NDC, NPP embraced peace ahead of 2020 election petition verdict – Government
Government says it has reached an agreement with the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to do everything possible to maintain the stability enjoyed in the country ahead of the pronouncement of the verdict in the ongoing 2020 election petition hearing. According to the President’s representative at the Information Ministry, this was one of the resolutions reached at a high-powered delegation from both sides at a meeting on February 25, 2021. The consultative meeting of 30 participants including top security hierarchy and chaired by Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare was hosted by the National Security Ministry. Former President John Mahama is currently in court seeking to annul the results of the December 7 election over irregularities which he believes saw Nana Akufo-Addo emerge President. After weeks of arguments at the Supreme Court by lawyers for the petitioner and respondents, the apex court is set to deliver judgment on Thursday, March 4, 2021. The statement signed by Kojo Oppong Nkrumah indicated that both parties agreed to trigger measures to prevent their party faithful from fueling chaos after the Supreme Court declaration. “Regarding the on-going election petition, all parties committed to the need to preserve the peace in the aftermath of the verdict by urging their supporters to exercise restraint and desist from any provocative acts that could undermine law and order.” The meeting was generally geared towards reviewing “the security arrangements put in place for the conduct of the elections and expressed divergent concerns about the events that characterized the collation and declaration of the results.” While calling for closure to election-related violence that characterised the 2020 general election through investigation and sanctioning of perpetrators, the gathering further called on the Police Service to “improve upon the policing of election materials in future elections.” “The parties called for thorough investigations into the incidents that marred the peaceful conduct and declaration of the results notably in Odododiodoo, Savlegu, Ablekuma Central, Sefwi Wiawso, and Techiman South constituencies among others.” The March 1 statement further reiterated the “need to continue the political and security dialogue in the best interest of the country.” Also present at the meeting were; the Presidential Advisor on Security, Brig. Gen. Emmanuel Okyere (Rtd), Albert Kan-Dapaah, the President’s Representative at the Ministry of National Security, Ambrose Dery, the President’s Representative at the Ministry of Interior, Freddie Blay and John Boadu, NPP Chairman and General Secretary respectively. The NDC was also represented by Kofi Totobi-Quakyi, former Minister for National Security, Lt Col Larry Gbevlo-Lartey (Rtd), Former National Security Coordinator and Director for Operations, Capt (GN) Baffour Assasie-Gyimah, former Deputy National Security Advisor and Mr. Kofi Attoh, National Vice Chairman. Also, in attendance were the IGP James Oppong-Buanuh and the CDS Rear Admiral Seth Amoama. Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
Minister designates and why minority denied them approval
So far these are Minister designates in Akufo Addo’s second administration currently having issues with their approval as far as the minority side of the Appointments Committee is concerned. Below are the reasons why they were not approved at the same time with the rest of the 22 already Unanimously approved by the Appointment Committee of Parliament. Kwesi Amoako-Atta It is believed that on the Roads and Highways portfolio, the clarification they may be seeking has to do with the Tema road contract before they approve the nominee, Kwesi Amoako-Atta. Oppong Nkrumah The sources say, members of the minority side of the Appointments Committee accused Oppong Nkrumah, as being the one who called for a member of the legal team of the petitioner in the ongoing Election 2020 petition, Dr. Dominic Ayine, to be cited for contempt, after Ayine told the media on 16 February 2021, that the Supreme Court has a predetermined agenda to rule in favour of President Akufo-Addo. Ursula Owusu Ekuful The approval of the Minister-designate for Communications and Digitization, Ursula Owusu Ekuful, is also on hold because the Minority side says they require some clarification on the closure of some radio stations in the country. Kwaku Owusu Afriyie Akoto In the case of the Minister for Food and Agriculture-designate, Kwaku Owusu Afriyie Akoto, members of the Minority side of the Appointments Committee accused him of being arrogant when he appeared before the committee and on that basis, they will not approve of his nomination. Hawa Koomson As for Hawa Koomson, the Minority side of the Appointments Committee, are of the opinion that she is not fit for the job. John Amewu Peter John Peter Amewu, the former Minister for Energy who supervised the PDS deal and has been nominated by the president to serve as the Minister for Railways Development in his second administration, has his approval also on hold. The minority side of the Appointments Committee say they require some clarification on some answers the minister-designate provided during his vetting on the PDS deal. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu The Health Minister-designate, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu‘s appointment, according to our source is on hold because the Minority side of the Appointments Committee say he did not satisfy them with his answers on questions regarding the engagement of Frontier to offer COVID-19 testing services at the airport some time in September 2020. Godfred Yeboah Dame The Agyapa Gold Royalties deal and the answers given by the Minister for Justice and Attorney General-designate, Godfred Yeboah Dame, to questions posed by some members of the Appointments Committee ought to be clarified and to that end, the Attorney General’s nomination is also on hold, one source disclosed. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
NABDAM: NDC MP prevented from handing over Police Station he constructed for his people with his share of Common Fund
A modern Police Station constructed for the people of Nabdam District of the Upper East by their Nabdam Member Parliament (MP) Dr. Mark Kurt Nawaane with his share of the Common Fund has since been locked with keys since the completion of the project in October 2020. Following the robbery incident that took place in 2018 at the Pelungu which eventually took away the lives of 2 innocent residents of Nabdam constituency, the Member of Parliament upon dialogue with the assembly and technocrats in the constituency decided to build a Police station instead of a police post at Pelungu the busiest and hotspot community in the district due to the business activities in the area. However, it appears after the completion of the project by the MP, handing it over to the assembly has become a huge problem between the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for Nabdam Constituency and members of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the district. In an exclusive interview with Apexnewsgh.com, the Member of Parliament for Nabdam Constituency Dr. Mark Kurt Nawaane who appeared not to be happy with the delay in handing over the Police Station project he executed narrated his side of the story. “You know in 2018, armed robbers killed 2 people in my constituency and it was around 11:00 am broad daylight. So, we met as a group myself and the DCE and all the other technocrats at the Assembly and it was said that they wanted to build a police post but, I was against it because, police post means they will come and go away and we needed to put a station there where at any particular time, we will have police people there because the place has become more volatile than even the district capital”. “So, the Assembly said they had no money. So, I decided that I was going to use my Common Fund to build the Police Station and the District Chief Executive (DCE) showed interest in the project initially but somewhere along the line, I think there was a lot of interference, that suggests that she allowed me to undertake such a project will not be good for the party”. “The project was awarded 6months before the election and I got a contractor who agreed with me in terms of everything we wanted to do and so, the contractor was able to finish the project by the end of October 2020 and we wanted to handover. Because I thought that, if anything will happen during the elections, it will be at that particular place Pelungu. So, I wanted to hand over the structure to the Police before the election and that is where I realized that everything was interpreted alongside the elections that were coming”. “They gave all sort of excuses among them was that, since we have not finished paying the contractor from the account, handing over was not possible and I said, I have arrears of Common Fund and so, I have explained to the contractor that the arrears for 2020 we have about more than 3months at that time we have not been paid, so, whatever is left of his money, we can use these 3months to guarantee it. So, there was no problem as regards payment and he agreed”. “So, when we came to hand over, there came another excuse that since I didn’t use my personal money to build the Police Station and I used the Common Fund, I could not be involved in the handing over of the facility and my argument was that, when the roads are constructed, when buildings are constructed by the central government, we have the President coming down to do the handing over/open it for people to start using and that doesn’t mean that the money is coming from President pocket, is all of us our taxes or the loan we go for in the name of all of us that is given for the project. In the same vein, since that Common Fund was given to me and I have decided to use it for the project, I am the spending officer of that money by the constitution so, I should be involved, I am interested in it, I am answerable for whatever money that I use, so, I am ready to hand over and they said no no no handing over has to come from above”. “There came another excuse, that you can’t even build a Police station without building accommodation for the Police staff. I said aaah, you know this is not a laydown budgeted money for everything, we are solving an emergency problem and this is the amount I have. In fact, the Police station is the most beautiful police station in the Northern part of the country with so many rooms and cells built according to modern specifications. All the floor is tied, we have both T&J, fan, etc are there. What we don’t have is the furniture. But for the staff, we can get 2, 3 or 4 tables and chairs to start. Then later when I have money or Assembly have money we can do the rest and then make sure, it is completed the way is supposed to look inside and this one too, they said noooo, they wouldn’t agree because am not supposed to involve in the handing over, somebody has to come from Accra and even the handing over process will involve the regional commander and they wrote letters but eventually, I had a call from the Police that I couldn’t do the handing over because is going to cause communal violence. Then 2 days to the election the issue came up again, I said I have to open the place up for the community to see the good work I have done. That one too, they said noooo I couldn’t step on that structure because when I stepped on that structure there will communal violence and I said nooo, that one I wouldn’t
Election petition: ‘Mahama’s legal team took a gamble’ – NDC lawyer
A private legal practitioner and member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo believes the party’s legal team failed to do due diligence before closing its case in the election petition. “One of the ways of eliciting evidence was through the Chairperson. You must get your opponent in the box. In this particular instance, the NDC legal team took a gamble. They failed to get the EC or any official of the EC to be subpoenaed before they close the case,” Nii Kpakpo Samoa said on Citi TV/FM’s The Big Issue. John Mahama’s counsel had closed its case in the petition but was compelled to reverse its decision after the EC’s lawyers decided to also close its case thus keeping the EC Chair, Jean Mensa from testifying in the case. Mr. Mahama’s lawyers objected to the application but the court later ruled that it cannot compel Ms. Mensa to take the witness box. Mr. Addo said the party should have withdrawn its petition after the EC Chairperson failed to mount the witness box. “Once the EC did not mount the box, the petition should have been withdrawn. The court case died the day the application to reopen the case to enable the petitioner to issue a subpoena to the EC failed.” About the election petition Flagbearer of the NDC in the 2020 election, John Mahama is in court after he and his party rejected the results of the presidential polls. Mr. Mahama is of the view that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo failed to obtain the requisite number of votes to be declared the winner. He is thus asking the Supreme Court to among other things declare the 2020 presidential polls null and void and further ordered the EC to conduct a re-run of the election between himself and President Akufo-Addo. But in their closing Address, President Akufo-Addo’s lawyers said Mr. Mahama did not properly invoke the jurisdiction of the Court on election matters, and at the same time, failed to sufficiently discharge the burden of proof upon him as the petitioner. The EC also shot down assertions being made by Mr. Mahama saying the 2020 polls were the most credible since the inception of the 4th Republican Constitution. The Commission denied that the December 9 declaration was invalid and urged the Court not to grant Mr. Mahama’s reliefs. The Supreme Court will deliver its judgment in the matter next week, Thursday, March 4, 2021. citinewsroom Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
NDC MPs ‘under a lot of pressure’ to reject Akufo-Addo’s ministerial nominees – Samoa Addo
Members of the Minority Caucus in Parliament are under intense pressure to vote against President Nana Akufo-Addo ministerial nominees, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, a lawyer of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has said. “The MPs represent constituencies and the constituents and the grassroots members and the hardcore NDC opposition members also have their grievances in the last election and, so, the MPs of the NDC are under a lot of pressure.” “You can even see some hashtags that are calling for mass rejection of all the nominees”, Mr Samoa Addo told Eugene Bawelle on Class91.3FM’s current affairs programme ‘The Watchdog’ on Saturday, 27 February 2021. “If you’ve noticed on social media, there are trending calls and, so, I can tell you that they are under pressure”, he pointed out. In his view, while the apologies rendered by some of the re-nominated ministers-designate could soften the hearts of the NDC MPs to look favourably on them, the arrogance and flippancy displayed by others, such as Agriculture Minister-designate Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, will be to his disadvantage. The Appointments Committee of Parliament has vetted about 30 nominees so far. Finance Minister-designate Ken Ofori-Atta has had his vetting delayed by a few weeks owing to ill health. He is billed to face the committee on 8 March 2021. Classfm Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
“I was not getting what I needed to work with, I was given 4000 and 30 T-shirts as National Women’s Organizer– Dr. Hanna Bissiw
Dr. Louisa Hanna Bissiw the National Women’s Organizer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has revealed, that she was given Four Thousand Ghana (Ghc 4,000.00) and 30 T. Shirts during the 2020 election campaign as National Women’s Organizer. The Woman’s Organizer was pouring her frustration in an interview on Power FM platform monitored by Apexnewsgh.com She further explained that she wasn’t getting what she needed to perform her duties as a women Organizer.She revealed, that all the activities she was engaged in that grabbed attention of the public could not have come from the “meagre” Ghc4000 cedis as a program she hosted to train Tamale women alone cost Ghc100,000. “I was not getting what I needed to work with. In the election time, the truth is one, I was given 4000 and 30 T-shirts as National Women’s Organizer. I couldn’t use it for anything. So whatever work people saw me doing all over the place and were talking that I was visible together with my women and going to markets all over, walking at Tamale, upper east with my women and organizing Accra training were my efforts… The Tamale training cost me Ghc100,000”. She told Power Fm. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
NDC Allotey Jacob honored with a Deputy Ministerial appointment
Apexnewsgh.com has received a piece of Concrete information indicating that the former Central Regional Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Mr. Allotey Jacob has been honored with a deputy ministerial portfolio in Akufo-Addo’s second administration. For over a period now, the current NDC leadership and Mr. Allotey Jacob have seen themselves in recent times as cat and dog, following some of the pronouncement made by the former NDC Central Regional Chairman. However, In May 2020, a suspension letter signed by the NDC National Chairman Mr.Samuel Ofosu Ampofo was handed over to Mr. Allotey Jacob for ‘persistent anti-party conduct “The Functional Executive Committee (FEC) of the National Democratic Congress, acting on behalf of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party, at its meeting held on Wednesday, the 6th day of May 2020, has suspended you forthwith as a member of the party, pursuant to articles 46(1), 46(6) and 46(8) of the party’s constitution for your persistent anti-party conduct.” Meanwhile, since after his suspension by the Party, Mr. Allotey has intensified his support for the governing New Patriotic Party leadership and President Akufo Addo. In a media engagement, when he was questioned, if he would accept an appointment from the NPP, he responded by saying, “the Lord’s ways are mysterious therefore he will accept any opportunity of such as long as it remains God’s will for his life”. However, information has it that the process for his appointment is 87% completed. Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
Contempt: Ayine free
The Supreme Court on Thursday, 25 February 2021, discharged former deputy attorney general Dr Dominic Ayine after he purged himself from a contemptuous comment he made against the Justices of the Supreme Court regarding the ongoing election petition hearing. The court met to consider Dr Ayine’s apology and retraction of the contemptuous comments. Dr Ayine apologised for saying the court had a “predetermined agenda” to rule against former President John Mahama, the petitioner, after he was cited for contempt. “I have looked at what I said that day and I have come to the conclusion that I went overboard, I crossed the line with respect to the remarks that I made”, Dr Ayine told the media on Monday, 22 February 2021 after his contempt hearing. Dr Ayine also wrote an unqualified apology to the court and the Justices. Background Dr Ayine’s comment came after the apex court on Tuesday, 16 February 2021, ruled that Mr Mahama could not reopen his case for the sole purpose of subpoenaing the star witness of the Electoral Commission and using her as an “adverse” witness. In his media address, Dr Ayine said: “The Supreme Court asked itself a question, which we deem as a wrong question and answered that question. It said: why does the Chairperson need to account to the people of Ghana when she’s not a party to the suit”. “Now you’ll recall that counsel made it clear that one of the reasons we are in court is because of the unconstitutional conduct of Mrs Jean Adukwei Mensa as the returning officer under the Constitution and it is not true that there is only one issue that needs to be determined in this matter”, the lawmaker said. He continued: “I am surprised that the Supreme Court itself, having set down five key issues to be determined, is now reducing the issues to one, which is whether and extent to which the evidence that we have led, shows that no one got more than 50 per cent of the votes in accordance with article 53 of the Constitution”. “But we have made it abundantly clear in the petition that there were a number of infractions”. “We are contesting even the constitutionality of the declaration that was made. We are saying that she violated article 23 of the Constitution because she’s an administrative body”. “We have also said her exercise of discretion was contrary to article 296 of the Constitution”. “These are all germane issues under the Constitution and laws of Ghana and to reduce the petition into a single-issue petition, is rather unfortunate and smacks of a predetermined agenda to rule against the petitioner in this matter”. A spokesperson for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s legal team, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, described Dr Ayine’s assertion as “unfair to the judicial system”. Speaking to the media, the former information minister said: “It is not fair to the judicial system, it’s not fair to our democracy, it’s not fair to the people of Ghana that when you lose an application because it is not grounded in law or because you’ve failed to meet the legal standard, then you come here and literally poison the minds of the public and make claims that they may be having a predetermined agenda. That’s scandalous of the court”. “When you make a legal argument and it is upheld, that one is good; when you make an argument and it doesn’t meet the threshold, then it means that they are wrong in law or that they have a predetermined agenda. “The Supreme Court has not reduced the petition to a single issue. We tried our best to transcribe the ruling and we’re waiting for the written version of it. The court said that the major issue, it didn’t say there was a single issue before it…” classfm Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
Run-Off is required as no Candidate got 50 Percent of valid votes’ cast – Mahama to Supreme Court
The Petitioner in the 2020 election Petition trial says a run-off is required since no candidate in the December 7 polls obtained 50 percent valid votes cast. The case of the Petitioner is simply that, in addition to fundamental constitutional infractions committed by the Electoral Commission chairperson, who was the returning officer of the Presidential Election, the figures announced in the declaration she herself made on December 9, 2020, no candidate got more than 50 percent of the valid votes cast and, as a constitutional consequence, a run-off election would be required. These were contained in former President John Dramani Mahama, the petitioner’s closing address filed by his lawyers at the Supreme Court. Mr Mahama argued that the evidence from the terms of the declaration and the consideration that the EC Chairperson said were the basis of the declaration she was making, led to the conclusion that “Nana could only be credited with 49.625 percent of the votes at the time.” Mr Mahama said “The fact that Petitioner is not indicating in this Petition what he or the other candidates should have obtained compared to numbers declared by the EC, cannot lead to a conclusion that the declaration by the EC Boss is constitutional.” According to Mr Mahama his own figures are “not relevant to determining whether that claim is well-founded or not.” Mr Mahama invited the court to take judicial notice of the fact that, ahead of the December 7, 2020 elections, political parties were urged not to seek to announce results based on figures they had collated but to wait the official declaration of the EC Boss as the returning officer for the Presidential Election. He explained that the EC under provisions of Articles 43-54, 56 (7), 63 and 65 of the Constitution and CI 127 is charged with the conduct of the Elections. Mr Mahama said “the starkly untenable nature of the claim that the petitioner should have put towards his own figures is put in sharp relief when it is recalled that, by virtue of Article 64 (1) of the Constitution, any citizen of Ghana can present a petition challenging the validity of the election of the president. A citizen, in bringing such a challenge, would not be required to indicate the exact number of votes that candidates ought to have obtained. Being a candidate does not change qualification for bringing such a Petition and cannot require more than any other citizen.” He recalled that “No one is asking Nana Addo either to bring his figures or the number of votes he and other candidates got, nor has Nana put forward his figures in this petition as that would have no relevance in the court before the court.” Accordingly, the Petitioner discharged the burden of proof that was on him. The Petitioner avers that “the unsigned press statement was not only correcting the alleged wrong total valid votes cast figures announced by Mrs Jean Mensa in her declaration on December 9, 2020. It also went on, explicably, to adjust the votes obtained by candidates Mahama and Akuffo-Addo as declared for them on December 9, 2020. Votes of other candidates were also adjusted.” All this, the Petitioner said was done outside the framework provided by CI 127 and particularly, without the involvement of the agents of the candidates, contrary to the requirement of Articles 49 (2) and (3) of the Constitution and Regulation 44 (10) of CI127. “Paragraph 29-30 of the amended Petition are very clear on how the Press Release issued on December 10, 2020 compounds the lack of transparency, fairness and candour of the 1st Respondent (EC) in the ever-changing figures,” the Petitioner said. The Petitioner said the figure in the purported “correction” as to the total valid votes cast was itself repudiated by first Respondent (EC) by the time the answer to the Petition was filed on January 9, 2021. “It defied logic that the 1st respondent (EC) issued a “correction” on 10th December 2020 to a figure which is now claimed to have been the actual figure purported on Form 13 on December 9, 2020.” Mr Mahama said “in the midst of changing figures of total valid votes cast as well as votes of individual candidates, it simply cannot be said that the overall results on Form 13 were not affected, especially when the figures claimed to have been form 13 are different from figures in the “correction” on December 10 2020.” He contended that there were discrepancies in figures provided for candidates of other parties and “the material increase of Akuffo-Addo whiles at the same time materially reducing the votes of the Petitioner clearly requires explanation.” Mr Mahama said fundamentally, there was no evidence from the EC on the basis of which any of its contradictory claims could be accepted as “the truth.” Petitioner held that attempt to “effect a correction by an unsigned press release is wholly untenable.” According to the Petitioner the testimony of the three witnesses for the Petitioner showed clearly not only the breach of the duty to be fair and candid under Article 23 of the Constitution but also the lack of due process in terms Article 296 of the Constitution. Petitioner submitted that when matters of breaches of the Constitution or of Statute arose before a court there was urgency about addressing those breaches. Mr Mahama said the conduct of the EC Chairperson in sending the agents of a major candidate who should have been present in the resolution of the outstanding issues leading to the declaration and “immediately going ahead to make the declaration without even the required steps under the Regulation 44(10) were self-evidently unreasonable.” Ghana Guardian Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
It is most inhumane and totally unconscionable for Ghanaians to be cruelly exploited for personal profit –Okudzeto Ablakwa
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, has said it is inhumane for Ghanaians to be exploited by some government officials for their personal profit during a pandemic. According to Mr. Ablakwa, none of the ministers-designate who appeared so far before Parliament’s Appointments Committee has been sincere with those fronting the $150.00 fee charged for the COVID-19 test at the airport. He however stated that the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament will accountability is brought to Ghanaians on the issue. “This is not the end of our mission for answers and accountability. He wrote on Facebook Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093