Aggrieved customers of Menzgold during a protest

Aggrieved customers of the defunct gold dealership company, Menzgold, have promised to vote for the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, after the latter promised to pay their locked up funds.

Former President and flagbearer for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has promised to pay up all locked-up funds to affected customers of defunct financial institutions.

John Dramani Mahama said this during a ceremony to outdoor his running mate, Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang on Monday July 27, 2020.

According to Mahama, when elected in the impending December polls, he shall pay all customers of the collapsed financial institutions whose monies are locked up in full and restore indigenous Ghanaian participation in the financial sector.

“I pledge on behalf of the NDC that we shall, within one year of being in office pay all funds that have been locked up with the collapsed financial institutions. Within our first year in office, we shall pay all the beneficiaries all funds locked up in the collapsed financial institutions and its a promise. We shall not put together any long term payment plan that will further worsen the living conditions of the victims,” .

“As has been introduced in other economies, the NDC will establish a financial services authority that will be responsible for ensuring that consumer financial markets work for consumers and providers and for the economy as a whole. This financial services authority will oversee all financial products and services that are offered to consumers and will effectively and efficiently prevent and stop the challenges that have confronted customers of Menzgold, DKM and others,” he said.

Speaking on Atinka News Tuesday afternoon, Spokesperson for the aggrieved Aggrieved customers of the defunct gold dealership company, Menzgold, Fred Forson expressed the association’s gratitude to the former president of the republic of Ghana.

According to Fred Forson, the spirit of the members of the association has been rekindled and that they are optimistic the former President will head to his words.

“We are happy the Former President has thought about us and have promised to look at our issue. We assure him that we will encourage our members to go out in their numbers to take part in the new voter registration exercise and vote for him come Dec 7”, he said.

Prof.Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang.The vice presidential candidate for National Democratic Congress.

It was her maiden speech as Running Mate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and she appears to have left a good impression on the minds of some Ghanaians.

Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, during her official outdooring made some profound statements, covering subjects including violence, poverty, gender balance and equality.

GhanaWeb brings you a compilation of major highlights of Prof. Opoku-Agyemang:

1. Making history is gratifying; but what really matters is not to be first through the door. What matters is to hold the door open for those behind us and create other avenues for self-actualization for many more. That is the work of the next four years.

2. I accepted the nomination because it is an opportunity to serve my country once again, albeit at a higher level. In God do I continue to trust, that I may never be confounded.

3. It will be my mission to ensure that the voices and concerns of our children, our youth and our aged, and our persons with disabilities are reflected in critical decisions.Together, we can strategize to solve long-standing problems of needless and unproductive discrimination, and thrive as valued citizens.

4. I want you, all of us in whatever demographic category to know, that I will carry your voices forward. Together, we can make it happen. This, I pledge to you.

5. Men and women together have accomplished fantastic things in our history. But I must also acknowledge that today, I stand on the shoulders of many giants who came before me. Throughout our history, women have always played pivotal roles in the advancement of our country. When duty called, our women too, responded. We all have in mind great heroines who, by their actions, shattered the concept that women alone must be restricted by ceilings and limitations.

I salute those many known women who have made such great contributions to the advancement of our country. And just as importantly, I pay homage to those many, many unknown women, the silent and invisible and unacknowledged women, who also played and continue to play critical roles in building what we now call our country.

6. We must be mindful of the fact that 60% of our population will be under the age of 30 in a few years. That is why it is so critical that we systematically reform all our systems to effectively address the aspirations of our youth and country.

7. We need meaningful, quality and comprehensive education that goes beyond access and responds to the future we can actualize.

8. We must leverage on vocational and technical training to equip many into meaningful and fulfilling work.

9. We must provide opportunities that transcend political patronage, ‘connection’ and the practice of whom- you- know. Equal and fair opportunities based on merit are an imperative for sustainable economic growth. The time for that shift is now.

10. Truth be told, despite all our challenges, Ghana remains a special place where any dream is possible, where every aspiration matters, and where anyone – be it a little boy from Bole or a little girl from Komenda – can grow up to be anything they want to be. Even President. Even Vice President. This is why we love this country so much. We must continue to make it a place we cherish and are proud to belong to, and a place of opportunities.

11. Let our politics deviate from this unproductive path of injustice and non-peace. Ghana does not belong to any select few. We the People, all of us, are the protectors and owners of this country for our collective good and for that of generations unborn.

12. What makes Ghana so special is that – despite our various ethnic groups, religions, and diverse backgrounds – we all come together as one people under one flag, inspired by the sacrifices of our ancestors to create a great country. And everyone’s ancestor has been a worthy contributor to this space now called Ghana, whose artificial borders, sadly, we seek to make even more artificial, as if our continent has not suffered enough from the initial assault. Everyone matters. We have come too far as a nation to still cling to our primordial tribal bigotries.

13. Diversity is a source of great strength. Whether you are GA, MFANTSE, SISALI, EWE, GONJA, ASANTE, NZEMA, MAMPRUSI, or any other ethnic group, you are valued as a Ghanaian. You have every right to walk with confidence, with a high resolve to make huge contributions to this nation. Let nobody, let no one question your identity or patriotism. It is time to put all these needless, unproductive and backward distractions behind us and get on with the serious business of nation building. The time is now.

14. This is a bad phase; it will only pass with our collective determination, plain honest, hard work and willingness to put in practice those values of integrity, meritocracy and inclusiveness. Let’s re-ignite the Ghanaian spirit of caring, sharing, of kind hospitality and sincerity. We know we can, all minds linked; God our helper.

15. To all the little girls and boys across our country, always dream big; remain focused. You can grow to become anything you want to be. Believe that only you can stop yourselves. It is not going to be about your parents, rich or poor; not the region you come from and whether it is endowed with resources or not. Remember that natural endowment is what it is; it did not come from the effort of anyone. It is nature that placed those resources there. That is why we call them natural resources. It is rather about a system that works; a functioning country that respects all its citizens and provides opportunity to all, regardless.

16. Our democracy has come a long way. Yet it remains fragile. It calls on all of us to exercise our civic duty against any obstacles and machinations. I urge each of us to show up and participate in the ongoing voter registration exercise, but please observe all the necessary health protocols. Please look out for each other. Politely remind people to use their face masks correctly, offer your hand sanitizer to someone in need. If you see a disabled person or an elderly person or pregnant woman, offer help. For THAT is the Ghanaian spirit.

Watch the video of the speech below>>>>>

Video by JoyNews

Source: http://www.ghanaweb.com

Founder of Perez Chapel International, Charles Agyinasare

Bishop Charles Agyinasare has said that he has been receiving threats and insults over the past few weeks that he has been calling out societal evils but says those things will not stop him from speaking his mind.

In his virtual sermon on Sunday, 26 July 2020 titled: ‘There is a cause for integrity and honesty’, which is part of his ‘Re-building after COVID-19’ series, the Perez Chapel International founder said a lot of his friends and loved ones have called and “pleaded with me to stop preaching what I am preaching on national transformation”, adding: “Most of them say Ghana is set in her ways and would not change”.

The nation’s prophet and pastor said: “Well, Jonah did not believe wicked Nineveh would change but when he declared God’s word, they repented and fasted in sackcloth and ashes”.The word of God, he said, “has the power to change people: it is a hammer that can break hardened hearts, it is a fire that can consume, it is like water that can wash the most sin covered soul, it like a light that can shine on the power of the worst of sinners”.Bishop Agyinasare said his recent remarks on national issues and the attacks those comments have brought to him, have got some of his family and friends concerned to the extent that they are begging him to stop.“Some of my loved ones said these politicians and their supporters, hmmm; they are dangerous ohhh! they can do something against you”.In his view, if that’s “how we see politicians now, is there not a cause for me to preach to change it?”“My amazement is whether it has come to the place in democratic Ghana, where I speak and people who are not happy (basically they disagree with me) and instead of they saying they disagree with me and stating their side, some of them issue threats, some insult me and people are saying: ‘Charles, you must be afraid, beef up your security and don’t sleep at home’”.“Well, our senior politicians, H.E Nana Akufo-Addo and H.E John Dramani Mahama, that is how much your noble profession has been reduced to. It is being said and perceived that you and your fellows hire thugs to beat and even get people killed because they disagree with you. Meanwhile, the Akan name for democracy is ‘Ka bi na me ka bi aman buo’ – ‘speak your mind and let me speak my mind’ kind of government, Bishop Agyinasare noted.

He said if journalists like Ambassador Kabral Blay Amihere, Kweku Baako Jr., Kwesi Pratt, Ben Ephson, among others, “went to jail, had to report regularly to the Bureau of National Investigations, had people follow them because they wrote and demanded free speech in the mid-1980s under a revolution”, then “is it not unfortunate that we could get it and in a democracy, we are being made to know that we are not free to talk anymore?”.

Bishop Agyinasare said leaders must be honoured, and, so, “is there not a cause to tell our populace to intercede for our rulers instead of insulting them”, as written in 1 Timothy 2:1 and 2: ‘Therefore, I exhort, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men; 2, For kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence’Also, he said Acts 23:5 quotes the Apostle Paul as saying: ‘… You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”“Is there not a cause to tell our politicians to stop teaching our populace that it is OK to insult our opponents, including elders instead of addressing issues?” Bishop Agyinasare asked, especially as 1 Peter 2:17 says: ‘Honour all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king”.Clarifying why he used certain adjectives recently in reference to journalists and the clergy regarding their silence on societal ills, Bishop Agyinasare said: “Some said: ‘Bishop, you used insulting language when you used [the phrase] ‘dumb dogs’”.“No sir, no madam. The scripture said: ‘His watchmen have become dumb dogs’”.“I used it in reference to our journalists and pastors who must warn us as dogs do”. Isaiah 56:10, he quoted, says: ‘His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber’. I was also accused of insulting by using attack dogs. Well, because our common language is English, I took a word from the Merriam Webster’s dictionary, which explains ‘attack dogs’ as persons noted for harsh, personal and usually public verbal attacks against others. E.g. a political attack dog”.“I am the last person who would want to insult or disrespect anyone”, Bishop Agyinasare said.

According to him, he is not the spokesperson for any political party but rather serves as “God’s linguist”.

“If I were an NPP spokesman, then NDC people would say they may do something against me. If I were an NDC spokesperson, then NPP people would want to do something against me. However, I am an ambassador of heaven with the authority of heaven behind me. That is the only reason why I could go to Pakistan, a 94% Muslim country to hold gospel campaigns at a time they were burning churches. That is why I sponsored my first gospel campaign in a Hindu stronghold, Chengham in Tamil Nadu state in 1993”, he said.In October 2000, Bishop Agyinasare recalled, “when I was invited to then-president Laurent Gbagbo’s inauguration, I did not give a congratulatory message but a message from the Lord to warn the incoming government to watch out against corruption, immorality and how their judges should be fair otherwise, they won’t last. When they did not heed, everything I warned them of came to pass and the rest is history”.Also, he said, “God sent me to Togo when Faure Gnassingbe was voted in the first time and people were unhappy that after his father had ruled for 38 years, he had also come to power. Some were willing the country burnt down and people were fleeing the country. God told me to take a message to Togo. People advised me that: ‘Bishop, it is not safe’, but I went as God’s servant and that nation was stabilised”.“I am glad to announce that I would not die until I have finished or completed my assignment on earth here or till the rapture takes me home”, he declared.Bishop Agyinasare said his utterances are of “a prophet of God to this nation” and not as the Presiding Bishop of Perez Chapel International.“The true prophets of old did not speak what the people wanted to hear but what God wanted the people to hear”, noting: “This nation is not just about NPP or NDC”.“Are we satisfied with the direction of this nation? If we are not, is there not a cause to do something about it? How can we allow politicians who are not even 10% of our population to determine everything in this country? Is there not a cause to talk? Even in our sports, the politicians tell the sportspeople what to do and they interfere so much so that when NPP is in power and the Black Stars are playing, NDC would be praying that they would lose because when they win, the NPP would take the glory and vice-versa. Is there not a cause to talk? Even the CEOs of our major hospitals are determined by politicians and not doctors, so, we keep going round and round. Is there not a cause? We build things with the taxpayers’ money and it is not used because it is not my government who built it and we go to borrow extra money to come and build another one and we end up with the IMF/World Bank with our cup in our hands to beg and take more loans to finance our budgets, and is there not a cause for someone to say we should change?”, he asked.

He continued: “The oil money for the next 30 years has been used to take loans by both NDC and NPP. The politicians we elected to manage our resources are selling the birthright of this nation and we must all keep quiet? Is there not a cause to tell our politicians to stop the reckless spending? Every four years when we are getting to elections, it is like this country is going to burn. Just [a] registration of voters, people are being stabbed and guns are being shot in public. Yet, nobody is expected to say the fact that election must not be between life and death”.

In the last five years, he noted, England has held three general elections: 7th May 2015, 8th June 2017 and 12th December 2019. “No one felt England was going to burn and it was not a do-or-die [affair]. General elections must not be a life-and-death affair”, he noted.Touching on the involvement of civil servants in politics, Bishop Agyinasare said the Civil Service Act, as enforced in the Civil and Local Government vs Attorney General and others 2016, says: ‘When someone is in the civil service and wants to contest a party’s primaries, they are supposed to resign and go and contest’. “However, our politicians don’t respect that anymore. Instead, they use their government staff as their campaign team and they and their staff are paid by the government of Ghana, which makes such a person very compromised. Is there not a cause to change it so our civil service is not politicised?”Turning his attention to his fellow clergy, Bishop Agyinasare said: “Mr pastor, where is your integrity if the ladies who come to seek prayer from you, you take advantage of them by having sex with them like Eli’s children [did]. Your sin would find you out”.“Is there not a cause to tell pastors who go to juju men, fetish or mallams for ‘mojoss’ to do church, to go and join them as a fetish priest or mallam and stop pretending they are Christian clergy. Like Kofi Kinaata sings: ‘Papa sofo gye wa hom’”.On the issue of land disputes, Bishop Agyinasare asked: “Is there not a cause to tell those businessmen who follow land guards to take by force the lands of the poor [to stop it?]. Can you imagine your end and what you are bringing upon your children?”“Is there not a cause to tell some of our chiefs who sell a land to you, and sell it to two other people so we keep having land problems, to stop that? Our governments are not making it any easier. They encourage corruption at the registry by not passing a simple law. To register a land in Accra, it can take you five year- plus. Heads of families in Accra sell land to you and when they finish spending the money frivolously, they make other relatives in the same family to get another judgement and come to you to buy the land again”, he condemned.As far as his public pronouncements on national issues are concerned, Bishop Agyinasare said he is not about to stop at all.

“Some have said: ‘Bishop, don’t talk, let the ecumenical bodies like Christian Council or Ghana, Pentecostal & Charismatic Council or National Association of Christian and Charismatic Churches to talk so that it is not only you’. Well, they may not have been inspired by God to speak on these things. Is there not a cause for me to talk about the ills of our society?”

“Precious one, it is like fire shut in my bones”, he said, quoting Jeremiah 20:9: ‘Then I said, “I will not make mention of him, nor speak anymore in his name”. But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not’”.Bishop Agyinasare said his intentions are non-political. “I am not a politician and not aspiring to be one. The world is my parish and I am called to reach the world for Christ”, adding: “England was changed by the preaching of John Wesley when it was in filth; he preached till people thought ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’ was in the Bible”.In another example, he said: “Scotland was saved from bloodshed under ‘Bloody Mary’, queen of the Scots, by the preaching and praying of John Knox from 1555 to 1579. The queen said: ‘I am not so much afraid of the soldiers of Scotland like I am of the prayers of John Knox’. One man standing beside his grave said: ‘Here lies a man who neither flattered nor feared any human being’.Citing yet another example, Bishop Agyinasare noted that “Mary Slessor went to Calabar, Nigeria, a city where heads were being cut off at pleasure and twins were being slaughtered at birth because they were a curse. When people discouraged her that she was a woman and men were even afraid to go to Calabar, she said: ‘One with God is a majority’. She went and transformed Nigeria by helping put a stop to the slaughtering of twins”.Rather than urging him to stop his pronouncements, Bishop Agyinasare asked his friends, family and the Christian community to “pray for me”. “What I need from you is your prayers that I would have boldness and utterance to speak the truth”, quoting Ephesians 6:18 and 19, which say: ‘Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. 19: ‘And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.”Bishop Agyinasare said his wife has been supportive in that regard. “I thank God for a supportive wife. In the midst of all the noise, Vivian says: ‘I know my husband; if God says he must speak, then I would pray for him than stop him’. Pray for me also that I would be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men”, since, according to him, “Precious one, it means if you thought I was going to stop, then I want you to know that I am just warming up to the glory of God”.“I am on a divine assignment for national transformation and let me ask you: is there not a cause for national transformation? There is so much not right about this country and we must start somewhere to talk about it, so, we can change it. I am talking and I challenge you to join me in this cause. If anyone asks you why you are talking these days about societal ills, ask them: ‘Is there not a cause?’”

One of the younger women hit her head with a heavy item

An old woman believed to be in her late 90’s has been beaten to death after a soothsayer claimed she was a witch.

Details remain sketchy at this point but the gruesome lynching and murder is said to have occurred at Kafaba in the East Gonja Municipality of the Savannah region.

In a disturbing video that is fast going viral sighted by Ghanaweb.com on TV3 Ghana’s Facebook page, the old woman, who could be heard clearly refuting allegations that she is a witch, was pushed down by one of the women, and beaten mercilessly.

It is unclear what prompted the supposed soothsayer to accuse the old woman of witchcraft and her subsequent lynching but scenes in the video can only be described as barbaric. The disturbing video has younger women, slapping, whipping and hitting the old woman’s head with a heavy item, with the community members cheering them on.

The video appeared to have incensed social media users who have called on the police to fish them out and prosecute them.

Watch the video below:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2684335441852513&id=215985601764156&sfnsn=wa&d=w&vh=e

Source: http://www.ghanaweb.com