According to the Herald Newspaper, earlier reports indicated that three containers loaded with chicken from Holland, had been seized at the Port, after mandated institutions like the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), declared the consignments unwholesome.

[contextly_sidebar id=”bqh8nE4ptXKZJ2Cv57zAWRiQrgZJq0YV”]However, the three containers, including a fourth one which the FDA said it found very difficult to open for inspection, managed to leave the port to the market.

The paper said the FDA’s officer-in-charge of the Tema Port, Solomon Agampim, had confirmed that the unwholesome chicken products were cleared from the port and sent all the way to Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region.

But the Head of Public Affairs of the Food and Drugs Authority, on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, said investigations showed that the products had not moved from Accra.

He added that, the FDA had located the products, and sealed the container, awaiting results from a test conducted by the veterinary service.

“On the day the first container was being cleared, they noticed that there was another container, so what our officers did was that, they tried to open that container which belongs to the same company to inspect it, but it had been sealed. The clearing agent promised that on Monday, they will bring a welder to open it, but they realized that the container was on Monday cleared [on the FDA’s blind side].”

“What we did was that, we called the clearing agent, and he told us that the product was in Techiman, so we called our office immediately in Brong Ahafo to start making investigations on the product, only for us to go back to the warehouse to notice that the clearing agent gave us wrong information. The whole product was still in Accra. On Wednesday, we saw 2,800 cartons of the product that one didn’t have a foul smell, and we called the veterinary service who took samples to do analysis, the results I don’t know yet. We have sealed that, and they cannot be touched,” he said.

Mr. Lartey noted that, the FDA officer at the port cannot be blamed for the clearance of the unwholesome product from the port, since he took the right steps within his power to ensure that the right thing was done.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Consignment of ‘rotten’ chicken cleared from Tema port appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This follows a directive by Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, for the port agencies to migrate to a paperless system by September 2017, after he observed that the current system had too much human interaction and was at the mercy of corruption.

Although the implementation was met with some stiff opposition from freight forwarders who claimed they were not educated well enough, the paperless system took off as directed.

Below is an infographic capturing the differences between the old system and the paperless system:

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By: Melvin Clottey & Pius Amihere Eduku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post 5 things to know about paperless port system [Infographic] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The system, which came into operation on September 2 is yet to record any significant impact, according to them.

In a Citi News interview, the General Manager in-charge of Marketing and Corporate Affairs at the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, Esther Gyebi-Donkor noted that the Port Authority has thus provided a customer service centre to assist agents to use the online systems without any difficulty.

“We ensured that all the people who came to the revenue centre to process the old forms were given detailed exposure on how they had to make their request from Monday [today] in the system.”

“A lot of them were very happy with the demonstrations that we did for them. The few questions they had to ask, we were able to deal with it.”

The authorities continued the education by supplying fliers outlining the step by step flow and then “we took the advantage to continue to explain to them what would be expected of them come Monday,” Mrs. Gyebi-Donkor said.

Optimism, however, abounds within freight forwarders, who are anticipating a smooth implementation of the paperless clearing process at the ports should all systems of the various agencies operate seamlessly.

The businesses believe their concerns would be laid to rest if the assurances by the relevant authorities are duly complied with.

The exercise commenced on September 2, 2017 per the directive of the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

The freight forwarders had, among others, lamented the intermittent breakdown of systems in the operations of the clearing institutions such as West Blue, GCNet and the GPHA.

The former clearing system will be rolled out in conjunction with the new paperless system for at least the next few months.

According to authorities, all imports processed prior to the implementation of the paperless regime will be cleared under the former process while new imports will be cleared using the paperless system.

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

The post Education on paperless system still needed – Port authorities appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The former workers numbering about 200, said they were not treated fairly during a compulsory redundancy program undertaken by the management of the Port in 2002.

The angry ex-workers who are between their late 40s to 70s were clad in red and black dresses with red cloth tired around their necks and wrists.

They carried placards some of which read; Pay us our money, The 14 years of waiting is over, we are dying Mr President, corruption is a high risk venture Mr President among others.

Speaking to Citi News, the workers claimed that government and its agent at the GPHA are deliberately shortchanging them and have over the years refused to pay them the required amount of redundancy packages meant for them.

The group also presented a five-point petition to the management of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority and among other things gave the management up to Monday 7th November to address them.

Among other things stated in the petition, the workers noted that The redundancy packages paid them during the voluntary redundancy programme were inadequate.

“In 2002, management embarked on a worldbank funded project dubbed ‘voluntary retirement exercise’ to restructure the port. In all five thousand six hundred and ninety five staffs opted to leave voluntarily. However, upon receiving our calculated benefits which included two bags of rice, sugar and a gallon of cooking oil, we detected later that management had shortchanged us. Based on this and more, we are here to be given our differences,” the spokesperson for the ex-workers, Lord Nsia Laryea said.

He added that the ex-workers would take another line of action if nothing is heard from management.

“As we present this petition today, we wish to sound it clear to the leadership of Ghapoha that we have waited for them for far too long and we can no longer wait. We have given them up to Monday to address our issues and failure to do so, we shall advice ourselves.”

The chairman of the ex-workers association, Stephen Ashitey also added that, the unfair treatment of the former workers has brought untold hardship upon them.

“Since 2002 where we went on our voluntary retirement, life has not been easy. Over six hundred have passed on and still counting and all of these are as a result of the severe hardship brought upon us by GPHA.”

He appealed to the president John Mahama to as a matter of urgency prioritize the release of the monies due them since it is long overdue.

Mr Asitey however added that they decided to picket because several attempts to get the attention of key stakeholders in the payment of their monies have not yielded any result.

“We have tried on several occassions to meet all stakeholders involved to address our challenges but to no avail. This is just the beginning, we are not giving up until our monies are pained to us in full. Most of our children are out of school because of this unfortunate programme,” he stated.

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By: Elvis Washington/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ex-Ghana ports workers picket over redundancy program [Photos] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The fire, which started at about 8pm, reportedly destroyed property worth thousands of cedis.

The burnt building housed several shops, restaurants as well as the Metropolitan Assembly’s sanitation court.

Citi News reports indicate that the offices of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly, which is situated next to the Community Center, were not affected by the blaze.

The Fire Service have, as yet, been unable to determine the cause of the fire, however, officials of the Service say they are looking into the incident and will come out with their report once investigations are complete.

The Metropolitan Chief Executive  of Tema, Isaac Ashai Odamtten, is also scheduled to brief the media on the situation and other issues related to the metropolis.

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana  

The post Fire Service begins investigations into Tema Community Centre fire appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Out of the 330 reported  cases, 244 were from female victims, while male victims accounted for the remaining 86.

A copy of the 2014 first quarter report indicated that 248 and 82 were male and female suspects respectively,  in the cases received during the period.

The report stated that 285 of the cases were accepted to be true,  while 45 of the offences were false.

Out of the 33 categories of cases reported, assault topped with 175 reports, followed by 34 defilements, 31 death threats and 23 stealing offences.

Other reports recorded were threat of harm, rape, failing to provide, psychological and emotional abuse, child stealing, abduction, causing harm, fraud, bigamy, offensive conduct and act tending, among others.

The Tema Regional DOVVSU office did not, however, record any case of attempted murder, attempted rape, abandoned child, attempted suicide, exploitative of child labour, child abuse, harassment, abortion, kidnapping and unlawful entery.

The office also recorded 237 non-maintenance cases,  and 93 referral cases from FIDA, Social Welfare Department and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).

Source: GNA

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