KOPIA Ghana Centre opens agric machinery centre for rice production (Daily Graphic, Thursday, November 30, 2023)

 

Free health screening goes to Afienya (Daily Graphic, Wednesday, November 29, 2023 Page 37)

 Some residents of Afienya and its environs in the Greater Accra Region have taken part in a free health screening exercise.

The screening which was organised by a pharmaceutical retailer, Top Up Pharmacy, last Monday saw the participants being screened for various ailments such as blood pressure, cholesterol, typhoid, blood sugar, Hepatitis B, as well as Body Mass Index (BMI).

Health experts were on hand to answer questions from the participants about their health to help them to improve their overall well-being.

There were a variety of educational resources available to help people learn more about healthy living and preventive care.

The Head of Sales and Marketing of Top Up Pharmacy, Dr Isaac Buabeng Nyantakyi, explained that November had been designated as diabetes awareness month and his organisation thought it necessary to bring attention to diabetes and its impact on the population.He said the health screening was the company’s way of giving back to the community and helping people take control of their health, saying people in the community who suffered serious ailments would be referred to see a doctor.

Avoid self-medication

Dr Nyantakyi, who is also a pharmacist, advised the public to avoid buying medications from drug peddlers in markets.  

He said antibiotic self-medication had been found to contribute to the phenomenon of resistance and associated risk of failure to cure communicable diseases and advised the citizenry to avoid self-medication, overuse and misuse of medication to help control the rising rates of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).

via: https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/ghana-news-free-health-screening-goes-to-afienya.html

 

 

Professionals mentor learners at Ashaiman (Junior Graphic, Wednesday, November 29, 2023 Page 4)

 

Overflowing stream banks flood Dawhenya - Residents displaced(Daily Graphic, Wednesday, November 29, 2023 Page 29)

 Some residents living in the Lalluekpo Electoral Area near Dawhenya in the Ningo-Prampram District of the Greater Accra Region have been displaced after a stream overflowed its banks and inundated their community.
 
Most of the residents, who reside in the lowland areas of the community, woke up to the sight of water on their premises on Monday morning.
The stream, which flows from the mountains upstream and feeds the Dawhenya Irrigation Dam was said to have overflowed its banks in the early hours of Monday and caused severe flooding.

During a visit to some parts of the flooded community on Tuesday, the Daily Graphic observed there was widespread flooding in the community.

The water, which residents said had shown signs of receding, had submerged a number of houses and kept extending towards dry land in the area.
A resident in the community, Charles Nartey, said some residents fled their homes due to the flooding as the water kept increasing and entering their rooms.

He said they noticed the increasing levels of water in their community around 4 a.m. last Monday and some residents had to evacuate their houses immediately.

He added that some of the affected residents, whose houses got flooded, had to move out to nearby communities such as Prampram, Miotso, Tema and Ashaiman to seek refuge.

Displaced persons

Richard Mohammed, the assembly member for Lalluekpo Electoral Area, one of the affected areas, said over 200 houses had been affected adding that they could no longer sleep in their homes.

He said some of the affected people have had their property destroyed while others had been displaced.

 

via:  https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/ghana-news-overflowing-stream-banks-flood-dawhenya-residents-displaced.html

Court dismisses contempt application against EC Chair, 2 deputies - But applicant files appeal (Daily Graphic, Monday, November 27, 2023 Page 19)

 The High Court in Tema has dismissed an application brought against the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa, and her two deputies for contempt of court over the limited voter registration exercise. 

The applicant, Precious Ayitah, had prayed the High Court to commit Mrs Mensa, Dr Eric Bossman Asare and Samuel Tettey for contempt of court for going ahead with the limited registration exercise in the district offices of the EC despite an injunction application she filed that sought to put the exercise on hold.

Ruling

The court, presided over by Justice Patricia Quansah, last Friday dismissed the contempt application against the respondents on grounds that it was without basis and awarded a nominal cost of GH¢2,000 against the applicant.

The judge in announcing the decision said the applicant was unable to establish a case against the respondents and also unable to prove that the respondents were personally served with the order of the court.

The allegation that the application was served on one Daniel Addae Nyamekye, designated as a Legal Secretary at the Head office of the EC could not also be proved.

The court said the EC argued that there was no such position as Legal Secretary and no such person known as Daniel Addai Nyamekye is in the employment of the EC.

The court agreed with the EC and held that if there was any doubt it ought to go in favour of the respondents, and that the applicant had failed to prove that the three commissioners were duly served, thus the application was without basis.

The court indicated that the evidence adduced by the applicant was not strong enough to enable the court to commit the respondents to contempt.

Appeal

Meanwhile the applicant, who was dissatisfied with the ruling of the High Court, filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal to overturn the ruling.

The Lawyer for the applicant, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, told the Daily Graphic that the appeal was filed last Friday.

Background

In her contempt suit against the EC Chairperson and her deputies, Ms Ayitah, a resident of Otsebleku, near Afienya in the Greater Accra Region, which is about 44.3 kilometres from the district office of the EC in Prampram, said the originating motion on notice and interlocutory injunction was served on the respondents on September 8, 2023, to restrain them from going ahead with the limited registration exercise in the district offices of the EC.She argued that the respondents disregarded the said injunction application and proceeded with the limited registration exercise in the district offices of the EC.

Ms Ayitah, in her affidavit in support of the application, said the respondent’s intention to proceed with the limited registration exercise at the district offices jeopardised the outcome of the initial interlocutory injunction application and the substantive suit that was brought to the court, hence contemptuous of the court.

 

via :  https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/politics/ghana-news-court-dismisses-contempt-application-against-ec-chair-2-deputies-but-applicant-files-appeal.html

 

Ashaiman Constituency: Bustling town, home of migrants (Daily Graphic, Friday, November 24, 2023 Pages 24/25)

It is one of the bustling municipalities in the Greater Accra Region.

Life goes on 24 hours without a blink of the eye by most of the residents.

 

The market, car parks/lorry stations, entertainment joints and homes are usually a beehive of activity.

Due to the influx of people from the West African sub-region, many refer to the community as the “United States of West Africa”.

The Ashaiman municipality was carved out of the Tema Municipality (now Tema Metropolitan Authority - TMA), as one of the newly created districts in 2008 by LI 1889 and Local Government Act of 1993 (Act 462).

It is one of the 34 assemblies in the Greater Accra Region.  

It was weaned from the TMA during the tenure of former President John Agyekum Kufuor with the view to bring governance to the doorsteps of the people and accelerate development in the area.

The Municipality shares boundaries with the TMA to the east, Ledzokuku Municipal Assembly to the south, Adentan Municipal Assembly to the north and La Nkwantanang Madina Municipality to the west.

The 2021 Population and Housing Census put the population of the area at 208,060, comprising 103,410 males and 104,650 females.
 

Migrants

Traditionally, Ashaiman falls under the Tema Traditional Council.

But from its small beginnings, the constituency has increasingly become the haven of a large number of migrants from all over the country and some West African countries.

The constituency has expanded, giving birth to many suburbs which bear both local and foreign names.

 Localities like Tulaku, Market Square, Fitter Line, Taabo Line, Tsinai Agbe, Zongo Laka, Roman Down, Night Market, Asensu Bar, Official Town, Taifa, Newtown, Valco Flats, Afariwaa, Christian Village and Atadeka are spiced up with exotic flavours such as Middle East, Jericho, Lebanon Zone 1 to 5, New York and Washington, among others.

Political dynamics

With the exception of the 2000 parliamentary elections when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, Emmanuel Kinsford Kwesi Teye, won the seat, Ashaiman has been a National Democratic Congress (NDC) stronghold.

Albert Boakye Okyere — MCE for Ashaiman

But for infighting in 2000, the NDC would have won the seat as has been the norm since the creation of the constituency in 1992.

Pundits believe the internal wrangling prior to the elections gave the NPP an easy passage, but that view has been rejected by the NPP supporters in the constituency on the grounds that the presidential election in the same year favoured the NPP candidate, John Agyekum Kufuor, who polled 28,393, representing 58.20 per cent, as against NDC’s John

Evans Atta Mills, who polled 17,603, representing 36.08 per cent.

To prove their case, the NDC reclaimed the seat in 2004 when Alfred Kwame Agbesi returned to the fold to win the seat with 53,559 votes after beating Emmanuel Kinsford Kwesi Teye of the NPP who secured 36,044.

Since then, the NDC has repeatedly retained the seat.

The current Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashiaman is Ernest Henry Norgbey of the NDC, who won the seat in the 2016 general election and went ahead to retain it in 2020.

In the 2020 election, Mr Norgbey polled 73,316 votes, representing 61.59 per cent votes, to maintain the seat for the NDC, while Labaran Yakubu Barry of the NPP, his closest contender, secured 45,730 votes, representing 38.41 per cent.

For the presidential election, former President John Mahama of the NDC secured 76,327 votes, representing 64.17 per cent, while President Nana Akufo-Addo polled 41,506, representing 34.89 per cent.

Mr Norgbey was retained by delegates of the NDC in the party’s parliamentary primaries held in May 13 this year as the NDC parliamentary candidate for election 2024.

Ernest Henry Norgbey — MP for Ashaiman

However, his third term bid to represent the people of Ashaiman in Parliament will be determined after the December 2024 parliamentary election as the constituency awaits the winner of the NPP parliamentary primaries in constituencies where the party has no sitting MPs on December 2, 2023.

The three contestants who have been approved for the NPP primaries are: Essel Justice King, Thomas Abotibala Adongo and Alhaji Labaran Yakubu Barry, who was the NPP parliamentary candidate for the 2020 election.  

 Like any inner city in Ghana, Ashaiman is one of the economically viable and vibrant communities but with some negatives.

A first-time visitor to the town will notice a plethora of banks, non-banking institutions, as well as other businesses scrambling for any available space to either set up new businesses or open new branches.

However, Ashaiman has over the years been perceived as the citadel of all sorts of crime.

Filth and bad roads have also engulfed the area in recent times.

Roads

One major concern of the people of Ashaiman is bad roads.

The poor state of the road near the Mandela Park intersection after a rainfall

Ashaiman, it is estimated, has a total of 166 kilometres network of roads, with only 28 km representing 17 per cent paved, leaving the remaining 137 km, representing 83 per cent, unpaved.

A civil servant, Richard Avorgbedor, told the Daily Graphic that the roads connecting major suburbs in Ashaiman were so deplorable and that various assurances by the government to fix them had failed to materialise.

He said inner roads such as the Ashaiman Traffic Light to the Presby Junction section of the Ashaiman-Adjei Kojo Road, Ashaiman Main Market to the Lebanon section of the Ashaiman overhead to the Zenu Road, Ashaiman Newtown junction to the Afariwa junction road, and the Community 22 and Lebanon inner roads were among the road networks in a deplorable state.

Demonstration

Moved by the poor road network, a group calling itself Concerned Citizens of Ashaiman embarked on a demonstration on October 3, 2023, to protest against the deplorable nature of roads within the municipality.

The Assembly member for the Naa Amerley Electoral Area, Ayiku Kubutey, bemoaned the poor state of the roads, adding that in spite of numerous promises by the government, the situation remained unchanged, thus having a negative impact on economic activities in the municipality.

The MP for Ashaiman, Ernest Henry Norgbey, in an interview, said the government had ignored the pleas of the people of Ashaiman for long, adding that the demonstration was to serve as a signal to the government that the request of the people could no longer be ignored.

Response

The Municipal Chief Executive, Albert Boakye Okyere, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, gave the assurance of the government’s commitment to reconstruct roads in the municipality.

He said the government had already taken steps to improve the roads by awarding a 10 km drainage contract which was ongoing, adding that once the drains were constructed, the roads would be fixed.

“Roads in the area cannot be completed under one administration. Government is a continuum; we have done some and we are hoping to do more for the people of Ashaiman,” he said.
 

Education/ Health

The constituency is a beneficiary of the E-Block initiative instituted by the NDC government to enhance access to secondary education.

The school was to complement the existing Ashaiman Senior High School.

Unfortunately, the project which is about 80 per cent complete, has been abandoned.

The MP for the area said in spite of efforts to get the government to have the project completed and handed over for use had been totally neglected.

Ashaiman Sewerage Treatment System

The MCE for Ashaiman said the assembly was committed to completing all projects started by previous governments, including the E-Block, adding that the assembly had constituted a team to follow up the project with the relevant agencies towards the early completion of the facility. 

In the area of health care, Mr Okyere indicated that Ashaiman had been slated to benefit from the government’s Agenda 111 hospitals to help improve health services in Ashaiman and its adjoining communities.

The 100-bed hospital being constructed under the government's flagship Agenda 111 will be constructed by three contractors at a cost of US$ 12 million.

 It is scheduled to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2024.

He explained that although the Municipality boasts of a Polyclinic, which was recently upgraded to the status of a primary hospital to meet the health needs of the growing population of Ashaiman, some residents were compelled to travel to the Tema General Hospital and other private facilities to seek health care.

Mr Okyere commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and gave the assurance that the assembly would ensure the effective and efficient implementation of the project.

He also commended the Ghana Armed Forces for releasing part of its lands at Michel Camp, the base of the First Battalion of Infantry of the Ghana Army, for the project.

Mr Norgbey, for his part, welcomed the initiative aimed at improving access to healthcare facilities by the people of Ashaiman.
 

Sanitation

On sanitation, the MCE said increased population growth and rapid urbanisation had resulted in the generation of large quantities of solid waste but gave the assurance that the assembly was doing its best to address the situation.

In terms of household toilets, he said prior to his assumption of office, the number of people with access to household toilets in the Municipality stood at 1,300, but currently the figure stood at over 9,000.

Mr Okyere said the government had also constructed an ultra-modern Simplified Sewerage Facility in the Municipality, which was connected to over 25,000 low income beneficiaries in the Ashaiman New Town and TDC Quarters area, to help address the sanitation challenges.

via:  https://www.graphic.com.gh/features/opinion/ghana-news-ashaiman-constituency-bustling-town-home-of-migrants-2.html

Freight Forwarders call for increased consultations(GraphicOnline, Thursday, November 23, 2023/ Daily Graphic Mon November 27, 2023 Page 75 ))

The President of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF), Edward Akrong, has called for more inclusion of freight forwarders in the country’s policy formulations. This, he explained, would lead to the development of well-advised policies that would improve trade facilitation in the country.

Speaking at a press conference in Tema on Tuesday, November 21, 2023, to highlight some critical issues affecting the freight forwarding industry, Mr Akrong said the Ghanaian freight forwarding community plays a pivotal role in the nation’s economic development in both trade facilitation and revenue generation for the country, hence, the need for them to be consulted whenever policies are to be rolled out. 

Valuation challenges 

 The GIFF president listed the valuation of goods by the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority as one of the issues facing their sector. He said although valuation had been a sore point in doing business at the ports, the situation has been further exacerbated by a recent imposition of a reference price list for the valuation of goods by the Board of the GRA. He argued that this new directive directly contradicted international trade agreements, particularly those under the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TEA). 

“As signatories to the WTO, Ghana is bound by principles that advocate for fair and transparent valuation,” he said, adding that the Customs Act 2015, Act 891 clearly and unequivocally states how valuation for goods should be done. 

He argued that it was illegal for the GRA to create a certain minimum value or reference price list for valuation purposes, stressing that several importers have been saddled with this imposition even though they have provided all evidence of the genuineness of their values. 

 Mr Akrong posited that all these policies added to the high cost of doing business at the ports and also had a direct effect on the cost of goods on the market and urged a reconciliation of the policy to align with international standards to foster a conducive environment for trade.

 Exemption law 

He said the recent passage of the Exemption Act, 2022, Act 1083 by Parliament also did not go through consultation with his outfit before its introduction, adding that the passage and implementation of the law have created obstacles in the clearance process, affecting not only private enterprises but also hindering the clearance of government cargoes at the Ports. 

Mr Akrong revealed that data available showed, for example, that Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and the Cocoa Marketing Board, for the last three quarters in 2023, have a total of over 900 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) on the Uncleared Cargo List mainly due to lack of exemptions. 

“The sad part is the accrual of demurrage charges to the shipping lines, which is an enormous burden on the government,” he said. GIFF, therefore, advocated for a review of the legislation to ensure that it served its intended purpose without obstructing the essential movement of goods, particularly those crucial to government operations.

 SIGMAT 

 The GIFF President listed the Interconnected System for the Management of Goods in Transit (SIGMAT), which he described as reminiscent of the Cargo Tracking Note as one of the failed policies introduced, and maintained that his outfit opposes the policy, adding that the government needed to reassess and rectify policies that may inadvertently impede the efficiency of the logistics and supply chain operations 

 He said the Government’s recent directive to importers in the cooking oil industry to use only the seaport as the point of entry has created new challenges for players in that sector, adding that the industry players, especially those along the West African sub-region, have to invest more resources in shipping their goods to Ghana’s seaports. 

Mr Akrong argued that in an environment characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, the frequent changes in policies without consultation with key stakeholders posed significant challenges to the operations of GIFF members. 

 He, therefore, called for a collaborative approach between the government and industry stakeholders in the formulation of policies that were not only responsive to current global dynamics but also supportive of the growth and sustainability of the freight forwarding sector.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

via: 

https://www.graphic.com.gh/business/business-news/freight-forwarders-call-for-increased-consultations.html