Social media commentator, Kevin Taylor has ridiculed a court charge of one million cedis against him for defamatory statements he made about Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, a cousin to the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. An Accra High Court (Commercial Court 10) presided over by Justice Jennifer Abena Dadzie awarded damages against the controversial commentator. Kevin Taylor has finally taken notice of the court writ served by Gabby Otchere-Darko through his lawyer but has responded with seeming broad satire. Mr. Taylor posted a cheque of one million dollars on his Facebook timeline, October 28, in an attempt to say he is paying Gabby Otchere-Darko a million dollars not in cedis as notified in the court charges. He also added that he has topped it up with a little quota to buy “aids drug” for Gabby Otchere-Darko. “Official I have sent a cheque to Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko. I added a little bit more for his aids drug. #focus,” he posted. Official I have sent a cheque to Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko. I added a little bit more for his aids drug. #focus Source: https://www.ghanaweb.com
Court Ruling: Kevin Taylor issues ‘PDS stupidity’ cheque to Gabby Otchere-Darko via Facebook
I don’t regret choosing Ghana over Nigeria – JoeTex Frimpong
Former Black Stars striker JoeTex Asamoah-Frimpong has said that he does not regret choosing to play for the Black Stars despite getting several calls to play for the Super Eagles of Nigeria. The former Enyimba FC star rose to fame after his exploits in Nigeria winning the CAF Champions League and the golden boot award for the Nigerian giants. Frimpong helped Enyimba to win the CAF Champions League on two consecutive seasons. His performances earned him a call-up to the Black Stars whilst Nigeria also offered him the chance to play for the Super Eagles. Despite choosing to play for Ghana and not making it into the Black Stars squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, JoeTex said he doesn’t regret making that decision. “I honestly don’t regret my decision to swerve Nigeria for Ghana. I was honored to play for Ghana because normally when it comes to Ghana, you will have to be playing in Europe before you get a Call-up”, he told Ohene-Bampoe Brenya on Happy 98.9FM. JoeTex also picked Ghana’s win against Burkina Faso in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers as his best game for Ghana. “My best game for Ghana was against Burkina Faso in the 2006 world qualifiers. I played for only 15 minutes. I came on and gave two assists which gave us the win,” he said. The 38-year-old capped 11 times for the Black Stars and scored two goals. He has retired from the game and currently lives in Switzerland with his family. Source: https://www.ghanaweb.com
$1 million Kroll case: Senior Minister’s appeal against Domelevo upheld
An Accra High Court has upheld an appeal filed by Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo, and four other officials from the Ministry of Finance against the Auditor-General’s $1 million disallowances and surcharge in respect of the contract to Kroll and Associates. He was challenging the determination by the Auditor-General that the payment of the sum of GHS4,869,421.87 was without approval from Parliament and the Public Procurement Authority (PPA). Mr. Osafo Maafo also said the findings violated his right to a fair hearing. The court agreed with his contentions saying the Auditor-General “ought to have at least communicated his refusal to inspect the documents for stated reasons before going ahead to issue the notices that have given rise to the Appeals before this court.” It said the agreement of the Auditor General to inspect the documents was a tacit “acknowledgement of their ways.” The court also said the Auditor-General “failed to abide by the well-known rules of natural justice of giving the Appellants the opportunity to be heard.” The Senior Minister and the four other officials from the Ministry of Finance sued Mr. Domelevo to clear their names in relation to what was said to be breaches of the Public Procurement Act that resulted in the payment to Kroll and Associates. Mr. Osafo Maafo had said he was resorting to the courts because “the evidence available shows clearly that the Auditor-General erred in law and professional procedures in the exercise of his powers regarding his audit on payments to Kroll and Associates Limited.” Mr. Domelevo had concluded that Kroll was paid for no work done, following what he said was the persistent failure of the Senior Minister to provide proof of actual work done. He consequently recommended the disallowance of the payment of the US$1 million to Kroll and Associates, which the government, through the Ministry of Finance paid. Mr. Domelevo also surcharged Mr Osafo Maafo and four other officials from the Ministry of Finance. Source:https://citinewsroom.com/
NBSSI’s Nkosuo loan oversubscribed
… 400,000 businesses seek over GH¢2bn support Data from the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) have revealed that 400,000 businesses seeking a total sum of over GH¢2billion applied to benefit from the NBSSI and Mastercard Foundation Nkosuo loan scheme, whereas only GH¢90million is available to 25,000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). According to the Executive Director of the NBSSI, Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, the investment committee of the NBSSI has held a series of meetings on how best to begin disbursement of the funds – taking into consideration the oversubscription and challenges faced during the disbursement of the first Coronavirus Alleviation Programme Business Support Scheme (CAP BuSS), the Adom Micro-Soft Loans for micro-enterprises. She added that from experience, the deadline for application was not extended. “For the Nkosuo we did not extend the deadline; I think we learnt lessons from CAPBuss not to extend the deadline. So, we stuck with the deadline we had (October 15). “We had over 400,000 people applying for it and requesting in excess of GH¢2billion. We had conversations with the investment committee to start the process of disbursement to support businesses. One of the things we made clear is that if someone has benefitted from our past government funding, they can’t benefit from this. We want to allow new people to benefit so we spread the opportunities,” she said. When the B&FT asked for disbursement timelines, Mrs Yankey-Ayeh said: “As soon as possible” adding that “I think we have learnt our lessons from CAPBuSS, so we won’t be giving strict deadlines. We have never before had the chance to use a technology platform to serve the masses; we have never seen these numbers before, and so the beauty of this is that we are learning from our past experiences”. The Nkosuo programme will focus on supporting MSMEs and start-ups needing assistance to survive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; and businesses in growth sectors where the employment of young people, especially young women, are being significantly impacted by business operation disruptions, supply chain challenges, liquidity shortages, declining sales and profits, and business closures. Also, businesses providing services that have the potential to meet the growing demands of communities during and after the pandemic; and businesses that focus on digitisation to support MSMEs are eligible to apply. The Nkosuo programme complements existing programmes and is completely different from the disbursement process of current government programmes, including the government of Ghana Coronavirus Alleviation and Revitalisation of Enterprises (Ghana-CARES) Programme that focuses largely on developing sustainable MSMEs as a critical part of Ghana’s post-COVID-19 recovery strategy. The programme comes after a successful roll-out of the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme Business Support Scheme (CAP BuSS). Source: thebftonline.com
One killed in Ivory Coast as tensions rise ahead of vote
One killed in Ivory Coast as tensions rise ahead of vote The pre-election tensions are raising fears of a crisis similar to that of a decade ago during which some 3,000 people died One person was killed and a dozen were seriously injured on Monday during an opposition protest near Ivory Coast’s main city Abidjan, a local mayor said, two weeks ahead of a contentious presidential election. Most of the protesters were youths, who had set up roadblocks on the main road to neighbouring Ghana from the town of Bounoua, a onetime stronghold of former first lady Simone Gbagbo. Another two people died at the weekend during ethnic clashes linked to the election in Bongouanou, fiefdom of opposition candidate Pascal Affi N’Guessan, who said his home was burned down. The tensions, which already saw around 15 people killed in August and September, have fuelled fears of a conflict on a scale of the one that engulfed the West African state a decade ago. Also Monday in Abidjan, students responding to a call for protests from the opposition-aligned Fesci labour union set fire to at least one bus and two cars in the city’s Rivera 2 district, an AFP journalist said. Security forces clashed with students who had torched cars and barricaded several streets in the Cocody neighbourhood where the Felix Houphouet-Boigny University is located. Other incidents were reported in the towns of Dabou and Divo, and in the capital Yamoussoukro, according to witnesses and a security source. The regional ECOWAS grouping, making a second diplomatic mission to the country in a week, urged the government and opposition to make “considerable efforts” to tamp down the tensions. The 15-member Economic Community of West African States also urged two opposition parties on Monday to “seriously reconsider their decision to boycott the election, and their call on their supporters to engage in civil disobedience”. – Term limit reset – President Alassane Ouattara is seeking a third term in the October 31 election, with critics saying the bid breaks with constitutional limits in Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer. The president says a 2016 reform allows him to run again by resetting the limit on the number of terms. Ouattara had announced in March that he would not seek a third term, but he changed his mind after his preferred successor, prime minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, died of a sudden heart attack in July. The opposition has allowed doubts to swirl over whether it will boycott the vote, last Thursday urging supporters to boycott “electoral operations” and campaigning, while stopping short of withdrawing its three candidacies. Dozens of would-be candidates were barred from running in the election, including former president Laurent Gbagbo and ex-rebel chief Guillaume Soro, both of whom played key roles in the 2010-11 crisis. In addition to Ouattara and Affi N’Guessan, former president Henri Konan Bedie and former parliamentarian Kouadio Konan Bertin are in the running. Listing the opposition’s demands on Sunday to the visiting ECOWAS delegation — notably for Ouattara to scrap his contentious third term bid, and for sidelined candidacies to be authorised — Affi N’Guessan vowed “to fight until these demands are met.” Friday’s clashes erupted after young backers of Affi N’Guessan set up roadblocks using tree trunks or oil barrels on two major arteries of Bongouanou, some 200 kilometres (120 miles) north of Abidjan. Hundreds of residents could be seen fleeing the area on foot, wearing backpacks or carrying sacks of belongings on their heads. Source: Yahoo
West Africa hard pressed to expand cocoa market share
Ghana and Ivory Coast account for two-thirds of the world’s cocoa supply, but unlike oil-producing countries, they are unable to influence prices that are historically too low to meet the basic needs of small planters. “They could decide the market prices, above all if they allied themselves with other major producers like Ecuador, Cameroon and Nigeria, but there’s a lack of real political will,” an industry expert said on condition of anonymity. Abidjan and Accra only began to work together seriously in 2019, when they obtained a living wage premium from cocoa and chocolate multinationals such as Nestle of $400 (341 euros) per tonne of cacao beans. The NGO Fairtrade promoted the “living income reference price” on the basis of a study of the essential needs of planter households, plus a provision for emergencies, according to Fairtrade. It has been applied to the 2020-21 crop, which started this month. The result should be an increase of more than 20 percent in the earnings of Ivorian planters, rising to 1,000 CFA francs (1.52 euros / $1.66) per kilo. For the first time in years, the neighbouring west African countries have matched their cocoa prices to halt a thriving traffic in cocoa beans between Ivory Coast, with its 40 percent of the world market share, and Ghana, in second place with more than 20 percent. – Market disconnect – “The decisions of Ivory Coast and Ghana count, but there is slight overproduction of cocoa and the coronavirus crisis is reducing demand,” said Jonathan Parkman of the brokerage company Marex Spectron. Parkman was not even sure whether the income premium would last beyond the current season. The analyst noted that cocoa prices are speculative, as with certain other agricultural products, with prices partially disconnected from the real economy. On the stock exchanges in London and New York, cocoa contracts for 30 times global production change hands each year. The price has fluctuated between $2,000 and $3,000 per tonne for the past four years. In real terms, cocoa prices are just half of what they were in the 1960s, and just a quarter of the peaks they hit in the mid-1970s — the apogee of the Ivorian “economic miracle” — according to the World Bank. The state of the market is a boon for buyers, but a curse for planters in tropical countries, who receive only six percent of the $100 billion generated made by the global cocoa and chocolate industry each year. In public, multinational giants like Barry Callebaut and Mondelez show their support for the living wage premium, while consumers are pressing demands for a “more ethical” cocoa trade. “The coordination of Ivory Coast and Ghana is a very positive factor,” said Patrick Poirrier, chairman of French chocolate group Cemoi and president of a producers’ syndicate. “It’s in their interest to expand their power to act on the market.” – Cocoa has no tap – Cocoa-producing nations face major obstacles, however, if they wish to exercise control over the market the same way as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has done for oil. For starters, the amount of cocoa produced annually cannot be managed “like turning a tap on and off”, Poirrier said. “It’s difficult to ask a cocoa farmer, who makes a 20-year commitment when he plants a tree, to produce less.” For two decades, the global crop has been in excess of demand one year in every two, to the benefit of buyers seeking to push prices down. The lack of capacity to store cocoa, a fragile and perishable commodity, close to the site of the harvest adds difficulties near the very start of the supply chain. Late in September, Ivory Coast announced the building of two storage warehouses with a total capacity of 300,000 tonnes at the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro. To establish an OPEC equivalent for cocoa, all the producer countries should participate, said Philippe Fontayne, former chairman of the International Cocoa Organisation. “But I’m very sceptical about their ability to agree on the rules of the game,” he said. Some industry players have not forgotten the failure of the Alliance of Cocoa Producing Countries — formed in 1962 by Brazil, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria — to make any impact on the world market. The Cocoa-Coffee Board, responsible for managing the twin sectors in Ivory Coast, declined to comment to AFP. Source: https://news.yahoo.com/
