The report of the four-day state funeral for the late former President Jerry John Rawlings reaches the final leg on Wednesday dominates the headlines of Ghanaian press on Wednesday.
The Graphic reports that the four-day state funeral for the late former President Jerry John Rawlings, affectionately called Papa J, reaches the final leg today with a burial service at the Black Star Square, to be followed by burial, with full military honours, at the new Military Cemetery at Burma Camp.
Last Monday and yesterday, the body was laidin state at the foyer of the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) for Ghanaians to pay their last respects.
Today, the body of the former President, who died on November 12, last year, aged 73, will be conveyed to the Black Star Square, where Ghanaians and the rest of the world are expected to gather to bid a final farewell to the man who, on two different occasions (June 4, 1979 and December 31, 1981), staged successful coup d’etats to become the Head of State, before metamorphosing into the first President of the Fourth Republic after winning the presidential election of November 1992.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia and former Presidents John Agyekum Kufuor and John Dramani Mahama are expected at the funeral.
Some African leaders and dignitaries from around the world are also expected to attend the event to say their final farewell.
Among the dignitaries who have confirmed their participation are the Liberian President, George Weah, and the Sierra Leonean President, Julius Maada Bio.
Other dignitaries from the subregion, as confirmed by the Ministry of Information to be in attendance, are the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas; The Gambia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mamadou Tangara, as well as delegations from the ECOWAS Commission, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria.
The newspaper says that the Supreme Court says it will not hesitate to dismiss the 2020 election petition filed by former President John Dramani Mahama if he (Mahama) fails to comply with the court’s order to file his witness statement.
This comes after Mr. Mahama [petitioner], whose lawyers had told the court that they had five witnesses, failed to comply with the court’s order to file witness statements by Thursday, January 21, 2020 as ordered by the court.
According to the seven-member panel of the apex court, before it listens to any further applications, it was imperative for the petitioner to obey its orders else it would invoke the sanctions under rule 69 which gives the court the power to dismiss the petition if the petitioner fails to comply with the order of the court.
The Supreme court had on Wednesday January 20, 2020 ordered the petitioner to file his witness statements by Thursday, January 21, 2020.
The Electoral Commission (1st respondent) and President Akufo-Addo (2nd respondent) were ordered by the court to file their witness statements by Friday, January, 22.
While the EC and President Akufo-Addo had filed their witness statements, Mr. Mahama did not comply with the orders of the court.
When the case was called Tuesday morning [January 26, 2021), although the lead counsel for Mr Mahama, Mr Tsatsu Tsikata was not in the courtroom, Mr Tony Lithur, a member of the petitioner’s legal team, was asked by the panel why he failed to comply with the court order to file witness statements as directed.
In his response, Mr. Lithur explained that the witness statements were not filed because he had filed a motion asking the court to halt the proceedings until the final determination of the review application on interrogatories which was dismissed by the court hence the inability to file the witness statements.
The Graphic also reports that five more persons have died from the COVID-19 disease, bringing the Ghana’s death toll to 372.
The country has also witnessed an additional 327 new active cases over the past 24 hours, raising the active case count to 3,613 from a previous 3,286.
This follows the confirmation of 646 new cases of infections across the country. The new infections are results from tests conducted as at January 22, 2021.
So far, a total of 58,150 persons have clinically recovered from the disease and been discharged.
Seventy-nine of the active cases, it said, were in severe conditions, with 29 in critical condition. The active cases, the update said, were being managed in treatment sites, isolation centres across the country, while some were under home management.
Ghana has so far recorded 62,135 cases of the disease since it confirmed its first two cases in March 2020.
Out of the total confirmed cases, 24,117 were from the General Surveillance; 36,949 cases from the Enhanced Contact Tracing, while 1,069 have been recorded from international travellers, disembarking at the Kotoka International Airport since it was reopened on September 1, 2020, the update stated.
So far, a total of 745,095 tests have been conducted. Out of this, 232,605 are from routine surveillance, 369,618 from contact tracing, and 142,872 from international travellers arriving through the Kotoka International Airport.
The Times says the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders has welcomed a decision by the Ghana Standards Authority to halt the increment of fees and charges at the various ports.
In December 2020, the Ghana Standards Authority announced that the charge of clearing goods at the ports will increase by 20 per cent beginning January 2021.
This formed part of the annual review of fees and charges at the ports to ensure clients are served better.
But after a meeting held with stakeholders in the imports and exports sector on Thursday, January 14, this decision has since been shelved, following complaints from the affected parties.
Elated about the development, the Vice Chairman of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders, Johnny Mantey, told to Citi Business News that “GSA is an institution that needs to keep itself going. Every product has to be certified by GSA.”
He said “They need funds and resources to be able to do that. However, we also agree that they also make money from testing. Of course, they were earning some kind of money from the ports in terms of the percentage that was given to the inspection companies. Now, they are not earning that anymore.”
GIK/APA