National

Ghana Card is key to preventing conflicts during voter registration – EC claims

Published

5 months ago

June 28, 2024

The Electoral Commission (EC) is confident that using the Ghana Card as the sole identification for elections in the future will eliminate the confrontations observed during the recent voter transfer exercise.

This exercise experienced several incidents of confusion and violence, particularly in Weija, where the son of the Member of Parliament for Awutu Senya East, Mavis Hawa Koomson, was injured.

Addressing the media after a meeting with Civil Society Organisations, the Chairperson of the Commission, Jean Mensa, expressed hope that Parliament will recognise the need to pass a bill making the Ghana Card the sole requirement for registering to vote.

The Commission engaged with over 50 civil society organizations to ensure peaceful elections in the upcoming general elections.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, the Chairperson of the Commission, Jean Mensa, expressed satisfaction with the inputs made by the CSOs.

She also emphasised the need for Parliament to see the necessity of using the Ghana Card as the sole requirement in future elections to avoid the conflicts recorded in the just-ended vote transfer exercise.

The Commission believes that this change will lead to more orderly and conflict-free voter registration processes, ensuring a more peaceful and credible election.

”We have just concluded as I mentioned the transfer of votes exercise and it also went very well. We did observe some unrest and conflicts in some of the centres.

“Thankfully no lives were lost, and we do hope that the conflicts around the guarantor system which lead to parties challenging their opponents because they come to the stations, they bus the people to the station and come using the guarantor system.”

”We hope that in the future parliament will be in agreement with the EC’s proposal to make the Ghana card the sole document identification card but that will be after 2024,” she said.

Meanwhile, Albert Kofi Arhin, National Coordinator of the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), called on the Electoral Commission to ramp up efforts in promoting peace ahead of the elections, highlighting the high tensions and desperation among the populace.

“If the EC has now opened its doors to everybody, especially with the CSOs, we are going to tell the story together with the EC and we would have to educate the people.

“I have a feeling that we need to be very careful this year because of the nature of the election that we are going to have.”

“Why because tensions are very high, the economic situation in the country sometimes is dicey, and people are desperate, so we need to educate the people about peace,” he urged.

National

Fuel prices to fall between 2% and 4% in coming days – IES

Published

4 months ago

July 31, 2024

Melody 911FM

The prices of petroleum products are expected to fall between 2% and 4% for petrol, diesel, and Liquefied Petroleum Gas, beginning tomorrow August 1, 2024.

This follows the slowdown in the depreciation of the Ghana cedi during the second half of July 2024 and the favourable international market dynamics.

According to the Institute for Energy Security (IES), the price of petrol and deisel fell by 2.99% and 4.59% respectively and LPG by 1.10% in the second half of July 2024.

“Precisely, the price of gasoline [petrol] fell by 2.99%, gasoil [diesel] by 4.59%, and LPG by 1.10% in the second half of July 2024. The Ghana cedi also recorded slowed depreciation (0.52%), the lowest since February 2024.

“Following the positive realised on the foreign fuel market coupled with the slowed depreciation of Ghana Cedi recorded on the domestic forex market, the Institute for Energy Security (IES) projects a fall in fuel prices in the coming days”.

World Oil Market

The second pricing window for July 2024 for the first time since the post-OPEC+ meeting saw Brent crude futures dropping below $80 per barrel.

This was driven lower by disappointing global demand as Chinese imports in July 2024 hit the lowest level in two years.

Brent Crude traded at $78.70 per barrel compared to $83.03 per barrel at the start of the pricing window.

Local Fuel Market Performance

The second pricing window for July 2024 saw the price of liquid fuels jump at the pumps on the local fuels market.

Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) increased the price per litre of petrol by GH¢0.30 and Gasoil by GH¢.20 respectively.

The IES computation of the national average price for the three refined petroleum products for the first pricing window for July 2024 showed petrol and diesel selling at GH¢14.23 and GH¢14.70 per litre respectively, whereas (LPG) went for GH¢15.22 per kilogramme.

National

Graduate Unemployed Nurses welcome over 15,000 recruitment

Published

4 months ago

July 31, 2024

Melody 911FM

The Graduate Unemployed Nurse and Midwives Association has welcomed the latest decision by the government to recruit over 15,000 new health professionals.

In a statement released on Friday, July 26, 2024, the Ministry of Health (MoH) announced the recruitment of 15, 200 nurses and midwives, effective Monday, August 5, 2024.

The MoH confirmed that the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has granted the necessary financial clearance for the recruitment process.

Interested and qualified candidates are expected to apply through the MoH’s online application portal, where they can select their preferred agency under the Ministry. The application period will close on Friday, August 23, 2024.

This comes on the back of numerous protests and demonstrations by several health professionals over the government’s inability to clear the backlog of 2020, 2021 and 2022.

National President of The Graduate Unemployed Nurse and Midwives Association Ibrahim Haruna has been reacting to the latest development.

“We’re very grateful in the first place to the Ministry of Health. It’s not bad news, but it’s not completely what we’re expecting.

“That is what we have got for now, so we will take it… Last week Friday, we received a call from the Ministry that they have got clearance for us around 15,000, so we were expecting an official communication and it came in from the ministry, so it’s welcome news,” the National President of the Graduate Unemployed Nurse and Midwives Association said.

National

NDC targets 14 parliamentary seats in Northern Region

Published

4 months ago

July 30, 2024

Melody 911FM

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Northern Region has set an ambitious goal to win 14 parliamentary seats in the 2024 general elections.

Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the Northern Regional Secretary of the NDC, stated that the party is determined and prepared to secure victory in the upcoming polls.

On Saturday, July 27, the NDC launched its campaign in Tamale, the capital of the Northern Region, with the aim of increasing their parliamentary seats in the area.

Abdul-Salam expressed confidence that the party would reclaim some of its previously held seats from the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

He also mentioned that the NDC has established adequate structures to ensure the achievement of this target in the forthcoming election.

“We should be able to win 14 seats, and that is clearly doable, but our target is to win all the 18 seats because they are all winnable, we have mopped out strategies to get out there on the field, our men are on the ground every day.”

“That is why if you have observed, every genuine survey that is done regarding the election 2024 in all the regions, put the NDC way ahead of the NPP,” he stated.