Cracks in NPP Navrongo deepen over diverted funds for delegates
Fresh trouble is brewing in the Navrongo Central Constituency of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) barely a week after a delegates’ conference aimed at reuniting the party members was held. Constituency executives are being accused of diverting cash meant for delegates transportation after the annual conference. According to Dailymailgh.com sources, the executives acted against the instructions of the Upper East Regional chairman, Anthony Namoo, by withholding monies which had been allocated to cater for the transportation of delegates who attended the conference from across the constituency. The said money had partly come from a GHC5,000 donation from the Vice President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, to the constituency in support of the conference held on Tuesday, August 24, 2021. Sources said right after the conference, the constituency executives selected some electoral areas which they distributed food and monies to, but withheld monies which had been allocated for delegates from the Vunania, Pungu central, north and south electoral areas. Dailymailgh.com sources further said there were also instances where some delegates from the Manyoro and Nogsenia electoral areas were denied their stipends. The development resulted in a near-misunderstanding between the constituency and electoral area executives as tangible reasons could not be given for the unfair treatment. The delegates were told the order was from the constituency chairman, Anthony Mensah. “When we finished the conference, it was announced that the electoral area executives should move to the party office for our lorry fare. So, our people too from the Pungu south electoral area made up of Punguyoro and Yitognia, also went there to collect the food and money but when they entered the office, they were told by the one in charge of the money called Caesar that our chairman said he should not give the Pungu south electoral area the lorry fare. “My electoral area executives were not happy, so they asked what the problem was but the constituency executives said it was a decision and that we had to wait for the chairman to come. So, we waited but we didn’t hear anything and so we went in again to ask for the money but still we were not given. We were rather given food which we refused to collect and left the office. Other areas like the north, central and Vunania didn’t also get their monies. Those who got were given half ,” a delegate confided in Dailymailgh.com. Reasons for the exclusion of the electoral areas could not be ascertained by Dailymailgh. The displeased delegates, however, intimated that their strong affiliation to the former Member of Parliament for the area, Joseph Kofi Adda, could have warranted the unjust and unfair treatment. They revealed that delegates from the affected electoral areas where Adda won overwhelmingly during the primaries have become targets of the constituency executive body who continue to treat them unfairly. The delegates said the actions of the executive body could throw the already disunited party further into turmoil and jeopardise efforts by the national and regional arms to mend the cracks in the constituency if not investigated. “We have very good reason to believe that our strong affiliation to the former MP Kofi Adda is why the executives treat us this way. The thing is that Tangoba scored very poorly in the parliamentary primaries in those electoral areas. Kofi Adda won massively and so since then the executives have been treating us badly because they supported the woman,” a delegate said. In a related development, there have been calls to both the regional and constituency executives by some members of the New Patriotic Party in Navrongo central for the immediate addition of all projects executed by Mr. Joseph Kofi Adda to the constituency party report. According to the sympathizers of the party, the call has become necessary following a detected deliberate attempt by the executive body during the delegates conference to hide the achievements of the former MP. The sympathizers said the contributions of Adda to the growth of the party at the national, regional and constituency levels cannot be underscored, hence there was the need for the party to accord him reverence and make his contributions and projects public. At the delegates conference held last week, a misunderstanding almost ensued at the event grounds when the constituency report was read giving much highlight to the interventions of Tangoba Abayage without a mention for the projects and contributions of Mr. Joseph Kofi Adda. Sympathizers of the party said it was deliberate. Party members at the conference, including Mr. Adda himself and the Regional party chairman, Anthony Namoo, punched holes in the report and called for it to be properly put together to include the projects Mr. Adda executed while in office as MP. —Daily Mail GH Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: +2335555568093
African Games 2023: Akufo-Addo cuts sod for $145 million Borteyman sports complex
The President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has cut the sod for the commencement of work for the construction of the one hundred- and forty-five-million-dollar ($145 million) sports complex at Borteyman, in the Greater Accra Region, which will be used for the 2023 African Games. The Complex will be fitted with a one thousand (1,000) seater competition swimming pool, that is a 10-lane competition swimming pool; an 8-lane warm-up swimming pool; a one thousand (1,000) seater multi-purpose sports hall for basketball, badminton, boxing, table tennis and weightlifting; and a five-hundred-seater (500) temporary dome for handball, volleyball, judo, karate and taekwondo. The rest are a five (5) tennis court complex, including a one thousand-seater (1000) centre court; a 6-lane warm-up athletics track; one FIFA standard football training field; and a 6-kilometre single lane road, and a 3-kilometre double lane road. Speaking at the ceremony on Tuesday, 31st August 2021, at Borteyman, President Akufo-Addo stated that, since the inception of the African Games in 1965, Ghana has never won a bid to host the games. “It is in light of this that I instructed the Ministry of Youth and Sports, on 8th May 2018, to prepare, bid and win the hosting rights of the 13th African Games. At the meeting of the African Union’s Specialized Technical Committee on Youth, Culture and Sports in Algiers, capital of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, on Thursday, 25th October 2018, our bid was endorsed, and Ghana was officially declared host of the 13th edition of the Games. COVID-19 notwithstanding, I am confident that Ghana will organize the best ever African Games in history,” he said. With Government determined to bring back the glory days of Ghanaian sports, in athletics, boxing, football and table tennis, the President explained that “the provision of the requisite infrastructure, to this end, is critical if our nation is to regain its pride of place in sports on the continent and in the world”. The President continued, “Hosting the 13th African Games will afford Ghana the opportunity to address capacity deficiencies, by providing the relevant human resource capacity to run and manage sports in Ghana. Most importantly, this will give us state-of-the-art sporting facilities, that will support the development of sports”. He also announced that the 2023 African Games will be a very special landmark games in the annals of the African Games, as it will, for the first time, serve as the qualifiers for the participation of African countries in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. With the onset of COVID-19 delaying the start of the Project by a year, President Akufo-Addo explained that Government has decided to act on a proposal from the Ministry of Youth and Sports to adopt a hybrid system of facility development, where upgrade existing infrastructure in Accra, to supplement new ones to be built here in Borteyman for the Games. He stated that the initial plan of Government was to construct all the sports facilities for the African Games on this 100-acre plot of land, released to the Ministry of Youth and Sports by the University of Ghana. The project was to comprise a fifty thousand (50,000) capacity Olympic Stadium Complex for the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as for the athletic and football competitions. However, the period lost due to COVID-19 has made it impossible to construct the Olympic Stadium Complex in time for the African Games in 2023. “In place of the Olympic Stadium Complex here at Borteyman, the University of Ghana Sports Stadium, which was abandoned during the eight years of NDC rule from 2009 to 2017, will be upgraded to international standards for some events for the African Games. I say a big thank you to the acting Vice Chancellor and management of the University of Ghana for this opportunity,” he said. Following the completion of the games, he stated that the tendency of sporting infrastructure becoming ‘white elephants’ is high, stressing further that these facilities eventually deteriorate, either due to lack of maintenance or underutilisation. “That is why the model we have adopted for this Games is a framework of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the University of Ghana and the University for Development Studies, to be involved in managing and maintaining the facilities to ensure sustainability and continuity,” he added. These, the President said, “for us, are the best legacies for the games to justify the total investment of one hundred and ninety-five million dollars ($195 million), and ensure sustainability well into the future. The initial phase of the development here, in Borteyman, is one hundred and forty-five million dollars ($145 million).” He expressed the gratitude of Government and people of Ghana to the African Union for honouring Ghana with the right to host and organise the 13th African Games in 2023. “I assure the African Union that Ghana is ready, willing and able to host the most successful and most memorable of African Games. I also thank all Members of Parliament for seeing the hosting of the African Games in Ghana as a national project, and for working expeditiously on all matters concerning the African Games Project that came to the House,” President Akufo-Addo said. —Daily Mail GH Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: +2335555568093
Ablakwa writes: Ghana needs national policy on presidential travels
It has become absolutely imperative to demand a national policy on presidential travels, akin to what pertains in other jurisdictions. This is most crucial to avoid the wanton abuse of discretion by President Akufo-Addo at the expense of the suffering taxpayer. In many other jurisdictions, presidential travels are regulated by strict policies which mandate presidents to use presidential aircraft for official purposes. Indeed, in other countries such as the USA, presidents are obliged to reimburse the state if presidential aircraft are used for private business — that private business includes political campaigns and political fundraising events. Clearly, richer countries whose benevolence we are depending on to come to our aid with COVID-19 vaccines as our president pleaded with the Germans a few days ago are undoubtedly doing much better than us in ensuring that taxpayer funds are not dissipated in catering for the lavish lifestyles of insensitive leaders. From our continuous monitoring, President Akufo-Addo still prefers to use VIP charter jets for his European travels despite being in firm possession of Ghana’s presidential jet – the Dassault Falcon 900-EXE which remains in pristine condition and can fly non-stop to all those European destinations. Since Ghana received the President Kufuor ordered Falcon in 2010, both President Mills and President Mahama have used the long-range aircraft for all presidential travels. The records show that there were only two instances where the Communications Squadron of the Ghana Air Force requested that alternative arrangements be made for President Mahama because the presidential jet had been flown to France for routine servicing. It is essential to point out that those two alternative arrangements were unmistakably modest and nothing compared to the obscene ostentation of the current president’s taste. Our latest oversight reveals that following the public outrage in the aftermath of President Akufo-Addo’s profligate expedition in May this year by opting for the world’s most expensive and most extravagant private charter aircraft – the Airbus ACJ320neo which does not cost its clientele below £15,000 per hour to lease, he has since stayed away from that particular aircraft, and for very obvious reasons. This development may represent a rather small victory for the Ghanaian people, one may choose to argue. That notwithstanding, I am sorry to disappoint you. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is unable to wean himself off his insatiable appetite for ultra-luxury charter jets at the expense of the struggling Ghanaian taxpayer. He remains totally impervious to the backlash and the outcry from Ghanaians demanding that he lives up to his own pledge to protect the public purse by utilizing the presidential jet which is a far cheaper and safer option. For his recent travels to the UK on the 27th of July 2021 to attend the Global Education Summit and last week’s state visit to Germany, he blatantly refused to travel on the presidential jet. Instead, he opted for another top of the range VIP luxury charter jet, specifically known to industry players as the Boeing 737-900ER BBJ3. The Luxembourg-based aircraft is registered LX-DIO and operated by Global Jet Luxembourg. Its Manufacturer Serial Number (MSN) is 62515 with Line Number 5659. The 19-seater luxury jet which has a HEX code 4D0213 is configured VIP, has 2x CFMI engines and was delivered to the current operators in November 2015. Very few luxury jets boast of their features. Its manufacturers say the cabin is divided into multiple sections to guarantee exceptional comfort. It provides a VIP lounge for relaxation, Five-Star dining facilities, Royal Master bedroom, Cinema Room specially delineated for watching movies which is a separate accessory from other in-flight entertainment systems, and of course just as you predicted correctly, complete with a luxury shower (apparently, the sky bath continues unabated – all royalties paid to Defence Minister, Nitiwul). If our government is dealing directly with the operators of the LX-DIO, then it is costing the Ghanaian taxpayer at least US$14,000 per hour. However, if our government is leasing the aircraft via brokers or middlemen as it has gained notoriety in many sectors, you shouldn’t be surprised the Ghanaian taxpayer is being billed between US$18,000 and US$22,000 per hour. Using the conservative rate of US$14,000 per hour, the two trips to the UK and Germany which require some 28 hours of travel distance in and out plus an additional 13 hours of pickup and drop off time, the taxpayer has been burdened again to the colossal tune of US$574,000.00. At the current exchange rate, that is a staggering 3.46 million Ghana Cedis. This unconscionable rape of the public purse just to satisfy the creature comforts of a President who elects to live in vulgar ostentation in a manner that will make even Arabian kings envious cannot be allowed to continue. It is the reason I take the view that the time has come for this country to urgently formulate a policy on presidential travels. We either have a presidential jet or we don’t. More so, the President’s reckless decision not to use the presidential jet which cost the Ghanaian taxpayer some US$37million in purchase price under President Kufuor and which we continue to maintain at great cost to the Ghanaian taxpayer while His Excellency “Nana Showboy” globe-trots in ultra-luxury VIP charter aircraft at sky-high rates can no longer be left to the discretion of an immoderate President and the few politicians around him. It is really shocking, I must say that the Ghanaian people can be treated with such presidential contempt when the dust is yet to settle on the Airbus ACJ320neo-sky-bath-scandal now infamous for the Ministerial acrobatics in Parliament just to cover up for the President and yet a leader who styles himself as the foremost protector of the public purse affronts Ghanaians with such shameless intransigence. Well, for his information, the battle for accountability on the earlier trip has not ended; they were saved by the bell only momentarily due to the Parliamentary recess. President Akufo-Addo can be assured that this latest misconduct will also be subjected to surgical scrutiny by the
MTN Bright Conversations To Host Prof. Kwame Karikari
The third edition of MTN’s thought leadership program, BRIGHT Conversations series is scheduled to come off on Wednesday 1st September 2021 at 10:00 am and will host the renowned Communications educator Professor Kwame Afum Karikari. The edition will discuss the theme “Promoting Professionalism in The Era of Social Media And Citizen Journalism”. The program will stream live via Zoom and on Ghanaweb with limited in person audience. Professor Kwame A. Karikari is a seasoned journalist who practiced Journalism in the 1980’s and served as Director General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation. He moved from the field as a journalist to the classroom to teach Journalism and Mass Communications. He was for several years a professor at the School of Communication Studies, University of Ghana and the former Dean of the School of Communication Studies at the Wisconsin International University College. He has over the years been involved in training journalists in several African countries. Professor Karikari is also an activist pursuing Social Justice and Human Rights causes in Africa, including democratic reforms in Ghana. He serves on the Boards of a number of African and International Rights Organizations and on the editorial boards of academic publications. He is the founder and former Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa. He is currently the Director at the Centre for Communication Education Research and Professional Development at the University of Education, Winneba. He is the Board Chairman of Graphic Communications Group and also a board member of the Media Foundation for West Africa. Commenting on the upcoming edition of the MTN BRIGHT Conversations Mr. Samuel Koranteng, Chief Corporate Services Officer said, “MTN is excited to host an outstanding intellectual like Prof. Kwame Karkari who has contributed so much to the development of media practice and Journalism in Ghana. With his rich experience in academia, Journalism and Mass Communications, we are looking forward to the insightful lessons he has to share based on his experience over the years”. Mr. Koranteng urged all persons who have the desire to see the practice of quality Journalism and the effective use of Social Media as a tool to practice Citizen Journalism to join the virtual session on Wednesday 1st September. The MTN BRIGHT Conversation series is a novel initiative by MTN Ghana organised as part of the activities marking the company’s 25th anniversary celebrations. The purpose is to celebrate distinguished persons whose ideas, thoughts and reflections have helped to shape the Ghanaian society. The first and second editions hosted Nana Kwasi Gyan Apenteng the immediate past chairman of the National Media Commission and Rev. Dr. Joyce Aryee of the Salt and Light Ministries. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: +2335555568093
Well-meaning Ghanaians will join forces with us to break the eight years of stealing and nepotism–NDC
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has said, Ghanaians are willing to join forces with them to break the eight years of stealing, nepotism, lawlessness and impunity, deception, broken promises, injustice and intolerance in 2024. According to the NDC, most of NPP members cannot pass the accountability test when they leave office, the reason why they are panicking and desperately jumping over themselves to “break the 8” at all cost. “Our friends in the NPP know that most of them cannot pass the accountability test when they leave office. This is why they are panicking and desperately jumping over themselves to “break the 8” at all cost” Read full statement below: SPEECH DELIVERED BY SAMMY GYAMFI ESQ., NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER OF THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS AT A PRESS CONFERENCE HELD AT THE NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS OF THE PARTY, IN RESPONSE TO SOME RECKLESS PRESS CONFERENCES RECENTLY HELD BY THE NPP ON COMMENTS MADE BY PRESIDENT JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA, ON HIS THANK YOU TOUR OF THE FIVE (5) NORTHERN REGIONS. 30th August, 2021 Good afternoon distinguished ladies and gentlemen of the media. On behalf of the National Democratic Congress, I welcome you to our headquarters for this all-important press conference. We are grateful for your continuous collaboration and cooperation with us in our collective struggle to consolidate our democracy and build a prosperous Ghana We have invited you here this afternoon to formally respond to some irresponsible and frivolous attacks that the NPP, through some of its key functionaries, has been heaping on the person of H.E John Dramani Mahama over factual comments he made during his recent thank you tour of the five (5) northern regions. As you may be aware, last Tuesday, President John Dramani Mahama, wrapped up the first phase of his “Thank You Tour”, which took him to five Regions in the Northern Sector of the country. The tour is designed to convey his deep appreciation personally to the millions of Ghanaians who voted for him across the country and even those who may not have voted for him but deemed it necessary to enhance Ghana’s democracy through their participation in the electoral process. Mr. Mahama also took time during the tour to engage in media interviews during which he commented on a number of issues of national importance. Among others, he decried the mismanagement of the economy and the unsustainable debt hole the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has plunged the country into and the resultant economic hardships emanating from their imposition of several taxes on Ghanaians. He also lamented the rising spate of corruption in government and the non-chalance that has attended the subject. He observed that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government was simply unwilling to account for their stewardship and was not motivated to fight corruption which has led to large-scale looting and abuse of the public purse. It had become obvious in the circumstance, that the only way to exact any measure of accountability is to vote out the NPP after their eight-year tenure in 2024 which would be in keeping with the established electoral trend since 1992. In fact, President Mahama echoed the sentiments of the vast majority of Ghanaians who feel scandalized by the unbridled corruption and plain thievery that has become the hallmark of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/NPP government. The alarming scale of sleaze and corruption under this government is such that Ghanaians cannot wait to exact accountability by voting out the NPP after their eight-year tenure in 2024. Anything short of that will spell doom for the public purse which will be subjected to further systematic abuse should their mandate be renewed beyond 2024. Clearly, these factual statements made by President Mahama have hit the bull’s-eye. Our detractors in the NPP are dazed and agitated by the factual statements by H.E John Mahama because they know he spoke the naked truth. It is obvious that they are very worried about how President Mahama is exposing the true character of President Akufo-Addo, a man who rode on the back of a self-proclaimed propaganda of incorruptibility into power, only to turn around and supervise the most obscene abuse of the public purse ever witnessed in the history of this country. First to respond was NPP Communications Director, Yaw Buabeng Asamoah, who staged a performance reminiscent of the hey days of Comical Ali, the legendary Iraqi Information Minister, infamous for his denial of very obvious facts and truths. Mr. Asamoah inexplicably claimed that the excruciating economic hardships Ghanaians are going through has only been spoken into place by President Mahama and that it was not being felt by Ghanaians. In other words, all the taxes introduced by this government since 2017 and the rampant increases in fuel prices and every other commodity on the market leading to hardships are just the words of President Mahama. Ladies and gentlemen, I must say that Mr. Buabeng’s comical display is as amusing as it is disturbing. It is amusing because it demonstrates the willingness of this government to trivialize the suffering of people, and it is disturbing because it shows that the NPP and their leaders have completely detached themselves from the very harsh economic conditions of Ghanaians and chosen to dwell in a delusional bubble. Clearly, they are living in their own world of luxury and comfort, far removed from the realities in the country today. It bears reminding the Akufo-Addo government that the current economic difficulties of Ghanaians are not the product of any imaginary or delusional fantasy of members of the opposition. The economic hardships Ghanaians from all walks of life are experiencing, are the direct effects of the mismanagement of the economy through reckless squandering of scarce resources to secure re-election in 2020 which has left our finances in shambles. The excessive and reckless borrowing of the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has ensured that we are barely able to service our debts, pay the salary of Public sector workers and have anything significant left to meet critical expenditure. That is why over half a dozen different taxes were introduced in