SARPONG'S BLOG

The Ghana Oil and Gas Service Providers Association (GOGSPA) has inducted into its executive council six individuals to steer its affairs. The members will have the responsibility of ensuring the growth and progress of the association Vis-a -Vis the overall interest of players of the oil and gas industry. The new executive members include Dr. Douglas Zormelo of Zormelo & Associates- President, Capt. Francis Boakye of Flat C Marine Offshore- Vice President, Lawyer Elikplim Agbemava of Fidelity Law Group, Mrs. Doris Ababio of Uptouch Consult Limited, Mr. Justice Bonney of M & L Trinity Company and Mr. Emmanuel Quartey of PQ Oil & Gas Services, all members respectively. At a short ceremony in the capital, Executive Director of GOGSPA, Nuertey Adzeman was optimistic membership of the association will continue to grow as expected. He expressed worry over the financial status of the association and urged members to take the activities of the GOGSPA serious an...

Two international universities, the  Commonwealth University in collaboration with the London Graduate School has conferred a doctorate degree on Mr. Kofi Amoa-Abban, Managing Director (MD) of Rigworld International Services Limited. The universities, located in the City of Belize and the United Kingdom respectively say the Ghanaian was awarded for his hard work and ingenuity in his field of endeavor. At an impressive ceremony last Friday, the degree read as, “To all to whom these letters shall come greeting be it know that Kofi Amoa-Abban having complied with all the requirements of the faculty of this university and by the authority of the University Senate is hereby awarded the Doctor of Business Administration, ‘Honoris Causa’ And is entitled to all the rights and privileges thereto appertaining in testimony whereof we have granted this Degree under our hands at Belize City.” It must be noted that shortly after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in p...

International  Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Ghana’s global professional accounting body, are promoting growth of sustainable businesses through good corporate governance practices.  The adoption of improved practices helps strengthen private sector and growth in Ghana’s economy. IFC and ACCA have been working together since 2014 to improve business performance in Ghana. As part of planned activities, both institutions hosted about 100 stakeholders, including regulators, policymakers, accounting professionals and business leaders to the second Corporate Governance Dialogues conference this week. Norman Williams, ACCA Portfolio Head, East and West Africa, said: “ACCA remains committed to helping businesses improve performance through good corporate governance practices that will boost their capacity to attract more capital and increase their profitability. Together with IFC, we are facilita...

MultiChoice launched two new SuperSport channels, SS11 (DStv Channel 211) & SS12 (DStv Channel 212) on its Compact bouquet to bring its subscribers live EPL, La Liga league matches and the Euro 2016 once it begins in June. Subsequently, DStv Ghana held a media engagement event on the 25th of February; with some sports journalists to brief them on the Value add campaign. The briefing was chaired by Cecil Sunkwa-Mills, the General Manager of MultiChoice Ghana who stated that said the matches of these leagues and Euro 2016 will be available to DStv Compact subscribers in High Definition, at no extra cost. The DStv Compact's monthly subscription rates, stays at the current rate of GHc160. He continued that this was a as part of measures to mitigate financial difficulties faced by consumers while providing quality affordable entertainment. “We are giving something back to our loyal subscribers at no extra cost - nonstop access to the best football in the world. This h...

The 88 Oscar Academy Awards will be screened live from Hollywood on M-Net Movies Premiere, channel 103 on DStv, on Monday, 29 February 2016, while viewers who don’t want to get up in the wee hours of the morning to watch this big event, can still enjoy it on M-Net Channel 101. The latter is a delayed broadcast. The nominees for the 88th Academy Awards were announced on January 14, 2016, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California, by directors Guillermo del Toro and Ang Lee, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, and actor John Krasinski. The Revenant received the most nominations with twelve in total, with Mad Max: Fury Road coming in second with ten. For the second consecutive year, a film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu received the most nominations. The host of this year’s show is comedian and actor Chris Rock. List of nominees are Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best ...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong-Daily Express An amount of US$121.71 million was received into the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF) for the second half of 2015, data from the Bank of Ghana indicates. Additionally, with US$100.20 million being proceeds from the crude oil Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) lifted on behalf of the country in June and September, 2015. The amount also includes US$21.51 million from taxes, royalties, surface rentals and interest earned on undistributed lifting. These were contained in the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF) and the Ghana Petroleum Funds (GPFs) Semi-Annual report, published by the Bank of Ghana. The report highlights the performance and activities of the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF) and the Ghana Petroleum Funds (GPFs) for the second half of 2015. Meanwhile, total amount distributed from the PHF in second half of 2015 was US$174.23 million, including US$12.63 million being other income received during the period. It stated tha...

Everyone wants it, you’ve got it! From Tuesday, the 23rd of February 2016, the world’s best football leagues – the Barclays Premier League (EPL) and La Liga - and the Euro 2016 will be available to DStv Compact subscribers in all their HD glory, at no extra cost. “One of MultiChoice’s key priorities is to put our subscribers’ needs at the heart of everything we do and since these have been tough economic times for everyone, we realised that our subscribers could use some good news,” says Mr. Cecil Sunkwa-Mills, the General Manager of MultiChoice Ghana. “We’re excited that we can now deliver the best football action in the world to our Compact subscribers while ensuring that this development doesn’t negatively impact them financially.” SuperSport will launch two new sports channels, SuperSport 11 (DStv channel 211) and SuperSport 12 (DStv channel 212), which will be dedicated to showcasing the EPL and La Liga respectively on the DStv Com...

The Deputy Attorney-General and Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga East, Mr Dominic Ayine has filed a defamation suit at an Accra High Court against a Facebook commentator, Evron Hughes. In Mr Ayine’s statement of claim, sighted by Graphic Online, he accused Mr Hughes of defaming him in a post he authored and published on Facebook on December 21, 2015, titled “RE: AMERI TRANSACTION”. According to the Deputy A-G, the “false and malicious” post has provoked “public disaffection” against him and exposed him to public ridicule and contempt. Describing Mr Hughes as a “self-styled social media blogger and a social commentator”, Mr Ayine said the Facebook post had brought his hard-won reputation “as a respected politician, teacher and lawyer” into “hatred, ridicule, odium, discredit, contempt, opprobrium and reproach”. The Deputy A-G said the “defamatory words” were authored with the sole intent to reduce him in the estimation of all right thinking Ghanaians, adding that...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong, Daily Express Dr. Kwame Ampofo, the Chairman of the Energy Commission is calling for a new Building Code in the country to compel every estate developer or Ghanaians to create avenue for Solar Energy. “This is to make sure those new buildings or estate developers will create a space for self energy generation. This must be compulsory to everyone in this country,” he told Daily Express. The Part XVII of National Building Regulations talks about Light and Electrical Installations and it states that building must have natural light or daylighting, light to habitable rooms, etc., light to kitchen and bathroom, electrical facilities, exterior lighting, lighting outlets, lights in stairway, garages, etc., naked lights, supplementary lighting, mechanical ventilation and air-conditioning, and security lighting. Dr. Ampofo said that this will allow the owners have solar panels on their roof top to generate at least one-third of the power they us...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong Government has been asked to offload not less than 70% each shares of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) for Ghanaians to buy into these companies. “Offloading the companies on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) will help the management and board of these companies to raise enough money to boost the standard of the companies,” Dr. Steve Manteaw, co-chair of Ghana’s Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) said in Accra. According to him, this will also save the companies from collapsing. “This will let Ghanaians to become part owners of the companies and make decisions as well. The process will also enhance efficiency,” he added. At a political forum in Accra recently, some political parties were of the view that GNPC should be scrapped off, reason been that the company is not serving the interest of Ghanaians and not performing as well. Others also believed th...

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has stated categorically that it has not issued any new denomination notes as it’s been speculated on the social media. “The Bank of Ghana has not issued and has no plans of issuing any new denominations of the Ghana Cedi,” this contained in statement issued by the bank and copied Daily Express. “We categorically states that the stories circulating on social media to the effect that the Bank is issuing denominations of GH¢100.00 and GH¢200.00 are false,” the bank said. However, the central bank said the denominations of the Ghana cedi which is in circulation are legal tender and remain the same. The bank mentioned the current cedi notes as GHc50, GHc20, GHc10, GHc5, GHc2 and GHc1 and the cedi coins as GHc1, 50Gp, 20Gp, 10Gp, 5Gp, and 1Gp. “Please note that the Bank of Ghana always precedes issuance of new denominations with intensive sensitization and public education,’ it assured the public.

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong, Daily Express Mining companies operating in the country have started paying GHc14 per hectare as Ground Rent (concession rate) after recommendations from the Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) was approved and accepted by stakeholders. Before the current amount of GHc14 per hectare took effect the mining companies in the country were paying GHc0.50 as ground rent per kilometer square of concession given to the companies by landowners. The Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative is the Ghana subset of the global initiative aimed at following due process and achieving transparency in payments by Extractive Industry companies to governments and government linked entities. Daily Express gathered that the last time the rate was reviewed was in 1986. The rate was then five thousand cedis (₵5000). The redenomination of the cedi translates the amount into GHc0.50 per square kilometer. This has been in existence unti...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong, Daily Express Four Ghanaian political parties with representatives in Parliament have prepared their oil and gas policies as part of their 2016 election manifestos and have engaged stakeholders in Accra. At a forum held in Accra and organized by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), the parties were given the opportunities to explain to Ghanaians what their policies are about and how they would manage the nation’s natural resources when given the opportunity. The parties were Convention People’s Party (CPP), represented by Senior Policy Advisor, Mr. Kwame Jantuah; National Democratic Congress (NDC), represented by Dr. William Ahiadzie, a Policy Advisor; Member of Parliament for Obuasi West, Mr. Kwaku Kwarteng for New Patriotic Party (NPP); and Mr. Bernard Mornah, the Chairman of People’s National Convention (PNC). The four political parties po...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong Vivo Energy Ghana Limited has presented bursary awards to the winners of the Vivo Energy Bonanza School Challenge. The competition was designed as an entertaining way to promote the learning of mathematics among students in classes through the Bonanza Card game. It was organised by Daffodils Games and Publishing Limited with a sponsorship package coming from the Vivo Energy Ghana. Vivo Energy Ghana financed the bursaries. The teams that won first place in their classes were presented with a bursary of GHc400, stationery and Daffodils Game Products, while those who won second place were presented with a bursary of GHc300, stationery and Daffodils Game Products. The prize winners were from basic schools in the Greater Accra region. They include Mamprobi Sempe JHS, Bishop Mixed Junior High, Kwashieman 1 Basic, Accra Sempe 1, Salvation Army ‘B’, Bishop Girls’, and Odorkor 1 Junior High School. The other schools that participated were Amugi ...

The year-on-year inflation rate stood at 19.0 percent in January 2016, up by 1.3 percentage points from the 17.7 percent recorded in December 2015. This rate of inflation for January 2016 is the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) over the twelve-month period, from January 2015 to January 2016. The monthly change rate for January 2016 was 4.6 percent compared to the 1.1 percent recorded for December 2015. Mr. Baah Wadieh, the Deputy Government Statistician announced this at a news conference in Accra on Wednesday. The food and non-alcoholic beverages group recorded a year-on-year inflation rate of 8.2 percent. This is 0.2 percentage point higher than the 8.0 percent recorded for December 2015. About six subgroups of the food and non-alcoholic beverages group recorded inflation rates higher than the group’s average rate of 8.2 percent. These are Coffee, tea and cocoa (11.4%), Mineral water, soft drinks, fruit and vegetable juices (11.3%), Sugar, jam,...