2017 under review – the good, the ugly and all that! – Part Two

The year 2017 has indeed been very eventful as a lot of things happened in virtually all aspects of our national life. For those who missed Part One of this write-up, you may visit Part One for details of it. This piece is the concluding part and without wasting time let’s zoom into action as we continue from April.

April 2017
President Akufo-Addo began the month of April with a meeting with transport unions and transport owners in the Ashanti Region and gave the assurance that the promises he made during the 2016 electioneering campaign were not mere talk. The President was on a three-day tour of the Ashanti Region.

Also in April, the National Organizer of the largest opposition party, Kofi Adams sued Network Broadcasting Limited, operators of Radio Gold, and four members of the party in April for damages of GHC30 million for allegedly making some defamatory comments against him in relation to the party’s painful defeat in the 2016 elections.

According to Mr. Adams, the four, who belong to a group called Action Movement, at a Press Conference carried live on Radio Gold in March, described him as “useless National Organiser and Campaign Co-ordinator” who connived with other party stalwarts to cause the NDC’s defeat in the 2016 elections.

The Minister of Aviation, Cecilia Abena Dapaah paid a visit to the Sunyani Airport to learn at first hand the major challenges militating against the effective functioning of the facility. The Sunyani Airport was first used by the British and their allies in 1942 during the Second World War but it was abandoned afterwards.

Major construction works on the airport however started in 1969 by the then Progress Party led by the late Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia.

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) in April condemned the Western Regional Director of Education, Enyonam Afi Amefugah for canning a teacher in class. The Regional Director reportedly gave a Class Two female teacher some lashes for canning some pupils for lateness to school.

April could not have ended without the launch of the Planting for Food and Jobs campaign at Goaso in the Brong Ahafo Region by the President. Speaking at the launch, President Akufo-Addo said with the right policies and interventions Ghana could become the food basket of West Africa. After the programme, the President embarked on a two-day tour of some parts of the Brong Ahafo Region.

The Daily Statesman reported on Wednesday April 26, 2017 on page four that as many as 150 Ghanaian women had been impregnated by some Chinese nationals in Ghana who were engaging in illegal mining activities. Fifty had delivered at the time of the report while the rest were yet to, with some of the women already had about two or more children with their Chinese partners.

May 2017
May Day or Workers Day, as usual, was the first major activity in the month of May and as expected the President joined workers of the country to mark the Day. In his address, he, among others, assured ECG workers that they would not be laid off under the second Millennium Challenge Corporation compact programme.

One major activity embarked upon by the President in May was a tour of some West African countries. The first leg of his tour took him to Togo, Burkina Faso and Cote D’Ivoire. He actually toured all the West African states later on to deepen the relationships between Ghana and her neighbors.

At a meeting with Ghanaians in Cote D’Ivoire, President Akufo-Addo was emphatic that he was not in any way going to entertain any acts “chop-chop” in his government as pertained in the previous administration.

The Ghanaian Chronicle of Monday May 8, 2017 reported on its centre-spread that the Asokwa Magistrate Court Two in Kumasi had fined a Ghanaian Bishop based in the US an amount of GH.C 600.00 after being found guilty of bigamy.

The court ordered the Bishop, Kwaku Agyeman Duah, to terminate the second marriage within a month. Mr. Agyeman was reported to have told his wife in the US that he was coming to Ghana for a funeral of a relative and also attend his niece’s wedding only to come over to Ghana to wed another woman at Kubi Hotel in Kumasi where relatives of his first wife stormed the refreshment part of the programme, thereby ending proceedings abruptly.

Also in May, the oldest hospital in Ghana, the Old Tarkwa Government Hospital, which was built in 1891 by the colonial administration was renamed ‘Apinto Government Hospital’ in recognition of the significant contributions of the Apinto Divisional Council toward health care delivery in the area. Kudos to you, Apinto Divisional Council.

June 2017
The Office of the First Lady also announced in June that it had mobilized over six million Ghana cedis towards the construction of a new Mother & Baby Unit of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi.

Also in June, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, Bernard Antwi Boasiko, popularly called ‘Chairman Wontumi’ was honoured for an ‘outstanding performance and good work to humanity by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and Alliance Creativity Community Project International.

Immediate-past Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood, officially retired from the bench on Thursday June 8, having served as Chief Justice since 2007. She thereafter became a member of the Council of State.

Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo nominated Justice Sophia Akuffo to succeed Justice Georgina Theodora Wood. She went through vetting process in Parliament before she was finally sworn-in by the President.

Confusion rocked the Electoral Commission in June 2017 (exactly one year from that time, the EC was busily changing its logo when people were not even sure when the elections would be held). The EC Chairperson and her two deputies were busily engaging in accusations and counter-accusations which finally landed them in an impeachment process against them.

July 2017
The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development organized an orientation programme in Accra for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives across the country during which the President entreated them not to fight with their MPs.

Also in July, Government scrapped the excruciating capitation policy on NHIS members in the Ashanti region piloted for six bad years by the previous NDC administration.

President Akufo-Addo also met with the media at the Presidency during which he walked them through a number of successes chalked by his administration upon the assumption of office and other policy interventions which were in the offing.

On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the passing of former President J.E.A Mills, the only son of the late Professor, Sam Kofi Mills said he wanted to know what really led to the death of his father.

According to him, neither he nor the family of the late President was aware of the cause of his father’s death, which occurred on Tuesday July 24, 2012.

August 2017
President Akufo-Addo paid a working visit to the Western Region in August during which he revealed plans to establish a gold refinery around Tarkwa and a fertilizer plant at Jomoro. Besides, the Bonsa Tyre and the Aboso Glass factories would be revived under the One-district, One-factory policy.

Still in August, Railways Development Minister, Joe Ghartey, announced that a ten million dollar deal to rehabilitate the western rail line from Kojokrom to Tarkwa and some other towns in that corridor.

September 2017
The major news item in September 2017 was the rolling out of the Free SHS policy. Ahead of its implementation, the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) commended the government for the initiative saying it would bring a huge relief to parents.

On Tuesday September 12, 2017, President Akufo-Addo officially launched the Free SHS policy saying he had “chosen to invest in the future of our youth and of our country. For now, the Free SHS remains the most monumental intervention in the country’s education sector since independence.

The President participated in the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly in New York. While there, he attended a series of SGD events and delivered a speech on “Africa Beyond Aid” and also held a number of bilateral discussions with colleague Heads of State.

Nana Kyei Bonsu, the Odikro of Tutuka, a farming community in the Asutifi North District of the Brong Ahafo Region, in September called for independent, scientific and comprehensive laboratory test and analysis of underground water, surface water and all other water bodies in and around the area. This was as a result of alleged pollution of all their sources of water by Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (https://www.modernghana.com/news/804745/chief-calls-for-independent-probe-into-water-quality.html).

Still in September, President Akufo-Addo joined several others to celebrate the life and achievements of Emeritus Professor Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia. The good old Professor is ethnomusicologist, writer, scholar, instrumentalist and above all, a patriot.

October to December 2017
President Akufo-Addo toured the three northern regions at the beginning of October during which he commissioned the Wa Water project, which was initiated by the NPP government under former President Kufuor. He toured a number of communities and interacted with the chiefs and people of the area.

41-year –old teacher, Faustina Coppson won the 2017 National Best Teacher Award and went home with smiles all over her face. For her prize, she received a 3-bedroom house to be built at a place of her choice, Gh.c 50,000 life insurance cover by the SIC and a cheque for Gh.c 80,000.00.

There was jubilation galore in Sunyani when the President launched the restoration of the Nurse’ trainees allowance. Each nurse and midwife trainee is to get Gh.c 400.00 every month to cushion them in their studies.

On Saturday December 16, the Christian Service University College (CSUC) held its 41st Congregation at a colourful ceremony at the school’s main campus at Odeneho Kwadaso, a suburb of Kumasi.

In all, 642 graduates made up of 54 post-graduates, 534 under-graduates and 54 others who pursued certificate programmes passed out at the colourful ceremony. 61% of the total number was made up of males while the remaining 39% were females. One hundred and four (104) of the graduants representing 20% of the total number had First Class Honours (https://www.modernghana.com/news/823438/remove-all-taxes-on-private-educational-institutions-kofi.html).

Ghanaians rounded up the year with a variety of activities during the Christmas season. President Akufo-Addo rounded-up his nationwide tour of the country with a three-day visit to his home region, the Eastern Region.

Compiled by Richard Kofi Boahen – rboahen2018@gmail.com

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