President of Haiti Jovenal Moise ‘is assassinated by gunmen in nighttime raid on his home’
The President of Haiti Jovenel Moise has been assassinated in a nighttime raid on his private residence in the hills above Port-au-Prince, according to the prime minister. A group of ‘foreigners’, some of whom spoke English and Spanish, broke into Mr Moise’s home at around 1am on Wednesday, PM Claude Joseph said in a statement. The 53-year-old was shot dead and the First Lady Martine, 47, was also injured in the attack, Mr Joseph wrote as he condemned the ‘hateful, inhumane and barbaric act.’ Mr Joseph said he had taken charge of the country and the police and armed forces were taking ‘all measures to guarantee the continuity of the State and protect the Nation.’ It comes after Mr Moise claimed police had foiled an assassination plot in February amid massive protests in the country over claims the president was acting like a dictator and refusing to hold elections. The President of Haiti Jovenel Moise, 53, (pictured at the UN in New York in 2018) has been shot dead during a raid on the presidential palace, according to the prime minister’s office President Jovenel Moise, 53, and First Lady Martine, 47. The First Lady was also wounded in the assassination, according to the PM’s statement A group of gunmen, some of whom allegedly spoke in Spanish, broke into Mr Moise’s home at around 1am on Wednesday, according to a statement from Prime Minister Claude Joseph. He said that Haiti remained under the control of the police and armed forces and ‘all measures are taken to guarantee the continuity of the State and protect the Nation.’ US-based Haitian singer-songwriter Wyclef Jean tweeted about the assassination on Wednesday morning In response, the former auto parts dealer had 23 people arrested who he said were behind the plot including a top judge and a police officer. ‘There was an attempt on my life,’ Mr Moise said in a national address at the time. ‘I thank my head of security at the palace. The goal of these people was to make an attempt on my life. That plan was aborted.’ Hundreds had been rioting in the capital at the time to demand that Mr Moise step down and hold elections. Opponents argue that the president, who took power in 2017, should have stepped down on February 7 after failing to hold elections the previous year as his term was ending. Mr Moise claimed his five-year term should have ended in 2022 – the United States and the United Nations had called for a free and transparent election to be held by the end of 2021. In an interview last year, Mr Moise defended himself against allegations of corruption and denied that he was turning the country in a dictatorship. ‘We’re trying to find a solution to this crisis. I’m not the first president to rule by decree. And I’m confident that the answer is around the corner; then the legislature will be put in place to play its role,’ he told The Telegraph. Mr Moise had also faced accusations of financial impropriety and power-grabbing by limiting powers for auditing government contracts and creating an intelligence agency that only answers to the president. Swathes of the population deemed his rule illegitimate, and he churned through a series of seven prime ministers in four years. Most recently, Mr Joseph was supposed to be replaced this week after only three months in the post. A protestor moves from the fire during a demonstration on February 14, 2021 in Port-au-Prince Haitians demonstrate during a protest to denounce the draft constitutional referendum carried by the President Jovenel Moise People stage a demonstration demanding that President Jovenel Moise to give his resignation in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti on February 14, 2021 In addition to presidential, legislative and local elections, Haiti was due to have a constitutional referendum in September after it was twice postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Supported by Mr Moise, the text of the constitutional reform, aimed at strengthening the executive branch, has been overwhelmingly rejected by the opposition and many civil society organisations. Under the terms of the current constitution, written after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1987, ‘any popular consultation aimed at modifying the Constitution by referendum is formally prohibited.’ Critics had also claimed it was impossible to organise a poll, given the general insecurity in the country. +7 Mr Moise and his wife Martine meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican in 2016 Kidnappings for ransom have surged in recent months reflecting the growing influence of armed gangs and a general lawlessness. The Caribbean island has suffered poverty and political instability for decades and has struggled to rebuild in the wake of a devastating earthquake in 2010 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Haiti gained independence from colonial France after an uprising by slaves in 1804. However, democracy has never truly taken root in the republic which only held its first free and fair elections in 1990. President Jovenal Moise battled deadly riots as he oversaw massive inflation, food and fuel shortages as he clung onto power Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has been rocked by violent protests in recent years against President Jovenal Moise. In 2019, he faced fury over fuel and food shortages as well as a steep currency devaluation and corruption allegations. At least 17 people were killed and hundreds were injured in the riots. The anger rumbled on into the following year as Moise refused to hold elections, claiming that his five-year presidential term wasn’t due to run out until 2022 after he took power in 2017. Haiti has struggled to achieve political stability since a popular uprising in 1986 ended 28 years of dynastic dictatorship by Francois ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier and his son Jean-Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier. The last few decades have been marked by coups, unrest and foreign interventions. Only two presidents have managed to serve their entire term. Successive governments have failed to spark real development in the island nation that has to regularly contend with deadly natural disasters
CDD boss fumes over salaries for First and Second ladies
The recommendation was made by a five-member committee which was set up in June 2019 by President Akufo-Addo to make recommendations to him and to Parliament on the salaries and allowances payable, and the facilities and privileges available to article 71 officeholders. Commenting on the development, the CDD boss said: “The Constitution does not require or compel a President or Vice President to have a spouse; bachelors and bachelorettes are welcome. “If Government wants to pay First and/or Second Spouses from the public fisc, it must introduce a Bill to that effect. The clear import of Articles 108 and 178 of the Constitution is that Parliament cannot, on its own accord, initiate or approve payment of any such emoluments (which would necessarily be paid from public funds) without a bill to that effect emanating from and introduced by the Government and duly passed into law. “The political class cannot use the Article 71 process to smuggle in salaries or allowances for First and Second Spouses”. The committee also recommended an increment in the salaries of article 71 office holders. Below are details of the statement by Professor Kwesi Prempeh The mandate of an Article 71 Emoluments Committee is limited to recommending the salaries and other benefits and privileges of those office holders specified in Article 71, sections (1) and (2). That list of office holders is exhaustive. The Article 71 Emoluments Committee has no authority to recommend payment of any allowance or emolument to First or Second Spouses, as these are not Article 71 offices or office holders. And, of course, the Constitution does not require or compel a President or Vice President to have a spouse; bachelors and bachelorettes are welcome. If Government wants to pay First and/or Second Spouses from the public fisc, it must introduce a Bill to that effect. The clear import of Articles 108 and 178 of the Constitution is that Parliament cannot, on its own accord, initiate or approve payment of any such emoluments (which would necessarily be paid from public funds) without a bill to that effect emanating from and introduced by the Government and duly passed into law. The political class cannot use the Article 71 process to smuggle in salaries or allowances for First and Second Spouses. If that’s what they want done, they must get the Government to introduce a Bill to that effect, and thereby allow and ensure public participation in the legislative debate on this matter. Anyway, why stop at First and Second Spouses? Why not the Third Spouse (since the Speaker gets to act as President sometimes) or the Fourth (so the Chief Justice, too, can enjoy some marital privileges on the back of taxpayers), and on and on and on. And while we are at it, shall we also subject First and Second Spouses to the asset declaration law? Indeed, when we place First and Second Spouses on the public payroll, we, essentially, convert their roles into “public offices” as that term is understood under Article 295. Is that the idea? —Starrfm Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Parliament approved allowances for Presidential spouses – Oppong Nkrumah
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, does not approve salaries and benefits for the Executive and, by extension, for the First Lady and wife of the Vice-President, the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said. He has, therefore, described as misleading, information making the rounds that President Akufo-Addo had given approval for Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Mrs Samira Bawumia to receive the same salaries as Cabinet ministers. While confirming that there had been an increment in allowances for the spouses of the President and the Vice-President, Mr Oppong Nkrumah emphasised that that was an approval given by the Seventh Parliament. “The President does approve salaries and benefits for the Executive. Under Article 71, the First Lady and Second Lady are not office holders so no one can determine their benefits under that article. “However, a committee only recommended that an arrangement for the spouses be made formal and that received approval from Parliament,” he indicated. Precedent Mr Oppong Nkrumah explained that an arrangement that was introduced by former President John Agyekum Kufuor during the start of his Presidency in 2000 had seen spouses of Presidents and Vice Presidents, since then, enjoy allowances, though there was no formal documentation to support that. The allowances given the two ladies of the executive were considered as part of the privileges of the President and Vice President. “President Kufuor, in his wisdom, instituted this because of the bad situations of some spouses of some former Heads of States then. Presidents Mills and Mahama even increased the rates of these benefits during their time. “The truth of the matter is that all surviving spouses of Heads of State, current and former, have always received salaries. Lordina Mahama, Naadu Mills, Matilda Amissah-Arthur, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, Faustina Acheampong, Fulera Liman etc have all been receiving salaries since President Kufuor’s time. “What has happened now is that the arrangement has been made formal but that was done legally based on the recommendation by the Emoluments Committee,” the Information Minister emphasised. Recommendation, approval Mr Oppong Nkrumah further said the Emoluments Committee, set up in 2019 and chaired by Professor Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu, as part of its recommendations, proposed that the allowances given to the spouses of the President and Vice President be formally included in the review of the entitlements for the executive. “That recommendation was then forwarded to the Seventh Parliament which then gave the approval and it is now to be implemented. It is, therefore, not true as it is being circulated that the President has approved of emoluments to the First Lady and Second Lady,” he stressed. The Emolument Committee The five-member committee was set up in June 2019 by President Akufo-Addo to make recommendations to him and to Parliament on the salaries and allowances payable, and the facilities and privileges available to article 71 office holders. Under the chairmanship of Prof. Ntiamoa-Baidu and which also had former Majority Leader and former Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Abraham Ossei Aidooh, the Chief Executive of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, Dr Edward Kwapong, the current Director-General of the Internal Audit Agency, Dr Eric Oduro Osae, and a former Managing Director, Donewell Life Insurance Co. Ltd, Mrs Stella Segbawu, the committee had two terms of reference. They were charged to make recommendations in respect of emoluments and other privileges for article 71 office holders, as specified under the Constitution; and also to examine any other relevant matter which the Committee deemed appropriate to its work. Similar committee, set up in the past, were at various points chaired by Prof. Miranda Greenstreet, Mrs Mary Chinery-Hesse, Mr Ishmael Yamson, Prof. Marian Ewurama Addy, and Prof. Francisca Edu-Buandoh. In inaugurating the Ntiamoa-Baidu Committee, President Akufo-Addo, then, urged them to bring to the table the work and include in their deliberations, the work and recommendations of those previous committees to be able to establish consistencies —Graphic Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Zongo-Asante youth clash: 5 busted, 3 charged for rioting
Five suspects were on Tuesday, 7 July 2021 arrested by the Ashanti regional Police command over the violent clashes that occurred between the Asante youth and the Zongo youth at Ntonso in the Kwabre East Municipality. The Regional Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Godwin Ahianyo said the suspects were screened and three of them have been charged for rioting with weapons. The suspects are Ernest Boakye, a driver’s mate, 22; Kojo Manu, a diver’s mate, 23; and Nankama Eshaw, a barber, 22. He said the other two persons have been cautioned and granted police inquiry bail. He said the three suspects will be arraigned soon. ASP Ahianyo said the security team are still patrolling the area. It is recalled that some Zongo youth and the Asante youth clashed at a drinking spot called “No Size pub” on Sunday, 4 July 2021. The melee resurfaced on Monday morning [5 July 2021] resulting in violent clashes causing injuries to about six people and damage to properties. The Kwabre East Municipal Security Council has, thus, closed down three drinking spots at Ntonso which have been causing violent clashes in the community. The drinking spots include No Size pub, Sandy’s pub, and Koyobeda drinking spot. The council has also directed other drinking spots in the community to close at 8:00 p.m. —classfm Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
NPP suspends 6 constituency executives; refers them to a disciplinary committee
Six(6) Executives of the New Patriotic Party(NPP)in the Hemang Lower Denkyira Constituency in the Central region have been suspended and referred to the Disciplinary Committee of the party. The affected persons include the Constituency Secretary Mr Isaac Obeng Antwarko, his assistant Nana Kwaku Abban, First Vice Chairman Yahaya Issah, Communications Director Mr. Kofi Osei Adu, Deputy Nasara Coordinator Dauda Issah and Constituency Youth Organiser Richard Ofori-Quartey. In a letter signed by the Constituency Chairman Timothy Terry Tweneboah and sighted by MyNewsGh.com communicating the suspension, he said “members resolved in a decisive vote of eleven (11) in favor; two (2) against and two (2) abstentions to refer you to the Regional Disciplinary Committee for further hearing and necessary actions” It added “The following allegations were leveled against you: 1. You have openly declared to fight against the fortunes of the sitting MP, daring to bring him down as captured in a circulated audio involving you and a party member on all social media networks across the constituency. 3. You have been organizing meetings that are not sanctioned by the Constituency Chairman with the object of looking for potential polling station executives in the upcoming elections at the polling station level. One of these meetings occurred at Jukwa Krobo. 4. In the process of looking for potential rival polling station executives, you have been creating discord and factionalism among parry members in the constituency. 5. Your actions have brought the name of the party into disrepute or public ridicule as captured under article 7 (I)(g) of the Party’s constitution While you are referred to the Regional Disciplinary Committee, you may hand over all party properties with you to the Constituency Chairman pending the final determination of the matter” —MyNewsGh Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093