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President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has charged the board of directors and the management of the National Lottery Authority (NLA), to ensure responsible gaming in the country and to strive to be transparent with all Ghanaians who patronize their games and services.

As a revenue generating institution, President Akufo-Addo, says the NLA has a responsibility to exercise the highest form of transparency and integrity in the conduct of its draws if the organization is to continue to enjoy the confidence the Ghanaian people have reposed in them.

The President made the call when he addressed the staff, management and guests of the NLA, at their 60th anniversary celebration on Friday 9 December 2022, at the forecourt of the office complex of the NLA in Accra.

“I commend the NLA for its sustained efforts at maintaining this national endevour especially for the sense of commitment to fulfilling the obligation embedded in the National Lotto Act to take care of the needy, the aged, orphans and the destitute.

“Giving back to society through your good causes foundation compliments the efforts of government in the development of our country and it is worthy of emulation by others” President Akufo-Addo said.

“As an institution tasked with revenue generation, I will implore you to ensure that you exercise the highest form of transparency and integrity in the conduct of your draws to uphold the confidence that the public continues to have in you.

The onus to achieve this does not only lie in your ability to generate revenue for government and give back to society, but more importantly, in ensuring that the Ghanaians who play your lottery games receive a true reflection of the daily results published” Akufo-Addo added.

The NLA’s ability to ensure responsible and transparent gaming according to President Akufo-Addo, is the surest way for their “promise of enriching lives through games” to hold true meaning.

“I urge you also to implement stringent policies on responsible gaming, chiefly, to prevent minus and under-age persons from patronizing your games and to help sanitize the lottery and betting space”.

“The Ghanaian people are expectant of reforms that will help you live up to your vision of becoming the organization of choice and blue print for lottery in Africa” President Akufo-Addo admonished.

Touching on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of the NLA, President Akufo-Addo, urged the NLA to follow strictly, the high standards of the World Lottery Association (WLA) on CSR and supporting good causes.

Proceeds from lotteries the world over are known to support good causes in society. According to the World Lottery Association earnings have funded more than 1.5 million scholarships and grants.

The WLA global data compendium has also indicated that total revenues for WLA member lotteries amounted to 284 billion United States dollars in 2020, whiles in the same year, the total of funds returned to society came to 74.9 billion United States dollars” President Akufo-Addo stated.

These statistics, according to President Akufo-Addo, clearly defines the focus of the global body, WLA, and that the NLA cannot afford but to emulate same in Ghana.

The President further emphasized the NLA has no reason to fail because right here in Africa, Cote d’Ivoire has blazed the trail in line with the standards set by WLA and the NLA ought to be inspired by the Loterie Nationale de Cote d’Ivoire (LONACI) of Cote d’Ivoire.

The Director General of the NLA Sammy Awuku, in his address, welcomed the charge of the President and indicated that with the support of the board of directors, management and staff of the NLA, they will strive to achieve more successes beyond all that has been done the last two years.

Mr. Awuku commended the staff of NLA for their discipline and punctuality to work. He assured then that he will continue to lead the NLA to the best of his ability to ensure that together, they achieve the stated objectives of the NLA.
“We are excited about this new phase and of what the future holds as we forge ahead in our journey. We believe there will be bigger hurdles to cross and while we acknowledge the work that lies ahead, we remain resolute with a renewed commitment to do much better for out cherished patrons” Sammy Awuku stated.

President of the World Lottery Association (WLA) Rebecca Paul, who travelled to Ghana to support the 60th anniversary celebration of the NLA, ahead of the celebration, paid a courtesy call on President Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House.

In her remarks, she stated that WLA is ready to support all the efforts Ghana is currently making to stop illegal gaming activities in the country. According to Madam Paul, the WLA has two dominant objectives and they are; giving back to good courses in the countries where they have representation by way of membership and fighting all forms of illegal gaming and lottery activities.

Part of what World Lottery Association does is to help setup standards that our members meet and certainly, one of the most important is the corporate social responsibility (CSR) standards which you (Ghana) are applying for and working towards.

“One of the things that is most threatening to lottery that gives back to good courses are those illegal folks who do nothing. They don’t pay any taxes, they don’t give any money to good causes and they don’t follow the same rules and standards that those of us who are government sanctioned follow” the WLA President, Rebecca Paul said.
We are working with all the lotteries across Africa, [including Ghana] on those two initiatives [CSR and responsible gaming] which are two of our most important and we are just elated to be her in Ghana” the WLA president added.

Ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo has said governments search for three billion dollars from the International Monitory Fund (IMF) by the President Nana Akufo-Addo led government should not destroy over hundred billion of Ghanaian resources.

At a press conference on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, Mr. Adongo served notice to investors, banks and pension funds managers that the Bank of Ghana is not their friend and added that the security and exchange commission as well is not their friend.

He added that the Pension Regulatory Authority is not with them as well as the National Insurance Commission as they are all in bed with government to destroy their share holding resources in these financial institutions.

“We urge the Banks and financial institutions and the pension funds to rise up and seek to reclaim their position and protect investors’ funds. Some of us together with friendly investors and financial analyst will support them to fight this government to the hills”, he warned.

Mr. Isaac Adongo agreed that Ghana needs a restructuring but not an illegal unilateral and arrogant misappropriation of people’s resources. “This is the time to call on activist investment lawyers to step up and claim their position in Ghana.

He said he will not tolerate the Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta or anybody at all who arrogate to themselves powers they do not have to shred people’s contract and treat them with impunity. “The battle has just started”, he stated.
According to Mr. Adongo, the pronouncement made by the finance minister signaled that government has the intention not to meet its debt obligation, and on the basis of that put out a proposal that he want to give to bondholders what he calls the bond exchange programme and it has come to their attention that on the 18th of this month, the chief legal officer of the country, the Attorney General issued an opinion declaring that transaction illegal.

“When you issue a bond, it is an agreement; you advertise a prospectus which becomes the agreement and you are bound by those agreement to respect them, you cannot alone sit in your office shred those agreement illegally and arrogantly compel people to accept what you want.

“They are all aware that since yesterday the financial sector has become inundated by customers calling in and some running in there thinking something bade was happening to their money. Today, I want to appeal to all bondholders to exercise caution and spare our financial sector from any pressure”.

The Bolgatanga Central lawmaker pointed out that it has become quite clear that the Attorney General and Minister for Justice that this was not the action of government and rather the action of Ken Ofori Atta.

Again, it’s not possible for cabinet to approve a transaction that the AG says its illegal, so Ken Ofori Atta is on his own, he has already collapsed the banking sector, collapse our savings and loan and micro finance institutions and already collapsed the capital market where liquidity dry out way back in 2021.

“For several years we have been trying to build a capital market that is respected and lawful, what he has done is to send us back twenty years whiles we are trying to build a legal respected legal capital market”.

He said they will resist this and as at yesterday he has been supported by a team of financial analyst and investment bankers who are pondering over the sixty four bond categories that were issued, adding that very soon, they will present to the media the level of damage in people’s investment that has called for this announcement.

“I am ready with my team, with any group of investors and bondholders who agree to come together for a class action to sue government and the minister for finance to reverse this decision”, he said.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Member of Parliament for Sagnarigu, A. B. A Fuseini on Monday, December 5, 2022 stormed Parliament with a Kenkey and Fish to illustrate the hardship Ghanaians are facing as the management of government economic team and the finance Minister had run the economy into a ditch.

When the first deputy speaker Joseph Osei-Owusu enquire where he got the said items from he noted that Adabraka Kenkey house.

He showed a Kenkey and a fish to the first deputy Speaker who was presiding at the time he was contributing to the debate on the 2023 budget, that last year round this time Kenkey which went for two Ghana cedis is now going for four cedis and fish six cedis now twelve cedis.

And urged his colleagues on the Majority side, the group of 98 who stood up that the Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta should be shown the exit door with his disastrous performance to rise up and do the needful.

He further added that prosperity will judge the MPs as the country is watching them, and lamented that what government is doing is to add more hardship to the already burden Ghanaians by increasing tax on VAT.

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The Effiduase Asokore Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Health Committee Dr. Nana Ayew Afriyie has confirmed that not all the hospitals promised by government under the Agenda 111 project can be completed by the end of 2024.

According to him government had earlier indicated its hope to complete the construction of all the hospitals under the project by 2024.

But Dr. Nana Ayew Afriyie, contributing to the 2023 budget statement at the plenary on Monday, December 5, 2022 said it would not be possible for the government to meet the 2024 timeline.

“Frankly, I would not say that all 111 and seven regional hospitals and 2 psychiatric hospitals could be finished in 2024 it does not make sense”, he said in his contribution.

“However, it makes sense to say that 89 of them have started and if in two years even 30 of them are completed. It is a legacy. If the NPP inherits itself as it will, then it will see the light of day that all these districts will have the hospitals,” he said.

The Effiduase Asokore MP contended that the project must not be politicised, because its inability to be completed benefits no government.

He applauded government for starting 89 of the projects, adding that “if in 4 years we are done with 20 or 30, this is not to be politicised, it is better than none.”

He said government is redesigning some of the projects under Agenda 111 and settling land acquisition issues for others.

And added that ambitious as agenda 111 is, it is a legacy because of COVID -19; Ridge hospital was started by the previous government and phase two is being completed by the current government and signifies continuity as far as the health sector is concerned.

Further in his contribution he noted that many who can afford within the West African sub-region bring their children to Ghana to complete their health education, and if Ghana can produce health personnel and export like the Philippines do will be healthy for the economy.

“There is hope in the budget saying Ghana will sign a contract with Britain so that Ghanaians will go there; some of us were in such business and it was helping our families”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Minister for Communications and Digitalisation Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has said its incorrect for anyone to state that Ghanaians who do not have the Ghana card have had their sim cards blocked rather the process is being conducted in phases.

According to her those who have experienced deactivation are those who completed the first phase of linking their sim to their Ghana card but had not gone on to complete the second phase.

The Ablekuma West lawmaker set the record straight when she was contributing to debate on the 2023 budget and the Ranking member on Communications in his contribution noted that those who do not have Ghana card have had their sim card blocked.

She further pointed out during debate at the plenary that the process of acquiring Ghana card started in 2018 but the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority encouraged their supporters not to acquire the Ghana card.

“If they had not done that, we will not find ourselves in this situation if people do not have Ghana card because our colleagues from the other side encouraged their members not to get the Ghana card; let us see how we work together to address the problem”.

The Minister recounted that the sim card registration exercise started in October 2021; it was supposed to end in March 2022 and was for a six month period. This has been extended several times since then based on representation and assessment made throughout the last press statement and on November 11, 2022.

Currently thirty million, eleven thousand and eighty two cards have completed the first stage of linking of Ghana card to their sim numbers as at November 9, 2022. Twenty million, eight hundred and ninety two thousand, nine hundred and seventy subscribers had completed the sim card registration linkage and biometric meaning almost seventy percent of those who have completed the first stage had completed the full registration.

Again, she stated that one key reason why some of those who have linked their phone to the Ghana card have been unable to complete the bio capture of stage two is that because they use other peoples cards to link their numbers; this include vendors who use the card of others without their knowledge and consent of the card owner.

And their inability to complete phase two attests to the robustness of the authentication process designed into the sim registration architecture which will flash out all fake ones.

Also you cannot use some ones Ghana card to register yours, despite the ample opportunity given all to complete the sim registration, some who have the Ghana card and have started the process have failed to complete the registration and so an announcement was made that all sim cards which have completed the first stage of registration exercise but have not done the second phase will be blocked from accessing data services on November 20, 2022 and completely deactivated on November 30, 2022.

“All those who have completed the first phase of the exercise, but have not gone on to complete the second phase will have their card deactivated”, she said.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Leader in parliament said the recent debt-restructuring program, announced by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta is set to derail and disrupt the plans of bondholders who have planned their lives and expenditure around the expected timely and full payment of their principals in consonance with the terms of purchase of the original bonds.

The Finance Minister during the launch of the debt-restructuring program on Monday, 5th December 2022 details that:

For Domestic Bond holders, there will be a drastic slash in the agreed interests on their existing bonds which have been replaced by four new instruments maturing in 2027, 2029, 2032 and 2037 as follows,

1. In 2023, there will be 0% interest paid them on their bonds
2. In 2024, only 5% interest will be paid

3. In 2025, 10% interest will be paid until maturity.

According to the Minority this implies that for those who have invested their lifetime savings in government bonds and depend on the interests for their livelihood and regular upkeep, they will suffer a drastic reduction in the rate of interest, which will significantly diminish their source of livelihoods.

The President, they indicated denied there would ever be a “A HAIRCUT”, when he was compelled to address the nation after coming under a barrage of public criticism for failing to show leadership and failing to address the nation in the wake of the harrowing hardships and economic crisis.

The debt-restructuring measures put forward by government show steep cuts in interest rates and this clearly exposes the falsehood and hollowness of the President’s claims in the said address.

“Beyond a terse claim that principals of domestic bondholders would not suffer haircuts, the finance minister failed to provide details of what would happen to the principals”.

They stated that they have become aware of the emergence of details of a briefing given by the Finance Minister and officials of the Finance Ministry to stakeholders in the Banking Sector.

It was clearly disclosed at the briefing that bondholders who look forward to having their principals paid upon the maturity of their bonds, are also in for a very rough ride as the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government has decided not to pay in full when the bonds reach maturity.

The principal payments are to be done according to the under listed formula.
1. In 2027, which is five years from now, only 17% of the principal will be paid.

2. In 2029, seven years from now, only 17% will be paid

3. In 2032, ten years from now, 25% will be paid and

4. In 2037, fifteen years from now, 41% will be paid.

They contend that this will surely lead to hardships for bondholders, not to mention the breach of the original instruments.

The Minority leader also stated that government has also decided to cut a staggering 30% off both the interest and principal of external bondholders, while extending the maturity dates of their bonds by twenty whole years.

“These harsh cuts in the interests and principals of bondholders stem from a self-inflicted economic disaster.

Incontrovertible information reaching us indicates that this decision has been reached after a Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) carried out under the aegis of the IMF and World Bank showed that we in the Minority have always been right that our public debt is no longer sustainable”.

Ghanamps.com

The World Bank in collaboration with other International Organisations are raising red flag of unstable political situation in Liberia ahead of next year’s Presidential and Parliamentary elections to be conducted in October 10, 2023.

According to a Country report presented on Saturday, December 3, 2022 to the plenary at the ongoing Community Parliament’s Second Ordinary Session in Abuja Nigeria, this is due to fractions and conflict with the opposition parties in Liberia.

Hon. Clarence Massaquoi a member of the Liberian delegation presenting the Country report noted that, the four opposition political parties (the All Liberian Party, the Alternative National Congress, the Liberty Party and the Unity Party) in Liberia entered into an alliance, in 2020, termed “The Collaborating Political Parties”. Beginning 2021, conflict engulfed the alliance and by the beginning of 2022, two of the four opposition political parties (ALP & UP) withdrew from the alliance.

Upon their withdrawal, the remaining two parties from the CPP evoked a purported “exit clause” that was allegedly in the CPP Framework document. The two withdrawing parties denied the existence of said clause, which would prevent them from contesting any elections after withdrawal, when they signed the framework.

This led to legal proceedings beginning at the National Elections Commission and ending at the Supreme Court of Liberia. In June 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that the “exit clause” was illegal and unconstitutional- both parties can participate in any election in Liberia.

ALP vs ANC- The Government of Liberia, through Cllr. SaymaSyreniusSephus (Solicitor General), dropped all charges for “forgery and criminal conspiracy” against the Political Leader of the Alternative National Congress, Mr. Alexander B. Cummings. The All Liberian Party of Benoni Urey had sued Mr. Cummings and other officials of his party for allegedly altering the Collaborating Political Parties Framework by inserting an illegal exit clause that bar breakaway members of the CPP from contesting in any election until 2024.

Liberty Party vs Liberty Party- Liberty Party still has a major internal split over (1) the alleged unauthorized expulsion of its Political Leader, Sen. NyonbleeKarnga Lawrence, by its Party Chairman, Musa Hassan Bility, and (2) the alleged tempering of some provisions of the party’s constitution by the Party Chairman.

Both matters are still at the National Elections Commissions and the Supreme Court of Liberia as both the Political Leader and the Chairman battle for legitimacy and supremacy.

VOTERS’ REGISTRATION:
Voter’s Registration is expected to begin from December 15, 2022 – March 17, 2023. The NEC, registered political parties and international partners have agreed to transition to the Biometric Voters Registration System.

This will be the first time for Liberia to use such system. However, there is currently a stalemate, which began in August 2022, between the NEC and the Public Procurement and Concession Commission (PPCC) over the selection of the company to award the contract to supply the biometric system.

The NEC has selected EKEMP two times claiming that they were the only company that met all the requirements advertised and therefore the “Most Responsive Bidder”. The NEC requested “No Objection”, on both occasions, from PPCC to award the contract for the supply of the biometric system and equipment to EKEMP and the PPCC has rejected to do so both times stating that EKEMP does not have the requisite experience, profile and capacity to supply the system and equipment.

The delay in this procurement process has, by default, disrupted the initial timetable for voters’ registration. The NEC is yet to share the adjusted timetable with political parties or the public.

Meanwhile, the National Population and Housing Census was announced to take place from October 24- November 7, 2022 across Liberia.

The census should have been conducted in 2018 but was postponed. The last census was conducted in 2008. The census was later postponed to November 22, 2022. However, from the planning stages of the census, there have been allegations of financial malpractices by officials of the Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) as well as the lack of capacity to conduct the census.

There have been many setbacks experienced including poor timing ineffectiveness and inefficiency in the training of enumerators.

Since the training phase of the census, there have been multiple protests by recruited enumerators based on corruption allegations (from the selection of enumerators, conduct of the tests and payment of fees).

Although the census is said to have begun on November 22, it started on November 11 but has since been marred by huge criticism and resistance from the public.

Ongoing intra and inter tussles within LISGIS, which is charged with the responsibility to conduct the census, has caused much concerns and uncertainty which has even led to the dismissal of two of its senior officials by the President of Liberia.

It is not yet clear whether or not the process will meet internationally set standards for the conduct of census. However, both the Executive and Legislature have agreed for the census to proceed and have thereby extended the deadline to January 2023.

The United States imposed sanctions on three senior government officials in August 2022. The officials sanctioned included President Weah’s Chief of Staff- Nathaniel McGill, Liberia’s Chief Prosecutor- SaymaSyreniusCephus and the Managing Director of the National Port Authority- Bill Two-way.

All three officials were designated as “foreign government officials who engaged in corruption including misappropriation of state assets, taking private assets for personal gains, or bribery”.

The Liberian President initially suspended the three officials and commissioned an investigation but later, they resigned from their respective posts and the investigation has not been completed.

SECURITY SITUATION
On the overall, the security situation in Liberia is stable although there are several early warning signs of possible political clashes, which may occur during the 2023 Presidential and Legislative elections, if care is not taken.

There is looming fears and anxiety amongst Liberians when discussing the upcoming elections.

Despite Liberia’s security challenges, she was maintain her commitment to maintaining peace and her presence in the sub-region.

Cross-Border Security:
Echoes of recent military coups in neighboring Guinea, as well as other sister states such as Mali and Burkina Faso continue to permeate fear in border security.

The influxes of migrants from these affected countries into Liberia, the volatile security situation along the borders, and the fragile state of the country, raise the concern for border security and require swift action on the part of the government, ECOWAS and partners to strengthen border security in the region.

To this end, the government of Liberia has recruited over 1,000 new police officers and 500 new military officers to beef up security in Liberia.

Influx of Migrants:
The unsettled conflict due to influx of migrants from the West African region into border towns of the country is causing tension in some quarters- specifically the mass farming and logging by Burkinabe’s and illicit mineral mining by Ghanaians.

Residents of the affected counties, in Liberia, have called on the government to intervene before the situation degenerates into violence.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Deputy Majority Leader Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has said its nowhere in the standing Orders of Parliament for Ministers to be present on the floor of the House during debate of the budget statement.

According to him if the first deputy whip of the Minority Ahmed Ibrahim is making a political statement to please his side of the House and to make the headlines he should state the obvious and should not create the impression that Ministers are supposed to be part of the debate. “Do not get it wrong if you are talking about the estimate, the House is guided by rules, you can get away with political statements”.

He further challenged the first deputy whip of the Minority to show him where in the standing order that states that Minister should be present during the debate on budgets; rather the debate is for Members of Parliament since the budget is emanating from the Executive arm of government.

He added that the Executive arm of government has put together their budget and brought it before parliament for debate, and when they are done with the debate and it gets to the estimate, it is at that time that “if the Minister whose estimate is being discussed is not here, then you are on firm grounds; then I agree with you. But if you want to say the absence of a Minister disable parliament from debating, Mr. Speaker I bet to differ”, he emphasised.

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A member of Ghana’s delegation to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament Mahama Ayariga has said the sub-regional bloc’s budget is not for development within the member states.

According to him a significant chuck of the budget is going into paying of salaries and administrative programmes as the sub-regional institution is to coordinate and ensure that the various countries play their roles.

And the right rules and systems are put in place to enhance free movement of goods, services and persons and it’s not ECOWAS itself that has to deliver on infrastructure that would enhance free movement.

“ECOWAS is not to construct roads that would link countries and border posts; they are not to ensure security in member states so that other nationals can pass through, but the duty of member state government. That is why you will not see huge budgetary allocation for specific development, rather ECOWAS coordinates”, he said in an interview.

And pointed out that, it is the reason the 2023 budget adopted by the Community Parliament on Wednesday, November 30, 2022, there is nothing different about the budget.

Mr. Mahama Ayariga was of the view that ECOWAS as a sub-regional bloc needs to step up, if blocs like the EU is doing and they want to take on more space in the nation states. They need to rake in more resources for ECOWAS as a body.
“If we want ECOWAS to play a greater role in ensuring security in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso in Northern Nigeria and others, they must have the capacity and it means that we need to find means of increasing the resources that are available”.

He thinks the levy currently being paid is inadequate despite that the various countries are not making full disclosure in terms of what they are collecting as levies. If you go and look at Nigeria as a country on that subject matter, I am sure Nigeria as a country is to declare exactly how much they are collecting and transmitting to ECOWAS.

And it will be significant, as we have smaller countries that they cannot complain if they do not remit small amounts. “But if big economies like Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Ivory Coast, if they are fully accountable for the levies that they collect, I am sure the organisation will be significantly resourced”, he stated.

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Member states of the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS) including Gambia, Benin and Senegal have started presenting their country reports on Wednesday, November 30, 2022 at the ongoing Second Ordinary Session in Abuja Nigeria.

But a member of Ghana’s delegation to the Parliament, Mahama Ayariga in an interview with Ghanamps.com, ahead of the presentation of the report said it is about time ECOWAS allows its country representatives to present shadow country reports to help provide the true states of events in member states.

“I suggested that, we should begin to ask those country representatives to also send us shadow country reports; because if individual members cannot give us a truthful account of what is happening in their countries to pick up some early warning signals, our representatives should be able to do that”.

According to him country report presentation turns out to be dishonest because representatives presenting the various country reports, all create the impression that their countries are doing well, all because people from the various countries do not want to appear at an international forum to undermine their countries.

He pointed out that by this practice, when there is a problem ongoing in a member state, at least the country representatives appointed by ECOWAS can give alternative reports of each country. Again, the composition of lawmakers at the ECOWAS Parliament is made up of both the Majority and Minority side of their various member states.

“What we could do is to have the Majority and Minority present country reports, so that members have the opportunity of two set of reports, then we can decide as to who is being more truthful than the other”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com