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Saturday, April 11, 2015
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Charisma without character is a disgrace -Dr. Frimpong-Manso
The General Superintendent of the Evangel Assemblies of God Church, Adabraka, has voiced out grave concern over the character of some pastors who, through their deeds, were dinting the image of men of God whose prime objective was to win souls for Christ.
“Charisma without character,” Dr. Paul Frimpong-Manso argued, “is a disaster,” and expressed worry that some pastors had brought the image of the church into disrepute.
However, he expressed satisfaction that ministers of the Assemblies of God Church had throughout the ages lived up to expectation, by exhibiting a high standard of morality to the glory of God, out of which they had now become worthy examples for others to follow.
Dr. Frimpong-Manso made this observation on Saturday in Accra at an event to sanctify thirteen new ministers of the gospel by the Evangel Assemblies of God Church.
He charged the new 13 consecrated ministers of the gospel not to be swayed by material things in life, but rather live holy, humble, happy, and healthy lives.
“Succumbing to the chasing of girls, gold, and glory are the things that destroy leaders. As a reverend minister, if you do not live a holy life, you cannot make it. Holiness is a demand more than an option,” he noted.
With the consecration of the thirteen new ministers, they are now officially recognised as Assemblies of God Church Ministers, and can now perform special and sacred functions of the church.
Commenting on the event shortly after the programme, one of the newly-blessed ministers, Rev. Comfort Chemfe Adjarko, said expressed happiness with her new status.
She told journalists that she was really humbled as an ordained minister of the Assemblies of God Church, and promised to work hard in spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Rev. Adjarko, who is also the founder of the Tema-based Creator Schools, said there was joy in the work of God, and urged her follow colleagues to give their all in spreading the Good News.
Touching on the 2012 general elections, Rev. Adjarko urged Ghanaians to be law-abiding and approach the polls with kind heartedness, in order to ensure peace before, during, and after the elections.
“If we throw this nation into chaos, where will we go? Our God is a God of peace, so we should all go to the polls peacefully. Ghana should go forward and not backwards,” she said.
Present at the function were other ministers of the gospel, including the Senior Pastor of the Tema Central Assemblies of God Church, Rev. David Nagbemado, some family members and friends of the newly-blessed ministers.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Veep inspects ZoomLion Sorting & Composting Plant
The Vice President, John Dramani Mahama, on Tuesday, paid a surprise visit to inspect a multi-million sorting and composting facility being put up by waste management giants, ZoomLion Ghana Limited, at Adjenkotoku, a suburb of Accra.
Mr. Mahama was taken round the company by the Chief Executive Officer of ZoomLion Ghana, Mr. Siaw Agyapong
The facility, which is about 90% complete, will have the capacity to pelletise recovered plastics to be sold to end-users for the manufacture of plastic items such as plastic chairs, carpets, bowls and many others.
The facility is also expected to produce compost or organic fertiliser to feed local farmers to support the production of food for human consumption.
The plant would be able to process 300 tonnes of waste in an eight-hour shift, and will have a sorting and buy-back centre, where several people can be engaged in the recovery of useful materials to serve many other uses.
Directly and indirectly, the establishment of this sorting and composting centre would provide employment to several hundreds of youths, especially, those within the immediate environs of the facility.
Owners of the facility, after the presidential tour, said frantic efforts were in the pipeline to expand the centre to include recycling and liquid waste treatment plants in the shortest possible time.
They called for government partnership, since the facility was cost and labour intensive.
Mr. Mahama speaking to journalists, after inspecting the facility, said he was impressed with what he saw, and promised that the government would consider the proposal being put up by owners of the facility in good faith.
He said the project, which is currently on a pilot basis, would be replicated in other major cities such as Kumasi, Takoradi and Tamale, where generation of garbage is very high.
Mr. Mahama was taken round the company by the Chief Executive Officer of ZoomLion Ghana, Mr. Siaw Agyapong
The facility, which is about 90% complete, will have the capacity to pelletise recovered plastics to be sold to end-users for the manufacture of plastic items such as plastic chairs, carpets, bowls and many others.
The facility is also expected to produce compost or organic fertiliser to feed local farmers to support the production of food for human consumption.
The plant would be able to process 300 tonnes of waste in an eight-hour shift, and will have a sorting and buy-back centre, where several people can be engaged in the recovery of useful materials to serve many other uses.
Directly and indirectly, the establishment of this sorting and composting centre would provide employment to several hundreds of youths, especially, those within the immediate environs of the facility.
Owners of the facility, after the presidential tour, said frantic efforts were in the pipeline to expand the centre to include recycling and liquid waste treatment plants in the shortest possible time.
They called for government partnership, since the facility was cost and labour intensive.
Mr. Mahama speaking to journalists, after inspecting the facility, said he was impressed with what he saw, and promised that the government would consider the proposal being put up by owners of the facility in good faith.
He said the project, which is currently on a pilot basis, would be replicated in other major cities such as Kumasi, Takoradi and Tamale, where generation of garbage is very high.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Ghana: Faith Baptist School denies child molestation charge
Authorities of the Faith Community Baptist School have dismissed claims that their students were left unprotected during the school’s recent clash with some irate youth in the Madina community over a disputed piece of land.
“I wish to state emphatically, that what was said or reported is false, and does not represent the facts on the grounds. Some parents who were present during the attack can attest to the fact that our teachers and school authorities were on hand to provide the necessary protection to the students.
“In fact, all students were with their teachers in their classrooms, while the main gates to the school were locked. Students were later moved out of their classrooms to the chapel. Parents rushed to pick up their children, and students were allowed to leave after the police had secured the school area.
“Also, officers from the Madina Urban Council hurried to the school and led the younger ones with their teachers to the Madina Urban Council,” noted Kate Oduro Sarfo, Headmistress in charge of Primary section of Faith Community Baptist School, at a press conference in Accra yesterday.
Child’s Right International, a non-governmental organization, with the sole aim of fighting for children’s rights, immediately after the Madina riot, went public to criticise Faith Community Baptist School for leaving students of the school “to their own mercy to run for their lives, while teachers and school authorities were nowhere to provide protection for the children of the school.”
A week ago, the entire Madina community woke up to witness one of the most unfortunate behaviours exhibited by some irate youth, who identified themselves as “Concerned Youth of Madina Zongo.”
The youth subjected the leadership of the school to all manner of attacks, in their attempt to claim a parcel of land, which it said, belonged to the Madina Zongo community, but had been claimed by the Faith Community Baptist School/Church.
The incident attracted the attention of the Ghana Police Service, which went to the scene to rescue the school authorities.
The incident turned nasty when the irate youth turned their anger on the police for preventing them from achieving their purpose.
The police had to use all manner of tactics, including tear gas and the firing of live bullets to disperse the crowd.
Twelve people were arrested in the said riot, and are currently on bail. Calm has since returned to the school, with the authorities and students going about their normal duties.
According to Madam Sarfo, the authorities of the school do not intend to criticise Child’s Rights International, but would have preferred they visited the scene upon hearing what was happening to get first hand information, before going public with its press briefing over the issue.
She said no official of the NGO had, till date, visited the school to ask about the welfare of the students, after the horrific incident.
Madam Sarfo noted that no student died or sustained any injury as a result of the riot.
Touching on the ownership of the disputed piece of land, the Head Pastor of the Faith Community Baptist Church, Rev. Joseph Oduro Yeboah noted that the church, in 1982, entered into an agreement with Redco, a subsidiary of the Bank for Housing and Construction, for the use of the six-acre piece of land for purposes that would benefit both the church and the community.
The school, ever since it acquired that piece of land, has faced stiff opposition from the community, in its attempt to reclaim it. The two factions have over a decade been back and forth at the law courts, all claiming ownership of the disputed land.
Pulling a catalogue of documents to buttress his claim, Mr. Yeboah said that the six-acre piece of land was sold to the church for an amount of ¢34 million and was meant for the construction of a health facility and vocational school.
According to him, since the church was not ready with its project, it allowed the community to use it for all social purposes, including serving as a polling station for the community during elections.
“The most important fact that the public must know is that the land was not a ‘community land’ or public arena that the church had gone to take from the community. It is rather the church’s land which the public has been using for parking of trucks, Christian crusades, Ramadan activities, political rallies and other purposes,” he emphasised.
Rev. Yeboah, therefore, assured parents and guardians of the school that the unfortunate incident will not happen again, since the administrators of the church and school were exploring all avenues to ensure the cordiality that had existed for the past twenty-four years between the church, school and community.
“I wish to state emphatically, that what was said or reported is false, and does not represent the facts on the grounds. Some parents who were present during the attack can attest to the fact that our teachers and school authorities were on hand to provide the necessary protection to the students.
“In fact, all students were with their teachers in their classrooms, while the main gates to the school were locked. Students were later moved out of their classrooms to the chapel. Parents rushed to pick up their children, and students were allowed to leave after the police had secured the school area.
“Also, officers from the Madina Urban Council hurried to the school and led the younger ones with their teachers to the Madina Urban Council,” noted Kate Oduro Sarfo, Headmistress in charge of Primary section of Faith Community Baptist School, at a press conference in Accra yesterday.
Child’s Right International, a non-governmental organization, with the sole aim of fighting for children’s rights, immediately after the Madina riot, went public to criticise Faith Community Baptist School for leaving students of the school “to their own mercy to run for their lives, while teachers and school authorities were nowhere to provide protection for the children of the school.”
A week ago, the entire Madina community woke up to witness one of the most unfortunate behaviours exhibited by some irate youth, who identified themselves as “Concerned Youth of Madina Zongo.”
The youth subjected the leadership of the school to all manner of attacks, in their attempt to claim a parcel of land, which it said, belonged to the Madina Zongo community, but had been claimed by the Faith Community Baptist School/Church.
The incident attracted the attention of the Ghana Police Service, which went to the scene to rescue the school authorities.
The incident turned nasty when the irate youth turned their anger on the police for preventing them from achieving their purpose.
The police had to use all manner of tactics, including tear gas and the firing of live bullets to disperse the crowd.
Twelve people were arrested in the said riot, and are currently on bail. Calm has since returned to the school, with the authorities and students going about their normal duties.
According to Madam Sarfo, the authorities of the school do not intend to criticise Child’s Rights International, but would have preferred they visited the scene upon hearing what was happening to get first hand information, before going public with its press briefing over the issue.
She said no official of the NGO had, till date, visited the school to ask about the welfare of the students, after the horrific incident.
Madam Sarfo noted that no student died or sustained any injury as a result of the riot.
Touching on the ownership of the disputed piece of land, the Head Pastor of the Faith Community Baptist Church, Rev. Joseph Oduro Yeboah noted that the church, in 1982, entered into an agreement with Redco, a subsidiary of the Bank for Housing and Construction, for the use of the six-acre piece of land for purposes that would benefit both the church and the community.
The school, ever since it acquired that piece of land, has faced stiff opposition from the community, in its attempt to reclaim it. The two factions have over a decade been back and forth at the law courts, all claiming ownership of the disputed land.
Pulling a catalogue of documents to buttress his claim, Mr. Yeboah said that the six-acre piece of land was sold to the church for an amount of ¢34 million and was meant for the construction of a health facility and vocational school.
According to him, since the church was not ready with its project, it allowed the community to use it for all social purposes, including serving as a polling station for the community during elections.
“The most important fact that the public must know is that the land was not a ‘community land’ or public arena that the church had gone to take from the community. It is rather the church’s land which the public has been using for parking of trucks, Christian crusades, Ramadan activities, political rallies and other purposes,” he emphasised.
Rev. Yeboah, therefore, assured parents and guardians of the school that the unfortunate incident will not happen again, since the administrators of the church and school were exploring all avenues to ensure the cordiality that had existed for the past twenty-four years between the church, school and community.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Welcome on board: Ghana: Security probe cache of arms
Welcome on board: Ghana: Security probe cache of arms: "The Government of Ghana has tasked the various security agencies to conduct thorough investigations into the circumstances under which a cac..."
Ghana: Security probe cache of arms
The Government of Ghana has tasked the various security agencies to conduct thorough investigations into the circumstances under which a cache of arms was found buried at Akweteyman, a suburb of Accra.
Consequently, the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service, the Bureau of National Investigations, and the intelligence unit of the Ghana Armed Forces have began prying into how the ammunition, said to have been buried in the ground for the past 30 years, came to be located right in the centre of Accra, without the security services knowing about it.
The ammunitions were discovered by accident late Friday, when workers of a construction firm working on a road rehabilitation were digging a trench to lay a culvert. The workers first discovered five rusty pistols buried in the ground. Their suspicion for more discoveries heightened and they, therefore, decided to dig further, resulting in the finding of a sack containing pistols and other weapons.
They called in the police who immediately arrived on the scene to cart the weapons away. “After the police had examined the items, they realised that parts of the weapons were missing, and, therefore, decided to come back to the scene to search the area more intensively,” our sister paper, The Chronicle on Saturday reported.
The police, The Chronicle on Saturday noted, uncovered two more sacks full of pistols, which they took away to the regional headquarters in Accra.
Reacting to the arms find, the government issued a press release through the Ministry of Information at the week-end.
Signed by Deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the statement described the weapons discovery as “relatively small quantities of stripped and corroded parts of arms and ammunition.” The government suspects the ammunitions “to have been buried in the area in the late 1970s.” So far, no arrest has been made, but the government said the owner of the land, suspected to be a former military personnel, has been invited to help in the investigation.
At the time of going to press last night, the name of the landlord of the house where the cache of arms were found was not known, but the Acting Public Affairs Director of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Cephas Arthur, when contacted on his mobile handset, said a proper briefing on the issue would be made today.
Security experts The Chronicle talked to opined that if the government suspects that the arms were buried in the 1970s, then it could be linked to the junior and non-commissioned officers revolt of June 1979, when arms and ammunitions were released by some military officers without lawful authority.
Consequently, the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service, the Bureau of National Investigations, and the intelligence unit of the Ghana Armed Forces have began prying into how the ammunition, said to have been buried in the ground for the past 30 years, came to be located right in the centre of Accra, without the security services knowing about it.
The ammunitions were discovered by accident late Friday, when workers of a construction firm working on a road rehabilitation were digging a trench to lay a culvert. The workers first discovered five rusty pistols buried in the ground. Their suspicion for more discoveries heightened and they, therefore, decided to dig further, resulting in the finding of a sack containing pistols and other weapons.
They called in the police who immediately arrived on the scene to cart the weapons away. “After the police had examined the items, they realised that parts of the weapons were missing, and, therefore, decided to come back to the scene to search the area more intensively,” our sister paper, The Chronicle on Saturday reported.
The police, The Chronicle on Saturday noted, uncovered two more sacks full of pistols, which they took away to the regional headquarters in Accra.
Reacting to the arms find, the government issued a press release through the Ministry of Information at the week-end.
Signed by Deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the statement described the weapons discovery as “relatively small quantities of stripped and corroded parts of arms and ammunition.” The government suspects the ammunitions “to have been buried in the area in the late 1970s.” So far, no arrest has been made, but the government said the owner of the land, suspected to be a former military personnel, has been invited to help in the investigation.
At the time of going to press last night, the name of the landlord of the house where the cache of arms were found was not known, but the Acting Public Affairs Director of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Cephas Arthur, when contacted on his mobile handset, said a proper briefing on the issue would be made today.
Security experts The Chronicle talked to opined that if the government suspects that the arms were buried in the 1970s, then it could be linked to the junior and non-commissioned officers revolt of June 1979, when arms and ammunitions were released by some military officers without lawful authority.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Reading is key to acquiring knowledge -Prof. Oquaye
The second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Michael Oquaye, has called on students in the country to inculcate the habit of reading in themselves, to improve on their knowledge base.
According to Prof. Oquaye, it was only through reading that one could acquire knowledge, in order to be part of the changing world.
“If you are not knowledgeable in today’s world, I’m afraid, you are hardly part of the world,” he said.
Prof. Oquaye made this remark when he officially launched the literacy project at the forecourt of Parliament, in Accra yesterday.
The project aims to improve on reading in the rural communities, especially, cocoa growing areas in the country.
To Prof. Oquaye, a lot of children were not reading, simply because of the unavailability of books, a situation, he said, infringes on the rights of the children.
“The most important human right is the right to read, the right to know, and the right to an informed society,” he said.
Over 34,000 books, ranging from novels, fiction, reference, science and mathematics, according to the Executive Director of Child Rights International (CRI), Bright Appiah, would be distributed to communities, especially, those in cocoa growing areas in 120 selected constituencies, from the kindergarten to the Senior High school.
Mr. Appiah said research had proven that almost 54% of children in cocoa growing areas cannot read and write, hence his outfit’s decision to empower children in those communities. The lack of libraries, he said also, were the main hindrances in those communities.
To address the problem, the CRI Executive Director said his outfit, in collaboration with Memifee Valley College from California, donor of the books, would establish e-libraries in 300 communities.
According to Mr. Appiah, the CRI was also looking at the one laptop per child initiative for those in the cocoa growing communities, to further address the problem.
“We are aware of a number of risks in this area, especially, lack of electricity, and that is why we are opting for the one laptop per child scheme. The computers could last for over four hours, and to us, the most important thing is to let the children have access to those laptops and things would improve.
Another option is to send the computers to the district level, and periodically invite the children to have access to the laptops. By so doing, their knowledge base would be enhanced,” Mr. Appiah noted.
Present to grace the occasion were Mrs. Akosua Frema Opare-Osei, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayawaso West Wuogon, the Charity Baptist Church School, Accra, and children of the Adabraka Presbyterian Junior High School.
According to Prof. Oquaye, it was only through reading that one could acquire knowledge, in order to be part of the changing world.
“If you are not knowledgeable in today’s world, I’m afraid, you are hardly part of the world,” he said.
Prof. Oquaye made this remark when he officially launched the literacy project at the forecourt of Parliament, in Accra yesterday.
The project aims to improve on reading in the rural communities, especially, cocoa growing areas in the country.
To Prof. Oquaye, a lot of children were not reading, simply because of the unavailability of books, a situation, he said, infringes on the rights of the children.
“The most important human right is the right to read, the right to know, and the right to an informed society,” he said.
Over 34,000 books, ranging from novels, fiction, reference, science and mathematics, according to the Executive Director of Child Rights International (CRI), Bright Appiah, would be distributed to communities, especially, those in cocoa growing areas in 120 selected constituencies, from the kindergarten to the Senior High school.
Mr. Appiah said research had proven that almost 54% of children in cocoa growing areas cannot read and write, hence his outfit’s decision to empower children in those communities. The lack of libraries, he said also, were the main hindrances in those communities.
To address the problem, the CRI Executive Director said his outfit, in collaboration with Memifee Valley College from California, donor of the books, would establish e-libraries in 300 communities.
According to Mr. Appiah, the CRI was also looking at the one laptop per child initiative for those in the cocoa growing communities, to further address the problem.
“We are aware of a number of risks in this area, especially, lack of electricity, and that is why we are opting for the one laptop per child scheme. The computers could last for over four hours, and to us, the most important thing is to let the children have access to those laptops and things would improve.
Another option is to send the computers to the district level, and periodically invite the children to have access to the laptops. By so doing, their knowledge base would be enhanced,” Mr. Appiah noted.
Present to grace the occasion were Mrs. Akosua Frema Opare-Osei, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayawaso West Wuogon, the Charity Baptist Church School, Accra, and children of the Adabraka Presbyterian Junior High School.
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