Celebration of Valentine in Upper East boring due to COVID restriction, as VRA light out, worsen the situation
Residents of the Upper East have expressed their dissatisfaction over the 2021 edition of the Valentine celebration, as they described it as boring. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing rate of infection across the country, President Akufo-Addo in his 23rd address to the nation banned some activities as a measure to reduce the increasing rate of COVID infection. “So, fellow Ghanaians, until further notice, funerals, weddings, concerts, theatrical performances, and parties are banned. Private burials, with no more than twenty-five (25) people, can take place, with the enforcement of the social distancing, hygiene and mask wearing protocols. Beaches, night clubs, cinemas, and pubs continue to be shut. Our borders by land and sea remain closed. All workplaces, public and private, must employ a shift-system for workers, in addition to the use of virtual platforms for business or work. Conferences and workshops can take place with all the appropriate protocols. However, I encourage the use of virtual platforms for such engagements. Restaurants should provide take-away services, and should, as much as possible, avoid seated services. The National Sports Authority and the Ghana Football Association should ensure compliance with the twenty-five percent (25%) capacity rule in our stadia, with spectators respecting the social distancing rule and wearing of masks”. However, it appears the COVID restriction ban by President Akufo-Addo isn’t the only predicament bedeviling the 2021 edition of Valentine, especially in the Upper East Region. As if the Volta River Authority (VRA) officials in the Upper East Region does not care about the VAL celebration, they decided to used a power outage to wish their customers a ‘HAPPY VALENTINE’ Engaging one of the event organizers in the region popularly known as CarlmaxColdsweat Daraan the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Xtrame Empire he said, there won’t be fun in this year’s VAL celebration due to the restriction ban by the President. However, he noted that aside from the restriction bans by the President which prevented public gathering, those who would have the wish to celebrate the valentine at the comfort of their homes cannot do so due to the power outage by VRA “Because of the restrictions, it means it won’t be fun, because nowhere to go to. Our traditional way of having fun is probably going to the bar, vea dam, and some other recreational places to mingle with some friends and love ones. But, now that restrictions have been put in place in these places, you can’t do. Even if you had the intention of doing it alone at home, here is the case, the whole region has been given light out it means, if your idea of having fun was sitting and having relaxation watching movie probably taking a drink with your loved one, you can’t even sit in a room because is very hot. CarlmaxColdsweat Daraan told Apexnewsgh.com Valentine’s Day is an annual festival to celebrate romantic love, friendship and admiration. Every year on 14 February people celebrate this day by sending messages of love and affection to partners, family and friends. Couples send Valentine’s Day cards and flowers and spend special time together to honour their love for each other. However, in some part of African, youth see Valentine as a period of having sex with their girl friends and boy friends and these in some area in the past have cause some shortage of condoms some locations. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: +233555568093
Govt to recruit additional 500 state attorneys – Godfred Dame
Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, the Minister-designate for Justice and Attorney-General, says the Ministry would collaborate with the Finance Ministry to release funds to recruit an extra 500 state attorneys if given the nod. Answering questions from members of the Appointments Committee of Parliament, during his vetting, Mr Dame said the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led Administration, in its first term, recruited 110 state attorneys, bringing the total staff to 226. However, the numbers were not sufficient to effectively perform the work of defending the state and government in court as mandated under Article 88 of the 1992 Constitution. Commenting on the conditions of service of state attorneys, Mr Dame said though government had undertaken measures to improve those conditions, it was not satisfactory as there were insufficient desks and office spaces for them to work. Mr Dame, however, said 36 vehicles were purchased by government to facilitate transportation of state attorneys while efforts were ongoing to complete the Law House to provide office spaces for them. Responding to the question of the occasional frosty relationship between the Bench and lawyers, Mr Dame said the administration of justice was critical for the proper functioning of the Ghanaian society. Therefore, it was imperative for lawyers to avoid prejudicial comments in the media space and always uphold the sanctity and integrity of the judicial process. He pledged to initiate processes towards the passage of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers Bill when given the approval. Expressing his views on the amendment of the 1992 Constitution, Mr Dame said Article 78, requiring the President to appoint majority of ministers from Parliament, needed to be amended urgently. He responded to questions on the Agyapa Gold Royalty deal, dismissal of Mr Agyenim Boateng Adjei, the CEO of Public Procurement Authority, for fraudulent procurement contracts, the award of a contract to Frontier Healthcare Service Limited to undertake Antigen Testing at the country’s Airport, and legal education in Ghana, among others. GNA Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
76 arrested in Lagos for partying in violation of COVID-19 protocols
The Police Command in Lagos State on Saturday arrested 76 people at a birthday party in Lavender Court, Jakande Close, Oniru, Victoria Island, Lagos in violation of COVID-19 protocols. The arrest is contained in a statement signed on by the command’s Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi. Adejobi said those arrested at the party included: Popoola Michael, Adeyemo Opeyemi, Ramon Salami, Kareem Akeem, Balogun Nurudeen and 71 others. “The Divisional Police Officer, Maroko Division, led his team on enforcement of COVID-19 protocols on the 12 midnight to 4 a.m curfew when he got wind of the party gathering. “This led to the arrest of the party goers at about 1 a.m on the island,” the police spokesperson said. He said that the police division also impounded more than 136 vehicles for breaking the 12 midnight to 4 a.m curfew on the island and some parts of Lekki in the recent past. “The owners of the vehicles have been charged to the Mobile Court, Oshodi and have been fined appropriately,” Adejobi said. Similarly, he said that the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Mr Hakeem Odumosu sealed up an event center at John Ogunnaike Street, Ikeja and arrested the party goers for non-compliance with COVID-19 protocols. Adejobi said that approval for the party was for 100 guests which was to be held outdoors and not indoors. “However, the party had more than 300 guests in the hall contrary to the safety commission’s approval. “The place has been sealed up and the organisers have been arrested,” he said. Vanguard Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
Jaman North Education Directorate probes false report of COVID-19 vaccination exercise
The officials of the Jaman North Education Directorate is investigating alleged reports of a COVID-19 vaccination exercise for students in that part of the Bono Region. This follows rumours of a scheduled vaccination which sparked questions from parents as some prevented their wards from going to school as a result. The Jaman North Municipal Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Education Service, Akwasi Ampofo Adjei told Citi News the reports were false. “We at the Education Directorate have not heard of any vaccine or any injections or whatsoever. In fact for the source of these speculations, as at now, we are still investigating.” He said he had also had a meeting with the Parents and Teachers Associations of some schools to calm fears. “We cleared the air and some communities called me and we made that clarification that so far as we are concerned and where we are coming from, we have not received any vaccines in the districts.” Whilst the government expects to procure vaccines it has set March for the arrival of the first batch. —citinewsroom Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
Radio losing its standard in UWR — Senior Broadcaster
Mr Ivan Domasaa, a Senior Broadcaster in the Upper West Region, has bemoaned the falling standard of radio programming in the Region. He blames it on the “laziness” on the part of some presenters to research before producing. “Radio workers we are lazy. We are making the traditional formats of radio to die. It’s because we want things in a cheap way. But if you are to do a good radio production for people to listen unless you work hard,” he said. Mr Domasaa, who was the Acting Station Coordinator for Radio Progress, said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Wa on the occasion of World Radio Day commemoration. February 13 every year is set aside by the United Nations (UN) to promote radio as a medium of communication, increase accessibility and to encourage more people to use it. This year’s commemoration was hinged on the theme: “New World New Radio”. The Senior Broadcaster, with about 24 years of experience in radio work, noted that radio was a powerful tool for communicating to people, particularly in rural areas, in the language they understood. He underscored the need for radio broadcasters to imbibe the skills of documentary and drama production. “Drama production is one way you can use to entertain people and still inform them, but drama is almost missing in our radio programming. “Documentaries and features are also some of them. If we take our time to research and gather information to produce, people will listen and enjoy it,” Mr Domasaa explained. On the impact of radio on society, he stated that it had helped to promote the culture of the people, especially preserving the language of the people in the Region through programming in their own languages. Mr Seidu Bomanjor, a Development Communicator and broadcaster with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, said unprofessionalism and deliberate negligence of media ethics had negatively affected the radio industry. He said the 1992 Constitution had created room for any individual to be a media practitioner, which had resulted to the proliferation of the radio industry with non-professionals who churned out false and half-truth to the public. “The 1992 Constitution says that there should be no censorship, and that we should hold government accountable, so all these are opportunities given to us. But whether we are living up to expectation or not is another matter. “There are people who are in radio without qualification, some too are qualified but are doing it deliberately. Mischief is part of radio today,” he observed. According to Mr Bomanjor, the public trusted radio and consumed every bit of information from it hence the need for the actors in the industry not to misinform the public. —GNA Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093