The main event, will happenon August 20, 2022, at the plush Lincoln Theater, Columbus Ohio, is dubbed ‘The Music Matters’.
Below is the full list of nominees.
Best Female Vocalist of the Year ‘Overflow’ – Efe Grace ‘Odi Yompo’ – Empress Gifty ‘Do It Lord’ – Diana Hamilton ‘The Glory’ – Obaapa Christy ‘Coming Home’ – MzVee ‘Oti me mu’ – Ohemaa Mercy ‘Only You’ – Celestine Donkor
Best Male Vocalist of the Year ‘Available (remix) – Camidoh ‘Ye Obua Mi’ – Joe Mettle ‘Mon Bebe’ – KiDi ‘Slow Down’ – King Promise ‘Yekun’ – Kuami Eugene ‘Mepawokyew’ – Akwaboah ‘Yesu’ – MOG Music ‘Second Sermond’ – Black Sherif
New Act of the Year Black Sherif Kwame Yogot Kweku Darlington Mona 4reall Nanky Scott Evans S3fa Amaarae
Afrobeat/Afropop Artiste of the Year Amaarae KiDi Darkovibes S3fa King Promise Gyakie Camidoh Wendy Shay Mr Drew
Fan Army of the Year AMG Beyond Kontrol BHIM Nation Die-hard Fans of Lumba High-grade Family Sark Nation Shatta Movement. Team DH Team Move Gadam Nation Army
Gospel Artiste of the Year Akesse Brempong Celestine Donkor Diana Hamilton Empress Gifty Joe Mettle Obaapa Christy Ohemaa Mercy MOG Music
Highlife Artiste of the Year Akwaboah Cina Soul Fameye Kofi Kinaata Kwabena Kwabena Kuami Eugene Bisa K’dei
Hiplife/Hip Hop Artiste of the Year Amerado Black Sherif D-Black Kofi Jamar Okyeame Kwame Medikal Sarkodie
Producer of the Year Kaywa Kuami Eugene (Rockstar Made it) Master Garzy Mog Beatz Richie Mensah Streetbeatz Beatz Vampire
Rapper of the Year Amerado – ‘Best Rapper’ Eno Barony – ‘God Is A Woman’ ft. Efya Lyrical Joe – ‘5th August’ Medikal – ‘Stop It’ Sarkodie – ‘Rollies N Cigars’ Strongman – ‘Flawless’ Obibini – ‘Wudini’ Teephlow – ‘Wontease3’
Reggae/Dancehall Artiste of the Year Epixode Larruso Samini Shatta Wale Stonebwoy
Most Popular Song of the Year ‘Yeeko’ – Okyeame Kwame ft Kuami Eugene ‘Touch It’ – KiDi ‘Mood’ – Mr Drew ‘Echoke’ – S3fa ft Mr Drew ‘Second Sermon’ – Black Sherif ‘Je M’Appelle’ – Darkovibes ft Davido ‘Slow Down’ – King Promise ‘Ote Me Mu’ – Ohemaa Mercy ft MOG Music ‘Abodi3’ – Captain Planet ft Kuami Eugene ‘Thy Grace’ – Kofi Kinaata ‘Kom’ – Fancy Gadam
Artist of the Year Black Sherif KiDi Kuami Eugene Sarkodie Stonebwoy Kofi Kinaata
Dancehall artiste Shatta Wale has named two of Ghana’s finest rappers Lyrical Joe popularly known as LJ and Black Sherif aka Blacko as his favorite artistes in the country.
The musician, who is now in the United States, has chosen two young rappers as his country’s current favorites.
Officials at the launch of the 2019 Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) reports for the mining, oil and gas sectors
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Deputy Finance Minister, John Ampontuah Kumah, has reiterated government’s strategy to pursue the agenda of increasing its stake in some of the mining and oil and gas companies.
He made this known during the launch of the 2019 Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) reports for the mining, oil and gas sectors last week.
“It is part of government policy to deliberately increase our stake in some of the mining and oil and gas companies, especially where foreign companies are seeking to exit from the Ghana market; government is taking advantage to increase our shareholding in some of these companies.
As a small producing country, we are also taking measures to increase our stake in producing fields to generate more revenue for the state, and to support GNPC’s [Ghana National Petroleum Corporation] operations,” the deputy finance minister said.
Accordingly, GNPC has successfully Increased its Commercial Interest in both the Jubilee and TEN blocks, from Occidental Petroleum for a purchase price of US$199million, which was effective April 1, 2021, alongside an ongoing negotiation to increase the country’s shares in the Aker energy and AGM blocks.
The acquisition adds to GNPC’s existing carried and participating interest of 13.64 percent in the Jubilee field, and the 15 percent in the TEN field.
Contribution from extractives
From the oil and gas sector, total revenue of US$ 666.39million was accrued to the State in the year 2020 from Royalties, Carried and Participating Interest (CAPI), Corporate Income Taxes (CIT), and Surface Rentals.
The deputy minister said government also received US$225,301 as income earned on the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF). This total receipt contributed seven percent of the total domestic revenue for 2020.
In 2020, a total of 88,515.58 million Standard Cubic Feet (MMSCF) of associated gas and non-associated gas produced from Jubilee, TEN and SGN fields were supplied to various thermal plants in Ghana for domestic power generation. A total of 580,034.37 MMSCF has so far been produced from 2014 to 2020, and has been solely utilised for domestic power generation in Ghana.
The mining sector currently contributes approximately 41 percent of total exports earnings, 14 percent of total tax revenues, and 5.5 percent of Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Gold contributes over 90 percent of Ghana’s total mineral exports and makes up 49 percent of the country’s total export value. Ghana is the leading African gold producer, with a total mine production amounting to 150 metric tonnes as at the end of 2020.
With regards to the mineral royalty receipts, its share in total fiscal receipts attributable to the mining and quarrying sector increased from 25.1 percent in 2019 to 33.3 percent in 2020.
The Bank of Ghana’s statistics on merchandise exports show that the minerals sector accounted for 48.4 percent of gross exports receipts in 2020, which was more than the combined contribution of cocoa and crude oil to merchandise exports.
GHEITI Report
So far, Ghana EITI, with the support of the Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG), has produced 16 EITI reports in the mining sector and nine reports for the oil and gas sector.
“The findings and recommendations from these reports are very vital. Government has responded to some of the policy calls in the extractive sector. The recommendations of the EITI reports have informed policy direction and decision-making in the legislative, fiscal and institutional dimensions of the mining, oil, and gas sectors,” the deputy minister said.
The EITI seeks to create that missing transparency and accountability in revenue flows from the extractive industry.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has tipped the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) as the party with a higher probability to secure victory in the next general elections.
But the organisation highlighted one condition based on which this prospect can be even more resounding.
This was made known in the EIU’s five-year forecast for Ghana released on April 13, 2022.
According to the London-based analysts, their assessment shows that the opposition party can revitalise this prospect of victory with a fresh presidential candidate.
This will mean a new candidate other than John Dramani Mahama, who has led the party since 2012.
According to the London-based analysts, their assessment shows that the opposition party will have to part ways with its leader, 2020 flagbearer John Dramani Mahama.
The former President has led the NDC into two unsuccessful election campaigns in 2016 and 2020.
As President Akufo-Addo concludes his final term in 2024, the opposition is expected to face off with whoever the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) will put forward as its new leader.
In the wake of numerous challenges plaguing the government including unemployment, an economic downturn, and corruption among others, EIU believes these developments will fuel citizens’ sentiments against the ruling NPP administration.
“Our baseline forecast is that ongoing public dissatisfaction with the slow pace of improvements in governance—such as infrastructure development, job creation and easing of corruption—will trigger anti-incumbency factors and push the electorate to seek a change.”
They believe this situation will tilt the balance in the NDC’s favour.
But from their findings, the international economic and political research consultancy group indicated that “John Mahama, is reportedly considering running again.”
In their latest report, the agency expects the “NDC to try to revitalise its prospects with a fresh candidate
A family’s Easter outing ended tragically after their nine-year-old boy, who drowned in a swimming pool at Rattray Park Recreational Center in Kumasi Sunday afternoon.
The deceased, identified as Mensah Bonsu, is a Class Three pupil of Blessed Gift Model School in Kumasi.
Mother of the deceased Janet Opoku, who confirmed the incident to Akoma FM, explained that “on Sunday, April 17 when we returned from church, we decided to go to the Rattray Park Recreational Center to enjoy the Easter festival”.
Recounting the bizarre incident, Madam Janet, who spoke in a sobbing voice, added that “initially the boy didn’t want to swim in the pool, so later when he told me that he will join his other siblings in the pool, I told him to wait for me to buy a towel. So when I returned with the towel my son had reportedly jumped into the pool and drowned. So when I got to the pool side, I saw them pumping his chest with their hands to resuscitate him but he died shortly.”
Though a word is yet to come out from the management of the Rattray Park Recreational Center, Akoma FM‘s sources reveal the case has been officially reported at the Ridge Police Station for further investigation while the body remains at the morgue awaiting autopsy.
Alleged former girlfriend of President Akufo-Addo, Evelyn Serwaa Broni has published private text messages allegedly exchanged between her and President Akufo-Addo.
Serwaa Broni in a no-holds-barred interview with US-based Vlogger Kevin Taylor also claimed she has naked videos and pictures of President Akufo-Addo but is holding onto them for the moment.
The self-confessed bisexual also publicly released the mobile phone numbers she chatted with the President in a bid to make the public believe she was not making up her story. The Airtel-Tigo and Vodafone numbers were displayed publicly with the last three numbers covered.
The Canada-based Ghanaian lady who has fallen out with the President since their first meeting in October 2014 alleged a robbery was staged against her to retrieve her gadgets for which she was supposed to be compensated but some persons took percentages of the money.
She provided text messages to back up some of her claims.
One text message dated Saturday, November 7, 2020, allegedly from President Akufo-Addo read:
“Hello Evelyn, you are still my babe, please keep cool you and your girlfriend will be fully sorted out after the elections. John informed me you had agreed to wait so I didn’t understand the mails of request. I would love to call you but I have noticed my calls frustrates you. It’s busy times. Be patient a little more. Thank you”.
A message she wrote to President Akufo-Addo read:
“Messaging u was not cool. I will not message u again nor contact you again anyway, I am an ordinary person and must keep friendships with ordinary people so I avoid unnecessary surprises”.
The President allegedly replied:
“Evelyn yes my security team advised I distant myself from you they were also interested in your devices however I didn’t order the attack. Am calling you…”
On 2nd November 2019, at 12:58GMT, she wrote in reply:
“When you called me the morning of Friday, November 1st in response to my text message, you could not answer to why your security head will tell me his female friend that I am under their radial and constant watch since July. Also, your only excuse for Hopeson taking {sic} a key card to enter my hotel room 36 mins after my staged robbery is because he said he was looking for me, well he didn’t know that I had been robbed, did he contact me by phone? Did he forget to tell me he had…in my room?, he clearly to …in the presence…..”
The President in subsequent messages denied knowledge of the alleged robbery against her.
The matter has been trending on social media for the past 24 hours.
Investors have signalled interest in the pharmaceutical industry, as government envisages increasing local production to help reduce the import bill of approximately 70 percent of the total healthcare consumption.
Currently, the pharmaceutical industry is working toward increasing local production, with the announcement of a US$321million 60-ha pharmaceutical park to be built in the Dawa Industrial Zone in the Greater Accra region, with the goal of producing between 60 percent and 80 percent of the country’s pharmaceutical needs.
Speaking at the launch of the West Africa Pharma Healthcare (WAPHC) Exhibition, the Project Director, Thomas James, said investors across the globe have registered interest in Ghana’s pharmaceutical industry through the WAPHC event.
“As the first-ever health business event/forum that brings together the key decision-makers and captains of the health industry, hosting about 100 exhibitors in the expo from India, Turkey, USA, Egypt, Italy, Ghana and other countries, and 5000+ visitors from Ghana and West Africa, the exhibition is a must-attend global event in the healthcare calendar; and offers an ideal environment for companies to showcase their products, and for the pharmaceutical and medical healthcare industry of the country to visit and connect with global suppliers and solution providers in the space to explore space for improvement and innovation in the medical healthcare sector of Ghana,” he said.
According to the 2022 Oxford report, Ghana is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa to produce active pharmaceutical ingredients, placing it in a good position to establish itself as a leader in the region’s generic drugs market.
Mr. James noted that increasing investment into the industry would help to reduce Ghana’s pharmaceutical import bill, which reached an estimated US$263million in 2019, greatly outweighing the country’s drug exports of about US$3.8million.
Industry data reveals that in 2020, pharmaceutical sales hit GH¢2.7bn (US$461.7million), expected to increase to GH¢2.9bn (US$496million) in 2021. Furthermore, this figure is expected to reach GH¢4billion (US$684million) by 2025.
WAPHC Exhibition
The WAPHC event is in line with the vision of government to build a robust healthcare system and infrastructure in the country, and facilities for every stakeholder in the industry. This will take place from April 27-29, 2022 in Accra, at the Accra International Conference Centre.
The investors are converging at the West Africa Pharma Healthcare (WAPHC) Exhibition, which will bring together the manufacturers, exporters, wholesalers, dealers and distributors of pharmaceuticals; and medical diagnostic industry, pharmaceutical machinery, hospitals and influential decision-makers in the West African region.
It will have seminars and conferences running concurrently for two days of the event, to bring and discuss thoughts, ideas innovations and issues related to the sector to government ministries, departments and agencies, along with the suggestions and way forward to discuss and improvise the sector.
Dancehall artiste Stonebwoy has come under heavy criticism for marketing yet again a ponzi scheme for his online followers after he led them to sign up to Menzgold with his music influence along with other celebrities.
Ahead of its launch, SIDICOIN is selling its NFT tokens (backed by an alleged 25gram 99.5% real gold coin) at $6,500 on a pre-sale basis.
In a ploy to get more people to sign up, SIDICOIN says on the launch day, the Sidicoin NFT token will be sold for $9,500, in a bid to get more patrons to buy more ahead of the launch.
Sidicoin plans to sell “only 5000 tokens” – and encourages interested buyers to rush in while stock lasts.
By the estimated launch floor prices of $9,500, it is estimated that the persons behind the website if they succeed, will be controlling almost US$50,000,000.
In what has all the trappings of a scam, MyNewsGh.com has uncovered how an unregistered and unlicensed “crypto-investment” company dubbed SIDICOIN is inviting members of the general public to invest in “NFT tokens” backed by gold at 4% royalty to be paid to patrons for 12 months.
On how it will pay the 4% royalties – which another part of the website says is 3%– Sidicoin says royalties payments are credited to beneficiaries Ethereum wallet every 30days for 12months or 1 year.
In a bid to target other potential clients outside Ghana, Sidicoin claims it can deliver its 25gram 99.5% real gold coin to a buyer anywhere in the world as the physical version of the virtual Sidicoin token purchased.
Although celebrity such as Stonebwoy has already been signed as ambassador in a bid to ride on his celebrity status and credibility, MyNewsGh.com checks from authorities indicate SIDICOIN is NOT licensed by all the state agencies in charge of the business it is engaged.
Checks from the Minerals Commission, The Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bank of Ghana and even the Registrar Generals Department showed no element or attempt of registration by the company.
In what is likely an attempt to hide the identities of the persons behind the scheme, SIDICOIN on its official website lists one “Funky Klive” as it founder and this Funky Klive figure is described as “an astute digital technology professional with over a decade experience in tech systems creation and in academia”.
Sidicoin co-founder, another interesting name – Freaky Erikana– is described by the website as “a credible hardware tech-savvy with many years of experience in the computer and general electronics hardware space.”
A second co-founder is named Hyperhankie King who is also claimed to be “a top business professional with over a decade and half experience and global business network in commodities trading, energy and digital media products” while one Prince Fred is named “projet” manager by the website all using faceless tiger cartoons imagery associated with NFTs.
The website says the purchase of the Sidicoin NFT token which comes with the gold gives the purchases access to the exclusive club or network body (community) that offers members the right to own singular or several NFTs (Sidicoin tokens), which comes with a physical real fungible asset with exchanges via crypto Ethereum and “opensea”.
In October last year in Europe, some investors spent Millions on ‘Evolved Apes’, another NFT styled like Sidicoin and then they got scammed.
The developer behind the NFT project, ‘Evil Ape,’ suddenly disappeared along with its Twitter account, website, and $2.7 million in deposits.
A week after the project launch, the anonymous developer known as Evil Ape vanished along with the project’s official Twitter account and website. But they left traces behind on the blockchain that showed they siphoned 798 ether ($2.7 million) out of the project’s funds in multiple transfers. The funds, are derived from the initial public sale of NFTs and commissions.
What are NFTs
A non-fungible token (NFT) is a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger, that can be sold and traded.
Types of NFT data units may be associated with digital files such as photos, videos, and audio. Because each token is uniquely identifiable,
NFTs differ from most cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, which are fungible.
NFT ledgers claim to provide a public certificate of authenticity or proof of ownership, but the legal rights conveyed by an NFT can be uncertain. NFTs do not restrict the sharing or copying of the underlying digital files, do not necessarily convey the copyright of the digital files, and do not prevent the creation of NFTs with identical associated files.
NFTs have been used as a speculative asset, and they have drawn increasing criticism for the energy cost and carbon footprint associated with validating blockchain transactions as well as their frequent use in art scams.
The NFT market has also been compared to a Ponzi scheme in various reports by credible websites such as Vice and Motherboard.
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Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta (Left) and Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has said in its five-year forecast for Ghana released on April 13, 2022, that the banking sector risk rating remains at B, and the underlying score is unchanged, at 60.
The largest drivers of banking sector risk in Ghana are financing and liquidity constraints, it said.
The report added that enormous legacy debts owed to the banks (largely by state-owned energy companies) continue to crowd out other borrowers. Credit to the private sector as a share of GDP has decreased over the past three years.
The economic fallout from the pandemic, combined with high risk-aversion among banks, kept private-sector credit growth negative year on year up to September. Non-performing loans (NPLs) as a share of gross loans remained high, at 14.8% in December 2020 (although down from a peak of 15.7% in June).
“The BoG has taken steps to support economic activity, including restructuring loans and introducing repayment moratoria, but low levels of bank lending (notably to trade-related sectors) and sustained repayment difficulties stand to keep the NPL ratio elevated. Commercial banks are well capitalized, however; a directive from the BoG in 2018 tripled the minimum capital requirement, and a ratio of capital to risk-weighted assets of 20.9%, as at August 2020, comfortably exceeded the minimum ratio of 11.5% set by the BoG.
“This high buffer at the onset of the pandemic has allowed the BoG to gradually lower capital minimums (from 13% previously) to inject liquidity into the economy, beyond a 150-basis-point drop in the policy rate to 14.5% in March (which the BoG has maintained, despite high inflation throughout 2020).
“This has, however, translated into only limited pass-through to the private sector, with average lending rates remaining high, at 21.4% in August.
“To inject extra liquidity, the BoG has launched an asset purchase programme worth about US$1.7bn. Banks’ willingness to lend at lower rates has been hampered by inflation, which emerged as an issue in 2020. Banks have a positive and growing net foreign-asset position, limiting their exposure to adverse currency movements,” the report said.
South Africa, the continent’s most industrialised country, has largely escaped the tropical cyclones that regularly hit its neighbours.
But last week, storms pummelled the east coast city of Durban, triggering heavy floods and landslides that killed more than 440.
Here are the main questions behind the floods and devastation.
Meteorologists say the storms were not tropical.
Instead, the rains were part of a normal South African weather system called a “cut-off low” which can bring heavy rain and cold weather.
“Cut-off low pressure systems are common. Their frequency becomes high during autumn and spring seasons, and they are differing in strength,” said Puseletso Mofokeng with the South African Weather Service.
Some of these systems are very intense, causing heavy rain, hail, strong and potentially damaging winds and heavy snowfall.
A cut-off low in April 2019 killed 85 people in Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.
If the storm system itself is a known phenomenon, the difference this time was the intensity of the the deluge.
Here, experts point the finger at climate change — warmer seas charge the atmosphere with more moisture, which then gets dumped as rainfall.
“We’ve seen in Durban three (severe) floods in less than 10 years. Does it have to do with climate change? Definitely,” said Mary Galvin of the University of Johannesburg. “We are feeling the impact of what will certainly be unpredictable, more frequent, severe and extreme weather events.”
A recent UN report says what was once considered a one-in-a-hundred-year flood event could end up happening several times a year by 2050.
Why is Durban prone to floods? Durban experiences floods every year, but not as severe as these. The city is built on a hilly area with many gorges and ravines — a topography that University of KwaZulu-Natal urban planner Hope Magidimisha-Chipungu says is conducive to floods.
If the soil is not properly “stabilised in the hilly areas, it’s obvious you were going to have landslides,” she said.
Some have suggested Durban’s storm-water drainage system may not have been well maintained, which authorities of the 187-year-old city dispute.
Durban city is not alone in experiencing extreme weather conditions in South Africa.
Along the west coast, Cape Town almost ran out of water in a 2018 drought. “Climate predictions and all models show wet areas will get wetter and dry areas will get dryer. So Durban… unfortunately will be wetter,” said Galvin.
What about planning? Durban is one of South Africa’s fastest-growing cities, with economic growth outpacing the national average by 2015.
Massive, unplanned migration created housing shortages, which resulted in the mushrooming of shack dwellings, locally called informal settlements. “The ways in which South African cities were designed were very exclusionary in nature,” said planner Magidimisha-Chipungu.
“The spatial planning and the apartheid legacy (placed) the urban poor in the periphery and in the low-lying areas” along riverbanks, she said.
Around a quarter of the metro’s 3.9 million people live in 550 informal settlements around the city. At least 164 of them were built on floodplains, according to Galvin.
A host of recent crises have further sapped resources, the coronavirus pandemic, massive unemployment and riots and looting that erupted last year. It’s “like the seven plagues” happening in succession, said Galvin.
