Controversy over 2 fishers death at sea(Daily Graphic, Friday, July 28, 2023. Front Page)

 

 

 

 

Two fishermen from Tema died at sea in the early hours of Thursday, sparking a furore between fishers and port authorities over what caused their death. 

The fishers, mostly from Tema Manhean (Newtown), claimed the two were part of 12 members who were on a ritual Homowo fishing expedition, when a patrol boat from the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) rammed into their canoe at the Tema Port anchorage, causing it to capsize.

But the GPHA denied that assertion, saying no such incident happened at sea.

The canoe, Adesa Na Ohetsui, which translates: “Man be patient”, was carrying 12 fishermen, who were on a Homowo ritual fishing expedition with the backing of the Tema Traditional Council.

The fishermen said they were hauling their net within the anchorage when they were rammed by the patrol boat that was at the scene to drive them away.

The deceased have been identified as Francis Tetteh Larbi, 27, and Samuel Acquaye Allotey, 45, both residents of Tema Newtown.

Outrage, investigation

The incident, which occurred around 1:30 a.m., sparked anger and outrage among the fishing community, who had called for an independent investigation into the incident.

They also demanded that the GPHA be held accountable for the incident, insisting that the patrol boat belonged to the authority.

However, a statement from the GPHA refuted the allegations, saying “There was never a collision between the Security Patrol Boat and any fishing boat whatsoever”.

“We wish to emphasise that GPHA is a responsible organisation involved in search and rescue missions and as such will not abandon victims of a collision even if it involved our own craft,” the statement signed by the Marketing and Public Affairs Manager of the Tema Port, Abena Serwaa Opoku Fosu, said.

The statement explained that the Port Control Station last Wednesday, about half past midnight, received a distress call from MV. SEASPAN DUBAI for assistance to ward off several fishing boats which had surrounded their vessel.

It said the security patrol team, which comprised the Ghana Navy, Marine Police and GPHA Security, responded timeously, cautioned and asked the said fishing boats to leave. 

“At 0118HRS, MT. MARINA ‘M’, which was also at the anchorage, also called the Port Control Station for assistance to ward off a suspicious looking fishing boat with about nine occupants.

The team again responded by cautioning and directing the boat and its occupants to row out,” the statement added.

On their way back, it said, the patrol team chanced upon another set of fishermen who had cast their nets and were fishing within the terminal 3 basin, close to a container vessel.

The GPHA said the nets were seized, and the men were cautioned and led out of the basin.

He added that “all patrol activities were halted at 0455HRS on Thursday July 27, without any incident of collision whatsoever”. 

Near brawl

There was also a near-clash between the police and a crowd of people who had gathered at the Canoe Landing Basin where the bodies were retrieved.

The crowd prevented the police from conveying the bodies of the deceased in a police pick-up truck, arguing that their kinsmen were not criminals to be carried away as such.

The police were eventually forced to call in a hearse which conveyed the bodies to the International Maritime Hospital mortuary for autopsy and preservation.

The Commander of the Marine Police Unit in Tema, Superintendent Charles Osei, confirmed the incident at sea to the Daily Graphic and said investigations were underway to establish the identity of the boat and the cause of the incident.

Chief fisherman

The Tema Awudun Chief Fisherman, Nii Ashitey Odametey II, told the Daily Graphic that the traditional council undertook expeditions to catch particular fish for the performance of rites as part of the annual traditional Homowo festival.

He said the various stakeholders, including the GPHA and Marine Police, were aware of the expedition and that about 20 canoes were at sea for the expedition when the incident occurred.

The Chairman of the Tema Canoe Owners Association, Nii Adjiete Quaye, said they received information that a tugboat had rammed into the canoe and subsequently left the fishermen to their fate.

He said a vessel plying the anchorage that chanced upon the incident rescued the 10, turn up the capsized canoe, after which the fisherfolk realised two of their colleagues were unaccounted for.

"They then informed the rescue vessel, which had just left, but it returned and assisted to retrieve the bodies of the deceased who were found trapped in the fishing net," Nii Quaye insisted.

The GPHA, in its statement, explained that at 01:18 a.m., MT Marina ‘M’, which was also at the anchorage, also called the Port Control Station for assistance to ward off a suspicious looking fishing boat with about nine occupants.

"On their way back, the Patrol Team chanced upon another set of fishermen who had cast their nets and were fishing within the terminal 3 basin, close to a container vessel.

The nets were seized, and the men were cautioned and led out of the basin after which all patrol activities were halted at 04:55 a.m. on Thursday, July 27, without any incident of collision whatsoever," the statement said.

The Tema Metropolitan Security Committee (MESEC) has set up a five-member committee to probe the circumstances that led to the incident.

The committee, which is made up of representatives from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police, the Ghana National Fire Service, the National Investigations Bureau, the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and the Tema Metropolitan Assembly, has five days to submit its report.

The Tema Municipal Chief Executive, Yohane Amarh Ashitey, who also led the Metropolitan Security Council to commiserate with the fishermen and the families of the deceased, pledged that anyone found to have deliberately played a role in the incident would be  prosecuted.

 

via : https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/controversy-over-2-fishers-death-at-sea.html

Public Health Alert: Suspected black flies invade Dawhenya (Graphic Online, Monday, July 24, 2023)

 

Some insects suspected to be black flies have invaded some communities in the North Dawhenya Electoral Area of the Greater Accra Region.  

The flies have been leaving blood stains at the spots bite on the human body and this has been creating anxiety among residents. 

Some of the affected residents say they have been continuously scratching their skin resulting in swells on their body. 

Areas affected are Abbeykope, Miotso, Eagle Nest Estates, Mackweon Estates among others. 

The Assembly member for North Dawhenya Electoral Area, Moses Nii-P Kutor on Monday morning [July 24, 2023] told Graphic Online that he has informed the District Health Directorate and the Environmental Health Office to come to the aid of the community. 

"The stings of the flies we are told are poisonous and leave sores and other skin diseases on their victims," he said.

He called for an urgent attention to the situation so that the residents can go back to thier normal activities. 

"The situation is getting worse by the day and my worry is about the children, especially those in school who keep complaining about the invasion and the painful bites," he said.

Meanwhile, a source at the District Health Directorate of the Ningo Prampram District has confirmed the presence of the insects in the community and indicated that efforts were underway to investigate the issues.

The source said, they were working together with the Environmental Health Office in the District to map out strategies including carrying out fumigation in the affected communities. 

via : https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/health/public-health-alert-black-flies-invade-dawhenya.html

Tema: Vehicle on the move catches fire, 2 escape unhurt (Graphic Online, Sunday, July 23, 2023, )

 

The incident occurred between the Peace of Peace Presbyterian Church and the Santa Barbara School in Tema Community 2 in the Greater Accra Region.

Two people on board a vehicle with registration number GN 3774-20 escaped unhurt after a vehicle they were onboard caught fire on Sunday on Sunday morning [July 23, 2023] in Tema. 

They vehicle was on the move when the driver saw smoke emitting from the engine. 

It was unclear what caused the fire which destroyed the Hyundai vehicle beyond recognition. 

One of the passengers  onboard, Antoinette Foli told personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service who arrived at the scene that, the driver realized at a point that the vehicle was not moving and so he parked the by the road side to inspect what was causing it. 

She said not long after they detected fire coming out of the engine and and before they could grab the fire extinguisher, the fire spread quickly. 

The personnel from the GNFS led by Assistant Divisional Officer Grade II, Cornelius Ameyada said the incident was brought under control at about 11:13 am.

via: https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/tema-vehicle-on-the-move-catches-fire-2-escape-unhurt.html

Sierra Leone overtakes Ghana as most peaceful country in West Africa (Graphic Online. Wednesday, July 13, 2023)

Sierra Leone has overtaken Ghana as the most peaceful country in West Africa in the latest Global Peace Index published on June 28, 2023.

Ghana has also slipped as the second most peaceful country in Africa in the 2022 index to the 4th position this year. 

Commenting on the latest index, the Chairman of the Governing Board of the National Peace Council (NPC) Rev Dr. Ernest Adu-Gyamfi said the development calls for more work as the decline was not too good for Ghana.

He was speaking in Prampram on Tuesday, July 12, 2023 at a two-day national dialogue on Improving civilian – security agency relations for the prevention of violent extremism in Ghana.

Conflict deaths at the highest level this century is causing world peacefulness to decline, the 17th edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI) from the international think-tank, the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) stated.

The national dialogue was organised by the NPC and the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) with funding from the Netherlands Embassy with the objective of strategically building consensus and trust to improve civilian-security agency relations towards preventing violent extremism in Ghana under a project named the Prevention of Violent Extremism Through Social Accountability (PoVETSA) project.

The dialogue was attended by security agencies including the Ghana Police Service, representatives of the various political parties.

The GPI covers 163 countries comprising 99.7 per cent of the world’s population, using 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from highly respected sources, and measures the state of peace across three domains: the level of Societal Safety and Security; the extent of Ongoing Domestic and International Conflict; and the degree of Militarisation. 

Why Ghana dropped

Rev Dr. Adu-Gyamfi attributed the decline to some of the happenings in Ghana to threats such as armed robbery incidents, highway robberies as well as some attacks on journalists, political violence, and the land guard menace and other perceptions, which all goes to inform the rating and compilation of the results.

He said as a country there was the need to do the best we can to avoid some of these happenings.

He stressed the need to enhance trust and confidence between the security agencies and the civilian population to prevent extremism in Ghana and to improve understanding and tolerance as the country prepared itself for the 2024 general elections. 

Interventions

He noted that the Peace Council, since 2020 had contributed to the prevention of insurgent activities by undertaking programmes to build resilience against terrorism and violent extremism.

Rev Dr. Adu-Gyamfi said the Council has engaged over 100 student leaders across the country, trained over 400 youths in all the regions of Ghana and reached out to over 200 fisher folks as well as commercial drivers on ways to prevent the insurgents from getting a foothold in the country.

He, however noted that despite these interventions, the extremist threat was persistent adding that it has been established that even though operations under the Accra Initiative temporarily halted terror groups’ activities and movements, it was limited in duration and geographic scope.

“It is worth noting that protracted chieftaincy conflicts give us reasons to worry, because the insurgents are always lurking around to use vulnerable communities for their nefarious activities. Other unresolved conflicts, including intra and inter-party elections at all levels must be holistically dealt with so that they do not serve as motivation for violence and provide impetus for aggrieved individuals to use unlawful means to seek revenge.” He said

Rev Dr. Adu-Gyamfi said some of the political tensions and mis-trust have security implications and therefore called on all citizens to help the Council build strong bonds of resilience at all levels of our national endeavours to ward off the common enemy.

“The Peace Council believes building the required trust between our political parties and the Ghana Police Service is a sure way to build and sustain our collective resolve against the threat of violent extremist and terrorism and even more importantly improve tolerance ahead of the 2024 general elections,” he said.

Global Peace Index 2023

The 17th edition of the annual Global Peace Index (GPI), the world’s leading measure of peacefulness, reveals the average level of global peacefulness deteriorated for the ninth consecutive year, with 84 countries recording an improvement and 79 a deterioration.

This demonstrates that the deteriorations were larger than the improvements, as the post-COVID rises of civil unrest and political instability remain high while regional and global conflicts accelerate.

Key results

• Deaths from global conflict increased by 96% to 238,000

• New data shows higher number of conflict deaths in Ethiopia than Ukraine, eclipsing the previous global peak during the Syrian war

• 79 countries witnessed increased levels of conflict including Ethiopia, Myanmar, Ukraine, Israel, and South Africa

• The global economic impact of violence increased by 17% or $1 trillion, to $17.5 trillion in 2022, equivalent to 13% of global GDP

• A Chinese blockade of Taiwan would cause a drop in global economic output of $2.7 trillion, almost double the loss that occurred due to the 2008 global financial crisis

• Despite the conflict in Ukraine, 92 countries improved on military expenditure and 110 decreased their military personnel

• Conflicts are becoming more internationalised with 91 countries now involved in some form of external conflict, up from 58 in 2008

The rise in conflicts

79 countries deteriorated in the Ongoing Conflict domain, with conflict related deaths increasing by 96% compared to the prior year. Conflict deaths are now at the highest level this century. The Ethiopian conflict claimed the most lives in 2022 with new data finding that battlefield deaths were over 100,000, while disease and famine related deaths were conservatively estimated at over 200,000. This conflict has been largely hidden from the media because of domestic media restrictions and internet blackouts. This has coincided with US and UN aid organisations stopping food shipments because of corruption in the food supply chains.

In sub-Saharan Africa, Mali recorded the largest deterioration with conflict-related deaths increasing by 154%, while violence against civilians rose by 570%. Eswatini experienced the next largest drop in peacefulness in the region.

The Ukraine war has seen the total number of Ukrainians who were either refugees or internally displaced jump from 1.7% before the conflict, to over 30% and is likely to continue increasing. Recent data has found that up to 65% of men in Ukraine aged 20 to 24 years have fled the country or died in the conflict1 . The report estimates 83,000 deaths are related to the conflict so far.

In contrast to the devastating effects of the war on the Russian population, other internal factors have improved including the incarceration rate, a decrease in violent demonstrations, and the impact of terrorism. The homicide rate within Russia is now at its lowest level since the inception of the GPI in 2008. If not for the Ukraine conflict, Russia would have been one of the largest improvers in peace in this year’s Index.

The global number of refugees and internally displaced people continues to rise; there are now 15 countries with over 5% of their population displaced.

Regional Highlights

• The largest regional improvements occurred in MENA and North America. North America’s improvement was driven by Canada, but the United States deteriorated slightly where homicide rates have risen to levels six times higher than Western Europe.

• Since 2016 MENA has seen the largest improvements in peace globally, however it is still the least peaceful region. The epicentre of terrorism has shifted from the MENA region into sub-Saharan Africa, especially the Sahel.

• Central America, the Caribbean and South America have recorded substantial deteriorations, falling mainly on measures of repression, violence, and conflict.

• Coastal West Africa is at its most peaceful since reporting began in 2008, with countries in the region recording an average improvement of 5% in the past 14 years.

The coastal region between Morocco and Ghana recorded no deaths from terrorism in 2022, in contrast to the neighbouring countries in the Sahel.

 Europe is still the most peaceful region in the world, despite military expenditure and Neighbouring Country Relations deteriorating because of the Ukraine war. The region is still home to seven of the ten most peaceful countries, with the level of violent demonstrations, protests and riots remaining high. The other three most peaceful countries are in the Asia-Pacific region.

VIA: https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/sierra-leone-overtakes-ghana-as-most-peaceful-country-in-west-africa.html

Pharmacy Council lauded for upholding standards (Graphic Online. Tuesday, July 4, 2023)

The Pharmacy Council of Ghana has been commended for strengthening its regulations to weed out quack health practitioners from the system.

The Chief Executive Officer of Top-Up Pharmacy and Lena House Clinic, Dr Richard K. Odor, in an interview with journalists on the sidelines of a staff dinner and awards night held Wednesday, noted that the issue of quark practitioners were of major concern but lauded the regulatory body for taking steps to weed out unqualified people who had infiltrated the system.

He cautioned people to desist from taking drugs without first talking to a doctor or a pharmacist.

“Drugs can become poisons depending on how they are used.

You need to speak to a pharmacist on every drug you take so that you will have the full benefit of the drug because a poorly used drug becomes a poison,” he said.

Dr Odor, while praising the workers for their distinguished service, also appreciated them for their indispensable role in the ongoing success of the organisation.

Dr Odor said from what started as a tiny single store in Tema Community Four, the company now has 20 branches employing 300 people, stressing that in the coming years, the company was looking at growing into a big pharmaceutical company with branches in all the regions of Ghana.

He said they were equally targeting the West African sub region and also considering veering into local production of pharmaceuticals because they thought that should ultimately be the way forward to bring quality affordable medicines to the doorstep of people to take care of their healthcare needs without necessarily spending a lot of foreign currency importing these same medicines.

Dr Richard Odor (2nd from left), Chief Executive Officer, Top-Up Pharmacy being presented with a citation from staff and management members of Top-Up Pharmacy at an awards and dinner at Tema. Picture: SAMUEL TEI ADANO

Challenge

Dr Odor said one of the challenges facing the business was getting an appropriate location to open a facility while the other challenge was getting access to funding.

He said because medicines were expensive and trying to get the right kind of medicine and having all the stocks a client needed at any point in time was daunting.

He expressed the hope that the banks would be more welcoming and supporting the pharmaceutical industry so that the cost of doing business in the pharmacy space would be less and they could pass that benefit to the clients so that invariably, the cost of medicines would go down

He also expressed the hope that the challenges faced in the clearing of medicines at the ports would be looked at so they could bring in registered products that would benefit the general public

The General Manager in charge of Retail, Dr Emmanuel Fiadzorgbe, said Top Up Pharmacy Group had lived up to its ideals of delivering exceptional pharmaceutical care and making a positive impact on people's lives.

He commended the staff, whom, he said, had worked tirelessly around the clock to ensure customers' needs were met with care, professionalism, and expertise.

Awards

Five hardworking staff of the Top Up Pharmacy Group Limited were honoured for their outstanding contributions to the company.

They were Dr Amanda Mingle- East Legon Branch, Best Branch Manager, Sandra Adofo- Spintex Branch, Best Sales Supervisor Solomon Adevu-Transport Department, Best Non-Sales Supervisor, Ms Prisca Ansah- Osu Branch, Best Junior Sales Staff and - George Mordzi- Tema Community 9 Branch, Best Junior Non-Sales Staff.

Long-service awards were also given to staff who had served the company for 10 years and above.

They include Janet Okantu who had served the company for 15 years. The CEO and his wife, Olena, were also appreciated by the staff of the company.

 

via: https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/pharmacy-council-lauded-for-upholding-standards.html

ECG trains electrical contractors (Graphic Online. Monday, July 10, 2023)

 The training, which is being organised in batches for members of the Ghana Electrical Contractors Association nationwide was to help the third party contractors appreciate the changes in technology and standards as far as power distribution system was concerned.

The one-day refresher course which attracted 200 participants focused on electrical earthing design and best practices.

 

Earthing is an efficient way of protecting the appliances from electrical hazards when current surge or overload current is supplied.

The course was designed to ensure that electrical projects carried out by the third party contractors were executed within scope, schedule and quality standards to meet the growing demand for power.

The General Manager, Energy, Consulting and Telco Businesses at ECG, Dr George Eduful who spoke to journalists after the opening session on Thursday, [July 6, 2023] indicated that the refresher course for the contractors was to share knowledge about ECG’s operations stressing that this would help the external contractors adhere to safety requirements and ensure that quality standards are met in the execution of their work.

He said the third party contractors were major stakeholders because their operations tie in directly with ECG’s mandate to provide quality, safe, and reliable electricity supply to support the nation’s economic growth.

Dr Eduful said due to the vital nature of the work of contractors, adhering to best practices and the use of standard materials in executing jobs cannot be downplayed.

“Our power distribution system should not be epileptic in a way that when it starts raining, the power goes off. We do not want to have a system where it is subject to the mercy of the weather conditions so we train people to build a network that is resilient and robust so that we can continue to provide quality service for our customers.” He said

Quality Assurance

The Director, Energy, Consulting and Telco Businesses at ECG, John K. Amihere Mensah also stressed the importance of such training and collaborations, which would ensure quality assurance and keep the third party contractors abreast of new trends and safety standards.

The President of the Ghana Electrical Contractors Association, Awal Sakib Mohammed said the training was one of many programmes designed for members of the association to build their capacity.

He indicated that reliability and safety of ECG’s distribution network to a greater extent relied on the actions or inactions of third party contractors

He added that technology and standards continue to evolve, it had become necessary to prepare and train their members who render services to the ECG on best practices so that they would be able to construct very robust distribution systems, transformer installation among others so that ECG could best serve their customers

Mr Mohammed said although Ghana currently has sufficient generation capacity, a lot of faults recorded in the communities were localised faults and a well trained third party contractor would be able to install or construct a very reliable system which would help prevent such outages.

He therefore commended ECG for organising the training for members of the association.

The  Director of ECG Training Centre, Aheng Owusu-Afriyie stressed that training was  crucial for organisational development and success adding that management of ECG and the Training Centre would continue to collaborate with its stakeholders through such refresher courses to help improve the knowledge and skills of not only employees by third party contractors to match the various changes in the industry.

 

via: https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/regional/ecg-trains-electrical-contractors.html

Nation loses position as most peaceful country in W/Africa ( Daily Graphic, Thursday, July 13, 2023. Page 49)

 

The nation has lost its position as the Most Peaceful Country in West Africa to Sierra Leone in the latest Global Peace Index released last week.

The country also slipped to the fourth position, from its second place as the Most Peaceful in Africa in the 2022 index.

The GPI covers 163 countries which make up 99.7 per cent of the world’s population.

They used 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from highly respected sources and across three domains: the level of societal safety and security; the extent of ongoing domestic and international conflict, and the degree of militarisation to arrive at their decision.

The Chairman of the Governing Board of the National Peace Council, (NPC) Rev. Dr Ernest Adu-Gyamfi, who disclosed this, attributed the decline to threats such as armed robbery, attack on journalists, political violence, land guard menace and perceptions which he said contributed the ratings and compilation of results.

He was speaking at a two-day national dialogue on improving civilian-security agency relations for the prevention of violent extremism in the country at Prampram in the Greater Accra Region yesterday.

The event formed part of a project named “Prevention of violent extremism through social accountability (PoVETSA)”.

Participants included personnel of the Ghana Police Service and representatives from various political parties.

It was organised by the NPC and the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and funded by the Netherlands Embassy.

 

Building trust

Rev. Ernest Adu-Gyamfi stressed the need to enhance trust and confidence between the security and the civilian population to prevent extremism and improve understanding and tolerance in the country, especially in activities leading to the 2024 general election.

He said the NPC, since 2020, had contributed to the prevention of insurgent activities by undertaking programmes to build resilience against terrorism and violent extremism.

The chairman said that the council engaged more than 100 student leaders across the country, trained more than 400 youths in all the regions and also reached out to more than 200 fisherfolk, as well as commercial drivers on ways to prevent the insurgents from getting a foothold in the country.

“It is worth noting that protracted chieftaincy conflicts give us reasons to worry, because the insurgents are always lurking around to use vulnerable communities for their nefarious activities.

“Other unresolved conflicts, including intra and inter-party elections at all levels, must be holistically dealt with so that they do not serve as motivation for violence and provide impetus for aggrieved individuals to use unlawful means to seek revenge,” he added.

Concerns

The Country Representative of CRS, Daniel Mumuni, said there had been instances where trust between political parties and security agencies in the country had strained, leading to a sense of apprehension within the society.

He said such situations endangered democratic processes and undermined national development, adding that establishing a vibrant peace-building infrastructure strengthens partnerships and also promotes inclusive and participatory governance.

The Tema Regional Police Commander, Commissioner of Police, Daniel Kwame Afriyie, said his outfit had embarked on a transformation agenda to position itself to become a world-class institution.

He said that was being done through engaging various stakeholders in communities to ensure law and order prevailed.

VIA: https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/nation-loses-position-as-most-peaceful-country-in-w-africa.html