Ghana Post Elections

A leading member of the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) has challenged Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia to a debate on the country’s economy. Bolgatanga Central MP, Isaac Adongo said the “face to face” interaction would afford Ghanaians the chance to assess figures being churned out by the government on the country’s economy. Speaking at a forum organised by the Coalition for Restoration -- under the theme ‘Assessing the three-year reign of President Akufo-Addo’-- at Labone in Accra, Mr. Adongo said he would resign from politics forever if the vociferous Veep is able to defend the government’s picture of the economy. He said the challenge was to ensure Dr. Bawumia does not “hide on a separate platform to produce his own data” after the Vice President himself asked the NDC to challenge him with counter figures. “I want to meet him face to face and ask him to defend these numbers in the full glare of Ghanaians.  If they are able to find any magic to dispute the cooking they a...

Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu is displeased with the Minority in Parliament’s failure to officially inform the leadership of the House about its decision to abstain from the debate on the State of the Nation Address. Mr. Mensah-Bonsu said the Minority failed to show courtesy by abstaining from the debate. “The discourtesy in it [abstinence] is that whereas I approached them formally to inquire whether they will debate and they had assured that they will debate when they elected not to debate, they failed to even formally communicate to me and that is the tragedy.” He was however quick to add that the Minority’s abstinence will in no way affect the relationship between leaders of the Majority and Minority in Parliament. “I think one episode should not mar relationship and do not forget you are the leader and you should play the role of a mother. You should be fatherly and be accommodating of everybody so yes, I was a bit ruffled by that but I am not rattled and I am no...

The Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, Professor Kwesi Yankah, has called on Parliament to reinstall translation equipment in the chamber to enable Members of Parliament (MPs) to freely make contributions. He said such equipment would enable MPs to table their views on the floor in their mother tongues or common local languages and not limit them to the lingua franca, the English Language. Prof. Yankah, made the call on the sidelines of a durbar to celebrate this year’s International Mother Tongue Day at the College of Languages Education, University of Education, Winneba, Ajumako last Friday. It was on the theme: “Languages Without Borders.” The International Mother Tongue Day is observed on February 21 worldwide with the prime goal of promoting awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multi-lingualism. Official recognition The official recognition of the day was first announced on November 1999 by UNESCO and was formally accepted by the United Nations Gen...

Fifty-seven (57) parliamentary aspirants have filed their nomination papers to contest the New Patriotic Party’s Parliamentary Primary in the 20 constituencies of the Greater Accra Region, where the Party has sitting Members of Parliament. Thirteen of the aspirants are females, a statement issued in Accra by the Regional Secretary, Daniel Parker Odarlai France, has said. The aspirants are scheduled to be vetted between Friday, February 28 and Sunday, March 8. The specific dates for the various constituencies will, however, be provided by the National Vetting Committee. The successful aspirants will, subsequently, contest the primary on April 25, 2020, which will be held simultaneously nationwide. Incumbent Members of Parliament: Alhaji Abubakar Saddique of Madina, Patrick Yaw Boamah of Okaikwei Central, and Henry Quartey of Ayawaso Central constituencies are, however, are going unopposed. The Adentan, Anyaa-Sowutuom, and Bortianor-Ngleshie-Amanfrom constituencies have the highest nu...

The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to remain an unbiased umpire in order to restore confidence in the electoral system. “It should not be the case of ‘he who pays the piper calls the tune’”. This was contained in a 2020 Lenten Pastoral Letter signed by its President, Most Rev. Philip Naameh, who is also the Metropolitan Archbishop of Tamale. The letter was on the theme “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled with God” (2 Cor 5:20). Transparent elections It appealed to the EC to conduct free, fair and transparent elections on December 7, 2020, when the country would be going to the polls to elect a President and parliamentarians. “All the political parties are to be given a fair and a level playing field to contest the upcoming elections,” it stated. It also appealed to all political parties and their members to support and respect the independence and verdicts of the Electoral Commission, stressing that, “we encourage...

President Akufo-Addo will on Monday, 3rd February, 2020 begin a two day working tour of the Savannah and Upper West Regions. On Monday , the President will pay courtesy calls on traditional rulers in Kpembe, inspect the rehabilitation works on the Salaga water system and attend a durbar of the chiefs and people of Salaga North. He will also inspect the Tamale- Salaga Mankango road and Bunjai- Fulfulso road. On Tuesday 4th February, President Akufo-Addo will arrive in Wa and pay courtesy calls on the Wa Naa and new regional Chief Imam. He will then inspect ongoing construction of a multi-purpose youth centre in Wa Central and cut sod for phase II of the Solar Power Project. The President will also inspect ongoing construction of some roads in Nandom before returning to Accra on the same day. These regional tours by President Akufo-Addo are aimed at giving him an opportunity to hear first-hand from the people and observe for himself the progress of work.

The New Patriotic Party has revealed the unnamed ‘Government Official 1’ in the Airbus bribery scandal is former President John Dramani Mahama, now presidential candidate of the NDC for the 2020 Elections. At a press conference in Accra on Monday, the Communications Director of the party, Yaw Buaben Asamoa, said Mahama should tell the country what he knows about GO1 and the processes leading to the purchase of the aircraft form Airbus SE. “ . . Notwithstanding the referral to the OSP, it is important to note that the former Hon Attorney General’s intervention on behalf of candidate Mahama is very weak and unable to directly respond to the hard facts as put out by the United Kingdom Serious Fraud Office (SFO). It is therefore necessary that former President, now Candidate John Dramani Mahama responds directly to the issue himself,” he stressed. According to the NPP, the serious nature and processes involved in the accusations demand immediate action to remove any dents on the imag...

Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Boamah Otukonor has said all is set for their 'wɔkpεnε' demonstration in Accra against the Electoral Commission. According to him, they are doing their final meeting today with the Police to conclude on their route and security. Speaking on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, he explained that nothing will stop them from going on with their planned demonstration, adding that though they have met with the EC and its Eminent Advisory Committee, they are more convinced that majority of Ghanaians are still against the compilation of a new voters' register. He said though the EC has decided to meet with the various Technical teams of the Electoral Commission, it still does not change their resolute decision to fight the compilation of a new register. "The Electoral Commission should simply obey the will of the people and rescind its decision to compile a new register," he sai...

The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has dissociated itself from any presidential debate the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) intends to hold ahead of the December elections. According to the NPP, the NCCE has not had any prior engagements with the party on the matter and has, therefore, breached courtesy by publicly announcing its plans for such a debate. The NCCE Director of Public Affairs, Mrs Joyce Afutu is reported to have announced that the commission will organise three Presidential Candidates’ Debate in three zones: Northern, Middle and Southern in September, October and November in collaboration with Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC). The Commission would also organise Parliamentary Candidates’ Debate in all 275 constituencies and undertake door to door/dawn and dusk broadcast on voter turn-out from September to December. Reacting to this, the NPP statement signed by General Secretary John Boadu said: “The NPP is completely unaware of the claims by ...