Pep Guardiola has announced that Erling Haaland will be in the Manchester City squad for Wednesday’s Premier League match against Burnley.
Haaland has not played for City since breaking his foot in a 1-0 loss to Aston Villa on December 6, but Guardiola has confirmed he will return against Burnley in midweek. “Apparently he will be chosen, yes. “This is the first time he has returned,” Guardiola told reporters.
Manchester United star Marcus Rashford has been told Sir Alex Ferguson “would have given him a dressing down” after his nightclub visits.
The United attacker is embroiled in a scandal following a 12-hour tequila-fueled night out in Northern Ireland, which prompted him to miss his FA Cup fourth-round match against Newport. This is not the first time Rashford has faced criticism for his wild lifestyle; he was previously seen partying in the aftermath of a derby loss against Manchester City in October 2023.
Neville, speaking on BBC Breakfast, warned Rashford that Ferguson would have come down heavily on the forward for the breach of discipline. He said: “Your timing has to be right. He [Sir Alex Ferguson] would have given him a dressing down, but he would have said similar things, make sure you do it at the right moments, nobody ever says to a football player you can’t go out.
“But when you have a game three days later and Marcus knows himself, he’s an experienced player now and he’s done this a few times. I’ve always seen him as being really responsible, professional and someone who works hard every day. He’s going through a dip in form right now, but this has happened once or twice and it can become your personality if you’re not careful.”
Neville advised Rashford to choose his timing more carefully, as his reputation is now at stake after flouting the law on multiple occasions.
“For me, going out for a drink or a night out is something every football player should and will do, so I’ve got absolutely no problem with that. They need to enjoy themselves,” he said.
“But it’s all about choices and timing and I said this after the Manchester City game at home. We got beat at home against City and he went out that night to Chinawhite, I think it was his birthday. Then they had a game against Newcastle in the Carabao Cup after that and I just said ‘Look, choose your time’. United had just had a winter break and a few weeks off, so that was a better moment for him to go out.
“If you do it too many times, people wonder what is going on in your life, so he just needs to relax, calm down, choose when to go out and get back to playing football at the levels he can.”
Rashford will reportedly be re-integrated into the squad by Erik ten Hag for United’s next fixture against Wolves on Thursday in the Premier League. He is already back in training and will be determined to make amends for his mistake by inspiring United to the three points at the Molineux.
Mr Michael Amoah Awuku, Municipal Chief Executive for Atwima-Nwabiagya South, says the area is seeing significant growth and development as the assembly continues to initiative transformative projects to improve the living conditions of the people.
The Assembly, in recent times, increased construction of various projects in health, education, transportation, environment, and sanitation to help bring improvements in the people’s socio-economic lives.
Mr Amoah Awuku, speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), after an inspection of some of the projects at Nkawie, the Municipal capital, stressed the need for the people to continue to support the Assembly as it worked to improve their standard of living.
Some of the projects inspected was the completed spacious lorry terminal for commercial transport operations, which was financed through the District Assembly Common Fund.
It is equipped with a conference hall, offices, washroom, 60-seater capacity waiting area for passengers, and a parking pavilion for commercial vehicles.
Again, the MCE inspected the completed ambulance bay, a rehabilitated slaughter house, and 20-seater public washroom at Nkawie.
Other ongoing projects Mr Amoah Awuku inspected included a one-storey six-unit staff bungalow for the assembly, and 26 shops at Toase as well as the ongoing nursing training college project and maternity ward facility at Abuakwa.
The rest were town roads project at Akrofuom, construction of shops at Dadease and construction of an emergency culvert at Abuakwa-Agogo.
Mr Amoah Awuku assured that, the Assembly was doing its best to ensure that bad roads in the Municipality were all fixed to boost socio-economic activities.
While praising the contractors for their hard work, he said the authorities would continue to monitor the progress of the projects keenly to ensure value for money.
Some members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Serial Callers Association in the Wiawso Constituency of the Western North Region say they are unhappy about the neglect of the Association by the leadership of the party.
They said the party was not supporting them with the necessary gadgets to facilitate their day-to-day activities.
Mr George Mensah, the Ewiase Electoral Area Coordinator and Assistant Secretary of the Association, speaking at a press conference at Sefwi-Dwenase, said: “We are planning to stop propagating the works of the party on all local radio stations if they do not listen to our concerns.”
“We have been neglected for far too long and this is the time to voice out.”
He, therefore, called on the leadership of the party to address their concerns so they could help spread the good works of the Government to help retain the NPP in power in this year’s general election.
Mr Alfred Obeng-Boateng, the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai in the Western North Region, has been re-elected to represent the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the December general election.
He polled 999 votes to beat his only contender, Dr Emmanuel Borkor Nuako, who had 129 votes with one rejected ballot.
Mr Obeng-Boateng, in his victory speech, commended the delegates for the confidence reposed in him and pledged his commitment to working with all stakeholders to ensure victory for the NPP.
He appealed to the party supporters to support him to enhance the party’s chances of “breaking the eight”.
The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) is encouraging government to immediately use existing bilateral relations to influence the return of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso into the regional bloc.
This comes as three military led governments, who have been suspended from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to allow for a return to democratic rule, announced plans to withdraw from the economic bloc.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday, January 30, Dr Joseph Obeng, President, GUTA, said any exit by the three countries would adversely affect trade and hinder regional development.
He said though the Association recognised Ghana’s membership in ECOWAS, it was important that in the current situation, Ghanaian Authorities quickly use bilateral relations between member countries to help resolve issues.
“The first step to use is for Ghana to bypass ECOWAS and use the existing good relationship with the three countries to find immediate solution to restore trust and confidence as a catalyst to unify all member states,” Dr Obeng said.
He explained that Ghana, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso traded among themselves in volumes of items, including onions, tomatoes, cola nuts, salt, as well as locally made and imported goods.
“We should be mindful of the fact that one major reason for the formation of the regional bloc is to take advantage of, the number of people in the sub region for the purpose of trading to enhance economies of member states,” he said.
“The exit of the three countries from ECOWAS will, therefore, cause unnecessary controls at the borders, which will hinder the free movement of people, goods and services within the sub region,” Dr Obeng said.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry in Mali had showed AFP a copy of the letter it sent to ECOWAS, while Burkina Faso’s official news agency reported that the country had sent an official notice, with information yet to emerge from Niger.
Meanwhile, ECOWAS said earlier in a statement that it was awaiting “formal and direct notification” from the three countries.
Under the bloc’s statutes, withdrawal could not take effect for at least a year after official notification.
A Ghanaian court sentenced 12 convicts to life in jail for the murder of Major Maxwell Mahama, an army commander, seven years ago.
The High Court in Accra convicted them guilty of murder, conspiracy, and abetment in the lynching that occurred in Denkyira Obuasi in May 2017.
Among those condemned is a local politician accused of instigating the crowd to assault the soldier while he was running. Two suspects were acquitted.
Major Mahama, 32, was attacked by a mob over false allegations of being an armed robber while on duty to protect a local mine.
The incident sparked national outrage, leading to the arrest of over 50 suspects, with 14 facing prosecution.
The government posthumously promoted Major Mahama to the rank of major and gave him a state burial in Accra.
In 2019, a statue was unveiled in Accra as a national campaign against mob action.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni revealed Italy’s ambitious development plan for Africa on Monday at a meeting of the continent’s leaders, with the goal of reducing migration, diversifying energy supplies, and forging a new, non-predatory partnership between Europe and Africa.
Meloni declared the summit a success, and top European and United Nations officials said the Italian plan, which includes an initial investment of 5.5 billion euros ($5.95 billion), would supplement existing initiatives in Africa focusing on climate adaptation and clean energy development.
However, the African Union Commission was more cautious, informing the summit that African nations would have preferred to be contacted previously and did not want more meaningless assurances.
The government’s plan, named after Enrico Mattei, founder of state-controlled oil and gas company Eni, seeks to expand cooperation with Africa beyond energy and amounts to a new philosophy and method, Meloni said.
Asked at a closing news conference about the lack of consultation with African leaders, Meloni acknowledged she may have “erred” in being too specific in describing pilot projects in her introductory speech.
But she said the summit provided African leaders with a preliminary outline of Italy’s philosophy backed by concrete examples, that will be brought forward in a shared partnership.
“The summit is fundamental for sharing not only the strategy but also, in short, the final definition of the project,” she said.
Two dozen African leaders, top EU and U.N. officials and representatives from international lending institutions were in Rome for the summit, the first major event of Italy’s Group of Seven presidency.
Italy, which for decades has been ground zero in Europe’s migration debate, has been promoting its development plan as a way to create jobs and opportunity in Africa and discourage its young people from making dangerous migrations across the Mediterranean Sea.
The plan involves pilot projects in areas such as education, health care, water, sanitation, agriculture and energy infrastructure.
Meloni, Italy’s first hard-right leader since the end of World War II, has made curbing migration a priority of her government.
But her first year in power saw a big jump in the numbers of people who arrived on Italy’s shores, with about 160,000 last year.
As the summit got underway, the International Organization for Migration reported that nearly 100 people had died or gone missing in the Mediterranean so far this year, twice as many as in the same period of last year, which was the deadliest since 2016.
Mr Alexander Ato Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, the Member of Parliament for Effutu, has commended the Effutu Constituency Executive of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for their hard work, dedication and commitment to the cause of the party.
At a delegates’ conference and acclamation ceremony at Effutu Ateitu, a community in the Effutu Municipality, he commended all Party members for their endorsement of his candidature as the parliamentary candidate for Election 2024.
Ms Ama Emelia Akotia, the Effutu Municipal Director, Electoral Commission, led the acclamation procedure during which the delegates confirmed their support by dancing to party songs.
Mr Afenyo-Markin, narrating how he started his political career, said he ventured into politics at age 24 and was coached and mentored by ministers of the gospel in Effutu to become an assembly member and a presiding member of the District Assembly for eight years before progressing to become a Member of Parliament (MP).
He expressed appreciation to all who had been supportive of him and urged them to engage the grassroots to sell the party’s message.
“We have an election to win, and we are not doing well in our communications, let’s sell the party’s success story to win more people because winning an election is about numbers,” he added.
The NPP was proud of its social interventions including the Free Senior High School, Free School Feeding and the Health Insurance programmes amidst other massive developments in the country, he noted.
Mr Afenyo-Markin urged party faithful to strengthen their communication strategies and to reach out to the people with all the success stories.
The Central Regional Communication Director of the NPP, Isaac Mensah, who led a delegation to the conference, applauded the Effutu delegates for the endorsement to enable the party to maintain the seat.
Earlier, Mr Joseph Nicholas Bondzie, the Effutu Constituency NPP Chairman, had stated that Mr Afenyo-Markin was the only nominee at the close of nomination.
He said the acclamation ceremony was to express their gratitude for his selfless leadership and enviable accomplishments in making Effutu a place choice and the gate way to Central Region.
According to Dr. Omane Boamah, Director of Elections for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Electoral Commission (EC) would be unable to hold this year’s election in November due to the delay in the proposal.
“You don’t wait for an election year to introduce major Electoral Reforms: a year in which the EC has so much to do after an abysmal District Level (Assembly) Elections characterised by postponements after postponements, shortage of ballot papers, some Election officers complicity among others,” he went on to say.
On Monday, January 29, the NDC backed the change in the day of national elections, but wanted the reform to start in 2028.
This comes after the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) met with political parties to discuss the EC’s proposal to modify the election date.
In a Facebook post on why the EC could not hold elections in November, Dr Boamah noted that “the EC waited for seven years to pass after 2016 without revisiting this issue only to resurrect the subject of voting in November, when Ghana has just ten (10) clear months to the December 07 presidential and parliamentary elections.”
The Director of Elections for the NDC said if the political parties had accepted the EC’s November proposal at Monday’s IPAC meeting, that would have meant Ghana had eight months to prepare for the elections.
“Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission’s calendar of programmes and activities for the upcoming elections is not yet ready; hence, could not be released to political parties,” he added.
Dr Boamah queried why the EC waited for January to end without stakeholders having the electoral calendar for the 2024 elections.
“Why did the EC not introduce these discussions, adjustments, and amendments in 2017, 2018, 2019, or better still, why not after the 2020 elections? As in, introducing the subject matter in 2021, 2022, and 2023?”
“You don’t wait for an election year to introduce major Electoral Reforms: a year in which the EC has so much to do after an abysmal District Level (Assembly) Elections characterised by postponements after postponements, shortage of ballot papers, some Election officers complicity among others,” he stated.
He also asked the EC to amend Article 112 (4) of the 1992 constitution.
“This amendment of a non-entrenched clause requires two-thirds of MPs to pass, meanwhile the MPs themselves must be in their constituencies for some parts of this year campaigning, facilitating the registration of voters when the EC finally decides. Not to think of the duration of the process and other germane issues the EC must
bring to the front burner,” he added.
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