Author: lwadmin

The Accra Circuit Court Four has fined a driver GHC3,600.00 for breaking the side window of a saloon car to steal.

Baba Ibrahim admitted to causing unlawful damage to the left side glass window of a wine Toyota Corolla sedan with the registration number GE 4122-22.

He however, denied the attempt to steal from Mr William Kofi Kwarteng’s vehicle.

The prosecution later withdrew the attempted stealing charge against him.

Police Chief Inspector Eric Pobee told the Court, presided over by Mrs Kizita Naa Koowaa Quarshie, that Mr Kwarteng, the complainant, is a pathologist and a resident of Tema Community 18.

He said Baba Ibrahim is a driver residing at Tema Community 17.

According to Chief Inspector Pobee, the complainant, the owner of Anathoth Consult on Community 18 Devtraco Road, arrived at work on February 15, 2024, at about 0600 hours and parked his wine Toyota Corolla saloon car with registration number GE 4122-22 in front of the workplace.

He said the complainant later received a phone call from one of
his employees, who informed him that a young man had attempted to steal his car battery after breaking into it through the left-side back window glass.

Chief Inspector Pobee said the complainant arrested Ibrahim with the help of passers-by and requested assistance from the Community 18 Police, who took him to the station.

Ibrahim admitted to the offences at the Charge Office in front of an independent witness, the court heard.

After investigation he was charged and put before court, police said.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The case of Michael Sumnaya Adedina, an accountant accused of forging Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) receipts to evade GHC2,495,778 tax, has been adjourned for March 19.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Evans Kesse told an Accra Circuit Court that the prosecution had filed its disclosures.

According to him, the disclosures had been served on the accused person.

The court, presided over by Mrs Afia Owusua Appiah, adjourned the matter to March 19, 2024, for the Case Management Conference.

Adedina has been charged with unauthorized attempts to collect tax, forgery of official documents, fraudulent breach of trust and making false or misleading statements contrary to Section 74 of the Revenue Administration Act 2016 (Act 915).

He has denied those charges and is currently on GHC2 million cedi bail.

The case of prosecution is that the complainant is the country manager of BMG Infrastructure Company Limited located at Tarkwa in the Western Region.

The prosecution said the company was a foreign-owned minin
g waste processing company established in Tarkwa and registered with the Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC).

According to the prosecution, Adedina approached the complainant and introduced himself as a professional accountant, who could prepare all their accounting books and represent their interest.

Consequently, the company outsourced all accounting matters, including statutory payments and the preparation of various tax types with GRA and SSNIT for its employees, to Adedina.

Since his appointment in 2021, Adedina prepared and collected funds from the company at the end of each month to pay for the various tax handles.

The prosecution said that after each payment, Adedina provided the complainant with legitimate GRA receipts as confirmation of payment.

The prosecutor stated that on May 31, 2022, the GRA conducted a tax audit on the activities of BMG Infrastructure Limited and discovered a tax debt of GHC2,495,778.00 against the company, raising suspicions.

The prosecution said that the company i
nitiated an investigation to determine the huge liability’s cause.

The court heard that investigations found that the accused failed to pay all the money he obtained from BMG as taxes to GRA for the period in question.

A report was then submitted to GRA via GIPC with relevant receipts for verification, and it was discovered that Adedina had falsified GRA’s official receipts.

Following the development, a complaint was made to the GRA Investigative Wing on December 29, 2023, and Adedina was arrested.

The prosecution said Adedina admitted the crime in his caution statement, and disclosed that he downloaded the GRA payment receipts, modified them to add tax value and submitted the fake copies to the complainant as if actual taxes had been paid.

Adedina disclosed that he used part of the money to buy concessions for mining operations, but it went bad.

The prosecution said Adedina also indicated that he used a portion of the money to purchase a Toyota Hilux Pickup Truck, and a Lexus SUV for GHC55,000 and buil
t a four-bedroom home in Tarkwa, Aboso.

The prosecution said investigations are underway to identify those assets.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Nana Bonya Kofi VI, Chief of Basake and Abusupayin Yemi of Etwe Kpanyinli Royal Stool of Aiyinasi and elders of the Basake community have petitioned the Minerals Commission and the Forestry Commission over the award of contract for mineral resources and forest reserves in the farming area.

‘This decision unanimously agreed upon, is to formally protest and register our displeasure in your operations and actions as a governing and controlling body for and on behalf of the State in the award of a contract without consideration to land ownership acquisitions tenets,’ a petition to the two institutions said.

It said as much as minerals of any sort were vested in the government of the State, lands involved in such were with the chiefs’ and their custodians.

The petition said it was, therefore, necessary to engage the chiefs and their elders in giving away their lands for exploration and forest activities.

‘After all, Nananom are expected to be watch overs of all such operations in and within their relative comm
unities. Wherefore then is the essence in justifications where we are left out in this chain regarding the Draw Forest Reserve concession,’ it asked.

The petition said a few days ago a fleet of timber felling equipment supported by tens of Forest Commission trucks-loaded personnel stealthily entered the Draw Forest Reserve to allegedly harvest timbers in the so-called Global Significant Biodiversity Area (GSBA) with no notification from any government agency or official.

The petition said since the creation of the GSBA in the Draw Forest Reserve in the 1980s, the landlords had been denied the hitherto approved ‘Alternative Living Allowance’ (ALA) paid by the World Bank or its subsidiary financiers.

It said they had also been denied every effort to be allocated a compartment to harvest for their communities’ development agenda.

The petition said the mistreatment was contrary to the management of similar and adjoining Forest Reserve at Gwira Banso of the same Draw Forest Reserve.

It urged the Government th
rough the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Forestry Commission, the Administrator of Stool Lands and the Speaker of Parliament to stop the ‘colossal corruption’ in the management of the Draw Forest Reserve and the disrespect and mistreatment meted out to the chiefs and the people of the Aiyinasi-Basake communities in the Ellembelle District.

‘…We wish, therefore, to be given leads in order to ensure peaceful co-existence between us and our supposed and expected guests. Your expeditious respond is anticipated.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

Ghana’s private sector operators have been urged to scale up their commitments to adopting sustainable and socially responsible policies to ensure the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Executive Director of the UN Global Compact Network- Ghana, Tolu Delacroix, who made the call, said it was important for businesses to uphold sustainable business practices in their operations and increase their investments to achieve the goals in the next six and half years.

Speaking at a UN Global Compact CEOs Breakfast Meeting, Mr Delacroix said although some progress had been made in advancing the goals in Ghana, much more needed to be done by the private sector organisations to ensure the goals were achieved by the 2030 deadline.

The CEOs Breakfast Meeting discussed the latest global CEO survey by the UN Global Compact and Accenture and the SDG Stocktake Report and introduced the ForwardFaster Initiative.

Mr Delacroix said Ghana had done quite well in some areas of the SDGs but much more neede
d to be done in the next six and half years by accelerating efforts, especially from the private sector, which must make significant contributions to support the attainment of the goals.

He said Ghana needed about $43 billion annually to finance the SDGs and government could not be relied upon to provide these resources, necessitating improvements in investments from companies to fill the gap.

Touching on the Forward Faster Initiative, which is a global platform for ambitious credible action guiding companies on where to make the biggest, fastest impact for 2030, Mr Delacroix said the initiative focused on five areas of action namely, gender equality, climate action, living wage, water resilience and finance and investment.

The five areas have been selected because they have the power to accelerate progress across all 17 Global Goals and are where the private sector can make the biggest, fastest impact by 2030.

Mr Sulemanu Koney, Board Chairman of the UN Global Compact Network Ghana, said investors and ot
her key stakeholders had become more aware of the importance of the ESG criteria in their investment decisions and this has caused many businesses to make efforts to integrate ESG into their operations and business strategies.

However, despite this, there is not enough progress happening to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, necessitating the need to double our efforts.

He said with the deadline for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development fast approaching, there is the need to be more ambitious and put words into action.

It is in this direction that the UN Global Compact has introduced the Forward Faster Initiative, a global platform for ambitious credible action guiding companies on where to make the biggest, fastest impact for 2030.

This initiative addresses 5 areas of action namely, gender equality, climate action, living wage, water resilience and finance and investment, which have been selected because they have the power to accelerate progress across all 17 Global Goals.

The U
N Global Compact Network Ghana is a special initiative by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, mandated to support businesses in aligning their operations with ten universal principles in the areas of Human rights, Labor, Environment, and Anti-Corruption and to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Network offers expertise, best practices, and technical resources and promotes sustainable practices among Ghanaian businesses by providing access to tools and benchmarking resources, guidance on sustainable reporting, facilitating accelerator modules on key sustainability topics and providing a platform for engagement through events and dialogues.

The UN Global Compact was the world’s largest corporate sustainability and social responsibility initiative with more than 20,000 corporate participants with the objective to mainstream the 10 business sustainability principles in business activities all over the world.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Ghana Armed Forces is working with the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training College on a student engagement programme to enhance female participation in the nation’s military enterprise.

Engaging with senior high and tertiary institutions, the campaign, powered by international organisation, the Elsie Initiative Fund, is seeking to break male dominance of the ranks, and promote inclusivity in the armed forces.

Group Captain Theodora Agornyo, the Gender Advisor to the Chief of Defence Staff, addressing students during the event at Mawuli School in Ho, spoke of the need to increase women participation in combat roles, and said it would enable the perspective of the gender to feature more in decision making.

She said survey confirmed the low participation of women in UN missions among others, and the minimal representation at policy levels, and was therefore crucial to break gender misconceptions.

‘Most positions in the army are held by men, and we want to increase women participation,’ the Gen
der Advisor told the students.

The Elsie Initiative Fund targets young girls and was established when a group of countries came together to support women in peace keeping missions.

The campaign met with schools across the Region, and students were taken through the arms and branches of the army and introduced to the various functions and career opportunities available.

Students got to fill out questionnaires that test their interest and knowledge of the Ghana Armed Forces.

There were also radio engagements in the various districts the team sent the campaign to.

Mrs. Agnes Agbevadi, Senior Programmes Officer at the Women, Youth, Peace, and Security Institute of KAIPTC, asked women not to be limited by gender, saying it remained only a perspective and thus they deserved to be given every opportunity.

Mr. Francis Yao Agbemadi, the Volta Regional Director of Education, urged women to take advantage of the military and its career prospects in elevating the gender.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, Finance Minister, has called for the support of Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin, the King of Akyem Abuakwa, Eastern Region, for continued effort in ensuring environmental sustainability in Ghana.

The Minister made this call when he visited the Okyehene on Wednesday evening for his blessings and counsel for the new role he assumed about a week ago, following President Akufo-Addo’s ministerial reshuffle.

‘You [Amoatia Ofori Panin] have done so much for this country since your ascension to the throne, especially, your leadership in the fight against illegal mining and have become a champion of environmental sustainability, not just in Ghana but across the world,’ he said.

‘Through this, you’ve provided advocacy for the development of education along the lines of environmental sustainability,’ Dr Amin Adam said.

He said he found it necessary to seek for the Okyehene’s support in the country’s quest for environmental sustainability due to his personal advocacy in that regard.

Among others,
the country has instituted the Green Ghana campaign to restore lost forest cover in addition to having Task Forces to halt the degradation of lands and water bodies through illegal mining (galamsey) and other human activities.

Those efforts were to culminate into ensuring environmental sustainability and a friendly climate ecosystem for human and animal habitation.

To entrench the path for continued success, the Minister announced the resumption of disbursement of funding for the establishment of the University for Environment and Sustainable by the Exim Korea Bank.

That, he said, would be pivotal in ensuring a quick progress of the project to enable Ghanaians to study environmental sciences and sustainable development for human existence.

Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin, who welcomed the Finance Minister and his entourage from Accra, heightened the essence of education in the pursuit of environmental sustainability and national development.

He, therefore, asked the minister to ensure continued support for
the implementation of the government’s Free Senior High School (Free SHS) programme.

‘Learning will provide an escape from poverty, and all that is put together, we begin to train our young people, allow them to acquire skills and upgrade themselves, and in doing so, change the material standard of living of themselves and their parents,’ he said.

‘Our country will not go anywhere and will not be a great nation unless we make sure that every child [born in Ghana] will have a desk to write on, a good teacher to learn from,’ he noted.

The Okyehene expressed confidence on the path the country had taken to educate its citizens, saying, ‘I believe that we’re going places with this arrangement [Free SHS programme], and we’re not about to collapse what all of you started.’

Source: Ghana News Agency