Jislah Financial Services, a leading non-bank financial institution in the country, has held its annual 'Kick-start Breakfast Meeting' in Accra, amid thanksgiving for a successful business year in 2013. The meeting, the fourth of its kind, is a platform where the company assembles its staff, clients and partner bodies, including banks, to thank God for His mercies throughout the previous year and to usher in the new business year. It is also a way for the company to show appreciation to its clients for their loyalty in the previous year, and to rally them into the New Year in oneness and dedication. In his welcome address, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of JISLAH, Mr Kofi Polley, acknowledged the strides the company made in 2013 and paid glowing tribute to the invaluable contributions made by the staff and clients. "We, as management, use this occasion to say a big thank you to all our clients, partners and staff for your dedication and loyalty in a very successful business year," he said. He said the company was committed to offering "excellent short-term bridge financing and investment opportunities to individuals and institutions, as well as maximise stakeholders’ interests.  Mr Polley gave thanks to God for a successful year (2013) and called on the company's clients and partners to "prepare yourselves to be challenged, excited and inspired" in 2014. The Chief Executive Officer of Jislah, Mr Emmanuel T. Obeng, noted the importance of the event on the company’s calendar, stressing that it accorded management the opportunity to meet Jislah’s partners and join hands to express gratitude to God for a good year and ask for His guidance as the new year begins. “2013 was, indeed, great for Jislah as the company’s provisional profit for the year was more than double that of 2012. Thanks to Mr Polley, and Senior Treasury Manager, Mr Kofi Apatu, who joined our group with rich experience, as we seek to continue to employ highly skilled persons to enrich our company,” he said. The three branches of the company (Makola, Tema and Takoradi), he announced, were made business units with fully engaged managers and resources from their former status as customer centres.  Jislah Financial Services, Mr Obeng reiterated, had a focus on creating opportunities for its partners to see growth in their business and “having maintained our membership of Ghana Club 100, we will not renege on such promise to uphold our credibility,” he said.

Libya's acting interior minister survived an assassination attempt in Tripoli, state news agency LANA reported Wednesday.

The Western Regional Police Command have embarked on a proactive and democratic policing to involve the public in the fight against crime and other forms of lawlessness. The command has, therefore, slated February as the month to educate the public on various aspects of the criminal law that are commonly flouted by Ghanaians. The Regional Commander, DCOP Kofi Boakye, told the Daily Graphic that the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) and other units in the region would embark on the educational drive. He said during the month, the police would visit various communities and lorry parks in the region to provide them with certain important security tips and sensitise them to basic laws concerning crime, and police activities. DCOP Boakye said the drivers would be taken through the importance of observing road traffic regulations, the need to change dysfunctional break lights, traffic indicators, basic tools, and how to be defensive on the road, among others.   He said the aim was to ensure that crime and all forms of indiscipline on the roads were reduced to the barest minimum, if not eliminated, adding that other police units under other regional commands would also take policing to the doorstep of members of the public. The regional commander mentioned that traditional rulers, religious leaders, heads of civil society organisations, transport unions and members of the general public would all be involved in the education to ensure success. “It is important to note that criminals and other law breakers live within the communities as friends, neighbours, family members, among others; therefore,  if we want a lawful and just society, as citizens, we have to expose them not because we don’t like them but because we want to shape society,” he said. On the issue of robbery in the region, he said even though there was an improvement, there was still much work to be done, adding that most of the robberies occurred at places where the telecommunication networks were not working, which makes it difficult for residents to call for help. DCOP Boakye said while various discussions were being held with the telecommunication companies for improved service, the police usually mounted check points in the identified areas. He said currently, the police was collaborating with district assemblies to establish additional barriers in crime-prone areas such as Atabokrom, Sekobokrom, Dabiso, Adabokrom, Sewfi Asawhiso and Sewfi Bekwai, Wassa Amenfi and Asankrakwa. “We want the communities or the public to be part of the police and have the sense of ownership and belonging, which creates a platform for the constant flow of information without fear of being arrested, since the community would work in tandem with the police,” he said. To further enhance this, he said, a community relations desk would be created at police stations in the region to handle community policing and neighbourhood watchdog activities.

The government has promised to pursue policies to improve the well-being of the elderly. The policies, some of which are operational and others in the pipeline, include free rides on public transport systems, priority access to health services and banking services, and subsidised water and electricity tariffs. The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, announced this at a reception for more than 100 elderly people in the Keta municipality at Keta. She presented the senior citizens with gifts made up of pieces of cloth, food and non-alcoholic beverages. The event was the second after the one held in Accra, and would be held in nine other areas chosen for such donations, under a pilot project of assisting and caring for the aged in the country. The minister said with the collapse of the traditional family care system, which hitherto protected its elderly, leaving them vulnerable, the government was ready to build a resolute safety net for their welfare. She said her ministry was collaborating with other related agencies to draft a bill for parliament towards establishing the National Council on Ageing for the implementation of the national ageing policy, to address the dimensional issues on ageing. “We are also working towards piloting an aged project of free services in transportation, health, electricity and water subsidies along the coastal belt,” she said. The minister said training of geriatric health care professionals would soon start and relevant facilities put in place to mainstream geriatric care in the health care delivery system. Nana Oye Lithur said an “Ageing Desk,’ to be established at the ministry, would be replicated in the local assemblies to address the concerns of the elderly. She said the national health insurance scheme (NHIS) and the Livelihood Against Poverty (LEAP) were geared towards enhancing the lot of the aged. Commending those who supported the ministry with the items for the aged, the minister appealed to the media to help highlight aged-related issues including policy programmes in the country. Responding to a request by the Keta Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Sylvester Tornyeava, the minister announced that the LEAP coverage would be expanded, stipends would increase and beneficiaries would also be paid regularly. Togbi Sri III, Awoamefia of Anlo, during a courtesy call on him by Nana Oye Lithur at his Anloga palace, commended the government for its programmes to support the aged. GNA 

The Super Lock Technologies Limited (STL), a manufacturing company in Accra, is partnering the Pamela Bridgewater Project to promote the education of young female porters mostly found in the cities. Known as “Sponsor Kayayei to School programme,” the programme is meant to support 2,000 children to go to school by 2016. The STL, through its sister-printing company in Tema, will produce 2,000 calenders for the programme.  The calender features prominent stop kayayei campaigners, namely,  former presidents JJ Rawlings  and J.A. Kufuor, the Chief Justice, Her Ladyship Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood, the UK High Commissioner, Mr Peter Jones, the Israeli Ambassador to Ghana, Madam Sharon Bar-li, the South African High Commissioner to Ghana,  Madame Jeanette Ndlovu, Dr Tony Aubynn, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines and others.   Speaking at the launch of the programme in Accra, the Financial Controller of STL,  Mr Sharon Fisher, called on the government and  corporate bodies  to support the education of needy children, including the kayayei. The Communications Director of the Pamela Bridgewater, Mr Bruce Misbahu Bulmuo, said the programme was meant to support 2000 children to go to school by 2016 and appealed to institutions, corporate bodies and philanthropists, to support the programme.  In a related development, the family of Hassana Abdullai, a kayayoo,  who was crushed to death at Okaishie in Accra last year December 12, 2013, has expressed gratitude to the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive,  Mr Alfred Okoe Vanderpujie,  for his humanitarian gesture during the burial of their deceased relative. Abdullia, who was operating at Okaishie, was crushed to death by a DAF articulated truck, when she was trapped by a metallic hook at the back of the vehicle and fell under the it. The Pamela Bridgewater, a voluntary organisation concerned with the welfare of ‘kayayei’, contacted  Mr Vanderpuie, who, through the AMA Chief Medical Officer,  Dr Anim Boateng, supported the family to provide the deceased with a befitting burial in line with the Muslim tradition. The Project Director of the Pamela Bridgewater Project, Mr Yahaya Alhassan,  said like every mother’s dream, the wish of the late Hassana was to ensure the education of her daughter, Fadila Maltiti Abdul-Basit and indicated that the girl who turned four in July this year, was now in school at the Gbullung D. A primary school in the northern region of Ghana, under the project’s ‘sponsor kayayei to school campaign’. Mr Alhassan, who is also the founder of Kunata Voluntary Organisation that operates the Pamela Bridgewater Project, thanked the Graphic Communications Group Limited for its support to the organisation in championing the campaign to address the ‘kayayei’ phenomenon  and revealed the launch of the ‘Peter Jones Award’ to honour media houses and journalists who championed the cause of the needy girls.

Ghana Football Association president Kwesi Nyantakyi believes the Black Stars’ readiness for the 2014 World Cup will be tested by Holland when they meet in an international friendly on May.

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Ghana will be hosting the third West Africa Telecom Summit on 4 April this year.

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Watch video of Michael Essien's first training session at AC Milan on Tuesday afternoon.