Five ministerial nominees out of the 30 so far vetted have been deferred by the Minority MPs on Parliament’s Appointments Committee to reappear for further questioning.

They are Communication MInister nominee, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful; Railway Minister nominee, John Peter Amewu; Roads Minister nominee, Kwasi Amoako-Attah; Attorney General and Minister of Justice nominee, Godfred Dame and Health Minister nominee, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu.

Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has been accused of being discriminatory in the closure of some radio stations.

The nominee during her vetting two weeks ago said, the NCA acted in accordance with the Electronic Communication Law of 2008 in shutting down radio stations.

She stated, “Ursula has not closed down any radio station…it was by operation of the Law…the NCA conducted an audit exercise which indicated that 144 radio stations had committed several infractions which necessitated that they are sanctioned”.

Also, the NDC MPs cited flaws in her answers regarding the Kelni GVG CMP deal.

This Common Monitoring Platform (CMP) contract was set up with the objective of providing a means of verifying the information provided by telecom companies for tax revenue purposes in accordance with the law.

She, however, justified the implementation of the programme, claiming that it has helped the country to boost its tax collections from the sector.

The Hohoe MP, John Peter Amewu will be answering questions pertaining to the PDS contract and the beating up of a bailiff in his constituency.

During his vetting, Mr Amewu took responsibility for the botched PDS deal owing to the fact that he was sector Minister at the time.

However, he denied any involvement in the incident with the bailiff, claiming that he only found out a week after it has happened.

Godfred Dame has also been summoned to answer additional questions pertaining to a petition filed against him by the family of Gregory Afoko.

Source: MyJoyOnline

Former President John Dramani is expected to be at the Police Hospital today March 2, 2021 to take the Coronavirus vaccine.

Reports suggest he’ll take his jab at 10am this morning.

On Monday, President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia took their first doses of the vaccine to shore up public confidence in the vaccine.

Below is the list of priority persons for vaccination

Group 1 

• Persons most at risk and frontline State officials
• Healthcare workers
• Frontline security personnel
• Persons with underlying medical conditions
• Persons 60 years and above
• Frontline members of the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary

Group 2

• Other essential service providers and the rest of the security agencies
• Water and electricity supply services
• Teachers and students
• Supply and distribution of fuels
• Farmers and food value chain
• Telecommunications services
• Air traffic and civil aviation control services
• Meteorological services
• Air transport services
• Waste management services
• Media
• Public and private commercial transport services
• Police Service
• Armed Forces
• Prisons Service
• Immigration Service
• National Fire Service
• CEPS Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority
• Other members of the Executive, Judiciary, and Legislature

Group 3

Consists of the rest of the public, that is all persons over 18 years, except for pregnant women.

Group 4

This final group will include pregnant mothers and persons under the age of 18, and they will be vaccinated when an appropriate vaccine, hopefully, is found, or when enough safety data on the present vaccines are available according to the President.

GhanaFeed.com

Government says it has reached an agreement with the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to do everything possible to maintain the stability enjoyed in the country ahead of the pronouncement of the verdict in the ongoing 2020 election petition hearing.

According to the President’s representative at the Information Ministry, this was one of the resolutions reached at a high-powered delegation from both sides at a meeting on February 25, 2021.

The consultative meeting of 30 participants including top security hierarchy and chaired by Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare was hosted by the National Security Ministry.

Former President John Mahama is currently in court seeking to annul the results of the December 7 election over irregularities which he believes saw Nana Akufo-Addo emerge President.

After weeks of arguments at the Supreme Court by lawyers for the petitioner and respondents, the apex court is set to deliver judgment on Thursday, March 4, 2021.

The statement signed by Kojo Oppong Nkrumah indicated that both parties agreed to trigger measures to prevent their party faithful from fueling chaos after the Supreme Court declaration.

“Regarding the on-going election petition, all parties committed to the
need to preserve the peace in the aftermath of the verdict by urging their
supporters to exercise restraint and desist from any provocative acts that could undermine law and order.”

The meeting was generally geared towards reviewing “the security arrangements put in place for the conduct of the elections and expressed divergent concerns about the events that characterized the collation and declaration of the results.”

While calling for closure to election-related violence that characterised the 2020 general election through investigation and sanctioning of perpetrators, the gathering further called on the Police Service to “improve upon the policing of election materials in future elections.”

“The parties called for thorough investigations into the incidents that marred the peaceful conduct and declaration of the results notably in Odododiodoo, Savlegu, Ablekuma Central, Sefwi Wiawso, and Techiman South constituencies among others.”

The March 1 statement further reiterated the “need to continue the political and security dialogue in the best interest of the country.”

Also present at the meeting were; the Presidential Advisor on Security, Brig. Gen. Emmanuel Okyere (Rtd), Albert Kan-Dapaah, the
President’s Representative at the Ministry of National Security, Ambrose
Dery, the President’s Representative at the Ministry of Interior, Freddie Blay and John Boadu, NPP Chairman and General Secretary respectively.

The NDC was also represented by Kofi Totobi-Quakyi, former Minister for National Security, Lt Col Larry Gbevlo-Lartey (Rtd), Former National Security Coordinator and Director for Operations, Capt (GN) Baffour Assasie-Gyimah, former Deputy National Security Advisor and Mr. Kofi Attoh, National Vice Chairman. Also, in attendance were the IGP James Oppong-Buanuh and the CDS Rear Admiral Seth Amoama.

Source: MyJoyonline