The claim by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that it is obvious that it will continue to maintain the majority in the next Parliament from results it claims to have collated as of 2:15am on Tuesday and how the passage of the Bui Power Authority Bill will help diversify the financial streams and increase revenue of the Authority are the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Tuesday.The Graphic reports that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) says it is obvious that it will continue to maintain the majority in the next Parliament from results it claims to have collated as of 2:15am on Tuesday.

“We now control three of the five regions in northern Ghana,” the NPP’s General Secretary, John Boadu, announced at a press conference organised by the party at 3am on Tuesday, December 8, 2020.

The press conference was in reaction to an earlier one organised by the NDC at 2:40am.

The NPP General Secretary said for the first time, the NPP has been able to win a seat in the Volta Region, and referred to Hohoe, which he said, had been won by the Minister of Energy, John Peter Amewu.

He said from results the party has collated as of 2:15am from pink sheets, scanned and sent to its national headquarters in Accra, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was in a clear lead.”

“We will refrain from declaring results, we will leave that to the EC,” Mr. Boadu said.

The newspaper says that Fomena District Electoral Office in the Ashanti Region on Tuesday morning was gutted by fire.

According to the report, it is unclear when the fire started and that Fire Service personnel were at the scene trying to douse the fire.

It added that Electoral Commission (EC) officials are still at the collation centre not too far from the district office working on the parliamentary and presidential elections.

The Times reports that the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has asked Ghanaians to be wary of fake news sources that may call winners of this year’s elections.

It cautioned that false news about winners of elections could be dangerous, lead to disruptive behaviour, incidents of violence and civil unrest.

The Commission has urged the public to be wary when reposting, retweeting and forwarding information that has not been verified.

“The rule of thumb in reducing the spread of fake news is that if you are uncertain as to the authenticity of the information, please hold off on sharing with others,” a statement signed by the Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs at the NCCE, Joyce Afutu, said.

On the back of allegations of fake news peddled among the leading political parties to ostensibly court last minute votes, the NCCE expressed worry that the “proliferation of social media platforms is facilitating the publication and spread of inaccurate and untrue stories as if they were correct and factual.”

The statement said “the NCCE hereby reminds citizens that the creation and distribution of fake news, if not checked, could plunge our society into chaos and urged all to critically consider the source of the news they access in these times.”

The newspaper says that the Central Regional Police Command has mounted a search for the arrest of some unidentified men, who shot at a vehicle at the Awutu Senya East constituency.

Two out of the five passengers in the car were injured as a result of the gunshots and were rushed to the hospital for treatment.

The Central Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Irene Oppong, said that, the gun men, who were in a black SUV, met the victims on board the KIA vehicle at a place in Awutu Senya East, near the School Complex Polling Station.

The incident, she said, occurred at about 11:40am when a silver coloured KIA private vehicle with Registration number GW 2475-20 was shot at by gunmen in a private SUV.

The gunmen, according to DSP Oppong, who pretended they were looking for information from the occupants of the KIA suddenly opened fire on them.

She said two persons out of the five onboard the vehicle, were injured as a result of the gun shots and were rushed to the hospital by the police.

DSP Oppong indicated that the police had mounted a search for the arrest of the perpetrators.

The Times also reports that the passage of the Bui Power Authority Bill will help the Authority to diversify its financial streams and increase revenue.

Mr. Fred Oware, Chief Executive Officer of the Authority told Citi Business News that “We think that we should operate quite profitably, not only in terms of making profit but having the cash flow to finance our capital expenditures. These have been matters of grave concern, and so we wanted to cure that by prevailing on Parliament.”

“We actually took our matter there and argued and thankfully they saw the point that we made so, with the new Act we have the freedom to in addition to ECG, to look out for other off-takers who are prepared to do business with us whether locally, internally or externally,” he said.

The bill, he said, would empower the Authority to develop renewable energy and other clean energy alternatives in the country.

“It also enables Bui Power, whose only off-taker currently is the Electricity Company of Ghana, to execute power purchase agreements directly with other utility companies or customers,” he said.