VALCO invest $1bn in Ghana’s economy
Big payments into officials foreign accounts
AG-CHRAJ battle…CHRAJ victors still waiting
Chief Justice is dying…Tension brewing over successor
Kumasi veterans cry foul
NPP spokesman dumped at last
Ghana Telecom makes 119bnC in 1998
Pyram boys back in town
VALCO invest $1bn in Ghana’s economy
The Ghanaian Times reports that the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO) in Tema, has since its establishment 3 years ago, injected over one billion dollars into Ghana’s economy.
In an inside page story, the Times says out of this amount, more than 700 million dollars was used to purchase electric power alone and the other 260 million dollars paid in corporate taxes, making VALCO the largest corporate taxpayer in the country.
Mr Festus Quaidoo, senior supervisor in charge of personnel and benefits, who disclosed this, is quoted as saying that about 20,000 dollars has been donated annually to Ghana’s universities to support research and facility upgrades. He said VALCO also holds a huge market potential for local suppliers of goods, buying over 3 billion cedis worth of local goods and services a year.
In addition, the company provides grants to promote colts and inter-schools and colleges soccer to unearth talents for the national team. According to Mr Quaidoo said VALCO saves Ghana over 20 million dollars in foreign exchange annually, which otherwise would have been used to import aluminium raw materials for the local industry.
GRi./
The Dispatch
Big payments into officials foreign accounts
In its lead story, the Dispatch says that its on-going investigations in London and New York, have given clues to why Ghana features so high in tables of international corruption.
According to the paper, in-depth interviews with senior officials of corporate bodies operating in Ghana, have revealed some of the methods used, which in the end, result in huge payments into foreign accounts of officials, including senior ones.
The Dispatch says that the accounts are mainly in British and American banks, with a few on offshore islands, making it impossible to trace in case of an investigation.
The paper says that there are some Ghanaians with access to people in power whose occupation has been termed as "influence brokering". These people are said to impress upon visiting business executives that they have direct access to some officials working close to the President or some Ministers of State.
They give proof by going to the homes of the government officials after work or on weekends with their visitors. Once these claims of acquaintance are established, demands for monies are then made to supposedly facilitate their businesses.
The Dispatch says that the irony of these situations is that if they should go through the normal transactions without these ‘influence brokers’, the businesses would still take off.
GRi../
Public Agenda
AG-CHRAJ battle…CHRAJ victors still waiting
The Public Agenda says several people, whose cases of wrongful dismissals were upheld by the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), are still waiting to be re-instated, more than four years after the commission’s decision.
The paper in its top story, says that CHRAJ after hearing a number of cases involving people who said they were wrongfully dismissed during the military rule of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) decided that they should be re-instated. According to the Public Agenda, the CHRAJ victors have become victims of a legal battle between the Attorney-General and the commission.
The Attorney-General is said to have challenged CHRAJ’s authority to investigate cases that occurred before constitutional rule in 1993.
The paper says the Supreme Court presided over by Mr Justice Hayfron-Benjamin, on July 11 1998, dismissed the Attorney-General’s writ, adding that more than a year after the ruling, nothing has changed for the many people waiting for justice.
GRi../
The Ghanaian Chronicle
Chief Justice is dying…Tension brewing over successor
The Ghanaian Chronicle, in its lead story says His Lordship, Mr Justice Isaac Kobina Abban, Chief Justice, is fighting for his life. He is said to have collapsed at a conference In Malaysia and is now in critical condition in Cromwell Hospital, London.
The Chronicle, quoting what it described as ‘informed sources’, says that the Chief Justice is down with a major kidney condition, though other less authentic but insistent sources are attributing a more dire sickness.
The paper says that even as his loyal wife spends all her time by his bed-side in expectation of a miracle, intense movements within the portals of the Executive and the Judiciary have already broken out on who should succeed the 66-ear-old Supreme Court judge, whose tenure has been marred by controversies and acrimony.
According to the Chronicle, the flash-point is the choice of successor and the mode of succession. The paper says by conventional wisdom and practice, the automatic choice would have been the acting Chief Justice, His Lordship, Mr Justice E.K. Wiredu, who is the most senior at the bench…
GRi../
Kumasi veterans cry foul
In a front-page banner headline story, the Ghanaian Voice reports that the veterans of the Legion Village at Sofoline, a suburb of Kumasi, have called on the government to intervene on the sale of the land by the Ashanti Regional Administration of the Veterans Association of Ghana (VAG).
The call is said to have been made by a 103-year-old veteran, Ex-Sgt Baba Sidiki, who has been the headman of the Village since 1946.
According to him, the problem on the sale of their land started years back when the veterans in the village created a mini market to generate funds for their welfare with a five-man interim executive to run the administration of the area.
Ex-Sgt Sidiki claimed that the interim executive started embezzling monies accrued from the market and selling the land to the public as well.
GRi../
NPP spokesman dumped at last
The Ghanaian Democrat says the once candid relationship between the NPP director of communication, Mr Adu Kwabena-Essem, and the top echelon of the party, appears to have turned sour, the romance is now over.
The Democrat says the veteran journalist, who once worked at the United States Information service (USIS), has been fired. According to the paper, Mr Kwabena-Essem, whom it described as ‘workaholic’ spokesman of the NPP, is now jobless and has gone underground to lick his wounds.
The paper says that ever since the current national executive of the NPP was elected in the middle of last year, Mr Kwabena-Essem has know no peace.
The Democrat says that he was seen by the Odoi-Sykes-led executive to be sympathetic to the cause of the old executive, led by Mr Peter Ala Adjetey. The new executive with suspicion therefore looked at every move of his.
GRi../
High Street Journal
Ghana Telecom makes 119bnC in 1998
The High Street Journal reports that after two years of operations as a privately-owned company Ghana Telecom, the pioneer and biggest national telecommunications network operator, earned 119 billion cedis after tax profit in 1998.
This represents 109% growth over the 57 billion cedis post-tax profit, which the company made in 1997. The paper attributed the laudable performance to the massive $25 million new investment which the company sank into replacement of the Central Accra Switch, as well as expansion of the Tema Switch.
The High Street Journal says that the direct result of the capacity expansion was 26.4% growth in the number of Direct Exchange Lines (DELs) to 133,426 up from 105,534, the previous year.
The paper says in addition, the new capacity allowed installation of 1,815 new public pay phones. The High Street Journal says that by early 1997, when Ghana Telecom bought over government shares in the former Post and Telecommunications, there were 453 pay phones.
GRi../
The Accra Mail
Pyram boys back in town
In a front-page story, the Accra Mail says the brains behind the Pyram financial scandal that led to the stealing of billions of cedis belonging to unsuspecting depositors, are back in town.
The Accra mail says Pyram was a phoney non-banking financial institution that emerged. In 1995 and promised huge interest payments to people who deposited their monies with it.
According to the paper, the response was overwhelming as people, including hawkers and serving military officers, rushed and deposited various sums of money.
The paper says the early clients of Pyram cashed their bonuses and went home happy. But the Accra Mail says that it proved costly in the long run, as the signs on the wall showed that the interest payments could not be sustained.
The paper notes that the Bank of Ghana did not intervene though it was aware that company’s operations were inimical to the economy. The paper says barely three years of operation, the company tumbled and a good number of depositors lost huge sums of money.
GRi../