The 19th Triennial Conference of the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association (CMJA) was launched in Accra on Monday, September 5, by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
Competent Vice President of Ghana
In its five-decade history, the CMJA Conference, which brings together Chief Justices, Judges, Magistrates, and judicial officers from Commonwealth Nations, has aided in promoting judicial independence and enhancing legal administration in member nations, the Vice President added.
He urged the CMJA to embrace the power of digital technologies and innovations to increase access to justice and improve judicial systems in the modern world, where they are facilitating life and making things easier.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
After kicking off the event, Dr. said on Facebook, “I also shared with them, the tale of how Ghana has already started digitizing its judicial process, and reinforced our Government’s commitment to it, to enable easy and convenient access to justice in our nation.”
Dr. Bawumia shines magnificently in Ghanaian politics
OPINION: Saanu Abacha writes;
H.E Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
The 2012 election petition was the birth of Vice President Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia as a force in Ghanaian politics as he shined magnificently as the NPP’s star witness in their case against election irregularities.
Though the NPP lost, his performance served as a fertile ground for the advancement of his standing with the Ghanaian public as Dr. Bawumia displayed his eloquence, intelligence, analytical mind and skills, and complete mastery of debate in the full glare of Ghanaians on national television.
The trial displayed once and for all the potential of Dr. Bawumia as a future leader of Ghana and led to then-candidate Akufo-Addo expressing immense appreciation to him after the trial.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo formed a unique bond on the back of that trial as the running mate completely proved his utility and versatility as an asset to the New Patriotic Party.
Akufo-Addo and Bawumia will eventually win the 2016 elections, once again on the back of a spectacular performance from Dr. Bawumia as he diagnosed the problems with the Ghanaian economy and completely hammered then President Mahama in their public spats, forever gifting him the label of ‘incompetent’.
Incorruptible Bawumia
All this has left many believing strongly that Bawumia is President Akufo-Addo’s natural successor as leader of the NPP.
The incumbent National Democratic Congress (NDC), led by President John Dramani Mahama and running mate Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur, took on the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), led by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
Mahama had taken over as President for the late Professor John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills after his untimely death on July 24th, 2012, and was seeking an extension of his rule after only five months in office.
After a long and acrimonious campaign followed by a somewhat chaotic voting process, then Electoral Commission boss Afari Gyan declared the NDC’s John Mahama as the winner with 50.7% of the vote despite numerous complaints and pointing out of irregularities by the NPP.
The NPP headed to court to fight the verdict and the legend of Dr. Bawumia was born.
Prior to the petition, Dr. Bawumia, set to be the NPP’s star witness, was involved in a ghastly accident on the 18th of March 2012 that nearly claimed his life.
The V8 Land Cruiser he was travelling in whilst returning to Accra from the enskinment of the Bole-Wura suffered two burst tyres and somersaulted.
Miraculously, Dr. Bawumia and the other occupants of the car all escaped unhurt.
The NPP running mate shook off the near-death incident and testified in the trial for days on end as he forcefully made the NPP’s case.
Dr. Bawumia went toe-to-toe with Tsatsu Tsikata, one of Ghana’s eminent lawyers and legal scholars, and by all accounts absolutely acquitted himself well.
Bawumia adeptly and adroitly skipped over all legal traps Tsikata attempted to set in his way and was brilliant in pointing out irregularities the NPP’s audit of the election had uncovered.
The infamous saying, ‘you and I were not there’, was borne out of the legal and intellectual battles between Bawumia and Tsikata in that trial.
Eventually, the NPP lost the petition but it was certainly not due to the lack of presenting a brilliant case.
Bawumia became a political force during that trial and on the back of that, helped Nana Akufo-Addo handily sweep to power by defeating John Mahama in their rematch in 2016.
The 2012 election petition displayed everything that made Bawumia a success as an economist and a politician – intelligence, eloquence, and an uncanny ability to remain cool under pressure.
Chairman COKA calls for early NPP congress The former chairman of the Kwabre South constituency, Mr. Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, has pushed for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to call an early congress to choose the party’s flagbearer for the 2024 general elections. This, in his opinion, would greatly aid the party in addressing all issues that would arise from the competition. He has therefore urged the newly elected National Executives of the Party to submit a paper to the NEC asking it to consider an early congress rather than the one year to the elections that the Party’s constitution calls for when it is in power.
Chairman Coka
The call was made by Chairman COKA, as he is known in the political sphere, on Friday 26th August during an exclusive interview with Nhyira 104.5 FM, a local radio station in Kumasi. The former head of the Association of NPP constituency chairmen and a candidate for NPP chairman of the Ashanti region in the 2022 conference, COKA, predicted that the party would break the eight. I’m telling you that efforts are being made to break the 8 in any way necessary. He claims that the NPP has already begun working on all of the identified challenges.
He informed the show’s host that ” We will be discussing our third term victory when you see me here in the following two years. We are making every effort to avoid the apathy that negatively impacted us (NPP) in 2008, he emphasized. COKA asks Ghanaians to be patient with the government in light of the current economic crisis. He assured Ghanaians that Nana Addo’s administration is working tirelessly to bring the country to the Promised Land. “We will undoubtedly arrive in the Promised Land before 2024.” Let us all be patient with the government and contribute our fair share to the economic recovery agenda.”
Concerning the cedi depreciation, Chairman COKA once again urged all Ghanaians, particularly traders, to refrain from purchasing dollars locally in order to relieve pressure on the dollar.
“We all have a role to play in terms of cedi depreciation,” he said. To relieve pressure on the dollar, our businessmen and women must refrain from trading or purchasing dollars in their transactions. He bemoaned the fact that some individuals purposefully stir up panic about the dollar rate in the economy, and that this must be stopped.
Bawumia announced this on Thursday (25 August 2022) in Accra, saying that reimbursement for childhood cancers under the NHIS became effective on July 1, 2022. The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) now covers treatments for childhood cancers as well as the cost of Hydroxyurea, an essential drug for the treatment of sickle cell anaemia, according to Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia. Bawumia announced this on Thursday (25 August 2022) in Accra, saying reimbursement for childhood cancers under NHIS became effective 1 July 2022, and plans to add treatment for other types of cancer to the list of ailments covered by NHIS are well underway. “Our children’s present and future can only be secured if all the factors that threaten their existence and quality of life are eliminated. We are determined to make it happen and we should not relent,” he stated.
Honest Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
“A diagnosis of cancer often appears to be a death sentence, affecting not just the subject but the rest of the family and entire community, unless well-structured and well-resourced interventions are at play to curb the burden. In many developing countries, cancer is on the rise and its consequent effect on economies, is and will be grave, if nothing is done to control it,” he said.
He further said, “Where countries have attempted to curb it, the perception of acutely exorbitant costs of management have meant that many under-resourced countries have often avoided opening the Pandora’s Box for fear of being unable to manage those costs. Childhood cancers in particular have shown significant success rates in achieving desired management outcomes and often at manageable costs. “I am glad that we, as a nation, are putting our children first and protecting them and their dreams. Sometimes it is good to look at the value of investments and not just the cost.” To ensure the program’s success and sustainability, Dr. Bawumia urged all parties involved to contribute their resources. She noted that “for most things to be sustained funding is required: good funding streams enable projects to be sustained and this is same in childhood cancers and other disease areas. We must all work together to be creative in coming up with solutions and investing in them, as well as in all other aspects that will guarantee the best results. “For a health project such as this great childhood cancer services to continue, all stakeholders need to bring their resources to the table – expertise, awareness creation, early detection, treatment etc should be made available. The successful outcomes of provision of these is what will keep things sustained. Seeing that our children are being diagnosed early and treated and recovering will certainly encourage the NHIA and all other partners to continue to fund the services. We all have a role to play.”
The NHIS
Collaboration, data, technology Dr. Bawumia emphasized the significance of technology, effective collaboration, and data in health management, noting that there are numerous players in healthcare who require data for valuable investments, with health data actually generating income for some countries. “Clinical trials, research, budgeting, all require data. But data is not valuable if it is just that, and not useful. I will encourage us to prioritize data capture related to childhood cancers and other cancers to ensure that investments in healthcare are well informed. For a middle-income country, every cedi we spend must be well thought through and data will enable us to so.
“Reducing wastage is a key means of enabling that efficiency we desire which will ultimately support the sustainability of this journey we have embarked on… Click to see more
“It will be key for us to have standard platforms across private and public sector that enable easy access and top-quality data that inform work going forward. Extraction of population level data and its analysis will enable favourable investment and development of strategies that are directly impactful to our people.” Initiatives like One Constituency One Ambulance, Medical Drones for the delivery of vital supplies and blood, and Agenda 111 Projects, which would see to the construction of District Hospitals in all districts lacking one, as well as the construction and or upgrading of regional hospitals, were all motivated by the desire to ensure a greater geographical spread of access to healthcare, especially for people who require specialist care and medication.
“Government is also showing leadership and keen commitment to addressing geographical access limitations through Agenda 111 and we are keen to drive this and make it reality. In these facilities that will be set up, we will be looking at providing all relevant and priority services and will look at how we could also aid improved cancer control including childhood cancers in Ghana,” he said. Vice President Bawumia thanked First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo, the minister and ministry of health, the board chair of NHIA and his team, the CEO of NHIA, World Child Cancer, Roche, and all collaborators for their contributions to the success of this life-saving initiative. He said, “What we have achieved here is no mean feat and we should not underestimate it.”
Dr. Bawumia is the most incorruptible politician in Ghana
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, vice president, has blamed the country’s rising indiscipline and corruption on the failure of previous administrations to erect robust systems to stop the canker.
According to him, corruption continues to hamper Ghana’s efforts to raise revenue in both public and private institutions. Dr. Bawumia called for cooperation to support the government’s efforts to create systems to check corruption while addressing the 59th Annual Session of the Ghana Baptist Convention in the Ashanti Region.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
“One of the key hindrances in fulfilling God’s purpose is corruption. Corruption inhibits economic growth and affects business operations, employment and investment. It reduces tax revenue and the effectiveness of various financial assistant programmes. It has become increasingly important that nations develop systems that care for all, empower all and minimise the gap between the rich and the poor.”
According to Transparency International’s most recent Corruption Perception Index, Ghana has not made any notable strides in its fight against corruption. Ghana maintained its score of 43 between 2020 and 2021, which is still below the average, with countries with higher scores being perceived as less corrupt and those with lower scores as more corrupt. Less than 30% of Ghanaians believe that people can report corruption without fear of retaliation, a decrease of four percentage points from 2019. This belief is related to the fight against corruption.
Incorruptible Bawumia
The Ghana Armed Forces, spiritual and traditional leaders, and the judiciary are the most regarded among important public institutions. Between 2019 and 2022, trust in institutions fell by 25 percentage points, with trust in the presidency falling by 25 percentage points.
The Dispatch Newspaper’s Managing Editor, Ben Ephson, has stated that the flagbearership race is not between Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and Alan Kyerematen, as widely reported, but rather between Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and Kennedy Agyapong.
Ben Ephson
The pollster suggests that Dr. Bawumia’s impact in the NPP since he fully joined politics puts him ahead of the Trade Minister, Alan Kyeremanten. He asserts that the argument is supported by the observation that Alan Kyerematen has not made any significant contributions to the party’s advancement since 2007 unlike Dr. Bawumia. Based on the data he has gathered, Alan Kyeremanten is most likely the third force in the race.
He continued, “I am not a delegate but from the work we have done, I think Alan could place third. If Alan places third, I will not be surprised at all. I am talking about figures that I have collected before the election and it is about 55% turn over at the polling station constituency level and the polling station is the biggest. In terms of over 200,000 delegates who will vote.”
H.E. Bawumia
The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia who can boast of his heavy impacts in the party such as the digital agenda is like to battle it out with the Trade Minister, Alan Kyeremanten, Kennedy Agyapong, Joe Ghatey amongst others. The ruling NPP is however yet to open nominations for the flagbearership race scheduled for next year.
Hon. Slyvester Tetteh, Member of Parliament for Bortianor-Ngleshie Amanfrom constituency, has called for the suspension of Aziz Haruna Futa, NASARA Coordinator of the New Patriotic Party, for what he [Sly] refers to as “religious incitements.”
Hon. Sylvester Tetteh
Hon. Tetteh stated on Asempa FM’s Ekosiisen on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, “Aziz Futa is one person I would like to see the party suspend. You probably heard what he said at the party’s Islamic Thanksgiving Service… That was religious incitement, and he should be punished for it “He stated. When the show’s host, Philip Osei Bonsu (OB), drew his attention to the fact that the General Secretary reprimanded Aziz Futa on the same occasion that he made those statements, Hon. Tetteh retorted, “It’s not like the General Secretary reprimanded Aziz Futa on the same occasion.” “That is insufficient. He must be kicked out of the party. Aziz owes a national apology to the party and must be sanctioned “He was emphatic.
Aziz Futa
In a related development, Slyvester Tetteh urged the General Secretary to take disciplinary action against Hon. Samuel Atta Akyea for endorsing Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s presidential bid.
To ensure fairness, Hon. Tetteh believes that the party’s code of conduct must be followed to its logical conclusion. “The party cannot invite Hopeson Adorye and Ekow Vincent Assafuah over similar remarks while allowing my senior, Hon. Atta Akyea, to go free,” Hon Tetteh stated emphatically.
The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has proclaimed that the government has put to bare hundreds of ghost names in public sector payrolls. This includes duplicates, which has contributed to the waning economic outlook of the country.
This positive development forms part of the Vice President, Dr. Bawumia’s vision and efforts to reduce corruption by blocking the loopholes in the public sector including all corrupt related activities. According to government, the mechanisms being rolled out is an attempt to cut back on wastage and corruption. Sanitising the public payroll, digitalisation, and enhancing value for money in public expenditure.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
In the first phase of these clean-up exercises by the controller and Accountant-General’s Department and National Identification Authority (NIA), After conducting a biometric audit of the government’s Payroll, 148,000 (24.6%) out of 602,000 workers have Identifications that do not match any biometric identification of NIA. Again, 533 workers have multiple identities, example, some people have three different employee numbers. Could this be a reason why are some persons, especially NDC elements do not want to register for the Ghana card, let alone link it with their SIM cards? A lot of ghost workers on the government’s payroll playing hide and seek games.
The names, according to Dr. Bawumia, have more than one Controller and Accountant-General’s Department account with different employee numbers.
William Ruto Elected Kenya’s President amid Disputes Despite a dramatic dispute over the outcome, William Ruto’s victory in Kenya’s presidential election has been widely celebrated around the world. Mr Ruto defeated rival Raila Odinga, receiving 50.5% of the vote.
The announcement was postponed due to squabbles at the results center and allegations of vote-rigging by Mr Odinga’s campaign. He has not yet spoken, but an ally told the BBC that Mr Odinga found the outcome “unacceptable.”
Kenya’s Deputy President,
“It lacks credibility because four of the seven [election commission] commissioners have stated that they did not sign on to the announcement that Mr Ruto was lawfully elected,” Salim Lone said. He was referring to the commissioners’ refusal to endorse the presidential result, claiming that the process had been “opaque.” They provided no additional information on Monday. After a period of celebration and violent protests following the announcement of the results, most parts of the country have returned to normalcy.
Thousands of residents in Mr Ruto’s home town of Eldoret in the Rift Valley burst into song and dance. However, the mood was different in Mr Odinga’s political base in the western city of Kisumu, where residents protested the loss by erecting burning tyres and barricades.
Ruto
Mr Ruto called for unity in his acceptance speech, saying he wanted to be a president for all and for the country to focus on the future. “I want to assure those who have done many things against us that they have nothing to fear. There will be no retaliation. “We don’t have time to look back,” he added
. He also praised Wafula Chebukati, the chairman of the electoral commission, for conducting a fair election.
Despite threats, Mr Chebukati said he had done his job.
Mr Ruto, 55, was running for president for the first time. He has been deputy president for nine years, but he had a falling out with President Uhuru Kenyatta, who supported Mr Odinga for the presidency. The 77-year-old former prime minister was running for president for the fifth time, with 48.8% of the vote.
Mr Ruto framed the election as a battle between “hustlers,” or poor Kenyans, and “dynasties,” or powerful families like the Kenyattas and Odingas, who have been major players in Kenyan politics since independence. Unlike previous elections, the campaigns were dominated by issues such as how to address rising living costs, fix the economy, and combat corruption, rather than overt ethnic mobilization.
Analysts believe Mr Odinga will challenge the outcome.
The Kenyan Supreme Court declared the last election invalid and ordered a rerun; it may have to make another major decision in the coming weeks.
Ransford Gyampo, a professor at the University of Ghana’s Political Science Department, has expressed concern about President Akufo-decision Addo’s not to reshuffle his appointees.
Gyampo said on Asaase’s Big Bulletin on Monday (8 August), “If you have the men, some are tired, some have been incompetent, and some are packing away.” Why don’t you reshuffle them and bring in new members? Fresh ideas, new perspectives, new energy, and so on. However, the president has the final say.”
H.E Akufo-Addo
“If the president believes they have performed admirably, well… after his tenure, we will be the best judges, we will assess him and determine whether he has performed admirably with his ministers or not,” he said.
Gyampo continued, “And so, if the president believes they are doing well and we believe they are not doing well, I believe the president’s position must be taken because he appointed them.” But, at the end of the day, we will conduct a thorough assessment of his government to determine whether or not his ministers assisted him.”
