Ashanti Today

About six thousand, 455 persons registered in the Ashanti region in the just ended three day-continuous registration exercise conducted by the Electoral Commission.  Three hundred and 28 of the registrants have been challenged as not being qualified to enter their personal details on Ghana’s electoral roll.  A Deputy Ashanti Regional Director of the EC, Lawrence Sarpong, who released the statistics to Ashanti Today in Kumasi, explained that the challengers are querying the citizenship, residential status and age qualifications of the affected registrants.  The continuous registration exercise was rolled over to last Sunday in parts of the region following the inability of the registration officials to complete the electronic data capturing after taking the personal details on the hardcopy Forms last Saturday.  Mr. Sarpong said the Obuasi Municipality registered the highest number of new voters with 446 with only one challenged case while the Bosome Freho district had the leas

Reverend Professor Cephas Narh Omanye has been elected as the next Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.  This was at the 16 th General Assembly of the Church held at Abetifi in the Kwahu East district of the Eastern region which ended yesterday.  Reverend Prof. Omanye succeeds the incumbent Moderator, Right Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Martey whose tenure ends in November this year.  The incoming Moderator, Rev. Prof. Omanye is currently the Provost of the College of Education of the University of Ghana`, Legon, and also the Minister in charge of the Grace Congregation of the Presby Church at Haatso.  Born about 57 years ago, Rev. Prof. Omanye is a Professor in Religion with vast experience in teaching and research. He was commissioned into the Presbyterian Church ministry in 1985 and ordained two years later.  In the election involving 250 commissioners of the church, Reverend Prof. Omanye polled 116 votes while Prof. Joy Mantey had 60.  The other contes

The Presbyterian Church of Ghana is expected to elect a new Moderator by Thursday morning to replace Right Reverend Professor Emmanuel Martey who has completed his five-year term.      Right Rev. Prof. Martey was elected at the General Assembly of the Church in 2011 as a replacement for Very Rev. Dr. Yaw Frimpong Manso.  The actual election is scheduled for the night of Wednesday, the 24 th of this month at the ongoing 10 th General Assembly Meeting of the Church at Abetifi in the Kwahu East district of Eastern region.     Two hundred and 50 commissioners from all the 21 Presbyteries of the church from across the country will be voting to elect the new Moderator.  A source close to the church told Ashanti Today that for a member to qualify for consideration for the topmost position of the Church, he or she must have served as a Minister for 15 years of good standing whose age should permit him or her to serve for at least, five years before attaining the compuls

The Deputy Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Mrs. Della Sowah has inaugurated the Regional, District and Community Social Protection Committees at Apagya in the Afigya Kwabre district of Ashanti.  According to the Deputy Minister, the inauguration is necessary to make social protection become very efficient and effective in delivering services to those who are in need.  Among the functions of the committees is the undertaking of community sensitization on social protection as well as assisting enumerators in household identification and data collection. Correspondent Akosua Frema Frempong’s report is read to you.   At the inaugural ceremony, it came to light that among the 54 communities in the Afigya-Kwabre district, only six have being enrolled onto the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty, LEAP Programme.  The communities are Amponsakrom, Abidjan, Banko, Patase, Besease and Ejuratia-Mimi. Also in the Ashanti region, only two districts benefited

The Minister for Trade and Industry, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah has assured small and medium enterprises of government’s commitment to create the right platform to bolster their growth and support for the national economy.  He said government has put in place several strategies in a bid to push vigorously its agenda of getting people to accept to grow and consume locally made products.  Dr. Spio-Garbrah was speaking at a stakeholders’ forum in Kumasi for micro, small and medium enterprises in the Ashanti region, organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.  Dr. Spio-Garbrah said his Ministry is encouraging effective collaboration among its agencies to provide affordable credit to the small and medium enterprises sector.  He announced that the National Board for Small Scale Industries, NBSSI is providing trading and other business development services such as managerial, financial and marketing skills to enhance the operational competence of SMEs.

A National Automotive Policy that will fast-track the growth and development of Ghana’s automotive industry, create jobs and generate wealth for the country is being developed by the Ministry of Trade and Industry.   As part of the process, a broad range of stakeholders are being consulted to gather insights and best practices from the private sector, civil society and government agencies.  The goal of the policy is to improve the long-term viability and competitiveness of Ghana’s automotive market.    The Minister for Trade and Industry, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah stated this when he interacted with members of the Ghana National Association of Garages in Kumasi, as part of his three day duty tour of the Ashanti Region.  He said the National Automotive Policy would be expected to provide significant contribution to the overall growth of the automotive industry and the national economy.  Dr. Spio-Garbrah said his Ministry is committed to ensuring the total transfor