One Person Killed In Dodowa Over Land

One person has been shot dead during a shootout involving land surveyors and some unidentified persons in Dodowa.

The clashes erupted as a result of a land dispute land.

In an interview with Citi News one of the injured persons, Kennedy Ashon receiving treatment at the Tema General Hospital explained that they were four surveyors working on the land when they got attacked by unidentified men.

According to him, after surveying the land, they went ahead to set their track pot “when all of a sudden we heard a shot and then we all scattered.”

Three persons were seriously injured in the attack.

Meanwhile, the police have indicated that they are investigating the matter.

According to the Divisional Police Commander for Ashaiman, Chief Superintendant David Eklu they have not made “any arrest but the perpetrators will be brought to book” when they are arrested.

He indicated that they have been “able to maintain police presence there since last night” and they will continue with investigations.

Citifmonline

Surgeons in Poland perform first life-saving face transplant on man, 33, who lost his in an accident with stone-cutting machinery

Life-saving: Doctors performed the surgery on May 15 in a 27-hour operation

Doctors in Poland say they have performed a total face transplant on a 33-year-old man whose face was torn off in an accident with stone-cutting machinery.

Surgeons at the Oncology Center in Gliwice said the 27-hour operation was performed on May 15, just weeks after the accident.

The head of the team of doctors, Adam Maciejewski, said it was the world’s first life-saving face transplant carried out so soon after the damage.

The accident took place on April 23.

Previous transplants have taken months or years to prepare.

A computer-generated image, provided by the hospital, shows the extraordinary damage the man suffered as a result of the industrial accident.

It required surgery to reconstruct his face, jaws, palate and the bottom of his eye sockets.

But incredibly, the emergency procedure appears to have been a success.

A picture of the patient taken yesterday, six days after the surgery, showed him making a thumbs-up gesture from his hospital bed.

Oscar (centre) with his sister and Dr Joan Barrett at a press conference. He can now eat a soft food diet and is learning to speak again

A Spanish farmer had the world’s first full-face transplant in March 2010.

Oscar, whose surname was not revealed to protect his privacy, had blown most of his face off with a gun in the hunting accident. He was left unable to breathe, swallow or talk properly.
Nine earlier surgical attempts to rebuild his face had failed.

He made medical history when he became the first person in the world to undergo a full facial transplant.

The 24-hour operation involved 30 surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and other medical experts at the Vall d’Hebron hospital in Barcelona.
The complicated procedure included plastic surgery and microsurgery to repair blood vessels.

Oscar required speech therapy, physiotherapy and facial therapy to help him recover full movement in his facial muscles.
There have been 11 partial face transplants carried out since Isabelle Dinoire had her face repaired by French surgeons in 2005. Five have been performed in France, two in Spain and two in the U.S, one in Egypt and one in China.

There have also been two full face transplants, Oscar and a man known as Jerome in France. None have been performed in the UK.
Dailymail

Two men ‘shot by armed police after hacking soldier in Help for Heroes T-shirt to death with machetes in busy London street’

Scene: One man died at the scene here in John Wilson Street, south London this afternoon while two were seriously injured

Two people were today believed to have been shot by armed police after hacking a man to death with a machete in front of dozens of eyewitnesses.

Police were called this afternoon to reports of an assault in Woolwich, south London where witnesses claimed a man wearing a Help For Heroes t-shirt was attacked with knives.

The pair were then confronted by armed police and apparently shot by a female officer as they brandished weapons including a revolver.

This afternoon the area’s MP, Nick Raynsford, told BBC Radio 5 Live he believed the victim of the attack was a serving soldier.

The man is believed to have been hacked to death after a car crash. The scene of the attack is just 200 yards from Woolwich Barracks.
Mr Raynsford told the BBC: Mr Raynsford said: ‘The circumstances causing the incident are not yet clear. It’s been suggested it was the product of a road traffic accident, but that’s pure speculation.

‘We think a serving soldier was the victim. We don’t know the circumstances surrounding the incident.
‘We do know a number of weapons have been seized. They include a gun, various knives, and a machete, apparently.

‘The police clearly had to take action in order to try and arrest these individuals.’

The Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is called in whenever firearms officers shoot people, said it is investigating.

The Ministry of Defence said it was urgently looking at the reports that the incident involved a soldier but had no further comment.

Footage from a television news helicopter showed a large collection of weapons lying in the street in Woolwich following the incident.

A spokesman for the London Ambulance Service said one man had died at the scene.

He said: ‘Our staff treated two others. Both men were taken to hospital, one of them is in a serious condition, the other is not.’

One witness, identified as James, said he and his partner saw two black men attack the young victim with knives, including a meat cleaver.

‘They were hacking at this poor guy, literally,’ he told LBC. ‘They were hacking at him, chopping him, cutting him.’

Fighting back tears, James said the men treated their victim as a ‘piece of meat’ after he was dead.
‘These two guys were crazed,’ he told the radio station. ‘They were just animals. They dragged him from the pavement and dumped his body in the middle of the road and left his body there.’

The incident occurred near the Royal Artillery Barracks, adjacent to Woolwich Common, the historical home of the Royal Artillery.

The barracks, also known as the Woolwich station, now houses a number of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery and independent companies of the Grenadier and Coldstream Guards.

Woolwich Common remains a designated military training area. The shooting events at the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics were held at a temporary venue at the Barracks.

Luke Huseyin, 32, who lives in a block of flats on John Wilson Street, Woolwich, close to where the incident happened said he watched two men murder a man before being shot.
He said: ‘I was at home and heard a big bang. I looked out of the window and saw a car had crashed.

‘It was a blue Vauxhall. Then two black guys got out of the car dragging a white guy across the road towards the wall. One of the guys had a knife that looked about a foot long and a machete and the other bloke had a gun.

‘They started slashing him up with the knife and hitting him in the stomach with the machete. I don’t think it took long before he was dead. There were people passing by who were screaming and running away. I’ve never seen anything like it.
‘I’m still really shaken up. When he was dead, they dragged him out into the road and left him there.

‘It was strange, they didn’t run off, they just stood there as if they were waiting for the police.

‘It must’ve taken about 20 minutes for the police to arrive, I think it must’ve been because they were waiting for armed police.

‘The police officers got out of the car and the two black men ran towards them with the gun.

‘The police shot them. They fell to the ground. Then a helicopter landed. Think it must’ve been an air ambulance.

‘The paramedics got out and I think they were working on the two men to try and keep them alive.

Dailymail

Tsatsu Finally Lands

Tsatsu Tsikata, counsel for NDC

After 13 days of laborious cross-examination, Tsatsu Tsikata, lead counsel for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) finally brought his grilling of principal witness Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to an end.

However, the NDC counsel indicated that he would conclude finally subject to the report to be submitted by KPMG, a reputable international accounting firm that has been chosen to count the number of pink sheets attached as exhibits by the petitioners.

Finished or Not Finished

There were murmurings in the courtroom when Mr. Tsikata said “subject to the report of the referee, that will be all for the witness”, triggering another heated debate that needed the court’s ruling to settle matters.

Mr Tsikata tendered in evidence, the exhibits that led to the adjournment on Monday which was to enable Dr. Bawumia to match the polling stations with same serial numbers on the request of Mr. Tsikata.

When asked by Mr. Tsikata whether the pink sheets with same serial numbers had been duplicated, Dr. Bawumia replied that none of the pink sheets was ever used twice in the analysis.

Counsel then brought Dr. Bawumia’a attention to the affidavits he swore and tried to test him in the averments he made, taking the witness to a number of polling stations where over-voting occurred and where there were no signatures of election officials on the pink sheets.

In terms of the number of polling stations, Dr. Bawumia replied that as at the time of deposing to the affidavits, those were the information available to him; but after an update of the analysis, some of the figures changed.

Counsel returned to the number of pink sheets involved once again and suggested to Dr. Bawumia that they were not up to 11,842 as claimed by the petitioner; but the witness insisted that they submitted the right number.

Counsel: I further suggest to you that you have deliberately padded up the numbers by repeating them over and over again, sometimes in the same category, sometimes in different category.

Witness: You are wrong! There is no gain to deliberately pad exhibits. What is the purpose? All these have to be audited by the court so I don’t really understand this argument of padding of exhibits.

Counsel: I am putting it to you finally that you and your co-petitioner have engaged in a massive deception.

Witness: I reject this suggestion. There have been massive violations, irregularities and malpractices in this election and the 1^st respondent has been the beneficiary of such massive violations of the law and this is why we have brought this evidence to court.

Addison’s Insistence

With Mr. Tsikata’s caveat that completing his cross-examination would be subject to the report from KPMG, Mr. Addison rose to seek clarification for the NDC counsel’s statement.

Mr. Addison: My lords, I seek clarification on the statement: “Subject to the work being done by KPMG”. Does he mean that he is going to cross-examine the witness again as a right?

Justice Dotse: All of you would have a bite when the report is out, not only the counsel for the third respondent; that would apply to all of you…but then the position is that if you look at the evidence, I think the respondents are disputing your figure of 11,842 which has been reduced to 11,138. If the report of the referee shows otherwise, then he would have to come back.

Mr. Addison: They come back as of right or they would come for leave?

Justice Dotse: Well, that one, the court would have to decide.

Mr.  Lithur: My lords, in fact, it is not only him, we would have to also cross-examine … (court burst into laughter). No realistically, I may not have to; one of us may do it. But like we said, if some documents are freshly being introduced to us to the extent that they differ substantially from what the trend has been…I think we reserve the right to come back.

Mr. Addison: My lords, all we seek to find out is that, is that the end of his cross-examination?

Justice Atuguba: Well, I think that the statement doesn’t need interpretation; it is clear and unambiguous (Citing Mr. Tsikata’s condition that his cross-examination is subject to the report of KPMG)

Mr. Addison: My lords, in other words, after the count, if there are new matters that they have not taken into consideration, they would come and cross-examine on that? This calls into question the whole exercise as I have said since day one. Why don’t they tell us those pink sheets they are missing so we supply them so they can go on with the cross-examination, instead of waiting one week for them to come back to cross-examine after they have been told by somebody else that these documents are in the registry… (The judges took turns to explain the need to wait for the KPMG report). My lords, if that is the case, then they should end their cross-examination now.

The Ruling

After conferring with one another, Justice Atuguba eventually spoke on behalf of the nine judges saying that subject to the outcome of the KPMG report, Mr. Tsikata should officially end his cross-examination and give way for the witness to be re-examined by his counsel.  Mr. Tsikata stood up to indicate that his cross-examination has indeed come to a close subject to the report. He noted that the recount relates to a “very limited area”.

Mr. Addison is expected to re-examine Dr. Bawumia today.

By William Yaw Owusu & Raphael Ofori-Adeniran

NDC Shot Down

Chris Akumey, Tsatsu Tsikata and Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr Bawumia (pertitioners) leaving the court yesterday

“I’m saying they behave like children who have been pampered. They go and play football with other children and when a goal is scored against them, they pick the football and say they won’t play again. That’s how they are behaving…”

The Supreme Court has thrown out an attempt by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to halt the counting of the number of pink sheets used as exhibits in the Landmark Presidential Election Petition.

The nine-member panel, chaired by Justice William Atuguba, unanimously ruled that KPMG, the reputable international accounting firm chosen by all the parties as referee, should continue with the exercise and any concerns that would be raised by the parties  incorporated into the final report.

The Brouhaha

The request to count the pink sheets was initially made by the NDC before the court, and subsequently with the consent of all the parties in the petition, the court gave an order for an independent referee to conduct the exercise.

Just as KPMG commenced the exercise in the presence of two observers each from the parties as ordered by the court, the NDC, through its lead counsel Tsatsu Tsikata, came to court with a story that the exhibits had been compromised and that the boxes containing the pink sheets had increased from 24 to 31.

In fact, the allegation over whether or not the boxes of the exhibits had been tampered with started right after the court’s sitting on Monday when news broke that Mr. Tsikata, Tony Lithur, who represents President John Dramani Mahama, and later James Quarshie-Idun, representing the Electoral Commission (EC), had ‘gate-crashed’ at the venue for the counting and requested panel chairman Justice William Atuguba, to review the order of the court.

According to Mr. Tsikata, there were alleged criminality involved and, as a result, they would prefer an extended control mechanism that would take into consideration copies served on at least two panel members to compare with the pink sheets at the court’s registry.

The issue of whether the petition is being unduly delayed has come up strongly since Mr. Tsikata took over the cross-examination of the principal witness Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who is also the Second petitioner, and many are of the view that the brouhaha over the pink sheets was part of the ploy to drag the process.

Mr. Tsikata, whose client came into the petition by way of a joinder, is in his 13th day of cross-examination even though NDC’s co-respondents including President John Dramani Mahama and the Electoral Commission (EC) used about three days each to conclude a similar exercise.

Just as he was winding up on his cross-examination, he brought another motion, seeking to cross-examine some of the witnesses, who filed affidavits in support of the petitioners’ case, but the court threw him out along with President Mahama and the EC who had also made similar applications.

Mr. Tsikata, however, has always denied criticisms that his style of cross-examination is designed to delay the process, often accusing the petitioners of presenting exhibits that forced the respondents to ‘dig deep’ in order to counter the petitioners’ claims.

Tsatsu’s Allegations

Just as everybody thought he was going to continue with his cross-examination, he threw the bombshell and requested a variation of the court’s orders to incorporate the expansion of control mechanism in respect of the counting exercise.

Even before sitting commenced yesterday, the NDC propaganda machinery had been set in motion and they were in the courtroom distributing a press statement signed by its General-Secretary Johnson Asiedu-Nketiah to the effect that they wanted a suspension of the counting pending further orders of the court.

Counsel: My lords, at the close of proceedings yesterday, I became aware of a very significant development in respect of your order about the counting of the exhibits. Your lordships would recall that you ordered a true and faithful count to be taken. Those exhibits were filed in the Registry of the court; they had also been provided to us as respondents.

In order to ensure that there was a faithful and true records, it was agreed that there be a sort of control mechanism in respect of the exhibits; which would mean that one of your lordships’ set of exhibit would be used as a control to ensure that what was provided to the referee (KPMG) was indeed accurate. My lords, it emerged that a number of boxes of exhibits had been added to the boxes of exhibits that we were aware had been filed in the registry.

My lords, this is a very serious situation, because my lords, as many as seven additional boxes appear to have been added and it is patent that these were additions just in the nature of what was provided to one of our representatives by a Docket Clerk. It is patent because in respect of one particular series (the P series) which indeed our cross-examination has been centred on, we have a situation where there is a box containing one (1) to 170 [exhibits] allegedly and another box containing one (1) to 475. This was never the situation-and that’s only one example – I would not go into other examples for obvious reasons.  My lords, significantly, all three respondents had the same numbers of the boxes of exhibits provided to us, we have checked with the second respondent as well as the first respondent, in each case, 24 boxes of exhibits were supplied, not 31 as was provided for the start of the work of the referee.

My lords, as at last Thursday, when the preparations for the count were going on, it was confirmed that there were 24 boxes in the custody of the Registrar, as far as the exhibits were concerned. Our representatives confirmed that, together with the referee, they went to where the exhibits were being stored. My lords, respectfully, it is actually a matter bothering on criminality-where 24 boxes became 31 at the time they were taken as at yesterday. But my lords, we cannot be distracted by criminality from the process of achieving justice in this petition…(He goes on to narrate the incident that happened when he and counsels for the two other respondents sought to meet with the counsel for the petitioners in a bid to present the alleged incident to the presiding Judge, Justice William Atuguba. Incidentally, the counsel for the petitioners waved them off. 

He also went on to narrate how he and the counsels for the respondents went into the counting room to ascertain things for themselves. Essentially, the respondents are pressing for the court to review the order for the counting). I do underline that we are dealing with matters that borders on criminality, but we do not wish the criminality aspect to interfere with the process of your adjudication of the election petition; that can be a separate matter which is pursued accordingly…. (Counsel for the petitioners Philip Addison rose to respond, but preferred for the other respondent to conclude their complaints first)

Philip Addison then told the court that “I am waiting for the others to also comment because they were together when they breached the security of the counting…they can talk first and I will respond.”

Lithur Supports Tsatsu

Lithur: My lords, I was with learned counsel for the third respondent and confirm what transpired. Having mentioned issues about security (referring to Philip Addison), I think we need to clarify the position; When we had the report from our lead representative, we wanted to view the boxes and so we knocked on the door and we were allowed in. In fact, we went to try and look at the boxes, and to find out for ourselves. We indicated to the referee in charge that we had some report that we wanted to verify, but after some time, he thought that the process would be interrupted, so he told us that they would be taking a break shortly so we should retire outside, during the break, we could have that discussion, so the issue about breach of security, I don’t know what the intent is; we did not interrupt anything beyond going to find out what had happened. I say that from very personal knowledge; I was there. The recommendation made by Mr. Tsikata has been discussed and we support that fully.

EC Supports Tsatsu

James Quarshie-Idun: My lords, I arrived at the building of the counting when counsels were outside in discussion. Our representatives were in the respective counting rooms. I arrived at the premises and had discussions with my learned friends outside the counting room; inside the counting room were the two representatives of the EC, we had discussions with Mr. Asirifi (one of the representatives of the petitioners) who said he would consult with Mr. Addison [counsel for the petitioners] and come back to us. He never came back until it was almost time for the resumption of work of the counting. From the information we have received from our representatives in the counting process, we would fully support the control mechanism that has been agreed upon in Chambers and also the expansion of the mechanism to include other members of the panel to ensure that what was served on us and delivered to your lordships is the same as what the referee is being requested to count.

Addison’s Opposition

Mr. Addison: My lords, it is obvious that somebody has a sinister agenda to deprive the petitioners the opportunity to fully put forward their case. That is the only reason that can explain this strenuous attempt to derail a process we have all agreed upon. The order this court made was a Consent Order agreed to by the parties. It started well, except that for some people it did not go well. Now the representative of the EC is said to have remarked that they were expecting shortages, but what they started experiencing were “overages”, so quite clearly, it was at that stage that they became alarmed and then informed counsel for the respondents, and started cooking up all these stories about boxes having emerged.

Rising Tempers

Counsel: My lords, there is absolutely no basis for this claim about cooking up of stories…. (Mr. Lithur also rose to protest the allegations of cooking)

Mr. Lithur: My lords, respectfully….(Justice Atuguba intervenes)

Justice Atuguba: We have not heard him out so let him…

Mr. Lithur: Yes, my lords, but respectfully, cooking up? There are 31 boxes there. We all had 24, so what is the cooking about this? It is the number of boxes that alerted our observers about the fact that something had been tampered with. At the previous time when they checked, it was 24…My lords, we want to do this civilly and our representation had been very civil, maybe counsel [Philip Addison] can reciprocate…

Mr. Addison: I thought an allegation of criminality has been raised, so if you allow me to go on with what I was saying: Now, we are not aware that an inventory was taken of the boxes and envelopes or pink sheets or whatever in the custody of the registry. Maybe they did the inventory by themselves, but we are certainly not aware, and our representatives have not been involved in any such inventory taking, nor are we aware that the referees had done any such exercise…. (General murmuring in court) Maybe they know more than we do because the submissions made by Mr. Tsikata; they’ve been having meetings with the referee behind our back…. (Mr. Tsikata cuts in)

Counsel: That is completely unwarranted, my lords, my learned friend cannot be allowed…I never said we had any meeting with the referee; we have not had any such meeting. There is no basis for this allegation that we’ve had meeting with the referee behind their back… (Mr. Lithur jumps in to buttress the point made by his ally)

Mr. Lithur: My lords, all the discussions with the referee were along the corridor… (Angry comments from some of the court audience were aimed at him, forcing him to reply in kind). Maybe I should be telling those there to shut up.  I mean, this is not a market place, so they can’t direct insults at me while I’m on my feet… (Justice Atuguba intervenes)

Justice Atuguba: Let’s avoid the situation of stadium scenario where you have supporters here and there, but there is a need for a clear language across board. These things can be avoided if you just stick to the raw facts of the matter and forget about insinuations…decorum is important across board.

Mr. Lithur: The registrar was around throughout… (He was asked to sit down as Justice Atuguba repeats his admonitions)

Addison: My lords, I hope this time around, they would allow me to finish? I did not interrupt them once. They said all they wanted to say, so please allow me. My lordships would recall that the other day, Mr. Tsikata indicated that they had so much confidence in the registrar and the registry and that we should not put our problems or blame the registrar. We wonder what happened now. As for the number of boxes or whatever in the custody of the registrar, I believe that’s a matter that the registrar can answer to. We don’t hold brief for the registrar. Indeed, we do not know how many boxes are still there in the vaults and it surprises us very much that the respondents know the number of boxes in the vault. In this court, they were asked to disclose the number of pink sheets; they failed to disclose it. To them, it is state secret. Today, they come here and tell us that there are so many boxes in the vault of the registry…Now, my lords, the order of this court is plain for all to see; the matter they allude to are not in the order. I had been told this is a consent order. We had once sought to have it varied. We were told it cannot be changed, so the things that they are now bringing up are matters completely strange to us; they have no bearing on this order. My lords, the representatives appointed by the parties, according to this order, are to be observers-nothing more than observers. Yet we had a situation where these observers are alleged to have audited boxes and pink sheets, the word audit was a word the respondents avoided and, therefore, this order says count…(After a brief pause, he resumed his line of response)

Pampered Children

Mr. Addison: My lords, since the inception of this petition, it has always been the habit of the respondents to bring up one issue, when the petitioners agree to it, then they back out. This is the latest example of this conduct….At each of these stages that they have taken the initiative, they have backed down… (The bench urged him to get to the point). My lords, I’m building a case; I am saying that a course of conduct of these respondents who behave like children… (The bench cuts in again to urge him to make his point)

Justice Adinyira: …please address the issue.

Justice Atuguba…Counsel, the employment of term children is in breach…

Mr. Addison: My lords, I was going to make an analogy, I haven’t finished. In using the word “Children”, if you want me to finish…I’m saying they behave like children who have been pampered. They go and play football with other children and when a goal is scored against them, they pick the football and say they won’t play again. That’s how they are behaving… (General laughter in court)

Justice Atuguba…these are the insinuations we try to disallow in order to rehabilitate the process…

Mr. Addison: My lords, whenever any matter is going against them, then they pull back, that is the point I’m saying. That is again the situation we have here. It is a clear order of the court…They’ve interfered with it [the counting]; they went there without accreditation and stopped the process. Now they are rather talking about criminality when they are rather in clear contempt of this court by stopping the process…My lords, we are strongly opposed to this application that seek to vary clear orders of this court…My lords, this application is simply based on suspicion upon suspicion, it has no basis whatsoever. Your lordships would recall again that shortly after this order was made, at the instigation of the respondents, operatives of the National Security came to this court, ostensibly to protect these pink sheets. They came on their own accord, having been instructed by the respondents.  Now they are telling us that in spite of the process of these entire national security operatives, we have been able to spirit seven (7) boxes into the registry…My lords, lastly, no report has been made by the referee –KPMG…they were clearly comfortable with what was going on until they were rudely interrupted by counsel for respondents… What happens next, if tomorrow we also stop the process? We would never make any headway….My lords, at the end of the day; they are contesting the credibility of the registry. If they do not trust the registry, why do they trust the documents that have been distributed to the judges? That should also be in dispute; everything should be in dispute then… (Counsel responds by insisting their application to review the order was within the framework of the orders made in chambers. Eventually the court rose to rule on the application).

Short Ruling

Justice Atuguba held that the concerns raised by the NDC counsel were within the purview of the earlier order given by the court to the referee (KPMG) and that Mr. Tsikata’s concerns could be channelled through the accounting firm who in turn would incorporate the concerns in the final report to be submitted to the court.

 By William Yaw Owusu & Raphael Ofori-Adeniran

Lawyer Phillip Addison

Lead counsel for the petitioners, Philip Addison has ended the re-examination of the star witness in the election petition case, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

During the re-examination, Mr Addison was interrupted by a series of objections from lawyers of the respondents.

Prior to the court’s decision to go on a short recess, Philip Addison in his re-examination, called on the witness to identify 11 out of 20 polling stations bothering on duplicated serial numbers which was in his ‘further and better particulars’ he made reference to during the cross-examination.

Lawyer for the third respondents, Tsatsu Tsikata, however objected saying the witness identified the specific polling stations.

President of the panel of judges, William Atuguba also indicated he had a record of the 11 identified polling stations. Addison then refrained from continuing with his question

Mr Tsikata also objected when Philip Addison tried to lead Dr Bawumia to make changes in the categorization of some of the polling stations as a result of quality control and further scrutiny .

Mr Tsikata opposed that the pleading of petitioners has not been amended, adding that their testimony in respect of quality control was specific and that it is not open in re-examination to seek questions set out already. He therefore argued that changes may require him to do another cross-examination.

Mr Addison eventually managed to submit the ‘further and better particulars’ of Dr Bawumia, which preceded the re-examination.

Mr Addison therefore told the court that subject to the deferred ruling, he was done with his re-examination.

Citifmonline

One person has been shot dead during a shootout involving land surveyors and some unidentified persons in Dodowa.

The clashes erupted as a result of a land dispute land.

In an interview with Citi News one of the injured persons, Kennedy Ashon receiving treatment at the Tema General Hospital explained that they were four surveyors working on the land when they got attacked by unidentified men.

According to him, after surveying the land, they went ahead to set their track pot “when all of a sudden we heard a shot and then we all scattered.”

Three persons were seriously injured in the attack.

Meanwhile, the police have indicated that they are investigating the matter.

According to the Divisional Police Commander for Ashaiman, Chief Superintendant David Eklu they have not made “any arrest but the perpetrators will be brought to book” when they are arrested.

He indicated that they have been “able to maintain police presence there since last night” and they will continue with investigations.

Citifmonline

Illegal Miners in brisk business. INSET: Alhaji Limuna Mohammed-Muniru

Acting Upper East Regional Minister, Alhaji Limuna Mohammed-Muniru has directed the Mineral Commission office in the Upper East region to collaborate with the security agencies to close down all illegal mines in the region with immediate effect.

His directive comes after government complained bitterly about the devastating effect of the activities of illegal miners on the environment.

According to the Acting Upper East Regional Minister, the participation of foreign nationals in the activity is against the mining laws of the country and should not be condoned by community elders.

Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru gave the directive after he toured Zoog, Yakote and Nangode mining communities in the Nabdam district and Widnaba and Zaronga communities in the Bawku West districts of the Upper East region. He was accompanied by a combined Police and Immigration Operation Team.

He advised all Ghanaians operating illegal
mines to take steps to regularize their operations with the Mineral Commission and the District Assemblies.

In line with this, the Regional Minister tasked all Municipal and District Chief Executives (DCEs) and various District Security Committees to go round their districts to ensure the closure of illegal mines that pose threat to the communities.

He added that their activities threaten the lives of the people.

According to Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru, individuals and groups that flout the mining laws could face arrest and prosecution if reported to the law enforcement agencies across the country.

He advised all small-scale mining operators in the areas and other parts of the region to comply with the mining laws by ensuring that all their activities are authorized.

At Zaronga Community, the minister cautioned owners of the various mining zones there to desist from recruiting children for any mining activity, noting that the practice was unlawful.

Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Widnaba

CAGED! Kwame Asare and his victim

A Senior High School student in Kumasi has been captured on a video recording receiving an amount of GH¢20 after a bout of sex with a 22-year-old man at a hideout in the Garden City.

The video recording, which was making the rounds in the Ashanti Regional capital, had caused consternation among parents and showed the girl and her partner dressing up after the session.

The one-hour-thirty-minutes sexual encounter had Kwame Asare aka ‘Festival,’ believed to be an SHS leaver, engaged in sexual intercourse with the school girl.

Action

On the tape, Asare and the young girl, believed to be in her teens, got undressed soon after entering a room, and started what seemed to be an enjoyable sexual expedition.

Asare, whose manhood was unusually long, was seen bonking the girl at different postures until the young girl started telling him she was tired and could not continue any longer.

In Police Grips

Festival, now in police grips, was suspected to be part of a five-man gang that lured young girls into a rented room at Kokoso near Kumasi where they bonked these girls and record the sexual activity on video tape for commercial purposes on the internet.

The Police arrested Asare at the Kumasi suburb of Adum based on an investigation undertaken by William Kwame Anokye of New Mercury FM, a local radio station.

Anokye said he tracked Festival and his group of five, made up of boys below 23, for close to three months before getting hold of some of their recorded sexual bouts on tape.

He then reported their activities to the police, with the subsequent arrest of Festival, now in Prison custody in Kumasi.

Anokye told DAILY GUIDE that Festival and his group sold 30 minutes of every recorded sexual bout to their partners abroad for US $10,000. Their partners would then post the film on their website for the public to watch across the world.

Haggle over cash 

He said the group had been in the illicit business for some time now until a misunderstanding over how money generated from a previous sale should be shared among them.

One of the members who thought he had been cheated in the sharing of the money eventually reported his group’s illegal activities to Anokye.

The New Mercury FM reporter eventually got hold of a recorded sexual act involving Asare and the SHS girl.

He said he visited the Assemblies of God SHS where he showed the recorded sexual act to the headmaster of the school who admitted that indeed, the girl on the tape was a final year student of the school.

Game Plan

The girl’s parents were then informed about the incident by the school’s authorities and a plan was hatched to apprehend those behind it.

Anokye said the girl on the tape was made to call Asare on phone pretending she wanted to meet him again. Asare then told the girl where he was and the Police quickly moved in to arrest him.

Website

The suspect, with his accomplices now at large, according to reports, usually sold the recorded sexual bout to a website abroad for thousands of US Dollars, unknown to the young girls.

The suspect seemed to have a connection with the Bekwai sex scandal which made the headlines two years ago.

 FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi

TB Joshua

Police reports indicates that the 21 victims, who sustained injuries during a stampede which left four others dead last Sunday at the Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN), have all been treated and discharged from the  various health facilities within Accra, where they were sent for treatment.

Eleven of the victims were sent to the Police Hospital while 10 others were admitted at the 37 Military Hospital.

Police said most of the victims were treated and discharged on the same day of the incident while the rest, who remained on admission, left their sick beds the following Monday.

The four persons, who died as a result of the stampede, have been identified as John Brainoo, a 61-year-old member of the church who lived at Ashaiman; Esther Adabadzi, 39, a worker at Mass Education Field Work Community Development, Amasaman and a resident of Achimota; Mike Teye, 35, a businessman who lived at Ashaiman and Emmanuel Thomas Addo, a 50-year-old man, also a member of the church and a resident of Darkuman.

Three of the bodies have been deposited at the Police Hospital morgue while one is at the 37 Military Hospital morgue.

Superintendent J A Aduhene Benie, the Airport District Police Commander, in an interview with DAILY GUIDE, said the process of investigations had begun by the police.

Police have met with leaders of the church and their statements have also been taken.

Police have also gone to court to sign a coronal report for the post mortem to be conducted on the bodies to find out the real cause of death as required by law.

He revealed that the autopsy would be done at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital; hence, police would supervise the process to make sure that all the bodies are transported to Korle Bu within this week.

“When the cause of death is ascertained after the autopsy, then police will know the next line of action to take.”

He also revealed that bodies would not be released to deceased families until the autopsy was done and the cause of death established.

Meanwhile, the Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Christian Tetteh Yohuno, has directed authorities of the Church to stop hosting revivals, crusades and other scheduled church events at their Spintex Road church.
In an interview with DAILY GUIDE, DCOP Yohuno, who was at the scene last Sunday, said the church could use the Accra Sports Stadium or the Black Star Square for such events since the church premises was too small to contain the large number who visited it during such programmes.

“The stampede could have been avoided if the church had chosen a bigger venue to hold its events instead of the church premises,” he said.

Sunday service by the Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) became tragic when four persons lost their lives due to a stampede over anointed water.

The water was said to have been blessed by leader of the church Prophet T B Joshua from Nigeria.

Upon hearing the announcement purportedly telecasted live on the church’s television station, Emmanuel TV, hundreds of believers of the church trooped to its Spintex road premises for the anointed water.

Some members of the church were said to have stormed the place the previous night before the service could start that Sunday morning.

Information gathered indicated that even though the church requested security assistance, police personnel deployed could not control the massive crowd.

About 45, 000 believers were said to have visited the church that fateful day for the anointed water.

 By Linda Tenyah

AN IVORIAN who stole two cars belonging to Property Express Ghana Limited (PEGL) and went into hiding for six years has been made to suffer the consequence of his action by an Accra Circuit Court.

Dion Pierre has been sentenced to ten years imprisonment with hard labour by the court presided over by Audrey Korcu-Vie Tay after he pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing.

The Ivorian in his caution statement to the police stated that he sold one of the vehicles to his accomplice, one Daniel Hadiku, a trader, as scrap.

The said accomplice however denied the charge of dishonestly receiving anything from him. He has been granted a GH¢50,000 bail with two sureties to re-appear on June 3, for trial.

The prosecutor ASP Raymond Assor informed the court that the complainant Robert Wege was the manager of PEGL.

ASP Assor narrated that in the year 2007, Dion Pierre who was driving one of the company’s vehicles, Opel Kadett, returned from town and informed the complainant that the vehicle had broken down.

The complainant reportedly gave Dion the ignition key to another vehicle Opel Vectra with registration number GT 5103 U, parked in the company’s premises to have it washed in a washing bay and to transport complainant’s wife to a meeting.

However when Dion moved the vehicle out of the premises, he never returned.

After a fruitless search and announcement, a report was made to the police at Kaneshie but Dion according to the prosecutor managed to disappear for six years until he was spotted by a supervisor of the company, one William Addison in Madina on April 20, 2013 and caused his arrest.

Dion reportedly in his caution statement to Kaneshie Police Station  admitted the offence and stated that he sold the Opel Kadett as scrap at a cost of GH¢450 to Daniel and sold the Opel Vectra to a man he could not lead police to arrest at the cost of GH¢500.

The prosecutor stated that Dion later led the police to arrest Daniel at Kokompe Darkuman.

According to ASP Assor, Daniel also admitted in his statement that he bought the Opel Kadett from Dion as scrap.

After the investigations, they were charged with the offence.

By Mary Anane

Dr Kofi Wampah

Bank of Ghana (BoG) is expected to maintain the Prime Rate, the rate at which it lends to commercial banks today.

Analysts have predicted that the Central Bank would not change the policy rate, as inflation, one of the major determinants of interest rate, has been stable for some time now.

The announcement would climax the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, which commenced on May 20, to review economic developments in the economy.

“We further expect the Central Bank to maintain current interest rates at best while it observes significant indicators to determine policy decisions in the short and medium term,” market analysts, Frontline Capital Advisors stated in its weekly report on the economy recently.

Interest rates on treasury securities funds, especially the 91-Day Treasury bill, hovers around 12 percent, but average lending rates of banks is about 28 percent though banks have begun reducing their base lending rates.

The cedi has fairly been stable against the major foreign currencies after assuming a fast depreciation rate at the beginning of the year basically due to unrelenting demand for the dollar, increased imports and lack of foreign capital inflows.

Despite its mixed performance, some players in the financial sector and analysts have predicted that the local currency will end the year at GH¢1.55 against the US Dollar.

The MPC will therefore find ways of preserving the local currency in order not to affect the profit margins of firms and prices of goods and services.

Some economic indicators such as the country’s fiscal and trade deficits, foreign reserves, among other important indicators, are expected to be reviewed by the committee.

The MPC will make the necessary projections for the next quarter of this year. In addition, it will also assess the business risk factors.

The suggestions are expected to help the country to ensure a stable and vibrant economic environment.

 By Emelia Ennin Abbey

Alex Mould – CEO of National Petroleum Authority

Alex Kofi Mould, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Petroleum Authority (NPA), says until Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) is privatized or sold to private investors, it cannot perform to expectation, let alone compete internationally.

According to him, government currently does not have the money to invest into TOR and therefore it would be appropriate if the current managers of the economy allow investors to take over the state refinery.

Speaking recently at a presentation on opportunities for bulk distribution companies in Accra, Mr. Mould stated: “TOR is a huge organisation that needs a lot of money to maintain and also keep a standard to be able to compete with the international market. Government, as a shareholder, should ensure that TOR is fit for growth.  And how Government looks for the money depends on Ghanaians.”

But analysts in Ghana’s petroleum sector have expressed different views, saying TOR would be bought by government officials as they have since the beginning of their tenure of office ‘given a dog a bad name to hang it.’

An analyst, who refused to be named, noted that “if government is saying that it cannot support TOR at this time, how can it ensure it is handled well when it is sold to investors?”

“It should invest into refinery if it can do it better and more efficiently than the private sector and ensure that there are cheaper products that are supplied consistently at the right time.  “If government cannot do that then we should encourage the private sector to come into that industry.

“We can do this by not protecting the government sectors and as such stifling the private sector from competition. Government should not allow its agencies to pay a different price on petroleum products while the private sector pays a different price. They should pay the same price, compete on a level field and ensure that any organization it invests in is fit for growth and can compete with the private sector.

Do we want the taxpayer to pay it or Government to go and borrow it or do, we want TOR as an organisation to stand alone and borrow and do it. As a shareholder, government needs to step up to that responsibility and spell out exactly how it wants to do it. That has nothing to do with NPA. The NPA’s job is to give licences out to anybody who wants to compete in this space – the supply and distribution chain of petroleum products- to ensure that the consumer receives quality products at the right price and also services that are given to the consumer, they should have choice.

Asked how margins are set on petroleum products in relation to what pertains in the developed world, Kofi Mould noted that the petroleum sector is a heavily private sector one.

“Although NPA is the government regulator, we did not compete with participants. We ensure that the framework is open to all and that those who can meet the standards have a fair playing field.

“We have to encourage people to invest and to do this, they have to be reasonable return. You cannot have 17 bulk distribution companies (BDCs) if the return is not good. Some are bound to wither away. Likewise we cannot have over 60 oil marketing companies if the return is not good. You can’t have over 2000 trucks moving products around the country with over 150 transporters in this sector if the margin is not good.

 By Samuel Boadi

Some concerned workers of the Metro Mass Transit (MMT) Limited at the Western Regional Office in Sekondi are up in arms against the regional boss of the state transport company (name withheld) for allegedly duping the company to the tune of over GH¢20,000.

According to the workers, the manager, in connivance with four other senior staff of the company, managed to fraudulently carry out some covert deals which saw them pocket over GH¢20,000 to the detriment of the company.

The concerned workers therefore vowed to resist any attempt to reinstate the manager who was allegedly interdicted after an audit team from the company’s head office in Accra found him guilty.

Narrating how the alleged malpractice was uncovered, the spokesperson for the concerned workers, who pleaded anonymity, told CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE that for some time, the company was running at a loss even though most of the buses were being hired by the public for events.

He maintained that the workers could not fathom why the regional office of the MMT should incur losses.

“The situation then prompted some of us to do our own secret investigations to find the reasons for the company’s declined revenue despite the fact that the buses were always on the road,” the spokesperson of the concerned workers indicated.

He added that somewhere in February 2013, a bus inspector at the regional office of the company intercepted one of the hired buses filled with passengers, near the Sekondi Gyandu Park.

He noted that when the driver was asked to produce the document to affirm that the people in the bus had really hired it; the bus driver could not produce the authentic document.

“The bus driver rather brought out some fake documents which did not have the company’s stamp and logo embassed on them. When he was quizzed as to how he came about the fake documents; the driver revealed that it was the manager who had prepared the alleged fake documents,” the spokesperson alleged.

He indicated that a report was made to the company’s head office in Accra and an audit team from the head office was sent to Sekondi to investigate the case.

According to the spokesperson, the concerned MMT workers also lodged an official complaint with the Ministry of Transport in Accra.

He noted that the manager and his four accomplices were barred from the company.

The concerned workers indicated efforts were being made to reinstate the expelled regional boss.

They therefore appealed to people masterminding the reinstatement of the former regional MMT boss to rescind their decision.

“We don’t need our former boss and we will go all out to resist his return, including laying down our tools. Why should the manager be brought back for duping the company like this when a worker who steals even one cedi, is sacked,” he quizzed.

When contacted, a member of the audit team that was sent from Accra to Sekondi to investigate the matter told CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE that the issue was still under investigation.

The audit member, whose name was only given as Quaye, declined to comment further and asked this reporter to travel to the head office of the MMT in Accra in person before he could make further remarks.

 From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi

James Adongo Akologo

A former employee of Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Ghana Limited is crying for justice after the multinational failed to pay his redundancy package after forcing him to resign about three years ago.

James Adongo Akologo, a father of eight, was a former Depot Clerk at the Sunyani Depot.

He told CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE that he worked with the company for over 14 years before management decided to close down the Sunyani Depot in January 2010.

According to him, management asked him to resign as part of plans to close down the depot instead of being declared redundant.

“I complied thinking that that would not affect any benefits as a result of the company’s decision to close down the Sunyani Depot,” he pointed out.

Mr. Akologo told the paper that after his resignation, the company gave him 800 crates of coca cola as part of his benefits, but to his surprise the company recently wrote a letter to him.

“They demanded that I pay an amount of GH¢13,520 being the cost of the product as they claimed it was given to me on credit.”

He explained that he had written officially to the company on the matter, but officials insisted he paid back the money or be prosecuted.

The obviously distressed Mr. Adongo, who has developed a high blood pressure as a result of the development, appealed to the government and human rights organizations to come to his aid to claim all his redundancy benefits from the Coca-Cola Bottling Company Limited.

 FROM Fred Tettey Alarti-Amoako, Sunyani

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has tasked local manufacturers to produce quality goods in order to attract the attention of consumers and boost businesses.

He observed that constant demand by people in authority for Ghanaians to patronize locally manufactured goods would be in vain if manufacturers always produce inferior goods.

Otumfuo stressed the need for local manufacturers to work assiduously to come out with attractive and quality products.

This was contained in a statement delivered on behalf of Asantehene by Nana Kwaku Amankwah Sarkodie II, Sawiahene during the opening of the Association of Ghana Industries’ (AGI) International Trade Fair and Indutech 2013 in Kumasi.

The Asantehene charged local manufacturers to adopt modern market strategies such as branding of wares so as to gain the interest of local consumers and improve sales in the process.

The King said producing the wares alone doesn’t guarantee enhanced sales, urging the manufacturers to be innovative to woo more people to patronize their products.

Otumfuo bemoaned Ghana’s overreliance on imported rice, warning that Ghana would face challenges if the countries fail to deliver.

He therefore suggested that government should ban the importation of rice and assist farmers and schools in the country to cultivate rice on large-scale, noting that Ghana has vast lands to produce its own rice.

The fair is under the theme, ‘Improving Market Share of Made in Ghana Goods, the Challenges of Access to Market.’

Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Trade and Industry, in a speech read on his behalf, said his ministry is currently implementing a new Industrial Policy and an Industrial Sector Support Programme (ISSP.)

This new initiative, he noted, is aimed at revitalizing and promoting Ghana’s manufacturing industries in order to make them locally and internationally competitive.

Samuel Apenteng, Vice President, AGI, in his remarks, observed that Ghana’s economy had become vulnerable due to the influx of cheap products.

He suggested that Ghana should create conducive business environment to reduce cost of operations and make Ghanaian products more competitive.

Mr. Apenteng said that the current energy crisis in the country was making Ghanaian industries less competitive, saying “the AGI continues to dialogue with the VRA, ECG, and GRIDCo and we are informed of measures being undertaken to bring the situation under control.

Chairman of the Trade Fair Committee, William Awuku, said 100 exhibitors and 25,000 visitors were expected to take part in the fair, adding that the fair would offer help manufacturers to display their products at a particular place and make profit.

Robert Nketia, Regional Chairman, AGI, Ashanti/BA, stressed that consumers should patronize made in Ghana goods.

 FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi

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Lawyer Phillip Addison

Lead counsel for the petitioners, Philip Addison has ended the re-examination of the star witness in the election petition case, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

During the re-examination, Mr Addison was interrupted by a series of objections from lawyers of the respondents.

Prior to the court’s decision to go on a short recess, Philip Addison in his re-examination, called on the witness to identify 11 out of 20 polling stations bothering on duplicated serial numbers which was in his ‘further and better particulars’ he made reference to during the cross-examination.

Lawyer for the third respondents, Tsatsu Tsikata, however objected saying the witness identified the specific polling stations.

President of the panel of judges, William Atuguba also indicated he had a record of the 11 identified polling stations. Addison then refrained from continuing with his question

Mr Tsikata also objected when Philip Addison tried to lead Dr Bawumia to make changes in the categorization of some of the polling stations as a result of quality control and further scrutiny .

Mr Tsikata opposed that the pleading of petitioners has not been amended, adding that their testimony in respect of quality control was specific and that it is not open in re-examination to seek questions set out already. He therefore argued that changes may require him to do another cross-examination.

Mr Addison eventually managed to submit the ‘further and better particulars’ of Dr Bawumia, which preceded the re-examination.

Mr Addison therefore told the court that subject to the deferred ruling, he was done with his re-examination.

Citifmonline

Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong, Attorney General and Alfred Agbesi Woyome

A Chief State Attorney, Mathew Amponsah in the criminal case of Alfred Agbesi Woyome, the alleged National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier, on Monday informed an Accra Fast Track Court Financial Division that their next witness for the trial has travelled.

Mr. Amponsah subsequently asked the court, presided over by Justice John Ajet-Nasam, to adjourn that matter beyond May 29, during which time the witness may have arrived and they would have had conference with the person.

The state attorney informed the court that they have two more witnesses to mount the witness box before they end their case.

The prosecution was expected to continue with the trial but due to the situation, the matter was adjourned to June 3.

Mr. Woyome is standing trial for allegedly receiving a fraudulent GH¢51.28 million judgement debt.

So far the prosecution has called seven witnesses including the former Managing Director of Waterville.

At the last adjourned date, Maria Andrea Orlandi, the former MD, concluded his testimony after he was cross-examined by Osafo Buabeng, counsel for Woyome.

Andrea Orlandi answered questions concerning funding for the construction of stadia for CAN 2008 and the role Mr. Woyome played.

He stated that in November 2009, Waterville’s lawyer Kwame Tetteh wrote a letter to the then Attorney-General Betty Mould-Iddrisu to clarify the position of Waterville in respect of work done in that project.

According to the witness, the letter was in response to a letter dated August 2009 in which the AG asked both Woyome and Waterville to present claims for financial engineering and work done respectively.

Mr. Orlandi added that after the letter, the AG held a meeting in February, 2010 where both Waterville and Woyome presented their claims.

At the end of the meeting, the AG said she had understood the difference of the two claims.

Mr. Orlandi confirmed that he received three letters of support from Bank Austria in respect of the funding for the construction of hospitals, stadia for CAN 2008 and Cobalt 60 plant project.

Mr. Orlandi, who disclosed that the letters were given to him by Woyome, agreed with Mr. Osarfo-Buabeng that he travelled to Austria on two occasions with Woyome.

At Bank Austria, he said he and Woyome had discussion with one Mrs. Rand concerning certain issues about their project.

At that time he stated that he was not aware that funding for the building of the stadia had been secured, and that Woyome told him money had been secured and backed it with documents.

When asked by the counsel whether Mr. Woyome was working with Bank Austria before Vamed assigned rights to Waterville to construct the stadia, Mr. Orlandi replied that he was briefed on that.

 By Mary Anane

Tsatsu Tsikata

A grouping based in Sunyani, the Brong Ahafo regional capital, which claims to be part of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has vowed to hit the streets to demonstrate against Tsatsu Tsikata, counsel for the NDC.

According to the agitated members of the group, Tsatsu Tsikata was performing abysmally for the ruling political party at the Supreme Court in a case in which Nana Akufo-Addo, the 2012 presidential candidate and some New Patriotic Party (NPP) gurus, are challenging the presidential results.

They want the hierarchy of the party to immediately change Tsatsu, if the law permits, for a competent lawyer to defend the NDC in court to help boost the party’s chance of winning the case.

Public Relations Officer (PRO) of NDC Branch Zongo Caucus, Sunyani, Saed Idin told Nhyira FM that Tsatsu repeated several questions during the cross-examination of Dr. Bawumia.

He said Tsatsu’s awful performance paved the way for NPP members in the area to make mockery of supporters of the ruling party.

Idin was also not happy with alleged comments by Tsatsu in court that over-voting occurred at some polling stations in the Ashanti region, a stronghold of the opposition party of NPP.

Idin said President John Dramani Mahama won the 2012 polls legitimately so Tsatsu should not try to create the impression that some irregularities occurred during the polls.

He charged the leadership of the NDC to appeal to Tsatsu to dispute assertions by the NPP that massive irregularities characterized the polls.

Idin said that Tsatsu’s comments could lead to the Supreme Court to declare NPP as winners in the case, saying “he was making the petitioners’ case of over-voting convincing in court.”

Meanwhile, the National Organizer of the NDC, Yaw Boateng Gyan, flatly disowned Idin and his group, stating that “we don’t have their group’s name in our records.”

He described Idin and his group as NPP members who were bent on creating confusion in the ruling party, stating that “their ploy will fail.”

Mr. Boateng-Gyan tasked the public not to take him and his group seriously, admonishing the media to be circumspect about such personalities.

He stated that Tsatsu was doing a marvelous job which would eventually help the respondents to win the case, rubbishing claims that Tsatsu was in court to repeat questions.

Nana Ato Dadzie, a member of the legal team of the respondents in the case, raised doubts as to whether the group would demonstrate against Tsatsu, adding that even if they hit the streets, they would be doing so in preparation for the respondents’ victory at the Supreme Court.

FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi.

Alfred Agbesi Woyome

TWO construction companies involved in the rehabilitation of the Accra and Kumasi stadia for the CAN 2008 tournament have denied knowing Alfred Agbesi Woyome as an official of Waterville Holdings Limited.

The Managing Directors of Consar Limited and Michelletti Company Limited who appeared before the Commission of Enquiry investigating the payment of Judgment Debts yesterday stated categorically that they never had any official dealings with the businessman when it came to issues regarding Waterville.

Mr. Woyome, the self-styled National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier was paid a whopping GH¢51.2million as judgment debt after he alleged that government had abrogated a contract with Waterville, a company he claimed to represent.

He is currently facing two counts of defrauding by false pretences and causing financial loss to the state.

Consar Limited’s Confession

Stefano Ramella Pezza, the Managing Director of Consar, who was the first to appear before the Commission, stated that he only dealt with Andrea Orlandi, MD for Waterville, and Ernesto Taricone, who were representatives of Waterville at that time, stressing that he only met Mr. Woyome causally.

“I met Mr. Woyome casually once or twice but we (Consar) had nothing to do with him because we had no dealings with him,” he emphasized.

Mr. Pezza, who was led in evidence by Dometi Kofi Sorkpor, counsel for the commission, which is presided over by Justice Yaw Apau, explained that his company got to know Waterville because Waterville was supposed to have financed the rehabilitation of the Kumasi Stadium; but because it could not meet its obligations, government had to contract Consar to finish the project.

He indicated that “Waterville could not provide the funds for the project so government had to step in and take over the whole arrangement because the games were approaching and there was pressure to complete the project.

“Government decided to finance it on its own, and we were asked to compensate Waterville to the tune of $2.7 million for whatever it had started to do, so we can take over. We were therefore dealing with the agreement made by government and Waterville, which was to rehabilitate the Kumasi Stadium.”

Mr. Pezza again added that Waterville did not supply them with equipment for the project: “I do confirm that we were not supplied with any equipment from Waterville because we had our own equipment which we used in the construction.”

He promised to furnish the commission with a full documentary report on the issue.

Michelletti’s Accounts

Next to appear before the commission was Jimmy Caspagna, the Managing Director of Michelletti Company Limited, who also told the commission that in respect of Waterville, his company dealt with Mr. Orlandi and it never came to his notice that Mr Woyome had anything to do with Waterville.

“I met Woyome on a few occasions but I never met him in any official or technical capacity while dealing with Waterville.”

Mr. Caspagna, who was the Technical Director during the rehabilitation project of the Accra and the El-Wak stadia, explained that the relationship between Michelletti and Waterville came about because his company was nominated as subcontractors to Waterville in the original contract between Waterville and the government of Ghana.

He stated that “when Waterville’s contract was terminated, a new contract between government and Michelletti was enforced so we took over the project from day one till it was commissioned.”

He stated that Michelletti used its own equipment, adding that his company made certified payments of $950,000 to Waterville as cost for starting the project.

In an interview with DAILY GUIDE, Mr. Sorkpor noted that the Commission, with regard to this case, wanted to establish whether Mr Woyome had anything to do with Waterville Holdings Limited.

“Woyome had mentioned certain things in respect to Waterville, and all that we wanted to know was whether Woyome had anything to do with Waterville, and they (MDs) made it very clear to us that there was no connection. So when we come to the main Woyome matter, we will deal with such issues,” he emphasized.

Also appearing before the Commission were Bruce Banoeng-Yakubo, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, in relation to a case involving his Ministry; Nana Owusu Akyaw Prempeh II, Worakesehene; the Attorney General; representatives of Lands Valuation Board and the State Housing Company (SHC) Limited.

In the said case, Nana Prempeh was awarded a judgment debt of GH¢27 million, which matter was adjudicated upon by the Kumasi High Court on August 26, 2008.

Nana Prempeh told the Commission on Monday May 20, 2013, that in 1943 his stool gave a land for free to the then government for the construction of a hospital in the Ashanti Region.

However, the hospital was relocated to a different site, and the project was abandoned.

But the state did not return the land to its owners, which they later found out had been handed over to the SHC and part to the Ghana Police Service for the construction of a barracks for its personnel.

Nana Prempeh narrated that they then protested till the Minister for Lands and Forestry in the President Kufuor era directed the Land Valuation Board (LVB) to pay the necessary compensation; but the board was delaying, so they decided to proceed to court to seek redress.

“Fortunately, we won the case against the state and I was invited for settlement by the Attorney General’s Department with the earlier stated amount,” Nana Prempeh emphasized.

But the Chief Director of the Ministry said they were not aware of the payment of the said amount even though they heard a judgment debt was paid to the chief.

“Even though the Ministry was aware the case went to court, and a judgment debt awarded, as far as our records were concerned, we did not know the exact amount.”

Sitting continues today.

 By Esther Awuah

Tsatsu Tsikata, counsel for NDC

After 13 days of laborious cross-examination, Tsatsu Tsikata, lead counsel for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) finally brought his grilling of principal witness Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to an end.

However, the NDC counsel indicated that he would conclude finally subject to the report to be submitted by KPMG, a reputable international accounting firm that has been chosen to count the number of pink sheets attached as exhibits by the petitioners.

Finished or Not Finished

There were murmurings in the courtroom when Mr. Tsikata said “subject to the report of the referee, that will be all for the witness”, triggering another heated debate that needed the court’s ruling to settle matters.

Mr Tsikata tendered in evidence, the exhibits that led to the adjournment on Monday which was to enable Dr. Bawumia to match the polling stations with same serial numbers on the request of Mr. Tsikata.

When asked by Mr. Tsikata whether the pink sheets with same serial numbers had been duplicated, Dr. Bawumia replied that none of the pink sheets was ever used twice in the analysis.

Counsel then brought Dr. Bawumia’a attention to the affidavits he swore and tried to test him in the averments he made, taking the witness to a number of polling stations where over-voting occurred and where there were no signatures of election officials on the pink sheets.

In terms of the number of polling stations, Dr. Bawumia replied that as at the time of deposing to the affidavits, those were the information available to him; but after an update of the analysis, some of the figures changed.

Counsel returned to the number of pink sheets involved once again and suggested to Dr. Bawumia that they were not up to 11,842 as claimed by the petitioner; but the witness insisted that they submitted the right number.

Counsel: I further suggest to you that you have deliberately padded up the numbers by repeating them over and over again, sometimes in the same category, sometimes in different category.

Witness: You are wrong! There is no gain to deliberately pad exhibits. What is the purpose? All these have to be audited by the court so I don’t really understand this argument of padding of exhibits.

Counsel: I am putting it to you finally that you and your co-petitioner have engaged in a massive deception.

Witness: I reject this suggestion. There have been massive violations, irregularities and malpractices in this election and the 1^st respondent has been the beneficiary of such massive violations of the law and this is why we have brought this evidence to court.

Addison’s Insistence

With Mr. Tsikata’s caveat that completing his cross-examination would be subject to the report from KPMG, Mr. Addison rose to seek clarification for the NDC counsel’s statement.

Mr. Addison: My lords, I seek clarification on the statement: “Subject to the work being done by KPMG”. Does he mean that he is going to cross-examine the witness again as a right?

Justice Dotse: All of you would have a bite when the report is out, not only the counsel for the third respondent; that would apply to all of you…but then the position is that if you look at the evidence, I think the respondents are disputing your figure of 11,842 which has been reduced to 11,138. If the report of the referee shows otherwise, then he would have to come back.

Mr. Addison: They come back as of right or they would come for leave?

Justice Dotse: Well, that one, the court would have to decide.

Mr.  Lithur: My lords, in fact, it is not only him, we would have to also cross-examine … (court burst into laughter). No realistically, I may not have to; one of us may do it. But like we said, if some documents are freshly being introduced to us to the extent that they differ substantially from what the trend has been…I think we reserve the right to come back.

Mr. Addison: My lords, all we seek to find out is that, is that the end of his cross-examination?

Justice Atuguba: Well, I think that the statement doesn’t need interpretation; it is clear and unambiguous (Citing Mr. Tsikata’s condition that his cross-examination is subject to the report of KPMG)

Mr. Addison: My lords, in other words, after the count, if there are new matters that they have not taken into consideration, they would come and cross-examine on that? This calls into question the whole exercise as I have said since day one. Why don’t they tell us those pink sheets they are missing so we supply them so they can go on with the cross-examination, instead of waiting one week for them to come back to cross-examine after they have been told by somebody else that these documents are in the registry… (The judges took turns to explain the need to wait for the KPMG report). My lords, if that is the case, then they should end their cross-examination now.

The Ruling

After conferring with one another, Justice Atuguba eventually spoke on behalf of the nine judges saying that subject to the outcome of the KPMG report, Mr. Tsikata should officially end his cross-examination and give way for the witness to be re-examined by his counsel.  Mr. Tsikata stood up to indicate that his cross-examination has indeed come to a close subject to the report. He noted that the recount relates to a “very limited area”.

Mr. Addison is expected to re-examine Dr. Bawumia today.

By William Yaw Owusu & Raphael Ofori-Adeniran

Derek Boateng

Ghana midfielder Derek Boateng is on cloud nine following his switch from the Ukrainian league to premiership side Fulham.

Consequently, the 30-year-old former Getafe midfielder has resolved to work harder to get first team shirt in his two-year contract.

Having played in top flight leagues like the German Bundesliga, Spanish La Liga, and in Greece among others, Boateng has described the Craven Cottage move as a dream come true.

And to the former Dnipro performer, his new move places him under no pressure to deliver; rather, it will stir him to go the extra mile to justify the purchase.

Already, the dreadlocked midfielder is finding his rhythm, having started training with the Cottagers.

He paid glowing tribute to national team mate John Paintsil, a former right back for Fulham.

To him, Paintsil’s good footprints during his stay at the Craven Cottage has already endeared him to his employers and the fans as well.

“Paintsil has really done well, his good works during his days here has really made things easier for me. They speak well of him and that has endeared me to the fans.

“I am not under pressure to prove a point, what I have purposed to do is to work harder to break into the first team,” Boateng said on Happy FM.

And responding to whether he has the Italian Serie A in mind as his next destination, he remarked “I will die here o.”

Boateng officially joined the English side last Monday.

 By Kofi Owusu Aduonum

Massimo Carrera

Juventus first-team coach Massimo Carrera has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison on two counts of involuntary manslaughter.

The 49-year-old, who stood in for Antonio Conte during his ban for failing to report match-fixing, was found guilty of knocking down and killing two 23-year-old girls on New Year’s Eve 2011.

The court decided that Carrera had more than enough time to see the girls and avoid hitting them while driving along the A4 highway between Dalmine and Bergamo.

And the former Italy international will spend the next 30 months behind bars for the crime.

Carrera started the season in charge of the Old Lady but when Angelo Alessio’s ban ended, he took the reins until the completion of Conte’s suspension.

Carrera represented the likes of Bari, Juve, Atalanta and Napoli during his playing career and joined the Turin giants’ backroom staff in 2011.

Michael Essien and Jose Mourinho

Incoming Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho has told the English Premier club not to listen to offers for Michael Essien after the Ghanaian emerged as a target for some clubs.

The midfielder has been a subject of interest from clubs in the Premier League and Italy, after it was speculated that he has no future at Stamford Bridge next season.

Essien, who is currently on loan at Real Madrid, will revert to Chelsea at the end of his loan spell with the Spanish giants.

Previous Chelsea coach Roberto Di Matteo declared him surplus to requirements which resulted in Mourinho taking Essien on loan with Real Madrid which left the Ghanaian’s long-term future with the Blues in doubt.

This resulted in West Ham manager Sam Allardyce seeking the signature of the Ghanaian while Inter Milan were said to be interested in him.

But with the Portuguese manager returning to the English side at the start of next season after mutually ending his contract with Real Madrid, Mourinho has told Chelsea management not to listen to offers for the Ghanaian.

The 30-year-old was once a key player in Chelsea’s starting lineup, earning a reputation for his strong play from midfield, as well as an ability to score the occasional long-range wonder-goal.

Injuries have disrupted his career in recent years, and he has found himself down the pecking order at the club under their various different managers over the last two seasons.

However, Essien seems to be returning to his best form after his stint at Real Madrid especially by acting as a utility player at the Bernebeu.

Essien’s current contract expires in 2015, and he could move for around £5million, significantly less than the £24.4million the Blues paid to sign him from Lyon in 2005, which at the time made him the most expensive African player in the history of the game.

Djan Wilteh &Associates’ Emmanuel Ola Williams(2ndL) in a handshake with NIIT officials. With them is MC-Caulley of GES

IT Company NIIT Computers has pledged its unflinching support for sports in the country.

Already, it has supported the Nunu Sports Festival, offering scholarship to 20 outstanding pupils and officials who excelled in the just ended sports festival.

“We believe this support will go a long way to encourage prospective young talents to strive for excellence in forthcoming sports competitions.

“We also want to commend Djan Wilteh & Associates, organizers of the Nunu Sports Festival, for supporting juvenile sports and we are calling on other companies to rally their support for sports in Ghana.

“We will continue to support sports in the country, we see it not just as a social responsibility, but investing in the youth of the country,” Vivek K. Verma, Business Head of NIIT said in an interview.

By Kofi Owusu Aduonum

Kwesi Nyantakyi

Ghana Football Association President Kwesi Nyantakyi has been nominated to chair the Fair-Play and Social Responsibility Committee of the continent’s sport governing body, the Confederation of African Football.

The appointment to the Standing Committee was confirmed by CAF’s Executive Committee at its meeting in Cairo on May 15 and 16th 2013, following a new system of selection.

Kwesi Nyantakyi, who is a CAF Executive Committee member, will chair the eight-member Committee for the period between 2013-2015.

The GFA President was also approved as the Vice-President of the Media Committee while retaining his seat as a member of the Organizing Committee for the Africa Cup of Nations.

Nyantakyi will also represent West Zone B on the Consultative Committee of CAF/National Associations.

FA

Life-saving: Doctors performed the surgery on May 15 in a 27-hour operation

Doctors in Poland say they have performed a total face transplant on a 33-year-old man whose face was torn off in an accident with stone-cutting machinery.

Surgeons at the Oncology Center in Gliwice said the 27-hour operation was performed on May 15, just weeks after the accident.

The head of the team of doctors, Adam Maciejewski, said it was the world’s first life-saving face transplant carried out so soon after the damage.

The accident took place on April 23.

Previous transplants have taken months or years to prepare.

A computer-generated image, provided by the hospital, shows the extraordinary damage the man suffered as a result of the industrial accident.

It required surgery to reconstruct his face, jaws, palate and the bottom of his eye sockets.

But incredibly, the emergency procedure appears to have been a success.

A picture of the patient taken yesterday, six days after the surgery, showed him making a thumbs-up gesture from his hospital bed.

Oscar (centre) with his sister and Dr Joan Barrett at a press conference. He can now eat a soft food diet and is learning to speak again

A Spanish farmer had the world’s first full-face transplant in March 2010.

Oscar, whose surname was not revealed to protect his privacy, had blown most of his face off with a gun in the hunting accident. He was left unable to breathe, swallow or talk properly.
Nine earlier surgical attempts to rebuild his face had failed.

He made medical history when he became the first person in the world to undergo a full facial transplant.

The 24-hour operation involved 30 surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and other medical experts at the Vall d’Hebron hospital in Barcelona.
The complicated procedure included plastic surgery and microsurgery to repair blood vessels.

Oscar required speech therapy, physiotherapy and facial therapy to help him recover full movement in his facial muscles.
There have been 11 partial face transplants carried out since Isabelle Dinoire had her face repaired by French surgeons in 2005. Five have been performed in France, two in Spain and two in the U.S, one in Egypt and one in China.

There have also been two full face transplants, Oscar and a man known as Jerome in France. None have been performed in the UK.
Dailymail

Scene: One man died at the scene here in John Wilson Street, south London this afternoon while two were seriously injured

Two people were today believed to have been shot by armed police after hacking a man to death with a machete in front of dozens of eyewitnesses.

Police were called this afternoon to reports of an assault in Woolwich, south London where witnesses claimed a man wearing a Help For Heroes t-shirt was attacked with knives.

The pair were then confronted by armed police and apparently shot by a female officer as they brandished weapons including a revolver.

This afternoon the area’s MP, Nick Raynsford, told BBC Radio 5 Live he believed the victim of the attack was a serving soldier.

The man is believed to have been hacked to death after a car crash. The scene of the attack is just 200 yards from Woolwich Barracks.
Mr Raynsford told the BBC: Mr Raynsford said: ‘The circumstances causing the incident are not yet clear. It’s been suggested it was the product of a road traffic accident, but that’s pure speculation.

‘We think a serving soldier was the victim. We don’t know the circumstances surrounding the incident.
‘We do know a number of weapons have been seized. They include a gun, various knives, and a machete, apparently.

‘The police clearly had to take action in order to try and arrest these individuals.’

The Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is called in whenever firearms officers shoot people, said it is investigating.

The Ministry of Defence said it was urgently looking at the reports that the incident involved a soldier but had no further comment.

Footage from a television news helicopter showed a large collection of weapons lying in the street in Woolwich following the incident.

A spokesman for the London Ambulance Service said one man had died at the scene.

He said: ‘Our staff treated two others. Both men were taken to hospital, one of them is in a serious condition, the other is not.’

One witness, identified as James, said he and his partner saw two black men attack the young victim with knives, including a meat cleaver.

‘They were hacking at this poor guy, literally,’ he told LBC. ‘They were hacking at him, chopping him, cutting him.’

Fighting back tears, James said the men treated their victim as a ‘piece of meat’ after he was dead.
‘These two guys were crazed,’ he told the radio station. ‘They were just animals. They dragged him from the pavement and dumped his body in the middle of the road and left his body there.’

The incident occurred near the Royal Artillery Barracks, adjacent to Woolwich Common, the historical home of the Royal Artillery.

The barracks, also known as the Woolwich station, now houses a number of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery and independent companies of the Grenadier and Coldstream Guards.

Woolwich Common remains a designated military training area. The shooting events at the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics were held at a temporary venue at the Barracks.

Luke Huseyin, 32, who lives in a block of flats on John Wilson Street, Woolwich, close to where the incident happened said he watched two men murder a man before being shot.
He said: ‘I was at home and heard a big bang. I looked out of the window and saw a car had crashed.

‘It was a blue Vauxhall. Then two black guys got out of the car dragging a white guy across the road towards the wall. One of the guys had a knife that looked about a foot long and a machete and the other bloke had a gun.

‘They started slashing him up with the knife and hitting him in the stomach with the machete. I don’t think it took long before he was dead. There were people passing by who were screaming and running away. I’ve never seen anything like it.
‘I’m still really shaken up. When he was dead, they dragged him out into the road and left him there.

‘It was strange, they didn’t run off, they just stood there as if they were waiting for the police.

‘It must’ve taken about 20 minutes for the police to arrive, I think it must’ve been because they were waiting for armed police.

‘The police officers got out of the car and the two black men ran towards them with the gun.

‘The police shot them. They fell to the ground. Then a helicopter landed. Think it must’ve been an air ambulance.

‘The paramedics got out and I think they were working on the two men to try and keep them alive.

Dailymail

Newly-weds: The couple are pictured cutting their wedding cake at the venue

A heavily pregnant bride vowed to stand by her new husband today – even though he was jailed for trashing and looting their wedding venue.

Bridie Sparks, 24, had just wed Christopher Richards, 25, when he and three friends went back to the club where they held the reception to plunder it of thousands of pounds worth of alcohol and computers.

The group also caused more than £20,000 of damage to property in the building by smashing doors and ripping cabinets off walls.

The raid occurred after kind-hearted accountant Catherine Murphy, who runs the Bacup Hub club in Bacup, Lancashire, laid on a half price champagne buffet for the couple and their 90 guests because they complained of being broke and she felt sorry for them.

Richards an unemployed former labourer later handed himself into police after CCTV captured him inside the building and the pictures were published in a local newspaper.

Miss Murphy, 34, who had bought the venue for £175,000 and who at the time was also pregnant was said to so ‘emotionally tortured’ by Richard’s betrayal she tried to kill herself.

At Burnley Crown Court, Richards of Bacup, admitted burglary and was jailed for six months after what a judge described as ‘a dreadful offence.’

But today Miss Sparks, who already has two children with Richards and will now give birth to their third whilst he is in jail, said she would stick with her husband.

She said : ‘I’m standing by my man because I love him and nobody is perfect. I know my husband isn’t an angel and it hurts that he went back to the same place we got married.

‘But Christopher has admitted he’s done something wrong and is serving his time, he’s truly sorry. He has been crying on the phone from jail.

‘I’m now 35 weeks pregnant and I won’t even have my husband by my side for the pregnancy. It’s affected me badly, with lots of people staring at me in the street, thinking I had something to do with it.

‘It has been very distressing for me, even though I had nothing at all to do with it.’

She added: ‘My wedding memories are tarnished now because of what he did. I can’t even look at our wedding photos now. I was going to watch our wedding DVD the other night, but I stopped myself as it just reminds me of the bad situation we’re in now.

‘When I saw the CCTV stills of my husband I just felt sick, he looked like a criminal. I was disgusted as any wife would be. On the night of the incident he came back drunk and I knew instantly he had done something wrong.

‘I told him he was going to ruin the future for us and he crumbled because he knew I was right – all because of one drunken night. It was an act of stupidity; I wish he had thought of me and the kids.’

The court heard how Richards and his bride had held their reception at the venue in July last year – just six months before last January’s raid.

Miss Murphy only charged the couple £1,060 for the whole day – including venue, champagne, chocolate fountain and bouncy castle – paying the rest of the £2,400 total herself.

But Richards, his usher George Taylor, 24, and two other intruders returned to the club repeatedly throughout the night of January 2 and 3 between about 10pm and about 7am smashing doors and ripping cabinets off walls.

Richards and his usher helped snatch 62 bottles of spirits worth £1,130 from the bar and grabbed 159 bottles of spirits and cans of soft drinks worth £2,672 from the storeroom during their callous dead of night raid.

More than 80 bottles of wine valued at £1,714 and 2,602 bottles or cans of beer and alcopops worth £2,089 were also lifted from the main bar fridge.

Items including computers and laptops and DVDs and valued at £14,970 went missing and it cost £24,214 to replace damaged property such as CCTVs, mirrors, tiles, cupboards and glasses. The total cost of the raid in theft and damage was £46,790.

Dailymail

Megan Futrell, pictured, and her five-month-old baby were among those killed at a 7-Eleven store in Moore, Oklahoma, which was destroyed in Monday’s tornado

Relatives of a young mother killed along with her five-month-old child in the 7-Eleven razed by the Oklahoma tornado have told of her desperate final moments.

MailOnline has learned that mother-of-two Megan Futrell was desperately trying to reach her older child when the storm overtook her and she was forced to seek shelter in a futile bid to save herself and her baby.

She hid with her baby in the freezer at the convenience store. And it was there, huddled together, that their bodies were found.

According to tributes online the young mother-of-two had spoken to her husband on the phone moments before the tornado hit.

A cousin said she was a ’beautiful woman, teacher, mother, wife’.

Speaking to MailOnline, Pastor DA Bennett, of St Andrews who has been contacted by the family and asked to make funeral arrangements said: ‘This woman had two children, a six-year-old and a five month child.

‘She was a school teacher and had to be home with her baby. She went to get her baby and found that she couldn’t outrun the storm.’

He added: ‘I hope that when people think of her they don’t think that she was reckless or some kind of thrill seeker.

‘She was a mother who loved her baby and wanted to do what she could to protect that child.’

The victim was born in Oklahoma City, confirmed in St Andrews Church and married there too.

Her husband Cody is a shop foreman at UEM, Oklahoma City.

As a member of his parish, Pastor Bennette said, ‘I will do what I can now for her and her child and her family.’

The tragedy is the latest to emerge in the wake of the storm that tore through this swathe of the mid-West and claimed the life of 24, nine of them children.

A further 237 were injured and hope of finding victims alive was beginning to wane.

Officials started to search flattened homes and piles of rubble with cadaver dogs.

No survivors were found on Tuesday and officials said they hope to complete three searches of every site of devastation before nightfall.

The weather service confirmed that the powerful storm was for times an EF5 – the maximum on the scale.

Seven children were found drowned at Plaza Towers Elementary School, which was a direct hit during the 45 minutes of terror.

Nine-year-old Janae Hornsby, whose father said ‘always has a smile on her face’, is one of the victims while family members have shared pictures of other missing children, including Sydney Angle, feared dead.

Frightened third graders were being pulled from the wreckage alive on Monday afternoon as rescue workers passed the children down a human chain before taking them to a triage center set up in the school’s parking lot.

Staff said there had been at least 75 people in the school of around 500 students when the tornado hit. The 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students were taken from the school to a church before the twister barreled through.

Students who were inside the building described clinging to the walls of the hallway where many of them huddled during the storm as the twister battered the school. Others cowered in closets or bathrooms to protect themselves

Briarwood was the other elementary school flattened in the tornado but all the students miraculously escaped alive.

Tales of heroic teachers throwing themselves over children to save them were reported in both.

At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, an official confirmed that the two schools did not have safe rooms, as they had not applied for them.

He added that the jurisdiction decides where to allocate funds for safe rooms based on past events.

President Barack Obama declared a major disaster area in Oklahoma, ordering federal aid to supplement state and local efforts in Moore. Speaking from the White House on Tuesday morning, he said that FEMA staff were on the ground to provide support to residents.

He offered his condolences to the community following ‘one of the most destructive storms in history’ and promised whatever resources they may require in the coming days and weeks.

House Speaker John Boehner said on Tuesday that at the request of Rep. Tom Cole, from Moore, he has ordered flags on Capitol Hill to be lowered to half-staff.

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin expressed her grief on behalf of her state for the parents of the missing children.

‘Our hearts are broken for the parents that are wondering about the state of their children that had been in the schools that have been hit today,’ Fallin said. ‘I know that there are families wondering where their loved ones are.’

At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, officials said they are aiming to complete three searches of all homes by dark.

Rescue teams, including 80 members of the National Guard and search dogs, had reported hearing cries for help from beneath the rubble of the flattened school but the screams reportedly stopped at around 6:30 p.m. local time.

One teacher told Good Morning America that her students had to stay with her for hours until their parents could reach them. Because of the damage to the roads, ‘parents walked for miles just to get to their children,’ she said. ‘They were out of breath and crying but just so happy to see them.’

Many parents have been forced to endure an agonizing wait at St. Andrews United Methodist Church, where they wait for news of their loved ones.

Frantic parents rushed to Plaza Towers Elementary moments after it was pummeled but were kept back so search teams could hear any survivors calling for help through the rubble.

The seven children confirmed dead are believed to have been trapped underneath rubble when they were overcome by water from burst pipes.

The families were later taken to a nearby church where they continued the harrowing wait for news.

On Tuesday morning the death toll was revised down to 24 – from the prior figure of 51, which may have included some double-reported casualties.

Crews used jackhammers and sledgehammers to tear away concrete, and chunks were being thrown to the side as the workers dug.

National Guard choppers were being used across Moore overnight to detect body heat of survivors trapped under collapsed buildings and other rubble so they could direct rescuers.

Dailymail

A Dutch TV host stunned viewers by sucking milk from a mother’s breasts on his primetime Saturday night show.

Comedian Paul De Leeuw pounced on the topless mum during the latest episode of his chat show Langs De Leeuw, which was dedicated to breastfeeding.

Du Leeuw’s guests were a group of women who donate spare milk to mums who struggle to produce it.

One volunteer called Wendy invited the star to taste the contents of a bottle she had expressed during the show.

When the openly gay presenter joked he’d prefer to drink it from the source – she unhooked her boobs from a breast-pump and told him: “Well, if you don’t bite you may try it.”

The studio audience then watched dumbfounded as Du Leeuw took her up on the offer and sucked milk from both her breasts.

After swallowing down his sample, he joked: “I find the second one better tasting, but I can taste that you’ve eaten asparagus yesterday.”

The stunt has provoked outrage in the Netherlands from critics who branded it disgusting.

Viewers have also taken to Twitter to attack De Leeuw and the group for allowing the stunt to be aired.

But Wendy has defended her actions on the social media site, insisting they were “for a good cause”.

Thesun

VIP

Award winning music group VIP has released its much anticipated video for its ‘Follow Me’ hit song from the group’s ‘7/11’ album.

The video was released three days ago ahead of Vodafone Ghana Music Award (VGMA), the major event on the music calendar.

The ‘Follow Me’ song was produced by EL while the video was shot and edited by Phamous People. Its first day release on Wednesday on youtube had over 1000 views and keeps rising by the day.

The group was nominated for Artiste of the Year, Hip Life Song of the Year, Best Group of the Year, Hip life /Hip Hop Artiste of the Year and Best Music Video of the Year categories.

Over the past 10 years, VIP has sold over five million records, making the group one of the best selling recording artistes in Africa.

The group is made up of Zeal (Abdul Hamid Ibrahim), Promzy (Emmanuel Promzy Ababio) and Prodigal (Joseph Nana Ofori). They are described as charismatic trio who have revolutionized the African music industry by creating award-winning compositions that blend High Life, Hip Hop and traditional African music.

VIP’s dedication to artistic innovation has resulted in record-breaking recognition with a list of esteemed accolades including countless international awards, multiple city tours and performances.

By Francis Addo

Kwaisey Pee and friends

All is set for high-life singer Kwaisey Pee and his musician friends to rock the capital with melodious authentic high-life tunes in an event dubbed:

“Celebrating AU Day with Kwaisey Pee and Friends”, come May 25, 2013 to celebrate the African Unity day which also happens to be a holiday across the continent.

Musicians billed to perform on the night alongside Kwaisey Pee include Burger high-life legend George Darko, ever green Pat Thomas, sexy don dada Samini, smooth singer Irene Logon, Kofi Bee, Nana Kontihene and Kesse and all the artistes will perform with a live band.

There will also be a side attraction in form of a fashion show by B’venag Clothing to entertainment crowd and give the event a runway touch.

The night of great African tunes made in Ghana is scheduled for Saturday May 25, 2013 at the plush Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra.
Tickets for the event which are already out is selling at GH¢50 for regular and GH¢80 for VIP. Tickets are available presently at Koala, Osu, Silverbird Cinema, Baatsona Total and Airport Shell.

Dress code is a touch of African. Come let’s dance to Ghanaian authentic high-life music, whiles we join hands to celebrate Africa through quality entertainment.

The event is sponsored by Vitamilk, Media pharmacy, Mr Delivery Man, B’venag Clothing and Accessories and Golden Tulip Hotel, Accra and powered by Planet One Multimedia.

Bobie Ansah

One of Ghana’s most listened to radio presenters, Kwabena Bobie Ansah, who is the host of Sinipi, a talk show programme on Agoo 103.5 Fm, yesterday declared that as a radio presenter, his duty was to use the radio to educate Ghanaians about issues affecting society.

He told BEATWAVES in a chat: “It is my duty to educate the people on issues affecting their day to day activities. As a radio presenter I will use the opportunity I have on radio to educate everybody including listeners”.

Disclosing how he was going to do that, Bobie said as radio has become very powerful, he was going to use his talk show programme, Sinipi, aired from Monday to Friday between 2:00pm and 6:00pm, to push up the sinking image of the Ghanaian culture, effectively link up various categories of people seeking one thing or the other and also use the medium to fight against diseases and social issues like the degradation of the environment.

He also envisaged that his programme would enable him to have time to come up with far-reaching ideas and also afford him time to pursue the huge role he has been assigned to.

Bobie’s activities on radio have probably inspired many people to consider a career in radio and he is gradually making his way to the top as his admirers keep increasing every day.

Since his entry into radio, Bobie has won the hearts of a myriad of radio listeners and has become a household name.

He made a lot of impact when he hosted Asempa FM’s talk show, Ekosii Sen, paving the way for him to be counted among the best when it comes to talk shows on radio.

He told BEATWAVES that he would not rest until he reaches the top, adding “the sky is my limit. I will work hard to maintain the good image I have attained so far as I’m a presenter and always think of satisfying my listeners and admirers in whatever I do”.

By George Clifford Owusu

Guru

“The Empire Champagne Party,” unarguably, the biggest and most exclusive rave on the Accra nightlife calendar returns and this year’s edition would take place on Saturday May 25, 2013, at the plush Villa Monticello.

The Empire Champagne Party is a formal event that brings together thousands of attendees with the objective of allowing rave folk  to socialize and enjoy the very best of entertainment from excellent music, party lounges, exciting performances and an exquisite mix of assorted champagne and finger foods against a backdrop of the most alluring ambiance.

Last year’s edition, held at the Event Haven (inside the Trade Fair Centre-La), saw an eclectic mix of corporate gurus, A-list celebrities and the city’s “movers and shakers” in attendance.

All were undoubtedly swept away by the stunning and unique setting that transformed the venue into several party lounges; the black and white lounge, the white lounge and the VVIP lounge with each offering a surprisingly diverse mix of different raving experiences for all attendees.

Keeping up to its pre-event billing, guests were treated to glasses and bottles of the world’s most premium champagne brands, Moet & Chandon as well as Veuve Cliquot; all of which were provided by Moet & Chandon.

This year , organizers -  Empire Entertainment,  have promised to deliver an even bigger and more enchanting  event that would up the ante on the standards set with last year’s event  and once again redefine the art of raving in the city as has become synonymous with all Empire Entertainment events over the years.

This year’s edition is set to feature three exclusive party lounges which would each offer a different party experience for attendees. There would be the Moet and Chandon Lounge (standard), the Veuve Cliquot Lounge (VIP) and the Dom Perignon Lounge (VVIP) all set inside Villa Monticello on the night. The rates for the event are Standard – GH¢30, VIP –GH¢50, and VVIP –GH¢80.

The Empire Champagne party is supported by Moet & Chandon and Big Ideaz.

Bola Ray and Juliet Ibrahim

One of the country’s finest radio presenters, Nathaniel Kwabena Adisi aka Bola Ray, who is also the chief executive of Empire Entertainment, last Friday organized a drink-up party at the forecourt of Joy Fm to celebrate his ten years on Joy Fm.

Bola, who has for the past years worked diligently as a radio broadcaster and was the first African and Ghanaian to host ‘Top of the Pops’ on BBC Radio, has proved to music fans and radio listeners that he was one of the showbiz personalities who was working tirelessly to promote Ghanaian music on the international music scene.

The drink-up party attracted a large number of personalities from the showbiz industry as well as friends from the media.

There was plenty to drink as a lot of friends, including showbiz gurus, media personalities congratulated Bola Ray for his contribution to the showbiz industry in Ghana.

Bola Ray proved that apart from being a radio presenter and ‘Drive Time’ host on Joy FM, he was also a good dancer. His moves were so infectious that he got others to also show off theirs at the party.

As one man determined to change the entertainment industry in Ghana, Bola Ray joined Top Radio after Radio Universe, where he hosted ‘Top City Jam’, which was popular then. This was while he was a student at the University of Ghana.

In 2003, Bola, who many described as a brilliant and talented radio presenter, left Top Radio for Joy Fm, where he was still making a lot of impact.

Based on his outstanding achievements in the showbiz industry in Ghana, Bola Ray has received a number of awards which included Ghana’s Showbiz Personality of the year award at the City People Awards for excellence held in Nigeria.

As part of his social responsibilities, Bola has embarked on a number of charity projects and also made some donations to a number of needy institutions in the country.

With a lot of achievements under his belt, one is tempted to think everything has been smooth sailing for him, but that has never been the case.

L/Cpl Obeng `Darko Stylish , Lance Corporal Dasmani Faisal, Isaac Larbi and Christopher Quainoo in police custody.

Sgt Frederick Afari of the Recce Regiment and his colleagues of the Engineer Regiment L/Cpls Obeng Darko and Dasmani Faisal are some of the bad nuts in the Ghana Armed Forces.

They should be de-enlisted because they do not meet the disciplinary standards of a soldier. Why a senior non-commissioned officer would slap a police woman two times and threaten a third is something beyond our ken.

The negative headlines the slapping sergeant and soldier armed robbers attracted in the media are certainly not in the interest of the military. All of them regardless of their offences have dragged the enviable image of the Armed Forces into disrepute.

The consolation however is that they constitute only a small segment of the military institution. This is the reason why such elements should therefore be cashiered after the necessary probes have been conducted.

While the senior non-commissioned officer from Recce misbehaved in the street in uniform, the others have been robbing people of their monies; conducts incompatible with their status as soldiers of the Ghana Armed Forces.

Being a human institution and a microcosm of society, such isolated instances are bound to be recorded occasionally, which we do acknowledge.

However, what matters is how these anomalies are tackled. Let us know the actions taken against such miscreants, otherwise, it would be taken that they are being shielded.

Military training by its nature is intended to instil discipline in the soldier. The drill square, weapon training shed, the bush exercises which the recruit or cadet goes through, are all geared towards ensuring discipline. When however a soldier is arrested for conducting himself in a manner inconsistent with military tradition, the appropriate action must be taken against him and where necessary, the public notified through the media.

A few weeks ago, the military high command had cause to deal with the issue of two photographers suffering the high-handedness of some military policemen during the last independence anniversary parade in Accra.

This anomaly, happening again in another form, calls for a similar attention and another look at the background check preceding the enlistment of soldiers. This is not the first time that soldiers have assaulted police personnel. It happened a few years ago in Tamale and the then CDS had to intervene. We would have thought that such an anomaly would never be repeated but here we are again.

We have seen the correspondence of regret from the Armed Forces about the misconduct and wish to state that it is in order the Sergeant be released to face the full rigours of the civil law which supersedes military law.

As for the soldier armed robbers theirs is a fait accompli. Let them be processed for court immediately as they say adieu to the military.

TB Joshua

Religion was rightly described by Karl Marx as the opium of the people; an observation which continues to find credence in various historical developments in the local context.

Many so-called men of God in the various faiths have exploited the foregone to their economic advantage; they don the most expensive fabric and jewelry even as their congregations live in abject penury promising to have the key to paradise and ascribing all earthly challenges to demons whose antidote they possess.

The sense of fear and seeming invincibility that they exude prepares the grounds for further exploitation of their flock.

The self-exalted, often flamboyant and loud personalities who straddle their congregation as super humans, are held in extraordinary awe.

With no form of regulation of their spiritual occupations by the state, they have a free range to operate in the face of a willing mass of gullible people requiring immediate deliverance from their multitude of earthly predicaments.

That is the true picture of the spiritual state of the country today, one waiting for the least spark to combust.

Nigeria has recorded many of such situations as in the Maitatsine Sect which fought a bloody war with Nigerian soldiers before finally being dislodged and the enslaved people eventually exorcised. Enter the Boko Haram and the Nigerian national security is shaken to its marrow.

Ghana had its share of the fallouts of a mismanaged faith when thousands of her citizens wholly obsessed by news about a certain bottled spiritual elixir intended for gratis distribution thronged a space relatively smaller than their numbers.

The stampede and resultant repercussions which followed are now household knowledge in the country and beyond.

The country has become a receptacle for various messiahs, local and foreign, whose extremist views and dispositions have the potency to breach national security.

The state and security agencies have mostly closed their eyes on the operations of these faith professionals; a phenomenon appearing in all the faiths-Christianity, Islam and even traditional religion.

A close monitoring of the practices of such messiahs who are soon elevated to the levels of supernatural beings and therefore infallible, should not be ignored by the various agencies of national security and the citizens too.

We have observed over the years how unfortunately an aspect of the political leadership has fallen in love with some of these faith practitioners, thereby opening the floodgates for citizens to follow suit.

Poverty provides fertile grounds for the festering of commercial theology. Little wonder thousands trekked to the synagogue of all-nations to be delivered through the anointing water which never came anyway.

We are not by this commentary questioning the importance of spiritualism and the hereafter. Ours is bringing to the fore the unbridled exploitation of gullible Ghanaians and the dangerous repercussions these hold for the nation’s security.

Need we not change our perceptions of these latter day messiahs and their elixirs regardless their faiths?

Chinese galamsey

The ‘galamsey’ menace has moved another notch as government unfurls a fresh initiative to arrest it.

Prospecting for gold is not a new phenomenon in a country literally riddled with the precious mineral. From Elmina, the Portuguese expression for the pot of gold, a reference to the abundance of the mineral in our part of the world when they landed on the coast, to Nangodi in the Northern part of Ghana, there is no shortage of it.

We were not christened Gold Coast for nothing. On school compounds, behind houses and other unexpected places people have found gold.

It is impossible to ask such lucky fellows who find this great mineral behind their houses not to mine it and make some bucks from their efforts. It is a human instinct we cannot stop no matter how many taskforces government raises in that direction.

For an industry which offers a lucrative occupation to over 700,000 citizens directly and indirectly in a country suffering the debilitating effects of a defiant unemployment challenge, a more holistic approach would be a better option than being presented by government.

It is worth observing how many have joined the fray of this unregulated mining.

From young men and ladies with no source of livelihood who find one in ‘galamsey’ to chiefs and police officers who have discovered the wealth that comes with the occupation, there appears to be no stopping the new craze.

In spite of the economic gains which come with the unregulated or illegal mining, the other side of the coin is unpleasant.

The environmental challenges and the loss of farmlands through chemical and physical degradation of the soil are some of the issues to contend with, as the illegal mining yet lucrative occupation continues.

Chinese nationals have entered the business with sophisticated machinery edging out locals in some of the mining areas leading to security challenges and even fatalities at times.

What should we do under the circumstances? Deprive the youth of their source of livelihood and risk social challenges like armed robbery and others by clamping down on it?

Successive governments and mining companies have laid out an assortment of prescriptions over time but none has addressed the challenges.
The latest response to the ‘galamsey’ menace, which is the empanelling of a taskforce to address it, cannot be one of the result-yielding options; it is as best a joke.

A holistic approach is better than what doubtlessly is an ad hoc or kneejerk response, one that can set the ‘galamsey’ operatives and law enforcement agents on a bloody and protracted collision path, whose end is undeterminable.

A Pregnant Woman

Some pregnant women in the Brong Ahafo Region have expressed worry over the high demand of items that are taken from them before delivery at the various hospitals and clinics in the region.

According to them, since the government stopped taking money for delivery the midwives in the hospitals have taken advantage to demand things that are not needed for delivery.

“We are sometimes forced to buy things like tom brown, Lucozade, one pack of toilet roll and other things that are not used at the hospitals. This has forced many of us to deliver at home,” one woman mentioned.

She alleged that if a pregnant woman is not able to buy all the things demanded by the midwife before delivery the pregnant woman is sometimes maltreated at the hospital.

This was revealed on Ark FM in Sunyani, where pregnant women called in on the morning show to share their experience on how they were maltreated when they were unable to provide the things demanded by the midwives.

They therefore called on the hospital authorities in the Brong Ahafo Region, especially those at the regional hospital, to check the demanding habit being exhibited by the midwives.

Meanwhile, a National Democratic Congress (NDC) activist in Sunyani, Raphael Cubagee, has confirmed the worry of the pregnant women after he said his wife went through the same ordeal when she went to the hospital about two years ago to deliver.

“I had to pack a full suitcase of items that were demanded by the midwife, but she was also forced to buy tom brown at the hospital which she never used,” he alleged.

The Senior Nursing Officer at the Brong Ahafo Regional Hospital, Rita Adwoa Ansong, has refuted some of the allegations by the pregnant women and called on the pregnant women to report any nurse who forced them into buying items like Lucozade and tom brown at the hospital.

She also mentioned that some of the things demanded by the various midwives are highly needed for the safety of the pregnant women, her baby and the nurse that would deliver the baby.

 From Vivianna Mensah, Sunyani

James Ohemeng Kyei, Sherry Ayittey, Dr. Tia Sugri, deputy minister of health and Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) in furtherance of its efforts to ensure healthy living and expansion of the pharmaceutical industry has inaugurated two committees to oversee the establishment of a bioequivalence centre and investigate into the eating habits of Ghanaians.

The 10-member committee of experts for the establishment of bioequivalence centre has been tasked, among other things, to develop protocol to attract funding for the project and determine the necessary organization and management systems that would ensure compliance with the general regulatory requirement in the World Health Organization (WHO) bioequivalence guidelines.

The committee is also expected to design a financial model for the project and possible sources of funding, propose a location, modalities for land acquisition as well as the structure of the project and determine the comprehensive needs of the centre.

The task of the six-member diet and healthy living committee is to research into the health risks of salt and sugar intake, recommend appropriate edible fats in Ghana and the levels and types of salts and sugars for consumption and provide guidelines for implementation of the recommendation within the context of historical, cultural and traditional practice.

Inaugurating the two groups in Accra, Minister of Health Sherry Ayittey, said the inauguration ushered in a new era for the pharmaceutical industry, not only in Ghana, but for the sub-region.

She said the centre would ensure that medicinal products supplied for procurement by international agencies met WHO’s norms and standard with respect to quality, safety and efficacy.

“Medicines for the treatment of priority diseases produced locally can now compete internationally and this will create more confidence in the population for medicines produced locally and eventually reduce the cost of locally produced medicines.”

She said the lack of standard bioequivalence centre in Ghana has deprived local manufacturers the opportunity to be included in accessing global funds because they are not WHO prequalified.

“The millions of dollars released under the Global Fund to procure anti-malarial, anti-retroviral and anti-tuberculosis medicines are used to procure such medicines from other countries, notably the Far East and Europe and this go to support their economies whereas we continue to wallow in poverty.

“There is therefore the urgent need to support local pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in the sub-region and their products to be internationally accredited and prequalified by strengthening the quality systems through the set-up of a bioequivalence testing centre,” she said.

Mr. James Ohemeng Kyei, president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana and chairman of the committee on experts for the establishment of bioequivalence, expressed the appreciation of the committee for being chosen to serve on the committee.

Pharmacist Kyei said only 20 percent of the market share of essential medicines consumed in the health sector is manufactured locally and only three percent of qualified pharmacists are in the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector.

He therefore called on the ministry to give the needed support to the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana.

Professor Akosa, chairman of the committee on diet and healthy living, also promised the minister to deliver on its task and ensure that every Ghanaian eats well and increases their life expectancy.

The committee of experts for the establishment of bioequivalence centre membership includes Mr. James Ohemeng Kyei, president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, Mrs. Martha Gyansa-Lutterodt, chief pharmacist and director of Pharmaceutical Services, Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, John Kwakye, of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and Mrs. Edith Andrews-Anna representing the World Health Organization (WHO).

Other members are Mr. Ben Botwe, pharmaceutical consultant, Dr. Stephen Opuni from the Food and Drugs Authority, Mrs. Emma Ofori Agyemang, deputy director, Ministry of Health,  Mr. Kwasi Poku Boateng an industrial pharmacist and Mrs. Grace Issahque from the Attorney General’s Department.

The committee on diet and healthy living include Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, Professor Reginald Ocansey, Dr. Kaku Kyiamah, Mr. Kofi Adusei, Mrs. Wilhemina Okwabi and Ms. Juliet Asare-Adjei.

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri

A nurse (far left) explaining a point to the visitors. Seated on the bed (right) is the patient

The Brong Ahafo Regional Women’s Organizer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Justina Owusu-Banahene and some party women at the national headquarters have paid a visit to the Deputy Eastern Regional Women’s Organizer of the party who is currently on admission at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

Margaret Darko, popularly called Margie, was involved in a grisly accident recently which nearly claimed her life during the party’s activity.

She has since been on admission at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital receiving treatment.

The visit, which was at the instance of Madam Owusu-Banahene, was to show solidarity with their colleague.

Margaret, who was elated to see her colleagues, thanked them for demonstrating love in trying times.

NPP members who embark on the visit included Vida Owusu and Maa Serwaa, representatives from the national headquarters of the party, as well as Eastern Regional Secretary of the NPP, Prince Aboagye.

FROM Fred Tettey Alarti-Amoako, Sunyani

Prof. Agyemang Badu Akosa (left), prof. Edmund Delle (middle) and Mr. Patrick Dasoberi at the launch

Ghana’s first electronic health delivery service to enable doctors to reach their patients online and bring healthcare to the door steps of the citizenry has been launched in Accra.

The E-health initiative, a remote doctor/patient interface, allows patients to see their doctors without leaving their home or office.

With this service, doctors are able to offer 24-hour online patient examination and advice without the patients leaving their homes or offices.

However, it does not seek to prevent patients from visiting hospitals but to augment existing healthcare delivery services.

Speaking at the launch on the theme, “Convenience in HealthCare Delivery”, Mr. Patrick Dasoberi, originator of the E-health initiative, said it would serve as a platform for doctors to share ideas and experiences relating to patients as well as a network for pharmacists, laboratory technicians, volunteers, service couriers, who are the core of the scheme.

He said good record keeping would be a key to the success of the initiative, stating that, “We do not handle emergency cases”.

Mr. Dasoberi said management was planning to place an Electronic Kiosk fitted with e-health internet in some rural areas and operated by a volunteer and an interpreter.

Professor Agyemang Badu Akosa, a former Director General of Ghana Health Service, who launched the product, said the country’s healthcare is patterned on the colonial model, and healthcare could only be assessed at the capital, regional and district levels, thereby creating a missing link in the peripherals.

He expressed the optimism that the electronic health service would improve medical care, adding that, “If the initiative is rolled out properly many people would benefit from healthcare services irrespective of the distance, especially in a technologically advanced era”.

Prof Edmund Delle, Founder of Rabito Clinic, lauded the initiative but cautioned that sustainability was very crucial to the success of the scheme.

“What is the use of a specialist whose activities are confined to his office while the rural areas are underserved?” he asked rhetorically.

Prof Delle said “an initiative which enables a doctor or specialist to reach out to more people without travelling too much for outreach programmes is very much welcomed”.

To assess the E-health service one has to go online to book an appointment with a doctor on www.ehealthghana.com after which an appointment coordinator would assign a doctor to a patient depending on the ailment.

By Cephas Larbi

scene from the screening exercise

As part of their social responsibility to Ghanaians, staff of the newly established St. John’s General Hospital and Spa, Tantra Hill, Accra, undertook various tests on workers of Western Publications Limited, publishers of the DAILY GUIDE last Friday.

Over 50 staffers of the publishing company benefited from the free testing and counselling by the hospital’s team of a doctor, sonographer and laboratory technicians.

Prostate testing, blood sugar level, blood pressure, kidney function for male and pelvic testing for female staff were some of the services provided by the St. John’s General Hospital.

For some staff, just like many Ghanaians, it was their first time of going through a voluntary medical examination of this magnitude.

Sonologist Raphael Obu emphasized the need for constant checking of the prostate by men above 40 in a chat with a staff of the company. This way when this segment of the body is under any threat it can be detected early and the necessary medical intervention employed, he said.

The decision to come to DAILY GUIDE, he explained, was borne out of the need to take such tests to the doorsteps of workers who would otherwise be unable to access them given their busy work schedules, among other factors.

A foundation: “What Every Man Must Know About Prostate Health”, he announced, would be launched on July 1, 2013, on the premises of the hospital at Tantra Hill, Accra. It would be an opportunity for many people to understand the importance of prostate health including the early warning signals.

He noted that in Ghana today the awareness about this challenge and the risk factors are lacking and that genetics plays as much a part in the challenge as ageing. The interplay between the estrogen and testosterone hormones has a role in the contraction of the condition, he continued.

For most of the staff of the company the opportunity of meeting the Director of the hospital, Dr. Nana Ayew Afriyie, for the interpretation of the laboratory results was a rare one they cherished so much.

Those whose results showed they required further tests and attention were told so. The exercise which continued into the night was extended to management staff of the company.

Staffers who did not have the chance of going through the tests regretted it and wished they had showed up much earlier.

The St. John’s Hospital, from all indications, appears set to introduce novelties in private medical delivery in an industry which is also competitive however it is considered. Such novelties define how successful the business would be. With a Spa and ample flexibility in their operations and in consonance with the rules of medical practice there is no reason to doubt the bright light at the end of the tunnel for St. John’s Hospital which, in seven months of existence, is already making waves in town.

By A.R. Gomda

Sydney Casely-Hayford

It is 4am.  The lights just went out at McCarthy Hill and I am stumped.

I deliberately caught an early night, try to catch up on sleep and start an early day, Sunday.

We had a little storm, a mild rainfall and “dum,” shades of the bad old days when you knew for certain that rain come light go.

I just returned from a trip to Dubai and Abu Dhabi and I forgot within a week that power is not stable, water does not flow and the Glo internet service is unpredictable.  My Glo service is out this morning, I have been trying to get a solution since 8am, and I have a lot of work to do.  It is 11am and vive la difference.  You cannot compare Accra to Dubai, there is no anchor dot to even start the debate.  Accra scores no points over the city built in a desert and flourishing to no end.

I doubt if there is any Minister or MP in this country, who has neither lived, studied nor visited Dubai yet.  What do they see when they get there?  Doesn’t any of it rub off on them?  Make them think they would like to live in a city where the roads are seven lanes wide, buses pick up on time from air-conditioned stations, the metro rail service is unmanned and runs on time?

What about taxis that are all Toyota Camrys and you can hire a Lexus taxi at a cost no different from the regular metered taxis in the city?  What about 24-hour shopping malls, where everything under the sun is available?  And that is just a sample of the stuff I appreciated on my first trip.  What do they bring back from these visits?  This was my first time to Dubai, it is more classy than the USA, UK and South Africa where I have spent a fair bit of time.  The architecture, boy!  So here I stop, because it is so easy to get carried away.  The concern is what do we bring back from travel and escapades like this?  This morning, I am asking, “What are we doing?”

The answer might lie in Gloria Akuffo’s filing cabinets and her hard drives.  Yet again some to be caught thieves, raided Gloria’s offices and this time, dismantled and took away the hard drives in her computers.  Purpose?

She is touted as the lead counsel for the Petitioners in the ongoing case at the Supreme Court and she might have been foolish enough after the first break-in to leave sensitive information on the drives.

Something that might incriminate her and the team, some evidence that could be sneaked in at this late stage, could turn the tables on the NPP challenge and nullify or terminate the case.  On the other hand, it could be a simple thief needing a twenty-one gigabyte hard drive and there are none in town, except someone mentioned that Gloria had some computers with the exact specification needed.

Makes you wonder, on hindsight, whether when both rear tires burst on Bawumia’s Toyota Landcruiser, it was a factory default by the manufacturers or something more sinister to stop the now star witness from testifying in court. Just saying.

This is so P(NDC) days, but now with a less cowering Ghanaian citizen and a few milestones of democracy between our prayer beads and rosaries, we fight back through law courts, which character is tested to the limit.

After a couple weeks of battering his witness on the stand, my feelers in town say Tsatsu has thrown out what little credibility he brought to the courtroom.  His cross has gone on too long, too very boring, repetitive and in some measure very rude.  Most people I spoke with say he has tried deliberately to hold back the end result.  I read a piece on the web, were someone did ask the question, if Tsatsu really believed the NDC won fairly, why not move faster and get the final decision out to the public?  A rhetorical question because Tsatsu will certainly not reply.

We are coming to the end of this case; I sense it.  The Justices must be tired, it is hot under the gowns and the seats are not the most comfortable in town.  They certainly do not recline and you cannot catch a snooze like Asiedu Nketia does from time to time after lunch recess.

Tsatsu’s tedium has run them ragged and from Monday we will pace this better.  Not sure what will happen next, but if the NDC calls witnesses to the stand, I suggest to the NPP side “no questions for this witness your Honors.”

Oh, but we must cross-examine Afari Gyan to establish his state of mind and of course we must get our “Opia relief” with Asiedu Nketia.  Why not?  There has to be some hilarity to all this.

What happens after KPMG confirms the numbers at the end of two weeks? Which is a ridiculous timeframe for the assignment by the way.

It cannot take that long to verify numbers.  There is no audit opinion required to do this count, it has already been grouped and analysed and their job is to confirm that analysis.  For the same reason I said a few weeks ago that this should be a freebie by KPMG, I say they can give this result in two days.  It is a no-brainer verification assignment and speed is of essence.  It will be better that they throw staff at it, pull an all-nighter and get it done, if it needs that.  But it doesn’t.  Counting 11,842 twice is nothing.  First you do a raw count, should take maximum two hours with 12 people, including recording and creating a check sheet.  Then you do another two hour count of the exhibit groups with the same twelve persons; it is the same sheets.

Allow some time to go over because it is such a sensitive issue; so take a day to write a properly worded report and we are done.

Now if KPMG says the numbers are true.  What now EC and NDC?  We finally have a numeric confirmation but we will need a quantification of the drift of votes between the candidates.  This should be done to make the Court’s decision balanced and cogent.

Alternatively, let’s say the numbers are short.  Let’s say the Court Registry is faulted because they did not deliver the right quantity to the NDC side.  Should they have waited all this time before making this an issue?  Ah!  I have some illogical problems with this.  The first thing we should have done was to agree the number of votes in play, from day one.  The last thing we need is for the Respondent’s camps to say they now need more time to go through any extra sheets they were not given.  But even if this is so, how does the end game change?

If KPMG verify only 8,600 sheets, the case will have to be decided on that number.  The key thing is the final quantification.

If you go to court to say someone has stolen 11,842 cedis from your account and later the bank confirms that only 8,600 was stolen, you have to modify your loss claim to 8,600 and that is all you get.

Does it become a new case?  I think we are in interesting waters here.  More fat to the Justice’s seats.  There is an unprecedented decision in the offing.

Otumfuo did a little tactical maneuver.  Seeing as he, just as I see that the end is nigh, he scuttled over to JDM and Nana Addo to confirm that they will stick to their agreed decisions that will couple them to a violent-free historic acceptance of the outcome.

Why he had to talk to the “chaos manufacturer” JJ Rawlings, I have no idea.  There is no coup offering here for Jerry John, Ghana wants to do this respectably.  Both candidates are reminded.  But read Otumfuo’s next interlay on Chieftancy.  I think he has a little history-knowledge gap.

President Mahama realized how important this case is to our democracy.  In his State of the Nation Address in January he refused to acknowledge that before his Presidency was a looming legal challenge.

This week, he applauds the legal toll road and now understands the state in which we found ourselves at the beginning of the year.

I waxed royally with Gertrude and Gertrude on Emirates flight back to Ghana.  Both very pleasant ladies and I doff my hat off to the pair, we bonded immediately, they on Facebook, me, pleasant smiles that made me feel that coming back to Ghana was an experience after all.  Right side Gertie even gave me good advice on my duty free purchase with no hesitation.  Thanks peeps, you made my trip.

And it got me thinking.  Emirates is what Ghana Airways could have been if we had a mind to handle it as a private craft and manage it as a business instead of a toy for ministers and MPs.  The rice and agushie stew lunch offering was superb, washed with fruit, cool water, juice of choice and apple crumble for desert.  And that was in the economy seat.  Can we do Ghana Airways again?  This time differently?  Maybe we learn from mistakes past?

My favorite group swept the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards show.  Big Up R2Bees.  Shoot me a new one.

Ghana, Aha a ye de papa.  Alius valde week advenio. Another great week to come!

Set aside, for the moment, the ongoing Supreme Court case, and focus instead on a very serious issue which could affect the nation in the foreseeable future.  In fact, put aside, for the moment, the insecurity at Kumasi and travel along with me as I deal with this topic.  We all seem to have closed our eyes at the menace while Rome continues to burn.  It did not start today and may not end tomorrow.  What is disturbing is that the whole issue is growing day by day.  You may not observe the menace if you are living in opulent areas where children get the best of education and have easy access to their laptops. If you happen to visit my holy village you will see what I am going to write about and indeed, you will move in sympathy with parents who are overwhelmed by what is happening.  I am talking of teenage pregnancy which is in the ascendancy.

Today in Ghana, it is no more a surprise when you see a 13-year-old girl carrying pregnancy or having a little baby strapped on her narrow back.  Our little girls have all too soon acquired very strong sexual desire and are out there “opening up” for whosoever cares to “enter the Black hole of Calcutta”.  Today in God’s own country, there is in the empire, lust and nudity which have threatened to become a fashion.  We have come face to face with the danger of veritable alienation among the young girls who are supposed to be in schools rather than carrying babies on their narrow backs.  For now you may think the situation, as far as teenage pregnancy is concerned, is not a problem.  Pray to God so that you may live for 20 years and you will realize the danger.

In 20 years’ time these innocent children who are born today by teenagers will be old enough to handle guns.  Majority of them would not be able to acquire education and as such they will surely become a burden and a liability to society.  These are the children who will eventually take over from where Ataa Ayi left off.  When this comes to pass, you who used all your resources to educate your child will be in danger. And of course, your children too will be in danger.  That is why we need to boldly tackle the issue holistically.  We need to find the causes and nip the menace in the bud rather than waiting to treat the symptoms as we are doing.

One major reason why teenage pregnancy is in the increase is poverty.  That is why you hardly see pregnant little girls in places where the rich dwell. Many parents these days find it difficult to make ends meet or provide three square meals a day for their wards not to talk of paying school fees.  Such children are left to fend for themselves.  Sometimes these unfortunate children offer sex for food and other goodies.  In some cases they roam the streets in search of men who will sleep with them and give them money to buy clothes since their parents cannot afford to buy them such clothes.  In their attempt to entice men who seek canal communion  and end up impregnating them, these little girls fail to seek sartorial propriety, decency, protocol and decorum in their dressing.  In fact, their dress comportment has nothing good to write home about.  They dress to attract men instead of pleasing God.  Parents watch helplessly when their children put on these unacceptable dresses which expose their nudity simply because they were not the ones who bought the dresses for them.  The sad aspect of this issue is that some parents dress like the girls do and so they don’t have the moral right to sanction these children.

Another reason is the hard drug craze which has threatened to attract God’s fury on society as a whole.  Spare some time and visit one of these ghettoes and “basis” where these drugs are sold and see for yourself.  These girls and boys who should have been in schools spend the whole day smoking marijuana and sniffing cocaine.  Because the devil finds work for the idle hand, these children enter town with the sole aim of stealing in order to make money to buy drugs.  When they fail in their bid to get something to steal, they turn to sell their clothes in order to get money to buy marijuana, cocaine, heroin and akpatashie to top it up.  When they mix up these drugs, they become daring and start going on robbery spree.  We used to see only grown up men and women who are addicted to one hard drug or the other, but these days, things have changed.  You see a teenager addicted to a drug so much so that she or he cannot eat without taking cocaine, marijuana etc.  When a girl becomes “high” she exposes herself to the danger of being raped and also flouts the rules of continence.

Peer influence is yet another reason why our little girls go out there ‘opening up’ and end up carrying unwanted pregnancies.  That is why parents should watch and study female friends of their daughters.  Some parents do not have time for their daughters simply because they are too busy in their quest for money.  Such girls who lack parental guidance easily go wayward.  If your daughter befriends girls of that nature, they teach her bad things.  If such wayward a girl gets a boyfriend, she introduces the friend of the boyfriend to your innocent girl.

We shy away from sex education and use custom and tradition as a barrier.  In fact, we see sex education as a taboo even in this 21^st century. Instead of mothers discussing sex issues with their daughters, they pretend the child will automatically come to know everything about sex when she grows.  That, to me, is a very big mistake.  Parents and teachers should be at the forefront as far as sex education is concerned.  When the girl comes to realize the gravity and implication in sex, she will not venture into that arena.  Pornography, for example, is another way of introducing girls to sex.  Parents must educate their children about the danger in watching pornographic films.  In this age of internet connectivity, there is the need for parents to educate their girls to avoid browsing pornographic materials on the internet.  And of cause, internet café attendants can also do the nation a favour if they don’t allow girls to browse pornographic materials at their cafes.

It is an undeniable fact that many a time broken homes breed wayward girls.  Because the man and the woman no longer stay together, the responsibility of taking care of the girl child becomes a problem.  The situation becomes worse when the girl child finds herself in the custody of the mother.   Women are naturally very busy.  You either see them at the saloon or the market.  When they are not in these places, expect to see them gossiping or at the party.  In such circumstances, the girl child seizes the opportunity to do the unthinkable.

Free SHS And Teenage Pregnancy

My personal research indicated that majority of these teenagers who get impregnated could not go beyond the Junior High School.  Because they pass out of the JHS at a tender age, they are unemployable.  The best job that they could do is to sell ice water and doughnuts.  Such girls are always prone to the danger of being lured into having sex with adults or their fellow male JHS counterparts.  That is why the idea of a free SHS was laudable.  It is very sad to mention here that those who voted against the free SHS are most affected because majority of them are poor and cannot afford to take their children to SHS, thereby exposing them to early pregnancy since the devil finds job for the idle hands.  Come to my holy village and see pregnant teenagers sleeping in a single room with their parents.  As to how the man will get a chance to go near the wife at night, your guess is as good as mine.  In some instances men who impregnate these girls fail to take responsibility.  Parents are then forced to add extra responsibility by caring for the pregnant daughter and her siblings.  If it happens that the wife is also pregnant, then “wahala don come be that”. The situation is very worrisome, heartbreaking, heartrending and heart-raking.  Let us spare some time to pray on this canker!!!

By Eric Bawah

Baaba Eshun-Wilson

Aside the illegality associated with galamsey, it is also extremely dangerous as many young men unfortunately lose their lives in the course of these mining activities.

The main scare regarding this illegal practice is the extreme harm it causes to the environment since no proper measures are taken to ensure that the environment is protected. For instance, the alluvial gold is washed with mercury in rivers that the local folk use for their livelihood/domestic purposes, thereby poisoning these water bodies, the aquatic organisms dwelling in them and lastly the people…

The question that continues to linger in the minds of many Ghanaians is; with the knowledge of all these dangers associated with galamsey, why is it still such the most sought-after “profession” in the Northern and middle belts of Ghana? Why do the youth, especially, still continue to venture into a business that is not safe and could possibly claim their lives? Where lies the sense in that?

Well, for starters, the rate of unemployment among the youth is a very big deal. The unemployed youth in Ghana have come to a point where they do not mind how they make a living and hence, most often choose the easiest way. Majority of those who engage in ‘galamsey’ are young uneducated men simply sourcing for ways to make a living. Coupled with the fact that ‘galamseyers pay neither tax to the Government nor royalties to chiefs of the lands on which they mine on makes it one of the easiest “occupations” to engage in.

Some Galamsey operating busy at work

The bottom line is that galamsey will not and cannot be halted anytime soon. Regardless of the number of deaths encountered or the bills/amendments passed in Parliament, there’s no means to stopping this age-old practice here. Currently, there are well over 600,000 illegal miners in Ghana (minus the foreigners who also take part in this) with the majority being able-bodied young men. Over the years, governments have failed to find an immediate, efficient and effective solution to the unemployment crisis resulting in the youth looking for ways and means to make a living through all sorts of dubious means.

The point is, rather than continue to embark on fruitless actions to halt ‘galamsey,’ which is highly impossible, a solution should be sought to ensure that the environment stays safe and protected.

Many people would disagree with this suggestion since Ghana preaches anti-corruption, fairness and justice. But then again, in a country that has failed to provide her young men and women with legitimate employment opportunities, what’s there to do? Sit around and wait for another election period and listen to promises by presidential candidates that are never fulfilled? Certainly not! Drastic times call for drastic measures; and as dangerous and damaging galamsey is to the country’s environment, not to mention her reputation as well, the youth in this country have to eat. It is rather unfortunate that they have to resort to taking on such a dangerous “profession”, for mining itself is dangerous and deadly. Legally recognized mining companies that take all the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of their workers still encounter numerous and unfortunate deaths; how much more galamsey operators?

Galamsey will not end today, tomorrow or even in 20 years’ time and there is a large portion of the population that continues to add to those willing to engage in this practice.

Focus needs shift from the fact that more and more people are engaging in this practice, to what can be done to ensure that the environment is not harmed. For instance, what can be done to prevent the vegetative cover of most farm lands from being degraded? The main reason for the rapid deterioration of the land occurs mainly as a result of inappropriate working practices, can this be further examined so that methods can be changed and replaced with less harmful methods that would not leave the lands in such deplorable states for decades? Can the dug-out pits be covered properly to prevent unknowing humans and livestock from falling in and losing their lives?

-      baaba.lou@gmail.com

 Baaba Eshun-Wilson

Bishop Dag Heward-Mills

It is clear that our nation needs leaders who can know some of the things they must avoid by becoming students of history.

Europe Decided Not To Follow The Example Of Spain

Spain, at the time, came to be seen as an example of the type of economic policy a nation should avoid at all costs.

Spain protected her agricultural production, like oil and wine, against foreign competition. But by the end of the sixteenth century, Spain was severely deindustrialized.

It became clear that the riches from the colonies had, in fact, impoverished rather than enriched Spain’s own capacity to produce goods and services.

In contrast, England’s Henry VII who came to power in 1485, actively protected and encouraged England’s industry.

European Countries Protected Their Creativity From

Free Trade With The Outside World

For several hundred years, Europe’s trade policy was based on the principle of maximising the creative industrial sectors of their own country and protecting these creative activities from external competition.

For example, England’s economic policy was based on a simple rule: import of raw materials and export of industrial products.

In Europe, they also discovered that countries that were already wealthy could afford a very different policy from countries that were still poor. In fact, once a country had been solidly industrialized the very same factors that required initial protection now required bigger and more international markets in order to develop and prosper.

European creative industries discovered that once they were successful, the protection that was initially required became counterproductive.

They believed that tariffs were as useful for introducing manufacturing in a country as they are damaging once these are established. This is why free trade (exposing your fledgling creative activities to external competition) must be timed properly.

Mongolia Reduced Its Nation To Primitivization By Wiping Out

‘Creative Increasing Returns Activities’

Primitivization is the return to backwardness, poverty and the dark ages by wiping out creative industries and creative manufacturing activities. Under a policy of primitivization, the majority of the people are forced back into noncreative diminishing returns activities. As manufacturing industries die out, many of the poverty-causing non-creative activities take over and dominate the nation.

Before 1991, Mongolia had slowly but successfully built a diversified industrial sector. The share of agriculture in the national product had declined steadily from 60 per cent in 1940 to about 16 per cent in the mid-1980s. However, their policies proved exceedingly successful in de-industrializing Mongolia.

Half a century of creative industry-building in Mongolia was virtually

annihilated over a period of only four years, from 1991 to 1995. In most

industrial sectors, production was down by more than 90 per cent because the country had opened up to the rest of the world in 1991.

By March 2000, the country’s previously considerable industrial sector had been virtually eradicated.

Statistics showed that, one by one, all of the country’s various industries had disappeared, beginning with the most advanced. Statistics showed that the production of bread was down by 71 per cent and the production of books and newspapers by 79 per cent. Mongolians, in other words, probably ate and read less than before.

In only a few years, real wages had been almost halved and unemployment was rampant.

The only sectors that, according to the national industrial statistics,

were expanding, were the production of alcohol which showed minimal growth and the collection and preparation of ‘combed down’ from birds (to the extent this can be defined as an industry).

Closing down the country’s steel mills and newspapers and sending its

population out to collect bird down cannot be considered anything but aprimitivisation of the economy.

The combination of deindustrialization and deconstruction of the state had created large-scale unemployment in Mongolia. Many people had been forced to return to their ancestral way of living: nomadic pastoralism and herding.

In 1990, before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Mongolians shared their lands with21 million herding animals – sheep, cows, goats and camels.

As a consequence of this, the number of grazing animals had risen from 21million to 33 million in 10 years.

Mongolia opened its economy entirely almost overnight and faithfully followed the advice given by the Washington institutions, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to let the market take control. Mongolia was supposed to find its place in the global economy by specializing where its comparative advantage lay.

The result was that the Mongolian economy was driven back from the age of industry to that of pastoralism. The nomadic economy, however, was unable to sustain the population and the industrial system, and the result was an economic catastrophe.

New Zealand Became Rich By Refusing Anything That Would Prevent Their

Country From Developing In Creativity And Industrialization

A book called “A New Zealand Colonist” reveals the mindset of settlers in New Zealand in 1897:

1. The New Zealand settler refuses to accept cheap imports, because

accepting them would prevent his country from becoming industrialized.

2. The New Zealand settler discards all theories of free trade with the

outer world and levies high import duties on every product, which his

colony is capable of supplying. The New Zealanders believe that only in

this way can their new land be made a prosperous field.

3. The New Zealander believes that prosperity would not be attainable

while subject to unrestricted competition from outsiders. They refused

to have the surplus stocks which others dumped on their markets.

4. The New Zealander colonist desires that children growing up around him

should have opportunities of acquiring mechanical skill, and so be saved

from becoming mere hewers of wood and drawers of water for richer

nations. He regards mechanical skill and the great products of that skill

as the buttress of a people’s strength and safety.

5. The New Zealand colonist does not regard immediate results. His eye is

on the future and on the children growing up around him.

Is it not ironical that today we find rich countries dumping their surplus

products in the poor countries, which see this as a bonus? In the hierarchy of nations a country that did not protect its industry would have all its creativity doomed to the biblical curse of being branded as ‘hewers of wood and drawers of water’ (Joshua 9:23). The Bible thus recognizes a hierarchy of skills where hewers of wood and drawers of water are located at the bottom. Finally, it is clear that our nation will be blessed with leaders who can know

what they must avoid by studying history.

By Dag Heward-Mills

In Ghana today much of our political discourse has been reduced to a shouting match and who can make the most ridiculous pronouncements to an ever ready media overly absorbed by sensationalism. Amidst all the noise, however, certain truths or better still facts cannot be ignored.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) tables, as part of its contention, the notion that Ghana’s Electoral Commission has bloated the voter register to give itself the room to throw in illegal votes in favor of its preferred candidates.

It remains to be seen how the Supreme Court will rule on the petition. But a quick look at some of our neighbors who recently concluded elections offer some insights that can hardly be ignored.

First Stop – Kenya

After suffering a grueling civil conflict in the aftermath of her 2007 presidential election, the East African nation regrouped to pay attention to the basics in electioneering. Some would say their recent court petition challenging the 2013 election suggests that they may not have left some loopholes unclosed. But one thing they may have gotten right was the voters’ register – or did they?

For a country of 41.6 million people, the number of registered voters heading into the 2013 election was 14.4 million, representing 34.1%.

Ghana with just over half of the Kenyan population (25 million) has almost the same number of registered voters at 14.1 million, representing 56.2%. With such a wide disparity, the obvious thing to do was to determine if ours is too high or the Kenyans’ number is too low. So we looked elsewhere.

Senegal with a population of 12.8 million registered 5.3 million voters or 41.5%. Nigeria came next with 162.5 million in population, 67.8 million registered voters or 41.7%.

Finally Tanzania with 46.2 million registered 19.7 million voters, representing 42.5%. So if four of our neighbors are averaging 39.95 as the percentage of their population that is registered to vote, what explains the more than 16 point differential between Kenya and Ghana?

There are four possible explanations. One, Ghana’s Electoral Commission is more efficient than its peers and is thus better at the registration exercise. Two, Ghanaians are more politically astute and are more interested in exercising their civic responsibilities so they register to vote more than their peers in the four other countries. Three, Ghana’s population is older so the voting age population is larger. And four, the voter register was indeed overly bloated. Much as our research team tried, it could not come up with evidence to support the first three possible explanations. That leaves explanation number four.

It is not clear if the NPP was aware of this voter register disparity between Ghana and other African countries prior to filing its petition and calling for the annulment of about 4 million illegal votes. But we hypothetically subtracted the 4 million votes from the current 14.1 million registered voters and arrived at 10,031,763. This number represents 40.2% of the population at large – squarely on the average of the four countries mentioned.

Will this study put an end to the shouting and the hurling of insults? May be not.

But it is our fervent hope that at least some would look at these numbers, verify them and may be arrive at a renewed impression about the current Supreme Court petition.

After all, are we all not looking for the truth? Based on the findings of our research team, NPP-USA is of the opinion that Ghana’s voter’s register appears bloated, this enables the electoral commission to rig elections in favor of its preferred candidate, if it so desires.

The article is by NPP-USA, Public Relations Committee

Improved: Scotland-based Touch Bionics says the latest i-limb boasts unparalleled dexterity and superior control and ease of use

A teenage boy who lost an arm and a leg as a baby has become the first person in the UK to be fitted with a prosthetic hand that is so advanced it can be controlled via a smartphone app.

Patrick Kane, 16, is now sporting the i-limb ultra revolution, which can be remotely-controlled and comes complete with an iOS app allowing the wearer to control its grip.

Patrick can also take advantage of five individually powered digits – including a rotating thumb – on the prosthetic, which is Scottish firm Touch Bionics’ most advanced yet.
The teenager, from London, lost all of the fingers on his left hand after contracting meningococcal septicaemia – the virulent form of meningitis – when he was just nine-months-old.
Doctors were also forced to amputate Patrick’s right leg below the knee, and part of each finger from his right hand.

The student – who was fitted with his first prosthetic through the NHS shortly after his first birthday – previously wore an i-limb ultra, but has now become the first person in the UK to be fitted with the new, more advanced version from the brains at Touch Bionics.

Featuring a rotating wrist and an aluminium chassis, the firm claims their creation is the most dextrous prosthetic limb ever made.

It’s unique app capability means the wearer can choose from a range of 24 different grips at the touch of a button. The app can also offers training on how to best use the device and can diagnose problems with it.

Previously Patrick could use only four pre-set grips on the go, and would have to return to his computer to alter the settings.

The i-limb is so sensitive it can be used to grip a single sheet of paper, play Connect Four or tie shoelaces – but it is also powerful enough to withstand the strain of 90kg weights in the gym.

The covering can be made to match the wearer’s natural skin tone, but Patrick chose a jet black version of the i-limb, which costs from £25,000 to upwards of £80,000, depending on how far up the arm it needs to extend.

‘I have only had it for 24 hours and it’s not so much that it allows me to do new things but it will allow me to do things more smoothly and naturally,’ Patrick said.

‘The movement runs much more smoothly. I have been practising playing Connect 4 with it.

‘There are custom grips I can choose so if I have a certain tennis racquet or cricket bat I could choose a grip for it to fit it perfectly and it will remember that.

‘I also use it in the gym, on the rowing machine and using weights and pulleys,’ he said.

The advanced prosthetic uses muscle signals to shift into a series of pre-set patterns.

It achieves this by using electrodes in the wrist to pick up electrical impulses created by contracting muscles, which are interpreted by a computer in the back of the hand.

Each of the fingers bends at the joints and can be adapted to fit around any shape of object the owner wants to hold.

These pictures show Patrick using his new bionic hand to grasp a range of items from a smartphone and a water glass to a rubber ball and a single coin.

The bionic hand can also be used for various tasks from typing to tying shoe laces.

It comes in black or neutral, can automatically return to a natural position after a period of inactivity and is powered by a battery.

The device is so technical that users have to undergo rigorous training in order to get the most out of it.

 Dailymail

A phone too far? The Samsung Galaxy Note smartphone was the first ‘phablet’ but now an even bigger version has been launched

It is the biggest smartphone on sale, with a giant 6.3inch screen.

Samsung’s new Mega Galaxy handset look more like a tablet than a phone – and has already been slammed as ‘just too big’.

Samsung hopes the big design will appeal to commuters and others who regularly watch films on their gadgets.

Tecno N7

TECNO GHANA, a leading dual SIM mobile phone brand, has launched its new 3.75G Android smartphone – TECNO N7– onto the Ghanaian market at a short but colourful ceremony in Accra.

Designed for users with high demand for smartphones, the TECNO N7 will be available at all TECNO outlets in Ghana, the company noted.

Building on the success of the popular TECNO N3, the TECNO N7, a dual SIM smartphone, features the combination of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with a 1GHz dual core CPU and runs on a 5-inch touch screen.

“With the TECNO N7, we want to offer young Ghanaians a more superior smartphone with high-end performance and a better user experience,” Mounir Boukali, PRO of TECNO Mobile, commented.

With a 1GHz dual core processor, the device offers users a fast data processing speed and the ability to use multiple applications at the same time, along with a smooth web browsing experience.

TECNO N7 users can download over 800,000 innovative and interesting apps.

The TECNO N7 presents users with an amazingly smooth operation experience while viewing messages, multimedia, web content or games, among others.

The device comes with a variety of applications that allow the consumer to connect to their social networks with ease.

And one such application worthy of note is Flash Share, a unique transfer software that allows one to share files of any format and size at an amazingly fast speed and does not require internet connectivity, WIFI or SIM card.

Other notable features of this Android-driven smartphone include a 5 mega pixel rear camera with flash, a 0.3 mega pixel front camera and a powerful 2,300mAh battery, which allows the users to enjoy five hours of talktime. Also, the device combines a 4GB ROM and 512GB RAM with expandable memory of up to 32GB.

TECNO also offers an 8GB memory card.

“We always endeavour to provide suitable products to the consumer based on market demand. There is no doubt that people’s demand from smartphones is met in the N7. We will have more smartphones coming onto the market soon, which will meet the needs of diverse groups of people,” Boukali confirmed.

By Samuel Boadi