402 million cedis spent on J. H. Mensah’s building?
Research helps cocoa farmers to increase yield
‘Donation of 41 million cedis to President is
unethical’- Bagbin
Another bodyguard of Rawlings arrested
Ex - GNTC workers drag Gov't to court
The Board of Directors of the Korle-Bu Teaching
Hospital (KBTH) under the chairmanship of Col W. C. Yaw Anoff (rtd), has been
dissolved.
A Ministry of Health source, which disclosed
this in an interview, said the decision of the government on the matter was
contained in a letter dated 18 October 2001 from the sector Minister to the
board.
The Board is reported to have met on 10 October
2001 to formally comply with the directive to pave way for the reconstitution
of the board, according to the Daily Graphic, which carries the story.
According to the source, the official reason given
for the action was that the board had over-stayed its tenure and therefore had
lost the right to steer the affairs of the hospital.
However, the paper says follow-up
investigations revealed that huge financial losses incurred by the hospital
administration, running into billions of cedis, embezzlement of funds, thefts
of medical and non-medical consumables and supply malfeasances have adversely
affected the ability of the hospital to deliver to public expectation.
The paper further says information made
available to it also suggests that the sphere of non-drug consumables has been
one of the main areas of substantial losses incurred by the hospital.
More…/
The flag bearer of the People’s National Convention
(PNC), Dr Edward Mahama, has advised Ghanaians to critically examine the
campaign promises of parties and politicians before exercising their franchise.
When this is done; the electorate would be able
to distinguish between the genuine and false promises made by politicians and
thus vote wisely, the Daily Graphic reports him as saying in an interview.
He observed that the NPP government is not
living up to expectations of the people, considering the positive change it
promised Ghanaians, explaining that everybody in the country needed a change of
government and that was why he and his supporters gave their unflagging support
to the NPP during the run-of so as to get rid of the NDC.
According to him, the suffering of the working
force has remained unchanged since the assumption of the office of the new
administration and added that it is high time the electorate decided on which
party can deliver to their expectation and vote wisely next time around.
He said for true democracy to prevail, the
government must involve civil society in decision making, adding that since
taken over power, the government has never involved civil society in decision
making, and cited examples such as the government’s decision to opt for the
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative and the plans to privatise
the Ghana Water Company, and others.
The University of Ghana branch of the
University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), says it agrees in principle
with the payment of tuition fees in the universities but adds that the
implementation must not be rushed.
The issues, it cautioned, must be handled with
utmost care. Dr. Daniel Obeng-Ofori, President of the University of Ghana
branch of UTAG, pointed out that although it is a constitutional right for all
Ghanaians to have access to tertiary education “by progressive introduction of
free education,” someone would have to provide the funds “since (the) government
is not forthcoming with its funds”.
It is important that beneficiaries of tertiary
education pay for the shortfall in the government subventions to the
universities so that standards are maintained. “The whole subject needs a
political decision. Either the government decides to levy people, businesses,
or the country decides to bear the cost of tertiary education if the country’s
universities are not to collapse”.
Dr. Obeng-Ofori said such a decision is very crucial
at this time of dwindling the government subvention for tertiary education if
the country’s universities are not collapse.
GRi…/
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The women’s wing of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called for an immediate full-scale probe of the former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings and her 31st December Women’s Movement (DWM), and not just an audit of their accounts.
This according to them has become necessary in the light of the clear attempt by Nana Konadu and the DWM to conceal the true identity of the movement, source of funding and the use of the funds they allegedly received during the past regime.
The Evening News quotes a press release signed by Ms Rita Asobayire, the acting Deputy National Organiser of the Women’s Wing of the NPP in reaction to certain pronouncements made by the former first lady who appeared on two separate programmes on TV3 Network, a local television station at the weekend.
According to the NPP Women’s Wing, there was no doubt that the DWM which had an office in every District Assembly and collected market tolls, took day nurseries from District Assemblies, used teachers paid by the state in their nurseries free of charge while they charged parents, abused the office of the first lady in soliciting funds for DWM projects, and used government guarantees for its foreign loans.
They said such a probe must involve the entire structure of the movement, right from Nana Konadu to the red bereted representatives in the districts. “No amount of the National Democratic Congress’s red herring of harassment and witch-hunting should scare the government from such necessary task in protecting the interests of the tax payer”, the release noted.
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402 million cedis spent on J. H. Mensah’s building?
The Evening News in another story says the Minority Leader, Alban Bagbin has accused J. H. Mensah, Senior Minister and Chairman of Government’s Economic Team, of using as much as 402 million cedis to renovate his official residence.
This action, according to Mr Bagbin, sharply contrasts the government’s own policy of fiscal discipline and moderation at a time when the whole country is being called upon to make sacrifices.
Mr Bagbin said in an interview that there was no need for the government to vote so much money into the renovation of a colonial building which some of them presently occupied.
He was commenting on the revelation that 4.2 billion cedis had been voted by the government for the renovation of official bungalows of present Ministers of State to enhance the performance of their duties.
The Minority Leader said the remedial works on the buildings would have partially solved the problem of accommodation facing public and government officials.
He disclosed that the previous government was trying
to create a situation to allow ministers and other senior public officials to
find their own accommodation. Mr Bagbin also expressed dismay at the
government’s intention to discredit the previous administration and hoped that
something would be done to stop the harassment of past government officials.
GRi…/
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Research helps cocoa farmers to increase yield
Cocoa farmers, who have adopted the research works of the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG), have within the last years increased their yield from 350 kilogrammes per hectare to 1,500 kilogrammes, the Ghanaian Times reports.
The Acting Executive Director of CRIG, Dr Michael R.
Appiah disclosed this when the Minister of Justice and Attorney- General, Nana
Akuffo Addo, paid a day’s visit to the institute at New Tafo to Acquaint
himself with the research work there.
He said since the institute was established in 1938
and named the West Africa Cocoa Research Institute (WACRI), it had been
exploring how best to add value to cocoa and other cash crops such as coffee,
kola, sheanuts and cashew nuts. The institute has also worked successfully to
find answers to pest diseases such as the black-pod disease.
Nana Akuffo Addo commended the management and staff
for their hard work and assured them of the government’s commitment to offer
the needed assistance to promote the marketing profile of the institute.
GRi…/
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‘Donation of 41m cedis to President is unethical’-
Bagbin
The Minority in Parliament has requested the government to return an amount of 41 million cedis donated by a Kumasi-based farmer, Kwame Marfo, for payment of renovation works carried out on the private residence of President J. A. Kufuor.
In a statement issued in Parliament House on Friday 19 October 2001 and signed by the Minority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, the minority said it finds the donation to be unethical and a breach of the government’s policy of zero tolerance for corruption.
It said donations such as the one made by Mr Marfo amount to bribery and corruption, as the gesture could potentially place in the hands of the giver an undue influence over the Presidency.
The Minority claims that it is informed that the said Mr Marfo readily identifies himself as the donor of 41 million cedis for the renovation of the President’s house and eagerly and openly accepts congratulations for his benevolent action.
The statement also described the action as a bad precedent to the rest of the civil and public services, implying that officers in these services facing difficulty with official accommodation may accept donations from private individuals for the purpose of renovating or improving their private residences.
It further called on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to reprimand the former Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Kwamena Bartels who was at the centre of arranging the “offending donation”.
More…/
Another bodyguard of Rawlings arrested
W. O. Samuel Mensah, the bodyguard of Ex-president
Rawlings, who recently travelled with him to Halifax in Canada, was arrested on
Thursday 18 October 2001, according to the Ghanaian Voice.
The paper reports sources close to ex-president
Rawlings’ office, as saying that W. O. Mensah’s room was searched in his
absence and a binocular, which belongs to him, as well as other items, which he
claimed did not belong to him, were taken away.
He was dumped in BNI cells without the knowledge of Mr
Ellis Owusu Fordjour, the Director of BNI, according to the paper, which also
says it gathered that Mr Fordjour got to know of the arrest on Thursday 18
October 2001.
He also did not know the reason behind the arrest.
However, he allowed W. O. Mensah to be bailed on the afternoon of Friday 19
October 2001.
According to Rawlings’ aide, Mr Smith, “the main design
of these arrests and psychological harassment is to provoke the ex-president
but he is absorbing the whole situation in his strides”, the paper said and
recalled that first it was an attempt to enter the ex-president’s house leading
to the arrest of Odinga, followed by the arrest of Patrick Kuntor, W. O.
Addotey Quarshie and W. O. Dan Budu.
GRi…/
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The Chronicle says it has emerged that the list
of vehicles African Automobile Limited (AAL), local agents of Mitsubishi, claim
to have imported to fulfill the order for the 100 Galloper Station wagons by
the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Government are not the ordered
wagons after all.
Instead, the vehicles, which the company says
are on the high seas and would be in the country around this time, are 99
Hyundai cars: very different from the Mitsubishi Galloper Station 484 wagons.
"A critical scrutiny of the bill of lading
showed that the consignment stated on the document were 99 units of Hyundai
cars," noted acting Auditor General, Edward Dua-Agyeman, in a letter on
the issue to the company in the latter part of Sept.
However, Mr. M. S. Hijazi, Managing Director of
AAL, is reported to have said in a follow-up interview at Mitsubishi House,
Accra, head office of AAL, that the wrong specification of the cars on the bill
of lading was a result of a typographical error.
"It is a typographical error. They
(vehicles) are definitely the Gallopers." Hijazi claimed, explaining that
AAL does not deal in Hyundai cars. "We don't deal in Hyundais here,"
he noted.
Asked why the bill of lading has on it 99 cars
and 10 sanitation equipment, he said AAJ supplied 23 of the vehicles to the
ministry and that, that stock was meant to be replaced when the 99 shipped cars
arrive. He said the consignment of 99 cars have a separate bill of lading from
the 10 sanitation equipment.
This explanation, shipping agents say, is
questionable, since the car retailing company has failed to notify the ministry
of any such 'typo mistake' despite receiving a copy of the acting Auditor
-General's letter weeks ago.
More…/
Ex - GNTC workers drag Gov't to court
Five years after being laid off, Ex-employees
of the erstwhile Ghana National Trading Corporation (GNTC) have initiated a
joint court action against Government and the Divestiture Implementation
Committee (DIC), over severance pay due to them in respect of their redundancy
from the corporation.
The plaintiffs, totaling 1,750 are also seeking
interest at the current bank rates on the money due them from date of their
unlawful laid-off to today.
The suit filed as CS 250/2001 and dated October
16 2001, is also seeking an order of injunction restraining the defendants from
ejecting plaintiffs from their respective residences, until payment is made.
Some of the plaintiffs are still resident in
GNTC bungalows even though there have been threats to eject them. The Commando
unit, originally set up for the security of ex-President Rawlings, currently
occupies some of the bungalows.
The plaintiffs, according to the paper, were declared
redundant between 1995 and 1997 and were each paid a flat redundancy rate of
14-17 months as entitlements, an amount the ex-GNTC workers protested against,
since according to them, the redundancy entitlement and modalities for
calculating as spelt out in their conditions of service should have been
followed.
In an 18-point statement of claim filed at the
High Court, the plaintiffs stated among other things that “at all material
times, they protested and agitated the imposed unlawful payments contending at
all times that such pittance as were imposed on them were not in accordance
with their respective conditions of service and were thus unlawful, null and
void”.
Plaintiffs also declare that at the time of
their lay-offs, some of them were occupying residences belonging to the
erstwhile corporation, which they are still occupying because the defendants
have not, as yet, settled the balance of their lawful entitlements to enable
them acquire alternative accommodation.
They also stated that even though defendants
have not paid the just entitlement due them, defendants continue to threaten to
eject them out of the bungalows.
GRi…/
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The Crusading Guide carries that in order to
help increase revenue for the State, the Finance Minister, Mr. Yaw Osafo Marfo
has taken stringent measures to curb corruption within the Customs, Excise and
Preventive Service (CEPS) to the displeasure of some top CEPS officials.
A letter signed by the Assistant
Commissioner/Administration, Pius A. Austin on 11th October 2001, revealed that
the Finance Minister’s directive that customs officials should stop using their
mobile phones on duty because they use the phones to communicate with smugglers
and divert vehicles carrying unaccustomed goods from routes where they are
likely to be detected.
“It has come to the notice of Honourable Sector
Minister that Customs Officers use cellular (Mobile) phones to communicate with
smugglers and persons in charge of vehicles carrying uncustomed goods to divert
them from routes where they are likely to be detected”, the letter said. “Such
malpractices cause considerable loss of revenue to the State”, it added.
The Minister further directed that since
customs officers who are on duty at various Check Points and Custom Offices
have access to the regular communication system within CEPS, no Custom Officer
on duty within the Service except at he head office should carry cellular
(Mobile) phones without the written permission of the Minister of Finance or
any of his deputies”.
The letter concluded by warning that “any
officer who contravened this directive would be punished”.
This ministerial directive has however not gone
down well with the rank and file of the service. Both senior and junior
officers have spoken against it.
GRi…/
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As a result, the affected teachers are
threatening a “wild” strike-action, if the original proposals are not restored
and approved.
According to the current rates, heads of
one-stream first-cycle institutions, including the Junior Secondary Schools
(JSS) are to be paid 10,000 cedis supervisory allowance a month, instead of the
original 30,000 a month, proposed by the NDC Government. The old rate is 6,000
cedis. Heads of two-stream schools are to receive 15,000 cedis instead of the
proposed 45,000 cedis.
This means, with all the noise made about the
upward adjustment of the allowances, a head, who was receiving 6,000 cedis a
month, as old rate, is to be paid 10,000 with 20,000 simply cut off.
Deputy heads of these schools are to be given
as low as 5,000 cedis a month. Even though the meagre allowance proposed for
head teachers and teachers of schools for the handicapped have been slashed
from the proposed 45,000 to 30,000 cedis a month, in the case of head teachers,
and from 30,000 to 20,000 for the teachers.
Similarly, under the NPP’s upward adjustment
rates, house-masters of second cycle institutions are to be given 10,000 cedis
a month, with senior house-master being given 15,000 cedis a month.
Depending upon enrolment, the allowances for
headmasters (second cycle) range from 30,000 to 50,000 a month.
GRi…/
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