The National Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party, Stephen Ayesu Ntim has been appointed as the board chairman of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).
Mr Ntim takes over the position from Joe Addo-Yobo, who has served as NPA board chairman since 2017.
The NPP Chairman was sworn into office on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, by the Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, at a brief ceremony held at the ministry.
In a post on his Facebook wall, the Energy Minister expressed confidence in the ability of Mr Ntim to lead the board.
“[The] National Chairman of my beloved New Patriotic Party, Mr Ntim is not new to leadership and therefore, I have no doubt that, he has what it takes to steer the NPA to achieve its objectives for the benefit of all Ghanaians,” he wrote.
Dr.Mathew Opoku Prempeh aka NAPO interacting with Me.Stephen Ntim,NPP National Chairman
Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh further “charged the new chairman of the downstream regulator to focus on key priorities; strengthening regulatory frameworks, enhancing operational efficiencies, and ensuring that the NPA operates with the highest standards of integrity and accountability.”
Profile of Stephen Ntim
Mr Ntim was a member of the Danquah-Busia Club that transformed into the New Patriotic Party in 1992.
As an NPP veteran, he has served the party in various capacities.
Between 2001 and 2005, he served as the National First Vice-Chairman of the NPP and has since then contested four times for the chairmanship position without success. In the 2018 contest, he placed second after polling 2,515 votes against Freddie Blay’s 3,021 votes.
He was later elected as the party’s national chairman in 2022 after his fifth attempt.
The Ghana Police Service has filed an injunction at an Accra High Court to prevent the #DumsorMustStop demonstration from taking place.
This comes days after the Accra Region Police Command urged the organisers to consider relocating the planned protest venue.
The organisers were also told to adjust the timing for the upcoming demonstration scheduled for Saturday, May 25, 2024.
However, in the fresh motion filed on May 20, the police requested the court to order the organisers to halt the event entirely.
Read also: Police against dumsor vigil near Jubilee House; request change in venue, timing
In a meeting held at the Regional Police Headquarters on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, discussions revolved around the notification of the public protest and its potential impact on public order and safety.
The police expressed concerns regarding the proposed venue, Revolution Square, citing its proximity to the Jubilee House, the seat of government, which is designated as a security zone.
Recognising potential risks to public defence, order, and safety, the command recommended relocating the protest to Independence Square.
Additionally, the Command highlighted apprehensions regarding the proposed timing of midnight for the conclusion of the protest.
They cautioned that the timing could compromise security measures and escalate tensions, potentially leading to violence. Therefore, they advised the protest organizers to adjust their time accordingly.
The 2015 edition
This event is expected to be the second time Ghanaians rally around a united cry against erratic power supply.
In 2015, a similar demonstration was held against the power crisis that had gripped the country in the past at the time.
It was organised by some Ghanaian celebrities including Yvonne Nelson to reiterate the fact that the power crisis was impacting negatively on production and putting people out of business, while derailing national progress.
The demonstrators, numbering more than 2,000 began from the Legon Overhead Bridge and moved down close to the Total Filling Station which sits adjacent to the university, but the police urged the leaders to move further ahead from the filling station, since some of the protestors were holding lighted ‘bobo’.
‘Bobo’ is a local lamp made from empty cans filled with kerosene, with a little tunnel at the top from which an absorbent twine protrudes that is lighted.
The police congregated at the starting point more than two hours before the announced time for the demonstration which was 4pm.
As Ghana positions itself as a major player in the global lithium mining industry, communities in the mining area earmarked for resettlement have been admonished to take practical lessons from mining-induced resettled communities by past mining projects.
This was the overarching message from Mr. Robert Tanti Ali, Executive Director of the Center for Social Impact Studies (CeSIS), in an interview on Kobbes FM, a popular radio station in the Mfantsiman Municipality.
Source:Robert Tanti Ali
Citing Article 20 (2) of the 1992 constitution and the Mining and Minerals Act (Act 703), he outlined communities’ legal entitlements during resettlement.
To him, people must be compensated adequately to maintain the same standard of living, if not improved. Both economic and cultural losses must be accounted for through livelihood programs, land offsets, and aid for reestablishing social networks.
In addition, he stated that, per the Minerals and Mining (Compensation and Resettlement) Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2175), where the inhabitants of a community are affected by a mining lease operation, the mining company resettles community members to a suitable place that upholds the socio-cultural and economic welfare of affected persons. This is to be done to improve livelihoods and living standards.
As lithium mining is new in Ghana, Mr. Ali recommended communities negotiate robust terms informed by past mining communities’ hard-learned lessons.
“We cannot allow the same human rights violations, loss of lands and livelihoods, and broken promises that have marred so many mining resettlements across Ghana,” stated Mr. Ali, whose organization has documented widespread injustices faced by resettled communities.
Ghana’s government recently approved its first lithium mine operated by a subsidiary Australian based company, Atlantic Lithium Limited. The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources granted the company a 15 year lease on the mine at Ewoyaa, on Ghana’s southern Coast where the company has been exploring for almost seven years. Ghana seeks to play a major role in producing components of electric car batteries due to its high demand in recent times.
As part of the Power of Our Voices Project (PVP), CeSIS recently launched a report on community experiences with mining-induced resettlement and compensation, highlighting the challenges host communities face after the process.
Ghanaian actress Yvonne Nelson has informed the Ghana Police Service of an upcoming protest against erratic electricity supply.
In a statement shared on May 9, she indicated the intention to hold the vigil on May 25.
Addressed to the Inspector General of Police, the letter stated that the vigil would take place at Revolution Square starting at 8:30 am and concluding at 12 midnight.
The letter also expressed their frustration over the unacceptable power supply situation and aimed to provide the president with evidence of its debilitating effects.
Yvonne Nelson had previously invited Ghanaians to join her in a massive campaign against recent erratic power cuts in a tweet.
This call for action comes in the wake of similar protests organised by Yvonne and other celebrities back in 2015 to express displeasure over consistent power outages.
Yvonne Nelson hopes for a similar turnout this time and seeks the support of the general public for the imminent protest against ‘dumsor.’
Vice President and flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has revealed how some Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) staff sabotaged efforts to digitalise revenue mobilisation.
According to him, the government was busily pursuing the paperless system, some staff of the IT unit also countered it with ransomware.
Dr Bawumia who has been at the front of the digitalisation drive disclosed this at the 2024 edition of the annual AGM of Anti-corruption Agencies in Africa.
The ransomware, according to him, affected the performance of the system and eventually collapsed it.
Dr.Mahamudu Bawumia
He stated that, the intervention of National Security led to the discovery and arrest of the saboteurs who demanded payment to restore the system.
“They just kept it at GH450 million every month so, I said we need to send in a team to digitalise the new collection of the Electricity Company of Ghana, so we sent in a team, and we began the process of digitalise.
“Can you believe that workers within the system sabotaged it? They put in ransomware into the whole system and the system essentially collapsed. We had to send in National Security to eventually find that it was some of the staff at the IT department who were culpable,” he stated.
Source:Source: Adomonline.com
Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has once again criticised former President John Mahama for the erratic power outages that occurred during his administration.
He jokingly referred to the phenomenon at the time as ‘dum dum’, a play on the local term for power outages, known as ‘dumsor’.
This criticism arises amid a resurgence in electricity supply problems, which has become a cause of concern among Ghanaians.
Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh aka NAPO
This issue came up during Parliament’s Government Assurance Committee sitting on May 3, 2024.
As part of his response, the Minister responded that “we have gone past the era where we have 72 to 96 days of lights out and six hours of light on. We are the era of “dum sie sie” which is profoundly different from dumsor.”
He explained that during former President John Mahama’s tenure, one major characteristic was erratic power supply, but this duration the case was different.
Read also: Energy Minister denies return of ‘Dumsor’ as he dismisses calls for timetable
“Dumsor as inflicted on Ghanaians has only happened as characterised His Excellency John Dramani Mahama’s governance.
“He is the only President on record that for four years that he reigned, for four years that he ruled, for four years that he governed dum dum dum,” he added.
Addressing the committee members, Dr Opoku Prempeh insisted that the erratic power supply the country was experiencing was not “dumsor” but “dum sie sie.”
According to him, Mr Mahama’s version was far more erratic because there was inadequate power to keep the lights on consistently.
However, “dum sie sie” implies that the lights go off so that maintenance work and other activities within the energy sector can be carried out.
Source: Connielove Mawutornyo Dzodzegbe
The New Patriotic Party’s flagbearer, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has announced his plan to amend the Minerals Act if he wins the upcoming presidential elections.
He emphasised that the proposed amendment would incorporate the Chiefs into the mineral licensing process, ensuring their involvement before any miner can obtain a license to operate in a given area.
Dr Bawumia said this when he addressed the Western Regional House of Chiefs on Thursday during his Western Regional campaign tour.
He identified the lack of involvement of traditional authorities in mining licensing as a significant issue facing the Small-Scale Mining Sector.
As a solution, he proposed to amend the Minerals Act to include Chiefs in his mining industry formalization programme if he became President.
He stated, “We want to formalise small-scale mining, but we cannot be successful without the participation of Chiefs. The chiefs have to be part of the licensing of miners in their locality. They have to be part of the whole process. And so, we have to make the necessary amendments to the Mining Act to do all of this. Decentralise the Mineral Commission to be in the various districts, decentralise the Environmental Protection Agency.”
Series of capacity-building and training workshops, have been organized for mining affected communities in seven(7) mining affected regions in Ghana; namely Bono, Western, Ashanti, Western North, Ahafo, Central and Eastern.
The training workshops brought together various stakeholders in the communities including youth, women, girls, traditional leaders, Civil society organizations, women groups, farmers, Assembly and Unit Committee members, religious leaders, mine workers, media and government institutions such as CHRAJ, NCCE, MMDAs Staff, MOFA, Dept of Social Welfare and Ghana Health Service.
The project was organized by Livelihood & Environment Ghana -LEG in partnership with Third World Network-Africa under the Power of Voices in Fair for All Project with financial support from Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The training built participants capacity on their rights as citizens when it comes to mineral exploitation.
They were also abreast with the various legal reforms on compensation and resettlement such as the right to prompt payment of fair and adequate compensation and better resettlement package (Article 20 clause 2a of 1992 Constitution), right to training and recruitment (Section 50 (1,3) of the Minerals and Mining Act 703), right to respect (UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights 2011), access to equitable sharing of financial and developmental benefits (Minerals and Mining Policy Ghana, 2014).
According Mr. Richard Adjei-Poku, Environmental Scientist and Human Rights Activist and resource person for the training indicated that both Article 20 (2a) of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana and Section 73 (1), Minerals and Mining Act 703 (Act 703, 2006) mandate companies to exercise prompt payment of fair and adequate compensation to persons whose properties (buildings, crops and land would be affected by mining operations.
“Again, Mining Regulation 2012 Compensation and Resettlement Regulation L.I 2175 section 4 (2) also mandates companies to pay property owners within three months after an amount of compensation have been agreed by parties and defaulted companies are legally mandated to pay 10 percent interest anytime compensation remains unpaid.
He said Section 100 (1), Minerals and Mining Act (Act 703, 2006) and UN Guiding Principle on Business and Human Rights (2011), compel governments and the regulatory agencies to ensure proper implementation and companies’ compliance with the mining laws including respect for human rights.
The training also built the participants capacity on how they could get adequate compensation from their crops, land and properties that may be destroyed by mining companies.
Among the models to enhance adequate compensation highlighted by the Resource Person include “Good pricing (Abochi price), Application of Compensation principles in section 74 of the Minerals and Mining Acts (Act 703, 2006) which include savage cost, deprivation of use, loss of earnings, loss of expected income, life expectancy of the crop and benefits that cannot be assessed in monetary terms such as scholarships for children, access to loan facilities, prestige, access to desired partner (wife or husband) etc.
Mr. Adjei-Poku emphasized that, Ghana is blessed with a lot of mineral resources such as gold, Bauxite, iron ore, manganese, diamond, Oil and other industrial minerals such as limestone, brown clay, silica, sand, salt, quartz and others. Ghana now is the largest producer of gold in the sub-Saharan Africa.
Contribution from the mineral sector particular oil and gold cannot be under-estimated. Newmont Ghana Gold Ltd alone in the first quarter of 2023 paid 843.72 million Ghana Cedis in taxes, royalties and levies to the Government of Ghana through Ghana Revenue Authority (Daily Graphic, page 44, February 2, 2024).
Unfortunately, excessive exploitation of our mineral resources has not translated in the lives of the people of Ghana (African Mining Vision, 2009).
The minerals sector according to CHRAJ Report (2008) titled “Experience from Ghana on Mining and its Impact on Human Rights” revealed that, the sector is the highest human rights violator.
The report disclosed violent, illegal arrest, and detention of community members. Torture of persons illegally arrested and detained.
The report also revealed assaults, battery and interference, inadequate compensation of properties destroyed, health problems, unacceptable alternative livelihood projects, reckless spillage of cyanide and unfulfilled promises of employment, destruction and pollution of communities’ water bodies leading to biodiversity loss among others.
In spite of the CHRAJ intervention and interventions and efforts by many Civil Society Organizations including National Coalition on Mining (NCOM), Third World Network-Africa, Ghana Network on Environment, Society and Corporate Accountability (GHANESCA), STAR Ghana Foundation, Livelihood & Environment Ghana (LEG) among others, the abuses mentioned above are continuously taking place in the communities affected by mining operations; Mr. Adjei-Poku stated.
Photography of one of the workshops
LEG is a research and advocacy Not-for-profit and Non-governmental organization established in 2004 (20 yrs old) to promote community rights and minerals governance, Provide sustainable livelihood skills for marginalized persons in society and promote environmental sustainability including climate change awareness creation and education and biodiversity conservation.
LEG operates mainly in seven regions in Ghana namely Bono, Ashanti, Central, Western, Ahafo, Western North and Eastern. The organization since 2004 has been operating with voluntary staff and community volunteers.
A credible information reaching our news desk indicates that small-scale miners, who operate their activities within the Bekwai Municipality, Obuasi East District and Adansi Asokwa District of the Ashanti Region, have threatened to vote against the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the upcoming 2024 general election if one Aboagye, who claims to be a Contractor, is not called to order.
According to the teeming small-scale miners who have over 10,000 workers in their mining sites, the said Aboagye has allegedly connived with some police officers within the Ashanti South Region and some group of journalists within the Adansi enclaves to regularly visit their sites to intimidate and harass them.
File picture
Based on our source, the said Aboagye claims to have been authorised by the ministries of Lands & Natural Resources, and Sanitation & Water Resources to protect the river bodies within the Amansie and the Adansi enclaves.
The miners claim that the accused person has deliberately adopted these strategies to cripple and collapse their small-scale mining businesses.
According to the aggrieved miners, the actions and inaction of Aboagye are killing the popularity of the NPP in the area, while the leadership of the party and government officials look on unconcerned.
They have, therefore, served a notice to both the Ashanti regional NPP secretariat and the national executives of NPP to sit up as regards the matter, else they will all vote against them in the 2024 polls.
A number of aggrieved miners who spoke to our news team reminded NPP officials to take a cue from what happened in the 2020 general election which has almost led to a hung Parliament as a result of NPP losing several seats in mining areas because of a similar harassment and intimidation against miners.
They said it would, therefore, be in the best interest of NPP leadership in the Ashanti Region to take a keen interest to call Aboagye to order.
They are also calling on the ministries of Lands & Natural Resources, and Sanitation & Water Resources to come out clear about the behaviour of said Aboagye in the area.
