I saw it in Adaklu, [NPP] were distributing the covid funds – Agbodza
Member of Parliament for Adaklu, Kwame Agbodza has claimed that he saw New Patriotic Party (NPP) executives sharing funds that were meant for the fight against Covid-19, in his constituency during the 2020 elections.
He said on the New Day show on TV3, Monday June 6 with Johnnie Hughes that he personally saw the executives of the governing party involved in the money sharing.
“I saw it in Adaklu, [NPP] were distributing the money,” he stressed.
But the Member of Parliament for Sekondi, Andrew Egyapa Mercer denied the claims saying no such thing happened as far as he is concerned.
He explained that due to the impact of the coronavirus, loans were made available to small businesses to enable them keep their enterprises afloat.
This, he said, is probably, being misconstrued by the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to be money sharing for votes.
“We just came out of pandemic,” he said, adding that ” facilities were given to private businesses due to the impact of the Covid on their businesses.”
However, Mr Agbodza challenged that assertion again, asking “Does National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) give money to businesses due to party affiliations?”
“The money was not meant for businesses they were meant for the NPP to chop,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, the Minority in Parliament has said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addomust authorize a probe into Covid -19 spending if he has respect for the Constitution.
Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu while addressing the press in Parliament on Tuesday May 31 said the 1992 Constitution was premised on probity and accountability.
To that end, he said, the President must explain how the funds were utilized if he has respect for the Constitution.
“If president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has any respect for the tenets and values of accountability and transparency, then he should to authorize a pubic probe or inquiry into how the over ¢19bn Covid monies were disbursed.”
“We are further scandalized and we are calling on president Nana Akufo-Addo and reminding him that the 1992 Constitution is premised on probity and accountability and that if he has nay respect for the values and integrity let him probe Covid spending,” he added.
It is recalled that Former President John Dramani Mahama also dared the government to challenge his claim of misappropriation of Covid-19 funds by allowing an independent forensic audit into how Covid-19 funds were used.
He had accused the government of diverting funds, during a public lecture he gave at the Harvard Business School .
He said “…to make matters worse a pandemic windfall in excess of Ghs33bn which could’ve cushioned the economy remain unaudited and it is believed to have been used largely in a quest to win election 2020 at all cost” he told participants.
Mr Mahama who was the main speaker at the 4th summit of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Professionals Forum in Kumasi stated he maintained his claim and challenged the government to prove him wrong with a forensic audit.
“The only way you can prove me wrong and say that that money was not used for election 2020 is to allow an independent forensic audit into how the money was used,” he said.
But Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr Anthony Nsiah Asare dismissed Mr Mahama’s claims.
Speaking in interview with TV3, Dr Nsiah Asare said “For anybody especially the Former Head of State who has been in government before, who has been the leader of this country before, should say this thing at an international forum, to me it is something that should be condemned.
“If you get international fora and you are speaking about about your country, it is the time for you to let people know what Ghana has done so far as Covid -19 is concerned.”
The Tunisian electoral authority announced on Sunday that turnout for Saturday’s parliamentary elections stood at only 8,8%.
Despite the low turnout, the lowest in any poll since the revolution in 2011, the president of the electoral authority described the process as clean due to the lack political financingand vote buying.
“From my point of view the reason is clear. It is a change in the system of polling and the lack of political funding for electoral campaigns. Because for the first time, and we say it taking our responsibilities, for the first time there have been clean elections and a clean electoral campaign, free from political funding that was the reason behind buying votes – let us be clear and frank – so for the first time the Tunisian elections were pure”, said Farouk Bouasker, president of Tunisia’s ISIE electoral commission.
Opposition groups boycotted the election, describing it as part of a “coup” against democracy.
The main opposition alliance called on the president to bring all political forces together for consultations.
“It (electoral commission, Ed.) says the turnout is 8.8%. We say it is an earthquake of 8.8 on the Richter scale. We ask those who run (the country) illegally and without any legitimacy to leave”, demanded National Salvation Front leader, Ahmed Nejib Chebbi.
The election took place almost a year and a half after Saied deployed military vehicles to suspend parliament, following months of political deadlock.
In July, President Saied used a referendum to push through a new constitution virtually stripping parliament of any real power.
President Joe Biden will celebrate his 80th birthday on Sunday, marking the first time a sitting president has reached that milestone while in office and fueling speculation about how his advancing age will affect his political future.
Biden — who was the oldest person to assume the presidency in January 2021, just 61 days after his 78th birthday — has said he intends to make another White House bid, even as his age-adjacent peers, including 82-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have made the decision to step away from leadership in order to make way for a younger generation.
“My intention is that I will run again. But I’m a great respecter of fate and this is ultimately a family decision. I think everybody wants me to run but we’re going to have discussions about it. And I don’t feel any hurry one way or the other to make that judgment.” he said last week, after helming what many say is the most successful midterm election for a sitting president’s party in decades, though noting that those results would not have an impact on his decision to run again.
PHOTO: President Joe Biden greets guests before speaking at an event at the White House complex, Nov. 18, 2022, in Washington, D.C.
Biden is the oldest person to serve as commander in chief in the nation’s history. Should he seek reelection in 2024 and win, the president would be 86 by the end of his second term. He has said he’ll talk over his future with his wife and the rest of his family over the holidays.
Biden has said he is hoping that he and his wife “get a little time to actually sneak away for a week around between Christmas and Thanksgiving” and that his decision to run for reelection will likely “be early next year we make that judgment.”
During a White House briefing with reporters on Friday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the first lady would be having a brunch for Biden on Sunday for his birthday, following his granddaughter Naomi’s wedding at the White House the previous day.
“Usually, they celebrate on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving because everyone is going to the family is going to be here this weekend, he will have an opportunity to celebrate his birthday he wanted on his actual day,” she said.
Biden’s birthday comes right as national conversation is focused on the age of those at the top of Democratic leadership, just days after Pelosi announced that she would step down from leadership as House Democrats transition into the minority for the next Congress.
“The hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect,” she said during her farewell speech on the House floor.
In a lengthy statement after her announcement, Biden noted his long history with Pelosi.
“I’ve seen her in action during my career as Senator, Vice President, and now as President,” he said.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, 83, and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, 82, also announced they would step aside from their leadership posts shortly after Pelosi’s declaration.
PHOTO: Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan sit with President Joe Biden as he speaks with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda during the G20 summit, Nov. 16, 2022, in Bali, Indonesia.
New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, 52, officially declared his bid for Democratic leader on Friday. Reps. Katherine Clark, 59, will vie for minority whip and Pete Aguilar, 43, is bidding to be caucus chair, ushering in a generational shift in House Democrats’ top spots.
On the future of the Democratic Party, Pelosi told reporters, “That’s up to them, I want it to be whatever they want it to be.”
Pelosi has maintained support for Biden throughout months of questions about his political future, particularly another run for the White House.
When asked by ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on “This Week” last Sunday, Pelosi said she thinks Biden should run again.
“Yes, I do. I mean President Biden has been a great president for our country. He has accomplished so much,” she said. “He has been a great president, and he has a great record to run on.”
Biden, known in public life for his long history of personal tragedy, has maintained that he is a “respecter of fate” regarding his decision to move forward as standard-bearer for his party and the nation.
“Fate has intervened in my life many many times. If I’m in the health I’m in now — from a good health. And, in fact, I would run again,” he said during a sit down interview at the White House with ABC News’ David Muir late last year.
But he’s faced a good deal of opposition–from both Democrats and Republicans– surrounding his seemingly likely decision to move forward for reelection.
One ABC News/Washington Post pollconducted in late September found that 56% of Democrats and independents that tend to vote for Democrats said they wanted “someone other than Biden” to run in the next presidential election.
A number of Democrats have said they wish Biden would step aside for a “new generation of leadership” echoing what Pelosi noted in her departure from control.
During the campaign cycle, Democrats such as Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio and Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, have openly suggested he shouldn’t run for another term.
Biden’s health and mental acuity is sure to be subject to intense scrutiny if he were to announce his 2024 bid for the White House, especially from Republicans who have long ridiculed his infamous gaffes during speeches, among other motor skill missteps.
In September, Biden asked about the whereabouts of Indiana GOP congresswoman Jackie Walorski, who was killed in a car crash earlier this year, during a White House conference.
The only candidate in the running so far for the 2024 presidential contest is 76-year-old former President Donald Trump, who launched his third White House campaign Tuesday evening. Trump was the second-oldest person to assume the presidency, at 70 years old.
Popular media personality based in Ghana, Nana Aba Anamoah, has heaped an unquenchable fire on the head of Ghana’s Finance Minister, Hon. Ken Ofori Atta.
This follows the recent fall of the Ghana cedi against the dollar. In the past month, the cedi has depreciated over 40 percent which has led to rampant price hikes in the country.
The EIB Network manager, known to be extremely vocal and outspoken, commenced her campaign with an open letter to the minister about three days ago.
In the letter, the former called the latter ‘incompetent’, adding that “you have willfully provoked us with your abysmal management”.
Ghanaians, who are the main victims of the current unbearable hardship in the country, seem to love the step the woman has taken with many applauding her for her boldness and fearlessness.
A post on the Facebook page of the former tv3 Ghana employee sighted by Mediaplugafrica this morning reads, “If you have a conscience and humility as the Christian you make us believe you are, you’ll acknowledge that the voice of the people is the voice of God. RESIGN, KEN OFORI-ATTA. WALK AWAY.”
In another post, Nana Aba wrote, “Ken Ofori-Atta should just walk away. Come on.”
She made it a point to give the president of the land his fair share in her rants as she charged him to prove that he has the men.
Reacting to the GHOne and Star FM’s on-air personality’s way of addressing the economic crisis, some citizens suggested that the president himself must be impeached.