Aggrieved applicants to demonstrate against Police

A number of disappointed applicants for the ongoing recruitment exercise by the Ghana Police Service (GPS) in the Ashanti Region have threatened to demonstrate against the GPS for what they call “unfair ” criteria for the selection of recruits into the Police Training School. They also threatened to go to court with evidence of malpractices that characterised the recruitment exercise. They critcised the GPS for conducting double medical screening and also for what they described as poor selection of applicants through a written examination. A spokesperson for the aggrieved applicants who pleaded anonymity in an interview with the Daily Graphic, alleged that in 2012 the GPS enlisted applicants presented by Members of Parliament, Ministers, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), Traditional Rulers, among others. He further alleged that this year, the applicants were made to go through medical screening and other related exercises and were waiting to be called for training only to hear that some of their colleague applicants had been invited for a written examination while others were not invited.

Source: Citi

We are ‘very satisfied’ with gov’t – POTAG

The Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG) called off its three-months-long strike after being satisfied with discussions with government, POTAG’s General Secretary, Ibrahim Adamu has said. POTAG members withdrew their services to demand the payment of their 2013/2014 a research and book allowance following government’s decision to scrap and replace it with a national research fund. The start of the 2014/2015 academic year had been suspended indefinitely due to the strike by both POTAG and the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG). However, a meeting between the Ministries of Finance and Education, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), the National Council for Tertiary Education, POTAG and UTAG on Tuesday was reportedly fruitful. Adamu in an interview on Eyewitness News said the stakeholders at the meeting dispassionately discussed the payment of the money and the leadership of POTAG is satisfied with the outcome. In the MOU, government is said to have re-affirmed its resolve to pay the allowances under the existing arrangement and the parties involved have also resolved to initiate the processes with immediate effect. According to Adamu, the decision to call off the strike “was influenced by a lot of calls from well meaning Ghanaians, civil societies, the students but the fact of the matter is that we were able to speak to the issue which has been the reason for the strike.” He added that “having satisfied ourselves with the fact that our employer has demonstrated the commitment to pay, we had to put all this into perspective and the way forward is to get back to the classroom.” In a related development, a Deputy Education Minister in charge of tertiary education, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa confirmed the development to Citi News stating that the allowances will be paid. He however revealed that it will re-open discussions on the setting up of the national research fund. “That is more sustainable and a more workable approach so far as research is concerned,” he said. Meanwhile, it is unclear whether UTAG members will also call off their month-long strike.

Source: Citi

EC cannot delete the names of Tamale voters – Lawyer

A private legal practitioner,  Yaw Oppong says the Tamale Metro office of the  Electoral Commission(EC) cannot delete the names of voters from the voters register. The  Tamale Metro office of the Electoral Commission (EC) on Tuesday threatened to delete the names of 20 alleged unqualified voters from the voters register after they  ignored an EC invite to defend themselves. The residential addresses and ages of  these challenged 20 individuals was contented after the Tamale Central constituency NPP leadership alleged they were smuggled from neighboring countries to register. However, in an interview on Citi FM’s EyeWitnessNews, Yaw Oppong said it will be  wrong for the EC to delete the names of the 20 challenged persons  and  indicated that act could amount to a court sue. “I don’t think it is enough to just write to them, the people have the right to challenge that decision to matters in the court of law or other adjudicative bodies” He added that the only way the EC could delete the names of the challenged persons was if  “they[challenged persons] indicated in writing that they had received the invitation, secondly were they given sufficient time and opportunity to be heard at the place where registration was done” Meanwhile, the Tamale central constituency NPP Secretary, Musah Mutawakil has described the EC’s decision to delete the names of the 20 challenged persons  as a victory for Ghana’s democracy and praised the NPP polling agents for their vigilance during the exercise.

Source: Citi

Re-opening date for basic schools rescheduled

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has rescheduled the re-opening of basic schools for the 2014-2015 academic year. Instead of re-opening on September 9, 2014, public basic schools in the country would now re-open on September 16, 2014. According to the content of the revised academic calendar which was signed by the acting Director General of the GES, Mr Charles Aheto-Tsegah, the one-week postponement of the reopening date was “to enable the Conference of Directors of Education (CODE) take place before the start of the school year”. Metro/Municipal/District Directors are required to circulate the revised academic calendar to all schools within their respective districts and to ensure that schools adhere to the dates as specified. Basic schools are, therefore, to reopen on September 16, 2014 for the first term of the 2014-2015 academic year with a commemoration of ‘My First Day at School’, the revised calendar stated. The calendar indicated that the 2015 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) would be written from June 15-19, 2015, and that basic school candidates would spend a total of 41 weeks in school in the academic year. The first term of the academic year would begin from September 16 to December 18 (14 weeks), and then students would go on Christmas break from December 19, 2014 to January 12, 2015 (25 days). The second term would begin from January 13, 2015 to April 23, 2015 (15 weeks). Students would then go on Easter break from April 25, 2015 to May 11, 2015 (18 days). The third term would start on May 12, 2015 and end on July 30, 2015 (12 weeks) with the holidays commencing from July 31, 2015 to September 7, 2015. For senior high schools, the 2014-2015 academic year would begin from September 15, 2014 to December 19, 2014 (14 weeks) for the first term, with the Christmas holidays commencing on December 20, 2014 to January 11, 2015 (three weeks). The second term would start from January 12, 2015 to March 27, 2015 (11 weeks), with students going on holidays on March 28 to April 19, 2015 (three weeks). The third term and final term would be from April 20, 2015 from July 31, 2015, with the holidays commencing from August 1 to September 11, 2015. The 2015 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) would be held between May and June 2015.

Source: Citi

5 MPs sue government over Takoradi Port expansion

Five Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Ashanti, Western, Central and Greater Accra Regions have sued government over an agreement it entered into with a British firm. The five say aspects of the agreement which imposes restrictions on Takoradi Port as far as expansion of the Port is concerned, are unlawful and must be declared as such. According to them, “On 17th July 2014, Parliament approved an agreement made between Ghana Government and a British company, Lonrho Ports, for the development of an oil and gas freeport in the Western Region.” They insist that “Clause 7 of the said agreement bars Takoradi Port from further expanding its facilities for oil and gas until Lonrho has built its freeport, recovered all its cost, and made enough profit. The agreement actually bars all persons or companies from building any oil and gas port facilities in the entire Western Region until Lonrho has recovered its investment and made its profit.” The five - Kwaku Kwarteng (Obuasi West), Kwabena Okyere Darko (Takoradi), Joseph Cudjoe (Effia), Mavis Hawa Koomson (Ewutu Senya) and Kofi Brako (Tema Central) – filed the case at the Sekondi High Court. The case is expected to be heard on Thursday, August 28, 2014. Led by their lawyer Mr Alexander Abban, the five MPs want the court to remove the restriction imposed on further expansion of the Takoradi Port by the agreement. They argue the restriction offends section 5 of the Ghana Ports & Harbours Authority Act and are praying the court to remove the restriction. The Act states among others; “The Authority shall plan, build, develop, manage, maintain, operate and control ports and in particular shall…maintain the port facilities and extend and enlarge the facilities as the Authority considers fit; [and] (c) regulate the use of a port and of the port facilities”. The MPs point out that Parliament recently approved a loan of €197 million for the expansion of the oil and gas facilities at the Takoradi Port, and that the Port is in the process of securing another US$400 million to support the expansion programme. “Imposing this restriction on the Port would therefore make it impossible for it to repay these loans. This will collapse the Port and render its workers jobless,” the plaintiffs argue.

Source: MG