Seth J. Bokpe's Ghana Newsreel

The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Mr Johnson  Asiedu Nketiah, sasy his victory in the defamation suit against the Daily Guide is a punishment for dishonesty and lies. “The problem of this country is more about dishonesty and lying than corruption.  The way to address it, is to make dishonesty and lying very expensive.” “The way to make it expensive is to ensure that when people are caught lying, they must be dealt with punitively,” he said at a press conference in Accra yesterday.  According to him, ordinarily, “I would not take any media house at the first instance without giving them the opportunity to know the fact and correct the damage. I tried doing that and I was met with further insults.” “I don’t also go to court on just any accusation. I have never taken any radio station to court because I have been insulted as a foolish person. This is because being wise or foolish is your opinion but when you accuse me of criminality, as for that ...

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) owes the New Patriotic Party (NPP) no apology for it’s plans to introduce a progressive free senior high school education from the 2015/2016 academic year, the General Secretary of the NDC, Mr Johnson Asiedu-Nketia has declared. According to Mr Nketia, the NPP could not lay claims to the idea which had been enshrined in the 1992 Constitution — the source from which the NDC lifted the initiative. Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday, Mr Asiedu-Nketiah said the NPP could not claim patent to the idea, especially when it boycotted the Constituent Assembly that drafted the 1992 Constitution. The President, John Dramani Mahama, in his last Tuesday’s State of the Nation Address, announced that the Ministry of Education, following consultations with stakeholders had  prepared a report on the roadmap for a progressive introduction of free secondary education in Ghana as required under the 1992 constitution. “This roadmap will be presen...

THE vulnerability of Accra to floods manifested again yesterday when parts of the city were submerged in water after nearly an hour of torrential rain. While a number of streets were submerged by the flood, companies, including the New Times Corporation, publishers of the Ghanaian Times and The Spectator;  Metro Mass Transit, the Odawna Clinic, a number of auto shops on the Graphic Road and some homes were flooded and their occupants had to be evacuated. Some of the hard-hit areas were the auto mechanic shops at Odawna in Adabraka and the Kaneshie Market area. Vehicular movement came to a standstill as a result. The usually busy Adabraka Official Town area was deserted by vehicles as the area got flooded, forcing motorists to avoid it. Residents, afraid of vehicles moving into their homes, pitched their camps in the rain, pleading with drivers not to move further. Others were also scooping the water from their homes with buckets, bowls and other containers they could lay hands ...

THE Chief Executive Officer of UT Holdings Limited, Prince Kofi Amoabeng, last  Tuesday told the Accra Circuit Court that Naa Otuah Sawyne, the owner of the property and a complaint in a case in which he has been accused of fraud, assigned her interest in the property to the person he released the title deeds to. According to him, Naa Swayne assigned her interest in the property, numbered 23, First Ringway Estate to the late Mr Alex Adjei, the purchaser. Amoabeng has been accused of releasing title deed documents of the complainant, Naa Sawyne, which were in the custody of his bank to one Alexander Adjei, now deceased, to secure a loan of GH¢1,279,000 from the HFC Bank. Amoabeng’s evidence-in-chief However, in his evidence-in-chief at the court, presided over by Mr Francis Obiri , he said the complainant had agreed to assign the property to Mr Adjei and had received a $100,000 as part payment. He said while he witnessed the assignment for Naa Swayne, one Matilda Hesse, witness...

HUNDREDS of Ugandans defied a downpour in Kampala to celebrate the signing of a controversial anti-gay Bill by President Yoweri Museveni. “Everywhere, people are in groups talking about it. Even though it rained here, the city square had about 700 talking about it. It is the same in every corner. They are commending the president for signing the law,” Ugandan journalist, Richard Lukwago , told the Daily Graphic . The new bill strengthened existing punishments for anyone caught having gay sex, imposing jail terms of up to life for "aggravated homosexuality" - including sex with a minor or while HIV positive. It criminalised lesbianism for the first time and made it a crime to help individuals engage in homosexual acts . Gay rights activists in Uganda have kicked against the law, describing it as a kick in the groin of human rights. They have already declined an intention to  legal challenge the new law. The bill was originally introduced in 2009 and prescribed death pe...

  Barring any last-minute hitch the Ghanaian auto market may soon be flooded with Nigeria-assembled vehicles.  Nigeria began the implementation of its auto policy which seeks to reduce car imports and set up a functional car manufacturing industry.  In October 2013, Nigeria's Federal Executive Council approved the new national auto policy in an attempt to cut down on the country's car import bill and encourage local manufacturing. The statistics Just like most countries in Africa, Nigeria’s car manufacturing sector is one that is on its knees but with the new policy, Nigeria is expected to save an estimated US$3.451 billion in automobile imports and create more than 500,000 direct and indirect jobs. Figures from the Nigerian Automotive Manufacturers Association (NAMA), the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development indicates tha...

An attempt by a mason, Emmanuel Gyau, to use spiritual intervention in a case in which he is accused of defiling a 13–year-old girl yielded no effect when the judge told him “the law is the law, incantations will not help you.” Gyau, throughout the hearing of the case in which he allegedly defiled and impregnated the girl, kept closing his eyes and murmuring inaudible words. But the presiding judge at the Accra Circuit Court, Ms Ellen Vivian Amoah, urged him to forget about the incantations. The court found him guilty but deferred sentencing to February 24, 2014. Gyau had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charge of defilement but changed his plea to guilty with explanation last Tuesday, February 11, 2014. Accused pleads Gyau pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy. “I will accept the pregnancy and look after the girl to be delivered of the baby. Please temper justice...