The ceremony, held at the Jubilee House on May 7, brought together prominent religious, traditional, and civil society leaders who will steer the Council’s mandate of promoting peace, dialogue, and national cohesion.

List of Members of the Reconstituted National Peace Council:

1. Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Fianu, SVD (Chairman)

2. Rt. Rev. Dr. Hilliard K. Dela Dogbe, Ph.D.

3. Apostle Eric Kwabena Nyamekye

4. Bishop Dr. Victor Osei

5. Alhaji Maulvi Mohammed Bin Salih

6. Sheikh Salman Mohammed Alhassan

7. Sheikh Armiyawo Shaibu

8. Numo Blafo Akotia Omaetu III

9. Linda Teye

10. Dr. Abubakar Umar Alhassan

11. Georgette Francois

12. Susan Aryeetey

13. Nana Effah-Apenteng

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The Phobians had a tough season, ending in 14th place with 45 points after a narrow 3-2 victory over Bechem United on the final matchday.

In a media briefing on Thursday, July 25, Ouattara candidly discussed the root of the club’s troubles, noting that they began after a match against Bofoakwa Tano at WAFA Park.

“Last season, after the game against Bofoakwa Tano at WAFA Park, our problems started,” said the Ivorian.

“The issues were internal and not with the board or management but within the playing body itself.

“We’re trying to solve it. Sometimes it’s personal problems between the technical team and the players and also among the players themselves. The resignation of the goalkeeper coach worsened the situation,” he added.

To bolster their squad for the 2024/25 season, Hearts of Oak has signed goalkeeper Benjamin Asare, Samuel Amofa, and former Nations FC players Asamoah Boateng Afriyie and Michael Awuah Mensah.

Following a defeat to Asante Kotoko in the inaugural Democracy Cup, Hearts of Oak will face Heart of Lions in the Homowo Charity Cup at the Accra Sports Stadium on August 11.

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Some irate fans last week staged a protest to express their displeasure over how the club is being managed off and on the pitch by the then management.

Following the protest, the club announced its dissolution of the 11-member Board of Directors with a new Board expected to be reconstituted on March 27 at the Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Opare Addo speaking in an interview said the decision to dissolve the Board forms part of the club’s new strategy.

“This has got nothing to do with the public outcry,” he told Citi Sports.

“The reality is that after serving for a period of 12 years, the club feel they have done well. Hence this is in line with the promise by the clubs’ majority shareholder,” he added.

The club secured several trophies, including the Premier League, two FA Cups, the Super Cup, and the President’s Cup under the previous board chaired by Togbe Afede XIV.

Other members of the previous board included Frank Nelson, Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamaloe, Prof. Kofi Kumado, Ivy Heyward-Mills, Alhaji Alhassan Andani, Thomas Kwesi Esso, Eric Barimah-Atuahene, Alhaji Imoro Briamah, Vincent Sowah Odotei, and Frederick Moore.

Meanwhile, Togbe Afede XIV and Delali Anku-Adiamah, who is the Managing Director of the club have been named as the new Directors.

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Hearts of Oak had a poor campaign last season as they finished 12th on the league log under three different coaches.

Supporters of the club have been clamouring for a change in leadership ahead of the new Ghana Premier League campaign.

Speaking in an interview with Kobby Stonne on Adom FM, the former centre-back revealed how supporters of the club played a major role when Hearts of Oak won the 2000 CAF Champions League and 2004 CAF Confederation Cup.

“On behalf of the 64 Battalion and the virgin cup squad, I would like to thank all supporters. The truth is that the playing body did their best in 2000 and 2004 but the supporters were exceptional. All of our achievements were due to the contributions of the supporters,” he said.

He added that Hearts of Oak supporters have been neglected these days and it is not the best practice.

“Football without supporters wouldn’t be interesting. It was evident during the COVID period. If you take away the players, the next important body are the supporters. It seems they are being neglected and that is not the best practice,” he added.

Meanwhile, Hearts of Oak have announced 1st batch of their new technical team led by Dutch trainer, Rene Hiddink.

At a meeting in Washington, the Executive Board of the IMF unanimously approved Ghana’s programme over the next three years.

Our sources in Washington says finishing touches are being made to sign off the deal and that a press release confirming the details will be released in a few hours time.

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Precious Mensah, popularly known as PM, alongside two runner-ups, Maafia and Gaza, as part of their prizes for emerging as winners of the 2019 contest, had a package of a sponsored trip to Dubai.

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According to sources, she “was disallowed on-board because her body size was bigger than a single seat in Emirates Airlines’ flight.”

The climax of her happiness has, however, crashed, stoking a conversation on social media.

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While some argue that the decision to “kick her out of the plane” was discriminatory, others say Atinka Media Village, organisers of the event should have bought her two tickets knowing how huge PM is.

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But, organisers of the show, explaining why she wasn’t allowed to board the flight, said they did all they could for her but her plus size was more than required for the flight to take off.

PM, the fattest of the 47 contestants, won the hearts of many after a grueling four rounds of different genre of dances at the grand finale held on Saturday, September 28, 2019 at the Fantasy Dome.

For being the ultimate winner, she walked home with a brand new saloon car, while the first runner-up received ‘Abossey Okai Macho’, with the third claiming ‘Aboboyaa’.

Mr Domelevo has petitioned the president, claiming the board chair is seeking to take over procurement procedures within his outfit and is directing staff at the department without due regard to him as a head.

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But Prof Duah Agyemang said Mr Domelevo rather failed to consult him as far as auditing of the public accounts is concerned.

He indicated that he had already done an auditing of the public accounts as Auditor General before leaving the office in 2009 and did not understand why some auditors had gone back to audit those accounts.

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“I called them to find out why they were going there to audit accounts from 2007 to 2015. But it turned out they were also going to audit some three contracts in 2017, so I asked them why they were doing that because the Auditor General was not in town,” he said on Neat FM monitored by Adomonline.com.

Prof Duah Agyemang stated that his reason for calling them was genuine and had nothing to do with interfering with anything they were working on.

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“I have genuine reasons for calling them; I only intervened and not interfere with his works. He travels without telling us and he keeps insisting that as far as he is concerned, he is not answerable to the Board and we thought that was wrong,” he said.

Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has directed Nana Asante Bediatuo, his Executive Secretary, to probe the petition filed by Auditor-General.

A letter signed by Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, has also directed the Board Chair, Frank Boakye Agyen, to hand over documents and items belonging to the Board to the Company Secretary of GCMC.

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The letter did not state the reason for the dissolution of the Board but sources say the recent tension between the CEO, Frances Essiam and the Board, may have played a part.

The power play became evident in May after Frances Essiam sacked the Finance and Accounts Manager, Julius Opuni Asamoah who is also a member of the Board.

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Infuriated by the development, the Board accused the CEO of exercising powers she didn’t have and subsequently suspended her.

But Frances Essiam justified her action insisting that Mr Asamoah was on probation and therefore could be sacked if his performance was unsatisfactory.

Some workers of the company backed Ms Essiam’s decision and staged a protest in an attempt to prevent the board from removing Ms Essiam.

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Meanwhile, the Energy Minister’s letter dated July 3, 2018, expressed the President’s gratitude to the Board for the services they rendered to the nation.

A statement issued by a member of the Board, Mrs. Ivy Austin, said: “The action of the workers is unfortunate and unwarranted, as neither the board nor the management has failed or refused to engage with the workers through the Union representatives to find solutions to the issues or concerns being raised.”

Newly constituted board of the New Times Corporation

“As a matter of fact, negotiations are on-going between management and leaders of the union. It is therefore unfortunate that whilst negotiations are on-going, the workers are resorting to a strike action without any notice to management as required by the Labour Act,” the statement added.

Background

Staff of the Corporation which manages, the Ghanaian Times Newspaper embarked on a demonstration on Monday in protest of their working conditions and also prevented management from entering their offices.

The workers among other things demanded an increment in their salaries arguing that they have been denied such increases for the past five years.

Further to these demands, also called for the immediate removal of the Managing Director of the Corporation, Carol Annang over what they describe as her poor managerial skills.

They accused her of reneging on her promise of revamping the institution.

We have confidence in Management

Meanwhile, the board further in the statement expressed confidence in the management of the Corporation in resolving the current row.

“The Board of Directors wish to reiterate its commitment to ensuring a cordial working environment. The Board further wish to state that it has full confidence in the management of New Times Corporation in resolving the matter. We therefore call on the leaders of the union to use the required processes to resolve the issues than resorting to industrial action,” the statement added.

ICU backs Ghanaian Times workers’ protest

In a related development, the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), has backed the protest by staff of New Times Corporation.

Speaking to Citi News, the General Secretary of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union, Solomon Kotei, in solidarity with the aggrieved workers said the demonstration is in the right direction.

He explained that what triggered the protest is that “last year [2017] when we came to negotiate [salaries and allowances], management were pleading and telling us all stories and an unprecedented move, [the] workers to management to give them just three percent of their salaries.”

“With this pinch of insult we didn’t even collect a back pay, and we took that hoping that this year, things will organize for us. Then from nowhere we were told of a rebranding of the paper. We thought it will bring some efficiency and profitability to this particular arrangement only for us to surrender to our main competitor.  And as our main competitor to do the printing for us and on a daily basis we don’t pay less than GH17,300, and how much are we making at Times.”

Give us 20%

Mr. Kotei said all they are saying is that “…we are sacrificing every other item on our condition of service; let’s only look at the salary that has been in arrears for many years. This has not been done and once we are asking that give us 20% and let’s live on.”

The other members of the Board are Dr. K. K. Sarpong, Managing Director, Mr. Martin Kwabena Kwakye, (Oman FM’s Boiling Point fame) Prof. John S. Nabila, Mr. Yaw Kyei, Nana Adjoa Hackman and Ogyeahohoo Yaw Gyebi II.

Minister of Energy, Mr. Agyarko urged the new Board to adopt an aggressive posture towards oil exploration bearing in mind that the Volta Basin is yet to be explored.

He said it will be suicidal to depend on the Jubilee field since in ten to twenty years time, there will be no oil to explore.

The Volta Basin, he added, if explored will add more to the country’s GDP. “Booth oil and gas can sustain the country,” he added.

Continuing, he said the fact that Ghana is now an oil producing nation places a huge task on managers of the economy to maximise the resources very well. Therefore, there is the need to use it very well.

“In all our ways, it must be used wisely to inure to the benefits of all. Future generations must also come and acknowledge that the oil find also touched on their lives. This is an industry that demands high expectations. And so, the board members must plan their activities in such a way that they have good strategic vision for the GNPC,” he noted.

The Chairman of the Board, Freddie Blay, speaking on behalf of his colleagues promised to work hard to ensure that the current production level of about 108,000 barrels a day is increased to about 500,000.