The GH¢233.9m spent by the government on nationwide free water supply and the self- isolation of the Chief Justice are some of the leading stories in Ghanaian newspapers on Thursday.
The Times reports that the government spent an amount of GH¢233,936,273.00 on a nationwide free water supply announced by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as part of the package put in place to combat the outbreak of the Coronavirus in the country.
The free water supply was for three months commencing from April and ending in June, 2020.
The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Mrs. Cecilia Abena Dapaah, said at the Meet-The –Press series, organized by the Minister of Information that, her outfit in collaboration with the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) supplied and installed a number of water tanks to various regions.
“These tanks were installed to supply water to the vulnerable and the poor across the various regions. Approximately, 750,000 people benefited from the free water supply intervention using the mounted water tanks across the country,” she added.
The newspaper also reported that Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah has gone into self- isolation for 14 days on “the advice of his doctors in compliance with Covid-19 protocols”.
“His Lordship will be working from the Chief Justice’s official residence at Cantonment,” a press statement issued in Accra and signed by the Judicial Secretary, Cynthia Pamela Addo, said,
This comes hours after the Supreme Court adjourned all cases scheduled for hearing this week over fears of the Coronavirus disease.
It is unclear the scale of the spread of the virus within the Judiciary, but Citi News’ checks show that the Supreme Court has adjourned all cases which were scheduled to be heard this week.
The Times says that the Electoral Commission (EC) has launched the maiden edition of their “Let the Citizen Know” initiative aimed at providing regular information on their core mandate to the citizenry.
This initiative also includes providing up to date information on the ongoing mass voters registration exercise across the country.
Speaking at the launch yesterday, the Electoral Commissioner, Mrs. Jean Mensa, stated that “Let the Citizen Know” will build the trust and confidence the populace has in the EC by answering questions of the citizens and “give timely information on a regular basis to citizens”
“Let the Citizen Know” will give regular updates on the voters registration, number of registrants, the male and female ratio, the guarantor system and the forms of identification used in the voters registration exercise,” she said.
The Graphic reports that Ghana has recorded 854 new cases of COVID-19, increasing the country’s active cases to 5,129.
The Ghana Health Service in an update yesterday (July 9, 2020) indicated that the country had so far recorded a cumulative tally of 22,822 confirmed cases of Coronavirus and 17,564 recoveries/discharge, while the death toll from the disease remains 129.
The GHS says 13,673 of the total number of cases were discovered after enhanced contact tracing exercises while 9,149 were detected through general surveillance.
Currently, 24 and eight of the active cases are in severe and critical conditions respectively.
The newspaper also reports that the Ghana Stock Exchange has recorded a total of more than 262.2 million traded shares valued at GH¢ 194 million in the first six months of 2020 amid the uncertainty of the coronavirus crisis.
The performance, from January to June 2020, represents 107.9 percent growth in volumes and 87.7 percent in value traded for the same period in 2019.
According to the report, on a month-on-month basis, trading volumes recorded a dip of 16 percent at the end of June after an impressive run in May 2020.
A volume of 60.74 million shares were recorded at the end of June compared with 72.61 million shares in May and this resulted in a total value of GH¢ 46.983 million recorded in June 2020 as against GH¢ 47.825 million recorded at the end of May 2020, representing a slight fall of 1.76 percent.
GIK/APA