The commencement of the second phase of the voter registration and the death of four medical officers from Covid-19 are the trending stories in Ghanaian newspapers on Monday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the second phase of the nationwide voter registration exercise commences today at different centres in all 16 regions of the country.The exercise, which is being organised in clusters, would see registration officials relocate to different centres within the same constituencies, for a period of six days.
With little technical challenges recorded so far in the first week of the exercise, strict adherence to the social distancing and nose mask wearing protocols by applicants in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is one of the major hurdles to contend with.
The newspaper says that four medical officers have so far died with more than150 battling for their lives since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic broke out in the country, the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has disclosed.In a statement issued in Accra on Friday to commiserate over the death of its members, the Association described the untimely casualties as “a big loss to the fraternity”.
It added that most of those affected are in the Greater Accra, Eastern, Central, Western and Ashanti regions.
Of the four that have passed on, the first to succumb was a Consultant Physician and Former Rector of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, Professor Jacob Plange-Rhule, who died on April 10, 2020 at the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC). Dr Harry Boateng, a 48-year old Specialist Pediatrician and Medical Superintendent at the Kwadaso SDA Hospital, also lost his life after complaints of being unwell.
Following suit, was Dr Emmanuel Twagirayesu, a retired Orthopedic Surgeon, and the latest being, Dr Richard Kisser, a Consultant Surgeon at the Trust Hospital in Accra who reportedly died of the virus last Thursday.
The Times also reports that the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has stepped up efforts in implementing its Productivity Enhancement Programmes (PEPs) aimed at achieving its one million metric tonnes target for the 2019/2020 cocoa season.
The PEPs involved pruning, hand pollination and supply of fertilisers to cocoa farmers across the country.
The Berekum Cocoa District Extension Coordinator in the Bono Region, Emmanuel Fosu Nkueh, who stated this, said the ongoing hand pollination exercise would include more farms.
Mr Nkueh was speaking when he toured hand-pollinated cocoa farms at Yawsae near Atronie on the Sunyani-Kenyasi road to interact with farmers, community extension officers and hand pollinators.
The Graphic says that Ghanaians have been asked to disregard a media report that said President Nana Akufo-Addo was in London receiving treatment for COVID-19.
A statement from the Presidency said the publication was “clearly a figment of the author’s imagination”.
The Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin in a Facebook post advised the public to disregard the “false story”.
“Kindly disregard the FALSE STORY published by the Herald Newspaper to the effect that the President was on Saturday “flown out of the country to London for COVID-19 treatment,” Mr Arhin wrote in a post accompanied by a photograph of the President sitting at the end of a table with the First Lady and two other young women.
GIK/APA