Cash &
Carry ceases in March
Selormey
now at Nsawam Prisons
Cash
& Carry ceases in March
The “Cash
and Carry” system at the country’s hospital would be replaced within the next
three months by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Mr Edward Marfo,
Chief Director of the Ministry of Health said on Monday according to the Ghana
News Agency.
Mr Marfo,
speaking at a press briefing in Accra said the scheme was about 80 per cent
complete.
Meanwhile,
the Ministry has completed drafting the National Health Insurance Bill and
would submit it to Parliament soon, Mr Moses D. Baah, Deputy Minister of Health
has announced, according to The Ghanaian Times.
Opening a
12-day training workshop in Accra on Monday for about 50 trainers from various Mutual Health Organisation (MHOs) in
the country, Mr Baah said provisions for an effective health care financing and
making quality health care accessible to the needy, had been taken care of by
the Bill.
The Deputy
Minister stated that the Ministry would still welcome comments and suggestions
on the proposals made to ensure that the Bill was comprehensive. He explained
that the Bill particularly recognised the special role that MHOs could play in
alternative health care financing.
“Your
suggestions are welcome for us to ensure that the Bill will cater adequately
for the needs and interest of MHOs and in particular all people living in
Ghana,” he stated.
Financing
health care, he said, continue to be a major concern of governments in developing
countries considering the precarious situation of their economies.
In Ghana,
he noted that various attempts had been made to mobilise resources to support
the health sector including the ‘cash and carry’ system. He explained that the
introduction of the Exemption Policy had so far been a partial solution to the
numerous problems in the sector adding that, “this also is fraught with a
number of problems, some of which are inconsistent cash flow to Budget
Management Centres, difficulty in identifying the beneficiary categories and
uneven implementation of the policy across regions”.
“It is in
cognisance of these concerns that the government has pledged to find a more
sustainable solution of financing health care in the country”, the Deputy
Minister said.
He
commended USAID, DANIDA and other development partners for the support and said
that even though the bill was yet to be presented to Parliament, they have seen
the wisdom in the government policy directions and were collaborating with the
MOH to promote MHOs in the country.
Mr Baah
urged MHO to utilize resources available under the Partnership for Health
Reforms (PHR) to help enhance health delivery.
MHO refers
to a group of people coming together to contribute towards meeting the cost of
their health care needs. The members contribute an agreed sum and each time a
member falls sick, the cost of treatment is paid by the organization. At
present, there are about 47 MHOs operating throughout the country.
Organised
by USAID under the PHR project, the workshop was aimed at equipping the
participants with skills in design and development of MHOs, financial and
administrative management, community mobilisation and monitoring and evaluation
of MHO activities.
More…/
The
Ministry of Finance has stated that revenues collected for the half-year could
not meet target. Total revenue collected was ¢2,954 billion as against a target
of ¢3,118.5 billion.
While Value
Added Tax (VAT) and Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) exceeded
their targets, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) fell below target, on account of
a drop in company and personal taxes, of ¢164.5 billion.
This was
contained in a document on, “The Stated of the Economy and the New Budgeting
Process” delivered at the eight annual conference of the District Chief
Executives at Sunyani.
Discretionary
payments as at June totaled ¢2,503.7 billion, as against a projection of
¢3,122.4 billion with a cut in expenditure of ¢618.7 billion. Actual statutory
payments, according to the document, were ¢2,517.2 billion as against ¢3,259.8
targeted resulting in savings of ¢742.7 billion. However, there was thus a
reduction of ¢1,361.2 billion in total spending.
On the rate
of inflation, it indicated that there was a drop from 40.9 per cent in January
2001 to 36.8 per cent in June and 28.3 per cent in September with the end
year’s target set at 25 per cent.
As a result
of a tight monetary policy pursued by the Bank of Ghana, the rate of monetary
growth in 2001 has been moderate, while fiscal policy of the government to
match expenditure with actual receipts and the rationalisation of the stock of
domestic debt had the effect of making more credit available to the private
sector.
GRi…/
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The Head of
the Cardio Thoracic Centre, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, has stated that
the proposed National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) will not cater for chronic
disease and terminal conditions.
This, he
said, include cancer, kidney diseases and other complications such as cardiac
problems, adding that "globally health insurance scheme do not cover such
ailments".
Prof.
Frimpong Boateng was throwing more light on the introduction of health
insurance scheme. He has, therefore, suggested more public education on the
matter to enable people to understand the modalities involved in the
implementation of the scheme.
Prof.
Frimpong Boateng said already public hospitals are often pressurized by some
patients who demand free treatment even when it is not feasible, and this
results in misunderstanding between relatives and hospital authorities.
He noted
that the problem is bound to be compounded by the implementation of the health
insurance scheme, which will take off very soon.
He said the
introduction of the scheme should be seen as a breather and that the situation
where people have misconstrued the idea that health insurance means non-payment
of medical bills should be debunked to save health professionals from the
ordeal of explaining such policies to patients.
Touching on
whether the scheme is a viable venture, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said "the
scheme in itself is a good thing, but looking at the present economic situation
particularly low levels of productivity and income of workers it will be
difficult for the venerable to even pay premium".
He said
even in the developed countries where health insurance scheme have been
practised for a long time, gaining access to medical care for expensive
medication is still a problem.
"Apart
from the chronic illness which insurance does not cover," Dr Frimpong
said, “there is always a tall list of people waiting for surgery and
operations. Some have to wait for as long as two years before they will be
attended to."
The
professor said what the government can do to make the health insurance scheme
successful is to put in place measures that will facilitate a viable economic
environment to enable the private sector to be actively involved in the
process.
On the
inability of the hospital to perform certain complicated surgery in the
country, he said government and the private sector should as a matter of
urgency strengthen the capacity of hospitals as well as the drug manufacturing
industry.
He said
many specialists in the country are ageing and as they have begun transferring their
knowledge to younger doctors as well as establishing specialists department in
the hospitals as a form of training grounds in the future.
"It is
important that we do not frustrate these young professionals by training them
and leaving them with no equipment to perform," Prof. Frimpong Boateng
said.
He noted
with concern the weak drug industry in the country and said it is unfortunate
that very few drugs can be manufactured locally.
"Many
of them import drug in the form of powder and just mix them and pack them for
sale", Prof. Frimpong said, and stated that if government’s decision to
manufacture HIV/AIDS drugs in the country is to materialize, a conscious effort
should be made to improve the drug manufacturing industry in the country.
More…/
Selormey
now at Nsawam Prisons
Victor
Selormey, a former Deputy Minister of Finance, who was sentenced to a total of
eight years imprisonment of Monday, began his prison life four hours after the
Fast Track High Court had given its judgement.
Selormey,
who was convicted on all the six counts of defrauding by false pretence,
conspiracy and causing financial loss to the state arrived at the Nsawam Medium
Prisons at exactly 4 pm amidst tight security.
The
Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service, Mr Richard Kuuire, said in an
interview on Tuesday that immediately after the judgement, Selormey was kept in
police custody while a commitment warrant was prepared by the High Court for
him to begin the sentence.
"Immediately
the warrant was ready, he was sent to the prisons because without it the
service would not have accepted him," the Prisons boss said.
Touching on
the calls for a preferential treatment to be
accorded the former minister, Mr Kuuire said the prisons have no
facilities for VIP treatment and, therefore, Selormey will be treated the same
way as anyone else or any ordinary prisoner.
He said the
service provide prisoners with clothing but those who use their own clothing
have the 'Black Star' embossed on both shirts and shorts in line with prisons
regulations.
Asked about
how the service will deal with the health condition of Selormey, the Prisons
boss explained that the prisons have their own hospital at Nsawam, which will
take care of him just like all other prisoners. "However, if there is the need
for a specialized medical, we shall invite specialist doctors to come in and
examine him at the prisons."
Mr Kuuire
stressed that if it should become absolutely necessary for Selormey to be given
medical attention elsewhere, "we shall send him to the appropriate
government hospital". He, however, made it clear that "we are not
going to mete out any special treatment in favour or against him".
Asked
whether Selormey will be allowed to meet and interact with the former Minister
of Youth and Sports, Mallam Yusif Isah, who is also serving a four-year
sentence at Nsawam, Mr Kuuire said "the two former ministers will meet but
as to whether they will talk to one another or not I cannot tell".
Selormey was
sentenced to four years imprisonment each for the two counts of defrauding to
run consecutively while he is to pay a total ¢20 million for the two counts of
conspiracy and two counts of willfully causing financial loss to the state.
He will
serve two additional years in jail if he fails to pay the fine. The court
further ordered Selormey and Dr Frederick Owusu-Boadu, a Ghanaian consultant in
the United States of America (USA), to refund $1,297,500 to the state or it
will compel the prosecution to initiate civil action to recover the money.
More…/
The Supreme Court has, in a unanimous decision, dismissed an appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal that restored a house to the estate of the late Madam Aba Eduaba, who was also known as Mrs Dinah Ntiri.
Madam Aba Eduaba, the wheel-driver, stroke patient who died a week before an Accra High Court ruled in her favour in 1996, sought justice at the High Court, presided over by Mr Justice Alex Essilfie-Bondzie in a legal battle to win back her house which her ex-husband, Mr Ntiri, fraudulently sold without her consent.
The five-member court, presided over by Mrs Justice J.A. Bamford-Addo, held that house number 179A at North Labone belonged to Madam Aba Eduaba and that the purported sale by Mr A.O. Ntiri to Mr Bruce Aryeh, an ex-Ghana Airways official and now Executive Director, Valco Trust, is null and void.
Mr Ntiri, a former provisions manager of the Ghana National Trading Corporation GNTC and later Chief Executive of the Ghana National Procurement Agency (GNPA), deserted the late Madam Aba Eduaba in 1982, after 20 years of marriage and went in for another woman. He later sold her house at North Labone to Mr Bruce Ayeh for ¢5 million in 1985.
Madam Aba Eduaba's submission was that she bought the house with her own resources and, as she was a nursing mother, appointed her husband as an agent to rent it to Ghana Airways on her behalf. Ghana Airways rented the house for Mr Ayeh when he was a member staff of the company, but he later fraudulently bought it from Mr Ntiri after he had left the company.
Madam Aba Eduaba only discovered that her house had been sold when after being hospitalized for two months without her ex-husband ever visiting her, she sent one of her children to go and collect rent from Mr Ayeh. She intended to use the rent for her upkeep during her ill health, but she was told she could not claim title to it because Mr Ntiri had sold the home to Mr Ayeh.
She therefore, initiated a legal action to claim her bona fide property and the High Court subsequently ruled in her favor.
Not satisfied with the decision of the High Court, Messrs Ntiri and Bruce Ayeh filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal.
On July 22, 1999, the Court of Appeal, presided over by Justice G.T. Wood, in a unanimous decision, dismissed the appeal as unmeritorious and awarded ¢1 million cost each against Messrs Ntiri and Bruce Ayeh, Other members of the court were Mr Justice A.A. Benin and Mr Justice D.K. Afreh.
The appellants did not pay any of the cost awarded against them nor had they made any effort to pay rent for the period they occupied the house as directed by the High Court and later affirmed by the Court of Appeal.
Messrs Ntiri and Ayeh again appealed against the decision of the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court, which in dismissing the appeal, affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal and that of the High Court.
The Court, made up of Mrs Justice J.A. Bamford-Addo, Mr Justice A.K.B. Ampaih, Mr Justice E.D.K. Adjabeng, Mr Justice G.K. Acquah and Mr Justice T.K. Adzoe also awarded a cost of 2 million against Messrs Ntiri and Ayeh.
GRi…/
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The
President of the World, Mr Kofi Annan, has been conferring specially with the
President of Ghana, Mr J.A. Kufuor, in Oslo over the period that they have been
in Oslo and staying at the same hotel.
The private
meetings have even touched on prospects for the direction of the investment
traffic to Ghana and opportunities. While the capital, Oslo, was riveting with
pomp and celebration over the momentous event and between elaborate programmes
for Mr Annan, whose speech and pictures have dominated the front pages of the
Norwegian press, the two leaders still squeezed time to break bread and speak
some decent Twi.
Both Annan
and later on President Kufuor had had audience with the King of Norway, Harrald
V, and the Prime Minister Jan Petersen.
Ambushed
for his take on the honours bestowed his ‘son’, a proud President Kufuor said
Ghana is enjoying the limelight with Kofi Annan. He said that he felt obliged
to honour Mr Annan’s invitation. “I came here to give him a moral support and
the support of our country, to stand by him and to assure him that we are proud
of him.”
Speaking on
the issue of what Ghana would do in recognition of his achievement, President
Kufuor noted that whatever honours Ghana would accord him after such an award
will be an icing on the cake and in due course, “we will do our bit for him in
a way that all Ghana will know that we have got a real hero.”
The formal
honouring will come later. “This man is fated by destiny for greatness,” he
observed. “Never since independence has anyone brought such honour to this country,”
JAK gushed, choosing his words carefully to accentuate the depth of his
recognition and appreciation of the man Kofi Annan.
To another
question on the nature of discussion he had had with him, President Kufuor, who
is about the same age with Annan, revealed that his relationship with Annan
preceded his ascension to the top UN job. (The President had also received a
separate invitation from the Nobel Committee in his own capacity as Ghana’s
President).
Kofi
Annan’s father served as a Regional Minister for the Ashanti Region when he,
(JAK) was a Deputy Minister (Foreign Affairs) in the second Republic, he
recalled.
President
also said he had been supportive of the Government, and has been introducing him
to key influential leaders with whom he is on first name terms, like World Bank
President James Wolfenson and that of the IMF. “He has been putting in good
work here and there for us.”
The
President is expected to leave Oslo tonight. He had had meetings with the
Ghanaian community in Oslo where he spoke about the dual nationality, a matter
of grave concern to Ghanaians overseas.
By filing
time on Tuesday night, the cream of the world’s classical performers and
musicians were expected to perform at the Nobel Peace concert at the Spectrum
Hotel to bring the curtains down to the event of the week, which began last
Friday with lectures and scholarly presentations by Human Rights groups and
NGOs as well.
Top of the
billing is Sir Paul McCartney, African American Suprano Barbara Hendricks, who
is now a Swedish national, Saxophonist Jan Gabarek, originally Haitian born
dreadlocked African American Wyclef Jean of Fugees fame, Australian artist
Natalie Imbruglia, Japan’s Kodo, Brazillian phenomeno Daniela Mercury, Russell
Watson of the Oslo Philarmonic Choir, London’s conductor Paul Batenan, The
Norwegian Radio Orchestra and he acclaimed Centipede Children’s choir from the
international Norwegian-based Movement for Peace and Love.
More…/
The
Government of Ghana, as a result of the greatness achieved by his Excellency,
Kofi Annan, the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, leading to his being
honoured with the Nobel Peace Award, is on the verge of naming the International
Conference Centre after him.
This is in
recognition that the government and people of Ghana supports the UN Secretary
General and are proud of his achievements which has placed Ghana on the map.
The
Majority Leader and Chairman of the Business Committee, Hon Papa Owusu-
Ankomah, revealed this in Parliament on Tuesday when he was contributing to a
statement made on the floor of Parliament by the Member of Parliament (MP) for
Bekwai, Hon I.K. Opoku-Adusei, on the UN Secretary General’s Nobel Peace Prize
Award ceremony in Oslo, Norway.
According
to the Majority Leader, the Nobel Peace Prize conferred on Kofi Annan is an
acknowledgement of his work as the UN Secretary General and that government
would continue to support its citizens who shine in the places they occupy.
Hon
Poku-Adusei, presenting his statement in Parliament, said Kofi Annan after
receiving the award at the prestigious ceremony now becomes the first Ghanaian
ever to be awarded the Nobel Prize. It is in this wise, according to the MP for
Bekwai, that Ghana and Africa as a whole need to appreciate the image that Kofi
Annan has created fro the continent in the exceptional achievements of the 50
years old history of the UN as Secretary General.
He further
contended that Kofi Annan did not only distinguish himself as a successful
Secretary General of the UN but he was also a desirable Under Secretary who
dedicated his entire life to the organization, for the promotion of World Peace
and as a result successfully worked his way through receiving the Nobel Prize
at the time when the world is in a chaotic and gloomy stage.
Hon
Poku-Adusei however added that for the excellence achieved by Kofi Annan, the
illustrious son of the nation, Ghana must applaud him for adding the country’s
name to the illustrious winners of the Nobel Prize, the world’s most celebrated
award instituted by Alfred Nobel for the promotion of the welfare of humanity.
Contributing
to the statement on the floor of the House, the MP for Asante Akim North, Hon
A.K. Korankye lauded Kofi Annan for being able to demystify the idea that an
African cannot achieve prominence and higher recognition in the world adding
that this should be a lesson to Ghanaians occupying enviable position to
emulate.
It is in
respect of Kofi Annan’s immense accomplishments in the UN that Hon Korankye
suggested that a befitting monument be erected for him in the country.
Kofi Annan,
an illustrious son of Ghana, grew up in Kumasi and attended both Mfantsipim and
the University of Science and Technology and further won a Ford Foundation
Scholarship to study economics at Macalester College in Minnesota in the United
States of America (USA) where he had his Bachelor of Science Degree.
He further
studied at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for his
M. Sc. degree and now the Secretary General of the UN, was decorated at a
prestigious ceremony last Monday for winning this year’s Nobel Peace Prize
Award jointly with the United Nations in Oslo, Norway, for his success in
promoting peace in the world over.
More…/
President
J.A. Kufuor preferred to remove himself from the judiciary when he waved off
questions about the conviction and imprisonment of the first top NDC
minister/official among the dozen currently on trial or facing criminal
investigations.
To reports
that the public were surprised about what they perceived as the light sentence
imposed on Mr Victor Selormey for the several acts of criminal malfeasance, the
President had this to say, “That’s for the courts to decide and they have
decided”.
He was,
however, quick to appreciate the sentiments of the public in the context of the
parallels that may be drawn with Mallam Isa case.
The
President was speaking to The Chronicle in a snap interview at the lobby of The
Grand Hotel, rambling five star hotel that both Kofi Annan, the President
himself and all the top international dignitaries and laureates stayed.
President
Kufuor explained that the concept of democratic governance spells out clear
separation of the powers of the executive and the judiciary and in the
circumstances, he is precluded from interfering with the ruling or decisions of
a court of competent jurisdiction. “That’s the Law.”
The
President has been in Oslo since Saturday after an official tour of France from
where he continued to Norway.
GRi…/
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Twenty -four hours after the Fast Track Court had imposed the eight-year sentence on Victor Selormey, former Deputy Minister of Finance, the office of “The Evening News” has been inundated with calls from the general public expressing their views on the judgement.
Most of the callers were of the view that the eight years imposed on Selormey was too light considering the weight of the offence.
Mr George Sowah, who phoned from Kaneshie in Accra, said he was outraged by the sentence. “It was better he was set free, so that we know that he had chopped our money for nothing.”
“A 20-year-old girl suffering from chronic renal failure died at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra because she could not get ¢25 million to cover the cost of treatment,” Mr Sowah stated.
According to Stephen Mensah who phoned from Tema, all along Selormey had been treated with kid gloves. “Even when he overpaid the car he bought, he was only asked to refund the balance and that was all”.
A lady who refused to identify herself said “if somebody can steal over one million dollars and get eight years, then Mallam Isa should have been set free over the missing of 46,000 dollars. She called on the Attorney-General’s Department to request for a review of the sentence, since in her view, it did not match the offence.
Daniel Otoo of Haatso in Accra, however praised the judge for taking into consideration the health of the accused in giving him the eight years. He said the sentence was not to destroy, but to reform and also to send a clear signal to people holding political or public office.
Another women caller, who also declined to mention her name, suggested that instead of custodian sentence Selormey should be put under house arrest in view of his present ailing condition. “Whatever it is, Selormey has at least done some good service for this nation, and you should take into consideration his health and deal with him leniently, she said.”
Meanwhile, some of the NDC political heavyweight like Mr Kwame Peprah, former Finance Minister, Nii Adjei Boye Sekan, Mr Ato Ahwoi and Mr Doe Adjaho who were at he court on Monday to witness the proceedings, declined to comment on the case when “The Evening News” approached them.
According to them they had nothing to say, because the defence counsel led by Mr Kwaku Baah, would be the best person to comment on the judgement.
GRi…/
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Research
staff of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), caught in the
middle of the recent cabinet reshuffle and the re-designation of the Minister
of Environment, Science and Technology have protested against the excision of
the Technology from the Ministry.
The technology sub-sector was moved to Communications, which lost the Transport sub-sector to roads.
The CSIR’s Research Staff Association (RSA) described the transfer of the Technology sub-sector as anomalous and incongruous. “That the two words, ‘Science and Technology’, are always found together everywhere has not been by chance, because the basis of the generation of all technologies, together with information and communications technology, is the science behind them,” says a statement issued in Accra by the association.
They said they were of the strong opinion that the government decision to excise the technology sub-sector to the new ministry would not serve the interest of the people of this country and the scientific community in particular. But now it appears that the government has not realised the apparent confusion the re-designation has caused and is making effort to address the problem.
The Statesman has learnt from source at the castle that steps are being taken to address the anomaly and there have been instructions to cabinet Secretary to shed more light on the reshuffle. According to the source, the outcome was not what was intended by the President.
The development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which is the basis for the new ministry of Communication and Technology, was erroneously taken to be the excision of Technology from Science and Environmental Ministry, he said.
The CSIR Research Staff association says the re-designation of the ministry would enhance the co-ordination of all scientific research and technology application and help in the development of an effective nation research system.
However the problem at the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) is rather more complex. The appointment of a Minister for the commission is said to have created an administration overlap.
The Statesman learnt that the NDPC, which had a Director General as its head before the ministerial changes has been saddled with the problem of conflicting roles as the minister takes charge. Constitutionally, the commission is to be run by a board headed by a chairman, with the Director-General as the administrative head.
The difficulty facing science and technology in the country is aptly captured by a building in Accra designed to house the museum for Science and technology. While cynics wonder what scientific innovations are happening in the country to justify the building of a science museum, the fate of the building itself gives a lot of cause for concern.
A signboard at the front says: “Visiting hours 9 am to 6 pm everyday - closed on Mondays.” But unknown to the visitor the building is occupied by 70 squatters, who have divided the third floor into living quarters. Children can be seen playing along the entrance. Weavers ply their craft and women prepare their meals in the open. The splendid exterior of the building is in stark contrast with the largely uncompleted interior.
More…/
The
Minister of Education, Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, has assured
students in the country’s public tertiary educational institutions that the
payment of full fees by students, especially at the universities is to be
discontinued.
Speaking
at a meeting with the President and Executives of the National Union of Ghana
Students (NUGS) in Accra, Professor Ameyaw-Akumfi said the ministry of
Education has received an interim report from the National Council for Tertiary
Education (NCTE) on the payment of full fees by some students in some
universities
The
report covered two of the three universities alleged to be charging full fees.
A fuller report on all aspects of the practice is awaited, he said. The
Minister said the ministry would study the report and take appropriate
measures, in consultation with the councils of the universities.
Professor
Ameyaw-Akumfi noted that the NPP government remains committed, in a very
practical and pragmatic way, to ensuring that tertiary educational institutions
are given the necessary support to provide quality and accessible education.
He said in
less than twelve months in office, the government has spent ¢56 billion on the
development, rehabilitation and infrastructure in public tertiary institutions.
He also announced that ¢4 billion is being released to all public tertiary
institutions to cover government rebate on fees for the present academic year.
The University of Ghana, Legon, he said would be the first to receive its
portion.
He also
announced that the Ministry had proposed an increase in the funds allocated to
tertiary education, under the budget of the educational sector for next year.
Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi said government would not renege on its
promise to ensure that no one is denied the right to education because of his
or her financial circumstances.
He called
on the students to ensure they take an active part in the education review
exercise scheduled to start before the end of the year.
The
President of NUGS, Edward Bawa, informed the Minister that students were
prepared at all time to use dialogue in resolving problems affecting them. He
expressed the union’s gratitude to the Minister for his consistent involvement
of students in matters relating to education in general and tertiary education
in particular.
More…/
The
Greater Accra branch of the NDC last weekend held its regional congress at
Tema, without its Secretary. Sylvester Mensah, the defeated MP for La Dade
Kotopon has left the country and is said to be eking out a living in London
where he was recently spotted on an early morning London bus on his way to
work.
The
departure of Mensah, popularly called Sly in NDC circles, the Statesman has
learnt, may be connected with the other side of life he was facing after the
NDC lost the elections.
The founder
of Ethics Foundation, an NGO he established after the election to promote good
governance and check corruption, could not stay to see the growth of his
project, as he was confronted with revelations about corrupt practices
involving members of his party.
Sly,
himself was alleged to have collected some amount of money from the Accra
Metropolitan Assembly for waste disposal in his constituency.
At the time
the money was said to have been paid to him, there was a subsisting agreement
between the Assembly and the City and Country Waste Limited (CCWL) for waste
management, fuelling suspicion that the money may have been paid to him as a
"handshake." Sly Mensah denied wrongdoing.
Meanwhile,
the credibility of the weekend congress, which elected new regional officers
has been questioned, with allegations of vote buying leveled against some
contestants.
The
allegations were made by no other person than the founder and leader of the NDC
Jerry Rawlings.
Rawlings
accused the officers of manipulating the election with money. "It is
extremely important for party activists and those vying for executive positions
to realise that any attempt to buy our way into executive positions will not
only undermine our party, but damage the integrity and the very spiritual soul
of the party.
Rawlings’ fear
may be founded in the calibre of people being elected to various party
positions across the country, which he believes may be replicated at the
national level. Virtually all the regional executives elected were the same
people who headed the regional re-organisation committees.
For
instance Joshua Alabi, the defeated MP for Krowor, who was elected the new
chairman for Greater Accra was, like Ohene Kena, who was elected Eastern
Regional Chairman, a regional re-organisation committee chairman.
The former
President believes that if he did not cry out, Dr Obed Asamoah, the National
Re-organisation Committee Chairman and chairmanship candidate for the 28
December national congress, would be elected against his (Rawlings) wish.
Rawlings
has expressed apprehension about Dr Asamoah becoming the party's National
Chairman. He said: "Some of these
negative elements are refusing to step aside and assist the party in other
ways.
“Our
supporters sounded us a message in the December 2000 elections about some individuals
who had lost popularity. Some of us are proving to be deaf and insensitive and
are, therefore, repeating the same mistakes of trying to take frontline
positions. Let us listen to the people; they own the party. We in leadership
only hold it in trust for then,” he emphasised.
But
political analysts have described former President Rawlings’ comments as an
attempt to interfere in the party's internal democratic process.
GRi…/
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