NDC GROUP WANTS RAWLINGS GIRL OUT

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday, March 08, 2016

A group calling itself Klottey Korle Grassroots Supporters Network of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is putting a lot of pressure on Dr. Zenator A. Rawlings, daughter of Ex-President J.J. Rawlings, to step aside as the party’s parliamentary candidate in the constituency for the November general election.

According to the members, Dr Rawlings has been found not to be duly registered by the Electoral Commission (EC) and therefore did not qualify to contest on the ticket of the party during the primary last year.

A statement issued in Accra and signed by one Nana Kwesi Aburam-Korankye, the convener of the group, also said that they were reliably informed that plans were being hatched to indefinitely suspend the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Nii Armah Ashietey, and one Nii John Coleman from the party to pave way for Zenator Rawlings to proceed with her parliamentary ambition undisturbed.

“They are planning to suspend Hon. Nii Armah Ashietey and Nii John Coleman so that after the EC opens the register for the limited registration in April, our sister will register and the situation will be manipulated for her to go unopposed.

“We assure those planning this that…..this is the great NDC built on accountability, probity and transparency,” the group cautioned.

“Our founder is the great Jerry John Rawlings. He definitely and certainly will not orchestrate or allow persons to orchestrate the victimization of innocent party warriors who have toiled for this party, simply to allow his ineligible daughter to run for Klottey Korle,” they added.

“We are disappointed in the national, regional and constituency executives of our party who presided over their mandated task of vetting persons who were interested in representing our party in this year's general election and allowed Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings whom they ought to have known right from the start did not qualify per the rules of the party, the constitution of the party, and the Constitution of Ghana, to contest the November NDC parliamentary primary.”

They insisted that “it is this lapse that has dragged the name of our party into disrepute and today, our party is being discussed in the media in a negative light.”

Members of the Klottey Korle Grassroots Supporters Network claimed they sighted the letter from the Electoral Commission which revealed that Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings is not a registered voter on the Electoral Commission's National Voter Register.

“This news does not surprise some of us since we have, from the very beginning, tried to draw the attention of our party's structures to the ineligibility of Zanetor Rawlings to run on our ticket for parliament.

“We had our own reservations, and even petitioned the founder of our party who happens to be the father of Zanetor Rawlings to call our sister, his daughter, to order and convince her to step down from her overzealous ambition of running for parliament when she did not qualify per the rules of the party and the country.

“There were other attempts by other members of our party in the constituency to correct the wrong Zanetor's candidature posed to the fortunes of the party in the constituency, yet all of these good-faith attempts to save the image of our party and that of our sister from ridicule unfortunately fell on deaf ears,” the group recalled.

They claimed that Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings deceived the people of Klottey Korle, the NDC and the entire country when she knew that she was unqualified to run for parliament yet “went ahead and picked nomination forms, went through the vetting process, initiated a campaign and actually contested for the NDC parliamentary primary last November,” adding “our dear party and our sister Zanetor will clearly be further embarrassed if she is not called to order.”

The group is demanding “unqualified apology from Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings to the party, the other contestants and the electorate in Klottey Korle, for taking all of us for granted and wasting our time.” 

GHANA IN CRISIS SAYS AKUFO-ADDO

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday, March 7, 2016

New Patriotic Party (NPP) 2016 presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says the widespread despondency among Ghanaians shows clearly that Ghana is in a crisis.

In a message on behalf of the party to mark Ghana’s 59^th independence anniversary celebrations, Nana Akufo-Addo said Ghana has been blessed with abundant human and natural resources, but most of the people continue to wallow in abject poverty due to mismanagement by the government.

“It is unfortunate, however, that 59 years after gaining our independence, Ghana, a country blessed with an abundance of human and natural resources, is in a crisis – evidenced in widespread despondency, brought about by severe hardships, rising cost of living, high levels of youth unemployment, collapsed businesses, unprecedented strikes, demonstrations and increasing poverty.

He added that “surely, this is not the vision of Ghana our ancestors had hoped for.”

The NPP leader said that “it is critical that we take stock of what we have done with our freedom, and where we are now as a nation,” adding, “Our forebears who fought to liberate us from colonial rule believed that freedom is the primary end, as well as the means to development, with the well-being of each and every individual as both the goal and means of development.”

Hope Coming

He urged Ghanaians not to “despair and lose hope in the ability of our nation to offer her citizens a decent livelihood. Let us stride into the future confident that we will make it if we work at it.”

Nana Akufo-Addo continued…“I am confident that we can transform our nation and use all the blessings that the Almighty has bestowed on us to bring prosperity to all our people. We can do it. God did not put us on this rich land to be poor. It is bad leadership that makes us poor.”

“Let us believe in Ghana and do what is right by our nation, and thereby fulfill the dreams and aspirations of those far-sighted individuals who initiated the steps for our national freedom and independence.

Level-Playing Field

He called for a level-playing field in the November general election, saying, “That is the best guarantee of the peace, stability and democracy of our country. As we head to the polls in this election year, it is important that we all work together with our public institutions to ensure that we have a level electoral playing field. We want free, fair and credible elections whose outcome will be readily accepted by all.”

AMIDU OPPOSES PHONE TAPPING LAW

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday, 04 March 2016

Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Martin A.B.K. Amidu, has waded into the controversial phone tapping Bill currently before parliament and called on the leadership of the house not to pass it into law in its current form.

 “My perusal of the Bill led me to the conclusion that it has the tendency to interfere with the fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution and needs a critical bi-partisan examination and analysis to ensure that it secures civil liberties recognized in free and democratic societies,” he said.

In a memo to the Speaker of Parliament, entitled “Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunication Messages Bill, 2015,”the former AG popularly called Citizen Vigilante due to his anti-corruption crusade, said the memorandum accompanying the Bill does not comply with Article 106 (2).

“I bring my long experience in government and particularly in the Attorney General’s Office to a consideration of the Bill in the hope that it will assist parliament, the Attorney General and the Minister of the Interior to have a second and more critical look at the Bill to the end that when it is eventually enacted into law it will contribute to securing maximum civil liberty for the individual under the Constitution.”

Memo To The Bill

He said that the fundamental human rights and freedoms provisions in the Constitution “show that the Bill, which is intended to intercept communications of any form, will in a way interfere with the right to privacy and general freedoms under the Constitution.”

He said the Memorandum to the Bill “presents the Bill without explaining any policy or principles underpinning it that justify the limitations sought to be placed on the Constitutional guaranteed freedoms and rights, let alone to comply with the other requirements of Article 106(2) of the Constitution.

“The Memorandum to the Bill does not even deal with the existing laws on interception of communications which are spread in various laws such as the Narcotic Drug (Control Enforcement and Sanctions) Act, 1990 (PNDCL 236), Security and Intelligence Agencies Act, 1996 (Act 526), the Anti-Money Laundry Act, 2008 (Act 748), the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2008 (Act 762), the Economic and Organised Crime Office Act, 2010 (Act 804) and the Mutual Legal Assistance Act, 2010 (Act 807), as amended to show the defects of the existing law and the necessity for introducing this Bill.”

Selected Provisions

The former AG asked: “What are the criteria for the ordinary citizen and indeed the judge who is to grant the interception warrant to determine whether or not ‘protecting national security’ includes communications by opposing political parties that are perceived to threaten the governing regime’s continued stay in Government within the multiparty democratic political process?

“Will the interception and interference with the communications of political opponents as happened in Uganda during their recent elections not pass the test of ‘for the purpose of protecting national security?’” he queried further.

Interception Procedures

According to Mr. Amidu, the Bill is silent on why the legislative scheme adopted by parliament in those other similar legislations must give way to a centralization of power in the National Security Coordinator or his office over and above service and agency commanders.

He argued that in other democratic jurisdictions oral applications must also be made to the judge in chambers to safeguard rights and said Section 4(3) of the Bill, which permits the National Security Coordinator to orally authorize interception in urgent situations, must be looked at again.

Receipt Of Application

He said the Constitution demands that the government should “transparently and accountably establish agencies under the authority of law and not to clandestinely seek to use covertly existing organizations to snoop upon the citizens of Ghana.”

Interception Capability

Mr Amidu also said that a careful reading of the provisions of the Bill on interception capability “leaves one in no doubt of the necessity for the formal establishment by law of a Government Agency for interception of communications and related matters.”

Court Supervision

He said aside the role entrusted to the National Security Coordinator, “Section 18 of the Bill is badly drafted and does not even meet the democratic standards of similar Acts internationally, such as those of South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, to mention but a few.”

 “Consideration ought to be given to whether the title of the Bill should not be changed to meet the international best practice in this area of interception of communications,” he suggested.

Mr. Amidu urged, “It is important that this Bill obtains bi-partisan support in its eventual constitutional journey through parliament to vindicate the trust we the people have placed in parliament to protect our fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed under Chapter 5 and 6 of the 1992 Constitution. Let us put Ghana First!

“I conclude my examination and analysis of the Bill with the conviction that the civil liberties of Ghanaians may require that the Bill be withdrawn to enable it meet the constitutional precondition for it to be properly introduced in parliament and to give the Minister of the Interior and the Attorney General more time to harmonize the Bill with existing legislation.”

MINISTER MISLEADS MAHAMA – ANGRY HOHOE RESIDENTS

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday, 04 March 2016

Some residents of Hohoe municipality in the Volta Region on Wednesday vented their spleen on Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, Minister of Roads and Highways, for allegedly misleading President John Mahama over the Hohoe township roads in his (Mahama’s) recent State of the Nation Address.

President Mahama had created the impression that the construction of roads in the town was nearing completion, when there was no road construction going on. The residents have therefore turned their anger on Mr Fuseini who made an unannounced visit with a section of the media with intent to showcase the road projects, which they claim are unavailable.

President John Mahama, in his much-talked-about address, had said several road projects were ongoing in Hohoe to give the roads a facelift, but the residents say that is not true on the ground.

Hohoe roads were not the only projects the president goofed about. Several others in other regions and towns are non-existent, according to research, making residents to have a different picture about the president.

The obviously angry Hohoe residents described as ‘mischievous’ the obvious misrepresentation of their situation presented to the president.

Deception

“We’ve been deceived for long. We are not ready for such deceptions again,” one of the residents told Citi Fm.

Another charged, “If they are ready to tell us anything, they should come to the road and do it. Where they initially showed you, it is Hohoe to Lolobi road; it’s not Hohoe town road. There are other Hohoe town roads they are not taking you to. The NDC people here are deceiving you. They should send you to the town road instead.”

The residents claimed that the contractor (called Gohez) working on the Hohoe town road abandoned the project close to four years but when he heard about the impending visit of the minister, “he rushed to the chief’s palace before your coming to convince the chief to talk well in his favour.

“Please, they are not doing the town road so what the president said was false. He was totally misled.”

DAILY GUIDE learnt that funding had not been provided for the contract, leading to the contractor vacating the site.

The stretch from the First Ghana Building Society junction to Gbi Kpeme suburb of Hohoe was given on contract to Gohez during the late President Mills’ era. 

However, not even the drains have been completed. Work on this road stalled even before the demise of President Mills. No contractor has since been seen on site.

The Roads and Highway Minister later said, “I have directed that they summon him (contractor) to a meeting in Accra on Thursday for us to assess his capacity to complete the work. So if we are convinced that he lacks the capacity to complete the work, we might have to look for an alternative contractor to do the work.”

NPP Exposure

Even before the minister’s visit, the opposition New Patriotic Party’s (NPP’s) Volta Regional Chairman, John Peter Amewu, had exposed President Mahama over his assertion that the roads in the municipality were almost completed.

According to Mr Amewu, a former MCE for Hohoe, it was rather the NPP government that constructed most of the critical road networks in the municipality and insisted that the NDC could not reap where they had not sown.

Writing on the topic, “Akufo-Addo was right about Hohoe town roads” on Facebook recently, the NPP regional chairman said, “The 46-kilometre road from Pepesu to Nkwanta was funded by EU under President Kufuor. The NPP had secured funding for the construction of the road before President Kufuor left office.”

He added, “The Golokwati-Hohoe road was constructed under NPP double seal (awarded to Rollider). All Hohoe town roads were constructed by the NPP. These include post office to electricity (awarded to GOHES Ltd); the district assembly to the electricity (awarded to GOHES Ltd); the post office square to the stadium (awarded to GOHES Ltd); the market to the hospital (awarded to GOHES Ltd); Zongo junction to Barclays (awarded to GOHES Ltd); and Post Office Square to St Francis College (awarded to GOHES Ltd).” “In all, about 7.2km of the town road was constructed under the NPP with chipping spray.”

He claimed further, “Under Mahama/NDC, the 300-metre hospital road in Hohoe is currently under construction at a very slow pace. This includes the construction of the side drains. This section of the town road was awarded under the NDC.”

He also added that “work on the other road network in Hohoe, involving the construction of drains at Kpeme, Bla and Abanse road [was] abandoned over a year ago, with the contractor having vacated the site.”

ANGLOGOLD SUED $6.5M OVER NEGLIGENCE

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday, 04 March 2016

The family of a deceased employee of Anglogold Ashanti is suing the mining giant for negligence.

The plaintiffs which include Joyce Baffour, wife; and Akosua Abrafi, mother, are claiming $6.5 million from Anglogold over the death of George Emil Baffour, who was an engineer of the company.

In their suit before the Labour Division of an Accra High Court, the plaintiffs claim that negligence on the part of Anglogold Ashanti led to the death of Enimil Baffour, who left behind three infant children.

They are therefore claiming special damages of the cedi equivalent of $6,500,000.00 for the loss of the late engineer, as well as general damages for alleged “mental distress, consortium, loss of love companionship, comfort, affection, society, solace and moral support.”

The plaintiffs also claimed “an amount equivalent to 60 month’s earnings of the deceased under the Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1987.”

In their statement of claim filed late last month, the plaintiffs averred that the deceased was retrenched on October 31, 2014 and re-engaged on November 14, 2014 for one year in his capacity as mechanical engineer attached to Anglogold’s Feasibility Study (Engineering) Department at the Obuasi Mine.

They claimed that on October 22, 2015, the deceased was selected as part of a team of Anglogold Ashanti Ghana and Randgold Resources Limited that had entered into investment agreement to redevelop the Obuasi Mine to go underground in a conveyor attached to Anglogold’s Adansi Underground Mine at Obuasi.

According to the plaintiffs, Anglogold officials telephoned Joyce Baffour, wife of the deceased at about 11:00 am on October 22, 2015 to inform her that her husband had been involved in a fatal accident in the underground mine.

The plaintiffs claimed that it took about seven hours before the deceased lifeless body was retrieved and deposited at Anglogold Ashanti Hospital morgue.

They claimed that a police and an autopsy report later revealed that the engineer died when their conveyor submerged, and the autopsy report identified the cause of death as “asphyxia” due to drowning.

According to the plaintiffs, the engineer died “by reason of the negligence and/or breach of duty on the part of the defendant, its servants, agents and assigns.”

NPP CHAIRMAN EXPOSES NDC OVER HOHOE ROADS

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, March 02, 2016

The Volta Regional Chairman of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), John Peter Amewu, has exposed President John Dramani Mahama who had claimed in his (Mahama’s) State of the Nation Address that roads in the Hohoe municipality in the Volta Region had almost been completed.

According to Mr. Amewu, who was a former MCE for Hohoe, it was rather the NPP government that constructed most of the road networks in the municipality and insisted that the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) should not reap where it had not sown.

Mr. Amewu took to Facebook to defend his party’s flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who had held a news conference on Monday to give Ghanaians what the NPP called the ‘True State of the Nation.”

Nana Akufo-Addo at the news conference, had said the Hohoe Township Roads were constructed under the Kufuor regime and confirmed that he had calls from residents of Hohoe that the roads were done under the President Kufuor administration.

 “The residents of Hohoe have said their town roads were done during the Kufuor administration..." he insisted adding, “This is disrespectful to the people of Ghana and to our Republican institutions for the president to exhibit such a cavalier attitude to facts in a formal address to the nation.”

The NDC, since Nana Akufo-Addo’s news conference, has been lambasting him for daring to question the president’s address, but Mr. Amewu said yesterday that the NDC could not continue to run Ghana on the platform of propaganda.

Writing on the topic, “Akufo-Addo was right about Hohoe town roads,” the NPP regional chairman said, “The 46-kilometer road from Pepesu to Nkwanta was funded by EU Fund under President Kufuor. The NPP had secured funding for the construction of the road before President Kufuor left office.”

He added, “The Golokwati-Hohoe road was constructed under NPP double seal (awarded to Rollider). All Hohoe town roads were constructed by the NPP. These include: Post Office to Electricity (awarded to GOHES Ltd); the District Assembly to the Electricity (awarded to GOHES Ltd); the Post Office Square to the Stadium (awarded to GOHES Ltd); the market to the hospital (awarded to GOHES Ltd); Zongo Junction to Barclays (awarded to GOHES Ltd); and Post Office Square to St Francis College (awarded to GOHES Ltd), In all, about 7.2km of the town’s roads was constructed under the NPP with chipping spray.”

He added, “Under Mahama/NDC, the 300-metre hospital road in Hohoe is currently under construction at very slow pace. This includes the construction of the side drains. This section of the town’s road was awarded under the NDC.”

 “Work on the other road network in Hohoe, involving the construction of drains at Kpeme, Bla and Abanse, has been abandoned over a year ago with the contractor having vacated the site.”

FORCE POLITICIANS TO ACT – OTABIL

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Pastor Mensah Anamuah Otabil, General Overseer of International Central Gospel Church, says the time has come for Ghanaians, especially the youth, to compel the ruling elite to introduce policies that ensure that everybody’s dream is realized.

“We have to force the politicians to think of us and to think of our lives and to think of our future and to think of our dreams. And the only way to do that is for you to start thinking not in party terms, but in policy terms, and making sure that the laws that govern your industry favour you.”

Right Environment

Closing a youth camp dubbed, ‘Springboard’ hosted by Albert and Comfort Ocran of Combert Impressions last week, Pastor Otabil charged the youth to overlook political parties in getting the leadership of the country to pursue policies that would create conducive environment for businesses to thrive.

“The right environment is not NPP or NDC,” he pointed out. “Parties don’t govern nations, laws and policies govern nations. Go beyond party names and start examining policies and demanding policies that will make you thrive,” he added.

Opposite Direction

Pastor Otabil, who is the founder of arguably Ghana’s most successful private university - Central University College – said, “The most frustrating efforts in life is that you are trying to move but everything in the system is going against you in the opposite direction.

“If we want to create dreamers we must create a nation with dreams. If we want to create dreamers in our nation then the laws of this nation must facilitate the dreams of people. If we want to create dreamers then the policies we put in place must not lead us in the opposite direction but must facilitate where we are going.”

Daring To Dream

He underscored, “Dreaming is not just about you alone having the plan but also the environment you are operating.  It could be your nation, the family, a job, an office that you work in. Whatever system you operate in, it has to help you to get there.

“A person can be so good but if he is planted in a wrong environment he is going to turn out so bad and it has nothing to do with his ability or capacity. It has to do with the environment he is planted in.”

He said the current environment in the country is “killing the dreams of you men and young women,” and queried, “How can people go to university and for years, not know what to do and people with great potential not fulfill their potential?”

Staying For Success

Pastor Otabil said it does not have to take people to travel outside the country before they can succeed insisting, “We have to demand that in our own country, the sulphar that poisons talents is removed so that you and I can stay here and succeed and have a success story whether as musicians, as medical doctors, as engineers, as footballers.

“Whatever we do, we must succeed because we don’t have two lives. I don’t believe in reincarnation. This is the final game! This is all you have. This is all I have. And if I waste my time and my life, I am wasting my talent and my opportunities.” 

Mediocrity

He observed, “The challenge for nations like Ghana is not the challenge of talented citizens.  It is the challenge of poisonous environment - an environment that has been poisoned by ordinariness, by mediocrity and sometimes by a clear agenda to destroy talent.

“How can a nation be great when its systems are fighting the talents of its people? For a nation to be great, its laws have to facilitate growth. You cannot overtax businesses and kill them and hope they will survive at the same time. It doesn’t work that way. If we want businesses to survive and thrive, we have to create an environment for businesses to thrive.”

Impossible Scenarios

“If Mark Zuckerberg was a Ghanaian and had the idea of facebook, would his idea have thrived? If Steve Jobs had a great idea of the Apple and was a thriving Computer Engineer in Kokomlemle, would he have built that world-class brand? I don’t know but it seems to me all of us agreed it would have been extraordinary for them to have succeeded. So what is the difference between Mark Zuckerberg and you? Steve Jobs and you? It is not brains, it is the environment!” Pastor Mensah Otabil stressed.

He wondered, “How can one man (Zuckerberg) be richer than our own country? It’s an insult to our intelligence. A man who wasn’t born during our independence is richer than all of us put together!

“It is not funny to me. It is annoying to me. It is an insult to me and my human potential and what God created me to be able to achieve.”

NDC CHASED WITH COURT PAPERS

Posted on: http://dailyguideafrica.com/ndc-chased-with-court-papers/

By William Yaw Owusu

Saturday, February 27, 2016

After apparently refusing to make themselves available to be served with court documents regarding an action instituted against the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), the accountant, who was fired recently by the party, has secured a court order to serve the party’s officials by substitution.

The accountant, Mathias Mokono Wilson, revealed in his statement of claim how the Mahama-led NDC government paid a total of over GH¢5.5 million to the Electoral Commission (EC), the reason for which is yet to be established - after which the party gave him the marching order to vacate the office.

Evading Service

Mr. Wilson, whose dismissal triggered the court action, could not succeed in serving the party he had served for 23 years the initial court papers, compelling him to seek an order for substituted service.

The NDC had obviously been avoiding service and as a result, his lawyer, Prince Frederick Nii Ashie Neequaye, moved a motion for an order of substituted service at the Industrial and Labour Court Division of the High Court in Accra and secured the order last Tuesday.

The defendants, who are going to be served through a substituted service include the General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu-Nketiah; Vida Addae, a Deputy Treasurer; Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, NDC Director of Elections and Dr. Karl Mark-Arhin, whose appointment to the Electoral Commission’s controversial Steering Committee stoked heated political debate.

The rest are Mahdi Gibril, who ran errands for the party during the Presidential Election Petition at the Supreme Court in 2013 as well as Emmanuel S. Zumakpe, Director of Administration for the party.

Court Directive

The court order, signed by Stephen Afotey, the Registrar, indicated, “It is hereby ordered that the Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim with the order of substituted service be served on the defendants” by pasting copies in places like the Notice Board of the Law Court Complex, Accra, as well as pasting copies on the walls of the NDC Headquarters situated on Adama Street, Adabraka, Accra.

The court also ordered the plaintiff to serve the process on “any adult inmate found at the secretariat of the NDC, as well as deliver the process “to any security man found at the NDC Headquarters gate at Adabraka, preferably Victor K. Boampong, Kofi Forson or John Agbesi Mawuena.”

EC Payment

In the statement of claim, the beleaguered accountant revealed how the ruling party paid a whopping GH¢5,544,630 to the EC without receipts.

Cheque Details

Giving details of the payments to the EC, the accountant said there were different cheques he withdrew together with Mr. Asiedu Nkeatia on different dates at Societe Generale, Accra Main on behalf of the EC, although he admitted, “I am not a signatory to the NDC account.”

“The first cheque was GH¢630,000; the second cheque was GH¢357,000; the third cheque was GH¢2 million then followed by GH¢2.199, 340, then GH¢69,315; GH¢54,975; GH¢140,000 and GH¢100,000 - totaling GH¢5.544,630,” he revealed.

Court Action

He wants damages for loss of leave for 23 years and loss of gross salary at GH¢3,574.50 per month multiplied by 3 months in lieu of notice.

“The plaintiff states that his salary of GH¢3,574.50 x 23 years x 2 will come to GH¢164,427.00 plus the pay for 3 months which is GH¢3,574.50 x 3 his entire loss incomes to GH¢175,150.50 excluding his leave allowance for the 23 years.

“The EC delegated two people-  a man and a woman - with a huge van and collected the gargantuan cash of GH¢5,544,630.00 and as of 5^th February, 2016, the 2^nd Defendant (Asiedu Nketia) has still not accounted for the paid cash,” Mathias Wilson made the claims in court documents he filed against his unlawful dismissal.

The EC reportedly demanded physical cash instead of a cheque and the NDC, after cashing the cheques, put the GH¢5,544,630.00 in a van and handed it over to two EC staff for onward transmission to the Commission.

Cheques Vrs Cash

He averred, however, that the Commission rejected the cheque with the excuse that “the Electoral Commission does not accept cheques but cash.”

Mr Wilson claimed that when the EC rejected the cheque Mr Asiedu Nketia subsequently sent him to the bank for the money.

“The bank manager informed the Plaintiff that the cash was so much to be paid over the counter and so she will make payment orders to the Electoral Commission of Ghana. Asiedu Nketia, the 2^nd Defendant, said ‘No’ and that they needed cash so the Plaintiff decided to issue two cheque payment vouchers on 7^th December, 2015 for GH¢2,000,000.00 and the other one on the same 7^th December , 2015 for GH¢2,199,340.00 which the said vouchers, according to the 2^nd Defendant, were received by Gyanu Edgar, an employee of the Electoral Commission,” Plaintiff averred.

GRA EXCEEDS REVENUE TARGET FOR 2015

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday, February 26, 2016

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) exceeded its tax mobilization target of GH¢21.57 billion for 2015 despite the economic challenges in 2015 caused mainly by the erratic supply of electricity.

Commissioner-General of GRA, George Blankson, at a press soiree in Accra on Wednesday, said the 2015 performance represented 29.3 percent over the 2014 collection.

He said the government has set a target of GH¢27.6 billion, made up of GH¢17.4 billion for domestic division and GH¢10.2 billion for the customs division for 2016.

 “2015 was a challenging year. The electricity crisis affected industry but it was in the same year we registered an achievement as well as getting a number of tax laws passed.”

He said as part of efforts to deepen the legislative reforms and modernize the country’s taxation outlook, the government, through the Ministry of Finance, had introduced the new Value Added Tax Law, Excise Law, Customs Law and the Income Tax Act.

“We are rewriting all our tax laws to make them user-friendly and in conformity with modern tax laws,” he said.

Mr. Blankson also said that the government was working out the administrative provision that would enable the authority to ‘harmonise’ all the tax laws under one Act, saying “there is now harmony with the passage of all the laws, with the exception of the Revenue Administrative Act which we are working around the clock to get Parliament to pass it.”

He said GRA had completed what he called the ‘Strategic Plan’ and was zooming into Phase II of the plan to modernize tax administration.

“We developed a new electronic platform for the administration of all domestic taxes. We have also started piloting the Total Revenue Integration Processing System (TRIPS), and it is currently running in 13 offices and we are targeting additional 26 offices for this year.”

He said that GRA is consolidating the gains made by constituting the National Single Window System to enhance revenue generation.

“We have implemented the Common External Tariff (CET) set for the ECOWAS countries. It started on February 1, 2016 and our overall position is that it is proceeding well,” he said.

Mr. Blankson said that the Excise Tax Stamp policy that would ensure effective monitoring in the sub-region was being pursued.

BAWUMIA FIRES GOV’T OVER $37BN DEBT

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday, February 25, 2016

New Patriotic Party (NPP) vice presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has blasted the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration for plunging the country into huge debt despite the enormous resources available to it.

Dr Bawumia, an astute economist, insisted that the Mahama government had borrowed $37 billion out of which it could account for only $7 billion under its so-called massive infrastructural projects.

 “What is clear to me (and confirms my long held suspicion) is that members of this government, handed the mandate to manage our destinies as a nation, do not read,” the NPP vice presidential candidate stated in reaction to a statement issued yesterday by government to counter his earlier analysis on the heavy debt burden inflicted on the country by the NDC administration.

So far, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and the Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, are running away from the current debt position of the country as at December 2015, as they claim that they are still doing reconciliation two months after the end of the year.

Both the Finance Minister and BoG Governor Kofi Wampah are relying on a September figure of GH¢92 billion. With government contracting GH¢6 billion in loans monthly through the capital market, it is believed that the total debt is currently hovering around GH¢110 billion - as government continues to borrow to service interest on debts.

Dr. Bawumia stated, “If you sum the cost of all the loan financed projects listed in the green book, 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?”

Travesty Of Justice

“I will repeat again that it is in fact a travesty that Ghana before the discovery of oil was spending a higher proportion of its income on infrastructure investment than after the discovery of oil and the massive increase in the debt stock,” Dr. Bawumia insisted.

The renowned economist, at the National Financial Literacy and Investment Summit organised by the University Students Association of Ghana (USAG) at the University for Development Studies, Wa Campus, under the theme: “The Role of Financial Discipline and Investment in National Development,” last weekend exposed the NDC government’s propaganda while highlighting the massive mismanagement of the economy under President John Mahama.

NDC Response

However, a statement signed by Communications Minister Dr. Edward Omane Boamah yesterday chided Dr. Bawumia for his analysis, describing it as ‘false’ and ‘misleading.’

“It is instructive that after years of living in denial that these projects don’t exist, he has finally acknowledged their existence except that he wants to tread down the path of discrediting them for partisan gain,” the minister underscored in the statement.

The government said, “Dr. Bawumia’s latest untruths are only a last-gasp effort to create doubts about the unprecedented investments made in all spheres of our national life by President John Dramani Mahama’s Government. It is borne out of a morbid fear that the overwhelming evidence provided in the 210-page book, shatters the many unsustainable falsehoods churned out by him, the NPP and their allies about the performance of President Mahama.”

The NDC government also accused Dr. Bawumia of making claims without source and described it as “false and a desperate attempt to find basis for the flawed conclusions he churned out at the event.”

You don’t Read!

An unperturbed Dr. Bawumia hit back strongly yesterday, saying government officials, including ministers, do not read.

“Worse of all, as I said on 14th February, 2015, at a forum at the University for Development Studies, what is most unfortunate about this whole episode is the fact that the government doesn’t even seem to know how much it has borrowed.

“I have on several occasions tried to educate the government on what the true value of their borrowing is but try as I do, it is clear the government is committed to either not reading and understanding the extent of their reckless borrowing or is only following their usual path of deceit and propaganda.”

The NPP stalwart said, “Amazingly, after adding some GH¢20 billion to the debt stock in 2015 alone, the government still wants to insist that the value of borrowing they have done, in dollar terms, has actually decreased. This exposes the deception in the method the government is applying on our debt stock, in attempt to hide the real value of monies that have accrued to them.”

Falsehood

Dr. Bawumia also accused the government of lying in the release by Dr. Omane Boamah about capital expenditure during the NPP administration (2001-2008), saying “I doubt the Finance Ministry handed these figures to the Minister (Omane Boamah), but whatever be the case, it exposes the level of incompetent and deceitful governance we have today.

“All they have done is to repeat the same claims which have been discredited. For me, the people of Ghana remain the best judges on the issue of whether they have had their due from this government, considering the unprecedented resources and opportunities they have had since they won power.”

Judgment Day

He articulated, “After having more than 10 times the resources of the NPP through unbridled borrowing, astronomic increases in tax rates and favourable external conditions (which they did nothing to precipitate), the people of Ghana will judge if such huge resources have been invested in their lives.

“I remain convinced that the people of Ghana will judge and judge well. This conviction is strengthened on a daily basis as I go round the country and interact with the people of Ghana.”