Ashanti Today

Some aggrieved customers of the First Allied Savings and Loans limited, a non-bank financial institution, have called on government to intervene for the company to release to them their monies saved with the company for years. The highly agitated customers have blamed the Bank of Ghana which is the licensing and supervisory authority of banks and financial institutions for the economic predicaments they are going through.    At a media briefing in Kumasi today, Tue Sept 25 , the customers numbering more than one hundred, served notice to petition President Akufo-Addo, Head of government’s Economic Management Team, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the Finance Minister and the Asantehene about the failure of the First Allied Savings and Loans Company to give back to them, their monies.  One of the organizers of the Media encounter, Justice Acheampong Mensah, who claims to be an importer, said he has about 58 thousand Ghana Cedis of his money locked up with the financial inst...

  Government has again disbursed start-up capital ranging from 10 thousand to 100 thousand Ghana Cedis to a total of one thousand, 350 Ghanaian businesses. The beneficiaries were chosen from seven thousand applicants through the private incubation hubs across the country.  The Chief Executive of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan, NEIP, John Kumah, made this known at Asante Mampong at the launch of the District Business Council concept. At the launch was also the outdooring of the Councilors for Asante Mampong and Ejura in the Ashanti region as well as Techiman in the Brong Ahafo region.  The District Business Council is an initiative of the Private Enterprises Federation to among other objectives, lobby for reforms on socio-economic issues within the respective administrative localities and provide linkages for communication and information sharing and advocacy among trade and business associations as well as individuals businesses.  Mr....

  A 24-year old senior high graduate, Comfort Acquah, is appealing to philanthropic Legal practitioners to institute a legal action against the First Allied Savings and Loans Limited, a private non-bank financial institution, for causing her to lose her admission to pursue a career in Health Assistantship.  In an interview with Ashanti Today , Miss Acquah noted that upon completion of senior high school education in 2014, she joined her aunt in Kumasi during which period she has had to sell wares to raise income, part of which she has been saving with the Asafo branch of the First Allied Savings and Loans financial services towards her tertiary education.  The itinerant cosmetic seller whose parents are subsistence farmers in the Western region, said she has been able to save 'two thousand 300 Ghana Cedis from her daily sales.'  Miss Acquah said 'a friend recommended First Allied' to her for her personal savings which she readily accepted. She lamented howe...

Contractors executing Construction on the Sofoline Interchange in Kumasi have moved back to site to clear a portion of the road of the danger being posed by a serious defect at Kwadaso to motorists and pedestrians. Officials from the National Disaster Management Organization are also keeping a close eye on the situation to ensure no life is threatened.  The portion of road very close to the Kwadaso Underpass near the Onion Market is precisely where the major defect has been identified. The problem was detected Tuesday evening following a downpour.  A visit to the scene by the Ashanti Today revealed that the contractors could not provide support for the concrete wall or slabs while there was no drainage system to direct water run-off. Therefore, anytime it rains, the rain water tries to find its own course leading to heavy siltation of a chamber behind    the concrete slabs thereby exerting excessive pressure causing the concrete works to eventually give in....

  The National Variety Release and Registration Committee has approved the release of four new improved varieties of Sweet Potato developed by Research Scientists at the Crops Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.  The Committee is however to give a final and definite approval for one of the varieties named after the late former Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan within the next two months as a recognition and appreciation to the contribution of Mr. Kofi Annan who until his demise, was a strong advocate for the production and consumption of sweet potato towards hunger reduction in Africa.  The National Variety Release and Registration Committee, Chaired by the Director of the Crops Services Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Seth Osei Akoto, made the determination at Fumesua today , after a thorough evaluation of some proposed new sweet potato varieties researched into by a team of CRI Resear...

The Chief of Staff of the Panel of Eminent African Personalities Chaired by the late Kofi Annan to resolve Kenya’s post-election conflict, Nana Effah Apenteng, has described the late former Secretary General of the United Nations as a stubborn optimist who hardly gave up on issues even when he was under threat and stress.  To Nana Effah Apenteng, who is also the Paramount Chief of Bompata in the Ashanti region, Kenyans owe the late Kofi Annan a great deal of gratitude for the prevailing peace and stability for helping to develop what he called a progressive Constitution for that country.  Speaking to Ashanti Today at his private residence at Bompata in the Asante Akyem South Municipality, Nana Effah Apenteng, who also served as Ghana’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations office in New York from the year 2000 to 2007, noted that, through the determination and commitment of the Kofi Annan, the Panel of African Eminent Personalities helped to develop susta...

The Ministry of Health is to set up an Intelligence Unit to monitor and report on the behaviour and attitudes of workers at the various public healthcare facilities across the country. The Minister for Health, Kwaku Agyemang Manu, who announced this, explained further, that the initiative aims to bring under the microscope for the appropriate measures against bad working attitude of the health staff especially nurses and midwifes in attending to patients and clients at their facilities.  'I will get young people to be trained by the National Security, but they are not BNI... and i believe that will bring some sanity in the system, the Minister hinted. Mr. Agyeman Manu was addressing staff of the Nursing and Midwifery Council at this year’s Mid-Year Performance Review Session at Nsuta in the Sekyere Central district of the Ashanti region. The three-day event was a platform for the management and staff of the Council to evaluate their performance in relation to their set target...

Six persons including a woman, Mrs. Bernice Wireko, have drowned in River Ankonim at Adagya in the Bosomtwe district of the Ashanti region. The deceased were all in a Hyundai Avante salon car when the vehicle was swept away by the river which had burst its bank following few hours of a downpour. Local divers helped to retrieve bodies of five of the occupants at about 2 am today while the remaining person, George Oppong Wireko, said to be in his early 50s,  was found at exactly eight this morning after frantic search by the local divers. All the deceased have been confirmed to be members of the Adagya Congregation of the Jehova’s Witnesses. They got drowned about 50 metres away from the site where the Congregation is constructing their Kingdom Hall after the day’s work.  The victims are George Oppong Wireko, Mrs. Bernice Wireko and Offei Wireko. The rest are Justice Owusu Ansah, Christopher Asare and Akwasi Baah. An eye witness, Scientific Osei Yaw, told Ashanti Toda...

The Kumasi High Court has officially handed over a large quantity of weapons to the Ministry for the Interior for distribution among some of the state security agencies in crime combat. This follow the finality to a trial of some persons including a 72-year old Burkinabe, Omar Sata, for unlawful possession of the weapons.  The trial, which began in 2016 lasted three years, after three accused persons were convicted and sentenced last June for the charges preferred against them. The Court, Presided over by Justice Obiri Yeboah, as part of his ruling on the case, ordered that all the confiscated arms and ammunitions be handed over to the Interior Ministry.  The Police in Ashanti, in December 2015 acting upon a tip-off, arrested the Burkinabe and three others at Akwatialine in Kumasi where a large quantity of weapons said to be the largest in the history of the Police Service in the region were retrieved.  During investigations and prosecution, Omar Sata admitt...

Delegates at the Ashanti regional Conference of the opposition National Democratic Congress, NDC, opted for a blend of old and new Executives to manage the party in the next four years.  At the end of the hotly contested Regional Chairmanship challenge, the immediate past Vice Chairman, Andrew Nana Kwasi was promoted to become the new Regional Chairman. Out of the one thousand, 338 delegates, 669 voted for Nana Kwasi with 611 others voting for Joseph Yamin, a former Regional Secretary who also once served as a Deputy Youth and Sports Minister.  With his election, Nana Kwasi replaces Yaw Owusu Obimpeh who stepped down as the Regional Chairman after two terms. The other two candidates in the Chairmanship race, .T. K. Braimah, and Kayad Adu Gyamfi could only manage 18 and eight votes respectively.  The other keen race for the Regional Secretaryship, the former Deputy Secretary and a Senior Lecturer at the Kumasi Technical University, Kwame Zu polled 757 of the ...

The General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress, NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has cautioned members, particularly leaders of the party against antagonism and bickering amongst themselves, especially in the Ashanti region.  According to him, one other dangerous tendency that should be avoided at any cost must be discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, tribalism or physical or personal deformities since such attitudes put asunder rather than unite people for which the party could be the ultimate loser, should such attitudes be encouraged within the rank and file.  The General Secretary gave the warning when he addressed participants at the just-ended Ashanti Regional Delegates Conference of the party during which a new batch of Executives were chosen to run the party in the next four years. Mr. Asiedu Nketiah noted that, research has proven that the world over, people who believe to be in the minority and discriminated usually are more receptive ...