The full squad:

Goalkeepers: Anthony Lopes (Lyon), Beto (Sevilla), Eduardo (Braga), Rui Patricio (Sporting Lisbon)

Defenders: Andre Almeida (Benfica), Antunes (Malaga), Bruno Alves (Fenerbahce), Fabio Coentrao (Real Madrid), Joao Pereira (Valencia), Neto (Zenit St Petersburg), Pepe (Real Madrid), Ricardo Costa (Valencia), Rolando (Inter)

Midfielders: Andre Gomes (Benfica), Joao Mario (Vitoria), Joao Moutinho (Monaco), Miguel Veloso (Dynamo Kiev), Raul Meireles (Fenerbahce), Ruben Amorim (Benfica), William Carvalho (Sporting Lisbon)

Attackers: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Eder (Braga), Helder Postiga (Lazio), Hugo Almeida (Besiktas), Ivan Cavaleiro (Benfica), Nani (Manchester United), Rafa (Braga), Quaresma (Porto), Varela (Porto), Vieirinha (Wolfsburg).

Portugal have been drawn into a daunting group alongside Germany, the USA and Ghana and kick off their campaign against Joachim Low's side against June 16.

Jose Pekerman has named Radamel Falcao in his provisional Colombia squad for the upcoming World Cup in Brazil.

The Monaco star has been a doubt for the tournament since suffering cruciate knee ligament damage during a Coupe de France tie in January. 

However, the former Atletico Madrid man said last month he was "satisfied" with his recovery and Pekerman has opted to name the talismanic striker in his initial 29-man squad. 

Falcao scored nine goals in 13 appearances during qualifying and forms part of an impressive line-up that also includes Jackson Martinez and Borussia Dortmund-bound Adrian Ramos. 

There is also a place for highly-rated River Plate defender Eder Alvarez Balanta, with Fiorentina winger Juan Cuadrado, Inter's Fredy Guarin and Monaco's James Rodriguez among the options in midfield. 

Colombia begin their World Cup campaign against Greece in Group C on June 14. 

Squad in full: 
Goalkeepers: Faryd Mondragon (Deportivo Cali), David Ospina (Nice), Camilo Vargas (Independiente Santa Fe)

Defenders: Santiago Arias (PSV), Pablo Armero (Napoli), Eder Alvarez Balanta (River Plate), Aquivaldo Mosquera (America), Luis Perea (Cruz Azul), Carlos Valdes (San Lorenzo), Mario Yepes (Atalanta), Cristian Zapata (Milan), Camilo Zuniga (Napoli)

Midfielders: Abel Aguilar (Toulouse), Juan Cuadrado (Fiorentina), Fredy Guarin (Inter), Victor Ibarbo (Cagliari), Alex Mejia (Atletico Nacional), Juan Fernando Quintero (Porto), Aldo Ramirez (Morelia), James Rodriguez (Monaco), Carlos Sanchez Moreno (Elche), Elkin Soto (Mainz), Macnelly Torres (Al Shabab), Edwin Valencia (Fluminense)

Forwards: Carlos Bacca (Sevilla), Radamel Falcao (Monaco), Teofilo Gutierrez (River), Jackson Martinez (Porto), Luis Muriel (Udinese), Adrian Ramos (Hertha Berlin)

Credit: Goal.com

Banku weighed 218 pounds, exceeding the upper limit of 200 pounds for the cruiserweight division. Ayittey Powers, on the other hand, weighed 200 pounds, Liquidsportsghana.com reported Wednesday.

According to the report, this is the first time Banku has checked in overweight for a boxing bout and the bout promoters must now agree to fight in the catch weight division or force Banku to shed the excess 18 pounds.

A catch weight contest allows pro boxers to fight above their weight class as it is considered as a nonstandard weight limit, the report said. 

The bout has already be postponed on two occasions and the latest news is bound to raise more eyebrows.

The actor said he began his career as a model, but was unable to satisfy some of his needs  at that time, and as such, had to think of another means of survival.

According to a report by Nigeriafilms.com, Chidi noted that at the time he joined Nollywood, there was no money, adding that modelling was better off.

The actor said there was war between he and his parents over his chosen profession, adding that it took the intervention of some family friends before they got to appreciate his efforts.

He further disclosed that his father had to always lock the television and go out with the key so that none of them could have access to the TV.

Chidi said his family was more interested in education and had to keep a close watch on him, but they never knew what he was up to. “So, now that I am doing well, I have forgiven them,” he said.

Credit: Nigeriafilms.com

Facilitated by Penplusbytes, otherwise called the International Institute for Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) Journalism, and supported by STAR-Ghana, the orientation formed part of the implementation process of the novel project, “Providing Effective Feedback for Parliamentary Work through new digital technologies” designed to enhance parliament’s oversight role of holding government to account through evidence based information.

The project incorporates feedback provided by citizens using technology platforms on selected assurances and promises made by government, and will be launched by the Speaker of Parliament on May, 15, 2014 in Takoradi.

The programme which took place at Dodowa in the Greater Accra region, had members of the GAC taken through the latest addition to the multiplicity of the cutting edge technological tools and equipment including mobile applications and SMS that enhance citizens’ engagement.

GAC Members were shown how online platforms could collate and aggregate citizens’ feedback on specific stages of implementation of government promises and assurances especially in the health and education sectors in various parts of the country.

“The broad aim of this project is to ensure a lasting participatory democracy by continually empowering the public through new media tools and technology to access relevant information concerning government activities, deepen awareness on government assurances, easily engage with political actors and also make meaningful inputs into the political system,” Kwami Ahiabenu II, President of Penplusbytes said.

The 14-month long project which began in November 2013, is intended to provide easy and accessible information on government assurances, create citizen awareness on selected government assurances through forums, public sittings and media engagement as well as provide a platform for citizen based advocacy on service delivery projects to ensure government delivers on its mandate for the benefit of citizens and Ghana as a whole.

The song literally means we shall not listen to anyone or we shall not mind anyone.

Mr. Asiedu Nketiah told Asempa FM on its Ekosii Sen programme that the occasion was politically indefensible to play such a song, particularly looking at the environment. Besides communication cannot be only verbal, but even dressing portrays character and intent. It was also wrong particularly as it relates to President Mahama, whom he called a listening president.

But he has a major beef with the song being used for political campaigns , and also with members of the New Patriotic Party who he said were criticizing the president for allowing the song to be played while he was engaged in national duties.

According to Asiedu Nketiah, the song’s political incorrectness stems from the fact that in a democracy, it is unacceptable to claim you will not mind anybody. That does not bode well for consensus building. But for NPP members, he reminds them that they played the same song during their national delegates conference held in Tamale but for which they now want to condemn the president for. 

He quipped if the song has suddenly become bad because it was played in Kumasi, when it was good for them when it was played in Tamale.

But the misgivings aside, Asiedu Nketiah said he was happy the NPP had indicated “YƐntie Obiaa” would be their campaign song for election 2016. Should that happen, all he would require is one press conference to torpedo the party’s campaign, for it presents him a strong campaign weapon. Listen to Asiedu Nketiah in the audio below

{mp3}asiedu_nketiah-yentie-obiaa_no_good{/mp3}

Rather strange to relate, the beaches, which continue to attract the headlines for having been turned into refuse dumps and privy, are now also death traps.

Beach parties by holidaymakers continue to be nightmares for Ghanaians to the extent that deaths and other distressing headlines have heralded such beach activities in recent memories. 

“Ten drown in Accra”—Daily Graphic April 7, 1999. 

“Seven bodies washed ashore after beach jam” Daily Graphic September 25, 2009.

“Two drown at Esiama during beach get-together” Daily Graphic, October 29, 2013

“Nine bodies washed ashore-Believed to be Easter revellers at beaches near Accra” Daily Graphic, April 24, 2014

These are heartbreaking headlines and the accompanying stories and pictures are so gory and saddening that many homes are thrown into mourning and wailing. These are indeed avoidable fatalities and they are acts of commissions and omissions which, as a nation, we should take collective responsibility for. 

While these reports continue to dominate both the electronic and the print media, there has not been any official statement on the incidents expressing sympathy or condolence to the bereaved families. This is not applicable to only the latest incidents as similar occurrences in the past never elicited any sympathy not even from the Ministry of Tourism. The question that arises is: Are we not heartless to the extent that human deaths are recorded under such circumstances without anybody caring a hoot?

No wonder, this is fast becoming a ritual with virtually all holidays as if we are all satisfied with it as a people and as a nation. This is pitiful!

Let’s zoom this into our coast and it is mind boggling. Ghana, with a coastline measuring 539 km, has around the same or a longer coastline than many countries that are making it big in tourism. 

Pollution

At times, one wonders whether God made a mistake in putting us here. While others are taking advantage of such resources to create employment, we are busily polluting the coastlines with faeces and rubbish. 

Which tourist or visitor to the country’s beaches will go and come back with the experience of witnessing human excreta being dumped in the sea and sea waves sweeping holidaymakers away? Don’t these beaches have life guards? Who ensures that they have them? 

Is it not a pitiful sight having visitors, tourists, as well as residents being eyewitness to some of our compatriots openly defecating along our beaches in broad daylight with careless abandon? In a place as La, this despicable behaviour is being exhibited close to four or five star hotels being occupied by guests! Yes, unbelievable!

Then we the same people turn round and bemoan our inability to diversify our sources of generating foreign exchange for national development when we have these beaches to develop to promote tourism. 

Perhaps, we need to remind ourselves of what Winston Churchill once said to enable us to rethink as a nation and people desirous of refocusing and redefining our developmental strategies and goals. 

“The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.” That’s Churchill. It is sad and indeed disheartening that as a nation, we appear incapable and unable to even assist certain individuals or ordinary citizens who, on their own initiative, try to earn some income by organising beach events during holidays and weekends.

Recreation

Otherwise, why do we allow these events to be characterised by such acts of lawlessness? This also brings to mind the way we organise recreation as a whole: Common street jams on major roads create unending traffic with thugs openly attacking people with knives and robbing them of their valuables.

One area I can cite is the Sakumono-Tema portion of the main Accra-Tema beach road. Are officials of the Tema Metropolitan, La-Dadekotopon, as well as the Accra Metropolitan assemblies saying that they are unaware of what happens during holidays at Sakumono and La Pleasure Beach Hotel areas? What about the police? 

Are we saying we are comfortable with the way  the holidaymakers take over the busy major road from Accra to Tema on these two portions of that busy road? 

My personal experience recently when I was travelling from Community Three, Tema to Sakumono Estates, was as nauseating as it was irritating and indeed smacks of sheer lack of negligence of duty on the part of the police.  

It took me nearly two hours to traverse that short distance of less than two kilometres.

Narrating his own experience, a church member in his late 50s recounted how his mobile phone was forcibly taken away from him while sitting in a minibus that was held up in the traffic during one of such holidays. 

“I was speaking by phone when suddenly somebody wielding a knife slashed my hand and like a Hollywood movie style I suddenly realised that my phone was gone with blood oozing from my hand.”

In an interview with some of the individuals who try to make a living from the beach activities by selling drinks and preparing meat and other consumables, they made it clear that police presence, apart from being inadequate during the day time, is conspicuously missing after 6pm.

“And when darkness dawns, it becomes as lawless as if we are in a jungle and people are attacked left, right, centre, including those of us who sell there. My brothers, it becomes scary and indeed bloody. I am not joking,” one of them recounted in tears.

Lawlessness

These acts of thuggery and lawlessness which continue to deprive holidaymakers of the essence of going to our beaches to free their minds of the boredom to enable them to restrategise for their respective routine official undertakings, are not reported in the media.                                                                    

Instead, what we only read about are the fatalities resulting from drowning.

Recreation is very critical and important and it is good that by that we are promoting domestic tourism. But our lukewarm approach coupled with the disinterest shown by officialdom – the Ministry of Tourism, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies – at a time that we are facing a foreign exchange crunch as a nation, is what beats my imagination. Today, our beaches are fast becoming drought-hit, barren, as if we are bereft of ideas.

What has happened to the Ghana Tourist Board’s sponsored “Meet me There” events that not only defined and generated interest in holiday activities but added value to our domestic tourism promotions in the past?

What about the rate at which minors openly take to hard liquor and excessive smoking openly at the beaches during these unregulated beach activities?

Are we saying that these beach events cannot be better organised and well supervised with our security agencies in absolute control?

The greeny coconut-trees, that dominated the coastline of Ghana that characterised the vegetative cover of our beaches are no more.  This makes this writer weep for the country, having been an eyewitness to banana-tree laden beaches of Israel and the extent of commercialisation of all the Biblical places of importance in that country to generate foreign exchange for national development.

In Israel, the Mediterranean Sea has been pushed backwards and every available land close to the coastline cultivated with banana which is harvested and exported to the European Union and other markets abroad.

Tel Aviv example

In Tel Aviv, the beaches are pleasant and delightful, providing an atmosphere for serene weekend and holiday relaxation. As for the Biblical places of importance, such as the Church of Annunciation in Nazareth, Jericho, Bethlehem, Sea of Galilee to mention but a few, Israel is indeed a role model of how to generate income from such resources.

The revenue generated annually from tourism is unimaginable, yet this is a country which is at war with its neighbours with security on the alert. 

 It appears we are getting our priorities wrong as a nation, otherwise what are we doing to exploit all the available natural resources to our advantage as a nation?

Is it not a shame that Lake Bosomtwe, a great national asset for tourism promotion, lies deserted and underutilised? Donald Ato Dapatem of the Daily Graphic in a recent feature article wrote: “Due to the depraved human activity, the lake, which has, for the past 300 years, supported the people in the 30 communities around either as a source of their livelihood or as a place of recreation is under grave threat. 

Hear him: “Rubbish and other waste that wash into the water tend to increase its turbidity.” Shameful indeed! What are the four district assemblies bordering the lake as well as Ministry of Tourism doing about this? 

What about the Centre for National Culture in the Ashanti Region as well as the Ghana Tourist Board? 

Time was when Lake Bosomtwe served as a centre of attraction and indeed a must-go entertainment centre during holidays and weekends. 

Are the assemblies telling Ghanaians that they cannot take advantage of the lake’s rich potential to improve on their internally generated revenue?

Assets  

I hope somebody is listening and will act on issues raised to halt the fatalities at our beaches and help transform all these rich resources into assets and not liabilities. 

While admitting that there is no perfect human institution anywhere, it must be said that we all can stumble many times but it must be noted that there is nothing shameful about making amends when our shortcomings are brought to our knowledge. 

We definitely must grow as a nation and need to remind ourselves and also reflect on Churchill’s admonition: “The empires of the future are the empires of the mind”. 

God put us in this country for a purpose. At least for once, let this nation be serious.

Writer’s email: albert.sam@graphic.com.gh 

The South Sudanese authorities intercepted arms, ammunition and other items in a container which was mistakenly labelled as construction materials by the United Nations (UN).

The four-member delegation, led by the Deputy Minister of Defence, Mr Ebenezer Okletey Teye Larbi, is tasked to hold meetings with the South Sudanese authorities and United Nations (UN) officials on the need to hand over the military equipment to the Ghanaian soldiers.

Other members of the delegation are the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Richard Opoku-Adusei, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Defence and Security, Mr Fritz Baffour, and the Forces Sergeant Major, Chief Warrant Officer Owusu Dickson.

Defence Minister

The Minister of Defence, Mr Mark Woyongo, who made this known to the Daily Graphic, indicated that the UN shipped the container from Cote d'Ivoire to South Sudan in February this year.

He said the container was meant to be delivered to the military base of the Ghanaian soldiers in South Sudan but it was intercepted by South Sudanese officials.

He said following discussions between President John Mahama and his South Sudanese counterpart, Salva Kiir,the South Sudanese authorities agreed to release the container.

However, after scanning the container, the South Sudanese authorities found that it contained military equipment and subsequently decided not to give it out again.

Intervention

The minister said following that decision, he called the South Sudanese Ambassador to Ghana last Thursday for a meeting on the issue.

He said it was the outcome of that meeting that a decision be taken to send the delegation to South Sudan to talk with the authorities there to seek the release of the equipment.

Safety of Ghanaian soldiers

There are currently 300 Ghanaian soldiers on a peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. The soldiers were earlier in Cote d’Ivoire before they were moved to South Sudan in February this year.

According to Mr Woyongo, Ghana would be sending an additional 550 soldiers to

South Sudan by the end of July this year to raise the number to 850 and form a battalion.

He said it was, therefore, important for the South Sudanese authorities to release the military equipment to the Ghanaian soldiers for them to protect themselves against attacks.

The minister said it was dangerous for the Ghanaian soldiers to carry out their peacekeeping operations without any equipment.

“We are concerned about the safety of our soldiers. We value their lives. We do not want them to be slaughtered.

We do not want to lose the lives of our soldiers. That is why we are sending the delegation,” he said.

Benfica, losers in their seven previous European finals, were seeking a first continental trophy since 1962.

And the Portuguese side might have ended that sequence had Lima's late effort not been hooked off the line.

It fell to Kevin Gameiro to score the winning spot-kick after Sevilla keeper Beto denied Oscar Cardozo and Rodrigo.

Carlos Bacca, Stephane Mbia, who is on loan from Queens Park Rangers, and Jorge Moreno were also on target for the Spanish club.

Brazilian Lima and Luisao did find the net for Benfica but Lisbon-born Beto denied the side from his home city with crucial saves to keep out Cardozo and Rodrigo.

Sevilla overcame fellow Spanish side Espanyol on penalties to win the 2007 final, 12 months after beating Middlesbrough for their first success in the competition, known then as the Uefa Cup.

But while Los Rojiblancos's 9,000 travelling fans celebrated another triumph in Europe's second-tier club competition, Benfica's long wait for success on the continent continues.

Despite recently sealing a 33rd domestic title, their attempt to rid themselves of the increasingly troublesome "Guttmann curse" goes on.

Benfica's Hungarian coach of the early 1960s Bela Guttmann led the club to back-to-back European Cups but left shortly after the second of those triumphs when he was refused a pay rise.

Before going he declared that Benfica would never win another European competition without him at the helm. Fifty-two years on, they have still to prove him wrong.

Jorge Jesus's side had beaten Tottenham and Juventus on their way to the final, and were chasing a unique domestic and European quadruple.

A largely uneventful opening half came to life shortly before the interval, Beto saving from Benfica's Spanish forward Rodrigo at his near post moments after denying Maxi Pereira.

Then the Lisbon club were denied a stoppage-time penalty, German referee Felix Brych waving away strong Portuguese appeals after a foul on Nicolas Gaitan.

There was more action in the first five minutes of the second half than the previous 45 as Benfica carried on from where they left off.

Nicolas Pareja hooked Lima's shot off the line before Rodrigo's goal-bound attempt was charged down.

Sevilla responded with a sweeping move of their own, Moreno picking out Jose Antonio Reyes, but the former Arsenal striker's first-time shot produced a fine save from Jan Oblak.

Six minutes from the end of normal time, Benfica's Lima thought he had won it with a curling shot which Beto somehow managed to claw away.

Chances were few and far between in extra time as the players tired and nerves increased, though Bacca went close when he raced through on goal, only to fire his effort wide.

But Sevilla's frustration did not last long, as they sent their fans into raptures with four well-taken penalties to extend Benfica's European misery.

Sevilla manager Unai Emery:

"At times the game was totally even, but by the end they were doing most of the pushing.

"You could tell our players were suffering from fatigue and physical discomfort but this team has learned how to suffer.

"We have learned how to stay strong and so we were ready for that."

Benfica coach Jorge Jesus:

"We were better but in football, the best team doesn't always win. We had the more chances over 120 minutes but we didn't take them."

Credit: BBC

Dutch national coach Van Gaal, 62, is set to be appointed as United boss and will speak to Giggs about a potential coaching position.

Welshman Giggs, 40, ended the campaign as United's interim manager following the dismissal of David Moyes in April.

Giggs had said he was unsure whether he would carry on playing next season.

Van Gaal is currently overseeing the Netherlands' World Cup preparations at their training camp in Hoenderloo with Wednesday a designated rest day for the squad.

Giggs and United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward will go to the Netherlands for the talks, with the club keen to end their search for a replacement for Moyes.

A number of the staff who worked under both Moyes and Giggs during his four-match spell in charge, including Phil Neville, Chris Woods, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt, are likely to leave the club.

United, who are due to release their third-quarter financial results on Thursday, finished seventh in the Premier League and will not be playing in European competition next season.

Credit: BBC

Wenger, 64, is out of contract this summer but has delayed signing a new deal despite last week hinting he will extend his 17-year stay .

Asked what bearing the Wembley final will have on his future, Wenger replied "none", insisting there had been "no change" to his contract situation.

Arsenal will end a nine-year wait for a trophy if they beat Hull at Wembley.

Since lifting the FA Cup with a penalty shoot-out victory over Manchester United in 2005, the Gunners have lost in the 2006 Champions League final to Barcelona and League Cup finals against Chelsea in 2007 and Birmingham City in 2011.

The lack of silverware has led to criticism of Wenger and raised doubts over his future, though club chief executive Ivan Gazidis said in January a contract extension would be announced "at the right time".

The Frenchman was consistently questioned on his future during the season and grew frustrated with reports he had signed a two-year deal on the eve of his side's Champions League tie against Bayern Munich.

After a fourth-placed Premier League finish - and Champions League qualification for a 17th consecutive year - Wenger said he would be manager next season.

Arsenal have beaten Hull twice this season, including a 3-0 success at the KC Stadium in April.

"I don't feel any danger of complacency," said Wenger, a four-time FA Cup winner. "We know the difficulty of the task.

"There is a huge desire for us to finish the job in the FA Cup. There is a pressure there, a big one, but a positive one and we want to take that opportunity.

"It's an opportunity for us to crown our season. There is always a huge expectancy. It brings pressure but we played many games in the season under that pressure and tension. That experience will help us in the final."

Wenger remained guarded on his team selection for the final but insisted he would have no problem in picking Bacary Sagna or Lukas Fabianski, two players who could leave when their contracts expire in the summer.

Credit: BBC

The cap, it said should be equal to revenues collected in the previous financial year as against the current phenomenon where government can borrow as much as it desires from the Central Bank.

The proposal was part of some 22 other proposals captured by participants of the National Economic Forum, which they described as the Senchi Consensus.

The forum opened on May 13 at Senchi, a suburb of Akosombo in the Eastern Region, and ended Thursday.

Reading the Senchi Consensus to the President and other participants, Mr Patrick Awuah of the Ashesi University said the forum, which was attended by some 144 people from academia, civil society, political parties and traditional leaders, among others, had also agreed that the Bank of Ghana take urgent steps to review the measures it initially issued in response to the fast depreciation of the local currency.

That review, it said should done immediately and must take into consideration the unintended consequences of the directives on the business community and the economy in general.

The forum, he said also proposed a review of the law establishing the bank to bring it in line with present day challenges.

A detailed version of the proposals, he said would be made available to the general public in the coming weeks.

We the participants further agreed on the following:

1.   That the Directive Principles of State Policy (Chapter 6 of the 1992 Constitution) must continue to guide the national development effort, anchored in a long term national development framework with a compelling vision.

2.   That long term national interest should supersede all other interests.

3.   That the State that encourages and promotes indigenous entrepreneurship and continues to execute projects and programmes commenced by the previous Government.

4.   Foster a state whose day-to-day management is supported by a professionally competent civil service working in an environment devoid of political victimization and intimidation and where support for the Government is not interpreted as political affiliation.

5.   It is imperative to strengthen the public accounts and finance committees of Parliament to play their oversight responsibilities more effectively; and also to develop a mechanism for effective synergy and coordination between the Monitoring Units of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and the Office of the President.

6.    That a mechanism to effectively monitor, evaluate and reform the use of statutory funds transferred to public sector institutions such as the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF), National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND) must be established.

7.   That government should establish a One-Stop-Shop for investments, electronic templates to simplify business processes, streamline the activities of the Ghana Export Promotion Council (GEPC), Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) and Free zones Board, and strengthen the capacity of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and other statistical reporting agencies to deliver reliable and timely economic and social statistics for planning, research and development.

8.   The Ministry of Finance should as a matter of urgency review the targets set in the 2014 budget. The review must identify likely deviations and make proposals for plugging the resultant financing gap while the Bank of Ghana traces the implications of the revisions for monetary policy.

9.   That a mechanism must established to realign the budget whenever the economy is affected by unanticipated shocks.

10.   Government must strengthen the regulatory authorities to protect consumers and ensure the enforcement of standards.

11.   Further steps must be taken to support Small-Medium Enterprises (SME) in order to protect jobs.

12. That further efforts must be made to improve the efficiency of tax collection as well as broaden the tax base and reduce recourse to the introduction of new taxes. The incidence of discretionary tax exemptions should be reviewed and reduced.

13.  Bank of Ghana should expedite work on the assessment of the recently announced foreign exchange measures and take speedy and appropriate action to restore confidence and relieve the unintended consequences of the measures.

14.  Consideration should be given to the amendment of the Bank of Ghana Act to set a ceiling on its lending to government that is based on government's revenue collection in the previous year, rather than the current year as is currently that case. This should be separated from the ceiling on total net domestic borrowing by government.

15.  An investment programme to deal with the energy crisis must be put in place as a matter of urgency in order to propel growth, employment, competitiveness, and macroeconomic stability.

16. That government must take steps to revamp the manufacturing and agriculture sectors to encourage domestic production of some agricultural products as well as import substitutable manufactured goods.

17.  Ghana needs accelerated implementation of the current plan to develop the interbank foreign exchange and money markets to ensure active primary and secondary trading.

18.  For the purposes of encouraging high national productivity, government, labour and the private sector must collaborate to institute a management and labour productivity crusade including the introduction of a Service Charter that ensures that productivity is matched with remuneration.

19.   Take steps to develop long term financing instruments to minimize reliance on short term financing.

20.  That a clear and simplified policy framework to help grow and migrate the informal sectors into the formal is urgently required. As such steps must be taken to simplify business registration process, non-mandatory SSNIT contribution up to a minimum number of employees by informal sector operators.

21.  We your fellow Ghanaians recognize that socio-economic development is a journey, not a destination. As such, efforts to build a national consensus and long-term plan must also take the mode of a journey. We therefore recommend that the National Economic Forum be institutionalized and that a committee be established to explore various options and model for undertaking this process of institutionalization.

22.  Government must take steps to galvanize consensus around other issues of national importance, especially with respect to political governance nation-building matters, and should initiate a process of involving citizens whose experience, insight and expertise will enhance economic policy management and national governance.

A full and detailed report of the proceedings will be made available within few weeks.

Listen to the audio

{mp3}dr_patrick_awuah_senchi_consensus{/mp3}

{gallery}NationalEconomicForum{/gallery}

He was closing the National Economic Forum at Akosombo, which rose with a 22-point Communique from three days of deliberating methods and approaches of managing the national economy.

The President who described the forum as the beginning of a new day for Ghana where all minds from varying backgrounds met to chart a common cause of shaping the nation.

He vowed no delays or distractions would stop the government from taking the next steps in implementing the recommendations of the forum for whose outcomes he expressed profound satisfaction.

He also thanked participants for their patriotism, having spared their time to respond to the national call.

Listen to President Mahama

{mp3}president_mahama_senchi_agreement_nef_closing{/mp3}

{gallery}NationalEconomicForum{/gallery}

The monitoring, it said, is to ensure that the policies proposed by the team of experts at the forum are fully implemented to the benefit of the private sector and the manufacturing public in particular.

The three-day event, which was opened on May 13 by President John Mahama, ended Thursday with a set of policy proposals that have been dubbed 'The Senchi Consensus.'

The proposals border on ensuring macroeconomic stability, creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive, growing the export base of the country as well as limiting government borrowing from the Bank of Ghana.

They were read by Mr Patrick Awauh, the Chief Rapporteur of the event and founder of the Ashesi University.

Speaking to Graphiconline at Senchi, a suburb of Akosombo in the Eastern Region where the forum was held, the President of the AGI, Mr James Asare-Adjei and the Chief Executive Officer, Mr Seth Twum-Akwaboah, said the Association was generally impressed with the various consensus reached at the event.

"The fact that it is a consensus means that we all should put our heads together to ensure that the policies that have been proposed are implemented so that the challenges facing the country can be resolved," Mr Asare-Adjei, who doubles as CEO of the Asadtek Group, said.

While describing the decision to establish a post-forum action plan to implement the policies captured at the forum as welcoming, the CEO said AGI as a private sector body would also monitor to ensure that what has been agreed upon is really carried through.

That, he said, stemmed from the desire of industry to see the various policies that government had spent resources and time to formulate, implemented.

A detailed version of the agreed consensus is expected in the coming weeks after which a team of experts would be constituted to start the implementation process.

The body of 30-year-old Walter Koblah Agortimevor, a drilling mud engineer was washed ashore at a high stage of decomposition.

He was part of an eight-member crew visiting a new rig which had arrived in the country to commence work for Lukoil.
 
Seven of the victims were immediately accounted for: the two pilots and a passenger were confirmed dead when the crash was discovered, while three others were rescued, treated and discharged while one is still on admission, with Agortimevor declared missing.
 
However in about 18:00hrs on Thursday, residents of Axim in the Nzema East Municipality of the region saw a lifeless body of a man in a live jacket washed ashore.
 
Residents and the police said even though they were aware of the incident they could not readily confirm that the body was that of missing person in the helicopter crash and would rather officials of Lukoil and family members identified the body.

Banku won the bout by unanimous decision - 117-109, 119-100, 120-108.

The bout began on a high tempo, with Banku and Powers expertly trading punches in the first two rounds.

However, Banku took control of the bout from the third round, pummelling Powers throughout the remaining nine rounds.

Powers' performance was so disappointing that fans took to social media to condemn him.

The hastag #BringBackPowers has been trending in this regard.

More to follow.

These booklets suddenly disappeared from our schools with the passage of time.Today, we can all attest to the moral decadence in our society.Many older people abhor the kind of behaviour our children exhibit in schools and at home. This may largely be attributed to adults since some adults seem to see nothing wrong with what children do in the homes and at school.  Most children also imitate what their parents, family members and or peers do.

When pupils do something wrong in school and teachers want to correct them by punishing them, parents will usually not take it kindly. This, coupled with other child and human rights laws, have put fear in most teachers.Teachers, therefore, only try to impart knowledge and ignore the behavioural aspect of pupils. 

About 20 to 30 years ago, younger people used to offer their seats to older people in buses and other public places.  This has, however, become a thing of the past.Older people are now seen daily standing in public buses and other public places, while children of even less than 10 years are seated comfortably and are not prompted by anything to offer their seats to these older people.Most parents these days seem to be so pre-occupied with their jobs that they have little or no time at all for the moral upbringing of their children; thus leaving them to do what they feel is right. 

All well meaning Ghanaians who have this dear country at heart should help instil good moral behaviour in our children and help do away with the rot that is prevalent in our society today.

I take this opportunity to appeal to the Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Education to enforce some of those rules and regulations that were used in the past to instil discipline in pupils and students in schools. The government’s support is essential in this regard to save our society from total decadence in the not too distant future. 

Kenneth Yenpariye, Regional Education Office, P. O. BOX 95, WA- UW/R

I am quite sure a lot of those who tuned in to that programme missed what, for me, was the clearest indication of what transpired the following week when the forum opened at Senchi on Tuesday.

The entire posture of Anthony Karbo made it clear that the NPP did not put much stock into the forum and had already decided to boycott it, even though at the time of the programme in the studio, the formal invitation was yet to be received at the NPP headquarters. Indeed, at the end of the programme, Karbo proffered to Kwadwo Twum-Boafo that the three or so Dr Bawumia lectures presented to the forum as the position of the NPP. 

The following Monday, that is, the beginning of this week, the pieces fell into place. The NPP held a press conference in the morning, and party Chairman Paul Afoko formally notified all of us that the party would not be taking part in the forum after all.

That afternoon, the same radio station got former Finance Minister Yaw Osafo Marfo for a lengthy interview on the forum, since he had been invited, and had at the time of the interview agreed to be present and chair one of the sessions. For me, what was critical in what the eloquent Osafo Marfo said was that he had been informed that a meeting of the functional executive of the party had taken place the previous Thursday and had taken a decision not to be part of the forum.

The former Finance Minister was clearly unhappy that the party had not deemed it fit, as a matter of common etiquette, to invite him for his views before taking the boycott decision, since they knew he had been invited to the NEF in his capacity as a former minister in charge of finance, as had others like him.

My purpose in giving this long account of events leading up to the boycott of the NEF by the NPP is simple; the facts do not support the purported reason given by national chairman Paul Afoko at the press conference last Monday.  Mr Afoko had cited the principal and main reason for the boycott as the lateness of the invitation to the forum. The party had only one working day interval between the receipt of the invitation and the beginning of the forum at Senchi.

The narrative above shows clearly that the decision to boycott was taken before the invitation came in, and, therefore, could not have been dependent on the late arrival of the letter. Even if  it was taken on that basis, a party which claims to be the biggest political party in this country could readily have asked for a few days postponement to enable it to prepare adequately for this important national exercise. 

Asking for a postponement in the current circumstances would also have stamped the party as a group unprepared for power but with a careless penchant for making unsubstantiated statements on the economy? That risk, for true patriots, would have been worth taking in the supreme interest of Ghana.

In essence, the NPP knew of the forum in good time, its content and purpose and the people and institutions likely to be part of it, but chose to boycott it, using the late invitation as a smokescreen.

Other minor reasons put forward by the NPP chair had been the irrelevance of the forum because government had already decided on matters in advance.

Not a single one of these remaining reasons is tenable.  National budgets are routinely presented to our Parliament annually by the ruling party, seemingly set in concrete, but subsequent discussions and fierce debates always end in useful amendments and emendations before the appropriations are approved. Whenever in our history of engagement with international financial institutions have our local views not counted or even been canvassed?

It is simply unbelievable that Paul Afoko, who suffered the most extreme negative publicity before his election as party chair just a month ago, would use the hurling of insults, scorn and contempt from some members of government on suggestions from the NPP to support the decision to boycott the forum.  It is unfair to Ghanaians for public-spirited persons to use negative reactions against them to abandon their desire to help solve our problems. Harsh treatment of our politicians has been normal in our politics since 1957, and will never cease. It is just a variant of our free speech rights.

The most ridiculous of the reasons proffered in the media, but not canvassed in the Afoko statement, was that specific NPP gurus had not been invited, for example, Dr Bawumia. The party unwittingly revealed its biggest albatross by having some of its media spokesmen cite this as another cause for boycott. 

The reliance on the esteemed economist and banker who is arguably the fresh and burnished face of the NPP at such a forum may have consequences that would have been unpalatable for current leading lights of the party. Nothing stopped the party from accepting to participate and having Dr Bawumia lead the charge, as he had done in the election petition case and on other platforms.

For the NPP, the old, boring, arid and unproductive narrative of boycotts continues.  It is players on the field of the game who change the rules, not scornful observers.

The Police gave the names of the men as Michael Addo, aka Red, and a galamsey operator based in Obuasi, Osofo.  

The excavator, which was stolen from Kezy-Bans Logistics, a company on the Spintex road, Accra, was retrieved from a pit at a mining site at Ampunyase near Obuasi in the Ashanti Region.

How excavator  disappeared 

The Nungua District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police Mrs Patient Akwetey, said one of the wanted men, Addo, approached the company on Friday, April 25, 2013 to rent a CAT excavator for two days.

She said Addo paid GH¢1,700 as the daily fee for the use of the excavator for the digging of a manhole which would be used for a swimming pool at Community 25 in Tema.

According to her, Addo also paid for a low-loader trailer to convey the excavator from the Spintex Road to Community 25, accompanied by an operator from the company. 

However, at Community 25, Addo was reported to have told the operator that he would not start work on the agreed date, since it was already late in the day and he had a funeral to attend.

“He, therefore, asked the operator to come back the next day but when the operator returned to the same venue where he had packed the excavator, it was nowhere to be found.”

Police informed 

Akwetey said the operator informed the company about the missing excavator, which in turn reported to the Nungua Police. 

In the course of investigation, she said an eye witness who saw the excavator being conveyed from Community 25 led to the identification of the low-loader trailer which was used.

After two weeks of hunting for the man who had hired the excavator, the driver of the low-loaders trailer was spotted on the Obuasi-Accra road who helped to trace the machine to a pit in a village near Obuasi on Saturday, May 9, 2014.

She said when the police went to the galamsey site, they found the machine in operation but the men engaging in the illegal activity abandoned the place and fled.

Mine owner on the run 

The police found out that the pit belonged to one Osofo, who is currently on the run.

It was also revealed that the man who sent the excavator to the illegal mining site had only given his name as Adu. 

“We found a number of excavators in the pit and we believe they could also have been stolen,” said Mrs Akwetey.

Caution 

The Nungua District Police Commander expressed the view that “it is suspected that this is the activity of a syndicate that has been going about stealing such machines.” 

She cautioned companies in the business of renting or selling such machines to be cautious of individuals who approached them for their services. 

“They use the decoy of renting legally for a couple of days and then disappear with it,” she said, and appealed to anyone with information that would lead to the arrest of the men to assist the police. 

It has also been said that owners of such machines usually leave them by the road side with a hiring sign and their contacts on them but thieves go about in the night to steal them.

The work of the thieves is made easy as information available indicate that manufactures of the CAT machines have made it possible to use the same key to operate any of such machines across the world.