Agona East NPP accuses District Chief Executive

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The Agona East Constituency of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has expressed concern about the arbitrary arrest of its sympathizers by Mr Martin Gbormonyo Obeng, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for the area.

They have therefore appealed to the Chiefs and opinion leaders in the area to call the DCE to order to ensure peace before and during the 2012 elections.

Addressing a press conference at Agona Nsaba, Mr Dennis Armah-Frempong, Constituency Chairman of the party said within two weeks, the DCE ha caused the arrest of two NPP members without any justification.

According to the executives of the party, the DCE’s action could be seen as putting fear and panic into the NPP members to stop them from campaigning.

Mr Armah-Frempong said Mr K. Panyin and Mr Kwesi Addo, NPP members, were arrested by the Nsaba and Duakwa police respectively, under the instructions of the DCE for alleged insulting behaviour.

“This political harassment in the Agona East constituency could mar and disturb the peace before, during and after 2012 Presidential and Parliamentary elections in the area,” he said.

“We the NPP supporters and executives in Agona East are appealing to the DCE to stop that habit to ensure peace and harmony in the area”, he said.

Mr Armah-Frempong alleged that the DCE had refused to sign the MP’s form granting part of his share of the common fund to over eighty students from secondary and tertiary institutions to pay their school fees.

The Chairman said due to the insensitive and unsympathetic manner of the DCE, some of the beneficiaries had either been sacked from school or failed to write their final examinations for non-payment of their fees.

When contacted the DCE denied all the allegations and described them as unfounded and baseless, calculated to tarnish his image. GNA

High Court orders arrest of Akim Oda Police Commander

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The Agona Swedru High Court has ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to cause the arrest of Superintendent Akorli, Divisional Police Commander of Akim Oda for showing gross disrespect to the Court in a contempt matter against him.

The court presided over by Justice Anthony K. Yeboah asked the IGP to produce Supt Akorli in the High Court at Agona Swedru on February 10 this year.

It said, “The respondent was not to be granted bail except by this court at its earliest sitting”.

Superintendent Akorli is facing a contempt charge before the Agona Swedru High Court for interfering with the administering of justice at the Swedru Circuit Court.

This was after the Divisional Police Commander had interfered in a case between Mr William Sam, Plaintiff and Mr Frank Akorli, a defendant, at Kasoa, a brother of the Divisional Commander at the premises of the court.

The Court further ordered that out of courtesy to the Eastern Regional Police Commander, the Command had been served a copy of the order.

It stressed however that the execution of this order was wholly the preserve of the IGP in Accra.

“Whereas this matter was before his Lordship Justice Anthony K. Yeboah (Judge) in the presence of Mr Ishmael Turkson, for Alex Graham, Esquire, Counsel for and on behalf of the applicant herein”.

It would be recalled that the Akim Oda Divisional Police Commander, Supt. Akorli whose brother was involved in the case, ordered his personnel who accompanied him to the Swedru Circuit Court in September, 2011 to manhandle Mr Alex Graham counsel for Mr William Sam, one of the parties in the land case. GNA

Involve women in decision making-CODAC

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The Community Development and Advocacy Centre (CODAC) on Wednesday started an advocacy forum on involving women in decision making structures in the Talensi-Nabdan District of the Upper East Region.

The objective of the project was to consolidate and sustain efforts of community based groups, especially women, for enhanced engagement with traditional authorities and local government agencies towards engendering local governance and gender equity.

Mr Bukari Issaku, Programmes Manager of CODAC, noted that as a result of various interventions by government and civil society organizations in the Region, the inclusion of individuals in political and traditional governance was widening.

He said women involvement in community and district level decision making structures was gradually improving and called for concerted efforts to get more women involved in the decision making process.

“The practice of including women in traditional authority decision making was non-existent. The situation is however changing with effort by civil society to get chiefs to include women”, he added.

He indicated that the Garu-Tempane District currently had 36 women involved in the decision making process of the chief’s council of elders, and said the practice needed to be replicated in other communities and districts in the Region.

Mr Issaku said Chiefs, elders, and opinion leaders in communities had acknowledged the need for women to be included in decision making structures, and said various women’s groups had been identified and were being trained to enhance their effective engagement with traditional authorities and local government agencies.

Mr Mohammed Kalif, Deputy Coordinating Director of the Talensi Nabdan District noted that the Assembly had commenced a project to train women on issues in water management.

He said the assembly had constituted a water and sanitation team headed by women to better manage the resource and other sanitation issues in the district.

The Chief of Tongo Beo, Be- Dana Naba Nabeo Anaba, called on CODAC to involve paramount chiefs in the programme so as to achieve good results and efficient implementation.

He called for an affirmative action for the involvement of more women in the decision making process at the traditional and district assembly levels.

Participants were drawn from Sepaat, Gorogo, Balungu, Yameriga and Tongo-Beo. They expressed delight to CODAC for the initiative and said they were ready to avail themselves to take up decision making positions in their communities.

The community Development and Advocacy Centre (CODAC) is aimed at amplifying the voice of the vulnerable and increasing accountability and responsiveness of government, traditional authorities and the private enterprises to Ghanaian citizens. GNA

Drivers should be abreast with traffic regulations – Eklu

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The Ashaiman Municipal Private Transport Operators Co-ordinating Council (AMPTOCC) has been inaugurated with a call on the executives to ensure the proper training of their members, in order to keep them abreast with road traffic regulations.

Chief Superintendent David Eklu, Ashaiman Divisional Police Commander, who made the call when he swore the executives into office, said by so doing drivers would ensure the safety of passengers.

The 11-member union/branch of the Council comprises GPRTU Highway; GPRTU Afariwa; Ashaiman Co-operative Transport; Ashaiman PROTOA; GPRTU VALCO Flats; GPRTU Market-Zenu, and GPRTU Light.

The rest are: GPRTU Traffic; GPRTU Adjei-Kojo; Biakoye Transport Services and Rural Action Transport Services.

The Divisional Commander reiterated the need for drivers to take their profession seriously so as to help minimize carnage on the roads.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Amedzro, Ashaiman Divisional Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service, asked motorist to observe the Highway Code.

While urging married couples to ensure peace and harmony in their relations, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Jennifer Bolah, Head of the Ashaiman branch of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), advised the Youth to stay away from pre-marital sex.

Mr John Buckle, Vice Chairman of AMPTOCC, urged transport operators in the Municipality to register with the Council, to ensure sanity in the transport business.

Togbe Zikpitor Aheto is the Chairman of AMPTOCC, with Mr Buckle as Vice Chairman, while Mr Samuel Amoah and Mr David Donkor are Secretary and Organiser respectively.

Mr Gyapong Cudjoe, Member of Parliament for Akan is an executive member. GNA

ProNet North undertakes project to promote women’s participation in politics

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ProNet North, a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) is undertaking projects in four districts of the Upper West Region to promote women’s participation in politics.

The project dubbed: “ProNet’s Women in Politics Project”, is being implemented in Nadowli, Jirapa, Lawra, and Lambussie-Karni Districts. It started in June 2011 and is expected to last for a period of 20 months.

The project is in collaboration with Concern Universal Ghana and funded by the European Commission.

Ms Nerissa Piehiba Bankpiebu, ProNet North Livelihood and Sustainability Programme Manager, at a dialogue session with political parties in Wa, said about 2,300 women in 52 communities across the four beneficiary districts were sensitized.

In addition, 121 Gender Peer Educators and 70 Local Government Officials received training in local government conflict resolution.

Ms Bankpiebu said the dialogue session was aimed at whipping up the pro-activeness of political parties and government towards gender mainstreaming in electing and appointing women to higher offices and positions of trust.

“This is envisaged to equip political leaders and appointing authorities with the consciousness of appointing women who are tried and tested to get the opportunity to contribute their quota to national development”, she stated.

She said through the project, an Inter-Party Women’s Alliance (IWA) was formed to carry out advocacy across the targeted districts to boost women’s interest in National and Local Government elections.

This according to Ms. Bankpiebu had already yielded some level of positive results as they witnessed an increase in women’s participation in the last Local Government election in the target districts.

She mentioned inadequate publicity on electoral processes, high illiteracy rate among women as well as the negative attitude of some men, including chiefs towards the project as some of the challenges militating against the successful implementation of the project. GNA

Central Region recorded 1,120 motor accidents in 2011

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The Central Regional Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Police Service, Superintendent Paul Aduhene on Tuesday announced that the Region last year recorded 1,120 road crash cases, as against 1,090 cases in the previous year, which represents an increase of 30 cases.

Out of the total, 809 were commercial vehicles with 498 being private vehicles and 104 motor bikes, resulting in 134 fatal cases, 319 serious injuries, and 667 minor injuries.

Supt. Aduhene made this known at a stakeholders meeting organized by the Central Regional branch of the National Road Safety Commission( NRSC) to review and discuss the way forward in road safety issues, especially during this year’s elections, to help prevent road accidents.

He said a total of 257 pedestrians were knocked down by vehicles during the period under review.

Supt. Aduhene attributed the causes of the accidents to wrongly marked roads and cited the Mankessim-Accra high way as an example of wrong markings, as some of the markings rather indicated the opposite of what it should be.

He also mentioned drunk driving and passenger failure to report bad driving habits as other causes of road accidents, stressing that “if passengers decided to play ignorant about faulty cars and bad driving habits and also partner with drivers when they were committing crime, it becomes difficult to enforce the law”.

The MTTU commander also expressed concern about both improper and lack of fixed signs at particular portions of some roads, and called on the Department of Urban Roads to help address the situation to avoid accidents.

Supt. Aduhene said as part of preventive measures to curb improper road usage and accidents, his outfit was going to increase the number of snap check points so as to increase police presence on the roads and called on all authorities as well as individuals to cooperate with the Unit to ensure the success of its activities. GNA

Airtel Money spreads to other African countries

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Airtel announced on Tuesday that its mobile money platform, Airtel Money, was spreading to other African countries with the latest being Uganda which has launched the service.

Airtel Money service provides consumers with convenient access to affordable and innovative financial services through their mobile phones.

The platform, which already operated in Ghana, allows consumers to top up their phones with air time, send and receive money, pay their critical utility bills, access their bank accounts and withdraw Airtel money across all interswitch ATMs country wide.

A statement issued by Airtel in Accra on said the service was launched in Uganda on Monday.

It said the telecommunication company had partnered with leading international and regional banks to provide customers with access to deposit and withdraw cash, money transfers, banking services and pay bills.

These include Standard Chartered Bank, Post Bank, Pride Micro Finance, Centenary Rural Development Bank, Equity Bank, Diamond Trust Bank, United Bank of Africa, Kenya Commercial Bank, Baroda, Ecobank and Finance Trust Bank.

Mr. V.G. Somasekhar, Airtel Managing Director, said: “Mobile commerce has the ability to assist a large segment of the population due to its distribution network. Airtel Money’s new platform will provide consumers with a useful offering of products that cuts across Mobile banking including ATM transactions, utility bill payments, airtime top ups and Money Transfer services.”

Mr Somasekhar also noted that the rural populations had inadvertently been left out of the financial system due to cost and distance from urban centres.

“The Airtel Money Agent network throughout Uganda enables customers to transact money anywhere. There are more than 3,800 Airtel Money agents, ensuring the widest availability of Airtel Money throughout Uganda,” he said. GNA

African Cup of Nations: History favours Ghana against Guinea

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History favours Ghana’s Black Stars ahead of their meeting with the Syli Nationale of Guinea in their 2012 Africa Cup of Nations Group C final clash on Wednesday in Franceville.

Information gathered by GNA Sports indicates that the Stars have yet to suffer defeat in matches against the Guineans at the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations.

The two teams have met four times at the continental level with the Ghanaians winning on three occasions and the other ending in a stalemate.

The first meeting between the two sides was in the 1970 edition played on February, 11 in the Sudanese city of Wad Medani which ended one all. Thiam Tolo scored for the Guineans on 10 minutes with Kofi Owusu netting for Ghana five minutes from time.

Their next meeting was 10-years later in Ibadan (Nigeria), where Willie Klutse scored the only goal of the encounter.

The two sides locked horns again 14-years later in Sousse (Tunisia), with the Black Stars squeezing a lone goal victory despite several threats from Guinea striker Aboubacar Titi Camara, now Minister of Sports. Midfielder Charles Akunnor scored three minutes from time.

The last meeting was the opening match of the Ghana 2008 Africa Cup of Nations in Accra, which the Stars won 2-0 with strikes from Asamoah Gyan and Sulley Muntari.

The latest clash will be the fifth time the two sides are facing off at the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations.

[Kofi Addae, GNA Special Correspondent in Bata, Equatorial Guinea]

Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie: Ghanaians have lost trust in Mills

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Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie

The General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie says Ghanaians have lost trust in President Mills due to his persistent failure to deliver on his promises.

“If you look at the present administration, Mills, John Mahama and the NDC, they’ve lost complete trust of the people. Nobody trusts Mills when he speaks and he I believe, he doesn’t even trust himself” he said.

Speaking on Multi TV’s political talk show, Minority Caucus, Mr. Owusu Afriyie, popularly known as Sir John noted that “everything about him (Mills) tells you that the man has lost all credibility” hence the need for Ghanaians to vote the NPP’s Nana Akuffo Addo into power to restore the hope and trust of Ghanaians which have been crushed by the Mills-Mahama administration.

“Today if Mills says he will reduce fuel prices drastically, nobody trusts him. Nobody believes him because he has not proven to be trustworthy in terms of all the promises he made. Broken promise upon broken promise and that is what has characterized this administration” he said adding that “Mills promised us hope, what he has succeeded in doing is to provide hype, nothing whatsoever”.

He also described the President as a “goner” who knows that “he’s lost it.”

“I’ve always said that the man is tired, you can see from his face, his whole countenance, his whole demeanor shows that the man is tired and he wants to be helped but we will not do so until December”.

According to him, “I’ve never seen any government in the politics of the world, let alone here, who doesn’t get anything right. I’ve never seen one in my life except that of Mills. It’s amazing that the man gets everything and almost anything wrong.

And so I think that his own wife is disappointed in him, he himself is disappointed in himself. I’ve seen Professors, lecturers who are disappointed in him, their colleague, and everybody including the NDC big shots (I will not mention names). But I spoke to one of them who said Sir John, it could have been done better. And that is to tell you that it is not good.”

Sir John was upbeat about the NPP’s chances in the upcoming general elections indicating that the NPP’s loss in the 2008 polls has given Ghanaians the opportunity to “see the true nature of Mills and the NDC” and so far “several Ghanaians, almost all of us, have regretted having gotten them there.”

Source Multi TV Ghana

Ghana’s line-up against Guinea

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Ghana Black Stars line up

Ghana coach Goran Stevanovic has made two changes to his squad that will face Guinea on Wednesday night at the Africa Cup of Nations as Isaac Vorsah and Samuel Inkoom have been named in the starting line-up.

Back-from-suspension Isaac Vorsah has taken the place of Jonathan Mensah in central defence and Samuel Inkoom has replaced AC Milan-bound Sulley Muntari.

The Serbian is searching for the right formula at the Africa Cup of Nations and has played with different set-ups for his group matches.

John Boye has retained his position as centre-back.

John Pantsil will act as captain in the absence of John Mensah who failed to win the fitness battle from a thigh injury.

In the absence of Muntari, Andre Ayew will play on the left wing while Kwadwo Asamoah will take the hole just behind striker Asamoah Gyan.

Starting line-up Adam Kwarasey, John Paintsil, Masahudu Alhassan, Isaac Vorsah, John Boye, Anthony Annan, Samuel Inkoom, Agyemang Badu, Asamoah Gyan, Kwadwo Asamoah, Andre Ayew.

Subs: Daniel Adjei, Daniel Opare, Lee Addy, Jonathan Mensah, Sulley Muntari, Mohammed Abu, Jordan Ayew, Charles Takyi, Prince Tagoe, Derek Boateng, Ernest Sowah, John Mensah.

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