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South Korea hits back as North Korea fires most missiles in a day

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North Korea fires missiles

North and South Korea have fired a number of missiles into waters near each other’s coasts in a marked escalation of hostilities. The North launched its most missiles in a single day – at least 23 – including one that landed less than 60km (37 miles) off the South’s city of Sokcho.

Seoul responded with warplanes firing three air-to-ground missiles over the disputed maritime demarcation line.

Later Pyongyang fired six more missiles and a barrage of 100 artillery shells.

The North says the launches are in response to large-scale military exercises current being held by South Korea and the United States, which it calls “aggressive and provocative”.

On Tuesday, Pyongyang warned they would pay “the most horrible price in history” if they continued their joint military drills, seen as a veiled threat to use nuclear weapons.

The North has tested a record number of missiles this year as tensions have risen. Wednesday’s exchanges began with missile launches by Pyongyang into waters close to South Korea, triggering air raid sirens on Ulleung, an island controlled by Seoul. Residents there were told to evacuate to underground shelters.

Credit: bbc.com

Russian U-turn allows grain deal to resume

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Ships had continued using the Black Sea route despite Russia suspending its role in the deal

Days after Russia suspended support for grain exports through the Black Sea, it has agreed with Turkey to restart its participation in the agreement.

Russia accused Ukraine on Saturday of using a safety corridor for grain ships to attack its fleet in Crimea. However, the UN, Turkey and Ukraine continued sending ships even after Russia halted its support for the deal.

Now, Russia’s defence ministry says Kyiv has given written assurances not to use the route for military action. But Germany’s foreign minister said it showed what the international community could achieve if it refused to be blackmailed by Russia.

The deal was brokered by the UN and Turkey in July, bringing to an end a five-month Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports that trapped millions of tonnes of grain and sunflower oil and sent food prices soaring.

Under the agreement, ships are allowed to sail through a safe corridor before being inspected by a special co-ordination team in Turkey and then heading on through the Bosphorous Strait.

The deal ends on 19 November and those involved still have to agree extending it.

Credit: bbc.com

Separating the facts from the fiction about common cold

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With Cold season now well and truly upon us, you’re probably seeking ways to dodge getting a sniffly nose.

Others might be reading this in desperation to getting rid of one.

Glugging down orange juice, taking multivitamins and avoiding going out with wet hair are some tips you will have heard about.

But do they really help you avoid coming down with a cold? Or are they just myths?

MailOnline spoke to experts to separate fact from fiction, and give you the best tips to avoid a bad bout of cold.

Multi-vitamins 

It is a multi-billion pound industry centered on claims that they will keep you healthy and prevent you from getting sick.

But experts say you shouldn’t rely on multi-vitamins.

In fact, there is nothing available that will prevent you from getting a cold — that is according to Cardiff University’s Professor Ron Eccles, who has spent decades researching the common cold.

He said: ‘There is a lot of hype on multi-vitamins, but none of them really abolish the cold otherwise we would know about them.’.

Orange juice  

Glugging down orange juice each morning won’t prevent you from catching a cold.

But the vitamin C it contains may speed up your recovery, experts believe.

Adults need roughly 40mg of vitamin C a day, half of the amount found in a standard glass of orange juice.

Professor Eccles, who has worked on numerous trials sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, said: ‘There is a possibility that taking very large doses of vitamin C will act as an antioxidant and dampen down the inflammation.

‘But the evidence is weak.’ But the NHS says there’s little evidence vitamin C prevents colds or speeds up recovery.

Wet hair and cold air 

If you find yourself needing to rush out with wet hair on a cold winter’s day, do not worry about getting ill.

The common folk story, told for over a century, is heavily disputed by experts.  

Respiratory viruses, such as the ones that cause colds, the flu and Covid, are passed on through bodily fluids like coughs and sneezes.

Despite your grandmothers’ warnings, wet hair does not make you more attractive to viral particles, and just having wet hair will not make you more vulnerable.

Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious diseases expert at the University of East Anglia, has worked on every major epidemiological outbreak over the past 30 years.

He said: ‘You will only catch a cold from being in contact with somebody else with a cold and that is the primary reason.

‘If you are outdoors, you don’t really catch respiratory infections because they are all just blown away in the wind.’

The real reason why we get colds in the winter is, according to experts, because we spend more time crammed inside poorly ventilated spaces close to other people — the perfect conditions for viruses to thrive.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

Feature: We Are Running Out of Time

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Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration

I was told many years ago about a common refrain in newsrooms: “If it bleeds, it leads”.  In other words, the bloodier an event, the more prominent its place in the newspaper or bulletin.

I believe this axiom still holds true today.  It explains why the catastrophic sights and sounds – the bleeding – in Ukraine is top of mind for the world.  And justifiably so.

However, as Ghana assumes the Presidency of the United Nations Security Council in November, the world cannot afford to focus solely on events in Ukraine, its impact on the living conditions of people everywhere notwithstanding.

We cannot forget that before the invasion of Ukraine, COVID-19 had exposed the lack of resilience of the economies in which the majority of the global population live.  In fact, the war in Ukraine exacerbated the harsh effects of the downturn many countries were already experiencing, deepening poverty, unemployment and food insecurity.

We cannot forget either that the UN Security Council faced a leadership crisis in finding better ways to respond to threats to international peace and security, as the nature of those threats were, themselves, changing. Africa, for instance, has become the epicentre of terrorism.

Meanwhile, in the countries where the UN maintains its signature peacekeeping missions, some of the host countries have chosen, instead, to engage third parties, sometimes in conflict with the operations of UN peacekeepers.

It is clear that the ways in which the Security Council approaches the mandate for international peace and security ought to change, if we are to have sustainable peace, which is a prerequisite for achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030.

Right now we are running out of time in transforming the lives of people and saving our planet.

At the UN, Security Council reforms are often seen only in terms of expanding the permanent membership and power of veto to make the council more representative of all of the peoples of the world.  Those reforms are important and necessary.

But we believe that it is equally important to look at another area of reforms that would enable peace to serve the needs of ordinary people for resilience and a good quality of life.

In this we are inspired by the example of the second Secretary‐General of the UN, Dag Hammarskjold, who had an innovative approach to the possibilities of the UN and its Charter, and is credited with the introduction of peacekeeping.

The bold act of adopting a General Assembly Resolution on 7 November, 1956, which launched the first peacekeeping operation in history, the UN Emergency Force in the Middle East (UNEF), at a time when it was urgently needed, should inspire us in our time to act equally boldly because circumstances have changed.

Like Hammarskjold, we must recognize that “the purposes of the Charter (are)  fixed and binding, but the working methods of the Organization must be flexible and innovative”.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana and I are calling on the Council to consider that time has come for another departure from the norm as Hammarskjöld did when UNEF was established.

As my country, Ghana, prepares to preside over two high level debates of the Council, we want to focus, like a laser beam, on the security gap and the need for a new and innovative template for success.

That template should take into account the factors that make peace keeping operations almost permanent, and why individuals and communities become susceptible to radicalization and recruitment as terrorists, driving the new face of threats to international peace and security.

In the Sahel and coastal West Africa, the countries that were the most successful in reaching striking distance of the SDGs, especially on poverty reduction and education, now find themselves struggling, as poorer countries rather shoulder the worst impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Climate Change and conflict in Europe.

High fiscal deficits, escalating debt and downturns in economic activity are pushing us out of the bond markets at a time when inequality soars and unemployment and underemployment of millions is turning frustration into hopelessness.

Increasingly, even some among the middle classes in Africa and other developing countries are beginning to lose faith in the democratic systems they fought so hard  to establish.

The road back to robust growth, which Ghana and a number of African countries experienced successively in the years before COVID-19 struck, is currently a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea.

We have to either impose IMF-guided austerity, potentially leading to labour retrenchment and accompanying social instability, as witnessed in Argentina and elsewhere, or home-grown yet equally tough decisions to satisfy the markets and, hopefully, pave the way back to a functioning economy.

The harsh sacrifices required, themselves, have become a source of instability and an invitation to malign actors.

In the Sahel, climate-induced insecurity, poverty, high illiteracy rates and education that neither teaches skills nor a culture of peace and non-violence (SDG Target 4.7), youth unemployment and the absence of the State in large swathes of territory have created the environment in which terrorists thrive and undermine the effectiveness of the kinetic military operations to root them out.

It is clear that the critical need to fill the security gap brought on by economic and other root causes of conflict should be a priority for the promotion and maintenance of international peace and security.

Secretary-General Anonio Guterres has been insistent on the need for funding the entire peace continuum, including increasing resources for programmatic financing, and for a mechanism for fighting terrorism in Africa.

The Council can no longer turn a blind eye to the accumulating evidence before us.  That means ensuring that UN Security Council-mandated peace support missions or counter terrorism have a balanced approach to both the military and civil components, with as much resources devoted to building community resilience, access to good quality education and training, and mitigating climate impacts and reclaiming land and water bodies on which communities depend.

It means standing with other organs of the UN to advocate for a new model of development cooperation that reinforces the capacity of developing countries to deepen their development resilience.

I know that these may not make for easy headlines but we must bring attention to, and act on, them as a matter of preventive urgency.

It is time for bold thinking and bolder action or we shall simply run out for time, leaving us with neither peace nor development – except bloodier headlines.

By Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration

Juventus coach blames Paul Pogba for his own World Cup heartbreak

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The Juventus star suffered an injury setback and was thus ruled out of the World Cup in Qatar

Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri has appeared to blame Paul Pogba for the French midfielder being ruled out of the World Cup through injury after he chose not to undergo surgery in pre-season.

Pogba has been suffering from a fresh thigh problem which has put paid to his chances of being fit for the tournament in Qatar.

The latest setback has officially ruled him out of the World Cup as it will keep him on the sidelines for a further three weeks.

The ex-Manchester United midfielder, who has been out with a troubling meniscus injury since pre-season, has yet to feature for Juventus after re-joining the club on a free transfer this summer.

Pogba visited a specialist in August and was convinced not to undergo surgery in the hope of returning for Juventus by mid-September.

Allegri, who is under pressure at Juventus after their Champions League exit and uncharacteristically poor start to the Serie A campaign, admitted he has yet to speak with the 29-year-old since the latest injury setback.

‘Not yet,’ he said ahead of Juventus’ match against PSG on Wednesday. ‘I spoke to him earlier. It’s pointless repeating what has already been said.

‘Once the decision was made not to have surgery at the start of the season, it was normal that hopes that he could return with Juventus and France were slim.

‘He’s sorry for Juventus and the World Cup, it’s normal, we were penalised for not having him available.’

His agent, Rafaela Pimenta, confirmed he would miss the tournament earlier this week.

‘Paul would like to resume as soon as possible but he must be patient, work hard in these difficult times and give the best of himself to be back on the field for the fans and his team as soon as possible,’ Pimenta told Telefoot.

Pogba played a pivotal role during France’s World Cup triumph in 2018, scoring in the final against Croatia.

The reigning champions will be without both Pogba and N’Golo Kante in the engine room, as the Chelsea star was ruled out of the World Cup earlier this month with a hamstring injury.

France are also sweating on the fitness of United centre-back Raphael Varane, who appeared distraught as he was forced off with injury in his side’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea.

Credit: dailymail.co.uk

Scotland and England to meet at Hampden next year

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England and Scotland last met at Wembley during Euro 2020 last year

Scotland will host England at Hampden on 12 September, 2023 as part of the 150th anniversary celebrations of their first match in 1872.

That game, played at the West of Scotland Cricket Ground in Glasgow, which ended 0-0, is recognised by Fifa as the world’s oldest international.

Next year’s game will be the first between the pair since a goalless draw in June 2021 at Wembley at Euro 2020.

“This fixture is enshrined in history,” said Scotland manager Steve Clarke.

“I will be proud to lead our team out at Hampden as part of the 150th anniversary celebrations of our national game.

“This next chapter of the oldest rivalry in football will be a special occasion for our players and fans, especially after the recent experience at Wembley during Euro 2020.”

England and Scotland last met at Hampden in 2017, with the match ending in a 2-2 draw and all four goals coming in the final quarter of the game. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain put England 1-0 ahead but they needed an injury-time Harry Kane goal to draw the game after Scotland’s Leigh Griffiths scored two late free-kicks.

“Any meeting with Scotland is always special,” said England boss Gareth Southgate.

“Ourselves and Scotland are the oldest of rivals and passions are sure to be high at Hampden, but this milestone is much bigger than our two nations as it’s also an opportunity to celebrate 150 years of international football,” he added.

The Football Association also announced England will play their home Euro 2024 qualifier against North Macedonia at Old Trafford on 19 June.

Credit: bbc.com

Liverpool target Jude Bellingham for next summer

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Liverpool are determined to win the race for Jude Bellingham's signature next summer

Jurgen Klopp has agreed with Liverpool chiefs to go all in on Jude Bellingham next summer, according to reports in Germany.

Bellingham, 19, is one of the hottest properties in European football right now after becoming a key member of Borussia Dortmund‘s midfield at such a young age.

The race for his signature is expected to intensify at the end of the current season, with the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester City and Chelsea also circling as well as Liverpool.

According to Sport Bild, the Reds are now hellbent on luring Bellingham to Merseyside after Klopp made it clear he would be fully behind a big-money move next summer.

Anfield officials are understood to have set around £86million aside to get their hands on the England international – but that price falls way below Dortmund’s valuation.

It is believed the Bundesliga club, who tied Bellingham down to a new four-year contract in 2021, will demand at least £129m for his services.

Should Liverpool or one of their English rivals meet that valuation, they would smash the record Premier League transfer – Jack Grealish’s £100million switch to City last year – by almost £30million.

But according to El Chiringuito journalist Jose Alvarez Haya, as reported by Marca, Bellingham would prefer to sign for Madrid than head back to his home country next summer.

The teenager reportedly wants to spearhead a new generation in Los Blancos’ midfield, where he believes he can prove himself an ‘important’ player.

City are understood to have made contact with his representatives, only to be told that Madrid would be his first priority if the right offer came in.

Klopp will be looking to strengthen in central midfield as Liverpool have been decimated by injuries in that area so far this season.

The Reds made an emergency move for Arthur Melo on loan from Juventus in the summer as cover but even he has fallen victim to injury.

Bellingham has made 109 appearances for Dortmund after moving to Germany for £25million from Birmingham in 2020.

Manchester United gave Bellingham a tour of their Carrington training ground back in 2020 as part of their attempts to sign the highly-rated youngster when he was at Birmingham.

Such was the impact he had in a short space of time at St Andrew’s that the Blues controversially retired his No 22 shirt after letting him join Dortmund to ‘remember one of our own and to inspire others’.

Eight months shy of his 20th birthday, Bellingham has already earned 17 caps for England and is a certainty to be included in Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad later this month.

He could also start England’s first game of the tournament in Qatar against Iran on November 21.

Credit: dailymail.co.uk

Family Files  GH¢10m Suit Against Police, AG…Over Death Of Relative At Adomfe, Asante Akyem

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RICHARD OWUSU-AKYAW
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COP Kofi Boakye - Director General in charge of Legal and Prosecution
The body of the late Kofi Ampomah

Maxwell Boamah, a customary successor of late Kofi Ampomah, who was allegedly killed by some police personnel at Adomfe, in the Asante Akyem South Municipality of the Ashanti region, together with nine others, have filed a GH¢10m suit against  the Ghana Police Service and the Attorney-General (A-G) for the death of his kinsman.

According to the plaintiff, the deceased, without any cause or act of provocation was allegedly seized by nine officers of the Police Service, when he closed from work on October 15, 2019.

In the writ, filed on October 13, 2022 the plaintiff said the police, after seizing the deceased, assaulted him by using pepper spray on him, as well as butchering him with cutlasses or machetes.

Mr Boamah alleged that after the policemen took the life of Kofi Ampomah,they handled his mortal remains like an animal.

According to him, before Kofi’s demise, the policemen refused and failed to take him to hospital for medical attention, while he was bleeding profusely from the cutlass wounds he had sustained from their brutality.

As a result, the plaintiffs are seeking a declaration by the Human Right Court that the deceased,Kofi Ampomah, was killed or murdered by nine policemen of the Konongo Division of the Ghana Police Service.

“The police finally dumped the deceased at Konongo Odumasi Government Hospital and lied that he had been killed by armed robbers,” the writ said.

The late Kofi Ampomah

They are demanding a compensation of GH¢10 million from ten (10) officers of the Ghana Police Service, including the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo-Dampare.

Per the writ of summons, the amount would be used for the education, maintenance, upkeep and trauma suffered by the dependants of late Kofi Ampomah.

The plaintiffs also want the Police Service to build a statute in honour of late Kofi Ampomah to serve as a constant reminder to the police to protect life and not to destroy life.

The police officers name in the writ, as having a hand in the death of the deceased are;  General SergentSulemanSeidu (Sully Seidu), G/CPL Seth Agbango (Seth Abango), D/L/CPL SalifuYakubu, G/SGT Samuel Awrjamb, G/SGT Opare Samuel (Opare Samuel Antwi), D/CPL James Astikson Mensah (James Mensah), G/CPL NyameHayford, G/CPL Emmanuel Divines Delasi (Delasi Divine) and G/L/CPL Samuel Kwame Gorman (Gorman Samuel).

The IGP, Dr George Akuffo-Dampare and Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, were respectively joined to the suit, as head of the police service and the legal advisor of the government.

The other plaintiffs are; Maxwell Boamah, suing for himself and on behalf Eunice Amoako, Samuel SiawAmmpomah, Vida Ampomah, Enoch AgyeiAntwi, Georgina Ampomah, BoatemaaPeprah Irene, Silas DansoPeprah and Nana Appiagyei Danka.

The plaintiffs’ claim

According to the plaintiffs, the deceased, Kofi Ampomah, aged 33, who was their younger brother at the time of his death, was a Sprinter trotro driver plying Adomfe to Kumasi.

Mr Boamah alleged that his brother met his untimely death because the defendants mistook him for a young man who allegedly reported the defendants to the Bompata Police for releasing a woman, who was alleged to be selling local gin, mixed with a substance suspected to be Indian hemp to the public.

He averred that the police, on two different occasions, arrested and released the woman in question, after extorting GH¢3,000.00 and GH¢4,000 00 respectively from her.

The plaintiff added that this was the incident that angered some youth of the town to report the matter to the Bompata Police Station for action.

He said the policemen mentioned in the suit retaliated by attacking the Adomfe town to deal with the young man who took the initiative to report them to the Bompata Police Station.

Therefore, he added that on October 15, 2019 at about 7:30 am, when the deceased had closed from work, he stepped out to go and buy food to eat at a food selling joint at Adomfe.

However, the defendants upon seeing the deceased rushed to seize him.He continued that the policemen, who arrived in two vehicles, sprayed the eyes of the deceased with pepper spray before inflicting wounds on him with cutlasses.

“Plaintiff avers that the deceased became unconscious after bleeding profusely, where upon the nine policemen dumped him in the bucket of one of the vehicles and moved to park at a distance from the murder scene,” the writ states.

The plaintiff asserted that his brother died from the mistreatment meted out to him by Seidu, Abango, Yakubu, Awrjamb, Antwi, Mensah, Hayford, Delasi and Gorman.

Gov’t to collaborate with Rand Refinery for LBMA certification

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Veep Bawumia with members of Rand Refinery and minister for Lands , Samuel Jinapor

The Vice President, Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, says the government is ready to collaborate with the board and management of Rand Refinery to help Ghana obtain London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) Certification.

Underscoring the importance of the LBMA certificate to the government’s plan to develop the mineral industry and make Ghana a key player in the refinery of mineral resources, Dr Bawumia said attaining the certification will propel Ghana to participate and exploit fully the benefits in the mineral value chain.

He stated that the gamut of experience and expertise of the Certification makes them strategic and beneficial partners to Ghana and that, partnering them will help the country evade the blunders other countries committed on their journey to creating refinery hubs in their mining sector, “because you have a very long history in this area and also help us not to repeat mistakes of others”.

Dr Bawumia made these remarks when the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel A. Jinapor, led the delegation from Rand Refinery to call on the Vice President on Monday, October 31, 2022 in Accra.

The meeting was to deliberate on ways of actualising government’s agenda to make Ghana a hub for the processing and refining of mineral resources and in particular, obtaining the LBMA Certification for the country.

The Chairman of Rand Refinery, Mr. Rams Ramashira, disclosed that his outfit has held positive preliminary talks with the Ministry and other key stakeholders.

He said the CEO of Rand Refinery is a member of the LBMA Board and “we are very happy to be of assistance and share some experiences and strike some alliances and hope the meeting with key stakeholders will help develop something concrete for the two parties”.

Earlier on Monday, 31 October, 2022 the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel A. Jinapor, received the visiting Rand Refinery delegation at the Ministry. He indicated that his invitation to the Rand refinery is to have them hold discussions and share ideas on how to move forward with the partnership that exist between the parties.

He advocated for an intelligent and effective collaboration between the government and LBMA to ensure that the certification is issued.

He took the team through the itinerary for the visit and hoped that it will be a fruitful one, as they get the opportunity to meet the Vice President, who he said has been very passionate about leveraging the gold industry and the gold value chain in Ghana, in support of the national economy.

“The idea is that, this visit is productive and substantive and that it gives us the opportunity to delve into the concrete issues with concrete outcomes”, he said.

The sector Minister thanked the team for their hospitality during his last visit to their Refinery in South Africa, indicating that the tour of their refinery was very enlightening and educative. He hoped that at the end of all meetings and discussions the Ministry would be able to acquire sufficient mentorship from Rand Refinery.

“We should be able to find a workable platform to engage, because as I believe all of us acknowledge that your refinery turns to be the leader when it comes to the business of Gold Refinery in Africa and therefore whatever we seek to do here in Ghana, our idea is to get sufficient mentorship from your outfit.”

The sector Minister said as much as possible it is his desire that Rand Refinery will be able to establish a branch in Ghana perhaps through a partnership with an existing Refinery.

The CEO of Rand Refinery, Mr. Praveen Baijnath on his part said they are excited and very expectant about the opportunity to partner Ghana on the event of establishing a Refinery in the country.

He alluded that their general objective on this trip is to meet all stakeholders involved in the gold value chain to better understand government expectations and to consider how best they can unlock their assets available to meet up on that level.

“Our general strategic objective is to collect much intelligence and data as possible to build a business case and see how we can develop it”.

Also with the Minister were the Deputy Minister in Charge of Mines, George Mireku Duker, the CEO of Minerals Commission, Mr. Martin Ayisi, the Advisor on Mines to the Minister, Mr. Ben Aryee, the Managing Director of PMMC, Nana AKwasi Awuah and other officials from the Ministry.

NDC PC for Essikado: My Lord, I’m no more interested in the case

By
KWESI ALFRED ADAMS
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Court

A SEKONDI High Court, presided over by Justice Richmond Osei Hwere, has struck out an election petition brought by National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for Essikado-Ketan, Dr Grace Ayensu Danquah, against her New Patriotic Party (NPP) opponent, Mr Joe Ghartey and the Electoral Commission. The decision was based on application for discontinuance of the case filed by the plaintiff on October 14, 2022.

The court had scheduled October 31, 2022 for Case Management Conference (CMC) after the same court in its last adjournment had ordered the 1st respondent to file his Witness Statement (WS).

The judge also ordered that the proceedings of the court be served on the 1st respondent to guide him file his witness statement. This was after the 1st respondent and his counsel failed to appear before the Court.

However, when the case was called for the CMC as scheduled for the day, Counsel for the petitioner, David Ametekpe moved the notice for discontinuance of the case.

Counsel Ametekpe told the court he has been instructed by his client to file notice of discontinuance and that, the parties in the petition have both been served.

The reason for the action, he told the court, had been stated in his notice before the Judge.

However, he opined that discontinuing the matter did not mean they did not have evidence to support their petition, but his client believes time was far spent in determining the mater.

Emmanuel Tsibuah, who held brief for Frank Davies, as counsel for the 1st respondent, did not file any paper on notice to either object to the discontinuance.

 

However, he told the court that in as much as he was happy the petitioner had filed notice of discontinuance, he was not entirely happy, considering where the case had reached. He said though they were not opposed to the notice, he wanted to bring two things to the attention of the court.

First, being the fact that paragraph 5 of the petitioner’s suit alleged that 1st respondent had not complied with pre-trial terms.

This, Tsibuah explained to the court that his client was not bound to file witness statement (WS) because they had the right not to testify at all and this was what they were going to tell the court for the matter to be determined on the strength of the petitioners processes filed.

The second issue, he raised, had to do with cost. He told the court that considering the expenses his client had incurred in hiring the best of lawyers to handle the petition, surely his client had incurred cost. For this reason, he prayed the court to award a GH¢50,000 cost against the petitioner.

OBJECTION

But counsel for the petitioner objected to the cost as argued by the 1st respondent counsel. According to him, though issue of cost was at the discretion of the presiding Judge, the Judge should consider certain cost incurred by the petitioner in the suit.

For instance, he mentioned how the petitioner had to raise a security of GH¢20,000.00 and same file to pay for the appeal processes filed by the 1st respondent in the earlier objection to their petition.

BY COURT

In awarding a cost, Justice Osei Hwere said the petition was a Public Interest Matter (PIM) and that cost should follow the event and consequently arrived at a GH¢20,000.00 cost against the petitioner, in favour of both 1st and 2nd respondents.

RELIEFS

The petitioner had filed the petition seeking annulment of certain results and re-run of some polling centres on grounds that there were several infractions on the day of the parliamentary election and collation of the results.

She also alleged that subsequent to the collation of the results, the 2nd respondent in connivance with the 1st respondent had created the impression that the day scheduled for the collation of the results was not conducive and made the petitioner’s representative to leave, only to collate and declare the results in the absence of her representatives.

PRELIMINARY OBJECTION

When the petition was filed, 1st respondent raised preliminary objection against it on the grounds that it did not comply with the orders governing election petition and invited the sitting Judge to strike out the case.  After arguments and counter arguments, Justice Richmond Osei Hwere overruled the applicant respondent’s objection.

APPEAL COURT

Unsatisfied, 1st respondent filed an interlocutory appeal at the Court of Appeal in Cape Coast.

As the appeal was pending, the High Court ordered 1st respondent to file his Witness Statement in the petition and scheduled October 31 for the CMC, only for the petitioner to file notice of discontinuance.

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