OCCUPYGHANA REJECTS PHONE-TAPPING LAW

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Pressure group OccupyGhana says the real motive behind the ‘Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunication Messages Bill’ is just to intrude the privacy of people and nothing else.

Members of OccupyGhana said parliament cannot go ahead to pass the bill in its current form and added that they were willing to appear before the Parliamentary Select Committee on Defence and Interior to share ideas on how to make the bill better before its passage.

Real Concerns

In a letter written yesterday to parliament, the group expressed concern that a bill of this magnitude was being ‘rushed’ for passage.

“There is the morbid eternal fear that without a clear definition of the crimes and offences, innocent Ghanaians will be monitored for acts that do not fall under crimes,” it insisted.

“A Bill of such nature, with the capacity to heavily intrude private lives with possible commercial implications, cannot be rushed through parliament, having earlier been reclusively published in the newspapers,” OccupyGhana noted.

International Standards

According to OccupyGhana, “The Bill does not follow important international legal best practices, which require that such a Bill must be guided and moderated by related Acts of Parliament.”

It said, “In the UK, there are the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act, which guide how ‘serious crime’ perpetrators are investigated.  Ghana’s Data Protection Act is not enough to protect the privacy of innocent Ghanaians.”

The group said the purpose of the Bill, which is protect national security, fight crime generally and in particular suppress organized crime, including money laundering, terrorism, narcotic trafficking and other serious offences and for related matters,’ is vague and ambiguous, leaving room for misinterpretation and abuse by the Executive.

National Security Coordinator

OccupyGhana said it was objecting to the mandate to be given to the National Security Coordinator to give oral authorization for the interception of the postal packets and telecommunication messages of Ghanaians within 48 hours before confirmation through the law court.

“This means that innocent Ghanaians can be monitored without any legal authorization by a court of law. We do not trust the discretion of an appointee not bound by any Investigatory Powers Act.

“We find it preposterous and dangerous the requirement that the Justice of the High Court, appointed by the Chief Justice, to supervise the implementation of this Act and ascertain whether the provisions of this Act are being complied with, submits to the National Security Coordinator who is required by the same Act to obtain interception warrant from a Justice of the High Court sitting in chambers.”

Security Guarantee

The group said the authorized parties cannot guarantee security of the intercepted messages and packets and also added that the punishment for the breach of the security of the intercepted messages and packets is not grave enough to deter the parties mandated to act on the Bill.

“The request by the National Security Coordinator from persons who provide public postal service, cyber communication service, or public telecommunication service to take the necessary steps for the enforcement of an interception warrant is unfair and unfortunate because their capacity to afford and manage the enforcement is not guaranteed. The one who bears the financial cost of the interception is not stated,” the pressure group underscored.

OccupyGhana called on parliament to suspend the passing of the Bill in its current state and allow for what it called “better public and stakeholder engagements to ensure absolute integrity and competence of the parties or persons involved with the interception of messages and postal packets.”

TEACHERS WANT GES BOSS ARRESTED

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday, February 25, 2016

A group of teachers whose salaries have delayed has called for the immediate arrest of the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) Jacob Kor for allegedly overseeing the recruitment of over 400 teachers with fake certificates.

The affected teachers said in a news release yesterday that they were responding to ‘derailing’ statement made by the GES boss on salary arrears that is threatening the labour front in the education sector.

 “Before we begin, we are calling for the immediate arrest of the Director General for recruiting teachers with fake certificates, and going ahead to confirm and upgrade them whilst he knows they are having fake certificates. Other than that we are demanding an unqualified apology from him for fabricating lies.”

Audit Service Query

They argued that the fact that the Ghana Audit Service had raised queries regarding the input forms for teachers showed clearly that the District Directors of the GES were not doing their work properly.

“We are saying that the various District Directors were either sleeping or were under a spell when they accepted and forwarded input forms to the office of the Director-General without certificates,” the group said, adding that “it makes no sense and raises doubts about their qualification and competence.

“We all submitted our certificates since we were made to understand that it was a requisite for claiming the arrears. Isn’t it surprising that forms which were subjected to scrutiny at the district levels before it was forwarded have to be rejected and the rejection notice only made known to us in two years’ time and even more than that in some cases?”

Non-Establishment of warrant

They said the issue of non-establishment of warrant, as claimed by the Director General, was a ploy by GES and the Ministry of Education “to use ambiguous terms with the intent to deceive the public,” saying “even if we take it as they may want to mean, it still makes mockery of the whole GES directorate since it is incumbent on them to issue or establish such warrants.”

“Apart from that, whether warrant or no warrant, the Director-General himself approved our appointments with the Finance Minister giving us clearance before some of us received our three months arrears.”

The group said they were surprised when the GES and the ministry claimed the ‘Assumption of Duty Letters’ and ‘Acceptance Letters’ had not been attached to their documents, insisting “it is the simplest document to obtain among the rest of the documents we were required to submit for approval.

“It is however unclear and quite suspicious if a teacher who has been confirmed and upgraded by GES would not have such documents. On the contrary, we teachers submitted only documents the GES directors requested for.”

They said claims by the Director General that all the rejected forms were sent back to the district offices through the regional directorate was untrue and challenged him to provide concrete evidence to that effect.

“Looking at the way the GES and Ministries of Education, as well as Finance, are contradicting each other, you don’t need to be an expert to figure out that their actions are deliberate attempt to shield the government, we therefore call on the general public to debunk their statements since they were made to serve their paymasters.”

LEGALIZE WEE - KOFI ANNAN

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan has stressed that narcotic drugs should be legalized worldwide since the ‘war on drugs’ appears not to succeed.

“Globally, the ‘war on drugs’ has not succeeded. Some estimate that enforcing global prohibition costs at least $100 billion (€90.7 billion) a year, but as many as 300 million people now use drugs worldwide, contributing to a global illicit market with a turnover of $330 billion a year - one of the largest commodity markets in the world,” he said.

In an article he personally wrote and first published in Der Spiegel International entitled, “Lift the ban!” the high-profile diplomat, aged 77 said, “Prohibition has had little impact on the supply of or demand for drugs.”

He said, however, that in the event that narcotic drugs are legalized, there should be strict regulations to curtail abuse and called on Germany, which he said “has adopted better policies at home,” to strongly advocate for policy change abroad.

According to Mr. Annan, it has been very difficult for governments and international bodies to bring the drug trade under control because “when law enforcement succeeds in one area, drug production simply moves to another region or country, drug trafficking moves to another route and drug users switch to a different drug.”

In his opinion, prohibition had not significantly reduced the use of drugs, saying “Studies have consistently failed to establish the existence of a link between the harshness of a country’s drug laws and its levels of drug use.

“The widespread criminalization and punishment of people who use drugs, the over-crowded prisons mean that the war on drugs is to a significant degree a war on drug users — a war on people.”

He said evidence from the United States where cannabis has been legalized in some states for medical purposes showed that there had not been an increase in its use by teenagers, adding, “By contrast, there has been a near tripling of American deaths from heroin overdoses between 2010 and 2013 even though the law and its severe punishments remain unchanged.”

Mr. Kofi Annan said unfortunately there is a growing pattern in the consumption levels of narcotic drugs in Africa which hitherto had been a major transit region between producers in Latin America and consumers in Europe.

“Drug money and the criminality associated with it are fostering corruption and violence. The stability of countries and the region as a whole is under threat.

“I believe that drugs have destroyed many lives, but wrong government policies have destroyed many more. We all want to protect our families from the potential harm of drugs. But if our children do develop a drug problem, surely we will want them cared for as patients in need of treatment and not branded as criminals,” the former UN Secretary General underscored.

He said the time has come for governments to refocus international and national policy on the UN Convention on Narcotic Drugs which seeks to protect the “health and welfare of mankind.”

The former UN chief said it is time for governments to “decriminalize personal drug use, accept that a drug-free world is an illusion, as well as look at regulation and public education rather than the total suppression of drugs which we know will not work.”

According to him, “The steps taken successfully to reduce tobacco consumption, a very powerful and damaging addiction, show what can be achieved.”

Mr Kofi Annan said scientific evidence and concerns for health and human rights must shape drug policy, adding, “This means making sure that fewer people die from drug overdoses and that small-time offenders do not end up in jail where their drug problems get worse.

“The United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the world drug problem would be a good place to start the debate and change the world for the better.”

TELLS US PROJECT COST – BAWUMIA TELLS MAHAMA

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, vice presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), says the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government is hiding the real costs of the projects it is embarking on from the public.

“If you sum the cost of all the loan financed projects listed in the green book (even including those with artistic impressions) it is less than $7 billion. Meanwhile, the government has borrowed the equivalent of $37 billion so where is the rest of the money?” Dr Bawumia queried.

The NPP vice presidential candidate made the comments when he addressed a National Financial Literacy and Investment Summit organised by the University Students Association of Ghana (USAG) at the University for Development Studies, Wa Campus in the Upper West Region, under the theme: “The Role of Financial Discipline and Investment in National Development.”

Investment In Infrastructure

According to Dr Bawumia, the NDC government is attempting to hoodwink Ghanaians with claims of massive infrastructural investments since “investment in infrastructure has actually been on the decline.”

Dr Bawumia, an economist of international repute, underscored: “It is important to note that we measure investment in an economy relative to GDP and not just in nominal terms. This is a point that is unfortunately lost on this NDC government and their communicators.

“If as a country your investment in infrastructure relative to GDP is declining, then your growth is likely to decline. This background is very important to understand what is happening in Ghana today. The evidence shows that notwithstanding the massive increase in the debt stock, capital expenditure as a percentage (%) of GDP has actually been on the decline from 9.1% of GDP in 2008 to 4.1% by 2015. Capital expenditure as a percentage of GDP averaged 11% for 2001-2008 (without oil) while that for 2009-2015 has averaged 5.7% (with oil).

Borrow To Consume

He quoted the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as saying that most of Ghana’s borrowing had been used for consumption and not for investment.

“The overpricing of contracts, corruption and the absence of value for money considerations are partly responsible for this,” he said.

Kumasi Airport Runway

Dr Bawumia said for example that a runway rehabilitation alone at Kumasi airport cost this country $23.8 million whereas a proposed airport at Ho is estimated at $25 million; and asked sarcastically, “was the runway in Kumasi paved with gold?”

He insisted that given the resources at its disposal, one should expect at least four times the quantum of investment that the NDC claims to have undertaken, saying, “The close to $30 billion of borrowing that was not used for projects could have been used for other critical sectors of the economy.

He mentioned the rail network from Accra to Paga, the water problems, energy, many major road projects in each region, transformation of agriculture particularly in the Northern Regions, Afram Plains and others through investment in machinery, irrigation and dams as some of the projects that the huge amount of money could have covered.

He also said the amount could have been used to build one world class hospital in each region, buy at least 1,000 ambulances, set up factories with the private sector across the country to add value to raw materials and create jobs, equip existing health and education institutions with                       state-of-the-art facilities as well as build an additional 600 of the Senior High Schools the government is currently trying to build.

Over-Priced Projects

According to Dr Bawumia, the reason why he insists the NDC government is attempting to hoodwink Ghanaians with claims of massive infrastructural investments is that “Most of these projects are over-priced as a result of the single source procurement method, which has become the procurement method of choice for this government, as we saw in the SADA, GYEEDA, Karpowership, SMARTTYS bus branding, etc.”

He articulated, “I would like to see for example explanation from the government quantity surveyors of the costing on the Kumasi airport runway for $23.8 million. However, you and I know that they would not explain because they cannot explain. ”

He said all previous governments, especially the NPP, undertook infrastructural projects but the NDC is making it look like it has done what nobody did, saying, “The real fact is that the NDC has no real achievements to point to outside the undertaking of some projects; hence, their resort to mediocrity.”

Pertinent Questions

Dr Bawumia also said infrastructural investment was not supposed to be for its own sake but to increase productivity and production in the economy. “If you have indeed undertaken massive and unprecedented infrastructural investment, then why is the economy collapsing?

 “Why is the NHIS in trouble? Why is unemployment on the increase? Why are businesses collapsing? Why is agricultural growth stagnant? Why is manufacturing growth negative? Why is the government having difficulty meeting statutory payments? Why the high interest rates? Why the massive exchange rate depreciations? Why are the SADA guinea fowls flying to Burkina Faso? Why the massive increase in utility prices? Why the withdrawal of teacher and nursing training allowances? Why all this suffering in the land?” he asked.

EC MAKES U-TURN ON STEERING COMMITTEE

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday, February 22, 2016

The Electoral Commission (EC) appears to be unyielding regarding the setting up of the National Election Steering Committee, as it has asked the public to disregard media reports that the Commission had dropped plans to use the controversial committee for the November general election.

The setting up of the committee, which has been packed with mainly governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) party card-bearing members, sparked heated political debate and raised questions about the EC’s neutrality ahead of the crucial elections.

Even the NDC tried to distance itself from the committee described by the 2016 New Patriotic Party (NPP) Campaign Manager, Peter Mac Manu, as bogus.

IPAC Meeting

At an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting on Friday, almost all the political party representatives said the EC could not even convince them about the rationale behind the formation of the committee and came out with the understanding that the Commission was going to abandon plans to use the committee for the elections.

The major parties - the ruling NDC and the opposition NPP - appeared to be satisfied with the decision to suspend the committee.

EC U-turn

However, Acting Director of Public Affairs of the EC, Christian Owusu Parry, on Saturday strangely issued a statement insisting that the committee was still in place and said it was taking steps to address the concerns raised by the parties.

“The Electoral Commission’s attention has been drawn to reports in the media that the National Election Steering Committee has been suspended. The Commission wishes to inform the public that the reports are erroneous and should be disregarded.

“At the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting held yesterday, Friday, 19th February, 2016, the Commission assured the stakeholders, after persistent calls for the Commission to reconsider the setting up of the Committee, that it would meet and discuss the concerns raised and inform IPAC of its decision later. This should not be misconstrued as a suspension of the Committee. The Committee remains in place until a contrary decision is made,” the statement indicated.

Parties Shocked

In what looks like an unending saga, the political parties have expressed shock at the EC’s sudden U-turn.

National Organiser of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Desmond Twumasi, told Joy FM that his party was ‘dumbfounded’ by the turn of events.

“Indeed, yesterday (Friday), when we were at the IPAC meeting they (EC) did apologise for what they’ve done and that they were going back to the drawing board. We are surprised that they have come to tell us this story,” he said.

He said the Commission’s turnaround is a clear indication that the EC “themselves don’t seem to know what they are about to do.”

CPP Communications Director Abdul Kadri stated that the EC was yet to officially communicate to the party about the latest development.

Bogus Committee

In a related development, CENAB, a Ghanaian advocacy group affiliated to the NPP and based in the United Kingdom, has called on Ghanaians to put more pressure on the EC to dissolve what it called the ‘bogus’ 18-member election steering committee.

A news release issued in London and jointly signed by Peter Antwi-Boasiako, Adreba Abrefa Damoa and Kingsley Adumattah Agyapong said, “CENAB-UK believes the continual existence of the committee, suspended or not, will be inimical to Ghana’s electoral credibility and needs to be dissolved and the EC stopped from setting up any intermediary committees in the future.”

According to the group, the actions and inactions of the EC clearly showed that the Commission could plunge Ghana into chaos if not talked to. “There is even more to reveal, particularly the Electoral Commissioner's determination to condone and connive in perpetrating electoral fraud in favour of the ruling party,” the group noted.

CENAB-UK wondered what criteria were used in selecting members of the committee when the electoral bill was currently being discussed in Parliament.

“Why has the EC not called for an open voluntary recruitment participation by reaching out to the various professional groups and organisations, such as university lecturers, lawyers, medical doctors, accountants, faith groups and organisations, etc, to form this steering committee, if at all it were necessary, but rather made choices of those particular institutions and personnel?”

OCCUPYGHANA QUERIES NCA OVER AFRIWAVE DEAL

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday, February 22, 2016

Pressure group OccupyGhana is on the heels of the National Communications Authority (NCA) over the so-called Interconnect Clearinghouse (“ICH”) for the telecoms sector which has given rise to the award of a contract and licence towards the implementation of the policy.

The group wants the NCA to furnish it with every document, report or agreements in respect of the ICH contract, which was controversially awarded to Afriwave Telecom Ghana Limited.

IMANI’s Revelations

The NCA and its supervising Ministry of Communications have been in the news lately following a mind-blowing expose by policy analysis think-tank, IMANI Ghana, that an evaluation panel set up by the authority to assess five companies that put in bids to run the ICH platform, rigged the process in favour of Afriwave.

According to IMANI Ghana president Franklin Cudjoe, the NCA evaluation panel did everything to ensure that Afriwave was awarded the multi-million contract by padding figures.

The NCA later hit back at IMANI’s claim and said the processes leading to the award of the ICH contract were transparent and in accordance with the laws of the country.

Independent Investigation

In the ensuing melee, OccupyGhana requested President John Mahama to set up an independent body to investigate the licence issuance process in the light of IMANI Ghana’s allegations against the NCA.

At a news conference in Accra last Friday, Sydney Caseley-Hayford, a leading member of OccupyGhana, said  the group had since last year been formally pursuing the NCA to provide answers in respect of the ICH policy but to no avail.

The group is speculating that recent controversies over the ICH licence might be the main reason the NCA and the sector ministry had been unable to provide answers relating to the whole ICH policy and added that members were relying on Article 21(1)(f) of the 1992 Constitution to compel the authority to provide the answers.

They said they wanted minutes and/or notes of all related meetings and discussions involving the ministry’s personnel, ministers and deputy ministers, directors and outside persons, prior to NCA making its policy recommendation to the Ministry of Communication.

Stakeholder Consultation

 OccupyGhana further said it was asking the NCA for details of all public or stakeholder consultations carried out prior to the purported adoption of the ICH policy.

Additionally, the group wants all documentation and notes relating to any formal or informal meeting in which the adoption and approval of the purported policy were discussed and submitted to the Office of the President for Cabinet approval.

GYEEDA Corruption

OccupyGhana again waded into the infamous GYEEDA corruption scandal saying, “With respect to the GYEEDA matter, OccupyGhana is  honestly not impressed by the rate of collection by government of monies paid to companies by GYEEDA,  so we started chasing the matter after reading portions of the Auditor-General’s 2013 Report on MDAs.”

The group said after writing several letters requesting for information, it received a letter from Centre for Development Partners - one of the beneficiary companies - claiming they never received any loan of GH₵300,000 from GYEEDA and notified the ministry subsequently.

“After receiving an unsatisfactory response, we wrote directly to the Attorney General on 11^th August, 2015, requesting same information but our letter was also ignored.

“OccupyGhana has decided to use a more forceful approach in seeking information and we began yesterday by hitting the courts with information on the Smartty’s bus branding issue; and more will be following in due course,” the pressure group stressed.

EC COMMITTEE HAS NO LEGAL BASIS – LAWYERS

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday, February 19, 2016

The controversial Steering Committee set up by the Electoral Commission (EC) to assist it (Commission) to organise this year’s general election continues to receive public backlash.

The EC, without ‘proper consultation,’ set up the committee, which membership was later found to be mainly card-bearing members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC); and that has once again raised questions about the EC’s neutrality ahead of the crucial elections in November.

Legal Basis

Two prominent United States-based law professors -  Stephen Kwaku Asare and Henry Kwasi Prempeh - have waded into the heated debate and questioned the legal basis for the setting up of the Steering Committee by the EC to manage the November general elections.

Prof. Asare said it would even be premature to discuss the membership of the committee if the EC was unable to explain the role it is supposed to play.

He posted on Facebook yesterday, “The problem with the EC's Steering Committee is that nobody knows what it is supposed to do; nobody knows how its membership was chosen and how the members are paid, fired, replaced or even how long they are to serve; nobody knows how it is to operate and whether it can bind the EC.

 “We are told and asked to accept that the 18-person committee is to help ensure the smooth running of the November 7 general election. The constitutional responsibility of the 7-person EC is to ensure the smooth running of elections. Is the committee supplanting the Commission? Can the EC even appoint such a Steering Committee, given that the EC is exercising delegated power?”

Supplanting EC

Prof Asare queried, “Assuming the committee is not supplanting the Commission, an obvious question is exactly how is the Committee going to do whatever it is supposed to do? Where is the regulation that describes the committee's responsibility?”

He said for instance that “Depending on what the committee is tasked to do, it might be more helpful to allow the political parties and other groups, rather than the EC, to nominate its members. “Alternatively, a different mode of appointment may be better if the committee is to play a security, fundraising, legal, education, etc. function”

Committee’s Mandate

Prof Prempeh of Seton Hall University School of Law, Newark, New Jersey, said the problem created by the EC “goes beyond the individual membership or composition of this so-called election ‘Steering Committee.’

“There's a more fundamental question of mandate: What is this 18-member body going to do exactly? Who created it? The EC chair, or by a resolution of the multi-member EC taken at a regular or special meeting of the Commission?”he also posted on Facebook yesterday.

He asked, “What is the relationship of this committee to the Commission as a collective body? Since we have never had or needed such a ‘steering committee’ in any of our past elections, why now? Who determined the composition and membership and by what criteria or process were the members selected?”

Interagency Coordination

Prof Prempeh said multiple state actors “are inevitably involved in the smooth and peaceful conduct of an election,” adding, “so some inter-agency coordination is necessary.”

He added, “The question is what form such interagency coordination must take in order to ensure that the partisan detachment and independence of the EC as a constitutional body are not undermined or compromised or that the EC chair does not use some outside committee to sidestep the constitutionally-empowered Commission's mandate.”

IMANI PUNCHES NCA AGAIN

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Policy analysis think-tank IMANI Ghana says it has identified what it called ‘key discrepancies’ in the evaluation report released by the National Communications Authority (NCA) as the authentic document in the never-ending Afriwave contract saga.

According to IMANI President Franklin Cudjoe, the new report of the NCA has been designed to cover-up and justify its award of the controversial interconnect clearing house (ICH) contract to Afriwave Telecom Ghana Limited on a silver platter.

Controversial Contract

The introduction of the ICH policy and the subsequent award of a contract to Afriwave, which is said to be wholly Ghanaian-owned, have set tongues wagging since IMANI Ghana raised red flags that the  bidding process was rigged to favour the eventual winner - Afriwave.

According to Mr Cudjoe, the NCA evaluation panel that looked into the bids of five contesting companies did everything to ensure that Afriwave was awarded the multi-million contract, including padding of figures.

The companies are Afriwave, Subah Infosolutions, Prodigy International Limited, TCMS-GVG Consortium Limited and Channel IT Ghana Limited.

NCA’s Disclaimer

The NCA has hit back at IMANI’s claim and reiterated that “the processes leading up to the award of the Interconnect Clearinghouse Licence were transparent and in accordance with the laws of Ghana,” adding, “Any suggestion otherwise is false, malicious and same ought to be disregarded.”

The regulator has since published the report of the Application Evaluation Panel on the Interconnect Clearing House Services Licence and other relevant documents for the public to judge.

However, IMANI Ghana has come back forcefully in an article entitled, ‘NCA continues fraudulent behaviour,’ trying to shoot down the new report since the group claims it was doctored to make it appear as if the evaluation panel had done a good job in recommending the award of the contract to Afriwave.

Twisted Attempt

 “The NCA's new report is worse.  'Smart' but lazy scanning and shrinking of pages,” Mr Franklin Cudjoe said  and added,  “Now, let us take a look at the latest twisted attempt by the NCA to perpetuate the con that is now unravelling very fast in the public domain and embarrassing the people and government of Ghana.”

He said there are “inconsistencies in the colour format for scanning the same document presumably from the same scanner. Funny enough, these inconsistencies correspond to the actual report narrative and that of the evaluation score table.

“These two categories are different in colour/contrast. It can only be inferred that different scanners, different scanning periods apply to these categories, as it is impossible to change the contrast for different pages of the document when scanning.”

Standard Report Writing

IMANI said that standard report writing does not suggest that captions/sub-headings “appear as the last line on a page while the narrative of that sub-heading goes onto another page,” and added that “this principle is completely kept throughout the report we have.”

Doctored Report

“Because the report was doctored, the fear of distorting information on subsequent pages makes them leave these trails,” the think-tank noted and said such instances could be found on pages 20, 23, 66, etc. of the newly doctored report of the NCA before asking the public to “check out pages 21 and 24 of IMANI’s authentic document to compare.”

Mr Cudjoe said in the final detailed score sheet, which is also an exhibit/appendix 3 on page 60, if the public were to accept their scanned evaluation report, then “the right side of appendix 3 should have been perforated from the binding, if it truly came from the same document.”

Audit Trail

“Appendix 3 alone isn't perforated, while the appendix 3 inserted in the evaluation report is perforated. Audit trail will always catch you because you don't think like the auditor.

“The New NCA report was just scanned. This is very surprising. I thought they said they had the original copy and best professional practice would have been to post a soft copy with only the portions for signatures that could be scanned,” the IMANI boss observed.

PDF Analysis

IMANI said it analysed 30 PDF documents on the website of the NCA and developed what it called ‘a metadata benchmark.’

“We saw digital signatures and other trails linking various NCA documents to apparent employees such as Frederick Asumanu, Justice Appiah and Adi Ashong.

“This latest document, apart from the fact that attempts have been made to remove authorial marks, was produced on a Sunday, the 14th of February, on a wholly different device, using different grades of paper and bears fascinating traces to documents issued by the Ministry of Communications and none whatsoever to documents authored and released from the NCA,” he averred.

IMANI accused a deputy Minister of Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, and certain individuals at the NCA of manipulating official records “to perpetuate this con of an ICH policy...”

OPEN DEFENCE...COURT ORDERS ASSIBIT

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

The Court of Appeal yesterday declined to order an Accra Financial Court trying Abuga Pele, NDC MP for Chiana Paga, and his co-accused, Philip Akpeena Assibit, in the infamous GYEEDA scandal to stay proceedings pending an appeal by the accused.

Mr Assibit, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Goodwill International Group (GIG), wanted a stay of proceedings to enable him appeal against the decision of the Financial Court presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare Botwe that he should open his defence in the GYEEDA case.

However, the lone judge at the Appellate Court, Justice Barbara F. Ackah Yensu, dismissed Mr Assibit’s application, saying, “the applicant has not established or shown exceptional circumstances for the grant of a stay of proceedings.”

Expected Outcome

As it is, Mr Assibit is expected to go back to the Financial Court and open his defence while at the same time his application seeking to quash the trial court’s order for him to open his defence will also go on concurrently at the Court of Appeal.

Mr Abuga Pele, on the other hand, did not file any application at the Court of Appeal and is said to be ready to open his defence because his lawyers have argued that he did not cause any financial loss to the state as NYEP National Coordinator.

Yesterday’s Proceedings

When the case was called yesterday, Raymond Bagnabu, representing Assibit, moved his motion on notice and said the grounds of appeal raised “very serious grounds of law” and needed to be granted.

“If the order is not made, the trial would be running alongside the processes of the Appellate Court,” Mr Bagnabu added.

Opposing the application, Marina Appiah Opare, the Principal State Attorney representing the state, insisted that Assibit could not show any special circumstance for which the application could be granted.

“The trial judge had reasons for coming to the conclusions that a prima facie case has been made,” adding, “granting this application will cause undue delay to the trial.”

Financial Loss

Abuga Pele who is the former National Coordinator of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), now GYEEDA, and Mr Assibit are standing trial for the various roles they played at GYEEDA, which the Attorney General’s Department said caused huge financial loss to the state.

The MP is accused of wilfully causing financial loss to the state to the tune of GH¢3,330,568.53 while Assibit is being tried for defrauding the state of an amount equivalent to $1,948,626.68.

The two have pleaded not guilty and are currently on bail.

Specific Charges

On the charge sheet presented by the Attorney General’s Department, the two men are facing a total of 19 counts ranging from defrauding by false pretences to wilfully causing financial loss to the state.

Assibit alone is charged with six counts of defrauding by false pretences to the tune of $2.028,605.20 and another five counts of dishonestly causing loss to public property to the tune of GH¢3.305,568.53.

Abuga Pele, the second accused, on the other hand, is charged with two counts of abetment, one count of intentionally misapplying public property and five counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state, all to the tune of GH¢3.305,568.53.

Prima Facie Case

On Friday, June 19, last year the Financial Court presided over by Justice Afia Serwah Asare Botwe ordered the MP and Assibit to open their defence after the court held that the prosecution had been able to establish a prima facie case against them.

The two had filed ‘submission of no case to answer’ applications separately but the court dismissed them and said they had a case to answer at the close of the prosecution’s case in April.

AFRIWAVE CONTRACT IS ILLEGAL SAYS NPP

Posted on: http://dailyguideafrica.com/afriwave-contract-is-illegal-says-npp/

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Manhyia South, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh aka Napo, says the licence issued to Afriwave Telecom Ghana Limited to operate the controversial interconnect clearing house (ICH) for telecom companies is illegal and cannot be used.

He does not understand why the regulator - National Communications Authority (NCA) - should allow Afriwave to install its machines at the telecom companies when the Ministry of Communications only got cabinet’s approval to prepare a legislation governing the ICH policy for onward approval by Parliament just last December.

He said currently there is no law backing the award of the contract to Afriwave because Parliament was yet to pass the ICH Bill into law.

Afriwave Licence

The introduction of the ICH policy and the subsequent award of a contract to Afriwave, which is said to be wholly Ghanaian-owned, have set tongues wagging since policy analysis think-tank, IMANI Ghana, raised a red flag that the bidding process was rigged to favour the supposed winner - Afriwave.

According to Franklin Cudjoe, president of IMANI Ghana, the NCA evaluation panel that looked into the bids of five contesting companies did everything, including padding of figures, to ensure that Afriwave was awarded the multi-million dollar contract.

The companies are Afriwave, Subah Infosolutions, Prodigy International Limited, TCMS-GVG Consortium Limited and Channel IT Ghana Limited.

At the end of the bidding process, Afriwave was handed the golden spoon and IMANI suspects serious foul play.

NCA’s Anger

The NCA has hit back at IMANI’s claim and reiterated that “the processes leading up to the award of the Interconnect Clearinghouse Licence were transparent and in accordance with the laws of Ghana. Any suggestion otherwise is false, malicious and same ought to be disregarded.”

The regulator has since published the report of the Application Evaluation Panel on the Interconnect Clearinghouse Services Licence and other relevant documents for the public to judge.

“The NCA has taken this step in the interest of transparency. This is the final report bearing the signatures of all members of the panel that was presented to the Board of the NCA on 29th January, 2015. The contents of the report are a true and accurate reflection of the exact findings and recommendations of the AEP,” it said in a statement yesterday.

Napo’s Fire

According to the Manhyia South MP, the NDC government breached the law by failing to secure legal backing before issuing the licence to Afriwave to operate an ICH.

He said a law exists to govern the policy for interconnect clearing house and if the policy is changed, the law ought to be amended to reflect the changes.

“As soon as they got Cabinet approval for policy change, they proceeded to award a contract and 11 months after they have awarded a contract they are going back to the same Cabinet to seek power to come and do the change,” he argued on Joy FM yesterday.

He queried, “So what was the rush to award the contract when you didn’t have legislation?”

He also said there appeared to be a ‘turf war’ between the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Communications in respect of the ICH in the area of revenue mobilisation.

He drew attention to a Finance Minister letter dated December 2015, addressed to the Communications Minister, Edward Omane Boamah, in which the Finance Minister expressed misgivings about the perceived intrusion.

NCA Clarification

The NCA, following an allegation made by another MP, Kwaku Kwarteng, that the government was paying both Subah and Afriwave for doing the same work, clarified that Afriwave had not started operations officially and therefore did not deserve any payment.

The Obuasi West MP had said ‘criminal’ double payments were being made to two firms - Subah Infosolutions and Afriwave Telecom Ghana Ltd - for monitoring incoming international telephone traffic of telecom firms.

The Director-General of the NCA, William Tevie, denied the allegation and said, “Afriwave will start operations in May after the contract for Subah Infosolutions has come to an end officially.

“Afriwave has since installed and integrated its systems with that of all mobile network operators (MNOs) to ensure a continuous and smooth transition period when the contract of Subah Infosolutions ends in May 2016.”