Category: Daily Guide Network

Vehicles and lifeless bodies are still being recovered from floodwaters three days after a torrential rain triggered one of Accra’s deadliest floods in recent years.

The development highlights the scale of the disaster that has claimed at least 15 lives.

The latest grim discovery was made yesterday at Alajo, where the body of an unidentified man was found inside a commercial minibus, popularly known as a trotro, that had been washed into a gutter during Monday’s downpour.

Residents inspecting the flooded area discovered the vehicle and found the body trapped inside. The circumstances surrounding the man’s death remain unclear, with authorities yet to identify the victim or determine how he became trapped in the vehicle.

The discovery has renewed concerns over the lingering dangers posed by floodwaters that have failed to recede in some communities, particularly Alajo, where submerged vehicles, debris and stagnant water continue to dominate the landscape.

Briefing Parliament on Tuesday, the Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, disclosed that at least 12 people had died as of Tuesday morning, while seven others remained missing following the floods. The latest recovery at Alajo and some other communities brings the reported death toll to at least 15.

According to the minister, the floods displaced 7,761 households and affected more than 38,000 people nationwide after hours of torrential rainfall overwhelmed drainage systems in several parts of Accra.

Government has directed officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to continue search, rescue and recovery operations while assessing the full extent of the destruction caused by the disaster.

Alajo remains among the hardest-hit communities. Apart from the unidentified victim found inside the trotro, three residents reportedly lost their lives in the area, including two young men who were electrocuted after rising floodwaters entered their homes and came into contact with electrical appliances.

Police have identified the two victims as 26-year-old Adamu Abubakar and 27-year-old Faisal Ankrah. Their bodies have since been buried.

Officials of NADMO, assisted by residents, recovered the bodies from the flooded community and conveyed them to the Mamobi Polyclinic.

Elsewhere, an STC bus was swept away by raging floodwaters at Achimota-Abofu after the heavy rains submerged sections of the road. Eyewitnesses said the force of the floodwaters carried the vehicle away, causing panic among residents.

The floods also paralysed activities at the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange transport terminal, where commercial drivers and their conductors climbed onto the roofs of their trotro buses to escape rising floodwaters.

Some remained stranded on the rooftops for hours and even ate their meals there as the terminal became inundated.

Videos circulating on social media showed several partially submerged minibuses with drivers stranded on their roofs, while passengers were left stranded after transport services were temporarily suspended.

The torrential rains, which started from Sunday evening to Monday afternoon, submerged major roads, disrupted businesses and traffic, and forced residents in low-lying communities to flee their homes.

With floodwaters still lingering in parts of the capital three days later, recovery efforts continue as authorities search for missing persons and assess the full impact of the disaster.

Parliament has ratified six Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASAs) between Ghana and the Governments of Qatar, Guyana, Benin, Luxembourg, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia, which will pave the way for expanded international aviation cooperation and enhanced connectivity.

The agreements were laid before the House by the Minister for Transport, Joseph Nikpe Bukari, and referred to the Committee on Roads and Transportation, in collaboration with the Leadership of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for consideration and report in line with Article 75 of the 1992 Constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament.

Presenting its reports, the Committee explained that the agreements form part of the country’s broader strategy to liberalise the aviation sector, strengthen international partnerships, and position the country as a competitive aviation hub in West Africa.

It noted that BASAs provide the legal framework for designated airlines to operate scheduled international services, defining traffic rights, safety and security standards, airline designation, and commercial arrangements.

The agreement with Qatar, for instance, establishes a framework for cooperation between the aeronautical authorities of both countries, granting rights of overflight, technical landing, and scheduled services for passengers, cargo, and mail.

It also prohibits cabotage while promoting code-sharing arrangements and expanded route access.

Similarly, the agreement with the Co-operative Republic of Guyana seeks to deepen aviation cooperation and enhance connectivity between both countries, with expected benefits in trade, tourism, cultural exchange, and investment promotion.

The Benin agreement, grounded in African aviation liberalisation frameworks, is expected to strengthen regional integration and improve access to air transport markets within the sub-region.

The Luxembourg and Mauritius agreements were also described as key instruments to enhance air connectivity, promote competition among designated airlines, and support economic development through improved passenger and cargo movement.

For the Saudi Arabia agreement, Parliament was told it establishes a modern and liberal framework for scheduled air services, emphasising competition, consumer benefits, safety, and commercial flexibility in line with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards.

Members of Parliament subsequently approved all six agreements, describing them as critical to boosting Ghana’s international connectivity, expanding trade and tourism opportunities, and reinforcing the country’s long-term ambition of becoming a major aviation gateway in the sub-region.

Ghanaian socialite, Joseph Kwadwo Badu Boateng, also known as ‘Dada Joe Remix,’ has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the United States in connection with a multi-million-dollar fraud operation involving romance and inheritance scams.

In addition to pleading guilty, Dada Joe Remix has agreed to pay restitution totalling approximately US$4.4 million.

His sentencing is scheduled for September 8, 2026, before United States District Judge, Angela M. Martinez.

The self-styled businessman was arrested in Ghana on an extradition warrant on May 27, 2025, and was subsequently extradited to the United States in June 2025. He has since remained in custody.

The extradition was facilitated through a collaborative effort between United States and Ghanaian security authorities, including the Diplomatic Security Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

In a joint statement from the US Embassy and the Diplomatic Security Service, it was confirmed that special agents at the US Embassy in Ghana played a crucial role in assisting the FBI during the extradition process.

The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona confirmed that Boateng entered into a plea agreement after admitting his role in a wire fraud scheme that targeted vulnerable Americans.

‘In his plea agreement, Boateng admitted that he and his co-conspirators engaged in a romance and inheritance fraud scheme from 2013 through March 2023, targeting elderly victims in Arizona and across the United States,’ the statement said.

Court documents indicate that his co-conspirators posed as romantic partners to victims through online dating platforms, text messages and other electronic communications.

They also falsely claimed to have received an inheritance of gold and jewels, and told victims that taxes and fees were required before the assets could be released.

‘In addition to pleading guilty, Boateng agreed to pay restitution totalling approximately US$4.4 million, which represents the direct losses caused by his involvement in the scheme,’ the statement added.

The FBI Phoenix Division’s Sierra Vista office conducted the investigation, while the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona in Tucson is prosecuting the case.

The statement also acknowledged the FBI Legal Attaché in Ghana, the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice, the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), INTERPOL Ghana and the US Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs for their support in the extradition process.

When floodwater rises in Ghana, it does not rise equally for everyone. Adults may be able to wade, detour, or wait for the water to recede, but children-especially schoolchildren-are often left stranded, frightened, and exposed. For them, flooding is not only a weather event; it is a daily threat to life, learning, and dignity.

In many communities, children still walk to school across streams, broken culverts, muddy paths, and low-lying bridges. When the rains come, those same paths become traps. The question is, therefore, not only how to manage floods, but who will protect the child who must cross them to get an education?

When School Becomes Fear

The school journey is becoming dangerous in flood-prone parts of Ghana. In the Sene East District, more than a hundred school-going children were left at home after eight pupils drowned while crossing the Volta Lake on their way to school.

In Avetakpo, pupils were reported to be swimming across a stream each day to access education because there was no safe road or crossing point.

These are not isolated stories. They reveal a system in which children are expected to cope with hazards that even many adults would avoid. When a child has to gamble with floodwater before reaching the classroom, the country is quietly telling that child that education is important, but safety is optional.

The Numbers Tell the Story

The statistics are alarming. Following the Akosombo and Kpong dam spillage in 2023, about 14,704 children in North Tongu lost access to basic education, and 46 out of 73 basic schools in the district were affected. Another report put the number of children out of school at 19,743, with 71 schools submerged in flood-hit areas.

UNICEF also warned that climate-related flooding in Ghana has disrupted education for large numbers of children, showing that the problem is neither local nor temporary. The June 2026 floods in the Central Region further underscored the danger: NADMO reported 18 deaths, 8,981 flood victims, and 377 internally displaced persons after torrential rains in the Central Region. These are not abstract figures; they are children missing school, families displaced, and communities struggling to recover.

Death On the Way

The most tragic part of this story is that some children do not merely miss school-they lose their lives trying to reach it. In January 2023, eight pupils drowned at Atitagorme/Wayokope in the Sene East District while crossing a body of water on their way to or from school, and in May 2023, nine schoolchildren drowned at Fanaa in the Ga South Municipality.

These deaths should trouble every parent, teacher, and policymaker. A child should not have to understand currents, floating debris, or unstable canoes just to attend class. When education pathways become death corridors, the problem is no longer only transport or drainage; it is child protection.

Learning Lost, Futures Delayed

Flooding also steals time from children’s education. In Mepe and other heavily affected communities, pupils studied under trees, some classes were disrupted, and junior high students were left without proper learning spaces after the Akosombo and Kpong flooding. Reports have also shown that school attendance drops sharply in flood-affected areas after major rains, and some children eventually fall behind or drop out.

The damage is not only academic. Children who miss school repeatedly are more likely to lose confidence, become discouraged, and develop an uneven learning pattern. Floods, therefore, do not just interrupt one school term; they can interrupt a child’s whole future.

What GES Must Do

The Ghana Education Service (GES) should make flood safety part of school planning in every vulnerable district. It should identify schools and routes exposed to flooding, issue rain-season safety alerts, and coordinate with district assemblies, disaster agencies, and transport providers to create safer alternatives for children.

GES should also consider temporary learning adjustments during heavy rains, including flexible school hours, early closure where necessary, and emergency learning spaces for affected communities. In places where children are known to cross water bodies or dangerous drains, no child should be required to travel alone when conditions are unsafe.

What School Authorities Must Do

School heads must stop treating flooding as an occasional inconvenience. They should map students’ travel routes, identify high-risk crossings, and establish school-level safety protocols for rainy seasons. Teachers should be trained to prioritize student safety over attendance numbers when roads and bridges become dangerous.

Schools should also educate pupils on flood safety through guidance sessions, clubs, and assemblies. Children need to know when to turn back, who to call, and why they must never enter moving water, even if they are late for class. Safety education should be as regular as exam preparation.

What Parents Must Do

Parents must be vigilant and decisive during flood seasons. If a route is flooded or a bridge is submerged, a child should not be sent out simply because school has started. Parents should watch weather warnings, accompany young children where possible, and insist on safer travel arrangements.

They should also teach children to recognize danger: fast water, slippery paths, unstable canoes, and open drains. In flood seasons, love may sometimes mean keeping a child at home for a day rather than sending that child into water that cannot be trusted.

What Children Must Learn

Children must be taught practical survival habits. They should never walk into floodwater, climb unstable bridges, or board overloaded boats. They should also travel in groups where possible and report dangerous routes to parents, teachers, or community leaders immediately.

Most importantly, children should be encouraged to speak up when they feel unsafe. Many children stay silent because they fear missing school or being punished for lateness. Adults must make it clear that no lesson is worth a child’s life.

The Bigger Question

Flooding in Ghana is now a child-safety emergency as much as it is a climate emergency. The evidence shows children out of school, schools submerged, pupils drowning, and learning disrupted across several communities. The response must therefore be urgent, coordinated, and child-centered.

So, when floodwater rises again, and the road disappears, we must ask the question with honesty: Who will carry the child across? If the answer is ‘no one,’ then the nation has already failed the child before the child even reaches the classroom.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Suhum, Frank Asiedu Bekoe, popularly known as Protozoa, has blamed the government for the Monday’s floods that claimed lives and destroyed property, describing the tragedy as a ‘systemic failure’ caused by poor waste management and negligence.

Speaking in an interview with the media in Parliament, the MP expressed condolences to families who lost relatives in the floods and urged President John Dramani Mahama to compensate victims for what he described as the state’s failure to protect citizens.

‘I have learnt that some people have died as a result of the flood. May their souls rest in perfect peace,’ he said, adding that every government collects taxes from citizens with the responsibility of providing development and protecting lives and property.

Mr. Bekoe argued that the flooding was not simply the result of heavy rainfall but a consequence of years of poor sanitation management.

‘The Assemblies have been receiving the monies meant to manage sanitation, yet they do not have the requisite equipment and the needed staff,’ he stated.

The Suhum legislator said the absence of adequate landfill sites had encouraged indiscriminate dumping of refuse by some residents, worsening the blockage of drains and increasing the risk of flooding.

He questioned whether the Assemblies possessed tipper trucks and other logistics required to effectively manage waste despite receiving funds previously allocated for sanitation.

Referring to recent comments by the Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Ahmed Ibrahim, that some civil society organisations had advocated transferring waste management funds to the Assemblies, Mr. Bekoe asked whether the policy had yielded the expected results.

‘What happened yesterday (Monday), I blame it largely on the government. It is a systemic failure. Government has given money for waste management to the wrong people. The MMDCEs have no requisite equipment to manage waste,’ he said.

The MP maintained that the country has historically experienced heavy rainfall, citing major floods recorded in 1933, 1960, July 1995, June 3, 2015, as well as in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

He argued that the recurring disasters demonstrate that flooding is not an unusual occurrence but one that should be anticipated through proper planning and effective sanitation systems.

‘This flood is as a result of our negligence,’ he stressed, adding that ‘the state has failed us as far as waste management is concerned.’

Mr. Bekoe called on President Mahama to mobilise resources to compensate all flood victims, particularly families that lost loved ones and those whose homes and businesses were destroyed.

He further urged the political leadership to accept responsibility for the disaster, saying the political class, especially the current government, should ‘bow its head in shame’ over the country’s inability to effectively manage waste and prevent avoidable flood disasters.

Motorists and consumers can expect lower fuel prices from today, July 1, 2026 as global crude oil prices decline and the cedi records a marginal gain against the US dollar.

According to the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) the drop in crude oil prices by about 19.69% from $97.32 to $78.16 per barrel, combined with the cedi’s 3.14% appreciation from $1:GHS11.8035 to $1:GHS11.4333, will reflect in reduced pump prices for petrol, diesel, and LPG in the first pricing window of July.

COPEC projects petrol to sell at an average of GHS13.36 per litre, down from GHS14.24 per litre, with prices likely ranging between GHS12.69 and GHS14.03 per litre.

Diesel is expected to drop to about GHS14.10 per litre from GHS16.26 per litre, within a range of GHS13.39 to GHS14.80 per litre.

LPG is also projected to fall to an average of GHS10.05 per kilogram, with a range of GHS9.54 to GHS10.55 per kilogram.

In a statement signed by Executive Secretary, Duncan Amoah, COPEC urged Oil Marketing Companies to implement the reductions promptly to ease the burden on consumers.

The Chamber also commended government for ceding part of its Jubilee crude share to support local refineries, noting that this move could help reduce imports and lessen pressure on the local currency. Final prices may vary by Oil Marketing Company within a ±5% margin.

Paraguay President Santiago Pena declared a national holiday for Tuesday to celebrate the country’s ?shock victory over Germany that sent them into the World Cup round of 16.

The South American side stunned four-time world champions Germany 4-3 on penalties after the teams were ?tied 1-1 following extra time on Monday, pulling ?off one of the biggest upsets in ?World Cup history.

‘Today, an entire country celebrates,’ Pena posted ?on X along with a picture of himself signing ?the decree.

‘It celebrates the victory of a team that represents the deepest part of our identity: the grit, the faith, ?and the strength of people who never give ?up.’

The text of the decree, also shared by Pena on social , ?said that Paraguay’s victory went far beyond sport and justified a nationwide celebration.

‘The government cannot remain indifferent to this tremendous achievement,’ the decree read. ‘It is necessary ?to facilitate the ?gathering of ?all Paraguayans in celebration of this historic day.’

Paraguay is the second South American ?country to declare a holiday after a ?surprise ?World Cup result against Germany at the tournament.

Last week, Ecuador President Daniel Noboa also announced a national holiday after ?his ?country secured a 2-1 victory ?over the Germans in Group E to reach the knockout stage.

Black Stars head coach Carlos Queiroz has extended his condolences and support to victims of the recent floods in Accra, saying the national team stands in solidarity with all those affected as it prepares for Ghana’s FIFA World Cup Round of 32 clash against Colombia on July 3.

In a statement from the team’s training camp in the United States, Queiroz said the devastating impact of the floods had weighed heavily on the players and technical staff despite their preparations for the crucial knockout fixture.

He offered sympathies to families who had lost loved ones, those displaced from their homes, and everyone affected by the disaster, describing the scenes from Ghana as heartbreaking.

Queiroz stressed that moments like these serve as a reminder that football takes a back seat when lives are affected, adding that the Black Stars remain united with the people of Ghana.

The Portuguese coach said the team would carry the people of Accra in their hearts when they take to the field at Kansas City Stadium against Colombia, expressing hope that a strong performance could provide a measure of encouragement during a difficult period.

He also praised the resilience of Ghanaians and urged those affected to remain strong, assuring them that the Black Stars stand with them as the nation recovers from the disaster.

FOOD ENTREPRENEUR Chichi Yakubu has described the latest floods in Ghana as a ‘national disaster’ that goes beyond flooded neighborhoods, warning that the crisis is crippling businesses and threatening lives nationwide.

In a statement shared amid the aftermath of recent torrential rains, Chichi Yakubu said the situation can no longer be treated as a localised problem.

‘This is no longer about which area got flooded and which area didn’t. This is no longer about ‘it didn’t happen in my neighbourhood, so it doesn’t concern me.’ At this point, this is a national disaster, and it affects every single one of us,’ she stated.

Chichi Yakubu said even Ghanaians whose homes were spared are still impacted through their networks.

‘It could be your employee trying to get to work, your supplier whose warehouse is underwater, your vendor, your customer, your friend, or someone’s entire livelihood that has been washed away overnight,’ she said.

She stressed that the annual flooding is disrupting businesses, setting families back, and in some cases, taking lives.

‘Lives are disrupted. Businesses are set back. Families lose everything they have worked for. Some people don’t even make it home.’

The entrepreneur urged Ghanaians to use their voices and platforms to demand lasting solutions.

‘We need to keep talking until this reaches the people responsible for fixing what has clearly become a recurring problem. Because this cannot continue to happen every single year. Enough is enough,’ she added.

I am not yet one year at the Bar. But June 30, 1982 already feels like a debt I owe, one I did not incur, and cannot repay, but must never stop carrying.

I have been a lawyer for less than a year. My wig still feels strange on my head. I am still learning to modulate my voice in court so that it does not betray the nerves underneath. I am, in the most honest measure, a beginner, someone who knows enough to understand how much he does not yet know.

I say this because I want you to understand the vantage point from which I write. I did not live through June 30, 1982; I was not alive when Justice Fred Poku Sarkodee, Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addow, Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyapong, and Major Sam Acquah were taken from their homes, driven to the Bundase Military Range, shot, their bodies burned, and left to be found. I know what happened that night only through books, through testimony, and through the particular solemnity that descends over senior lawyers whenever that date is mentioned, as though the weight of it has never fully lifted.

And yet, sitting here at the beginning of my legal career, June 30 feels less like ancient history and more like a conversation I have been asked to continue.

Shot, Burnt, And Left To Be Found

We sometimes speak about the murders of June 30 in clinical language. Three judges and a retired military officer were killed. Their deaths were politically motivated. They occurred during a period of military rule. The language is accurate, but it flattens what actually happened into something more manageable than it deserves to be.

Let me be less clinical. Three human beings who had trained for years, who had sworn oaths, who sat on benches and applied the law as faithfully as they knew how were taken from their homes in the dead of night and executed with firearms. Their bodies were then burnt and left at the Bundase Military Range like discarded evidence of a crime the perpetrators knew they had committed. They were not removed from office, not tried, not even criticised in the open, shot and burned. Because they had exercised the independence of their judicial office in ways that displeased the wrong people.

A gun and a fire, in this context, are not merely weapons. They are a statement addressed to every judge in Ghana; your independence has a ceiling, and we are the ones who set it. The men who ordered and carried out those killings did not want to end three careers; they wanted to end the idea that a judge’s ruling could go against them. That is what was being communicated at Bundase, not just to three judges, but to the entire judiciary, to the entire country, to the very idea of law itself.

The Courage Of Ordinary Faithfulness

Here is what has stayed with me since I began reading more deeply about this period. The three judges who were killed had not done anything extraordinary in the conventional sense. They had not led protests or staged open defiance against the regime. They had simply done their jobs, sat in their courtrooms and applied the law as the law required. In normal times, that would not be remarkable. In Ghana in 1982, it was an act of profound courage.

By then, the PNDC and its revolutionary apparatus regarded independent judicial decisions as hostile acts. People’s Tribunals had been set up specifically to bypass the conventional courts. The message from the political environment was unambiguous; the revolution does not answer to your procedures. To continue ruling independently in that climate, to continue applying due process, weighing evidence, delivering verdicts that followed the law rather than the revolution, required a kind of quiet, daily, unspectacular bravery I find genuinely moving.

What It Means To Me, Now, Here

I have no illusions that I will face what those judges faced. Ghana in 2026 is not Ghana in 1982. The 1992 Constitution erected specific protections around judicial independence precisely because the framers understood, from living memory, what happened when those protections did not exist. But I cannot read about June 30 without feeling that it speaks to something still alive and relevant in what I am entering. The principle those judges died defending, that a judge must answer only to the law and their conscience, and not to whoever holds power at any given moment, is not a principle that was resolved in 1982 and put to rest. It must be re-chosen, re-defended, and re-affirmed by every generation that enters this profession.

I am one of the newest members of that chain. The oath I swore some months ago connects me, whether I fully grasped it at the time or not, to every lawyer and judge who swore it before me, including those who swore it and then found themselves at Bundase for honouring it. That is not a comfortable thought. It is not supposed to be.

What The Ceremony Must Demand

Every June 30, Ghana’s legal fraternity gathers for Martyrs’ Day. Wreaths are laid, names are read, speeches are made. I will be attending my first such observance this week as a called lawyer. I will be honest; part of me felt the pull of ceremony for ceremony’s sake, the human tendency to mark an occasion with ritual and then return to ordinary life, having discharged the obligation of remembrance. But Martyrs’ Day is not a release valve. It is not a day on which Ghana’s legal community feels its emotions about 1982 and then sets them down again for another year.

It is, or should be, an annual reckoning, a moment at which every lawyer and judge asks themselves honestly: am I arguing legal matters in court on their merits? Am I advising clients on what the law actually says, rather than what is convenient? Am I treating the independence of this profession as the sacred thing it is? These are questions a first-year lawyer can ask.

To The Martyrs, From The Newest

I did not know Justice Sarkodee, Justice Koranteng-Addow, or Justice Agyapong. I did not know Major Acquah. I know them only through the record of their deaths and the constitutional legacy those deaths helped to build. But I feel, in a way I find difficult to fully articulate, that I owe them something, not just gratitude, but obligation. The profession I have just entered, the protections it carries, the presumption of judicial independence I get to benefit from without having had to bleed for it- part of that was purchased at Bundase on June 30, 1982, with firearms and fire, at the cost of four lives.

I am not yet one year at the Bar. I have decades of learning ahead of me. But I know this already; I will carry June 30 with me, not as a story from another time, but as a living instruction, as a reminder of what this work is actually for, and what those who came before me paid to make it possible.

May the gruesome murders of yesteryear not be replicated today through acerbic tongues and poisonous inks.

Rest in peace, Justices Sarkodee, Koranteng-Addow, and Agyapong. Rest in peace, Major Acquah.

Long live the Judiciary!

Long live the Rule of Law!