Talensi District: We cannot have gold and don’t have portable drinking water, good road, and facilities—Solomon TTB
Mining, Opinion

Talensi District: We cannot have gold and don’t have portable drinking water, good road, and facilities—Solomon TTB

The Talensi Constituency Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and a resident of Talensi Solomon TTB have registered his displeasure following the happenings in the Talensi District a place well known across the world as a land blessed with natural resources such as Gold, rosewood and Upper quarry. Speaking with Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen of Apexnewsgh.com on his flagship development programme dubbed “SPEAKOUT UPPER EAST” on Monday, September 19, 2022. Mr. Solomon shared an interesting experience that many people do not know about. According to him, for most people who freely travel back home when they are visited with a heavy downpour, in the case of Talensi, is a different thing altogether because the road is very deplorable. He said: “when it rains, people from the community don’t want to return home, when it rains, it affects teachers, it affects farmers, it affects everyone including those sitting on these natural resources themselves”. “We cannot have Gold in Talensi and our road is very bad, We cannot have Gold in Talensi and our health facilities are very deplorable, We cannot have Gold in Talensi and we don’t have portable drinking water, We cannot have Gold in Talensi and youth are unemployed, we cannot have Gold in Talensi and our youth are engaging in certain social miscreants No, it is time for us to engage the mining companies we don’t have to fight with them. Fighting will never resolve the matter”. He stressed Source: Apexnewsgh.com|Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen|Ghana For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email: apexnewsgh@gmail.com

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Talensi: Ghana Mines workers Union with Earl International Group Ghana Gold Limited to kick start talks ahead of 2023 salaries
Mining

Talensi: Ghana Mines workers Union with Earl International Group Ghana Gold Limited to kick start talks ahead of 2023 salaries

Ghana Mines workers Union with the Earl International Group Ghana Gold Limited a large-scale mining entity operating in the Talensi district of the Upper East Region will be meeting to discuss issues regarding their 2023 salaries and some other working conditions on Thursday, September 22, 2022. Apexnewsgh.com report The branch Union Secretary of Ghana mine workers in the area Solomon Yintota made the revelation during his engagement with Apexnewsgh.com on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, following an alleged accusation of workers of the company have not been treated well by their employer Earl International. Earlier, in an engagement on Apexnewsgh.com flagship programme dubbed “SPEAKOUT UPPER EAST” Solomon TTBa resident of the area has alleged that workers are been treated unfairly by management. “I am telling you that those people are more and less like they are working by day. They are working by day because, the moment you go to work they will mark your pay for the day, but the day you did not go to work, that day they won’t mark and you won’t get anything. And there is no mining firm in this country that is doing by day unless you are a casual worker or they are engaging you to come and do construction work for them”. He said However, responding to the comment made by Solomon TTB, the branch Union Secretary Mr. Yintota, partially admitted that is true that workers of Earl International don’t receive equal payment like other workers in various mining companies. “Am aware that their salaries are more than us and that where we are all struggling to see how we can catch up and they are been paid in dollars and we are been paid in cedis. But now we have been paid in cedis converted to dollar rate. As I told you, we are going to discuss 2023 salaries in dollars and that is the only thing I think we are lacking from other mining companies. Besides that, in the mining industry, the way our safety and other thing was, we were not like other miners. But because they have moved to a large scale, safety has improved. We are not saying we are perfect like other mining companies but we are also far behind where we came from and we are better somehow now”. Mr. Yintota told Apexnewsgh.com Source: Apexnewsgh.com For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email: apexnewsgh@gmail.com

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Talensi Gold: Some of us are seeking political leadership because things are not done right—Solomon TTB
Mining, Opinion, Politics

Talensi Gold: Some of us are seeking political leadership because things are not done right—Solomon TTB

The Talensi Constituency Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Solomon TTB has revealed that some of the Talensi youth are seeking political leadership today because things are not done right with the natural resources given to them by God.He made the revelation during an engagement with Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen of Apexnewsgh.com on his flagship development programme dubbed “SPEAKOUT UPPER EAST” on Monday, September 19, 2022. He made the revelation during an engagement with Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen of Apexnewsgh.com on his flagship development programme dubbed “SPEAKOUT UPPER EAST” on Monday, September 19, 2022. According to the Constituency Secretary, some of the youth are seeking political leadership, not because of certain things but because some of the things are not done right, “if things are done why should we be seeking political leadership?“We cannot have Gold in Talensi and our road is very bad, We cannot have Gold in Talensi and our health facilities are very deplorable, We cannot have Gold in Talensi and we don’t have portable drinking water, We cannot have Gold in Talensi and youth are unemployed, We cannot have Gold in Talensi and our youth are engaging in certain social miscreants No, it is time for us to engage the mining companies we don’t have to fight with them. Fighting will never resolve the matter”. He also blamed traditional leaders in the area for contributing to the current challenges affecting the plight of the people in the various mining communities in the Talensi district. “Traditional leaders have failed us, if you have chiefs, Tindaanas, the opinion leaders coming out together with a blueprint, a memorandum of understanding engaging the communities together, bringing the mining companies on a round table discussion to look at how employment is done, how they are procuring their things who are the people they are giving the contract to, youth that they are employing, whether they obeying the mining safety, are they giving royalties? If they are giving royalties, how do we share them? These are things traditionally we have to look at”. “We have a District Chief Executive (DCE), He is from the community, he knows the people very well, he has contact with each of the mine. And for that matter, once you are a government appointee and you are representing the people, your core mandate is to see how you will help our people to be supported. So, when the government wants to end their so-called illegal mining I would have thought that EPA, Mineral Commission, The lands and Natural Resources Minister, Regional Minister, and DCE would consider training these people on how not to cause harm to the environment and atmosphere and even how to mine without destroying our water body by way of giving them a place to mine under the community mining. Sincerely speaking, EPA and mineral Commission have disappointed Talensi and I must be frank with you. In fact, people are of the view and alleging that they come to take monies” he alleged Source: Apexnewsgh.com|Ghana For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email: apexnewsgh@gmail.com

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Talensi Gold: Resident accuses Earl International Group Ghana Gold Ltd of unfair treatment against workers.
Mining

Talensi Gold: Resident accuses Earl International Group Ghana Gold Ltd of unfair treatment against workers.

A Talensi resident and Constituency Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Solomon TTB has alleged that workers at the Shaanxi mine now Earl International Group Ghana Gold Ltd (EIGGGL) are subjected to some level of unfair treatment in line with their duty. He made the revelation during an engagement with Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen of Apexnewsgh.com on their flagship development programme dubbed “SPEAKOUT UPPER EAST” on Monday, September 19, 2022. According to Mr. Solomon TTB, the government, duty bearers, stakeholders and CEO of Earl International Group Ghana Gold Ltd (EIGGGL) should as a matter of urgency organize a round table discussion because to him, “there is a lot behind what we are seeing. The workers who are at Shaanxi now Earl International, you people need to engage them, a very serious mine that is engaged in large scale mining, their salary should be of concern” He said “I am telling you that those people are more and less like they are working by day. They are working by day because, the moment you go to work they will mark your pay for the day, but the day you did not go to work, that day they won’t mark and you won’t get anything. And there is no mining firm in this country that is doing by day unless you are a casual worker or they are engaging you to come and do construction work for them”. “And if they employ you and you are asking for some days off, those days you are asking for, they will grant you alright but they won’t pay you for those days. If they grant you, you don’t have money to collect from them. If you are a professional teacher and you ask for permission from your school head and your school head grants you permission, do they write comptroller and accountant general not to pay you because you didn’t come to school? If you work with the Mineral commission and you ask for permission from your boss and it is granted does the government of Ghana refuse to pay you? Why are they allowing them to do this? These are some of the things going on there and we are not happy. They are our brothers and we want them to live a responsible life. So, they should be well compensated, they should be well paid”. He stressed “I don’t think that a diploma teacher teaching in Tola will not be paid less because he is working in a remote community. His colleague in Accra and the one at Tola receive the same salary. For example, If Newmonth Ghana gold mine is paying their PRO Ghc 20,000, a PRO in Earl International should be paid Ghc 20,000 too” he emphasized He further added, “If you went to work and there is an institutional failure at the site, they will not mark you for the day. Even though you went to work alright, they will not mark you for the day”. Mr. TTB alleged However, reacting to Solomon TTB’s position on maltreatment of workers at the Earl International Group Ghana Gold Limited, the Union branch Secretary of Ghana mine workers Union Solomon Yintota refuted the claim. According to him, “In mining, we have 24 working days. We work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, and 24 days a month. But if you worked more than 24 days, they calculate them as extra days because that is your rest day you have used to work. So, within the 24 days, the rest of the 6 days are meant for you to rest whether you asked for permission or you’re on leave. So, because you are entitled to work for 24 days, you have to take off 6 days. So, if you asked for permission for 3 or 4 days, it will not affect your 24 days. Assuming my salary is Ghc 2000.00, it will be based on the 24 days”. “So, if he is saying if worker asked for permission they won’t pay him, it is not within the 24 days and every institution has rules and regulation. So, if you are not there to know this is how we do it you won’t understand”.However, Mr. Yintota agreed to the fact that the payment issue needs to be addressed “Even though we have some issues with the company we need to address especially as he was sighting example with payment of workers like PRO in some other areas that are very perfect. But in the institution we are, they started from somewhere and get to somewhere”. Mr. Yintota admits Source: Apexnewsgh.com For publication please kindly contact us on 0246336062 or Email: apexnewsgh@gmail.com

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The NPP’s least GDP growth in the last years is better than NDC–Peter Ayinbisa
Opinion, Politics

The NPP’s least GDP growth in the last years is better than NDC–Peter Ayinbisa

The Upper East Regional Communication Director of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Peter Ayinbisa has claimed, that the NPP’s least GDP growth in the last 5 years has performed better than that of the NDC. Apexnewsgh.com reportThe Regional Communication Director made the claim on Apexnewsgh.com flagship program dubbed “SPEAK OUT UPPER EAST” on Wednesday, September 06, 2022Mr. Ayinbisa said, when the NPP came to power in 2016, they inherited a certain economy and later moved from there to a certain level before COVID came. “In 2016, we have to look at the various indicators that show an economy is healthy and doing well. Am talking about the GDP growth rate, am talking about the inflation, am talking about the interest rate, and am talking about employment”.He said: “If you look at GDP, you would ask yourself is what did the NPP came to meet in 2017. What was the GDP growth rate in 2016? What has the NDC left for us in 2016? According to him, “It is based on the robustness and healthiness of the economy that everything can triumph from there.Explaining the economy the NPP inherited from the opposition NDC, the Upper East Regional Communication Director of the governing party pointed out: “In 2016 when we came the NDC had a GDP rate of 4.6 percent. So, in 2017 we moved the GDP rate from there to a higher percentage, in 2018 we move it to over 8 percent and in 2019 we came back to 6.5 percent and in 2020 it came down. And am saying this to show that even our least GDP growth between the last 4 to 5 is better than that of the NDC”. He stressedHowever, he strongly believes the Bawumia-Akufo-Addo administration wants to maintain a strong economy that will reflect in the living standard of ordinary Ghanaians. “We want to maintain a very strong economy, that is why when they left it at 4.6 percent, we increased it in 2017 to 8.1 percent, in 2018 it came down to 6.2 percent, in 2019 it went up again to 6.5 percent. He said, these are the indicators to show that a certain economy is doing well and has the capacity to contain the growth of the country, and for that matter to ensure that the people living in that economy are going about their work, and their cost of living is maintained and they are able to purchase basic things in the economy”. Source: Apexnewsgh.com|Ghana For publication please kindly contact 0256336062 or Email: apexnewsgh@gmail.com

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The level of corruption witnessed under this government is unprecedented –Solomon TTB
Opinion, Politics

The level of corruption witnessed under this government is unprecedented –Solomon TTB

The Talensi Constituency Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress and a member of the NDC communication team Solomon TTB has described the level of corruption witnessed so far in the country and the recent Auditor’s General report as unprecedented in the history of Ghana. Apexnewsgh.com report The Constituency Secretary made the pronouncement on Apexnewsgh.com flagship program dubbed “SPEAK OUT UPPER EAST” on Tuesday, September 05, 2022 According to him, Corruption is aggressively growing in the country than development and has eaten Ghanaians, which is what citizens witnessing today clearly and simply mean. “That is unprecedented that we have never seen in the history of this country looking at the level of the corruption, looking at the level of financial malfeasance, looking the level of infractions in the Auditor’s General Report. It clearly means that things are really tough and the NPP since time immemorial has not put in any serious commitment to the fight against corruption and they also have a track record of allowing corrupt officials to go unpunished and history will always put us right. He stressed He further stressed that the NPP has not shown any serious commitment to fighting corruption. “You recall some couple of years ago when President Kufour was in government and decided to throw his hands up and say corruption as old as Adam, so looking at those called Dankwa, Bosia or whatever tradition, the NPP government has never shown any serious commitment in the fight against corruption and that is why we are now witnessing some of these things in this country”.He stated “In the case of Nana Akufo-Addo, the case is absolutely worse, it has never been seen in the history of Ghana. He is seriously clearing all corrupt officials, he has assumed the post of clearing agent at the Ghana port of corruption”. Responding to the Auditor’s General report, Mr. Solomon said: “We all saw Domelovu as someone who was seriously fighting corruption, but the President did not want anyone who could expose him and his government and for that matter, Domelovu will have to take an early bath in the Auditor’s General Department. However, he believes the government has recruited a lot of people as ghost workers just to loot the state. He sighted an example with the people captured by the Auditor’s General as ghost workers at the Ministry of Finance. It is because people are doing gargantuan sole-sourcing, it is because people are making payments of money to themselves, apart from that, putting ghost names in departments and various ministries. According to him, One Habibu who is working at the Finance Ministry as a ghost name took over Ghc 300,000 and the other over Ghc 500,000 for 24 months. He was the 2020 Parliamentary Candidate for Tamale North. This is captured in the Auditor’s General report which is not my saying. They have put people there and they are looting the state for no work done. He concluded Source: Apexnewsgh.com For publication please kindly contact 0256336062 or Email: apexnewsgh@gmail.com

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Talensi: NDC Demands an Immediate Unqualified Apology from Kwabena Ampofo Appiah for…
Opinion, Politics

Talensi: NDC Demands an Immediate Unqualified Apology from Kwabena Ampofo Appiah for…

The Opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region has demanded an immediate unqualified apology from the Managing Director of State Housing Company Limited Mr. Kwabena Ampofo Appiah for what they described as a “consummate falsehood peddled to raise the image of the drowning NPP’s government led by President Akufo-Addo and Dr. Bawumia”. Apexnewsgh.com report The statement authored by the NDC Talensi Constituency Secretary Zinekena Solomon T.T.B says: “The attention of the NDC in Talensi has been drawn to a Facebook post by the MD of the State Housing Company Ltd which suggests that there are houses available for Ghanaians at the Rock Estates located at Pusonamoogo in the Talensi District of Upper East Region of Ghana”. However, following the false and misleading information posted by the MD of the State Housing Company Ltd which does not exist anywhere in the Talensi land, the NDC is demanding an immediate unqualified apology. Kindly read the full statement Tuesday, August 30, 2022. Immediate Release. [Party Office, Talensi Constituency]. TALENSI NDC DEMANDS AN IMMEDIATE UNQUALIFIED APOLOGY FROM THE MANAGING DIRECTOR OF STATE HOUSING COMPANY LTD, MR. KWABENA AMPOFO APPIAH . The attention of the NDC in Talensi has been drawn to a Facebook post by the MD of the State Housing Company Ltd which suggests that there are houses available for Ghanaians at the Rock Estates located at Pusonamoogo in the Talensi District of Upper East Region of Ghana. Ghanaians must be apprised here and now that the MD’s claim is a consummate falsehood peddled to raise the image of the drowning NPP’s government led by President Nana Addo and Alhaji Timothy Bawumia. To set the records straight forward without equivocation, the facts are as follow: On Friday, November 29, 2019, President Nana Addo cut sod for the construction of 120 housing units at Pusunamogo in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region. On Tuesday, 18th August, 2020, the Vice President Alhaji Bawumia in a town hall meeting at the Academy of Art and Sciences in Accra emphatically captured the 120 housing units project in page 40 as ongoing and that work was 20 per cent complete. At the time the Vice President made that claim using his 419 powerful delivery tracker, there was only a well-designed signpost erected on the site along the Bolga-Tamale Road. According to the Vice President in 2020, 50 housing units were supposed to be completed before the 2020 general elections. It is almost three years today and only two uncompleted housing units are found at the site. Work has stalled at the site for months now. The site is left bushy and muddy. The following questions are begging for immediate answers from the uninformed, clueless and armchair MD; How did the MD come to the conclusion that the housing units were ready for use and that people looking for homes in the Upper East Region should look no further but contact one Mabila via telephone on +233244271502 ? Does the MD and his team do routine monitoring and supervision of their projects? How many housing units are completed? Is portable drinking water provided at the site? Is the site connected to electricity? Have they created access roads? Is the MD and his appointor living in such homes? Are the completed houses in the Jupiter or the Earth we all live on? In fact, it appears the Vice President has succeeded in infecting most appointees of the NPP government with his chronic lies. The usual peddling of falsehoods by the rank and file of NPP seems to be a malignant cancerous tumour that is resistant to treatment. As much as Ghanaians and the NDC try to treat them by exposing their naked lies, the more they continue to lie. Probably, the MD was celebrating the two years lying anniversary of Bawumia on that same project. If not, he is caught flat-footed and pants down having thrown iron fillings into the eyes of the good people of Talensi and Ghana at large on the completion of the Project. What is the crime of the good people of Talensi to have warranted this naked deception from the appointee of President Nana Addo? This fraud exposes the gross ineptitude, corporate incompetence and lack of credibility of the MD. The posture of the MD simply means that he is either not on top of his job or is a deliberate attempt to deceive, mislead, misinform and mock Ghanaians under the excruciating economic conditions experienced by most ordinary Ghanaians especially the youth where payment of rents has been a challenge though on 26th October, 2020, Ghanaian youth were promised to have their rents paid by the NPP government in the second term. It, however, beats our imagination that an MD who draws monthly salaries with huge allowances from the public purse of the ordinary taxpayer would lower the bar of management and corporate leadership to such a bizarre extent. He is busily dancing in the gutters alone. We may be tempted to believe that he is only carrying a big head punishing his neck because there is no absolute reflection of his academic qualifications and leadership in the development of the company. The NDC would like to dare the MD to come out with contrary facts relative to the Rock Estates Housing project situated at Pusonamogo. We also want to challenge him (the MD) to publish the true pictures of the housing units completed, the outside and inside of the houses and an aerial photograph of the project. The NDC is keenly monitoring the falsehoods the MD has been peddling on various platforms seeking to take undue credit of the numerous projects initiated and funded by the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama led NDC government in the housing sector. Well! The performing masquerade that tries too hard to outclass his colleagues will end up by  exposing his anus. Critically examining the posture of the MD, one thing is certain and conspicuous that, the  Nana Addo government

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Your general performance, is shambolic, abysmal and crummy– Talensi Constituency Secretary to NPP
Politics

Your general performance, is shambolic, abysmal and crummy– Talensi Constituency Secretary to NPP

The Secretary of the Opposition National Democratic Congress in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region Zinekena Solomon has registered some level of displeasure with the President and governing New Patriotic Party, especially with issues of Talensi developments and promises made the people of the Upper East Region. In a press statement released by the constituency Secretary on Tuesday, October 6, 2020, captured by Apexnewsgh.com, they constituency Secretary said, they as a party are not against President visiting of Namoalogo Dam, but they believes, the said dam does not fall squarely  under the 1 Village 1 Dam (1V1D) policy per chapter 4, page 50 of the NPP 2016 manifesto. “The President cannot find time to visit one of such dams to commission it but rather seeks cover to inspect the progress of work of a project that does not fall squarely under the President’s flagship policy of 1V1D.” He further stated that for over a year now, no work is going on at the site of Pwalugu Multi-Purpose dam. According to him, they expected the President to place a higher priority on the multi-million project to avert the perennial flooding caused by the spillage of the Bagre Dam as he suggested during his sod-cutting speech, which isn’t what they are currently experiencing as he described President pronouncement then as a deception to the people of Talensi and the region at large. However, Mr. Zenekena pointed that another huge infrastructure project that the people of Talensi and the Upper East Region were expecting the President to pay attention to during his visit is the Pusonamogo 120 – Affordable Housing Units called Rock Estates in the Talensi District, which he claimed the Vice President Dr. Bawumia told a falsehood the people of Talensi during his launching of the NPP’s Delivery Tracker. Below are the full details: SPEECH BY COMRADE ZINEKENA SOLOMON T.T.B., TALENSI CONSTITUENCY SECRETARY OF THE NDC, AT PUSUNAMOGO ON TUESDAY, 6TH OCTOBER, 2020. Title: PRESIDENT NANA ADDO’S VISIT TO THE TALENSI CONSTITUENCY; A FARCE AND ELECTORAL DECEIT. Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the media. Thank you once again for your kind coverage of this crucial platform. Ladies and gentle of the media, this venue is chosen because we want to engage in an evidence-based press conference to put things in perspective for the good people of Talensi and Ghanaians at large. Ladies and gentlemen, the Talensi NDC has intercepted the itinerary of President Nana Addo’s visit to the Upper East Region. In the said document, the President will only inspect an irrigation dam under the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) at Namoalogo in the Talensi District. Ladies and gentlemen, we have combed through the entire proposed programme of the President’s visit, and it appears that it is the only site/project that he is visiting in Talensi. Ladies and gentlemen, the NDC is not against the President’s visit to the dam at the Eastern Zone of the Constituency. However, this press conference is to exposed the record shambolic, abysmal and crummy performance of the NPP government under President Nana Addo and Bawumia by cataloging the NPP’s so-called flagship and unprecedented projects in Talensi which have not caught the attention of the President in his visit. A –The Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam and Irrigation Project. Ladies and gentlemen of the media, you will recall that President Nana Addo on Friday, November 29, 2019, cut sod for the construction of the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam and Irrigation Project. In his speech at the sod-cutting ceremony, he stated categorically that the project ‘will be the single, largest investment ever made by any Government in the Northern sector of the country’. He also stated that ‘construction of the Dam will avert the perennial flooding caused by the spillage of the Bagre Dam’. Prior to the sod cutting, Vice President Bawumia on Saturday, August 31, 2019, at the Upper West Regional capital, Wa said that it will be the single, largest investment made by any Government in Northern Ghana since independence. Ladies and gentlemen, were these speeches made by President Nana Addo and his Vice their usual rhetoric and lip service speeches where walking the talk become a heavy barrier? If not, why is the President not visiting the site on his way to the Region since Pwalugu is the first community one will first meet when visiting the Upper East Region from Tamale? It is actually the gateway to the Region. It, however, beats the imagination of discerning Ghanaians why the President would abandon and desert a project he claims is the single, largest investment ever made by any Government in the Northern sector of the country. It is also insensitive and clueless on the part of the President to have ignored the project amidst the recent devastating flood in the Northern sector which has claimed several lives, rendered hundreds homeless, destroyed thousands of hectares of farms worth millions of Ghana Cedis, carried away several livestocks and broke culverts and bridges leading to stagnation of economic activities in the affected areas. We expected the President to place a higher priority on this project to avert the perennial flooding caused by the spillage of the Bagre Dam as he suggested in his sod-cutting speech. In the contrary, ladies and gentlemen, it is almost one solid year today, and there is absolutely nothing going on at the site. If it is not for DECEPTION, then, what is this? Ladies and gentlemen, President Nana Addo is not physically stronger than any of us here such he will be the only person to use the pick-axe or shovel to cut sod but it must be backed by the action of implementation. B – 120 Affordable Housing Units at Pusonamogo. Ladies and gentlemen of the media, another huge infrastructure project that the good people of Talensi and the Upper East Region were expecting the President to pay attention to in his visit is the Pusonamogo 120 – Affordable Housing Units called Rock Estates in the Talensi District, which the

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