Accra (Greater Accra) 23 January 2002 - The
Serious Fraud Office (SFO) have saved the state from losing 5.7 billion cedis
through its operations during the year 2000.
The amount involved those actually retrieved
from stealing, misappropriation and embezzlement and putting a stop to those
that would have been lost if the office had not intervened.
This is contained in the 2000 Annual Report the
SFO presented to Parliament and which the Speaker Mr. Peter Ala Adjetey
referred to the Committee on Legal, Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs
for study and report to the House.
According to the report, the office handled 89
cases during the year under review as against 64 in the previous year (1999).
It said only one out of 26 cases it sent to
court from 1998 to date has been dealt with and the rest (25) were still
outstanding and it thus reiterated its appeal to the Chief Justice to designate
courts dedicated to economic and commercial crimes.
"The SFO believes that economic criminals
must be hit hard at where it hurts most, that is, in the area of confiscation
of their assets by the courts anytime a suspect is convicted".
It called on the government and Parliament to
pass into law a Compulsory Reporting Legislation, which would makes it
obligatory and mandatory for any financial or economic crimes committed in any
organisation involving amounts above certain ceiling to be reported to either
the SFO, the Police or any designated law enforcement agency for action.
"This will help additionally in building
up crime statistics in Ghana and set the stage for putting in place preventive
measures to forestall future occurrences of such white-collar crimes.
"Too many economic and financial crimes
are being perpetrated in establishments involving millions and sometimes
billions of cedis. These are in many
cases treated or handled as internal matters by management of the
establishments concerned and the culprits are either ordered to pay on the
quiet or sometimes only dismissed and asked to leave with the booty".
The report, said the main drawback on the
activities of the SFO continue to be lack of funds, logistics and adequate
personnel with requisite skills, adding "when it is properly resourced it
can play a significant role in stopping the leakages in the system and help in
the creation of an enabling economic environment to enhance economic
growth".
On its monitoring operations, the SFO said it
has zoned the country into five and that during the year it saved many district
assemblies, rural banks, contracts and departments from embezzlements and
stealing of state funds.
It said 34 activities were surveyed in the
Northern Zone which included the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions
where 47,119,000 cedis were recovered, 88 ghost names were eliminated leading
to a savings of about 47,500,000 cedis.
It saved the Regional Health Administration in
Tamale 38 million cedis, which would have been embezzled by some of the staff
of the administration.
The report said in the Western Zone comprising
Central and Western regions the SFO monitored 17 district assemblies, the
operations of the Controller and the Accountant General's Department, and a
rural bank.
The other areas covered were land/crop
compensation claims, claims within Ghana Education Service, the National
Poverty Reduction Programme Fund, the District Assembly Common Fund, payroll
audit and award of public contracts.
It said from the operations, 154 million cedis
was retrieved. In the Greater Accra Zone SFO retrieved 118 million cedis in
operations including Ports and Harbours, clearing of goods/custom duties,
medical supplies for Ministry of Health and public contracts.
The report said more than 42 million cedis was
recovered in the Central Zone, which included Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions
on operations of salary claims, MPs share of the district assembly common fund,
public projects and the Value Added Tax.
In the Eastern Zone which comprise the Volta
and Eastern regions, 145 million cedis was recovered on the use of public
funds, Danida/European sponsored projects and claims within government
departments and agencies.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 23 January 2002-
Parliament on Tuesday expressed concern about the inadequate security
arrangements at the House and wondered why even the main gates were normally
closed to members.
The Speaker, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey in reaction
to member's concern tasked the leadership of the House to constitute a
five-member committee to come out with suitable security arrangements for the
House and its environs.
The Members were expressing their support to a
statement made by Ms Akua Sena Dansua, NDC-North Dayi on the shootout in the
Indian Parliament and the need for enhanced security in Ghana's Parliament.
Ms Dansua recounted the shootout in the Indian
Parliament last year in which 12 people including six policemen were killed and
30 others sustained injuries and expressed the condolence of members to the
bereaved families of the colleagues.
She said "the attack is a wake-up call for
us to take pre-emptive measures to safeguard life and property in our
Parliament". Ms Dansua said at present security arrangements in the House
were nothing to write about since the parking lots were not clearly demarcated
and visitors' parked at unauthorised places.
There are two main entrances to the House,
however, the Conference Centre end is permanently locked and in case of
emergency, rescue and evacuation works would be greatly hampered, she added.
Ms Dansua said another area of concern was that
strangers compete with Members for the use of restricted areas such as the
foyer and the lobbies while other people also come not to transact any official
business but merely to loiter around and to take advantage of the amenities
such as washrooms, telephones and also to sleep.
She said what was more frightening was the fact
that orderlies of Ministers and political appointees enter the House with
weapons and live ammunition.
Mr Adjetey agreed with the concerns of the
members and said the chamber was poorly constructed with few exit points and
asked that there was the need for the leadership to look into the matter. He
wondered why members could not enter Parliament through the main gates but had
to use the back doors and urged the leadership to rectify the situation.
Papa Owusu-Ankoma, Minister for Parliamentary
Affairs and Majority Leader, said members were free to express their concerns
but certain issues should be made an in-house matter so as not draw up wrong
signals.
He said the Leadership of the House had already
taken up the issue with the Marshall's Office and a report on security
arrangements was expected soon while a sub-committee had been tasked to review
the security at the House.
Papa Owusu-Ankoma said members would soon be
briefed on security arrangements and for them to decide whether to have a
Parliamentary Police as is done in other Parliaments.
Mr J. H.
Mensah, Senior Minister and Chairman of the Government Economic Team, expressed
concern about the laxity of the security arrangements at the House and wondered
why the main gates were closed as soon as the President moved to the Castle.
Alhaji Amadu Ali, NDC- Atebubu South, said
security was lax especially outside the main Parliament building since most
members have lost precious items through thefts and called on the security to
be more vigilant.
Mr M.A. Seidu, NDC- Wa Central, said security
was generally taken for granted because Ghana was a peace loving country but
said there was the need to ensure that the undesirable and people with
questionable character were not allowed into Parliament.
Mr Kosi Kedem, NDC- Hohoe South said since 1993
Parliament had lived dangerously without adequate security and cautioned that
measures must be taken before people took the law out their hands to strike at
members. He suggested that visitors should be thoroughly screened and given
tags to be easily identified.
Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, Minister of Foreign
Affairs, asked the Parliamentary Service Board and the Leadership to think of
creating suitable and protected reception avenues for the comfort of both
members and their visitors.
Mr Eugene Atta Agyepong, NPP-Abetifi, said even
though the foyer was meant for the use of members there was no control there
while most of the facilities at the House were open to outsiders.
He said there were no fire exit points in the
chamber of the House adding that in the case of an accident the old would have
to struggle with the young ones in stampede to escape to safety.
Mr Victor Gbeho, Ind. - Anlo, suggested that a
special committee should be set up to assess the security situation in
Parliament while seeking professional advice on how to handle the security
situation.
Mr Isaac George Amoo, NPP- Ayawaso West-Wuogon,
said there was very little support and attention given Parliament in terms of
security and wondered why immediately the President and his Vice left the State
House the whole security was withdrawn.
He said parliamentarians deserved equal
protection as the executive or judiciary such as personal bodyguards and at
their residence.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com