The demand for urgent action on the destroyed building by Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister and the detection of applicants with fictitious data, documents and personal details for Covid-19 special fund are the trending stories in Ghanaian newspapers on Monday.
The Graphic reports that Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, is demanding urgent action from the Ghanaian government after some armed men destroyed a building which belongs to the Nigerian High Commission in Accra.
The report noted that the armed men broke through the locked gate with a bulldozer and pulled down parts of a one-storey building under construction on the compound.
The structure is to serve as accommodation for the staff of the High Commission as well as stranded Nigerians in Ghana.
Mr. Onyeama in a statement on Twitter said: “We are engaging the Ghanaian Government and demand urgent action to find the perpetrators and provide adequate protection for Nigerians and their property in Ghana.”
The newspaper also says it has been detected that applicants with fictitious data, documents and personal details were among those who applied for the special fund, set up by the government to cushion small and medium scale businesses from the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The report said that the data from the National Board and Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) showed that 5,200 out of a total of 450,000 applicants presented fake documentations to benefit from the GH¢1 billion Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP) business support scheme.
The NBSSI, together with the CAP Steering Committee, have therefore extended the deadline for applications from June 20 to June 26, 2020, to enable it to address all fraud-related cases before the fund will be disbursed.
The Executive Director of NBSSI, Mrs. Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, who made this known at a press conference in Accra last Friday, said some of the fraud cases detected had been forwarded to security agencies for investigations.
The Graphic also reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced a fresh package of interventions that will help make life comfortable and safe for final-year senior high school (SHS) Three students and second-year Gold Track students who are returning to school today.
It includes for the first time, the absorption of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) fees of the 313,837 SHS Three students amounting to GH¢75.4 million.
In addition, the government is making available 350 buses and 840 pickup vehicles to SHSs that did not receive vehicles in 2016.
In his 12th address to the nation on Ghana’s enhanced response to the COVID-19 pandemic yesterday, the President further indicated that through the National Food and Buffer Stock Company, enough food supplies had been distributed to all schools.
The Ghanaian Times reports that Ghana’s recovery rate for COVID-19 has skyrocketed to 10,473 from 4,548, following an amendment of the Ghana Health Service (GHS)’s national discharge policy.
The reform, which is in conformity with the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines allows for asymptomatic patients who are admitted to go home 14 days after treatment without a second test.
For symptomatic patients, if they respond to treatment 14 days after testing positive, they are discharged after a further three days without showing any symptoms.
However, a second test would be conducted on discharged patients from home.
The newspaper also reports that 40 members of Parliament (MPs), including Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of various select committees of Parliament will not return to the House next year after losing their seat in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) primaries held last Saturday.
They include Chairman of the Finance Committee, Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah, who is the MP of New Juaben South Constituency, Chairman of Communications Committee, Fredrick Opare Ansah, also the MP of Suhum, Chairman of Education Committee and MP of Akim Oda, William Agyapong Quaitoo, and Chairman of Legal Affairs Committee, Ben Abdallah Banda, who serves as the MP of Offinso South Constituency.
The others are Chairman of Government Assurances Committee, Collins Owusu Amankwaah, who is the MP of Manhyia North, Chairman of Youth and Sports Committee, Alex Agyekum, the current MP of Mpohor, Vice Chairman of Agriculture Committee and MP of Twifo Atti Morkwa, Abraham Odoom, Vice chairman of Roads Committee and MP of Tema Central, Kofi Brako, Vice chairman of Trade and Industry Committee, Ato Panford, who is MP of Shama Constituency.
Other notable incumbent MPs who lost their seat included Joseph Kofi Adda, MP of Navrongo Central and Minister of Aviation, Kwakye Darfour, MP of Nkawkaw and Eastern Regional Minister, Dr Sagre Bambangi, MP of Walewale Constituency and Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Vincent Sowah Odotei, MP of La Dadekotopon, who previously served as Deputy Minister of Communications.
GIK/APA