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Develop pathways for children in remote areas- Kurt Okraku charges Referees Bureau
The President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku has charged the Referees Department to come up with a clear career pathway to help develop children in remote areas who are interested in refereeing.
He was speaking at a one-day training workshop for Referees Managers from the 10 Regional Football Associations.
‘’The leadership of the refereeing fraternity should endeavour to give Ghanaian citizens who are interested in refereeing a clear developmental pathway that can enable a child, living in the remote areas of Ghana, who is interested in the noble art of refereeing, the opportunity to realise their dreams to become Referees without needing any external influences such as so-called pushers, godfathers or godmothers,” he emphatically said.
According to him, ‘’There should be a clear pathway for a child interested in refereeing to go all the way to become a FIFA referee.”
He also talked about the need to re-train, motivate, and encourage former referees who fell out of the industry following the Anas expose.
“So, just before 2019, due to the Anas expose, we lost 78 referees!! That was a big blow to Ghana Football!! Since then, we have tried to regroup and find workable ways through which we can encourage the ones that have been retained and also motivate and get people to be interested in the art of refereeing,” President Simeon-Okraku added.
The training workshop was spearheaded by Referees Manager Alex Kotey with support from Technical Director Professor Joseph Kwame Mintah.
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Traders, ‘Okada’ riders take over Circle pavement
• Korle-Bu CEO with staff of Nivaansh MediQas
Activities of traders and drug addicts are contributing to make the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange (Circle) area very uncomfortable and unsafe for commuters.
Day in and out, pedestrians are ‘ejected’ from the pavement created for their safety as traders preferred to sell their wares on that space.
That hinders the free movement of the pedestrians.
The small space left for the pedestrians are also shared with ‘Okada’ riders.
As if these woes are not enough for a commuter on a single day, they also have to navigate carefully to avoid clashes with drug addicts and the mentally challenged.
These people have turned the pavements into their places of abode, covering every inch of space with their wares.
Our photographer, Lizzy Okai, captures some of the unfriendly scenes the authorities must try and deal with to restore sanity to the area.
By Lizzy Okai
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NDC outlines demands before committing to Peace Pact
The National Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has set forth specific conditions that the party insists must be met before considering signing the Peace Pact advocated by the National Peace Council in anticipation of the December 7 elections.
Mr. Nketia expressed scepticism about the effectiveness of past Peace Pacts, highlighting that they had not achieved their intended outcomes, particularly referencing the 2020 elections, during which eight NDC members were allegedly killed by national security operatives without accountability.
During an August 20 meeting with the National Peace Council at the NDC headquarters, Mr. Nketia detailed the certain conditions for the NDC’s participation in the Peace Pact.
The NDC is demanding that the recommendations from the investigation into the violence during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election be fully implemented.
They also want those responsible for election-related violence in the last election to be prosecuted, stressing the importance of justice and prevention.
The party is calling for accountability regarding irregularities in the printing of ballot papers and insists that visible measures be taken to prevent such issues from happening again.
They are also pushing for a thorough investigation into the missing IT equipment from the Electoral Commission’s (EC) warehouse, expressing concerns about the integrity of the EC’s systems and the potential bias of its staff.
Furthermore, the NDC is urging the President to publicly commit to respecting the results of the 2024 elections. Lastly, the party insists that the Peace Pact should be signed by key figures, including the Inspector General of Police, the Chief Justice, the Attorney-General, and the National Security Coordinator, before they will consider signing it themselves.
Source: Citinewsroom.com
