Category: Daily Guide Network

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Suame, John Darko, has called on the government to urgently develop and fund retraining programmes for mechanics and artisans in the automotive industry to avert massive job losses as country transitions to electric vehicles (EVs).

He said the global shift towards electric mobility, while beneficial to the environment, poses a serious threat to the livelihoods of thousands of skilled workers at Suame Magazine, the country’s largest auto-mechanical hub.

‘The world is fast moving towards electric vehicles, and in the next few years, their numbers will outstrip those of combustion engine vehicles,’ Mr. Darko cautioned during an exclusive interview with DAILY GUIDE.

‘This change has clear environmental benefits, but it also comes with painful consequences. Many artisans who depend on repairing and maintaining combustion engine vehicles will lose their jobs if we don’t act now,’ Mr. Darko stated.

The MP explained that the design of electric vehicles eliminates many components that mechanics traditionally service such as pistons, gaskets, and oil filters, meaning that workers who specialise in these areas could soon become redundant.

‘An electric car doesn’t need an oil change; it doesn’t use gaskets or pistons. So, those who depend on fixing these parts will lose their source of income,’ he said.

He, therefore, urged the government to invest in retraining programmes that equip artisans with the technical skills required to handle electric vehicles, including diagnosing and repairing electrical systems and components.

‘Government must take practical steps now because unemployment is already a big problem. Introducing technologies that will further reduce available jobs without providing alternatives will worsen the situation,’ he warned.

Mr. Darko further encouraged local innovation and small-scale manufacturing within the Suame industrial enclave, suggesting that artisans begin developing and producing some of the tools and components used in vehicle repair, to reduce dependence on imports and create new employment opportunities.

‘Suame Magazine can become a centre for manufacturing specific parts needed for electric vehicles. We should not import everything. If we start making some of these tools locally, there will still be jobs for our people,’ he proposed.

While acknowledging the environmental advantages of electric vehicles, such as reduced carbon and nitrogen emissions, Mr. Darko expressed concern that the transition could have long-term economic implications for oil-producing countries like Ghana.

He noted that as major economies abandon fossil fuels, African oil exporters risk ending up with stranded assets, unused petroleum reserves with declining global value.

‘We have to find a way to balance the shift towards electric vehicles with the need to still benefit from our oil resources,’ he argued.

The Suame MP, therefore, urged policymakers to adopt a balanced and strategic transition plan that protects local industries, sustains employment, and ensures the country derives full value from its energy resources.

‘This future is inescapable. Electric vehicles are coming whether we like it or not. But the government must prepare our people for it by retraining them, supporting them, and making sure they are not left behind,’ he noted.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Manhyia North, Akwasi Konadu, has raised concern over what he describes as the alarming rise in deaths linked to illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, warning that Ghana is ‘losing too many lives’ due to the ongoing menace.

Delivering a statement on the floor of Parliament yesterday, Mr. Konadu lamented the nation’s collective failure to effectively regulate small-scale mining, an activity he said has evolved from a traditional livelihood practice into a deadly, unregulated battlefield claiming innocent lives across the country.

According to him, although small-scale mining has existed since pre-colonial times, policy decisions from the 1980s marginalised local miners and paved the way for a poorly regulated and informal mining sector.

Today, he stated, that legacy has manifested into one of the country’s gravest socio-environmental threats.

‘Mr. Speaker, the situation we face today is not only alarming but a direct indictment of our national failure to regulate an activity that destroys land, endangers lives, and weakens the foundation of our natural and human capital,’ he said.

At Least 17 Lives Lost This Year

The MP revealed that between January and July 2025 alone, at least 17 Ghanaians have died in galamsey-related incidents.

These deaths, he stressed, are not just numbers but represent families shattered and futures lost.

Citing recent tragedies, MP Konadu recounted the death of two young miners at Osino in January when a pit collapsed.

He also mentioned the violent confrontation at the AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi concession, where eight people died in an attempt to breach a restricted mining zone, as well as the deaths of two miners in Mpasatia in April.

‘The loss of four lives in Akyem Wenchi following another pit collapse in July.

‘The death of a 50-year-old woman who fell into an abandoned galamsey pit only this week,’ he added.

‘How many more lives must be lost before decisive action is taken?’ Mr. Konadu asked, visibly distressed.

Failure of Enforcement and Political Will

The Manhyia North legislator attributed the ongoing deaths to weak enforcement, insufficient political commitment, and, in some cases, the complicity of state and traditional actors.

While acknowledging government interventions, he noted that many illegal sites resume operations within months after being shut down, creating a cycle of impunity.

‘Galamsey is not simply an environmental issue; it is a national security threat,’ he warned and added, ‘It fuels local conflicts, deepens poverty, and exposes our youth to preventable deaths.’

Call for Technology and Regulated Community Mining

Mr. Konadu urged the government to deploy real-time digital surveillance tools, including drones and satellite imaging, to monitor mining hotspots for rapid intervention.

He also called for the revitalisation of community-based mining cooperatives with strong environmental and safety regulations to provide safer, legal alternatives for rural youth.

‘Every Ghanaian Life Matters’

‘These are not accidents. They are avoidable tragedies resulting from policy gaps, institutional inertia, and sometimes deliberate negligence. Let us be bold. Let us act now. The cost of inaction is not just economic. It is human,’ he said.

The 13th commemorative adua (Islamic prayers) for the late former Vice President, Aliu Mahama, is scheduled for Sunday, November 16, 2025, at No 4 Switchback Road, Cantonments, Accra at 9am.

The Special Guest is the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu.

The Deputy Minister for Defence, Ernest Brogya Genfi, has informed Parliament that the country’s presidential Falcon 900EX EASy aircraft will soon return to the country following the completion of extensive maintenance and repair works in France.

Answering questions in the House yesterday, Mr. Genfi explained that the aircraft was ferried to Dassault Falcon Service (DFS) in Le Bourget, France, on March 11, 2025, for its scheduled 24-month/1600 flight-hour periodic inspection, a mandatory requirement to ensure its continued airworthiness.

He said the inspection covered all major maintenance tasks, functional checks, and the resolution of previously detected corrosion issues within the aircraft’s fuel tanks, which had earlier delayed its return.

‘Mr. Speaker, the reported corrosion spots detected within the aircraft’s fuel tanks have undergone extensive repairs and have since been resolved,’ the Deputy Minister stated.

However, during the course of the inspection, new complications emerged. ‘Fuel leakages were observed from the right-hand wing tank, and though that section was repaired, another challenge occurred while reinstalling the lower panel beneath the wing,’ he revealed.

This unexpected development, he said, caused further delays, prompting Dassault Aviation to invite the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of the Falcon wing to conduct an on-site assessment and provide technical recommendations to expedite repairs.

According to Mr. Genfi, the OEM’s repair work has now been completed successfully, and the right-hand wing has been fully restored.

He outlined the remaining procedures before the aircraft’s return, including a fuel tank leak test, a third engine ground run, painting of the repaired panel, and a final acceptance flight to confirm operational safety.

‘The Falcon 900EX aircraft will return to Ghana after all the necessary tests have been completed,’ he assured.

Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has cautioned that the country’s parliamentary democracy risks being weakened if the overwhelming Majority in the current House uses its numbers to suppress the Minority.

He stressed that the strength of a democracy is measured by how it protects the Minority and national interest, and not how the Majority asserts dominance.

Speaking at a media engagement with editors and senior journalists in Accra, the Speaker said the Ninth Parliament’s composition, with 189 MPs aligned with the government and 87 in opposition, places an even greater responsibility on the Speaker to act as a stabilising force.

‘If I do not protect the Minority, you will not have a democratic Parliament. We must not allow the Majority to use its numbers to bully or stifle the Minority. In a democracy, the national interest, not partisan interest, must have its way,’ he stated.

He emphasised that Parliament must strive to operate beyond party lines, insisting that the Speaker’s role is to remain impartial, guided by what is best for the country rather than political loyalty.

Call for Institutional Reforms

Mr. Bagbin used the forum to renew his long-standing call for the separation of the Attorney-General’s office from the Ministry of Justice, arguing that merging the two was a historical misstep that weakened institutional independence.

‘I am totally against fusing the Attorney General and Minister of Justice. After independence, they were separate. It was academia that confused itself and combined them. We must correct this going forward,’ he said.

He also proposed legislative reforms to support Parliament’s operational independence.

This includes a Parliamentary Transition Act to clearly manage changes in parliamentary leadership and procedure after elections; stronger in-house legal and constitutional advisory systems; and security arrangements that allow Parliament to control its own space, particularly during presidential addresses.

Inclusivity and Modernisation

The Speaker outlined efforts to make Parliament more inclusive, including new Standing Orders that allow MPs to speak in local languages and the introduction of sign language interpretation.

However, he acknowledged that logistical and infrastructural limitations make full implementation challenging, noting that the current chamber was originally built as a conference hall, not for parliamentary acoustics or modern ICT systems.

He also highlighted the need for specialised parliamentary journalists, especially now that all committee sittings are open to the media.

‘Committee work is where most of Parliament’s real debate takes place. Journalists covering Parliament must specialize. Without that, citizens cannot be fully informed,’ he said.

Parliament and Role of the Media

Mr. Bagbin praised the media for its contribution to the democratic reputation internationally but urged government to support the media sector with standardised conditions of service, arguing that journalism serves the public good, not private interest.

‘The products the media produce are not private goods. They are public goods, essential to our survival as a nation,’ he said.

The Speaker added that challenges such as rising donor fatigue and misinformation make it even more important for the state to support and protect credible media institutions.

President John Dramani Mahama has cut sod for the rehabilitation of the 195-kilometre Wenchi-Bole-Wa roads under the government’s Big Push Infrastructure Programme.

At the sod cutting ceremony at Sawla in the Savannah Region, President Mahama said the rehabilitation of the road will help reduce traffic on the international route linking Ghana and neighbouring countries like Burkina Faso, Mali among others.

According to him, the contractor has been instructed to add the Fufulso-Sawla road to the rehabilitation project.

He indicated that the Bole town roads will also be rehabilitated by the contractor.

‘For my own hometown Bole, the contractor had been asked to rehabilitate Bole town roads,’ he stated.

President Mahama disclosed that he would be cutting sod for the Bole-Chache road soon.

‘The Bole-Chache road is very important because the Côte d’Ivoire authorities have put up a new bridge over the Black Volta, and so we need to reconstruct the road so that it becomes an international route for trade between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire,’ he stressed.

Naa Koryoo told us that the news that her convoy was attacked ahead of the 2024 elections were lies and mere election tactics she orchestrated that sought to discredit the then sitting MP, and turn public opinion against her.

– Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, Interior Minister.

Wow! What can we say about how politics in the hands of some persons makes the occupation dishonourable?

The Minister for the Interior made the critical disclosure when he was releasing the report on the violence which rocked elections across the country.

We recall how the mendacious narration from the lady who now sits as a Member of Parliament (MP) in an august house, one of the three arms of government, raised the political temperature of the country.

It was a concoction which could have set the country ablaze. So after all, she lied between her teeth as part of what she admitted was a political tactic to turn public opinion against her opponent, Mavis Hawa Koomson.

We congratulate the Interior Minister, a gentleman who would not lie about the contents of a report on a critical subject such as an electoral violence.

Even as we commend him for this, we would proceed to find out what the next step would be so that a future tactical lie would not be perpetrated for political gains.

We dream of a time when such reckless pastimes would no longer be fashionable in our body-politics.

The country’s democracy should be recording growth not retrogression; such infractions as exhibited by Phillis Naa Koryoo Okunor should not be swept under the carpet. She should suffer consequences for the perilous recklessness.

That the Minister opened the report for public scrutiny is enough to tell bad politicians that their bad deeds will be exposed one day, no matter how long this will take.

Holding public office such as representing a political constituency in Parliament is an onerous task demanding decency and sincerity.

They have no place representing their constituents who do not exhibit the aforementioned attributes.

Indeed, the MP succeeded in turning public opinion against Ms. Hawa Koomson, as it manifested in the inhuman attack she endured during the Ablekuma North rerun. She was targeted because, for those behind the orchestration, here was a dangerous woman perhaps armed and ready to do evil. After all, her accusers said she had on her pepper spray, which she planned using at the election venue. That was undoubtedly the product of what Naa Koryoo had planted in the minds of the public, especially National Democratic Congress (NDC) thugs.

Now that the truth is out what next? Ms. Koomson is laughing last, her adversary the MP reduced to an object of dishonour, stripped of dignity.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino will present the first-ever FIFA Peace Prize during the 2026 World Cup draw in Washington D.C. on December 5, football’s world governing body has announced.

The award aims to honour individuals who have made exceptional efforts to unite people and promote peace worldwide.

In a statement, Infantino said, ‘In an increasingly unsettled and divided world, it’s fundamental to recognise those who work hard to end conflicts and bring people together in a spirit of peace. Football stands for peace.’

FIFA described the honour – formally titled ‘FIFA Peace Prize: Football Unites the World’ – as a unique recognition for people who have taken ‘extraordinary actions for peace.’ However, the organisation has not disclosed who will decide the winner or how the selection process will work.

The announcement coincides with Infantino’s upcoming meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the America Business Forum in Miami, Florida, where both men are set to deliver speeches.

Infantino has recently positioned himself as a global advocate for peace, speaking emotionally about conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan, and urging football figures to support peace initiatives.

It has emerged that illegal gold mining activities also called ‘galamsey’ at Cape-Three-Points, a coastal community in the Ahanta West Municipality of the Western Region, have caused drastic decline in aquatic life along the coast.

Aside the illegal mining activities, there are many poaching incidents involving sea turtles, all of which are contributing to the decline of species along the coast.

This was revealed at the 4th Eco Awareness Festival organised by Ghana Instinct, a non-governmental organization (NGO) at Cape -Three-Points.

The festival was to create awareness on the need to protect one of West Africa’s last remaining coastal forests, safeguard endangered sea turtles, and create sustainable livelihoods for the local people who call the sea their home.

It brought together local residents and environmental experts as well as other visitors including foreign volunteers and school children who performed a drama on adverse effects of illegal mining.

There was also surfing competition and tours to various eco sites.

Ghana Wildlife Society representative, Solomon Kanyezu, said available data shows that many species have declined in number due to environmental challenges at Cape-Three-Points.

He noted that galamsey activities are damaging the virgin ecosystem, causing extensive environmental devastation including habitat destruction and water pollution.

Mr. Solomon Kenyezu noted that his organisation is aware of the massive illegal logging and other activities in the Cape-Three-Points forest reserves, which hinder species recovery and conservation efforts.

According to him, many species, such as sea turtles, and key terrestrial species like birds and monkeys, are declining.

He encouraged other stakeholders and institutions to build synergy to ensure effective protection of species within their lands.

‘The Wildlife Society is working with communities and the marine police to arrest poachers targeting sea turtles on the beaches’, he revealed.

The co-founder of Ghana Instinct, Akwesi Keith Amoako Agyeman McLaren, revealed that, the beach at Cape-Three-Points, is under threat by the activities of galamsey.

He added that the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) Task Force have been deployed to the forest in the community, and the MP for the area, Mavis Kuukua Bissue has pledged her support to help protect the area.

Paris Saint-Germain and Morocco defender, Achraf Hakimi, has been ruled out for several weeks with a severe left ankle sprain, a major setback for Morocco ahead of hosting the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in December.

The 27-year-old suffered the injury during PSG’s 2-1 Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich on Tuesday, leaving the pitch in tears after a challenge from Luis Díaz, who was later sent off following VAR review.

Hakimi, a key figure in Morocco’s 2022 World Cup semi-final run and their flawless 2026 qualifying campaign, was recently named in the Fifpro World XI and is among the finalists for the African Footballer of the Year award.

PSG coach Luis Enrique described the incident as ‘bad luck,’ while Bayern boss Vincent Kompany called it an ‘unfortunate moment’ and wished Hakimi a speedy recovery.