Category: General

Some women candidates in the upcoming District Level Elections (DLE) have promised to promote development issues in their electoral areas if elected. In an interview with Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Tamale, Madam Safura Mohammed, a candidate for DLE in the Gushegu Electoral Area, promised to promote access to safe sanitation and hygiene management in the area. She said currently poor sanitation and hygiene were affecting the health of children and the most vulnerable women and girls in the area. She pledged to collaborate with all stakeholders to make sanitation and hygiene a priority, by investing the required resources to fight these challenges. Madam Ayishetu Mumuni, a candidate for Tolon Electoral Area, said economic empowerment for women was one of the key challenges in the district, which she would work to address by partnering with organisations to work together to promote women's businesses, train them in skills, as well as give them loans to start their businesses. Madam Janet Tinala, candidate for Tatale Electoral Area, expressed concern about early marriage in her area, saying she would be working with the Gender Department and other stakeholders to create awareness on ending early child marriage in the area. Source: Ghana News Agency

The Somanya Magistrate Court has convicted Mr Justice Agyei Boadi, a resident of Wawase in the Yilo Krobo municipality for building without a permit. He was convicted to pay a fine of 30 penalty units equivalent to GHS360.00, by the court presided over by Mr Derek Ocloo. He pleaded guilty to the charges of building a single-story apartment and occupying same without a permit, contrary to Section 106 (1) of Act 936/16. Mr Martin Abotsi, the Environmental Health Officer, who briefed the Court, said in October 2017, officers of the Works Department of the Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly, were on building inspection and came across a building under construction. He said after further checks, they realised the accused was the owner of the property and had no building permit, so was asked to stop building and obtain a permit. Mr Abortsi said since 2017, the accused had failed to obtain the permit but had continued with the building. ?He said the action of the accused was to deprive the Municipal Assembly of th e necessary resources for development and, building without a permit was likely to result in substandard buildings which posed danger to the public. Source: Ghana News Agency

Mehrzia Chehibi, the only candidate for the local elections in the "Ettahrir 2" constituency, said she will seek during her election campaign to convince the local population of the importance of contributing to the management of public affairs and to urge young people and women in particular to participate with their opinions and proposals for improving the overall situation in their region. Speaking to TAP on Saturday, the candidate underlined the need to instil in young people a sense of belonging to their homeland and to restore their confidence in the possibility of changing reality for the better. She undertook to find urgent solutions for certain unemployed young people, to set up a children's leisure space and a public library, and to equip sports facilities. In the social field, the candidate promised to help needy families and to provide some of them with free healthcare cards. Chehibi's electoral programme includes the completion of the hospital project in the Ettahrir neighbourhood, the creat ion of a night pharmacy, the safeguarding and rehabilitation of land for the construction of "SPROLOS" buildings, the improvement of public lighting and sewerage networks and the creation of green spaces. As far as her election campaign is concerned, the 38-year-old candidate, who holds a higher education degree, said that she will start her campaign on Saturday, by displaying the electoral declaration in the place allocated to her, in addition to distributing it to residents and publicising its points. Eleven candidates are standing for elections to the Ettharir Local Council, including 9 directly-elected candidates and two others with disabilities chosen by sortition. The "Ettahrir" delegation is divided into 5 constituencies. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (Ahafo South Mine), has been crowned the best company in the country at the 20th Ghana Club 100 awards, held in Accra. The mining firm, which placed second in the 2022 edition, topped 99 other companies, including Scancom Plc Ghana (MTN Ghana), who took the second spot, and Amanex Company Limited, which clinched the third position. Held at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) on Friday, December 8, the event was laced with strategic networking sessions, as well as music and dance. The event was organised by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), in collaboration with the MIE Group - organisers of the China Trade Week. The GIPC flagship event honours top performing entities in the Ghanaian business landscape whose contributions continue to propel the country's economic growth, and have positive impact on their serving communities. The top 100 companies that were celebrated were from the agriculture and agribusiness, financial services, ICT, infrastructure, pe troleum, mining services, manufacturing, tourism, health, and education sectors. The financial sector dominated the night as the sector with most numbers enlisted in the 20th Ghana Club 100 awards. However, none of its two predominant subsectors at the ceremony - microfinance and insurance made it to the top 10. GoldFields Ghana (Tarkwa Mine) placed fourth, Newmont Golden Ridge Ltd (Akyem Mine) - fifth, Anglogold Ashanti Ltd - sixth, and Dansworld International Services - seventh. The Abosso Goldfields Ltd, Benso Oil Palm Plantation Ltd, and FBNBank Ghana, placed eighth, ninth and 10th positions, respectively. This year's Ghana Club 100 awards is held on the theme: 'Accelerating Economic Growth: Amplifying Ghana's Global Market Footprint through AfCFTA (African Continental Free Trade Area).' The theme was crafted to engender significant promotion of investment, trade, and knowledge exchange, leading to the stimulation of national economic growth. AfCFTA, which took effect in early 2021, is the world's largest free trade area by membership, embracing 54 African countries with 1.3 billion population, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$2.4 trillion. Its implementation reflects the collective vision of African leaders to create a unified market, by removing all forms of trade barriers to stimulate economic growth and shared prosperity. Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President, stated that: 'Ghana thrives when the private sector thrives.' He said it was, therefore, important to strengthen companies in the private sector to enable them to compete effectively in the global market, especially by making them transition into a formalised economy. The Vice President said the government was doing its part with various initiatives, including the digitalisation of systems, advancement in technology and innovation, and improving infrastructural development. He stated that the country's digitalisation programme had been anchored on the Ghana Card - a biometric-technology national identity card, w hich had so far enrolled about 17 million people. 'Today, we've linked all bank accounts and SIM cards to the Ghana Card. Your tax identification number and National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) number is your Ghana Card number,' Dr Bawumia said. He also said that: 'Today, we've linked the Ghana Card number to the Controller and Accountant General Department's payroll, and we're seeing increase in formalisation of the economy as a result of digitalisation.' He encouraged Ghana's private sector to see AfCFTA as a catalyst for economic expansion, as the implementation of the free trade agreement provided an opportunity to explore opportunities for the continent's economic prosperity. 'The African Continental Free Trade Area, our compass for this journey is not merely an agreement; it is a beacon guiding us towards a future where Ghana stands tall in the global market place,' Dr Bawumia said. Mr Yofi Grant, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), GIPC noted that investors were aggressively pursuing opportunities i n Accra. That, he said, called for the formation of stronger alliances with Ghanaian companies to create a win-win situation for investors and the country, reiterating that the private sector remained the engine of growth of the Ghanaian economy. He pledged the Centre's support to create more avenues for enhanced private sector interaction with government. This will help businesses to thrive, and generate Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to support Ghana's economic growth and stability. This year's celebration, preceded with a three-day Ghana Investment Week in October, which brought together, investors, industry leaders, policymakers, and other stakeholders. The summit served as a platform to unlock infrastructural bottlenecks, including in roads, railways, airlines, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and energy to make intra-trade on the continent easier and faster. Source: Ghana News Agency

The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), a coalition of state and non-state organisations in the fight against corruption, has called for the creation of a specialised anti-corruption court to handle cases of bribery and corruption. The Coalition said that would help enhance and fast track the adjudication of corruption-related cases to promote Ghana's fight against the menace. Mr Samuel Harrison Cudjoe, Programmes Officer of GACC, made the recommendation during a presentation on GACC's 2023 Corruption Report. The GACC Corruption Report is an annual report on the state of corruption in Ghana, which is published every year in commemoration of the International Anti-Corruption Day (IACD) observed annually on December 09. The report showed that the country was experiencing declining performances on international corruption indices, alarming rate of petty corruption, deepening levels of grand corruption among public officers and institutions, and election-related corruption and vote-buying. Mr Cudjoe sai d their study showed that corruption seemed to have been normalised among the populace. He said the normalisation posed threats to the country's development aspirations to transform and advance inclusive development. 'In addition, recent happenings raise concerns that the government is not providing the public with a clear pathway to dealing with corruption. 'Ghanaians feel that some persons in authority appear to be sending wrong signals all the time. It is as if we take one step forward and two steps backwards.' Mr Cudjoe said the government must continue to invest substantially in the anti-corruption state institutions and intensify implementation of anti-corruption laws. 'We need to institutionalise a value system that prompts a person whose conduct in public office comes into disrepute to resign or recuse themselves from further administration of the office they occupy,' he added. Madam Beauty Emefa Narteh, Executive Secretary of GACC, urged state anti-graft agencies and the judicial arm of governm ent to deepen collaboration to ensure that perpetrators of corruption and corruption-related offenses were adequately punished. She stressed that until all stakeholders committed holistically to the fight against corruption, all efforts would amount to only scratching the surface of corruption instead of winning the fight against it. Source: Ghana News Agency