Breaking News: Parliament Approves 2021 Budget
Parliament has approved the Budget Statement and Economic Policy for the 2021 fiscal year, after heated arguments from both sides of the House. The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and leader of Government Business in Parliament, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu on Friday, March 12, 2021, presented the 2020 budget statement and highlights to Parliament, detailing the government’s programmes and policies for the year. He did that in his capacity as an Interim Minister of Finance after President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo last week assigned him that additional responsibility. Heated debate There was a heated debate between the two sides before the budget was approved Friday afternoon, March 19, 2021.yeman. After the debate on the budget ended, the Speaker put the motion to a voice vote. There was an equal loud “YES” and “No” vote to the motion. While the First Deputy Speaker, Mr Joe Osei Owusu who was presiding said the YES vote from the Majority side had it, the Minority called for a head count. There was a standstill for a while and the Speaker, Mr Alban S.K. Bagbin took over from the First Deputy Speaker to preside. The Speaker then ruled that a head count be taken. more to follow soon… Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
Achimota School is wrong to discriminate against students with dreadlocks – Education Watch
The Africa Education Watch has lashed out at the Achimota School for denying admission to two new students because they had dreadlocks. First-year students across the country resumed school Thursday, March 19, following a schedule by the government. The Father of one of the victims Raswad Nkrabea took to social media, following the incident, to express his displeasure over the matter and has indicated he would visit the GES to seek answers as to why his kids were denied admission. The Executive Director for the Africa Education Watch Kofi Asare stressed that no agency in this country has the right to deprive a child of their right to education. He indicated that “the act of Parliament says they are wrong to have refused them admission because they have discriminated against them.” Mr Asare contends that the right to education is a fundamental right. A similar incident occurred in 2016 where some mission schools including Mfatseman Girls disallowed students with dreadlocks admission. The Rastafari council subsequently threatened court action. In other parts of the continent like Malawi, a high court in 2020, ordered the government to allow Rastafarian students with dreadlocks to attend school. Efforts to secure a reaction from the school have been unsuccessful. Ghanaweb Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
‘NPP would’ve sacked Sammy Gyamfi for insulting Speaker’- Obiri Boahen.
A Deputy General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), lawyer Obiri Boahen, says the elephant family would have dealt severely with Sammy Gyamfi, the National Communication Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) if he were a member of the party. He said Sammy Gyamfi went overboard in attacking Speaker Alban Bagbin and the Minority in Parliament after Hawa Koomson, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and some other nominees were approved by the plenary. The NDC National Communication Officer, Sammy Gyamfi recently accused the party’s leadership in Parliament as well as the Speaker, Alban Bagbin of betraying the party. He specifically named Tamale South MP, Haruna Iddrisu and Asawase MP, Muntaka Mubarak, saying the duo “brazenly defied the leadership of the party and betrayed the collective good for their selfish interest.” His accusation came after the NDC MPs on Parliament’s Appointments Committee approved Defence Minister-designate, Dominic Nitiwul and later approved three other rejected Ministers-designate when they were brought before the House. Mr. Gyamfi has been slammed for his utterances with some persons asking for him to be punished. Reacting, lawyer Obiri Boahen said Sammy Gyamfi disrespected the Speaker and the Minority and would have been sanctioned by the NPP if he was a member. ”If Sammy Gyamfi was a member of the NPP, he would have been suspended or sacked from the party. If He was a member, we would have. Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
JUST IN: 8 died in Bodi accident
Eight persons have died after a sprinter bus with registration number AS 3022-15 travelling from Wa to Kumasi got involved in an accident around Bodi a community in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District in the early hours of Friday March 19 Several others also sustained injuries. The bodies of the deceased persons have been deposited at the Wa government hospital for identification and preservation. The others who survived are receiving treatment at the Sawla health Center. Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
Resign from your post – Gabby to Ministers pushing their presidential ambitions now
A leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Gabby Otchere Darko has asked appointees of President Akufo-Addo who are busily jostling their presidential ambition rather than focusing on their work to step down. He said, presently, the Akufo-Addo administration needs men and women to help deliver on its mandate. The time for internal elections hasn’t come yet, he added. In a Facebook post reacting reports of some appointees secretly campaigning for their presidential ambitions ahead of the 2024 elections, the former Executive Director of the Danquah institute said “The world is in crisis. Ghana is part of the world. Therefore, Ghana is in crisis. Which part of this, don’t you get, Mr Cabinet Member! “Governments everywhere have a big multi-task of fighting the virus, fighting economic hardships, fighting for food and jobs, fighting the debt and deficit and, here in Ghana, we are also fighting for transformation. “This is not the time to be planting for delegates and votes.” He added “If your focus, as a member of Akufo-Addo’s government, is to first fight for your own ambition and transformation, then, please, feel free to move over to move on. “Please note: NPP in power must first succeed for NPP to succeed NPP! “Build on this power we have now for your own power trip not to be tripped by your priority tripped wires. Be wise!” 3news Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
New taxes: You’re not paying Covid debt – Gabby to Ghanaians
A cousin to the President Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko has waded into the ongoing conversation surrounding the controversial new taxes captured in the 2021 budget. According to him, the government did not seek to share the burden of Covid-19 amongst the populace. He also refuted claims that Ghanaians were deceived by the free water and electricity provided last year. Government is introducing a Covid-19 levy, financial sector cleanup levy, and two others as part of measures to shore up revenue. The proposed levy will become a one percentage point increase on both the existing VAT flat rate and a National Health Insurance Scheme. Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah had earlier responded to concerns on the proposed new taxes, explaining that the burden brought about by the pandemic had to be shared by all. He said, “so we cannot escape the fact that we have to share the burden at this point in time.” But Gabby via a Facebook post said “the Government is not asking you to pay for the cost of Covid-19 last year. No! That cost led to the huge fiscal burden which we do not want repeated this year.” He noted that “the task this year is two-fold: to defeat the virus, and rebuild the economy for businesses to thrive to create jobs and put cash in the pockets of workers.” “The 2021 budget is not asking you to pay for the cost of 2020. You are being asked to help share the burden of the existing Covid-19 costs, including vaccines for over 20 million Ghanaians.” He added “Remember there is an equally important cost of reviving the economy through the cost of stimulus packages. Deceit is when a government pretends there is no cost to anything and uses your taxes not for the greater public good. As taxpayers, we must all consider ourselves as partners in bringing our national economy back to life even as Government continues to invest your money to save lives.” Starrfm Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
You’re hiding true budget deficit of 17.5% – Minority demands correction
The Minority in Parliament has accused the Akufo-Addo government of hiding the correct budget deficit for the year 2020, which, in its computation and analyses, is 17.5 per cent instead of the 11.7 per cent stated by caretaker Finance Minister Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu when he presented the budget to the legislature on Friday, 12 March 2021. The Caucus said “mismanagement and uncontrolled expenditure and sheer lack of prudence accounted for the poor performance of the economy and not just COVID-19.” In a statement, the Minority noted that “for the 2019 fiscal year, the government reported a fiscal deficit of 4.8% of GDP while at the same time, as confirmed by the IMF in their April 2020 staff report, a fiscal deficit of 7.5% of GDP.” “This means an amount of about GHS8.2billion was concealed from our expenditure framework.” “We demand that the fiscal deficit including arrears for the year 2020 be corrected in the budget statement to reflect the actual figure of 17.5% of GDP. “Fiscal deficit for the year 2020 of 13.8% of GDP, as stated by the Ministry of Finance, excludes an amount of GHS6.2 billion being what the government refers to as energy sector payments.” “We demand the inclusion of the energy sector payments of GHS6.2 billion in the fiscal tables to reflect in the corresponding fiscal deficit.” On Saturday, 13 March, Bolgatanga Central lawmaker Isaac Adongo made similar claims, insisting the deficit was more than 18 per cent. According to him, the 11.7 per cent quoted by interim Finance Minister was a cooked figure. Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu told the house in his presentation that “even though complete 2020 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data have not yet been released by the Ghana Statistical Service, provisional data for the first three quarters of 2020” showed that the “targets for most of the macroeconomic indicators are largely on track”. The Majority Leader of Parliament presented the following as the summary of the domestic macroeconomic performance for 2020: a. Average overall real GDP growth for the first three quarters of 2020 was 0.2 per cent, compared with 6.0 per cent for the same period in 2019. The projected outlook for 2020 is 0.9 per cent, reflecting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; b. Non-oil real GDP grew at an average of 0.4 per cent in the first three quarters of 2020. The projected outlook for 2020 is 1.6 per cent; c. End-period inflation was 10.4 per cent in December, 2020 compared to the revised target of 11.0 per cent; d. The overall budget deficit on cash basis was 11.7 per cent of GDP, excluding financial sector clean-up cost, against a revised target of 11.4 per cent of GDP; e. The primary balance recorded a deficit of 5.3 per cent of GDP against a target deficit of 4.6 per cent of GDP; f. Gross international reserves accumulated to US$8.6 billion, the equivalent of 4.1 months of import cover, slightly above target. However, Mr Adongo, who expressed his wish of being future Finance Minister to steer Ghana out of her economic doldrums, disputed the figures of the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs when he spoke to Eugene Bawelle on Class91.3FM’s current affairs programme ‘The Watchdog’. In the opposition lawmaker’s view, “the Ghanaian economy had very severe underlying conditions before COVID-19 arrived”, insisting that the pandemic “just exploited the severe underlying conditions of our economy and collapsed” it. “You could not be running an economy at a deficit of 7 per cent all the way up to 9-point-something per cent and come to the people of Ghana and hide this and be telling us it is 4 per cent and when you now go to the IMF to look for money, you went saying that in 2018, you did a deficit of 7 per cent, which was the first time we were hearing that Ghana had 7 per cent deficit even though on the floor [of Parliament], when we were debating those budgets, some of us raised the point that the deficit had been cooked and that it is more than that”. “Now, they agree that it was 7 per cent. Then they said in 2019, they did 7.3 per cent and then they said in 2020 they were anticipating something around 9.5 per cent and, as we speak, they reported 11.7 per cent but I can demonstrate to you that the deficit is over 18 per cent”. As far as he is concerned, the weak economic fundamentals which, according to him, were being hidden by the government, provided a fertile ground for the pandemic to sink its teeth in. “So, you can’t have an economy like that and survive COVID-19. Obviously, that is a very severe underlying condition that is tantamount to having diabetes and seriously, your economy will collapse”, he noted, stressing: “You can’t have an economy that started growing; when you inherited it, you said the economy was terrible and yet that terrible economy gave you about 7 per cent growth. It declined in 2018 to 6.3 per cent and then by 2019, you were doing 6.1 per cent and now you are doing 0.2 per cent growth”. That, he emphasised, “should tell you that you didn’t have the kind of economy you painted, yet the president tells us that he’s been growing the economy at an average of 7 per cent”. “The data available doesn’t support that. If you read the data that we submitted to the IMF, we said that in 2018, we did 6.3 per cent, 2019 we did 6.1 per cent and we are expecting to do 1.5 per cent in 2020. In fact, 2020 ends up at 0.2 per cent. So, how can you put all these together and get an average of 7 per cent? Clearly, the President was not speaking the truth to us and that is the nature of the economy we’ve been running”, Mr Adongo said. Further, Mr Adongo said the deception of the government vis-à-vis the performance of the economy, has been
Akonnor names squad for final round of Afcon qualifiers
Black Stars Head Coach C. K Akonnor has named a 29-man squad for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against South Africa and Sao Tome and Principe. The team is a mixture of home-based and others who play abroad. Coach Akonnor who has been training with home-based players in Accra for the past four weeks has settled on Nine of those players for the two crucial games. They include Gladson Awako, Joseph Esso, Ismael Ganiyu, Razak Abalora, Eric Ofori Antwi and Kwame Opoku. Black Satellites trio, Danlad Ibrahim, Philemon Baffuor and Abdul Fatawu Issahaku have also been named. In the squad are Stephen Ambrosius of Hamburger SV in Germany, Kamal Sowah of OH Leuven in Belgium, Kwasi Okyere Wriedt of Willem II in Holland, Kwame Afriyie Opoku of Colchester United, Osman Bukari of Gent and Emmanuel Gyasi of Spezia FC in Italy. Ghana will take on South Africa on March 25 in Johannesburg before engaging Sao Tome and Principe on March 29, 2021, at the Accra Sports stadium. The Black Stars sit at the top of Group C with 9 points and are in search of one of the tickets to the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon. The squad: Goalkeepers: Richard Ofori (Orlando Pirates – South Africa), Razak Abalora (Asante Kotoko – Ghana), Eric Ofori Antwi (Medeama SC – Ghana), Danlad Ibrahim (Asante Kotoko- Ghana) Full Backs: Baba Abdul Rahman (PAOK – Greece), Gideon Mensah (Vitória de Guimarães – Portugal), Benson Annan (MLK Zilina – Slovakia), Philemon Baffuor (Dreams FC – Ghana) Central Defenders: Nicholas Opoku (Amiens SC – France), Kasim Nuhu (1899 Hoffenheim – Germany), Ganiyu Ismael (Asante Kotoko – Ghana), Stephen Ambrosius (Hamburger SV – Germany) Central Midfield: Kudus Mohammed (Ajax Amsterdam – Holland), Mubarak Wakaso (Jiangsu Suning F.C – China), Afriyie Acquah (Yeni Malatyaspor – Turkey), Emmanuel Lomotey (Amiens SC – France), Iddrisu Baba (RCD Mallorca – Spain), Gladson Awako (Great Olympics -Ghana), Kwame Afriyie Poku (Colchester United – England) Left Attacking Midfield: Osman Bukari (Gent – Belgium), Joseph Esso (Dreams FC- Ghana) Right Attacking Midfield: Kamal Sowah (OH Leuven- Belgium), Fatawu Issahaku (Steadfast FC – Ghana) Attackers: Emmanuel Boateng (Dalian Professional- China), Emmanuel Gyasi (Spezia – Italy), Kwame Opoku (Asante Kotoko – Ghana), John Antwi (Pyramids FC – Egypt), Kwasi Okyere Wriedt (Willem II – Holland), Caleb Ekuban (Trabzonspor – Turkey) GFA Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093