Cape Coast, Jan. 13, GNA - Joseph Mensah, a 28-year-old taxi driver from Mankesim in the Central Region was on Monday remanded into Police Custody by a Cape Coast Circuit Court for allegedly possessing a quantity of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp. His plea was not taken and would be re-arraigned before the court on Friday, January 31. Prosecuting, Police Chief Inspector, Samuel Amoako told the court presided over by Mrs Florence Kai Otu that on Friday, November 29, 2013, the Mankessim police command embarked on an exercise to pay surprise visits to parts of the town suspected to be hideouts for “wee” smokers. He said during the operation, 50 wrappers of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp were found hidden in Mensah’s room which lead to his arrest. He said the exhibit had been sent to the Police forensic laboratory for analytical examination and report.GNA

Accra, Jan. 13, GNA - A four-member delegation from the Electoral Commission (EC) on Monday paid a courtesy call on Mr Akwesi Oppong-Ofosu, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development to discuss the upcoming district level elections.The EC also discussed issues relating to office accommodation for its officials in the newly created districts and other issues of national interest.The delegation led by Alhaji Amadu Sule, Deputy Chairman in Charge of Operations include Madam Georgina Opoku Amankwa, Deputy Chairperson in-charge of Finance and Administration; Mr Samuel Tettey, Director of Elections; and Mr Dan Amanyo, an Assistant Director at the Elections Department.Alhaji Sule said the purpose of the visit was to plan together with the Ministry, early arrangements for the district level elections to forestall challenges the commission had always faced in organizing district level elections.He said there were 6,158 electoral areas in the country, adding, "the district election would be organized in all these electoral areas and so we need to plan early."Alhaji Sule said the district level elections was the most difficult in terms of organization and administration, and that the volume of work involved were huge which required early planning. He said there was the need for office accommodation for staff of the EC in the newly created districts to enhance their work and ensure the credibility of the commission. Mr Oppong-Fosu said the EC was doing a very difficult work and urged the citizenry to support the commission in all aspects of their operations. "Everybody criticize the EC of not being fair when elections do not go the way they want it or favour their candidate." Mr Oppong-Fosu said Local Governance should be of concern to every citizen and that the Ministry was interested in dealing with the real challenges facing assembly elections in the country. He said there was the need for competence and people with professional expertise, especially women to develop interest in the district level elections. Mr Oppong-Fosu said lack of understanding between the contestants was a challenge, adding, "The ministry is developing a programme which would get competent and professional people to contest and participate in the election and development of our localities." He said the credibility of the 2016 General Election depended on the upcoming district assembly elections which must be seen as important and that, the ministry would support the EC to achieve its target goals. Mr Oppong-Fosu appealed to staff of the commission to continue to work hard and contribute their quota towards making the country democratic system sustainable. Madam Amankwa thanked the Minister for giving them the opportunity to present their concerns and the responds received from the minister.GNA

Wa, Jan. 13, GNA – Mr Abundant Robert Awolugutu, Regional Commander of the Wa Central Prison has suggested the introduction of grants for inmates prior to their discharge.The Assistant Director of Prisons believed this would enable them to quickly settle and properly integrate back to society.Mr Awolugutu gave the suggestion in Wa on Friday, when officers of the Wa Central Prison held an end of year get-together to refresh themselves and reflect upon the successes and challenges they encountered during the year under review in order to chart a way forward.“When inmates are discharged they are given fares which can only transport them from the prison to the place of arrest and conviction. Nothing is added for buying food on the way, not even pure water,” he lamented.According to Mr Awolugutu, discharged prisoners virtually have nothing to depend on for the first few weeks and that forced some to undertake criminal activities like stealing in order to get their daily bread, which subsequently send them back to jail.The Wa Central Prison Commander recounted some achievements of his outfit including the organization of a reformation school to impart academic and vocational skills to inmates, and an appeal school which allowed inmates to have free access to legal counsel.Other successes chalked were the establishment of a paralegal unit to liaise with the courts to determine for renewal remand prisoners whose warrants had expired, aimed at ensuring speedy trial; and registering inmates with the National Health Insurance Scheme to access free health care.Mr Awolugutu said access to justice by inmates continued to remain a challenge due to frequent transfer of investigators outside the region and frequent court adjournments, as well as the perennial congestion problem the prison faced.On the way forward, Mr Awolugutu suggested that the Director-General of Prisons be empowered to release prisoners who were deemed to be truly reformed as a measure to decongest prisons nationwide.Mr Abu Kabiebata Kansangbata, Deputy Upper West Regional Minister commended the security agencies for working hard to maintain peace and order in the region.He also commended the Service for instituting junior and senior high school classes and vocational training programmes at the prisons to reform inmates.GNA

Accra, Jan. 13, GNA- The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has decided to throw open the gates of the Accra Sports Stadium to supporters expected to throng the arena for the return leg of the FIFA U-20 Women’s world cup qualifier against Equatorial Guinea next week. The GFA in a communique said the decision was guided by the desire to attract more supporters to the stadium to cheer the Princesses on to victory. The match scheduled for Sunday, January 26, will be the Black Princesses' opportunity to overturn the 0-1 deficit to gain qualification to the competition in Canada later this year.GNA

Accra, Jan. 13, GNA – The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) has begun processes to ensure the re-registration of all government vehicles by the end of May.The exercise is in response to a directive by President John Dramani Mahama that all state vehicles be re-registered to ensure use of government funds.The re-registration exercise, which would be carried out in all offices of the DVLA across the country, would cover vehicles belonging to the ministries, departments, agencies, whether on government budget subvention or not, Regional Co-ordinating Councils (RCCs), Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).Mr Tetteh Matey, Regional Manager, 37 Office of the DVLA, told the GNA in an interview on Monday that the exercise had began with the compilation of a list of all vehicles from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), RCCs and MMDAs provided by the Ministry of Transport.He said files of these vehicles were being retrieved for re-examination and re-registration and new number plates would be prepared for the vehicles.He said the Authority would work with Transport Managers and recognized officers in charge of transport to ensure a smooth exercise.Mr Matey said DVLA had divided the exercise into four phases and grouped institutions under the phases.January 6 to 21 will be for the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development and the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation.The second phase would be for the Ministries of Roads and Highways, Education, Tourism, Gender, Children and Social Protection as well as Employment and Labour, from January 28 to February 20.He said the third phase would follow suit from March 1 to April 30 with the Ministries of Health, Chieftaincy and Culture, Defense, Information, Water Resources Works and Housing, Foreign Affairs, Agriculture, Justice and Attorney-General, Energy and Petroleum, Finance and Economic Planning and the Lands and Natural Resources.Mr Matey said the Authority would complete the final phase of the exercise with the various RCCs and MMDAs from April 1 to 31.He said the Vehicle Licensing section, which is in charge of the exercise, had to deploy other staff from the Diver Licensing section to help due to the immense work load."We normally have a heavy work load around this time of the year due to the large number of vehicle renewals and new registrations, but the situation is very much under control and we are working hard to complete the exercise on schedule," he said.About 15,000 vehicles are expected to be registered at an estimated cost of GH¢1.5 million. There are 25 ministries and 10 regional coordinating councils.The re-registration has become necessary following what critics described as gross abuse of state vehicles, particularly at weekends for events including funerals and weddings.The process involves all the vehicles having their number plates changed into one with a green background, a GV prefix, the year of registration, a code identifying the ministry, department or agency that the vehicle belongs to or a code identifying the regional co-ordinating councils, metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies(MMDAs) to which the vehicle belongs.GNA

Mamfe, Jan 13, GNA- Nana Ansah Sasraku III, Mamfehene and Kyidomhene of the Akuapem Traditional Area, has appealed to parents to be conscious in the upbringing and the general wellbeing of their children for a better future.He said children needed guidance and protection to build morals and values accepted by society for their own good and benefit of the society at large.Nana Ansah Sasraku, who was speaking at the Mamfe Ohum Asafosa grand durbar of the chiefs and people of the Akuapem Traditional Area, said the rampant reports of children losing their lives and those walking on the streets said parents must live up to expectation.He said the state and the traditional authorities were all stakeholders in the welfare of children’s education and upbringing but parents must take the lead and that the e Mamfe Traditional Council had instituted measures to improve the standard of education in the area.He mentioned the re-construction of the Mamfe Community Centre into an ICT and skills training centre to provide out of school training in ICT and other skills for both young and the old.The Asafosa is a symbolic drinking of palm wine by the entire community at a durbar for bonding, peace and unity for peaceful coexistence and commitment to national development and it was instituted by the forbearers of Mamfe some 500 years ago.Every clan, family and sectional chief as well as the Mamfehene and his queen that make up the Mamfe Traditional Council presented a pot of palm wine mixed in a big pot and shared to all at the durbar grounds implying that once every one shared in the drinking, all disputes and misunderstanding had been settled.There was a display of unity as all the five divisional chiefs of the Akuapem Traditional Area and the 17 chiefs representing all the towns of Akuapem brought a pot of palm wine each and drank together.Ms Ellen Ajoa Ntoso, the Eastern Regional Minister, commended the chief and people of Mamfe for upholding that tradition of Asafosa that brings peace and unity.She also commended them for building the ICT centre and that the government was committed to ICT improvement and had distributed 4,500 laptops to schools and students in the Region.Ms Ntoso said apart from the improvement of education, government recognizes the need for good road infrastructure to propel its development agenda and had awarded 130 feeder roads and 14 major highways on contract for rehabilitation in the region.She appealed to chiefs to partner government in development through initiation of projects and programs such as the ICT centre and pledged to provide 20 computers for the center.GNA

Accra, Jan. 13, GNA – Mr Patrick Akorli, the Managing Director of Ghana Oil Company (GOIL), said on Monday that the Company would continue to implement policies that would enable it to remain among the best in the country.“Since the Ghana Club 100 was introduced, GOIL has always been in the top 15. The High Street Journal has also recognized GOIL as one of the outstanding companies in Ghana,” he told the GNA in an interview.Mr Akorli said United States Peace Corps mentioned the Bolgatanga GOIL Service Station as having contributed to its work in the Upper East Region and the company has maintained its market leadership in gasoline, premix, LPG, bunkering and lubricants since 2002."We achieved a lot of recognition last year both locally and internationally and we are going to intensify our output this year,” said Mr Akorli who is also known as Togbe Adza-Nye IV. Dutrofia of Ziavi in the volta Region.He said GOIL was providing mechanized bore holes for deprived communities across the country as part of its corporate social responsibility, adding that last year the company spent over GHȻ200,000.00 on mechanized bore holes in eight communities in the Volta, Eastern and Greater Accra regions.Mr Cyril Opon, Corporate Affairs Manager, told the GNA that GOIL would continue to improve and provide varieties in terms of its products and service delivery through product differentiation. “In the region of fuel oils it is about combining best breeds of additives with the normal fuel oil. Our experienced technical team is the brain behind the innovations. They are able to take advantage of global research findings to create products of quality to our customers,” he said.Mr Opon said last year GOIL introduced specially formulated lubricants for commercial and private cars to protect engines against oxidation, rust and corrosion.“The non-toxic and biodegradable lubricants with special additives are to ensure that the physical and chemical stability of the product remains unchanged even after prolonged exposure to mechanical and thermal stresses,” he said.GNA

Takoradi, Jan. 13, GNA—More than 200 members of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) on Monday demonstrated against the regional executives and demanded that they vacate office.They locked the offices of the regional secretariat with padlocks, sang war songs and some wore red arm bands.There were about 20 police personnel with riot gear at the scene maintaining law and order.A former Regional Chairman of GPRTU, Mr. Kingsley Eshun, told the media in Takoradi that the four-year tenure of office of the regional executives expired in 2011 but they are still in office.He said the issue went to court and the executives had been ordered to organize fresh elections but they had not carried out the court’s orders.“This is the reason why we are demonstrating against them so that they organize fresh elections. We will not open the offices for them to work”, he said.A member of the executive, Mr. Mohammed Attik, a Trustee, said the executives had filed a stay of execution and they would go to court tomorrow.He said although their term of office had expired the regional executives dragged the national executives to court for not accounting for monies given to them to buy buses for some drivers in the Western Region.Mr Atik said until the issue pending at the Sekondi Commercial High Court was resolved they would not leave office because the drivers who paid monies for the purchase of the buses were demanding their money.“We the regional executives collected the money from the drivers and gave it to the national executives to buy the buses but the national executives had not purchased the buses for the drivers and also refused to account for the monies,” he said.GNA

Accra, Jan. 13, GNA – Mrs. Matilda Amissah-Arthur, wife of the Vice President, has commended Brothers and Sisters in Christ Serving (BASICS) International, a non-governmental organization, for supporting the needy at Chorkor.BASICS is a faith based charity organisation based in Chorkor in the Greater Accra Region with a mission of ending cycles of illiteracy, poverty, hunger and child labour in Ghana permanently.Mrs Amissah-Arthur said at the end of year get-to-gather by BASICS that providing shelter and other necessities of life must be commended.She also praised BASICS for working in a deprived community where giving birth at the early stage was sometimes considered a priority than education and added that children of BASICS International were nurtured to rise above these challenges as well as making a difference in the society.“BASICS responds to the needs of the community with programmes that offer real solutions to problems that hinder the development of children,” Mr Amissah-Arthur said.Ms. Patricia Wilkins, Founder and Executive Director of BASICS International, said her decision to come to Ghana to establish the initiative 14 years ago was a divine calling.“I one day woke up, with the feeling that, God was telling me that, I should just give out what I have,” she said.Ms. Wilkins said Chorkor was a deprived area and convincing parents in the community on the need to educate their children was sometimes a challenge.She said the organization had created models that had changed the lives of children by providing school fees, shelter and environmental awareness.She expressed her gratitude to individuals and institutions who over the years had contributed to this worthy course.GNA

Accra, Jan. 13, GNA – Ghana’s referee Joseph Lamptey is among the list of referees selected by the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) for the fourth edition of the Championship of African Nation (CHAN) underway in South Africa.Lamptey, who holds a Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) badge was among the list of 18 central referees selected for the competition reserved for indigenous players.Information gathered by the GNA Sports indicates that, the Ghanaian was the fourth referee in the game against Uganda and Burkina Faso in match day two of the competitions.Referee Lamptey was the only Ghanaian in the list of match officials and the appointment puts him in a perfect position for future CAF competitions.He is expected to be appointed as the middle man in the list of matches to be played on Wednesday, January 15.GNA