We're digging till Judgment Day

So, it’s Monday again! We know…we know…. the weekend went faster than Flash, you barely blinked and poof back to please find attached, long lectures or whatever it is that you do for the sake of capitalism and your intense passion to afford food and shelter.

But you know something that makes it a little better? Us together again! So, what’s in the bag today?

• National: The Chief of Akyem Wenchi tells Bawumia, “Stop galamsey? Sure, but what’s the plan B, my guy?”

• Economic: Banks are done playing nice—they’re calling for a public name-and-shame of dud cheque offenders.

• Economic: The government’s T-Bill auction game is weak right now—four weeks, four misses, and a billion-cedi-sized problem thanks to cash-strapped banks.

• Politics: Mahama wants nursing trainees to forget allawa and focus on securing jobs that’ll actually pay the bills!

• Fact of the Day: Got $4,210? Congrats, you're richer than…guess who

• Entertainment: Vida Adutwumwaa says she’s watching Ghana’s entertainment industry flail around like someone trying to find a light switch in the dark, and she’s not impressed.

• Entertainment: Unlike you, heartbreak did a lot for Camidoh.

• Health: Doctors better start dishing out side effects like gossip at a salon—because if not, they might end up with more drama than a telenovela.

• Crime: Steal a phone, and you might just get a six-month "staycation" courtesy of the Hohoe Circuit Court!

• Agribusiness: COCOBOD invests nearly a billion cedis in cocoa rehab, hoping to turn shriveled beans into a bumper 800k-ton harvest next year.

QUICK BYTE

• The Chief of Akyem Wenchi just told VP Bawumia, “If you want us to quit galamsey, you better have a Plan B, because that’s all we got!” He’s pushing for a legit community mining scheme instead of this whack-a-mole approach, and honestly, it’s about time someone said it out loud. Want the deets in full? Check out the Deep Dive section.

• The Ghana Association of Banks wants to name and shame dud cheque offenders, urging the Bank of Ghana to publish their names in national newspapers. They believe this will restore trust in the cheque system and serve as a warning to others. Meanwhile, the Bank of Ghana has already banned 47 individuals and 245 businesses from issuing cheques or getting loans for the next three years. Get the 411 in the Deep Dive section below

• The government’s been on a bit of a losing streak lately, and it’s not the kind that ends with a comeback. For four weeks straight, they’ve been coming up short on their Treasury Bill (T-Bill) auction targets. Despite offering returns higher than June's inflation rate, folks just aren’t biting. Read more in the Deep Dive Section.

• John Mahama is telling trainee nurses to focus on landing real jobs instead of getting hung up on allowances. He’s promising more job opportunities in the healthcare sector if he gets back in power, throwing some shade at the current government’s “419” allowance promises. He gets it; allowances are cool and all, but what’s the point if you’re left hanging after graduation with no stable gig? He even mentioned that some nurses have been waiting for their allowance for almost 30 months, and some might never see a pesewa. More like that time you were waiting for your ex to respond to your WhatsApp reply but it never came…yeah same feeling. Read more

• Entertainment Pundit, Vida Adutwumwaa says she’s watching Ghana’s entertainment industry flail around like someone trying to find a light switch in the dark, and she’s not impressed. According to Vida, everyone’s busy pointing fingers—some say it’s juju, others blame the curse of stereotype roles, and of course, there’s the classic “we need more funding” crew. But Vida’s like, “Nah, fam, that’s not it.”

  She likens the situation to a student failing every test and then blaming the pen they used. Sure, it might make them feel better, but it doesn’t change the fact that they didn’t study. Vida’s basically telling the industry to hit pause on the pity party and start diagnosing the real problem. Read more

• So you leave the doctor’s office thinking you’re all set, only to find yourself dozing off in the back seat of a trotro or behind your steering wheel because your meds had a secret side effect. That’s the nightmare Lawyer Albert Gyamfi is trying to prevent. He says if a doctor doesn't give you the 411 on potential side effects, and you end up in a sticky situation, it's on them.

  It’s like ordering a spicy meal without the waiter warning you that it might set your mouth on fire. If you end up chugging water like there’s no tomorrow, you’re going to remember that waiter’s silence. In the same way, Gyamfi's telling doctors to speak up or get ready to face the music—because when patients suffer from surprise side effects, the lawsuit playlist is on shuffle. Read more

• Anastasia Ekudi, a 40-year-old trader walks into a shop for a bar of soap. As soon as Anastasia steps out, the shop owner realizes her prized Infinix Smart 6 Plus has vanished—poof, gone like the last slice of pizza at a party. The phone, now in Anastasia's possession, rings like a ticking time bomb while she's at the mobile money merchant’s stand, trying to remove the SIM card. She didn’t even have time to say, “it wasn’t me”. So the Hohoe Circuit Court decided to give her a six-month timeout—enough time to reflect on her choice of stealing instead of sticking to buying soap. Read more

• Imagine you’ve got an old, beat-up car that’s seen better days. It’s coughing, wheezing, and barely making it up the hill. Now, instead of junking it, you decide to pump nearly a billion cedis into fixing it up—new tires, engine overhaul, the works. That’s pretty much what COCOBOD is doing, but with cocoa farms. COCOBOD’s CEO, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, has been busy trimming and replanting like a gardener on a caffeine high, all in the name of reviving Ghana’s cocoa production. With swollen shoot diseases wiping out farms left, right, and center, COCOBOD’s splashing cash like it’s going out of style—GH¢943 million, to be exact—to bring those tired old trees back to life. Read more

• Camidoh has confessed that if it weren’t for the emotional trainwreck of a heartbreak, he wouldn’t have tried therapy or gotten life advice that actually worked. So, next time your heart gets tossed around like a football, just remember: Camidoh turned his heartbreak into a whole glow-up. Hope dey! Read more

DEEP DIVE

We Stop Galamsey. Then What?

The Chief of Akyem Wenchi, Daasebre Asumadu Appiah, just dropped a truth bomb on Vice President Bawumia during his visit. So as you may know, in this town the only job option is illegal mining, or as we all know it, galamsey. Now, Uncle Daasebre basically said, “Look, Bawumia, if you want us to stop galamsey, what’s the plan B? Because right now, it's the only thing keeping the lights on.”

The Chief didn’t just leave it there though—he’s not about that life. He suggested that instead of playing whack-a-mole with galamsey, the government should just regulate it properly. Daasebre is also giving the side-eye to the folks in Accra for handing out mining permits like party favors without even consulting the local chiefs. I mean, can you imagine someone throwing a party in your house without asking first?

In response, Dr. Bawumia was all about that “protect the environment” talk, but also hinted that the current system might need a remix. He’s talking about making it easier for small-scale miners to get their papers straight, but with a catch: Chiefs get a seat at the table too.

But we’ll see how that pans out. Read more

Ghana Association of Banks Wants to Buy the Front and Middle pages

We all know one or two people who never pay up. Some of those people have taken their things to the banks. And the Ghana Association of Banks (GAB) is not having it anymore, and they want the Bank of Ghana to start putting these dud cheque offenders on blast. Yep, they’re talking full-on name-and-shame in the newspapers. It’s like when you find out someone’s been trash-talking you, but now everyone gets to see it on a billboard. GAB’s Chief, John Awuah, is saying this public call-out will make people think twice before they pull that stunt again.

It's actually a crime under the Criminal Offenses Act.

This comes after the Bank of Ghana dropped the hammer on 47 individuals and 245 businesses for their dud cheque habit last week. They’re banned from issuing cheques or getting new loans for the next three years.

And while the banks are all about this tough love, Seth Twum Akwaboah from the Association of Ghana Industries is out here like, “Hold up, this could hurt businesses trying to get back on their feet.” So, the big question is, will this crackdown really help fix the system, or will it just make things worse for everyone? Guess we’ll find out soon enough. Read more

T-bill’s auctioning is not auctioning

The whole thing is like setting out to buy the freshest kicks with GHS 6.55 billion in your wallet, but only managing to scrape together GHS 5.29 billion.

Why this is happening, you ask? Good question. Well, it seems the banks, the usual suspects in these bids, are feeling the squeeze themselves. Thanks to the Central Bank’s new cash reserve ratio rule, they’ve got less cash to throw around. It’s like having to save up for rent and not being able to splurge on the things you really want—like those sweet, short-term government securities. This new rule was meant to get the banks to lend more to the private sector, but instead, it’s left the government with a GHS 1.25 billion-sized hole in their budget after the latest auction.

Despite the struggle, the 91-day T-Bill was the crowd favorite, with investors putting in GHS 4.10 billion worth of bids. But even with stable yields, the whole situation is a bit like trying to fill a bucket with a hole in it. Looking ahead, the government’s got big plans to raise nearly GHS 5 billion in the next auction. They’re hoping to meet some short-term cash needs and keep investors interested, but with this liquidity drought, it’s anyone’s guess how that’ll go down. Read more

CHECK OUT WHAT’S TRENDING

• Ghana to rely on T-bills till 2027

NEWS SOURCES

Today’s stories are curated from:

1. www.myjoyonline.com

2. www.ghanaweb.com

3. www.citinewsroom.com

4. www.norvanreports.com

5. www.channel1new.com