The appeal by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to Ghanaians to retain the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in government and the opposition’s promise to probe the power distribution deal are the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Times reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged Ghanaians to retain the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in government in light of its sterling performance over the last three- and-a- half years.
The report noted that the former President Mahama is seeking a second term in office after losing in 2016, and will lock horns with President Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the third consecutive time when the nation goes to polls on December 7.
According to him, it is important for Ghanaians to reject former President John Dramani Mahama and his National Democratic Congress (NDC), since they had nothing more to offer the nation.
Addressing party supporters at the NPP manifesto launch at Cape Coast over the weekend, President Akufo-Addo described the eight year rule of the NDC, with Mr. Mahama as Vice President from 2009 to 2012 and as President from 2012 to 2017 as “disastrous.”
The newspaper says that GOIL Company Limited (GOIL) recorded an impressive performance in 2019, with profits increasing by 29 percent and sales growing by 9.66 percent.
Addressing shareholders at the company’s 51st Annual General Meeting (AGM) held virtually and streamed live by video link to all shareholders in Accra, the Board Chairman, Kwamena Bartels, disclosed that GOIL’s growth in sales volume of fuel was higher than that of the industry for the first time in many years.
Whilst the Industry grew by 6.44 percent, GOIL sales went up by 9.66 percent.
Profit after tax stood at GH¢105.5 million, up by 29 percent compared to the year 2018.
The Board of Directors therefore recommended the payment of dividend of GH¢0.045 per share, as against GH¢0.042 in 2018, amounting to GH¢17,633,841 for the year ended 31st December, 2019.
Mr. Bartels told shareholders, the main drivers behind the growth, were not the sale of the traditional products, Diesel XP and Super XP, which traditionally formed about 90 percent of the volume of sales, but rather the sale of mining diesel, bunkering and aviation fuel.
The Times also reports that the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, has said that the service will not rush into re-opening pre-tertiary schools in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to him, the GES would act on sound advice by the committee inaugurated to come up with a roadmap towards the resumption of schools.
“The schools will reopen when the committee has made proposals, and the proposals have been accepted. So there is no date for us now, but we know that obviously schools will reopen some time,” Prof. Opoku-Amankwa said.
He was addressing a day’s training workshop on the Secondary School Improvement Project (SEIP), for selected journalists from across the country, here, over the weekend.
Prof. Opoku-Amankwa said following the President’s directive on measures towards reopening schools, the Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, had constituted an eminent body to oversee to a possible resumption of schools.
The Graphic reports that the flag-bearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), former President John Dramani Mahama says he will prosecute all persons involved in the Power Distribution Services (PDS) deal that took over the running of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
According to him, some persons very close or related to President Akufo-Addo) were involved in the structuring of the PDS deal, which he says has caused the country to lose so much money to the benefit of some individuals.
He said: “There is enough evidence to investigate the PDS deal” and that “If I become President, we will investigate PDS.”
Mr. Mahama said this in a post he shared on his Facebook page on Sunday, August 23, 2020.
According to him, for the period that the ECG was handed over to PDS, all the monies they (PDS) collected had not been accounted for, and that “The people of Ghana deserves to know what happened with PDS.”
The newspaper says that the newly elected General Secretary of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Nana Yaa Akyimpim Jantuah, says that the party will go back to its original blueprint of grassroots organisation to build a more formidable party.
She has therefore called on all persons who believe in the founder of the party’s ideologies, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to “come home” to help in the rebuilding of the party.
According to her, “It is time for everybody to come onboard to build CPP and change our fortunes in this country.”
Nana Yaa Jantuah, who is a former Public Affairs Director of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), was speaking on Accra-based Citi FM on Monday morning, August 24, 2020.
She said the party from its formative period, was founded on the principle of grassroots organisation which enabled the party to win elections in the country within a period of three months.
GIK/APA