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GETFund has recently encountered significant financial setbacks – Mahama

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GETFund has recently encountered significant financial setbacks - Mahama

Former President John Dramani Mahama has stated that the Ghana Education Trust (GET) Fund has recently faced major financial difficulties.

He stated that in the future, stakeholders would collaborate to make the GETFund operate for students and institutions in private and public schools that require financial support.

In a speech held over the weekend at Academic City University College, the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) stated these victories.

“Globally, economists and governance experts have long recognised that development does not begin with goods; it begins with human capital development,” he told the graduating students. As a result, without education, particularly excellent education, our natural resources – land, sea, minerals, forests, and so on – would remain dormant and unexploited. Even if used, the environmental and socioeconomic consequences will be disastrous for our country’s growth.

“For education to achieve its purpose of churning out resourceful and skilled human resources who meet the needs of societies, it must be of optimal quality. A focus on expanding access to education without attendant improvement in quality renders education insufficient in churning out the well-equipped human resource society needs.

“And because education is also a leveller, poor quality education tends to widen the gap between our country’s rich and poor.”

He added “To secure quality education at all levels and address inequalities, the Social Democratic tradition of my party, the NDC, has prioritised investment in education over the years. This quality-indexed spirit motivated the NDC to establish the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) as a financial supplement to the traditional sources of financing education.

“Regrettably, GETFund has suffered severe financial setbacks in recent times. In the future, we can work together to make the GETFund work for students and institutions needing financial assistance in private and public schools.

“Let’s also remember that the 21st Century thrives on the digital revolution in which innovation and originality propel progress. To succeed in this era, our educational system must evolve to equip the next generation with critical thinking skills, creativity, and innovation to solve problems.

“This is why the National Democratic Congress, in our quest to build the Ghana we want, is seeking to partner with the private sector to invest three billion dollars (US$3 billion) in an integrated ICT infrastructure, including onshore and offshore fibre super-highway and electronic applications.

“The investment will leverage 5G technology to propel communication, commerce, civil liberties, and individual expressions; while supporting other national priorities in health, education, agriculture, petroleum, and the power sectors.

“This initiative will also make governance effective, transparent, and accessible, improve the quality-of-service delivery to Ghanaians, modernise industry and outdated legacy platforms and IT systems, improve network security and create thousands of decent and sustainable jobs in the value chain.”

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OccupyJulorBiHouse: Organisers’ derogatory depiction of the presidency is reprehensible – Richard Ahiagbah

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According to Democracy Hub, the rally was held to stress their demands for lower living costs, an end to corruption, and improved governance, among other things. However, in the early hours of Thursday, September 21, police detained 49 protestors, accusing them of unlawful assembly and violating the Public Order Act. The detained individuals ignored court documents filed on the organisers, Democracy Hub, to prevent from carrying out the scheduled rally.

The New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Communications Director, Richard Ahiagbah, has voiced his concern with the disrespectful captioning of the Jubilee House by leaders of the pressure organisation, Democracy Hub.

The organisers of the scuttled demonstration in Accra on Thursday, Democracy Hub, had dubbed the protest to occupy the precincts of the seat of government, Jubilee House, #OccupyJulorBiHouse, with ‘julorbi’ being a parody of the official name of the presidency in the Ga language, which loosely translates as ‘the child of a thief’.

Mr Ahiagbah, who backed citizens’ freedom to demonstrate, disagreed with the disparaging portrayal of the presidency.

“I don’t agree with the derogatory caption of the Presidency by the organizers of the demonstration, but impeding their right to peaceful assembly is an affront to democracy, plain and simple.”

The NPP Communications Director pointed out that there have been numerous peaceful demonstrations during President Akufo-Addo’s presidency, including the Arise Ghana demo and the Kume Preko demo, which he said did not record such events as happened on Thursday, and wondered why anyone would think the government was behind the disruption of Thursday’s demonstration.

“This is not the publicity we need on a day such as this…Allow!,” he said, in apparent condemnation of the police action.

He highlighted that the Ghana Police Service’s meddling and arrest of demonstrators who took part in the #OccupyJulorBiHouse movement is a violation of the people’s rights.

Mr Ahiagbah stressed in a post on Thursday, September 21, that “the people’s ability to engage in peaceful demonstrations is an inherent democratic right.”

Any action that prevents persons from enjoying this basic freedom, in his opinion, is just wrong.

According to Democracy Hub, the rally was held to stress their demands for lower living costs, an end to corruption, and improved governance, among other things.

However, in the early hours of Thursday, September 21, police detained 49 protestors, accusing them of unlawful assembly and violating the Public Order Act.

The detained individuals ignored court documents filed on the organisers, Democracy Hub, to prevent them from carrying out the scheduled rally.

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OccupyJulorBiHouse: Arresting protesters was unwarranted – Naana Opoku-Agyemang

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Several demonstrators were detained and escorted to the Regional Police Headquarters, including Fix The Country chairman Oliver Barker Vormawor. They were detained in the early hours of September 21 for violating a police order prohibiting the march.

Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, the National Democratic Congress (NDC)’s 2020 running mate, has responded to the arrest of #OccupyJulorBiHouse activists.

It is undemocratic and useless, she claims.

The former Education Minister stated on Twitter that the police should have engaged the demonstrators rather than arrest them.

As a result, she has supported demands for the demonstrators to be arrested immediately.

https://x.com/NJOAgyemang/status/1704832264251601273?s=20

Several demonstrators were detained and escorted to the Regional Police Headquarters, including Fix The Country chairman Oliver Barker Vormawor.

They were detained in the early hours of September 21 for violating a police order prohibiting the march.

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Military takeovers are not a solution to Africa’s economic issues – Asantehene

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Several African nations, including Niger and Gabon, have undergone coups in recent years. The most recent event happened in Gabon on August 30, when military soldiers took control and proclaimed the annulment of election results that had pronounced President Ali Bongo the winner. The announcement of the Electoral Commission generated suspicions of fraud by the opposition.

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has voiced grave worry over the growing number of coups on the African continent.

He links these military takeovers to nations’ difficult economic situations, which resulted in the deposition of democratically elected governments.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II spoke out strongly against military coups as a solution to Africa’s issues during the St. Andrews Africa Summit in Scotland.

He emphasised that, regardless of the circumstances, armed takeovers are not the solution.

“Let me make it categorically clear that regardless of the circumstances, I do not think that a military takeover offers the solution to the problems of our continent. There was a time when circumstances produced the notion that the gun was the solution, those times are over. We are in completely different circumstances now. The critical problems confronting Africans’ economy from North to South, East to West, the burden is the economy,” the Asantehene said.

Several African nations, including Niger and Gabon, have undergone coups in recent years.

The most recent event happened in Gabon on August 30, when military soldiers took control and proclaimed the annulment of election results that had pronounced President Ali Bongo the winner.

The announcement of the Electoral Commission generated suspicions of fraud by the opposition.

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