L' Observateur Burundi

Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, Finance Minister, has called for the support of Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin, the King of Akyem Abuakwa, Eastern Region, for continued effort in ensuring environmental sustainability in Ghana.

The Minister made this call when he visited the Okyehene on Wednesday evening for his blessings and counsel for the new role he assumed about a week ago, following President Akufo-Addo’s ministerial reshuffle.

‘You [Amoatia Ofori Panin] have done so much for this country since your ascension to the throne, especially, your leadership in the fight against illegal mining and have become a champion of environmental sustainability, not just in Ghana but across the world,’ he said.

‘Through this, you’ve provided advocacy for the development of education along the lines of environmental sustainability,’ Dr Amin Adam said.

He said he found it necessary to seek for the Okyehene’s support in the country’s quest for environmental sustainability due to his personal advocacy in that regard.

Among others,
the country has instituted the Green Ghana campaign to restore lost forest cover in addition to having Task Forces to halt the degradation of lands and water bodies through illegal mining (galamsey) and other human activities.

Those efforts were to culminate into ensuring environmental sustainability and a friendly climate ecosystem for human and animal habitation.

To entrench the path for continued success, the Minister announced the resumption of disbursement of funding for the establishment of the University for Environment and Sustainable by the Exim Korea Bank.

That, he said, would be pivotal in ensuring a quick progress of the project to enable Ghanaians to study environmental sciences and sustainable development for human existence.

Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin, who welcomed the Finance Minister and his entourage from Accra, heightened the essence of education in the pursuit of environmental sustainability and national development.

He, therefore, asked the minister to ensure continued support for
the implementation of the government’s Free Senior High School (Free SHS) programme.

‘Learning will provide an escape from poverty, and all that is put together, we begin to train our young people, allow them to acquire skills and upgrade themselves, and in doing so, change the material standard of living of themselves and their parents,’ he said.

‘Our country will not go anywhere and will not be a great nation unless we make sure that every child [born in Ghana] will have a desk to write on, a good teacher to learn from,’ he noted.

The Okyehene expressed confidence on the path the country had taken to educate its citizens, saying, ‘I believe that we’re going places with this arrangement [Free SHS programme], and we’re not about to collapse what all of you started.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Accra Circuit Court Four has fined a driver GHC3,600.00 for breaking the side window of a saloon car to steal.

Baba Ibrahim admitted to causing unlawful damage to the left side glass window of a wine Toyota Corolla sedan with the registration number GE 4122-22.

He however, denied the attempt to steal from Mr William Kofi Kwarteng’s vehicle.

The prosecution later withdrew the attempted stealing charge against him.

Police Chief Inspector Eric Pobee told the Court, presided over by Mrs Kizita Naa Koowaa Quarshie, that Mr Kwarteng, the complainant, is a pathologist and a resident of Tema Community 18.

He said Baba Ibrahim is a driver residing at Tema Community 17.

According to Chief Inspector Pobee, the complainant, the owner of Anathoth Consult on Community 18 Devtraco Road, arrived at work on February 15, 2024, at about 0600 hours and parked his wine Toyota Corolla saloon car with registration number GE 4122-22 in front of the workplace.

He said the complainant later received a phone call from one of
his employees, who informed him that a young man had attempted to steal his car battery after breaking into it through the left-side back window glass.

Chief Inspector Pobee said the complainant arrested Ibrahim with the help of passers-by and requested assistance from the Community 18 Police, who took him to the station.

Ibrahim admitted to the offences at the Charge Office in front of an independent witness, the court heard.

After investigation he was charged and put before court, police said.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Oti Secondary Technical School (SECTECH) is experiencing water crises, which have compelled hundreds of boarding students to roam nearby neighbourhoods in search of water.

The Ghana News Agency spotted most students with yellow gallons roaming in search of water during class hours.

Some students (names withheld), expressed their frustration to the GNA, saying ‘We have been experiencing a water crisis since school resumed and this is adversely affecting our academic activities.

‘By the time we get to our classrooms, we are already tired, and we cannot even concentrate, so we sleep in class.’

They appealed to the government, the Krachi East Municipal Assembly, and individuals to come to their aid to end the water crises.

Mr Bernard Aborkugya Mensah, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) has assured students of his commitment to resolve the acute water crises as soon as possible.

Interacting with the GNA, he said that his engineers were working tirelessly to find a lasting solution to that challenge.

Th
e MCE assured the students and people to restore supplies.

GNA gathered that the school has been battling with the water crisis for a long time and the unbearable situation was having an adverse effect on effective teaching and learning as students spent contact hours searching for water.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Nana Bonya Kofi VI, Chief of Basake and Abusupayin Yemi of Etwe Kpanyinli Royal Stool of Aiyinasi and elders of the Basake community have petitioned the Minerals Commission and the Forestry Commission over the award of contract for mineral resources and forest reserves in the farming area.

‘This decision unanimously agreed upon, is to formally protest and register our displeasure in your operations and actions as a governing and controlling body for and on behalf of the State in the award of a contract without consideration to land ownership acquisitions tenets,’ a petition to the two institutions said.

It said as much as minerals of any sort were vested in the government of the State, lands involved in such were with the chiefs’ and their custodians.

The petition said it was, therefore, necessary to engage the chiefs and their elders in giving away their lands for exploration and forest activities.

‘After all, Nananom are expected to be watch overs of all such operations in and within their relative comm
unities. Wherefore then is the essence in justifications where we are left out in this chain regarding the Draw Forest Reserve concession,’ it asked.

The petition said a few days ago a fleet of timber felling equipment supported by tens of Forest Commission trucks-loaded personnel stealthily entered the Draw Forest Reserve to allegedly harvest timbers in the so-called Global Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA) with no notification from any government agency or official.

The petition said since the creation of the GSBA in the Draw Forest Reserve in the 1980s, the landlords had been denied the hitherto approved ‘Alternative Living Allowance’ (ALA) paid by the World Bank or its subsidiary financiers.

It said they had also been denied every effort to be allocated a compartment to harvest for their communities’ development agenda.

The petition said the mistreatment was contrary to the management of similar and adjoining Forest Reserve at Gwira Banso of the same Draw Forest Reserve.

It urged the Government th
rough the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Forestry Commission, the Administrator of Stool Lands and the Speaker of Parliament to stop the ‘colossal corruption’ in the management of the Draw Forest Reserve and the disrespect and mistreatment meted out to the chiefs and the people of the Aiyinasi-Basake communities in the Ellembelle District.

‘…We wish, therefore, to be given leads in order to ensure peaceful co-existence between us and our supposed and expected guests. Your expeditious respond is anticipated.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

The case of Michael Sumnaya Adedina, an accountant accused of forging Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) receipts to evade GHC2,495,778 tax, has been adjourned for March 19.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Evans Kesse told an Accra Circuit Court that the prosecution had filed its disclosures.

According to him, the disclosures had been served on the accused person.

The court, presided over by Mrs Afia Owusua Appiah, adjourned the matter to March 19, 2024, for the Case Management Conference.

Adedina has been charged with unauthorized attempts to collect tax, forgery of official documents, fraudulent breach of trust and making false or misleading statements contrary to Section 74 of the Revenue Administration Act 2016 (Act 915).

He has denied those charges and is currently on GHC2 million cedi bail.

The case of prosecution is that the complainant is the country manager of BMG Infrastructure Company Limited located at Tarkwa in the Western Region.

The prosecution said the company was a foreign-owned minin
g waste processing company established in Tarkwa and registered with the Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC).

According to the prosecution, Adedina approached the complainant and introduced himself as a professional accountant, who could prepare all their accounting books and represent their interest.

Consequently, the company outsourced all accounting matters, including statutory payments and the preparation of various tax types with GRA and SSNIT for its employees, to Adedina.

Since his appointment in 2021, Adedina prepared and collected funds from the company at the end of each month to pay for the various tax handles.

The prosecution said that after each payment, Adedina provided the complainant with legitimate GRA receipts as confirmation of payment.

The prosecutor stated that on May 31, 2022, the GRA conducted a tax audit on the activities of BMG Infrastructure Limited and discovered a tax debt of GHC2,495,778.00 against the company, raising suspicions.

The prosecution said that the company i
nitiated an investigation to determine the huge liability’s cause.

The court heard that investigations found that the accused failed to pay all the money he obtained from BMG as taxes to GRA for the period in question.

A report was then submitted to GRA via GIPC with relevant receipts for verification, and it was discovered that Adedina had falsified GRA’s official receipts.

Following the development, a complaint was made to the GRA Investigative Wing on December 29, 2023, and Adedina was arrested.

The prosecution said Adedina admitted the crime in his caution statement, and disclosed that he downloaded the GRA payment receipts, modified them to add tax value and submitted the fake copies to the complainant as if actual taxes had been paid.

Adedina disclosed that he used part of the money to buy concessions for mining operations, but it went bad.

The prosecution said Adedina also indicated that he used a portion of the money to purchase a Toyota Hilux Pickup Truck, and a Lexus SUV for GHC55,000 and buil
t a four-bedroom home in Tarkwa, Aboso.

The prosecution said investigations are underway to identify those assets.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Department of Community Development and Social Welfare of the Effia-Kwesimintsim Municipal Assembly (EKMA) has sensitised students within the municipality on issues of teenage pregnancy and illegal abortions.

Madam Alimatu Sadia Abubakari, a Senior Social Welfare and Community Development Officer of EKMA, who presented on the socio-cultural and economic effects of early pregnancy particularly on the girl child, prayed that they rather focused on their studies to become more responsible contributors to family life later in life.

In the municipality, she noted that teenage pregnancy was gradually becoming a matter of concern amongst dwellers of Kwesimintsim and Apremdo areas.

Mr. John Afful, an officer from Marie Stopes International, engaged the students on the effects of teenage pregnancy, such as obstetric fistula, giving birth to under weight babies, still birth, school drop-out and the risk of contracting Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) among other things.

He mentioned that students ought to d
esist from sexually related activities, adding that they stood the risk of contracting STDs should they get involved in such activities.

Mr. Afful advised the students to treat any suspected case of candidacies and make their reproductive health a priority.

The students were therefore urged to abstain from premarital sex that might lead to unwanted pregnancies and later lead to illegal abortions.

Source: Ghana News Agency