Seth J. Bokpe's Ghana Newsreel

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) is advising the country’s banks to guard against vulnerability to cyber attacks. “The growing threat of cyber attacks has never been more pressing. Recent instances of payment fraud demonstrate the necessity for industry-wide collaboration to fight against threats,” the central bank’s Second Deputy Governor, Mr Johnson Asiamah said. He was addressing bankers at a workshop organised in collaboration with SWIFT, the global financial transaction messaging network, on the company’s Customer Security Programme (CSP). The CSP incorporates five strategic initiatives which are improved information sharing, enhanced SWIFT-related tools for customers, enhanced guidelines and audited frameworks, support for increased transactional pattern detection and support by third party providers. The one-day workshop was aimed at educating SWIFT’s community of its obligation to meet mandatory security requirements and the associated qualification p...

Supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have been urged to calm down as the government yesterday released a list of 212 municipal and district chief executives to lead its vision at the district level. With a wave of agitations spreading in some parts of the country over President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s choice of metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs), the acting General Secretary of the party, Mr John Boadu, has called on the party members and supporters to pipe down their anger. “With the kind of people the NPP has on the ground, with qualities such as experience, long service to the party and hardworking people over the period, obviously if you have to appoint one person in a district, you will have a lot more people who are qualified and competent and would have wished to be the one, but the President has only one choice,” he told the Daily Graphic. According to him, there were a ...

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has appointed 212 chief executives for the metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies (MMDAs) amid agitations by some supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). The regional breakdown of the appointees are Ashanti Region, 29,  Brong Ahafo Region, 27, Central Region, 20, Eastern Region 26, Greater Accra,15, Northern Region, 20, Upper East Region, 13, Upper West 11, Volta Region 25, and  Western Region 21. The list of the appointees was released in Accra by the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama, with a call on those who were not chosen for those positions to remain calm. At a media briefing yesterday, Hajia Mahama said: “It is natural that those who were shortlisted and vetted by the President’s Committee had high expectations that they would be appointed to serve the nation as chief executives of the assemblies and be representatives of the central government in their districts. But it is obviou...

A section of the Accra-Kumasi railway line at Osino in the Fanteakwa District in the Eastern Region has allegedly been destroyed by two mining companies. Kibi Goldfields Limited and Narawa Mining are alleged to have gone beyond their allowed limits and mined the buffer zones of the Birim River and either yanked off part of the line or mined beside it. The two companies have since ceased their activities following the directive of a court. During a visit to the area last Saturday, the Daily Graphic saw the railway lines removed and packed in a bushy area on the concession of the Kibi Goldfields, while the section on the Narawa concession was exposed because of mining activities along it, contrary to the two companies’ cadastral map. The map dictates the allowable limits of mining activities on a given concession. Eastern Corridor Railway Line The activities of the two companies come at a time the government has expres...

The Action Chapel will from May this year be alight with the celebration of the life and achievements of its Founder, Pioneer and Patriarch Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams’ 60th birthday and the church’s 40th anniversary. The event, named 40/Sixty, will be an eight-month commemoration of the church’s past and celebration of its present and future, from May 12, 2017 to December 3, 2017.   The church has planned a series of programmes and activities, with seasoned men and women of God, that will highlight the significance of this anniversary and birthday from lessons learned to hope inspired as it builds, with grace the legacy God has promised ACI.       “As the people of God know, Ebenezer represents Israel’s divine victory over the Philistines. “Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen.  He named it Ebenezer, saying ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us’” (1 Samuel 7:12). “Similarly, Action Chapel Internati...

The Car Rental Association of Ghana (CRAG) is embarking on a registration of car rentals as part of a strategy to give it a stronger brand in the auto industry, as well as champion road safety. “We intend to embark on an aggressive campaign to educate and advocate road safety. We will engage other players in the transport sector and policy makers to contribute towards making our roads safe for all users,” the President of the association, Mr Seth Yeboah Ocran, announced at a consultative forum in Accra. He said a much safer road would encourage both domestic and foreign tourism and pledged that the association would join forces with stakeholders to bring sanity to the country’s roads. Road safety  According to statistics from the National Road Safety Commission, as of the end of November 2016, there were a total of 11,378 road crashes countrywide, involving 17,746 vehicles, 1,990 deaths and 10,154 injuries. Howev...

The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has given Mr Ibrahim Mahama, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Engineers & Planners, a private engineering firm, a two-week ultimatum to pay almost GH¢13 million, being import duties and interest on equipment he brought into the country. A source at EOCO told the Daily Graphic that although the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) had an arrangement with Mr Mahama to pay the amount, totalling GH¢12,755.251.21, within a certain period, he failed to fulfil his part of the agreement for more than a year. The source said rather, Mr Mahama, who is a brother of former President John Dramani Mahama, issued dud cheques, which was a criminal offence.   He was reportedly granted bail after EOCO had interrogated him last Tuesday. The cheque was said to be for goods reportedly cleared in 2015. The Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Mr Kennedy Agyapong, had, for several weeks, alleged that Mr Mahama issued dud ch...

New entrant to the banking sector, OmniBank, is set to roll out two products as it seeks to consolidate its foothold in the country since  it started its operations last year. The bank is optimistic that by launching its Free for all Account and Freedom Account by the end of the month, it will demonstrate the flexibility and value it offers. Free for all “We have been saying that bankers have been cheating us for too long.  When you put your money in a bank account and you are not taking the money out, you should not be charged a maintenance fee because what the bank is doing with your money is investing it. So charging you is not fair. “If you can keep a minimum of GH¢100 in your account, you will never pay any charge; but for businesses, you have to keep at least GH¢1,000,” the Managing Director of  the bank, Mr Philip Oti Mensah, said when he paid a courtesy call on the Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Ransford Tetteh, last week. ...

The Okyenhene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin, has discredited allegations that he is neck-deep into illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, in his jurisdiction, hence his inability to fight the illegal activity. He said the allegations were mere fabrications by his detractors, including some of his family members opposed to his enstoolment.   “I am the allodial owner of all lands in Akyem Abuakwa. If I desire to acquire a fortune from mining, nothing prevents me from applying to the Minerals Commission for a licence to carry out lawful mining operations,” he told the Daily Graphic. Allegation In May 2014, there were media reports that a royal of the Ofori Panin Stool, Odehyee Nana Kwame Adjei Boateng, had accused Osagyefo Ofori Panin of being involved in galamsey and recommended his arrest. Nana Boateng was said to have backed his allegation with receipts allegedly issued to a known galamsey operator from the Office of the Okyenhene. Mischievo...

KNUST beats three other varsities in competition The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has emerged winners of the maiden edition of ‘The Royal Banking and Finance Challenge’ which aims at educating the public, especially the youth, on financial literacy. The KNUST shrugged off a stiff competition from three other finalists, the University of Ghana, the University of Education, Winneba and the Methodist University College of Ghana, to win the competition which had 16 contesting universities. The University of Ghana came second, followed by the University of Education, Winneba and the Methodist University College of Ghana taking the fourth place. KNUST dominated the four-round competition from the second round, answering questions from areas such as banking, finance, contract, stock exchange and insurance. The competition is the brainchild of Edufair Ghana Foundation and was sponsored by The Royal Bank. Objective The Managing Director of The Royal Bank, Mr Os...

The Minority in Parliament is calling for a full-scale parliamentary inquiry into an allegation of conflict of interest levelled against the Minister of Finance concerning the recent $2.25 billion domestic bond issued by the government. It is the case of the Minority that Mr Ken Ofori-Atta cooked the bond for his friends and cronies, as well as breached Article 181(5) of the 1992 Constitution which requires international transactions to be approved by Parliament. Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday to assess the President Akufo-Addo administration’s 100 days in office, the Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Mr Cassiel Ato Forson, said although the bond was meant for domestic investors, a huge chunk of it was issued to Franklin Templeton Investment Limited, an American global investment management organisation. The America company, he stated, had a Director, Mr Trevor G. Trefgarne, who also doubled as the Board Chairman of the  Enterprise Group, a company partially o...

Adventure tourists thronged the Shai Hills Resource Reserve last Friday to launch the maiden National Biking and Abseiling Festival. The festival is aimed at using sports to attract more visitors to the reserve which is increasing its wildlife stock. The initiative is a collaboration between the Forestry Commission and BraveHearts Expeditions, an adventure tourism company.    Established in the 1960s, the reserve is home to a congress of 30 baboons, three different species of monkeys, 500 antelopes, 175 bird species, wild cats and the recently added zebras and ostriches. Many first-timers, including the Deputy Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission, Mr John Allotey, and the Director of Operations of the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission, Rev. David Kpelle, joined revellers to conquer the Shai Hills in an abseil. Also called a rappel, abseil, is a controlled descent of a vertical surface, such as a rock face, using a doubled rope...

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will, tomorrow, launch the government’s flagship agricultural programme, ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’, in Goaso in the Asunafo municipality in the Brong Ahafo Region. Modelled on the highly successful ‘Operation Feed Yourself (OFY)’ programme of the 1970s, the initiative is expected to be driven by 200,000 farmers to be selected nationwide and individuals willing to cultivate vegetables and other crops in their backyard. President Akufo-Addo is expected to perform the official launch of the campaign, which is expected to revolutionise the country's agriculture. The aim of the project is to ensure increased food production, while cutting down on the huge foreign exchange used in importing food items into the country annually. This year, maize, rice, soybean, sorghum and vegetables, including tomato, onion and pepper, are the five main crops for concentration. The campaign is expected to yield food valued at G...

Uniquely sporty, elegant, spacious, engaging to drive aptly describes the Honda Place’s latest addition to the auto market in Ghana, the Honda Civic 2016. It does not take much to realise that the Japanese automaker took the 43-year-old iconic model with nine generations to its name, to the auto theatre and returned with an all-new vehicle architecture, sporty, sophisticated new interior and exterior styling, a more spacious and high-quality cabin. Powered by a 2.0-litre engine, the Civic is lighter because its architects put their aluminium body shop to work to carve it, but yet maintains its stylish and robust image.   It does not take much to realise that the Japanese automaker took the 43-year-old iconic model with nine generations to its name, to the auto theatre and returned with an all-new vehicle architecture, sporty, sophisticated new interior and exterior styling, a more spacious and high-quality cabin. Powered by a 2.0-litre engine, the Civic is ...