President of the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), Mr Cecil Thomas Nee Lantey Sunkwa-Mills, has said none of the radio stations that were shut down for noncompliance has received letters from the National Communications Authority (NCA) announcing their re-authorisation.

He said on the Key Points on TV3/3FM Saturday, October 16 that GIBA contacted the NCA on the announcement of the re-authorisation but the regulator said they were preparing the letters to be sent to these stations.

He told the host of the show, Dzifa Bampoh, that “because we have members asking exactly who is on this 133 that were existing.

“We have actually not received any clear documentation even though we have heard Radio, XYZ and then Kapital Radio came through.

“There has been no actual confirmation. We have made contact with the NCA and the response we got was they were putting together the letters to be sent to these stations but as of yesternight, no station has received any clear letter from the NCA confirming this.

“So it would have been good if this was made public and then the other news that followed or the perceptions would have been clarified.”

The Governing Board of the NCA has approved the grant of a total of one hundred and thirty-three (133) FM radio broadcasting authorisations which include new applications from entities whose FM radio stations were closed down after the 2017 FM Audit as well as existing stations that applied for renewal of their expired FM Radio broadcasting authorisations.

The approval was done at a Board meeting held on 11th October 2021.

A statement issued by the NCA on Tuesday, October 12 said this approval from the Board is subject to the applicants attending a sensitisation workshop on the terms and conditions of FM radio broadcasting authorisations.

“The workshop shall clarify the legal, regulatory, and technical requirements for the establishment and operation of an FM radio broadcasting station.

“Provisional authorisations shall be issued to the successful applicants at the end of the workshop and frequencies shall be assigned to the applicants only upon the fulfilment of the conditions of the Provisional Authorisation.

“The general public is reminded that per Section 2(4) of the Electronic Communications Act, 2008, Act 775, a person shall not operate a broadcasting system or provide a broadcasting service without a frequency authorisation by the Authority.

“Offenders are liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than three thousand penalty units or to a term of imprisonment of not more than five years or to both, as per Section 73 of Act 775 of 2008.”

The NCA shut down Radio Gold and Radio XYZ, and several others.

A statement issued by the NCA in Accra on May 9, 2019, said the closures were carried out in line with Regulations 65 (1) of the Electronic Communications Regulations, 2011, L. I. 1991, which states that “A person shall not use a radio frequency without authorisation from the Authority.”

Referring to a 2018 ruling by the Electronic Communications Tribunal on the status of FM stations with expired authorisation, the NCA said “Companies whose authorisations had expired reverted to the same position as a fresh applicant,” adding that “these applications shall go through the required procedure for new FM Broadcasting Authorisation.”

The regulator did not mention the two stations, implying that it was a general exercise. However, only Radio XYZ and Radio Gold have been closed so far. Officials of the NCA, backed by armed police officers, stormed the premises of the radio stations to enforce the shutdown in the afternoon of May 9.

This is the second time in less than two years that the regulator has flexed its muscles against “defaulting stations.” In September 2017, the NCA carried out a massive purge of the broadcasting industry that saw a total of 34 radio and television stations being shut down for various infractions, in the enforcement of Section 13 of the Electronics Communications Act (2009), Act 775.

The regulator also imposed fines on a number of stations ranging from GHC50,000 (US$11,000) to GHC61,000,000 (US$13.8 million) depending on the infraction and the duration the infraction persisted.

Source: 3news.com

As part of efforts to permanently get rid of ghost names on the government pay roll, the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) has insisted on the need for all government employees to obtain a Ghana Card.
The CAGD has explained that it cannot withdraw the directive issued earlier this week and has urged all employees to register and get the Ghana Card as a form of national identification before the deadline.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra on Thursday [October 14, 2021], the Head of Public Relations at CAGD, Mr Cephas Narh Dosso reaffirmed the department's directive saying it was the best way to address challenges in its payroll system.

We cannot withdraw the directive asking public sector employees to acquire a national identification card by December 1, 2021 or forfeit their salaries.

There have been agitations by a section of government workers and unions since the department issued the directive on Tuesday, October 12, 2021 with some asking the Controller and Accountant-General to reconsider the directive and withdraw it completely or have the deadline extended.

But Mr Dosso explained that Section 8(4) of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921), mandated the CAGD to, among other functions, receive, disburse and provide secured custody for public funds.

He said as a department, which dealt with about 500,000 government workers, it was necessary that it put in measures to ensure the integrity of the payroll at all times.

"We have a payroll that is incumbent by about 500,000 government employees nationwide and as a department, over the years, the CAGD have been instituting measures that will ensure the integrity of the payroll is maintained at all times," Mr Dosoo explained.

He rather urged the various public institutions and unions to educate and urge their members to acquire the cards before the deadline.

Mr Dosoo said: "We appreciate the concerns by our unions because they are our major stakeholders but, however, what we will think we should be considering now is that we need to urge our colleague workers to avail themselves and go through the registration process. For now, the deadline is not today and so the best thing to do is to avail ourselves.”

"When we get to the deadline we will review the data and I am sure the right decisions will be taken by the right authorities," he added.

The CAGD, in a statement issued on Tuesday, October 12, 2021 warned that government workers without Ghana Cards would not be paid from December 1, 2021.

The move, it said, formed part of the government’s efforts to deliver a speedy, secured, and verified payroll service to employees and pensioners while reducing the risk of undeserving payments or claims.

Meanwhile, the National Identification Authority, early this month, disclosed that more than 15 million citizens had registered for the Ghana Card.  

However, out of the number, only 12 million had been issued with their cards, adding that provisions were being made for the three million Ghanaians yet to receive their cards to get them.

Source: GNA

The wireless earbud is the latest trend in the communication world. And virtually all mobile phone brands are coming out with their version of earbuds. One tech entrepreneur has added innovation to the earbuds economy with his own invention.

Danny Manu, a Ghanaian-British man, developed earbuds that auto-translate other languages. According to Keepthefaith, the earbuds can live translate over 40 languages. The product, called Click, is said to be “the world’s first truly wireless earphones” with live voice translation supporting 40 languages.

The wireless Bluetooth headset works by pairing to a smartphone. The earbuds then automatically detect the language being spoken and provide a spoken translation within a sentence or two. Click does not require internet like similar inventions.

The device, which has been on the rise since its invention under the Mymanu brand, has won customers across Europe, U.S and Asia. Manu tells Keepthefaith that the journey has been long and stressful, attributing his success to hard work and determination.

Manu built his business through self-financing. This was down to the challenges Black startups in the UK face in accessing capital or venture funding.

“Like all the other ethnic minority-run businesses within the UK, I had a hard time getting the funding and financial support from banks and government-funded programmes that I needed,” he said.

In the light of the above, Manu had to explore other means to raise funds for his startup. He used his personal savings, own sales and funds he raised from crowdfunding sites.

“If you truly believe in your product and ideas, you shouldn’t have too much trouble convincing other people to believe in them, too,” he said.

According to Keepthefaith, he raised over US$5,000,000 on crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

When COVID-19 struck, the Manchester business owner innovated in order not to go out of business. He saw a business opportunity in producing PPE and other safety equipment to help protect people in the Manchester area from the pandemic.

“I wanted to help my community and do some good, and Medybird was the perfect solution,” said Manu. “I saw how COVID-19 was affecting the BAME communities and my fellow local businesses here in Manchester – it was heartbreaking to watch.”

He established Medybird to go into the production of PPEs and other safety equipment and within weeks, he supplied much-needed PPE and subsequently shipped out over 15 million PPE to countries in need.

For other aspiring entrepreneurs who want to venture into the tech space, Manu said “focus on your successes and believe in yourself.” He continued: “if you surround yourself with your accomplishments and don’t stop believing in your dreams, you’ll have a real chance.”

Source: face2faceafrica.com

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale South Alhassan Suhuyini has revealed he has taken steps to appeal for a review over his visa denial by the Netherlands Embassy.

According to him, he appraised documents he submitted to the embassy leading to the rejection describing the act as “gross disrespect.”

Although he said some well-meaning persons linked the visa denial to his support for the LGBTQ+ Bill, the MP, in a post on Facebook, believes his denial was not in connection to his advocacy with seven other lawmakers to criminalize the LGBTQ+ acts.

“I consider myself deeply reflective and fair-minded, so I restrained myself and all those who tried to convince me that the reasons for my denial of the Visa were either than what the correspondence from the embassy communicated,” he said.

Suhuyini, however, stated he was convinced he submitted all the appropriate documents for his visa.

Aside from the appeal, the legislator said he will lodge an official complaint to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the matter.

Below is his post:

Rejoinder: Suhuyini reveals recent visa denial, refuses to link it to LGBTQ+

I have seen news publications suggesting that I was denied a Visa by an unnamed Embassy due to my association with the PROMOTION OF PROPER HUMAN SEXUAL RIGHTS AND GHANAIAN FAMILY VALUES BILL, 2021.

Since I received correspondence that communicated the decision of the said Embassy, I have been inundated by calls from well-meaning Ghanaian reporters and activists who without doubt believed that this very offensive decision of the Embassy is related to Bill seven (7) of my colleagues and I are promoting.

I consider myself deeply reflective and fair-minded, so I restrained myself and all those who tried to convince me that the reasons for my denial of the Visa were either than what the correspondence from the embassy communicated. I assumed at the time that the Protocol Officer, who at the time of processing my application was also dealing with other equally important domestic issues, may have faulted in the documents presented.

I, therefore, have since taken steps to appraise every document or information and have since appealed the Embassy’s decision.

However, all the information I now have convinced me that the Protocol Officer submitted all appropriate documents.

Therefore, for the Netherlands Embassy to ignore my;

1] status as Member of Parliament of Ghana with the responsibility to an entire Constituency, which was known to them.

2] valid travel visas to the UK and USA and my numerous previous travel record where I have never overstayed.

3] beautiful family and deny me an entry visa on the basis that; there was insufficient evidence that I have significant social or economic ties to my country to prompt my return after my intended visit, could only have been deliberately taken to provoke me and also undermine Ghanaian state officials and diplomats.

After the determination of my appeal, I will make a formal complaint to our country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deal with this gross disrespect.

Anyone with the slightest knowledge of me knows that as a young person, even when I lived in conditions that justified migration abroad and migration was popular, I was never attracted to it, I’m a proud Ghanaian who believes in contributing to making our country attractive too to foreigners. How lame, if the penalty for supporting the PROMOTION OF PROPER HUMAN SEXUAL RIGHTS AND GHANAIAN FAMILY VALUES BILL, 2021 is the denial of an entry visa into the Netherlands.

Source: Ghanaweb.com

The Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) cannot withhold salaries of workers who do not have a Ghana Card, Ningo Prampram Member of Parliament, Samuel Nartey George, has said.

According to him, there is no law backing the decision by the CADG to stop paying salaries of workers who fail to obtain the Ghana Card.

The CAGD had said in a statement on Wednesday, October 13 that from 1st December 2021, all government workers without the Ghana Card will not be paid salaries.

Portions of the statement said, “By this notice, all existing and prospective Government workers arc to ensure they are registered with the NIA and have obtained their Identity numbers.”

“As part of Government of Ghana’s efforts to deliver speedily, secured and verified payroll services to government employees and pensioners while reducing the risk of undeserving payments or claims, the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) is collaborating with the National Identification Authority (NIA) to have a harmonized database to facilitate biometric and unique identification of all workers on the government payroll,” the statement added.

Labour unions have rejected this move.

They said they were not consulted in the decision CAGD to stop the salary payment of government workers if they do not possess a Ghana card by December 1.

The unions say even though the motive is a good one, the timing is wrong since Accra and Kumasi are not the only cities that constitute Ghana.

They are therefore warning the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to halt such threats if it wants peace in this country.

The labour unions are not pleased with the directive by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to stop the salary payment of government workers if they do not possess a Ghana card.

Laurent Gbagbo, with a decade-long exile behind him, this weekend embarks on a path he hopes will return him to Ivory Coast's presidency at the helm of a new party.

"This is the grand return of Laurent Gbagbo to the political scene," his spokesman Justin Kone Katinan told AFP ahead of the launch.

Gbagbo will oversee the new party's congress on Saturday and Sunday as he seeks to "reunite the left" and use the occasion as a springboard to the 2025 presidential election.

The 76-year-old, whose 2000-2011 rule was marked by turbulence and division in the world's biggest cocoa producer, has been very visible since returning to his homeland on June 17.

He was removed from office in April 2011 after a short civil war that claimed 3,000 lives, sparked by his refusal to accept electoral defeat by current President Alassane Ouattara.

Gbagbo was then flown to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity resulting from the conflict but eventually acquitted.

He has occupied himself by visiting former president and also rival Henri Konan Bedie, held "reconciliation" talks with Ouattara but has fallen out for good with his former prime minister Pascal Affi N'Guessan, who heads a faction of his former Ivorian Popular Front (FPI).

Leaving the FPI behind, Gbagbo now expects around 1,600 delegates will show support at the congress hosted at Abidjan's prestigious Hotel Ivoire where his new "African People's Party - Cote d'Ivoire" (PPA-CI) will look to draw up a manifesto.

The mooted party logo comprises two intertwined hands clasping a map of Africa with the accent on a Pan-African dimension.

ndeed one of the major congress themes will be African sovereignty in the face of the abiding influence of Western powers.

The new party hopes to reshape domestic debate in a country where the opposition has become increasingly hollowed out over the past decade.

"We want to constitute a normal opposition party which brings a critique" to the table to enable "debate to leave violence behind and become essentially political," says Kone Katinan.

"We are waiting to see if this will be a real opposition or a party seeking power. We shall see how they go about things, what will be their alternative programme," notes political analyst Sylvain N'Guessan.

Crimping Gbagbo's ambitions could be a bill designed to limit the age of presidential candidates to 75. He will turn 80 in 2025.

Hundreds of Sudanese called Saturday in Khartoum for the fall of the government that is supposed to lead the country to its first elections after 30 years of dictatorship, accusing it of having "failed" to get them out of the political and economic stagnation, AFP reporters noted.

Yahya Mohieddine, who came from his northern province to demonstrate in front of the presidential palace in the capital, where the transitional authorities are based, held up a sign demanding "the dismissal of the government" led since the fall of Omar al-Bashir in 2019 by the technocrat Abdallah Hamdok.

"We need a government that includes all revolutionary forces," he assures AFP while the sacred union of civilians and military of the "revolution" of 2019 has fizzled.

On Friday evening, nearly a month after a failed coup, Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok denounced "deep divisions" between civilians and military but also within these two blocks. He also declared that the transition was going through its "most dangerous" crisis, saying that the path to democracy was threatened.

On Saturday, a seditious faction of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FLC) - the civilian coalition of the "revolution" - led by two former rebel leaders, including Hamdok's finance minister, called for demonstrations against the government.

"We need a military government, the current cabinet has failed and only the army can bring us justice and equality," said Abboud Ahmed, a self-described "poor" farmer outside the presidential palace.

Around him, pick-ups are dropping off new waves of protesters, some of whom are chanting "One army, one people", while the security forces have blocked many of the capital's main roads since the morning.

"There is no stability and life is too expensive," said the 50-year-old man, whose country, one of the poorest in the world, is caught between inflation approaching 400% and an austerity decreed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

For their opponents, Saturday's demonstrators are supporters of the former deposed regime. Supporters of a complete transfer of power to civilians have already called for "a demonstration of one million people" on Thursday.

The new authorities, made up of military and civilians, are supposed to lead the country towards elections, but they keep pushing back the deadline, currently to 2023.

Sudan's prime minister on Friday announced a series of steps for his country's transition to democracy less than a month after a coup attempt rocked its leadership.

In a speech, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok called the coup attempt an 'alarm bell' that should awaken people to the roots of the country's political and economic challenges.

Authorities announced the coup attempt by a group of soldiers on September 22, saying that it had failed.

They blamed supporters of the country's former autocrat Omar al-Bashir for planning the takeover.

Police in Kenya said a man who had confessed to killing a dozen children and escaped from detention this week has been killed by a mob.

Area Assistant County Commissioner Cornelius Nyariba said the death took place near his home in Bungoma county a day after he had escaped from police cells in Nairobi.

"...... They asked us whether he was hiding here and we became worried. When my mother and I checked the old house, he was squatting in the bathroom.

Immediately my mother recognized him, she started screaming while running out, with Masten following her. ...the neighbors also started screaming, and that was when people came in large numbers to get him".

Authorities have said Wanjala had confessed to killing 12 children in Nairobi Machakos and Bungoma counties when he was arrested in July.

He reportedly posed as a football coach to lure victims.

So far, five bodies have been recovered.

Burkina Faso commemorated Friday the 34th anniversary of the death of former revolutionary president Thomas Sankara, assassinated on October 15, 1987, and whose bust was unveiled at the university that bears his name in Ouagadougou, in the presence of his widow Mariam.

"This work placed at the entrance of the university is a work of remembrance and memory for current and future generations of teachers and students," said Mariam Sankara in inaugurating the bust.

"My dream is that this statue reminds us daily of the memory of the revolution led in our country by Thomas Sankara and his comrades between 1983 and 1987. It will be the image of a leader who loved his country and who devoted himself to its transformation, brutally interrupted by the enemies of Burkina," she added.

To the students of the Thomas Sankara University, the second in Ouagadougou, she said that they had "the heavy task of acquiring knowledge and putting it at the service of the Burkinabe people in particular and African people in general.

Mrs. Sankara, who usually lives in France, came to Ouagadougou to attend the trial of the alleged killers of her husband, who was killed in a coup d'état on October 15, 1987, along with 12 of his comrades. He had been in power for four years and was only 37 years old.

On Monday a trial to open nvestigations into his sankaras killing was opened Monday before the military court in Ouagadougou, but was suspended until October 25.

Twelve of the 14 defendants were present at the opening of the trial, including General Gilbert Diendéré, one of the main leaders of the Burkinabe army during the coup.

On the other hand, Blaise Compaoré, brought to power by this putsch and who led Burkina for 27 years, was the great absentee: he lives in exile in Ivory Coast - a country of which he obtained the nationality - since his fall in 2014 and did not want to appear at "a political trial" before "a court of exception", according to his lawyers.

"The duty of memory requires us to recognize the work done by this exceptional man, in four years of commitment and sacrifice for his country and for Africa. The memory of Thomas Sankara remains alive," President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré wrote on Twitter.

The head of state had previously laid a wreath in the afternoon at the foot of the huge statue of Thomas Sankara, erected in 2019 on the site where he was assassinated and where a memorial has been created.

Mrs. Sankara did not attend this ceremony: she and her family were opposed to the creation of the memorial on the site of the death of the "father of the Burkinabe revolution".

The Thomas Sankara memorial currently consists only of the statue, but will eventually house an 87-meter high tower - recalling the year of his death - topped by a lighthouse, an exhibition hall, a museum and a library.

During Blaise Compaoré's 27-year reign, the circumstances of Sankara's death were completely overshadowed, and ceremonies in his honor only began after Compaoré was forced out by an insurrection