Category: General

The Western Nzema Youth League (WNYL) has paid glowing tributes to the late Mr John Emmanuel Ackah, a former Member of Parliament (MP) for Jomoro Constituency, in the Western Region for his contribution to development of the area.

A statement signed by Dr Patrick Ekye Kwesie, Leader of the WNYL, and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Takoradi, described the late Mr Ackah as a true statesman who dedicated his service to the development of Jomoro and the country in general.

The statement said: ‘His loss is not only a profound personal tragedy for his family, but also a significant loss for Jomoro and Nzemaland, and the nation at large.’

It continued: ‘His distinguished career in Parliament saw us having the Osagyefo Barge and electricity in Jomoro, marked by his unwavering commitment to the principles of justice, liberty, and equality.’

The statement noted the late former Jomoro MP left an indelible mark on the history of Nzemaland, adding ‘His legacy will continue to inspire future generations of lea
ders and citizens alike.’

The WNYL expressed its sympathies and condolences to the family, friends and all affected by the loss of Mr Ackah.

Mr Ackah, also an educationist, was a National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP from 1993 to 2005, making him the longest serving MP for Jomoro.

From 2013 to 2016, he served as the Chairman of the Board of Takoradi Technical University where he played a pivotal role in bringing transformation to the institution.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Assin Fosu Municipal Assembly has admonished residents to remain calm and not be intimidated by recent clashes between the youth in the town after the Ghana Police conducted a swoop to clamp down on criminals.

In a press release sighted by the Ghana News Agency, Mr Nicholas Kofi Baako, Municipal Chief Executive told residents that the Municipal Security Council (MUSEC) will collaborate with the Regional Police Command to ascertain the cause of the unfortunate incident.

He said as soon as investigations were done, anyone found culpable would be made to face the full rigours of the law and suffer the penalty for it.

The MCE noted that the Police was mandated to organise swoops as and when needed based on intelligence gathered, and so residents should remain calm and give information.

It will be recalled that, the Police in Assin Fosu embarked on a swoop last Friday night to arrest criminals and miscreants who had been tormenting residents in the area.

During the operation, the Police arrested some susp
ects and retrieved substances suspected to be hard drugs in their hideouts.

In a rebuttal, the youth in the area pelted the police with stones and vandalised their vehicle in the process.

Again, the youth burnt car tyres in the middle of the newly constructed Assin Fosu-Kumasi highway, to register their grievances, damaging portions of the road.

The police fired warning shots to disperse the crowd, but in the process, two youths sustained gunshot wounds.

The injured persons are receiving treatment at the St Francis Xavier Hospital in Assin Fosu.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Asogli State Council has registered strong disapproval of a planned renaming of the Ho Technical University (HTU).

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Technical University in 2018, endorsed a proposal by the Governing Council to rename the Institution after historic Ghanaian cultural icon, Dr Ephraim Amu, an indigene of the Volta Region.

Chiefs of the traditional State of the Volta regional capital vehemently rejected the proposal at a press conference on Monday, six years after the President made public the planned move.

Togbe Adzie Lakle Howusu XII, the Warlord of the State, said the University remained a revered establishment of the Asogli State, and recounted how the community bore manual labour to support its construction by the Dutch Government in 1968 as a technical school.

He therefore said the proposed name change would challenge efforts to preserve the history and relevance of the Institution, adding that Dr Amu, a Composer, musicologist, and tea
cher, the individual to receive the honour and fame, shared little with the disposition as a technical University.

Togbe Howusu decried the lack of consultation with traditional authorities over the new name, and alleged some possible political undertones in the renaming, which he claimed was being planned for execution sooner.

‘The attention of the Asogli State Council has once again been drawn to the attempts by the authorities of the Ho Technical University and the Government to rename the institute to Dr Ephraim Amu Technical University.

‘The Asogli State Council wishes to reaffirm our strong opposition to the government’s decision to rename the University without any consultation with the Chiefs and people of Ho who played a crucial role in the establishment of this Institute,’ he said.

He said the Ho Technical University, an esteemed institution in the public domain, held a special place in the Volta Region, particularly for the people of Asogli State on whose land the University was situated.

‘We
have a strong attachment to the University’s brand, which is steadily gaining recognition both nationally and Internationally,’ he stated.

Togbe Howusu said it was imperative that this progress and reputation remained undisturbed as frequent changes in the University’s name could lead to confusion among stakeholders, including students, alumni and the public regarding its identity and mission.

‘Our concern is heightened by the fact that the proposed name does not align with the University in any way. Names carry significant meanings and can impact institutions positively or negatively. The name of a university is closely tied to its history, identity, values, or mission.

He said as much as the Chiefs and people of Asogli State recognise the achievements of Dr Ephraim Amu and his contributions to the development of the country, these achievements, and contributions, though laudable, had limited relevance to the academic programmes and mission of the Ho Technical University.

Togbe Howusu said the Asogli Sta
te Council wished to remind the authorities of the Ho Technical University that major decisions affecting the University should be made in consultation with the relevant stakeholders, to avoid conflict and unnecessary confrontation.

‘We do not understand the motive behind the rush to rename the Ho Technical University and cannot see any serious justification for such a move other than for political expediency,’ re-echoed their total objection to the attempt to rename the University.

‘Our position is that the name of the Institute should remain ‘Ho Technical University,’ this is our position, and we firmly stand by it.’

Present at the press conference were chiefs and queens of the Asogli State, all who together processed to present copies of the petition to the Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Letsa, the Municipal Chief Executive for Ho, Mr Divine Bosson and the Management of the Ho Technical University.

‘What will happen if this name change goes ahead will not be pleasant,’ Togbe Howusu would say, while gi
ving out the petition.’

Dr Christopher Amehoe, the Registrar of the University, told the traditional council that presently there were no plans to rename the Institution, saying that the initial idea had been put on hold since 2018.

He gave the assurance that the petition would reach the appropriate quarters.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mrs Dorcas Owusuaa Agyei, the National Coordinator of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), has encouraged beneficiary communities of the Land of Opportunity Global Mechanism (LOGMe) project to usurp ownership of the project interventions.

She said embracing, owning and managing the interventions would enable them derive the maximum benefits of the project for the transformation of their socio-economic livelihoods.

Mrs Agyei was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Nanchalla, a predominately farming community in the Sissala East Municipality during a tour of the LOGMe project sites.

The project was dubbed: ‘Creating Lands of Opportunity: Transforming Livelihoods through Landscape Restoration in the Sahel’ and is known as: ‘Land of Opportunity Global Mechanism (LOGMe).’

Funded by the Italian Ministry for Ecological Transitions, through the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), it is being implemented in Ghana, Burkina Faso and Niger to con
tribute towards meeting the land degradation neutrality targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The IUCN led its implementation in Ghana in partnership with A Rocha Ghana, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR-SARI), and in collaboration with the Water Resources Commission and the Ministry of Agriculture.

The project is being implemented in eight communities, six in the Upper East Region and two – the Sakalu, and Nanchalla communities in the Sissala East Municipality, Upper West Region.

Mrs Agyei commended the communities for the high level of commitment they had exhibited towards the project implementation, which had translated into the benefits the communities were deriving from it.

She mentioned specifically the Nanchalla community where the people were maximizing the project interventions, including the beekeeping and the shea processing machine to improve their livelihoods.

‘The project
has various thematic areas with the main focus of improving significantly towards landscape restoration whilst creating income generation opportunities for communities.

‘Oftentimes, we talk about restoration with the focus on only trees standing without emphasising the livelihoods of these communities, this project actually merged the two.

We focused on regaining the ecological functionality of the land, including grasslands, agriculture production, trees, and then ensuring that best and sustainable agricultural practices are done to improve the soil fertility, which is a major challenge in this area,’Mrs Agyei explained.

As part of the renewable energy component of the project, eight solar-powered mechanised boreholes were constructed in all eight communities and the beneficiaries were taught how to produce grass briquette charcoal and energy-efficient cooking stoves.

Four of the beneficiary communities were provided with a five-acre fenced area to produce vegetables for sale and consumption to help enha
nce their income levels and improve their nutritional status.

Mrs Agyei indicated that demonstration plots were also established in the project communities and farmers outside those communities were brought to the fields to learn good agronomic practices to enhance their farming activities.

Dr. Joachim Ayiiwe Abungba, the Head of the Black Volta Basin, indicated that the high demand for fuel wood and charcoal in recent times had led to the destruction of the vegetation and put pressure on the water resources.

He said that informed the need to adopt an integrated watershed management approach to restore areas that had been destroyed and protect water resources for the communities.

He commended the communities for caring for the trees planted under the LOGMe project, saying, ‘As you can see, we have almost 99 per cent survival in terms of restoration. And this is in April. So, it tells us that the communities are doing very well.’

Dr. Abungba appealed to the communities along the watersheds to take keen in
terest in making sure that they also develop plants to restore some destroyed areas.

He assured them that the commission was ready and willing to support any degraded watershed that required restoration.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Pakistani and Iranian leaders on Monday vowed to strengthen relations and enhance bilateral trade to $10 billion a year, leaving behind recent airstrikes against each other and ignoring possible new sanctions against the Persian republic.

‘We have agreed to enhance our bilateral trade volume to $10 billion (a year),’ Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said at a presser with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad.

Raisi, who arrived in Pakistan on three-day visit, called for more action at borders to increase trade with Pakistan, in defiance of ‘illegal and unfair’ sanctions by the West against his country.

‘Time has come to … develop our shared border into the hub of trade and prosperity,’ Sharif said, echoing Raisi’s sentiments.

The comments came after both leaders witnessed the signing of at least eight draft agreements on security, trade, energy and culture.

Raisi visited Pakistan months after the two neighbours launched tit-for-tat airstrikes into each other’s territories.

Pakistani fight
er jets targeted alleged hideouts of nationalist separatists in Iran in January, a day after Iranian drones hit Islamist fighters in cross-border strikes.

Both nations have since restored diplomatic ties and resuming bilateral trade following a brief suspension.

Raisi’s visit marks the first by any world leader since Sharif assumed office following the February national elections.

The visit aims to mend relations with the Sunni-dominant nations as tensions escalate between Tehran and Israel due to recent reciprocal attacks.

Western nations including the US are reportedly contemplating new sanctions against Iran, a move that can jeopardize its deals with Pakistan including a project to build a trans-national pipeline for the supply of gas.

Security experts said Pakistan, a political ally of Sunni nations in the Gulf like Saudi Arabia, would be a significant player if Iran-Israel conflict spreads to the region.

A high-level Saudi delegation led by the kingdom’s top diplomat also visited Pakistan last week
to look for the prospects of the investment in the South Asian nation.

‘These visits are somehow linked to the changing security dynamics in the region, although they apparently look for trade and investments,’ said Irfan Shehzad, who leads Eurasian Century Institute think tank in Islamabad.

The Iranian president is accompanied by his spouse and a high-level delegation comprising the foreign minister and other members of the Cabinet, senior officials as well as a large business delegation.

He is scheduled to visit the major cities of Lahore and Karachi where local governments have declared public holidays.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Four more persons have been picked up by the police for their alleged roles in last week’s train accident at Abortia in the Volta Region.

They are Kokou Koudjo, a 34-year-old gas welder, Patrick Kwaku Sosu, a 52-year-old labourer, Alaza Prosper, a 28-year-old labourer and Fiadugbe Emmnauel, a 31-year-old labourer.

The four accused persons have been charged with ‘abetment of unlawful damage’.

They are alleged to have aided Abel Adzidotor, the driver of the truck, which caused unlawful damage to a Diesel Multiple Unit train.

The High Court presided over by Justice Mrs Lydia Osei-Marfo did not take their pleas and remanded them into police custody pending further investigations into the matter.

The prosecution, led by Christabel Selma Anafure, Assistant State Attorney, prayed the court not to take the pleas of the accused persons as investigations were underway.

ASA Anafure asked the court to remand them into police custody and grant them a short adjournment.

The court obliged the prosecution’s prayer and
asked the accused persons to secure lawyers of their choice by the next adjourned date.

The facts as read out in court are that the complainant is Dr Divine Olutey, an Engineer of the Ghana Railway Corporation.

The prosecution said on April 18, 2024, between 0900 hours and 1300 hours, the accused persons were on board a Hyundai Gold Truck with registration number GS 9018-20, driven by Dzidotor Abel (now a convict).

The prosecution said preliminary investigations revealed that Koujo, the first accused person, bought some blocks from a block factory at Juapong and conveyed same to Abortia using the underpass of the railway lines.

The court heard that the convict was in the car with the four accused persons.

After discharging the blocks at Kouko’s site, the prosecution said they decided to avoid the under bridge and cross the railway lines with the vehicle.

According to the prosecution, the four accused persons, being fully aware that the railway lines were inaccessible to motor vehicles, still decided to
use the railway lines as a ‘shortcut’ to get to Juapong.

The prosecution said when they arrived at the railway lines, they realised that it was impossible to cross over the railway tracks, hence they decided to place stones on the railway lines to serve as a path for the truck to cross over.

However, the prosecution said the truck still got stuck on the railway line.

The accused persons tilted the head of the truck and left the scene without providing any warning for trains playing the tracks.

The prosecution said investigations disclosed that there was no access route across the railway tracks connecting the Juapong road and that even if the truck had successfully crossed the railway, a big gutter on the westside of the railway lines would have prevented the accused persons from connecting the Akuse-Juapong road.

The court was told that on the same day, the management of the Ghana Railway Corporation led by the complainant and other 28 engineers from Ghana and Poland embarked on a test run of the new Di
esel Multiple Unit (DMU) Train from Tema to Mpakadan.

‘This test run had been announced ahead of time. When the train got to the Abortia area, it rammed into the Hyundai Gold Truck, which was stuck across the railway lines.

‘Both the train and truck got damaged. The train was sent to Tema for examination while the scrap of the vehicle, which was damaged beyond repairs was taken to the Juapong Police Station for further action,’ the prosecution said.

Source: Ghana News Agency

It was all joy at Pakyi No 1 in the Ashanti Region when the Minister for Roads and Highways, Mr. Francis Asenso-Boakye cut the sod for the commencement of work on the Pakyi-Antoakrom road project.

The residents could not hide their excitement when the Minister and his team of officials arrived in the community for what they described a historic event, having endured the effects of bad roads for many years.

According to them, they have been calling on successive governments to fix their roads, which have been in bad shape for years and could not help but appreciate the intention to tackle an age-long problem confronting them.

The Manso enclave is known as one of the areas in Ashanti Region with poor road network despite being a hub for mining and food production.

Inhabitants have been in the news severally for protesting the bad nature of their roads as they sought government’s intervention to enable them transport farm produce and other goods to market centres.

It is against this background that they wer
e seen singing the praise of government openly in appreciation for attending to one of their pressing needs as a community.

The 24.6 kilometre project is expected to bring relief to the thousands of people living along the stretch while enhancing business activities for socio-economic development.

Also awarded to contracts are the internal roads of Pakyi No 1 and Pakyi No 2, totalling 4.2 kilometres.

‘We are eternally grateful to the government for finally coming to our aid after years of waiting to get our roads fixed,’ Kofi Agyei, a middle-aged man told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) with excitement.

He said their expectation was that beyond the ceremony the roads would actually be fixed, saying that they had previously witnessed a situation where a certain contractor abandoned site after constructing drains and only left with the application of bitumen.

Mr. Asenso-Boakye assured them of uninterrupted construction of the roads, and introduced the two contractors tasked to execute the projects.

He acknowl
edged how the people had suffered over the years due to bad roads and urged them to cooperate with the contractors to deliver quality work for their own benefit.

The Minister advised residents to resist temptations to connive with workers to steal materials meant for the project in order not to compromise the quality of work.

He said despite the global devastation of economies by the COVID-19 pandemic, the government remained resolute in providing essential amenities to improve livelihoods across the country.

‘I wish to urge Ghanaians to bear with the government as it takes steps to mobilise resources to fix roads gradually because it is practically impossible to tackle all of them at a go,’ the Minister noted.

Mr. Simon Osei Mensah, the Ashanti Regional Minister, said the Region had benefitted immensely in terms of road projects under this administration, but people did not appreciate because of the level of deterioration of roads in the region.

‘This government has constructed roads in this region than
any other government and the Regional Coordinating Council would soon update the public on the number of roads constructed in the last seven years,’ he assured.

Source: Ghana News Agency

An Accra High Court has struck out the case involving Mr Adjenim Boateng Adjei, a former Public Procurement Authority Chief Executive Officer, and his brother-in-law, Mr Francis Kwaku Arhin.

This is after the State withdrew the 17 counts of corruption related charges against them.

There were eight counts of using public office for profit and nine counts of directly and indirectly influencing the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage in the award of a procurement contract.

Mr Arhin was charged with one count of using public office for profit.

They pleaded not guilty to all the charges and were granted a GH?5million bail each with two sureties each.

Madam Adelaide Obiri Wood, Principal Prosecutor, told the court that after ‘further investigation the Prosecution does not intend to proceed with the case against Mr Arhin’.

She said the Prosecution had since filed a fresh charge sheet with only Mr Adjei as the accused, a copy of which was brought to the attention of the Court at the last sitting.

T
he Prosecutor said administratively, it had come to their attention that the new case had been assigned to a different Court -Criminal Court Two.

‘We have since taken steps to serve Mr Adjei with the new charge sheet. We have also duly informed his lawyers of the new Court and the time fixed,’ she added.

Madam Wood said under the circumstances and the reasons given, they prayed to withdraw the present case before the Court to commence with the new case.

Mr Kwame Acheampong Boateng, counsel for Mr Adjei, said they were disappointed for the delay in the trial.

‘We are still in the soup, so we will not talk much,’ he added.

Source: Ghana News Agency