WE SHOWED LEADERSHIP IN ENERGY SECTOR - KUFUOR

Nigeria’s Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala with Ex-President Kufuor

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday February 26, 2013.

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government he led showed leadership in the energy sector.

He says those criticizing the NPP for not doing much in the sector “do not know what they are talking about.”

Speaking to Oman FM yesterday after the historic lecture organized by his foundation (John Agyekum Kufuor Foundation) where Nigeria’s Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala delivered a powerful lecture, the ex-President said it will not be out of place for the leadership of the current administration to seek advice on how to tackle the seemingly protracted problems in the energy and water sectors.

“In my time Akosombo Dam almost dried up and it was difficult for us. As a result my government gave a number of companies license to build power plants,” he said.

 He used the Asogli Power Plant project formed by Togbe Afede as an example of how the government collaborated with the private sector to serve the energy needs of the country.

“If there is water and the turbines are working I don’t see why we should not have power for development,” he said and stressed that the generation, transmission and the distribution of energy require effective coordination without which things will get out of hand.

“I formed committees to supervise generation, transmission and the distribution areas and it worked well for us. We realized that at the rate of our development, Akosombo alone could not serve the energy needs of the country and therefore we brought in the Bui Dam project with the support of the Chinese government to produce over 400 megawatts of energy.”

The former President said that the NPP government put in much resource that led to the discovery of oil and gas in commercial quantities but added that “we realized that the government could not do it alone and we had to get the private sector involved in the process.”

He called for transparency in the management of the country’s resources especially the oil so that the public would have confidence in the system.

President Kufuor also said the time has come for the government to expand all water treatment facilities in the country to cater for the increasing demand for water.

He said that “everybody in the world knows that in my time Ghana’s economy grew more than six times. The GDP when we assumed office in 2001 was $4 billion but when we were leaving in 2008 it was between 27 and 28 billion dollars. Very few countries achieved what we were able to do within eight years.”

“We moved from underdevelopment to a lower middle-income country. Everywhere in the world there are people who are facing hardships but we were able to do what we could to help by setting the pace.” Adding “I won’t say that we solved all problems facing Ghana but I can say that we were able to do what we could.”

Touching on President John Mahama’s state-of-the-nation address on Thursday, the ex-President said “President Mahama has a God-given gift as a sweet talker. He touched on several issues and laid out plans but he has to walk the talk and show leadership so that everybody will become part of the national development agenda.”

He said “Ghana has moved on…It is growing…Our new President has promised to do more. We should help him to deliver.”

Commenting on the minority’s boycott of vetting of ministers of state, President Kufuor said “It is painful and difficult to take such a decision. In the true sense of democracy, Parliament made up of both majority and minority is supposed to vet prospective ministers of state and endorse the best. However, the truth of the matter is that the issue is in court and I do not want to comment further.”

He noted that anytime things do not go well in national elections, “all that will follow will also not go down well,” adding “I pray the court expedites action on the case so we all know the way forward for Ghana.”

He said that once Nana Akufo-Addo, leading the NPP has said he will abide by the court’s decision and President Mahama is reported to have said the same thing, “We should all hope for the best for Ghana as we await the verdict.”

He said his foundation is being positioned to nurture young people for responsible leadership positions.

He said a lot of organizations have shown interests in partnering with the foundation to train future leaders in the field of education, agriculture, health among others.

“If you want to be a leader you have to first know how to serve. You cannot be a good leader if you do not know how to serve. You have to strive to be a leader. It should not come on a silver platter.”

MORGAN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SCHOOL READY TO ROLL

A panoramic view of the school

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday February 26, 2013

Morgan International Community School (MICS), an ultra-modern complex, designed to equip both local and international students with future leadership skills will commence business in August.

Admission is currently in progress and Phyllis Hildebrandt; Head of MICS told journalists after a tour of the facility at the weekend that they are determined to position the school as leading centre of excellence in Africa.

Located at Gomoa-Manso, just off the Accra Cape-Coast highway in the Central Region, MICS is expected to offer world-class facilities and world renowned-programmes with the goal of graduating top performers in all areas of the curriculum.

The school which has been modeled along the lines of the Ghana International School, will run programmes for grades 7 & 8 leading up to the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE Grade 9 & 10) followed by the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB DP Grades 11 & 12).

MICS will also run Senior High School national curriculum leading up to the WASSCE (Grades 10-12).

Ms. Hildebrandt said “We will provide the academic, organizational and professional life skills that enabled that enable each child to attend and succeed in college.”

She said in addition to the rigorous educational programme, MICS “Will commit to a structured college counseling programme including students in how to navigate the college process.”

“MICS commits to keeping every child safe and secure, to using gift of time to know and nurture each student’s passions, and to providing seamless, consistent and fulfilling academic and life experiences.  The school daily schedule is set up in such a way to diminish distractions for students.”

She said the school is determined to ensure that students and staff “consistently exhibit the MICS core values of excellence, learning, integrity and connectedness.”

“MICS believes that all members of our community should be celebrated for their growth and achievements,” Mr. Hildebrandt, emphasized.

Phyllis Hildebrandt (middle), Head of MICS addresses the media.

She said prospective teachers and lecturers should have at a Masters’ Degree to qualify for engagement adding “ MICS will help each child to find his/her passion through a relevant academic curriculum, after school enrichment, student leadership opportunities and authentic experiences during the school year.”

The head of school said they would use what she called “frequent and varied assessments and data analysis to show students their own progress and to keep teachers focused and accountable.”

“MICS also commits to comprehensive technology integration and using school-wide data management plans and systems to inform decision-making.”

The school boasts of over 40 classrooms, 194 rooms for accommodation and echo-friendly spaces for studying, leisure, worship, dining and extra-curricular activities.

Obed Danquah, a business man who founded MICS, told Daily Guide that investing heavily in the future of children was the right thing to do.

He said MICS is committed to becoming a contributing member of the community and added that “through community service and strategic outreach we will establish relationships with organizations and individuals who have the time and means to enhance the college preparation process for our youth.”

TUC BARES TEETH OVER FUEL HIKES

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday February 22, 2013.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has served notice to government, as a matter of urgency, to increase the salaries of workers to commensurate with the recent increment of petroleum products.

“In view of the hardships imposed on workers and their families as a result of the petroleum price increases, we are by this statement serving notice that our demands for pay increases in 2013 in both the public and private sectors will be informed by the high cost of living government has imposed on workers with the increases in petroleum prices.”

A news release issued in Accra and signed by TUC General-Secretary Kofi Asamoah said “we have already written to the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations to, as a matter of urgency, reconvene the National Tripartite Committee meeting to determine a new national daily
minimum wage for 2013.”

The TUC said the negotiation of the Base Pay and Relativity on the Single Spine Salary Structure “will commence immediately after the national daily minimum wage for 2013 has been determined.”

They said that the recent increases in the emoluments for the President, his ministers, members of parliament and all office holders under Article 71 “will also serve as a good guide for pay negotiations in 2013 adding “What is good for the goose is equally good for the gander!”

The TUC said that in December 2011, similar increases were announced by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) which generated a national debate on petroleum pricing adding “but the government refused to undertake the necessary reviews in the whole of 2012, for obvious political reasons.”

“In the week prior to the announcement of the recent increases in petroleum prices, we witnessed an orchestrated discussion of petroleum pricing in Ghana with the aim of sensitizing the public,” the union noted.

“Public officials did everything they could in the electronic and print media to draw attention to the subsidies that, according to them, has become ‘unsustainable’…Suddenly, fuel subsidy became an emergency issue that needed to be dealt with urgently to save the economy from eminent collapse. Public officials cited the Single Spine Pay Policy as the main reason why government cannot continue to subsidize petroleum products,” it said.

Propaganda

The TUC placed on record that contrary to what the government and its functionaries would have Ghanaians to believe, “Organised Labour was never consulted on the current petroleum price increases.”

“As the public is already aware, leaders of Organised Labour paid a courtesy call on the President on Friday, 15 February, 2013. At this meeting, the President informed the labour leaders of government's intention to increase fuel prices, among other important national issues. We do not consider this to be consultations.”

 Kofi Asamoah - TUC General-Secretary

“We have assured government of our readiness to dialogue over issues of national importance. But we take a very serious view of a situation where government gives the impression that it has consulted Organised Labour when, in fact, no such consultation has taken place. Consultations on such important national issues must be genuine.”

“We recall that, prior to the meeting with the President an invitation from the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to the TUC to discuss the matter of petroleum pricing was canceled by the Ministry the very morning the meeting was supposed to take place,” TUC said.

Fuel Subsidy

The TUC affirmed its unflinching support for the subsidization of petroleum products saying “The conditions that necessitated the introduction of subsidies are still valid.”

“We wish to re-state that fuel subsidy is one of the means by which workers and their families can be cushioned from the harsh economic realities facing millions of households in the country.”

“We have, in the past, drawn attention to the regressive nature of petroleum taxes and called on government to consider removing taxes on petroleum products. We believe that petroleum taxes have higher negative impacts on the poor than on the non-poor. We challenge government to show otherwise.”

Corruption

The TUC also expressed grave concern about the lack of transparency and corruption in the petroleum industry saying “There are too many players in the petroleum industry profiting at the expense of ordinary Ghanaians.”

“The Petroleum Products Price Build-Up contains as many as six (6) different margins designed to benefit a few owners of marketing companies and other players in the industry.”

The union said that they have every reason to suspect that the lack of transparency in the petroleum industry “is deliberately designed to facilitate corrupt practices of the few people in society who are well connected.”

Tema Oil Refinery

They vowed to fight any attempt to denigrate the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) which they said the inability of the facility to function effectively “is a manifestation of the corruption that has engulfed the petroleum industry.”

“Why should Ghana stop domestic refinery and import refined products now that we are producing oil in the country?” they asked and predicted “We are certainly on the road to repeating the mistakes of other countries on the continent.”

The TUC said that they will ‘vehemently’ resist any attempt to privatize TOR because “such a move will not be in the interest of the majority of Ghanaians.”

Public Sector Pay

They also noted that as part of the official propaganda, petroleum subsidy has been linked to public sector pay, accusing government officials of busily “touting various figures as representing the proportion of total revenue that goes into public sector pay.”

“The impression is being created that public sector pay is a windfall for undeserving public sector workers and that the country derives no service or value from public service workers.”

“We strongly condemn the attempt by public officials to blame public sector workers for policy failures. We were all witnesses to the changes in government spending particularly in the months leading up to the 2012 general elections.”

“The notion that public sector pay is consuming about two-thirds of national revenues and has become an albatross on the neck of government has been pushed to levels where the TUC can no longer keep mute over it.”

“The TUC believes that about half of the over GH¢9 billion that is said to be spent on public sector pay is actually being spent on the emoluments including arrears and pecks of political office holders.”

“We are challenging government to disclose the amount spent on public service workers and the share going to political office holders. Public service workers deserve recognition by government and not blame and insults from government officials.”

GII CHASES GOV'T APPOINTEES OVER ASSETS

Marietta Brew Appiah Oppong - Attorney-General and Minister of Justice

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday February 21, 2013.

The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), local chapter of Transparency International (TI), has expressed concern about the flagrant disregard of a constitutional provision that mandates every public office holder to declare his/her assets before assuming office.

The Executive Director of the GII Vitus Azeem believes the failure by public office holders to declare their assets continues to put impediments in the way of the fight against corruption.

As part of efforts toward ensuring transparency and accountability in the public sector, The Public Office Holder (Declaration of Assets and Disqualification Act), 1998 (Act 550) was passed.

However, events over the past years have shown that public office holders, particularly ministers of state, have abused this constitutional provision with impunity.

Mr. Azeem told Citi FM in Accra on Tuesday that the time has come for the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to lead the way in the investigation of allegations of non-compliance to deepen the culture of assets declarations.

He particularly called on President John Dramani Mahama, his Vice Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, the Speaker of Parliament and all parliamentarians, who were sworn into office on January 7, to declare their assets as mandated by the constitution.

He said the GII has noted that so far there has not been any indication that the provision has been complied with. 

The anti-corruption crusader called on the Auditor General to publish on monthly basis public officials who have declared their assets and liabilities so that Ghanaians could identify the defaulters. 

“They should publish it on a monthly basis like January; they should publish the names of the groups that have declared their assets, they should do same in February and the months that follow after that,” he stated.

“CHRAJ can decide to be proactive and work on it otherwise it will wait for someone to come and report them…this serves as a reminder to people to do what is required of them.”

Mr. Azeem also indicated that “in 2009, even though they did it, they did it at different times; some did it beyond the time they should have done it. The time frame of the constitution states ‘upon assumption of office’ which means once you are sworn into office, you should but then parliament decided to pass a law that conflicts with the constitution.” 

“The constitution is supreme…what the constitution says is the right thing so once you are sworn in as president, vice president or minister of state or parliamentarian, you are supposed to declare your assets,” he added.

PINK SHEET TAMPERING BOOSTS NPP CASE - LAWYER

Petitioners attend the court's hearing

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday February 20, 2013.

A member of the legal team of the petitioners challenging the validity of John Dramani Mahama as President says attempts by some Electoral Commission (EC) officials to manipulate pink sheets would consolidate the petitioners’ case.

He told Daily Guide on condition of anonymity that “obviously they are all over the place trying to manipulate the pink sheets but it is strengthening our case. We understand they have succeeded in altering a lot of the documents but they are going to go down with it.”

The lawyer was reacting to media reports that the Northern Regional Police Command arrested EC officials, including the deputy Regional Director Godfred Okley in connection with tampering with electoral documents.

On Sunday, Salamatu Osman, national service personnel at the Savelugu-Nanton District Electoral office was caught by irate NPP supporters with pink sheets of the December 2012 presidential election results in her possession looking for presiding officers in the area to sign.

When arrested, she mentioned the Savelugu District Electoral Officer, Akumani Benjamin Akanda as the one who had asked her to look for the agents.

The pink sheets contain records of the number of ballots issued at a polling station on voting day, the total number of votes, the ballot account and the number of votes obtained by each candidate. The presiding officer at each polling station must sign all pink sheets.

The alleged tampering of the records heightened after the EC and President Mahama, both respondents in the petition, received ‘further and better particulars’ from the petitioners as ordered by the Supreme Court handling the case.

In an effort to ensure a speedy disposal of the petition, the court directed the petitioners to serve the EC and President Mahama with details including names and codes of the 11,916 polling stations where they (petitioners) alleged irregularities and malpractices occurred during the December 7 & 8, 2012 election.

Daily Guide sources say that upon receipt of the documents, the commission dispatched the documents to the regions to scout for the presiding officers to append their signatures.

However, EC PRO Christian Owusu-Parry on Monday tried to play down the incident and claimed that the pink sheets were in the districts in the custody of the various heads.

He denied categorically that the EC headquarters in Accra has directed election officials in the districts to validate the pink sheets.

He promised swift investigation into the matter and added that the Commission was in the process of inviting the affected officers who have since been granted bail by the police, to explain their actions in Accra.

He told Joy FM that the Commission is concerned that the officers involved did not exercise good judgment in their attempts to obtain post-facto signatures on the pink sheets, especially given that the outcome of the elections is being challenged in a court of law.

The NPP lawyer said that “everybody has seen what they are doing. When we tender our pink sheets and it is different from theirs, the court would know that altered the documents subsequently.”

“We are aware of what they are doing all over Ghana and I am hopeful that the court is taking judicial notice of these developments.”

238,000 OVERSEAS VOTERS MISSING IN EC REGISTER

Nana Akufo-Addo leaves the court premises after proceedings

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Saturday February 16, 2013.

It has emerged that the total number of registered voters abroad captured in the Biometric Voters Register (BVR) of the Electoral Commission (EC) for the 2012 elections was 2,883 and not the over 241,000 as earlier claimed.

This include diplomatic staff serving in Ghanaian missions abroad, students on Ghana government scholarships, Ghanaian serving with international bodies as well as Ghana service personnel returning from international peacekeeping duties.

The total number of people registered abroad was contained in the full list presented by the EC to the Supreme Court Registry on Tuesday as part of the processes in a petition filed by three New Patriotic Party (NPP) leaders including the party’s December 2012 Presidential Candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, challenging the commission’s declaration of John Dramani Mahama as President. The other petitioners are Nana addo’s running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and the party Chairman, Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey.

The Breakdown

In the document, the EC puts the number of service personnel returning from international peacekeeping duties at 2178 while the total number of diplomatic staff serving abroad as well as students on government scholarships and Ghanaian serving with international bodies were 705.

This brings the total number to 2,883 leaving the EC to fish for the missing 238,117.

For service personnel returning from international peacekeeping duties, the EC said it registered 120 in the Volta Region, 92 in Brong Ahafo, 210 in Northern Region, 216 in Western Region, 106 in Ashanti Region and 1,434 in the Greater Accra.

The breakdown of diplomatic staff serving abroad, students on Ghana government scholarships, Ghanaian serving with international bodies registered were as follows: London, 49; The Hague, 27; Moscow, 34; Berlin, 27; Geneva, 26; Rome, 16; Spain, 3 (all in Europe); Cuba, 15; Washington DC, 23; New York, 55; Brazil, 13 (The Americas).

The rest are China, 20; Seoul, 22; India, 17; Dubai, 19; Malaysia, 13 (Asia), Addis Ababa, 36; Pretoria, 43 (East & South Africa); Rabat, 45; Algiers, 28; Cairo, 20 (North Africa); Monrovia, 27, Dakar, 21; Abidjan, 13; Bamako, 11; Abuja, 30 and Lome, 7 (West Africa).

The EC’s submission was in response to an order for interrogatories issued by the Supreme Court in respect of the petitioners request to get the commission to furnish them with the documents on the people registered overseas.

The petitioners said the application for interrogatories was filed because of the answer given by the EC after the petition had been filed.

The EC in answer to the petition had submitted that over 200,000 votes from categories of voters registered abroad were included in the final results of the election.

Simple calculation on the list of voters registered abroad showed that the total number submitted by the EC was 2,883, whereas the commission in response to the petition quoted that over 241,000 people were registered abroad.

The 241,000 Argument

The issue of 241,000 came about as a result of the total number of registered voters quoted by EC Chairman Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan when he declared the results of the Presidential Election on December 9, 2012.

On that day, he said that 14,158,890 was the total number of registered voters with 11,246,982 valid votes cast at a 79.43 turnout even though the petitioners averred that the commission had announced 13, 917,366 as the total number of registered voters prior to the election.

The petitioners in their petition filed on December 28 raised the discrepancy in the total number of registered voters announced by the EC and the commission in its answer filed on January 7, 2013, said that the discrepancy in figures rather affected voter turnout and not the ballots obtained by each candidate.

EC’s Answer

The affidavit sworn to by Kwadwo Sarfo-Kantanka, a deputy Commissioner of EC averred that the total number of registered voters copies of which were forwarded to the parties was 14,031,680 and added that figure14,158,890 used to declare the results was a ‘genuine’ error but that had no bearing on the results declared.

Dr. Afari-Gyan and his deputy Kwadwo Sarfo-Kantanka

The commission said it rather affected the voter turnout by increasing it to 80.15 percent from79.43 percent and not the actual results released.

Not satisfied with the explanation the petitioners asked the court to order the commission to submit the list diplomatic staff serving abroad, students on Ghana government scholarships, Ghanaian serving with international bodies as well as Ghana service personnel returning from international peacekeeping duties with their bio-data as captured in the register.

The figures submitted is far lower than the figures the commission included in the declaration of the results of the general election.

The details submitted to the court included name, sex, age of the voters as well as location registered and the polling station numbers but there were no voters ID numbers.

Another request from the petitioners for the EC to explain why it failed to notify the petitioners’ party about the registration abroad so it could send representatives to monitor the process was met with an aggressive answer.

“The 2^nd respondent is not obliged by law to allow political party representatives to be present during registration exercise but done so, in practice, as a courtesy and to enhance transparency. It was open to the political parties to have their representatives present at the registration locations if they had so wished,” the EC charged.

EC Responds To Interrogatories

Amadu Sulley, EC deputy Chairman in charge of Finance and Administration who deposed to the affidavit responding to the interrogatories averred that before the abroad registration, it had given the NPP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) the list of foreign service personnel, their dependents, students on Ghana government scholarships abroad and Ghanaians working with international organizations as well as their locations and proposed dates of registration.

“Honourable Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh (NPP) and Mr George Lawson (NDC) collected the material on behalf of their political parties in the middle of September, 2012,” the EC declared, adding that, “no voting took place outside Ghana.”

He also said that “Further directives received from the Court are yet to be incorporated into the Register, as will the recent registrations effected in the Kassena-Nankana District following the Order of the High Court.”

He averred that if that is done “This will alter the total number of registered voters. The Voters Register is dynamic, not static, particularly in this era of continuous registration as required by Regulation 9 of (C.I. 72).”

Explaining how the voter population increased from 13, 917,366 to 14,158,890 on the day of the declaration, the EC said “The said entries also included insertions, at 400 registration centres and the Commission's District Offices, of the names of persons who claimed to have voter ID cards but had been inadvertently omitted, as well as data recovered from damaged registration machines and back-up pen drives.”

The EC insisted that once the petitioners did not mention that the 14,158,890 registered voters represented the raw entries in the registration database, that ‘omission’ has resulted in the creation of ‘distortions’.

Mahama Factor

In President Mahama’s answer to the petition, he endorsed the EC’s explanation that the 13, 917,366 figures given to the political parties was provisional.

President Mahama was sworn in on January 7

“The 1^st respondent states that to the best of his knowledge and belief, the figure of 13, 917,366 announced by the 2^nd respondent was clearly provisional,” Elvis Afriyie Ankrah who was the President’s campaign coordinator averred on his behalf.

“At the time of the announcement, 2^nd respondent had not registered prisoners and other voters including those in the diplomatic missions abroad and on peacekeeping missions, and had also not done mop up exercise that it undertook subsequently,” he said.

“The suggestion by petitioners that there were some veiled reasons for the difference between 13, 917,366 and the final number of registered voters is without basis and smacks of utmost bad faith,” he added.

NANA VRS MAHAMA: EC DROPS 705 OVERSEAS VOTES

Petitioners leave the court's premises

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday February 14, 2013.

The Electoral Commission (EC) has complied with the Supreme Court order to furnish petitioners challenging declaration of John Dramani Mahama as President in the December 7 & 8, 2012 general elections, with details of the registration exercise it carried out abroad.

However, details are emerging about the figures submitted, as the total number of Ghanaians registered abroad is believed to be far lower than the figures the commission included in the declaration of the results of the general election.

So far the EC says 705 Ghanaians registered in Ghana missions abroad where registration took place, whereas the Commission quoted that over 241000 people were registered.

However this includes diplomatic staff, security persons on peace mission, students on Ghana government scholarships and Ghanaian serving with international bodies.

The petitioners comprising of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the 2012 elections, his running mate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and the party’s Chairman, Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey had filed an application for ‘interrogatories’ to get the EC to furnish them with the documents on the people registered overseas.

The particulars requested were in respect of Ghanaians serving abroad including Foreign service officials, students on government scholarships abroad, Ghanaians working in international organizations and security service personnel returning on duties and the mode of registration.

The petitioners had argued that the application had been moved because of the answer given by the EC after the petition had been filed.

The EC in answer to the petition submitted that over 200,000 votes from categories of voters registered abroad were included in the final results of the election.

President Mahama as 2^nd respondent also affirmed what the EC had submitted in its response when he filed his answers.

Unless it has filed another document detailing the names, addresses and places of registration, the list submitted by the EC in compliance with the court’s order are said to be inadequate.

In the documents cited by DAILY GUIDE, the EC filed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented to them a list totaling 2,350 as members of staff serving missions abroad but the commission ‘captured’ only 705 of the number submitted between September and October 2012.

The EC further explained that 55 persons who registered in Accra were staff serving in Ghanaian missions abroad but had returned home during the elections, Amadu Sulley, a deputy Chairman in charge of Finance and Administration averred in the EC’s answers.

Overseas Votes

The locations where the registration exercises took place and the number of people who registered are as follows: London, 49; The Hague, 27; Moscow, 34; Berlin, 27; Geneva, 26; Rome, 16; Spain, 3 (all in Europe); Cuba, 15; Washington DC, 23; New York, 55; Brazil, 13 (The Americas); China, 20; Seoul, 22; India, 17; Dubai, 19; Malaysia, 13 (Asia), Addis Ababa, 36; Pretoria, 43 (East & South Africa); Rabat, 45; Algiers, 28; Cairo, 20 (North Africa); Monrovia, 27, Dakar, 21; Abidjan, 13; Bamako, 11; Abuja, 30 and Lome, 7 (West Africa).

The EC insisted that before the abroad registration, it had given the NPP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) the list of foreign service personnel, their dependents, students on Ghana government scholarships abroad and Ghanaians working with international organisations as well as their locations and proposed dates of registration.

“Honourable Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh (NPP) and Mr George Lawson (NDC) collected the material on behalf of their political parties in the middle of September, 2012,” the EC declared, adding that, “no voting took place outside Ghana.”


Answering the petitioners initial petition filed on December 28, 2012, the EC on January 7, through their lawyers Lynes Quarshie-Idun & Co and copied to Akufo-Addo, Prempeh & Co, lawyers for the petitioners and Tony Lithur of LithurBrew & Co, lawyer for President Mahama denied the petitioner’s allegation the election was rigged in favour President Mahama.

The affidavit sworn to by Kwadwo Sarfo-Kantanka, a deputy Commissioner of EC averred that the total number of registered voters copies of which were forwarded to the parties was 14,031,680 and added that figure14,158,890 used to declare the results was a ‘geniune’ error but that had no bearing on the results declared.

The commission said it rather affected the voter turnout by increasing it to 80.15 percent from79.43 percent.

JUDGEMENT DEBT CHIEF RECEIVES PAY VOUCHERS

Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday February 14, 2013.

Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau, investigating the payment of Judgement Debts has sent signal to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP) that the fact-finding body would rely heavily on the ministry for its work.

He said “As for you (Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning), you are the ministry holding the country’s money basket so there will be nowhere to turn to than to come to you for you to explain issues to us,” Justice Apau who doubles as Court of Appeal judge said at the commission’s sitting at the Old Parliament House in Accra yesterday.

The ‘Commission of Enquiry into the payment of Judgement Debt and Akin’ under C.I. 79 to investigate the frivolous and dubious payments of huge monies to undeserving individuals and companies, was appointed by President John Dramani Mahama after public uproar over the payments in what has now come to be termed as Judgement Debts (JD).

Notable among them were payments made to CP (€94 million) and the never-ending case of GH¢51.2million parted to the self-styled National Democratic Candidate (NDC) financier, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, both of which many believed were dubious and frivolous.

Led in evidence by Dometi Kofi Sorkpor, a Chief Economics Officer at MoFEP Kwadwo Awua-Peasah appearing for the second time, tendered in evidence a list of pay vouchers issued from 2000 to 2012 in respect of the payments of judgement debts, settlement, compensations and arbitrations.

“We have made notes on the list to indicate which of them were not routed through the MoFEP.”

When asked by the Sole-Commissioner why the government did not have a single channel for the payments of judgement debt, settlement, compensations and arbitrations, the Chief Economics Officer replied that claims could emanate from all sectors of the economy and there different approaches to the payments.

“For those that are done through MoFEP, they are claims that sometimes the Attorney-General (AG) asks us to process payment. The other ones are compensations mostly prepared by the Lands Commission.”

He said that “the onus is always on the spending officer who is a Chief Director of any of the ministries to ensure that payments are made.”

Mr. Awua-Peasah told the commission that when the ministry issues the release letters for payments they send copies the AG but when the payments are done they do not always notify the government’s legal advisor because the process “are bound by cheques”.

He said that delay in the payments of judgement debt, settlement, compensations and arbitrations are not deliberate because “that is just at the time the liquidity comes in.”

He said that the evidence of payment requested by the commission could best be answered by the Controller and Accountant-General.

“Upon the request we realised that function can best be played by the Controller and Accountant-General so we have written to them asking them to inform the Bank of Ghana about it.”

Earlier, representative from the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department testified at the commission.

James Ntim Amponsah, a deputy Controller in charge of Treasuries, appearing for the second time, tendered in evidence a list of payment vouchers from 1999 to 2007.

He however, said they were still searching for documents covering 1993 to 1998 and asked for more time to be able to search for the documents from their department and Public Records and Archive Administration (PRAD).

The commission said it will announce its next sitting date.

EC, NANA FILE DETAILS AT COURT

Flashback! The petitioners in court

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday February 13, 2013.

The petitioners challenging the validity of the Electoral Commission’s (EC) declaration of John Dramani Mahama as President in the December 7 & 8, 2012 general election have complied with the orders of the Supreme Court to furnish the respondents with ‘further and better particulars’.

The petitioners comprising of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the 2012 elections, his running mate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and the party’s Chairman Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey furnished the court’s registry with the details of the 11,916 polling stations requested by the respondents.

As at 4pm yesterday the NPP legal team was at the Supreme Court Registry finalizing the filing of the order for ‘further and better particulars’ to be directed to 1^st (President Mahama) and 2^nd (EC) respondents .

The EC on the other hand, yesterday, filed the order for interrogatories requesting them to furnish the petitioners with the list of Ghanaian voters registered abroad.

The court’s registry was however, tight-lipped on the detailed explanation given by the EC in respect of the interrogatories.

The separate applications for ‘further and better particulars’ were filed by the respondents, President Mahama and the EC seeking to ask the court to order Nana Akufo-Addo and others to provide details including names and codes of the polling stations where the petitioners are alleging irregularities and malpractice.

The petitioners on the other hand filed an application for ‘interrogatories’ to get the EC to furnish them with particulars of Ghanaians serving abroad including foreign service officials, students on government scholarships abroad, Ghanaians working in international organizations and security service personnel returning on duties and the mode of registration.

Another application filed by the petitioners to get the court to order the EC for ‘production and inspection of documents’ in relation to the Results Collation Forms from 275 Constituencies and Declaration Forms Pink Sheets from 26,002 polling stations was however denied by the court.

The court had ordered the petitioners and the EC to produce the documents within seven days and yesterday was the deadline.

Failure to comply with the court’s order could have resulted in contempt of the court.

Nana Akufo-Addo and others finally filed an application for leave to amend the original petition which was duly granted on February 7.

The amended petition therefore allowed the petitioners to add 7,107 polling stations to the original 4,709 polling stations filed, bringing the total number polling stations to 11,916.

The court in dismissing the petitioners application for interrogatories requesting the EC to furnish them with Results Collation Forms from 275 Constituencies and Declaration Forms Pink Sheets from 26,002 polling, said the petitioner’s party, the NPP were given copies of all the documents on request.

The unanimous decision, legal experts believe, is a subtle validation of the petitioner’s request.