HIPC is in nation’s interest
‘Govt will put financial structures in place’
HIPC .. Kufuor “Sells Out” Ghana
Review pension law… workers urged govt
Mum’s ‘insults’ lead girl, 19, to suicide
Rawlings to refund 116m cedis ESB
BNI moves against diamond company
Kofi Wayo to appear in Court
Help heal old wounds
Minority group, prisoners of the past
NDC lied to IMF
Ghana has mortgaged economy
HIPC is in nation’s interest
The Daily Graphic reports President J.A. Kufuor as saying that even though the decision to opt for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative is generally not a popular move, it is in the best interest of the nation.
He said the country cannot continue to service the increasing interests on the existing debts adding “without this step we cannot go back to demand money.”
President Kufuor said this when he met the British Minister of State for Africa and the Middle East, Mr Brian Wilson, at his residence in Accra.
He said the HIPC would not only bring down the country’s foreign debt but would also have a significant impact on the domestic debt burden.
The government, he said, has taken the initiative in order to start on a clean note and to stem out corruption.
He, therefore, urged development partners and donor countries to hasten inflows into the country for the stabilisation of the economy.
The President said efforts are underway to cut down government’s borrowing and interest rates to strengthen the private sector.
More…/
‘Govt will put financial structures in place’
Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, Minister for Economic Planning and Regional Co-operation, says government will put in place the necessary financial structures to make the country a leading financial centre in the sub-region.
Speaking at the opening of a two-day National Co-ordinators and Experts Group meeting of Enterprise Africa in Accra, Dr Nduom stated that the country is well positioned to play an important role in developing a financial base in the sub-region.
He said the President will soon usher in “the Golden Age of Business” in the country to give meaning to the development of the private sector.
The private sector cannot be firmly on the ground without encouragement given through practical support to entrepreneurs, he said.
The two-day meeting, which is being attended by African Executives of Enterprise Africa from Southern Central, East and West Africa, will review the entrepreneurship development component of EMPRETEC programmes throughout Africa.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
HIPC … Kufuor “Sells Out” Ghana
Treating with contempt the pieces of advice from many well-meaning organisations, including appeals from workers’ organisations, the “one-man” Kufuor Administration last Friday gave a firm indication of sending Ghanaians to serve under conditions, slated for the world’s Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC), reports the ‘Ghana Palaver’.
The announcement, according to the paper, was received with shock and dismay by Ghanaians.
Presenting his maiden Budget Statement to Parliament last Friday, the minister of Finance, Yaw Osafo Maafo, indicated that the decision was Kufuor’s.
Still not sure of what the decision entails, the Minister said he had been charged by the President “to ensure that the country gets the full benefit under the HIPC. What that meant, according to experts, could be anybody’s guess. “It’s a sell-out”, they concluded.
Prior to the announcement, President Kufuor had promised a full national debate on the issue, before taking any decision on the matter.
The sudden announcement, therefore came as most disappointing to Ghanaians, some of whom described the act as not only constituting a breach of faith but also that of treachery and surrender to the whims and caprices of a desperate neo-colonialist group, looking for an opportunity to re-colonise Ghana and other developing countries.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Review pension law… workers urged govt
The Ghanaian Times says the Assin District Council of Labour has urged the government to review the SSNIT Pension Act as the law in its present state does not make life any meaningful for retired workers.
At a plenary meeting at Assin Foso, attended by representatives of 11 out of the 17 mother unions constituting the TUC, the council also appealed to the government to restore the End-of-Service Benefit (ESB) to cushion workers after their retirement because the Pension Scheme had proved to be woefully inadequate in addressing workers’ problem.
The council also expressed the need for workers to rededicate themselves to work to justify the demands being made on the government.
On the spate of armed robberies and serial killings in the country, the meeting called on workers to offer information to the security agencies to enable them to map out better strategies to end the crime.
More…/
Mum’s ‘insults’ lead girl, 19, to suicide
Vida Mansa Yakah, 19, a final-year student of the Tema Methodist Day Secondary School, who claimed she could no longer tolerate the constant insults from her mother, has committed suicide by hanging. Reports indicated that her mother, Felicia Ameduku always accused her of being a flirt.
The deceased left behind a suicide note part of which read: “I know my mother and sister hate me, I may be a liar but not a murderer”.
It continued: “Mother said I caused an abortion and I also go about having sex with men. This is not true.
“I, Mansa have never in my life killed an insect let alone murder a human being through an abortion.”
Mansa who was described by friends as “a fun-loving girl”, lived with her parents at the Railway Quarters, Community Five, Tema, near Accra.
The source said that at about 9 p.m. on Saturday Mansa wore her elder sister’s trousers for an outing. Her sister strongly objected and their mother intervened and pleaded that she should be allowed to wear it on condition that she would return it intact.
According to the source, Mansa left but returned about 30 minutes later and the entire family then retired to bed at about 10.30 pm.
The following morning, they found Mansa’s body hanging on a bar across a staircase with a rope around her neck.
Mansa’s death brings to three the number of suicides at Tema within the last one month.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Rawlings to refund 116m cedis ESB
The Evening News says it has been established that the former President, Jerry John Rawlings is not entitled to any End-of-Service Benefit (ESB).
He is therefore to refund a total of 116 million cedis paid in two separate cheques to him as his share of the ESB, which he and other members of his government took at the end of their term of office.
The former Chief of Staff, Nana Ato Dadzie, who disbursed the funds, is also to refund his share since he is not entitled to the facility.
Others who do not qualify according to the Greenstreet Report but benefited from the facility are also requested to refund the amount they collected.
They are, the Auditor-General, Presidential Staffers, Advisor on governmental Affairs, Secretaries to the former President, Secretaries to the former Cabinet.
The rest are Special duty Officers, Members of the Policy Management Group, Special Assistant to the former President, Special Assistant to the former Vice President, Directors and District Chief Executives.
A statement from the Office of the President said the Controller and Accountant-General upon careful scrutiny and analysis of payment of the ex-gratia awards to the Ex-President and former government functionaries and others, has established that these people have been overpaid to the tune of 2.88 billion cedis by the state.
Based on these findings, the Minister of Finance has directed the Office of the Chief of Staff with the assistance of the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to take the necessary steps to have the excess payment amounting to 2.88 billion cedis refunded to the Government soonest.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
BNI moves against diamond company
The Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) has moved in on Ghana Consolidated Diamonds (GCD) to probe its operations, after years of employees’ discontent and allegations of underhand deals by the management, reports The Chronicle.
However, security staff and other workers were tight-lipped though one man dropped a hint: “Now talking to strangers here has become dangerous. They say BNI people are on the mines”. He said, brushing the reporter aside.
The whistle, the Chronicle says, was blown on January 19, this year by an ex-employee of the company, James Abeau-Musah, in a formal complaint he lodged with the National Director of the BNI in a five-page letter.
James, who used to be a mining engineer of the company, made wide-ranging allegations bordering on corruption, irresponsible degradation of the environment and tribalism on the part of management.
More…/
Kofi Wayo to appear in Court
The flamboyant Charles Wayo, alias “Chuk,” a human rights activist, may appear in court soon, to testify as a prosecution witness in a case in which a female employee of the Royal Casino, located in the Golden Tulip Hotel, was allegedly assaulted by the Managing Director of the Casino, Mr. Stephan Rodier.
The female employee, Ms. Theresa Kwadedzi, who appeared as a star witness at the community tribunal, which is trying the case, chaired by Mrs. J.A. Bartel, disclosed that Wayo was informed about the assault case at that early dawn.
The accused, Rodier, who pleaded not guilty to the charge of assault has been granted 5 million cedis bail.
In a cross-examination by counsel for the accused, the complainant told the court that after she was assaulted by her boss, she came to the Casino and reported the case to Mr Kofi Wayo, who happened to be at the Casino.
The complainant dropped the hint when leading counsel for the accused, Mr S.K. Amoah, demanded to know from her whether she had reported the case to any body at the Casino.
Chronicle’s police source had intimated that due to this revelation in the course of the cross-examination, the police will have to get a statement from Wayo so that he can come to the court to testify as one of the prosecution witnesses.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Help heal old wounds
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Nana Akufo-Addo, has called on members of the legal profession to support the government’s reconciliation efforts, in order to heal the wounds of the past, The Statesman reports.
Having taken a central role in the struggle to enthrone genuine democracy in Ghana, he said, lawyers should also join in the healing of the wounds of the past.
Nana Akufo-Addo, who was speaking at the 43rd Annual Law Week of the Ghana School of Law, said this is the time for lawyers to join the quest to pacify the victims of the previous repressive regimes.
He noted that lawyers have contributed immensely to the cause of democracy and the survival of the nation. He mentioned such legal brains as Mensah Sarbah, who fought against the appropriation of indigenous lands by the colonial government, J.B. Danquah, Obetsebi-Lamptey, Ako Adjei, Edward Akufo-Addo, William Ofori Atta, and Victor Owusu among others, who, he said, were at the forefront of the march to independence.
He called on lawyers to take on the government whenever it is drifting, and not to be its appendages.
The Attorney-General, described as unacceptable the present state of the country’s legal system and called on members of the legal profession join him in giving it a new image. He suggested that as a means to ensure efficiency in the legal system, lawyers should specialise in particular fields of law, such as industrial law, property law, marriage law or constitutional law.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Minority group, prisoners of the past
The Independent reports the Leader of Government Business and Majority Leader in Parliament, Hon. J.H. Mensah as having describing the Minority as true prisoners of the past.
He said the ex-President, Jerry John Rawlings during his reign as the President committed constitutional errors and when President Kufuor chose to do the right thing, the minority rather saw that as a lapse.
Contributing to the debate on the Sessional Address at the concluding stage, the Majority Leader pointed out that there is a clear difference between what the contents of a Sessional Address should be and that of the state of the nation address. According to him, the former President was always reading a sessional address to parliament which was an error because the President is rather expected to present a state of the nation address to the House at the beginning of each session.
He disagreed with those who had described the President’s address as empty and lacking certain ingredients saying, a state of the nation address is not supposed to be a programmatic speech but it is expected to lay bare the reality of the situation in the country at the time.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
NDC lied to IMF
The Minister for Finance, Mr Osafo Maafo is quoted by has said the outgone NDC government lied to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) when the ex-Finance Minister misrepresented data and gave false information to the very people they were borrowing from.
According to a The Daily Guide story, the Minister said it was the second time the past government was sending false information to the IMF.
The IMF has accordingly asked Ghana to refund $38million that it gave her.
Hon Osafo-Maafo who was on a GTV current affairs programme, Talking Point, with the former Deputy Minister for Finance, Moses Asaga, and Prof. Kwadwo Asenso Okyere of ISSER, said “As a result, the Bank of Ghana had to write to apologise to IMF”.
Rationalising his government’s decision to join 40 other countries under the HIPC initiative, the Finance Minister described the situation as a transit point to recovery. He said the acceptable per capita income for a country to be graded as a middle level income group is $690, but Ghana is now in a low level of $390.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Ghana has mortgaged economy
The Crusading Guide reports that the maiden budget of the NPP government presented last week, by the Finance Minister, Dr. Yaw Osafo-Maafo last week, has come under severe attack.
At an NDC press conference just after the Minister’s delivery of the fiscal policy for the year 2001, Moses Asaga, MP for Nabdam and Shadow Minister for Finance, described Ghana’s enrolment in HIPC as a mortgage of its economy.
“The economy of this country is now going to scare private investors”, said Asaga.
He said apart from international financiers like IMF, World Bank and other donor countries that grant concessional loans, there are also other international financial institutions including the EC and others from whom Ghana benefits but now stands to lose such support because it had gone HIPC.
According to Asaga, Dr. Osafo Maafo’s assertion that the NDC Government had left behind a messed up economy for the NPP, was not true.
He said since assuming the reigns of power, the NPP Government had paid salaries to workers and stated that “If the coffers were that empty they could not have been able to pay salaries which run into billions of cedis”.
He challenged the Finance Minister and the Governor of the Bank of Ghana to provide details and the breakdown of the disbursement of a 600 billion cedis that Maafo claimed the NDC spent during the last quarter of last year.
In an interview with the paper later a man who gave his name as Odoom expressed surprise about the government’s rush decision to adopt the HIPC initiative.
“This is a surprise sprung on us!” he exclaimed “I don’t see the need for the rush to join HIPC when we could have solved our problem using other means”, he added.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com