Tomorrow’s meeting will determine whether we will do a 10, 15, or 20% adjustment to the fare– GPRTU
The leadership of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has hinted that transport fares could go up by as much as 20%. The Secretary of GPRTU Mr. Godwin Abulbire in an interview with Citi News monitored by Apexnewsgh.com said they will resume dialogue with the Transport Ministry and other stakeholders on a possible transport fares increment this week. “What made us not conclude the dialogue last Wednesday was that the fuel margins, which are currently at 9 pesewas, must even come down, so obviously we couldn’t have arrived at a particular figure that we were pushing for. Initially, our target was a 20% increment but it seems the price of the fuel is coming down. So that is why we decided not to propose any figure since on Tuesday, we will get the actual margins to increase our fares.” He explained “We are looking to increase the fares because our argument doesn’t rely on the increase or decrease of fuel prices alone. Before the budget was laid before the government, we were advocating for an increase in transport fares and after the budget was read, we were told to wait for its approval. So, tomorrow’s meeting will determine whether we will do a 10, 15, or 20% adjustment to the fare,” he said Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Kelliot Royal Motors threaten to impound ‘Freddie Blay campaign’ buses
Kelliot Royal Motors Limited, a company registered under the laws of Ghana has served notice that it will not hesitate to impound some 100 Toyota Hiace vehicles imported into the country to support the campaign of the National Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party, Mr. Freddie Blay during the party’s last delegates congress. Mr. Freddie Blay, prior to the elections promised to gift each one of the 275 constituencies a bus. In July 2018, one hundred (100) of the buses arrived at the Tema port amidst controversies, a situation that hindered the distribution of the buses to the constituencies. Following the arrival of the buses, Kelliot Royal Motors dragged the Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) to court for failing to release the vehicles to them. Kelliot Royal Motors claimed that it had secured a loan facility in excess of $3million to procure the buses for onward sale to the NPP. According to the writ, the terms of agreement required that Kelliot Royal Motors will apply the loan facility to purchase the 100 Toyota Hiace vehicles for onward sale to the NPP as part importation for a total of $11,412,500 as a contract sum for the 275 buses. But in a press statement issued by the company on Thursday and signed by its Chief Executive Officer, Chris Azawodi, the company said the Universal Merchant Bank eventually released the buses to UP Travel Services Limited, a company believed to belong to Mr. Freddie Blay without their approval. The buses according to Kelliot Royal Motors, as contained in an earlier letter by the company’s lawyers to the Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department, have since been delivered to the Inter City STC Ltd. for operations on behalf of Mr. Blay “without accounting for the proceeds of the business to Kelliot Royal Motors.” According to the statement, the company is urging Mr. Blay to return the 100 vehicles to the company or pay an amount of $5.2 million Dollars to avoid any further actions from them. “The Chief Executive Officer of Kelliot Royal Motors Limited and the entire company are hereby demanding from Mr. Freddie Blay to as a matter of urgency act accordingly to a letter from our lawyers or face tough actions from us. Our lawyers Akufo Addo, Prempeh and co have ordered Mr. Freddie Blay to return the 100 vehicles belonging to us or pay an amount of $5.2 million Dollars,” the statement read. “This is therefore the last time we are requesting from Mr. Freddie Blay to do the needful and we shall not hesitate to go ahead and impound the vehicles should he fail to comply,” the statement added. Starrfm Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Open defense on 24 of 27 charges – Court to Opuni, Agongo
The former Cocoa Board CEO Dr. Stephen Opuni and businessman Seidu Agongo have been asked by an Accra High Court, to open up their defense on 24 of the 27 charges leveled against them by the state in the ongoing GH¢217 million financial loss case in connection with the procurement of fertilizer by the state-owned cocoa company. Since 2017, the two men have been standing trial. The state closed its case a few weeks ago. Subsequently, Dr. Opuni filed for submission of no case arguing that the prosecution had not proven its allegations against them. However, Justice Clemence Honyenuga the presiding judge and a Supreme Court judge sitting with additional responsibilities as a High Court judge, said the state has successfully proven that the accused persons have a case to answer for 24 of the 27 charges. Meanwhile, the case has been adjourned to May 17. Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
NPA reduces GHp17 fuel margin hike to GHp9 effective Wednesday
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has reduced the GHp17 per litre increase in fuel margins to GHp9 pesewas per litre. The price change takes effect from Wednesday, 5 May 2021. A statement issued on 4 May 2021 indicated: “At a meeting held at the Ministry of Energy earlier today between the Hon. Minister of Energy and the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (AOMCs), Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Co Ltd (BOST), the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), the Institute for Energy Policies and Research (INSTEPR), it has been agreed as follows; the 17 pesewas per litre increase in fuel margins previously announced by the NPA has been reduced to 9 pesewas per litre effective tomorrow, Wednesday, 5th May 2021”. The initial increase in fuel margins was supposed to take effect on 1 May 2021. However, several groups and individuals opposed the directive. The Institute of Energy Studies (IES), for instance, described the increase in fuel margins as “insensitive and without justification”. Meanwhile, two driver unions – Concerned Drivers Union and True Drivers Union – are rolling out a 40 per cent increase in transport fares by Monday, 10 May 2021, as a consequence. The PRO of Concerned Drivers Union, Mr David Agboado, justified the increment in an interview with Valentina Ofori-Afriyie on Class91.3FM’s mid-day news ‘12Live’ on Tuesday, 4 May 2021, saying from January this year, a gallon of petrol sold at GHS19.45 but has risen to GHS27.58. Also, he said the price of lubricants has risen by 25 per cent. Additionally, Mr Agboada noted that some charges of the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) has gone up by 15 per cent while charges at the port, are up by 40 per cent. Cumulatively, Mr Agboada said the cost of running a transportation business is more than 70 per cent but because they are considerate about the plight of Ghanaians, they will increase fares by 40 per cent. Meanwhile, the Senior Industrial Relations Officer of the GPRTU, Mr Abass Nurudeen, told the news programme that: “God willing, tomorrow, our leadership will come out with a reasonable percentage”. According to him, it will take immediate effect. Classfm Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Withdraw ‘insensitive’ increased levies on margins of petroleum products – IES to gov’t
The Institute for Energy Security (IES) has asked government and the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to immediately withdraw the increased levies on in some margins in the Price Build-Up (PUB) of petroleum products. The amended margins include the BOST Margin, the Primary Distribution Margin (PDM), Fuel Marking Margin (FMM) and the Unified Petroleum Price Fund (UPPF) Margin. A statement issued by IES and signed by Research Analyst, Fritz Moses on 30 April 2021 indicated that the new increases are expected to take effect from today, 1 May 2021. “The amended margins were made available to the various Petroleum Service Providers (PSPs) on the 29th of April 2021, at the end of the April Second Pricing Window,” the statement further noted. The IES explained that “for the UPPF Margin, an addition of GHp30.00 per litre has been added on all products except for the Premix Fuel including an addition of GHp30.00 per kilograms on LPG. The PDM also saw an addition of GHp30.00 per litre of Petrol, Diesel and Kerosene. For the MM, a new addition of GHp50.00 was added on all their products. The BOST Margin, was increased by 100% from GHp6.00 to GHp12.00. This comes on the back of the introduction of the Sanitation and Pollution Levy (SPL) of 20 pesewas per litre of product and the addition of 10 pesewas on the Energy Sector Recovery Levy (ESRL)”. According to the statement, “the IES finds these new amendments in the various Margins as nuisance and insensitive to the Ghanaian consumer’s needs especially as the impact of the pandemic is still with majority of citizens. Already, the consumer is burdened with several taxes which, loss of employment and a reduction in salaries, all as a result of the pandemic. It will not be appropriate for government to burden Ghanaians the more with these new margins”. The statement continued: “IES finds no justification for the increases in these Margins. The BOST Margin and the PDM goes to BOST yet, BOST has not been able to even properly justify the GHp3.00 per litre increase given it last year. The company is still the same as it was the year before and nothing has changed. “This action by government, through the National Petroleum Authority can only be insensitive and inconsiderate looking at the times we are in”. “Increases in levies, taxes and margins is one of the key reasons why Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) decide to evade them the more and rather smuggle their products just to maximize their market share. This eventually leaves the very few tax compliant OMCs to suffer,” the statement further added. Classfm Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
MTN GHANA IMPLEMENTS NEW COVID – 19 RECOVERY LEVY
MTN Ghana has announced an adjustment of its tariffs following the introduction of the 1% Covid-19 Health recovery levy. The new levy takes effect from 1st May, 2021. Tariffs for all voice calls, data and SMS have been amended to reflect the new requirement. The adjustment will also be made across all services and platforms this includes Mobile bundle purchases and Usage, Fiber to the Home/Business , air time and bundle purchase through 3rd party Apps, Sunday special, Just4U, Jaara, VAS services, Roaming, IDD, reloads through voucher, EVD (Electronic Prepaid), MoMo and Postpaid. Commenting on the tariff adjustment, the Chief Corporate Services Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Mr. Samuel Koranteng said, “we are implementing this marginal adjustment in our tariffs to comply with the new law”. Customers can find out more details of the new tariff plan on our website www.mtn.com.gh and in selected newspapers. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Tension at KIA as Mgt. plans to crush staff protest with National security
Agitations by workers of the Ghana Airport Company against the Managing Director of the company Yaw Kwakwa has been resurrected. It comes on the back of an intercepted document detailing alleged plans by management to use the SWAT team of the Police to crash future staff agitation. The move follows a decision by the workers to strike in demand for the removal of the MD in February this year. During the protest, union leaders locked out the MD from his office demanding the implementation of a report of an investigative committee set up by the board of the GACL which they said indicted the MD. The intervention of Transport Minister Kwaku Ofori Asiamah and Labour and Employment Minister Ignatius Baffour Awuah and other government functionaries got the workers to suspend the strike pending a meeting at the Jubilee House with the Chief of Staff. The strike was however called off after an assurance to implement recommendations of the investigative Committee report, according to the general secretary for the Public Services Workers Union Bernard Adjei. In a document titled “Union Disturbance Contingency Plan” in possession of Starr News, top management laid out strategies to deploy in curtailing any future agitations from the staff including the use of force by a SWAT team. Management also asserted in the document majority of the staff of GACL are members of the opposition NDC. “Unfortunately, staff and union activities at KIA have been profoundly politicized over the years. The latest union elections indicate approximately 80% of staff are NDC sympathizers. It is worth noting that there were serious Union agitations prior to the 2020 Election, and just before the Supreme Court Election Petition ruling on March 4, 2021.” The document further stated the action from the union and the staff has the support of senior management members. “To make matters worse, it has become absolutely clear that the overwhelming majority of senior management is supporting the Union members. Therefore, this Contingency Plan has been designed and would be implemented in this context.” According to the document steps to be taken against any agitations from the staff include; 1. Liaise with National Security to assist with Plain-Clothed and SWAT team deployment 2. Liaise with Police Operations to assist in securing Airside Access Gates, Terminal Building Access points and Critical Operational Systems 3. Liaise with Ghana Fire Service for alternate Fire Cover Reacting to the top management plan, Chairman for the Local Union of the Ghana Airport Company Abdul Isaka Bamba described the move as unfortunate but not surprising. “It’s unfortunate and I’m not surprised. I’m not surprised because in our earlier action when we laid down our tools, we saw a similar thing happening. Crowd control police were brought in to come and arrest and handcuff our members including the union executives. In fact, we only laid down our tools, we were committing no crime. There was no rioting. We have police post at the airport here, they did not use them. They rather used the crowd control police. That’s why I’m not surprised that this can happen again.” “They used SWAT team to arrest and harass us including myself, I was arrested. So this is where we find ourselves. Staff who decide to withdraw their services, committing no crime, causing no damage to any property, you brought SWAT team to come and harass them. This is the country we live in. But for us we know we have never committed any crime and we don’t have any intention of committing any crime. We are only doing what we’re supposed to do. We don’t go beyond our limit. Now, if at this point authorities want to use SWAT which they think is the best to use to harass innocent staff who are committing no crime, we leave it for Ghanaians to judge.” On the allegations of partisanship being the driving force for the allegations, Mr. Bamba denied the assertion. According to him claim the union enjoys support from overwhelming number of senior management members even if true is testimony concerns of the workers are legitimate. “I wonder how senior members who are supposed to support him(MD) do his work and if overwhelming number of them are supporting us against him, then how is he controlling airport or how can he control the airport? I still leave that one for Ghanaians to judge.” Isaka Bamba expressed confidence and faith in the ability of the Chief of Staff Frema Opare to address their concerns in spite of the plan by management to assign their roles to other willing colleagues should they strike again. “We still have some trust in the office of the president. That’s the Chief of Staff’s Office. We have respect for that office and we believe the Chief of Staff and her team know what they are supposed to do so we still have faith that the right thing will be done looking at the allegations levelled against the MD of course the Committee report is out there we all read it, we know the content so we still have faith in that office. So we look up to the office.” According to him, the management plan to use every means to scuttle any labour agitations has created a very tense atmosphere at the Kotoka International Airport. “Honestly I can tell you other staff too are privy to this information and I know they are not happy and they are more agitated and they are just waiting to hear from the Chief of Staff’s office to see what outcome will be brought to us then we take it up from there.” Starrfm Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
MTN Ghana commits $149milion in total capex to meet the demand of digital services
MTN Ghana’s operational performance in the first quarter was anchored on its execution of various ‘Ambition 2025’ initiatives in data, MoMo and digital services. Amid accelerated digitalisation, MTN has committed to spend $149 million in total capex in the year to meet the demand of digital services and help maintain the quality and availability of service for our data and Mobile Money customers. As part of MTN’s network expansion plan, the company rolled out 36 2G, 36 3G, 36 4G sites and modernized 223 existing sites to 4G sites in the quarter. This investment helped support 64.0% growth in data traffic and reach a total of 2,160 4G sites nationwide resulting in an increase in our 4G population coverage from 71.7% to 76.1%. Performance in the first quarter of 2021 was influenced by the protracted impact of the pandemic. As a result of this MTN Ghana carried on with its work to support lives through its Y’ello Hope initiatives. Key amongst these initiatives is that as at April 5, 2021, MTN had delivered 356,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to support the Ghana Government’s efforts in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. This is part of the commitment made by MTN Group to provide US$25 million to support the African Union’s COVID-19 vaccination programme and help secure up to seven million doses of the vaccine for health workers across the continent. Operational review MTN’s subscriber base grew by 0.6 million to 25.0 million, as the company improved its network and customer experience. Continued demand for data and increased adoption of more digital payment services supported the company’s active data* subscribers’ growth of 0.4 million to reach 11.2 million and MoMo users growth of 0.1 million to reach 10.7 million. The number of MoMo merchants expanded by 11,000 to 183,000 and our agent network by 15,000 to 221,000. MTN also improved on its ayoba offerings with enhancements including payment integration and new business-to-customer channels. Additionally, MTN enhanced self-service offerings on myMTN app, introducing MoMo and mobile broadband channels to the app to improve the feature set and customer experience. Commenting on the quarterly results, the CEO of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh said, MTN remains committed to providing support to combat COVID-19. As we progress through 2021, we will remain focused on supporting our people, our customers and Government, while ensuring network resilience as this is critical to the continued recovery of the economy. Update on localisation of Scancom PLC and MobileMoney Limited MTN continues to work with the Government of Ghana and key regulatory stakeholders to achieve all agreed localisation requirements. MTN Group remains committed to sell a further 8.1% of its investment in Scancom PLC to achieve 25% localisation. MTN Ghana’s 25th anniversary This year marks MTN Ghana’s 25th anniversary, a significant milestone in our journey to provide vital telecommunication and digital services in Ghana. We have committed to contribute the equivalent of $25 million (or GH¢150 million) over three years to a fund supporting Ghana’s post-COVID-19 recovery efforts. It is our belief that this will go a long way to support digital ecosystem projects as part of government’s long-term transformation agenda. We will share more details as discussions progress. Outlook The company believes that the remainder of 2021 will be shaped by the extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. MTN Ghana remains committed to supporting government’s ambition of a digital Ghana and we have designated 2021 as the ‘Year of the customer: the digital experience’. We are excited about the opportunity to be part of the Ghana digital journey as we play our part through the many digital services. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
ELI HINI APPOINTED AS FIRST CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF MOBILEMONEY LIMITED
MobileMoney Limited (MML) , a wholly owned subsidiary of Scancom PLC announces the appointment of Mr. Eli Hini as its first Chief Executive Officer. The appointment was made by the MML Board early this month indicating Eli’s responsibility to drive strategy, business development, innovation and relevant operations for MTN’s Mobile Money business. Prior to Eli’s appointment as Chief Executive Officer, he was the General Manager for MobileMoney Limited, a role he held for approximately five years. He was instrumental in setting up Mobile Money services in Ghana and growing the subscriber base, transaction volumes and value as well as revenue contribution. He also led the MTN Mobile Money business to receive ISO certification (ISO/IEC 12007: 2013 certification) in 2016 and the GSMA Mobile Money Certification in November 2019. Eli Hini is a Chartered Marketer with over 20 years’ experience and previously held leadership positions in Unilever Ghana Limited and Coca-Cola Bottling Company Limited. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and a postgraduate diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK. Commenting on the appointment, the Chief Executive Officer for MTN, Mr. Selorm Adadevoh congratulated Eli Hini for his leadership drive that has resulted in the success of Mobile Money. He said, “the appointment of Eli Hini as CEO of MML is an affirmation of his leadership, dedication and success over the years to bring Mobile Financial Services / FinTech this far despite several challenges along the way.” “We are proud of Eli Hini and what he has brought to the Mobile Money and FinTech industry in Ghana and Africa. After working on the Mobile Money project from its inception, we believe his appointment will mark the beginning of a new chapter in the FinTech industry”, he added. Mobile Money was launched by MTN in 2009 to enable customers undertake transactions such as Money Transfer and Airtime Purchase. After 11years of its implementation, MTN Mobile Money has several services on its platform most of which have been designed in collaboration with other service providers like the Banks, FinTechs, Insurance Companies, State Institutions and many more. Mobile Money has chalked some significant successes since its inception. With less than 100,000 subscribers at the time of launch, MTN MoMo now has 17 million registered subscribers. MTN MoMo works with 19 partner banks (after the initial 9) and more than 200, 000 Agents across the country. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
MTN Pulse Customers To Benefit From Free Thematic Book Collections On The Worldreader App
MTN, Ghana’s leading telecommunications company is proud to announce a partnership with global nonprofit organization Worldreader to bring free digital books to MTN Pulse subscribers. The e-books can be accessed in the MTN Pulse branded reading zone on the Worldreader App which can be accessed on the MTN Pulse app for Android phones and via a magic link on basic data-enabled phones. The MTN Pulse branded reading zone on the Worldreader app will feature a curated collection of 20 books on a theme, changing every fortnight. The themes will include Women, Career, Parenting and Romance as well as themes tied to significant national and international recognition days. The books can also be downloaded for later reading. Commenting on the purpose of the introduction of MTN Pulse Reading Zone and the partnership with Worldreader, Noel Kojo-Ganson, Chief Marketing Officer at MTN said, Technology makes it possible to access a host of e-books at your convenience. In pursuant of our mission to make the customer’s life a whole lot brighter, we partnered with Worldreader to give our customers especially the youth and young adults the opportunity to gain access to a wide range of books that will enhance their knowledge on various themes. We are confident that this partnership will contribute immensely to knowledge acquisition and the digital experience we want our customers to have on the network.” “This partnership with MTN Pulse will greatly expand the number of free quality books available to young people in Ghana, especially during pandemic disruptions,” said, Ethel Sakitey, Regional Director for Worldreader in West Africa. “With a touch of a finger on their mobile phones, MTN Pulse subscribers can access books for learning and pleasure.” The following are examples of the thematic collections that will be available to MTN Pulse subscribers on Worldreader: Career Zone: Through this collection of career books, readers will learn skills and values that are important in the workplace and in their personal lives. Women’s Health Zone: This collection of books is meant to empower women and give them the information they need to take charge of their health, covering everything from reproductive health and sexuality to mental health and more. Young men will also improve their understanding of women’s health through the facts provided in these books. Armed with this understanding, both young women and men will be able to make informed, healthy choices. Romance Zone: This book collection contains books on love and romance. Through these books, readers will discover what real love looks like, learn healthy relationship skills, and how to overcome obstacles in relationships. Kids Zone: This collection of children’s books has been carefully curated for parents and caregivers to read to with their children, introducing them to the value of reading. With these curated collections, MTN Pulse and Worldreader will impact young people through the power of reading. MTN Pulse subscribers will learn about the books through SMS notifications, MTN Pulse App banners on home pages and on social media. MTN Pulse is a youth value initiative that provides subscribers with exciting offers on both data and voice calls at affordable prices. The app can be downloaded from the PlayStore. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093