Young Mom And Five-Month-Old Baby Killed At 7-Eleven As They Desperately Searched For Shelter In Horror Tornado
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
I’ll compensate bereaved families,TB Joshua pledges
TB Joshua
The General Overseer of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Prophet T. B. Joshua, has taken up the medical expenses and the welfare of victims of the stampede that occurred at the Accra branch of the church last Sunday.
He has also offered to compensate the bereaved families and ask for God’s blessings for them.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on behalf of the church Tuesday, the acting Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the church, Evangelist Samuel Excellence, said Prophet Joshua had also offered his condolences to the bereaved families and wished those who were injured speedy recovery.
According to Evangelist Exellence, “what happened outside the premises of the church” was an unfortunate incident and prayed to God that never again should such an incident happen.
He explained that the large crowd gathered outside of the church auditorium in great anticipation for the ‘anointing water’ which they had seen being introduced on Emmanuel TV the previous Sunday.
On Sunday, May 19, four people died in a stampede at the Ghana branch of SCOAN when thousands of people seeking divine intervention besieged the church premises to benefit from the distribution of anointing water.
The anointing water was said to be a gift from the head pastor of the church, Prophet T. B. Joshua, who had announced during a church service in Lagos on Sunday, May 12, 2013 that the repackaged anointed water would be sent to the other branches of the church across the globe.
Evangelist Excellence said although Prophet Joshua never mentioned specifically on Emmanuel TV or any other news media that people could receive the new anointing water at the Ghana branch of the SCOAN, it appeared many people anticipated that the only place to get the new anointing water was the Ghana branch, and it was upon this anticipation that people came from far and near, resulting in the stampede.
He said the lives that were lost resulted from the stampede outside the main church auditorium, and debunked the claims that people died as a result of their attempt to collect the anointing water from Prophet Joshua.
Evangelist Exellence said the leadership of the church had sought the assistance of the police who were in the environs of the church to maintain order but the people who were in their numbers defied all instructions from the police.
He said they broke down the crash barriers mounted outside the church, and rushed towards the main gate leading to the church building. “This was what brought about the stampede,” he explained.
Evangelist Excellence explained that the church auditorium could only accommodate 1,500 people at a service and not 15,000 as had been peddled, adding that the church’s security measures were always in line with the country’s rules and regulations.
He explained that one of the reasons for the creation of the church’s branch in Ghana by Prophet Joshua was to help the poor who had to sell their property to be able to travel to Lagos, where the headquarters of the SCOAN was located for deliverance and healing.
According to Evangelist Excellence, it was in consideration of that stress coupled with calls from many Ghanaians, both in the country and the diaspora, that culminated in the establishment of the branch in Ghana, after Prophet Joshua had said fervent prayers to God for direction.
He pointed out that since the establishment of the church in Ghana, there had not been any such incident, and that the church had never flouted the laws of the country.
Some of the responsibilities taken up by the church so far have been the award of scholarships to some brilliant needy students in the universities and other higher institutions of learning in Ghana.
Evangelist Excellence said as a law abiding entity, the SCOAN would seek the permission of the police and other relevant authorities before holding a revival programme in the country.
Daily Graphic
TV presenter sucks milk from topless mum’s breasts on shocking show
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
That’s Pin-Credible! Cancer-Survivor Can Turn Her Leg 180 Degrees
CANCER survivor Jen O’Shea has been left with a special talent after undergoing treatment to beat the disease – she can now twist her leg an incredible 180 degrees.
The brave youngster had the right side of her pelvis removed in 2011 after she was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare and deadly form of cancer.
Two years on Jen is now free from the disease and can walk again after months of painstaking physiotherapy.
And her missing joint has left her with a very special party trick.
Rather than hide away her quirky talent – Jen decided to share it with her friends, family and even schoolmates in a hilarious YouTube video.
Aimed at winning a talent contest held by talk show host Ellen Degeneres, Jen filmed herself showing off her trick to friends, family members and even schoolmates.
While her doctor barely flinches as she grabbed her leg and points it skywards – a room full of pals fall about in shock and disbelief at her physics-defying stunt.
Thesun
NDC Rejects Pink Sheets
Tsatsu Tsikata, counsel for NDC
The counting of Pink Sheets in the on-going election petition has taken a strange twist, as lawyers for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and President John Dramani Mahama are pushing for it to be stopped.
A member of the NDC legal team, Abraham Amaliba, claims the party thinks the process has been “compromised” saying the counting as ordered by the Supreme Court must be stopped.
The call comes closely on the heels of widely criticised misgivings expressed by the party’s General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, long before the inventory taking and counting process commenced.
Right after the court sitting on Monday, DAILY GUIDE sources said that counsel for the ruling NDC ,Tsatsu Tsikata, allegedly tried to ‘gate-crash’ the venue where KPMG was doing the counting, but was denied access, because he had not been accredited to be there.
Matters then came to a head when Mr. Tsikata allegedly demanded to monitor the exercise but he was reminded that the NDC already had representatives in the room as the court order had stated.
Not having his way, Mr. Tsikata reportedly requested a meeting with President of the panel trying the case, Justice William Atuguba, to impress on him to vary the court’s orders in respect of the counting in order to allow them intermittent access.
It is not clear whether the respondents’ counsels were able to meet Justice Atuguba. Nonetheless, DAILY GUIDE learnt that the issue is expected to come up strongly when the court sits today.
The NDC and President John Dramani Mahama’s lawyers were seen pacing up and down the vicinity of the venue, where the counting was taking place.
Interestingly, it was the NDC that requested for the count of the number of pink sheets attached as exhibits by the petitioners; therefore, their purported action would come as a surprise to critics.
According to Mr. Amaliba in an interview with Accra-based Asempa FM, the NDC suspects the pink sheet exhibits in the custody of the court Registrar has been tampered with, even though inventory for the exhibits were jointly taken by all representatives in the petition, including representatives from the Judicial Service.
This has led to the suspension of the counting at the instigation of the NDC.
The NDC claimed their representatives at the venue had indicated the appearance of new boxes of pink sheets.
Mr Amaliba told Citi Fm that after complaints by his team, “the Judicial Secretary then ordered for the suspension of the auditing pending tomorrow, [where] we will then make a formal complain to the bench and then they will give us the guidelines on how to go about it”.
He added: “At the last adjourned date that was on Thursday, we took an inventory of the number of boxes containing the pink sheets that are to be audited by KPMG. Now today it turned out that our observers came out from the counting room to inform us that there were additional boxes that have been introduced with the existing boxes”.
But Gloria Akuffo, a spokesperson for the petitioners in the landmark case has debunked the grounds of the NDC’s protest.
“This morning, when they [KPMG] were to start the actual work, representatives of all the parties including the court officials and KPMG officials went to where these boxes were being kept and they were taken to the conference room where the counting was to take place”, she said.
In an interview with Citi Fm, she stated that all along, all the parties had agreed on the process as it progressed, but on Monday morning when actual counting was to commence, the inventory showed that two boxes of the pink sheets were “missing”; “…together -with all representatives of the parties, they joined the officials [of the Judicial Service], they went to where the boxes were being kept where they retrieved one of the missing boxes…as work progressed, they were able to retrieve the other box.”
“Work continued smoothly without complaints from any party,” she said, adding that the representative of the petitioners in the “Strong Room” kept her informed.
The Gate-Crashing
According to Ms Akuffo, after counting progressed for a while, a representative of the respondents in the Strong Room left the room, and work had to stop until his return.
But he later called from outside to say that work could go on without him.
Apparently he was confident in the monitoring role of his colleagues in the room.
“In the course of the work, counsel for the respondents, including Mr.Tsikata, Mr. Lithur and Mr. Quashie-Idun stormed the room.”
They were consequently ordered by representatives of KPMG to leave the room because they were not accredited to be there.
DAILY GUIDE sources explained that they saw the lawyers for NDC, the Electoral Commission and President John Dramani Mahama pacing up and down the vicinity of the venue for counting.
Joseph Windful, a Senior Partner at KPMG confirmed the incident, saying that the internationally acclaimed auditing firm would steer clear of the raging confrontation and resume its work when the parties sort themselves out.
“We’ve got to have patience until our engagement partner meets with the other party and sort out whatever issue that is of contention, and after that, we carry on with the assignment,” he told Citi Fm.
“You know, our appointment is as referees; referees do not get involved in the game, we don’t play part of the game, we referee. That’s exactly the role we are supposed to play and that’s what we are doing.”
The Order
Following persistent argument over the actual number of exhibits said to have been tendered by the petitioners, the nine-member panel chaired by Justice William Atuguba sought the help of KPMG to account for the actual number of exhibits tendered.
The accounting firm has the duty of “specifying in respect of each pink sheet, polling station name and its code number and exhibit number if any,” the court stated.
“In doing so the said referee should make a true and faithful count of the said exhibits of pink sheets according to and under the various categories of alleged electoral malpractices in issue before this court.”
The court said the professional fees to be charged by KPMG should be shared equally between the parties and added that each party is at liberty to choose two representatives for the counting exercise as observers.
KPMG has since opted to do the counting free of charge.
By William Yaw Owusu
Addison To Re-Examine Bawumia Today
Philip Addison and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
Lead Counsel for the petitioners in the election petition case, Philip Addison will this morning re-examine their key witness, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
Spokesperson for the petitioner’s legal team, Madam Gloria Akuffo noted that they were relived Mr. Tsikata had ended his cross examination. ‘’We are happy to re-examine, as you might have realized, it’s been a long 13 day cross examination. So we will come back fresh to do the re-examination’’.
The petitioners who are challenging the 2012 election results declared by the Electoral Commission will officially close their case with Dr. Bawumia’s re-examination.
Lead Counsel for third respondent, Tsatsu Tsikata on Tuesday completed his cross- examination of Dr. Bawumia pending the outcome of pink sheets auditing by accounting and auditing firm, KPMG.
Citifmonline
I’ll compensate bereaved families,TB Joshua pledges
TB Joshua
The General Overseer of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Prophet T. B. Joshua, has taken up the medical expenses and the welfare of victims of the stampede that occurred at the Accra branch of the church last Sunday.
He has also offered to compensate the bereaved families and ask for God’s blessings for them.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on behalf of the church Tuesday, the acting Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the church, Evangelist Samuel Excellence, said Prophet Joshua had also offered his condolences to the bereaved families and wished those who were injured speedy recovery.
According to Evangelist Exellence, “what happened outside the premises of the church” was an unfortunate incident and prayed to God that never again should such an incident happen.
He explained that the large crowd gathered outside of the church auditorium in great anticipation for the ‘anointing water’ which they had seen being introduced on Emmanuel TV the previous Sunday.
On Sunday, May 19, four people died in a stampede at the Ghana branch of SCOAN when thousands of people seeking divine intervention besieged the church premises to benefit from the distribution of anointing water.
The anointing water was said to be a gift from the head pastor of the church, Prophet T. B. Joshua, who had announced during a church service in Lagos on Sunday, May 12, 2013 that the repackaged anointed water would be sent to the other branches of the church across the globe.
Evangelist Excellence said although Prophet Joshua never mentioned specifically on Emmanuel TV or any other news media that people could receive the new anointing water at the Ghana branch of the SCOAN, it appeared many people anticipated that the only place to get the new anointing water was the Ghana branch, and it was upon this anticipation that people came from far and near, resulting in the stampede.
He said the lives that were lost resulted from the stampede outside the main church auditorium, and debunked the claims that people died as a result of their attempt to collect the anointing water from Prophet Joshua.
Evangelist Exellence said the leadership of the church had sought the assistance of the police who were in the environs of the church to maintain order but the people who were in their numbers defied all instructions from the police.
He said they broke down the crash barriers mounted outside the church, and rushed towards the main gate leading to the church building. “This was what brought about the stampede,” he explained.
Evangelist Excellence explained that the church auditorium could only accommodate 1,500 people at a service and not 15,000 as had been peddled, adding that the church’s security measures were always in line with the country’s rules and regulations.
He explained that one of the reasons for the creation of the church’s branch in Ghana by Prophet Joshua was to help the poor who had to sell their property to be able to travel to Lagos, where the headquarters of the SCOAN was located for deliverance and healing.
According to Evangelist Excellence, it was in consideration of that stress coupled with calls from many Ghanaians, both in the country and the diaspora, that culminated in the establishment of the branch in Ghana, after Prophet Joshua had said fervent prayers to God for direction.
He pointed out that since the establishment of the church in Ghana, there had not been any such incident, and that the church had never flouted the laws of the country.
Some of the responsibilities taken up by the church so far have been the award of scholarships to some brilliant needy students in the universities and other higher institutions of learning in Ghana.
Evangelist Excellence said as a law abiding entity, the SCOAN would seek the permission of the police and other relevant authorities before holding a revival programme in the country.
Daily Graphic
Minister Angry Over Lateness
Abu Kabienbata Kansangabata
The Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, Abu Kabienbata Kansangabata has bemoaned the gross absenteeism, lateness and lukewarm attitude of some civil servants in various decentralized departments in the region.
He noted that the habit of the government officials was negatively affecting government business in the region and vowed to address it.
Mr. Kansangabata accordingly issued a warning to heads of departments to adhere to the rules and regulations governing their respective outfits and deal ruthlessly with deviant staff who flout these regulations with impunity.
According to him, several reports suggested that staff of some decentralized agencies vacate posts at will without regard to the challenges that people would face in their absence.
This came to light after he paid a working visit to some departments.
During the trip, he realized that staff had vacated their seats without official notification to their superiors.
The minister, who has since begun unannounced visits to various departments including District Assemblies, further warned that he would not deal leniently with recalcitrant staff, whose conduct affect activities of government.
Mr. Abu Kabienbata Kansangabata said government was doing every thing possible to improve the lives of civil and public servants in the country.
The Deputy Upper West Regional Minister said he and the substantive minister had fashioned out modalities to address the canker.
“If you pretend to be working, how do you expect government to meet your demand?” he asked.
The Better Ghana Agenda, he added, could only be attained if various stakeholders under the departments give off their best.
According to him, persons, who reportedly gained notoriety in these acts, were nothing short of saboteurs and must immediately stop the practice or incur the wrath of his outfit.
He said there would not be different set of rules for departments in other regions and the Upper West Region and appealed to all employees to abide by the enshrined rules.
From Stephen Zoure, Tamale
Man Impregnates Mad Woman
Yaa Frafra
A KNOWN MAD woman in Kumasi has been impregnated by an unknown man, and the incident is raising eyebrows in the city.
Yaa Frafra said she was raped by one Kwadwo in the bush at night when nobody was around, resulting in her pregnancy.
She said Kwadwo used to give her money for her upkeep but he (Kwadwo) had suddenly disappeared since she became pregnant four months ago.
This came to light when Veronica Kukuwaa Gyandoh of Kessben FM interviewed Yaa Frafra on her network.
Yaa Frafra is a known mentally-retarded person who is usually seen sweeping a spot opposite the Catering Rest House area to the electricity workshop in Kumasi.
There have been reports of some people, especially men, bonking mad women in the city at night for voodoo purposes.
Reports making rounds indicate that men that bonk mad women at night usually do so to enhance their monetary status.
Though Yaa Frafra’s case has not been identified as one such incidents, people in the city have started linking his pregnancy to ‘Juju.’
Yaa Frafra during her interaction with Kukuwaa claimed that she was not a mad person but her utterances gave an indication she was not mentally sound.
For instance, she said she was 10-years of age, adding that it was normal for a man to rape a lady these days.
Yaa Frafra said she hailed from Bolgatanga and that she was a mother of three, who were now in foster homes.
Asked why she usually stayed in the bush by the roadside, she said, “I stay here because I don’t have anywhere to stay in the city.”
Yaa Frafra said though she is usually seen sitting by the roadside, in the night she sleeps at a different location in the city called Pampaso.
She claimed that she baths every day, adding that she periodically visited the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) for her ante-natals.
Yaa Frafra said she would be glad if Kwadwo who raped her could be arrested for impregnating her and vanishing into thin air.
The pregnancy seemed to be having a toll on the mad woman on the day that Kukuwaa engaged her in a chat as she could not sweep the area as she normally does.
Yaa Frafra said she could not sweep the area to beautify the place on the day because she was feeling fatigue perhaps due to her pregnancy.
She said she would wish to go back to Bolgatanga where she hailed from but doesn’t have the means to do so.
Yaa Frafra told Kukuwaa that she would be extremely happy if somebody could give her GH ¢200 for her upkeep.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi.
Car Snatcher Nabbed With Stolen Land Rover
Suspect Michael Kwabena Rockson in police custody
A 27-year-old suspected driver, Micheal Kwabena Rockson, has been arrested by the Accra Regional Police Command for stealing a Land Rover Freelander.
The suspect allegedly stole the vehicle with registration number GB6708-12 which was parked in front of a house at Paraku Estates on the Spintex Road on May 17, 2013.
Police arrested the suspect after he attempted to sell the vehicle at Abokobi.
Confirming the story to DAILY GUIDE, Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Christian Tetteh Yohuno, said the Land Rover Freelander was reported missing around 10:40am that fateful day.
Upon receiving information, police strategized and mounted a search for the stolen vehicle.
At about 12:30pm that same day, through police intelligence, the command gathered that the suspect who stole the vehicle was spotted on the Oyarifa road.
Police dispatched a team of detectives to the aforementioned place and mounted a search for the stolen vehicle as well as occupants on board.
Suspect Michael was however spotted with the stolen vehicle, offering it for sale.
The team mapped up a strategy and got the suspect arrested together with the stolen vehicle at Abokobi.
Upon interrogation, Michael admitted the offence and would be sent to court soon.
In another development, on May 16, 2013 at about 3:20am, the police received information that a Black Nissan Frontier Pick-Up with trial plate number DV 3999-13 was found parked in a bush at Amanfrom near Amasaman.
Suspecting that the car might have been snatched from the owner, police visited the scene and towed the vehicle to Amasaman Police Station.
On May 18, 2013, one Ishahaku Mohommed came to the station and identified the vehicle as his.
According to him, the vehicle was snatched from him at gunpoint on May 14, 2013 around 8:30pm at Afienya.
The victim said he parked the car and entered a shop to buy some items when two young men, armed with pistols, took the vehicle from him after he returned from the shop to move the vehicle.
By Linda Tenyah
Soldiers Nabbed For Robbery
L/Cpl Obeng `Darko Stylish , Lance Corporal Dasmani Faisal, Isaac Larbi and Christopher Quainoo in police custody.
The Tesano Divisional Police Command has arrested two soldiers and their civilian accomplices believed to be members of a robbery syndicate terrorising customers who visit banks within Abeka Lapaz.
The suspects are Lance Corporal Obeng Darko aka Stylish, 29, and Lance Corporal Dasmani Faisal, 27, serving at 49 Engineer Training School and 48 Engineer Regiment respectively while Christopher Quainoo, 27, and Isaac Larbi, 25, are unemployed civilians.
They are currently in the custody of the Tesano Police assisting in investigations.
Briefing the media, Chief Superintendent Francis Aboagye Nyarko, the Divisional Commander together with Chief Superintendent, Lydia Yaako Donkor, the District Commander, said of late police had been receiving series of complaints from the banks located at Abeka Lapaz that customers who used their facility were always attacked and their monies taken from them.
This made police intensify their intelligence on persons who moved in and out of the bank.
On May 18, 2013, police spotted suspect Isaac Larbi, who had earlier visited the bank and made phone calls while observing the movements of customers having huge sums of money on them.
Police became suspicious, and arrested the suspect for questioning.
Using him as bait, the last number dialled on his mobile phone was called and when the person picked the call, he was asked to come over since everything was ready.
Within some minutes, suspects Lance Corporals Obeng and Dasmani came in a taxi together with Christopher.
They were immediately whisked away to the station for questioning by the police.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the two soldiers and the civilian came to the bank to do their nefarious activities.
They later confessed robbing people that they suspected possessing huge sums of money, leaving the bank. They, however, pleaded for mercy since that was their fourth time.
According to the suspects, they only had GH¢350 from their first victim and out of the money, Isaac was given GH¢50 as his share of the booty.
With the second and third robberies, suspect Isaac had GH¢50 and GH¢70 as his share but refused to mention the amount they took from the second and third victims.
The two soldiers were later linked to the abduction of a 25-year-old staff of the same bank, who was taken away by soldiers and a civilian on May 11, 2013.
According to the police, the soldiers on their way, searched the victim for money and since they found none, they pushed the victim out of the car upon reaching Apenkwa, near Achimota, and bolted.
A report was later lodged with the station for investigations.
The four suspects would be sent to court while police continued with their investigations.
Meanwhile, Chief Superintendent Nyarko has urged individuals who might have fallen victims at the hands of the suspects to report at the Tesano Police Station.
By Linda Tenyah
Natural Resource Management Disgraceful – ACEP
Mohammed Amin Adam
Ghana is still faced with the risks of mismanaging and corrupting its natural resource wealth, particularly minerals, oil and gas, the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has noted.
In a statement issued recently to commend government for its ranking on the Revenue Watch Institute’s 2013 Resource Governance Index published lately, the centre stated that there were no mandatory disclosure requirements of Petroleum and Mining Contracts, while some of the Petroleum Contracts published so far were at the discretion of the Minister of Energy following pressure mounted by civil society.
“Petroleum and Mining concessions are still granted through sole sourcing and closed door negotiations rather than an open and competitive process. Mineral revenues ceded to Local Authorities and traditional rulers are not managed transparently, and the promised Mineral Development Fund.”
Among other things, it added that the law remains a dream in the country, and Ghana has also not passed the Right to Information Law.
“We are also alarmed at the performance of African countries generally on the Index in spite of a decade of global campaigns for good resource governance in the continent’s resource rich countries, where poverty levels have risen over the years.
Ghana placed 15th on the Composite Index scoring an average of 63 marks. This demonstrates that significant efforts have been made by Ghanaians over the years to improve on the governance of natural resources.
However, analysis of the Resource Governance Index revealed startling observations about resource rich African countries.
“Of the total 58 countries and states featured; and 21 African countries, only six African countries were in the first half, but the rest of them fell in the last half.
“Of the 21 African countries, only five were graded partial performance, but the rest performed poorly – eight graded weak and eight graded failing. None of the countries was graded satisfactory.”
It said that of the 15 major failing countries on the composite index, nine were the most resource-rich countries in the world of which five countries, more than half, were from Africa.
“In the governance of Natural Resource Funds, there were six African countries featured in this category out of 23, but all except Botswana fell in the bottom 10 countries.
“These observations do not present an encouraging picture about Africa. We therefore call on African Governments to double their efforts at improving good governance in the management of the continent’s vast natural resources. African Governments must quicken the pace of governance reforms covering in particular transparency in the award of resource concessions, resource revenue management and expenditure from resource revenues.”
ACEP said African Governments should also build strong state institutions and provide them with the resources to effectively execute their mandate and eliminate political interference in the affairs of these institutions.
Also commending the Revenue Watch Institute for instituting the Resource Governance Index, ACEP noted: “We however observed that the index emphasizes the “input side” of resource management and ignores the “output side.”
It furthermore emphasised that the challenge in resource-rich countries in Africa nevertheless rested on how to translate resource wealth into tangible development outcomes.
“They are faced with challenges of wasteful investment of resource revenues, poor quality of spending, and corrupt procurement practices for public investment projects. Generally, the public financial management side of natural resource management is too weak.”
By Samuel Boadi
Toyota Ghana Supports Kaneshie Polyclinic
Takahiko Takabayashi (left) presenting the items to Mawutowu Kwesi Brese (right) with health officials.
TOYOTA Ghana Company Limited has donated assorted items worth GH¢6,000 to the Kaneshie Polyclinic in Accra to refurbish the Tuberculosis and Human Immune Deficiency Virus Unit (TB/HIV).
The items included 20 bags of cements, 20 packs of floor tiles, 10 gallons of oil and emulsion paint, a 32 Sharp LC television, LG video deck, four three-in-one lounge chairs, an air conditioner and a file cabinet.
Takahiko Takabayashi, Managing Director of Toyota Ghana, said the donation is part of the company’s corporate social responsibility to support the health sector in the country.
He added that the company chose the TB/HIV unit because patients in the unit require special care in a congenial environment to avoid the usual stigmatization from the public.
He urged the clinic to use items to improve the health status of Ghanaians and patients with HIV and TB.
“We, at Toyota Ghana, believe that an adequate health facility contributes to an efficient health service delivery. It is as a result that that we have chosen to donate these items to Kaneshie for the refurbishment of the TB/HIV unit” Mr. Takabayashi said.
Mawutowu Kwesi Brese, Director of Kaneshie Polyclinic, received the items on behalf of the clinic and expressed gratitude to the company for the kind gesture.
He added that the items will be used specifically to improve the lives of patients suffering TB and HIV.
He encouraged other companies to support the health sector.
By Lady Agyapong
Gov’t Squeezes CSIR
Dr Abdullai B. Salifi, Director General of CSIR
The Center for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has up to three months to develop a strategy to wean itself from government subvention.
This was contained in a government directive to the institute.
The CSIR receives annual subvention from government to support its operations but managers of the economy this year asked the institute to come up with a strategy to completely wean itself from government subvention within the next three years.
Dr Abdullai B. Salifu, Director General of the CSIR, who disclosed this in an interview with CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE on the sidelines of the launch of the 6th African Agriculture Science Week in Accra, described the directive as completely “suicidal.”
“A research institution cannot be weaned off the public purse. Even in advanced countries they have research funded from public purse. With greatest respect this is suicidal.”
He explained that in 1992, the CSIR Act was revised to cover the issue of commercialization of the operations of the institute.
“We therefore established commercial departments for this purpose but we did not have the requisite experts. We had scientists instead of qualified marketers in the department,” he said.
Although Dr Salifu was of the view that the new directive from government would not be “possible,” he noted that the institute intends to “reply the letter all the same.”
On the other hand, the CSIR Director General stated that positioning the institute to generate resources was not a bad idea but called for the appropriate support from government.
He was of the opinion that establishing a dedicated fund purposely for research would have been the best way forward.
Dr Salifu said a Science and Technology Improvement Fund with a capital of GH¢2 million has been set up while there is an existing Science and Technology Research endowment fund set up by the Kufour government which voted an amount of GH¢ 1.5 million into it.
“We need the appropriate funding mechanism to finance research and agriculture in Ghana. I think that is the best way forward.”
By Emelia Ennin Abbey
Stanbic Wipes Off Traders’ Loans
Alhassan Andani, Managing Director of Stanbic Bank
The loan arrears of some 14 traders, whose wares were gutted by fire early this month at the Kantamanto Market in Accra, have been wiped off by Stanbic Bank Ghana.
The total loan amount supposed to have been paid by the traders amounted to about GH¢100,000.
Alhassan Andani, Managing Director of Stanbic Bank Ghana told journalists in Accra that the traders were left off the hook because Stanbic embedded insurance in the loans that were contracted by the traders.
Noting that the traders were qualified to contract new loans, he called on other traders to take advantage of products by Stanbic Bank Ghana to safeguard the future of their businesses.
“Most of them did not know that they were covered. So we called them and told them all of their indebtedness to the bank was gone. We have wiped off their indebtedness. Also, we just signed letters and distributed to them.”
He further explained that “insurance does not cost that much. Insurance is something which traders in Ghana must take advantage of to safeguard their businesses especially in the event of disasters.”
Trade Minister Haruna Iddrisu, in an address, added his voice to calls on small-scale traders to insure their businesses against unforeseen disasters.
According to him, the time has come for traders to patronize insurance products since it will inure to their benefits.
In another development, Star Microinsurance Company, through its underwriting partners, Star Assurance and Starlife, presented a cheque for GH¢115,000 as claims to the first batch of victims of the recent fire outbreak at the Kantamanto and Agbogbloshie markets.
The claims were paid to the victims through Advans Ghana Savings & Loans and MicroEnsure Ghana, partners of Star Microinsurance Company Limited.
Apart from the payment of the outstanding loans, all individuals who were affected by the fire, were given a benefit token of GH¢200.
Head of Operations at Star Microinsurance company, Solomon Larbey said the claims were made possible because of the credit life protection policy which protected the beneficiaries in the event of death, fire outbreak, allied perils and hospitalization.
Over 250 people affected by the fire that gutted property worth millions at Kantamanto and Agbogbloshie are covered under insurance from the aforementioned companies administered by Advans Ghana.
They are all to receive a total of about GH¢300,000 and within the next couple of weeks, they would be paid their entitlements.
A business desk report
Nobles Forum Honours Berock Ventures
Rockson Dogbegah with his award
Rockson Dogbegah, Founder and Chairman of Berock Ventures Limited, an indigenous building and civil engineering company, has picked up a second award, the International Nobles Award, in just two weeks.
The latest award by the West Africa Nobles Forum is in recognition of his achievement as an entrepreneur, as well as his contribution to economic growth and integrity, as well as his courage to speak to issues of public interest dispassionately when others have shied away.
A fortnight ago, Mr Dogbegah was adjudged the Best Entrepreneur in the Building and Civil Engineering category at the 3rd UT Ghana Entrepreneurs Award 2012.
He was among successful business men and women as well as chief executives from both private and public organisations from West Africa that were awarded and inducted into the West Africa Nobles Forum over the weekend at Sogakope in the Volta Region.
The Nobles Forum is in its 17th year and has 2000 members from across the sub-region.
The West Africa Nobles Forum is a sub-regional think-tank established in line with the Philosophical Society of America and it is made up of statesmen, legal luminaries, politicians, research fellows, technocrats, medical giants and captains of industry.
Commenting on the awards, Mr. Dogbegah, who has become a strong advocate for the construction industry, was grateful for the recognition.
He said it was important for well-meaning members of the society to actively contribute to address the challenges of the country and the sub-regional at large.
Touching on the construction industry, Mr. Dogbegah explained that it was crucial for contractors and built environment professionals to actively contribute to the development of the entire construction industry rather than limiting their concerns to their individual businesses only.
Citing the challenge of improper planning of cities and disregard for building rules and regulations, he said players in the industry must speak publicly on these issues and also support government in enforcing the regulations.
According to him, the built environment professionals in particular were too quiet over the sector’s issues, adding that that did not augur well for the sector and the country as a whole.
“We, the players in the construction industry, must be seen and heard rejecting the wrongs going on. We should not keep quiet for disasters to happen before pointing out the causes of the disaster.”
A business desk report
Yaw Boateng Gyan’s Secret Tape
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Okudjeto Ablakwa’s Death Speech At HO
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Christiana Love Husband Spill Beans
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The Controversial Baba Jamal’s Tape
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Nana Akufo-Addo -All Die Be Die
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- Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.
Addison To Re-Examine Bawumia Today
Philip Addison and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
Lead Counsel for the petitioners in the election petition case, Philip Addison will this morning re-examine their key witness, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
Spokesperson for the petitioner’s legal team, Madam Gloria Akuffo noted that they were relived Mr. Tsikata had ended his cross examination. ‘’We are happy to re-examine, as you might have realized, it’s been a long 13 day cross examination. So we will come back fresh to do the re-examination’’.
The petitioners who are challenging the 2012 election results declared by the Electoral Commission will officially close their case with Dr. Bawumia’s re-examination.
Lead Counsel for third respondent, Tsatsu Tsikata on Tuesday completed his cross- examination of Dr. Bawumia pending the outcome of pink sheets auditing by accounting and auditing firm, KPMG.
Citifmonline
‘NDC Prepares For Run-Off’
Miachael Ampong (second left) with other executives at the dais
The Greater Accra Regional Communication Director of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Michael Ampong has alleged that the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has started preparing feverishly for a run-off.
“The NDC, knowing very well that it will lose the petition going on at the Supreme Court, has started underground campaign for a run-off so we in the NPP should be well awake to ensure that we match them boot for boot even though it was clear that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo won the 2012 general elections,” he added.
Mr Ampong stated this at the handing over ceremony of the University of Education Winneba branch of the Tertiary Education Conference of the NPP (TESCON) at Winneba over the weekend.
He urged the students to work assiduously to increase membership, indicating that TESCON has been the pillar of the NPP and ought to attract more people for party.
The Communication Director noted that Ghanaians have seen the vast difference between the NPP and the NDC in terms of good governance and would not hesitate to vote massively for them if the Supreme Court calls for a run-off.
“The NDC is only good at propaganda, corruption, mismanagement and looting of state coffers but not good governance ”
The newly-elected TESCON President, Alex Opoku Afriyie, promised to work extra hard to sustain the image of the party at Winneba and its environs.
From Sarah Afful, Winneba
PV Obeng Hails da Rocha
P.V Obeng
Paul Victor Obeng has called on the business community and civil society to do more to establish their proper roles in national discourse and progress and ensure that they offer credible middle paths for compromise since any conflict or unnecessary tension in the nation would especially affect the business community.
PV Obeng made the comments at the first Annual BJ da Rocha Memorial Lectures instituted and organized by the Mountcrest University College on Thursday where he showered encomiums on the departed politician.
The event, which was instituted to celebrate the life of the late BJ da Rocha and commemorate the 84th birthday of the erudite politician and statesman, was chaired by Yaw Osafo Maafo, former Minister of Finance and Economic Planning.
Mr. Obeng described the late da Rocha as a man of strong conviction who was however willing to shift position in the interest of national development and progress.
He recalled his meetings with the late statesman in the aftermath of the 1992 presidential elections, and at a time when the NPP, which Mr. da Rocha chaired had decided to boycott the parliamentary polls.
Mr. Obeng noted that the meetings he had with Mr. da Rocha were for a compromise to be found so the NPP could participate fully in the political process and to ensure that Ghana’s democracy which was then new born started on a good note to foster many more years of constitutionalism.
The senior presidential advisor said that it was as a result of such meetings that the NPP, which though boycotted the parliamentary elections, participated fully in the national discourse which eventually ensured that Ghana’s democracy was strengthened.
PV Obeng, who has held several high ranking positions in public service under almost all the administrations since the early 80s, described Mr. da Rocha as a statesman par excellence who should be celebrated and praised the University for rightfully instituting the lectures in memory of such a distinguished man.
According to him, it was the hard work of people like da Rocha that Ghana’s electoral system was reformed to incorporate the use of transparent ballot boxes after the 1992 elections.
He described the late NPP strongman as a pioneer of integrity and compromise who never declined to offer his efforts to national development and progress even in his old age, citing the immense contribution of the late da Rocha to the now famous IEA forum as an example of how even at an advanced age, he gave his all to the nation.
Mr. Obeng stated that da Rocha was one of the men he respected and continued to admire most for his sense of patriotism, his integrity and his willingness to set aside partisan positions in the interest of the nation.
He stated that Ghana was at a critical stage in its development which needed more of the likes of da Rocha to ensure that bridges are built between the various factions in Ghanaian politics.
On his part, Yaw Osafo Maafo said suspicion had now taken a better part of Ghana’s discourse and noted that it was a major problem inhibiting the need to compromise and work in the national interest.
He noted for example, the tendency for people in the opposition to be described as moles anytime such persons try to build bridges with the ruling government and also the tendency for governments to be accused of trying to cover their bad deeds when they try to reach out to members of the opposition.
He told the audience that Havard University invited him and four other former finance ministers from Africa to lecture over 20 current finance ministers in the past few weeks but described as regrettable the fact that in the last five years he had never spoken to any of Ghana’s finance ministers.
EU Commends Akufo Addo
Nana Akuffo Addo
The European Union (EU) has commended 2012 New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo and the two other petitioners in the ongoing presidential election petition for rightly choosing to seek redress at the Supreme Court of Ghana concerning the conduct and outcome of the December presidential elections.
This commendation was contained in a letter signed by Pedro Serrano, a member of Cabinet of the European Council and the Principal Advisor on External Relations to the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy.
The letter from the Union was in response to a petition submitted to the President of the European Council by the Association of Concerned Ghanaians in Europe.
“The EU has consistently called upon parties with grievances in to the electoral process to seek redress through the appropriate legal channels. Accordingly, the EU considers that the Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Akufo-Addo, his running mate and the chairman of the NPP were right to seek their grievances addressed through the petition submitted to the Supreme Court. It is now for the Supreme Court to make a ruling on the alleged irregularities based on the evidence submitted,” the letter dated 13th May 2013 said.
The EU indicated in the letter that they were closely following the petition hearings through its delegation in Accra and noted the publicly declared commitments of both Nana Akufo-Addo and John Mahama to respect the verdict of the Supreme Court on the matter.
The Union pledged to continuously follow the process in court and support the rule of law in the country and to do its part to ensure that all parties respect the eventual verdict of the Supreme Court.
The presidential candidate of the NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo, his vice presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and NPP Chairman, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey on 28th December, 2012 filed a petition at the Supreme Court to challenge the declaration of John Dramani Mahama as winner of the presidential election as a result of numerous constitutional, statutory violations, irregularities and malpractices which affected the conduct and outcome of the polls.
The petition is requesting the Supreme Court to annul results from over 11,000 polling stations where various irregularities have been identified to have occurred following an analysis of the Statement of Poll and Declaration of Results forms (Pink Sheets), the primary and official record of the elections in those polling stations.
Should the Supreme Court uphold the case of the petitioners, Nana Akufo-Addo would have to be declared as the rightful winner of the December elections.
Indeed if any one of the four main categories of irregularities (over voting, voting without biometric verification, absence of presiding officer signature and the use of same serial numbers on polling station pink sheets) as outlined by the petitioners is upheld by the Court, it would mean that the declaration of the EC made in December would be set aside.
I Am Not Afraid – Gloria Akuffo States
Gloria Akuffo
Gloria Akuffo, a member of the legal team of the petitioners contesting the 2012 presidential result at the Supreme Court, says she is not afraid of anything.
In the wake of the theft of items in her office by unknown robbers on Wednesday dawn, she stated that she would not call for police protection, insisting that “man is supposed to die once.”
Gloria Akuffo said she was informed about the theft of the items after court proceedings on Wednesday.
She said hard drive, PC memory and server, among other gadgets were stolen by the robbers, who are currently at large.
Speaking to Akuoko of Kessben FM, Gloria Akuffo said the incident would not affect the case of the petitioners at the Supreme Court.
She could not fathom why robbers had targeted her lately.
She said lawyers for the petitioners don’t store their documents at her office, noting that “what was stolen will not affect the petitioners in court.”
If those behind the robbery think that making me a target of robbery would put fear in me then they have failed, Gloria Akuffo said.
She said, “I am not afraid of anything and I will not apply for police protection,” adding that “man was born to die once.”
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi
Juventus Coach Jailed
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.
Mourinho Tells Chelsea To Keep Essien
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.
NIIT Pledges Support For Sports
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
Nyantakyi Heads CAF Fair Play C’ttee
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
Kumasi Fans To Boycott Ghana’s World Cup Qualifier Against Zambia
Some Kumasi fans plan to boycott Ghana’s potential World Cup decider against Zambia in protest against a Ghana FA ban on Kumasi Asante Kotoko following recent violence at their home match.
The Porcupine Warriors have been in the news for all the wrong reasons after the Baba Yara stadium was temporarily shut down by the Ghanaian FA due to crowd violence.
Irate fans of the club attacked match officials and Medeama players during their bad-tempered clash in Kumasi two weeks ago.
Unhappy with the decision of the Executive Committee of the Ghana FA, the club have confirmed plans to boycott all competitions in the country with the exception of the Ghana Premier League.
They have withdrawn from this year’s President Cup which falls on July 1 in a move to drum home their unhappiness with the home ban.
Fans of Kumasi, whom many are Kotoko supporters, are determined to go a notch higher by boycotting the Black Stars World Cup qualifier against Zambia in September.
The Ghanaian national team have enjoyed tremendous support over the years with fans of Kumasi playing leading role in the team’s success in the qualifying campaign so far.
Kumasi fans have carved a niche for themselves for usually comporting themselves even in the face of defeat for their teams.
But recent crowd troubles has dented a rather fine image in the country.
Source: ghanasoccernet.com
Young Mom And Five-Month-Old Baby Killed At 7-Eleven As They Desperately Searched For Shelter In Horror Tornado
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
TV presenter sucks milk from topless mum’s breasts on shocking show
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
That’s Pin-Credible! Cancer-Survivor Can Turn Her Leg 180 Degrees
CANCER survivor Jen O’Shea has been left with a special talent after undergoing treatment to beat the disease – she can now twist her leg an incredible 180 degrees.
The brave youngster had the right side of her pelvis removed in 2011 after she was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare and deadly form of cancer.
Two years on Jen is now free from the disease and can walk again after months of painstaking physiotherapy.
And her missing joint has left her with a very special party trick.
Rather than hide away her quirky talent – Jen decided to share it with her friends, family and even schoolmates in a hilarious YouTube video.
Aimed at winning a talent contest held by talk show host Ellen Degeneres, Jen filmed herself showing off her trick to friends, family members and even schoolmates.
While her doctor barely flinches as she grabbed her leg and points it skywards – a room full of pals fall about in shock and disbelief at her physics-defying stunt.
Thesun
Seven Children Found Drowned In School Amid Fears 24 More Classmates Have Perished After Tornado Pulverizes Oklahoma City Suburb Killing At Least 91
Teachers carry children away from Briarwood Elementary school after a tornado destroyed the school in south Oklahoma City
A desperate search is underway after a monstrous tornado wiped out a school in Oklahoma City, leaving seven students dead in a pool of water and two dozen missing.
Plaza Towers Elementary school was in the direct path of the giant twister which roared through the suburbs obliterating entire neighborhoods and pulverizing a 30-square-mile stretch with winds up to 200 mph.
At least 91 people have been killed and today under flood lights, emergency crews dug through debris and used jackhammers to tear away concrete, hoping to recover the bodies of up to 24 students they believe are buried under the rubble.
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin expressed her grief on behalf of her state for the parents of the missing children, aged between five and eight, as the death toll across the heavily-populated Oklahoma City suburb of Moore escalated to 91 people, with some 233 injured.
‘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.’
She added that rescuers were ‘looking under every single piece of debris’ for the missing.
This aerial photo shows the remains of homes hit by the pulverizing tornado in Moore on Monday
On Monday evening, the bodies of seven children who drowned in a pool of water were found under the flattened Plaza Towers Elementary School building after the two mile-wide tornado barreled through the Moore area at around 3pm on Monday leaving devastation in its wake.
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.
Block after block lay in ruins. Homes were crushed into piles of broken wood. Cars and trucks were left crumpled on the roadside.
Frantic parents rushed to Plaza Towers Elementary moments after it was pummeled by the storm that has been given a preliminary rating of at least EF-4 on the enhanced Fujita scale but they were kept back so search teams could hear any survivors calling for help through the rubble.
The families were later taken to a nearby church where they continued the harrowing wait for news of their children. Some, praying their little ones had made it out alive, posted photographs of their children on Facebook and Twitter, desperately hoping they’d be reunited.
According to reports, a number of the 24 missing students were located in churches and triage centers lat on Monday, though it’s unclear how many.
At least 91 people in the area of Moore, Oklahoma, have now been confirmed dead, with more than 20 of those children. The 20 youngsters include the seven Plaza Towers students as well as a three-month-old baby and a four-year-old child. Another three adults were killed at a 7-Eleven.
Also among those killed, is a family of four with a baby near 4th St. and Telephone Rd. in Moore. Officials said the family tried to take shelter in a freezer.
According to KFOR, more than 233 injured residents had flooded into emergency rooms, including more than 70 children – though these numbers continue to rise.
After the monster tornado struck, around 80 National Guard members were deployed and first responders with dogs were drafted in to help search the debris at Plaza Towers elementary, hoping for a miracle.
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.
Devastating aerial images taken immediately after the tornado show Plaza Towers – as well as hundreds of homes and businesses – completely leveled with cars thrown into the school grounds by powerful storm. 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.
One sixth grade boy named Brady told ABC affiliate KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City that he and other students took cover in the boys’ bathroom.
‘Cinderblocks and everything collapsed on them but they were underneath so that kind of saved them a little bit, but I mean they were trapped in there,’ he said.
Frightened third graders were being pulled from the wreckage alive this 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. One teacher said she had laid on six children to protect them. It is believed another teacher put her life at risk to cover three students and suffered serious injuries. It is unclear whether she survived.
President Barack Obama declared that a disaster existed in the State of Oklahoma and called Governor Fallin to offer any kind of assistance the devastated areas required. The President’s action makes federal funding available to affected individuals in the counties of Cleveland, Lincoln, McClain, Oklahoma, and Pottawatomie.
Fallin earlier told Oklahomans to ‘stay away and let the our search and rescue teams and families get in there,’ referring to the pulverized school
Many land lines to stricken areas were down and cellphone traffic was congested. Poor cell phone reception was making it difficult for frantic families to connect with each other but a website Safeandwell.com has been set up to assist people who fear for their loved ones.
Dailymail
Ex-Soldier Told To Paint Over ‘Offensive’ St George’s Flag On Front Door
Steven Rolfe
A PATRIOTIC ex-soldier who painted a St George’s flag on his front door has been ordered to cover it up by his housing association landlords who claim it could be considered “offensive” and may bring “distress” to neighbours.
Steven Rolfe, 52, painted the red and white colours of the English flag on his rented home in Preston, Lancs, 10 years ago and added hanging baskets to celebrate his love of England and mark his former career in the forces.
But despite being runner up in a council “best kept house” competition, he has now received a letter from an official at property management firm Places for People saying neighbours could be “alarmed” by the symbol.
The letter also warned the design could place him in a category of “nuisance neighbours” and said it could see him being evicted if he failed to cover it up.
In a letter to Mr Rolfe, Neighbourhood Officer Leanne Hardy gave him 14 days to repaint the door saying: “It has been brought to my attention that you have painted your front door in a way that could be considered offensive.”
When he asked for permission to keep the flag, Ms Hardy sent another letter refusing his request and giving him seven days to paint over it in one colour.
She also warned him that failure could see him being in breach of his tenancy agreement.
In her letter Ms Hardy said the flag design fell foul of rules tackling unruly tenants who caused “a nuisance, annoyance, disturbance or harassment” of others.
Ms Hardy also said his conduct breached tenancy conditions concerning those tenants who were “injurious to the interests of neighbours” and those who “cause distress, alarm or interfere with the peace and comfort of any other person.”
Mr Rolfe, who served in Northern Ireland, said: “I couldn’t believe it when I got the letter.
“We seem to be losing our values in this country and also losing our sense of identity, all in the name of political correctness.”
The father-of-one said he had never had any problems before and none of his neighbours have ever complained.
He added: “I am far from being racist, I’m just proud of England that’s all.
“My neighbours say they would like to see more of the St George’s flag about.”
Mr Rolfe has been supported by Muslim community leader Ali Anwar who said: “As far as I’m concerned, a man’s home is his castle, and he should be allowed to express himself as he wishes. This is political correctness gone mad.”
Former Labour MP David Borrow, who is now a local councillor, said: “The door has been like that a long time and having spoken to the gentleman, I have no reason to believe that he is anything other than a decent member of the community.
“I do not believe that he has intended the door to symbolise anything offensive, and I have heard no specific complaints.”
John Clemence, vice president of the Royal Society of St George, said: “To say that the cross of St George can cause offence needs to be challenged.
“We are seeing more and more of this kind of complaint, and these jobsworths are causing resentment and inciting racial hatred.”
Places for People, which owns the house and runs 143,000 homes across Britain, has since apologised for calling the flag “offensive” but said Mr Rolfe must still repaint the door because he does not have the proper permission.
Thesun
Empire Holds Champagne Party This Saturday
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 Celebrates 10 Years On Joy FM
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.
Mad Dog Energy Drink @ VGMA
John Dumelo in a pose with the staff of Mad Dog
The management of Mad Dog Energy Drink last Saturday distributed a large quantity of its product to a number of music fans and celebrities who attended the 2013 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) held at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC).
A source close to the management of the company told BEATWAVES that Mad Dog, one of the best energy drinks on the world market decided to support the ceremony by giving out free energy drinks to a number of music fans and some celebrities.
The source said Mad Dog Energy Drink was the most elegant energy drink-blend ever produced. It increases power of focus, gives improved reaction speed and replenishes one’s metabolism.
The source noted, “The drink will help to increase your energy and concentration after an intense and ongoing physical activity. To stay alert and awake during long travels, and to stay strong during hard workouts, Mad Dog is your answer. It revives, increases performance, improves reaction speed, increases power of focus and replenishes metabolism. Basically, it makes you feel good and helps you to keep up with your fast paced daily life”.
According to the source, the story would be no different as the Mad Dog Energy Drink was set to raise standards with an entertainment package meant to give showbiz industry an absolute thrill.
By George Clifford Owusu
R2Bees Grab Six Awards @ Vodafone Ghana Music Awards
R2Bees
It was all thrills and surprises at this year’s edition of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) as the sensational R2Bees took home the Artiste of the Year Award.
The event, held on Saturday, May 18, was organized by Charter House to reward Ghanaian music icons for their commitment, hard work and dedication in the music career.
R2Bees also walked home with five other awards including High-life Song of the Year, Hiplife Song of the Year, Group of the Year, Vodafone Most Popular Song of the Year and Hiplife/Hiphop Artiste of the Year.
As a surprise package, members of R2Bees received a brand new MG Rover vehicle and Samsung Galaxy S4 phones from Vodafone as part of the awards.
It was a night of musical fireworks as some of the awardees and other artistes took turns to dish out splendid acts that got the audience dancing, or simply hiking up their seats for a better view of proceedings.
The event, which attracted a large number of personalities, stakeholders in the music industry and music fans from all walks of life, kicked off with a brilliant performance from Efya.
She set the auditorium into frenzy when she took the stage and treated the audience to an unforgettable performance.
Efya, who kept the audience on their feet throughout her act on stage, dazzled them with her hit songs.
Herty Borngreat, also took the stage and performed her hit song to the delight of the audience.
4×4 thrilled the audience with their good stagecraft and electrified the venue with ‘Mokoni‘, ‘Anadwo Yede’ and ‘London Bridge’.
Their stagecraft, dynamic movements and general stage charisma got the audience applauding non-stop during their performance.
Manifest who also performed, ‘Makaa Maka’, paved way for Amandzeba who performed several hit songs including the popular ‘Wogbe’.
He was exceptional, brought back loving memories for the few who were his age, but the many who were in their 20s and 30s, could also not help but danced to the rhythmic highlife tunes. His rendition of ‘Wogbe’was just overwhelming.
Akatakyie, who have been out of the music scene for some time now, electrified the ambiance with old hit tunes that moved almost everybody to feet, especially when they did a rendition of their ‘Odo Esisi Me’.
Kontihene, who also performed gave out his best as he performed several songs including, ‘Esi’, ‘Aketesia’ and ‘Asesa’.
Rapper E.L., also won the heart of the audience when he performed ‘Kaalu’ backed by some sexy dancers.
The event also witnessed performances from Keche, the King of the Streets; Kwaw Kese, Nigerian music star Banky W, who also brought his sleekness onto the stage. The Nigerian music icon got patrons on their feet. When he dropped his smash hit ‘Yes/No’, the crowd couldn’t stop singing along.
The fastest rapper, Sarkodie rocked the stage like never before and his entire performance on stage was simply fantastic.
Sarkodie, who has carved a niche for himself, has been branded as one of the leading Hiplife icons with good stage performances.
R2Bees who stage a brilliant live musical performance rocked the audience to some of their hit tunes. Patrons danced to songs like, ‘It’s Alright’, ‘Life’ and ‘Odo’.
All those who had the opportunity to watch all the artistes live on stage would attest to the fact that Ghanaian music icons are ready to take the local music industry to another level.
Full list of winners:
Artiste of the Year
R2Bees
Vodafone Song Of The Year
‘Life (Walahi)’ – R2Bees
Best Collaboration Of The Year
‘Ka No Seyaa’ – Herty Bongreat & Trigmatic
Hip Hop Song Of The Year
‘Makaa Maka’ – Manifest
Hip Life Song Of The Year
‘Life (Walahi)’ – R2Bees
Gospel Artiste Of The Year
Herty Bongreat
Afro Pop Song Of The Year
‘Antenna’ – Fuse ODG
Hip Life/Hip Hop Artiste Of The Year
R2Bees
Gospel Song Of The Year
‘Zaphanat Panea’ – Nicholas Omane Acheampong
African Artiste Of The Year
Wizkid
Best Group Of The Year
R2Bees
Highlife Song Of The Year
‘Odo’ – R2Bees
Highlife Artiste Of The Year
Afriyie
New Artiste Of The Year
Kaakie
Reggae Dance Hall Song Of The Year
‘Toffee Pon Tongue’ – Kaakie
Album Of The Year
‘Something Else’ – E.L.
Gospel Album Of The Year
‘Mercy Project’ – Cwesi Oteng
Best Male Vocal Performance
Knii Lante – ‘House Of Pain’
Best Female Vocal Performance
Efya – ‘Best In Me’
Song Writer Of The Year
Kwame Nsiah Apau – ‘Sika’
Record Of The Year
‘Best In Me’ – Efya
Best Rapper
Manifest – ‘Makaa Maka’
Producer Of The Year
Killbeatz
By George Clifford Owusu
Jojo Abot @ Alliance Française Tonight
Jojo Abot
Ghanaian Afro-beat and jazz singer Jojo Abot would on Saturday, May 18, 2013, rock the Alliance Française in Accra with Ofie Kodjoe and Gyedu Blay-Ambolley as guests.
Abot, who was originally based in New York City (USA), combines an impressive vocal talent and stagecraft in her performances that are characterized with high energy and compositions that simply impress.
Influenced by Afro-beat legend Fela Kuti, highlife maestro; Ebo Taylor, Nigeria’s neo-soul singer; Asa, Australia’s jazz singer; Sia and jazz greats like Billie
Holiday, Abot has featured prominently in Accra’s independent music festivals such as “IndieFuse” and “ChaleWote”.
Her major solo shows include appearances at the Alliance Française, Goethe-Institut, National Theatre and the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel. She has also performed in many live shows at Accra’s best jazz spots like +233 Jazz, Bat & Grill, Taverna Tropicana and a number of live venues in New York City.
A talented entertainer, she has also worked as a model and actress, most recently as the lead actress in ‘Kwaku Ananse’, a focus feature that was premiered at Berlinale Film Festival in February and recently won the prestigious African Movie Awards.
Instrumentalists Band from the Tema International School(TIS), would open the concert, which is being sponsored by Institut Français(Ghana) and the Alliance Française (Accra)
By George Clifford Owusu
Merchants Of Faith
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?
A Golden Joke
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.
Still In Limbo
The Kantamanto market land is still an issue and would be so for many months to come. With the Ghana Railway Development Authority laying bare its plan to develop the place into a modern terminal, the plans announced by the Chief Executive Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) sound like a kind of joke full of weirdness given the assortment of claims over the land in question.
If there is anything like confusion among government agencies over a piece of public land, this is a typical example and it is a sad reflection of how governance has been reduced in the country today.
The traditional owners of the land have also jumped into the fray demanding a renewal of the deal, which led to the ceding of the land to government.
The whole episode gives the subject a non-serious posture. In the face of the confusion and somewhat bad faith, the victims of the controversial fire stand helpless not knowing what to believe.
A certain meeting is said to have been planned for next week by the fire victims and government agents but we wonder whether there is any iota of sincerity in such engagements when there is confusion about the legal status of the land in question.
Did the AMA chief not understand what was at stake when he made his controversial announcement about a so-called modern market? He surely did not know that with the rule of law prevailing in the country today such undertakings call for adequate research before the campaign trail-rating announcement he spewed soon after the inferno.
From all indications, the AMA has no authority talking about developing the controversial land into a modern market, the place being the property of another government agency.
According to the Transport Minister, Gifty Attivor, the acquisition of the property dates back to 1901.
Hearing her yesterday even as she applied diplomacy, lest she sounded bellicose, it was not difficult to deduce that the Kantamanto land will remain in the doldrums for a long time to come.
The primary responsibility of every government is to provide for the needs of its people. The victims of Kantamanto could easily say they have been let down by their own government given their helplessness in the wake of what befell them.
Having suffered the rubbing of salt into the injury inflicted upon them after the blaze which reduced their fortunes to ashes recently, they are being subjected to confused remarks by various state agencies.
In this traumatic state of theirs, the last thing the victims of the Kantamanto fire should countenance is outright mendacity from government officials, who without doubt, are confused about what to do.
Telling the victims the truth at this stage would be more beneficial to them than keeping them in perpetual limbo.
St. John’s Hospital Offers Free Screening For DAILY GUIDE
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
Kintampo College Of Health To Be Upgraded
Dr. E.T. Adjase
THE MANAGEMENT of the College of Health and Well-Being at Kintampo in the Brong Ahafo Region has called on the government to expedite action on the proposed elevation of the college to a university status.
The Director of the College, Dr. Emmanuel Teye Adjase, said management of the institution has already put in place the necessary steps to restructure and resource new faculties and departments in line with government’s pledge to turn the institution into a health university.
It will be recalled that President John Dramani Mahama, in his first State of the Nation Address in February this year, announced government’s intention to upgrade the College into a University to scale up the training of health workers.
Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, Dr. Adjase noted that efforts were being made by the College to work through the Sector Ministry to update the Presidency on developments and to request for additional resources to make the dream a reality.
He indicated that the College, in line with its aspirations to expand, had acquired an additional 3,000 acres of land needed for accelerated expansion of infrastructure to accommodate the ever increasing number of needed programmes of study that would facilitate the training of health professionals, not only for Ghana, but for the ECOWAS sub-region and beyond.
“As a notable public institution and driven by our vision of becoming a health university that responds to the health needs of communities, quality assurance, staff and student services, ICT and governance issues are central to our undertakings.
“This will continue to be the bedrock of our development into the future grounded on innovation and creativity that enhances quality through quality education and training of health professionals who will contribute their quota to the ever changing global health needs,” he said.
Touching on the past, present and the future of the institution, Dr Adjase said the college which used to be called the Kintampo Rural Health Training School started from a humble beginning as a Ministry of Health training institution.
He said the school was fully established in 1969 with a mandate to train middle level health professionals to provide quality and comprehensive health care to the populace, especially those living in the rural and under-served areas.
The establishment of the school, the Director noted, stemmed from the felt need for front line health personnel to augment the physician workforce that was grossly inadequate and which was also affected by mal-distribution in the country.
“The School now known as ‘The College of Health and Well-Being’ has in recent years improved and expanded in programme content, scope and student numbers. It has developed into a modern college located in a serene environment conducive for training and nurturing health professionals,” he stated, adding: “The health college being the only institution of its kind in the country and Sub-Region, continue to attract highly qualified applicants into various programmes of study each year.”
Dr Adjase explained that the programmes/courses of study at the college reflect current practices and policies in the health sector and are designed and developed based on disease burden and the health needs of the population.
“The programmes, some of which are at diploma and degree levels provide academic career progression pathways for mid-level health professionals in community medicine and preventive health,” he pointed out.
With a current student population of about 1,800 and 150 academic & clinical staff (both full and part time), Dr Adjase indicated that the college is poised to becoming a university college affiliated to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology for guidance and nurturing into a world class University of Health.
FROM Fred Tettey Alarti-Amoako, Sunyani
K’bu Maternity Ward Closed Down
Korle Bu
Pregnant women due for delivery at the maternity ward of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital were Saturday redirected to the surgical department because the theatre at that ward had been closed down.
Joy News sources said the theatre was shut down due to power failure Saturday.
A staff of the hospital who pleaded anonymity confirmed the closure to Joy News.
He explained that, two stand-by generators for the centre have all broken down resulting in the shutdown.
According to the staff, “all these generators are not working and what this means is that management has not paid real attention” to the problem.
Joy News also understands the wiring systems in the theatre were found to be faulty and were being fixed Saturday night when Joy News’ Fred Smith visited the hospital.
All patients being operated upon had been transferred to the main surgical department of the hospital during Joy News’ visit.
Joy News sources said the transfer of patients is also causing serious congestion at the surgical department and warns of infections at the wards.
Public Relations Officer of the hospital Mustapha Salifu declined to go on record but explained on telephone that a routine maintenance work had been carried out at the maternity ward.
Myjoyonline
Free Maternal Health in danger
A Pregnant Woman
Ghana’s hope of meeting the Millennium Development Goal 5, to improve maternal healthcare is under threat despite the introduction of programmes such as the Free Maternal Care Initiative (FMHCI) in July 2008, to accelerate the process.
A survey conducted by the Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights as part of its Transparency and Accountability Project and copied to the Ghana News Agency indicated many women continue to deliver their babies outside health facilities.
The study utilised a Citizen Report Card (CRC) to assess the FMHCI as well as to ascertain gaps in its implementation.
It revealed that issues of hidden cost at the level of the health facility discouraged pregnant women from accessing the free maternal care.
The CRC is a social accountability tool used to assess public service delivery in terms of quality, reliability, satisfaction, corruption and usage.
According to the statement, the study sought to, among others, understand the extent to which rural women in three districts were benefitting from the free maternal health care initiative.
It also ascertained the existence of corruption, problem redress, factors affecting access and usage, levels of satisfaction and the quality and reliability of skilled delivery services by September 30, 2012.
The study was conducted within three regions in three administrative districts – Juaboso (Western Region); Offinso (Ashanti Region) and Bongo (Upper East Region) based on the relatively low uptake of skilled delivery.
It was apparent that the mere removal of usage charges was not enough to persuade a significant majority of women to utilise delivery care services because many of them did not have the wherewithal to pay for the related hidden charges or costs.
These charges included payments for antenatal cards, hospitals supplies like soap, beddings, Dettol, cost payment for burying placenta, mackintosh, food and some items, which should be available, but unfortunately were not supplied at health centres.
The study noted that: “Health Promotion Educational campaigns aimed at improving comprehensive knowledge about the entire benefit package of the Free Maternal Healthcare Initiative should be strengthened”.
“The campaign should be targeted towards giving reliable, factual and comprehensive information and describing the full range of FMHCI as well as benefits of accessing free delivery care.”
The study recommended that the implementation of the policy as evidenced by the responses of both health officials and patients alike indicated that the operational barriers that hindered the successful implementation of the initiative must be addressed in a holistic manner in order to ensure progress.
“Hidden cost associated with deliveries, which should be available, but unfortunately, are not available at health centres; among others must be removed if indeed the initiative was meant to be free,” the study concluded.
GNA
MP Donates Streetlight To Health Centres
Irene Joyce Acquah receiving one of the streetlights from Nana Ato Arthur at Kissi
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA), Dr Stephen Nana Ato Arthur, has presented 50 streetlights worth GH¢15,000 to three health centres and some communities in his constituency in a bid to improve the lighting systems in the area.
The beneficiary centres are Kissi Health Centre, Abrem-Agona Health Centre, Elmina Heath Centre, Eguafo Senior High School and the Elmina Market.
At the ceremony, Dr Ato Arthur stated that the donation was in response to the requests made by the organizations when he visited them to ascertain some of the problems confronting them.
At Elmina, the KEEA Municipal Director of Education, Quaning Kofi Mends, made the donation of streetlights which he said would help improve the healthcare delivery systems in the district. He thanked the MP for the kind gesture and appealed for more help from other organizations since government alone could not assist in the healthcare delivery of the country.
At Kissi, the medical assistant in charge of the centre, Irene Joyce Acquah applauded Dr Arthur for his prompt response to their request and urged him to speed up works on the deplorable roads that they have in the community which was making access to healthcare difficult.
Mrs Acquah used the occasion to appeal to the MP to also solve the accommodation problems facing staff of the health centre.
The Queenmother of Kissi and Adontenhen of Komenda Traditional Area, Nana Efua Badu II, appealed to the MP to help construct drainage systems in the community to prevent flooding anytime it rained.
At the Elmina Market, the MP noted that the streetlights would help improve the security situation in the area, especially for the traders.
From Sarah Afful, Elmina
A Leader Can Determine What to Avoid By Studying History
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
Ghana’s Voter Register Appears Bloated
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
Ghana Beyond The Supreme Court
Arthur Kobina Kennedy
What will happen when the Supreme Court rules in the election dispute? Will there be peace or violence?
That we were a divided country before December 7th is clear to all—after all, this is the second election in a row that the winner has failed to win 51% of the votes. Unfortunately, the court case following the election has only worsened the divisions and tension. Of course, it can be argued that if the petitioners had chosen the streets instead of the courts, our plight would be worse.
This case, regardless of the outcome, has already undermined quite a few reputations and national assumptions:
— It has shown that our Electioneering process needs improvement and that our Electoral Commission’s reputation for excellence may be a bit overblown.
— It has shown that the NPP has lost quite a bit of the grassroots activism and vigilance that gave us victory in 2000. Of course, judging by the performance of its agents, the NDC is no better.
— It has shown that our election dispute process is archaic, too slow and too disorganized. This point has been made repeatedly by earlier election disputes.
— It has shown that our legislative process, as displayed in the CI-74 process and exposed by the Mornah case, leaves much to be desired.
All these defects can be fixed, provided that we have peace and can work together.
I write today, not in pursuit of partisan advantage but to trigger a search for a path for our nation to move forward.
Now, if the Supreme Court rules that President Mahama lost the elections and should hand over, will NDC activists accept the ruling?
If the court rules that Nana Addo and the NPP in fact lost the election, will NPP activists accept it?
If the court decides that there should be a revote, will President Mahama continue in office until the revote occurs?
What if one side chooses to ask for a review as granted by the Mornah ruling? Can President Mahama stay as President during the appeal?
If the NPP prevails, what happens to the Ministers appointed by President Mahama in the light of the “no-prejudice” clause that governs our election disputes?
I make all these statements with the awareness that both the President and Hon. Nana Akufo-Addo have pledged to abide by the courts decision. While we trust their words, we must verify that they can bind their followers to these pledges. By the way, do the pledges to abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling apply to the first ruling or the final ruling?
Obviously, as a layperson, I concede that I may be misinformed. In that case, I ask for the forgiveness of Ghanaians.
Given these concerns, how can we proceed in the national interest?
First, we need President Mahama and Hon. Nana Akufo-Addo to begin direct communication on how they can lead us peacefully forward. If they cannot or will not do this on their own, the Peace Council and or the former Presidents must step in to facilitate this. During their discussions they should discuss a series of mutually agreed steps that will calm tempers and encourage their supporters to be peaceful, regardless of the verdict. The first thing they should do is to mutually renounce their right of appeal as granted per the Mornah case. For the avoidance of doubt, this is not a suggestion for anyone to circumvent the legal process. It is a suggestion to help us survive the legal process. I am confident that since both of these gentlemen are patriots who wish the best for Ghana, they would do what is best for our country.
Second, we must commit to a reform in our court system, via constitutional or legislative means that will ensure that if such a dispute were to arise in the future, it would be settled before inauguration day, whatever it takes.
Third, we should commit to the streamlining of our legislative process so that our lawmakers will do their work and spare us the embarrassment of constitutional instruments, like CI-74, prepared by our best and brightest being found to be unconstitutional in whole or in part.
Fourth, our party leaders must work with the Electoral Commission to ensure that the accountability systems in our election work on Election Day so that we can avoid expensive court cases in the future.
Next, we must lower the level of noise and increase the level of sense in our public discourse. Kwesi Pratt is right that the “Northern-Northern, Southern-Southern, Eastern-Eastern talk must be condemned in no uncertain terms.”
Unfortunately, too often, most of the media has been recklessly pouring petrol on the flames of our divisions. We are misusing our hard-won freedom of expression to undermine our national cohesion. Freedom of expression should not mean the right to insult our opponents recklessly.
Finally, we must accept that those of different political persuasions can be patriots—just like us.
May Allah keep us together.
By Arthur Kobina Kennedy
Pole Pole Kabisa, We Will Get There
Kwasi Ansu-Kyeremeh
It is a Swahili road sign, which etched somewhere in my brain system when I saw it in Mwalimu Nyerere’s Dar-es-Salaam in the early 1970s. Pole, pole, kabisa, I am told means slow, slow, completely slow or slow down completely; slow to a stop.
At the time, little could I have conjectured that my motherland, our motherland, would someday be dragged slowly, slowly through a judicial process in search of election justice.
It’s been drama, mainly a tale of two. One is thick-lipping, perhaps lisping haggardly looking and lawyerly struggling like to nowhere. Haggardness and desperados are kin. The other is lip-thin smart, brilliantly answering his way into history as an enviable well-composed witness before the highest adjudicating assembly of the motherland.
They are asking, that is, my compatriots of the motherland and I too. We are asking whether a law lord (bench) can stop his learned colleague (bar) to stop talking a talk that looks like talk, an ordinary talk. We are wondering about a pole, pole talk that is clearly kabisa leading.
Our world has many twists and turns. Our world is such that humility and modesty seem to have lasting positive impressions than boastful braggadocio attitude by which egos are bloated and therefore easily crash below expectation.
It is now a drama of pink-sheeting. Thank God it is a double ‘e’ that is not replaced with an ‘i.’ It is boredom. It is dourly and of dourness.
Long rope, long, long rope is what I hear the masters and mistresses of peace give to parties to put it to witnesses and themselves. They say the appeal trick is now so apparently tricky that any tricks to trick my compatriots would turn out to be too overtly tricky. And so the rope must be even longer. No shortness for any appeal plans to easily succeed.
But my compatriots, I wish you knew the repercussions of the long, long rope for a fledgling economy, an ecomini.
The Kufuor boom years seem to have masked what is now, by all indications, a bust. Not much, maybe even nothing seems to be coming in from anywhere.
Even the ‘galamsey’ trade-off for the three and a something billion loan does not seem to see the Sino billions materializing anytime soon. So everywhere you go, it is a failing economy. From what I hear, the longer rope is given for he puts boringly to continue to put, the more whatever is left of the economy also suffers.
They, on whose behalf the putting is being put, care less. They have stuffed their cheeks and lined their pockets to the chagrin of my compatriots. Bones are what they have left for my compatriot Lazaruses.
Going by the Joshua hosanna during which my compatriots were trampling over each other, overwhelming numbers seem most willing and perhaps even able to play the Lazarus suffer-to-gain game.
These numbers probably care less about whether putting it to witnesses thick-liply ends today, tomorrow or never.
They could, possibly, be interested in the cross-examination life-span if someone would promise them good time in the life hereafter.
It is so because they have given up any kind of hope. He who is in charge of distributing the meat says it is left with bones. And a compatriot observed they recently found axes to smash the bones for the marrow.
Pole, pole we can march with cross-examination. Pole, pole, kabisa we can crawl towards election petition judgment. It is still well, maybe even very well for some of my compatriots who care more about life hereafter than claiming a piece of the marrow which is the only thing close to meat left in the bones.
Someone, once, used to sing: ‘Fish head, fish head; bony, bony, fish head; fish head fish head, eat them up yumm.’ Boiled, not fried tilapia head, maybe yum for some of my compatriots; though not for all. A deep fried or grilled head may not be that yummy.
Fish head smoked could be worse for an appetite. Whether some want, and may or may not have part of the leftover bones or would want none of it, cross-examination continues.
It may be hard to guess the direction. But one day one day my compatriots and I would get to know if the point being made that the errors pointed out by the petitioners were not the only ones; that they the petitioners selectively chose what pleased them or would help their course.
None will dare say by the petitioners committing errors in their evidence, massive election errors cannot be a big deal; that such errors always occur and cannot be used to annul results. Of course, minor errors may be forgiven; massive errors mean cheating, naked robbery and therefore election results that deserve annulment.
The Christian Home. The Husband’s Love And The Wife’s Love
Bible
THE HUSBAND’S LOVE
“Love…. is not proud”(1 Corinthians 13:4-6) is one of the great precepts preached by St. Paul concerning husband-wife relationship in the Christian Home. This applies to the husband’s emotional attitude as well as to that of the wife. But for the meantime, we shall look at that which pertains to the husband.
A proud husband is full of self-esteem. That is to say, he regards himself so much that he always looks down upon the wife and considers her as an inferior person from a poor home or clan. Usually, a proud husband is the no-nonsense type. For instance, he would go out and come back home late, rather suspiciously; but he is not a person to brook any whys-and-wheres questions from the wife. To any such questions, either he would be annoyed and fall into fierce tantrums, banging on the tables or threatening the wife with beatings or he may arrogantly throw an irate glance at her, and like a dumb person, silently dash down to bed; damn the wife’s serious concerns!
Do you know there are homes where some husbands are so proud; they will not talk in a friendly way to their wives? Those husbands squeeze their faces or always frighteningly scowl at their wives, and won’t talk, but merely shout orders.
That is really bad! Husbands should always open up to their wives. However busy they are, they should find time to chat with their wives, joke with them, laugh together and sometimes play happily together like brother and sister, such games as ludo, snakes and ladders, cards, etc.
Really, social scientists are of the view that nowadays, owing to the influence of television, husbands and wives scarcely have time to play together. Instead, they love to sit by the television watching films. But TV entertainment should not in anyway be made to take the place of husband-wife fun or friendly games; for these have the more positive psychological effects of bringing them together or ever uniting their hearts much more firmly. Definitely, such indoor games have the capabilities of freezing or completely dissolving any pride in either of the couple.
Next is –“love…is not rude”. The word rude comes from the Latin ‘rudis’ which means ‘rough’. In other words, St. Paul’s statement, “love is not rude” means love is not rough or ungentle. That, in turn, means husbands should not treat their wives rudely or roughly, but speak to them or behave to them in a gentle way.
By the way, this word ‘rude’ is different from what is obtained in St. Paul’s remark in Second Corinthian’s 11:6 –“though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge”. That doesn’t mean St. Paul was rude, so we should imitate him. No, never! The phrase “rude in speech” in this context means: frank in the art of speaking.
Now to the seventh of the Pauline precept: “love….is not self-seeking”. Have you heard of a husband who always seeks the best of everything for himself the best of meals, –the best of clothing, food, etc. –whilst disregarding the best of what the wife is to get?
The husband takes rich, nourishing diet: rice water with milk and sugar; with margarine, jam, fried eggs and salad to boot, whilst the wife is consigned to the hard banku ke shito ke kenam meals (a type of kenkey plus ground pepper and hard fried fish).
Look at a self-seeking man who doesn’t mind buying much beer for his friends, or who doesn’t care giving plenty of money away as funeral donations, all to court cheap popularity and fame for himself, whilst his wife and children languish in poverty and hunger! A husband in real love thinks about his wife first, for the best of things in life.
Come to St. Paul’s next assertion: “love is not easily angered”. A husband who has genuine love for his wife is never easily provoked into anger. On the contrary, he ignores any provocative action or statement of the wife, and forgives her. In fact, it is suggested that if a husband always easily reacts angrily to a wife’s kind statement, it means his love for the wife is either at a low ebb or has fallen to zero degree.
And such husbands lay themselves open to suspicion –suspicion that they have got some other women somewhere, that they are playing a double game, which makes them disregard the ‘old’ wives and adore the ‘new’ women. But this should not happen in Christian Home. Of course, disagreements are bound to occur in Christian marriages; but when they degenerate into angry exchanges, then the devil, with his destructive devices, has jumped into the couple’s relationship, intending to snap it asunder.
“Love…..keeps no record” is our next consideration. Do you know there are some husbands who strangely keep secret dairies about their wives so-called misbehavior? At any explosive moment such offended husbands begin to read out all such wrongs to their mothers or father-in-law, for the purpose of seeking justification for whatever action they intend taking. Other men keep dairies in their hearts, and would not easily forget even the minor mistakes these wives commit. This is most unfortunate. After all, which person does not commit mistakes in this world? No one is an angel. So if the wife offends, it is for the husband to forgive.
Our discussions on husband’s love towards the wife shall be continued later.
THE WIFE’S LOVE
Having dealt with some aspects of the husband’s love towards the wife in the Christian home (according to St. Paul’s talks on love), I shall now deem it expedient to turn to the wife’s love and discuss it in terms of the same Paulian scriptures.
First of all, it is to be borne in mind that St. Paul’s admonition, “Husbands, love your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, so should man love their wives as their own bodies” (Ephesians 5:25-28) does not imply that it is the husband who alone should love or show love, thus ruling out the manifestation of the wife’s love towards the husband. No!
Love in marriage is a two-way affair, and this is re-echoed in St. Paul’s assertion: “for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other” (1 Thessalonians 4:9) which contextually implies ‘mutual love’, what in Greek is known as ‘philadelphia’.
Thus the kind of love also expected from a wife should operate on four planes –spiritual, mental, emotional and physical. The spiritual love of the wife towards the husband can be expressed variously: through intercession or praying for the husband’s well-being; for success in his business, good health, promotion in his job, and protection; or through her joining the husband in worshipping the Lord in private devotions at home and in church.
In some Christian homes, there unfortunately exists that sort of spiritual or religious disagreement in which the wife is seen to be a member of a different denomination, say Methodist or Presbyterian or Lutheran or Pentecost, whilst the husband is a Catholic or vice versa. When for instance, a Pentecostal wife refuses to join her Catholic husband in the Catholic Church, both of them find it difficult to come together to pray or worship at home, because of certain doctrinal differences.
There is a spiritual disunity here. If care is not taken, this disunity may often work itself up into sharp dissensions over some Bible doctrines, in which for example, the Pentecost wife may frivolously or impiously deride the Catholic husband’s use of the rosary, or may ignorantly denounce the husband’s use of a statue on the prayer altar as amounting to idol worshipping; and this may explode in serious quarrels that might land the marriage into troubles.
The solution to this often lies in the wife’s consent to attend the husband’s church; and that compromise is in fact the highest expression of her spiritual love for the husband. But where, both have agreed to let each other go to his or her church then there must be such mutual tolerance as may sometimes impel them to pray together.
In fact, spiritual unity between husband and wife is a point stressed more cogently by Prophet Amos who rhetorically asks: “Can two walk together, except they have agreed to do so”? (Amos 3:3). The key word here is ‘agreed’, which means a spiritual fusion. Love in this respect, means: readiness to agree with one’s partner. So if the wife really loves her husband, she quickly agrees to the husband’s loving suggestion to attend the same church or to pray together.
Where there is such agreement, spiritual love is richly intensified or heightened to lofty heights, and this may express itself also in the wife’s act of inviting the husband to pray together or fast or sing or learn the Scriptures together. It is to be noted that singing religious songs is either a form of praying or praising God, and it conduces to a great spiritual growth, if the couple often sing together. Fasting can also be done by the wife alone (or plus the husband) if she needs something very urgent from the lord on behalf of her husband. And such an initiative, of course, show great love.
Next is ‘mental’ love from the wife which expresses itself in the act of studying the Word of God with the husband. Oftentimes, the wife plays second fiddle in this exercise, but where the husband is deficient in Bible Knowledge and the wife is more proficient, then it is incumbent on her to lead in Bible studies and discussions in a brother-sister mood. This should be devoid of derision or unnecessary rebuke when either wife or husband goes wrong.
Studying the Word of God may take the form of reading a passage of the Bible and discussing its context or meaning, and general relevance to various aspects of life. Notes can be taken where necessary. Thus armed with very good knowledge of the Bible, the couple can teach the children some Scriptures or give them simple Bible quizzes. At least the weekends can be allotted for husband-wife Bible studies and Bible teachings.
In all these Bible studies and teachings, the wife is expected to play a pivotal role. She may have to prepare the Bible studies table and chairs, assists in the teaching of the Bible to the children, etc. Her interest or enthusiasm in Bible studies and religious discussions in the Christian home is always very essential.
By Apostle Kwamena Ahinful
Boy, 16, Overjoyed As He Gets Robotic Hand
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
Now that really is a mega-phone: Samsung unveils giant handset with 6.3inch screen
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.
‘The newest addition to the Galaxy family balances an optimal viewing experience on a 6.3-inch HD screen, yet is ultra-thin and portable enough to put into a pocket or hold in one hand,’ the firm said.
‘The GALAXY Mega offers a mix of popular smartphone and tablet features such as an effortless user experience, a split screen, multitasking between video and other apps and more.’
It claims video and web browsing will be the main uses for the Mega.
‘We are aware of a great potential in the bigger screen for extensive viewing multimedia, web browsing, and more,’ said JK Shin of Samsung.
‘We are excited to provide another choice to meet our consumers’ varying lifestyles, all while maintaining the high-quality features of the award-winning GALAXY series.’
However, experts are less impressed.
Rik Henderson of Pocket Lint said ‘The screen size of the Galaxy Note works as you take notes – but the Mega is just a massive phone, it’s just too big.
‘However, I think we’ll see an arms race to get to that size, there’s a real blurring of the lines between phones and tablets now.
‘But for consumers, I think its a fad – it’s just too big.’
Samsung helped popularise the so-called ‘phablet’ category – in which phones approach tablet dimensions – with its original 5.3in Galaxy Note, which was released in 2011.
Analysts have deemed a ‘phablet’ is a mobile gadget with a screen more than 5inches diagonally.
The word comes from blending phone and tablet.
Samsung’s Galaxy Note was the first popular ‘phablet’, but others are expected to follow this year.
Experts have predicted that 2013 could be the year of the ‘phablet’.
Analysts claim the emergence of so-called ‘giant mobile’ which blend tablets and mobile phones, will lead to a whole new category of gadgets.
The upshot is a market for phablets that will quadruple in value to $135 billion in three years, according to analysts at Barclays.
Shipments of gadgets that are 5 inches or bigger in screen size will surge by nearly nine-fold to 228 million during the same period, though estimates vary because no one can agree on where smartphones stop and phablets start.
But that’s the point, some say.
‘I think phone size was a preconceived notion based on voice usage,’ said John Berns, a Singapore-based executive who works in the information technology industry.
TECNO Launches N7 Smartphone
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
