Ga Queen Mother Passes On
Naa Dedei Omaadru III
The Ga Traditional Council has announced the passing of the queen mother of the Ga state, Her Royal Majesty, Naa Dedei Omaadru III.
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Ambassador S.J.K. Parker, Chief of Protocol and Communication at the Ga Traditional Council, made this known on behalf of the Paramount Chief of the Ga Traditional Area, Nii Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, during a press briefing on Wednesday in Accra.
He said the late queen mother, known in private life as Naa Dedei Ablah, who served as the longest serving queen of the Ga state, passed away on December 26, 2022, aged 88, in Accra.
He said, “The late queen mother sought the welfare of the girl- child and women so as to safeguard their future, setting a remarkable example of leadership to the queen mothers in the Ga state. She stood for peace and unity and promoted not only for the Ga state but for all Ghanaians and also advocated for a united approach to meaningful development for her people.”
He further stated that aside her outstanding leadership traits, the late Naa Dedei Omaadru III, also embarked on some charitable projects.
This, he stated, include donating items worth 12 million Ghana cedis to the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled at the Ghana National Rehabilitation Centre in Accra among several others.
The Protocol and Communications Director added that the late queen mother who returned from the USA in 2021, where she lived for sometime, was a unifier who had always wanted peace to continuously prevail in the Ga state irrespective of people’s political affiliation.
He said the Ga state had not only lost a great mother with a stately and sterling leadership but an affable mother of the Ga state and many others in the diaspora.
Her Royal Majesty, the late Naa Dedei Omaadru III will be laid to rest on April 29, 2023 with a book of condolence opened at the Ga Traditional Council office on February 13, 2023 at Kaneshie in Accra.
Haruna Not A Sellout – Majority Leader
MAJORITY LEADER, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has stated that the immediate-past Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, did not sell out to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government by collaborating and cooperating with the Majority on some policies.
In response to comments made by some members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the party expressed concern that Mr. Iddrisu had sold out to the government, ceding too much policy to the NPP on the altar of parliamentary harmony.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, however, insists that the cordial working relationship he had with the former Minority Leader and his group was in the national interest.
“As I spoke to it yesterday [referring to Tuesday], to the extent that there were suspicions that the two people were in bed,” he told the media in Parliament yesterday.
He explained, “There was nothing of the sort. If you are a Majority Leader, you have to facilitate Government Business and you work harmoniously with the Minority Leader to achieve optimum effect for the Government Business.”
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu noted that the Haruna-led Minority leadership had many disagreements with him and the Majority Caucus, particularly on policy issues.
“When their party has taken a policy decision that cannot be reconciled with the NPP, certainly there will be hiccups, and you may see some fireworks.
“It doesn’t mean we are enemies. But to the largest extent possible, we must work together to grow Parliament and also ensure that Parliament performs its assigned role, including legislation, financing control, oversight, representation and so on,” he noted.
“I tell you, that when it comes to crafting bills, those of them who participate in the widowing are from the Minority Caucus, not even from the Majority. That is how it is supposed to be,” the Majority Leader revealed.
According to him, collaboration and cooperation contributed to the growth of Parliament and Ghana’s democracy, adding, “So you must disabuse your minds of this cooperation, and sometimes even collaboration between the Majority and Minority to signal that they are in bed.”
“We were working on some determined principles to grow Parliament and democracy. When I was the Minority Leader and Cletus was the Majority Leader, anytime he came to Kumasi he would give me prior information and, in the evening, we would meet at a location and give ourselves a good treat.
“I had not sold out the Majority at the time. And I was equally not sold to Bagbin when he was the Majority Leader. And you all know that I even went to his backyard to speak for him,” he recounted.
He stated that he had not sold out to the Majority at the time, but that they needed to really grow Parliament, and that was the type of relationship he had with Haruna Iddrisu, the NDC MP for Tamale South.
“And for six years that he was the Minority Leader, I cultivated his friendship. Ato is a close body and I know he is very rational, and yet he is very stiff-neck when it comes to his policy positions.
“I will not break the neck, but I will twist it a bit, but he is very principled. Notwithstanding, you must cultivate a good working relationship with him,” he stated.
Akufo-Addo’s CJ Threatens Court Action
The 73-year- old former Chief Justice, Sophia Abena Akuffo has threatened to head to court if government does not exclude pensioners from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
The visibly angry former Chief Justice slammed the government over its decision to include pension funds in the programme.
“I am over 70 years now, I am no longer government employee, my mouth has been ungagged, and I am talking, and I am saying that we have failed, and it is important that the elderly should be respected.
I find this wicked, I find it disrespectful, I find it unlawful, I find it totally wrong,” the irritated former Chief Justice told journalists when she joined a group of pensioners to picket at the Finance Ministry today, Friday February 10.
She lambasted the government for messing up the economy and attempting to “forcibly” include their pension funds in the debt restructuring exercise without accountability and engagement.
Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo described the decision by the government as “sheer wickedness and outright disrespect to the elderly who have sacrificed their lives for the development of the nation.”
She wants government to be transparent and account to Ghanaians on what led to the current economic crisis and what all the loans were used for.
