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Naa Torshie to GBC pastors: Use your pulpit to preach peace

By
JENNIFER AMBOLLEY
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Naa Torshie Addo Lartey with the ministers

The Administrator of District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), Irene Naa Torshie Addo-Lartey, has advised religious leaders to refrain from incendiary rhetoric and instead use their words to inspire peace, guide hearts towards unity and foster an environment of political and religious tolerance.

“All leaders, including those of faith, will act responsibly by making pronouncements that promote peace and the stability of our nation, Ghana, and not encourage conflict or divisiveness.

As ministers, your words hold the power to inspire peace and guide the hearts of many. Let us use this power wisely.

“Let us champion the cause for tolerance and peace. Ghana stands as a beacon of democracy and we, as leaders both in faith and in civic spheres, must advocate for a climate where political and religious tolerance is celebrated.

“Let us ensure that the vibrancy of our democracy is matched by the civility of our discourse, fostering an atmosphere where diverse views are respected and harmony prevails,” she said.

Addressing the Ghana Baptist Convention Ministers’ conference in Accra recently, Madam Addo-Lartey, advised Christian leaders to let the spirit of wisdom and understanding guide their conversations, because it is through these exchanges that they can forge strategies that are not only effective, but also resonate with our Christian values.

“In this election year, more than ever, let us uphold these virtues of ministerial ethics, accountability and responsibility. Let us commit to being leaders who not only preach, but embody the change we wish to see,” she told the pastors.

These Ministerial ethics, she indicated, includes principles of righteousness and integrity in leadership. She further highlighted the pivotal role ministers play in upholding the moral compass of society, extending their influence beyond the pulpit to shape societal ethos through messages of faith, hope and love.

She underscored the increased significance of their guidance in navigating the complexities of the modern world, emphasising the criticality of ethical leadership.

Madam Naa Torshie Addo-Lartey urged ministers to transcend the boundaries of churches and impact societal values positively, fostering lives through enduring virtues.

“Ethics, as discussed, was framed as the cornerstone of daily choices, aligning conduct with biblical teachings to guide actions with unwavering moral clarity. Accountability was equally emphasised, with transparent stewardship of resources and responsibilities entrusted to leaders, fostering trust within congregations and communities,” she added.

According to her, responsibility, which involves recognizing the impact of actions on others, was presented as an opportunity to spearhead change, advocate for the oppressed and guide the lost.  She was optimistic that the mantle of leadership carried the weight of leaving an indelible mark on hearts and minds, emphasising the blessing and burden of callings.

She expressed her heartfelt appreciation for the commitment of leaders to the spiritual and moral upliftment of society, with a collective prayer for God’s blessings upon Ghana and the Ghana Baptist Convention.

Adoagyiri Zongo Chiefs Reaffirm Allegiance to Okyenman 

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admin
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The Zongo chiefs with Okyenhene

The Chiefs of Adoagyiri Zongo in the Eastern Region have reaffirmed their allegiance to Okyenman and the Okyenhene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin.

Chief of Adoagyiri Zongo, Chief Bashiru Salifu Mamman Taylor, made the disclosure when he led the Zongo Chiefs to the Ofori Panin Fie at Kyebi.

According to Chief Bashiru Salifu Mamman Taylor, his Great Grandfather, who became Zongo chief in 1915 served the then Adoagyiri chief, Barima Adu Korkor II, and attended meetings together at the Ofori Panie Fie.

Okyenhene sitting in state to wlecome the zongo chiefs

He indicated that, the Zongo community has stayed out of the controversy on whether or not Adoagyiri belongs to the Kotokuman or Okyenman, for a very good reason.

However, as staunch Muslims who believe in the truth, it is important for them to indicate which traditional council offered them a place to settle in Adoagyiri. He said his great grandfather, Mamman Taylor, at all times served the Ofori Panie Fie.

Chief Bashiru Salifu Mamman Taylor added that, the relationship between the Zongo Chiefs and the Ofori Panie Fie predates the current generation.

According to him, the record speaks for itself, to the effect that at all times the Zongo Chiefs dealt with Barimah Adu Korkor II, whose allegiance was with the Ofori Panin Fie.

Okyenhene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin, on his part indicated that the Ofori Panie Fie was a house of record and that, almost all transactions and dealings that border on Okyenman are documented.

He exhibited a file that contains correspondence between Nana Sir Ofori Atta and the Adoagyiri Zongo Chiefs.

He commended the Zongo Chiefs for speaking the truth about who the owner of the land they occupy at Adoagyiri is.

However, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin expressed disappointment in Police at Nsawam over the poor handling of the Adoagyiri impasse, which has led to the demise of some young and innocent people.

Abuakwa chiefs present at the meeting

He questioned the IGP’s inability to demand documentary proof of ownership from the parties in the Adoagyiri chieftaincy dispute to enable them make informed decisions.

He indicated that the Police Commander at Nsawam was not clothed with powers to determine the overlord of Adoagyiri

He mentioned that Adoagyiri at all times belongs to Okyenhene and they are not ready to cede an inch of Adoagyiri to any ground of persons.

He said, the customary practice in Okyenman applies in Adoagyiri and shall remain the same. Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin hinted at their intentions to go to court for a declaration on the ownership of Adoagyiri.

Court chastises AG for failing to seek extradition of ex-MASLOC Boss

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admin
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MASLOC

Justice Serwaa Asare-Botwe, a Court of Appeal judge sitting as additional judge of the High Court, has chastised prosecution for failing to take action to extradite Sedina Christine Tamakloe Attionu to face 78 criminal charges.

Her ladyship, Mrs Asare-Botwe, could not come to terms with how the Republic failed to take  advantage of international corporation to have the former Chief Executive Officer of MASLOC, Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, brought back home after taken flight to the United States of America one and half years into the trial.

Meanwhile, the fugitive, who had escaped from the jurisdiction of the court on the excuse of being sick, through her actions and architecture caused the state to lose a whopping GH¢90 million.

The judge made the pronouncement minutes before passing sentences on Sedina and her accomplice, Daniel Axim, a former Head of Operations at MASLOC (Microfinance and Small Loans Centre).

She was even more concerned about how the elite use their professional knowledge to steal from state confers and urged the public to raise their children to be patriotic.

“People talk about violent crime and how wicked it is. But if an armed robber comes to your room, he will only take what is available.

“In all my years on the bench and at the bar, I’ve never heard about an armed robber who entered into someone’s from and took 1 million or even 500,000.

“But when you have an educated thief that is capable of causing havoc than someone with AK47 is capable of doing, when you have to buy something and you overprice it to the extent of doubling or tripling the price, those of you in power please have mercy on us,” she lamented.

Her lady stated further that Daniel Axim, who had generated 23 memos on the instructions of Sedina Tamakloe Attionu on the grounds that ‘he did so to save his job’ ought have known better.

Daniel is a highly qualified professional, holding Masters in Business Administration in Petroleum Accounting and had a duty to perform as Head of Operations of MASLOC, therefore, claiming to have repeatedly generated 23 memos on the orders of  his boss for sensitisation programmes that never happened was out of place.

Sentence 

The court sentenced Sedina to 10years imprisonment in hard labour and Daniel Axim, five years for stealing and conspiracy to steal.Sedina was also sentenced three years and fined 3,000 penalty units (GH¢36,000.00).

In default she will serve two years imprisonment. Daniel was also handed 12 months imprisonment and fined 3,000 penalty units (GH¢12,000.00) for wilfully causing financial loss to the state and conspiring to cause financial loss to the state.

On the charge of causing loss to public property, Sedina was sentenced two years and fined 500 penalty units (GH¢6,000).With improper payment of public funds, the court handed Attionu six months imprisonment.

Sedina was again sentenced for three years for laundering GH¢500,000.00, GH¢2,003,800.00, GH¢579,8000 and GH¢20,780.

The court further fined her 2,000 penalty units (GH¢24,000.00) on this charge.

Convict Axim was also held liable for this crime and was handed two years imprisonment and fined 500 (GH¢6,000.00) penalty units, in default of 12 months.

Sedina Attionu was slapped with two years’ imprisonment and fined 1,000 penalty units (GH¢12,000.00) in default of 12 months for the offense of Contravention of Public Procurement Act.

The court also ordered forfeiture proceedings against Attionu to the state.

Prosecution 

Principal State Attorney (PSA) Stella Ohene Appiah told the court that it was not over yet for Sedina, and that the conviction would be used as evidence to process her extradition.

“Prosecution has not ended with A1 (Sedina),” she stated emphatically.

She also linked offences such as this to be the reason Ghana is on its knees at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Meanwhile, politicians are often the main targets for public office corruption.

PSA Stella hoped that the punitive measures would be strong enough to serve as deterrent to others.

The trial 

Prosecution called seven witnesses including Sedina’s own driver who collected and sent money to her at private home.

Sedina absconded in July 2021, after having secured her passport from the court to seek medical attention in the States.After failing to return, the prosecution applied to the court to try Sedina absentia.

Facts

Mrs. Attionuwas accused of embezzling GH¢500,000 that was paid by Obaatanpa Microfinance, which benefitted from MASLOC support in 2014.

Also in 2013, following a fire disaster at the Kantamanto Market, then President John Mahama directed MASLOC to provide assistance of GH¢1.46 million to victims of the disaster, but Mrs. Attionu embezzled part of the money.

She also inflated the cost of mobile phones and 350 vehicles way beyond the market price, despite being granted tax waiver.

She also paid herself and Deputy, Mustapha Abubakar, ex-gratia, GH¢135,592.33 and GH¢82,218.75 respectively in January 2017.

In the same month, she also caused to be paid be herself and Deputy, GH¢28,445.94 and GH¢27.486.62 respectively without authorization.

She also embezzled GH¢1,706,000 sensitization and monitoring programme funds for 85,300 beneficiaries.

NDC mad over renaming of AMERI Power plant

By
ERNEST BEST ANANE
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Abass Nurudeen addressing the media

The Ashanti regional branch of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has questioned the rationale behind the re-commissioning and renaming component of AMERI Power Plant, following its location to the Ashanti region.

The party’s communication bureau has expressed worry about the development, which the NDC claims is yet another deception on the part of a dishonest and incompetent Akufo-Addo/Bawumia Government.

The facility, which has already been commissioned, has been christened Kumasi 1 Thermal Power Plant (K1TPP) and scheduled to be re-commissioned today, Wednesday, April 17, 2024 at Anwomaso in the Ashanti Region.

Abass Nurudeen Esq, the Regional Communication officer of the NDC, at a press conference yesterday, explained that the Ameri Power Plant was one of the many bold interventions by the erstwhile Mahama administration to decisively solve the dumsor conundrum that had plagued the country since the days of President Kufuor.

According to him, the Ameri Power Plant was procured in 2015 under a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer arrangement to produce a total of 250 megawatts of power to shore up Ghana’s energy generation capacity, and ensure adequate and sustainable power supply.

He noted that under the said arrangement, Ghana was to take full ownership of the 250 megawatt capacity power plant, after paying $510 million within a five year period.

He noted that at the time the deal was negotiated and concluded, the New Patriotic Party, led by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, were all over the place claiming that the Ameri deal was fraught with corruption and that a future NPP government would review and possibly abrogate the deal.

He stressed that in a dramatic turn of events and contrary to their promise whilst in opposition, President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Bawumia in 2018 ended up inflating the deal to the tune of $800 million and extended the contract duration from 5 to 15 years, much to the disadvantage of the good people Ghana.

He said when that daylight robbery was exposed through the vigilance of NDC Minority in Parliament, President Akufo-Addo openly admitted that he had been misled and caused the resignation of the then Energy Minister, Mr. Boakye Agyarko, to cover up his (Nana Akufo-Addo) guilt.

According to him, having failed in all their endeavors to bastardise the Ameri deal, engineered by the visionary and Nation Builder John Mahama to end the age-old dumsor menace, President Akufo-Addo and Dr. Bawumia are now seeking to obliterate his enduring legacies in the energy sector.

One of such move is the scheduled re-commissioning and renaming of the Ameri Power Plant planned for Wednesday,17th April, 2024 at Anwomaso in the Oforikrom Municipality, in the Ashanti Region.

The Ashanti Regional communication officer indicated that some questions many Ghanaians want an answer are; why the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government would waste scarce resources to re-commission a power plant that had already been commissioned in 2015 and

why the government intends to change the name of the power plant from Ameri to K1TPP.

The NDC also queried how a mere re-commissioning and renaming of the power plant  from Ameri to K1TPP could  help resolve the financial crisis that is identified to be the main cause of the dumsor that Ghanaians are presently experiencing.

He also questioned how the mere relocation of the Ameri Power plant from Aboadze in the Western Region to Kumasi cost $35million, which is over three times more than the $10 million Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene, is soliciting to renovate the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.

Nurudeen Abass claimed the NPP was only seeking to rebrand and take credit for most of the projects initiated by the visionary John Mahama, just to create a false sense of performance.

According to the NDC executive, when dumsor was collapsing businesses of inhabitants of the Ashanti Region and beyond, it was the bold and decisive step of John Mahama to bring in the Ameri Power plant to save the situation and that, this intervention continues to sustain the energy sector.

He urged the good people of Ashanti Region to keep faith with President John Mahama in the upcoming elections, as he represents the safest and most experienced pair of hands to lead Ghana “out of the current economic quagmire we have been plunged into by the clueless, dishonest and incompetent Akufo-Addo and Bawumia government.”

Editorial: ECG, PURC Must Work Together And In Harmony

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THE CHRONICLE
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Editorial

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has issued some orders on the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for non-compliance with some directives.According to the PURC, the orders issued on Monday, April 15, 2024 were in respect of Sections 3, 11 and 24 of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission Act, 1997 (Act 538) and Regulations 39 and 45 of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (Consumer Service) Regulations, 2020 (L.I. 2413).

Upon the failure of the ECG and its board to comply with the orders, the PURC has imposed sanctions directed at the ECG and the board members of the ECG for the period August 1, 2023, to March 18, 2024.

The PURC issued sanctions because the ECG, in particular, did not comply with the Cash Waterfall Mechanism and the board failed to inform consumers ahead of planned power outages.

The document by the PURC to the ECG, which we have sighted, fined the latter after the deadline for the directives on March 18, 2024 was not complied with. The PURC gave ECG from March 25 to April 2, 2024 to comply with specific directives.

On the Cash Waterfall Mechanism compliance, the ECG was to pay the allocated tariff revenue as prescribed and allocated by the Cash Waterfall Mechanism Committee. However, PURC said by the expiry date of March 25, 2024 ECG had not complied.

The regulator said ECG “partially” complied with the Cash Waterfall Mechanism by making payments for March 2024. It added that ECG is yet to pay the shortfalls from August 2023 to February 2024.

The PURC ordered the ECG to submit copies of all publications informing the general public of power outages from January 1, 2024, to date, but the publications ECG submitted fell short of the period under review.

The PURC said ECG did not submit any document on the load management timetable corresponding to the timelines and durations for each transformer injection.

The non-compliance with the above directives has called for sanction from the regulator, PURC. In the document we have referenced, the PURC has imposed a fine on members of the ECG board who served between January 1 and March 18, 2024.

The regulatory body has imposed a fine of 3,000 penalty units on the ECG for each violation outlined in the letter sent to the ECG. The members of the board are to pay the fine for failing to notify consumers beforehand of any power interruptions.

The measures taken by the PURC are geared towards ensuring that the ECG serves the consumer well, whereas the ECG also has its peculiar problems.

Recently, the ECG embarked on nationwide revenue mobilisation, where it was compelled to disconnect power to electricity consumers that were indebted to the power distribution house.

The ECG cannot be blamed, as they need to settle their obligations to power generation companies like GRIDCO, VRA, and others. During this exercise, even the legislative chamber was not spared as it suffered a blackout during proceedings over unpaid arrears.

Amidst the disconnection of the lines of debtors were the incessant power outages across the country, raising agitations that the monster, Dumsor, had resurfaced.

The effects of unexpected power outages on industries, businesses and productivity as a whole cannot be quantified.

Without holding brief for any of these two agencies,as they provide their respective services to Ghanaians, we hold the view that the ECG should not hesitate to engage with the regulator.

The Chronicle commends the two entities for doing their jobs in the interest of serving Ghanaians, whose economy and lives rely heavily on electricity supply.

We acknowledge that the PURC arrived at those sanctions after reviewing the data the ECG submitted.

It is our hope that going forward, these institutions will operate within the confines of the law so as to not trigger any flexing of muscles.

Nana Benyin XIII constructs Brebia –Miesa roads

By
NAABENYIN JOOJO AMISSAH
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The newly constructed Brebia- Miensa road

The Dehyena Royal family of Agyendam, led by Nana Benyin XIII, has sponsored the construction of a new road from Agyendam Adawuram (Brebia), which is under his reign to Miensa.

This great initiative from the chief would ensure that for the first time in the history of the two farming communities, an access road has been created to enable vehicles to move from one town to the other.

Hitherto, inhabitants always had to cover the about five kilometres distance on foot because there was no vehicular access road, which created a challenge for those with walking difficulties and the aged.

Additionally, those who needed to move from Brebia to Miensa and vice versa at all costs, but could not walk, first had to pick a car from their destination to Amosima, which always overburdened them.

Rationale

Speaking to The Chronicle, Nana Benyin XIII explained that the people in the two communities have been deprived of a common access road to link them up for a very long time and this, he said, affected their movements.

“The Dehyena Royal Family therefore decided to do this as a means to ensure that inhabitants of the two communities can easily commute so that they could easily trade among themselves and engage in a lot of social events and other activities that bond them together.

The construction of the road will definitely open the area to business as far as trading of their produce is concerned, as cars can now pass through one town to the other without any impediment, like it was previously”, he stated.

Grading of other town roads

The Dehyena Royal Family has also paid for the grading of local roads that network the Agyendam community and other local communities around for ease of movements. The Dehyena Royal and Nana Benyin XIII, on their own initiative, graded the feeder roads from Asebu to Mframandwe, Agyendam Ahenkrom through to Ebu Junction.

This has made the roads usable and drivers are happy to ply on it daily, a situation that hitherto, was a major challenge to commuters and drivers as well.

According to the chief, “this initiative was taken to solve basic societal problems because we anxiously could not keep relying on government to come especially since we know the plights of our people.

I vowed to serve my people and whatever I am doing today is geared towards that promise and I will not renege but will continue to do things that will improve the livelihood of the people”. He added.

Last year, Nana Benyin XIII officially cut sod to construct an ultramodern school for the Agyendam Community as part of his vision to improve the standard of education in the town.

The facility would consist of a six-unit classroom block for Basic Stage One, BS1 to Basic Stage Six BS6 with staff common room for teachers, a library and an office for the head teacher of the school

Nana Benyin XIII has already instituted a day-care centre with teachers he paid from his own resources to take care of the pre-school children in the community.

The purpose has been to ensure that mothers, mostly farmers, could leave their children safely at the centre to go to their farms and pick them up when they return.

On Ejisu Bye-Elections, Please Come Again, NDC

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admin
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OPINION

I read from a www.adomonline.com post that the NDC has decided to withdraw from the Ejisu by-election, scheduled for Tuesday, April 30, 2024.

The reasons given by its General-Secretary Hon. Fiavi Fifi Kwetey, as stated:“…. We have already set into motion processes leading to December 7,…….We want to continue those processes and ensure that come December 7, we are prepared to combat in all the constituencies and Ejisu will be one of them.

So, for this particular by-election, NDC will not be part of it. We are very confident about the processes we have in place. We just want to make sure we have the time to implement them fully. And between now and December 7, we will be in the position to make sure we are deploying everything that we have done so that really will be the way we want to go.”

The NDC is saying that it has set into motion processes leading to December 7 General Elections, which it is very confident in and want to make sure it has time to implement them fully.

Which processes is the NDC talking about? An NDC guru, met me in a funeral some months ago and thinking I am one of them, advised me that, “we must do all we can to target Ashanti and Eastern regions and make sure that the votes there are reduced.” I smiled and said to him, “Well, said!” Then I said to myself, “Why did he not add votes in Volta Region?”

May I ask the NDC to come out clean and share with all Ghanaians what processes it is implementing towards the General Elections? If indeed the processes are legal, moral and good, Ghanaians want to know.

Because apart from normal door-to-door campaigns, holding open rallies, holding townhall meetings and news conferences to convince the electorates that it is the only choice for 2024, I do not see any reason to hide these processes.Unless, something sinister is being laid in motion.

When government was busily constructing rail tracks through NDC strongholds, we all saw what happened. Some miscreants could go and remove the rails and cut them into pieces and sell them as scraps. I never heard the NDC as a party condemning these acts.

When government is busily constructing good roads, we all saw what used to happen. There was a video clip where someone accosted some youths in an NDC stronghold, scraping off gravels on the new roads, loading them on aboboya, to be taken away and sold. The NDC never came out to condemn these acts.

Today, as Ghana is battling with electricity outages, there are scenes of destruction of ECG transmission plants, pulling down of electric poles and stealing of cables, among others to make sure power remains down. May, I humbly ask, is this included in the NDC processes to win the 2024 General Elections, since the NDC has not come out to condemn these acts?

In truth, the excuse given by the NDC for withdrawing from the Ejisu by-elections does not hold water.

Assuming there is by-election today in Ketu-South, will the NDC withdraw? Or let us add Keta constituency or Ada or Shai-Osudoku or Ningo-Prampram, sorry Ningo-Prampram is not included. I do not want my fine son to go just yet. I love him and wish him long years in Parliament, that is Hon Sam George. He is the only Dangbe MP in Parliament who is making Dangbes proud and giving them international recognition, as well. God bless you, Sam.

Yes, supposing there is a by-election in any of the NDC strongholds today, will the NDC withdraw?

Let us face facts here. The NDC knows for a fact that it is not strong on the groundtoday, as it was last year. And with the noise it is making now, any by-election will expose its unpopularity, especially in the Ashanti region where it keeps telling Ghanaians that it will win. If it is indeed sure of that, this by-election should be like a mock-elections for it to test the grounds in Ashanti and do the necessary corrections beforecontesting, Elections 2024.

Top soccer nations, preparing for the World Cup, will take up trial matches to test their preparedness. So, the NDC should have entered into this by-election to access whether the processes it is laying in place are working.

There can be no good excuse, for the NDC, to withdraw from the April 30 event in Ejisu, unless the processes it is putting in place are illegal, immoral and unacceptable.

This could possibly happen in Ejisu on April 30. With the NDC contesting, and putting out George Kwame Huze again as candidate, the Independent candidate, Owusu Aduomi and the NPP candidate,Kwabena Boateng will be far ahead with 90% of valid votes cast between them at 46%-44%, ever which way. George Huze will have to be content with 10% of valid votes cast, which will be over seven percentage points less than he had in 2020.

Such a result will not auger well and will surely make the electorate have noconfidence in the NDC to vote for it in December 2024.

The NDC knows it is losing grounds and so cannot risk damaging the situation by contesting in an election that it knows it will lose miserably.

Hon Daniel Dugan

Editor’s note: Views expressed in this article do not represent that of The Chronicle

Time for distance education not distancing education – GTEC

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Participants at the workshop

The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), in collaboration with the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), has initiated moves with other stakeholders with the focus on developing a policy framework for distance education (DE) regulation in Ghana.

One of such moves was a one-day workshop organised by GTEC with all the other stakeholders and was aimed at shaping the future of education in the country through a constructive dialogue that will pave the way for a robust and inclusive policy framework.

Speaking at the workshop in Accra, the Director General of GTEC, Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai stated that, “Distance education presents a unique opportunity to address the challenges of access and equity in education, particularly in a country as diverse and geographically dispersed as Ghana”.

“It is equally important to recognize that in providing a robust DE, its quality, integrity and effectiveness rely on the bedrock of an effective regulator system. As we navigate the complexities of distance education, it becomes increasingly imperative to establish a robust regulatory framework that ensures accountability, safeguards standards and fosters innovation”, he said.

The workshop, with the theme: ‘The development of a policy framework for distance education in Ghana’, among other things, was to help shape distance education to perfection.

It brought together stakeholders from diverse backgrounds such as policymakers, educators and industry experts who were dedicated to crafting regulations that reflect the needs and aspirations of all those impacted by distance education in Ghana.

A team from the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), who for the past two and half years, under the Partnership Education Blended Learning Project (PEBL), has been supporting GTEC in its activities and also joined online.

The members participated in this important dialogue with their expertise, insights and commitment which are invaluable towards the development of a policy framework for distance education regulation in Ghana.

Purging of the system 

The Director General stressed on the need for stakeholders within the distance educational delivery architecture to purge themselves of the culture of crisscrossing the country on the excuse of providing distance education. This he referred to as distancing education.

The GTEC Director General indicated that the development of a policy framework for distance education regulation necessitates a thorough examination of the opportunities and challenges inherent in this evolving landscape, adding that distance education offers unprecedented flexibility and accessibility and also poses unique risks related to quality assurance, accreditation, and learner support.

“Central to our discussions today should be the principle of balance. We must strike a delicate equilibrium between promoting innovation and safeguarding against potential risks and abuses. Our regulatory framework for DE should foster a culture of innovation and experimentation, while also providing clear guidelines and mechanisms for oversight and accountability”. Prof. Jinapor said.

He explained that by doing so, they could create an environment that encourages the responsible use of technology and pedagogical practices to enhance learning outcomes and expand access to education for all Ghanaians.

Need for uniformity

Mr Dadzie Mensah, a Director at the GTEC said the lack of a policy regulating distance learning has led to several institutions operating distance education with no internal distance learning policies and those with DE policies, the policies are often insufficient or lacking in effectiveness.

He stated that only twelve (12) institutions in the country representing approximately four per cent of institutions in Ghana currently run DE programmes and almost all of them were into technology-mediated learning aspects which present themselves as distance education component of their regular face-to-face delivery of academic instruction

Mr Mensah mentioned that of the few into DE, about 67 per cent of them had DE policies of varying degrees of satisfaction based on the mode of delivery and level of student support required.

The Director said a new policy framework for the country would bring about a uniform regulation to regulate the space in the country properly.

By Felix Baidoo

Nasarawa State govt bans ethnic vigilante groups

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Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule

Following the emergency security meeting convened by Governor Abdullahi Sule on Monday, the Nasarawa State government has proscribed all ethnic vigilante groups operating in the state.

A statement obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday, said the state government has equally directed ethnic vigilante groups affected by the order, to hand over their uniforms and weapons to the state commissioner of police within two weeks.

Citing the powers vested in him via Section 97A of the Penal Code, as well as other relevant laws, Governor Sule, said he acted on the advice of the state security council, and has banned the Fulani ethnic vigilante group known as the Kungiyar Zaman Lafiya, Bassa vigilante group, as well as the Eggon vigilante group.

Through Executive Order No. 1 of 2024, signed by the governor and issued, other associations, movements, organisations or societies affiliated with the group operating under the guise of ethnic vigilante, have also been proscribed.

The statement read, “Similar Organisations includes any association, movement or group of persons or society in whatever name called or form, with the aim and objectives of providing security amongst particular ethnic groups within Nasarawa State through the use of force or arms etc,” part of the Executive Order No. 1 of 2024 reads.

“Accordingly, the Kungiyar Zaman Lafiya nomad vigilante, Bassa vigilante, Eggon vigilante and other similar organisations are henceforth proscribed, and declared unlawful societies that are inimical to good governance in the state”.

The State Government then directed, that members of the Kungiwar Zaman Lafiya nomad Vigilante, Bassa Vigilante, Eggon Vigilante and other similar organisations, hand over all weapons or arms in their possession, along with uniforms to the commissioner of police Nasarawa State, within two weeks from the date of issuance of the order.

Credit: channelstv.com

Jigawa polls: PDP rejects IPAC stance, insists election must hold

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INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu

The major opposition party in JIgawa State, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has distanced itself from the Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, decision requesting an extension of the local government council election by one year.

PDP chairman in the Dutse local government, Alhaji Sa’adu Barwa disclosed this while reacting to the IPAC decision.

He said the IPAC decision was not a popular idea but a decision of a few individuals.

DAILY POST reported that the IPAC had called for an amendment to the state’s electoral law to give political parties notice of 360 days to prepare for elections.

According to him, “the tenure of any elected position is clearly stated by the law. The JIgawa State Government Council’s tenure is expiring by July this year.

“The state Independent Electoral Commission should therefore ensure it organizes credible elections in all the 27 local government areas and 287 political wards in the state without any delay or extension.

“We will not accept any attempt to manipulate or disenfranchise us.

“The People Democratic Party (PDP) has a strong belief and optimism of winning the local government council election when considering the present sufferings and economic difficulty experienced in the state and county,” he said.

He noted that APC was afraid of losing the election.

Credit: dailypost.ng

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