Ghana Is On Keeping The peace

The National Peace Council (NPC) has advised security personnel not to do anything that will be misconstrued as intimidation and a violation of people’s human rights.

“We advice the security personnel who have performed admirably so far not to do anything that will be misconstrued as intimidation and a violation of people’s human rights,” it said.

A statement signed by the Chairman of the NPC, the Most Rev Prof Emmanuel Asante, welcomed assurances by the security forces, the leaders of political parties and other stakeholders that peace would be maintained.

“The NPC respectfully urges all parties concerned to resolve any outstanding disputes relating to election results peacefully through the procedures established by the Constitution and laws of the country and in an atmosphere devoid of recrimination, harassment or intimidation,” it said.

It called on all stakeholders to take all appropriate steps to maintain an environment conducive to the consolidation and stability of the country’s constitutional democracy.

It congratulated the people of Ghana on the peaceful conduct of the recent general election.

According to EC results, President Mahama polled 5,574,761 votes, representing 50.70 per cent of the total valid votes, cast to beat his closest challenger, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who obtained 5,248,898 votes, representing 47.74 per cent of the total valid votes cast.

However, the NPP has protested the decision of the EC and said it will go to court on the issue.

Supporters of the party have, for the past two days, gathered at the Obra Spot at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra to protest against the decision of the EC.

The results declared by the EC put Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) third with 64,362 votes, representing 0.59 per cent, followed by Dr Henry Lartey of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) with 38,223 votes, representing 0.35 per cent, and Hassan Ayariga of the People’s National Convention (PNC), who obtained 24,617 votes, representing 0.22 per cent of the total valid votes cast.

Dr Michael Abu Sakara Foster of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) obtained 20,323 votes, representing 0.18 per cent, followed by Jacob Osei Yeboah, the independent candidate, with 15,201 votes, representing 0.14 per cent, and Akwasi Addai of the United Front Party (UFP) with 8,877 votes, representing 0.08 per cent of the total valid votes cast.

Who Needs “A President At All Cost”?

Will Nana Akufo-Addo ever concede defeat? The time for the answer to the one billion dollar question is now! Unfortunately, those of us who know better are aware of the fact that over the years, one thing that has figured very prominently in Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's political career is the impression he gives of himself as being someone who loses in a fair competition but whines about it on a constant basis, blaming everyone around him for his loss except himself! This single-headed determination to rule Ghana “at all cost” is completely alien to any democracy anywhere. Ghana is far too big than the childhood ambitions of a son of a former president to become a President of Ghana before he dies, whether he is fit or not, whether the majority of Ghanaians agree or not!

Who Needs “A President At All Cost”?

It became evident, as soon as the opinion polls continued to favour the incumbent, President John Mahama, Presidential candidate of the NDC, albeit by “a hair”, the Akufo-Addo camp intensified their rhetoric of violence and suspicions of the ruling NDC. Akufo-Addo knows he is going to be defeated at the polls, but that did not stop him from fighting to the bitter end in 2008, and it is certainly not stop him from still putting up a desperate fight in his last bid for power. What even makes the 2012 election even more tensed is heightened by the fact that some contenders only see the price of the race, but not the electoral means. The only explanation which needs to be explored further was given by Mr. Asare Otchere-Darko as simply being that “the stakes are very high”! What does that mean? Isn't it simply amazing how these aristocrats-turned democrats still manage to keep their contempt for the masses intact?
Nana Akufo-Addo has made up his mind that he needs to be a President in 2012, “at all cost”, otherwise he faces the unpalatable prospect of kissing a painful good-bye to a cherished dream to become President like “Papa” was, and it looks like not even our democracy can stop him! For him, it does not matter who won, so far as he is not the one! An NPP activist actually mounted a podium during a recent rally to proclaim that “As for me I have closed my ears, and I have made up my mind that anything other than a win is a fraud!” There have been other more subtle forms of the same message. The speech delivered by Nana Akufo-Addo at during the signing of the Kumasi Peace Accord is another.
Getting Ready In Case He Lost?

A careful reading between the lines indicate clearly this was a major pre-occupation at the back of the mind of the writer of the who recently went through a great length to argue that:

“Unlike Nana Akufo-Addo, John Mahama has no track record of adopting the gentlemanly course of gracefully accepting defeat after losing an election, simply because he has never tasted defeat at the highest level of political competition where the stakes are most high. Given his recent implied complicity with the aggression upon his fellow Ghanaians, how can we trust that John Mahama’s rhetoric calling for peace will match his action when the votes are tallied and he comes up short? The record so far shows that he and his government are unable to carry out their duties as elected officials in a professional and nonpartisan manner. We cannot afford a ruling party whose key leaders stick their heads in the sand or look the other way while others are brutalized by violent supporters of his own party. It has been sometime that the NPP candidate for Ghana's Presidential elections that was just held on the 7th of December 2012, has been carefully building an image of, as put recently by his right-hand man, Mr. Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, the Executive Director of the Danquah Institute recently, “gracefully accepting defeat after losing an election”. It might be useful to first discuss that before we go on. The first time Nana Akufo-Addo made reference to that was his speech at the 2012 Oppenheimer Lecture in London on 'The future of democracy in Africa and the Arab Spring' at Arundel House, 29 February 2012, that Ghanaians heard for the first time, a clear concession to defeat by Nana Akufo-Addo, in an election that took place almost four years before! The refusal by Nana Akufo-Addo to concede defeat in the 2008 Presidential elections nearly plunged the country into a political turmoil. Yet he would say at the Oppenheimer Lecture:
“Those of you who know me also know how deeply I believe that democratic values are the only way forward for all Africans – be they north or south. I was the candidate of the ruling party in Ghana who, in 2008, accepted defeat in the last presidential election, without demanding a recount and without spilling a single drop of blood, without seeking power-sharing or forcing a constitutional crisis, in an election which I lost by the narrowest of margins in the history of elections in Africa.”

“That margin was 0.46 percent, some 40,000 votes in a poll of some 9 million voters. I had spent the previous three decades of my life fighting against military dictatorship and for freedom and democracy. Democracy should not be subject to individual interpretation, and it should not be a negotiation between elites and stakeholders.

“I was not prepared to put my personal ambition before the principles that made me a politician in the first place. Democracy is best established when institutions are trusted, the rules of the game clear and political actors are prepared to win and lose,
Then again he repeated the same lie on a BBC HARDtalk Programme! It has since been his mantra at every opportunity, including the most recent one at during the signature ceremony of the Kumasi Peace Accord. So this makes those of us who know what happened in reality, vis-à-vis the carefully yarned spin coming from Nana Akufo-Addo, have been wondering why such a truncated rendition of a history in which the whole nation witnessed! What even made Nana Akufo-Addo's attempt to frustrate the will of the people, are the facts which later emerged, clearly indicating that Nana Akufo-Addo even knew in advance that he was going to lose the elections, as his own pollster, Professor Larry Gibson was reported to have made known to him in a special report.

Did Akufo-Addo Refuse To Concede In 2008 Albeit He Knew In Advance He was Going To Lose?

It is one thing expecting to win an election and losing it. It is quite another, when you do not even expect to win and you lose. Akufo-Addo was supposed to be in the second category, where he was actually told in advance by his own experts, that he was going to lose, and yet when he lost, he did everything possible to reverse the decision of the Electoral Commissioner. He only abandoned his “insurrection” after the President put his feet down and other party members began to speak openly against the whole idea.
Ghana was very lucky that in 2008, we had a President from his own party who knew him very well from his own bitter experience, and was ready to put his big feet down. Akufo-Addo's political tautology of calling on the Kufour Administration to protect NPP supporters, could have been laughable, but for ominous warnings for the future. In his speech "acknowledging" the announcement of the Electoral Commissioner, he called on President J.A. Kufuor, the security forces and the law enforcement agencies to ensure the safety and security of the party's supporters, because “I am concerned that if positive steps are not taken to protect and to reassure them, they will be compelled to defend themselves.

If Akufo-Addo was already speaking like that, even under the NPP Administration, when his own bodyguards were doing most of the beatings in town,including beating the body guards of candidate Mills in public at Cape Coast during the Afahye, and in Kumasi, during the Odwira Festival, what is he not going to say next time around? Akufo-Addo was fully aware that he was bound to lose, as soon as the vote went up for a second round. That is what Dr. Arthur Kennedy tells us from his book, "Chasing the elephant into the bush". This has been unwittingly confirmed by people close to Akufo-Addo like Gabriel Asare Otchere-Darko, who claimed only five Ghanaians have set eyes on the report so far. The first time we got a hint of the Larry Gibson prediction was from his book, “Chasing the elephant into the bush”. This is how Colin Essamuah put it in his book review:
“Dr. Kennedy makes clear, line after line in his book, that the NPP as a corporate body, then and now, suffered fatally from a delusional triumphalism that electoral defeat was impossible, and therefore, unthinkable. This illogical belief affected every political decision, and every propaganda step they took during the campaign. It is delusional triumphalism which produced 18 presidential aspirants, including ALL the senior ministers in the Kufuor cabinet, including his blood brother, Kwame Addo-Kufuor, plus three sojourners in Europe and America, Boakye Agyarko, Agyei-Barwuah and the author himself. It is the delusion of victory that produced the inherent belief in party ranks that the opposition NDC was no factor, even though as early as August, 2008, the NPP had been warned that the non-existent opposition NDC could force a second round, courtesy the advice of Professor Larry Gibson.

But even more damning is the account that “Larry Gibson was so shocked by NPP's poor showing in the Central Region that he decided to take a trip to the coastal areas with one of my researchers, Ouborr Kutando, posing as researchers from the two men's old school, Harvard University. They returned convinced that NPP was going to lose about half of their seats. Three areas that were shockingly bad for the NPP were Mfantsiman East, Cape Coast and Elmina. I personally told the Regional Minister about Elmina and Cape Coast, he disagreed. Ouborr said he told Asa Bee that he was going to lose, the MP disagreed.” We all know today, that the MP in question, Mr. Asamoah Boateng, lost the Mfantseman East constituency. We also know of the presidential candidate who lost at the national level.
For Akufo-Addo to pretend that he lost the elections because his millions of supporters in the Volta Region were prevented from voting for him, is to take all of us for fools! Even in his contest with Alan Kyeremanteng, the Volta Regional branch of the NPP gave 96% of their votes to Alan Kyeremanteng! Which votes was he talking about that he nearly led Ghana to the precipice of war as a result of such bêtise? Who in Ghana did not know that the Volta Region was an NDC "world bank"? The NPP was then in power, and in charge of law and order, yet these so-called "learned men" did not even know how to file a simple electoral complaint! They even confused Ghana's electoral laws with our criminal law! And they call themselves lawyers! Even though the Minister of the Interior was an NPP stalwart they chose to complain like children to the Electoral Commission instead of directing their criminal complaints to the police!

Even though his party boasts of brilliant lawyers, there was no one available to furnish the Electoral Commission following the laid down procedures of Ghana's Electoral law. As indicated by Dr Afari-Gyan, “In respect of the materials submitted by the NPP in the nature of evidence, the Commission found out that; some of the issues raised bothered on criminality and, therefore, fell outside the competence of the EC.” He went further to indicate, "In the purely electoral matters, the Commission did not find the evidence provided to be sufficient to invalidate the results. "In view of these findings about the complaints of the two parties, the results as previously tallied from the 229 constituencies remain unchanged. Accordingly the results of the run-off in the Tain constituency, which was held on January 2 2009, have been added to the national tally," Dr Afari-Gyan stated

A further attempt to throw the entire electoral process out of gear was thrown out of court, when on January 1st, a Public Holiday, an ex-parte motion calling on an injunction on the Electoral Commission to provide the electoral results was dismissed because it was secretly served on the court, and on the blind side of the principal stake-holders, namely the Ghana Electoral Commission, and the National Democratic Congress which won the elections. The court, instead, indicated that looking at the nature of the case and the exigencies, it was prudent for the interested parties, namely, Prof John Evans Atta Mills, Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and the NDC to be served on notice with the pleadings to enable them to react appropriately. Even though the NPP was in power, not even the President was informed about this dirty move against our democracy!

There was also a condemnation by the legal brain and a former National Chairman of the NPP, and a member of the Council of Elders of the New Patriotic Party, the late Mr. B.J Da Rocha considered “the action taken by the party against the EC is neither in the interest of the nation nor the credibility of the NPP.” The Party Chairman Peter Mac Manu, and counsel Atta Akyia had earlier filed two writs to put an injunction on the Tain election and to stop the EC chairman from declaring the results of the December 28 run-off. Mr. Da Rocha said the "action is wrong and must be abandoned." He told Joy News on Friday, “the constitution must be allowed to play out without any interference.” He intimated “there are provisions within the constitution which allows for the party to seek redress of all their grievances, adding the process must be allowed to go on.
Did anyone see Nana Akufo-Addo, out of his own volition, “gracefully accepting defeat after losing an election”? If not, then the question that must follow is simple, why has he been giving that impression of himself? The answer is waiting in the wind! We know one of the lies he is going to issue in order to pursue his agenda of “President at all cost”, otherwise known as “all die be die!” He is probably going to begin his speech with, “You all know, in 2008, it was razor-sharp, yet I conceded defeat. I have a track record of “gracefully accepting defeat after losing an election, but since this is my last chance, I am changing the rules! I am not accepting this one because I have been cheated”!

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has been carefully planning that eventuality, and the accompanying lies for some time now, and I doubt very much he will deviate from the script, completely and arrogantly oblivious of the fact that Ghana does not at all belong to him! No one should even be surprised to hear calls on the duly elected President to concede defeat to the loser! It happened in 2008. A member of the Governing Body of his public relations outfit, The Danquah Institute, even wrote a complete feature article calling on the President-elect to hand over power to Akufo-Addo! 
“Atta-Mills Must Concede Defeat!” By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.,
For Life, the Environment, and Social Justice!

The Next President Of The Republic of Ghana

The Chairman for the Electoral Commission, Dr kwadwo Afari Gyan has declared Ghana’s incumbent president John Dramani Mahama, the winner of the 2012 presidential elections. 

President Mahama who ran on the ticket of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), polled 5,574,761 representing 50.70% to win the polls held on Friday and Saturday.

The presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Akufo-Addo had 5,248,898 of the valid votes cast, representing 47.74%.

Out of a total of 14,158,890 registered voters, 11,246,982 voters exercised their franchise. 10,995,262 of this number were deemed valid. The total rejected votes stood at 251,720. The turnout in the 275 constituencies is 79.43%

The flag-bearer of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom placed third in the elections with 64,362 votes representing 0.59.

Multimedia's Elections Headquarters had projected that incumbent president would win the poll.

The EC's results virtually confirmed the projected results of Media

There are wild celebrations on major streets and pubs across the country.

Defeated Parliamentary Candidates Contest Defeat

A number of closely fought parliamentary elections are being contested by the losing candidates who are calling for a re-collation of polling station results.

The runners up in these constituencies have refused to sign and thus certify the final result sheets. They have however been speaking to local radio stations arguing their case for rejecting the outcome of the polls in their respective constituencies.

The contested seats include Sekondi constituency in the Western Region which is being disputed by the NDC’s Anthony Cudjoe, the Chief Executive for the Metropolis. He is disputing that the incumbent Paa Owusu Ankomah won. Mr. Cudjoe, according to the provisional results lost by about a thousand votes.

In the Tema East in the Greater Accra, the NDC candidate who is also the Chief Executive for that Metropolis Kempis Ofosu Ware is contesting the results which he lost by only 3 votes to the NPP’s Titus Glover.

Former Information Minister in the NPP era, Stephen Asamoah Boateng failed in his comeback bid to beat the Deputy Central Regional Minister, Acquinas Quansah to the Mfantseman constituency seat in the Central Region. Mr. Asamoah Boateng lost by 2,361 votes.

The New President To Take Over The Next Team

Electoral Commission Chairman Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan has announced that the Commission will declare the results of Friday’s election within 72 hours after the close of poll.

The PRESIDENTIAL RESULTS BASED ON 253 CONSTITUENCIES

50.39% Ndc

48.04% Npp

“We normally give ourselves 72 hours to deal completely with what has to be done but in 48 hours, we should know who is winning”, he said.

Dr. Afari-Gyan was speaking Wednesday at a news conference in Accra where he highlighted the EC’s preparedness for Friday’s polls.

With just a couple of days to go, he said, “we will not be limited by any timeline to announce the Presidential results, but will work within reasonable time to announce the results.”

He reported that all materials relevant to the elections have already been distributed in the field, “so we are ready to conduct the elections.”

“From the exercise we did on Tuesday on the early voting, we can say we have robust machines for the job.”

The EC chairman said that verification machines processed large numbers of voters during the early voting exercises, “so in our largest polling stations, which has 1,100, even there people can be processed for voting.”

Touching on the security officials who were unable to vote early because their names were missing from the register, Dr. Afari-Gyan said the problem was not with the commission but with the security agencies that failed to submit the particulars of their ID cards or provided wrong information as the list of early voters was being compiled.

“In the voters register, we do not distinguish between professionals so if we are doing an exercise like this, we rely on information from the various security agencies who compiled the list for us.”

“Based on the information provided for us, we compiled a list of 29,914 members of the security services.

“We asked for ID cards and polling station numbers and if they did not provide us with them, we cannot allow them to vote. There were some cases in which the ID numbers were not correct”, Dr. Afari-Gyan explained.

The EC chairman said that his organization has held a meeting with the security agencies and they have agreed that those who were unable to vote should go to their polling stations on Friday to vote.

He said that such persons, together with media personnel who have accreditation, will be allowed to the front of the queues at their polling stations so that they can vote quickly and get back to their official Election Day duties.

Counting Underway In Ghana Election nh

Counting is currently underway in Ghana's 2012 Presidential and legislative elections held December 7 . 


Some of the provisional results from some polling stations are:
49.87% Ndc / 48.31% Npp
Member of Parliament

• Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram Constituency E T Mensah has retained his seat, albeit with a small margin. The Works and Housing Minister polled 21,178 with the NPP candidate Sylvester Tetteh polling 17,122.
• CPP’s only parliamentary candidate Samia Yaba Nkrumah is reported to have lost the Jomoro constituency seat to the NDC.
• NPP's Catherine Afeku lost the Evalue Gwira seat by polling 11,651 votes. The NDC's Kweku Tamekyi Kessie polled 14,096 votes to win the seat.
• NPPs Yaw Owusu-Boateng beat NDC’s Richard Roland Acquah to win the Asene Akroso-Mamfo seat in the Eastern region. The constituency was one of the new 45 constituencies created by the Electoral Commission ahead of the general elections.
• Deputy Water Resources Works and Housing Minister, Dr. Hannah Bissiw won the Tano South seat in the Brong Ahafo region.
• Baba Jamal is also reported to have won the Akwatia seat after his fourth attempt.
• Nii Lantey Vanderpuije is reported to have won the hotly contested Odododiodoo seat in the Greater Accra region.
• MP of the Efutu constituency in the Central Region, Mike Hammah who is also the Minister of Natural Resources has lost his seat. NPP candidate Alexander Afenya-Markin polled 19,062 votes as against 16,977 for Hammah.
• Information Minister, under the Kufuor administration, Asamoah Boateng (aka Asabee) has failed in his bid to return to Parliament. He lost the Mfantsiman West seat to the incumbent Tawiah Aquinas

Prz. Mahama Said "Valid IDs Vote Verification Or Not"

President John Dramani Mahama has asked the Electoral Commission to allow voters with valid Voter ID cards cast their votes even if the verification machine fails to recognize them.

He says it is unfair to disenfranchise some people because their identity cannot be verified by a piece of equipment.

There have been reports from various polling centers that some voters have not been able to cast their vote because the verification machines have not verified their identity.

The President of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs, Nana Sigri, told Joy News his wife and many of his subjects had not been able to vote despite the fact that their names are in the register.

Joy News’ Hashmeen Mohammed reported from the Northern Regional capital, Tamale, that the chiefs are appealing to the EC to do something about the situation.

Tamale chief, Mr. Alhassan Abdulai, speaking through his secretary, Abdulai Mohammed Rashad, said many residents had poured into his palace, appealing to him to appeal to the EC Chairman, Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan, to intervene to ensure that they were not disenfranchised. 

He said, “People want to vote but verification machines are rejecting them.”

President Mahama believes the pleas of the people must be heard.

But the Public Affairs Director of the EC, Mr. Owusu Parry, said the decision, no verification, no vote was one reached by all the political parties and that he was incapable of altering it.

He insisted the EC had made adequate provisions for backup on which electoral officers could fall in the event that the machine malfunctioned. 

Constituency Threaten To Boycott The Election

Some disgruntled voters at the Golden Gate A and B polling stations in the Tema West constituency are threatening to boycott the polls due to delays of electoral material.

The expectant electorates who had queued up since last night bemoaned the ‘lackadaisical’ attitude of the Electoral Commission (EC) insisting that the challenges are elementary therefore the Commission should have been proactive.

The about two thousand eight hundred and thirty (2,830) eligible voters have resolved not to vote when the electoral materials arrive at the polling station.

The agitated crowd nearly lynched the Presiding Officer for the centre when she tried to offer an explanation for the delay. They suspect the delay is a recipe to rig the elections to favour the ruling party.

It took the intervention of the political party agents present at the scene to avert the pandemonium.

In an interview with Myjoyonline.com, the Presiding Officer, Madam Azumah blamed the Returning Officer of the EC for the blunder.

According to her, she was at the polling station at exactly 5:30 am to receive the electoral materials only to be told by the returning officer that he had lost his way to the polling station.

The frustrated presiding officer indicated that frantic efforts were being made to ensure the materials get to the polling station.

However, the situation was the opposite at the Good Shepherd EP Church polling station where at exactly 5:00 am they had received all electoral materials.

When Myjoyonline.com got to the polling station, voters were sitting patiently for the 7 am voting time to cast their ballot.

Mr. Kojo Mensah, the presiding officer for the Good Shepherd disclosed that about one thousand five hundred and thirty (1,530) electorate will exercise their franchise at the polling station.

He stated that all the materials needed for a smooth process including the verification machine had been provided by the EC.

Kojo Mensah was optimistic that voting will be over before the 5 pm closing time.

The Tema West parliamentary seat is being fiercely contested by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The incumbent Member of Parliament Irene Naa Torshie of the NPP is being challenged by the Minister of Local government Samuel Ofosu Ampofo of the NDC.

Kufuor Chides EC Over Widespread Hitches

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has expressed worry about the hitches recorded during Ghana’s first biometric voting exercise. 

There have widespread reports of machine failures, late arrival of electoral materials and electoral officers.

The former President who in 2010 led a team of African Union observers to monitor Nigeria’s bio-metric election says Ghana could have “taken a leaf” out of the book of Nigeria. 

“Our chair of the Electoral Commission was there. Perhaps he could have taken a leaf from Nigeria in this respect but I’m not seeing it,” Mr Kufuor told reporters after voting in the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency.

“The whole of Nigeria put a ban on vehicular movement on the election day and then the accreditation was done before 12:00pm for everyone who wanted to vote. At 12:00pm the gates were shut, anyone who hadn’t come to be accredited wasn’t allowed to vote.”

Not verified

There have also been situations where names in the biometric register could not be verified by the biometric machine.

With the Electoral Commission’s directive of “no verification, no vote” those whose identities could not be verified may just have to go home disenfranchised.

At the Will of God polling station in the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency, out of the twenty people who had been screened as at 7:55 GMT, three could not be verified.

At the time Joy News was leaving the centre, technical men from the EC had yet to arrive to deal with the problem.

Ayariga's Convoy Attacked; Police Begin Investigations

Hassan Ayariga has a remarkable record of leadership and experience in business that embodies an unwavering passion and commitment to service. Hassan was born on 4th September 1971 in Bawku in the Upper East Region of Ghana. His father Frank Abdulai Ayariga, was a member of parliament for the Bawku constituency during the third republic administration of Dr. Hilla Limann and his mother Anatu Ayariga, a business woman, whose passion for child education in the then impoverished northern sector of Ghana, made her stand her ground to ensure all her children and those in the community were educated.

Hassan grew up partly in Accra and Bawku before settling in Nigeria when his parents went on Exile after the overthrow of the Limann Administration. All through his childhood his parents taught him the values of service and responsibility and the blessings of his faith, Hassan Ayariga carries with him to this day. Due to the moving around by his father Hassan went to schools in Accra, Bawku and Tamale where he had  his secondary education at Ghana Secondary School before moving to Nigeria where he attended Barewa College in Zaria, where he studied ACCA and then to the London School of Accountancy.

Hassan is an entrepreneur with many business interests both in Ghana and abroad, however, he started out as an accountant with WaffenSchimdt GmBH in Germany and the as Quality Control manager at Peter Huppertz Ford motors in Germany for 10 years before going into business. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Hassan Ayariga & Co. Haulage Company, which deal in trucks for infrastructural development. He also owns Hallo Pizza, a restaurant chain in Ghana and recently started Clean Us Ghana, a waste management company.

Being born into the Nkrumah-Egala-Limann tradition, Hassan has never forgotten his political roots and in 2002 he joined the PNC, a political party formed by Dr. Hilla Limann in 1992 when the ban on party politics in Ghana was lifted. His leadership skills immediately came to the fore and was elected chairman of the Germany (Koln) Chapter. In 2004 he contested for the vice chairmanship of the PNC but later withdrew from the contest and supported Hon. John Ndebugri.

Hassan Ayarigate believes this country deserves better and he is seeking the leadership reins of the PNC to seek the mandate of the people of Ghana for an inspiring leadership and rapid development.

Hassan Ayariga is married to Anita Ayariga, a graduate from KNUST who has a deep passion for child education and is working towards ensuring children of school going age in the community get that right. They have a blended family that includes three daughters, two sons and live together in Accra.Police in the Western Region are investigating an attack on the convoy of flagbearer of the Peoples’ National Convention, Hassan Ayariga. 

Ayariga's Convoy Attacked; Police Begin Investigate 
 
A vehicle that was ahead of Mr. Ayariga’s convoy was shot at about 9:00 pm Friday, at Juaboso in the Western Region.

He told Joy News the attack was targeted at him.

One person who sustained gunshot injuries is currently at the hospital.


“We went to visit the chief and elders of the city and the community. On our way back, they ambushed to attack us.

“The first vehicle came before us. They attacked the first vehicle which refused to stop. They shot through the windscreen and they shot at him, his head and his arm," Ayariga narrated.

"According to the guy who was shot, he said it looked like I was the target,” he narrated.

He is convinced nothing will happen to him with God on his side.

Police have meanwhile begun investigations into the matter.

Popular Destination For Tourists In Ghana

Thanks to its friendly people Ghana is becoming an increasingly popular destination for tourists. This Ghana tourism portal offers you information for a great holiday.

• Practical Guidelines
• Precautions to take
• Background information about Ghana
• Answers to frequently asked questions
• Places to visit
• Ghana's rich culture
• Night Life (clubs and disco's)
• Wining & Dining
• Flying to Ghana
• Traveling inside Ghana
• Car Hire

Hotel accommodation is readily available in 2 to 5 star hotels. Simple hotel rooms can cost as little as $ 5 per person. Guest houses are abound in both the capital city and other regions.
Western Region

• Southernmost Tip: The colourful communities of Dixcove and Busua have been 'in' spots for beach lovers and budget travellers for years. Busua is tiny, with only one hotel and no restaurant, but a 25 minute walk west brings you to Dixcove, with a vibrant port and a renovated fort. Swimmers prefer Busua, with its long white-sand beach, while surfers enjoy some of the coast's best waves on the beaches of Dixcove.
• Fort Metal Cross (1691) is another fortress-turned-slave storage barn, which - while not as haunting as some others - has its fair share of horror stories to pass on.
• The two towns are widely renowned for their lobsters, and you can find out why down by the waterfront and at the local markets. Local villagers are your best bet for finding a meal - especially cooked lobster - usually at a very reasonable cost. Dixcove, the southernmost town in Ghana, is about� 200km (125mi) west of Accra and can be reached by a combination of tro-tro or taxi and walking or
  hitching.

The Figth Within Over Poster

The peace we are looking for is not for sell but is difficult to get which means we need to be serious and care for one another. 
A 23-year-old man has been stabbed twice in the chest over removed President Mahama posters.

The incident happened at Asokore Zongo close to Effiduase in the Ashanti Region Region.

Police in Effiduase have confirmed the arrest of the suspect, Sudaise Osman.

The victim, Alhassan Faisal is in a critical condition at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.

Father of the victim, Salim Isahak, told Luv News his son and Osman popularly known as “son of the lion” were arguing over the removal of President Mahama’s pictures from his motor bike.

A scuffle ensued and Sudaise Osman stabbed him in the chest twice with a pocket knife.

Narrating how the incident took place the father of the victim, said his son had sent a boy with a motor bike which had pictures of Mahama on it.

When the boy returned, the pictures had been removed. When he asked who removed the pictures, the suspect showed up and claimed it was he who removed.

Alhassan Faisal got angry and the incident turned into a brawl.

In the mist of the brawl, Alhassan Faisal was stabbed twice on the chest, Salim Isahak said.

The suspect is in police custody, pending further investigations.

The Peace In Ghana

President John Dramani Mahama on Saturday reminded politicians that the use of violence and other forms of intimidations would not attract people to vote in their favour.

Instead, he urged them to campaign peacefully and avoid any form of violence that could dissuade people from voting massively for the National Democratic Congress in the forthcoming general election in December this year.

President Mahama said this when he addressed separate rallies as part of his three-day campaign tour of the Eastern Region.

He said: “The NDC is a party for all, and it will be useful on our part to campaign peacefully and ignore those preaching war to go their separate ways.”

President Mahama in his last day of the eastern Region held similar rallies at Nsawam, Kraboa Coater, Adeiso, Boadua, kade and Akyem Sewdru.

The President said winning elections should be based on issues, ideas and programmes and therefore the use of violence and intimidations would rather scare potential voters adding “we need to distance ourselves from those things in order to maintain the confidence of the people.”

He appealed to the leaderships of other political parties to constantly educate their supporters against the use of violence and intimidations since that could mar the hard won reputation of the country, due to their feat in organizing five successful elections.

President Mahama promised to adequately resource the Electoral Commission and security Agencies to effectively ensure yet another successful election next month and appealed to all stakeholders in this year’s elections to play their roles professionally and effectively to maintain the international recognition the country had gained over the years.

The President earlier in Koforidua inaugurated a multi-million Cedi Regional office of the National Health Insurance Scheme.

Ghana Cry Again In The Some Election Year

Ghanaian have already had a tragedy from the big lost the sitting president and a disaster from melcom.
At about 9:45 Friday, according to Communications Minister Haruna Iddrisu. He had been on admission at the hospital for about a week
He died at the Korle Bu Hospital on 16 November 2012 at the age of 66. The nature of his condition was not exactly known.
He was reported to have died on 14 November 2012 at the Korle Bu Hospital but the story was denied the same day by his family and hospital authorities.
which mean he was been push away throughout unbeliever politicise of Ghana in this election year.
The black Tuesday(Late president death), black Wednesday(disater hit Malcom shopping mell), and now black Friday (the late former vice president) in the some year Ghana has suffered a big lost on this election year.


Alhaji Aliu Mahama (3 March 1946 – 16 November 2012) was Vice-President of Ghana from 7 January 2001 to 7 January 2009. He sought the New Patriotic Party's nomination for the 2008 presidential election,[1] but at the party's convention in December 2007 he received only 6.38% of delegates' votes (146 votes).
An ethnic Dagomba, Alhaji Aliu Mahama as a young man studied at the Government Secondary School in Tamale from 1960-67 for his Ordinary and Advanced Level Certificates. He proceeded to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi from 1967-71 where he obtained the BSc in Building Technology.
He started his working career at the Bolgatanga regional office of the State Construction Corporation as an Engineer/Construction from 1972-75.

He was promoted to Assistant Regional Manager and posted to the Koforidua Regional Office of the Corporation from 1975-76. He held the position of Regional Manager in charge of the Northern Region, Tamale from June 1976- August 1982.

In 1982 he successfully established his own Civil Engineering and General Construction Firm- LIDRA Limited and became its Managing Director. He became the Chairman of the Northern Regional Contractors Association in 1996 until the December 2000 Elections.

Alhaji Aliu Mahama was also an Aluminus of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). In order to sharpen and deepen his management and leadership skills, he obtained two certificates from the Institute in Project Planning and Management and in Leadership.

Alhaji Aliu Mahama had exceptional interest in Local Governance and Community Development.
Accordingly he was Councilor, Yendi District Council in 1978 and Assemblyman, Tamale Municipal Assembly in 1990.

He was the Chairman of the Economic Development Committee of the Tamale-Louisville Sister State Committee.
He has been board member of several Secondary Schools in the Northern Region including the Temale Polyntic

Traged Hit Ghana "Melcom Shopping Mall disaster"

The death toll of the Melcom Shopping Mall disaster hit nine mid-day on Thursday whilst another person was rescued, bringing the number of survivors to 78, a Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) source has said.
Mr Prince Billy Anaglate, Deputy Public Relations Officer of the GNFS, told the Ghana News Agency at the site that casualty figures should be verified from the Service.
“We are in charge here with all the statistics and you must check from us before going on air to avoid giving conflicting figures,” Mr Anaglate said.
Meanwhile a nine-man Israeli Rescue Mission on Thursday joined the Ghanaian rescue team at the disaster site to assist locate and extricate any remaining survivors.
The team was briefed by some officials of the Ghanaian team at the site.
In an earlier interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra an Official of the Embassy of Israel Eyal Lampert said the Israeli team is expected to work in collaboration with the detachment from the Field Engineer Regiment of the Ghana Army currently at the site.
According to the Embassy official the team would undertake initial assessment at the site using special equipment and sniffer dogs that would help identify the locations of possible survivors or corpses.
He said Israel had in addition to the rescue to team put on standby about 150 support team and logistics including field hospitals and concrete cutters to move to Ghana should the initial assessment deem it necessary.
The hard work of the Field Engineers Regiment, National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and other emergency institutions including the Ghana Police and the National Ambulance Service has led to the rescue of at least 51 persons from the rubble so far.
The rescue team at the disaster stricken site of Achimota Melcom Shopping Mall in Greater Accra, have so far cleared 50 per cent of the debris of the six-storey building that collapsed last Wednesday.

Colonel M’bawine Atintande, Head, Public relations Directorate, Ghana Armed Forces, who made this known on Saturday said the efforts had made it possible for the team to identify a staircase which could lead to other parts of the building.

Briefing journalists in Accra he said the rescue mission had made slow progress because they did not want to do anything that could endanger the lives of those who might be still alive.

He said so far, 70 people have been rescued alive with 12 others confirmed dead adding that 52 of those who are alive had been treated and discharged from the various hospitals.

Earlier report that reached Ghana News Agency however said 78 people have been rescued.

He pledged the commitment of the team to work into the night to remove the debris and continue with the rescue mission.

In a related development, Apostle Joseph Mend, Head Pastor, Anointed Revival Ministries located at Tantra Hills in Accra presented 15 bags of sachet water, three boxes of bottled water and assorted drinks to the rescue team.

The New President In Ghana

He was vice now wake up as a main controller  as sitting President that what the Almighty can do in just a second.
President Mahama, who replaced the late president John Atta Mills
John Dramani Mahama was born 29 November 1958 is a Ghanaian politician who has been President of Ghana since July 2012. He was the Vice President of Ghana from 2009 to 2012, and he took office as President on 24 July 2012 following the death of his predecessor, President John Atta Mills. A respected communications expert, historian, and writer, Mahama was a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2009 and Minister of Communications from 1998 to 2001.
After completing his undergraduate education, Mahama taught History at the secondary school level for a few years. Upon his return to Ghana after studying in Moscow, he worked as the Information, Culture and Research Officer at the Embassy of Japan in Accra between 1991 and 1995. From there he moved to the non-governmental agency (NGO) Plan International's Ghana Country Office, where he worked as International Relations, Sponsorship Communications and Grants Manager between 1995 and 1996.
Widely acclaimed both locally and internationally for his natural charisma, affable, down to earth personality and sterling leadership qualities, Mahama has received an honorary doctorate in the field of Public Administration, by the Ekiti State University of Nigeria, formally known as the Obafemi Awolowo University in “recognition of his politico-socio economic development of Ghana and Africa at various stages of his political career.” ^[15] The Cuban government, recognising his relentless advocacy for the Cuban cause, namely the lifting of the 50-year economic embargo on the communist country and for the freedom of the detained Cuban five by the United States government, conferred on him the Friendship Medal.The Graduate School of Governance and Leadership also awarded him the African Servant Leadership Award while the Institute of Public Relations recognized Mr. Mahama with a prize for his leadership acumen and technocratic flair. Furthermore, the General Council of Assemblies of God, Ghana honoured Mahama with its prestigious honour the “Daniel Award “for his exceptional leadership qualities.After the death of his predecessor,John Atta Mills, his political supporters christened him Ahobrasehene meaning 'King of Humility' in the Akan language to crown his accolades.