Power crisis not nationwide; no need for national timetable – Energy Ministry
The Ministry of Energy has challenged claims by the Minority that the country is experiencing a nationwide power crisis. The Minority at a press conference on Wednesday asked the Energy Ministry to publish a nationwide power rationing timetable for Ghanaians. According to former Power Minister, John Jinapor, the actions of President Akufo-Addo and his government have led to the return of the current power challenges. However, reacting to the call, the Energy Ministry said there is no need for such a timetable because the power challenge is not being experienced across the country. “For the record, there has been no nationwide load shedding in the country, neither has there been an attempt to embark on one because there is no need to. Some of the projects ongoing in Accra and Kasoa, for example, will require outages for some days. The Pokuase timetable is out, starting from May 10 to May 17th, 2021. That of Kasoa is yet to be published and shall be released at the appropriate time when the necessary arrangements and consultations with the relevant stakeholders have taken place.” “The only reason these outages are being carried is to allow for the contractors to tie in their works into the existing transmission lines. It is therefore false to claim, as the Minority in Parliament has, that political pressure has been brought to bear on the publishing of a load shedding timetable,” the statement noted. Below are other details noted by the Energy Ministry Feeder outages in Kumasi arising from low water levels in the Bui Dam enclave. Bui is a peaking plant for transmission services to Ashanti, Bono regions, and the Northern parts of Ghana. Bui is crucial, in that it is able to energise the low voltages in power being supplied from the south into Ashanti and the north). Prestea-Obuasi Transmission line trips, leading to a total system shutdown (the line that tripped affected other adjacent lines. This curtailed supply and caused a system shutdown). Gas flow challenges upstream — arising from challenges in the WAPCo supply line. Gas Compressor faults reported by Ghana Gas. Localised outages within the distribution chain Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Don’t take feminism to your marital homes – Ursula urges women
Gender activist and Minister for Communications and Digitalization Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has appealed to feminists not to extend their hardline activism on feminism to their marital homes. “You need to compartmentalize your life. You can’t be driving in 5th gear all the time and trying to change the world. You need to step back and think that there are different roles you play in life and you should play all of them equally well so you need to have balance in your life, You can’t take you women’s right and activism into your home when you need to be a woman, your man’s woman,” she told Nana Aba Anamoah on Starr Chat Wednesday. She stressed: “He didn’t marry a profession, he married a woman he wants to hang out with so you need to balance that and meet those needs as well. It also helps you in your own life because without that you tip unto the being the unnatural person”. On LGBT, the lawmaker has advised the LGBT Community in Ghana to keep their sexuality private as Ghanaians cannot be compelled to accept the practice. “Adults can do whatever they like in the privacy of their homes but should not force their sexual preferences down anyone’s throat. Just keep your sexuality private. The lawmaker said young people especially in secondary schools explore many things in trying to explore their sexuality. “You’re exploring your sexuality, so you do all kinds of silly things growing up. Thank God there were no social media when we were growing up to leave a permanent record of some of the crazy things we did”. She however noted she will continue to advocate for the rights of the LGBT Community. “I will continue to fight for their rights to education, job, healthcare, and others”. starrfm Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Corruption fight under ‘state capture’; Sam Jonah was right – Martin Amidu
Former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu has said Sir Sam Jonah’s recent reflections about corruption and other ills of Ghana were spot on. In an article responding to the Attorney General’s recent nomination of Mr Kissi Agyebeng as Special Prosecutor, Mr Amidu said: “I read Sir Sam Jonah’s exposé on impunity, corruption, and other “isms” militating against the fight against corruption in government and the economy before reading the series of propaganda publications by Asaase Radio on its preferred and proposed new Special Prosecutor”. “No impartial observer can disagree with Sir Sam Jonah’s reflections except beneficiaries of the system who loot from the public purse. The fight against corruption in Ghana has been and is still in State Capture. Mark my words!” What Sam Jonah said about corruption In a 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: “It has been said that the enclave that houses the lands commission, lands evaluation and title deeds registry is arguably the most corrupt enclave in the world”, noting: “It cannot be good for investment”. “But corruption pervades all aspects of our governance system”, he said, saying: “A few years ago, a prominent member of parliament said publicly that parliamentarians take bribes to pass bills that favour their sponsors”. “Ladies and gentlemen, if a fish comes out from water to tell us that the crocodile has one eye, who are we to doubt it? Incidentally, the said MP is now the Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Alban Bagbin”. In his view, “our governments pay lip service to anti-corruption but do little substantially to cure the canker”. “Which of the major corruption issues has been conclusively dealt with since the fourth Republic began?” he asked. “There have been major corruption scandals and none has been conclusively dealt with”, he noted, noting: “I could give you a long list of unsolved corruption cases but there is no need to bore you with something you are all so familiar with”. “As a friend of mine will say, ‘the problem with corruption is not the absence of laws, but the certainty of punishment’. Sadly, there is rather certainty that corrupt people especially in high places will never face punishment”. “And this has bred impunity in those who would rather take it all for themselves through dubious means than serve the common good”. “We cannot go anywhere if this situation continues. No country can develop without dealing decisively with corruption”. Read Mr Amidu’s full statement below: DO NOT DEFAME MARTIN AMIDU IN THE PROPAGANDA TO NOMINATE A NEW SPECIAL PROSECUTOR Anybody deeply knowledgeable about the Agyapa Royalties Transaction Corruption Risk Assessment report which resulted in my eventual resignation as the first Special Prosecutor knows that one of the beneficiaries of the Agyapa Royalties Transaction is Africa Legal Associates whose contract to participate in the transaction was found to be contrary to the Public Procurement Act and tainted by bid-rigging. Until 20th March 2020 Agyapa Royalties Limited was incorporated as Asaase Royalties Limited on 5th November 2019 in Jersey, the United Kingdom. Anybody who cares to know, knows that the alter ego of Africa Legal Associates is a cousin of the President who also established Asaase Radio which began official transmission on 14th June 2020. The Agyapa Royalties Transaction records show the role the President’s cousin who established Africa Legal Associates, and Asaase Radio played with White & Case LLP, of London, one of the foreign law firms in the suspected corruption transaction. It must, therefore, be worrying to any patriotic Ghanaian not afraid of the culture of silence to see Asaase Radio undertaking political propaganda beginning on 25th April 2021 to 26th April 2021 to prepare the minds of the Ghanaian and international public to accept the surrogate of the alter ego of the Asaase Radio station and Africa Legal Associates as the Special Prosecutor as mandated under section 4(1) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2018 (Act 959). In the attempt of persons implicated in the Agyapa Royalties Transaction corruption assessment report to pressurize the President to appoint their surrogate as the Special Prosecutor to safeguard their interests, the online reportage of Asaase Radio resorted to direct fabrications, lies, and omissions against me in its narration of the reasons for my resignation. The post on the Asaase Radio online website by one Wilberforce Asare states in respect of my resignation that: “His [Martin Amidu] reasons for resigning were roundly criticized by civil society actors, who maintained that the law offered him enough protection to stay in office and perform his duties without interference and that there was no clear evidence of any executive interference that should have triggered his resignation.” Asaase Radio and its alter ego did not have the courage to point out one civil society actor who expressed the fabrication it was putting out to the public to aid the appointment of its new surrogate and preferred “Agyapa” Special Prosecutor. Asaase Radio also shamefully pretended not to have read my rejoinder giving further and better particulars on my resignation dated 26th November 2020 to the Secretary to the President’s supposed reply to my resignation letter which we now know by experience that the President might not have instructed to be written at all. My functions or my judgment and decision as the Special Prosecutor to resign my office under Act 959 was not subject to the supervision or judgment of civil society actors let alone those of them who secretly attend Government policy making meetings as I had occasion to pointed out in writing previously. In exercise of brazen impunity, Asaase Radio reported online a matter which never featured in my resignation for pure political propaganda to facilitate and enhance the status of its surrogate “Agyapa” Special Prosecutor even before the President could indicate his acceptance of the nominee and forward a request to Parliament. What has the nomination
I wait to see how independently, impartially ‘Agyapa’ SP’ll handle corruption cases – Amidu
Former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu has indicated his eagerness to see how Mr Kissi Agyebeng, who has been nominated by the Attorney General to replace him, will independently and impartially handle corruption cases in the country. Describing the corruption fight as being “in state capture”, Mr Amidu noted that the Akufo-Addo government under which he served in its first term, took “undue interest” in his office. In an article responding to the Attorney General’s recent nomination of Mr Kissi Agyebeng, Mr Amidu said: “Asaase Radio and the nominator of the proposed new Special Prosecutor know or ought to have known the extent of the involvement of their surrogate as a lawyer for suspects in pending suspected corruption cases in which the Government showed an undue interest in the Office of the Special Prosecutor which I await to see how independently and impartially those cases will be handled to conclusion should the President submit the name of the nominee to Parliament, he is approved, and then appointed”. He continued: “I read Sir Sam Jonah’s exposé on impunity, corruption, and other “isms” militating against the fight against corruption in government and the economy before reading the series of propaganda publications by Asaase Radio on its preferred and proposed new Special Prosecutor”. “No impartial observer can disagree with Sir Sam Jonah’s reflections except beneficiaries of the system who loot from the public purse. The fight against corruption in Ghana has been and is still in State Capture. Mark my words!” Read Mr Amidu’s full statement below: DO NOT DEFAME MARTIN AMIDU IN THE PROPAGANDA TO NOMINATE A NEW SPECIAL PROSECUTOR: BY MARTIN A. B. K. AMIDU Anybody deeply knowledgeable about the Agyapa Royalties Transaction Corruption Risk Assessment report which resulted in my eventual resignation as the first Special Prosecutor knows that one of the beneficiaries of the Agyapa Royalties Transaction is Africa Legal Associates whose contract to participate in the transaction was found to be contrary to the Public Procurement Act and tainted by bid rigging. Until 20th March 2020 Agyapa Royalties Limited was incorporated as Asaase Royalties Limited on 5th November 2019 in Jersey, the United Kingdom. Anybody who cares to know, knows that the alter ego of Africa Legal Associates is a cousin of the President who also established Asaase Radio which began official transmission on 14th June 2020. The Agyapa Royalties Transaction records show the role the President’s cousin who established Africa Legal Associates, and Asaase Radio played with White & Case LLP, of London, one of the foreign law firms in the suspected corruption transaction. It must, therefore, be worrying to any patriotic Ghanaian not afraid of the culture of silence to see Asaase Radio undertaking political propaganda beginning on 25th April 2021 to 26th April 2021 to prepare the minds of the Ghanaian and international public to accept the surrogate of the alter ego of the Asaase Radio station and Africa Legal Associates as the Special Prosecutor as mandated under section 4(1) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2018 (Act 959). In the attempt of persons implicated in the Agyapa Royalties Transaction corruption assessment report to pressurize the President to appoint their surrogate as the Special Prosecutor to safeguard their interests, the online reportage of Asaase Radio resorted to direct fabrications, lies, and omissions against me in its narration of the reasons for my resignation. The post on the Asaase Radio online website by one Wilberforce Asare states in respect of my resignation that: “His [Martin Amidu] reasons for resigning were roundly criticized by civil society actors, who maintained that the law offered him enough protection to stay in office and perform his duties without interference and that there was no clear evidence of any executive interference that should have triggered his resignation.” Asaase Radio and its alter ego did not have the courage to point out one civil society actor who expressed the fabrication it was putting out to the public to aid the appointment of its new surrogate and preferred “Agyapa” Special Prosecutor. Asaase Radio also shamefully pretended not to have read my rejoinder giving further and better particulars on my resignation dated 26th November 2020 to the Secretary to the President’s supposed reply to my resignation letter which we now know by experience that the President might not have instructed to be written at all. My functions or my judgment and decision as the Special Prosecutor to resign my office under Act 959 was not subject to the supervision or judgment of civil society actors let alone those of them who secretly attend Government policy making meetings as I had occasion to pointed out in writing previously. In exercise of brazen impunity, Asaase Radio reported online a matter which never featured in my resignation for pure political propaganda to facilitate and enhance the status of its surrogate “Agyapa” Special Prosecutor even before the President could indicate his acceptance of the nominee and forward a request to Parliament. What has the nomination of a Special Prosecutor by the Attorney General which was awaiting the pleasure of the President got to do with the reportage by Asaase Radio that: “Mr. Amidu, a veteran member of the opposition National Democratic Congress, who rose to become vice presidential candidate and Attorney General, fell out with the Mills administration over what he described as a matter of principle over alleged executive connivance in dubious multi-million dollar judgment debt.”? Didn’t the President know these facts when he invited me and convinced me to accept to be the first Special Prosecutor? Was the President expecting me to close my eyes to corruption in his Government when he personally sought my acceptance and transmitted my nomination to Parliament? Did I, as a public officer, continue to be a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) upon my nomination and subsequent appointment as the Special Prosecutor? Was my supposed disaffection with NDC the reason for the President referring the alleged Airbus bribery case to me for investigation? Asaase Radio appears to
Muslim MPs engage Methodist Church to resolve no-Ramadan-fast impasse at Wesley Girls’ SHS
The Muslim Caucus in Parliament has met the leadership of the Methodist Church to resolve an issue in which a Muslim student enrolled at Wesley Girls’ SHS was restrained by the school authorities from observing the Ramadan fast. An angry father, Ishmael Zakaria Alhassan, on Monday, 26 April 2021, stormed the school in Cape Coast to withdraw his daughter, Bushira Ishmael because she and other Muslim students were not permitted to observe the Ramadan fast. Prior to the engagement between the school and the Muslim Caucus, there have been reports of students in second-cycle institutions being denied the opportunity to pray and wear the hijab on campus. The delegation of Muslim parliamentarians, led by Asawase MP Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, who is also the Minority Chief Whip, also included Collins Dauda, Hassan Tampuli and Habib Iddrisu. Some leaders from the Muslim community were also present. Notable among them were representatives from office of National Chief Imam, Mallam Awal Shuaib; Ahlus Sunnah Waljamaa, Sheik Salman Mohammed Alhassan, the Executive Director of Baraka Policy Institute (BPI) Dr Haruna Zagoon Sayeed, Supt. Imam Hussein Abdul-Rahim of the Ghana Police Service, Islamic Affairs; and Secretary to the Muslim Caucus in Parliament Alhaji Inusah. The Muslim delegateion engaged the Methodist team, which was led by Most Rev. Dr Paul Kwabena Boafo, to discuss the issue. Most Rev. Dr Boafo, who doubles as the Chairman of the Wesley Girls’ Senior High School Board, indicated that there will be a meeting in the coming days to amicably resolve the problem “His Eminence the Presiding Bishop assured that the board of the school, of which he is the Chairman, will be meeting to discuss the issue and the concerns of the delegation and others will be graciously taken on board to amicably resolve the problem”, a statement issued by Mr Mubarak said. “The church pledged to keep the delegation informed on the specific decision taken at the meeting regarding the resolution of the issue at stake,” the statement noted. The Muslim Cuacus in Parliament, therefore, entreated “all Muslims to exercise self-restraint, as we are taught in the month of Ramadan, on the matter, and allow the able leadership of the Methodist Church to deal with the case in consultation with all relevant stakeholders”. PRESS RELEASE ON THE WESLEY GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL MUSLIM STUDENTS FASTING CRISIS The Muslim Caucus in Parliament wishes to show solidarity with the Muslim Ummah and the good people of Ghana who have expressed their concerns over the decision of Wesley Girls school management to disallow Muslim girls from observing the Ramadan fast. In this regard a delegation of Muslim MPs and some leaders from the Muslim community met with the leadership of the Methodist Church to discuss the issue with the objective of resolving the problem amicably. The Muslim delegation led by Hon. Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, MP for Asawase and Minority Chief Whip of Parliament of Ghana included Hon. Collins Dauda, Hon Hassan Tampuli, and Hon. Habib Iddrisu, representing the two political parties in parliament. The others were representatives; from office of National Chief Imam, Mallam Awal Shuaib, Ahlus Sunnah Waljamaa, Sheik Salman Mohammed Alhassan, the Executive Director of Baraka Policy Institute (BPI) Dr Haruna Zagoon Sayeed, Supt Imam Hussein Abdul-Rahim of Ghana Police Service Islamic Affairs and Secretary to the Muslim Caucus in Parliament Alhaji Inusah. The Methodist team was led by the national leader, the Presiding Bishop, Most Rev. Dr. Paul Kwabena Boafo. After very frank and cordial discussions on the issue, the Church assured the Muslim delegation of their commitment to resolve the issue within a couple of days In Shaa Allah. His Eminence the Presiding Bishop assured that the board of the school, of which he is the Chairman, will be meeting to discuss the issue and the concerns of the delegation and others will be graciously taken on board to amicably resolve the problem. The church pledged to keep the delegation informed on the specific decision taken at the meeting regarding the resolution of the issue at stake. I It is based on this and other related interventions that the Muslim Caucus in Parliament wishes to ask all Muslims to exercise self-restraint, as we are taught in the Month of Ramadan, on the matter and to allow the able leadership of the Methodist Church to deal with the case in consultation with all relevant stakeholders. The Muslim caucus and Muslim community leaders would like to thank the leadership of the Methodist Church led by the Presiding Bishop, Most Rev. Dr. Paul Kwabena Boafo for the warm reception accorded the team and the assurances given that the issue will be resolved amicably to reflect the usual inclusiveness of Methodist education in Ghana. God bless us and God bless our homeland Ghana. Hon. Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka (MP) FOR: Muslim Caucus in Parliament Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093