Seth J. Bokpe's Ghana Newsreel

  Top: Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings in a celebration mood, Down left: National Democratic Congress, General Secretary: Johnson 'General Mosquitoe'  Asiedu-Nketia and Down roght: Nana Konadu at a 31st December Women's Movement function The Nana Konadu for 2012 Campaign Team has accused the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of sidelining the team as the party constitutes its Electoral Committee for the July 8-10, 2011 congress to elect its flag bearer. “We have written to the General Secretary asking for us to be included on the electoral committees of the party which are responsible for ensuring a fair, unbiased and democratic election at the congress. This was treated with contempt, as we received a letter informing us that our request cannot be granted,” it said. Addressing a news conference in Accra, to give an overview of the team’s campaign tour of seven out of the 10 regions, the Co-ordinator of the Nana Konadu for 2012 ...

President J.E.A. Mills has directed the office of the District Assemblies Common Fund to develop modalities with financial institutions to pre-finance the budget of district assemblies before their funds are released. This, in the view of the President, is necessary  in order not to stall development projects in the various assemblies, as well as ensure that such projects are monitored, evaluated and completed on schedule. The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, made this known when he received the executive of the National Association of Local Government Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) when they made a courtesy call on him at the ministry. The delegation, led by the President of NALAG, Mr Theophilus Adu-Mensah, were at the ministry to congratulate the minister on his appointment as well as pledge their support for an efficient local government system in Ghana. NALAG is the umbrella organisation of all Lo...

Two members of a syndicate suspected of altering the expiry dates on food items before supplying them to hawkers on the streets of Accra have been arraigned before an Accra circuit court. Diana Abbey, 37, and Kwame Owusu, aka Gozzy, 35, each pleaded not guilty and were released on a GH¢40,000 bail with two sureties each.  Earlier, the Food and Drugs Board (FDB), in a post-market surveillance operation with the Monitoring Unit of the Ghana Police Service, had arrested the accused persons when they were labelling food products. The syndicate, which operates in a warehouse at Tudu in Accra, deals in food products, including baby foods, tomato ketch-up, beverages, biscuits, cornflakes and yoghurt. Majority of the products found in their warehouse which expired in July last year had their expiry dates extended to July 2011. Among the products were Heinz and Ideal tomato ketch-up, Countre Dairy (Full cream milk), Elle and Vire Dairy baby food, Don Simon, best in oran...

A Supreme Court judge, Mrs Justice Sophia O. Adinyira, has described some media comments and public debate on rulings by judges as sweeping, unsavoury and unwarranted. The Judiciary, she stated, welcomed academic criticisms and reviews of its judgements, as they were good for the development of the country’s jurisprudence and would also make the Judiciary accountable. some supreme court judges (left) Justice Adinyira (top) “Though our 1992 Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and expression and the freedom and independence of the media, there are some limitations on the expression of these freedoms in the interest of national security, public order, public morality and for the purpose of protecting the reputations and rights and freedoms of other persons,” Mrs Justice Adinyira said when she swore in Mr Anthony Kodjo Batse, a government representative on the National Media Commission (NMC). The judge’s comment comes on the heels of recent criticisms and demonstrations that...

Fifteen per cent of Ghanaian children develop language or speech problems that affect their development and performance,  Dr Ebenezer V. Badoe, the Director of  Neurology/Developmental Services at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, has said. “The situation therefore calls for the country's  policy makers to identify the needs of such children and incorporate it into the country's health and educational sectors,” he said. Dr Badoe, who spoke  to the Daily Graphic in an interview on the fringes of the  2011 International Autism Policies and Practices Conference in Accra, said  the early childhood policy adopted by the country must seriously deal with screening children with language problems in order to develop the appropriate remedies for them. Autism is a condition that affect children before age three and leaves them unable to form normal social relationships or develop normal communication. A child may become isolated from human contact and absorbed i...

        Top: Vice-Chancelor of the University of Ghana, Prof Ernest Aryeetey) Main: The Great Hall of the Univ. THE University of Ghana, Legon, has restructured its undergraduate programmes in the Humanities and Sciences, with many new courses and programmes introduced and existing ones revised. The Vice-chancellor of the university, Prof Ernest Aryeetey, announced this at its congregation held at Legon on Saturday. He said the university had inaugurated a steering committee to oversee the process of creating a multi-disciplinary institute of applied scientific research to facilitate industrial transformation in Ghana and other parts of Africa. Prof Aryeetey said the work of the institute was expected to be in areas including food processing and the development of materials for various production process, including packaging and environmental conservation. In all, 4,408 students graduated, including 846 postgraduates, 21 doctoral candidates, ...

THE 2010 Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Awards were launched in Accra yesterday, with the introduction of six new award categories to honour individual and institutional media excellence in the country. The new awards, which are in the categories of Science, Oil and Gas, Anti-Narcotics, Social Security, Agriculture and Water, bring to 50 the number of awards up for grabs. This year’s awards, which are the 16th since their inception and scheduled for August this year, will receive entries from April to May 9, 2011 and cover works published and broadcast from January 1 to December 31, 2010. The awards to be contested for are Radio, Television and Print News Reporting, Features, Investigative Reporting, Photo-journalism, Sports, Arts/Entertainment and Domestic Tourism, the Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu Award for Business/Finance and Economic Reporting, Environment, Health, and Parliamentary Reporting. Others are Anti-Corruption, HIV/AIDS, Political Reporting, Disability, Telecommunicat...