ECOWAS
Exchange Rate Mechanism to start in April
Forensic audit into the Trade and Investment
Project (TIP) funds has recommended that Dan Abodakpi, former Trade and
Industry Minister and Victor Selormey, the jailed former Deputy Finance
Minister, should be made to explain how they transferred $400,000 from the
funds without any laid-down procedure.
The transfers, effected in four tranches
between October 18 and December 29, 2000 were allegedly for the payment of
consultancy services on the setting up of a Science and Technology Park/Valley,
a reliable source said in Accra.
They allegedly paid into the accounts of Dr.
Fred Owusu-Boadu, a Ghanaian based in College Station, Texas, United States of
America, who was deemed to be the consultant on the project.
The funds had $63.88 million from the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the TIP, allocated to
selected financial institutions. The funds were to be disbursed for
Non-Traditional Exporters (NTEs).
It was to meet the short-term pre-shipment
needs of non-traditional export firms with potential for expansion of capacity
and production base. The programme was fashioned to lead into further growth in
non-traditional exports and increase export earnings of the country, improve
balance of payment and create more jobs.
It came out in the audit that Dr Owusu-Boadu
submitted “a proposal to create a science and technology community (technology
valley) to promote public-private sector partnership or economic growth in
Ghana.
The contract was supposed to be between the
consultant and the Trade and Industry Minister. The two signed the contract but
there was no witness. Besides, the final report does not appear to be a
feasibility study, since it lacked pieces of information such as market
analysis, financial projection, and analysis to determine the financial
viability of the project.
The report said most of the prudent procurement
processes and procedures for goods and services in the Finance Ministry were
not followed in the procurement of consultancy services into the proposed
technology valley.
Under normal circumstances, final draft and
final reports of the feasibility studies should have been submitted to the
Finance Ministry before payments were effected, but the said procedure was
sidestepped.
The auditors argued that the Finance Ministry
might have paid for proposals instead of feasibility studies. They noted that
the use of project funds to pay for consultancy services constitutes
mis-procurement.
The auditors contended that “the contract” was
tainted with fraud as it was not witnessed by the legal officers at the Trade
Ministry or the Attorney-General’s Department. They did not understand how Dr
Owusu-Boadu could use Texas A & M University letterhead to bill Ghana for
$300,000 whereas the university was not part of the contract.
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The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) has
established a national buffer stock for cereals, notably maize and rice, at the
cost of ¢15.2 billion to be released in times of shortages and emergencies. The
ministry is also collaborating with Technoserve, an NGO to support the private
sector to stockpile additional 10,000 metric tones of maize for the same
purpose.
Major Courage Quashigah (rtd), the sector
Minister, who disclosed this in an interview in Accra on Tuesday, explained
that the initiative is in line with the government’s policy of establishing
national strategic reserve stocks to take care of emergency situations in the
country.
He said the absence of such initiatives and
interventions has been responsible for the perennial food shortages and their
attendant escalation of prices. Major Quashigah stated that the ministry is
mindful of the limitations in the food supply situation in the country,
especially between April and June, and has accordingly taken steps to gradually
stem the tide.
He said MOFA is collaborating with Technoserve
to support the private sector in food storage. According to him, under the
aegis of the ministry, private operators of warehouses have been put together,
to operate the system with farmers and food processors.
The system introduced, he said, ensures prompt
purchase of grains at the farmgate by warehouse operators to forestall glut and
post-harvest losses, thereby empowering the farmer to improve upon his
subsistence farm holdings.
The minister said currently the stocks are
being held mainly in warehouses in the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions while
the private sector is spreading out to other parts of the country. He said the
ministry has mapped out strategies to purchase and store other cereals such as
millet and sorghum and legumes like beans and groundnuts through the private
sector.
He said the ministry has reactivated silos in
Kumasi, which were operated by the Ghana Food Distribution Corporation (GFDC)
but which broke down many years ago, for the buffer stock programme.
Originally, he said, the GFDC (now under
divestiture) was set up to perform the role of buying and storing foodstuffs.
However, since its collapse, the country has had to battle with the annual
ritual of food shortages and the corresponding high prices.
He expressed the hope that the programme, which
is currently on course, will stand the test of time despite the poor yields in
some farming areas.
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A former presidential aspirant of the
Convention People’s Party (CPP), Mr George Opesika Agudey, has called on
Ghanaians to deepen their sense of patriotism this year since the nation has a
bright future.
“With a common sense of purpose and
togetherness, the nation will recover its seemingly lost identity and march
forward with her head held above the shoulders,” he said.
In a New Year message to Ghanaians, Mr Agudey
called on the people not to despair after setbacks in their lives, adding that
“we as individuals and as a nation must not retract in the face of
difficulties, problems and hardships”.
He stressed the need for Ghanaians to draw
individual balance sheet of their past lives to ascertain whether they were
dominated by liabilities or assets. “We as a people must undertake a critical
re-appraisal of our past to know our strengths and weaknesses in order to lead
orderly lives in the future, Mr Aggudey said.
The former presidential aspirant called for
hard work and discipline among Ghanaians in their respective fields to achieve
excellence as well as move the economy forward. He said since the people’s
present actions will determine their future well-being, it is relevant and
prudent for them to judge such actions which have brought to us unpleasant
results and consequences in our lives,” Mr Aggudey said.
He called for unity among all Ghanaians to
ensure that the nation renews itself in both the economic and social spheres.
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The Ghana Standards Board (GSB) has vowed to go
all out to ensure quality standards of imported and locally produced goods that
fall under its purview. It has, therefore, called on members of the public to
volunteer information on the sale and production of sub-standard goods to
enable the market survey team of the board to flush them out.
Mr Anthony E. Owusu, a Deputy Director of the
GSB, who said this in an interview in Accra said among items that come under
GSB’s supervision are imported and locally manufactured builders materials and
selected electrical gadgets.
He said the Ministries of Health, and Trade and
Industries signed a memorandum of understanding in May 2001, to enable an
effective monitoring and supervision of goods that are sold on the market to
ensure high standards and quality.
He explained that after the memorandum of
understanding, goods on the Ghanaian market were categorized into three and
given to specific organizations to monitor. Mr Owusu said among the
organizations are Gateway Services Limited, which does destination inspection,
particularly at the Tema and Takoradi harbours using an X-ray scanner, and
GSBV, which does land entry point inspection of goods at Aflao and Paga, as
well as airport inspection of goods destined for Ghana.
He said the GSBV is also responsible for high
risk goods,” including food and drugs and some electrical gadgets. Mr Owusu
said GSB comes in when GSBV wants it to test its goods for the company.
He said the Food and Drugs Board is also
responsible for the certification of cosmetics, medical devices, household
goods and chemicals. He said the GSB conducts market surveillance on a monthly
basis to ensure that goods which falls under its purview are of the required
standard.
He said the GSB also conducts tests for the
other bodies, upon request, for a fee, upon request, for a fee, due to its
efficient laboratory equipment.
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Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), a building block
in the construction of a single currency for five countries in the West African
Monetary Zone (WAMZ), is expected to begin operation in April.
ERM is the framework within which the
currencies of The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea,
Nigeria and Sierra Leone will be linked.
Mr R.D. Asante, Technical Director of the West
African Monetary Institute (WAMI), said in an interview in Accra that the broad
bandwidth will be plus or minus 15. Each of the ERM currencies will be allowed
to diverge by the percentage from the central exchange rate.
He indicated that the ERM will be in operation
for nine months but that it will be reviewed in six months with a view to
reducing the bandwidth. As part of the institute’s programme, it is to begin
close working relationship with the five central banks on the operation of the
ERM.
The institute will shortly give operational
manuals on the ERM to those central bank officials who will handle the ERM so
that they could familiarize themselves with the operations of the mechanism,
said Mr Asante.
He felt that judging from Ghana’s performance
in 2001, she will be comfortable with the mechanism since her currency
depreciation never went up more than 5 per cent. He also noted that the 15 per
cent plus or minus bandwith was what the European Union also used for its ERM.
Mr Asante also said a stabilization fund of
$100 million is to be set up into, which member countries are to pay their
quota. Nigeria is expected to pay three-fifths of the fund and Ghana 17 per
cent, for instance.
The Abidjan-based African Development Bank
(AFDB) will operate the fund, whiles its administration will be in the hands of
WAMI.
The past year has seen a flurry of activities
by the institute towards the second common currency. The activities, which
began with the opening of its headquarters, included workshops for the public
and Members of Parliament in Accra.
GRi…/
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