The Former Black Stars Captain, Stephen Appiah has cleaeedthe airwaves saying he has not any sexual encounter with Abena Korkor as reported by claimed by young woman. According to him, he has only met her in open and place places of which Abena Korkor sought his consent to talk some pictures. In a statement sighted by Thinknewsonline.com, it said "My attention has been drawn to viral publications on social media suggesting that I have had an amorous relationship with one Miss Abena Korkor" "The said publications are not only false, baseless and unfounded, but they are also mischievous and fanciful conjectures of the said author" "I am constrained to respond to this needless provocation because that false and offensive narrative strikes at the very core of my hard won reputation, both home and abroad" "Let me place onrecord that I have never encountered the said author in any special way other than at a few open and public events when she sought my permission to take photographs with me. Below is a copy of the release: Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith

The Leadership of the Drunkards Association of Ghana has described the comments made by the Managing Director of Ghana Industrial Holding Corporation (GIHOC), Maxwell Kofi Jumah as out of place and an insult to its members. According to the Association, it is calling on the Managing Director of GIHOC, to with immediate effect withdraw and render an apology over his utterance. In a release sighted by Thinknewsonline.com, President of the Association, Moses Onyah known by many as Dry Bone said "Our members as it were cannot afford to buy the usual quantity of drinks in recent times and for a whole Director to direct our members to drink water, if we cannot afford the current market price is out of place and an insult to our members. We demand an immediate withdrawal of the said statement followed by an unqualified apology as well" The Association added that in as much as there is continual souring alcoholic beverage price increase in the country in recent times, the said remarks by the Director cannot be tolerated in any form or shape. Moses Onyah added that the unpleasant comment will adversely affect the day to day hobby of his members. "We wish to inform our honorable members behind the scene to have talks with other various alcoholic beverage companies to consider reducing prices with the aim of ameliorating our plights as key stakeholders of the market" he added. It will be recalled that Mr. Kofi Jumah disclosed that his outfit has increased prices of the various alcoholic beverages it produces. "We have increase the price of alcohol and we continue to increase it" Throwing further shots, he added "If you are not ready to buy then stop drinking alcohol and drink water" The comments from Mr. Jumah has been greeted with lots of backlashes as most beverages consumers say the utterance is unacceptable. Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith

Ramadhan Johnson, a 21-year-old man who is in the grips of the law, has appeared before Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi, Kenya, for touching a woman’s buttocks. The accused is alleged to have intentionally and unlawfully touched the buttocks of a businesswoman along Murang’a Road without her consent while walking behind her. According to a police report, “while coming back from the store as she was walking along a narrow path, she was attacked by the accused person who intentionally touched her buttocks with his hands and pulled her towards his body” The complainant, upon seeing three other men who reportedly also had the intention of abusing her, fled the scene for her safety. On March 11, 2022, the 34-year-old complainant according to court documents, sent a group of elderly men to talk to the accused to admit his mistake and apologize but he refused. She then decided to file a complaint at the Central Police Station. The charge against him following his arraignment in court thereafter, read; “You are charged that on March 10, 2022, along Murang’a Road, Nairobi, you intentionally and unlawfully touched the buttocks of Makena Sara Ngari with your hands against her will” He however pleaded not guilty to one count of committing an indecent act with an adult, before being handed a bond of 300,000 Kenyan Shilling (equivalent to GHC18,775) with alternative cash bail of Ksh100,000 (GHC6,258) SOURCE: GHPAGE

The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Francis Asenso Boakye, has undertaken an inspection tour of ongoing dredging works in the Korle Lagoon in Accra. For the past years, Dredge Masters Limited (DML), a Ghanaian-owned leading provider of dredging services, has been carrying out dredging works in the lagoon in an effort to prevent flooding in Accra. The tour which came off on Thursday, March 17, 2022, enabled the minister to assess the progress of work of dredging works in the lagoon. . Speaking to journalists, Mr. Asenso Boakye bemoaned the habitual dumping of refuse into drains, especially by squatters, describing their attitudes as “inimical” to nation building. He said the government has invested so much into the construction of Integrated Recycling and Compost Plants (IRECOPs) across the country. He said these state-of-the-art waste management facilities were being constructed to help in the proper management of waste and also safeguard lives and properties. However, he complained about the citizens’ laxity to support the government’s efforts, adding that "It's as if we are moving in cycles with the gains always being eroded." According to Mr Asenso Boakye, the tour was necessary as it formed part of his ministry’s measures to prevent flooding this year and its attendant effects. He lashed out at the abject disregard for a change of attitude to correct the age-long anomaly of indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the country. "I am urging Ghanaians to be responsible and at no circumstance should anybody dump refuse into the drains. That attitude has a devastating effect on the Ghanaian economy," the minister warned. He reiterated his ministry’s resolve to liaise with the assemblies to arrest and prosecute any offender. The Operations Manager of Dredge Masters Limited, Mr. Sena Kofi Adeipena, gave a firm assurance that his company was working very hard to prevent a repeat of the June 3 disaster. . "We are positioning ourselves to prevent a repeat of the June 3 disaster by dredging the drains within the central business district (CBD) of Accra," he assured. He admitted that dredging works within the district were quite difficult considering attitudinal challenges amid migration, hence excessive squatting along the drains. One such challenge, he said, was the lack of space for them to park their dredging machines. “All available spaces to enable us park our machines have been occupied by squatters, and this is making our operations very difficult,” he said. He went on to add that the jostling for space by squatters along the lagoon also posed serious health risks. Mr. Adiepena said the activities of the squatters contributed to the choking of the drains. “Naturally, sediments occur in rivers, but human activities such as squatters along the drains also cause serious problems for the drains. This is because they are not bothered in dumping refuse into the drains,” he noted. He, therefore, asked that the squatters be moved and a “central monitoring system” put in place with officials positioned for routine checks. He also called for the creation of a buffer zone along the drains to protect them from negative human activities. Below are some pictures: Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith

The Ministries of Sanitation and Water Resources, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Local Government and Education have been urged to sensitise the public in the management of plastics and waste in general. Making the call during a facility tour of some Zoomlion Ghana Limited’s plastics production plants (PPP) in Accra on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Dr. Kwaku Afriyie, said the central government was aiming for a secular economy. By becoming a secular economy, he noted that Ghana would be able to recycle aluminum cans, e-waste, plastics among others and then also turn them into other useful items. “Some we can turn them into energy among others,” he added. Dr Afriyie indicated that the model currently being used for plastics was based on economic incentives, which is “when you bring (plastics), they weigh them and they pay you.” “…and that is why we have realised that the PET bottles and the sachet water and then the under 20 microns (we call it the flexible bags), you see that people are not inclined to pick them. But they are the ones that give plastics a bad name,” he pointed out. It was against this backdrop that the minister said the government was looking for an alternative model that will complement the economic incentive model. “I have discussed it with Dr. Siaw Agyepong and his managers that we are thinking about different things. For the other key ministers, we have met at least four times on this matter, and we have an idea of what will work and what will not work,” he disclosed. Dr. Afriyie said the whole recycling idea is a private initiative, assuring that the government does not intend to set up any system to compete in that space. Rather, he said the government was looking at capacity issues so that they can expand and deal with it He said all these measures fit into the government’s vision of making Accra the cleanest city in Africa. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Henry Kwabena Kokofu, who accompanied the minister, entreated the citizenry to have positive attitudes towards the environment. He said segregation of waste was very key to help the country manage waste efficiently. He assured that his agency was ready to partner with the private sector to ensure the proper management of waste in the country. Below are some pictures: Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith

The Government of Ghana has directed a Private Developer, Dr. Adu Ampomah, to as a matter of urgency halt all building activities on a parcel of Land owned by the Bulgarian Embassy. The Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Benito Owusu Bio said this when he stormed the construction site in Accra on Wednesday, 16th March, 2022 to witness the flouting of regulations and rules of law by the Building Contractor and his clients. Speaking to the caretaker of the site, Hon. Benito Owusu-Bio insisted that ongoing works at the construction site must be put on hold whiles dispute over the ownership of the land is settled at the court. He disclosed that the Bulgarian Embassy has a sublease of 10 years which has not yet expired. " We are aware of a litigation between the Embassy and the Developer. So if anything at all, in the interim, nobody must be here working". He bemoaned," yesterday, when we heard of this, we asked the Lands Commission to put a "stop work" notice on the premises but our attention has been drawn to the fact that those notices have been removed". He stressed that the Lands Commission is constitutionally mandated to stop the private developer from working and admonished that the owner of the structure stops work whiles investigations are ongoing. On his part, the Deputy Minister for foreign Affairs, Hon. Kweku Ampratwum-Sarpong said the private developer has no backing of Government to continue building and must stop work with immediate effect. The Deputy Ministers were accompanied on this exercise by the Technical Director of Lands at the Ministry, Mr.Maxwell Nsafoa. Below are some pictures: Story by: News Desk Report

Embattled FixTheCountry Movement convener, Oliver Barker-Vormawor has been granted bail to the tune of GHS2 million after spending over a month in Police remand. The bail which comes with two different sureties has been granted by the Tema High Court today, March 16, 2022. Among the sureties, the court presided over by Justice Daniel Mensah has directed the accused to deposit documents of landed property within the jurisdiction. Oliver Barker-Vormawor is also to report to police once a week on a day to be determined by police. The grant of bail comes a day after the accused was in court for his bail hearing with his lawyers but the prosecutor for the case failed to show up. The FixTheCountry Movement convener was arrested on February 11 at the Kotoka International Airport upon his arrival from abroad. He was arrested over some coup comments on his Facebook page. He said he would embark on a coup should parliament go ahead to approve the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy). Oliver Barker-Vormawor was charged with a treason felony. He is expected to be back in court for the hearing of his case on March 29. Story by: Eric Nana Yaw Kwafo

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) says it will soon cut the Finance Ministry and Economic and Organised Crime Office(EOCO)'s power from the national grid over GHC400K unpaid electricity bills. According to ECG, the two state-owned organisations owe to the tune of ¢421,038.02. This revelation comes after the task force on Monday disconnected the power supply to the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) and parts of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), which owed over ¢48 million. Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story, the task force leader, Steven Larbi Siaw, said that no indebted institution will be spared during the revenue mobilisation exercise. “So, as you already know, we’ve been tasked. We’ve been around to make sure that the indebtedness of the ECG is brought down. So as we’ve been tasked to go ahead, we’re doing just that. “By either taking the debt that they’re indebted to us, or we make sure that we disengage the supply, for them to follow up to the office to talk to our leaders,” he said on Monday. Mr Siaw further mentioned the public and private entities next in line for possible disconnections should they fail to clear their debt as soon as possible. “We have Ghana Education Service, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Communication Data, UN Development Programme and EOCO and Internal Audit,” the Leader identified. The task force has been embarking on an aggressive revenue mobilisation drive in a desperate bid to recover millions of cedis owed by public and private institutions. On Monday, the Accra Sports Stadium and La Palm Beach Hotel were not spared in the exercise. The said entities are said to be indebted to the tune of ¢508,087.37 and ¢192,073.62 respectively. Meanwhile, Mr Larbi-Siaw says the team will stop at nothing until all monies owed are retrieved. Credit: Myjoyonline.com

The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources and Member of Parliament (MP) for Damango, Samuel A. Jinapor, says the ongoing implementation of the digitalization of records at the Lands Commission is to among others promote transparency and inject a high level of efficiency in the Land services delivery of the country. The Hon. Minister said this when he led a team from his Ministry to appear before the Public Account Committee (PAC) on Tuesday 15th March, 2022 to respond to urgent infractions relating to some activities of the Lands Commission and Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands which are entities of the Ministry. The Minister admitted some challenges at the Lands Commission saying "the biggest issue we have at the Lands Commission is records keeping, the kind of records that we churn out so that if you conducted a search at one division at Lands Commission you get one results, go to another division you get a different results and of course the whole concept of title being indefeasible." He further added that "we want to implement a program for the digitalization of the records of the Lands Commission because we have assess the situation and are of the the firm and emphatic conclusion that it is the only way of restructuring Land Administration which will be fit for purpose." The Hon. Minister maintained that Land Administration in Ghana must be properly structured and that's why Government is implementing a way to get the Lands Commission to respond to the daily requests and offer adequate and timely Land Administration Services to the Ghanaian people in a more transparent manner. "We are working to structure the digitalization of the records of the Lands Commission to improve the Lands Service delivery in the country as we seek to completely overhaul the operations of the Lands Commission which formerly operated in a manual system" he added. The Minister further stated that the problem of Land Administration in Ghana is systematic and government is determined to make Land administration in Ghana fit for purpose. Adding to the response by the sector Minister on the concerns raised by the Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Hon. Sam George regarding the multiple land registration at the Lands Commission, the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Mr. James Dadson said the Lands Commission is currently holding a retreat at GIMPA to address some of these challenges. "We have operated a typically manual system over a very long time and some of the records are not easy to be retrieved which can also result in multiple registration." Mr. James Dadson further explained that "sometimes too, we have a situation that owners of Land engage in multiple sale so it's not just multiple registration but a lot of it is also multiple sale of Land on the same parcel." He further indicated that the solution to these challenges is to ensure that stakeholders work to reform and automate all the land records as pointed out by the Hon. Minister to ensure the uniqueness of all parcel of Land. The Administrator of the Office of Stool Lands (OASL), Surveyor Mrs. Maame Ama Edumadze-Acquah responding to a question posed by a member of the Committee, on why legal action hasn't been taken by OASL with regards to rent defaulters, she opined that based on ACT 481 that govern their operation, they are unable to take legal action against rent defaulters . She was however quick to add that that her office is working closely with the sector Minister to review the ACT accordingly. Answering a question on why Farm Rent Collectors delay in lodging revenue to the OASL account, the Administrator said the challenge had to do with the remote nature of some areas which made it difficult for the collectors to lodge monies in the acccount but said with this infractions, the management of OASL have introduced the Mobile Money 'MoMo' concept to help obtain these monies on timely basis. Below are some pictures: Story by: News Desk Report

Director of Faculty of Academic Affairs & Research at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Prof. Emmanuel Kwesi Aning, said the United States of America Embassy in Ghana owes Ghanaians an apology for a security alert the Embassy issued to its citizens in Ghana over what it described as “unsubstantiated claims”. The security alert issued on March 9, 2020, warned American nationals in Ghana against traveling to the Northern parts of the country. “The U.S. Embassy in Accra, Ghana, has received unsubstantiated information that U.S. citizens may be targeted for kidnapping for ransom in northern Ghana, including the Upper East Region and the Upper West Region. U.S. citizens traveling in Ghana should exercise caution while visiting border areas, in particular the northern border, and be sure to stay abreast of any Security Alerts affecting those areas. Due to concerns over criminal activity in remote areas, travel of U.S. government personnel to the northern and northwestern border is currently limited”, the alert reads. But Prof. Aning is opposed to the approach adopted by the Embassy saying it unduly damages the reputational image of Ghana. He wants the Government of Ghana to take on the matter. “I think it is unfair and the Foreign Ministry must protest. This information is unfair, it’s unwarranted and it needs a much more solid basis”, he said in an interview withTV3’s Crosby Annan. “If they themselves have used the word “unsubstantiated”, then I think they owe the government of Ghana an apology and I’ll be terribly disappointed if the ambassador or the deputy ambassador has not called on the Foreign Ministry”, he added. According to Prof. Anning, the security advisory alert should be treated with contempt. “In my line of work, unsubstantiated facts are rubbish and I think we should treat it as the rubbish that it is”, he said. Source: 3news.com

The Sekondi Magistrate Court presided over by Her Worship Rosemary Edith Hayford has discharged the 1st accused person in the ongoing case involving three senior high school (SHS) students accused of burning to death a Bolt driver in Sekondi Takoradi in the Western Region. The discharge of Adolf Eshun follows a recommendation from the Attorney General’s Department that he be set free. Adolf Eshun, a student of Bompeh SHS in Takoradi, has since December been on remand with a charge of conspiracy to commit murder of a Bolt driver, who was later identified as naval officer AB1 Okyere Boateng. But in its advice to the court, the Attorney General’s office said although Adolf Eshun on 22nd December 2021 ordered a Bolt for suspects Patrick Baidoo, 19, and Joseph Lord Ni Adjei Oninku, 17, who had told him they were stranded, he was not part of the planning and execution of the crime. Lawyer for the 1st accused Joseph Evans Abeka said what the court said was consistent with their long-held view that Adolf Eshun was innocent. “…so the Attorney General rightly advised that he shouldn’t be prosecuted. He should be discharged, so he has been discharged. If in future the police need him to come and testify, he will come, but for now, he is a free person and can even start school tomorrow.” The mother of freed Adolf Eshun could not hold back her tears and said “what has happened is the doing of God. I’m also grateful that my son indeed did not take part in the crime and I’m hopeful that he has learned all his lessons”. The 2nd and 3rd accused persons are still on remand awaiting the Bill of Indictment from the Attorney General’s Department for a committal process to commence. The case has been adjourned to Monday, April 11, 2022. Story by: Eric Yaw Adjei

The Director of Public Affairs Department of Parliament, Kate Addo has debunked rumours saying the Speaker of House, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin has not sidelined her department. According to Ms. Addo, such rumours are untrue. In a statement sighted by Thinknewsonline.com, the Director of Public Affairs, Parliament, Kate Addo said "Our attention has been drawn to a story circulating in the media to the extent that the Rt. Hon. Speaker has sidelined the Public Affairs Department and other similar Department, whiles he focuses on the staff affliated to his official assignments" She also added that the Public Affairs Department continues to remain committed to the communications management of the office of the Rt. Hon Speaker and in the performance of any allied duties. She again said "It is true that the Rt. Hon. Speaker has a communications team but it must be noted that the communications team have an entirely different mandate from that of the Public Affairs Department" Ms. Addo further mentioned that the Rt. Hon. Speaker continues to engage with her on relevant issues and is keen on growing the Department likewise other Departments of the Legislature. "As an apolitical outfit, like other departments in Parliament, the Public Affairs Department and by extension there entire Parliamentary Service is committed to working to enhance the overall development of the entire Legislature, without recourse to any political party or ideology" Below is a copy of the release: Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith