International auditing firm KPMG has agreed to audit the contentious issue of the number of pink sheets filed by the petitioners free of charge.
Justice William Atuguba, president of the panel of judges hearing the election petition at the Supreme Court, announced to the court on Wednesday first thing after they resumed from lunch break.
In conveying the message, he described the offer as a “certificate of good news”.
A sense of gratitude filled the court audience as the Judge asked the Court registrar to “duly acknowledge [KPMG]” for the gesture.
He described their decision as “noble” and “patriotic” and asked that counsel and witness emulate their gesture by proceeding the second half of court proceedings “without acrimony”.
Officials of KPMG were in court to acknowledge the Judge’s satisfaction of the “good news”
The referee appointed to audit pink sheet exhibits provided to the court by petitioners in the ongoing presidential election petition had its inaugural meeting with the parties involved in the case on Tuesday.
Five officials of KPMG met with lead counsel of the four parties in the petition together with two representatives each from the parties to discuss the modalities which will underpin the audit.
Justice William Atuguba with the consent of the parties appointed KPMG to audit the pinks sheets after the Respondents challenged the figures provided by the petitioners.
Tsatsu Tsikata said they do not have a total of 11,842 pink sheets as petitioners would have the court believe.
Members of his legal team put the total number of exhibits in the custody of the third Respondent as ranging between 7,000-8000, a figure the petitioners have disputed.
Joy News’ Court correspondent Anny Osabutey has learnt that Tuesday’s inaugural meeting which was held behind closed doors had the parties discussing the modalities under which the audit will be conducted.
He learnt also that the issue of the cost of auditing did not come up in the meeting even though it is expected to be crucial part of the auditing process.
It is still not clear if there are timelines for the conclusion of the auditing process.
The Accra auditions for the Glo X Factor singing TV Realty show exceeded expectations as thousands turned up at the plush Alisa Hotel to gun for a shot at the US$150,000 star prize from Glo, plus a one year recording contract with international recording giant, Sony Records.
But one of the most exciting moments of the auditions was when Korkui Selormey of Viasat-1, Citi FM and indeed Vodafone Healthline fame showed up to audition for the show, not as a judge but as a contestant.
Korkui, a brilliant professionally trained soprano, is a classical music soloist and host of a classical music show on Citi FM.
With her vocal mastery, Korkui just scrapped through the auditions and qualified for the next stage, where the 50 contestants identified in Ghana would now be performing with a full set of musical instruments at the National Theatre before the panel of judges.
She told reporters she was delighted that so many talented youth are getting the opportunity to prove their worth and get a shot at stardom.
“Glo has done very well in bringing X Factor to Ghana and I do hope that they would sustain this lifetime offer in order to unearth as many stars as are available,” Korkui said.
Some other highlights of the auditions included the appearance of 24-year old twin sisters, Lamberta and Lambertina Hansen, who have just graduated from the Accra Polytechnic. They were eventually selected for the next stage of auditions.
The two vowed to win the prize money and swore to beat another favourite set of male twins who emerged in the Abuja auditions barely two weeks ago.
Accra also recorded its first batch of adult singers when a duo made up of Robert Adinyirs 54 and Jonathan Seshie 53, both from Ho in the Volta region stepped forward to be auditioned.
Going by the stage-name of Crosscrown, the two said they had been singing together since 1976 when they were teenagers living in Denu in the Volta Region.
“Glo X Factor is the best opportunity that has ever come our way, that is why we have travelled all the way from Ho to participate, and we are hopeful we will be selected,” said Adinyira.
Accra’s auditions far outstripped that of Kumasi in terms of numbers, and the hotel officials say they were baffled when they saw loads of anxious-looking youth filing up at the west wing of the hotel as early as 6:00am.
R2Bees: Faisal Hakeem (Paedae da Pralem) and Rashid Mugeez (Mugeez)
R2Bees: Faisal Hakeem (Paedae da Pralem) and Rashid Mugeez (Mugeez)
Tema-based sensational music duo R2Bees has been nominated for the 2013 Black Entertainment Television ( BET) awards. Nominees for this year’s awards were released Tuesday.
The duo, made up of Faisal Hakeem (Paedae da Pralem) and Rashid Mugeez (Mugeez), have been nominated in the Best International Act (Africa) category and they will face fierce competition from some of Africa’s finest acts for that award.
They will battle it out with 2Face Idibia (Nigeria), Toya Delazy (South Africa), Radio and Weasel (Uganda), Ice Prince (Nigeria) and Donald (South Africa).
Their nomination is coming after Ghana chalked her first success at the 2012 edition of the awards.
Last year, Ghana’s fastest rapper Sarkodie jointly won the Best International Act award with Nigerian musician Wizkid.
Sarkodie went on after that win to feature in the 2012 BET Hiphop Awards Cypher.
In 2011, 2Face Idibia and D’banj jointly won the Best International Act (Africa) while Ice Prince lost out on the same award to Sarkodie and Wizkid.
R2Bees has earned nine nominations in this year’s Ghana Music Awards including Artiste of the Year at the 2013 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards scheduled to come off at the Accra International Conference Centre on Saturday, May 18.
Leading the pack at this year’s BET Awards is YMCMB rapper Drake who had 12 nominations while rappers Kendrick Lamar and 2 Chainz had eight nominations each.
There were also nominations for A$AP Rocky, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Miguel, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Alicia Keys.
The 2013 BET Awards hosted by Chris Tucker comes off on Sunday, June 30 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles and it will witness performances from R. Kelly, Chris Brown and the legendary Charlie Wilson.
The Blackberry Messenger (BBM) app is to be offered as a download to run on rival platforms.
Blackberry said it would initially offer texts, photo messages and group sharing functions on devices running Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS operating systems from “the summer”.
It added it planned to roll out screen sharing, voice and video calls – all without charge – later in the year.
The move could prove disruptive to Skype, Whatsapp and other rivals.
Blackberry chief executive Thorsten Heins revealed the surprise news at the end of his presentation at the firm’s annual developers conference in Orlando, Florida.
The company said that more than 60 million Blackberry owners already used BBM at least once a month.
But Mr Heins played down the idea that offering the feature to rival devices would harm sales of the Canadian company’s own handsets.
“You might ask the question why is Blackberry doing this now,” said Mr Heins.
“It’s a statement of confidence. The Blackberry 10 platform is so strong and the response has been so good that we are confident the time is right for Blackberry Messenger to become an independent multiplatform messaging solution.”
He added that for the app to work iPhone users would need at least iOS 6 and Android users the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Google’s software. There was no mention of Windows Phone.
Wider impact
One analyst said it was too soon to know if the move would force competitors to change their own strategies.
“BBM has been a significant traffic driver for Blackberry – particularly the consumer audience,” said Chris Green, principal technology analyst at Davies Murphy Group Europe.
“Expanding it to be multiplatform not only widens the consumer appeal but also may help woo back corporate customers it lost due to earlier technical problems.
“However, other players like Whatsapp will only drop their fees if they see BBM making major inroads into other platforms.”
Ben Wood from telecoms consultancy CCS Insight added that Blackberry might have felt forced into the move because of the growing popularity of cross-platform alternatives which also includes Facebook Messenger.
“It will increase feature competition among mobile messaging platforms,” he said.
“It dramatically increases BBM’s long-term relevance – but it is unclear how Blackberry will ensure the move benefits its own hardware sales.”
Cheaper phone
Blackberry also announced a new smartphone powered by its BB10 system – the first to be targeted at emerging markets.
The Q5 features a physical Qwerty keyboard and a 3.1in (7.9cm) touchscreen.
The Blackberry 10 device will be released in parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America in July.
It should be cheaper than the Z10 and Q10 which were unveiled in January.
However, the firm has yet to confirm pricing.
“We understand the importance of having devices to suit all markets and needs,” said Mr Heins. “It’s a sleek, slim high-performance device.”
One company watcher said it was important for Blackberry to have a device running BB10 on sale in parts of the world where its handsets were still bestsellers.
“The Q5 could be a very significant device for the company because there is a significant opportunity for high-quality low-cost smartphones,” said Adam Leach, devices analyst at telecoms consultancy Ovum.
“If Blackberry can replicate the success of the Blackberry Curve in emerging markets then it will certainly help establish the Blackberry 10 platform.
“However, Blackberry has significant competition in this area with low-cost Android devices and with Nokia’s Asha 501 which sells for just under $100 [£65]. It will be crucial to see if Blackberry can match or undercut that.”
Ovum predicts that emerging markets will account for 40% of smartphone shipments by 2017.
According to data from IDC – another tech consultancy – Blackberry devices accounted for just over 19% of global smartphone shipments at the start of 2010. But the firm suggests that figure had dropped to less than 4% by the end of last year.
Blackberry has yet to release sales figures for its first BB10 devices.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, lead witness for the petitioners in the ongoing Presidential Election Petition hearings has stated that the Electoral Commission (EC) lied about the rationale for the use of duplicate serial numbers on various pink sheets during the December presidential elections, adding that the lack of truthfulness on the part of the EC exposes a mischievous motive for the printing of pink sheets with duplicate serial numbers.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia made the statement on Monday, the 15th day of his cross examination by Counsels to the respondents in the case.
Responding to queries from counsel for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Tsatsu Tsikata, on the duplicate serial numbers, Dr. Bawumia stated that the Electoral Commission in their response to the amended petition of the petitioners stated that they printed two sets of pink sheets with same serial numbers because they anticipated that there would be more presidential candidates in the election necessitating the use of two sheets.
Dr. Bawumia, however, described this justification as an obvious untruth as the EC printed the sheets in exactly the same format as the candidates appeared on the ballot papers meaning that the printing could only have been done after the 19th of October, 2012 when the balloting for positions on the ballot paper was done, and by which time the EC also knew exactly how many candidates were contesting for the December Presidential Elections.
The lead witness said that this untenable justification by the EC on its use of duplicate Pink Sheets exposes the fact that there was a motive to the phenomenon other than the EC was telling the court and Ghanaians.
Dr. Bawumia also noted that the case of duplicate serial numbers was not frivolous especially because of its relation to the other categories of malpractices.
He explained to the court that, for example, 75% of all polling stations being challenged for over voting also had the use of duplicate serial numbers on its pink sheet, while 77% of all polling stations where voting without biometric verification took place also had the use of a duplicate serial number. 75% of all polling stations, according to Dr Bawumia, which were not authenticated by the presiding officer’s signature also were polling stations where a duplicate serial number was used.
“These statistics cannot be mere coincidences”, Dr. Bawumia added.
On the suggestion by Counsel Tsatsu Tsikata that the serial numbers were not security features and really insignificant, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia disagreed and said that like serial numbers used in passports, currencies etc. the serial numbers on the pink sheets were key identifiers of the polling stations.
He stressed that for the elections, it was even more key because all the other identifiers on the pink sheet, including name of polling station, polling station code, presiding officer signature and details etc. as had been mentioned by the Counsel, were all handwritten into the form and that the serial number was the only identifier of the polling station which came already embossed and which could not be tampered with easily.
Dr. Bawumia who is being cross examined by Counsel Tsatsu Tsikata for the eighth day said that the impression the EC was seeking to create that the serial numbers are insignificant was difficult to buy because money was spent on the forms and for the forms to have those unique serial numbers, adding that the serial numbers on the forms were not embossed for mere decorative purposes.
The NPP Vice-Presidential candidate for the 2012 Elections said that the petitioners were challenging the occurrence of polling stations which had duplicate serial numbers because the integrity of the process had been called into question in those polling stations.
Per the updated figures before the court, the petitioners are praying the court to annul a total of 9,921 polling stations which had the occurrence of duplicate serial numbers as well as other infractions (over voting, voting without biometric verification and no signature) in some of the cases.
The Ghana Football Association has cancelled next month’s international friendly against the Harambee Stars of Kenya.
The Black Stars, who are scheduled to take on Sudan in a June 7 World Cup qualifier-had planned to use the friendly match against Kenya as part of their preparations.
But the change in date of the qualifier has altered the plans of Ghana coach Kwasi Appiah.
“The proposed friendly between our team and Ghana has been called off,” said John Karioko, spokesperson of the Kenyan Football Federation.
“According to the Ghana FA, their coach says he will not be able to have his players in camp early enough as he had arranged.
“The world cup between Ghana and Sudan has been pushed forward to a later date so the coach says he will not be to assemble the players before the game.”
The Black Stars will now regroup on May 30 before flying over to Nairobi for the training tour before the double-header World Cup qualifier against Sudan and June.
President John Mahama has set up a high-powered inter-ministerial taskforce to deal with the galamsey menace in the country.
The taskforce which will be led by the Lands and Mines Minister Alhaji Inusah Fuseini has the herculean task to ensure that activities of illegal small scale miners come to an end.
The committee will include the Ministers for the Interior, Defence, Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration as well as Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation.
Inaugurating the committee at the Flagstaff house President Mahama said galamsey is becoming a security threat that needs to be halted before it degenerates.
President Mahama says it is unacceptable that lives are being lost and our water bodies being destroyed as a result of activities of these illegal small scale miners.
He says the committee’s work takes immediate effect and should report on monthly bases to the Chief of Staff.
He charged the taskforce to actualize his determination to bring “sanity” into the mining sector, and to also ensure that the small scale mining sector is reserved for Ghanaians.
“I am sending a clear signal to the offending individuals and groupings that the government will not allow their activities to cause conflict, dislocation, environmental degradation and unemployment when in fact the sector should rather benefit our communities and our country.”
The president also gave directive to the committee to seize the equipment of small scale miners who have refused to register their activities and prosecute them.
Foreigners caught engaging in small scale mining should be deported, the president ordered.
He also asked the taskforce to revoke the license of Ghanaians who have subleased their concessions to foreigners.
Deputy Minister of Communication, Vickie Lakshmi Hamah has called on the Ghana Maritime Authority to protect the several submarine fibre optic cables that have been landed on the shores of Ghana to provide better telecom and internet service nationwide.
She made the call at the launch of the newly landed ACE (Africa Coast to Europe) submarine cable, which was brought in country by Expresso-Dolphin, to be managed by Expresso Ghana.
The US$700million 17,000km-long cable is owned by connects 23 countries and it is owned by a consortium of 19 companies, including Expresso-Dolphin, a partnership of the Expresso Group and Dolphin International.
ACE comes to Ghana with 5.12terabits/second capacity, to add to the country’s current huge fibre capacity of 7.2terabits/sec from the MTN’s WACS, Globacom’s Glo One, Vodafone’s SAT-3 and the independently-owned Main One.
Vickie Hamah noted that the additional fibre capacity promises to improve internet accessibility and quality across country, and create huge business opportunities, but vandalism and theft of submarine cables at sea could be a threat to the expected benefits.
“I therefore wish to add my voice to the call for the Maritime Authority to protect the investment made into acquiring and bringing these submarine cables to Ghana to ensure that the country derives full benefits from them,” she said.
She urged the Maritime Authority to involve the various fishing communities in education programs to the fisher folk would understand the importance of protecting rather than engaging in maritime practices that would damage the submarine cables.
The Deputy Minister noted that the first phase of the e-government project has been completed on the back of fibre optics infrastructure installed inland to provide connectivity between all state institutions and agencies; and work is also ongoing on the National Fibre Optic Backbone to provide internet access to the remote parts of the country.
Vickie Hamah said other aspects of the e-government project such as e-Justice, e-Parliament, e-Service, e-Health, e-Education and others are expected to come on stream in the remaining phases of the project, adding that huge fibre capacity available to the country would boost the availability and effectiveness of all these platforms aside boosting private business.
“I am happy to report that the Ghana Internet Service Providers Association has informed government that 45% of the internet traffic is currently handled locally through the system internet exchange point,” she said.
She is hopeful that this could get better going forward, but critical to that better future is the need to protect the “gargantuan” investment made in the submarine cables through improved maritime security.
Managing Director of Expresso, El Amir Ahmed El Amir is confident the ACE cable would help to improve telecoms and data service in the country in terms of the diversity of routes, quality of service and even price to the consumer.
He noted that there is an expected data consumption boom in West Africa over the next three to five years and the huge bandwidth capacity in Ghana now, places the country in a very advantageous position to take full advantage of the boom.
Deputy Director General of National Communication Authority (NCA), Albert Eninful observed the need for more affordable smartphones like the new Nokia Asha 501 and Huawei’s 4Afrika Ascend W1 to come to Ghana so most Ghanaians can have access to the internet through mobile broadband.
Airtel Ghana says it is giving customers and prospective customers interested in owning a Samsung Galaxy S4 or Blackberry Z10 handset 250minutes free voice calls to all local networks and 750MB of data a month for a period of three months from the day of purchase.
Head of Corporate Communications & External Affairs at Airtel Ghana, Donald Gwira told Adom Business the handset would be sold to customers at the existing market price, so the additional value comes at no cost to the user so long as they stay on Airtel.
“The S4 and Z10 are devices a section of our markets have yearned for and we believe that what we are offering will excite them”, he said.
Gwira added that with the introduction of both phones in all Airtel Shops across the country, Airtel Ghana is positioning itself as the preferred network of use for the new devices from Samsung and BlackBerry.
Meanwhile, Samsung is urging all of its dealers to offer a one year payment plan for the Galaxy S4 to customers, but Gwira said for now the S4 is being distributed on upfront payment terms at GHC1,550, adding that “any changes to this arrangement will be communicated to our customers.”
Marketing Director at Airtel Ghana, Ashish Malhotra also noted that the company had always sought to offer customers exciting deals, adding: “We know that Samsung and BlackBerry are among the favorite handsets of our customers and so we are offering them and especially new customers, what they crave for.”
Malhotra said Airtel expects new customers to jump aboard the network for a great experience as quality phones work better on a quality network.
International auditing firm KPMG has agreed to audit the contentious issue of the number of pink sheets filed by the petitioners free of charge.
