Author: Krobea

Parents in Zimbabwe who cannot afford school fees can offer livestock such as goats or sheep as payment, a government minister has said. The country’s education minister Lazarus Dokora told the pro-government Sunday Mail newspaper that schools will have to show flexibility when it comes to demanding tuition fees from parents, and that they should accept not only livestock, but also services and skills. “If there is a builder in the community, he/she must be given that opportunity to work as a form of payment of tuition fees,” the paper quoted him as saying. Some schools are already accepting livestock…

The galamsey menace has become a social canker which needs the attention of all well-meaning Ghanaians. It is therefore not surprising that most Ghanaians praised the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, John Peter Amewu, when he gave a three-week ultimatum to illegal small scale miners to put a stop to their activities. Even before the three-week ultimatum expired there were media reports that some of these small scale miners had started evacuating from their sites, whilst others surrendered their excavators. This is a clear sign that these illegal miners have come to the terms with the fact that this…

Facebook’s annual developers’ event, held this year in San Jose, is the social network’s chance to bring together all of the people that work with the site to create the apps and other features used by the almost two billion people. The event is a launching pad for new features. After a busy first day, here’s my pick of the most interesting and significant. 1) AR Studio Augmented reality – that’s when digital images are placed over the real world – is the key battleground between Facebook and its bitter rival Snapchat. And AR Studio could be the differentiator. Facebook…

Millennials have found a new way to sabotage relationships. “Cushioning” is a newly coined dating term wherein a partner in a monogamous relationship still flirts with other people — so if their main relationship goes kaput, there’s a backup ready. “I was seeing someone for a few months and it was going well, but it felt like the dust had started to settle a bit,” Anna, a cushioner who didn’t want to disclose her full name for personal reasons, told the Tab. “I still liked him, but wasn’t entirely sure I wanted him to be my boyfriend and was in limbo.…

Deadly attacks against soldiers are common in northern Mali Five Malian soldiers have been killed by suspected Islamist militants on Tuesday in the northern city of Timbuktu, BBC Afrique reports. According to an official statement, the soldiers were killed in a raid carried out at dawn on a camp in the remote Gourma Rharous area about 120 km (75m) from Timbuktu. Officials have blamed the deadly attack on what they describe as “a terrorist group”. Ten of the attackers have reportedly been killed by French soldiers while they tried to retreat after the raid. French soldiers are part of a…

The Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP) wants government to provide the details of the power purchase agreements (PPAs) reviewed within the past three months. At a Joy FM-organised event on Monday, April 17 to mark 100 days in power, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia indicated that government has saved $300 million after reviewing and prioritising PPAs. But in a release to assess government’s performance in the energy sector in the first 100 days, ACEP stressed that: “The government will have to provide further details and clarification on specific projects that have been reviewed and prioritised. “This will provide think…

The Minority in Parliament is demanding an investigation into a recent trip to Dubai by members of the Addison Committee, which reviewed the AMERI deal. The trip is said to have been sponsored by AMERI. “What comes to us as a shock is that a three-day trip was extended to a week for reasons known to members of the committee,” Minority’s Spokesperson on Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, said at a press conference on Tuesday, Aprl 18. “Strangely, the [Energy] minister’s brother who is a Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon, who is not a member of the committee, joined…

The Minority in Parliament says it will petition the Financial Services Authority of the United States of America for a conflict of interest situation involving Ghana’s Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta. The Minority says this will follow a full-scale parliamentary inquiry, it is demanding, into the issue. At a news conference on Tuesday, April 18, Minority’s Spokesperson on Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, explained that an April 3 bond issued by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning was subscribed to by Franklin Templeton Investment Limited’s Trevor G. Trefgarne, who is a friend to Mr Ofori-Atta. According to the former Deputy Minister…

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has the intention to have further meetings with Ghana’s living ex-presidents, a communiqué from the presidency has stated. A landmark meeting between the president and his living predecessors was held at the Flagstaff House on Tuesday, April 18. The purpose of the meeting was for President Akufo-Addo, who was sworn in on January 7, 2017 as John Dramani Mahama’s successor, to seek the views of the former presidents “on some governance-enhancing measures his administration intends to take”. The president had expressed that intention at his swearing-in. “I am in the unique position of being able…

More than 100 iPhones have been found in a single backpack after people at the Coachella music festival in California tracked their missing handsets, local police have said. Revellers had used the Find My iPhone app, which shows the location of a linked phone on laptops or other devices, Indio Police said. And a suspect had then been “followed” through the site and detained. Several phones had been returned immediately, the police added. ‘Chatter’ And the rest had been handed to lost property at the festival site. Police had already dedicated extra resources to the festival after “chatter on social…