UN boss lauds Ghana
NPP holds congress in August
Kofi Annan endorses HIPC initiative
No insurance for Air Link crash victims…Dr Delle, others threaten to sue Air Force, GCAA
Nketiah reacts to quit order…to ex-Ministers
100 vehicles missing? …Chief of Staff investigates
It is a frame-up! – Mallam Issa
More stench from ECG
Minister Denounces violence in Bawku East
Big buses to replace small commercial vehicles
UN boss lauds Ghana
The peaceful transition that Ghanaians had in the recent general elections continues to win worldwide commendation, the UN Secretary-General, The Daily Graphic reports Mr Kofi Annan, as saying on Tuesday.
He said throughout a number of places that he has visited, Ghana’s name continues to be held in high esteem in view of the democratic instincts Ghanaians displayed during the last elections.
Mr Annan congratulated Ghanaians for projecting the image of the country and stated his commitment to help strengthen democracy and total development of the country. Mr Annan said this when he paid a courtesy call on President J.A. Kufuor at the castle, in Accra.
The UN Secretary-General, who is in the country on a private visit, is expected to leave for Abuja, Nigeria, today with President Kufuor to attend the OAU Special Heads of State Conference on HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis.
He observed that there is a lot of goodwill towards Ghana at the moment and urged Ghanaians to continue to assist the government in its desire to develop the country.
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NPP holds congress in August
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) will in the last week of August this year conduct a national delegates congress to discuss and approve a number of measures deemed crucial to the party’s interest and well-being, the Daily Graphic reports.
The congress, will among other things, elect new national officers to steer the affairs of the party for the next two years and also consider and approve changes to the party’s constitution.
No definite venue has been fixed for the event.
The National Chairman of the party, Mr S.A. Odoi-Sykes, who disclosed this in an interview in Accra on Tuesday, was shedding light on the party’s programme for the rest of the year.
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Kofi Annan endorses HIPC initiative
The Ghanaian Chronicle says visiting United Nations (UN) boss, Mr Kofi Annan has endorsed the decision of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to access the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, emphasising the decision “was taken in the interest of the nation.”
“I don’t think it is the choice that the government would have made if the conditions did not demand that sort of option. We have a wise and democratically elected government and I think they are right to take a decision that they believe is in the best interest of the nation and I will support that decision,” Annan underscored.
Speaking to the media on Monday in Accra, Mr Annan said he believed the government did a lot of reflection on the issue and that such decisions are judged by the circumstances of the time before they are finally adopted.
“I think this has to be determined by the economic relations and situation that the government has to deal with,” he added.
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No insurance for Air Link crash victims…Dr Delle, others threaten to sue Air Force, GCAA
It has now emerged that at the time of the fatal Air Link crash of June, last year, which killed seven passengers, the flagship of the Ghana Air Force (GAF) did not have the mandatory authorisation and documentation to carry civilians.
Chronicle investigations can reveal that Air Link was operating less of both an air carrier’s license and an aircraft operation certificate, without much of a protest or even a query from the regulator of the aviation industry and manager of the national airspace, the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).
This apparent “irregularity” in the operations of Air Link attracted queries from some aviation experts including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), which complained to the GCAA on a regular basis. The Air Link plane was reportedly detained by the NCAA last year for carrying civilians even though it was not qualified to do so.
These together, alongside frequent advice from some personnel of the flight safety department of the GCAA went unheeded, till disaster struck.
Meanwhile, victims of the June 5, 2000 crash, including Dr Edmund Delle, a top official of the Convention People’s Party and the Director of the Rabito Clinic, have threatened to sue the GCAA and the operators of Air Link, Ghana Air Force (GAF) over their failure to compensate them ten months after the fatal crash.
The plane, with 52 passengers on board, was on a routine flight from Tamale when it crashed at the threshold of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), Accra, killing seven people and wounding several others, some seriously.
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Nketiah reacts to quit order…to ex-Ministers
Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, Member of Parliament for Wenchi West and former Deputy Minister of Agriculture said on Tuesday that since he, as an MP in the two previous Parliaments did not benefit from MPs accommodation due to his Ministerial appointment he should not be forced to quit his government bungalow.
According to the Ghanaian Times he was speaking on a local station in response to the order by the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Kwamena Bartels that all former Ministers and Deputy Ministers still occupying government bungalows should quit by Friday.
Mr Nketia explained that 12 such MPs were still occupying the bungalows because they were not allocated MP allocation following their appointments as Ministers/Deputy Ministers.
He said that after the elections, when they were out of power, they made several approaches to the leadership of the House but to no avail.
“I am ready to move the minute I am allocated an MP’s duty post as other MPs have been allocated,” he said.
Mr Bartels in an interview on Tuesday said that he was not responsible for housing Members of Parliament. As such, all former Deputy/Ministers but now MPs still occupying government bungalows should quit by Friday.
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100 vehicles missing? …Chief of Staff investigates
The Office of the Chief of Staff and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), are investigating the whereabouts of several vehicles that were supposed to have been imported on behalf of the office of the President early last year, The Evening News reports.
When a controversy broke out last year over allegations that the former government spent taxpayers’ money to import pick-ups for use by the NDC in its political campaigns, the then Chief of Staff did publicly explain how they were distributed.
Already, the government with the assistance of the police have been making frantic efforts to trace several documented vehicles that are not traceable within the state/public pool.
“The Evening News” investigations has revealed that the office of the then Chief of Staff, Nana Ato Dadzie requested the importation of 100 four wheel drive pick-up trucks through an Accra-based private company Smice Limited.
A document to that effect requesting the Chief of Staff to arrange for tax exemption to enable the vehicles to be cleared from the Tema Port was signed by Alhaji Shehu Adam Wumbei, MD of the Company.
Subsequently, the Chief of Staff wrote to the Commissioner of Custom, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) authorising the exemption and this was duly granted.
The Chief of Staff, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey told the paper in an interview that he had no knowledge of the vehicles although they were brought in via the Office of the President.
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It is a frame-up! – Mallam Issa
Mallam Issa the short lived Minister for Youth and Sports has in an exclusive interview with the Daily Guide commented on the Report recommending that he should be held personally responsible for the loss of the $46,000, says the Daily Guide.
He described the report as unfair, prejudicial and rather unfortunate and that the whole report has left out most of the facts on his side which are favourable to him and “a lot of what they have come out with and their conclusions are merely based on popular and unfortunate suspicions.”
This was Mallam Issa’s first interview in reaction to the published reports over the matter, which led to his appointment being revoked by the President.
According to him throughout the investigations, Detective Chief Inspector Hope Nyadi, one of the officers co-opted to assist with the investigations appeared very comfortable with the GFA General Secretary, Mr Worlanyo Agrah and the protocol officer, Mr Alex Asante Sakyi. He said these two officers were given ‘red carpet treatment’ while he was treated like ‘someone just picked off the streets’ making him suspicious about what the outcome of the investigations was going to be.
According to Mallam, sections of the report seem tailored to be unfair to him and in his estimation the Police did not do a thorough job.
Mallam Issa asserted that Agrah was emphatic in his advice that the money would be safe in the green suitcase.
He was also displeased with the manner the police came for his wife in his absence. He insists that he personally told the police he had travelled with a copy of the auditor’s report and had also told them about the other copy in his home.
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More stench from ECG
The stench from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is so powerful that it may eventually subvert the attempt by the company to secure a substantial increase in its tariffs.
“The Weekly Insight” says its investigations have revealed that more than 200 billion cedis has been wasted on frivolous contracts and pegs for some senior staff of the Company.
Sources close to the Company allege that on his assumption of office, a former, Managing Director of the Company refused to stay in his duty-post bungalow and opted to live in his own house.
The ECG spent 120 million cedis to renovate the private residence of Chief Adams.
After the renovation, Chief Adam rented the house in which he continued to live to the Company for 1.2 million cedis a month and the ECG paid him 28 million cedis as rent advance.
Two years later, when Chief Adams’ appointment was terminated, he went away with the rent advance, the lost the company incurred in renovating his house and a one-year old Audi A6 saloon car the company purchased for him.
Other officials who went away with their official cars include Mr Kan Dapaah, now Minister for Energy, Mr Hagan, one time Managing Director and Mr Frempong one time Director for Materials and Transport.
There are also reports that many contracts were awarded without any regard to the laid down procedure.
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Minister denounces violence in Bawku East
The Upper East Regional Minister, Alhaji Mahama Salifu has cautioned the people of Bawku East District to refrain from all violence and bring peace to the district to make business functionable.
The Free Press says the Minister lamented that for fear of violence erupting, important people are running away from the district either by their own decision or forced transfer. They include mostly teachers, health workers, businessmen and some NGOs who are running out to protect their lives and are not prepared to come back and help the district.
The Minister made the appeal when he paid a familiarisation visit to the district last Friday.
Alhaji Salifu called on the chiefs of the area, religious bodies, heads of departments, educational institutions, NGOs, opinion leaders and political party representatives to play a crucial role in promoting unity, peaceful co-existence in the district in order to bring about acceleration of development in the district.
He stated that no one else could bring peace to the district, if the people failed to forge together for unity among themselves.
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Big buses to replace small commercial vehicles
The Accra Mail carries that taxis and other smaller commercial vehicles would be phased out from the central business districts when the government’s proposed mass transportation project takes off next year, Mr Ben Eghan, Chief Director of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, said on Monday.
Mr Eghan told the GNA in an interview in Accra that smaller commercial vehicles would be replaced with big buses, which would operate from specific terminals and interconnecting points, through designated routes at specific times.
“Most of the current transport terminals would change and the smaller commercial vehicles would serve as a feeder transport system to bring passengers from remote areas and city enclaves to bus terminals,” he said.
He was speaking after he opened a two-week regional refresher course on decentralisation and planning for about 40 members of the Institute of Housing and Urban Development (HIS) on behalf of Mr Felix Owusu-Adjapong, Minister of Transport and Communications.
Mr Eghan said the project is intended to decongest the cities and ensure that smaller commercial vehicles do not compete with the big buses.
Apart from private and goods vehicles, all other commercial vehicles would be confined to the city enclaves, he said adding that the programme will be implemented in conjunction with all stakeholders in the transport sector on strictly business and commercial basis.
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