GRi Press Review Ghana 31 – 01 - 2001
Amidu files writ against President
‘CPP has learnt, from its mistakes’
President names Regional Ministers
Vulture meat man jailed 6 months
Drama in Parliament…a bent man’s memo stalls the House
NDC MP in stealing charge
Kufuor’s men sail through
Reform will not join NPP – Opoku
Makola market project – another SSNIT drain
Amidu files writ against President
The former Deputy Attorney-General, Mr Martin Amidu, is reported by the Daily Graphic to have filed a writ at the Supreme Court praying the court for an interim injunction to restrain the President J.A. Kufuor, and three others from continuing to violate the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana.
The three are the Attorney-General; Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Chief of Staff; Ms Elizabeth Ohene, who has been nominated as Minister of State and Presidential Adviser for Public Affairs and Mr Joshua Hamidu, National Security Adviser.
The writ seeks to challenge the appointment of Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey, Ms Ohene and Mr Hamidu by President Kufuor without consultation with the Council of State.
The writ stated that the appointment of these persons by the President without consultation with the Council of State is in violation of the Constitution and the Presidential Office Act, 1993 (Act 463).
In his statement, Mr Amidu said after Mr Kufuor assumed office as President of Ghana, he purported to appoint Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey, Ms Ohene and Mr Hamidu as staff in the Office of the President.
It said these persons have, since their illegal and unconstitutional appointment by President Kufuor, intentionally and deliberately held themselves out and acted as officers or staff in the Office of the President.
“By virtue of the conduct of the defendants, state resources are being misappropriated and misapplied by the defendants without any constitutional authority whatsoever,” the statement added.
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‘CPP has learnt, from its mistakes’
The Graphic reports the National Chairman and Leader of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Dr Abubakar Alhassan, as saying that the party has learnt from its mistakes and is determined to build itself into a virile political organisation to wrest power in the next elections.
“For us to achieve our objectives, we need to instil a high sense of discipline at all levels of party hierarch,” he said.
Dr Alhassan who was speaking to the Volta Regional Executives of the party and representatives from all 19 constituencies of the region at Ho said the CPP obtained unimpressive results in the last elections due to the limited resources at its disposal.
According to him, the CPP obtained 14 per cent of total valid votes cast in the parliamentary election and got 1.8 per cent of votes cast in the presidential poll.
“Even our presidential candidate has admitted that it was disastrous,” he said.
Dr Alhassan said if the system of proportional representation had been adopted in the parliamentary elections, the CPP would have obtained a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 27 seats in Parliament.
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President names Regional Ministers
The Ghanaian Times reports that President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday nominated 10 people for approval by Parliament as Regional Ministers.
They are Sheik I.C. Quaye for Greater Accra Region, Dr Osafo-Mensah, Eastern Region, Mr Owusu Yeboah, Volta Region, Mr S.K. Boafo, Ashanti Region, and Mr K. Edumadze, Central Region.
The rest are Mr J.B Aidoo, Western Region, Mr K. Debrah, Brong Ahafo Region, Mr Ben Salifu, Northern Region, Mr Salifu Mahami, Upper East Region and Mr Moktar Sahanoon, Upper West Region.
The latest nominations brings to 37, the number of ministerial nominations made to Parliament by the President so far.
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Vulture meat man jailed 6 months
The Times reports in a front-page capture that Kwabena Manu, 37 and unemployed, arrested last week in Kumasi for killing and dressing vultures for sale as chicken to unsuspecting ‘chopbar’ operators, was on Tuesday sentenced to six months in hard labour by a Circuit Tribunal.
He claimed some herbalists contracted him to supply them with the heads of the vultures but when asked by the court to name who the herbalists were, he could not.
Prosecuting, Inspector J.K. Afful said that about 2 p.m on January 5, some golfers at the Kumasi Course area, acting upon a tip off that someone was killing vultures for sale to some chopbar operators and khebab sellers as chicken, traced Manu to his hideout and arrested him in the process of strangling two vultures.
An interrogation revealed that he had already killed six of the vultures.
Inspector Afful said that Manu initially told the golfers that he was going to use the heads of the vultures for medicine but dissatisfied, the golfers took him and the vultures to the Ridge Police Station in Kumasi where he was detained.
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Drama in Parliament…a bent man’s memo stalls the House
The Ghanaian Chronicle says Parliament was temporarily rocked on Tuesday when a memo submitted by a businessman, Lord Duodu Kumi, Managing Director of Seel (Ghana) Ltd and consul officer for the Turkish Government in Ghana, and a man with criminal tendencies, stalled proceedings for a day.
The memo questioned the integrity of Hon. Felix Owusu-Adjepong a highly respected surveyor in relation to a property at Cantonments owned by Unilever Ghana Ltd., sold by the Minister designate for Transport and Communications.
The memo dated January 1, 2001 challenged the ethics and professional competence of Hon Owusu Adjepong, a former President of the Ghana Institute of Surveyors and consultant for Unilever, describing the sale as a ‘sham sale’ between Mr Owusu Adjepong’s clients Unilever and Mr Sam Jonah as purchaser.’
Duodu Kumi was however silent on relevant information which may have determined the quality of evidence.
The Chronicle says its independent evidence revealed that the property has been turned into a consular office of the Turkish Government even though Mr Duodu Kumi, one time close confidante of Mrs Rawlings is fighting an eviction order since he has failed to pay rent for some four years after an initial payment of $24,000 nearly four years ago.
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NDC MP in stealing charge
The Chronicle says Mr Felix-Appiah H. Twumasi, NDC MP for Sene in the Brong Ahafo Region, who joined 198 other colleagues to swear their oath of office to be Honourable Members of Parliament, was sacked by his employers, AFGO Export and Import Company at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) for theft on June 26, 1996.
The paper says sources close to it revealed that Hon. Twumasi was sacked after the company discovered that he connived with a clearing Agency to remove some uncustomed goods valued at millions of cedis imported along with some pharmaceutical products.
He was then the Cargo Superintendent for the Import Warehouse and an Assistant to one Rhami, an Asian who is the Security Coordinator and Cargo Manager but is presently on leave.
The Chronicle also learnt that after he was removed from office, he then settled down as a clearing agent, an allegation he denied, saying that he became a consultant to a real estate developer.
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Kufuor’s men sail through
All the 12 nominees of President Kufuor who were vetted for various ministerial positions have sailed through the vetting, The Guide reports.
Latest information on Tuesday indicated that the Committee had signed the approval of the 12 nominees for their respective portfolios.
The only nominee whose approval faced some difficulty was Hon. Hackman Owusu Agyeman, slated for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, which sources indicate the NDC was sceptical of his earlier call on all diplomatic passport holders to return them.
The approved nominees are J.H. Mensah, for Parliamentary Affairs and Government Business, Nana Akufo-Addo, Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Local Government and Rural Development, Yaw Osafo Maafo, Finance, Dr Addo Kufuor, Defence, Hackman Owusu Agyeman, Foreign Affairs who were all vetted last Friday.
The others are Malik Alhassan Yakubu, Interior, Dr Kofi Apraku, Trade and Industry, Courage Quashigah, Agriculture, Gladys Asmah, Women’s Affairs, and Dr Kweku Forbih, Environment Science and Technology who were all vetted on Saturday.
All the 12 were unanimously approved by the Vetting Committee.
The paper said the approved list would first have to be sent to President Kufuor for his perusal and “seal of approval” before it is brought back to Parliament for formal announcement.
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Reform will not join NPP – Opoku
The National Reform Party in a correction to publications based on President Kufuor’s all-inclusiveness that Mrs Cecilia Bannerman, Minister-designate for Manpower & Development is from the party, says the Minister-designate is not a member of Reform.
“We would like to correct this information. Mrs Bannerman is not a member of Reform! As far as we know, the honourable lady is a member of the NPP,” a statement issued by the party and signed by its General Secretary stated.
The statement said the party supported President Kufuor’s candidacy in the 28 December election on grounds of principle and rejoices in his victory as a step forward for Ghana’s democracy and hopes to retain constructive and open working relationships with the new administration.
However, as a matter of principle, it will not join the government as it represents different social interests, policies and priorities.
“We will not abandon our own vision and politics to implement that of the NPP. We will not surrender our independence as a party. This would not further the cause of democracy or good governance in Ghana. Rather, our task is to correct our own political and organisational weaknesses and build a strong party that can offer day-to-day leadership in the struggles of ordinary Ghanaians for development and democracy,” the statement said.
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The Makola Market Company (MMC) project, which comprises the construction of the Makola Shopping Mall in Accra Central and the Agbogbloshie new market (New Makola No. 2) is under serious scrutiny, according to the Free Press.
The project, financed by SSNIT was initially estimated to cost ¢5.152 billion but it has now quadrupled to a total cost of ¢20.945 billion, according to the paper’s investigations.
Information indicates that three years
after the project was completed, MMC, managers of the project, did not know the
final cost and the Company’s Public Relations Manager, Mrs Rose-Margaret Kpodo
when asked to give the figures referred the paper to the consultants, CIASD
Consortium.
Again the contract agreement between SSNIT, which owns 90 per cent share of the project and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), 10 per cent share was yet to be completed and that the agreement had been redrafted with AMA saying it would want a study before signing it.
The Free press says as to what caused the review of the contract agreement, Mrs Kpodo could not explain and again she referred the paper to the consultants.
The consultants also referred the Free Press back to the MMC.
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