SARPONG'S BLOG

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong sarpong007@gmail.com Mr. Adu Anane Antwi, the former Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has welcomed the government decision to list the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE). According to him, the decision is laudable and called on the government to expedite action to that effect. “This is what we have been talking about at SEC,” he the former SEC boss told the Daily Express. Listing the VRA and the GRIDCo on the stock market is to allow the government raises a substantial amount to expand the businesses of these two companies or to settle all debts owed by the companies and at the same time allow Ghanaians and other investors owe part of the shares in the companies. President Nana Akufo-Addo announced in his maiden State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Tuesday at Parliament that his government plans to list the VRA and the GRIDCo on the stock market. He d...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong sarpong007@gmail.com The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), an energy think-tank has backed the government’s decision to review all the power agreements entered by the previous government.                                                           Dr. Ismael Ackah of ACEP  However, ACEP is urging the government to be cautious when reviewing the agreements in order not create problem for the country. Speaking to the Daily Express, Dr. Ishmael Ackah, Head of Policy Unit and Energy Policy Advisor at ACEP said between 2012 and 2015, the government issued about 34 power licenses. “Not up to five of these licenses are in operations and it’s difficult to understand,” he added. According to him, if all these power licenses are in operation, Ghana will generate about 10,000 megawatts of power, and t...

                                                Galamsey operation in Ghana By: Fred Yaw Sarpong sarpong007@gmaail.com Dr. Jones Mantey, a Ghanaian researcher has alleged that some mining companies in Ghana are supporting galamsey operations activities in the country. He further alleged that these companies have been buying waste (mine dumps or tailings) from the galamsey operators, to boost their production cost. According to him, most of the galamsey operators who goes into underground mining are able to get about 20% of the gold from what they gathered, leaving the remaining 80% as mine dumps or tailings. “This is because the galamsey operators do not have the technology to extract all the gold. But the remaining 80% is much richer than the 20% they get,” he added. He disclosed this to the Daily Express after he presented a research p...

                                          Mr. Lloyd Evans (R) and Rayborn Bulley (L) Mr. Lloyd Evans, President of the Institute of Financial and Economic   Journalists (IFEJ) has stepped down as the President of the group. This is to enable him to campaign for the presidency of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA). The elections are scheduled to take place on Friday March 31. According to Mr. Evans, the time has come to resuscitate the sinking image of the Association which is so dear to Ghanaian journalists. He said he has the capacity and vision to lead the GJA to regain its past glory. Meanwhile, Mr. Rayborn Bulley, the Vice President of the Institute will take over as the President of IFEJ with effect from March 1.

Ghanaians across the country donated 2,551 pints of blood to supports MTN Ghana Foundation’s “Save a Life” blood campaign. The number exceeded 2,017 pints target for this year.                  Mr. Ebenezer Asante, MTN Ghana CEO going through the process to donate blood                                             The annual exercise gives staff of MTN and the general public the opportunity to show love on Valentine’s Day by donating a pint of blood each. This year’s blood donation exercise had 12 bleeding centres across the 10 regions of Ghana. The blood collected went directly to the National Blood Transfusion Services, 37 Military Hospital, Ridge Hospital and respective regional hospitals. At the end of the exercise, the following number of pints were collected from the various regions: Greater Accra (MTN House & Gr...

The disability movement in Ghana has expressed their anger and disappointment on President Akufo Addo for failing to fulfill his promises he made to them during the 2016 general elections as contain in the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) manifesto. This was made known in a press  statement issues by The Network of journalists for the Promotion of the Rights Persons with Disabilities in Africa, (PROMOAFRICA) today, 13 th February 2017 and signed by its President, Mr. Seth Amoah Kwaku Addi, stating that   “ disability movement in Ghana wish to express its alter disappointment in the government of New Patriotic Party (NPP) led by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo for failing to fulfilled his manifesto promise of giving fair representation to Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in his government ” . The statement further laments, “ PROMOAFRICA is deeply worried, following the exclusion of PWDs from the list of ministerial nominees that have been vetted and swear-in by the Pres...

Dangote Rice, a subsidiary of Dangote Group will soon be launch in Sokoto state a multi-million naira 25,000 hectares of rice outgrower scheme with a prospect of hundreds of thousands of employment opportunities for the rural communities inhabitants. President of the Group, Aliko Dangote has disclosed that the company will on Wednesday, flag off with a pilot project of 500 ha by Gonroyo dam, in Goronyo community. Gonroyo dam is the second largest in the country, after Kainji. The flag off ceremony which will be performed by the governor of the state, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwa will witness seedlings being distributed to the primary local farmers who will in turn plant the seed after which Dangote Rice company will purchase from them for milling and final processing. Sokoto state is the second after Jigawa out of the 14 states spread across the state where Dangote Rice plans to operate outgrower scheme to empower local farmers and create job opportunities for community dwellers and redu...

Mobile Network Operator, Tigo has called on stakeholders, including Internet Service Providers (ISPs), policy makers, security agencies, child rights activists, parents and the media to help make the internet a safer and be tter place, especially for children and young adults in Ghana. Speaking at a stakeholders’ forum organised by J-Initiative, as part of Safer Internet Day, Madam Gifty Bingley , Tigo’s Director for Corporate Affairs, emphasised the importance of connectivity and accessibility in the education and development of children. She added that it was important for stakeholders including parents to ensure their children safety online. Touching on Tigo’s effort to raise awareness on the importance of working towards creating a safer online environment for everyone, she disclosed that in 2014 Tigo’s parent company, Millicom, signed a three-year partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to create standards for the telecoms industry aimed at...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong sarpong007@gmail.com Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Minister designate for the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has stated that each of the 216 districts in the country will design a specific role for agric development. According to him, this form parts of the government’s vision for agric sector for a four year period. “Our vision is to modernize the agric sector to benefit the country more,” he added. He told the Daily Express that this initiative is to make sure raw materials for ‘One District One Factory’ are product locally by the people in the districts. This initiative will be champion by the various Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs). He mentioned that through this initiative the “government can generate jobs in large numbers to put a dent in the mountain of youth unemployment and also produce the needed raw materials to support our promise of “One District One Factory.” “There is going to be a transformation in the agri...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong sarpong007@gmail.com Annual Investment Meeting (AIM), event which focuses on foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing countries such as Ghana will take place in Dubai World Trade Centre, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from April 2, 2017 to April 4, 2017. The Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC) is expected to lead investment delegation to the meeting in April. According to the organizers of AIM 2017, the meeting is a leading global platform aimed at facilitating strategic networking and promoting investments while providing a rich learning experience. It will bring together international investment community, corporate leaders, policy makers, experts, and practitioners from across the globe to discuss strategies on attracting FDI and to connect businesses and countries willing to engage in sustainable partnerships with investors. The Daily Express learnt that this event is the 7th edition and it will be on the “ International Investmen...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong sarpong007@gmail.com The American Chamber of Commerce Ghana, a team made up of business executives from America and Ghana has had a meeting to discuss how they can engage the new government with the purposes of improving the business sector in the country. The meeting which was the first to be held in 2017 was on the theme: “How businesses can better engage with the new administration.” The meeting was attended by about 112 business executives, mostly members of the American Chamber of Commerce as well as representatives of the European Business Organization and officials of U.S. Embassy in Accra. Addressing the participant as the guest speaker, Mr. Kwame Pianim, a Economist and the retired Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the New World Renaissance Securities Limited said “there seems to be a genuine call on businesses for collaboration in a well articulated action plan in the 2016 election manifesto of the new government.” He said “there i...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong sarpong007@gmail.com Mr. Baah Wadieh, the acting Government Statistician has commended the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for introducing the District League Table (DLT), which ranks the performances of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) across the country. ‘It’s a good effort particularly because they define their methodology and it’s something which is useful to the MMDAs. Because it’s useful they have been able to outline their methodology for what they have done, I appreciate it. But there is always room for improvement,” he stated. Responding to the 2016 DLT results in an interview with the Daily Express, Mr. Wadieh mentioned that there are certain gray areas that can be improved upon. According to him, the weighting factors which placed the MMDAs in their various positions can be critically looked at. He said there are issues on the variables of comput...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong sarpong007@gmail.com Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance has met with the heads of various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to assess their policies for the year. The meeting was also to ensure that there is consistency with the government’s medium term policy strategy. The Daily Express learnt that the meeting formed part of the Ministry of Finance and the Economic Management Team process of preparing the 2017 budget and Economic Policy of Government.  The meeting focused on auditing the fiscal accounts and provides a credible basis for economic policy going forward. “Our commitment is to restore fiscal policy credibility and transparency as well as policy clarity,” the minister noted. According to the Ministry, during the assessment and audit process, they gathered a lot of information from the MDAs which included some unbudgeted projects and commitments involving more than GHc6 billion. “We will have to validate th...

                                                         Hon. Samuel Atta Akyea By: Raphael Apetorgbor- Daily Express rapetorgbor@theeventpr.com The Minister Designate for Works and Housing, Lawyer Samuel Atta Akyea has assured Ghanaians that Nana Akufo-Addo’s led government is resolve to complete all state housing projects started by the out gone National Democratic Congress administration. He also opined that the current administration will halt all new housing projects until the old buildings are completed. “I laud the NDC government for tackling parts of Presidents Kufuor’s housing project…I will carry through with the constitutional requirements that projects started by previous governments are continued and completed by succeeding the government and I will even push further to suggest that we do not start new projects...

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has suspended the licenses of Met Capital Group Limited and Mec-Ellis Investments Limited – both investment advisors- for breaching some provisions of the Securities Industries Law. “The Commission kindly requests any person who has given funds to Mec-Ellis and Met Capital Group, for investments to inform the Commission of such investments,” a statement issued by the SEC, and signed by Mr Alexander Williams, the Acting Director-General, said. The statement also urged the public to call the Commission’s toll free number on 080010065, with their queries. The SEC explained that suspension was in line with section 122 of Act 929, under which their licenses were granted.  Met Capital Group Limited was licensed by the Commission as an Investment Advisor on 11th December, 2013 and currently operates from Block 3, the Financial Hub, No. 375, CSIR, Otinshie, East Legon. Mec-Ellis Investments Limited was also licensed...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express sarpong007@gmail.com Agriculture expansion has been named as one of the driving forces of deforestation and forest degradation in the country. This was recorded in a 20year (2016-2036) Forestry Development Master Plan (FDMP) document, prepared by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.                                           Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Minister for Agriculture                                       The document also mentioned illegal logging (chainsaw operation) and unauthorized mining (galamsey) operations in the forest areas, illicit and uncontrolled exploitation of wildlife, unsustainable production of wood fuel as some of th...

By: Raphael Apetorgbor- Daily Express rapetorgbor@theeventpr.com The National Youth Organizer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Sidii Abubakar Musah  has reiterated a call for complete unity by party youth groups in the wake of a humiliating defeat in the December 7, 2016 general elections. He advised them to desist from the blame game and rather focus on defeating the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2020 general elections. “Anger is not what we need now but rather unity, let us calm down, our bitterness will not bring us to power but if we remain resolute and united until next 4 years, we will be back. We don’t need to attack each other it will end up dividing us” Mr. Abubakar Musah stated when he granted audience to Accra base radio station, Onua Fm. His comment follows the defeat of the NDC in the 2016 general elections, which saw the NPP’s flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo securing 5,716,026 votes, representing 53.85 per...

By: Raphael Apetorgbor- Daily Express rapetorgbor@theeventpr.com The National Union of Ghana Student (NUGS) has launched a project dubbed ‘Donate a Book Project’. The aim of the project is to donate exercise books and educational materials to the underprivileged in the society. Speaking to the Daily Express in Accra on the sideline of the launch, President of NUGS, Mr. Luqman Abubakar said research conducted in over 60 basic schools in the country specifically Ashanti region, the three northern regions and the greater Accra region showed that an average of two thirds of students use one exercise book to serve as class exercise book and assignment (homework) book for at least two subjects and at most four subjects. This, he said has contributed largely to the poor standard of grades recorded at the basic level resulting from poor referencing and revision by students because their books gets spoilt over a short period of time. Mr. Abubakar disclosed that the majo...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express sarpong007@gmail.com Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, the flag bearer of the Progress People’s Party (PPP) in the 2016 Presidential election, has called on Ghanaians to support the initiative by the government to revamp the National Identification Project. Dr. Nduom said Ghana will be a better and a more disciplined country when the project is completed successfully.                                                             Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom  The 2016 PPP flag bearer said this in a statement he issued to commend the appointment of Professor Ken Attafuah as the acting Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA).by President, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo. The National Identification Authority (NIA) is the agency responsible for implementing the National Identif...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express sarpong007@gmail.com Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani, a former Chief of Staff under ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor’s administration has called for the inclusion of the Members of Parliament (MPs) in the Ghana@60 Committee role. According to him, the MPs represent the citizens and including them on the Ghana@60 Committee will be a fair representative of the people.                                                 Kwadwo Mpiani, former Chief of Staff  Speaking to the Daily Express, Mr. Mpiani said he expect the committee to perform very well even better than what happened at the Ghana@50 celebration. “I believe the 30-member committee is okay because they will set up various sub-committees to see the implementation of the event successfully. But my worry is the absence of the MPs,” he complained. He pointed out that ...