UER: Bolgatanga is a regional capital, so we should fight to develop the stadium, UE-Regional Minister
The Upper East Regional Minister Stephen Yakubu has said, as a Regional Minister he is working closely with the Ministry for youth and sports in making sure the old park popularly known as Bolgatanga sports stadium located in Bolgatanga the regional capital is developed – Apexnewsgh.com reports The Regional Minister made the revelation during a One on One exclusive interview with Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen of Apexnewsgh-Tv on Saturday. According to him, having some of these facilities in the region can easily attract investors into the region. He said Bolgatanga being a regional capital need to fight for the place to develop. “I have taken this up already and working closely with the ministry concern, is not even only in Bolga, we have the old park in Bolga and we also have a very similar one in Bawku and these are the areas i think as a country, we have left it to rot and therefore am engaging with the powers, am talking with the Presidency to see what we can do to bring these things out. You know we are building a very good one in Navrongo, this is a regional capital so we should fight for that place to be developed. And these are some of the things when we do it, will also attract the investors to come here and invest”. A regional sports stadium has been one of the priorities for the people of the Upper East Region over the years now. In the past, most politicians from the region have gotten the opportunity to construct a world-class sports stadium for the people of the region, but unfortunately, they failed due to reasons best known to them. However, Mr. Yakubu is hopeful that his engagement with the ministry concerned will yield a good result. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
UER: Those Who Think Government Isn’t Doing Anything About Pwalugu Multi-Purpose Are Neysayers—UE REGIONAL MINISTER
The Upper East Regional Minister Stephen Yakubu has said, that the Pwalugu Multi-Purpose dam project implementation and faces are followed strictly. Therefore, those who think that the government is not going to do anything about it, are naysayers- apexnewsgh.com reports In 2019, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo cut the sod for the construction of the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam in the Talensi District in the Upper East Region. The $993 million projects which is being financed solely by the government, has been on the drawing board since the early 1960s, and the sod-cutting ceremony was thus considered historic. But, it appears that since after the sod cutting, some citizens in the region were not happy with the level of work progress, leading to their conclusion that the government isn’t going to do anything about the multi-purpose dam. Meanwhile, according to the Regional Minister Mr. Yakubu, those thinking otherwise about the project are naysayers. He spoke to Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen of Apexnews Gh. “I can tell you that the implementation, the faces are been followed strictly. Even last week, they came and brief me in my office. We want to do it right, we don’t want to have any problems because we have had dams before and therefore we are building on that. So, the problems we had in the earlier dams we constructed, we want to make sure that this time we get it right. So, I can tell you that they are doing what they need to do. Currently, they came and went to the Talensi area engaging those they are going to resettle and therefore, those who think that the government is not going to do anything about it, they are naysayers and they will see this dam constructed and it will be constructed. As a Regional Minister, am knocking on the doors of the President and the President is very committed to it, the government is very committed to it and we will see it through and the beneficiaries will be Upper East Region”. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
$170m JD: It’s ‘stupidity’ to blame me – Agyarko fumes; says Ghana better off than paying $7.2bn in excess charges
Former Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko has said “it is an act of ignorance and stupidity” for anyone to hold him responsible for the $170 million judgment debt slapped on the government of Ghana by a Commercial Court in London for unlawful termination of a power purchase agreement with independent power producer Ghana Power Generation Company (GCGP). “When a cabinet decides on a matter, how does it become the personal decision of the individual who has to do the representation of cabinet?” Mr Ayarko asked. “To think like that means you are not even fit to participate in governance”, Mr Agyarko said on Accra-based Citi FM. “A cabinet takes a decision based on a report produced by a technical committee and the sector minister is asked to go and implement the report then you say that it is the sector minister’s personal liability?” he wondered. The former minister noted: “when I was in office, some people tried to get me to vary the report as approved by cabinet and my position was clear that if you are a sector minister and cabinet approves, it does not lie within your remit to alter the decision by cabinet”. “So, it amazes me that some people can stick their mouth and say that because I was minister, I should be personally charged with the responsibility of that liability. It is ludic”, he said. Mr Agyarko, however, believes Ghana is better off with the $170 million judgment debt. “We have paid almost over $1 billion for excess capacity. The review committee estimated that the contract, as they were, if they were allowed to stand, the country will be paying at the end of the 13th year, $7.2 billion in excess capacity charges”. “Now, if the country is going to be saddled with $7.2 billion for excess capacity, we needed to rethink. In the PPA review, what it said was that if we could get the termination and the management of all the excess capacity, the liability that we will be faced with is about $600 million out of pocket.” “Now, $600 million in year one compared to $7.2 billion, now even if you do the next present value calculation and bring the $7.2 billion into a one-year payment, we are still better off”. “I don’t understand why the people whose time these excess capacity contracts were signed now have the guts and the audacity to accuse people who are trying to manage the mess they created”. Meanwhile, Pru East MP Kwabena Donkor, who was the Minister of Power in the erstwhile Mahama administration and signed the power purchase agreement with GPGC, which was later cancelled by the Akufo-Addo administration leading to a $170-million judgment debt, has said he is ready to face a probe by the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service as hinted at by Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame. Mr Dame had said the previous administration is to blame for the $170-million judgment debt slapped on the country by a London commercial court regarding the 2018 unlawful termination of the PPA. He, thus, intends lodging a formal complaint with the CID to probe the deal, which was signed between the two parties in the Mahama administration, since, according to him, a report by a committee constituted in September 2016 revealed that the agreement had issues and consequently resulted in excessive power supply. “The fact, as borne out by the PPA committee’s report, was that the agreement, together with other agreements, had resulted in such excessive power supply to the state”, he told Accra-based Joy FM, adding: “The state was going to lose $586m per annum and a cumulative cost of about $7.6billion dollars between 2013 and 2018.” “So, I think that when it comes to financial loss, it is so clear in my mind that the responsibility lies clearly with those who entered into the agreement”, he noted. The basic point, he said, “is that the entry into this transaction was unnecessary”. “The entry into this transaction was what resulted in financial loss to the state.” He revealed: “I, on account of all of this, am going to write a formal complaint requesting an enquiry by the CID into the conduct of the public officers who acted in the manner which resulted in the signing of an agreement which resulted in financial loss to the state.” “I think that first and foremost, the entry into the agreement itself was wrong”, he asserted. “There was no justification because their own committee determined that the agreement was going to result in excessive power.” “The committee set up by the NDC in 2016 – against the background of a recognition that there were so many PPAs entered into by the NDC administration, and, therefore, those agreements were going to result in excessive capacity development, as it was termed – came to a conclusion that this agreement had to be terminated. The committee singled out this particular agreement for termination”, he stressed. Responding to the AG’s comments, Dr Donkor, who superintended the contract in 2015, said government’s work is a continuum and, so, “if today, another attorney general, who the London court said had slept on the job, suddenly thinks he can divert attention by recommending investigations by the CID, it is his right”. “They can always conduct investigations but the truth always stands out”, he told Valentina Ofori-Afriyie on Class91.3FM’s mid-day news 12Live on Wednesday, 23 June 2021. “This particular agreement”, he noted, “had the shortest duration of four years and it was the only one that did not require any financial security from the Ghanaian state”. “It was signed in July 2015. I exited public office in December 2016. I signed it going through the appropriate processes. It went to cabinet, it came to parliament; you can refer from the Hansard and find out whether there was any argument from their side on the floor of parliament”, he argued. Concerning the AG’s claim that a committee recommended the termination of the deal
We had to yank him off; he pulled a gun on my men – Kan-Dapaah justifies Opare-Addo’s violent removal
The immediate past Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator, DCOP Ayensu Opare-Addo (rtd), had to be forced out of his previous office by operatives of National Security because he did not want to go when his appointment was terminated, Minister of National Security Albert Kan-Dapaah has said. Mr Kan-Dapaah told parliament on Wednesday, 23 June 2021 that his office had to resort to yanking DCOP Opare-Addo out of office after he resisted several attempts to get him to leave voluntarily. DCOP Opare-Addo was relieved of his duties on claims of non-performance and alleged criminality. Speaking to the issue on the floor of parliament, Mr Kan-Dapaah said: “The reasons for the termination of the appointment were clearly spelt out in the letter of termination”. “We do not think it is appropriate to say publicly what the reasons were but DCOP Opare-Addo will admit that the reasons for the termination were made known to him.” According to Mr Kan-Dapaah, DCOP Opare-Addo got violent when the operatives attempted talking him into voluntarily exiting office. “On arrival at his office, the personnel duly introduced themselves but were met with acts of hostility by DCOP Opare-Addo, including drawing his side gun”, he revealed. “The personnel managed to restrain him and retrieved the side gun,” Mr Kan-Dapaah said. He also expressed scepticism about claims by DCOP Opare-Addo that he was assaulted by the National Security operatives. “Till date, no official complaint has been made by DCOP Opare-Addo, either to his immediate boss, the National Security Coordinator, or to me, as the sector minister, regarding the alleged assault on him”. “Neither has the Ministry of National Security received any correspondence from the Police in relation to the allegation by DCOP Opare-Addo”. If any such complaints are lodged, Mr Kan-Dapaah said his office is ever ready to investigate them. —classfm Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Nabdam: The sad story of a 9-year old disabled girl who crawls over 2km to school daily
Unlike some disabled children who would give up education and rather sit by road sides to beg for alms, nine-year-old Agnes Mba from Dasabligo in the Upper East Region believes she can be a great person in future through education despite her condition. Agnes crawls on her knees to school over 2 kilometers daily through a rough road and back. Agnes Mba is a class one pupil at Dasabligo Primary School in the Nabdam District. She is unable to stand on her feet nor walk. She lost the effective use of his lower limbs at the age of 3 months. Because of her condition, she did not enroll in school early. Agnes therefore crawls on her knees to school on daily basis. She would sometimes have to support herself with both hands to crawl to school and back home. She crawls for a minimum of 2km daily in pursuit of education. Whenever it rains or there is hot sunshine, it becomes a double tragedy for Agnes. Her mother would have to carry her on her back to school. Agnes’ father Abanberinga Mba explained that “When she was growing up, she had difficulty in looking straight at an object. Her neck was still not strong. After some years, there was improvement on her neck and eyes but she could not walk. We tried local treatments to no avail. We visited the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital but we were referred to a bones specialist at Bawku. But we couldn’t go because we knew we cannot even pay for any service. So that’s how come she is in this condition.” Agnes, despite her condition still helps her mother in her house chores. She believes that looking unhappy would not change her situation and for that matter is always seen smiling while studying her books. Even in school she plays with her colleagues and would always set off to go home when there is no hope of a bicycle to carry her home. AGNES MBA Madam Christiana Azuyema is the class one teacher of the School and she tells us how active and participatory Agnes is in class. “Agnes is good in class. She is always happy whenever her colleagues are writing something on the board. She always wants to also do so. She always plays with her colleagues in class. Her problem is how to come to school. So we would be happy if any assistance is given to her,” Madam Christiana Azuyema pleaded. According to the family, the Nabdam District Assembly supported them with a tricycle a year ago but it is nonfunctional at the moment. For now, Agnes would have to continue to crawl to school until any assistance comes her way. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Peter Agengre (contributor) Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093