Dan Lartey’s party to contest Bimbilla seat
Trades
Union Congress accused of double standards
‘Station Master’ dies but musicians union suspect foul play
‘Ashanti
NDC’ vows to fight back!
Mrs Naadu Mills the wife of Ex-Vice President Prof. John Evans Atta Mills now lecturing in Vancouver was given a rude shock by Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) officials last week when they told her plain in the face, “Madam you can either walk or take a taxi.”
Mrs Naadu Mills had positively responded to an invitation from the BNI to come to their office. Earlier on, eight BNI officials and a uniform policeman had gone to their house and told her that she was hiding some cars in their house.
According to sources she told the operatives that one car belonged to her and the three others were allocated to her husband by the Transitional team. They refused and took the cars away and summoned her to come to the BNI office.
The “Ghanaian Voice” gathered that one of the operatives introduced himself as Ahmed. When she got to the BNI and wanted to find out who that Ahmed was, she was told that there was no Ahmed in the office “She was put in a dark room and when questioned why, she was told that she was been put there because of problem of electricity in the area”. Our sources told us.
A few minutes afterwards, one Mr Anane, a deputy Director of the BNI started harassing her with questions about the husband in Vancouver. The questions were so embarrassing, cheeky and frustrating that she broke down and started crying because she could not take the inquisitional harassment anymore, our sources told us.
In order to balm her nerves and cool her down the official told her that, “we respect you and your husband so much, it is the NDC we have a problem with.” When she got ready to go and started moving towards her car, they continued their humiliation process when they shouted at her “You can take a taxi or walk home”. There and then a call came ordering that she should be given the cars but she should go and change the numbers. - The Ghanaian Voice
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The New
Board of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has
instituted strict codes of practice and policies that will ensure
accountability and transparency in its activities to the people.
According
to the board, it will would render periodic accounts to the people, as well as
publish reports in the national dailies to disabuse the public’s mind of any
misappropriation on the part of the Trust.
The
Deputy Director-General of SNNIT, Mr Ras Boateng, said this at a forum
organized by the Council for Indigenous Business Association (CIBA) in Accra,
on Wednesday.
His
comments were in response to an earlier call by the Minister of Economic
Planning and Regional Integration, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, at the same session, for
SSNIT to take good care of the people’s money entrusted in their care. – The
Ghanaian Times.
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The pastor in charge of the Saltpond Methodist Church, Rev Bonnet Abaka-Wilson, received 30 pellets in his leg when armed robbers attacked his house. He was shot as he attempted to sneak out of the house during the attack to alert neighbours.
The pellets were revealed in an X’ray report from the Cape Coast Central hospital. Rev Abaka-Wilson told the ‘Times’ in an interview at Cape Coast on Wednesday, that the incident occurred at about 2.30 am.
He said that the thugs, armed with pistols, attacked him and his wife, Juliana, and their son William, a third-year student of the Saltpond Methodist High School. According to him, they used iron bars and knives from his house to beat them and took away their belongings and cash running into millions of cedis.
The robbers took away $880, which was to be used for a rural development project at Awutu Breku and ¢5.5 million belonging to the Minister. They also took away three mobile phones, two VCRs, 10 pieces of wax print, 12 pairs of shoes, tow voltage stabilizers, jewelleries an the wedding rings belonging to the couple among others. An undetermined amount belonging to the wife was also stolen.
Rev. Abaka-Wilson said that two robbers attempted to pass through his window to attack him but failed in their action. But he said that when he opened a metal gate behind the house to alert his neighbours the other attacked and shot him in the leg resulting in his profuse bleeding.
He said the robbers after the attack, parked the items in a taxi, GR 7772, which was in his custody and sped off. Later, they abandoned and deflated the tyres of the taxi at a town near Yamoransa. A police source has confirmed the story and said that investigations continue. – The Ghanaian Times
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The Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), with Mr Dan Lartey as its leader, has decided to contest the forthcoming Bimbilla constituency parliamentary bye-election.
The General Secretary, of the GCPP, Mr John Amekah, who said this in an interview in Accra on Wednesday, expressed the conviction that the seat will definitely fall to the party in the bye-election.
According to him, the party’s activists are already in the constituency, preparing the minds of the electorate to massively vote for the GCPP, which he said holds great promise for the country’s economic and social emancipation.
“The GCPP is not taking things for granted and has since the election of Dr Ibn Chambas as the Executive Secretary of ECOWAS been working in the constituency to ensure that the party overwhelm other parties which will be contesting the bye-election,” Mr Amekah said.
He said the party’s domestication concept has been massively embraced by the electorate throughout the country, including the Bimbilla Constituency. The GCPP General Secretary said the country more than ever needs parties whose policies are tailored to consideration and realities on the ground rather than those, which have tied their apron-strings to the developed world.
He said reports reaching the national secretariat from its activists indicate that the party has the brightest chance among the contestants to win the bye-election. Mr Amekah said the national leadership of the party will within the next week travel to the constituency to add more bite to the propaganda activities of its functionaries. - Daily Graphic
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Drug case can’t go on as Customs official absconds with suspect
An official
of the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) has absconded with a female
drug suspect whose case is pending before the Accra Regional Tribunal.
Information
available to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) suggests that Mr Timothy Semekor, the
investigator who was handling the drug smuggling case, has disappeared with the
suspect, who was then in prison custody. The suspect, a Sierra Leonean, was
traveling with a Malian passport when she was arrested.
Mr Justice
Adu Ampomah, Chairman of the Greater Accra Regional Tribunal, showed the GNA a
letter dated January 15, this year, from the CEPS and signed by Mr D.
Bartels-Kodwo, Chief Collector, indicating that Semekor, who was investigating
the case, went to the remand prison, signed documents and took custody of the
suspect and had since not reported for duty.
Mr Justice
Ampomah told the GNA that Fatima Kande, the suspect, was arrested at the Kotoka
International Airport in June 2001. He said Kande was arraigned before the
tribunal on June 26 and was remanded. After the case had been called on three
occasions, the prosecutor withdrew the charge on July 17 and preferred a
different one on the same day. The accused pleaded not guilty and was remanded
to re-appear on July 24, 2001.
Mr Justice
Ampomah said the accused applied for bail, but the tribunal turned the
application down. However, on October 25, the tribunal granted the accused a
¢100 million bail with one surety to be justified on the grounds of ill health
after the investigator had presented a medical report from the Korle-Bu
Teaching Hospital.
The accused
could not fulfill the bail demands so she remained in custody. Mr Justice
Ampomah said the tribunal realised that both the investigator and the accused
did not appear anytime the case was called. It was when the tribunal ordered
the prosecutor to produce the suspect that it was informed by CEPS that the
investigator had absconded with the suspect.
Mr Justice
Ampomah said it is prosecutors and investigators and not the Judiciary that are
to blame for thwarting the trying of drug cases in court. He said some of the
methods they use include the withdrawal of case midstream and excuses like “our
witnesses are not ready,” absence of investigators and witnesses from court,
and withdrawal of charges and preference for fresh charges.
“In the
event of such instances, the courts become handicapped in administering
justice. We do not keep the suspects; we rely on investigators and prosecutors
to produce the suspects in court on any trial day.” The judge explained that
the courts are there to ensure due process but could only do so with the
co-operation of prosecutors and investigators. Mr Justice Ampomah denied that
conditions for bail granted drug suspects are not stringent enough to avoid
their jumping bail. - Daily Graphic
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Residents
of some suburbs of Accra have accused the Secretary-General of the Trades Union
Congress (TUC), Mr Kwesi Adu-Amankwah of double standards in the private sector
participation of urban water distribution in the country.
The
residents noted that while the Labour Enterprise Limited (LET), a private
organization, owned by the TUC is actively involved in urban water supply, Mr
Adu-Amakwah is reported to have said that, “the TUC will campaign and mobilise
against the privitisation of public utilities, especially urban water supply.”
Major (rtd)
Felix Barko, President of the Accra suburbs- South Ofankor, Tabora, Alhaji, Israel
and Lomnava- Residents Association, made the accusation at a news conference in
Accra, on Wednesday morning.
He said
while some residents of Accra pay ¢50 for a bucket of water, others pay about
¢400 for a bucket. Major Barko said the residents do not care about who does
the distribution of water for as long as they get water constantly and at an
affordable price.
The
president of the association said Mr Adu-Amankwah’s position on the private
sector participation in the water supply system was unfortunate, since LET has
as one of its main operations, tankers that sell water at between ¢200 and ¢500
a bucket to the very poor workers he is pretending to protect.
He said
there is no doubt that any attempt to rationalise the distribution of portable
water would affect the TUC’s enterprise.
According
to him, there are many workers suffering and spending too much on water, and
urged the TUC to support the idea of the private sector participation in the
water sector. He called on the government to expedite action now and implement
the policy, but urged the government to get the benefit of workers in
particular.
Major Barko
further suggested that the present staff of the Ghana Water Company Limited
(GWCL) be screened thoroughly so that only honest, dedicated and hardworking
ones are put in charge to monitor the private operator.
He
reiterated the residents support for the private sector participation
programme, since they believe that it is the surest way to get water to
deprived communities like theirs. -Evening News
GRi…/
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Ashanti Goldfields targeted by giant predator
The global
gold industry is riddled with talk about who is going to bid for whom and when,
with the latest speculation pointing to Gold Fields of South Africa, merging
with Ghana’s Ashanti Goldfields headed by Sam Jonah.
His Gold
Fields counterpart, Chris Thompson, rejected Wednesday’s speculation that a
deal was being concluded. “We do not have a deal with Ashanti, nor are there
any agreements pertaining to a deal,” he said.
The company
“absolutely and unequivocally” denied that there was any type of blueprint for
a proposed deal on its way to Finance Minister Trevor Manuel in Pretoria.
Speculation
that there are more takeovers and mergers to come in the industry has attracted
investors keen to cash in on any takeover premium they might pick up. This,
with concerns that the global economic recovery may not come as quickly as forecasted,
is making gold look like a sound alternative to investing in volatile equity
markets.
Ashanti
shares jumped to $4.93 by Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange but that may
be of some cheer for the local shareholders but critically the percentage of
shares held by Ghanaians residents in the country represents just about (1) per
cent of the entire shareholding with Government of Ghana holding 19 per cent,
Lonmin PLC with the dominant shares of 32 per cent and the rest held by big
American pension fund companies and individual high net worth personalities.
Among the
top 50 shareholders in Ghana, the biggest include Ghana Cocoa Coffee and
Sheanut Farmers Association, the Social Security and National Insurance Trust,
Gold Coast Securities, AGC share scheme Trustee, AGC employees provident fund,
Samuel Eson Jonah, State Insurance Corporation, Myma Bentsi Enchill, African
Tiger Mutual fund, Trevor Schultz, Managing Director of AGC, Obuasi, 31st
December Women’s Movement, Ghana Union Assurance, Graphic Corporation and
Graphic Provident Fund.
The demand
for physical gold as a safe haven investment had also contributed to the gold
price rise, said Rob Edwards, a precious metals analyst with HSBC (Hong Kong
Shangai Banking Corporation) in Johannesburg.
“Producers
will be producing less and selling zip on the forward market. Gold is a good
free hedge in the face of unpredictable equity markets,” Edwards said. Newmont
Mining, which has gobbled up Normandy mines represented in Ghana by Mr Jude
Bucknor, has said it intends to reduce the forward selling positions of a
merged Normandy.
AngloGold
said this week that if it pursued its existing hedging policy this may
change
depending on a number of market factors. Its hedge book would be reduced by 4
million ounces to 10 million ounces by the end of the year.
Concerns
about corporate governance after the Enron revelation in the US combined with
political woes and a downgrading of Japanese banks’ debt by a top ratings
agency, all give an indication as to why investor demand for gold in Japan is
on the rise.
Traditionally,
the gold price falls when the dollar is strong, but Rice Rinaldi’s (An SA
Company specializing in stocks) Mr Cook said one of the most positive aspects
about the run-up in the gold price was that the gold price was still climbing
at a time when the dollar was holding its strength.
“This is a
bullish sign. Unless the spike fades, as it has in the past, we will have a
rising gold price at a time when the US dollar has been strong. Any weakness in
the dollar with gold price at these high levels might well push gold a lot
higher.”
Cook said
the latest talk about an Ashanti-GoldFields merger was overblown. “People
always say where there is smoke there is fire. On this occasion, I think this
story will be with us for some time. Don’t expect a merger announcement anytime
soon,” he said.
There were
a number of hurdles, including political aspects involving both the SA and
Ghana government that would have to be cleared before any GoldFields-Ashanti
deal would become a reality.
Gold is
again the rising star of the resources world, running up to 300/oz on Wednesday
and adding to the buzz surrounding SA gold stocks and the global industry as a whole. SA gold producers have
just completed a round of quarterly earnings presentations, which must have
cheered investors.
Goldfields
of South Africa share price has run up 44 per cent since the start of the year.
AngloGold’s has jumped 25 per cent and Harmony Gold, which now has a market
capitalization of $1.4 billion has climbed 30 per cent. The gold price was last
trading at 298.35/oz as the US market cemented the rally seen in the price
earlier in the day.
“Investors
are buying gold as a safe haven. There are also a number of positive factors
working together and underpinning the gold price,” said Allan Cooke, an analyst
at Rice Rinaldi Securities in Johannesburg.
In South
Africa, the home of the World’s leading mines, Ashanti and its bosses are
viewed with great respect as models. Last year, the Chief Executive of AGC was
invited to join one of the latest private equity fund set up to invest
specifically in resource companies.
Mr Anthony
Ogilvie Thompson, Charles Pettifer and Michael Smith founded the fund called
Termite Fund with over 40 years of experience in the industry between them and
vast connections in banking and networking. Anthony’s father is the great JOT
(not JOT Agyeman, father of Mrs Rawlings), but Julian Ogilvie Thompson,
President of AngloGold, the second largest goldmining company in the World and
also of Debeers, the largest Diamond business on earth. (Debeers is owned 54
per cent by AngloGold).
The Termite
committee members include Mr R.G. Cluff, a former SAS paratrooper turned
investor who sold Cluff Resources to Sam Jonah’s AGC, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, the
famous South African ANC leading light turned business entrepreneur and Sir
David Scholey, a senior advisor to the International Finance Corporation and
Deputy Chairman of AngloGold.
According
to Minews, the founders were looking for $100 million to start, but it jumped
to $200 million when Mr Jonah accepted to join the management committee, an
encouraging sign, according to Minews.com. Of the growth of the fund. Already
Sam Jonah is a member of the South African President’s advisory Council, a
matter of great pride to all well meaning Ghanaians. – The Chronicle
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‘Station Master’ dies but musicians union suspect foul play
It can
easily pass for a script taken from Obra or Keteke when one considers the
circumstances surrounding the death of “Station Master” Joe Eyison last
Saturday. He returned home in the evening of last Friday hoping to attend the
wake-keeping of S.K. Oppong but slept through the night. Next day, Saturday, he
left home in the afternoon to attend the funeral but was returned in a taxicab
a few hours later to die.
None of the
mourners saw “Station Master” at the funeral. Where did he go? This and similar
questions have continued to baffle family colleagues and fans of 69-year-old
veteran highlife musician, actor and music industry activist since news of his
death spread through showbiz circles barely six hours after the burial of S.K.
Oppong, leader of Osofo Dadzie also a veteran highlife musician and actor in
Accra.
Perhaps no
one is as baffled as Alhaji Sidiku Buari, President of the Musicians Union of
Ghana with whom Joe Eyison were very close confidants. “I don’t know what
happened,” a wet-eyed Sidiku told Showbiz last Sunday morning.
According
to Sidiku, after he and Joe Eyison had attended the launch of the new Gamugram
authentication stickers at Novotel on Friday, they dispersed after agreeing to
meet at Sidiku’s home in the evening so they could go together to participate
in S.K. Oppong’s wake-keeping at the Accra Centre for National Culture (Arts
Centre).
“I waited
until about 9 pm,” Sidiku told Showbiz, “and when he was not coming I assumed
that he had decided to go directly to the Arts Centre since the venue was
closer to his house.” To his surprise, Sidiku said, he arrived at the venue
without seeing Eyison.
Eyison’s
third-born daughter, Naomi, told Showbiz that indeed Joe Eyison did not leave
his Korle Bu home at all on Friday evening. “He said he was tired when he came
home and went to bed. He did not make any effort at attending the wake-keeping
although he had earlier indicated he would,” Naomi said.
“He woke up
unusually late the next day and said he was attending Oppong’s funeral.”
Protests by his daughter that he was already late for the funeral and therefore
he should rather continue resting did not find favour with Eyison. “He left
home at about 1.30 pm,” Naomi said.
Later in
the evening, a taxi pulled up at the door of the Eyisons with the old man in
the front seat, looking rather weak and frail. The children panicked and
attempted to revive him but his situation deteriorated further. In the short
time that it took to send the old man round the block to Korle Bu Hospital, he
was dead.
Snippets of
information collected from various sources indicate that on the fateful
Saturday afternoon when Joe Eyison left home, he walked down their street to
catch a taxi. Unconfirmed sources allege that he was joined by two other men,
some distance down the street, and they drove off in a taxi together towards
Kwame Nkrumah Circle.
Why did he
head towards the Circle when indeed it would have been shorter for him to go
through the Mortuary Road then through the Light House, High Street, to the
Arts Centre?
Joe Eyison
is said to have stopped over at the MUSIGA Head Office sometime that afternoon
and also at Alhaji Sidiku Buari’s house at Dzorwulu when Sidiku was away at the
funeral. At that stage, eye witnesses described the oldman as having been in a
very weak state.
The last
taxi ride for Joe Eyison was that one that dropped him at home that Saturday
evening. It could not be confirmed whether it was the same taxi which picked
him earlier in the afternoon that dropped him home.
Besides the
rather unusual circumstances surrounding Joe Eyison’s movements last Saturday,
the leadership of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) of which he is the Greater
Accra Regional Secretary, has said that they suspect foul play.
In a press
statement signed by MUSICA President Alhaji Sidiku Buari, the Association said,
“there is great suspicion surrounding his death.” According to the statement,
Joe Eyison informed Sidiku that some persons threatened Eyison on the eve of
his death soon after he had attended the Gamugram launch at Novotel.
“You will
see,” Eyison was allegedly told. “At this moment, we are shocked by the great
loss we have suffered,” Sidiku told Showbiz. “We don’t know what happened to
him; we do not want to point fingers at anyone. We wait for the outcome of
police investigations.” - Graphic Showbiz
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A leading
member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ashanti
Region, Mr Yaovi-Agbanyo, has stated that his party is tired of the lies and
campaign of attrition being waged against it by the New Patriotic Party
(NPP)-led government, hinting that a move to counter the campaign of
vilification was well underway.
He said
ever since the NPP assumed the mantle of governance, its leaders,
functionaries, supporters and sympathisers have been moving heaven and earth
waging a relentless war against the NDC with the sole aim of destroying it, as
if constitutionally, the latter has no right to function as a political party
in the country.
Mr Agbanyo
was speaking to The Crusading Guide in an exclusive interview in Kumasi
recently. He was reacting to the purported incessant attacks on the NDC,
following the general perception that it had ruined the country’s economy.
“We have
had enough of this nonsense from the NPP and we can no longer continue or
tolerate,” he angrily charged. Mr Agbanyo said keeping quiet and allowing the
NPP to have a field’s day would not be in the interest of the large opposition
party and democracy in Ghana.
He
explained that the Fourth Republican Constitution abhors the country becoming a
one-party state but the general impression is that the government wants to
obliterate the NDC so that it can be in power for life. “This is very dangerous
and all Ghanaians should stand up against the government before it destroys the
democracy the country is nurturing,” he advised.
The NDC
leading member said the current democratic dispensation which the NPP is
enjoying was the brainchild of the erstwhile PNDC and if anything at all, the
party (NDC) should be credited for all since several countries have resisted
this western type of democracy to date.
Mr Agbanyo
said since the government has no monopoly over a campaign of vilification and
outright lies it should be well-prepared for counter measures against the
ruling body.
He observed
that following the smooth manner in which political power was transferred to
the NPP, the NDC thought the government would reciprocate by stopping the
campaign of lies and concentrate on the fulfilment of its numerous campaign
promises, non of which, he said, has so far been fulfilled.
When asked
what specific measures the NDC was embarking on to hit back at the NPP, Mr
Agbanyo declined to disclose them but gave the firm assurance that they will
become manifest as the days roll by.
He said the
strategy will be so intense and damaging that the NPP would call an immediate
unconditional ‘ceasefire.’
The NDC
leading member said as the largest opposition party in the country, their
intention, after they handed power over to the NPP, was to cooperate with the
latter to provide good governance for the country but it appears the government
is not interested in that “hence our move to make life weary for it”.
Asked
whether what he was saying represented the official position of the NDC, he
said that was not necessary at this stage, “just wait and see and you will find
answers to all these”, he noted.
Ever since
the NPP assumed the leadership position of the country, a lot has been said
about a culture of official malfeasance that the NDC bequeathed the nation and
ever since it (NDC) has become an object of public ridicule, something the
former ruling party has vehemently opposed or is not taken kindly to.
A political
analyst speculated “that if the threat by Mr Agbanyo is executed, it may shift
the county’s attention from development to something nasty which could have
far-reaching consequences for the entire population.” - Crusading Guide.
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