GRi Press Review Ghana 29 - 03

President John Agyekum Kufuor on Wednesday explained that the Government's decision to join the Heavily-Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative was a sincere one "and not a political gimmick", reports the state-financed “Ghanaian Times’.

"Neither is the HIPC idea an end in itself, but only a measure for Ghana to free herself from her piled-up financial debt burden in the short term".

President Kufuor said this when he met with heads of United Nations agencies in Ghana, including World Bank country representative, Mr Peter Harold, and IMF representative, at the State House in Accra.

The President was not happy that certain negative impressions had been created in some quarters against the government's decision for Ghana to go HIPC.

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Stadia probe again?

The speaker of Parliament, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, on Wednesday asked the Leader of Government Business and Majority Leader, Mr. J.H. Mensah, to initiate investigations into the number of seats imported into the country for the rehabilitation of the Accra and Kumasi Sports Stadia.

This was after Mr E.T. Mensah (NDC-Prampram) former Minister of Youth and Sports, made a statement in reaction to a contribution made by a member in the House during a debate on the budget estimates for the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

The Speaker said that he allowed the statement with due cognisance of Order 72 of the standing orders that states: "By the indulgence of the House and leave of Mr Speaker, a Member may, at the time appointed for statements under Order 53 (Order of Business), explain a matter of personal nature or make a statement on a matter of urgent public importance. Any statement other than a personal statement may be commented upon by other Members for a limited duration of time not exceeding one hour."

Mr E.T. Mensah said that given the misleading information as a result of the contribution, which had been extensively discussed by some sections of the media, there was the need to state the facts.

He said that the total number of chairs imported were 36,400 and not 70,000 as alleged.

He said that the Central Tender Board accepted the recommendations of the consultants, Twum-Boafo and Partners, and duly approved the contract to purchase the plastic chairs.

He said that 10,000 seats were to be fixed directly on concrete, 6,200 seats with support frame and 200 VIP seats at the Accra Sports stadium and 10,000 fixed directly on concrete at the Kumasi Sports Stadium.

Mr Mensah maintained that a count of spectator seats at the Accra Sports Stadium showed 12,058 seats, including 168 seats at the VIP and 2,316 unfixed seats; therefore a total of 14,374 seats.

"The Kumasi Sports Stadium has 6,569 fixed seats and 8,000 unfixed ones, a total of 14,569. The remaining imported seats are awaiting clearance at the Tema Port," he added.

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The Daily Graphic

Speaker lashes MPs… over lateness, poor attendance

The state-owned Daily Graphic repots the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, as expressing dissatisfaction with the poor attendance and the late start of proceedings in the House in recent times.

Mr Peter Ala Adjetey particularly chastised the Majority whose numbers have been dwindling at sittings of late and asked the two Whips to be up and doing to enable the House to start business at the scheduled time of 10 am. Wednesday's sitting began at 11.45 am.

Not satisfied with the time proceedings started, Mr Ala Adjetey, immediately after reading the prayers, expressed his sentiments before asking members to go ahead with the correction of the Votes and Proceedings of the previous day's sitting.

He also called on the Whips to prevail upon ministers, especially those who are Members of Parliament, to be regular in the House.

The Speaker's comments drew apologies from both sides who explained, that it was not the intention of members to start sittings late but that other commitments contributed to the late start.

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'We'll review accords of divested SOEs'

The Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, has reiterated that agreements on all doubtful divested state-owned enterprises (SOEs) would be reviewed.

The revision would ensure that the nation does not lose out through the divestiture programme and also help to rekindle economic activity in the country, the Vice-President told the Adoagyirihene and Ankobeahene of the Akyem Kotoku Traditional Area, Nana Adu Korkor, at his palace at Adoagyiri.

Alhaji Mahama's statement was in response to a request by the Adoagyirihene to the government to reverse the divestiture of the Nsawam Cannery Company and the proposed sale of the company's workers' quarters.

The chief contended that since the company was divested a few years back, employment and other economic activities have slowed down in the area.

The Vice-President said a critical look would be taken at the divestiture of the Nsawam Cannery Company.

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6 Die daily through accidents - Report

Statistics available at the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) indicate that six people die through road accidents everyday in the country.

Mr Noble John Appiah, acting Executive Director of NRSC, who announced this at a news conference in Accra on Wednesday, identified human error as the major cause of the accidents.

He said this makes Ghana one of the highest accident-prone countries in the world.

Mr Appiah said if pragmatic steps were not taken to check the situation, it would become the third major cause of death by the year 2003.

He mentioned drunkenness, over speeding, overtaking, poor road network and carelessness on the part of pedestrians as some of the causes of road accidents.

He said 70 per cent of all accidents occur in urban areas, whilst 46 per cent of pedestrian fatalities involve children below the age of 16.

He announced that the NRSC has instituted a number of measures to help reduce road accidents and its associated fatalities.

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The Chronicle

Tsikata's ship finally seized in Oman

The Ghanaian Chronicle, an independent daily says weeks after a hail of verbal riposte flew out from his well-oiled tongue, truth has finally caught up with Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, officially the single-biggest procurer of debts for the Ghanaian taxpayer. Tsikata has been distancing himself from debts he incurs.

Societe Generale Bank (SGB) last week reluctantly struck their first blow against GNPC and entered one of the expensively refurbished drilling vessels in far away Oman, seizing it.

The paper says a desperate message from the Sultanate of Oman to one of GNPC's controversial officers, Mr Tony Decker, broke the news that 'Discoverer 511' had been taken by Omani Coast Guards and detained.

According to the Chronicle, telephone calls made to the agent for SGB, Mr Towell Barwill, was outside the official working hours so no confirmation could be obtained about the fate of the crew, usually low-paid Ghanaians who have historically been exploited by Tony Decker and Tsatsu Tsikata.

The Coast Guards had orders that none of the crewmembers could leave the vessel or enter it - a directive that obstructed a long awaited change of crew.

Despite two years of prior warnings by The Ghanaian Chronicle, the Government of Atta-Mills/Rawlings disregarded the gambling activities of Mr Tsikata in a complex-tangled derivates deal that has ended up in what is apparently a conclusive legal verdict.

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Trial stalls…As Jack Bebli disputes confession statements

The Momentum in which the ongoing trial of Alhaji Shehu Jack Bebli and six others accused of 2.4 billion cedis broad day light robbery was going has been stalled due to a mini trial ordered by the court to verify the admissibility of some confession statements the accused have challenged.

The mini trial was at the instance of Jack Bebli and four others through their counsel when they disputed statements that they allegedly authored by objecting to the tendering of those statements by the prosecution witness, Detective Inspector Hanson Gove.

Counsel for Jack Bebli and Kofi Borko, Mr Chris Akumey objected several times to the tendering of both his client caution and charge statements and therefore told the court that those statements were confession statements, which Jack and Borko did not make on their own volition.

Akumey told the court presided over by Justice R.K. Apaloo that his clients did not make such confession statements voluntarily and that those statements were neither witnessed by independent witness nor read over to them.

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Ghanaian Voice

What happened to the $5b for divestiture?

The Private-owned Ghanaian Voice says facts available to it indicate that if the NDC government had accepted a proposal from an American company, Perpetual World Aid Trust, the country might not have embarked on the divestiture implementation spree, which has attracted so much flak from all sectors of the country.

The company was prepared to put up $5 billion to support all the State Owned Companies, rehabilitate them and make them viable for the hammer of the auctioneer rather than the peanuts they were sold for.

Perpetual World Aid Trust an investment House in the US was prepared to give the loan with 3% interest, 20 years repayment period with 5 years moratorium.

All that the company was asking for was sovereign guarantee to put up all the state owned enterprises as collateral.

The promoters of the project came to Ghana and their Ghanaian counterpart followed up with talks in Washington D.C. The result was that the Ghana government's terms were accepted and it was only left for the government delegation to travel to the U.S to wrap up the white deal.

But then there was a lull "The Ghanaian Voice" cannot confirm whether the stall was from the Ghana government or the U.S. company.

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The Crusading Guide

BNI staff to sue govt!

An undisclosed number of former officials of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) who have recently been transferred outside the service, are preparing to sue the Government for unfair treatment, reports The Crusading Guide, an independent paper.

They are among over twenty former senior officials who have been recalled from leave and posted to various Ministries, Regional Co-ordinating Councils and other public institutions.

Letters instructing the affected officers to report at their new posts and vacate their present residences within 30 days, were released a couple of weeks ago.

A handful of the discontented officials who spoke to this paper, argued that since they were not going to the civil service as intelligence attache's, but as civil servants, their progress would be retarded, given the time needed to acquaint themselves with their new roles.

Besides, they could be victimized within the civil service, given their background and the circumstances surrounding their transfers.

The officers also pointed out that in view of the disparity between remunerations in the intelligence service and the civil service, some of them would have opted for voluntary retirement for which they do qualify but which option they had been denied.

They therefore regarded the whole issue of their transfer as victimization, which should not be left unchecked under the present democratic dispensation.

Pressed to comment on the circumstances surrounding their transfer and recent comments by the BNI Director on efforts to restructure the intelligence service, all the officers, who come from difference ethnic backgrounds, alleged that under the disguise of injecting professionalism into the outfit as well as giving it a human face, some former personnel who left either after reaching their full retiring age or were forced out by previous administrations for misconduct, have been brought back.

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The Daily Guide

Kufuor confident of Progress

The President, Mr J.A. Kufuor has in no uncertain terms re-echoed that his government will relentlessly and religiously pursue wealth creation objectives to make the country self-sufficient, the Daily Guide, a private-owned daily reports.

He said without the necessary stock of wealth no one can talk about giving sustained leadership or governance, adding that his government will do all it can to push the country from import based economy to that of internal wealth creation economy.

The President who was speaking at a meeting with resident directors of all UN specialized agencies operating in the country also indicated that the government is determined to pursue vigorously its golden age of business policy to enable the private sector play its role as truly the engine of growth.

"We mean to set the pace for the rest of the sub-region if not the whole of Africa to follow" the President confidently told the UN system team which was led by Mr. Alfred Sallia Fawundu, the UN resident co-ordinator and the representative of the UNDP in the country.

Mr Kufuor therefore challenged the UN agencies and the rest of the country to give the NPP government the benefit of the doubt and see that the promises made to the nation before taking power are no fluke or "political talk".

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The Independent

Legal storm over Asiseh's Adenta flat

The Independent says a Community Tribunal in Accra will on the 12^th of April 2001 begin hearing a case brought before it by the former Publicity Chairman of the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, against the occupant of one of his SSNIT flats at Adenta, a suburb of Accra.

The private newspaper reports that Mr Asiseh asserted in his statement of claim before the Madina Community Tribunal that the defendant, one Nestor Hoeyi, a journalist at the Headquarters of the NDC had failed to pay rents despite repeated demands from the plaintiff who claims to be the landlord of the said flat-room B2, Block 31 SSNIT flats, Adenta, Accra.

The claim further stated that the plaintiff gave the defendant the option to purchase the flat as a sitting tenant but the defendant failed to exercise the option.

The NDC chief Scribe again stated: "The Plaintif avers that he gave the Defendant notice to quit and deliver up the possession of the premises on or before the 14^th day of December 2000 but failed to do so".

However the defendant in his counter claim contended that the action of the plaintiff was tantamount to fraud.

According to the defendant, the plaintiff made him to believe that he was going to purchase the flat for the defendant with the proceeds of a joint project undertaken by the plaintiff and the defendant but secretly the plaintiff purchased the flat in the name of his private company.

Nestor again argued that since Asiseh was not the sitting tenant of the disputed flat, his actions are contrary to SSNIT's regulations and therefore void.

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Ghanaian Democrat

Bagbin pledges support for Nadowli Students

The Minority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, has expressed his desire to set up an educational fund to support tertiary students from the Nadowli North Constituency.

Consequently, he said, he intends to meet students from the various institutions and lecturers from the constituency to fashion out how it should be operated when it is in place.

Mr Bagbin, who is the Member of Parliament for Nadowli North, disclosed this at a meeting with members of the Kaleo Traditional Area Youth and Development Association (KATYDA) in Accra at the weekend.

He said the fund would be used to help students in the payment of fees and procurement of textbooks to support their studies.

He has, therefore, asked the students to organize themselves and schedule meetings with him on the way forward.

Mr Bagbin said besides those in tertiary institutions, he intends collaborating with the association to set up a library complex for the community to enhance learning in the area.

He said he, together with the MP for Nadowli South, Mr Emmanuel Zumakpeh, would continue with programmes to empower women in the district through revenue generation ventures.

The Minority Leader advised the youth not to allow their emotions take a better part of their judgment when discussing issues.

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