helicopter disaster: Our mission is to find missing person- GCAA

The Director of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority has given a resounding assurance they will find the body of one of the passengers aboard a helicopter which crashed into  the waters of Cape Three Points, Thursday.
"There were four survivors, three dead and one missing. The missing person is critical. We will find him," Commodore Manfe told the press, Friday.
A helicopter carrying eight people- two crew and six passengers- crashed into the waters, 20 nautical miles off the coast of Takoradi.
The helicopter took off from Takoradi airport at exactly 12:50 GMT to one of the oil rigs and was estimated to land at the rig at 13:10 GMT. It was later reported the helicopter had crashed.
While disclosing the nationalities of the victims on board the helicopter, Commodore Manfe would not say the identities of the dead, the survivors or the missing person.
He said the next of kins of the deceased persons would have to be informed first, before the information is made public.
Five Ghanaians, a Nigerian, a British and a French national were involved in the helicopter disaster. 
According to him, one of the survivors is in critical condition and has been transported to Accra. The three other survivors are still receiving treatment in Takoradi.
Joy News' Western Region correspondent Kweku Owusu Peprah reported rescue efforts are still underway in an attempt to recover the body of the missing person.
He said the aerial monitoring which was disrupted yesterday because of bad weather has resumed as personnel of the Ghana Navy, Tullow Oil and Luk Oil continue to search for the missing body.

Source: 

Council of State charges Mahama to solve economic difficulties

The Chairman of the Council of State has admonished President John Mahama to take bold and decisive steps to confront the current economic difficulties the country is facing.
Mrs Cecilia Johnson also wants the president to deal with corruption which is one of the biggest challenges facing the country.
She gave the admonition at the Peduase Lodge where the president is meeting members of the Council of State.
The Council of State is a recognised body charged by the constitution to counsel the president on major national issues. The Council meets the president from time-to-time to discuss some of these issues and to find the way forward.
Joy News' Seth Kwame Boateng  who is present at the Peduase Lodge reported the Council of State members are also unhappy with the state of indiscipline in the country.
They are therefore asking for a better partnership with the National Commission on Civic Education to instil discipline in Ghanaians.
On the free Senior High School policy, the council is convinced it is a policy worth implementing.
The Council members are therefore asking the president to invest in the policy and make it sustainable.
The meeting said to be ongoing would have the president also share his concerns on the many national issues.

Source: Ghana|Myjoyonline.com 

Nigerian army ignored warning of Boko Haram kidnap – Amnesty

Nigeria’s military had advanced warning of the April 14 attack by Boko Haram that led to the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls but failed to take immediate action, Amnesty International said Friday.
“Damning testimonies gathered by Amnesty International reveal that Nigerian security forces failed to act on advance warnings about Boko Haram’s armed raid on the state-run boarding school in Chibok which led to the abduction,” the rights group said.
Amnesty said it had verified the information about the abduction with “credible sources”.
“Amnesty International has confirmed… that Nigeria’s military headquarters in Maiduguri was aware of the impending attack soon after 7:00 PM (1800 GMT) on 14 April, close to four hours before Boko Haram began their assault on the town,” the group said.
The military however could not assemble the troops needed to suppress the attack, “due to poor resources and a reported fear of engaging with the often better-equipped” Islamists, according to Amnesty.
The 17 army personnel based in Chibok were overpowered by the attackers and had to retreat, the London-based group further said.
“The fact that Nigerian security forces knew about Boko Haram’s impending raid, but failed to take the immediate action needed to stop it, will only amplify the national and international outcry at this horrific crime,” said Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International’s Africa Director for research and advocacy.

 source: AFP

Speaker of Parliament, Council of State clash over entrenched provisions

The Speaker Doe Adjaho wants the Council of State chair to go for legal advice

The Chairman of the Council of State appears to have irked the Majority in Parliament and Speaker of the House after seemingly siding with the Minority over a contentious correspondence.
The bone of contention here has to do with whether the Speaker has to lay in Parliament a document on amendments of some entrenched provisions before forwarding it to the Council of State or vice versa.
The Minority had accused Edward Doe Adjaho, Speaker of the House, of taking unilateral decisions on the Constitution Review Commission’s recommendations on the entrenched provisions.
According to them, the Attorney General had delivered a document containing the recommendations in the white paper and handed it over to the Speaker. But the Speaker, without recourse to the House, forwarded the document to the Council of State.
The Minority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu wrote to the Council stating his disagreement about the Speaker’s action.
The Council of State is now asking Edward Doe Adjaho to present the document to the legislative body for deliberation.
The Minority therefore feels vindicated by the action of the Council of State.
Minority ranking member on Legal and Parliamentary Committee, Joseph Osei-Owusu told Joy News the Chairman of the Council of State, Madam Cecilia Johnson in a letter to the Speaker copied to the Minority Leader, acknowledged “the position taken by the Minority Leader to be the correct interpretation of the constitution”.
The letter stated that the Council is “therefore returning the proposed amendment containing the bill to the Speaker to take it to Parliament”, he mentioned.
Mr Osei-Owusu commended the Council’s action as being “correct” and also “vindicates us”.
He is therefore asking Mr. Doe Adjaho to respect the Council’s directive and lay the bill before Parliament so that a consensus can be reached on the amendments proposed.
But the Majority Chief Whip, Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak is contesting the decision of the Council.
He claimed the Chairman of the Council of State “acted alone” when she returned the document, and stressed “I am sorry for her”.
Because the Council’s chair acted based on the letter she received from the Minority Leader, Alhaji Muntaka questioned if she now takes advice from the Minority Leader.
“If she had to take advice, I wonder if he wanted to take advice from the Minority without necessarily even hearing from the Majority Leader or the Speaker”.
He disclosed that the Speaker has “responded appropriately” to the Council that the document is assumed to be with the Council, and insisted that he did nothing wrong referring the document to them.
The Speaker, he said, has therefore challenged the Council chair to seek interpretation of the constitution at the appropriate quarters, because “he thinks that per his own judgment, his understanding of the constitution, he acted right, and therefore has referred the document back to the Council of State, telling them that so far as he is concerned the document is before the Council of State”.

 

Source: Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | 

 

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