OTABIL DROPS BOMB...GHANA IS SINKING

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By William Yaw Owusu

Saturday August 16, 2014

Motivational preacher and General Overseer and founder of International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) Pastor Mensah Otabil says the current state of affairs in Ghana shows that the country’s ship is sinking.

“I have just let you know that we are in this ocean and our ship is going down,” he threw the caution at the 2014 ‘Festival of Ideas’ organized by the ICGC in Accra last Thursday.

“I haven’t given you a lot to be happy about. That’s not my job! We can’t pretend it is a party on board our ship and I hope the captains of the ship don’t behave like the captain of the first Titanic who was so over confident that he allowed thousands of people to die just because he wasn’t prepared for the crisis,” he said ominously.

President John Mahama had said in a message at this year’s Eid-Fitr festival in Kumasi told Ghanaians that he is the captain of the ship and he knows where he is taking the country to.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, a presidential hopeful then told President Mahama that the ship he was steering was sinking, which Pastor Otabil is chorusing  that he was not the government and therefore “I don’t control the economy”…“If they make good decisions, good for us, if they don’t, we prepare for the worst”.

All is not well

Pastor Otabil said “it has been said that we are in a crisis in our country. That’s a bit subjective based on who is saying what? But we can all say all is not well,” adding “I believe that we need a new leadership response in our national life. We cannot continue partying and we cannot assume that things will get better.”

Pastor Otabil who also found one of Ghana’s leading private tertiary institutions Central University College said “it is obvious that the times we are in require leadership that respond to crisis with clarity and with purpose.”

Likening Ghana’s current situation to the story of the Titanic, the British ship that sunk in 1912 when everybody thought it was unsinkable; Pastor Otabil said that because the handlers of the ship hadn’t really planned on how to evacuate, they didn’t know what to do when the disaster occurred.

“On the morning of April 15, 1912, the Titanic sunk. It was a ship that was considered unsinkable. It had the latest technology of its day. It had been built with the intention that it will survive the hazards of the sea and yet it hit an iceberg and within two and half hours it was down on the ocean’s floor,” he said.

He said “we have to act intentionally, decisively, methodically and if we do at the national level, I think we can avert a national disaster,” adding “but also as people who are players in our national life whether as pastors, educators, finance people we can’t afford to be perplexed and so overwhelmed by what we hear, we see that we become frozen in action and do nothing.”

Cedi Fall

He said “much as I am a pastor and I believe in God, and I believe in prayer that we can turn things around, the Cedi has a very peculiar mind on its own. Much as I wish the Cedi would remain where it is and improve in value, that scenario of ten to one is a possibility. I don’t wish it or hope for it or expect it, but it can!”

“Instead of sitting here hoping that everything will be alright, I think it will be great for us to face the reality that things could get worse and if they do, what do we do? As much as we want to assume the best, the worst could be happening.”

Deterioration

He said he had never seen prices go down in Ghana adding “it seems as if we are on a permanent trajectory of deterioration. When things go bad they don’t revert to normal so I find it very difficult to see things getting back to normal based on my experience as a Ghanaian.”

“Since I am not government, I don’t control the economy. I only respond. Some people make those decisions then I respond. If they make good decisions good for us, if they make bad decisions I still have to respond. I still have to move my ship. I still have to move on and still try to rescue a few and save what I can save.

He encouraged business owners saying “it may be choppy waters in the future but you still have to move. You still have to be decisive!”

Business as usual

As usual the NDC appointees have started attacking the Pastor for expressing his views about the current state of affairs in the country.

Dr. Edward Omane Kofi Boamah, Minister for Communications told Joy FM that though he is hesitant in touching what he called ‘God's anointed’ he believed Pastor Otabil’s position was unfortunate.

"I have a limitation here; the good book says touch not my anointed. But the kind of picture he is trying to paint is unfortunate.”

He said he saw "a certain push which if we are not careful may create the kind of situation he is trying to paint" in Pastor Otabil’s message.

AG CAN'T TRACE GH¢3.4M DOCKET

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By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday, August 14, 2014

The Attorney General’s Department says it still cannot trace documents document indicating payment of a whooping ¢34billion (GH¢3.4million) to one Nana Emmanuel Duke Woode for the confiscation of his companies by the government in the heat of the revolution in 1982.

Documents available to the commission showed that Nana Woode got judgement debt around 2006 for the confiscation of his wood processing companies and the government through the Controller and Accountant General’s Department authorized the Bank of Ghana to release ¢34,758,343,331 to the claimant.

Nana Woode was said to be the owner of both Holex Ghana Limited and Priorities Ghana Limited that were respectively seized by the Jerry Rawlings-led military junta after the overthrow of a constitutionally elected government.

Asikkua Agambila, Executive Secretary of Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) has already testified that the DIC had no idea about the transaction saying “the two companies have never been a subject for divestiture.”

“We would think that at the time that the companies were confiscated in those circumstances, it is most likely they would have been handed over to the Confiscated Assets Committee located at the Castle and not to the DIC,” Mr. Agambila had explained.

Dorothy Afriyie-Ansah, a Chief State Attorney representing the AG told the Commission of Enquiry investigating the payment and judgement debts yesterday that they have conducted a diligent search and could not trace any documentation.

Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau then said that once the payment was processed through institutions including the Ministry of Finance, the commission was going to subpoena them to explain what had transpired.

The AG representative also told the commission that the department could still not locate the full file on matter involving three people who sued the government following a lorry accident involving a military vehicle in the Brong Ahafo Region.

She later furnished the commission with the files of the numerous cases involving African Automobile Limited (AAL) and the government.

Mrs. Afriyie-Ansah also told the commission that the AG’s Department was not aware of the deconfiscation of Subin Timber Limited to a certain Daniel Kofi Adobor after the government seized it in the heat of the revolution.

NO HEARING AT JUDGEMENT DEBT HEARING

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By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

The Commission of Enquiry that is investigating the payment of Judgement Debts could not proceed yesterday because the witnesses failed to appear before the Sole Commissioner.

As a result, Dometi Kofi Sorkpor, counsel for the commission, had to apologise profusely to journalists who were covering the proceedings saying, “we profusely regret the inconvenience.”

Scheduled to appear before the commission, were the Attorney General/Solicitor General who was to testify in four different cases, as well as the Solicitor-Secretary of Lands Commission, who was expected to present documents relating to the payment of a judgement debt.

Mr. Sorpkor said the AG’s Department had telephoned the commission to request for an adjournment until it was ready.

In the case of the AG’s department, they were to submit documents and explain further, the circumstances that led to the payment of a judgement debt of GH¢3.4 million to Nana Emmanuel Duke Woode for the confiscation of his companies.

Asakkua Agambila, Executive Secretary of Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC), last month told the commission that the DIC had nothing to do with Holex Ghana Limited and Priorities Ghana Limited which were said to have been confiscated from Nana Woode in the heat of the revolution.

However, documents available to the commission showed that Nana Woode was awarded a judgement debt around 2006 for the confiscation of his wood processing companies, and the government, through the Controller and Accountant General’s Department, authorised the Bank of Ghana to release ¢34,758,343,331 to the claimant.

The AG was also expected to produce the docket of the case involving Kwasi Agyei and two others who sued the government following a lorry accident involving a military tender around Kintampo in the Brong Ahafo Region.

Furthermore, the AG was to present to the commission the compilation of cases filed by Africa Automobile Limited (AAL) against the MDAs which were pending currently and those that were disposed off.

The AG was also expected to testify in the Subin Timber Limited case where a certain Daniel Kofi Adobor attempted to get back a once vibrant firm which was confiscated by the government in the heat of the revolution.

IMF BAIL-OUT IS HURTING

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By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Dr. Kobena Arthur Kennedy a member of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) says it disheartening to see the John Dramani Mahama-led government run to the IMF for a bail-out after the country worked hard to get out of the same condition.

The NPP member who has become one of the fiery critics of his own party said the decision by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to turn to the Breton Woods institution hurts more because Ghana now produces oil.

“If we were doing so well just before we struck the oil, why are we floundering once again? — despite having oil,” Dr. Arthur Kennedy said in a statement issued from his Irmo base in South Carolina, United States yesterday.

“Unfortunately, we have been here before. The IMF was around just before the Busia government was toppled by the ‘Yentua Acheampong government’. It was around just before Rawlings came again on the strength of ‘corruption and economic mismanagement’. It assisted the [Provisional National Defence Council] PNDC regime and hailed Ghana as an ‘economic miracle’. It assisted NDC-1 and the Kufuor administrations".

“Indeed, with the latter, we went on to issue the first Eurobond by an African country after South Africa. With each of these bail-outs and the hailing of ‘successes and miracles’, reasonable people had assumed that we had turned the economic corner for good—only to find ourselves in the same soup again. 

This particular one hurts especially because we have oil,” he said.

According to Dr Arthur Kennedy with the repeated cycles of bailing-out by the IMF, there was the need to seek what he called ‘some hard questions’ and find lasting solutions to such problems.

“First, why do we keep needing help from the IMF? Second, is this present request for help meant to get more loans or to get policy advice—otherwise known as “apo” or knowledge? If public sector wages are this high, was ‘Single-spine’ a mistake?” he asked.

He added: “Do our governments find it hard to accept advice from the opposition? Are we going to the IMF to listen to the same advice that has been offered by Bawumia, Akoto-Osei and others? If that is the case, why is the opposition applauding the request to the IMF instead of challenging the government to do what it must do?”

He held that if the request to the IMF was for financial help then Ghanaians reserved the right to ask what had happened to all the money that has been borrowed since the NDC returned to power in 2009.

“Should we have been more welcoming of Archbishop Duncan Williams’ offer of prayers? While all these are important questions, the biggest question is whether we are indeed here because of mismanagement and/or corruption,” he added.

The renowned ECONOMIST magazine published that “Recently, Ghana has been living beyond its means. Public debt is rising rapidly and now tops 50% of GDP in official figures. Fitch, a ratings agency puts it at even higher: 62%, taking into account a revaluation of its foreign-denominated debt. The main cause is a yawning fiscal deficit which stood at 10.1% in 2013.”

Confusing the public

The NDC government has been giving conflicting signals about the proposed deal with the IMF.

President Mahama before emplaning to the United States to attend the special African/American Leaders Summit is reported to have instructed his economic team to start the processes that would lead to a bail-out from the IMF, a move the fund has even confirmed.

SUBIN TIMERS CASE TAKES NEW TWIST

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By Willian Yaw Owusu

Friday, August 8, 2014

Executive Secretary of Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) Asakkua Agambila has blown wide open the case involving Subin Timers Limited which was confiscated by the government in the heat of the revolution in 1982.

He asked the Commission of Enquiry investigating the payment of judgement debts to revisit the matter because the beneficiary of the deconfiscation could not have been the owner of the company.

Besides, he told Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau of the Court of Appeal that there was amalgamation of companies including Subin Timbers Limited into Western Veneer and Lumber Company (WVLC) after the confiscation and Ohene Kofi (deceased) who claimed to be the owner Subin Timers should not have been given everything at WVCL.

“What informed their decision that Subin Timbers not being a sole proprietorship belonged to one person. We at DIC, don’t even believe that Ohene Kofi had any shares in Subin Timbers and in any case there were no shares to be deconfiscated,” Mr. Agambila told the commission yesterday.

Document at the Commission

Documents available to the commission showed that one Daniel Kofi Adobor appeared before the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) and requested that Subin Timbers belonged to his deceased adopted father and wanted it back.

The AG later decided to compensate the claimant with ¢5billion but having visited the site, he decided to rather get the company de confiscated into his name which he succeeded.

Setting Records Straight

However, setting the records straight, Mr. Agambila said that the government actually took over fully and turned Subin Timbers Company together with Central Logging and Sawmailing Company which had also been confiscated, into Western Timbers Limited (WTL).

He said the government later merged Western Timbers Limited and Takoradi Veneer and Lumber Company Limited (TVLCL) into Western Veneer and Lumber Company (WVLC) and said it was during the the merger that the government divested WVLC, a divestiture which was approved in 2000.

He said in 2006, the DIC requested the President to approve the WVLC divestiture and it was given out in 2007 at $3.5million to an investor.

“The investor met the conditions and was given a right of entry,” he said.

De-confiscation process

Mr. Agambila told the commission that in 2000, Ohene Kofi petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) as the owner of Subin Timbers and sought to get it back and CHRAJ forwarded the case to the Confiscated Assets Committee in the same year.

He said the AG also gave the case to the Restoration of Assets Committee (RAG) in 2001 for investigation saying “they listened to the petitioner and found merit in his case and decided to award GH¢543,000 as compensation.”

At the NRC

As at that time Ohene Kofi was alive and it was to him they made the offer but he declined” adding “one Dr. Ohene Kofi through his lawyer (Adobor) after Ohene Kofi had passed on brought the matter to the NRC and repeated the claim for the property.”

He said based on the NRC findings which he said the DIC considered untenable, the AG wrote to the committee that the NRC had deconfiscated Subin Timbers.

The takeover

He added that in December 2008, the Office of the President wrote to inform Ohene Kofi that the government had deconfiscated the property and they could have it back.

Mr. Agambila also said that in 2009 the AG wrote to the IGP requesting him to Ohene Kofi to take over Subin Timbers Limited back.

He said that in July 2009, DIC wrote to the Chief of Staff expressing their doubt about Ohene Kofi’s claim since their search at the Registrar General’s Department revealed that he was not even a shareholder in Subin Timbers let alone take over the whole of WVLC.

“It was deconfiscated to him because he claimed to be a shareholder of Subin Timbers and even if he was, he was not the only shareholder and therefore if there was to be any deconfiscation even granted that he was the only shareholder, it should have been his shares in Subin Timbers and not all the shares of Subin Timbers to Ohene Kofi,” he said.

“It is amazing how this issues was planted at CHRAJ, watered at the AG’s Department and grown before the NRC and harvested at the Presidency with a letter of deconfiscation. It is difficult to understand how all these agencies never stopped to ask whether the petitioner was the owner of the company.”

 “We want the commission to set the matter to rest by asking the AG to tell the basis of coming to the conclusion that Subin Timbers belonged to Ohene Kofi.”

David Agbale, Legal Counsel for the Ministry of Finance and Economic (MoFEP) also testified in the Construction Pioneer (CP) case and asked the commission to contact the Bank of Ghana for copies of Exemplary Statements of Account and Transfer Orders for the CP payments.

PUBLIC OFFICIALS DESTROY DOCUMENTS

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By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday, August 7, 2014

A professor of Archival Studies at the University of Ghana has told the Commission of Enquiry investigating the payment of judgement debts that he suspects that some public officials are destroying public documents in order to cover their fraudulent deals.

Prof. Harry Akosa of the Department of Information Studies said even thought there might be ‘chaos’ in the current system of record keeping and management “people are trying to obliterate evidential transaction.”

The Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau of the Court of Appeal had invited the Department of Information Studies to enlighten the commission on the importance of record keeping and management and Prof. Akosa was nominated to make a presentation.

The professor said “we suspect fraudulent behaviour on the part of some public officials. We always hear or read in the news how this commission and others are not able to lay hands on documents to make the needed input for development and you clearly see that people are obliterating vital documents to cover their tracks.”

He said “records are the corporate memory of any country but in Ghana we are losing our memory because of our attitude towards records keeping and management.”

“We are slowly moving towards what I would call collective national amnesia and I think the commission’s recommendation should be strong so that sanctions are evoked.”

“If this commission establishes that some public officials willfully damaged records, sanctions must be evoked. The cost of creating record is very high so sanctions must apply.”

He said in the past there was ready market for graduands at the department but the recent job squeezed has affect the employment of people who have the professional skills to keep and manage records at public institutions adding “as the squeeze started, there are a number of them hanging around without jobs and I think it is discouraging new entrants.”

Prof. Akosa said that the private sector was doing better than the public sector in the area of record keeping and management and stated that public institutions do not pay attention to records.

He said the lack of importance attached to record keeping and management is hurting Ghana so bad saying “records are for accountability and the fight against corruption and there is no way we can promote good governance with our poor record keeping.”

He said the donor community helped Ghana to restructure how it should keep its records in the recent past but added that “we are surprised we are slipping back to where we were.”

Prof Akosa also said the government should make sure the records policy works and mentioned Act 535 of 1997 and not being exploited fully.

He also urged the government to accelerate the recruitment of qualified people into record keeping sections of the MDAs as well as the immediate sensitization of public officials to understand the role played by records.

Felix Nyarko Ampong, Acting Director of Public Records and Archives Administrative Department (PRAAD) who also testified, told the commission that they were striving to gain access to the MDAs to sensitize them on the need for safe record keeping and management.

He said when they wrote to the ministries reminding them of their obligation to submit all government contracts to the PRAAD, on Foreign Affairs Ministry complied.

COMMISSION PROBES SUBIN TIMBER FRAUDULENT DEAL

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By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

The Commission of Enquiry investigating the payment of judgement debts yesterday heard how a certain Daniel Kofi Adobor attempted to get back once vibrant Subin Timers Limited which was confiscated by the government in the heat of the revolution in 1982.

His bid to get back the company, even though it did not belong to him, was said to have been facilitated by the Attorney General’s (AG) Department.

Dometi Kofi Sorkpor, counsel for the commission briefed journalists at the commission’s sitting in Accra yesterday after Asakkua Agambire, Executive Secretary of Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) had asked for more time to enable the committee supply documents on the aborted transaction.

According to Mr. Sorkpor, Subin Timers Limited was situated at Apowa in the Western Region with concessions in Senkyire at Fosu and in 2000 thereabout, Daniel Kofi Adobor appeared before the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) and claimed that one Kofi Adobor who the owner of the company was his adopted father.

“He had claimed that Kofi Adobor owned Subin Timbers and before the father passed on he had entered into some form of partnership with an Italian called Ivor Fiorini,” he said.

Counsel further said “Daniel Kofi Adobor had claimed Ivor owed 49% shares in the company and the rest belonging to his father,” adding “He claimed the Italian took a loan facility of 35 million Deutsche Marks to purchase certain machinery for the enhancement of the company.”

“Daniel Kofi Adobor’s appearance before the NRC was to impress on the commission to turn over the company to him. The AG decided to compensate this man who to all intend and purposes wasn’t the  actual owner. Even if the father was the actual owner, he was not the adopted son of the said person.”

He said “the AG decided to compensate him with ¢5billion but having visited the site, he decided to rather get the company de confiscated into his name. The AG and the DIC made some attempt to do the de confiscation for him but it did not materialize in the course of the years that followed.”

He said that the government actually took over fully and turned Subin Timers Company together with Central Logging and Sawmailing Company which had also been confiscated, into Western Timbers.

He said “the AG’s Department had a role to play because they to some extent assisted this gentleman Daniel Kofi Adobor in his bid to take over the company.”

A representative of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP) who was to produce certain documents used in transferring 10million DM into a Swiss account for Construction Pioneers (CP) could not make an appearance.

According to Mr. Sorkpor, the ministry was also required to produce the transfers and exemplary statement of account.

NO DOCUMENT ON GH¢3.4M JUDGEMENT DEBT PAYMENT

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

The Attorney General’s Department says it does not have any document indicating payment of a whooping ¢34billion (GH¢3.4million) to one Nana Emmanuel Duke Woode for the confiscation of his companies.

The institution responsible for divestiture has also confirmed to the Commission of Enquiry investigating the payment of judgement debts that it knows nothing about the transaction.

Asakkua Agambire, Executive Secretary of Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) last month told the commission that the DIC had nothing to do with Holex Ghana Limited and Priorities Ghana Limited which were said to have been confiscated from Nana Woode in the heat of the revolution.

Documents available to the commission showed that Nana Woode got judgement debt around 2006 for the confiscation of his wood processing companies and the government through the Controller and Accountant General’s Department authorized the Bank of Ghana to release ¢34,758,343,331 to the claimant.

“Holex Ghana Limited and Priorities Ghana Limited respectively have never been a subject for divestiture. We would think that at the time that the companies were confiscated in those circumstances, it is most likely they would have been handed over to the Confiscated Assets Committee located at the Castle and not to the DIC,” Mr. Agambire had explained.

“The Confiscated Assets Committee is still operating with an officer at the Castle, Osu. We believe that they would be of assistance to this commission in finding out what happened to these companies,” he said, adding “as far as the DIC is concerned, they were not forwarded to us or listed for divestiture,” he added.

Yesterday, the AG’s representatives appeared before Sole-Commissioner Justice Yaw Apau of the Court of Appeal and said they were yet to come across any docket on the transaction at the department.

Dorothy Afriyie-Ansah, a Chief State Attorney flanked by Stella O. Badu said “we don’t have a docket on this case. It is a 1994 case.”

She said the AG got to know about the case from the commission and as a result, Justice Apau asked the department to widen its search since the case was part of the list of individual who received payments for judgement debts.

The AG representative also told the commission that the department did not have the full file on matter involving three people who sued the government following a lorry accident involving a military vehicle in the Brong Ahafo region.

The commission said it was closing the docket on the Volta River Authority Wusuta resettlement site and farmlands after the Sole-Commissioner said investigations revealed that some of the payments might not necessarily be judgement debts.

The commission requested the AG to furnish it with the latest on the numerous cases involving African Automobile Limited (AAL) and the government.

Earlier, Seyywoe Kwakuvi-Zagbedeh, an Assistant State Attorney with the Registrar General’s Department could not confirm or deny whether AAL was able to file tax returns in 2010 and 2011.

“We are unable to confirm it. We had slight issues with our system. At the same time you cannot be certain that the company did not file tax returns within that period,” she emphasized.

She said the department was moving from manual to electronic registration and that had been a challenge and also confirmed that their checks showed that AAL had not been re-registered.

“There is no indication that the annual returns have been filed. However, it is too thin to conclude that a company that was formed in 1976 per our records has not filed tax returns.

MAHAMA RUNS TO IMF FOR BAIL-OUT...BAWUMIA VINDICATED

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By William Yaw Owusu

Monday, August 4, 2014

President John Dramani Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government has finally decided to seek sanctuary at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after running down the economy.

Currently, the Ghana Cedi has been ranked as the worst performing currency in the world after the conflict- prone Ukraine by some international financial institutions; and the economy is in tatters as all sectors are virtually grinding to a halt.

The IMF had warned in January when they came to Ghana that by June to August if the Ghana does not come for support the Ghanaian economy will grind to a halt and the signs are ominous leading to President Mahama to abandon his much touted homegrown strategy to revive the dying economy.

Recently, salaries of civil servants have delayed as result of cash squeezed. Furthemore,the Mahama administration has been finding it difficult to meet statutory payments accruing huge arrears.

An astute economist and running mate to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, presidential candidate for the NPP in the 2012 elections, Dr Bawumia said in March that looking at the poor management of the economy, the NDC government may have fall on the IMF for salvation.

"I would like to repeat without exaggeration that the Ghanaian economy is in a crisis. It is time for serious action. If government does not take the right decisions and soon, then Ghana would likely have to approach the IMF for a bail out before the end of the year," Dr. Bawumia, a former deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana said at a public lecture at the Central University College on March 25, 2014.

The IMF bail-out will come with stringent conditions such as job cuts in the public service in order to reduce the wage bill as well as a cap on the amount of loans Ghana can contract with the public debt now hovering around GH¢65billion (almost 60percent of GDP ratio).

But with all roads appear to be thorny, the President rose from his meeting with his economic advisors eating the humble pie and announced that they are going for the IMF bail-out after his home grown measures to revive the sick economy which was caused by election overspending of 2012 had failed to bring relief to agitating Ghanaians.

A statement confirming the government’s decision to go to the IMF for a bailout was issued in Accra on Saturday, August 2 and signed by Dr. Edward K. Omane Boamah, Minister of Communications.

The statement titled: “Outcome of Presidential Advisory Committee on economy meeting” was released following President John Mahama’s meeting with his economic advisors last Friday at the Peduase Lodge near Aburi in the Eastern region before emplaning to the United States to attend the special African/American Leaders Summit.

Official Confirmation

“The President directed that immediate initiatives be taken to open discussions with the International Monetary Fund and other Development Partners in support of our programme for stabilization and growth,” the statement said.

It explained that Peduase meeting chaired by the President focused on measures aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability, promoting growth and improving the living conditions of the people.

Ghanaians from all walks of live have been up in arms with the government over the poor handling of the economy especially the rapid depreciation of the Cedi.

“Arising out of the deliberations, the President reaffirmed the Government’s continuing commitment to a liberal Foreign Exchange regime that provides, among others, incentives for Ghanaians, both at home and abroad, as well as Foreign Investors to invest in Ghana”.

The statement also said the “President further decided that as a matter of urgency measures be taken to stabilize the Cedi in order to bring about greater predictability to the business environment.”

With this move, Ghana has become the second African country to seek IMF intervention after Zambia in June.

The Zambian kwacha was the worst performing currency in the Africa until the Cedi cruised past it with 40per cent depreciation since the beginning of 2014.

Ghana Left IMF

Ghana had weaned itself out of IMF conditionalities after refusing to renew its agreement with the IMF under the Poverty Reduction & Growth Facility in November, 2006 after the government said it had graduated from the HIPC and enhanced HIPC initiatives.

The NPP government said it had made as much money as it could from the 'acute relief' support offered as a result under the MDRI debt forgiveness programme.

The Permutations

When the NDC came to power in 2009, they managed to argue that the country deserved a one-off balance-of-payments facility of more than $600m without entering into an extended program with the IMF and in fact, pushed for $1billion.

“It is unclear that such a tactic would work this time around. So if the government intends to sign another concessional loan scheme, the real risk is that we may not make much progress in unlocking significant funds this year or in 2015,” an economist who wanted to remain anonymous told DAILY GUIDE.

“This is because most of the low-hanging fruits have already been plucked in previous 'sweet deals' with the IMF and only the hard stuff of hardcore system overhaul/reform remains (offloading liabilities from state-owned enterprises, ending quantitative easing among other things,” he added.

He also said that these initiatives would not debt-restructuring deals and therefore the money tends to be small, and are supposed to serve as a signal to unlock more external fund inflows.

“The problem in our case is that we have so sunk into the depths of a fiscal hole we have dug relentlessly for a while now that we need to first pull ourselves up to show the world that the IMF medicine is working.”

“But if we could do that through mere prodding, we surely would have done it ourselves. If the government has so far struggled to unlock money from the World Bank programmes, it is easy to see how hard it will have to sweat to squeeze cash from the fiercer IMF.”

Bawumia Vindicated

In March, the NPP running mate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia delivered a lecture on the state of the economy where he said the economy was in crisis but got ‘crucified’ by some NDC appointees.

He had predicted that "if government does not take the right decisions and soon, then Ghana would likely have to approach the IMF for a bail out before the end of the year."

He also predicted that the Cedi was likely to sell at GH¢4.00 to $1 by December 2014 but that even appears to have been short-lived as it is currently selling at GH¢3.38 due to the fact that it has plunged roughly 40% against the dollar in 2014 alone.

Cedi Stability

Dr. Bawumia while on tour in the Upper East Region said the government through the Bank of Ghana since 2009 had spent a whopping $6.5 billion in to stabilize the value of the Cedi but it failed and the currency is now officially, the worst in terms of performance across the world.

He said in eight years of NPP rule, the government had spent $2.5 billion in non-oil foreign exchange sales to stabilize the cedi and by January, 2009, the cedi traded at GH¢1.2 to $1.

Job Cuts

In early May, Daily Guide reported that the NDC government was going to commence the mass retrenchment of public sector workers in 2015 under a killer IMF bail-out programme for Ghana but the report was rubbished by the presidency.

A policy document titled “Economic and Financial Policies for the Medium Term” dated April 14, 2014 was put together to be the blueprint for the exercise which is likely going to spark more labour agitations.

The IMF during its January visit to Ghana warned of dire consequences if the country did not come out with a comprehensive report on the way forward for salvaging the economy for bail out.

EC OPENS VOTER REGISTRATION

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday, August 4, 2014

The Electoral Commission (EC) is expected to begin the limited registration exercise today until August 13, as part of preparations towards the 2016 general elections.

The exercise is open to Ghanaians who have attained the age of 18 years since the compilation of the 2012 Voter Register, as well as eligible Ghanaians who were above 18 years during the main registration but did not have the opportunity to register.

The exercise, which originally was scheduled to take place in June, was suspended due to a lack of consensus between the EC and the political parties.

However, when all was set for commencement on Friday, July 25, 2014 – which was to have ended on Sunday, August 3, 2014 - the Supreme Court stopped the process following separate suits by some individuals who wanted the highest court to determine whether or not a prospective applicant could use the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) identity card to register.

The court, in a ruling last week, stopped the EC from allowing applicants to use NHIS ID cards for the registration exercise.

The EC has already issued a statement through Amadu Sulley, a deputy chairman of the Commission, saying "…the registration will take place at a designated registration centre in every electoral area.”

The statement indicated, “Prospective applicants are advised to look out for the registration centres in their electoral areas from the newspapers. They may also listen to the local announcement in their areas for the places designated as registration centres."

With the quashing of the NHIS IDs by the Supreme Court, applicants will be required to show identification documents as proof of eligibility such as Ghanaian passport, National Identification Card, driver’s licence or an old voter ID Card.

Eligible applicants who do not have any of the identification documents mentioned may find two Ghanaians who are already registered voters to guarantee their registration by completing a voter registration identification guarantee form.

The registration will start at 7:00 am and close at 6:00 pm each day, including Saturdays and Sundays, and it is running for 10 days.

NPP Alert

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has also issued an alert through its National Organizer, John Boadu, calling on its members to be ‘vigilant’ during the registration process.

“The NPP would like to bring to the attention of its members, supporters and the general public that, anyone who wants to register in the upcoming voters’ registration should note that only the following materials will be accepted as means of identification: Ghanaian passport, driver’s licence, National Identification Card or an old voter ID card.

“The use of the National Health Insurance card is illegal. It is not accepted. We encourage our supporters and patriotic Ghanaians to be vigilant and report any breach of the laws at any of the registration centres.”

Nana Joins

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who is desiring to lead the NPP once more, has suspended his campaign tour to monitor the exercise.

CODEO’s Input

In a related development, the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has announced that it would deploy 350 of its field volunteers to observe the exercise.

A statement issued in Accra and signed by Dr. Franklin Oduro, Project Manager and Acting CODEO Coordinator said, “CODEO observers will be deployed in all the 216 districts in Ghana and will conduct roaming observation at the designated registration centers.”

The statement said that CODEO observation of the limited voter registration heralded its comprehensive project to observe the 2014 Local Government Elections adding, “CODEO will observe all activities in the three phases of the electoral process – periods before the elections, the election day and the immediate post-election environment.”