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Daily Guide Reporter Goes To Oxford

Thursday January 19, 2012.

Posted on www.dailyguideghana.com

William Yaw Owusu, Senior reporter of DAILY GUIDE, Ghana’s leading private newspaper, has won the prestigious Reuters Fellowship Award. He has been offered a place at Templeton College, University of Oxford in the United Kingdom to undertake a six month-long research programme at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

Mr. Owusu is joining other journalists from around the world to undertake the course which is meant for talented and experienced mid-career journalists.

He is a member of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and holds BA in Communication Studies (Journalism Major) from the Ghana Institute of Journalism as well as Diploma in Communication Studies from the same institute.

He previously worked for Ghanaian Times, a state-owned daily newspaper from 2002-2009 where he specialized in legal, political, environmental and business/finance reporting. He is an experienced Court reporter.

Mr. Owusu, who is married, has enormous experience in reporting on human rights, social justice and political activism and aspires to move it further in an effort to ensure robust independent and free media in Ghana and the entire West African sub-region.

He was recently appointed Editor-in-Chief of Business Guide, one of the newspapers produced by Western Publication.

Reuters, the leading wire service news outlet in the world, commissions a group of experienced Journalists and University of Oxford Professors to assess applications submitted by an average of 2,000 applicants every year to select the best for the course. Mr. Owusu is the fourth Ghanaian to have won the Fellowship.

Other fellows from Ghana include: Berefi Apenteng, current Managing Director, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), A. A. Blay, then with the Ghana News Agency and Frank Agyekum, then with the Ghana News Agency and current spokesperson of former President Kufuor.

STX: TALE OF A FAILED PROJECT

Flashback! Dr. Benjamin Kumbuor (Minister of the Interior), Representative of STX Korea, President John Evans Atta Mills, Alban Bagbin (Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing) and Dr. Kwabena Adjie (NDC Chairman)at STX Housing project sod-cutting ceremony at the Tesano Police Training Depot, Accra on January 27, 2011.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

A Feature by William Yaw Owusu

Saturday January 6, 2012.
On Friday, December 30, 2011, Ghanaians were hit hard with the news that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government was on the verge of abrogating the controversial multi-billion housing deal between the Government of Ghana and STX Engineering & Construction Limited of South Korea.

This was disclosed by Vice President John Dramani Mahama when he interacted with the Parliamentary Press Corp in Accra.

The project would have seen the construction of 200,000 houses in Ghana in five (5) years, estimated at $10billion. In August 2010, parliament approved an initial off-take agreement for 30,000 housing units for the security agencies at a proportionate cost of $1.5 billion amid protest from the opposition New Patriotic party (NPP).

A 12-member government delegation led by then Minister of Water Resources Works and Housing signed the STX Housing Project deal in 2009.

The deal – hailed by some as the best thing ever to happen to Ghana – collapsed because of persistent boardroom wrangling between the Ghanaian and Korean partners of STX Engineering & Construction Ghana Limited, the local subsidiary of STX Korea.

Observers also attributed the collapse of the deal to the ineffective and haphazard manner in which the government handled the whole issue.

President Mills’ Propaganda

When President John Evans Atta Mills cut the sod on Thursday January 27, 2011 (nearly a year ago) at the Tesano Police Training Depot for the commencement of the STX project, the impression was created that the NDC government was more concerned about the welfare of the security agencies, particularly the police, than its political opponents.

President Mills had said at the sod cutting ceremony packed with NDC supporters that the STX Housing Project was tied to the ruling party’s 2008 manifesto commitment to expand infrastructure, and added that the venture was a legacy that history would not be able to write.

“This is a significant turning point in the history of our dear country. This is the change we promised and government intends to leave a strong and positive legacy and the completion of this project will be a legacy that history will not be able to write,” he said.

The rhetoric and propaganda associated with the project appeared to have overwhelmed the Koreans, who were of the view that the project was a national assignment and that it should never be used for propaganda purposes as the NDC did until the whole thing fell flat in their faces.

DAILY GUIDE’S investigation has shown that at all material times, it is the Vice President’s office that has been handling issues concerning the STX Housing Project.

President Mills had probably predicted the demise of the company when during his state of the nation address in 2010, he said the Vice President had travelled to Seoul, Korea, to ‘nail the coffin’ of STX.

Korean Concerns

The Koreans were said to be pulling out of the STX deal because they were persistently frustrated by attempts by the government to allegedly make them ‘irrelevant’ in the whole project.

Both the Koreans and their Ghanaian counterparts, led by Bernard Kwabena Asamoah – the man credited for introducing the Koreans to the NDC government – remained tightlipped on the raging issues even though a source told DAILY GUIDE “we (Koreans) got to know about the sovereign guarantee in the newspapers”.

“We have tried our best to get to President Mills directly for him to know what is happening but to no avail. Anytime we make the effort they tell us to rather deal with the Vice President’s Office instead,” the source claimed.

“We realize that our message to the President is being edited at the middle level that is why we are trying to reach him directly but our attempts have failed so far because we are always told to discuss issues with his deputies.”

The source said, “We have even arranged for STX Chairman worldwide to meet President Mills one on one on the stalemate, but to no avail.”

At a point, it was even rumoured that government delegated Haruna Iddrisu, the Minister of Communications, to negotiate with the Koreans when the sector Minister, Alban Bagbin and his deputies Dr. Mustapha Ahmed and Hannah Bissiw, were always available.

Corruption Leads

Failure of the government to stamp its authority on the project has left many wondering about what really went into the preparation in terms of financial commitments.

There have been trips abroad, particularly to Korea, by countless number of government officials including Ministers of State. There have also been project site preparation among others and nobody seems to tell the people of Ghana how much has been spent.

According to sources, the consulting architectural concept design allegedly prepared by a Professor at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), on the orders of B.K. Asamoah, cost the company about 21 million dollars, when the Koreans claimed they could do it for only 5 million dollars.

The Koreans were said to have raised serious objection to the procurement of building materials from Western Forms in the United States, which they (Koreans) claimed could last for 30 years when under the agreement, the project’s lifespan was only years (5) years.

As a result, the Koreans distanced themselves from all transactions, including contracting of loans and guarantees and land title agreements allegedly being entered into by STX Engineering & Construction Company Ghana Limited through B.K Asamoah.

It was said that whenever the issue of cost was raised, the employer (Government of Ghana) did not find any fault with it and asked the Koreans to forget about it because it was ‘normal’.

The Koreans also complained that the sovereign guarantee issued by the Ghana Government to STX to enable it to raise a loan was allegedly given to B.K. Asamoah, the CEO of STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited, to source for funding in financial market without reference to the Koreans, and contrary to the agreement.

This was the reason why the Sovereign Guarantee was reported be going round several countries in search for cash to start the project.

The countries the money was sought from included the United Kingdom and Switzerland, the USA and Mexico. It was later sighted in Nigeria, where it was moving from one bank to the other in search of a new lease of life.

Furthermore, the insurance on the loan, according to DAILY GUIDE sources, was paid even though not a pesewa was sourced in terms of funding for the project.

STX had promised to bring the money from Korea, as captured in the agreement, but once that was not done, the government backed the local partner to look elsewhere for cash, contrary to the agreement.

There were rumours that a son of a powerful Minister in the Mills administration was hobnobbing with a party in the STX deal to benefit from the $300 million insurance fund, and had formed an insurance brokerage to facilitate the transfer of cash even though the company had not sourced for funds for the project.

Minister of Water Resources Works and Housing, Alban Bagbin, allegedly travelled abroad several times, including the United States and Mexico, to push for alternative sources of funding for the project.

Mistrust

The mistrust between the partners became intense as the wrangling lingered and on August 18, 2011, the Koreans announced that they had fired B.K Asamoah as its local CEO.

Their reason was that B.K. Asamoah had allegedly diluted the shares to his advantage, without recourse to the Korean partners. As a result they sued the beleaguered CEO and others, including the Registrar-General, for allowing the transfer of the shares.

The Fast Track High Court presided over by Justice N.M.C. Abodakpi however adjourned proceedings sine die because the processes to get the case heard were not completed.

At a point, B.K. Asamoah was alleged to have been chased out of his private residence on the Spintex road by his landlady over the non-payment of rent.

Additionally, he was said to have issued dud cheques to Rana Motors for payment of vehicles purchased for the company’s use and the foregone developments appeared to have given a clue as to what the financial situation of the company currently was.

But B.K. Asamoah sharply rebutted media reports and argued that he was still at post. He subsequently proceeded to the Commercial Court to file a suit against the Korean partners, and sought reliefs that would have ensured that the Koreans were sacked from the entire project.

However, the court presided over by Justice Gertrude Torkornoo dismissed B.K. Asamoah’s application on ‘procedural grounds’ and awarded GH¢ 3,000 as cost against the applicant.

The judge had held that B.K. Asamoah could only sue under the Company Code 217 if the partner had been involved in an illegal conduct, but the plaintiff had failed to prove the Koreans did.

In the course of the trial, B.K. Asamoah had indicated he was ready to pay off his Korean counterparts in a form of a settlement package. The court therefore allowed the partners time to settle the terms and report to it.

Observers were of the view that if indeed B.K. Asamoah had followed due process to acquire the shares of his counterparts, then he had no business offering to pay off the Koreans.

The End Of B.K Asamoah?

It is clear B.K. Asamoah will never let go his ‘brainchild’ if the government decides to go ahead with the project by sidelining the partners.

As far as DAILY GUIDE is concerned, the beleaguered CEO registered the national housing concept in his name. This means that the project touted by the NDC as one of its flagship project does not belong to the self-acclaimed social democrats after all.

Documents stumbled on by DAILY GUIDE indicated that the Ghana National Housing Project belonged solely to B.K. Asamoah. The certificate of registration issued to him by the Copyright Office and signed by the Acting Copyright Administrator on April 26, 2011 cited the title of work as “The Ghana National Housing Project” and name of author as Bernard Kwabena Asamoah.

The copyright claimant is G.K. Airports Company Limited, the company that entered into a joint venture agreement with STX Korea to construct 200,000 housing units at the cost of $1,525,443,468 ($1.52billion) across the country, starting with 30,000 houses for the security services.

The Bagbin Factor

The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alban Bagbin, was always prepared to slam any media organization that attempted to dissect problems confronted by the partners in the execution of the project.

After pretending that all was well with the project, it was Mr. Bagbin who first made an about-turn on December 22, 2011, announcing that the government was likely to disengage from the controversial project.

Mr. Bagbin, who persistently went publicly debunking media reports that the deal was collapsing, had to eat humble pie when he said on Christmas eve that proceeding with the project without the current partners was a possibility.

When he was asked earlier about additional sources of funding for the project, he simply said, “the money is available so it is not an issue of funding. I won’t disclose the source of additional funding but the money is coming into our account at the Bank of Ghana.”

He continued, “there is no difficulty in sourcing funds. Funds have been sourced and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning can confirm that money is available.”

Mr. Bagbin added that since the Bank of Ghana issued sovereign guarantee to cover the project, there was mad rush by banks to provide financial support for the project.



Using the Police As Propaganda Tool

From the onset, it was clear that the propaganda that characterized the introduction of the project was making it impossible for the project to succeed and it gave sceptics the opportunity to claim vindication.

For instance, when the police hierarchy, led by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Paul Tawiah Quaye, commandeered innocent policemen to besiege the Parliament House to offer support for the passage of the STX deal, it became apparent that something had gone amiss.

GREDA Factor

As the negotiation was going on with the Koreans, the Ghana Real Estates Developer’s Association (GREDA) entered the fray to ask the government to allow them to bid for the project since according to them, they had the capacity to construct the housing units.

They came with a proposal to build the 300,000 houses over the same period, at the cost of $7 billion – clearly $3 billion cheaper and 100,000 more houses than the Koreans were offering to do.

Threats to GREDA

In the ensuing debate, Joy FM broadcast a news item to the effect that GREDA might have withdrawn its petition to Parliament on the STX housing deal because its executives were threatened with death.

The news item landed the station’s then news editor, Ato Kwamena Dadzie, in trouble when the police tried to charge him for causing fear and panic under Section 208 of the Criminal Code but after a public uproar, particularly in the media, Ato’s charges were dropped by the police.





Stakeholders’ Queries

Danquah Institute (DI), IMANI-Ghana – all data and policy analysis groups – together with some political parties, particularly the NPP, voiced their concerns about the inappropriateness of the deal.

DI for instance raised red flag over the implementation of the project because of what it calls “the government’s ambiguity, changes and re-arrangements with sources of funding of the project”.

The Minority Caucus even boycotted the approval of the agreement, citing a writ filed in the Supreme Court by James Kwabena Bonfeh aka Kabila, a former CPP National Youth Organizer, praying the court to place perpetual injunction on Parliament from considering the agreement.

Unfolding Drama
Even before Parliament agreed to the deal, the President had directed that the multi-billion dollar deal before the house be withdrawn for further review by a joint ministerial committee, and it gave the Minority the leeway to claim that their opposition to the deal was justified.

After a closed-door meeting between officials of STX and Vice President Mahama, as well as some top government officials including ministers of state in Accra, the deal could not be signed, confirming the opposition’s fears that there was more to the whole deal than Ghanaians were being told.

Almost three hours after the media had set up their equipment in the well-decorated conference room at the presidency, then Deputy Minister of Information, James Agyenim-Boateng, accompanied by John Jinapor, spokesperson for Mr. Mahama, and Stanislav Xoese Dogbe, a presidential aide, appeared and announced the cancellation of the programme.

Agyenim-Boateng had attributed the cancellation to “legal issues that could not be resolved immediately at the last meeting before the ceremony”.

“Certain legal issues cropped up at the eleventh hour and under the circumstances, we were compelled to cancel the signing until we receive advice from the Attorney-General’s Department, where we have referred the issues to,” the Deputy Information Minister had told journalists.

Key Observation

A cursory look at STX magazines published in 2011 positively highlighted the Ghana project alongside other projects across the world. However, while there are clearly stated time lines for all STX projects across the world, there was none for the projects in Ghana, sparking fears that there was no seriousness attached to the project.

Conclusion

To quote the Vice President: “The way things are going I don’t see how that project will go on. The wrangling is getting worse rather than getting better so I don’t see how that project will go forward.” This shows clearly that the STX project is dead.

Also the fact that President Mills had said “the venture is a legacy that history will not be able to write”, indeed proves that the Mills-led NDC government is writing another chapter of history when it comes to failed promises.

IMANI Replies Gov’t On $3bn Chinese Loan

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday January 5, 2011.
IMANI Ghana, a data and policy analysis think tank, has hit back at the government for trying to run down a study it conducted into the $3 billion loan secured by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government from their Chinese counterparts.

According to IMANI Ghana, it was clear the government’s communicators were running away from the real issues that they raised and attacking their personalities and IMANI as an organization in general.

The policy think-tank’s crime was that it released a statement saying it doubted whether the loan - hailed by the government as the best thing ever to happen to Ghana - was going to be a panacea to the nation’s infrastructural challenges.

Moments after the release, the government’s communicators took turns to run down the report.

Koku Anyidoho, Director of Communications at the Presidency, said the researchers have been paid to down play the $3 billion Chinese loan while Stan Dogbe, a presidential staffer, who recently cashed GH¢169,000, equivalent to ¢1.6 billion cedis to buy hampers and organize seminars for journalists on the 2010 Budget, said IMANI was being mischievous in a bid to satisfy their paymasters to block the facility.

Fifi Kwetey, a deputy Minister of Finance said “listening to IMANI president Franklin Cudjoe’s arguments seeking to portray IMANI as an organization out to do an independent work betray a certain remarkable affinity to some of the things NPP clearly has been doing.”

Kwadwo Twum Boafo, CEO of the Ghana Free Zones Board said IMANI should simply declare themselves appendages of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) because he “cannot understand how a supposedly credible think tank can caution the government premised on falsehood.

Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, CEO of the Ghana Youth Authority, described IMANI as a leaking tank and not any think tank
.
However, IMANI has said it is not perturbed by the barrage of insults heaped on them by the presidential spokespersons and reaffirmed that their credibility is intact.

“We were completely taken aback by the reaction of a number of Government Spokespersons to our recent comment on the China Development Bank (CDB) loan facility for infrastructure development.

“Most of the reactions were hasty, over-generalized and in some instances frantic. More worryingly, nearly all of them were also wrong.”

IMANI was of the view that the “said reactions tended to skirt around the vital points we had made to focus on non-essentials.”

They said “at no point did we denigrate the source, objectives or motives behind the loan. We had not sought to perform any critical analysis on the agreements governing the loan facility. Since Parliament has shown clear interest in examining these matters, our approach has been to leave the legal scrutiny in their hands until we had cause to believe something was amiss.”

“At no point did we suggest that no portion of the loan will materialize or that the CDB was incapable or disinterested in fulfilling their side of the agreement.

“What we set out to do was to examine one dimension of the loan process: actual amounts of disbursement from the point of view of the lender, the China Development Bank. This is something that had not been done to date and having discerned some of the patterns behind their lending strategy, we felt it was important to share our findings with the general public, especially with regard to how such a strategy is likely to align or misalign with the short-term policy vision of the government.”

IMANI said the government moreover concedes that the $3 billion will be disbursed over five years and that there is currently only one agreement before Parliament that can release even one cent of the money to Ghana, and that this agreement concerns one billion dollars, not all of which is guaranteed to be disbursed immediately or indeed within 2012.

“Therefore, government, if indeed it is looking to boost infrastructure development for accelerated growth in 2012 – 2013, should as a matter of urgency focus on salvaging the more than 200 significant projects and programs that are stalling because of a lack of attention from the respective ministries and departments.

“It is clear that the spokespersons of the government of Ghana by their omissions and commissions have misinformed and mis-educated Ghanaians, not IMANI.”

IMANI noted that “as a patriotic think tank, fearlessly standing up for the national and public interest, we wish the government of Ghana and His Excellency the President very well in their endeavours. But our foremost loyalties are to the good people of Ghana. Our credibility is intact.”

BLOWS OVER $3BN CHINESE LOAN

Franklin Cudjoe in a leader of IMANI Ghana.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday January 4, 2011.
IMANI Ghana, a data and policy analysis think tank and the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) government are at each other’s throat over the $3 billion loan secured by the government from their Chinese counterparts.

According to IMANI, its research has shown that “it is highly doubtful that in the short term Government of Ghana shall be able to satisfy the strict credit requirements of the China Development Bank in order to secure the entire $3 billion mentioned in the government’s framework agreement with the state-owned Chinese bank.”

However, the government, through a Deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and presidential staffer Stan Dogbe have reacted angrily over IMANI’s claims describing it as ‘regrettable’ and ‘misleading the public’ with its analysis of the situation.

IMANI said it suspects “the maximum facility available to Ghana shall not exceed $1 billion over the timeframe of 2012 –2013. And even this $1 billion shall not come on a silver platter.”

“In keeping with this opinion, which we shall back up with analysis in this report, we are worried that government’s over-reliance on this facility to prosecute its 2013 economic program, especially in the infrastructure area, could lead to dislocations in the economy and frustrations on the part of its managers,” IMANI said.

“In his New Year address, the President of the Republic left all of us in no doubt about how central the $3 billion facility has become to the government’s overall economic agenda. According to a Ghana News Agency report of the speech, President Mills was therefore confident that government’s infrastructural development will receive a boost this year following the approval of the 3 billion dollar Chinese loan.”

IMANI said it was important to stress that the said $3 billion loan facility has not been approved by the authority that matters – the board of the Chinese Development Bank (CDB).

Rather, IMANI said what had been approved was a Master Framework Agreement (MFA) suggesting in very loose language that CDB is interested in discussing whether and how it may be viable to invest $3 billion in Ghana’s oil and gas infrastructure.

“Per article 26 of the MFA: ‘Except for the provision of Article 22, this Framework Agreement shall be deemed to be a letter of intent and understanding of the Parties and is not intended to create any legal relations or obligations on either Party.”

“The only binding clause, article 22 states that: “The Parties agree that no Party shall disclose the content of this Framework Agreement or any other agreements or documents generated or communicated between the Parties pursuant to this Framework Agreement without the express written consent of the other Party except where such disclosure is required by the laws of PRC and/or Ghana,” IMANI added.

“Let us bear in mind that Chinese financial institutions are adopting global standards of credit and risk evaluation and have therefore increasingly little propensity to pump money into half-baked or unready projects. Increasingly, their expectations of quality and rigour, and in particular profitability, are as high and as tough to meet as those of any financial institution anywhere on the globe.”

After an in-depth analysis of the situation, IMANI advised the government not to neglect the optimization of “all its other revenue sources in a frenzied pursuit of the CDB loan.”

“We are saddened by the continued slow disbursement of already committed money that has led to many infrastructure projects languishing in various stages of abandonment all over the country,” it noted.

In the government’s response, Okudzeto Ablakwa said IMANI was confusing the Framework Agreements signed with the Chinese authorities (CDB and China EXIM Bank) in September 2010 during President Mills’ visit to China with the Master Facility Agreement (MFA) which Parliament approved in August 2011.

He said, “it is regrettable that IMANI confuses the two documents and is misleading the public. Indeed, IMANI refers to a Master Framework (not Facility) Agreement in its analysis. While the Framework Agreements are Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), the MFA is a firm and binding Agreement with CDB.”

The deputy Minister said availability period for drawing down on the two Tranches (US1. 5 billion each) under the MFA is five years, not three years as IMANI sought to portray to the public.

“This is because government is aware that it is asking for a Facility to finance major infrastructure projects (e. g. oil/gas pipeline and processing plant; Takoradi harbor and Volta basin/ coastal landing sites; Accra Plains Irrigation; and Takoradi to Kumasi railway line) that cannot be completed within one (1) fiscal year.”

“In placing the projects within the GSGDA, government was not looking at short-term gains only, as IMANI sought to portray. The feasibility studies for the projects are very clear on this point that they are medium-to-long term projects,” he said.

“As noted IMANI quotes Article 26 of the Framework Agreement and not Section 26 of the binding MFA. Had it referred to the MFA, IMANI would have seen that Section 26 of the MFA (Partial Invalidity) is part of Part 9 of the Agreement, which deals with elaborate processes for administering the loan.”

He said the Government was on course to submit the Subsidiary Agreements (which specify the Projects to be financed) to Parliament, as it promised during the Parliamentary debates between June and August 2011 and it was surprising that IMANI was making an issue of the agreements again.

The deputy Minister said “it is surprising for IMANI to belittle the amount that CDB lends for foreign operations. Government does not view 17. 5 percent of US$800 billion (or US$140 billion) as an insignificant amount in terms of development bank, multilateral or bilateral financing. It is prudent for Ghana to tap this source of financing to diversify its traditional sources of financing infrastructure development, notably commercial projects”.

STX Housing Project Dead!...Cars, Furniture On Sale

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday January 3, 2012
The controversial STX Housing project that would have seen the construction of housing units across the country, starting with 30,000 for the security services, is over if the words of Vice President John Dramani Mahama is to be believed.

“The way things are going I don’t see how that project will go on. The wrangling is getting worse rather getting better so I don’t see how that project will go forward,” Mr. Mahama said.

The Vice President told journalists in Accra on December 30, 2011 that the government was going to terminate the $10 billion deal between the government of Ghana and STX Korea due to boardroom wrangling between the Ghanaian and its Korean counterpart stalling the project.

Ever since President John Evans Atta Mills cut the sod on Thursday January 27, 2011at Police Training Depot at Tesano, Accra for the commencement of the project board room wrangling between the Ghanaian and their Korean partners has ensured that not a single block has been laid even though a land at Kwabenya in Accra was purportedly cleared for that purpose.

Daily Guide can confirm that the head office of STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited at airport Residential Area, Accra has been offered for rent while office furniture and vehicles have been put on sale.

Lending credence to the fact that the STX project is over is the alacrity with which the Koreans are leaving the country.

Currently, almost all top officials of the company have gone back to Korea while the local staff has been laid off.

As at Tuesday December 20, 2011, Daily Guide saw about four men busily pasting a bold inscription which read “House for Rent” in red ink on the company’s main gates at the Airport Residential Area.

The security personnel manning the two gates of the company looked on sheepishly without any attempt to intercept the unfolding action.

Bernard Kwabena Asamoah the man credited for introducing the housing deal to the government and who has fallen out with the Koreans is alleged to have been chased out of his private residence on the Spintex road by his landlady recently over the non-payment of rent.

Additionally, he is said to have issued dud cheques to Rana Motors for payment of vehicles purchased for the company’s use.

The foregoing developments appeared to be giving a clue as to what the financial situation of the company currently is.

The five-member board of STX in November pasted an unsigned notice which claimed that the Ghanaian head of STX Ghana, BK Asamoah had been relieved of his duties.

But Mr. Asamoah sharply rebutted media reports and argued that he was still at post.

This took place a few weeks after the Korean partners dragged B.K. Asamoah to court and accused him of falsifying certain corporate documents and also unlawfully reconstituting the board but the case could not proceed because the plaintiffs (Koreans) could not serve all the defendants in the case.

Mr. Asamoah also hit back with a suit that sought to ask the court to remove the Koreans from the entire project but the action was dismissed by the court.
President John Evans Atta Mills has already expressed his disappointment about the way and manner things have gone with regards to the project but assured that the project would definitely see the light of day.

After pretending that all was well with the project, it was Works and Housing Minister, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin who first made an about turn on December 22, 2011 to announce that the government was likely to disengage from the controversial project.

Mr. Bagbin who persistently went publicly debunking media reports that the deal was collapsing had to eat humble pie when he said on Christmas eve that proceeding with the project without the current partners was a possibility.

The Minister was reacting to news that BK Asamoah and his GKA Airports Company Limited - the Ghanaian partners on the project - had been handed a crushing defeat at a Commercial Court in Accra.

Mr. BK Asamoah whom the Koreans sacked as Chief Executive Officer of STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited in August 2011, for allegedly diluting shares of the company had gone to court to seek reliefs to sack the Korean counterparts from the entire project.

However, the court presided over by Justice Gertrude Torkornoo dismissed BK Asamoah’s application on ‘procedural grounds’ and awarded GH¢ 3,000 as cost against the applicant.

The judge had held that BK Asamoah could only sue under the Company Code 217 only if the partner had been involved in illegal conduct but the plaintiff had failed to prove the Koreans did.

Vice President Mahama told the journalists that the government was working on “a serious back-up plan” for the crisis-ridden STX housing project given the protracted nature of the boardroom crisis and doubted if the multi-billion dollar project will ever come to fruition.

“What we are doing is that we are working on other back up arrangements to ensure that we are able to provide housing for Ghanaians.

“But we are working on other alternative projects. At a point if we can’t go forward we will have to suspend it” John Mahama said.

Otabil Crosses Over

Pastor Mensah Otabil is a leading Ghanaian clergy.

Posted On: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday January 3, 2012.
Pastor Mensah Otabil, General Overseer of International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), says the abundance of gold, other mineral resources and the oil discovery may not necessarily guarantee prosperity for the nation.

He said it is living in purity as a people that would propel the nation into prosperity.

Pastor Otabil, who is also the Chancellor of Central University College (CUC), one of the fast-growing tertiary institutions, was speaking at a watch night worship service dubbed ‘Crossover’ held at the Accra Sports Stadium to usher in 2012.

Pastor Otabil said there is too much wrongdoing in the society – corruption and breaking of the law – and that if only Ghanaians will repent and live pure lives, the nation will not require foreign aid to become prosperous.

He predicted that Ghana will go through peaceful elections in the 2012, so that people will appreciate the work of God.

“People are worried about the elections of Ghana; I think we’re going to have a very, very peaceful election. It’s going to be so peaceful we will be looking round and say ‘what is happening, it’s too peaceful.’ God is giving this country peace.

“Our nation Ghana and its neighbours in Africa have struggled for years to build successful, economically viable nations but you and I know that it’s been a very difficult process, and there are many reasons to give for that but I think at the root, or one of the key problems that we have is that there is too much of wrongdoing in all of us – corruption in all of us, there is too much breaking of the law with all of us. If each one of us here live pure, Ghana will be turned around in one year.

“If each African decides to be honest, to be fair, to be kind, to be generous, if every worker decides they are not going to take a bribe, and every businessman decides they are not going to pay a bribe, and each one of us decides we are going to do our work honestly, we don’t need any foreign aid, we will be able to build our own country.”

“All of us want to see God. A pure heart is the heart that sees God. If you want to see God in 2012, then the condition of your heart must be right. A pure heart is a heart that is cleansed from sin. A pure heart is a heart that is in union with God, and Jesus said that those who have a pure heart are blessed, and not only are they blessed, they will see God,” he said.

“Before you do something ask yourself these questions – it is true, is it noble, is it just, is it pure, is it lovely, is it virtuous. When you are talking to somebody ask yourself ‘I’m I telling the truth… If all of us lie to one another, we become a nation of liars and that is not beautiful.

We can have oil, we can have diamond, we can have gold, we can have everything we want those commodities do not build a nation, it is the character of the people that builds a nation. Oil is useless if we don’t have a noble character to manage the oil that God has given to us. We can discover all the oil we want in the world , we can have the oil of Saudi Arabia but if we steal all the money, there will be nothing to benefit anybody.”

Events leading to the programme were not the best for the Christian community as the venue used by ICG for decades was being threatened to be taken over by the National Security and given to another influential man-of-God, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams of the Action Chapel International (ACI).

National Security sources had corroborated reports that though Pastor Otabil had booked for the Independence Square and paid for the venue some five months ago, the government has taken over the venue and given it to Duncan-Williams, who was also happy about it and busily advertising to use the place for his church’s end-of-year watch night.

Apart from the attempted take-over, Archbishop Duncan-Williams also named his 31st December service ‘Passover’, quite similar to Pastor Otabil’s annual ‘Crossover’ theme.

Eventually, it was media coverage of the unfolding events that compelled Archbishop Duncan-Williams to withdraw from the use of the Independence Square for the ‘Passover’.

However, a statement issued from the Office of the General Overseer of the Church, indicating it was withdrawing from the Independence Square had said the decision of ACI to use the Independence Square to pray for the nation with a message of “2012: Year of Divine Providence--No Violence” seems to have led to unfortunate misrepresentations in the media.

“Amongst some of the regrettable comments that have been made is an impression that has been created that it would be better for another Church to use the Independence Square for a car park on the night of 31st December, than for ACI to use it for its watch night service,” the statement signed by Archbishop Duncan-Williams had said.

“In view of these misrepresentations and in order to ensure peace and harmony in the body of Christ and amongst Christian brethren, the Archbishop of ACI has decided that the Church should relocate its 31st December 2011 Passover Service from the Independence Square.”

COCOBOD STRENGTHEN TIES WITH MEDIA

Anthony Fofie – CEO, Ghana Cocobod

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday December 23, 2011.
As part of efforts to get the public to fully appreciate the immense contribution of the cocoa sector to the country’s economic growth, the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has organized a two-day training for journalists to enable them to report appropriately on the sector.

Heads of the various units of COCOBOD took turns to explain exhaustibly to journalists activities and workings of their departments with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Anthony Fofie, capping the training with an advice to the media to help to sustain the cocoa industry as the backbone of the economy.

He said the cocoa sector has benefitted from an improved communication, allowing them to effectively disperse advanced agronomic massages about cultivating practices to cocoa farmers.

“Ghana prides itself as the benchmark quality of its cocoa, so it is tantamount for us to protect it from foreign, lower quality supplies.”

Mr. Fofie said one of the principal challenges facing the cocoa sector is ageing tree stock, saying “some trees have been producing for well over 30 years, and it is crucial that these are removed and replanted immediately.”

He said the ageing farmer population must also be tackled by introducing programmes that would attract the younger generation to the sector.

He also mentioned the Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus (CSSV) as a particular challenge to the sector as there is presently no serious cure available leaving them with no option than to remove and replant the infected trees.

Mr. Fofie promised Cocobod’s commitment towards ensuring that farmers are rewarded for their effort and also said Ghana will continue to maintain the enviable quality cocoa beans it has been producing over the years.

Bishop Kabutey, Principal Cocoa Research Officer at the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) took journalists through research methods in the sector and said apart from cocoa, serious efforts are going on in the coffee, cashew, cola and shea areas.

He revealed that because the mechanical means of drying cocoa affect the quality of the beans, COCOBOD has been applying strict rules to ensure that the quality standards are not compromised.

Gifty Sosu from the Seed Production Unit (SPU) told journalists that about 16 million seedlings were distributed to farmers this year at highly subsidized rates and hoped to increase it in the coming years to enable more people have unhindered access to seedlings.

Thomas K. Osei, Deputy Managing Director (Operations) at the Quality Control Company Limited (QCCL), said they had harmonized their standards with all international bodies and were working to ensure that Ghana produces only good quality cocoa beans.

Antwi Adjei of the CSSVD Control Unit said preventing diseases in the cocoa sector has been an arduous task but added “with careful planning we are able to at least contain the diseases.”

“We have started restocking because about 23 per cent of cocoa trees are over 30 years and economically unproductive. We want to re-develop lands and get rid of all unproductive trees by replacing them with improved varieties.”

Taking journalists through the application of fertilizer, Dr. Solomon Acquaye, Deputy Manager (Cocoa Hi-Tech) said Ghana currently has about 1.6 million hectors of cocoa land but only 18 per cent has been captured under the fertilization programme.

“We are spreading and farmers are fast embracing the fertilization programme. With time we will cover most parts to boost cocoa production.”

The Director of Cocoa Disease and Pest Control Unit (CODAPEC), Obeng Adjinah said the re-introduction of the mass spraying exercise in 2001 has boost cocoa production significantly.

Vincent Akomea, Senior Manager at the Research Department of COCOBOD, said the board was dealing with the issue of child labour in a holistic manner.

C.K. Agyente Badu, speaking on the health benefits of the cocoa product, noted that cocoa has been the most useful plant for the health needs of the people and encouraged Ghanaians to use cocoa products, particularly the bitter cocoa.

Noah K. Amenyah, Public Affairs Manager, urged the media to help consolidate the image carved for Ghana’s cocoa.

STX Thrown Out

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By Samuel Boadi & William Yaw Owusu

Thursday December 22, 2011.
IT IS yet to be established whether STX Engineering & Construction Ghana Limited has relocated its offices from the plush Airport residential area in Accra or not but DAILY GUIDE can confidently say that the troubled company has been thrown out of the building housing it even as the company suffered another setback in court yesterday.

The attempt by beleaguered Chief Executive Officer of the company, Bernard Kwabena Asamoah to sack the Korean counterparts from the construction of 200,000 housing units in the country failed.
This is because the Commercial Court C in Accra handling the case dismissed Mr. Asamoah’s action asking the court to kick out the Koreans to pave way for the construction of the housing units in the country, starting with 30,000 houses for the security services at the cost of $10 billion.

Ever since President John Evans Atta Mills cut the sod on Thursday January 27, 2011for the commencement of the project board room wrangling between the Ghanaian and their Korean partners has ensured that not a single block has been laid.

The court presided over by Justice Gertrude Torkornoo dismissed BK Asamoah’s application on ‘procedural grounds’ and awarded GH¢ 3,000 as cost against the applicant.

The judge had held that Mr Asamoah could only sue under the Company Code 217 if the partner had been involved in illegal conduct but the plaintiff had failed to prove the Koreans did.

Mr Asamoah had indicated he was ready to bay out his Korean counterparts and the court allowed the parties time to settle the terms and report to it.

However, both parties came back to court announcing that the settlement had broken down.

The judge then asked the plaintiff to move the motion after which the defendants responded.

The judge delivered her ruling describing the application as “incompetent.”

On Tuesday, close to lunchtime, when DAILY GUIDE passed by the offices of the company, about four men were busily seen pasting a bold inscription which read “House For Rent” in red ink on its gates.

In the process, the security personnel manning the two gates of the company looked on sheepishly without any attempt to intercept the unfolding action.

Efforts to reach Mr. Asamoah, via phone, did not succeed as his phone was inaccessible.

Mr. Asamoah is alleged to have been chased out of his private residence on the Spintex road by his landlady recently over the non-payment of rent.

Additionally, he is said to have issued dud cheques to Rana Motors for payment of vehicles purchased for the company’s use.

The foregoing developments appear to be giving a clue as to what the financial situation of the company currently is.

The five-member board of STX in November pasted an unsigned notice which claimed that the Ghanaian head of STX Ghana, BK Asamoah had been relieved of his duties.

But Mr. Asamoah sharply rebutted media reports and argued that he was still at post.

This took place a few weeks after the Korean partners dragged B.K. Asamoah to court and accused him of falsifying certain corporate documents and also unlawfully reconstituting the board.

In the suit of the Koreans, they noted that on May 16, 2011, Mr. Asamoah, who is also owner of G.K. Airports Company Limited, and J. B. Asafo-Boakye filed a special resolution claiming to surrender all the stated shares of STX Construction Company Limited to G.K. Airports Company Limited.

However, the plaintiffs argued that such an action could not stand in law because the Koreans were still part of the company.

The GK Airports suit was against STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited and STX Construction Company Limited in Seoul, which was thrown out yesterday.

MINISTER MOCKS GHANAIANS

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday December 21, 2011
John Tia Akologu, the Minister for Information yesterday said that anybody who cannot ‘feel money in his/her pocket’ or experience the ruling National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) ‘Better Ghana Agenda’ is “either sleeping or pretending to be sleeping”.

“A lot has been done by the Mills led administration and it is only those who are pretending to be sleeping who are not seeing it. They are refusing to see.”

Taking his turn at the Meet-the-press series, Mr. Tia flanked by his two deputies - Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Baba Jamal- outlined what can be described as a lopsided achievement of the NDC government, deferring the details until “the first quarter of next year.”

The Minister said the action year promised by President John Evans Atta Mills has been fulfilled in spite of claims by some Ghanaians particularly the opposition that nothing meaningful was done.

“This year was indeed an action-packed year. It is obvious many historical strides have been made in 2011” he said, adding that President Mills has kept his promise and everybody knows that there has been significant improvement in the scheme of affairs.

“The Ghanaian worker seems to be feeling the action year in their pockets”, he said but his comment generated murmurings from in the conference room.

He said “nurses are now jubilating because they have been migrated unto the single spine. Money is in people’s pockets but those who are pretending are refusing to acknowledge this fact.”

Mr. Tia could not outline the country’s debts stock except to say that the about 38 per cent rate was normal since the country was nowhere near the 60 per cent that would run down the economy.

He justified the high school fees being charged currently by rather shifting the blame on the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) who he said “fix school fees in consultation with the Ghana Education Service.”

On the dying textile industry, the Minister said the government was putting interventions in the cotton sector to make it thrive and also insisted that the government was supporting the poultry industry to stand on their feet despite agitation from poultry farmers that they have been neglected by the government.

He said the government the government has been able to stabilize the economy, bringing inflation to single digit and reducing interest rates to 9.1 per cent.

Mr. Tia said the IMF has given the green light for the government to access 3 billion CBN Chinese loan to facilitate the bridging of the infrastructural gap while all four convergent criteria of the West Africa Monetary Zone (WAMZ) have been met for the first time.

He said 97 per cent of public and civil servants have been migrated unto the Single Spine salary Structure (SSSS) and this has increased the government’s wage bill from GHC 1million to GHC 4million.

He said the NDC government had been able to remove about 1,200 schools under trees and executed other social intervention programmes and also said the extension of the 3-year SSS was “ill advised.”

He said “the action year is abundantly on display in the agricultural and other sectors,” and added that the government should be commended for the way it is handling the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) instead of condemning them.

Okudzeto Ablakwa who preferred to talk about the corruption perception index said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) cannot match the NDC in the area of fighting the menace of corruption.

“The 4.1 score is the highest ever. In the time of the NPP their highest score was 3.9 and it is clear we only slipped to their best performance.”

Before questions and answers, Baba Jamal warned journalists to focus on what his boss had presented and not introduce any ‘extraneous’ issues into the programme.

Zap Changes To Airtel Money

Ernest Attuquaye Armah, Deputy Minister of Communications launching Airtel Money on Wednesday

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday December 16, 2011.
Zap from Airtel, the e-commerce service that allowed customers to use their mobile phones as ‘mobile wallets,’ has been re-lunched as Airtel Money.

This time around Airtel Money is offering improved services to customers as Airtel, a telecommunication giant seeks to introduce its customers to unique banking services for the first time in the country.

Under Airtel Money, customers are at liberty to transfer or receive funds from their accounts, access services only previously available in banks as well as pay bills and transfer airtime on and across networks.

“The enhanced Airtel Money service will provide millions of people with access to banking and has the potential to transform banking in Africa and drastically increase access to financial services,” Philip Sowah, Managing Director of Airtel Ghana said at the re-launch of Airtel Money in Accra on Wednesday.

He said Airtel is partnering other service institutions including banks, supermarkets and utility service providers to “bring convenience to the people through Airtel Money.”
“Airtel Money offers a complete one-stop shop experience so customers can purchase and send airtime to other numbers and even access bank accounts and send money,” he said.

Mr. Sowah said “the service is convenient, easy-to-use, secure and affordable, the aim of Airtel is to deliver relevant and innovative mobile solutions to help customers overcome their daily challenges.”

“Our goal is to make communications banking, payments, retail and infotainment affordable and accessible to all in Africa.”

Kola Sonola, M-Commerce Director of Airtel Ghana, explaining the capabilities of Airtel Money, said Airtel Money, then Zap which was solely a mobile money platform, has evolved into mobile commerce platform offering mobile money mobile top ups, money transfer, mobile banking and financial services.

“Airtel Money provides customers with a ‘mobile wallet’ which allows them to use their mobile phones in much the same way as a bank debit card. It provides customers with increased security and flexibility, reducing the need to carry cash and ensuring prompt payment of bills, goods and services,” he added.

Ernest Attuquaye Armah, Deputy Minister of Communications, who launched Airtel money, said the government was inspired by the manner in which mobile telecommunication services are being deployed in the country.

He said even though the mobile penetration rate is currently 67 per cent, the telecommunications companies could still do more to ensure improved living standards of the people saying “let us all work together to ensure that it is accessible for all.”

The deputy minister also urged the telecommunications companies to support government’s effort to clamp down on people, who are using ICT, particularly the internet and mobile phones to perpetrate fraud.

He commended Airtel for re-launching the product and said “the product has far reaching advantages and you must make it very effective.”

STX WOES DEEPEN

B.K. Asamoah is the plaintiff in the case.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday December 15, 2011.
The much talk about STX out-of-court settlement between the company’s partners is still in quandary.

The Commercial Court C in Accra presided over by Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, had granted permission to the partners to settle the matter out-of-court and report to her yesterday but it was still stalemate according to sources at the court.

A week before the court gave the order for an out-of-court settlement, the beleaguered Chief Executive Officer of STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited, Bernard Kwabena Asamoah who is seeking to remove the Korean partners from the project had given indications he was going to pay off the Koreans so the project could finally take off.

GKA Airports Company Limited owned by B.K. Asamoah went to court in effect seeking a declaration that the Korean partners are no longer owners of the project, a move the Koreans have vowed to resist.

The Koreans were the first to go to court over who owns the company when they sued B.K. Asamoah, Registrar-General and others for allegedly diluting the company’s shares to GKA Airport’s advantage but the Fast Track High Court presided over by Justice NMC Abodakpi adjourned proceedings sine die because the processes to get the case heard were not completed.

The GKA Airports suit is citing STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited and STX Construction Company Limited in Seoul as the 1st and 2nd defendants with Kook Hyun Kim, Su Jou Kim, Daniel Jung, Seong Hoon Kang, Yong Chan Kim, Im-Dong Park, Ji Hoon Hwang and Man Kang as 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th respondents respectively.

The plaintiff is seeking reliefs including a “declaration that by terminating the Joint Venture Agreement and Heads of Agreement, 2nd respondent renounced its membership of 1st respondent.”

However, the defendants (Koreans) fired back disputing the claims of the plaintiff and made counter-claims against the plaintiffs.

In their affidavit in opposition filed October 17 and deposed to by Daniel Jung, the defendants say they have not executed any transfer of its shares neither has the shares been affected by any law or statute.

He said STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited was incorporated on November 17, 2009 and the subscribers to its regulation were both STX Construction Company Ltd and GKA Airports Company Ltd adding “the 2nd respondent subscribed to 15,000 shares whilst the applicant subscribed to 7,400 shares.”

“The right of the 2nd respondent as a subscriber to the regulations of the 1st respondent are guaranteed and or prescribed by statute”, the defendants averred.

When the case was called yesterday, Osafo Buaben, counsel for 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 8th defendants - including STX Engineering and Construction Ghana Limited and STX Construction Company Limited in Seoul – told the court that Carl Adongo who is representing B.K. Asamoah was in the Court of Appeal for another case and wanted a short adjournment.

The judge then enquired from Mr. Osafo Buaben what had happened to the out-of-court settlement before considering counsel’s request but Mr. Buaben impressed on the judge to hear the ‘latest development’ in chambers.

“We will prefer meeting you in chambers for that aspect”, Mr. Buaben told the judge.

“I will only grant you the adjournment when you update me on the progress of the out-of-court settlement,” the judge replied.

Kizito Beyou another counsel then announced himself as an ‘intervener’ in the case and added his voice to the call on the judge hear that piece of information in chambers.

Messrs Buaben, Beyou, the judge, B.K. Asamoah and Daniel Jung representing the Korean partners all went into the judge’s chamber and after about five minutes they came out but nobody told the media anything.

As a result, the media was left in limbo as to the next adjourned date.

Even though President John Evans Atta Mills cut the sod in January 2011 for the commencement of the project, boardroom wrangling between the Koreans and their Ghanaian partners has stalled the construction of 200,000 housing units in the country, starting with 30,000 houses for the security services at the cost of $10 billion.

GOV'T PANICS OVER ILLEGAL FUEL CASH

Alex Mould is the Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday December 14, 2011.
Fear and panic has set in the ranks of government officials in charge of petroleum following an order by an Accra High Court, compelling the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to reduce fuel prices.

A source close to Daily Guide says the Ministry of Energy and the NPA are having torrid time deciding on what to do after the court ordered them to remove illegal margins disguised as “ex-refinery differential”.

The court presided over by Justice Patrick Baayeh on November 28 gave the order after Kwaku Kwarteng the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for Obuasi, Abdul Ganiyu of Tamale and Development Data, a date analysis group had filed a writ in September 2009 praying the court to abolish an illegal margin smuggled into the price build-up of petroleum prices by the NPA.

According to the court, the illegal margins imposed on June 5, 2009 were as follows: Fuel Illegal Price Additions: Diesel 95 GHp per gallon; Petrol 29 GHp per gallon; Kerosene 42 GHp per gallon; LPG gas 08 GHp per kilogram; and MGO local 69 GHp per gallon.

The High Court further ordered the NPA to publish the total amount accrued from the imposition of the illegal margins in the Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times within four months from the date of the judgement and pay the amount into the Consolidated Fund.

To add insult to injury, sources say instead of operating an account at the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for ex-refinery differentials as required by law, the government rather operated the account at Ecobank in clear contravention of the law.

Development Data estimates showed that the amount accrued from the ex-refinery differential from 5th June 2009 and to November 28, 2011, the day of the order had come to GH¢690 million.

Although the government indicated its intention to file for stay of execution pending appeal of the order, they have failed to do so but are still charging the illegal fee which is clearly in contempt of court.

Per the ruling, the NPA was required to announce new fuel prices minus these margins but they have ignored the court’s order.

A source said the government contemplates increasing fuel prices if it is unable to overturn the ruling.

However, some political and economic observers are of the view that if the government has any explanation to give it needed to go to court to demonstrate why it is reluctant to reduce the fuel prices and not play in the ‘media gallery’.

In an attempt to justify the illegal fees, the Ministry of Energy through one of its deputy ministers, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah issued a release saying “government agrees with the NPA that the ex-refinery differential is not a tax – that is, the differential does not accrue to government; it is a stabilizing mechanism put in place by the NPA Board in 2006 to ensure the stability of petroleum product prices.”

The release titled: - Government reacts to court ruling on the national petroleum authority (NPA) pricing formula – said “all funds that have been collected into the ex-refinery differential margin account have been used by the NPA in stabilizing prices over the period.”

“This arrangement notwithstanding, government subsidized petroleum products to the tune of about GH¢459 million in 2011, which subsidy is projected to be almost GH¢600 million in 2012 if the situation remains unchanged.”

According to the deputy Minister the court ruling, if allowed to stand, means the removal of the stabilizing effect that the ex-refinery margin account sought to achieve.

“If the court ruling were implemented, the prices of various petroleum products would have gone up by the following percentages: Premium (3.89%), Kerosene (77.57%), Gas Oil (13.36%), LPG (57.26%) and Premix (114.46%)”.

“By every account the government will be irresponsible and insensitive to allow such drastic and dramatic skyrocketing of prices of petroleum products- a situation which will heap untold hardship on the people and end up worsening the economic conditions of Ghanaians.”

“One of the big mistakes the government is determined not to repeat is to allow the accumulation of unpaid petroleum subsidies, which in 2008 largely caused The Tema Oil Refinery’s (TOR’s) debt to reach an astronomical GH¢1.5 billion (15 trillion cedis) - a debt that largely brought the operations of TOR to a halt for about two years and nearly crippled the Ghana Commercial Bank.”

Mr. Buah said over the last three years, the government has had to raise over 1 billion cedis to restore the financial health of both TOR and GCB saying “the painful lesson learned through this recent history is that no matter how long we postpone the inevitable, a time comes when we have no option but to confront the harsh reality and deal with it, and most often at a much greater cost.”

DA Microfinance Opens Head Office

Charles Amonoo, Chief Executive Officer of DA Microfinance cutting the tape to commence business at Asylum Down. With him are some senior staff of the company.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday December 14, 2011.
DA Microfinance, popularly called Dwadifo Adamfo, a financial outlet providing products and services particularly for the informal sector, has opened its head office at Asylum Down, Accra as part of efforts to expand its operations.

Established in June 2009 at Kaneshie, Accra, DA Microfinance currently has five branches, including Kasoa and Swedru in the Central region apart from Accra and according to Charles Amonoo, Chief Executive Officer of the company, another branch in Techiman is in the offing.

At a short ceremony to officially open the Asylum Down Branch yesterday, Mr. Amonoo said “through our innovative savings and loans, we now serve close to 20,000 active clients and this is a testimony to delightful and business enhancing nature of our products and services.”

He said about 30 per cent of DA Microfinance clients are borrowers while the rest are saving with them, saying “since we started, we have been at the forefront of pioneering innovation in the microfinance sector through flexible, affordable and timely financial solutions.”

“DA was the first micro-financial institution to introduce ‘Electronic Susu, a system that allows customers to do real-time deposits as well as receive electronic receipts for the transaction. This ensures that customer deposits are protected from fraud.”

Mr. Amonoo said DA Microfinance will in 2012 launch a radio programme that will provide general business advice to the public, stressing that they are planning to expedite their exploratory activities to become the first to microfinance institution with nationwide coverage.

“We are working hard to establish over 30 branches and agencies over the next five years and grow our customer base to over 100,000.”

He said they are working on introducing biometric security features and electronic transaction capability into their operations to make their products more secured.

“We have also conducted studies into mobile banking technologies and other IT driven solutions that will establish DA as the institution of choice for the informal sector.”

Mr. Amonoo said since its inception, the company has been able to raise over GHC 4 million through investment products and added that they have ‘competitive’ loan rates.

He said the company has put in an application for approval by the Bank of Ghana following the release of new guidelines for licencing microfinance institutions.

SCRAMBLE FOR AIRLINE LICENCE

Air Cdre Kwame Mamphey (Rtd), Director-General of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA)in an interview with Business Guide.

Posted on: www.businessguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday December 13, 2011.
There is fierce scramble for airline operator’s licence as companies try to take advantage of the emerging economic potential of the country to do business.

According to Air Cdre Kwame Mamphey (Rtd), Director-General of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), apart from the four domestic airlines currently in operation, “there are a lot more applying to operate here”.

“The four carriers are working well and there are many others who have applied to operate domestically, the west coast and transcontinental flights. They are currently going through certification and hopefully, next year we will see serious activities.”

Air Cdre Mamphey, a pilot, told Business Guide exclusively on Friday that Ghana’s promising future economic potential was the driving force behind the surge in business interests.

He said, “Even though more companies are applying, not all of them can come into the domestic sector. We are going to have issues over capacity and so on. We are working it out in such a way that we have just enough to take care of the passengers because the bulk of the new ones who are coming in actually want to do west coast and also intercontinental operations.”

He added that there had been significant developments in the domestic airline operations as they contributed significantly towards economic growth of the nation and as a result, passengers now had a choice.

“The fares have gone down significantly by about 40 percent. That has increased and encouraged more people to travel by air domestically. It is now easier for people who ordinarily would have travelled by bus to now come and go by air.”

“In so doing, they avoid road hazards including accidents and armed robberies. This has been the aim of GCAA and I am glad to say that we are achieving it.”

The GCAA director-general said having succeeded in getting more people to fly, the authority, in the first quarter of 2012, would embark on a programme to encourage the local carriers to also start flying along the west coast of Africa.

“I am very hopeful that if this is done, it would bring down the fares and give the travelling public a choice. It should be possible for you to decide when you want to travel and how much you want to pay.”

On the possibility of a national carrier, Air Cdre Mamphey predicted that it might not take that long for Ghana to get back a national carrier.

“It is unfortunate we do not have a national carrier. All Ghanaians wish that Ghana Airways or Ghana International Airline was still in operation. I think we need to take our time. In an attempt to re-establish a national carrier, we should be careful not to get into those issues that grounded Ghana Airways and GIA.”

“GCAA has basically acted as a catalyst to the economic development of the country. Most of the people who come here to do business from outside, be it the Americas, Europe and the far East, have come in through Kotoka International Airport (KIA) and that is money.”

He said very soon, Ghana would get back the FAA Category 1 status which it lost in 2006, adding however that, “I cannot give you the exact date because we have to first of all go through the technical review which we are doing now and the gaps which are identified we will work on very quickly to facilitate the attainment but for certain in 2012 we should attain Category 1 status.”

He said the FAA technical experts were on a week-long assessment visit to conduct a technical review to identify the gaps in the system, noting, “We will address them and they will be back for an audit and hopefully we should pass and get the category 1 back.”

The GCAA Boss said due to the tremendous improvement of security and safety at KIA, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of the United States had decided to set up their regional offices in Accra, adding, “If they do not have confidence in our system they would not set up offices here. There is no doubt that within the sub-region we are the safest.”

“Aviation security and safety are two different issues we should always tackle concurrently. In terms of safety in the skies, we know that for now we are very safe because of the equipment we have put in place. We have radar that gives us a picture of what is happening in the air to ensure that aircraft do not fly into each other.”

Air Cdre Mamphey stated that the decoupling of airport management functions had helped the GCAA to concentrate on its core regulatory functions.

“Hitherto, GCAA was responsible for the airport and air traffic management but currently we are focusing on the regulatory aspect as well as the air traffic control.”

He said it was the intention of the government, at a later date, to further decouple the air traffic management aspect of GCAA functions so that air traffic management would be taken away from the authority to enable them to remain solely as the regulators.

He reiterated the resolve of the GCAA not to compromise security and safety at KIA and other local airports which he said would receive major facelifts next year.

Hisense Products Hit Market

Diana DeGraft Quaye, Head of Corporate Communication of Sun Electronics Limited, explaining the capabilities of the products. With her is David K. Adade, Managing Director.

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Friday December 9, 2011
Hisense, a global manufacturer of television, air conditioners, LCDs, refrigerators, mobile phones and other household appliances, has taken the Ghanaian market by storm with a variety of its products.

It was introduced onto the market by Sun Electronics Limited whose Managing Director David K. Adade told CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE “we want the use of Hisense products to make meaningful impact on the lives of all Ghanaian.”

Yesterday at East Legon, Accra where one of Hisense showrooms is located, Mr. Adade said there has been painstaking research and development to ensure that the products are top class and to boost consumer confidence, they are giving five years warranty for any product purchased.

“We want Ghanaians to own the products. We want them to be part of everything we do so that together we can accelerate the development of the country.”

He said they are almost completing an ultra modern showroom and service center at the North Industrial Area in Accra to make the presence of the company felt, adding “in the meantime we have set up customer and after sales service outlets in many parts of the country to assist customers.”

“We want Hisense products to be the preferred products in the country. We are placing emphasis on customer care by ensuring that there is affordability, accessibility and convenience for use of our products.”

He said they are committed to further sensitizing the public on the need to use brand new household appliances since the use of most secondhand products come with their own environmental hazards and problems.

Diana DeGraft Quaye, Head of Corporate Communication of Sun Electronics Limited, said her outfit has instituted feedback mechanisms to track how well Hisense products are doing on the market.

“We want to ensure that customers get unhindered access to us so that we can understand what they want us to do for them.”

Hisense is a multinational electronics manufacturer based in China. It is a state-owned enterprise with publicly traded subsidiaries.

The Hisense Group comprises two publicly traded companies, Hisense Electric Co Ltd, listed on the Shanghai stock exchange and Hisense Kelon Electrical Holdings Co Ltd, which is listed on the Shenzhen and Hong Kong stock exchanges and a number of other subsidiaries.

Hisense has 13 manufacturing facilities in China (located in the provinces of Guangdong, Guizhou, Huzhou, Jiangsu,Liaoning, Linyi, Shandong, Sichuan, Yangzhou, Yingkou, Xinjiang, Zibo and the municipality of Beijing) and several countries such as Hungary, South Africa, Egypt, Algeria and France.

Telecom Companies Losing Profit

Kwaku Sakyi-Addo - Chief Executive Officer, Ghana Chamber Telecommunications

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday December 7, 2011
The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications says the profit margins of its members are persistently dwindling contrary to public perception that they are making huge profits.

Data compiled by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) indicate that the average subscriber and revenue evolution in 2008 which was GH¢14.6 declined to GH¢9.4 in 2010. It has dropped by a third between 2008 and 2010.

“We are barely surviving contrary to popular perception that we are making huge profits,” Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber told Daily Guide on Monday.

He said the average revenue of each user is dropping despite the cost of providing the service for each user rising by the day, saying the GSS figure for 2011 figures is even worse than the ones recorded in the previous years.

“I just gave you statistics…it is tough. It is not as you see it. More importantly, it is about the return on investments.”

He said the cost of mobile communications in Ghana is among the lowest in the world, saying “if you look at Africa, apart from Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia where the government determines it, the next is Ghana. Look at all the other countries including South Africa and Nigeria the rates are higher,” Mr. Sakyi-Addo explained.

“The costs of tariffs for mobile services keep dropping…is there anything or any service whose price drops in Ghana?

“Everything is costing us more. Our cost of operational expenditure is going high while our profit margin continues to fall. The cost of electricity, fuel, personnel among others are rising and yet tariffs are dropping. The cost of doing business in districts is rising. This is not sustainable.”

Mr. Sakyi-Addo said the chamber is working hard to appeal to the government to set clear rules and uniform charges that are reasonable enough to attract investors to boost infrastructure in the sector.

“In 2009 telecoms mast which cost GH¢2,000 had reached 15, 000 plus fibre optic network of GH¢7,500 totaling GH¢22,500 in 2010 for one district. Their justification was that operators have money. How is this an incentive for mobile phone operators to provide infrastructure that will improve the quality of service.”

He said general utility excavation permit to lay cables is GH¢10 for every 50 meters while business operating permit for institutions including banks is between GH¢200 and GH¢1,000 but telecoms are charged GH¢9,000.

Telecoms Chamber Warns Gov’t

Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of telecommunications, Kwaku Sakyi-Addo explaining issues to Bisiness Guide Editor-in-carge William Yaw Owusu.

Posted on: www.businessguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday December 6, 2011
The Ghana Chamber of Telecoms is not happy about the persistent threats from the regulator to withdraw licences of operators over the issues relating to the industry.

“We have to be careful about the signals we give out as a country to investors who are here and those we hope to attract. Those who want to come in will look at those who are here and how they are being treated”, the chamber’s Chief Executive Officer Kwaku Sakyi-Addo has said.

The regulatory body – National Communications Authority (NCA) - imposed a total fine of ¢1.2 million on five of the telecom operators in the country for providing poor services for subscribers.

The Minister of Communications, Haruna Iddrisu subsequently threatened to withdraw the licences of the operators if they failed to pay the fines.

However, Mr. Sakyi-Addo, an ace broadcaster, yesterday told Business Guide exclusively that there are several factors impeding the provision of quality of services and must be addressed holistically without resort to threats.

“For us the issues in the telecoms sector go beyond the immediate question of the penalties. The issues are more far reaching than the penalties because the penalties are not what will necessarily solve the problem of quality of service.”

He said there are external factors that affect the industry over which the operators have no control citing damage done to operator’s underground cables as one of the impediments.

“This year alone there have been more than 400 fibre or cable cuts. In some instances it is due to theft, bush fires but by far the biggest cause is as a result of road construction. We are hard working together with the roads agencies and departments to address it.”

He said in order to avoid what he called “multiple trenching”; operators are collaborating to share the trench but that would also come as a cost explaining “that means also that if there is a cut it affects more operators.”

Mr. Sakyi-Addo said there is no gain or advantage to an operator if a customer cannot be able to access the network. Saying “The operators have invested lots of money and the only way they can recoup their investment is if you make a call it goes through.

That if you go on the internet you are able to stay as long as possible.”

Each operator would like you to talk for as a long as possible. So that should prompt you to ask what the problem of poor service is. If something that is to my advantage is not happening it hurts the operator. It costs $ 140,000 a month on average per operator to repair the cable cuts.”

He said apart from the fibre cuts, there is also the loss of revenue to both the operator and the government when subscribers are not able to access the network.

“The worst of them all is the damage to the reputation of the operator as subscribers are not able to access the network. Subscribers are justifiably angry because they are unable to make their calls. It creates a very damaging impact on the reputation of the operators. So no operator would deliberately want to allow quality of service.”

Mr. Sakyi-Addo said the cost of doing business in the telecoms sector is skyrocketing without meaningful returns and it is about time for the government to set clear rules and uniform charges that are reasonable enough to attract investor in infrastructure in the sector.

“ In 2009 telecoms mast which cost GHC 2,000 had reached 15, 000 plus fibre optic network of GHC 7,500 totalling GHC 22,500 in 2010 for one district. Their justification was that operators have money. How is this an incentive for mobile phone operators to provide infrastructure that will improve the quality of service.”

He said general utility excavation permit to lay cables is GHC 10 for every 50 meters while business operating permit for institutions including banks is between GHC 200 and GHC 1,000 but telecoms are charged GHC 9,000.

“If you place impediments in the way of companies that are providing infrastructure that would deliver that service you are obstructing the government’s long term goal of providing affordable services to communities. You are defeating the ultimate purpose of infrastructure.”

He said it is not appropriate for anybody to measure the output of the operators without taking into consideration the cost of business adding “You cannot also compare the telecoms sector to other sectors of the economy because they operate on different wavelength. What you can do at best is to compare what pertain in the telecom sector of the country to the same sector in other countries.”

“The industry needs support. There is a reason why there are six mobile phone operators. You cannot come and take money away when you have not invested. A license for operating is now pegged at $50 million. Before you roll out infrastructure you have to have huge investment.”