Dr Lawrence Edusei, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy on the former legislator, revealed this at the Accra Central District Court on Thursday.

According to him, his house was burgled in September 2017 and the computer which contained the autopsy report and thousands of other autopsy reports was stolen by the thieves.

Dr Edusei was before the court, presided over by Ms Arit Nsemoh, after he had been subpoenaed in November 2017 to explain why he had not furnished the police with the full autopsy report, 21 months after Mr Danquah-Adu was murdered.

The subpoena followed concerns raised by police prosecutors that the pathologist had failed to release the report and all attempts to obtain it had proved futile.

The delay in the release of the report, the police said, had hampered their efforts to build a solid case against Daniel Asiedu, aka Sexy Don Don, and Vincent Bosso, aka Junior Agogo, the two men linked to the murder of the former

MP

Asiedu and Bosso are currently before the district court awaiting the commencement of committal proceedings which will facilitate their eventual trial at the High Court.

No payment, no report

Dr Edusei’s explanation led to more questions from the presiding magistrate, who asked the medical officer why he had decided to put the report on his computer and not submit it to the police.

The medical officer, who is currently on retirement, answered that he kept the report because he had not been paid by the Judicial Service for all the autopsies in relation to murder cases he had conducted for the past 15 years.

The post J.B. Danquah-Adu’s autopsy report missing — Pathologist appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the parliamentary probe, which must be bipartisan, has become necessary due to the executive’s unwillingness to investigate the matter.

Bawa calls for Fisheries Minister’s resignation over premix scandal

[contextly_sidebar id=”qSwgZHW7xXasNP2CV11KqRERQjDd7C1F”]Edward Bawa, who is also a member of the Energy and Mines committee of Parliament, is also calling for the resignation of the Fisheries Minister, who he believes is ultimately responsible for the mess particularly because she arbitrarily appointed her brother to serve as the administrator at the premix fuel committee.

In a statement copied to citifmonline.com, the legislator alleged that, the diverted premix fuel was being sold to industries at a higher cost.

The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers, COPEC, also alleged that the fuel is being sold to unsuspecting motorists at the various pumps.

Citi News gathered earlier this week that, at least 200 trucks of premix fuel had been diverted by Oil Marketing Marketing Companies that were to supply the product outside Accra, but ended up supplying mostly within Accra for industrial purposes at a higher cost to make more profit.

This was revealed in series of letters from the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), to the National Premix Committee and the Ministry of Fisheries, alerting them about the development.

The Ministry, however, failed to act on the matter.

Read the full statement below:

PARLIAMENT MUST SET UP A BIPARTISAN COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE LATEST HAPPENINGS IN THE PETROLEUM DOWNSTREAM SECTOR

It has come to my notice and indeed the notice of most Ghanaians that about 200 trucks of premix fuel meant to power fishing boats in our coastal areas have been diverted to pump stations in the country and sold to unsuspecting motorists.

This is a very worrying development, particularly as fishermen are not only denied this subsidized product, which is critical to their operations, but also the product has the potential to damage the engines of vehicles. It is indeed an off spec petroleum product for our pumps.

What is more worrying is that, the chairman of the National Premix committee, who is a brother of the Minister for Fisheries (the appointing authority) is being alleged to be behind this scandal.

If this is true, the Minister must, as a matter public morality and good governance resign.

This development also comes on the heels of the Minister for Energy’s refusal to make public, the report of the Dr. Lawrence Darkua’s committee that supposedly investigated yet another scandal at BOST.

This was a scandal where five million litres of off spec petroleum product was sold to an unlicensed company without going through the necessary procurement processes. In essence, that process had all the marks of corruption written all over it.

What is more disturbing is that, the Minister for Energy on November 23, 2017, in a response to a parliamentary question posed by me, told parliament that, as a measure to ensuring that off spec petroleum products do not get to our pump stations, NPA was using tracking devices on BRVs and a marking scheme to monitor the movements of all petroleum products.

This recent development proves that the Minister was not candid with Ghanaians. This is because, as at the time the Minister was making this statement, an agency under his supervision knew that an off spec product, in the form of premix fuel, was being sold at our pump stations.

This indicates that, the Minister can no longer be trusted to protect consumers against the sale of contaminated petroleum products in the country.

I am therefore calling on Parliament to, as a matter of urgency, set up a bipartisan committee to investigate this development, as the executive led by H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo has demonstrated it’s unwillingness to tackle the problem for reasons best known to them.

Edward Abambire Bawa (MP for Bongo & Member, Mines & Energy Committee).

‘We don’t have tracking system; NPA must arrest culprits’

The Minister in reacting to the development in a Citi News interview, said the NPA was in a better position to investigate and punish the culprits.

According to her, the Ministry does not have a tracking system to identify culprits, hence the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), which has a system to track such happenings “must take action.”

Fisheries Minister justifies brother’s appointment on premix c’ttee

The Minister, Elizabeth Afoley Quaye, however defended her decision to appoint her brother Joseph Botchwey, as the acting Administrator of the National Premix Secretariat.

Some have blamed the appointment of Joseph Botchwey as interim administrator of the Committee as a likely cause of the premix distribution challenges.

Speaking to Richard Dela Sky on Eyewitness News on Tuesday, Elizabeth Afoley Quaye laughed off the matter, saying “will you not appoint a competent brother of yours to hold a position in your office? Would you not? Because you hate your relations, even when they are competent enough to hold positions, you will not give it to them?”

Still directing her comment at Richard Dela Sky, Ms Quaye said: “I have not put myself in any conflict of interest. Maybe you have to go back yourself, and find out who is the substantive administrator of the premix committee. His or her government has ended and a new era is in place. He or she is not at the premix secretariat, please!”

According to the Minister, that acting interim administrator has since left the position, and a substantive person has been put there.

CID petitioned

Meanwhile, a civil society group calling itself the Fisheries Alliance, has petitioned the Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, to investigate the suspected premix fuel diversion scandal.

In a letter to the CID, the Alliance cited President Nana Akufo-Addo’s directive to ensure investigations into any corruption allegations against his appointees as the reason for their action.

–

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Bawa calls for parliamentary probe into premix scandal appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

These category of people are most often excessive personality worshippers without any deference to the values and principles of the party they claim they belong to. Their survival is feeding on the egos of political appointees, candidates, and elected officials. They concoct stories, they abuse and insult anyone who critique their gods of supply, and eventually destroy collective party and national interests. They do not even belong to any of the party’s structures or offer themselves for party service.

They are always hanging around political personalities or taking photos with them to shore up their nonexistence ‘bigmanism’. They never see any fault in their gods of supply, they are always deifying and adulating their political gods. They are quick to threaten and insult anyone who critique the conducts of the demigod they have created for survival.

Their thinking is waspy and deliberately myopic. They exude poluting arrogance. So poluting and nauseating to the the extent that, decent people avoid making public statements on critical party or national issues that could have shaped our political and governance discourse and direction.

They steal the nation’s resources at the least opportunity. Because they have to grab their portion before the next government comes. To them, politics is purely about survival. Not about service to humanity and transforming the future for succeding generation. In fact, they lack the transformative capacity and deficient in ability.

We must all bear in mind that Ghana’s constitution provides the platform for political parties to form national governments through the ballot box. It is therefore imperative to know that, if we do not contribute by strongly expressing our opinions to shape the country’s governance, such people will assume offices and unleash behaviours, formulate laws, and policies that will be detrimental to our collective interests.

We are already experiencing some of these behaviours in governments. The future is ours, and developed nations are built on core and deep values, and superior quality of character, expertise, and experienced leadeship.

If we seat on the periphery of politics, Ghana shall harvest the whirlwind

Shalom

–

By: Kofi Kukubor

The post Politics of the vulture [Article] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

His remarks follow advocacy from a group of eight Ghanaians in Canada who have petitioned the Canadian government to put pressure on Ghana to decriminalize homosexuality.

[contextly_sidebar id=”1TbjaBj96KLfTbSkINDSucn9ollIzlYf”]Addressing the press in Parliament on Wednesday, the Assin South MP said the country must stick to its position not to legalize homosexuality in spite of international pressure.

“…Without prejudice to the position of the Parliament of Ghana, Government of Ghana, any religious body or political party on the subject of homosexuality, lesbianism and bestiality, premised on my deepest convictions and principles as a Christian, Reverend Minister and a proud advocate of Jesus Christ and legislator, Member of Parliament for Assin South constituency, I hereby openly, and unequivocally declare my firm position against the views of the members of an advocacy group who on Thursday, August 17, 2017 sought to canvass support from certain powerful persons in institutions in Canada to put pressure on Ghana to decriminalize homosexuality.”

Describing the acts by the eight Ghanaians as a “demonic agenda,” Mr. Fordjour who is also the Chairman of Ghana-Canada Parliamentary Friendship Association as well as a Vice Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Members Holding Offices of Profit said such deeds defile the traditions and customs of the country.

“It is worth stating that the constitution of Ghana makes adequate provision which debar homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality and such acts that defile the core tenets of our beliefs, values, customs and traditions as a people,” he added.

The issue over Ghana’s legalization of homosexuality continues to be an unending debate in the country.

Whereas some human rights activists call for its legalization, others argue against it.

We’re fed up with demands for gay rights – Speaker

Speaker of Parliament, Prof Mike Oquaye, in July 2017 warned that Ghana would not countenance the aggressive push by external forces to accept acts such as homosexuality, bestiality among others.

“Following what Tony Blair said which I personally wrote him a letter that if we do not go the homosexual way, it was going to affect their aid to us. Honestly in view of these developments, we Africans are also concerned about certain things that may appear really intellectual …It is becoming a human right in some countries; the right to do homosexuality, the right for a human being to sleep with an animal. We are tired of some of these things and we must be frank about it…I think all these matters need to be seriously interrogated,” said the Speaker when some official from Amnesty International paid a courtesy call on him.

–

By: Godwin A. Allotey & Duke M. Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Resist pressure to legalize homosexuality – MP appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Sources narrated that he was bedridden after the 2016 general elections and died on Saturday August 12.

There are indications that the remains will be airlifted to Tamale for burial, Sunday August 13 in line with Islamic tenets.

As a lawyer, he was born on April 28, 1946 at Savelugu in the Northern Region.

He attained LLB at the University of Ghana Law School in 1970 and later BL (GSL) in 1972.

The late Alhaji Abubakari Sumani went to Parliament in 2000 as MP for then Choggu/Tishigu constituency.

He succeeded Alhaji Adam Ibrahim who did not renew his mandate from 1996 to 2000.

The late Alhaji Abubakari Sumani lost the Tamale North constituency seat in 2012 to an independent candidate, Dahamani Alhassan.

He failed in an attempt to stage a comeback at the NDC’s Parliamentary primary ahead of the 2016 general elections.

The incumbent NDC Member of Parliament, Alhaji Alhassan Suhuyini dashed his hope and that of six others at the primary.

The late Alhaji Abubakari Sumani was a former Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under Jerry Rawlings’ democratic rule.

He was Chairman of the Public Procurement Authority under the watch of late President John Evans Atta Mills.

He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Ghana Commercial Bank.

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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Former Tamale North MP passes on appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to the MP, such calls are not necessary because the suspension of the two NDC stalwarts won’t do the party any good.

[contextly_sidebar id=”EjjneHozhAlgmGq7P1eMt8j6LMtNYbC7″]Speaking on the Point Blank segment on Eyewitness News, Mr. Naabu said “when they talk about sacking people from the party then we will end up by sacking everybody and politics it’s all about the numbers.”

The MP’s remark comes on the back of calls for the suspension of Rawlings and Martin Amidu from the NDC because some NDC members believe that some utterances by the two have brought the name of the party into disrepute.

Former Deputy Chief of Staff, Dr. Valarie Sawyerr had chastised the two over the same issue.

In the case of Mr. Amidu, some two NDC members namely — Evans Amankwah and Abigail Elorm Mensah, petitioned the leadership of NDC to have him punished.

But Mr. Naabu on Point Blank argued that such suspensions contributed to the NDC’s loss in the December poll.

“If somebody does something and you don’t like it, you should instead find a way of handling it and not to say you will sack him. How can your father build a house, take care of you, brought you up and you turn around and say that your father is not normal and thus should leave the house for you? That is what does who are calling for former president to be sacked are doing. We lost the election because of this kind of complacency and thinking. If we continue to sack people then the party will end up not winning any election at all,” he added.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Calls for suspension of Rawlings, Amidu unnecessary – NDC MP appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him the perennial leakages of the WAEC papers was an unfortunate phenomenon which grossly undermined the integrity of the education system of Ghana.

Rev. Ntim Fordjour made the pronouncement on the Floor of Parliament when he presented a statement on the challenges posed by examination leakages on the image of Ghana on the international front.

[contextly_sidebar id=”d0sG5RzzRqY8EyRlWthqeUW68jiCc6hR”]WAEC is an independent international examinations body established in 1952 and mandated to conduct examinations and award credible certificates to candidates. The jurisdiction of WAEC exists in Anglophone West African countries namely Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Gambia and Sierra Leone.

In Ghana, the operations of WAEC are regulated by the WAEC Law 2006 (Act 719).

The two national examinations conducted by WAEC in Ghana are BECE and WASSCE for the first and second cycle institutions respectively.

Rev Ntim Fordjour stated that although WAEC had over the years battled with examination leaks, the mass leakages of examination papers characterising the past decade, called for serious concern.

He said despite recurring assurances by WAEC of strict measures put in place to check the menace, perennial examination leaks had become the bane of the examination body.

He cited for example, some of the massive leaks of examination papers including; the cancellation of the BECE papers in 2002, the annulment of the WASSCE papers in 2008, and the 2015 cancellation of five (5) BECE papers.

Rev. Ntim Fordjour also stated that the most embarrassing of the menace occurred in 2016 where amidst the viral transmission of examination questions on various social media platforms hours prior to the scheduled exams, WAEC failed to concede leakage but rather insisted on describing the incidence as “foreknowledge of the question before commencement of examination”.

He said the advent of social media did not exacerbate the menace of examination leaks but rather exposed the extent of failure inherent in the examination system.

He said although this perennial challenges had existed in the country for decades, interventions by WAEC and relevant stakeholders were yet to prove sustainable, in the quest to put an end to it.

Rev. Ntim Fordjour further stated that although the government was not expected to unduly interfere in the activities of WAEC, it could not sit on the fence and look on unconcern for the challenges on the part of WAEC to jeopardise the integrity of the educational system and the future prospects of Ghanaian students.

He said the grave repercussion exacted on the society by this perennial challenges of WAEC examination leaks could not be overemphasized.

He said credibility of certificates awarded by WAEC in Ghana was at stake, as well as the psychological and financial strain that parents and innocent students were subjected to in preparations for re-sitting in events that exams cancellation was traumatising.

Rev. Ntim Fordjour also stressed the need for the country to learn from other jurisdictions that had successfully and consistently upheld of examinations over the years.

“Mr Speaker, Proverbs 22:6 says: Train up a child the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it,” he said.

He said as a country, people seemed to have paid insufficient attention to moral values and the education thereof.

“The people cannot end lumping blame on WAEC and expect the resolution of the menace, without acknowledging the critical roles that the rest on the people as citizens, parents, teachers, students, heads of educational institutions, traders, printing press and security officials.”

Mr Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa, MP for South Tongu in his contribution on the statement conveyed his best wishes to all candidates preparing towards the upcoming BECE exams.

He however called on WAEC to ensure that this year’s exams become leakage free as last year’s exams was incident free and successful.

He advised the BECE candidates to stay away from examination malpractices and be confident and not carried away by peer pressure.

He urged the candidates to be wary of people who claim to be examination agents and report such people to the police.

Mr Vincent Sowah Odotei, Deputy Minister for Communication and MP for La Dade Kotopon in his contribution revealed that apart from the examination leakages, some unscrupulous people had attempted to alter their examination results within the educational system.

He said the Ministry of Communication would come out with structures to ensure that all systems including educational institutions were protected from such bad nuts.

Mr Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor, MP South Dayi in his contribution congratulated all the candidates preparing towards the forthcoming BECE exams.

He encouraged the students to be serious with their books in order to pass well and take advantage of government’s Free SHS policy which would start in September, this year.

He alleged that it was not the students who were the source of leaks of examinations questions, but the workers of WAEC and those who set the questions.

He urged WAEC to take all the precautionary measures so that their staff do not leak the questions and turn round to blame the candidates for having access to the leaked papers before writing.

–

Source: GNA

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The High Commission accused George Boakye and three other sitting MPs of engaging in various forms of visa related fraud.

Mr Boakye who felt he was being wrongfully accused subsequently wrote to the Commission demanding proof of his culpability.

[contextly_sidebar id=”dl2uTzc92cO0KZOPKXou9Khe1HQU9rLb”]He has received two separate responses from the High Commission but according to him, there was still no proof of his involvement in any fraud.

Mr. Boakye explained to Citi News that the commission has not been also able to prove that he used a diplomatic passport during the visa application process.

“I wrote to them and made them aware that I never used any diplomatic passport; I even sent them a copy of my passport to them. So they wrote back and told me that they never said that I used diplomatic passport and that they’ve not banned me for ten years. Then my lawyer wrote to them again asking them to show where in the visa application process we acted fraudulently and that was the reply we were expecting from them.”

“We got the reply on Tuesday and they didn’t even say anything about it and neither did they say that they’ve rejected our application… I just wanted them to show my where I acted fraudulently and the reply I had from them on Tuesday didn’t even touch and that issue. That was the most important thing. That is what I wanted to know from them,” he added.

Mr. Boakye’s alleged crime by UK High Commission

The British High Commissioner, Jon Benjamin earlier wrote a letter to the Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye about the four MPs who he said had been ban for ten years from the UK for allegedly engaging in visa fraud.

In the case of Mr. Boakye, the High Commissioner said: “On 11/09/2012, the then Honourable and now former MP for Asunafo South George BOAKYE applied for visas for himself and his 37-year old daughter, Joyce BOAKYE to visit a friend in London for 17 days.

“The visas were granted on 14/09/2012. On 17/01/2013 Joyce BOAKYE travelled to the UK with her Honourable father. Joyce BOAKYE did not leave the UK with her father, but remained until 06/01/2017,” the statement added.

My daughter tricked me and overstayed
George Boakye had earlier lamented that his 37-year-old daughter tricked him into taking her to London under the pretext of going to see her uncle, but disappeared on their arrival in the UK.

According to him, although he knew he was being irresponsible by not reporting his daughter’s disappearance once he couldn’t find her, but he feared a report to security officials would have her incarcerated.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey & Felicia Osei/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Visa fraud: UK Commission couldn’t prove I acted fraudulently – MP appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The residents complain that they have had to endure terrible stench from the site in the past two weeks, after the management of the site was taken over by some persons purported to be supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

According to the residents, the group took over the management of the site after the New Patriotic Party (NPP) assumed office.

The residents called on the government to act swiftly by relocating the landfill site or hire qualified persons to operate the site to avert a possible outbreak of sanitation-related diseases.

They told Citi News’ Tema correspondent, Elvis Washington, that they have given the managers a two-week ultimatum to address their concerns or face their wrath.

The Member of Parliament for the area, Ernest Norgbey, told Citi News he was making the necessary arrangements to get the appropriate authorities to deal with the matter.

“It is true that my constituents are crying about what is happening here. I was here during the week to see what exactly the situation is, and in fact, it is a disaster. We have to talk about this because when you look at the dumping site and magnitude of rubbish here, and the people living around here, I can only tell you that we are sitting on a time bomb. And it is only a matter of time and that bomb will explode and when that happens, there will be a cholera outbreak because the rains will set in soon,” he said.

“Last week, I spoke with Environment Minister concerning this particular issue, and I’m still arranging to summon the minister for sanitation to parliament so that I question him. I’m also putting together a statement to make on the floor of parliament concerning this issue,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Assembly has called for consensus with the residents to find a holistic approach to addressing the issue and other sanitation concerns in the area.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ashaiman residents angry over ‘poisonous’ landfill site appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He told his colleague MPs when they visited him yesterday at his East Legon residence to commiserate with him, that it had been the most difficult moment in his life after he finally found out that his eldest daughter who was reading chemistry at KNUST had indeed committed suicide as alleged by the school’s authorities.

“As of now I have tried hard to find answers to the puzzle as to why my daughter could die in such a tragic manner because we provided everything for her and made sure she was always happy. She was my best friend,” the father said.

Mr Anyimadu-Antwi said the message was relayed to him on Friday while he was in Parliament and that it came as a ‘thunder’ to him. He said he prayed fervently as he was driving to Kumasi hoping that the bad news should be one of those ‘April fool’ news.

He said it was a trying moment for him and the family when he eventually met the school authorities and the body of his daughter was shown to him at the morgue of the university hospital.

The MP said his daughter was a lively lady who was jovial and always looked happy and that it’s so sad that he had lost her in such circumstance.

“One thing I have learnt from the death of my daughter is that this unfortunate incident could happen to anybody or any family and that as parents we need to constantly pray for our children in school so that such things do not befall them,” he said, adding that he was completely shocked by the news.

Mr Anyimadu-Antwi said as a Christian he had taken consolation from the fact that “It is God who gives and it is God who takes,” stressing that he had also been overwhelmed by the number of condolence messages and words of encouragement from friends, family members, colleague MPs and members of the public.

The Speaker of Parliament, Prof Mike Oquaye, was represented by the First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei-Owusu.

A brother of the MP, Mark Antwi-Boasiako, told the visiting parliamentarians that the family was not satisfied with the explanation given by the school’s authority regarding the circumstance surrounding the death of 18-year-old Adwoa Anyimadu-Antwi.

He said they were therefore asking the police to do thorough investigation into the death of the lady. Some of the MPs who had visited their colleague at his residence before attested to the fact that Adwoa was a very respectful, lively and promising young lady.

The MPs expressed shock that such a tragedy should befall Mr. Anyimadu-Antwi who is so affable and very approachable.

The family announced that the young lady would be buried on Saturday, March 4, at Patrensa, near Konongo in the Ashanti Region, after a memorial service had been held for her at the KNUST campus in the morning.
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By: Daily Guide/Ghana

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