Asamoah Gyan is BBC African Footballer of the year

Ghana’s striker, Asamoah Gyan has won the BBC African footballer of the year for the year 2010.

The former Liberty Professional, Stade Rennes player is the 3rd Ghanaian to win this award after Samuel Osei Kufuor and Michael Essien took the award in 2001, 2006 respectively.

The 25year old player currently plays his football with English side Sunderland and has scored 5 goals in 19 matches in the premiership.

Asamoah Gyan beat his fellow country man Dede Ayew, Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o, Yaya Toure and Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast. 

The announcement was made during BBC's African sports programme Fast Track after football supporters across the world casted their votes online and by text.

The BBC African Footballer of the Year is an annual award given to the best African footballer of the year as Football supporters across the world cast their votes online and by text.

Champions League Draw: Bayern Munich Meet Inter Again, Barcelona Await Arsenal Test

Last year's finalists Inter and Bayern Munich will meet in the round of 16 this season, while 2006 finalists Barcelona and Arsenal face a rematch of their game as well.

Friday's draw for the first knockout stages of the Champions League resulted in a number of interesting ties.

Last year's finalist Inter and Bayern Munich will meet in the round of sixteen this year. Diego Milito fired the Nerazurri to Champions League glory last year and the Germans will be gunning for revenge this time around.

Another interesting tie will be the match between Arsenal and Barcelona. The Spaniards proved to be too strong for the Gunners last year and also beat Arsenal in the 2006 CL final.

Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid are one of the favourites to lift the trophy this year, but they'll have to deal with Olympique Lyonnais if they are to go far. The French side beat Madrid in the round of sixteen last term and will be eager to cause another upset this term.

Draw outcome:

First leg home	First leg away
Roma	Shakhtar Donetsk
Valencia	Schalke 04
Inter Milan	Bayern Munich
O. Lyon	Real Madrid
Marseille	Man Utd.
Copenhagen	Chelsea
Arsenal	Barcelona
AC Milan	Tottenham

Each match will take place over two legs, with the draw order determining who has home advantage in each game. Dates:

Source: Goal.com

Eight arrested for international call termination in Ghana

Eight people, seven Ghanaians and one American citizen have been arrested for terminating international calls locally.

The eight were arrested last Friday December 10, 2010 in Accra with sophisticated electronic equipment like computers, simboxes, CISCO broadband routers and mobile phone scratch cards. The names of the suspects have not been disclosed.

The suspects are believed to be engaged in the fraudulent activity of terminating international calls in Ghana making these calls appear as though they were made in the country. The practice denies government of revenue.

The Executive Director of the National Communications Authority (NCA), Harold van Percy had told the BBC that call termination does not only affect call quality, but also causes the country losses in revenue to the tune of $60 million annually.

According to the  Airtel Official in charge of Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management, Nixon Wampamba, “Looking at the find, these fraudsters are very profession to the point they were using shavers to strip the Srcatch Cards very quickly and seem to have had a team that was then loading the credit onto the SIMs.”

He said “On the scale of it, the fraudster had over 200 Airtel SIMs. If we use the standard average for simbox fraud, each SIM is generating around $40 a day. Hence the total estimated revenue is $240,000 per month. With government losing $72,000 per month in tax/levy collection.”

The Ghana government has been saying it has evidence that some telecom operators connive with fraudsters to use simboxes to do call bypass, which enable them to re-route incoming international calls through local SIM cards making those calls terminate as though they were locally generated.

And since the government started monitoring and levying incoming international calls, it has generated not less

than $15 million in taxes, and Minister of Communications, Haruna Iddrisu has said. He has also indicated that nothing will stop the government from monitoring incoming international calls to check fraud and generate revenue for the state.

Meanwhile, the telecommunications companies operating in Ghana have openly condemned international call monitoring in the country. There are six telecoms companies licensed to do business in the country. These are MTN, Vodafone, Tigo, Airtel, Expresso and Globacom which is yet to start operations.

The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GCT), comprising of all the telecoms operators in the country endorsed a declaration by the West African Telecommunications Conference (WATC) condemning international call monitoring in Ghana.

The WATC issued a communiqué at its recent meeting in Dakar, Senegal on November 25, 2010 describing government’s monitoring, levy and surcharges on incoming international calls as a breach of International Telecom Laws, the ECOWAS Treaty and the West African Union Treaty.

It condemned the practice and called on all telecoms operators in countries where the practice is ongoing, like Ghana, Guinea and Congo, not to cooperate with any company employed by their respective governments to monitor calls and impose surcharges and levies.

In Ghana, the government has imposed a 19 cent per minute charge on all incoming internationals calls and has employed Global Voices Group (GVG) to monitor those calls and ensure that government got its revenue.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi

 ghanabusinessnews.com

Asantehene purchases a £3m house in UK

The Ashanti King is the most influential traditional figure of authority in Ghana.

He lives in a palace in Kumasi, the capital of his gold-rich kingdom, but he travels the world often to meet subjects and raise funds for his many charitable educational projects.

This six bedroom neocolonial property bought in November is expected to provide an aside from his work. It has an outdoor swimming pool, a tennis court and stables.

It sits on a 20-acre estate with creamy marble floors though out and a cinema room. However it is still the drawing room with double windows, a decorative fireplace and paneling was what caught the eye of the 60 years old king.

Before getting to the throne in Ghana, he lived a modest life in London working for a local council, but like his fifteen predecessors he now lives a grand live holding court with his subjects, playing golf and meeting some of the world’s most important people. That includes the queen of England who he met on one of his many visits to Britain.

Ghana, a producer of gold since the 16th Century, today has one of the largest and richest reserves of gold in the world.

The Obuasi gold mine, some thirty minutes drive from the Kingdom’s capital Kumasi, is the biggest in the country. So with the mining industry that has been a relative success story, the influence of a king who presides is immense.

Though without constitutional powers, his approval is sought in many political appointments and decisions.

His office is so revered that public criticism is rare but with this new purchase, many in his kingdom and beyond might just muster the courage to ask questions about the king’s priorities.

Source: BBC 

AU suspends Ivory Coast till Gbagbo steps down

The African Union has suspended Ivory Coast, following a disputed presidential election in the West African nation.

AU official Ramtane Lamamra said Ivory Coast would remain suspended until opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara “takes over” from Laurent Gbagbo.

The UN Security Council earlier said Mr Ouattara had won last month’s poll.

However, Mr Gbagbo – backed by the army – is defying international pressure and continuing to cling to power.

In a separate development, the US warned that it would consider sanctions against Mr Gbagbo if he refused to step down.

Violence fears

Mr Lamamra made the announcement on Thursday, after an AU meeting at its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Mr Lamamra said the decision had been taken by the council of the 53-nation bloc, describing Mr Ouattara as “a democratically elected president”.

Earlier, West African regional bloc Ecowas also suspended Ivory Coast.

The move is largely about prestige, but if these measures are backed by the West African Central Bank – which is yet to respond to a request from Mr Ouattara to gain control of the Ivorian government accounts held there – it would make it very difficult for Mr Gbagbo to keep control of the state, the BBC’s John James in Abidjan reports.

Last Thursday, Ivory Coast’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) declared that Mr Ouattara had won the 28 November run-off by 54.1% to 45.9%.

But after Mr Gbagbo and his supporters alleged the ballot had been fraudulent in some northern regions, the Constitutional Council – run by Mr Gbagbo’s ally – overruled the Commission.

The council said Mr Gbagbo had secured just over 51% of the vote.

Both Mr Gbagbo and Mr Ouattara have since sworn themselves in and named their rival Cabinets, heightening tension in the country.

Mr Ouattara – who has the backing of the US and France among other nations – is operating from a luxury hotel in Abidjan, guarded by UN peacekeepers. His power does not extend much further than the perimeter walls of the hotel.

However, Mr Gbagbo – who seems determined to hold on to power in the face of all opposition – must at least recognise that almost every international organisation, government and financial institution recognises his rival as the winner of the elections, our correspondent says.

He adds that there remains a real potential for violence, with thousands of unarmed militia and rebel soldiers allied to each side.

The election was intended to reunify the world’s largest cocoa producer after a civil war in 2002. The north is still under the control of the New Forces rebels who support Mr Ouattara.

Source: BBC

All Ghana football leagues indefinitely suspended

The Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA) has indefinitely suspended all football leagues throughout the country in the aftermath of the raid at the Ghana Football Association (GFA) by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).

The mouthpiece of the league clubs took the decision at an Emergency meeting held on Wednesday in solidarity with the GFA.

Emmanuel Adotey, Chairman of GHALCA said the stand was motivated by the inadequate background information on the motive of the operation by the EOCO.

“We have decided to suspend all leagues indefinitely until investigations by the EOCO are complete.

“We also want the EOCO to come clear on the motives of their operationsat the GFA Secretariat”.

Adotey added that the bulk of the operational materials have been carted away by the EOCO making it impossible to carry on with the various
leagues, especially the Premier League and the Division One League.

“All the working materials have been carried by the EOCO.”

He emphasized that the decision was in solidarity with the GFA saying, “GHALCA is an association of clubs, which make up the GFA.”

The GHALCA Chairman noted that they will consider reviewing their actions only after the EOCO has completed negotiations and furnished them with the details of the findings.

By the decision, GNA Sports therefore reckons that the ultimate matches of the first round of the 2010/2011 Premier League hang in a balance just as the two-week old Division One League.

The FA Cup which was also scheduled to take off on December 5 is likely to be affected likewise the President’s Cup fixed for December 17.

A high-powered team from the EOCO earlier Tuesday stormed the premises of the GFA for documentary evidence on sponsorship agreements and alleged fraud of the Association.

The EOCO had a warrant that gives them the right of search.

Source: GNA

Economic Crime Office raids GFA offices

A high-powered team from the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) on Tuesday stormed the premises of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) for documentary evidence on sponsorship agreements of the Association.

 

The EOCO had in their possession a court search warrant that gives them the right to obtain the documents at the offices of the country’s soccer governing body.

The exercise which lasted for nearly two-hours halted operations at the offices as staff were barred from going in and out of the state-of-the-art headquarters of the Football Association.

The team numbering over a dozen, centred their search at the office of the GFA scribe, (Kofi Nsiah), the head of the Administration and went away with eight Central Processing Units (CPU) from the various offices. They also took away bundles of files.

The operation drew scores of people to the GFA premises. The media was also there.

Randy Abbey, Spokesperson of the GFA told the media that the action of the EOCO officials emanated from a search warrant issued through an ex-parte motion at the court.

“The EOCO wrote to us and we responded. The case is pending in court but they said they have a search warrant to look through documents at the GFA.

“It is basically about sponsorship agreements of the GFA.”

Randy described the situation as “unpleasant”, adding “some of the staff are traumatized because they have never had such experience.”

Attempts to seek reaction from officials of the EOCO were unsuccessful as they remained mute to questions from media personnel.

The move comes barely a week after FIFA was said to have cautioned the GFA over a possible sanction due to recent acts pertaining to governmental interference in the administration of the game.

Few months ago, the EOCO invited the GFA to respond to some reported irregularities in the brokerage of the sponsorship partnership with cellular outfit, Globacom on the Premier League and the exploits of the senior national team.

Source: GNA