News
96 die in gas accidents, 486 injured between 2007 and 2015
Ninety-Six people died in 19 accidents from Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) refilling plants in the country between 2007 and 2015.
Over the period, 486 people also sustained serious injuries .
Investigations by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has revealed that the tragic incidents were as the result of the lack of proper training for operators along the supply chain (drivers, managers, supervisors and pump attendants) on the safe handling of LPG.
Mr William Hayford-Acquah, acting Director of Field Operations of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), disclosed these while interacting with journalists on the second day of a three-day capacity building training for 136 workers in the LPG sector in the Volta Region, at Ho on Tuesday.
“The LPG plant operators received no formal training on the safe handling of LPG but were tasked with the responsibility of manning the plants,” he said.
The training, organised by the EPA was meant to introduce the participants to the safe handling of petroleum products to make them more efficient in responding to their regulatory requirements and equip them with pollution prevention and control methods and systems, among others.
The participants were taken through emerging issues and best practices in the LPG industry and the compliance with regulations of the sector.
Mr Hayford-Acquah said that the EPA had taken a firm stance to inject professionalism in the industry and make the operators more efficient.
In a speech read on his behalf, Mr Henry K. Kokofu, Executive Director of EPA, noted that the growth in the gas sector had come with public concerns over the proliferation of gas services outlets in residential areas.
He said that EPA in collaboration with other stakeholder institutions initiated the training and certification programme to avert LPG accidents in future.
He said that the demand for LPG in the country had increased tremendously over the past decades, adding that there were now 3,596 refilling LPG and fuel stations nationwide.
From Alberto Mario Noretti, Ho
The Speaker of the Algerian Parliament, Mr. Azouz Nasri, has arrived in Accra to take part in the Next Steps High-Level Consultative Conference on the implementation of the landmark United Nations Resolution on the Trafficking of Enslaved Africans.
He was received at the Jubilee Lounge, Kotoka International Airport, by Ghana’s First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Bernard Ahiafor.
The 3-day conference runs from June 17–19, 2026 in Accra. It will bring together parliamentary leaders, diplomats, civil society, and other key stakeholders to reflect on the implications of the UN Resolution for Africans and people of African descent worldwide.
Organisers say the meeting is aimed at advancing a coordinated global framework to strengthen advocacy around the Resolution and provide practical guidance for its implementation across member states.
The Resolution is described as a historic step toward acknowledging the transatlantic slave trade and addressing its lasting impact, with this conference marking one of the first high-level efforts to move it from declaration to action.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
Aspiring National Chairman for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Awentami Paul Afoko, has stated that the party has a unique opportunity to annex power in the 2028 elections.
According to him, the one person who has been on Ghana’s ballot paper for several elections will not be on the ballot paper in the 2028 elections, paving the way for the NPP to properly market its flagbearer Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who is already a formidable force to reckon with and will go ahead to win the polls.
He argued that voters already know him, he’s battle-tested and ready to win.
He reiterated that the NPP will have a well-marketed candidate in the 2028 election and just as the party did in 2016 when it annexed power from a sitting government, the same can be done.
The Former NPP National Chairman, however, noted that this can be possible if the NPP unites as a unit and approach the elections with all the seriousness it deserves to ensure that its quest for victory does not become a mirage.
Mr Awentami Paul Afoko made this known when he met with Regional Executives, Patrons and Elders of the party in the Volta, Oti and Eastern Regions yesterday.
“For the first time we have a unique opportunity. At the time I put the New Plan for Power in place, we knew that the sitting president could go again and if he won another term, we would sit in opposition for twelve years.
We had to put a plan in place to make sure we come to power and we came to power. This time around, he will not be on the ballot paper and this offers us a unique opportunity, but without unity we will not get there,” he stated.
“As for unity, it is not negotiable. You can’t sit here and look at the lady sitting next to you and say I don’t like her so we can’t work together. We are working together for power, and if we let emotions get in the way, we lose” he said.
“Those of you who are old enough to remember Muhammad Ali the boxer, he is in the ring with you, he’s talking and calling you names then you get emotional and he takes advantage. Emotions won’t give us power. I didn’t get anything so I won’t support; no, let that go because it is in the past,” he noted.
Afoko, who is pushing his 3R Agenda of Reunite, Rebuild, and Recapture power, said the party must adopt a clear message to win back the confidence of Ghanaians and believes, with Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, whom he described as the right candidate will guarantee the NPP victory in the 2028 polls.
“For years I chose to work quietly behind the scenes, supporting the NPP in private,” Afoko said.
“But recent developments have compelled me to step forward. We need to get our party back into winning ways, and that starts with unity of purpose,” Afoko reiterated.
He framed the upcoming period as a test of whether NPP politics would mature or remain stuck in cycles of blame, but was optimistic that everyone who loves the party would come on board to realize the goal of making Dr Mahamudu Bawumia the next President of Ghana.
By: Jacob Aggrey
