The President's Representative at the Information Ministry, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has revealed that a vaccine roll-out plan for Ghana is expected to be ready within a week.
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said among other things, the plan will include a decision on those to be considered as priority for the vaccination.
"The President, following a task force meeting has instructed that this week, the sub-committee working on the vaccine has to complete its entire vaccine plane which includes who qualifies as priority, whether or not a private sector complement may be allowed, which of the vaccines should be screened and licensed to be utilized in the country and the expectation is that when they are done with the putting together of all of these things, they will be able to roll out a full vaccine plan within the country," he said.

The Supreme Court has dismissed an application for leave filed by the lawyers for John Dramani Mahama in the election petition case to serve interrogatories on the Electoral Commission.
The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision dismissed the application.
Mahama is in court after he and his party -the National Democratic Congress- rejected the results of the 2020 presidential polls.

The Institute for Education Studies is calling on the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service to suspend the reopening of basic schools till personal protective equipment are distributed to all schools in the country.
Due to this development, the PRO of the Education Ministry, Kwasi Obeng-Fosu, instructed school authorities who are yet to take delivery of government Personal Protection Equipment to reach out to their district education offices.
The President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his 21st address announced the reopening of basic and tertiary levels of education in the country after a COVID-19 induced closure.

After close to ten months of closure, President Akufo-Addo in his 21st address announced the opening of schools for basic schools on 15th January 2021.
The General Secretary of GNAT, Thomas Musah believes that reopening of schools, even for basic school pupils, though tough, was a decision that had to be taken sooner than later.
Don't give me a reason to close down schools again - Akufo-Addo to students The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has asked students not to give him a reason to shut down schools a second time.

The Environmental Protection Agency is to collaborate with Zeal Environmental Technologies to help efficiently operationalize EPA's established Laboratory in Takoradi to serve the petroleum industry.
"I'm quite impressed to be here having seen at first hand. I have read a bit about Zeal but having come down myself and then witnessing what is being done, I'm very much impressed. All is not lost on Ghana's quest to have a resilient well-protected environment. We have shared some ideas and identified some gray areas where Zeal is already on top of issues. We have asked for collaborations with EPA office in Takoradi and the headquarters. So going forward we have arranged for a more technical meeting that we will operationalize all that we have and will agree on. First on the agenda will be the Laboratory setup of EPA that was set-up for the Hydrocarbons/petrochemicals."
"Zeal has expressed the interest to collaborate with EPA to help operationalize it and make good use of it. I think it is a good step because it is underutilized and Zeal has identified ways to help us make the Laboratory work efficiently. To add to it, Laboratory work is so key and at the centre of waste management issues particularly such a highly technical area of oil waste," he added.

The General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association, Justice Yankson says political activities partly contributed to the recent spike in Ghana's COVID-19 case count.
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye had earlier dispelled the suggestion that the rise in cases was partly as a result of political rallies.
"We know political actors who had COVID-19 so when we are discussing this, we should not make it seem like it was just these last two days that we had over 58,000 cases. The truth is that the political activities contributed to the numbers, so nobody should try and dissociate our case count from the political activities," he said on Citi TV's Point of View.

The President's representative at the Information Ministry, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has indicated that President Akufo-Addo's record government size will reduce when he constitutes his new administration.
Speaking on the Point Blank segment on Eyewitness News, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah, said the large government had served its purpose in the previous four-year term.
Some of the new portfolios introduced included the Inner-City and Zongo Development Ministry, Ministry of Regional Reorganization and Development, Monitoring and Evaluation Ministry, Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Sanitation and Ministry of Aviation.

The Ghana Private Road Transport Union says a taskforce will be constituted to enforce and monitor adherence of COVID-19 safety protocols at their various bus terminals.
David Agboado is General Secretary for the union said while sanitizers and veronica buckets have been provided to members, they want the government to provide them with face masks.
The government has warned that given the current situation and trend, the country's health system could be seriously impacted if the public do not strictly observe COVID-19 safety protocols.

The Supreme Court will later this morning, Tuesday, January 19, 2021, conduct a pre-trial conference for parties in the 2020 election petition case.
The petitioner in the election petition case, John Dramani Mahama is requesting the Electoral Commission to admit to what he says are facts for the purposes of the trial.
Mr. Mahama says in his filed processes that the admission to these facts will form the basis of his evidence in the election petition.

"We have come to an agreement with Government on the issues we presented and therefore there is the need to suspend the strike action for now," TEWU said in a press statement.
"We therefore call on our members on the various University campuses to resume work tomorrow ,19th January, 2021 whiles Leadership continues to engage with Government for the implementation of the agreement."
TEWU declared an indefinite strike nationwide on Wednesday, 13th January 2021, to demand better conditions of service.

Among 18 items noted in the motion, Mr. Mahama wants the EC to admit that its chairperson, Jean Mensa, announced election results on December 9, 2020, with figures that would have added up to 100.3 percent instead of 100 percent.
Mr. Mahama wants the EC to admit the said facts within three days of receipt of the writ.
Mr. Mahama is now asking the Supreme Court to order a re-run of the presidential election for him and the incumbent.

There are reports suggesting that the President of Ghana will reduce the number of Ministers in his second term and will scrap some seven Ministries including the Monitoring and Evaluation, Procurement, Special Initiatives and other Ministries.
Speaking in Accra-based GhOne TV monitored by MyNewsGh.com, Alhassan Suhuyini said the President has been shamed by the huge number of Ministers in his first term and has been forced to reduce them because nothing new was experienced in his first administration.
Suhuyini who has been an ardent critic of the Akufo-Addo administration said reducing the Ministers and Ministries now will not change anything about the Akufo-Addo administration because the problems have already been compounded in the first term and reducing the numbers will have no good effect on the country.

"An Akufo-Addo government will ensure that securing our markets, which is the source of livelihood for many families across the country, is a topmost priority. We will make our markets safe for you so that you can make a decent living out of trading. The spectre of losing your livelihood because of fire outbreaks must end," Nana Addo said while consoling victims of two separate fire outbreaks in Kumasi, which hit the Kumasi Central Market and the 'Dagomba Line' area, in Aboabo, within a spate of five days.
Nana Akufo-Addo first visited the worst hit parts of the market, where some 400 shops had been razed down by the January 6, 2016, fire.
"My government, I assure you, will manage the resources of this country prudently and put the country back onto the path of progress and prosperity. I am not coming into office to steal your money. I am not seeking your mandate because I want to enrich myself. No! I am coming to assemble a first class government whose sole aim will be to bring relief to all Ghanaians. I am coming so all Ghanaians, without discrimination, can make a decent living," he said.

This, he said, may have resulted in Mr. Osafo-Maafo engaging in actions that may have caused a lot of problems for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's first administration.
"The first question I asked myself was what is the role of a senior minister in Ghana? I think without the definition of the specific role he had to play it became very difficult and that is where you had the challenge of probably engaging in things that caused a lot of problems for the government."
Mr. Ephson further stated that the President is going to have a lot of tricky issues in his second term.

In a panel discussion on the 'Epa Hoa Daben' show with Sefa Danquah, he expressed: We have not even had a month in Government and people can't wait to choose who will lead the party in 2024? It is always about Alan or Bawumia.
Padmore was of the view that while data present supports that the NPP is likely to win the 2024 elections, the future is also dependent on what the NPP does right during these years.
A few weeks after the party won the 2020 elections, some posters of Dr. Bawumia and Alan Kyeremateng vying for the flagbearership position of the NPP in 2024 emerged on social media.

Ministers and their Deputies to Gabby Asare Otchere Darko were too big or too busy to communicate for the government.
Going forward, he believes that this will stop and people who will be appointed as Ministers and Deputies will take advantage of the media to communicate for the government that appointed them.
"A big part of governance, especially in our very media-vibrant environment, is for ministers and their deputies to regularly speak for govt. Sadly, too many were either too big or too busy to be heard. Hopefully, this will change," he said.

The legal brains of the party in Ashanti region say they are preparing to go to the Supreme Court for interpretation on whether the Speaker's declaration is valid or not.
Speaking on Akoma Fm's Wonsom on January 16, Lawyer Amankwaa told host Aduanaba Kofi Asante Ennin that "The NDC will head to the Supreme Court for further and better interpretation to clear all doubts".
He cited Article 95 of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, saying that "Once there is parity in number of members from both caucuses it is clear in black and white in the constitution that the Fomena MP, who is now the 2nd Deputy Speaker cannot join the NPP side there is no majority in parliament".

The former Legislator was responding to claims by Member of Parliament for Tamale North, Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini, that failure on the part of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is the reason Ghana's COVID-19 cases are rising sharply.
"If we say that leadership has failed, then we have all failed as a people because we have failed to admonish ourselves," he said.
Ghana's current COVID-19 cases are at 57,714 with 346 deaths and 1776 active cases - the highest since the pandemic was first recorded in the country.

Carlos Ahenkorah snatched ballot papers from a Parliamentary official during a voting process.
He explained that his colleagues from the National Democratic Congress had engaged in unruly behaviors, leading to a rerun of the voting process several times.
"We were confident that we had already won because we knew we had 138 votes in the House. I was praying that our votes would be counted first and then when they did, we noticed that we only got 136 votes."

The Volta Region in the midst of the spike in COVID-19 cases has recorded 37 active cases in two weeks.
"The trends in the Volta Region has been consistent with the global and national trends. We have seen an upsurge in cases. Barely about 4 weeks ago, we had under 5 active cases in the region. Up to a certain point, there was no case. But in the past 14 days, we have recorded 37 active cases and in the week, we lost a life. He reported to one of the private facilities in the region. It was being managed, he was not responding to treatment, and was eventually referred to one of our tertiary institutions. When they checked, this person had COVID-19. He then lost his life sadly."
The nation's active case count has risen to 1,924.