Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education, has declared that the government intends to repaint all public basic schools in blue and white, replacing the present brown and yellow.

This programme is part of a rebranding campaign to improve the appearance of the institutions.

Dr Adutwum went on to say that this is only one of several initiatives targeted at revitalising and improving basic education in the country.

“We’re moving to blue and white. We are painting all of the schools to give them an appealing appearance. This is the revolution Ghana deserves, and it is on its way,” the minister said at a “The free SHS tale” discussion in Accra on Tuesday, April 23, 2024.

He also announced the replacement of the brown and yellow outfits.

“We are modifying the uniforms of public elementary schools across the country. The yellow and brown that you see now will go. Reformation is coming to a community near you, and you will witness it.”

The education minister expanded, saying that this project is part of the government’s attempts to demonstrate to critics that its concentration is not exclusively on secondary education.

Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Ltd (SML) denied receiving GH¢1,061,054,778.00 for a revenue mobilisation contract with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

President Akufo-Addo ordered KPMG to audit the contract between the GRA and SML on January 2. KPMG’s findings revealed that SML received a total of GH¢1,061,054,778.00 from 2018 to date.

However, Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Ltd responded by denying the charges, noting that KPMG reported the amount “without reference to the investments made and the taxes paid” during the review period.

“KPMG quotes a figure as compensation to SML. It is interesting to note that this figure is quoted without reference to the investments made and the taxes paid by SML over the period within the consolidated contract

“The compensation of GH¢1,061,054,778.00 stated by KPMG is inaccurate.”

SML further stated that KPMG’s inability to mention that 31.5 per cent of the total GH¢1,061,054,778.00 taken as taxes provides a very uneven “impression of the relationship between the compensation, investment, and other related costs.”

“SML believes that KPMG’s failure to include GRA taxes of 31.5% taken before payment, interest payments of 32% plus SML’s investment repayment, and other taxes/duties over the period creates an unbalanced impression of the relationship between compensation and investment and other related costs. This omission is really deceptive.

Professor Baffior Agyeman-Duah, a Governance Expert, has urged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to show leadership by summoning all major players in the power sector, including the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRDCo), the Volta River Authority (VRA), and the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC), and giving them marching orders to resolve the power crisis.

He believes he’ll be astonished if the president hasn’t done so already.

Speaking on the Ghana Tonight broadcast on TV3 on Monday, April 22, Prof Ageyman Duah remarked, “I will be surprised that the president has not called the leadership of the VRA, GRIDCo, ECG, and PURC, to sit them down to give them the marching order that he doesn’t like what they are doing.

“That is leadership, we need the president to be giving the marching orders. As I said, if he has done it privately I don’t know but based on the public pronouncements by these state agencies in charge of the energy sector, it seems like he hasn’t done that.”

Professor Agyeman-Duah also chastised the administration for the slow speed at which it is addressing electricity concerns.

He argues that given the frequency of power outages, the government should have taken a more serious approach to finding long-term solutions, but this has not been the case.

He went on to say “The government hasn’t been too active in seeking solutions to problems”

Prof. Baffour Agyeman-Duah also urged the state power distributor, the ECG, to produce a load-shedding schedule.

This, he believes, will help power consumers arrange their lives more effectively.

“The wise thing to do is to issue a timetable,” Professor Baffour Agyeman-Duah said.

Meanwhile, Richard Ahiagbah, Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has stated that power shortages in certain areas of the country are annoying.

However, he stated that there is light at the end of the tunnel for the problem.

Mr Ahiagbah ascribed the problem to the Electricity Company of Ghana’s (ECG) maintenance work.

He told us that the job would be done quickly.

“The recent power outages have been understandably frustrating. However, there is an end in sight. The maintenance works are almost complete, and we can soon expect access to an uninterrupted power supply around the clock, as we have become accustomed to under the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia Administration.”

Regarding the criticism that members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have made against the administration over the outages, he stated, “The NDC is the last political organization to point fingers because Ghana has not forgotten the hurts of the ‘real dumsor,’ suffered under H.E. Mahama.