The Central Regional Office of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has disposed of various quantities of unwholesome regulated products worth GH₵250,000 in Cape Coast.

The FDA confiscated the products on its routine post-market surveillance activities, retrieved from 18 districts and institutions that applied for the safe disposal of their harmful products.

The seized items include food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, herbal medicines, food supplements, and household chemicals.

The Surveillance was conducted based on the Authority’s mandate in section 132, subsection 2, 3, and 4 of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851).

The Act mandates the FDA to undertake the disposal of unwholesome regulated products such as food, allopathic, herbal, and veterinary medicines, biological products, medical devices, cosmetics, household chemical substances, clinical trials, tobacco and tobacco products, and substances of abuse. 

Ms Francisca Obeng, the Regional Head of the Authority, told the Ghana News Agency that the Authority conducted market surveillance operations to rid the market of expired, counterfeit, contaminated, unregistered, and all other kinds of unwholesome regulated products.

The disposal was also intended to prevent the potential re-entry of those unwholesome products into the supply chain.

Going forward, she advised the public to check the expiry dates and registration status of products before they bought them, and ensure they purchased regulated products from accredited and recognised outlets or sources.

She urged retailers to adhere to good storage and stocking practices such as the First Expired, First Out (FEFO) principle while advising citizens to report to the Authority persons who sold expired, unregistered, and unwholesome products.

“The FDA wishes to emphasize that ensuring public health is our prime objective,” it said.

“We are geared towards providing assurance of safe food, drugs, cosmetics, household chemicals, medical devices, and all other regulated products in Ghana,” she said.

Ms Obeng acknowledged the collaboration of the Authority’s stakeholders: the Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental and Sanitation Agency, the Ghana Standards Authority, and the Ghana Police Service to ensure the safety of consumers.

It also mentioned the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Ghana Health Service, and the Pharmacy Council, among others, who complemented the efforts of the FDA to execute its mandate.

Source: GNA 

Brigadier General Joseph Aduko Aphour, General Officer Commanding, Central Command has expressed concern  over the posture of some of the local communities  towards troops executing  the anti galamsey operations. 

According to him, despite  the devastation illegal mining otherwise known as ‘galamsey’ is causing to water bodies, farmlands and the environment, cabals he did not name are thwarting the efforts of his troops on the grounds. He alleged that his soldiers are being pelted with stones and other offensive weapons just to frustrate them from undertaking their legally sanctioned duties.

Speaking at the End of Year party in Kumasi, he insisted that these frustrations would not stop them from fighting the illegal miners. “It’s worthy to note that, the year 2022 recorded the arrest of several illegal miners and seizure of their equipment”, he said. To him, these arrests attest to their readiness to deal decisively with perpetrators of the crime.

Brigadier General Aphour, however, warned his troops to refrain from indulging in illegal or ‘one –man’ operation, stressing that any soldier who is found culpable of such unprofessional behaviour will be dealt with accordingly.

A self-acclaimed boxer, Ernest Appronti Amanotey also known as ‘Divine Out’, together with Evans Amoah, driver, have been remanded into police custody on robbery charges.

They were remanded by an Accra Circuit Court presided over by Samuel Bright Acquah on Thursday, December 22, 2022. The accused persons were alleged to have connived with another, ‘Hero’ aka ‘Fanti’, who is on the run to rob and kill taxi driver, Bernard Botchwey, alias Kwame Waya.

Ernest and Evans have, therefore, been accused of conspiracy to commit, namely robbery, but both have pleaded not guilty. The Circuit Court would not try them for murder because it lacks jurisdiction over such matters. The case will later be referred to the High Court for trial.  

Nevertheless, the prosecuting officer, Chief Inspector Isaac Anquandah, told the court that a deceased, Bernard Botchwey, alias Kwame Waya, was in charge of a Toyota Vitz car, which was being used for commercial purposes.

According to him, prior to Botchway’s death, he was living at Ekumfi Essakyir in the Central Region with his family,  while Ernest and Evans reside at Bubuashie and Dansoman respectively in the Greater region.

 He told the court that on October 29, 2022, Ernest and Evans together with ‘Hero’ alias ‘Fanti’, now at large, went on a robbery expedition at Ajumako in the Central Region with plans to snatch cars and bring them to Accra to sell. 

The accused persons bordered a car and alighted at Ekumfi Essuohyia and boarded a taxi at the station to Ajumako. While on their way, ‘Hero’ alias ‘Fanti’ alighted around Ajumako Mando Senior High School (SHS) and Ernest and Evans continued the journey to Ajumako Township. 

At Ajumako, Ernest and Evans, the suspects did not get down, but rather asked the driver to drive them back to Ekumfi Essuohyia.  Ernest then called ‘Hero’ alias ‘Fanti’who had earlier gotten down on the way to Ajumako on phone and gave the headset to the driver to talk to him (Hero). The driver who did not know that he was talking to ‘Hero’ was instructed by the latter to   drive his accomplices to the Ajumako Mando SHS where he was standing and waiting for them.

Unfortunately, when the deceased got to a section of the road where ‘Hero’ was hiding, Ernest and Evans ordered the deceased to stop.

Immediately he stopped, ‘Hero’ emerged from the bush and together with his accomplices, attacked the deceased by hitting him with a cement block and stripped him naked. The accused tore the deceased’s yellow shirt and used it to tie both hands and his legs to his back. 

After the deceased became unconscious, the accused persons dragged him and dumped his lifeless body in an uncompleted building in the bush and took charge of the deceased’s taxi and send it to Accra. 

On October 30, 2022 at about 2:00am, the Police Patrol team saw Ernest and Evans in possession of the deceased’s taxi at Pokuase, which had developed a mechanical fault. When the Police questioned Evans about the car, he allegedly claimed that the taxi belongs to him and that he has forgotten the ignition key in the house. 

The Police conducted a search in the taxi and discovered that the ignition chamber of the car had been tampered with. The accused persons were arrested and sent to the Pokuase Police station where they were detained for investigation. 

On November 1, 2022, the Pokuase Police received information that a taxi driver had been murdered at Ajumako and his taxi stolen. Enquiries made by Police confirmed that the taxi that was found with the accused persons was the very one they snatched from the deceased.

The police, therefore, confronted the accused persons with the evidence and they admitted snatching the car and also killing the victim. On November 18, 2022, the accused persons were brought to the Homicide Unit of the CID Headquarters for further investigation and during interrogation, they once again admitted the offences.