Day: December 25, 2023

Mr. Governs Kwame Agbodza, Member of Parliament for Adaklu at the weekend presented food items for distribution to all workers in the Adaklu district at separate ceremonies at Adaklu Waya and Adaklu Helekpe.

The items include bags of rice, cartons of cooking oil and tin tomatoes as well as tin fish and an undisclosed amount of money.

The beneficiary workers are from the Ghana National Fire Service, Ambulance Service, Police Service, Judiciary, District Assembly, Nurses and other health workers and teachers from all first and second cycle institutions.

Mr. Agbodza, in an address delivered on his behalf by Mr. Jerry Ameko, Adaklu Constituency National Democratic Congress Chairman at one of the presentation ceremonies at Adaklu Waya, noted that the NDC had better policies and vision for the education and health sectors and workers in general.

He urged the people, especially workers, to vote massively for the party in the 2024 general elections to enable it to redeem the country from the current economic dif
ficulties.

The MP, who is also the Minority Chief Whip in Parliament, stated that workers, especially teachers and nurses, were indispensable assets in the growth and development of the country.

‘They therefore need to be motivated and encouraged to enable them to put up their optimum best.’

Mr. Agbodza mentioned development projects he undertook in the district, including classroom blocks, health centres, teachers’ and nurses’ bungalows.

Besides, a lot of financial support was committed to the health and education sectors in the district, he said.

The MP said donation was his widow’s mite to cushion the workers during the Christmas festivities.

Mr. Matthew Ayamba Adams, Adaklu District Director of Health, praised Mr. Agbodza for his monumental support and services for the 18 health centres, including two private ones in the district.

Mr. Mac-Peter Dumatonu, Adaklu District Director of Education, on his part, expressed surprise at the gesture, saying ‘this is the first of its kind that an MP met especi
ally all workers to appreciate them.’
Source: Ghana News Agency

Justice Edward Amoako Asante, the President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, has paid a courtesy call on the Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana, Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo.

The visit enabled Justice Asante to congratulate Ghana’s Chief Justice on her recent appointment and to discuss matters of mutual interest between the ECOWAS Court and Ghana’s judiciary.

In his remarks during the visit, Justice Edward Asante extended his warm congratulations to Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude Torkornoo on her elevation to the high office of Chief Justice of Ghana and affirmed the commitment of the ECOWAS Court to work collaboratively with Ghana’s judiciary and other national judicial institutions in the subregion to strengthen the rule of law and protection of human rights.

On her part, Her Ladyship Justice Torkornoo expressed her gratitude to Justice Edward Asante and the ECOWAS Court for the honoir of the visit and the goodwill message.

She noted that Ghana’s judiciary was committed
to supporting the ECOWAS Court to discharge its mandate, and that pending legislative changes to Ghana’s civil procedure rules to enable effective enforcement of ECOWAS Court judgments, the judiciary would explore administrative options that could aid in that effort.

She further expressed the hope for increased engagement to identify common ground between ECOWAS legal texts and national laws and the enhancement of the capacities of national court judges to apply and enforce these areas of law.

The deliberations during the visit also touched on the need for regional human rights instruments such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Maputo Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa to be domesticated to ensure their effective implementation.

Other senior judges of Ghana’s judiciary who were present at the meeting expressed the need for legal integration in the subregion to be strengthened through the teaching of ECOWAS and African Union law in law schools and urged the ECOWAS Court to s
upport such effort.

The meeting ended with an exchange of ECOWAS Court and Ghana Judicial Service paraphernalia between Justice Asante and Her Ladyship Justice Torkornoo.

Some Justices of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, and High Court of Ghana present at the meeting were Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, Justice Amadu Tanko, Justice Henrietta Mensa- Bonsu, Justice Ernest Yao Gaewu, Justice Cyra Cynthia Koranteng (the Judicial Secretary), and Justice Nicholas Abodakpi, a Justice of the Human Rights Division of the High Court of Ghana.

Accompanying President of the ECOWAS Court were the Chief of Protocol and Conference, Mr. Eric Akuete, and the Executive Assistant to the President, Dr. Christopher Nyinevi.
Source: Ghana News Agency

Seven babies were delivered in the early hours of Christmas day at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) in Accra for six mothers.

The babies, two boys, three girls and a set of twins, were delivered between the hours of 0006 dawn and 1000 on Monday, December 25.

Three out of the seven deliveries were through Spontaneous Vagina Delivery (SVD) while the other three were through Cesearian Sections (CS).

The mothers received their babies with so much joy, saying, describing it as their best Christmas gift.

Mrs Akorfa Glover, 30, was the first mother to welcome her babies ‘a set of twins’ at exactly 0005 hours on Christmas Day at the Hospital through SVD.

She delivered healthy baby girls, each of them weighed 3.2 kilograms (kg) at birth.

Mrs Glover told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that her babies were ‘Blessed babies’ as she conceived them 15 years after marriage when doctors had declared her infertile.

‘I had some complications during this pregnancy so I was admitted here, at the maternity ward two weeks
ago, and I have been under close monitoring, my due date was supposed to be the first week in January, but my water broke on Friday unexpectedly, and little did I know that my babies would be privileged to share a birthday with Jesus Christ, ‘ she said.

She thanked God for such a miracle saying, ‘I will name these girls Jesus Babies’.

Another happy mother Mrs Gifty Appiah said the doctors told her that her baby boy would be due by the first week of January 2024.

She said surprisingly, she went into labour at about 10 am Sunday morning and had her baby at 0800 hours on Christmas Day.

All the mothers were filled with so much joy as friends and family visited to congratulate them.

Some companies were also there to share gifts with the newborn babies and their mothers.
Source: Ghana News Agency

A Nigerian businessman has appeared before an Accra Circuit Court on charges of trafficking four Nigerian young adults to Ghana to engage them in internet fraud.

Tijani Husseni is being held on two counts of human trafficking.

Husseini and his accomplice, Hassan Great, a businessman, have been jointly charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and two counts of assault.

They have pleaded not guilty.

The court presided over by Mr Samuel Bright Acquah, has admitted them to bail in the sum of GHC50,000 with two sureties each.

The court also ordered Husseini and Great to report to the Police every Wednesday and hand over all their travelling documents to the court’s registry.

The matter was adjourned on January 23, 2024.

The prosecution led by Chief Inspector Dickson Atuunah said the complainant in the case is a 19-year-old, while the accused persons are internet fraudsters.

It said in July 2023, Husseini recruited the first victim, who was 17 years old, and the second victim, who was 21 years old, from N
igeria to Ghana under the pretext of securing them jobs.

According to the prosecutor, the victims were met on arrival by Husseini, who snuck them into his house at Ayikuma.

The court heard that Husseini took their phones, wiped all information on them, and forced them to engage in internet fraud.

The prosecutor said Husseini subjected the victims to severe beatings when they failed to understand what he taught them.

Husseini, according to the prosecutor, only fed the victims once a day and forced them to drink only one sachet of water for 24 hours.

The prosecution said the victims were not permitted to go out or make phone calls, and they were also not allowed to use any private social media handles other than to deceive people, mostly Japanese, on Instagram.

The prosecutor said the victims worked 0830 hours to 1600 hours. and 2030 hours to 0430 hours the next day. 

In August 2023, Husseini recruited and transported another two victims aged 19 years and 22 years old from Nigeria to Ghana and meted out
the same treatment to them. 

The prosecution said the second accused person, Great, who is a colleague fraudster from Nigeria arrived in Ghana in August 2023 and joined Husseini in the internet fraud business.

The victims were always cruelly beaten by Great and Husseini.

The prosecution said on October 6, 2023, one of the victims was transferred from Ayikuma by the accused persons to Mensah Bar to work for three weeks under another ‘manager’ called Element Moses, a Nigerian who is yet to be arrested.

The victim reported the case of assault at Ayikuma Police Station, which led to the rescue of the three other victims and the arrest of the accused persons.

The prosecution said the matter and case dockets were later forwarded to the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, CID Headquarters for further investigation.

During the investigation, Husseini admitted that he recruited and transported the victims from Nigeria to Ghana. 

The prosecution said Husseini and Great also admitted they assaulted the victims anytime t
hey breached the rules in the house but denied employing them for internet fraud.
Source: Ghana News Agency

The Centre for Maritime Law and Security Africa (CEMLAWS) has called for an inquiry into the disappearance of Mr Samuel Abayitey, a fisheries observer onboard a tuna vessel Marine 707.

CEMLAWS, in a communication available to the Ghana News Agency indicated that in November, news broke out of the disappearance of Mr Abayitey, who was onboard the tuna vessel Marine 707.

It said there was no information from either the vessel owners or crew as to the circumstances, leading to his disappearance, noting that ‘the Fisheries Commission (FC) and the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture (MoFAD) did not also know what happened to the fisheries observer.’

This brings to two the number of fisheries observers on board fishing vessels disappearing with the first one being Mr Emmanuel Essien, who similarly disappeared while on board Chinese trawler Meng Xin 15 in July 2019.

CEMLAWS Africa stated that the second disappearance of an observer urgently required an inquiry into the disappearances of the two observers, add
ing that all the angles and possibilities must be explored in detail.

‘These disappearances could be due to homicide, inadequate security, or

lack of basic safety requirements on board the vessels. Unlike Essien, who may have witnessed the commission of a fishery offence, to draw a conspiracy theory for his disappearance, there is little that is known about Mr Abayitey,’ it added.

It indicated that several questions lingered and that the State, had a responsibility to ensure the safety of Observers at sea and to protect them from danger.

It was noted that the disappearance of a second fisheries observer was a significant concern for the fisheries management and law enforcement because of the roles and functions of these Observers.

Section 100 of the Fisheries Act, 2002 (Act 625), mandated fisheries observers to embark on seagoing or outbound fishing vessels to collect catch, key data, and samples of fish for scientific purposes, and report on fisheries violations on fishing vessels.

It added for such Ob
servers who were known public officials by law, on board a fishing vessel to perform these functions, to go missing in course of their duty, gave great cause for worry, threating to curtail the country’s capability to perform these functions.

The CEMLAWS Africa document noted that Observers embodied the ‘eyes of the state’ at sea, to ensure that the right things were done.
Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Seth Yormewu, the District Chief Executive for Anloga in the Volta Region, has appealed to fisherfolks in the area to indulge in sustainable fishing practices to preserve the water bodies.

He said the best way was to embark on legal and accepted methods of fishing instead of using chemicals and illegal methods.

Mr Yormewu made the appeal during a stakeholder meeting with all chief fishermen within Keta and Anloga District, which was summoned by Togbi Agbeshie Awusu II, the Awadada of the Anlo State.

‘Here in Anlo land, we do not have the gold, diamond, or cocoa as others have out there. Our gold is the lagoon and the sea and if we don not protect them, we will go hungry with our generations,’ he stated.

In an engagement with the Ghana News Agency after the meeting, Mr Yormewu advised fishermen and fish processors to heed to the call or failure to which he said’the laid down laws will be applied.’

An agreement was also reached on the registration and identification of canoes on the lagoon as well as t
he formation of task forces, which formed part of other measures to help mitigate the menace.

According to reports, fisherfolks on the Keta Lagoon have been indulging in bad and illegal methods of fishing recently after the sluice gates and sandbar at Kedzi-Havedzi was opened, allowing the Lagoon to breed sea species due to the interconnection of the two water bodies.

The situation had compelled fishermen to resort to illegal ways to catch fingerlings of the species which many have condemned.

Some claimed the practices would not only destroy the aquatic live, but also pose some serious health concerns to consumers.

The use of dynamites, light, and use of illegal nets are among some bad methods identified.

Over 30 chief fishermen and women from the two fishing dominated Districts, Traditional authorities, representatives of Keta Youth Parliament, and the media, who took part in the meeting, agreed to start a campaign against the act
Source: Ghana News Agency