Name and shame anyone involved in these Invincible Forces.

A National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) appearing before the Short Commission of Inquiry has said the naming and shaming of politicians who own vigilante groups can halt the menace.

“Name and shame anyone involved in these activities,” Mr. Sam Nartey George told the Commission when he made his second appearance before them Tuesday.

In the wake of violence which marred the recent Ayawaso by-elections, the President has set up the Emile Short Commission to – among others – make recommendations that can forestall future occurrences.

Mr. George’s testimony before the Commission has become necessary following media footage that captured him being assaulted by men said to be National Security operatives but whom he claims are members of the governing New Patriotic Party’s Invincible Forces.

According to Mr. Samuel Nartey George, many of those who own vigilante groups “occupy prominent positions in this country or have occupied prominent positions.” But without naming and shaming these people,” he added that “we will be engaged in a pretentious exercise.”

Mr. George, who claimed to be “a victim of party militia,” said the “biggest issue” dealing with party militia “is the politicians taking ownership of these groups.”

This latest stance of the Ningo Prampram MP comes a day after he had claimed before the Short Commission that the NDC Party militia, the “Azorka Boys” are owned by the party’s National Vice Chairman, Mr. Sofo Azorka, even though he will rather “refer to them as a community-based organization,” involved in borehole drilling.

Ayawaso West Wuogon voilence: Sam George narrates how he was assaulted

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President Akufo-Addo Akufo-Addo Announced New Created Regions

Goaso has been named the capital of the newly created Ahafo Region at a ceremony at the Jubilee House on Wednesday.

President Akufo-Addo Akufo-Addo announced the decision when he presented the Constitutional Instrument to back the creation of the new region to Chiefs in the Ahafo region.

In his address, the president said he was impressed with the commitment of the people towards the creation of the region, adding that, about a total of 20, 203 people attended all five sittings by the commission of inquiry for the creation of the new regions in the country.

Akufo-Addo named Evans Opoku Bobie, the Member of Parliament for Asunafo North and Minister of the Brong Ahafo Region to act as care-take minister of the new region.

The Ahafo region, like the other new regions, will receive GHs 20 million as seed capital.

Goaso, which has been named the region’s capital, has been the capital of Asunafo North municipality and is located between three major towns; Mim, Kukuom and Hwidiem.

Apart from Goaso which has eventually been named the regional capital for the region, various groups were lobbying for areas including Duayaw-Nkwanta, Bechem and Kenyasi to be named as the regional capital.

Earlier reports also suggested that Goaso or Bechem would end up being named the new region’s capital.

Residents in the areas marked for the creation of the new Ahafo Region in December 2018 voted massively for its creation from the Brong Ahafo Region.

90 percent voters within the Ahafo enclave turned out to vote, with 99.68% of them endorsing the creation of the region, while 0.24% voted against it.

The enclave, made up of some six municipalities and districts; namely Tano South Municipality, Tano North Municipality, Asunafo North District, Asunafo South District, Asutifi North District, Asutifi South District.

The President of UT Holdings, Prince Kofi Amoabeng ask: "why closing down the bank".

The President of UT Holdings, Prince Kofi Amoabeng has said that he believes the defunct UT Bank which he founded could have survived if the Bank of Ghana had given them time to turn around its operations.

Mr. Amoabeng who admitted there were some challenges with the bank’s corporate governance structures, said there were other means to addressing the problem than closing down the bank.

Speaking on the KSM Show on Accra-based Metro Television, Mr. Amoabeng said the decision to close down the bank cost the country more.

The government found us in that situation, [but] was this the best route to take because we had investors who were ready with some proposals. They decide that the best thing is to close down UT Bank which I find really difficult to take but from where they are sitting, they decide that was the best thing for the country. I don’t bear grudges but the point is, if UT Bank we owed GH¢800 million and an investor comes and he says I’m ready to pay GH¢400 million so Bank of Ghana write off the [other] GH¢400 million, but BoG takes a decision to close down the bank which will cost the nation at least GH¢ 2.2 billion, it doesn’t make sense to me,” he said.

The President of UT Holdings, however, said he does not bear grudges over the situation, and the defunct bank takes responsibility for the failure of the financial institution.

“We had run our company down therefore we were vulnerable and therefore the government had to step in as it deemed fit….UT must take the blame first.”

On August 14, 2017, the bank of Ghana announced that it had revoked the license of UT Bank and that it was being taken over by GCB because it had a severe capital impairment.

Mr. Amoabeng who refrained from commenting about the development in a statement a year later expressed regret about the happenings surrounding the collapse of the bank and promised to cooperate with investigations into the collapse of the bank.

“More importantly to me today though, is the inability of several workers who once prided themselves as UT staff and now have little or nothing to show for their years of dedication and service; the negative impact on the other UT companies in the eyes of investors who believed in us and our vision to see a Ghanaian owned company become a successful global brand. I will continue to co-operate with all state agencies probing the development for finality to be brought to this matter,” he said and could’ve survived if BoG had given us time.