I Am Guilty; Cocaine Girl Nayele Pleads .. .Case Adjourned To Next Year Updated: 27 -Nov -2014

Nayele Ametefeh has finally pleaded guilty to the charge of illegally possessing and trafficking Class A drugs into the United
Kingdom. The Ghanaian lady has for sometime been at the centre of the intense cocaine media outrage and would be remanded in custody
until 5 th January, 2015 before she would be sentenced .
Before the court reached this stage , counsel for the defendant, Andrea Maria Brown , had
pleaded with the house to postpone the case to the next four weeks but the suggestion was
rejected by the presiding Judge, Edmunds Q .C .
According to counsel for Ametefeh, her client wanted to quickly know her fate but the state prosecutor, Revinden Johal , told the court that
as at now , lab analysis of the quantity and purity of the substance plus its street value is
yet unknown and it would be prudent to examine it in a forensic lab before proceedings
could continue.
Reports in the media pegged the quantity at 12 .5 kg but the prosecution say it could be more or less and that could affect the actual
sentence. Present at the Isleworth Crown Court was Peace FM ’s Vida Adutwumwaa Boateng and she
reports that Nayele Ametefeh addressed the judge from prison via video. The video conferencing is said to have started at 2 :15 pm
and Ametefeh, appeared wearing an ash long sleeves dress over a black leggings with silver earrings to match. “ She neither smiled nor put up a mean face in court but randomly placed her hands over her face ”, our reporter added.

Ghana appoint Grant as new coach Update: 27 November 2014

Former Chelsea boss Avram Grant has been appointed the new coach of Ghana.
The 59-year-old has signed a 27-month deal to take over from Maxwell Konadu, who had been
in temporary charge since Kwesi Appiah left in September.
He will start work on Monday and his contract will finish at the end of February 2017 - after that year's Africa Cup of Nations finals.
Israeli Grant has only six weeks to prepare the Black Stars for the 2015 Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea.
The Ghana Football Association have given Grant a target of "doing well" at the upcoming tournament and to win the event two years
later.
GFA president Kwesi Nyantekyie told BBC Sport: "It would be unfair to ask a coach appointed only one month before a tournament to win the trophy. "But he must do well and then the FA will assess his performance after the Nations Cup and determine whether he has done well or not.
Grant becomes the 32nd head coach of the Black Stars. In that time they have also had three caretaker coaches "Avram Grant is a motivator and an organiser.
We needed someone with a certain stature or pedigree who can manage the egos of our players as well as their expectations and those
of Ghanaians in general.
"He has managed a lot of top-class players, and [coping with high profile players] has been the bane of many African coaches. We believe his quality will turn things around for us."
Ghana, who topped their qualification group for next year's showpiece, will find out their
opponents in Equatorial Guinea when the draw is made on 3 December. The tournament will be held between 17 January and 8 February.
Grant, who as Chelsea boss suffered defeat by Manchester United in the 2008 European
Champions League final, was most recently the technical director at Thai side BEC Tero Sasana.
His previous coaching role was at Partizan Belgrade from 2012 to 2014, during which time he steered the club to their fifth consecutive Serbian championship.
As well as spells in charge of English clubs Portsmouth and West Ham, Grant has international experience having spent four
years at the helm of Israel's national side. There had been been concerns that Grant's
nationality could prevent him gaining access to some North African countries. Earlier in the week, Nyantekyie told BBC Sport
"that is an issue" but says the two parties will deal with it.
"The holder of an Israeli passport will not only be denied entry into North African countries, he will be denied into some Arab countries,"
he said.
"He has brought an alternative way of dealing with it. There is a satisfactory arrangement to
arrest his threat. Very soon, in a matter of months, we should clear that."

Confirmed : NDC Postpones National Delegates' Congress Updated: 27 -Nov -2014

The much anticipated National Delegates ’ congress of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC ) has been postponed again.
The congress was scheduled to take place in Kumasi on December 13, however , according to Mr Yaw Boateng Gyan, it has been
postponed to 20 th December , 2014 . The congress was originally planned for October 25 but a law suit brought against the
leadership of the party by an aggrieved member forced it to be postponed. Speaking in an interview on PEACE FM , the
National Youth Organiser indicated that President John Dramani Mahama will not be around on December 13; hence the need for a
new date.
The congress will enable party delegates’ to elect new national executives to lead the party.

Cocaine Saga : Nayele Ametefe To Appear In UK Court Today Updated: 27 -Nov -2014

The woman at the center of the 12 kilogram cocaine bust in the UK will on Thursday appear in court for the second time after her arrest.
Nayele Ametefe alias Ruby Appiah or Angel will be appearing in court in the United Kingdom ( UK) today.
Nayele was arrested on November 10 at the Heathrow Airport for carrying 12 .5 kilos of cocaine in her hand luggage.
After the arrest, she was arraigned before the Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday November 11 and charged for drug trafficking .
She was subsequently remanded in Police custody to reappear on 27 th November , 2014 .
Today , she will appear before the Isleworth Crown Court, Greater London, UK , where her trial will begin. Per sources close to talk of ghana , the case with ID T20141080 Ametefeh will commence at 2 pm .
Apart from that, today' s meeting is a preliminary hearing and so the defendant ( Nayele Ametefe ) will not be appearing in court.
Meanwhile, a total of 12 people have been arrested in Ghana in connection with the case . They include the two ladies; Nana Akua
Amponsah and Sadalia Sandra Nuhu who reportedly traveled with Nayele but absconded after the latter was arrested by the Police in
the UK .

Ugandan nanny charged with attempted murder Updare: 24th - November - 2014

The Police in Uganda has charged the nanny who was caught on camera abusing a 2-year-old girl with attempted murder.
A Police Officer, Patrick Onyango who disclosed this said the case was referred to the State Attorney of Uganda who then amended
the charge.
The suspect; 22-year-old Jolly Tumuhiirwe, was arrested and charged under Uganda’s Anti-
Torture Act Section 3. Officer Onyango cautioned parents not to
“trust house helps, don’t trust these maids.” He suggested that parents who decide to employ the services of a house help, “you can
bring a relative to be part of your family so that you don’t leave the kid alone at home. If you don’t want a family member, you can seek the services of a CCTV camera at home to monitor what is going on.” Tumuhiirwe was caught on video torturing a 2-year-old girl in Uganda after the little girl vomited food she had been forced to eat.
Her actions came to light after the parents of the little girl installed a hidden camera in the living room to monitor what happens in their
absence.
The toddler’s father, Erick Kamanzi, a senior staff at a reputable NGO in Kampala was arrested for mercilessly beating the house help
after viewing the video. He was arrested by the Police but was later
released when the Police were shown the video.
Uganda’s Youth and Children Affairs Minister, Ronald Kibuule on Sunday visited the family.
According to him, his Ministry will design a legal and policy framework which will regulate
the activities of maids and other domestic staff.
“We want to put in place basic professional requirements so that companies that recruit maids are registered and maids who are
exploited and abused by their bosses too have protection,” he said.
The girl is now fine and happy again

Click on video below to watch the Ugandan

Police speak on the matter

Ghana is HIPC again – ISSER Update: 24 - Nov - 2014

With a 60.8 per cent debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio Ghana has returned to the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) regime, an Economist with the University of Ghana and the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research [ISSER] has said.
Prof Peter Quartey said any rate above 60 percent automatically puts a country into a HIPC category, stressing, the situation would
become worse if the already acquired loans are not put into any productive use. "If you contract a facility and consume [it] or use it to pay wages and salaries and the rest
that is where the danger starts looming, because we are not able to repay the loan and that can have very dire consequences on the economy," he told Joy News' Francis Abban in an interview.
Asked if the current debt profile puts the country into the HIPC category, Prof Peter Quartey said: It [60.8% of GDP] puts us in the
Highly Indebted category.
Any rate above 60 per cent puts you in a HIPC category," he stated emphatically. He was however quick to add that the country does not need an IMF bailout but rather be meticulous in how and what it spends the loans on.
The Finance Minister Seth Terkper late last week announced the country's debt profile during his presentation of the 2015 Budget
statement. “Ghana’s public debt stock as a percentage of GDP has been rising over the years. It
increased from 36.3 percent in 2009 to 48.03 percent in 2012 and further to 55.53 percent in 2013.
“As at end of September 2014, the debt stock stood at 60.8 percent, largely on account of increase in external net disbursements for
infrastructure projects and net domestic issuance, and the depreciation of the cedi.
“The provisional public debt stock as at end September 2014,” the minister noted, “stood
at GH¢69,705.90 million (US$21,733.51 million).” Speaking to Joy News, the ISSER official is praying the loans accrued would not go into paying salaries.
He hoped the loans secured would go into productive investment.
Ghana declared itself HIPC in 2001 when its debts became largely unsustainable. The declaration led to the country benefitting from
a huge windfall with donors forgiving the then Kufuor administration the debts incurred over the years. However, years of borrowing means the country has crawled back into the HIPC
category.
Joy Business' George Wiafe reported the IMF as saying the country's debt may be hitting a 70
per cent mark by close of the financial year. At the moment, the country pays a little over
9billion cedis as interest on loans, Wiafe reported.
He said the country's debt portfolio may force the rating agencies to react. He explained the rating agencies may tell investment partners to be careful lending to Ghana because with such a debt profile it would be risky granting loans to a country which may not have the potential to pay back.
At best, the country would be forced to borrow at an extremely higher rate than it would if it was not highly indebted.

2015 Budget Shows NDC Has Created A Fiscal Mess But Has No Clue How To Deal With It - Bawumia Updated: 23 -Nov -2014

“ The 2015 budget demonstrates one thing for sure . The NDC government has created a fiscal
mess after 6 years in office but has no clue how to deal with it . ”
These were the comments of Dr . Mahamudu Bawumia, 2016 Vice Presidential Candidate of the NPP , when he met the UK Branch of the
Young Executives Forum in Milton Keynes on Saturday. Dr . Bawumia , who thrilled the audience with
his remarkable insight on the Ghanaian economy, used the opportunity to do an elaborate review on the 2015 Budget
presented by the John Mahama government a few days ago.
“ The government ’s focus is on raising revenue to hide the fiscal indiscipline . However, it is
clearly more of an expenditure
mismanagement problem . The budget does not address expenditure review and re- composition and measures to ensure fiscal discipline, but
rather focuses on the revenue side (raising more taxes ), clearly being insensitive to the population and taxing them to hide inefficiencies . There is a saying that “ if all you
have is a hammer everything begins to look like a nail!” This is so appropriate in the case of this NDC Government, “ he said .
Dr. Bawumia used the infamous Petroleum Tax to explain how the government was totally lost
in its handling of the current economic crisis.
“ This Special Tax on petroleum products is bound to also increase the already high cost of doing business in the country. At the time
when many businesses are having to pay for diesel to run generators as a result of load - shedding, they are being asked to pay more
taxes on fuel . This would increase the cost of production .
We strongly believe that that this tax measure is unwarranted. If the deep seated waste and reported corruption in payroll administration
is corrected swiftly, enough savings could accrue to the budget and this tax measure could have been avoided . If the leakages are
not plugged, then no amount of tax increases would solve the problem .” , he said.
Dr . Bawumia also touched on the taxes imposed on the financial and real estate sectors as examples to show how the government had totally gotten it wrong in their
approach to correcting the mess they have created.
“ In the 2014 budget the Government pushed through against sound arguments to the
contrary , a VAT on fee - based financial services . The confusion surrounding its implementation resulted in the withdrawal of
the policy measure . In their desperation to raise tax revenues, the 2015 budget states that
this VAT on fee -based financial services will be implemented . This is a bad policy for the economy. Ghana ’s financial system is
underdeveloped with only some 20% of the population having a Bank account . What the
government should rather be doing is providing some incentives for financial inclusion. The introduction of VAT on fee -based
financial services would only serve to drive people away from the banking system with the
attendant reduction in financial savings. It will also increase the cost of doing business for the
business community .” , he said .
Touching on the Real Estate sector, Dr. Bawumia noted “ Some statistics on the property market in Ghana would be instructive
in placing this VAT on real estate transactions in context. First, Ghana currently has the highest mortgage to income ratio (at 605%) in the world . In terms of House Price to Income ratio , Ghana is the 10 th highest in the world.
In terms of housing affordability, Ghana ranks as the least affordable property market in the
world . Given these facts, it is clear that the real estate industry in Ghana needs help. Government should rather be trying to
encourage the development of the mortgage market through tax incentives for real estate
developers and better land administration. A 5 % VAT on real estate transactions is the
wrong way to go . ”