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ACCRA (Reuters) - Soldiers entered Ghana’s parliament to break up a scuffle between rival lawmakers at odds over last month’s elections, hours before President Nana Akufo-Addo was due to be sworn in on Thursday. The clash underscored the deep tensions following the Dec. 7 election that has led to rare unrest in Ghana, a major cocoa and gold producer seen as a bastion of democracy in West Africa. It started when one member of parliament from the president’s NPP party snatched some paper ballots during an overnight vote to determine the house speaker, according to a source who was present. It was not immediately clear why the lawmaker was angry. Last month’s elections left a hung parliament, without a dominant party to push through the appointment of speaker and other key posts. Footage on local television showed politicians, many of them unmasked, pushing and shoving before about 20 soldiers entered the chamber. Ranks of MPs then faced each other and chanted over a dividing line of masked soldiers and police. Eventually, Alban Bagbin, the candidate from Ghana’s other main party, the NDC, was voted in as speaker. “The attempt to snatch ballot papers … and the invasion of the Chamber by armed military personnel are images one had never expected to see in our 4th Republican Parliament,” said losing presidential candidate John Mahama in a Facebook post congratulating Bagbin. The incident occurred as preparations were underway for the swearing in of Akufo-Addo for his second term at a ceremony on the parliament grounds. Dignitaries from across Africa are expected to attend. Akufo-Addo was declared the winner of last month’s election with 51.59%, ahead of former President Mahama, who got 47.37%. Mahama’s party has said it will contest the results in court, alleging fraud though it has not published evidence. - Reuters
Announcement of the death of former President Rawlings pic.twitter.com/7ext0fp4sd
— Nana Akufo-Addo (@NAkufoAddo) November 12, 2020
Watch our report:
BY SIMBARASHE SITHOLE KADOMA-BASED Jindarume Fidza Matsveru of Orchestra Gwindingwi band has released a four-track DVD. Matsveru rose to fame in 2004 after he won a prize at the Chibuku Road to Fame competition before recording his debut album, Ndangariro, the following year. The sungura artiste has four albums under his sleeve and is currently working on his fifth offering, set for release in November. Matsveru told NewsDay Life & Style that he had been recording tracks without videos, but he had since recorded a DVD with various songs. “Since 2005, we have been releasing albums without videos so we just released a DVD with different songs from all the albums,” he said.
LATE JAMAICA Labour Party Councillor Milton Brown has been praised as a committed community activist and a voice of fairness who sought to achieve bipartisanship amid fierce political rivalry.
Brown, councillor for the Mineral Heights division and a former mayor of May Pen, died yesterday morning at hospital.
Newly installed member of parliament for Clarendon South East, Pearnel Charles Jr, in paying tribute, said that Brown was one of the first leaders to express confidence and support in his candidacy.
People’s National Party councillor for the Hayes division, Scean Barnswell, remembers challenging Brown in 1998 for the newly created Mineral Heights division.
First time in the history of Jamaica we had a council with a tie and shared responsibility,” Barnswell recalled of Brown’s mayoralty.
TEEN Rescue Mission (TRM), a non-profit organisation founded by gospel musician Abraham Matuka recently partnered the Indian embassy, a development that will see its members getting job opportunities at Pepsi Zimbabwe and scholarships in India. BY KENNEDY NYAVAYA The deal comes at a time TRM has been making efforts to keep young people off the streets and from immoral activities through various art competitions and training programmes. In an interview with NewsDay Life & Style yesterday, Matuka said the opportunities facilitated by the embassy would enable them to fulfil their objectives of getting rid of idleness among local youths. “This opportunity helps us to achieve our purpose. We cannot effectively influence youths to do the right thing while leaving them with nothing to fill the void of idleness since most of them are very active at this age,” he said. “We would like to thank our sponsors and the Indian embassy for their unwavering support to our activities. Such support motivates us to achieve part of our mission to make young people responsible and reduce crime.” Matuka said under the scholarship programme, young people would be sent to India to train in different vocations that would assist them to become entrepreneurs. Outgoing Indian ambassador Rungsung Masakui pledged more and applauded TRM for making an attempt to keep teenagers away from deviant conduct. “Most of the young people he (Matuka) has been interacting with are actually of a productive age, but because of the conditions that are prevailing in the country, and also for other reasons I think they have been distracted. “He (Matuka) has been assisting to bring them back to the mainstream to make them more productive again, so we are quite excited about that,” he said. Founded in 2018, Teen Rescue Mission assists teenagers and youths to abstain from drugs, crime and early sex, thereby moulding better citizens and future leaders.
GWERU residents yesterday urged the council to give incentives to people who pay their bills in United States dollars, saying such a move would enable the local authority to collect revenue in foreign currency. BY Stephen Chadenga The residents made the call at a consultative meeting for the 2021 budget. Gweru United Progressive Residents and Ratepayers Development Association Trust executive director David Chikore said council should charge less in US dollars to encourage ratepayers to settle their bills in hard currency. “Since council has adopted dual pricing we propose that instead of billing the US dollar component using the interbank rate, they can lower it a bit compared to the RTGS$ charge,” he said. “By introducing incentives council will be able to directly get revenue in US dollar and pay its suppliers without hassles. Without incentives people will continue opting to pay in Zimdollars.” Mayor Josiah Makombe said his council would consider the proposal. He said council was also working on ways to implement the payment of tariffs in the 2021 budget in a manner that would ease the burden on ratepayers. “That is a welcome move by residents to propose for incentives to those residents who settle their rates in US dollars and we are going to seriously consider it,” Makombe said. “We will do everything as a local authority to make sure that we implement payment methods that ease the burden on our residents.”
Cameroon is a Central African nation on the Gulf of Guinea, bordered by Nigeria, Chad, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. It is nearly twice the size of Oregon. Mount Cameroon (13,350 ft; 4,069 m), near the coast, is the highest elevation in the country. The main rivers are the Benue, Nyong, and Sanaga.
After a 1972 plebiscite, a unitary republic was formed out of East and West Cameroon to replace the former federal republic.
Bantu speakers were among the first groups to settle Cameroon, followed by the Muslim Fulani in the 18th and 19th centuries. The land escaped colonial rule until 1884, when treaties with tribal chiefs brought the area under German domination. After World War I, the League of Nations gave the French a mandate over 80% of the area, and the British 20% adjacent to Nigeria. After World War II, when the country came under a UN trusteeship in 1946, self-government was granted, and the Cameroon Peoples Union emerged as the dominant party by campaigning for reunification of French and British Cameroon and for independence. Accused of being under Communist control, the party waged a campaign of revolutionary terror from 1955 to 1958, when it was crushed. In British Cameroon, unification was also promoted by the leading party, the Kamerun National Democratic Party, led by John Foncha.
France set up Cameroon as an autonomous state in 1957, and the next year its legislative assembly voted for independence by 1960. In 1959 a fully autonomous government of Cameroon was formed under Ahmadou Ahidjo. Cameroon became an independent republic on Jan. 1, 1960. In 1961 the southern part of the British territory joined the new Federal Republic of Cameroon and the northern section voted for unification with Nigeria. The president of Cameroon since independence, Ahmadou Ahidjo was replaced in 1982 by the prime minister, Paul Biya. Both administrations have been authoritarian.
With the expansion of oil, timber, and coffee exports, the economy has continued to
A NYANGA man committed suicide after he was accused of raping and impregnating his minor sister. BY KENNETH NYANGANI Manicaland police spokesperson Inspector Tavhiringwa Kakohwa confirmed the incident to NewsDay yesterday. The man (26, name withheld) of Gohoto village under Chief Katerere in Ruwangwe, Nyanga North, killed himself on November 6. It is said that on November 5, the family members of the now-deceased met and discussed the matter as they accused him of impregnating his 14-year-old sister. The following day, the accused told his son that he was going to Nyapomboro Mountain. The family members became suspicious when he failed to return after several hours. They went to the mountain and found him hanging from a baobab tree. Kakohwa said no foul play was suspected. Ruwangwe police officers attended the scene. Follow Kenneth on Twitter @KennethNyangan1
Opposition Senator Sophia Frazer Binns has argued that the Data Protection Bill will be of great importance now, given that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many businesses and enterprising individuals to seek out new ways of doing business.
Frazer Binns who was a part of the joint select committee, chaired by Technology Minister Fayval Williams, that examined that bill.
Frazer Binns said she was happy that there are provisions in the bill which allowed the minister, through consultation with the data commissioner, to make exception to certain micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
It requires that data should only be obtained for specific lawful purposes, with the consent of the individual, and not to be further used or processed in any way incompatible with the original purpose.
The bill further provides that data must not be transferred to a state or territory outside of Jamaica, unless that state or territory ensures an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of the individual from whom the data has been collected.
The Media Association Jamaica (MAJ) Limited is expressing disappointment over the passing of the Data Protection Bill two weeks ago without changes to grant complete exemption to the media on the basis of press freedom principles, something for which it and the Press Association of Jamaica had been lobbying.
In a release yesterday, the MAJ said, among other things, that this means that there could be subjective determination by the information commissioner for whether exemptions applied when journalists, as data controllers, are challenged for publishing personal data.
Additionally, media personnel will not be able to present their case to the information commissioner before a determination is made in respect of an application challenging the use of personal data.
MAJ Chairman Christopher Barnes said that the association’s disappointment is due to the fact that policymakers have seemingly squandered an opportunity to make a credible process of consultation by proceeding without the suggestions made not only for the benefit of the media, but for all Jamaicans.
It is because while there are certain exemptions in this bill afforded to the media, the average person, as a data controller, will be fully exposed to many of the above issues and more,” Barnes said.
BY NIZBERT MOYO THE government freeze on employment of additional staff at local authorities has affected service delivery in Bulawayo, mayor Solomon Mguni has said. Mguni told Southern Eye that the employment freeze had crippled critical departments such as housing and community services. He said out of 500 vacant posts, government only gave nod for council to employ 250 people. “The approval that we got this year to employ 250 plus staff is still a far cry from the 500 plus staff members that we need to fill the vacancies that continue to arise in the organisation,” he said. The Bulawayo mayor said shortage of human resources would stall plans for a world-class city status. This also comes at a time the MDC Alliance-run local authorities have accused central government of interfering in the running of their councils. However, government has defended its stance saying it was simply enforcing its oversight role over councils. Follow NewsDay on Twitter @NewsDayZimbabwe
THE MDC-T's extraordinary congress set for year-end faces a fresh hurdle with members who constituted the party’s Midlands provincial executive in 2014 demanding that MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa be among the candidates eligible for election.
FORMER Prime Minister PJ Patterson has warned members of the People's National Party (PNP) that the 82-year-old party could be banished to the political wilderness if they remain divided.
Up until now, the only black person to serve as a member of parliament since Portugal returned to democracy in 1974 was a man – Helder Amaral who represented the conservative CDS party between 2002 and 2019.
History was made last October when members of Portugal’s new parliament took office.
Among them were the country’s first black women lawmakers who all trace their origins to Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony in West Africa.
For the longest time, black people in Portugal were not fully considered as Portuguese citizens because of a 1981 law that was passed before their parent’s immigration status was regularised.
The three black women who made it to parliament were all activists who, during their campaigns, promised to fight these inequalities.
AN internal audit has exposed over 180 “voluntary workers” who were bleeding Marondera Municipality amid reports that they were each claiming $60 per day for doing menial jobs such as guarding communal boreholes and digging trenches. BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA This was revealed in a recent council audit committee report. The auditors noted several discrepancies where at some sites five people were said to be guarding a single borehole, amid reports that the “guards” were seconded by mostly MDC Alliance councillors. Marondera town has 11 MDC Alliance councillors and one for Zanu PF. It has emerged that each of the councillors seconded at least 15 workers to perform paid voluntary work. “Audit was concerned with the number of voluntary workers which was sky rocketing,” read part of the report. “The concern was that a single borehole was being manned by five people and to some extent people were attending malfunctioning boreholes. Audit cited loss of revenue.” Council early this year drilled 16 boreholes using devolution funds to ease water challenges, with five of them malfunctioning. According to the audit report, a number of voluntary workers were not reporting for duty but claimed daily allowances. “The audit manager said he received reports from the finance committee chairperson that there were some volunteers who were being paid yet they were not at work. The chairperson said internal audit should do the investigations and report accordingly,” read the report. The local authority is currently operating on a shoestring budget after revenue flows were affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in revenue collection falling by 50%.
[Cameroon Tribune] Prime Minister Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute on September 3, 2020 chaired the inaugural session of the Committee to Follow up the Implementation of the dialogue recommendations.
BY PATRICIA SIBANDA EKUSILENI Hospital in Bulawayo, which is currently being used as a COVID-19 facility, will become a National University of Science and Technology (NUST) specialist teaching centre when the coronavirus curve flattens. The chief executive of the hospital Absolom Dube revealed this last Friday during a tour by a ministerial taskforce to assess the health institution and progress made in operationalising the facility which had been lying idle for a long time. Dube told journalists that the government had already decided on what the hospital would be after the pandemic. “On the issue of what the hospital will become after COVID-19, I can say the Cabinet has already approved that NUST is going to take over and use it as a specialist teaching hospital,” Dube said. “We are working towards mobilising resources so that by November 30, the hospital is fully functional. We feel it is possible because we have some funds that we have been pushing for,” he said. Bulawayo Provincial Affairs minister Judith Ncube hailed COVID-19 frontline workers for a sterling job despite the dangers of the pandemic. She said more beds were needed in order to ensure the hospital facilities can adequately cater for COVID-19 patients. “Our wish as a government is that if we happen to get a patient with COVID-19, that person should be well treated, well received, and well taken care of, and we are doing our level best in Ekusileni, United Bulawayo Hospital and Thorngrove Hospital to treat patients,” Ncube said. Initially, the government had promised that Ekusileni Medical Centre would be opened by the end of June for the first time in nearly 20 years after its closure due to obsolete equipment, in order to make it a coronavirus treatment centre. The hospital is believed to be the brainchild of the late former Vice President Joshua Nkomo and it currently operates at only 25% of its capacity.
Despite a resignation letter Dr. Peter Phillips submitted to the party's Chairman Fitz Jackson yesterday, there is no timeline on when he will leave his role as president of the People's National Party (PNP).
A 33-YEAR-OLD Mount Darwin man has been slapped with a 14-year prison term after he lured a nine-year-old girl with snacks (zap nax) before raping her. By SIMBARASHE SITHOLE Austine Kapiri of Makaza village in Mount Darwin appeared before Bindura regional magistrate Amos Mbobo, who suspended two years of the sentence on condition of good behaviour. Effectively he will spend 12 years in jail. Prosecutor Ngoni Kaseke told the court that on September 8 around 7pm, the accused found the victim playing at her homestead with friends. He lured her to the bush, promising to give her $40 to buy zap nax and raped her once. He, however, did not give her the money. The victim’s brother discovered that she was missing. He followed them to the bush, but the victim was already walking back home. The brother quizzed his sister who divulged everything leading to the arrest of Kapiri Follow NewsDay on Twitter @NewsDayZimbabwe
[Monitor] On Monday, at a function organised for him to hand over office and say his goodbyes, retired Chief Justice Bart Katureebe was overcome by emotion. He revealed how on the evening of June 19, his last day in office, President Museveni called him, informing him of how he had signed the long-awaited Administration of the Judiciary Bill into law.
FORMER chief magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe’s trial on charges of criminal abuse of office and defeating the course of justice resumed at the High Court yesterday with his ex-deputy Elijah Makomo taking to the witness stand. BY CHARLES LAITON Makomo told Justice Felistas Chatukuta that contrary to State claims that he was forced to recuse himself in a matter where he was conflicted, he did so of his own volition. The State had alleged that Guvamombe forced Makomo to recuse himself from a matter involving businessman Nathan Mnaba. In his testimony, Makomo said he took the decision to recuse himself from handling the matter following complaints raised by both Mnaba, who was the accused in the matter and Nighert Parween Savania who was the complainant. He was asked to read a report which he authored in response to the allegations that had been raised against him for having failed to properly handle the trial leading to his recusal. Makomo dismissed allegations that he had received a US$8 000 bribe from Savania and further challenged Mnaba to prove his allegations. Through his lawyers, Jonathan Samukange and Brighton Pabwe, Guvamombe denied the charges being levelled against him, accusing his former workmates and colleagues of concocting the charges to cover up their sexual abuse cases. In one of the counts, Guvamombe is accused of allowing former Cabinet ministers Supa Mandiwanzira and Saviour Kasukuwere to be attached at the Harare Magistrates Court from the University of Zimbabwe while facing criminal charges. In his defence, he told the court that his actions were above board since he delegated the issue of the students’ attachment to Makomo, who then forwarded the matter to the human resources department for implementation. When the trial started, Judicial Service Commission secretary Walter Chikwanha absolved Guvamombe of any wrongdoing, saying the commission then did not have a proper policy on student attaches. l Follow NewsDay on Twitter @NewsDayZimbabwe
MDC ALLIANCE youth leader Obey Tererai Sithole and his five co-accused will stand trial on December 21 on allegations of participating in an illegal demonstration and inciting public violence in May this year. By MIRIAM MANGWAYA Sithole and his alleged accomplices, Joanah Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiru, Netsai Marova, Lovejoy Chitengu and Stanley Manyenga, are being accused of marching from Warren Park shopping centre towards the Harare-Bulawayo Highway during an illegal demonstration. The accused, who are all out on bail, appeared before magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa yesterday. The State alleges that on May 13, 2020, the six activists demonstrated against the extension of COVID-19 national lockdown, waving placards and were intercepted and dispersed by the police.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness has not ruled out appointing resigned Energy Minister Dr Andrew Wheatley to a future Cabinet.
In 2018, the Auditor General cited Wheatley for questionable conduct in the Petrojam scandal.
READ: Petrojam scandal resurfaces with force as Wheatley labelled ‘dishonest’ in report
At a press conference this morning, Holness said his position in respect of Wheatley's potential return to the Cabinet has not changed.
I'm always a believer in second chances, reforming, and redemption but at this moment there are still things to consider before that can there was nothing to block Wheatley's bid to seek re-election as the Member of Parliament for St Catherine South Central on a Jamaica Labour Party ticket in the upcoming general election.
The prime minister continued: \"Wheatley is an elected Member of Parliament and I think the party would have to look very closely before making any decision about not running him as a part of our slate for the next general election, whenever that would be.”
BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA A 23-YEAR-OLD Goromonzi man is battling for life at Marondera Provincial Hospital after his wife allegedly poured hot cooking oil on his manhood following a domestic dispute. Moreblessing Muteswa (23), of Tafirenyika village under Chief Chikwaka, is expected to appear in court soon over the attempted murder of her husband, Tinotenda Mutsetse.Mashonaland East provincial police spokesperson Inspector Tendai Mwanza confirmed the incident. According to police, on September 13 at around 4pm, Muteswa gave her husband US$5 to buy meat before he proceeded to Majuru Business Centre, where he bought beer.The complainant returned in the evening visibly drunk without the relish, resulting in a fistfight. The following morning, a fight broke again between the two, resulting in the suspect pouring hot cooking oil on her husband’s manhood.Mutsetse sustained serious burns and was rushed to Marondera Hospital, while his wife was arrested and charged with attempted murder.
THE Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) is facing viability challenges, including acute transport problems to carry out its mandate. BY REX MPHISA ZETDC acting managing director Lovemore Chinaka said the problems were affecting the daily running of the country's power utility currently heavily reliant on hired vehicles at most of its stations. In a interview yesterday, Chinaka said some projects had been put on hold because of shortage of materials, but was optimistic his organisation would be on the rebound because it was mobilising resources. Chinaka could, however, not say off-hand the amount ZETDC needed to meet its power supply obligations. “We have serious challenges in transport that have affected our operations. We also need raw materials to carry out our work. I cannot say off-hand how much we need. We are mobilising resources required to meet demand,” he said. “Electrification of sections of Beitbridge is among our three major projects on plans. We have the transformers, but are still here in Harare. We should be moving to the ground, but we still need material for that project,” he said. The power utility has been struggling to supply the country with power, forcing people to destroy forests for firewood. ZETDC has in the recent past increased its tariffs attracting public outcry, but it maintains its charges were the lowest in the region. In September this year, Chinaka said the existing rate was approximately US0,02 per kilowatt hour instead of US0,10 cents per kWh at which the power utility can break even. Mobility in the exchange rates resulted in recurrent increases in imported electricity prices threatening Zesa’s viability. ZETDC blamed vandalism for its failure to power 100 000 households in the past five years. In 2017, ZETDC recorded 736 cases of theft and vandalism which in 2018 climbed to 766 and jumped to 1 178 last year. This year in July 498 cases had already been recorded.
FOR SOME time it had not rained in Claremont, St Ann, but the showers came down yesterday, forcing supporters of Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Member of Parliament (MP) for St Ann North East, Shahine Robinson, to seek shelter inside her home or other sections of the property.
Robinson, 66, lost her two-year battle with lung cancer on Friday, prompting an outpouring of love from well-wishers near and far and marking the second straight day that the ruling party was losing a member, after Thursday’s passing of former minister, Dr Neville Gallimore.
I fell in love with her before I was a political representative and every day I walk the Lime Hall division or North East St Ann constituency, I walk it feeling strong and proud,” she said.
Mayor of St Ann’s Bay, Michael Belnavis, and several councillors also visited the home of the late minister.
Belnavis, who Robinson replaced as constituency representative after his 1997 general election defeat to the People’s National Party’s (PNP) Danny Melville, described her as “an icon in St Ann, a mother to everyone in the constituency of North East St Ann.”
Obinim was arrested on Tuesday, May 19 on a warrant issued by the court and thus charged with the offence of publication of false news and forging of documents contrary to sections 208 and 159 of the Criminal and other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) respectively.
According to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Obinim is expected to reappear in court on June 1 as he is being investigated for other offences levelled against him.
Obinim has been in the news for the past few weeks due to a consistent media attack by the Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong on him over some alleged illegalities the religious leader has been involved in.
Kennedy Agyapong, through his Net2 TV and Oman FM platforms, has featured in shows dedicated to 'exposing' criminal activities including fraud Obinim is allegedly involved in.
Mr Agyapong showed a fake \"wanted\" notice and vowed to ensure that Obinim is arrested and prosecuted for that and other crimes including money laundering and fraud.
