The Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Atta, has threatened contractors who have abandoned their sites over lack of funds will lose their contracts.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament Friday, the Road Minister revealed that most of the contractors who have abandoned their work usually lack capacity to deliver but rather use the delay in releasing funds by the government as an excuse.

“There are so many contractors in our constituencies who have been awarded contracts but are not working under the guise of non-payment. And a lot of them have not worked to the standard to be paid, as much as there are some outstanding payments,” he disclosed.

He said most Contractors have classifications that were not properly examined before they were awarded the job.

“Currently, there is a reclassification ongoing in my office. I am assuring you (Parliament) from 2022 my Ministry would award contracts to potential contractors who have the capacity to work. I don’t want any of my colleagues to suffer because I am also an MP,” he stated.

Responding to questions from the MP for Adentan, Mohammed Adamu Ramadan on the ARS Roundabout to Dzen Ayor dual carriage road in his constituency, Mr. Amoako-Atta said the ongoing reclassification exercise would solve that issue.

The move, according to the minister, will ensure only contractors with capacity will be awarded projects to work on.

Source: Starrfm.com.gh

The Ghana Statistical Service wants Ghanaians to disregard a purported census result giving a breakdown on ethnic and religious affiliation in Ghana.

Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim on Citi TV’s Point of View said the results were fake.

He said the Service will soon release authentic results on ethnicity and religion.

“Let me be categorical about it; the Ghana Statistical Service disassociates itself from this social media story on ethnic and religious breakdown. This is what we will do in the coming weeks.  As I indicated, our volume 3 C will look at population by background characteristics, and among the background characteristics will be issues of religious and ethnic affiliation.”

The Service released provisional data on Ghana’s 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) on Wednesday, September 22, 2021.

Per the information, Ghana’s current population stood at 30.8 million.

The data also showed that 50.7 % of the population were now women,  with the remaining 49.3 % being men.

It said Ghana’s population had increased by 6.1 million from the 24.7 million recorded in 2010, adding that Ghana’s population is expected to double within 33 years, with an estimated population of over 50 million by 2050.

The Ahafo Region was the least populous region, taking the place of the Upper West which had been the least populous in all the previous post-independence censuses. The Savannah and North East Regions are the second and third least populous regions respectively.

Source: citinewsroom.com

The Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference has called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to take immediate steps to halt the wanton dissipation of the country’s resources by politicians and their cronies for personal gains.

The president of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, Most Rev. Philip Naameh, who made the call at this year’s plenary assembly of the association in Wa, said the practice has led to high perceived corruption and corruptible practices among the ruling class which is taking a toll on the national economy and worsening the poverty situation in the country.

“Though poverty stares us in the face, it appears lost to those with power. The expressed commitment of the president of the republic to protect the public purse, a promise that citizens welcomed, seems to be an illusion now. Are those managing the public purse not concerned about waste and misapplication of resources that belong to all Ghanaians? Can this be referred to as irresponsible use of power or the lack of compassion and empathy?”

The association also decried the challenges confronting key sectors of the economy such as education, health, mobility and transport, fake news and misinformation, cybercrime and prostitution as well as inadequate communication and ICT infrastructure and called on the government to take immediate steps to mitigate the current economic situation by initiating policies that will lead to the creation of sustainable jobs for the teaming youth in the country.

The president of the Conference also called for an open and honest dialogue between the government and all stakeholders to address the difficulties that have arisen in the education and health sectors due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Bishop of Wa, Most Rev. Richard Kuuia Baawobr in his welcome address expressed concerns about the overspill of criminal activities and disasters such as diseases, pestilence, armed robbery, and other vices from neighbouring countries.

He called on religious leaders in the Upper West Region to continue conscientizing their subjects on the menace.

The theme for this year’s Catholic Bishops Conference is “fratellituti and Covid-19: pastoral challenges and opportunities in Ghana”.

Source: citinewsroom.com

A sub-chief and four assemblymen at Gambaga in the North East Region were on Saturday arrested after irate youth allegedly incited by the community elders vandalized construction site belonging to a private developer, one Ziblim Fataw over alleged encroachment.

Sources at the Gambaga Palace indicate that the land under contention was leased to the government through the East Mamprusi Municipal Assembly to put up developmental projects for the benefit of the municipality.

Palace communications claimed the chief of Gambaga, Yahaya Wuni earlier ordered the private developer to halt work on the disputed piece of land.

The developer however defied the orders and continued developing on the land.

The issue was then taken to the Nayiri, Overlord of the Mamprugu Traditional Area for a peaceful resolution where the Nayiri also directed the developer to vacate the site as the place was earmarked for government projects.

The private developer, Ziblim Fataw however took the matter to court.

But the court ruled against him according to the assembly members of Gambaga. The developer was said to have abandoned the site over a year, only to reappear at the site to start clearing the land for construction works to begin in October which angered the youth.

At a press conference on Sunday, November 7th, 2021 at the forecourt of the chief’s palace, an elder of the palace, Kpanadaana Daniel Bukari Aloriwe spoke to expressed the chief’s displeasure to the media.

“This disrespect to the chief and the entire Gambaga community is also as a result of the fact that the district police command which should have been an intermediary to amicably help solve this problem is in support of the encroacher”.

Further infuriated by the arrest, the Gambaga people declared that they would not work with the District Commander of the East Mamprusi district, accusing him of taking sides with the developer.

They criticized the commander for saying that “Gambaga will turn to Bawku” if the youth dared to destroy the property of the developer. That statement has been interpreted by the residents as calling for war in the Gambaga town by the police officer.

“For this unprofessional statement and many of his actions, unprofessionally, the town says enough of his service and we can’t work with him. We cannot dictate the pace of his service but then he’s not helping us. He’s not keeping peace but rather inflaming passion and inciting the public to violence”, Daniel Bukari Aloriwe, the sub-chief said.

The youth who were clad in red arm bands declared that they are no longer ready to work with the East Mamprusi Municipal police commander, DSP Adjei Brobbey.

But when contacted, the police commander, DSP Adjei Brobbey refused to comment on the alleged war mongering comment attributed to him. He said the arrest was based on instructions from his Regional Police Commander.

“It was the IGP who brought me here. If they can’t work with me they should report me to the IGP. If they’re doing something contrary to the law and I’m taking them on and they’re saying that they can’t work with me, fine. That one, the power lies in the Inspector General of Police and whatever decision that he takes on me, I’m ready to take it”, DSP Adjei Brobbey said.

The arrested persons have since been granted bail while the developer fled the Gambaga town.

Citi News’ attempts to reach him however were unsuccessful.

Source: citinewsroom.com

Many parts of the country were thrown into darkness following an unexpected power outage on Monday night.

The cause of the outage is not yet known.

In the Greater Accra Region, many areas including Dansoman, Nima, Teshie reported of the outage.

In the Northern Region, there was a total blackout from around 9pm on Monday until about 4.30am when power was restored only to go off again a few minutes later.

The 12 Municipal and District Assemblies in the Bono Region also experienced the blackout, forcing many residents to spend the night in darkness.

Some affected persons who spoke to Citi News said, “the light went off around 7.30pm and we thought it was a normal outage so we could wait but after waiting for several hours the light did not come back.”

Another also said “there is total darkness in the municipality and the situation has remains for hours.”

Some parts of the Western Region including the capital, Takoradi, also experienced the outage.

Source: citinewsroom.com