Seth J. Bokpe's Ghana Newsreel

Hundreds of mourners have converged on the Forecourt of the State House in Accra to bid farewell to the late Major Maxwell Adam Mahama, the military officer who was murdered in a mob action at Denkyira-Obuasi in the Central Region. The funeral, expected to be heavily steeped in military tradition, is the difficult end to the short but decorated career of the rising military officer who was lynched at Denkyira-Obuasi while leading a military detachment providing security for Alaska C & G Mining Company at D iaso in the Upper Denkyira  West District in the Central Region. His brutal murder stunned the nation and awakened it to the overlooked matter of instant justice that has claimed many innocent lives. The government is organising a state burial for Major Mahama and the military will put up a display in honour of one of its finest young officers. Officers and men of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) yesterday rehearsed at the Forecourt of th...

The Office of the Speci “The establishment of a dedicated anti-corruption office vested with investigative and prosecutorial powers would result in an improved performance of the country’s anti-corruption efforts, instead of relying continuously on multipurpose or mixed mandate agencies,” Ms Akuffo added. She was speaking at a stakeholders’ workshop on the draft bill for the establishment of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP). The workshop drew participants from the Attorney-General (A-G’s) Department, Ministry of Justice, civil society organisations (CSOs) and some diplomatic missions. The purpose of the workshop was to seek inputs and recommendations on the first draft bill developed by the A-G’s Department, before being finalised and submitted to Cabinet and subsequently to Parliament. Bill The bill is a step towards the fulfilment of the NPP’s campaign promise to establish an OSP and is expected to provide it with the legal backbone, full authority ...

More than 34,000 driving lincences issued since 2008 are yet to be collected by applicants, the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Authority (DVLA) has revealed. In terms of annual figures, the list is dominated by 4,629 persons who applied for driving licences between January and May this year. Out of the number, the 37 DVLA office in Accra alone has 11,167 licences that are waiting to be collected. Followed by Weija, 7,242; Kumasi, 4,282; Akim Oda, 2,350; Bekwai, I815; Mampong, 1,623; Nkawkaw, 1,412; Obuasi, 1352; Goaso, 1,278 and Bekwai, 1185. Other DVLA offices on the list are Bolgatanga, Denu and Hohoe. At a news conference in Accra yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer of the DVLA, Mr Kwasi Agyeman Busia, said the authority would soon publish the names of applicants whose licences were ready for collection in the national dailies. He also announced the temporary freeze the Ministry of Transport had put on the roll-out of the new smart card licence, hitherto ...

Ghanaian Muslims need to eschew antiquated divisive tendencies to position themselves to play a leading role in the fight to transform the country, the Ameer and Missionary in charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission has said. Alhaji Maulvi Mohammed Bin Salih said each Ghanaian Muslim must see himself or herself as a reformer of the Ghanaian polity. Delivering a sermon at the Eid-Ul-Fitr prayers at Ashongman in Accra yesterday, the Ahmadi leader said as individuals and a nation, there was a lot to learn from fasting when it came to the values of responsible citizenship, tolerance, civility and mutual respect for one another. Those values, he said, in addition to others, were essential ingredients that engendered peace, development and progress of a nation. “Let Eid, therefore, be a reminder to us as a nation, and particularly Muslims, to cling firmly to these lofty ideals, even after Ramadan. This way, we can achieve good neighbourliness, mutual trust and respect and t...

The Chief Executive of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) says he is open to an audit of his three-month stay in office to bring closure to allegations of corruption during his tenure. Denying media reports that the cost of the contract for the award of the printing of the yet-to-be-introduced licence has been inflated, raising issues of possible corruption and financial impropriety, Mr Kwasi Agyeman Busia said the contract for facilities for the new licences was signed in 2014. “This is conjecture and there is no evidence. It is just trying to impugn dirt on my good name,” he told the Daily Graphic. He said when he took over in March, he did due diligence on finance, contracts and procurement but the lawyers did not find anything wrong and, therefore, wondered where the alleged contract inflation was coming from. Issues being addressed  He said contrary to media reports that the Ministry of Transport was not aware of the new licence regime, ...

The government will implement a policy to allocate 30 per cent of all procurement from local businesses to entities owned by women, persons with disability (PWDs) and those established under the Youth Enterprises Fund (YEF). That, along with plans to allocate 50 per cent of jobs in the operation of tollbooths to PWDs after the roll-out of the automated tollbooths by the Ministry of Roads and Highways, is part of the initiative to cut down unemployment among PWDs. The Vice-President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, announced this at a career fair organised by the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations (GFDOs) in Accra yesterday. “This direct intervention is aimed at helping to reduce the unemployment rate among PWDs to provide them with a source of livelihood to break the cycle of poverty facing most PWDs in our communities,” he said. More than 100 PWDs attended the career fair meant to empower them to take advantage of opportunities available. They were taken ...

A flock of birds chirp endlessly. Tall nearby trees whisper and a chainsaw roars a stone throw away. Shrubs and climbers envelope stumps while wild grasses bloom. The sun is hot, the breeze cold, but the ground is wet with giant footprints of tractors. This is the Kweikaru Forest Reserve where giant trees have fallen to merchants of the timber industry, leaving it degraded,with its restoration on the shoulders of Newmont Golden Ridge Limited (Akyem Mine), a mining company operating in the Ajenua Bepo Forest Reserve in the Eastern Region. Offsetting impact Although the company’s operation is nowhere close to the Kweikaru Forest Reserve, the Akyem mine operates an open pit mining on 101 hectares of degraded portions of the Ajenua Bepo Forest Reserve. The reforestation programme, therefore, forms part of the mine’s mitigation measures rolled out in consultation with the Forestry Commission to offset the impact of its operations on the forest reserve. Over 257 hec...