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Global push for inquiry into COVID-19 response

Global health leaders are pushing for an independent review of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic at the United Nation (UN)’s World Health Assembly.

Monday’s virtual meeting brings together envoys from 194 member states of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The WHO is facing questions on how it has dealt with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has defended his country’s actions during the outbreak, spoke during Monday’s opening ceremony.

He said China had acted “with openness and transparency” and insisted that any investigation should happen after the pandemic was brought under control.

In other opening remarks, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed a proposed resolution calling for a review of the WHO’s handling of the pandemic and said it would initiate it “at the earliest opportunity”.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said the WHO must be given more legal powers to ensure that countries report outbreaks and share data.

“A novel infectious disease could emerge at any time and we must be able to respond more quickly and effectively,” he said.

The two-day assembly – an annual meeting that reviews the work of the UN’s health agency – comes amid recriminations between the US and China over the virus.

The US has already stopped its funding for the agency and is promoting its own vaccine programme.

More than 4.5 million people have been infected and more than 300,000 have died since the virus emerged in China in December.

The European Union, alongside countries including the UK, Australia and New Zealand, is pushing for an inquiry into how the pandemic has been handled and what lessons can be learned.

EU spokeswoman Virginie Battu-Henriksson said several key questions needed to be answered as part of any review.

“How did this pandemic spread? What is the epidemiology behind it? All this is absolutely crucial for us going forward to avoid another pandemic of this kind,” she said.

However, she added that now was not the time for “any sort of blame game”.

A draft resolution calling for a review, to be put to a vote on Tuesday, requires a two-thirds majority to pass and already has support from 116 of the 194 member states, according to Reuters.

Last month, an European Union (EU) report accused China of spreading disinformation about the crisis. -BBC

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Committee probing petitions against Chief Justice to begin hearings tomorrow

The Committee set up by President John Dramani Mahama to inquire into three petitions filec against the Chief Justice, Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, will commence hearings tomorrow, Thursday May 15, 2025.

The five-member Committee chaired by Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang of the Supreme Court, was set up by the President in accordance with Article 146(6) of the 1992 constitution and in consultation with the Council of State, following a determination of a prima facie case against the Chief Justice.

The committee will sit three times a week and present their recommendations to the President upon completion of their work.

It would be recalled that President John Dramani Mahama recently suspended Chief Justice following the establishment of a prima facie case in response to three separate petitions seeking her removal from office.

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38-year-old man gets life imprisonment for killing Assemblies of God pastor in 2018

After close to seven years of trial, a seven-member jury on Wednesday, May 14, returned a guilty verdict in the murder case involving the killing of the Senior Pastor of the Central Assemblies of God church at Tema in 2018.

The convict, Francis Nabegmado, a relative of the deceased, inflicted a fatal knife wound on Rev. Dr. David Nabegmado on December 30, 2018, after alleging that the senior pastor was a false preacher who engaged in idol worship and human sacrifices.

After an hour of summing up by the judge, Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, the jury retired briefly and returned with a unanimous guilty verdict.

Based on the unanimous verdict of the jurors who had previously studied the statements of the five witnesses called by the prosecution, and listened to the summing up process, the judge sentenced the 38-year-old to life imprisonment.

When he was offered an opportunity to comment on the verdict, the convict told the judge that he wanted to go home to meet his family.

“My Lady, I want to see my family, and I want to be taken to Yendi”.

When the judge told him she couldn’t make such an order for him to go and see his family in Yendi, the convict forcefully said, “I insist”.

Francis, who will now spend the rest of his life at the Nsawam medium security prison, had told the court throughout the trial that the decision to attack his uncle, Rev. Nebegmado, was driven by insanity, but that did not save him from receiving a life sentence.

Speaking briefly after the sentencing, Senior Pastor of the Assemblies of God church at Tema Community 4, Rev. Emmanuel Kwesi Ofori, said the church has been waiting for this closure for the past seven years and will soon issue an official statement.

Source: Myjoyonline.com