The report on Ghana’s COVID-19 vaccination programme and the arrival of 350,000 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines in Accra on Friday morning is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday.
The Graphic reports that after weeks of apprehension over the fate of Ghana’s COVID-19 vaccination programme, the exercise looks set to resume soon after 350,000 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines landed in Accra on Friday morning.
It arrived around 5am, May 7, aboard a Turkish Airline fight to kick-start the second phase of the nationwide vaccination.
Fears that the programme could be held back heightened when the second batch of doses from the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX) facility, expected from India, were not forthcoming.
This sent tongues wagging and kept citizens who received the first jab more than two months ago in a quandary.
The 350,000 doses of vaccines are an addition to the 600,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine received on February 24, this year.
Already, Ghana has inoculated about 850,000
The newspaper says that the annual month-long ban on drumming and noise-making in Accra for the year 2021 starts on May 10, it has been announced.
The season of Homowo, the revered traditional festival of the Ga people in Accra, starts with the ritual sowing of corn and yams with the coming of the first rains in early May and ends in late September when the crops are finally harvested.
Right after the ritual sowing, there is a period of quiet and servitude when the benevolence of the spirits, with respect to the growth and harvest of agricultural produce and fish, is solicited.
In times past, there were skirmishes between the traditional authorities and people who flouted the ban, leading to the destruction of properties and injury to a number of people.
For a couple of years now, however, the period of the ban has been tranquil.
This is as a result of the engagement of people of especially other faiths that has made communication on the festival open, bringing about more understanding and acceptance to especially some churches, as well as measures that have been put in place to prevent people arrogating to themselves the authority to whip in line people they consider to be flouting the ban.
The Graphic also report that the Accra Regional Police Command has obtained a prohibition order from the Accra High Court to stop the #FixTheCountryGhana demonstration.
The demonstration slated for Sunday, May 9, 2021 was to protest what the organisers described as the lack of development, corruption and retrogression of the county.
In an order issued Thursday, May 6, 2021, the High Court, presided over by Justice Ruby Aryeetey, ruled that the prohibition order would be in place until the restriction on public gathering was lifted.
“It is hereby ordered that the organisers/conveners of #FixTheCountry Protest March, their associates, officers, agents, assigns and workmen be prohibited from embarking on any demonstration on Sunday 9th May, or any other date until the restriction on public gathering is lifted by the appropriate authority,” Justice Aryeetey ordered.
The government on Thursday reached out to the conveners of the #FixTheCountryGhana campaigners with the view to explore further dialogue on their concerns, reports Enoch Darfah Frimpong.
The Minister of National Security, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, on Thursday [May 6, 2021] held a meeting with the conveners of the planned demonstration dubbed #FixTheCountry.
The group has planned a street protest on May 9, 2021 and has written a notification to the police.
The Times says that the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Songhai Group, Hene Kwarpong, has postulated that the Agyapa Royalties Agreement is a good initiative introduced by the government.
However, he noted that the government must build trust among the citizenry in order to get them to appreciate the benefit that it comes with.
“Agyapa is fine, but how do we do it to generate trust?” he quizzed.
The Agyapa deal received stiff opposition from civil society groups and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) after the critics said the deal was bad.
Following the public uproar, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo ordered that the deal be withdrawn from Parliament for further works to be done on it.
The President said in his first state of the nation address in his second term that the Agyapa deal would be back to Parliament.
Touching on the news that Ghana has overtaken South Africa in gold production, Mr. Kwarpong noted that it is good news, but the development had the propensity of rather creating challenges for the West African nation.
He explained that the mining companies doing well in the country thereby assisting and supporting the country to leapfrog South Africa, are all South African companies, which meant whatever proceeds or value they made in the country would be repatriated to their mother country.
“Ghana is now the leading producer of gold, we have passed South Africa and other African countries which is great, and the challenge is that, it is actually quite a bigger problem because the only reason why Ghana is largest producer is because two big South African companies are doing more in Ghana,” he said.
GIK/APA