The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye has revealed that pregnant women can now be vaccinated with the covid-19 vaccine. According to him, this comes after a careful study by the Health Ministry and Ghana Health Service. Addressing Journalists in Accra on Wednesday, he said "Pregnancy women can now be vaccinated. Recommended vaccines are either Moderna or Pfizer" He added that the Health Ministry had critical studies of which it is confident that both Pfizer and moderna are safe for pregnant women. "We will have community engagements and speak to the pregnant women. We will make them understand that we went to research on it and now it is safe for them and their unborn babies" he added. The Director-General further appealed to pregnant women to cease the opportunity and get vaccinated. Watch the video below: Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith

Ghanaian Afropop and Afrobeats singer, Wendy Asiamah Addo, known by the stage name Wendy Shay has hinted that the Ghana Football Association (GFA) should rather invest in Ghana Music than football. The call comes following the abysmal performance exhibited by the Senior National Team, Black Stars in their defeat to Comoros in the ongoing African Cup of Nations (AFCON 2022) in Cameroon. In a tweet sighted by Thinknewsonline.com, she tweeted "I think GFA should invest the money into Ghana Music .... anaa mose ma High" The tweet has however received mixed reactions from a sections of Twitter users. Background It will be recalled that the Black Stars on Tuesday were kicked out if tye competition after they lost 2-3 to Comoros in the group stages. The defeat has come as a big blow to the nation with many calling for the sack of the coach, GFA President and players. Ghana played three matches in the ongoing AFCON 2022 and managed to secure only a point. Below is a screenshot: Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith

Transport operators say they will be forced to increase transport fares following the government’s reluctance to engage them on demands for a reduction in fuel prices. The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), the country’s largest transport union, says the operations of its members have become difficult because they are currently running at losses due to the current price of fuel. The General Secretary of GPRTU, Godfred Abulbire, in a Citi News interview said, they expected the government to keep its word by ensuring a reduction in the price of fuel but fuel prices have rather shot up. He said the situation of drivers and car owners is unfortunate and there is an urgent need for them to be given some respite. “All the efforts we made before the reading of the budget has not yielded any result. We were told that definitely from the next pricing window fuel prices will come down but that same night, GOIL was able to come down which was an indicator that what we were requesting will be achieved. So we concluded the meeting with the hope that by the following week, GOIL will go lower. Shortly after, fuel prices started going up, and far more than we thought. It is serious. We are running at a very serious loss,” he said. He added that the GPRTU and other transport unions will meet on Wednesday to decide on the way forward. “Two-thirds of our total income goes into fuel. People may not be able to maintain their cars and that can lead to accidents. The best option is that we have to go back, get another meeting and have the government to understand that if the first option is what they are refusing, then our option is to increase the fares by a margin that will cushion us to at least break even. All the transport operators are holding a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the way forward.” Last year, the GPRTU and other transport groups embarked on a sit-down strike demanding a reduction in fuel prices, which were inching towards the GH¢7 mark. Fuel prices over the weekend, however, crossed the GH¢7 mark, with projections that it may add on a few more pesewas in the coming weeks. Story by: Jonas Nyabor

The Ghana Police Service has arrested seven persons over the shoot-out in Nima on Tuesday during a clash between two gangs. Five of the suspects are in police custody while two have been hospitalised under police guard. Police are also on the search for the leaders of the two gangs known as Kumordzi and Bombon. One injured victim known as Appiah is receiving treatment at 37 Military Hospital. Director-General of Police Public Affairs, ACP Kwesi Ofori, who addressed the media at the police headquarters said “Nima witnessed mass violence around 3:30 pm yesterday [Tuesday], and the Police quickly intervened. The violence spread across some sections of Nima and we managed to stabilise the situation.” “7 persons have been arrested. 5 are presently here with us, and the other two are on admission at the Police hospital.” He further indicated that the Police is actively working to clamp down on all criminals within Nima and its environs. The Police Service posted a video on its Facebook page showing a group of men holding machetes moving along a street in Nima, as some fired gunshots in the open. The Police in its social media post also said it had strongly intervened and contained the violence. Story by: Edna Agnes Boakye

The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin, is currently in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for another medical review. This was captured in a letter Mr. Bagbin wrote to the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, dated January 1, 2022, and sighted by citinewsroom.com. Per the letter, the Speaker, who left the country on Friday, January 7, 2022, is expected to return on Sunday, January 23. “I am writing to inform you of my absence from Ghana from Friday, 7th January 2022 till Sunday, 23rd January 2022 in order to honour an appointment for a medical review in the United Arab Emirates”, the letter mentioned. The Speaker in the letter also informed the president that, Parliament will resume its sitting for this year on Tuesday, January 25, 2022. He also told the President that, the House will undertake a COVID-19 booster vaccination exercise for MPs and other parliamentary staff before the resumption of official duties. This, he said, is “part of measures to contain the infection and spread of the Coronavirus Disease within the parliamentary precincts, particularly in the wake of the spike in infections as well as the new wave of the Omicron variant of the disease”. This is the second time the Speaker is traveling to Dubai to undergo a medical review; the first was on November 27, 2022. During the first medical review, Mr. Bagbin was accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Alice Adjua Yornas, Head of Parliamentary clinic, Dr. Prince Kofi Pambo, the Speaker’s Secretary, and his aide. He embarked on his first medical trip a day after he presided over Parliament’s chaotic developments that saw the Members of the Majority side of Parliament staging a walkout during processes to approve the 2022 budget and the House’s subsequent rejection of same. Credit: Citinewsroom

Violence has broken in Nima with machete-wielding men who decided to face each other with their weapons. Ghana police responds to gunshot and machete deadly clash in Nima In the video that has gone viral on social media, a group of irate men could be seen attacking each other's group in a life-threatening manner. Gunshots could also be heard fired amidst the chaos. The incident is said to have occurred around Tuesday, 18th January Evening, across the streets of Nima. One man could be seen injured from the clash. In a swift response, the Ghana Police Service has issued a statement about the violence. "Police Contained Nima Violence The Police strongly intervene in the Nima violence and brought the situation under control," the statement said. According to the update shared on social media, Ghana Police adds that "meanwhile the suspected criminals are being pursued to face justice. Full details will be provided at an opportune time". The exact cause of the chaos is not yet known. However, according to an eyewitness who tweeted via the account, @asmnkoaa, it was fight over "shisha" and three people have reportedly died from the chaos. . "People fighting in Nima is awkward I witness a guy on motorbike been butchered by someone with cutlass. Information I've gathered shows that they are fighting because of shisha. 3 innocent people have been allergedly dead. When will our Zongo people learn?" he tweeted. See videos of the clash below: Credit: Pulse GH

The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Hon. Samuel A. Jinapor, MP, has affirmed the Ministry’s resolve to work to sanitise the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry of the country. He said the lands and natural resources of any country, constitutes the country and ought to be protected and managed for the benefit of the people. The Government will therefore not relent in its efforts to sanitise the lands and natural resources sector through appropriate policies and regulations. According to the Minister, “the commitment of President Akufo-Addo to ensure the sustainable and efficient management of the lands and natural resources of the country, anchored on integrity and transparency is total and unflinching and the Government will be relentless, totally committed, to enhance all the measures that have been put in place to come to grips with the matters of illegal mining.” The Minister made this comment when he appeared on the Breakfast Show of Ghana Television (GTV) on Tuesday, January 18, 2022. He observed that the menace of illegal mining, is an age-old problem that predates the Fourth Republic and even though the illegal mining still persists, the Government, through the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and its agencies, has worked to bring the situation reasonably under control. Government’s interventions in this area have largely been two-fold, regulatory and enforcement. In the area of regulation, he mentioned some of the government’s policies as reforms at the Minerals Commission, including resourcing the Inspectorate Division of the Commission, digitalisation of the Minerals Commission, the introduction of online application for mineral rights, and the revamping of the Community Mining Schemes. On enforcement, he said some of the policies being implemented by the Government include the declaration of water bodies and Forest Reserves as Red Zones for mining, the ban on reconnaissance, prospecting and/or exploration for minerals in Forest Reserves, the introduction of Operation Halt II, the tracking of earthmoving equipment and machines for mining, among others. The Minister emphasised that the Government of President Akufo-Addo is not against small scale mining, but rather wants it to be done in a legally regulated way. To this end, the Government has developed a Manual for Community Mining Scheme, which seeks to ensure that community mining is done in an environmentally sound manner. The manual requires that Community Mining Schemes have sick bays, changing rooms, concurrent reclamation and revegetation, functioning offices, and environmental officers on site. He added that the Regional, Municipal and District Security Councils have been tasked to led the fight in their various jurisdictions, to be supported by the national taskforce as and when the need arises. He called on all communities to support this fight as the communities bear the brunt of the consequences of illegal mining. Touching on lands, the Minister opined that the consequence of a poorly regulated land sector is a serious as illegal mining. The Government is therefore committed to building a robust, efficient and effective land administration that is anchored on integrity. Mr. Jinapor said, the Government is therefore investing in technology at the Lands Commission to ensure this vision is achieved. Some of these technological reforms has resulted in the Lands Commission moving some of its services, including searches, online, and introducing composite search at the Commission to replace the searches at the different Divisions of the Commission. He indicated that the Commission is also implementing a digitisation programme that will see to the digitalisation of the records of the Lands Commission. On Forestry, the Minister said the government was committed to protecting the forest cover of our country, while implementing an aggressive afforestation programme to restore the lost forest cover of our country. He added that the Government is doing this through policies like the Green Ghana Project, the ban on harvesting and export of Rosewood, and the ban on commercial production of charcoal in some parts of the country. He bemoaned the continuous depletion of our forest cover since 1900 without any aggressive effort to restore same. He called on all well meaning Ghanaians and residents of Ghana to support the Government’s afforestation Programme, particularly the Green Ghana Project, which will see to the planting of at least, Twenty Million (20,000,000) trees this year. Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith

The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Hon. Samuel A. Jinapor says his Ministry has made some considerable gains in the fight against Illegal Small Scale Mining over the past few months. He said " We have come to a point where we can reasonably be encouraged that the proper framework and the building blocks  have been put in place to deal with this age old menace" He made this known in an interview with Thelma Tackie on GTV's flagship programme, "Breakfast Show", on Tuesday, 18th January, 2022. The Minister mentioned two fundamental things that marks these gains saying that the Ministry has been able to put in place the necessary reforms in the regulatory regime for the mining sector of the country. Hon. Jinapor added that "the enforcement mechanisms where you get to find matters to do with Operation Halt, efforts being made by the Regional Security Councils at the forefront of enforcement and even the extent of segregating the enforcement by declaring mining in forest reserves and river bodies as red zones are pillars on which I can say we have made gains" In his responses, the Minister also admitted that there is still more to do as his Ministry has not gotten to a satisfactory situation on the fight. He stated " We are not out of the woods yet.We have not gotten to a satisfactory point where we can say we have a full grip of illegal Small Scale Mining in our country. I will be the first to admit that 5 to 8 or even 10 years would still not be enough to rid our country off these llegalities in the lands and natural resources sector completely" Hon. Jinapor on this note declared that this year, he and his team are going to be relentless and totally committed, ensuring that all the measures put in place are duly enforced even in the sight of obvious challenges. He went on to disclose that the Ghana Armed Forces has been able to secure some night vision equipments, all in efforts to come hard in the fight against illegalities this year. Touching on the discovery of iron ore and other minerals in the country, Hon. Jinapor opined that the plan of government is to ensure that the country has an integrated iron industry which will ensure the retention of the full value chain of these minerals. He said the government together with the Minerals Commission and the Precious Minerals Mining Company ( PMMC) are almost done with a gold refinery that is underway in the country. All these he said is to ensure that "we add value to the Lands and natural resources of our country". On the Forestry sub sector, the Minister call on all and sundry to massively support the up coming tree planting exercise dubbed "Green Ghana Day". He urged all to go out and plant trees come June, 2022, disclosing that 80% of seedlings planted last year are doing well. " We cannot call on Ghanaians if those we planted last year are not doing well. That would be a waste of efforts and time. But thankfully we have a robust monitoring team in place and I am told by the Forestry sector that even up to 80% of those seedlings planted last year survived" He assured that this year's edition of Green Ghana is going to be even bigger with the planting of 20 million trees and therefore called on the media to get involved on this all important exercise. " I'm calling on all media outlets to partner government on the planting of these 20 million seedlings" Speaking on the Lands Sector, the Minister said that one of the key priorities of the Ministry which is being vigriously pursued is the digitization of the records of the Lands Commission. He said issues that has to do with land administration are of grave importance to him even more than galamsey, stressing that the consequences of land administration are enormous. Below are some pictures: Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith

Some scores of Ghanaians have taken to Twitter to lambast the Senior National Team, Black Stars over their abysmal performance in the ongoing African Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2022. In series of tweets sighted by Thinknewsonline.com, seasoned sports journalist, Michael Oti Adjei tweeted "Never seem a more humiliating day like this in Ghana football. Lowest of the low. #TeamGhana #Afcon2021 Former Black Stars Captain, Asamoah Gyan said "We didn't play with ambition and passion. I have been in the game for a long time. I'm very disappointed that we are going out. We shouldn't have gone out. I'm really disappointed" - #TeamGhana #GHACOM #GhanaComoros Arsenal Football Club also tweeted "🇬🇭 Ghana 2-3 Comoros 🇰🇲 Thomas Partey and #TeamGhana exit #AFCON21 after defeat to #TeamComoros Chin up, Thomas 💪" Perkinsy tweeted "Ghana did not cedis coming 😂 #AFCON2021 #TeamGhana" Below are some screenshots: Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith

Hip pop rapper Medikal has been seen having a good time with his fans over the weekend. This initiative By the rapper was to get in touch with his fan base and let them feel closer. During the meet-up, he ended up challenging each of them to a game with GHC 1,000 as the winning price. Watch the video below: Credit: Anything GH

Ghanaian Actress and Entrepreneur, Tracey Boakye has broken the internet after releasing some stunning birthday photos. In the pictures, Tracey was spotted flaunting her new Lexus car with a 2022 registration number. She also flaunted some designer shopping bags. The pictures did not only cause traffic on the internet but have received mixed reactions from a section of the public. Below are some pictures: Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith

Stonebwoy and his beautiful daughter Jidula, have got many laughing with this hilarious video of them. In the video, Stonebwoy was seen calling Jidula who was wearing a wig, but she didn’t respond, this made him remove her wig which was actually very funny. Watch the video below: Credit: Anything GH