MAHAMA CONFUSED OVER FREE SHS

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Former President John Dramani Mahama appears to be reeling under pressure after suggesting that a future National Democratic Congress (NDC) is going to scrap the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy of President Akufo-Addo’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

The former president is blowing hot and cold air on the Free SHS, having realized the political implications of his position to scrap it in the event of him winning the 2020 presidential election.

Mr Mahama said during the NDC’s ‘unity walk’ held for him in Tarkwa, Western Region, last Saturday that it was not by force for President Akufo-Addo to implement the Free SHS policy, which experts say is going to serve as a catalyst for future development of the country.

The ex-president, who is lacing his boots to contest again as NDC presidential candidate after suffering a humiliating defeat on December 7, 2016 as incumbent, did not understand why President Akufo-Addo should implement the programme when he (Mahama) had claimed that the country was not ready for it.

The NDC had argued that it would take the next 20 years before Free SHS could be implemented.

Mr Mahama pointed out that since it took 15 years to implement the universal education (F-CUBE) at the basic level, there was no need to rush for free education.

Tarkwa ‘Sermon’

He took a swipe at President Akufo-Addo for rushing to implement the policy before hinting of a possible reversal of it by a future NDC government, saying it is not mandatory.

“Why should the government introduce free education now when the Constitution says it should be done progressively? In fact, it is not by force to introduce free SHS now,” Mr. Mahama underscored at Tarkwa.

He said that the challenges associated with the policy would not cease unless there was a comprehensive funding strategy, and added that the NPP government should have organized a national stakeholders’ conference on the policy to enable Ghanaians to make suggestions as to how it could be implemented effectively.

“But there was no consultation prior to the implementation of the policy. I want to advise the president that it is not too late. He should immediately organize a consultative forum to discuss funding options for the policy as was done prior to the establishment of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) during President Rawlings’ regime and the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), introduced by former President Kufuor,” he charged.

Reaction

However, when he came under fire from his opponents, the former president has started blowing ‘hot and cold’ air over whether or not the Free SHS is a good policy for the country.

He posted on social media platform - Facebook - yesterday that a future NDC government would not reverse the Free SHS policy.

“There are no ‘naysayers’ when it comes to free SHS. After all, it was recognized and enshrined in our constitution by the ordinary people of this nation who gathered at the Consultative Assembly and drew up the 1992 Constitution.”

He said the disagreement over the programme “is about the optimal pace of implementation,” adding “a more carefully considered plan of implementation adopted by broad stakeholder consultation would have resulted in clear policies and guidelines, which would have avoided the current challenges plaguing the programme.....”

The former president observed, “This view is not mine only. Many in the NPP and non-partisan civil society hold the same opinion.”

Constitutional Right

“It is not too late to hold a national stakeholders’ forum on the Free SHS programme in order to carry the whole nation along. The current legacy-seeking and ad hoc manner of implementation will multiply the current implementational problems over the next three years.

 “The false publication by a newspaper that the NDC will reverse free SHS is most laughable, false and diversionary,” he posited.

Mr Mahama emphasized that the Free SHS “is constitutional, it must be implemented, but it must be implemented properly according to a clear plan that carries all stakeholders along.”

Previous Position

When he was ruling the country he consistently ridiculed the opposition NPP’s Free SHS proposal but after he had realized that the NDC was going to lose more votes for opposing it, he made a spectacular u-turn in the heat of the campaign in 2016, saying that his government was also going to implement the programme because he claimed he had put infrastructure in place for a smooth take-off.

Yesterday, NPP MP for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, Frank Annor-Dompreh, cynically suggested to Mr. Mahama and his NDC MPs to tour the various constituencies and gauge the backlash it would receive from the public if they continued to insist on scrapping the policy.

CJ ACTIVATES IMPEACHMENT PROCESS: 5 PROBE EC BOSSES

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Information reaching DAILY GUIDE indicates that the Judicial Council, through the Chief Justice (CJ), Sophia A.B. Akuffo, is empanelling a committee to look into the alleged abuse of power and corruption scandal that has rocked the Electoral Commission (EC).

There appears to be sufficient grounds for impeachment of the EC officers involved, who are at loggerheads, thereby jeopardizing the operations of the commission.

A five-member committee is expected to investigate the EC chairperson, Charlotte Osei, together with her two deputies - Georgina Opoku-Amankwa, who is in-charge of Corporate Services and Amadu Sulley, in-charge of Operations - as prescribed under Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution.

The committee, to be presided over by a Supreme Court Judge, has two other Court of Appeal judges (male and female), as well as two other members nominated by the Council of State (female and male) as its membership.

Both the judiciary and the Council of State are said to have nominated their respective representatives and as a result, the impeachment proceedings have become imminent.

The committee will soon commence sitting.

Prima Facie Case

The impeachment committee is being established because the Chief Justice, in a preliminary investigation, reportedly established a prima facie case against the three EC bosses following separate petitions filed against them.

According to sources, the CJ is expected to write to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo requesting for an order directed at the three EC officials to step aside before the committee could commence its work.

A source said several infractions in the award of contracts at the EC will feature prominently in the committee’s investigations.

The preliminary investigations into the scandal commenced last August when Madam Sophia Akuffo wrote officially to the commissioners to file their official responses to the allegations leveled against them in the various petitions.

First Petition

The whole action against the EC officials was triggered by a petition sent to the presidency by Lawyer Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang, who was acting on behalf of some unnamed staff of the commission, seeking to trigger impeachment proceedings against Ms Charlotte Osei.

A litany of allegations were leveled against her, including spending GH¢3.9 million to partition an office, receipt of a bullet-proof Toyota Land Cruiser from the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, spending about $14 million for district offices when the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) had authorized her to use only $7.5 million, as well as attending Cabinet meetings under President John Mahama’s administration, among others.

Second Petition

Later, another petition was filed by a lawyer called Douglas Seidu against the EC boss on grounds of breach of procurement practices and provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 633) (as amended), gross financial mismanagement, as well as conflict of interest.

The petitioner alleged that Mrs. Osei put herself in a conflict of interest situation when she awarded a contract to Aerovote Security Printing (Ghana) Limited to print the pink sheets used for the 2016 general elections, insisting that she has strong business links with the director of Aerovote and said that she (Osei) had ‘arranged’ the deal even before the procurement process opened.

Lawyer Seidu claimed the EC boss ‘unilaterally’ awarded contracts worth GH¢249,018,895.03 and $71,406,388.80 in breach of procurement processes and also awarded various contracts, including printing of letterheads and a logo for the commission that indicated gross financial mismanagement.

Fight Back

Initially, the EC boss, through her lawyers - Sory@Law - who are also the commission’s external solicitors, hit back at her accusers, insisting that she had not been corrupt or abused her office and rather accused her two deputies of deliberately scheming to frustrate her stay in office.

The chairperson, in her initial response, openly accused Mrs. Opoku-Amankwaa of signing contracts worth over $40 million without her knowledge and authorization between May and September 2015.

Illegal Votes Transfer 

She also turned her attention to Amadu Sulley and said apart from transferring votes illegally in the run-up to the 2016 general elections, he (Sulley) also pocketed huge amounts of money from some political parties.

“The Deputy Chairperson, Operations, collected funds above GH¢6million in cash from some political parties for the organization of party primaries without recourse to the structures of the Commission, and without the involvement of the finance department of the Commission,” Ms Charlotte Osei said.

Counter Petition 

The fight became nastier when other unknown persons who appeared to be on the side of Mrs. Osei, sent a counter petition to the president to investigate her two deputies also for corruption and abuse of office.

Accusations and counter accusations then ensued between the EC boss on one hand and her two deputies on the other. They fought back strongly, trying to parry the chairperson’s allegations.

Corporate Services

Mrs. Opoku-Amankwaa, for instance, said in a 25-point response to the EC chairperson’s public statement that “The chairperson’s claim that there was a deliberate strategy to frustrate her work and tenure is palpably false and a figment of her own imagination.”

The deputy commissioner appeared to suggest that it was rather Mrs. Osei who was the problem at the commission and not her or Amadu Sulley.

“Her managerial deficiencies, coupled with her poor human relations and lack of appreciation for team work, are too manifest to escape public judgement,” Ms Opoku-Amankwaa averred.

She also described as “frivolous, useless, fabrications and a figment” of Mrs. Charlotte Osei’s imagination, the allegations leveled against her and asked that they be treated with contempt.

Operations 

Amadu Sulley did not take issues lightly when he was accused of pocketing GH¢6 million from the parties.

“I don’t understand the motive of the Chair to come out now to make this unfortunate allegation against me and the Deputy Chair, Finance/Administration.”

He also accused Mrs. Osei of sidelining him in the daily operations at the commission.

He said he was taking legal advice and concluded with a sarcastic statement, “If you tell one lie you need a thousand lies to cover up!”

The EC boss then sued Lawyer Opoku-Agyemang for defamation and said she was moving to clear her name; but it is unclear if she has been pursuing the action.

Initial Impediment 

Before the formal preliminary investigation commenced, a private citizen, Ayamga Yakubu Akoglo, had filed a writ at the Supreme Court, seeking to prevent the Chief Justice from going ahead to investigate the EC boss, but it is unclear if the suit was ever determined by the court or withdrawn by the applicant.

The plaintiff had wanted the suit, which also cited the Attorney General, to declare the action being initiated against the EC boss by the Judicial Council as unconstitutional, void and of no effect, after averring that the issues raised in the petition against Mrs. Osei had nothing to do with her core functions as prescribed under Article 45 of the 1992 Constitution and as a result, did not warrant her removal per Article 46 (1) of the Constitution.

Interdiction 

Currently, Mrs. Opoku-Amankwa is on interdiction following a complaint filed by Mrs. Osei.

Mrs Opoku-Amankwaa has been facing the EOCO over the alleged misuse of Endowment Fund of the commission’s staff.

Amadu Sulley, on the other hand, is still in office but in the heat of the scandal, accused Mrs. Charlotte Osei of sidelining him in the day-to-day management of the EC, a protest which suggested that the EC Chairperson was running a ‘one-woman’ show.

ACEP HAILS ELECTRICITY TARIFF REDUCTION

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday, November 27, 2017

The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) has described the government’s decision to reduce electricity tariffs as refreshing.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta announced on November 15. 2017 during the presentation of the 2018 Budget Statement that categories to see drops in tariffs are special load tariff (low voltage) 13%, special load tariff (medium voltage) 11%, special load tariff (high voltage) 14% and high voltage mines 21%.

In its analysis of the 2018 Budget and Economic Policy of the NPP government, ACEP admitted that “electricity tariff in Ghana is too high for businesses and domestic consumers; this is recognized by industry watchers as impeding growth and investment in the real sector of the economy.”

“It is refreshing to see government taking steps to reduce tariffs to bring relief to consumers. This effort is timely given the following realities,” it noted.

“The government should focus on shaping the fundamental variables that contribute to cost.

“These include fuel cost, competitive tendering of plant procurement to reduce the cost, bureaucracies in the sector, etc. Consideration of these variables will go a long way to reduce inefficiencies in the sector and allow the regulator to do independent adjustments and announcement of the tariff,” it said.

The think-tank said that there is currently more generation than needed, insisting “Ghana has moved from generation inadequacy to oversupply of electricity.”

“The excess supply of more than 500 MW, which is set to increase in 2018 by the addition of CENPOWER (350 MW) and Early Power (142 MW) (initial)) plants, will have to be paid invariably by the consumer because of the nature of agreements that have been signed with IPPs with repulsive capacity charges,” it argued, adding “therefore, the need to grow consumption to absorb excess electricity supply is non-negotiable to lessen the economic burden on consumers and ultimately on government.”

 “The entire sustainability of the sector will be impacted negatively if the demand is not balanced adequately with supply.”

“The debt will continue to pile because the higher the tariff, the lower the consumption and the more the debt accumulated through capacity charges,” it disclosed.

ACEP also talked about what it called ‘Self-generation’ saying “owing to the high tariffs, many businesses are opting to generate their own electricity during their peak consumption.”

“The purpose of the grid is defeated if electricity on the grid becomes more expensive than self-generation. Urgent realignment is therefore required to reverse the situation,” the think-tank said.

“The 13% proposed reduction will be about 25% on the dollar rate at the time the tariff was last reviewed in 2015. It is however challenging to see the budget prompting the level of reduction before PURC does its job of reviewing the tariff.”

It added “this puts PURC at war with public expectation of what government thinks is the reductions that should happen. It further weakens the independence of the institution whose Acting Executive Secretary is waiting on government for confirmation.”

WE ONLY RECOGNISE MAHAMA – SAYS NDC

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Saturday, November 25 , 2017

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has officially opted for former President John Dramani Mahama over all other persons aspiring to become the party’s flagbearer for the 2020 presidential election.

National Organizer of the party, Kofi Adams, on Thursday made it clear that the NDC does not recognize all those aspiring stalwarts and insisted that the party only recognizes the former president, who is planning a comeback once again to contest the next presidential election after being humiliated as an incumbent in 2016.

Currently, about five top notches - former Trade and Industry Minister Ekwow Spio-Garbrah; former University of Professional Studies Accra Rector, Joshua Alabi; Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin; former National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Chief Executive, Sylvester Mensah and failed parliamentary aspirant, Stephen Atibuga – are aspiring to lead the NDC for Election 2020.

The comment by Mr Kofi Adams, who was the Campaign Coordinator of the 2016 John Mahama’s campaign, has led to some of the stalwarts, who have declared their intentions to lead the party into the 2020 presidential election, to boycott this weekend’s ‘unity walk’ that the party says it is using to bring the rank and file together.

They are boycotting the event scheduled for Tarkwa in the Western Region today because they claim the whole exercise has been skewed in favour of John Dramani Mahama - who wants to lead the NDC again in 2020, after being humiliated at the polls in 2016, thereby scattering his second term presidential bid.

Mr Adams, who supervised the abortive Mahama’s re-election bid as the campaign coordinator, made the party’s intention clear in an interview posted on Ghanaweb.

“They haven’t reached the status of former President Mahama for them to be treated that way,” he said forcefully and went to the extent of saying that “They (aspirants) are engaging in an illegality.

“If there is any other person that reached the status of the former president and wants recognition, he should come out and say it. At this moment we only recognize the ex-president.”

He said the NDC had not opened nominations for the aspirants to be accorded flagbearer status and therefore the party does not recognize any of them.

“Mahama is being recognized by the party because he is a former president and immediate leader of the NDC. We therefore give due recognition to him.

“Any true party person should spend much more time on the timetable set by the party. We have structured all these things and when we have to open nominations we shall recognize all of them,” Adams claimed.

He said the party was going to engage the aspirants and “let them know that they should pipe down because at this moment we don’t recognize what it is that they are doing.”

Kofi Adams continued, “They shouldn’t think that we are going to recognize and give them platforms as aspirants.

“For everything that we do there is what we call an advantage and disadvantage. For President Mahama, those who may be contesting against him, if he decides to contest, will be using some of the things they feel were not done right against him, so if he has any advantage because he has occupied that position, before we should just let him be.”

Mr Kofi Adams’ statement is likely to further deepen the cracks in the party since some of the aspirants have not been happy about the preferential treatment being given to the Mr Mahama, as the NDC embarks on its re-organization exercise.

10 Chairmen 

Already, there is an open endorsement and support has been given to Mr Mahama by all the 10 NDC regional chairmen in clear breach of the party’s rules of engagement; and Kofi Adams’ statement reinforced perceptions that the other candidates might be wasting their time in contesting the former president.

The 10 chairmen converged on Accra to meet the ex-president and assured him of their support in what has come to be known as the ‘Cantonment Declaration.’

The action of the chairmen, who are part of the National Executive Committee (NEC) - the highest decision-making body of the party - sparked heated debate in the party, with some calling for sanctions against them (chairmen) for their ‘divisive’ action.

FDI RECORDS GROWTH

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday, November 23, 2017

The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) recorded total investments of $4.37 billion through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

A GIPC quarterly report attributed the increase in FDI in Ghana to improving macroeconomic environment.

GIPC’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) R. Yoofi Grant is quoted in the updated report as saying that the center had “closed the third quarter of the fiscal year ending 31st December 2017, having already directly booked US$ 3.37 billion of our US$5 billion target for the year of registered domestic and foreign investments for 2017.”

The report said the total FDI in Ghana included investments registered at the Free Zones Board (US$241.52 million), Minerals Commission (US$513.13 million) and the Petroleum Commission (US$358.41 million).

“We, at GIPC, are indeed encouraged to work hard to exceed our targeted FDI of US$5 billion for the year. The GIPC continues to be a central pivot of government in facilitating foreign direct and domestic investments to support development of our economy,” Mr Grant said.

He said, “An improved and attractive investment environment framework that will enhance sustainable partnerships and empowerment of indigenous businesses will continue to be a key focus of the GIPC.”

According to Mr Grant, “Ownership Structure of registered projects of the 44 projects registered during the third (3rd) quarter, 33 (75%), were wholly-foreign owned enterprises valued at US$61.08 million, which is 51% of the total estimated value of projects registered.”

“The remaining 11 (25%) were joint ventures between Ghanaians and foreign partners valued at US$58.73 million which is 49% of the total estimated value of projects registered,” he added.

He said that the current investment value of renewed projects showed an increase of about 101% over the total initial investment value of US$ 716.44 million and employment generated also increased by 101% over the initially estimated numbers.

He said data compiled showed that in the 3rd quarter, India and the United Kingdom, with five projects each, were the leading sources of investments by project numbers and added that with an FDI value of US$21.62 million, Denmark topped the list of countries with the largest value of investments registered during the quarter.

The FDI component of the total estimated value of the projects registered during the period under review (1st July to 30th September, 2017) was US$94.75 million, representing 79.1% of the total estimated value, and a local currency component of US$25.06 million, representing 20.9% while the total foreign equity was US$45.66 million and the initial equity transfer within the quarter was US$21.37 million.

A total of 139 new investments were registered from January to September 2017.

The manufacturing sector recorded the highest number of investments with 37 projects, followed by the services sector with 34 projects.

The agriculture sector recorded only one project while there was no investment recorded in the tourism sector, adding that in terms of the estimated value of investments, the manufacturing sector again topped with US$ 2.65 billion.

The high value, the GIPC boss explained, is attributable to a joint venture investment from Netherlands, with an activity of manufacturing power for sale to ECG.

RUBY COCAINE HOUSE CONFISCATION IN LIMBO

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

The Court of Appeal yesterday stopped the state, in the interim, from going ahead to confiscate a building belonging to convicted drug baroness, Ruby Adu Gyamfi aka Nayele Ametefe.

The three-member panel presided over by Justice Saeed Kwaku Gyan, gave the order because there is a pending appeal filed by Nayele’s mother - Akua Adubofuor - against the Accra Financial and Economic Crimes Court’s decision to confiscate the storey building located at East Legon, Accra.

Nayele’s mother, after filing the appeal, had filed for a stay of execution pending the final determination of the appeal against the Financial and Tax Court’s ruling, and the appellate court granted the plea yesterday.

On July 25, the Financial and Tax Court, presided over by Justice Georgina Mensah Datsa, ordered the confiscation of the East Legon storey building of the convicted drug baroness, who is currently serving a jail term in the United Kingdom.

The building was one of two properties identified by the state as acquisitions from the proceeds of crime (narcotic trade). The other building is located in her hometown, Pease, near Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.

It may be recalled that in the heat of the investigations, the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) and the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) confiscated all items in the Night Angels Enterprise, located along the Dzorwulu highway in Accra - which they said was operated by Nayele - and six Fidelity Bank accounts, including one containing GH¢3.22p belonging to the convict.

EOCO was also demanding that the lawyer representing Nayele’s mother serve her daughter in prison with the processes she had filed claiming ownership of two houses, but the lawyer insisted that there was no need to serve her daughter (Nayele) with the processes since the houses belong to her (mother).

In the original judgement, Justice Mensah-Datsa said the state had been able to prove that the East Legon property indeed belongs to Nayele Ametefe and must be confiscated by the state.

She had said however, that the court could not order the confiscation of a second building located at Pease because the state failed to prove that the jailed cocaine peddler owns that property.

The property, estimated at about 1.8 million dollars, was expected to be sold and the proceed distributed as follows: 50% to NACOB, 20% to EOCO, 10% into the consolidated fund and 20% to the Judicial Service of Ghana.

However, Nayele’s mother filed at the Court of Appeal against the high court’s decision to confiscate the property and the order preventing the state from going into an immediate execution was given.

Appearing before the Court of Appeal panel which included Justices Amadu Tanko and Barbara Ackah-Ayensu yesterday, Peter Dadzie, who is representing Nayele’s mother, said if the court failed to grant the stay of execution, it was going to affect the outcome of the substantive appeal.

 He said that the property belongs to Nayele’s mother and made the convict to occupy it.

When Justice Tanko asked counsel to convince the court further why the application should be granted, he said when the state enforces the trial court’s order and the property falls into the hands of a third party, it will be difficult for the appellant to get back the property, if the appeal succeeds.

The Attorney General’s Department, which has been sued alongside the NACOB, insisted that the evidence adduced before the trial court showed that the property belongs to Nayele and that there was nothing new the appellant was adding to the already-decided matter in the form of an appeal.

However, after granting the stay of execution, the court cautioned Nayele’s mother not to tamper with all documents covering the confiscated property.

   

NDC REGISTRATION BEGINS

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday, November 20, 2017

Barring any hitches, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), will be commencing a nationwide registration of its members by the end of the week.

Reports reaching DAILY GUIDE indicate that the materials for the registration, which is to be done manually after the party had abandoned its expensive biometric exercise, are ready.

A source said the materials are being sent to the regions from the party’s headquarters at Adabraka, Accra, for onward distribution to the constituencies.

The Prof. Kwesi Botchwey election review committee had recommended the scrapping of the biometric register because of its fraudulent nature.

Official Admission

In mid-October, the NDC finally admitted that its biometric register, which it spent millions of Ghana cedis to compile, lacks integrity and credibility and therefore cannot be relied upon for any meaningful internal elections.

They then decided to throw away the register - which was compiled ahead of the 2016 general election – and start a new process of registering NDC members manually.

“The biometric register was well intended but was abused by our operatives and does not meet the standards required to make a credible one, I learnt people have invested heavily in the data capturing book ready to do same when registration starts once again,” National Chairman of the party, Kofi Portuphy, had said at a news conference in Accra on October 17.

Fraudulent Activities 

He said that all those preparing to perpetrate fraud in the next registration exercise would not succeed because the biometric exercise is no longer to be carried out.

Mr Portuphy said the NDC is not scrapping the biometric project indefinitely but was going to use the manual registration to form the basis for a new biometric data compilation in the near future.

“In line with the wishes of the majority of the members of the NDC, and in the wake of recommendations made by the election review committee, chaired by Prof. Kwesi Botchwey, the National Executive Committee (NEC), which is the highest decision-making body after Congress, voted unanimously for the scrapping of the register which was used to conduct our internal elections last year,” Mr. Portuphy confirmed.

“The register, which was meant to be a biometric one, did not meet the standards required to make it qualified to be a biometric register. NEC has decided that we should adopt a manual process of capturing the names of members at the branch levels nationwide to avoid infiltration and test the real strength of the party,” he submitted.

DAILY GUIDE indicated

DAILY GUIDE had published that the NDC was throwing away the biometric register because of the inherent fraud associated with it, but the party’s gurus came out to deny it vehemently.

But now the chickens have come home to roost as the reality has dawned on them.

The NDC had come out to deny contents of Prof. Kwesi Botchwey Committee’s report as they are being serialized by DAILY GUIDE, but it’s now turning round to implement the same recommendations the newspaper published earlier.

According to the 13-member committee that investigated the cause of the NDC’s massive defeat at the last general elections, the biometric exercise, which was fraught with widespread irregularities, made the NDC to believe that it had the numbers to retain power.

“The register gave a misleading impression of the party’s true strength in some branches and constituencies as some of the aspirants registered non-NDC members in their bid to win at all cost and by all means,” Prof Kwesi Botchwey’s Committee reports.

Former President Rawlings, who is the NDC founder, had also alluded to the fact that some NDC members fraudulently registered some New Patriotic Party (NPP) members in order to defraud the party system.

The committee’s report said the manipulation of the register was real and that had put the integrity of the whole exercise into question.

“The integrity of the biometric register was compromised and a number of the primaries flawed on account of widespread manipulation,” the report said.

MAHAMA SPLITS NDC

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Saturday, November 18, 2017

The former Consul to Dubai, Daniel Osei, has said that the decision by former President John Dramani Mahama to lead the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2020 general elections is tearing the opposition party apart.

“This issue of former President Mahama's return is currently the most divisive factor in NDC politics,” he noted in one of his dispatches following what he termed the skewing of party activities in favour of the former president at the expense of all those NDC stalwarts, who had declared their intentions to lead the party in 2020.

Mr. Osei, a former Consul General at Ghana's mission in Dubai under President Mahama, said “The Kwesi Botchwey (KB) report, apology tour, appointees, ill-conceived chairmen endorsements, and all the other factors combined don't come close to how divisive his return is.”

According to Mr. Osei, “The last election was a verdict on how well (or not) we lived up to our core values. The deep cut of the humiliating defeat we suffered at the 2016 polls and the historical margin of defeat reflects a total rejection we cannot sweep under the rug.”

He said that the then opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) was able to mount a very effective campaign while the NDC displayed opulence and obscene use of money, insisting that “in the 2016 campaign we were grossly out-campaigned by the opposition on all fronts. Our messaging was off in many areas and sometimes simply, absent.

“I am particularly shocked by those executives who pretend as if we run a winning campaign and lost. Maybe they just don't know any better. We did not run a winning campaign. Opulence and money was not enough and in many instances, very harmful to our cause.

“Our organizing did not exist and certainly our GOTV was very poor. Almost absent. Over-reliance on ‘the president has won already’ made us bankrupt of thinking. It's time to put on our thinking caps. It's time for a paradigm shift.”

He said the Cape Coast ‘unity walk’ was an opportunity to finally unite the rank and file of the NDC, but the Mahama camp blew that chance.

“Sadly, neither of these camps is helping us in terms of steps to improve our votes. The JM at all cost camp can't see beyond the former president. They are not even willing to entertain any suggestion that he did or said anything wrong,” he pointed out.

According to Mr. Osei, who once contested and lost the Asante Akyem North seat on the ticket of the NDC, “I don't blame the ‘JM by force’ group. At the base level, it's very understandable.

He is a very calm mannered and pleasant person. It's easy to love him. At the appointees’ level, you can't blame them because many had their major life-changing experience, as his appointees and did well for themselves and their families.”

Debate 

He said there was the need for honest debate over whether or not former President John Mahama should be made the NDC’s flag bearer for the 2020 elections.

“It is not enough to be for or against the former president or any particular person. For those who want his return, it is important for their voices to be heard and their reasons discussed and analysed for substance. Equally, for those who don't want him, there must be good reasons and those reasons must be put through serious thinking and analysis to help digest them for substance.

“The idea is for us to strengthen our debate to help make the best decision for the party. I don't believe either side is totally wrong or totally right, but an honest discussion will help us reach a good consensus. There must be a civil and intelligent analysis to help us make the right decision.

“We can't keep doing the same things and expect different results. It is unpardonable that a party in power will sit and allow the opposition to feed us election results. This was possible because the party, seemingly strong, was rather very weak with clueless persons given important responsibilities.”

MAHAMA CAMP MAKING SILLY MISTAKES

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday, November 17, 2017

Daniel Osei, the former Consul General to Dubai under the John Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC), who criticized the way in which the organizers ‘skewed’ the party’s so-called Unity Walk in Cape Coast in favour of the former President, has his back again.

He said the 10 NDC Regional Chairmen acted silly by declaring their support for former President Mahama.

The move by the chairmen made little or no political sense, do we need another distraction with this (10 regional chairmen) silly act?” Mr Osei quizzed.

There has been a backlash against the Mahama camp and Mr  Osei appears to be vocal in his criticism of all those fronting for the ex-President since the Cape Cost Unity Walk, which was designed to promote Mr Mahama at the expense of all those stalwarts, who have declared their intentions to lead the NDC in 2020 elections.

He was of the view that their action was jeopardizing the future of the NDC and compelling the rank and file to take entrenched positions instead of coming together to forge ahead in unity to enable them to capture power from the NPP.

“A noble MP managed to stop what would have been a PR disaster with sitting MPs and prevented a signed petition endorsing Mahama and they came out with the '80 MPs want Mahama back' verbiage, and now this (10 Chairmen’s action),” Mr Osei, who was once DCE for Ashanti Akim North, said on a social media platform.

“True or false, it only allows people to discuss how much it cost and if the GH¢1 million tag is the best use of the funds. Are there no thinkers in Mahama's camp?”

“If at the recent Cape Walk Rally, everyone was allowed to speak for a couple of minutes and Mahama spoke last as per tradition, and at the end of his speech, invited all the potential aspirants, former ministers, and they lined up with Mahama in the middle, raised their hands in unity and sang the ‘Victory of the NDC’ is coming again, just imagine the headlines with photos of all of them holding hands and Mahama in the middle.”

He said “it would have been a great exclamation on a successful unity walk and the biggest winner would have been JM. It wouldn't have cost a penny more and it would have endeared him even more to all.”

The former envoy said instead the Mahama camp employed bullying tactics “to prevent top men, party assets from speaking.”

“They could have each said something about the myriad of issues in the country and thereby allow JM to focus his message on unity. It would have been beautiful but alas, the same old tactics with very predictable results were employed and in the end to what end?”

He said “I am scandalized as to why silly mistakes that are easily preventable are actually planned and executed. Why? If JM is too overworked or for whatever reason not capable of recognizing some of these mistakes, where are the thinkers around him?”

He added “couldn't anybody on his team realize taking an entourage of media with their cameras to accompany him on his private visit to a relative, Major Mahama's widow was wrong? How many of us write on Facebook or social media about our gifts to friends when they're bereaved, let alone family? What was the possible or potential upside to writing about this private visit on social media? Had there not been cameras, the bad joke or slip would have never been captured. And even still, when they edited to put on Facebook, did no one in his circle notice it was in bad taste to ask a child that question?”

He said that “there is a path to victory 2020 but we can't keep doing the same things and expect different results.”