The highway gold robbery – 7 soldiers were part of deal
Elizabeth Ohene must go!
Police Query Mallam
Don’t! or else
Gov’t to cut rice importation by
30%
House goes into action
Elimina Castle given facelift for tourism
No More June 4 … tactics of
settling issues
Osafo Maafo exposes fishy deals at
IRS
Ghana’s debt traced to Nkrumah’s
era
The highway gold robbery – 7 soldiers were part of deal
The investigator in the infamous Jack Bebli robbery case on Wednesday told an Accra High Court that apart from the civilians, seven military men were allegedly involved in the robbery, reports the Daily Graphic.
The investigator, Detective Inspector Hanson Gove, said of the seven military personnel, some came from the 64 Infantry Regiment based at Burma Camp, Accra, whiles others came from the 48 Engineer Regiment, based at Teshie in Accra, and the rest came from the Police Commando Unit based at Cantonments, Accra.
He further stated that, in an attempt to apprehend these uniformed personnel, he contacted the Armed Forces Public Relations Directorate in Accra, where pictures of the soldiers were given to him.
Detective Inspector Gove, who was continuing his evidence in chief at the court presided over by Mr Justice R.K. Apaloo, said after receiving the pictures, he caused them to be published in the ‘Daily Graphic’ and ‘The Ghanaian Times’.
The homes of the military men were raided with the assistance of Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) operatives prior to the publication but they had then left their homes and could not be traced.
The investigator said he sent the pictures and wireless messages all over the country and to the London Police for their apprehension, and the INTERPOL was also informed and advised.
More…/
Missing $46,000 not found - Police
The Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Ernest Owusu-Poku, has stated that the $46,000 left in the care of former Minister of Youth and Sports, Mallam Yusif Isa, has not been found.
“The Police have not found any evidence anywhere that the money has been found,” he told the Graphic in an interview in Accra on Wednesday.
The money was to have been used to pay the bonuses of players of the Black Stars when they travelled to Sudan to engage their Sudanese counterparts in a World Cup qualifier on February 25, this year.
Mr Owusu-Poku was reacting to speculations that the money had been found following a publication in ‘The Ghanaian Chronicle’ of March 21 to March 22, alluding to the fact that the money was found in the glove compartment of a car last Monday and had been sent to the Bank of Ghana to determine whether the bills are those which were given to Mallam Isa.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Elizabeth Ohene must go!
A top shot of the Peoples National
Convention (PNC) has urged the government to fire Ms. Elizabeth Ohene,
Government Spokesperson on Media Relations (office of the President), for her
gross incompetence in the handling of the $46,000 saga.
In an interview with The Crusading
Guide at the PNC Headquarters in Accra, Mr Ahmed Ramadan, the party’s top
notch, noted that “the Minister of State (Media Relations) had deceived the
general public by issuing statements and misinforming Radio Stations that
Mallam Ali Yusif ex-Minister for Youth and Sports, had tendered in his
resignation letter which the President was considering, while no such thing had
happened”.
Ahmed Ramadan (Vice Treasurer of
the PNC) pointed out that the President should have taken a more sober position
on the issue rather than the way it went about it.
Ahmed Ramadan intimated that
Mallam Ali Yusif Isa was invited by the President and told to resign, “but
Mallam felt that by resigning he would be admitting to a guilt of an offence he
has not committed so he said he was not going to resign”.
Mallam Ali, according to Mr
Ramadan, told Elizabeth Ohene that he was conducting his own investigations and
would come out with results convincing to the President.
Ramadan explained that after Mrs.
Ohene had prepared the statement, which Mallam vehemently disapproved of, the
latter told her (Ms. Ohene) that “I have not resigned and I don’t want to be
reported as having resigned”.
“In spite of that, Lizie came on
air and announced the resignation of the ex-Minister, adding that the President
did not believe in the excuse given by the ex-Minister and so deemed it fit to
ask him to resign”, the PNC Treasurer added.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Police Query Mallam
The Daily Guide reports that the
Police on Wednesday for the first time invited and met Mallam Isa, the
dismissed Minister for Youth and Sports.
Inside sources at the Police
Headquarters informed The Daily Guide that the 3-man probe met Isa around
2.00pm for over an hour to unravel the mystery of the missing $46,000 and other
monies, which according to Mallam disappeared from his travelling bag about
three weeks ago.
The 3-man probe is headed by Mr
Sam Awortwi Commissioner of Police in charge of the Legal and Prosecutions Department.
The Daily Guide has learnt further
from sources close to Mallam that no one has been to his house to search any of
his two cars. Mallam has continued to insist that a mafia group at the Sports
Ministry conspired to get rid of him because he had threatened “to sweep the
place with a long broom”.
He has been swearing his innocence
since the money vanished from his reach, and he has reportedly stated that,
Insha Allah, the money will be found.
Mallam had said that the
Ministry’s officials Alex Asante and Seth Agrah who had assured him that “not
even a fly could come near the money” had both vanished into thin air both at
the premises of the Ministry and at the airport when he asked his police guard
to follow them.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Don’t! or else
The Chronicle says its
investigation has revealed that the donor community may cut of support for the
conservation of Wildlife in Ghana if the Forestry Commission goes ahead with
its ambitious plan to merge the Forestry and Wildlife divisions by March next
year.
Donor representatives who spoke to
the Chronicle said they were against the merger of the two divisions and warned
that the move by the Forestry Commission could spell disaster for the
conservation of Wildlife in the country.
Most of the donors threatened to
withdraw support if the Forestry Commission went ahead with the merger because
their support is directed towards conservation and Forestry Division is profit
making division. They are of the view that it would look impossible for them to
benefit from such facilities under the proposed merger.
“If the two divisions merge, they
will become one division with profit motives and since our support is for only
conservation purposes we will find it very difficult, if not impossible to
support them,” a source at one of the donor agencies said.
More…/
Gov’t to cut rice importation by
30%
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture
(MOFA) will reduce the importation of rice by 30% to create market for locally
produced rice. It will also increase
the current agricultural sector growth rate from 3% to 6%, says Major (Rtd)
Courage Quashigah, the sector minister.
The Chronicle reports the Minister
as having expressed regret that the Northern Region, which once produced 90% of
the nation’s rice requirement can no longer fulfil its leading role in the
sector.
Minister Quashigah was addressing
a meeting of farmers in Tamale on Tuesday.
Majority of the farmers were from the Rice and Cotton Growers
Associations.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
House goes into action
Parliament on Wednesday expressed
concern about the rampant boat accidents on the Volta Lake and called for
measures to safeguard lake transportation in the country.
A Ghanaian Times report says to
show the seriousness that the House attaches to the issue, the Speaker, Mr
Peter Ala Adjetey, advised the leadership to expedite action and meet the
Minister of Transport and Communications to deliberate on the issue to save
lives and property on the lake.
The House’s concern followed a statement by Mr Boniface Abubakar Saddique, Independent member for Salaga, on a tragic boat accident on the Volta Lake, in which 61 people from Devagblo lost their lives on January 28.
More…/
Elimina Castle given facelift for tourism
The tourism potential of the Elimina Castle and its environs is to be given a boost through a new sound and light technology, reports the Times.
The technology would use neon light and sound to tell stories about the historical symbolism of the area whilst at the same time beautifying the area.
For instance neon lights and pictures could be used to depict a ship at sea and the same together with sound made to depict the bombing of the castle in pre-colonial days.
Interestingly, anybody who chances on this technological display at night would capture at least a gist of what the castle and its precincts stood for during the scramble for Africa.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
No More June 4 … tactics of
settling issues
The Evening News reports that a
son of the executed Air Vice-Marshall George Yaw Boakye has added his voice to
the call on President J.A. Kufuor to order the exhumation of the remains of his
father and seven others for a fitting burial.
In a letter to the President copied
to “The Evening News” Mr George Kwabena Boakye, now based in the United States,
said “I hope that at no point in the history of Ghana shall our differences be
settled like it was done in June 1979.
“We can use that period to remind
us of where we will never go. I hope
that the families of Generals Acheampong, Akuffo, Afrifa, Utuka, Kotei, R.
Admiral Amedume, Col Felli and that of my father will be granted this request
so we can give our fathers a proper final resting place”.
George Kwabene Boakye’s son call
comes on the heels of a similar request made by the wives of the late Generals
on the President for their husbands to be given fitting burials by their
families.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Osafo Maafo exposes fishy deals at
IRS
Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo, Minister of
Finance has exposed tricks by tax officers and agencies, which lead to losses
of substantial revenue to the nation.
According to the Independent, the
nation lost 55 percent of tax revenue through the activities of corrupt tax
collectors, illegal granting of exemptions and the tax loopholes that enable
some of the most successful businesses to avoid taxes; he said.
This was contained in an address
read on his behalf by Dr. Ghesiha Agambilla, a lecturer at the School of
administration at the opening of the annual management seminar of the Southern
Sector of the Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday March 14, at Takoradi.
Mr. Maafo referred to a feeling among
some members of the public that revenue agencies publish low targets and at the
end of the year, declare excesses so as to attract bonus payments. This, if true, undermines the tax system and
promotes loss of revenue, he said.
The Finance Minister re-emphasized
the government’s decision to restructure the tax administration of the country
to ensure greater efficiency in tax collection.
He commented on the claims by the
IRS that it exceeded its target in revenue collection for 2000 and asked; how
was the targeting done for the year 2002?
What was the scientific basis for the process? Could it have been done better?
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Ghana’s debt traced to Nkrumah’s
era
It has been established that
Ghana’s debt stock of 41.10 trillion cedis ($5.80 billion) at the end of
December 2000 dates back to the First Republic of Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
The Democrat says available
records indicate that between, 1960 to 1980 under the previous regimes of CPP,
NLC, PP, NRC/SMA 1/SMC II as well as the PNP era, a total amount of $200
million represented the Disbursement Outstanding Debt (DOD).
Besides, between, 1981 to 1992
under the PNDC regime a total amount of $2.0 million represented the DOD.
Interestingly, most of the debt
was contracted during the ERP/SA with the assistance of the World Bank and the
IMF.
Meanwhile, between 1992 to 2001
under the NDC administration, and in line with article 181 of the constitution,
the first and second Parliament of the 4th Republic approved a total
amount of $3.6 billion as DOD.
Hon. Mike Allen Hammah, MP for
Effutu in the Central Region made this observation in his contribution to the
debate on the President’s state of the nation address in Parliament last week.
“The erroneous impression has been
created that 41.10 trillion cedis has been misappropriated and misapplied by
the previous government,” he said, adding that his is most unfortunate and very
misleading.
He added that most of the loans
(about 80%) are long, term with repayment period of between 20 to 40 years.
GRi../
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
The highway gold robbery – 7 soldiers were part of deal
Elizabeth Ohene must go!
Police Query Mallam
Don’t! or else
Gov’t to cut rice importation by
30%
House goes into action
Elimina Castle given facelift for tourism
No More June 4 … tactics of
settling issues
Osafo Maafo exposes fishy deals at
IRS
Ghana’s debt traced to Nkrumah’s
era
The highway gold robbery – 7 soldiers were part of deal
The investigator in the infamous Jack Bebli robbery case on Wednesday told an Accra High Court that apart from the civilians, seven military men were allegedly involved in the robbery, reports the Daily Graphic.
The investigator, Detective Inspector Hanson Gove, said of the seven military personnel, some came from the 64 Infantry Regiment based at Burma Camp, Accra, whiles others came from the 48 Engineer Regiment, based at Teshie in Accra, and the rest came from the Police Commando Unit based at Cantonments, Accra.
He further stated that, in an attempt to apprehend these uniformed personnel, he contacted the Armed Forces Public Relations Directorate in Accra, where pictures of the soldiers were given to him.
Detective Inspector Gove, who was continuing his evidence in chief at the court presided over by Mr Justice R.K. Apaloo, said after receiving the pictures, he caused them to be published in the ‘Daily Graphic’ and ‘The Ghanaian Times’.
The homes of the military men were raided with the assistance of Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) operatives prior to the publication but they had then left their homes and could not be traced.
The investigator said he sent the pictures and wireless messages all over the country and to the London Police for their apprehension, and the INTERPOL was also informed and advised.
More…/
Missing $46,000 not found - Police
The Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Ernest Owusu-Poku, has stated that the $46,000 left in the care of former Minister of Youth and Sports, Mallam Yusif Isa, has not been found.
“The Police have not found any evidence anywhere that the money has been found,” he told the Graphic in an interview in Accra on Wednesday.
The money was to have been used to pay the bonuses of players of the Black Stars when they travelled to Sudan to engage their Sudanese counterparts in a World Cup qualifier on February 25, this year.
Mr Owusu-Poku was reacting to speculations that the money had been found following a publication in ‘The Ghanaian Chronicle’ of March 21 to March 22, alluding to the fact that the money was found in the glove compartment of a car last Monday and had been sent to the Bank of Ghana to determine whether the bills are those which were given to Mallam Isa.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Return to top
Elizabeth Ohene must go!
A top shot of the Peoples National
Convention (PNC) has urged the government to fire Ms. Elizabeth Ohene,
Government Spokesperson on Media Relations (office of the President), for her
gross incompetence in the handling of the $46,000 saga.
In an interview with The Crusading
Guide at the PNC Headquarters in Accra, Mr Ahmed Ramadan, the party’s top
notch, noted that “the Minister of State (Media Relations) had deceived the
general public by issuing statements and misinforming Radio Stations that
Mallam Ali Yusif ex-Minister for Youth and Sports, had tendered in his
resignation letter which the President was considering, while no such thing had
happened”.
Ahmed Ramadan (Vice Treasurer of
the PNC) pointed out that the President should have taken a more sober position
on the issue rather than the way it went about it.
Ahmed Ramadan intimated that
Mallam Ali Yusif Isa was invited by the President and told to resign, “but
Mallam felt that by resigning he would be admitting to a guilt of an offence he
has not committed so he said he was not going to resign”.
Mallam Ali, according to Mr
Ramadan, told Elizabeth Ohene that he was conducting his own investigations and
would come out with results convincing to the President.
Ramadan explained that after Mrs.
Ohene had prepared the statement, which Mallam vehemently disapproved of, the
latter told her (Ms. Ohene) that “I have not resigned and I don’t want to be
reported as having resigned”.
“In spite of that, Lizie came on
air and announced the resignation of the ex-Minister, adding that the President
did not believe in the excuse given by the ex-Minister and so deemed it fit to
ask him to resign”, the PNC Treasurer added.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Return to top
Police Query Mallam
The Daily Guide reports that the
Police on Wednesday for the first time invited and met Mallam Isa, the
dismissed Minister for Youth and Sports.
Inside sources at the Police
Headquarters informed The Daily Guide that the 3-man probe met Isa around
2.00pm for over an hour to unravel the mystery of the missing $46,000 and other
monies, which according to Mallam disappeared from his travelling bag about
three weeks ago.
The 3-man probe is headed by Mr
Sam Awortwi Commissioner of Police in charge of the Legal and Prosecutions
Department.
The Daily Guide has learnt further
from sources close to Mallam that no one has been to his house to search any of
his two cars. Mallam has continued to insist that a mafia group at the Sports
Ministry conspired to get rid of him because he had threatened “to sweep the
place with a long broom”.
He has been swearing his innocence
since the money vanished from his reach, and he has reportedly stated that,
Insha Allah, the money will be found.
Mallam had said that the
Ministry’s officials Alex Asante and Seth Agrah who had assured him that “not
even a fly could come near the money” had both vanished into thin air both at
the premises of the Ministry and at the airport when he asked his police guard
to follow them.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Return to top
Don’t! or else
The Chronicle says its
investigation has revealed that the donor community may cut of support for the
conservation of Wildlife in Ghana if the Forestry Commission goes ahead with
its ambitious plan to merge the Forestry and Wildlife divisions by March next
year.
Donor representatives who spoke to
the Chronicle said they were against the merger of the two divisions and warned
that the move by the Forestry Commission could spell disaster for the
conservation of Wildlife in the country.
Most of the donors threatened to
withdraw support if the Forestry Commission went ahead with the merger because
their support is directed towards conservation and Forestry Division is profit
making division. They are of the view that it would look impossible for them to
benefit from such facilities under the proposed merger.
“If the two divisions merge, they
will become one division with profit motives and since our support is for only
conservation purposes we will find it very difficult, if not impossible to
support them,” a source at one of the donor agencies said.
More…/
Gov’t to cut rice importation by
30%
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture
(MOFA) will reduce the importation of rice by 30% to create market for locally
produced rice. It will also increase
the current agricultural sector growth rate from 3% to 6%, says Major (Rtd)
Courage Quashigah, the sector minister.
The Chronicle reports the Minister
as having expressed regret that the Northern Region, which once produced 90% of
the nation’s rice requirement can no longer fulfil its leading role in the
sector.
Minister Quashigah was addressing
a meeting of farmers in Tamale on Tuesday.
Majority of the farmers were from the Rice and Cotton Growers
Associations.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Return to top
House goes into action
Parliament on Wednesday expressed
concern about the rampant boat accidents on the Volta Lake and called for
measures to safeguard lake transportation in the country.
A Ghanaian Times report says to
show the seriousness that the House attaches to the issue, the Speaker, Mr
Peter Ala Adjetey, advised the leadership to expedite action and meet the
Minister of Transport and Communications to deliberate on the issue to save
lives and property on the lake.
The House’s concern followed a statement by Mr Boniface Abubakar Saddique, Independent member for Salaga, on a tragic boat accident on the Volta Lake, in which 61 people from Devagblo lost their lives on January 28.
More…/
Elimina Castle given facelift for tourism
The tourism potential of the Elimina Castle and its environs is to be given a boost through a new sound and light technology, reports the Times.
The technology would use neon light and sound to tell stories about the historical symbolism of the area whilst at the same time beautifying the area.
For instance neon lights and pictures could be used to depict a ship at sea and the same together with sound made to depict the bombing of the castle in pre-colonial days.
Interestingly, anybody who chances on this technological display at night would capture at least a gist of what the castle and its precincts stood for during the scramble for Africa.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Return to top
No More June 4 … tactics of
settling issues
The Evening News reports that a
son of the executed Air Vice-Marshall George Yaw Boakye has added his voice to
the call on President J.A. Kufuor to order the exhumation of the remains of his
father and seven others for a fitting burial.
In a letter to the President copied
to “The Evening News” Mr George Kwabena Boakye, now based in the United States,
said “I hope that at no point in the history of Ghana shall our differences be
settled like it was done in June 1979.
“We can use that period to remind
us of where we will never go. I hope
that the families of Generals Acheampong, Akuffo, Afrifa, Utuka, Kotei, R.
Admiral Amedume, Col Felli and that of my father will be granted this request
so we can give our fathers a proper final resting place”.
George Kwabene Boakye’s son call
comes on the heels of a similar request made by the wives of the late Generals
on the President for their husbands to be given fitting burials by their
families.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Return to top
Osafo Maafo exposes fishy deals at
IRS
Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo, Minister of
Finance has exposed tricks by tax officers and agencies, which lead to losses
of substantial revenue to the nation.
According to the Independent, the
nation lost 55 percent of tax revenue through the activities of corrupt tax
collectors, illegal granting of exemptions and the tax loopholes that enable
some of the most successful businesses to avoid taxes; he said.
This was contained in an address
read on his behalf by Dr. Ghesiha Agambilla, a lecturer at the School of
administration at the opening of the annual management seminar of the Southern
Sector of the Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday March 14, at Takoradi.
Mr. Maafo referred to a feeling among
some members of the public that revenue agencies publish low targets and at the
end of the year, declare excesses so as to attract bonus payments. This, if true, undermines the tax system and
promotes loss of revenue, he said.
The Finance Minister re-emphasized
the government’s decision to restructure the tax administration of the country
to ensure greater efficiency in tax collection.
He commented on the claims by the
IRS that it exceeded its target in revenue collection for 2000 and asked; how
was the targeting done for the year 2002?
What was the scientific basis for the process? Could it have been done better?
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Return to top
Ghana’s debt traced to Nkrumah’s
era
It has been established that
Ghana’s debt stock of 41.10 trillion cedis ($5.80 billion) at the end of
December 2000 dates back to the First Republic of Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
The Democrat says available
records indicate that between, 1960 to 1980 under the previous regimes of CPP,
NLC, PP, NRC/SMA 1/SMC II as well as the PNP era, a total amount of $200
million represented the Disbursement Outstanding Debt (DOD).
Besides, between, 1981 to 1992
under the PNDC regime a total amount of $2.0 million represented the DOD.
Interestingly, most of the debt
was contracted during the ERP/SA with the assistance of the World Bank and the
IMF.
Meanwhile, between 1992 to 2001
under the NDC administration, and in line with article 181 of the constitution,
the first and second Parliament of the 4th Republic approved a total
amount of $3.6 billion as DOD.
Hon. Mike Allen Hammah, MP for
Effutu in the Central Region made this observation in his contribution to the
debate on the President’s state of the nation address in Parliament last week.
“The erroneous impression has been
created that 41.10 trillion cedis has been misappropriated and misapplied by
the previous government,” he said, adding that his is most unfortunate and very
misleading.
He added that most of the loans
(about 80%) are long, term with repayment period of between 20 to 40 years.
GRi../
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Return to top