Prophecy lands man of God in trouble

by Kwadwo Baffoe Donkor, KUMASI A prophecy by a self-styled pastor of the Faith of Zion Church at Tafo, a suburb of Kumasi, has landed him in the grip of the police. Prophet Gabriel Osei Yaw had prophesied to one Paul Owusu Badu, a mechanic that his Pontiac Vibe would get lost within a week unless he, Badu, prayed to avert the misfortune. However, Badu did not take the prophecy serious and disregarded the warning from his spiritual friend. And true to his words, the prophesy came to pass when thieves stole the Pontiac Vibe taxicab from its driver on November 8, 2014. When the car owner approached the prophet for assistance, he again gave numerous assurances that he would help him retrieve his stolen car. However, after several unfulfilled promises, Mr Badu caused the arrest of Prophet Osei. An accomplice of the Prophet, Ms Priscilla Kumi, a waitress at a popular spot at Krofom, was alleged to have laced the drink of the driver, which rendered him unconscious for three days. Prophet Osei and Priscilla Kumi, who appeared before the Kumasi Circuit Court presided over by Mrs Afia Adu Amankwah, charged with two counts of conspiracy to steal and stealing, pleaded not guilty to both counts. They were admitted to bail in the sum of GHC10,000, and they were to report to the police every Friday till the case was disposed of. According to the facts as presented to the court by Chief Inspector Mr Felix Akowuah, the complainant was a mechanic while the first accused was a self-styled prophet and the second accused, a waitress. He said somewhere in November last year, Badu’s driver failed to park the Pontiac Vibe cab with registration number AW3999-12 contrary to the terms of engagement. Mr Akowuah said the driver had earlier gone to the drinking spot where Priscilla worked with a passenger to take a drink. He said Kwarteng became unconscious after taking the Tampico drink he requested for and had to be admitted at the hospital for three days. According to the prosecution, the yet-to-be identified passenger made away with the car and after numerous assurances by the self-styled prophet to help the complainant trace his car, on November 9, 2014, the car owner reported the case to the police leading to the arrest of the two accused persons. Although the two have denied any knowledge about the offences, the advice from the Attorney General Department directed that the two be charged with the offences. - See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/49656-prophecy-lands-man-of-god-in-trouble.html#sthash.zv9uvJtf.dpuf

‘Education should not deter women from leading communities’ - Graphic Online

‘Education should not deter women from leading communities’ - Graphic Online

Farmers cry for help to curb mango disease - Graphic Online

Farmers cry for help to curb mango disease - Graphic Online

ECG cuts power to Kumasi Poly over GH¢3 million debt -

Power supply to the Kumasi Polytechnic has been disconnected by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), plunging the institution into total darkness and disrupting the pursuit of academic programmes. The Kumasi Polytechnic is said to be indebted to the ECG close to GH¢3 million, being cost of power the institution has consumed since January, this year. The ECG has embarked on an exercise to retrieve all debt owed it by customers, particularly those in the high debtors category. The Ashanti Regional Public Relations Officer of ECG, Mr Erasmus Kyere Baidoo, told the Daily Graphic that earlier this year, the Ministry of Finance wrote letters to all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to budget for their power consumption as it would no longer bear that responsibility. Bills As a result, he said, the ECG started billing all those MDAs individually, since they were supposed to pay the bills. According to him, the ECG began an exercise to retrieve all debts owed it by MDAs and institutions such as the Kumasi Polytechnic which had huge outstanding bills to settle. In spite of the explanation given by the ECG, the authorities of the polytechnic suspect that the power company is out to sabotage the activities of the institution, since it is the only educational institution that has been affected by the disconnection exercise. The Public Relations Officer of the Kumasi Polytechnic, Mr Robert Kyei Gyau, said although the institution was aware of the directive from the government asking MMDAs to pay their own electricity bills "we were made to understand that educational and health facilities were exempted". He explained that it was based on that explanation that students were not charged for using electricity as part of their fees. He said all electricity bills consumed by tertiary institutions in the country had always been forwarded to the National Council for Tertiary Education (NTCE) that usually settled them with the government. He admitted that the ECG had been sending them bills since January, this year, but explained that per the understanding of the exemption, "we have made it clear to them that we were not part of those expected to bear their own cost of electricity consumption". "We are now at a lost as to why only K-Poly was targeted in this exercise," Mr Gyau wondered

From Kwadwo B. Donkor, Kumasi. The Director of Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, ACP Angwobugote Awuni has asked personnel of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) to be abreast of the road transport regulations to enable them to discharge their duties effectively. He said with the introduction of the spot fines, there was the need for the personnel to be on top of issues and be able to educate the public and also be prepared to answer questions from the doubting public. He said, already people have a bad perception about the MTTU and tasked the commanders to erase that perception among the public by ensuring those “you send on the roads are conversant with the law and will not do anything that bring the name of the police into disrepute.” Mr. Awuni was speaking at a two-day training workshop on the implementation of spot fines for regional and divisional MTTU commanders here at Fumesua, near Kumasi. The workshop was to train the regional and divisional commanders on the implementation of the spot fines and the process involved and the roles they are expected to play. The objectives of the spot fines are to reduce indiscipline on the road and prevent minor offences that may lead to accidents, facilitate and quicken the administration of justice for road traffic offenders; to reduce pressure on the police and the courts with report processing and adjudication of minor offences. Mr. Awuni explained that the Spot fines were not the creation of the police service as the issue has been discussed with all stakeholders in the road traffic management including the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) and that all the infractions that attract the fines were already in existence. He said the only difference is that instead of processing the offenders for court, they will be made to pay the fines “but not any police officer but at a designated pay point.” Mr. Awuni said even though the implementation of the spot fine would be done by personnel of the MTTU, “it is not any MTTU person but a special task force that will be train to implement it.” For now, he said he spot fines will be piloted in three regions, Accra, Tema and Kumasi before the national roll out. He, however, did say exactly when the fines will become operational. The director of Monitoring and Evaluation at NRSC, David O. Adonteng, explained that countries that have implemented measures meant to reduce road fatalities have all been to drastically reduce road fatalities. He said in spite of the high number of road fatalities in the country, Ghana “is no where near the top 50 countries with high road fatalities.” One of the major challenges facing the commission in reducing road fatalities in the country, he explained, was how to reduce pedestrian casualties. He said there had been too much concentration on the motorists and no education or action plan to reduce the pedestrian casualties, which, he said, is increasing. Another phenomenon which is increasing the number of fatalities on the road is the okada menace. According to him, the menace has moved beyond a road safety issue to transportation system where people want to spend less time in traffic jams. Mr. Adonteng said in the first quarter of the 2013, 540 people have been killed in road accidents as compared to 565 for the same period last year and 3,130 have suffered injuries as against 3, 464 for the same period last year, a 9% reduction. He said the target to record less than 1,600 fatalities by the year 2015 and to further reduce it to less 1,000 by the year 2020.

court fines drivers for using unlicensed vehicles at night

A Kumasi circuit court on Monday, fined five drivers to a total of GHC3, 000.00 or in default, spend 12 months in jail for driving vehicles with trial numbers beyond the stipulated time. Cars with trial number plates are expected to move on the road between the hours of 6am and 7pm. All the five drivers were arrested between the hours of 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm between April 26 and 28, 2013 at Tafo, a suburb of Kumasi during a special exercise by the District Patrol team of Ashanti Regional Police command to clamp down on criminal cases and motor traffic offences. They convict are Ernest Asiedu, Neem Adam, George Annor, Prince Yeboah and Tieku Osei Hwidie and were each fined GHC600.00 for driving their vehicles with DV number plates beyond the 7pm hour as stipulated by law. They all pleaded guilty to the charge and were convicted on their own plea by the court presided over Mr. D. W. P. Amedior. According to the prosecutor, Chief Inspector James Ameka, told the court that the convicts were arrested by a team of officers from the patrol team during an exercise to clamp down on criminal who used unregistered cars to commit crimes within the metropolis. He said during the exercise, the convicts were arrested at Tafo using trial number plate vehicles beyond the stipulated time. In a related development, the same court fined Kwadwo Sarpong, a sprayer, GHC360.00 for threatening to curse a police officer for arresting him, driving without license, resisting lawful arrest and driving DV vehicle without a log book. He pleaded guilty to all the four counts. He however, explained to the court that he was a sprayer stationed at Suame and was given the said vehicle to spray but due to the ongoing load shedding, could not finish the work and had to take the car home. According to him, he was only sending the car to his workshop when he was arrested. However, Mr. Ameka told the court that when the convict was arrested and was asked to drive to the Suame police station, on the way to the station, he stopped the car, switched off the engine, got down and started running. He said when he was apprehended and sent to the police station, he hurled insults on the arresting officer and threaten to curse him if he got out of the case.

Santasi Anyinam in Kumasi lacks drainage system

Residents of New Kagyasi, a suburb of the Kumasi Metropolis within the Nhyiaeso sub-metro have appealed to the city authority to provide the area with culverts and a drainage system to make life a bit bearable for them.

The area is located in an undulating topography full of hills and valleys. As a result, whenever it rains, water from the steep sides collects soil and deposits it at the lower land. This has resulted in a heavy siltation of the main gutter lying along the main road thus reducing its capacity to take in more water.

They claimed that the unavailability of culverts and a drainage system in the area has compounded the many problems facing them.

According to the residents, they said the only waste disposal containers had been placed far from the area thus discouraging people to make use of it.

As a result, most people would rather burn their waste or refuse, or dispose of them at inappropriate place and making the area susceptible to flood whenever it rains.
The residents told the Times that due to the lack of a drainage system and culverts, rain water wash away greater part of the roads whenever it rains thus making the area unmotorable as a result of serious soil erosions.

Kagyasi is a fast developing plush residential area within the Santasi-Anyinam suburb of Kumasi that could be likened to the East Legon of Accra.

Aside the main road passing through the area, there is no single tarred in the entire community starting from Santasi and up to end of Kotwi where Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly shares borders with the Atwima Kwanowoman district assembly.
The only culvert in the area lie along the main road and has been grown with weeds and is heavily silted with sand as a result of soil erosion.