The Obuasi Police Divisional patrol team in the Ashanti region has gunned down two suspected armed robbers in a gun battle at Oboasi Akomfokrom near mile 9.
One of the suspect according to the Ashanti Regional Police Command escaped arrest at about 9pm during the exchange of gunfire on Wednesday 10th 2021.
Items retrieved from the deceased suspects include one AK47 rifle with 5 empty shells, a locally manufactured gun among others.
According to the Ashanti Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Godwin Ahianoyor investigation has commenced with the suspects expected to be arraigned before court soon.
At least 12 children have drowned while others are feared missing in Ghana’s Central Region despite a ban on sea swimming due to COVID-19, officials say.
The victims were among dozens who had flocked to the Apam beach in the Gomoa West District to play football on March 7.
The victims include two females all ranging between the ages of 14 and 17, according to a statement from the Central Regional Police Command.
Beaches in Ghana remained shut since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the West African country.
A search operation is underway with the help of local divers, a Police Commander at Apam told local media.
“In the morning we had six…since the outbreak of COVID we had intensified public education in the area and our men have been implementing the ban. But they shockingly did not use the main beach road and the information is that they went in their numbers”, the officer said in an interview.
The victims ignored COVID safety warnings and drowned, the police chief added in an interview.
A statement from the Central Regional Police Command also said two victims were rescued and were on admission at the Apam Hospital.
All 12 bodies have since been deposited at the St. Luke’s Catholic Hospital morgue pending autopsy.
Once again the International Women’s Day is here, presenting the global opportunity to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, the world over.
Marked annually, on March 8, the International Women’s Day (IWD) is one of the most important events on the United Nations’ calendar, which makes it possible to raise awareness on women’s equality, achievements, and challenges, as well as lobby for accelerated gender parity.
The Day, sanctioned by the United Nations (UN) in 1975, when it officially celebrated it, inspires support for organisations that help women, globally, and creates the opportunity to fundraise for female-focused charities.
The 2021 theme for the IWD, announced by the UN Women, is: “Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World”, which celebrates efforts by women and girls in creating a more equal future and COVID-19 pandemic recovery.
However, there is a parallel global campaign theme: “#ChooseToChallenge,” highlighting the importance of challenging biases and misconceptions in the interest of creating a more inclusive and gender-equal world.
The celebration of the International Women’s Day continues to be very relevant because of the many issues concerning women and girls that deserve to be highlighted and given the requisite attention.
Ghana, commended by the World Health Organisation for her resilience in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, is making her presence felt amidst the prevailing challenges by using the occasion to focus on the effects of the pandemic on women and girls and map out strategies to ease their suffering.
This is critical because right from the onset of the pandemic, around the end of 2019, women have been identified as front-liners in managing the crisis, in their role as healthcare workers, caregivers, innovators, and community organisers, among others.
Many of them have also been recognised as most exemplary national leaders in combating the disease, with a majority demonstrating their skills, knowledge and networks to effectively lead in the response and recovery efforts.
That, notwithstanding, the UN Women report indicates that women across the world are facing increased domestic violence, unpaid care duties, unemployment and poverty due to the pandemic and that despite women making up a majority of frontline workers, there is disproportionate and inadequate representation of women in the national and global COVID-19 policy space.
The pandemic is known to affect everyone everywhere, but impacts different groups of people differently, deepening existing inequalities. We must, therefore, join efforts to adopt pragmatic measures to help close these inequalities.
This is important because even though earlier data indicated that the mortality rates from COVID-19 may be higher for men other reports say the pandemic is having devastating social and economic consequences on more women and girls. This is because nearly 60 per cent of women work in the informal economy, earning less, saving less, and at greater risk of falling into poverty.
Again, as markets fall and businesses close, evidence abounds that millions of women’s jobs are disappearing, while most of them continue to lose paid employment, forcing them to engage in unpaid care work due to the exigencies of the times, including school closures and the increased care for the aged.
It is worth mentioning that apart from Ghana, and the other countries, whose male presidents have been praised for controlling and managing the pandemic with strategic interventions and policies, majority of the countries that have been successful in stemming the tide are said to be headed by women. We, therefore, salute the leaders of Ethiopia, New Zealand, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Slovakia and the others, for making us proud.
They have demonstrated that despite the new barriers brought by the pandemic to compound the pre-existing social and systemic challenges that women face in their bid to participate in the leadership arena, working together around the campaign theme: “#ChooseToChallenge,” would help in changing the status quo of biases and stereotyping that impede achieving gender equality.
The UN cautions that the multiple obstacles that remain unchanged – the devaluation of women and girls in some societies, the fewer choices, and experiences of all forms of violence, especially around the COVID-19 period, are threatening hard-won gains.
For instance, global statistics, as of 2019, indicated that legal restrictions had kept 2.7 billion women from accessing the same choice of jobs as men, while less than 25 per cent of parliamentarians were women. It is so imperative that women from all walks of life heed the clarion call to continually support women’s tireless efforts at bringing different expertise, experiences, perspectives and skills to the table, and make concrete contributions to decisions, policies and laws that work better for all.
Also of great importance is the need to uphold the rights and fully leverage the potentials of women leaders in pandemic preparedness, response, and recovery. The perspectives of women and girls, in all of their diversity, must be integrated in the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes in all spheres to attain the desired results.
Efforts must be made to disseminate information on how women’s immunity and ability to fight the COVID-19 can be boosted by adopting healthy lifestyles and eating more nutritious locally produced foods as well as exercising and keeping to the safety protocols. Women must be champions and facilitators of the drive to have a head immunity against Covid-19, as they have admirably done through the years, to overcome previous pandemics.
Also, women in the urban and the rural areas need to be supported based on their needs assessments.
Thus the call on governments, especially in Africa, to ensure that girls stay in school, irrespective of the extended school closures, and protected from all forms of abuses and early marriages is in the right direction.
Reports of increased violence against women, attributed to the consequences of the pandemic, must be investigated and stopped through proper social counselling and monitoring programmes as well as support services to safeguard our females.
The needs of women rightly deserve to be placed at the heart of the COVID-19 response measures, while socio-economic plans are redesigned purposefully to better the lives and futures of women and girls.
Everyone must daily make a conscious effort in thought, speech and action towards the achievement of gender parity, sooner than later, in defeat of the World Economic Forum’s prediction that ‘none of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes, nor likely will many of our children.’ Working for a sweet victory, with a ripple effect in the interest of all, must be the common agenda.
Indeed, building an inclusive and resilient society in tandem with the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals and achievement of the 2021 IWD theme, calls for unity and focus, both by women and men in Ghana and yonder. A challenged world is, indeed, an alert world. Therefore, everyone must truly embrace the challenge by making the International Women’s Day the focal point to contribute their quota, actively, to make a positive difference for women.
The day belongs to all groups, collectively, everywhere. Gloria Steinem, the world renowned feminist, journalist and activist, aptly asserts: “The story for women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist, nor to any one organisation, but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights.”
The NPP is calling on the NDC’s 2020 Presidential Candidate, John Dramani Mahama, to accept the verdict of the Supreme Court on the 2020 Election Petition, as a mark of statesmanship and fidelity to the rule of law, even if he disagrees with the judgment.
After two months of hearing the petition filed by John Mahama challenging the validity of the declaration of the results of the 2020 General Elections, the nation’s Apex Court, on Thursday, March 4, 2021, delivered its final judgment dismissing the petition as lacking merit. Following the lucid judgment of the Supreme Court, many had expected the petitioner, John Mahama, to emulate the good examples of the petitioner in the 2012
Elections Petition, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who, even though, disagreed with the judgement of the Supreme Court at the time, ACCEPTED the decision and CONGRATULATED the then President, H.E. John Dramani Mahama, in the interest of the nation. For the avoidance of doubt, these were the exact words of the then petitioner, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, immediately after the Supreme Court ruling on August 29, 2013, despite the fact that at least 4 out of the 9 justices of the Supreme Court ruled in his favor: “I have called President John Dramani Mahama and I congratulated him on being elected the fourth President of our country.
The Supreme Court of our nation has spoken, and the results of the December 2012 presidential elections has been confirmed as having been won by the candidate of the NDC, President Mahama. As I said earlier, whilst I disagree with the court’s decision, I accept it. I accept that what the court said, brings finality to the election dispute. We shall not be asking for a review of the verdict so we can all move on in the interest of our nation… I am saddened by the verdict and I know that many of our supporters are saddened too. However, for the sake and love of our country, we must embark on a path that builds rather than destroys to deal with our disappointments”.
This singular act of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo did not only reaffirm his longstanding fidelity to the rule of law as a consummate democrat, and to his country and citizens, but also earned him and the country international accolades and plaudits. As indicated, many had expected John Mahama to take advantage of similar situation on March 4, to prove his commitment to democratic tenets, but that never happened, unfortunately.
Instead, John Mahama would rather hold a press conference to unleash invectives and unprovoked attacks on the judiciary and the election management body much to the chagrin of democratic observers and the generality of the Ghanaian people. The gravamen of his attacks on these two important state institutions was that the Supreme Court had shielded the chairperson of the commission from testifying in court.
John Mahama alleges, inter alia, that, the Supreme Court did not give him justice, and that, the Court aided the EC Chairperson “to avoid explaining to the good people of Ghana from her own testimony, under oath in a properly constituted court of law, the errors she herself admits to have committed in the declaration of the 2020 Presidential election results.
Whatever the reasons for not allowing Mrs. Jean Mensa to testify or answer any questions, it leaves, it leaves an embarrassing stain, not only on our justice delivery system but also on the nation’s electoral system.
The Supreme Court has given its verdict, but the national debate on the dismal state of our democracy and the increasing weakness of its institutions has only just begun. It is time we all come together to confront those who seek to destroy the very democratic system that brought them into office. It is our patriotic duty to do so”. These harsh words and imputations coming from John Mahama, a former.
President of the Republic still baffles many, particularly because the Supreme Court, as has been explained, has only stuck to the time-tested principle of the common law practice and for that matter the position of our legal system on civil litigation, that,
YOU WIN IN COURT BASED ON THE STRENGTH OF YOUR OWN CASE AND NOT BASED ON THE SUPPOSED WEAKNESSES OF YOUR OPPONENT’S CASE.
Indeed, the nation’s Supreme Court once held that it would be MADNESS to allow a party depend on his opponent in order to prove his case. John Mahama certainly shouldn’t expect the Supreme Court of Ghana to do what it clearly said would amount to madness.
It would also be recalled that John Mahama stated in 2013 that, “The Courts cannot give you what the people have not given you”. We agreed with him then, and we still do agree with him today on this profound statement.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged his appointees to join forces and work in the interest of Ghanaians.
According to the president, Ghanaians by virtue of the December 7 election have reposed their confidence in the ministers, hence the need for them to repay the confidence with hard work and selflessness.
“The entire nation followed keenly your individual interactions with the Appointments Committee. In those sessions you exhibited your capacity to act as ministers of state for all to see and justify to the county the confidence I have reposed in you to serve in government”.
“I am confident that together we will work to realize the vision of the mandate given to me by the Ghanaian people in the victory of 7th December 2020, a victory which yesterday, 4th March was unanimously upheld in the lucid well-considered judgement by a 7-member panel of the Supreme Court presided over by the Chief Justice,” the president said.
President Akufo-Addo made the speech during the swearing-in of 28 of his 30 sectorial ministers.
The event which was held at the Jubilee House on March 5,2021 saw all but two of the ministers take their oaths of office.
Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister-nominee for Finance and Ebenezer Kojo Kum, the nominee for Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs were not present because they are both indisposed.
President Akufo-Addo said he was excited to have form his government before the country celebrates its 64th independence anniversary.
“I urge you to provide leadership that will ensure that the work which we are embarking on benefits the progress of our nation and help raise the living standards of our people. That is why we are here and that is why the Ghanaian people voted for us,” the president said.
According to a press release by the National Association of Sachet and Bottled Water producers- Ghana (NASBWP-G), the price of a bag of sachet water would increase by 25%.
That’s from GHS2.00 to GHS2.50.
The letter dated 4th March, 2021 says NASBWP-G wishes to inform its cherished customers and the general public that the minimum price of a bag of sachet has been increaed from GHC2.00 to GHC2.50.
The notice indicates that the new price would start reflecting from 8th March 2021.
The Sekondi High Court Presided over by Justice Richard Agyei Frimpong has sentenced to death two Nigerians, Sam Udeotuk Wills and John Orji for their involvement in the kidnapping and murder of four girls.
The judgement comes after a seven-member jury found them guilty on all the eight counts of the charge of conspiracy to murder and murder.
Justice Agyei Frimpong who reminded the counsel of the two convicts of their right to appeal within a 30-day window, gave the verdict after close to three hours sitting.
The two convicts kidnapped and murdered Ruth Abakah, 19; Priscilla Blessing Bentum, 21; Ruth Love Quayson,18 and Priscilla Koranchie, 15 between July and December 2018 in one of the most talked-about criminal cases in recent times.
Samuel Udeotuk Wills was first arrested in December 2018 over the matter but broke jail days later. He was quickly rearrested and tried for that offence.
Takoradi 3 girls
On 29th April 2019, he was sentenced to 18 months prison term on two out of the three charges of unlawful escape from lawful custody and destroying public property but cleared on the charge of resisting arrest.
John Orji was later arrested and put before a Sekondi High Court on 12th June 2019.
The two of them appeared together before the High Court on 26th June 2019.
They were subsequently charged with conspiracy and kidnapping.
On 31st July 2019, their plea on the offences of conspiracy and kidnapping was taken and the facts given.
The fact sheet disclosed to the court that the accused person’s Facebook chats revealed coded language on kidnapping and blood sacrifice.
After the discovery of the skeletal remains on 2nd August 2019 and upon further investigations including the results of the DNA samples taken from the families, the accused persons were charged with conspiracy and murder.
In all, 27 witnesses appeared before the court to give statements and also faced cross-examination.
During their statement and cross-examination, both Sam Udeotuk Wills and John Orji denied kidnapping or murdering any of the girls.
Wills however admitted knowing and being friends with two out of the four girls, namely Priscilla Blessing Bentum and Priscilla Mantebia Kurankyi.
Wills also denied his Facebook chat with some of his friends submitted to the court by the investigators as evidence of discussing kidnapping and blood money.
He told the court that Samuel Udeotuk Wills is not his Facebook name but King Samuel.
John Orji on his part denied four of the charge sheets read to him and had his signature, as well as thump print, picked.
He also denied that he told investigators Sam had told him he had killed someone when he visited him in Takoradi.
Orji said all this information didn’t come from him while some were taken under duress.
President Akufo-Addo says his victory in the December 2020 presidential election has finally been guaranteed.
This comes on the heels of the Supreme Court’s unanimous dismissal of his contender’s [John Dramani Mahama] petition challenging the validity of the election results as declared by the Electoral Commission.
President Akufo-Addo, the candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) took to his Twitter account on social media to make the claim shortly after the apex court ruled that he was validly elected.
“On Thursday, 4th March 2021, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous ruling, affirmed my victory in the presidential election of 7th December 2020”, he posted on Twitter.
President Akufo-Addo who has already begun his second term had his eligibility challenged by the opposition leader prior to his swearing-in to office.
John Mahama who represented the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the polls went to court insisting that none of the nine presidential candidates obtained the mandatory 50%+1 vote constitutional threshold to be declared the winner of the polls.
In his petition filed on December 30, 2020, Mr. Mahama sought five reliefs from the apex court.
At president Nana Addo’s Office
He among things asked the Supreme Court to declare the EC’s declaration of President Nana Akufo-Addo as winner of the polls as unconstitutional, null and void.
Mr. Mahama based his arguments on some declaration errors made by the EC as well as allegations of vote padding.
He also asked the apex court to order the Electoral Commission (EC) to conduct a re-run of the election between himself and President Akufo-Addo.
But three months after the trial, the Supreme on Thursday, March 4, 2021, ruled that the petition as filed by John Mahama was without merit. Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah dismissed the petition.
The Respondents — the Electoral Commission and President Akufo-Addo– urged the apex court to dismiss the petition.
They argued that the petition was incompetent, lacked merit, and raised no reasonable cause of action.
In its ruling, however, the Supreme Court said the petitioner failed to prove his case via his petition or through his witnesses.
Supreme Court of Ghana has finally given its judgment dismissing the NDC and John Mahama’s petition. Supreme Court dismisses John Mahama’s petition According to the judgment declared by Justice Anim Yeboah, the supreme court has no reason to rule for a re-run between John Mahama (the petitioner) and Nana Addo (2nd respondent).
The court therefore ruled in favour of the first respondent, Electoral Commission, represented by Madam Jean Mensa, and second respondent, Nana Akufo-Addo.
The judgement stated that the petitioner did not provide enough evidence to affirm his case.
Source: richnews.com
SAME-SEX MARRIAGE WILL NEVER BE LEGALISED IN MY TIME AS PRESIDENT” – PRESIDENT AKUFO-ADDO
President Nana Addo
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has stated that the legalisation of same-sex marriage will never happen in his time as President.
According to the President, “I have said this before, and let me, in conclusion, stress again that it will not be under the presidency of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that same-sex marriage will be legalised in Ghana. It will never happen in my time as President.”
President Akufo-Addo made this known on Saturday, 27th February 2021, when he attended the Installation and Enthronement ceremony of Rt. Rev Dr. Cyril Kobina Ben-Smith, as the 2nd Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Ghana, at Asante-Mampong, in the Ashanti Region.
This is not the first time the President has publicly made comments about the issue of same-sex marriage in Ghana.
It will be recalled that on 9th August 2018, at the 2018 Synod of the Global Evangelical Church, he stated that “let me assure that this Government has no plans to change the law on same-sex marriage. We have no authority, and we will not seek any authority to do so”.
With historical records indicating that the Anglican Church “has probably been continuously present on Ghanaian soil longer than any”, the President indicated that the Church, from humble beginnings, has grown to become one of the largest congregations in the country.
“Successive priests and congregations are to be applauded for this, and for the many years of service and fellowship to Mother Ghana. The Anglican Church has been a good example of what it means to love one another and give cheerfully to those in need, and I have no doubt that this legacy of ministry and compassion will long grace this Church,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo, thus, urged members of the Church to rise to their religious responsibilities, and stimulate the desired motivational spirit of renewal and transformation towards effective nation-building.
With the COVID-19 vaccinations set to begin soon, the President observed that it is vital that the all Ghanaians continue to adhere to the COVID-19 safety protocols.
“The Church must do its part to help enforce these protocols, because they remain the weapons of our fight to defeat the virus. As your President, I assure you that I will continue to provide the requisite leadership necessary in helping our country to emerge from this relatively unscathed,” he added.
With the the first strategic move of the new Archbishop being the establishment of a National Provincial Secretariat for the Church in Accra, “which I believe is very necessary for the Church, I am, to this end, making a personal donation of one hundred thousand cedis (GH¢100,000) towards its construction”.
Touching on the establishment of the Internal Province of Ghana (IPG), the President stressed that it could not have come at a better time, as it will help strengthen Anglicanism in Ghana.
“The Province is expected to put up strategies and policies to unify members of the Anglican Communion in Ghana and ensure its growth, and you can count on my Government’s support in its sustenance. I believe it is for good reason that the President of the Republic, at this critical period in the Church’s history, is a proud Anglican,” he added.
Congratulating the new Archbishop, the Rt. Rev. Dr Cyril Kobina Ben-Smith, on his assumption of office, President Akufo-Addo stated that “I look forward to the new measures and strategies that will project the image of the Anglican Communion in Ghana by affirming stronger and tighter collaboration with the State. Archbishop, we will support you in this endeavour, and I will urge all members of the Communion here in Ghana to be united in their support of you.”
RICHNEWS.COM 