Chambas' fate to be decided on 17 December 2001.
Accra city officials urged to secure a better landfill site
“Make declared assets public”
Robbers threaten vengeance
Driver, 38, defiles 10-month-old baby
Screening of Airport Porters yields results
16 million cedis car sold for 700,000 cedis
Is Adu Gyimah being victimized?
Cash and carry crisis worsens
Is J.H. Mensah afraid of vetting?
Policemen on murder charge
Chambas' fate to be decided on 17 December 2001
Heads of State of countries forming the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are expected to meet on 17 December 2001 to decide whether or not Ghana's Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, MP for Bimbilla, should assume the position of Executive Secretary of the ECOWAS.
The Minister for Economic Planning and Regional Co-operation, Dr Paa Kwasi Nduom, dropped the hint when he briefed the press on the activities of his ministry in Accra and called for support for his candidature.
On trade expansion in the region, he said at present 116 Ghanaian enterprises and 255 products have been registered under the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS).
He said these products are exempted from import duties, taxes as well as custom duties. He said 21 other Ghanaian companies have also been recommended for approval by the Council of Ministers to enable their products to enjoy the facilities.
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Accra city officials urged to secure a better landfill
site
The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has recommended that the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) abandon the Djanman-Gbawe refuse site. It has accordingly asked the AMA to take immediate steps to secure an alternative site, since the Djanman-Gbawe site has not got the capacity to contain waste generated in the city.
This was contained in recommendations of a technical team set up by the EPA to undertake a study at the Djanman-Gbawe refuse dump site to find out the suitability of the abandoned quarry for the dumping of garbage.
Recently, residents of the area tried to prevent the AMA from dumping refuse at the old stone quarry. After a thorough examination, the technical team also recommended that, a legal action should be taken against AMA for not obtaining a permit from the EPA to dump waste at the site.
It considers the Assembly’s action as a violation of the Environmental Assessment Regulations LI 1652, 1999.
The report said "AMA's action, therefore, have serious environmental implications and it is, therefore, time for the EPA to take legal action and demand on explanation from the AMA".
The team recommended that the AMA should be punished in order to deter other government institutions whose irresponsible actions impinge on public health and the environment as a whole.
It also observed at the refuse dump site that, the AMA rushed and acquired the Djanman-Gbawe site without instituting any precautionary measures to forestall the nuisance associated with dumping waste.
Some of the precautionary measures the report mentioned are site preparation lining of site drainage system, collection and management of leachate as well as creation of cells.
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“Make declared assets public”
The acting Executive Director of the Serious Fraud Office, (SFO) Mr Brian Anku Sapati, has recommended that, the issue of making the declaration of assets by public office holders, public be revisited.
He said when information on assets declared is made public; it would go a long way to check corruption. Mr Sapati made the suggestion at a public lecture organized by the Institute of Professional Studies (IPS) on the theme, "Use of Management Technology to Minimise Financial Losses", in Accra, on Thursday 18 October 2001.
He said also that public declaration of assets would get public office holders who might want to use public money for personal gain to be circumspect.
Mr Sapati expressed concern about the present procedure for the declaration of assets by public office holders, and added "assets so declared must be made public and not lodged only with the Auditor-General".
This, he said, will help check fraud among public office holders who misuse state funds for their personal gains. He said the "current situation where assets declared remain on files at the Auditor-General's office does not act as a check on corrupt public officials".
Mr Sapati said there is the need to strengthen management systems that ensure that fraud is detected early enough. He also stressed the need to conduct periodic internal audit to facilitate the process of fishing out corrupt officials and practices in both the public and private sector.
GRi…/
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Robbers threaten vengeance
Armed robbers have threatened to wreck vengeance on residents of Asante-Mampong in the Ashanti Region for their role in neutralizing a raid on an agency of the Otuasekan Rural Bank in the town, in which two policemen were killed.
Of prime concern to the robbers was the part played by the residents in the death and arrest of their colleagues. The threats were issued through anonymous telephone calls to the officers of the Sekyere West District Assembly of the region, government and private establishments as well as some prominent citizens of the town.
In response to the threats, the Ashanti Regional Police Command has dispatched a team of soldiers and policemen to the town to maintain law and order. The military, from the Fourth Battalion of Infantry, are assisting the police to beef up security in the town.
Sources close to the Regional Police Command said on Thursday 18 October 2001, that adequate security arrangements had been put in place to decisively deal with any attacks on the residents.
"We will do everything possible to protect and defend the people of Ashanti-Mampong from any attacks by armed robbers", the sources stated.
The police and the military, enjoying the tremendous support of the residents, cornered and killed three of the robbers and retrieved about ¢27 million out of the nearly ¢45 million stolen in the broad daylight robbery.
Two of the dead robbers, were later burned to ashes by a mob, mainly the youth of the town, using old lorry tyres and petrol.
One of the captured robbers, Kwesi Mensah, from Winneba, sustained multiple cutlass and gunshot wounds during the raid and died in police cells in Kumasi on the night of Sunday 14 October 2001.
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Driver, 38, defiles 10-month-old baby
A 38-year-old driver, Mantey Larbi, of Abonko, near Tema New Town in the Greater Accra Region, has been arrested by the police for defiling a 10-month-old baby.
A medical report from the Tema General Hospital indicated that the baby's "hymen was opened with vaginal discharge and the presence of spermatozoa."
A police source told the paper that Aminatu Ibrahim (the baby's mother) and Comfort Oppong are friends living under the same roof with Mantey and his girlfriend, Kweiki, who is also their friend.
At about 2 am on October 6 2001, Aminatu woke up from sleep and realized her baby was nowhere to be found. She then woke Comfort up to assist her to search the house for her baby. They later chanced upon Mantey emerging from a nearby bush with the bay in hand.
When they questioned him, he told them that he found the baby outside on his return from attending to nature's call.
They took the baby from him and examined her after realizing her body was dirty and found blood oozing from the baby's private part.
The police source said that following their discovery; Aminatu and Comfort took the baby to an elderly woman in the neighbourhood for proper examination, which confirmed the girl had been defiled.
The matter was reported to the police who effected Mantey's arrest. He was arraigned in court last week but was remanded in prison custody.
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Screening of Airport Porters yields results
The Executives of the Kotoka International Airport Porters Association have reported a marked improvement in the service delivery of its members, following the recent house-cleaning exercise it embarked on about six weeks ago.
"The assessment and security screening programme, which we undertook to ensure that we maintain the right caliber of porters to handle passengers at the airport, has begun yielding positive results", Mr K. Appiah-Kubi, vice chairman of the association, has said.
Mr Appiah-Kubi disclosed that within the period, members retrieved a number of valuable items which passengers had inadvertently left in the Arrival and Departure Halls or on baggage trolleys outside, and handed them over to the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Customer Service Office.
He mentioned among others, foreign currencies in various denominations, traveling and business documents, and assorted personal belongings as some of the items members had retrieved and handed over to the GCAA Customer Service Office.
He said that, the executive had on a number of occasions at their own expense, caused radio announcements to be made in cases where misplaced airline tickets, Green Cards and resident permits were discovered, to enable their owners to travel with minimum delay.
He said that they had also received reports of improvement in politeness and courtesies accorded passengers by their members, “which is indeed a healthy development in the promotion of our business at the airport”.
GRi…/
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16 million cedis car sold for 700,000 cedis
The Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) is yet to unravel how the circumstances surrounding the sale of a Toyota Corona saloon car allocated to Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, former Presidential Advisor in the NDC administration, to his driver at a ridiculous price.
The paper’s investigation has revealed that the former Presidential Advisor influenced the sale of the car to his personal driver, Mr Kofi Oppong in 1998 at 700,000 cedis when the government valuer had valued it at 16 million cedis.
The car, according to the paper’s sources, was abandoned near the Ghana Telecom office at Dansoman just after January 7, 2000.
Documents from the Office of the President and the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA) indicated that the vehicle was allocated to Mr Kofi Oppong from the Office of the President.
A letter from the Office of the President dated July 29, 1998 titled “change of ownership and re-registration of a Toyota Corona saloon car with Chassis Number ST 171-0076525” said approval had been given for the ownership of the vehicle to be changed into the name of Mr Kofi Oppong with House Number D74, Dansoman Estate.
The letter which was signed by Lt-Col Ern Mensah (rtd) on behalf of the acting chief of Staff was copied to the chief technical officer of DVLA.
Documents form the DVLA also revealed that, the ash Toyota Corona saloon with registration number GR 2149E, which was in the transport pool of the office of the President, has been allocated to Mr Kofi Oppong.
Further investigations indicated that the 700,000 cedis was paid into the Chief of Staff's accounts number 9225 at the Osu branch of the Ghana Commercial Bank in Accra on 29 September 1998.
When Prince Oppong, the transport officer at the office of the President, was contacted, he said the police brought the car to his office at the Flagstaff House.
He said the Minority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin later called him on telephone to negotiate for the release of the car, since Mr Kofi Oppong had reported the seizure of the car to him.
Prince Oppong told the paper that, whilst the case was being investigated by BNI, he could not give much detail although he confirmed the story.
When the Minority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin was contacted on the issue, he confirmed calling Prince Oppong on the telephone to verify the seizure of the vehicle since he had received reports to that effect.
Mr Bagbin explained that he received a call that the Toyota Corona vehicle had been towed away to the Flagstaff House for no apparent reason. It was based upon this that he called the transport officer for confirmation as to whether the car was truly towed away without the consent of the owner or otherwise.
Mr Bagbin further said, he advised the driver to take the car key to the premises of Flagstaff House, since Prince Oppong was demanding it. He, however, rejected the suggestion that he was negotiating for the release of the car.
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Is Adu Gyimah being victimised?
The interdiction of Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr Adu Gyimah by the police administration has attracted different and divergent reactions from members of the Police Service.
Whilst the police administration maintains that the interdiction was based on allegations that he had been providing cover to suspected armed robbers, others think otherwise.
A cross-section of police officials that the paper spoke to at the headquarters gave different interpretations to the interdiction. Some senior officers who spoke under conditions of anonymity said Mr Adu Gyimah is one of the best and efficient police officers the country could boast of.
These officers were of the opinion that the interdiction may be due to the fact that Mr Adu Gyimah is the nephew of former Forces Sergeant Major, Isaac Frimpong and his close association with the former NDC government. They argued that his alleged closeness and loyalty to the NDC might have influenced the decision.
Supt Angwutotuge Awuni, Director of Police Public Relations, has dismissed suggestions that he has an unhealthy relationship with Mr Adu Gyimah. However, others still maintain that the two have an axe to grind hence Supt Awuni's alleged statements on the matter.
He told the paper that Mr Adu Gyimah had been interdicted on the orders of the Interior Minister for very serious allegations made against him.
GRi…/
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Cash and carry crisis worsens
A thorough investigation undertaken by the paper to get to the bottom of the crisis facing the health sector found a disturbing lack of appreciation of some of the major difficulties facing the sector, on the part of the Ministry of Health.
For example, the number of people who cannot pay their bills after treatment in the country's hospitals have assumed an alarming ascendancy, notably since the beginning of the year.
According to the paper, records at the nation's premier tertiary hospital, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, points towards a deepening of the crisis. Between January and June, this year, the number of absconders has shot up by a massive 64%, from 151 the previous six months to 236.
“The situation is getting worse," said Kombian Kambarin, Hospital Administrator of Korle-Bu, who attributed the situation to general economic problems facing the nation.
The figures show that between the period under consideration, a total of 74 men, 49 women and 113 children could not only pay for their bills but rather chose to flee, leaving the hospital with a hefty but unbudgeted financial burden.
Mr H.M Dusu, Director of Finance of the hospital, told the paper that about 43 million cedis which had to come from the hospital's own annual budget, was lost to absconders last year. This figure, he said, is bound to increase dramatically this year. He said even though drugs at the hospital are heavily subsidized by the state, not everybody could afford to pay.
The PRO of the Ministry of Health, Mr Ken Anku, was of the view that the proposed National Health Insurance scheme when in place would address the cost factor in the delivery of healthcare.
He said for now, the country's ailing economy cannot accommodate free health, acknowledging that the ¢422bn currently allocated for the health sector is grossly inadequate.
The health sector was compelled to adopt the Cash and Carry system in 1983 as a cost recovery programme necessary to keep the whole system running. At the end of the treatment period of the patient or 'client', the hospital calculates the service rendered, including accommodation, sanitizing, feeding, other consumables and administration costs, as well as drugs and present the bill to the patient or family members for payment.
GRi…/
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Is J.H. Mensah afraid of vetting?
Constitutional experts are battle-ready to call on Parliament to ask Mr J.H. Mensah, now promoted to the grade of a Senior Minister, to face the Appointments' Committee to regularize and formalize his all-important new position as Chairman of the Economic Management team.
The experts argue that since Mr Mensah's position is a new one, he needs to be vetted, in the same way as Deputy Ministers face the Committee, when promoted to the grade of Ministers.
Although the request has not yet been made, close associates of Mr Mensah have revealed that the "Senior" Minister feels very uncomfortable with that "bright prospect".
It will be recalled that Mr Mensah, at his last vetting, was never made to either confirm or deny that he has had a police record in Britain. The information about that case, in which Mr Mensah is said to have been convicted and fined £4,000 by a London Crown Court, was for making a fraudulent refugee claim, somehow kept outside public view, although, it is widely believed, the Committee Chairman, was made aware of that issue.
With the case now made public, it is quite certain that Mr Mensah would be asked to either confirm or deny that piece of vital information about his background, at the least opportunity.
GRi…/
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Policemen on murder charge
The policemen at the centre of the Accra Sports Stadium Disaster of May 9, 2001, are to be put before court on provisional charges of murder and manslaughter. According to a Government White Paper on the Okudzeto Commission sighted by the paper, the policemen were found culpable for the tragedy which claimed 126 lives and injured over 300 spectators during the fourth week league match between arch rivals Accra Hearts of oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko.
The White Paper slammed police response to acts of hooliganism by a section of the crowd at the North Stand of the stadium, saying it was intended more to punish than control the rioters. It descended heavily on police witnesses who openly lied about their roles and those of their colleagues to mislead the commission.
The White Paper endorsed the commission's recommendation that a series of training pogrammes should be organized for the police to equip them to deal with flashpoints not only at the various stadia but in all aspects of the Ghanaian society.
Henceforth, policemen who have not been assigned duties would no more be allowed entry into any of the stadia throughout the country.
The management style of Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, former Minister of Youth and Sports as the political head of sports promotion in the regime of ex-President Jerry John Rawlings, also came in for criticism. The white paper endorsed the findings of the Commission which established that the overbearing presence of the former Minister intimidated officers of the National Sports Council (NSC) to the extent that most officials of the NSC shied away from taking major decisions on their own, apportioning part of the blame on the indecisiveness of leading officials of the Council.
One casualty of this perceived timidity is the Acting Chief Executive of the Sports Council Brigadier George Brock. The retired army officer is to be dismissed from his post with immediate effect.
The Government wondered why clubs using facilities provided by the Sports Council for league matches paid only a pittance of gate proceeds towards the maintenance of the various football arena and other properties of the NSC. To this end, the White Paper ordered a review of the share of the proceeds of the Sports Council at football matches.
The Government view facilities provided by the Accra Sports Stadium for major sporting events as woefully inadequate in the construction of the National Olympic Complex, the site which was said to have been acquired by the Rawlings regime at a place near the Accra-Tema Motorway.
The White paper condemned the quality of chairs at the Accra Sports Stadium, which were easily torn apart by irate fans, and ordered a thorough examination to establish their suitability, or otherwise to accommodate sports fans.
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The Togolese capital, Lome, will host a meeting of ECOWAS Council of Minister on Sunday 21 October 2001, to draw plans on how to move the business of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development forward, following the controversy over the leadership and the legal wrangling that followed it.
There were reports that confidence in the institution is dipping following what appear to be fears that international financial institutions may be wary of putting money in a fund that is prone to political manipulation.
The paper’s intelligence picked up intriguing hints of a plot to reverse the status quo following the enforcement of the recent Abuja court ruling reinforced by a ruling by Togo’s High Court, which effect the return of the ‘withdrawn’ President, Dr. George Sipa Adja Yankey.
This development occurred within days after the controversial Lansana Kouyate of the ECOWAS Secretariat had told the world during a snap visit to Accra that, the Council of Ministers was disregarding the Abuja court verdict since the body had immunity.
It was also gathered that lawyers for Dr. Yankey had invoked the Vienna Convention which allows members to sue and be sued, thereby nullifying the argument.
Already, a Burkinabe Managing Director of one of the subsidiaries of the EBID, Mr. Drabo, the highest-ranking officer after Dr. Yankey, has started drawing a budget for the running of the Fund and assumed the position even before the Council meeting scheduled for the Sunday 21 October 2001.
References to Dr. Yankey’s name have all but been obliterated in the memos that are being produced at the Secretariat in complete disregard of the law and taking advantage of the absence of Dr. Yankey, currently before an Accra High court on the Quality Grain trails.
According to executives spoken to, more than 95 percent of the 120 international work forces in Lome are strongly favouring Dr. Yankey with his “bitterest” foes being Ghanaians, including Mr. Manieson, one of the two others who were interviewed and examined for the position of EBID presidency but lost out of George.
The other was Mrs. Clarke Kwesie former Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma South. “Ghana is hurting the Fund by its attitude. It’s not good at all”, complained one female staffer.
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The Chronicle says its sources within the security services have hinted that Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, the former Chief Executive of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), against whom charges of financial impropriety have been made, cannot be traced.
Usually reliable sources within the Police Service disclosed to the paper that they have combed all known haunts of Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata to formally charge him to court, but the former CEO of GNPC has so far been very elusive.
As the paper reported recently, the charges against Tsatsu include causing financial loss to the state, especially through the derivatives deal that cost the nation some 280 billion cedis.
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