Govt to pay
$9.1 million debt or….
Committee
to probe Labone, Aquinas clash
Kan Dapaah deceives Ghanaians on fuel prices
Reduce fuel prices now, or…Wereko Brobby’s UGM
Danger! Hundreds could die on the Volta
We'll handover criminal colleagues
$450,000 Scandal - Minister calls for fresh accounts
Govt to
pay $9.1 million debt or….
The Kufuor
Administration has a $9.1million debt it inherited from the New Democratic
Congress (NDC) Government hanging around its neck like an albatross.
The debt
emanates from damages that Delta Foods Limited is claiming over the importation
of 21 metric tonnes of corn, which the NDC government ordered in 1998 to avert
an anticipated food shortage.
Information
has it that Delta Foods has contested the issue on several fronts and wants the
issue resolved for the last time.
It agreed
to adjourn its motion to compel discovery of the Ghana Embassy's bank records
and suspend any other judgement until today, December 21, to give the parties
the chance to finalise settlement.
Indications
are that the Attorney-General's Office is engaged in serious talks with lawyers
of Delta Foods Limited on how to reach a settlement over the damages.
Reacting to
the issue, the Attorney-General, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, said: “We are in
touch with their lawyers trying to find an amicable settlement.
“It is one
of the difficulties that the previous government left for the NPP
Government. However, we are making
every effort to resolve the issue,” he stressed.
In 1998,
the then government of Ghana contracted to buy corn from Delta Foods. However,
when Delta Foods bought the corn and tried to deliver it, the government
refused to take the consignment or to pay for it.
Consequently,
Delta Foods sued the government at an Accra High Court and the two parties
negotiated a settlement agreement. Under the agreement, the government agreed
to pay ¢20.3 billion for the corn plus post judgement interest.
The
following year when the government did not pay the money, Delta Foods sued the
Ghana government, this time in a United States District Court for the District
of Columbia in Washington to enforce the judgement against Ghana.
The
government lodged an appeal at the US Court of Appeal but later withdrew it. It
also indicated that the payment of the ¢20.3 billion at a High Court in Accra
was a final settlement. However, the court ruled that the amount was far less
than the judgement debt, which was more than $9 million.
The
National Democratic Congress government made another attempt against the US judgement
when the government claimed sovereign immunity. No sooner had that been done
than the change of government occurred. Delta then began another approach to
resolve the case amicably.
However,
the NPP government also appealed against the two orders from the US courts but
the Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia affirmed the earlier
decisions.
Information
has it that at a stage, the government decided to sell the corn to poultry
farmers and whatever accrued from it was paid into an account at the
Agricultural Development Bank (ADB). Indications were that part of the
consignment had gone bad.
When Dr
Kwabena Adjei, the then Food and Agriculture Minister was contacted, he refused
to comment on the issue.
Dr Adjei,
who is also the NDC Member of Parliament for Biakoye, said he was not prepared
to talk to the press over the issue but would do so if he was invited to appear
before a committee of inquiry.
More…/
Committee
to probe Labone, Aquinas clash
A
Five-member committee headed by Mrs Naadu Mills, Greater Accra Regional Deputy
Director of Education, was inaugurated yesterday to investigate the
circumstances that led to the clash between Aquinas and Labone students last
week.
The other
members of the committee, which has 10 days to complete its work, are Nii
Okaija Dinsey, Assistant Director in-Charge of School Inspection at Metro
Education Office of the GES and Mr E.A Kissiedu, Headmaster of Armed Forces
Technical
School (AFSTS), a representative of the Conference of Heads of Assisted
Secondary Schools (CHASS).
The rest
are Mr Daniel Mantey, Regional Students Representative Council (SRC)
Co-ordinator, and Mr Frank Yankey, a legal practitioner, as member/secretary.
Inaugurating
the committee, the Greater Accra Regional Director of the GES, Mr Lawrence
Clocuh, said “the committee will be tasked to investigate the remote and
immediate causes of the clash, the rationale behind the clash and find out the
extent of damage caused to life and property”.
He said the
committee it will also be mandated to make recommendations to prevent a future
clash. He expressed the hope that the committee will do a thorough work and
come out with far-reaching and effective recommendations to restore cordial
relations between the two schools.
Mr Clocuh said
the arrest of some of the students will not hinder the work of the committee,
adding that, — “if some students have been arrested in connection with the
clash, so be it, because we live by the law and, therefore, if their behaviour
was contrary to law, the police have a right to arrest them”.
He,
however, expressed disappointment at the feud between both schools, stressing
that it is the first clash involving students in the Greater Accra region.
Mr Clocuh
described the incident as unfortunate and appealed to the students to forget
their differences and rather come together and learn hard to achieve their
goals.
Mrs Mills,
the wife of the former Vice-President Professor J.E.A. Mills, thanked the GES
for the confidence reposed in them and gave the assurance that their assignment
will be completed on schedule.
Labone
Secondary School was closed down on Tuesday, following the violent clash
between its students and their counterparts of St Thomas Aquinas Secondary
School.
Last
Friday, students of the two schools clashed, resulting in a student from
Aquinas sustaining severe injuries.
Five
students of Acquinas were arrested to help the police in their investigations.
Reports
say, some of the Labone students sustained various degrees of injury during the
scuffle and were treated and discharged at a local hospital.
An
eyewitness account said it all began when Acquinas students numbering about 30
besieged the premises of Labone around 2.30 p.m. on Friday, December 14, 2001,
to teach them a lesson for supporting Accra Academy students during a
misunderstanding between Accra Academy and Acquinas.
They were
alleged to have injured one of the security personnel who tried to stop them
from entering the school premises.
In the
process, they destroyed the school’s gate, lights and other properties.
The
eyewitness said Aquinas students entered the school’s premises, chanting war
songs and throwing stones.
The Labone
students were said to have countered the attack, resulting in exchange of
missiles.
More…/
The Minority Spokesman on Energy and MP for Amenfi West, Mr Abraham Kofi Asante, has described the ¢53 billion quoted by the sector minister as being savings made from the fall in the world market prices of crude oil as a “complete miscalculation of figures.”
He said the figure quoted “is too much on the lower side and asked the government to come with the appropriate figure.” Mr Asante said if the fall in crude oil price has been by 31 per cent on the world market, the government should also have reduced the price of petrol by 12.85 per cent and diesel by 17.9 per cent.
He explained that, if the price of petrol is calculated at ¢300 per litre and the total consumption stands at 60.7 billion litres per month on the average, then the savings made should stand at about ¢19 billion every month.
Mr Asante also said that if diesel consumed is 65 billion litres a month at ¢350 a litre, savings on it should also be around ¢23 billion per month. He said the government should be saving not less than ¢50 billion a month from all the petroleum products, adding that what the government has saved since the prices in crude oil fell on the world market is more than ¢300 billion.
He said the figures are in the public domain and called on the government to rectify the disparities in the figures quoted to the public through the media.
Mr Asante said the Majority rejected the motion, which the Minority brought before the House, calling on it to reduce the prices of petroleum products because they were scared of the loopholes, which would have been made public.
He questioned the reason why the government started recording windfalls only when the prices of petroleum products were going down on the world market.
Mr Asante also wondered if there is any measurable degree of justification in the calculation and reiterated the call on government to come up with the right figures.
More…/
A former Sierra Leonean Head of State, Lt Col Johnny Paul Koroma (rtd), has said that Ghana must draw useful lessons from the experiences of other countries if the proposed reconciliation exercise is to achieve the set goals.
He said that there can be no true reconciliation if people are not prepared to forgive and forget the past. “In such sensitive issues as reconciliation, it is most important that the supposed offender should show genuine remorse or repentance while the aggrieved must be prepared to forgive,” he said.
Lt Col Koroma, who said this in an interview in Accra on Thursday, noted that, “it is high time we tried to sit together and prepare ourselves well ahead of time to see how we could handle issues of conflict.”
The former Sierra Leonean leader is in the country to chair a weeklong technical preparatory committee for an international conference on the peace process in Africa, slated for Accra in March, next year. The theme for the proposed conference is “The United Nations and the Consolidation of the Peace Process in Africa - The Role of UN Associations and Civil Society.”
The conference is a follow-up to a similar preparatory meeting held in Geneva in September in which Lt Col Koroma participated. Lt Col Koroma is currently the Chairman of the Commission for the Consolidation of Peace (CCP) in Sierra Leone, an umbrella commission established by the Lome Agreement of July 1999 between the Government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) to oversee the implementation of the agreement and consequently the welfare of the victims of war.
He said conflicts sometimes escalate because parties in dispute “simply fail to say sorry to one another.” Lt Col Koroma noted with regret that some people find it difficult to say “I am sorry” even when they are at fault.
He said until the larger society realizes that “we can all be at fault one way or the other, talks about reconciliation can be frustrating and long.”
More…/
An Accra Fast Track High Court on Wednesday, granted an order of interim injunction restraining Celltel Limited, a telecommunication company, and six officials of the company from managing the affairs of Celltel Limited.
Consequently, the court has also restrained them from proceeding to hold an annual general meeting, of Celltel Limited, scheduled for Friday. The other defendants are Robert Palitz, Trustees Services Limited, Kojo Bentsi-Enchil, David Grover, Hien Ching Lung and Mike Awua.
The court ruling followed an application to the court by Kludjeson International Limited, which owns 20 per cent shares in Celltel Limited, seeking to restrain the defendants from managing the affairs of the company.
Counsel for the plaintiffs, Mr Charles Hayibor, had argued before the court, presided over by Mr Justice P.K. Owusu-Ansah, that Trustees Services, who are holding themselves out as secretaries to Celltel Limited, were at no time appointed as secretaries of the company, and that, another firm, K. Ogba and Associates were still the secretaries of the company.
He further argued that Mr Robert Palitz’s appointment as managing director has been terminated since June 25, 2001, and his purported designation as “alternate director” was invalid, since it did not comply to the provisions of the Company Code of 1963.
Counsel contended that since Robert Palitz “hijacked” the Celltel Limited as its managing director, the fortunes of the company had incurred a loss of ¢33.1 billion. Besides, counsel told the court that Palitz recently imported a consignment of obsolete telecommunications equipment into the country, “in breach of the National Telecommunication Authority’s condition for a licence, and also in violation of conditions laid down by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“This is also in breach of the instrument of agreement between Kludjeson International and the other shareholders in Celltel Limited, which is Certwell Limited,” counsel added.
Granting the injunction, Mr Justice Owusu-Ansah said in view of the fact that the capacity of Trustees Services as purported secretaries of Celltel was being challenged, and also in view of the fact that the appointment of Robert Palitz has allegedly been terminated, there is no basis for the defendants to convene an annual general meeting or any other subsequent meetings. The court adjourned the case to January 14, next year.
More…/
Mrs Grace Coleman, Deputy Minister of Finance, has called on insurance company to support the government to fashion a sustainable National Health Insurance Scheme.
Accordingly, she urged them to sell life insurance effectively in this changing environment by holding frequent interactions with policy holders and improve upon the processing of claims.
Mrs Coleman said this at the 6th Dinner and Annual Awards Night of Gemini Life Insurance Company Limited (GLICO) held in Accra on Tuesday. She entreated insurance operators to join the government in its campaign against HIV/AIDS and come up with a health policy that will cover AIDS.
The deputy Minister said the challenges the insurance industry faced in the past were the result of the unstable macro economic environment within which the industry operated. Mrs Coleman also noted that the institutional, legal and regulatory framework within which the industry operated also left much to be desired and was sometimes unfavourable to the private sector.
She said poor administrative and financial management of insurance companies, weak capital base and some dubious practices are some of the drawbacks in the industry. She said for the needed improvement and dynamism to occur, the industry must come out with more innovative, attractive but affordable policies, with competitive returns on policy holders’ contributions.
Mrs Coleman commended GLICO for coming out with the Group Comprehensive Plan, which extends the cover of Workmen’s Compensation Policy beyond the normal working hours.
The Managing Director of GLICO, Mr K. Acheampong-Kyei, appealed to the government to make the life insurance industry more vibrant. He called for the review of the Insurance Law (LI227) to give equitable level ground for the players in the industry if it is to be encouraged to grow at an appreciable rate.
Mr Acheampong-Kyei also called for legislation to support private pension scheme incorporating tax features and the regulation of the schemes as in the UK and most EU countries.
He also suggested that the tax exemption threshold should be increased up to about 25 per cent from the current 17.5 per cent, which is applicable to the Social Security and National Insurance Scheme only.
GRi…/
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Kan Dapaah deceives Ghanaians on fuel prices
A typical example of the Kufuor Administration's unrestrained habit of making a U-turn in its economic policy, whenever it turns favourable to the people is once again in vogue with the Government's refusal to reduce the price of fuel in the country, despite the fall in the price of oil on the world market.
According to economic experts, who have expressed dismay at the turn of events, the Government's new position does not only amount to a betrayal of trust, but also a case of a clear departure from an agreed formula, presented to the press as a major policy, announced only this year by Mr Albert Kan Dapaah, Minister of Energy, at the Hin Hinlone Restaurant at Labone, Accra.
Although oil prices have taken a deep dive from $28 to $18 per barrel, during the past three months a situation which calls for price adjustments in fuel, Mr Kan Dapaah, now says, the Government would use the huge profit it is making to pay some old debts.
The "defence", however, is seen by observes as an arbitrary action since the Government, is practically, in contract with the people to adjust prices of petroleum products, according to its own pricing formula.
It will be recalled that the Kufuor Administration heartlessly shot up fuel prices, on assumption of office, with the stated objectives of passing on cost and profit, wholesale, to the consumer.
The huge increases were later supported with the new formula, under which prices of fuel would be adjusted on monthly basis, depending upon the exchange rate, the cost of fuel on the world market, as well as built-in taxes for other purposes.
The retail prices of petroleum products are therefore supposed to be made up of three essential components namely ex-refinery prices, government taxes and levies, and distribution margins.
The experts are, therefore, surprised that Minister Kan Dapaah should be adding the payment of debts to the formula, now that the people must enjoy reliefs, especially in a situation, where the world price for the commodity, can sky-rocket, with a change of heart by the producers, as well as be influenced by other factors in international relations.
Meanwhile, the people, in general, are not unaware of the developments on the world oil market and have taken notice of the contradictions, being peddled by the Kufuor Administration as constants in policy direction.
Recently, the Minority Group in Parliament initiated a move to bring up the issue in a motion on the floor of the House. However, the government used other "technicalities" to dodge the debate, as if the cost of fuel is a matter, which must worry only the Minority.
And this is coming from a ruling party, whose leadership, while in opposition, marched through the streets of Accra like wild dogs, in protest against a slight increase in the price of fuel, even at a time when the government was still heavily subsidizing the sale of the commodity to the people.
More…/
Reduce fuel prices now, or…Wereko Brobby’s UGM
Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, Chief Executive of the Volta River Authority (VRA), while in opposition, cried aloud against fuel prices in the country, and stressed that high fuel prices translate into higher transportation prices, which translate into higher prices for food and other general goods.
Dr Wereko-Brobby, who was then a Presidential Candidate for the United Ghana Movement (UGM), also joined an opposition group to march through the streets of Accra to register their protest and support the call for the reduction of fuel prices.
Dr Wereko-Brobby is now in Government and his statement, issued on behalf of the Party (now on holidays) is being reproduced, unedited, now that the people side with his views. The following is the call, which is considered to be more meaningful today than it was yesterday.
"Fuel prices in Ghana must be reduced immediately in line with recent substantial drop in the international price of never implemented policy of allowing the prices of petroleum products to change with changes in international crude oil prices.
"Since the recent increases in fuel prices, and following the decision of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase production, the price of crude oil has tumbled from a mid-February peak of US$21.30 on Monday, April 10, 2000. This more than a 33 per cent drop in price, which is significant and substantial enough for the Government to act on its recent public statement to reduce local prices if international prices should fall on the wake of the OPEC decision.
"THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW. The issue of the impact of the falling rate of the cedi on fuel prices is moot. The method used for pricing petroleum products already takes account of future movements in the cedi's exchange rate and there is no doubt that this was done in the recent price changes.
"On the contrary, there is evidence that increases in fuel prices put additional pressures one the value of the cedi. Higher fuel prices translate into higher transportation prices, which translate into higher prices for food and other general goods. The resulting rise in inflation puts additional pressures on the stability of our economy, which in turn is reflected in the wobbling cedi.
"Ghana's prospects for achieving real and sustainable growth of our economy, and thus reversing the cyclic negative impacts of the export of primary raw materials, lies with adding value through the efforts of a vibrant and competitive indigenous manufacturing and industries are currently under immense pressure. The combined effects to the 1998 power crisis and spiraling fuel prices have shrunk and in some cases even killed off many of our industrial companies. Already, a number of high energy intensive companies have gone down. Others have had to shrink their business and even substitute imports of key inputs for local manufacture in order to keep their electricity and oil costs under check".
GRi…/
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TV3, the
first independent television station in Ghana, we were told, is owned by TV3
Network Ltd of Malaysia. But, The Statesman can reveal that the Malaysians only
own 30 per cent of the parent company, Ghana Film Company; the government of
Ghana owns 30 per cent and the biggest shareholder with 40 per cent is
reportedly, in the name of the former Information Minister at the time of the
divestiture of Ghana Film Industry Corporation (GFIC) Kofi Totobi Quakyi.
Whereas
being the actual beneficiary of the biggest share of the very divestiture
process that he oversaw, Totobi Quakyi cunningly nominated a trusted friend and
one of NDC’s favoured publishers, Eddie Addo, formerly of Unimax-Macmillian to
be the legal title holder of the shares, but for obvious reasons, holding them
in trust for Totobi Quakyi.
The
Statesman’s recent suspicion over the ownership of TV3 was ignited by
allegations of attempts by Totobi Quaky to stop the screening of a seemingly
damning interview of the President of the 31st December Women’s
Movement and former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings on Time with
David, on October 20.
The paper’s
front page report on Friday November 16, “Who Owns TV3” wondered at the
unprecedented attention given then to the former First Lady to respond to an
auditor’s report which indicated that her ‘NGO’ benefited unjustifiably from
funds meant for District Assemblies.
The interview
with David Ampofo took an unprecedented additional 30 minutes on top of two
consecutive appearances on TV’3 own in-house talk show, Hot Issues.
Our
investigation shows that the 70 percent of GFIC that was sold by the government
for a paltry $1.4m was even in contravention of the cabinet decision, which
gave the go ahead to the divestiture in the first place.
Back in
1995, at a meeting chaired by Presidential Advisor on Governmental Affairs,
P.V. Obeng, a decision was taken to divest but only 30 percent of government’s
100 percent interests in GFIC.
But, the
way the whole exercise was carried out raises suspicion that the main object of
divestiture was never the stated line, which Ghanaians were told, was to bring
in additional capital and new technology to improve GFIC, already reported to
be the best in sub-Saharan Africa in any case. The real motive appears to be to
set up a television station fronted by persons who would be eternally loyal to
the cause of the NDC.
The defeat
of the NDC last year makes the motive for the establishment more paramount, as
shown by the rather futile damage limitation exercise staged for the former
First Lady and her movement October last.
TV3 Network
Ltd is a privately owned company set up in January 1997, barely two months
after the divestiture of GFIC to the Gama Film Company the previous November.
In fact,
TV3 was not party to the divestiture agreement. Eddie Addo, Totobi Quakyi’s
nominee, fronted a newly formed company, Gama Media Systems, along with the
Malaysians to implement the take over.
The other
signatory companies were Ghana Film Company, and Sistem Television of Malaysia,
signing as the guarantors. Although the company’s articles of association and
memorandum of association are available for public scrutiny, the outcome of the
deal is a more charade, hiding Totobi Quakyi’s 40 per cent stake as part of
Gama’s overall 70 per cent.
Gama Media
Systems has been converted into the radio arm of Gama film Company, yet to be
made operational. The way and manner in which the government carried the
divestiture point to an unscrupulous strategy to throw wool over the eyes of
Ghanaians. Whilst the government posed a front of looking for bidders, a deal
had already been sown behind closed doors with the Malaysians.
To cement
the charade, in August 1996, Totobi Quakyi headed a government delegation to
Malaysia, which included Victor E.K. Anti, Managing Director of GFIC and a
staunch opponent of the divestiture, and Berfi Appenteng then of the GBC who
became the first General Manager of TV3.
It was only
while in Malaysia that it became known to some of the delegates that their
purpose there was not to try and sell but to put the final touches to a done
deal. Indeed, it was the Malaysians themselves who informed them of the
completion of the deal.
Owing to
the circumstances surrounding the divestiture, the then Managing Director of
GFIC, Anti, protested against the whole exercise and was subsequently dismissed
under questionable circumstances.
More…
The
Controller and Accountant-General, John Prempeh, has reacted to last Tuesday’s
Statesman’s lead report, “Billion-cedi thieves control workers’ salaries,”
which branded his department as “rotten to the core,” by volubly stating, “I
want the people of this country to know that I’m not a thief”.
The
government’s most senior accountant claims that the report which quoted a
member of staff as saying “It will be difficult for the present
Accountant-General to deny complicity” in alleged malpractices, appears to be
part of a plot to “destroy” him with a barrage of “half truths and lies.”
During a
lengthy interview at his office last Tuesday, the Controller and
Accountant-General, flanked by five of his directors, including Kwasi Owusu,
Director of the Payroll Processing Division, urged the media to redirect their
ink of scrutiny towards the heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies
(MDAs), who basically instruct his department on whom to pay. He also said that
the banks must be implicated in the scam, as his department makes all payments
through those institutions.
The
Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) says that the Ghana government
has the biggest payroll of any government in the world. This is a very great
feat, considering a nation of under 19 million people with a public payroll of
around 400,000 personnel.
John
Prempeh does not deny that Ghana claims this unenviable record because the
system is too centralized. But he explains that the new Integrated Personnel
and Payroll Database (IPPD) being established by his department to link the
CAGD more effectively with all MDAs, will decentralize the system whilst giving
his department a telescopic oversight on all MDAs.
Furthermore
he is even calling for the payroll of the security services to be returned to
the purview of his department. The rationale for this, he claims, will become
apparent once IPPD2 becomes operational.
The UK’s
Department for International Development (DFID) is funding the revamped
computerization programme. Provision, the local agent for Oracle, is providing
the software that is expected to correct the defaults in the original IPPD that
has failed miserably in checking the insertion and spread of ghost names.
The CAGD,
in arguing that the payroll of the security forces should be incorporated in
IPPD”, is implying that such a move will better police the situation of ghost
names in the Police and Armed Forces, too. Currently serious allegations of
ghost names have been directed especially at the Health and Education sectors.
But little or no meaningful enquiry can be said to have been made into the
forces’ payroll system.
Prempeh
admits that the issue of ghost names is problematic, but seeks to somewhat
exonerate his department when he says, “We have to rely on the integrity of
others to function.” He explains that the payroll system works on a chain
management procedure. This means for the source of corruption to emanate form
the CAGD, the culprit in that department must work in connivance with others in
the chain, notably the head of the department where the payment is made.
According
to Eugene Ofosuhene, Deputy Controller and Accountant-General in charge of
Treasury and Audit, “It is at the MDA level where fictitious appointment
letters and the subsequent insertion of ghost names can take place.”
On the
banks, he says “Without the connivance of the bank nobody can steal money. We
pay everybody through the banks.” John Prempeh adds, “The experience so far is,
if you follow your investigations through the bank you get nothing.” He cites a
particular instance where after 54 ghost names had been detected, the paying
banks were still unprepared to assist the investigation.
There is
not doubt that the corruption that leads to a more than 300 billion cedis loss
of state funds annually stems from the broad spectrum of the Civil Service.
GRi…/
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comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Danger! Hundreds could die on the Volta
Marine Vessel Fourth Republic, the pontoon put on the Volta Lake to avert a repetition of the 1995 boat catastrophe, is gradually growing into a death-trap as poor maintenance and lack of management take their toll on the vessel.
Already, the original lift rump attached to the pontoon has fallen into the water, the wooden members of a second one installed have broken to develop holes in them and the clutch disc in the gear box has completely worn out.
Chronicle investigations and a cruise on the pontoon last week revealed that the crew had reduced the speed of the vessel - making the 18 nautical miles journey from Kpando to Agodeke in 90 minutes, instead of 60 minutes - precisely because of the defect on the clutch.
Any wreck or other mishap on the pontoon could have a more devastating effect than the boat that capsized six years ago because, on an average trip, the pontoon carries 100 passengers, besides herds of cattle, scores of cargo trucks, cars and assorted goods.
Though it was envisaged that the refurbished second-hand vessel would work for about 30 years when it was installed and today it still seems to be working in a fairly good condition, observes fear it is becoming dangerous to board it.
According to Richard Boka, Captain of MV 4th Republic, when the Volta River Authority (VRA) donated the pontoon, it added no funds nor made any provision for its periodic maintenance.
Rather, it tasked the recipients, Kpando and Afram Plains districts, to run it jointly and pay all staff salaries and maintenance costs from the revenue accruing from its operations. "Right now these boards, they say we should work and get some money before they will change it for us," Boka said, referring to the boards on the lift rump.
However, the balance sheet leaves little profit for such repairs and part replacement, according to the captain. Explaining, he said, "you will see that the boat is going up and down but our problem is fuel," adding that the vessel gulps some ¢4 million worth of diesel every week. "And our sales are not that big; only because we want to help the people and the two assemblies," he claimed.
Asked to explain the reduced pace of the vessel, he started with "it is some small problem on our gear box". The solution lay in changing the whole gearbox, he said.
But when asked how much it would cost, he replied "the dealers say it will cost almost ¢30 million." To the Captain this is the responsibility of the two assemblies.
But when contacted, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Afram Plains, Ben Anokye, expressed surprise, saying that the problems had never been brought to his notice. "I am not aware, though we are supposed to own it jointly," was his reply.
Asked whether the assemblies were prepared to maintain it, he said for the whole one-and-a-half years the pontoon had been operating, the revenue it had given to his district was ¢10 million.
That contrasted sharply with another one on the Afram Lake, plying between Ekye Amanfrom and Adawso, which is fully contracted by the Afram Plains Assembly.
"We make about ¢70 million from it every month," Anokye said.
From day one there arose disagreement over the control of MV Fourth Republic, Chronicle gathered. When Ex-President Rawlings commissioned it, the Kpando Assembly was given a greater control over the vessel in the sense that it was to rest there all nights, apart from Thursdays and Sundays, when in would be at Agodeke in the Afram Plains.
The Kpando Assembly found this a welcome opportunity and started issuing its general counterfoil receipts in the collection of tolls on the vessel. A Kpando Assembly source, in fact, asserted "they have one already, this is ours".
But the Afram Plains Assembly wanted the second pontoon to rest at Agodeke rather. As the DCE argued, the Afram Plains is virtually an island hemmed between the Afram and Volta lakes, and therefore, requires the two vessels every time to enable her citizens to travel out.
"Our argument is that the pontoon must be based here since we need it more than Kpando which has better roads and cars and is more accessible around the clock. Here, after 5.00 pm, all travels outside cease".
He explained that when emergency cases cannot be adequately handled by the Presbyterian Hospital at Donkorkrom the only hospital in the whole district, they are referred to Korle Bu in Accra and Hohoe or the Ho hospitals in the Volta Region.
On more than 10 occasions, however, such attempts to rush critically-ill people out of the district have failed because the pontoon was sleeping at Kpando Torkor and the southern route, that is, through Adawso, was so bad that it could not be used.
"Because of this," the DCE said, "many have died before reaching the hospitals rather unnecessarily and painfully."
A source at the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development intimated that the minister had received formal complaints about the running of MV 4th Republic, the controversy over its control and the rather poor maintenance culture on it.
The source assured that the ministry intended brokering an amicable solution for the two assemblies. Till then, however, the 4th Republic seems incapable of wiping out reminiscences of the 1995 disaster that claimed 75 lives.
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We'll handover criminal colleagues
As part of efforts to lift the image of Nigerian nationals living in the country, the Nigerian Youth Association (NYA), an organization that seeks to ensure that Nigerians living in Ghana obey the laws of the land has vowed to hand over any Nigerian caught indulging in any criminal activities to the law enforcement agency for proper disciplinary action according to the laws of Ghana.
"Our association will not hesitate to hand over any Nigerian who will like to indulge him/herself in any criminal activities to the Law enforcement agency for proper disciplinary action to be taken against that individual according to the laws of the land of Ghana," says Mr Austin J. Adegeji Akaka, Chairman Nigerian Youths Association.
According to the NYA Chairman, who spoke briefly to Chronicle at the association's end of year gathering recently in Accra, the decision to hand over Nigerian crime suspects to the local law enforcement agency is intended to crack down on those who continued to tarnish the image of the Nigerian community in the country.
The Association's decision to crack down fellow countrymen and women involved in criminal activities is as a result of constant media reports of their Nationals involvement in crime, which tend to cast a smear on the entire Nigerian community in the country.
It may be recalled that in the first quarter of this year, the NYA in collaboration with the Ghana National Police carried out a search in various hotels where Nigerians usually lodged to ascertain their purpose of stay in the country.
During the routine, it was discovered that most of the Nigerians found in those hotels were alleged to have been in some sort of business or brought in here by an unnamed person.
These claims raised suspicion among the NYA executives who hence asked them to make sure they did not behave disorderly or else they would have faced the full weight of the Ghanaian Law.
Mr Adegeji Akaka used the opportunity to thank Ghanaians for their continuous hospitality and hoped that the strong bilateral relations built by Ghana and Nigeria over the years would be maintained.
On his part, the Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana noted that Ghanaians are lovable people and that the only way to live with them in peace is to start to love them first.
He urged Nigerians to be law abiding and expressed his support for the warning by the NYA to hand over Nigerians caught indulging in criminal activities to the Law enforcement agency.
He also urged them not to judge the attitude of a Ghanaian as that of the general population.
GRi…/
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$450,000 Scandal - Minister calls for fresh accounts
The issue of the infamous $450,000 Confederation of African Football (CAF) grant to the Ghana Football Association last year, resurfaced at the Ministry of Youth and Sports last Wednesday when the new minister, Mr Edward Osei Kwaku, was hit by a staggering debt still flowing from the 2000 Nation Cup finals.
CAF advanced the money to Ghana for operational expenses in the tournament, which was co-hosted by Ghana and Nigeria but almost two years later, debts running into several hundreds of millions of cedis in Hotel bills and other incidentals continue to haunt the ministry, forcing the minister to call for a revisit of the tournament’s accounts.
Irritated by figures currently on his desk, Mr Osei-Kwaku further disclosed that his visit to the Accra Stadium last Tuesday revealed to him that the work involved in the plastic chairs fixed at the venue fell far short of the huge amount quoted and called for fresh accountability on that also.
Even though $39 was charged for fixing each chair on an iron railing, the minister and his entourage were told during the visit to the stadium that the chairs were fixed to the concrete seats at the cost of $16 per chair, far less the original amount paid.
The minister, startled by how much had gone “somewhere” else from the mental calculation he made, said there was no way the issue was going to be allowed to die, urging the National Sports Council (NSC) to ensure that everything possible is done to implement the recommendation of the Okudzeto Commission on the May 9 Accra Stadium tragedy which says those monies should be paid back by the contractor.
An alarm raised over the way the CAF grant was spent and related issues of the plastic chairs led to the collapse of the previous GFA after a probe by a special commission and football’s Executive Council all pointed to some wrongdoing.
Interestingly, this startling information came out when the minister in a casual mood wanted to find out what benefits the nation had derived from the CAF grant as he was reliably informed that their Nigerian counterparts were able to purchase some fleet of vehicles for the NFA and the Nigerian National Sports Council.
When he wanted to know if the nation has any vehicle at all to show for hosting the event, he was told that contrary to the recommendations that some of the vehicles should be bought, the Local Organising Committee (LOC) rather decided to hire all the vehicles used.
Even though the minister could not be told exactly how much money was involved in the bills presented by the hotels, he was told “it is difficult to say exactly how much because there is always a reminder from the hotels about the ministry’s and the LOC’s indebtedness to them and almost all the figures are quoted in dollars.
GRi…/
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