Day: December 2, 2023

Pandemonium broke at the Mataheko Police Station Park in the Ablekuma Central Constituency where the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is conducting parliamentary primary, after delegates abandoned voting and followed someone with a violet bag.

The bag contains small sealed envelopes.

A delegate, who sought anonymity, told the Ghana News Agency that the envelopes contained money for delegates, who voted for a particular aspirant.

Scores of delegates, including the elderly and persons with disability, about an hour into the election, deserted the voting and went after the ‘Manager’ of the bag.

Quickly, a long queue was formed ,with jostling and shoving for the money.

It is not clear, which candidate is giving out the money.

However, the tent under, which the money is being shared has the image of Mr Collins Amoah, one of the four aspirants.

A total of 1,571 delegates are expected to vote to elect one of the four aspirants to represent the Party in the parliamentary election next year.

The aspirants are Mr Jef
ferson, Sackey, a Presidential Staffer, Mr Ebenezer Nartey, a former Member of Parliament, Mr Collins Amoah and Mr Larry Angered Adjei.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Greater Accra Regional branch of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has recorded 4,876 cases of road crashes and 399 deaths from January to October 2023.

Speaking in an interview with Ghana News Agency at Tema, Mr Ezra Quansah, Assistant Planning Manager, NRSA Greater Accra Region, stated that road accidents occurred because of human errors, with 8,804 vehicles involved.

He added that those injured because of road accidents were 2,776; those involved in pedestrian knockdowns were 866 and out of that, 206 died.

Mr Quansah who spoke to GNA on the sidelines of a road safety workshop for drivers in Tema reiterated that for the crash, injuries, and deaths for commercial vehicles 2,294; 928 people got injured, 94 deaths, and for the private vehicles crashes, there were 5,122, 843 injuries and 134 deaths.

‘For the motorcycle crashes, there were 1,388; 1,005 injured; and 166 deaths,’ he noted.

He highlighted that for all the road crashes, they recorded 70 female deaths and 329 male deaths.

He emphas
ised that the Christmas season was approaching, therefore drivers should ensure safe driving to prevent road accidents and urged them to prevent the use of unapproved lights fixed on vehicles to avoid being punished by the police MTTD and going on long journeys with single drivers.

He appealed to long-distance drivers to be two in a vehicle for four-hour driving intervals to prevent road crashes.

D03 Fifi Oppong, Tema Regional Operations Officer and Safety Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service stated that it was mandatory for every driver to have a fire extinguisher in the car because overheating or electric faults could cause a fire outbreak in the vehicle.

He said the fire extinguishers should be changed either every six months or a year, and the specific fire extinguisher type to be used in a car should be a dry powder type.

He urged the public to call the fire service emergency number 192/112 when there was an accident with people trapped in it.

‘Drivers should avoid drinking alcohol before driv
ing to prevent road accidents during the festive season,’ he advised.

Alhaji Nasiru Abachem, Chief Executive Officer of Finance Company Limited, added that the impact of the road safety lessons on the drivers and motorriders would help them drive safely on the roads.

He advised the drivers to drive carefully, even on a rough road or a titled road, for their safety ahead of the festive season.

Mr Nii Noi Hanson-Nortey, MP for Tema Central, stated that there were challenges faced by the public on road issues, mentioning that ‘our infrastructure deficit is a problem, and after 66 years of independence, it should have been better to have at least had a dual carriageway or three-path highway, especially in the middle belt between Accra, Kumasi, and beyond.’

He appealed to the government to construct good roads in some communities to avoid accidents.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Apostle Joseph Felix Kwesi Mensah, the Chairman of the Executive Council of the Great Commission Church International (GCCI), has urged Churches to focus on finishing the task of world evangelism.

He reiterated that each Church must be a factory for producing Holy Spirit-filled disciples for Christ, who also produce Christ-like disciples.

He said world evangelism was God’s topmost agenda and therefore, Churches must ensure that the gospel of Jesus Christ reaches the four corners of the earth.

Apostle Mensah made the appeal in his sermon at the 33rd General Council Meeting (GCM) of GCCI – Ghana at Adenta near Accra.

The GCM on the theme ‘Structuring to Deliver the GCCI Mandate’, is being attended by 160 participants, which consists of GCCI pastors and their wives, Board of Trustees, presiding elders and presbyters.

Apostle Mensah said there were about 20 unreached ethnic groups in Ghana, while across the African continent there were about 998 unreached ethnic groups, which need to hear the gospel of Jesu
s Christ.

Speaking on the topic ‘The Vision of GCCI’, Apostle Mensah noted that vision was the staff of leadership and the anchor of followers.

‘As a Church, we need to be clear about our vision.’

He underscored that the vision of the Church was to make disciples of all my nations.

Quoting from the Bible Apostle Mensah said: ‘After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.’

Apostle Mensah urged Churches to develop strategies and plans for finishing world evangelism; adding that it would be achieved within a generation.

Apostle Dr Samuel Vincent Ansah, the Chairman of GCCI Ghana National Council, advised Christians to be prayerful, declaring that the prayerful Christians would experience divine breakthroughs.

The GCCI was founded on 1st April 1991, on the campus of the University of Ghana, Legon, Accra.

The Church has since
been established in other countries such as Togo, Benin, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, and Gabon.

The founding fathers include Apostle Joseph Felix Kwesi Mensah, Apostle Professor Samuel Asuming-Brempong, Apostle Joseph Kwabena Antwi and Apostle Dr Samuel Vincent Ansah.

The rest are Apostle Richard Kwami Adanu, Apostle Komla Ebenezer Hagan, and Apostle Derrick Sarpong.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Jefferson Sackey, the New Patriotic Party’s ( NPP) parliamentary candidate hopeful, says he is very confident of emerging as the winner in the primary.

The Presidential Staffer said the atmosphere at the election grounds indicated that most of the delegates would vote for him.

‘I am very confident about winning. You can see I am the one with the biggest tent where a lot of people are eating and drinking…I am very confident that delegates in Ablekuma Central are going to vote for Jefferson Sackey,’ he told the GNA in an interview at the election grounds.

Mr Sackey said he was not worried about the open display of ‘money sharing’ by other aspirants.

He said he believed the delegates already knew who they would vote for so money could not influence their decisions.

‘I don’t think it will influence them. You know people have already made up their minds so I don’t think a ‘transportation’ is going to change anybody’s mind…,’ he said.

Mr Sackey called on delegates who were yet to cast their ballot to vote
for a candidate who could do the job of a parliamentarian well.

He said the Ablekuma Central Constituency was one of the hottest constituencies in the region and, therefore, needed a very dynamic leader.

‘Our elections here are very tight so we need a candidate who is able to break through to get more numbers for the NPP…Vote for Jefferson Sackey because he can do it and he is doing it…’

The NPP is conducting parliamentary primaries for its orphan constituencies today and Ablekuma Central is one of such constituencies.

Today’s election will determine, who the NPP will present as its candidate for the Constituency in the 2024 national elections.

Aside from Mr Sackey, the other three aspirants are Mr Ebenezer Nartey, a former Member of Parliament, Mr Collins Amoah and Mr Larry Anyetei Adjei.

A total of 1,571 are expected to vote.

Source: Ghana News Agency

A study by the Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI), a research organisation, has revealed that only one out of 10 Ghanaians has a written will.

The quantitative research on accessing funds by next-of-kin, revealed that 85.5 per cent of the 1000 respondents from across the 16 regions of Ghana do not have written wills.

Mr Peter Bismark, the Executive Director of ILAPI, and Mr Stephen Dansu, the Organisation’s Head of Research, revealed this during a high-level policy dialogue on ‘Reducing family poverty via the use of next of kin.’

They indicated that the research, which was carried out between February and July 2023, also found that 38.75 per cent of those who did not have written wills, and said they were yet to acquire any property or asset.

Other reasons given were that they were not ready, they did not believe in writing a will, it was not yet time for them to die, their family knew their property already because they were residing in family property, while others had no reason for no
t having a will.

They said the research also revealed that 80.50 per cent were not informed about their status as next-of-kin, while 63 per cent were not informed by banks about the amount of money the deceased had, and how much they were entitled to.

The ILAPI said the bureaucratic nature of accessing funds as next-of-kin was costly, as respondents revealed that they spent an average of GHS7,550 and as much as GHS15,000 on these processes.

Some of the identified institutions a next-of-kin might deal with in the process included health facilities for the acquisition of a certificate of cause of death, police for the acquisition of a coroner, the Birth and Death Registry for a death certificate, and a death extract.

A burial permit must be acquired from the district assemblies, a probate or letter of administration from the court, as well as documents from financial institutions such as banks, insurance companies, and the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), among others.

ILAPI recommende
d that there should be frequent public education by stakeholders such as the National Commission for Civic Education, financial institutions, insurance companies and SSNIT, on the processes and procedures involved in accessing an estate.

They also called for the streamlining of administrative processes, to reduce the duration of accessing the funds of the deceased to avoid boredom and abandonment, which usually occurred empirically because of frustration and stress the next-of-kin, beneficiaries, and nominees go through to access these claims.

It urged Ghanaians to inculcate the habit of registering their property and having written wills, to avoid setbacks next-of-kin, beneficiaries, and nominees faced.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Kanjal Tibithe, a 60-year-old crops and livestock farmer from the Yendi Municipality of the Northern Region, has been adjudged Regional Best Farmer at this year’s regional celebration of the National Farmers’ Day.

For his prize, Mr Tibithe took home a tricycle, a mist blower, two cutlasses, 4.5 litres of OFA liquid fertilizer, and a certificate.

Alhaji Abass Ziblim, a farmer from the Zabzugu District, was adjudged Regional Best Livestock Farmer whilst Madam Rosemond Ali, a farmer from the Nanumba North Municipality, was adjudged Regional Best Female Farmer, and they each took home a tricycle, a knapsack sprayer, two cutlasses, a litre of OFA liquid fertilizer and a certificate each.

Five other farmers, who were adjudged Regional Best Physically Challenged Farmer, Regional Best Youth Farmer, Regional Best Male Agricultural Extension Agent (AEA), Regional Best Female AEA, and Regional Best Innovative Farmer, were also given various prizes.

Mr Tibithe, in a brief remark at the ceremony at Kulnyevilla in
the Sagnarigu Municipality on Friday, attributed his feat to hard work and urged all to embrace agriculture for improved livelihoods.

This year’s Farmers’ Day celebration was on the theme: ‘Delivering Smart Solutions for Sustainable Food Security and Resilience’.

Alhaji Shani Alhassan Saibu, Northern Regional Minister congratulated the winners and all farmers in the region, saying through their dedication, in the face of adversities, agriculture had remained the backbone and driving force behind the country’s food security, industrialisation process, job creation, economic growth, and foreign exchange earnings from diverse sources.

Alhaji Saibu said the government was fulfilling its obligation of creating the necessary environment through policy interventions and other incentives to motivate farmers to play their role more effectively.

He added that the government was demonstrating more sensitivity to the needs of farmers to enable them optimise productivity, build resilience, and attain a level of compet
itiveness derived from the efficient use of resources and technology.

He said ‘With the commitment and support from all relevant stakeholders in agricultural development, certainly Ghana’s agriculture will thrive in the next five years. With the introduction of an enduring system through Planting for Food and Jobs phase two, agriculture will be a very attractive enterprise.’

Alhaji Saibu entreated all to endeavour to reach the ultimate height to contribute to the food security of the region and the nation at large, saying ‘I want to urge all and sundry to get involved in agriculture and see farming as a business, because the President of the Republic is providing the enabling environment for all gender, especially the youth, women and people living with disabilities to fully embrace agriculture as a reliable source of income.’

Source: Ghana News Agency