The court was presided over by Judge Amadu Seidu.

According to the state prosecutor, Inspector Victor Kwafo, the three accused persons Mahama Nashiru, Samuel Atutiga, and Hanan Alhassan alias Gurundoo, were discharged on grounds that prosecutors could not provide enough evidence against them.

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The three other accused persons namely Anas Issahaku, Zulika Abduallah, Issahaku Yakubu alias Kanbon-Naa, have however been remanded into prison custody to reappear on October 24, 2019.

Lawyer Abdul Rauf, who represented Issahaku Yakubu, argued that regardless of his clients being in possession of a locally manufactured gun, the weapon is known to be used in festivities which is culturally allowed and cannot be charged for it.

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He, therefore, accused the prosecutors of deliberately trying to delay the case with the fresh charges and pleaded with the court to discharge his client.

Sylvester Isang, Counsel for both Anas Issahaku and Zulika Abdallah, pleaded with the court to grant his clients bail arguing that they would not run away with a charge of possession of a single barrel gun.

Source: Daily Guide

To Mr Crystal, per the directive of the Ministry of Communications, broadcasters would be paying for the transmission services on the digital television platform which has to give viewers a free access to television viewing.

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“The free-to-air viewing must be free as possible so the Ministry must not charge viewers to pay a digital access fee to enable them to watch free-to-air television. The new platform requires more viewers for its sustenance,” he said.

Mr Crystal said this when speaking at a forum in Accra on Thursday on the theme ‘Digital Migration and the Future of Free-to-air Television Migration in Ghana.’

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Mr Crystal added that “GIBA will resist any attempt by the government to charge television viewers for free-to-air content following a policy that seeks to charge viewers of their channels.”

Mr Gregory Benserg, who was a guest speaker at the forum, also said “pushing down cost to consumers will slow down progress.”

Source: Adomonline.com | Gertrude Otchere

 District Chief Executive, William Asante Bediako, says through community initiative, residents have put up homes to address personnel challenges in the area which is one of the most deprived in Ashanti Region.

“You can see today that the people are so hospitable, they feel the need for them to come here and people are willing to give their accommodation for staff free of charge, and so they should try and come. The assembly too has rented a place too for the health directorate staff and so we want appeal to the health staff to accept postings to Manso Adubia,” he told JoyNews.

Teachers, health personnel and other professionals have over the years refused posting to the area citing poor road infrastructure, lack of decent accommodation and social amenities,   among other reasons.

Amansie South District which was carved out of the Amansie West District has no public hospital.

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The assembly’s quest to upgrade the health centre at the district capital, Adubia, into a hospital has received a boost, as central government commit to expand the female ward into 100-bed facility.

Construction of office complex for the District health directorate and doctor’s bungalow funded from District Development Fund and internally-generated funds has already been completed.

Attracting teachers, health personnel and other professionals have over the years has been difficult due to poor roads, accommodation and social amenities.

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Chief Executive, William Asante Bediako told JoyNews at the sidelines of the commissioning of a new medical doctor’s bungalow residents are taking up accommodation challenge.

“We are ready to do whatever it would make them comfortable to stay and work for us,” he says.

He wants the Ministry of Health to encourage personnel to take advantage of the gesture and accept to work in the area.

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“The Ministry of Health should encourage health personnel to come here. This is not a deprived area-this is a place where when you come, you will see all kinds of first class things happening around us so people should accept postings to this place.”

Upper respiratory tract infection is the number two OPD condition in Amansie South, attributed to dusty roads in the area.

Mr. Asante Bediako says work on road networks would soon commence as the contractor moves to site, next month.

Source: Nhyira FM/Ohemeng Tawiah

Effective today, passport applicants will have to download a PDF format of the passport application form from the Ministry’s website, it said.

However, it said the 50 cedis and 100 cedis processing fee for regular and express services remain unchanged.

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A statement issued Thursday evening to address some of the concerns of the public regarding passport acquisition in the country said payment of the processing fees will no longer be done at the bank.

“Payment can only be made by mobile money (MTN, Vodafone) and Visa or MasterCard,” it indicated.

The new system, the Ministry explained, does not replace the already existing online Passport Application System at the Accra Passport Application Centres.

On the issue of shortage of passport booklets, it said the Ministry it is currently assisting the Passport Office to adopt a number of steps including improvements in procurement, and that “hopefully, shortage of booklets should be a thing of the past”.

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According to the ministry, a significant number of completed passports remain uncollected for months and years now.

Effective Monday, November 5, 2018, all applicants who applied before September 15, 2018, and have not collected their passports can visit www.mfa.gov.gh to check the list of uncollected passports and to make plans to claim them from the various Passport application centres.

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“The Ministry is also appealing to Ghanaians to endeavour to apply for a Passport when they have a need for it,” it said.

These measures, it said, would restore confidence and help ease the process of passport acquisition in the country.

Check the statement below: 

Presiding Judge, Justice Aboagye Tandor, delivering his judgment stated that the prosecution failed to lead any substantial evidence against the six accused persons.

The six persons discharged by the court Thursday include George Yeboah, Edward Lartey, George Sarbah, Elvis Owusu, George Asante and Theodore Banda.

RELATED STORY: Court refuses Kwabenya cell breakers bail

The other four suspects have, however, been asked by the court to open their defence after a prima facie case was established against them.

The release of the six suspects follows submission of no case filed by their lawyers.

In April, the court sentenced two criminal suspects who escaped from the Kwabenya cell to 66 months imprisonment.

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Kofi Darko was handed 32 months whilst Emmanuel Kotey was slapped with 34 months jail term by the court presided over by Aboagye Tanoh.

The two were part of criminal suspects who were on remand at the Kwabenya police cell for allegedly committing various criminal offences.

READ ALSO: Kwabenya cellbreak, two get 66 months

Together with five others, Darko and Kotei escaped from the cell on January 21, 2018 in a fatal cell break incident which led to the death of Police Inspector Emmanuel Ashilevi.

The Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Education Service (GES) Rev Jonathan Bettey, who disclosed this said the government had given the indication that every Ghanaian student at the secondary level will benefit from the Policy.

According to him, any foreigner who wishes to enjoy the policy will have to pay fully without government’s help.

“Government has stated that foreigners will not benefit from the policy. If you are a foreigner, it is important that you fund for your own education because only Ghanaian students will be beneficiaries to this policy” he said.

Rev. Bettey also noted that students who wrote the BECE examination from 2014 to 2016 will also not benefit from the policy.

The Free SHS policy was launched in Accra on Tuesday, 12 September by the President with a call on Ghanaians to support the policy and to contribute ideas to make it sustainable.

At least over 400,000 students are expected to benefit from the programme.

The programme, which is an outcome of a campaign promise, will make an admission, examination, library and science laboratory fees free for junior high school (JHS) graduates who qualify for SHS.

Though the process has suffered some setbacks, government has been praised by parents and other civil society groups for fulfilling the flagship campaign promise.

But Rev Bettey indicated that government will explore other creative means to fund the policy since they believe education is key for the development of the country’s human resource.