Justice Paul Derry and three others fired: Over Anas Expose`

President Nana Akufo-Addo has fired three High Court judges implicated in acts of corruption with immediate effect.

The judges by name  Mr. Ayisi Addo, Mr. Paul Uuter Dery, and Mr. Mustapha Habib Logoh.

These three judges were among the 22 High and Lower Court judges captured by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, in audio and video recordings in 2015, showing them collecting bribes on their line of duty.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has, by letter dated Thursday, 6th December, 2018, removed Mr. Justice Ayisi Addo, Mr. Justice Uuter Paul Dery, and Mr. Justice Mustapha Habib Logoh, from office as Justices of the High Court,” a statement from the Presidency said.

Their removal came after the Committee established by the Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo to investigate a complaint lodged against the three judges by Anas Aremeyaw Anas, recommended their removal from office.

“The President, in accordance with the provisions of Article 146(9) of the Constitution, has acted on the recommendations of the Committee, as the Constitution enjoins him to do, and has, accordingly, removed the three Justices of the High Court from office on the grounds of bribery and corruption.

The Committee concluded that the conduct of the Justices amounted to a criminal offence under the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, (Act 29) (as amended).

TIN registration hits over 2 million:Ghana Revenue Authority.

High number of over two million people have already obtained their Taxpayer Identification 

Numbers (TIN), the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) announced this development on Monday 10th December,2018.

The Assistant Commissioner, Communications and Public Affairs of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Mr Kwesi Bobie-Ansah,disclosed this.He elaborated more people were registering to acquire the TIN because it had become a requirement for certain business transactions.

The TIN is a unique identification number issued to taxpayers for official transactions, and the GRA has said it wants to use this strategy to expand the tax net for domestic revenue generation.

 In accordance with the Revenue Administration Act (RAA), a person shall show the TIN in any claim, declaration, notice, return, statement or other document used for the purpose of a tax law.The RAA, he stated, provides a list of institutions to which the TIN applies, including the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Controller and Accountant General’s Department and the Lands Commission,etc.

Relating how important the TIN is becoming,He pleaded with the public to register for the TIN and to be able to transact businesses.

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) gave a hint in some were April this year,that persons without the TIN number given to identify taxpayers and enable the GRA to credit them whenever they pay their taxes, cannot open a bank account, file a case in court, acquire a passport or obtain a driver’s licence.

 Persons without the TIN also will not be able to register a vehicle, clear goods in commercial quantities from the ports or register any title to land or any document affecting land.Other services for which the TIN is needed include registration of company at the Registrar General’s Department or any District Assembly office; receiving any payment from the Controller and Accountant General or a District Assembly in respect of a contract for the supply of any goods or provisions of any services.

Most banks have pleaded that although staff had been educated on the TIN, the bank had planned to use the rest of the year to educate clients and would fully enforce it next year.

Note that the finance minister stated in the just read buffet that the TIN shall take serious effect in January 2019.

Arise and clean Ghana:

According to the World Health Organization, “sanitation generally refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human urine and feaces. The word sanitation also refers to the maintenance of hygienic conditions, through services such as garbage collection and waste disposal”. This definition of sanitation is important not only because it comes from a global watchdog of health like the World Health Organization but because it identifies the three important components of sanitation – human excreta waste, solid waste and liquid waste.
Cleanliness they say is next to Godliness but in Ghana its a different story all together. Sanition issues is becoming a burden on each government that take mantra in Ghana and most of these issues are as a result of several factors combined.
first lets take a look at,
 CITIZENSHIP ATTITUDE:
Most of these filth we find on the streets and gutter are as a result of our making,one could realise that cleaning our own surrounding were we live has become a challenge.We dumb rubbish any place of our choice forgetting the long effects.Citizens turn blind eye to choked gutter in their neighbourhood all in the name that the government should come and distill them.
Its embarrassing as a people to see open defecation is widespread as 3 out of five Ghanaians attend natures call in the bush, dump sites, drains or even at the beach; drains are choked with solid waste causing floods and quiet fantastically,

It high time such uncivilised and lacadestical attitudes are changed in order to curb the sanitation issue.
second factor is
GOVERNMENTAL POLICIES:
Day in day out differnt governments come and exit but fail to address the filth cancer.
former President of Ghana John Dramani Mahama on 1st  November, 2014 declared the first Saturday of each month as a National Sanitation Day following the unforgettable cholera outbreak that claimed over 150 lives in Ghana that year, it was meant to signify the leading role government ought to assume in the fight to promote sanitation across the country. Over four years down the line, the day has escaped the memory of almost everyone and the issue of sanitation somehow has been relegated to the background among the public.This policies do not see sustainability because there is no legislative instruments backing them but just a mere statement and a one day wonder.

Several initiatives have been introduced by government but non of been able to be sustained and seen our sanitation issues solved.
Also failure of government to provide dustbins and waste collectors,to a large extent, the challenges to sanitation in Ghana and many other developing nations are linked to the inability to create proper disposal points for solid waste, lack of enforcement of sanitation laws, population growth, poor financing of sanitation policies, rural-urban migration, poor sanitation infrastructure, lack of sanitation technologies among others.
Even though the country Ghana has seen several non governmental organisations organizing clean up exercise here and there,there is the need to push the government to educate the masses of the dangers that are associated with filth and create agencies and task forces to reduce the filth issues in various communities.Most of these societies and non governmental organisations do not have the adequate fund and support,their efforts always go in vain due to these constraints.

One of the problems is how far the waste collected by an individual can go to ensure that it doesn’t return to their compounds and gutters or those of other people. Encouraging people to take responsibility for providing their own sanitation without creating dump sites will only result in people gathering waste around themselves. It is without surprise that the over 2,200 tonnes of solid waste in Accra is scattered in the streets and drains of the city, causing nightmare situations most of the time.In the urban areas, private companies take up the responsibility of collecting the solid waste of  but of individual house holds for a fee.

5 SOLUTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS TO THIS  FILTH NIGHTMARE:

1. Creating of dumb sites for the accumulation of filth.

2. Recruiting an army of waste mongers and equip them with transport to collect waste of house hold on a lower fee.

3.Sensitizing the public on the need to clean and keep their surrounding clean.

4. Pass a law on filth and  ensure its enforcement.

5.Provision of jobs and ameinties in the rural areas,so to curb the rural-urban migration issues.This can reduce the amount of rubbish accumulated in the capital cities causing floods.

With all these suggestion and solution when looked at and attached to our systems can make as change.It our duty as citizens to manage and ensure the each government policies succeed for the betterment of our country.

Story written by Indosil Mumuni

Galaxy fun club cleans Tema General hospital.