Ken Ofori Atta – Finance Minister Ghana(L) & President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo (R)
Ghana is back to being a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) under President Akufo-Addo administration flagbearer of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC)John Dramani Mahamahas said.
According to Mr Mahama, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast Ghana’s current rate of borrowing and debt at 76.7 percent debt to GDP ratio.
This, according to Mr Mahama, has brought the nation back to the days of HIPC.
Speaking at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel on Monday, 26 October 2020 where he engaged professionals ahead of the December 7 polls, Mr Mahama noted that it is incorrect that he left President Akufo-Addo with nothing.
“Contrary to the impression created byNana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addothat he inherited nothing from me and that he inherited a mess, I left him revenue from two new oil fields – the TEN field and ENI Sankofa fields.
“I left him with $270 million in the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund. I left him with more than $207 million in the Stabilisation Fund and about $300 million in the Sinking Fund with which the final payment of the Kufuor euro bond was paid on maturity in 2017,” Mr Mahama said.
He continued that: “As for the 2020 growth, the economy that was sold to us as resilient and capable of withstanding shocks for at least three months without any external intervention could not stay afloat without IMF support for more than three weeks.
“Even worse, the rate of borrowing by this government has dazed many observers.
“The IMF in its Sub-Saharan African Regional Economic Outlook forecast the current rate of borrowing and debt at a frightening 76.7% debt to GDP ratio.
“Ladies and gentlemen, unfortunately, Ghana is back to HIPC status under Nana Akufo-Addo andKen Ofori-Attaadministration.”
HIPC is a group of developing countries with high levels of poverty and debt overhang which are eligible for special assistance from the IMF and the World Bank.
It provides debt relief and low-interest loans to cancel or reduce external debt repayments to sustainable levels.
Ghana completed the programme and had her external debt cancelled and no longer qualifies to be part of HIPC.
Poverty, early marriage still remains a challenge in the Upper East
The Regional Directorate of the Ghana Education Service has confirmed a total number of 268 pregnancies have been recorded in the Upper East region between January to September 2020.
Out of the 268 pregnancies recorded, 220 are Junior High School students. The directorate stated that these are provisional figures of the eight districts of the Upper East Region.
The districts are Kassena-Nankana Municipal, Kassena-Nankana West, Talensi, Nabdam, Pusiga, Garu and Tempane Districts with Talensi having the highest of 75 pregnancies and 83 marriages.
According to a GNA report, the Regional Girls Education Officer of the National Population Council (NPC), Rose Akanson, made this known while addressing stakeholders at a forum on the impact of COVID-19 on teenage pregnancy, organized by the Regional Directorate of the NPC.
Aside from the high number of pregnancies, about 105 marriages also were recorded within the same period.
Rose Akanson added, “30 nursing mothers took part in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) while 26 others sat for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) within the eight districts.”
The high rate of pregnancies is attributed to poverty and coronavirus restriction.
“Some ‘COVID-19 restrictions,’ and parental irresponsibility, “although the preliminary findings revealed that as young as 12-year-old girls had become pregnant. Most of the girls who have always been pregnant over the years were partly due to late enrollment, you have a girl who is 19 years and she is in JHS one and in the Talensi District most of the pregnancies and marriages were recorded in the upper primary,” she said.
became the first pontiff to endorse same-sex civil unions in comments for a documentary that premiered Wednesday, sparking cheers from gay Catholics and demands for clarification from conservatives, given the Vatican’s official teaching on the issue.
The papal thumbs-up came midway through the feature-length documentary “Francesco,” which premiered at the Rome Film Festival. The film, which features fresh interviews with the pope, delves into issues Francis cares about most, including the environment, poverty, migration, racial and income inequality, and the people most affected by discrimination.
“Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God,” Francis said in one of his sit-down interviews for the film.
“You can’t kick someone out of a family, nor make their life miserable for this. What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered.”
While serving as archbishop of
Buenos Aires
, Francis endorsed civil unions for gay couples as an alternative to same-sex marriages. However, he had never come out publicly in favor of civil unions as pope, and no pontiff before him had, either.
The Jesuit priest who has been at the forefront in seeking to build bridges with gays in the church, the Rev. James Martin, praised the pope’s comments as “a major step forward in the church’s support for LGBT people.”
“The pope’s speaking positively about civil unions also sends a strong message to places where the church has opposed such laws,” Martin said in a statement.
However, the conservative bishop of Providence, Rhode Island, Thomas Tobin, immediately called for clarification. “The pope’s statement clearly contradicts what has been the long-standing teaching of the church about same-sex unions,” Tobin said in a statement. “The church cannot support the acceptance of objectively immoral relationships.”
Catholic teaching holds that gays must be treated with dignity and respect but that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.”
A 2003 document from the Vatican’s doctrine office stated that the church’s respect for gays “cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behavior or to legal recognition of homosexual unions.”
Doing so, the Vatican reasoned, would not only condone “deviant behavior,” but create an equivalence to marriage, which the church holds is an indissoluble union between man and woman.
That document was signed by the then-prefect of the office, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future
One of the main characters in the documentary is Juan Carlos Cruz, the Chilean survivor of clergy sexual abuse whom Francis initially discredited during a 2018 visit to Chile.
Cruz, who is gay, said that during his first meetings with the pope in May 2018 after they patched things up, Francis assured him that God made Cruz gay. Cruz tells his own story in snippets throughout the film, chronicling both Francis’ evolution on understanding sexual abuse as well as to document the pope’s views on gay people.
Director Evgeny Afineevsky had remarkable access to cardinals, the Vatican television archives and the pope himself. He said he negotiated his way in through persistence, and deliveries of Argentine mate tea and Alfajores cookies that he got to the pope via some well-connected Argentines in Rome.
“Listen, when you are in the Vatican, the only way to achieve something is to break the rule and then to say, ‘I’m sorry,’” Afineevsky said in an interview ahead of the premiere.
The director worked official and unofficial channels starting in early 2018, and ended up so close to Francis by the end of the project that he showed the pope the movie on his iPad in August. The two recently exchanged Yom Kippur greetings; Afineevsky is a Russian-born Jew now based in Los Angeles. On Wednesday, Afineevsky’s 48th birthday, the director said Francis presented him with a birthday cake during a private meeting at the Vatican. But “Francesco” is more than a biopic about the pope.
Wim Wenders did that in the 2018 film “Pope Francis: A Man of His Word,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. “Francesco,” is more a visual survey of the world’s crises and tragedies, with audio from the pope providing possible ways to solve them.
Afineevsky, who was nominated for an Oscar for his 2015 documentary “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom,” traveled the world to film his pope movie: The settings include Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh where Myanmar’s Rohingya sought refuge; the US-Mexico border; and Francis’ native Argentina.
“The film tells the story of the pope by reversing the cameras,” said Vatican communications director Paolo Ruffini, who was one of Afineevsky’s closest Vatican-based collaborators on the film.
Ruffini said that when Afineevsky first approached him about a documentary, he tried to tamp down his hopes for interviewing the pope. “I told him it wasn’t going to be easy,” he said.
But Ruffini gave him some advice: names of people who had been impacted by the pope, even after just a brief meeting. Afineevsky found them: the refugees Francis met with on some of his foreign trips, prisoners he blessed, and some of the gays to whom he has ministered.
Bono Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwame Baffoe
Bono Regional Chairman of theNew Patriotic Party(NPP) Kwame Baffoe known widely as Abronye DC has vowed to stop campaigning for the reelection bid of PresidentNana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addoif he agrees to pay locked up funds of customers of defunct gold dealership firm, Menzgold.
“For me, if the NPP decides to pay customers of Menzgold, I will cease campaigning for the party,” Mr Kwame Baffoe told Hello Fm in an interview monitored by MyNewsGH.com.
He argues that the decision to invest in the company was solely a private business decision between Menzgold and individuals describing calls for government’s intervention as misplaced.
According to him, the hundreds of aggrieved customers must redirect the anger to the defunct company as the government played no role in the whole transaction.
“It is unlawful for any government to pay customers of the gold firm because it is an individual company and therefore the state cannot release funds to rescue it not even on the day of elections”, he stated.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2018 asked Menzgold to suspend its gold trading operations with the public.
According to the SEC, Menzgold had been dealing in the purchase and deposit of gold collectables from the public and issuing contracts with guaranteed returns with clients, without a valid license from the Commission.
This, the SEC said was in contravention of “section 109 of Act 929 with consequences under section 2016 (I) of the same Act.”
John Dramani Mahama (R) and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo(L)
An interesting theory for victory for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has popped up on social media.
The prediction is based on two constants: the Number 2 position of the NDC on the ballot paper for the upcoming elections and PRESEC’s victory in the just-ended National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ).
According to the theory, in 2008, the Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary School won the popular NSMQ and in that same year, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) picked the Number 1 position on the ballot paper.
In the elections later that year, the NDC, whose candidate at the time was late President John Evans Atta Mills, was on the Number 2 position on the ballot and won the presidential polls against then opposition candidateNana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Holding the same factors of NSMQ winners and the ballot positions of the two main political parties in the upcoming elections on December 7 as constants, the theory has predicted a win for NDC’sJohn Dramani Mahama.
This year, PRESEC won the NSMQ and the NPP and NDC have picked the Number 1 and Number 2 positions on the ballot, respectively.
The theory was first shared on the Twitter handle of the NDC Deputy Youth Organiser, Edem Agbana.
Positions on a ballot paper for elections in Ghana are very crucial as they can lead to memorable slogans being conjured through accidental or occasional music.
Many believe a candidate’s position on a ballot paper can be easily remembered if the pundits conjure the right interpretation, and get the electorate to accept such interpretations as credible.
In the 2000 general election, John Agyekum Kufuor of the NPP was placed bottom and commercial drivers on the Accra – Cape Coast Highway greeted each other with a thumbs down while saying “Asee Ho”, meaning the bottom.
For many who will meet Theophilus Edwin Coleman in the years to come, they are most likely to simply call him “Doc”. For that is what he is. But earning this title didn’t come easy.
In fact it started off on the wrong footing and took series of twists and turns of fate to get him to this stage.
It was a quest to succeed despite being told he wasn’t good enough to enter the prestigious Ghana School of Law.
Coleman was among thousand of students who had failed to enter the School of Law after taking an entrance exam and interview session.
He became an example used by persons pushing to have the law school opened up.
For he had graduated with a first-class degree in Law from the University of Cape Coast. Prior to that, he had studied Political Science and Information Studies at the same University.
“I completed UCC Law School in 2016 with a CGPA of 3.83. It came as a surprise that I failed the exam – and many of my classmates were also surprised! I don’t think I underestimated the exam, so I really don’t know what happened.
I even got a very rare opportunity to prep most of my classmates that made it to Makola. So it came as a surprise to me, really. Feeling wise, I felt a bit disappointed, in the system, especially knowing I couldn’t challenge the outcome.” Dr.Coleman recalls.
Theophilus Edwin Coleman at the Institute of European Law in Germany
Born in Cape Coast some 31 years ago, Dr. Coleman says the rejection came to him more as a disappointment rather than a painful experience.
He then turned his attention to pursuing higher degree and got into the University of Johannesburg where he graduated with a first class in International Commercial Law (LLM).
He then went a step further to pursue his LLD which focused on the theoretical foundations and the practical perspectives of the concept of contractual freedom and autonomy in Commonwealth Africa.
Edwin is an alumnus of The Hague Academy of International Law in The Netherlands. He has also completed an internship program at the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH).
In furtherance of his LL.D studies, Edwin was invited to serve as a Research Fellow at the Institute of European Law in Germany. In 2018, he received an award from the Ghana National Students’ Awards Scheme as one of the Six Most Influential Student Personality in Ghana (home and abroad).
At The Hague Academy of International Law, The Hague.
His LLD explored the degree to which commonwealth African countries ascribe respect to the notion of contractual liberty by taking into account the politico-economic orientations of governments, pronouncements by courts, constitutional underpinnings, and the impact of traditional African values such as Ubuntu on contract and commercial law jurisprudence in Commonwealth Africa.
The thesis also develops a matrix for assessing the degree of respect and commitment to contractual freedom and autonomy in Commonwealth Africa.
What does the future hold for Dr. Coleman?
“My plan is to return to Ghana and fully enter into academia. For now however, I serving as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for International and Comparative Labour and Social Security Law at the University of Johannesburg”, He answers.
One cannot help but wonder whether the young man has given up on his dreams of becoming a lawyer
“I do not see myself going to Ghana law school anytime soon. There are so many problems with legal education that has to be resolved. One of it is the lack of academics. The number of doctorate holders in law can be counted couldn’t even get to 60. The average currently is around 42. So there is a real problem.
Besides, I believe, if becoming a courtroom practitioner is a calling, then becoming a teacher of that practitioner is a higher calling. I believe I have that higher calling and will therefore fully commit myself to academia.
My goal is to make academia attractive and encourage young smart law students to embark on the path of the higher calling, instead of making that monotonous decision of going to Ghana law school.”
He has some views on current admission system
“I think that the current system doesn’t do anyone any good. The system unnecessarily delays the economic utility of many young Ghanaians. It is just a repetitive system that should be there as an option and not the main solution.
There is nothing that is being taught at Ghana Law school that academics at the faculty can’t teach. It just requires a proper balance between academics and practitioners to find a common ground to resolve these challenges.
I have outlined many of the solutions in a book chapter I and a colleague worked on. I think that contribution will be helpful when it comes out. “
The journey has been tough but Dr. Coleman is simply glad and grateful.
“I am very grateful to many of the academics who guided me to take this path,” he concludes our discussions.
29-year-old Mary Ama Nyorkey was beaten mercilessly by her boyfriend
29-year-old Mary Ama Nyorkey received the beating of her life when she asked her boyfriend to officially seek for her hand in marriage.
Before the incident, her boyfriend, Delali Kwasi Atakpa, is said to have asked Mary to move in with him but she refused, adding that they needed to perform the necessary customary rites first.
This infuriated Delali, and as a result, he inflicted severe wounds on his fiance. He, there after took to his heels to avoid police arrest
The two are said to be residents of Adieso Amankrom in the Upper West Akim District of the Eastern Region of Ghana.
Meanwhile, according to sources, Mary has been discharged from the hospital.
She has since lodged a complaint with the police in the area who have mounted a search for the suspect.
The lead suspect in the murder of Legon Law lecturer, Professor Yaw Benneh has died at the Police Hospital in Accra on Saturday.
According to Police, he had been sick for a while and had been put on oxygen at the intensive care unit of the hospital but died after some time.
James Nana Womba had earlier confessed his involvement in the gruesome murder of the late law professor at his Adjiriganor mansion in Accra.
He was one of four who were initially arrested on suspiscion of the murder.
Following his confession and naming of his accomplices, the state dropped charges against the other three.
Officers of the Ghana Police Service have also been able to effect the arrest of one of the said accomplices.
One Opambour Agya Badu who prosecutors describe as a named accomplice of Mr. Womba has since been arrested and charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
The state prosecutors says efforts are underway to apprehend the two others as they got the court to grant them an arrest warrant.
The names of the two were not stated in court.
The two persons currently standing trial have been remanded in the custody of the police to re-appear on October 14.
Prof Emmanuel Yaw Benneh was allegedly murdered at his Adjirigano mansion in Accra.
His body was found days after with his hands tied and cloth stuffed in his mouth.
The NDC Parliamentary Candidate for Ayawaso West Wuogon,John Dumelo, has taken a swipe at the incumbent Member of Parliament for the area, MadamLydia Seyram Alhassan, over what he describes as her refusal to see to the social welfare and development of the constituents whiles harbouring a tendency to jump into action whenever he (Dumelo) makes any move to that effect.
According to Dumelo, the MP’s action speaks of her failure and as much as she tries, she will not be able to rescue herself from being defeated on December 7.
“Last week Saturday, I went to wear my boots and entered the water. Somebody too came and wore her boots with her Kaba and slit in the water. If she likes, she should even swim in the water you (she) will not win the election.
They stopped me from doing that work, but they cannot stop us from victory. They stopped me from fixing the drain in West Legon but they cannot stop us from victory. The seat is for us and we are taking the seat,” he declared to a gathering of party faithful and sympathizers on Sunday, October 18, 2020, when he launched his campaign at the Bawaleshi School Park.
The Ayawaso West Wuogon race will arguably be the most interesting one in the parliamentary elections come December 7.
Long before he gained his party’s nomination,John Dumeloof theNational Democratic Congressgave a strong signal to the incumbent, Lydia Alhassan of the New Patriotic Party, of his intention to be the opponent that will give her a run for her money.
As part of his way of reaching out to the people of Ayawaso West,John Dumelosome months back hired excavators to dredge some drains in the West Legon area due to the problems faced by residents in that area whenever there is heavy rainfall.
He was, however, reported to have been asked to stop the dredging by the Ayawaso Municipal Assembly pending the granting of a permit by the Assembly. The action by the Assembly was interpreted by many as being politically motivated.
Months down the line when it rained heavily last week, some parts of the West Legon area and other areas of the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency were heavily flooded.
Some residents in the area, as well as the NDC parliamentary candidate, linked the flooding to the refusal of the Assembly to allow the dredging exercise and accused the assembly of doing so on political grounds.
Minutes after the rain had stopped last Saturday,John Dumelowas seen in pictures and videos shared on social media walking through the floodwaters visiting some residents to find out how they had been affected by the rain and later in the day, the same was seen of the Member of Parliament, Lydia Alhassan.
Speaking during his campaign launch on Sunday, Mr. Dumelo who repeated his confidence in winning the Ayawso West race, indicated that the many social interventions he has undertaken in the constituency are only a prelude to what he intends to do for the people as a member of parliament.
“Last year when I won the primaries I got to work and I can confidently tell you that things are happening in Ayawaso West Wuogon. We are sharing laptops, not that when we come, we will share, we are already sharing laptops. We are already creating jobs, they claim that One District One Factory, I don’t see any factories in Ayawaso West Wuogon, I will make that factory and produce that factory in Ayawos West Wuogon.
You cannot come and lie to us that you will do the thing when you are not doing the thing. I am here to do it and I will do it. I have started doing it already. Last week I started or inaugurated my mushroom farming, that is what we are going to implement to create a factory in Ayawaso west. So that we can create jobs for everybody,” he said.
Considering the impacts of corruption on the development of the country, flagbearer of the People’s National Convention, David Apasera has stated that persons found guilty of engaging in corruption under his administration will face outright execution through gunshot.
This line of action according to Mr. Apasera embodies his commitment to enhancing the security and safety of the country while protecting the state coffers.
He made this known during the Minority Political Parties Debate hosted by IMANI Centre for Policy Education in collaboration with JoyNews at the University of Professional Studies, Accra, on Thursday, October 15.
Describing corruption as “the main problem that is causing us the misery that we have”, the PNC flagbearer said current punishments have not proven effective enough to discourage people from engaging in the act and emphasized the need for his proposed punishment.
“If we try tougher punishment and it doesn’t restrain people from corruption, we have to go to that length. If you steal and you know that if you are caught you will die, you will not do it. You are stealing to eat and if you know that you will be caught and shot, you will not do it,” he explained.
Outlining his security plan, Mr. Apasera said if elected president on December 7, 2020, he will set up a paramilitary force adequately resourced to combat crime in the country.
“We want to put in place a paramilitary organisation that will be a rapid striking force to prevent highway robberies and other violent crimes. These organisations will be stationed in all regions and empowered with helicopter gunships that will rapidly move into the air to defend people who are attacked on the highway,” he said.
“There will no longer be a system where police will move with sirens. We are going to empower them, train them with high skills, and give them the needed and latest weaponry,” he added.
Five presidential candidates represented their respective political parties on the night with each outlining their plans for managing the country if elected president in the upcoming elections.
Beside David Apasera of the PNC, other candidates who participated in the debate included:Hassan Ayarigaof the All People’s Congress (APC), Mr. Ivor Greenstreet of the Conventions People’s Party (CPP), Mrs. Bridgete Dzorgbenuku of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) and Kofi Akpaloo of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG).
Ken Ofori Atta – Finance Minister Ghana(L) & President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo (R)
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