May 7

DIGITAL NO. 100867 THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2020
DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
• Mr Andrews Danso Anin-Kora, GIBA boss
• Acting Director General of the
NCA, Mr Joe Anokye
• Mrs Elizabeth Afoley Quaye, Minister
of Fisheries and Aquaculture
Development presenting the keys to one
of the winners. In support is her Deputy
Francis Ato Cudjoe.
• Officials of GNACOPS at the Finance Ministry
•The leadership of the Police
administration and officials of Zoomlion
visit us: @dailyheritagegh dailyheritage facebook.com/daily.heritage.9

02
CONTENT
DAILY HERITAGE THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2020
PUBLIC SERVICE CAMPAIGN
Tax is for development; Pay your tax
always because tax evasion is criminal
Published by: EIB
Network / Heritage
Communications Ltd.
Managing Editor:
William Asiedu:
0208156974
Acting Editor:
Kweku Gyasi Essel:
0244744973
ISSN: 0855-52307
VOL 7
Location: Meridian
House (Starr FM) Ring
Road. Box AD 676,
Adabraka, Accra,Ghana.
Telephone: +233-0302-
236051, 020-8156974
026-5653335
Adverts/Mktg:
Paul Ampong-Mensah
024-4360782
Fax: +233-0302-237156
Email:
news@dailyheritagegh.com.gh
heritagenewspaper@yahoo.co.uk
www.dailyheritage.com.gh
Zoomlion to disinfect over
1200 police stations nationwide
• And IGP praises President for
measures to combat Covid-19
BY PHILIP ANTOH
philip.antoh@dailyheritage.com.gh
ZOOMLION GHANA Limited,
in partnership with the
Ghana Police Service, has
launched a nationwide fumigation
and disinfection exercise
at the National Police Training School
in Accra.
The launch yesterday was meant to announce
the partnership to disinfect and fumigate
1,294 police stations across the
country.
The exercise, which is in line with the
fight by the Government of Ghana against
Covid-19, is to ensure that all the 1,294 police
stations nationwide are disinfected and
fumigated to help control the spread of
the coronavirus.
The event, dubbed ‘Launching of Police-Zoomlion
Nationwide Fumigation and
Disinfection Exercise’, was well-attended
by the Police Service Management and
workers of Zoomlion, who displayed their
tools ready for action.
Speaking at the event, the Inspector
General of Police (IGP), Mr James Oppong-Boanuh,
praised President Nana
Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for putting in
place measures to ensure that the frontline
•The auto miser broom sprayer s displayed at the event
workers and their families were protected
from contracting the coronavirus.
“I thank the President and his team,
who are directing the whole exercise for
ensuring that frontline workers are protected
from Covid-19 pandemic,” Mr Oppong-Boabuh
stated.
He said the police service, supported by
other sister security agencies, partnered
with the Ghana Health Service, as frontliners
to help fight the pandemic.
“It is, therefore, not surprising that a
number of policemen came into contact
with infected persons and also got infected
along the line.
“The police setting is such that we do
things on communal basis ranging from
accessing our offices, the charge office to
hotels, which others call the service, nonresidential
facilities and the barracks and so
it is possible we may have come into contact
with infected persons.
“Based on this, the government has directed
that all the police stations in the
country should be fumigated and disinfected.
This exercise is going to take place simultaneously
in all the 16 regions across
the country, starting from the training institution
where this launch is taking place,”
the IGP said.
He said this would be in preparation towards
calling police trainees who have
“I thank the
President and his
team, who are
directing the whole
exercise for
ensuring that
frontline workers
are protected from
Covid-19
pandemic,” Mr
Oppong-Boabuh
stated.
been sent home to prevent Covid-19 from
spreading at the training institute.
“It is also believed that when completed,
the exercise will create more conducive
and safe atmosphere for habitation
and how to keep ourselves safe will depend
on conforming to the preventive
measure which are already being outlined
by the President,” Mr Oppong-Boanuh
stated.
He thanked the Chief Executive Officer
of Zoomlion Ghana Limited for his
continuous support for the service dating
back to the partnership for clean-up exercises
in the past.
COVID-19:
Cases in Western North jump from 4 to 49
BY KOBINA WELSING
CONFIRMED CASES of the
deadly Covid-19 in the Western
North Region of Ghana have
jumped to 49 from 4.
According to a situational report
by the Ghana Health Service
in the region, all the confirmed 45
cases are contacts of the first case.
The report added that contact
tracing for the new 45 cases was
going on. Ghana has officially
recorded 2,719 cases of the killer
infection with 18 deaths and almost
300 recoveries.
Meanwhile, five Health Workers
have tested positive for Coronavirus
in the Eastern Region.
The number is out of over a
hundred (100) health workers exposed
to positive contacts and
hence quarantined and tested.
The Eastern Region has also
confirmed one new case of Coronavirus,
on Tuesday, May 5, 2020,
increasing the regional tally to 95.

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
DAILY HERITAGE THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2020
03
GIBA, NCA saga:
File joint memo of
issues within 12 days
BY MUNTALLA INUSAH
captainmut@yahoo.com
ASEVEN-MEMBER
panel of the Supreme
Court has directed the
Ghana Independence
Broadcasters Association
(GIBA), the National Communications
Authority (NCA) and
the Attorney General's (AG) Department
to file their memorandum
of issues within 12 days from
yesterday
GIBA early this year sued the
NCA and the AG’s Department
over the NCA’s decision to introduce
conditional access to free-toair
TV broadcast as a breach of
the right to free press enshrined in
the 1992 Constitution.
In court on Wednesday, the
apex court, presided over by Chief
Justice Kwesi Anin Yeboah, said
"the parties are directed to file
their memorandum of agreed issues
on or before May 18, 2020."
The directive was given after
the court had granted a motion on
notice from the AG's office requesting
for leave of the court to
file their statement of case.
The court said due to the nature
of the case, the AG's office
was to file its statement of case
within two days from yesterday.
• S/Court directs parties
Starr news' Court Correspondent
Muntalla Inusah reports that an intended
interlocutory injunction that
was to be moved by GIBA was
withdrawn while the court subsequently
struck it out as withdrawn.
The case was adjourned sine die
(indefinitely).
Background
In a writ filed, GIBA demanded
a number of reliefs, including the
fact that the Conditional Access
(CA) System introduced as a mandatory
requirement by the NCA by
which media contents of free-to-air
broadcasters are blocked by the government
unless certain criteria have
been met constitutes an unnecessary
restraint on the establishment
and operation of private media as
enshrined in Article 162(3) of the
1992 Constitution.
It also seeks a declaration that
the blockage of media contents of
free-to-air broadcasters through the
use of the Conditional Access System
introduced by the NCA is unconstitutional
as same constitutes an unreasonable
and unnecessary abridgement of the freedom
of the media contained in Article
21(a) and 162 (1) of the 1992 Constitution.
Another relief also seeks a declaration
that the blockage of media contents of
free-to-air broadcasters through the use of
the Conditional Access System to introduced
by the NCA contravenes the spirit
and letter of Article 21(f) of the 1992
Constitution since same constitutes an unnecessary
abridgement of the right to information
guaranteed under the
Constitution.
GIBA also seeks an order directed at
the NCA to remove from the Minimum
Requirements for Reception of Digital
Terrestrial and Satellite Television Services
•Mr Andrews Danso Anin-Kora, GIBA boss
any system in the nature of Conditional
Access that encrypts or blocks the contents
of Free-To-Air television channels
from being received.
NCA Conditional
Access System
It is recalled that the Ministry of Communications,
through its agency NCA,
since 2017, has been attempting to implement
dramatic changes to television broadcast
sector with the introduction of
systems of control (Conditional Access
System – CAS) which GIBA frowned
upon due to its ability to lock down the
liberalized airwaves and send the nation
back to the dark days of monopolized and
controlled media.
For some time now, the GIBA and the
Ministry of Communications have disagreed
over the introduction of the Conditional
Access System even after the Ghana
Standards Authority has made it clear
that, by the Standards the CAS cannot
be said to be mandatory for free-to-air
receivers.
Subsequently, GIBA welcomed the
standards set by the Ghana Standards
Authority and accused the Ministry of
Communications of doctoring the
Ghana Standards Authority document
which instructed the broadcast industry
to abide by the mandatory requirements
for the reception of all TV programmes
carried on the nation’s
free-to-air digital broadcasting facility.
It said such conditions, which included
the acquisition of a special decoder
with a proprietary software that
controls and blocks programs of
broadcast content owners, unless certain
criteria have been met before access
to their Free-to-Air TV contents
are granted to the viewing public, constitutes
an unnecessary impediment to
the establishment and operation of private
media as enshrined in Article
162(3) of the 1992 Constitution.
GIBA said the implementation of a
Conditional Access System, which affects
the delivery of broadcast contents
only, is a breach of the provisions on
the freedom and independence of the
media as enshrined in the Constitution.
GIBA argued that as bona fide owners
of the broadcast contents, they have the
absolute right and discretion over the decision
to convert their press services programs
into a Pay TV service and that
neither the NCA nor the oversight Ministry,
has the right to decide on the shape
and form that their contents should be offered
to the general public.
GIBA says it believes that the choice of
free and unhindered access to their contents
was made with approvals when they
applied to the NCA for authorisation to
use their regulated spectrum for the delivery
of free-to-air media and press services
programs for the people.

Digital MAY 67 2020.qxp_Layout 1 5/6/20 6:11 PM Page 2
DAILY HERITAGE DIGITAL MAY 7, 2020
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
‘Mind boggling’ 122
million jobs lost in India’
• Think tank states
THE WORLD’S
biggest lockdown
forced 122 million
people out of jobs
in India last month,
according to estimates
from a leading private-sector
think tank.
Employment plunged in April
after the government imposed a
40-day lockdown in a nation of 1.3
billion people, forcing businesses
to shut and pushing up the jobless
rate to 27.1% in the week ended
May 3, surveys by the Center for
Monitoring Indian Economy
(CMIE) showed.
Daily wage workers and those
employed by small businesses took
a massive blow, according to
CMIE. These include hawkers,
roadside vendors, workers employed
in the construction industry
and many who eke a living by
pushing handcarts to rickshaws.
“This is not just a mind-boggling
number,” Mahesh Vyas, chief
executive of CMIE, wrote in the
Business Standard newspaper. “It
is a human tragedy because these
are, perhaps, the most vulnerable
parts of society.”
The estimates of India’s job
losses are more than four times
the 30 million Americans who’ve
filed for unemployment
benefits over six weeks. The data
could get worse in India with the
lockdown extended in many areas,
CMIE warned.
•India is the largest country in the world
“Initially, a lockdown only hurts
the most vulnerable labour that is informally employed in unorgan- ised sectors,” Vyas said. “Gradually,
it starts hitting more secure
jobs. Startups have announced
lay-offs and industry associations
have warned of job
losses.”
More people are also looking
for a job, with the participation
rate rising to 36.2% in the
week ended May 3 from 35.4%
previously, Vyas said.
The government doesn’t
publish regular jobless data,
with investors relying on surveys
from CMIE to give them
guidance on the labour market.
The last official figures from
the government, released in
May 2019, estimated the unemployment
rate at 6.1% in the
year to June 2018.Source:
Bloomberg
&Env.
5 Health workers in E/R have
tested positive for Covid-19
BY KOJO ANSAH
FIVE OUT of 100
health workers quarantined
for being exposed
to the Coronavirus
have tested positive for
the virus.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Region
confirmed one new case of Coronavirus
on Tuesday, May 5, 2020,
increasing the regional tally to 95.
Many health facilities in the
Eastern Region are still struggling
to get the full complement of Personal
Protective Equipment (PPE)
for healthcare workers in spite of
individual, institutional and group
donations and some few distributions
by the Ghana Health Service.
President Nana Addo Dankwa
Akufo-Addo announced tax
waivers for health workers in
March and further said frontline
health workers would get 50 per
cent of their basic salaries as an
additional allowance tax-free.
•Health workers busy at work
The tax waiver on personal
emoluments will cost the nation
GH¢237.5 million whilst that on
additional allowances will amount
to GH¢51 million.
Parliament subsequently approved
the waiver amounting to
GH¢288.644 million, to help cushion
health workers in both public
and private health facilities, who
are on the frontline fighting the
novel coronavirus pandemic.
Apart from these, the government
has secured insurance packages
for frontline health workers.

Digital MAY 67 2020.qxp_Layout 1 5/6/20 6:11 PM Page 3
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
NEWS
• Covid-19 fight
BY KOBINA WELSING
GHANA’S FORMER
Deputy Education
Minister and Member
of Parliament for
South Tongu Constituency,
Samuel
Okudzeto Ablakwa, has called on the
government to give a special dispensation
to all stranded Ghanaians to return
home.
According to Mr. Ablakwa, just as
the government has allowed flights
into Ghana to fly home other nationals
despite the closure of the country’s
borders, similar arrangements can be
made for stranded Ghanaians abroad
to return home.
“Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of
those stranded out there. It may be
others today but it can be you tomorrow.
We opened the airports for other
nationals, we should do same under a
narrow special dispensation for our fellow
citizens,” he wrote on Facebook
on Wednesday morning.
Mr Ablakwa added, “Our government
owes it as a sacred duty of care
to all citizens, be they home or abroad,
particularly in times of crises, which is
the principle other governments have,
so far, demonstrated.”
Ghana’s borders have been shut for
over a month as part of measures to
contain the spread of the Coronavirus.
Ghana currently has over 2700 cases of
the killer virus with 18 deaths and almost
300 recoveries.
Despite the border closure, the US
and the UK have been able to send
their nationals home from Ghana.
Below is Mr Ablakwa’s full
post unedited:
Since closing all entry points, including
our airports, our Government
has been able to open our airports on a
limited basis when Governments of
other countries have requested; this has
allowed flights to come into Ghana and
take out other nationals who wish to
return home.
We have done that for many countries
without these exercises posing any
risk to Ghanaians.
DAILY HERITAGE DIGITAL MAY 7, 2020
Open borders to allow stranded
Ghanaians to return home – Ablakwa
•Mr Samuel Okudzato Ablakwah
If that can be done for other nationals,
we should be able to do same
for our own compatriots. Sometimes
we give the impression that we love
foreigners more than our own people.
I disagree with those who also say a
narrow dispensation for stranded
Ghanaians to return home will be
chaotic and may present a logistical
nightmare. Why do we keep diplomatic
missions abroad? Simply ask all such
Ghanaians to register with our missions
abroad which can be done virtually
and then our well trained foreign
service staff will coordinate their return
just as embassies of other jurisdictions
including those in Ghana have
competently executed.
On the matter of cost, most
stranded Ghanaians who have reached
out are in possession of return tickets
with their airline managers willing to
negotiate with Government on return
modalities.
Most of these Ghanaians have also
indicated their willingness to pay for
any extra cost and the cost of quarantine
if the Akufo-Addo administration
gives them the opportunity.
As I have indicated earlier, these
movements are carried out under strict
WHO protocols and therefore would
not lead to Ghanaians being infected as
some fear mongers are peddling.
Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of
those stranded out there. It may be
others today but it can be you tomorrow.
We opened the airports for other
nationals, we should do the same under
a narrow special dispensation for our
fellow citizens.
Our Government owes a sacred
duty of care to all citizens be they
home or abroad, particularly, in times
of crisis which is the principle other
Governments have so far demonstrated.
May I add that this is the reason I
remain exceedingly proud of the position
I took on the evacuation of our
students in Wuhan despite the vilification
and the blatant lies unscrupulous
propagandists have put out to the effect
that evacuations were responsible
for the coronavirus outbreak in other
countries.
I humbly appeal that we all learn to
show solidarity with each other. What
happens to one citizen affects us all. I
believe some of those stranded today
and calling for help couldn’t be bothered
when similar calls were made for
our students in Wuhan. May these lessons
guide us into a brighter and
greater future for our motherland.
W/R: City authorities whip
residents over nose mask
BY EMMANUEL OHENE GYAN
THE SEKONDI-TAKORADI Metropolitan
and the Effia-Kwesimintsim Municipal assemblies,
both in the Western Region, have resorted
to whipping of residents who refuse to
wear nose masks.
Wearing of nose masks at public places is
now mandatory in Ghana as one of the measures
to contain and manage Covid-19. But the
situation in most parts of the Western Region
is quite different as many, including traders,
transport operators, and fisher-folks, have refused
to comply with the directive.
The low compliance with the wearing of
the nose mask has compelled the two city authorities
to use the military, police and city
guards to cane recalcitrant residents who flout
the directive.
On Tuesday, the taskforce stormed the central
business district (Market Circle) and
whipped a number of people, including two
Chinese nationals who, according to eyewitness
accounts, were having a banter with the military.
A watch dealer who witnessed some of the
strokes hailed the move as he told Empire
News’ Emmanuel Ohene-Gyan that “all of a
sudden people were wearing the nose masks”.
” I am happy with the action taken by the
STMA. I want them to move to especially the
markets and coastal communities and I pray the
action does not become a nine-days’ wonder,”
he said.
Even though some security analysts and experts
have condemned the action of whipping
people for not wearing the nose masks, residents
seem to be in support of the action.
But the PRO of the Takoradi Metropolitan
Assembly, John Laste, told Starr News the reports
of whipping could not be substantiated.
“So far I haven’t seen anything like that.
There are some who say they have video evidence
but when you ask them to provide them
so we investigate, they don’t,” he told Morning
Starr.
Speaking to Starr News, a security analyst,
Colonel Festus Aboagye, condemned the action,
saying such things did not have space in a
democracy.
•City authorities began enforcing nose mask wearing
GNACOPS submit data
to Finance Ministry for bailout
THE GHANANational Association
of Private Schools
(GNACOPS), after donating
GH¢50,000.00 into the
Covid-19 Trust Fund, has
officially submitted details of
94,078 workers from 4,306
private schools to the Ministry
of Finance for financial
bailouts.
On Monday, May 4, 2020,
the Deputy Minister of Finance,
Mrs Abena Osei-
Asare, who is also the MP
for Atiwa East, met the leadership
of GNACOPS officially
to receive detailed data
from private schools affected
by the close-down of
schools by the government
due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The leadership of the Private
Schools Council expressed
their concerns,
which were supported by evidence-based
research findings
from the council’s
research directorate, on the
plight of the private educational
space as a result of
Covid-19 pandemic to the
Deputy Finance Minister.
Speaking to the DAILY
HERITAGE, the Executive
Director of GNACOPS,
•Officials of GNACOPS at the Finance Ministry
Mr Enoch Gyetuah, said as a
council, we are seeking financial
bailout packages
from the government
through the Ministry of Finance
to pay workers in the
private schools.
Mr Gyetuah said the
marathon of discussion that
followed indicated a firm assurance
of the government
to seriously consider private
schools and their teachers’
request.
The Deputy Minister of
Finance, who received their
request on behalf of the Finance
Minister, was impressed
with activities of the
private schools’ Council and
commended them on how
well-organised the council
presented their data.
Other areas touched on
included income tax and
SSNIT mitigation issues. An
agreement was reached on
how to work these details
out with affected schools
and the appropriate agencies.
The Council then officially
submitted details of
94, 078 from 4,306 private
schools to the Finance Ministry,
which was officially accepted
for consideration and
both parties left the meeting
very satisfied with the final
outcome.

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
06
DAILY HERITAGE THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2020
Editorial
Should all Ghanaians fight the Coronavirus together?
THE NON-COMPLIANCE of
the protocols put in place to stem
the spread of the Coronavirus in
the country is worrying.
It is worrying because the whole
thing is akin to the situation where
most drivers decide to do defensive
driving but a few others disobey
road signs and other driving guidelines
and a such cause the good
ones to suffer accidents.
What we are saying is that even if
majority of Ghanaians comply with
the Coronavirus-prevention protocols
but a few of us disobey them,
both groups are at risk.
For this reason, there is the need
for enforcement but the form it
takes is the problem now. Should we
be taking recalcitrant citizens to
court or they should be whipped or
beaten as it is being reported from
the Sekondi and Takoradi or they
must be made to do some communal
work?
Democracy does not permit certain
things to be done in public
without recourse to the law. Therefore,
it is difficult to declare public
support for certain things yet most
members of the society know those
things would help solve problems
for the greater good of the society.
Those who have already started
raising red flags against the Sekondi-
Takoradi whipping have basis to
condemn it because such punishment
is not in our statute books.
This would have attracted positive
comments elsewhere because the
law there permits it.
It is about time our lawmakers
undertook research into what our
society wants to be legislated as
against what the politicians think
should be legislated so that when
the law is implemented, it would
readily gain societal support to
make enforcement easier.
The truth is that most of our
laws meet so-called international
standards but they are not checking
negative behaviour here.
The rate at which indiscipline and
impunity is rising in the Ghanaian
society must be seriously checked.
In relation to this is that those socalled
advocates who condemn
everything should begin to think
about what can make Ghana a better
and unique and place to live
rather than always making the attempt
to foist on us other people’s
views, most of which, such as samesex
marriage, are inimical to the
norms and the very survival of our
society.
Should Ghanaians swallow hook,
line and sinker everything and anything
from elsewhere, particularly
the metropolitan countries, because
we live in a global village? Where is
our jurisdiction and its sovereignty?
The question now is, “Should all
Ghanaians fight the Coronavirus together?”
35th National Best
Fishers receive trucks
BY MUNTALLA INUSAH
captainmut@yahoo.com
THE MINISTRY of Fisheries and
Aquaculture Development,
through its Minister, Mrs
Elizabeth Afoley Quaye,
has handed over five vehicles
(all trucks) to the 35th National Best
Fishers at a ceremony in Accra.
The trucks are prizes they won during
the 35th National Farmers Day,
which was held in December 2019 on
the theme ‘Enhancing small-scale agriculture
towards agribusiness development.’
In all, a total of 150 best farmers and
fishermen across the country were honoured.
The categories of the awards are as
follows: Joseph Hemans Asmah, from
KEEA, Central Region, the national best
fisher; Nana Kwamina Bedu, national
best, Marine Fisher; Richard D Fran-ang
(Nadowli-Kaleo), National Best Inland
Fisher; John Coffie, Upper Denkyira
West, Central Region, National Best
Aqua culturist; and Eva Atitsogbe, South
Dayi, Volta Region, National Best Fish
Processor.
Mrs Quaye, who doubles as the Member of
Parliament for Krowor Constituency, while presenting
the vehicles to the awardees at the Fisheries
Commission, said the ministry needed to
ensure that all documentations were intact before
giving the vehicles, hence the lapse since
December.
“In December last year during the national
• Front view of the trucks
farmers day, we had some awardees from the
fisheries sector. After the award ceremony, we
needed to do our protocols to assure that all
our documents are intact, so that we officially
hand the awards to the award winners,” she
told the DAILY HERITAGE after the presentation.
“My advice to the fishermen is that when
we go on fishing, we should observe all the precautionary
measures against Covid-19, social
distancing, regular hand washing and wearing
of face mask when going out,” she urged.
Being national best
fisher no joke
Mr Asmah said, “Being the national overall
best fisher is not a joke; you will need to
work hard. I have toiled hard to reach this
position and I am glad to be at this level.
They have the categories of selecting the
award winners. I started this work 36 years
ago and during my elementary education. I
went to fisheries school so it was there that I
developed the interest in fishery business. I
have done a lot of work.
“I have farms, laboratory all through this
fishing work; I have citrus farm .I have been
able to invest in my kids’ education all
through the fishery work. I have also helped
people within my area to succeed,” Mr
Asmah said.
He, on behalf of fellow award winners
and the fisher folks in general, said, “I will
thank the most high God and President
Nana Akufo Addo, the Minister for Fisheries
and Aquaculture Development for the
great work that they have done, not forgetting
the team that went round to do this fabulous
work.”

Digital MAY 67 2020.qxp_Layout 1 5/6/20 6:11 PM Page 5
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
News
DAILY HERITAGE MAY 7, 2020
Mahama eased your
burden in Covid-19 fight
• Asiedu Nketiah to Akufo-Addo
THE GENERAL
Secretary of the
main opposition
National Democratic
Congress
(NDC), Mr Johnson
Asiedu Nketiah, says the erstwhile
Mahama administration
has made it easier for the current
regime to confront the deadly
coronavirus fight.
According to him, the massive
infrastructure, especially in
the health sector, secured by former
President Mahama, has put
the Akufo-Addo administration
in a much better stead to tackle
the virus efficiently.
President Nana Addo
Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been
applauded for the measures he
has put in place to deal with the
Coronavirus pandemic in the
• Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketiah
country.
A number of
political watchers
say the actions of
the President, including
his interventions,
have
been timely and
purposeful in the
fight against the
Covid-19 pandemic.
But the NDC’s
scribe contended,
“Everything the
government is relying
on for the
Covid-19 battle is
based on what we
have done, he said
in an interview on
Kasapa 102.5 FM, daring the
government to enumerate the interventions
it had put in place in
the Covid-19 battle, which were
not powered by the Mahama administration.
“The only thing they’ve done
that doesn’t precede 2017 in relation
to the Covid-19 pandemic is
the private Trust Fund which
even has some underlying issues
to it. Apart from that the hospitals,
stabilization fund, the capacity
of Noguchi, and even the
free water, and power he’s giving
Ghanaians were all interventions
created during Mahama era.” he
told host Kweku Owusu Adjei
on Anopa Kasapa on Kasapa
102.5 FM.
Runaway’ SistaAfia grinds Eno Barony, Freda
Rhymz in ‘Medikal-flavoured’ diss song
AFTER DENYING
ever jabbing singer
Sister Derby in her
‘WMT’ song although
music fanatics
said some of
the lyrics were so glaring, Sista
Afia has released another song
punctuated with jabs.
Titled ‘You Got Nerves’, Sista
Afia, on the hip-hop tune, appears
to be taking a dig at rappers Eno
Barony and Freda Rhymz.
How and why Freda
Rhymz?
Not only did Sista Afia throw
jabs in her ‘WMT’ song; but she
also claimed she raps better than
any Ghanaian female rapper although
many know her to be a
singer.
Born Freda Baffour Awuah,
rapper Freda Rhymz, winner of
the sixth season of the MTN Hitmaker
music reality show, found it
absurd Sista Afia’s decision to brag
• Eno Barony • Sista Afia • Freda Rhymz
about being the ‘queen’.
To register her displeasure,
Freda, released ‘KMT’. She
tagged Sista Afia as “an emotional
singer, who is so much frustrated
that she’s had to become a rapper.
In summary, the rap game is
not Sista Afia’s turf!
“Emotional singers, Afeimoadane
rappers,” she said. “I bi the girl
with the flex, your style is limited.
We got the specs.”
In ‘You’ve Got Nerves’, Sista
Afia attacks Freda Rhymz, likening
her backside to a sim card.
“Ono saa chick no, ne to fiaa te
se Vodafone chip no,” she rapped
in Twi, to wit, “That girl, that girl
with a small behind like a Vodafone
chip.”
The Eno Barony jab
After Freda Rhymz released her
song and courted controversy, Eno
Barony countered.
Touting herself as the ‘Rap
Goddess’, the Tema-based rapper
said Sista Afia cannot be named in
the list of rappers because she is a
toddler. Freda Ryhmz was not
spared the rod either.
“Hwe gyimifo no, ode
ahopepre ato punch agye animguase,”
a line in the song said -
translated as ‘Look at that blockhead;
she has rushed to throw jabs
and ended up disgracing herself ’.
“Mmarima yi feature omoho
ako omo anim no, ato mmaa ne
beef. Mooye nso a, aye se mooso
ahwe,” she continued. To wit, ‘the
males are featuring each other for
progress but the females are fighting
and it even appears they are
joking’.
The response from Sista Afia in
her ‘You’ve Got Nerves’, like
Freda Rhymz’s, focused on Eno’s
stature, among others.
“Punch on point! I dey do better
kyensaa rapper no a w’ahyehye
se beef burger,” Sista Afia said,
meaning she does better than that
‘beef burger-looking rapper.

DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2020
Don't fight the govt on the
ban on football
• Information Minister urges
football administrators
MINISTER OF Information
Kojo
Oppong Nkrumah,
has pleaded with
the football community
to try and respect the government's
decision to suspend
football in the midst of the Coronavirus
pandemic.
About two months ago, President
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-
Addo placed a ban on all social
gatherings, which include playing
and watching football at stadiums,
to help prevent the further spread of
the novel Coronavirus which has
brought the entire world to a standstill.
This move by the government
automatically halted the 2019/20
Ghana football season, which was
halfway to completion.
In the face of some agitation
from football administrators for the
return of football due to their financial
crisis, Mr Nkrumah has advised
the Ghana Football Association
(GFA) and other stakeholders to be
patient and present a good case for
the government to lift the ban on
football.
In a media interview, he said:
"Don't be angry, we are talking
about people's safety here, protecting
lives is at stake, so there should
be no reason to be angry.
"The football people should take
their time and make a good representation
of how they can play football
again while they can still protect
people; don't be angry," he added.
He asked them to emulate the
steps taken by the Ghana Golf Association
to negotiate for the lifting
of the ban.
"When you do that, the government
will have a discussion on it.
For instance, the Golf Association
has brought their presentation urging
the government to open the various
golf parks for them and even
gave measures they have put in
place to allow them to play their
game amid Covid-19."
"So this is not the time for GFA
to be angry but rather should follow
the same step."
• Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Information Minister
Dogboe, Navarette
rematch ‘just rumours’
• Paul Dogboe
PAUL DOGBOE, father and trainer
of boxer Isaac Dogboe says there is
no truth in rumours of a third fight
between his son and Mexican boxer
Emmanuel Navarette.
Dogboe has suffered two defeats
at the hands of the Mexican, with
the second bout ending in a dramatic
fashion because Paul Dogboe threw
in the towel.
Despite the convincing and lopsided
beating of Ghana’s seventh
world title winner, rumours of a
third bout have failed to pipe down.
The boxer himself said in an interview
last year that he was dreaming
of revenge and was hopeful he
would get his chance someday.
"Most definitely, that's what the
weight division needs. It needs to be
• Paul Dogboe, father and trainer of boxer Isaac Dogboe
explosive, it needs to be on fire,"
Dogboe said in an interview.
"When I captured the world title,
I made a promise to myself and to
the fans that ‘look, I am going to
make this division exciting’, and that
is what happened. It will be great to
face him again in the upper weights.
126, 130, right now we are here with
Freddie (Roach) and Freddie wants
to make sure that I am in the best
weight category.
But trainer Dogboe claims it is
the media that is pushing the idea of
a third bout.
He interestingly criticized the
media for not verifying information
before publishing it. He also confirmed
that he was no longer his
son’s manager.
"For Isaac Dogboe to fight back
Emmanuel Navarrette is just a rumour.
I have realized that Ghanaians
lie too much. Outside, they don't do
this because they investigate to get
the truth before they analyze it to the
public. I have seen so many lies in
Ghana.
"For now I don't like to talk
about my son because I don't manage
and train him again. I don't like
to be doing that for now,” Father
Dogbe said..
GFA awaits govt’s
decision to
restart season
THE GHANA Premier League
will remain suspended for the time
being as the Ghana Football Association
(GFA) awaits prompting
from the government to resume
the league.
There has been no top-flight
football since March 16 due to the
coronavirus pandemic, and in spite
of some major leagues being cancelled
around the world, there is
pressure from within the ranks for
the local game to follow suit.
However, the Ghana Premier
League is not too keen to do same.
The handlers believe there is a big
window before now and the end of
the year, to rethink when to safely
restart the campaign.
The Communications Director
of the Ghana FA, Henry Asante
Twum, has admitted several clubs
want the league cancelled but
maintains it will depend on the
word from the high office of the
President of the country.
“The President was blunt [at the
meeting] when the clubs started
asking that question. Some of the
clubs feel the season should be
cancelled,” Asante Twum told
TV3.
“There have been a number of
opinions that have come from
medical experts, and the decision
to suspend the games was not
made in a vacuum.
“Currently we are in limbo because,
for three years running, we
have not had a full season in the
Ghana Premier League. So taking a
decision to truncate it is something
that needs a lot of deliberation.
The President has told the clubs
they are in the consultation process
and will come out with a decision
when the government gives the goahead
for the league to resume,”
Asante Twum stated.
Discussions have taken place
between the GFA and the league
clubs, and without certain decisions
being made, the GFA is
pressing ahead with the original
plan to keep the game under suspension
until the ban on social
gathering is lifted. Then, discussions
will begin on the steps to
take to bring back the game.