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Editorial: Prepaid meter crisis: ECG must be up and doing

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Editorial

For some days now, customers using the prepaid metering system of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) have been unable to top-up at the various vending points.

The challenges have affected customers in the Greater Accra, Volta and Central regions. Also affected are parts of the Eastern and Ashanti regions, which has generated a lot of unrest and outrage among its customers.

Many individuals and organisations, especially cold store operators, have taken to social and traditional media to complain bitterly about the situation and how it was affecting their businesses. This paper cannot imagine the amount of monies people have lost within these few days, due to this power challenge.

Thankfully, the problem is being resolved and the ECG has gone ahead to issue a statement that the affected customers could now purchase power credits at the nearest vending points.

The Chronicle would like to draw the attention of Ghanaians to some observations we have made during this short period of the prepaid metering system challenges.

It is very clear that the agitation and outrage poured out by customers during these few days is a reflection of how important power has become in our daily lives.

Prepayment metering was introduced in Ghana in 1994. It has undergone several phases due to technological advancements.  Prepaid metering is where customers buy electricity upfront, instead of the post-paid billing system and has helped utility companies recover revenue.

Ghanaians have embraced the prepayment metering because it allows customers to choose the timing and quantity of purchases they want at their own convenience.

The advantages of prepayment metering are numerous and The Chronicle was happy when it was introduced into the country. For example, the up-front payment for electricity means energy is paid for before it is consumed. There is also no unpaid bill because energy is prepaid.

Then also, the problem of collection of arrears and unpaid bills will be no more, as well as no meter readings.

Prepayment metering has become globally accepted and anything that will undermine it must be discouraged.

Therefore, the interruption in the purchase of electricity credit must be seen as a serious issue that deserves utmost attention.

In April this year, the Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, at a news conference, said that ECG lost GH¢3.2 billion revenue as a result of power theft.

The Minister said the phenomena make the ECG unable to raise funds for its operations, as well as maintain its equipment and infrastructure. For a company that is complaining about leakages in revenue collection, it is ironic that customers are roaming from one vending point to another and have to return home with their monies because of ECG’s so called technical hitches.

The mission statement of ECG is to provide quality, reliable and safe electricity services to support the socio-economic growth and development of Ghana. The company has over the years been able to carry out this mission notwithstanding the occasional challenges we encounter.

The Chronicle agrees with ECG and hopes this current challenge will be solved sooner than later.

10 Nigerians on trial for human trafficking 

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Court

Two separate Accra Circuit Courts are trying 10 Nigerians for human trafficking, cyber crime, and prostitution. All the accused persons were remand into lawful custody by the courts yesterday.

Interestingly, the trafficked persons were divided based on their gender – those recruited for the cyber crime were exclusively males and the vice versa for prostitution – with the cases being handled by the Circuit Courts ‘1’ and ‘2’.

The Court ‘2’, presided over by Rosemary Baah Torsu, has remanded seven of the Nigerians into the custody of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) for allegedly engaging in human trafficking.

The accused persons are Osas Vincent, Kennedy Anthony, Godson Iyan Inye, Junior Ayala, Ariyo, Desmond Johnson, Andrew Gabriel and Ebedebi Ayaye Friday.

EOCO is, however, hunting for the eighth accused persons – Williams Ogbemudia Idemudia alias Chairman – who is on the run.

The accused persons were charged with 24 counts, including human trafficking, assault and participating in organised crime. All seven accused persons have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Osas Vincent, together with the seven others, was put before the court by EOCO yesterday.

The Head of Legal and Prosecution at EOCO, Abu Issah, narrated to the court that on August 29, 2022, the Office received an email from the Nigeria National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) requesting an EOCO intervention in the rescue of its nationals who were being trafficked into Ghana for exploitation.

The email indicated that about 19 persons were being trafficked to be exploited for cyber crime purposes by the accused persons, therefore, EOCO should assist by arresting the traffickers and prosecuting them.

Investigations revealed that the eight accused persons were part of an organised criminal group, in which all the members were Nigerian nationals, acting in concert to commit the offence of human trafficking.

Following up to the tip-off, he narrated that the Office investigation further revealed that the accused persons were part of an organised criminal group, based in Nigeria and Ghana.

He continued that the Office investigations also established that Williams Ogbemudia Idemudia alias Chairman recruited the victims, namely Opia Chuckwudi Samuel, Azaman Pascal, Exe Nya Olughu, Michael Obadidi, Godsway Mark, Emmanuel Christopher, Kelvin Eze, Obinnah Ndidi, Ogwu Chikwado, Okedze Destiny, Samuel Johnson, Kelvin Orumwense, Chinonso Nwolake, Richard Pascal, Promise Enemou, Albert Christian, Peter Joseph Aimuuwwosu, Monday Clement and Emmanuel Ugboh.

Mr. Issah said all the trafficked victims were Nigerian nationals from various states in that country, and were transported to Ghana with the promise to be given jobs.

Unfortunately, he said, the victims were received and detained in Ghana without their consent at Manhean, Obcyceyie by the accused persons who trained and engaged them in internet fraud.

He added that it was in the light of this that the suspects were put before the court for prosecution.

The court ordered the prosecution to file all its disclosures within 21, days and adjourned the case to October 17, 2022.

The Circuit Court ‘1’, presided over by Afia Owusuaa Appiah, was informed by Chief Inspector Richard Amoah that the Head Pastor of the Baptist Church at Tesano, Rev. Jonathan Kwasi Attuah, lodged a complainant with the police.

He added that the accused persons were Joy Gimbia Galadima, Juliet Ijeoma Chiryere Nnaji and Happiness Augustine Williams, Nigerian commercial sex workers, and Collins Nana Yaw Oppong Bempong, a painter whose fiancée was Juliet Ijeoma Chiryere. He added that all the accused persons resided at Lapaz.

According to him, on September 1, 2022, Joy Gimbia Galadima, Juliet Ijeoma Chiryere Nnaji and Happiness Augustine Williams conspired and lured two teenagers from Nigeria to Ghana with the promise to acquire jobs for them as sales officers.

He said Joy deliberately paid a sum of ₦240,000, equivalent to GH¢5,732.00, to Happiness to lured the victims all the way from the River State in Nigeria to come to Ghana.

The prosecutor stated that the teenagers arrived in Accra on September 2, 2022, and were kept at Juliet and her fiancée’s resident. It was at this point that the accused persons disclosed to them that the job that they would engage in was prostitution.

He indicated that Oppong later threatened and forced the victims to swear that they would y GH¢2,000 each to Joy and Juliet before they are set free.

Luckily, on September 3, 2022, at about 4:30am, one of the victims while roaming on the streets of Lapaz met members of the Baptist Church on an evangelism mission, and narrated her ordeal to them.

The church then took custody of the victim and consequently petitioned the National Investigation Bureau for action.

On September 23 and 27, 2022, at about 12:00pm, the accused persons were arrested and they all admitted the offence.

I was asleep when convict escaped -Investigator tells court

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Court

Detective Lance Corporal Kwame Adu Asabereh was put in charge of a British national, Harold Davis Johnson also known as Emmanuel Snowden, to be sent to the Nsawam Prisons, but said the convict escaped while he was sleeping in a taxi cab, which was conveying them.

He told an Accra Circuit Court, presided over by Patricia Amponsah, while being cross-examined by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sylvester Asare that Harold Davis, who was convicted on the offence defrauding by false pretence, escaped on the Achimota-Ofankor Highway.

According to D/L/Cpl Asabereh, he takes responsibility for being negligent while on duty, but would not accept the charge that he aided the British national to abscond from the jurisdiction.

The embattled Detective also told the court he was not the one who released convict Harold’s passport to him to flee, which suggested that others might have played a role.

As a result, the accused has pleaded not guilty to the offence of forgery of official document, abetment of crime, and corruption by a public officer.

He also denied forging an official document, although he admitted preparing it under supervision, he did not sign same.

Meanwhile, the prosecuting officer, DSP Asare, informed the court that the convict was released to the accused on September 10, 2019, who never returned him and rather chose to shuttle between his home and the police station.

The prosecutor also alleged that the escapee paid D/L/Cpl Asabereh £10,000 to allow him to escape from the jurisdiction.

DSP Asare queried his junior officer on how the fugitive was visiting the Mamprobi Police Station from Achimota between May 2019 and September 2019.

He added that the denial of the accused that he did not sign a statement, which he prepared under supervision, was inconsistent with his subsequent entries that the runway was in police custody.

The prosecuting officer indicated that the accused was not being truthful to the court, because on September 30, 2019, the trial court did not sit, “so Exhibit B, page 2, where you stated that you hired a taxi after court session to send the convict to Nsawam was incorrect.”

He stressed that between May 8th and September 30, 2019, the convict was still in the jurisdiction and was captured being in police custody, therefore, Harold escaped only after September 2019.

Fate of D/L/Cpl Asabereh

The court has adjourned the case to October 28, 2022, to decide on the embattled police officer’s fate.

Background

D/L/Cpl Asabereh made his first appearance in court on Tuesday, April 13, 2021 on the charge that with intent to deceive the Director-General of CID, he allegedly forged the police prisoners’ removal book to suggest that convict Harold was sent or received by the Nsawam Prisons authorities.

Also with the intent to prevent execution of the law, he allegedly facilitated the escape of the convict who was in his custody, and in respect of his duties an police officer, allowed himself to be influenced by the convict on the promise that he would assist him to travel abroad if he released his passport to him.

Brief facts

The court was told that the accused person was a Police Officer stationed at the CID Headquarters, Accra.

However, somewheres in the year 2019, a case of defrauding by false pretences involving one Harold Davies Johnson alias Emmanuel Snowden, a British national, who was reported by Dr. Shadrack Asare was referred to the accused person for investigation.

After the investigation, the accused person was instructed to charged and arraigned Harold Davies Johnson for court for the offence of defrauding by false pretences.

Harold Davies Johnson was subsequently arraigned before the Accra Circuit Court ‘2’, presided over by H/H Naa Adjetey Quaison, and pleaded guilty Simplicita to the charge.

Harold Davies Johnson was convicted on his own plea of guilty to three years imprisonment, and was handed over to the accused person, who was then the case officer, to be sent to Nsawam Prison.

Surprisingly, the accused person failed to send the convict to the prison, and rather elected to send the convict to his house at Sarpeman to live with him for some time.

Further investigations had it that upon the promise by the convict to assist the accused person to travel abroad, and in consideration, the accused person released the convict’s British passport, which was in his custody, to the convict to travel to the United Kingdom.

That the accused person, to conceal his act, forged the Police Removal of Prisoner book to suggest that the convict had been sent and received by the Nsawam Prison authorities. Upon arrest of the accused person, he admitted the facts as being correct.

Dormaa West District rice processing factory to commence production

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Francis Kwadwo Oppong, District Chief Executive for Dormaa West addressing the assembly

The Dormaa West District has installed a 200KVA transformer awaiting connection to a power source, for a rice processing factory to be constructed under the One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative to commence production.

The operation of the rice factory would help the district reduce post-harvest losses and increase job and wealth creation among the people.

Mr. Francis Kwadwo Oppong, District Chief Executive (DCE), announced this at the District Assembly’s First Ordinary meeting of the year at Nkrankwanta, the district capital, in the Bono Region.

The meeting was attended by staff and members of the Assembly, some traditional rulers, members of the District Security Council, and heads of institutions.

Mr. Oppong said the Assembly had initiated the construction of one each of No.3 unit classroom block at Yaakrom and Asuontam, as well as an examination printing centre at Nkrankwanta.

These projects are being funded through its Internally Generated Fund (IGF), with additional financial support from the District Performance Assessment Tool.

He said the Assembly was consciously working to improve and strengthen its IGF mobilisation efforts to drive its development programmes by levying all cashew buyers in the district.

To this end, Mr. Oppong said the Assembly had directed all cashew dealers to register with it to achieve that purpose, stating that defaulters would pay a fine of GH¢200.

Kintampo North Assembly distributes 58,000 seedlings

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Mr. Simon Yambon,(L) presenting seedlings to a farmer

The Department of Agriculture in the Kintampo North Assembly has distributed some 38,000 and 20,000 mango and coconut seedlings respectively to farmers in the Municipality.

The distribution was done at the forecourt of the Assembly’s Agric Office.

Speaking at the presentation ceremony, the Director of Agriculture in the Kintampo Municipality, Mr. Simon Yambon, stressed on the importance of the project, saying that it would help create jobs, and as well boost the local economy.

He added that the exercise formed part of the “Tree Crop Development Authority” initiative, which was one of the government’s flagship programmes.

According to him, seedlings of about six tree crops, including; shea, rubber, oil palm, mango, cashew and coconut were to be distributed to farmers across the country.

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Kintampo Municipality, Mr. Isaac Baffoe Ameyaw, could not hide his joy as hundreds of farmers registered to benefit from the programme.

The MCE encouraged all the farmers to take care of the plants to be able to support their economic conditions and improve their livelihoods.

“All farmers should take all government flagship projects very seriously, for it has come to improve the standard of living and value of Ghanaians, and Kintampo at large,” he said.

Freda Prempeh donates to St. John of God Hospital

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Medical staff admiring the equipment donated by th MP

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Tano North, Madam Freda Prempeh, has donated assorted medical devices and equipment to the St John of God Catholic Hospital at Duayaw-Nkwanta in the Ahafo Region.

The items comprised medical refrigerators for drugs, temperature control, electric gynecological and delivery beds, ward screens, weighing scales, patient ad vital sign monitors, patient trolleys, ventilators, infusion and syringe pumps, infra-red thermometers, and autoclave machines.

Madam Prempeh, also a Minister of State in-charge of Works and Housing, presented similar items comprising bed cabinets, foldable hospital beds, examination lights, ECG, suction and ultrasound machines, needle destroyers, and hemoglobin meters to the Tano North Municipal Directorate of Health for onward distribution to the health facilities in the Municipality.

Speaking at separate presentation ceremonies held at Duayaw-Nkwanta, Madam Prempeh said she had prioritised matters of health and would ensure easy accessibility of quality healthcare services delivery by the populace in her constituency.

She expressed concern over the emerging pressure at the hospital due to population growth, and gave an assurance to construct more Community-based Health Planning Services (CHPS) compounds in the Municipality to bring healthcare services delivery to the door steps of the people.

Madam Prempeh said she had already constructed more than 10 CHPS compounds, adding that very soon construction work on some on-going ones would be completed and handed over to the communities.

The MP said she was hopeful that the medical equipment would not only enable health workers in the area to deliver prompt and quality services, but also well position the Municipality to achieve Universal Health Coverage.

Madam Prempeh said she was working tirelessly to ensure that the Yamfo Health Centre was upgraded to hospital status, and urged the health workers to work in tandem with high ethical values and professionalism.

She entreated the Health Directorate to ensure that all the CHPS compounds in the Municipality received and used the medical devices for their intended purposes.

Dr. Asamoah Boakye, Medical Officer of the St John of God Catholic Hospital, thanked the MP for the gesture and expressed appreciation for her untiring support towards the provision of healthcare services in the area.

He explained that since the MP adopted the hospital’s Pediatric Unit, neonatal mortality had decreased drastically, and expressed the hope that she would continue to provide the facility with modern equipment.

Dr. Asamoah said the incubators at the Unit were not enough, and appealed to the MP and other philanthropists, corporate and charitable organisations for more of it, and also a child-friendly ambulance.

At the Municipal Health Directorate, Mrs. Eva Aryee, Tano North Municipal Director of Health Services, described the MP as a hardworking, faithful and illustrious daughter of the area, saying her commitment to quality healthcare services delivery remained unparalleled.

I don’t feel sabotage -ECG MD

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Samuel Mahama, ECG MD, speaking to the media in Accra. With his is Ing Boateng, head of Communications, ECG

Samuel Dubik Masubir Mahama, Managing Director (MD) of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), says he does not feel sabotage by the massive system shutdown that hit the company last week.

Blaming the hitch on purely internet failure, resulting in millions of customers on prepaid meters in most parts of its operational areas having difficulty in buying credits, Mr. Mahama said the IT technicians of the company had been able to restore the system as of yesterday.

“The restoration started with our district offices, and then our third parties. We hope that by the close of the day, we will have finished increasing the security levels on the ECG App for all of our customers.

“So, I must say that except for the Ashanti Region, where we still have some numbers to restore, I am glad to say that most of our vending stations and district offices are up and running now, and our customers can now go and buy credit,” Samuel D.B. Mahama told a section of the media at a brief conference in Accra yesterday.

Accepting blame for the hitches and apologising to all of ECG customers for the inconveniences they had to endure, Mr. Mahama said over 95 per cent of the customers were active on their systems as of the time of meeting the media.

He advised anybody who, given the situation, illegally tapped electricity to their homes to disconnect, warning, “We will be resuming our routine illegal connections inspections of homes and structures soon, and ECG won’t spare anybody caught in the act.”

He went on to encourage customers to use the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) redress channel in case they had recorded losses as a result of the hitch.

“On how much the ECG has lost, in terms of revenue, we can only know that after investigations have been concluded,” he noted.

From last week Tuesday to Friday, thousands of ECG customers whose prepaid meters ran out of credit could not reload their meters as a result of a prolonged system shutdown.

These customers had to sleep in the dark throughout the period, with some allegedly stealing power via illegal connections.

ECG resumed some sales on Saturday, Sunday and Monday at its district offices where hundreds of its customers queued to buy credits to reload their meters, after an announcement that the system had begun restored.

We tackle smuggling, but don’t aid it -GRA

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Rev. Dr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, Commissioner-General, Ghana Revenue Authority

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has urged the public to shun circulars suggesting that its officers were aiding smuggling activities along the borders of the country.

The GRA said that smuggling activities purportedly being carried out with the connivance of some officers of the Customs Division was not true.

A statement issued by the Authority, and signed by its Communication & Public Affairs Director, Florence Asante, reads: “We extend our appreciation to Joy News and Joy FM for bringing the alleged smuggling activities to our attention. That notwithstanding, we respond as follows:

As part of measures to achieve the 2022 revenue target, the Preventive wing of the Customs Division of GRA has in place a Taskforce to tackle smuggling at border points nationwide.

The Taskforce works together with officers stationed at various frontier stations to ensure that goods entering the country have passed through the proper Customs controls for payment of duties.

The Customs Division regularly carries out arrests of smugglers saving the country from unscrupulous persons who seek to evade payment of duties. The Division also continues to identify several unauthorised routes which some persons use in an attempt to bring goods into the country.

GRA is fully committed to ensuring that all staff work with integrity and has, therefore, commenced investigations into officers identified in the video production and any officer found culpable will be sanctioned accordingly.

We also assure the general public that GRA will not relent in its mandate of protecting the country’s borders while deterring persons who smuggle goods from and into the country.

We, therefore, use this opportunity to reiterate our call for stakeholders (including the media) to make available any information or evidence of smuggling and tax evasion to Management to assist in unearthing such activities and sanction those found culpable.

GRA has also instituted an Informant Award Scheme as a means of awarding individuals, entities, or organizations who offer confidential information to the GRA leading to the recovery of tax.

We encourage persons who have such information to call GRA on 0800-900-110 and we assure them that the information will be treated with the utmost confidentiality. If the information leads to the recovery of taxes, the informant will receive cash amounts in line with our Informant Policy.”

100 Ukraine student returnees placed in medical schools

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Dr Nsiah Asare in a meeting with the medical students and other stakeholders

The Ministerial Committee tasked by the government to work towards the integration of Ukraine students returnees has successfully enrolled 100 students into Medical Schools in the country.

Dr Nsiah Asare, chairman of the committee who announced this, explained that all the 100 students went through the vetting and assessment processes put in place by the Ghana Medical and Dental Council in collaboration with the various stakeholders tasked to ensure the integration of the students.
He explained that the committee has therefore reported to the government about the situation.

Dr Nsiah Asare disclosed this to the media on Friday after the last meeting of the committee with the various stakeholders in the integration process in Accra.

In attendance at the meeting were representatives of the Ministry of Education, GTEC, Medical and Dental Council, all the Deans of the Medical Schools and the two Private universities and the student representative council of Ukraine returnees.

He explained to the meeting the various processes they went through before arriving where they reached before the enrolment of the students into their choice of medical schools in the country.

He hinted that the 100 qualified students were placed in levels 100 to 500 but indicated that no one was paced at level 600 due to their qualifications.

This, he said was due to the fact that the course structure in Ukraine was different from that of Ghana, adding their transcripts were used also used to assist with the placement levels.

DrNsiahAsare stated that all the placed students would start their academic work from this month to November depending on where that student was placed and the reopening date of that institution.

He commended the WHO and other stakeholders for their support and contribution towards the successful integration of the students into the nation’s medical schools as requested by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

DrNsiahAsare said the government was committed to training more health personnel to fill the various vacancies available in health institutions across the country.

He was quick to mention that despite the desire for more Doctors, Nurses and other professionals, the floodgate would not be opened for unqualified personnel to be recruited as health personnel.

This, he said was to help protect all Ghanaians and the medical profession from being taken over by unqualified people who could pose danger to the health of people if allowed to practice.

The Students Representative Council President for the Ukraine students, Philip Bobie Ansah, appealed to the government to consider accepting many of their mates who could not be part of the assessment for the integration process since the notice granted them was too short for all to be part of the process.

He was, however, happy for the opportunity offered them, leading to 100 of them going through successfully into various medical schools in the country.

Fact sheet

The initial registration with the GTEC recorded over 1000 students available.A total of 187 were eligible to partake in the assessment, but only 117 registered with the GMDC to partake in the assessment.

During the assessment, only 101 presented themselves for the exercise and 100 were declared successful, as one person was disqualified due to the fact it was discovered that before the war broke out, he had left medical school for more than three years.

By Felix Baidoo

Okuapemhemaa dismissed at National House of Chiefs

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Lawyer for Lilly Agyemang, Augustine Asarfo Adjei addressing the media during the press conference

The Judicial Committee of the National House of Chiefs has dismissed the appeal filed by the Queen mother and three other associates from the Akuapem Traditional Area and affirmed the earlier judgement of the judicial committee of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs.

On Thursday September 29, 2022 the judicial committee of the National House of Chiefs dismissed the appeal filed by the Queen mother, Nana Afua Nketiaa Obuo and three other associates.

Speaking at a press conference at palace of Okuapemhene at Akropong, in the Akuapem North Municipality of the Eastern Region, Counsel for Lilly Agyemang, the plaintiff who had challenged the queen mother at the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs and won, Augustine AsarfoAdjei affirmed that Oseadeyor Kwasi Akuffo II, Akuapemhene, is and has not been a party to the suit throughout, hence the judgement does not bind him.

According to the Lawyer Augustine AsarfoAdjei, the queen mother and three other associates’ case had been dismissed and have been slapped with cost of GH₵ 50,000.00 by the National House of Chiefs.

He explained that notwithstanding the dismissal of the case, the queen mother and her three other associates still have the guts to claim that they have won the case at the National House of Chiefs The lawyer for Lilly Agyemang, who represents the Abrewatia of the Sakyiabea Royal Family indicated that the Queen mother and her associates felt that it was for the Queen mother’s sole decision to present a candidate or nominee to the Kingmakers.

Augustine AsarfoAdjei said OseadeyorKwasiAkuffo II was only installed after and in line with the judgment of the judicial committee of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs.

According to the Akuapem State, there are three royal gates namely: Nketiah House, Ama Ogyaaa House and Sakyiabea that can ascend to the Ofori Ketewa stool and that has been codified under the declaration of customary law (Akwapem State) order, 1960, L.I

Counsel explained further that the Legislative Instrument (L.I) further provided that these three houses ascend on rotational basis and when it is a house’s turn, it is that house that nominates.

He said it was on the basis of this that his client, Lilly Agyemang proceeded to the judicial committee of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs to set the record straight.

Augustine Asarfo Adjei called for peace after the judgement of the Judicial Committee of the National House of Chiefs and also ceased the insults and insinuations in the Akuapem state.

He said that the judgement is clear and nowhere in the judgement did it call for a restart of the nomination processes as it required by custom.

The Ghanaian Chronicle