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Military deployment not to intimidate residents Defence Minister
The government has denied allegations that it deployed military personnel to Ghana’s border towns to intimidate residents from participating in the voter registration exercise scheduled to commence today.
Minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul, addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday, said the military deployment was in support of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS)’s efforts to stop illegal entry of foreigners through unapproved routes along the borders.
Explaining further, he noted that, the decision to deploy military personnel was informed by government’s commitment to protect the populace in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and not targeted at instilling fear or suppressing a group or tribe.
The government, he said, commenced the deployment of military personnel together with police, GIS and Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) personnel on February 21 last year in an operation dubbed “Conquered Fist,” designed to enforce border laws in the country.
This, he noted, involved 384 soldiers, 259 police, 172 immigration officers and 70 GRA officers and were mostly stationed in the Northern, North East, Upper East, Upper West and Savannah regions.
Following the closure of Ghana’s borders amid the COVID-19, Mr Nitiwul said, the government decided to improve security along the borders due to significant increase in the use of unapproved routes by foreigners to enter the country.
During the period of lockdown alone, more than 5,000 persons were arrested for entering the country through one of the 500 illegal routes identified so far by the country’s security teams.
On March 30 and April 20 this year, the Minister said, military personnel were also deployed together with the police as part of ‘Operation Calm Life’ to ensure increased security during and after the lockdown in some parts of the country.
A further deployment was done on June 18 and 19 to all border towns to support existing teams to close all unapproved routes to deal with illegal entry, the Minister added.
In the Upper East Region, he said, 207 were deployed to eight various locations, 102 were deployed to four areas in the North East region, 110 were posted to five locations in the Northern region while 95 personnel were deployed to nine areas in the Volta Region.
At Upper West, 69 soldiers were deployed to three different locations, 21 soldiers were posted to Damango and Bole in the Savannah Region while 44 and 13 soldiers were deployed to Bono and Western regions respectively, Mr Nitiwul stated.
He noted that the Ministry was in the process of deploying some other personnel to Gyaman North and Dormaa, both in the Bono region.
He said marine security has also been tightened through increased patrols to prevent illegal entries.
He, however, noted that the Ministry would investigate allegations that some military personnel were intimidating residents in the area of deployments.
Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Minister of Information, denounced comments by some political actors that the deployment of military personnel in the Volta Region was an attack on the people of the area.
He said government was not prepared to engage in politics that borders on ethnocentrism and urged opposing political parties to refrain from stirring ethnic sentiments and focus on supporting the country’s development.
Source: Ghanaian Times
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GEXIM deepens relations with US EXIM Bank
A management team of the Ghana Export – Import Bank (GEXIM) led by the Acting Chief Executive, Sylvester Mensah met with the leadership of the Export–Import Bank of the United States (US EXIM) on Wednesday April 23, 2025 in Washington DC, United States of America.
The Acting President and Chairman of US EXIM, Mr. James C. Cruse and Vice President, International Relations, Ms. Isabel Galdiz received the GEXIM delegation, which included Deputy CEO for Banking, Mr. Moses Klu Mensah and Head of International Cooperation, Mr. Jonathan Christopher Koney at the headquarters of US EXIM.
The meeting offered the GEXIM team the opportunity to share the strategic direction of the Bank in line with the resetting agenda of the President of the Republic, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama for the repositioning of the Ghanaian economy into an export-led one by providing the requisite investment to Ghanaian businesses.
Mr. James C. Cruse expressed US EXIM’s eagerness to deepen its existing relations with GEXIM and proposed the signing of a new Cooperative Framework Agreement following the expiration of a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2019 to utilize US EXIM’s medium term loan guarantees to procure machinery by GEXIM for qualified Ghanaian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).
Mr.Sylvester Mensah thanked the Acting President and Chairman of US EXIM for hosting the GEXIM delegation and reaffirmed the Ghanaian government’s commitment to strengthening trade and investment between Ghana and its global partners for economic transformation of Ghana with GEXIM playing a pivotal role.
The two teams will be meeting on the sidelines of the 2025 US EXIM Annual Conference on 29th and April 30, 2025 to explore possible areas of collaboration and matching Ghanaian businesses to American companies. The meeting ended with an exchange of gifts.
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Many SOEs have been used as mere instruments for personal wealth accumulation –Pres.Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama has expressed concern over the misuse of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) for personal financial gain by individuals in leadership positions.
Speaking during a meeting with Chief Executives of specified entities under the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) on Thursday, March 13, the President directly attributed the dire state of SOEs to their leadership, accusing chief executives, management teams, and governing boards of prioritising personal enrichment over organisational efficiency.
He pointed to bloated budgets, unjustified allowances, and unnecessary expenditures as factors draining public funds while SOEs continue to rely on government bailouts.
“Many SOEs have been used as mere instruments for personal wealth accumulation by appointees. The chief executives, management, and boards of these enterprises are responsible for this situation. Some SOEs have become perennial loss-makers, draining public funds with bloated budgets, unjustified allowances, and unnecessary expenditures while relying on government bailouts as if entitled to them. Many of these entities are at their lowest point in the entire history of the Fourth Republic,” he said.
President Mahama further noted that many SOEs have been plagued by inefficiencies, corruption, and mismanagement, leading to consistent financial losses. He cited the 2023 State Ownership Report by the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), which highlighted systemic inefficiencies and wasteful expenditures within these entities.
He therefore reaffirmed his commitment to reforming under-performing SOEs and ensuring they serve national interests.
He warned that loss-making SOEs will no longer be tolerated and will either be merged, privatised, or closed.
“I will assess you based on your performance. If you do not align with the pace of the reset agenda, you may be asked to step aside. If that adds to the horror movie, so be it,” he added.
Source: Myjoyonline.com
