GRi Press Review Ghana 22 - 06

Parliament has requested the Minister of Education to appear before the House to explain why about ¢350 billion accrued into the Education Trust Fund has not been disbursed, despite students' agitation for increase in their loan scheme, reports The Daily Graphic.

This followed allegations that since the fund was established two years ago, the Value Added Tax (VAT) Service has not paid the amount, which, by law, ought to be lodged in the fund's account.

The House also expressed concern about the lukewarm attitude of the fund's disbursement board in laying before Parliament a formula for disbursement at a time that academic facility user fee has gone up.

Mr Kosi Kedem, NDC member for Hohoe south, who introduced the topic in a statement on Thursday's sitting, said the major source of money for the fund is the two and-a-half per cent of the 12.5 VAT rate.

Mr Kedem said it was estimated that in the year 2000, VAT alone was to contribute ¢200 billion to the fund and that a further ¢150 billion is expected to have been accumulated within the first six months of this year, bringing the total to ¢350 billion as at now.

He express surprise that such an impoverished and under-funded ministry should have such a sum "sitting comfortably somewhere, which is not being used and, in fact, cannot be used", because the board of the trust has not submitted a formula for disbursement for approval by Parliament.

The member was also doubtful whether the VAT Service has also complied with the requirement to pay monies into the trust account within 30 days of receipt of VAT revenue as stipulated by law.

More…/

'Don't demand AIDS test from employees'

A lecturer at the School of Public Health of the University of Ghana, Legon, Dr Phylis Antwi, has stated that it is wrong for employers to demand that would-be employees should undergo HIV/AIDS test before they are engaged, reports The Daily Graphic.

"Under no circumstance should an employer demand an HIV/AIDS test before signing on an applicant and no employer should demand an AIDS test to be conducted on an employee”, she said.

Dr Antwi said the Constitution protects the rights of all people including those living with the virus.

She was speaking on "Civil Service and the Golden Age: Combating HIV/AIDS, the role of the workplace", as part of activities marking the launch of the Seventh Africa Day of Administration and Civil Service in Accra.

Dr Antwi said there is a need for a co-ordinated approach to carrying out HIV/AIDS prevention activities by developing workplace policies to conform to the national policies on the disease.

More…/

2 Arrested for lynching woman

The Ho Police have arrested two persons in connection with the lynching of a 54-year-old woman at Abutia-Kloe in the Ho District three weeks ago.

According to the Graphic, the suspect, Peace Afedo and Harrison Mensah, accused the deceased, Victoria Adafia Wudagli, of begin a witch and using her witchcraft to mastermind the May 9 Accra Stadium tragedy, which resulted in the death of 126 spectators.

Among the dead was Komla Tenyson, a nephew of the woman.

Six other suspects are on the run. They are Arku Kumah, Bright Botwe, George Kpe, yaw Ntifu, Ephraim Kpe and Prosper Wudagli.

The Volta Regional Police Crime Officer, Superintendent Joseph Adorkor-Bidzi, told the Graphic in an interview at Ho on Wednesday that the suspects alleged that the woman had a bitter quarrel with Komla shortly before he left for Accra to watch the soccer match.

After Komla's burial on June 4, Supt. Adokor-Bidzi said Peace Afedo ran to the house of the deceased, shouting at the top of her voice that she was possessed by the spirit of Komla, and that his death was caused by his aunt, Victoria, who pursued him to the Accra Stadium 'spiritually' to unleash vengeance on him.

GRi…/

Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com

Return to top

The Ghanaian Times

Two kept in remand for 10 yrs

Tanker driver kills 4 in 2 accidents

Two men have been on remand at the Wa Central Prison in the Upper West Region for the past 10 years without trial, writes The Ghanaian Times.

Iddrisu Abudrahaman, 49, and Iddrisu Yussif, 41, have been held since 1991 for suspected murder.

The Assistant Director of Prisons, Mr Garvase Kuupiel, disclosed this to the Regional Minister, Mr Mogtari Sahanun, when he paid a working visit to the prison.

It formed part of the Minister's tour of key institutions in the region to acquaint himself with problems militating against their progress and to seek solutions to them.

The suspects told the Regional Minister that they appeared before the Upper West Regional Tribunal in 1992 and later the National Tribunal in 1993. They were remanded at the James Fort Prison in Accra and later brought back to Wa Central Prisons without any progress being made in their trial.

They said that in September 1997, they appeared before the Wa High Court and had since been abandoned in the prison.

The suspects said they had petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Inspector-General of Police but no positive decision had been taken on their case.

They appealed to the Minister to intervene on their behalf so that a decisive decision could be taken on them.

Briefing the Minister, Mr Kuupiel said that there were 100 people at the prisons, comprising 65 convicts, 37 first offenders, 19 second offenders and nine recidivists.

More…/

Tanker driver kills 4 in 2 accidents

A Hit-and-Run tanker driver last Saturday compounded his problems when he ran into another vehicle, killing three people on the spot and wounding several others.

According to The Ghanaian Times, he thus killed four people.

The petrol tanker first knocked down a cyclist at Kakasunaka. As he fled the scene, the driver, Richard Tsekpetse, attempted to overtake a car ahead, but ran into a Nissan mini-bus, GT 9974 G, instantly killing three of the passengers on the mini-bus.

The suspect was put before the Tema Circuit Tribunal on Wednesday, charged with five counts of driving without due care and attention to other road users, and negligently causing harm.

He pleaded not guilty and was remanded in custody until June 26.

Remanding him, Mr Ringo Cass Azumah, the Tribunal Chairman, said that he viewed the case as serious since it involved the death of four people.

GRi…/

Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com

Return to top

The Ghanaian Chronicle

Audit of GAF UN account

'Rescue us or we perish, Mr President'

The Ghanaian Chronicle says Defence Minister Addo Kufuor on Thursday confirmed that he had called for an immediate audit into the Ghana Armed Forces UN accounts in New York following reports that the previous government used the account to guarantee for the acquisition of the presidential jet.

The account that was virtually being operated by ex-President Rawlings himself at the Castle represents deductions from allowances of Ghanaian soldiers on UN peacekeeping assignments.

The minister expressed the difficulties of the external auditors due to the manner in which the accounts were operated. Chronicle says it gathered that the auditors are Price Waterhouse Incorporated.

"I have asked external auditors to audit both the external and the internal accounts because I have received reports that the security account was used to guarantee the acquisition of the jet. If there are any misallocations, they could be detected," the minister said.

Meanwhile, senior military officials have hailed the move by the minister, adding that they were very much interested in what will finally emerge.

More…/

'Rescue us or we perish, Mr President'

The Ghanaian Chronicle says in another story that by the time Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, finally walked out on the corporation last year, it was no longer a secret he had left a multi-million dollar debt as his personal contribution to the national debt.

The chronicle says it can reveal today that besides his debt legacy, the former GNPC boss has put the lives of 29 Ghanaians in danger on the high seas in Gabon and Angola.

A message faxed to President J.A. Kufuor through the Chronicle last week and information confirmed by GNPC sources reveal that 29 Ghanaian engineers sent to Angola and Gabon by GNPC have appealed to the government for emergency assistance.

"If His Excellency the President does not come to our aid to rescue and evacuate us from the high seas, we would all die here. Please 'come to Macedonia and help us," pleaded the stranded Ghanaians.

Ghanaian government officials recently appealed to the Angolan Energy Minster, who recently paid a visit to Ghana, to pay up debt owed GNPC to enable the government repatriate the Ghanaians, some of whom are reportedly suffering from 'mental disorders'.

Chronicle gathered that early last year, Tsatsu ordered his subordinate to recruit people to be sent to Gabon and Angola to refurbish GNPC oilrigs. Twenty-two were recruited in addition to seven GNPC staff for the assignment.

GRi…/

Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com

Return to top

The Evening News

Tony Aidoo's slap is not a national issue - IGP

Court dismisses Peprah's suit

The former Deputy Minister for Defence, Dr. Tony Aidoo may not see justice done in the case in which he was allegedly assaulted by a motorist near the Fox Trap Nite Club at Adabraka, in Accra.

The Evening News says the reason? According to the inspector General of Police, Mr Ernest Owusu Poku, besides Dr Aidoo's refusal to officially report the incident to the police for action to be taken the issue of his being slapped on the streets is not a national problem".

Mr Owusu Poku said this in an interview with "The Evening News" in Accra on Thursday when the paper sought to know from him if there was any possibility of the police apprehending the alleged offender since the number of the vehicle from which the man emerged had been identified.

He explained to "The Evening News" that since Dr. Aidoo had refused to report the incident to the nearest Police Station at Adabraka for his statement to be taken and the necessary information obtained for action there was no way personnel of the service could act on incredible information form radio stations.

Dr. Aidoo is alleged to have been slapped in traffic by a man who only asked whether he was "The Tony Aidoo" no more in power.

More…/

Court dismisses Peprah's suit

The Fast Track High Court trying Mr. Kwame Peprah, former Minister of Finance and five other public officers in the Quality Grain case has dismissed as frivolous and without merit an application for stay of proceedings argued by Mr Kweku Baah, Defence Counsel.

According to Mr Justice D.K. Afreh, the Presiding Judge, the application by Mr Baah was intended to delay, stultify and frustrate the trial of the accused.

Mr Baah had asked the court to stay proceedings in the case since there is an appeal pending at the Supreme Court, the outcome of which might render the current trial useless or an exercise in futility.

To this, Nana Akufo-Addo countered saying that the accused before the court had not raised any challenge to the charges preferred against them and a separate writ by the NDC should not be used to frustrate the trial.

The other accused persons are Mr Ibrahim Adam, former Minister of Food and Agriculture, Nana Ato Dadzie, former Chief of Staff, at the Office of the President, Dr Samuel Dapaah, former Chief Director, Ministry of Food and Agriculture and Dr George Sipa Yankey, former Director of Legal Sector, Private and Financial Institution Division.

Mr Justice Afreh said applications for stay of proceedings are serious, grave and fundamental interruptions in trials and must only be granted when there is need for it in the face of all reasonable doubt.

The court, he said, will not accede to the request for the stay of proceedings since that must not be done on "vague compassionate sympathetic or whimsical grounds."

GRi…/

Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com

Return to top

The Daily Guide

The 'Kofi Wayo rice' saga

¢1b Squandered at Plant Pool

Daily Guide says it can confirm that Stallion Industries and Investments Limited, duly registered in Ghana, and with certificates from the Ghana Investments Promotions Centre and the VAT Secretariat is in no way connected with Mr Charles Kofi Wayo, the cigar chomping and swashbuckling Nima Boy.

Stallion Industries and investments Ltd, who imported the fast selling Freedom Rice from Thailand a.k.a. "Kofi Wayo" rice, have therefore categorically denied that the NPP government nor Mr Kofi Wayo knows anything about the Freedom Rice currently flooding the market.

They made the denial in a statement to the Daily guide on Thursday.

"We do not even know him, have never met him and we don't know who started the gimmick", said one of the two importers of Freedom and Caprice brand rice. Kofi Wayo rice (Freedom rice) is 10 percent broken while the Caprice rice is five percent broken. All sell between ¢128,000 and ¢135,000 per bag depending on the exchange rate of the day.

It is not clear who may have started what Daily Guide can only describe as the "Marketing Strategy of the year". Certainly it is not by the importers, Stallion Industries and investment Limited, owned by two Indian brothers.

Until they came to Ghana, the two Indians were doing business in Nigeria.

More…/

¢1b Squandered at Plant Pool

A Crack team of investigators from the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) prying into issues of malfeasance, mis-appropriation of funds and mis-management at Plant Pool Limited, a state-owned heavy equipment and haulage firm, has allegedly uncovered that up to one billion cedis was squandered by the previous administration headed by Group Captain B.M.K. Koko (rtd) and his deputy Mr E. Markin, according to The Daily Guide.

"The place was run like a private property", said a member of the investigative team who does not want to be named.

During the nine-year administration of Koko as the Managing Director the place was plundered to the extent that people were paid monies without signing for anything.

The shocking revelation from the probe is that the huge chunk of money quaffed by the management is being shifted on to the accountant, Mr J.Kwasi Wilson who is currently studying in the United States.

Fortunately, in a heightened drama, the accountant has vowed to dash back home to clear his name.

The Daily Guide can reveal that many concerned and interested parties including Plant Pool have moved to provide the air ticket for Mr Wilson to come and clear himself and redeem his name which has been deliberately linked with what is becoming the sordid management of the previous administration.

As the coals get hotter at the probe, documents in possession of The Daily Guide clearly show that the SFO investigative team is merely scratching the surface of a major rot and catastrophe that has befallen Plant Pool for the past ten years.

GRi…/

Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com

Return to top

Free Press

IMF's attempt to impose a governor on G.O.G

As Ghanaians come to terms with the much-taunted HIPC initiative, the IMF/WB are allegedly attempting to infiltrate the day to day running of the nation's finances. As a first step the IMF is said to be making frantic efforts to plant a Ghanaian banker, Mr Paul Acquah as the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, reports The Free Press.

The move has incurred the wrath of some prominent Washington based Ghanaians who see it as a ploy by the IMF to impose their own "conditionalities" on the financial management of the government.

Their fear according to our sources is that Mr Acquah's long absence from home might not put him in good stead to manage the central bank.

Our sources indicated that, Mr. Acquah who has worked for decades with the world is on the verge of retirement and is reported to be seriously lobbying for the top banking position to enable him enjoy his retirement comfortably at home.

The Ghanaian banker was part of the IMF/WB delegation to the Mini Consultative Grouping meeting held in Accra in May this year. Our information is that his inclusion in the delegation was deliberate to afford him the opportunity to spy the Ghanaian financial sector.

The Free Press says sources close to the Ghanaian community in Washington has confided in it that Mr Acquah is poised to use the impending visit of President Kufuor to the US to establish contacts with presidential aides to enhance his chances of getting the top banking post in the country.

GRi../

Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com

Return to top

The Accra Mail

Reconciliation hiccups

The Accra Mail writes that on the issue of national reconciliation, the government and the opposition differ completely with each other on certain specific items that the proposed reconciliation commission would deliberation on.

While the NPP government has embraced recommendations put forward by the Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) in collaboration with a coalition of civil society or civil society organisations, the NDC has raised objections to the recommendations and has therefore called for a review of the survey report, which forms the basis for the recommendations.

At the launch of a document on public opinion on national reconciliation in Ghana at the just ended International Conference on National Reconciliation, the NDC led by Dr Kwabena Adjei, former Majority Leader raised several objections about some of the results of the survey.

Speaking to The Accra Mail, Dr. Kwabena said the sample selected for the survey is, "not a fair representation of divergent views of Ghanaians because it seems to be heavily biased in favour of the youth, urban dwellers, literate persons and even in terms of sex."

He said the NDC has problems also with the items and the contents of the questionnaire, in that certain items have been deliberately included in order to be confirmed by the respondents. He noted that there is no indication in the report that suggests that the interviewers found their targeted respondents, adding, "in the absence of any reference to post survey checks, then I have grounds to doubt the reality of the data".

GRi…/

Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com

Return to top

The Dispatch

Amma Busia Resigns

South African envoy suspended

The National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr S.A. Odoi-Sykes, has on behalf of the National Executive Committee of the party, accepted the resignation of Madam Amma Busia as its First National Vice Chairperson, reports The Dispatch..

Madam Amma Busia resigned the position to serve as a member of the Council of State.

A statement signed by the party's General Secretary, Mr Dan Botwe, said "the National Executive Committee takes the opportunity to thank Madam Amma Busia for her dedicated services to the NPP and hopes that she will serve the nation with the same dedication in her new role."

More../

South African envoy suspended

The South African High Commissioner to Ghana, Dr. Morgan Phologane, is in trouble again, according to The Dispatch.

This time, not with the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA). He is in deep trouble with his employers, the South African government, which has served him with a letter of suspension. When a long distance call was made to Mr Craig Coleman, Deputy Director at the Department of Foreign Affairs on the envoy's suspension, his answer was, "no comment."

Dispatch investigations revealed that His Excellency Phologane had been served with a letter of suspension for what a source described as his "undiplomatic consumption of alcohol in public and its embarrassing consequences; his public moral activities not befitting a diplomat and in general, his indifferent attitude towards enhancing relations between Ghana and South Africa." He was also not in "full presence" when President John Kufuor visited South Africa recently.

H.E. Phologane is reported to have appealed to his superiors to give him a month to wind up in Accra whilst investigations continue. He consequently returned to Accra last Monday (June 18), where one of our scouts met him when his plane touched down at 1730 GMT.

Even though he decided to speak to our reporter at the airport, he later asked him to meet him at home. He said it would be irrational, "it is not true, it is unheard off," for his appointment to be revoked.

GRi…/

Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com

Return to top

The Weekend Statesman

DNL-Simnet deal threatens 30,000 jobs

The Weekend Statesman says the job of more than 30,000 members of the National Lotto Receivers Union (NLRU), are at stake, if a controversial agreement signed between the Department of National Lotteries (DNL) and Simnet Ghana Limited gets endorsed.

Members of the union are the agents of the DNL, and Simnet is an Indian company that appears to be about to be given a contract to run the lotto business, which has been done in this country for 39 years by the DNI.

Under the 10-year agreement Simnet, is empowered to shop for retailers for DNL coupons, regardless of the existing bond between DNL and its agents. The NLRU says this puts its members at the mercy of Simnet, as there is no clause in the agreement to project them. Many of the agents have been working with the DNL for the past 30 years.

Simnet, which was introduced to the DNL by the NDC government as consultants, signed the controversial agreement with the Department of National Lotteries to restructure and improve on its 5/90 games in particular, and other games in general, and to change DNL's operations from manual to on-line.

However, what was supposed to be a consultancy agreement appears to have turned out to be a partnership agreement, with Simnet having a controlling share of DNL operations, contrary to established laws regulating the operations of lotteries in the country.

The DNL/Simnet agreement cedes 81% of all proceeds from the sale of ticket to Simnet, leaving DNL with only 19%, while Simnet runs the show.

GRi…/

Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com

Return to top

Ghana Palaver

Busia claimed 1966 Coup success

The Ghana Palaver says some latter-day 'radio' politicians, have been attempting to separate the Busia regime from that of the military National Liberation Council (NLC), which ruled the country, with an iron hand, after the overthrow of the First Republic.

However, it is a historical fact that after the overthrow of Nkrumah, without waiting for the new regime to entrench its position, Dr K.A. Busia rushed to Ghana to lay a claim as the "sole" beneficiary of the coup.

Even as chief adviser, Busia remained edgy until an election was arranged for him to come to power.

Naturally, those who suffered various degrees of injustice under the NLC regime cannot feel comfortable when left out in any move towards reconciliation among all factions. GRi…/

Send your comments to news@ghanareivew.com

Return to top