By Eric Yaw Boakye
 
Atebubu, (Bono East), April 26, GNA – Nana Amponsah Teng Kakabo, a business mogul and philanthropist has constructed an Ear Nose, Throat (ENT) and Dental clinic for the Atebubu Government Hospital in the Bono East Region. 
 
Nana Kakabo, popularly known as “Kwapon” and the Chief Executive Officer of the Kwapons Group of Companies said the construction of the clinic was his widow’s mite and in-line with the Groups corporate social responsibility to give back to society. 
 
Speaking at an inauguration ceremony held at Atebubu, Nana Kakabo who is the Chief of Anyinofi in the Sekyere Afram Plains District of the Ashanti Region said the Group operated a pharmacy shop, hotel and a basic school at Atebubu. 
 
Besides profit, he said the Group remained committed to create more jobs for the youth in the area too and asked the hospital authorities to take proper care of the facility.1965, however it lacked such a facility. 
 
He said the facility would help improve healthcare service delivery and charged the health workers to capitalize on it and improve health outcomes. 

GNA 
DEN/KOA 

COCOBOD CEO, Dr Randy Abbey

The Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Dr Randy Abbey, has opened up about some of the alleged rot he uncovered at the nation’s cocoa production regulator upon assuming office.

Speaking during a recent interview as part of his three-day working tour of the Western North and Western South Cocoa Regions, Dr Abbey disclosed that about 200 containers of supplies intended for cocoa production, which were reportedly handed over to him, are now missing.

He indicated that the shocking part was that the previous administration kept importing the same items every year, despite not having cleared shipments from the previous years.

“When I came, I was told that COCOBOD had about 200 containers of agrochemicals and jute sacks at the port. Upon investigation, we found that the containers comprised shipments from 2022/2023, 2023/2024, and 2024/2025.

“These shipments were supposedly at the port, but they have incurred demurrages and have even been auctioned. Even though records show 200 containers, we cannot locate them. The National Investigation Bureau is currently investigating the matter. The so-called 200 containers are not in COCOBOD’s stores. We are still trying to determine how many containers are actually available and what their contents are,” he explained in the Twi dialect.

The acting CEO added that because the previous administration failed to return the containers, COCOBOD and its suppliers have now been blacklisted by international shipping lines.

“Shipping lines have blacklisted COCOBOD and its suppliers because the failure to return the 200 containers is affecting them. Shipping lines deliver items using their containers and expect them to be returned. If you don’t return them, it disrupts their operations. As a result, they have blacklisted COCOBOD and its suppliers,” he said.

Dr Abbey further revealed that the previous administration had signed a contract worth about $48 million to import the same items it had failed to clear, for the 2025/2026 cocoa season.

“The sacks they imported two years ago were not cleared. The ones imported this year are still there, and before they left office, they awarded a contract for sacks for the 2025/2026 season.

“What they did was escrow $48 million from our account at the Ghana International Bank in London to pay for the 2025/2026 sacks. These are some of the issues we have uncovered and continue to discover every single day.”

During his tour, Dr Randy Abbey was visibly furious when he discovered a large amount of imported cocopeat abandoned at the Sefwi Boako cocoa station in the Sefwi Wiawso Municipality of the Western North Region.

He questioned why managers of the cocoa station would import such a large quantity of cocopeat, used in cocoa cultivation, when the cocoa season was virtually over.

In a video that has since gone viral, the acting CEO could be seen lambasting the managers.

“Were you the one who said you needed X number of bags before they brought them here? Or were you just sitting there, and they dumped it on you?

“So, it’s not as if you needed it and made a requisition. Did you make a requisition? You were just sitting there, and they dumped it on you. And you obviously don’t have a need for it this year, do you?” he questioned.

He added, “So these things will just sit here till next season. What kind of nonsense is this? Because when you did that report, you said you had completed 90%. Exactly. So why would they bring all these things here? Why are we importing things we don’t need, only to dump them here?”

BAI/MA

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The Minority in Parliament has issued a stern warning to President John Dramani Mahama and his administration, cautioning that any further acts of intimidation or unlawful attempts to remove Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo will be met with vigorous legal and public resistance.

At a press conference held at Parliament House in Accra on Friday, April 25, Member of Parliament for Weija Gbawe and Deputy Minority Chief Whip, Jerry Ahmed Shaib, called for “a complete halt to all removal proceedings until the Supreme Court delivers a conclusive ruling on the constitutionality of the process.”

“We demand the immediate reinstatement of the Chief Justice pending the final determination of all constitutional challenges by the Supreme Court,” he said.
    
Mr Shaib criticized the President’s decision to suspend the Chief Justice while the matter remains under judicial review, describing it as “an unpardonable affront to the rule of law and a blatant disregard for judicial independence.”

“This is not judicial reform. It is tyranny in plain sight. Let President Mahama be reminded: Ghana is a constitutional democracy not a personal fiefdom. The people of Ghana will not and should not tolerate the subjugation of the judiciary for partisan gain,” he said.

“We stand ready to defend our democracy against all forms of executive overreach and will vigorously oppose any and all attempts to turn our courts into political tools,” he added.

Read full statement below.

STATEMENT BY THE MINORITY IN PARLIAMENT

CONDEMNING PRESIDENT MAHAMA’S JUDICIAL COUP AND ATTEMPT TO UNDERMINE THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDICIARY

The Minority in Parliament unequivocally condemns President John Dramani Mahama’s reckless and unconstitutional decision to suspend Her Ladyship, Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, under the purported authority of Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution. This brazen action constitutes nothing less than a judicial coup, a flagrant abuse of executive power, and a direct assault on the independence of Ghana’s judiciary.

Taken while legitimate legal challenges are pending before the Supreme Court, this move reeks of political vendetta, judicial intimidation, and a calculated effort to pack the courts with NDC-sympathetic judges, as President Mahama openly promised during his address in Akosombo in 2023.

1. A CLEAR VIOLATION OF DUE PROCESS AND PENDING JUDICIAL REVIEW

President Mahama’s decision to suspend the Chief Justice, despite active proceedings before the Supreme Court questioning the constitutionality of the process, is an unpardonable affront to the rule of law.
It represents executive overreach of the highest order, a textbook case of interference in judicial independence  and sets a dangerous precedent, evoking memories of a dark era in our nation’s history that we believed was firmly behind us.

The Minority, committed to justice, constitutionalism, and the sanctity of the judiciary, demands the immediate reversal of this unconstitutional act.

2. A POLITICALLY MOTIVATED WITCH-HUNT TO CONTROL THE JUDICIARY

This unlawful suspension is not about upholding accountability; it is about raw political control.
President Mahama’s public pledge in Akosombo to “balance” the judiciary by appointing partisan-aligned judges exposes the real motive behind this desperate maneuver.

This is not judicial reform. It is tyranny in plain sight.
Let President Mahama be reminded: Ghana is a constitutional democracy not a personal fiefdom.
The people of Ghana will not and should not tolerate the subjugation of the judiciary for partisan gain.

3. A WARNING TO THE MAHAMA ADMINISTRATION: WE WILL RESIST THIS JUDICIAL COUP

We issue this unequivocal warning to President Mahama and his administration:
    •    Any further harassment, intimidation, or unlawful removal of the Chief Justice will meet fierce legal and public resistance.
    •    Any attempt to pack the judiciary with politically compliant judges will be challenged to the fullest extent of the law.
    •    The legal fraternity, civil society, and all defenders of democracy will not stand idly by while the judiciary is reduced to an appendage of the Executive.

4. CALL TO ACTION: DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION AND UPHOLD JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE

We demand:
    1.    The immediate reinstatement of the Chief Justice pending the final determination of all constitutional challenges by the Supreme Court.
    2.    A complete halt to all removal proceedings until the Supreme Court conclusively rules on the constitutionality of the process.

The integrity and independence of Ghana’s judiciary are non-negotiable.

We stand ready to defend our democracy against all forms of executive overreach and will vigorously oppose any and all attempts to turn our courts into political tools.

Enough is enough.

Minority Caucus
Parliament of Ghana
Accra, Ghana

Rome, Apr. 26, (dpa/GNA) – The late Pope Francis was honoured at his funeral service in the Vatican on Saturday for his commitment to serving the poor and needy.

“He touched hearts,” said Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who led the Requiem Mass in front of 200,000 people amassed in St Peter’s Square.

“Countless were his gestures and exhortations in favour of refugees and displaced persons,” the cardinal said, “and he was also tireless in his commitment to the poor.”

Cardinal Re thanked the mourners for coming and for the global outbreak of sympathy following Francis’s death on Easter Monday.

He also highlighted Francis’ opposition to violence and conflict.

“In the face of the many wars raging in recent years, with their inhuman atrocities, their countless deaths and their immeasurable destruction, Pope Francis raised his voice incessantly to ask for peace and to call for reason,” the cardinal said.

“After war, the world is always worse off than before. It is always a painful and dramatic defeat for everyone.”

Among the state guests at the funeral service was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose country has been defending itself against Russia’s war of aggression for more than three years.

Also in attendance was US President Donald Trump, who listened on as Re said that Francis had always urged people to build bridges “and not walls.”

The late pope shared people’s fears, suffering and hopes “with great human warmth and deep sensitivity,” the cardinal said.

GNA

PDC

The Director General of the National Road Safety Authority, Abraham Amaliba, has stated that the ongoing process to investigate Chief Justice Gertrude Torkonoo will continue regardless of planned demonstrations by political parties.

His comments come after a coalition of political parties, including the New Patriotic Party (NPP), announced plans to stage a nationwide demonstration on Monday, May 5, to protest the suspension of the Chief Justice.

The protest, according to organisers, is aimed at defending Ghana’s constitutional order and safeguarding the independence of the judiciary.

The decision to demonstrate was taken during an emergency meeting on Thursday, April 24, 2025. Other participating parties include the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), National Democratic Party (NDP), People’s National Party (PNP), and Ghana Union Movement (GUM).

Speaking on The Big Issue on Channel One TV on Saturday, April 26, 2025, Amaliba said the demonstrations would not derail the constitutional process.

“They can engage in all the demonstrations they want to do but the process will still go on. I don’t think that what they are going to do will stop the president from following the constitution,” he stated.

“I am excited that so far the president has not breached any of the provisions in the law. So, this their demonstration, I don’t know what it is calling for, but it will be an exercise in futility because the president will not go up and beyond his bounds to do things that are unacceptable,” he stated.

On the possibility of Chief Justice Torkonoo returning to office, Amaliba said the outcome would depend entirely on the evidence she presents before the committee set up to investigate the petitions against her.

“I don’t know. But if she can exonerate herself, she will be made to come back. It all depends on the kinds of evidence that she is going to go to the committee with which will exonerate her or she will fail at that level.”

“Let us not jump the gun,” he added.

Deputy Director General of NACOC, Twum Barima

The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) has assured the public that all intercepted cocaine will be handled with integrity and properly disposed of once legal proceedings conclude.

Deputy Director General of NACOC, Twum Barima, emphasised the commission’s commitment to transparency, dismissing past controversies where seized drugs allegedly “disappeared” or were tampered with.

“These are men of integrity, men who will not bend any curve. Under Mahama, you will not hear this cock-and-bull story that a substance left our exhibit room, came back, and turned into something else,” he said on The Key Points on TV3, Saturday, April 26, 2025.

Barima explained that intercepted cocaine is securely stored in exhibit rooms until courts issue directives for disposal. The drugs are then incinerated under strict supervision to prevent any diversion.

“You keep them until the matter comes to a close. If tomorrow you are asked to produce them as an exhibit, what do you do?

“So we keep them until the court gives further and better directives. We have exhibit rooms where we keep them.

“We cannot unilaterally destroy the drugs because they serve as evidence in court. Once the case concludes, we burn them under heavy security,” he clarified.

The discussion followed concerns raised by private legal practitioner and NDC member Abraham Amaliba, who urged authorities to disclose how seized narcotics are disposed of.

“I think they need to tell us how these drugs are disposed of. I want to know what happened to the earlier consignment. Have they been destroyed?” Amaliba questioned.

While commending recent drug busts, Amaliba criticised the previous administration’s record, asking, “If these arrests are happening in just three months, what were the security agencies doing in the past eight years?”

On April 23, NACOC intercepted 73 slabs of suspected cocaine (weighing 89.74kg) concealed in a cargo shipment at the Swiss Port. Four suspects were arrested while allegedly preparing to export the drugs to the Netherlands.

The bust was part of intelligence-led efforts to combat drug trafficking through Ghana’s ports.

ID/MA

You can also watch as Mahama orders his bodyguard to stop harassing journalists

Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, Minister of Finance (Right) and IFC MD, Makhtar Diop (Left)

Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, has held a high-level meeting with the Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Makhtar Diop, as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen Ghana’s partnership with the global development finance institution.

During the meeting, Makhtar Diop expressed the IFC’s keen interest in focusing its investments in Ghana on targeted areas suggesting a more strategic approach that could boost productivity and economic returns.

He also noted with surprise that Ghana was not fully leveraging its diaspora, describing it as an untapped resource with immense potential for national development.

Dr Forson, in response, thanked the IFC for its continued support and extended warm greetings from former President John Dramani Mahama, adding that the government would be pleased to welcome Makhtar Diop to Accra soon.

He reaffirmed Ghana’s commitment to attracting private sector investment and called for deeper collaboration in infrastructure development and agriculture.

Also present at the meeting was the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Johnson Asiama, who emphasized the importance of financial sector cooperation.

He noted that Ghana stands to benefit from the IFC’s support in stabilising and revitalising the specialised deposit-taking institutions, which are currently undergoing recovery after sector-wide reforms.

Joining the discussions as well were the Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Dr Nii Moi Thompson, and Senior Economic Advisor at the Ministry of Finance, Seth Terkper.

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Modesty in true modesty, the mortal remains of Pope Francis will be interred in the Santa Maria La Major Basilica in Rome in Italy after the 88-year-old yielded to death on Monday, April 21, 2025.

The head of the Catholic Church, a global icon revered for his modesty and service to mankind, Pope Francis will attract the world’s biggest political figures to his  funeral Mass and burial in the Italian capital, with millions across the world beyond the Catholic faithful waiting to pay their last respects.

Catholic insiders revealed upon his death that the Pope had chosen the modest place for his final resting place instead of the more lavish surroundings of the Vatican where his predecessors lay.

“I ask that my tomb be prepared in the niche of the side nave between the Pauline Chapel (Chapel of the Salus Populi Romani) and the Sforza Chapel of the Basilica of St Mary Major.

The tomb must be in the earth; simple, without particular decoration and with the only inscription: ‘Francis’,” the Pope’s Spiritual Testament read.

It is the ultimate description of the values he upheld on earth, a life that sacrificed comfort and luxury for modesty, and ignored fortune for the cross and crown that Christians pursue on earth.

Various accounts suggest Pope Francis had a net worth of $100 at the time of his death, a remarkably modest value for a man whose occupation could have earned him up to €340,000 a year.

Instead, he declined living on a salary of the Vatican, as he made a vow of poverty, which guided his lifestyle choices, and lived with justice.

His life and his net worth were in sharp contrast to the Vatican’s estimated assets of between $10 billion and $15 billion and considered generally to reflect his preference for simplicity and service.

He also lived in a modest Vatican guesthouse instead of the traditional papal apartments.

As one of the main candidates for the papacy when Pope John Paul II died, then Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio eventually succeeded Pope Benedict XVI as Pope Francis.

Pope Francis had battled serious pneumonia in the month before his passing, his lungs barely sustaining his fragile life in an advanced age.

Indeed, he had defied death to the cheers of the world as he soldiered on against serious odds beyond the 12th anniversary of his climb to the papacy on March 13, 2025.

His death united the world in mournful convergence, with world leaders paying glowing tributes to his selfless service to humanity.

It could not have been worse when on Easter Sunday, the memoriam of Christ’s resurrection from the dead, he presided over a Mass only to pass the next morning.

Global appeal

Such is his appeal that the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Dr Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, has extended condolences to the leadership of the Catholic Church in Ghana and the Vatican as they mourn the late pontiff.

Pope Francis in coffin at The Vatican for the key ceremony 

In a statement issued on his behalf by his Personal Assistant, Dr Mohammed Marzuq Abubakari Azindoo, Sheikh Sharubutu said the passing of the pontiff was a great loss to the global interfaith community, particularly the Abrahamic fraternity.

“And the world would, forever, remember an icon whose voice helped shape international order in many areas of life: from moral leadership to human rights championship,” the Chief Imam said.

He said throughout the late Pope’s papacy, “Pope Francis stood for the marginalised.

It was, therefore, not surprising that on the eve of his departure to eternity, he called for an end to the atrocities in Gaza”.

Growing up

Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on December 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires in Argentina to an Italian immigrant family.

He is said to have had part of a lung removed due to a respiratory infection when he was a teenager.

Before becoming a priest, Pope Francis worked odd jobs, including being a bouncer at a nightclub and a janitor.

He is the first Pope from the Jesuit Order, a Catholic religious society focused on missionary work, education and theological scholarship.

Legacies

Pope Francis is credited with the introduction several significant changes to the papal funeral rites by approving a new edition of the liturgical book that governs the burial of a Roman Pontiff (Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis).

These revisions, as narrated by Most Rev. Joseph Osei-Bonsu, Emeritus Bishop of Konongo-Mampong, reflected his longstanding commitment to simplicity, humility and a more pastoral image of the papacy.

These changes, he said, included eliminating the use of multiple coffins, and by extension the traditional skull and crossbones engraving.

Under the new rites, the Pope is buried in a single wooden coffin lined with zinc, without the ornate symbols previously used.

Therefore, the skull and crossbones are no longer used in papal funerals, marking a departure from centuries-old traditions in favour of a more modest approach.  

Other elements in the revised version, Most Rev. Osei-Bonsu said, included how the Pope’s mortal remains were to be handled after death.

The ascertainment of death takes place in the chapel, rather than in the room where he died, and his body is immediately placed inside the coffin.

According to Archbishop Diego Ravelli, Master of Apostolic Ceremonies, the late Pope Francis had requested that the funeral rites be simplified and focused on expressing the faith of the Church in the Risen Body of Christ.  

“The renewed rite seeks to emphasise even more that the funeral of the Roman Pontiff is that of a pastor and disciple of Christ, and not of a powerful person of this world,” Archbishop Ravelli is reported to have said.