Category: National

The Electoral Commission (EC) says laptops stolen from its stores do not possess the capability to affect the integrity or outcome of elections.

The EC confirmed in a statement on Friday that five laptops were stolen from its stores, and debunked reports purporting that some biometric verification devices (BVR) had been stolen.

The Commissioned explained that an internal memo titled: ‘RETURN OF BIOMETRIC VERIFICATION DEVICES’ was intended for internal asset reconciliation, adding that the Commission placed high value on all of its assets.

‘The memo in question, widely shared on social media, was a routine communication aimed at ensuring the accountability and returning of all electoral equipment, including BVDs, to the Commission’s custody.

‘This procedure underscores our rigorous asset management system, designed to maintain a transparent and accountable inventory of all Commission assets,’ the statement signed by Mr Michael Boadu, Acting Head of Public Affairs, EC, said.

The EC said BVDs were designed
with sophisticated security features such that without the proper activation and official use within the electoral framework, the devices were inoperative.

‘The integrity of our elections, therefore, remains unassailable,’ it said.

‘We want to assure the public that any equipment, if ever misplaced and even in cases of vandalism, cannot be utilised to undermine the credibility of our electoral process due to the advanced security protocols and activation requirements in place,’ the Commission added.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Martin Kpebu, a Private Legal Practitioner, has backed President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s decision not to assent to the anti-LGBTQI+ bill until all pending court issues on the bill are addressed.

President Akufo-Addo, in a letter to Parliament through his Secretary, Nana Asante Bediatuo, on March 18, 2024, asked the legislature to refrain from transmitting the anti-LGBTQI+ bill which it had passed to his office due to some suits challenging the constitutionality of the bill in the Supreme Court.

The said letter drew criticism from a section of the public, particularly minority Members of Parliament and the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin.

The Speaker, subsequently halted the approval of ministerial nominees, citing a court summon served on him on the matter.

Speaking on TV3’s ‘The Key Point’ programme on Saturday, monitored by the Ghana News Agency, Mr Kpebu said the President did no wrong in refusing to assent to the bill, adding that by the President’s action, he sought to uphold the rule of
law.

The private legal practitioner was quick to add that the Speaker of Parliament had the same intention of upholding the rule of law when he decided not to proceed with the approval of the ministerial nominees of the President.

‘Let’s not make it look like it’s just a tit for tat. There are various stages of analysis, on the face of it, you can think it’s a tit for tat, but when you go deeper you find that both the President and the Speaker of Parliament are talking law… In simple term, (if a case is in court) don’t do anything that will make the case a foolish case.

‘Those are laws of contempt. So, in this case, the President is right and he has my support 130 per cent when he says he is not signing the anti-gay bill because the case is pending in the Supreme Court,’Mr Kpebu said.

He, however, rejected assertions that the current impasse between the two organs of government – the Executive and the Legislature, was unhealthy for the country’s democracy and development.

He said the flexing of powers by
the two organs was ‘good for the country’s democracy’ because it ensured that the checks and balances of the various organs of government as stipulated by the Constitution, were upheld.

He added that the incident was also an indication to the President that inasmuch as Article 58 of the Constitution vested powers in his hands, he could just not run over Parliament as he so desired.

‘I’m largely in favour of the current situation because it helps to test the boundaries of the Executive power and is shaping our democracy well,’ he said.

‘This particular incident is good riddance, it’s helped us to show him (the President) a bit that look, it’s not as if, all the powers in Article 58, he can just walk rough short over Parliament of Ghana. So, this is really, really good,’ Mr Kpebu added.

Dr Justice Srem-Sai, a Constitutional Lawyer, on the same programme, explained that such suits had the tendency of halting key State institutions from performing their constitutionally mandated duties.

To address that, he c
alled on the Supreme Court to expeditiously deal with such cases when they came before it to allow the institutions to carry out their mandates to reduce the impact on the country.

‘I like this line of cases and I like what is going on because it will give the Supreme Court an opportunity to make a pronouncement on some of these issues because everyday, these things come up and we are not really sure whether someone has gone to court…,’ Dr Srem-Sai said.

He added that ‘…..I think that there must be a way of treating some of these cases with some level of urgency rather than letting that lie down just like any other case. There must definitely be a way because all cases don’t have the same effect.’

Mr Rockson-Nelson Defeamekpor, Member of Parliament for South Dayi, revealed that he intended to file a suit against the Speaker and the President to compel the Speaker to transmit the bill to the President for him to assent to it.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Nsawam Traditional Council has appealed to the founder and the presidential hopeful of the Movement for Change, Mr Alan Kyerematen, to avoid intemperate language in his campaign towards the December 7, 2024, elections.

They said: ‘Please you are not known to be engaging in politics of insults and avoid being tempted to do that, rather, continue to promote peace while urging your followers to emulate your conduct to ensure a peaceful electoral process.’

Nana Kwaku Osabu, who represented Nana Kwabena Ansah I, Chief of Nsawam made the appeal when Mr Kyerematen called on the Council at Nsawam in the Eastern Region.

Nana Kwaku Osabu accompanied by the Queen Mother Awoyaa Amankwa I, and other dignitaries from the Traditional Council welcomed the leader of the Movement and his team to the palace.

He emphasized that despite being barred from active politics, they have observed Mr Kyerematen’s positive demeanour on the campaign trail and noted that the former Minister of Trade and Industry under the governing
New Patriotic Party (NPP), is not known for employing insults in his political discourse.

He urged Mr Kyerematen to discourage his followers from engaging in insults, especially on social media platforms, which could tarnish his campaign.

Mr Kyerematen expressed gratitude to the chiefs, the people, and the market women for warmly welcoming him.

He reiterated that his primary purpose for touring markets across the country is to outline his agenda for transforming markets if elected as president in the upcoming December 7, elections.

Mr Kyerematen called on Ghanaians to reconsider their voting patterns, highlighting the failures of both the NPP and the National Democratic Congress to fulfil their promises to the electorate.

He condemned the cycle of turning to the International Monetary Fund every eight years and emphasized the need for change in Ghana’s political landscape.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The STAR-Ghana Foundation has urged Ghanaians to seize every opportunity to amplify their voices to ensure that their demands are included in the manifestos of the various political parties in the country for the upcoming 2024 general election.

‘Please, every avenue that you get, amplify your voice and speak about your demands because the more we talk about them the more serious they take them,’ Mr Frank Amoateng, the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Manager of the Foundation, said.

He was speaking at a zonal consultative and town hall meeting in Wa to collate inputs of the stakeholders towards influencing the political party manifestos for the 2024 general election.

The meeting was organised by the STAR-Ghana Foundation in partnership with the Community Development Alliance (CDA) as part of the implementation of the Manifesto Influencing initiative, a component of the Gender Rights and Empowerment Programme (GREP).

The GREP project is being implemented by the Foundation spanning from December 20
23 to March 2024 with funding from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

The forum was to empower key stakeholders, especially women, youth, Persons with Disability (PWDs) and other marginalised groups in the Upper West and Savannah Regions to contribute to the development of comprehensive manifestos for the 2024 general election.

It was also to create a platform for the stakeholders to co-create recommendations towards influencing the manifestos of political parties and candidates for elective office at constituency and national levels.

He explained that the forum was just one platform to influence the manifestos and said they could also use avenues such as engagements with politicians and radio discussions to influence the manifestos.

Facilitators at the forum made presentations on discussion papers developed by the Foundation on issues of health, basic education, and social protection in the country.

Mr Amoateng said the inputs and recommendations collated on the discussion papers would fe
ed into the development of policy briefs on the three areas, which would form the basis for citizen advocacy to influence party manifestos.

Dr. Ernestina Korleki Tetteh, Project Manager of the Foundation, urged the participants to hold politicians accountable for their promises as contained in the manifestos.

She entreated them not to allow politicians to take them for granted saying, ‘They come as if they are doing us a favour, but we are rather doing them a favour.’

Dr. Tetteh encouraged the people not to fall for material things such as food and money in exchange for their future but to ensure politicians considered their concerns in the development of their manifestos.

Pognaa Rosemary Bangzie, the Queenmother of Duong in the Nadowli-Kaleo District, appealed to politicians to pay much attention to the efficiency of health facilities, especially by ensuring the availability of drugs.

She said issues such as lack of essential medicines at the health facilities discouraged some people from visiting the h
ealth facility when they fall sick but resorted to self-medication.

Stakeholders including traditional leaders, representatives of youth groups, students, and vulnerable and marginalised groups among others participated in the forum.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Stakeholders in the Bunkpurugu-Nakpanduri and Yunyoo-Nasuan districts in the North East Region have discussed strategies to tackle potential threats at places identified as hotspots ahead of the 2024 general election.

The state and non-state actors did not only identify potential hotspots but mapped out strategies to engage targeted communities to be part of policing those areas.

Security heads, Assembly members and religious leaders among others participated in the brainstorming organised by the Good Governance, Justice and Peace Directorate of the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Catholic Diocesan Development Organisation (NABOCADO), a faith-based organization.

It forms part of conflict sensitive planning and training to develop strategies to promote peace ahead of the general election.

The engagement formed part of the Integrated Peacebuilding for Improved Food and Nutrition Support project, with funding support from the MISEREOR and aimed at contributing to building peace structures within the Diocese.

They ident
ified places that had experienced land and chieftaincy disputes, civilian-security conflicts, emerging political party youth parliaments, and the Nakpanduri escarpment as hotspots that needed attention ahead of the election.

Mr Jacob Konlan, the District Coordinating Director for Bunkpurugu-Nakpanduri, called for solutions to the driving factors of conflict so as to achieve the needed peace.

He mentioned chieftaincy and land disputes and natural resource sharing as major drivers of conflicts in the district.

‘This is an election year and some people may want to take advantage of these issues to create problems so we need to target and bring together the youth groups, chiefs, political leaders and CSOs and sensitise them through durbars and meetings, for them to appreciate the need for peace,’ he said.

He explained that the Nakpanduri escarpment was one of the potential hideout areas for criminals and the Assembly was working to establish a police post in the area to increase police presence to help fight
crime.

Reverend Father Yosef Giday, the Catholic Parish Priest for St. Simon Peter Parish, Nakpanduri, said the lack of succession plans and documents had been the major causes of the chieftaincy and land related issues and called on the chiefs to be more engaging.

Ahead of the 2024 general election, he said, there were so many porous borders within the districts and urged the stakeholders to collaborate and support the security agents to properly protect the borders.

‘We need to intensify community policing and the people need to support the security services by reporting strange characters within their communities to them,’ he said.

Dr Joseph Bangu, the Director, NABOCADO, noted that conflict sensitive planning was key to building peace among communities.

The project was aimed at reminding stakeholders of the need to prioritise peaceful coexistence in development planning and implementation , he said.

He admonished the stakeholders, particularly development-oriented ones, to employ community engagemen
t, mobilisation and sensitisation as key strategies to avoid activities that would lead to conflict.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Yakubu Faharudeen, an aspiring General Secretary for the People’s National Convention (PNC), says he will bring back into the party the inactive members when given the nod.

Mr Faharudeen said bringing such members back would enhance the chances of the party in the December 7, 2024, general election.

He said there were vibrant members, who have relaxed and others joining other parties due to the disunity and lack of resources in the PNC, a situation that was hindering the progress of the party.

He explained that the party was endowed with brilliant and talented members who would be able to utilise their skills to support the party if brought back, saying that he was in good relationship with most of them who were supporting the path he had taken.

Mr Farudeen, who is currently the Deputy General Secretary, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that he had gained enough knowledge and experience in his current position as well as being a member right after he completed tertiary level of educatio
n.

He added that he would ensure that the party’s resources is well utilised in regaining parliamentary seats they lost over the years.

‘Usually, when there is a runoff in a general election, you see some of our leaders joining either NPP or NDC and after that, they don’t come back to the party,’ he stated.

The aspiring general secretary added that he would ensure that polling agents were brought on board and trained towards the upcoming election to win their votes.

He said the PNC was the best alternative for development of Ghana, adding that politics of ideas in the country was gradually fading out due to monetisation.

‘When I get the nod, this country is going to experience a different type of PNC we are going to show the NPP and NDC the exit,’ he stated.

Source: Ghana News Agency