In line with the agenda to ensure inclusively and accelerated bottom-up socio-economic development in the middle belt zone, the government of Ghana established the Middle Belt Development Authority(MBDA) by an Act of Parliament, Act 962 in 2017.
 
The Authority's mandate is to implement the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme(IPEP) through the One Million Dollars per One Constituency fund to accelerate economic and social development in the Middle Belt Development Zone through the strategic direction in the planning and prioritization of development projects.

It is against this background that the Chief Executive Officer for the MBDA is officially embarking on a regional tour with his monitoring team to inspect projects in the middle belt development zone to ensure effective monitoring of projects to avoid shoddy works by the contractors. He started the monitoring from the Eastern and Ashanti regions and proceeded to Ahafo Region.
 
And, on Friday, 16 July 2021, the Chief Executive Officer for the Middle Belt Development Authority, Hon. Joe Danquah, the Deputy CEO with oversight responsibility in Ahafo, Bono, and Bono-East regions, Mr. Alexander Ferka, the Head of Communications  Mr. K.B Asante, and the entire team from the regional office in Sunyani embarked on a special monitoring exercise in the Asutifi-South district to inspect the MBDA projects and held project site meetings in Dadiesoaba, Nkaseim, Hwidiem, and Acherensua.
 
These projects included the construction of modern dormitories in Dadiesoaba Nursing Training School, Hwidiem SHS, and Acherensua SHS. The dormitories are architecturally characterized by house master's/mistress's accommodation, ironing shed, mechanized water system, internal open space for washing and drying of attires, sizable compound, water closets, bathroom, etc. Also, four completed modern 20-Seater WC toilets with mechanized boreholes were equally not left out during the inspection in the above towns. These modern toilet facilities have inbuilt bathrooms and dressing rooms.

The Principal of Dadiesoaba Nursing Training School, Mrs. Marcelina Teni Kwose,    thanked the CEO for Middle Belt Development Authority and urged the Authority to complete the dormitory project and hand it over to the school on time. According to her, the school has to transport students who have been accommodated at a nearby town called Mehame to Dadiesoaba to attend classes and send them back on daily basis every week.
 
She said that, this transportation cost has been eating into the school's resources and if the facility is handed over to them, the school could accommodate about two hundred and fifty (250) students in the dormitory to safe the school from incurring costs in the transportation of students. The Omanhene of Dadiesoaba, Nana Atta Mensah, and his Elders also commended the Authority and the government of Ghana for constructing these modern dormitory and toilet facility in his town. He pleaded with the Authority to commission the Doctor's bungalow and the dormitory which have been funded through One million dollars per One Constituency fund for the community to benefit from them. The CEO and his entourage were accompanied by the DCE for Asutifi-South District Assembly and the chiefs to commission the 20-Seater WC toilet for the people of Dadiesoaba.   

In line with the agenda to ensure inclusively and accelerated bottom-up socio-economic development in the middle belt zone, the government of Ghana established the Middle Belt Development Authority(MBDA) by an Act of Parliament, Act 962 in 2017.
 
The Authority's mandate is to implement the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme(IPEP) through the One Million Dollars per One Constituency fund to accelerate economic and social development in the Middle Belt Development Zone through the strategic direction in the planning and prioritization of development projects.

It is against this background that the Chief Executive Officer for the MBDA is officially embarking on a regional tour with his monitoring team to inspect projects in the middle belt development zone to ensure effective monitoring of projects to avoid shoddy works by the contractors. He started the monitoring from the Eastern and Ashanti regions and proceeded to Ahafo Region.
 
And, on Friday, 16 July 2021, the Chief Executive Officer for the Middle Belt Development Authority, Hon. Joe Danquah, the Deputy CEO with oversight responsibility in Ahafo, Bono, and Bono-East regions, Mr. Alexander Ferka, the Head of Communications  Mr. K.B Asante, and the entire team from the regional office in Sunyani embarked on a special monitoring exercise in the Asutifi-South district to inspect the MBDA projects and held project site meetings in Dadiesoaba, Nkaseim, Hwidiem, and Acherensua.
 
These projects included the construction of modern dormitories in Dadiesoaba Nursing Training School, Hwidiem SHS, and Acherensua SHS. The dormitories are architecturally characterized by house master's/mistress's accommodation, ironing shed, mechanized water system, internal open space for washing and drying of attires, sizable compound, water closets, bathroom, etc. Also, four completed modern 20-Seater WC toilets with mechanized boreholes were equally not left out during the inspection in the above towns. These modern toilet facilities have inbuilt bathrooms and dressing rooms.

The Principal of Dadiesoaba Nursing Training School, Mrs. Marcelina Teni Kwose,    thanked the CEO for Middle Belt Development Authority and urged the Authority to complete the dormitory project and hand it over to the school on time. According to her, the school has to transport students who have been accommodated at a nearby town called Mehame to Dadiesoaba to attend classes and send them back on daily basis every week.
 
She said that, this transportation cost has been eating into the school's resources and if the facility is handed over to them, the school could accommodate about two hundred and fifty (250) students in the dormitory to safe the school from incurring costs in the transportation of students. The Omanhene of Dadiesoaba, Nana Atta Mensah, and his Elders also commended the Authority and the government of Ghana for constructing these modern dormitory and toilet facility in his town. He pleaded with the Authority to commission the Doctor's bungalow and the dormitory which have been funded through One million dollars per One Constituency fund for the community to benefit from them. The CEO and his entourage were accompanied by the DCE for Asutifi-South District Assembly and the chiefs to commission the 20-Seater WC toilet for the people of Dadiesoaba.   

Flooding In China: Passengers Trapped in shoulder-high flood water on a subway train - VIDEO

Passengers trapped in shoulder-high flood water on a subway train following major flooding in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou.

The passengers had to cling to ceiling handles inside flooded trains on Tuesday, July 20.

There has been no official confirmation of death but unverified footage on social media appeared to show dead bodies on trains and in stations.

The Commissioner of Insurance, Dr Justice Yaw Ofori, has bemoaned the rising incidence of fraudulent claims on insurers by the insuring public, warning that the practice risked raising the cost of insurance and destroying the growing confidence that insurance was gaining in the country.

Dr Ofori said of all claims made on insurers by clients, about a quarter of them were fictitious – either inflated or staged – ostensibly to fleece the companies of their investments.
He said some even went as far as staging their death or the death of a relative to be able to claim life insurance.

The Commissioner of Insurance said although the malpractice was global, it was also endemic in the country, with clients developing the habit of claiming for things that did not occur.

Consequently, he said there was the need for the companies to be meticulous in their investigations of claims to ensure that payments were for genuine claims.

Implications

He told the Graphic Business at the weekend that the malpractice needed to be stopped, given its cost implication.

He said among other things, fraudulent claims raised the cost of operations of insurers, resulting in corresponding increases in the premiums that clients must pay to insure themselves and properties against eventualities.

“I do not have the specifics but in Ghana, we should be looking at about 25 per cent of fraudulent claims. It could be inflating claims, staging claims and sometimes people staging their death to make a life claim,” he said.

Investigations

He said fraudulent claims stood at 40 per cent globally and stressed the need for insurance claims to be properly investigated to reduce the incidence of companies paying claims for events that did not occur.

“It also affects the premium people pay because so far as there are leakages, it results in a high premium for consumers worldwide. It is the responsibility of insurance companies to do due diligence before embarking on any claims payment.”

“Claims investigations are very important to actually weed out such fraudulent instances. So, it is the responsibility of insurance companies that have to pay these claims to investigate to ensure that they are paying only legitimate claims,” Dr Ofori added.

Technicalities

Explaining further, the Commissioner of Insurance said insurers also needed to be conversant with their job by always ensuring that the damages claimed for were capable of happening in the case of non-life insurance.

He recalled an incident in which a client whose vehicle bumper was damaged in an accident submitted a claim that requested repairs and/or payments to cover damages to the sunroof, lower axle and the shocks of the vehicle.

Dr Ofori said it was obvious that such a claim was fraudulent but an insurance practitioner who does not appreciate the parts of a vehicle may have difficulty detecting that early.

Prevalence

 
An insurance expert, Mr Larry Kwesi Jiagge, said in a separate interview that the malpractice was prevalent in motor insurance where clients were found claiming for things that did not happen.

Mr Jiagge, an insurance broker, recalled that one lawyer was found for faking accidents and fires on his newly imported cars, ostensibly to claim insurance.

He said when an insurance company discovered his act and caused his arrest, he later committed suicide when he was granted bail.

He said a company was also recently caught for fraudulently claiming fire insurance when the said fire did not occur.

“With regards to motor insurance, some clients, who do not have insurance at the time of an accident, sometimes manage to connive with staff of insurance companies to take up a policy and backdate it for the claim to be made.”

“So, when it comes to fake insurance, the strategies are many but it all depends on the type of policy,” he said.

Detection

Asked how companies could detect fraudulent claims, Mr Jiagge, who is the Managing Director of Risk Management and Advisors Limited, said companies can sometimes request separate medical reports in the case of personal injury.

“Some people may connive with the medical team to hike up the medical incapacitation. When you suspect that, you can request a separate medical report,” he said but noted that such requests were limited to only certain policies.

Source: graphiconline.com

The Resident Representative of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Ghana, Mr Baba Gana Wakil, has urged Ghana to be prepared at all times to “forestall any incursions” from neighbouring countries in the wake of terrorist threat alert on the country.

Mr Wakil noted that Ghana “is a bright spot” in the sub-region for terrorist activities given that its surrounding neighbours including Burkina Faso, Togo and Cote d’Ivoire have all been invaded by terrorists. He made the remarks in an interview with the Daily Graphic when he led a delegation to present Physical Security and Stockpile Management (PSSM) equipment to the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) at the Burma Camp in Accra last Monday.

Commendation

Mr Wakil commended Ghana for managing to keep terrorists at bay over the period in spite of being surrounded by countries with “high terrorist activities.” He urged the country to “continue doing what it has always been doing” to protect its boundaries against terrorist invasion.

“Unknown to Ghanaians, Ghana is a bright spot in the sub-region when it comes to terrorism. You are surrounded by neighbours where terrorist activities are very high.

“But somehow, Ghana has managed to keep terrorists at bay. So whatever Ghana was doing to achieve that, it should continue to do it; to be prepared at all times to forestall or prevent any incursions, especially from Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo which are the immediate countries that already have high terrorist activities.”

Mr Wakil indicated that the ECOWAS commission had prioritised peace and security issues as it was critical to the attainment of the ECOWAS integration agenda. He gave an assurance that the commission would continuously support security agencies to guarantee the safety and protection of citizens in the region.

Warning signals

Security experts and analysts have over the past months been beating warning drums over the possibility of terrorists extending their operations into Ghana following repeated cases of terrorist attacks in neighbouring Burkina Faso.

The warnings were amplified when another terrorist attack in northern Burkina Faso last month led to the killing of 160 civilians – the deadliest attack since 2015. 
The Government of Ghana has indicated that based on intelligence of potential terrorist activities in the country, the government had beefed up security at border regions, particularly in the northern part of the country.

Addressing the media last Sunday, the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, described the growing terrorism and piracy situation in the sub-region as worrying and said the issue attracted much of the attention of Cabinet last weekend when President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo met with senior government officials.

“The Akufo-Addo administration has in the last four years worked hard by putting in place measures to ensure our borders are safe from these attacks. Nonetheless, there is the need to do more and we want to assure the Ghanaian public that we will tighten measures to ensure the safety of the people,” the minister said.

Source: graphiconline.com

A Private legal practitioner, Akoto Ampaw is denying what he calls a diabolical and crazy judicial bribery scandal in which he was alleged to have colluded with the Chief Justice to win a case for a client.

The astute lawyer in a statement condemned the allegation in its totality and maintained that he will not “permit anyone to sully my name on the altar of politics or personal convenience.”

He denied ever meeting the Chief Justice over the said case in contention where a former lawyer of his client was claiming that the case was taken from him on the advice of the Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah. “For the record, I wish to state, without any equivocation, that the only dealings I have had with the Chief Justice in this matter have been in open court as the lawyer for Ogyeedom. Beyond that I have had no dealings whatsoever with the Chief Justice in this matter.”

“Furthermore, even though, of course, I have known the Chief Justice since his law student days in the 1970’s, once he became a judge, I have kept my respectful and studious distance from him, as I have from other justices of the Supreme Court, past and present, even if they may have been my friends in school”, Mr. Akoto Apaw indicated.

A Kumasi-based lawyer by name Akwasi Afrifa, whose client complained to the Ghana Legal Council (GLC) that he had persuaded the client to give him a substantial amount of money to pay bribes in order to assure a successful outcome for his case.

The lawyer in response to a petition filed against him before the GLC alleged that his client, Ogyeedom, had informed him that he (the client) had been taken to see the Chief Justice by a friend, and the Chief Justice, allegedly promised to procure a favourable outcome in Ogyeedom’s case before the Supreme Court, provided that he, Ogyeedom, agreed to pay him a whopping sum of $5million and further to replace his lawyer with Akoto Ampaw.

The Chief Justice in an earlier statement denied the allegation and referred the matter to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for appropriate action.

Akoto Ampaw has also denied the allegation, stating that he initially did not want to respond to the preposterous allegation but “Ghana being what it is, tomorrow, people might say, but Akoto Ampaw did not deny the allegations.”

Genesis

Giving a genesis of how he became counsel for Ogyeedom, Mr. Akoto Ampaw said some time at the end of July, 2020, Ogyeedom came to see him at his office with a request that he wanted the lawyer to take over the prosecution of his case in the Supreme Court.

“I indicated that it would be foolhardy on my part to take over a case before the Supreme Court that was to be heard in some two to three days’ time. I therefore urged him to still rely on his current legal team in the pending application and, if thereafter, he still wanted my professional services, I would be ready to hear him out.”

He said sometime later, during the legal vacation, last year, Ogyeedom came back to consult with him and, with much reluctance, he agreed to take up the brief, upon the very clear understanding that if he wanted him (Akoto Ampaw) to take up the case because he thought he was politically connected or had friends within the judiciary, then he was at the wrong place, as he did not carry on his work as a lawyer by such dishonourable means.

Counsel said he eventually agreed to take up the brief and filed notice of change of lawyer in the Supreme Court sometime in October and has since been in the Supreme Court on a few occasions in respect of the matter to move an application to adduce new evidence in response to the Court’s grant of an earlier application by the appellant to adduce new evidence.
He indicated that on March 31, 2021, the Supreme Court granted the application by a four to one majority ruling.

Sacked BNI Chief Gets National Security Post

Those who were sacked and those who resigned because of disciplinary issues over the years in sister-security agencies have found their way there.

DAYBREAK has gathered that a onetime operative of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) now National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) who was sacked over cocaine-related issues have been given a juicy appointment at National Security recently.

According to sources, no background checks were conducted on the onetime Commander of the BNI who was stationed at one of Ghana’s entry points.

Full details on Tuesday

Sacked BNI Chief Gets National Security Post

The Ministry of Finance has schooled top management of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority on the Public-Private Partnership Act and the Public Investment Management Regulations introduced in 2020

It forms part of a nationwide sensitization to provide information to State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) on the rights, guidelines, and due processes necessary to stay within the legal boundaries for procurement and infrastructural investment.

Mr Daniel Yeboah-Forson, Lead at the Infrastructure Sector of the Public Investment and Assets Division at the Ministry of Finance, outlined some of the new modules entrenched in the regulations.

He stated that, “the law mandates GPHA to set up what we call the Public Investment Unit to help develop and prepare their project ahead of time.

“As a government entity, they need this training to ensure that the Public Investment Unit understands the functions and roles they need to play when it is set up.”

Mr. Yeboah-Forson said implementation of these laws, will help state agencies like the GPHA to adequately prepare, secure funding, cut cost and complete projects within projected timelines.

Finance Ministry engages GPHA on new procurement regulations

The Ministry of Finance has schooled top management of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority on the Public-Private Partnership Act and the Public Investment Management Regulations introduced in 2020

It forms part of a nationwide sensitization to provide information to State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) on the rights, guidelines, and due processes necessary to stay within the legal boundaries for procurement and infrastructural investment.

Mr Daniel Yeboah-Forson, Lead at the Infrastructure Sector of the Public Investment and Assets Division at the Ministry of Finance, outlined some of the new modules entrenched in the regulations.

He stated that, “the law mandates GPHA to set up what we call the Public Investment Unit to help develop and prepare their project ahead of time.

“As a government entity, they need this training to ensure that the Public Investment Unit understands the functions and roles they need to play when it is set up.”

Mr. Yeboah-Forson said implementation of these laws, will help state agencies like the GPHA to adequately prepare, secure funding, cut cost and complete projects within projected timelines.

Finance Ministry engages GPHA on new procurement regulations