Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday June 29, 2018

KUFUOR CLEARS AIR ON GHANA CARD

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has stated that the media erroneously reported that he endorsed the stance of opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the National Identification Authority (NIA) should make the Voters’ID a prerequisite for registering for the Ghana Card.

“The former president wishes to make it known that all that he called for was for all Ghanaians to take part in the exercise, and that if any group feels that the processes are defective, they should take part and protest from within in due course,” a statement issued in Accra yesterday and signed by Dr. Kwabena Osei-Adubofour, a senior aide and spokesman to former President John Kufuor said.

Erroneous Reportage

He said the media erroneously reported that he had endorsed the use of Voters’ ID cards in lieu of the primary identity documents of Ghanaian passports and birth certificates to attest Ghanaian citizenship for the purpose of registering for the Ghana Card which would be issued by the National Identification Authority (NIA).

Mr. Kufuor received his Ghana Card last Tuesday from the NIA officials and after his registration he allegedly asked the authority to consider the use of Voters’ ID Card as part of the process.

NIA Statement 

The NIA immediately issued a statement to reiterate its decision to use only passports or birth certificates and two people to vouch for applicants at no cost for the ongoing exercise.

“The NIA takes note of ex-President Kufuor’s comment on the exclusion of the Voter’s ID card as one of the identity documents required by an applicant for registration for the Ghana Card, a statement from the Corporate Affairs Department of the authority said.

“The NIA, as a creature of statute, will continue to be governed by, and respect, the existing laws passed by Parliament.”

No Intention 

“In exercising its statutory mandate, the NIA is determined to ensure that every Ghanaian at home and abroad is duly registered and issued with the Ghana Card, while at the same time doing all in its power to protect the boundaries of Ghanaian citizenship and the accuracy and integrity of the National Identity Register as by law required,” it said, adding “indeed, as NIA has pointed out time and again, those Ghanaians who lack any of the prescribed identity documents can be registered by being vouched for in accordance with the law at no cost to them.”

The authority said “there is absolutely no intention on NIA’s part to disenfranchise or denationalize any Ghanaian. The National Identity Register being compiled by the NIA is not a substitute for the Voter’s Register, which the Electoral Commission alone is by law mandated to compile, and the Ghana Card is not a substitute for the Voter's Identity Card.”

Heated Argument

The ex-President’s purported comments on Voter’s ID generated heated political argument which compelled his office to issue the statement to set the records straight.

“Former President Kufuor would want to make it abundantly clear that he does not in any way call for the substitution of a voters’ ID card for either a Ghanaian passport or a birth certificate in establishing Ghanaian identity in order to register for an NIA Ghana card,” it said.

“He does not under any circumstances impugn the authority of the NIA to determine the basis of one’s proving one’s citizenship to register for the Ghana Card, as he is satisfied that the NIA is doing so in accordance with the enabling legislation passed by the sovereign parliament of Ghana,” the statement added.

Legal Definition 

“The legal definition of who is a Ghanaian is not a matter of politics and people should desist from making it so,” adding “in any case, it should be noted that the NIA enabling law was unanimously passed and it obtained a bi-partisan praise from Ghana’s parliamentarians.”

“What is reassuring is that the NIA law has two key processes by which those who do not possess either of the two primary citizenship documents can vouch for their Ghanaian citizenship. And they are that: a relative of an applicant can vouch for the applicant before a Commissioner of Oaths who will be part of the registration set-up.”

He added “where the applicant has no known relative, two persons who know the applicant can vouch for him/her before a Commissioner of Oaths.”

“The former President’s point is that the parliament of Ghana that passed the enabling law for the exercise must have considered the reality that the landmark ruling of the Supreme Court of Ghana in the Abu Ramadan case in 2016 required the voters’ register to be cleansed.”

LMVC Angle 

Pressure group Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA) encouraged NIA to remain resolute and dismiss calls to include Voters’ ID card as one of the prerequisites for the registration.

“We are of the firm conviction that the inclusion of the Voters’ ID card in the Ghana Card registration will distort the data, further deepen the cracks in the entire national identification system and compromise the authenticity of the whole process,” the group said in a statement.

 “The electoral register has a lot of unresolved anomalies. It is for this reason that the LMVCA rallied behind and offered our full support to the plaintiffs in the Abu Ramadan & Evans Nimako v Attorney General case in which the plaintiffs argued that the use of the NHIS Card for voter registration was unconstitutional, as the NHIS Card merely indicates a minimum of six months of residence in Ghana, and not Ghanaian citizenship as stipulated by the constitution.”

NPA BRIEFS COUNCIL OF STATE ON CYLINDER RE-CIRCULATION

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday June 29, 2018

The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has briefed the Council of State on the imminent implementation of the Cylinder Recirculation Model policy.

The NPA team of experts, headed by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alhassan Tampuli, met the distinguished members of the council yesterday at the State House in Accra.

The policy is expected to come into force by early next year.

Under the Cylinder Recirculation Model, consumers would have to exchange their old empty gas cylinders for new and filled ones.

According to the NPA, LPG bottling plants would be sited away from congested or commercial areas and their main business would be to brand, maintain and fill empty cylinders for distribution through retail outlets.

Low risk stations would be designated to supply of gas to vehicles.

Giving an overview of the project, Mr. Tampuli told the members of the council that apart from addressing safety and security concerns, the new recirculation policy would also take into consideration issues of affordability, availability and accessibility.

The issue of non-adherence to standards and laid-down procedures, resulting in accidents and explosions, inadequate knowledge and skills of operators and consumers are retarding progress, he stated.

“We cannot leave the safety and security issues in the industry in the hands of those who have inadequate knowledge and skills. We have to put in proper structures and respect those structures,” he said.

He said the government, through the Authority, is determined to deliver a model that responds to our peculiar needs of the country.”

“We want to ensure that what we come out with will be able to stand the test of time.”

He added “before we start any high-level consultation, it should begin with this august council. In my view, it is the conscience of the nation.”

He said there is no way the new policy would put people out of their jobs and promised that the new model would rather create more employment opportunities, saying “about 100,000 jobs are guaranteed throughout the country in the value chain.”

Nana Otuo Siriboe II, Chairman of the Council of State, said the council is ready to listen to all concerns of stakeholders as part of efforts to find the best way to ensure a successful implementation of the policy.

“We are ready to receive whoever wants to seek advice from us concerning the policy implementation. The industry is fairly well represented on the council so we will be able to proffer the requisite advice on the way forward.”

RAWLINGS, NDC SPLIT OVER GHANA CARD

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu & Melvin Tarlue

Thursday June 28, 2018

Former President Jerry John Rawlings and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are split over the Ghana Card.

While the former President has picked his card, a move presupposing his acquiescence with the citizenship identification exercise, his party, the NDC and former President John Mahama, who have boycotted it, are on a different wavelength.

Owing to his decision to pick the Ghana Card, former President John Rawlings has attracted criticism from members of his party who claimed he went contrary to the party’s position to boycott the whole registration exercise being conducted by the National Identification Authority (NIA).

Yesterday, the Minority downplayed Rawlings’ decision, saying that he does not represent them, a statement which certainly widens the schism between the NDC’s founder and key elements in the party.

Initial Boycott 

The NDC Minority in Parliament, which called for a boycott of the registration exercise, insisted that they would not take part in the exercise if NIA does not allow Ghanaians to use their Voters ID cards to register for the new Ghana Card.

The NIA has stated on numerous occasions that applicants would have to produce birth certificates, passports or produce two referees to vouch for them in order to obtain the Ghana Card.

In spite of the supposed NDC boycott, NIA has continued its registration exercise which commenced two weeks ago.

So far, state institutions, including the Presidency and Parliament where only members of the majority participated, had been covered.

NDC Fire 

In the ensuing heat, the office of the former President John Rawlings released a statement urging stakeholders to re-examine concerns about the National ID.

“The  attention  of  the  office  of  His  Excellency,  Jerry  John  Rawlings,  has  been  drawn  to publications  in  sections  of  the  media  and  on  social  media  platforms  insinuating  that  his decision  to  register  for  the  National  Identity  Card  was  a  call  to  members  of  the  National Democratic  Congress  (NDC)  to  disregard  the  position  taken  by  the  party  and  the  Minority in Parliament,” Kobina  Andoh Amoakwa of the Communications  Directorate of the Office of the former president said.

The statement said “the  office  wishes  to  state  that  it’s  spurious  to  suggest  that  former  President  Rawlings made  a  call  against  the  Minority.”

“The  principle  of  Ghana  having  a  valid  Identity  Card  System  is  what  the  former  President is  committed  to  and  he  respects  positions  taken  to  ensure  that  the  process  is  transparent and  easily  accessible  to all.”

“The  former president  urges  all  stakeholders,  especially,  the  National  Identification Authority  and  both  the  Minority  and  Majority  caucauses  in  Parliament  to  deliberate dispassionately  on  the  concerns,  many  of  which  are  legitimate,  in  a  bid  to  bring  sanity into  our  democratic  process  and  ensure  that  all  eligible  Ghanaians  benefit  from  the process.” 

Cynical View

NDC MP for Ningo Prampram, Sam Nettey George, was cynical on Citi FM on Tuesday, June 26, 2018 when news broke that former President Rawlings had registered for the Ghana Card.

He claimed Mr. Rawlings was misled into registering for the card and said the ex-President would not have registered if he had consulted the Minority.

“I believe if President Rawlings had asked us as a Minority to explain and expatiate what our challenges are, he would have appreciated our position better and possibly aligned more with us, but unfortunately he did not grant us audience to explain.”

Kufuor Request 

Apart from Mr. Rawlings, the office of former President John Agyekum Kufuor has also been covered, but DAILY GUIDE learnt that former President John Mahama, who is backing the NDC MPs, did not take part in the exercise.

After receiving his Ghana Card, former President Kufuor reportedly urged the NIA to consider the Voters ID Card issue to ensure that all Ghanaians register for the new Ghana Card.

He explained that if Ghanaians can use the Voters ID cards to select leaders to govern them, then they should also be able to use it to register for the Ghana Card.

“How would you say you also have the ‘Kokromoti power (right to vote) which will make and unmake a government? So the voters’ ID has to be part of it.”

Mahama Jab          

Prior to the NDC’s statement to boycott the Ghana Card registration, former President John Dramani Mahama lambasted the government for trying to skew the process in favour of a few people.

During the Unity Walk in Aflao in the Volta Region on June 9, 2018, he described the NIA registration requirement, which excluded the Voters ID Cards as ‘illogical’ and said “this is a deliberate attempt to de-nationalise some of our people and we shall not accept it."

“We will use every legitimate instrument that is possible under a democracy to ensure that every Ghanaian is able to register.”

VODAFONE RELEASES SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDY REPORT

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday June 28, 2018

Vodafone Ghana has released findings of a socio -economic impact study it commissioned a private firm to conduct for it.

The study, which is believed to be the first to have been done on a large scale by a mobile telecommunications operator, investigated the impact of the company’s activities on the economic development of the country from 2014 to 2017.

Concluded last year, the study, conducted by QBR Research Consultants & Practitioners - a marketing, public relations and social research with Dr. Kweku Rockson as Principal Consultant, made interesting findings.

At the official release of the report in Accra on Tuesday, Dr. Rockson said their findings showed that Vodafone paid taxes of about GH¢700 million within the period under review and VAT collected reached some GH¢302 million which represented 1.43% for 2014, 1.85% for 2015 and 1.76% for 2016 during the period.

He said Vodafone paid GH¢186 million as Communication Service Tax over the period, representing 15.85% for 2014, 22.65% for 2015 and 23.02% for 2016 while Vodafone's SSNIT contribution hit GH¢24.4 million for the three year period.

On capital expenditure, Dr. Rockson said their findings showed that Vodafone hit GH¢487.6 over the period, which translates into some 2.11% in 2014, 2.67% in 2015 and 2.99% in 2016, representing a percentage of total national capital expenditure.

He said the study showed that Vodafone Ghana created a lot of direct and indirect job opportunities in the country and was also a major source of employment and skills transfer.

“In the periods reviewed, our findings showed that Vodafone provided incomes, benefits and a high-technology career path for over 1,117 people in direct employment,” Dr. Rockson said, adding “Vodafone has contractual relationships with many distributors, suppliers and partner companies in the country, each of which relies to a greater or lesser extent on revenues to pay their employees’ wages.”

Apart from direct employment, the company also created indirect employment in the area of distribution, wholesale and retailing.

About 520,000 Mobile Money Agents were estimated to have been engaged.

“There was a huge multiplier effect due to the presence of street vendors and those who have small kiosks or tables which are protected by umbrellas,” he said.

He said that in measuring the financial impact of Vodafone on Culture and Creative Arts (Entertainment), Education, Health and Corporate Social Responsibility, they compared the Vodafone’s spending to that of the various ministries.

Dr. Rockson said “there was GH¢10 million as expenditure on creative aArts as a percentage of Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture’s (MTAC) Annual Allocation. There was also a GH¢10.7 million as expenditure on health as a percentage of Ministry of Health’s annual allocation and again GH¢1.6 million as expenditure on education as a percentage of Ministry of Education’s annual allocation all within the period under review.”

He also said that the data reviewed indicated that Vodafone’s activities had a positive impact on agriculture where communication technology through mobile phones provided information about the weather, markets prices and good farming practices.

“The Farmers’ Club is a special SIM which has been designed to assist farmers.  Over 65,000 customers invested over GH¢4 million since launch and donates 600 phones to female farmers,” he said.

Yolanda Cuba, CEO of Vodafone Ghana, in an introductory remark said, “Vodafone Foundation and Vodafone Health have brought positive live changing experience to many people.”

She said Vodafone Health had supervised about 96 Healthline surgeries, adding that over 1,000 patients were discharged under the homecoming segment, over 10,000 beneficiaries in deprived communities across the country have been beneficiaries.

“Currently, more than 500,000 persons have subscribed to Instant Schools through broadband on issues ranging from IT management, sales and customer service and then health and other social issues. Vodafone offers mobile education solutions which combines the power of Vodafone technology with the knowhow and support of local entities and the Vodafone Ghana Foundation Scholarship Scheme, which aims at improving female engagement in Science and Technology, is on course because over 300 female scholars have benefitted.”

She said, “Vodafone has expanded its service portfolio and overhauled its prices to meet customer demand while injecting capital to improve the network capabilities and customer experience. Going into the future, Vodafone has positioned itself as a potentially profitable and sustainable business.”

I’M NOT ABOVE THE LAW SAYS NANA

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday June 27, 2018

President Akufo-Addo has stated that Ghanaians should be able to take him on if he goes wrong in the course of performing his duties, saying he is not above the law.

In the same way, he said he will not shield any of his appointees if they go against the law and added that the law should always be applicable without any political colouration.

 “The capacity of the state to monitor its own activities and to do so with one overriding aim/objective and that is equality before the law means exactly that equality before the law,” he said at the end of a two-day conference organized by the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) held in Accra last week.

During a panel discussion about creating enabling business environment for Africa’s transformation, President Akufo-Addo said “so if you are a president who misconducts yourself, the law should be able to deal with you. In the same way, if a businessman misconducts himself, the law should be able to deal with him.”

He said that the country needs to develop the capacity to be able to police itself, adding “you can look at contracts and establish value for money, you can identify corrupt practices, not just indentify but deal with them on the principle that everybody is equal before the law and that there is no big or small man, they are citizens, we are all the same. For me, that is the way I am looking at things and trying to rule this country.”

The Akufo-Addo administration’s effort towards the fight against corruption received a major boost when the President swore-in the Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu and his deputy to fight the canker.

Since assuming office, President Akufo-Addo has not hesitated to cause the police and other security agencies to investigate appointees suspected to have engaged in corrupt acts.

He has made corruption, especially in government, quite unattractive.

President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, who is widely credited for transforming his war-torn country into an economic success, reiterated the need for African governments to harness human capacity, particularly the youth and natural resources, to accelerate development at the ACET forum.

“It’s a real fact that Africa has all kinds of resources required for us to move and move even fast if we want to and we haven’t found justification for saying that Africa has all kinds of resources and yet continues to be poor decade after decade and discussions after discussions,” he said.

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote of Nigeria, who was one of the speakers at the forum, said the time has come for governments on the continent to create the needed business-friendly environment for the private sector to thrive.

He indicated that the availability of electricity and favourable conditions are some factors that influence his decision to invest in countries.

PORT WORKERS BEG MAC MANU

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday June 25, 2018

The senior and junior staff unions of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) have jointly apologized profusely to their Chairman, Peter Mac Manu, after making unfounded allegations against him recently.

The two unions at a joint news conference at the TUC National Headquarters in Accra, with the support of the Maritime Dockworkers Union (MDU) of TUC on Friday, appealed passionately to Mr. Mac Manu to forgive them because they were withdrawing “the allegations against Mr. Mac Manu  in particular, his wife and sons, and unreservedly apologise to them.”

They accused him of obtaining a contract of about GHȼ4 million to wire the newly constructed electrical and materials block at GPHA, and facilitating a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project.They also accused him of asking the authority to pay $200,000 for 25 years as part of the project.

“He has seven companies at the ports - five stevedore companies and two cleansing companies. He is using his position to circumvent the procurement process in order to acquire a tug boat (Tema Manhean); the spare parts have been procured to refurbish this tug boat,” they alleged.

Mr. Mac Manu hit back exposing the union for what he called their ‘lies’ and threatened to take legal action against the chairman of the senior staff union of the authority and the members if they failed to retract and apologise for defaming him.

He described the allegations as “highly defamatory and toxic to his reputation, which he, as a businessman and politician, has worked tirelessly over many decades to build.”

He even held a news conference challenging the union members to mention the names of his children, who are major suppliers to the authority as they claimed. He asked his solicitors to serve notice to the leadership of the workers’ union to retract the baseless allegations and apologise for impugning his reputation.

“As you may be aware our client has served and continues to serve in various high-profile capacities both in private and public service locally and internationally. Your malevolent and unwarranted allegations have therefore caused him a great deal of reputational damage,” his lawyers had said.

“By this letter, should you fail to meet our client’s demands within 10 working days from the date of this letter, we have unequivocal instructions to take all necessary legal steps, including but limited to commencing legal action against you and the unions involved to salvage our client’s reputation,” it added.

Unable to provide proof for the allegation, the workers held the news conference to apologise to Mr. Mac Manu.

The statement read by John Aseeph, Chairman of the Senior Staff Union of GPHA in Tema said, “At the press conference, we levelled allegations against Mr. Peter Mac Manu, Chairman of the Board of Directors of GPHA and some members of his family. We of the Union want to put it on record that we did not call the press conference and level the allegations against the chairman out of malice.

“As a Union and social partner with a common objective of working together with management towards achieving the objectives of GPHA, we had some serious concerns about the happenings in GPHA which we were not happy about.”

They added, “After the press conference, it has come to our notice that we did not engage management the more as we should have done before holding the press conference.”

Mr. Aseeph said, “Some facts have come to our notice which on hindsight, we would not have brought into the public domain against Mr. Peter Mac Manu and his family at our press conference. We therefore withdraw the allegations against Mr. Peter Mac Manu in particular, his wife and sons and unreservedly apologize to them.”

He made an assurance that “nevertheless, we as a Union with a role to protect public interest will not shirk our responsibility as watchdogs of accountability in the governance of public institutions. We think there must be peace and solidarity with our social partners at the workplace to achieve our goals.”

“We are sorry for the embarrassment and inconvenience our press might have caused Mr. Peter Mac Manu and members of his family and once again we apologize unreservedly.”

NDC DUMPS ANITA FOR BEGGING RAWLINGS

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday June 22, 2018

The General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has stated that Anita Desooso, a vice chairperson of the opposition NDC, did not have the consent of the party to apologize to former President Jerry John Rawlings.

According to Mr Nketiah, the party’s former National Women’s Organizer openly apologised to Mr. Rawlings – founder of the party on her own volition, virtually telling her that she deserves the embarrassment that greeted her at Madina.

Mr. Rawlings openly castigated Anita at the event for excessive bleaching and advised her to put a stop to it.

What Offence? 

"As we speak now, nobody knows the offence for which Anita was apologising for. We called her to a meeting after the incident and tried to find out what offence she was referring to but she couldn't answer, so we consider it to be her personal issue with the founder,” the NDC scribe told Joy FM yesterday.

"I am talking to you as chief executive of the party and the person who keeps the records of decisions of the party,” Mr. Asiedu Nketiah insisted, adding “I am telling you that we never at any point discussed the possibility or anything about approaching the founder (Mr. Rawlings) and apologising for anything."

Desooso’s Antics 

Anita Desooso caused a stir during the 39^th Anniversary celebration of the June 4^th Uprising held at the Madina Social Welfare Centre in Accra when out of the blue she knelt before the former President, held his legs and asked him to forgive her and the NDC because she said Mr. Rawlings was the father who brought her to political limelight.

She said specifically: “Now to my father – founder (Rawlings), I know your children we've erred, and I also know that you're a human being and you have also done something; maybe it is not right and I was so happy when I heard you say that when you brought that statement out rendering an apology – you are a hero. You are a hero.”

She added, "This shows that what you have taught me is still within me. If you are a leader, be prepared to say that I'm sorry. If you're a child, be prepared to say that daddy I’m sorry. So I'll take this opportunity on behalf of the party to kneel down before my dad – please forgive us. Let us come together to build this country.”

Stop Bleaching 

This, however, did not move Mr. Rawlings who would not even look in her direction.

When he took the microphone, he hilariously said “Hmm! Hmm! But she is getting too fair. Let us stop this kind of things. The use of these kinds of soaps (bleaching soaps) is not good. She said she is my daughter so allow me to say it. Let it serve as a lesson. Tomorrow too come and stand here and say that I am your father. Anita! Anita!”

The former President did not also end there, as somewhere in between his address, he went back to the topic, throwing the crowd into laughter and jeers.

Mr. Rawlings demanded some answers from Anita when he touched on the NDC’s treatment of Martin Amidu and his subsequent appointment as the Special Prosecutor by the NPP government.

“Anita what does that make of us? Anita, I am calling your name, won’t you mind me?” Anita says I am her father,” the former President teased.

Crook Comment 

Former President Rawlings recently descended heavily on Ms Desooso, calling her a ‘crook’ in a short video which went viral.

Speaking Twi interspersed with English in the video, which appears to have been recorded recently at a social gathering at an unidentified location, the former President said “that Anita, she is a crook! She was lucky I didn’t speak about her that day during the June 4^th celebration.”

Amid spontaneous laughter from the gathering, he said that “what she did was pre-planned. How can a woman go on her kneels pleading for forgiveness for herself and her party?”

“You know instead of accepting me graciously and then letting it go, you are so mean that you even go and talk about…what do we call it…her bleaching, bleached face. No…no…no, maybe, sometimes I say the inappropriate things. I should have said it there and then,” Mr Rawlings, who was in the company of his wife, former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, fired.

EC BOSS MUST GO! PETITIONERS SUBMIT

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday June 21, 2018

The committee set up by Chief Justice Sophia A.B. Akuffo to investigate Electoral Commission (EC) Chairperson, Charlotte Osei and her two deputies for abuse of office and conflict of interest, is reportedly reviewing addresses filed by the petitioners and respondents.

The in-camera proceedings reportedly ended on Thursday, May 19 when the petitioners and respondents in the matter officially closed their cases.

Both the petitioners and the three EC chiefs, namely Charlotte Osei, Amadu Sulley in-charge of Operations and Georgina Opoku Amankwah in-charge of Corporate Services, were given up to June 8 to file their addresses for which they complied.

Series of Allegations 

DAILY GUIDE’s sources claimed the petitioners filed their addresses and reiterated their allegations of illegal payments, breaches of procurement law and gross misconduct which triggered impeachment proceedings that could lead to the removal of the EC chairperson.

They insist that the EC boss must be shown the exit.

They were concerned about violations of Sections 14 and 15 of the Public Procurement Act 2003, (Act 663) as amended by the Public Procurement (Amendment) Act, 2016 (Act 914).

They reportedly maintained that serious breaches of law and misconduct partly due to incompetence on the part of the EC boss were real and proceeded to provide evidence to back the allegations.

The petitioners further reinforced their claims that the EC boss unilaterally appointed a private law firm for the commission without recourse to the commission or the Public Procurement Act and allegedly authorized the payment of huge sums of money to the law firm although the said firm had no formal and approved contract with the commission.

It turned out that the petitioners’ testimony was corroborated by senior officers and some members of the commission in the course of the proceedings.

DAILY GUIDE learnt that the respondent confirmed making the payments to the law firm, but said she did not think it was unlawful because the payments were not opposed or queried by other members of the Commission.

Procurement Breaches 

The petitioners also reportedly pushed the case of $108,510 paid to a private company called Dream Oval Ltd based on the approval from the EC boss, even though the commission was said to have no contract with the said company.

It was believed to be in clear breach of the Procurement Act and the Financial Administration Act.

The petitioners reportedly exhibited how the EC boss engaged in procurement of goods and services without prior approval of the Public Procurement Authority; procurement of goods and services over and above the approved limits set by the Public Procurement Authority and procurement of goods and services beyond the limit of the EC chairperson.

Petitioners were said to have further pushed a case in which the EC boss allegedly awarded a contract to the tune of $22,340,814 to Super Tech Ltd (STL) without the recourse to the commission or the PPA.

New EC Office 

The petitioners from the onset insisted that Charlotte Osei unilaterally took the decision to move the EC headquarters to a new office complex by claiming the decision was from the Presidency.

The EC boss reportedly commissioned companies to partition the new office complex but the petitioners allegedly provided evidence to show that the contracts of two of the entities exceeded the figures approved by the Public Procurement Authority to the tune of GH¢565,976.08 and GHS 209,443.75 respectively.

Petitioners also claim the chairperson of the EC awarded various contracts for the construction of Prefabricated District Offices without recourse to the Commission and in excess of the threshold approved by the Procurement Authority contrary to law.

The EC boss reportedly provided some responses and highlighted the sole sourcing rule, among others, in answer to the petitioners’ claims, but with others she reportedly failed to offer an explanation.