Atinka OnlineAtinka Online is the fastest growing radio-tv news portal in Ghana. Get all breaking news updates, latest news headlines, local and world stories, entertainment, sports, etc.
General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party, (NPP) John Boadu, has lashed out at the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) over the latter’s delay in outdooring its manifesto ahead of the December 7 elections.
The NDC manifesto Committee handed over a copy of its 2020 manifesto to the party’s flagbearer, John Mahama, a month ago but the party is yet to launch the policy book.
But speaking at the NPP’s manifesto launch at Cape Coast on Saturday, Mr Boadu suggested that, the opposition party was waiting to copy its (NPP) policies hence the delay in outdooring its (NDC) manifesto.
“They announced two months ago that their manifesto is ready, but they have not been able to launch it. Obviously, they are waiting for us to launch our manifesto so they can copy as usual, since they have no original ideas. Well, we have launched ours so they are free to copy,” he jabbed.
The ruling New Patriotic Party(NPP) is currently launching its 2020 manifesto ahead of the December 7 elections.
The virtual event, which is being held at the University of Cape Coast is being graced by president Akufo Addo, Vice president Bawumia and all the party top guns..
The event is being telecast on Atinka TV, Atinka 104. 7 FM. It is also being streamed live on all our social media handles.
Sevilla FC beat Internazionale 3-2 on Friday night in a thrilling match in Cologne to secure a sixth Europa League title and maintain their perfect record in finals of the competition.
Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring from the penalty spot shortly after kickoff, beating Sevilla keeper Bono after he was hauled down in the box by Diego Carlos to give Inter the early lead.
The advantage was short-lived, though, as Luuk de Jong’s bullet header in the 12th minute brought Sevilla level only for the Netherlands international to head home from an Ever Banega free kick a little over 20 minutes later to leave Inter trailing 2-1.
The trend of goals via headers continued, but this time it was Inter who were the beneficiaries when Diego Godin met a Marcelo Brozovic cross from a free kick at the back post and evened the score at 2-2 before half-time.
The scoring pace slowed in the second half and Lukaku saw a golden chance to put Inter back in front from a breakaway in the 65th minute denied by an onrushing Bono to keep the score level.
Carlos then went from villain to hero in the 74th minute when his overhead kick following a set piece took a deflection off of Lukaku and wound up in the back of the net to give Sevilla a 3-2 lead.
Inter poured it on in the closing minutes with manager Antonio Conte bringing on Christian Eriksen, Alexis Sanchez and Victor Moses in search of an equaliser that never came.
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has commissioned the Casa de Ropa Potato Factory, a project under Government’s 1-District-1-Factory initiative.
Performing the sod-cutting ceremony on Friday, 21st August 2020, President Akufo-Addo described the day as “a very happy for the Central Region, and, indeed, for Mother Ghana”, especially as he had, on the same way, also commissioned the Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Factory, in Ekumfi.
“This afternoon’s ceremony is in fulfillment of the promise by Government, in partnership with the private sector, to set up at least one medium to large scale enterprise in every district of Ghana,” the President said.
Congratulating the management of Casa de Ropa for the progress they made have, and for being able to process orange fleshed sweet potato into puree, which are further processed into biscuit, bread, crisps and chips, using improved production technology, he noted that 1,150 direct and indirect jobs have been created by the factory.
“Another milestone achieved by the factory is the fact that women currently constitute more than 80 percent of the workforce, as a result of a deliberate policy to empower women. As the African Union Gender Champion, I commend management for this decision,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo applauded the decision taken by Casa de Ropa to be a Center of Excellence, through the collaboration with Universities and other agricultural institutions, to create a platform for research and knowledge sharing between academia and industry.
“This Factory, gradually, is positioning itself as one of the most innovative food processing companies in the country, with the potential to expand its operations to take advantage of the domestic market for processed food as well as the African market,” he added.
The President continued, “Government remains committed to supporting private sector operators, like Casa de Ropa, to become globally competitive, and, thereby, take advantage of market integration frameworks such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), whose Secretariat has been established and commissioned in Accra.”
Commending the management of Casa de Ropa Ltd for their diligence and commitment to enhance the potential of sweet potato as a new cash crop for farmers in Ghana, the President also commended EXIM Bank for granting a financing facility of about GH¢14 million in support of the project, under the 1D1F programme.
Mumford Landing Site Prior to commissioning the Factory, President Akufo-Addo visited the site of the Mumford Landing Site, a project with commenced on 16th November 2019.
With the topographic and geophysical surveys one hundred percent (100%) complete, and work on the breakwater is seventy percent (70%) complete, prefabrication of the concrete blocks for the quay wall begins in September 2020, with dredging work for the approach channel and port basin starting in December.
According to the Minister for Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, the Mumford landing site will be completed in June 2021, and will have the following facilities also attached to the site: an administration building, fish market, net mending hall, ice making plant, fuel depot, day care centre, toilet, and power station..
An aspiring Presidential Candidate of PNC, Rev. Samuel Adjei-Debrah, has said that he is not aware of the second date for the party’s congress which was allegedly communicated by the party’s Leader, Dr Edward Mahama .
His statement, confirms that of the Party’s Chairman, Bernard Mornah who earlier communicated that the party’s congress will be held on the 19th of September, 2020.
After Mornah’s date was communicated, Dr Edward Mahama also brought it out that the congress will be held on September 26th, 2020.
Meanwhile, Bernard Mornah, explained that the initial date was decided by NEC which was communicated to Dr Mahama and therefore was of the belief that Dr Mahama’s statement which had a new date for the party’s congress was fake.
Reacting to the issue on Atinka FM’s AM Drive, hosted by Ekourba Gyasi, Rev. Adjei-Debrah confirmed that the initial date was communicated by NEC after the meeting.
He added that he was not aware of the second date communicated by Dr Mahama.
“I got confused when I heard you talk about it because I know the congress is on 19th September 2020, I do not know about that of the 26th,” he said.
He added that, “I received an invitation for a NEC meeting, which was done at UDS Guest House. I passed through and met the regional chairmen and secretaries and party executives there, I was made to understand that the Leader was on his way coming but they did not show up and I left to attend to something equally important. It was later communicated to us that the congress will come on the 19th, so we were supposed to pick forms on the 19th, August, so that by 25th it would be closed.”
He added that, “the Congress consists of regional chairmen and executives. For now, we have not done the new regions and so we have 10 regional chairmen and if out of the 10, six are available they can go ahead to take decisions. At least I saw about six of them at the meeting.”
The Northern Development Authority (NDA), has organized the 2020 edition of the Northern Ghana Development Conference in partnership with the five Northern Regional Coordinating Councils, Civil Society Organizations and a host of other relevant stakeholders in Bolgatanga on Thursday 20th August, 2020.
The event was on the theme “Election 2020 and Covid 19; Opportunities and Challenges for the transformation of Northern Ghana’s Economy.
Transformation in the perspective of stakeholders meant a conscious effort to bridge the socio-economic gaps between the Northern and the Southern sector.
Addressing the conference, Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Development Authority, Dr. Alhassan Sulemana Anamzoya said, the NDA has under the implementation of the IPEP projects created an estimated 15,000 short term jobs to all kinds of artisans across Northern Ghana.
Stakeholders deliberated on a wide range of issues which are deemed critical to the development of Northern Ghana.
The issues were teased out of the following four thematic areas:
1. What can be done to secure the dignity and human rights of women in communities in Northern Ghana?
2. Developing a vibrant, resilient and profitable agricultural sector in Northern Ghana.
3. Securing peace and security in Northern Ghana before, during and after the 2020 General Elections.
4. And lastly ensuring the manifestos of political parties for the 2020 elections address the critical development needs of the five regions in Northern Ghana.
The Special Guest of Honour for the event, Mrs. Mary Chinery – Hesse, laid strong emphasis on the need to grow the shea nut industry, which has potential to trigger the economic transformation of the North.
In his keynote address, Prof. Yakubu Nantogmah Bo-Na, member of the Council of State touched on value addition to raw produce in order to create an attractive market for Northern goods.
Also speaking at the event, Hon. Paulina Abayage, Upper East Regional Minister said the 2020 Development Summit was designed to afford stakeholders and partners the opportunity to take stock and review the progress of key issues reached at the 2019 conference.
Making a passionate contribution, the Minister for Northern Region, Hon Salifu Saeed said, a key achievement borne out of previous summits is the implementation of the Pwalugu multipurpose dam.
The conference ended with a commitment to convert all the presentations into actionable plans.
The Minister for Aviation, Hon Joseph Kofi Adda says the government of Ghana has no intention of selling or privatizing the country airports as been alleged.
According to him, as part of the Akufo -Addo government’s agenda to create more jobs for the citizens, the aviation sector is expanding its facilities including the Tamale International Airport to help absorb more people.
“With the expansion of the Tamale Airport, it means that we will need more people here; we need more staff, more engineers. This fits well with the President’s agenda to create jobs for people, so why should somebody in his right state of mind to think that the government of Ghana is going to sell the airports, and lay people off? It is totally not true at all,” Adda assured.
Addressing journalists after inspecting the progress of work at phase two of the Tamale International Airport, he said more opportunities will be available to workers in the aviation sector when the expansion work and the “planned new airports” are completed.
Mr. Adda encouraged workers of Ghana Airports Company Limited and the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority to be excited and not allow mischievous individuals to feed them with wrong information with regards to the sale or privatization of the airports.
He further revealed that, phase two of the Tamale International Airport is expected to be completed in thirteen weeks.
The ongoing project, according to him, is part of the Akufo Addo’s government agenda to make Ghana an aviation hub for the west Africa sub-region.
The phase two project is estimated to cost US $70m, which is being financed by the UK Export Finance facility and KfW IPEX-Bank of Germany.
The National Chairman of People’s National Convention (PNC), Bernard Mornah, has expressed worry over how different dates of the party’s upcoming congress are flying on social media and traditional media.
He released a statement which had a date for their congress, but his date was different from the date the Leader of the party, Dr Edward Mahama, also allegedly released for their congress.
According to the statement, Mornah’s date was 19, September 2020, whiles Dr Mahama’s date was 26th September 2020.
Explaining the issue, he said the NEC had a meeting and agreed on the said date, adding that although Dr Mahama was not at the meeting, the information was communicated to everybody including Dr Mahama, but later saw that a different date had been published.
He gave a detailed explanation to the issue on Atinka FM’s AM Drive, hosted by Ekourba Gyasi.
Meanwhile, Bernard Mornah said that statement is fake because the letterhead used did not have the party’s’ original logo, adding that the motto on the said printout was fake.
He said the letter was also being carried around by unknown persons to media houses.
He added that all efforts to reach Dr Mahama has proved futile.
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Friday, 21st August 2020, has commissioned the Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Factory, a project initiated under the One-District-One-Factory initiative of his Government.
According to President Akufo-Addo, the Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Factory is a wholly-owned Ghanaian company, and has one of the most modern, automated agro-processing plants in the country.
“A total investment of fifteen million dollars, ($15 million), of which ten million dollars ($10 million) was a facility from Ghana Exim Bank, has been made. Presently, the production capacity of the factory is ten (10) tonnes of processed juice per hour, utilizing some ten thousand (10,000) fruits per hour. This means that this factory requires four (4) acres of pineapple fruits to be harvested for processing every hour,” he added.
Commissioning the factory, the President recounted how, on 21st August 2017, some seven (7) months after taking office, he cut the sod for the construction of the the Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Factory, the first 1-District-1-Factory project of his Government.
He stated that “In my remarks, I appealed for the unalloyed support of every Ghanaian for the success of this project. Unfortunately, our political opponents did not heed this call, with some going as far as calling this project a hoax and a political gimmick, and with some describing it as ‘a grasscutter breeding house’.
The President continued, “Nearly, three years down the line, we have confounded the doubting Thomases, and I am very happy to be back here in Ekumfi, and, indeed, very proud to commission the Ekumfi Fruit and Juices Factory. As we can all see, this project has been well-planned and well-thought through, with the raw materials needed for the successful implementation of this project already present, and an outgrower scheme in place”.
Explaining the rationale for the 1D1F initiative, President Akufo-Addo noted that the initiative is designed to transform the industrial landscape of the country, and build the capacities of local entrepreneurs and existing enterprises to produce high quality products and services for both domestic and foreign markets.
Further, it seeks to create employment particularly, for the youth, in rural and peri-urban communities, and thereby improve income levels and standard of living, as well as reduce rural-urban migration.
“That is why Ekumfi, which is one of the richest districts in the country in terms of natural resources, has validated the Government’s approach to industrialization, through value addition,” he added.
With 1,000 acres of pineapple under cultivation, employing about 475 outgrowers, the factory has created direct employment opportunities for over five hundred and fifty (550) people including engineers, food scientists, marketing professionals, accountants, and technicians. In addition, more than one thousand (1,000) indirect job opportunities in Ekumfi and other adjoining districts have been created.
“The Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Factory is yet another example of Government’s determination to promote the industrial transformation of our country. Government will continue to partner the private sector to establish similar modern factories, and which would be globally competitive, and take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area, that will begin trading on 1st January next year,” he said.
Commending the Promoters of Ekumfi Fruits Juice Factory for putting up an excellent, modern processing facility in Ekumfi Nanaben in support of the Industrial Transformation Agenda of the Government, President Akufo-Addo also commended the Chiefs and Traditional Authorities for the release of land for the project, and urged all the farmers and workers to be disciplined, and eschew any negative tendencies that may undermine the success of this great project.
Libya’s rival authorities have announced an immediate ceasefire.
The Tripoli-based and internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) published a statement that also calls for elections in March next year.
The truce was also agreed by an ally of Gen Khalifa Haftar, who controls large parts of the east and south of Libya.
Libya has been riven by violence since Col Muammar Gaddafi was deposed by Nato-backed forces in 2011.
The oil-rich nation is a key transit point for migrants heading to Europe from Africa.
The conflict there has caused a split within Nato.
Last month, France temporarily pulled out of the Nato security operation Sea Guardian, accusing Turkey of violating an arms embargo against Libya.
It came weeks after Turkish ships allegedly targeted a French warship in the Mediterranean – something Ankara strongly denies.
What did the rivals say?
GNA head Fayez al-Sarraj “issued instructions to all military forces to immediately cease fire and all combat operations in all Libyan territories”, it said on its Facebook page.
There has been no direct comment from Gen Haftar but Aguila Saleh, speaker of the eastern-based parliament, which supports him, also announced a ceasefire.
Both the UN and Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, who also backs Gen Haftar, have welcomed the agreement.
What’s the background?
Both sides in Libya’s civil war have international support. Turkey, Italy and Qatar are among those siding with the GNA in Tripoli, while Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates back Gen Haftar.
France is also thought to back Gen Haftar, although leaders in Paris have repeatedly denied this.
A UN arms embargo is in place to stop men and materiel flowing into the country, but it has had little effect.
Turkey agreed a military co-operation deal with the GNA in 2019, and deployed troops to the country in January.
In June, GNA forces finally regained full control of Tripoli thanks to greater help from Turkey. Gen Haftar has withdrawn his forces from the city’s suburbs. https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.34.4/iframe.html Media captionWhat’s behind the fight for Libya?
A UN report leaked in May said that hundreds of mercenaries from the Russian Wagner Group – run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close associate of President Vladimir Putin – were operating in Libya in support of Gen Haftar.
There are reports the Wagner Group is evacuating from the country, although these have not been confirmed.
A calculated truce?
By Rana Jawad, BBC North Africa Correspondent
There’s been hardly any military combat in Libya since June, but what appears to be a coordinated ceasefire declaration by Libya’s rival political blocs sets the stage for a new phase in the stalemate.
It raises some hope for a population that has borne the brunt of the country’s multiple conflicts for nearly a decade.
Ceasefires have been unilaterally declared, asked for, and arguably forced several times over the years, and they have rarely been indicative of a long-lasting truce or progress.
The declared ceasefire comes amidst a continued oil-export blockade, tensions between rival forces each backed by powerful regional allies, and the recent diplomatic pressure by the US and EU member-states.
The prospect of yet another war would be costly for everyone, and leave neither side closer to consolidating a grip on the whole country.
Everyone involved knows this and – for now – some appear to have convinced themselves, and each other, of a plan B.
