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Robber dies from police warning shot

A suspected robber last Sunday lost his life when he was hit by a warning shot fired by a police patrol team after he allegedly snatched a mobile phone from a student who was returning home from a party at about 2 a.m. near Manet on the Spintex Road, Accra.

The robber was a pillion rider on an unregistered motorbike allegedly used for snatching mobile phones in robbery expeditions by the two suspected robbers.

The rider of the motorbike Dennis Amponsah was also hit by a bullet and was taken to the Police Hospital where he is currently receiving treatment.

Victim

According to the victim, who wants to remain anonymous, the suspected robbers attacked a number of persons on the Spintex Road that dawn.

She said her shouts for help after her mobile phone had been snatched from her attracted the attention of a police patrol team.

In an attempt by the police to arrest the suspects, the victim said, the police pursued them and fired warning shots but they failed to stop.

An eye witness said after the pillion rider was hit by the bullet, he fell from the motorbike but the rider did not stop even though he had also been hit.

Confirmation

When contacted, the Commander of the Operations Unit of the Accra Regional Police Command, Chief Superintendent of Police, Mr Kwasi Ofori, confirmed the incident.

He said the police found Amponsah who had called for help from some men who were suspected to be his accomplices, a few meters off the Spintex Road.

Amponsah and two of his accomplices were arrested and upon a search, a machete and a dagger were retrieved from them.

The motorbike has also been impounded, while the mobile phone which was snatched from the victim was also found in the pocket of the pillion rider after he had been shot by the police.

 Graphic online

I’ll poison myself if Menzgold fails to pay me – customer

An aggrieved Menzgold Customer, Nana Adwoa has threatened to kill herself if the CEO of the embattled gold dealership firm, Nana Appiah Mensah fails to pay back her dividends.

According to her, she did not receive any dividend after she invested Ghc70,000.00 in Menzgold.

Scores of customers of Menzgold Ghana Limited yesterday sparked another demonstration in Kumasi.

They burnt tyres and blocked roads in the Garden City.

Speaking on Accra FM yesterday, 8th January, 2019, the aggrieved Menzgold customer, Nana Adwoa who was also a victim of DKM said her two children have had to withdraw from school because of her inability to pay their fees.

“My two secondary school girls are now home as I’m speaking, I don’t have money to pay fees for them and what even saddens my heart is that my 5-year old has been diagnosed with stroke which I don’t have money to go to the hospital,” she said.

She, therefore, begged NAM1 to come from his hideout and pay her the dividends.

“I’m begging NAM 1 wherever he is, he should make himself available for us because I’m not happy in life. He should come and pay my Ghc70,000 to me else I may end up poisoning myself and leave my children behind.

“The government must arrest Nana Appiah Mensah and prosecute him. I don’t understand why they arrested the DKM boss but are failing to arrest Nana Appiah Mensah,” she appealed.

Ghana | Atinkaoanline.com

Saboba Chief pleads for calm

The Paramount Chief of Saboba traditional area Bowan Mateer-John, has implored government and the Regional Security Council, (REGSEC), to initiate concrete measures to quickly restore calm and order to Chereponi and Saboba in order to bring all displaced persons back to their communities.

To this end, he called on REGSEC to create a platform for dialogue between the chiefs of the two traditional areas to finding a lasting solution to the problem.

Bowan Mateer-John made the call when REGSEC led by the northern regional Minister, Salifu Sa-eed, visited the area to assess the extent of devastation caused by the recent ethnic violence.

The minister’s visit was to afford him the opportunity to get first hand information about the situation in the two areas and also meet with the leaderships of the two groups to resolve any acrimony.

In a brief statement, the paramount chief of the area, appealed to REGSEC to review the curfew impose on Saboba.

The National President of Konkomba Youth Association, Charles Nyojah said at this crucial moment any action or move should be geared towards promoting peace in the area.

The Regional Minister, Salifu Sa-eed, advised both sides never to involve themselves in conflict again since it causes destroys lives and properties.

Reacting to calls on REGSEC to review the curfew hours, the minister promised to look into the curfew hours and urged them to remain calm.

Various speakers all re-echoed the need for the people to ponder over the recent happenings and chat a new path.

Ghana | Atinkaoanline.com

DR Congo: Ebola response resumes despite ‘risky environment’

Despite a precarious security environment and continuing pockets of mistrust on the part of affected populations, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Tuesday that all Ebola-affected areas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) North Kivu Province are now accessible to health workers.

Civil unrest in Beni, the epicenter of the epidemic, crippled operations last month. But WHO says that now, under Government leadership and in collaboration with partner agencies, the Ebola response has resumed in force. However, it warned, further disruptions and security issues, could seriously impact the complex effort to end the outbreak.

The main challenges to the response are a hazardous security situation and the inability to prevent and control infection in many public and private health facilities.

WHO revealed that some 577 confirmed cases and 377 deaths have been recorded since the outbreak was declared in August last year. The UN agency also stated that 220 people have recovered and more than 56,500 have been vaccinated.

From December 31, 2018 to January 2, 2019, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus traveled to Ebola-affected areas in the DRC, where he spelled out that “Ebola responders are sacrificing a lot… to combat one of the world’s deadliest viruses in a risky environment.”

Accompanying him, Dr. Jeremy Farrar, Chair of WHO’s Research and Development Blueprint, came away “worried by the immense challenges they face in such a complex environment.”

“It is vital the international community recognizes this and ensures the DRC and WHO have the support needed to ensure this outbreak does not spiral out of control,” he said.

The Ebola outbreak is in reality, several distinct outbreaks in the different affected areas. While the major outbreak in Beni, which was responsible for a large proportion of cases in recent months, is coming under control, the positive trend there is not mirrored elsewhere.

WHO pointed out that the volatile situation in Komanda and Butembo/Katwa has rendered those outbreaks more unstable.

UN News

Spio-Garbrah can perform better than Mahama as 2020 Flagbearer- Tema East NDC

A leading member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Tema East, Francis Blebu, has called on delegates to elect former Minister of Trade, Ekwow Spio-Gabrah as the 2020 flagbearer of the party.

He said although some supporters of former President John Dramani still believed Mahama was the right person to return the party to power, the former Trade Minister, Mr. Gabrah has a better national appeal and wielded the kind of toughness that the NDC needed to face President Akufo-Addo in 2020.

“So far, the supporters of former President Mahama, who unfortunately have proven to be in the majority within the national leadership of the party, have managed to create the impression that the former President is the most popular among all the candidates vying for the 2020 Presidential ticket.

“This is doubtful, but let us for argument sake, say it is the fact; can we say the same about John Mahama on the national level? Now the question is, if Mahama is supposedly only popular in the NDC, but not in the rest of the country, and the NDC elects him as Flagbearer, what are we doing to ourselves?”

In a statement signed and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday, Mr Blebu said Dr. Ekwow Spio Gabrah was popular countrywide and would easily deliver Central Region, whose loss, contributed to the massive loss of the NDC in 2016.

He added that, the former Trade Minister also had many friends who were willing to contribute money to fund his presidential campaign should delegate of the NDC give him the nod.

“I am asking delegates to sit down and carefully analyse what they see before them and they will realise that anytime former President Mahama makes a comment, the NPP easily shoots it down using Mahama’s past of many allegations as reason to convince Ghanaians that he is not to be trusted.

“But then compare that to the reaction that comes up when Dr. Ekwow Spio Gabrah speaks, nobody responds because the NPP has nothing on him,” Mr. Blebu said.

He pointed out that the former Trade Minister’s composition of a song to the effect that President Akufo-Addo was a one term President had not been responded to by the NPP because the ruling party could not challenge him.

Mr Blebu advised Dr Spio-Gabrah not to fall for any other position apart from being at the helm of the party’s affairs.

He claimed that; “The former President has promised to make many of the Flagbearer aspirants of the NDC his Running Mate if they step down for him in the Presidential primary. In the specific case of the former Trade Minister, Mr. Mahama is said to be using a powerful man of God to try to influence him into stepping down.”

Mr. Blebu said Mr. Gabrah would be making a great mistake if he fell for it. “I want Spio Gabrah to know that where he has come in his journey so far, the Presidency of Ghana is not beyond him. Ghanaians need him to come and free them from the shackles of the NPP administration, “he said.

Ghana | Atinkaoanline.com

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Ghana | Atinkaoanline.com | Ishmael Atiemo

Beijing school attacker injures 20 children

Twenty primary school pupils in Beijing have been injured in an attack on their school by an unidentified man.

According to officials in China, the attack which took place around 11 am is reported to have seriously injured three children who are in stable condition now.

The alleged attacker has been arrested.

The attack comes a day after a Chinese man was put to death for injuring 12 children in a knife attack at a nursery in China.

bbc.com

Peace a pre-requisite for development- President Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says peace is a pre-requisite for development. He said this when he delivered a speech at the Zongo for Peace and Development Conference, in Kumasi on Tuesday, January 8, 2019.

The conference which was an initiative of the Ministry of Inner City and Zongo Development, was on the theme of the Conference, “Building our Zongo Community through tolerance and peace”.

President Akufo-Addo noted that good intentions and the desire for development will come to naught if citizens do not strive for peace in their communities.

“That is why Cabinet has endorsed the proposal by the Inner City and Zongo Development Ministry for the activation of ‘Zongo for Peace and Development Initiative. This Conference, the first in the series, is testament to that fact,” he added.

He continued, “I live in Nima, and I refuse to accept the “anti-peace/violent” tag associated with residents of Zongos. That is not, and cannot be true. I have lived at peace with my neighbours in Nima for decades, stretching back to the days of the early period of my youth in my father’s house.”

Without peace, the President noted that, Government cannot activate the processes that will lead to an improvement in the living standards of Zongo residents, adding that injustice or a sense of injustice can trigger frustration in people, and result in violence or violent behaviour.

President Akufo-Addo assured that Government will continue to partner Zongo communities in order to bring progress and prosperity to their residents, noting that residents of Zongo communities, in the run-up to independence and up to about a decade after independence, were the natural allies of the Danquah-Dombo-Busia political tradition.

Determined to sign a new pact between the New Patriotic Party and residents of Zongo communities, the President added that “We must not let the toils of Amadu Baba and Othman Lardan, which earned them deportation to Nigeria by Kwame Nkrumah’s CPP government, go to waste. They sought partnership with the Danquah-Dombo-Busia tradition, precisely because they believed that this is the partnership that will bring development to the Zongo communities.”

2019, President Akufo-Addo added, promises to be a good year for development in our Zongo communities.

“I urge you to give the Zongo Minister, an ardent champion of the potential of residents of Zongo communities to chart a path of progress and prosperity for themselves, the maximum co-operation and support, so that, together, we shall improve the living conditions of all our people,” he said.

Ghana | Atinkaoanline.com

President Akufo-Addo announces compensation for police shooting victims

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced a total package of one million, 750 thousand Ghana Cedis in compensation for all the bereaved families of seven men shot and killed by Police personnel near Manso Nkwanta in the then Amansie West district of the Ashanti region last year.

The amount translates into 250 thousand Ghana Cedis for each of the bereaved families.

President Akufo-Addo announced this in Kumasi on Tuesday, January 8, 2019, assured also, that government will soon start prosecution of all the Police personnel found to have acted outside the law in the matter to bring justice to the victims.

President Akufo-Addo’s announcement was greeted with a positive reaction by the people around.

In an interview, Abubakar Alhassan, relative of one of the victims, said even though government has shown good will in the matter, the family would wait until final determination of the prosecution by the Court.

An uncle of another victim of the police shooting, Adam Malik, narrated how his nephew met his untimely death and how the family is going to manage the compensation package from government.

Ghana | Atinkaoanline.com

I have not promised SHS students allowances & gari- John Mahama

Former President John Mahama has denied media reports that he has promised Senior High School (SHS) students a monthly allowance and gari if he returns to power.

According to the reports, Mr. Mahama made the promise when he addressed some students in the Volta Region.
However, the former President in a statement signed by the spokesperson of JohnMahama2020 Campaign, James Agyenim-Boateng, on Tuesday described the report as, “fake and a figment of the writer’s imagination,” the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer hopeful also denied ever being in the Volta region recently.

“It is also not true that Mr. Mahama has visited the Volta Region to speak to students there. Please disregard the bizarre, outrageous and ridiculous publication and treat it with the contempt that it deserves. It is fake news. For the records, Mr. Mahama is on a five-day campaign tour in the Western Region,” the statement said.

Below Is The Full Statement:

RE: SHS STUDENTS WILL TAKE GARI AND ALAWA EVERY MONTH IN MY SECOND COMING — MAHAMA
Our attention has been drawn to an online publication on the subject matter above.
The report claims that former President John Dramani Mahama spoke to students in the Volta Region on the said subject matter.
For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state that the report is fake and a figment of the
writer’s imagination.
It is a matter of public knowledge that Mr. Mahama has yet to visit the Volta Region to campaign there ahead of the flagbearership election of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). It is also not true that Mr Mahama has visited the Volta Region to speak to students there.
Please disregard the bizarre, outrageous and ridiculous publication and treat it with the
contempt that it deserves. It is fake news. For the records, Mr. Mahama is on a five-day campaign tour in the Western Region.
Whilst on this campaign, he has been meeting with delegates and supporters of the NDC.
He has been speaking mainly on issues affecting cocoa farmers, small scale miners, jobs, the high cost of living in the country, his development agenda for the NDC, plans to better
implement Free SHS as well as his determination and commitment to eliminate the chaotic
double track system in secondary education.
***END***
JAMES AGYENIM-BOATENG, SPOKESPERSON
TUESDAY, 8TH JANUARY 2019
TARKWA

Ghana | Atinkaoanline.com | Ishmael Atiemo