The outgoing Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen has indicated he will roll out an initiative to change the economy of the country if elected as president.

This initiative is called the “Great Transformational Plan” (GTP).

He announced this on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 during his national broadcast to disclose his readiness to vie for the flag bearer slot of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

According to him, the GTP will be anchored on a strong microeconomic development, a new agricultural revolution, and other pillars.

He said in the broadcast that the execution of the GTP will require the efforts of every citizen.

He has since called on Ghanaians to support his ambition, particularly, delegates of the NPP to “remember that Alan Kyerematen is your candidate.”

The Accra Circuit presided over Evelyn Asamoah has fined Lawrence Nana Asiamah Hanson alias Bulldog 4,000 penalty units (GH¢48,000.00) in default of 40 days imprisonment.

The court found him guilty on offence of conduct conducive to the breach of peace.

Despite, pleading not guilty to the offence, the court held that the prosecution led by Chief Inspector Simon Apiorsornu, was able to establish Bulldog’s guilty, after nearly two years of trial.  

The sentence follows an unguarded statement made by Bulldog while participating in a discussion about Menzgold on a live entertainment programme on United Television (UTV) on January 9, 2021.

According to the court, Bulldog was quoted as saying a democratically elected President, President Akufo-Addo, will not finish his second term in office if he fails to pay Menzgold customers.

Mrs Asamoah read as part of her judgement, in the open court, the sentiments that were expressed by viewers of the live show, including “Bulldog comment is a threat to the President.”

The court held that Bulldog was knowledgeable of the issue being discussed, but there was no precaution in his choice of language used.

Her Honour also explained that for an offence to merit provocation and a breach of peace, it must be made at a public place.

This, she said, though UTV is privately owned, it is a national television and the show was viewed by thousands across the globe.

The court also made reference to an answer by the UTV Showbiz host, Nana McBrown that Bulldog’s comment was not appropriate, when she appeared before it.

Bulldog on the show failed to retract the statement and put up a defence that he was only appealing to the conscience of the public.

Prayer

The noncustodial sentence was granted on a prayer of Lord Delvin Essandoh, holding Jerry Avenorgbo’s (counsel for bulldog) brief.

Counsel had argued that  Bulldog is a first-time offender, well-known member of the society,  has four children; the youngest one being 3 years and the oldest, 4.  He is also the  breadwinner of his family, and that the tendency of this case has taught him a great lesson to know what to say and what not to say.

Similarly, Bulldog has health issues regarding his heart and other parts of his body.

He also prayed the court that the offence brought against Bulldog is misdemeanour and considering his remorsefulness, he should be granted noncustodial sentence. 

About Bulldog

Bulldog is artiste manager and a graphic designer. He was arrested on January 11, 2021 by the police and handed over to the National Intelligence Bureau.

The 4^th Republican Parliament has enacted over one thousand bills since its inception in 1993.

This is contained in an official statement published on the official Facebook page of the Legislative House to mark the 30th anniversary of the 4th Republic.

These bills, according to the Parliament of Ghana Facebook post, include the Right to Information, and the National Identification Authority Acts.

“Since the fourth Republic, Parliament has enacted over 1000 Bills including the Right to Information Act, National Identification Authority Act, Interpretation Act, Food and Drugs Act, the Private Members Bill of 2020 just to mention a few and the repealing of others such as the Criminal Libel law,” it said adding that there are still many more Bills to be passed.

The post said following years of military rule, Ghana returned to constitutional rule on 7th January 1993, and the first Parliament of the fourth Republic was dominated by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) who won 189 out of 200 seats in Parliament. It included 16 women.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP), which had lost the 1992 elections, boycotted that of the parliamentary, and hence did not win any seat in the new parliament.The 200 seats   increased to 230  in 2006 and 275 in 2013 till date.

The post observed that the current Parliament, which is the 8th of the fourth Republic introduced some interesting dynamics in democratic governance.

It referred to the two major political parties for the first time holding the same number of seats and the resulting elements of a hung Parliament. 

Giving a little background, the write up said at the inauguration of the 8th Parliament, the NPP had 137 seats, the NDC had 137 seats with one independent member. 

It added that of the 275 members, 40 are women which is the highest number of female representation yet. 

“It is also the first time the Speaker of Parliament has no political ties with the party of the executive government,” the post added.

It added that citizens have become more informed and discerning, and are taking active part in governance and constitutional matters. Meanwhile, Parliament has said this 30 year mile stone will be celebrated throughout 2023 with various activities and events.

The Gold Fields Ghana Foundation (GGF) has made a bulk payment of  GHC779,583.50 covering the tuition fees for 325 students in its catchments areas for the 2022/2023 academic year. 

Previously, the money was handed over to the beneficiary students in the form of cheques, but this time round, the money was paid on behalf of the students directly to the universities. The idea is to eliminate delays in the registration of the students.

 The institutions are the University of Cape Coast (UCC), University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and University of Ghana, Legon.

At a special programme held last week  Thursday to handover the cheques for the  bulk payment to the four universities, the Vice President of Gold Fields in charge of Operations, Michiel van der Merwe lauded the  bulk payment idea.

The scholarship scheme, according to Merwe, is to support brilliant, but needy students from host communities to pursue full time studies at various levels of education.

According to him, the scholarship scheme has so far supported 2,448 youth from both Tarkwa and Damang and that currently, there are 531 beneficiaries pursuing various courses at the universities.

 Turning his attention to benefits of mining, Michiel van der Merwe pointed out that “One of the benefits of mining is that through programmes such as this, hundreds of students in the mining communities do not have to worry about their fees or any increase thereof”.

According to him, since inception, the foundation has invested over $3.5m to cover tuition, hostel, accommodation, examination and other approved charges.

“The beneficiaries of this programme have also not taken the support for granted. The stellar academic performance coupled with their discipline and generally positive attitude have encouraged us to continue to doing more for them,” he said.

The Deputy Minister for Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, lauded the mine for investing heavily into the lives of the beneficiaries.  He urged the latter to justify the investment made in them adding “we are going to track your progress to justify the investment made in you”.

The Member of Parliament for Prestea and the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Tarkwa both lauded the mine and called for the sustenance of the programme.

Present at the programme were Gyasehene of Apinto Divisional stool, Nana Bediako Adarkwa, the Municipal Chief Executive for Tarkwa Nsuaem, Benjamin Kesse. Others were the Executive Secretary of Gold Fields Ghana Foundation, Abdel Razak Yakubu, the Regional manager of corporate Affairs, Emma Morrison, Head of sustainability of Gold Fields, Robert

Fellow Ghanaians,

It has been said that “democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others”. We, in Ghana, should know, for we have tried virtually all the others. We have held elections that were not free and fair; we have had constitutional regimes without limitations placed on executive power; we have had rule by law without rule of law; and we have lived under a number of military dictatorships.

Just as we demonstrated in the drive towards independence in the 1940s and 1950s, we showed again in the 1990s, after the initial decades of turbulence in our national life, ourdetermination to live in conditions of freedom and democracy. So it was that on 28th April 1992, some thirty-one (31) years ago, we approved, by an overwhelming margin in a Referendum of that day, with three million, four hundred and eight thousand, one hundred and nineteen (3,408,119) persons, representing 92.59%, in favour, with two hundred and seventy-two thousand, eight hundred and fifty-five (272,855) persons against, i.e. a mere 7.41%, the adoption of the provisions of the Constitution of the 4th Republic, which set up the institutions of a liberal democratic state, operating on the basis of the separation of powers, with express guarantees of fundamental human rights. It was, thus, promulgated with immense, popular backing.

Tomorrow, Saturday, 7th January 2023, will be exactly thirty (30) years since the Constitution of the 4th Republic came into force, with the inauguration into office of the first President of the 4th Republic, His Excellency the late Jerry John Rawlings. It has inspired the longest period of stable constitutional governance in our history, with a consensus emerging strongly that the democratic form of governance is preferable, and the benefits are showing. Hence the decision to celebrate 7th January as Constitution Day.

Our country is considered a beacon of democracy and stability in Africa, where respect for the principles of democratic accountability, human rights and the rule of law have enabled us to oversee eight (8) presidential elections in the 4th Republic, with five (5) presidential transitions, and three (3) peaceful transfers of power, through the ballot box, from one party to another. We have every right to be proud of this, and the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the 4th Republic should inspire us, even further, to hold on to this status.

Fellow Ghanaians, I acknowledge that the strength of any democracy is very much determined by the credibility of its electoral process, and respect for the will of the people.We cannot overlook the fact that instability has followed disputed elections in many parts of the African continent.

That is why we, in Ghana, must continue to urge the Electoral Commission to work to ensure that all stakeholders in the electoral process, that is the citizenry, civil society and political parties, do not have lingering questions about the legitimacy of an election. On the two (2) occasions in which disputes have arisen over the results of presidential elections, happily it was in the court, and not on the streets, that the issues were satisfactorily resolved.

By all accounts, we have come a long way, andwe should not take it for granted that everybodyin Ghana has accepted democracy as the preferred mode of governance. There are those who would rather have authoritarian rule, because they claim our country is underdeveloped and democracy is cumbersome, and we need to get things done in a hurry. We still have some work to do to convince such people that we are all safer under democracies.

Nevertheless, if we seek to prolong our democratic journey, it is imperative that we enhance transparency and accountability in our governance structures, and build strong institutions that can fight corruption and the dissipation of public funds. I say, without any form of equivocation, that my government has undertaken, arguably, the boldest initiatives since independence to reform and strengthen the capacity of our institutions to tackle corruption in the public sector, including the financial empowerment of the anti-corruption bodies, the passage of the Right to Information Act,  which previous administrations had been unable to effect, and the establishment of the Office of Special Prosecutor, an independent, non-partisan body, with the relevant professional capability and exclusive mandate to investigate and prosecute acts of corruption.  

As President of the Republic, I assure you that, out of duty to our children and grandchildren,and to generations yet unborn, my government will not give up when it comes to deepening our democracy and guaranteeing the integrity of the electoral process, and neither should you, the Ghanaian people. We do not have to look far back into history to see that stable period of constitutional government and intelligent management of the economy lead to prosperity. We must do everything within our means to safeguard our democracy.

Tomorrow’s milestone is to the great credit of you, the Ghanaian people, the ordinary men and women who make up the fabric of our nation. Thirty (30) years ago, all of us resolved to build, under God, a united nation, grounded in democratic values and the rule of law. We have advanced a great deal in realising this vision, and I am confident that, with a spirit of fairness, hard work, integrity and reconciliation, the best days of Mother Ghana lie ahead of us.

Even though we are presently confronted with difficulties in our economic performance, I do not doubt our collective resolve to work our wayout of these challenges, and put our nation back onto the path of progress and prosperity. Let us, therefore, continue to work to create the platform for the evolution of a new Ghanaian civilisation, which will give true meaning to the foundational values of freedom and justice on which our nation was birthed.  

Long Live Constitution Day, Long Live Ghanaian democracy,

Long Live the 4th Republic.

I thank you for your attention, and have a good evening.