SAVES OUR WHALES - COALITION TELLS MAHAMA

A dead creature

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu
Monday, November 25, 2013

The Save Our Whales And Marine Mammals Coalition has appealed passionately to President John Mahama and his government to urgently act on the unprecedented deaths of whales on the shores of the Western Region within a short period.

From 2012 to date, about 20 sea creatures mostly whales have been washed ashore, raising concern about what might be going on in the seas of Ghana. 

Some environmentalists have attributed the problem to the ongoing oil exploration.

A letter jointly signed by almost all heads of the various civil society groups with advocacy interests in Natural Resource and Environmental Governance (NREG), particularly Fisheries, Oil and Gas said they were concerned about the situation and wants the President to act without delay.

The statement said “we are concerned that the unprecedented beaching of 20 decaying whales with as many as 19 in the Western Region alone since oil exploration and production commenced in 2009 is worrying and requires immediate investigations.”

“Companies exploring, exploiting and producing hydrocarbons in Ghana have all failed to conduct an exclusive fisheries assessment as required by the Fisheries Act 625 of 2002, Section 93, we therefore implore your good office to order the requisite agencies and institutions to take appropriate steps to have the provisions complied by.”

The further coalition said “that there is no marine protected zone in Ghana as required by the Fisheries Act 625, exposing our rich living marine resources to destruction.”

“We thus make humble demand that the necessary scientific studies are conducted with the legislation passed to safeguard the resources from being destroyed.”

The coalition said that the vocation of the fishers and its entire value chain risks destruction by the oil exploration and related activities if measures were not employed to safeguard the sector.

The coalition also said that in the development of the legislation and governing instruments, both laws and pending bills, the fisheries sector was and had been completely ignored and thus risking  the livelihood of 10 per cent  of the country’s population, destroying the main source of affordable animal protein, impacting negatively on food security and increasing  import bill for fish.

“We undersigned humbly request Your Excellency, the authority in whom all natural resources of the country are vested, that you take immediate measures to have all the responsible ministries, departments and agencies to act with dispatch to save our whales and marine mammals and the fisheries.”

LAWYER KILLED OVER GH¢ 3,000?

Killed! Lawyer R. S. Blay

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday, November 22, 2013

It has emerged that the prominent Tema-based lawyer, Robert Samuel Blay may have been killed in 2011 because of GH¢3,000, DAILY GUIDE has learnt.

This amount was supposed to be legal fee RS Blay allegedly charged Frank Amegadzi aka Olenke aka Papa in order to defend him in his previous robbery case that landed him in prison custody until he was released under the Justice for all Programme.

Nkrabeah and Associates, lawyers defending Olenke who is standing trial in a different Rambo-styled robbery of a popular Forex Bureau in Tema, revealed the amount in a rejoinder to DAILY GUIDE’S story captioned “Lawyer Killer ‘Grabbed’” which was published on Tuesday, November 19.

“In short Frank Amegadzi has not been grabbed for killing any lawyer. Our client who has a fairly prosperous businesswoman for a wife will definitely not kill his family friend of a lawyer, if at all, not for a paltry sum of GH¢3,000 - assuming this imaginative motive were to be true,” Nkrabeah Effah Dartey who is lead counsel for the accused wrote to DAILY GUIDE in a rejoinder.

Rejoinder

We are a firm of lawyers, based in Accra. Our attention has been drawn to the front page publication in today's issue of the "Daily Guide" with the banner headline "Lawyer Killer Grabbed" and the picture of our client Frank Amegadzi posted therein.

We are completely shocked by the contents of the story because your reporter based his story on evidence given in camera in the Courtroom in a robbery case in which our client is 5th Accused.

The High Court presided over by Mr. Justice Logoh is hearing proceedings involving PW3 named by your reporter as Obiri Yeboah in camera, and only defence Counsel Court officials and the accused are in the Courtroom.

We cannot understand how your reporter's hands fell on the evidence, and we are more concerned because we are not allowed by law to disclose the cross examination we made and its impact on the concoctions of the witness.

Suffice it to say that our client Frank Amegadzi is in custody on an alleged robbery case, but even notwithstanding the inventions of Yeboah the Police have not thought it necessary to even take a Statement - be it cautioned investigative or ordinary from Frank Amegadzi all this while.

In short Frank Amegadzi has NOT been grabbed for killing any lawyer. Our client who has a fairly prosperous businesswoman for a wife will definitely not kill his family friend of a lawyer, if at all, not for a paltry sum of 3,000 Gh Cedis - assuming this imaginative motive were to be true.

We are not lawyers nor spokesmen for the Ghana Police Service, but we have no doubt in our minds that if and when they eventually capture the killers of our late learned friend Blay, they will certainly put the culprits before Court for full trial.

For now we as Counsel for Frank Amegadzi invite the reading public to disregarding the in camera testimony of that personage responding to the name Yeboah - as per your publication – who is PW3 in the ongoing robbery trial.

Suspect! Frank Amegadzi aka Olenke aka Papa

Breakthrough

Last Tuesday, DAILY GUIDE published that there appeared to be a breakthrough with regard to solving the mystery of the gruesome murder of a prominent Tema-based lawyer, Robert Samuel Blay in 2011.

The murder had remained an unsolved mystery since 2011 because the police were unable to trace the killers.

However, two weeks ago, a prosecution witness in a different robbery case blew the cover of suspects whom he alleged conspired to murder R.S. Blay. He named the suspect and his girlfriend Dora Sarpongmaa 7^th accused as those behind the mystery death of the young and popular Tema lawyer.

WITNESS                             “My Lord, the 5^th accused persons said after he gave money to
lawyer Blay to defend him and he did not come, and because of
that he was remanded into Nsawam prison, whereas the 5^th
accused person's girlfriend is the 7^th accused, and at the same time lawyer Blay has expressed interest in Dora the 7^th accused person, therefore he is sending Dora the 7^th accused person to him to say that she wants to eat fried rice and chicken, so that they will go to Papa Ye and buy it, and that after they have gone to Papaye and they have bought the food and coming back or returning, then the 7^th accused person should signal him to know that they have gone and they are coming back or returning. .…..          My Lord, then the next day I met the 5^th accused and asked him that why, and that somebody that you say you are coming to collect your money from, why did you stab him? “

Suspect! Dora Sarpongmaa

It would be recalled that the Tema Metropolis was thrown into shock when on October 5, 2011, Lawyer R.S. Blay was reported dead at the Tema General Hospital after he was allegedly stabbed in the throat with a broken beer bottle.

The  prosecution witness was giving evidence in the trial of the suspects in the robbery of a popular Forex Bureau in Tema.

BRITISH LAWYER QUERIES PUNITIVE DAMAGES

Desmond Browne QC (5th left) in a group photograph with some dignitaries at the lecture

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday, November 22, 2013

A distinguished British legal luminary, Desmond Browne QC says an award of punitive damages against the media or journalists for libel by the courts “is an indefensible anomaly.”

He observed that over the years, there have been questions of what sanctions should be imposed for a breach of standard and whether the regulator should have power to fine or sanction errant journalists but the course adopted so far has not remedied the situation.

Mr. Browne was delivering the National Media Commission (NMC) 20^th Anniversary Lecture under the theme “Press Freedom and Media Responsibility in a Democracy,” in Accra on Wednesday.

The lecture which formed part of activities marking the 20th anniversary of the NMC was chaired by Justice V.C.R.A.C. Crabbe, Ghana’s Statute Law Review Commissioner and attended by many individuals who have contributed significantly towards the development of the media in Ghana.

Mr Browne, who is a former Chairman of the Council of the Bar of England and Wales, is an expert in Media Law and has handled many libel cases involving high-profile celebrities in the United Kingdom. He is also deeply involved in the ongoing debate in the United Kingdom about whether or not the press should be regulated.

He threw more light on the UK situation where they set up the Leveson Enquiry to investigate the infamous phone-hacking scandals and other issues bothering on ethics of journalism before asking Ghanaians to draw useful lessons from the situation.

Mr. Browne said “in a world in which litigation is much too quick to consume both time and money, there is an overwhelming case for the regulator providing a cheap and speedy scheme of arbitration to resolve disputes without the need to resort to the courts.”

“The truth, of course, is that such complaints, however justified their grievance, are simply deterred from going to law by the cost. I do not suppose it is different in Ghana.”

Dignitaries at the lecture

The distinguished lawyer said the question about whether the same code of standard should govern both the print and broadcast media has been raging and UK’s Press Complaint Commission (PCC) which is the equivalent of Ghana’s NMC had always protested that print media was fundamentally different from other media in the way in which it is transmitted or received.

He said “this may be true, but it is surely not a ground for imposing differing standards.”

Mr. Browne said that fundamentally, where the media are guilty of serious abuse, society as a whole, not just the establishment, makes clear that it will not tolerate it any longer adding “this is what happened in England over phone-hacking. The media loses the trust of its readers, and it is hard to regain.”

He said that looking around the world, the outright opposition of the English press to any form of legislation “seems somewhat exaggerated,” adding “here in Ghana, the NMC Act 1993, section 2, obliges the commission not merely to promote and ensure the freedom and independence of the media, but also to insulate the state-owned media from governmental control.”

He said the contention that irresponsible journalism imperils freedom of expression since it invites society to impose sanctions “is a proposition easier to state, than to apply in practice.

On the issue of whether the regulator should be given hard teeth to bite, Mr. Browne said that the lack of willingness on the part of the UK-PCC to bit saw its downfall adding “but a regulator must do its best; when it finds itself the subject matter of complaints from both quarters, it is almost certainly doing the right job.”

LAWYER KILLER 'GRABBED'

From L-R: Suspect Dora Sarpongmaa, deceased Lawyer Blay and key suspect Olenke

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

There appears to be a breakthrough with regard to solving the mystery of the gruesome murder of a prominent Tema-based lawyer, Robert Samuel Blay in 2011.

The murder had remained an unsolved mystery since 2011 because the police were unable to trace the killers.

However, two weeks ago, a prosecution witness in a different robbery case blew the cover of suspects who conspired to murder R.S. Blay, throwing more light on the mystery death of the young and popular Tema lawyer.

It would be recalled that the Tema Metropolis was thrown into shock when on October 5, 2011, Lawyer R.S. Blay was reported dead at the Tema General Hospital after he was allegedly stabbed in the throat with a broken beer bottle by an unknown assailant.

A prosecution witness, one Yeboah, while giving evidence in a trial of a different Rambo-styled robbery of a popular Forex Bureau in Tema, named one Frank Amegadzi aka Olenke aka Papa, as the killer of Lawyer Blay.

He as well fingered Dora Sarpongmaa, also standing trial in the forex bureau robbery, as an accomplice.

In his evidence to the court, Yeboah explained that Frank Amegadzi, the fifth accused person in the Forex Bureau robbery case, stabbed Lawyer R.S. Blay with the broken bottle in the throat, as the deceased was seated in his car on that fateful day.

Yeboah told the court that he had been friends with Amegadzi for over 19 years.

The shocking revelation was made at a criminal trial at an Accra Fast Track High Court presided over by Justice Mustapha Habib Logoh on October 28.

In all, 11 persons including Dora, were suspected of terrorizing residents in the Tema Metropolis and now being tried for the robbery of the Tema forex bureau.

Some of the suspected forex bureau robbers in prison custody

In Yeboah’s testimony to the Fast Track High Court, he said Frank Amegadzi allegedly killed Lawyer Blay because he claimed years ago, the deceased took money to defend him in a robbery case. However, the lawyer did not turn up in court, leading to him being remanded in prison for a long time.

Amegadzi was apparently freed under the ‘Justice for all’ programme after spending some time in remand custody at the Nsawam Prisons.

Angry that Lawyer Blay was unable to save him from being incarcerated, upon his release, Olenke allegedly connived with his girlfriend Dora Sarpongmaa to attack the deceased.

He told the court that Amegadzi used his girlfriend Dora Sarpongmaa to lure the young lawyer to a dark place in Tema.

At the arranged spot, while seated in his car with Dora, she was alleged to have signalled Olenke, who emerged from the shadows around 1:30am and pounced on Lawyer Blay, stabbing him in the throat with a broken bottle, Yeboah told the court. He emphasized that he was an eyewitness to the incident since he drove with Amegadzi in Community 12 in Tema.

Witness: “My Lord, they went, but they didn’t come back or return on time. They didn’t come back early, they came around 1:00 a.m. and then the 5^th accused person told me that Dora the 7^th accused person has signalled him that they were coming. So myself and the 5^th accused person, we left Southern Fried Chicken at Tema Motorway roundabout and went to Community 12. There is a place called Rama Down – it is a curve, so we went and parked there.

“My Lord, we parked at a distance under a tree. So I asked the 5^th accused, Olenke, why we have come here; is it because of the food or he is coming to collect his money from the lawyer, and he said I should just look on. So we were there when the lawyer came. So they came and parked and where they parked we were seeing them, they were ahead of us, or in front of us so we were watching them. So whilst Dora, the 7^th accused person and the lawyer were romancing in the vehicle, the 5^th accused, Olenke, got down from the vehicle. So it was there that I saw the 9^th and 10^th accused persons, the twins, they also came to park near a church. So Olenke, the 5^thaccused person came back to the vehicle and picked an empty Stone beer bottle and used the hammer to break the top. So he went on to say that as for him, nobody can chop his money and go scot free, so I should just watch him, and that I can later go and park his car in his house. So the 5^th accused person went to Lawyer Blay’s vehicle, the driver’s side, held him by the neck and said ‘today I will collect my money’, and the lawyer also tried to struggle with him, and he pushed him back into the vehicle and used the bottle to stab him in the neck. It was then that Dora, the 7^thaccused person, got out from the car and sneaked away. So after seeing that, I also panicked and then got down from the vehicle.”

Background

On October 5, 2011 the police confirmed the death of lawyer Blay, then 47.

He was reported to have driven his VW Passat car with registration number GT 811 Z, from the scene of the attack to the Tema General Hospital where he checked in at the Emergency Centre, but he died while trying to explain what happened to him.

The deceased lawyer lived in Tema Community 3, and was well-known in the Metropolis.

According to Inspector Olivia Turkson, the Public Affairs Officer of the Tema Regional Police Command at the time, the police got information that the lawyer had driven himself to the hospital alone in his car, in what was believed to be an effort to save his own life.

Lawyer Blay drove himself to the hospital around 3:30 am but reportedly died around 4:00am.

Inspector Turkson told DAILY GUIDE that a search in the deceased’s car revealed two take-away packs of chips and chicken, and the broken Stone Lager beer bottle.

The police PRO stated that the deceased’s mobile phone could also not be traced at the hospital and in his car, compelling them (police) to suspect that it might have been taken away by the perpetrators to prevent them from being traced.

A ticket collected at the Tema Motorway toll booth showed that he paid the toll around 1:00am.

Lawyer Blay, who was a grandson of the late R.S. Blay, a Supreme Court Judge in the 1960s and later the Speaker of the Constituent Assembly of 1969, left behind a mother and two sisters.

CORRUPTION ON THE INCREASE

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu,

Friday, November 15, 2013

Data from the 2013 Afrobarometer (AB) collected from 34 African countries shows that governments have failed woefully in the fight against corruption spite of so-called policy interventions to stem the tide.

Ghana placed ‘respectably’ among the countries whose governments are failing in the fight against the social menace.

The report released in Dakar, Senegal yesterday and marked the 3^rd Afrobarometer global release on Corruption perceptions in Africa is based on interviews with more than 51,000 African people making it the biggest survey of people’s experiences and views of corruption in Africa.

A majority of people in 34 African countries including Ghana condemned their governments' anticorruption efforts in the surveys conducted between October 2011 and June 2013.

It compiled by Samantha Richmond, Afrobarometer's operations manager for capacity building, at the University of Cape Town, South Africa and Carmen Alpin, Afrobarometer's data manager also in Cape Town.

According to the report, 56 percent of people said their governments have done a "fairly” or “very bad" job of fighting corruption; while just 35% said their governments have done this "fairly” or “very well".

The report said the highest negative ratings are given by people from Nigeria (82%), Egypt (82%) and Zimbabwe (81%) whilst the lowest negative ratings are given by people from Malawi (28%), Lesotho (28%) and Botswana (29%).

In the case of Ghana, 54% of respondents gave negative ratings underscoring the need for the President as head of the government to sit up and crack the whip on corrupt public officials.

According to the report, Ghana is one of the 16 countries that have been tracked since 2002 where negative ratings have increased.

“The most dramatic changes were recorded in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Tanzania. In 2003 just 11% of Kenyans said the government was doing a bad job5, compared to 70% in 2011.  Negative ratings increased by 43 percentage points among Zimbabweans (from 38% in 2002 to 81% in 2012), by 31 points among Ghanaians, and by 25 points among Tanzanians.”

“In contrast, over the same period negative ratings declined in Malawi by 40 percentage points (from 68% negative ratings to 28%). More moderate improvements were observed in Lesotho (an 18 point decrease), Botswana (11 point decrease) and Senegal (10 point decrease).”

“Looking at the 16 countries tracked since 2002, the average score for the perceptions of corruption index remains unchanged at 1.74. Several countries, most notably Malawi, have registered improvements (decreasing scores on the corruption perceptions index) (Figure 9), but their gains have been offset by declines in others, especially Kenya, South Africa and Ghana,” the report said.

On the question of whether one paid bribe in the past year, 23% of respondents from Ghana said they did with the highest coming from Sierra Leone (63%) and Botswana (4%) recording the lowest.

According to the report, the negative ratings surfaced “despite the fact that eradicating corruption and improving governance in Africa have been priorities for most major international organizations and many political leaders since the mid-1990s.”

“Across the 34 countries, perceptions of corruption are highest for the police, followed by government officials and tax officials. Officials in the office of the presidency are perceived to be the least corrupt.”

The surveys h also found that almost 1 in 5 people (16%) have paid a bribe one or more times to a government official in the past year in order to get an official document or permit. Paying a bribe to get medical treatment as well as avoid a problem with the police were the other two most cited reasons. Nearly one in three Africans (30%) has paid a bribe at least once in the past year.

“Sierra Leone, Morocco, Guinea, Kenya and Egypt have the most people paying a bribe for a service or to avoid a problem. Fewer people in Namibia, Mauritius, Cape Verde and Botswana say they engage in this form of corruption.”

The report said that “corruption punishes the poor the most. Africans who often go without enough food to eat perceive higher levels of corruption in their state institutions and are more likely to pay a bribe, give a gift or do a favour for a government official in order to obtain official documents, gain access to public services or avoid a problem with the police.”

“Furthermore, the poor are especially likely to be confronted by demands for bribes in countries where experiences with corruption are especially high. Corruption also appears to be bad for democracy. People who perceive higher levels of corruption within their state institutions, as well as those who have had to engage in petty corruption, are more likely to be ‘not at all’ or ‘not very’ satisfied with the way democracy works in their countries.”

Background

Afrobarometer surveys are based on nationally representative samples. The 34-country results represented the views of approximately three-quarters (76%) of the continent’s population.

Countries included in Round 5 are: Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger and Nigeria.

The rest are Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.  Results from Ethiopia, is expected to be released shortly.

PERSOL REKINDLES BIOMETRIC DEBATE

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Persol Systems Limited, a wholly-owned Ghanaian software development and systems integration firm has rekindled debate of the biometric voting process, challenging the Electoral Commission (EC) to take a second look at the system it adopted for the controversial 2012 general election.

Persol which also engages in IT consultancy said they have developed systems which when adopted would deeply enhance the credibility and integrity of the electoral process and stem the widespread incidence of fraud and rigging that characterize elections in the country.

As part of the effort to convince Ghanaians of their capabilities, Persol Systems organized a technical demonstration of their Voter Verification and Voting Kit in Accra yesterday and it attracted representatives of political parties (excluding the ruling NDC), civil society organizations and the media.

Participants took turns to interrogate the process and asked Persol Systems officials to vouch for their claims.

Michael Quarshie, Managing Director of Persol Systems and Geoffrey Okantey, General Manager in charge of Software Development took their time to explain issues to participants.

Mr. Quarshie said that they were committed to supporting the EC to re-open and deepen the discussion for electoral reforms following the disputed election that ended up in court.

He said “2016 does not have to be a doom situation. We can dialogue to get the stakeholders to agree on what biometric platform is best for the country in future electoral exercises.”

He said “our understanding in the area of biometric deepened when the whole electoral process was subjected to judicial analysis and as a result we have positioned ourselves to offer a game changer.”

Mr. Quarshie said that what happened during the 2012 general election was for voters to go through what he called “Voter authentication” and not “Voter verification” as was touted.

“We are offering one-to-many and not one-to-one verification. This solution simply tells which ballot is right or wrong.”

He suggested that in order to make the system perfect, another firm could be tasked to clean the biometric data of voters captured by another company.

He said that software they would provide would take out from the system foreign materials or ballot stuffing and they would not have to depend on “numeracy skills” of the Presiding Officers or election officials.”

He said the system has been designed in stages such that one part of the process would have to be compulsorily completed before the next step can make itself available.

“For instance, if the law makes it mandatory for partitions of the Presiding Officer to fill a portion of the data before during and after the ballot and also for Presiding Officers to sign the pink sheet before declaration of the results, then he/she would have to abide by it before the system would allow another stage of the process.

Mr. Quarshie said with their system, there was no need to print and import Statement of Poll and Declaration of Results forms popularly known as Pink Sheets in advance since there was going to be print outs of the whole process, documenting what had transpired up to the  Collation Centre.

He said even though they are capable of providing a platform for electronic voting the deep mistrust among some section of the public in relation to the system currently meant they could not proceed to highlight the issue for now.

For his part, Mr. Okantey said the system had been designed to contain what he called “multiple electoral platforms,” adding “It can accommodate different kinds of elections at the same time.”

He said the kits have been built to withstand any weather conditions and added that the system would not generate duplicate data in case of a system breakdown saying “voters are guaranteed a continuous voting process should there be any truncation of the process.”

He said the system they are introducing is tamper-proof and is verifiable by the parties and all stakeholders.

PAV ANSAH REMEMBERED

PAV Ansah

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

A book titled, ‘Going To Town,’ which is a collection of  articles of the late Paul A. V. Ansah, was re-launched at the British Council Hall in Accra on Monday.

Speakers at the event eulogized the late PAV Ansah aka PAVA and recounted his contribution towards journalism, public relations and an enhanced media landscape in Ghana.

The articles were put together by Professors Kwesi Yankah, Kwame Karikari and Audrey Gadzekpo and reprinted as part of the effort to sustain the legacy of their erudite deceased colleague who was the Director of the School of Communication Studies of the University of Ghana.

Authors of the book put together a selection of his newspaper contributions from 1991 till his death in June 1993.

The articles were mostly published in his column in the Ghanaian Chronicle.

His contributions in the Free Press, Independent, and the Standard were included in the book.

His writings, reflecting a broad range of themes, had been grouped under four overlapping headings: Media, Politics, Society, and International.

Prof Yankah said “we thought that was the best way to perpetuate the memory of the great scholar,” adding “his death created a big void in journalism, and dented the writer’s crusade against oppression and dictatorship in Africa.”

“Almost possessed with fury, Paul Ansah wrote away his protest of dictatorships, unconstitutionalism, incompetence in government, appointment of mediocrities, etc. in very acerbic idiom.”

Prof Yankah said “in some of these articles, Prof  Ansah could not help making occasional references to the physical and the psychological constraints under which he wrote in his last days.”

He said that the late Ansah in spite of his immense popularity of his contribution in the media, suffered the heat of criticism but knew the hazards of his journalistic sojourn, saying “he made a name going to town, and he breathed his last in the centre of town.”

Prof. Karikari described the late colleague as “a public intellectual whose scholarship was extended to the public space. He was a brilliant and a needed scholar.”

“His writings were very biting and hard hitting and he was always right on point. He never attacked the person of anybody.”

He said “Prof. Ansah criticized people in very hard terms but he never got to insult the person of anybody he was criticizing.”

“He contributed to the development of the press but it appears the press is stunted at the moment. His newspaper articles reads like today.

Prof Karikari said a compilation of Prof Ansah’s scholarly articles still needed to be compiled and also recognized his colleague’s contribution towards the development of Public Relations practice as well as a lead contributor to the struggle to liberalize the airwaves.

Some of the panelists read portions of Prof Ansah’s articles to the audience and related their readings to what is currently pertaining in the media landscape.

 “What would have happened if Prof Ansah was alive today and writing the way he did?” Ace Ankomah, a legal practitioner asked rhetorically.

“The country is still looking for men and women who are prepared to stand and not sit!”

Dr. Joyce Aryee described Prof Ansah as “brave-hearted…he made his political contributions through his writings.”

She said “he had his own moments and difficulties with the authorities. We have in him someone who was willing to pay the price.”

Dr. Aryee said “the country still needs bold people adding “We need to help our leaders to do the right thing…the leaders need the people to tell them the truth.”

Prof Francis Allotey and Ambassador Aggrey Orleans both childhood friends and Dr. Margaret Amoakohene, Director of the School of Communication Studies took turns to recount the experiences they had with Prof Ansah.

Prof Allotey said Prof Ansah was brilliant from his childhood days.

Dr. Amoakohene recounted his excellent working relationship.

Ambassador Orleans said Prof Ansah had his own way of exerting his personalities and his ideas saying “he acted in a unconventional manner.”

“Anything Paul entered into, he did it with effortless excellence,” adding “he was basically a humanist who had a compassion for the ordinary person.”

“He liked to go the way he did…he was not a diabolist. He will defy all odds.”

BIG FIGHT OVER F'EDEN CHURCH

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

MEMBERS OF F’eden Mission Church are at each other’s throat over the alleged change of the name of the church by some of the leading members.

The church’s name was changed to Eden Revival Church International but some of the members are claiming that some few elders initiated and completed the name-changing process without recourse to church members.

As a result, five plaintiffs including the Registered Trustees of F’eden Mission Church had filed a suit at an Accra High Court challenging the action taken by Nana Agyekum Dwamena (1^st defendant), Daniel Appiah Koranteng (2^nd defendant) and the Trustees of Eden Revival Church International (3^rd defendant).

The other plaintiffs are Mrs Susan Anquandah, Isaac Ohene, Benjamin Kusi and Kofi Poku.

F’eden Mission Church, whose headquarters is situated at Kokomlemle, Accra has branches and schools in some parts of the country.

They are seeking reliefs including an order of injunction restraining Nana Dwamena and Mr Koranteng from holding themselves as officers of Registered Trustees of F’eden Mission Church.

They want a declaration that “all properties, movable or immovable held, registered and operated in the name of Eden Revival Church International are the properties of 1^st plaintiff and same are held in trust by defendants for the 1^st plaintiff.”

The plaintiffs further want recovery of possession together with a declaration that Nana Dwamena and Mr Koranteng by registering themselves as members of Eden Revival Church International have ‘secede’ from F’eden Mission Church as well as an order for account in respect of all properties of F’eden Mission Church in the possession of the defendants.

Finally, the plaintiffs want perpetual injunction restraining the defendants and their agents or supporters from entering or dealing with or in any way interfering with everything associated with F’eden Mission Church nationwide.

Plaintiff’s Case

In their statement of claim filed on August 28, 2013, the plaintiffs claimed that until Eden Revival Church International was incorporated on December 23, 2008, Nana Dwamena and Mr Koranteng were the acting General Overseer and General Secretary respectively of F’eden Mission Church.

The plaintiffs averred that sometime in 2002, after the demise of the founder of F’eden Mission Church, the members, trustees and worshippers decided to rename the church to its former Eden Revival Church International.

According to the plaintiffs, the decision to rename F’eden Mission Church was suspended until the conclusion of a merger talks between F’eden Mission Church and Gospel Light Church.

The plaintiffs claimed that it was during the period for merger talks that Nana Dwamena was appointed to the position of Acting General Overseer until somebody was appointed substantively while Mr. Koranteng also occupied the position of General Secretary.

Name Change Process

“Upon deliberation among the National Executive Council, it was resolved that the name of 1^st plaintiff be changed from F’eden Mission Church to Eden Revival Church International,” and added that Nana Dwamena and Mr. Koranteng were tasked with “procuring the necessary documentation from the Registrar General’s office for the change to be effected.”

The plaintiffs claimed that Nana Dwamena and Mr. Koranteng later reported back to the National Executive Council and membership of F’eden Mission Church the name change had been done and had been accepted by Registrar of Companies and added that as a result, an official church programme was held to formally inform members of the church about the latest development.

“Using the powers vested in their name in an arbitrary fashion and with utter disregard to the constitution of the church, 1^st and 2^nd defendants commenced running the operations of 1^st plaintiff in a dictatorial manner, claiming same to be theirs.”

According to the plaintiffs, Nana Dwamena and Mr. Koranteng “unilaterally abolished a radio programme” ran by the church, “changed membership several committees and appointed their favourites into various positions in the church which by this day is known as Eden Revival Church International.”

They also claimed that the defendants procured the signature of Mrs Anquandah as a member/trustee in the name change process and also falsely represented to the plaintiffs that the churche’s name had been changed when in actual fact Nana Dwamena and Mr. Koranteng had done the registration alone.

They also claimed the defendants were using F’eden Mission Church assets as assets of Eden Revival Church International and added: “the 1^st and 2^nd defendants have proceeded with their acts of fraudulent takeover of the assets and membership of 1^st plaintiff by using their personal telephone contacts and representing same as official contacts.”

Defendant’s Rebuttal

The defendants have hit back, describing some of the plaintiff’s averments as unfounded in their statement of defence filed on September 18, 2013 and said they will put the plaintiffs to strict proof.

Nana Dwamena and Mr. Koranteng averred among other things that “after the registration of the hitherto unregistered church as Eden Revival Church International, they have not on their own accord or violation appointed any person or group of persons into positions of the registered church.”

“Indeed, after the acceptance and recognition of the name of the church as Eden Revival Church International by the body of the church, the Executive Committee appointed the 2^nd (Mrs Anquandah) and 4^th (Mr. Kusi) plaintiffs of the church as national officers.”

According to the defendants, Mrs Anquandah and Mr. Kusi perform pastoral duties in addition to offices they hold in the registered church.

They said the character of the registered church had not “changed substantially from hitherto unregistered church and that by administrative operations of the church, 1^st and 2^nd defendants are not in a position to have overall control of the management of the accounts and assets of the church as if same were individual’s private property.’