GRi Press Review Ghana 19 - 07

The Evening News says there are indications that within the next few weeks, the country will have a new Governor for the Central Bank. The current Governor, Dr Kwabena Duffuor's term of office ends on July 31 this year.

Bank insiders and close associates of the Governor, have dropped strong hints that suggest he would not go for a second term.

"Dr Duffuor thinks he has had enough of public life and would want to have enough time for his family," said one close confidante.

The 59-year-old Duffuor was appointed Governor in 1997, after serving as Deputy Governor for about two years. He work for many years with the Ghana Commercial Bank office in London.

Known in financial circles as Ghana's Alan Greenpan (the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board) for his prudent financial policies, Dr. Duffuor has a cordial relationship with the staff at the Central Bank, which has largely helped him to come out as one of the successful Governors that the country has had.

He is credited for the current stabilization of the national currency, the cedi, a situation, which has not been experienced in the country for a long time.

Again, Dr Duffuor has initiated measures to cut the country's spiraling foreign debt and reduce the crippling public debt.

To reduce the government borrowing, locally, the Bank of Ghana has started mobilizing all monies lodged in the accounts of national revenue collecting agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service, CEPS and VAT.

Insiders believe these positive results might have annoyed certain key political figures who, think the credit should have gone to them instead of the Governor.

It was not immediately known if Dr. Duffuor's decision not to have a second term should be linked to the activities of these political pundits, who are trying to dig him in.

"Evening News" however, learnt from credible sources that President J.A. Kufuor is so far impressed with the Governor's performance and would want to extend his tenure of office.

"I can tell you, that the President approves of his (Duffuor) handling of the Central Bank so far", said an insider.

If Dr Duffuor keeps to his decision not to go for a second term, he can comfortable retire to his Star Assurance Company Limited which he set up as far back as 1984, long before he went to the Bank of Ghana.

The company is currently being managed by his son Kofi Duffuor who was trained in the insurance business in London purposely for the family business.

GRi…/

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The Chronicle

Castle queries consultant's pay

The circumstances under which the Ministry of Lands and Forestry under the NDC government spent over $1 million (¢7.3 billion), as salaries, on a certain Guy Symes, a Jamaican, as a consultant, has raised further questions about the management of state resources in the (P)NDC era, The Chronicle reports.

The ¢7.3 billion comprises salaries paid to Symes for almost ten peculiar years that he was engaged by the Ministry as Policy Adviser. Even at a certain stage, Symes was said to have bagged as much as ¢105 million as his monthly take-home pay, Chronicle learnt.

The fat salary of the Jamaican did not go down well with some directors in other ministries, as it was learnt that most of the job was done by poor civil servants for Guy Symes to cash in at the end of the month.

To register their disapproval, some of the workers wrote several times to the former President, J.J. Rawlings, but nothing good came out.

As they continued to register their concern to the office of the former President they finally saw light at the end of the tunnel when on December 11, last year, the secretary to the President was ordered to file a query letter to Dr. Christine Amoako Nuamah, then Minister of Lands and Forestry, to explain why her ministry was spending such huge amounts of money on a so-called consultant, while the same job could have been easily handled by the staff at the ministry.

The fat salaries of the Jamaican at one stage attracted the eagle eyes of the Serious Fraud Officer (SFO) but no investigations were carried out to contain the situation.

In her response to the query from the secretary to the former President dated December 14, 2000, the former minister admitted that indeed her ministry had engaged Symes as the Policy and Institutional Adviser.

"His appointment took effect from August 2, 1999 and terminates on January 31, 2001, and prior to his appointment, he was temporarily engaged from April to July 30, 1999 by the ministry and is placed on monthly salary of US$9,000", Dr Amoako Nuamah replied.

The Chronicle has gathered that President Kufuor's administration demanded an explanation as to how the nation was spending such huge sums on a single person.

It was revealed that it was the promptness of the Kufuor administration that led to the termination of Symes contract when it expired on January 31, this year, since it had become a ritual to renew his contract at the end of every year.

Mrs Tekpetey, Chief Director of the MLF, last week, confirmed to the paper that the government had demanded an explanation, which they have submitted.

GRi…/

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The Daily Graphic

UG lodges complaint against Daily Guide

The authorities of the University of Ghana, Legon, have lodged a complaint with the National Media Commission (NMC) against the Daily Guide, an Accra private newspaper, for falsely alleging that 2,040 students of the university are infected with HIV/AIDS.

The paper said out of the 12,000 students, 2,040 tested positive to the disease in a survey conducted in tertiary institutions in the country.

In a letter to the NMC, the university authorities said the false story made a very serious imputation on the university's image, which had very woeful international implications as well.

When contacted by the Graphic, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Ivan Addae-Mensah, said considering the damage caused by the Daily Guide story, the university has decided not to let the matter rest until the false impressions projected by the newspaper are corrected.

He said the university is demanding a retraction of the story and an apology from the paper.

According to the Vice-Chancellor, there has never been any study conducted by anyone or a group in which samples of students' blood were taken and tested for HIV/AIDS, as claimed by the newspaper.

He said no such study can take place on the campus without the approval of the research and ethical committee of the Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research of the university.

Prof Addae-Mensah said between 1999 and 2001, the Legon Hospital recorded only 15 cases of HIV/AIDS, "but you cannot tell whether they were cases of students because the hospital's catchment area is very wide and even extends outside Accra".

He said the University of Ghana is one of the safest and healthiest institutions of higher learning in Africa.

More…/

Crisis over - ¢5.1b now released for 2^nd cycle institutions

The Scholarship Secretariat has released a total of ¢5,132,753,336 as feeding grants to second cycle institutions in the three northern regions.

The nine schools in the Upper East Region are to receive ¢2,158,548,667 while the 10 schools in the Northern region will get ¢1,972,795,335. The six schools in the Upper West are to be granted ¢1,001,409,334.

Mrs Ruby Beecham, Head of the Scholarship Secretariat, who disclosed this in an interview on Wednesday, said all the affected schools have been duly notified to collect their monies at the offices of the Controller and Accountant-General's Department in the regional capitals.

She explained that the amount that has been released is for the second term because under the new Senior Secondary School calendar, there is no third term this year.

Mrs Beecham indicated that the quarterly grants for the third term would be for the first term of the next academic calendar, which starts in September this year.

Heads of second cycle institutions in the three Northern Region where all the students are on scholarship grants had threatened to close down the schools by the weekend if the monies were not released.

GRi…/

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The Independent

'Rawlings should never have been President'

"It is very unfortunate that Rawlings ever became the President of Ghana. His almost 20 years as the head of state of Ghana was a mess since the man Rawlings was totally incompetent to rule a country like Ghana. Rawlings left so much rot after him, so much so that Ghanaians should ignore him".

These, according to The Independent are the words that Dan Botwe, General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has for former President Rawlings.

The usually soft spoken and gentle Botwe in a rare angered mood literally spewed the words ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, when he spoke on CHOICE FM last Tuesday in reaction to an interview by the former head of state, Jerry John Rawlings, on BBC during which he once again warned of a coup d'etat.

In the interview, President Rawlings admitted his fears about being "done in" by former dissidents and opponents of his, who have returned home and are being given cover to persecute him and attempts by the ruling NPP to destroy his party.

Asked to comment on the latest rumblings of Mr Rawlings and his threat of a coup d'etat - the second in a about a month, Mr Botwe said Rawlings was suffering from what doctors call a withdrawal syndrome.

According to Mr Botwe, Mr Rawlings cannot come to terms with the fact that he is no more in power.

He said that Rawlings in his new mental state always wants to draw attention to himself by such statements and said that there was no way Rawlings can detract the NPP and the government from their goals and asked Ghanaians to ignore him.

GRi…/

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The Ghanaian Times

Bungalows 'Rot' away

The Ghanaian Times carries that two and-a-half months after the Ministry of Works and Housing ejected some ex-Ministers and other functionaries of the former government from their bungalows, most of the houses have still not been occupied.

"Some of the items in the bungalows, such as furniture and louver blades, have either been stolen or left at the mercy of the weather."

Investigations conducted by the paper revealed that there is no security for the property and bungalows at the Nkrumah Flats, Lartebiokoshie, Cantonments and around Ridge Roundabout are worst affected as their louver blades have been stolen.

The compounds are overgrown with weeds and always in darkness at night, making there a conducive environment for thieves to operate.

Even though the doors to most of the houses visited have been locked, the thieves have found their way in.

A source at the Ministry of Works and Housing told the "Times" that the Public Works Department (PWD) was supposed to provide security at the bungalows, but unfortunately, it did not have enough personnel at the moment to offer 24-hour security services at the bungalows.

The source said that the bungalows had already been allocated to the new Ministers, but they had not taken occupancy as yet. Also, the new Ministers had been requested to provide their own security but they had not been complied with.

"If the current beneficiaries fail to occupy the houses or provide their security, the Ministry cannot do anything about it since the PWD has no security officers", the source said.

GRi…/

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The Crusading Guide

NDC hypocrisy exposed!

In spite of the barking and ranting by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament (MP) over the Sahara contract - regarding the fact that the matter was not subjected to Parliamentary debate and approval before the contract was signed - the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) during the NDC era, separately signed many contract agreements with VITOL without going through Parliament.

The Crusading Guide says its investigations revealed that within a period of three years, VITOL Energy Bermuda Limited had signed a total of over ten major contracts with the Ministry of Mines and Energy and TOR without any Parliamentary debate and approval, under the NDC Government. More so, the contracts were given without any tenders.

The paper gathered also that with the collusion of the Ministry of Energy and the active support of the Ministry of Finance, VITOL had by 2000 become the near exclusive business partner of TOR, holding major contracts with a combined value of over USD800 million.

GRi…/

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The Accra Mail

The Home Coming Summit - Officialdom must not spoil things

The Accra Mail writes that Ghana would next week welcome her children in the Diaspora in a fiesta dubbed "The Home Coming Summit."

An initiative of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), it seeks to integrate Ghanaians living at home and those living abroad in one grand strategy of moving the nation forward.

The Mail says we are well aware that remittances from Ghanaians living abroad to their relations back home form a sizable percentage of Ghana's GDP and wonders why we should joke with such massive potential. The summit therefore is as timely as it is welcome and the government has shown greatness of spirit in continuing this initiative begun by the GIPC during the last administration.

It says past governments have been guilty of discontinuing projects and programmes initiated by predecessor governments, to the detriment of all of us, no matter how good they are.

"The president himself will host the opening ceremonies. That's how important the government sees this summit. We hope the 'summiteers', that is all of us, will take the time to show more than just a passing interest in the proceedings", writes the paper.

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Ghanaian Democrat

NDC vindicated at last

The Ghanaian Democrat says the allegations by the ruling NPP that the NDC government ended its days by going on an irresponsible spending spree in the last quarter of Fiscal Year 2000 have been proved to be false.

And the revelation, coming from the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, has vindicated the party of any professional impropriety in the management of the economy.

The paper recalls that Hon. Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance, in presenting his first interim budget statement and economic policy of the government to Parliament on March 9 stated that "the Bank of Ghana suddenly found that, without any prior agreement or planning the NDC government had increased its overdrawn position from ¢3 billion at the end of September to about ¢900 billion by the end of December."

In the light of this revelation, Parliament requested for an explanation from the Central Bank on its overdrawn position at the end of 2000 fiscal year.

A statement from the Bank of Ghana dated July 10, 2001 and addressed to the Clerk of Parliament, explained that the total payments of ¢6,542.4 billion for the last quarter included ¢605.7 billion expenditure for oil purchases by TOR and ¢254.0 billion outstanding government liabilities which were debited in November/December.

Total inflows during the last quarter of year 2000, he said, amounted to ¢5,689.8 billion against payments of ¢6,542.4 billion resulting in an overdraft of ¢852.6 billion.

According to Dr Duffuor, this, in addition to the cumulative balance of ¢3.0 billion at the end of September 2000 gave the end of year over-drawn balance of ¢855.6 billion.

GRi…/

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The Daily Guide

'My Lord, I beg prison stinks' - Accused

An ex-warrant Officer Class Two (WO.II) of the Ghana Army, Gabriel Nyamekye, 64, created spontaneous laughter when he vehemently pleaded with a Circuit Tribunal in Kumasi last Friday to deal leniently with him because he is married with one wife and 17 children. He caused further laughter in the court when he said his wife had recently delivered and that he is taking care of a five-month old baby.

"Aside from that, my Lord, the "Guardroom" (cells) where I was put in remand, stinks too much and if I go there again, I fear I will die," he told the court in a hilarious mood.

WO.II Nyamekye appeared before the Tribunal with two others, Kwame Bentil, 33 and Kwabena Tawiah, 29, all lotto stakers on Friday, July 13, this year on a charge of operating unlawful lotto and failure to issue tax invoice.

While the ex-militaryman and Kwame Bentil pleaded guilty, Kwabena Tawiah pleaded not guilty. The tribunal chaired by Mr V.C. Senu sentenced WO.II Nyamekye and Bentil to a fine of ¢1.5 million each or in default serve six months in prison custody and remanded Tawiah in prison custody.

Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Fabian Kwaku Afesi, told the tribunal that the Asawasi branch of the Asawasi branch of the Golden Souvenir lotto company had a tip-off that some unscrupulous people use the company's name to sell lotto to unsuspecting stakers on plain sheets. A combined team of the company's task force and the police were detailed to Maakro and Anloga, suburbs of Kumasi to cause the arrest of the suspects.

They then disguised themselves and approached the three accused persons at their respective kiosks to stake lotto.

The accused persons un-known to them that the buyers were a task force team, staked their numbers on plain sheets other than the tax invoice authorized by the commissioner of the Value Added Tax (VAT) Service and issued duplicates to them, said the prosecution.

GRi…/

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Graphic Showbiz

PANAFEST ready to ride

PANAFEST 2001 is ready to take off with the expected arrival of a large number of visitors from America and Europe into the country this week, according to the Graphic Showbiz.

Twinned with Emancipation Day Celebrations, PANAFEST 2001 is scheduled to be officially opened on Saturday, July 28 with a grand durbar of chiefs and queenmothers at the Cape Coast Stadium.

According to a programme of events that has been released by the PANAFEST Secretariat, a weeklong programme of pre-festival activities will precede the grand opening.

The first of such activities is a packaged tour that will take early arriving visitors on a pilgrimage to Paga this Saturday, July 21. The tour will follow the slave route in the northern parts of Ghana, which comprise visits to the Salaga Slave Market, Yaa Na's Palace and Kintampo.

On its way southwards the tour will stop at Kumasi where it will pay a courtesy call on Otumfuo, the Asantehene.

A visit to Assin Praso where there is a slave crossing point on the River Pra is also part of the tour.

On Friday, the eve of the grand PANAFEST opening, a solemn Akwaaba ceremony has been planned for the Elmina Castle to coincide with the opening of a grand bazaar and trade expo, and an international children's camp.

The PANAFEST 2001 grand opening is expected to follow the tradition that the festival has carved for itself, as a showcase of what is beautiful in traditional performance arts.

GRi…/

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P & P

Bestman and Bride caught in bed

Looking at Mr Evans Anokye, 32, a computer programmer of New Gbawe in Accra, performing his role as the 'Best man' during the wedding of Mr and Mrs Boakye, all one could say was that "he was perfect." No one had the slightest thought or suspicion, that he had an eye for the bride.

If one had predicted that he would break up his friend's marriage before the first anniversary, that person would have been branded a confusionist and a lair.

The P & P writes however, that presently, Mr Francis Boakye, 35, is faced with the painful ordeal of going through a divorce suit he has instituted at an Accra Community Tribunal against his unfaithful wife.

Boakye has also filed a legal suit against Evans Anokye for unlawfully sleeping with his wedded wife in their matrimonial home, at the same court.

In his statement of claim, Boakye is praying the court to award ¢15 million as costs against Anokye.

According to him, as a result of injuries that Anokye inflicted on his head during a scuffle between them resulting in the weakening of his left eye and subsequent deterioration of his eyesight, he had to undergo a surgical operation.

P &7 P investigations revealed that about 18 months ago, Boakye's wedded wife, then Miss Freda Morrison, a 26 year old nurse resident at Busia junction near Odorkor in Accra, agreed to Boakye's marriage proposals.

A few months later, she introduced him to her parents, after which they were joined in holy matrimony at the Registrar General's department on December 16, 2000.

Soon after the wedding, Freda started exhibiting certain characteristics unbecoming of a newly married woman. In her uncompromising stance, the more her husband complained, the more she went on with her undesirable traits.

Thinking that Anokye was his childhood friend and bestman at his wedding, Boakye confided in him, and asked him to help resolve the impasse between him and his wife.

Therefore, whenever Boakye saw them together, his hopes soared, as he felt Anokye was performing his duty as a friend, to ease and resolve the tension in his marriage.

Boakye however, had the greatest shock of his life, when he returned from town on March 3, 2001, to catch his friend Anokye and his wife Freda, in a sexually compromising position in his own matrimonial bed.

GRi…/

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