Ghana: SMEs Urged to Use MTN Ayoba Platform to Showcase Products
Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups have been urged to use the MTN Ayoba platform to showcase their businesses to the local and global market. Chief Executive Officer of Ayoba, Burak Akanci who made the call during an interaction with the media said SMEs could gain local and international traction through Ayoba. He said Ayoba was zero rated and individuals and businesses could access the platform and advertise their products free of charge. He said Ayoba currently had more than 15 million users across the global and about 2.5 million users in Ghana. MTN Ghana launched the social media platform in 2020 to allow digital consumers as well content creators to download and upload information for free of charge. Digital consumers could access fashion, sports, entertain-ment news, games and music free of charge. Mr Akanci said Ayoba was created to provide access to content and modern communi-cation tools to digital consumers for free. He said the platform was created with three pillars such as communication, content and micro application. On communication, Mr Akanci said the objective of the platform was to provide users opportunity to access voice and video calls. For content, he said the plat-form was created to allow people to have access to quality content and for content developers to upload their products on the platform free of charge. Mr Akanci said the third pillar of Ayoba, which is micro applica-tion was to provide opportunity for budding application devel-opers to upload their games and applications on the platform. Asked about the future of Ayoba, Mr Akanci said “We would like to see Ayoba in a way that every user finds satisfaction in using the platform. “We want to become a platform service providers find value and traction,” Mr Akanci said. He said 23 more languages were being introduced on the Ayoba platform to help more people to access the platform. The Ayoba CEO said to help SMEs and Start-Ups to build thriving businesses, Ayoba Ac-celerator programme had been introduced to build the capacity of owners of small businesses and start-ups. Chief Digital Officer of MTN Ghana, Dario Bianchi, said about 1000 agents had been recruited across the country to market the products in markets and other social places. He said the company was ad-vertising the products on digital channels to increase adoption. He said there are about 20 applications on Ayoba and half of the applications were devel-oped by Ghanaian Start-ups. Ghanaiantimes— For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com
Bawku Clash: Lives lost in renewed Bawku clash
A renewed ethnic clash in Bawku in the Upper East Region according to sources has claimed more than 5 lives in a Sunday clash between to the main factions Kusasis and Mamprusis. Apexnewsgh.com report According to information coming the area, the clash resurrected as a result of an alleged killing of an old man at Natinga on Saturday, December 17, 2022, which resulted in sporadic gunshots leaving five persons dead. The clash between the two factions however travel to Sunday, December 18, 2022, which resulted to the death of some other persons. Bawku conflict has become a worry to the region due to the continue killing of especially innocent people for no crime caused. However, when this platform contacted the Upper East Regional Police Public Relations Officer, ASP David Fianko-Okyere, on the unfortunate development, he said he has not been given any information with regards to the incident. Source: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com
No active Vice President in the history of Ghana like Dr. Bawumia– Prince Kamal Gumah
A leading member of the governing New Patriotic Party in the United State of America Prince Kamal Gumah has initiated a debate on social media after making a statement that “There has never been a Vice President that is active in the history of Ghana like Dr. Bawumia” Apexnewsgh.com report Prince Gumah made the statement during an engagement on Apexnewsgh.com’s Facebook Live flagship programme with Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen dubbed; “SPEAKOUT UPPER EAST” on Friday, December 16, 2022. Even though, the statement has not gone well for some members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) who believes his claims were bogus. Prince Kamal maintained that it was alleged that during John Dramani Mahama’s time as Vice President, Koku Ayindoho and some others couldn’t even allow him to drive a Land Cruiser. “You were here when John Mahama was a Vice President and he wasn’t even allowed to drive a Land Cruiser. John Mahama was dormant, Koku Anyidoho and the rest, I learned they were the people who were blocking him”. He stressed Source: Apexnewsgh.com/GhanaFor publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com
Dr. Bawumia to get 57% votes from Ashanti Region—Prince Kamal Gumah
The former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Youth Organizer aspiring candidate Prince Kamal Gumah is confident that Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia will poll close to 57 percent of votes in the Ashanti region at the upcoming party congress. Apexnewsgh.com report Prince Gumah made the pronouncement during an engagement on Apexnewsgh.com’s Facebook Live flagship programme with Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen dubbed; “SPEAKOUT UPPER EAST” on Friday, December 16, 2022. He said, “I am saying 57 percent because they are not going to vote on tribal lines, they feel Dr. Bawumia is qualified and he will be a better leader. When you come to religion, he is a leader that has experience in both faith, he goes to church and mosque and has brothers and sisters that are still Christians. He is someone who has experience of faith around the world. So, internationally, everyone wants to be around him”. “Am supporting Bawumia and I know he is going to win and I know 80 percent of the NPP with open mind believed that this is the time for them to show the world, for them to show Ghanaians that NPP is a democratic Party that believes in democracy, not tribal lines and that believes that this is the time for them to send a wrong signal to anybody that thinks that NPP is an Akan party and I can tell right now that In the Ashanti Region Dr. Bawumia will make almost 57 percent of Ashanti will vote for Bawumia”. So, this is the time Ashanti Region our stronghold is saying no, we are going with Bawumia. He stated Source: Apexnewsgh.com/GhanaFor publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com
Interesting life story about Lawyer Lamtiig Apanga humble begining
An astute Lawyer Lamtiig Apanga, has shared an interesting story about his beginning, and growing up as a watchman son. Apexnewsgh.com report Giving little history about his father, Lawyer Lamtiig said, the father was born in the Upper East Region and when he grew up, he decided to go out to seek for greener pastures because he couldn’t have the benefit of going to school because he was following cattles. He said He said, the father later moved to Tarkordi to find a job to do and along the way, he was employed as a house boy for one of the European settlers at a time who happens to be a military man and he even wanted to help the father to become a military but because those days’ people fear military, the father couldn’t take up the offer. “So, he later took him as a cook. He worked as a cook in Tarkordi and later moved to Accra to work with a very prominent hotel called Intercontinental Hotel which has now become Golden Tulip Hotel. He later moved from Intercontinental to Mensvic Hotel which was called Ambassador Hotel a and you know cook simply means you are assisting in the kitchen. And then we were living at a place in Accra called 441 Mamobi”. He narrates Giving an account of his educational journey, Lawyer Lamtiig recognizes the role played by his father even as a watchman. Lawyer Lamtiig said, he started school at 37 military hospital primary school and during that time, the two hotels his father worked for were closed down due to nonperformance, and the government sold them out. “So, the workers were retrenched and had to find some work to do somewhere. But because of my father’s lack of education, he couldn’t get any other work to do, he settled as a watchman, and those days, you need to attend acquire some level of education before you could be called a security man, unlike today people are addressed as security men whether educated or not”. He explained He said despite the circumstances, he was able to manage through primary school which happens to be a normal government primary school Airport Police primary school to JSS. Meanwhile, narrating a story about how he took the decision of becoming a mechanic, he said, when he was in class six, a very good friend opted out to go and learn mechanics (filtering), and out of youthful exuberance, he also informed his father that he would love to learn mechanic because his good friend is going to learn same. “But, in my case, my dad said, that I should be in school and continue with the mechanic job and that was the time they were introducing this JSS system and they said, the JSS system was going to be vocational and technical training”. “So, from class six, I was enrolled in a mechanic shop as an apprentice. So, as I sit here, i know so much about vehicles because I spent 4 years in the mechanic shop. I used to go to school in the morning and after school in the afternoon, I will go to the mechanic shop and worked till about 6 pm and I will go home. And when I finished my JSS and was waiting for my result, all the 3 months, I was at the filtering shop working permanently and I could fix a lot of things in a vehicle and I didn’t also like the job because people look down on it”. He expressed He said, waiting for his JSS result to come, depending on how he performed, he would proceed to secondary school. He said, “God been so good, when JSS result came, permit me to boast a bit, the results were very remarkable, especially coming from a government school to make it 9 ones at a time. We use to write 11 subjects, so it was only two subjects I couldn’t get right, one was a Ghanaian language and the other was French. So, immediately I got that, I know my destiny is not to be a mechanic because I was academically good. So, the best way for me was to pursue academic work not vocational or technical training. So, I went to secondary school and the school I chose was St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School and when I went, my name has been selected and i went through the processes and my father went to find the money for me to go. So, the first year in Aquinas we lived in Mamobi and then I complained that it was tedious to me because I have to board two vehicles before reaching the school and two vehicles back and so my father bought me a bicycle and I enjoyed riding the bicycle every morning to school”. However, despite his confession of enjoying riding the morning bicycle bought for him by his father, Lawyer Lamtiig said one day, he felt bad after seeing some of his mates chilling in their father’s car. “I was riding the bicycle one day from Kawukudi toward 37 climbing the hill and I saw some of my mates chilling in their father’s car and I was really sweating climbing the hill. I felt so bad and the following week, I said am not going to ride the bicycle again so that nobody will see me and notice my wahala”. “But God is so good, my 3 years in Aquinas yielded good results. I was trained as a business student and from there, i went to Tarkordi Polytechnic and did marketing and my 3 years at Tarkordi Polytechnic was very remarkable, I became the school President of the Business School and along the way, I had to look for some job to do and Guinness Ghana was looking for people to do promotion and marketing. So, I was part of the pioneer team who launched Michael Power promotion across the country and we were mostly based in the
Earl International Group (GH) Gold LTD to pay US$ 273,000.00 for non-compliance with Environmental Permit conditions
“Begin the construction of a designed Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) before the date of expiry of the TSF permit issued to the company. The construction must be done in line with the standard requirement and procedures as spelt out in the condition of the TSF Permit issued by the Agency”. Earl International Group (GH) Gold Limited a large-scale mining Company operating in Gbane a community in the Talensi District of the Upper East is in trouble again this time for non-compliance with EPA’s Environmental Permit Conditions. The Company has been tasked by EPA to pay an amount of Two Hundred and Seventy-Three Thousand United State Dollars (US$ 273,000.00) or its Cedi equivalent using daily selling interbank exchange rate as administrative charges for non-compliance of Environmental Permit conditions within one month from the date of the letter in line with the Fees and Charges (Amendment) Instrument, 2019 (LI 2386). Apexnewsgh.com report “Notify the Agency of the commencement of the TSF construction where a third party shall be jointly chosen by both the Agency and the company to be present throughout the entire duration of the construction stages of the designed TSF.Notify the Agency after the construction of the TSF is completed, for the Agency to carry out a thorough inspection before any material can be pumped into the facility”.“Cease the construction of any further illegal temporal tailing’s storage facility/facilities”. “Post the long overdue Reclamation Bond as security for the decommissioning and rehabilitation of disturbed areas associated with your company’s Underground Mining and Processing Project In line with Regulation 23 of the Environmental Assessment Regulation, 1999 (LI 1652). The quantum of the Bond to be posted for the Underground Mining and Processing Project is Six Hundred and Fifty-Eight Thousand and Ninety-Eight United State Dollars (US$658,098.00) as presented in the approved Environmental Impact statement of November 2020 in an Escrow Account between your company and the Agency. Twenty percent (20%) of this Bond amounting to One Hundred and Thirty-One Thousand, Six Hundred and Twenty United State Dollars (US$ 131, 620) shall be paid in cash and the remaining eighty percent (80%), in Bank Guarantee.Consistently submit without fail Monthly Environmental Monitoring Returns to the Agency taking cognizance of the Akoben Criteria of Compliance, Surveillance and Control sampling points for water, air and noise. “Desist from the discharge of any water from within the enclosed premises of your operation to the external environment without prior approval from the Agency”. “Immediately begin the processes of acquiring environmental permits for all other ancillary facilities/infrastructure of your operations which are not covered by the previously issued environmental permits”. “Submit a comprehensive Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for your operation to the Agency. These were captured in the EPA’s sanction letter to Earl International Group (GH) Gold Limited dated 29th November 2022 which was intercepted by Apexnewsgh.com. The letter says, “In accordance with the Environmental Protection Act 490, 1994 and the Environmental Assessment Regulations Legislative Instrument, 1999 LI 1652, the Regional Office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) undertook a compliance monitoring of your operations on the 11th and 15th of November 2022 at Gbane in the Talensi District”. “While the Agency was satisfied with some aspects of your Company’s compliance to conditions of the Environmental Permits (Underground Mining & Processing and Tailings Storage Facility- TSF) issued to Earl International Group (GH) Gold Limited-Gbane, the Agency was grossly dissatisfied with several other occasions of non-compliance to EPA’s Environmental Permit Conditions. Chief among them were the non-posting of Reclamation Bonds for Underground Mining and Processing and TSF, six (6) months after the issuance of EPA permits, and the illegal construction of unapproved and sub-standard temporal tailings storage facilities without the Agency’s notice, among others”. The letter pointed However, the intercepted EPA sanction letter to Earl International Group (GH) Gold Limited further cautioned the Company to comply. “As a result, the Agency is requesting Earl International Group (GH) Gold Limited-Gbane to strictly and immediately comply with the following conditions as outlined in the attachment labeled Attachment A. Failure to comply with all the conditions in Attachment A, will result in an immediate and outright suspension of operations. EPA Cautioned Meanwhile, the letter signed by the EPA Regional Director for the Executive Director was copied to the Upper East Regional Minister, the Talensi District Chief Executive, The EPA Executive Director, Director, Mining Department EPA-Accra and EPA Legal Officer, Northern Zone, Kumasi. More to come soon Source: Apexnewsgh.com/GhanaFor publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com