GRi Press Review Ghana 18 - 06 - 2001
France to write-off debt
5 Donor Partners to support health sector
'It's an offence to manufacture arms'
Bawku accepts peace
EPA takes on AMA
NPP's 31st DWM? Puzzle at K'dua Confab
Big hunt for Kwame Addo
Arms Cache at Agbobloshie
Soldiers presence scares Afienya Youth Camp
GMF Music to the rescue of highlife
UN has no problem with Rawlings
GNPC stripped bare
National Reconciliation commission bill
Lloyds' U.K. releases Funds for Airlink Victims
Stinking legacy of ex-Ghanaair boss
France to write-off debt
5 Donor Partners to support health sector
'It's an offence to manufacture arms'
The French Government has decided to write-off all of Ghana's official bilateral trade debt to her country, the French Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Michelle-Jean Berit, has said.
According to the Daily Graphic, the ambassador, who announced this when he called on the Foreign Minister Hackman Owusu-Agyemang said the gesture is his country's support for Ghana's HIPC initiative.
According to a statement issued in Accra, Mr Berrit said France has been involved in the preparation of Ghana's poverty reduction programme.
The statement said, Mr Owusu-Agyemang expressed Ghana's appreciation for the support by France in her endeavours, particularly on the HIPC initiative.
It said on sub-regional security issues, the Foreign Minister also expressed his appreciation to France for her support for the Zambrako Peace-keeping Training College in Cote d'Ivoire and plans to link it to the Kofi Annan International Peace-Keeping Centre in Ghana.
The statement said Mr Owusu-Agyemang stressed the need to unite UEMOA and non-UEMOA ECOWAS countries in the sub-region.
It said the French Ambassador intimated that the French President, Mr Jacques Chirac, has extended an invitation to President Kufuor to pay an official visit to France in the latter part of the year.
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5 Donor Partners to support health sector
The Government of Ghana and five of its donor partners have resolved to set up a health account into which the donors will contribute 65 per cent of their support to the health sector for the next five years, says another Daily Graphic story.
This, unlike previously, is to afford the government the opportunity to use the funds in the account to finance priority programmes in the health sector.
The Government's priority areas for the next five years are the control of HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria and guinea worm.
Other areas include the setting up of the health insurance scheme, human resource development in the form of providing incentives for doctors, and how to deal with the brain drain problem.
The Partners are the Denmark, the Netherlands, the European Commission, the Department for International Development (DFID) of UK, and the World Bank.
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'It's an offence to manufacture arms'
The police have cautioned that it is an offence to manufacture any kind of arms in the country.
They have, therefore, urged blacksmiths and other persons in the weapons manufacturing business to halt their trade forthwith.
A police statement issued in Accra at the Weekend, also said the police would deal ruthlessly with any arms and ammunition dealer who illegally sells arms to people without police authorization.
"The police wish to warn licensed arms and ammunition dealers in the strongest terms that if any of them is caught engaging in illegal transaction, they will be banned from dealing in arms and ammunition, have their stocks seized and their shops and magazines closed down", the Graphic quotes the statement as saying.
The statement said "a police survey has shown that in the course of recent armed robberies, the criminals have used SB short guns and live cartridges liberally".
It said further enquires have disclosed that the stringent rules, regulations and procedures on the purchase, possession, transfer and use of arms and ammunition have been flouted by arms dealers.
The statement further warned that it is an offence for any member of the public to purchase and keep arms and ammunition from dealers and other persons without a permit from the police.
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Bawku accepts peace
EPA takes on AMA
At long last, peace has returned to Bawku, writes The Ghanaian Times.
This follows the "smoking of a peace pipe" by the two major ethnic groups - Kusasis and Mamprusis - who for some time now, had engaged in arms conflict over chieftaincy matters.
The groups have resolved to use dialogue in settling all disputes instead of war.
They, among others, pledged to recognize the Bawku Naba as the paramount chief of the area, use the inter-marriages between Kusasis and Mamprusis, stop the purchasing and stockpiling of arms, and use the allocation and patronage of the Bawku market as unifying factors to ensure lasting peace in the district.
These were contained in as communiqué issued at Bawku at the weekend, as a result of a Peace and Reconciliation Consultation meeting held at Damongo in the Northern Region from June 4-8.
It was under the aegis of the Bawku Peace Initiative Coalition and a Consortium of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), World Vision Ghana, Bawku East Women's Development Association (BEWDA), UNICEF, and Northern Ghana Peace Project, as well as the Bawku East District Assembly.
Before presenting the communiqué to the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mahami Salifu, two opinion leaders from the Mamprusi and Kusasi factions, Alhaji Sulemana Yiremaih and Mr John Ndebugre, exhorted the people especially the youth, to be law abiding and eschew acts likely to mar the peace process.
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EPA takes on AMA
The environmental Protection agency (EPA) has given the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) a month's ultimatum to properly manage the waste dumpsite at Mallam in Accra, or face prosecution.
AMA has also been directed, among other things, to check chemical waste running down the slopes into homes, prevent exposure by progressive capping and check nuisance related to littering, odour and pest which have been posing serious threats to public health.
The ultimatum is the result of AMA's failure to respond to several notices from the EPA.
A letter to the Chief Executive of AMA and the Head of the Waste Management Department said that it had become obvious to the EPA that persistent notices given to the AMA to take steps to properly manage the waste dump at Mallam had gone unheeded.
The letter, issued by EPA's Senior Prosecuting Officer, Mrs Margaret Ahiadeke, said "Notice is hereby given that if you do not comply with this notice within 30 days, effective from June 15, 2001, the EPA will bring a suit against your organization, AMA, for an order of mandatory injunction to compel your Assembly to comply."
Mrs. Ahiadeke told the "Times' in a follow up interview that the EPA was determined to "deal with all defaulting organizations and individuals in the country."
According to her, legal charges would be leveled against all organizations, which would fail to comply with their directives.
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NPP's 31st DWM? Puzzle at K'dua Confab
The Ghanaian Chronicle reports that the issue of whether a women's non-governmental organization (NGO), the United Women's Front (UNIWAF), founded and led by Ms. Theresa Tagoe, Deputy Minister of Works and Housing and New Patriotic Party member of Parliament for Ablekuma South, is a 31st December Women's Movement in the making came up at a Koforidua workshop to train women to contest in the next district assembly elections.
In view of the fact that its founder and president is a dyed-in the wool NPP member, many are those who suspect the non-partisan nature of UNIWAF.
When accosted, however, Ms Tagoe swore that her organization was independent of the NPP or any other political party, for that matter.
"You would be surprised to know that the very member who evolved the name United Women's Front, and another member, who is the treasurer, are not NPP members, or even sympathizers," Ms Tagoe told the Chronicle.
UNIWAF had organized a training workshop for more than 60 participants drawn from Southern Ghana last week.
It seeks funds from donor organisations to sensitize more women elsewhere to take up local government responsibilities, she told The Chronicle.
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Big hunt for Kwame Addo
The Daily Guide reports that officials of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) are poised to track down three key suspects involved in alleged shady deals to assist in the ongoing investigations into the affairs of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).
The three, the controversial arms and ammunitions dealer, business tycoon and member of the Board of SSNIT Mr. Augustus Kwame Addo, his wife Mrs. Benigna Audrey Addo and Mr Isaac Nana Wiredu, the Managing Director of Worae Farms Limited are being hunted not only to assist in some specific issues but also to answer preliminary charges of Conflict of Interest, Fraudulent Breach of Trust and Fraudulently Causing loss of money amounting to billions of cedis to the State.
The specific issues being investigated against the three are sale of Singer House and a huge parcel of land at Odupon-Kpehe in the Ga District of Greater Accra.
The facts of the Singer House sale are that both SSNIT and one Mawuli Ababio bid the same amount during the tender, Mysteriously the offer was given to Mawuli, but then the cheque used in paying belonged to Game Marketing Enterprise, a Company owned by the wife of Kwame Addo who is also a member of the SSNIT Board.
Mawuli bought the house for ¢1.5 billion only to sell it back to SSNIT for ¢2.6 billion.
He claims he took a loan from Gama Marketing and so he paid back that money but then all other evidence points to a sort of circular sale or insider trading which is a criminal offence.
The Odupon Land Sale appears as more interesting where a huge chunk of land purchased for ¢30 million was later sold for ¢2.3 billion. Kwame Addo, a fat NDC financier comes into this story for the simple reason that he paid for the land from the Chiefs and elders of Odupon under questionable pretences, promises and projections.
Two months ago Kwame Addo and his wife disappeared into thin air when the police swooped on an arms depot they own to look for illegal stockpile of arms.
When last week the SFO issued a public announcement for them to appear to be quizzed, a letter from lawyer Owusu Fordjuor claiming to represent Mr Kwame Addo said his client was ill and would be present at the appropriate time to assist in the investigations; no mention was however made of his wife, Audrey nor their whereabouts.
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Arms Cache at Agbobloshie
Soldiers presence scares Afienya Youth Camp
The Free Press reports that suspected armed robbers are keeping large quantities of arms concealed under a car washing base along the rail line at Agbobloshie behind Accra Brewery.
This, according to a Free Press source has been reported to both the Police Striking Force and the Accra Railways Police but no action has been taken to arrest the situation.
The source said a group of young men always converge at the washing base during the day and would be seen smoking and peddling drugs like wee openly.
These people swing into action at nightfall to snatch handbags and resort to pick-pocketing.
They would at times start firing shots deep in the night apparently to scare people away from their area of operation.
The source said about a week ago, two taxi cabs with their registration numbers concealed, led by a man in police uniform riding a motor bike with registration number GT 649 L pulled up at the vicinity and a large quantities of items including refrigerators, traveling bags, ladies hand bags and other assorted items were off-loaded.
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Soldiers presence scares Afienya Youth Camp
Students of the Afienya Youth Leadership Training Centre are now living in a state of fear, following an invasion of their campus by armed soldiers, according to the Free Press.
The soldiers are ostensibly guarding the closed down Sankofa Aero Club, which is next door to the school at Afienya.
It will be recalled that a few weeks ago, the government announced the closure of the Sankofa Aero club, a flying club, which has among its members ex-president Rawlings and several of his cronies.
Since then the premises of the flying club has been occupied by heavily armed soldiers, who refuse to allow anybody entry.
A statement issued by the government indicated that the club had been shut down temporary for reorganisation.
Residents of Afienya and Prampram have also protested against the periodic incursion of their towns by soldiers, ostensibly to conduct a search for arms and appealed to the Government and the military to refrain from such harassment.
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GMF Music to the rescue of highlife
The Accra Mail writes that GMF Music Group, a Belgium based music company which has shown interest in African music has established one of its branches in Ghana to assist in the production of good music especially, highlife.
Announcing this at a press conference in Accra last Friday, the President of MUSIGA, Alhaji Sidiku Burari, who is also the local Director of GMF, noted that a look at the local music scene, reveals that the industry is dying gradually because of the absence of a well organized recording entity to provide quality services for the production of marketable music. He said GMF is therefore in the country to see how best it can uplift and maintain the image of the music industry in Ghana and Africa.
He said the company is starting business with five strategic outlets located in Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi and Tamale to cater for the needs of the people in these regions, while plans are in the pipeline to open more outlets in the other regional capitals. "We will see our products at affordable prices to enable the average Ghanaian to have asses to good music" he said.
In line with the company's plans to help develop music talents, Alhaji Sidiku said GMF has so far signed contracts with 30 local musicians to handle and distribute its works. Six new albums of various musicians will be released on the market every month starting from June.
Launching the first batch of albums by the company, made up of a collection by renowned artist such as Nana King, Pozo Haze, K.K. Kabobo, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Nana Akomea, urged musicians to move away from petty squabbles and forge ahead to improve the industry.
There is an enormous potential for the music industry to grow and contribute to the countries GDP, he said, adding that research has shown that the music industry is currently worth about ¢175 billion with the prospects of reaching ¢500 billion when the available talents are harnessed.
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UN has no problem with Rawlings
The Ghanaian Democrat says contrary to what a section of the pro-government press would like Ghanaians to believe, the former President, Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, is very much in the good books of the United Nations.
The Ghanaian Democrat says its investigations in both New York, where the UN headquarters is located and Geneva which houses the European offices of the organization, the respect the ex-President enjoys in the corridors of power of the world body has not in any way diminished as a result of the propaganda mounted against the former Ghanaian leader by his political opponents.
A trans-Atlantic enquiry by the Democrat to New York was heart-warming as a senior officer on the African desk said the UN has absolute confidence in Flt. Lt. Rawlings.
"He is still an eminent world leader and the UN will continue to tap on his rich experience as long serving ruler of a very important country like Ghana."
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GNPC stripped bare
The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), until very recently a very powerful, rich and prominent corporation under its first and long servicing CEO, Tsatsu Tsikata, is now struggling to merely stay alive, reports the Public Agenda.
Set up in 1985, under PNDC Law 64 to explore for hydrocarbons, the corporation steadily spread itself till its operations covered areas like hospitality, gold mining, salt winning, telecommunications and power generation.
It has interests in salt production in Ada, a hotel at Mole, gold mining at Prestea, and a gas thermal project still under construction at Effasu in the Western Region, among others.
But now the corporation is about to lose all these. Already it has lost its place as a partner in the $500 million West African Gas Pipeline Project.
A special audit to look into its activities to find out if it has had value for its money will be under way soon.
Former PNDC/NDC Finance Minister, Kwesi Botchwey, cited GNPC as one of his reasons for leaving the government. Botchwey's resignation came after his government had run a long unanticipated deficit, which was caused largely by GNPC borrowing from the central bank.
The corporation had also become a bone of contention between the NDC government whose leader was hell-bent on protecting his friend's fiefdom and the World Bank, which wanted to sell it because of losses.
Now with the NDC government out of power, the corporation has come face to face with the harsh realities that many former public corporations faced and went under.
The Corporation is being asked to justify its existence and the hints are frightening for the 653 workers of the corporation.
The moment of truth the workers are dreading is close as the three-man committee set up to look at how the corporation can be restructured to focus on its core business, will submit its report to the Minister of Energy, Albert Kan-Dapaah this week.
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National Reconciliation commission bill
A proposed 15-page bill is to be tabled in Parliament on the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC), according to the Dispatch.
Prominent among the provisions are that the Commission would be made up of seven Commissioners, the establishment of a Reparation and Rehabilitation Fund; the periods to be covered are, from June 4 to September 23, 1979 and December 31, 1981 to February 6, 1993. The Commission is supposed to complete its work within 12 months or for a further period not exceeding three months. It then has three months to submit its final report.
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Lloyds' U.K. releases Funds for Airlink Victims
The High Stree Journal discloses that there were strong indications a fortnight ago that the victims of the Airlink crash will soon smile home with their compensations.
The paper says it has learnt that Lloyds UK the re-insurers of the passengers liability has made available an initial fund for the settlement.
So far, 16, out of the 44 passengers on board the ill fated flight have submitted their claims applications to Airlink through their solicitors to State Insurance Company the lead insurer.
In June 2000, the Airlink plane owned by the Ghana Armed Forces crashed at the Kotoka International airport on its way back from Tamale via Kumasi.
Seven passengers out of those on board died.
Three of the dead were foreign nationals from America, Switzerland and Nigeria.
SIC the underwriters who ceded substantial amount of the premium through its reinsurance brokers Aon Aviation London to the London market were immediately notified.
HSJ learnt the brokers used the first few months to gather information on the cause of the crash.
Unlike other classes of insurance business, for instance, motor where procedures are straight forward, because all premiums are retained in the local market, aviation insurance is a different ball game. The procedures take quite sometime.
Satisfied with the findings, Aon represented by its solicitors, Beamont & Sons and SIC concluded the arrangement for the claims settlement in Accra a month ago.
Survivors were asked to come for physical assessment on the magnitude of injuries sustained based on the medical reports provided to SIC.
At the time of SIC's press release on June 6, 2001, only 9 had honoured that invitation, contrary to previous media outburst that the nation's biggest insurer had refused to honour its obligations.
HSJ says it learnt that claims payments for the survivors would be determined by the magnitude of injuries by SIC while dependents of the dead would receive up to the maximum cover being limit of liability on the Airlink ticket.
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Stinking legacy of ex-Ghanaair boss
The Independent says when Ghana Airways increased its flight routes some two years ago, the decision was hailed as a necessary recipe to lift the airline from the doldrums.
Apart from its strength on the West Coast, the new routes to the United States JFK Airport in New York and Baltimore, South Africa and Dubai in the Middle East offered an international lifeline to the nation's premier airline.
But The Independent has discovered that what seemed a laudable idea was a big hoax and preparatory ground to take over the ownership of the company.
Ghanair was placed on divestiture by the former regime of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The former management thus set itself a scheming agenda to impress their employers in the take-over bid.
The first of the schemes was to increase flight operations of the airline although it was run at a great loss to the company.
Credible sources at the Ghanair hinted The Independent that the Dubai route caused Ghanair losses that run into millions of dollars.
"We sometimes travel with 19 people on the DC 10 flight which has a capacity of 270 people", one source disclosed.
Similarly losses were recorded on the DC 10's operations to the Republic of South Africa.
The new management of Ghanair is all set for an image redemption exercise albeit at a great cost. The first to feel the heat are workers of the airline.
Their salaries and allowances have been slashed by thirty percent. According to management sources.
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