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Victoria Hammah’s Exposé: CJ Must Probe Election Petition Judgement Now!!!
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- Category: Politics
- Created on Friday, 08 November 2013 00:00
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Victoria Hammah’s Exposé: CJ Must Probe Election Petition Judgement Now!!!
The New Patriotic Party is shocked at the damning revelations made by, now former deputy Minister of Communications, Victoria Hammah that the verdict of the Presidential Election Petition delivered by Justice William Atuguba on the 29th of August was influenced by the government of President John Dramani Mahama.
The dismissal of Victoria Hammah coupled with the deafening silence of President Mahama and his government in not denying the statements by Victoria Hammah, as contained in her dismissal letter, could only mean that they are true and factual.
{sidebar id=10 align=right}According to Victoria Hammah, "I learnt even before the verdict, Nana (Oye Lithur) was with the Justices and all that. You don’t know the role she has played for us to win the court case."
The question is what role did a Minister of State in the Mahama government have to play to secure victory for her boss, if indeed, the respondents knew the petitioners had no case?
The Election Petition filed by the petitioners was grounded on evidence gathered and now Ghanaians are being told that Nana Oye Lithur, who happens to be the wife of Tony Lithur, counsel for President Mahama in the petition, was instrumental in securing victory for President Mahama, going to the extent of meeting the Supreme Court Judges before the verdict was delivered.
Were the true issues of the petition even considered by the judges or was it a case of maintaining the status quo at all cost, so as to keep President Mahama as president of Ghana regardless of the overwhelming evidence presented by the petitioners?
Were the errors made by Justice Atuguba on the day he delivered the judgement, where Justice Baffoe-Bonnie was said to have dismissed and upheld the petitioners’ claims of voting without verification all at the same time, as a result of the pressure put to bear on the judges by Nana Oye Lithur, before the verdict was read?
Indeed in the aftermath of the petition, a publication in the New Free Press indicated that the Inspector General of Police led some of the Judges that sat on the Presidential Petition to meet President Mahama on the morning of August 29. Thus far, neither President Mahama nor the IGP has denied this allegation.
As per Victoria Hammah’s revelations, it is not surprising that television cameras showed President Mahama wearing all-white apparel, with his Vice President and other appointees clad in white and waving white handkerchiefs even before the verdict was delivered. Certainly, they were all aware of the work Nana Oye Lithur had done in meeting the judges.
The NPP is calling on the Chief Justice to, as a matter of urgency, institute a commission to probe the judgement of the 9 Supreme Court judges in the wake of these revelations by Victoria Hammah.
The independence of the judiciary has been called into question by these revelations. If the sanctity of the Judiciary cannot be maintained, but can be influenced by officials in government, then what hope does the ordinary man on the streets have of obtaining justice if the court is available to be unduly influenced?
Ghana deserves better and the Chief Justice must act now to safeguard our democracy and restore the confidence of Ghanaians in the judiciary.
……signed……
Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie
NPP General Secretary
No commentsThe lifeguards of the nation
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- Category: Culture & Tourism
- Created on Monday, 04 November 2013 00:00
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The lifeguards of the nation
Tens of thousands of people owe their lives to Germany's lifeguards. The German Lifeguard Association is celebrating its 100th anniversary - and continues to urge parents to get their kids swimming at a young age.
Tithing is for ‘gullible’ Christians
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- Category: Religion
- Created on Monday, 28 October 2013 00:00
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Tithing is for ‘gullible’ Christians
....Not Christian Economists
At a point, one of my best friends was a Buddhist. He had been an atheist for a long time until he resolved it was time to believe in something. He decided the Abrahamic religions were too arrogant and didn’t quite give room for dissent. He found that those who subscribed to their teachings were usually very gullible and vulnerable.
Germans opt for alternative burials for individual touch
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- Category: Culture & Tourism
- Created on Friday, 01 November 2013 00:00
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Germans opt for alternative burials for individual touch
November 1 is a holiday in Catholic parts of Germany, where it's a tradition to light candles and visit the graves of dead relatives. These traditional sites are changing as more people opt for alternative burials.
Fritz Roth's coffin was brimming with farewell gifts. Bouquets of flowers, decorations from Carnival, baked Christmas cookies, books, and a bottle of wine had been crammed inside the red casket.
"His coffin was like a suitcase when you go traveling," his son David Roth said. "It was so full that we had the feeling we had to sit on it to get it closed again."
Five months later, in May 2013, Roth's cremated remains were buried beneath a herb garden. His grandchildren built the urn with a balloon and papier-mâché, then used carved potatoes and paint to decorate it with stars.
As far as German traditions go, it wasn't a typical send-off. Not least because cremated remains must be buried within six weeks under state law. But during his long career as an undertaker, Roth was known all over Germany for his non-conformist approach to death.
He founded the country's first private cemetery in 2006, and ran the Pütz-Roth funeral home in the leafy western German town of Bergisch Gladbach near Cologne for almost 30 years.
Up close and personal with death
David, who is 35, hopes to continue his father's mission: to help people accept death as a natural part of life that need not be hidden from view.
"In former times it was usual in Germany that when someone died, he stayed at home," he said. "The family, the neighbors, the whole village were able to say goodbye, to see what death means and…you have to give [the body] away at a certain point because it's changing."
Now things are different. David decries what he says has become a "very sterile approach" to death in Germany.
"Normally everything happens really fast, and you don't see the person who died again," he said. "A funeral director comes and takes away your beloved one. The next thing you see is a coffin or a small urn that goes into the gravesite. You don't understand or see what happened there."
A grave affair
Germany has strict burial laws. It's one of the only countries in the world, for example, where cremated remains must be interred directly in a cemetery, instead of being kept at home or scattered outdoors. David believes legal limitations shouldn't interfere with the personal grieving process.
"All we know about previous cultures, like the Romans, the Egyptians, we know from their graves,” said David. "If you find our remains in 500 years, you can say about us that we have been always lawful and perfectly hygienic."
At any one time there are 30 to 40 bodies at his family's funeral home. Living rooms have been set up where the bereaved can sit with the deceased. David said it's important people spend as much time with the body as they need - even if it takes three weeks - to accept what has happened.
He encourages mourners to add a personal touch to the burial by creating something unique to put at the gravesite. They can also paint a coffin or build their own with the home's coffin construction kits.
"The principle is more or less a bit like being your own pharaoh," David said. "There is nothing ridiculous or stupid, as long as it has a meaning for them."
The Roth's private cemetery stretches across a small hillside covered with trees. It doesn't look like a traditional graveyard. Art installations and sculptures are spread amongst the trees and most of the 2,200 gravesites here are marked with personal mementos - children's toys, a flute, tennis balls, a cat carved out of wood.
It's your funeral
Many families prefer to have a traditional funeral, but some also embrace the possibility of designing their own rituals. David said one man wanted to bury his wife at night by the light of the moon, another party opted to put the ashes in a small boat on the Rhine River. Others planned a funeral with a communist party theme: "We had pictures of the deceased with Brezhnev and Castro, and where they said goodbye by singing the Internationale," said David.
In Germany there has been a significant shift away from religious ceremonies to more individualized forms of farewell. In 2008, the Hamburg football club, HSV, opened up Europe's first graveyard specifically for football fans. Club supporters have the option of being laid to rest in a blue coffin inscribed with the club's motto while the HSV hymn plays. Another Bundesliga side, Schalke, have since opened a cemetery giving their fans the same chance to show devotion after death.
But themed funerals and homemade gravesites aren't for everyone. The expansion of burial options has made some traditional undertakers uneasy.
"Before Germany had a strict and traditional burial culture, where every burial was arranged by a pastor or a priest," said Oliver Wirthmann, Director of the Trustees of German Funeral Culture. "It used to be a religious ritual, and now it's entertainment…that's not good."
Burial tailored to the individual
Cremations are on the rise in Germany. In 2011, they overtook burials for the first time, and in 2012 54.5 percent of people were cremated. There has also been a recent trend towards anonymous burials in sanctioned forests or fields, outside traditional cemeteries. Wirthmann says this mainly driven by secularization and the high costs of traditional burials.
Professor Rainer Sörries, Director of the Museum for Sepulchral Culture in Kassel said burial options are also becoming more diverse because people have started to talk more openly about death and dying.
"Many traditions have been lost, and people today want more individual burials that meet their own needs," he said. "For relatives who are left behind, a key motivation is arranging a funeral that the deceased would also have enjoyed themselves."
In David Roth's view, "the possibilities are unlimited."
Date 31.10.2013
Author Natalie Muller
Editor Nicole Goebel
Source: Deutsche Welle
Prez Mahama Promises Prosperity, Decency And Dignity
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- Category: Politics
- Created on Sunday, 27 October 2013 00:00
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Prez Mahama Promises Prosperity, Decency And Dignity
President John Dramani Mahama on Sunday appealed to all Ghanaians to put their hands on deck to enable government to offer development projects that would bring about prosperity, decency and dignity.
He said: "Those who are not ready to help should not disrupt our development agenda either."
President Mahama made this appeal when he cut the sod for commencement of work on the 1.2 million Ghana cedis Ringway Assemblies of God Gospel Centre Cathedral.
In attendance were Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood, Chief Justice and her husband Mr Edwin Wood, Retired Economist, Reverend Dr Paul Frimpong Manso, General Superintendent of Assemblies of God, Ghana, and some government officials among other dignitaries.
The Church, which was started in 1985 in a classroom has developed over the years to become one of the big branches of the assemblies of God Church in the capital and that the current project on completion would accommodate about 1,200 people.
President Mahama who equated the building to governance said just like the construction of a building project that needed various degrees of support, governance also needed optimists and hardworking people rather than pessimists.
He, therefore, called on those who had nothing in terms of positive contributions towards nation-building not to disrupt the Governments efforts by churning out unfounded allegations and falsehood that could be destructive.
President Mahama said the objective of his administration was to bring about prosperity to every Ghanaian to enable them to live decent and dignified lives irrespective of where they were located. President Mahama said God had changed the dropping of manna to his people by rather equipping them with skills and knowledge that would advance the socio-economic development of the country.
"God does not drop manna for his people any longer, but with technological advancement, he has equipped a lot more to use their skills and knowledge to work for their own development and I will like to encourage all of you to work towards the building of this nation," he added.
Reverend Dr Frimpong Manso, General Superintendent of the Church denounced the proliferation of all-night church services, which he added, were lowering productivity as most of the patrons tend to be weak after spending the whole night in church.
He suggested Christians should plan and prioritise their activities in order that they do not conflict with their official working environment.
The General Superintendent appealed to metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to collaborate with the church in the socio-economic development in their areas of jurisdiction.
Source: GNA