The training of 26,000 young entrepreneurs by the government and the Electoral Commission’s statement filed at the Supreme Court by the Electoral Commission on the existing voters’ identification card are the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Tuesday.
The Graphic reports that the government has started the process to train 26,000 young entrepreneurs across the country under the third phase of the Presidential Business Support Programme (PBSP).
The Minister of Business Development, Dr. Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, who made this known in Accra yesterday, said up to 5,000 of the beneficiaries would receive soft loans from a GH¢50 million fund that had been set up for the programme to start or boost their businesses.
“We are going to build the capacity of 26,000 Ghanaian start-ups and small businesses, out of which we will select 5,000 of them to receive funding of about GH¢50 million to boost their businesses so that they can create jobs,” he said.
The newspaper also said that the Electoral Commission has filed at the Supreme Court, the legal basis for which it has planned to refuse the existing voters’ identification card as a form of identification in the upcoming mass voters registration exercise.
In a Supplementary Statement of Case filed at the Supreme Court registry on Monday, June 8, 2020, and seen by Graphic Online, the EC explained that the compilation of a new register that does not depend on the existing voter’s ID cards will give the register to be compiled more credibility than the existing register.
It said its first legal basis is that the EC has the sole exclusive constitutional responsibility to compile a voters register and to determine how that compilation will be effected and it is not subject to the direction or control of any other person or body. Article 45(a) and Article 46 of the Constitution and as enunciated by Abu Ramadan & Anor (No.2 [2015-2016] 1 SCGLR 1.
It said its second legal basis is that in exercising its exclusive constitutional duty, it has placed before Parliament a Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) that does not include the use of the existing or old voters ID cards, exercising its constitutional discretion to do so.
It also added that through its own internal review and due diligence mechanism, it has realised that C.I. 12 did not require any proof of qualification to register as a voter.
The Graphic also reported that 272 new cases of the Coronavirus disease has pushed Ghana’s total case count to 9,910.
According to the data from the Ghana Health Service on Monday, June 8, the country has also recorded nine new recoveries, bringing the total to 3,645.
It added that four new deaths have also been recorded, bringing the total number of deaths to 48, while the active cases are now 6,217.
The Times reports that a nationwide fumigation and disinfection of military barracks, schools, offices, accommodation, churches, mosques and other facilities was yesterday launched at Burma Camp in Accra.
The exercise aimed to curb the spread of COVID-19 and to improve the wellbeing of personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) who are considered as frontline service providers.
Launching it, a Deputy Minister of Defence, Major (rtd) Derek Oduro said aside fumigation and disinfection, the fight against the virus requires strict observance of social distancing, regular hand washing under running water, use of face mask and hand sanitiser and undertaking regular exercises.
The newspaper also said that the National Identification Authority (NIA) has deferred to tomorrow, the issuance of 3,875,441 Ghana cards to their respective owners across the country.
According to the NIA, the postponement is to allow the authority complete the distribution of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to all centres.
“Any inconvenience caused is deeply regretted,” a statement issued yesterday by the NIA Head of Corporate Affairs, Assistant Comptroller of Immigration (ACI) Francis Palmdetti said.
The exercise, which was initially slated for yesterday involved the distribution of the cards to applicants at 5,635 registration centres.
GIK/APA