GRi Press Review Ghana 26 - 07 - 2001

 

The Daily Graphic

I'm fit to be CJ

Sub-region looks up to Nigeria

SSS boarding fees go up

Pistol-wielding bus conductor arrested

 

Ghanaian Times

8 schools score 0%

90-year-old jailed for defilement

2 vie for GFA Gen. Sec's post

 

The Chronicle

If I were autocratic…

Sankofa abused state resources

 

The Evening News

Minister's fate in the balance

'Ato Dadzie disbursed ¢2 billion to farmers'

Odoi Sykes made envoy

 

The Independent

Fixed match

Atta Mills refutes our publication

 

The Ghanaian Voice

Arthur, Yeboah also deserve honour

Policewoman victimized

 

The Crusading Guide

¢28Bn tax evasion

CPP is not an opportunistic party

 

The Ghanaian Democrat

HIPC is dangerous for Ghana

 

The Accra Mail

VAT Service to end tax on essential drugs

A successful summit

 

 

The Daily Graphic

I'm fit to b e CJ

 

The Acting Chief Justice, Mr Justice E.K. Wiredu, has stated that he is qualified by training and experience to be appointment to the Superior Court of Judicature, reports The Daily Graphic.

            Reacting to the writ filed against him by Mr Philip Kweku Apaloo, a resident of Kaneshie in Accra, he described the process challenging his appointment as diversionary and without foundation.

            Speaking in an interview, Justice Wiredu wondered how someone can challenge the appointment of a superior Court judge in a High Court when the matter being questioned is purely a constitutional issue.

            He explained that any person who feels aggrieved has the right to seek redress in court, but advised such aggrieved persons to be conversant with the jurisdiction of the courts.

            Justice Wiredu said people are at liberty to seek redress in the High Court for infringement on their rights while the Supreme Court seeks interpretation on the constitution.

            The Chief Justice expressed apprehension about the writ and wondered whether or not the High Court has power to reverse his appointment.

            He said the argument that he is not qualified to hold a higher post on the bench, under the 1969 Constitution, is not tenable because he was appointed by the National Liberation Council (NLC) regime before the Second Republican Constitution came into force.

            "I was appointed in December, 1968, and the appointment took effect in January 1969 while the 1969 Constitution came into force on August 22, 1969," he added.

            According to the Chief Justice, his promotion to the Supreme Court was not contingent on appointment to the High Court saying that "after all, some lawyers of several years experience are appointed directly to the Supreme court".

            On the allegation that he was dismissed by the erstwhile PNDC regime in 1986 for corruption, Justice Wiredu said he petitioned the PNDC on the matter and the decision was reviewed.

            He stated his intention to contest the case by filing his defence immediately he is served with the writ.

            Justice Wiredu denied ever frustrating Mr Apaloo in his bid to file the writ in court, adding "if he faced any difficulties, it was purely procedural".

            Graphic investigations indicate that the motion filed by Mr Apaloo to restrain Justice Wiredu from being vetted by Parliament has been slated for hearing at the Fast Track High Court on July 31, 2001.

More…/

           

Sub-region looks up to Nigeria

 

President J.A. Kufuor has stated that the peoples of West Africa look up to Ghana and Nigeria to promote economic prosperity and political stability in the sub-region.

            According to the Graphic, President Kufuor told a 14-member delegation from the Federal House of Representatives of Nigeria, currently on a visit to Ghana that political leaders and policy makers could not fail in their attempt to integrate the economies of the sub-region.

            The President said Ghana and Nigeria, therefore, have a duty to pull along the rest of the sub-region to achieve a fully integrated political, economic and social integration.

            President Kufuor said the excellent personal relationship between him and president Obasanjo should bind the peoples of the two countries together for the overall development of the sub-region.

            "We are brother states; the destiny of achieving political and economic evolution for the sub-region is in our hands and we dare not fail the people," President Kufuor said.

More…/

 

SSS boarding fees go up

 

Boarding fees for senior secondary schools will go up from ¢280,000 to ¢392,000 from the beginning of the next academic year.

            This means the daily feeding fee will be ¢4,200 for each student. Foreign students will pay $404 a term, the Acting Director General of the Ghana Education Service, Alex Tettey-Enyo, told Radio Ghana on Wednesday.

            He attributed the increase to rising market prices and explained that the new fees will help school authorities to give each student three square meals a day.

            Mr Tettey-Enyo said ¢30,000 will be charged in the interim as textbook user fees for the next academic year, while ¢6,000 is also to be paid by every student annually as cultural fees for the promotion of Art and Culture.

            He cautioned that PTA fees should not exceed 10 per cent of the total fees approved by the Ghana Education Service Council and advised school authorities to seek approval from the Board of Governors before they impose any special levies on students.

More…/

 

Pistol-wielding bus conductor arrested

 

A Pistol-wielding bus conductor of the Omnibus Service Authority (OSA), who used the gun to threaten the traveling public at Wa, has been arrested by the Wa Police.

            The suspect, Joseph Kwesi Aboagye, 60, a senior bus conductor of OSA at Wa, was arrested on July 6 and the pistol was found in his conductor's bag.

            Police Inspector Daniel Dokpoh of the Regional Police Public Relations outfit said Aboagye was arrested upon information that he had been threatening people with the weapon at the least provocation.

            On interrogation, Aboagye told the police that he found the weapon in a passenger's luggage, which was left at the Wa OSA bus terminal about three weeks earlier.

GRi…/

 

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Ghanaian Times

8 schools score 0%

 

Headmasters of Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) in the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District whose candidates scored zero per cent in the Basic Education Certificate Examinatioin (BECE) will be demoted and transferred to understudy other heads, the District Chief Executive, Sampson Kwame Anafato, announced this at a meeting with the District Education Oversight Committee (DEOC) at Breman Asikuma last weekend.

            The decision, he said, was intended to make school heads responsible for what happened in their institutions.

            According to the Ghanaian Times eight schools in the district scored zero percentage in the 1999/2000 BECE while the average pass up to aggregate 30 was 35.5 percent, a situation the DCE described as unacceptable.

More…/

 

90-year-old jailed for defilement

 

The authorities of Sunyani Central Prisons, suspecting an ambiguity in the offence of a jailed 90-year-old man, have called for a review of his case.

            The Techiman Circuit Tribunal last Friday sentenced the old man, Sulemana Basare to seven years in prison for a charge of defiling a 16-year-old girl, but prison officers wonders whether he could have committed the offence. 

Mr Ishamael Baidoo-Ahmed, Brong Ahafo Regional Director of Prisons told the Ghana News Agency that, "the old man is so physically weak that he is not able to stand up by himself.

            For example, he said, that the old man could not attend to nature's call unassisted, adding, "since Friday, he has been wetting his clothes with his urine".

            "There might be an ambiguity in the offence committed, so there is the need for a review of his case.

            Mr Baidoo-Ahmed said that he found the aged convict's behaviour abnormal. "Perhaps he is a bit insane, but considering his age and physical condition, the tribunal could have given him a suspended sentence with a bond; that is, assuming he really committed the offence".

            The prison authorities are arranging for a psychiatrist to examine him.

More…/

 

2 vie for GFA Gen. Sec's post

 

The man to take over the baton from Mr Worlanyo Agra, out-going Ghana Football Association (GFA) General Secretary after July 31, has been found, according to a Ghanaian Times report.

            'Times Sports' investigations unveiled that Sport Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) Vice President, Mr Ebo Quansah, is the likely choice.

            He is said to be vying for the almost-vacant scribe's post with ex-GFA member, Major yaw Larsen.

            The paper says the two candidates, according to grapevine sources, officially applied for Agra's positions about a forth-night and a half ago.

            W.K. Agra who presented his handing over notes to his boss Ben Koufie, last Tuesday was asked to vacate office days after a new GFA was elected into office last month.

            Major Larsen, among others, was a member of the three-man Interim Management Committee (IMC) headed by Joe Lartey, a legal practitioner in 1991.

            Their brief spell with administration powered the Black Stars to a Silver medal at the Senegal' 92 Nations Cup Championship.

            That not withstanding, high-placed sources say Ebo Quansah, a journalist and a sports critic, already has the job in his hand though yet to be endorsed with an appointment letter.

GRi…/

 

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The Chronicle

If I were autocratic…

 

Attorney General and Minister of Justice Nana Akufo-Addo on Wednesday said if he were to invoke the powers vested in him by the Constitution, media personnel with "the Palaver" and "The Democrat" will have problems in this country given the kind of stories they write, which are not only injurious to the presidency but also to himself and his office.

The Chronicle writes that the remarks, which formed part of the AG's concluding note of the debate on the repeal of the Criminal Libel and Seditious laws was against the background of attacks by sections of the NDC minority against the private newspapers, without any reference to the conduct of the said newspapers.

            He said by presenting the bill before Parliament, the NPP has demonstrated not only its commitment to its promise to repeal the law, but also the concerns of many who had, over the years, called its expunction. The NDC government, Akufo Addo noted, has refused to repeal the law, and had instead, excessively applied it against journalists.

            He urged the NDC minority to move away from its past and come along with the NPP in repealing the law, saying this would enable the House to write a history that will leave footprints for this country.

            On the argument that the National Media Commission (NMC) be given the necessary powers to make it effective and up to its task, Akufo Addo said he does not want to interfere in the matter as the Commission knows the necessary steps to take on that issue.

More…/

 

Sankofa abused state resources

 

The Chronicle says the unexplained circumstances surrounding the closure of Sankofa Aero Club, an elite flying school closely associated with former President Jerry Rawlings, is emerging, weeks after the facility was shut down by armed troopers.

            It has surfaced that operators of the club who are close associates of the ex-President commandeered Ghana Air Force (GAF) equipment like aircraft and other state property for the benefit of the school even though the revenue generated went into private pockets.

            The school is being operated by a group of serving and retired air force personnel.  Rawlings is the chief patron of the club Group Captain Richard Forjoe and Air Commodore Kwame Mamphey both close associate of Rawlings are President and Secretary of the governing council respectively.

            The Chronicle says it can confirm that five Micro-Lite aircraft, known in aviation circles as Cessnas together with aviation fuel belonging to GAF were being used by the school for its training programmes. The aircraft are presently packed at the club's hangars.

            Chronicle says it further learnt during investigations that the club was represented to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, as a pet project of GAF. But, the government is yet to see official receipts of revenue generated by the club and the payment of royalties to the State for use of the facilities.

            The land on which the school is sited located at Afienya, some 15 miles away from the industrial city of Tema is also government land, according to the Chronicle.

            The former gliding school established by Ghana's first President Kwame Nkrumah, operated from the premises.

            The closure was, therefore, to afford national security gain a first hand appraisal of the operations of the elite club, which until the closure was the playground of high rollers of society, military sources confirmed to the Chronicle.

            Also packed in the hangar is a Cessna donated to the Ghana Wildlife Department by the Friends of Animals (FOA) of the Konklobi Island monkey sanctuary fame through an Israeli NGO.

            Students of the school pay-between $500 - $600 a term for the Private Pilot Licensing Certificate, (PPLC).

GRi…/

 

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The Evening News

Minister's fate in the balance

 

The Central Regional Minister, Isaac Edumadze, on Tuesday came out of the President's office at the Castle, Osu, dejected, with a drawn face, says The Evening News

            The Minister, whose recent behaviour hit the headlines and became a source of worry to the government and the leadership of the party was summoned by the President to the Castle.

            Mr Edumadze was with the President for about 45 minutes, and when he finally emerged from the President's office, he walked briskly past his friends and media correspondents at the Castle who attempted to talk to him.

The usual smiles of the minister were absent, as he looked sad and disturbed, a situation, which according to the paper, suggests that something unpalatable might have been communicated to him.

            Sources close to the Presidency, hinted that the Regional Minister was summoned to answer his role in the incident in which he ordered his driver to seize a taxi from Suhum to his residence at Cape Coast.

            The taxi was driven off by the Minister's driver on his orders after his personal bodyguard fired warning shots that sent the taxi driver and the passengers running for their dear lives into the nearby bushes.

            According to the sources, the President expressed disgust at the behaviour of the Minister and warned those in public office whose acts and omissions would cause embarrassment and disaffection and bring the name of the government into disrepute to think twice.

            The sources, however could not tell immediately whether any punitive action would be taken against Mr Edumadze.

            Since the incident occurred on July 15,2001, members of the public have condemned the Minister's behaviour and called on the government to institute a probe into the matter.

More…/

 

'Ato Dadzie disbursed ¢2 billion to farmers'

 

Mr Austia Gamey, a former Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, this morning told the Fast Track High Court, that Nana Ato Dadzie, the former chief of Staff, disbursed over ¢2 billion to resettle farmers at Bakpa in the Volta Region, where the rice farm belonging to Quality Grain Company is sited.

The Evening News reports that Mr Gamey, who is also the former MP for North Tongu where the farm is located, was testifying in the case in which Mr Ibrahim Adam, former Minister of Agriculture and five other public officials of the previous government are being tried for conspiracy and willfully causing financial loss of over 22 millin dollars to the state.

            Led in evidence by Mr Osafo Sampong, Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mr Gamey said sometime in 1997, he was instructed by Mr Ibrahim Adam to take Mrs Rene Cotton (Woodard) of the Quality Grain Company to meet the chiefs in the Aveyime Area to secure a plot of land for rice farming.

            Accompanied by the Direct Chief Executive, Mr F.A.T. Dei-Zaga, they succeeded in getting land for Mrs Cotton but she claimed it was not suitable for rice cultivation.

            Mr Gamey said he was later informed on telephone by Mrs. Cotton that she had found another site at Bakpa between North Tongu and South Tongu constituencies where she had started a rice cultivation.

            Mr Gamey said she got to know that the agreement between the Ghana government and Mrs Cotton was that she was to provide some funding for which the government would provide the guarantee.

            Witness said he was the chairman of an adhoc committee tasked to ensure that Quality Grain Company got access to the land.

            According to him, the committee, which was composed of people like Dr Sikpa Yankey and Mr Vicent Assiseh, former NDC Press Secretary met over 70 times and managed to resettle the people who were dotted on the land after protracted difficulties.

            He said the committee was in touch with Nana Ato Dadzie who was in charge of a sub-committee which disbursed over ¢2 billion for the resettlement of the people.

            Mr Gamey said ¢7 million was also made available to compensate for people whose shrine and churches were removed.

            Witness explained that it was only the rice mills, silos and other equipment that were sited at Aveyime and that the rice farm itself was at Bakpa.

            Answering questions under cross examinations by Mr Samuel Cudjoe, Counsel for Mr Ibrahim Adam, witness said he was aware that some rice cultivated by Quality Grain had already been harvested.

            He said he could not report on the present situation as the government had ordered a suspension of work at the site.

            The court later adjourned to Tuesday July 30 at the instance of the defence counsel who pleaded for time to study a report on Quality Grain submitted to the government by Mr Gamey on behalf of his committee.

More…/

 

Odoi Sykes made envoy

 

The President has in consultation with the Council of State, appointed nine individuals as Ambassadors and High Commissioners.

            A statement from the presidency today named the them as Mr Samuel Odoi Sykes, Chairman, New Patriotic Party, Roland Issifu Alhassan, a Tamale-based Lawyer and former running mate to Professor Adu Boahen and Professor Albert Owusu Sarpong, Dean, Social Studies KNUST.

            Others are Professor Timothy Kwaku Amesimeku, Legal Practitioner, Dr Baffour Agyei Bawuah, Chairman NPP, UK branch and Development Consultant and Tahil Abdel Razak Muhiddeen Hassan, Lecturer, University of Ghana.

            The rest are Mr Emmanuel Kojo Adu former Chairman, Asante Kotoko, Major-General (Rtd) Francis Yahaya Mahama, former General Officer Commanding the Southern Command, Ghana Armed Forces and Mr. Clarus Kwabena Sekyi, a Career Diplomat.

GRi…/

 

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The Independent

NDC MPS vote against Dev.

 

The Majority in Parliament on Wednesday had a shock of their lives when the entire membership of the minority voted against the resolution to adopt the finance committee's report on the development credit agreement between the government of Ghana and the international Development association (IDA), writes The Independent.

            The credit agreement is for an amount of Special Drawing Right (SDR) 87,700,000, which is equivalent to $110,000,000.

            The money is to be used to finance the Third Economic Reform Support Operation (ERSO III).

            When the vote was taken on the resolution to set aside standing Order 80(1) to enable the house adopt the report yesterday, 677 Majority members voted in favour while 63 of the Minority group voted against.

            The resolution needed approval by at least 101 members for the report of the committee to be adopted to pave way for a speedy approval by the House of the loan agreement.

            After the voting, the Speaker, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey declared that the resolution could not be adopted as it failed to receive the support of the required 101 votes in favour.

            More…/                      

 

Atta Mills refutes our publication

 

The Independent reports that a member of the former Vice President Atta Mills' team, which was at an NDC zonal meeting at Winneba has denied aspects of The Independent's front page story captioned "NDC IS A Divided HOUSE" - Atta Mills, published in the Wednesday July 25, 2001 edition of the paper.

            According to Mr. Allotey Jacobs the headline of the said report did not convey the exact import of what the former Vice President said at the meeting.

            According to him what Prof. Mills meant was that too much bickering form the top hierarchy of the NDC party to the grassroots will never augur will for the party "if we should take over the reigns of government in 2004".

            Mr Jocobs was of the view that our reporter might have misconstrued all these aspects of the former Vice President's speech because he spoke in Fante, his local dialect.

            He denied that former Vice President Mills ever said "although some individuals in the NDC regime corrupted themselves, it was not the intention of the party as an institution to conspire to loot the national coffers" as part of the paper's report stated.

            "What he rather said was that the NPP government is deliberately painting ex-NDC Ministers as corrupt people", Mr Jacobs declared.

            He also said the former Vice President made it clear that the NPP is only distracting attention to justify their own failures and that the NDC never had any intention of looting the national coffers.

GRi…/

 

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The Ghanaian Voice

Arthur, Yeboah also deserve honour

 

The Ghanaian Voice says with the imminent exhumation and reburial of selected executed military officers, a call has gone to the government to also handover the bodies of Arthur and Yeboah to their families.

            The two were executed after an abortive attempt to overthrow the National Liberation Council (NLC) government, which overthrew the CPP in 1967.

            The abortive coup, which was primarily aimed at overthrowing the Kotoka and Afrifa - led Regime was programmed to bring back Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah from Guinea.

            The two, Lt. Arthur and 2nd Lt. Yeboah were court martialed and executed for leading the coup which also claimed the life of general E.K. Kotoka who was the architect of the military putsch that overthrew Nkrumah.

            Family sources told the Ghanaian Voice" that if for nothing at all, monuments and statues should be erected to immortalize the memory of those who took arms against the illegal military regime.

            "We know who are villains of Ghana Politics, and we are aware who is now called the hero and his body is going to be exhumed and reburied. We also have suffered if Afrifa and co are going to be glorified for whatever reasons we also demand restitution for our fathers who were killed because they stood against an imposition" said two family spokesmen.

More…/

 

Police woman victimized

 

The Ghanaian Voice writes in another story that many Ghanaians seem to be asking if ex-President JJ Rawlings does not have enough good reason to express his feelings on the treatment being meted out to people close to him and the NDC by the NPP administration.

            The latest victim of the NPP government's intimidation of people perceived to be close to the former President is a Police Corporal who until recently had been part of the security outfit of the ex-President, according to the paper.

            The Corporal's crime was that she visited Rawlings's office while she was still on leave. For this, the Police administration by a wireless message recalled her from her 42-day leave and asked her to proceed on transfer to Techiman, effective last Friday July 20.

            The Corporal had commenced her leave around the 9th of July, but had to go to her duty post at the ex-President's office at Ridge to pick some documents she left behind.

Little did she know that her colleagues on security detail around the Ex-President's residence would report her to their bosses at the Headquarters (HQ).

            A wireless message, signed by one P.K. Acheampong from the CID HQ was flashed ordering the immediate transfer of the Corporal to Techiman in the Brong-Ahafo Region. The transfer was to be effect Friday, July 20 and in her place a Sergeant was to be moved from Techiman to CID HQ in Accra.

GRi…/

 

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The Crusading Guide

¢28Bn tax evasion

 

The Crusading Guide writes that Godka Group Ltd, owned by Kwashie Anagbo (alis Patron), an acquaintance of ex-President Rawlings, has managed to escape the eyes of Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) over the company's refusal to pay duty to the tune of ¢28 billion.

            Kwashie Anagbo had allegedly connived with one Nettey, a Custom Official (now on interdiction) to open up a Bonded Warehouse, which had been locked by both parties CEPS and GODKA for stocktaking to be conducted. Anagbo was said to have fraudulently managed to secure the keys to the Warehouse kept by CEPS and removed most of the goods from it without paying Custom duties on them. He (Anagbo) was arrested by CEPS but later given bail by the service.

            Though Kwashie Anagbo, said to be the NDC financier for Volta Region was allegedly spotted in the company of some ladies in one of the charlets of the Luxurious La-Palm Royal Beach Hotel a few weeks ago, no attempt has been made by the present CEPS management to retrieve the money.

            The Company deals in canned foods.    Two years ago when the CEPS officials took stock at their Warehouse, (A/160 and A/89) and discovered the removal of some goods from the Warehouse without payment of duty, CEPS slapped a penalty of ¢22 billion on the over ¢6 billion tax evasion by GODKA making the total liability ¢28 billion.

More…/

 

CPP is not an opportunistic party

 

A leading member of the Nkrumaist Convention People's Party (CPP), Dr Vladimir Antwi Danso, has stated clearly that the party is not an opportunistic one as being perceived by a section of the Ghanaian public, reports The Crusading Guide.

            The CPP top contended that it was not a bad idea that some of that party's members were now serving in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, as they are serving Mother Ghana.

            Dr Antwi Danso made these observations in an exclusive interview with The Crusading Guide at his Legon Centre for International Affairs (LECIA) office in Accra.

            The Lecturer cum politician noted that the resolution of the deplorable economic legacy which the NPP administration inherited from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Government required the commitment of all Ghanaians, irrespective of their political, ethnic and religious backgrounds, and this in his view, compelled the CPP members to accept the request by Kufuor to serve in his government.

            Concerning the proposed alliance between the Convention People's Party (CPP), the National Reform Party (NRP), Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) and the People's National Convention (PNC), Dr. Danso urged the parties in the ongoing negotiations to place the interest of Mother Ghana first to ensure that the negotiations succeed.

GRi…/

 

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The Ghanaian Democrat

HIPC is dangerous for Ghana

 

Jubilee 2000 Africampaign Ghana says it regret the decision of the NPP government to force Ghana to join the HIPC initiative without expert advice, according to a Ghanaian Democrat report.

            "Unfortunately, the HIPC initiative that the new administration has accessed does not offer any real possibilities of taking us out of the crisis of development", said Mr Kwame Dudzoe, National Co-ordinator for Jubilee 2000.

            He was addressing a news conference in Accra to register the organisation's displeasure about President J.A. Kufuor's declaration of Ghana as a HIPC country.

            Mr Dudzoe stressed that HIPC is in fact not aimed at helping Ghana achieve debt sustainability, as its professed objective proclaims.

            He disclosed that the whole purpose of HIPC seeks to keep our government and the economy locked up even more firmly within the economic paradigm of structural adjustment and neo-liberal conditionalities.

            "Days before its spring meeting in Washington DC, the World Bank and IMF released an internal paper which finally raised deep concerns about debt sustainability after the HIPC initiative and effectively abandons the original article of faith that HIPC was an effective response to the challenges of debt sustainability," Mr Dudzoe emphasised, saying that the NPP government had denied the real opportunity of considering alternative for HIPC.

GRi…/

 

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The Accra Mail

VAT Service to end tax on essential drugs

 

Mr Joseph O. Blankson, Commissioner of the Value Added Tax (VAT) Service said on Tuesday that the service would immediately stop imposing VAT on essential drugs as soon as the minister of Health makes such a list available, according to an Accra Mail repot.

            "We are aware that the Minster of Health is working on the list of special drugs to be exempted form VAT. As soon as it is available, the VAT service will not waste time in its implementation," Mr Blankson told a meeting in Accra with officials of the service, pharmacists, importers and wholesalers of finished pharmaceutical products.

            The meeting was to discuss the relevant sections of the VAT (Amendment) Act, 2001 (Act 595) and what was expected of importers of finished pharmaceutical products with respect to registration and compliance.

            A major issue raised at the meting was the definition of essential drugs to be determined by the Health Minister and approved by Parliament. At the re-introduction of the VAT Act of 1998, (Act 546) such drugs were initially exempted from tax.

            The list at the time was defined mainly for the purpose of procurement of the major pharmaceutical products for the Ministry of Health, but an appropriate definition was not reached for its successful implementation for taxation purposes.

            Mr Blankson said the VAT placed domestic producers at a competitive disadvantage as local manufactures still paid VAT on packaging materials required for the production of pharmaceutical products.

            Importers of finished products, meanwhile, had the entire cost, insurance and freight (CIF) of their finished products exempted from VAT, but local manufacturers did not have any means of recovering the VAT paid on their imports.

            Some local manufacturers, finding importing of finished pharmaceutical products more lucrative, moved into imports.

            Mr Blankson said a mechanism that would benefit local manufacturers was decided on and taken care of in the VAT Amendment Act 2001, (Act 595) which received presidential assent in April this year.

More…/

 

A successful summit

 

The Accra Mail says all too soon the Homecoming Summit towards which much energy and resources were expended by the government, the private sector and citizens has found a comfortable place in the chapters of history. 

The 'Akwaba', which preceded the start of the historical event has given way to 'Nantiyie' as the Ghanaians in the Diaspora who graced the occasion head for their various destinations. The response to the call by an economically distressed country to her sons and daughters living abroad to come to her aid underscores our determination as a people to disentangle ourselves from the self-inflicted economic mess we have found ourselves in. 

            All those who ensured its success should be patted on the back for a job well done. The resolutions reached during the summit should not be kept on the shelves but given executive bite so that our seriousness can be appreciated by those we expect to invest in the country, for after all, that was the objective of the whole endeavour. It would also be helpful if periodic assessment of the impact of the summit would be undertaken to improve future summits. 

            The Accra Mail wishes all who turned up for the great event a safe journey back to their destinations and to those of us at home, we say, "let the House flourish."

GRi…/

 

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