Month: May 2023

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Receiver of defunct UniBank, Nii Amanoo Dodoo, can testify in the trial of Kwabena Duffour, and eight others. Defence lawyers of the accused persons indicated that Nii Dodoo should not be allowed to testify. They argued that the Receiver had breached sections of the Banks and Specialised Deposit Act, 2016. The lawyers explained that he was appointed as Receiver of UniBank after being a partner of KPMG which audited the accounts of the bank. But the State opposed the objection. Mrs Yvonne Attakora Obuobisa, the Director of Public Prosecution, admitted that Nii Dodoo was previously a partner of KPMG. She, however, argued that his appointment as the Receiver was lawful. Mrs Attakora Obuobisa urged the court to dismiss the objection since the witness met the requirement for qualifying to testify. Mr Bright Mensah, a Court of Appeal Judge, sitting as an additional High Court judge dismissed the objection and upheld the Director of Public Prosecution’s arguments. The judge said that Section 59 of the Evidence Act explains who was not qualified to testify. It includes someone who was incapable of coherent expression to be understood, directly or through interpretation by another person who can understand that person; or incapable of understanding the duty of a witness to tell the truth.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Public institutions and individuals have been advised to register and secure their lands with the proper documentation to avert any encroachment which could lead to future litigations and possible loss of the land. Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene, the Bono Regional Minister, gave the advice when she received an executive summary report on the encroachment of the Sunyani Ridge Cluster of Schools land, following a petition received from the Parent-Teacher Association, the Management, staff and old students last year. The five-member Committee that investigated the issue presented the report to the Minister at a meeting in Sunyani. She commended the Committee for the good job done in the supreme interest of the public and to promote peace and socio-economic development in the Sunyani Municipality. Madam Owusu-Banahene promised that the report would not be abandoned in her office but would be perused to ensure the matter was resolved and brought to its logical conclusion. The Management, PTA, Old Student Association and the pupils/students of the Ridge Cluster of Schools went on a peaceful demonstration in March 2022 to present a petition to the Regional Minister to intervene in the alleged encroachment and sale of the schools’ lands to private developers. A five-member committee was, thus, constituted to look into the matter, with Mr Alexander Bae-Yeboah, an Assistant Director at the Bono Regional Coordinating Council, as Secretary. The Committee was to establish the true land title/ownership of the land in dispute and determine whether there had been re-zoning and release of portions of it to private developers by the Regional Lands Commission Secretariat. If so, the Committee was to determine whether that was appropriate and necessary in relation to the land use and spatial planning of the Sunyani Municipality, Mr Bae-Yeboah, who presented the report, said. It was also to establish the extent to which the re-zoning had affected the schools’ lands and determine whether the change of use for commercial activities or any other uses would have negative impacts on the academic progress and future development of the schools. He said the committee also considered other relevant information that would help avoid future occurrences and made the appropriate recommendations to forestall an emergence of such disputes on public lands. It recommended that discussions must be held with identified property owners around the school to determine whether they could release these lands to the school for future expansion. Those property owners would then be compensated with plots of lands elsewhere within the municipality on agreement.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Cameroonian born Joel Embiid, 29 of the Philadelphia, USA 76ers has been named the National Basketball Association NBA’s Most Valuable Player, MVP for the 2022-23 season.

EmbiId who finished second in the award behind Nikola Jokic in the past two seasons, was competing against Giannis Antetokounmpo and Denver Nuggets star Jokic to claim the game’s top individual accolade on May 2nd.

He bagged the award with 73 out of the 100 available first-place votes. Jokic had 15 while Antetokounmpo rounded out the top three with 12 votes, ahead of Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Reports reveal he had publicly campaigned and declared his intention to win the MVP for years now. Speaking to “ Inside the NBA press” after being named MVP he reacted saying “I don’t even know where to start. It’s been a long time coming, a lot of hard work. I’ve been through a lot, and I’m not just talking about basketball… It feels good. I don’t know what to say. It’s amazing.”

Embiid began his basketball career at 15 after playing volleyball and soccer back in Cameroon. He discovered basketball by watching videos on YouTube and dedicated himself to his craft, before he moved to the United States at 16 years and was spotted in a basketball camp.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Professionals from all over the country met at the First National Conference of Journalists on Wednesday in Luanda aimed to reflect on the exercise of free, ethical and decent journalism”.

Opened by the Minister of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communication, Mário de Oliveira, the meeting aimed to promote an approach on the current framework of freedom of the press.

The meeting also analysed the legal dimension of freedom of the press, access to information from local communities and community radios.

The meeting also addressed self-regulation, functioning and social conditions.

Among the subjects, the participants addressed the continuous training of journalists, incentives for the media, improvement of conditions for the class.

The programme of the event, held ahead of the World Press Freedom Day, also included the launch of the Press Freedom Award.

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Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)

Several Media practitioners have been sensitized on the negative impacts of misinformation, disinformation, and fake news.

This was on the occasion of the commemoration of World Press Freedom Day in Cameroon on May 3 at the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication.

The seminar which took place under the theme ” Disinformation, a hindrance to the rights of Citizens to have access to the right information, was chaired by the Minister of Post and Telecommunication, Minette Libom Li Likeng.

The minister said they recognize that Journalists have a key role to play in the organization of society by avoiding fake news, misinformation, and disinformation.

“We are therefore here to help Journalists to do their Job by giving them the right information to make them be able to differentiate between misinformation and the truth” She stated.

According to Yerima Kini Nsom, Bureau Chief of The Post Newspaper in Yaounde, Journalists should be steadfast in ensuring that anything that goes to the public is verified and trusted.

“Journalists should show that responsibility of great magnitude to fight against the ill on misinformation and disinformation. They can do this by discipline and verification of facts. Journalists should be doubting Thomases, it’s not enough to see issues being published on social media that one should think it is the truth. We should always verify our sources in order to avoid fake news” He said.

He further recalled to media men to ” Always check and check and if in doubts kill the story. Always verify if the person giving you that information has the authority of intellectual capacity to give you that information”

” It was an enriching experience, I leave this seminar more aware of the dangers of social media, and I have to take every piece of information I come across with a pinch of salt. I leave here like a doubting Thomas to question every piece of information I come across before disseminating and passing across to the public” a participant, Isaac NGONG KUM said.

Before the end of the seminar, there was a working session where Journalists had an exchange with experts for a better understanding of these concepts. Awarding of Certificates to participants thereafter.

Organized under the sponsorship of MINPOSTEL by the Association Media, Mediation and Citizenship, this event is in line with actions taken by the government to end misinformation and fake news in the country.

Source: Cameroon News Agency