Category: Daily Guide Network

The Chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has suggested that the Electoral Commission (EC) should be allocated funds from the national budget to supervise and support internal party elections, to reduce the financial burden on political parties and parliamentary aspirants.

Speaking in an interview on Onua TV Maakye show, he argued that state funding for party primaries would help reduce the high cost associated with internal elections and minimise the influence of money in politics, particularly among individuals seeking to contest parliamentary seats, as well as individuals contesting for party offices.

He said, ‘Doing away with the delegates system is a good thing, but if we want to fight corruption as a country, then in the next budget that will be read, the Electoral Commission should factor internal party elections into their budget and present to the state to fund internal party elections of political parties.’

According to him, state support for party primaries would ensure that the cost of participation is reduced for candidates and individuals who express interest in contesting political positions, adding that political parties had over the years engaged the Electoral Commission on the need for their internal electoral processes to conform to democratic principles as enshrined in their respective party constitutions.

‘A lot of us have had discussions with the Electoral Commission in the past that all the internal party activities should conform to democratic principles as expressed in the constitution of the party. It is because of this that during party elections, the Electoral Commission has to supervise the party’s internal elections,’ he stated.

Mr. Asiedu Nketia described Ghana’s arrangement, where the Electoral Commission supervises internal party elections, as a good democratic practice that is not common in many West African countries, noting that countries such as Nigeria do not allow their electoral management bodies to supervise internal party elections because of differing views on the role of state institutions in party affairs.

‘This is a very democratic process which many West African countries do not agree to such arrangements. This does not happen in countries such as Nigeria, where citizens, I am told at one of my lectures there, that they do not believe internal party elections should be supervised by the Electoral Commission of the country,’ he disclosed.

‘Why should the party continuously provide money to the Electoral Commission to perform their constitutional role? We expect the state to provide a budget for the Electoral Commission to supervise internal party elections of political parties,’ he added.

The NDC Chairman questioned why political parties should continue to provide funds for the Electoral Commission to perform what he described as its constitutional responsibility of ensuring credible electoral processes in the country, given how the increasing cost of organising internal elections had become a challenge for political parties, which largely depend on membership dues and filing fees as their main sources of income.

‘It has increased the amount spent in contesting for any position one wants to contest. Research has even shown that the amount one has to spend in an attempt to go to Parliament, from primaries to the general elections, when compared with what one will gain for all the four years in Parliament, it means the cost is more than the gains,’ the NDC Chairman added.

There is trouble brewing offshore, and Ghana’s cement manufacturers want to make sure the public understands the operational realities driving their latest pricing decision.

Sources close to the sector say manufacturers are preparing to introduce a ‘Clinker Demurrage Surcharge’ of around GHS12 per bag.

The move follows months of escalating, unbudgeted operational losses tied to severe congestion at Tema Port.

The industry estimates these costs have reached a shocking US$45 million to US$50 million this year alone.

The core issue stems from extended waiting times at anchorage. Clinker, the key raw material required for cement production, took around seven days to clear port at the beginning of the year. That wait has since ballooned to 40 days.

To make matters worse, daily vessel demurrage rates have risen to approximately US$27,000 per day. A single vessel sitting idle for 40 days racks up over US$1 million in penalty fees before offloading a single tonne.

The challenge is more than just financial. With clinker taking 35 days to travel from China and another 35 to 40 days waiting at Tema, the supply cycle is stretching toward three months.

That extended lead time creates a structural bottleneck if port congestion persists. So who pays? The industry emphasises that the upcoming GHS12 addition is not a standard price increase.

Instead, it is being structured as a temporary, direct pass-through surcharge, itemised separately on invoices and subject to quarterly review.

If port clearance times normalise, the surcharge can be adjusted downwards or removed completely.

Beyond the GHS12 adjustment, industry stakeholders are appealing for broader inter-agency collaboration to resolve the port bottleneck.

The substantial demurrage fees currently being incurred represent a significant drain on foreign exchange, capital flowing directly to international ship owners lines instead of circulating within the Ghanaian economy.

Manufacturers acknowledge ongoing discussions with key government stakeholders, including the Ministries of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry and Transport, but emphasise that port infrastructure and berthing availability remain severely constrained.

Industry players point to potential relief solutions, such as optimising access to Berths 10 and 11, which could immediately help clear the vessel backlog.

The core message from Ghana’s cement makers is collaborative: addressing port congestion will eliminate the demurrage burden and the need for the surcharge.

Until those port operations are streamlined, however, the industry faces the financial reality of passing on the cost of prolonged offshore delays.

To state that the national security apparatus of a country is critical in the maintenance of the sovereignty of the nation is an understatement.

In the context of Ghana where terrorists are active next-door, the need to be on constant alert cannot be overlooked, more so when most people do not understand or even appreciate this subject.

Some years back, a national security policy document was put together as a blueprint to guide us in managing this important aspect of state management.

Managing the national security of a country is a complex matter. Unfortunately, the subject has over the years been politicised to the disadvantage of the nation’s interest.

The reason for the foregone is not far-fetched, the impression has been erroneously created over the years that the National Security Secretariat is turf for party foot-soldiers who struggled in the trenches to bring political parties to power.

When their parties come to power, these characters whose preference is to work at the National Security Secretariat as operatives, quickly rush to the place for employment.

We have therefore over the years had the National Security Secretariat crammed with party foot-soldiers who relish holding walkie-talkies and announcing their presence wherever the opportunity arises about their occupation. They understand next to nothing about what national security is all about let alone conduct themselves with decorum.

Some of them have terrorised political opponents in some parts of the country, as their godfathers now holding political appointments look on.

They have ended up making enemies for themselves among the population and the security services because some of them try to interfere in the work of these service personnel.

Last weekend, the National Security Secretariat organised a workshop for the media, the objective of which engagement is to partner journalists to advance the cause of the nation’s security.

Whoever advised the National Security Coordinator on the need for the engagement did well. It is for us an important step towards giving a necessary facelift to a critical hub for the coordination of national security.

The national security policy of the country cannot be implemented without an effective coordination of the various security agencies, who should understand what they are about anyway.

The National Security Secretariat should not consider itself as a Gestapo organisation and therefore operating by abduction of persons considered hostile to government. This only give them a bad image they would struggle hard to wean themselves from.

Towns and settlements on our frontiers must be engaged and educated about the importance of national security, especially in the face of terrorist threats across our borders.

Partnership with the media can only be productive when managers of the National Security Secretariat do not allow themselves to be manipulated by politicians who put them there to settle scores. Kudos though for organising the programme.

Central Region pilot targets 18,000+ youth opportunities as nationwide rollout could create over 250,000 – while Ekumfi Fruits and Juices could move from under 20% production to over 80% capacity and take Ghana’s natural fruit juice to the world.

President John Dramani Mahama’s proposed feed the Industries policy seeks to connect large-scale agricultural production directly to domestic processing, providing the raw materials needed to raise factory output, create sustainable employment and support Ghana’s 24-Hour Economy.

The programme is expected to begin with a Central Region pilot targeting more than 18,000 youth employment and enterprise opportunities across farming, aggregation, transportation, processing, packaging, logistics and distribution.

A nationwide rollout could create more than 250,000 opportunities while increasing raw-material supplies to agro-processors and raising factory capacity utilization for domestic and export production.

More than 15,000 acres have reportedly been secured in the Central Region for high-value and industrial crops. The pilot is expected to include the Central Citrus Processing Factory at Asebu and the Youth in High-Value Crop Value Chain Programme covering Ekumfi and other parts of the region.

Feed The Factory Before Running It 24 Hours

Feed the Industries seeks to address a major constraint facing Ghana’s agro-processing industry: reliable year-round supplies of raw materials.

Longer factory operating hours under the 24-Hour Economy will require more than additional shifts. Processing plants need adequate inputs, power, transport, storage, financing and markets to sustain increased production.

The more than 15,000 acres identified in the Central Region could provide an initial production base for crops required by processors.

The approach also fits into the wider Feed Ghana Programme, which has selected 22 priority commodity value chains and lists increasing raw-material supplies to agro-industry, value addition and agricultural exports among its objectives.

Under the proposed Value Chain Contracting for Youth model, young people would operate in commercial production clusters linked to established buyers. This would give farmers greater certainty over what to produce and where to sell, while factories gain greater visibility over the quantity and timing of supplies.

Ekumfi: From Under 20% To Over 80% Production

Ekumfi Fruits and Juices provide one of the clearest opportunities to demonstrate the industrial impact of the programme.

The factory has capacity to process about 10 tonnes of pineapple, or roughly 10,000 fruits, every hour. At that rate, one hour of processing requires the equivalent of about four acres of harvested pineapple.

The scale of the raw-material requirement becomes clearer when operating hours are extended. Eight hours at the stated capacity would require about 80 tonnes of fruit, while longer shifts would sharply increase demand from surrounding farms.

Feed the Industries could therefore help move Ekumfi from below 20 percent production capacity to more than 80 percent utilization by expanding commercial pineapple cultivation and organizing growers capable of supplying the required volumes.

Higher utilization would also increase demand for farmers, aggregators, transporters, packaging companies, distributors and other businesses linked to the factory.

The connection with the 24-Hour Economy is direct: Ekumfi cannot move towards round-the-clock production unless pineapple cultivation expands sufficiently to keep its processing lines supplied.

Removing The 20% Excise Duty Barrier

The raw-material intervention is being complemented by the removal of the 20 percent excise-duty burden on locally manufactured natural fruit juices.

The measure could improve the competitive position of domestic processors by reducing the tax burden on finished products while Feed the Industries tackles constraints on the supply side.

For Ekumfi, the combination could be major. More pineapple production would support higher factory utilization, while the tax measure creates additional room to compete with imported beverages and expand distribution.

The policy intervention therefore targets both sides of the production equation: increasing the raw materials entering factories and improving the competitiveness of the products leaving them.

Making Ekumfi Juice Available To Ghana – And The World

Moving Ekumfi above 80 percent capacity would create economic activity well beyond the factory floor.

Previous company figures showed more than 1,000 workers, mostly on its farms, and more than 75 professionals at the factory. The company was operating two shifts at the time and planned to increase this to three as production expanded.

At full capacity, earlier projections indicated the plant could produce about 300 million packs of juice annually for domestic and export markets.

The company has also previously identified export markets in the United States, United Kingdom and Dubai, providing an existing international dimension to its expansion plans.

Higher utilization could therefore increase demand for pineapple cultivation, mechanisation, harvesting, aggregation, transportation, packaging, warehousing and distribution while generating additional export earnings.

The production chain is straightforward:

FARM ? FACTORY ? PROCESSING ? PACKAGING ? DISTRIBUTION ? GHANAIAN CONSUMER ? EXPORT MARKET

The opportunity is to convert more Ghanaian agricultural produce into finished goods before they reach domestic and overseas consumers.

Central Citrus: Another Industrial Test

The Central Citrus Processing Factory at Asebu provides another test of the model.

The factory has been reported to have capacity to process more than 15 tonnes of oranges per hour. Together with Ekumfi’s 10-tonne-per-hour pineapple capacity, the two plants represent more than 25 tonnes of headline fruit-processing capacity every hour when operating at their stated rates.

Sustaining those volumes requires more than factory machinery. It requires organized production involving growers, aggregators, transporters and other suppliers capable of delivering fruit consistently.

The Ekumfi and Asebu clusters could therefore demonstrate whether agricultural contracting can translate directly into higher industrial capacity utilization and longer operating hours.

18,000 Youth Opportunities From The Central Region

The Central Region pilot is projected to facilitate more than 18,000 direct and indirect youth employment and enterprise opportunities.

The opportunities extend beyond direct farming and factory employment.

Increasing agricultural output would require nursery operators, irrigation technicians, tractor operators, agronomists, extension officers, harvesting teams, aggregators and transporters.

Higher processing volumes would create further activity in packaging, warehousing, distribution, marketing and exports.

Ekumfi’s earlier employment numbers already illustrate how processing can extend jobs beyond the factory itself, with more than 1,000 workers reported across its operations, most of them on farms.

The employment potential of Feed the Industries will therefore depend heavily on how much additional production can be generated around the factories.

From 18,000 To Over 250,000 Nationwide

The larger opportunity lies in extending the Central Region model to other agricultural and industrial areas.

A nationwide rollout of Feed the Industries and the Youth in High-Value Crop Value Chain Programme is projected to facilitate more than 250,000 employment and enterprise opportunities.

The wider Feed Ghana Programme already covers 22 priority commodity value chains, providing a broader agricultural base for linking production to domestic processing.

Pineapple, citrus, avocado, coconut, mango, papaya, banana, passion fruit, ginger and oil palm are among crops with potential to support larger processing industries serving Ghanaian and export markets.

The national opportunity therefore goes beyond producing more crops. It lies in processing a greater share of Ghana’s agricultural output locally before it leaves the farm gate.

Building A National Value-Addition Chain

The scale of Ekumfi illustrates the difference between primary agricultural production and value addition.

At full capacity, the factory was projected to produce about 300 million packs of juice annually. That means pineapple leaving farms can pass through processing, packaging, branding, transportation and retail before reaching consumers.

Each stage creates additional economic activity that would otherwise be lost if agricultural commodities were sold mainly in their primary form.

The same principle applies to citrus, coconut, mango, oil palm and other crops targeted for commercial expansion.

Feed the Industries could therefore develop beyond an agricultural programme into an industrial supply strategy linking farms directly to manufacturing.

Import Substitution And Exports

Greater agro-processing could also strengthen Ghana’s external sector through import substitution and exports.

Increasing domestic production of fruit juices, processed foods, oils and other products could replace part of the country’s imports where Ghanaian manufacturers can compete on price and quality.

Exports provide the second opportunity. Ekumfi has already identified overseas markets, including the US, UK and Dubai, while its production facilities were designed to serve both local and export demand.

The foreign-exchange effect works in both directions: producing competitive substitutes locally reduces demand for foreign currency to finance imports, while additional exports generate new inflows.

Higher agricultural production alone will therefore not capture the full opportunity. More of the output must reach Ghanaian factories and leave them as higher-value products.

The Real-Sector Multiplier

The Central Region model brings together more than 15,000 acres earmarked for production, an 18,000-plus youth opportunity target and two major fruit-processing facilities with combined headline capacity exceeding 25 tonnes per hour.

This creates links across agriculture, manufacturing, transport, finance, packaging, distribution and exports.

Farmers supply processors, factories add value, logistics companies move inputs and finished goods, while financial institutions provide working capital and investment financing across the chain.

The national potential of more than 250,000 opportunities will ultimately be tied to the number of commercially viable production chains that can be established around factories and markets.

Feed the Industries could turn Ghana’s agricultural potential into industrial growth by getting more farms to supply factories, raising production and taking more Ghanaian products to domestic and global markets. That is where the 24-Hour Economy can begin to deliver real-sector transformation.

The government is set to enforce the ‘polluter pays’ principle as part of measures to address the nation’s worsening waste management challenges, Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Mahama Ayariga, has announced.

Under the proposed approach, households, property owners, businesses, factories and other establishments that generate waste will be required to pay their fair share of the cost of collecting, transporting and treating the waste.

Mr. Ayariga said the government could no longer continue to rely on public resources to subsidise waste generated by individuals and businesses, particularly in major cities.

He said the situation required a fundamental overhaul of the country’s waste management system, beginning with waste separation at the household level and extending to collection, transportation, transfer stations, treatment and composting.

The Minister made the remarks after an early-morning inspection of waste management facilities in Accra with officials of his ministry and prospective development partners.

Some of the facilities visited are the Lavender Hill Faecal Treatment Plant at Korle-Bu, Achimota Waste Transfer site, Kpone Landfill Decommissioning project site, and the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant at Adjen Kotoku.

According to him, the inspection had exposed significant gaps in the existing system for collecting and managing waste from homes and other sources.

‘We must put in place a system for separating it right from the homes,’ he said, adding that households must also be provided with appropriate receptacles to facilitate the collection and transportation of waste.

Mr. Ayariga said transfer stations must be brought closer to communities, while treatment and composting facilities should also be located closer to major urban centres to reduce the distances travelled by waste trucks.

He explained that the long distances currently travelled by waste collection vehicles significantly increased the cost of waste management through fuel consumption, vehicle wear and tear and other operational expenses.

He, therefore, expressed confidence that a more efficient system could reduce the cost of waste management for households by as much as 50 percent.

The Minister also warned property owners and businesses against expecting the government to bear the entire cost of managing the waste generated by their activities.

He said the physical presence of factories, businesses and other establishments in urban areas attracted workers and residents, thereby contributing to the generation of waste in those communities.

‘If you are living in Accra, pay for your waste in Accra. If you have a factory here and the factory is generating waste, the factory owner and the profit that you are making, it will be unfair for you not to be held accountable for the waste that is generated,’ he stated.

Mr. Ayariga further argued that the Common Fund should not be used to finance waste generated by residents and businesses in Accra at the expense of other parts of the country.

He said residents were expected to pay their basic rates and property owners their property rates, while other applicable levies should also be collected by the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.

‘If we collected the basic rates that everybody is supposed to pay, the property rates that everybody is supposed to pay, the market rates and all the rates that everybody is supposed to pay to the city authorities, I am very confident that problems like this will not be beyond our capacity,’ he said.

The Minister, however, acknowledged that the responsibility could not rest solely on citizens.

He said assemblies must make it easier for residents to pay the required rates and, in turn, must account for the resources collected by investing them in essential services.

He listed waste management, street lighting, roads, greening, security and other basic amenities among the services that residents should expect from their assemblies.

Mr. Ayariga also pledged that government would be accountable, efficient and transparent in the management of resources collected from residents.

He said the government was exploring financing opportunities with development partners and other prospective partners to mobilise resources for investment across the entire waste management chain.

The Minister disclosed that the government was also examining the potential for generating gas from waste sites for possible commercial use.

He said technical assessments would be required to determine the quantity of gas available, how long it could be extracted and whether the potential returns would justify the investment.

Mr. Ayariga described the current state of some waste facilities as a threat to public health, and said the government was determined to address the problem.

He said the challenges observed in Accra were representative of problems confronting other major cities across the country, including Kumasi and Takoradi.

‘This will serve as the basis for planning and taking investment,’ he said.

The Minister also announced plans for a broader campaign against poor sanitation and what he described as indiscipline in the management of waste.

He said his tenure would not be driven by a desire for popularity but by a determination to enforce the rules governing sanitation and local government.

‘I am not engaged in a popularity contest. I don’t want to be popular. If I get popular, I want to be popular for making sure that everybody is uncomfortable doing the wrong things,’ he said.

Mr. Ayariga appealed to residents, businesses, local government authorities, development partners and the media to support the government’s efforts to reform waste management.

He said while residents must be prepared to pay for the services they consume, assemblies and government agencies must also be prepared to account for the resources entrusted to them.

‘When we start exacting our pound of flesh from every resident of this city, a lot of people will complain. We need you to support us. But at the same time, if we also take the resources and we don’t invest it in the neighbourhoods and in the welfare of the people, we demand that you also hold us accountable for not doing the right thing,’ he said.

Nollywood actress and producer, Ruth Kadiri, has opened up about her decision to keep her marriage private, revealing that she had a fear of marriage when she was preparing to settle down.

Speaking on the Dear Ife podcast, Ruth said she was uncertain about whether her marriage would work and feared making a decision that could eventually fall apart.

According to the mother of two, her concerns made her avoid having a highly publicised wedding or relationship.

‘I had a phobia of marriage. I was battling with the fear of the unknown and asking myself, ‘Am I going to make this decision and everything will now scatter,’ she said.

Ruth explained that her husband supported her decision to keep their relationship private and agreed to have only 50 guests at their wedding.

She said they each invited 25 people to the ceremony to avoid unnecessary attention and drama surrounding their relationship.

‘I didn’t want a lot of drama regarding my relationship. That’s why my husband and I invited only 50 people to our wedding,’ she added.

Ruth Kadiri and her husband, Mr Ezerika, got married in a private ceremony in November 2018.

The couple welcomed their first daughter in August 2019 and their second daughter in July 2022.

Ruth Kadiri has since maintained a relatively private family life, choosing to keep much of her marriage away from public attention.

The rift between the Office of the Attorney General (AG) and the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) appears to be widening, with the two law enforcement agencies ostensibly engaging in some sort of power play.

While the heads of the two institutions publicly claim there is no apparent issues between them, recent happenings however, paint an entirely different scenario.

The latest development suggesting a tussle between the two entities is portrayed in comments made by the Director of Strategy, Research and Communications at the OSP, Sammy Darko and Deputy Attorney General, Dr. Justice Srem-Sai on allegations of non-collaborations between the two offices.

Sammy Darko, speaking on Joy FM’s News File programme, indicated that the Office of the Attorney General has declined several requests from the OSP to collaborate on cases.

According to him, the OSP had approached the AG’s office on multiple occasions for collaborations on national issues but did not receive any support from the office.

‘There are so many issues the OSP has kept quiet and not talked about. Look, there are instances where the OSP has approached the Attorney General’s office and said, let us collaborate in this matter and we have been turned down,’ he claimed.

Although he pointed out that the OSP maintains a generally good relationship the Office of the Attorney General and other state institutions, he said there were times that their request for case-specific collaborations were turned down.

Mr. Darko further noted that several developments occur behind the scenes, but was quick to point out that ‘when you are managing a state institution, a very sensitive one, it is not all the information you will come out to the public to talk about.’

DAG Fires Back

The Deputy Attorney General, Dr. Justice Srem-Sai, in sharp rebuttal refuted the claim, describing it a ‘complete falsehood,’ while adding ‘there is no truth in what he has said.’

Dr. Srem-Sai was also quick to draw power lines between the two offices, pointing out that the Office of the Attorney General is the lead law enforcement agency, while indicating that there is no ‘relationship of equals’ between the two offices, hence the OSP cannot be calling for collaboration.

‘We are the lead law enforcement agency. OSP and all the other agencies are under us and recently the Supreme Court held that they are accountable to us because they are using our power. So, the question then is how would they want us to collaborate? We indicate what they are supposed to do, and so it’s not a relationship of equals where you come and say let’s collaborate,’ the Deputy Attorney General said.

He added that with the Supreme Court decision in mind and the powers establishing the two offices, there is no occasion arising where the OSP will approach the AG’s office for collaboration.

‘I don’t know where he got it from. Maybe he can consult his boss on that. I don’t think there’s any situation where they have approached us to collaborate on anything,’ he said.

Dr. Justice Srem-Sai added that ‘since we came to office, there has not been any opportunity, any indication from any of them, any from OSP that we should collaborate on anything. And apart from it being false, I don’t know how the OSP would come to the Attorney General to collaborate.’

Patchy Relation

The relation between the Office of the Attorney General and the OSP in the past year has been at best, a patchy one, with a supposed power struggle ensuing between the two entities.

That strained relation was further exposed when a private legal practitioner invoked the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and challenged the powers of the OSP to initiate criminal proceedings without the prior authorisation of the Attorney General.

The Attorney General, in response to the writ, basically sided with the position taken by the plaintiff and Parliament’s decision to delegate the Attorney General’s prosecutorial powers to the OSP, arguing it is unconstitutional.

The Attorney General had asked the Supreme Court to declare section 4(2) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act 2017, (Act 959) unconstitutional and consequently struck down.

SC Decision

The Supreme Court decision on the writ did not really help address the lacuna between the two entities but rather created a scenario which could further strain the relationship between them.

The court, in a unanimous decision, said the OSP Act is not inconsistent with or in contravention of the 1992 Constitution.

The court also held that the OSP has power to initiate and prosecute corruption and corruption related offences.

However, the court said the Attorney General has the power to enter a nolle prosequi in the OSP’s cases, subject to Article 296 of the Constitution which regulates the exercise of discretionary power.

This decision practically placed the OSP under the supervision of the Attorney General, who could at any time truncate a trial initiated by the OSP.

Supreme Court judge nominee, Justice Edward Amoako Asante, has said Artificial Intelligence (AI) is unlikely to replace diligent lawyers, but could render ‘lazy lawyers’ redundant.

He has consequently advocated the integration of AI into the country’s judicial system, saying the technology could improve efficiency, strengthen legal research and help expedite the determination of cases.

Justice Amoako Asante made the remarks last Thursday when he appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament for his vetting following his nomination and two others by President John Dramani Mahama to the Supreme Court.

Responding to questions about the potential impact of AI on the legal profession and the justice delivery system, Justice Asante expressed strong support for its adoption, describing it as an inevitable development that institutions across the world were increasingly embracing.

He said AI could be particularly useful in legal research, case management and the processing of information, thereby reducing delays and improving the efficiency of the judiciary.

Justice Asante said his experience at the ECOWAS Court of Justice had exposed him to the growing application of AI and related technologies.

He disclosed that judges and staff at the regional court had received training in the use of AI, adding that the technology had become increasingly prominent in their work.

‘AI is the way to go now and the world has gone AI and there is nothing anybody can do. ‘We have had some training in AI at the ECOWAS Court, both judges and the staff,’ he said.

According to him, AI could be incorporated into the judicial system of the country if the Chief Justice decided to pursue such an initiative.

‘It is a matter of trying to get people to set it up for us. The algorithm is built for you and it is tailor-made. It is a system that can easily be done, and once it is done, it will bring efficiency into our judiciary system,’ he said.

Justice Asante said the technology could enable lawyers and judicial officers to conduct research more quickly while assisting in the processing and management of cases.

‘Cases will be dealt with fast and research can be done through it as well but it is all about the finances,’ he added.

He, however, cautioned against viewing AI as a substitute for human expertise, particularly in the legal profession, arguing that lawyers who continued to develop their skills would remain relevant.

He suggested that rather than fearing AI, the legal profession and the judiciary should learn to harness its capabilities to complement human judgement and improve justice delivery.

Ghana’s Black Princesses will enter the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland with several key players missing from their squad.

The tournament gets underway in five days, with Ghana preparing for their eighth consecutive appearance at the competition.

However, the Black Princesses are yet to progress beyond the group stage in any of their previous seven outings.

Coach Charles Sampson has named his final squad, but injuries and club-related issues have ruled out some important players.

Linda Owusu Ansah is arguably the biggest absentee. The Black Princesses captain secured Ghana’s World Cup qualification with the decisive goal against Uganda in Kampala but suffered an ACL injury in August.

The injury occurred during the closing stages of the Black Queens’ 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying play-off against Côte d’Ivoire in Casablanca.

Comfort Yeboah will also miss the tournament after Ghana could not reach an agreement with her Spanish club, Logroño United, over her release. The defender had already featured for the Black Queens at the 2026 WAFCON.

Jessica Appiah Asamoah, who played in every qualifier and was expected to be one of Ghana’s players to watch, suffered a knee injury shortly before the team travelled to Poland.

Mercy Attobrah is another notable absence. The striker scored in both of Ghana’s matches against Tunisia during the qualifiers but has been recovering from an ACL injury suffered while playing for her Egyptian club.

Mary Amponsah, who replaced Attobrah during the qualifiers, is also unavailable after suffering an ACL injury in the second leg against South Africa. She has since undergone surgery.

The Black Princesses begin their campaign against Ecuador on September 5, before facing South Korea and France in the group stage as they aim to finally break their group-stage curse.

THE ASHANTI Regional branch of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has charged the ruling government to, as a matter of urgency, work to complete all Agenda 111 hospital projects in the region to boost healthcare delivery.

The party expressed gross concern over the undue delay in the completion of Agenda 111 projects in the region, noting that residents were struggling to access healthcare while the Agenda 111 projects have been stalled.

According to the largest opposition party, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration clearly doesn’t seem to have the passion to complete the health facilities for the people in the region to benefit from them.

The party has therefore charged the NDC, led by President John Dramani Mahama, to with immediate effect, show commitment by completing the health projects to help lessen the burden of the people.

Chairman Odeneho Kwaku Appiah, popularly known as COKA, who is the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, made the strong call to the government during a meeting with leaders of political parties in the Ashanti Region, few days ago.

He openly expressed disappointment over how the completion of Agenda 111 projects have been delayed in the Ashanti Region, even as the people continued to struggle to access quality healthcare in the region.

According to him, the development of the region, especially the completion of ongoing government projects, have been stalled since the NDC assumed the mantle of leadership from the NPP administration two years ago.

‘Several important infrastructural projects in the region, including the Agenda 111 projects have been stalled since the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration took over power,’ COKA pointed out.

The Ashanti Regional NPP Chairman, who has the interest and development of the region at heart, therefore called on minority political parties across the region to unite and champion the development of the Ashanti Region.

‘I believe we can work together to push for the interest of the Ashanti Region and lobby for more developmental projects so that we can all share in the benefits,’ he said, adding that political insults should also be avoided in the region.