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Activist Warns Against Delaying Volta Sea Defence

News Ghana
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Activist Warns Against Delaying Volta Sea Defence

Environmental activist Joel Degue has accused Ghana of reviving colonial era thinking that leaves Southern Volta’s coast exposed as the WACA ResIP 2 sea defence project stalls.

Degue, a Keta based climate advocate, argues in a widely shared piece that questions raised about whether coastal communities east of the Volta Estuary are worth the cost of protection echo an argument made nearly a century ago. He cites the historian Emmanuel Akyeampong’s account that a British engineer working for a London firm reportedly told colonial authorities in 1929 that spending 1 million pounds to shield Keta from the advancing sea was not justified, since the town’s properties were not worth that much altogether. The coastline has lost homes, schools, businesses and places of worship to erosion in the decades since.

The World Bank approved 246 million dollars in regional financing for WACA ResIP 2 in December 2022, with 155 million dollars allocated to Ghana to address coastal erosion, flooding and pollution across sites in Greater Accra and the Volta Region, including the Korle Lagoon, Densu Delta and Keta Lagoon areas. Ghana launched its share of the project in August 2024, joining Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Mauritania, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal and Togo, which already completed an earlier phase, alongside Gambia and Guinea Bissau, which entered phase two alongside Ghana and have already begun physical construction.

Ghana’s rollout has not kept pace. The Coastal Civil Society Organisations Forum petitioned President John Dramani Mahama earlier this year, describing the project as stalled since 2025 and asking him to clear institutional bottlenecks blocking implementation. The group said ongoing sea defence work at Amutinu, Blekusu and Agavedzi should complement the wider WACA project rather than substitute for it.

Degue frames the delay and the underlying cost questions as a moral test rather than a budgeting exercise, arguing government’s first duty is protecting people and territory rather than maximizing financial return. He lists communities including Kporkporgbor, Gbakpegbor, Fuveme, Dzaflagbe, Dzita and several towns in the Anloga and Keta districts as those he says stand to lose the most if investment stalls further. “Southern Volta is worth more than a price tag,” he writes, arguing that measuring the region’s value in cedis alone misses the cultural and human cost erosion has already inflicted on the coast.

History Must Not Repeat Itself: Southern Volta Is Worth More Than a Price Tag.

Joel Degue
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History Must Not Repeat Itself: Southern Volta Is Worth More Than a Price Tag.

“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.” – Haile Selassie I

 

There are moments in a nation’s history when decisions reveal not only priorities but also values, principles and tenets. The debate surrounding the WACA ResIP 2 Project is becoming one of those defining moments today in Ghana. It is also exposing a disturbing reality: some people appear to be resurrecting a colonial mindset that should have been buried long ago. This is the thing!

In 1929, during British colonial rule, A.T. Coode (an Engineer with a London-based engineering company by Coode, Wilson, Mitchell and Vaughan-Lee) reportedly argued that it was not economically justifiable to spend £1 million to protect Keta from the advancing sea because the total value of all the properties in the town could not even amount to £1 million. In other words, Keta was considered too poor to save (Akyeampong, 2001, p. 9, 117).

That cold and unrealistic economic calculation placed a monetary value on an entire people and community, their homes, their cultural heritage, and their future survival. It reduced one of the most economically thriving coastal communities to a commodity, a balance sheet. The consequences have been devastating, thereafter. Decades of relentless coastal erosion have swallowed homes, schools, businesses, roads, places of worship, and priceless cultural heritage. Families have been displaced, separated and broken. Livelihoods have been destroyed and lost forever. Generations then and now have paid the price, and future generations may suffer same for a decision rooted in economic convenience rather than human identity and dignity. What a faux pas!

 

The Coast East of Volta Estuary Deserves The Needed Investment.

Nearly a century later after Keta was left to its unfortunate fate, one would expect Ghana to have completely rejected such line of thinking. But, alas!

Yet there are troubling indications that the same logic is quietly resurfacing in discussions surrounding the WACA ResIP 2 Project. Once again, there are voices that appear to view investment in coastal protection through the narrow and myopic lens of financial returns, economics and contribution to national GDP and therefore questioning whether communities like Kporkporgbor, Gbakpegbor, Fuveme, Dzaflagbe, Agorkedzi, Atiteti, Agbledomi, Dzita, Akplorwotorkor in Anloga District, and Tettekope, Dzelukope, Lokpodzi, Abutuakope, Kedzikope, etc., are worth the investment for coastal protection. What a pity!

 

Why That argument is fundamentally flawed.

The first responsibility of any government is not simply to maximize financial returns or obtain economic gains only. It is, first and foremost, to protect its people – the most important national asset, and secondly protect its territorial integrity. A nation does not abandon its communities because they are expensive to protect as well as its lands when attacked by “an aggressor” – the sea. It does not calculate the value of human lives and loss of land against construction costs. It does not measure national heritage and coastal assets by the market price of buildings. No! It must act and act fast to save and safeguard its people, assets and territorial integrity.

If that becomes our standard, then every vulnerable community in Ghana should be worried now and in the future. Generations after us will not forgive the current leaders if they fail to protect the coast east of Volta Estuary.

 

The Urgent Need for WACA ResIP 2.

The WACA ResIP 2 Project is not merely about sea defence infrastructure. It is about protecting lives. It is about preserving homes, schools, hospitals, businesses, fisheries, tourism potential, and cultural identity. It is about preventing future humanitarian crises that would cost far more both financially and socially than proactive investment today. Ghana must learn from its peers like Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritania, Saô Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Togo that benefited from WACA ResIP 1 and currently The Gambia and Guinea Bissau which are in the same phase 2 with Ghana but have already started the physical infrastructure.

Every cedi spent on coastal resilience is an investment in national security, economic stability, environmental sustainability, and social justice. The cost of inaction has already been amply demonstrated by history. The question to ask now is: Have we learnt anything at all from history?

Those who reduce this conversation to figures on a spreadsheet and economic gains overlook a fundamental truth: the true value of the land and communities east of Volta Estuary cannot be calculated in pounds, dollars or cedis. Its value lies in its people (the true wealth of a nation), its history, its assets, its contribution to Ghana’s economy, and its place in our national identity and pride.

History has already delivered its verdict on the thinking that left Keta exposed in 1929. It was short-sighted. It was unjust. And it imposed enormous costs on generations who had no voice in that decision then.

We cannot afford to repeat that mistake under a different name today.

This is not simply about Southern Volta. It is about what kind of nation Ghana chooses to be now and in the future. Is Ghana a country that protects only what is immediately profitable, or one that stands with all its citizens, especially those on the frontlines of climate change crises, floods, tidal waves and coastal erosion?

The decisions made today will echo for generations to come. Future Ghanaians will remember whether we chose vision over indifference, resilience over neglect, and justice over expediency.

Those who believe history has forgotten the lessons of Keta in 1929 should think again.

The people of Southern Volta are watching!

The nation Ghana is watching!

And history is watching most of all!

A word to the wise, they say, is enough. 

 

Citizen Joel Degue Environmental Activist Climate Change advocate Keta.

Burnham Cabinet Picks Stir UK Market Jitters

Roger A. Agana
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Burnham Cabinet Picks Stir UK Market Jitters

New UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham named John Healey as Chancellor over favourites Shabana Mahmood and Ed Miliband, sending gilt yields higher and the pound lower on Monday.

Burnham took office after the King formally appointed him, replacing Keir Starmer atop the Labour government. He moved quickly to reshape his top team, keeping Mahmood as Home Secretary, shifting Miliband from Energy to Foreign Secretary and bringing Angela Rayner back into government, while Rachel Reeves departed the Treasury she had led since 2024. Healey’s appointment surprised Westminster. He had resigned from Starmer’s cabinet last month in a dispute over defence funding, having pushed for military spending to reach 3 percent of GDP by 2030, and brings Treasury experience from two junior roles under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown between 2002 and 2007.

Bond markets moved within hours of the announcement. Bloomberg reported that yields on long dated gilts climbed to their highest level since late May after Burnham said he would seek “any flexibility” available within the government’s existing borrowing and spending rules, comments that stoked concern his administration will add to Britain’s debt load. The pound slipped in response.

Reaction among financial commentators split over what the appointment actually signals. Danni Hewson, head of financial markets at AJ Bell, said investors still have little concrete policy to assess. “The big question is how his government will fund the changes,” she said, pointing to the scale of Burnham’s cost of living promises against a backdrop of high national debt. Kevin Mountford of Raisin UK said the choice of Healey gives Burnham a chance to show whether his promised change extends beyond personnel into economic policy.

Nigel Green, chief executive of deVere Group, offered a sharper reading, arguing markets had been pricing in a fiscally cautious Chancellor and that Healey’s record removes that assumption. He pointed to Burnham’s refusal to rule out a wealth tax and said an exit charge on departing assets or a further rise in capital gains tax now look more probable with Healey at the Treasury, given that income tax, VAT and National Insurance remain protected by manifesto pledges. Green’s firm, which advises wealthy clients on relocation and asset diversification, has continued pressing that view since the appointment, framing any market calm as relief that Mahmood was not chosen rather than confidence in Burnham’s fiscal approach. Britain lost an estimated 16,500 millionaires to emigration in 2025, one of the largest such outflows recorded globally, a trend forecasters expected to continue into 2026 even before Monday’s appointment.

Burnham is due to unveil further cost of living proposals on Tuesday, which markets are expected to parse closely for signs of how the new Chancellor intends to fund them.

DDEP Bonds Dominate Ghana’s Fixed Income Trade

Roger A. Agana
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DDEP Bonds Dominate Ghana’s Fixed Income Trade

Ghana’s fixed income market traded GH¢3 billion in bonds and treasury bills on Monday, with restructured Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) bonds accounting for most of the volume.

Total turnover across the session reached GH¢3,004,601,006 spread over 1,134 trades. DDEP bonds, the instruments issued under Ghana’s debt restructuring programme, made up roughly 73 percent of that volume at GH¢2,207,684,201 across 18 trades, by far the largest single category. Treasury bills carried the bulk of the trading activity by count, with 1,108 separate trades totaling GH¢741,211,058, underscoring how much broader participation clusters around short dated instruments even when their overall value trails DDEP paper. New Government of Ghana (GOG) notes and bonds saw a single trade worth GH¢46,597,126, corporate bonds recorded one trade worth GH¢8,000,000, and sell and buy back trades on GOG notes and bonds added GH¢1,108,621 across six trades. No old GOG notes or bonds changed hands.

Pricing showed the gap that persists between newer and restructured government paper. The largest single trade in new GOG bonds, a note maturing March 2033 with a 12.50 percent coupon, closed at 97.9368 to yield 12.96 percent, trading close to par. By contrast, the most heavily traded DDEP bond, an 8.80 percent note maturing February 2030, closed at 82.4692 to yield 15.34 percent, a discount that reflects the lower coupon investors accepted when the debt was restructured. A similar pattern showed in the sell and buy back segment, where an 8.95 percent GOG bond maturing February 2031 changed hands at 85.4565 for a 13.28 percent yield.

Among treasury bills, the largest trade involved a bill maturing July 2027, which closed at 88.6052 to yield 12.8602 percent across 11 trades. The lone corporate bond trade, a 13.00 percent note maturing August 2026, closed near par at 99.7542.

GSE Composite Index Slips At Week’s Start

Roger A. Agana
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GSE Composite Index Slips At Week’s Start

The Ghana Stock Exchange’s composite index dipped 6.21 points to 14,931.71 on Monday, trimming its year to date gain to 70.25 percent.

Trading session number 7,256 opened the week with the benchmark GSE Composite Index (GSE-CI) down from 14,937.92 at Friday’s close. The GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE-FSI) also slipped, falling 8.16 points to 8,257.20, though it remains up 77.68 percent since the start of the year, outpacing the broader index’s gain.

Monday’s session saw 859,644 shares change hands worth GH¢2,605,383.54, while total market capitalization stood at GH¢287.33 billion.

The pullback leaves the index well below the record close it set in March, when it crossed 15,000 points for the first time in its history and briefly ranked as Africa’s best performing major stock market for the year, ahead of Tanzania, Nigeria and other regional exchanges. The composite index has held onto most of that rally even after easing from its peak, keeping Ghana’s bourse among the continent’s stronger performers through the middle of the year.

PIC Suspends CEO Over Lanseria Whistleblower Claims

Roger A. Agana
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PIC Suspends CEO Over Lanseria Whistleblower Claims

South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation suspended chief executive Patrick Dlamini this week after a whistleblower accused him of mishandling its disputed Lanseria Airport investment.

The board, chaired by Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo, voted 9 to 2 in favor of the precautionary suspension on Monday, saying it wanted to give Dlamini “sufficient space and time to respond” to the allegations while an independent investigation proceeds. The board stressed the move is not a finding of wrongdoing.

The whistleblower report, submitted last month and first reported by Daily Maverick, alleges Dlamini commissioned a forensic investigation into the corporation’s long running Lanseria Airport transaction without a board resolution approving it, and that he failed to manage conflicts tied to his past involvement with Lanseria linked entities and Harith General Partners, the infrastructure investment firm founded by billionaire Tshepo Mahloele. The complaint also alleges he did not recuse himself from matters where a conflict should have been declared. PIC had previously defended Dlamini, maintaining he acted within his delegated authority when he ordered the PricewaterhouseCoopers probe.

To keep operations running, the board named Leon Smit acting chief executive and acting chief investment officer, and removed August Van Heerden from his role as acting chief investment officer at the Government Employees Pension Fund. Bloomberg reported that the decision to suspend Dlamini split the top ranks of South Africa’s finance ministry, with officials divided over whether the move was warranted.

South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority opened a formal investigation into PIC under the Financial Sector Regulation Act days after the suspension, citing concern over governance, leadership stability and transparency at an institution it called critically important to the country’s financial system.

PIC manages more than 3 trillion rand, about 182.6 billion dollars, on behalf of public sector clients including the Government Employees Pension Fund, making it the largest investor on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the continent’s biggest asset manager. Dlamini took the job in 2025 after years of leadership turnover meant to restore confidence following a 2018 crisis, when then chief executive Dan Matjila resigned amid corruption allegations that prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa to order a judicial commission of inquiry. That inquiry found several executives had acted dishonestly and breached governance standards.

The case now sits with investigators on two fronts, PIC’s internal probe and the FSCA’s regulatory review, leaving pension fund members and investors watching how quickly the country’s most powerful state asset manager can resolve a governance dispute that has already reached the top of its own board and the finance ministry overseeing it.

SA Banks Warn Fraudsters Now Target Customers

Roger A. Agana
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SA Banks Warn Fraudsters Now Target Customers

South African banks are warning customers to scrutinise every payment prompt as fraudsters shift from hacking accounts to tricking people into approving transfers themselves.

Discovery Bank told customers in a fraud alert that criminals can drain a lost phone or card within minutes if victims do not act fast. “Banks will never ask you to approve a reversal of a fraudulent transaction,” the bank said, urging anyone who loses a device to block their card through the banking app immediately and contact the fraud team without delay.

The warning lands amid a documented rise in authorised push payment fraud, where criminals manipulate victims into approving transfers or card payments rather than breaching bank systems directly. A 2026 survey of 100 South African fraud and financial crime leaders by BioCatch found 75 percent had seen fraud attempts increase against their institutions, with the figure climbing to 81 percent among C suite executives specifically. Seventy nine percent of respondents overall reported rising fraud losses, and 81 percent estimated their institutions lose more than 5 million dollars, roughly 82 million rand, each year. South Africa’s numbers run well ahead of the global picture, where BioCatch’s wider 17 country survey found an average of 61 percent reporting rising attempts.

Jonathan Frost, BioCatch’s director of global advisory, said the pattern reflects banks winning the fight over account security even as they lose ground on the human side. “Fraudsters increasingly no longer break into banks,” he said, describing a shift toward manipulating customers’ emotions to override their own judgment. He pointed to South Africa’s real time payment system, PayShap, as part of the problem, since faster transfers leave banks a shorter window to catch suspicious activity before money moves. He also warned that artificial intelligence is making scams more convincing and easier to scale, predicting the threat will likely worsen before it improves.

Banks are responding on multiple fronts. Bonolo Sebolai, head of fraud at GoTymeBank, said security now goes beyond passwords and one time PINs, advising customers to download banking apps only from official stores, hang up on suspicious calls and contact their bank directly, and act immediately if they suspect their phone has been compromised. South Africa also rolled out a system called Scam Signal in February to help flag authorised push payment fraud before transfers complete.

The strain is showing in complaint data. South Africa’s National Financial Ombud Scheme recorded a 73 percent jump in digital banking fraud complaints, from 1,436 cases between January and May 2024 to 2,483 over the same months this year. Lead ombud Nerosha Maseti flagged growing risk around virtual bank cards after one customer lost 500,000 rand, noting the cards themselves remain secure but can be abused once criminals gain access to a customer’s banking app through phishing, smishing or vishing scams and use stolen credentials or approved authentication prompts to generate fraudulent virtual cards.

CACI Bantama Central Supports Needy Homes, Mission Field with GH¢200,000 Relief Donation

Isaac Kofi Dzokpo
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CACI Bantama Central Supports Needy Homes, Mission Field with GH¢200,000 Relief Donation

The Bantama Central Assembly of Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) International has donated relief items worth approximately GHC200,000 to four charitable institutions in Kumasi and its missionary field in the Upper East Region, as part of activities marking the climax of this year’s 40 Days Fasting and Prayer programme.

The items, presented on Sunday, included maize, gari, beans, rice, cooking oil, biscuits, soft drinks, sardines, mackerel, bottled and sachet water, salt, tomato paste, noodles, toiletries, footwear and assorted clothing.

Caci Bantama Central

The beneficiary institutions were the Kumasi Children’s Home, Edwenase Rehabilitation Centre, Rhema Rehabilitation Centre, and the Ashanti Bekwai Destitute Infirmary. The church also donated footwear and 50 bales of assorted clothing to its missionary area at Garu-Tempane in the Upper East Region to support missionary work and deprived communities there.

This year’s fasting programme was held on the theme “Gifted for Greater Exploits,” drawn from Daniel 11:32b.

Presenting the items, the Ashanti Central Territorial Apostle, Apostle George Awuku Morklar, said the donation reflected the church’s belief that the Christian faith must be demonstrated through acts of love, compassion and service to humanity.

Caci Bantama Central Donation

“The Church is called not only to preach the Gospel but also to meet the needs of society. We believe that the gifts God has given us should be used to transform lives and bring hope to the needy,” he said.

The presentation was supported by the Bantama Area Apostle, Apostle Christopher Kwabena Narh; retired Apostle S. C. K. Akomeah; former General Elder Stephen Oduro Kwarteng; and the Presiding Elder of Bantama Central Assembly, Elder Michael Asare.

A representative of the Bekwai Destitute Infirmary, receiving the items on behalf of the beneficiary institutions, thanked the leadership and members of the church for the gesture.

“We are deeply grateful to the leadership and members of Bantama Central Assembly for remembering the vulnerable in society. These items will sustain many of our inmates and bring hope to people who depend on the support of benevolent organisations for their daily needs,” he said.

Caci Bantama Central Donation

The donation forms part of the church’s annual outreach programme aimed at supporting vulnerable groups and strengthening missionary work, and reflects Christ Apostolic Church International’s long-standing commitment to humanitarian service alongside its evangelistic mission.

The event was attended by ministers, elders, church members, representatives of the beneficiary institutions, and members of the public.

Caci Bantama Central Donation

Caci Bantama Central Donation

 

 

Altieri Warns Agroecology Movement Losing Its Edge

Roger A. Agana
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Altieri Warns Agroecology Movement Losing Its Edge

Agroecology pioneer Miguel Altieri warned in a new podcast interview that his movement is being stripped of its political meaning by the institutions now embracing it.

Altieri, professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, spoke with Million Belay, general coordinator of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), for episode 34 of Belay’s podcast, The Battle for African Agriculture. Altieri has spent more than four decades building agroecology into both a scientific field and a practical farming approach centered on biodiversity, traditional knowledge and farmer led movements, work that has taken him deep into Latin America and into collaboration with the international peasant movement La Via Campesina.

He told Belay the shift happened in stages. Agroecology was first ignored, then attacked, and now, he argued, risks a subtler threat: co optation. Institutions and companies swap chemical inputs for biological ones while leaving monocultures and dependency on outside inputs untouched, he said, and call it transformation when it is not. Real agroecology, in his framing, demands farmer autonomy, seed sovereignty, land reform, strong social movements and food systems built around local markets rather than export crops.

Altieri traced his own thinking back to fieldwork in Colombia, where he encountered smallholder farming systems more ecologically sophisticated than the monoculture models he had studied in Chile. That experience convinced him the core problem was never pests or soil quality alone but how agriculture had been designed from the ground up around monocultures and corporate control. He told Belay that biodiversity matters less for the number of species present than for the interactions between them, the kind that let farms regulate pests, cycle nutrients, hold water and bounce back from climate shocks, patterns he said traditional and Indigenous systems have sustained for generations through accumulated knowledge and collective organization.

He pushed back directly on the claim that agroecology cannot feed a growing world, arguing that hunger stems from poverty, unequal land access and a global system that channels land toward export markets rather than local needs, not from any shortage of food. He was also cautious about artificial intelligence, gene editing and digital agriculture, calling them new tools capable of erasing local knowledge if they end up replacing it rather than supporting it.

The episode extends a working relationship between the two men that dates back nearly a decade. Altieri co-authored a 2016 agroecology reference book with Belay and AFSA covering farming systems across nine African countries, giving this conversation roots in a longer record of shared research rather than a first encounter.

New episodes of The Battle for African Agriculture post every Friday on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and RSS, with support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

Memphis Mom Charged After Killing Man Under Bed

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Memphis Mom Charged After Killing Man Under Bed

Memphis police charged Kendra Scott, 36, with first degree murder after she allegedly shot and killed a man she found hiding under her 13 year old daughter’s bed.

Officers responded to a shooting call on Travis Road around 1:40 a.m. on July 16 and found 20 year old Rodderius Morton dead in the front yard from a gunshot wound to the back of his head, according to an arrest affidavit. Police say Scott told them she had come home and “saw a dude under my kids bed,” adding, “I did what I had to do.”

The affidavit lays out a rapid sequence of events. Scott’s daughter told investigators she let Morton into the home around 1 a.m. while her mother was away, despite Scott having previously warned her against bringing boys into the house. When Scott arrived roughly 30 minutes later, she pounded on the front door demanding to know who was inside, and the girl said she grew afraid once she saw her mother holding a gun. After the daughter let her in, Scott allegedly found Morton under the bed, confronted him with an expletive and followed him out the front door. The girl and a neighbor told police they then heard a single gunshot. The neighbor said he found Scott standing over the body, still holding the weapon, repeating that she had shot him. Officers recovered a shell casing and a Smith and Wesson handgun at the scene.

Scott faces charges of first degree murder and employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, Memphis police said. She is being held without bond ahead of a Monday court appearance where a judge is expected to set bail. Her attorney, Blake Ballin, called the case every parent’s worst fear involving a 13 year old daughter and said the central legal question will be whether anyone could act rationally under those circumstances.

That question turns on Tennessee’s Castle Doctrine, which shields people from prosecution for using force, including deadly force, against an intruder who threatens violence inside their home. Retired law enforcement officer and self defense trainer Buddy Smith told a local outlet the doctrine likely would not apply here, since the affidavit does not allege Morton threatened Scott or anyone else before she followed him outside. Smith said that gap between the law’s requirements and what investigators have alleged so far will likely shape how the case proceeds toward trial.

The shooting has drawn heavy attention online, with commentary split between sympathy for a mother reacting to finding a grown man in her daughter’s room and questions over whether the shooting occurred after any immediate threat had passed. Scott has not entered a plea, and the charges against her remain allegations that prosecutors will need to prove in court.

Man Fights Sex Offender Listing Over Dog Case

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Man Fights Sex Offender Listing Over Dog Case

A Vermont man convicted of animal cruelty after filming himself abusing a dog is suing New York to block his placement on its sex offender registry.

The 36 year old, formerly of Williston, Vermont, pleaded guilty last year to two misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty after an investigation by local police and wildlife officials. Court documents said investigators opened the case after receiving a tip about bestiality websites showing him with a dog believed to be a large pit bull, and that distinctive tattoos visible in the footage matched his own. The documents described the video as showing him kissing the dog on the mouth while engaged in a sexual act. A search of his home, conducted with a licensed veterinarian present, turned up multiple sex toys along with the pit bull, a cat and a rat. Authorities said the dog was in poor health at the time and faced the possibility of being euthanized.

New York’s Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders ruled in April that the man must register under the state’s Sex Offender Registration Act based on his Vermont conviction. His attorney, Joshua Friedman, filed a petition in New York State Supreme Court arguing the board applied the wrong statute. The board pointed to a New York law covering anal sexual contact with another person without consent, but Friedman’s filing argues the Vermont offense he pleaded to applies only to sexual conduct involving an animal, making the cited statute impossible to apply to his case as a matter of law.

Friedman also argues the board cannot switch its legal justification after the fact, citing what he described as consistent New York court precedent limiting judicial review of an agency decision to the grounds the agency actually invoked at the time. Separately, his petition contends the state’s own definition of “sexual conduct” applies only to interactions between people. “An animal is unambiguously not a person,” Friedman wrote in the filing, arguing that a different section of state law covering conduct with an animal or a corpse should have governed the board’s review, not the one it cited.

The lawsuit names the state Division of Criminal Justice Services and the Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders as defendants and asks the court to annul the registration requirement.

BP Sells Austrian Fuel Business To Volenergy

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BP Sells Austrian Fuel Business To Volenergy

BP has agreed to sell its Austrian mobility, convenience and electric vehicle (EV) charging business to Switzerland’s volenergy AG, extending its retreat from European retail fuel markets.

The deal covers 250 BP branded retail sites across Austria, including roughly 115 that are company owned or franchise operated, along with the country’s EV charging network and BP’s fleet business. BP will sell its full stake in BP Retail Austria GmbH, subject to regulatory approval, plus its holdings in three joint ventures it does not operate: Erdöl Lagergesellschaft, Autobahn Betriebe Gesellschaft, and TLM Tanklager Management in Linz. Neither company disclosed the price.

The buyer is no stranger to BP’s European exits. Volenergy AG, part of Switzerland’s Volare Group, is the same company that bought BP’s Swiss retail network when BP sold it in 2022, giving it a growing footprint of former BP stations across the continent. Stations in Austria will keep operating under the BP brand through a licensing arrangement after the sale closes.

The timeline has slipped from BP’s original plan. The company first announced its intent to sell the Austrian business in March 2025 and had targeted closing the deal by the end of that year. The agreement announced Monday instead points to completion by the end of 2026, more than a year later than BP initially expected.

Richard Harding, BP’s interim executive vice president for downstream, framed the sale as part of a broader effort to concentrate capital where the company can compete most effectively. “This is how we strengthen our balance sheet and sharpen our downstream portfolio,” he said. Melanie Milchram Pinter, BP’s head of country for Austria, said the company built its mobility and convenience business there over several decades and expressed confidence volenergy could continue developing it.

Austria joins a growing list of BP’s European retail exits. The company sold its mobility and convenience business in the Netherlands in 2025 and in Turkey in 2024, alongside the 2022 Switzerland sale to the same buyer now taking Austria. BP’s aviation fuel business and its Castrol operations in Austria are not part of the transaction.

Sukparu Pushes Digital Inclusion At KNUST Conference

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Sukparu Pushes Digital Inclusion At KNUST Conference

Deputy Communications Minister Mohammed Adams Sukparu told a conference at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi that Ghana will keep investing in digital infrastructure, connectivity and skills training.

Sukparu delivered the keynote on behalf of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations Minister Samuel Nartey George at the 2026 E-Learning Awareness Week and International Conference, held under the theme “Harnessing AI and Emerging Digital Technologies to Advance Inclusive, Equitable and Ethical Learning Ecosystems.” Policymakers, academics, industry leaders, development partners, researchers and students attended to weigh how artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies could reshape education and support the country’s development plans.

Sukparu said the government wants AI deployed with clear guardrails around ethics, accountability and inclusion, arguing the technology should widen opportunity rather than deepen existing gaps. He called responsible governance of emerging tools a precondition for building an inclusive digital future, and pressed universities to lean harder into research, innovation, entrepreneurship and policymaking grounded in evidence. Stronger ties between academia, industry and government, he said, would determine whether Ghana can build a resilient digital economy and lead Africa’s digital transformation rather than follow it.

The conference landed as KNUST’s own E-Learning Centre works through a 2026 expansion plan built around similar goals. The centre has trained more than 70 academic staff this year in instructional design to strengthen online and blended teaching, and it plans to launch a professional development platform offering AI and other digital skills training to students, alumni and the public. It is also building a campus wide E-Learning Innovators Network to connect trained staff and students and expanding external partnerships tied to its annual conference, giving Sukparu’s national policy remarks a concrete testing ground on the same campus.

Sukparu thanked KNUST Vice Chancellor Professor Rita Akosua Dickson, university management, the organising committee and the wider university community for hosting the event, and closed by calling on stakeholders to work together toward a digital future that is innovative, inclusive and transformative for Ghanaians.

Gates Urges Africa To Invest In People

Roger A. Agana
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Gates Urges Africa To Invest In People

Bill Gates urged African governments in Addis Ababa to boost investment in health, education and technology as shrinking foreign aid forces greater reliance on domestic resources.

Speaking at African Union headquarters, the Gates Foundation chairman said countries face a genuinely difficult moment as donor nations pull back. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development reported that development aid fell for a second straight year in 2025, and the European Network on Debt and Development says funding levels have dropped to where they stood during the COVID 19 pandemic. Gates told the gathering that constrained budgets make it more important, not less, to direct spending toward interventions with the biggest payoff.

He argued health, education and digital technology deliver stronger returns than many competing uses of public money. Artificial intelligence, digital identity systems and mobile platforms could let governments extend services to more people at lower cost, he said, pointing to primary healthcare, lower child mortality and better disease surveillance as priorities that pay for themselves through a more productive population.

Gates framed the shift as one where African institutions, not outside donors, set the agenda. “Our role is to support the priorities African countries have already set for themselves,” he said, speaking ahead of a planned visit to Rwanda. The remark reflects a broader turn in the foundation’s messaging this year, from announcing large funding pledges toward emphasizing domestic institution building as aid contracts.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation remains one of the largest private funders of African health work, backing programs on malaria, maternal and child health, vaccines, nutrition and agriculture. Gates said the foundation intends to keep that commitment even as government aid budgets shrink, while pushing for deeper partnerships among governments, private companies and development institutions to fund infrastructure and entrepreneurship.

He tied the appeal to Africa’s demographics. The continent holds one of the world’s youngest, fastest growing populations, a trend economists have long said could become an economic asset or a strain depending on whether governments invest enough in education, skills and health to match it. Gates said the combination of leaner aid budgets and that demographic pressure leaves African governments with little choice but to sharpen how efficiently they spend and how quickly they adopt technology, arguing that international assistance will keep mattering but cannot substitute for governments building their own capacity to invest.

Brent Crude Rebounds Above US$90 As Ceasefire Collapses

Roger A. Agana
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Brent Crude Rebounds Above US$90 As Ceasefire Collapses

Brent crude climbed back above $90 a barrel on Monday after Iran declared its ceasefire with the United States had collapsed, reviving fears over Strait of Hormuz shipments.

The benchmark rose as much as 4 percent before settling near $90, its highest level since mid June, while West Texas Intermediate traded close to $84. This is not crude’s first trip above $90 this year. Brent surged past $126 a barrel during the war’s opening weeks in March and April, before a ceasefire signed on June 17 pulled prices back into the $75 to $82 range through most of June and early July. Monday’s rebound marks a return to territory the market last saw more than a month ago, not a fresh high.

Iran said over the weekend that it had intercepted four vessels transiting the strait and confirmed a formal end to the truce. The United States carried out its ninth consecutive night of strikes against Iranian targets, according to US Central Command, and officials confirmed a third American service member killed in an Iranian strike in Jordan. Iran struck Gulf infrastructure over the weekend as well, damaging a Kuwaiti power plant, a desalination facility and an oil site.

The strait carries about a fifth of the world’s oil supply, and shipping data show traffic through it has slowed sharply since fighting resumed. Analysts describe the price move as a geopolitical risk premium building back into the market rather than a sign of an immediate physical shortage. Tanker insurance costs have climbed again, and shipping firms are weighing whether to reroute vessels. Goldman Sachs said its scenario for Brent reaching $100 is back in play, and Helima Croft of RBC Capital Markets said the region remains “nowhere close to normalisation.”

The rally comes even as OPEC+ has spent recent months restoring output to meet demand. Traders appear to believe a serious disruption to Gulf exports would outweigh whatever extra barrels the alliance adds to the market.

Sustained higher prices would ripple into fuel, transport, manufacturing and food costs worldwide, complicating the path for central banks that have only recently begun cutting interest rates. Oil importing countries face the sharpest exposure, since higher import bills can widen trade deficits and pressure currencies, particularly in economies already dependent on imported fuel. Oil exporters across the Middle East and Africa stand to gain from stronger revenue if prices hold, though continued fighting could just as easily disrupt their own production and shipping.

Markets are likely to stay volatile as traders track the conflict day to day. A credible move toward de escalation could pull Brent back down quickly, while further strikes on tankers or export infrastructure could send it toward the highs seen earlier this year.

Ninani Fellowship Welcomes First Cohort Of Creatives

Isaac Kofi Dzokpo
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Ninani Fellowship Welcomes First Cohort Of Creatives

The D. A. Twum Jnr. Fellowship has selected its first cohort of young Ghanaian creatives and begun a three month mentorship program.

Applicants went through portfolio assessments, written submissions and practical tests before the panel narrowed the field to the fellows now starting the program. The Ninani Group, the marketing communications firm behind the initiative, funds the fellowship fully and pays each fellow a stipend so financial need does not keep candidates out.

Joel Nettey, chief executive of The Ninani Group, launched the fellowship in April to mark 20 years since the death of Daniel Ampadu Twum Jnr, a creative director who founded the agency Origin8 and became one of Ghana’s most decorated advertising figures before he died at 36. Nettey told reporters at the April launch the effort goes beyond honoring a name. “This is not just about recognition anymore,” he said.

The program builds on an award scheme The Ninani Group previously ran at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to recognize strong student performers. This cohort marks a shift from that recognition model toward structured, hands on training. Fellows will sit through masterclasses run by working industry professionals, visit agencies and receive mentorship from practitioners over the three month span. Organizers say completion carries a certification meant to give graduates an edge when they apply for jobs in advertising, banking, telecommunications and insurance.

The timing puts weight behind Nettey’s April pledge that the fellowship would deliver more than a one time tribute. Whether the model produces the pipeline of creative talent the industry says it needs will depend on what this first group of fellows does once the three months end.

Rumzia Sule Wins Miss Ghana 2026 Crown

EDALL Chronicles
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Rumzia Sule Wins Miss Ghana 2026 Crown

Rumzia Sule, an International Relations student at Cumbria University, won the Miss Ghana 2026 crown at the pageant’s 69th finale in Accra, beating 12 other contestants.

Organizers scaled the event down from the pageant’s usual scale, trading heavy production for an intimate gathering at the Oak Plaza Hotel focused on community work and personal development rather than spectacle. “We made a deliberate choice this year,” organizers Exclusive Events Ghana and the Miss Ghana Foundation said, framing the shift as preparation for milestone anniversaries ahead, the brand’s 70th year in Ghana and 75th internationally, both landing in 2027.

The scoring reflected that priority. Judges weighted the weeks long preliminary journey at 80 percent of each contestant’s total score, leaving the public vote to decide only 20 percent. Organizers pointed to the closing round as the real turning point: each finalist delivered a yearlong vision for driving social impact through the Miss Ghana Foundation, and Sule’s pitch and delivery set her apart. “This crown is not simply an honour, it is a profound responsibility,” organizers said of what the title now demands.

University of Ghana graduate Fatimatu Zara Ishacu placed first runner up, with Whitney Opoku Nketia second. Anita Dankwa and Nedlyn Appiah took third and fourth. Category winners spanned fitness, talent, eloquence, congeniality and photogenic honors, with Sule also claiming the Beauty with a Purpose award.

Before the coronation, contestants ran a full circuit of mentorship and training, including financial literacy sessions with Fidelity Bank, leadership coaching from Ivana Couture chief executive Ivana Annan, and media training under Dr. Ike Tandoh of 1PR Communications. They toured the Despite Automobile Museum to hear businessman Dr. Osei Kwame Despite’s entrepreneurial story, then put the lessons into practice: leading a mentorship session for more than 300 pupils at Martey Tsuru Presbyterian JHS and joining Accra’s National Clean Up Exercise to desilt gutters as part of President John Dramani Mahama’s citywide sanitation push.

Sule now moves into preparation to represent Ghana at Miss World in Vietnam.

Clydestone Extends Profit Run As Cash Falls

Roger A. Agana
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Clydestone Extends Profit Run As Cash Falls

Clydestone Ghana Plc booked a second consecutive profitable quarter through June, even as cash and equivalents fell by nearly two thirds since December.

The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) listed payments company reported a consolidated net profit after tax of GH¢273,326 for the six months ended June 30, against GH¢1,093,650 in the same period last year. Revenue for the half year came to GH¢3,297,523, down from GH¢20,868,381 a year earlier. Management again pointed to a concentrated hardware delivery that inflated the 2025 comparative figure, noting that H1 2026 revenue came entirely from recurring services, with no hardware order completing in either quarter.

That services base carried its own weight. Gross margin for the half reached 85.1 percent, up from 26.4 percent in the prior year period. Revenue climbed 30.2 percent between the first and second quarters, rising from GH¢1,432,125 to GH¢1,865,398, on growth in ATM managed services and card issuance work. Card issuance alone generated GH¢687,736 over the half year, making it the company’s third largest revenue line. The board said both quarters turned a profit on services income alone, with newly delivered hardware still under warranty and contributing nothing to the top line.

The balance sheet moved in the opposite direction on liquidity. Consolidated cash and cash equivalents dropped to GH¢379,127 at June 30, down from GH¢1,087,757 at the start of the year, a decline the company’s cash flow statement puts at GH¢632,994 for the half. Current liabilities rose to GH¢7,471,085 from GH¢6,579,268 over the same stretch, driven by a new trade payable balance of GH¢479,814, a rise in other payables to GH¢5,284,562 and higher current income tax owed. Trade receivables grew to GH¢5,733,030 from GH¢4,256,836, and inventories held steady at GH¢1,537,874, which the company said represents equipment secured for confirmed third quarter deployments. Total equity stood at GH¢7,514,384, up from GH¢7,428,616 at the end of 2025.

The company holds two confirmed hardware orders from banking clients, one covering cash dispensers, bulk deposit machines and cash recyclers, the other a separate contracted deployment. Both are scheduled for delivery and revenue recognition in the third quarter, and the board expects them to mark a stronger revenue and profit period for the group. Several proof of concept engagements with banking partners remain active and could convert to formal orders later in the year.

On its consumer push, Clydestone said SusuCard, its proprietary savings and payments platform built on the company’s existing infrastructure, remains in active technical development. The product is designed to carry a UnionPay branded prepaid card and combine digital savings circles modeled on Ghana’s traditional susu system with transport payments and remittance receipt. Full commercial launch still requires Bank of Ghana approval under payment service provider rules.

Clydestone, incorporated in Ghana in 1989 and listed on the GSE since 2004 under the ticker CLYD, holds an Enhanced Payment Service Provider (EPSP) licence from the Bank of Ghana and remains regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Ghana. Directors Paul Jacquaye and Felistas Kisivo signed the statements, which the company said have not been reviewed by external auditors.

Clydestone Profit Holds Despite Revenue Plunge

Roger A. Agana
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Clydestone Profit Holds Despite Revenue Plunge

Clydestone Ghana Plc posted a consolidated net profit of GH¢239,522 for the first quarter of 2026, even as revenue fell 93 percent from a year earlier.

The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) listed payments firm reported unaudited revenue of GH¢1,432,125 for the three months to March 31, down sharply from GH¢19,775,067 in the same quarter of 2025. The board attributed the gap to a one-off hardware delivery that boosted the 2025 comparative figure, saying no major equipment order landed in the latest quarter. Gross margin told a different story: it climbed to 92.8 percent, up from 26.9 percent a year earlier, as the company leaned on recurring services income, transaction fees and equipment maintenance revenue rather than low-margin hardware sales.

Consolidated total equity rose to GH¢7,762,166 as of March 31, up from GH¢7,428,616 at the end of December, lifted by the quarter’s profit. Total assets stood at GH¢14,387,042 against liabilities of GH¢6,624,876. Earnings per share came in at GH¢0.0070, well below the GH¢0.0827 recorded in the first quarter of 2025.

Management pointed to two hardware orders from banking clients as the trigger for a stronger second half. Both were confirmed in the second quarter and are scheduled for delivery and revenue recognition in the third quarter, one covering cash dispensers, bulk deposit machines and cash recyclers, the other a further contracted equipment order. The board expects the two deals to push the July to September quarter well above Q1 levels and described several additional proof of concept engagements with banking partners as candidates for confirmation later in the year.

Clydestone also flagged progress on SusuCard, a consumer payment platform built on its existing infrastructure that would let the company sell directly to retail customers instead of only serving banks. The product combines digital savings circles modeled on Ghana’s traditional susu system, transport payments and remittance receipt, and it carries a UnionPay branded virtual card. Full commercial launch still needs Bank of Ghana clearance under payment service provider rules.

The company, incorporated in 1989 and listed on the GSE since 2004 under the ticker CLYD, holds an Enhanced Payment Service Provider (EPSP) licence from the Bank of Ghana and remains regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Ghana. Directors Paul Jacquaye and Felistas Kisivo signed off on the statements, which the company said have not been reviewed by external auditors.

Wontumi Gets 20 Years For Illegal Mining

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Wontumi Gets 20 Years For Illegal Mining

An Accra High Court sentenced Bernard Antwi Boasiako, New Patriotic Party (NPP) Ashanti Regional Chairman, to 20 years on Monday for illegal mining at Samreboi.

The ruling makes the businessman, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, the most senior sitting party official convicted in Ghana’s ongoing galamsey crackdown, a case that has tested how far prosecutors will go against politically connected figures.

Justice Audrey Kocuvie-Tay of the Criminal Division of the High Court found Antwi Boasiako guilty on all six counts he faced, including assigning mineral rights without approval and facilitating an unlicensed mining operation. The charges fell under the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), as amended, which sets a punishment range of 15 to 25 years for the offences. The judge also fined him 10,000 penalty units, with a default term of three years if he fails to pay. Both the custodial term and the default sentence run concurrently.

Akonta Mining Company Limited, the firm linked to Antwi Boasiako, avoided a custodial sentence. The court fined the company instead, citing mitigating factors raised during proceedings.

Before delivering judgment, the court threw out a defence request to delay the ruling and send constitutional questions to the Supreme Court. Lawyer Charles Boakye, standing in for lead counsel Samuel Atta Akyea, told the court the application had been filed on July 16 while Atta Akyea was traveling outside Ghana. Kocuvie-Tay ruled the request lacked merit and proceeded with sentencing.

Antwi Boasiako’s legal team had asked for the statutory minimum of 15 years, arguing he showed remorse, cooperated with investigators, carried no prior criminal record and had contributed to his community. The court weighed those submissions against the prosecution’s case and settled on the higher figure.

The prosecution built its case on a police raid at the Samreboi concession in the Western Region on April 16 and 17, 2025. Officers arrested Michael Ayisi Gyedu and 28 others and seized 25 excavators, firearms, vehicles and GH¢157,000 in cash. Prosecutors argued Antwi Boasiako, as owner and controlling director of Akonta Mining, let mining proceed on the concession without clearance from the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources. The defence countered that he never authorised any mining and that those found on site were carrying out land reclamation and coconut plantation work.

A separate application by the state seeking forfeiture of the seized equipment and cash remains before the court, which has yet to set a date for that ruling.

Antwi Boasiako retains the right to appeal to the Court of Appeal and, beyond that, the Supreme Court.

GFA Confirms September Start For 2026/27 League

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GFA Confirms September Start For 2026/27 League

Ghana’s Premier League will open the weekend of September 4 to 7, 2026, and run through May 2027, the Ghana Football Association has confirmed.

The season closes on the weekend of May 28 to 31, 2027, a calendar the GFA says keeps Ghana’s domestic football in step with FIFA’s international schedule and gives clubs time to plan. Clubs get their formal go ahead after the GFA Congress on August 20, and as in past seasons, fixtures will mostly fall on weekends, with midweek dates reserved only for outstanding matches to keep the calendar from slipping.

Eighteen clubs make up the field, fifteen returning sides plus three promoted from the Division One League: Port City, champions of Zone Three; FC AshantiGold 04, winners of Zone Two; and Debibi United, champions of Zone One. Nations FC and Eleven Wonders dropped down after failing to retain their top flight status, while Hohoe United’s withdrawal from the league opened the third promotion slot. Defending champions Medeama SC begin the campaign defending the second league title in the club’s history, won during a 2025/26 season that included a 16 match unbeaten run, with Augustine Okrah finishing as the league’s top scorer on 17 goals.

The second tier follows close behind. The GFA has set the 2026/27 Division One League to run from September 18 to 21, 2026, through May 24, 2027, across all three zones, with that competition played entirely on weekends and no midweek fixtures on its calendar.

GFA Sets Groups For Elite U-17 Girls Tournament

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GFA Sets Groups For Elite U-17 Girls Tournament

The Ghana Football Association has confirmed group pairings for the second Elite U-17 Girls Colts Championship, running July 30 to August 4 at its Prampram technical center.

Ten regional champions and the GFA’s Elite Academy have been split into two groups for the six day competition. Group A brings together Greater Accra, Brong Ahafo, Upper East, Central and Western, while Group B features Northern, Ashanti, Upper West, Eastern, Volta and the Elite Academy. The tournament forms part of the GFA’s Women’s Football Strategy and supports FIFA’s Talent Development Scheme, giving regional standouts a shot at national level exposure and offering coaches and scouts a chance to identify players who could progress into Ghana’s youth national teams.

This marks the second edition of the championship, following its debut in October 2025 at the same venue under a different set of groupings. The tournament sits inside a broader pipeline that has already produced results: Ghana’s Black Maidens beat Senegal on penalties earlier this year to qualify for the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, underscoring the kind of talent progression the GFA is aiming to formalise through events like this one. The Elite U-17 Girls Championship is one stop in a wider 2026 youth football calendar at the Prampram center, which runs through the KGL U17 Boys Colts Inter-Regional Championship scheduled for September 3 to 13.

CPP’s Ghanamannti Links Social Media Ills To Access

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CPP’s Ghanamannti Links Social Media Ills To Access

CPP vice presidential candidate Wayoe Ghanamannti says better access to public officials would ease the pressure driving Ghanaians toward social media, as debate over a jailed TikToker continues.

Speaking in a recent interview, Ghanamannti argued that a CPP government would build structured channels for citizens to reach their representatives directly, reducing the incentive to seek attention online instead. “Your representatives will lay your case out, get a hearing,” he said, describing that access as part of what he called grassroots governance. He argued people currently turn to social media largely because formal channels to reach decision makers feel closed off, and that fixing access would remove much of that pressure.

His comments came as Ghana works through a national debate sparked by the case of TikToker Camila Alhassan, sentenced July 16 to a year in prison with hard labour after pleading guilty to offensive conduct over videos falsely claiming President John Mahama buried cows to secure the 2024 election. In the same set of remarks, Ghanamannti addressed that case directly, saying both NDC and NPP supporters bear responsibility for the abusive tone that has become common in Ghanaian political discourse online, rather than blaming either party alone. The sentencing has split opinion nationally: the parliamentary Minority, led by Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has called the punishment excessive and demanded repeal of the colonial era criminal insult law used to convict her, while police have separately said they intend to pursue a second prosecution against Alhassan under the Electronic Communications Act.

Ghanamannti, a lawyer, ran as the Convention People’s Party’s vice presidential candidate in 2024 alongside presidential candidate Nana Akosua Frimpomaa Sarpong-Kumakumah, in an election the party contested from well outside the NDC and NPP’s usual two party dominance. He has previously used CPP platforms to pledge policies such as decriminalising marijuana possession under a future CPP government.

Haaland Tops World Cup Instagram Follower Gains

Roger A. Agana
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Haaland Tops World Cup Instagram Follower Gains

Erling Haaland added more Instagram followers than any other player at the 2026 World Cup, gaining 31.8 million during the tournament, according to new data from MyBettingSites.co.uk.

The firm’s tracker followed Instagram growth across more than 1,200 players from June 8 through the July 19 final, then isolated the closing stretch between the semifinals and the final separately. Haaland finished the full tournament on 72.5 million followers, a 78.3 percent jump, after Norway’s run to the quarterfinals, its first World Cup appearance in 28 years, put the striker in front of a global audience. Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha ranked second in raw gains, adding 29.5 million followers, but posted the more extraordinary swing in percentage terms: a rise from roughly 31,500 followers to over 29 million, a jump the firm’s spokesperson said had no equal in the tournament. “Nothing else in this tournament came close to it,” the spokesperson said. Jude Bellingham rounded out the top three with 11.8 million new followers.

By nation, Norway topped the combined gains table for the full tournament, driven almost entirely by Haaland, ahead of Cape Verde, largely on Vozinha’s numbers, then Argentina and Brazil. Several lesser known players posted enormous percentage growth despite modest raw totals, including Brazil’s Douglas Santos, Cape Verde’s Sidny Lopes Cabral and Diney Borges, Curaçao’s Eloy Room and Egypt’s Mostafa Ziko, each gaining more than tenfold their starting follower count.

The closing stretch from the semifinals through the final told a different story, shaped by Spain’s run to the title. Lamine Yamal led that window with nearly 4 million new followers, followed by Bellingham with 3.76 million and Haaland, still gaining despite Norway’s earlier elimination, with 2.89 million. Ferran Torres, who scored Spain’s winning goal in the final, added just over 1 million followers in that four day window alone, part of a tournament long gain of 1.63 million. Spain led the national rankings for the closing stretch, followed by Argentina, England and Norway.

The tracker also includes estimated per post sponsorship earnings for each player based on follower counts, a projection from MyBettingSites.co.uk rather than confirmed income figures.

Black Queens Face Tanzania In WAFCON Warm Up

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Black Queens Face Tanzania In WAFCON Warm Up

Ghana’s Black Queens play Tanzania in Casablanca on Monday, their second warm up match ahead of the 2026 TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.

The match kicks off at 6 p.m. local time and gives head coach Kim Lars Björkegren another look at his squad before the tournament begins. Ghana enters the fixture off a 1-0 win over Ivory Coast in their opening friendly, settled by a Sharon Sampson strike in the 75th minute. A follow up test against Nigeria’s Super Falcons, scheduled for July 18 in Casablanca, was called off due to unforeseen circumstances, leaving Tanzania as the squad’s only other measured opponent before the competition starts.

Tanzania’s Twiga Stars arrive in the match on their own preparation run, having faced Nigeria in Morocco days earlier ahead of a group stage that pits them against South Africa, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso. Ghana, by contrast, sits in Group D alongside Cameroon, Mali and Cape Verde, with its matches based in Casablanca. The tournament runs from July 25 to August 16 across Morocco, and Björkegren’s side will use Monday’s friendly to sharpen cohesion and finalise selection decisions before the group phase opens.

Bawumia Urges Mahama To Reject Tribunals Bill

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Bawumia Urges Mahama To Reject Tribunals Bill

Former Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia has appealed to President John Mahama not to sign the Tribunals Bill, 2026, arguing Ghana should reform its courts instead of building a parallel system.

Parliament passed the bill after its third reading on July 16, waiving the mandatory one day interval between the consideration stage and final passage. The Minority walked out before the vote, led by Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin, after a headcount rejected their bid to delete a contested clause 135 votes to 16. The bill now awaits presidential assent.

In a series of video addresses, the NPP flagbearer argued that court congestion should be met with more judges, expanded court infrastructure and digitised processes rather than a second justice system. He raised particular concern that the bill allows panels including non-lawyers to sit in judgment over criminal matters. He also questioned the sequencing of the legislation, noting that the Constitution Review Committee, chaired by Professor Kwasi Prempeh, submitted its report to government in December 2025 recommending that regional tribunals be removed from the Constitution because the High Court had already absorbed their caseload. He argued Parliament passed a bill moving in the opposite direction before that report was made public, and called on the President to publish it first.

Bawumia cited the Trades Union Congress’s opposition as evidence the concerns extend beyond party politics, and TUC’s public position matches his characterisation. TUC Secretary General Joshua Ansah told a press conference the bill should be withdrawn entirely, warning it could become a tool for “weaponising justice delivery” and urging government to resource the existing judiciary instead of reviving tribunals. Bawumia’s final appeal asked Mahama to pause the process and open it to wider consultation through the Council of State under Articles 90 and 106 of the Constitution, involving the Ghana Bar Association, organised labour, civil society and the judiciary. “Mr President, do not sign this Bill. Pause and let the nation talk,” he said.

The government has defended the legislation. Attorney General Dominic Ayine told Parliament the courts accumulate roughly 3,360 new backlog cases annually and argued that Article 142 of the Constitution already provides for regional tribunals that have simply sat unused for decades. He said the bill includes safeguards absent from earlier tribunal systems, including a Tribunal Oversight Committee operating under the Judicial Council, and bars tribunals from ruling on constitutional interpretation, human rights violations or matters reserved for the superior courts. Ayine rejected the framing that the bill creates a parallel justice system, telling lawmakers it instead gives effect to provisions already written into the Constitution.

Defence Presses EOCO Witness On Boahene Probe Gaps

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Defence Presses EOCO Witness On Boahene Probe Gaps

Defence lawyers for former National Signals Bureau boss Kwabena Adu Boahene pressed an EOCO investigator on gaps in the probe behind his GH¢49.1 million theft trial.

Frank Marshall Cromwell, the Economic and Organised Crime Office’s lead investigator and the prosecution’s fourth witness, told the High Court under cross-examination that there was no identifiable complainant behind the case, consistent with earlier testimony that the investigation began from a tip-off rather than a formal petition. He also confirmed he did not interview officials at the National Security Secretariat or other national security institutions about the purpose or authorisation of the transactions at the centre of the charges. Defence counsel argued the investigation moved forward without the institutional perspective of the agencies that actually administered the funds.

The defence built that argument on testimony from Edith Ruby Adumuah, head of finance at the National Signals Bureau, who told the court earlier that no funds were reported missing from the agency, that its 2020 budget stood at GH¢13.9 million, and that no internal audit had flagged any shortfall. Defence lawyers also cited the prosecution’s own disclosure, made after Court of Appeal orders, that it lacked some documents relating to the source and purpose of the funds that the defence had requested. Lead counsel Samuel Atta Akyea put the broader challenge to Cromwell directly: “I put it to you that you didn’t embark on an independent and open minded investigation.” Cromwell rejected the characterisation, maintaining EOCO’s process was independent.

That exchange sits alongside testimony the same witness gave earlier in the trial that underpins the prosecution’s case. Cromwell has told the court that of the GH¢49.1 million earmarked for a cybersecurity procurement, only about GH¢9.54 million, roughly $1.75 million, reached the Israeli firm ISC Holdings for the software, while he alleged the remainder moved into a private account and was withdrawn or paid out on Adu Boahene’s instructions. He also testified that Adu Boahene’s identified wealth did not match his recorded salary and that a bank had filed a Suspicious Transaction Report shortly after the disputed deposits began. Adu Boahene, his wife Angela Adjei Boateng, and Advantage Solutions Limited face charges including stealing, money laundering and causing financial loss to the state, and all have denied wrongdoing.

The prosecution has not yet closed its case, and the trial continues before the High Court.

Ghanaian Pundits Credit Spain’s System, Not Stars

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Ghanaian Pundits Credit Spain’s System, Not Stars

Ghanaian football analysts say Spain’s World Cup title reflects two decades of federation planning, not individual brilliance, and that the expanded 48 team format exceeded expectations.

Speaking separately on the Asaase Breakfast Show Monday, sports analysts Kwame Plahar, Kojo Addae Mensah and Prince Opoku each pointed to the Spanish Football Federation’s long term development model as the real engine behind the country’s second World Cup title. Plahar argued the federation deserves as much credit as head coach Luis de la Fuente, noting that Spain’s success under Vicente del Bosque and now De la Fuente reflects a football identity the country has managed to reproduce across coaching generations. He said another Spanish coach stepping into the role today would likely achieve similar results because the underlying system, not any one figure, drives the results.

All three pundits converged on the same broader theme: Spain won through collective structure rather than reliance on individual stars. Plahar noted the side spread responsibility across the squad despite the pre-tournament hype around Lamine Yamal, Rodri and Fabián Ruiz, pointing to Spain conceding only one goal all tournament as proof of its defensive discipline. Opoku credited that balance to superior midfield control and aggressive high pressing, arguing Spain executed both better than any other side and blended patient possession with faster attacking transitions than the country’s celebrated 2008 to 2012 generation. Addae Mensah put it most bluntly: “Football won. The best team won.”

On comparisons to that earlier golden generation, built around Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta and remembered for winning three straight major tournaments, the analysts differed on scale but agreed on direction. Addae Mensah rated the current squad around 70 to 75 against a benchmark of 100 for the 2008 to 2012 side, while still praising this team’s cohesion over its predecessor’s reliance on individual moments. Plahar and Opoku both framed the current side as an evolution rather than a replacement, having added sharper pressing and tactical flexibility to the technical foundations Xavi and Iniesta’s generation established.

On individual performances, Addae Mensah pushed back against crowning Yamal the face of world football just yet, arguing the tournament instead belonged to teenage defender Pau Cubarsí, whose composure underpinned Spain’s stingy defensive record. He also endorsed Rodri’s Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player, describing the midfielder as the conductor of Spain’s campaign.

Addae Mensah and Opoku both said the expansion to 48 teams, criticised beforehand as a threat to quality, instead widened the gap narrowing between traditional powers and emerging football nations. Addae Mensah pointed to strong showings from Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Morocco and especially Cape Verde as evidence Africa was among the tournament’s biggest winners, while still calling the event a costly one for traveling supporters given its scale across the United States, Mexico and Canada.

On Argentina’s runner up finish, Addae Mensah said he hopes the final marks Lionel Messi’s last World Cup appearance, calling a third final at age 39 a remarkable enough achievement to close his international career on.

Plahar closed by framing Spain’s run as a model other federations should study, arguing that investment in a coherent footballing philosophy from youth level through the senior team, the same pathway that carried De la Fuente through Spain’s junior ranks before the top job, matters more than chasing individual talent.

Halliburton Commits US$15.1m To KNUST Petroleum Training

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Halliburton Commits US$15.1m To KNUST Petroleum Training

Halliburton Ghana has pledged $15.1 million in software, training and research support to KNUST’s petroleum engineering department under a new deal with the Petroleum Commission.

The memorandum of understanding, signed between Halliburton and the Commission, will see the company donate industry standard petroleum engineering software to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology’s Department of Petroleum Engineering, alongside training for students and faculty and support for academic research. Acting Petroleum Commission CEO Emeafa Hardcastle called the arrangement a strategic investment in local human capital, saying it would give students and lecturers hands on access to tools used across the international oil and gas industry. Halliburton’s Vice President for Sub-Saharan Africa, Antoine Berel, framed the donation as part of the company’s wider local content approach, saying the goal was “empowering local institutions with the tools, knowledge, and practical experience they need.”

The deal builds on a 2019 agreement between Halliburton and the Commission that focused narrowly on training the regulator’s own engineering and geoscience staff; this expansion extends the relationship into Ghana’s university system for the first time. It also fits a template Halliburton has used elsewhere: the company runs a University Grants Program through its Landmark division that donates its DecisionSpace exploration and production software to academic institutions worldwide, paired with a mentorship and research initiative called STEPS, and has made comparable multimillion dollar software grants to universities such as Malaysia’s Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS.

The agreement adds to a run of industry academic partnerships at KNUST’s petroleum programs. The university, Yinson Production and the Petroleum Commission inaugurated a Net-Zero Carbon Emission Lab there in December 2025. The Commission has increasingly pushed capacity building as a pillar of Ghana’s local content policy, pressing international operators to invest in Ghanaian expertise alongside physical infrastructure so graduates enter the workforce already familiar with the technologies used on active projects.

Two Killed In Truck Collision On Accra Kumasi Road

News Ghana
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Two Killed In Truck Collision On Accra Kumasi Road

Two people died and two others were injured Saturday when a tyre burst sent a cargo truck crashing into another on the Accra Kumasi Highway at Asuboi.

The crash involved a KIA Rhino truck, registration GX 857-16, traveling from the Upper West Region toward Accra, and a Hyundai truck, GX 7359-14. The Ghana National Fire Service said preliminary findings point to a front tyre burst on the KIA Rhino, which sent the driver into the Hyundai ahead. Firefighters from the Suhum Municipal Fire Station received the distress call at 9:01 a.m. and had a six member rescue team, led by Station Officer I Antwi Forson, on scene within roughly ten minutes.

Crews used hydraulic extrication equipment to free victims trapped in the wreckage before handing them to the Ghana Ambulance Service and police for transport to Suhum Government Hospital. Two of the four people involved died at the scene; the other two were taken in for treatment. Both trucks sustained heavy damage to their front sections. Officers from the Suhum Motor Traffic and Transport Department and the Ayensuano District Ambulance Service also responded, and police have opened an investigation.

The crash adds to a string of serious incidents along this stretch of the Accra Kumasi corridor near Suhum. Less than two weeks earlier, on July 7, a KIA Rhino loaded with animal feed overturned nearby at Omenako after its driver swerved to avoid a fuel tanker that was overtaking illegally, though no one was trapped in that crash. The recurring accidents on the route have kept road safety concerns on the corridor in public view.

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