GRi Press
Review Ghana 25 - 06 - 2001
Don't abuse
office - Vice-President cautions DCEs
NPP
congress slated for August 25
7 final
year students sacked
$1.6m
stolen from UN Imprest Account - former Auditor-Gen, Asst Director for court
Policeman
seizes ¢1.8bn goods on high seas
¢5bn blown
on playing cards
War of words
over reconciliation
Afram
Plains to revert to Kwahu
Ghana's
heritage destroyed
Petrol
price to go up
NDC
Presidential slot to be elective
More rot in
GWCL
BOG to
prosecute sellers of dollarised items and services
HIPC cash for
dev't
Agyenim
Boateng's funeral July 14
Selormey's
trial continues
Information
Technology to generate foreign exchange
Don't abuse
office - Vice-President cautions DCEs
The
Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, has warned district chief executives
against personally awarding contracts to their fovourites and incompetent
contractors, reports the Daily Graphic.
He said
DCEs should not use their positions as chairmen of the district tender boards
to constitute themselves "unto a one-man tender board and award contracts
to incompetent contractors, friends and relations."
The
Vice-President gave the warning at the closing ceremony of a five-day
orientation course for DCEs at the Institute of Local Government Studies at
Madina, near Accra at the weekend.
Alhaji
Mahama said local governance has been characterized by mal-administration,
mismanagement of public funds, waste and cautioned the DCEs against corruption
and other unethical behaviours in the society.
He reminded
the DCEs about government's policy of zero tolerance for corruption and said
the DCEs will be judged by how strictly they abide by the policy.
More…/
NPP
congress slated for August 25
The ruling
New Patriotic Party (NPP) would on August 25 this year convene its fourth
National Delegates Congress at the Great Hall of the University of Ghana,
Legon.
An
estimated 550 delegates; two each from each of the 200 constituency branches of
the party across the country, 88 members of the National Council including
National Executive Committee members and 10 representatives each from the
Founding members and Patrons of the party and one representative each from the
party's overseas branches.
Even though
no formal statement on the congress has been publicly unveiled by the party,
Graphic says its investigations have established that the main item on the
agenda would be the election of a new National Executive to steer the affairs
of the ruling party for the next three years.
The
positions up for contest are those of the National Chairman, First, Second and
Third Vice chairpersons, General-Secretary, Treasurer and National Organiser.
More…/
7 final
year students sacked
Seven final
year students of the Ghana National College, Cape Coast, have been dismissed
for smoking Indian Hemp.
The
students who have already registered for the Senior Secondary School
Certificate Examinations (SSSCE) will however be allowed to sit for the
examination.
The Headmaster,
Mr Albert K. Aiduenu, announced this at the school's Speech and Prize giving
Day held at Cape Coast last Saturday under the theme "Fostering Discipline
in Secondary Schools - the Role of Stakeholders."
Mr Aiduene
did not disclose the names of the seven students for what, he said, was meant
to protect their future career.
He said
four of them, after smoking the drug, locked one male student in a trunk.
The
headmaster said the action of the four students nearly suffocated their victim
and they admitted before a disciplinary committee that they had to revive him
by offering him milk to drink.
The three
other boys, according to him, were caught smoking in the dormitory during class
hours.
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$1.6m
stolen from UN Imprest Account - former Auditor-Gen, Asst Director for court
The former
Auditor-General, Mr Osei Tutu Prempeh and the Assistant Director of Audit in
charge of United Nations Imprest Account operated in Ghana, Joseph Henry
Dadzie, will on July 12, appear before the Osu Community Tribunal to answer a
charge of stealing preferred against them by the state.
A report in
'The Ghanaian Times' said the two are said to have fraudulently withdrawn
various sums of money totaling over one million dollars, and also 5, 048.208
cedis from the UN Imprest Account held at the Bank of Ghana, between 1997 and
last year.
They have
already made two appearances on June 14 and June 21 before the tribunal,
chaired by Mrs. Ivy Heward Mills, in connection with the charge.
The
tribunal has granted them bail in the sum of ¢60 million with two sureties each
to justify. They have also been ordered by the tribunal to report themselves to
the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) every Monday, until the case is
disposed of.
More…/
Policeman
seizes ¢1.8bn goods on high seas
The Western
Regional Police Command has commended Chief Inspector Francis Eshun of the
Railway and Port Police Station at Takoradi for his heroism in arresting a
60-footer canoe on the high seas loaded with smuggled goods last Saturday and declining
a ¢5 million bribe.
The goods,
estimated at about ¢1.8 billion included 23 large drums of petroleum products,
75 timber boards, five outboard motors, spare parts, assorted drinks, bundles
of fishing nets, bathroom sandals and a bag full of India hemp.
Mr F.K.
Agyeman, Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the region gave the
commendation at a press conference on the arrest of the canoe 'Nyameye'.
Mr Agyeman
said that following a tip-off that some boats had left Moree in the Central
Region loaded with smuggled goods heading for La Cot d'Ivoire, chief Inspector
Eshun, of the Launch Unit of the ports Station, was directed to mobilize three
other policemen to arrest the smugglers.
The
Takoradi Port authorities released a tugboat for the operation.
Mr Agyeman
said that although the police normally operated around the Takoradi Harbour,
Chief Inspector Eshun led his team to the high seas where they spotted three
big canoes advancing. Two of the canoes managed to escape, but the third was
intercepted.
Armed with
a rifle, Chief Inspector Eshun jumped onto the smugglers' canoe and removed the
motor tube, thereby rendering the boat immobile.
Despite
assurances by Chief Inspector Eshun that they would not be harmed, six of the
smugglers jumped into the sea and escaped.
The
remaining six people offered the Chief Inspector ¢5 million bribe to free them
but he declined and, with the assistance of his men brought the smugglers, with
their goods, to the Takoradi Harbour.
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¢5bn blown
on playing cards
The
Ghanaian Chronicle says the spending of about ¢5 billion by the State Insurance
Company (SIC) in importing ordinary playing cards from Belgium has raised
questions over the management of the company's resources and the activities of
the dissolved board, headed by NDC kingpin, Larry Adjetey.
The SIC has
so far paid almost one billion cedis, leaving over ¢3 billion, which the
management promised to settle after the arrival of 150,000 packs of the playing
cards in September, last year. It has since failed to settle the debt.
Indications
are that the printers of the cards may be heading to court to claim the
outstanding balance since the SIC is now dragging its foot over the payment.
The playing
cards, the paper learnt, were to be distributed to motorists in a so-called
road safety campaign.
The quality
of the cards is also suspect, as SIC sources wonder whether there was no local
company to produce similar cards, if not of better quality than the ones
imported.
"Even
though the cards were meant for the Motor Department of SIC, which was directly
under the control of acting Managing Director, Victor Kusi-Yeboah, he is now
pretending that he knows nothing about the printing of the cards, and has therefore
refused to pay, but at the right time the issue would be dealt with since there
was an agreement to that effect", a source close to the printer told the
Chronicle last week.
More…/
War of
words over reconciliation
There was a
fiery debate at the reconciliation conference last Thursday evening over
whether an amendment of a declaration specifying the period to be examined by
the proposed National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) should be accepted.
For almost
two hours, delegates at the conference argued over the proposal, which was issued
as an amendment to the conference declaration by former Anlo MP, Squadron
Leader Clend Sowu.
With
positions drawn, the proposed amendment elicited heated debate as some National
Democratic Congress (NDC) activists packed their documents, ready to walk out
of the conference if the amendment was not accepted.
The MP for
Biakoye, Honourable Kwabena Adjei, and Sowu openly questioned the independence
of the organizers of the conference and accused them of attempting to push the
agenda of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government on the issue.
It took the
dexterity of the chairman of the closing session and former Speaker of
Parliament, Justice D.F. Annan, and a compromise amendment to resolve the
issue.
The debate
started when Sowu proposed that the conference declaration be amended to adopt
a decision taken at one of the three committees of the conference, which
recommended that the reconciliation process should examine atrocities and human
rights violations from Independence Day, march 6, 1957, to January 7, 1993, the
date the country ushered in the current constitutional dispensation.
The NDC
activists and MPs, including Parliamentary Minority Leader Alban Bagbin,
Honourable Kwabena Adjei and Honourable Kofi Attoh of Biakoye and Ho Central
constituencies respectively, argued that it is essential that the period to be
examined by the NRC be specified.
They
contended that the period should be included as an alternative to a working
document prepared by the Attorney-General, Nana Akufo-Addo, which proposed the
period 1979 to 1993. They argued that
the working document seeks to limit the reconciliation period to the Armed
Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and the Provisional National Defence
Council (PNDC) regimes led by former President Jerry John Rawlings, when
evidence suggests that human rights violations occurred under previous regimes.
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Afram
Plains to revert to Kwahu
The Afram
Plains District of the Eastern Region will soon have its name restored to the
original name, Kwahu North District by the government, writes The Daily Guide.
The Eastern
Regional Minister, Dr Francis Osafo-Mensah, dropping the hint explained that
the decision to revert to the former name is to help solve the longstanding
misunderstanding between the people of Kwahu who own the land and the settler
farmers in the Afram Plains district.
He told the
Guide that the change of the original name by the powers-that-be during the
Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) rule has brought about intense conflict
between the Kwahus and the settler farmers who are now claiming ownership of
the land.
The Afram
Plains was originally Kwahu North with its capital at Dankokrom while Kwahu
South, which covers the Kwahu scarp, has its capital as Mpraeso.
During the
President's tour of the Eastern Region, the Omanhene of Kwahu Traditional Area,
Daasebre Akumaoh Boateng II, sentimentally raised the issue in his welcome
address when a durbar was held in honour of President J.A. Kufuor at Mpraeso.
He pleaded
with the President to immediately consider restoring the name, Kwahu North and
rehabilitate the road from Kwahu Tafo to the Afram Plains to facilitate the
easy movement of goods and people to and from the area.
The Afram
Plains issue, has for long been the center of political wrangling between the
Kwahus who are the original inhabitants of both the southern and northern
catchment areas of the Afram river.
The (P)NDC
government somewhere in the late 80s decided to split the region into two by
creating two distinct political and administrative districts for the Kwahus.
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Ghana's
heritage destroyed
A large
number of films spanning the period of the late 1950s to early 1990s have been
destroyed through neglect and poor storage after divestiture of the Ghana Film
Industry Corporation (GFIC), according to the Public Agenda.
Most of the
destroyed materials were newsreel films capturing some of the country's
historical highlights shot in both black and white and colour.
An earlier
assessment on the films done by ace film director Kwaw Ansah, and the Director
of National Television and Film Institute, NAFTI, Martin Loh, found that even
some master negatives were all melted or caked in the cans.
"It is
a serious situation and something must be done about it immediately," Loh
said.
Among the
destroyed films are those showing the different stages in the building of the
Akosombo Dam, the Tema motorway, the creation of Ghana Television, Tema Harbour
and its township, and the First Trade Fair in Ghana.
Loh
recalled such newsreels as the Queen and Prince Edward's visit to Ghana and
visits of many other Heads of States to Ghana, Nkrumah's own visit to
Vancouver, and to Europe particularly to Eastern countries as some of the
affected films.
Pictorial
history on the numerous coups in the country are also wiped out. These cover
the newsreels on the National Liberation Council (NLC) government's overthrew
of Kwame Nkrumah; the National Redemption Council (NRC) coup against the
government of Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia; and the overthrow of the NRC by the
Supreme Military Council (SMC2).
Even images
from June Four 1979, and Provision National Defence Council, (PNDC) period,
which could have become handy for the proposed Reconciliation Commission are
gone forever.
An industry
expert told the paper that when the GFIC was divested, the film archives were
not part of the agreement.
"They
were dumped anyhow," Loh said.
Although a
committee set up by the Ministry of Communications to work towards the
retrieval of these works submitted its report long ago nothing had since been
heard from the ministry, according to Loh.
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Petrol
price to go up
There is no
art of finding the mind's construction in the face, according to the Free Press
but the paper says as it looked at the lips of the minister of Energy, Hon. Kan
Dapaah, "the realization has dawned on us that prices of petroleum
products would soon be increased."
Already,
the NPP government has succumbed to international market forces and given its
blessing to a new formula for the pricing of all petroleum products beginning
next month.
According
to a statement issued in Accra by the Ministry of Energy, the government has
approved the formula that would adjust ex-refinery prices automatically in line
with international oil prices meaning the Ghanaian public will no more enjoy
any subsidy on oil from the central government.
The paper
says it can confirm that coupled with the fact that petroleum prices could rise
intermittently in line with international oil prices the exchange rate of the
cedi would play a decisive role in oil price determination.
It recalls
that on February 23 this year, the Ministry of Energy hinted that it would make
public a formula that would adjust the ex-refinery prices of petroleum products
automatically and says that an import of that statement is that it will
henceforth be based on the principle of full cost recovery.
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NDC
Presidential slot to be elective
The
National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Re-organisation Committee has
recommended that all elective positions in the party including the
flagbearership, should be democratically contested.
According
to the party's mouthpiece, The Ghanaian Democrat, the committee also suggested
that some aspects of the party's Constitution should be amended to reflect
political, social and economic conditions in the country, whilst all affiliate
bodies of the party should be merged into it.
This was
contained in a statement signed by the Media Coordinator of the NDC, Mr. Ekwow
Spio-Garbrah, in Accra last week.
The
committee was formed to tour the country and make recommendations to the
leadership on how to rebuild it into a strong and viable force capable of
winning the 2004 presidential and parliamentary elections.
The
recommendations are on suggestions and proposals received from the party's
various structures and affiliated organs during the tour of all the 10 regions
by the committee.
The Committee,
according to the statement, proposed also new ways of funding the party and
distributing logistics while it called for a proactive publicity and propaganda
strategy as a way of marketing the party.
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More rot in
GWCL
The
Dispatch says as more startling disclosures emerge from ongoing investigations
into activities at the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), the Minister for
Works and Housing, Mr Kwamena Bartels, has ordered the interdiction of its
Managing Director, Mr Charles Adjei and the Chief Manager, (Public Relations),
Mr Lawson Ansong.
Sources
close to the GWCL have confirmed that letters sent to the two men indicated
that their interdiction was to enable the N.Y.B. Adade Committee investigating
various allegations of malfeasance in the company work without interference.
Their interdiction is until the Committee has submitted its report.
Investigations
have revealed that GWCL contracted Western Castings Limited to supply various
sizes of cast iron pipe fittings in August 1999, to the value of ¢3.65 billion.
The unit prices of the items were dominated in US dollars but payable in cedis
and deliveries were to be completed in eight months.
Although
Western Castings did not keep to the delivery schedules, they always asked for
price adjustments as the exchange rate of the US dollar rose against the cedi.
As a result, the GWCL Managing Director, Charles Adjei, revised the amount
upwards, with total variations, as at February 3, 2000, totaling ¢675.7
million.
The
agreement stated that Western Castings should have completed the deliveries by
June 30, 2000, which they failed to do. An audit report noted that GWCL rather
paid for the goods delivered after June 30 at the going forex rate, instead of
the June 30 rate, to the detriment of the company.
The GWCL,
by this, paid ¢323.4 million in excess, as per the difference in forex rates. GWCL
also borrowed ¢1.5 billion from SSB Bank Limited in part payment of Western
Castings' mobilization with interest paid on the loan between November 1999 and
December 2000 as ¢305.69 million.
An audit
report also revealed that GWCL purchased various models of Honda Motor Cycles
and accessories, totaling 350 between July 1998 and February 1999, at a total
cost of ¢2.9 billion.
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BOG to
prosecute sellers of dollarised items and services
The Bank of
Ghana (BOG) says it will soon conduct an exercise to arrest and prosecute
individuals and institutions that fix the prices of their goods and services in
foreign currency.
The
Secretary of the bank, Mr James A. Odoi told The Accra Mail in an interview
that business that quote prices in foreign currency or ask for the cedi
equivalent without authorization by the bank would face the law.
Mr Odoi
said the BOG is currently embarking on an education programme through the media
to create public awareness about the illegality of quoting prices in foreign
currency.
Shedding
light on the Bank of Ghana Law 1992 PNDC Law 291, and the Exchange Control Act
1961 (Act 71), the BOG Secretary said that the law prohibits businesses from
transacting business in foreign currency and since they are not legal tender
they could therefore not be used as a means of exchange in the country.
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HIPC cash
for Dev't
The New
Patriotic Party's mouthpiece, The NPP News quotes President J.A. Kufuor as
saying that monies saved and earned through Ghana's HIPC status would be
channeled into poverty alleviation and wealth creation schemes.
Addressing
rallies in the Eastern Region during his two-day tour, President Kufuor
promised a revival of the rural development concept introduced by the Busia
regime, and said that it would be kick-started with monies saved through HIPC.
Explaining
why Ghana opted for the HIPC initiative, President Kufuor said that his
government did not only inherit empty coffers but a mountain of debt, both
internally and externally.
Faced with
the desperate prospect of paying $300m in interest in Ghana's debt alone, he
said the government had no alternative than to state the obvious about Ghana, a
potentially rich but poor and highly indebted country.
More…/
Agyenim
Boateng's funeral July 14
The burial
and funeral rites for the late Joseph Agyenim Boateng, former General Secretary
of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), would take place on July 14 this year at
Asante Mampong. Mr. Agyenim Boateng died on May 18, this year at the age of 63.
He was the General
Secretary of the NPP until1998.
Meanwhile
two stalwarts of the party were reportedly, laid to rest last Saturday. They
were Mr K.A. Coleman-Paittoo who was buried at the Osu Cemetery and Mr John
Kodjo Ackah, NPP parliamentary candidate for Ewutu Senya, who was also buried
at Nzema.
The two men
had been active and loyal members to the party until their sudden departure to
eternity.
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Selormey's
trial continues
At last Thursday's
sitting of the Accra High Court trying a former Deputy Minster of Finance,
Victor Selormey, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mr Jeff Edward Musore
said his investigations have established that no contract was signed with
Leebda Corperation of Texan, USA, with regards to a court computerization
project, reports The Independent.
According
to the investigator, his enquiries at the Ministry of Finance and other
relevant institutions show that there was no contract.
The former
deputy Minster is alleged to have conspired with one Dr Fredrick Owusu Boadu, a
Ghanaian consultant in the United States of America to cause the country a loss
of almost $1.3 million.
Victor
Selormey has pleaded not guilty to the six counts of conspiracy, defrauding,
false pretences and willfully causing financial loss to the state. He was
granted bail in the sum of 1.5 billion cedis with two sureties to be justified.
The
Assistant Superintendent named the institution where he investigated as the
Judicial Service, Controller and Accountant General's Department, the Audit
General's Department and the National Institutional Renewal Programme.
Mr Musore
disclosed to the court chaired by Mr Justice Kwame Afreh, an Appeal Court judge
who additionally sat as a High Court judge, that he discovered during the
course of his investigations that Mr Selormey authorized some monies to be
transferred into the account of Leebda through ECOBANK Ghana Limited although
no contract was signed.
"Letters
that authorized the bank to make the transfers were neither copied to the
Accountant General nor the Auditor General while the letters used had no file
numbers on them," Mr Musore emphasised.
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Information
Technology to generate Foreign Exchange
Information
Technology is emerging as a capable foreign exchange earning sector that can
help bail the country out of the present economic strait, according to a story
appearing in the High Street Journal.
The
President of the Ghana Internet Service Providers Association (GISPA), Leslie
Tamakloe, said last week that Ghana, like India can earn more money from
Information Technology (IT) if the right measures are taken to produce more IT
professionals.
Speaking at
the launch of the Fifth Ghana Information Technology Fair (INFOTECH) slated for
October 31 to November 6 this year, Tamakloe urged the Ministry of Education to
come out with appropriate curriculum for students in basic schools to be
exposed to information technology courses. This will form the basis for
introducing more Ghanaians to IT techniques and concepts.
He said
India exports some $2.5 billion IT products to the United states annually and
is planning to increase this amount.
Ghana can equally do the same, he said, adding that computers have now
become a basic tool for doing many things: business transactions, educating,
listening to music, designing and so on.
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