The case involved Abusuapanyin Kojo Kyer Addaquay and Abrewatia Love Adwo  Som as the petitioners, and Nana Afrakoma II, Nana Nyarkoa (Benkumhemaa) Nana Asomani (Amanguahene) and Kwame Owiredu as the respondents.

The petitioners challenged the eligibility of Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III, the Paramount Chief of Akwamu, stating that the Chief was an outsider who was not from the royal family.

They also held that, the process through which he ascended the throne 6 years ago, was not in conformity with customs of Akwamuman.

The counsel for the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs which sat on the case in Koforidua, constituted the Okyenhene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori-Panin, the chairman, Nana Gyankomah Djaba Mensah, the council and recorder, Okotwasuo Kantamanto Oworae Agyekum III (member), and Nana Sakite the kronor of Manya krobo (member).

The Judgement

Nana Gyankomah Djaba Mensah who read out the verdict on the decision taken by the council stated  that”As conclusion of the whole matter, Nananom find as per the evidence, facts, History, Custom and all the exhibits presented before them that…

1. To ascend to the black stool of Akwamu, a candidate must of necessity come from either the house of Yaa Ansaa or Yaa Botwe

2. That there is no established system of rotation in Akwamu to ascend to the Paramount stool.
3. That as far as the history of the people of Akwamu is concerned, the office of Queen mother is not alien to the people of Akwamu
4. That the first respondent was validly nominated, elected and installed the paramount chief of Akwamu in accordance with the custom and practices of the people of Akwamu”.

The counsel for the respondents after the judgment, made a plea that an amount of GHC 50, 000.00 be paid to his clients as compensation to defray the cost of time, resources and money spent to and fro in pursuance of the case. However, the chairman of the Regional House of Chiefs, Okyenhene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin together with his jury, pleaded for a reduction which was accepted by the respondents and pegged at GHC 15.000.00.

Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III, who was full of joy and smiles in an interview with Citi News called for unity at Akwamu, saying “this victory is not for one group, it is for the whole Akwamu so everyone should not be shy, let’s all come together as one big family and develop Akwamuman”.

A grand Durbar is scheduled to be held on Sunday at the forecourt of the Chiefs Palace in Akwamufie.

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By: Neil Nii Amatey Kanarku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post 25-year old Akwamu cheiftaincy dispute settled in favour of Odeneho appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

About eleven people were killed and 17 others were severely injured in a renewed chieftaincy dispute between two factions in Bimbilla.

According to the medical superintendent of the Hospital, Dr. Osman Abdulai, most of them the staff have refused to be at post because of the insecurity in the area.

“Today is the third day of the conflict and most of the staff are running away, we tried to persuade them, but they feel that they are not secured and as you know we do not have accommodation in the hospital. We have rented houses within the community and that is where most of the staff stay and from what is happening, they feel that they are not secured, so they have indicated to us that they want to leave,” he told Citi News.

According to the Dr. Abdulai, several persuasion to keep them at post have proved futile.

“As we speak, a significant number of our staff had left, we just have a skeleton staff around taking care of the patients,” he added.

Dr. Osman was particularly worried about pregnant women in labour who are rushed to the facility since to him all the anesthetics in the hospital have left.

“We have to refer most of the pregnant women to Yendi for various complications which we could have handled in the hospital.”

The Bimbilla district hospital, which is a hundred bed capacity hospital serves almost seven other districts along the eastern corridor of the northern region including the two districts in the Volta north, namely, Nkwanta South and North districts.

On a normal day the Out Patient Department (OPD) records between 300 and 350 patients daily but as at 1:45pm on Sunday afternoon only 5 patients visited the hospital, two of them in labour.

At the labour ward, only three women delivered safely and were on admission and 10 women were referred to Yendi for various complications which otherwise could have been handled in the hospital.

Two out of five midwives were on duty to handle the cases that are brought to the facility.

The two midwives are accommodated within the premises of the hospital.

The male ward which usually admits an average of 10 patients a day was empty not a single patient was on admission.

The female ward was not different only 2 women were on admission . The children’s ward which usually was busy all the time and normally admits close to 70 children daily was virtually empty.

Only five children were on admission in the ward. The children’s ward has a total of 15 nurses, only 4 nurses were around to take care of the children day and night.

The hospital also lacks ambulance services.

Nine of the victims of last Thursday’s clashes were were brought to the Bimbilla district hospital. Two of them were later referred to Tamale but according to the medical superintendent, one later died in Tamale bringing the death toll to eleven.

Five were discharged from the hospital and one person still on admission, but is responding to treatment.

Dr Osman, however feared that any further gunshot in the community will likely force authorities to shutdown the hospital in order to save lives of the medical staff.

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By: Mohammed Aminu M. Alabira/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Bimbilla clashes: Medical staff abandon posts appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Ghanaians have been commending such harmony among officials of the two main rival political parties, NPP and the NDC, considering the tension that is often witnessed between them.

In one of such occurrences, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, hosted a send-off party for her predecessor, Hanna Tetteh, on Wednesday February 1.

The two are leaders of a team who have been tasked to make submissions on the ongoing hearing.

Background

Ghana went to the ITLOS in September 2014, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), seeking a declaration that it has not encroached on Cote d’Ivoire’s territorial waters.

It filed its suit based on Article 287 Annex VII of the 1982 UNCLOS.

Cote d’Ivoire in February 2015 filed for preliminary measures and urged the tribunal to suspend all activities on the disputed area until the definitive determination of the case, dubbed: “Dispute Concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire in the Atlantic Ocean.”
“Case 23” was filed by Ghana after 10 failed negotiations.

But the Special Chamber of the ITLOS on April 25, 2015 declined to suspend production activities in the disputed area.

The Chamber at the time explained that in its view, “the suspension of ongoing activities conducted by Ghana in respect of which drilling has already taken place would entail the risk of considerable financial loss to Ghana, and its concessionaires and could also pose a serious danger to the marine environment resulting, in particular, from the deterioration of equipment.”

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

The post Maritime dispute: Marietta, Gloria Akuffo represent Ghana at ITLOS appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Football’s world governing body has requested a meeting with Sierra Leone president Ernest Bai Koroma and other leading officials.

“We are confident that Sierra Leone’s president and government officials will understand and honour our request for an official visit on 16 November,” Samoura wrote in a letter to the SLFA.

“We are convinced a positive solution can be found with the necessary commitment from all parties.”

Samoura also hopes to discuss a match-fixing inquiry relating to a Sierra Leone international in 2008.

In 2014, 15 national team players and officials were suspended indefinitelyover allegations of match-fixing relating to the goalless Africa Cup of Nations qualifying draw against South Africa.

The SLFA launched a match-fixing inquiry earlier in 2016 but it is still in the hands of the government and has yet to formally proceed.

“We would like to pay a courtesy visit to the President of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma, as well as the Minister of Sports, the Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission and the three-person committee currently conducting the SLFA match-fixing enquiry,” Samoura wrote.

“We kindly ask the SLFA to contact the abovementioned authorities to arrange such a visit on behalf of Fifa.”

In September, Fifa warned local authorities against interfering in SLFA business, stating that ‘over the course of the last three years, Fifa has noticed several activities of third parties that could be considered as interference (in) the running of the SLFA.’

Support for SLFA president Isha Johansen

Fifa disapproves of governmental interference in the running of football and has banned several countries in the past for such actions.

The world governing body also gave staunch backing to SLFA president Isha Johansen, who was released without charge after being detained by anti-corruption officials in September.

The only female football president in Africa spent a night in custody in Freetown after failing to attend a hearing set up by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on 7 September, whereupon she was arrested.

The SLFA’s vice-president and secretary general were arrested as well but also later released without charge.

All three denied wrongdoing during their questioning by the ACC, with Johansen saying her innocence in ‘any allegations involving corruption or related offences is undisputed.’

With documents and computers having been removed by armed police and ACC officials from the SLFA office, Fifa said it was monitoring the situation.

Now it will travel to Sierra Leone to meet SLFA officials on 15 November, prior to a proposed meeting with President Koroma the following day.

“Fifa would like to demonstrate to the government of Sierra Leone that it is fully committed to supporting the development plans and programmes for football in Sierra Leone that have been presented by SLFA President Johansen,” stated the Fifa letter sent on 1 November.

The ACC has previously stated it is investigating funds the SLFA received from Fifa, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) and the government of Sierra Leone.

Fifa later said there had been no ‘misuse of the funds’ it had given to the SLFA, while Caf has yet to comment.
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By: BBC

The post Fifa’s Fatma Samoura to visit Sierra Leone over FA dispute appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.