The postponement of the funeral rites for the late former president, Jerry John Rawlings and that the appeal by the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference to the leadership of Ghana’s major political parties and their supporters to exercise restraint and avoid all forms of violence are leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday.
The Graphic reports that the funeral rites were scheduled for Wednesday, December 23, 2020, but a statement from the office of the former president said “The office of the former President Jerry John Rawlings informs the general public that his funeral will no longer take place on Wednesday, December 23, 2020″
The press statement issued and signed by Kobina Andoh Amoakwa of the Communications Directorate of the former president said “A new date will be communicated to the public in due course…The inconvenience to all who had made prior arrangements for the funeral ceremony is deeply regretted”.
Former President Jerry John Rawlings died at the age of 73 at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) in Accra on November 12, 2020.
The newspaper says that the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) has appealed to the leadership of Ghana’s major political parties and their supporters to exercise restraint and avoid all forms of violence in the aftermath of the declaration of the election results by the Electoral Commission.
The GCBC in a statement issued on Wednesday and signed by its President Most Rev Philip Naameh appealed to all political parties who have issues with the election results to resort to legitimate procedures for redress.
The statement also expressed concern about the loss of lives and injuries during the poll despite what it described as “the success and peaceful conduct of the elections”.
“Despite the success and peaceful conduct of the elections, we have also noted with concern the loss of lives and injuries suffered by some people in constituencies such as Awutu Senya East, Odododiodio, Ablekuma Central, Bono East and Savelugu,” the statement said.
“We wish to call on the leadership of the two major political parties and their supporters to exercise restraint and avoid all forms of violence in the aftermath of the declaration of the Presidential and Parliamentary results by the Electoral Commission”.
The Graphic also reports that the Ghana Health Service says although childhood cancers are curable when detected early, four out of every five affected children in low and middle income countries like Ghana die.
The figure forms part of the 300,000 children who develop childhood cancers every year globally.
Statistics available to the Non-Communicable Diseases Control Programme of the Ghana Health Service indicate that only about 30 per cent of children in the country presenting with the condition survive, a situation it describes as unacceptable
As part of control activities aimed towards prevention, quality care and over 60 per cent survival rate latest by 2030, the GHS has put together a draft national strategy on childhood cancers and an accompanying strategic plan.
It engaged stakeholders in a dissemination and validation workshop yesterday to fine tune the draft and get stakeholder input to ensure that the process of getting the strategy was consultative enough to deliver a workable document.
The draft policy and strategic plan forms part of the implementation of the World Health Organisation’s global initiative on childhood cancers through the Non-Communicable Diseases Control Programme of the Ghana Health Service.
The newspaper says that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has retained the contentious Sene West Parliamentary seat with a difference of 16 votes.
The NDC’s Parliamentary Candidate for Sene West, Mr Kwame Ampofo Twumasi was Thursday evening, December 17, 2020, declared the winner of the December 7, 2020 Parliamentary election in the area.
He polled 13,116 votes, which is 16 votes more than the 13,100 that the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) candidate, Joseph Kumah Mackay obtained in the hotly contested election.
The votes in the disputed ballot box was counted Thursday afternoon [December 17, 2020] following a court order.
The new results brings the division of Parliamentary seats at the national level between the NPP and NDC to 137 each with one Independent MP-elect.
The Times reports that the President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Dr Joseph Obeng has lamented the high cost of borrowing in Ghana.
The situation, he said if not addressed by the government as a matter of priority, would edge out Ghanaian businesses by their competitors.
Speaking on Eye on Port, the GUTA President said the government should urgently compel the mainstream commercial banks to reduce loan rates, or risks having Ghanaian businesses lose out in the competition when Africa commences its free market project.
“Government has done a lot by bringing down the base rate but it is not trickling down on the commercial rates, and that is difficult for us to understand why the gap is too big,” he complained.
Dr Obeng said the banks usually explained that the high interest rates are due to the higher risks associated with the failure of local business in honouring repayments of loans.
GIK/APA