NPP accuses NDC of looting state coffers
NPP will resuscitate
abandoned industries
Prisons Service denies reports of strike
Ghana congratulates
UN on 55th anniversary
We'll buy Ghana
Telecom back – UGM
More Ghanaians flown in from Libya
Harmonise insurance laws in sub-region –
Ahwoi
Voters who misplace ID cards can vote - EC
Director
PNC to make Ghana net exporter of food
NPP accuses NDC of looting state coffers
Accra (Greater Accra) 24 October 2000
The NPP on Monday accused the NDC of looting the state to make an incoming government unpopular because it would inherit empty coffers.
Addressing a press conference in Accra, Mr. Kwamena Bartels, MP for Ablekuma North, on behalf of the NPP parliamentary caucus, said: "it is clear to most of us in the NPP that the NDC will lose the December elections hence the wanton dissipation of the nation's resources".
He said the government has spent 17.3 billion cedis to import 146 vehicles in June this year alone and 385 million cedis on four NDC supporters for foreign medical treatment.
Mr. Bartels quoted the Vice-President, who is the chairman of the government Economic Management Team, from his October 10 press conference as saying: "the demand for foreign exchange far exceeds supply... We therefore have to cut out unnecessary imports....".
Mr. Bartels said the NPP has repeatedly asked the government to cut its own insatiable demand for imported goods and that it was no use blaming Ghanaians for shortage of foreign exchange.
He said: "the NDC government spent 5,000 pounds on Mr. Kofi Ashiboe-Mensah's medical treatment in the UK, another 3,153.75 pounds on Ferdinand Asante Adjei for medical review also in the UK.
"Others who have benefited from similar medical treatment are Mrs. Babara Fynn Williams, a leading NDC member in Tema, whose medical treatment in the UK cost 27,038.96 pounds and an economy return air ticket costing 4,780 US dollars for Miss Sarah Kuntu-Atta, District Chief Executive, and her son in the U.S. for medical treatment."
Mr. Bartels, flanked by Nana Akufo-Addo, MP for Abuakwa, Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, NPP Campaign Manager, and Mr. Dan Botwe, General Secretary of the party, said "the frequency with which those who are close to the corridors of power are sent overseas for medical treatment obscures the necessity of (the) government to focus on improving facilities in our hospitals".
On the purchases of 146 vehicles by the Chief of Staff at the Office of the Presidency within July this year, Mr. Bartels gave the breakdown as follows: 50 Nissan Pick-ups, which cost 7.9 billion cedis and 50 Lada Niva cars costing 3.7 billion cedis.
The rest are 20 Opel Corsa saloon cars at a cost of 2.04 billion cedis; 20 Skoda Octavia cars costing 2.5 billion cedis; and six Toyata Hilux four wheeled drive vehicles, which cost 1.05 billion cedis.
He said the vehicles were bought from companies, which are not the original local dealers.
Importation of refuse trucks from 1995 to 1996 was also another area of the NPP's concern, and asked the NDC to account for trucks, which were not sent to the District Assemblies.
Mr. Bartels said the government had lost to the infamous Quality Grains Company Limited (QGCL) 221.5 billion cedis from 1998 to date through over-invoicing. It also provided a guarantee of 27 million US dollars for Mrs. Cotton and her company QGCL and an additional loan of 2 million US dollars outside parliamentary approval, which is a violation of the Constitution.
Mr. Bartels, who provided documents and receipt numbers to buttress his point, said the government spent 75 billion cedis to refurbish State Lodge and another 2.5 billion cedis to advertise in foreign newspapers on a special report on Ghana.
"Is the NDC leadership therefore literally looting and stripping bare the treasury of Ghana and prepare for their retirement?
"Is it to ensure that the next government, which will be an NPP government, will have absolutely nothing to run the country with to ensure that the government becomes unpopular soon after assuming power?"
Nana Akufo-Addo explained that the NPP will not be ridiculed if it turned out that NDC rebuffs the claims, adding: "all that we are saying is that the government should explain to the citizens on whose behalf it is exercising power and how it is running the state economy on the issues raised".
He said there should be transparency at all levels of state machinery.
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NPP will
resuscitate abandoned industries
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 24 October
2000
Mr. Osei Kwaku, Member of Parliament
(MP), for Asokwa-West said at the weekend that the party would improve the
agriculture and education sectors and resuscitate abandoned factories to create
employment for the youth.
It would also improve the economy
by checking mismanagement and use the country's Speaking at the inauguration of
Kumasi-Bremang branch of Young Elephant Movement (YEM), a youth wing of the NPP
at a rally at Kumasi, he was critical of the purchase of the 22.5 million
dollars (150 billion cedis), presidential jet, which comes with a daily payment
of 100 million cedis for five years as maintenance fee.
The MP called it a drain on the
economy, noting that the amount could have been invested into a viable venture
to improve the country’s economy.
Mr. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, MP for
Old Tafo-Suame said the future of every nation depends on its youth and said it
was worthwhile that the youth had come together to spearhead the crusade for
positive change.
He said Ghana's external debt is
over seven billion dollars as compared with one billion dollars during the
administration of the People's National Party, noting that the huge foreign
loan are not efficiently used to improve the lives of the people.
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Prisons Service denies reports of strike
Accra (Greater Accra) 24 October 2000
The Directorate of the Ghana Prisons Service on Monday denied reports that some prison officers in certain parts of the country were on a sit-down strike.
"A cross-check has confirmed that officers throughout the country went to work as usual and were peacefully going about their duties as expected of them without any hindrance," according to a statement signed by Assistant Director of Prisons, Mr. J. Kwaw-Yankson.
"The Directorate of the Ghana Prisons Service wishes to allay the anxiety and fears occasioned by the publicity given to this allegation and assures all and sundry that there is peace and tranquillity in the service."
The statement said since such volatile news items concerning security matters had wider national implications, media houses should always crosscheck before going public.
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Ghana
congratulates UN on 55th anniversary
Accra (Greater Accra) 24 October
2000
Ghana on Monday congratulated the
UN on its 55th anniversary, especially for its unceasing efforts to promote the
culture of peace to ensure that mankind lives in peace and security.
It said in a statement to mark UN
Day, which falls on Tuesday, that in recent times, the world has witnessed with
great anguish an escalation of conflicts, which threaten to erode the world
body's achievements.
It said it is, however, gratifying
to note that the presence of the UN, through its special envoys and
peacekeeping forces at various hotspots, continues to bring hope to traumatised
populations.
This also "underscores the
fact that the UN represents a force for good in the current international
system."
The statement said the UN was
still capable of greater accomplishments in the face of depressing conditions
in many parts of the developing world.
In those parts of the world,
millions of people, mostly women and children, are exposed to daily experiences
of hunger, disease, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, poverty and the cruel consequences
and conflicts.
Ghana reiterated its support for
the reforms initiated by UN Chief Kofi Annan, saying it is convinced that
through a transformation and revitalisation of its institutional structure, the
UN would prove to be more efficient, relevant and representative in meeting its
challenges.
"We will therefore continue
to play an active role in the United Nations in the confidence that the
eventual realisation of the organisation's noble purposes and objectives will
promote a stable, prosperous and just world order."
Ghana, which this year celebrated
40 years of participation in UN peacekeeping duties, said it would continue to
participate in the scheme.
"The sacrifices which our
gallant men and women of the Ghana Armed Forces have made towards restoring
conditions of stability in many parts of the world and, particularly, in our sub-region,
have attracted international attention and appreciation."
Ghana said changes in the
international environment have brought prosperity to some and untold hardships
to others.
It is for this reason, it said,
that the issues addressed by the recent Millennium Summit, including HIV/AIDS,
poverty eradication, peace and security, still constitute the agenda for the
current session.
"They (issues) not only
underpin the future existence of the organisation but also ensure the very
existence of human kind.
"The United Nations remains
the hope of all mankind for a better future in which young and small developing
countries can develop in peace and security."
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We'll buy Ghana
Telecom back – UGM
Accra (Greater Accra) 24 October
2000
Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby,
presidential candidate of the United Ghana Movement (UGM), on Monday said a UGM
government would buy out Malaysian share-holdings in Ghana Telecom (GT) and
sell them back to Ghanaians.
"We believe that Malaysian
holding of GT is no good investment as they are still struggling to build their
own economy," he said.
"Moreover, Malaysians will
not allow foreigners that advantage in their own country."
Dr. Wereko-Brobby was answering a
question on his party's position on the divestiture of state-owned enterprises
at a press conference.
He said though the UGM believes in
privatisation of state-owned enterprises, it would not confuse foreign
ownership with good management. "There is lack of transparency in the
divestiture implementation programme, but we will not embark on blanket
retrieval as that will send wrong signals to investors."
Dr. Wereko-Brobby said a UGM
government would place all state-owned enterprises earmarked for divestiture on
the stock market for Ghanaians to buy shares.
He repeated his call for an
increase in petroleum prices to reflect current international price levels,
saying, "we can postpone reality but we cannot change it".
Dr. Wereko-Brobby accused the
government of making Ghana the "most successful beggar nation" after
over 20 years of its rule. He said the government has confused development with
provision of physical infrastructure such as roads, school buildings, hospitals
and electricity without ensuring the availability of the human resource to man
them.
A UGM government, he said, would
re-orient the country's relationship with its development partners towards
human capacity development and retention through effective motivation rather
than seeking their assistance for infrastructural development and financing of
balance of payments deficit.
He described the cash and carry
system as "cash down or carry the corpse home", adding that a UGM
government would pursue a health sector social security scheme under which it
would enter into contractual agreement with doctors to treat all registered
members to be later reimbursed by the government.
Dr. Wereko-Brobby described the
current drainage and environmental sanitation systems in the country as
primitive and gave the assurance that his government would make use of modern
scientific solutions in keeping the environment clean and safe.
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More Ghanaians flown in from Libya
Accra (Greater Accra) 24 October 2000
A total 321 Ghanaians, made up of 308 men, nine women and four children were flown to Accra from Libya on Monday.
This brings to 1,909 Ghanaians evacuated following attacks on immigrants in Libya.
Mr. James Owusu-Amoah, Public Relations Officer of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) told the GNA that this is the fourth batch of evacuees to be flown home adding that more will arrive today (Monday).
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Harmonise insurance laws in sub-region –
Ahwoi
Accra (Greater Accra) 24 October 2000
Mr. Kwamena Ahwoi, Minister of Planning, Regional Economic Co-operation and Integration on Monday charged the 18th Council of Bureau Meeting of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme to ensure that motor insurance laws in the sub-region are harmonised to ease problems associated with payment of compensation.
He said they should also make sure that the harmonised laws are consistent with the CIMA Code. The CIMA Code is the Francophone West Africa version of the ECOWAS scheme.
"We cannot afford to live much longer with the present situation of more than ten inter-state motor schemes in Africa, a situation which operators find cumbersome and which has become obstructive to our integration efforts."
Mr. Ahwoi was speaking at the opening of a one-week meeting of ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme in Accra attended by national bureaux from Ghana, Nigeria,
Senegal, The Gambia, Benin, Togo, Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea.
The Meeting is a rallying point to review and evaluate the operations of the scheme and find new ways of making it more successful.
The Brown Card guarantees road accident victims fair and prompt compensation for damages caused by visiting, non-resident motorists from other ECOWAS member states.
Mr. Ahwoi expressed regret that the secretariat of the scheme is facing funding problems, but said he was grateful that the board of directors of the ECOWAS Fund is giving the problem due attention through the establishment of a permanent secretariat.
Mr. Ahwoi said ECOWAS integration has, for far too long, been at the level of officialdom, committees, commissions and schemes, saying; "African governments and all stakeholders must bring the benefits of integration down to the ground, to the homes and offices of our their people".
He said the insurance scheme is practical with tangible results and if explained, it would help accelerate the pace of integration.
Mr. Ahwoi charged the organisers not to make the meeting a mere talking shop, but discuss, evolve and implement programmes that would make citizens of the sub-region know about the Brown Card and demand it.
Mr. Sam Appiah-Ampofo, Commissioner of Insurance, called for a quick way of implementing the true integration of the CIMA Code and the Brown Card scheme.
He said ECOWAS Commissioners would meet tomorrow, October 24, to device a working arrangement between the offices of the regulators and Brown Card secretariats to ensure that the regulators play a significant role in achieving the full aims of the scheme.
Mr. Ebenezer Allotey, Managing Director of the State Insurance Company, the hosts, said harmonisation has not been easy because the CIMA Code operates separately from the scheme.
"This is our challenge and we must collectively confront it and find solution to it," Mr. Allotey said.
He requested governments in the sub-region to support the scheme and ensure that it works.
" ... In the light of the peculiar and common problems we face in the sub-region, we have a duty to find solutions that are dictated by our local conditions rather than look to our former colonial masters for answers."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 24 October 2000
The Director of the Political Affairs Department of the OAU, Mr. Sam Ibok, has denied that the organisation has developed a method of voting in general elections, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) said on Monday.
Mr. Kwaku Baah, NDC National Vice-Chairman, disclosed at a press conference in Accra that a message from Fritz Poku, Head of Mission in Ghana's Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the OAU is based said: "The director of political affairs, Mr. Sam Ibok, has revealed that the OAU has not developed any method of voting in general elections. The OAU has however guidelines for the observance of general elections by observer teams which it sends from time to time to member countries...."
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to use in the December 7 elections a voting plan that the party said was devised by the OAU.
The NPP said the OAU method was used in Nigeria's 1999 general elections.
Mr. Baah said the NPP is only out to deceive the people about a voting method that never existed. "How a tedious, discredited, laughable voting system that is being kicked against in Nigeria itself metamorphosed into an OAU method of voting can only be explained by the NPP hierarchy," he said.
The NPP contends that under the OAU plan, on Election Day voters would queue between 0700 hours and 1100 hours to check their names on the voters register.
After 1100 hours, at which time the actual voting starts, no one is allowed to join the queue. The NPP said the method would reduce vote rigging, especially since Ghana's voters’ register is bloated with 1.5 million names.
Mr. Baah said reports by the International Federation of Electoral Systems (IFES) on the Nigerian elections indicated that most voters were disenfranchised as some left the queue and never returned to vote.
The NDC vice-chairman said the NPP's announcement that it will compile and declare its own results in the December elections will only foment trouble and jeopardise peace in the country.
He said the announcement of voting results by the NPP would violate the constitution and electoral laws.
Mr. Baah said under the constitution announcement of election results is the prerogative of the Chairman of the EC and that "the EC shall not be subject to control by any organisation or people, including the NPP."
He said the NPP's plan is "a recipe for partisan anarchy, a manifestation of total disregard for law and order and an invitation to chaos and lawlessness.
"We shudder to think what the situation will be like if each of the contesting political parties decides to compile its own results and declare it. The resulting anarchy can be anybody's guess."
On the issue of the 1.5 million excess voters, Mr. Baah said it is the responsibility of all political parties to help clear the register.
He said that during the recent revision, more than 376,000 registered voters were added to the register in the Ashanti Region, a NPP stronghold. This represents 23.23 per cent of the bloated registration, he said.
"The NPP has a special responsibility since the greatest proportion of the 'bloat' comes from its own backyard, the Ashanti Region," Mr. Baah said.
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Voters who misplace ID cards can vote - EC
Director
Sunyani (Brong Ahafo Region) 24 October 2000
Registered voters who have their names in the voters register but have either misplaced their identity cards or could not be issued with photo identity cards would be allowed to vote during the forthcoming general election.
Mr. Yahaya Mahama, Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Director of the Electoral Commission (EC), said such people should however prove beyond all reasonable doubt, the genuineness of their identity.
Mr. Mahama added that identity cards used during elections "are only to facilitate identification of names of voters in the voters' register".
He told a two-day trainers of trainers workshop for 50 members of the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) at Sunyani at the weekend that: "It will therefore be unfair to disenfranchise people who for one reason or the other could not produce their identity cards during the exercise but could prove their identity in the register.
He stated that the Commission has taken a number of measures to ensure that nobody votes twice and warned: "those who will attempt to cheat do so at their own risk".
The seminar, which was organised by CODEO in collaboration with the Centre for Democracy and Development, was sponsored by the European Union.
Mr. Mahama gave the assurance that all district offices of the Commission that have telephone facilities would be provided with fax machines while Motorola machines would be installed in areas that do not have telephones.
He said the measures are aimed at facilitating the early declaration of the results of the elections.
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PNC to make Ghana net exporter of food
Peki-Avetile (Volta Region) 24 October 2000
Mr. Bannerman Baah Ntim, presidential running mate of the People's National Convention (PNC) on Sunday said his party would make the country a net exporter of food when voted into power.
He explained that the strategy to achieve this would be a combination of prudent state interventions, including the re-introduction of the workers brigade in a modified form, selective subsidies and competitive pricing of farm produce.
Mr. Ntim, who was interacting with journalists at Peki-Avetile during a campaign tour of the Volta Region, explained that the workers brigade approach would focus on preparation of agricultural fields, which would be allotted to individuals and groups to cultivate as economic ventures.
He said there would be guaranteed prices for agricultural produce at the farm gate to enable farmers to break even and therefore sustain production.
Mr. Ntim, whose tour has so far taken him to Kpeve, Jasikan, Kpetoe, Peki-Dzake and Wodume said under a PNC government, junior secondary school (JSS) students would be attached to factories and workshops during holidays to acquire practical skills and earn some income. He said needy students who qualify for tertiary schools would be granted bursaries.
He reiterated his party's commitment to the formation of a national government when voted into power.
Mr. Ntim also said a PNC government would strengthen the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to fight corruption by giving them powers through Parliament to prosecute.
Additionally, he said, a PNC government would fight corruption by encouraging transparency in government, strengthen civic education and adopt punitive measures to discourage the practice.
On the Volta Region, Mr. Ntim, who is a businessman and a former employee of West African Timber and Plywood at Samreboi, said his party would activate abandoned silos, promote animal husbandry, food preservation, tourism and small-scale industries to give employment to the people.
Mr. Ntim commended the NDC government for building major roads in the region, and said the PNC would connect small villages with roads.
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