yaW owusU's villagE

Check Me Out!

2012-02-02T03:38:00.000-08:00

Hi followers, check me out on:

http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/index.php?id=712

Thank you all.

Daily Guide Reporter Goes To Oxford

2012-01-19T07:14:00.000-08:00

Thursday January 19, 2012.

Posted on www.dailyguideghana.com

William Yaw Owusu, Senior reporter of DAILY GUIDE, Ghana’s leading private newspaper, has won the prestigious Reuters Fellowship Award. He has been offered a place at Templeton College, University of Oxford in the United Kingdom to undertake a six month-long research programme at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

Mr. Owusu is joining other journalists from around the world to undertake the course which is meant for talented and experienced mid-career journalists.

He is a member of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and holds BA in Communication Studies (Journalism Major) from the Ghana Institute of Journalism as well as Diploma in Communication Studies from the same institute.

He previously worked for Ghanaian Times, a state-owned daily newspaper from 2002-2009 where he specialized in legal, political, environmental and business/finance reporting. He is an experienced Court reporter.

Mr. Owusu, who is married, has enormous experience in reporting on human rights, social justice and political activism and aspires to move it further in an effort to ensure robust independent and free media in Ghana and the entire West African sub-region.

He was recently appointed Editor-in-Chief of Business Guide, one of the newspapers produced by Western Publication.

Reuters, the leading wire service news outlet in the world, commissions a group of experienced Journalists and University of Oxford Professors to assess applications submitted by an average of 2,000 applicants every year to select the best for the course. Mr. Owusu is the fourth Ghanaian to have won the Fellowship.

Other fellows from Ghana include: Berefi Apenteng, current Managing Director, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), A. A. Blay, then with the Ghana News Agency and Frank Agyekum, then with the Ghana News Agency and current spokesperson of former President Kufuor.

STX: TALE OF A FAILED PROJECT

2012-01-10T07:47:00.000-08:00

Flashback! Dr. Benjamin Kumbuor (Minister of the Interior), Representative of STX Korea, President John Evans Atta Mills, Alban Bagbin (Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing) and Dr. Kwabena Adjie (NDC Chairman)at STX Housing project sod-cutting ceremony at the Tesano Police Training Depot, Accra on January 27, 2011.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

A Feature by William Yaw Owusu

Saturday January 6, 2012.
On Friday, December 30, 2011, Ghanaians were hit hard with the news that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government was on the verge of abrogating the controversial multi-billion housing deal between the Government of Ghana and STX Engineering & Construction Limited of South Korea.

This was disclosed by Vice President John Dramani Mahama when he interacted with the Parliamentary Press Corp in Accra.

The project would have seen the construction of 200,000 houses in Ghana in five (5) years, estimated at $10billion. In August 2010, parliament approved an initial off-take agreement for 30,000 housing units for the security agencies at a proportionate cost of $1.5 billion amid protest from the opposition New Patriotic party (NPP).

A 12-member government delegation led by then Minister of Water Resources Works and Housing signed the STX Housing Project deal in 2009.

The deal – hailed by some as the best thing ever to happen to Ghana – collapsed because of persistent boardroom wrangling between the Ghanaian and Korean partners of STX Engineering & Construction Ghana Limited, the local subsidiary of STX Korea.

Observers also attributed the collapse of the deal to the ineffective and haphazard manner in which the government handled the whole issue.

President Mills’ Propaganda

When President John Evans Atta Mills cut the sod on Thursday January 27, 2011 (nearly a year ago) at the Tesano Police Training Depot for the commencement of the STX project, the impression was created that the NDC government was more concerned about the welfare of the security agencies, particularly the police, than its political opponents.

President Mills had said at the sod cutting ceremony packed with NDC supporters that the STX Housing Project was tied to the ruling party’s 2008 manifesto commitment to expand infrastructure, and added that the venture was a legacy that history would not be able to write.

“This is a significant turning point in the history of our dear country. This is the change we promised and government intends to leave a strong and positive legacy and the completion of this project will be a legacy that history will not be able to write,” he said.

The rhetoric and propaganda associated with the project appeared to have overwhelmed the Koreans, who were of the view that the project was a national assignment and that it should never be used for propaganda purposes as the NDC did until the whole thing fell flat in their faces.

DAILY GUIDE’S investigation has shown that at all material times, it is the Vice President’s office that has been handling issues concerning the STX Housing Project.

President Mills had probably predicted the demise of the company when during his state of the nation address in 2010, he said the Vice President had travelled to Seoul, Korea, to ‘nail the coffin’ of STX.

Korean Concerns

The Koreans were said to be pulling out of the STX deal because they were persistently frustrated by attempts by the government to allegedly make them ‘irrelevant’ in the whole project.

Both the Koreans and their Ghanaian counterparts, led by Bernard Kwabena Asamoah – the man credited for introducing the Koreans to the NDC government – remained tightlipped on the raging issues even though a source told DAILY GUIDE “we (Koreans) got to know about the sovereign guarantee in the newspapers”.

“We have tried our best to get to President Mills directly for him to know what is happening but to no avail. Anytime we make the effort they tell us to rather deal with the Vice President’s Office instead,” the source claimed.

“We realize that our message to the President is being edited at the middle level that is why we are trying to reach him directly but our attempts have failed so far because we are always told to discuss issues with his deputies.”

The source said, “We have even arranged for STX Chairman worldwide to meet President Mills one on one on the stalemate, but to no avail.”

At a point, it was even rumoured that government delegated Haruna Iddrisu, the Minister of Communications, to negotiate with the Koreans when the sector Minister, Alban Bagbin and his deputies Dr. Mustapha Ahmed and Hannah Bissiw, were always available.

Corruption Leads

Failure of the government to stamp its authority on the project has left many wondering about what really went into the preparation in terms of financial commitments.

There have been trips abroad, particularly to Korea, by countless number of government officials including Ministers of State. There have also been project site preparation among others and nobody seems to tell the people of Ghana how much has been spent.

According to sources, the consulting architectural concept design allegedly prepared by a Professor at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), on the orders of B.K. Asamoah, cost the company about 21 million dollars, when the Koreans claimed they could do it for only 5 million dollars.

The Koreans were said to have raised serious objection to the procurement of building materials from Western Forms in the United States, which they (Koreans) claimed could last for 30 years when under the agreement, the project’s lifespan was only years (5) years.

As a result, the Koreans distanced themselves from all transactions, including contracting of loans and guarantees and land title agreements allegedly being entered into by STX Engineering & Construction Company Ghana Limited through B.K Asamoah.

It was said that whenever the issue of cost was raised, the employer (Government of Ghana) did not find any fault with it and asked the Koreans to forget about it because it was ‘normal’.

The Koreans also complained that the sovereign guarantee issued by the Ghana Government to STX to enable it to raise a loan was allegedly given to B.K. Asamoah, the CEO of STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited, to source for funding in financial market without reference to the Koreans, and contrary to the agreement.

This was the reason why the Sovereign Guarantee was reported be going round several countries in search for cash to start the project.

The countries the money was sought from included the United Kingdom and Switzerland, the USA and Mexico. It was later sighted in Nigeria, where it was moving from one bank to the other in search of a new lease of life.

Furthermore, the insurance on the loan, according to DAILY GUIDE sources, was paid even though not a pesewa was sourced in terms of funding for the project.

STX had promised to bring the money from Korea, as captured in the agreement, but once that was not done, the government backed the local partner to look elsewhere for cash, contrary to the agreement.

There were rumours that a son of a powerful Minister in the Mills administration was hobnobbing with a party in the STX deal to benefit from the $300 million insurance fund, and had formed an insurance brokerage to facilitate the transfer of cash even though the company had not sourced for funds for the project.

Minister of Water Resources Works and Housing, Alban Bagbin, allegedly travelled abroad several times, including the United States and Mexico, to push for alternative sources of funding for the project.

Mistrust

The mistrust between the partners became intense as the wrangling lingered and on August 18, 2011, the Koreans announced that they had fired B.K Asamoah as its local CEO.

Their reason was that B.K. Asamoah had allegedly diluted the shares to his advantage, without recourse to the Korean partners. As a result they sued the beleaguered CEO and others, including the Registrar-General, for allowing the transfer of the shares.

The Fast Track High Court presided over by Justice N.M.C. Abodakpi however adjourned proceedings sine die because the processes to get the case heard were not completed.

At a point, B.K. Asamoah was alleged to have been chased out of his private residence on the Spintex road by his landlady over the non-payment of rent.

Additionally, he was said to have issued dud cheques to Rana Motors for payment of vehicles purchased for the company’s use and the foregone developments appeared to have given a clue as to what the financial situation of the company currently was.

But B.K. Asamoah sharply rebutted media reports and argued that he was still at post. He subsequently proceeded to the Commercial Court to file a suit against the Korean partners, and sought reliefs that would have ensured that the Koreans were sacked from the entire project.

However, the court presided over by Justice Gertrude Torkornoo dismissed B.K. Asamoah’s application on ‘procedural grounds’ and awarded GH¢ 3,000 as cost against the applicant.

The judge had held that B.K. Asamoah could only sue under the Company Code 217 if the partner had been involved in an illegal conduct, but the plaintiff had failed to prove the Koreans did.

In the course of the trial, B.K. Asamoah had indicated he was ready to pay off his Korean counterparts in a form of a settlement package. The court therefore allowed the partners time to settle the terms and report to it.

Observers were of the view that if indeed B.K. Asamoah had followed due process to acquire the shares of his counterparts, then he had no business offering to pay off the Koreans.

The End Of B.K Asamoah?

It is clear B.K. Asamoah will never let go his ‘brainchild’ if the government decides to go ahead with the project by sidelining the partners.

As far as DAILY GUIDE is concerned, the beleaguered CEO registered the national housing concept in his name. This means that the project touted by the NDC as one of its flagship project does not belong to the self-acclaimed social democrats after all.

Documents stumbled on by DAILY GUIDE indicated that the Ghana National Housing Project belonged solely to B.K. Asamoah. The certificate of registration issued to him by the Copyright Office and signed by the Acting Copyright Administrator on April 26, 2011 cited the title of work as “The Ghana National Housing Project” and name of author as Bernard Kwabena Asamoah.

The copyright claimant is G.K. Airports Company Limited, the company that entered into a joint venture agreement with STX Korea to construct 200,000 housing units at the cost of $1,525,443,468 ($1.52billion) across the country, starting with 30,000 houses for the security services.

The Bagbin Factor

The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alban Bagbin, was always prepared to slam any media organization that attempted to dissect problems confronted by the partners in the execution of the project.

After pretending that all was well with the project, it was Mr. Bagbin who first made an about-turn on December 22, 2011, announcing that the government was likely to disengage from the controversial project.

Mr. Bagbin, who persistently went publicly debunking media reports that the deal was collapsing, had to eat humble pie when he said on Christmas eve that proceeding with the project without the current partners was a possibility.

When he was asked earlier about additional sources of funding for the project, he simply said, “the money is available so it is not an issue of funding. I won’t disclose the source of additional funding but the money is coming into our account at the Bank of Ghana.”

He continued, “there is no difficulty in sourcing funds. Funds have been sourced and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning can confirm that money is available.”

Mr. Bagbin added that since the Bank of Ghana issued sovereign guarantee to cover the project, there was mad rush by banks to provide financial support for the project.

Using the Police As Propaganda Tool

From the onset, it was clear that the propaganda that characterized the introduction of the project was making it impossible for the project to succeed and it gave sceptics the opportunity to claim vindication.

For instance, when the police hierarchy, led by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Paul Tawiah Quaye, commandeered innocent policemen to besiege the Parliament House to offer support for the passage of the STX deal, it became apparent that something had gone amiss.

GREDA Factor

As the negotiation was going on with the Koreans, the Ghana Real Estates Developer’s Association (GREDA) entered the fray to ask the government to allow them to bid for the project since according to them, they had the capacity to construct the housing units.

They came with a proposal to build the 300,000 houses over the same period, at the cost of $7 billion – clearly $3 billion cheaper and 100,000 more houses than the Koreans were offering to do.

Threats to GREDA

In the ensuing debate, Joy FM broadcast a news item to the effect that GREDA might have withdrawn its petition to Parliament on the STX housing deal because its executives were threatened with death.

The news item landed the station’s then news editor, Ato Kwamena Dadzie, in trouble when the police tried to charge him for causing fear and panic under Section 208 of the Criminal Code but after a public uproar, particularly in the media, Ato’s charges were dropped by the police.

Stakeholders’ Queries

Danquah Institute (DI), IMANI-Ghana – all data and policy analysis groups – together with some political parties, particularly the NPP, voiced their concerns about the inappropriateness of the deal.

DI for instance raised red flag over the implementation of the project because of what it calls “the government’s ambiguity, changes and re-arrangements with sources of funding of the project”.

The Minority Caucus even boycotted the approval of the agreement, citing a writ filed in the Supreme Court by James Kwabena Bonfeh aka Kabila, a former CPP National Youth Organizer, praying the court to place perpetual injunction on Parliament from considering the agreement.

Unfolding Drama
Even before Parliament agreed to the deal, the President had directed that the multi-billion dollar deal before the house be withdrawn for further review by a joint ministerial committee, and it gave the Minority the leeway to claim that their opposition to the deal was justified.

After a closed-door meeting between officials of STX and Vice President Mahama, as well as some top government officials including ministers of state in Accra, the deal could not be signed, confirming the opposition’s fears that there was more to the whole deal than Ghanaians were being told.

Almost three hours after the media had set up their equipment in the well-decorated conference room at the presidency, then Deputy Minister of Information, James Agyenim-Boateng, accompanied by John Jinapor, spokesperson for Mr. Mahama, and Stanislav Xoese Dogbe, a presidential aide, appeared and announced the cancellation of the programme.

Agyenim-Boateng had attributed the cancellation to “legal issues that could not be resolved immediately at the last meeting before the ceremony”.

“Certain legal issues cropped up at the eleventh hour and under the circumstances, we were compelled to cancel the signing until we receive advice from the Attorney-General’s Department, where we have referred the issues to,” the Deputy Information Minister had told journalists.

Key Observation

A cursory look at STX magazines published in 2011 positively highlighted the Ghana project alongside other projects across the world. However, while there are clearly stated time lines for all STX projects across the world, there was none for the projects in Ghana, sparking fears that there was no seriousness attached to the project.

Conclusion

To quote the Vice President: “The way things are going I don’t see how that project will go on. The wrangling is getting worse rather than getting better so I don’t see how that project will go forward.” This shows clearly that the STX project is dead.

Also the fact that President Mills had said “the venture is a legacy that history will not be able to write”, indeed proves that the Mills-led NDC government is writing another chapter of history when it comes to failed promises.

IMANI Replies Gov’t On $3bn Chinese Loan

2012-01-05T01:44:00.000-08:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday January 5, 2011.
IMANI Ghana, a data and policy analysis think tank, has hit back at the government for trying to run down a study it conducted into the $3 billion loan secured by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government from their Chinese counterparts.

According to IMANI Ghana, it was clear the government’s communicators were running away from the real issues that they raised and attacking their personalities and IMANI as an organization in general.

The policy think-tank’s crime was that it released a statement saying it doubted whether the loan - hailed by the government as the best thing ever to happen to Ghana - was going to be a panacea to the nation’s infrastructural challenges.

Moments after the release, the government’s communicators took turns to run down the report.

Koku Anyidoho, Director of Communications at the Presidency, said the researchers have been paid to down play the $3 billion Chinese loan while Stan Dogbe, a presidential staffer, who recently cashed GH¢169,000, equivalent to ¢1.6 billion cedis to buy hampers and organize seminars for journalists on the 2010 Budget, said IMANI was being mischievous in a bid to satisfy their paymasters to block the facility.

Fifi Kwetey, a deputy Minister of Finance said “listening to IMANI president Franklin Cudjoe’s arguments seeking to portray IMANI as an organization out to do an independent work betray a certain remarkable affinity to some of the things NPP clearly has been doing.”

Kwadwo Twum Boafo, CEO of the Ghana Free Zones Board said IMANI should simply declare themselves appendages of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) because he “cannot understand how a supposedly credible think tank can caution the government premised on falsehood.

Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, CEO of the Ghana Youth Authority, described IMANI as a leaking tank and not any think tank
.
However, IMANI has said it is not perturbed by the barrage of insults heaped on them by the presidential spokespersons and reaffirmed that their credibility is intact.

“We were completely taken aback by the reaction of a number of Government Spokespersons to our recent comment on the China Development Bank (CDB) loan facility for infrastructure development.

“Most of the reactions were hasty, over-generalized and in some instances frantic. More worryingly, nearly all of them were also wrong.”

IMANI was of the view that the “said reactions tended to skirt around the vital points we had made to focus on non-essentials.”

They said “at no point did we denigrate the source, objectives or motives behind the loan. We had not sought to perform any critical analysis on the agreements governing the loan facility. Since Parliament has shown clear interest in examining these matters, our approach has been to leave the legal scrutiny in their hands until we had cause to believe something was amiss.”

“At no point did we suggest that no portion of the loan will materialize or that the CDB was incapable or disinterested in fulfilling their side of the agreement.

“What we set out to do was to examine one dimension of the loan process: actual amounts of disbursement from the point of view of the lender, the China Development Bank. This is something that had not been done to date and having discerned some of the patterns behind their lending strategy, we felt it was important to share our findings with the general public, especially with regard to how such a strategy is likely to align or misalign with the short-term policy vision of the government.”

IMANI said the government moreover concedes that the $3 billion will be disbursed over five years and that there is currently only one agreement before Parliament that can release even one cent of the money to Ghana, and that this agreement concerns one billion dollars, not all of which is guaranteed to be disbursed immediately or indeed within 2012.

“Therefore, government, if indeed it is looking to boost infrastructure development for accelerated growth in 2012 – 2013, should as a matter of urgency focus on salvaging the more than 200 significant projects and programs that are stalling because of a lack of attention from the respective ministries and departments.

“It is clear that the spokespersons of the government of Ghana by their omissions and commissions have misinformed and mis-educated Ghanaians, not IMANI.”

IMANI noted that “as a patriotic think tank, fearlessly standing up for the national and public interest, we wish the government of Ghana and His Excellency the President very well in their endeavours. But our foremost loyalties are to the good people of Ghana. Our credibility is intact.”

BLOWS OVER $3BN CHINESE LOAN

2012-01-04T01:37:00.000-08:00

Franklin Cudjoe in a leader of IMANI Ghana.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday January 4, 2011.
IMANI Ghana, a data and policy analysis think tank and the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) government are at each other’s throat over the $3 billion loan secured by the government from their Chinese counterparts.

According to IMANI, its research has shown that “it is highly doubtful that in the short term Government of Ghana shall be able to satisfy the strict credit requirements of the China Development Bank in order to secure the entire $3 billion mentioned in the government’s framework agreement with the state-owned Chinese bank.”

However, the government, through a Deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and presidential staffer Stan Dogbe have reacted angrily over IMANI’s claims describing it as ‘regrettable’ and ‘misleading the public’ with its analysis of the situation.

IMANI said it suspects “the maximum facility available to Ghana shall not exceed $1 billion over the timeframe of 2012 –2013. And even this $1 billion shall not come on a silver platter.”

“In keeping with this opinion, which we shall back up with analysis in this report, we are worried that government’s over-reliance on this facility to prosecute its 2013 economic program, especially in the infrastructure area, could lead to dislocations in the economy and frustrations on the part of its managers,” IMANI said.

“In his New Year address, the President of the Republic left all of us in no doubt about how central the $3 billion facility has become to the government’s overall economic agenda. According to a Ghana News Agency report of the speech, President Mills was therefore confident that government’s infrastructural development will receive a boost this year following the approval of the 3 billion dollar Chinese loan.”

IMANI said it was important to stress that the said $3 billion loan facility has not been approved by the authority that matters – the board of the Chinese Development Bank (CDB).

Rather, IMANI said what had been approved was a Master Framework Agreement (MFA) suggesting in very loose language that CDB is interested in discussing whether and how it may be viable to invest $3 billion in Ghana’s oil and gas infrastructure.

“Per article 26 of the MFA: ‘Except for the provision of Article 22, this Framework Agreement shall be deemed to be a letter of intent and understanding of the Parties and is not intended to create any legal relations or obligations on either Party.”

“The only binding clause, article 22 states that: “The Parties agree that no Party shall disclose the content of this Framework Agreement or any other agreements or documents generated or communicated between the Parties pursuant to this Framework Agreement without the express written consent of the other Party except where such disclosure is required by the laws of PRC and/or Ghana,” IMANI added.

“Let us bear in mind that Chinese financial institutions are adopting global standards of credit and risk evaluation and have therefore increasingly little propensity to pump money into half-baked or unready projects. Increasingly, their expectations of quality and rigour, and in particular profitability, are as high and as tough to meet as those of any financial institution anywhere on the globe.”

After an in-depth analysis of the situation, IMANI advised the government not to neglect the optimization of “all its other revenue sources in a frenzied pursuit of the CDB loan.”

“We are saddened by the continued slow disbursement of already committed money that has led to many infrastructure projects languishing in various stages of abandonment all over the country,” it noted.

In the government’s response, Okudzeto Ablakwa said IMANI was confusing the Framework Agreements signed with the Chinese authorities (CDB and China EXIM Bank) in September 2010 during President Mills’ visit to China with the Master Facility Agreement (MFA) which Parliament approved in August 2011.

He said, “it is regrettable that IMANI confuses the two documents and is misleading the public. Indeed, IMANI refers to a Master Framework (not Facility) Agreement in its analysis. While the Framework Agreements are Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), the MFA is a firm and binding Agreement with CDB.”

The deputy Minister said availability period for drawing down on the two Tranches (US1. 5 billion each) under the MFA is five years, not three years as IMANI sought to portray to the public.

“This is because government is aware that it is asking for a Facility to finance major infrastructure projects (e. g. oil/gas pipeline and processing plant; Takoradi harbor and Volta basin/ coastal landing sites; Accra Plains Irrigation; and Takoradi to Kumasi railway line) that cannot be completed within one (1) fiscal year.”

“In placing the projects within the GSGDA, government was not looking at short-term gains only, as IMANI sought to portray. The feasibility studies for the projects are very clear on this point that they are medium-to-long term projects,” he said.

“As noted IMANI quotes Article 26 of the Framework Agreement and not Section 26 of the binding MFA. Had it referred to the MFA, IMANI would have seen that Section 26 of the MFA (Partial Invalidity) is part of Part 9 of the Agreement, which deals with elaborate processes for administering the loan.”

He said the Government was on course to submit the Subsidiary Agreements (which specify the Projects to be financed) to Parliament, as it promised during the Parliamentary debates between June and August 2011 and it was surprising that IMANI was making an issue of the agreements again.

The deputy Minister said “it is surprising for IMANI to belittle the amount that CDB lends for foreign operations. Government does not view 17. 5 percent of US$800 billion (or US$140 billion) as an insignificant amount in terms of development bank, multilateral or bilateral financing. It is prudent for Ghana to tap this source of financing to diversify its traditional sources of financing infrastructure development, notably commercial projects”.

STX Housing Project Dead!...Cars, Furniture On Sale

2012-01-03T01:54:00.000-08:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday January 3, 2012
The controversial STX Housing project that would have seen the construction of housing units across the country, starting with 30,000 for the security services, is over if the words of Vice President John Dramani Mahama is to be believed.

“The way things are going I don’t see how that project will go on. The wrangling is getting worse rather getting better so I don’t see how that project will go forward,” Mr. Mahama said.

The Vice President told journalists in Accra on December 30, 2011 that the government was going to terminate the $10 billion deal between the government of Ghana and STX Korea due to boardroom wrangling between the Ghanaian and its Korean counterpart stalling the project.

Ever since President John Evans Atta Mills cut the sod on Thursday January 27, 2011at Police Training Depot at Tesano, Accra for the commencement of the project board room wrangling between the Ghanaian and their Korean partners has ensured that not a single block has been laid even though a land at Kwabenya in Accra was purportedly cleared for that purpose.

Daily Guide can confirm that the head office of STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited at airport Residential Area, Accra has been offered for rent while office furniture and vehicles have been put on sale.

Lending credence to the fact that the STX project is over is the alacrity with which the Koreans are leaving the country.

Currently, almost all top officials of the company have gone back to Korea while the local staff has been laid off.

As at Tuesday December 20, 2011, Daily Guide saw about four men busily pasting a bold inscription which read “House for Rent” in red ink on the company’s main gates at the Airport Residential Area.

The security personnel manning the two gates of the company looked on sheepishly without any attempt to intercept the unfolding action.

Bernard Kwabena Asamoah the man credited for introducing the housing deal to the government and who has fallen out with the Koreans is alleged to have been chased out of his private residence on the Spintex road by his landlady recently over the non-payment of rent.

Additionally, he is said to have issued dud cheques to Rana Motors for payment of vehicles purchased for the company’s use.

The foregoing developments appeared to be giving a clue as to what the financial situation of the company currently is.

The five-member board of STX in November pasted an unsigned notice which claimed that the Ghanaian head of STX Ghana, BK Asamoah had been relieved of his duties.

But Mr. Asamoah sharply rebutted media reports and argued that he was still at post.

This took place a few weeks after the Korean partners dragged B.K. Asamoah to court and accused him of falsifying certain corporate documents and also unlawfully reconstituting the board but the case could not proceed because the plaintiffs (Koreans) could not serve all the defendants in the case.

Mr. Asamoah also hit back with a suit that sought to ask the court to remove the Koreans from the entire project but the action was dismissed by the court.
President John Evans Atta Mills has already expressed his disappointment about the way and manner things have gone with regards to the project but assured that the project would definitely see the light of day.

After pretending that all was well with the project, it was Works and Housing Minister, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin who first made an about turn on December 22, 2011 to announce that the government was likely to disengage from the controversial project.

Mr. Bagbin who persistently went publicly debunking media reports that the deal was collapsing had to eat humble pie when he said on Christmas eve that proceeding with the project without the current partners was a possibility.

The Minister was reacting to news that BK Asamoah and his GKA Airports Company Limited - the Ghanaian partners on the project - had been handed a crushing defeat at a Commercial Court in Accra.

Mr. BK Asamoah whom the Koreans sacked as Chief Executive Officer of STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited in August 2011, for allegedly diluting shares of the company had gone to court to seek reliefs to sack the Korean counterparts from the entire project.

However, the court presided over by Justice Gertrude Torkornoo dismissed BK Asamoah’s application on ‘procedural grounds’ and awarded GH¢ 3,000 as cost against the applicant.

The judge had held that BK Asamoah could only sue under the Company Code 217 only if the partner had been involved in illegal conduct but the plaintiff had failed to prove the Koreans did.

Vice President Mahama told the journalists that the government was working on “a serious back-up plan” for the crisis-ridden STX housing project given the protracted nature of the boardroom crisis and doubted if the multi-billion dollar project will ever come to fruition.

“What we are doing is that we are working on other back up arrangements to ensure that we are able to provide housing for Ghanaians.

“But we are working on other alternative projects. At a point if we can’t go forward we will have to suspend it” John Mahama said.

Otabil Crosses Over

2012-01-03T01:44:00.000-08:00

Pastor Mensah Otabil is a leading Ghanaian clergy.

Posted On: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday January 3, 2012.
Pastor Mensah Otabil, General Overseer of International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), says the abundance of gold, other mineral resources and the oil discovery may not necessarily guarantee prosperity for the nation.

He said it is living in purity as a people that would propel the nation into prosperity.

Pastor Otabil, who is also the Chancellor of Central University College (CUC), one of the fast-growing tertiary institutions, was speaking at a watch night worship service dubbed ‘Crossover’ held at the Accra Sports Stadium to usher in 2012.

Pastor Otabil said there is too much wrongdoing in the society – corruption and breaking of the law – and that if only Ghanaians will repent and live pure lives, the nation will not require foreign aid to become prosperous.

He predicted that Ghana will go through peaceful elections in the 2012, so that people will appreciate the work of God.

“People are worried about the elections of Ghana; I think we’re going to have a very, very peaceful election. It’s going to be so peaceful we will be looking round and say ‘what is happening, it’s too peaceful.’ God is giving this country peace.

“Our nation Ghana and its neighbours in Africa have struggled for years to build successful, economically viable nations but you and I know that it’s been a very difficult process, and there are many reasons to give for that but I think at the root, or one of the key problems that we have is that there is too much of wrongdoing in all of us – corruption in all of us, there is too much breaking of the law with all of us. If each one of us here live pure, Ghana will be turned around in one year.

“If each African decides to be honest, to be fair, to be kind, to be generous, if every worker decides they are not going to take a bribe, and every businessman decides they are not going to pay a bribe, and each one of us decides we are going to do our work honestly, we don’t need any foreign aid, we will be able to build our own country.”

“All of us want to see God. A pure heart is the heart that sees God. If you want to see God in 2012, then the condition of your heart must be right. A pure heart is a heart that is cleansed from sin. A pure heart is a heart that is in union with God, and Jesus said that those who have a pure heart are blessed, and not only are they blessed, they will see God,” he said.

“Before you do something ask yourself these questions – it is true, is it noble, is it just, is it pure, is it lovely, is it virtuous. When you are talking to somebody ask yourself ‘I’m I telling the truth… If all of us lie to one another, we become a nation of liars and that is not beautiful.

We can have oil, we can have diamond, we can have gold, we can have everything we want those commodities do not build a nation, it is the character of the people that builds a nation. Oil is useless if we don’t have a noble character to manage the oil that God has given to us. We can discover all the oil we want in the world , we can have the oil of Saudi Arabia but if we steal all the money, there will be nothing to benefit anybody.”

Events leading to the programme were not the best for the Christian community as the venue used by ICG for decades was being threatened to be taken over by the National Security and given to another influential man-of-God, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams of the Action Chapel International (ACI).

National Security sources had corroborated reports that though Pastor Otabil had booked for the Independence Square and paid for the venue some five months ago, the government has taken over the venue and given it to Duncan-Williams, who was also happy about it and busily advertising to use the place for his church’s end-of-year watch night.

Apart from the attempted take-over, Archbishop Duncan-Williams also named his 31st December service ‘Passover’, quite similar to Pastor Otabil’s annual ‘Crossover’ theme.

Eventually, it was media coverage of the unfolding events that compelled Archbishop Duncan-Williams to withdraw from the use of the Independence Square for the ‘Passover’.

However, a statement issued from the Office of the General Overseer of the Church, indicating it was withdrawing from the Independence Square had said the decision of ACI to use the Independence Square to pray for the nation with a message of “2012: Year of Divine Providence--No Violence” seems to have led to unfortunate misrepresentations in the media.

“Amongst some of the regrettable comments that have been made is an impression that has been created that it would be better for another Church to use the Independence Square for a car park on the night of 31st December, than for ACI to use it for its watch night service,” the statement signed by Archbishop Duncan-Williams had said.

“In view of these misrepresentations and in order to ensure peace and harmony in the body of Christ and amongst Christian brethren, the Archbishop of ACI has decided that the Church should relocate its 31st December 2011 Passover Service from the Independence Square.”

COCOBOD STRENGTHEN TIES WITH MEDIA

2011-12-23T01:22:00.000-08:00

Anthony Fofie – CEO, Ghana Cocobod

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday December 23, 2011.
As part of efforts to get the public to fully appreciate the immense contribution of the cocoa sector to the country’s economic growth, the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has organized a two-day training for journalists to enable them to report appropriately on the sector.

Heads of the various units of COCOBOD took turns to explain exhaustibly to journalists activities and workings of their departments with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Anthony Fofie, capping the training with an advice to the media to help to sustain the cocoa industry as the backbone of the economy.

He said the cocoa sector has benefitted from an improved communication, allowing them to effectively disperse advanced agronomic massages about cultivating practices to cocoa farmers.

“Ghana prides itself as the benchmark quality of its cocoa, so it is tantamount for us to protect it from foreign, lower quality supplies.”

Mr. Fofie said one of the principal challenges facing the cocoa sector is ageing tree stock, saying “some trees have been producing for well over 30 years, and it is crucial that these are removed and replanted immediately.”

He said the ageing farmer population must also be tackled by introducing programmes that would attract the younger generation to the sector.

He also mentioned the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus (CSSV) as a particular challenge to the sector as there is presently no serious cure available leaving them with no option than to remove and replant the infected trees.

Mr. Fofie promised Cocobod’s commitment towards ensuring that farmers are rewarded for their effort and also said Ghana will continue to maintain the enviable quality cocoa beans it has been producing over the years.

Bishop Kabutey, Principal Cocoa Research Officer at the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) took journalists through research methods in the sector and said apart from cocoa, serious efforts are going on in the coffee, cashew, cola and shea areas.

He revealed that because the mechanical means of drying cocoa affect the quality of the beans, COCOBOD has been applying strict rules to ensure that the quality standards are not compromised.

Gifty Sosu from the Seed Production Unit (SPU) told journalists that about 16 million seedlings were distributed to farmers this year at highly subsidized rates and hoped to increase it in the coming years to enable more people have unhindered access to seedlings.

Thomas K. Osei, Deputy Managing Director (Operations) at the Quality Control Company Limited (QCCL), said they had harmonized their standards with all international bodies and were working to ensure that Ghana produces only good quality cocoa beans.

Antwi Adjei of the CSSVD Control Unit said preventing diseases in the cocoa sector has been an arduous task but added “with careful planning we are able to at least contain the diseases.”

“We have started restocking because about 23 per cent of cocoa trees are over 30 years and economically unproductive. We want to re-develop lands and get rid of all unproductive trees by replacing them with improved varieties.”

Taking journalists through the application of fertilizer, Dr. Solomon Acquaye, Deputy Manager (Cocoa Hi-Tech) said Ghana currently has about 1.6 million hectors of cocoa land but only 18 per cent has been captured under the fertilization programme.

“We are spreading and farmers are fast embracing the fertilization programme. With time we will cover most parts to boost cocoa production.”

The Director of Cocoa Disease and Pest Control Unit (CODAPEC), Obeng Adjinah said the re-introduction of the mass spraying exercise in 2001 has boost cocoa production significantly.

Vincent Akomea, Senior Manager at the Research Department of COCOBOD, said the board was dealing with the issue of child labour in a holistic manner.

C.K. Agyente Badu, speaking on the health benefits of the cocoa product, noted that cocoa has been the most useful plant for the health needs of the people and encouraged Ghanaians to use cocoa products, particularly the bitter cocoa.

Noah K. Amenyah, Public Affairs Manager, urged the media to help consolidate the image carved for Ghana’s cocoa.

STX Thrown Out

2011-12-21T22:58:00.000-08:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By Samuel Boadi & William Yaw Owusu

Thursday December 22, 2011.
IT IS yet to be established whether STX Engineering & Construction Ghana Limited has relocated its offices from the plush Airport residential area in Accra or not but DAILY GUIDE can confidently say that the troubled company has been thrown out of the building housing it even as the company suffered another setback in court yesterday.

The attempt by beleaguered Chief Executive Officer of the company, Bernard Kwabena Asamoah to sack the Korean counterparts from the construction of 200,000 housing units in the country failed.
This is because the Commercial Court C in Accra handling the case dismissed Mr. Asamoah’s action asking the court to kick out the Koreans to pave way for the construction of the housing units in the country, starting with 30,000 houses for the security services at the cost of $10 billion.

Ever since President John Evans Atta Mills cut the sod on Thursday January 27, 2011for the commencement of the project board room wrangling between the Ghanaian and their Korean partners has ensured that not a single block has been laid.

The court presided over by Justice Gertrude Torkornoo dismissed BK Asamoah’s application on ‘procedural grounds’ and awarded GH¢ 3,000 as cost against the applicant.

The judge had held that Mr Asamoah could only sue under the Company Code 217 if the partner had been involved in illegal conduct but the plaintiff had failed to prove the Koreans did.

Mr Asamoah had indicated he was ready to bay out his Korean counterparts and the court allowed the parties time to settle the terms and report to it.

However, both parties came back to court announcing that the settlement had broken down.

The judge then asked the plaintiff to move the motion after which the defendants responded.

The judge delivered her ruling describing the application as “incompetent.”

On Tuesday, close to lunchtime, when DAILY GUIDE passed by the offices of the company, about four men were busily seen pasting a bold inscription which read “House For Rent” in red ink on its gates.

In the process, the security personnel manning the two gates of the company looked on sheepishly without any attempt to intercept the unfolding action.

Efforts to reach Mr. Asamoah, via phone, did not succeed as his phone was inaccessible.

Mr. Asamoah is alleged to have been chased out of his private residence on the Spintex road by his landlady recently over the non-payment of rent.

Additionally, he is said to have issued dud cheques to Rana Motors for payment of vehicles purchased for the company’s use.

The foregoing developments appear to be giving a clue as to what the financial situation of the company currently is.

The five-member board of STX in November pasted an unsigned notice which claimed that the Ghanaian head of STX Ghana, BK Asamoah had been relieved of his duties.

But Mr. Asamoah sharply rebutted media reports and argued that he was still at post.

This took place a few weeks after the Korean partners dragged B.K. Asamoah to court and accused him of falsifying certain corporate documents and also unlawfully reconstituting the board.

In the suit of the Koreans, they noted that on May 16, 2011, Mr. Asamoah, who is also owner of G.K. Airports Company Limited, and J. B. Asafo-Boakye filed a special resolution claiming to surrender all the stated shares of STX Construction Company Limited to G.K. Airports Company Limited.

However, the plaintiffs argued that such an action could not stand in law because the Koreans were still part of the company.

The GK Airports suit was against STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited and STX Construction Company Limited in Seoul, which was thrown out yesterday.

MINISTER MOCKS GHANAIANS

2011-12-20T23:31:00.000-08:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday December 21, 2011
John Tia Akologu, the Minister for Information yesterday said that anybody who cannot ‘feel money in his/her pocket’ or experience the ruling National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) ‘Better Ghana Agenda’ is “either sleeping or pretending to be sleeping”.

“A lot has been done by the Mills led administration and it is only those who are pretending to be sleeping who are not seeing it. They are refusing to see.”

Taking his turn at the Meet-the-press series, Mr. Tia flanked by his two deputies - Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Baba Jamal- outlined what can be described as a lopsided achievement of the NDC government, deferring the details until “the first quarter of next year.”

The Minister said the action year promised by President John Evans Atta Mills has been fulfilled in spite of claims by some Ghanaians particularly the opposition that nothing meaningful was done.

“This year was indeed an action-packed year. It is obvious many historical strides have been made in 2011” he said, adding that President Mills has kept his promise and everybody knows that there has been significant improvement in the scheme of affairs.

“The Ghanaian worker seems to be feeling the action year in their pockets”, he said but his comment generated murmurings from in the conference room.

He said “nurses are now jubilating because they have been migrated unto the single spine. Money is in people’s pockets but those who are pretending are refusing to acknowledge this fact.”

Mr. Tia could not outline the country’s debts stock except to say that the about 38 per cent rate was normal since the country was nowhere near the 60 per cent that would run down the economy.

He justified the high school fees being charged currently by rather shifting the blame on the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) who he said “fix school fees in consultation with the Ghana Education Service.”

On the dying textile industry, the Minister said the government was putting interventions in the cotton sector to make it thrive and also insisted that the government was supporting the poultry industry to stand on their feet despite agitation from poultry farmers that they have been neglected by the government.

He said the government the government has been able to stabilize the economy, bringing inflation to single digit and reducing interest rates to 9.1 per cent.

Mr. Tia said the IMF has given the green light for the government to access 3 billion CBN Chinese loan to facilitate the bridging of the infrastructural gap while all four convergent criteria of the West Africa Monetary Zone (WAMZ) have been met for the first time.

He said 97 per cent of public and civil servants have been migrated unto the Single Spine salary Structure (SSSS) and this has increased the government’s wage bill from GHC 1million to GHC 4million.

He said the NDC government had been able to remove about 1,200 schools under trees and executed other social intervention programmes and also said the extension of the 3-year SSS was “ill advised.”

He said “the action year is abundantly on display in the agricultural and other sectors,” and added that the government should be commended for the way it is handling the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) instead of condemning them.

Okudzeto Ablakwa who preferred to talk about the corruption perception index said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) cannot match the NDC in the area of fighting the menace of corruption.

“The 4.1 score is the highest ever. In the time of the NPP their highest score was 3.9 and it is clear we only slipped to their best performance.”

Before questions and answers, Baba Jamal warned journalists to focus on what his boss had presented and not introduce any ‘extraneous’ issues into the programme.

Zap Changes To Airtel Money

2011-12-15T23:59:00.000-08:00

Ernest Attuquaye Armah, Deputy Minister of Communications launching Airtel Money on Wednesday

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday December 16, 2011.
Zap from Airtel, the e-commerce service that allowed customers to use their mobile phones as ‘mobile wallets,’ has been re-lunched as Airtel Money.

This time around Airtel Money is offering improved services to customers as Airtel, a telecommunication giant seeks to introduce its customers to unique banking services for the first time in the country.

Under Airtel Money, customers are at liberty to transfer or receive funds from their accounts, access services only previously available in banks as well as pay bills and transfer airtime on and across networks.

“The enhanced Airtel Money service will provide millions of people with access to banking and has the potential to transform banking in Africa and drastically increase access to financial services,” Philip Sowah, Managing Director of Airtel Ghana said at the re-launch of Airtel Money in Accra on Wednesday.

He said Airtel is partnering other service institutions including banks, supermarkets and utility service providers to “bring convenience to the people through Airtel Money.”
“Airtel Money offers a complete one-stop shop experience so customers can purchase and send airtime to other numbers and even access bank accounts and send money,” he said.

Mr. Sowah said “the service is convenient, easy-to-use, secure and affordable, the aim of Airtel is to deliver relevant and innovative mobile solutions to help customers overcome their daily challenges.”

“Our goal is to make communications banking, payments, retail and infotainment affordable and accessible to all in Africa.”

Kola Sonola, M-Commerce Director of Airtel Ghana, explaining the capabilities of Airtel Money, said Airtel Money, then Zap which was solely a mobile money platform, has evolved into mobile commerce platform offering mobile money mobile top ups, money transfer, mobile banking and financial services.

“Airtel Money provides customers with a ‘mobile wallet’ which allows them to use their mobile phones in much the same way as a bank debit card. It provides customers with increased security and flexibility, reducing the need to carry cash and ensuring prompt payment of bills, goods and services,” he added.

Ernest Attuquaye Armah, Deputy Minister of Communications, who launched Airtel money, said the government was inspired by the manner in which mobile telecommunication services are being deployed in the country.

He said even though the mobile penetration rate is currently 67 per cent, the telecommunications companies could still do more to ensure improved living standards of the people saying “let us all work together to ensure that it is accessible for all.”

The deputy minister also urged the telecommunications companies to support government’s effort to clamp down on people, who are using ICT, particularly the internet and mobile phones to perpetrate fraud.

He commended Airtel for re-launching the product and said “the product has far reaching advantages and you must make it very effective.”

STX WOES DEEPEN

2011-12-14T22:53:00.000-08:00

B.K. Asamoah is the plaintiff in the case.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday December 15, 2011.
The much talk about STX out-of-court settlement between the company’s partners is still in quandary.

The Commercial Court C in Accra presided over by Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, had granted permission to the partners to settle the matter out-of-court and report to her yesterday but it was still stalemate according to sources at the court.

A week before the court gave the order for an out-of-court settlement, the beleaguered Chief Executive Officer of STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited, Bernard Kwabena Asamoah who is seeking to remove the Korean partners from the project had given indications he was going to pay off the Koreans so the project could finally take off.

GKA Airports Company Limited owned by B.K. Asamoah went to court in effect seeking a declaration that the Korean partners are no longer owners of the project, a move the Koreans have vowed to resist.

The Koreans were the first to go to court over who owns the company when they sued B.K. Asamoah, Registrar-General and others for allegedly diluting the company’s shares to GKA Airport’s advantage but the Fast Track High Court presided over by Justice NMC Abodakpi adjourned proceedings sine die because the processes to get the case heard were not completed.

The GKA Airports suit is citing STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited and STX Construction Company Limited in Seoul as the 1st and 2nd defendants with Kook Hyun Kim, Su Jou Kim, Daniel Jung, Seong Hoon Kang, Yong Chan Kim, Im-Dong Park, Ji Hoon Hwang and Man Kang as 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th respondents respectively.

The plaintiff is seeking reliefs including a “declaration that by terminating the Joint Venture Agreement and Heads of Agreement, 2nd respondent renounced its membership of 1st respondent.”

However, the defendants (Koreans) fired back disputing the claims of the plaintiff and made counter-claims against the plaintiffs.

In their affidavit in opposition filed October 17 and deposed to by Daniel Jung, the defendants say they have not executed any transfer of its shares neither has the shares been affected by any law or statute.

He said STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited was incorporated on November 17, 2009 and the subscribers to its regulation were both STX Construction Company Ltd and GKA Airports Company Ltd adding “the 2nd respondent subscribed to 15,000 shares whilst the applicant subscribed to 7,400 shares.”

“The right of the 2nd respondent as a subscriber to the regulations of the 1st respondent are guaranteed and or prescribed by statute”, the defendants averred.

When the case was called yesterday, Osafo Buaben, counsel for 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 8th defendants - including STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited and STX Construction Company Limited in Seoul – told the court that Carl Adongo who is representing B.K. Asamoah was in the Court of Appeal for another case and wanted a short adjournment.

The judge then enquired from Mr. Osafo Buaben what had happened to the out-of-court settlement before considering counsel’s request but Mr. Buaben impressed on the judge to hear the ‘latest development’ in chambers.

“We will prefer meeting you in chambers for that aspect”, Mr. Buaben told the judge.

“I will only grant you the adjournment when you update me on the progress of the out-of-court settlement,” the judge replied.

Kizito Beyou another counsel then announced himself as an ‘intervener’ in the case and added his voice to the call on the judge hear that piece of information in chambers.

Messrs Buaben, Beyou, the judge, B.K. Asamoah and Daniel Jung representing the Korean partners all went into the judge’s chamber and after about five minutes they came out but nobody told the media anything.

As a result, the media was left in limbo as to the next adjourned date.

Even though President John Evans Atta Mills cut the sod in January 2011 for the commencement of the project, boardroom wrangling between the Koreans and their Ghanaian partners has stalled the construction of 200,000 housing units in the country, starting with 30,000 houses for the security services at the cost of $10 billion.

GOV'T PANICS OVER ILLEGAL FUEL CASH

2011-12-13T23:25:00.000-08:00

Alex Mould is the Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday December 14, 2011.
Fear and panic has set in the ranks of government officials in charge of petroleum following an order by an Accra High Court, compelling the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to reduce fuel prices.

A source close to Daily Guide says the Ministry of Energy and the NPA are having torrid time deciding on what to do after the court ordered them to remove illegal margins disguised as “ex-refinery differential”.

The court presided over by Justice Patrick Baayeh on November 28 gave the order after Kwaku Kwarteng the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for Obuasi, Abdul Ganiyu of Tamale and Development Data, a date analysis group had filed a writ in September 2009 praying the court to abolish an illegal margin smuggled into the price build-up of petroleum prices by the NPA.

According to the court, the illegal margins imposed on June 5, 2009 were as follows: Fuel Illegal Price Additions: Diesel 95 GHp per gallon; Petrol 29 GHp per gallon; Kerosene 42 GHp per gallon; LPG gas 08 GHp per kilogram; and MGO local 69 GHp per gallon.

The High Court further ordered the NPA to publish the total amount accrued from the imposition of the illegal margins in the Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times within four months from the date of the judgement and pay the amount into the Consolidated Fund.

To add insult to injury, sources say instead of operating an account at the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for ex-refinery differentials as required by law, the government rather operated the account at Ecobank in clear contravention of the law.

Development Data estimates showed that the amount accrued from the ex-refinery differential from 5th June 2009 and to November 28, 2011, the day of the order had come to GH¢690 million.

Although the government indicated its intention to file for stay of execution pending appeal of the order, they have failed to do so but are still charging the illegal fee which is clearly in contempt of court.

Per the ruling, the NPA was required to announce new fuel prices minus these margins but they have ignored the court’s order.

A source said the government contemplates increasing fuel prices if it is unable to overturn the ruling.

However, some political and economic observers are of the view that if the government has any explanation to give it needed to go to court to demonstrate why it is reluctant to reduce the fuel prices and not play in the ‘media gallery’.

In an attempt to justify the illegal fees, the Ministry of Energy through one of its deputy ministers, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah issued a release saying “government agrees with the NPA that the ex-refinery differential is not a tax – that is, the differential does not accrue to government; it is a stabilizing mechanism put in place by the NPA Board in 2006 to ensure the stability of petroleum product prices.”

The release titled: - Government reacts to court ruling on the national petroleum authority (NPA) pricing formula – said “all funds that have been collected into the ex-refinery differential margin account have been used by the NPA in stabilizing prices over the period.”

“This arrangement notwithstanding, government subsidized petroleum products to the tune of about GH¢459 million in 2011, which subsidy is projected to be almost GH¢600 million in 2012 if the situation remains unchanged.”

According to the deputy Minister the court ruling, if allowed to stand, means the removal of the stabilizing effect that the ex-refinery margin account sought to achieve.

“If the court ruling were implemented, the prices of various petroleum products would have gone up by the following percentages: Premium (3.89%), Kerosene (77.57%), Gas Oil (13.36%), LPG (57.26%) and Premix (114.46%)”.

“By every account the government will be irresponsible and insensitive to allow such drastic and dramatic skyrocketing of prices of petroleum products- a situation which will heap untold hardship on the people and end up worsening the economic conditions of Ghanaians.”

“One of the big mistakes the government is determined not to repeat is to allow the accumulation of unpaid petroleum subsidies, which in 2008 largely caused The Tema Oil Refinery’s (TOR’s) debt to reach an astronomical GH¢1.5 billion (15 trillion cedis) - a debt that largely brought the operations of TOR to a halt for about two years and nearly crippled the Ghana Commercial Bank.”

Mr. Buah said over the last three years, the government has had to raise over 1 billion cedis to restore the financial health of both TOR and GCB saying “the painful lesson learned through this recent history is that no matter how long we postpone the inevitable, a time comes when we have no option but to confront the harsh reality and deal with it, and most often at a much greater cost.”

DA Microfinance Opens Head Office

2011-12-13T23:09:00.000-08:00

Charles Amonoo, Chief Executive Officer of DA Microfinance cutting the tape to commence business at Asylum Down. With him are some senior staff of the company.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday December 14, 2011.
DA Microfinance, popularly called Dwadifo Adamfo, a financial outlet providing products and services particularly for the informal sector, has opened its head office at Asylum Down, Accra as part of efforts to expand its operations.

Established in June 2009 at Kaneshie, Accra, DA Microfinance currently has five branches, including Kasoa and Swedru in the Central region apart from Accra and according to Charles Amonoo, Chief Executive Officer of the company, another branch in Techiman is in the offing.

At a short ceremony to officially open the Asylum Down Branch yesterday, Mr. Amonoo said “through our innovative savings and loans, we now serve close to 20,000 active clients and this is a testimony to delightful and business enhancing nature of our products and services.”

He said about 30 per cent of DA Microfinance clients are borrowers while the rest are saving with them, saying “since we started, we have been at the forefront of pioneering innovation in the microfinance sector through flexible, affordable and timely financial solutions.”

“DA was the first micro-financial institution to introduce ‘Electronic Susu, a system that allows customers to do real-time deposits as well as receive electronic receipts for the transaction. This ensures that customer deposits are protected from fraud.”

Mr. Amonoo said DA Microfinance will in 2012 launch a radio programme that will provide general business advice to the public, stressing that they are planning to expedite their exploratory activities to become the first to microfinance institution with nationwide coverage.

“We are working hard to establish over 30 branches and agencies over the next five years and grow our customer base to over 100,000.”

He said they are working on introducing biometric security features and electronic transaction capability into their operations to make their products more secured.

“We have also conducted studies into mobile banking technologies and other IT driven solutions that will establish DA as the institution of choice for the informal sector.”

Mr. Amonoo said since its inception, the company has been able to raise over GHC 4 million through investment products and added that they have ‘competitive’ loan rates.

He said the company has put in an application for approval by the Bank of Ghana following the release of new guidelines for licencing microfinance institutions.

SCRAMBLE FOR AIRLINE LICENCE

2011-12-12T23:29:00.000-08:00

Air Cdre Kwame Mamphey (Rtd), Director-General of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA)in an interview with Business Guide.

Posted on: www.businessguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday December 13, 2011.
There is fierce scramble for airline operator’s licence as companies try to take advantage of the emerging economic potential of the country to do business.

According to Air Cdre Kwame Mamphey (Rtd), Director-General of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), apart from the four domestic airlines currently in operation, “there are a lot more applying to operate here”.

“The four carriers are working well and there are many others who have applied to operate domestically, the west coast and transcontinental flights. They are currently going through certification and hopefully, next year we will see serious activities.”

Air Cdre Mamphey, a pilot, told Business Guide exclusively on Friday that Ghana’s promising future economic potential was the driving force behind the surge in business interests.

He said, “Even though more companies are applying, not all of them can come into the domestic sector. We are going to have issues over capacity and so on. We are working it out in such a way that we have just enough to take care of the passengers because the bulk of the new ones who are coming in actually want to do west coast and also intercontinental operations.”

He added that there had been significant developments in the domestic airline operations as they contributed significantly towards economic growth of the nation and as a result, passengers now had a choice.

“The fares have gone down significantly by about 40 percent. That has increased and encouraged more people to travel by air domestically. It is now easier for people who ordinarily would have travelled by bus to now come and go by air.”

“In so doing, they avoid road hazards including accidents and armed robberies. This has been the aim of GCAA and I am glad to say that we are achieving it.”

The GCAA director-general said having succeeded in getting more people to fly, the authority, in the first quarter of 2012, would embark on a programme to encourage the local carriers to also start flying along the west coast of Africa.

“I am very hopeful that if this is done, it would bring down the fares and give the travelling public a choice. It should be possible for you to decide when you want to travel and how much you want to pay.”

On the possibility of a national carrier, Air Cdre Mamphey predicted that it might not take that long for Ghana to get back a national carrier.

“It is unfortunate we do not have a national carrier. All Ghanaians wish that Ghana Airways or Ghana International Airline was still in operation. I think we need to take our time. In an attempt to re-establish a national carrier, we should be careful not to get into those issues that grounded Ghana Airways and GIA.”

“GCAA has basically acted as a catalyst to the economic development of the country. Most of the people who come here to do business from outside, be it the Americas, Europe and the far East, have come in through Kotoka International Airport (KIA) and that is money.”

He said very soon, Ghana would get back the FAA Category 1 status which it lost in 2006, adding however that, “I cannot give you the exact date because we have to first of all go through the technical review which we are doing now and the gaps which are identified we will work on very quickly to facilitate the attainment but for certain in 2012 we should attain Category 1 status.”

He said the FAA technical experts were on a week-long assessment visit to conduct a technical review to identify the gaps in the system, noting, “We will address them and they will be back for an audit and hopefully we should pass and get the category 1 back.”

The GCAA Boss said due to the tremendous improvement of security and safety at KIA, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of the United States had decided to set up their regional offices in Accra, adding, “If they do not have confidence in our system they would not set up offices here. There is no doubt that within the sub-region we are the safest.”

“Aviation security and safety are two different issues we should always tackle concurrently. In terms of safety in the skies, we know that for now we are very safe because of the equipment we have put in place. We have radar that gives us a picture of what is happening in the air to ensure that aircraft do not fly into each other.”

Air Cdre Mamphey stated that the decoupling of airport management functions had helped the GCAA to concentrate on its core regulatory functions.

“Hitherto, GCAA was responsible for the airport and air traffic management but currently we are focusing on the regulatory aspect as well as the air traffic control.”

He said it was the intention of the government, at a later date, to further decouple the air traffic management aspect of GCAA functions so that air traffic management would be taken away from the authority to enable them to remain solely as the regulators.

He reiterated the resolve of the GCAA not to compromise security and safety at KIA and other local airports which he said would receive major facelifts next year.

Hisense Products Hit Market

2011-12-08T23:01:00.000-08:00

Diana DeGraft Quaye, Head of Corporate Communication of Sun Electronics Limited, explaining the capabilities of the products. With her is David K. Adade, Managing Director.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday December 9, 2011
Hisense, a global manufacturer of television, air conditioners, LCDs, refrigerators, mobile phones and other household appliances, has taken the Ghanaian market by storm with a variety of its products.

It was introduced onto the market by Sun Electronics Limited whose Managing Director David K. Adade told CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE “we want the use of Hisense products to make meaningful impact on the lives of all Ghanaian.”

Yesterday at East Legon, Accra where one of Hisense showrooms is located, Mr. Adade said there has been painstaking research and development to ensure that the products are top class and to boost consumer confidence, they are giving five years warranty for any product purchased.

“We want Ghanaians to own the products. We want them to be part of everything we do so that together we can accelerate the development of the country.”

He said they are almost completing an ultra modern showroom and service center at the North Industrial Area in Accra to make the presence of the company felt, adding “in the meantime we have set up customer and after sales service outlets in many parts of the country to assist customers.”

“We want Hisense products to be the preferred products in the country. We are placing emphasis on customer care by ensuring that there is affordability, accessibility and convenience for use of our products.”

He said they are committed to further sensitizing the public on the need to use brand new household appliances since the use of most secondhand products come with their own environmental hazards and problems.

Diana DeGraft Quaye, Head of Corporate Communication of Sun Electronics Limited, said her outfit has instituted feedback mechanisms to track how well Hisense products are doing on the market.

“We want to ensure that customers get unhindered access to us so that we can understand what they want us to do for them.”

Hisense is a multinational electronics manufacturer based in China. It is a state-owned enterprise with publicly traded subsidiaries.

The Hisense Group comprises two publicly traded companies, Hisense Electric Co Ltd, listed on the Shanghai stock exchange and Hisense Kelon Electrical Holdings Co Ltd, which is listed on the Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock exchanges and a number of other subsidiaries.

Hisense has 13 manufacturing facilities in China (located in the provinces of Guangdong, Guizhou, Huzhou, Jiangsu,Liaoning, Linyi, Shandong, Sichuan, Yangzhou, Yingkou, Xinjiang, Zibo and the municipality of Beijing) and several countries such as Hungary, South Africa, Egypt, Algeria and France.

Telecom Companies Losing Profit

2011-12-07T00:40:00.000-08:00

Kwaku Sakyi-Addo - Chief Executive Officer, Ghana Chamber Telecommunications

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday December 7, 2011
The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications says the profit margins of its members are persistently dwindling contrary to public perception that they are making huge profits.

Data compiled by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) indicate that the average subscriber and revenue evolution in 2008 which was GH¢14.6 declined to GH¢9.4 in 2010. It has dropped by a third between 2008 and 2010.

“We are barely surviving contrary to popular perception that we are making huge profits,” Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber told Daily Guide on Monday.

He said the average revenue of each user is dropping despite the cost of providing the service for each user rising by the day, saying the GSS figure for 2011 figures is even worse than the ones recorded in the previous years.

“I just gave you statistics…it is tough. It is not as you see it. More importantly, it is about the return on investments.”

He said the cost of mobile communications in Ghana is among the lowest in the world, saying “if you look at Africa, apart from Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia where the government determines it, the next is Ghana. Look at all the other countries including South Africa and Nigeria the rates are higher,” Mr. Sakyi-Addo explained.

“The costs of tariffs for mobile services keep dropping…is there anything or any service whose price drops in Ghana?

“Everything is costing us more. Our cost of operational expenditure is going high while our profit margin continues to fall. The cost of electricity, fuel, personnel among others are rising and yet tariffs are dropping. The cost of doing business in districts is rising. This is not sustainable.”

Mr. Sakyi-Addo said the chamber is working hard to appeal to the government to set clear rules and uniform charges that are reasonable enough to attract investors to boost infrastructure in the sector.

“In 2009 telecoms mast which cost GH¢2,000 had reached 15, 000 plus fibre optic network of GH¢7,500 totaling GH¢22,500 in 2010 for one district. Their justification was that operators have money. How is this an incentive for mobile phone operators to provide infrastructure that will improve the quality of service.”

He said general utility excavation permit to lay cables is GH¢10 for every 50 meters while business operating permit for institutions including banks is between GH¢200 and GH¢1,000 but telecoms are charged GH¢9,000.

Telecoms Chamber Warns Gov’t

2011-12-05T23:57:00.000-08:00

Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of telecommunications, Kwaku Sakyi-Addo explaining issues to Bisiness Guide Editor-in-carge William Yaw Owusu.

Posted on: www.businessguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday December 6, 2011
The Ghana Chamber of Telecoms is not happy about the persistent threats from the regulator to withdraw licences of operators over the issues relating to the industry.

“We have to be careful about the signals we give out as a country to investors who are here and those we hope to attract. Those who want to come in will look at those who are here and how they are being treated”, the chamber’s Chief Executive Officer Kwaku Sakyi-Addo has said.

The regulatory body – National Communications Authority (NCA) - imposed a total fine of ¢1.2 million on five of the telecom operators in the country for providing poor services for subscribers.

The Minister of Communications, Haruna Iddrisu subsequently threatened to withdraw the licences of the operators if they failed to pay the fines.

However, Mr. Sakyi-Addo, an ace broadcaster, yesterday told Business Guide exclusively that there are several factors impeding the provision of quality of services and must be addressed holistically without resort to threats.

“For us the issues in the telecoms sector go beyond the immediate question of the penalties. The issues are more far reaching than the penalties because the penalties are not what will necessarily solve the problem of quality of service.”

He said there are external factors that affect the industry over which the operators have no control citing damage done to operator’s underground cables as one of the impediments.

“This year alone there have been more than 400 fibre or cable cuts. In some instances it is due to theft, bush fires but by far the biggest cause is as a result of road construction. We are hard working together with the roads agencies and departments to address it.”

He said in order to avoid what he called “multiple trenching”; operators are collaborating to share the trench but that would also come as a cost explaining “that means also that if there is a cut it affects more operators.”

Mr. Sakyi-Addo said there is no gain or advantage to an operator if a customer cannot be able to access the network. Saying “The operators have invested lots of money and the only way they can recoup their investment is if you make a call it goes through.

That if you go on the internet you are able to stay as long as possible.”

Each operator would like you to talk for as a long as possible. So that should prompt you to ask what the problem of poor service is. If something that is to my advantage is not happening it hurts the operator. It costs $ 140,000 a month on average per operator to repair the cable cuts.”

He said apart from the fibre cuts, there is also the loss of revenue to both the operator and the government when subscribers are not able to access the network.

“The worst of them all is the damage to the reputation of the operator as subscribers are not able to access the network. Subscribers are justifiably angry because they are unable to make their calls. It creates a very damaging impact on the reputation of the operators. So no operator would deliberately want to allow quality of service.”

Mr. Sakyi-Addo said the cost of doing business in the telecoms sector is skyrocketing without meaningful returns and it is about time for the government to set clear rules and uniform charges that are reasonable enough to attract investor in infrastructure in the sector.

“ In 2009 telecoms mast which cost GHC 2,000 had reached 15, 000 plus fibre optic network of GHC 7,500 totalling GHC 22,500 in 2010 for one district. Their justification was that operators have money. How is this an incentive for mobile phone operators to provide infrastructure that will improve the quality of service.”

He said general utility excavation permit to lay cables is GHC 10 for every 50 meters while business operating permit for institutions including banks is between GHC 200 and GHC 1,000 but telecoms are charged GHC 9,000.

“If you place impediments in the way of companies that are providing infrastructure that would deliver that service you are obstructing the government’s long term goal of providing affordable services to communities. You are defeating the ultimate purpose of infrastructure.”

He said it is not appropriate for anybody to measure the output of the operators without taking into consideration the cost of business adding “You cannot also compare the telecoms sector to other sectors of the economy because they operate on different wavelength. What you can do at best is to compare what pertain in the telecom sector of the country to the same sector in other countries.”

“The industry needs support. There is a reason why there are six mobile phone operators. You cannot come and take money away when you have not invested. A license for operating is now pegged at $50 million. Before you roll out infrastructure you have to have huge investment.”

Relative Calm Returns To Elmina

2011-12-05T23:37:00.000-08:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu, Back From Elmina

Tuesday December 6, 2011
There appears to be relative calm at the Elmina Beach in the Central Region where it was rumoured recently that gold had been washed ashore in abundance.

The craze for gold brought in hundreds of prospectors in search of the precious mineral who within days ravaged the beach for gold.

The speed with which people from all over Ghana especially those in mining communities devastated the beaches of Elmina shocked many including government officials and environmental activist and it further exposed the lack of employment opportunities in the country.

The government, through the Minerals Commission, had no option than to drive out these scavengers.

Residents of Elmina say scavenging for gold nuggets started about a month ago following the dredging of the Benya Lagoon some years back, but the mad rush heightened when the media finally broke the news about the presence the precious mineral at the beach.

When the directive came on Thursday ordering the scavengers to halt their illegal mining activities and leave the scene, they reacted angrily by staging massive demonstration to protest the decision.

Minerals of any kind belong to the state but individuals with vested interests in the exploitation are first supposed to seek approval from the appropriate authorities before venturing into it.

It was however clear that majority of the scavengers were ignorant about the law.

The news about the presence of gold had forced people particularly residents to abandon all other economic and social activities, including fishing, in search of instant fortune but their hopes were dashed when they were ordered to stop.

When DAILY GUIDE visited Elmina last Friday, the directive to halt mining appeared to be in full force as no mining activities had taken place at least in the last 12 hours.

The scavengers had been evicted from the beach and it was obvious that some sort of mining activities had taken place leaving in its trail unnecessary destruction of the beach.

There were pockets of soldiers, police and other security agencies in town but not at the beach.

People, particularly the youth, were seen loitering at the beach and appeared to be ready to resume mining at the least chance.

Kwamena Bentil, a 29-year-old taxi driver, said he had stopped driving and joined the search for gold.

“The gold is real,” he said confidently “We spent five days at the beach in search of gold and we were able to find something. We sold it for GH¢1,400.”

“The whole thing started about one month ago but the residents did not know how to mine it properly until ‘galamsey’ operators from Tarkwa, Obuasi and other mining areas started trooping in. They showed us how to do it.”

Pockets of wells and hole were beginning to form around the Elmina Castle – one of Ghana’s leading tourism and heritage sites, but the strong tidal waves coming on shore make it look like there are no mining activities.

The rocks along the beach however exposed the illegal activities of the miners.

Apart from the gold mining activities, the widespread abuse of the environment surrounding the Castle leaves much to be desired. There is unbearable stench in the area as residents including women were seen openly defecating there.

As a result of these and other activities including the recent illegal mining, the Elmina Castle, now sits on time bomb.

Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, Executive Director of Wacam, a leading NGO fighting against irresponsible mining told DAILY GUIDE that mining along the beaches should never be permitted in any form by the government.

“It is a serious issue,” he said “if we allow it to go ahead, people will begin to look for gold and other precious mineral everywhere and it will spell environmental disaster for the country.”

He said the sea provides ready water for the mining activities and as a result, all sorts of waste including dangerous chemicals would be dumped into the sea to spark environmental disasters and carnage.

“Our beaches are going to be under severe attack if we do not come together to raise the alarm. What is happening in Elmina shows clearly that we are losing control over regulation of our natural resources and actors in the extractive sector whether legal or illegal.”

According to Mr. Owusu-Koranteng, “They are placing premium on revenues generated from mining without considering the negative environmental impact. If the state can allow mining in restricted areas and other forest reserves it sends wrong signals.”

“If the state thinks that wherever we find gold or other precious minerals we should mine it then it will send wrong signals to citizens to behave the same way.”

“We are the same country crying about the depletion of our forest cover yet according to International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) Ghana comes third after Togo and Nigeria as countries that are fast depleting their forest cover.”

The WACAM boss said the report showed that any country that has a rate of depletion of its forest cover more than one per cent is in danger, stressing that Ghana’s rate of 2.19 per cent, is far above what is required.

LESDEP Making Inroads

2011-11-30T23:32:00.000-08:00

Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo and his deputy Elvis Afriyie Ankrah inspecting some of the equipment on display

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday December 1, 2011.
About 1,000 people, mostly youth yesterday graduated under the Local Enterprise and Skill Development Program (LESDEP), a social intervention programme introduced by the government to make people employable.

The initiative, which was launched in April, 2011 by President John Evans Atta Mills, is expected to target about 20,000 youth with employable skills by the end of the year.

Similar graduations coupled with business set-ups have been planned for all beneficiaries in the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).

LESDEP is a private initiative registered under the auspices of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development with the MMDAs as implementing agencies.

Under the programme interested beneficiaries receive training in areas such as mobile phone repairs, hair dressing, fashion designing, barbering beauty care, cargo transport services, catering and a host of other employable skills.

At the graduation ceremony at the LESDEP center at Abelemkpe in Accra yesterday for beneficiaries in the Metropolis, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development said LESDEP is impacting positively on the lives of the youth.

He said the government earmarked GHC 84 million in the 2012 budget to ensure that LESDEP becomes sustainable.

“We have demonstrated that we can make the youth active partners of development by helping them to acquire employable skills,” he said.

The Minister announced that the government has decided to retain for another year national service personnel who excel at the various MMDAs, adding “the government is committed to giving equal opportunity to the people to explore their talents.”

Clement Kofi Humado, Minister of Youth and Sports underscored the need for the government to do more to get majority of the youth into employable ventures.

He said the government, realizing the need to create employment avenues, has moved away from the internship module under the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) introduced by the previous government towards institutionalizing programmes that would make the youth to become self-sustaining without necessarily over burdening the government’s wage bill.

“Over the years we have been accumulating youth unemployment. Our energies particularly those of the youth must not be allowed to go waste.”

The Chief Director of the 6Ministry of Finance who represented the sector minister, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, said the LESDEP initiative is on course to reduce the unemployment burden of the country.

Gariba Adaimu, National Coordinator of LESDEP, said the initiative is having “direct and indirect positive impact” on people, particularly the youth, adding “it is going to enhance the people’s socio-economic status.”

Agya Manso Dead

2011-11-29T23:14:00.000-08:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday November 30, 2011
Peter Alex Mensah, aka Agya Manso, a well-known physically challenged who festoons New Patriotic Party (NPP) flags and other paraphernalia on his wheel chair, begging for alms on some principal streets of Accra is dead.

He was reported to have died at his hometown in the Western Region on Thursday November 24 after a short of illness.

He reported ill after Accra Metropolitan Assembly Task Force members bundled him into a waiting van for allegedly begging, ostensibly because he was holding NPP flag.

According to Paul Kwaku Asaa, a family member who telephoned Daily Guide yesterday, Agya Manso was buried on Monday at Saa his hometown.

Motorists who drive through the Accra’s Museum Road towards the TUC at the Holy Spirit Cathedral traffic intersection are bound to see Agya Manso begging for alms as he sat in his wheelchair with a large NPP flag almost covering him.

Motorists and pedestrians alike fix their gaze on the man when they spot him as his party flag flutters behind him on the wheelchair.

While some engageg him in brief chats others just looked at him and sometimes part with some coins and even notes.

Recently the AMA arrested him after he was accused of begging on the streets and campaigning out of political season.
Agya Manso spoke to Daily Guide exclusively after his ordeal, recounting the harrowing experience he encountered at the hands the city guards.

Asked later, how he came by the name Agya Manso (Father of litigation), he said “I hate to be cheated. I have decided never to tell a lie. That is why I am able to speak my mind freely without fear so as a result of that people think I am a litigant.”

Agya Manso was one of the new breed of Ghanaians who were prepared to use the mass media particularly radio to educate themselves.

He had a ghetto blaster fixed to his wheelchair to listen to the news daily.
“You see I have my radio fixed here on my wheelchair…I listen to the news every hour to know what is going on in the country and how well the NPP is doing. With this, I do not need anybody to tell me the state of affairs in the country.”

“I pray to God that the NPP come back to power and when that happens I have strong belief that Nana Akufo-Addo can put things together for the disabled to also benefit. The NPP needs to work hard to win 2012.”

Agya Manso hailed from Saa near Asankragua in the Western Region.

He lived at the slums popularly called Abuja behind the Cocoa Marketing Board (CMB) headquarters near the Kantamanto Railway Station in Accra. He left behind three children.

STX Boss Offers Settlement To Koreans

2011-11-16T00:14:00.000-08:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday November 16, 2011.
Once again, the legal tussle over who should lead the construction of the controversial STX Korea Housing projects resumed at the Commercial Court, Accra yesterday but nothing meaningful was done.

When the case was called the trial judge, Justice Gertrude Torkornoo announced that the court had received a letter from Osafo Buaben, counsel for the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 8th defendants - including STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited and STX Construction Company Limited in Seoul - asking the court for permission to enable him attend a Supreme Court hearing.

Carl Adongo representing Bernard Kwabena Asamoah, the man credited for introducing the STX housing deal to the NDC government, as a result told the court that his client has a settlement package for the Koreans.

“We have given counsel (Mr. Buaben) the terms of agreement for settlement”, he told the court, and offered the judge a copy of the document but the judge said “I cannot have a look at this document because it is not filed”.

GKA Airports Company Limited owned by B.K. Asamoah went to court in effect seeking a declaration that the Korean partners are no longer owners of the project, a move the Koreans have vowed to resist.

The Koreans were the first to go to court over who owns the company when they sued B.K. Asamoah, Registrar-General and others for allegedly diluting the company’s shares to GKA Airport’s advantage but the Fast Track High Court presided over by Justice NMC Abodakpi adjourned proceedings sine die because the processes to get the case heard were not completed.

The GKA Airports suit is citing STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited and STX Construction Company Limited in Seoul as the 1st and 2nd defendants with Kook Hyun Kim, Su Jou Kim, Daniel Jung, Seong Hoon Kang, Yong Chan Kim, Im-Dong Park, Ji Hoon Hwang and Man Kang as 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th respondents respectively.

The plaintiff is seeking reliefs including a “declaration that by terminating the Joint Venture Agreement and Heads of Agreement, 2nd respondent renounced its membership of 1st respondent.”

They also want a further declaration that by failing to make direct investment in 1st respondent by way of equity contribution, the 2nd respondent “is statutorily barred from taking part in all of 1st Respondent’s operations”.

They want an order of injunction restraining 2nd respondent from holding itself out and/or purporting to act or discharge my functions as shareholders of 1st respondent and another order restraining the 3rd to 10th defendants from holding themselves as directors of 1st respondent.

GKA Airports want further declaration that the resolution purportedly passed by 1st respondent's board of directors at the meeting held on August 18, 2011 to convene an extraordinary general meeting of 1st Respondent is illegal, null, void and of no effect.”

The plaintiff wants a declaration that “the notices dated August 29, 2011 and September 8, 2011 respectively of an extraordinary general meeting of 1st respondent to be held in 1st respondent’s conference room on October 6, 2011 at 4.00 p.m. are illegal, null, void and of no effect.”

Finally, they want another order of injunction “restraining respondents from holding the extraordinary general meeting scheduled to take place on October 6, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. at 1st respondent's conference room.”

However, the defendants (Koreans) fired back disputing the claims of the plaintiff and made counter-claims against the plaintiffs.

In their affidavit in opposition filed October 17 and deposed to by Daniel Jung, the defendants say they have not executed any transfer of its shares neither has the shares been affected by any law or statute.

He said STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited was incorporated on November 17, 2009 and the subscribers to its regulation were both STX Construction Company Ltd and GKA Airports Company Ltd adding “the 2nd respondent subscribed to 15,000 shares whilst the applicant subscribed to 7,400 shares.”

“The right of the 2nd respondent as a subscriber to the regulations of the 1st respondent are guaranteed and or prescribed by statute”, the defendants averred.

Even though President John Evans Atta Mills cut the sod in January 2011 for the commencement of the project, boardroom wrangling between the Koreans and their Ghanaian partners has stalled the construction of 200,000 housing units in the country, starting with 30,000 houses for the security services at the cost of $10 billion.

NPP Sued Over Ahmed Arthur

2011-11-16T00:11:00.000-08:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday November 16, 2011
Three Polling Station Chairmen of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Okaikoi south Constituency have sued the party over the endorsement of Ahmed Arthur as the party’s parliamentary nominee for the Constituency.

Mr. Arthur and another NPP stalwart, Vicky Bright contested the April 30, 2011 NPP Okaikoi South primary for the party but the party’s recognition of Mr. Arthur as winner of the polls has sparked this instant action.

Apart from the NPP as an entity, the plaintiffs - Mark Osapa Yawson, Joseph Amasa Ashie and John Hayford Woode - have also cited the party’s national chairman, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, general secretary Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie and Ahmed Arthur as the defendants.

In their statement of claim, the plaintiffs who are represented by Eric Atieku of Deleric Law Consult, said prior to the contest, the party requested all interested applicants to submit their profiles and other personal information which the two contestants did.

“Among the information to be provided in the nomination form by prospective candidates is ones educational background including previous schools and certificates obtained which were attached to the forms.”

The plaintiffs averred that when Ahmed Arthur submitted his nomination forms, he indicated that he had ‘A’ Level and had done short courses in Public Relations/Management and Journalism at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) but did not attach the certificates.

They said in spite of Mr. Arthur’s failure to submit the certificate, the vetting committee set up by the NPP cleared him to contest the Okaikoi South seat for the party in the 2012 parliamentary elections.

According to the plaintiffs, after the primary when the Okaikoi South Constituency executives wrote to GIJ to verify the claim by Mr. Arthur that he had short courses at the institute, the registrar wrote to tell them that Mr. Arthur had no records there.

The plaintiffs say in view of what they called “the obvious false declaration” made by Mr. Arthur, the defendants should have disqualified the co-defendant (Mr. Arthur) before he won the contest.

The plaintiffs averred that later when a committee was set up by the party Chaired by Deputy Minority Leader Ambrose Derry to look into the matter, the committee came to the conclusion that Mr. Arthur indeed made false declaration in his nomination forms.

They said the committee recommended that Mr. Arthur be disqualified and the entire processes start afresh because the previous vetting was defective.

According to the plaintiffs, the NPP on July 4, 2011 directed that nominations be opened for all interested candidates on the same day and close on July 8, 2011 for a re-run of the contest.

The plaintiffs say that since the fourth defendant has been found to make false declaration in his nomination form an act which smacks of fraud, the national council was wrong in upholding Mr. Arthur’s appeal.

“The decision of the National Council therefore ought to be set aside and the fourth defendant disqualified.”

GCB Partners Western Union

2011-11-15T23:56:00.000-08:00

Samuel Sarpong, GCB Deputy MD (Operations) in a chat with Samuel Amankwa, GCB Deputy MD (Finance) after the short ceremony.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday November 16, 2011
Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), the nation’s premier bank has entered into partnership with Western Union, a worldwide money transfer service provider to offer remittances in the country.

GCB, with 282 service outlets, thus becomes the 11th banking and financial institution to partner Western Union in this direction.

Launching the partnership at a short ceremony in Accra yesterday, the Deputy Managing Director (MD) in a charge of Operations at GCB, Samuel Sarpong said the bank has made significant investments in enhancing its system and technology platform.
“We have leveraged our robust IT platform to introduce a number products and services,” he said.

He said GCB under its ‘Easy Banking’ agenda is offering customers alerts of transactions on their accounts through mobile phones and allowing finance directors of corporations to pay salaries of employees from their offices.

“GCB customers have access to their accounts twenty four seven, thanks to a reliable network of 110 ATM nationwide with close to 99 per cent up time and full benefits of internet banking.”

Mr. Sarpong said GCB has introduced mechanism that is ensuring that the bank offers personal loans within 24 hours and promised the bank’s commitment towards excellence in the banking sector.

“It is the vision of this bank to transform GCB into a world-class bank and we will continue to ride on the back of our robust systems and technology platform to bring the best in banking products and services.”

The deputy MD said the bank’s numerous branches and its solid IT platform would enhance the prospects of the partnership, adding “we have tested our systems over the past few weeks to ensure a smooth take-off.”

Leticia Tagoe, Head of International Banking Division of GCB, said as at October, the bank had mobilized $198, 703, 238 as total foreign exchange from transactions in the money transfer business alone.

“The partnership with Western Union will greatly increase the values and the underlying revenue earned by the bank especially when the need to increase commissions has become very necessary.”

She said the Global Transfer Department of International Banking Division has completed the training of all customer service representatives, systems administrators, operations/retail managers, who are to handle remittances from Western union.

She said the team will also act as the back-up team for all the branches in the resolution of all operational related issues.

PANIC OVER 2012 BUDGET

2011-11-14T23:30:00.000-08:00

Dr. Kwabena Duffuor is the Finance and Economic Planning Minister of Ghana
http://www.businessguideghana.com/?p=4915
By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday November 15, 2011.
There is anxiety over the 2012 Budget statement to be read on Thursday as many organizations continue to hold strong views that the government is going to overspend the budget estimation.

The concerns are borne out of the fact that 2012 is an election year and any extra budgetary spending are most likely to erode the economic gains made so far.

Business Guide has sought to find out from stakeholders about their expectations of the budget and they have all expressed fears that the government is going to overspend the budget in order to maintain its electoral advantage into the elections.

Some were however quick to point out that over-expenditure does not necessarily benefit the party in government as it was proven in the general elections of 2000 and 2008 when incumbents overspent but still lost the contests.

Policy analysis group IMANI-Ghana, Center for Policy Analysis (CEPA), Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB), Ghana Chamber of Commerce (GCC) as well as the National Farmers and Fishermen Award Winners Association shared their views on what they expect to go into the 2012 budget.

The close of fiscal and financial year is about six weeks away but analysts say most of the targets set by the government for 2011 main and supplementary budgets cannot be attained.

Analysts have predicted a pile up of the country’s already over-burdened fiscal deficit which they pointed out, would automatically affect trajectories and estimations of the 2012 Budget.

According to Trading Economic, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Ghana stagnated in the second quarter of 2011 over the previous quarter.

Historically, from 2006 until 2011, Ghana's average quarterly GDP Growth was 1.58 percent reaching an historical high of 5.30 percent in March of 2008 and a record low of -5.10 percent in March of 2011.Ghana has one of the highest GDP per capita in West Africa.

In the Supplementary Budget of July, the government said it needed GH¢1,463,123,559 to tackle specific national issues and programmes including National Flood Control Programme, Sakumono Sea Defence Works, Completion of Nima drains, and the
Construction of Ferry on Black Volta, the School Feeding Programme, Sanitation, removal of Schools under Trees, Education Infrastructure but most of the projects are either uncompleted or yet to commence.

Officials of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning are tightlipped on what would go into the budget but Business Guide sources has revealed that about 70 per cent of the 2012 budget would finance infrastructural development.

Furthermore, Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffuor has already reiterated the government’s commitment towards ensuring fiscal consolidation in the 2012 budget.

He has promised that the government would focus on strategic infrastructural projects captured under the China Development Bank (CDB) loan as well as offer support for the private sector and deepen the commitment towards other social intervention programmes.

Kofi Bentil of IMANI-Ghana said “for me, it is not about what is in the budget but the post-budget monitoring that is a source of worry. What we will all have to do is to look at whether they are going to spend according to the budget or they are just going to spend for the purposes of the elections.”

“We expect that there would be spending but what we do not know is whether it would be budgetary or extra-budgetary,” he said adding “we are going to increase the wage bill and we would like to know how that would affect the economy.”

He said he expects the government to use the 2012 Budget to improve roads infrastructure, absorb the single spine, strengthen the National health Insurance Scheme and strategically determine how education spending would be applied.

“The government should also use this budget to “separate oil revenue from the rest of our revenue in order to raise money to cater for other sectors so that we do not over-emphasize oil revenue.”

Asare Akuffo, President of Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB) said the tendency to overspend by governments always destroys the basis of the economy.

“Election years have always been a challenge to our economy where government overspends, inflation rises, interest rates follow then after the election the government tightens its expenditure just to try and reclaim or re-establish stability. It has been a very expensive exercise for this country and it will be a tragedy if we are not able to curb it and we find ourselves going through that cycle again.”

Mr. Akuffo who is also the Managing Director of HFC Bank advised: “What we have achieved to date by this government we should hold on to it jealously and not do anything to disturb it. What we want the 2012 budget to do is to ensure the maintenance of the trend of economic stability. That inflation would be kept low and it would enable interest rates also to continue to show downward trends.

Dr. Joe Abbey, Executive Director of Center for Policy Analysis (CEPA) wants the 2012 budget to tackle infrastructure deficit, promote effective economic development and reduction in rampant labour unrests.

He said “CEPA would like the government to present a budget that sustains growth because the eight percent growth rate is sustainable. The budget should make room for employment creation, and should prioritize the SMEs sector and also address the high lending rate in the financial sector.”

Nana Osei Bonsu, Director-General of Private Enterprises Foundation (PEF) said the foundation has already made inputs into the preparation of the budget and has proposed that the government should facilitate projects that are more viable.

Philip Abayori, President of National Farmers and Fishermen Award Winners Association of Ghana says the rank and file of farmers want the government to establish Agricultural Authority to modernize and facilitate the development of the sector.

He said the budget must support the private sector, build the capacity of farmer-based organisations and then help them to acquire appropriate technology so that they can reduce production cost, compete in both the local and international markets and ensure food security.

STX Case Goes Slows

2011-11-02T00:38:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday November 2, 2011.
The legal tussle over who should lead the construction of the controversial STX Korea Housing projects resumed at the Commercial Court, Accra yesterday but nothing meaningful was done in court.

This is because when the case commenced, Carl Adongo, counsel for GKA Airports Company Limited, plaintiff in the action told the court presided over by Justice Gertrude Torkornoo that they had just filed supplementary affidavit opposing the defendant’s statement of defence.

The suit filed by GKA Airports Company Limited through its CEO Bernard Kwabena Asamoah; the man credited for introducing the STX housing deal to the NDC government wants the court to determine the rightful partner to execute the project.

GKA Airports Company Limited is seeking to sack the Korean partners from the entire project but the Koreans have vowed to resist any attempt to forcibly remove them.

The Koreans were the first to go to court over who owns the company when they sued B.K. Asamoah, Registrar-General and others for allegedly diluting the company’s shares to GKA Airport’s advantage but the Fast Track High Court presided over by Justice NMC Abodakpi adjourned proceedings sine die because the processes to get the case heard were not completed.

The current suit is citing STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited and STX Construction Company Limited in Seoul as the 1st and 2nd defendants with Kook Hyun Kim, Su Jou Kim, Daniel Jung, Seong Hoon Kang, Yong Chan Kim, Im-Dong Park, Ji Hoon Hwang and Man Kang as 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th respondents respectively.

When the case was called yesterday B.K Asamoah represented the plaintiff (GKA Airports) and led by Karl Adongo while the defendants (STX) were represented by Daniel Jung with Osafo Buaben as counsel for some of the defendants.

Mr. Osafo Buaben, representing the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 8th defendants told the court that it appeared not all the defendants had been served with the processes saying “some of the defendants (3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 9th and 10th) at all material times have been in Korea and unless the bailiff travelled to Korea to serve them I do not see how they would know about the action.”

The judge then cut in to say that the court’s record indicated that on October 6, all the respondents were served and added that Mr. Buaben could not hold brief for the defendants that he was not representing.

Mr. Adongo also shared the view of Mr. Buaben about service to the other defendants but the judge insisted that the both counsel could not make a case for them.

Plaintiff’s counsel then told the court that they have just filed a supplementary affidavit saying “It is not willful delay. My client (B.K. Asamoah) was out of the country and returned three days ago and that accounts for the delay.”

The court then adjourned proceedings until November 15, for the case to continue.
GKA Airports Limited is seeking reliefs including a “declaration that by terminating the Joint Venture Agreement and Heads of Agreement, 2nd respondent renounced its membership of 1st respondent.”

They also want a further declaration that by failing to make direct investment in 1st respondent by way of equity contribution, the 2nd respondent “is statutorily barred from taking part in all of 1st Respondent’s operations”.

They want an order of injunction restraining 2nd respondent from holding itself out and/or purporting to act or discharge my functions as shareholders of 1st respondent and another order restraining the 3rd to 10th defendants from holding themselves as directors of 1st respondent.

GKA Airports want further declaration that the resolution purportedly passed by 1st respondent's board of directors at the meeting held on August 18, 2011 to convene an extraordinary general meeting of 1st Respondent is illegal, null, void and of no effect.”

The plaintiff wants a declaration that “the notices dated August 29, 2011 and September 8, 2011 respectively of an extraordinary general meeting of 1st respondent to be held in 1st respondent’s conference room on October 6, 2011 at 4.00 p.m. are illegal, null, void and of no effect.”

Finally, they want another order of injunction “restraining respondents from holding the extraordinary general meeting scheduled to take place on October 6, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. at 1st respondent's conference room.”

However, the defendants (Koreans) fired back disputing the claims of the plaintiff and made counter-claims against the plaintiffs.

In their affidavit in opposition filed October 17 and deposed to by Daniel Jung, the defendants say they have not executed any transfer of its shares neither has the shares been affected by any law or statute.

He said STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited was incorporated on November 17, 2009 and the subscribers to its regulation were both STX Construction Company Ltd and GKA Airports Company Ltd adding “the 2nd respondent subscribed to 15,000 shares whilst the applicant subscribed to 7,400 shares.”

“The right of the 2nd respondent as a subscriber to the regulations of the 1st respondent are guaranteed and or prescribed by statute”, the defendants averred.

Even though President John Evans Atta Mills cut the sod in January 2011 for the commencement of the project, boardroom wrangling between the Koreans and their Ghanaian partners has stalled the construction of 200,000 housing units in the country, starting with 30,000 houses for the security services at the cost of $10 billion.

Don’t Blame Us – Top Banker

2011-11-02T00:29:00.000-07:00

Asare Akuffo is the President of the Ghana Association of Bankers and MD of HFC Bank.
Posted on: www.businessguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday November 1, 2011
Asare Akuffo, President of Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB) has debunked claims that the banking sector is deliberately keeping interest rates high.

He said the dynamics of the economy determines the interest rates that the banks are charging.

The issue of high interest rate vis-à-vis low inflation being recorded of late has generated heated debate with policy makers accusing the banks of deliberately sabotaging government’s effort to bring economic stability.

But speaking exclusively to BUSINESS GUIDE, Mr. Akuffo who is also the Managing Director of HFC Bank said, “it is unfortunate that some people want to blame the banks for high interest rates. They must make statements based on facts.”

He said the central bank as a regulator has enough information on banks to correct this wrong view.

He said, “We determine our base rates and lending rates on our cost of funds and cost of operations plus a margin. The facts are there to show that banks are not taking advantage of their customers.”

Mr. Akuffo said the economic dynamics has created a situation whereby even though inflation is coming down interest rates are still quite high, adding, “we have to take a closer look at the fundamental causes.”

He cited the high cost of doing business including stiff competition for highly skilled and qualified human resource for the banking and finance sector.

“The cost of doing business currently is high. We also have 26 banks which are competing for a limited human resource who are qualified and capable. As a result banks were forced to pay a lot more to keep their best staff. These have combined to make the cost of doing business very high.”

Mr. Akuffo said apart from cost there are various taxes that banks pay saying “we have the stabilization levy. All these things go to add to cost. And as banks too are like other businesses, we must also cover our costs to be able to make a good return for our shareholders.”

“For instance HFC is listed on the GSE with over 2500 Ghanaian and foreign shareholders who expect an acceptable return on their investment. As I speak, the banks are not actually rewarding their shareholders enough.

“Take the recently published Ghana Club 100 you can see that the top 10 performers in terms of profit, there are only two banks who even occupied the eighth and ninth positions.”
The GAB president was optimistic that interest rates would come down with time predicting that the consolidation happening in the banking sector would facilitate the reduction of interest rates.

However, Dr. John Kwakye, Member of Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Ghana and a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), said the banking sector is “highly concentrated” and “dominated by a few large banks.”

“It is because there is not enough competition that is making the banks keep rates high and that makes the consumer pay so much. Once everybody’s rate is high they match each other to keep their rates,” he said.

Dr. Kwakye said even though the BoG changes its prime rates quarterly the banks do not respond to it saying “in all these times that the Central Bank has been reducing the prime rate, it has not transmitted through the system as expected.”

He said so far all that the BoG as a regulator has managed to do is to embark on what he called ‘moral switching’ where the Governor would call the banks and try to plead with them.

“But even on this one they can take it or reject it. As a regulator we have suggested that if the banks are not conforming we should find a way of dealing with the situation so that the downward trend in inflation could make real impact.”

Dr. Kwakye however noted that the banks might have justification in what they are currently doing, saying “they have argued that the cost to the monetary policy which is nine per cent is still high. In that sense they may have some point because when they take deposits of hundred, nine is supposed to be frozen at the Central Bank and it is not remunerated.”

“I must admit that they have very large cost including overhead cost. They pay their staff very high income and this is partly because the fiscal expansion that has taken place in the banking sector has not been accompanied in the same degree building capacity of staff since they all have limited staff and therefore pay the well and therefore factor it into their cost.”

This, notwithstanding, he said the Central Banks should step in and try to regulate the system and not control “because people misconstrue regulation to mean the BoG wants to go back to a system of control” which he said “is unfortunate.”

IGP Beats Retreat

2011-11-01T01:19:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday November 1, 2011.
The Inspector-General of Police, Paul Tawiah Quaye yesterday beat a sharp retreat when he told an Accra High Court that he has agreed to re-instate 17 policemen who were dismissed from the service in 2007.

The issue of whether or not the 24 dismissed policemen should be re-instated sparked protracted legal battle after 17 of them brought the IGP to court for re-instatement and subsequently initiated contempt proceedings against the police boss in another court for flouting the order of certiorari.

A court presided over by Justice Edward Amoako Asante on October 27, re-affirmed its decision to order the police administration to re-instate the 17 after dismissing a motion by the IGP that sought to set aside the order of certiorari.

Yesterday, when the contempt application was called, DCOP Ken Yeboah, head of the Police Legal Department told the court presided over by Justice Denise Agyei of the Court of Appeal that the IGP had agreed to re-instate the 17 policemen.

DCOP Yeboah pleaded with the court to give the police administration 14 days to enable them to carry out the re-instatement order.

Justice Agyei therefore adjourned proceedings until November 21, for the parties to report to the court on whether or not the order was carried out.

On April 13, 2007, the police administration announced the dismissal of 24 policemen after a Police Enquiry established that they misconducted themselves by allowing the media to cover the bad accommodation problems facing them at the Police Barrack Depot in Accra.

The affected policemen, who were not given a fair hearing at the Police Enquiry sitting, challenged the decision to dismiss them and won the case but the police administration blatantly refused to re-instate them as directed by the court leading to the filing of contempt proceedings against the IGP.

It all started when 30 policemen were brought before the Police Service Enquiry Board on charges of misconduct in 2007 but each of them denied the allegation.

According to the policemen, even though they were questioned, they were not allowed to tell their side of the story or cross-examine the witnesses who testified at the enquiry and later all they heard was that only six had been cleared and the rest (24) given dismissal letters to take effect from May 1, 2007.

Based on this, their counsel, J.K. Yeboah first filed an order of mandamus at the High Court, presided over by Justice N.M.C Abodakpi on June 24, 2009 to compel the IGP to “furnish the applicants with the proceeding that culminated in their discharge within 30 days after the service of this order.”

It took several months for the police administration to comply with the court’s order and when they finally did the lawyer realized his clients had been unfairly dismissed per the proceedings.

He therefore filed a notice for judicial review in the nature of Certiorari under order 55 Rule1 of C.I. 47/2004 asking the court to compel the police administration to re-instate the dismissed policemen.

The respondent (IGP) was served with the processes but his counsel failed to attend court when the application was moved before Justice Asante who quashed the decision by the police administration to dismiss the applicants and also awarded cost of GH¢ 1,000 for each applicant against the respondent.

The police was also ordered to pay all entitlements due the applicants including salaries and allowances from the date of their unlawful dismissal.

However, since October 25, 2010 when the court gave the order, the police administration has refused to comply with the court’s order.

BLACK WEDNESDAY...12 KILLED IN FIRE, FLOODS

2011-10-27T00:19:00.000-07:00

Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Accra was not spared by the floods.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu with additional files from other correspondents.

Thursday October 27, 2011.
For about 12 hours, many suburbs of Accra were submerged by flush floods; halting business activities and movement of people following incessant rains yesterday.

The incident brought along devastation with reports of 12 deaths including three people that were consumed by fire.

There are conflicting reports about the number of deaths in the floods. While some put the death toll at seven, others claim it is more than nine. Two deaths were reported at Kasoa, three at Awoshie, two at Circle, one at Lapaz and another at Achimota.

The police in Odorkor confirmed that five people died in the floods but their names were not immediately known.

Two people perished in Awutu Senya district of the Central Region where a 20-year-old boy his sister died.

Their mother was receiving treatment at Korle-Bu.

Furthermore, a 25-year-old student of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) was confirmed dead after a wall in her Achimota residence tumbled in the midst of rain. Her name was given as Abigail Opoku Adjei.
Another tragic scene was at Awoshie where a two-year-old boy, Bright Kofi met his untimely death during the heavy downpour.

Little Bright was said to have been swept away by the current at about 2am when his father whose name was only given as Owuraku tried to find a safe place to put him.

Parts mostly hit were areas along the Odaw river stretch including the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Odawna, Alajo, Avenor, Abelemkpe and Abofu, Christian Village while the devastation caused in other areas like Sakaman, Chabar, Mallam, Kwashieman, Abossey Okai, Kaneshie, Lapaz, Anyaa, Sowutuom, Kwashiebu, Awoshie, Nii Boi Town, Tantra Hill, Ofankor and Dome among other areas in the city is beyond measure.

Other affected areas were Dansoman, Alajo, Asylum Down, La, Latebiorkoshie, Chorkor, Kasoa and Agbogbloshie.

Thousands of people particularly residents in the affected areas have been displaced while the cost of damage runs into millions of Ghana Cedis.

Yesterday’s disaster got President John Evans Atta Mills to hit town to assess for himself the extent of damage.

He was accompanied by the embattled Mayor of Accra, Alfred Oko Vanderpuije and other senior government officials.

According to the Director of Communications at the presidency, the President visited Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Alajo, Dome and Christian Village before returning to the Castle midday to sort out “other matters”.

At the Kwame Nkrumah Circle young men particularly porters at Neoplan Station which was also submerged took advantage of the situation to do brisk business.

They helped pedestrians by carrying them on their backs for fees.

Owners of commercial motorbike popularly called Okada also made some profit as they took advantage of the situation to charge exorbitantly before carrying passengers to their destinations.

At the South Industrial Area, hundreds of people were stranded in the floods which many believe is the heaviest since 1995.

At the State Transport Corporation (STC) yard, travelers were stranded while the entire stretch linking the Graphic Road was submerged, making vehicular movements impossible.

Passengers at STC Yard, Neoplan Station, VIP Bus Terminal, Imperial Transport, M-Plaza station and others were heavily affected.

Several vehicles were grounded and long distance passengers had a torrid time reaching their destinations.

Many got flooded as motorists particularly, commercial vehicles had to offload passengers at unapproved routes.

Early morning workers were overwhelmed by the floods and many had to return home disappointedly.

Students were given a free day, but many had gone to school before the announcements were made. The floods made many roads in the city unusable

Workers of Vodafon Headquarters at Kwame Nkrumah Circle for instance were told not to come to work while Minister of Education Betty Mould Iddrisu asked school children not to come to school due to the floods.

At Alajo residents were on their feet until daybreak when the rains subsided and normalcy restored.

Some questions were raised about the quality of work on the drainage constructed by a Chinese company in the area. When the project was under construction it was thought that upon completion the woes of the people of Alajo during the rainy season would be over.

It failed an integrity test yesterday when it could not tame the flood which attacked nearby houses because of an inherent engineering challenge it posed.

At Odawna, pedestrians market and lorry station were submerged in rain water with severe damage occurring along the Odaw drainage and Adabraka.

Almost every container erected along the Odaw river was washed away.

The flood waters compelled the Odawna trotro drivers to abandon and line up along the Vanderpuije Street while their counterparts at Neoplan Station and other improvised the North Industrial road as their lorry station.

Ernest chemist branch located in the Odaw area was also hit by the floods, workers of the pharmacy shop who had come to work could not enter the facility.

People were also seen at the top of building as a means of shelter.

School pupils and students of schools located close to the Odaw drainage were seen returning home.

At Ablekuma, the floods virtually cut off residence of the area and beyond from the city.

The road construction near the Nsaki River compounded the situation and had to terminate their journey because the river had over flown its bank.

The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), the Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana National Fire Service, Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and the Ghana Police Service were in action at various places but the scale of the devastation appear to have overwhelmed the security agencies.

In a related development, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flag bearer Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo noted with “deep concern, reports of widespread flooding in areas of southern Ghana especially in fishing communities and towns along the coastal belt as well as many areas in the Accra and Tema Metropolis.”

Nana Akufo-Addo called on Ghanaians to support each other in this difficult time adding “the scale of the disaster is such that emergency services may not be able to respond effectively to all places at the right time.”,

No Verification!....Afari-Gyan Drops Bombshell

2011-10-26T02:13:00.000-07:00

Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, EC Chairman explaining issues to Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday October 26, 2011.
Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), dropped a bombshell at an Institute of Economic Affairs forum in Accra yesterday when he said that the commission has not decided yet to factor the issue of verification into the impending biometric voters’ registration exercise.

“I cannot tell you we are going to conduct verification exercise of the biometric voters’ register when I am not assured that we will get the money for it”, Dr Afari-Gyan said.

Addressing participants including representatives of political parties on the biometric voters’ register, the EC chairman’s explanation of how the commission was going to handle the biometric registration appeared to have made most of the participants particularly New Patriotic Party (NPP) members nervous.

He said that for the EC to factor verification of the system into account, they would need about $50million for that alone.

“We are talking about an estimated 23,000 polling stations and for the system to be effective we would need back-up equipment for registration and when we made the cost assessment we are getting figures around $50million.”

He said the cost is different from the GH¢80million or so that the EC would be using for the biometric registration exercise.

The EC boss said as it is now, verification of whole system is not part of the exercise which he announced would take place in the first quarter of 2012.

“The biometric registration exercise id doable but we should not confuse it with verification. So long as it is done in a timely manner we will use the biometric register for the 2012 general elections.

“Verification is not registration issue that is why I prefer not to talk about it. It is a legitimate concern but it is not part of the exercise,” he said.

He said “we are already in discussion on this issue of verification with the political parties and I do not understand why my nephew (in reference to Dr. Matthew Opoku-Prempeh of the NPP) is raising this issue here.”

Dr. Afari-Gyan said the biometric process alone cannot guarantee free, fair, transparent and successful election adding “biometric would not come to supplant the way we conduct elections. That is why I keep advising the political parties to be vigilant on election days.”

He said it would be untenable for anybody to suggest that the EC could request for biometric registration equipment from other countries particularly Nigeria saying “equipment from other countries have been configured to suit their systems and it would be difficult to use them here.”

He said jokingly “it would be better to drink it tot by tot and ensure that everything is done properly than to do it in a haphazard manner.”

When Justice Francis Emile Short, former Commissioner of CHRAJ who chaired the forum opened the floor for questions and suggestions, participant upon participant expressed concern about how the EC was going to ensure that the system was verifiable.

Professor Mike Ocquaye, 2nd Deputy Speaker of Parliament who was on the high table said the whole biometric registration exercise must be verifiable for the process to be complete.

He said once the whole process involves money, it was up to every stakeholder to get involved to ensure that “we find the money to finance the exercise”, adding “without a verifiable mechanism we are likely to conduct half-baked exercise”.

Dr. Ahmed Gedel, a l member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) called for open and frank discussion on the biometric registration exercise.

He said “we are not yet at the level of verification so let us all ensure that we get a credible voters’ register.”

Tullow Shareholders Strike Gold

2011-10-25T00:48:00.000-07:00

Aidan Heavey Chief Executive Officer of Tullow Oil plc.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday October 25, 2011.
Since the beginning of full-scale production at the Jubilee oilfield at the end of 2010, over 15 million barrels of oil have been produced and 15 oil cargoes safely exported as of June 2011.

The field is now producing around 85,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) with over 75 million standard cubic feet (mmscfd) of gas being re-injected, according to the 2011 Half-yearly Report posted by Tullow Oil Plc.

While Tullow and other Jubilee partners are making profit, they’re not paying corporate taxes, according to the Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas (CSO), a coalition of NGOs monitoring Ghana’s oil find in the Western region. The coalition is worried that the absent taxes will hold back development in the country.

Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), a government agency mandated to collect revenue for development, says the oil companies aren’t making profits and so can’t pay taxes now. But Tullow’s mid-year report shows significant profit for the majority Jubilee partner.

Jubilee is shared by Tullow Oil plc (34.7%), Kosmos Energy (23.49%), Anadarko Petroleum (23.49%) and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) (13.75%).

Tullow’s mid-year report, jointly endorsed by Aidan Heavey, Chief Executive Officer and Ian Springett, Chief Financial Officer said: “Tullow’s finances are being fundamentally changed in 2011 by increased production and cash flow from the Jubilee Oilfield.”

As a result, the Tullow board believes “it is appropriate to review Tullow’s dividend policy and has doubled the dividend for the half year to 4.0 pence per share (1H or 1H2010: 2.0 pence per share).”

According to the report, “the dividend will be paid on November 3, 2011 to shareholders on the register on 30 September 2011.”

The report said a total of 17 wells have been drilled of which 14 have been completed and brought on line, adding “this consists of eight oil production wells, five water injection wells and one gas injector well.”

It posited that the final production well is expected to be brought on stream this month, taking Jubilee oilfield production to 105,000 bopd.

Some of the key highlights of the report are the record sales revenue of over $1 billion driven by Jubilee production as well as 71 per cent exploration and appraisal success year-to-date (17/24), Akasa-1 discovery and the listing of the company on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GES) following a successful $72.3 million offer.

The report quoted Mr. Heavey as saying: “We have delivered a strong performance and achieved record results in the first half allowing us to double the dividend.”

Against this backdrop, CSO has raised red flags over the refusal or inability of Jubilee partners to honour their corporate tax obligations which would aid national development.

In the 2011 Supplementary Budget Statement for instance, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning posted that it was expecting GH¢ 603,764,335 from corporate taxes alone.

The Bank of Ghana also presented a good picture on the revenue front from oil as the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) stated in its report for 2011 that the strong export growth continues to be driven by gold, cocoa beans and crude oil, adding that the total export of crude oil from January to September was US$1.97 billion.

Shockingly, when the CSO platform recently raised the concern through one of their lead researchers, Mohammed Amin Anta Adam about the non-payment of corporate taxes by the Jubilee partners, the GRA came out strongly to defend the partners by insisting that the oil firms were yet to make profit.

The coalition insisted that the government knew that the partners were making a profit and that was why it was able to make provisions in the 2011 Supplementary Budget.

The coalition warned that the Petroleum Funds will be in arrears if Ghana is unable to collect the taxes before the end of the year and it will adversely affect the development patterns of the country.

“It is important for full disclosures by the oil companies on how much revenues they are receiving and how much capital allowance is provided for them so that we can assess whether the companies are making profits contrary to the position of the GRA,” it added.

Mad Rush For State Lands

2011-10-21T00:06:00.000-07:00

Alban Bagbin is the Minister of Water Resources Works and Housing in Ghana.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday October 21, 2011.
Reports reaching Daily Guide indicate that the government is planning to re-assign some top officers at the Lands Commission to facilitate the acquisition of titles to state lands for NDC functionaries.

They see the top officers as people who are blocking their attempts to grab state lands.

Daily Guide learnt that so far some of the officers have insisted that the acquisition of state lands by individuals ‘is no go area’ and this has infuriated the authorities who are bent on causing their re-assignment or removal if possible.

To facilitate their diabolic agenda, they have intentionally accused the officers as being NPP moles in order to get rid of them to pave way for the land grabbing.

Sources say the land grabbing plans has heightened because most NDC functionaries are not sure the Mills/Mahama led government would win the 2012 general elections and therefore they want to ‘secure’ themselves with some property including lands.

Recently, a board member of the Lands Commission was said to have ordered some officers from a crucial meeting for refusing to okay documents of an NDC guru who was trying to a acquire state land.

Apparently the board member was said to have asked one of the officers to sign state land title document for an NDC guru and when the officer refused insisting it was not right, the ‘big’ man decided not to involve those officers seen as NPP moles in any decision-making process at the commission.

A number of state lands in priced areas have allocated to the private developers foreigners with close connection with the ruling government through the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing. Some of the choice areas are Cantonments at the back of Police Headquarters and Roman Ridge which the NDC in opposition had kicked against their allocation.

When reached via telephone and SMS text, Dr. Wordsworth Odame Larbi, Chief Executive Officer of Lands Commission said there was nothing wrong with state lands being given to individuals.

“As I said the Lands Commission has certain functions to perform and it includes allocation of lands for development.”

“Those issues are issues that I am not ready to talk about”.

Dr. Odame-Larbi said he would not comment on whether or not there is allocation of lands to NDC functionaries and was also not ready to confirm or deny whether there was going to be a shake-up at the Lands Commission.

“I do not know your source of information so I can’t say whether it is the case or not”, he said.

The issue of state lands being taken over by private people particularly politicians has created a lot of controversy in recent years.

When in opposition, the NDC demonized then President J.A. Kufuor and his NPP administration for allocating state lands to individuals.

In the course of the pre and post 2008 election campaign the NDC in collaboration with Kwesi Pratts’ Committee of Joint Action (CJA) incited ethnic groups notably the Ga Dangbe whose lands had mostly been taken by previous governments, against the NPP administration.

When NDC took over office the National Security Coordinator Lt. Col. Gbevlo-Lartey told Radio Gold that some NPP government functionaries had taken over state property including lands and the government was going to retrieve them and deal with the culprits.

The government subsequently set up what it called “A three-member Technical Committee to probe the Re-development of Government Residential Properties in Accra during the NPP administration” but nothing has been heard about it after the committee submitted it report.

Assembly Members meet on mining

2011-10-21T00:04:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday October 21, 2011.
Assembly Members in some communities affected by mining have undergone training to enable them participate in effectively in decision-making at the local level with regards to issues of mining.

The three-day workshop was organized by Wacam, an NGO campaigning against the excesses of mining activities on local communities and it was attended by participants from mining areas including Obuasi, Kenyase, Grumisa, Ntotroso, Dumase, Bogoso, Akyem Saamang, Ntronang, Hweakwae, Maase Nsuta.

The workshop was supported by DKA, a Catholic charity organization based in Austria together with Oxfam America.

At the end of the training, the participants made up of 11 assembly members and 7 Unit Committee Members issued a communiqué urging the government through Ministry of Local Government and rural Development to compel all assemblies to enforce by-laws on the environment.

They resolved that issues of climate change have become important issues in the world and economic reasons should not be the only motivation for the implementation of development projects.

“Ghana is currently described as one of the countries in the world with very high rate of depletion of forest cover. We therefore condemn the granting of mining leases to companies such as Newmont Akyem Mine and Chirano Gold Limited to mine in Ajenua Bepo forest reserve and Tano Suraw forest reserve.”

They called on the government and its agencies to consult communities that would be “potentially affected by mining operations based on the Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) which has been ratified and gazetted by the government of Ghana in the ECOWAS Directive on the Harmonisation of Policies and Guiding Principles in the Mining Sector.”

“ On the basis of the FPIC, the right of mining communities to say ‘No’ to surface mining operations which they think will affect their livelihood negatively should be respected by government”, they said.

“As Assembly members in mining communities, we wish to condemn surface mining operations which have polluted water bodies and destroyed the livelihoods of people living in mining communities.”

According to the Assembly Members it is the central government, not the District or Municipal Assemblies that should provide remuneration for District Assembly and Unit Committee members, since the resources that go into the discharge of the duties of Assembly members are enormous.

They also said that it is the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development who should ensure that by-laws of District Assemblies are given legal backing and added that in their view, the thirty per cent of government appointees serving in District or Municipal Assemblies should strictly be people with special expertise.

The workshop discussed the roles and responsibilities of Assembly Members, the development role of District Assemblies, the District Assembly as a planning authority, Assembly Members and mining advocacy and an overview of the minerals and mining Act (Act 703),2006 among others.

Nduom Launches Campaign

2011-10-20T02:01:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday October 20, 2011.
Although the Convention People’s Party (CPP) is yet to open the doors for nominations of presidential and parliamentary candidates for the 2012 general election, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, a stalwart has launched what clearly looks like his campaign to contest as the party’s flag bearer.

He however insisted that the fanfare he organized at the Ghana International Press Center, Accra yesterday was “to announce my decision to enter the contest to become the presidential candidate of the CPP for the 2012 Elections and not campaign launch.”
He said so far all CPP presidential aspirants have already started their campaigns and said he was no exception adding “we are all waiting on the Central Committee to fix the date for congress but I can tell you that the train has already left the station.”

At the Press Center, bus loads of CPP supporters including constituency, regional and national executives were there to listen to the ‘Adwumawura’ as he is affectionately called.

The programme was also carried live on both television and other radio stations.
Dr. Nduom who performed abysmally in the 2008 general elections for the CPP said he has learned from his mistakes and would work hard this time around to win the 2012 contest.
“We had a great message for change in 2008 and we still stand by our promise for change in 2012,” he told the enthusiastic crowd.

Dr. Nduom said he is committed to supporting the CPP national executives and central committee members to close the ranks of the party and forge ahead in unity saying “the future of the new CPP is bright! I can see people from all the ten regions and 230 constituencies represented here today.”

He expressed optimism about his presidential ambition and said he would surely get the nod to lead the CPP and subsequently win the 2012 general elections.

Dr. Nduom who was appointed as Minister during the Kufuor regime said he was actively involved in many institutional reforms during the time of the NPP.

“I helped to draw the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) and negotiated for the Millennium Challenge Account. If as a minister I was able to contribute significantly, what can’t I do if I become the President of Ghana?”

He promised to embark on fundraising campaign to sponsor 50 CPP parliamentary candidates that would be endorsed by the party’s central committee for the 2012 general elections saying “in 2008 I printed the campaign posters of most CPP candidates and it was an effort to get them elected and strengthen the party.”

“It is essential that everyone understands that the CPP will show its strength not only at the presidential level but also at the parliamentary level. Strong candidates have already begun to prepare themselves for victory in all the ten regions.

More Trouble Over STX Project

2011-10-19T00:08:00.000-07:00

B.K. Asamoah is the man credited for introducing STX Korea to Ghana Government.

Posted on: www.dailyguide.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday October 19, 2011.
It has now become apparent that Works and Housing Minister, Alban Bagbin’s claims that the controversial STX Korea Housing projects would finally take-off in style is an empty promise.

This is because, Bernard Kwabena Asamoah, the man credited for introducing the STX housing deal to the NDC government has filed a fresh suit at the Commercial Court, Accra over who is the rightful partner to execute the project.

The suit filed by his GKA Airports Company Limited is seeking to sack the Korean partners from the entire project, a move the Koreans have vowed to resist.

Even though President John Evans Atta Mills cut the sod in January 2011 for the commencement of the project, boardroom wrangling between the Koreans and their Ghanaian partners has stalled the construction of 200,000 housing units in the country, starting with 30,000 houses for the security services at the cost of $10 billion.

The Koreans were the first to go to court over who owns the company when they sued B.K. Asamoah, Registrar-General and others for allegedly diluting the company’s shares to their advantage but the Fast Track High Court presided over by Justice NMC Abodakpi adjourned proceedings sine die because the processes to get the case heard were not completed.

The GKA Airports suit cites STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited and STX Construction Company Limited in Seoul as the 1st and 2nd defendants with Kook Hyun Kim, Su Jou Kim, Daniel Jung, Seong Hoon Kang, Yong Chan Kim, Im-Dong Park, Ji Hoon Hwang and Man Kang as 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th respondents respectively.

When the case was called yesterday there was no representative for the plaintiff (GKA Airports) but was led by its counsel Karl Adongo while the defendants (STX) were represented by David Jeong with Osafo Buaben as counsel.

The court presided over by Mrs. Justice Gertrude Torkornoo adjourned proceedings until November 1, for the plaintiff to decide whether or not to continue with the ‘originating motion’ filed instead of a writ.

According to the judge, the ‘originating motion’ has the tendency to slow the trial saying “we should put points of law aside and focus on ending the dispute.”

Mr. Adongo, counsel for the plaintiff then told the court that they would state their position on the next adjourned date on whether or not to proceed by writ.

Mr. Osafo Buaben, representing 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 8th defendants said he did not prepare a statement of case because the plaintiff’s application had been premised on Section 217 of the Company’s Act.

GKA Airports Limited is seeking reliefs including a “declaration that by terminating the Joint Venture Agreement and Heads of Agreement, 2nd respondent renounced its membership of 1st respondent.”

They also want a further declaration that by failing to make direct investment in 1st respondent by way of equity contribution, the 2nd respondent “is statutorily barred from taking part in all of 1st Respondent’s operations”.

They want an order of injunction restraining 2nd respondent from holding itself out and/or purporting to act or discharge my functions as shareholders of 1st respondent and another order restraining the 3rd to 10th defendants from holding themselves as directors of 1st respondent.

GKA Airports want further declaration that the resolution purportedly passed by 1st respondent's board of directors at the meeting held on August 18, 2011 to convene an extraordinary general meeting of 1st Respondent is illegal, null, void and of no effect.”

The plaintiff wants a declaration that “the notices dated August 29, 2011 and September 8, 2011 respectively of an extraordinary general meeting of 1st respondent to be held in 1st respondent’s conference room on October 6, 2011 at 4.00 p.m. are illegal, null, void and of no effect.”

Finally, they want another order of injunction “restraining respondents from holding the extraordinary general meeting scheduled to take place on October 6, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. at 1st respondent's conference room.”

However, the defendants (Koreans) fired back disputing the claims of the plaintiff and made counter-claims against the plaintiffs.

In their affidavit in opposition filed October 17 and deposed to by Daniel Jung, the defendants say they have not executed any transfer of its shares neither has the shares been affected by any law or statute.

He said STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited was incorporated on November 17, 2009 and the subscribers to its regulation were both STX Construction Company Ltd and GKA Airports Company Ltd adding “the 2nd respondent subscribed to 15,000 shares whilst the applicant subscribed to 7,400 shares.”

“The right of the 2nd respondent as a subscriber to the regulations of the 1st respondent are guaranteed and or prescribed by statute”, the defendants averred.

Land Rover Looks Into The Future

2011-10-17T23:52:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

From William Yaw Owusu, Johannesburg
Courtesy PHC Motors

Tuesday October 18, 2011.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) Group, a leader in the manufacture of luxurious Land Rover vehicles, says it is poised to commit more funds to advance the course of technology in the automobile industry.

Kevin Flynn, Managing Director of JLR South Africa & Sub Saharan Africa disclosed that the group had just committed 355 million pounds to a new engine plant in the Midlands in the United Kingdom to produce what he calls “Our next generation of four cylinder engines,” adding, “We are committed to strengthening our authentic brands in one global company under the banner of JLR.”

At the International Motor Show held in Johannesburg South Africa last week, JLR was one of the leading automobile manufacturers that made strong impressions about the future of automobile industry.

On display were several of JLRs iconic brands at the event which was rescheduled to this year due to the 2010 FIFA World Cup hosted by South Africa.

One of JLR’s masterpiece that caught the attention of car freaks and die-hard automobile enthusiasts was the Land Rover Evoque which PHC Motors is preparing to launch in the country soon.

Flynn said “we have 40 major project actions over the next five years. We are greatly performing very well. In fact last fiscal year we had $1.25 billion profits. And for the first quarter of this fiscal year we have also posted $248 million and this is a very solid growth in which to move forward.”

He said “it is our target to bring real sustainable business for long term growth. In fact the vision of Ratan Tata is something very special for our customers and it goes well with the Jaguar and Land Rover brands.”

Touching on the performance of JLR on the African continent, Mr. Flynn said “with investment of some 85 million Rand from our dealer network, we are expanding our jaguar and land rover dealer networks to move forward over the next couple of years.”

He said JLR is now represented in 30 sub Saharan markets, adding “we are restructuring our business to make sure that our customers will remain loyal and will enjoy the experience of owning our products.”

Mr. Flynn said JLR has recruited 22 experts to join them in the areas of research, marketing and training.

“We want to sustain our own business for the future by bringing through new management. We are passionate about having the right products in the right segments in our markets.”

Taking turns to outline the capabilities of Land Rover brands on display, Mr. Flynn said the new features for Discovery 4 for 2012 ensures it remains “crowned as the world’s most capable all-purpose vehicle which is winner of 36 awards since launch in 2009”

He said Range Rover Evoque “is the smallest, lightest, most fuel-efficient Range Rover ever produced. Uniquely in the compact SUV segment, the Range Rover Evoque allows customers to specify a lavishly appointed cabin, with soft, premium leather and beautifully tailored, twin needle stitching providing a luxurious finish to almost every surface of the instrument panel, doors and seats.”

On the Freelander, he said the 2011 Freelander 2 model range benefits from a new 2.2-litre diesel engine, sharper exterior looks and a smarter cabin while the 2012 Range Rover consolidates its position as the world’s most luxurious SUV with a host of style changes and feature upgrades.

On the Range Rover Sport, he said there is “more power, reduced CO2 an 8-speed transmission and improved interior features.”

IGP Fights Contempt Case

2011-10-14T00:23:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday October 14, 2011.
There were fireworks at the Fast Track Court 1 yesterday when Justice Edward Amoako Asante ruled that lawyers representing police administration could go ahead to move a motion seeking to set aside the court’s order to re-instate 24 police officers who were arbitrarily dismissed from the service.

On Tuesday when Anthony Kukruku and DCOP Ken Yeboah representing the IGP tried to move the motion, J.K. Yeboah, counsel for the 24 policemen raised preliminary legal objection to the entire application forcing the court to adjourn for ruling yesterday.

The court on October 2010, ordered the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to re-instate the 24 policemen, pay all entitlements due them including salaries and allowances from the date of their unlawful dismissal.

As a result, another Fast Track High Court presided over by Justice Denise Agyei of the Court of Appeal could not hear the contempt application brought against the IGP by the affected policemen for refusing to re-instate them.

The court adjourned the proceedings until October 17 to await the outcome of the application filed by the police administration to set aside order to re-instate the 24 policemen.

Moving the motion to set aside the order of certiorari by the court, Mr. Kukruku, counsel for the police administration said the Attorney-General ought to have been joined in the whole action initiated by the affected soldiers.

He said once Article 88 (5) of the 1992 Constitution prescribed that the Attorney-General as an advisor of the government should be joined in suits such as this and the petitioners had decided to exclude such a vital provision the order of certiorari earlier granted by the court to re-instate the 24 policemen should be declared void.

“Since it is void, the court has inherent jurisdiction to set aside the order of certiorari to re-instate the policemen and their salaries paid and promoted.”

Mr. Kukruku said the police administration had acted on behalf of the state and therefore the Attorney-General should have been the body to be sued by the petitioners.

“The processes used in securing the order of certiorari constituted procedural impropriety and it should be set aside by this court.”

Responding to the police administration’s submission, J.K. Yeboah argued that the Ghana Police Service is a creation of statute (Act 350) and that makes it a legal entity whose actions and inactions can be questioned without reference to the Attorney-General.

“The argument that the petitioners ought to have joined the AG to the action is not applicable in the instant case because where Article 88 (5) enjoins the AG to be part is a situation where that institution is not the creation of a statute.”

He argued that the action of the police is an administrative action and there was no need to join the Attorney-General in the suit simply because the petitioners were already using the government advisor’s authority to question action of the police.

“The application is misconceived because we did not come to court under Chapter 5 of the 1992 Constitution for the enforcement of our rights but rather we came here under Order 55 of CI 47 of 2004 which gives the power to anybody who is aggrieved to invoke the supervisory powers of the court.”

Mr. Yeboah said the non-joiner of the Attorney-General did not take away the jurisdiction of the court to make an order of certiorari to re-instate the 24 policemen.

Earlier in allowing the respondent applicant (IGP) to move the motion to set aside the certiorari order, Justice Amoako Asante has held that the contempt proceedings initiated against the IGP had not been determined and the court had the right to hear the motion since there has not been any conviction.

The ruling of the matter was fixed for October 27.

On April 13, 2007, the police administration announced the dismissal of 24 policemen after a Police Enquiry established that they misconducted themselves by allowing the media to cover the bad accommodation problems facing them at the Police Barrack Depot in Accra.

The affected policemen, who were not given a fair hearing at the Police Enquiry sitting, challenged the decision to dismiss them and won the case but the police administration blatantly refused to re-instate them as directed by the court leading to the filing of contempt proceedings against the IGP.

Proactive Energy Sector Advoacted

2011-10-14T00:18:00.000-07:00

Professor Dr. Daniel Buor, Vice Chancellor of Valley View University, explain the university’s approach towards environmentally sound energy delivery to Eberhard Schanze German Ambassador to Ghana and Katherina Reiche, Deputy Federal Minister for the Environment in Germany.

Posted on: www.dailyguigeghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday October 14, 2011.
The visiting Deputy Federal Minister for Environment in Germany, Katherina Reiche has urged Ghana not to relent on efforts to pursue sound energy policies that will meet the challenges of the 21st Century.

“Securing a reliable, economically viable and environmentally sound energy supply is one of the great challenges of this century. A core element of this is the implementation of the pivotal political objectives for our future energy system,” she explained.

The Minister was speaking at a public lecture themed: “The state and environment – German perspective,” at the Valley View University (VVU) at Oyibi, near Accra on Wednesday.

The lecture forms part of efforts by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), a German organization to partner some tertiary and other institutions in the country to find solutions to the energy situation in the country.

Ms. Reiche said Germany is billed to become “one of the most energy-efficient and greatest economies in the world while enjoying competitive energy prices and a high level of prosperity.”

She said a high level of energy security, effective environmental and climate protection and the provision of an economically viable energy supply are necessary for any country to remain a competitive industrial base in the long term.

She said Germany was determined to strengthen competition and market orientation on the energy markets, which would enable them to secure sustainable economic prosperity, jobs for the future, innovation and modernization.

“The challenges of sustainable energy provision derive in part from long-term global trends. The world’s rising demand for energy will lead in the long-term to a pronounced increase in energy prices,” she indicated.

The minister said Germany’s dependence on energy imports would continue to increase, adding “energy consumption currently causes 80 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.”

She said Germany’s present energy supply structures would have to be radically transformed in the medium to long term if they were to achieve energy security, value for money and the targets set by their climate protection policy.

Ms. Reiche said the huge potential for innovation, growth and employment could be tapped in the course of revamping the energy system.

Dr. Charles E. Gyansa-Easmon, an Agronomist, said a decentralized state-intervention in environmental-policy is effective in ensuring a sustainable balance between the environment and economic development.

Professor Dr. Daniel Buor, Vice Chancellor of Valley View University, in an introductory remark, confirmed that the university is committed to contributing meaningfully to the debate on climate change.

Minister’s Driver Arrested

2011-10-14T00:11:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday October 14, 2011.
Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways, Dr. Nii Oakley Quaye-Kumah together with his driver were on Tuesday arrested by the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service for flouting Motor Traffic Law.

The deputy Minister who doubles as the NDC MP for Krowor (Nungua) in the Greater Accra Region was caught by the police in a special operation on the Spintex Road in Accra.

The two were in a light green Toyota Landcruiser vehicle in the middle of the road allegedly on top speed when the police stopped them.

A source told Daily Guide that the deputy Minister had explained to the police that he was on his way to join President Atta Mills’ convoy touring the region at Tetteh Quarshie but the police said he could have asked for the assistance to escort him.

The Minister’s driver was however processed for court. The operation was mounted on the Spintex stretch leading to the Regimanuel Estate traffic light.

In all, the police according to the source, made about 50 arrests and it included high profile ones such as a chief from Nungua and a Member of Parliament.

When reached on telephone ASP Alexander Kwaku Obeng, leader of the operation confirmed that they indeed made some arrests including some high profile personalities but declined to mention their names.

He said the offenders were supposed to be arraigned yesterday but the Motor Court did not sit and assured that t was going to be done today.

“The indiscipline on our roads is getting out of hand and we need to put our feet down and ensure that our roads are safe,” he complained.

He said the police has realized that offenders mostly caught are those who are educated and people in high places.

Court Decides Fate Of IGP

2011-10-13T00:37:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday October 13, 2011.
A Fast Track High Court in Accra will today decide on whether or not to hear an application seeking to set aside the issue of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) allegedly disobeying the court’s order to re-instate 24 police officers who were arbitrarily dismissed from the service.

The court presided over by Justice Edward Amoako Asante adjourned proceedings because J.K. Yeboah, counsel for the 24 policemen raised preliminary legal objection yesterday to the movement of the police administration’s application seeking to set aside the court’s decision of October 2010, which ordered them to re-instate the policemen.

As a result, another Fast Track High Court presided over by Justice Denise Agyei of the Court of Appeal could not hear the contempt application brought against the IGP by the affected policemen for refusing to re-instate them.

The court adjourned the proceedings until October 17 to await the outcome of the application filed by the police administration to set aside order to re-instate the 24 policemen.

When the case was called, Mr. Kukruku and DCOP Ken Yeboah representing the IGP told the court that they were seeking to set aside the court’s order of certiorari for the police administration to re-instate the 24 policemen because the whole action was misplaced.

They argued that in a certiorari application such as this one, the petitioners (24 policemen) should have joined the Attorney-General as an advisor of the government to the whole action as provided under Article 88 (5) of the 1992 Constitution.

However, just as the argument was gathering momentum, Mr. Yeboah cut in with an objection saying that since the IGP had been cited for contempt and the respondent/applicant (IGP) had not taken any steps to purge himself of the contempt he (IGP) could not be heard on the application.

On April 13, 2007, the police administration announced the dismissal of 24 policemen after a Police Enquiry established that they misconducted themselves by allowing the media to cover the bad accommodation problems facing them at the Police Barrack Depot in Accra.

The affected policemen, who were not given a fair hearing at the Police Enquiry sitting, challenged the decision to dismiss them and won the case but the police administration blatantly refused to re-instate them as directed by the court leading to the filing of contempt proceedings against the IGP.

It all started when 30 policemen were brought before the Police Service Enquiry Board on charges of misconduct in 2007 but each of them denied the allegation.

According to the policemen, even though they were questioned, they were not allowed to tell their side of the story or cross-examine the witnesses who testified at the enquiry and later all they heard was that only six had been cleared and the rest (24) given dismissal letters to take effect from May 1, 2007.

Based on this, their counsel, J.K. Yeboah first filed an order of mandamus at the High Court, presided over by Justice N.M.C Abodakpi on June 24, 2009 to compel the IGP to “furnish the applicants with the proceeding that culminated in their discharge within 30 days after the service of this order.”

It took several months for the police administration to comply with the court’s order and when they finally did the lawyer realized his clients had been unfairly dismissed per the proceedings.

He therefore filed a notice for judicial review in the nature of Certiorari under order 55 Rule1 of C.I. 47/2004 asking the court to compel the police administration to re-instate the dismissed policemen.

The respondent (IGP) was served with the processes but his counsel failed to attend court when the application was moved before Justice Asante who quashed the decision by the police administration to dismiss the applicants and also awarded cost of GH¢ 1,000 for each applicant against the respondent.

The police was also ordered to pay all entitlements due the applicants including salaries and allowances from the date of their unlawful dismissal.

However, since October 25, 2010 when the court gave the order, the police administration has refused to comply with the court’s order.

Parties Adopt New Code of Conduct

2011-10-13T00:31:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday October 13, 2011.
The major political parties in the country with technical support from the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) yesterday finalized the much-awaited political parties’ code of conduct that would regulate their activities in the upcoming 2012 general elections.

The final workshop to shape the draft code was attended by high-profile members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP), Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Peoples National Convention (PNC).

The rest were Great Consolidated Peoples Party (GCPP), the EAGLE Party with the Electoral Commission (EC) and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in attendance as observers.

Concluding the code, Dr. Michael Ofori-Mensah, a policy analyst of the IEA said all the parties had all expressed concern about the way and manner certain provisions in the code of conduct is persistently abused and have pledged to make it work this time around.

“One key issue participants agreed on was the need to strengthen the enforcement mechanisms envisaged in the code in order to make its provisions more meaningful,” he said.

He said the code of conduct bears the hallmark of cross-party efforts and provides strong evidence of the political leaders’ capability to rise above partisan lines and work towards what he called “a congenial democratic system in our country.”

Dr. Ofori-Mensah said the code of conduct which is expected to serve as guide in the 2012 elections should be disseminated to the public to get the electorate to appreciate the effort to consolidate the democratic dispensation adding “it is the IEA’s hope that strong efforts will be made to conform to the code in order to maintain our hard-earned reputation as a model of good governance and democracy.”

Later in an interview, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, National Chairman of the NPP said the political parties flout the code of conduct because the enforcement has always been very weak.

He said “today we are in power, tomorrow we are in opposition but all we need to realize is that these are strings in political life of which we need a set of rules so we can all live with no matter where we find ourselves.”

He said “if we have to legislate the code then we should particularly look out for the ones that are breached at will so that we can make appropriate laws that can be more easily applied.”

“It is up to the political parties to generate the necessary goodwill for the code to be enforceable and workable. If that is done it makes politics better and I hope we will all be able to enforce the codes we set for ourselves,” he added.

“This is a competition of ideas, plans, vision and once we can actually get the debate onto that level and move away from just abuse it is going to help our course.”
Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, aka General Mosquito, General Secretary of the NDC said once the political parties have adopted the code they should be able to abide by it.

“We have tried to shape it so that we can all live by it. We have discussed it in an atmosphere of cordiality and transparency and I believe there would not be any difficulty in adopting it.”

He described the effort put in finalizing the code as “a learning process” saying “I think that we are progressing since we do not expect to achieve results overnight.

When you look at our democratic development there are improvements as we move along and so I want to believe that the conduct of parties in the upcoming election will be an improvement over the ones we have had over the years.”

Ghana In Trouble Over Gay Rights

2011-10-12T00:23:00.000-07:00

Posted on :www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday October 12, 2011.
The British government is planning to punish Ghana and other African countries for trampling on gay rights.

The punishment will come in the form of aid slash.

British Prime Minister David Cameron’s government is reported to have vowed to get tough on Ghana and others who have poor records on gay rights.

According to British Daily Mail, Andrew Mitchell UK’s International Development Secretary, is ready to tell African leaders they will receive funding "fines" if gay rights are not respected.

President John Evans Atta Mills has not taken an official position on homosexuality, despite numerous calls for tougher laws. Currently, the law forbids “unnatural carnal knowledge.”

In the Western Region, Minister Paul Evans Aidoo heightened the debate recently when he called for the heads of homosexuals by ordering the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to arrest them.

“We want to get rid of these people from the society,” he had said. “We want to get them so that we can test the strength of our laws.”

Christian leaders have already threatened to mobilize their congregations against politicians who defend homosexuality and lesbianism while Muslim leaders have also been swift to condemn homosexuality.

According to Daily Mail, the policy to slash aid to gay-unfriendly countries was re-affirmed when Mr. Cameron defended his decision to legalize gay weddings at a Conservative Party conference last week.

The British Prime Minister is reported to have vowed to persuade countries such as Ghana and Uganda where homosexuality is still a taboo to follow his lead – and he is ready to reduce aid to some of the world’s poorest people in order to push for gay rights.

A UK government spokesman is reported to have said they are committed "to combating violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in all circumstances, in this country and abroad."

Reiterating Britain's threat of aid withdrawal, the spokesman added, "We only provide aid directly to governments when we are satisfied that they share our commitments to reduce poverty and respect human rights."

Last month, the leaders of Britain's three main political parties pledged their support for a new London-based gay rights organization, called Kaleidoscope, hoping to modernize gay rights in former British colonies.

The organization, which plans to leverage the UK's political clout by encouraging countries to revoke discriminatory legislation, was strongly backed by Prime Minister Cameron who said "I want Britain to be a global beacon for reform."

The UK government has already taken steps against Malawi, cutting aid by $30 million after two homosexuals who held an engagement ceremony were sentenced to 14 months hard labor. And payments could be cut further to the southern African nation, which has received $312 since 2008, if it proceeds with plans to bring in tough anti-lesbian laws.

Uganda (due to receive $109 million this year) and Ghana (due to collect $56 million) could also face sanctions if they refuse to drop antiquated anti-gay laws. The possibility that these countries will see their aid slashed seems increasingly likely as Uganda has plans to punish same-sex couples with the death penalty, while Ghana's president has promised to "check the menace of homosexuality."

Jaguar Land Rover Wants Economic Stability

2011-10-11T01:12:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

From William Yaw Owusu, Johannesburg
Courtesy PHC Motors

Tuesday October 11, 2011.
Roland Reid, Marketing Manager of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) South Africa has stated that the absence of economic and socio-political stability in Africa is hampering the needed investments towards accelerated development of the continent.

“I am disappointed most African countries do not have assembling plants for cars. We have the technology, skills and the people and a lot of the natural resources that goes into a vehicle come from our continent but the weak economic and socio-political stability is denying us our fair share of investments.”

Mr. Reid expressed the concern at the International Motor Show held in Johannesburg South Africa last week where JLR was one of the leading automobile manufacturers that made strong impression about the future of automobile industry.

On display were several of JLRs iconic brands including the exquisite Land Rover Evoque as well as the elegant Jaguar XJ, XF, XKR, C-X 16 models.

Mr. Reid said over the years investments on the continent have not been attractive because Africa has been an unstable continent, adding “but you need economic and socio-political stability to attract investment and that will definitely lead to the creation of more jobs.”

“Currently investment monies appear to be going to countries where there is far more stability so it is key for the economic drivers for Africa to ensure economic and socio-political stability so that investors are attracted to us. They wish to be here but nobody would want to invest in a volatile economic and political environment.”

“It is important that Africa understands stable economy in every country to attract investors to put up manufacturing plants that they will get returns from. If there is stability the long term investment are going to come and the pressure on the governments to provide jobs will reduce.”

Mr. Reid said Africa has been one of the greatest markets for Land Rover brands while Jaguar is also coming, adding “we have been resurging as we strive to extend our footprints to Africa.”
“Africa has been traditionally a strong market for Land Rover for many years. The Defender has proven itself to be very capable vehicle in the harsh weather conditions. In the last couple of years there have been more luxurious Land Rovers finding their niche up and down the continent.”

He said JLR wants to ensure that their vehicles become more recyclable to reduce the carbon footprints to be able to make less impact on the environment, adding “we are very conscious about it and are working hard to get the best for everybody. We are improving on our designs so we have less impact.”

“With the expanding sales, our dealers on the continent are also creating jobs to help reduce the unemployment rate. With the expanding dealer network more people are getting jobs which were non-existent some years back in the various markets.”

“The future is brighter for us and over the coming years consumers are going to see more designs of our products on the market.”

He said JLR is not compromising on global standards for safety and added that “the clamour for specification is driven by the need for climate change and use of more light weight and more recyclable materials.”

38 Recruits Arrested

2011-10-11T00:59:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday October 11, 2011.
Thirty-Eight recruits mostly believed to be National Democratic Congress (NDC) foot soldiers who presented forged appointment letters to the Assin Fosu Training Center of Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) admission have been arrested by the service.

The 38 including 17 females were taken to the GIS Accra for questioning yesterday but two NDC politicians (a Regional Minister and an MP) whose names are being withheld for now are said to be interfering in the investigations.

Daily Guide learnt that the suspects allegedly forged the signature of the Director-General who is currently in the United Kingdom on an official visit to gain admission into the service.

Two junior officers attached to the GIS Band whose names were given as Wereko and Sarkodie have also been picked up in connection with the 38 arrests.

When Daily Guide visited the GIS headquarters near the Arko Adjei Interchange in Accra to verify the facts of the case, Assistant Controller of Immigration Francis Palmdeti, Head of Public Affairs of the service confirmed the arrests and said they were handing them over to the police for further investigation.

He however said he was not aware if any Minister had called the service to ask them to be lenient with the suspects and also added that he was not aware if the suspects are NDC foot soldiers.

According to the Head of Public Affairs, 250 recruits were engaged by the service five weeks ago to undergo six months training at Fosu in the Central Region and whilst there, the suspects over the weekend rushed with their ‘appointment’ letters claiming they had been authorised by the Director-General to join the 250 already in the training.

Later another source told Daily Guide that “majority of the suspects came on Saturday while the rest arrived on Sunday and they all had similar appointment letters purportedly signed by the Director-General.”

“When the Director-General was reached in his UK base he said he had not made any such authorization and immediately ordered their arrests,” a source said.

At the GIS headquarters, Accra the Regional Minister and NDC MP were said to have placed separate telephone calls to the GIS pleading with them to be ‘lenient’ with the suspects because they have their people among them.

Police Assault National Hero

2011-10-05T04:16:00.000-07:00

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday October 5, 2011.
Mike Ahey, one of the best athletes the country has ever produced, had a rude shock of his life last Saturday when police men from the Madina Police Division subjected him to severe beatings for reasons best known to them.

He has therefore petitioned the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Bureau (PIPS) at the Police Headquarters in Accra to investigate what he termed the “Professional misconduct by policemen from the Divisional Police Headquarters – Madina.”

Narrating his ordeal to DAILY GUIDE yesterday, Mr. Ahey, a Commonwealth Games medalist, said he was supervising the fixing of his gate in front of his house when a team of uniformed and plainclothes police officers parked a vehicle right beside him and dashed to the area where the drug peddlers operate to arrest some people.

“I saw that they had arrested some innocent persons, including a dressmaker who was sewing in her kiosk and her brother who had come to visit her, and some drug users, so I informed the police officers that the real culprits were still around and that these were innocent people.

“I then told them that at least they should have approached those of us in the neighbourhood to point out to them the real culprits and not have conducted themselves in the manner they did which would only lead to innocent persons being victimized.”

According to the 69-year-old, one of the policemen, whose name tag read Gyamfi, alleged that “if you are sensible you would have sacked the drug peddlers from our neighbourhood and that if you have failed to do so and we are doing our job, you have no business complaining.”

He said he insisted that the police were arresting the wrong people and in the process the arresting officers entered the opposite house, adding “the next thing I saw was that they were beating one of my daughters called Aurelia and when the elder sister called May protested against the beatings they attacked her and beat her also.”

Mr. Ahey said the policemen, led by Gyamfi pursued Aurelia to his bedroom, adding, “I attempted to come between my daughter and the policemen, asking Gyamfi what she had done to deserve the physical assault and all this while, seven of the drug peddlers were there looking on as the policemen turned their guns on us.

“As I tried to rescue my daughter one of the policemen went behind me, booted me down, hit me with the butt of his gun and as I struggled to get on my feet he slapped and kicked me until the man who was working on my gate called Karim came to rescue me.”

He said Aurelia was detained at the Madina Police Station cell until 7:00 pm, adding “when I went to the police station to lodge a complaint the same Gyamfi insisted that nobody was going to take a statement from me and that if I do not take care they would put me in handcuffs.”

He said he personally moved to the Madina Police Station, ClD Anti-Narcotics office at the police Headquarters and the MP for Abokobi-Madina, Alhaji Amadu Sorogho to report the activities of drug peddlers but to not avail.

Mr. Ahey alleged that those arrested were released and they targeted his family saying “it is apparent that they picked the information from their police sources about who had lodged the complaint.”

“These criminals have always taunted me and my family boasting that nothing would come out of the complaints I continue to make because they have bought the Madina Police and other police units.”

Ahey, a gold medalist at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia, also won silver in the 4 by 100 relay race at the same event.

The tall and lanky Ahey, a three-time Olympian competed in the 1964 Tokyo, Japan Games, 1968 Mexico City, Mexico Games and the 1972 Munich, Germany Games.

His 1962 long jump national record of 8.19 meters stood for decades until it was smashed in 2004 by new sensation, Ignatius Gaisah of Ghana at the All Africa Games in Abuja, Nigeria

MP Donates To Constituents

2011-10-04T00:30:00.001-07:00

Hon. Daoud Anum Yemoh presenting a sewing machine to one of the NYEP beneficiaries. Supporting him is Samuel Awuku Kulego, NDC Chairman of the constituency.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday October 4, 2011.
As part of efforts to make Ghanaians have a feel of the government’s ‘Better Ghana’ Agenda, the Member of Parliament for Domeabra-Obom in the Greater Accra region has presented assorted item worth millions of Cedis to communities in the constituency.

The items included 600 bags of cement for the construction of schools, sanitary facilities, 40 brand new laptops and computers and accessories, as well as two packets of roofing sheets and sewing machines for NYEP graduands.

According to the MP, Hon. Daoud Anum Yemoh, the cement and computers were funded from the MPs Common Fund while the roofing sheets and sewing machines were sponsored by himself and the government respectively.

He said the distribution is being done according to specific requests made by the various communities, noting “most of the communities want us to provide more educational infrastructure, particularly at the basic level followed by sanitation facilities including toilets.”

The delegates in the constituency, after a short presentation ceremony at Kwaku Pamfo, suggested that if the national and regional executives of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) would permit, their MP should contest the upcoming primaries unopposed.

Samuel Dartey, the officer in charge of water and sanitation in the Ga South Municipality told DAILY GUIDE that the water and sanitation situation has improved tremendously, saying “the MP is collaborating effectively with the assembly to solve the water and sanitation needs of the people.”

He said within a short period, the MP and the assembly have managed to sponsor the construction of about 20 boreholes and instituted pipe schemes for the delivery of mechanized water for the people, adding that “about 80 per cent of the constituency now has access to potable water”.

He said the MP has also rehabilitated all the damaged boreholes and instituted water projects for communities, which are yet to benefit from the water scheme.

Mr. Dartey also said some NGOs, particularly Action Aid, have tremendously assisted them by executing many developmental projects, saying “the effective collaboration between the MP, assembly and other stakeholders is yielding dividends.”

Samuel Awuku Kulego, NDC Chairman of Domeabra-Obom said “our MP is doing his best and it is up to us to offer our unflinching support for him to do more.”

“He is working hard to make basic education accessible for all. He has embarked on massive water and sanitation projects and is supporting establishment of clinic to see to the health needs of the people.”
He said the constituents want a police station to be established in the area, stressing that the MP has already paid for a plot of land at Kwaku Pamfo to pave way for the construction of a police post.

Mr. Kulego said “he is the first MP in the constituency to get so low with the people. He is always with us and understands our problems. His relationship with the constituency and ward executives is very cordial and that is helping to accelerate the development of the area.”

Tears Flow At Kokompe

2011-10-03T00:39:00.000-07:00

Disaster! the afthermath of Darkuman Kokompe fire.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday October 3, 2011.
Shop Owners at Kokompe at Darkuman junction in Accra could not contain the trauma of seeing their investments in ruins as they broke down in tears following a deadly inferno that swept through one of the old markets in the country on Friday night.

The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) was tested on its fire control capability again as the firemen were overwhelmed by the fire which teased them for several hours as onlookers wondered whether they were really primed for the assignment despite taking delivery of firefighting equipment recently.

The fire which started at about 10pm remained untamable by the firemen with their tenders until around 4am leaving in its trail destroyed goods worth several millions of Ghana Cedis and collapsed traders.

Several public buildings and markets have seen one fire incident or the other sometimes leaving their trail deaths apart from destruction of properties.

The intensity of the fire could be determined by the pockets of smoldering fire dotting the place as firemen moved around to put them out with policemen on standby to contain any act of lawlessness or outright theft when such situations arise.

A fireman told DAILY GUIDE that they have been working all night to bring the situation under control an indication of how serious the fire was.

The place had been thrown into a state of mourning and traders, even men wept uncontrollably over the loss of their wares and capital, with victims claiming that they had cash in their shops. Dada Kofi aka Obolo, a victim said “I have six stores full of goods on credit but I could not retrieve a penny from it. The inferno was strong…it was like hell…the firemen could not do anything about it.”

“I buy or credit materials and goods worth GHc2000 on daily basis and they are all gone within a twinkle of an eye.”

Another shop owner who gave his name as Benjilo said “when I got to the scene the fire had not entered the spot where my shop is but the fire officers said their vehicles were using gas and so could not get close to the fire while others also said there were no water hydrants around.”

“How are we starting again? This is our lives…we have lost everything…we appeal to the government to support us just as NADMO has been doing for flood victims and we will appreciate it very much,” he said.

It took several hours for fire personnel to break through but their inability to get access to fire hydrants exacerbated the situation and the GNFS had call for reinforcement from Tema.

Eyewitnesses gave contradictory statements about how the fire started. While some said power outage triggered the inferno others claimed it was due to negligence on the part of a watchman named only as Efo whom the AMA boss, Alfred Oko Vanderpuije confirmed DAILY GUIDE was currently in police custody to assist in investigations.

At about 9:10am, Mr Vanderpuije arrived at the scene to assess the extent of damage for himself.

The AMA boss who was visibly shaken by the turn of events expressed concern about the persistent fire outbreaks in the various public places and assured he had already called for a thorough investigation into the disaster.

In a brief message he said “this fire outbreak is a bother to all of us so I came to assure you that we will investigate to know what exactly happened.”

Sharing his thoughts on what might have happened, the AMA boss said “they burn the materials they do not need at the end of the day. I have been here personally on three or four occasions to help put away small fires but unfortunately this is one that got out of control. What we had anticipated could happen in the past is what has happened today so we have to put our hands together to see what we could do.”

“Apart from congestion, they have their own way of disposing unwanted materials and setting fire on these unwanted materials is one of the means even though it may sometimes not be the best means.”

“I always come here to warn them about the fires. It is unfortunate that this has turned into a major disaster. We will be meeting the leadership of the various associations here to see the way forward.”

“It may not be intentional because they always try to dispose off unwanted material at the end of the day and that may have triggered the fire. We have always spoken against that.”

“There has not been report of any loss of life. I have not been briefed on that. The Fire Service briefed me about the situation but did not say there were deaths.”

Forum Against Human Trafficking

2011-10-03T00:33:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday October 3, 2011.
THE MONTHLY Citizen Kofi Media Dialogue Series that seeks to identify development problems of the country and tries to offer suggestions for social change has moved to sensitize media practitioners on one of the major threats to human existence – Human trafficking.

Human trafficking described widely as modern-day slavery is a lucrative business that needs well-resourced and motivated media and other state institutions to break the front this social menace.

At the Citizen Kofi Center in Accra last Friday, Angela Dwamena-Aboagye of the Ark Foundation who was the moderator for the 9th edition of the thought-provoking dialogue described human trafficking as “a social menace that needs a concerted effort to fight and defeat it.”

“We as a country are not doing well in this area at all. People are trafficked on a daily basis and nobody seems to care about the situation. Those who indulge in this heinous crime do so with impunity.”

She said the journalists needed more training to help expose what she called “this sophisticated criminal business”, adding “we have to take a stand and raise the issue to a level where we can demand accountability.”

Dr. Kofi Amoah, owner of Citizen Kofi and initiator of the Dialogue Series the issue of human trafficking is a crucial one and should never be taken for granted.

“Before I came here I was surfing the internet and came across startling revelations about this illicit trade. According to the United Nations, the global profit for human trafficking for 2005 alone was estimated between 31.5 billion dollars and in 2008 alone about 2.5 billion people from 127 countries were trafficked to 137 countries.”

“This is alarming statistics. From the records, this illicit trade is supposed to be second only to drug trafficking.”

He said the time has come for the media to use its platform to engage the public and sensitize them on the menace human trafficking poses to the entire society.

“Be advocates for moving the country to the right direction and with the media’s deep involvement we can all help to bring this menace under control.”

A Deputy Director from the Department of Social Welfare said the government was doing its best to check the menace but lack of resources was the main reason mitigating against the effort.

“We are mandated to protect the vulnerable in the society particularly women and children and we have put in place some mechanism to monitor the situation and UNICEF has been helpful in this area of our work,” he said.

Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, Managing Editor of Crusading Guide who shared his experience on how he and his team of reporters are using the media to fight the menace said there “inadequacies relative to legislative frameworks”.

“Those of us in the field are confronted with certain challenges including risks. It is a multi-million business. It is like the narcotic drugs business. We have to find ways of protecting the journalists who are willing to confront the menace.”

He said the capacities of the media needed to be built to be able to tackle this global phenomenon saying “without capacity building we would not get anywhere.”

A number of local NGOs who are working in the area of human trafficking also shared their experiences with the large audience.

Justice for the Poor crucial – Prof Dankwa

2011-10-03T00:08:00.000-07:00

Some of the dignitaries at the lecture included Professor Stephen Adei (2nd right), former Rector GIMPA; Prof. EVO Dankwa (3rd right), the main speaker and Sam Okudzeto (4th right) who chaired the forum.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Saturday October 1, 2011.
Professor Emmanuel Victor Oware Dankwa, one of the best legal brains in the country has said those tasked to dispense justice must always strive to avoid the perception that they exist to serve only the well-off in society.

“The use of the application of the law that we have learnt, the oath of office that we have taken, the conscience that prick us to do what is right are the guides that brings justice in righteousness.” he said.

Professor Dankwa was speaking at 11th in a series of public lectures organized by the William Ofori Atta Heritage to mark the late statesman’s centenary celebration.

William Eugene Amoako Atta Ofori Atta aka Paa Willie (1910 - 1988) was one of the torch bearers (later called the Big Six in political parlance) in the struggle for independence for Ghana from the British.

Speaking on the topic: “Justice in righteousness”, Prof. Dankwa said “righteousness can help those who apply the law to enhance justice”.

Occasionally making references in the Holy Bible Prof. Dankwa said judges should speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves and judge fairly so that the underprivileged in society would have hope.

“Maintain justice in the courts. A judge who has taken bribe cannot give a fair and just decision. Righteousness should preclude a judge from subverting the law. The judicial oath that our judges take gives no room for bribes. If we all want righteousness in our courts then bribery must be avoided by our judges.”

He said the constitution can be stifled, strangled or subverted if there is no recourse to justice, adding “judges wanting to pursue justice must not consider family, party affiliations, personal advancement or fear of the consequences of the true Judgement.”

“Justice must be seen to emanate from the courts. Truth and justice must have the last word in the legal system.”

“Not inclining the ear in judging a matter is the fundamental principle of fairness in the traditional system of time immemorial.”

Prof. Dankwa said “30 per cent of our population is considered poor and a large portion of them live in the rural areas. It is expensive to access justice and it is a reason for the grant of legal aid under Article 294 of the constitution. Even though the legal aid scheme Act of 1997is supposed to serve the needy, regrettably, the comprehensive legal aid policy is yet to be developed.”

Community mediation centers have been set up and as at 2008 the centers had increased to 26 so therefore justice was getting closer to people in an inexpensive manner adding “it is hoped that it will be extended throughout the country so that justice will be closer to all.”

Turning to conditions at prisons and other detention centers, Prof. Dankwa said the conditions must be humane for there to be justice in righteousness.

“For 12 years Prof Dankwa I was the a leading member of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights and served for parts of that period as Vice Chair, Chair and Special Rapporteur on Prisons and detention Centers in Africa on the commission and therefore I have an insight into the harsh conditions of prisons on the continent”.

“Harsh conditions in the prisons do not lead to justice for all. The Justice for all Programme being undertaken is a step in the right direction.”

He cautioned lawmakers not to make laws that would bring hardships to the people saying “Unjust legislation cannot make justice in righteousness. Parliamentarians must be sensitive to the laws that they pass. They must always consider righteousness in the laws that they pass.”

“Preventive Detention Act (PDA) introduced during the Nkrumah regimes was a notorious legislation but that even as one condemns the PDA righteousness should prevent us from engaging in terrorists acts.”

He condemned what has come to be known as instant justice in the country saying “due process must be followed in determining the guilt of those who are suspect of committing crimes. Instant injustice has no place in a democratic dispensation and justice in righteousness does not allow for this.”

Prof. Dankwa eulogized Paa Willie saying “his sense of humour none can match, not just the content but the manner of delivery. He believed in justice in righteousness and wished justice for all.”

Biometric Verification Is Key - Says Group

2011-09-29T01:13:00.000-07:00

Members of the CFI at the news conference (from Left): Douglas Quartey (IDEG), Emmanuel Bombande (WANEP), Major General (Rtd) C.N. Coleman (Chairman of CFI), Prof. Kwame Ninsin (Chairman of IDEG) and Dr. Kwesi Jonah of the University of Ghana.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday September 29, 2011.
“If the system cannot be verified then it will come with serious problems for the nation”.

This was the assessment of a coalition of Civil Society Organizations on the much-talked about biometric voters registration exercise to be carried out by the Electoral Commission (EC) for the 2012 general election.

“We are very clear in our statement. Verification is something that everybody wants and it is important that we should not make verification an ‘either or issue’. In case there is a challenge we want to find the means of verification then upon that we can be able to insist on what is right but if we do not have verification mechanism how are we able to engage one another?”

The coalition which calls itself Civic Forum Initiative (CFI) had organized a news conference in Accra yesterday to share their ‘perspectives’ on the impending biometric voters registration which they said is “one of the most troubling political developments in our country as we prepare towards the 2012 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.”

The organizations that make up the CFI are the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP), African Security Dialogue and Research (ASDR), Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), National Chief Imam’s Office, National Catholic Secretariat, Trades Union Congress (TUC) and Women in Law and Development (WiLDAF).

Addressing the media at the premises of IDEG, Emmanuel Bombande of WANEP who read the CFI’s statement said it was no secret that the bidding process for the procurement of biometric registration equipment has been a matter for litigation before the courts while verification on election day in the biometric system has become a very contentious issue between some political parties and the EC.

“Just yesterday, September 27, 2011, the Commercial Court a division of the Fast Track High Court cleared the way for the EC to award the contract for the procurement of the biometric register for the 2012 elections.”

He said “we are of the view that unless these issues are urgently addressed, they could pose a serious threat to the credibility of the 2012 Presidential and Parliamentary elections as occurred in 2008. It is also important that all efforts are made to reduce delays to the minimum and raise public confidence in the biometric registration system that is being introduced.”

Mr. Bombande said all stakeholders especially political parties must maintain the trust in the EC and support the commission not only to complete the biometric registration process but also to deliver free, fair and transparent elections in 2012 saying “as major stakeholders in Ghana's democracy, political parties and the EC should work closely together and do so in good faith.”

“Constitutionally, the EC is an independent State institution that must not be subject to the control of any other body or institution in the performance of its functions. However we also recognize that the EC, like all state institutions, must be fully accountable to its various publics.”

According to the WANEP boss, the functional effectiveness and past successes of the commission had been enhanced by “its responsiveness to ideas and proposals that invariably contributed to the integrity of both the processes and outcomes of Ghana's widely acclaimed record of holding free, fair and transparent elections,” and should continue to be receptive to dialogue.

He said the EC since 1992 has established a good track record in the management of elections and has won the trust and confidence of everybody including the international community saying “in view of its past performance, the EC is an institution that must be trusted to conduct free, fair and transparent elections.”

“We recall the serious flaws and abuses associated with the manual voters' registration in this country. At this stage we think the nation should not consider manual voters’ registration as a viable option.”

“In that regard, we appeal to the EC to take concrete measures to ensure that issues raised about verification, quality and security of the biometric voters register are comprehensively addressed to the satisfaction of all stakeholders, and in a timely manner.”

“The EC and other stakeholders such as the NCCE, the media and CSOs should be supported to intensify public education on the biometric registration system. This should be done early enough to enhance general understanding and appreciation of the value addition we hope the system will bring to the credibility of the electoral roll and the conduct of free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections in 2012.”

He said the people of Ghana and the entire international community are looking up to the country to maintain the very high standards the EC has already set in managing competitive elections adding “we cannot afford to fail in 2012.”

During question time, Mr. Bombande said it was important and urgent for the EC to work towards regaining public confidence towards 2012 saying “it is what we do before that provides the quality and not what happens on voting day. And so there is that component of public education.”

“Associated with that is the key stakeholders. If you notice we highlighted the question of trust. When mistrust deepens it creates the grounds for these contentious issues to become more difficult to deal with.”

He said all the stakeholders will not disagree with anybody that they want a credible election and added “but if we all agree that we want a credible election and there are issues that need to be put on the table why are we taking so long to sit down and talk about them.”

“In our analysis as Civic Forum initiative, we see that we are seeing a growing and deepening mistrust and we are saying let us stop that mistrust now… and for that reason we have called the track record of the EC and we have drawn the attention of the people Ghana to the fact that we have done it before and therefore cannot afford to fail.”

He said the problems are not because it is a biometric registration but rather because key stakeholders have a deep perception of mistrust about the other saying “that is why we are calling on the EC to institute those measures that allow the consultative processes, the dialogue processes for the consensus building.”

Mr. Bombande said that the journey to December 2012 is going to be achieved on the processes of every stakeholder being part of the consensus building and consultative process rather than standing on the sides and raising the issues without being part of the whole process.

EC’s Independence Real – Sarfo Kantanka

2011-09-29T00:53:00.000-07:00

Mr. Sarfo Kantanka explaining issues to the delegation.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw OwusuThursday September 29, 2011.
THE DEPUTY Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC) in charge of Operations, Kwadwo Sarfo Kantanka has reaffirmed the commitment of the commission to assert its independence under the constitution.

“This current composition of the commission has been in existence since 1992. We have supervised many general elections of which the outcomes have further consolidated the country’s democracy. We have always operated within the confines of the law and all stakeholders have accorded us the respect we need.”

Mr. Sarfo-Kantanka was speaking in Accra yesterday when a delegation from political parties in Tanzania paid a familiarization visit to the Commission.

The visit was organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) for the delegation to get first hand information on how certain institutions of state are advancing the course of democracy in Ghana.

Giving an overview of the functions of the EC, the deputy Commissioner said it was erroneous for anybody to hold that the EC manipulated election results to favour certain political parties saying, “The system is so strict that before we at the national head office get the results, everybody is aware of it at the polling station level.”

Asked how the commission handles allegations of rigging he said, “Nobody has been able to prove allegations of rigging against us but when we receive reports of malpractices, we set our investigative machinery in motion.”

He said “we are subject to the electoral and other laws of the land. Where we go wrong we are taken to court. In most cases we win our cases and lose a few.”

He told the delegation that the Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) has been very collaborative in the effort to ensure that the organization of elections is effective saying “they make their views known to us if they are not happy with certain issues and we take our time to explain issues to them.”

He noted that the EC was planning to increase the polling stations to about 23,500 so that the commission could bring the processes of elections to the doorsteps of the electorate.

Mr. Sarfo-Kantanka also said the EC was waiting for the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) to release findings from the 2010 Population and Housing Census to enable them to consider increment of constituencies.

The deputy commissioner said the collaboration between the security agencies and the judiciary was effective adding “we involve the security agencies particularly the police whenever the need arises.

“Once the system is solid, it will be difficult for anybody to be favoured. In the end it is the process that will indicate whether the process has been free and fair but in all these we have always tried our best to live above reproach as a commission.”

“We have insulation from interference under the constitution and we want to maintain the sanctity of the commission.”

Dr. Michael Ofori-Mensah, a policy analyst at the IEA, who led the delegation, in his introductory remarks, said the institute was committed to deepening the democratic engagements of state institutions to ensure accelerated development of democracy.

Lecturer Vows To Capture Ayawaso West For NDC

2011-09-29T00:35:00.000-07:00

Dr. Ebenezer Kofi Hayford wants to lead the NDC to capture the seat from the NPP.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday september 29, 2011.
A lecturer at Geology Department of the University of Ghana Dr. Ebenezer Kofi Hayford says he is the ideal candidate to ‘capture’ the Ayawaso West Wugon Constituency for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).

“I have been in this constituency for many years and I know development needs of the constituents. The NDC has been an orphan in the constituency for 15 years. I come on board as a servant who is prepared to recapture the seat for our great party.”

Speaking to DAILY GUIDE after filing his nomination to contest the Ayawaso West Wugon Constituency primaries of the NDC, Dr. Hayford, who is a National Executive Committee member of the ruling party, emphasized the need for NDC to present what he called ‘solid’ candidates to enable them capture more seats and also retain power in 2012.

He said the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) which currently controls the seat has lost what he called “confidence of the people,” adding “whether they like it or not next year the voters are going to give them an exit cheque.”

“For years that the NPP has sat on the seat, you cannot pinpoint anything specific that they have done for the electorate. The NPP has not justified the sort of trust put into them by the electorate,” he claimed.

“This constituency is one of the largest and richest in the country. Although you have some of the modern houses, good streets in Accra in this constituency we have also got areas where the streets are actually very bad. The area has been developed such that it is difficult for you to get recreational centers especially for the youth.”

He said, “I am more concerned for the youth, we have to create enough avenues for the youth to explore their potential. We have to nurture them to become responsible future leaders who will do everything to move Ghana forward. If the opportunities are there the youth might not very quickly turn to acts that impede the development of the nation.”

He said creation of employment is critical on his agenda.

“I want to see the constituents, particularly the youth enter into productive ventures. The issue of joblessness must be tackled without delay.”

“I have also realized that even though our constituency is the richest, we do not have a party office. I know the constituency executives are trying hard to find an office space for us. I am going to set myself a task to build an elaborate constituency office. I have already started talking to some members of the party on how to raise funds for such a laudable project.

“I will also make sure that all the wards get spaces for meetings in the form of offices to enhance party activities.”

“I must be honest that it is not all problems that can be solved at the constituency level but in any case with the strategy I have, I should be able to handle most of the problems that may come up.

“Already I am assisting brilliant but needy students and I am going to intensify this effort when I get the nod. I believe that we should use our positions to bring hope to the needy.”

He said President Mills’ Better Ghana Agenda is on course and it was up to the appointees to articulate the policies of the NDC government to the people.

John Tia Lauds Ghana’s Media

2011-09-28T00:08:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday September 28, 2011.
Minister of Information John Akologu Tia says even though there may be excesses in the media, it has become “indispensable in the country’s journey towards socio-economic advancement.”

“The various socio-economic programmes carried out on our print and electronic media in the form of documentaries, features and discussions go a long way at educating the masses. The sheer wide coverage nature of the television and the radio means that the media has become such a powerful medium with which to educate, inform and entertain dispersed people within the shortest possible time.”

The minister was speaking at the opening at a regional tool kit pre-validation workshop for the working group on Communication for Education and Development (COMED) in Africa at GIMPA, Accra on Monday.

The three-day event is being organized by the COMED working group in collaboration with the Ghana Journalists Association and the Institute of Continuing and Distance Education for journalists, academics, communication experts and education specialists from several parts of Africa in attendance.

The COMED programme was established in 1998 to help build national consensus and enhance public support for education policies and programs. It became an ADEA working group in 2002.

The working group is made up of four major constituencies: ministries of education through their communication or information units, media specialized in education reporting, communication researchers and trainer and development organizations involved in the group's areas of concern.

Mr. Tia said the role of the media is even more prominent because “it has become so accessible to the masses therefore through the regular media debates, talk shows and public interactions,” the electorate had become part of the governance process and “responsible comments on programmes and policies are given fair consideration by politicians and other government actors.”

He said what the media is doing “gives further impetus to the country’s goal of ensuring that there is a cross-sectoral participation in the business of governance.”

“One cannot exhaust the importance of the media without exploring how the media integrates other communication platforms to advance the cause of both formal and informal education. Today in Ghana, educational instructions targeted at both junior and senior high school students are broadcast on television,” he noted adding “this is indeed possible through the combined effect of the media and other communication platforms which have virtually eroded spatial limitations.”

The minister pledged to work toward strengthening inter-ministerial collaborations to ensure that government’s business becomes very effective.

Lawalley Cole, Coordinator of WG COMED said he was hopeful that the toolkit will remain an integral instrument in the education sector.

Seatholo Tumedi, Coordinator of the COMED Toolkit in Botswana said the scenarios in the module which the toolkit is seeking to address are prevalent in Southern Africa.

Professor Kate Addo-Adeku, a member of COMED said Ghana has been playing a lead role in actualizing the objectives set out in the toolkits and called for continuous collaboration to ensure it is followed to bring accelerated development.

Professor Yaw Oheneba-Sakyi, Head of the Institute of Continuing Education said his outfit was prepared to partner the media to facilitate the COMED agenda.

For his part, Ransford Tetteh, President of the GJA said the time had come for the media to reassess its contribution towards development and tackle teething problems that are hindering development.

Professor Alfred Opubor, the first man in Africa to get a PHD in Communication said it is absolutely not true that development stories are not interesting.

“I think it is rather poor journalism which is not interesting. Even when it deals with the fables of people in society including politicians, it can get boring if it is not well handled. We know that there is development journalism. Read stories of websites and other media that are doing well on development issues and you as a journalist will be inspired.

“What we need is not a move away from development journalism but a move to get our journalists better trained to write stories on African development in an engaging and professionally competent manner”

Pressure Mounts on Electoral Commission

2011-09-27T00:41:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday September 27, 2011
PRESSURE IS mounting on the Electoral Commission (EC) to complete the processes that will lead to the much-talked about biometric registration for the 2012 general elections.

With about 14 months to the elections, political parties, particularly the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and People’s National Convention (PNC) have raised red flags over the process being adopted by the EC for the exercise expressing fears that the program might not materialize after all.

Last month, some parties walked out of a demonstration exercise organized by the EC for shortlisted companies, one of whom was to be selected to undertake the biometric registration.

They cited the pending legal action instituted by another company that felt shortchanged in the short-listing process.

Apart from organizing public education and orientation to staff and all stakeholders on the new technology, the EC is yet to present a proposal to parliament for the amendment of the Public Election Act that allows the commission to conduct the biometric registration exercise.

The EC is also silent on the critical issue of verification of the whole biometric process without which the process will be flawed.

Even though Acting Public Affairs Director of EC, Christian Owusu-Parry has assured that the commission is on course to delivering on the biometric registration, an allegation by the political parties that the EC had kept them in the dark on the implementation process is worrisome.

Amidst the confusion, Intelligent Card Production Systems (ICPS) - the company that instituted the legal action has hit back strongly against accusations that it was responsible for the delay in the implementation of the biometric registration exercise because of its decision to seek redress in court.

A news release issued by ICPS Consortium signed by its Legal Director Joseph Kofi Amoako titled: ‘Re: Procurement of Biometric Voters Registration System,’ said ICPS was correcting “certain factual inaccuracies in the public domain on this issue”
The company said in March 2011, the ICP-led consortium of international companies was “shortlisted and pre-qualified to submit a bid for the Biometric Voter Registration System, after it submitted an expression of interest in the project pursuant to an advertisement in the newspapers in February 2011.”

The statement said “Five (5) entities were initially short-listed and prequalified in order of merit (ICPS consortium was 4th in ranking), but subsequently, the EC increased the number of shortlisted companies and pre-qualified entities to seven (7), which ICPS contends, was in contravention of a mandatory limit of six (6) as set by the Public Procurement Act (Act 663) Section 67.

“In the first week of August 2011, the EC commenced its evaluation of the shortlisted companies including the ICPS led consortium. By a letter dated 11th August 2011, the EC informed ICPS that its bid had been disqualified because it was not responsive.”

The release said the reason advanced was that ICPS failed to submit a Certificate of Incorporation with its tender documents, a decision that ICPS contended was not in consonance with sections 58 & 59 of the Procurement Act (Act 663).

“ICPS considers its disqualification unlawful, unfair and arbitrary, as there was no requirement for the said Certificate to be submitted (as required by law), in the Invitation to Tender (ITT).”

According to the statement, “without responding to ICPS’ protest letter on August 12, the EC on August 15 commenced the second stage of the evaluation process by calling two (2) of the shortlisted companies to demonstrate their Technical Proposal.

“The ICPS consortium was compelled to commence legal proceedings against the EC on the morning of 15th August 2011 when the EC started the demonstrations as scheduled at 11am, without having evaluated the ICPS consortium’s Technical Proposal.”

The release said on the same day, ICPS wrote two letters to the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), complaining about what it viewed as a breach of the law in the EC’s conduct of the bidding process and applied for an administrative review of the wrongful disqualification and exclusion of its bid from the demonstration.

“The EC was served with the application for interlocutory injunction around 11:35am on 15th August 2011 when it had just commenced the demonstration. The EC however proceeded with the said demonstration in spite of service of the court process on it.”

“It was not until the EC was instructed by the PPA to suspend the demonstration for a period of seven (7) days by a letter dated 15th August 2011 that it halted the said demonstration. The suspension of the demonstration, the PPA indicated to ICPS was because the PPA was investigating a case for Administrative Review, as per its mandate under Section 82 of the Public Procurement Act (Act 663). Consequently, ICPS discontinued the suit against the EC on 19th of August 2011, to allow the PPA’s Administrative Review process to proceed in order to save a lengthy court process.”

The release said having ascertained that ICPS had established a prima facie case, “the PPA by a letter dated 22nd August extended the suspension for the entire tender process for a further period of twenty-three (23) working days. On 23rd August 2011, the PPA issued another letter, commencing a full scale investigation into the matter by demanding relevant documents from the EC to enable it conduct an effective Administrative Review.

“Notwithstanding the suspension of the bid process by the PPA, the EC went ahead in contravention of the PPA’s orders for suspension and Administrative Review, and scheduled the morning of 30th August 2011 to resume the demonstration of the technical proposals of the two (2) bidders. On 30th August 2011, the ICPS consortium was therefore compelled to re-institute legal proceedings due to the EC’s disregard of the PPA’s suspension order. Had the EC complied with the suspension order, ICPS would not have returned to the courts and the PPA’s expedited Administrative Review would have concluded and the contract awarded by now.”

The ICPS consortium assured the public that the institution of legal proceedings against the EC “is not an attempt to delay the biometric voter’s registration exercise; neither is ICPS imputing any malicious intent to the EC.”

The statement said the actions taken by ICPS consortium was to ensure that the rule of law prevailed by pointing out what it called “grievous errors of law made by the EC that can and must be corrected expeditiously, and also to exercise its constitutional right to protect its interests in relation to its wrongful exclusion from the bidding process.”

Mills Battered Over Lame UN Speech

2011-09-27T00:34:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday September 27, 2010.
Kwesi Pratt Junior, Managing Editor of Insight has descended heavily on President John Evan Atta Mills for his ‘free school uniform, exercise books, elimination of schools under trees’ address delivered at the United Nations General Assembly.

“You compare the speech that our President gave to speeches delivered by Evo Morales (Bolivian President) and see how he grabbed world attention. It is incredible…I must say with all honesty that I was not impressed at all with President Mills’ speech.”

Speaking on Radio Gold’s news analysis programme Alhaji and Alhaji last Saturday, Mr. Pratt who has been defending President Mills and NDC government said the free school uniform, exercise books, and elimination of schools under trees speech made by the UN “is the kind of speech you make at your national assembly and not at the UN General Assembly”.

The UN is a world platform where you go and mobilize the world on issues and so on…what are you saying at the UN… we have eliminated schools under trees…we are distributing free exercise books and school uniforms and so on… what has these got to do with the UN.”

“To be honest with you, even though the issues the President raised are critical to the development of Ghana, they are issues not worth the attention they received at the General Assembly.”

Mr. Pratt said “yesterday when I listened to the President’s speech I felt very uncomfortable…so something is wrong with the speech writers of the President, something is wrong with the Foreign Ministry and something is wrong with developing a global perspective.”

He said most President used the forum to discuss problems of the world and how they see the world but President Mills went there to talk about distribution of free school uniform, free exercise books, schools under trees among others.

“Look, the organization of free and fair elections is important because if we do not do it we risk pushing our country to the brink of catastrophe but why the UN?”

He said one of the key issues being decided at the UN is whether or not the people of Palestine are entitled to a seat in the UN but President Mills chose not to join the debate and state Ghana’s position on the matter saying “why can’t we be bold enough and join the world movement in condemning Zionism”.

He said the world is confronted with the bellicosity of imperialism and added that the UN had become “something which is in the back pocket of the United States” adding “on the basis of things which were found in Wikileaks and so on, the US is killing hundreds of thousands of people across the globe.”

“What is the stand of Ghana? Do we mean that we have no stand? Are we afraid of the US? Are we afraid of the imperialists? What is wrong with us” he asked.

“Look at the bellicosity of the imperialism. Look at the ravaging recklessness of imperialism and so on and we go to talk about free school uniforms.”

He said for President Mills not to take the opportunity to re-affirm Ghana’s support for Palestine when in fact Ghana was one of the first countries to recognize the state of Palestine is unpardonable.

“We took the lead in recognizing the state of Palestine…how come that at this juncture we are all running away…why are we afraid of the US?”

NYEP Health Workers Not Paid

2011-09-26T00:15:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Saturday September 24, 2011.
About 200 Health Extension Workers engaged under the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) are up in arms with the authorities after they claimed they have not received salaries for the past 10 months.

However, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, a deputy Coordinator of National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) in charge of communications has told Daily Guide that the delay was as a result of a technical hitch but assured that the salaries are ready and would be paid on Monday.
Yesterday, about 40 of the workers who operate in health facilities in the Accra Metropolis stormed the NYEP headquarters near the Ridge Hospital to press home their demand for salaries but were turned away.

According their leaders - who do not want to be named for fear of victimization - they have never received salaries since they started full work in December 2010 but nobody seems to care about their condition of service.

“When we got to the premises we requested to see the accountant to know the reasons why we have not been paid but we were not allowed to see him.”

“They asked us to rather put down our names and account numbers;” adding “writing down our particulars has become a common thing but we always do not hear from them,” one of the leaders claimed.

They alleged that the coordinators had employed people through the back-door who were not working but were withdrawing salaries and that may have accounted for the NYEP’s inability to pay them

They said when they were engaged their salaries were pegged at GH¢ 120.

Explaining the circumstances leading to the delay, Murtala Mohammed told Daily Guide that “when a person is given an appointment letter, the person reports to where he or she has been sent and would have received letter of acceptance.”

He said having received the letter of acceptance; the District Coordinator will then give him or her letter of introduction to the bank to open an account and usually we do it at ADB and where there is no ADB we allow them to open their accounts in community banks there.”

He said having opened the account the beneficiary is expected to assume work and the head of the institution where the beneficiary is posted to would write to the headquarters through the District Coordinator to conclude that indeed the person is working.

Murtala Mohammed said after the processes had been completed the headquarters would then certify that beneficiary should then start collecting his or her salary.

He said there are several reasons why some of the beneficiaries might not have received their salaries saying “some of the beneficiaries might not have reported for work in order to go through the processes to qualify for salary.

He said some of the beneficiaries had gone through all the processes but their District Coordinators delayed in sending their information to the headquarters for them to sanction the process.

“We have told the coordinators that even if they have three people they should send the information to us. They should not wait for to get the full list before they send them to us.”

“I can tell you that we have sent the money to the ADB. We were expecting that the bank would have credited the accounts of the beneficiaries but that has not been done because once they credit the accounts the bank would send them text messages.”

He said they have followed up to the bank and the bank has assured that all the accounts would be credited on Monday saying “it is certain that from Monday they will enjoy their money.”

Kufuor Gets ECOWAS Post

2011-09-26T00:08:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Saturday September 24, 2011.
After launching his foundation to promote excellence in leadership, governance and development, Former President John Agyekum Kufuor is on the move again, this time around in Liberia to promote peace democracy.

He has commenced a four-day pre-election mission in Liberia as the Special Envoy of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) with former Nigerian Head of state of Nigeria, General Abdulsalami Abubakar as joint Special Envoy.

The two leaders are expected to get first hand information and brief ECOWAS on preparations towards Liberia's second general election since it returned to constitutional rule almost five years ago after more than a decade of civil war.

Sixteen political parties including the ruling Congress for Democratic Change of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who is seeking a second five-year term, will take part in the election slated for October.

President Sirleaf when she became the leader of Liberia had said she would not contest for a second term in office and her turnaround has shocked many.

The two former Presidents held separate meetings with officials of the United Nations Mission in Liberia and the Independent Electoral Commission of Liberia (INEC) on arrival.

Former President Kufuor made a passionate appeal to INEC to live to conduct the elections in a manner would win the trust and confidence of all the parties and the people.

He told the INEC strictly apply the electoral rule to ensure a successful election because history beckons Liberia.

Both Madam Ellen Margaret Loj, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Liberia and Mr. James Fromayan, Chairman of INEC, were concerned about the use of intemperate language by political actors which they said has the tendency to plunge the country into chaos once again.

Mr. Kufuor and General Abubakar are expected to meet President Johnson-Sirleaf and later representatives of political parties, civil society and the media.

‘Nana Is No Booze Man’

2011-09-23T03:31:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday September 23, 2011.
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor appears to have given a further boost to the credibility of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo when he said he has never seen the NPP flagbearer smoke or drink alcohol.

“If I am not exaggerating, I have known Nana Akufo-Addo for 40 years and more and I have never seen him indulge in smoking or taken alcohol in all these years,” the ex-President said.

Speaking to Adom FM yesterday about how he managed to invite Ex-President JJ Rawlings to his foundation launch at the University of Ghana and also the Wikileaks expose’ on Tuesday, Mr. Kufuor said Ghanaians should disregard smear campaign against the NPP flagbearer and rather look at what he (Akufo-Addo) can offer the country.

He said the Wikileaks expose should be disregarded because it has the tendency to derail the democratic gains made by the country by further dividing the people saying “I have always said that Wikileaks is just hearsay but if we are not careful and we rush to accept the contents we will destroy ourselves as a people.”

He said Nana Akufo-Addo is knowledgeable and has experience in politics and added that “he has matured to lead the NPP”.

“For many years I have known Nana Akufo-Addo especially in his time as Attorney-General, Foreign Minister and MP…if you give him light drink he will not take it…if you give him cigarette he will not smoke.”

The ex-President said it was not appropriate for detractors of the NPP flagbearer to judge him on his past deeds especially when it remains mere perception.

He said it is clear that people told lies about Nana Akufo-Addo to foreign diplomats and said those who made statements later came back to deny them saying “if we are not careful we can denigrate precious people who are capable of leading this country.”

“These are some of the dangers Wikileaks pose to our democracy.

Mr. Kufuor offered a sound advice to the youth to avoid being used by politicians to cause mayhem in the country.

He said “we need to trade ideas and dialogue to bring development and not indulge in insults, lies and character assassination.”

NDC Squeezes Sekou

2011-09-23T03:23:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday September 23, 2011.
Sekou Nkrumah, son of Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah who recently resigned from the ruling NDC has branded his former party ‘vindictive’ after storming out of the Founder’s Day celebration in memory of his father.

“I am not upset…I have been in this country for a long time and I have been treated even worse long ago under the previous PNDC and sort but I am saying that we need to move above vindictive and petty politics currently on display.”

Dr. Sekou, who is no news to controversy, caused a stir last Wednesday when he walked out of the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum where a special wreath-laying ceremony was being laid in memory of Ghana’s first President as part of the Founder’s Day.
In attendance were Vice President John Dramani Mahama, former Presidents JA Kuf
uor, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Horst Kohler of Germany, top politicians, parliamentarians and members of the diplomatic corps.

Explaining circumstances leading to his abrupt departure from his father’s tomb, Dr. Sekou said “on evening Monday Baba Jamal, a deputy Minister of Information called me to find out where he can send the invitation to the three of us that is Francis, Samia and myself.”

He said after a couple of telephone calls, he received his invitation for the programme on Tuesday evening and he went to the mausoleum with his wife on Wednesday.

“When we got there we asked where is the family to be seated and they seem to be a lot of confusion over where the family should be seated and then somebody took us to the podium where the dignitaries were.”

Dr. Sekou said whilst on the podium, a lady came up to him and said they were not supposed to sit there and therefore had to look for a different place to make himself comfortable.

“So they took us to another place then as we sat down they gave us the programme and when I looked at it I realized my brother and my sister were to lay a wreath on behalf of the family.”

He added “my sister was to give a speech and then when I looked at the podium I realized she was already seated there and I thought that was not proper because the family needed to sit together.”

He said the choice of who should give a speech in the family should not be the decision of the government adding “even the seating arrangement…yes you have the right to put people where they think they should be placed but you do not divide the family because we were all invited to that function…We are all Nkrumah’s children not because somebody is NDC, somebody is NPP, somebody criticizes Prof. Mills or somebody does not praise Prof. Mills”.

He said when President Mills declared September 21 as the founder’s day he praised him for fulfilling a campaign promise but added “I am saying we do not have to then go beyond that and turn round when we feel people do not belong to our party.”

“If people are not supporting a person and are supporting somebody else then we go back to the vindictive and petty politics of the past. It is something that we should all have left behind.”

According to Dr. Sekou, “the politics of today is not attractive to a lot of people because people are still being vindictive …people are still being very petty …people are just seeking their self interest and not collective interests.”

He said he suspects the day was to celebrate the contribution of Kwame Nkrumah and not “smite” his children saying “because you think you have a difference of opinion with them or you do not belong to the same party or they have criticized you in the past and so on…these things can be put aside…we can address these issues on a different platform but not a day when we are celebrating Nkrumah and then you seem to want to slight some of his kids.”

“As I mentioned there were dignitaries there…there were people there who were also observing…and it does not speak well…they will not take us as people seriously.”

He said he could not have raised any concern at the ceremony because it could seem “I had walked in there thinking that I am Nkrumah’s son and so I deserve to be put in a certain level.”

“You remember when I resign from the NDC and gave my reasons…later I heard their General-Secretary saying that -‘when you come to the NDC you work with them and that the NDC do not have special place for people who think they are big men or children of big men’- but Sekou Nkrumah has never behaved in any way to call that attention to himself.”

“I left before the programme ended because I was being slighted and unfairly treated. I thought I was invited because I was one of Nkrumah’s children. I do not think where I was seated was proper.”

Dr. Sekou has time and time again called on the electorate to change President Mills in 2012 because he (President Mills) lacks vision.

“A lot of people see Mills as an academic and a gentleman. But, in the political arena, you need to be strong-minded, and it looks like this leadership quality is missing in Mills. So I guess we need a more strong-willed, dynamic personality, a charismatic person to inspire national confidence, and also to let the population see the national agenda and feel part of it.”

Kufuor’s Guest Prescribes Rule Of Law

2011-09-22T01:27:00.000-07:00

Horst Kohler is a former President of IMF and Germany.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday September 22, 2011.
FORMER GERMAN President Horst Kohler who was the guest speaker at the launch of President John Agyekum Kufuor’s foundation at the University of Ghana prescribed for developing economies four thematic approaches that could bring socio-economic breakthrough.

He said rule of law, equitable distribution of wealth, transition to a new society and being part of a globalized world rather than against it country propel any country into a developed one.

Delivering a lecture themed: “Walking the tightrope: Balancing state, market and society”, President Kohler who was once the MD of International Monetary Fund (IMF) saidif Ghana or any country should adopt the social market economy system then the rule of law should reign supreme.

“Your own people as well as foreign investors and customers will only plan and engage themselves and their talent and capital long term if they trust in the laws of the land and the enforcement of their observation.”

He said “no enduring prosperity without the rule of law and a fine civil service or to say it with another familiar expression, good governance is crucial to reap the fruit of economic progress.”

Sharing his experience on how Germany was able to distribute wealth equitably under the social market economy system, President Kohler said “Africa has a huge potential thanks to its natural resources. The demand for them has increased significantly over the last years. Old and new players like China are trying to secure them for their economic development and some even talk about a new scramble for Africa.”

He said this international demand can provide a great source of economic prosperity for Africa, but the crucial task would be to ensure that this fortune will benefit all the people.

“In history, too often abundant natural resources did not become a blessing but rather a curse. The reason for this was very often corrupt leaderships which led the money rather into the private pockets of a few instead into investments for all.”

President Kohler said the industrializedcountries cannot also deny responsibilityof the state of affairs of most of the developing countries saying “they seized the profits from unequal contracts and were too often involved in corruption as well.”

“A country like Norway has proven that natural resources can become a blessing. I think that Ghana can be an Africansuccess story by rather going the way of Norway than that of Nigeria.”

He said transition to a modern, successful social market economy means nothing less than the transition to a new society saying “to keep such a newly developing society together is a political challenge of the utmost importance and difficulty.”

“All mattersconcerning the reward for achievement, the openness for talent and the distribution of economic success and growing wealth deserve the keenest political attention. The temptation to hit and run- to make money and free the country- must be ruled out.”

President Kohler said all success-stories are written within globalization and not against it saying “that does not mean that there is only one way of achievement. On the contrary, each nation should make its own way, just as each should find its own balance of social market economy-principles and policies.”

“Africa still has much of the Garden Eden in which all people of good faith like to believe. To preserve Africa’s natural beauty and richness by internalizing all cost to it caused by economic development will be a huge long term investment for the African people as well as for all mankind. And it will pay off best in my view when it is done in accordance with principles of a social market economy.”

He said whatever decisions Ghana takes regarding the economicand social developmentshould be based on “your own roots and ideas,” adding that the high expectation of oil revenues and the diligence of the people is making Ghana take what he called “a remarkable step towards sound economic development.”

The German President praised President Kufuor for his exemplary leadership saying “although it has been now for more than two years that you are out of office we know that a lot of the progress which Ghana is making today still goes back to the wise decisions under your leadership.”

JJ Storms Kufuor Launch

2011-09-22T00:51:00.000-07:00

From L to R: Eberhard Schanze (German Ambassador), Thabo Mbeki (Former President South Africa), John Agyekum Kufuor (Former President Ghana), Prof. Ernest Ayittey (Vice Chancellor Univ. of Ghaha), Horst Kohler (Former President IMF & Germany), Jerry John Rawlings (Former President Ghana) and Prof. Kwesi Yankah (Immediate past Pro-Vice Chancellor Univ. of Ghana).

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday September 21, 2011.
It was all pomp and pageantry at the campus of the University of Ghana when former President John Agyekum Kufuor brought three other former presidents to launch his foundation.

The foundation is going to promote excellence in leadership, governance and development.

Former Presidents Jerry John Rawlings, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Horst Köhler of Germany delivered a lecture themed: “Walking the tightrope: Balancing state, market and society.”

Also there to show solidarity were a host of dignitaries including NPP flagbearer Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and many former NPP appointees, representatives of political parties particularly the newly elected Chairperson of the CPP Samia Nkrumah, the academia, religious bodies, civil society organizations as well as students.

Before the German President’s lecture at the Great Hall of Ghana’s premier university, Presidents Kohler and Mbeki accompanied Mr. Kufuor to the project site to officially break the ground for construction of the John Agyekum Kufuor Center of Excellence.

The Great Hall was packed and some of the audience had to stay outside throughout the programme.

Immediately Professor Kwesi Yankah, former Pro-Vice Chancellor of the university who was the moderator announced the presence of former President Rawlings and Nana Akufo-Addo in the course of the programme, the audience greeted each announcement with huge applauds.

An elated former President Kufuor in acknowledging the presence of his predecessor said “the presence of former President Rawlings shows how the foundation is determined to be non-partisan.”

Making an introductory remark, Mr. Kufuor said the center will serve as a think tank on institutional and socio-economic development issues and added that the foundation will have a global outlook.

He said the center will focus on critical thinking and provide an atmosphere that will ensure that the youth are nurtured on how to become responsible leaders.

“In my time in office, I became convinced that good and exemplary leadership is the critical ingredient for national development and after retiring I decided to leave a legacy for the emerging generation.”

President Mbeki in his solidarity message said it was time for authorities and institutions on the continent to make concerted efforts to provide quality leadership and nurturing for the youth.

He commended President Kufuor for establishing the foundation and said it will serve as an inspiration for the youth to strive for excellence.

Professor Ernest Aryitey, Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana who chaired the lecture said “this is the first this university or any other university in the country is playing host to such an event.”

He said the commitment shown by former President Kufuor should help to strengthen the bond between politics and the academia and also facilitate the effort to nurture the youth take up leadership position.

Lecturer Weeps for Basic Schools

2011-09-22T00:44:00.000-07:00

Dr. Kwadwo Tutu is not happy with the standards of basic education in the public sector.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday September 21, 2011.
A SENIOR lecturer at the University of Ghana Dr. Kwadwo Tutu has lamented the lack of attention given to public basic schools in the country saying “we are setting a very dangerous precedent for the country’s future development.”

“Basic education has become the preserve of the rich, the influential and the privileged. Every parent is abandoning public basic schools for private education for their children. The majority of pupils in public schools continue to perform abysmally and nobody seems to care…what future are we building for this country?” he said.

Dr. Tutu, a lecturer at the Economics Department of the university, was addressing a news conference in Accra on recently on the topic ‘The Gradual but persistent descent of Ghana into catastrophe: The privatization of basic education in Ghana.”

He said “I am here as a concerned Ghanaian to express my dismay and fears about a dangerous process that has been going on for a long time but now with intensity. This dangerous outcome faces us starkly in the face but like the proverbial ostrich, Ghanaians behave as if nothing is happening. This is the consistent destruction of basic public schools and the mushrooming of private preparatory schools at the basic level.”

He noted that the quality of education at public basic schools continue to deteriorate at a fast speed adding “I am sure most of you are aware of several rural and some semi-urban schools scoring zero percent in the recent BECE results. I heard on the radio two days ago that at Agona East, only one student had aggregate 15. All the other schools scored zero percent. How can students go through 9 years of schooling and several schools score zero percent? These are the results from public schools. While this is happening at the public schools, the private schools are scoring 100 percent.”

He explained that in the past, 90 percent of university students came from public schools but currently about 80 percent of university students come from private schools, saying “the basic reason is that the quality of students from public schools is so bad that about 70 percent of JSS graduates cannot read or write. Therefore, they cannot pass to SSS and then to tertiary levels.”

Dr. Tutu said the idea of making basic education end at the SSS level brings about the issue of quality at the SSS level saying, “the results this year for those who went through four years of SSS was excellent. University of Ghana for instance had an admission cut-off point of aggregate 14. This is unprecedented. Does this nation not want such quality education for its children?”

“If four years will give good quality education, why are we politicizing it? If the reason is resources, let us look for resources because the alternative of ignorance and illiteracy will not take the country anywhere, and in the long run will be many times more expensive than the resources that would have been used to educate them. Let us open the debate on the number of years of our SSS level with sober minds and stop the politics.”

He said he was in full support of Nana Akufo-Addo's plan of making every child go to SSS saying “in fact, basic education should terminate at the SSS level. Even if we cannot get all children going to SSS now, we should aim within 4 years to have 60 percent of children progressing to that level. Even if we run budget deficits to finance such a venture, it will be repaid several times over because Ghana will get back about 40 percent additional scarce productive human resources that would have been wasted.”

Dr. Tutu said what was worsening the plight of these underprivileged schools was the introduction of computer literacy as a core course at the BECE level asking “is computer literacy the solution to students not being able to read, write and do basic math and science?”

He said government’s plans to introduce computers to basic schools are “a complete waste of resources,” adding “how can anyone solve illiteracy problems with a supply of computers? The government would be causing financial loss to the state if it goes ahead with its plans.”

“The reason why this is a financial loss is that these students who cannot read or write don't need computers because they cannot use them. They need what will make them literate, effective teaching and supervision, books and libraries including mobile community libraries. The government should channel these computer resources into these areas not into computers.

Any good educationist will tell you that the best way for a child to be a good student in all other subjects is for him or her to develop the habit of reading at the primary level. If this habit is not developed at those levels, forget it. It is finished. This is why many of our university graduates cannot write good English and position papers.”

Dr. Tutu said ICT will facilitate economic development and research but may not be able to solve all the country’s problems noting “let me emphasize from the outset that the only way to liberate people from poverty, ignorance, disease and superstition is to make them literate.”

IGP Heads For Jail

2011-09-20T01:06:00.000-07:00

Mr. Paul Tawiah Quaye, Inspector-General of Police in Ghana has been cited for contempt.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday September 20, 2011.
THE Inspector General of Police as head of the Ghana Police Service could find himself in jail very soon if he does not take steps to purge himself of a contempt application brought against him by 24 police officers who were arbitrarily dismissed from the service.

On April 13, 2007, the police administration announced the dismissal of 24 policemen after a Police Enquiry established that they misconducted themselves by allowing the media to cover the bad accommodation problems facing them at the Police Barrack Depot in Accra.

The affected policemen, who were not given a fair hearing at the Police Enquiry sitting, challenged the decision to dismiss them and won the case but the police administration has blatantly refused to re-instate them as directed by the High Court leading to the filing of contempt proceedings against the IGP.

It all started when 30 policemen were brought before the Police Service Enquiry Board on charges of misconduct in 2007 but each of them denied the allegation.

According to the policemen, even though they were questioned, they were not allowed to tell their side of the story or cross-examine the witnesses who testified at the enquiry and later all they heard was that only six had been cleared and the rest (24) given dismissal letters to take effect from May 1, 2007.

Based on this, their counsel, J.K. Yeboah filed an order of mandamus at the High Court, presided over by Justice N.M.C Abodakpi on June 24, 2009 to compel the IGP to “furnish the applicants with the proceeding that culminated in their discharge within 30 days after the service of this order.”

It took several months for the police administration to comply with the court’s order and when they finally did the lawyer realized his clients had been unfairly dismissed per the proceedings.

He therefore filed a notice for judicial review in the nature of certiorari under order 55 Rule1 of C.I. 47/2004 asking the court to compel the police administration to re-instate the dismissed policemen.

The respondent (IGP) was served with the processes but his counsel failed to attend court when the application was moved before Justice Edward Amoako Asante.

The court then quashed the decision by the police administration to dismiss the applicants by ordering their immediate re-instatement and also awarded cost of GH¢ 1,000. 00 for each applicant against the respondent.

The police was also ordered to pay all entitlements due the applicants including salaries and allowances from the date of their unlawful dismissal.

However, since October 25, 2010 when the court gave the order, the police administration has refused to comply with the court’s order.

When the contempt application was to be moved, the IGP’s (contemnor) counsel came to court to argue that the application ought not to have made the IGP as the respondent but rather the applicant should have directed their action against the Attorney General, who is the advisor of the government on legal matters.

The argument was however rebutted by counsel for the applicant who argued that the motion for contempt was mounted under Order 55 in the processes for judicial review and not the human rights charter in the constitution where the AG was to have been joined in the action.

The court, presided over by Justice Dennis Adjei, upheld counsel’s submission and said the applicants have the right to cite the IGP for contempt.
The case resumes after the 2011/2012 legal vacation.

Kufuor hosts Köhler, Mbeki

2011-09-20T00:59:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday September 20, 2011.
FORMER President John Agyekum Kufuor will host two renowned world leaders today as he launches The John Agyekum Kufuor Foundation with the establishment of a center of excellence at the University of Ghana, Legon in Accra.

Apart from a host of dignitaries, the two prominent leaders attending the sod-cutting, lecture and dinner are Horst Köhler, Former President of the Federal Republic of Germany and Thabo Mbeki, Former President of the Republic of South Africa.

The schedule of activities include a courtesy calls on Vice-President John Dramani Mahama at the Castle, Osu, sod cutting at Legon, followed by a lecture and later in the evening a dinner all in Accra today.

The next day, former President Kufuor and his guests will fly to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to inspect the on-going construction of ‘John A. Kufuor Presidential Library and Museum’, unveil a plaque and interact with the Vice Chancellor Prof William Otoo Ellis and the students.

The entourage would then move to the city center to pay a courtesy call on the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II at the Manhyia Palace before emplaning to Accra to see off President Köhler to Germany.

According to Frank Agyekum, spokesperson of the former President, the sod-cutting will take place on the campus of the University of Ghana and the lecture held at the Great Hall of the university.

He said the inaugural lecture which will be addressed by President Kohler on the theme “Walking the Tightrope: Balancing State, Market and Society,” and chaired by Professor Ernest Ayittey, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana.

He also said former President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa will be the featured speaker at the dinner to be held at the Banquet Hall, State House.

Former President Kufuor in an interview with Metro TV last week said he would use the foundation to promote excellence in education.

He said in places like the United States, former presidents established such facilities in their hometowns and had impacted positively in societies.
Both former Presidents Kohler and Mbeki arrived in the country yesterday.

Daoud Yemoh Tours Constituency

2011-09-20T00:46:00.000-07:00

Daoud Anum Yemoh, MP for Domeabra-Obom inspecting a six-unit classroom block under construction at Odumah Suaba.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday September 20, 2011.
THE MEMBER of Parliament for Domeabra-Obom in the Greater Accra region, Daoud Anum Yemoh has inspected developmental projects in his constituency. The MP after his inspection declared “our promise to deliver a Better Ghana Agenda is on course.”

He visited 4 out of 13 electoral areas to check progress of work on the construction of schools, clinics, water systems, upgrading of feeder roads and rural electrification projects.

The tour took the MP, his entourage and some NDC constituency executives to communities like Fankyeneko, Domefaase, Paanor, Kofi Kwei, Obom and ended at Odumah Suaba.

The Domeabra-Obom constituency shares political boundaries with four other constituencies including Trobu-Amasaman, Weija, Aburi-Nsawam and Lower West Akim.

At Fankyeneko, the foundation for the construction of a six-unit classroom block had been completed while at Domefaase, a two-classroom block has also been completed; one constructed by World Vision and another by the Ga South Municipal Assembly were awaiting commissioning by President Mills.

The six-unit classroom block at Paanor has been roofed and plastered but is awaiting painting and furnishing, with the toilet facilities already completed and in use.

At Kofi Kwei, a satellite clinic has been completed and yet to be commissioned. A mechanized pipe system to supply water for the community has been erected but some work must be done on it to aid water flow.

At Obom, an ICT center has been completed with sponsorship from Samsung while the main town’s football pitch is being refurbished to promote sporting activities.
Odumah Suaba already has a six-unit classroom block and another is under construction.

Furthermore, almost every town or village visited had electricity supply but the constituency has no senior high school.

“I lobbied to get O’rielly Senior High School to the constituency but due to chieftaincy problems it had to be taken to Teshie but I am still collaborating with the assembly to get an SHS for the constituents,” said Mr. Anum Yemoh.

He said “when I became MP in January 2005, only four communities had electricity. Today, about 66 towns and villages have been hooked onto the national grid under the rural electrification programme.”

He said the provision of educational infrastructure has been a priority for him and that he was determined to ensure that every child in the constituency had access to quality education.

“There are brilliant but needy students in my constituency and I have been sponsoring them to access education particularly at the basic level. I also sponsor teachers to training college for further studies.”

The MP noted that he would continue to collaborate with the assembly and lobby for projects so that the potential of the constituency would be realized.

The NDC Constituency Organizer, Daniel Danfro and the Women’s Organizer, Aminatu Osumanu were all happy with the performance of the MP so far.

Mr. Danfro said “he is always listening to us on the ground to know about the needs of our people. He has particularly tasked us to ensure that the Better Ghana Agenda is on course.”

Madam Osumanu said “there is not a single week that our MP does not come down to the constituency to visit us. He is in touch with us all the time and knows what goes on in the constituency.”

Political Intolerance Getting Dangerous

2011-09-16T01:30:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday September 16, 2011.
Participants at an Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) forum marking this year’s World Democracy Day have all admitted that the politics of insults, character assassination and the use of intemperate language is fast destroying the country’s fledgling democracy and must be stemmed without delay.

Speaker upon speaker complain bitterly about the way and manner the country’s political discourse has degenerated so fast citing politicians and the media as the worst culprit in the up-scale of politics of insults.

The IEA forum attracted top-notch politicians, ministers of state, academia and gurus in the civil society organizations and religious groups with Kabral Blay Amihere National Media Commission Chairman and Dr. Vladimir Antwi-Danso, Senior Fellow of LECIA as the lead discussants.

Nana Ato Dadzie, former Chief of Staff during the JJ Rawlings regime who chaired the forum set the tone when he said “we ought not to permit a few vocal political operatives to rock our collective democratic experiment and inflame this country.”

“Many are agreed that we as a people must prepare to confront and uproot completely this canker of insults, intolerance and intimidation from our body politic. Many agree we can achieve this through bi-partisan approach involving the politically partisan, as well as civil society and the involvement of millions of non-career politicians.”

The former Chief of Staff said if all the political leaders voluntarily signed undertaking in December 2008 to work towards eschewing political violence then they should first accept responsibility for the current situation and not blame the youth groups for the up-scale of politics of insults.

Most Reverend Charles Gabriel Palmer Buckle, Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra who delivered the keynote address said Ghana is larger than any one politician’s ambition and should not be allowed or encouraged inadvertently or otherwise by anyone to destroy the country’s hard-earned reputation as Africa’s beacon of good governance and democratic development.

He said “good governance blossoms naturally only from cross-fertilization of rich ideas and different opinions. Our politicians should therefore not be the ones to lead the country down the path of national self-destruction through the use of intemperate language and insults.”

The Catholic Bishop said he is in full support for political parties to have codes of behaviour, censure by civil society groups, and self-censorship by the media as well as mass public education.

Speaking on the topic “The power and responsibilities of the media in the consolidation of democracy”, NMC Chairman Kabral Blay-Amihere said the example of media irresponsibility leading to conflict in many parts of the world “should remind Ghanaian journalists and all who use the media the day of judgement will surely come for all of us.”

He said the recent Wikileaks disclosures showed how polarized and politicized the Ghanaian media had become judging from the way and manner journalists selected for publication from the leaked cables to score political consideration.

“The NMC which has the constitutional mandate to promote the highest journalistic standards after 18 years in existence must begin to examine what measure must be taken in the wake of new realities and challenges our democracy faces.”

However, the NCM Chairman bemoaned the lack of budgetary support for the commission to be able to fulfill its constitutional mandate saying “I understand only GH¢ 40,000 is allocated to us annually for our work.”

Dr. Vladimir Antwi-Danso who touched on “Political intolerance: A threat in the consolidation of democracy in Ghana”, traced the history of political intolerance in the country saying “if you want to call a spade a spade, then let us call it so…it was the PNDC more than any other government that brought the modern kind of political intolerance, where indiscipline, non-decorous language, intimidation, propaganda, exclusivism are the ingredients into our body politic.”

He said the politicians appear to realize the gullibility of the public and are exploiting it to the detriment of peace stability and consolidation of democracy.

Dormant NDC MPs In Trouble

2011-09-16T01:25:00.000-07:00

Difficult times for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Ghana.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday September 16, 2011.
A GROUP calling itself Skirt and Blouse Association of the ruling NDC has asked certain MPs they described as “do nothings” to step down in their own interest because the grass roots agitations against them are at their peak.

According to them, they have conducted extensive research into the activities of their own MPs and have realized that they have not contributed in any way to President Mills’ Better Ghana Agenda adding “their constituents have vehemently vowed to vote massively against them, should they be re-elected as NDC parliamentary candidates in their respective areas.”

A news release issued in Accra by the association jointly signed by Andy D. Boutrous, National Coordinator and Wisdom Crah, Deputy National Coordinator, mentioned the affected MPs as Nii Armah Ashittey, Klottey Korley; Nii Nortey Duah, Ledzokuku; Nii Amasah Namoale, La Dade Kotopon; Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, Kpone Katamanso; Kojo Adu Asare, Adentan; Theophilus Tetteh Chaie, Ablekuma Central and Daoud Yemoh Anum, Domeabra Obom, all of the Greater Accra region.

The rest are Prince Joseph Hayibor, Hohoe North; Edem Assimah, North Dayi, both of the Volta region as well as Michael Teye Nyaunu, Lower Manya in the Eastern region.
“If the NDC would perform any political miracle in the 2012 election it must first start with booting out these incompetent MPs who could best be labeled as enemies of the Better Ghana Agenda,” the statement said.

“In view of this, we the members of Skirt and Blouse Association wish to reiterate our demands on all delegates of our great party to reject the above MPs and also entreat the National Executive Committee to ensure transparency and fairness in the upcoming primaries.”

The group said “as promised, the campaign has just begun; the names of ministers, deputy ministers and MMDCEs and other MPs which our research proves will be
disastrous to the future prospects of the party will follow suit in our next move.”

“All we are demanding is total transparency in the upcoming primaries and we entreat all delegates to place the party’s interest above all selfish interests in deciding who become our parliamentary candidates,” they said.

They claimed that since they went public to “expose” their MPs, they have received “veiled” threats from people who claimed to be supporters of some of the MPs in question but said they would not in any way be deterred by the threats.

“We will like to state categorically that no amount of veiled threats, intimidation will stop us from exposing these incompetent MPs, who are nothing but political laughing stocks that lack the basic moral sense of tolerating dissenting views. The attacks mounted on us, shows how ill-mannered these so-called honorable men; some of whom cannot read between the lines, are.”

The group claimed that instead of working to deliver the Better Ghana Agenda these MPs have rather “taken vital advantage of their position to lord it over their people and failed the people woefully.”

“Indeed, they have done very little or nothing to promote the cause of government’s Better Ghana Agenda and have completely lost touch with the grass roots base of their own party supporters. The group therefore deems it expedient to continue this relentless campaign to safeguard the future prospects of the party, specifically the 2012 general election.”

The group said further “it is also true that the despondency and attrition amongst floating voters and core supporters have reached a dangerous height. The NDC, as it stands now cannot afford to maintain mediocre MPs to stand on its ticket.”

“Now, the NDC constituencies represented by these MPs are slipping along with the disillusionment of the constituents who have propped up the seats for the NDC as evident in the country’s electoral statistics. On this occasion the NDC cannot count on its loyal and core supporters. This will be a costly mistake if the delegates and NEC do not act on advising them to step aside because they will be challenged at the impending primaries.”

NDC Group Answers Young Patriots

2011-09-15T01:03:00.000-07:00

Jacob Adongo (in suit) reading the coalition’s statement. With him is Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, a deputy Coordinator of National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP).

Posted on: dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday September 15, 2011.
A group calling itself Coalition for Responsible Leadership (CRL) which is aligned to the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has served notice to the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Young Patriots to desist from what they call “politics of insults and distortions of facts” or face their wrath.

They have therefore fixed September 20, 2011 as a day that “we mobilize and demonstrate against the NPP and Young Patriots who have made the use of violent and provocative language their stock-in-trade in a demonstration we have termed ‘Stop the ntoa toa’.”

At a news briefing in Accra yesterday to address what they called “Unfounded claims and allegations made by the Young Patriots and other youth groups of the NPP against the NDC government”, Jacob Adongo, a member of the coalition said they have the believe that the NPP youth are being encouraged to by the Akufo-Addo/Jake Obetsebi Lamptey leadership “to conduct a form of slash and burn politics in Ghana regardless of the negative effect on the peace and stability we enjoy.”

According to Mr. Adongo “the attitude of the splinter groups within the NPP masquerading as defenders of accountability and good governance is not remotely new to the politics of this country. They have always pretended to know everything than any other group of people.”

“They seem to think they understand politics than any other political party in this country, they know how to rule, how to govern and therefore must rule at all times and that any other party democratically elected to govern the country must be maligned.”

Mr. Adongo said the recent attacks on President John Evans Atta Mills by the Young Patriots whom he described as “frustrated” and “disgruntled” is part of “a campaign by a desperate and frustrated political party to win political power by any means –all die be die.”

He claimed that the NPP had adopted a strategy to put out “blatant lies” because they know that any strategy that is going to be based on logic, reasoning and decent would not help their course.

He boasted that the NDC government had been able to bring inflation down and stabilized the economy and had also embarked on what he called “massive infrastructural development including the construction of storage facility in Tema to address the perennial shortage of gas, which started under NPP.”

He also claimed that the $3billion Chinese loan approved by parliament for infrastructural development and job creation was the “biggest worry of the NPP”.

Mr. Adongo also claimed the NDC government has eliminated over 1000 schools under trees and replaced with well structured classrooms blocks while 175 six-unit classroom blocks have been provided for senior high schools coupled with the distribution of free textbooks, uniforms and 60,000 computers.

He said President Mills has upgraded facilities of the health sector and built more clinics and also increased the producer price of cocoa.

Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, a deputy Coordinator of National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) in charge of communications who is also a member of the coalition warned civil society organizations in the country not to dare comment on the actions of the NDC because according to him “they have failed to criticize the NPP whenever they make statements that creates tension in the country.”

He claimed that the NPP when in office “recklessly implemented policies” and should not have any right to criticize the NDC adding “in as much as we will not endorse politics of insults, nobody should dare equate Nana Akufo-Addo to President Mills.

Thomas Ashong, NDC Regional Youth Organizer said the intended demonstration is in response to what he calls “the noise that the NPP is making” adding “they are covering up their deeds and pretend to be innocent.”

Kufuor Gave Us Dev’t …Say Poly Students

2011-09-14T00:29:00.000-07:00

The Ex-President admiring his portrait, presented to him by the students.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday September 14, 2011.
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor says the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government should be given due credit for its contribution towards the infrastructural development of educational institutions in the country particularly at the tertiary level, as the polytechnic students commend him for the unprecedented development.

“In this country, recognizing and giving credit where it is due has become lopsided but I want everybody to know that the government I led also did quite well in the provision of infrastructure in the education sector,” Dr Kufuor said.

The Former President made the complaint when national executives of Ghana National Union of Polytechnic Students (GNUPS) paid a courtesy call on him at his private residence at the airport West residential area in Accra.

The students had called on him to show their appreciation for supervising the massive infrastructural development that was brought to the campuses of all the 10 polytechnics in the country during the NPP regime.

The former President said “when people are sharing the credit for founding educational institutions they leave us out. What about the Ghana Telecom University? I founded it but I do not take credit for it.”

He said the NPP recognizes the importance of education as the bedrock of any nation’s development and added “we realized that polytechnics could serve as a critical ingredient in the nation’s development that is why we directed a lot of resources to that sector.”

“If the polytechnics are that important then any responsible government should see it as a duty to commit more funds to uplift the physical and development of these critical institutions.”

He said “we brought infrastructural development to the various polytechnics and even Legon will be envious of some of the facilities in the polytechnics.”

“The polytechnics are meant to provide middle level human resource for development. They should be given the needed infrastructure and a conducive atmosphere of learning and above all the sense of pride to be able to contribute meaningfully to the development of the country.”

When the students appealed to him to adopt either Bolgatanga Polytechnic or Wa Polytechnic and nurture it, President Kufuor said “they are all my children…I cannot pick and choose…I will do all I can to help both.”

Later when journalists asked for his comment on Wikileaks expose’ the former President “they are hearsay reports. We have to be careful the way we use hearsay reports. There should be a caveat on Wikileaks”.

Sika Antobre, Coordinating Secretary of GNUPS who spoke on behalf of the students said President Kufuor and his government “gave the polytechnic fraternity a tremendous help.”

He said GNUPS was looking forward to partnering the soon to be unveiled John A. Kufuor Foundation for Excellence saying “we want to build a fruitful relationship with your foundation.”

The students later presented to Mr. Kufuor his portrait as captured by an artist from one of the polytechnics.

FBD Boss Warns Students on Drugs

2011-09-14T00:20:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday September 14, 2011.
HEAD OF Communication at the Food and Drugs Board (FDB), James Lartey has made a passionate appeal to young people particularly students not to venture into narcotic drugs since it could destroy their future career.

He said “through new friends, peer pressure, broken homes among others, the youth who are mostly students have adopted all sorts of lifestyles but it is up to the elderly in society to nurture them and always give them sound advice so that the future of the country would not be in jeopardy.”

Mr. Lartey gave the advice as guest speaker at a thanksgiving service held for graduands of the Light of the World School Complex at New Aplaku near Weija in the Ga South District of the Greater Accra Region recently.

The school presented awards to 70 candidates in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) who scored distinction this academic year.

Mr. Lartey said research has shown that the key risk periods for drug abuse are during major transitions in children’s lives, adding “the first big transition for children is when they leave the security of the family and enter school.”

He said students are most likely to encounter drugs for the first time when they advance from basic to senior high school explaining “when they enter high school, adolescents face additional social, emotional and educational challenges.

It is at this point that they may be exposed to a greater availability of drugs, drug abusers and social activities involving drugs. These challenges can increase the risk that they will abuse alcohol, tobacco and other substances.”

Mr. Lartey said “it is known that about 70 per cent of drug users who die by age 45 are those who start drugs by the age of 15 to 17 years.”

He said the time had come for all stakeholders to unite and support government to tackle the demand for illicit drugs to ensure that Ghana is free from the sale of narcotic, counterfeit, expired and unwholesome drugs.

He also said parents need to rise up and take good care of their children by nurturing them to become responsible adults saying “as parents we have a huge responsibility to protect children and we should do it to glorify our Maker.”
Esther Hamilton, Headmistress of the school said the educational module being pursued in the country does not appear to benefit children.

“It is obvious that not all children were born to be science, general arts, visual arts and even technical based pupils. They do therefore miss out of any scheme to nurture them as we are experiencing in the second cycle schools at the moment.”

She said in as much as the junior high school education was intended to identify the potentials of each child, it had failed due to the lack of the needed logistics and commitment through its implementation.

Mrs. Hamilton said it is not the numerous educational reviews that are needed but rather strict adherence to the identification of the individual’s talents and developing them for the sake of national interest.

NDC In Crisis Over Wikileaks

2011-09-13T00:05:00.000-07:00

Hot! Ms. Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry in Ghana.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday July 13, 2011.
The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has held a crisis meeting at the Castle to devise ways and means to contain the Wikileaks revelations as they put the party in a bad light.

According to sources, the meeting attended by senior government and party officials last Thursday concluded that henceforth no NDC official who was exposed in the United States Embassy leaked cables should grant interview to the media or make public pronouncements on the matter.

The decision to seal the lips of the affected people, the sources put it succinctly “it is not in anybody’s interest” and they cannot pick and choose since most of the cables are about personalities still serving in the government.

In the leaked cable, Hannah Tetteh, Minister for Trade and Industry and former Director of Communications of the National Democratic Congress, told the United States officials that the party founder, former President Jerry John Rawlings, is a “loose cannon who sometimes loses sight of his role.”

The US embassy officials described former President Jerry Rawlings as a key player in the NDC campaign, a larger than life presence whose populist touch and bombast rouse crowds that reach beyond the party faithful.

Ms Tetteh said: “Rawlings was ‘a blessing and a curse,’ vital to the cause for his charismatic appeal, but equally risky as a loose cannon who sometimes loses sight of his role.”

She also explained why the NDC opted for Joyce Bamford Addo as Speaker of Parliament.

“She [Joyce Banmford Addo] was seen as someone who would take orders and be malleable to party discipline,” Hannah Tetteh revealed to the discomfiture of the NDC leadership in parliament.

She said that “for important votes, the party would remove Addo and put the First Deputy Speaker Edward Adjaho into her place as a stronger enforcer.”

The leaked cable further states that Hannah Tetteh had an inkling that the NDC’s National Chair would be replaced at the party’s post-election congress to elect party leaders, adding that it was probably because Dr Kwabena Adjei "...lacks maturity -- and I don't mean because of his age."

The crisis meeting Daily Guide gathered was held in the wake of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) Young Patriots claims that about $5million is spent on President John Evans Atta Mills’ health annually, a development that the NDC is not ready to contest publicly.

Since the revelations in the secret cables, it has become apparent that the two main political parties, NDC and NPP are poised for a tit-for-tat over their flag bearers on the contents of the leaks.

The NDC whose leading members, including ministers of state have stated publicly that they believe in everything published in the secret cables have asked the ‘Okro mouth’ officials to ‘keep quiet’ and allow their communication team to handle the issues emanating from the cables.

Daily Guide learnt that the NDC may start playing down on reports in the cables because they have realized that some of the contents may not help their cause after all.

Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Friday at the 16th Ghana Journalists award night dropped the first hint when he said “the recent Wikileaks cables have accentuated the media warfare. Nothing matters any more. Reprinting the juiciest gossips from the US Embassy cables provides a media that was already polarized on partisan lines, enough ammunition and firepower to pound one's opponents for the rest of the year.”

He said “the cables were meant to be confidential and if they remained so there would no problem. Unfortunately Julian Assange and his Wikileaks organization have opened a real Pandora’s Box. Well, ‘Wikileaks’ has its positive side. It shows what happens with even the most casual conversations we may have with foreign diplomats.”

He said “a cursory look at our media would seem like we are a nation at war. Newspapers and radio stations are lined up in the political trenches with their political allies or paymasters.”

“Throwing printed and verbal grenades and taking pot shots at the ‘enemy lines.’ Each side is trying to outdo each other in inflicting maximum damage on the perceived ‘enemies’.

The diplomatic cable which has been released from the archives tackles all political parties in the country from the years 1997 -2010, exposing especially issues affecting personalities of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) with a few trickles here and there on PNC’s Dr. Edward Mahama and CPP’s Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom.

The leaks have also brought journalists on head on collision, with most of them trading accusations and counter accusations.

Baba Jamal, a deputy Minister of Information; and Fiifi Kwetey, a deputy Minister of Finance, have also popped up as having made statements to diplomats, including the revelation by Baba Jamal that President Mills is suffering from throat cancer.

Others are Akrasi Sarpong, the Executive Secretary of Narcotics Control Board; Ben Ephson, a self-acclaimed pollster and Editor of Daily Dispatch; as well as Kwesi Pratt, Managing Editor of Insight.

The rest are Dr. Kwesi Aning of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Center, Johnson Asiedu Nketia General Secretary of the NDC and Alban Bagbin Minister of Water Resources Works and Housing.

Land guards Rule Kwabenya

2011-09-12T23:56:00.000-07:00

Mr. Paul Tawiah Quaye is the Inspector-General of Police in Ghana.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday September 13, 2011.
THE LAND guard menace which security agencies have over the years struggled to contain is getting out of hand.

These hoodlums have taken over virtually all lands at Kwabenya and surrounding areas in the Greater Accra region, terrorizing prospective developers with impunity.

The police are said to be aware of the situation but are always overpowered by the criminals who use sophisticated and dangerous weapons including guns and cutlasses.
The leader of the bandits is believed to be one Theophilus Ankamah Aryee, who resides around the Kwabenya cemetery area where the land guards coordinate their nefarious activities.

Other known members are Aryee Quaye aka Bullet, who claims he is a relative of the Inspector General of Police and one Cobra, believed to be one of the perpetrators of the 1998 murder of two policemen at Ablekuma.

They move from land to land fully armed, extorting money from developers and unleashing terror on those who try to resist them and also pull down structures under construction.

All the criminals are said to be on the police wanted list but they seem to have neutralized the police and as a result, residents say they are “untouchable.”

DAILY GUIDE’s visit to the area showed clearly that developers were afraid to go to their lands whilst others said they were still living in fear.

Alhassan Abubakar, a resident who was recently hospitalized after being slashed with a knife by the bandits, narrated his experience.

“We were working on a piece of land which was bought by my sister when the land guards rushed on us with guns, cutlasses and other weapons to stop us and before I could explain, one of them slashed me with a knife. It is pathetic that we cannot develop the land we genuinely acquired. These guys are making it impossible for us to do anything,” he said.

Asked whether the case had been reported to the police, Abubakar said “the police are aware of the situation and I do not understand why they are not acting.”

Ibrahim Saddam, another victim said “they came around and seized all our working tools and also robbed us of our money. We are being harassed and nobody seems to care about it.

We do not want to take the law into our hands that is why we approached the police to act but if the police are not ready to stop them, we can also organize our men to face them,” he warned.

Lawrencia Anyase, a land owner explained that she bought her property about four years ago and recently when she finally decided to develop it, the land guards stopped her.

Almost in tears, Ms. Anyase said “I followed all the procedures required by law to get this land but these land guards would not give me peace. They are acting as if there is no security agency in the country.”

Isaac Ashley, another affected resident said “the land guards have created a sense of insecurity in the area. We have been to the police headquarters and the regional offices to complain to them to no avail.”

NDC Can’t Stop Me – Nana Konadu

2011-09-12T00:44:00.000-07:00

Konadu and her supporters.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday September 12, 2011.
FORMER FIRST Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings says nobody in the ruling National Democratic Congress(NDC) can stop her from offering constructive criticism so long as those at the helm of affairs do not do the right thing.

“The reason why I chose to contest the presidential primary has not changed. Maybe I was not given the candidature…whether I got or not, I will never stop speaking the truth about the rot and ills in our great party NDC,” she told a cheering crowd at the Nima Cluster of Schools in Accra on Saturday.

Addressing NDC members on her ongoing “Thank you tour” to show her appreciation to those who supported her to contest President John Evans Atta Mills in the NDC primary held in Sunyani in July, Mrs. Rawlings said “Sunyani or no Sunyani my brothers and sisters nothing has changed.”

“The position I held that certain ills and wrongs in our party and government should be corrected, I have not shifted from that position…we have to put our house in order so that the moral vacuum that has been created will be sealed.”

Accompanied by almost all her FONKAR leadership and her daughter, Yaa Asantewaa, the former first lady said “I am surprised that some people are questioning what authority I have to embark on this tour to appreciate NDC delegates…Ei! are we in Ghana at all… If they do not know I am doing this out of sheer decency.”

“I know how people risked their lives and sacrificed for me during my campaign and I cannot be ungrateful to them. They were intimidated, persecuted and harassed especially by DCEs, MCEs and others in our party yet some stood their grounds and gave me unflinching support.”

Mrs. Rawlings said there were those who were bold to tell DCEs and MCEs that “you do not control the party rather it is the party executives who should direct affairs and not you”, adding “I will forever be grateful for those who were bold enough to resist intimidation.”

She said the principles of truth, honesty and social justice on which the NDC was built are still missing adding “our people are stuck in abject poverty and when you complain they warn you not to dare speak about it.”

“If the grassroot and foot-soldiers complain and because of greed those at the top will always hit them with a sledge hammer then it will be difficult for the party to stand,” she said.

She added “the party has principles and must be pursued. We have allowed money to destroy our ways and that is affecting the rank and file of our party.”

Kofi Adams, an aide to former President Jerry John Rawlings said the Wikileaks has exposed the wicked intentions of the party’s leadership and called on the rank and file to resist any attempt to send the party to the Conventions People’s Party (CPP).

“A lot of interesting things are happening in our party. It is up to us to ask ourselves whether we want to build on principle that hold the foundation of the party or have a party that deals with people’s selfish interest and personal desires.”

Berrick Numburr, Coordinator of the Konadu Campaign said instead of focusing on how to keep the NPP in opposition “we are heavily bruising ourselves. We have soon forgotten that the NPP is fast gaining grounds”

“Anytime Nana Konadu speaks people who are waiting to create mischief try to dilute what she says but she will continue to speak the truth,” he said.

Saint Osei, a leading member of FONKAR said the NDC has compromised its principles of probity and accountability saying “Nana Konadu is seeking to restore what we have lost as a party”.

Ruth Dela Sedoh, another FONKAR member said the attempt to sideline the NDC founder (JJ Rawlings) would backfire because his contributions to the party will forever be there for all to see.

During the rally, the FONKAR distributed copies of documents purported to have come from Wikileaks cables that exposed what they called an agenda by President Mills and his group to obliterate the ideals, visions and principles of the NDC and take the CPP.

Hannah Tetteh, as then Head of Communications of the NDC’s Transition Team, and now Minister of Trade and Industry, in a meeting with current United States Ambassador Donald G. Teitelbaum, is reported on January 13, 2009 to have described in detail how the NDC under President Mills planned to collapse two Nkrumaist parties, the CPP and PNC, and merge them into the NDC, thereby turning Ghanaian politics into a two-party system.

She told the Ambassador that the NDC would no more stand on a Rawlings ideology but instead adopt an Nkrumaist philosophy which is in contravention of Article 6 of the NDC Constitution which says unequivocally that the party was established on the Vision and Leadership of President Rawlings.

Wikileaks! NDC Stabs Mills

2011-09-12T00:32:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

It has emerged that two senior National Democratic Congress (NDC) members described President John Evans Atta Mills as surrounding himself with mediocre advisors.

According to Wikileaks, the notorious whistle blower website, Johnson Asiedu Nketia aka General mosquito NDC General Secretary and Alban Bagbin, Minister of Water Resources Works and Housing told United States Embassy officials that “Mills has surrounded himself with inexperienced advisors who are providing poor counsel”, confirming Jerry John Rawlings, former President and NDC founder assertion the president’s appointments are mediocre.

The NDC gurus went on to tell the US Ambassador Donald Teitelbaum on December 10 and 11, 2009 that the mediocre advisors are “failing to ensure inter-ministerial coordination”.

So far, names like Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry; Baba Jamal, a deputy Minister of Information; and Fiifi Kwetey, a deputy Minister of Finance, and others have popped up as having made statements to diplomats probably for political expediency without recourse to political repercussion.

The rest are Akrasi Sarpong, the Executive Secretary of Narcotics Control Board; Ben Ephson, a self-acclaimed pollster and Editor of Daily Dispatch; Kwesi Pratt, Managing Editor of Insight with latest batch of loose talkers being Asiedu Nketiah, Bagbin, and Mahama Ayariga.

After meeting President Mills on December 9, 2009 in a crucial meeting at the Castle the cables said “both Nketia and Bagbin said that the NDC's success in the next election will be based on its performance in government, and that the party must overcome its current divisions if it wishes to remain in power.”

Alban Bagbin
“Bagbin said participants voiced concern that Mills has surrounded himself with young and inexperienced advisors who are not providing good counsel. Bagbin was particularly critical of the President's communication team, singling out Spokesman Mahama Ayariga and the Information Minister (Zita Okaikoi) as ineffective (reftel).”

“Bagbin noted that as Majority leader (as he was at the time) he is responsible for carrying out the government's agenda in Parliament, but said that there has been poor coordination between the government and Parliament.

“Bagbin also cited poor coordination between different ministries, and said the exclusion of the Information Minister from the Cabinet has aggravated the government's inability to present a coherent message.”

Johnson Asiedu-Nketia
The cable said “NDC General Secretary Nketia, who sits in the Mills Cabinet, told POL Chief that he felt the Mills meeting was successful. He also said Mills' communication team was failing, and noted that this contrasted with the successful communication operation that the NDC ran in opposition and during the 2008 presidential campaign.”

“Nketia was particularly critical of the President's Chief of Staff and two Deputy Chiefs of Staff. He said he had been surprised by Mills' hiring decisions for these positions, and said that none of the individuals in those positions had adequate political experience.

“Nketia cited former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings' decision to run for a party vice chairman position (in the run up to the NDC congress in Tamale to elect executives) as a challenging development that could prove either problematic or positive for the party as it looks toward the 2012 election.”

“Both Nketia and Bagbin said that the NDC's success in the next election will be based on its performance in government, and that the party must overcome its current divisions if it wishes to remain in power.”

“Nketia acknowledged divisions within the party, and said that the party would have little chance to retain power in 2012 if it cannot overcome this problem…Nketia conceded that the Administration has had governance problems of its own creation, but said that another significant problem was managing the expectations that were raised during the campaign, particularly given the difficult fiscal and economic situation” the cable said.

“Nketia said that the NDC is struggling to define itself as a party independent of personalities, and that they must find a way to manage the political force of Rawlings without making him irrelevant adding “in dealing with NDC divisions, Nketia said that for many years the NDC has revolved around the personality of its founder, and that this has created lingering questions of loyalty for many party leaders who served under Rawlings but now identify with the current president”.

Mahama Ayariga
Mahama Ayariga spokesperson at the inception of the Mills administration before he was moved to the Ministry of Trade and Industry and now in Education as deputy minister conceded that the Mills government has been vulnerable to criticism as it has not done a great job explaining itself to the Ghanaian public.

“This has allowed critics - including some within the NDC such as former President Rawlings - to take the initiative in criticizing the pace of the Mills Administration,” the cable said.

“Ayariga admitted that personality problems between members of the President's communications team have adversely affected coordination. Ayariga specifically noted strained relations between himself and Director of Presidential Communications Koku Anyidoho, and Information Minister Zita Okaikoi.”

NDC’s ‘dirty’ politics
According to Wikileaks, the US Embassy was approached by two advisors to the then opposition NDC candidate, Professor John Atta-Mills, in the persons of Edward Nunoo believed to be the son of General Nunoo-Mensah, Mills’ National Security Advisor and Sylvester Tamakloe, a presidential staffer at the Presidency who told Political Officer that Electoral Commission (EC) Chairman Kwadwo Afari-Gyan was being pressured by then ruling NPP “to announce false results that would be supplied by the NPP.”

Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman of the EC told the Ambassador that the allegations of rigging leveled by the NDC were "utter nonsense."

“They said that their information was coming from two of the NDC’s polling officials representing the party in the EC's strong room where election results are being tabulated. They identified them as Victor Smith, a former Rawlings aide, and Larry Adjetey, another NDC high official. They also said that the NPP was providing false provisional election results to radio and TV stations to give the impression that Akufo-Addo had more votes than the actual case.”

According to Wikileaks, the Ambassador managed “to put a quick end to these allegations by placing a call to Afari-Gyan, who called the charges utter nonsense and said that he felt no threat to his life.”

“He added that he still moves around Accra freely without escorts or bodyguards. He thanked the Ambassador for passing along the information,” the cable said.

The cable said the Ambassador later spoke with NDC’s Director of Communications (Hannah Tetteh), who distanced herself from the allegations, saying that she knew both Nunoo and Tamakloe, but they were not speaking on behalf of Atta-Mills.

“She confirmed that Victor Smith was a party representative in the EC’s strong room, but inferred that he sometimes spoke without conferring with the candidate and his closest advisors.”

In the Ambassador’s comment, he described the allegation as “one more instance of the NDC playing dirty politics.”

“It (NDC) has already issued a premature press release claiming victory, which resulted in celebrations in Tamale which police were required to disperse. It held jubilation ceremonies at party headquarters in Accra that had to be contained by police, and later claimed that the celebrations were being held only for some of their parliamentary winners.”

“And it has been accusing the NPP of malfeasance in at least three parliamentary elections without providing concrete evidence. Its behavior is not helping its cause, and seems ill considered in the face of the good showing it has been making in the elections. We suspect these two men were free-lancing.”

“So far, these efforts have not grown beyond the level of irritation, but we will monitor the situation carefully.”

CPP Select Leaders

2011-09-12T00:21:00.000-07:00

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Saturday September 10, 2011.
At long last the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) has commenced its extra ordinary congress to elect national officers who will prepare the party for the 2012 general election and beyond after series of postponement.

Wing Commander (Rtd.) Patrick Sogbojor, chairman of the CPP election committee has described postponements as “circumstances beyond our control”, the once vibrant party finally got down to business in a contest which political analysts say will define the future of the party.

The congress was first fixed for April 29-30, 2011, postponed to May 27-29 and later rescheduled for late June, due to operational and organizational challenges, court actions and the inability of some regions to elect their officers on time.
The change of the initial venue from Takoradi to Accra also made campaigning very difficult.

About 2,300 delegates from all the 230 constituencies in the country are expected to participate in the event which has been scheduled to be held at the Trade Fair Center in La, Accra this morning.

In all, 24 candidates are contesting seven different positions and the election will be supervised by the Electoral Commission.

The positions include National Chairman (4), National Vice-Chairmen, (6), General Secretary (3), National Treasurer, (2), National Organizer, (3), National Women’s Organizer, (3) and National Youth Organizer (3).

The build up to the election has not been without drama. Less than 24 hours to the two-day event, the CPP Northern Regional Chairman threatened that the region will boycott the congress if logistical and organizational challenges were not immediately addressed.

Ladi Nylander, incumbent national Chairman later assured that all the problems have been fixed and that everything was “under control”.

The position that is likely to attract the attention of observers is that of national chair person. Four formidable candidates are going to “wrestle” for that seat.

Incumbent, Ladi Nylander; a former occupant of that seat, Professor Edmund N. Delle; current MP for Jomoro, Samia Yaaba Nkrumah, daughter of the founder of CPP, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and incumbent National Vice-Chairperson, Madam Araba Bentsi-Enchill are all ‘eying’ the seat.

On the notice of poll released by the EC, Ms. Nkrumah occupies the first position, followed by Prof Delle, Mr. Nylander and Madam Bentsi-Enchill in that order.

Rodaline Ayarna, Ibrahim M. Seidu, Susan Adu-Amankwa, William Nana Buckman, Oteng Anane and Kojo Armah are all vying for the position of national vice-chairman.
In the general secretary position it is being hotly contested by Ivor Greenstreet, incumbent, Nii Armah Akomfrah and Ekow Duncan.

The position of national treasurer position is a straight fight between Kosi Dedey and Seth Gomnah.

Evelyn Alamisi Anabilla, Appiah Amankwah and Abu Forgor are slugging it out for national organizer, while Hajia Hamdatu Ibrahim-Haruna, Mary Ankumah Boakye-Boateng and Aisha Suley Futa will battle for the national women’s organizer position.

The national youth organizer position will be vied for by Murtala Mohammed, Francis Opai Tetteh and Issifu Kadiri Abdul Rauf.

It will be the first time in the history of the CPP that it is heading for an early congress to elect its national officers to enable them to elect their flag bearer as soon as possible.

The CPP since the coming into force of the 4th Republican Constitution has always elected their flag bearer very late.

The last time an Nkrumahist party won a general election was in 1979, under the Third Republican Constitution, when Dr Hilla Limann won on the ticket of the People’s National Party (PNP), with the support of the CPP’s organizational machine.