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
There’s no culture of silence since the days of Adu Boahen — Adom-Otchere jabs Sam Jonah
Host of the Good Evening Ghana show on Metro TV, Paul Adom-Otchere has rubbished Sir Sam Jonah’s claim that the culture of silence is back under the Akufo-Addo’s government. He said there’s no culture of silence since the days of Adu Boahen. According to him, Ghana has been progressing steadily in a constitutional development and everybody can speak their minds. “Where’s the culture of silence? Culture of silence is a brutal situation; one that you grant an interview in ‘House B’ and ran away to ‘House A’ because as soon as the interview is published, there’s a problem. That’s culture of silence. There’s absolutely no culture of silence. There’s no culture of silence since the days of Adu Boahen. Ghana has been progressing steadily in a constitutional development and everybody can speak,” he said in an editorial on his show on Tuesday, 27 April 2021. In a recent speech to Rotarians in Accra titled ‘Down the up escalator – Reflections on Ghana’s future by a senior citizen’, the executive chairman of Jonah Capital, an equity fund based in Johannesburg, South Africa, said: “In the past, when all had failed, academia was the last vanguard”. “We all remember the role that the Legon Observer played”, he said, adding: “Under the hallowed cloak of academic freedom, men and women of conscience could write and speak words that penetrated the halls of power”. However, he noted: “It appears to me that in recent times in our fourth Republican dispensation, the courage to stand up for the truth and the determination to uphold the common good are lost. In our dark moments as a nation, it is concerning that the voices of the intellectuals are receding into oblivion”. “Sadly, it is a consequence of the deep partisan polarisation of our country such that everything is seen through the lenses of politics”, noting: “It appears to me that the culture of silence has returned. This time, not enforced by legal and military power but through convenience, parochialism, hypocrisy and lack of conviction”. “Where are our Adu Boahens and PAV ANSAHs?” he asked. However, Mr Adom-Otchere said: “The culture of silence, I don’t agree with, there’s no culture of silence”, adding: “There’s a culture of silence but he’s speaking, other people are writing and these days, social media has become very brutal, Twitter is brutal”. “You can’t call that a culture of silence”, he insisted. “With the greatest of respect”, he said: “You cannot call what is happening in Ghana today a culture of silence”. “Who is not able to speak?” he asked, citing as an example: “Even when the president was concerned about a documentary that had been created to indicate that he was in support of some violence, what did the president do? He sued at the National Media Commission where nobody gets punished, nobody goes to prison, nothing happens to anybody; people are just asked to apologise”. He stressed: “The president of the republic, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, was concerned about a publication, he sued at the National Communication Authority. Is that a culture of silence where he’ll file a writ at the National Media Commission and complain that this journalists has done this story against me, ‘NMC, take a look it’? That is not the atmosphere of culture of silence”. So, Mr Adom-Otchere noted, “I’m not so sure of the culture of silence”. “So, I wasn’t surprised when I saw a headline, I didn’t quite read it, I saw a headline where [former President] Kufuor was asking Sam Jonah about where the culture of silence was”. “There’s absolutely no culture of silence”’, Mr Adom-Otchere emphasised ad nauseum, noting: “He [Sam Jonah] says it is creeping back, he actually says it has returned and here we disagree with him, there’s no culture of silence”. “Go to Twitter and see if there’s a culture of silence. Pick up a newspaper tomorrow and see if there’s a culture of silence. Listen to the radio in the afternoon. These days, they’ve developed these political afternoon shows – all of them start from 2 o’clock – listen to them and see if there’s a culture of silence”, he challenged. He said a culture of silence is nothing to be spoken about lightly. In his view, “if there’s concern about the number of voices speaking for Person A and Person B, you can say that but to say there’s a culture of silence in Ghana is absolutely wrong”. Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Akufo-Addo grabs Sierra Leone’s highest national award
President Akufo-Addo, was decorated with the highest national award of Sierra Leone, as part of that country’s 60th Independence Day Celebration on Tuesday, April 27, 2021. Conferring the “Grand Commander of the Republic of Sierra Leone” award on President Akufo-Addo, His Excellency Julius Maada Bio, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, noted that the award of the honour is in recognition of President Akufo-Addo’s selfless contribution to “deepening democracy and the rule of law in Ghana, and heightening and providing leadership for regional integration and co-operation in Africa.” The Honour is also in recognition of President Akufo-Addo’s “outstanding career of public service”, citing several landmark constitutional cases he undertook which has protected the independence of the judiciary and guaranteed the rights of Ghanaian citizens. “A bold advocate of multiparty democracy, he challenged despotism and has since worked to deepen democratic culture and practice in Ghana. His vision of ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ is predicated on the notion that with a structured economy, investments in education and infrastructure, African economies can gradually, but confidently, relinquish the era of aid reliance,” the citation said. It continued, “An unapologetic multilateralist, President Akufo-Addo is a firm believer in African political and economic integration and socio-economic development. This award also recognizes the immense contribution of the Republic of Ghana to the restoration of peace and democracy in Sierra Leone In his remarks, President Akufo-Addo congratulated the Government and people of Sierra Leone on the 60th-anniversary celebration, stressing that “if there is any country in West Africa that has shown resilience and the will to persevere, in the face of numerous challenges and obstacles, there is no better example than Sierra Leone, and this is worthy of commendation.” “Building a New Sierra Leone Together”, the theme for this celebration, the President stressed, imposes a sacred responsibility on Sierra Leoneans to contribute their quota to the construction of a happy and prosperous Sierra Leone, as well as deepen their sense of cohesion. “So, whether you are Mende, Temne, Limba, Loko, Fula, Mandingo, Krio, Susu, Kissi or Kru, I appeal to you to look beyond where you come from. You must deepen the cohesion amongst you, and promote a spirit of reconciliation for the sake of your beloved country, its progress and prosperity. You are Sierra Leoneans, first and foremost, and I urge you to wear that accolade with pride,” he added. As Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Governments of ECOWAS, President Akufo-Addo urged “all of us in the community to work towards the day when all of us will look to doing business, first in West Africa and Africa, before looking to Europe, Asia or the Americas, because we have the men and women, the goods, the services and the quality.” Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Ex-Gen Sec of GNAT denied blowing teachers’ GHS400,000 provident cash
The immediate past General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Mr David Ofori Acheampong, has denied embezzling some GHS400,000 of teachers’ tier-3 (provident fund) contribution. His denial follows a petition by the National Council of GNAT for accountability with regard to the tier-3 fund of the teachers started by Mr Acheampong in 2019. The petition, dated 6 April 2021 and signed by the National President of GNAT, said, among other things, said: “Indeed, the attempt to change the GNAT Provident Fund Scheme to Teachers Provident Fund Scheme, to escape good corporate governance practices and accountability to the people, will be resisted with all our might available to us”. The petitioners said Mr Acheampong announced on Accra-based Peace FM “to the whole country that GNAT used a whopping amount of GHS400,000 to educate members across the country to join the fund”. It added: “Indeed, the meetings, membership education, GNAT facilities and all legal fees, were paid for with GNAT membership dues. In effect, over GHS400,000 of GNAT funds was used to establish the funds”. However, Mr Acheampong told Kwame Appiah Kubi on Accra100.5FM’s morning show Ghana Yensom on Wednesday, 28 April 2021 that the amount of money paid to start the fund was GHS45,000. He, thus, wondered where the GHS400,000 was coming from. According to him, all the money paid into the fund passed through the appropriate trustees, adding that he had absolute no control over it. Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Akufo-Addo deploys 200 soldiers to stop galamsey in water bodies
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has authorised the Ghana Armed Forces to commence an operation to remove all persons and logistics involved in mining from the country’s water bodies. The operation commenced today, Wednesday, 28 April 2021 on the River Pra in the Central Region. Two hundred officers of the Ghana Armed Forces are involved in the operations. The Ministry of Defense and the Ghana Armed Forces are expected to provide a detailed briefing of developments on the operation on Friday, 30 April 2021. These were contained in a statement from the Information Ministry signed by sector minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah. Below is the full statement: In furtherance of the resolutions of the final communiqué, of the Stakeholder Dialogue on Small Scale Mining on April 14 -15, 2021 and to ensure that mining within water bodies is immediately stopped; the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has authorised the Ghana Armed Forces, to commence an operation, to remove all persons and logistics involved in mining from Ghana’s water bodies. The operation commenced at 0600 hours on Wednesday, April 28th, 2021 on the River Pra in the Central and Western regions of Ghana. Two Hundred (200) officers of the Ghana Armed Forces are involved in the operation. The Ministry of Defence and the Ghana Armed forces will provide a detailed brief of developments and sustainability efforts at 1200 hours on Friday 30th April 2021. Classfm 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