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Govt clears GH¢2.63bn legacy owed ECG
The Minister of Energy, John Peter Amewu says the government has cleared the GH¢2.63 billion legacy debts owed the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
Addressing a press briefing in Accra yesterday, he said, as at December last year, the government had paid the full amount of electricity bills and currently had a credit balance of GH¢500 million with the power distributor.
In order to remain current on bills expected to be paid by the government since assuming power, he said an annual payment of GH¢2 billion was made to the ECG from 2017.
“As of December 2016, when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) left office, the bill owed ECG by the government at that time was GH¢2.63 billion.
On assumption of office, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) ensured that it was current on all the bills incurred during its tenure, from 2017 to date. On the average, President Akufo-Addo has paid GH¢2 billion annually to cover its bills with the ECG,” he added.
With an average electricity bill payment of GH¢100 million per month, the Minister explained that the GH¢500 million credit balance would cover government’s electricity bill from January to April this year.
Additionally, he said unreconciled additional payment of GH¢4.14 billion by government to fuel suppliers of power producers, which were yet to be credited to government would position the country toward addressing financial challenges crippling the sector.
In this regard, the Energy Sector Reform Programme designed to improve the sector, Mr Amewu noted, has been approved by cabinet to ensure a reliable and effective electricity company in the country.
President Nana Akufo-Addo, in his sixth address to the nation, announced government’s decision to absorb the electricity bills of consumers as part of measures to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus disease on Ghanaians.
He said as part of the measures, government would fully absorb the electricity bills for people who consumed zero to 50 kw/h of electricity for the periods of April, May and June.
He added further that, for residential and commercial users, government would absorb 50 per of the electricity bills using March 2020 as benchmark.
The decision, he said, was to support industry, enterprises and the service sector, as well as provide some relief to households for lost income.
Ghana’s confirmed cases of the disease is presently 5,918 with 31 deaths and 1,754 recoveries.
As it stands, the country’s active cases are 4,128 with five persons in critical and moderately ill conditions at the various treatment centres.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS
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Swedru All Blacks back to winning ways, Roshan humble King Faisal
Sekondi Rospak FC made it eight wins in eight successive home games after three second-half goals from John Amoah, Joseph Ntow and Stephen Anthony Kofi. John Amoah opened the scoring in the 55th minute after a barren first half. Joseph Ntow added to the tally in the 56th minute before Stephen Anthony Kofi rounded things up in the 74th minute to give Rospak a 3-0 win over former Premier League side King Faisal.
Elsewhere at Swedru – leaders Swedru All Blacks humbled PAC Academy in an emphatic 2-0 win. Zayat Bubakari scored first for Swedru All Blacks in the 27th minute before Rudolf Junior Nana Kwasi Mensah made it 2-0 in the 34th minute. Swedru All Blacks are top of the table with 36 points – 4 points ahead of second placed Rospak FC.
Meanwhile, Former Premier League side Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs recorded their fourth successive home victory after beaten New Edubiase United 2-1 at the Robert Mensah Park. Enoch Odoom struck first for Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs in the 19th minute but Steven Asante equalized for New Edubiase United before halftime. After the interval, Godfred Eshun scored from distance in the 65th minute to help Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs secure all the points.
Here are the results in Zone Two
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Cervical Cancer alert: Avoid sex at early age
The Programmes Manager of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Mary Efua Commeh, has advised young girls to avoid sex at an early age.
This, she explained, will give the cervix the opportunity to mature before they become sexually active.
“You need to delay what we call the first sexual intercourse as much as possible to give the cervix the opportunity to mature before the person becomes sexually active,” she said.
Dr Commeh stated this in an interview with The Spectator in Accra on Tuesday as a part of the Cervical Cancer awareness month.
According to her, cervical cancer was the second leading female cancer in Ghana with a total of about 3,072 cases annually, and out of that, 1,815 deaths are recorded, representing more than 50 per cent.
She indicated that “If young girls are going to be sexually active, then you need to talk to your parents about being vaccinated.”
She explained that vaccinating young girls against human papillomavirus (HPV) has been found to be a very effective way of preventing cervical cancer.
“There are countries that started HPV vaccination years ago and they are not seeing any cervical cancers now because they would have eliminated most of the high-risk HPVs in their women. So if the high-risk HPV is not there, then obviously the results on cervical cancers are going to go down,” she added.
Dr Commmey said the HPV vaccination is recommended for young girls aged nine to 14 years, adding that it had been found to be highly effective, not just for cervical cancers but for other HPV-related cancers, such as anal cancers, cancers of the vagina, genital warts, amongst others.
She further elaborated that the idea is to put up a barrier before the HPV comes in and that once a young female encounters it, she is already protected.
She also mentioned that for cervical cancers, the main cause is called HPV infection, saying generally, all sexually active women acquire HPV at some point in their lives.
However, the Programmes Manager of NCDs at the GHS mentioned that the body has a way of clearing the HPV, explaining that it is a natural mechanism that goes on, unfortunately, there are a few women whose HPV persists.
Moreover, she noted that the numbers for Cervical Cancer tend to be much higher because at times, clients would wait, and try all sorts of medications before they finally report to the health facility saying “we actually lose some women before they get to the hospitals with over 75 per cent of the cases coming in its third and fourth stages.”
Dr Commey, therefore, called for public awareness while ensuring the availability of information for prevention and control.
By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu
