Last Updated- Mar 16, 2010 7:57 - - 0 Comments


Is Ghana becoming a lawless state?

I first wrote this article in 2007 and published it elsewhere. As it appears the circumstances that made me write on the matter are not getting better, I have decided to republish here.

The American Jurist, Roscoe Pound, defines law as “social control through the systematic application of the force of politically organized society”.

Other definitions of law by some scholars see law as a system of norms and regulations which must be complied with to bring about social cohesion, and infraction of which brings on the offender punishment.

Hopefully, it is within these contexts and meanings of law that Ghana as a nation has enacted laws and regulations, including norms to bring about conformity and achieve social cohesion, peace and harmony to facilitate a just and upwardly growing society.

The laws and regulations that we have in this country are meant to elicit from citizens a certain acceptable behaviour pattern to allow for peaceful co-existence, maintenance of orderliness and control excessive and compulsive behaviour that some people are likely to exhibit.

Such behaviours when allowed to hold sway are not likely to augur well for the good of the larger society.

If it so happens, we shall then be living in anarchy and only the fittest will survive, and when only the fittest survives, our society will not persist, it will die.

However, happenings in recent times in this country do not indicate to the law-abiding citizen that it pays to live and play according to the acceptable rules that qualify a citizen as good.

On the other hand, it seems as though, it pays to break the laws and make some personal gains to the disadvantage of the rest of the country.

There are familiar incidents in this country where some people who are seen and known to have broken the laws in most cases have not been punished at all, or where punishment has been meted out, it is not commensurate with the seriousness of the crimes they have committed and therefore, other people with criminal intents are not deterred.

There are several instances of lawlessness in this country and I can go on and on to cite them. Residential buildings are cited anywhere and shops are built anywhere. Streams, waterways and swamps have been annexed, reclaimed with debris and buildings have sprung up on them. These are known to have contributed to freak floods leading to the deaths of innocent people and loss of property.

Some hills in the country that are known to be earth-quake prone, such as the McCarthy Hills, have buildings dotted all over them.

There are laws against noise levels, but it does not seem to bother noisemakers. Noise above tolerable decibels are heard all over the capital city, sometimes for 24 hours.

Political parties that are vying for the mandate to rule this country do not seem to comply with basic laws governing the formation and running of such institutions. The simple task of submitting audited accounts to the Electoral Commission (EC) is not done as required by law and when it is done, it is because the EC had issued threats.

There are laws that regulate the establishment of educational institutions but these are largely not complied with. There was a case where an unregistered school took money from students and failed to register them for the BECE. It took the intervention of the Ghana Education Service to get the students to write their exams. But even that, it took media exposure to reach that stage.

The number of such acts that have not been brought up by the media can be anyone’s guess.

Indeed, even in recent times some of our established universities such as the University of Cape Coast and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology have been cited for starting new programmes without going through laid down procedures for accreditation. The two institutions though have denied the charges.

The rising trend in undisciplined behaviour where the laws of the land are concerned is a daily occurrence.

Even though, several factors have been given as reasons for the rise in crime, one of the main factors is the seeming ineffectiveness of our law enforcement agencies and institutions. The agencies have more excuses for their ineffectiveness than reasons for performing their duties.

The police service which is the main state organ for maintaining law and order has been found wanting. Police brutalities have become a daily occurrence. Accusations of bribery and corruption against the police are rife on a daily basis, but the police administration appears to be impotent in stamping its authority on recalcitrant members of the Police Service.

It appears the police operate in a world of lawlessness, have a law of their own or are simply above the law they are obligated to keep.

Not long ago, a number of studies conducted by very credible institutions such as the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) and the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), showed that corruption was rife in this country. On top of the list of institutions seen as corrupt in each case is the Ghana Police Service.

And it does not require the wave of a magic wand for any one to see the unacceptable and often disgusting attitude of most policemen on our roads. They stop vehicles indiscriminately and simply collect money from drivers in broad daylight!

Even at the Police Stations, complainants and suspects alike are literally forced to pay money to policemen to either have their cases looked into or to have charges against them dropped.

These things clearly do not bring about social cohesion, rather they breed a lawless society in which citizens would either live recklessly or go about their activities without due regard to laid down procedures.

Some few other examples will buttress my point; the Food and Drugs Board (FBD), has been established by law to ensure that any entity that intends to produce and market any kind of foods or medications ought to apply to it.

After an application has been submitted, the Board is required to inspect the premises where these products are to be manufactured as well as test the products to determine if they are wholesome for human consumption and subsequently, certify these or otherwise where the results of the test prove that the products are unsafe for humans.

But what do we see and hear? Companies who have not met the requirements for putting foods and drugs on the market, and have been told so by the Board, have blatantly ignored such orders and are selling to the public, as if there are no laws in this country. And the Board looks on helplessly in some cases.

In other instances they have persisted and sanity had prevailed. But they have not been able to do a thorough job of their mandate yet, because we seem to be living in a country where impunity is even rewarded.

There have been several instances where some sachet water producers have failed to meet the standards and were asked to either meet the standards or close down and they have been defiant.

Sometime ago, it was reported in the news that a Filling Station was being constructed at Alajo, and clearly it was sited at the wrong place – in a crowded residential area.

Amazingly, when reporters talked to workers on the site, they claimed to have been given clearance by the Energy Board and other agencies responsible for giving clearance for such projects.

A similar incident happened in Tema. A fuel station was sited at a junction and its presence clearly narrowed the road, and reporters were told by city authorities that, a dual carriage road was to be constructed at the same spot, yet the workers on this site claimed they had been given clearance to construct the fuel station by the appropriate authorities, including the Energy Board and TOR.

There are vehicles plying our roads in dangerous conditions. There are drivers who do not have drivers’ licenses and do not know road signs but they are driving recklessly on our roads. These drivers in the event have killed and maimed innocent citizens.

Meanwhile, we have laws that regulate the conditions of vehicles to determine their roadworthiness and also to certify those who qualify to drive. But these laws are not been rigorously applied.

As a result of this lax attitude towards compliance with the law and its enforcement, many criminals seem to be emboldened. Some cases in point are the attack on Zico, a former coach of Kumasi Asante Kotoko in the glare of the public at Kwashieman and the brutal murder of Mr. Ferghali, MD of IMEXCO. And recently we can recall the murder of journalist Samuel Ennin in Kumasi; the banker, Roco Frimpong in Accra and Mr. Quartey, the retired worker of the Public Works Department in Tema.

There are very long and sometimes unnecessary delay in trying criminal cases, and where some cases have gone through trial and convictions are obtained, the sentences are too low and inconsistent with the crime.

The type of sentences imposed on convicted criminals is contingent on the law under which they are charged. This also means that we need to review most of the laws on our statute books.

With the rising trend in crime and obvious disregard for disciplined behaviour, which is costing this nation so much in terms of human resources and money, something drastic has to be done.

The laws that are on our books should be made known to the people and also enforced to the letter. Law enforcement agencies should be re-oriented on the sacredness and importance of their duties, and they must be encouraged to play their roles without fear or favour for the good of all.

This is so because if the anarchists take over the country and run us all down, we shall go down with the law enforcers who have failed us in their sacred duty.

Law enforcement agencies should first of all be on the side of the law and perform their duties to secure the nation and the dignity of the Ghanaian. Even though they are doing their best as they claim under the circumstances, they can do much, much better.

Prof. Chris Abotchie, one of Ghana’s prominent Criminologists says that, to achieve a lawful society, “the law must be made escapeless”, that is, the criminal should know before he even thinks of the crime that there is no way he would escape from the long arm of the law.

“Punishment should be applied immediately”; there should not be delay in meting out punishment, because if the criminal knows that punishment can be delayed and therefore postponed, he would not be deterred, and finally, he argues, “punishment should be severe”, to make criminals and potential criminals think twice before they embark on any crime.

We can achieve a lawful, cohesive and peaceful society if we uphold the sanctity of the law, human life and the dignity of the Ghanaian, by insisting that all of us play by the book, because it pays to live in a lawful society.

As commercial production of oil begins in Ghana sometime at the last quarter of the year, bigger challenges in law enforcement will confront the country, because the full dynamics of being an oil producing country will emerge. We must prepare to live up to it.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi

Email: edogbevi@hotmail.com


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Radio air time may not translate into sales for musicians – Dawuni

Ghana’s celebrated reggae musician, Rocky Dawuni says it is possible for Ghanaian musicians to get lots of radio air time, but that might not necessarily translate into sales.
He therefore called on the country’s TV and radio stations to stop taking money from artistes before they played their music.

However, he said “regardless of whether artistes make a living out of their works or not they have to keep it alive.”

To promote music in Ghana there are many different dimensions artistes have to deal with, he said. He said getting radio air time in Ghana is not easy for many artists.

He expressed concern about the fact that artistes have to invest so much money into getting air play and “by the time they are done they are so much out of the pocket in terms of money that they have to sell a whole lot to be able to recoup their money and even make some profit.”

Rocky Dawuni said these when he spoke to ghanabusinessnews.com in an interview at the launch of his latest album, “Hymns for the rebel soul” Sunday March 14, 2010. He expressed worry about the fact that there aren’t so many places in Ghana where artistes can play live concerts, all these he said “have contributed to not so pleasant an environment to be able to make a living from music.” He however added that, Ghana’s environment is better than so many other places.

He therefore called on radio and TV stations in the country to support artistes without demanding money from them before they play their music or videos, until they become successful, to create an improved industry. He said “all of us must contribute to make the music industry better. We must do it in transparency with the artistes in mind.”

Rocky Dawuni who is based in the US stands out as one of Ghana’s remarkable reggae musician. He describes the latest album “Hymns for a rebel soul” as his “definitive”.

Rocky Dawuni’s contribution to live music in Ghana is well known. Every year, he stages his live music show on Ghana’s Independence Day, March 6, which he calls “The Independence Splash.”

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi


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Government to fairly distribute national cake, ensure freedom of worship

President John Evans Atta Mills on Friday reiterated Government’s commitment to distribute the national cake equitably and ensure freedom of worship.

He thanked Allah for the peace Ghana was enjoying, and said it was wrong for anyone to try to impose religious views on others since in Ghana, there was freedom of choice and religion.

President Mills had joined Muslim congregants at the Abossey Okai Central Mosque in Accra, in worship as part of this Year’s National Prayer and Thanksgiving, which also formed part of the celebrations of the nation’s 53rd Independence Day.

He said all religions led to God, and there was no reason for intolerance.

The President also expressed thanks for the political tolerance that existed in Ghana, stressing that Ghanaians were all one people with a common destiny.

While underlining the need for unity, President Mills said, Government, as social democratic government, placed emphasis on the needs of the underprivileged.

“Those who do not have will be the first to receive,” the President said as he renewed Government’s promise for equitable development.

President Mills who recalled visiting the Muslim community to seek Allah’s face for peace in the last general elections, also joined Muslims to worship Allah and thanked him after the elections turned out successfully.

“Let’s give thanks and praises to Allah for every opportunity, for he has brought peace to Ghana,” President Mills said.

He also thanked Allah for Government’s ability to make the last Hajj pilgrimage, a success, saying the Muslims deserved it, and gave the assurance that Government would continue to support the Hajj so that Muslims could continue to give praise to Allah.

President Mills said a number of Ministers in his Administration were Muslims, and they had been chosen because they had what it took for Ghana to build a better Ghana.

Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharabutu, National Chief Imam, in a message made a passionate appeal to all Muslims in Ghana to drop any intended actions against a Christian preacher who made a statement that was considered an insult to the Islamic faith.

According to the Chief Imam, the Rev. Charles Agyin-Asare, of the Word Miracle Bible Church, had written a letter to his office and apologised over the sermon of that preacher.

“I’m calling on all Muslims to drop any actions intended against the Christian preacher,” Sheikh Sharabutu said.

Alhaji Hudu Yahaya, National Vice Chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress, urged the youth to improve themselves through education.

He said Government was on course with its educational support programme with the distribution of free school uniform and was building structures to eliminate what had come to be known as “under the tree schools”

Later Sheikh Sharabutu, who sat close by President Mills instructed the slaughter of the “sacrificial animal”, which was witnessed by Alhaji Mohamed Mumuni, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

A similar service is scheduled for next Sunday for the Christian community at the Independence Square in Accra.

Source: GNA


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Google offers free Gmail SMS in Ghana

Gmail, the free web-based email service provided by the world’s leading Internet search engine Google has added a free SMS feature to the service for users in Ghana.
The service was activated Thursday March 11, 2010.

The service according to Google offers the feature on MTN, Zain, Tigo and Kasapa.

Users of Gmail in Ghana can send text free with this service.

A Google spokesman was quoted as saying, “SMS in Gmail Chat is a feature that allows Gmail users to send SMS messages to their contacts’ mobile phones using Gmail Chat. We believe SMS in Gmail Chat bridges online and mobile communications, bringing a new level of flexibility and mobility to Gmail Chat. We hope to extend this to additional countries and additional carriers in the future, but have nothing to announce at this time.”

This is indeed a boost to the ICT sector in Ghana that individual’s and companies can take advantage of. Sadly, most Ghanaian businesses are not taking advantage of the growing online and mobile to Internet solutions available to maximize business opportunities. This latest innovation from Google after the launch of Google maps in 30 countries in Africa including Ghana emphasizes that opportunity even more.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi


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Collision in parliament over Ghana “cocaine era” perception

The Majority and the Minority on Wednesday collided over whose era Ghana was adjudged “cocaine coast” to conclude debate on the State of the Nation Address.

Mr. Cletus Apul Avoka, Majority Leader, who sparked the provocation was giving the final submission to thank the president on the State of the Nation Address delivered February 25, 2010 by the President.

He stated that Ghana under President John Evans Atta Mills was gradually un-tagging herself of being notorious for drug trade.

He said under the National Democratic Congress (NDC), armed robbery had been brought to the minimum.

Mr. Avoka said when he was the Interior Minister he attended a conference in Cape Verde in 2008 where Ghana was tagged as a country engaged in drugs such as cocaine.

This brought Mr. Ambrose Dery, Deputy Minority Leader, to his feet challenging the Majority Leader to produce evidence to his claim.

Mr. Avoka pulled out a document to which he read to the House but the Minority still dissatisfied pursued the matter that the document be laid before the house.

The Speaker Mrs. Joyce Bamford-Addo, said there was no specific rule in the Standing Orders to be used to deal with the issue especially in the laying of the paper.

She said however that the rule governing the debate was that no one should make statements without substantiating it and wondered why the Minority still persisted in the pursuance of the matter.

Prof. Mike Oquaye, Second Deputy Speaker said Mr. Avoka must lay the paper before the House adding, “this is a serious matter, he who alleges must establish.”

Mr. Dery pursued the matter when he argued that the document was someone’s perception and must not be recognized as factual in dealing with the matter.

Mr Avoka said when Papa Owusu Ankoma quoted the World Street Journal to establish that doing business in Ghana was expensive under the NDC government and the Majority established same argument against it, the Minority contended that the paper was a respected one all over the world and that its comments were factual.

He said since the House mostly thrived on precedents therefore there must be uniformity in precedents, adding that if in their (Minority) case, it was applicable, it must be must also be applicable in this case too.

The Minority devised another strategy forcing Mr. Avoka to withdraw both the document and the statement he made.

They had made sure that unless that was done, the House could not adjourn.

Source: GNA


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Fraudsters force KLM to ban telephone, online ticket sales to most destinations in Africa

The growing trends in credit card fraud have now hit KLM, the Royal Dutch Airlines, according to an intelligence report by the Holland-based investigative organization Ultrascan-AGI, forcing the airline to ban online and telephone sales of tickets to most destinations in Africa.

The report which was sent to ghanabusinessnews.com also included a recorded telephone conversation between an Ultrascan investigator and KLM staff. We have listened to the recording but we are not permitted to publish.

The fraudsters have hit KLM so hard leading to huge losses leaving the airline with no choice but to ban the sale of tickets to most destinations from and to Africa by phone and online. It is not clear when KLM placed the ban, but in the recorded conversation, the KLM staff is heard clearly telling the investigator that the airline was not allowing ticket sales by phone and online. Before then passengers could buy tickets using their credit cards online or by telephone.

In the recording, the KLM staff told the investigator he would have to go to the airport to make payments with his credit card to purchase the ticket.

According to the report, the crime has been traced mostly to Nigerian and Russian gangs. Ultrascan says its investigations traced the crime to Russian gangs who sell the credit card details or a fake hard copy to Nigerian gangs who then use these to purchase train or airline tickets.

“During years of investigations into Nigerian fraud organizations, Ultrascan-AGI recorded that from 2008 these crime organisations have professionalised their sales of airline tickets which they buy with stolen credit card details,” it said.

The report said “they can buy the credit card details from websites operated by Russian cyber crime gangs that sell the stolen ID’s and card details at a cheap rate. Prices vary from $5 for only the details, to $65 for an exact plastic copy. (From august 2007 Ultrascan-AGI analysed an average of 140 significant card fraud and ID theft incidents per month).”

According to Ultrascan, they have contacted KLM Media Relations on three occasions before and after the recording was done but on all occasions they have denied that KLM was blocking online and telephone sales.

Meanwhile, a report on the website tradingmarkets.com on March 8, 2010 says the Air France-KLM Group reported that it carried 4,779,000 passengers in February 2010, down 2.2% compared to the same month last year.

Revenue passenger kilometres (traffic) for the month fell by 0.6% compared to February 2009, while available seat kilometres (capacity) dropped by 5.0%, resulting in an increase in load factor of 3.5 percentage points at 77.7%.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi


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Zain Ghana running at a loss

Zain Ghana, part of the global mobile telephony providers owned by Kuwaiti mobile giant, Zain Group is said to be running at a loss.

Following talks between India’s Bharti to buy Zain Group’s Africa assets, Bharti lost $3.6 billion in market capitalization, a report on the website Livemint has said.

But following last Friday’s closing price the loss in market capitalization had narrowed to $1.3 billion.

One of the clarifications by the company was that the $1.7 billion debt component in Zain Africa’s enterprise value (EV) is inclusive of the share attributable to minority shareholders, the report indicated. Besides, Zain has recently started operations in Ghana, and being in a start-up mode, the operations are running losses even at the Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) level. Excluding Ghana, Zain Africa’s Ebitda margin improves to 33.3% from the reported level of 31.4%, it added.

In effect, Zain Ghana will have no significant importance to Bharti’s decision to buy Zain’s Africa operation.

Zain started operations in Ghana in December 2008 as the fifth mobile phone operator and currently has about 1.2 million subscribers out of the total subscriber list of over 15 million.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi


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About 800,000 children expected to be out of school in Ghana – Report

About 800,000 children are expected to be out of school with deprived districts retaining fewer children in classrooms, an Education Sector Performance Report for 2007 has revealed.

An estimated 20 per cent of these “out of school children” are between six and 11 years.

Most of the children are out of school because of the remoteness and inaccessible nature of such communities, unfavourable socio-economic and cultural factors.

In addition, economically challenged and seemingly intellectually weak pupils, with a poor parental background are sometimes not attracted to or retained in the formal school system.

The report said these children constituted “a critical mass, whose continues exclusion from the school system would make it difficult for government to achieve Education for All or Universal Primary Completion as stipulated in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).”

Mr. Alex Tettey-Enyo, Minister of Education, announced this in a speech read on his behalf at the launch of this year’s European Commission Drawing Competition for Children between eight and 10 years under the theme: “Gender Equality,” in Accra on Monday.

The occasion also coincided with the celebration of International Women’s Day which fell on March 8.
The competition which commenced in 2007 and celebrated annually was aimed at unearthing skills and talents in children in 58 countries across the globe.

The ultimate winner is expected to receive 1,000 Euros.

The report, the Minister said also recorded a National Enrolment Rate (NER) of 81.1 per cent primary and 52.4 per cent for Junior High School (JHS) in 2007.

He said deprived districts also registered 74.5 per cent of enrolment for primary and 41.6 per cent for JHS.

“Respective completion rates at national level for primary and JHS as reported in the Education Sector Performance Report (2007), stands at 85.4 per cent and 65.0 per cent.

Rates for deprived districts are 75.5 per cent for primary and 49.2 per cent for JHS,” he added.

The Minister of Education noted that even though the current structure and performance of the formal basic education system did not allow any alternative education programme for out of school children, there were opportunities to re-orient these children into formal education.

He said there had been much discussion and promotion of flexible school programmes to encourage them and lauded the role of non-state actors in providing informal education for them.

The Minster noted that government’s intention to address the problems of out of school children had been captured in the Education Sector Plan, an initiative that would produce a policy document which would translate intentions into actions.

Mr. Tettey-Enyo was optimistic that the policy when implemented would ensure equity in educational opportunities and reduce poverty as well as streetism.

On the competition, he was hopeful that the drawing would help shape policies and develop interventions to address challenging situations.

Touching on gender equality, the Minister noted that it was essential to growth and poverty reduction and key to reaching the MDG’s and appealed to all and sundry to facilitate chance for equality.

“We need to ensure that from childhood, children are provided with as many opportunities as possible to help them make informed choices, which would enable them maximise their potential and values in society,” he said.

Mrs. Juliana Azumah-Mensah, Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC), in a speech read for her, charged all stakeholders to identify and reflect on the relevant issues affecting gender equality and address them with seriousness in the interest of global development.

Mr. Claude Maerten, Head of Delegation of the European Union to Ghana who launched the competition, pledged the union’s continued commitment and support towards gender equity.

Ms. Evelyn Aseidu Agyemfra, Director in-charge of Finance and Administration, MOWAC, noted that the competition would help initiate and sustain the necessary changes in gender relations.

Eligible competitors are to submit their work by posting or submitting them to offices of the European Commission by April 27, 2010.

Source: GNA


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Ghana customs urged to auction contents of over-stayed containers

Mr Cletus Kuzagbe, President of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) – Ghana, has appealed to the Customs Exercise and Preventive Service (CEPS) to auction the contents of containers that had stayed in the Ports for far too long.

He said the move would not only generate revenue for government but also ensure that shipping lines received back the emptied containers which some had been at the Ports for many years, while enough space were created for cargoes.

Mr Kuzagbe made the appeal during the induction into office of members of the interim executive committee of the Tema branch of the CILT in Tema.

The six-member committee, which has a six-month mandate, has Mr Sam Adjei Kumi, Manager of the Golden Jubilee Terminal, as Chairman, with Naa-Densua Aryeetey, Manager of the Tema branch of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority as his Vice.

The other members are: Mr Lackson Legah, Secretary; Mrs Berlinda Kuzagbe, Treasurer, Mr Simeon Gyewu, Education/Training Officer and Mr Ephraim Asare, Organizer.

He pointed out that by law most of these longstanding containers at the Ports had become government property.

He said it was for this reason, therefore, that revenue and security agencies had to team up and gazette promptly the contents of the containers, and auction them to companies and the public.

“We are sitting on gold,” the CILT-Ghana President declared.

Mr Kuzagbe appealed to the Ministry of Roads and Highways to consider the construction of a flyover at the Tema end of the Motorway to ease traffic congestion at the Motorway Roundabout.

He noted that the cost of delays at the Motorway Roundabout due to congestion on daily basis was enormous and suggested that the bypass road linking Kpone Junction to Ashaiman roundabout should be upgraded and asphalted to divert traffic from Aflao to Ashaiman, Afienya and beyond.

He further suggested to the Tema Metropolitan Assembly to consider re-locating the lorry station along the dual carriageway to the port since it was causing nuisance to motorists.

On the achievements of CILT, the President stated that the Institute had made significant contributions towards raising the standard of logistics and transport management in the country.

“Many of our members can be found in public and private service.”

Mr Kuzagbe urged members of the interim executive committee to rejuvenate the branch, and have it operated more effectively, since they had accepted the challenge to work to move the branch forward.

While pledging to uphold, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of CILT at all times, the executive members promised to live above reproach.

Mr Emmanuel Martey, Deputy Chief Executive of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA), who chaired the function, said the relationship between GSA and CILT had been genial and hoped the authorities of the two companies would take it to greater heights for their mutual benefits.

He commended the vision, foresight and tenacity of the previous executives of the Institute in upholding the ideals by promoting professionalism in the logistics and transport industry in the country.

Mr Martey observed that the broad span of activities involved in logistics and transport, needed to be supported by all and sundry, not excluding the GSA.

The Deputy Chief Executive urged CILT to collaborate with relevant government agencies and other industry stakeholders, to help fashion out appropriate policy on matters affecting transport and logistics.

He urged CILT to step up its membership drive to promote its ideals to many industry players.

Source: GNA


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Government asked to increase taxes on alcohol

Sheikh Dr Amin Bonsu, Chief Executive Officer of Amen Scientific Herbal Hospital, has called on the government to increase taxes on alcoholic beverages and tobacco products in the country.

He said the move would deter the youth from smoking and drinking and rather adopt healthy lifestyles and also contribute to national development.

Sheikh Bonsu who is also the Deputy Imam and the Acting Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Ghana Muslim Mission made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Friday.

He said excessive drink affects the nervous system and depression whilst tobacco also causes a lot of medical harm that could cause death.

He appealed to the Ghana Private Road Transport Union to ban the sale of alcoholic beverages at lorry stations.

Sheikh Bonsu also asked the National Road Safety Commission to educate drivers on road signs to avoid motor accidents.

Source: GNA


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