Drogba's mother dishes up for Ivory Coast fans

While Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba is on the football pitch, his mother
is cooking for Africa Cup of Nations fans.

Clotilde Drogba's makeshift kitchen is at a dusty stadium on the
outskirts of the Equatorial Guinea capital of Malabo, the Associated
Press reports.

She serves up chicken and fish with rice, plantains and spicy sauces
to fans, while her Chelsea star son eats at the hotel with the other
players.

Mrs Drogba also prepared food for fans at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Drogba is one of the most famous people in Ivory Coast - last year he
was named on the country's Truth Reconciliation and Dialogue
Commission set up to ease the wounds after a bitter election dispute
and years of division.

A group of about 60 fans has travelled to Equatorial Guinea, where the
Ivory Coast team - the Elephants - are playing their opening matches -
and every day they sit down to a plateful of traditional food cooked
up by their star player's mother.

"Everyone has their thing and what they like to do,'' Mrs Drogba,
wearing the orange of Ivory Coast, told AP after preparing lunch on
Monday.

"This is not about my son, it is about supporting my country."

Mrs Drogba told AP that she watched Ivory Coast's opening two
victories on a TV screen - in between cutting onions, tomatoes and
chicken.

She added that she hopes to watch the semi-final in the stadium in
Bata - if Drogba and his team-mates make it that far.

She says she respects the rules that means her son cannot eat her food
- and eats only at a luxury hotel.

Even without her cooking, Mrs Drogba told the AP she is confident she
will see her son finally lift the African Cup of Nations - which they
are favourites to do.

"The team plays very well and it's my wish that they win the cup,'" she said.

Morocco and Niger looking for consolation victory

Morocco takes on Niger in Libreville as both teams conclude their Group C Orange Africa Cup of Nations matches. The game is a  battle between two sides who have lost both matches and can no longer make the quarter finals. Across the country in Framceville  co-hosts Gabon will be facing Tunisia in their quest for the group's top spot at the same time Morocco entertains Niger.

 

Managers of both Morocco and Niger  expressed theie desire to restore some dignity with a win in the last group match and leave the tournament with heads held high and perhaps make up to their disappointed supporters.

 

Morocco lost their first game to Tunisia 2-1 before conceding a last gasp goal to lose 3-2 to co-hosts Gabon despite leading early in the game. Debutants Niger lost to Gabon 2-0 before going down  to Carthage Eagles 2-1. Niger are playing in their  first ever finals  after they qualified ahead of  Egypt, South Africa and Sierra Leone.

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Zambia tops Group A after beating Equatorial Guinea as both make quarter finals

Zambia inflicted the first defeat to the co-hosts Equatorial Guinea 1-0 to win Group A and book a place in the quarter final of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations .Co-hosts Equatorial Guinea lost for the first time in the competition but the Malabo result ensures that both sides qualify for the quarter finals from this group which also saw Libya finish third after beating disappointing Senegal 2-1 leaving the Teranga Lions in fourth place in the group.

 

The match in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea got off to a  cagey start as both sides sizing up the other up with the co-hosts looked slightly more adventurous but without really threatening Kennedy Mweene 's goal.  Chipolopolo of Zambia looked contend to let their opponents dominate the early possession while they counter attacked. Zambia looked dangerous though whenever they ventured into the Equatorial Guinea box and Emmanuel Mayuka's  header sailed just over the bar after a lovely cross from Rainford Kalaba. The best chance for the co-hosts in the first half fell to  Ivan Bolado when a through pass from Juvenal Edjogo saw him onto the goal but Mweene charged off his goal line to block the shot.

 

Mweene was called upon to deal with a shot from Equatorial Guinea captain Edjogo and the South African based goalkeeper showed his usual agility catching comfortably the effort from long range.

Zambia upped the tempo upon resumption and Mayuka and Katongo were soon keeping the home side defence busy as the play opened up. Zambia impressively maintained their pattern and shape and started dominating the midfield exchanges with player maker Kalaba pulling the strings.

In the 67th  minute Zambian pressure paid off when captain Chris Katongo picked up a throw in and went on a diagonal run beating two defenders before firing into the bottom right hand corner past a diving Danilo for the opening goal.  Equatorial Guinea found themselves behind for the first time in the competition and the response to going down did not seem to threaten Zambia who looked in control still. Both coaches made changes but there were few clear cut changes.  Ben Konate, who has been very impressive in this tournament so far was replaced by Rolan de la Cruz for Equatorial Guinea while  Mayuka made way for  James Chamanga  who was once doubtful for these finals through injury. Zambia played out the remaining time and their keeper Mweene and his defence comfortably dealt with Equatorial Guinea's last ditch efforts

Tullow Oil launches $6 million Scholarship Scheme

Tullow Oil has launched a scholarship scheme worth more than $6million to
support 110 young scholars from nine developing countries including 50
from Ghana. The Tullow Group Scholarship Scheme would benefit university graduates with second class upper or first class degrees, and HND holders with distinction drawn from Ghana, Uganda, Gabon, Cote D’Ivoire, Kenya, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Mauritania and French Guiana. Out of the 50 spaces allotted to Ghana, 10 have been reserved for the Western Region, another 10 for government institutions and the remaining 30 are open for public competition.

Each qualifying candidate stands to gain at least $60,000 a year covering
tuition, travel, warm clothes, monthly allowances and baggage allowance for training in selected European countries including the UK and France.

Vice President of External Affair and Corporate Social Responsibility at
Tullow Oil, Rosalind Kainyah said Tullow has already sponsored 24
Ghanaians on pilot basis to top universities in the UK to study and this comprehensive one comes on the back of the success of the pilot. She said over time the scholarship to study overseas would give way to
scholarships to study locally because Tullow has plans to support internationally recognised institutions in the selected countries to train the scholars instead of making them travel overseas. “The in-country institutional strengthening programme will complement the scholarship scheme and will mean that the need for scholarships in overseas institutions phases out over time and is replaced with scholarships
to these internationally recognised in-country institutions,” she said. Tullow has appointed the British Council to manage the selection of
candidates for the scholarship and Director of the British Council Ghana, Moses Anibaba says they will start receiving applications from March this year. He also announced that the British Council will also take care of all pre- departure issues like visa and flight arrangement for the selected
candidates.

Part of the British Council’s responsibility is to ensure that beneficiaries of the scheme would return home after their training and help with national development and Mr. Anibaba said the council will notrenege on that responsibility.

Minister of Energy, Dr. Joe Oteng-Adjei who launched the scheme lauded
Tullow for the initiative and noted that if the scheme continued at the pace it is going, Ghana and Africa would have lots of world class experts within a short time. He however appealed to Tullow to increase the number of scholarships for Ghana, saying “if you give 50 scholarships at a time when you are drilling 85,000 barrels of oils per day in Ghana then I pray for you to get 120,000 barrels of oil in Ghana per day so you can give us about 80 scholarships every year.” The minister also urged beneficiaries to return home and help with national
development saying that if anyone fails to return he will personally organise a prayer session and pray until the person returns home.

Source:myjoyonline

President Mills Makes Ministerial Changes And Appointments

His Excellency the President, Prof John Atta Mills has made the following Ministerial Changes and Appointments:

Hon. Benjamin Kunbour is the new Attorney-General and Minister For Justice;

Hon Alban Bagbin currently Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing moves to the Ministry Of Health and replaces Hon Joseph Yileh Chireh. 

Hon. E. T. Mensah, Minister for Employment and Social Welfare replaces, Bagbin as Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing. 

New Appointments are:

Hon. Moses Asaga, MP for Nabdam - Minister Designate for Employment and Social Welfare

Mr. William Kwasi Aboah - Minister Designate for Interior

Ambassador Lee Ocran, Ghana'a High Comomissioner To South Africa - Minister Designate for Education

Hon. Fritz Baffour, MP for Ablekuma South - Minister Designate for Information. He replaces Hon. John Tia

Hon. Dominic Azimbe Azumah, MP for Garu/Timpane - Minister Designate for At the Presidency

Ambassador Amin Amidu Sulemani, currently Ghana's Ambassador to Egypt - Minister Designate for Upper West Region. 

His Excellency the President has also made the following Deputy Ministerial changes and appointments:

Hon. Stephen Ackah, MP for Suaman - Deputy Minister Designate for the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development;

Mr. Isaac Vanderpuije - Deputy Minister designate for Greater Accra Region;

Hon. Aquinas Quansah, currently Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development moves to the Central Region as Deputy Regional Minister;

Hon. James Agyenim - Boateng, currently Deputy Minister for Tourism, moves to the Ministry of Information as Deputy Minister, whilst Hon. Baba Jamal becomes Deputy Minister for Tourism;

Hon. Edward Omane Boamah, Deputy Minister for Environment, Science and Technology goes to the Ministry Of Youth and Sports as Deputy Minister, whilst Hon. Reuben Nii Nortey Dua moves to the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing as Deputy Minister;

Hon Dr. Mustapha Ahmed, currently Deputy Minister for Water Re sources, Works and Housing is now Deputy Minister for Environment, Science and Technology;

Mr. Henry Ametepey - Deputy Minister designate for the Volta Region to replace Col. Cyril Neku (Rtd). 

GBC

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Personal Development Plan, Do You Have One?

Personal Development Plan, Do You Have One?

Where will you be in 5 years? What will your life be like? What will
you do for a living? These are questions that many of us think about
this time of year. When I look back at previous choices that I have
made in my life I realize what profound differences a simple decision
can make.
When most people think about "success" the subject of "delayed
gratification" rarely comes up yet as Joachim points out in the book
it may be the single most important decision you can make on your life
journey. The decision to say "I pass" so we can say "I won" is
significant.

A simple decision to put away GH¢ 20.00 a week instead of spending it
now on frivolous things can lead to a significant savings account over
the period of a few years. A decision to save for a down payment on a
house instead of moving to a larger apartment has created many
prosperous property owners. The decision to finish school instead of
taking that entry level job may pay big dividends.

Note: Successful people are willing to do things that unsuccessful
people are unwilling to do.

Why not take a few minutes today and create a 5 year personal
development plan for yourself. Visualize yourself as successful and
write down your passions and visions of your life 5 years from now.
Write down what you see in your mind. Only a small percentage of the
population ever set goals for their lives, yet the ones that do have
much greater success than those that don't. Develop some long term
habits that will take you to your destination.

We are often get so caught up in what's going on right now that we
forget to give enough thought to the slightly more distant future.
If that describes you, consider setting up a 5-year plan. That can be
the type of mid-range planning that keeps you on track for the real
long term, while not seeming so far away as to be hard to visualize. (
It's a lot easier to picture what things might be like 5 years from
now than it is it to imagine your life 30 or more years from now )

Set aside time on a regularly basis:

Really think about where you and your family want to be 5 years from
now and how you're going to get there — both financially and
otherwise.
You could schedule this time to recur automatically in your calendar
(say, every six months) or tie it to some sort of annual event (such
as New Year's or your birthday). That's also a good time to evaluate
the progress you've made to date, and to identify areas where you want
to continue to improve.

Some of the things to consider are:

•Where you want to live
•Where you want to work/how you want to earn money
•What you want to be doing in your spare time
•How much you want to have in savings and investments
•Major SMART goals you want to reach, both financial and otherwise
•What you can take action on, specifically, right now that will get
you to where you want to be

Keep in mind too that plans can (and very likely will) change over
time. That's another reason it's good to review them regularly.
There's no rule that says your plans are set in stone. But if you
don't plan, you're less likely to do and get the things that are
really important to you.

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Jon Germain to release second album February

After the successful release and entry into the Ghanaian music scene
with the album, This Is Who I Am, in 2009, host of Allo Tigo, Jon
Germain is set to release his second album, ENiGMA, in February.

Jon who is widely known for his radio and television presenting
prowess stunned the world when he announced he was going into music, a
passion he said he had harboured for years.

Unlike many who will easily venture into popular genres in Ghana like
Hiplife, Gospel, Hi-Life and Reggae, Jon launched what was arguably
the first ever authentic pop and rock album.

The This Is Who I Am album chalked a lot of milestones. The title
track, In My Head received over 100,000 downloads on iTunes alone and
the album also received nominations at the 2010 Ghana Music Awards,
Most Gifted RNB at the 2010 Channel O Awards, the 2010 SoundCity Music
Video Awards in Nigeria, and the Voter Choice Song of the Year in
Africa at the Africa Music Awards in New York.

Rock superstar, Chris Martin of Coldplay also declared his love for
the song, Quiver.

ENiGMA has 15 songs - six rock, five R&b, two dance and two remakes
from the first album. Jon Germain told Myjoyonline.com in an interview
that the songs on the album, "is the best collection of songs I have
ever written."

He explained that the title of the album, "Enigma means someone or a
person or a thing that is mysterious, puzzling and difficult to
understand. It seems after the release of my [first] album, people saw
me as such."

He recounted that, "a famous musician called me and said you are an
enigma after he heard my album, so I thought I use that".

His first single, In Her Arms produced by Kaywa, is expected to be out
in a few days time. Jon revealed that, In Her Arms which he wrote
while watching a movie some months ago is his favourite adding, the
song made him realized that "I could be a better singer if I
concentrated on the music more."

Other tunes on the album include, Bitter, Trembling Heart, Tell Me,
With Great Intent, Time, and Tonight We Making A Baby.

As to which artistes are making appearances on the album, Jon said
they are three big international artistes, adding, "That's the
surprise on the album. That's a secret for now."

Source: Myjoyonline

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Azonto Metamorphosis Into "Chriszonto"

Azonto dance has metamorphosed into "Chriszonto" in some charismatic
churches, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) observed during a tour of some
churches in Accra on the eve of the New Year and New Year Day
services.

The traditional Ga dance, Kpanlogo which has been modernised into
Azonto dance, has now taken another transformation as the Christian
community joined the secular dance Christian "Chriszonto".

GNA observed that most of the youth in charismatic churches led the
infectious Azonto-Chriszonto dance revolution, with most pastors and
the older generation watching in admiration.

The Azonto-Chriszonto dance craze in the churches is taking deep root
as song leaders, choristers, Praise and Worship groups as well as the
mainly younger generation with youthful exuberance try to out-do each
other with the antics and gestures.

Research by the GNA showed that Azonto dance originated from the
traditional Ghanaian dance, Kpanlogo, which started in indigenous
localities in the Greater Accra Region such as Bukom, James Town,
Chorkor and in Tema.

Now the Azonto dance has taken over other dance forms at clubs, house
parties and churches.

The free style dance involves the shaking of hips, stretching and
pointing hands to different directions at a tempo to the song and
sometimes demonstrating the performance of household chores like
washing or doing ironing.

Source: GNA

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