I’m the first person who will suffer huge casualties, if we go to opposition–Kennedy Agyapong
“NPP people should listen to me. Well, if we go to opposition, I’m the first person who will suffer huge casualties, therefore I’m not going to sit down for anybody to make a mistake to send the party to opposition. Don’t think that I’ll remain silent, I will definitely talk after all the ministers are appointed and approved by Parliament. If the NPP like, let them repeat the same mistakes and see if they can control me. No, no, no, they can’t, if they do. So their fixation on power at this early stage of Akufo Addo’s second term must be shelved. MP for Assin Central, Ken Agyapong has cautioned The Assin Central Member of Parliament, Ken Agyapong who was very furious told Oman FM in an interview monitored by Apexnewsgh.com condemned growing tension building up by supporters of Alan Kyerematen the trade minister, and Vice-President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia over who succeeds President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo just after the general election, stressing that if the campaign continues between supporters of the two, it will send the party to opposition. “It is too early to start jostling for who’ll succeed President Akufo Addo when he’s even yet to form his government for the second term. We should learn from our past mistakes and stop disintegrating the party with our ambitions, it will not help the party.” However, the General Secretary of the governing NPP, John Boadu said the party will not tolerate the testing of waters now by party bigwigs who have ambitions of leading the party as Flagbgearer into the 2024 Presidential election. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
NDC letter to EC says they obtained 47%, as they requested for their refund of Parliamentary and Presidential filing fee
The Opposition National Democratic Congress has confirmed in a letter written to the Electoral Commission requesting for a refunds that, they got a total of 47.396 percent valid votes in the 2020 election. After the 2020 election the National Democratic Congress (NDC) were not in agreement with the EC result declaration. Which saw a series of Demonstrations across the country. However, Supreme Court is yet to declare its verdict tomorrow March 4, 2021 after some series court challenge by the NDC. But surprisingly, Apexnewsgh.com has captured letter dated 29-2-2021 requesting for the refund of Parliamentary and Presidential filing fee for the 2020 general elections. And in this letter, the NDC made it clear that they got a total of 47 percent valid votes in the 2020 election. Below is the letter: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
‘Criticise us as violently as you can but for Christ’s sake, don’t insult us’ – SC Justices to media
The Judiciary has said it is willing and happy to be criticised but not maligned and insulted. Speaking at a joint press conference organised by the Judiciary, the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA), National Media Commission and the Ghana Bar Association in Accra on Wednesday, 3 March 2021, a Supreme Court Judge, Justice Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi, appealed to the media not to speak hatred of the Justices although they can freely be criticised. “His Lordship has said I should tell you that as trustees of the people’s power of justice, we are willing and happy to be criticised. Criticise us as violently as you can but for Christ’s sake, don’t insult us, don’t berate us, don’t speak hatred, don’t malign us. Don’t because like yourselves and the work that you do and the heart that you bring to bear on it, it’s a similar responsibility, it’s a similar consciousness with which judges embrace their work,” Justice Kulendi noted. The comment of the Justices comes after the media called the bluff of the Judiciary in a statement. The GJA had described as “obnoxious” and “threats to media freedom”, a warning issued by the Judicial Service through its lawyers Sory@Law, that it will take appropriate actions against media houses who fail to delete certain comments its clients – Justices of the Supreme Court – find hateful and vengeful of their work vis-à-vis the election petition hearing. The Judicial Service, in a letter to the media houses which, according to it, had published “hateful, spiteful, vengeful and incendiary” comments about the Justices of the Supreme Court, ordered the media platforms to “pull or cause to be pulled down and cleared from your platforms”, all such statements and speeches. The Judicial Service also demanded that those media houses, as well as all others, “prevent the publication of such statements and speeches on your platforms”, and “forthwith, exercise the highest level of discernment, discretion and responsibility insofar as the publication of statements and speeches regarding the administration of justice is concerned”. Responding to the letter a press conference on Monday, 1 March 2021, GJA President Affail Monney said: “If not reversed immediately, the ill-advised, ill-timed, ill-crafted and ill-issued statement by the Judiciary can provoke a tsunamic backlash, lower the dignity of the court in the eyes of freedom lovers and critical citizens, pollute the media environment, undermine our impressive media rankings globally and dim the beacon of our democracy”. Read the GJA’s full statement below: STATEMENT BY GJA PRESIDENT, AFFAIL MONNEY, AT A PRESS CONFERENCE HELD AT THE GHANA INTERNATIONAL PRESS CENTRE ON MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2021, IN REACTION TO THREATS AGAINST THE MEDIA BY THE JUDICIAL SERVICE Good morning, members of the GJA National Executive, our distinguished, ladies and gentlemen. A special welcome to senior members and veterans of our profession who have joined us at the Ghana International Press Centre, the citadel of press freedom and free expression as well as a bastion of our democracy. This hurriedly convened press conference has been triggered by a statement by the Judicial Service in which it ordered the media to “immediately pull down” from their platforms “statements and speeches which convey, and/or insinuate hateful, spiteful, vengeful, incendiary communication against justices of the Supreme Court, especially, those hearing the election petition. Furthermore, the media must prevent the publication of such statements and speeches”. The Judicial Service then threatened to take, what it called, “appropriate action to ensure that the media do not abuse the right to free speech.” Ladies and gentlemen of the media. The GJA is, to put it mildly, dumbstruck in reading this obnoxious directive pregnant with insidious threats to media freedom in Ghana which is touted as a land of freedom and justice. With all due respect, this is scandalous. Unsurprisingly, our telephones have been flooded with calls, both local and international, from journalists, media watch organisations, defenders of press freedom and free expression, seeking to know what exactly was happening since that contentious statement by the Judicial Service was issued. It is universally acknowledged that media right is not absolute, but qualified. And legal experts teach us that such qualification must chime with the dictates of the law, due process, and must be exercised in such ways as to achieve legitimate aims and objectives. In crafting the scandalous statement, the GJA is principally of the view that the Judicial Service ought to have avoided any impression or situation that has the tendency to instill fear and promote a culture of silence into which Ghana had been enveloped during the period of autocratic misrule. Criticism, they say, is a gift which all arms of government need. So it will be miscarriage of fairness to deny the Judiciary that gift. Ann Landers once said “the naked truth is better than a well-dressed lie”. Contextually, the naked truth is that the Judicial is not immune to criticism. However, that criticism must be done in a manner that does not bring the administration of justice into disrepute. To this end, the GJA urges the media community to be calm, and not to be led into temptation to scandalise the court with unhinged comments or verbal stones, no matter how provocative the statement of the Judicial Service might be. The GJA will like to remind its members that far from acting on the basis of any threat or intimidation to “immediately pull down” from their platforms as requested, the media should rather act in the spirit of the GJA Code of Ethics that says: “A journalist corrects inaccuracies and mistakes at the earliest opportunity and offers a chance for a rejoinder and/or an apology as appropriate”. It is lodged in our memory that the Judiciary has the power to commit any erring journalist or media house for contempt, using, of course, acceptable protocols, and appropriate mechanisms. What they should not consider at all in this context is any unprecedented or antiquated method which smacks of censorship, intimidation or resuscitation of the culture of silence which can spell unthinkable socio-political consequences. The GJA is
“Truly the words were quite offensive, i am sorry–Rev Eastwood Anaba
The proud son Upper East Region Reverend Eastwood Anaba of the Eastwood Anaba Ministries has rendered an apology following his earlier pronouncement about dog eaters. In a viral video that got the attention of Frafrans and their in-laws, a well-respected man of God Rev. Eastwood Anaba of Eastwood Anaba Ministries was capture in a short videotape castigating people who eat dog meat as their delicacy. But unfortunately, his pronouncement did not go well to some Northern personalities and especially the people of Frafra land and their in-laws, because to them dog meat is not forbidding. This was exactly what he said “Christian you get up and go town and their selling dog meat, you go and buy, they are selling donkey meat…look at the way you look? Look at everyone who eats dog meat and look at their character whether you see difference between dog and pig and a human being. I am yet to see somebody who eats public dog and donkey meat who looks correct. Look at their stomach, look at their waist, look at the way they walk, look at the way they reason, look at the way they think”. He said, after watching the videotape himself, he realized that he went overboard and shouldn’t have said what he said. He admitted wrongdoing as he apologizes to his Northern people for his offensive words. Adding that the last thing he would do is to do anything to hurt the Upper East Region, Upper West, Northern Region of Ghana. Below is his full apology monitored by Apexnewsgh.com “When you realized that your brother had something against you, leave that gift and go and make peace with your brother then after that, you come and offer your gift. A few weeks ago, I was preaching I can’t remember the exact time and I mentioned about dog eating and people who eat dog and so on and for me, I just preached a message and that was it and I went home to sleep. But yesterday, my attention was drawn to the fact that some people are really offended by the statement I made. I looked at the tape myself and truly the words were quite offensive. It was like taking a bombed to go and kill something, and later looking at it, I could have said whatever i wanted to say without using those strong words and I know there some of you in the church who are even sitting here, who am sure you patronize that product”. “Some body say what is the product? If you don’t know then don’t know, is better you don’t know the product hehehe but there are some of you here who patronize the product, it could offend you anyway. For any of you who is offended, I am sorry i didn’t intend to offend anybody, I didn’t intend to insult anybody. The last thing i would do is to do anything to hurt Upper East Region, Upper West, Northern Region of Ghana. I have lived all my life for the North. There is a philosophy i have and i tell my friends, I am a Christian first, I am a Northern man second. Sometime, my Ghanaianiness, you have to try harder to see am a Ghanaian. But to see I come from the North, am a Frafra man, am a Nabdam and I carry it with a lot of pride and dignity and I love my people”. “I came here when I was 12 with my parents. I lived here, I left to school when i studied my Pharmacy i came back home. When I was 26 years, I finished school and came and i have been here since 26, corona came, I have been here, I haven’t gone to even Tamale for about a year. The last thing i would like to do, is to hurt the people for whose sake i have lived all my life. I have told you; I don’t want Accra, I don’t want to stay in Kumasi, I don’t want to stay in London, all i want to do, is to stay in Bolgatanga and do what God has called me to do”. “Now, those statement i made about the dog and things like that, is not my belief about my people. If you want me to describe my people, the people from the North, i would describe them in three words. They are some of the most beautiful people you can ever meet. When you looked in this room, all you see is the eradiation of beauty. I am standing in front of a camera and there is light all over the place, but when i look here, the beauty is not the light am seeing, the beauty is your faces that are radiating with that kind of innocent”. “When you stay in a place like this in Upper East Region and you are working and working and pushing and forcing and those of our brother who are in other parts of the world in the southern Ghana and in abroad around the nations of the world, all they are doing is to see how can we transform the land that is so far away from everywhere else. Is a collective efforts we are taking and i would be the last person to derail the efforts.” “I want you to open your eyes, forget about that tape of 2 minutes, my belief about my people, is that they are beautiful people. You see the beautiful women, you see the beautiful men even with the men, i would not qualify them with handsome, I would qualify them with beauty”. “No: 1 OUR BEAUTY 2: OUR BRAVERY, if you want to buy courage, I can encourage you to come to Bolga market, you will buy bravery, you will buy courage because even children carry it. You see the labour, you see them toiled. Bravery of our people, they way they fight, go to the army they
No Ministerial Nominees Rejected- Deputy Speaker
Chairman of Parliament’s Appointments Committee Joseph Osei-Owusu, has refuted claims by Minority members of the Committee that three nominees of the President for ministerial roles have been rejected by the committee. According to him, the Appointments Committee has no power to be rejecting anybody, saying theirs is to make a recommendation to the House to either accept or reject the approval. “There is nothing which is going on here that is final. If we understand that, I think it will influence our decision.” Mr Osei-Owusu refuted the allegations prior to the Appointments Committee’s hearing on some Regional Ministers Designate, at the Parliament House, in Accra. The hearing was for vetting nominees of President Akufo-Addo as Ministers of some political administrative regions. Besides, there were claims in the media that 13 members of the Minority on Parliament’s Appointment Committee had voted against the approval of three of the President’s ministerial nominees. The report also suggested the Minority members had caused the deferment of a decision on five of the nominees as well. According to Mr Osei-Owusu, when the committee met on Monday, March 1, 2021, none of the issues published in the media was discussed; and so he was surprised to hear of the Minority’s claim of rejecting three of the President’s ministerial nominees. He urged the Minority members of the Appointments Committee to stay away from making public pronouncements which go to undermine the integrity of the committee. He bemoaned the attitude of such members who purport to be speaking for the committee, but which the committee had not asked them to, saying they should not make the Minority’s position as the decision of the committee, which has not taken such decision. “If you go out to say a person said something, but the video shows clearly he did not say the things you alleged he said. And you purport to be speaking for the committee, which has not asked. Minority Leader and Ranking Member of the Appointments Committee Haruna iddrisu, in a statement before the start of the committee’s hearing, indicated that the Appointment Committee had collectively taken some decisions. He said the Chairman was expected to forward to members some clarifications on concerns raised by the Minority on nominees such as Mavis Hawa Koomson, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah among others. He said the Minority, in relation to the nominees, was demanding better and further particulars on the role they played while in public life. He said the committee was guided by article 94 of the 1992 Constitution in its decision that it takes on the nominees subject to satisfactory responses from them. GNA Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
Domelevo: Akufo-Addo’s gov’t made silly habit of not letting sleeping dogs lie – Amoah
Dr Lloyd Amoah of the University of Ghana has criticized the Akufo-Addo administration over the tension between the Board of the Audit Service and the Auditor General, Mr Daniel Domelevo This comes after the board said in a three-page letter addressed to Mr. Domelevo on Tuesday March 2, just a day before he resumes work after proceeding on compulsorily leave, that he was due for retirement on June 1, 2020. In providing details to its claim, the Audit Service Board said in a letter dated 26th February 2021 that, “Records at the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) completed and signed by you indicate your date of birth as 1st June 1960 when you joined the scheme on 1st October 1978. “The records show that you stated your tribe as Togolese and a non-Ghanaian. That your home town is Agbatofe.” “On 25th October 1992, you completed and signed a SSNIT Change of Beneficiary Nomination form, stating your nationality as a Ghanaian and your home town as Ada in the Greater Accra Region. “The date of birth on your Ghanaian passport number A45800, issued on 28th February 1996 is 1st June 1961. That place of birth is stated as Kumasi, Ashanti Region,” the correspondence stated. The Board said Mr. Domelevo’s reference to a Parish Priest and provision of his contact for further verification of his date of birth is not admissible. “Observation of your responses and explanations contained in your above reference letter make your date of birth and Ghanaian nationality even more doubtful and clearly establishes that you have made false statements contrary to law.” The Board consequently insisted that Mr. Domelevo was due for compulsory retirement on June 1, 2020, and was in fact not a Ghanaian but a Togolese. “Records made available to the Board indicate that your date of retirement was 1st June 2020 and as far as the Audit Service is concerned you are deemed to have retired,” it noted. In a Facebook post, a livid Dr Amoah who is the Director of the Centre for Asian Studies-University of Ghanasaid “This administration has made a silly habit of not letting sleeping dogs lie : PUB and now Domelovo. YOOOO!!” In another post on the same matter, he said “It was such foolery that claimed that Nkrumah was Ivorian. We are back to SQUARE ONE. PAY ATTENTION.” Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) Professor H Kwesi Prempeh also described the action of the Board of the Audit Service against the Auditor General Mr Daniel Domelevo as autocratic pettiness. Prof Prempeh commenting on a Facebook post by Dr Lloyd Amoah said “Just heard this: Dude was forced out on leave as a Ghanaian, only to return as a Togolese due for retirement. The height of autocratic pettiness.” 3news.com Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
Parliament To Roll Out Plan For Vaccination Soon
Parliament on Tuesday resumed for business from a three-week shutdown over upsurge for Covid-19 cases, and would soon announce a rollout plan of vaccination for Members and Staff of the House. The House on February 10, 2021 closed down after results of a screening test for the disease by the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in the House showed that 17 Members of Parliament (MPs) and 151 Staff and ancillary workers were infected with the virus. Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament adjourned the House until March 2, 2021, while the premises were disinfected and sanitized. The Speaker then asked the members and staff to comply with the strict COVID-19 protocols and regulations during the shutdown period and those not tested to get tested for the virus in two weeks. Directing the shutdown, Speaker Bagbin asked that by the end of the three weeks, the Appointments Committee of the House, which was yet to begin vetting President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s ministerial nominees should have finished and submitted their reports on the vetting to the House. Welcoming the MPs and Staff to resume full sitting, the Speaker announced that a retesting he directed just before the House re-opened, and done by the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in which 550 MPs and Staff took part showed 12 testing positive, representing 2 per cent. The Speaker directed that all MPs that had not done the re-testing to do so and urged the House and Staff to adhere strictly to the COVID-19 safety protocols. He said: “Let us wear our nose masks religiously. “Let us wash our hands at the least opportunity we get while in the House “Let sanitizers be our companions, wherever we find ourselves and maintain social distancing as much as possible.” Speaker Bagbin assured the House and the nation that Parliament would not just adhere to COVID-19 protocols, but also would adopt proactive measures that would ensure the safety of the House and all who were required to engage with Parliament in furtherance of the development of the country. The Speaker sadly announced the death of Mr Robert Apodolla, a former Deputy Clerk of Parliament, on Friday, February 19, 2021, during the break, at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. The House thereafter observed a minute’s silence in memory of the late Apodolla. GNA Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
I Won’t Take Covid-19 Vaccine With Journalists Today – Manasseh Azure Writes
Last night, I received an invitation from an executive of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to come for the Covid-19 vaccination today at the Ghana International Press Centre. I asked further questions and I was told that 800 doses of the vaccine provided to Ghana through the Covax initiative have been allocated to journalists. I was excited about the opportunity. I have never bought into the wild conspiracy theories. I have been looking forward to the opportunity to get vaccinated. And here was one! On second thought, however, I decided to decline the invitation so I communicated it to the GJA executive and gave my reason. I’m relatively young and do not have any known underlying health condition. I know many active or retired journalists are old. I also know journalists who are young but have underlying health conditions that make them more susceptible to the vagaries of Covid-19. With the limited doses available, I don’t think it is right to go and get the jab while those who need it more than I may not have the opportunity. Ghana has a population of about 30 million. We took delivery of 600,000 doses from the Covax arrangement. And if each person is to get two doses of the vaccine, then it means we will cover 300,000 people. (I stand to be corrected). I’m eager to get this vaccine to protect myself, my family, and those I come into contact with. But I know there are many people out there–in this case, many journalists–who need it more than I. I’ll wait. Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093