GRi Press Review Ghana 30-01-2001
NDC fires first shot
Police, GIS join Hands
¢300m deal at La poly clinic
‘We shall not spare coup plotters’
We took things for granted – Obed Asamoah
Tsatsu sneaks out … diplomatic passports and all
NDC fires first shot
The Evening News says some of President Kufuor’s nominees, in their eagerness to familiarise with their new offices to be, have been parading the corridors of the ministries.
However, the opposition (NDC), not wanting to be hoodwinked into accepting what they believe to be an illegality shrouded in diplomatic garb, have challenged the actions.
Last Friday, one Iddrisu Haruna of Tamale, who describes himself as “a citizen of Ghana”, filed a writ at the Supreme Court seeking a declaration that the conduct of the President in authorising his men to exercise executive authority on his behalf was unlawful. The writ cites the Attorney-General as defendant.
According to the plaintiff, the President in authorising the nominees to exercise authority on his behalf when they had not been approved by parliament as ministers, was inconsistent with and in contravention of the letter and spirit of the constitution.
Accordingly, the plaintiff is contending that any nominee of the President who has been purporting to exercise executive authority of state in any ministry to which he has been designated by the President, cannot lawfully exercise the executive functions conferred on the President in that ministry of government.
He is also seeking a declaration that on the true and proper interpretation of the constitution, particularly Articles 58 (1) and (3) 76 (1) and (2), 76 (1), 80, 190(1) and 295(1) and (2) which say “no person who has been appointed a minister of state or an officer of government can be authorised by the President of Ghana to exercise the executive authority conferred on the President on his behalf.
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Police, GIS join Hands
The Daily Graphic reports in its lead story that personnel of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) have been roped in to support the Police in combating the recent spate of armed robberies.
The decision to include personnel of the Immigration Service was taken last Friday at a meeting held by the security agencies to evolve strategies to combat the recent scourge of crime.
A source close to the meeting told the paper that a possible involvement of foreigners in the armed robberies brought to the fore the role GIS can play in the process.
The source said 21 more vehicles have been released to augment the present fleet of operational vehicles of the police with many more expected to be released in the next few weeks.
It disclosed that Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr Yaw Adu-Gyimah, was asked to take over from Mr V.V. K. Agbenatoe, as the second in command in-charge of Police Operations.
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We will develop private sector – Kufuor
President J.A. Kufuor is reported in another Graphic story to have pledged his administration objective of pursuing policies aimed at developing the private sector, stabilise the economy and ensure a more responsive governance for the country.
Speaking during a courtesy call on him by Mr Anton Lenstra, President of Unilever in charge of Africa, Middle East and Turkey in Accra on Monday, he said his government’s priority would be to provide the necessary support and framework for the institutionalisation of entrepreneurship in the country.
For such a condition to exist, the President said there is the need to strengthen the country’s democratic institutions.
President Kufuor assured the delegation that his government would be disciplined, stressing that, that is the only way that the national interest would be best served.
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¢300m deal at La poly clinic
The La Polyclinic in Accra, has been hit by a financial scandal of over ¢300 million, resulting from improper award of contracts for the clinic’s projects, over declaration of contract fees and non-payment of IOUs, among others, the state-owned Ghanaian Times reports.
At the centre of the controversy is the Clinic’s Principal Medical Officer, Dr (Mrs) Felicia Bart-Plange. But she denies any wrongdoing and describes any mention of her in connection with the case as a sabotage.
She, however, agreed that she awarded a contract to her son who is a computer student to organise a two-week computer course for 10 clinic staff at the cost of ¢3 million, for which she made a down payment of ¢1 million.
Although she could not tell the ‘Times’ how much she spent to renovate a room for a conference centre, it was alleged that she spent ¢60.8 million on that project which did not go through the proper tendering process.
She said that since the clinic was a Budget Management Centre, it had the right to generate funds to run its own affairs and programmes, upon a meeting of the sub-management team.
Other projects that she was alleged to have undertaken included a ¢71 million laundry and a ¢50 million security lounge.
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Investors lost 50% on GSE last year
Times reports on its business page that although ¢79,312.03 was raised through rights issue and initial public offers, portfolio investors lost over 50 per cent of their dollar investments. The free fall of the cedi also affected the Exchange’s performance.
Most of the stocks were not spared with the market generally quiet. The initial capitalisation of the GSE before Ashanti goldfields Company was listed in May in 1994 was ¢238 billion (209 million dollars).
Its listing capitalisation of 1.5 billion dollars shot the market’s capitalisation to a little over ¢2 trillion-equivalent to 1.8 billion dollars.
Today, with a market capitalisation of ¢3.6 trillion and under a depreciating environment, it has reduced the market in dollar terms to just 530 million dollars.
This development is not conducive to the development of investments because the Exchange’s capitalisation is far less than the minimum ¢5 billion dollars that an emerging market needs to attract a substantial investment.
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‘We shall not spare coup plotters’
Hon. Alhaji Malik Yakubu Alhassan, the Minister designate for the Interior has warned that whoever will make an attempt to reverse Ghana’s democratic dispensation will not go scot-free.
According to the Independent, he said Ghana’s democratic dispensation is a model for Africa and that there is the need for all stakeholders to get involved to consolidate it.
“We are on our way to perfecting our democracy and whoever will go out of that way to reverse the trend will not go scot-free,” he warned.
Hon Yakubu Alhassan was reacting to a question by Hon. Alhaji Mohammed Munmuni to the effect that there is a coup mentality in Ghana which is being reinforced by utterances of some people in government when the former appeared before the Appointment Committee last Saturday for vetting.
According to Hon. Mumuni, utterances like the calls on former Ministers to return cars within seven days and for the submission of all diplomatic passports to the Foreign ministry had created the wrong impression that the ex-ministers had committed heinous crimes, which should warrant their incarceration.
Reacting, Hon. Malik Yakubu noted that any Ghanaian who does not entertain any coup mentality should have nothing to fear adding that Ghana is nurturing democracy and the NPP will ensure that it thrives.
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The Guide says it can confirm that some top officials of the Customs, Exercise and Preventive Service (CEPS) are victimising one Stanley Boy-Quaye, a Principal Collector for his role in uncovering a ¢5.283 billion tax evasion by a Lebanese businessman.
It says investigations revealed that a Lebanese businessman, Ali, who on arrival in Ghana from Sierra Leone in April 2000, established the company, Taj Investment Limited, which imports frozen poultry, rice and sugar.
It was noticed by Ghanaian importers of frozen poultry that Taj was undercutting prices of the products, thus throwing them out of business and a complaint by the local association to CEPS led to investigations by the Trouble Shooting Unit (TSU) at the insistence of CEPS ex-head, Nii Okai Adjei.
The paper says the investigation team, led by Boye-Quaye, while doing its job faced a lot of problems with a top official of CEPS, E.N. Noi, to whom Boye-Quaye was to report directly. He was therefore redirected by the ex-Commissioner to one H.K. Nyaxo, a deputy Commissioner.
According to the paper, by a twist of events when Nii Okine Adjei was asked to proceed on leave recently, those who felt that the investigations would jeopardise their selfish interests transferred Boye-Quaye from his post at the Head Office to forestall the exposure of the tax evasion.
Sources indicate that by the time the full facts of the investigations become clear, Ali’s company might have swindled the nation over ¢10 billion.
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We took things for granted – Obed Asamoah
The former Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Dr Obed Asamoah, has admitted that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) took things for granted during the run-up to the December 2000 elections, The Crusading Guide reports.
Dr Asamoah, speaking on Joy FM’s program, “The Super Morning Show”, said the NDC has had series of meetings to devise strategies for rebuilding the party and win back power in the next elections.
Commenting on why the two positions of Minister of Justice and Attorney General are fused together, Dr Asamoah submitted that the two positions are enshrined in the constitution, which states that, “the Attorney General shall also be the Minister of Justice”.
He affirmed the nomination of Nana Akuffo Addo for the post saying, “he is well versed in the law”.
He also doffed his hat for the creation of Women’s Ministry with cabinet ranking, noting that “it is a good thing.”
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Tsatsu sneaks out … diplomatic passports and all
The Ghanaian Chronicle says it has learnt that Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, the man who single-handedly caused excess money supply in the system in 1995/6 with an exposure of over ¢400 billion has tiptoed out of the country, leaving in his trail another debt of ¢1.4 trillion.
The transition team, which pored over the files, could not trace him or made no serious effort to get the elusive ex-Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), chief to answer questions when he was in the country.
Eye-witnesses say he actually drove straight to the airport tarmac with Ms Esther Cobbah, Public Affairs Manager of the West Africa Gas Pipeline project/GNPC and a close friend, and straight unto a Ghana Airways flight to Lagos, Nigeria.
He is said to have, from there, checked into a British Airways flight enroute to the United Kingdom from where he was expected to continue to Houston area where he is said to be the owner of a plush property.
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AMA snubs 31st DWM
Members of the December 31 Women Movement (31st DWM) were last week stunned when their one time crony, Samuel Addokwei Addo, Chief Execuive of the Accra Metropolitan (AMA), snubbed them and turned down their plea to reverse a contract in their favour, the Chronicle reports in another story.
“I’m sorry, I can’t help you. You know what the Chronicle has written about the situation and the NDC is no more in power. There’s nothing I can do”. The Accra mayor was quoted as having passed on this information to the women when they bus-loaded themselves to the AMA office.
The members, mostly traders from the Accra markets, went to the offices of the AMA last Wednesday to plead with the mayor to allow them collect market tolls on behalf of the AMA, as had been the tradition for the past seven years.
The Chronicle learnt that earlier on in the day, Samuel Addokwei Addo summoned his lieutenants and legal advisors to a meeting to discuss how best to handle affairs of the 31st DWM members, who had colonised the Accra markets and virtually doing anything they deem fit even without contacting the AMA.
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Nana Akufo-Addo, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice-designate, says the criminal libel law will be repealed, according to a report carried by ‘The Statesman.
“It’s not my individual choice. The NPP went out and made a specific commitment to the people of Ghana,” he said, when he appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament in Accra last Friday.
The MP for Abuakwa gave the assurance that the government would not encourage human rights violations, adding that the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice should be the first to champion the rule of law in the country.
Asked whether the killers of the “Kumepreko” demonstration should be left to go scot-free, Nana Akufo-Addo said the victims of the demonstration are entitled to take any legal action against the perpetrators.
On the June 4 and other human rights violations, he noted that peace and stability are necessary for the nation and where there are institutions like the CHRAJ dealing with such issues, they should be allowed to performed their duty. Ad hoc committees and commissions would not help, he said, adding “Nobody is interested in raking the past, and the government will not be a regime of reprisals.”
He also gave the assurance that his office would expedite action on the committee on confiscated assets.
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