, Mr David Kombat, Acting<br />
Government Statistician of the<br />
Ghana Statistical Service, explained<br />
that the rate represents a 1.0 percentage<br />
point decrease in producer inflation<br />
relative to the rate recorded in<br />
December 2018, which was 4.4%.<br />
"The month-on-month change in<br />
PPI between December 2018 and January<br />
2019 was 0.3%," he said.<br />
The Statistician said the producer<br />
price inflation in the mining and quarrying<br />
sub-sector increased by 0.4 percentage<br />
point over the December<br />
2018 rate of 8.5% to record 8.9% in<br />
January 2019.<br />
"The producer inflation for manufacturing,<br />
which constitutes more than<br />
two-thirds of the total industry, decreased<br />
by 1.5 percentage points to<br />
record 3.0%. The utilities sub-sector<br />
recorded the same inflation rate -0.1%<br />
as the rate for December 2018,” he<br />
said.<br />
For manufacturing, the Statistician<br />
said during the month of January<br />
2019, five out of the 16 major groups<br />
in the manufacturing sub-sector<br />
recorded inflation rates higher than<br />
the sector average of 3.0%., adding<br />
that “ manufacture of basic metals<br />
recorded the highest inflation rate of<br />
16.8%, while manufacture of machinery<br />
and equipment not else classified<br />
recorded 0.0%.”<br />
Mr Kombat pointed out that with<br />
respect to the monthly changes, mining<br />
and quarrying recorded the highest<br />
inflation rate of 4.6%, followed by<br />
the utilities sub-sector with 0.1%, with<br />
the manufacturing sub-sector recording<br />
the lowest inflation rate of -0.7%.<br />
He also explained that the producer<br />
inflation rate in the petroleum<br />
subsector was 29.0% in January<br />
2019. The rate declined consistently<br />
to record 15.9% in March 2018.<br />
Subsequently the rate increased to<br />
44.2% in June 2018, but decreased to<br />
31.1% in September 2018. It, however,<br />
resumed an upward trend to<br />
record 36.1% in October 2018. The<br />
rate then declined consistently to<br />
record 3.8% in January 2019.<br />
•Mr David Kombat, Acting Government Statistician, Ghana<br />
Statistical Service<br />
Vodafone Ghana appoints first Ghanaian CEO<br />
•Mrs Patricia Obo-Nai<br />
VODAFONE GHANA has appointed<br />
Mrs Patricia Obo-Nai as<br />
its new Chief Executive Officer<br />
(CEO) with effect from April 1,<br />
2019.<br />
Mrs Obo-Nai is a member of<br />
Vodafone Ghana’s Executive<br />
Committee and is the first Ghanaian<br />
to be appointed CEO of the<br />
company.<br />
An Engineer by profession, she<br />
comes into her new role with 22<br />
years of experience in Information<br />
Technology (IT) and extensive<br />
commercial experience in the<br />
telecommunications industry.<br />
She joined Vodafone Ghana as<br />
Chief Technology Officer and a<br />
member of the Executive Committee<br />
in January 2011,andled the<br />
company’s Consumer Business<br />
Unit, having worked for 14 years<br />
with Millicom Ghana Limited, operators<br />
of Tigo,<br />
Mrs Obo-Nai holds a Bachelor’s<br />
degree in Electrical Engineering<br />
from the Kwame Nkrumah<br />
University of Science and Technology<br />
(KNUST), an Executive<br />
MBA in Project Management<br />
from the University of Ghana,<br />
Legon, an Executive Education<br />
qualification from Insead, France<br />
and also from the Kellogg<br />
School of Management,<br />
USA.<br />
She is a member of the<br />
Ghana Institution of Engineers,<br />
(GHIE) and a passionate<br />
lover of movies.<br />
Until her appointment,<br />
Mrs Obo-Nai was the Director<br />
of Fixed Business<br />
and Customer Operations<br />
of Vodafone Ghana, and<br />
commenting on her appointment,<br />
she said; “I am<br />
looking forward to taking<br />
up my new role and leading<br />
the company in the next<br />
phase of its development.<br />
“My focus will be to<br />
continue to push the<br />
boundaries of innovation<br />
and position Vodafone as a<br />
key challenger in the market.<br />
Together with the outstanding<br />
staff we have at Vodafone Ghana,<br />
I am confident that the company<br />
will remain a strong competitor in<br />
the industry here in Ghana.”<br />
Her appointment follows the<br />
return of Ms Yolanda Cuba, the<br />
current CEO, to Vodacom Group<br />
in South Africa in April, after successfully<br />
serving her three-year<br />
tenure in Ghana.<br />
During this period, Ms Cuba<br />
concluded the acquisition of 4G<br />
spectrum, the restructuring of the<br />
company’s balance sheet and<br />
drove enhanced commercial performance<br />
in the market. Vodafone<br />
Ghana’s shareholder relationships<br />
also benefited from her guidance.<br />
During her reign, Vodafone<br />
maintained network superiority<br />
and introduced a number of innovative<br />
products, including the<br />
launch of the first ever Fibre services<br />
To The Home (FTTH) in<br />
Ghana, “Ekikimi”, 10x and initiatives<br />
like Express WiFi with Facebook<br />
to improve connectivity for<br />
all.<br />
Ms Cuba ensured a highly engaged<br />
customer base to keep<br />
Vodafone as the number two mobile<br />
operator in Ghana by revenue<br />
share, even after the merger of<br />
two operators in the market.<br />
Operationally, she led significant<br />
growth in key revenue lines<br />
as well as improved operating efficiency<br />
and profitability for the<br />
business through her focus on operational<br />
effectiveness. Her passion<br />
for inclusiveness and a<br />
purpose-led organisation under<br />
the banner of ‘Igniting Ghana’s<br />
digital revolution’ gained wide<br />
recognition as evidenced by the<br />
numerous awards to the business<br />
during her tenure.<br />
Ms Cuba said, “I congratulate<br />
Patricia on her new appointment.<br />
I believe that Vodafone is well positioned<br />
and will continue to prosper<br />
under Patricia’s leadership.<br />
The adoption of 4G technology<br />
will bring new services to customers<br />
and propel the company<br />
to the next level. I have enjoyed<br />
my tenure in Ghana and I wish<br />
Patricia and the team great success.”
Inside <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019.qxp_Layout 1 2/20/19 6:37 PM Page 8<br />
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />
DAILY HERITAGE THURSDAY, <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019 11<br />
Politics<br />
Do not mind anything that anyone tells you about<br />
anyone else. Judge everyone and everything for<br />
yourself —Henry James<br />
Tunisia Prez receives<br />
Ghana’s Foreign Minister<br />
GHANA’S MINIS-<br />
TER for Foreign<br />
Affairs and Regional<br />
Integration,<br />
Hon.<br />
Shirley Ayorkor<br />
Botchwey has called on H.E. Beji<br />
Ciad Essebssi, President of the<br />
Republic of Tunisia, as part of her<br />
two-day historic visit to the<br />
Northern African country.<br />
The Minister’s meeting with the<br />
Tunisian leader on Tuesday February<br />
19th, 2019, highlighted the<br />
longstanding relations between<br />
Ghana and Tunisia, the lull in active<br />
engagement over the last 40<br />
years and the commitment of the<br />
two countries to enhance relations,<br />
as evidenced by the recent business<br />
delegation to Ghana and the<br />
signing of three basic agreements<br />
for cooperation.<br />
President Essebssi recalled the<br />
last visit to Tunisia by Dr Kwame<br />
Nkrumah in 1964 and urged the<br />
enhancement of relations as existed<br />
enduring the era of the first<br />
two presidents.<br />
The President also reiterated<br />
Tunisia's eagerness to advance bilateral<br />
cooperation and to intensify<br />
the coordination of multilateral<br />
visits and consultations on issues<br />
of concern to the future of the<br />
two countries and the African<br />
continent.<br />
•H.E. Beji Ciad Essebssi and Ghana’s Minister for Foreign<br />
Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey<br />
In response, Hon Botchwey<br />
stressed the importance of her<br />
visit to Tunisia, saying it would undoubtedly<br />
contribute to the establishment<br />
of a unique and distinct<br />
future relationship, particularly in<br />
the economic and commercial<br />
areas under the framework of the<br />
economic community of West<br />
African States, of which Tunisia is<br />
now a member.<br />
The Ghanaian Minister for<br />
Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration<br />
also met with Omar El<br />
Behi, Minister for Trade and Slim<br />
Feriani, Minister of Industry and<br />
SMEs, touting Ghana’s achievements<br />
in the sectors as well as<br />
measures to expand across the<br />
African continent using the country’s<br />
industrialization agenda.<br />
Hon. Botchwey also stressed<br />
the importance of supporting the<br />
exchange of visits within the business<br />
community in the two countries<br />
and stimulate the private<br />
sector to further engage in trade<br />
and investment support, while exploring<br />
new areas of partnership<br />
including health tourism.<br />
Addressing the Ghanaian delegation,<br />
Tunisia’s Trade and Industry<br />
Ministers were optimistic,<br />
Africa is a choice for Tunisia to increase<br />
trade and boost exports, indicating<br />
their country’s readiness<br />
to explore all opportunities in<br />
order to break through the Ghanaian<br />
market.<br />
Omar El Behi announced the<br />
opening of a Tunisian Trade Bureau<br />
in Ghana to facilitate and enhance<br />
work in the sector for<br />
mutual benefits.<br />
AWW Commission receives petition to invite Mahama<br />
BY KWAME ACHEAMPONG<br />
ONE DAWDA Eric, has petitioned<br />
the Commission probing the Ayawaso<br />
violence to invite former President<br />
John Mahama to give testimony before<br />
the Commission.<br />
According to him, the former<br />
President has in his possession useful<br />
videos of the attacks at polling stations<br />
during the by-election.<br />
“Sir, Ex-president Mahama on the<br />
13th day of February gathered some<br />
foreign diplomats and made an audio<br />
visual presentation to them by way of<br />
cataloging what characterised the just<br />
ended by-election. In his presentation,<br />
he adduced video evidence to support<br />
his claim and pointed out to these<br />
diplomats that, those who were deployed<br />
that very day were actually not<br />
security men but members believed to<br />
associated with the Invincible Forces<br />
(militia group).<br />
“He further corroborated his evidence<br />
with a video of men dressed in<br />
a security uniform who were dancing<br />
at funeral grounds and alleged that,<br />
those were the people who were deployed<br />
on the Election Day to unleash<br />
violence on innocent Ghanaians,” he<br />
wrote in his petition to the commission.<br />
He further noted the former President’s<br />
public commentary makes him<br />
an interested party who should be invited<br />
by the commission.<br />
Below are details of the petition:<br />
A PETITION FOR THE INVI-<br />
TATION OF EX-PRESIDENT MA-<br />
HAMA TO GIVE HIS<br />
TESTIMONY WITH REGARD TO<br />
HIS PUBLIC COMMENTARY ON<br />
THE AWW BY- ELECTION INCI-<br />
DENT<br />
I am a Ghanaian citizen who lives<br />
in Sefwi Wiawso. The work of the<br />
commission of inquiry is of an utmost<br />
importance in unraveling the<br />
mysteries that surrounded the just<br />
ended by- election at Ayawaso West<br />
Wuogon. As a citizen of the Republic<br />
of Ghana, it is my duty to assist the<br />
commission in any other form to get<br />
to the core of this disturbing issue<br />
which is currently before this commission<br />
pursuant to article 278 of the<br />
1992 constitution of the Republic of<br />
Ghana.<br />
Sir, Ex-president Mahama on the<br />
13th day of February gathered some<br />
foreign diplomats and made an audio<br />
visual presentation to them by way of<br />
cataloging what characterized the just<br />
ended by-election. In his presentation,<br />
he adduced video evidence to support<br />
his claim and pointed out to these<br />
diplomats that, those who were deployed<br />
that very day were actually not<br />
security men but members believed to<br />
associated with the Invincible Forces<br />
(militia group). He further corroborated<br />
his evidence with a video of<br />
men dressed in a security uniform<br />
who were dancing at a funeral<br />
grounds and alleged that, those were<br />
the people who were deployed<br />
on the Election Day to unleash<br />
violence on innocent Ghanaians.<br />
His public commentary by<br />
extension makes ex-president<br />
Mahama an interested party<br />
who should be invited before<br />
the commission to submit same<br />
evidence he presented to the<br />
diplomats before the commission.<br />
I have in my possession one<br />
of his interviews on the AWW<br />
by election with Citi TV after<br />
his engagement with the foreign<br />
diplomats and I am willing to<br />
adduce same to the commission<br />
when the need arises.<br />
I am verily aware and believe<br />
same to be truth that, his invitation<br />
would help the commission<br />
to get to the logical conclusion<br />
of the subject matter once and for all.<br />
Thank You<br />
Yours in service for God and<br />
country<br />
Dawda Eric<br />
….Signed……
Inside <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019.qxp_Layout 1 2/20/19 6:37 PM Page 9<br />
12<br />
DAILY<br />
Politics<br />
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />
HERITAGE THURSDAY, <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019<br />
‘Ghana beyond Aid’: Govt to lay<br />
document before Parliament<br />
BY WILBERFORCE ASARE<br />
PRESIDENT NANA<br />
Addo Dankwa Akufo-<br />
Addo has revealed<br />
that a strategic document<br />
prepared and<br />
presented to him by<br />
the ‘Ghana beyond Aid’ Charter<br />
Committee will be laid before Parliament<br />
soon.<br />
Addressing the committee after<br />
they presented the strategic document<br />
as well as a two-paged Charter<br />
to him at the Jubilee House,<br />
President Akufo-Addo said, as<br />
quickly as possible he would want<br />
Parliament to have access to the<br />
document, discuss it thoroughly<br />
and approve it to give same a national<br />
appeal in order to make its<br />
content a guiding light for all state<br />
actors.<br />
“I have had the opportunity to<br />
read the document and it provides<br />
also very clear guidelines and a<br />
roadmap for how we are to go<br />
about things in Ghana and to go<br />
about things in a collective sense.”<br />
The President added that he<br />
was, “so happy that very important<br />
parts of the Ghanaian polity,<br />
trades unions, business groups, academia,<br />
young people, members<br />
of the Executive, have all come<br />
together to fashion this consensual<br />
document.”<br />
He further observed, “I don’t<br />
know whether it will be appropriate<br />
for me on Thursday as I deliver<br />
the ‘State of the Nation’<br />
message, to leave a copy with Mr<br />
Speaker, but clearly if it is not<br />
done on Thursday, it will be done<br />
as soon as possible so that Parliament<br />
becomes formally seized of<br />
the document.”<br />
“It is important that Parliament,<br />
which is the main deliberating<br />
chamber of our country, is<br />
seized of it and also sees it as a<br />
document that is going to guide<br />
all the work of institutions of our<br />
State; Executive, Legislature, Judiciary,<br />
across board, social institutions<br />
as well as public ones,” the<br />
President said.<br />
• President Nana Akufo-Addo (R) and Yaw Osafo Maafo, Senior Minister<br />
Motivation for Setting<br />
up the Charter Committee<br />
Amongst other things, the<br />
President indicated that there are<br />
two essential reasons behind the<br />
‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ agenda. The<br />
first is to institute the “consciousness<br />
that every Ghanaian needs to<br />
have, in that no one is going to<br />
come from anywhere to develop<br />
Ghana for them other than<br />
Ghanaians themselves”.<br />
Secondly, the President noted<br />
that, “The document is also going<br />
to be a guide as to how we go<br />
about applying the slogan [Ghana<br />
Beyond Aid] for it to become<br />
meaningful in the lives of the<br />
thirty million Ghanaians in Ghana<br />
and those outside Ghana.”<br />
Chairman of the Committee<br />
The Senior Minister and Chairman<br />
of the Committee, Yaw<br />
Osafo Maafo addressing the President<br />
before presenting the strategic<br />
document said, members of<br />
the committee have invested a<br />
great deal into the whole concept<br />
of the ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ to develop<br />
the document as well as the<br />
Charter.<br />
“We also decided, as a buy in<br />
of the whole country, this document<br />
must be presented before<br />
Parliament so that we discuss it in<br />
detail and seek the opinion and<br />
views of all the country’s representatives<br />
in Parliament,” the Senior<br />
Minister said.<br />
Members of the Committee<br />
Yaw Osafo Maafo, the Senior<br />
Minister, is the Chairman of the<br />
‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ Charter<br />
Committee; Ken Ofori Atta, Minister<br />
for Finance; Ignatius Baffour<br />
Awuah, Employment and Labour<br />
Minister; Professor Gyan Baffour,<br />
Minister for Planning; Hajia Alima<br />
Mahama, Minister for Local Government<br />
and Rural Development<br />
are amongst the Ministers of State<br />
who are on the Committee.<br />
Dr Anthony Yaw Baah and<br />
Mrs Philomena Sampson, both of<br />
the Trade Unions Congress;<br />
David Ofori Acheampong, Ghana<br />
National Association of Teachers;<br />
Nana Osei Bonsu and Kwaku<br />
Agyemang Duah, both of the Private<br />
Enterprises Federation; Dr.<br />
Yaw Adu Gyamfi, Association of<br />
Ghana Industries are also members<br />
of the Committee from industry.<br />
The Secretary to the Committee<br />
is Dr Eric Yeboah of the Office<br />
of the Senior Minister and a<br />
Senior Policy Advisor at the Ministry<br />
of Finance, Dr Yaw Ansu, is<br />
an alternative member of the<br />
Committee.<br />
NDC shooting: My hands are clean – Yamin<br />
BY KWADWO ANIM<br />
FORMER ASHANTI Regional<br />
Secretary of the NDC, Joseph<br />
Yamin has denied his involvement<br />
in the murder of Wasiu<br />
Iddrisu.<br />
The deceased was shot multiple<br />
times Monday afternoon<br />
at the party regional secretariat<br />
following bloody clashes that<br />
ensued between two alleged<br />
factions.<br />
Another victim, identified as<br />
Abdul Rahman, who was also<br />
shot by the gun-wielding thugs,<br />
is nursing serious wounds at<br />
the KATH.<br />
An ongoing meeting between<br />
some top party executives<br />
was consequently put on<br />
hold following the ensuing<br />
melee.<br />
Four suspects have been<br />
identified by police and are<br />
being pursued.<br />
Speaking to newsmen after<br />
honouring an invitation by the<br />
Ashanti Regional Police, Mr<br />
Yamin said he would be exonerated.<br />
He questioned the motive<br />
behind some faceless individuals<br />
in the party who want to<br />
tarnish his image, adding that<br />
such agenda will not hold.<br />
Meanwhile, Police say investigations<br />
are ongoing to arrest<br />
the suspects.<br />
•Kwame Nkrumah<br />
• Joseph Yamin, former Ashanti Regional Secretary of the NDC<br />
He questioned<br />
the motive behind<br />
some<br />
faceless individuals<br />
in the<br />
party who want<br />
to tarnish his<br />
image, adding<br />
that such<br />
agenda will not<br />
hold.
13<br />
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH DAILY HERITAGE THURSDAY, <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019<br />
• Akuapim Poloo<br />
Akuapim Poloo<br />
warned by Chief<br />
THE APESEMAKA-<br />
HENE of Mampong<br />
Akuapem, Nana Yirenkyi I,<br />
has warned actress and<br />
video vixen Rosemond<br />
Brown, known in showbiz<br />
as Akuapem,Poloo, to desist<br />
from using the name<br />
‘Akuapem’ as her brand if<br />
she will not refrain from indulging<br />
in her ‘nude’ and<br />
‘dirty’ lifestyles.<br />
Nana Yirenkyi was reacting<br />
to Akuapem Poloo’s<br />
recent photo shoot, in<br />
which the social media star<br />
went almost naked.<br />
According to the chief,<br />
Akuapem Poloo is a disgrace<br />
to herself, family, society<br />
in which she lives and<br />
the nation at large and he<br />
(Nana Yirenkyi) would not<br />
allow her to drag the<br />
‘Akuapem’ image in the<br />
mud.<br />
He said, “Everyone<br />
knows how we Akuapems<br />
are. We are decent. And for<br />
her to call herself Akuapem<br />
Poloo to be living such a<br />
life is a total disaster and<br />
bad for our young ones to<br />
emulate. We want people<br />
who will be role models for<br />
our youth but not those<br />
who will go naked in public.”<br />
“This is her last warning,”<br />
he said, and threatened<br />
to take her to court if<br />
she continues to use the<br />
name “because we don’t<br />
know her to be coming<br />
from here. Which part of<br />
Akuapem is she from?”<br />
Nana Yirenkyi, however,<br />
added that she can choose<br />
to do whatever she likes<br />
with her life without using<br />
the name ‘Akuapem’.<br />
Ivolu Intl gives 500<br />
children NHIS registration<br />
BY ERICA ARTHUR<br />
IVOLU INTERNATIONAL, a<br />
charitable organisation, has successfully<br />
registered 500 juveniles<br />
in Ga Mashie with the National<br />
Health Insurance Scheme as<br />
part of their pilot project.<br />
The exercise came with a health<br />
screening, which benefited children<br />
and some young adults.<br />
“It was a successful programme<br />
and we were able to register many<br />
children just as we promised. We<br />
thank the Ga Mantse (King Tackie<br />
TeikoTsuru II), and the entire Ga<br />
Mashie community for helping us execute<br />
this successfully; they were very<br />
responsive,” Gaska, one of the members<br />
of Ivolu, said.<br />
And we pray The Lord helps us to<br />
do more. The numbers were quite<br />
huge so some couldn’t finish the registration<br />
process but have been given forms<br />
to get themselves fully registered under the<br />
National Health Insurance Scheme at the<br />
nearest health post with all expenses<br />
catered for by us. We spent the whole day<br />
here and after the exercise we fed them as<br />
well as serenade them with some good<br />
music”, Gaska, one of the Team folks of<br />
Ivolu intimated.<br />
The health screening was done for<br />
malaria and hypertension; and the team<br />
also did de-worming of children. The<br />
team include three doctors, four nurses<br />
and a pharmacist, who were volunteers that<br />
supported the exercise.<br />
The Ivolu Team visited King Teiko<br />
Tsuru earlier in December 2018 to announce<br />
the project, which was well received<br />
and well patronized on January 26,<br />
2019.<br />
IVOLU is a voluntary organization<br />
founded in 2016. Its formation was inspired<br />
by works done by its founders<br />
with various non-profit and philanthropic<br />
organizations over the years.<br />
Ivolu’s objective is to create the<br />
spirit of volunteerism across all walks<br />
of life without barriers such race, gender,<br />
age, and geographical location. As<br />
part of its objectives, they aim at providing<br />
charitable services to our communities<br />
and beyond, providing help<br />
in its various forms, shelter/facilities<br />
to underprivileged individuals and<br />
communities, mentorship and guidance<br />
to individuals, contributing towards<br />
the development and<br />
maintenance of underprivileged communities<br />
and many more.<br />
Currently, Jamestown (Ga Mashie)<br />
serves as a tourist attraction and a<br />
venue for the annual Chale Wote<br />
Street Art Festival that brings together<br />
people from not just all over the<br />
country but all over the world. But in recent<br />
times, Jamestown has become one of<br />
the very poorest suburbs within Ghana’s<br />
capital city, Accra, which, Ivolu says, calls<br />
for help in diverse ways.
14<br />
DAILY HERITAGE THURSDAY, <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019<br />
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />
Dope Concept,<br />
KNUST SRC to host<br />
Shatta Wale, Jason<br />
EL-A, others on<br />
‘Bloom Night’<br />
•Shatta<br />
Wale<br />
BY ERICA ARTHUR<br />
DOPE CONCEPT, in<br />
collaboration with the<br />
Student Representative<br />
Council (SRC) of the<br />
Kwame Nkrumah University<br />
of Science and Technology<br />
(KNUST), present the ‘Bloom Night’<br />
which will be held on Saturday 23,<br />
2019, at the Parade Grounds.<br />
The event, which is a musical<br />
night, will have its headlining artiste to<br />
be Shatta Wale with supporting<br />
artistes like Jason EL-A, Quamina MP,<br />
Titan, Kofi Mole, Tulenkey, Eddie<br />
Kay and a host of other great artistes.<br />
Speaking to the Chief Executive<br />
Officer of Dope Concept, Nana<br />
Dope, the event is part of a couple of<br />
events to celebrate the 56th SRC<br />
Week of the School.<br />
He said “it is a free event and also<br />
a platform for young musicians to be<br />
recognized. The show will start at 9:<br />
00p.m. on Saturday.”<br />
•Jason<br />
El A<br />
FreQuency’s 'Bills' reveals real<br />
life experience for most guys<br />
Osayo exhibits talent on ‘Let me’<br />
BUDDING ARTISTE Samuel<br />
Nana Kwame Odame Ampofo,<br />
with the stage name FreQuency,<br />
has released a new solo titled<br />
‘Bills’, which is a new project<br />
under Mr Eazi’s #emPawa100<br />
initiative.<br />
FreQuency received nationwide<br />
applause from music lovers<br />
after he chipped in Sarkodie’s<br />
‘Biibi Ba’ song in the latter part<br />
of 2018 together with several<br />
other upcoming artistes.<br />
After spending time on stage<br />
with the king of rap music in<br />
Ghana, Sarkodie, at the 2018<br />
Rapperholic, blessing patrons<br />
with soulful vibes and incredible<br />
stagecraft, he had music lovers<br />
endorsing his abilities and lauding<br />
his talent.<br />
Fans who have anticipated<br />
his latest crooner will be happy<br />
because his 2019 campaign has<br />
just begun. FreQuency has just<br />
released his newest single ‘Bills.’<br />
‘Bills’, as it is titled, speaks<br />
about a young man who met a<br />
beautiful lady on social media.<br />
Through interactions, they<br />
scheduled to meet for the first<br />
time and surprisingly, the lady<br />
came with nine friends to the<br />
restaurant they had planned to<br />
hang out at.<br />
Apart from ‘Bills’, Fre-<br />
Quency has released ‘Welcome<br />
to Ghana’, a song that talks<br />
about the daily life of a typical<br />
Ghanaian. He also recently released<br />
‘Gold’, in which Fre-<br />
Quency stated that his aim as a<br />
rapper is to make sure his songs<br />
are on the playlist of Jermaine<br />
Lamarr Cole, known professionally<br />
as J. Cole, who is an American<br />
rapper, singer, songwriter<br />
and record producer.<br />
•Osayo<br />
BY ERICA ARTHUR<br />
BLACK AVENUE Musik’s<br />
soulful singer Osayo has<br />
served his fans with a deep<br />
feeling of his talent in his<br />
new song ‘Let Me’.<br />
The artiste said that,“I<br />
draw my inspiration from<br />
past experiences either from<br />
myself or my friends due to<br />
my empathetic nature. The<br />
title is inspired by wanting<br />
your loved ones to simply<br />
allow you to love them unconditionally.<br />
“I don’t like to restrict<br />
myself when it comes to<br />
music but to narrow it down,<br />
I would say I am an afrobeats<br />
and RnB artist. I have a wide<br />
collection of songs. I released<br />
two songs prior to my<br />
being signed by BAM, which<br />
are ‘You can get it’ produced<br />
by Benjamin and ‘Only<br />
Human’ produced by Timomatic.<br />
The last two records I<br />
made under BAM are titled<br />
‘Me&you’ and my most recent<br />
release a few weeks ago,<br />
‘Let Me’, were both produced<br />
by our in-house producer<br />
Ronyturnmeup.”<br />
According to Osayo , ‘Let<br />
Me’ was produced by Ronyturnmeup<br />
and mixed by Redemption<br />
Beatz . The song,<br />
which is a love song, is a<br />
mixture of afrobeats and<br />
soul RNB music with the duration<br />
of 2 minutes and 44<br />
seconds.<br />
Akiyana features Kelvyn Boy on ‘Nobody Bad’<br />
BY ERICA ARTHUR<br />
AKIYANA JUST, a Ghanaian female<br />
dancehall artiste, has brought life back to<br />
the dancehall scene with her saucy femininity.<br />
Ghana’s dancehall scene for a long time<br />
now has been starved with active females.<br />
Akiyana, born Angela Akiyana Kweku,<br />
says she would not leave that space empty at<br />
all. She steps on the scene to officially announce<br />
herself with hot new single with<br />
Bhim Nation’s very own prolific singer,<br />
Kelvyn Boy.<br />
Titled ‘Nobody Bad’, the song was produced<br />
by the award winning producer and<br />
sound engineer, Possi Gee.<br />
Possi Gee is known to have produced<br />
chart topping records for Sarkodie, R2Bees,<br />
Teephlow and a tall list of other Ghanaian<br />
artistes.<br />
‘Nobody Bad’ is tipped to create similar<br />
huge influence just as any of his previous<br />
productions.<br />
•Akiyana
DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />
Sports<br />
DAILY HERITAGE<br />
THURSDAY, <strong>FEBRUARY</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 2019<br />
15<br />
Ozil's future is<br />
'in his hands' —<br />
Arsenal Manager<br />
ARSENAL MANAGER<br />
Unai Emery has said<br />
"the key is in Mesut<br />
Ozil's hands" as the<br />
midfielder tries to regain<br />
his first-team place.<br />
Ozil, 30, is the Gunners' highestpaid<br />
player, having signed a £350,000-<br />
a-week contract in 2018, but has<br />
started only 13 of 26 league games<br />
this season.<br />
"He needs to be consistent in<br />
training and for matches, without injury<br />
or being sick. Without that we<br />
can see the best Mesut with us," Unai<br />
Emery said.<br />
Ozil has played <strong>21</strong>6 times for Arsenal<br />
since joining from Real Madrid for<br />
a then club-record £42m in 2013.<br />
But he has started only one game<br />
since Boxing Day, with injuries and<br />
"tactical reasons" given as explanations<br />
for the German's absence during<br />
the campaign.<br />
Last month, Emery defended his<br />
decision to leave Ozil out of the starting<br />
line-up and in December said the<br />
midfielder still had a future at the<br />
club.<br />
The Gunners trail Bate Borisov 1-<br />
0 from the first leg of their Europa<br />
League last-32 tie and speaking before<br />
Thursday's second leg, Emery said:<br />
"The key is in his hands and he is<br />
working very well this week."<br />
• Mesut<br />
Ozil<br />
CAF CC:<br />
ASANTE KOTOKO coach<br />
Charles Kwabla Akonnor has<br />
named his 18-man squad<br />
for the CAF Confederation<br />
Cup game against Nkana<br />
FC in Zambia.<br />
The team left Ghana<br />
yesterday for Kitwe for the<br />
third round of games in<br />
Group C.<br />
Kotoko travel to Zambia<br />
without influential<br />
midfielder Richard Senanu,<br />
who suffered an injury in<br />
the team’s 2-1 win over<br />
Zesco United Wednesday,<br />
last week.<br />
But the hard-working<br />
midfielder will be replaced<br />
by new signing Habib Mohammed.<br />
Kotoko name 18-man<br />
squad for Nkana FC clash<br />
Ahead of Sunday’s game, all<br />
four teams in the group are tied on<br />
same points and any result apart<br />
from defeat will be a positive one<br />
for the Porcupine Warriors.<br />
Below is the list of the 18-<br />
man squad for the Nkana game<br />
GOALKEEPERS: Felix<br />
Annan, Muntari Tagoe<br />
DEFENDERS: Amos<br />
Frimpong ,Augustine<br />
Sefa,Wahab Adams,Agyemang<br />
Badu,Abdul Ganiu,Habib Mohammed,<br />
MIDFIELDERS: Kwame<br />
Bonsu,Umar Bashiru,Stephen<br />
Nyarko,Jordan Opoku, Martin<br />
Antwi<br />
FORWARDS: Abdul<br />
Fatau,Songne Yacouba,Naby<br />
Keita,Emmanuel<br />
Gyamfi,Maxwell Baako<br />
Source:asantekotokosc<br />
Parliament orders NC to apologise to clubs<br />
GHANA’S PARLIAMENTARY Select<br />
Committee for Sports and Culture has<br />
ordered the Ghana FA Normalization<br />
Committee to swiftly apologise to Premier<br />
League clubs for describing them<br />
as being ‘greedy, selfish and braggadocios.’<br />
In a meeting with the Parliamentary<br />
Select Committee on Tuesday, the Normalization<br />
Committee members, with<br />
their tails between their legs, were<br />
scolded and made to understand that<br />
their posture against the clubs has been<br />
overly unprofessional and insulting.<br />
The Parliamentary Select Committee<br />
reprimanded the committee members<br />
and ordered them to swiftly<br />
render a remorseful apology to the<br />
clubs for their unguarded statement<br />
which the Select Committee describes<br />
• C.K<br />
Akonno<br />
as ‘insults’.<br />
In a media interview, Alex Kofi<br />
Agyekum, Chairman of the Parliamentary<br />
Select Committee on Youth,<br />
Sports and Culture, admitted that the<br />
statement of the NC to the clubs was<br />
unfortunate, revealing that they have<br />
been directed to apologise to the clubs.<br />
“Yes we have asked the Normalization<br />
Committee to apologize to the<br />
Premier League clubs for the insults,”<br />
he said.<br />
“If you’re dealing with someone, no<br />
matter the provocation, once you have<br />
agreed to work, you can’t be insulting<br />
people. We made them to understand<br />
that going forward, you can’t be throwing<br />
insults and calling them names like<br />
greedy, braggadocio and selfish.<br />
“So the Normalization Committee<br />
will come out to apologize,” he assured.<br />
Mr Agyekum also revealed that the<br />
NC ignorantly and unjustifiably lifted<br />
their description of the clubs from the<br />
Anas Exposé, which is aggressively<br />
being contested in court.<br />
“According to the Normalization<br />
Committee, these words were used in<br />
the Anas video as captions. But we told<br />
them that they can’t use them in the<br />
context in which those words used<br />
were totally different. They must do<br />
the right thing,” he revealed.<br />
The NC was expected to issue a<br />
statement apologising to the clubs by<br />
close of work yesterday, Wednesday, as<br />
the Parliamentary Select Committee<br />
looks to settle the matter amicably.<br />
Source: wires<br />
2019 AFCON:<br />
Egypt choose six venues for finals<br />
EGYPT WILL use the Cairo International<br />
Stadium, a military<br />
venue on the outskirts of the capital,<br />
plus the controversial Port<br />
Said Stadium among the six venues<br />
across five cities for this year’s<br />
Africa Cup of Nations.<br />
The venues for the new-look<br />
24-team tournament were decided<br />
by the Egypt Football Association<br />
(EFA), who have also named<br />
Alexandria, Ismailia and Suez.<br />
“We had initially proposed<br />
eight sites for the tournament but<br />
after an inspection by a Caf [Confederation<br />
of African Football]<br />
delegation, we chose only six,”<br />
EFA spokesman Ahmed Megahed<br />
said.<br />
The Cairo International Stadium<br />
has remained largely unused<br />
since the Arab Spring and the<br />
subsequent restriction on attendance<br />
at football in Egypt.<br />
But the iconic Cairo venue,<br />
which can hold up to 75 000 spectators<br />
and generate an intimidating<br />
atmosphere, is due to make a<br />
return, having been the site of<br />
three previous Nations Cup finals<br />
in 1974, 1986 and 2006 and numerous<br />
African Champions<br />
League deciders.<br />
The Port Said<br />
Stadium achieved infamy in 2012<br />
when more than 70 people died<br />
in Egypt’s worst sporting disaster<br />
after rioting at a league game between<br />
hosts Al Masry and Al<br />
Ahly.<br />
The stadium was renovated<br />
after the disaster and Al Masry<br />
were only allowed to return there<br />
last year.<br />
The Air Force Stadium in<br />
Cairo replaces Al Salam Stadium,<br />
which had been originally proposed<br />
but is being used to host<br />
matches of two Cairo clubs –<br />
Ahly and El Entag Al Harby.<br />
With the local league only due<br />
to finish in the weeks before the<br />
Nations Cup kicks off on <strong>21</strong><br />
June, there will be no time to<br />
spruce up that stadium for the<br />
tournament, Megahed explained.<br />
“It was decided then to replace<br />
it with the Air Force Stadium,<br />
which is also called the June 30<br />
Stadium,” he said.<br />
The Alexandria<br />
Stadium and Ismailia<br />
Stadium both return as venues<br />
after also serving in 2006. The<br />
Suez Sports Stadium has a capacity<br />
of 27 000.<br />
The organisers are yet to give<br />
details about which venue will<br />
host the semi-finals and final.<br />
Those are expected to be finalised<br />
before the 12 April draw in Cairo.<br />
The Confederation of African<br />
Football chose Egypt in early January<br />
to take over as host of the<br />
2019 finals from Cameroon.<br />
2019 Africa Cup of Nations<br />
Stadiums:<br />
Cairo International Stadium<br />
Air Force Stadium<br />
Port Said Stadium<br />
Ismailia Stadium<br />
Suez Sport Stadium<br />
Alexandria Stadium<br />
Source: BBC
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />
<strong>21</strong>/02/2019<br />
THURSDAY. DAILY HERITAGE | Email: info@dailyheritage.com.gh<br />
Facebook: facebook.com/dailyheritagegh Twitter:@dailyheritagegh<br />
•Hon Mohammed Adjei Sowah (l), Dr J.S Agyepong and Mr<br />
Ishmael Ayitey at the high table<br />
•Mr Ishmael Ayitey<br />
•Hon Mohammed Adjei Sowah<br />
•Dr J.S Agyepong interacting with the media<br />
New street sweepers<br />
will not put<br />
sanitation workers<br />
out of business<br />
— Dr Agyepong<br />
The sod cutting moment<br />
BY RAMSON ACQUAH-<br />
HAYFORD<br />
THE EXECUTIVE<br />
Chairman of the<br />
Jospong Group of<br />
Companies, of<br />
which Zoomlion is<br />
a member, Dr Joseph Siaw<br />
Agyepong, has said that the<br />
introduction of ten new<br />
mechanized sweepers into the<br />
country by Zoomlion will only<br />
help enhance the duties of<br />
sanitation workers rather than<br />
make them jobless.<br />
According to him, some<br />
labourers deployed on streets<br />
have on a number of occasions<br />
been hit by vehicles and got<br />
maimed in their line of duty.<br />
“It has therefore been my<br />
motivation to reduce the risk our<br />
country folks go through every<br />
day by introducing these stateof-the-art<br />
modern mechanical<br />
sweepers, comparable to those<br />
found in any advanced country<br />
of the world”<br />
“So this innovation is not to<br />
take away jobs from these hardworking<br />
Ghanaians but will<br />
support them to do their work<br />
better; it would rather add to<br />
their numbers in the long run.”<br />
He made this known<br />
yesterday during a sod-cutting<br />
ceremony at the forecourt of the<br />
State House, Accra, to unveil ten<br />
mechanized street sweepers.<br />
Present on the occasion was<br />
the Greater Accra Regional<br />
Minister, Ishmael Ayitey, who<br />
was the keynote speaker for the<br />
event.<br />
In his speech, he alluded to<br />
government’s commitment to<br />
make Accra the cleanest city in<br />
Africa, and said that was the<br />
reason the President had created<br />
a whole ministry to focus on<br />
sanitation thereby indicating its<br />
readiness to work with any<br />
private sector entity with<br />
laudable initiatives.<br />
He added that “Increasing the<br />
solid waste infrastructure is one<br />
of the priority focus of every<br />
assembly.”<br />
“It is the belief of the<br />
various MMDAs [Metropolitan,<br />
Municipal and District<br />
Assemblies] to look at waste<br />
management in a more holistic<br />
manner along the entire value<br />
chain of collecting, transporting,<br />
disposal and treatment.”<br />
Ing Anthony Mensah,<br />
Director of Sanitation at<br />
Ministry of Sanitation Works<br />
and Housing, also gave a speech<br />
on behalf of the Minsiter, Hajia<br />
Alima Mahama.<br />
He highlighted some benefits<br />
of the sweepers, stating “Some<br />
of the benefits of these multipurpose<br />
sweepers include<br />
automatically sweeping,<br />
scrubbing and dumping of<br />
refuse with the help of an<br />
embedded water tank that helps<br />
recover debris, clears stagnant<br />
water et al.”<br />
The ceremony was graced by<br />
various government officials and<br />
traditional leaders.<br />
The trucks on display