Bid to handle vetting with dispatch - House resolves impasse
‘Police now in full control’
Ex-Ministers’ cars re-velued
Ministers-designate acting illegally
It is normal to inherit empty coffers
How did 31st DWM get $250m ADB loan?
Kufuor to appoint 37 more Ministers
GBC, Graphic gang up against Kufuor
Atta Mills was not in control
Government won’t spare Ex-Ministers
Bid to handle vetting with dispatch - House resolves impasse
Parliament on Thursday resolved that the three-day induction seminar for members scheduled for this weekend at GIMPA be deferred to enable its Appointments Committee to sit today and tomorrow to vet 12 minister designate, reports the Daily Graphic.
The issue as to whether the committee should sit at the weekend became a bone of contention between the two sides of the House at its sitting on Wednesday. The Minority insisted that even though members of the committee met last Friday to determine how to tackle its assignment, it never planned to sit this weekend to vet nominees.
Mr A.S.K. Bagbin, Minority Leader, and Mr James Victor Gbeho, Independent Member for Anlo assured the House that the Minority will not do anything to sabotage constitutional rule.
The first batch of six who will appear today are Mr J.H. Mensah, Minister of State and Leader of Government Business; Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor for Defence; Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Finance; Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Foreign Affairs; Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Attorney General and Minister of Justice; and Mr Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, Local Government and Rural Development. The remaining are to appear from Saturday.
The reports of the Appointments Committee on the first batch of Ministers will be laid before the House on Tuesday, January 30, whilst that of the second batch will be laid on Wednesday, January 31 and expected to be adopted by the House on Wednesday January.
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‘Police now in full control’
The Ghana Police Service has assured filling station owners and the general public that the recent upsurge of robbery at such stations is now fully under their control and there should therefore not be a cause for any alarm, the Graphic states in a another front-page story.
According to the police, pragmatic measures have been put in place to check the robbery and ensure the safety of all filling stations.
The Head of the Public Relations Unit, Superintendent Richard Baduweh, in an interview with the paper, said three crack units of the service, the Striking Force, Mobile Force and the Panther Unit, have been revamped with new vehicles and communications gadget to ensure effective policing.
He said other detailed security strategies, which cannot be disclosed have also been put in place.
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Ex-Ministers’ cars re-velued
The President, Mr J.A. Kufuor, has directed that all former ministers and functionaries of the NDC who purchased their official vehicles should either pay the differences between the prices they paid and the official valuation, or return the cars within seven days, writes The Ghanaian Times.
A statement issued in Accra on Thursday and signed by Mr J.O. Obetsebi-Lamptey, Chief of Staff at the office of the President, said, “The President has decided that in the public interest, the purchasers should either pay the difference between the prices they paid and the official valuation or return the cars.”
However, the offers made concerning those vehicles manufactured in 1999 and last year, have been withdrawn.
The statement said that the NPP government stood by the principles upon which the Joint Transitional Team acted with respect to the former President and members of the out-going executive.
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Ministers-designate acting illegally
All the instructions and statements issued by Ministers-designate are unlawful and unconstitutional, Mr Alban S.K. Bagbin Minority Leader, has said.
Speaking to the ‘Times’ in Accra on Thursday, Mr Bagbin said that the position of President’s representatives as the Head of Ministries, Departments and agencies (MDAs) is unknown in the laws of Ghana.
“Legally speaking, the President’s representatives at the helm of affairs at any MDA is the Minister,” he added.
Mr Bagbin, who is the Member of Parliament for Nadowli North, said that “the President is endowed with the Executive Authority of the State and could administer the Ministries from his office without appointing any person. If he decides to appoint ministers then the law enjoins him to pass them through Parliament for approval.”
On the issue of getting the government machinery in motion, the Minority Leader said that it would not do anybody any good if the authority of Parliament allowed itself to be ‘torpedoed’ into taking rush decisions due to public pressure.
In another interview, Mr Bagbin said that the directive from the Chief of Staff, Mr Jake Obetsebi Lamptey suspending the Board of Directors as well as the Director General of the National Communications Authority (NCA) was illegal and in contravention of the provisions of the NCA Act of 1996, Act 524.
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It is normal to inherit empty coffers
The New Patriotic Party should not have expected to meet any surplus in the national coffers, Mr Victor Selormey, a former Deputy Minister of Finance is reported by the Evening News as having stated.
According to him, it is normal to inherit empty coffers when the national resources cannot meet government expenditures.
Speaking at a news conference in Accra on Thursday, to explain the NDC’s position on the government accounts and the current fuel pricing situation, he said: “It is surprising that the impression is being created as if the NDC government deliberately attempted to sabotage the new government by depleting the state coffers.”
Mr Selormey denied allegations levelled against the NDC by the NPP government that it deliberately emptied the coffers before leaving office.
“We in the NDC continuously informed the people of Ghana about the shortfalls in revenues generated from the sales of cocoa and gold, and this manifested itself in the non-payment of various government bills that were due,” he said.
He said since he joined government in 1993 there had never been a surplus in the budget, a clear indication that there were not enough resources to meet the needs of Ghanaians.
Commenting on the fuel situation in the country, Mr Selormey stated that there was absolutely no reason at this time for panic increases in fuel prices and that the obvious implications of such increases would be the destabilization of the cedi and consequent worsening of the inflationary situation.
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How did 31st DWM get $250m ADB loan?
Mr Johnny Hansen, a leading member of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) has called on the Kufuor government to investigate allegations of impropriety levelled against some former ministers, NDC functionaries and the past regime, according to the Evening News.
This, in his view, would clear doubts in the minds of Ghanaians and confirm the government’s commitment for transparency.
Mr Hansen was speaking to the paper in an interview in Accra on Thursday on his party’s views on the allocation of vehicles to former ministers of state and government functionaries as well as issues on probity and accountability.
He said the institution of probe into the activities of the past regime should not be misconstrued as witch hunting, but as a move to get the country on the right path.
Mr Hansen said even though there are some mistakes, which the past government might have committed and which could be glossed over, there are others, which call for serious investigations.
He cited for instance, the mode of acquisition of a 250 million-dollar loan from the African Development Bank (ADB) by the 31st December Women’s Movement, the transfer of the former State Transport Corporation (STC) to Vanef and how the DWM acquired the Nsawam Cannery.
Other issues, which the public are interested to know, he said are the Rice Project initiated by the former Vice-Prisident, Professor J.E.A. Mills which the country lost over 10 million dollars and the additional two million dollars allegedly given to a woman contracted for the project.
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Kufuor to appoint 37 more Ministers
The Dispatch says credible sources close to the Office of the President has hinted that President John Agyekum Kufuor is aiming to appoint a total of 64 Ministers, meaning there are 37 more in the pipeline to add unto the 27 that he previously nominated.
The President, in his campaign leading to the general elections had promised reducing the number of Ministers in the previous government of President Rawlings that stood at 88.
The announcement of the 27 Ministers reportedly caused some stir, not with the nominees but the classification of Ministries, which is making analysts wonder if President Kufuor will not cross his reported self-imposed limit of 64 and not get closer to the NDC’s figure.
Analysts according to Dispatch had expected the Ministry of Communications to be scrapped with the nomination of Ms Elizabeth Ohene as a Minister of State, President-media relations.
The description of some of the Ministerial titles, it said, gives the impression that the Kufuor administration wanted to avoid criticisms from certain interest groups like gender and regional groups.
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GBC, Graphic gang up against Kufuor
The Statesman writes that barely three weeks into the NPP government, media watchers are convinced that the state-owned Daily Graphic and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) have ganged up to cause mischief against the President.
These state-owned media organisations, which have for years blatantly and faithfully championed the cause of the fallen P(NDC) government, have suddenly changed their tune1.
The paper indicates that the two media organisations have now made a 180 degree turn and are seen to be seriously pursuing an anti-Kufuor, anti-NPP agenda.
“Just read or listen to some of the comments, and articles said to be coming from political analysts and opinion leaders that they have been publishing,” it states, adding that it is no wonder that such open hostility to a three-week old government should exist at Graphic and GBC.
The paper cites the Editor of Graphic as a close friend of Rawlings and adds that it was the ex-President and ex-PNDC Chairman himself who appointed the man Editor, over and above his betters and he has been singing his praises ever since.
It continues that all the sensitive editorial positions on this state-owned paper are manned by known and card-carrying NDC diehards, people who saw everything right, and nothing wrong, with the rape and looting of the nation.
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Atta Mills was not in control
The Guide reports that it has now been firmly established that Professor John Evans Atta Mills, the former vice president who stood on the presidential ticket of the NDC was not his own man.
“His destiny was more or less controlled by some unnamed powerful persons in the NDC who carved several power blocks in the party and were obviously pulling the cash strings.”
This explosive information, Guide says, was dropped by the man, who was closest to the former vice president, Mr Willie Ansah who did not hold any defined role in the NDC, but was Atta Mills’ personal assistant, writing some of his most important speeches.
Describing his former boss in a radio interview in Accra on Thursday, he said, “Prof. is a perfect gentleman, very humble,” and, if he had won the elections, would have moved to get rid of the power blocks who were controlling affairs of the party.
Ansah revealed that Mills is very interested in running in 2004, most probably against Kufuor again, but said “I am suggesting that if he is to go on, he would have to get hold of the party, and run it himself and I presume that is the way forward.”
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Government won’t spare Ex-Ministers
The majority leader in parliament, Mr J.H. Mensah, according to the Free Press, has revealed that the out-gone National Democratic Congress (NDC) government depleted the state coffers and that as at now “there is nothing left” for the new administration to use for national development and other pressing issues.
He said. “We shall delve deeply into the depletion of the state’s resources and if detected that any minister has misappropriated any state funds, such a minister will be made to answer and account for the lapses.”
Mr Mensah who is designated as the Minister for Government Business, said such a situation makes it difficult for the new administration to operate smoothly.
He promised that they shall endeavour to ensure that the new government fulfills its electioneering promises made to the masses before being elected to power.
Mr Mensah who was addressing a “victory and thank you” rally organised by the Sekondi Constituency of the party also promised that the NPP government would soon bring to light the current state of the national economy before embarking fully on business to make the people aware of the state of affairs.
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