MTTU, CEPS, Police top corrupt list
Executive jet to be sold, contract is frivolous – Obetsebi-Lamptey
‘Let’s tap other resources to finance oil imports’
Code of Conduct for govt officials soon
TUC prepared to dialogue with govt … to help solve low wage problem
BOG implements strategies to improve economy
Konadu to take over NDC
MTTU, CEPS, Police top corrupt list
The Independent says the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU), the Police and the Immigration Service top the list of the most corrupt public agencies in the country, a survey by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has revealed.
The survey further revealed that out of 1,500 people interviewed in households, 500 in business enterprises and 1000 public officials countrywide who had made contacts with these institutions recently, 87 per cent said they had paid bribes to the MTTU, while 77 per cent mentioned CEPS.
67 per cent of the respondents said the same for the regular Police, with 62 per cent mentioning the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
Professor Gyimah Boadi who presented highlights of the survey said public agencies, which are rated very low in terms of honesty and integrity, are the MTTU, regular Police, government ministers, political parties, CEPS and the Passport Office.
Others are the Judiciary, metropolitan and district assemblies, the Ministry of Finance and the Lands Commission.
“It is interesting to note that GHRAJ, NGOs, religious bodies and the Armed Forces are among institutions rated as the most honest and highest in integrity”, he said.
GRi
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Executive jet to be sold, contract is frivolous – Obetsebi-Lamptey
Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister designate for Presidential Affairs, is reported by the Daily Graphic to have told the Parliamentary Appointments Committee that the NPP has asked the Majority Leader to work out the best method of disposing the presidential jet.
“We are on record and stand by the record that the contract was frivolous”, Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey, adding that the President’s trip to Lome was undertaken with a Ghana Airways flight from Accra-Cotonou-Lagos, which was chartered to carry the President to Lome.
On the sale of saloon cars to former government functionaries and ministers, he said the Joint Transitional Team based the decision on the long-term principle of resettling future ministers and government functionaries.
He indicated also that the Office of the President has set up a desk on accountability to handle all issues relating to corruption.
Asked about his new position, he said it will involve the overall direction of government.
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‘Let’s tap other resources to finance oil imports’
The government will have to tap other potential resources, such as salt, to finance the country’s oil imports, the Minister-designate for Energy, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, told the Appointment Committee of parliament yesterday.
According to a front-page story in the Graphic, he said on the coastal belt stretching from Aflao to Elmina, a distance of about 300 kilometres, are potential salt mining areas which could be developed to produce over five million tonnes of salt for export. A tonne of salt currently sells at $200 on the international market.
He said he will restructure the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation such that it will attract foreign partners for the exploration of oil in the country, adding that he will also ensure that the Bulk Oil Storage Company (BOST) sticks to its original role of stockpiling petroleum products at strategic locations.
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Code of Conduct for govt officials soon
A Code of Conduct for top-level government officials is to be instituted soon as part of measures being planned by the government to combat corruption in the country, reports The Ghanaian Times.
For the proposed code of conduct to be successfully implemented, an office of accountability would be created within the Executive Office to reinforce the work of the existing national integrity bodies, the Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama is reported as having announced on Wednesday in Accra when he launched the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition and the report on the Ghana Governance and Corruption Survey carried out last year.
The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition is made up of the GHRAJ, SFO., National Institutional Renewal Programme (NIRP), Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF), GJA, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII).
The corruption survey carried out by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), with support from the World Bank, looked into the phenomenon of corruption in Ghana.
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TUC prepared to dialogue with govt … to help solve low wage problem
The Times reports the Trade Union Congress (TUC) as saying that it is prepared to have dialogue with government in addressing the low wage problem in the country.
While it is prepared to work with the government, the TUC urged it to rectify the ILO convention, which makes it imperative for governments to surrender to the forces of demand and supply in determining wage levels.
Mr Anthony Yaw Baah, Head of the Industrial Relations and Research Department of TUC, stated this in Accra on Tuesday in a contribution to a forum organized by the Institute of Financial and Economic Journalists (IFEJ) under the theme: Economic Options for a new Government”.
Speaking on the topic, “Making wages and salaries more meaningful to enhance economic growth and development”, he said wages generally were absolutely very low and have made it imperative for public sector workers not to give off their best.
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BOG implements strategies to improve economy
The Chronicle says the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, on Wednesday gave the assurance that in line with trade shocks, which have affected the country’s economic performance over the last one and a half years, strategies are being implemented to improve upon the macroeconomic environment in Ghana.
Speaking at the commissioning of the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI), Dr Duffuor stressed that the harmonisation of macroeconomic policies is critical to the success of the creation of a West African Central Bank and a common currency.
“This would require that all countries pursue fiscal policies that are consistent with the single monetary system a requirement which would no doubt requires serious reforms and adjustments in all countries,” he added.
He expressed confidence that the financial integration will present large benefits, which will allow large-scale transactions and internationalism of financial activity as well as improve waste management.
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Konadu to take over NDC
The Guide says sources from inner circles of the NDC has indicated that Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, the ex-First Lady has waged a campaign to take control of the party hit by internal wranglings after its December 28 electoral defeat.
The wranglings in the party today emanates from a section of the party’s leadership who go with Nana Konadu and who believe that the defeat of the NDC was caused by the activities of what they describe as the Fanti Confederacy in the party.
The source named the persons as including Ato Ahwoi, Kwamina Ahwoi, Kwesi Ahwoi, Kofi Totobi Quakyi and Nana Ato Dadzie.
It noted that these people have been targeted for sidelining to make it possible for Nana Konadu to take over the party to fight the next elections in the year 2004.
It revealed that the strategy to fight and weaken the base of the powerful Fantis in the party is to float a daily private NDC newspaper to be edited by Kofi Badu of the infamous ‘Spokesman’ that maligned the Busia administration in the early 1970s.
While the main object of Badu’s paper is to be the major critic of the NPP government, a few wrong doings of the Fante Confedracy would be leaked to the private press to weaken the resolve of the pro-Atta Mills adherents, and get their hands off the control of the party.
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Konadu’s aide complains…over Removal of Barricades
Mr Victor Smith, the Personal Aide of the immediate past First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, has complained bitterly about the removal of the concrete-filled drums that were used to barricade her Ridge residence in Accra, reports the Crusading Guide.
The heavy drums were removed on Monday to enable motorists use the access road in front of Nana Konadu’s residence, which is located near the Ridge Hospital.
In an interview with Joy FM, an Accra based FM station on Tuesday, January 30, monitored by the paper, Mr Smith said he did not know who ordered the removal of the barricades but however, maintained that it was the action of the police.
He said he was not in favour of their removal because their absence posed a security threat to the former first family.
He said the blockade became necessary because there were times that the President, in trying to move out of the house, found trotro and a build-up of traffic in front of their gate which posed danger to them, more so due to the orchestration of negative sentiments about the President.
He said the decision to close the road to traffic was not important to Rawlings alone, but the State as well as, “it gave him protection in view of the fact that he commands a lot of support from the people of the country, irrespective of what anybody may think”.
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