Category: General

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration is seeking to increase Ghana's passport acquisition fee from GHS100 to GHS644. Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the sector Minister, explained that the deficit in the printing of passport booklets was preventing the Passport Office from making the necessary investments to ensure efficiency. '…Ghanaians pay just about GHS100 for a passport. To produce one passport booklet, it costs GHS400, which means that for every passport that an applicant acquires, the Government has to put in GHS300 and this is not sustainable,' she said. Speaking on the floor of Parliament before the approval of a GHS1.127 million budget estimate for the Ministry, Madam Ayorkor Botchwey said the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation was considering the proposal. 'On the cost of passports, it is not sustainable, therefore, I will plead with this honourable House to look at the issue for us. It is already before the subsidiary legislation committee, and I'm hoping that Ghanaians wi ll pay realistic prices for passports,' she said. 'At the moment, passports don't serve as IDs, we have national ID cards. Therefore, those who need passports are those who need them to travel, and I don't think that they would want us to continue to subsidize it.' Per the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs on the 2024 budget estimates for the Ministry, a comparison of Ghana's passport fees with that of other West African countries shows the rate of $7.7 is the lowest within the sub-region. The report said Cameroon charges $180, Guinea $57, Guinea-Bissau $65, Burkina Faso $80 and Nigeria $54.29. Touching on the backlog of passports, Madam Botchwey said the Ministry was in the process of securing a giant printer to expedite the process. Mr Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration had earlier justified the proposed increment in prices of passports, citing production costs and the current affordability compared to other countries in the West Africa sub -region. He said there were ongoing discussions with Parliament to finalise the approved fees. He bemoaned the low price Ghanaians paid for a passport; as low as eight dollars, compared to other neighbours who paid about 40 dollars for the same service. Mr Ampratwum-Sarpong, the Member of Parliament for Mampong, said there were plans to introduce chip-embedded passports in the second quarter of 2024 to enhance security in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisation's standards. 'Liberia charges $50, we charge $8, meaning we have to subsidise every passport. So the money to buy the printers is used to subsidise the passports,' he noted. 'Also, we are thinking of upgrading our passport from biometric to chip-embedded. So the chip-embedded version is going to cost more.' 'If we continue charging $8, we will continue to face the problems that we are having at the passport office… So we have to raise the fees.' Source: Ghana News Agency

The Assinman Rural Bank (ARB) recorded a profit after tax of GHS928,829 in 2022 despite the debilitating effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Board Chairman of the bank, Mr. Frank Owusu, has announced. He said the profit was a 37.3 per cent increase from the GHS676,709 recorded in 202. The total deposits grew from GHS26,938,791 to GHS30,626,538, representing an increase of 13.7 per cent while loans and advances shot up from GHS9,141,345 to GHS11,829,525 representing 29.41 per cent. Mr Frank Owusu, Board Chairman, declared the profit at the bank's 26th Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Assin Manso in the Assin South District of the Central Region to account to stakeholders for the year 2022. The shareholders discussed the 2022 financial report, expectations for subsequent years and plans designed to increase the bank's fortunes. Mr Owusu also noted that the bank's investments increased from GHS18,771,711 to GHS22,823,747 representing 21.59 per cent, while total assets increased by GHS6,824,117 to reach GHS 39,076,934 representing 21.2 per cent increase. However, he said the bank was unable to declare dividends in 2022 because the Bank of Ghana on January 06, 2023, directed all rural and community banks not to declare dividends due to the impact of the Domestic Debts Exchange Programme. He noted that the bank dividends for the bank in 2021 financial year was GHS270,684 and it spent an amount of GHS42,300 on Corporate Social Responsibilities. Some of the activities undertaken were scholarships for selected tertiary students, renovation of the Assin Manso D/A Kindergarten block, and donation of knapsack sprayers to five district assemblies on Farmers Day. Source: Ghana News Agency

The Open Heavens Temple branch of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) at East Legon in Accra has donated assorted humanitarian items to the people in the Adjiringanor community. This is part of their annual Community Social Responsibility (CSR) programme dubbed 'Clean Clothing Drive/Lunch on Jesus'. This annual project, spearheaded by the CSR Ministry of the Open Heavens Temple, drew over 1,000 people from the community to receive the items. The head pastor of the church, Rev. Eric Xexemeku, initiated this benevolent effort to show kindness and love to the under-privileged and needy in the church and its host communities during the Christmas period. The Christmas season is chosen for this exercise because it marks the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ's ministry was founded on love and care to mankind. During the presentations, Rev Xexemeku said, 'As a local church in the community, we draw lessons from the ministry of Jesus Christ to demonstrate the love of God to the people. The greatest service we can offer as a church to our community is to introduce the Gospel to the unsaved, but we must also support the physical needs of the people'. He further stated that 'Jesus Christ touched His community with healing, giving and affection, committing Himself to loving others, blessing and serving the poor, the sick, and the distressed. He told His disciples, 'This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you' (John 15:12 KJV). Pastor Xexemeku noted that we must showcase brotherhood and live for all people around us with the love of Christ. The donation, made to both children and adults, included assorted food items such as rice, oil, canned fish, tomatoes, bread, oats, Milo beverages, drinks, gari, and clothes, among others. The church used the opportunity to share Christ with the beneficiaries and invited them to the 31st night CROSSOVER service to be held on the Adjiringanor Astroturf. Source: Ghana News Agency

Local elections candidate for the Beb Bhar constituency (Beb Bhar delegation) Sihem Nasri undertakes in her programme to counter robberies by setting up surveillance systems to protect citizens and encourage that trade and economic activities continue during at night. The candidate, who kicked off her campaign by meeting with citizens in the main streets of Bab Bhar, promises to create spaces to preserve small businesses and combat street vending. She further promised to ensure total transparancy in granting authorisation, fit out the Tunis municipal market and speed up the revision of administrative files in coordination with the relevant authorities. In a statement to TAP the candidate also pledged to guarantee security around educational institutions to protect students from all risks and to call the government to enact laws to solve the problems of public schools. She further promised to restore old buildings and renovate historical buildings. Nasri undertakes to devise a sustainable programme aimed to ensure a clean environment and increase the number of sports halls and cultural centres for youths and improve the public transport conditions. Three candidates are vying for seats in the Beb Bhar constituency. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

The Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana (CLOGSAG) in the Northern Region has asked members to wear red bands and fly red flags in protest of alleged delayed implementation of the new salary structure and other conditions of service. 'Meanwhile, we have directed all members of CLOGSAG in the Region to start wearing red bands and fly red flags at all CLOGSAG offices as we standby for your response in due course,' a statement signed by Naba Alhaji Apam Nuhu, the Regional Secretary of CLOGSAG, said in a letter to CLOGSAG Headquarters. It said the Regional Executive Council (REC) held an emergency meeting on Thursday, December 14, 2023, at the Regional Secretariat to discuss the undue delay in the implementation of the new salary structure and other conditions of service. The statement said the Council members recalled vividly a letter dated January 24, 2022, which said: 'We wish to inform you that our main demand included in the 19th January, 2022, Memorandum of understanding (MOU) was a new s alary structure for the Civil Service and Local Government Service. 'The parties to the MOU have agreed that the Salary structure shall be finalised by 31st August, 2022, and implemented effective 1st January, 2023. However, if by 31st August, 2022, the salary structure has not been finalised as agreed, CLOGSAG shall continue with the strike. 'The Regional Executive Council (REC) after going through al the above has decided that it is either now or never, enough of the unwarranted and deliberate inaction on the issue we have waited long enough and can no longer bear the frustration and demotivation that characterise this obvious bad faith on the part of Government.' It said constituents of CLOGSAG deserved better than and called on members to rise up as always and fight for what they deserved and most entitled to. 'It is time tested principle that workers benefits are usually not granted on a silver platter and hence we cannot continue to sit down and expect ours to fall from the sky,' to said, urging th e headquarters to declare strike immediately. Source: Ghana News Agency