SSNIT stinks – Financial report
‘Govt won’t undertake demonitisation exercise’
State to lose 7bn cedis yearly
Joint Forum seeks pay rise
Kufuor meets Soussoudis
Secret bank accounts
NPP in trouble… as more Ministers plucked from Parliament
210 billion cedis for 2,000 soldiers
Cadres go wild
300 shot in 1982
Retrenchment at NDC Headquarters
SSNIT stinks – Financial report
The 2000 Financial Sector Assessment Programme Report has strongly recommended that steps should be taken to prevent the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) from becoming a national liability.
The report wondered why a big institution such as SSNIT has “no defined investment policy guidelines, no stated underwriting criteria and no central investment committee,” says the state owned ‘Daily Graphic’.
SSNIT, which holds 27 per cent of domestic equity in the Ghana Stock Exchange and is entrusted with a large share of the savings of workers of Ghana, has not issued audited financial statements since 1997.
It said its draft in 1999 financial statements showed a real rate of return of only 2.3 per cent on investments, partly as a result of a provision for bad investment equal to 20 per cent of assets.
The report, commissioned by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), said the SSNIT, one of the largest financial institutions in the country in terms of total assets and a major source of long-term funding, is plagued with serious financial and administrative problems that threatens its medium term functioning which, if not checked, will have a major adverse impact in the financial intermediation in the country.
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‘Govt won’t undertake demonitisation exercise’
Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Governor of the Bank of Ghana and the Finance Minister, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, have denied any knowledge about any demonitisation exercise.
“The governor stated categorically that it is not true that there is going to be any demonitisation,” the Graphic quotes him as saying.
The governor who would have been the architect of any demonitisation exercise said in an interview in Accra: “It is not true. I’ve never been consulted on any such exercise and if it is speculation, it is unfortunate because it would not help the economy.”
Reacting to a publication in an Accra-based newspaper, which said the country’s currency is to be withdrawn, the governor said it is sad that people could play with the country’s economy. The story had indicated that people who will send 10,000 cedis to the bank under the exercise will get 1,000 cedis which is 10 per cent of the original amount.
He wondered why some people would want to use their own understanding to explain banking issues. “It is only fair that those who want to understand banking issues consult in order to clarify those they do not understand”, he said.
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State to lose 7bn cedis yearly
The State will lose over 7 billion cedis a year due to the removal of taxes on petroleum products, says ‘The Ghanaian Times’.
The taxes, were waived by Parliament last Friday when fixing new petroleum prices to keep them at affordable rates.
Taxes removed on petroleum products are the ad-valorem excise duty of 15 per cent of re-refinery prices and Excise Duty specific introduced by the NDC, Mr F.K. Owusu Adjapong, Minister of Transport and Communications, told representatives of transport unions and vehicle dealers in Accra on Tuesday.
The Minister said the issue of petroleum prices and their effect on the economy would not be over-emphasised. “The previous government, for political expediency continued to subsidize the ex-pump price of petroleum products and at the time of handing over to the NPP administration, TORs debts stood at about 3 trillion cedis with a daily increase of some 600 million cedis,” he said.
That, he said, the new administration considered unacceptable hence the need to increase petroleum prices to halt the accumulating debts.
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Joint Forum seeks pay rise
The Times carries that the Joint Consultative Forum of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the Civil Servants Association (CSA) and the Judicial Service Staff Association (JUSAG) will meet the Minister of Manpower Development and Employment, Madam Cecilia Bannerman on Wednesday to discuss issues concerning the recent increases in fuel prices and its effect on workers.
They would also look at negotiations for salary adjustment, as well as ensure that the focus of Government income policy is not derailed.
This was contained in a press statement issued in Accra and signed by Mr Paul Osei-Mensah, General Secretary of GNAT, Mr Smart Chigabatia, executive secretary, CSA and Mr Joseph Esiful Ansah, general secretary of JUSAG.
The statement said that the meeting was crucial in view of the 64 per cent and 42 per cent hikes in the costs of petrol and diesel respectively and their implications on the cost of transportation, foodstuff and other basic consumer items.
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Kufuor meets Soussoudis
The news that Mr Michael Soussoudis, the one time security capo of the erstwhile PNDC was found with a revolver on his body during a visit to the residence of the President, Mr J.A. Kufuor last Monday must certainly be a source of worry to the good people of Ghana, says ‘The Daily Guide’.
Sources close to the Presidency hinted however that after Soussoudis had been sent to the Police Head office, President Kufuor still invited him to his residence to hear the purpose of his earlier visit.
The paper could however not lay hands on the discussions that went on between the two but it is speculated that Soussoudis explained the circumstances that led to the cache of arms and ammunitions found in his home after a period of amnesty to all those owning guns to return them expired.
Observers believe by that singular act of the President still inviting Soussoudis to listen to him was ample demonstration of a person who loves peace and does not believe in revenge and acrimony.
When the news broke out on Tuesday morning, many Ghanaians were obviously worried about the security lapses rather than the fact that someone managed to get to the President’s residence with a revolver hidden on him.
The police, many believe, took things for granted in the sense that Soussoudis was accompanied by Kofi Wayo, an NPP candidate in the last elections, who might have been frequenting the house.
The public’s apprehension was heightened by the fact that Soussoudis happens to be the cousin of ex-President Rawlings and for whose sake eight Ghanaians were in 1985 denationalised so that Soussoudis could gain his freedom from the United States.
However, Dr Ibn Chambas, NDC Member of Parliament for Bimbilla claimed in a Radio Gold (an Accra FM station) discussion that Soussoudis, by his friend Wayo, is more linked to the NPP and went on to campaign for the party during the last elections.
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Secret bank accounts
The Bank of Ghana (BOG) has initiated an investigation into the possibility of other secret accounts, which the former government might have opened outside the central Bank.
This follows the revelation that Nana Ato Dadzie, the former Chief of Staff, operated two accounts at the Osu branch of the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) and the Metropolitan and Allied Bank Ghana Limited on behalf of the government through which the controversial End-of-Service-Benefits (ESB), were paid to former Ministers and other government functionaries.
A credible source at the BOG told “The Evening News” in Accra at the weekend that Nana Ato Dadzie flouted the Central Bank directives that all government accounts should be operated at the BOG.
It noted that, “it is possible that other accounts are in the system which we are not aware of and that it is necessary we find out”.
According to the source as far back as 1997, the Government issued directives that all government accounts should be transferred to the Central Bank in conformity with Constitutional provisions.
It said latest developments have shown that the directive was not fully complied with and stressed that the Bank was determined to get things straightened up.
It described as incorrect the statement by the Controller and Accountant-General that even though the cheques relating to the ESB were processed at his outfit, he did not know which banks they were to be cashed and emphasized that as the Chief Accountant of the government, he should know all accounts being operated by the government.
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NPP in trouble… as more Ministers plucked from Parliament
The President on Tuesday released 29 more names to the position of Deputy Ministers raising the number of Ministers to 66, about two-thirds of the 100 odd Members of Parliament from the majority NPP side but precariously disadvantaged in the very important business of the legislature.
“Not only is the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) thin on numbers, most of their bright stars have been yanked from Parliament into the Executive wing, exposing their flanks to the NDC majority who have found their voices in the House and are growing more aggressive and adversarial.”
The NDC, the paper says, has dangerous but effective Members in Parliament like the ranking member from Brong Ahafo, Hon Asiedu Nketsiah, a teacher and former deputy Minister of Agriculture who has demonstrated over the years that he is as brilliant as he can be troublesome. He used to hold the House hostage with his forthright and courageous presentation, which often shows clear and unmistakable signs of scholarship and depth.
Hon Bagbin, the minority leader (Nadowli North) and senior partner of Law Trust, an NDC-DIC inspired law firm and Alhaji Mumuni, former Minister of Employment and Social Welfare are also key frontliners who cannot be taken lightly.
Though the Constitution recommends that majority of Minister should come from Parliament, analysts are of the opinion that this provision should not be followed slavishly at the expense of effective legislative business.
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210 billion cedis for 2,000 soldiers
The Dispatch says the NPP government of President John Agyekum Kufuor inherited a number of political, security and economic ‘landmines’ from the former NDC government of ex-President Jerry Rawlings.
It says one problem that fits the security and economic ‘landmines’ is the issue of about 2,150 Warrant Officers (WOs) and other ranks in the Ghana Armed Forces who should have been retired by now. They are however still in the service and occupying badly needed accommodation because their retirement benefits have not been paid to them. Their benefits, according to President Kufuor, averages $15,000 (105 million cedis) each meaning his government has to find about $32.2 million (225.7 billion cedis).
Political and security analysts believe that the inability of the Rawlings government to make those payments presents a delicate issue for President Kufuor.
The military hierarchy is said to have agreed with the former President, on the need to disengage the over 2,000 WOs and other ranks.
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Cadres go wild
Some cadres who served as foot soldiers in the Rawlings PNDC “revolution” and worked for the 1992 and 1996 NDC election victories are disgruntled and aggrieved for not being considered in the payment of 3.4 billion cedis end of service benefits (ESB) to ex-ministers, presidential staffers, district chief executives and NDC appointees, reports ‘The Independent’.
“They feel cheated as they were not considered for any awards in appreciation and commitment to the P/NDC over the last 20 years.”
In a chat with the Independent, they complained bitterly that, “the leadership of the party conveniently forgot about us when it came to the sharing of the booty”.
“To the leadership, including the former chief of staff at the Castle, it is chop time no cadre”.
One of the cadres said by its decision not to extend the benefits to the hard working cadres,” the former chief of staff’s office has by implication told us, the cadres that we have been fools to have toiled and sacrificed to sustain the PNDC and the NDC which formed the government from 1992 until it was defeated in the December 2000 elections by the NPP”.
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300 shot in 1982
‘The Weekly Insight’ says ex-PNDC detainees are painting a very gory picture of what happened between the Headquarters of Flt. Lt Jerry John Rawlings, at the Gondar Barracks and the Air Force Base.
According to the ex-detainees, up to 300 people were herded to the Airforce Base and gunned down without charge or trial in the heady days of Rawlings’ rule.
Some of those who were extra-judicially murdered were soldiers suspected of being opposed to the Rawlings government, social misfits and political opponents.
According to Dr Kofi Kodzi, a medical officer who suffered three years of detention under Rawlings, soldiers took advantage of the mass killings to eliminate their enemies.
They simply labelled “their personal enemies as counter revolutionary”.
The victims when arrested were taken to the Gondar Barracks, where they were usually treated nicely and given food and then were usually taken out to the Airforce Base where they were summarily executed.
A corporal at the Airforce Base (name withheld) who admits to taking part in the killings estimates that at least 300 people were despatched to unmarked graves.
The story of the Corporal is published in Dr. Kodzi’s book “Worse Than South Africa” from page 40 to 43.
It is still not clear whether former President Rawlings knew and approved of these killings.
While some insist that he ought to have known because the victims were kept under his very nose in the guardroom of the Gondar Barracks, which served as his office, others say he may not have known.
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Retrenchment at NDC Headquarters
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has, according to the ‘Free Press’ decided to shed its bloated image and acquire a leaner and meaner profile.
As a first step, the party has decided to cut down on the number of staff at the party headquarters and the downsizing exercise would extend to the regional and constituency levels soon.
Speaking in an exclusive interview, a national executive member of the party hinted that starting this month, dozens of hangers-on at the party’s headquarters who were being paid salaries for doing virtually nothing will have their names deleted from the pay roll.
The source disclosed that whilst the NDC was in power, scores of cadres, activists and pure hangers-on were put on the payroll at the headquarters at the insistence of party executives.
He revealed that since the NDC was then in power, they had access to unlimited funds so they could afford to pay them, however, since losing the December 2000 elections, sources of funding had suddenly dried up and they would have difficulties keeping them.
“Henceforth only essential staff would be maintained at party headquarters and all those who came there through patronage should go back to the patrons,” he asserted.
Meanwhile party watchers at the headquarters had attributed the downsizing as part of a strategy to break one person’s hold on the party. A source intimated that most of those slated for dismissal were protégés of one executive member and their loyalty was more to him than to the party.
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