The Madina Magistrate Court, presided over by Mr Ernest K. A. Adjanor, has sentenced a 28-year-old unemployed man, Dicko Haruna, to 12 months’ imprisonment  with hard labour for fraud. Haruna, a Malian, was sentenced on his own plea of guilty. The prosecutor, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Patience Mario, said in July 24, 2013, Haruna met the complainant, Enoch Ndibol, in Accra Central and pretended to have lost his way. He therefore pleaded with him to direct him to the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park. On their way to the park, the prosecutor said, Haruna told Ndibol he was into money doubling business and gave his mobile phone number to Ndibol and asked him to call him later for a deal. DSP Mario said later, Ndibol and a witness in the case met Haruna around the Independence Square in Accra, where he showed them a GH¢1 note and told them it was counterfeit, and that he could change it to real money. The prosecutor said Haruna then collected GH¢4 in GH¢1 denominations from Ndibol, and added them to his note and poured some liquid on them. After some time, he gave the money back to Ndibol to check if it was genuine money. She said when Ndibol told him it was real money, Haruna brought out eight bundles of black paper cut to the size of the local currency notes and then asked Ndibol to bring him $6,000 so that he could change the said black papers into $40,000. The prosecutor, DSP Mario, said on July 24, 2013, Haruna met Ndibol at East Legon, a suburb of Accra, apparently to collect the $6,000 from him. According to the prosecutor, Ndibol alerted the police, who waylaid Haruna and arrested him. When Haruna was searched after the arrest, the police found GH¢1 note and eight bundles of black papers cut in the shape and size of cedi notes. Haruna, DSP Mario said, claimed the items were given to him by a certain man but had refused to mention the name of the person or lead the police to the fellow.  Mr Adjanor also said the black pieces of paper should be set ablaze in public, which has been done accordingly.  

The Agona Swedru Circuit Court, presided over by Mr Yaw Atta Sampong, has imposed a GH¢1,800 fine on a driver, Yaw Yeboah, for reckless driving which claimed the lives of a taxi driver and a passenger on the spot on the outskirts of Mankomeda, near Awutu Bawjiase in the Central Region. Richard Armah, the taxi driver, and Veronica Darko (43), a passenger, died in the accident. The survivor of the accident, Lucy Arthur, 33, sustained injuries and had to be hospitalised for some time before she was discharged.Yeboah, 36, who initially pleaded not guilty to the charges of careless and inconsiderate driving and negligently causing harm, later changed his plea to guilty, prompting the judge to convict him on his own plea. Yeboah would serve two years’ imprisonment if he failes to pay the fine. The Akyem Swedru Circuit Court judge, Mr Sampong, doing additional duties, further ordered Yeboah to compensate Lucy with GH¢200, despite the fact that he paid for the medical bills, as well as the funeral expenses of the accident victims. The prosecutor, Inspector Alfred Boatey, said Yeboah was a Kasoa-based driver who was in charge of a tipper truck loaded with quarry chippings from Kasoa enroute to Bawjiase on November 23, 2012, at 6:05am. The prosecutor said Yeboah was negotiating a curve on the outskirts of Mankomeda when he veered off his lane into the lane of an oncoming vehicle and crashed into the taxicab being driven by Armah. According to Inspector Boatey, both vehicles got badly damaged but that it was the taxicab which got damaged beyond repair, with its driver (Armah) and a passenger aboard it (Veronica Darko, 43) dying on the spot. Inspector Boatey said the two bodies were deposited at the Winneba Municipal Hospital mortuary where an autopsy was performed after which they were released to their respective relatives for burial. He said the duplicate docket was sent to the Attorney-General’s Department in Cape Coast which later directed that Yeboah should be charged with the offences as stated on the charge sheet.  

A thirty-three-year-old Thai woman had the rude shock of her life when she was raped by unidentified armed robbers at her residence in Kumasi. The victim, who claimed to be a virgin, lived in a rented apartment with two of her sisters and a Ghanaian brother-in-law. The robbers, she said, attempted raping the other two ladies but they were spared because they were in their menstrual period, but were made to look on while their sister was being raped. The three ladies operate a traditional massage centre located within their residence. Apart from the rape, the robbers made away with a cash of GH¢5,500 and US$800. Other items the robbers took away included a laptop, jewellery, seven mobile phones and a generator. The robbers locked up the victim and her sisters in the toilet and ransacked the premises making away with the valuable items. The KNUST Police have initiated investigations into the matter.  

About 2,600 students from the Mampong School for the Deaf in the Eastern Region have benefited from a free ear-screening exercise. Some of the students were given ear moulds and hearing aids to improve their hearing, while others were given free ear washing, after they had been screened. The exercise, which lasted for three days, was organised by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and the National Council for Persons with Disability (NCPWD) in collaboration with Starkey Hearing Foundation (SHF), a non-governmental organisation based in the USA. Students with hearing impairment from the Volta, Brong Ahafo and the Ashanti regions as well as Adjei Kojo in the Greater Accra Region will also benefit from the exercise. Gender Minister Speaking at the function in Accra, the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, said that her outfit was committed to ensuring the wellbeing of persons with disabilities. She said the ministry would support any effort  targeted at the reduction of isolation, poverty, illiteracy and inequalities in society. “The government of Ghana on its part recognises the existence of inequalities for opportunities among marginalised persons including persons with disabilities and the need to strategise through a pragmatic approach to bridge the gap,” she added. She lauded SHF for the initiative it had embarked upon and encouraged all persons with hearing impairment to participate in the three-day exercise. NCPWD Director For her part, the Programmes Director of the NCPWD, Ms Amanorbea Dodoo, noted that the exercise would assist the beneficiaries to be independent. Ms Dodoo was happy that a lot of the students had the opportunity to re-assess their hearing impairment. With the provision of the hearing aid and ear moulds, the director said she was hopeful that majority of the beneficiaries would have their problems corrected through a gradual process. The founder of SHF, Mr William F. Austin, indicated that his organisation was prepared to assist persons with disabilities, especially those with hearing impairment. In all, Mr Austin said millions of people the world over had benefited from free ear screening from the organisation.  

Small Scale illegal Miners (popularly referred to as galamsey) have desecrated about 30 graves belonging to the people of Kpalsko-Zangoyiri in the Bawku-West district of the Upper East Region. Quite apart from this, the illegal Miners have not spared an area of about five kilometers radius destroying trees and water bodies in the course of their activities. Due to persistent complaints from the people of the area about the activities of the Illegal Miners, the Bawku-West District Security Committee (DISSEC) in collaboration with the Bawku- West Police Command organized a swoop and arrested 34 of the Illegal Miners. The Bawku- West District Police Commander, Assistant Suprintendant of Police (ASP) Mr. Christian Dogbatse said those arrested would be screened and those found culpable would be processed for court, indicating they will be charged for mining without license as well as conspiracy to engage in illegal mining. The District Chief Executive for Bawku-West, Mr. Ayamde  Simon Agbango said areas in which illegal mining in the district takes place included Widnaba, Sapelga, Teshi, Kusanaba and Zangoyiri, adding that it was in Zangoyiri that it was carried out in a massive scale. He said following the directive from the Presidency for the various Security Committees of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembles to combat the menace of galamsey in their jurisdictions, the Bawku-West District decided to embark on a sensitization campaign to educate the miners on the dangers of illegal mining and on the need to stop their activities. He said those at Zangoyiri  did not heed to their appeal and continued degrading the environment and coupled with persistent complaints from the people DISSEC embarked on an operation leading to the arrest of 34 people but said the miners numbered about 500 in the area. He said the DISSEC in collaboration with the Police High Command would continue with the operations until the small scale illegal miners were flushed out from the district. Mr Agbango called on the Minerals Commission to consider opening their offices in the various district to make the processing and acquisition of mining permits less cumbersome as most small scale miners complain of frustrations from the Minerals Commission in the acquisition of mining lincences.  

  The Tema branch of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has urged the government to consider investing more in renewable energy to sustain the energy sector. Considering the variables which inform the adjustment in electricity tariffs, including the depreciation of the cedi and increasing crude oil and gas prices, the association said the government should consider solar and other renewable energies to generate power. The Tema Regional Chairman of the AGI, Mr Charles Mensah, made the submission at a stakeholders’ meeting organised by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) in Tema to discuss the automatic adjustment formula (AAF). The AAF is a pricing mechanism adopted by the PURC to track and incorporate movements in key uncontrollable determining factors to reflect the cost of electricity and water supply quarterly. Research important Mr Mensah said to ensure sustainable and reliable energy in the future, the government needed a long-term initiative to complement the current source of energy in the next five years and beyond. He recommended that the government invest in research to find a lasting solution to the current crisis. While acknowledging the problems facing the utility providers due to the economic hardship, Mr Mensah said it was necessary to plan for the long term. He further urged the PURC to serve notice to industry players of increment in tariffs so that they could factor it in their budgets. Why solar energy should be considered Explaining that renewable energy should be considered in the near future, the Director of Planning and Business Development of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Mr Bernard Kofi Ellis, said the Ghana National Gas Company was not in a position to meet the local demand for gas. He said although the thermals needed about 320 million cubic metres of gas per day to function at full capacity, Nigeria was currently producing 70 million cubic metres through the West African Gas Pipeline. He said even if Ghana Gas started producing about 90 million cubic metres of gas, it would add up to make 160 million cubic metres, which would still not meet the target of 320 million cubic metres needed per day. He added that the demand for gas for electricity production was likely to increase to about 1,000 cubic metres in 10 years due to additional thermal plants.   Therefore, he said, as long as Ghana depended on crude oil to support the production of electricity, the tariffs would continue to be high because the prices were rising. Draft policy The AGI consultant on energy, Mr Andrew Lawson, said the government needed to consider drafting a policy on solar energy to make it easy and attractive to use by individuals and the country as a whole. Citing the case of Australia, Mr Lawson said that government subsidised the use of solar energy, which made it cheaper for individuals to use in that country. Responding to the submission by the AGI, the Executive Secretary of the PURC, Mr Samuel Sarpong, said solar energy came with its own challenges, such as the high cost involved in its production, especially with the initial cost. However, he said the commission had already considered solar energy and was hopeful that the current prices of the generation facilities of solar power would be reduced for Ghana to be able to adopt solar energy. He added that currently, research  into renewable energy was going on in Navrongo in the Upper East Region.    

The government has invested about US$750 million into the provision of safe water across the country, Mr. Felix Ofosu-Kwakye, Deputy Minister of Information and Media Relations, has announced. This he said underlined the determination to achieve universal access to water. It is projected that about 85 per cent of the urban population would enjoy adequate water supply by 2015 and that for rural communities put at 76 percent. Mr. Ofosu-Kwakye said this when he interacted with journalists in Kumasi during a working visit. He said it remained focused on the job of making things better and spoke of various interventions to create jobs, improve the health, energy, education, agriculture and other sectors of the economy. He also made reference to the enormous effort made to increase the police strength to fight crime and assure the people of security protection. Currently the police-public ratio stood at “1:724”, and he said this was inadequate and needed to improve. Mr.Ofosu-Kwakye said the government had targeted to achieve the globally accepted ratio of 1:500 and that it was on the basis of this that over the last two years about 1,000 four-wheel drive vehicles had been supplied to the police to enhance its operation.  

The Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, has said the provision of decent accommodation for the police remains a top priority of the government. Mr Amissah-Arthur, who is also the Chairman of the Ghana Police Council, gave the assurance when he handed over four blocks of flats to the police administration at a ceremony in Accra yesterday. Shortage of residential and office accommodation for police personnel has for years remained a major challenge of the Ghana Police Service which has been adopting various measures such as collaborating with the private sector to find a solution to the problem. The handover of the houses built at the Cantonments Barracks in Accra, brings to seven such facilities, comprising 42 apartments for police officers. The latest blocks of flats contain 24 apartments. Vice-President Amissah-Arthur said the next meeting of the Police Council would focus on improving on accommodation for police personnel. He said the Police Administration had on its drawing board a major project which was aimed at providing 2,000 units of houses for its personnel. “Even as we wait for this major project, we will examine at the next Police Council meeting the improvement of accommodation and the provision of quality accommodation for police officers.” For the sustainability of the flats, he urged the police personnel who would occupy them to ensure its maintenance, while the police administration also pursues a regular inspection of the place. MoU in 2008 The Director General of the Technical Division of the Ghana Police Service, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), Mr Frank Adu-Poku, said the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the project was signed between the police and private investors, Gold Key Properties and Alema Properties Limited, in October 2008. The three-phased project, he said, comprised the construction of the seven-block modern housing unit to replace 22 old bungalows, development of the Cantonments police station with office accommodation for the various units of the service and the redevelopment of the available land for commercial purposes. He pleaded with the government to enter into more agreements with private investors to develop land for the police such as those in Accra Central and Airport, to reduce the accommodation problem facing the service. Replacing old bungalows The Director of Gold Key Properties, Mr Joseph Torku, explained that the company was tasked with “mobilising financial and technical resources for the replacement of the 22 dilapidated bungalows”. He expressed interest in venturing into more of such projects with the government to solve the housing needs of public workers. Tour of Police Hospital project Later, Vice-President Amissah-Arthur toured the £4 million police hospital redevelopment project aimed at improving healthcare delivery in the metropolis. The project, which is being undertaken by the International Hospitals Group on a turnkey basis, was started in 2003 but work was halted at a point as a result of lack of funds. The local contractor, Mr Harry B. Sintim-Aboagye, promised the Vice-President that the project would be completed on schedule in April 2016. He said adequate funds had been secured for the completion of the project on schedule.  

A 20-year-old nursing mother, Aseye Avi of Abutia-Tegbleve in the Volta Region is in the custody of Anyirawase Police for allegedly killing her 66-year- old mother. Aseye was alleged to have hit her mother’s head with a pestle. Her mother, Gadzi Abla, died while being taken to the Ho Municipal Hospital. Police sources said the late Gadzi and Aseye quarreled over Aseye’s new boyfriend who was said to have dated two other women in the same family. In the course of the quarrel the late Gadzi allegedly snatched Aseye’s mobile-phone given to her by the new boyfriend and smashed it on the ground.  The sources said this prompted Aseye to reach for a pestle with which she hit the late Gadzi’s head. The scream of the deceased attracted some neighbours who were rushing her to the Hospital before she died. A source at Abutia told the Ghana News Agency that Togbe Bese, Chief of the Community and husband of the late Gadzi and Aseye’s father broke down in tears lamenting his wife’s death and his daughter’s arrest. Aseye, described as the ninth child of the couple, was said to be the bread winner of the family.  

The price of sachet water popularly known as "pure water" has been increased by 50 percent. This means consumers will have buy it for 15 pesewas instead of the current price of 10p. The 50 percent increment is as a result of losses incurred by producers, according to Magnus Nunoo, President of the Sachet and Bottled Water Producers Association. He noted that the increment, which was supposed to take effect in October 2013 after Parliament passed a 10% environmental tax on plastics, was stopped due to public outcry. But Magnus Nunoo in an interview with CitiNews said the time is now to ensure the survival of the industry. “We are asking all our members to comply with the 15p because there is no way you can survive on the current price of 10p per sachet,” he added.  

Minister of Energy Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah says government is determined to ensure that challenges within the power sector are brought under control. According to the Minister, the annual energy demand which stands at 12 percent -- up from 10 percent-- presents enormous challenges which must be tackled head-on if the country is to attain a marked level of development. Mr. Buah was speaking at the inauguration of the boards of the Bui Power Authority and the Energy Commission yesterday at the Ministry. Chairman of the Bui Power Authority, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, said the board will ensure the 400 megawatt facility's contribution to the country's energy supply is enhanced. "We will put in efficient operation capacity so the nation benefits from its investment," Mr. Nketiah said after being sworn in. He said government must harness the capacity of the artisans used in construction of the dam for other hydroelectric dam projects, rather than allow such expertise to dissipate. Other members of the board include Theresa Nyarko-Fofie, Kwame Twum Boafo, Joseph Akati Saaka, Kwasi Agyeman Gyan-Tutu, Dr. Kofi Nketsia Afful and Jabesh Amissah Arthur. President John Mahama last year inaugurated the US$622million Bui Hydroelectric Dam, which will contribute a further 400MW to the country’s energy supply. The Minister also inaugurated a six-member board of the Energy Commission headed by Dr. Kwame Ampofo. The other members of the board are Dr. Syvana Rudith King, Innocent K.A. Akwayena, Dr. Isaac F. Mensa-Bonsu, Stephen Duodu and Dr. Ofosu Ahenkorah.  

The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Dankyira, has warned that the country risks serious health implications if nothing is done to halt the menace of illegal mining. The effects, he said, would be very devastating. He said the use of heavy metal to pollute surface and underground water had severe health implications that would not manifest immediately but in the near future. Speaking to the media at Sekondi during a working visit to the Western Region, Dr Appiah-Dankyira called on the government, Parliament, opinion leaders, the media, religious bodies and the security services to, as a matter of urgency, speak against and stamp out galamsey. Mercury dispensed through the activities of illegal miners in the form of mercury vapour and the pollution of surface and underground water, he said, were highly toxic to humans. Dr Appiah-Dankyira said mercury, which was a heavy metal and one of the chemicals used by illegal miners in their activities, had a dire effect on the health of humans, as it could cause the breakdown of the central nervous system. “Those activities expose Ghanaians through drinking and inhaling gaseous mercury, which is absorbed into the blood. Once in the circulatory system, it can pass through the blood-brain barrier and accumulate in the brain, damaging the central nervous system,” the director general said. He said the earlier the country spoke against and took drastic measures to clamp down on galamsey, the better, since consumers of pipe-borne water may be consuming small amounts of mercury and unknown to the public, bits of it would accumulate and give negative effects in the not-too-distant future. Dr Appiah-Dankyira urged the general public to join forces with the regulatory bodies to halt the galamsey menace immediately to safeguard the life of Ghanaians. He applauded the current clamp down on galamsey but urged the task force in charge of the exercise to do more to eliminate the problem from the Ghanaian society. Other doctors present at the media encounter indicated that even though pipe-borne water was treated, it still contained some amount of the mercury. The doctors said aside those who drank treated water, millions of Ghanaians lived along the banks of these river bodies and fetched the raw water, which is heavily contaminated with chemicals such as mercury and arsenic, for domestic use. The doctors said the unregulated nature of the activities of the illegal miners polluted the underground water with other natural chemicals, which should not be overlooked. How mercury becomes a toxicological problem According to a United States geological survey on mercury contamination of aquatic ecosystems, like many environmental contaminants, mercury undergoes bio-accumulation. Bioaccumulation is the process by which organisms (including humans) can take up contaminants more rapidly than their bodies could eliminate them, thus the amount of mercury in body accumulates over time.  

The United Nations has designated February 6 as the International Day against Female Genital Mutilation to raise awareness among the general public of this traditional practice which severely violates the human rights of women and girls. The practice is still widespread in spite of a global commitment following the 2002 UN Special Session on Children to end FGM by 2010. In Africa, the World Health Organisation reports that every year, some three million girls face the risk of this inhuman act of violence, which exposes them to serious physical and emotional health challenges. In the 28 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East where female genital mutilation/cutting is performed, some 130 million women and girls have been affected. Studies Studies have shown that the practice of FGM, which is rooted in cultural and sometimes religious beliefs, exposed victims to prolonged bleeding resulting in death, extreme pain during child birth and HIV infection, among many others. It robs women of their self-worth and human rights. In addition, it can cause infection and infertility. Often part of fertility or coming-of-age rituals, FGM is sometimes justified as a way of ensuring chastity and genital "purity." The UN Secretary General's in-depth study on violence against women reported that, as of April 2006, 15 African states where FGM is prevalent had made it an offence under criminal law. The UN agency UNICEF is spearheading efforts to end FGM in 16 African countries by 2015, the target year for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. UNICEF's partners in this campaign include other UN agencies such as UNIFEM. ActionAid Ghana ActionAid Ghana in a statement on the organisation’s intensive action to end FGM in the country says its research shows that some communities in Bawku in the Upper East Region continue to subject young girls to this dehumanising practice.      According to the organisation, studies show that some communities in the Bawku area continue to practice FGM, although FGM is criminal and punishable by law. The study also found that 56 per cent of respondents reported that FGM had taken place in their communities, with 75 per cent reporting that in the last five years, they were aware of FGM being undertaken in their local settlements. It said what was even more disturbing was the fact that 61 per cent strongly supported the practice and 68 per cent reported that they had been subjected to FGM for a variety of cultural and moral reasons. Among many others, they reported FGM boost their chances of marriage, prevents diseases of the genitalia and also helps them avoid ridicule from rivals. Criminal Code Act 484, 1994, that amended the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29) makes FGM criminal in Ghana. The primary victims of FGM in the communities studied are usually girls between 10 and 15 years, the prime age of development for the girl child.  ActionAid Ghana, working together with a local partner, BEWDA (Belim Wusa Development Agency), is committed to fighting for a violence-free environment, where the rights of girls and women are respected and promoted. ActionAid has, therefore, called for the enforcement of the law with a call on government, the police, civil society and stakeholders in health and education to help end the practice.  

The death of  64-year-old pensioner, Mr Charles Aheto Torkornoo, a former Night Editor of the Daily Graphic, has allegedly triggered the death of his wife, Mrs Antonina Eyivi-Sossou Torkornoo, 60, a businesswoman, barely an hour after news of his death got to her. Some bereaved persons who were at the mortuary, including the mortuary attendants at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, who heard about the death of the couple, are still dumbfounded because they claimed this tragedy, in which both husband and wife died within an hour, was very unusual. They further claimed they had heard of couples dying a few weeks/months after one partner had passed on, but never had they heard of one couple dying immediately after the other. One of the mortuary attendants, James Agozo, who said he had been working at the Korle Bu morgue for close to 30 years, claimed the death of Mr and Mrs Torkornoo was the first of its kind he had heard throughout his career. Incidentally, the last daughter of the couple got married on Saturday, February 1, 2014, and was followed with a thanksgiving service the following Sunday. According to Mr Romeo Ebenezer Torkornoo, a son of the departed couple who had been married for the past 33 years, he was at his workplace when he had a call from his uncle that his father, who lived at Kasoa and had been ill for the past three months, had passed on. He said he had to move to Kasoa immediately to help prepare his dad’s body for the mortuary. However, ‘not quite long after I had left the office, I had another call informing me that my mum, who was hale and hearty, had visited Tesano, a suburb of Accra, but had complained of being unwell after my dad’s condition was made known to her’. According to Mr Torkonoo, ‘I therefore changed my mind and drove to Tesano to pick my mum with the intention of sending her to a hospital in the vicinity, but she gave up the ghost a few metres after I had negotiated a curve towards the hospital.’ The grieving Mr Torkornoo said in that distraught state, he did not know what to do. He later decided to send his mum’s body to the morgue at Korle Bu. After depositing the body at the morgue, he and his sister continued to Kasoa to convey the remains of his father also to the same mortuary. According to Mr Torkornoo, most of the people he and her siblings and other family members encountered at the morgue expressed shock and wondered how cruel fate could be. The late Mr Torkornoo was employed by the then Graphic Corporation on December 1, 1974, and retired on April 21, 2009, after 35 years of service. He was one time the Assistant Production Editor, Assistant Head of Special Projects, Assitant Sub desk Editor, among others. The couple were survived by five children, Romeo, Gifty, Charleslene, Valentina and Mawumenyo Torkonoo.  

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Dr Tony Aubyn, has identified the lack of transparency and the absence of an honest partnership between the government and mining firms as the major causes of mistrust and conflict between the two parties. He said the situation created suspicion between the government and the mining firms, in most cases leading to tension, noting that that should not be the case had the two partners been aligned. Lack of alignment Dr Aubyn, who was speaking to the Daily Graphic in Cape Town, South Africa, cited the example of Canada and Australia where their governments and the mining sectors were properly aligned. He said in their cases, any increase in taxes by the government did not result in agitation from the mining sector because both parties were in constant dialogue on policy decisions. “The gap between the government and industry has to be bridged in order to have a shared understanding of which areas we really need to channel the revenue from our industry,” he said. Panel discussion During a panel discussion dubbed, “Australia-Africa Mining Forum”, Dr Aubyn spoke on how mining could be used as a transformatory tool to improve the lives of the people. According to him, it was imperative for governments to have a clear vision of where to channel revenue from mineral resources, adding that the lack of partnership between governments and stakeholders in mining was not good enough. Dr Aubyn underscored the need for local content to be embraced by all mining companies. Resource nationalisation Speaking on resource nationalisation in the mining sector and what drove tax policy changes in the sector, Dr Aubyn identified two driving forces — internal and external. With respect to the internal forces, the CEO explained that following the rebasing of Ghana’s economy which had placed the country in a middle income category, the government needed to raise funds from other sources to support sectors of the economy as a result of limited budgetary support. “The exaggerated expectation of what mining and other natural resources can do for the country is also a major driver,” he said. Turning the spotlight on the external driver, Dr Aubyn observed that pressure from the international community, especially the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Ghana to implement tax policy changes, without a recourse to their implications, was not in the interest of industry. Writer’s email: [email protected]   

Food Sovereignty Ghana (FSG), a civil  society group in  the country,   has kicked against the privatisation of the National Food and Buffer Stock Company (NFBC). It said privatising the NFBC would be working against the interest of farmers. A statement issued by FSG said privatising the agency would be creating a new class of profiteering middlemen and gamblers to suck the investment in agriculture. It was in reaction to comments by the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Clement Humado, that the government intended to privatise the NFBC. The minister had indicated that the government had initiated legislative processes to privatise the NFBC because the government did not have money to pump into the running of the organisation. But the FSG expressed shock and disappointment at the move by the government. It wondered if the government wanted to hand over the food supply chain to multinational agribusiness corporations who could control Ghana’s farmers and agriculture more easily with the tendency of creating artificial shortages to facilitate increases in the prices of food. “This a lose-lose proposition for farmers and for Ghanaians. Farmers lose money and Ghanaians pay more for food,” the statement indicated. On the other hand, it said, “It is a win-win proposition for gamblers and exploiters, the very people who have driven up food prices worldwide, making obscene fortunes, while millions starve in the midst of plenty.”  

  The First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama, has called on non-state actors to help secure the welfare of women and children. According to her, “state responsibility aside, it is important that non-state parties and even individuals contribute to the advancement of this cause”. She made the call in a speech read on her behalf by the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, at the opening of Soroptimist International’s 25th General Assembly of African Federation West and Central Africa Zone (WACA) in Accra yesterday. The general assembly brought together soroptimists from Ghana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin, Mali, Nigeria, Guinea Conakry, Togo and Britain. The Accra conference was organised jointly by the Accra and Kumasi clubs of Soroptimist International on “A Well Woman for a Peaceful and Prosperous World”. Mrs Mahama said “for some reason, society, influenced by some cultural factors, has succeeded in branding this group as vulnerable when, in fact, it is a strong pillar for sustained national development and peace”. Soroptimist International The President of Soroptimist International, West and Central Africa Region, Madam Suzanne Loko, said the association would strive at working towards improving the status of women, human rights, education of the girl child, culture, health, environment, economic and social development, poverty alleviation and assistance to the needy and the vulnerable population. For her part, the President of Soroptimist International, Accra, Ms Effie Simpson-Ekuban, said the association would continue to work towards impacting the lives of the vulnerable in society to ensure that they felt a part of the bigger society.   Writer's email: [email protected]  

Beginning from the second quarter of 2014, manufacturers and dealers of radio and telecommunication terminal equipment will be required to register their facilities with the National Communications Authority (NCA) before they can use them in the country. The measure is in line with the new type approval and dealer licensing regime being introduced by the NCA to ensure the rights of consumers and safety of equipment. The Deputy Director of NCA, Mr Albert Enninful, made this known at a workshop to sensitise the public to the regulatory framework for the new regime in Accra last Thursday. He said the new regime would also improve and streamline existing procedures for approving telecommunication and radio terminal equipment. Legal backing He said new type approval and licensing regime was backed by the Electronic Communications Act of 2008. He said under the law, NCA was empowered to certify and ensure the testing of communication equipment complied with international, environmental health and safety standards, including electromagnetic radiation and emissions. Regulations 78 and 79 of the Electronic Communications Regulations L.I.1991 enjoin the authority to ensure that communication equipment used for radio transmission for commercial purposes is duly type-approved. According to Mr Albert Enninful, the act made it clear that telecommunications equipment brought into Ghana should meet the national and international standards. Expectations He said the NCA expected stakeholders to work with the NCA’s list of approved and accredited test laboratories and provide consumers and the general public with safe and quality products. Mr Isaac Boateng of the Regulatory Administration Division, NCA, in his presentation on the outline of the new type approval and dealer licensing regime, said that type approval was a simple demonstration that ensured that specified requirements relating to a product were fulfilled. He said type approval would be required before a product was introduced unto the market. Who should apply ? According to Mr Boateng, manufacturers of radio and telecommunication terminal equipment on implementation of the new regime would be mandated to apply and obtain type approval certificates. “Type Approval certificate is granted to a product that meets a minimum set of regulatory, technical and safety requirements. Type approval simply means that the product is guaranteed to meet certain requirements for its type, whatever that may be,” he added Mr Boateng said that the NCA would be engaging with appropriate security agencies to ensure that all such products imported were type-approved. He cautioned that stakeholders who did not comply would be sanctioned according to the law.Writer’s email: [email protected]  

The Chief Justice has urged judges not to engage in conduct that could impugn their personal integrity and that of  the judiciary, which she described as a key governance institution. Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood told them that they had a sacred duty to enhance the authority of the courts and not to diminish or undermine it. “Public trust and confidence in the judiciary is so fundamental to the rule of law and democratic governance that any conduct by those of us entrusted with judicial power and which will be inimical to our interest should not be tolerated,” she stated. Swearing in seven circuit court judges at the Supreme Court yesterday, Justice Wood stated that, “we need to understand that public confidence in the judicial system must be guarded and protected at all costs, as when this is eroded, the rule of law and all those democratic values and principles that this nation has toiled so hard for would be irretrievably lost”. The judges are Ms Effia N. Adu-Amankwah, Ms Abigail Asare, Mr Kofi Ametewe and Mr Alexander Graham.  Others are Mr Michael Abbey, Mr Bernard Bentil and Mr Baptist K. Filson.  The judges took the oath of allegiance, the oath of secrecy and the oath of the judiciary. The swearing-in was attended by a delegation from Uganda, led by its acting Chief Justice, Mr Steven B. K. Kavuma, as well as the families and friends of the judges. Judges are accountable. The Chief Justice stated that being independent did not mean that members of the judiciary had free rein to do as they pleased.She said members of the judiciary must be accountable to the sovereign people of Ghana on whose behalf they exercised judicial power. “Ghanaians now, more than any period in our history, are increasingly aware of their rights and know what to expect from public servants.” Judges not above the law Justice Wood said to consolidate judicial integrity, it required that “we do understand that as judges we are not above the law; we are subject to it”. “Judicial transparency and accountability demands that indeed we should be the first to subject ourselves to the constitution and laws of this land and be ready to give a good account of our stewardship at all times. “We, therefore, have an important role to play in this regard by upholding very high standards of judicial conduct,” the Chief Justice added. Mr Kavuma reminded the judges to be mindful of their conduct in the eyes of the public, as any action and inaction on their part could either boost or affect public confidence in the judicial process. The Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Mrs Marietta Brew Oppong, said judges are the pillar of the entire justice system, hence they needed to avoid impropriety in their activities and decisions in order not to bring dishonour to the Judiciary. “You must not allow old boys, old girls, ethnicity, partisan and religious affiliations to affect your sense of judgement, as this will affect your integrity and that of the justice system,” she advised. Judgeship is a calling The President of the Ghana Bar Association, Nene Amegatcher, reminded the judges that their position is a noble one. Therefore, he asked them to see their career as a calling and not as a paid job. The President of the Association of   Magistrates and Judges of Ghana, Mr Dennis Adjei, expressed optimism that they would bring their expertise and good conduct to bear on their duties.  

The Greater Accra Regional branch of the Association of Road Contractors (ASROC) Ghana, is pushing for a law to protect it against delayed payments for executed road contracts. The contractors argued that the late payments for contracts executed by them, was negatively affecting not only their jobs but the quality and time used in constructing the nation’s roads. Mr William Apraku Bondzie, the Greater Accra Regional Chairman of ASROC, said the practice had placed many local road contractors in financial difficulty, because after executing road contracts, their investments, usually commercial bank loans accessed at high interest rates, got locked up with the government for years. Addressing the news media on the issue in Accra yesterday, Mr Bondzie said the situation was one of the biggest causes of stress for the contractors, adding that it significantly reduced their profits and had rendered a number of  them bankrupt. “Often, we do not even know when we will be paid and some have gone to the extent of selling their property to pay off the loans,” Mr Bondzie stated. Mr Bondzie said the association was aware that the enactment of such a law would require time and it was prepared and willing to travel the journey to get the law passed. Payment processes “The question, we, the members of ASROC, keep asking based on a very disturbing observation is why is it that upon completion of an assigned construction work, contractors have to wait for a minimum of three months for their documents to get processed for payment?” Mr Bondzie asked. He cited series of documentation, inspections, as well as what he described as “back and forth movements” between road contractors and their respective road agencies, the district assemblies and the Ghana Road Fund Secretariat as some of the processes the contractors had had to endure over the years. “While all of these back and forth movements go on, road contractors who have taken loans pay huge interests on these loans taken to pre-finance the contract work. This leads to high cost of doing business and reduces profitability.” Mr Bondzie explained that while the struggle over late payments to contractors had been a protracted one, a lasting solution was yet to be found to it, hence the latest advocacy by the association.