GoldBod Pays NACOC GH¢12.65m for Gold Bust

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GoldBod Pays NACOC GH¢12.65m for Gold Bust

Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) paid the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) GH¢12,645,862.48 Wednesday, half the proceeds from 17 gold bars seized last year from two Burkinabe nationals smuggling gold through Paga.

NACOC’s Upper East Regional Command intercepted the gold at the Paga border post in July 2025, then valued at roughly 1.7 million dollars, and charged the two men with illegal transportation and dealing in gold. After assay and valuation, GoldBod put the bars’ worth at about GH¢25 million once they cleared the required validation and legal forfeiture process, officially becoming state property.

GoldBod Chief Executive Sammy Gyamfi said the GH¢12.65 million payout splits across three channels under the Board’s reward framework: 10 percent to the informant whose tip led to the seizure, 20 percent to the NACOC officers who took on personal risk during the operation, and the remaining 20 percent to NACOC as an institution for deploying its personnel and resources.

Some suspects tied to the case are currently before the courts, while others remain at large and are still being pursued, according to Gyamfi. NACOC Director-General Major General Maxwell Obuba Mantey said the operation carried real danger, revealing that one officer narrowly escaped an attack during the exercise and had to be evacuated to Accra. “NACOC is a transparent institution, and integrity remains our hallmark,” Mantey said, adding that the Commission acts on any criminal activity its officers encounter, gold related or not.

Mantey used the visit to push for deeper cooperation between the two agencies on intelligence sharing and border enforcement, and appealed to GoldBod to help fund NACOC’s youth focused drug prevention and public education programs, citing rising concern over narcotics use among young people.

Ghana Mining Reform May Hit Major Gold Miners

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Ghana Mining Reform May Hit Major Gold Miners

Ghana’s Cabinet has approved a mining law overhaul that could phase out fiscal stability deals protecting major gold miners like Newmont and AngloGold Ashanti.

The revised Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), now heads to Parliament after Cabinet endorsement, following stakeholder consultations on a law that has governed the sector for two decades. Lands and Natural Resources Minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah announced the move during a Government Accountability Series briefing in Accra, describing the update as necessary to give the sector a coherent legal framework fit for current challenges.

The bill restructures how licenses get issued and held. District mining committees would become the first point of contact for new applications, a medium-scale mining category would be created, and the reconnaissance license would be replaced with a single exploration license capped at five years. Mining leases would be capped at 20 years, with every lease holder required to sign a community development agreement negotiated directly with the host community rather than decided unilaterally by the company.

Buah aimed the reform squarely at speculative license holders who sit on concessions without exploring them, some for as long as 25 to 30 years. “If for five years you can’t act, we will take it from you,” he said.

On revenue, government has already introduced a sliding scale royalty system under the Minerals and Mining Royalties Regulations, 2025, tying payments to international gold prices rather than a fixed rate. Ghana has also signaled plans to phase out fiscal stability agreements, arrangements that lock in tax and regulatory terms for a set period, a shift that could affect major operators including Newmont, Gold Fields, AngloGold Ashanti, Zijin and Perseus.

The reforms accompany an intensified crackdown on illegal mining, known locally as galamsey. Between January and June, the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) carried out 200 operations across 53 districts in six mining regions, reporting an 84.1 percent success rate, 207 arrests including 46 foreign nationals, and the seizure or destruction of 78 excavators, 2,800 changfans and 1,244 makeshift mining structures.

Government also reported progress on reclaiming degraded land, restoring 1,535 acres in the Ashanti Region through a private sector partnership, with 1,500 more acres expected by year end and a separate 960 acres under government led reclamation nationwide.

The bill still needs parliamentary approval before taking effect.

BoG Warns Spraying Cash at Events Is a Crime

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BoG Warns Spraying Cash at Events Is a Crime

Bank of Ghana has warned that spraying cedi notes at weddings and funerals, along with making money bouquets, are criminal offenses that could lead to prosecution.

The warning came in a notice dated July 14 and signed by the Bank’s Secretary, Aimee Vyda Quashie, citing the Bank of Ghana Act, 2002 and the Currency Act, 1964 as the legal basis for protecting the cedi as legal tender. The central bank said it had observed a rise in currency misuse that it believes is undermining the quality, durability and public image of the cedi.

Beyond spraying notes at social gatherings, the notice lists a wide range of prohibited acts. These include assembling money bouquets for weddings, birthdays and graduations, using banknotes or coins as jewelry, nail art or other decoration, scattering notes on the ground or dancing on them, and tearing, crumpling, staining or writing on currency. The Bank also barred cutting or altering notes, using images of Ghanaian currency without approval, and buying or selling coins above face value.

The Bank said violators risk arrest, prosecution, fines or imprisonment, and that it will work with law enforcement to pursue offenders. Officials pointed to the cost of maintaining the currency supply as one reason for the crackdown, noting that damaged notes wear out faster and drive up the expense of printing and minting replacements.

This is not the first time the central bank has raised the issue. It issued a similar warning around Valentine’s Day in February, when money bouquets are especially popular gifts. Ghana’s move also follows comparable steps elsewhere in the region, with Nigeria’s central bank classifying money bouquets as currency abuse and Kenya banning cash bouquets earlier this year.

COCOBOD Clears GH¢162m Cocoa Bill Debt

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COCOBOD Clears GH¢162m Cocoa Bill Debt

The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has paid GH¢162 million to clear debts owed to Cocoa Bill holders who opted out of the 2023 debt restructuring program.

The government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) required bondholders to swap their existing instruments for new ones carrying lower interest rates and longer maturities. Most institutional investors and banks went along with the exchange, but a number of individual Cocoa Bill holders chose to keep their original instruments instead. COCOBOD said those holders’ payments were then delayed because of the Board’s own financial constraints in the aftermath of the restructuring.

The GH¢162 million payment now settles those obligations in full, according to a statement from COCOBOD’s Public Affairs Department. The Board is advising affected investors to contact their fund managers to collect what they’re owed.

“The Board has now fully settled these obligations,” the statement said, framing the payment as part of a broader effort to rebuild trust with investors and stabilize COCOBOD’s finances. The Board also thanked affected holders for their patience through the delay.

The settlement lands as COCOBOD continues working to shore up its financial standing following Ghana’s 2023 debt restructuring, a process that hit both public and private holders of government linked securities across the country.

MTN Gives Kumasi School GH¢946k STEM Centre

Roger A. Agana
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MTN Gives Kumasi School GH¢946k STEM Centre

MTN Ghana Foundation commissioned a GH¢946,189.71 STEM and robotics centre Thursday at New Asafo M/A Basic School in Kumasi, benefiting about 270 pupils.

The project traces back to 2022, when then MTN Ghana chief executive Selorm Adadevoh visited the school during the company’s annual Y’ello Care volunteer programme and donated laptops. School staff told him then that an ICT laboratory built in 2017 had sat largely unused because it never received computers or other equipment, despite having teachers trained to run it. That visit prompted an assessment and, eventually, a full refurbishment.

The rebuilt centre includes roofing repairs, repainting, rewired electrical systems, air conditioning and upgraded security, along with 35 all in one computers, furniture and robotics training kits. MTN Northern Sector General Manager Nii Adotey Mingle, speaking on behalf of the foundation, said the centre would also serve pupils from other basic schools across the Kumasi Metropolis, not just those enrolled at New Asafo.

Asokwa Municipal Chief Executive Amo Kamel welcomed the investment and asked MTN to extend similar support to other schools in the municipality, noting that the assembly has added security gates, lighting and a dedicated guard to protect the facility. Headteacher Antwi Gabriel called the upgrade transformative for how pupils experience technology, saying simply, “This laboratory changes everything for us.”

The handover adds to a run of STEM and robotics facilities the MTN Ghana Foundation has built in recent years, including centres at Mamfe Methodist Girls Senior High School and in Wiamoase, part of a broader push by the company to expand access to digital skills training beyond major cities.

Airport Closes Terminal 3 Car Park for Expansion

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Airport Closes Terminal 3 Car Park for Expansion

Accra International Airport will close its Terminal 3 car park Monday, July 20, as construction begins on a seven storey car park and hotel complex.

Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) said in a public notice that airport users will be redirected to the Terminal 3 Car Park Annex, a temporary facility built to hold more than 600 vehicles for the duration of construction. “Parking attendants will be on hand to direct all airport users,” the company said.

The new structure replaces a car park that currently holds 513 vehicles, a capacity GACL and government officials have said struggles to cope during peak travel periods. Once complete, the facility is expected to expand parking to about 2,000 vehicles while adding retail space, conference facilities and hotel rooms. GACL issued prequalification notices for the project’s design and construction in September 2025, tying the expansion to the government’s 24 hour economy initiative launched that July.

The car park project is one of several GACL has underway at the airport. Terminal 2 is being redeveloped in phases to help ease pressure on Terminal 3 during busy periods, with the first phase already finished and the second expected to wrap up by year end. GACL has also outlined plans for a connecting concourse between Terminals 2 and 3, meant to let passengers move between them without stepping outside or relying on shuttle vehicles.

The developments come as GACL works to position the airport, renamed Accra International Airport from Kotoka International Airport in February, as a leading aviation hub for the region.

Ghana Trains Scrap Workers to Handle E-Waste Safely

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Ghana Trains Scrap Workers to Handle E-Waste Safely

Ninety informal scrap workers in Kumasi have completed six days of training in safely handling hazardous electronic waste, part of a push to formalize Ghana’s e-waste sector.

The stakes are unusually high for a workforce operating largely outside formal oversight. Research on Ghana’s e-waste system estimates that informal workers handle roughly 90 to 95 percent of all electronic waste processed across the Global South, with Accra and Kumasi standing out as the country’s two major hubs. Workers in this sector routinely dismantle devices containing heavy metals, acids and other toxic materials with little protective equipment, exposing themselves and surrounding communities to serious health risks.

The training targeted members of the Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organization (SMIDO), drawing scrap workers from the Dagomba Line, Akwatia Line and the Ladies in E-Waste and Scrap Association (LEWSA). Participants learned how to safely collect, handle and transport hazardous fractions including cathode ray tubes, fluorescent bulbs, electrical wires and primary batteries. Suame Magazine itself is one of West Africa’s largest artisan enclaves, with thousands of workers engaged in vehicle dismantling, repairs and scrap trading alongside e-waste recovery.

The program falls under the Project for Environmentally Sound Disposal and Recycling of E-Waste, commissioned by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and carried out by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) alongside Ghana’s Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation. It supports Ghana’s National Integrated E-Waste Management Scheme, which aims to formalize e-waste collection and recycling nationwide.

Beyond safety, participants were introduced to income opportunities built into the formal e-waste chain, including incentive based collection through the National E-Waste Handover Centre and take back schemes meant to boost recovery rates. That formalization push comes against a backdrop of low public awareness. Separate research on Ghana’s 2016 e-waste law found that about 90 percent of the general public had never heard of it, underscoring the gap between existing regulation and what happens on the ground.

Ghana joins several other African countries working to bring more of their e-waste sector under formal, safer management as electronic device use keeps expanding across the region.

Bahamas Teachers Union Blasts Ghana Recruitment Deal

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Bahamas Teachers Union Blasts Ghana Recruitment Deal

The Bahamas Union of Teachers has criticized a deal to recruit 300 Ghanaian teachers, saying officials moved faster on it than on local teacher pay disputes.

Bahamian Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Chester Cooper described the recruitment as a “generous offer of cooperation” from Ghana, framing it as help for a Bahamian education ministry that is short roughly 300 teachers of its own, with Bahamians still getting first priority on any vacancies. Union president Belinda Wilson rejected that framing, calling the plan “egregious and highly offensive to hard working, dedicated teachers” and accusing the government of acting on foreign recruitment faster than on outstanding pay owed to Bahamian educators.

Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa announced the recruitment on July 11 after meeting Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis, building on a nursing arrangement the two countries signed in October 2025. It follows a similar deal Ghana struck with Jamaica in January, under which roughly 400 nurses have already been cleared for deployment, with teacher placements still under discussion.

The pushback lands at an awkward moment for Ghana’s own education sector. A UNICEF Innocenti report titled Teachers for All found that one in five Ghanaian districts face severe teacher shortages, with ratios reaching 48 pupils per teacher in the North East region and 41 to 1 in Savannah, both far above the education ministry’s 35 to 1 target. Rural schools face a pupil qualified teacher ratio of 67 to 1, compared with 43 to 1 in urban areas, and about one in five public primary schools lack enough teachers to run single grade classes. The report also noted that teacher compensation already consumes roughly 84 percent of the education ministry’s 2026 budget, making efficient deployment central to getting value from that spending. Ghana remains on the World Health Organization’s list of countries whose health workforce is considered vulnerable to disruption from aggressive international recruitment, and UNICEF’s findings suggest similar strain now extends to teaching staff.

UNICEF has called on Ghana’s education ministry to formalize a teacher management policy governing recruitment, deployment and transfers, and to use forecasting data to align training intake with where teachers are actually needed, rather than negotiating overseas placements without reference to that evidence.

Parliament Passes Tribunal Bill Despite TUC Opposition

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Parliament Passes Tribunal Bill Despite TUC Opposition

Ghana’s Parliament passed the Tribunals Bill, 2026 Thursday over objections from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and a Minority walkout, reviving Regional and District Tribunals.

The Minority, led by Alexander Afenyo Markin, left the chamber before the vote, arguing the bill risks undermining due process and fair trial guarantees. Lawmakers pushed the bill through anyway, and it now awaits presidential assent before taking effect. The legislation creates a Tribunal Oversight Committee and gives Regional and District Tribunals a statutory footing under Articles 126 and 142 of the 1992 Constitution, provisions that have sat largely unused for decades.

The TUC had pressed hard against the bill in the days before the vote. Secretary General Joshua Ansah told a press conference in Accra that Parliament was moving ahead without publishing the full report of the Constitution Review Committee (CRC), chaired by Professor Kwasi Prempeh, which submitted its findings to government in December after being set up in January 2025. Only a summary has been made public, and government has not released its own position on the recommendations, something Ansah said should have come before any constitutional changes reached Parliament.

Ansah said the TUC’s own submission to the CRC had called for removing Regional Tribunals from the Constitution altogether, and that the committee had accepted that recommendation. “It is baffling to us that Government is attempting to activate the Tribunals,” he said, adding that Ghana’s history with tribunals under the PNDC era, when critics say they were used to seize assets and target opponents, argued against reviving them in any form.

Attorney General Dominic Ayine has defended the bill, saying it aims to reduce case backlogs and expand access to justice through tribunals built with stronger constitutional safeguards than their predecessors. The TUC said it would formally petition Parliament’s Speaker to halt the process, a request the vote has now overtaken.

Climate Change Made West Africa Floods Five Times Likelier

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Climate Change Made West Africa Floods Five Times Likelier

Human caused climate change made the rainfall behind June’s deadly West Africa floods up to 23 percent more intense, a new attribution study has found.

World Weather Attribution (WWA), a scientific collaboration that studies the link between climate change and extreme weather, analyzed the three day downpour that hit coastal Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Nigeria between June 20 and 22. In several locations more than 140 millimeters of rain fell in under 24 hours, more than natural drainage systems could handle. Historical rainfall records point to a 23 percent increase in intensity, while climate models put the figure closer to 4 percent. Either way, WWA concluded the event is now roughly five times more likely than it would have been before industrialization.

The floods killed at least 59 people in Côte d’Ivoire, 34 in Ghana and five in Togo, bringing the regional toll close to 100. Researchers pointed to rapid urbanization as a compounding factor, noting that fast growing coastal cities have pushed settlements into floodplains and stripped away natural vegetation that once absorbed runoff.

Scientists behind the study said downpours of this scale, once treated as rare, should now be expected every two to four years as global temperatures keep rising, driven largely by the continued burning of oil, coal and gas.

UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said “there is nothing normal about these devastating floods.” He argued the findings strengthen the case for speeding up the shift away from fossil fuels while putting more money into resilience for the countries facing the worst of it, despite having contributed the least to global emissions. Stiell called on wealthier nations to meet their existing climate finance pledges in full rather than leave vulnerable countries to adapt on their own.

WWA researchers urged governments around the Gulf of Guinea to move quickly on drainage upgrades, early warning systems and safer housing, warning that the region’s exposure to this kind of flooding is only growing.

Planners Say Ghana Needs Enforcement, Not New Plans

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Planners Say Ghana Needs Enforcement, Not New Plans

The Ghana Institute of Planning (GIP) says enforcing existing spatial plans, not writing new ones, is what will actually stop Accra’s recurring floods.

In a position paper titled “Sustainable Solutions to Flood Resilience in Greater Accra Metropolitan Area and Ghana,” the institute argues the country already holds the technical answers it needs, including the National Spatial Development Framework, the GAMA Strategic Plan and the Greater Accra Spatial Development Framework. What has failed, GIP says, is enforcement, allowing illegal structures to choke waterways, destroy wetlands and occupy floodplains that thousands of residents now live beside. The institute blamed “decades of weak land use planning and poor development control” for the scale of damage each rainy season brings.

That argument carries added weight given how much money Ghana has already put toward drainage fixes. The World Bank backed Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development project was approved at 350 million dollars to address flooding in the Odaw Basin, though 65 million dollars was later diverted to the COVID-19 response. By mid 2025, the project had spent 118 million of the 127 million dollars drawn down, and the same communities kept flooding anyway.

GIP’s recommendations run in three phases. Immediate steps include clearing structures built inside floodplains and drainage channels. Medium term measures call for large scale dredging of rivers, wetland rehabilitation and a new Greater Accra Drainage Master Plan. Longer term, the institute wants investment in flood retention ponds, urban water storage and other nature based systems designed to absorb stormwater before it reaches the city’s drains. It also pushed for smart flood monitoring technology, stronger early warning systems and dedicated financing shared across the agencies responsible for flood management.

The institute called on national government, metropolitan and municipal assemblies, planning authorities, emergency agencies and the private sector to act together and consistently, arguing that relief handouts after each flood cannot substitute for enforcement before the next one.

3M Shares Rise on Microsoft Data Center Deal

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3M Shares Rise on Microsoft Data Center Deal

3M and Microsoft announced a partnership this week to deploy fiber optic technology across Azure data centers, as both companies expand their push into artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.

3M shares climbed after the announcement, trading close to $160 and just above the stock’s 20 day moving average, according to market data. The reaction points to investor interest in 3M’s pivot toward AI linked hardware, an area where the company has lagged bigger cloud and chip suppliers.

At the center of the deal is 3M’s Expanded Beam Optical (EBO) technology, which Microsoft will become the first hyperscale cloud provider to deploy inside its data centers. Traditional fiber connectors need constant cleaning because dust particles disrupt the physical contact between fibers. EBO instead widens the beam itself, a design 3M says installs faster and tolerates contamination better, cutting down on maintenance work as AI clusters grow denser and harder to service. 3M is scaling up production to meet demand from other data center operators and helped set up an industry wide Multi Source Agreement to standardize the approach.

Cliff Henson, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for cloud supply chain and engineering, said the company is “combining our own innovations with advances from partners like 3M” to speed up data center construction.

The arrangement runs both directions. 3M will roll out Microsoft’s AI tools across its own business, starting with a project pairing engineers from Microsoft’s Frontier Company with 3M’s Global Business Services team to automate customer order processing, including credit checks and delinquency reviews, while keeping human staff in the approval loop. 3M expects the automation to speed up cash collection and cut manual workload across its order management system.

Both companies said engineering and commercial teams will keep exploring further work together, including new applications across Microsoft’s broader data center and device lineup.

MTN Ghana Donates GH¢2.5m to Flood Victims

Roger A. Agana
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MTN Ghana Donates GH¢2.5m to Flood Victims

MTN Ghana will donate relief items worth GH¢2.5 million to flood victims in Accra, partnering with Multimedia Group and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to reach displaced households.

The donation follows heavy rains that struck Accra on June 29, leaving 12 people dead, seven missing and 7,761 households, more than 38,000 people, displaced across 18 metropolitan and municipal assemblies, according to figures Interior Minister Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak gave Parliament. Communities including Kaneshie, Odawna, Adabraka and Alajo took some of the worst damage.

MTN’s package covers student mattresses, blankets, mosquito coils and repellents, along with food items such as rice, cooking oil, tomato paste, canned mackerel, sugar, spaghetti and oats. Detergents and toiletries are also included to help displaced families manage hygiene while living in temporary shelter. NADMO will handle distribution to ensure the items reach the communities hit hardest.

MTN Ghana chief executive Stephen Blewett said the company felt compelled to act. “We are heartbroken by the devastation caused by the flooding,” he said, adding that the donation is meant to support families as they begin rebuilding.

The contribution adds to a wider relief effort that has included a government pledge of GH¢350 million and earlier donations from the Gender Ministry and other agencies. It also builds on the MTN Ghana Foundation’s track record since 2007, when it began funding health, education and economic empowerment projects, having completed 166 of them to date.

Florida Judge Dies Amid Impeachment Push

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Florida Judge Dies Amid Impeachment Push

Senior U.S. District Judge John E. Steele, 77, died Friday in Florida, days after his ruling freeing a convicted Cuban plane hijacker triggered an impeachment push.

Steele served on the Middle District of Florida bench after his nomination by President Bill Clinton, later taking senior status while continuing to hear cases. Officials connected to the court confirmed his death to national media, though they have not released a cause. The timing puts fresh pressure on an already tense fight between the judiciary and the Trump administration over how long the government can detain immigrants it cannot deport.

The controversy traces back to Steele’s July 8 order releasing Maikel Guerra Morales, a Cuban national who took part in a 2003 hijacking of a commuter plane that forced its pilot to land in Key West. Guerra Morales served roughly 22 years for aircraft piracy and conspiracy charges before Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took him into custody again in December 2025 to pursue deportation. Steele found that ICE had held him more than six months without a workable removal plan to Cuba, Mexico or elsewhere, and ruled that open ended detention could not substitute for a stalled deportation case.

Republican Rep. Greg Steube of Florida responded by filing House Resolution 1431, accusing Steele of committing “high crimes and misdemeanors” and arguing the judge gave the government less than a day to appeal before releasing Guerra Morales. The Department of Homeland Security also criticized the decision, with an acting assistant secretary calling it an example of judicial interference with deportation enforcement.

Steele’s death leaves the impeachment effort against a sitting judge without a living target, a rare turn for a case that had already drawn national attention to how courts handle long term immigration detention.

US Bombs Iran Bridges, Gulf Braces for Retaliation

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US Bombs Iran Bridges, Gulf Braces for Retaliation

US warplanes struck Iranian bridges and a key port tower Friday, the sixth straight night of strikes, as Iranian missiles wounded a child in Qatar and hit Bahrain and Kuwait.

The strikes hit Bandar Khamir, a coastal city on the Strait of Hormuz, where two bridges linking the port city of Bandar Abbas to Shiraz came down, according to Iran’s semi official Tasnim News Agency. Iranian state television said at least seven people died in the bridge strikes, though the report could not be independently confirmed. The bombing runs also appeared to collapse a surveillance tower at Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman, a route landlocked Afghanistan depends on for trade. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared an image of the tower’s collapse, though Iranian state media confirmed only a third round of strikes on the facility without acknowledging the structure came down.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it hit dozens of targets overnight. President Donald Trump said the campaign is going well and told reporters, “you will see the fruits of that labour very, very shortly.”

Iran answered with missile fire across the Gulf. Qatar’s air defenses intercepted incoming rounds Friday after the government issued two shelter warnings to civilians, who reported hearing explosions overhead. The interior ministry said falling debris wounded a child. Bahrain and Kuwait also came under fire early Friday, and explosions were reported in Irbil and Sulaymaniyah, in Iraq’s Kurdish region, as air defenses engaged incoming projectiles.

The widening front has drawn warnings from regional analysts. Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, has cautioned that the US and Iran risk sliding into a prolonged, open ended conflict now that ceasefire talks have stalled. The European Union’s aviation safety agency has already told airlines to avoid Gulf airspace over Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE through July 29.

Uber Deal Would Give It Kenya’s Top Two Apps

Roger A. Agana
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Uber Deal Would Give It Kenya’s Top Two Apps

Uber said Thursday it will buy Delivery Hero for $14.8 billion, gaining Glovo, the Kenyan delivery app already outpacing Uber’s own service there.

Uber agreed to pay 41.50 euros per share in cash, valuing the Berlin based company at about 13 billion euros. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2027 pending shareholder and regulatory approval, and Uber plans to fund it with existing cash plus a bridge facility of roughly 14 billion euros.

The purchase caps months of maneuvering. Delivery Hero rejected an earlier Uber approach disclosed in late May that valued the company near 10 billion euros, or 33 euros a share. Anticipation of a higher offer pushed Delivery Hero’s stock toward 36 euros in the following weeks, and shares are up 62 percent this year. Uber already held a direct stake near 25 percent in Delivery Hero before Thursday’s announcement, along with additional exposure through financial instruments.

Delivery Hero has owned about 94 percent of Glovo since a 2022 acquisition. Under the new deal, Uber keeps Delivery Hero’s operations across 50 markets, including Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Morocco and Ivory Coast, which generated roughly $42 billion in gross merchandise value last year. New York investment firm SSW Partners will separately buy 14 mostly European markets, where Uber and Delivery Hero overlap most heavily, for about 1.4 billion euros, a structure meant to ease antitrust concerns. Kenya was left out of that divestment even though Uber Eats already competes with Glovo there.

Kenya’s own market data shows why regulators may take a close look. A 2024 study by the Competition Authority of Kenya found Glovo was the country’s most used food delivery platform at 33 percent share and the top grocery delivery app at 46 percent. More recent tracking found Glovo’s active Kenyan users grew from 208,000 to 314,000 in early 2025, while Uber Eats’ weekly downloads fell from 21,800 to 1,300 over the same stretch.

The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has intervened in the sector before, ordering Glovo and Uber Eats in 2024 to open local offices to handle consumer complaints after Jumia Food exited the market. Bolt Food remains the only major independent rival left if the deal goes through, since it would leave Uber controlling two of Kenya’s three leading platforms.

Glovo and Uber Eats will keep operating separately until the acquisition closes. Glovo has continued investing in Kenya on its own in the meantime, including a pledge worth billions of Kenyan shillings tied to a new Nairobi headquarters built in response to the CAK’s 2024 order.

Ghana Prices MTN Higher to Avoid 2015 Repeat

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Ghana Prices MTN Higher to Avoid 2015 Repeat

Ghana’s telecom regulator opened bidding for eleven 5G spectrum lots, charging MTN forty percent more per lot to prevent a repeat of a 2015 auction that shut out competitors.

The National Communications Authority (NCA) is offering three lots in the 700 MHz band, five in the 2.3 GHz band and three in the 3 GHz mid band. Applicants must pay a nonrefundable fee of GHS300,000 per lot, and sealed bids are due at the NCA Director-General’s office by 5pm on August 6.

MTN Ghana will pay the premium in two of the three bands because regulators classify it as holding significant market power. A 700 MHz lot costs other bidders $36 million, but MTN pays $50.4 million. A 3 GHz lot runs $24 million for competitors and $33.6 million for MTN. The 2.3 GHz band carries no premium, though MTN cannot bid there at all since it already holds similar spectrum acquired from Goldkey and Blue Telecoms.

The pricing structure responds directly to a mistake regulators made in 2015, when the NCA set an 800 MHz lot at $67.5 million, a price so steep that only MTN could afford to buy in, leaving the rest of that spectrum unsold. Ghana’s telecom market has shrunk from six competitive carriers to three since then, and MTN’s share has grown from 61 percent in 2022 to nearly 79 percent today, a level of dominance both the NCA and the Communications Ministry have publicly called a concern.

The new auction follows the NCA’s decision to strip Next Gen Infraco of the ten year wholesale 5G exclusivity it received in 2024. The company built only 43 to 49 sites against an eventual target near 1,200 and fell behind on a large share of its $125 million licence fee, prompting regulators to open the market rather than wait out the arrangement.

Winning bidders get fifteen year licences and must cover 70 percent of Ghana’s population with outdoor mobile broadband by March 6, 2027, timed to the country’s 70th independence anniversary. GSMA Intelligence has projected Ghana could reach only about 7 percent 5G coverage by the end of this year if commercial service launches soon, trailing Nigeria’s 22 percent, Kenya’s 38 percent and South Africa’s more than 60 percent.

MTN Ghana chief executive Stephen Blewett and Telecel Group chief executive Moh Damush have both said their companies intend to bid once the process opens.

Congo Forest Yields Second New Primate Species

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Congo Forest Yields Second New Primate Species

Scientists have identified a new monkey species, Colobus congoensis, in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Lomami Basin, the same forest that yielded a new primate in 2012.

The monkey, known locally as Likweli, carries a glossy black coat, orange cream patches around its mouth and nose, and a roaring call that differs in sequence and frequency from its closest known relative. It weighs about 15 pounds, smaller than other Colobus monkeys, and researchers found distinct skull, teeth and skeletal traits separating it from every known African colobus species.

Kate Detwiler of Florida Atlantic University and Christopher Gilbert of the City University of New York Graduate Center and Hunter College led the study, published in PLOS ONE with contributions from Yale researchers. Detwiler also co-authored the 2012 description of Lesula, another previously unknown monkey species found in the same Lomami Basin region, making Likweli the second new primate she has helped confirm from that stretch of forest, now protected as Lomami National Park.

Conservationists with the Lukuru Wildlife Research Foundation first photographed the animal in 2008, years before the park’s 2016 creation. A clearer sighting followed a decade later, and researchers logged 114 field observations between 2018 and 2022 across an estimated range of 1,700 square kilometers.

Genetic testing traced Likweli’s closest relative to Colobus satanas, a species living more than 1,200 kilometers west. The two lineages share a common ancestor from roughly 4.7 million to 5.8 million years ago, the oldest known split inside the Colobus family tree.

Local naming reflects how little the species was known even nearby. Bangala communities call it Likweli, while Mituku residents use kasaba nkoni, meaning branch shaker. Researchers surveyed 52 villages bordering the range and found only eight where residents could describe the animal, helping explain why it went undocumented for so long despite sitting inside a national park.

Detwiler said the evidence pointed clearly toward a new species. Researchers are recommending an Endangered listing given the limited range, habitat loss and hunting pressure, and note that most of the population lives within Lomami National Park’s boundaries.

Alexander Georgiev, a primatologist at Bangor University who was not involved in the study, called the analysis thorough and said finding a primate unfamiliar even to local residents is rare. Likweli is only the fifth new monkey species documented in Africa in 75 years.

Verizon’s 3,000 Job Cuts Mostly Store Transfers

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Verizon’s 3,000 Job Cuts Mostly Store Transfers

Verizon will cut about 500 corporate positions and transfer 274 retail stores to independent owners on August 16, affecting roughly 3,000 workers total.

Only the 500 corporate roles represent direct layoffs. The remaining employees work at the stores changing hands, and while they come off Verizon’s payroll, the company said many are expected to stay on with the new operators. In Verizon’s last comparable transition, about seven in ten retail staff at sold locations ended up working for the incoming owner.

Once the transfer closes, Verizon will hold onto 1,000 company owned stores, adding to roughly 5,000 locations already run by independent franchisees. Six large operators manage most of those franchised outlets.

The move extends a restructuring that began last November, when Verizon converted 179 stores to franchise ownership and cut more than 13,000 nonunion positions, about 20 percent of that workforce, as part of a push to trim $5 billion in operating costs by the end of 2026.

CEO Dan Schulman, who took over in October after nearly a decade running PayPal, has paired the cuts with a bet on automation. He has predicted artificial intelligence will replace “a large percentage” of the customer service work employees currently handle, arguing it will also improve service quality.

The prediction fits a wider pattern this year. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has said AI already eliminated 30 to 40 percent of jobs in some of the bank’s divisions, and the technology sector has cut more than 95,000 positions in 2026, with AI cited as the leading factor in roughly half of surveyed hiring decisions.

Verizon has also rolled out a simplified wireless plan lineup and a new loyalty program with free and discounted perks for existing subscribers. The company reports second quarter earnings on July 24.

DHS Sets Fixed Term Limits on Student, Journalist Visas

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DHS Sets Fixed Term Limits on Student, Journalist Visas

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a final rule Thursday capping international student visas at four years and setting an effective date of September 15.

The rule replaces the open ended “duration of status” system that has governed F student visas, J exchange visitor visas and I media visas for decades, requiring holders instead to leave or apply for an extension once their fixed admission period ends. Students and exchange visitors will be capped at four years, and the post completion work authorization grace period for F-1 graduates shrinks from 60 days to 30.

Foreign journalists will receive an initial 240 day stay, renewable in further 240 day blocks. Chinese nationals working as journalists face a tighter 90 day limit per admission, a distinction Chinese officials called discriminatory when DHS first proposed it last August.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the changes let the department reclaim its ability to properly screen, vet and monitor individuals inside the country. The agency has argued the prior system let some visa holders re-enroll in courses indefinitely to avoid departure.

DHS reviewed close to 22,000 public comments after proposing the rule in August 2025 and made few changes before finalizing it. A group of lawmakers had formally objected during the comment period, arguing the shift would add paperwork without improving oversight. The Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration said the rule will weaken American universities’ ability to recruit international talent, and Japan’s embassy had unsuccessfully pushed DHS to preserve two to five year admission periods for its correspondents.

Universities have already reported falling international applications following earlier visa cancellations and paused federal research grants this year. A similar fixed term proposal surfaced near the end of Trump’s first term but was not carried forward under the Biden administration.

The rule is classified as a major rule under the Congressional Review Act, giving Congress a window to challenge it before it takes effect.

Trust Push Follows Zeepay Licence Revocation

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Trust Push Follows Zeepay Licence Revocation

Ghana’s communications minister called for stronger digital finance safeguards in Accra on Thursday, days after the central bank revoked fintech firm Zeepay’s electronic money licence.

Samuel Nartey George, Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, addressed the Financial Architecture Summit 2026 under the theme “Innovation for Stability: Central Banking, Digital Finance and the New Architecture of Ghana’s Financial Future.” Bank of Ghana Governor Johnson Pandit Asiama, regulators, fintech executives and development partners attended.

George told the gathering that digital finance growth depends on reliable connectivity, trusted digital identity systems and strong cybersecurity, arguing that public confidence, not technology alone, will determine whether the sector succeeds. He said the ministry judges digital transformation by whether it changes an ordinary life for the better.

He named interoperability, inclusive by design systems and cyber resilience as the three pillars he wants to guide the next phase of Ghana’s digital and financial buildout, and pressed banks, fintechs and technology firms to design products that stay secure and accessible to all users.

Asiama used the summit to announce that the central bank has completed a new Digital Banking Framework, now open for stakeholder consultation before implementation. He also updated attendees on licensing work under last year’s Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, a new directive requiring banks to build board level cyber risk expertise, and what he described as Ghana’s first comprehensive framework for using artificial intelligence in fraud detection, credit scoring and customer service.

The renewed focus on oversight follows the central bank’s decision days earlier to revoke the electronic money licence of Zeepay, one of Ghana’s most recognized mobile money and remittance fintechs.

The summit closed with government, regulators and industry partners committing to continue the consultations Asiama outlined, though no timeline for finalizing the new banking framework had been set as of Thursday.

China Launches Global AI Body Amid Trump Clash

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China Launches Global AI Body Amid Trump Clash

China formalized a 29 nation AI cooperation body in Shanghai on Thursday, hours before President Xi Jinping’s keynote address at a summit that followed a pointed attack on Beijing from President Trump.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi signed the founding agreement on behalf of Beijing, establishing the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) as an independent intergovernmental body headquartered in Shanghai. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres attended the ceremony, which took place the evening before the opening of the 2026 World AI Conference.

Officials from Kazakhstan, Laos, Pakistan and Russia signed alongside Wang, along with representatives from Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia. China’s foreign ministry confirmed Belarus, Serbia, Cuba and Venezuela also joined as founding members, along with ten additional African nations and twelve additional Asian nations it did not name.

The agreement commits WAICO to promoting cooperation on AI development, governance and application under United Nations Charter principles. Beijing first proposed the body at last year’s conference, and Thursday marked the first time countries formally signed on.

Xi delivered the conference keynote himself on Friday, a first for a Chinese leader at the event, telling delegates that AI development should not be a solo performance by a single country. His address followed Trump’s Thursday night speech alleging Beijing accessed 220 million American voter files beginning in 2020, a claim Trump’s administration called the largest compromise of election data in history. Election security researchers who reviewed the released material said it added little new evidence and noted that voting machines remain difficult to compromise at scale.

No major Western government signed the Shanghai agreement, and no large American AI firms attended the ceremony, underscoring a growing split between Washington and Beijing over who sets the rules for the technology.

Hamilton Shares Vacation Photos as Kardashian Mourns Grandmother

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Hamilton Shares Vacation Photos as Kardashian Mourns Grandmother

Lewis Hamilton posted vacation photos with girlfriend Kim Kardashian on Thursday, hours after Kardashian mourned her grandmother Mary Jo Shannon, who died at 91.

The split timing put two very different sides of the couple’s public life on display within the same day, one framed around family leisure, the other around family loss.

Hamilton’s Instagram carousel showed the Formula 1 driver hiking, riding jet skis and watching a movie with Kardashian and her children. His niece Willow appeared kissing his cheek in one slide, while another showed him and Kardashian with her children Chicago and Psalm against a sunset. He captioned the post “Hold your people close.”

The couple’s relationship has moved through several public milestones since dating rumors surfaced in February, including a Cotswolds getaway, a joint appearance at the Super Bowl, a Tokyo trip in March, Kardashian’s attendance at the Monaco Grand Prix in May, and a Fourth of July lake vacation with her children and sister Khloe.

Hamilton’s post landed about an hour after Kardashian shared her own tribute to Shannon, whose death Kris Jenner had announced earlier Thursday. Shannon was Jenner’s mother and grandmother to Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian along with Kendall and Kylie Jenner.

Kardashian’s tribute recalled working her first job as a teenager at Shannon’s children’s clothing store in San Diego. She closed her post with “You will always be a part of me,” addressing messages to her late father, Robert Kardashian Sr., her grandfather Harry Shannon, and her aunt Karen Houghton, who died last year.

Jenner’s own post described Shannon as the heart of the family. Neither Jenner nor Kardashian had announced funeral arrangements as of Thursday.

Mahama Cuts Sod for Juapong’s Highest Category Market

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Mahama Cuts Sod for Juapong’s Highest Category Market

President John Dramani Mahama cut the sod for Ghana’s top ranked 24 Hour Economy Model Market in Juapong on Thursday, promising jobs and trade infrastructure for North Tongu farmers.

The Juapong project is the sixth sod cutting under the government’s market building drive since April, joining ceremonies in Bimbilla, Asesewa, Bole and Assin Bereku. It carries the highest facility classification the program offers, Category Four, a tier reserved for the largest planned markets in the rollout.

Mahama made the announcement during a stop on his two day Resetting Ghana tour of the Volta Region. He told residents and stakeholders in Juapong that the market would go beyond traditional trading space. The design includes storage, processing and packaging facilities, along with access to digital commerce platforms and financial services for traders and small businesses.

The project sits inside a wider government plan to build 261 modern district markets across the country, part of the broader 24 Hour Economy programme meant to expand productivity and employment nationwide. Similar Category Four sites have already broken ground this year in the Northern, Eastern and Savannah regions, though most other district markets fall under lower classification tiers with smaller footprints.

Mahama pointed to Juapong’s position along regional transport routes and its agricultural surroundings as reasons he expects the town to grow into a commercial and industrial center. He tied the market to a broader package of Volta Region investment that includes roads, health facilities, schools, agriculture support and transport upgrades.

No completion date or construction budget for the Juapong site had been released as of Thursday.

African Newspage, Africa Prosperity Network Partner to Advance Africa’s Integration Agenda

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African Newspage, Africa Prosperity Network Partner to Advance Africa’s Integration Agenda

The collaboration will amplify the Make Africa Borderless Now! (MABN) movement and promote informed public discourse on free movement, intra-African trade and regional integration.

African Newspage, a leading Pan-African multimedia platform focused on Africa’s development and integration, has entered into a strategic media partnership with Africa Prosperity Network (APN) to strengthen public awareness and policy engagement around free movement, regional integration and Africa’s single market agenda.

Formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the partnership establishes a framework for joint multimedia storytelling, strategic communications and policy journalism to amplify Africa’s integration agenda, with particular emphasis on APN’s Make Africa Borderless Now! movement and the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The collaboration will leverage African Newspage’s expertise in policy-driven journalism and multimedia storytelling alongside APN’s leadership in promoting Africa’s single market to produce compelling content that simplifies complex policy issues for citizens, businesses and policymakers. The partnership will also spotlight opportunities arising from free movement, regional infrastructure development, intra-African trade, industrialisation and private sector-led economic transformation.

Speaking on the partnership, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, Executive Chairman of Africa Prosperity Network, said: “This partnership with African Newspage is a significant step towards amplifying the voices and solutions that will drive Africa’s economic transformation. As we advance the Make Africa Borderless Now! movement, we need trusted media platforms that can communicate the benefits of free movement, intra-African trade and continental integration in ways that resonate with citizens, businesses and policymakers.”

He described the collaboration as more than a communications partnership, saying it would help build the public momentum needed to accelerate Africa’s integration agenda. “Together, we are not just telling Africa’s integration story, we are building the momentum needed to realise a thriving single market and a more prosperous continent.”

Adam Alqali, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of African Newspage, said:
“At African Newspage, we see journalism as a catalyst for Africa’s integration. This partnership strengthens our ability to produce compelling, evidence-based stories that connect policy with people, demonstrating how free movement, the AfCFTA and regional integration are creating new opportunities for Africans across the continent.”

Alqali said the partnership reflects African Newspage’s commitment to translating complex policy debates into compelling stories that inform, inspire and empower citizens to participate in Africa’s integration journey.
“By amplifying practical solutions, policy innovations and African success stories, we aim to deepen public understanding, inspire greater participation in Africa’s integration agenda and help build momentum for a borderless and prosperous continent.”

Under the partnership, African Newspage will provide editorial support for APN through joint multimedia productions, policy explainers, thought leadership articles, interviews, podcasts, event coverage, newsletters and digital campaigns. The collaboration will also strengthen the visibility of the Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD) and the Make Africa Borderless Now! movement while translating complex policy conversations into accessible content for wider public engagement.

Jaipur Festival Opens Second Student Film Contest

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Jaipur Festival Opens Second Student Film Contest

The Jaipur International Film Festival has opened entries for the second edition of its 2 to 7 Minute Movie Making Competition, a student filmmaking contest open to school, college and university teams across India.

Teams of three to ten students can submit fiction or non fiction films between two and seven minutes long, with no restriction on subject or the students’ academic background. College and university entries must be filmed between March and August 2026 and include one shot of a dated newspaper from that window, while school entries can be drawn from anything produced since January 2025. Separate award tracks cover films specifically about Jaipur or built around a War and Peace theme. Entry costs 1,500 rupees per team, and submissions close July 25, with results due August 26.

The competition’s first edition, run in 2025, drew 42 nominated films from 29 schools and eight colleges, of which 38 were screened at the festival. Organisers have not said how many entries they expect this year.

Winners will split cash and in kind prizes the festival values at 100,000 rupees, plus certificates and delegate passes to both the Jaipur festival and the New Delhi Film Festival. Selected films are set to screen at JIFF’s January 2027 edition. The festival’s own promotional materials describe it as India’s leading and fastest growing film festival and cite over 1,000 international awards across its programming, claims that reflect the festival’s own marketing rather than independent verification.

Founder and director Hanu Roj said the competition gives students a platform to experiment and gain recognition, adding that every filmmaker starts with a first film.

Interested teams can register through jiffindia.org or by contacting the festival directly.

Wealth Tax Warning Rests On Disputed Millionaire Count

Roger A. Agana
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Wealth Tax Warning Rests On Disputed Millionaire Count

Financial adviser Nigel Green urged incoming UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham to rule out a wealth tax, citing a millionaire exodus figure tax researchers have challenged as overstated.

Green, chief executive of deVere Group, has issued similar warnings to Burnham several times in recent weeks as the Labour politician has moved toward Downing Street, and his firm has a direct commercial interest in the outcome: deVere advises wealthy clients on relocating residency and spreading assets across jurisdictions, services that become more attractive the more plausible a UK wealth tax appears. Burnham, who takes office Monday as Keir Starmer’s successor, has not proposed a wealth tax, an exit tax or any specific levy on assets.

What Burnham actually said, in an interview with former footballer Gary Lineker for the Goalhanger podcast, stopped well short of a commitment. Asked about a possible levy on the wealthiest Britons, he said only that “at some point that might be having to ask for a little more,” adding that such decisions were “not for now” and were “for another day.” He also said he wanted to avoid being seen as targeting any single group.

Green’s warning leans heavily on a Henley & Partners estimate that the UK lost about 16,500 millionaires in 2025, the largest single year outflow the firm has recorded anywhere since it began tracking migration a decade ago. That figure has drawn sustained criticism from tax researchers. Tax Policy Associates, a UK research group, published a statistical review concluding the Henley numbers do not hold up, while the Tax Justice Network has noted that 16,500 represents roughly six tenths of one percent of Britain’s estimated 2.6 million millionaires and says Henley has since walked back its own framing of the figure as an exodus.

Green pointed to France and Sweden as precedents, saying both abandoned wealth taxes after wealthy residents left in large numbers. Sweden repealed its wealth tax in 2007 after documented capital flight, including the departure of IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad. France’s case is narrower than Green’s comments suggest: President Emmanuel Macron did not abolish the country’s wealth tax outright in 2017 but replaced it with a levy applied only to real estate holdings, a change he framed as encouraging investment rather than a full retreat from taxing wealth.

Green also argued that the mere possibility of a wealth tax is already prompting family offices and entrepreneurs to explore leaving Britain, and named the UAE, Switzerland and Italy as countries positioning themselves to attract that capital. He called on Burnham to rule out any levy in his first weeks in office.

Burnham has instead signaled caution rather than commitment on tax, telling Lineker he wants to build a greater sense of fairness without immediately targeting any group, and has separately pledged to keep Labour’s existing commitments not to raise VAT, income tax or national insurance.

Boxing Candidate Donates Gear Amid Pending Election

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Boxing Candidate Donates Gear Amid Pending Election

A Ghana Boxing Authority executive board candidate and a Chinese investor donated gloves and gear to ten Accra boxing gyms this month, ahead of the authority’s still unscheduled leadership election.

The timing is worth noting. Derek Nii Asai Ankrah, the GBA’s Score Master since taking over the role in 2024 following the death of J.A. Annan, is a vetted candidate for an executive board member position in the same GBA election that was due to happen on June 4 and has since been postponed indefinitely while the Interim Management Committee finishes vetting and compiles a delegate list. Coaches at the gyms Ankrah visited will likely be among those delegates once a new election date is set.

Christina Xia, a Chinese investor and chief executive of Bi Direct Ltd, funded the donation alongside Ankrah and Theophilus Laryea of the Ghana Immigration Service. The gyms that received gloves and other equipment included Panix, Akotoku Academy, Bukom, Wisdom, Attoh Quarshie, Discipline, Accra Boxing Club, Brehum and Jamestown, according to organisers, with additional support planned for gyms that were not reached this round.

National Sports Authority Director General Yaw Ampofo Ankrah praised the gesture after coaches who received the equipment spoke to him about it. Coaches at gyms including Northern Boxing Club, Accra Boxing Club, Wisdom Boxing Gym, Bukom Boxing Gym, Jamestown Boxing Gym and Akotoku Academy thanked the donors, with several urging other boxing stakeholders to make similar contributions and one coach from a gym that missed out on this round of gifts asking to be included next time.

Ankrah, a banker who also sits on the GBA’s communications and media committee, said he intended to add items such as head gear, mouth guards, bandages and boots to future donations and described his support for the sport as a long standing personal commitment rather than a one time gesture.

Ghana boxing’s governance has been unsettled for the better part of a year, with an earlier interim board extension, a rejected National Sports Authority takeover proposal and repeated postponements of the elective congress that is meant to produce a substantive executive board. Fifteen candidates, including Ankrah, cleared an initial vetting round in May for various positions before the June 4 congress was called off. No replacement date had been announced as of this month.

Bayport Profit Triples Despite Payroll Clean Up

Roger A. Agana
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Bayport Profit Triples Despite Payroll Clean Up

Bayport Savings and Loans nearly tripled profit before tax to GH¢118.3 million in H1 2026, even as a national payroll purge hit its core lending segment.

That purge is the part of this story worth dwelling on. Bayport built its business on payroll tied lending to government workers paid through the Controller and Accountant General’s Department, and the government has spent the past year stripping tens of thousands of unverifiable names from state payrolls nationwide, at one point suspending the salaries of 2,563 workers in a single January headcount and briefly disrupting the very payslip and loan affordability systems Bayport depends on to lend. That the company grew its loan book and improved credit quality through that disruption is a bigger claim than the press release lets on.

Bayport’s unaudited results for the six months to June 30 showed profit after tax rising to GH¢82.5 million from GH¢26.5 million a year earlier, with net interest income nearly doubling to GH¢220.2 million. Total assets grew 77 percent year on year to GH¢2.44 billion, and net loans and advances rose 68 percent to GH¢1.87 billion.

The growth leaned heavily on deposits rather than borrowed money. Customer deposits more than tripled to GH¢1.55 billion from GH¢471.6 million, while borrowings fell to GH¢386.8 million and shareholder loans dropped to GH¢31 million, continuing a shift away from costlier funding sources the company began in 2025.

Asset quality improved alongside that growth. The non performing loan ratio fell to 8.1 percent from 12.6 percent, comfortably inside the Bank of Ghana’s 10 percent regulatory ceiling, even as impairment losses were contained at GH¢15.3 million on a larger loan book. The cost to income ratio dropped to 35 percent from 51 percent, and the capital adequacy ratio edged up to 12.2 percent from 11.9 percent.

Bayport’s payroll market share within the CAGD segment climbed to 33 percent during the period, a narrower measure than the roughly 18 percent overall payroll lending market share the company has claimed in other disclosures, reflecting its concentration in government paid workers specifically rather than the payroll lending market as a whole. The company operates 44 locations across Ghana, including 10 service centres and 33 agency offices, alongside its digital channels.

Chief executive Akwasi Aboagye credited the results to consistent execution. “Our H1 2026 performance reflects continued execution of our strategy,” he said, adding that the company had focused on broadening its deposit base and improving credit quality while managing the effects of the payroll clean up on its public sector borrowers.

Bayport is a subsidiary of Mauritius based Bayport Management Ltd and is listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange. The company’s heavy reliance on a single, actively scrutinised government payroll segment means its near term performance will likely keep tracking the pace and outcome of the state’s ongoing verification exercises as much as its own lending decisions.

Changan Enters Ethiopia’s EV Only Car Market

Roger A. Agana
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Changan Enters Ethiopia’s EV Only Car Market

Chinese automaker Changan opened its first Ethiopian showroom in Addis Ababa on Thursday, entering a market where government policy allows only electric vehicle imports.

That policy is the real reason this opening matters. Ethiopia banned the import of new petrol and diesel vehicles in January 2024, becoming the first country in the world to do so, a move driven less by climate goals than by a fuel import bill that had climbed toward 6 billion dollars a year and a 2023 sovereign default that pushed the government toward a 3.4 billion dollar IMF support package. Changan is now competing for space in that market against BYD, which has built an early lead in Ethiopian EV sales since the ban took effect.

The showroom, on Gabon Street in Addis Ababa, was opened with Chinese Embassy Minister Counselor Liu Xiaoguang, Ethiopian Investment Commission official Yalew Getachew and Ministry of Industry official Dr. Hadegu Hailekiros in attendance, alongside representatives from Changan and its Ethiopian partner, GT Motors. The site will handle sales, servicing, spare parts and customer support.

A Changan sales director called Ethiopia “a market full of energy and promise” and said the company would work with GT Motors to bring affordable, connected vehicles to Ethiopian buyers. GT Motors is providing local sales, after sales, technical and logistics staff for the venture.

Ethiopia is a small but fast growing entry point for automakers betting on Africa’s electric shift. EVs have grown from under 1 percent of vehicles entering the country before the ban to roughly 6 percent today, above the reported global average, though Ethiopia still has only about 13 vehicles per 1,000 residents, far below the continental average. By comparison, Ghana led Africa in EV revenue share in 2024, while industry projections put Ethiopia on track to be the continent’s fastest growing EV market through 2030.

The Ethiopia launch is one of several Changan has run in quick succession this month. The company rolled out a second generation UNI-S in Saudi Arabia on July 9 and its partner Al Tayer Motors opened a fourth DEEPAL showroom in Sharjah the same week as the Addis Ababa opening, part of a broader push the company calls its Vast Ocean expansion plan across the Middle East, Africa and beyond.

Changan said it plans to expand its retail and service network in Ethiopia and bring a wider range of electric and other new energy vehicles suited to local roads and driving conditions in the coming months.

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