Mrs Naana Eyiah Quansah, Parliamentary Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for Gomoa Central has admonished party supporters to work together as a strong team to maximize adequate votes in the December 7, elections.
She said, ‘’the ultimate goal of the party was to go the extra mile in its campaign to help break the 8 in the upcoming Presidential and Parliamentary elections to continue with its excellent policies and programmes to better the lot of Ghanaians’’
Speaking to the media at Gomoa Ekwamkrom to express gratitude to the delegates and entire supporters over her victory, she pledged to maintain her selfless and transparent administration which had united all party members in the constituency for the past eight years.
Mrs Eyiah Quansah expressed the need for all to work hard to improve on last four years’ results to retain the seat in the upcoming elections.
The MP made an appeal to the supporters and delegates to give her enough space and to assist her to engage the communities to know their present needs to solve them.
‘’ I am an MP for all and not for only NPP supporters , let me also try to reach out to opposition members since we are all one people with one destiny trying to build a prosperous nation,” she said, adding that, there was no need to discriminate against anyone because the party needed a united front with all hands on deck to massively win floating voters to its side.
Mrs Eyiah Quansah who is also the Deputy Interior Minister said her doors were wildly opened to all supporters, including those who campaigned against her during the Parliamentary primary.
The MP was thankful to the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Gomoa Central, Mr Benjamin Kojo Otoo for his tireless efforts and support given her during her campaign which contributed to her massive win in the primary.
She appealed to the members of the party to bury their differences which was the only sure way to emerge victory in the upcoming elections to help create an enabling environment for the people to live quality lives.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Stethem (DDG 63) steams during a three-carrier strike force photo exercise in the Western Pacific, November 12, 2017. Picture taken November 12, 2017. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kelsey J. Hockenberger/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Last summer, US and Australian forces performed amphibious landings, ground warfare, and air operations, generating headlines about the partners’ increased defence cooperation in response to China’s expanding military ambitions.
However, for US war planners preparing for a future fight over Taiwan, the high-profile Talisman Sabre exercises had a far more covert value: they helped establish fresh caches of military materiel that were left behind in Australia after the drills finished in August, according to US sources.
The United States and its allies are increasingly worried that in the coming years Chinese President Xi Jinping could order his military to seize Taiwan, the democratically-governed island China considers its own territory. So, the U.S. military is taking a hard look at its own military readiness and trying to play catch-up in a critical area: its logistics network.
The equipment from Talisman Sabre included roughly 330 vehicles and trailers and 130 containers in warehouses in Bandiana, in southeastern Australia, the Army says.
The amount of equipment, which has not been previously reported, is enough to supply about three logistics companies, with as many as 500 or more soldiers, focused on ensuring supplies reach warfighters.
It’s the kind of materiel that’s needed for a future drill, a natural disaster, or in a war.
“We’re looking to do this more and more,” Army General Charles Flynn, the top Army commander in the Pacific, told Reuters in an interview.
“There’s a number of other countries in the region where we already have agreements to do that,” he added, without naming specific countries.
Reuters interviews with more than two dozen current and former U.S. officials found that American military logistics in the Pacific is one of the greatest U.S. vulnerabilities in any potential conflict over Taiwan.
U.S. war games have concluded that China would likely try to bomb jet fuel supplies or refueling ships, crippling U.S. air and sea power without having to battle heavily armed fighter jets or sink America’s fleet of surface warships, according to current and former officials and experts.
In response, the United States is trying to spread its military logistics hubs across the region – including warehouses in Australia, officials told Reuters.
Asked about Reuters’ conclusions, the Pentagon said that the Department of Defense is working with allies to make U.S. forces more mobile and distributed.
But critics say Washington’s network is still too concentrated and that the government hasn’t put enough money or urgency toward the effort.
“When you really dig down a couple of layers, the intel community is blinking red as far as for the next five years. And yet some of these timelines (to address the risks) are 10, 15, 20 years long,” said Congressman Mike Waltz, a Republican who leads the House subcommittee overseeing military logistics and readiness.
US military bases in Asia are strategic, yet Pacific logistics pose a significant vulnerability in potential Taiwan conflicts, officials warn.
RISKS FOR THE U.S.
The U.S. military’s logistics arm, U.S. Transportation Command (TransCom), has had a major success: funneling more than 660 million pounds of equipment and over 2 million rounds of artillery to the Ukrainian military in its war with Russia.
Supporting Taiwan, roughly 100 miles from the coast of China, would be orders of magnitude harder, U.S. officials and experts acknowledge.
The U.S. has not formally said it would intervene if China were to attack Taiwan but President Joe Biden has repeatedly suggested he would deploy U.S. troops to defend the island.
Xi has ordered his military to be ready to take Taiwan by 2027. But many analysts see that as an attempt to galvanize his military rather than a timeline for invasion.
A senior U.S. military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said supplies of ammunition are at the top of the list of priorities in the Indo-Pacific, followed by fuel, food and spare parts for equipment.”If we run out of the things to shoot … that’s going to be an immediate problem,” the official said, adding planning for a Taiwan contingency was already well underway.
U.S. officials warn that in a major conflict Navy ships could quickly run out of missile defenses.
In a war game run for Congress in April, China prepared for an amphibious assault on Taiwan with massive air and missile strikes against U.S. bases in the region. That included the U.S. naval base on the Japanese island of Okinawa and the Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo.
The potential impact of attacks on U.S. logistics hubs, refueling ships and aerial refueling tankers, was a “wake up call” for many lawmakers, said Becca Wasser at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) think tank, which ran the war game.
“China is going to purposely go after some of the logistics nodes to make it difficult for the United States to sustain operations in the Indo-Pacific,” Wasser said.
To address such vulnerabilities, the U.S. military is looking to places like Australia as more secure locations to stockpile equipment, even as it expands cooperation with the Philippines, Japan and other partners in the Pacific.
The Biden administration announced in July the United States would also create an interim logistics center in Bandiana, Australia with the aim of eventually creating an “enduring logistics support area” in Queensland.
According to an internal U.S. military document seen by Reuters, the facilities in Bandiana could hold more than 300 vehicles and had 800 pallet positions.
In July, the U.S. Air Force carried out Mobility Guardian 23, an exercise in the Indo-Pacific with Australia, Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, that included practicing air refueling and medical evacuations.
The military used the opportunity to leave behind equipment, including in Guam. That gear helped forces there deal with fallout from the recent Typhoon Mawar but would also be useful in any future conflict, said Air Force Major General Darren Cole, the director of operations at Air Mobility Command.
Cole noted his command was responsible not just for disaster relief but contingencies “all the way up to full combat operations, full scale major war.”
FROM “JUST IN TIME” TO “JUST IN CASE”
There has been a shift in the United States military’s thinking. For decades, the United States has not had to worry about a foreign power targeting its logistics bases. That allowed planners to focus on efficiency, adopting the “just-in-time” logistics model common among private-sector manufacturers.
That approach led to the cost-saving decision to create mega-bases, like Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Ramstein was safe from Taliban and Islamic State attacks.
But a conflict with China could make mega bases, which include Camp Humphreys near Seoul, prime targets. This risk is prompting the switch to a more costly approach to logistics that includes dispersing U.S. stockpiles and pre-positioning supplies around the region.
“Instead of planning for efficiency, you probably (need) to plan for effectiveness, and move from ‘Just in time’ to ‘Just in case,'” said Rear Admiral Dion English, one of the Pentagon’s top logistics officers.
The U.S. did this in Europe after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, pre-positioning stocks and investing in bases and airfields that deploying U.S. troops could use if needed. In the five years leading up to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the Pentagon requested $11.65 billion in funding from Congress to preposition equipment in Europe.
By contrast, a Reuters analysis of the Pentagon’s budget request found that the military currently plans to only ask for $2.5 billion from fiscal year 2023 to 2027 to preposition equipment and fuel and improve logistics in Asia. The Pentagon has an annual budget of about $842 billion currently.
Another costly problem is the aging fleet of U.S. transport ships. The average age of the ships designed to carry heavy cargo, like tanks, into a conflict zone is 44 years with some older than 50 years.
One blistering analysis by CNAS concluded: “The Department of Defense has systematically underinvested in logistics in terms of money, mental energy, physical assets, and personnel.”
Senator Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the Pentagon and Congress needed far more focus on Pacific bases and logistics.
“Our ability to deter conflict in the Western Pacific over the next five years is not close to where it needs to be,” he told Reuters.
Members of the World Court listen as Russia begins presenting its objections against the jurisdiction of the World Court in a genocide case brought by Ukraine which claims Moscow falsely applied genocide law to justify its February 24, 2022 invasion, in The Hague, Netherlands, September 18, 2023. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
The United Nations’ highest court will decide on Wednesday whether Russia breached an anti-terrorism treaty by aiding pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine, including those who shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in 2014.
Kyiv claims that Russia breached a human rights pact by discriminating against ethnic Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea, which Russia declared seized from Ukraine in 2014.
Ukraine had requested the International Court of Justice to declare Russia guilty of violating duties under two United Nations treaties that both nations had signed, and to force Moscow to pay reparations.
Russia slammed Ukraine’s charges as fantasy and “blatant lies” during a hearing at The Hague court in June.
Lawyers for Moscow denied systematic human rights abuses in Ukrainian territory that it occupies and rejected the accusation that it violated the U.N. treaty against the financing of terrorism.
Kyiv took Russia to the United Nations highest court in 2017, before Russia’s full scale invasion of Feb. 24, 2022.
In the case, which has taken almost seven years, Russia is accused of equipping and funding pro-Russian forces, including rebels who shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in July 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew.
In November 2022, a Dutch court sentenced two Russians and a Ukrainian in absentia to life imprisonment for their role in the disaster.
In Crimea, Ukraine says Russia was trying to erase the culture of ethnic Tatars and Ukrainians.
The court’s judgments are final and without appeal but it has no way to enforce its rulings.
A ruling finding Russia responsible for funding the pro-Russian fighters in Ukraine, could, however, boost separate cases against Russia at the European Court of Human Rights and the International Civil Aviation Organization.
On Friday, the International Court of Justice will rule in another case in which Ukraine has accused Moscow of falsely applying the 1948 Genocide Convention to justify its Feb. 24, 2022 invasion.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has described why he felt “lucky” when Moises Caicedo joined Chelsea, despite missing out on Jude Bellingham.
Chelsea beat Liverpool to the acquisition of Caicedo, who joined the club for £115 million ($146 million). Klopp has subsequently appeared to poke fun at the Blues, claiming that his squad was “lucky” not to acquire the player, and he has now taken the time to explain his remarks, revealing that he was interested in signing Bellingham before he signed with Madrid.
He told reporters: “We were interested in Bellingham and realised it would not happen. The whole market for No 6s went up. Two No 6s left our club. The market heated up. We thought we could maybe do Caicedo. We’d already done Mac Allister before. So we went in, he had an emotional agreement already with Chelsea and Pochettino. Then Lavia had his own reasons. So we were there.
“Then we found our top solution. That’s what I meant [when I said], ‘we are lucky’. We found Wataru. All the time in our mind we had Stefan [Bajcetic]. It was not clear at that moment he was so badly injured he could not feature at all. We already knew Macca could play the position. Dom was always on my radar. If one of the £100m [targets] had worked, there’s no chance to do another. So that door was open. That’s how it went. That’s what I meant when I said we are so lucky. Everything in the ‘if not’ scenario worked out.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Liverpool went on to splash out on midfielders Alexis Mac Allister, Wataru Endo, Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch instead and Klopp currently has his team top of the Premier League table. However, the Liverpool boss may still rue missing out on Bellingham, as the England international has starred for Real Madrid, scoring 14 goals in 18 La Liga games.
WHAT NEXT FOR KLOPP AND LIVERPOOL
Klopp has announced he will leave Liverpool at the end of the season and will hope to add to his trophy collection before stepping down. The Premier League leaders return to action on Wednesday with a home game against Chelsea and Caicedo.
Manchester City goal machine Erling Haaland has been encouraged to go to Real Madrid after losing out on the Ballon d’Or and FIFA The Best award.
Haaland won the treble last season with Manchester City, scoring an incredible 52 goals along the way, but his efforts still weren’t enough to win the Ballon d’Or or The Best award. Lionel Messi scooped both prizes which has led Haaland’s camp to think the striker needs to move to Real Madrid if he is to be crowned the best male player in the world, according to AS. The feeling is that a move to the Santiago Bernabeu would also be the next step in the striker’s career and will offer far better opportunities of taking over from Messi and winning the Golden Ball in the future.
Haaland’s father spoke about his son missing out on The Best prize after the FIFA awards ceremony. He said: “It’s fair (that Messi won), because it was through a voting system [the vote was tied but Messi won due to having more votes from team captains). So it’s fair, yes.
“But it’s going to be difficult to have a season like the one Erling did again, with the team winning everything and him setting all the records. All the luck in the world to whoever tries to beat that record.”
French champions PSG are contemplating renewing their interest in Marcus Rashford and making a new bid for the Manchester United player in the summer.
Rashford’s devotion to Manchester United has been called into doubt after he went on a ’12-hour tequila bender’ and skipped training after being unwell. According to the i, the circumstance has prompted Paris Saint-Germain to contemplate another move for Rashford this summer, after failing to do so in 2022. Rashford went on to sign a new deal, making him the highest-paid player at Old Trafford, although he has only scored four goals in a challenging season in 2023-24.
Manchester United are said to have no plans to sell Rashford currently but may be tempted if an attractive offers arrives given his form this season and the fact he will bring a huge profit as an academy graduate. Rashford’s decision to head out to Belfast and go nightclubbing has also left his team-mates shocked and “angry” which could potentially lead to more dressing room unrest at United. Meanwhile, PSG may well be in the market for attacking reinforcements in the summer, as star forward Kylian Mbappe continues to be linked with a move to Real Madrid.
DID YOU KNOW
Rashford’s goal against Tottenham last time out in the Premier League was his first at Old Trafford for Manchester United in all competitions this season, in his 14th appearance.
WHAT NEXT FOR MAN UTD AND RASHFORD
Manchester United have said that Rashford has “taken responsibility” for his actions regarding his trip to Belfast and the “internal disciplinary matter” has now been dealt with. The England international is training and available for Thursday’s Premier League clash against Wolves but it remains to be seen if he will play against Gary O’Neil’s side.
Mr Joseph Kumah Mackay, the Sene West constituency Parliamentary Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Bono East Region, has appealed to feuding factions in the Party to reconcile in the interest of the Party.
That, he said would well-position the Party to win more parliamentary seats and “break the eight” in the Elections 2024 and put Ghana on sustainable path of holistic development.
He warned members that the perceived factionalism, internal wrangling and squabbles would put the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on the edge, making it extremely difficult for the NPP to break the eight and retain political power in the next general election.
If not tackled with urgency, continuous factionalism could disintegrate and break the Party’s front to narrow its fortunes in winning the Elections 2024, he said.
Mr Mackay, also the Chief Executive Officer of the Middle Belt Development Authority (MBDA), made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of a meeting held at Kwame-Danso, the constituency’s capital.
The Parliamentary Candidate met, interacted, and reconciled with the three other parliamentary aspirants of the Party and their followers who contested him in the NPP’s orphan constituency parliamentary primaries.
Mr Mackay said upon the successful election of the NPP’s Parliamentary candidates, it was therefore imperative for them to do more to resolve emerging internal problems and ensure that all disgruntled members and supporters were brought back on board for a vigorous campaign.
He said with absolute unity and a formidable front, the Party would be able to maintain and re-capture the parliamentary seats it lost to the NDC in the Elections 2020.
Mr Mackay explained that he had been the Parliamentary candidate for the NPP since 2008 and his determination was not only to win the Sene West seat, but to also ensure that their Party widened vote margins in the Presidential election too.
“In fact, it has not been easy, but this time we are sure of winning the parliamentary seat because our development achievements in the constituency are glaring for all to see,” he stated.
Accompanied by some Bono East Regional and Sene West constituency executives of the NPP, Mr Mackay later called on members of the Wiase Traditional Council, to introduce himself for support.
The Livelihood and Environment Ghana (LEG), a Sunyani-based environmentally inclined Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) has issued a month ultimatum to Newmont Ahafo North Mine, to pay outstanding compensation of affected farmers in the Tano North Municipality, Ahafo Region.
The NGO, which was registered in 2004 as a research and advocacy institution, promotes community rights and mineral governance, environmental sustainability and sustainable livelihood for marginalised people, including rural women and persons with disabilities.
Mr Richard Adjei-Poku, the Executive Director of LEG, said the Organisation would have no other option than to arraign the company in court, if it failed to effect payment of the arrears to the affected farmers by the end of February 2024.
Addressing a news conference in Sunyani, Mr Adjei-Poku explained that both Articles 20 (2a) of the 1992 Constitution, and Section 73 (1) of the Minerals and Mining Act, (Act 703, 2006), obliged companies to execute prompt payment of fair and adequate compensation to persons whose property (buildings, crops and lands) shall be affected by mineral mining operations.
Additionally, the Compensation and Resettlement Regulation (2012, L.I. 2175 Section 4 (1) also mandated companies to pay property owners within three months after an amount of compensation payable had been agreed by parties, else payment of 10 per cent interest anytime compensation remained unpaid.
“Unfortunately, the Newmont Ahafo North Mine of Newmont Africa continues to be disdainful towards the farmers and laws of Ghana,” he stated.
Describing the situation as “exploitative and defiant,” Mr Adjei-Poku an environmentalist, alleged that Newmont “failed to pay compensation arrears of the vulnerable farmers in Ahafo North whose compensation packages were manipulated by the same company and its allies”.
“Last year, the government issued an Executive Instrument compelling the concerned farmers in Ahafo North, who rejected Newmont’s scanty compensation package, to accept it else they shall use force to acquire the land”.
He said it was a mystery why the government was still paying a deaf ear to the concerns of these vulnerable groups, as the company refused to pay them their arrears.
Mr Adjei-Poku also quoted Section 100 (1) of the Minerals and Mining Act (Act 703, 2006), saying, it compelled the government and regulatory bodies to ensure proper implementation and companies’ compliance of the mining laws.
The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPBHR, 2011) also compels governments to regularly review whether the laws are providing the necessary coverage to mining affected people and communities, he stated.
Mr Adjei-Poku said it was unfortunate and disturbing that the government and relevant state institutions were all silent as the company breached the key provisions of the 1992 Constitution and the Minerals and Mining Act.
He said, “Newmont Corporation is the world’s leading gold mining company, and it has attained this because of their production from Ahafo and Akyem mines in the country,” and called on the law enforcement agencies to ensure that the existing legislations worked for all, not only multinational mining companies.
When contacted, Mr Samuel Osei, the Communications and External Relations Manager of the Newmont Ahafo North Project and Newmont Ahafo South Mines, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the company would respond to the concerns soon.
The National Peace Council (NPC) has commended the National Democratic Congress
(NDC) for heeding to its appeal to return to the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC).
IPAC is made up of all registered political parties in Ghana, at which the Electoral Commission (EC) engages them with respect to electoral reforms and other related matters.
A statement issued by the Reverend Dr Ernest Adu-Gyamfi, the Chairman of the NPC, copied to the Ghana News Agency, recalled that after the 2020 elections, the NDC decided not to attend the IPAC meetings.
“This became a matter of concern to all stakeholders in Ghana’s democratic and elections space,” it said.
“At a Post-Elections Stakeholders’ workshop organized by the National Peace Council at Ada in 2021, the participants tasked the NPC to facilitate the return of the NDC to
IPAC.”
The statement said the Council, therefore, engaged the NDC, the EC and other stakeholders to facilitate the NDC’s return to IPAC.
It said on 14th December 2023, during a stock-taking conference, organised by the NPC at Peduase as part of the preparations towards the 2024 elections, the NDC responded to the Council’s appeal by publicly committing to return to the IPAC.
Pursuant to that commitment, the NDC had participated in two recent IPAC meetings on 22nd and 29th January 2024.
The Council was hopeful that the commitment would be sustained to further strengthen the existing democratic credentials of Ghana, the statement said.
It expressed the NPC’s appreciation to the EC, political parties, all political actors and stakeholders within the electoral management system for their support to the NPC in the bid to promote sustainable peace in Ghana.
It urged all stakeholders in the political
space to use dialogue and consensus building to ensure a free, fair, credible, and peaceful 2024 elections.
“In addition, we urge the public to appreciate the fact that peacebuilding can sometimes be a slow process.”
“Therefore, we must all exercise patience and support the NPC and its partners in building a sustainable and peaceful country.”
Madam Akosua Manu, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary candidate for Adentan Constituency, has called on Ghanaians to vote massively for the party in the Election 2024 to enable it to continue with the good works.
She said the major interventions introduced by the NPP-led government, with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the helm of affairs, attested to the fact that the party had a vision for Ghanaians.
Madam Manu made the call at a meeting with the Adenta Branch of the Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFD) in Accra.
The meeting was to afford the parliamentary candidate the opportunity to interact with the Federation, identify some of its challenges and see how best she could help solve them.
She said Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the NPP’s Presidential candidate, was undoubtedly the brightest young politician that could be found in Ghana’s politics.
His success story as a former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana should not be overlooked as it propelled him to who he had become.
Madam Manu said the Vice President did not only digitalise the economy but had also created an enabling environment for businesses to grow as head of the Economic Management Team.
She, therefore, asked the electorate to vote for her and Dr Bawumia to enhance the party’s chances of breaking the eight-year political cycle in the country and to elect the first female Parliamentarian for the Adentan Constituency.
Mr Lawrence Abban, the Chairman of the Ghana Society for the Physically Disabled, commended the candidate for interacting with the Federation and pledged its support for her candidature.
