The coalition organized a press conference yesterday at the Ghana International Press Centre, seeking to discredit Ghana Post’s recently launched Global Positioning System (GPS) – a $2.5 digital property addressing system for Ghana.

[contextly_sidebar id=”tWBhwN4W59zuKkSEzalU8h1nCrtiloAj”]A member of the coalition who claimed to be a GPS expert, Kingsley Mortey, had made a presentation to journalists on the Ghana Post GPS, saying emphatically that the GPS is not unique to Ghana as Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia had indicated.

According to Mr. Mortey, the GPS belonged to the US military and that it’s precision was not accurate and that it was subject to manipulation by the US.

The coalition had echoed ex-President Mahama’s claim that the GPS is a “419,” to wit: a scam, saying that the whole deal smacks of a grand collusion between the company and some government appointees to “create, loot, and share.”

It accused the company contracted to build the App – Vokacom – an indigenous Ghanaian Information Technology (IT) firm, of allegedly not honouring its tax obligations to the state to the tune of $3 million, indicating that it was needless to invest $2.5 million in creating the digital addressing system because for the members of the coalition, it is already available for free on Google and the Asaase App. Interestingly, Asaase App was developed by Vokacom.

But when members of the coalition finished the talking and invited the media and other individuals present to make comments or ask questions, the deputy minister, who was at the event to listen to what the pro-NDC activists had to say, mounted the podium to clarify some issues the coalition had raised as far as the GPS was concerned.

Initially, Mr. Andah was given the opportunity to speak to the issues, but as he seemingly started exposing ‘flaws’ in the arguments put forward by the coalition, the whole confusion started.

Mr. Andah had pointed out that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government has solutions for Ghana’s national digital addressing system and that the Ghana Post GPS was developed to enable the country to be able to give every property a digital address.

Some members of the coalition, including its chief convener, Ebenezer Kofi Hayford, a failed 2016 NDC parliamentary aspirant for Ayawaso West Wuagon who lost to Delali Emmanuel Kwasi Brempong, had angrily attempted to rush on him (Andah) to get him off the podium in a bid to stop him from further clarifying the issues that had been raised, even though the coalition had earlier challenged the government to speak to the issues.

Samuel Gyamfi, Public Relations Officer of Exton Cubic – a mining company owned by Ibrahim Mahama, younger brother of former President John Mahama – who is a member and also spokesperson of the coalition, became seriously mad with the deputy minister and attempted moving to physically get him off the podium, when NDC Communications Officer, Solomon Nkansah, stopped him from doing so.

Even though Mr. Gyamfi failed in pushing the deputy minister off the podium, he succeeded in screaming on top of his voice, telling Mr Andah, “You have only five minutes to end!”

What seemed more embarrassing for the coalition members was when the media followed the deputy minister and his team – made up of Managing Director of Ghana Post Company Limited – out of the Press Center for an interview.

At that moment, Mr. Mortey was left alone talking about GPS in the conference hall while the media were seeking further explanation from the deputy minister, forcing other members of the coalition to come out shouting at the journalists. “It is our platform. We paid for it not him,” he shouted.

But the journalists were unperturbed and continued with their interview and immediately after that, the event came to an abrupt end as the organizers became furious with the journalists for ‘abandoning’ them in favour of Mr George Andah.

–
By: Daily Guide/Ghana

The post ‘Blows’ over $2.5m GhanaPost GPS appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The management of Ghana Post had announced that Ghana is to pay Google an amount of $400,000 as a licensing fee annually, for making use of the tech giant’s Google Maps platform.

[contextly_sidebar id=”q5H12hIjUDES1zLCFyCkK5h9DPyU2pPt”]But speaking on The Big Issue on Citi FM, the Deputy Communications Minister, George Andah, noted that “there are other solutions that are going to come down the line.”

He also intimated that, the fact that government is making the license payment for a single year was an indicator of the fact that an alternative was being worked on.

“If you are using Google Maps for 10 years, then you pay Google Maps a fee for 10 years… We intend that within the years, we would have to come out with the right solution that we want.”

In the government’s “current plan” this payment of $400,000 will be the “[first and last],” according to the Minister.

On the steps being put in place in this regard, Mr. Andah said, there was “an interministerial committee that is looking at harmonising the work that the Ministry of Local government and Rural Development has done as far as street naming is concerned.”

Google has not captured all the streets in Ghana, and Mr. Andah said “some upgrades needed to be done.”

The National Digital Property Addressing System, also known as the Ghana Post GPS, is aimed at providing an effective means of addressing every location and place in the country, using an information technology application.

The app, which government said cost the country $2.5 million, has however been criticized by some experts in the technology space as well as some civil society organizations.

The $2.5 million covers the back-end solution, data analytics, firewalls, servers, the aforementioned Google license, marketing and publicity as well as technical support.

There is also GHc1.7 million VAT factored into the cost which goes back to the government.

–

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ghana won’t pay Google for address system after 2017 – Andah appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

As at the end of July 2017, the total subscriptions of mobile data in the country was 22,103,467, with a penetration rate of 77.58%, noted to be one of the best in sub-Saharan Africa.

[contextly_sidebar id=”aRMa2DMTpjpWIHHCcVoXcYe6gFNP7t15″]But Mr. Andah noted that, Ghana needed to up its game as far as “providing affordable and accessible broadband is concerned, however, there is an offline version of this app.”

“The offline version is so heavy that if we release it to the public when you download, it will probably chop all your data. That is why we are using the online mode so that when you download, the amount of data that is consumed is insignificant,” he explained on The Big Issue.

This notwithstanding, the Communications Ministry also has teams on the ground “physically assisting people who don’t have access to a smart device or don’t have access to broadband to generate addresses from the offline mode,” Mr. Andah disclosed.

His outfit is collaborating with the National Commission on Civic Education to go “door to door, where there is no broadband access or access to smartphones, to drive education and drive awareness to assist people to generate their digital addresses.”

The Ghana Post offices nationwide will also have these offline mode devices to enable citizens to generate their digital addresses.

The National Digital Property Addressing System, also known as the Ghana Post GPS is aimed at providing an effective means of addressing every location and place in the country, using an information technology application.

The app, which government said cost the country $2.5 million has however been criticized by some experts in the technology space as well as some civil society organizations.

The $2.5 million covers the back-end solution, data analytics, firewalls, servers, the aforementioned Google license, marketing and publicity, technical support, among others.

–

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonine.com/Ghana

The post Offline Ghana Post app to serve people without data – Andah appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Residents of Awutu Dodukwa in the Awutu Senya West District of the Central Region, could not hide their joy on Easter Monday after the first bore hole project was commissioned for them.

The residents, numbering about 300, have not seen potable water in the farming community since independence.

The Member of Parliament for the Awutu Senya West Constituency, George Andah, in collaboration with Milani Pineapple Company Limited, constructed a mechanized borehole For the residents of Awutu Dodukwa.

Commissioning the GHc15, 000 water project at Awutu Dodukwa on Monday, the MP for the area, George Andah, said the project would improve his relationship with the farming community.

This he said would open the way for the community to see many infrastructural developments in the coming months.

The MP, who’s also the Deputy Minister for Communication, urged the chiefs and opinion leaders of Awutu Dodukwa to ensure periodic maintenance of the project in order to sustain it for the next generation.

For his part, the Managing Director of Milani Pineapple Company Limited, Bijean Milani, said the water project was done as part of the company’s cooperate social responsibility, which is aimed at providing portable water to all the deprived communities in the company’s catchment area.

According to him, providing water for them would also encourage the over 200 workers of the company who leave in such underdeveloped communities.

Nenyi Kweku Adawu I, the Chief of Awutu Dodukwa on behalf of the residents, expressed his profound gratitude to the MP and the Milani Pineapple Company for the kind gesture.

–

By: Akwesi Koranteng/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post George Andah, Milani Pineapple construct borehole for Awutu Dodukwa appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The two, however, remain members of group. A statement issued by OccupyGhana thanked the two for their service to its anti-corruption campaign, and wished them well in their new endeavors.

George Andah and Yofi Grant who were active members of the group, are now serving in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

While Yofi Grant is now serving as the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), George Andah is the Deputy Minister for Communications, and MP for Awutu-Senya West.

OccupyGhana is a social and non-partisan pressure group which has as its mandate a commitment to ensuring that Ghana develops to its full economic potential.

Although the group claims to be non-political, some members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have alleged that the group is a pro-NPP group.

Read the full statement below:

RESIGNATION OF NENYI GEORGE ANDAH AND YOFI GRANT FROM OCCUPYGHANA EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

OCCUPYGHANA wishes to formally announce the resignation of Nenyi George Andah and Yofi Grant from its Executive Council.

Nenyi and Yofi however remain members of OccupyGhana and will carry to their respective new endeavours, the core values and ideologies of OCCUPYGHANA, promoting good governance and abhorring corruption.

We thank them for their past and continued dedication to the OCCUPYGHANA cause and wish them very well in their new endeavours.

Yours in service for God and Country

OCCUPYGHANA

–

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Yofi Grant, George Andah resign from Occupy Ghana executive council appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Mr. Andah, alongside some New Patriotic Party executives in the area, were at the Bawjiase market where they cleared drains and the environs of the market, as the rainy season beckons.

“Today, I had the opportunity to participate in the observation of National Sanitation Day. I was stationed at the Bawjiase market area together with my party constituency chairman Stephen Quaye, the assemblyman for the area Hon Koo Fori and other well-meaning citizens who volunteered,” he said in a Facebook post after the exercise.

Mr. Andah also underscored the importance of citizen engagement in ensuring improved community sanitation.

Setting the example by partaking in the exercise, he called on communities to get involved saying, “as citizens and not spectators, we should all make an effort to get involved in cleaning our environment. We must make a conscious effort to mobilize for future national sanitation day participation.”

The first Saturday of every month is to be observed as National Sanitation Day. This has been so since November, 2014, when government declared the sanitation day as an intervention in response to a cholera outbreak that same year.

The day, however, remains a voluntary clean-up exercise, though a Bill was sent to parliament by the Local Government ministry, for legal backing for the National Sanitation Day programme to prosecute individuals who refuse to take part in it.

–

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post George Andah calls for community engagement on sanitation day appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Mr. Andah, a chartered marketer, was elected into parliament to represent the Awutu Senya West constituency after he secured 52.4 percent of the valid votes to beat the incumbent, Hanna Tetteh.

The legislator, who shared his second day in parliament with his constituency via Facebook live, has consistently provided online platforms for his constituents to reach out to him.

On Thursday, January 12, Mr. Andah took to his Facebook page to announce this unique digital town hall meeting, and urged his constituents to participate in discussions about the development of Awutu Senya West, and assured his followers of his accessibility.

His post indicated the New Patriotic Party mantra of change, as he reiterated his commitment to creating prosperity and equal opportunities for his constituents.

–

By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post George Andah to connect with constituents via Facebook live appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) postponed the debate because Mr. Andah was reportedly insecure with the presence of the protesters.

[contextly_sidebar id=”iRQFrqNm4KGZxANncgCvmruz8CvsAHSA”]According to the incumbent Member of Parliament for the area, Hanna Tetteh, the women were there to protest against George Andah, who had attacked her single marital status by challenging her to show her husband to her constituents.

Madam Tetteh indicated that a number of NDC members in the constituency had taken offense to Mr. Andah’s comments, of which he has remained unapologetic, though she herself stated that she is not disturbed by Mr. Andah’s campaign attacks.

“Quite frankly I couldn’t care less about Mr. Andah’s attacks on me. They are not my problem and I don’t even consider them to be an issue. If that is the way he wants to do his campaign that is his choice. I will do my campaign differently.”

“But there are some people in this constituency who are members of my party who have taken offense and for that reason; a number of the NDC women who were planning to attend the debate had worn funeral clothes as a sign of protest,” she said.

Concerning the cancellation of the debate, Madam Tetteh revealed that from the discussions their NCCE platform, it appeared that Mr. Andah was concerned that protesters “constituted propaganda and he [Andah] would not like to see that present during the debate.”

“For this reason the NCCE decided to suspend the debate and postpone it to another day,” she said.

–

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Protests against Andah forced suspension of debate – Hanna Tetteh appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Mr. Andah at a mini rally held at Bawjiase in the Central Region last week, challenged the incumbent Member of Parliament, Hanna Tetteh, to show her husband to the constituents.

“I came here with my wife, and children. Please tell Hanna to also come and show us her husband,” Mr. Andah said.

[contextly_sidebar id=”aJ1OqhitVFUfwGoJwKZO65cr2V8WWYM6″]Many have taken to social media to describe his action as chauvinist, and an insult to unmarried women seeking political office.

But the regional executives of the NPP say George Andah cannot be faulted for the comments as Hanna Tetteh was the first to launch an attack on Mr. Andah.

Richard Takyi, the NPP’s Central Regional Communications Director told Citi News George Andah’s comment was “charitable”.

“In the first place, it was Hanna Tetteh who accused George Andah wrongly, calling him an irresponsible man and accused him of being a womanizer without any basis. In my view, George Andah gave Hanna Tetteh a fair response. He was even charitable with Hanna Tetteh,” he added.

Andah’s attack on Hanna Tetteh’s marital status primitive – NDC

Meanwhile, the Central Regional Secretariat of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), has in a strongly worded statement condemned what it calls “retrogressive” and “primitive” the attack on the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for Awutu Senya West constituency, Hanna Tetteh.

The NDC said it will “never condone any irresponsible comment against single mothers, unmarried women or career women who are in politics to advance the cause of women and children.”

I won’t apologize; Hanna Tetteh called me ‘irresponsible’

George Andah has however indicated that, his challenge to Hanna Tetteh was misunderstood and therefore sees no need to apologize.

In a Facebook video published last week, he said his comment was in response to allegations by Hanna Tetteh’s campaign team that he [George Andah] was irresponsible.

“I didn’t say she has a husband or she didn’t have a husband. I showed my wife. There are issues going round that I am irresponsible and all I said was that I come to the constituency with my wife, I come to the constituency with my children,” he said.

–

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post George Andah was charitable with Hanna Tetteh – NPP appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Speaking at a mini rally at Bontrase, he declared that time was up for the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), and its parliamentary candidate for Awutu Senya West, Hanna Tetteh.

He contended that, Hanna Tetteh, the incumbent, has taken the youth for granted for the past eight years hence his call for change..

According to him, Hanna Tetteh has spent a combined 12 years in positions of influence ranging from her time as an MP, to her time in the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministries, but has still not been able to lobby for basic development projects for her constituents.

“For 12 years, somebody hasn’t been able to work on the Bontrase market. Somebody hasn’t been able ensure there is running water in Bontrase. Somebody hasn’t been able to ensure there is even a public toilet.”

Mr. Awuku reminded the constituents that, should the NPP win the election, every constituency would be given $1 million dollars.

“If you change this into Ghanaian money, it is GHc 4 million or 40 billion old cedis. In our first term, Awutu Senya West would receive 160 billion old cedis,” the Youth Organiser explained to the ecstatic crowd.

He also delivered a message from the NPP’s Nana Akufo-Addo.

“Nana Addo says I should tell you that, we shall work on your market. Nana Addo says I should tell you that, we shall work on a public toilet for you. Nana Addo says I should tell you that within his first four years, the pipes will flow in Bontrase. Time is up, and we must tell the NDC to leave. Time is up for them and we must call NPP to come in.”

–

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Awutu Senya: Time up for NDC, Hanna Tetteh – Sammy Awuku appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.