The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta has explained that the 1.75% charge on all electronictransactionswillhelp enhance financial inclusion. According to him, the charge will also protect the vulnerable. Delivering the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, the Finance Minister said "This fee will enhance financial inclusion and protect the vulnerable" The Minister also stressed that the 1.75% charge forms part of government's measures to widen the country’s tax net. "Transactions covering mobile money payments, bank transfers, merchant payments, and inward remittances will have the levy imposed on them and will be borne by the sender" he disclosed. “After considerable deliberations, the government has decided to place a levy on all electronic transactions to widen the tax net and rope in the informal sector. This shall be known as the “Electronic Transaction Levy or E-Levy”, Explaining further, Mr. Ofori Atta stated that the levy will be waived for transactions that amount to GHS 100 or less in a day or approximately GHS 3,000 per month. The Finance Minister also mentioned that the new norm will rather be used to help entrepreneurship, youth employment, cybersecurity, digital, and road infrastructure and a host of other things. He said "It is the expectation of the government, that the implementation of new policy will come into force effective January 1, 2022, if the appropriation is passed. Government will work with all industry partners to ensure that their systems and payment platforms are configured to implement the policy" "The total value of transactions for 2020 was estimated to be over GHS 500 billion as compared to GH¢78 billion in 2016 while total mobile money subscribers and active mobile money users have grown by an average rate of 18% and 16% respectively between 2016 and 2019" Watch the video below: Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith

A nine-member government delegation led by the Deputy Minister of Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, on Monday commensurated with the Chiefs and families of the nine children who drowned last Friday while returning from their Headmaster's farm at Saboba. Other members of the delegation were the Director-General, Ghana Education Service, Prof. Kwasi Opoku Amankwa, the Northern Regional Police Commander, COP Timothy Yoosa Bonga, Regional Director of Education, Dr Peter Attafuah and a team of Clinical Physiologist and counsellors among others. Courtesy call The team on Monday morning paid a courtesy call on the Paramount Chief of Saboba, Uchabobor Bawon Mateer Sakojim at his palace. After meeting the Paramount Chief and the traditional leaders of the area, the team also joined worshipers at the local Catholic Church where a special thanksgiving service was held for the nine departed children. Rev. Ntim Fordjour and the rest of the delegation later met the bereaved families at the Saboba District Assembly conference hall where each bereaved family was presented with two thousand cedis. The Deputy Education Minister announced that a team of Clinical psychologists and counsellors had been assigned to the community to help support the teachers, school children and relations of the nine dead students to cope with the situation. The Director-General of GES, Prof. Kwasi Opoku Amankwa, pledged to collaborate with the traditional leaders to bring sanity and help improve teaching and learning in local schools. He pledged to ensure that supervision in all schools across the country would be intensified to control any form of abuse to all school children irrespective of where they were located in the country. The Paramount Chief of Saboba, Uchabobor Bawon Mateer Sakojim lauded the Government for the support to the traditional authorities and the bereaved families. He expressed the traditional authority's preparedness to put in place the right measures to bring sanity into schools in the area to curb the issue of headmasters and other teachers sending school children to farm during instructional hours. The Paramount chief appealed to Government as a matter of urgency to overhaul activities at the Saboba District Education Directorate to improve education in the area. BRIEFING Last Friday, around 3 pm, 32 school children who were returning from the farm of the Headmaster of the St. Charles JHS, at Saboba in the Northern Region, got drowned when two of the boats carrying the children capsized. Out of the 31 children, 22 of them were able to swim across the Oti river while the remaining nine got drowned. This led to the arrest of the Headmaster, Mr Charles Chinji, who has since been remanded into police custody pending further investigation and prosecution. The Tamale Circuit court on Monday remanded the Headmaster into police custody for murder. He will reappear before the Court on 29th November 2021. Credit: GNA

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has revised protocols for the administration of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The revision includes people between ages 15 and 18 receiving the Pfizer jabs. The Service believes that children in schools are more vulnerable to the Covid-19 disease, hence their bold step to include them in the vaccination exercise. Speaking to the media at a press briefing, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma Aboagye, said vaccinating children within that age range helps the country better fight the pandemic. The Food and Drugs Authority had earlier granted permission for only people aged 18 and above to be inoculated with the vaccine. Dr. Kuma Aboagye said, “Pfizer has been registered fully for 12 years and above by the US FDA. Ghana originally registered Pfizer for 18 years and above. Through FDA, we have been able to have a reduction to 15 years. This is very important news for us because the most active group in our society are the young ones at that age, and with Christmas and all the activities coming they will be more active, so vaccinating those in that group will reduce school outbreaks and help us reduce transmission to adults” He added that Ghana will be on track to attain herd immunity if the population within that bracket is vaccinated. Credit: Tvnewsgh.com

Information reaching Thinknewsonline.com indicates that there is currently a stamped at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) due to system breakdown on covid-19 test. According to Thinknewsonline.com's source, over thousands of people have been left stranded at the Airport. With the worrisome surge in Covid-19 cases in the country, it is emerging that the stranded passengers seem to be left to their faith. It is also emerging that a fumigation team has been deployed to spray the Airport. The fumigation team according to sources will embark on the exercise this evening to help reduce the spread of the covid-19 disease. More to follow..... Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith

Despite this strengthening, the rand is yet to recover the R14.50 level which it saw at the end of September, contributing to the under-recovery in fuel. Mid-month data from the Central Energy Fund (CEF) shows that fuel prices could see significant increases in November on the back of the global energy crisis and a weaker rand. The data made available by the CEF on 14 October shows an under-recovery in both petrol and diesel prices, pointing to a possible increase of between 95 and 98 cents per litre for petrol and over R1.40 per litre for diesel. The Central Energy Fund (CEF) has stressed that the daily snapshots are not predictive and do not cover other potential changes like slate levy adjustments or retail margin changes, which the department determines. The Department of Energy makes adjustments based on a review of the whole period. Furthermore, the outlook can change significantly before month-end. Prices are affected by two main components – the rand/dollar exchange rate and charges to international petroleum product costs, primarily driven by oil prices. At mid-October, a weaker ZAR/USD exchange rate is contributing to an under-recovery of around 23 cents per litre for all fuel types, with changes to international product prices adding to the pain. Differences in price and refining costs for petrol and diesel create a divergent path on pricing, with diesel seeing an over-recovery of R1.17 per litre in product price changes, while petrol shows an over-recovery of 72 to 74 cents per litre. Despite this strengthening, the rand is yet to recover the R14.50 level which it saw at the end of September, contributing to the under-recovery in fuel. Credit: Statenewsghana.com

Security persons of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), in collaboration with the National Security, have arrested 11 teachers and a headteacher over alleged malpractice in the 2021 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) which took off throughout the country yesterday. The 12 were picked up at two examination centres in the Offinso Municipality in the Ashanti Region and the Senase R/C Basic School in Berekum in the Bono Region. Offences A source at WAEC told the Daily Graphic in an interview that at the Offinso Methodist JHS examination centre, a teacher of the Offinso State ‘A’ Junior High School (JHS) was allegedly caught collecting money from the candidates while distributing the Social Studies answer booklets. According to the source, when the teacher was questioned, she admitted collecting the money, but explained that the candidates decided to contribute the money to her for free. However, WAEC officials believed that the money was meant to influence the invigilator to enable the candidates to indulge in examination malpractice. In the second case, also in the Offinso Municipality, nine teachers and a headteacher were arrested at the Dwamena Akenten M/A JHS examination centre after they were spotted desperately solving the objective part of the Social Studies paper in the morning. The source further said at the Senase R/C Basic School centre, Ransford Osei, an invigilator, was apprehended for allegedly taking shots of the Social Studies paper, which was being written in the morning, and sending the snapshots to a friend to solve for him. However, while Osei was being escorted by the police, he absconded. Advice Commenting on the development, the Head of the National Office of WAEC, Mrs Wendy Addy-Lamptey, assured the candidates that they could do well without resorting to malpractice, including cheating. She advised the candidates to manage their time well to be able to answer all the questions, adding that they should also read the questions thoroughly before starting to answer. While wishing the candidates the best of luck, Mrs Addy-Lamptey advised them to take enough rest “and not be anxious but focused and write what you know”. She expressed concern over the fact that teachers engaged to invigilate or supervise the examination were rather engaged in malpractice and asked the candidates to reject offers from such invigilators because they could equally be wrong. Smooth take-off Meanwhile, the examination commenced smoothly at all centres across the country. In Accra, Joshua Bediako Koomson and Faith Ayorkor Mensah report that COVID-19 protocols were strictly observed at the various centres. The Ayawaso West Municipal Director of Education, Madam Adisa Tassa, who toured some of the centres, presented 1,107 mathematical sets and 1,108 pens for onward distribution to the candidates. The centres in the municipality are the Nima Cluster of Schools, the St Paul’s Lutheran School and the Flag Staff Basic School. Madam Tassa said she was impressed by the conduct of the candidates. Western Region From the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis, Dotsey Koblah Aklorbortu & Augustina Dzodzegbe report that 40,464 candidates from 1,195 schools in the Western Region are taking part in the examination. When the Daily Graphic visited some of the centres, it saw that the candidates were in high spirits. Officials of the Western Regional Education Directorate went round the centres to assess the situation and indicated that all was well. The Regional Director of Education, Mrs Felicia Agyeibea Okai, wished the candidates well and urged them not to engage in examination malpractice. The Western Regional Minister, Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, in his message to the candidates, wished them well and urged them to observe all the rules governing the examination. Central Region Shirley Asiedu-Addo and Edith Mensah write from Cape Coast that 63,727 candidates are writing the BECE in the Central Region. The COVID-19 protocols are also being fully observed. Some 498 candidates from 18 basic schools are writing the examination at the Holy Child School centre. A supervisor at the centre, Mr Joseph Alex Mensah, indicated that measures had been put in place to ensure that candidates went through the examination without any hitches. The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Agona East, Madam Janet Odei Paintsil, accompanied by the Presiding Member of the assembly, Nana Kwao Ponsi II; the District Director of Education, Madam Vida Amoah Mintah, and other officials of the assembly visited all the examination centres in the district, writes Gilbert Mawuli Agbey. In a brief remark, Madam Painstil announced that despite the free SHS policy, the assembly would support girls who excelled in the examination with ‘chop’ boxes, trunks and other educational materials meant for SHS to reduce the financial burden on their parents. Northern Region About 30,468 candidates from 657 JHSs across the Northern Region are writing this year’s BECE, Mohammed Fugu reports. When the Daily Graphic visited some centres in the Tamale metropolis, such as the Zogbeli Block A JHS, the Kanvili R/C JHS and the Anglican JHS, on Monday morning, it observed that the candidates were fully prepared for the examination. A student of the Zogbeli Block A JHS, Adam Salifu, in an interview, said: "I am fully prepared and I hope that everything I have learnt will come." The Northern Regional Director of Education, Dr Peter Attafuah, who visited some of the centres, urged the candidates to put in their best to enable them to pass the examination. Upper East Region A visit to some of the examination centres by the Daily Graphic showed that all the candidates had adhered to the COVID-19 protocols. The Upper East Regional Director of Education, Mr Edward Azure, told the Daily Graphic that adequate measures were in place for a successful examination. Volta Region Agnes Melissa Yovo reports that there was orderliness at all the centres in Ho. The Ho Municipal Director of Education, Mr Godwin Amelor, who toured the centres, advised the candidates to eschew examination malpractice and not be intimidated by the presence of invigilators in the examination hall. Credit: Modern Ghana

Some candidates of this year's Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in Zebilla in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region were forced to write their exams barefoot. Except for candidates who wore sandals to the Zebilla Senior High Technical School Centre ‘B’, all others were made to remove their sandals before they were allowed entry to write their social studies paper. The invigilators justified the decision, indicating it would make their supervision and invigilation easy. The District Director of Education, Timothy Nasaal told ModernGhana News that the decision was primarily to prevent the candidates from using their sandals to smuggle foreign materials, popularly known as ‘apor’ into the examination hall as has been the practice in previous exams. The Director, however, said some candidates were caught smuggling foreign materials into the exams hall hence the decision to compel candidates wearing long boots with socks remove them. Addressing the candidates at Zebilla, the Bawku District Chief Executive, Issaka Tahiru Ahmed has advised them to put up their best. He was quick to warn them against cheating in the examination. The DCE encouraged them to pass their exam and enjoy government's free SHS programme. Out of the total of 1,845 candidates sitting for this year's examination in the Bawku West District, 956 were females and 889 males. In Garu District, out of a total of 1,157 candidates, 588 are males and 569 females. At Tempane in the Tempane District, a total of 1,344 candidates were expected to sit for the exams. The figure is made up of 661 males and 697 females. At Bawku Municipal, out of a total of 2,211candidates, 1237 are males and 974 males. In generally, 22,121 candidates made up of 11,544 females and 10,577 males were expected to sit for the exam in the Upper East Region. Below are some pictures: Story by: Atubugri Simon Atule

Some people think that when people don’t show off their partners, they are most likely cheating. While others also hold the opinion that the survival of a relationship or marriage does not depend on secrecy or public display of affection. In an interview on the Day Show, entertainment pundit, Vida Adutumwaa Boateng, stated that flaunting one’s partner on social media does not guarantee the longevity of one’s relationship or marriage. “Flaunting your partner does not mean anything. Flaunting your partner on social media does not mean your relationship will last.” She revealed that she has had indirect experiences where relationships had fallen apart despite parading their partners on social media. Vida said some people also flaunted their partners on social media to show that they are off the market. Hoping that no third party can ‘snatch’ their partners from them. “Some also post their partners because they are happy about their relationship,” she added. The Entertainment pundit revealed that just as some people marry based on political grounds, others also marry to gain followers on social media. She added that others also get attached to their partners due to their fame. “Some people get attached to their partners because they have fame. Because anyone who aligns him or herself with a star automatically becomes a star. We also have people who get married for political reasons or on political grounds.” Vida mentioned that some couples, especially celebrities, feel obligated to update their followers on the status of their relationship to remain relevant. “Now numbers are money, so some celebrities are compelled to update their followers.” The outspoken pundit recommended that celebrities in relationships and marriages should try their possible best to differentiate between their stardom and personal lives. She further advised that it is better off guarding one’s personal life than putting it out there regardless of being a public figure or not. Story by: Benedicta Naa Lamiorkor Lawson

Deputy Energy Minister William Owuraku Aidoo has indicated that based on environmental and commercial considerations, Ghana aims to attain full transition of all thermal generation plants from liquid fuels to natural gas. He made this revelation when he addressed the African Energy Forum currently taking place in London, United Kingdom. The Deputy Minister, who is also the MP for Afigya Kwabre South, revealed further that liquid fuels would only serve as a backup in the event of deficit or curtailment in the supply of gas, and that currently, all the existing thermal plants use natural gas as the primary source of fuel except for the 370 MW AKSA power plant which is also making efforts to convert its units from HFO to gas. “Due to the high dependency of the power sector on natural gas, it is crucial to ensure that there is always the security of supply. The government continues to explore more indigenous oil and gas resources” Hon. Owuraku stated. He added that natural gas supply is further expected to be significantly bolstered by an additional 125MMscfd from the Tema LNG Project which is expected to be operational from 2022. The Deputy Minister also touched on other issues in Ghana’s energy sector, including cost-reflective energy pricing, universal access to electricity, increased reliability of electricity, and the future of power purchase agreements, among others. The African Energy Forum is being held from 15th to 17th November 2021 in London under the theme ‘Critical Ongoing Issues in the Energy Sector’ and draws on the relationship between energy, technology, purpose, and inclusivity. Participants include representatives of governments, utilities, and regulators with development finance institutions, commercial banks, power developers, technology providers, EPCs, and professional services. Below are some pictures: Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith

Huawei’s handset division is reportedly negotiating with two domestic retailers to license its smartphone designs to bypass US sanctions. Bloomberg reported that state-owned China Postal and Telecommunications Appliances and TD Tech, both of which currently sell Huawei handsets, plan to market devices featuring Huawei designs under their own brands. The deals are intended to give the local companies access to chips made using US technology, and the plan is for Huawei to generate additional revenue from the handset unit in spite of the fact that it has been cut off from global chip supplies. This is not the first time Huawei has suggested licensing its technologies. In September 2019, founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei announced it would consider selling access to its 5G technologies to a company based outside Asia to ease concerns about spying. The company’s revenue for the first nine months of 2021 fell by almost a third year-on-year, with handset sales plunging after divesting sub-brand Honor to avoid toughened trade sanctions from the US. Huawei handsets used to be in the top three on the global handset shipment and sales market share reports, but has for more than a year now fallen off the radar and has been replaced by local rivals such as Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo. Last week, President Joe Biden signed a law that prevents Chinese vendors, including Huawei and ZTE, from receiving licenses from regulators to sell equipment in the US. The Secure Equipment Act targets companies seen as national security threats. Credit: fixondennis.com

Ghanaian blogger Albert Nat Hyde, popularly known as Journalist Albert, has been sacked by his employer. . Journalist Albert’s sack comes in the midst of his recent clash with the General Manager of GHOne TV, Nana Aba Anamoah, and her other colleagues on TV. . Albert, who is also known as Bongo Ideas had gone to GHOne TV to audition in The Next TV Star series. . The young man was asked to present a political show. Before he could gather his thoughts to set the ball rolling, Bridget Otoo interjected and it led to a barrage of attacks from Nana Aba and Serwaa Amihere. . Nana Aba Anamoah singled out a tweet reportedly taken from the young man’s Twitter handle and read it for all to hear. The tweet was about Serwaa Amihere which had the young man claiming he knew what she was up to in the country. . In his defense, the young man said his life on social media was not the same as his real life and that it was only an ‘agenda’ he was setting. But his explanation did not suffice and he was booted out of the auditions. . Following that embarrassing encounter, Journalist Albert’s woes have been deepened as he has lost his job. According to his employer, Chris Handler, Journalist Albert ceases to be a worker for him from today onwards. . In a statement released on his Facebook page, Handler indicated the decision to sack Albert had nothing to do with the clash with Nana Aba. It was rather a result of discontentment of Albert with his job which has been inhibiting his performance. Credit: Nkonkonsa.com

Economic analysts want Ghanaians to lower their expectations of freebies in the 2022 budget expected to be presented before Parliament on Wednesday, November 17, 2021. According to them, this is due to the fact that the Ghanaian economy at the moment is broke. The Director of Business Operations at Dalex Finance, Joe Jackson, and the Editor of the Goldstreet Business newspaper, Toma Imihere on Point of View on Monday, said the economy is in a dire situation, and that urgent steps must be taken to inject capital to sustain it. According to Joe Jackson, the inadequacy of revenues raised, high debt servicing rate, and the huge borrowing of the government make it difficult to announce interventions meant to cushion citizens. He said with the markets now reluctant to lend to Ghana on the basis of the dire economic situation the country finds itself in, the 2022 budget must focus on increasing investor confidence and impressing upon lenders that Ghana is doing its best to stabilize the economy. “The budget must signal better management to the market so that we can borrow because we still have to borrow. They have to know that we are doing our best to manage our affairs so that we can borrow at reasonable rates,” he said. He said in order to raise more revenue, the government must go beyond the digitization drive, and broaden the tax net, and introduce progressive taxes that levy the wealthy and luxury. He also kicked against the tax exemptions granted to private companies in the country, stating that it affects the government’s revenue generation drive. “The mere fact of identifying somebody, although it is excellent, will not solve the problem. Unless someone is willing to follow up and ensure the taxes are collected. The taxes should be such that the rich pay more… These tax exemptions are troublesome,” he indicated. Meanwhile, Toma Imihere said Ghana’s reputation on the bond market has waned and steps must be taken to restore investor confidence in the country’s economy. He said Ghana’s recent adventure on the bond market did not turn out well and with very little, the government can do about it, it must consider other domestic options to get enough revenue to finance its planned projects and service its growing debts. “Even the willingness of people to lend to us is gone. When went to the bond market in March, we said we were going to take $5 billion dollars if the price was right, eventually, we were offered $6 billion dollars but the problem was that half of it, the prices, the interest rate were too high for us so we got only $3 billion. The government said it was oversubscribed but that is not true,” he said. He accused the government of failing to go after the elite and political class to raise revenue to fix the dire circumstances of the economy and instead introducing taxes that make the poor worse. “Our political elites are self-serving. The people who set the tax laws don’t want to put taxes where they will pay more,” he observed. The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta is expected to deliver the 2022 national budget to parliament on November 17, 2021. Before the budget is read, there are already several demands on things the government must do including demands from aggrieved Menzgold customers for a relief package for them in the budget. The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) is also making a case for the government to remove the 50% benchmark value as the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) is also appealing to the government to maintain it. Credit: Citinewsroom