Sarah Adwoa Safo has been fired as the minister of gender, children, and social protection with immediate effect by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The President’s decision was made in accordance with Article 81(a) of the 1992 Constitution, according to a statement that was signed by Eugene Arhin, Director of Communications, Office of the President.
According to the announcement, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, will continue in her role as interim minister until a permanent replacement is named.
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has immediately rescinded the appointment of Hon. Sarah Adwoa Safo, Member of Parliament for Dome Kwabenya, as Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection, in compliance with article 81(a) of the Constitution.
“The Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Madam Cecilia Abena Dapaah, will continue to act as caretaker Minister for the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, until such a time that President Akufo-Addo appoints a substantive Minister,” the statement from the Presidency concluded.
Professor Peligah Yakubu Seidu, a former rector of the Tamale Technical University (TATU), has reportedly passed away. At the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), the former dean of the faculty of creative arts and technology and retired professor of art therapy and art education passed away on Wednesday evening.
Although the reason of death is yet unknown, sources indicate that he would be buried later today, July 28, 2022, in line with Islamic tradition because he was a devoted Muslim.
In 1994, Professor Peligah graduated from Birmingham School of Art with a doctorate in art therapy. He returned to Ghana after receiving his degree and continued his education at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), in Kumasi. In 2006, he was appointed Head of Art Education and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Art.
Later on, Professor Peligah accepted the position of rector at Tamale Polytechnic, which is now Tamale Technical University. Prior to his retirement in 2016, he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Creative Arts and Technology at the Kumasi Polytechnic, which is now Kumasi Technical University.
Prof. Yakubu Seidu Peligah has for many years served on the Islamic University College of Ghana Council (IUCG). He’s also a foundation member of the IUCG, making sure that the IUCG began on a sound footing. His commitment to the IUCG and every other humanitarian course is worthy of commendation.
A tragic car accident near Nithi Bridge claimed the life of a Kenyan doctor, age 28. On Sunday, July 24, medical doctor Mary Mwandisha was driving to pick up an appointment letter for a new position when the sad incident took place.
According to the sad story, Mary only had a 3-month stint working at Lifetime Hospital in Meru County.
Her family is said to have sobbed excessively over the awful loss.
Kimani shared the incident, citing Nationa Africa: “A family in Kilifi is grieving the loss of their daughter, Dr. Mary Mwandisha, who passed away in the Modern Coast Bus disaster at Nithi Bridge on Sunday.
“Mwandisha, 28, graduated with a Bachelor in Medicine from the University of Nairobi in 2020 and was on her way to Taita-Taveta to pick up her appointment letter after a successful interview for a doctor post in the county. “She had worked for three months at Lifetime Hospital in Meru County.”
Reacting, her mother, Ms. Angelina Mwandisha, said: “I am bitter. My daughter had secured a government job and died before she picked up the appointment letter. I love that baby. It is too painful for me because she was the only daughter I had after the death of her sister.”
The sad story of her death has made many sorrowful on LinkedIn as they commented their condolence to the bereaved family.
The Vice Chairman of the Ghana Association of Road Contractors, Mr. Stephen Attasi, has dispelled claims that the collection of road tolls on sections of roads in the country was the cause of heavy traffic on some of these roads.
According to him, these assertions misled the Ministry of Roads and Highways into suspending the collection of tolls across the country.
Mr. Attasi made this comment in reaction to the Finance Minister’s decision to toll some newly constructed roads by way of the Public-Private Partnership agreement in his Mid-Year Budget Review delivered to Parliament on Monday, July 25, 2022.
Speaking on the Ghana Yenson morning show hosted by Kwame Obeng Sarkodie on Accra 100.5 FM on Thursday, July 28, 2022, he said what is needed is the major expansion of many of the roads to ease traffic and not the cancellation of the collection of tolls.
“In some jurisdictions, they are no longer building two-lane roads. The building of two-lane roads has been scrapped, so why should we be here constructing two-lane roads that will eventually result in a head-on collision”? he queried.
He said many countries now are building 12-lane roads—six here, six there—to ease traffic.
He was of the view that road tolls are the way to go even though what Ghanaians pay by way of the toll is minimal.
He said the decision to cancel the collection of the tolls was an ill-conceived one and called on the government to offer an unqualified apology to Ghanaians.
According to reports, the Juvenile Welfare Centre (JWC) of the State CID in Omuo-Ekiti has detained a man by the name of Ojo Babatunde for allegedly raping and impregnating his own daughter.
It was claimed that the crime occurred on Friday, July 22, 2022, and that the suspect had repeatedly had extramarital relations with the victim until she ultimately became pregnant.
Abutu DSP In a statement issued on Wednesday, July 27, the police command’s spokesperson stated that the victim, who is already four months pregnant, claimed that the suspect, Ojo Babatunde, who is also her stepfather, had multiple instances of unlawful carnal knowledge with her before and after she became pregnant.
According to the statement, the suspect started acting out after the victim and he were left at home while the mother of his stepdaughter was admitted to the hospital for three weeks following a Caesarean birth.
According to reports, the culprit lured the woman into the farm where he repeatedly raped her, defiled her, and threatened to kill her if she complained to anybody.
The suspect, who had been detained, admitted to the crime after being questioned and said that the devil was responsible for his conduct.
Hon. Isaac Adongo, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolgatanga Central, has remarked that Ghana’s current issue is having a set of people that are unable to manage the nation. He claims that despite the government’s ignorance, it does not want to listen to expert counsel.
“The problem we are faced with now is a group of people who have no clue as to how to manage the economy. When advising them they won’t listen, when you tell them to review something to improve it they say it’s a cancellation,” he said while speaking on the floor of Parliament.
Isaac Adongo expressed surprise that Ghana was sobbing more than the Ukrainians who had lost loved ones, and that the ongoing hostilities in Russia and Ukraine were to blame for the nation’s economic problems.
“Mr. Speaker, they keep saying that the Russian-Ukraine war is as if the bombs have been landing in Ghana.” “Mr. Speaker, the Bloomberg report, which is profiling countries that are very close to default, places Ghana at 2nd and Ukraine, where the bombs are landing, is far away at number eight, and you are always crying as if you’ve received bombs,” he said.
Because corruption has a detrimental effect on society as a whole, Nana Kwasi Agyekum-Dwamena, the head of the civil service, has urged Ghanaians to band together in the fight against it.
In an interview last week, he emphasized that while eliminating corruption was inhumanely difficult, Ghana should at most try to lessen its prevalence.
“These surveys give the public service a poor rating. It’s not just about the GRA or the Police, he emphasized; corruption results in mediocrity in the provision of services.
Agyekum-Dwamena stated that efforts to prevent and/or lessen the plague were being made by the civil service and other institutions, but that they needed to coordinate their efforts.
“So, like we’ve been saying, let’s rather prevent corruption, put in place systems, civil service and implicated institutions doing their best.
“I think it’s only in heaven you can eradicate corruption, but we have to work to reduce it. Other countries have done (it), Finland, Norway, Singapore, Malaysia, they have reduced it. They will not eradicate but they’ve reduced it and that is what we must do as a country,” he stressed.
About the Corruption in Ghana survey – GNA report
Over 17.4 million bribes were paid in the same period, according to the first national poll, “Corruption in Ghana – people’s experiences and perceptions.”
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) worked together to conduct the study (UNODC).
It gathered factual data on the types of corruption affecting Ghana’s population from 15,000 households across the nation with adults ages 18 and older.
In order to inform appropriate policies to stop administrative corruption in the nation’s numerous public institutions, it is necessary to assess the prevalence of the issue and its prevalent typologies.
Apart from the cash payment, which contributed 84.8 percent of the forms of bribes paid, 13.3 percent of the bribes paid were food and drinks; 9.7 percent, exchange for other services; 5 percent for valuables, and 2.2 percent for animals.
The bribes were paid by 33.6 percent of citizens to speed up procedures; 15.8 percent, as a sign of appreciation; 13.8 percent, to avoid the payment of fine; 10.8 percent to avoid problems, and 3.1 percent, to avoid the cancellation of public utilities.
Ghana drops on Corruption Perception ranking
Ghana placed 73rd out of 180 nations in the Corruption Perception Index, CPI, report released on April 4 according to the 2021 edition of Transparency International’s annual corruption rating chart.
The report stated that Ghana’s present performance “remains below 50 which is the predicted average, so leaves much to be desired.”
Ghana and Senegal tied for ninth position out of 49 countries in Africa, each earning a score of 43.
The impending debate in Parliament intended to decide the future of the Dome-Kwabenya seat could become chaotic, according to Dr. Rasheed Draman, Executive Director of the African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA).
According to Dr. Draman’s research, Sarah Adwoa Safo of the New Patriotic Party, who currently occupies the seat, has established positions in both the Majority and Minority caucuses.
While the minority is opposed to it, the majority favors her removal.
There will be chaos in Parliament, just like there was when the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) was passed, he continued, if the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, is not there and any of his deputies who preside insist on participating in the vote.
“There are a lot of things at stake. My impression from visiting the House is that one of the MPs is very ill. Assuming that person is still receiving treatment and is not in Parliament, this implies that the NPP has 136 members, followed by the NDC side, which now has 136 members due to an injunction in Assin North.
“Which means, we have a real, real hung Parliament. So that if you even need a simple majority and the NDC side says look none of them is going to support a motion to remove her, support the report of the Privileges Committee, then the NPP loses the vote. Because 136, 136 and you need a simple majority, you need 1 or 2 from the NDC.
“Assuming the Right Hon. Speaker is absent on that day, it becomes a disadvantage to the NPP. Let’s pray we don’t have a fight. Like we have seen in previous circumstances,” he said.
In the meantime, Henry Boakye-Yiadom, an Akwatia MP and member of the Privileges Committee, stated in an interview with Citi TV that the committee decided by a vote of 15 to 12 that Assin Central MP Kennedy Agyapong and Ayawaso Central MP Henry Quartey’s justifications for absenting themselves without permission were sufficient and that they should not lose their seats.
Adwoa Safo failed to appear before the committee to give a justification for her absences from the House since December 2021, he continued, which prevented the committee from making a decision on her. He continued by saying that the plenary would decide what to do about Adwo Safo.
Unconfirmed reports, however, suggest that in the committee’s report delivered to the House, Adwoa Safo’s removal was suggested by the majority of the committee’s members.
Ras Mubarak, a former member of parliament, petitioned Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, speaker of the house, to remove the three New Patriot Party members for skipping more than 15 consecutive sittings during the first session of the eighth parliament. Bagbin then referred the members to the Privileges Committee of the House.
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has announced its readiness to clamp down on illegal power thefts effective August 1, 2022.
The special nationwide exercise is aimed at clamping down on illegal power users to mobilize revenue for the company.
Addressing the media after one month of a moratorium in Accra, the Managing Director of ECG, Samuel Dubik Mahama indicated that the special operation dubbed “Visibility” will see the deployment of a task force from the National Revenue Taskforce and the Revenue Protect Unit of ECG with support from the Ghana Police Service to visit homes.
Dubik Mahama added that the exercise will involve field inspection of all meters of ECG customers within their premises to audit all meters and ensure all faulty, tampered meters and illegal connections are fished out of the system.
He lamented the high rate of illegal connections identified in the system which is yielding a great loss to the company.
He, therefore, warned that anyone caught during the process will be prosecuted by the utilities court for stealing and made to face prosecution.
Mr. Samuel Dubik Mahama urged customers of ECG to cooperate with the deployed task force as and when needed.
He again cautioned against any attempt to compromise the task force in their line of duty to recover debts and losses.
John Dramani Mahama, the former president, has gushed about how much he loves his wife, Lordina Mahama.
The former president called Lordina Mahama his life partner and referred to their marriage as a blessing in a message published on Facebook on Wednesday.
When the proper individual is chosen for the marriage, it is a blessing. The message published by Mahama stated, “In my wife, Lordina, I have discovered a life-partner with whom I have shared every step of life’s journey for the past 30 years and more.
The former first family opened a maternity and children’s department at the Bole Hospital, a hospital in Mahama’s hometown, to commemorate their 30th wedding anniversary. The maternity and children’s section was constructed and furnished by the Lordina Mahama Foundation.
Speaking during the facility’s commissioning, Mahama lamented the failure of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-administration Addo’s to finish health facilities that had been started by his administration.
He claimed that Akufo-Addo was wasting the limited resources of the nation by initiating new projects before finishing the health facilities that had already been begun.
Therefore, Mahama advised his successor to see that all the projects he (Mahama) initiated in the health sector are finished before he begins new ones, according to myjoyonline.com.
The amount of health facilities started by previous administrations that have been abandoned is one of the heartbreaking outcomes for me as a politician.
“I use this occasion to encourage the government and the President to stop this waste of our taxpayers’ money and take urgent steps to complete these hospitals,” he said.
