President Akufo-Addo’s State of the Nation Address to Parliament and the qualification of the Black Stars for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar are some of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Wednesday.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is scheduled to deliver a message on the State of the Nation Address to Parliament today, March 30, 2022.
The message on the State of the Nation is an annual address to Parliament given by the President covering the economic, social and financial state of the country.
The address is in accordance with article 67 of the 1992 constitution that says the President should give the State of the Nation Address at the beginning and close of every Parliamentary Session.
The newspaper says that all regional offices of the National Identification Authority (NIA) have begun card replacement and update services which, until now, could only be accessed at the head office in Accra.
Also, the El-Wak Stadium in Accra, which was made a premium service centre under a temporary arrangement, is now open to regular service, which at the moment is free.
The El-Wak Service Centre, which began operations last Monday, will serve customers who want to acquire new cards, update personal records, as well as verification and replacement of missing cards.
This arrangement will be in place until further notice.
A corporate affairs officer of the NIA, Henry Myers-Aboagye, explained that those arrangements were to ensure that the head office was decongested, while making the service more efficient.
“Special arrangements put in place are always assessed and reviewed. It was after one of such reviews that management decided that services at El-Wak be made regular,” he said.
According to Mr Myers-Aboagye, there were now two premium centres in the country — one at the NIA Head Office and the other at CAL Bank — where services were provided on scheduled appointments and also for foreigners resident in the country who, by law, were required to pay for the services.
Additionally, another regular service centre had been opened at the University of Ghana Business School, Legon, near the Presbyterian Boys’ SHS, bringing to three the number of special registration centres in Accra, he said.
The Graphic also reports that Thomas Partey led by example as he scored the decisive goal that powered Ghana into the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar as the Black Stars put up a strong performance to hold Nigeria to a 1-1 draw in the World Cup qualifying playoff in Abuja Tuesday.
The Black Stars qualified on the away goal rule after a scoreless first leg in Kumasi last Friday.
It was a result that sent the Ghanaians into delirium, left the Nigerian players shattered and sparked off pandemonium as irate supporters invaded the pitch, destroying almost everything in sight and even attacking the few Ghanaian fans, who had to run for cover with security personnel having a tough time firing tear gas inside the inner perimeter to disperse the disappointed fans.
Ghanaian supporters had to be escorted onto the pitch through the players’ tunnel to escape the violence and were held hostage in the stadium for more than two hours after the match for their safety before they were escorted by the Nigerian security out of the stadium.
The pandemonium started just after the referee had brought the match to an end and the sight of the star-studded Eagles crashing on home soil was too much heartbreak to bear, as the home supporters started pelting the Black Stars players with bottled water as they showed appreciation to the few home fans in the stadium.
The Ghana captain could not have scored a more important goal for Ghana as his ground shot slipped beneath goalkeeper Francis Uzoho in the 11th minute before William Troost-Ekong restored parity and hope for the home side through a well executed penalty in the 22nd minute.
In that charged atmosphere, Ghana’s players played a tactical game and soaked up a lot of pressure with goalkeeper Joseph Wollacott pulling off brilliant saves that brought relief to his side.
The Ghanaian Times says that the Parliament has, at long last, approved the controversial Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy), 2021 under a certificate of urgency yesterday.
This was after the Minority caucus washed their hands off any associated procedures on the levy and staged a walk out at the middle of sitting leaving their colleagues in the Majority to pass the revenue measure which is estimated to rake GH¢6.9 billion into government coffers.
The Majority, which marshalled all its members but the Dome Kwabenya and Ahanta West MPs into the chamber to adapt the report zoomed straight into the consideration stage of the bill right after adopting the Finance Committee’s report which recommended its approval.
The report has been shelved since December 21, 2021 when fight broke out in the chamber after attempts by the First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei Owusu, to vote to determine whether or not the consideration should be taken under certificate of urgency.
Moving the motion, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, told the House that the proposed levy, which has been reviewed from 1.75 per cent to 1.5 per cent on selected electronic transactions, would broaden the country’s tax base and enhance government’s revenue mobilisation mechanism.
Mr Ofori-Atta said with only two million of the estimated 20 million people paying tax in the country, all eligible citizens, with the E-Levy, would contribute a token to the national treasury and urged the lawmakers to support government to have the levy imposed.
Obuasi West MP and Chairman of the Finance Committee, Kwaku Kwarteng, supporting the motion recommended to the House to pass the levy to assist government raise the needed revenue for the development of the country.
GIK/APA