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General News of Sunday, 5 May 2019

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

PLAYBACK: 'Newsfile' on JoyNews

Samson Lardy Anyenini and panelists on Joynews File play videoSamson Lardy Anyenini and panelists on Joynews File

On Joynews file yesterday, Samson Lardy Anyenini and panelists on show brought to the crux of pertinent issues which made the headlines within the week.

Anyenini and his team first looked into issues concerning the AGM Petrolium agreement and BOST ‘dirty’ fuel scandal.

Up for discussion was the possible return of ‘dumsor’.

Workers of Ghana Grid Company Ltd. (GRIDCo) at the just celebration of May day hinted of a possible return to the era of intermittent power outages (dumsor) if government does not settle its outstanding debt to the company in the shortest possible time, ABC News Ghana can report.

According to the staff of the company, the government of Ghana owes the company to the tune of GHS 900 million, a situation which is greatly affecting the operations of GRIDCo.

The workers have given government a two-week ultimatum to settle the outstanding arrears or the country will be plunged into darkness.

It has emerged that the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, led by former President John Mahama, used $200 million to construct 1,502 houses for sale when it was supposed to build 5,000.

The initial contract of $200 million for 5,000 houses at Saglemi in rural Greater Accra Region was forwarded to Parliament for approval, but when it was ‘reviewed’ to 1,502 by then Minister of Works and Housing, Alhaji Collins Dauda, the agreement did not receive any parliamentary approval although the entire cost was maintained in the execution of the contract.

The Brazilian Contractor, Constratora OAS Ghana Limited, in February 2019, notified the government that it wanted to terminate the contract because the remaining 20 per cent of the contract sum had not been paid.

Addressing journalists at the Information Ministry on Wednesday, April 24, 2019, the Minister of Works and Housing, Samuel Atta Akyea, said the NDC government reviewed the contract through an Executive Order and went ahead to execute it on the blind side of the legislature which initially approved the agreement.


Then again, Ghana has dropped four points in the latest ranking in the 2019 World Press Freedom Index as it moved from the rank of 23 to 27 from the previous year.

Besides, the country has also lost its status as Africa’s best ranked country in the World Press Freedom Index, compiled annually by Reporters Without Borders (RWB) which evaluates the state of journalism in 180 countries.

This has been linked to the recent attacks on journalists in the country.

The panel delved into government's interference in the media on today's show.

Catch a PLAYBACK of the show below: