The Minister for Education Dr. Matthew Opoku-Prempeh has attacked the erstwhile Mahama administration accusing it of failing to purchase a single textbook for students throughout the eight periods.
In a special dispensation granted by the Speaker of Parliament for Ministers to make statements about their sectors, the Education Minister argued that the Nana Addo administration has done far better than the previous government.
According to him, some policies introduced by the previous administration were inimical to progress of the sector such as cancellation of allowances for both students and teachers.
Speaking to the media after the proceedings Dr. Opoku-Prempeh argued the Mahama administration failed to invest adequately in the education sector unlike this government which is investing heavily in free SHS.
The Manhyia South MP added that the success of the free SHS program cannot be based only on performance in WASSCE but the mere fact that children who would’ve been out of school are now in school.
According to him in the 8 years administration of the party no single text book was procured for students.
Ranking member for Education Committee Peter Nortsu, however, refuted assertions of the minister. According to him, several text were procured but only arrived after the Mahama administration had left power.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has named Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate – the first black woman and Asian American in the role.
Once a rival for the top job, the California senator of Indian-Jamaican heritage had long been considered the front-runner for the number two slot.
The former California attorney general has been urging police reform amid nationwide anti-racism protests.
Mr Biden will face President Donald Trump in the election on 3 November.
At a White House news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Trump, a Republican, described Ms Harris as “my number one draft pick”.
Ms Harris will debate Mr Trump’s running mate, Vice-President Mike Pence, on 7 October in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Only two other women have been nominated as vice-presidential candidates – Sarah Palin by the Republican party in 2008 and Geraldine Ferraro by the Democrats in 1984. Neither ended up on the winning ticket.
A woman of color has never been appointed to a presidential ticket by either of the two main American political parties. No woman has won the US presidency either.
What did Biden and Harris say?
Mr Biden tweeted that he had “the great honour” to name Ms Harris as his number two.
He described her as “a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants”.
He noted how she had worked closely with his late son, Beau, when she was California’s attorney general.
“I watched as they took on the big banks, lifted up working people, and protected women and kids from abuse,” he tweeted.
“I was proud then, and I’m proud now to have her as my partner in this campaign.”
Ms Harris later tweeted that Mr Biden “can unify the American people because he’s spent his life fighting for us. And as president, he’ll build an America that lives up to our ideals.
“I’m honored to join him as our party’s nominee for Vice President, and do what it takes to make him our Commander-in-Chief.”
The campaign announced that Mr Biden and Ms Harris will deliver remarks in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday afternoon on “working together to restore the soul of the nation and fight for working families to move the country forward”.
Mr Biden pledged in March to name a woman on the ticket. He had faced mounting calls to pick a black woman in recent months as the nation was convulsed by social unrest over police brutality against African Americans, a key voting bloc to the Democratic Party.
Who is Kamala Harris?
Ms Harris, 55, dropped out of the presidential race in December after failing in her bid to win the Democratic nomination.
She repeatedly clashed with Mr Biden during the primary election debates, most notably criticising his praise for the “civil” working relationship he had with former senators who favoured racial segregation.
The Democrat was born in Oakland, California, to two immigrant parents: an Indian-born mother and Jamaican-born father.
She went on to attend Howard University, one of the nation’s preeminent historically black colleges and universities. She has described her time there as among the most formative experiences of her life.
Ms Harris says she’s always been comfortable with her identity and simply describes herself as “an American”.
In 2019, she told the Washington Post that politicians should not have to fit into compartments because of their colour or background. “My point was: I am who I am. I’m good with it. You might need to figure it out, but I’m fine with it,” she said.
The obvious pick
Sometimes the obvious pick is obvious for a reason. Kamala Harris was the front-runner to be Joe Biden’s running mate pretty much since the moment the presumptive Democratic nominee announced in March that he would pick a woman to be his ticket.
She’s relatively young and telegenic, and as the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants reflects the growing diversity of the Democratic Party.
What’s more, she’s been in the spotlight of the national media, having campaigned for president in 2019 and, for a while last summer, risen to near the top of some polls. Many of her rivals for the number-two spot had never faced such scrutiny, so there was no proof that they could hold up under fire.
Another underrated advantage for Ms Harris was her friendship with Mr Biden’s late son, Beau, formed when they were both attorneys general. Mr Biden places a high value on family – and that connection may have made choosing her easier.
Now Ms Harris will have a chance to hit the campaign trail again and prove that she deserves this historic pick. If she succeeds, she’ll be in prime position to seek the presidency again, perhaps as early as 2024. Today has made her a force in the Democratic Party for years to come.
What is her record?
After four years at Howard, Ms Harris went on to earn her law degree at the University of California, Hastings, and began her career in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
She became the district attorney – the top prosecutor – for San Francisco in 2003, before being elected the first woman and the first African American to serve as California’s attorney general, the top lawyer and law enforcement official in America’s most populous state.
Media captionPresident Trump calls Kamala Harris “meanest” US senator
In her nearly two terms in office as attorney general, Ms Harris gained a reputation as one of the Democratic party’s rising stars, using this momentum to propel her election as California’s junior US senator in 2017. She was only the second black woman ever elected to that chamber.
She launched her candidacy for president to a crowd of more than 20,000 in Oakland at the beginning of last year.
But the senator failed to articulate a clear rationale for her campaign, and gave muddled answers to questions in key policy areas like healthcare.
She was also unable to capitalise on the clear high point of her candidacy: debate performances that showed off her prosecutorial skills, often placing Mr Biden in the line of attack.
The self-described “progressive prosecutor” tried to emphasise more left-leaning parts of her legacy – requiring body cameras for some special agents at the California Department of Justice, the first state agency to adopt them, and launching a database that provided public access to crime statistics, though she failed to gain traction.
“Kamala is a cop” became a common refrain on the campaign trail, spoiling her attempts to win over the more liberal Democratic base during the primaries. Those same law enforcement credentials could, however, prove beneficial in the general election when Democrats need to win over more moderate voters and independents.
What’s the reaction?
President Trump told reporters: “She’s a person that’s told many, many stories that weren’t true.”
He added: “She did very, very poorly in the primaries, as you know, she was expected to do well and she ended up right around 2%. So I was a little surprised that he picked her.”
Mr Trump also said Ms Harris was “very, very nasty” and “horrible” to Mr Biden during the Democratic primary debates.
“She was very disrespectful to Joe Biden and it’s hard to pick somebody that’s that disrespectful,” he said.
The Trump campaign said the choice of running mate was proof that Mr Biden is “an empty shell being filled with the extreme agenda of the radicals on the left”.
Former US President Barack Obama – whom Mr Biden served as vice-president for eight years – tweeted: “She is more than prepared for the job. She’s spent her career defending our Constitution and fighting for folks who need a fair shake.
“This is a good day for our country. Now let’s go win this thing.”
Commodity Analyst, Esoko Ghana, says the prices of some foodstuff are likely to see a further reduction in the month of August.
The prediction is based on the rains witnessed in the first half of the year as well as the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.
In July, there were significant price reductions for some commodities across the country.
The price of cassava for instance dropped by 7.91 percent to close the month at GHS 145.50 cedis per bag, with wheat also losing 6.90 percent to close at GHS 283.20 cedis per bag.
Groundnut shelled lost 3.19 percent to close at GHS 563.71 cedis per bag, with gari also losing 1.95 percent to close at GHS 237.43 per bag.
Maize also lost 1.71 percent to close at GHS 164.29 cedis per bag.
Some commodities such as tomato however recorded gains of 6.55 percent to close the month of July at GHS 566.83 cedis per crate, with local rice also making a gain of 2.97 percent to close at GHS 346.29 Cedis per bag.
Content Analyst at Esoko Ghana, Francis Danso Adjei, in explaining the dynamics of the expected price change to Citi Business News, said, “You realize that a lot of commodities have declined in terms of pricing and those that gained, gained less than 1 percent which means that prices are actually reducing.”
“If you actually look at the month of August that is when we discovered a lot of products were not of the crops that we planted during the last three months. So looking at the volumes that will be coming onto the markets, it is going to force prices to go down because if you want to sell at the current price, you may not get anyone buying your commodity. That is why we are saying that in the month of August, prices are still going to reduce further.”
The highest price for maize was recorded at Takoradi selling for GHS223 per bag. The lowest price recorded was at GHS110.00 and it was selling at Bawku.
Local Rice also recorded an average price for a bag at GHS 346.29 after it gained 2.97 percent to close the month.
The highest price of rice valued at GHS 440 was recorded at Dambai with the lowest price of GHS 265.00 recorded at Tamale.
Meanwhile, a box of tomato gained 6.55 percent to close the month at GHS 566.83.
A box of tomatoes was sold in Accra for 900 cedis, the highest price in any market in Accra, while the same quantity was selling for GHS 110.00 in Kumasi, the lowest price in the country.
Tomatoes made a net gain because both the local ones and some volumes of the imported ones which are of higher quality and expensive were traded.
The Government is seeking parliamentary approval to borrow US$ 1.3 billion to finance the purchase of cocoa for the 2020/2021 crop season.
An additional GHS6.5 million in tax waivers has also been presented to Parliament.
The requests were before the Finance Committee of Parliament on Monday, August 10, 2020.
The house is expected to debate and approve the request or otherwise before it goes on recess later this week.
It will be recalled that the government in 2019 signed the US$1.3 billion loan for the purchase of some 850,000 metric tonnes of cocoa beans from farmers for the 2019/2020 crop season.
The amount was a cocoa syndicated loan signed between COCOBOD and some international financial institutions
COCOBOD in 2019 increased the producer price of the beans from GHS7,640 to GHS8,240 per tonne.
With the global fight against COVID-19, most international trading commodities have seen plummeting prices with cocoa also being affected.
The sector is currently in line to benefit from a $600 million dollar loan facility from the African Development Bank.
The agreement for the funds was signed in November 2019, but the money is yet to hit the accounts of the Bank of Ghana, due to procedural arrangements.
COCOBOD hopeful cocoa season won’t be impacted by Coronavirus
The Ghana Cocoa Board says it has put in place stringent measures to ensure that the 2020/2021 cocoa season is not negatively impacted by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
According to the regulator of Ghana’s cocoa sub-sector, farmers have been supplied with all necessary assistance to keep the production process on track.
Speaking to Citi News, the Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Joseph Boahen Aidoo said farmers were being prepared to take advantage of the critical flowering season.
For this, he said there would be a new emphasis on pruning.
First Atlantic Bank has launched its 25th Anniversary celebration with a commitment to continue providing its customers with innovative products and services as it positions itself for bigger competition in the West African sub-region.
The Managing Director of the bank, Odun Odunfa, said, the milestone will be marked in all the bank’s 35 branches nationwide with selected CSR projects across the country which will culminate in the main celebration on 28th August 2020 with a tape cutting ceremony to commission the bank’s new head office extension at Ridge West, Accra.
Mr Odunfa said First Atlantic Bank, has ambitions of becoming a sub-regional bank and thus commits to staying at the forefront of compliance both locally and internationally.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank, Amarquaye Armar, said the bank, over the past two decades, has strived to review and renew its business model to become a result-driven organization as the needs of customers evolve.
He said the bank has adopted a youth-centric business approach, driven by a suite of robust and secure digital banking proposition as a response to the shift in banking customer demographics.
“We pay homage to the founding fathers; due to their foresight and commitment, First Atlantic Bank was instituted on August 28, 1995 as a Merchant Bank with 4 Branches, a few dedicated staff and customers who believed in the budding brand and thus have remained loyal through the growth phases.”
“To continue to achieve our objectives, the coming years will demand innovation, dedication, secure and efficient technology, quality customer service and above all, dynamic engagement with the support of our customers, business partners, regulators and our shareholders.”
He called on shareholders to drive the African growth agenda as the bank continues to play a leading role in nation-building by supporting businesses in key economic sectors.
Mr Amarquaye said the indigenous bank remains true to its “Refreshingly Different” service mantra which continually drives innovation and commits to delivering exceptional service excellence across all channels.
He called on all stakeholders to renew their pledge to further strengthen the position of the bank and set her on the wings on becoming the “Global Bank out of Ghana.
Empress Leak is a website known for the publication of child pornographic and adult sexual content. The website records about 600,000 monthly users who are located in Ghana, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) of the Ministry of Communications, in collaboration with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service and the National Cyber Security Technical Working Group, has nabbed the administrator of the notorious website.
The Minister of Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful revealed this during a joint press briefing held on Monday, August 10, 2020, in Accra, to announce the arrest of the operator.
Addressing the media, she noted that, an investigation to clamp down on activities of empress leak was launched after a female Senior High School student, filed a report on January 6th, 2020, with the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-GH) of the NCSC. The report by the victim who is below 18 years, was to alert the CERT-GH team of an uploaded sexually explicit video of her to the website.
The Minister further noted that preliminary investigations uncovered information on the website’s registrant information, associated domain names, email addresses, telephone contact as well as residential address of the administrator, Mr Anderson Ofosuhene Anim.
She said, “As part of Government’s efforts towards the protection of Ghana’s cyberspace, the National Cyber Security Centre in 2019 launched a Cybercrime/Cybersecurity Incident Reporting Point of Contact (PoC), to provide an effective mechanism for citizens to report suspected and identified cybercrime and cybersecurity incidents.” The channels are:
The Minister stated that since the operationalization of the PoC, the NCSC has received countless cybercrime/cybersecurity incidents reports from the public. Key among these reports are the publication of non-consensual intimate images (sextortion), online impersonation, online fraud, malware attacks, online blackmail, website defacement, among others.
Willian has confirmed he is leaving Chelsea, with Arsenal close to completing his signing on a three-year deal.
The 32-year-old leaves Stamford Bridge at the end of his contract after a seven-year spell, with Chelsea only willing to offer him a two-year deal rather than the player’s desired three years.
He wrote an open letter to fans confirming his exit following Chelsea’s defeat to Bayern in the last 16 of the Champions League.
“They were seven wonderful years. In August 2013 when I received the offer from Chelsea, I was convinced that this was where I had to play,” he wrote.
“Today I am certain that it was the best of decisions. There were so many happy times, some sad, there were trophies and it was always very intense.
“Yet, beyond the trophies, I learnt a lot about myself. I developed a great deal, becoming a better player and a better person.
“With each training session, with each game, with every minute spent in the dressing room, I was always learning.
“I am really grateful to the Chelsea fans for the affectionate way they welcomed me at Stamford Bridge and their support throughout my time at the club.
“There was also criticism, which is normal, what is important though is that both the affection and criticism drove me to always give my all in every training session, every game, to be constantly improving until my very last minute in a Chelsea shirt!
“The time has now come to move on. I am certainly going to miss my team-mates. I will miss all the staff at the club who’ve always treated me like a son and I will miss the fans.
“I leave with my head held high, safe in the knowledge that I won things here and always did my best in a Chelsea shirt!
“My heartfelt thanks go out to all of you and God bless you!”
A Reuters poll of London cocoa futures forecast cocoa would cost 10% less at the end of the year, because of rising production and a hit to demand from the coronavirus crisis.
But chocolate bars will not necessarily get cheaper partly because the price of cocoa is only one ingredient in the mix that makes up the retail price.
DEMAND HIT BY LOCKDOWNS
The impact of coronavirus lockdowns curbed impulse buying of chocolate, as people focused instead on stocking up on essentials. And a bleak economic outlook is expected to hit demand for luxuries like chocolate in the coming months, while sales at celebrations such as Halloween are likely to be weaker than normal.
NOT JUST COCOA
Apart from cocoa, there are lots of other costs that contribute to the price of chocolate bars. These include other ingredients such as sugar and sometimes milk or nuts as well as packaging, marketing, transportation, taxes, and retailer margins. The cost of cocoa, is, therefore, just one element in determining the price.
PREMIUM COCOA
Chocolate makers do not generally buy their cocoa on the futures markets in London and New York which attracts cocoa which meets the futures contracts’ specifications but is not high enough quality for many of their products.
The manufacturers buy instead in the physical market where they generally have to pay a premium for the quality they need. In the upcoming 2020/21 cocoa season, which begins on Oct. 1, chocolate makers will also pay an additional $400 a tonne for supplies from top producers Ivory Coast and Ghana as part of a plan to combat farmer poverty.
PRODUCT ADJUSTMENTS
Chocolate makers often prefer not to change the price of a product but are more likely to adjust size or quality.
The makers of Toblerone, for example, in 2016 introduced larger gaps between the triangles of certain sized bars after a rise in the cost of ingredients but later changed them back.
More subtle changes can also be made, such as thinning or thickening the chocolate coating on some confectionery products.
John Dramani Mahama, the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has announced a $10 billion accelerated infrastructural plan, dubbed the Big Push, which he says will drive jobs and entrepreneurial agenda when elected in December 2020.
“We are looking at what I call the Big Push, injecting some $10 billion to dualize our roads, complete the remainder of the 200 Community Day Senior High Schools, finish all the hospital projects that have been left abandoned, and construct bridges to open up the country”, says Mr. Mahama.
Speaking in an interview on TV XYZ, the NDC flagbearer said the major plank of his second coming as President “is to deliver jobs to our young people.”
According to the former President, “it [Big Push] will involve the construction industry, engineering, and other professionals, and will bring a lot of artisans and everybody back into work.”
Mr. Mahama who has been visiting and meeting traditional rulers and various interest groups in Savannah, Northern, Oti, and Volta Regions, also announced that delivering jobs to the young people of Ghana will be a major plank of his next government.
“If we do not do this urgently, we have a time bomb ticking away. Everything, every policy, and every policy will be focused on creating jobs for young people”.
The NDC Flagbearer says his Agenda One Million Jobs will see the creation of between 300,000 and 400,000 jobs a year, in both the private and public sectors.
“It is a very well-thought-out plan and will be the central promise of our manifesto”, he added.
