Wanlov’s Police Statement Against Blakk Rasta

FOKN BOIS member Wanlov the Kubolor, who was physically attacked by radio presenter/musician Blakk Rasta days ago, has officially addressed the latter, in a lengthy letter that relives the unfortunate altercation, and also laid bare, some incidents (involving Blakk Rasta) of the recent past. In a number of issues, he accuses the controversial singer of attempting ”to use Rita Marley’s name to go to Felabration by lying to the organizers that you were her 15 man band, unbeknownst to Rita, with the plan of calling her on stage by surprise when you got there”. He adds “i thought you liked Rita Marley. Yaa Pono, EL, Lady Jay, Afro Harmony, Macho Rapper, Knii Lante & FOKN Bois were all invited there officially to perform. Yes, and FOKN Bois performed “Thank God We’re Not A Nigerians” to 6000 plus Nigerians and they sang along, laughed, danced and teased us back right after. “We’ll put it on youtube just for you to watch since you were the first to speak against the song when it came out.” We reproduce Wanlov’s letter below. Blakk Rasta You contacted me via Peace FM to apologise for slapping me. A slap that came unaware whilst I was turned away listening to a comment your colleague Doreen Andoh was making on the front steps of Multimedia, your workplace. I clearly said that I had stopped many angry people from coming for you during this Peace FM call. When it was your turn to speak you turned the issue like I had said I was sending people for you so you were also ready to send your guys to me. The host caught you and pointed out your twisting of my words and intention. Is this apologetic behaviour? Or comprehension deficiency? Your mother has never done anything bad to me apart from giving birth to you so I apologise to her for insulting her because she could not have known you would grow to be a pain to me and a few others. As far as I know, you have not publicly withdrawn the cocaine comment by tweeting it like i asked because it has not come to my attention. I only accept your slap apology because you didn’t go as free as you might have wanted since my hands also had a few seconds on your face, but i can not apologize for fighting back coz it was a natural reaction. Now on to more issues: 1. You wrote letters to Bavaria to sponsor your Reggae event. Meanwhile you were calling the guys who brought them to Ghana cocaine users and strippers. Do you posses a shred of shame? Yet we went ahead to say that they should consider your proposal if it holds business value, but they said even if it did, they wanted to work only with artists we approved of totally. See how you dig your own pit? 2. You attempted to use Rita Marley’s name to go to Felabration by lying to the organizers that you were her 15 man band, unbeknownst to Rita, with the plan of calling her on stage by surprise when you got there. I thought you liked Rita Marley. Yaa Pono, EL, Lady Jay, Afro Harmony, Macho Rapper, Knii Lante & FOKN Bois were all invited there officially to perform. Yes, and FOKN Bois performed “Thank God We’re Not A Nigerians” to 6000 plus Nigerians and they sang along, laughed, danced and teased us back right after. We’ll put it on youtube just for you to watch since you were the first to speak against the song when it came out. 3. You uninvitedly jumped on Lady Jay & Afro Harmony’s stage at La Palm to forcefully shoot your video without permission because it looked nice to you. After you were told to wait till the show was over so you can use it for free, you pretended to agree and jumped right back on it minutes later. Opportunism has a new meaning with you. Before stealing that slap, you accused me of thinking I am special, as if being special is a bad thing, yet you behave like you are over entitled and use insensibly forceful and crooked means to try and get things…the only thing that makes me special is truth. I do not trick or lie. I live my life as simple as I can. I did not come to this world to step on any toes. What made you stoop so low to me to apologise since you claimed you will never do so? Was there pressure from Multimedia? Do not mind them coz they will protect their own. If you have not yet lost your job so far for your misogynic, racist, homophobic, sexist and violent views that you air freely on Hitz FM, a station that claims to be progressive, then you wont lose your job even if i take Multimedia to court because realistically I don’t have enough money for that and we all know how our beautiful nation of Ghana functions. As for the police… Your colleagues at Multimedia that like you a lot, because of certain behaviour you have been exhibiting at work, advised that I report you to Nima police station right away so that they come and arrest you for assault…so I did…I went through all the motions required of me officially, but I did not “lubricate” any palms so I doubt they will come for you. If they do then be happy that at least some parts of the police system are still functioning. If you plan to continue your attempt at being a relevant public figure then try and make some adjustments in your life and till the day you do so please don’t comment on things I or my people do, because I really thrive on tit for tat.

Ghana's New Jerseys For The 2014 World Cup In Brazil Leaked

Ghana’s jerseys for the 2014 World Cup have been leaked with the new Black Stars jerseys not distinctly different from what they have won over the years, GHANAsoccernet.com can reveal. The only noticeable difference is the neck area of the shirt that looks like an African cloth which has also been embossed on the arm with Black Stars written in it. The Black Stars will be wearing its traditional white color shirt as its home jersey at FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil. The jerseys have been leaked five months before they are to be unveiled by German kits manufacturers Puma. Designed by Puma, the shirt features a white stripe which has been known of the Black Stars in recent time and multi colours with v-neck design. The shirt design is simple but effective, and it’s very iconic of Ghana.       Source: Ghanasoccernet.com

Fly Emirates Promise Egyptian Players $1million Each To Eliminate Ghana

United Arab Emirates-based Airline giants Fly Emirates have promised an unbelievable $1 million per Egyptian player if the Pharaohs manage to qualify ahead of Ghana to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil despite their faint hopes. The Pharaohs led by American Bob Bradley watched their World Cup dreams evaporated at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi in mid October as a majestic Ghana side demolished the North Africans 6-1. The seven-time AFCON title winners have not played at the mundial since 1990 and an age dubbed the golden generation were determined to take the crisis-hit country to their first modern World Cup by eliminating Ghana. But after the encounter in Kumasi on October 15, almost all Egyptians have given up on Brazil though players and officials have insisted the North Africans are capable of staging a sensational comeback to qualify ahead of Ghana. And it seems they now have the biggest motivation they could ever get as Fly Emirates have promised them a whooping $1 million per player should they beat Ghana with a 5-0 margin to qualify for the World Cup. The venue for the game is still under contention as Ghana officials have sent a written protest to FIFA to shift the game from Egypt due to instability in the country. Egypt have played just twice at the World Cup – 1934 and 1990 while Ghana are in pole position to make their third straight appearance.       Source: Ghanasoccernet.com

Men’s Shortlists For FIFA Ballon d’Or 2013 Revealed

The candidates for the FIFA Ballon d’Or and for the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football awards have been unveiled. The final decisions will be made by the captains and head coaches of the men’s national teams as well as by international media representatives selected by France Football. The winners of all of the awards will be revealed at the FIFA Ballon d’Or as part of a televised show at the Zurich Kongresshaus on 13 January 2014, during which the FIFA FIFPro World XI, the FIFA Puskás Award – for the most beautiful goal of the year – the FIFA Presidential Award and the FIFA Fair Play Award will also be presented. The list of 23 male candidates has been drawn up by football experts from the FIFA Football Committee and by a group of experts from France Football. The list of ten coaches has been drawn up by the Committee for Women’s Football and FIFA Women’s World Cup and by the FIFA Football Committee, as well as by a group of experts from France Football. In early December 2013, FIFA and France Football will announce the names of the three men and three women, as well as the three coaches for women’s football and three coaches for men’s football, who have received the most votes (without unveiling the winners). The three nominees for the FIFA Puskás Award and the FIFA FIFPro World XI shortlist for the best forwards, goalkeepers, defenders and midfielders will also be unveiled in early December. Men’s shortlists for the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2013 The following 23 men (in alphabetical order) are in contention for the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2013: Gareth Bale (Wales), Edinson Cavani (Uruguay), Radamel Falcao (Colombia), Eden Hazard (Belgium), Zlatan Ibrahimović (Sweden), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Müller (Germany), Manuel Neuer (Germany), Neymar (Brazil), Mesut Özil (Germany), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Franck Ribéry (France), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Luis Suárez (Uruguay), Thiago Silva (Brazil), Yaya Touré (Côte d’Ivoire), Robin Van Persie (Netherlands), Xavi (Spain). The following ten coaches (in alphabetical order, first nationality and then team) are in contention for the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football 2013: Carlo Ancelotti (Italy/Paris Saint-Germain FC/Real Madrid CF), Rafael Benítez (Spain/Chelsea FC/SSC Napoli), Antonio Conte (Italy/Juventus), Vicente Del Bosque (Spain/Spain national team), Sir Alex Ferguson (Scotland/Manchester United FC former coach), Jupp Heynckes (Germany/FC Bayern München former coach), Jürgen Klopp (Germany/Borussia Dortmund), José Mourinho (Portugal/Real Madrid CF/Chelsea FC), Luiz Felipe Scolari (Brazil/Brazil national team), Arsène Wenger (France/Arsenal FC).       Source: FIFA

Africa World Airline to fly Brazil from 2014

Local airline, Africa World Airline (AWA) has revealed it will begin flying to Brazil next year.

The airline which plans to plying that route by end of the first quarter of 2014 year said the move is part of its plans to cash in on the FIFA World Cup which take off in June next year in Brazil.

The move is also part of the local airline’s ambitious restructuring plan.

If this ambitious plan comes to being, the local airline will be the first to ply that route from Ghana.

Africa World Airline is the second airline to have gotten the nod to ply the Accra – Lagos route.

Its Chief Operations Officer, Appigy Afenu told Citi Business News, “because of our global ambitions, that is why we have to continue flying domestic…so by the end of the first quarter, we should be there [Brazil].”

There have been calls for local airline to move beyond plying the sub-Saharan route.

But despite its ambitious move, AWA says it will be cautious in the route it chooses to ply.

“We will be careful and deliberate and very, very selective in the markets we fly to. You should understand the economics of the industry…so we will not go to New York but people do not understand these things. They think that because you are an airline, you should fly anywhere…when the time comes, there must be a compelling reason for us to go before we go.”

President Mahama decries shortage of pre- school teachers

President John Dramani Mahama on Monday called on stakeholders to lend their support to the government to eliminate the pre-school teacher deficit the country is experiencing. He said although the country needs a total of 14,000 pre-school teachers to prepare children adequately for lessons, only 287 are available. President Mahama made the call when the leadership of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church (SDA) called on him at the Flagstaff House, Kanda. The leaders were at the Presidency to share some development plans with the President and to invite him for the climax of church’s 125th Anniversary celebration on December 7. President Mahama commended the SDA church for its tremendous interventions in schools, water and sanitation and health projects through the Adventist Development and Relief Agency. He said apart from the spiritual upliftment of the people, the SDA church is also engrossed in development projects that are enhancing the socio-economic infrastructural development of the country. On health President Mahama said Ghana is liaising with counterparts in West Africa to step up the use of larvaecide to stem the incidence of malaria. He explained that the programme is neighbouring countries because mosquitoes could fly from one country to another. President Mahama appealed to the church and other stakeholders to support the government to make the project possible. Pastor Samuel Adama Larmie, President of the SDA Union Conference of Ghana said the church has 600 basic schools, 12 senior high schools, Valley View University College and three level nursing training colleges throughout the country. Apart from that he said the church had also established 21 hospitals and clinics throughout the country.       Source: GNA

WAEC To Cancel Entire Results Of Candidates Found With Phones

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has revised its examination rules on the use of mobile phones, with effect from next year. The revised rule is that any candidate caught with a mobile phone or any electronic communication device in the examination hall will have his or her entire results canceled. The Principal Public Relations Officer of WAEC, Mrs Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, who disclosed this in an interview explained that the decision was to deter candidates from carrying mobile phones and other communication devices to examination halls. She said even though the new rule would take effect from 2014, the WAEC would embark on sensitisation programmes to ensure that students understood the implications of indulging in such practices before writing any of its examinations. The Principal Public Relations Officer said the rule covered all its examinations — the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) as well as the regular and private West African Senior School Examination Certificate (WASSCE). Mrs Teye-Cudjoe said prior to the new rule, candidates caught with mobile phones in WAEC examination halls only had the particular paper they were writing at the time they were caught with the mobile device cancelled, “but now, we are going all out,” she stressed. She said even though the council had introduced a metal detector at most of its examination centres, malpractices continued to occur. Mrs Teye-Cudjoe blamed the invigilators at the various centres for not doing their work well which had resulted in the council’s inability to fight such malpractices. The practice, she said, was common in the private WASSCE, but pointed out that the in-school examinations had also begun recording the use of mobile phones during examinations. Mrs Teye-Cudjoe said, for instance that in 2011, as many as 282 candidates were caught with mobile phones in the examination hall while in 2012, 171 candidates were caught with mobile phones.       Source: Daily Graphic

GES Suspends Teacher Who Impregnated His Pupil

The Accra Metro Education Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES) has suspended Zakaria Amu, a teacher at the Mamprobi ‘5’ Junior High School from teaching. The 38-year-old teacher is said to have engaged in sexual relations with one of his pupils, a 16 year old girl. School authorities got to know about the act after the pupil complained of abdominal pains and was sent to the hospital. The 16-year-old girl told Joy News' Fred Smith that she had sex with Zakaria Amu on numerous occasions. She said the teacher has also assisted her to abort a baby. "He [teacher] said he will look after me when I complete school so I am looking forward to that", the pupil told Fred. The Accra Metro Directorate of the GES says they have suspended the teacher and barred him from entering any school in the metropolis. Alfred Kofi Sai, Director of the Accra Metro Directorate of GES told Fred Smith his outfit has "written to the teacher to cease going to the school or even to any other school." He said they have instructed Zakaria Amu to report to work at the Directorate for the matter to be investigated.       Source: myjoyonline

Metro Mass Ups Fleet To 1,048 Vehicles

The Metro Mass Transit Limited (MMT) has increased its fleet of passenger vehicles to 1,048 as part of efforts aimed at meeting the consistent rise in demand for its services nationwide. Out of the number, 800 of the buses are often deplored onto the road on daily basis while the remainder either remain on standby or undergo routine maintenance to be able to replace worn out vehicles as well as those that may break down in the course of operations. The company’s fleet is made of assorted buses, including 45, 62 and 70-seater capacity buses, MMT’s Communications Manager, Mr Eric Boadi-Misa, said in an interview. Mr Boadi-Misa disclosed this to the GRAPHIC BUSINESS on the side-lines of the National Policy Fair, which ended on October 18. Metro Mass, which provides low-cost transportation services in all corners of the country, participated in three-day event to, among other things, expose its line of service to the general public as well sample their opinion about its operations. Mr Boadi-Misa said added that the company’s fleet was acquired through its internally generated fund (IGF) while others were acquired for it by the government, which is the sole shareholder. He said although MMT had strengthened its fleet capacity, it had maintained the number of routes that it operates on and the depots at which it services that fleet. The company has three depots in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale and its routes are 423. On the company’s finances, Mr Boadi-Misa said “it is superb.” “The good thing about us is that the routes that our competitors don’t use, we use them and however low the earnings are, it adds to our income,” he said. He, however, added that the bad nature of the country was posing a major huddle to the company’s operations and called for interventions to help reduce the problem. “We operate in almost every corner of the country despite the bad nature of the roads and that cost us a lot. If the roads were good, things would have been better,” he said.       Source: Graphic.com.gh

Government predicts power crisis in 2015... as water level in the Volta Lake dwindle

Government is predicting a likely power crisis in 2015 as water in the Volta Lake dwindles due to poor rainfall pattern this year.
The low water level is expected to affect power generation by the Volta River Authority (VRA), the national power generator.
The country endured a-year-long load shedding in 2006, when the water level in the Volta Lake went down below the Dam's operating limit.
Communications consultant at the Energy Ministry, Edward Bawa told JoyNews that government had already started a process to add more thermal power generating capacity to the energy mix to contain any power challenge the country will experience in 2015.
According to Edward Bawa,  if the water level remains the same - above the average range in 2014 - the country will be safe in 2014 but would be affected and hit with power crisis in 2015/2016 due to insufficient water in the reservoir.
 As a strategy, there is need to "ramp-up our thermal component of the generation mix. At least , when even that situation arises, we will have sufficient thermal generation to be able to augment that short fall that will come as a result of the shortage of water”, Mr. Bawa pointed out.

Ghanaian invents pocket PC tablet

Source: Ghana High Commission London

A 28-year-old Ghanaian, Derrick Addae, CEO of GIL Corporation from Kwabre-Aboaso in the Ashanti region has invented a pocket PC tablet which can compete with most of the known tablets on the international market like Apple’s IPad and Samsung’s Galaxy tablet.
Addae’s invention is called ‘G’ Slab and is capable of making phone calls, it has wi-fi and Bluetooth and built-in Microsoft word with which one can upload any document from USB stick or Dongle.
The ‘G’ Slab has a memory of 8GB and it can support additional memory of 64 GB and can take as many Apps as any other tablet.
The ‘G’ Slab was launched in London by the Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, Prof. Kweku Danso-Boafo at the offices of the Ghana Mission on Friday, October 18, 2013.
Launching the G Slab, Prof. Kweku Danso-Boafo congratulated Addae for his invention and noted that it took the Western world so many years to build computers and get to where they are today but he is hopeful that with people like Addae, Africa would soon be having its own computer giants too.

  The launch was attended by the Ghanaian Community, staff of the Ghana High Commission and staff of GIL Corporation.

D’banj Rocks N1 Million Blazer (Photo)

They don’t call him BANGALEE for nothing. Music superstar D’banj was at the 2013 Hennessy Finale which took place on Saturday 19th October 2013 at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. The Koko Master was the headlining act of the show. D’banj took to the black carpet in a custom black blazer with uniquely designed and placed crystals. According to a media rep for the show, the single button blazer costs over 1 Million Naira and was sent in from the United States. He completed his look with a white shirt, gold necklaces, dark shades and black pants.       Source: bellanaija.com

Water level in Akosombo Dam dropping

The Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah has revealed that the Akosombo Dam is in a critical stage due to low volumes of water flowing into it this year.
He noted that this was due to the poor rainfall pattern and it would likely affect electricity supply.
Mr Buah, who was speaking to journalists in Tamale, said unless something critical happened; the country will face a serious energy problem in 2015 and 2016.
The Minister, in Tamale as part of a three-day tour to inspect on-going rural electrification projects in the three northern regions, stressed the need for power supply and distribution companies to adopt the most cost-effective means to generate energy, including thermal and solar, while government and the citizenry used electricity responsibly to reduce the burden.
He said there was also the need for private energy producers to invest in the sector to salvage the situation. 
Mr Buah directed the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCO) to cut-off government departments and MMDAs that failed to pay electricity bills, saying, “all departments and MMDAs must be connected to the pre-paid meters to ensure that they use energy responsibly”.
According to him, all government departments, ministries, institutions and agencies must find realistic source of funding to pay their electricity bills and that the country must adopt measures towards moving to realistic tariffs for everybody in order to meet the critical demand of the nation.
Mr Buah noted that all government agencies had annual budgets and part of their budgets included expenditure for utilities, adding they must use such funds to pay for the electricity they consume.

On the directive from the President to Ministers to pay electricity, Mr Buah said a team had been put in place to ensure compliance and that the process had already started.

He said the northern part of the country had low electrification and the need to expand energy to all parts of the area was very critical.
Mr Buah urged all state institutions that are into the energy sector to work in tandem to address the challenging times, adding that “On Thursday, we will be launching a new initiative in Garu in the Upper East Region to promote the use of LPG as alternative source of energy for rural dwellers”.

Sandra Ankobia: ‘No Comment About Yvonne Nelson'

Sandra Ankobia     They were close friends and were seen together at various functions until the relationship between he once best friends, actress, Yvonne Nelson and Sandra Ankobiah, host of Fashion 101 started waning. The two gave the first signal of their strained relationship early this year when Yvonne was conspicuously missing at Sandra’s graduation party after passing out of Law School because the former was also premiering her latest House of Gold movie. This act of the two raised a lot of eyebrows and sent many questioning why the two friends would want to organise individual events on the same day. But the answer was not readily available until both ladies removed pictures of themselves together on their Facebook pages and Instagram. Yvonne later tweeted: “Hard to make new friends now. People get closer just because they need the HYPE! Well, you got the hype and just lost a Friend. Goodnight”. Even though both parties have been silent on the issue, the versatile actress put to rest all the rumours and confirmed her sweet- turned- sour relationship with Sandra on Delay’s show recently. According to the Queen’s Bride actress, there wasn’t any argument or misunderstanding between them but it turned out that she wasn’t hearing from Sandra. “I just don’t hear from her,” she stated. She admitted that even though Sandra is a nice person, she (Yvonne) is focused right now and therefore had to “move away”.   Yvonne Nelson and Sandra Ankobea during the happy times When Delay asked why she had to move away, she remarked, “birds of the same feathers, flock together” and so she had no option but to distance herself since they were two different people. But in the midst of all these “bashing”, the Fashion 101 host has rather been silent on the issue and she maintained that posture when Showbiz called last Friday to get her side of the story. Her publicist, Obed Boafo who spoke on her behalf said Sandra had nothing to say about her relationship with Yvonne citing personal reasons for her silence. “No comments that is Sandra’s decision. She doesn’t want to be dragged into controversies and this issue is more of a personal one so let’s leave it as it is,” he said. Not even the question of what might have caused the bad blood between the two ladies could get Mr. Boafo to give details as he stood his grounds and said “As I said earlier, let’s leave it the way it is for now”. Meanwhile, Showbiz’s following of the two on various social media platforms has shown that Yvonne Nelson recently deleted videos of them together on Keek, a free online social networking service that allows users to upload video status updates.     Source: Graphic Showbiz