Month: January 2011

The Member of Parliament for the Anlo constituency in the Volta Region, Clement Kofi Humado has been appointed Minister of Youth and Sports designate in the latest reshuffle by President John Evans Attah Mills.

Mr. Humado who is the only new appointee among the ten-man reshuffle list, has served on several Parliamentary Committees including Agriculture, Food and Cocoa Affairs, Environment, Science and Technology Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises. He has once been a football administrator.

He is sure that his competencies in management would enable him transform the Youth and Sports Ministry, promising to focus more attention on the development of lesser known sports in the country.

The Member of Parliament for the Anlo constituency in the Volta Region says when given final nod, he would use his managerial competencies to resolve the canker which has bedeviled the Youth and Sports Ministry for several years.

He replaces Akua Sena Dansua who has been moved to the Ministry of Tourism.

Her removal from the Sports Ministry was imminent following the ceaseless calls for her dismissal, due to her perceived awful performance at that ministry which has been described by many as “mine field”.

Mr. Kofi Humado will become the fourth Minister at the Sports Ministry in the two years administration of President Mills, after Muntaka Mubarak, Rashid Pelpuo and Akua Sena Dansua.

Story by : Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh

The Deputy Minister of Energy and Member of Parliament for Tamale Central Inusah Fuseini says government has not reneged on its campaign promise of reducing petroleum prices.

The National Petroleum Authority on Monday announced a 25 and 30 per cent increases in prices of diesel and petroleum respectively contrary to a famous campaign proclamation by then candidate John Mills that he would reduce petroleum prices drastically when voted into power.

Critics have been quick to condemn the hikes.

The Association of Ghana Industries says the hikes will cripple the economy. Its president Nana Owusu Afari says industries may be forced to lay off workers while others could shut down.

The Committee for Joint Action, a pressure group which was vocal in its opposition to fuel price hikes during the reign of the NPP insists the hikes by the Mills government are needless.

One of its spokesperson Kwesi Pratt Jnr told Joy News he is shocked at the increases. He wondered why the government could not implement the many viable alternatives it pontificated whilst in opposition but rather seek to overburden Ghanaians with the increases.

However speaking to Joy News Hon. Inusah Fuseini states that the government honored its promise to reduce the prices in March 2009 shortly after it came into power.

He added the government has for over two months subsidized the fuel prices with huge sums of monies – monies that would otherwise have gone into key areas of development.

Whilst government empathizes with the concerns of some consumers, Inusah Fuseini stressed the government was faced with the obvious realities in rising international crude oil prices and a substantial Tema Oil Refinery debt, factors which led to the hikes in local prices.

He said government has a commitment to develop the country and believes the hikes were announced after comprehensive consultations with stakeholders.

He said the hikes will not affect industry.

Mr Cletus Apul Avoka, the Majority Leader and Member of Parliament (MP) for Zebilla constituency, said at the weekend that the Kusaal Caucus in Parliament has contributed GH¢130,000 for peace initiatives in Bawku.

He said the move by legislators from the area was borne out of their appreciation of the importance of peace as a prerequisite for the development of the Region.

Mr Avoka who was accompanied by Mr Asiedu Nketiah, General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to this year’s Samanpiid” festival in Bawku, expressed gratitude to the people of Bawku Traditional Area for the peace that is currently prevailing in the area.

The festival is celebrated annually by the chiefs and people of the area to commemorate family reunion and provides an occasion for the people to give thanks to God and their ancestors for the good harvests and good health during the just-ended farming season.

He said the theme for the celebration, 93Tolerance and mutual understanding, peace and development” was appropriate, especially now that the Municipality craved for total peace and unity to push the development agenda forward.

He was grateful to the security services for the display of professionalism, the Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee, all peace partners and the Chiefs and people of the Bawku Traditional Area for allowing peace to prevail, but asked them not to rest on their oars.

Mr. Mark Woyongo, Upper East Regional Minister who recounted the negative impact of conflicts, called for restraint among the people of the area in the interest of peace and development, saying 93peace and stability are the bedrock and pre-requisite for any meaningful development”.

He asked the people to use the occasion as a vehicle for reconciliation and forgiveness for one another with the same sense of purpose of rebuilding the municipality. “Scarce resources that should have been used to initiate development projects for the benefit of the people have instead been channeled into peacekeeping operations due to conflicts in the area,” he said.

The Regional Minister asked the youth to get ready to take advantage of the many opportunities government was rolling out, including the STX housing project and the Savannah Accelerated Development Programme, and said many jobs would be made available for them.

He asked the youth to wage a crusade against the HIV/AIDS pandemic which was fast eroding the modest gains the country had chalked, by abstaining from sex without protection and also by going to health facilities for voluntary testing to know their HIV status.

Mr Woyongo advised infected persons to take their treatment seriously because it was through the effective use of the Anti-Retroviral Therapy that they could enjoy improved health and longer life.

Source:GNA

The Member of Parliament for Ahafo Ano South, Stephen Balado Manu says the recent increment of petroleum price between 25 and 30 per cent amounts to the betrayal of Ghanaians by President John Evans Attah Mills.

According to the MP, Professor Mills in the lead up to the 2008 elections went round telling Ghanaians he will reduce fuel prices drastically when he assumed power, after the then NPP government increased petroleum prices.

‘’This is the same man who accused the Kufour administration of colluding with the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to sought of dupe Ghanaians, and instead of reducing the prices now, he has rather increased it, Ghanaians feel betrayed and disappointed in him and his government, and that is what I also feel, he (President Mills) has really short changed Ghanaians’’ he lamented.

The National Petroleum Authority yesterday January 3rd 2011, announced increase adjusted in petroleum prices with effect from Tuesday January 4, citing the rise of crude oil on the world market and the Tema Oil Refinery debt recovery levy, adding that the objective will be to retire debts owed by the country’s only refinery.

The new prices as follows: Petrol, GHp152.07 from GHp116.98 per litre; Diesel, GHp153.46 from GHp118.05 per litre and LPG, GHp104.76 from GHp83.81 per kilogramme.

But speaking to ghanamps.gov.gh, the Member of Parliament for Ahafo Ano South, Balado Manu states that the government has no justification to use the indebtedness of TOR as a good reason to increase fuel prices.

“At the time the NPP government increased the fuel prices TOR was indebted, but the then opposition NDC severally criticized the NPP, why are they doing same now’’ he asked.

He cautioned Ghanaians to brace themselves for the “2011 action year” declared by President Mills, as it will be full of incessant hardships.

Story by : Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh

The Deputy Minority Leader has lunged at President John Mills, accusing him of insincerity and engaging in “useless populism.”

Interacting with the media in his village in the Lawra District of the Upper West Region, Ambrose Derry said the performance of the Mills administration in the past two years is “abysmal, indicative of incompetence, inertia and confusion.”

Joy News Correspondent Rafik Salam reports the deputy minority leader cited the petroleum politics as clear example of what he says is Mills’ insincerity.

Unlike ex-president John Kufuor who apologized publicly for not fulfilling his campaign promise of downsizing his government, Ambrose Derry said president Mills, rather than reducing petroleum prices as he promised or apologizing because he was unable to, is rather engaging in petty petroleum politicking.

“When he got into office and we thought it was clear to him that he could not do that and should have done the honest thing by apologizing he indulged in useless populism, first by removing the fuel levy, giving Ghanaians the impression that he had met his campaign promise of reducing the price of fuel which was just marginal and in two weeks increased the price of fuel beyond what it was with the levy.”

A year later the government is back in Parliament seeking to increase the Tema Oil Refinery levy on petroleum pricing mix with the promise of paying the debt left behind by the NPP.

“That sort of move is what began to raise questions about the sincerity of the president,” Derry mocked.

The Lawra Nandom MP also charged the president to make Ghana’s position known on the Ivorian crisis, warning his continued silence could tarnish the reputation of the country.

Source:Joy fm