The two-day mop-up of the voter registration exercise and the warning by the National Disaster Management Organisation to communities located downstream of the White Volta to move to higher grounds as Burkina Faso readies to spill water from two dams are some of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that the Electoral Commission (EC) has announced a two-day mop-up registration exercise for eligible Ghanaians who will not be able to register in the mass registration of voters which ends today.
The mop-up exercise will be undertaken at the various district offices of the EC across the country on Saturday, August 8 and Sunday, August 9.
The acting Director of Public Affairs of the EC, Mrs. Sylvia Annoh, who made this known to the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, said the decision to do a mop-up after the main registration was to ensure that no eligible applicant was left out of the national exercise.
During the sixth edition of the Let the Citizens Know series held on July 27, the Chairperson of the EC, Mrs. Jean Mensa, indicated that the commission would do a mop-up exercise at selected areas on need basis.
The newspaper says that National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has warned communities located downstream of the White Volta to move to higher grounds as Burkina Faso readies to spill water from two dams.
In a press statement issued on August 5, NADMO said the communities in the Upper East, North East, Northern, Savannah and Upper West regions are likely to be affected by the spillage of Bagre and Kompienga Dams in Burkina Faso. NADMO also disclosed that the spillage may happen any day between August 5, 2020 and August 10, 2020.
In response, NADMO has launched “Operation ThunderBolt 2020” to prepare the people to manage the effect of the spillage on their communities.
“The National Disaster Management Organisation-NADMO following its standing agreement with its partner, SONABEL, the Agency responsible for the Management of the Bagre and Kompienga Dams in Burkina Faso, has gotten a report that, due to the rate of rise in the water levels of the two dams, the Authorities of SONABEL have decided to begin the spillage of the two dams,” the statement said.
The Times reports that the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu has said the monetisation of partisan politics is creating an unstable parliament and endangering the country’s democracy.
Mr. Iddrisu, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale Central said the phenomenon has led to a high attrition rate in the House.
Speaking at a forum recently on the need to nurture career parliamentarians, Mr. Iddrisu explained that the canker has affected parliamentary activities.
“More recently, the monetisation of our democracy that will not only create an unstable parliament, but will undermine the entire democratic process and denying the people of Ghana what is described as democratic dividends,” he said.
Haruna Iddrisu further lamented what he believed was the dwindling number of MPs interested in the real work of lawmaking in the current parliament.
The newspaper reports that the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) is to procure the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) recommended electronic sealable weighing scales, as part of measures to stop cheating in the cocoa purchasing value chain.
The scales, according to the COCOBOD, are tamper-proof to safeguard cocoa farmers from being shortchanged by Local Buying Companies.
These reform and preventive measures, the Board said, started in 2018 following a media report.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday to outline measures put in place to avoid recurrence, the Deputy Chief Executive in charge of Operations, Dr. Emmanuel Opoku, said the new scales would be available for use in the next cocoa season.
“To provide the needed guidance and ensure the smooth rollout of this reform, the decision has been taken to import the electronic sealable weighing scales, starting this year, and distribute them at a cost to the LBCs,” he said.
GIK/APA