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Bagbin dragged to NDC Council of Elders over “inappropriate actions”

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Two members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have dragged Alban Bagbin, to the party’s Council of Elders for allegedly misconducting himself as a party member.

Bagbin, who is one of the longest serving MPs and has expressed interest in the flagbearership race of the NDC, has accused former President Mahama of being solely responsible for  the party’s humiliating  defeat in the last  election.

However, the two petitioners argue that Mr. Bagbin’s recent statements amount to disrespecting the party structures contrary to orders and directives of the Council of Elders.

Below is the full statement:

Below is the press statement by the group

My brother, Andrews Amadi Krow, and I on Wednesday January 17, 2017, wrote to the Council of Elders of our Party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), to complain about the inappropriate actions of the MP for Nadowli-Kaleo, Hon. Alban Bagbin, which actions are at variance with the August 22, 2017, Press Release of the Council of Elders of the NDC.

The Council of Elders’ statement called on all members of the NDC “to respect the party structures and procedures in resolving internal grievances and conflicts”. The Council also asked all members to stop the practice of “ventilating their grievances in public through the electronic, print and social media” bringing “the good name of the Party into disrepute”.

Obviously, Mr. Bagbin has violated all of these positions and it is our hope that the Council will consider our complaint and take the necessary steps. This will prevent others from taking a cue and returning to the media and public space to defend and explain themselves.

The NDC must remain united for 2020. The NDC must follow disciplinary rules laid down by the Party. Our seniors must be seen to be leading the way.

Dzifa Gunu
Accra.

 

Ghana | Atinkaonline.com

One District One Factory has the potential to turn Ghana’s fortunes around -Jospong CEO

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EXECUTIVE Chairman of Jospong Group of Companies, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, has said that the One District One Factory initiative of the current administration has the potential of turning Ghana’s fortunes around by creating wealth and sustainable jobs.

He called for more support from Government for indigenous private businesses to collaborate with local authorities for the selection and efficient execution of the initiative to the benefit of the communities and growth of the private sector.

Dr. Siaw Agyepong made this observation on the second day of the 69th annual New Year School and Conference at the Great Hall of the University of Ghana, Legon on Tuesday. 

This year’s New Year School’s theme is: “Job Creation for Accelerated National Development: The Role of the Private Sector,” and it was organised by the School of Continuing and Distance Education of the University of Ghana, Legon.  

He said efforts aimed at creating jobs should not be focused on the formal sector only, “the informal sector has the potential to generate a good number of jobs. The essential need is to exert some of direction and control in this sector”, he added.

Dr. Agyepong bemoaned the politicization of businesses, which usually occur after a change of government, and said the practice of especially colouring private business political was unhealthy.

To this end, he stressed the need for successive governments to ensure continuity of businesses to promote growth of local entrepreneurs.

Using the Zoomlion example, Dr. Siaw Agyepong enumerated its various achievement since its establishment in 2006 to manage waste in the country and create jobs for thousands of Ghanaians, and called for the protection of local industries.

Speaking on the topic: “The Private Sector Participation in Local Governance for Job Creation,” the Zoomlion boss called for more collaboration to enable local private companies to undertake government projects.

He commended successive governments for their efforts at reducing unemployment but urged that more efforts must be put into the talk to make it a reality.

He said Jospong Group of Companies has collaborated with the public sector in areas including waste management, sanitation, environmental hygiene, agro-based industrialisation among others to create jobs.

Against this backdrop, Dr. Siaw Agyapong affirmed his Group’s commitment to continue to collaborate with local government authorities to create jobs for the teeming youth in the country. In the estimation of the Zoomlion boss, there was equally the need for government to promote sustainable partnership arrangements to engage and empower the private sector

“Leveraging our investments in the local government sector to sustain continuous and inclusive development at the grassroots level is key”, He noted.

These partnership models that would be created, he suggested, should subsist “our political and governance cycles and Ghanaian entrepreneurs on their part should exhibit high level of professionalism so that they are not unduly branded.

“Emphasis on local content is key, empowering indigenous Ghanaian companies is key, local collaboration to undertake government projects should be encouraged and stimulus packages to local private sector should be implemented.

…I believe we are on the right track and as a Group of Company; we would do our best to support government to create sustainable jobs. Indeed, we have the skills set to continue in that path.

“All that we in the Private Sector have to do is to continually re-examine our business creating models for the mutual benefit of both the public and the private sectors.

“When this is done we will be placed on the right track of creating jobs and entrepreneurial skills to help harness the powerful potential of creativity in our teeming youth,” Dr. Agyepong pointed out.

The Session was chaired by Dr Nana Ato Arthur, Head of the Local Government Service.

 

Ghana | Atinkaonline.com

 

 

People who urinate in public should be fined or jailed – Zanetor Rawlings 

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Member of Parliament for Klottey Korley in the Greater Accra Region, Zanetor Rawlings, has advocated for the prosecution of people who shamelessly urinate in public.

“It seems to have become the norm for motorists and pedestrians to just stop wherever they feel like it, in order to pee. It doesn’t matter whether they are in a residential estate, on the highway or in front of a school, government ministry or an embassy,” she posted on her Facebook page Thursday.

According to her, in other countries, the fine for such behaviour is a spot fine of the GHS 5,000 ($1,000) or up to 6 months in jail adding, “we must not address open defecation without tackling this problem of public urination!

Below is the full statement:

You know there is a major problem in society when people shamelessly urinate in full view of the public. It seems to have become the norm for motorists and pedestrians to just stop wherever they feel like it, in order to pee. It doesn’t matter whether they are in a residential estate, on the highway or in front of a school, government ministry or an embassy. The trend in public urination has no respect for who, what, when, where! What on Earth has happened to us? Have so many people suddenly developed urinary incontinence? Once upon a time, not too long ago, people felt embarrassed to behave like this. In some countries the fine for such behaviour is a spot fine of the GHS 5,000 ($1,000) or up to 6 months in jail. We must not address open defecation without tackling this problem of public urination! Just like problem of garbage disposal, the triad of ATTITUDES, FACILITIES and ENFORCEMENT must be operationalised. 2018, six decades post-independence and we are still dealing with this?!

Ghana | Atinkaonline.com 
 

Mahama era is over; NDC needs new flagbearer for 2020 victory – Sylvester Mensah

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National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer hopeful, Sylvester Mensah, has given a thumb down for a possible return of former President John Mahama as the party’s candidate in the 2020 polls.

Mr Mensah says although his former boss was a good President when he took over the reins of government from 2010 – after the demise of John Evans Atta Mills – to 2016, the outcome of the last election sends a strong message about his favourability as a leader.

Former President Mahama polled a paltry a little above 44% of total votes cast in the last election, the lowest for an incumbent President, and losing the Presidency to the New Patriotic Party's Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

“At the time [Mahama] burst onto the political scene he was the best for our party and for this country and he played his role. But we have gotten to a completely new era that requires a completely new set of [leaders],” he said on current affairs programme, The Hard Truth, on Joy News Wednesday evening.

The comments by the former Chief Executive of the National Insurance Health Authority (NHIA) and former MP for La-Dadekotopon add to the growing disapproval of key party members for a Mahama-2020 bid.

Legislator for Nadowli Kaleo, Alban Bagbin, also recently cast doubts over John Mahama’s chances of winning the NDC primaries to lead the party in the 2020 general elections.

In an exclusive interview with Joy News’ Gifty Andoh Appiah, Mr Bagbin said the chances of the former President – who is yet to declare his intention to run –  are slim


“We are now going to go out there with our messages and we will give the good people of our party as to which personality and which message they prefer and I believe that by the end of the day, I don’t see His Excellency the former President [Mahama] winning. I don’t see it,” he had said.

Speaking on The Hard Truth, Sylvester Mensah also told the host of the nightly show, Nana Akosua Konadu, that the results of the 2016 elections show that there was a high level of disaffection and withdrawal from political participation within the rank and file of the party in the run-up to the polls.

“You could also tell that there was anger, there was frustration, there was disaffection and I guess that these are very loud statements emanating from the numbers. It tells clearly that we have gotten to a crucial junction in the life of our party that we need to re-strategise. We need to put in place a new set of vision that can accommodate the emerging trends and expectations of our party,” he said.

He was emphatic that he represents this “new set of vision” and charged the party’s delegate to confirm him as the flagbearer during primaries later this year.

“The delegate of our party has a responsibility to determine what is useful for our party. I have always trusted their views, I have always respected their views and I think they have never been wrong and they won’t be wrong this time and I guess that God willing, I will be rhyming with their choice and I will emerge as the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress,” he said.

Myjoyonline.com

Photos: Ghana opens new embassy in Kuwait 

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Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, has stated that the opening of the New Ghana embassy in the State of Kuwait is timely and opportune for the mutual benefit of Republic of Ghana and the State of Kuwait.

Addressing a ceremony in the Kuwaiti capital, Kuwait City, on the 16th of January 2018, to officially open the new Ghana embassy, the Foreign Minister said the opening of the embassy marks an important milestone in the diplomatic relations between the Republic of Ghana and the State of Kuwait which dates back to the period when the Embassy of the Republic of Ghana in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was concurrently accredited to the State of Kuwait.

"Due to the increasing political and economic relations between Ghana and Kuwait, Kuwait opened its Embassy in Accra in 2015. It is for the same reason that Ghana decided last year to establish a Resident Diplomatic Mission in Kuwait at Ambassadorial level in order to accelerate the diplomatic, economic, investment and trade relation between our two countries" the Minister said.

Economic Potential of Ghana, Kuwait Relations

In her speech, Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey observed that the State of Kuwait has made giant strides in economic development and taken concrete steps to strengthen its ties with the rest of the world, particularly African countries. She added that Kuwait having been designated as a strategic partner for Africa’s development by the African Union, offers Ghana a great opportunity that ought to be exploited.

"It is worth noting that in 2013, Kuwait hosted the 3rd Africa-Arab Summit in Kuwait City in which Ghana among other African countries, participated. The Summit produced the Kuwait Declaration which paved the way forward towards fruitful cooperation between the Arab countries including Kuwait and Africa.
No doubt that today through the instrumentality and the desire of the Government and people of Kuwait to open up to Africa, many African countries have deemed it expedient to open Resident Diplomatic Missions in Kuwait in order to explore the vast potential and opportunities that exist between our various countries and Kuwait. This move will advance mutually beneficial cooperation in various spheres of endeavour between African countries particularly Ghana and Kuwait" Madam Botchwey underscored .

The Embassy

The Foreign Minister Emphasized that there is a growing population of Ghanaian citizens and Ghanaian students in various parts of Kuwait with the attendant consular and welfare challenges faced by these Ghanaian compatriots. She added that It is her hope that the opening of the Embassy of Ghana in Kuwait would help Ghanaians domicile in Kuwait to be law abiding and worthy Ambassadors of Ghana in order not to mar the friendly relations and cooperation that exist between Ghana and Kuwait.

The Ambassador and Staff of the Embassy

The Foreign Minister expressed confidence in Ghana's Ambassador-Designate to Kuwait and the Staff of the Embassy to deliver efficient and competent services to enhance Ghana-Kuwait relations and cooperation for our mutual benefit and to justify the resources invested in the opening the new Embassy.
"It is my fervent hope that the opening of the new Embassy will not only foster closer cooperation and collaboration between Ghana and Kuwait both at the bilateral and multilateral level but will also bring the African Embassies and Ambassadors in Kuwait closer to brainstorm and share experiences and best practices" the Minister said.

Source: Wilberforce Asare 
 

Bestselling Donald Trump exposé Fire and Fury to become TV series

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Michael Wolff’s peek inside the White House will head to the small screen in a seven-figure deal, with the author onboard as executive producer

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Wolff will remain with the project as executive producer alongside the ex-BBC chief Michael Jackson, who now runs Two Cities Television. The company’s first show is Patrick Melrose, a forthcoming drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

A network is yet to be attached to the project and it will be shopped around as a series imminently.

The book tells the inside story of the first chaotic year of Trump’s White House after Wolff was granted unprecedented access behind the scenes. It has become the year’s first publishing sensation, selling more than 1m copies and angering the president himself.

“Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book,” Trump tweeted.

Wolff responded: “Not only is he helping me sell books, but he’s helping me prove the point of the book.”

The most controversial revelations in the book are attributed to Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who is alleged to have made derogatory comments about the Trump family as well as suggesting “treasonous” behavior.

The announcement comes months after HBO decided to cancel a project based around the 2016 election once sexual harassment allegations against writer Mark Halperin came to light. Next month also sees the premiere of Our Cartoon President, an animated series about Trump from Stephen Colbert, while an election-based series from the Zero Dark Thirty writer Mark Boal is still in the works.

The Guardian 

We will resist attempts by NPP to manipulate the EC – Minority

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The Minority spokesperson on Communication, Alhaji A.B.A Fuseini, has accused the current New Patriotic Party (NPP)  government of trying to manipulate the Electoral Commission.

Officials of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) on Monday 15th January 2018, stormed the Electoral Commission (EC) to force the Deputy Commissioner of the Electoral Commission Georgina Opoku Amankwa out of her office.

Mrs. Amankwaa allegedly defied the order of interdiction by the EOCO and reported to work, Monday.

Georgina Opoku Amankwa is the subject of an investigation after several allegations of financial impropriety were made against her.

Speaking to Ekourba Gyasi on Atinka AM Drive Wednesday, Alhaji A.B.A Fuseini stated that the Minority is very much aware that the NPP is trying to manipulate the affairs at the EC and that, they will resist  such attempts.  

According to him, NPP’s one year in power has been characterized by lawlessness and Georgina Opoku Amankwa’s incident is an example.

He stated that the NPP is bent on hunting  some people at the Electoral commission out of office in order to manipulate the affairs of the EC.

Ghana | atinkaonline.com | Vivian Adu Boatemaa

Scrap prez media encounter; journalists asking shallow questions –Gyampo 

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A senior political science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo, has said the President’s media encounter series should be scrapped since journalists are not asking thought-provoking questions. 

Speaking on Accra based Asempa FM’s “Eko sii sen” Wednesday, the lecturer said over the years, relevant questions have been ignored by journalists during such encounters, rendering the process irrelevant.

“The performance of journalists in this year’s encounter was abysmal just like the previous ones.

“If that continues then it should be scrapped; it is not the forum to sing praises or ask unnecessary questions.”
In his view, detailed research wasn’t taken into account prior to the event.
 
“If journalists won’t seize the opportunity to ask thought- provoking questions, then the president should go to the market, ask traders of their needs and they will be able to tell the president exactly what they want,” he said.

Professor Gyampo said the few relevant questions asked were not followed up. According to him, unsatisfactory responses to questions require “follow –ups”, 

He reiterated that many of the questions asked were ‘disjointed’, exposing journalists to ridicule.  

Ghana | Atinkaonline.com | Simon Agbovi 

North and South Korea agree  to march under single 'united' flag in Olympic Games

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North and South Korea have agreed to march together under a single "unified Korea" flag at next month's Winter Olympics in the South.

They also agreed to field a joint women's ice hockey team in rare talks at the truce village of Panmunjom.

These are the first high-level talks between the two Koreas in more than two years.

The Games will take place between 9 and 25 February in Pyeongchang in South Korea.

If the plans are realised, a hundreds-strong North Korean delegation – including 230 cheerleaders, 140 orchestral musicians and 30 taekwondo athletes – could cross into the South via the land border to attend.

The North has also agreed to send a smaller, 150-member delegation to the Paralympics in March.

Both South Korea's hockey coach and conservative newspapers had expressed concern about the prospect of a united hockey team, saying it could damage South Korea's chances of winning a medal.

Tens of thousands of people are said to have signed online petitions urging President Moon Jae-in to scrap the plan.

And it will have to be approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Saturday, because North Korea has missed registration deadlines or failed to qualify.

South Korea will also need to find ways to host the North Korean delegation without violating UN Security Council sanctions outlawing cash transfers to Pyongyang, and blacklisting certain senior officials from Pyongyang.

Japan has viewed the latest detente with suspicion, with Foreign Minister Taro Kono saying the world should not be blinded by Pyongyang's recent "charm offensive".

"It is not the time to ease pressure or to reward North Korea," Mr Kono said, according to Reuters news agency. "The fact that North Korea is engaging in dialogue could be interpreted as proof that the sanctions are working."

But the South's liberal President Moon told South Korean Olympic athletes on Wednesday that the North's participation in the Games would help improve inter-Korean relations.

That would in turn pave the way for the nuclear issue to be addressed and open the way to dialogue between the North and the US, he said according to Yonhap news agency in Seoul.

The North has made rapid recent advances in its nuclear and conventional weapons programmes.

Its latest ballistic missile test, on 28 November, sparked a new series of fresh sanctions from the UN targeting petrol shipments and travel.

But soon afterwards North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he was "open to dialogue".

Japan's Foreign Minister Kono issued his caution about talks in Vancouver, Canada, where some 20 nations that fought alongside the US-backed South in the bloody 1950-53 war – which ended in stalemate and sealed the peninsula's division – met to discuss its future.

On the sidelines of the talks, ministers from South Korea, the US and Japan agreed to maintain pressure on the North to denuclearise while offering support for the bilateral talks, reported Yonhap agency.

BBC

Mustapha Hamid shoots down “customized V8” propaganda 

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Minister for Information, Mustapha Hamid, has denied owning 4 x4 wheel vehicle with registration number, "HAMID 1”.

The said customized V8 number plate was being circulated on social media Wednesday. Some critics slammed the minister for endorsing an opulent lifestyle after only a year in office.
  
However, in a statement posted on his Facebook page Wednesday, Sheikh Hamid denied the allegation saying, “…checks done at the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) reveals that the said vehicle registration number does not exist in their system”

Below is the full statement:

My attention has been drawn to a picture of a white 4×4 wheel vehicle with registration number 'HAMID 1 18' being circulated on social media purporting to be my vehicle.

I wish to state the following:

1. That I do not own the said vehicle.

2. That I have never owned or used a white 4×4 wheel vehicle.

3. That anyone who knows me well, will know that I will never customize a vehicle registration number either in my name or otherwise.

4. That checks done at the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) reveals that the said vehicle registration number does not exist in their system.

5. That any person who sees the said vehicle should report same to the nearest police station since the registration is fake which is criminal.

Thank you.

Ghana | Atinkaonline.com  
 

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