The ranking of Ghana as 75th out of 180 countries and territories on the 2020 Global Corruption Perception Index and the dismissal of John Mahama’s application for the review the Supreme Court’s decision that disallowed him from asking 12 questions on the polls are the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday.
The Graphic reports that Ghana has been ranked 75th out of 180 countries and territories on the 2020 Global Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
In a Transparency International (TI) 2020 CPI report published today, Ghana scored 43 out of 100 points, improving on its 2019 ranking by five places.
In 2019 and 2018, Ghana was ranked 80th (with 41 points) and 78th respectively out of 180 countries and territories.
In Africa, Seychelles maintained the highest ranking with a score of 66, followed by Botswana (60) and Cabo Verde (58). At the bottom of the index are Sudan (16), Somalia (12) and South Sudan (12).
Other African countries that were ranked as least corrupt than Ghana – which placed 10th in sub-Saharan Africa – included Rwanda (49th), Mauritius (52nd), Namibia (57th), Sao Tome and Principe (63rd), Senegal (67th) and South Africa (69th).
The 2020 edition of the CPI ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, drawing on 13 expert assessments and surveys of business executives. It uses a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
The newspaper says that the Supreme Court has dismissed former President John Dramani Mahama’s application which was asking the court to review its decision that disallowed him from asking the Electoral Commission (EC) 12 questions in the 2020 presidential election petition.
The court in its ruling Thursday [January 28, 2021] said the applicant had not met the threshold to apply for review and was subsequently dismissed.
Two additional justices, Justice Imoro Tanko and Justice Henrietta Mensah Bonsu were added to the earlier seven-member panel for the review application.
The seven other justices on the panel hearing the petition to determine whether or not President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is the validly elected President of Ghana are the Chief Justice, Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah, Justice Yaw Apau, Justice Samuel Kofi Marful-Sau, Justice Prof. Nii Ashie Kotey, Justice Nene A. O. Amegatcher, Justice Gertrude Torkonoo and Justice Mariama Owusu
The presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. John Dramani Mahama, is challenging the declaration of President Akufo-Addo as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
Earlier Thursday morning, the Supreme Court struck out two separate applications by Mr. Mahama and the Electoral Commission (EC).
The applications included stay of proceedings filed by Mr. Mahama and an abridgment of time filed by the EC, which urged the court to hear the petitioner’s review application on Tuesday January 26, rather than January 28 which was set by the court to hear the application for review.
The Times reports that a programme designed to promote the nutritional well-being of infants in the Upper West Region was on Wednesday launched by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and its stakeholders in Wa.
Christened “Start Right, Feed Right- From Birth to Two Years,” the eight-month programme, with support from the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund and the World Health Organisation, would, among other things, promote introduction of babies to early breastfeeding immediately after birth and ensure exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of the infant’s life.
According to the Regional Director for Health Services, Dr. Damian Punguyire, the campaign, which would be carried out in all municipal and district assemblies across the region, would emphasise the importance of breastfeeding to both mother and baby in order to sustain the practice.
He indicated that an infant, who was introduced to breastmilk within the first one hour after birth and exclusively remained on the milk for the first six months of its life had a higher chance of becoming intelligent and nutritionally sufficient, adding that the mother was also protected from breast cancer and in some cases early pregnancy after birth.
“To do this, we need baby-friendly initiative orientation for antenatal and maternity staff and educate mothers on good breastfeeding practices with demonstration in order to generate the interest and support of stakeholders such as the media, mothers and health staff,” he said.
The newspaper says that an advanced bio-digester (biogas plant) is under construction in Accra to support the profitable use of organic waste in the country.
A bio-digester is a plant which uses micro-organisms to convert organic waste into renewable energy called biogas and other materials for cooking, lighting and as fertiliser.
Financed by the Global Challenges Research Fund through the United Kingdom (UK) Research and Innovation, the 1.5metre cubic bio-digester is being set up at the Umar Bun Hatab Islamic School at Madina.
This is part of a £700,000 project, dubbed “Accelerating the Adoption of Circular Sanitation Demonstration Systems for Improved Health Outcomes (ACTUATE), going on in Ghana and Nigeria.
The 18-month project, started in Ghana in 2019, is jointly being implemented by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s Institute of Industrial Research (CSIR-IRR); the Lancaster University, UK; HATOF Foundation and other partners.
At a media briefing about the project in Accra yesterday, the ACTUATE Project Coordinator at CSIR-IIR, Dr. Richard Bayitse, said the bio-digester was 90 per cent complete.
He said it was being constructed to demonstrate how organic waste could be converted into useful purposes and that it would be replicated in larger forms for the market later.
Giving details of the plant, he said the solar-powered system consisted of tanks fixed on top of the school’s septic tank and connected to tubes unlike other bio-digesters which were underground.
He said it had multiple channels to accept organics materials from other sources, in addition to the faecal matter from the septic tank for digestion by the micro-organism and conversion to bio-gas and other materials.
GIK/APA