The NDC can’t be considered a total failure – Bernard Mornah

The General Secretary for the People’s National Convention, Bernard Mornah says giving someone grade F means that the person is a complete failure and as such, judging by some important indicators, the party in power, the NDC cannot be considered as a total failure.

Mr Mornah said this on Radio Gold’s Alhaji and Alhaji show on Saturday in relation to the recent ‘F’ grade awarded to the NDC by the opposition party, the NPP.

He noted that: “as the NDC won power in 2009 and were sworn in 2010, they did not have the kind of goodwill the NPP got when they were sworn into power in 2001.”

“I have always said that inflation has its own plus and minuses but it was the same inflation that used to be one of the very key tool that the NPP in the past always touted itself that we have brought inflation down, first to single digit and then it rose to 20.8 per cent and above.”

“All of a sudden, inflation started dropping and interest rate has also started dropping, so if you look at the economic indicators alone, it points out that one can certainly not give the ruling government the ‘F’ grade.”

“If you look at the agriculture sector, around 2007 and 2008, the country imported rice to the tune of $600 million. Today, there has been a decrease to almost $300 million, which means that we have started to augment the importation of rice by increasing domestic production of rice. That certainly is a plus to our Ghanaian farmers, meaning that we are staying some income for the importation of rice in our nation and I am hoping that in the next two years, we will be able to get out of the issue of importing staples like rice that we can produce.”

Mr Mornah said that he does not think grade F is acceptable and that the ruling party should be given grades that are acceptable and meet the challenges we have in the country.



Bismarck Nii Ogbamey Tetteh

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Is Goran Stevanović the one?

Does the ace performance of the two past South-eastern European Black Star managers advocate for the appointment of their fellow countryman in a growing trend of a Ghana-Serbian football relations?

In the mist of what is almost turning out to be a tradition of Ghana employing Serbian coaches in the past few years, one may be tempted to ask if they are really the right guys for the coaching job.

It started with Ratomir Dujkovic, who was the first Serbian Coach to walk into Ghana and took up the coaching job between 2004 -2006. He led the Black Stars side which was captained by ‘the tornedo’ Stephen Appiah to the African Cup of Nations in 2006 in Egypt. The team’s performance in that tournament was nothing to write home about.
But the Serbian redeemed his image by qualifying the nation for its first ever World Cup in Germany that same year. The Stars put up a marvellous performance and were the only African Country to qualify to the round 16th of the tournament.

Milovan Rajevac, the next Serbian Coach earned a lot of criticism from Ghanaians not because of the team’s performance but because of his ‘one top’ style of play and the fact that he could not speak the English language. Then again, he gained a lot of praises from Football lovers all over the world as he led Ghana to the final stage in the 2009 CHAN tournament, 2010 African Cup of Nations where we were the loosing finalist and then to the quarter final stage 2010 World Cup which was held in South Africa, where we were the only African country to reach that far.

The two Serbian coaches, Ratomir Dujkovic and Milovan Rajevac upon taking up the job, never made any promises but delivered fairly.

The newly appointed Serbian coach Goran Stevanovic, who was the former coach of Partizan Belgrade, has promised to win trophies with the help of the Ghanaian side. He has also made known his style of play to be attacking football.
“We must play attacking and attacking football while being cautious in defence and I am sure we will achieve the results... I am here to build champions …and I’m certain that all of us want to be champions…”

It has been 30 years since Ghana last won the African Cup of Nations. The Black Stars were third in 2008, second in 2010. “It is now time for trophies. It is time to be first again,” Stevanovic said during his first press conference with the Ghanaian media.

Ghana has been depending on these Serbian coaches for quite some time now but the question is ‘Is Goran Stevanovic truly the one?’.
It is our hope and pray that he is able to fulfil his promises and bring Ghana the trophies.

Bismarck Nii Ogbamey Tetteh

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Gyan deserves the CAF player of the year award – Afranie

Ahead of tonight’s CAF awards in Cairo, former national coach, Emmanuel Kwesi Afranie says considering Asamoah Gyan’s performance at the 2010 African Cup of Nations and World Cup, he deserves the award for this year’s African Footballer of the year.

This comes after the Ghanaian striker was awarded the BBC African Footballer for the year 2010 last Friday.

The veteran coach noted that: “this is his year, this is his time and I think he deserves it. Initially it was tough for him but I think that this is the year for Asamoah Gyan.”

“In this year’s African Cup of Nations held in Angola, he did well. At the World Cup too, representing Ghana that is on behalf of Africa, he also did well so I won’t be surprised if they give it to him.”

Out of the three nominees, the one who will emerge as winner is expected to be voted for by coaches and captains of Africa’s 53 national teams and coach Afranie thinks “Gyan has nothing to fear if it comes to securing votes from his country because he served his country and coach well, both at the African Cup of Nations and World Cup.”
“Gyan made all of Africa proud. But for that unfortunate penalty he missed, I think he would have carried the team and for that matter Africa for the first time to the semis.”

Explaining further, Coach Afranie added that the two other players, Drogba and Samuel Eto, who were also nominated, don’t stand a chance since the awards was not based on only club performance.

“We are talking of African Best Player and Drogba and Eto both didn’t do well at the African Cup of Nations.”

This year has been an eventful one for the 25-year-old and all odds are he will emerge as 2010 CAF player of the year.

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I'm satisfied with Osu children’s home report-Anas

Ace investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas says "over 95 per cent of the study I undertook has been supported by the committee."

He further stated that he was generally satisfied with the committee's report on his findings and he thinks they did a good job.

In reaction to the committee's findings on his footages, Anas explained that he told the committee that he worked for seven months instead of the two and half years they claim he did.
"We are not super heroes, we all depend on people so if i received materials from people, like I told the committee, what is wrong with that,” he questioned.
“Out of the over 400 footages that were used, its only one that they could identify that someone gave to me, then what are they talking about? I will gain more credibility if I told the public that I stayed at the Osu Children's Home for two and a half years but i stay there for only seven months," Anas emphasised.
The committee's recommendations which were made included the fact that the police should investigate into child abuse against Grace Ohene, a care giver, Akuamoa Boateng, a young adult of the home and Benjamine Amankwah of the boys remand probation home. The report said the staff
must be properly trained on how to provide non-corporal punishment and other forms of positive punishment.
About that part of the report, Anas said he thinks it is fair to introduce the police into the matter.

Meanwhile commending Anas for his good work, Egbert Faibille, the Managing Editor of the Ghanaian Observer newspaper noted that he was doing a great job for the country.
“Anas should continue to pursue the national agenda,” he said. He also noted that no matter how Anas obtained his findings, they turned out to be true so he did not understand what the committee meant by some of the footages provided were from other people.

Nii Ogbamey Tetteh

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Lamptey Mills Released

The face of the Enoch Lamptey-Mills was beaming with smiles when he heard all charges against him had been dropped by the Attorney-General on Tuesday.
The Proprietor of the Great Lamptey-Mills was immediately released from police custody following the withdrawal of the case against him by the office Attorney-General’s.

His lawyer Bannerman Williams revealed that Lamptey-Mills was released in court without any reasons from the A-G's office.

However, information reaching Ghananewslink.com indicates that the A-G's office withdrew of the case, follows claims by the alleged victim and principal witness in the case, Priscilla Adjei that she was not raped but consented to sex with the accused.

Priscilla was supposed to be a minor when she got pregnant; resulting in a child for who she says Lamptey-Mills is caring for.

commenting on the release, she said “Yeah I am very happy that he is coming home, in fact we are all happy here and we are celebrating for his home coming because he did nothing wrong and justice has prevailed so we are all happy. He is okay, I spoke with him and he said everything is a challenge”.

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My Girl

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No Medical Checks; No Player Registration – PLB Tells Clubs

Last season, a Kessben FC player collapsed during a league match and died hours after he was rushed to the hospital.

Thus, the Premier League Board (PLB) has informed all the Premier League football clubs that they will be granted player registration cards only if they provide medical certificates for each player.

All the sixteen football clubs in the Premier League agreed at a congress held in March this year to conduct medical check-ups for each player listed for the season.

However, majority of the clubs are failing to comply with the directives.

The Chief Executive of Brong Ahafo (BA) Stars, Mr. Takyi Arhin was quoted by the local media as saying “the exercise was increasing clubs’ cost.”

The next season for the league is scheduled to commence on 5th September, 2010.

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Kufour Is Promiscuous: Gizele Yajzi.

After former President Kufour openly denied ever having an affair with Gizele Yazji on Tuesday 10 August, she has fired back at Mr Kufour, insisting that he is the father of her twins.
Madam Yajzi, the lady who made the headlines in 2006 when she claimed she had an affair with Mr Kufour and as a result, was the mother of his twins, accused Kufour and his family of setting up offshore companies and opening bank accounts in some countries.
Although, Mr Kufour was cleared by CHRAJ of all the allegations in 2006, he never commented publicly on the matter until Tuesday, August 10 2010, when he emphatically denied the long-standing allegations by Madam Yazji.
In an interview with Ms Yazji on the day after, she accused Mr Kufour of not only fathering her twins but also having several affairs with other women on daily basis 7 years ago. And called him a “promiscuous man”
"He is very promiscuous, for example I knew that he had a relationship with some woman who worked with him. He did it every day; I think the only woman who did not have a relationship with him was his wife, because she was too old for him." She said.
According to Ms Yazji, Mr Kufour’s promiscuous habit even forced his wife, Theresa to ask for divorce some time ago.
She denied ever having any business dealings with former Finance Minister Osafo Marfo on the Hotel Kufour saga, although she said the former Oda MP knew about her pregnancy for Mr Kufour.

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Asante Kotoko Communications Board Inaugurated

The Executive Chairman of Kumasi Asante Kotoko FC, Dr Kofi K. Sarpong has tasked the newly inducted members of the Kotoko Communications Limited Board to work around the clock to ensure that Kotoko Express Newspaper comes out next week.
Dr. Sarpong made this known at a ceremony to inaugurate a 7-member board to take charge of the communications affairs on the sporting club at the Ghana International Press Centre on Thursday.
He noted that the Kotoko Express newspaper was established about a decade ago thanks to Hebert Mensah but unfortunately, the state of the newspaper is a sad one.
“The board of Asante Kotoko FC decided to pull the newspaper from newsstands and restructure it.that is the main reason why for some weeks now, readers have not seen the paper on newsstands,” he said.
He stated that today marked the inauguration of an effective board to run the affairs of the newspaper that will bring the paper back by next week.
“The board of the sporting club expects to Asante Kotoko communications Limited to bring up Asante Kotoko TV and radio,” he added.
He explained that the Asante Kotoko Communications Limited is a subsidiary to Asante Kotoko FC and that new board will autonomous to the parent Asante Kotoko FC.
“The new board will run their own accounts so that the can be held responsible for their affairs,” he noted.
He introduced the members of the board as follows: Kabral Blay Amihere as Chairman of the board, Ebo Afful, Ken Bediako, Kweku Sekyi Addo, Kojo Addai Mensah and Nuamah Fameye.

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Review Committee to Deliberate On Utility Tariffs

A six member Committee made up of representatives from the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) has been formed with the aim of reviewing utility tariffs.
The decision was arrived at after a two-hour meeting between the AGI, TUC, PURC and the Vice President, John Dramani Mahama.
The meeting was held to find long-lasting solutions to the disagreement that came up as a result of the new tariffs that were announced in June this year.
During the meeting, there were a lot of deliberations some of which include whether the government should use added taxes to subsidies increased tariffs or try to convince the PURC to reduce the prices
John Dramani Mahama disclosed today that he has already met the utility companies twice and also met the PURC once to find an amicable solution after being given the mandate by President Mills to help resolve the issue.
After a the meeting, the Vice President noted that based on new proposals that came up during the meeting, there was the need for stakeholders to further deliberate on the issue to come out with a negotiation for mutual benefit.
He asked all stakeholders to be patient and hoped that the committee would come out with productive solutions to the stalemate that exists among the concerning parties.
The membership of the committee was made up of two individuals from PURC, TUC and AGI.
They are expected to, within a week come out with recommendations in which the government would be the mediator.
Ghananewslink.com

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