The remaining parts of the Ivorian registered helicopter which crashed into the sea off the coast of Takoradi in the Western Region early on this month has been located on the seabed. A specialized team aboard a vessel, MV Seabed Worker which arrived in the country shortly after the incident and located the broken aircraft was hoping to recover it before the close of Wednesday, May 21. This helicopter, said to be operated by International Aviation Service (IAS) was on a 15-minute flight to an oilrig,

Government has given a boost to its age long desire to achieve electricity generation to 5,000 megawatts by 2016 brokering a deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the construction of a 350MW power plant in the Western Region. The project is to be undertaken in phases by TAQA, with the first phase producing 100MW of electricity, in line with plans by government to double installed generating capacity to 5,000MW by 2016. Mr Ben Dotsei Malor, Head of Communications and presidential spokesperson,

The Chief Executive of the Minerals Commission, Dr Tony Aubynn, has expressed the commission’s support for the use of security personnel to flush out illegal miners. He stated that while the commission supported small-scale mining, it rejected any form of illegal mining, popularly referred to as “galamsey”. Speaking at a forum to outline its medium term programme in Accra, Dr Aubynn also said the commission would encourage community-based co-operatives to acquire small-scale mining licence. Dr

An anti-cocoa smuggling task force has intercepted more than 132 bags of cocoa beans at two different places near the border with Cote d’Ivoire in the Aowin District in the Western Region. The formation of the task force, put together by the Aowin District Assembly and the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), became necessary following the alleged increase in cocoa smuggling to neighbouring countries because of the perceived high prices of the commodity in that country. Interceptions A member of the district

More fishermen have been arrested in the Western Region for allegedly buying large quantities of fish from foreign vessels on high seas in contravention of the law. The latest is the arrest of 12 more fishermen by the Marine Police Unit of the Ghana Police Service for allegedly carrying more than 1,150 slabs of iced fish which were illegally traded off the coast of Half-Assini early dawn, yesterday. The arrest brings the number of people arrested to 30 in three days. Trading According to the police

The Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV), an international non-governmental organisation (NGO), has started a rice project to increase food security and incomes of smallholder farmers in four districts in the Northern Region. The 540,000-Euro project will help put some 4,400 hectares under cultivation to produce 3,000 metric tonnes of paddy rice. As part of the project, there will be the supply of appropriate agro-economic services for rice supply chains and enhanced public policies for improved

Former President Jerry John Rawlings will call at the residence of the late Mr Paul Victor Obeng Wednesday to express his condolences to the bereaved family. Obeng served as the chairman of the Committee of Secretaries under Rawlings’ Provisional National Defence Council regime (PNDC) from 1982 to 1992. Rawlings also appointed Obeng as Presidential Adviser on Governmental Affairs under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) from 1992 to 1997. Obeng died Saturday from a medical condition. Information

The Ministry of Environment Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), has developed a national climate change policy to mitigate the negative impact of climate change. A strategic Master Plan for the implementation of the policy is also at its final stage of completion. The document is expected to provide an opportunity for Ghana to benefit from global climate funds and initiatives to implement planned projects. The sector Minister, Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei, who announced this at the meet-the -press

A building contractor yesterday told the Fast Track High Court trying Johnson Kombian for the murder of two policemen that he (the contractor) had used his Toyota Hilux to convey three wounded policemen to the Baptist Medical Centre at Nalerigu. Mr Elijah Sillin Laar, the fourth prosecution witness, recounted how he had visited his family in Tamale and later went to the crime scene. Led in evidence by Mrs Marina Appiah Opare, a Principal State Attorney, Mr Laar said when he went to Nankpanduri,

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, has tasked the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to commence the verification and metering of the oil produced by the Jubilee partners. He said the GSA must ensure that all the necessary measures were put in place to subject oil production to measurement for the country to know the actual quantity of oil produced and also ensure that the state was not denied its fair share of oil produced from the Jubilee Fields. The minister said the exercise

A heavy downpour accompanied by strong winds in Accra last Monday night led to the collapse of many billboards in the metropolis. The storm, which started around 8 p.m., damaged billboards, some of which fell in the middle of roads. On the Graphic Road, an MTN billboard near the Obetsebi-Lamptey Circle fell across the entire stretch of the dual-carriage road and, as a result  brought  vehicular traffic to a halt. Motorists travelling from the Obetsebi-Lamptey Circle towards Accra and their counterparts

The Omanhene of New Juaben, Daasebre (Prof.  Emeritus) Oti Boateng, has called for a national development model to guide the country’s medium to long term development. He said without a development model to guide economic growth and development, the country would continue to swim in the waters of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, whose policy guidelines were necessary but not sufficient. “We need to have a development model to guide us for the long term; this is the

The Minister of Roads and Highways, Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, has tasked officials and agencies within the ministry responsible for awarding contracts to ensure that due diligence is done to avoid contract variations. He said apart from the unnecessary delay in the completion of contracts, such variations also called for extra funds to enable the contractors to execute the work successfully. Alhaji Sulemana, who made the call at the end of a two-day inspection tour of roads projects in the northern

Drama unfolded at the Fast Track High Court in Accra yesterday when two persons who had been convicted together with an ex-police officer for defrauding a businessman of $700,000 were found to have absconded from the courtroom when sentences were being handed down. The two, Jeffery Kofi Boakye and Paul Osei Tutu, as well as Seth Dzamesi, the ex-police officer, were sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment each, but to the surprise of many, Boakye and Tutu were nowhere to be found after the court had

The United States (US) government has pledged to support Ghana to overcome its current fiscal challenges. The United States Secretary of Commerce, Ms Penny Pritzker, who made the promise on Monday, said the US appreciated the efforts the Ghana government was making to use home-grown methods to address the fiscal challenges and pointed out that the US would offer the necessary support. She said this when she led a high-level trade delegation comprising representatives of 20 companies in the United

The United States government is preparing a $500 million grant to support Ghana’s power sector through the second Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact. When finalised, this compact will directly strengthen the power sector by improving reliability and service delivery, as well as help ensure continued and cost-effective power supply. The US Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Gene A. Cretz, who announced this in Accra yesterday, said the second compact could be finalised by August this year if the

Fifty-nine cargo trucks loaded with goods from the ports of Ghana have been denied entry into Cote d’Ivoire, in line with the enforcement of a trade directive by the Ivorian Ministry of Finance. The truck drivers have, for nearly a fortnight, become stranded at the Elubo-Noe Border. The Ivorian government, per the new directive, insists that only cargo originating from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member countries will be allowed into Cote d’Ivoire, while goods from

The Ashanti Regional Police Command has placed a GH¢2,000 bounty each on four suspected criminals who allegedly shot and killed Kwame Antwi at Ash Town, near Nana Buabasa’s residence, in Kumasi last Friday. Antwi, until his death, was a security man at C. Weareman Company Limited at Atonsu in Kumasi. The four suspects are Kwame Sasraku, Bonty Killer (alias Wunda), West (alias Nana Yaw) and Dragno. Briefing journalists in Kumasi Tuesday, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, DCOP Nathan Kofi