Seth J. Bokpe's Ghana Newsreel

The Africa World Airlines Embraer ERJ-145 jet A new airline, Africa World Airlines, Thursday launched its operations in Ghana with a promise to change the face of the aviation industry in the country. The airline, which would ply the domestic route including Kumasi and Tamale and the West Africa sub-region, will be powered by two Embraer ERJ-145 jets. The company inaugurated the first of its two aircrafts at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) in Accra, during the launch. There was wild jubilation among management and staff of the company when at exactly 11:25 a.m., the plane touched down at the KIA. This brings to five the number of domestic airlines operating in the country. The others are Starbow, Fly 540, Citylink and Antrak, which have an average of 20 domestic flights throughout the country. With the initial complement of two aircraft, the airline is expected to fly to West African cities including Ouagadougou, Abidjan, Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcout, Dakar, B...

The greatest tribute Ghanaians can pay to the memory of the late President J.E.A Mills is to put an end to political activism defined by invectives and intemperate language which are catalysts for political violence. “Let the demise of the late President bring into consonance the opposite of political and religious tension that characterise our politics,” the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, the Most Rev Prof Emmanuel K. Asante , told mourners in a sermon at the memorial service for the departed President. Most Rev Prof Asante noted that it was time “we engage in politics of civility bearing in mind that even in politics we are in partnership with God for the development and governance of the country which is his creation.” Politics of civility, he said were principles the late President stood for. “As a lasting monument to immortalise the late President, let us be more united as a nation and draw closer to God and to the principles of peace especially i...

Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur- Central Bank Governor is President Mahama's choice for Vice-President Central Bank Governor, Kwesi Amissah Arthur, has been nominated as the Vice-President of Ghana. President John Dramani Mahama has communicated the choice to the Speaker of Parliament. The spokesperson to the President, Mr John Jinapor told graphic.com.gh at the seat of government at the Castle, Osu, today that Mr Amissah-Arthur, an economist, would now have to go through an approval process in Parliament to be confirmed as the Vice President in line with Article 60 (10) of the 1992 Constitution. Article 60 (10) of the Constitution stipulates that “The Vice President shall, upon assuming office as President under Clause Six of this Article, nominate a person to the office of Vice President subject to approval by Parliament”. The nomination of Mr Arthur followed the swearing-in of Mr Mahama as the President following the demise of former President John Evans ...

Farmers Day Slated For November 2. Mr Kwesi Ahwoi - Agric Minister, launching the Farmers' Day celebration in Accra Tuesday. The Ministry of Agriculture (MoFA) has launched the 28th Famers’ Day celebration in Accra to kick-start series of activities to honour the country’s farmers and fishers. Unlike the convention where the day is celebrated on the first Friday of December annually, this year’s event will be held at Abokobi in the Ga East Municipal Assembly on November 2, 2012 because of the general elections on December 7. On the theme ‘Grow More Food: Strengthening Farmer Based Organisations for Market Place Bargaining Power,’ the ministry is using this year’s event to consolidate its policy to develop Farmer Based Organisations (FBOs) as tools to make farmers and fishers more competitive, cost effective and have greater bargaining power at the market place. Launching the programme and an appeal for sponsorship for the event, Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, Agricu...

Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan - Chairman of the EC The Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) has dragged the Electoral Commission (EC) to court for failing to make a provisional arrangement that would have enabled voters in the Kwabre West and Wulensi constituencies to elect Members of Parliament in a by-election, following the demise of their Members of Parliament (MPs). Following an injunction placed on the two by-elections by an Accra High Court in the wake of a joint court action by the general secretaries of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), the PPP filed the suit at the Supreme Court seeking an order to set aside the injunction. The High Court had ruled that it was illegal for the EC to use the old voters register to conduct by-elections at the two constituencies because the law which created the old register had been revoked. The Kwabre West and the Wulensi seats became vacant after the d...

Mr Lee Ocran - Minister of Education The Ghana Publishers Association (GPA) has dragged the Ministry of Education to court seeking an order to quash an addendum of the ministry which has reversed Ghana’s book publishing policy. The plaintiffs are among other things praying the court for an injunction restraining the Minister of Education from reversing the book policy without due process and sufficient and proper consultation with stakeholders, including the GPA. In addition, the plaintiffs are praying the court for an order of mandamus to compel the Ministry of Education to apply the long-standing book policy in evaluation and award of tenders submitted. In an affidavit in support of the suit, the plaintiffs said the action arose out of a Textbook Development and Distribution Policy for Pre-Tertiary Education of October 1999 by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports. According to the affidavit, the relevance of the book policy arose as a resul...

Two suspected armed robbers run out of luck when a taxi driver they had hired gave them up after seeing the nozzle of a gun in their bag. Although Nii Addo Tetteh, a 34-year old trader and Nene Sakitey Asare, a 42-year old fisherman, initially managed to escape, they were arrested on August 6, 2012. Briefing the media, the Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Patrick Timbillah said the two suspects hired the the taxi driver from Somanya in the Eastern Region to Weija in the Greater Accra Region on August 5, 2012, a day after the incident. On reaching Tema, the suspects asked the taxi driver to stop at a junction near Tema. The suspects then disappeared and returned with a woollen green bag, the content of which the taxi driver said he did not know. They then asked the taxi driver to continue the journey to Weija, their original destination. According to DCOP Timbilla, on reaching New Weija, the suspects asked the taxi driver to join them to have ...

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) is sourcing funding and support from Overseas Private Investment Corporation, an independent U.S. government agency, to strengthen Ghana’s agricultural value chain. The funds would be used to build two new rice mills, 14 modern warehouses, four markets with cold storage facilities, two abattoirs and milk processing facilities under the government’s Medium Term Agricultural Sector Investment Plan (2011-2015). At the opening of the Fourth National Food and Agriculture Show (FAGRO) in Accra yesterday, President John Dramani Mahama, in a speech read on his behalf by the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, said the government had made giant strides in the agricultural sector. Apart from increased food production, he said, the government had introduced interventions such as Youth in Agriculture, the Expanded Fertiliser Subsidy and Irrigation Development programmes. Unfortunately, he said, some critics had...

he National Executive Committee (NEC) of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) followed due process in selecting President John Dramani Mahama as it flag bearer pending the endorsement by Congress. The party’s Propaganda Secretary, Mr Richard Quarshigah told graphic.com.gh that contrary to the assertions of the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr Martin Amidu, that the party members had been left with no choice  to choose from in the selection of a flag bearer, the NEC fulfilled its mandate as spelt out in Article 50 of the party’s constitution. The NEC, he stated had not imposed Mr Mahama on the party since the NDC constitution in Article 2... clearly indicated that when the party has a sitting President, he or she became the party leader. The NDC’s flagbearer slot became vacant after its flagbearer and then sitting President John Evans Atta Mills untimely died on July 24, 2012. He noted per Article 44 of the party’s constitution that the ND...

President John Mahama yesterday   submitted his nomination forms to pave way for his acclamation by party delegates as   the flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress in the December elections. The NDC will on Friday go to congress to acclaim or reject the candidacy of President Mahama following the death of President J.E.A. Mills who was the party’s flag bearer for the 2012 elections. The usual euphoria that accompany such moments was absent when Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the Minister of Communication, arrived at the party’s headquarters at 11:05 a.m. to submit the forms on behalf of President Mahama. President Mahama who is currently on the ‘thank you’ tour of the Upper East Region will join other party functionaries on Friday to decide his fate. President John Dramani Mahama last Thursday picked nomination forms for the flag bearer position of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), calling on the rank and file of the party to iron out their differences and...

The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Johnson Asiedu-Nketiah, has said the party has filed a complaint with the National Peace Council to intervene in the decision of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to hang its party paraphernalia at the venue of the NDC congress on Thursday. Mr Asiedu-Nketiah, who said he was yet to see the paraphernalia and NPP colours, said “If what I am hearing is true then it means some people practice peace while others preach peace and promote violence”. Mr Asiedu-Nketiah was addressing the media in Accra on the party’s preparedness for the Friday Congress.  According to media reports  the NPP had enveloped the Baba Yara Stadium  with posters of its flag bearer Nana Akufo-Addo, a few days before the beginning of the NDC congress. Mr Richard Quarshigah, the NDC National Propaganda Secretary,  who confirmed this to the Daily Graphic  said  it was unfortunate that that the NPP in the Ashanti Region wa...

When two lovebirds decided to tie the nuptial knot last Saturday, little did they know that the day will turn disastrous and bring them pain and anxiety. The newly married couple’s day took a sad twist when the bridegroom, Isaac Botwe, collapsed shortly after the wedding ceremony, and the vehicle conveying him to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital knocked down and killed a pregnant woman and her six-year-old son. The incident has resulted in the arrest of the driver of the vehicle, Joseph Agyare. According to the story, confirmed by Superintendent of Police, Mr Peter A.K. Ayirezang, the Mamprobi District Police Commander, around 6 p.m. on August 25, 2012, the driver was driving a Mercedes Benz saloon car with registration number GT 9291 U from Laterbiokorshie towards Korle Bu carrying his friend, Botwe. Mr Ayirezang said Agyare, who was rushing Botwe to the hospital, upon reaching a section of the road at Mamprobi Sempe, knocked down a 35-year-old woman, Beatrice Asiedu,...

The Greater Accra Regional branch of the Tertiary Education Institutions Network (TEIN), the student’s wing of the National Democratic Congress, is calling on all delegates for the party’s congress in Kumasi   to give a massive endorsement to President John Dramani Mahama as the party’s flag bearer for the December elections. “Mr President, TEIN wants you to know that we will support all your endeavours anywhere, any time,” Mr George Dadzie Junior, the Interim President of the network said at a press conference in Accra yesterday. The NDC will on August 30 go to congress to acclaim President Mahama as the party’s flag bearer following the sudden demise of President J.E.A Mills who was the party’s flag bearer for the elections. With about three months to the elections, the NDC’s National Executive Committee endorsed President Mahama for the position pending acclamation by the congress, the highest decision making body of the party. Flanked by Mr Bilal M. Sulemana, Pr...

On Wednesday when sorrow conquered many hearts, tears flowed freely and the sun took cover behind a gloomy sky, his journey to eternal rest began. While hisbody was moved form the 37 Military Hospitals through his Regimanuel Gray Estate residence to the principal streets of the Christiansburg Castle where the late President J.E.A Mil steered the ‘Yutong Bus called Ghana,’he left behind a trail of spectators in tears as the funeral cortegemoved on. On the streets of Accra, the red and black clothes pictured the sorrow of Ghanaians. Finally the hearse touched down at the Banquet Hall of the State House where the late President   was laid in state his infectious smile and high sense of humour gone with the death that snapped his soul. President Mills might not be charismatic but that which he had not in charisma he made up for in humour. At the height of the Woyome saga, Mr Martin Amidu who had just released his first of what would later be known as epistles alleged that some minister...

While many Ghanaians were still mourning, a number of gamblers who staked the national weekly lotto with the numbers regarding the date of the death of President John Evans Atta Mills, his burial and his age won various sums of money. Three numbers associated with the late President; 3, 10 and 68 dropped in the national lotto draw on Saturday. Some gamblers had previously tried their luck on the day he died, the place he died and his age, as well as the fact that the late President was the third John to rule Ghana in the Fourth Republic but had failed to win. But those who gambled with the three-day 3 national mourning (3), date of his burial, August 10, and his age, 68, smiled at last when the National Lotteries Authority (NLA) released the winning numbers for Saturday, August 11, 2012. The winning numbers for the 2600 event of the National Weekly Lottery, which have got many lotto fanatics heaping praises on the late President, were 74-33-3-10-68. Until the numb...