University admission
for sale: Medical students pay 14.5 million cedis a year
Cecilia Johnson approved payment of 1.1billion cedis to Car Company
Report on Kumasi Abattoir out
“HIPC stops
7 trillion cedis from going into debt-servicing”
Govt.
requires 1.8 billion cedis for water project
Allergic
disorders rise in Accra
Headmasters'
appointment now to be on merit
“Check
importation of drugs”
University
admission for sale: Medical students pay 14.5 m cedis a year
About
fifteen Ghanaian students are paying a whopping 14.5 million cedis each per
annum to read medicine at the University of Ghana (UG), Legon, the Public
Agenda reveals.
According
to Benjamin Ampomah-Boateng, President of the Students Representative Council
(SRC), another 15 Ghanaians are offering sciences at the University at a cost
of 8.7 million cedis per annum as academic user fees.
Reacting to
a front page story published in the paper which claimed that some privileged
Ghanaians who scored higher than the University’s ceiling of aggregate 16 in
the Senior Secondary School Examination were paying their way to education by
being sold placement allocations reserved for foreign students, Amponsah-Boateng
also disclosed that 180 students who are paying 5.1 million cedis have snapped
up 180 places in the humanities.
This
revelation comes in the wake of the controversial Ministry of Health decision
to withhold certificates of graduates of the University of Ghana Medical
School, as a means of checking the exodus of newly qualified Ghanaians doctors.
So far, the
authorities at Legon, including outspoken Vice-Chancellor, Ivan Addae-Mensah
have refused to comment or discuss issues surrounding the ‘Admission For Sale’
saga on public platforms, according to the paper.
Meanwhile,
the student leadership on campus is threatening to embark on a protest match if
authorities fail to review the obnoxious policy of selling admission to rich
students.
GRi…/
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Cecilia Johnson approved payment just before end of term
The Chronicle reports that barely 72 hours to the end of the Rawlings administration, the then Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mrs. Cecilia Johnson, okayed payment of 166,316 dollars to African Automobile Limited, agents of Mitsubishi vehicles in Ghana, which had earlier received over 14 billion cedis on orders for vehicles it did not deliver.
The amount adds up to over 1.164 billion cedis at the current exchange rate of 7,000 cedis to one dollar. To-date, the automobile company in question is yet to deliver the 100 Galloper Station wagons and 10-sanitation equipment for which it received the separate part-payment amounting to over 14 billion cedis.
According to the paper, Mrs. Johnson signed the letter for the release of the amount on January 4, 2001. The letter, addressed to the former Administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), Josiah Ampiah directed that the payment be made as part of an outstanding balance of 1,966,271 dollars (also over 14 billion cedis at the time) with an added 12.5 per cent of Value Added Tax (VAT).
The 12.5 per cent tax on the amount comes up to about 19,957 dollars (about 139 million cedis). The 100 Galloper wagons were ordered for onward distribution to the district assemblies during the tenure of the previous minister, Mr. Kwamena Ahwoi.
The paper however could not independently establish whether the directive for payment was effected but it claims that its sources at the Local Government Ministry and the Auditor-General's Department say it was.
Mrs Johnson however told a radio station in Accra today that she did nothing wrong in approving the amount for a project, which was already ongoing before the end of her term.
More…/
Report on Kumasi Abattoir out… no big deal
Examination of the finances of the Kumasi Abattoir by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has ended with significant discoveries like improper financial accounting procedures, lack of transparency, weak internal control system and petty jealousies within management.
The story reported by the Chronicle says the allegations, which prompted the investigation by the SFO, included misappropriation of 22.5 million cedis meant for the purchase of stunner pellets by Kwadwo Agyenim-Boateng, the Managing Director; conspiracy between the Managing Director and YADCO Ghana Limited based in Accra to defraud Kumasi Abattoir Company of 30 million cedis, and criminal collusion between Managing Director and the Production Manager of the Abattoir to manipulate the finances of the company for their personal gains.
These were contained in an anonymous petition made in May 2001 to the Minister of Finance, emphasising malfeasance against some management personnel of the Abattoir.
An SFO investigation team was tasked with a five-point terms of reference to among other things verify and ascertain the total sum of funds misappropriated or mismanaged by the managing director and his cronies and to suggest appropriate punitive measures.
The investigation team after pouring over cashbooks, disbursement vouchers, bank statements and petty cash vouchers, all within the past three years, the SFO has concluded that "there was no evidence that the managing director, Mr. K. Agyenim-Boateng misappropriated the company's funds".
The investigation team has concluded that it is the inability of management of the Kumasi Abattoir to ensure adequate financial accounting procedures and transparency in the operations of most transactions that led to the wanton speculations and suspicions.
GRi…/
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“HIPC
stops 7 trillion cedis from going into debt-servicing”
The Energy
Minister, Mr Kan Dapaah, has submitted that but for the NPP government's
adoption of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, the
government would have committed 7 trillion cedis out of its targeted revenue of
13 trillion cedis to service foreign debts.
Kan-Dapaah told
a durbar of chiefs and people of 24 communities in the Torgodo area, near
Dzodze in the Ketu District of the Volta Region, on Saturday to mark the
beginning of work on an electrification project under the Self-Help
Electrification Programme (SHEP-3) for the area.
The
minister, who is also a member of the national economic management team, said
although the NPP government has been seriously criticised for adopting the HIPC
initiative, it would have been a mistake on its part if it had failed to do so,
stressing, "the gains would be prudently utilised for the upliftment of
the poor".
Mr
Kan-Dapaah also defended the increase in petroleum products immediately after the
NPP came to power saying, "out of 550 million dollars used in the
procurement of petroleum products for the nation, 70 per cent was consumed by
private cars, to the detriment of the majority of the public".
He, therefore,
argued that if more than 50 per cent of petroleum products was consumed by the
rich, it would be unfair for the government to continue subsidising fuel at the
expense of the poor.
On national
electrification, Kan-Dapaah commended the erstwhile National Democratic
Congress (NDC) government for the "tremendous achievement" in that
sector, adding that "we must speak the truth, they have done very
well".
More…/
Govt.
requires 1.8 billion cedis for water project
The
government would require about 1.8 billion dollars in the next 10 years to
manage and sustain quality drinking water for about 30 per cent of the
country's urban population.
Out of this
amount, the donor community is expected to provide about 500 million dollars
while the government is to provide 600 million dollars, the out-going Minister
of Works and Housing, Kwamena Bartels, announced at a fund-raising gala of the
Accra Diamond Lions Club in Accra on Saturday.
Mr Bartels
explained that, under the programme, the country's urban population would
benefit from an average of 180 million dollars annually from the provision of
potable water.
"The
question now is, what happens to the provision of water for 70 per cent of the
rural poor, education, health, energy and other sectors of the economy if the
government would have to raise this amount of money for the maintenance and
sustenance of water in the urban city alone?" the minister asked.
The
out-going minister said the solution, therefore, lies in the government forging
partnerships with the private sector, since it cannot raise that amount of
money alone to provide quality water for the people.
The private
sector, he said, is expected to invest about 700 million dollars in the water
sector.
More…/
Allergic
disorders rise in Accra
The head of
the Ear, Nose and Throat, (ENT) Department of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital,
Dr Danso Adams, has said that the number of people suffering from allergic
disorders in the city has increased in recent years.
Dr Adams
said this at the launch of 'Telfast', a new drug used for the treatment of
nasal allergies or allergic rhinistis (inflammation of the lining of the nose)
in Accra that chronic allergic diseases constitute a third of reported cases to
hospitals in Accra.
The drug is
produced by Aventis Pharma of South Africa and distributed locally by Gokals
Pharmacy. Dr Adams said the symptoms of nasal allergies are sneezing attacks,
itching of the nose, throat and eyes, and nasal blockage.
According
to him, the condition can either be chronic or recurrent. He said though it can
occur all year round, the incidence increases in the month of May due to
increase of pollen, and in December when particles increase in the atmosphere.
Dr Adams
stated that nasal allergies do not only affect the quality of life, but the
seasonal type also act as a gate opener for asthmatic attacks.
Allergy, Dr
Adams said, is a trait that runs in families, adding that it can also be caused
through viral infections and one's lifestyle.
Children of
allergic parents, he further said, tend to develop the disease early in life
and is normally present with a viral infection of the Upper Respiratory Tract.
GRi…/
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Headmasters'
appointment now to be on merit
With
immediate effect, appointments of heads of first and second cycle institutions
of the Ghana Education Service would be on merit and based on ability to
perform and deliver effectively and not on long service and seniority.
The Upper
West regional Director of Education, Chikpah Demoyakor who said this also
stated that similarly, appointment to the post of circuit supervisors would be
through the conduct of interviews and not at the will and discretion of
directors.
The Ghanaian
Times which carries the story, says in this connection, all teachers currently
heading first and second cycle institutions are advised to consider their
positions as being in acting capacities and should reapply along side others.
Mr
Demoyakor dropped these hints when he addressed World Teachers Day and the Regional
Best Teachers Awards ceremony at Wa in the Upper West Region.
He said
thorough interviews would be conducted and suitably qualified teachers
appointed to man first and second cycle schools while those “found wanting”
would be reassigned.
According
to Demoyakor, the measures form part of a restructuring exercise by the Ghana
Education Service to instill discipline and efficiency in the sector to ensure
enhanced performance at all levels to improve the falling standard of education
in the country
The
Regional Director regretted that since 1987, when an interview was conducted
for appointment of primary school head teachers, no such exercise had been
carried out and said the current practice does not promote efficiency in
schools.
More…/
“Check
importation of drugs”
The
National Food & Drugs Board has been urged to take a closer look at the liberalisation
of drug imports into the country.
The Chief
Pathologist of the University of Ghana Medical School, Professor A.B. Akosa,
who is not happy with the situation, said, "Drugs are imported into this
country from every conceivable corner of the world, from countries of lesser
status than us".
"In
the end, the drugs satisfy the criteria set up by the statutory bodies and are
sold to Ghanaians", he said, adding that the drugs, which are acquired
cheaply, are sold for just as much as similar as drugs from reputable sources
such as the United Kingdom (UK).
Professor
Akosa stated in a document made available to the paper that, the United Kingdom
could not have reduced deaths from infections from 25 per cent to 0.5 per cent
if they had allowed drugs from everywhere into their country.
On the sale
of antibiotics, the document said it was very alarming since a survey conducted
by the Drugs Board revealed that 74 per cent of clients were able to purchase
as little as two capsules of antibiotics which were supposed to be "a
prescription only drug".
In another
survey organised by the Ghana Social Marketing Foundation, presiding
pharmacists were not available in pharmacy shops during 96 per cent of visits
to such shops, the document said.
In the
absence of these pharmacists, however, "brisk business in prescription
drugs which should be vetted by them was going on. I say such things not
because I am disrespectful of my pharmacy colleagues but because as
professionals, we are short-charging the patient who is at the receiving end of
our practice, and such practices further worsen their plight and the disease
profile in the country", he stated.
He said the
government should be bold enough to scrap the Cash and Carry system and put in
its place a Central Health Fund to attract funds from all possible sectors.
This would help in the restructuring of the cost of patient care to ensure that
the 69 per cent of the population who currently do not utilize health services
are taken care of.
GRi…/
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